Branded Mage (26 page)

Thad tried to smile
, but his head hurt so furiously that it was all he could do to remain seated upright. “I’m glad I could be of help, but at this rate the orbs won’t last a day or two at most, and the arrows are largely ineffective against those thick shields. I can’t endlessly strike at them with such strong magic.”

Trent let out a short humph. “Don’t worry about that. We never had those before and we have never lost this fort. Even if the fort does fall
, we can fall back to Tremon. There’s a reason that it has such high walls. No worries, we will win this, maybe not the way we want but we will win.”

Thad stayed in the small command tent listening to the reports of the scouts and the views of the other officers. Eloen even stopped by at one point to check in on him and rebuke him for his reckless overuse of magic.

Thankfully, he was spared from an overly long lecture as the general quickly sent her off to check on the troops that had been sent out to move the bodies away from the main gate. He couldn’t imagine having the job of moving the torn and burned wreckage of bodies on the field.

“What are you going to do with the bodies
, I don’t suspect you have enough time to build a pyre or burry them?” Thad asked as the general took a seat next to him.

The general shook his head and looked down sourly at the ground. “We line them up so that the next gr
oup advancing on the fort has to pass over the bodies of their dead. The idea is that it will weaken their moral. Honestly, I don’t like the tactic. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Whether their enemies or not, they are soldiers, the same as us, just on the other side of the line.”

Thad could understand the Generals sentiments. While he might not like how the Ablaians ran their country and subjugated their people as a whole
, that didn’t mean the average person who lived there and was forced into the army was evil or even bad. They lived their life the best they could, with what they were given. Farlan was far from perfect as recent events had proven, but he still loved his country and countrymen enough to give his life to protect it.

Why couldn’t life be simple like in the stories? It was always the good and righteous against the villains who were clearly evil. He slightly wished for that. It would be much easier to use his magic against what he knew were evil beings
, instead of simple humans who had a different point of view.

The general had their midday meals brought to the command tent. It was hearty
meal, if a bit tasteless. Thad noticed that many of the soldiers were sitting wherever they could find a spot eating and chatting with their fellows. Thad didn’t know how they could keep up such a positive outlook after seeing the force they were up against. He had to give them props, being a soldier took more than the ability to swing a sword. He wasn’t sure if he could live a life where he spent every day in the face of danger to protect people who barely knew who he was.

A loud horn sounded from the battlements. General Forman let out a heavy sigh next to him. “They’re attacking again. I hate to ask this
, but could you make your presence known again. I’m not asking for anything as spectacular like you did before, just a little something to let the enemy know you’re still around.”

Thad
rose from his chair, his head still throbbing but not nearly as bad as it had earlier. He wished for a few more hours of rest, but it didn’t look like Ablaians would afford him that luxury. Luckily, Alden steadied him as he made his way up the stairs leading to the battlements.

As soon as he appeared on the ramparts
, the troops started to wave at him giving him bright radiant smiles. It was almost more than he could bear. It was one thing to kill another human, but to be honored for it just seemed wrong to him. Setting aside his displeasure at the situation, Thad looked over the Ablaian troops that marched toward the fort.

They still marched in the same formation with their heavy shields guarding them well from most attacks. They were still out of range of the orbs
, but they weren’t taking any chances against their foes attacks.

Thad looked for an easy opening in their formation
, but found none. He thought about sending more lighting toward the troops again but he knew it would be a one-time attack at that distance. He wanted to make them feel fear throughout their charge, not just at the beginning of it.

The Ablaians were crossing over their dead when an idea hit him.
It wasn’t the best tactic and seemed more than a little abhorrent to him, but it would be effective and that was what he was looking for. Holding his staff out five melon sized fireballs raced toward the Ablaian dead. As soon as the fire touches the corpses, they burst into flames. Thad focused fanning the flames with his magic helping it rise higher and higher. It didn’t take as much effort as he thought. All he had to do was give it a little coaxing.

The Ablaians scattered and the Farlan soldiers opened fire at any who came in
to range. To compound the chaos, Thad threw more fireballs into the fray at any group that looked too composed. It worked to help scatter some, but other more disciplined groups marched on despite his efforts.

He was tiring quickly and decided to conserve what little strength he had left until it seemed needed. He watched as once more
, the magical orbs began arcing through the sky. The orbs tore through whatever they hit shielded or not, but they were still doing too little damage to be truly effective. If only they had a few that were five times the size of the current ones, they could wipe out whole groups in one fell swoop. Killing five to ten per shot wasn’t bad as heavily armored as the enemy was, but when tens of thousands stand against you, it seemed comparable to trying to fight a barbarian with a wooden spoon.

Thad watched as they brought out long ladders and tried to breech the forts walls
, but the second they stepped out from behind the cover of their shields, one of the skilled archers would quickly pick them off. Whenever he felt strong enough, Thad would launch an attack on whatever group seemed the weakest at the time. The battle raged until the sky was painted a burnt orange and the sun began to top the horizon. During the extended battle, only a few ever reached the top of the battlements and those tired few were quickly brought down by the rested troops who waited on them. One of the enemy soldiers got a lucky hit on one of the soldiers. He was severely injured, but was their only casualty so far.

              With the Ablaians retreating once again, Thad with the help of Ballad made his way back down to the forts common area. Everyone wanted him to go straight to his room to rest while the chance was afforded, but Thad had other plans and made for the smithy where hopefully Todd was still at work.

Just as he hoped
, Thad found Todd busy working on making more glass orbs for the army. Seeing him, the young man’s face took on a worried expression as he saw that Thad was almost being carried by the massive warrior next to him.

“Are you alright Master Torin?”

Thad let out a small laugh. “I’m fine Todd, but I need a favor from you.”

“Anything you want Master Torin.” Todd replied
, his face going from worried to excitement in the space of a heartbeat.

“I know you’ve already worked all day, but I need you to work a bit longer. I need the same thickness of glass orbs
, but made about five to ten times bigger. If you can’t do that make them as big as you can. As soon as their finished, I need you to take them to the command tent and have them put on the charger. The chargers won’t have enough to have them ready for tomorrow, but it will be a start and save me a little energy.”

Without saying a word Todd went back to work. Thad knew that if it was possible
, the young man would get it done, and if it wasn’t, there was little reason to lament over it. With his business taken care of he allowed Ballard to escort him back to his room. Though he had little choice in the matter, it didn’t look like he or any of the others were willing to listen to his complaints or suggestions at the moment.

Back in his room
, he was forced to strip and get into bed immediately. It was a little annoying being treated as if he was a toddler again, but it didn’t seem prudent to point this out to a bunch of heavily armed and trained soldiers when he was barely able to hold himself upright. So like a good little kid, he did as he was told. It was still fairly early and he wasn’t physically tired enough to sleep, so he passed the time by writing a letter to the princess.

He did his best to inform her of what was happing without making her worry. It was a fine line to walk. The queen did need to know the unadulterated trust
, so he decided to write a second letter informing her of all the grisly details.

It only took him a short moment to pen the letter and he was still left with plenty of time to kill. He knew his “guards” would be much happier if he just lay down and closed his eyes
, but he just wasn’t in the mood to sleep just yet. The day had been tiring, but it had also left him feeling empty and morose. If he went to sleep with that still weighing heavily on his mind he knew it would be far from a restful night.

Eloen came to his room a short time later. The look on her face spoke volumes and the guards in her room quickly picked up on it and vacated quickly. Thad thought it was funny the people who were supposed to be protecting him were now leaving him alone with someone who was obviously not very pleased with him at the moment.

Instead of flopping down on his bed which was her normal routine, Eloen grabbed the chair from his desk and drug it around to sit in. he knew she wasn’t please with him overworking himself, but the look on her face was much more intense than he expected. If he had thought she had seemed mad before, that must have only been a prelude to what she was showing now.

“The officers have had a meeting and during the battle tomorrow
, they would like you to make a target of yourself.” Eloen said her voice showing her displeasure with their decision.

“Your magic was so effective today
that they think if you make a bigger spectacle of yourself, it will weaken the enemies’ moral and allow us to deal with them without expending much energy.”

Thad let out a sigh of relief which quickly got a glare from Eloen. “Sorry I’m just glad it’s not me your mad at this time.” He said giving her a reassuring smile.

Eloen’s face softened as she halfheartedly returned his smile. “It’s not right. The second you make yourself too much of a target, all the enemy will focus on is you. While it will definitely help us win the battle, it might cost you your life. I don’t like it and I don’t think the queen would approve of such a measure either. Even general Forman was against it, but he was overruled when he couldn’t think of a good reason against it.”

“It shouldn’t be that hard with what I have planned for them tomorrow. I doubt there would be a way to hide my presence after everything that I did today anyway. What’s the worst they could do to
me, shoot a few arrows? y armor will stop those.”

“You don’t get it do you. I’m not talking about it being dangerous during the battle
, but afterward. If Alba learns we have a mage, let alone one with your level of power, they will make sure you meet a bad end. It wouldn’t be the first time someone was killed by an assassin in the night for being an inconvenience.”

Eloen didn’t say anything
else; she just sat there watching him. Thad wanted to comfort her, but everything she had said was the truth. It made sense at least in the grand scheme of things; he was nothing but a tool of the crown. If the Ablaians wanted him dead, there were hundreds of means for them to achieve that goal. All that really meant for him was that he would have to find a way to protect himself even while he slept once this was all over with.

Thad wondered
, not for the first time, if life wouldn’t have been easier if he had never learned magic. Honestly he didn’t understand why it had stayed lost so long. It wasn’t overly hard to learn. Someone had to learn it the first time anyway; it didn’t make sense to him that it had stayed buried for over a thousand years. Why couldn’t there have been someone to help guide him and make this a little easier. He hated bumbling around in the dark waiting to make a mistake.

With his mind laden with worries
, Thad finally consented and closed his eyes. His rest came, but it wasn’t peaceful it was filled with thoughts of assassins and death. His magic haunted his dreams too, taunting him with more power than anyone should rightly hold.

CHAPTER XX

Morning came far too early for
Thad’s liking when he was jostled awake by Darryl who looked as tired as Thad felt. “Time to get up, the Ablaians are already forming up. Right bastards won’t even let a man get a good night’s rest.”

When Darryl’s words registered in his head
, Thad jumped and quickly dressed, grabbing his pack and staff as he ran out the door. He always packed up everything before going to bed, he didn’t really know why; it had just been a habit of his dating back the Slave Academy. Usually it was a hassle having to pull everything back out as he needed it, but today it was a blessing since he had plenty of gems and cut crystals stored in the side pouches. If his plan worked today he would need them.