Rogue Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (39 page)

Avelice
told the great stone spirit, “In the field are assassins. Kill as many as you
can, but be mindful of any magicians you come across. We will be joining you in
a moment.”

The
elemental grunted in agreement at its master and seemed to will itself forward
breaking the doorframe as its wide girth smashed through seemingly without
effort. Turshyn could see no clear way that the elemental managed to travel.
The only clue to his movement being that the earth beneath him was upturned
leaving a trail of fresh dirt behind him. Turshyn wondered if it had legs and
feet under the dirt or if it propelled itself by shifting the ground underneath
it.

“
Give
the elemental a wide berth,” Avelice told them. “It is on our side, but cares
little about collateral damage. Elementals are so powerful that they do not
fully understand how fragile the human body can be.”

“
Certainly,”
Turshyn agreed recalling his experience with the water elemental, “but when we
are done can you teach me that spell?”

“
You
look like a boy who just found a new toy,” Minnie told him in a thin attempt to
lighten the mood.

Minnie
stepped out into the clearing followed closely behind by Turshyn who
immediately began carving a rune into the freshly turned dirt in the earth
elemental's wake with the blade of his staff so that he could cast the spell of
animating the dead and return life once more to the walkers who had since
fallen silent in the clearing the night before.

Avelice
rested for a moment then joined them leaving Rex alone to defend the cabin from
any assassins that might sneak past in an attempt to get to Mellani and the
children.

***

Bertran
the Silent twisted his wrists as he tried to slip free of the rope binding him.
It was a thin cord not suited to the job of subduing a dangerous man like
himself, but the magicians had tied it tight enough to prevent the assassin
from breaking his bonds and his own wounded arm made movement painful. He
looked around the room for any sharp objects and found none. The assassin
laughed under his breath. The magicians probably thought they were very smart.
They manipulated him with their magic. They tricked him into revealing
information about his mission and his men, but now he was in his right mind once
more and he would not allow this insult to go unpunished. They should have
killed the master assassin when they had the chance.

Though
his hands were bound behind his back Bertran could still reach his boot and
rolling to one side he was able to lift his foot high enough behind him so that
he could pull the knot free. Bertran pulled the shoe string free one loop at a
time. It took several minutes, but he eventually got the string out and wrapped
a loop around the rope between his wrists. He grabbed one end in each hand and
began to pull the shoestring back and forth as quickly as possible, which was
still incredibly slow and made his arm feel like it was on fire, but the string
was laced with iron making it a much sturdier and rougher material than the cord
binding him.

After
several minutes more Bertran tried twisting his wrists again and this time
found that he could move slightly. It would take some time, but soon his bonds
would be broken.

Soon
Bertran would be free and then he would exact his revenge.

***

The
Kenzai assassins came at the magicians from all sides hoping to overwhelm the
trio with sheer numbers. The open area made the walkers nearly useless, as the
agile killers easily outmaneuvered them. The earth elemental was more difficult
to avoid, but it could only face one or two assassins at a time and their magic
negating blades hurt the monster a little with every strike to its stony flesh.

Turshyn
summoned four war wraiths on ghostly mounts that would have been all but
invisible in the night if not for the growing flames in the forest that only
served to make the spirits appear more menacing as they galloped around the
battlefield brandishing their black blades.

In
the center of it all stood the three magicians. Turshyn summoned spirits and
more walkers as assassins died while Avelice and Minnie held magical shields on
opposite sides of the group large enough to encompass all three of them
providing a barrier to attack from all angles.

Dark
clad figures with blue glowing blades attacked them from all sides. The weapons
bounced from the shields, but each strike caused the barriers to shimmer and
risk collapse. Turshyn called the war wraiths to him to draw the assassins’
attention away from them while he tried to recover enough energy to cast another
summon which was the only effective means of attack while the shields were
erected.

It
was Minnie's shield that broke first under the bludgeoning of the blue-white
blades. She screamed in panic and Turshyn turned to aid her thrusting his staff
at her attacker and catching the man on the spear end. He pulled the blade free
of the assassin's chest, but was stabbed in the shoulder by a second Kenzai
assassin who leaped on him brandishing a jagged dagger that tore through flesh
as it was pulled free.

Minnie
pointed her staff at the second assassin and commanded him to release Turshyn.
The Kenzai obeyed. “Now help us kill your friends!” she commanded. Her voice
wavered and no longer carried the same musical tone that ensorcelled Bertran
earlier. The assassin struggled with the command; feeling the overwhelming urge
to obey fight against his own rational mind telling him to ignore the order. In
the end he neither attacked his allies nor renewed his attack on the magicians,
as he could not reconcile the enchantment against his own perception of
reality.

Avelice
ordered them back to the relative safety of the cabin, shielding Minnie and
Turshyn as well as she could. Minnie helped Turshyn to his feet, but he was
still able to walk on his own. The war wraiths and earth elemental came to
their aid, but the magicians found they were cut off from reaching the cabin.

Flashes
of light came from inside the cabin as Rex was undoubtedly defending Mellani
and the children with his lightning. “We have to break through,” Avelice
shouted as she pulled on reserves of strength she did know she possessed and
summoned a spook while keeping her shield up.

Then
the fires surrounding the battlefield began to die.

***

The
body of an assassin crackled with energy at Rex's feet. He kicked the still
twitching form down the stairs as more assassins tried desperately to make
their way up while avoiding their comrade's fate.

The
assassins would alternate between firing crossbow bolts at Rex forcing him away
from the steps and charging to rush him as he withdrew. The narrowness of the
staircase and the hall were all that kept the assassins from swarming over him.
That and maintaining a near constant barrage of lightning strikes that the
young magical warrior knew he could not maintain forever.

Somehow
Rex found the strength to rally and pushed the assassins back once more taking
up a position at the top of the stairs.

A
door opened behind Rex, but he could not risk turning to see who it was. It was
surely one of the kids coming out to see how the battle fared. He could not
blame them. The sounds of battle just outside their room coupled with not
knowing what was happening must be terrifying for them. However, Rex could not
risk them being out in the hall now. “Get back in your room!” he shouted angrily.

“
I
think not!” replied the voice of someone much older than a child.

Rex
turned his head to see Mellani standing behind him. “I am well enough to fight
and refuse to hide while my friends risk their lives to defend me. Besides if
you fall, then what hope do I have?”

Rex
nodded, not having the time or energy to argue.

“
Where
are the others?” the still wounded enchantress asked coming up beside Rex and
letting loose with a gust of wind throwing everyone else down the stairs.

“
They
are outside fighting off the main force,” Rex answered, but under his breath
added, “I hope.”

The
magicians alternated attacks slowly pushing the assassins back so that they
could not counter with bolts from their crossbows or a concentrated charge.
Impossibly it seemed that the assassins were being caught between attacks from
inside and out at the same time. For the first time since this siege started
Rex thought that they could win this fight.

Then
everything changed.

Mellani
gurgled and spat as she grabbed at her neck. She was lifted off her feet and
pulled back up the stairs by unseen hands. Her eyes bulged with terror as her
face turned red, then purple.

Forgetting
his attackers Rex turned and ran after her, but stopped short when he saw
Bertran standing behind Mellani pulling her throat closed with a wire or string
from his boot. “Let her go or I will kill you!” Rex roared with murder in his
voice. He pointed his open palm at the master assassin, but Bertran ignored the
threat and tightened his grip as Mellani kicked wildly.

Lightning
danced in Rex's fist and he ran headlong toward Bertran going for his exposed
face, but Rex was thrown off balance and sent careening into a wall by a
crossbow bolt in the back. Bertran spun keeping his rapidly suffocating hostage
between himself and the elementalist falling at his feet. His fellow assassins
came up the stairs behind Rex and stabbed the young magician repeatedly in the
back until there was no doubt that he was dead.

Tears
ran down Mellani's cheeks as she witnessed the young man's demise. It was the
last thing she saw before darkness overtook her and her body went limp in
Bertran's hands. He released the shoestring he used to strangle her and
grabbing her chin with one hand and the back of her head with the other twisted
snapping her neck. “You can never be too careful,” he told one of his brothers
a smug grin of self-satisfaction on his face. Bertran nodded to one of the back
rooms. “The children are in there. End them.”

The
other assassins obeyed without hesitation, filling the room at the end of the
hall. The sounds of boys’ cries were cut short as the assassins cut them down.
Bertran waited out in the hall and massaged his sore arm. He forced himself to
listen to their screams. There was no honor in killing ones so young. Vailon
would not look on him as a proud disciple or warrior for this act, but it was
his duty to his kingdom. Bertran silently chastised himself for not being
strong enough to accept the shame of killing the youngsters personally.

Byrn
stumbled into the clearing carried forward by little more than his own
determination and momentum fore his body was spent beyond the point of physical
exhaustion. Before him was the silhouette of Avelice Necros standing against a
half dozen assassins. She stood in the middle of a Moran's Circle, a circle of
protecting wind swirling in a small area around her to hold back a group of
attackers. The Moran’s Circle would keep the Kenzai at bay until the powerful
necromancer ran out of energy, but as long as none of the attackers were
foolish enough to touch it, they would remain unharmed. Avelice stood
protectively over the bodies of two others. Byrn could tell that one figure was
cradling the other although he was unsure of who either magician was from this
distance.

The
new master of fire closed the distance between himself and the battle being
waged at an approach somewhat behind most of the assassins. For years Byrn
learned and practiced his craft with an eye towards turning fantastic powers
honed by his predecessors over countless generations towards causing death and
destruction into developing techniques that could be used to disable his
opponents without killing them. Although as the anger at seeing his former home
in shambles and his trusted friends barely holding on for their lives grew
inside him, Byrn truly wished to destroy these men.

When
he was within ten feet of the nearest assassin Byrn fired a blast of hot air at
the man throwing him into another assassin. Then he covered them in a small
protective bubble and lit a fire inside it. The assassins punched and kicked
the barrier in a futile attempt to escape before being lit aflame.

The
other four Kenzai closed in on Byrn- two on each side. He threw the bubble
against the two assassins to his right with enough force to knock them to the
ground as well as pushing the captives inside the sphere into the fire burning
their legs and feet.

Byrn
spun to face the remaining two assassins, but found they had their hands full
avoiding a pair of war wraiths. Turning his attention back to the encapsulated
assassins he turned up the heat inside the bubble until all of the oxygen had
been burned out. Not long after the captives fainted and Byrn released the
bubble surrounding them so that they fell harmlessly to the ground.

“
Behind
you!” It was Minnie's voice shouting at him.

Byrn
turned and raised his staff just in time to deflect an assassin's sword thrust
to one side. The assassin was over extended and left himself open to a knee in
the gut followed by a smack to the skull with the staff.