Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (43 page)

He thought for a moment and scribbled a note. There was no point asking Ranul to go back to the Nexus and re-verify the loss of the node. He would have made very sure already before sending such dire news. Cheurt would send another to check it independently, but he was certain what word would come back. He would really like to go himself and verify personally that the Nexus had disappeared. It seemed odd for that to happen when it had survived unattended for over a thousand years. Unfortunately, while communications allowed rapid contact with those far away, physical distances still were onerous barriers to any effort. He could not spare the weeks required to make such a journey at this time.

He wrote for Ranul to bring back Ryltas body. Maybe he could learn something from it. When he was satisfied he needed nothing else, he took the note into the communications room where the nervous operator waited for instructions. As he walked from the office, Cheurt wondered if this was a sign that things were going to start going against him.

Shyar could sense the girl was annoyed with her, but it couldn’t be helped at the moment. She’d tried to send a picture of urgency and the need to focus elsewhere, but didn’t know if the message had been received or understood. Sending words didn’t work. It seemed she had to communicate visually. Perhaps that would change once she was able to draw more deeply of the power.

For now she was intent on modifying the cage that held her. She had made minor headway, but decided it was more than a matter of breaking free. She wanted to change the cage so she could access the power and leave when she wished, but return as well. She knew too little to simply break free and run. She needed information. If she carelessly interrupted the power that flowed through the bars of the cage, it would soon be obvious to those that watched her. Instead, she needed to make very subtle modifications, so the power that ran through the bars she changed reflected a flow of power, but which didn’t produce the nulling field as expected. It would make for an odd space inside where she could sense the power, but if she did it right, they would never suspect.

She also learned something else. Cheurt had a telegraph with which he communicated to his commanders in the field. The room was adjacent to her own, and she had already opened a listening port. She knew the equipment was stolen rather than something they had designed, since they hadn’t even bothered to change the transmittal coding. Cheurt couldn’t know that she was able to understand what was being sent. The machine was loud enough to make it easy to hear.

The last message came as a shock. Something had happened to the Nexus. That had to be Jolan’s doing. She had to get where she could communicate again. Perhaps she would be more help here inside as a mole, if she could only tell them what she learned.

“
You aren’t concerned that the Council might see this as over stepping the intent of the Queen’s directive allowing mages to engage the enemy?” Wylan asked after Jolan explained what he’d like to have the man’s soldiers put into place.

“
What do you think the Queen would say?” Jolan countered.

“
I suspect she’d be all for anything that can turn any encounters to our favor. This is still likely to cause you problems within the mage community though.”

“
That can’t be helped. The information we are getting from your teams confirms that Ale’ald is definitely gearing up for an all out assault, to be launched very soon. You’ve told me that the intelligence also suggests that the primary focus of the attacks is to be two-pronged. They plan an all out push to cross the river in multiple locations, although we have yet to understand how they expect to do that effectively. The bridges remain down, and we haven’t found any evidence they have been gathering boats or barges to make the crossing. The river assault is planned to be coordinated closely with the sea based attack on Bandu on the north shore, trying to get a port city under their control much as they did when they took Kimlelm. You’ve found nothing to suggest a push from the south, which makes sense. The southern region is heavily guarded by troops from both Seret and Angon. The Angon-Seret tunnel is too important to let fall.”

“
I can have the raw oil put into place. Hundred gallon tanks you say. That doesn’t seem like that much oil to cause the kind of damage you are talking, but then I saw the results of the explosion you set off in the park.”

“
If we can have tanks of oil set into place at a number of key locations where we suspect they might attempt landings, it might be possible to both surprise them and make a serious dent in their man power. With the portals we have spotted and have ready to activate, a single mage or two can cover a lot of territory. Luzoke has been fully trained in how to make the fuel-air bomb, and claims he has no qualms about using it if it means stopping Ale’ald’s advance.”

“
They are going to get a bit of a surprise if they come charging through the grass without the proper caution. I’ve had the troops out planting those fouled stakes you told me about. It seems a poor way to treat even an enemy soldier, but I understand your point.”

“
The wounded will greatly burden their support systems, and most will die quite horribly. Even back home it took advanced medicines and a lot of experience before the doctors learned how to treat men wounded this way. It makes the remaining troops unwilling to press ahead so boldly. If we can slow them down, it provides more opportunity to stop them completely.”

“
You seem very committed to winning this war, and you aren’t even from here.”

“
If Angon loses, then Shyar loses. I can’t let that happen. Besides, I intend to make this my home. I have as much at stake as anyone else.”

“
What about the sea attack? The last team that returned from Kimlelm probing around Wint said the ships looked ready to launch. It won’t be possible to get an opposing force into position in time to deter such an armada.”

“
Chancellor Vaen has supplied a couple of mages to help me with something. At the same time Queen Iril has been moving troops into the area to be ready should Ale’ald be successful in landing their people. While the northern coast is pretty desolate now, with barren rocky cliffs and mostly arid empty wasteland, it must have been different a long time ago. There are a surprising number of portals positioned all along the coast. A fleet of ships would have difficulty making landing at most locations, but a single ship can put in most places. I plan to take a team and jump ahead of the attacking fleet and try and attack them as they pass.”

“
Sea battles are notoriously unsuccessful. The ships do not maneuver well in these seas, and getting close enough for a mage to attack is difficult. A single pass, and you are separated, often without the ability to catch up, unless two ships decide to stop dead in the water and fight it out. That would be silly in this case; you’d be vastly outnumbered.”

* * * *

Jolan thought back to the discussion with Major Wylan as he stood on the forward deck of the
Sea Chaser
as it tacked against the wind making its way from shore toward the vast number of ships coming towards them from the east. Those ships were moving fast with the wind at their backs, and they wouldn’t be deterred seeing a single opposing ship coming their way. That was what he hoped at least.

The
Sea Chaser
was chosen for this task because it was nearby, and because it was a fast nimble ship with an experienced crew. Jolan was onboard with five other mages. Luzoke was there because he could create stronger shields than anyone Jolan knew of. Two of the other mages had fire rings exactly like Jolan’s. They seemed to be the most common of the rings. One of the mages was a five, and the other a six. They were both strong with fire naturally and, with the rings, could do great damage when they set their minds to it. Each also had reason to hate Ale’ald, and had expressed their willingness to use the power in the upcoming attacks. The final mage was also reasonably strong in shields, and would help Luzoke create the shields to protect the ship and crew as they passed through the armada. There was no doubt in Jolan’s mind that a number of wizards were on board, and magic would be sent their way, especially after they began their own attacks.

Jolan had asked the captain to take the
Sea Chaser
on an angled path through the approaching force. That would keep them tacking with the wind pushing them along quickly. The approaching ships would be moving at full speed, and would be unable to maneuver well because of their speed and the number of neighboring vessels. They would also not see their single ship as a danger until too late. He would see now if his plan had any chance of working. The first of the ships was near, the crew pointing in their direction.

Because Jolan had both the ring and the amplifier, he had more power and range than the other mages. He would allow them to take the closer ships, and he would send his fire toward those a bit more distant. With luck they would get as many as ten ships this pass.

The first of the enemy ships passed within seventy-five yards and Tarel let lose with a blast of
Firestorm
. Since no other ship was yet close, Nique followed suit, and hit the same ship with another blast of the deadly fire. Tarel was a pointer. Even though the use of his hands really had nothing to do with the effect he was creating, he extended his right hand and pointed toward the target. The effect was quite dramatic. The fire seemed to appear out of nowhere, and almost instantly swirled around the center mast and then rapidly expanded to cover the whole of the ship’s upper deck. The sails and the deck of the ship burst into a maelstrom of red-orange fire, the sails and any men on the deck instantly consumed by the impossibly hot flames. The ship started leaning and losing headway immediately, as the
Sea Chaser
passed off its starboard side and made toward the next vessels on their path.

There was no more time to watch. Jolan picked out a ship that was just over two hundred yards out. Even as he released his own burst of the
Firestorm
spell, he could sense both Tarel and Nique doing the same on another pair of closer ships. Almost immediately there were four ships that were being consumed and would no longer pose a threat to Bandu.

More ships were approaching, but now they were trying to maneuver away from the lone attacking ship. It was fruitless. They were moving too swiftly and Jolan’s team was too close. Wizards on the Ale’ald ship had come on deck, and blasts of energy beams and a couple of attempts at their own fire spells blasted against the sturdy shields Luzoke and his assistant had raised. So far it was going as planned, with nothing able to weaken their protection or damage their ship. The enemy hadn’t been prepared for something like this. It would be harder in the later passes, Jolan knew.

With the passage of the next group of ships, two were destroyed and a third damaged. It had been almost out of Nique’s range and, while the sails were afire, it was likely the ship would survive. They would have a problem trying to put ashore for repairs because Jolan had asked Queen Iril to station troops along the shore to watch for damaged ships.

Jolan had just blasted another ship when he heard Luzoke shout. “Jolan, look out.”

One of the enemy ships had turned toward them. It had made the turn just as Tarel had flamed the deck. The ship was a loss, but it was so close and was moving their way. It didn’t seem possible to avoid a collision.

Luzoke dropped his shielding effort, allowing the younger mage to hold what he could on his own. He released the strongest
energy beam
he could directly at the flaming hunk bearing down on them, targeting the bow just above the waterline. He could feel several strikes to the
Sea Chaser
as the enemy wizards took advantage of the lower shields. Fortunately they were on ships that moved quickly out of range, preventing major damage. Luzoke’s intense beam, so bright that a dark after image traced across the vision of any who had looked at the bright white light, struck the approaching ship and blasted through the timbers. He used the beam like a huge knife, and was able to split the ship’s bow open causing the sea to rush in and quickly halt the vessel’s advance. It came to a stop less than twenty yards from the
Sea Chaser
and then, filling rapidly with water, slid forward and down and sunk beneath the waves.

Luzoke had already returned to shielding their own vessel, but significant damage had been done. They were taking on water, and were in no shape to continue the attacks. Eight enemy vessel’s had been destroyed, and another taken from the fight. That was less than Jolan had hoped, but still a reasonable score.

“
Let’s make for shore,” he shouted to the captain, who was busy trying to maneuver his wounded ship. The man nodded and shouted commands, and the ship made a turn and headed back to land where they had started a bit earlier. The surviving enemy ships were already well distant, making their way on toward Bandu.

By the time they made shore, the
Sea Chaser
was noticeably lower in the water, and Jolan knew it would require significant repairs before it was able to take to the sea again.