Chapter 26 - Battle Mage
"One of the Empire’s greatest strengths is its Mages. Other kingdoms have magic users of various kinds, but Chartered Mages have a combination of strength, training and flexibility that cannot be matched anywhere in the world. Mages help the Empire in every aspect of its existence from agriculture to manufacturing to entertainment. They also form a vital part of its defences against the aggression of other kingdoms.”
Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini
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Velxe spurred his horse forward, rage bubbling up inside him. His Schema had spread the impact of whatever that witch had done. It had still hurt though, like being slapped across his whole body simultaneously. For the second time on this cursed expedition he thanked the Spirits that his uncle liked him enough to lend him some of House Rutane’s best Schemas. Ester had clearly had some kind of Schema too. What Mage wouldn’t? But he was fairly sure the first attack had gone straight through it. That left him to take the lead.
With a yell Velxe drew his sword, charging straight at the attacker. He did not know what the man wanted and he did not care. Sir Aranthur had served House Rutane since before he was born. That alone was enough to condemn the man to a painful death. The fact that he seemed to want him and Ester dead only added to it.
He heard Ester shout something behind him and lightning speared down from the clear sky, straight at the man. At least she wasn’t hurt, or not badly, but it was all he could do to keep his horse under control when the blinding light flashed through the air before exploding into a veritable wall of noise a few feet above their attacker’s head.
It was all the distraction he needed though.
With a cry of, “For Rutane and the Empire!” Velxe raised his sword.
The man moved his head. That was all. A glance and Velxe was flying through the air. It was like his horse had run into a wall at knee height. One moment he was charging forward, vengeance incarnate. The next he was airborne.
With a crunch Velxe hit the ground, losing his grip on his sword as he did. He rolled several times before coming to a halt almost at the feet of their attacker. He reacted immediately, trying to push himself away and to his feet, only to collapse straight back down as his arm gave way in a burst of absolute agony.
Fire suddenly erupted around the man and vanished just as quickly.
Velxe glanced down at his arm and had to clamp down on nausea. It wasn’t meant to bend that way!
The attacker was striding forward again. Towards Ester! Ignoring the blinding pain in his arm, Velxe scrabbled at his belt for his dagger. If he could stab the man as he went past…
The man’s boot slammed into him. His Schema spread the impact across his whole body, but it still sent him rolling away, each turn eliciting a spike of excruciating pain from his broken arm.
“Stay down boy. You’re not on my list today.” With that the man turned his attention back towards Ester.
Velxe ignored the tears trickling down his cheeks. Tried to make himself move, he needed to help. He could distract the man. Something. Anything. But he could not. It was too much. He could barely think through the pain. Even trying to move sent renewed spasms of agony through his arm and after a moment he sagged back to the ground burning with impotent fury.
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Ester saw Velxe go down with a rising sense of horror. Had the man killed him? Just like Sir Aranthur? She wrenched her mind back into focus. She didn’t have time to worry about it. If they survived she could deal with it then.
“Tambrgh fa’saarde ai’tànga’ir.” She snapped out the words to the spell, putting her full power behind it. A single word from their attacker and the spell came apart in a burst of arcane light.
The man gestured as he started his own spell. Terrifyingly strong, Ester saw the runes and lines of magic coming together and desperately cast disjunction.
“Dachaid.” The word was just a focus, allowing her to tear apart the spell as it came. Barely.
Every moment he was getting closer. Ester glanced behind her. At least her horse’s shocked reaction to being kicked had taken her away from the rest of Velxe’s retinue and kept them out of things. They seemed to have been paralysed by shock at first, but were now rousing themselves. Servants falling back, guards advancing rapidly. She wanted to shout at them to stay back. The attacker would just shred them, but she couldn’t spare the attention.
“Saig.” One simple word for fire to erupt around the man. Ester didn’t wait for him to rip the magic apart. “Sodaire sjuuf’fa jel’nvatn.” The effort of the more esoteric spell made her vision blur for a second.
For a moment his stride faltered and then he made a rapid, complex gesture. Ester’s spell came apart under it.
Another gesture from him.
“Dachaid.” Ester half-felt, half-saw, the shape of his spell, focused and pulled it apart. It was like trying to shift boulders with her bare hands. His magic wasn’t subtle or complex, just ever so strong.
At the same time his hand flashed under his coat again. Panic flared in Ester. Her Schema was wrecked, she had no protection. She almost cast a spell and then reconsidered. If whatever he was using had gone straight through her Schema, she couldn’t be sure a spell would stop it and she didn’t want to find out the hard way. There was only one thing she could do.
As the man’s hand emerged with another of those tubes Ester took a breath and threw herself off her horse. The crack of the man’s tube sounded and she felt something fly past her as she fell. So he was shooting something at her, at least she knew that now. Like an arrow. It wasn’t some kind of spell, although it must be enchanted.
The impact with the ground drove the breath from Ester’s lungs with a gasp. For a horrid moment she thought she was going to get trampled by her horse, but with her weight gone from its back it chose to flee. The tall grass she’d fallen into blocked the man from sight. Maybe he’d think he’d hit her. If she could catch him by surprise then maybe she could get past his defences.
A yell rolled across the grasslands, followed by the thundering of hooves. Ester risked poking her head up above the grass, just a tiny bit. The Rutane guards were charging. She wanted to scream at them and tell them to stop. The man would just kill them! They might not even hear her though and she’d just attract attention back to herself.
Despite everything it was impressive that they were showing such loyalty. Charging straight at a powerful witch to try to save their lord. It was the best of the Empire on show. Maybe she could save them too. If the man was focused on them and thought she was dead… She needed something simple and fast, so he’d have no time to react.
“Os’ellende saig’ai’baagath.” The spell formed as Ester imposed her will on the world. Instantly a beam of blinding fire lanced out from her, connecting her to her attacker in a flash. It flared against an unseen barrier in a flare of light and runes before vanishing as he tore it apart.
Ester stamped on the despair rising inside her. If she couldn’t even catch him by surprise what could she do?
He didn’t seem to even be paying attention to her. Magic exploded out from him and the first of the Rutane guards died with a wet thump. She needed to stop him!
“Saig’ai’njadh gan cuvlug.” Almost without thinking Ester tweaked a spell she’d used before, against the first Weiryin and gestured with her hand. A fireball blasted out towards the attacker. Then another. Then another. A continuous stream of separate spells. Surely he couldn’t break all of them and fight the Rutane guards at the same time?!The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The man ripped away the first of her spells. Then the next. The guards were almost upon him, shouting battle cries as they went. Between two of her fireballs he cast something, she couldn’t see what. Another Rutane guard died. Then they were on him.
Ester had to stop throwing fireballs or she’d end up hitting her own allies. There had to be something she could do though.
Lightning fast the man drew a short sword, already moving to deflect the first guard’s attack.
“Os’ellende miowen de’saaheamh.” Ester couldn’t directly touch the witch’s body and anything around him might hit the guards. His sword on the other hand, she could affect directly.
He ducked under the first slash of a guard’s sword and rammed his own straight through the man’s breastplate in a flash of magic. Of course he had a Schema on there. A moment later he dropped his sword with a curse, faltering almost long enough for a guard to stab a spear into him. It worked!
Elation turned to despair as he slid under the spear thrust, so close that it almost touched him, and grabbed the shaft with one smooth movement. Before the guard could react, the man yanked the spear from his hands and spun it so fast his movements were a blur. One Rutane man was slammed off his horse by the butt and then the point went straight through its original wielder.
The remaining guards hesitated, pausing in their attempts at getting at the man. He gestured and one of them went flying off his horse into a bone-breaking, rolling tumble. That did it. A guard turned his horse to flee. As soon as he did, the remaining survivors followed, unwilling to face certain death at the hands of the witch.
Ester desperately wanted to follow their example, but she couldn’t. A Mage didn’t turn their back and run. Even if they did, it wouldn’t do any good. She didn’t have a horse and the witch seemed to be looking for her. Although she had no idea why. The necromancer was dead, the Weiryin had been on its own. No one else would want her dead. Would they?
“Gränn nvatn ai’diwaien ai’saig vlidsich jel’ai’sjuuf.” Biting down on panic, she called lightning from the sky before the man could turn his attention back to her. He’d blocked her spells when she’d aimed them directly at him, so this time she drew the lightning down around him. Maybe she could disorient or injure him enough to hit him directly with a follow up.
The man gestured as her lightning flashed down from the sky and exploded against a barrier above his head.
Ester shuddered, taking a few involuntary steps back. She didn’t know enough spells for this. No one had ever taught her how to fight with magic and she couldn’t just become a Battle Mage on the fly!
He was advancing on her again. A wave of magic blasted towards her.
“Dachaid.” She pulled it apart, barely.
Before she could even think about counter-attacking, another came.
“Dachaid.” She nearly fumbled it, barely succeeding in breaking the spell. She couldn’t even say what it would have done if she’d failed.
“Vlidsich e saarde’fa.” Ester desperately shouted her own spell, ripping clods of soil from below the waving grass and flinging them at the man with violent force.
Another gesture and they fell from the air before they hit him. She didn’t want to die!
“Dachaid.” Ester groaned as pain spiked in the back of her head when she dispelled the man’s counterattack. A moment later something hit her hard, sending her tumbling painfully through the grass.
Any thought of retaliation fled from her mind with the impact. Even with adrenaline hammering through her veins it hurt, but almost as soon as she stopped moving Ester scrambled to her feet. She needed to keep fighting. She touched her hand to her side, where he’d hit her with his first attack, and it came away wet with blood. That was bad, but she didn’t have time to think about it.
“S…” She was cut off as another spell came at her. “Dachaid.” She tore it apart with her magic.
Another spell, fire, far too fast. “Moysech diweien’fa.” The ball of fire impacted the barrier of air she’d pulled together hard enough to white out her vision and make her stumble backwards.
Before she could blink the spots out of her eyes, another impact sent her back to the ground. The man was getting closer and closer, walking forward as he cast.
Ester tried to push herself up, ignoring the pain, and her legs almost gave way.
Another spell. “Dachaid.” It broke apart. Her head hurt and she wasn’t sure how many more of his spells she could break. She didn’t have the energy. But she didn’t want to die. Not here. Not now. One of Ester’s legs gave way and she sank down onto her hands and knees.
Marshalling the last of her energy, she cast again.
“Saig gan cuvlug.”
The spell barely had time to leave her lips before he ripped it apart.
He was close enough now that she could make out the words when he spoke.
“A good fight girl, but you were outmatched from the start. Let’s not draw this out. Xànjar diwaien’fa.”
Ester forced herself to look up and meet his eyes, projecting defiance at him. She summoned the last of her energy.
“Dachaid.” She barely, just barely dispelled his killing blow. It gave her a moment’s satisfaction to see an annoyed grimace on his face, even though she knew all she’d done was buy herself a second or two longer.
“Bi…” Magic flared and the world turned white with a thunderous roar.
After a few seconds Ester tentatively opened her eyes. She wasn’t dead! Although she increasingly felt like she might wish she was. Pain burnt a line down her side where she’d been hit by the man’s projectile. Her body felt bruised all over, she had a splitting headache and she was almost too tired to think.
Nevertheless, she raised her chin and tried to focus her mind. She was a Mage and she wouldn’t give up.
Magic was flaring around the man, spirals of runes and coloured bands of magical force appearing and being dispelled almost as quickly. Someone was attacking him. A fireball came roaring down from the sky and was dispelled with a word.
He seemed to have dismissed her as a threat. Words of power rolled from his throat and a complex array of magic sprang out. Ester followed it with her eyes towards a nearby hilltop. There was something going on there. Was there a Mage attacking him? Mages? Was it enough? He looked more irritated than worried.
She opened her mouth to add her own magic to the mix and the pain in her head spiked brutally, almost making her cry out. That was out then. Ester thinned her lips in determination. She had to help. She still had a dagger and he was distracted. If she could get close enough then she could do something.
She tried to get up and failed. Fine. She’d crawl. As the magical battle raged ahead of her Ester sunk to her hands and knees and started making her slow, painful way through the grass. It was hard going. Her side felt like it was on fire and she was beyond exhausted, but she wasn’t going to give in. Not now. Not when she might actually live.
The height of the grass hid her, but also meant she couldn’t see what was going on while she was on her hands and knees. Ester crawled forward until she felt that she’d collapse if she didn’t take a break. As she caught her breath she carefully pushed herself up, off her hands to look above the grass, ignoring the pain in her side. Lightning struck in the distance. It seemed like the man was winning against whoever was attacking him, but only slowly. She needed to keep going. She could end this if only she could get close enough.
Ester took a deep breath, steeling herself for the upcoming pain, when something caught her eye in the distance. There was something coming. There was a whole cloud of dust in the air, but it was moving, straight towards her and her attacker. It was moving fast too. Unbelievably so! She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t think a galloping horse could cover ground that quickly.
Ester stared in wide-eyed incomprehension, trying to force her brain to process what she was seeing. It took a couple of seconds for her to realise that there was something in front of the cloud. Another second and the figure became a little clearer. Was it a man? His limbs were moving so fast that they were a blur and lumps of dirt were being kicked high into the air behind him, but the more she looked the surer she was that it was a man.
Her attacker didn’t seem to have noticed. Was it someone coming to help? It must be. Surely. Maybe he was working with whoever was flinging magic? She couldn’t do anything that would get him noticed. Did that mean she should stop trying to get close enough to use her dagger?
Indecision wracked Ester for a few seconds and then she realised with a start that the running man was already almost upon them.
At the last moment her attacker seemed to notice him coming. He spat a word Ester didn’t recognise and flung himself sideways. The running man just missed going straight into him and came to a skidding halt, kicking up a huge shower of dirt. He only paused for a fraction of a second, launching himself back at her attacker the very moment he came to a halt, but it was long enough for Ester to get a better look at him. To see the silver crossed lightning bolts on his collar, bordered by downward pointing daggers.
Relief surged through her. She was saved! Her body nearly gave way beneath her, but she managed to keep herself upright. She needed to see this.
The Battle Mage practically flew at her attacker. She’d never seen anyone move so fast, compared to him the necromancer seemed almost normal. Somehow the other man moved blindingly fast too. He shouldn’t have been able to. He was just a witch, but he did.
They came together in a flurry of blows. Too quick for Ester to follow. Magic flared around them, their movements a blur for a couple of seconds, until suddenly her attacker’s head went flying away and his body slumped to the ground, blood pumping from the stump.
Ester barely noticed the twisting in her stomach at the sight. She’d survived! She’d actually survived. She didn’t need to fight anymore! With a groan she collapsed back onto the ground.
She wasn’t sure whether it was seconds or minutes later that she opened her eyes again to see the Battle Mage crouching over her. His greying hair was cut short and there were lines on his weathered face. He didn’t smile when their eyes met, she got the impression he didn’t smile often, but he did give her a nod.
“Looks like you bit off a bit more than you could chew there Sister. Lucky for you that we arrived here when we did.” He glanced down at her side, where the blood had been soaking through her dress. “Very lucky for you. Time for you to take a rest I think, we can deal with things now.”