Wizard Trials: Chapter 152 (Patreon)

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          When Peter and Istven had come to Alex and assured him the city’s defenses only needed to hold out for a few hours without their help he’d felt confident in victory. As the hours ticked by and the demon horde continued to crash into them like an ocean tide, his confidence started to erode. How much longer, he wondered, before he’d have no choice but to ask Istven to step away from pulling the literal moon across the sky? It would be as good as letting the demons swallow them all to stop Istven from doing the very thing they were fighting to give him the space to do. There was a lot on the line.

          Hellhounds, saber demons, vampires, and even some new spider-like creatures pounded against their gates while imps dive-bombed the soldiers along the parapets. Istven had brought tens of thousands of armored soldiers with him and somehow, they were barely holding out. From the vantage point Alex was currently using, he could see much of the battlefield. The soldiers on the South wall looked to be the worst off at the moment. He climbed down from the ladder he’d been using and beckoned the young orc girl following him around to come closer. She was his official go-between for the orc mystics. He might have complained about using a girl to pass messages in different times, today he was just glad she was quick on her feet and understood the language better than most orcs.

          “Yes?” the orc girl asked, already hopping up and down with the impatience of waiting to receive his message. Alex hardly remembered what it felt like to be that young. “Tell Thrandian to move Draevin to the South wall. Our men are getting gutted over there.” The little girl ran off, not even waiting to see if there was a follow-up to the first message. There wasn’t, but he still felt she should have waited to be dismissed before running off.

          Always reliable, Draevin was the most powerful air asset Alex had. Sure, he was letting a few imps get past him, but on the whole he’d probably killed more demons than anyone else. Imps swarmed him wherever he flew and he cut them down twice as fast, Alex was just annoyed that he had to work through intermediaries to get a message to him. Monitoring the Southern parapets, Alex winced as he saw a trio of imps pick up an armored soldier and drop him over the side. The more that kept happening the more the soldiers started looking up when they were supposed to be looking down at the demons trying to scale the wall.

          The gates continued to shake with the assault coming from the outside as Alex’s men dropped every nasty thing they could find down the murder holes. The city was surrounded. He’d barely had it recaptured for a day when four rings of fire opened in the air at the four cardinal directions to unleash the largest horde Alex had ever seen. There just seemed to be no end to them. It reminded him forlornly of the fight they’d had on their hands trying to take over the arena before the last Conflux. They’d had dragons on their side back then, why didn’t they have any dragons this time?

          Yet for all the micromanaging of battle strategy Alex was trying to do, none of it was supposed to be his job. For some reason Peter had insisted that using his lunamancy to keep some roots from growing in under the dirt was more important. He wanted to trust his nephew, but the immediacy of the threats just couldn’t compare. On one hand he had soldiers screaming and dying and asking for leadership… and on the other hand he had strange roots quietly growing in under the soil. They weren’t even bothering anyone. He just didn’t see the urgency. So in between giving orders and evaporating the occasional imp with his magic when he saw a chance, he used whatever power he was able to gather from the void to clear out any roots that had grown in under the soil since the last time he checked. It was so easy he had a hard time believing he was the only one that could do it. They didn’t even fight back! The hardest part was gathering the power he needed to do it, since he wasn’t permitted access to the fancy mana-generating device Peter had brought with them from Truntstown.

          “Are you okay, Alex?” the soldier next to him asked as he stood up from his most recent root-dissolving efforts. Alex knew the guy very well. He wasn’t one of the strangers Istven had brought with him, but Ryan, one of his oldest allies. Ryan didn’t actually have any of the kind of skills that overlapped well with managing an army, but today Alex just felt like keeping at least one familiar face close by. They had been through the hell of months in dark, stinking caves together and it gave them a sort of understanding the other soldiers running around couldn’t relate to. It’d felt to Alex for so long like his dirty resistance fighters had been the whole world, but now they were lost in a sea of unfamiliar faces, outnumbered 50-to-1 by the new recruits.

          Alex nodded to Ryan. “It’s just a little…”

          “Hard?” Ryan offered.

          Alex had been about to say “overwhelming” but he nodded anyway. Nobody would ever accuse Ryan of having an abundant vocabulary, but Alex tried not to correct him. It wasn’t his fault he’d never received an education, growing up as an Eldesian slave like he had. “Yeah,” Alex agreed. “It’s hard. They just don’t stop coming.”

          As he scanned the perimeter, Alex noticed that the East gate was getting bad. He pointed in that direction and told Ryan, “East gate. They’re the next worse off. I think they might need my help again.” The two of them hurried off. He hadn’t been by in over an hour. When they arrived a few minutes later, there was the same orc mystic carrying one of those fancy silver staves up on the parapet, looking out at the battlefield. He was in charge of this gate’s defenses.

          “Need some help?” Alex called up to him.

          The orc was in that middle age between youth and wizened wrinkles, his beard still short. Alex had always heard the orc mystics were a bunch of graybeards, so he found it strange that most of the ones that showed up were younger. The mystic looked down in Alex’s direction, his face creased with worry lines. “Not hold much longing,” he shouted back. Alex had already helped this particular orc twice before. He used some kind of telekinetic magic to make invisible barriers the enemy couldn’t get through anytime his defenders started to get overwhelmed. That his gate wasn’t currently being pounded on from the outside even though Alex had seen signs of faltering defenses on his way over told him one of those barriers was probably up now. It wouldn’t hold long; just enough to give his men a much-needed breather.

          “I see how it is,” Alex called back jovially as climbed the steps up the parapet. “Just waiting for me to do all your work for you?”

          “Is team work,” the orc mystic said.

          Yes. Team work was technically correct even if Alex was increasingly feeling like he was the one doing all the killing at this gate. He tried to keep an optimistic smile on his face as he climbed, as though it was all so easy and everything was going according to plan. It wouldn’t do if the mystics started to lose hope. His easy smile nearly faltered when he reached the top and saw the state of things. He’d been right about the barrier. A half-dome was currently cutting off the demons outside from reaching the gate, but it couldn’t possibly hold for long. The horde was piling up by the thousands trying to get in, climbing on top of each other in a small hill of bodies. If Alex didn’t do something quick the barrier would give out and all those demons would overwhelm the defenders.

          “It’s a… good thing I came,” Alex said, biting his tongue from making the far more descriptive assessment he wanted to make that involved how this guy was being an idiot and going to get everyone killed. Men could swap out and stay fresh, but it was the surges that overwhelmed and kept creating massive surges of demons to contend with. No matter how exhausted he felt Alex tried not to show it. Everything good he’d done his entire life was on the hook here; everything he’d tried to build with his Council; trying to make life better for the next generation for the first time in living memory instead of just more toil, more slavery. If Alex was going to toil, he was going to toil for his own ends. Toil, then death. His reward would be knowing it was all for a higher purpose.

          The mystic controlling the barrier gritted his teeth, his silver staff glowing bright with power. “Hurrying,” he grunted in a strained voice.

          Alex took a deep breath, then sucked down a gulp of water from the skin Ryan offered him. The water did seem to help a little bit. He stepped up to the edge of the parapet, then nodded. “Okay, I’m ready,” he reported. The mystic released his barrier in a gasp of relief and the crowded horde of demons pressing against it rushed forward.

          The void pulled at him, begging Alex to come back to it as soon as he closed his eyes. He was getting a lot better at controlling it, since first discovering it only yesterday, but he could also sense it trying to… change him. The battle disappeared around him, replaced by an endless, sucking darkness. It rushed into him even as it tried to kill him, it was almost more than he could handle. With limited access to local mana sources everyone these days was getting creative to find power sources, and for Alex that meant accessing the void. It seemed to him to be the secret to unlocking the true potential of his lunamancy magic. After a few seconds spent enduring ripping pain inside and out, Alex could feel his body brimming with the power of the void. He pulled himself back to the real world, taking that power back with him.

          Alex opened his eyes as the sounds of battle returned. Before him a crowd of demons rushed forward, climbing over themselves to be the first to reach the untouched Eastern gate. Alex sent his void magic down to intercept them. A wave of darkness rushed out of him, spilling over the walls like a low-hanging fog bank. Everything it touched disappeared. At first the demons didn’t know what was happening; then they tried to turn around only to be shoved forward by those behind them; by the end they were in full retreat, fleeing from the darkness like Alex was the demon. He cackled in delight to see so many enemies swallowed by his power. It hardly put a dent in the endless horde, but it was still satisfying. The respite he caused gave the orc mystic the space he needed to gather himself for the next wave. He reasserted his invisible wall as soon as Alex pulled his darkness back.

          Ryan gave Alex a hearty slap on the shoulder, handing him the waterskin again so he could recover the moisture to his swollen tongue. The side effects of exposure to the void were slowly building up, but Alex was determined to endure them as long as he could. “That never gets old,” Ryan said. “I’m so glad you’re on our side. I can’t believe lunamancy used to be banned!”

          Alex was about to try explaining for probably the tenth time to Ryan that the insane power of lunamancy was exactly why it was banned in the first place when a messenger bounded up the parapet steps, shouting out Alex’s name. It was another kid. A human this time. The kid skidded to a halt when Ryan raised a hand to let him know where Alex was. The boy took a second to catch his breath, then panted out, “Message… for… Alex!”

          “Out with it,” Alex commanded. “You can catch your breath later.”

          “You’re needed. At the North gate,” the messenger gasped. As soon as he got the words out, he keeled over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

          “North gate?” Alex asked. “You sure about that? I just sent Draevin away from there. The South gate is where they needed the most help. Does it need to be me? Can’t I just send them some reserve units?”

          The messenger shook his head emphatically. “Not. Reinforcements,” the boy said. “Need to speak to someone in charge. Istven is busy. They said to get you.”

          “Speak to… what? Who needs to speak to me?”

          The boy frowned. “I don’t know. I’m just the messenger. Said it was important.”

          Alex sighed. It was impossible to make good decisions when everyone claimed their local crisis was an emergency and couldn’t explain why. He glanced towards the South gate and saw Draevin flying up there, fighting off imps. They looked like they could hold their own for a while. “Fine,” Alex said. “I’ll go check it out, but it better really be important.” He took off down the steps at a jog, taking them two at a time. Ryan followed close behind.

          Once they reached the bottom of the steps Alex had to bob and weave between rows of soldiers laid out on the ground either recovering from exhaustion or injury. He tried to think of who could possibly need to talk to him while he ran. Not one of his officers, surely. Wouldn’t they just send a runner if they had a specific message? A liaison for the demons maybe? Someone come to negotiate their surrender? Alex was going to love sucking them into the void if Chaska’nal thought she could send someone to intimidate him. His army might be taking losses, but they were in a strong defensive position and they wouldn’t have to hold it for very much longer.

          When Alex reached the North gate the first thing he noticed was how eerily quiet it was compared to everywhere else he’d been. No demons were pounding on the other side of the gate, even though to the best of his knowledge this gate didn’t have an orc mystic protecting it with an invisible barrier. One of the former officers for Dwyra’s army raised a hand to beckon Alex over when he saw him get close. He had a platoon of soldiers under his command but they were all just standing around at the moment. Not even the ones up on the parapets were firing arrows down the other side. “Alex!” the officer called to him. “Over here.”

          “What’s this about?” Alex demanded, already getting angry. Of course it would be one of Dwyra’s former officers; they hardly knew how to make a decision on their own. “Why couldn’t you handle this on your own?”

          “I tried,” the man said, pulling his visor up so Alex could see his face, “but the kid said he only wanted to talk to someone in charge. He said he couldn’t negotiate with a gate captain.”

          “Kid?” Alex asked. “What kid? You’re not making any sense.”

          The captain pointed to the massive steel gate. “He’s outside. You should go talk to him, and quickly.” The captain led Alex to the gate, which he was distressed to find was cracked open enough to squeeze through. “He’s just through there,” the captain said. “It’s safe. My men are on the wall keeping watch.”

          Confused but not really sure what the right question to ask was, Alex walked through the gate. Outside he found an expanse of mostly empty red dirt. Dead demon bodies littered the ground, but no living demons were coming through the hell rift positioned a few hundred paces beyond the gate. In fact, the horde of demons on the other side of the rift were all dead, sprawled on the ground. The entire battlefield was empty except for one person. Standing patiently before the gate and clad in a tailored suit, was a pale-skinned elf boy that couldn’t have been more than nine years old, at least by human reckoning. His head didn’t reach more than midway up Alex’s chest.

          “Umm… hello?” Alex said uncertainly. Something was incredibly off about this child. He was so calm, so poised. Everything about his outfit was just so, down to the part in his combed hair. It was the eyes that actually gave Alex pause. They glowed with an internal green light.

          “Hello,” the child said in the kind of refined Caldenian accent that brought Alex back to his youth growing up on Calo manor. That was not to say he found it comforting; quite the opposite. “Are you the one in charge?”

          “I am,” Alex confirmed. He could have been more specific about how Istven was actually calling most of the shots now, but with him occupied it was truthful to say that everyone answered to Alex.

          The boy stuck out his hand to shake. “Hello, I’m Brorn. Nice to make your acquaintance.”

          Alex looked down suspiciously at the proffered hand. He didn’t take it. “That’s impossible,” he said, “I was here three years ago when Brorn died.”

          The boy smiled and coughed into his hand politely. “Oh, yes, that. Well I’m not the original Brorn, that’s true, but I’m the version of him that managed to survive in this”—he looked around significantly, his judgment clear—“new world,” he finished. “Slavery, was it? Was that why you people destroyed everything?”

          Alex didn’t dignify that with a response. “Why are you here?” he demanded. “What do you want?”

          Brorn looked up at the moon slowly working its way backwards across the sky as Istven moved it into position. “I noticed the Conflux was positioning itself to return,” he said. “With mana getting so hard to come by these days I thought I’d see if I could make a wish.”

          “The Conflux is ours,” Alex said in a warning tone.

          Brorn nodded easily, unconcerned. “Yes, I realized that when I got here. I’m not here to fight you for it. I noticed your current predicament and thought I’d offer my services in your time of… need.” He smiled the knowing smile of someone with far more knowledge of the world than any child could possibly have. “For a price, of course,” he added.

          “Of course,” Alex agreed. There was always a price.

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