AO 5 Ch 22

Chapter 22

Clarence knelt in the canoe. It was a makeshift thing carved up in the woods, but it would do.

Ten other men were stuffed into it with him. A few of them were pushing against the bottom of the river with sticks, trying to move downstream as quietly as possible.

The supply depot was a beacon on the hill in front of them. Mirror lights lit up the perimeter, while mage lights beamed from inside the buildings. 

The man in front of Clarence was beginning to breathe heavily, his hands tight on his sword.

"Don't forget," Clarence put a hand on his shoulder, "the mages need to go first. Our job is to hit the perimeter as hard as we can and draw the mages out." Clarence spoke softly, yet his voice carried through the entire canoe. They needed to stick to the plan if this had any chance of success.

The bandits, as they often pretended to be, all nodded in understanding. They'd had this conversation several times already. 

Their group lacked the magical power that was going to be in this depot. With a dozen anchors all filled up with magic from their single mage, the hope was that those anchors could take out the enemy mages quickly. They just needed to be drawn out and into the fight where the anchors could swiftly engage and kill them. 

If the anchors went in first. No doubt they would be swarmed and held down by the mage-forged and these mages' anchors before they could deal significant damage. Once a mage was established and ready for a fight, there was little an average person could do besides throw themselves at the mage in hopes that they’d eventually tire. "Topple the tower," Hugo said deeply behind him, "set fire to the palisade and don't die." 

"That's the plan, Hugo." Clarence patted the simple man on the knee, the canoe sloshing slightly as the big man adjusted himself. Those pushing the canoe down the river threw their sticks aside and leaned against the side of the boat. 

"Hugo, lean the other way," one of them hissed. The big man shifted and the first bandit leapt out of the canoe on the other side. It only wobbled slightly with Hugo's weight, counterbalancing him. The exodus sparked the rest and bandits poured out of his canoe and the canoes in front and behind them. 

Just at the edge of where the firelight reached, bandits flooded like a swarm of ants out of the river.

Shouts rose up in the supply depot. Torches were being waved back and forth at the top of the towers and Clarence heard the first whiz of an arrow overhead, landing far short of the group, but it was enough to make the bandits roar in challenge, no longer bothering to hide, as they began sprinting towards the depot. 

Clarence cursed under his breath, "Idiots." Then again, they were supposed to be a distraction. Clarence kept up with his men, staying in the middle of the pack, his eyes darting around, hoping for some sort of miracle. 

That merchant, or rather that mage pretending to be a merchant, would hopefully show and do something. He was young and with four anchors. Clarence had no illusion that he wasn't at least somewhat important.

Hopefully he wasn't some spoiled noble's child that only had anchors do the work for him. Clarence recalled the anchor’s voluptuous body and then shook his head. He'd expected too much of the young mage, of course. He wasn't capable enough to really make a difference, was he? 

More arrows rained down into the group and bandits began to fall.

Not that Clarence could stop to help them. Continuing to rush, the palisade wall braced at an angle so that his men would have to be careful as they ran, avoiding the spiked tips and getting behind the walls.

Guards with spears and pikes were filing in behind the palisades, trying to keep the bandits from overwhelming them. 

The first wave of bandits all raised crossbows and at this distance, the bolts tore through the pikemen as if they were parchment.

Hugo roared, leaping over and into the pikemen with his big heavy mace, blowing a handful of the dying guards away with a single swing. Hugo’s size and the sudden gap in the guards rallied the bandits. They shouted and converged into the opening like madmen. 

"Spread out!" Clarence shouted at them, attempting to regroup the men who were already running around aimlessly.

He grabbed two men and pulled them off to the side, trying to divert the stream of bandits himself. 

His worst fear happened next. A fireball launched from the top of the estate right onto that bottleneck, where Hugo and many of his men were far too clustered. The explosion of fire swept over his men, and Clarence was forced to shield his face from the wave of heat.

The smell of smoke and cooked meat hit him next, his nose wrinkling as the space Hugo and so many of his men had just been standing inside was now filled with charred bodies. 

"Damn it, Hugo!" Clarence cursed.

The two that Clarence had grabbed were looking at him gratefully, and he pushed them forward. "Don't group up. Hit the tower. Pick up anything that's on fire and try to light the towers." He’d use the fire for their own purpose.

Clarence reasoned that if their enemy had any sense in building those towers, they wouldn't be that flammable. But hopefully, the newness of them meant that they were rushed jobs. Not to mention, the nobles and mages rarely held their common guard's lives as an important part of their consideration.

He knew that the current wave of the ruling class of Garrish were a pitiful people that were only destined to run the entire kingdom into the ground.

It was shockingly easy to recruit for bandits and the cause amongst Garrish people. Few hadn't been affected by the drop in food nor the disappearance of healers. 

More fireballs streamed from the top of the fort as his men did as he asked, snatching up still-burning pikes and running them over to create a small pile at the bottom of one of the towers. Clarence himself ripped a torch off the wall and added it to the pile, while also getting a look at the base of the tower. The struts were charred black, hardened with fire. They wouldn't burn that easily. However, the walls and the stairs looked like freshly cut timber. Clarence grinned as he could see fibers at the end of them already beginning to curl and catch. 

"More! Throw more on the tower!" Clarence shouted at his men as guards came down from the tower while others tried to shoot them from above. Clarence wasn't bothered in the slightest by the rain of arrows or the spells above. They were doing their role and he was striking back against the people who took his lady from him. 

He drew his sword as a soldier came around the camp, running at him with a spear. Clarence flicked the spear aside, the guard hadn't been trained beyond which end of the pointy stick went towards the enemy with how weak his thrust had been. It was almost laughable how green he was.

Clarence disarmed him and kicked him back on his ass before grabbing the spear, sheathing his sword, and stabbing the young man in the gut with the spear. 

"It's not personal," he said as the young man grasped the spear, blood welling up in his throat. 

"Fucking bandits," the boy cursed. "The last thing I'll do, I'll kill. I'll take a dirty bandit's life." 

He tried to throw a knife at Clarence but he easily deflected the hit, twisting the spear and ripping it out. 

"Chose the wrong team. Don't hate me for it," he said, stabbing again, this time going for the young man's throat.

The young man struggled and tried to protect himself with his hands.

Clarence flicked the spear, it wobbled, and the sharp tip slashed a dangerous gash across the boy's head. Before Clarence whipped it back again, taking a good chunk of his cheek and throat.

The young man stopped trying to defend himself and instead was preoccupied with trying to keep the blood from spilling out. 

Clarence stared down at the young man without an ounce of sympathy. There was some blame to be given for his naivety on the people behind him, but ultimately everyone had an option, and he had chosen the wrong one. 

Suddenly, Clarence was hit from the side by a dagger with far too much force, causing him to twist and spin, landing on the ground and knocking the wind from his lungs.

Cloaked figures,, mage-forged, rushed over the battlefield in response to the bandits.

The dark-clothed, half-monster, half-person abominations spilled out over the bandits. Each one wasn't as strong as an anchor, but despite their significantly smaller frames, they could all have toppled Hugo in a wrestling match. These monsters had the strength of two to three men.

They batted the bandits' weapons aside, throwing bandits through the air and skewering them with inhumanly quick reflexes. 

Clarence played dead on the ground for a moment.

The mage-forge that had thrown the dagger at him was already distracted with another bandit. They were simple beings, not much intelligence or strategy between them, more akin to sicking trained wolves on someone than an actual fighter. 

"Come on," Clarence murmured, sliding the dagger out and quickly stuffing cloth into the wound, trying to soak up the blood and apply pressure.

While he worked to get battle ready again, he scanned the area, looking for the mages and anchors to come out. The mage-forge were replaceable. Some of his bandits tonight would likely be captured and turned into them if they failed, but the mages and anchors at the manor were in limited supply. 

Clarence watched as a haughty woman, dripping with necklaces and in a fine dress, stepped out of the estate.

Mages were powerful, and that power often made them let their guard down.

Clarence gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He may not be a mage or an anchor, but it didn't mean he was without his own magic. Scribbled on the hilt of the sword, the magic glowed so dim that if it wasn't such a darkly cast night, it would not have shown at all.

It was a small enchantment to double his strength for a few moments.

Still, it was enough for Clarence to jump to his feet and charge the mage  before her mage-forged could turn and stop him. His body burned with the activation of the enchantment. He knew, at least briefly, he would be a match for the mage-forge.

Not that it mattered, he rammed his sword into the mage's gut before a mace broke his ribs and sent him flying. He did everything he could to hold onto his sword tightly and rip it out of the mage's torso to do maximum damage as he was sent flying by her anchor. 

Clarence rolled in the dirt as the mage screamed, grasping at her leaking chest and the anchor exploded with fire, killing several more of the bandits in a fit of rage. Clarence chuckled, rolling, turning his head just enough to watch his success.

Mages weren't immortal.

He smirked, feeling the blood well up in his throat as he coughed and spat it on the ground. But this was war, and it never had a happy ending, at least not for men like him. Here, in this nameless battle, taking a mage's life was the best way he could end it. 

However, Clarence watched with horror as several pale figures emerged from behind the mage, grabbing her and biting her with overly pronounced fangs that didn't belong in a human's mouth. The mage's screaming redoubled, and the anchor stepped aside, looking sickened, as several more cloaked figures came from deeper inside the estate.

***

It had taken what felt like an eternity for the bandit attack to commence. But once it did, the fight progressed rapidly. Eva and I were peering through the shadows, watching the fight unfold. I spotted a boss and watched his heroic charge towards the mage, wincing as the anchor broke him with a heavy blow. 

"What are..." Eva began, only to gasp. I turned away from where I was watching the boss, only to see what had captured her attention. They weren't nearly as fast as Colin, for which I thanked Missy. But all of them seemed to be corrupted, similar to Colin.

Though they were without the Garrish officer's intelligence; it appeared as if they were being held on a leash by the mages behind them. 

A chill ran down my spine as one of the hooded figures turned towards the shadows through which I was currently peering.

With a flick of his wrist, light magic exploded and my vision burned.

I had to step back and use life magic on myself to heal my eyes. Eva cursed next to me and I put a hand on her, flooding her with life magic as well. 

"Well, at least he knows there's a mage here," I said.

"What happened?" Zuri asked. 

"Enemy mage blinded us through our spell," Eva replied, still rubbing at her eyes. "Damn bastard got us both good. It looks like they have a pack of corrupted."

"Did you get the sense that one of those mages was controlling them?" Zuri asked.

I nodded. "I couldn't see anything, but I could have sworn they were all on a leash. At least, that's how it felt to me."

Even from where we stood, far away from the conflict, there was a noticable ripple in the fighting. The corrupted rushed forth into the bandits, slaughtering them in quick, efficient movements. That's when the bandits' real attack launched. Somewhere high above, there must have been a mage hidden in the night sky, because anchors fell down atop the roof of the estate, rushing headlong into the group of mages that had appeared. 

"Nice!" Emlyn cheered. "I think they have the right of it. In we go." She glanced over at me.

"Let's move closer." I agreed.

We were far enough away that the distance would make it challenging to do any significant works of magic. My words were enough, though, and Zuri scooped me up, throwing me over her shoulder and jumping out from the trees, rushing towards the fort. Emlyn and Maribelle shot ahead of us. Unburdened and filled with lightning magic, Emlyn was like a blinding spear, piercing through the night. 

Aurelia had Eva, and kept pace with Zuri.

As we crossed the open gap where trees had been cleared around the estate, I watched as Emlyn jumped high over the palisade wall, her sword slamming down at the base of one of the towers and sending giant splinters of wood everywhere before the tower crumpled and began collapsing towards the estate. 

Aurelia next to me snorted, "Showoff." She and Zuri were just now reaching the base of the hill and taking long strides as they started heading up the terrain.

We had lost sight of the fight at the front of the estate, where the mages had been ambushed by the anchors. However, with the flashes of light coming over the edge, it was clear they were still locked in bitter conflict. 

I knew the bandit side mostly had the element of surprise as their advantage.

Once the Garrish military mages engaged were able to fight back, that pack of anchors would quickly be overwhelmed. Zuri carried me all the way up to the palisade wall before setting me down and drawing her bow. She didn't say anything as she began to pick off mage forges one after the other with blinding arrows of light. 

Eva hissed at her, "You're going to attract attention."

"Not more than Ard," Zuri shot back, continuing to let loose arrows of rapid fire. At this point I could see the front of the estate. The anchors had managed to kill two of the mages, or at least downed them. However, the pack of corrupted had turned away from the bandits and were currently engaging the rebel anchors. 

From my new vantage point, I could see they'd been pushed onto the defensive as those corrupted fought like wild animals, but had no regard for their own safety. They were all serpent corrupted, healing from their cuts just moments after receiving any blow.

That's when I saw Maribelle appear behind the group of mages with bluesteel knives. She severed the head of one of them before she jumped back as fire scorched her head to toe.

Seeing Maribelle hurt pissed me off. I reached for my magic, not just my spheres, but my soul magic as well. As I stared at the pack of mages, I could instantly feel that two of them had protections around their soul. Yet, the other one that still stood had nothing.

With a thought, the unprotected mage’s head exploded like an overripe watermelon. 

I waved my hand at several mage-forged coming towards us.

They too exploded with ease. My soul felt solid as I channeled magic through the blue steel walls of Soulguard while drawing on my wolf sphere for earth magic. More soldiers and mage-forged were becoming aware of my presence on the battlefield and turning toward me. But with a wave of my hand, I connected my magic to all of the metal I could. 

There was nothing graceful about the next moment as I shoved the metal hard away from me.

Thankfully, the battle lines were still fairly rigid.

With the way I shoved, bandits, spears, and swords thrust out and away from them, some even into their opponents.

However, all of the depot's forces suddenly had their swords and spears swinging back towards their own heads. The massive moment of chaos was followed by a number of screams announcing a plethora of soldiers' deaths. Oftentimes in battle, a second made all of the difference. 

I panted, my arms still outstretched. That move had taken more effort and put some strain on my soul. I didn't think it was cracked, but Aurelia had to grab my shoulder to keep me steady. It had certainly worn me out. 

"Shit, Eva," I started, turning to look at her to make sure she was okay.

"Why don't you just win the whole battle for us, Ard?" Eva asked dryly.

"Trying," I replied, an ache in my throat. 

The mages, however, seemed undisturbed by the sudden flurry of metal flying through the air, and those serpent-corrupted certainly weren't bothered. Most of them were wearing little more than a loincloth. My thrust of metal had thrown more than a few of the allied anchors off-balance, causing the serpent-corrupted to surge forward. 

That's when Emlyn appeared in a crash of thunder, turning one of the serpent-corrupted into a smoldering clump of coal. Her sword lit up the night as lightning ran up and down.

The pure bluesteel sword caught my attention. Most of the weapons I'd seen in Garrish were of poor quality. Emlyn's sword was far better at conducting magic. Not to mention, she had full access to all of the lightning magic that I hadn't used when I called upon the wolf sphere for earth magic, and it poured out of her in waves. 

She kept her sword in the corrupted, making sure she thoroughly charred the corrupted. The last thing we needed was for these corrupted to surprise us and somehow rejoin the battle.