you. I would much rather have had my tea!’
Eric gave the old man his best cheeky smile. ‘You had to come and spoil our fun. We would have been done with the Gartens in another minute or two.’
The old man guffawed. ‘Nearly done for, is more like it, from what I saw. We were already making bets on which of you would be runthrough first. Now,why don’t you three take note of how things are done properly? For goodness sake; you gave up perfectly good highground and marched down amongst the enemy and let them surround you-a tactical sin of the worst degree! A blind oaf with a bucket on his head would not have stumbled into so great a calamity.’
The three red-faced magicians returned their attention to the valley, where the warhorses were cutting down the furredNorth-men by the droves. Their wedged formations thundered through the Gartens, before swinging around in great arcs to come back at them from the opposite direction. The Lions, meanwhile, had spread themselves further around the valley and were picking off any individuals who attempted to scramble up the difficult slopes, with spells that shot out like flashing arrows.
Not far from them, General Canard directed the battle, his captains and his trumpeters at his side. Master Crisp hovered there nervously, standing on his tiptoes to get a look over their shoulders at the maps in their hands.
A flash of magic drew Samuel’s attention as a distant figure came leaping across the valley and landed crouching beside them. It was Grand Master Gallivan and he wiped the sweat from his brow as he stood straight, letting the Leaping spell dissolve away from around him.
‘It’s not over yet, Janus,’ he said, setting his marvellous black moustache to wobble. ‘They’ve more men coming in from behind. Many more. They sent the wild men in first, but Otgart’s finest are waiting behind for their turn-heavy footmen. They’ll come at us next. We’re lucky we arrived when we did.’
‘Then we’ll withdraw the horses once they’re done and ready the defence,’ Anthem responded. ‘General!’ he called and strode over to give his advice. When he was finished, looking contented that his suggestion had been accepted, he strolled back, placing his palm above his eyes and peering to the distance.
‘Do you think they’ll attack again?’ Samuel asked.
‘They’ve no other way,’ Anthem replied, eyeing the valley slopes. ‘These hills are steep and treacherous in all directions, covered in rifts and crevices. Unless they want to spend a week crossing them, they need to come through here. It’s just a matter of how soon.’
Distant horns blew from the Gartens, sounding thin and faded, but it was enough to make the horsemen in the valley turn from their task and begin galloping their mounts back up the rise.
Anthem peered towards the distance. ‘It looks like they are coming already. They are impatient to meet their deaths.’
At the same time, General Canard’s commanders started barking orders and one of his signalmen drew a thin,patterned flag from its cover and began waving it high overhead. In immediate response, the Imperial forces readied. Hundreds of squads, each of a hundred men, raised their shields anddrewtheir swords. Rows of lancers and axeman and pikemen readied. Packs of archers and javelin throwers checked over their weapons one last time. Behind that, more and more men awaited, packed together, promising violence.
If the Gartens knew what lay waiting beyond the rise, they would perhaps have given up their assault and fled, for the sight of the Turian army, primed to be unleashed, was truly breathtaking.
Far behind, the town of Rampeny waited quietly while its fate was decided. Tiny figures could still be seen fleeing at its edges and,hopefully,most of the inhabitants would soon be away, but Samuel knew the old and the infirm were often left to fend for themselves in times like these, barricaded away inside their homes.
‘We shall meet them here,’ Anthem explained, never taking his eyes from theirfoes in thedistance. ‘This rise will be the deciding point of the battle.’
‘Will we win, Grand Master?’ Goodfellow asked nervously and,with that,the old man actually smiled.
‘Of course, young Master Goodfellow,’ he assured. ‘But,unfortunately, this is the kind of battle that could drag on for some time if they stand their ground. It makes little sense for us to waste our resources trying to drive them away, so we have nothing to lose by waiting it out. We are near to fresh provisions, while they have vast supply chains to maintain. Feeding their army will cost them dearly and I doubt they will be able to sustain their men here for too long. When that army begins getting hungry, dissent will begin running through its ranks. When we are reinforced with General Warren’s remaining forces, our position will be even more secure. Once they break their position and start their retreat,we can harry them all the way back to Garteny. Shame on them for not obtaining better intelligence! If they had known how defenceless the town was up until now, I am sure they would have hurried their plans and everything would have worked out differently. I understand it was your illusions that may have kept them at bay-luckily for us all.’
‘But why even bring the army to battle?’ Eric asked. ‘With you and the other Lions here surely we have won already?’
‘I wish it were so, Master Pot, but we can only do so much. The wild men of the north are easily routed once their might has been challenged, but the core of the Garten army is more disciplined and will fight on valiantly. They are experienced in fightingagainstmagicians and will,nodoubt,have brought many of their own. No, the Lions are certainly a boon for this battle, but the armies will decide its outcome. We will bide our time before we assist. If we wear ourselves out at the start, we could not counter their magic, should any be brought into play. Nevertheless, if our estimates of their numbers are correct, we will have the decisive victory, even without General Warren’s aid. Remember, too, that the war will go on long after this battle. We must keep our losses to a bare minimum so we can continue on to the Marrow River, where we hope to push the Gartens back even further. This seems to be rather a turning point in the war…at last.’
‘What can we do, Grand Master?’ Samuel asked, hoping to prove useful.
‘Sit tight, next to me. The Council’s command is to keep you from harm’s way and that order still stands. Just keep your eyes and your ears open. If I tell any of you to do something, you had better do it quickly and without question. You may not be boys any longer, but I can still clip your ears hard enough to teach you a lesson, should the need arise.’
A steady drumbeat sounded from the north, echoing along the valley and,in the distance,another great wall of invaders loomed. Old Grand Master Anthem looked towards them from beneath his forlorn brows and he considered the sight with a heavy heart.
‘How can it be that it has come to this again,’ the old magician said softly, ‘that I must once again face my own countrymen? Garten against Garten. I had promised old Grand Master Vim so much more than this. How our plans have fallen into disarray!’
‘Not by choice, Janus,’ Grand Master Gallivan consoled him. ‘None of us would be here, given the choice. This time, it was Otgart’s decision to bring the war to us. We did all we could to prevent this.’
Anthem sighed. ‘I’m sure he thinks he is doing the right thing. After all this time, given a chance to defeat the Empire, I can understand his decision to take the bull by the horns. If only his patience had lasted just a few yearslonger. We only needed a little more time to tame the ruinous Empire. Perhaps our promises did little to make good for the past sins of the Emperor?’
‘We can only do what we can,’ Gallivan responded.
It took a painfully long time for the next wave ofNorth-men to approach, for they marched abreast and without hurry, chanting and singing to the rhythm of their drums, until they stopped short some thousand paces away. Just as Anthem has said, these men had little in common with the wild brutes that had been sent in first. They stood proudly, donned in mail and leather armour and holding their swords and shields at the ready, awaiting their commands with patience. They looked almost a match for the Turian men.
‘Why have they stopped?’ Goodfellow asked in a whisper.
‘They are waitingbeyondour missile range,’ Anthem explained. ‘They will ready bowmen of their own, but we have the high-ground advantage and thus further range.’
‘Who will act first?’ Samuel asked, but Anthem did not answer. His mouth was hanging open in expectation and he was gazing along the rise to where his fellow Lions stood waiting, sentinels of the battle.
General Canard’s flagman shook a blue banner high and from behind came an incredible clatter as every Turian bowman unleashed his weapon in unison. The air hummed vibrantly, ominously darkened by the cloud of arrows that soared up and overhead. The arrows arched through the air, sailing high before raining down upon the battleground with a calamitous series of thuds and clacks,but little else. The Gartens had measured their ground
