Battle Magic

wind blew the stench of scorched meat and the dark, bleak scent of black powder into her face. Her stomach rolled.

She looked up, and her blood quickened. There was something … off … about the gigantic observation platform that had been at the heart of the imperial army. She got to her feet, shielding her eyes from the sun. Sections of the steps on the platform had collapsed, as if worms had eaten the wood. She could not see well enough to tell if there were bodies on them or not. And part of the entire platform listed sharply to the east. It looked as though a hole had appeared there, knocking the whole monstrous structure off balance.

To the west, on the open field, the city gates opened. Warriors dashed from Garmashing to attack the Yanjingyi army’s western flank; Gyongxin and Kombanpur troops charged past the resting shamans to fight on its southern front. Arrows flew in three directions. The translator was right: So many trees now grew between the observation platform and the Gyongxin army that it was impossible to target it with boulders or zayao bombs. The trees obstructed all vision for the remaining, more distant catapult engineers. They had as much chance of dropping a bomb or boulder on their own troops. Now the battle was down to archers and warriors. Everything was shrieking, bloody chaos, with no way to tell who was winning.

She took a breath and entered her mage’s trance. She would look for wood beads among the enemy’s mages, and see if she could turn them on their masters.

Evvy and Luvo had run out of catapult stones to turn to gravel. Evvy wasn’t tired in the least. Working with Luvo seemed to keep her strong. She wanted to do as much harm as she could. Turning her attention to the land, she filled as many middle-sized stones with power as she could and shook her magic. The stones were loose on the ground, having been stepped on by humans and horses and rolled over by carts and wagons. They moved easily at Evvy’s urging. Warriors and horses alike lost their footing. They backed up, crowding those behind them. Some fell as they discovered the ground in back of them or to the side was no more stable than that on which they stood.

Evvy heard screaming. She opened her eyes, back in her body again. A reddish cloud rolled toward them from the imperial lines.

“What is that?” she whispered.

It swept over part of Sayrugo’s troops as they fought a Yanjingyi company. When it cleared, the group of warriors — Yanjingyi and Gyongxin, as well as their horses — lay on the ground, their bodies twisted in agony. Evvy whimpered.

The shamans and their guards ran into the clear space in the middle of Sayrugo’s, Parahan’s, and Souda’s troops. Those with gongs rattled them all at once. As they did, the shamans spun counterclockwise. They then came together in a circle and turned counterclockwise again, chanting an eerie, deep-toned spell. They halted; those with gongs pounded them. The shamans whirled. Then they entered their circle and turned counterclockwise, chanting. With each repetition the earth boomed and the air shivered.

With the fourth repetition the red cloud stopped in its advance. It, too, began to spin counterclockwise, pulling in on itself and rising. Slowly, so slowly at first that she couldn’t be sure, the funnel retreated, or advanced on its own army. It had become a tornado.

The Yanjingyi soldiers directly in front of it panicked. They ran, fighting with fellow soldiers who were in the way. Some of the officers, mounted on horses, rode them down, lashing them with whips. Others galloped out of the tornado’s path. The cavalry farthest from the panic charged forward.

Taking advantage of the enemy’s confusion, Parahan led a charge of horsemen at the imperial lines. Evvy threw herself into the stones underground and raced ahead to help. She grabbed for sandstone: There was much more of it under the flat plain than in the hills. Finding pieces of it, she called the quartz crystals in it to her. They popped free of the other minerals and followed her as stone after stone went to pieces. Suddenly the Yanjingyi cavalry horses were charging in sand.

Evvy was dizzy. She left her crystals and returned to her body. She was aware enough to do that. There she made the discovery that she was too weak to move or call for help. She squinted down at the field. Sayrugo’s and Parahan’s soldiers were cutting a huge gap in the Yanjingyi lines. On her left, soldiers were pouring out of Garmashing. They smashed into the imperial army. Everything on that side was a mess. The Yanjingyi warriors were retreating if they could. The tornado was chopping the side of the imperial army on her right to pieces. Now it was shrinking, too. Dead soldiers and horses lay everywhere.

Where was Luvo in her magic? She groped with her power and found a rope that seemed to lead to him. It took her to a side of the observer’s platform that was falling into a hole in the ground. Since she hadn’t caused that, and his rope led her there, she wondered if Luvo was responsible. The Yanjingyi soldiers wouldn’t like seeing their generals tilting sideways.

The thought made her giggle.

As far as she could see, trees grew everywhere, though the plain had been treeless. They had sprung from the remains of catapults. Had Rosethorn and Briar done all that? She had known them for only two years. They had done interesting things before, but never so much….

Her mind was wandering. She wished she had something to drink, or something to eat, or a bed. She was very tired, but she wanted to see how the battle came out. Surely the emperor had more soldiers than this.

She had the sense to dismount from her horse. She almost stepped on Luvo, who had somehow gotten out of his scarf-sling on her chest. His spirit was not in the stone body she thought of as Luvo, she discovered when she tried to apologize. She gave up and let her horse’s reins trail on the ground. “Don’t go away,” she told him. Then she sat down.

Riverdancer found her and took charge of her. She made Evvy sit with her and her group of shamans, bundling her up in blankets and scolding until Evvy drank tea. Evvy tried to explain that normally she wasn’t so tired after a little bit of magic, except she had been breaking catapult stones and sandstone and limestone when she wasn’t shaking rocks under people’s feet. The explanation seemed far more complicated than it should have been, particularly when Riverdancer kept patting her on the shoulder, as if to say, “It’s all right.”

Evvy awoke on a saddle. She lolled against someone who gripped her tight with one arm while he managed his horse with another. She looked up and back. Jimut smiled down at her. “Are you alive, brave girl?” he asked.

“I’m not brave,” she said blearily. “I’m hungry. I was with Riverdancer.”

“There will be food when you’re settled at First Circle,” he said. “I have tea.”

“Tea’s good,” she said, and fell asleep again.

The next time she opened her eyes, Jimut was carrying her through a plaster-walled corridor. “Rosethorn? Briar? Luvo?” she asked.

Someone poked the back of her head. “Nice of you to ask.” Briar was being helped along by one of Jimut’s friends. He was ashen under the deeper bronze tan he had picked up during their travels. “Where did you go to?”

“I was working on stones,” Evvy said. “Rosethorn and Luvo?”

“Luvo’s coming.” Jimut carried her into a room. Rosethorn sat on a bed large enough for all three of them. There was another bed behind a screen. Briar’s companion helped him to that.

“Healing,” Rosethorn mumbled. “The wounded …”

“The city is full of healers. Most are in better shape than you, and you made the choice to be a battle mage,” Jimut said. He set Evvy on her side of the bed she would share with Rosethorn. Nearby was a small table with bowls of barley flour mixed with butter tea and dried cheese. He handed a bowl and spoon to Evvy. She began to eat, looking at Rosethorn with silent apology for not waiting. To her shock Rosethorn reached over and rubbed the top of her head.

“You’re sure we aren’t needed?” Briar asked as Jimut carried a bowl over to him. He pointed to Rosethorn. “She’ll fuss and fret even if she isn’t strong enough to crawl.” He ate a spoonful, then set his bowl on the floor, put