Lord Taboon was more battle-thirsty. He looked forward to the prospect of using his dark magic tricks on human, suspecting and unsuspecting alike, magician or no magician.
Feel my wrath! the magician thought. The company he had contributed to the ranks of Henok’s army rode behind him. They wore robes too that had runes inscribed all over them. But unlike Sinto’s men, Lord Taboon’s were practitioners of dark magic, students of his who shared his maliciousness. Before embarking on the march, he had reinforced how important it was that they stay alive no matter what.
“Your lives are what matters to the Middle Kingdom’s victory,” he had told them. “Not the warriors. Yours. The longer you stay alive, the greater the chances of victory, and of course, I don’t need to tell you that you can’t go back to whatever lives you left before becoming my students. Don’t hesitate. Let all the darkness out. See this as the test of everything that I’ve ever taught you.”
As he approached Tonar steadily, he did not doubt that they would tear through the city, and as a consequence, show the whole of Toas that the Middle Kingdom would not be trifled with. They remained the undeclared and unofficial center of power in Toas and would be treated as such.
Without warning, they broke out of the trees and into a massive clearing. General Senay held out his hand at this point and signalled for the army to halt. The city of Tonar stood before them, several miles away, but unmistakable. Its walls shone a dull white in the darkness. Senay pulled out a spyglass from his belt and peered through it.
Exactly according to our projections, he thought, before pulling the spyglass from his eye and then handed it to Henok.
“My king,” he said, “You might want to take a look.”
Henok received the spyglass from the general and put it to his eye. It was dark, and he was not supposed to see the city so clearly, but the view he got was that of the entry gates firmly shut.
The spyglass was a magical instrument and provided its light, therefore, it was one of the excellent choices to bring along for surveillance. Henok directed the spyglass to the rampart. It was empty. He smiled. He had expected this.
The fools won’t even know what hit them, he thought.
He had spent a few years among the regular people of his court during the years following his ascension to the throne. And he had learned during that period that the people were generally less active during the early hours of the morning. It was the sweetest and deepest hour of sleep. And so it was that Tonar seemingly slept on, sitting ducks, as the massive army surrounded them. The very best strategists in Toas could see, even before the battle started, what direction it was going to take; and a number of them were present, as they carried the ranks of generals in the Middle Kingdom’s army. It was evident. They had come upon Tonar with the intent to carry out a massacre.
“My king,” Senay said as he came up to where Henok at on his horse, a little distance away from the main body of the army.
“Yes, general,” Henok responded.
“Everything is ready,” Senay said.
Henok stared one more time on the majestic walls of Tonar and pressed his lips together.
“Good,” he said. “Fire when you’re ready.”
Henok retreated behind the row of catapults, to where Sinto and Lord Taboons at in their horses, and he watched as General Senay ordered the first set of projectiles primed into the catapults. Then the soldiers made way for a row of Sinto’s men to come forward. Placing their hands over the projectiles they whispered:
“Fire and fury! Fire and fury!”
With a whoosh, the projectiles; boulders of rock cut perfectly to fit into the launch cups of the catapults – caught fire. The magicians stepped a few feet backward as a row of soldiers came forward and manned the catapults’ release levers.
Senay rose his hand into the air, and for a few seconds everything went silent, the anticipation of battle hung in the air like a whisper, and then he brought it down. The soldiers pulled down the levers, and the catapults twanged as they rose into the air, flinging the projectiles towards Tonar.
Henok’s face along with a considerable part of the army was illuminated by the fire on the moving projectiles. He had a pleased look on his face.
Now the ambitious Tonar must come to an end. All they’ll see is my fire falling from the sky like rain! the King thought.
Lord Taboon watched with a sneer on his face as the fireballs fell over Tonar, burning with magic fire.
Come on! Lord Taboon thought as he followed their trajectory. He was aching for action. And his skills were better employed on other things than putting fire to balls of rock. And he was looking forward to unleashing those skills.
Everyone watched as the balls of fire stopped abruptly over the air of the city, and scattered as if on impact. But there was nothing there! Just sky!
Could those be the mages of Tonar? Sinto asked himself. They weren’t supposed to be up by now, except maybe Tonar had taken to keeping sentries out on the lookout since Toas had begun descending into chaos. “Maybe we are the chaos.” He murmured while still being confused about what
