“Can you put heat on the ammunition stacked next to it?” There were men and women in dark Mechanics jackets working that gun, but she couldn’t afford to think about that.
Alain shaded his eyes with one hand. “The pile of objects near the weapon? I can barely see it, but it shines like the shells of Mechanic Alli’s guns.”
“Yes. That’s the brass of the shell casings.”
“I can see it well enough to put heat there. It will be good to use some of the power available before the attacking Mages drain it.” He held his right hand out before him.
Mari felt the growing heat radiating from the spot above his palm where Alain was, in his own words, creating the illusion of great heat to place on part of the immense illusion that was the world he saw. She noticed Sergeant Kira and the other nearby soldiers watching with awe. Odds were, none of them had seen a Mage working a spell from so close before.
Alain relaxed.
The sharp reports of the Mechanic artillery were interrupted by a much bigger explosion as the ammunition for the medium deck gun exploded. The front of the ship blew apart in a flurry of wood splinters, a cloud of smoke rising into the sky.
Cheers rolled across the wall as the defenders applauded the setback for the Imperials and the Great Guilds. The other two Mechanics Guild ships began backing away frantically, rendering their deck guns useless. “They’re not used to this kind of setback,” Mari said to Alain. “They’re spent their lives being able to pound on commons from a distance with impunity.”
But even though the Mechanics Guild artillery was temporarily out of the fight, the Imperials and their ships kept coming to the docks, avoiding wreckage to offload what seemed to be a never-ending stream of legionaries and siege weapons.
“Mages are preparing spells,” Alain said. “They are in front of us.” He pointed straight ahead, where the roads from the waterfront opened out.
Mari used her far-seers again, spotting some Mage robes among the advancing legions but searching in vain for the dark jackets of Mechanics. “They’re not going to coordinate their attacks with the Mechanics like my army does, are they?”
“The elders of the Mage Guild would not deign to do so,” Alain said. “Our former guilds are surely competing with each other. One will strike, then the other.”
“I didn’t think they’d be that dumb. They must have heard reports of how my army fights. If Mechanics were getting in position to fire on us with rifles we’d have a much harder time coping with the Mages. Hopefully we can hit them before—"
“Let the largest spells be cast,” Alain said.
Mari gave him a frown. “Why?”
“First, because they will use up almost all of the power available in this area. That will leave little for all of the other Mages to use.” Alain nodded down the battlement toward some of the soldiers waiting for the attack. “But also because our troops are worried by the size of this assault and how it has the full backing of the Great Guilds. If the Mage Guild throws its worst at you, and you destroy their worst with the dragon killers of Alli, it will greatly bolster the confidence of our comrades.”
Her frown vanished as Mari nodded. “You are one smart Mage. I’m glad I married you. All right. Hold off using any more spells, keep your strength, until the Mechanics make their play. I’ll see if I can handle the Mage Guild threat.”
“Your chance will come quickly.” Alain pointed again. “Much of the power available has just been used. A mighty spell was cast there.”
Mari bent down and grabbed a dragon killer.
Cries of alarm burst out among the defenders as a huge shape appeared on the edge of the open area facing the wall. The dragon was tall enough to overtop the battlement, charging straight for the wall near the main gate with its claws extended.
Mari ran along the battlement, trying to get directly in the path of the oncoming monster.
Chapter Six
Mari dodged past defenders who were, perversely, blocking her by standing their ground. Even worse, an officer who got a glimpse of her running past flung out an arm to stop her. “Get back to your post!”
“I’m not running away!” Mari yelled at the startled officer. “I’m trying to stop that thing!”
The open area between the nearest buildings and the wall had seemed pretty wide when she had walked across it yesterday after their failed negotiations with the Imperials. But at the moment, with the dragon making long strides, it seemed far too narrow.
Fortunately, she gained some time when the dragon paused, its eyes scanning the battlement.
Those eyes fell on her.
The dragon’s roar seemed to shake the wall. It leaped forward toward her as Mari shoved aside some soldiers and rested the dragon killer tube on the battlement. “Make sure no one is behind me!” She aimed at the upper chest of the spell creature, breathing slowly, her finger slowly squeezing the trigger.
In the back of her mind Mari remembered a time years ago, when Alli had been teaching her to shoot, explaining how the easiest shots were against something coming straight at you. There’s no way you can miss that kind of shot, Mari.
Yeah, yeah, Mari had said. And then had missed the practice target right in front of her.
The dragon was less than ten lances from the wall when the rocket fired, trailing a stream of smoke until it struck the beast hard enough to knock it into a sideways stagger, the sound of the warhead’s explosion echoing off the wall. The creature’s stagger continued for two more steps to Mari’s left, the smoke of the explosion clearing to reveal the size of the hole in its chest, then the clumsy sideways movement turned into a fall.
Mari had just inhaled deeply when Alain called urgently. “Another dragon is being created! There!”
“I thought you said the first one used up a lot of the available power!” Mari ran back to where the second dragon killer lay, soldiers shocked by the destruction of the first dragon once again milling about in her path. She reached the weapon and picked it up just as the second dragon appeared. It wasn’t quite as large as the first, but still terrifying as it charged straight for where Mari’s banner waved on the wall.
That made aiming easy again, which was fortunate given how close the monster was. Mari barely had time to ready the weapon, settle the tube on her shoulder, aim, and fire.
In her haste, she had aimed too high, and almost missed.
The rocket struck the dragon on the muzzle, sending its deadly spray of explosive through the spell creature’s head and out the back. The beast reeled, then fell to lie in a heap at the base of the wall, still twitching.
Sergeant Kira’s rifle barked, then a moment later fired again. Mari looked over to see Alain pointing out to her the Mages who had created the dragons, standing on the far side of the open area as if trying to understand how their creatures had been so quickly dealt with. One of the Mages fell to lie still. The other dropped from the impact of Kira’s second shot but then began crawling away, hidden by the legionary formations that were steadily growing as more and more Imperials got through the dwindling flames of the waterfront.
Mari stood up, still holding the last, empty dragon killer weapon. The single-shot devices were useless now.
It felt unnaturally quiet. Everyone on the battlements within eyesight was staring at her, as were the masses of legionaries looking up at the wall.
She turned to say something to Alain, then lurched as the defenders erupted into cheers that nearly deafened her as they finally absorbed that she had killed two dragons nearly as fast as they could be created.
“I guess you were right about the morale thing,” she shouted at Alain over the noise. Even though she felt ridiculous to be doing it, Mari raised up the empty dragon killer tube and waved it triumphantly, setting off more cheers.
She wondered what the cheering defenders would say if they knew that she had used up all of her dragon killers.
“More spells,” Alain shouted back to her over the tumult. “Not dragons. Not enough power
remains here for more of them. Five of one spell and something else. A roc.”
A roc. To carry word somewhere else, or to attack the battlement? “Sergeant Kira,” Mari said. “Give me back that rifle.”
She had barely taken the weapon when Mari saw the roc appear, the huge bird gliding out of the smoke rising from the waterfront fires, its claws extended to rake the soldiers on the battlement.
It was moving very fast, but Mari had been practicing since almost being killed by a roc at Minut. She had learned how to aim at a fast-moving object by firing at targets pulled behind rocs created by her own Mages. As the roc approached, wings extended, to Mari’s right, she aimed at the Mage on the back of the bird, her rifle muzzle moving smoothly to give her a slight lead on her target. A target who was a Mage perhaps like Mage Alera or Mage Saburo.
A Mage who had to die. Mari squeezed off the shot, and a moment later the Mage on the roc jerked backwards and then forwards before falling limply from the bird to plummet down to the stone below. Unguided, the roc swerved upward, flying about aimlessly in futile search of the Mage who had created it and now lay on the ground unmoving.
“The others are trolls,” Alain said. “There is almost no power left on that side of the wall for the use of Mages. They can do nothing more to concern us.”
“That’s good news.” Mari spotted Colonel Teodor. “We’ve got trolls coming!”
“Trolls?”
“Five of them!” She looked to where Alain was pointing. “There! All coming toward this gate!”
“We can handle trolls!” Colonel Teodor called back.
The large, misshapen spell creatures came lumbering toward the gate. Five trolls, just as Alain had said. Slow, but very strong.
Mari tossed the rifle back to Sergeant Kira. “See how many more Mages you can take out.”
Sergeant Kira aimed and fired, taking time between each shot. Mari saw more Mages fall. They weren’t seeking cover, apparently oblivious to the danger as Kira’s rifle killed one after another.
“The Mage Guild elders have told them that Mechanic rifles are toys, incapable of threatening them,” Alain said. “Just as they told me, even after the caravan I was supposed to protect was destroyed in the Waste.”
Colonel Teodor ran up, saluting Mari. “If those dragons and the roc had cleared these battlements, we couldn’t have stopped the trolls. Thank you, Lady.”
“Why aren’t the legionaries firing?” Mari demanded. “If they were hitting us with crossbow volleys—"
Alain answered, his voice toneless. “Mages have no need of aid from shadows. The Mage elders would have demanded that the Imperials stay out of their way.”
Wondering just how many people had died over the centuries because of the arrogance and ignorance of their superiors, Mari watched the defenders nearest the gate wrestling barrels close to stone spouts angling down from the battlement.
As the trolls neared the gate, the barrels were tipped, thick liquid gushing into the spouts and arcing out from the top of the wall.
Flaming torches were hurled from the battlement, and the oil on and around the trolls caught with a whoosh and gouts of dark, greasy smoke.
Mari looked away, flinching, as the trolls burned.
They kept coming, because that was all they knew to do. Two trolls fell, still burning. Three of the trolls made it all the way to the gate before crumpling into smoldering heaps.
Temporarily out of valuable targets, Sergeant Kira pointed to the masses of legionaries. “Look at them! They thought with the Mage Guild giving them support they could just walk right over us! And instead they’ve seen the Mages’ weapons rendered useless!”
“Will there be more?” Colonel Teodor asked anxiously.
Alain shook his head. “I can still draw on power behind this wall. But those Mages have used all but a tiny amount of what power was there. You will face no more spell creatures attacking this wall.”
“Get that word to the field marshal,” Teodor ordered a nearby soldier, who dashed off.
Mari turned to say something to Alain and saw the nearby soldiers staring at her, some smiling, others displaying awe that made Mari feel uncomfortable. “What?” she asked Sergeant Kira.
“You’re asking what?” Sergeant Kira shook her head in disbelief. “Lady, they’re looking at you because you killed two dragons and the Mage on a roc as quickly as if they had been two chickens and a pigeon.”
“Thanks, but I didn’t kill them all on my own,” Mari said. “Mechanic Alli built those dragon killers. Mechanic Calu helped me figure out how to hit something moving as fast as a roc. Mage Alain told me what to expect and where they would come from.” She raised her voice, so her words carried down the battlement in both directions. “It’s a team effort, don’t you see? We’re all going to hold Dorcastle from being taken by the Imperials. We are all going to overthrow the Great Guilds. All of us, fighting together.”
“I hear you,” Sergeant Kira said. “Teamwork is very important. But so are leaders.”
Klaus himself appeared a few minutes later, eyeing the situation outside the wall. “The legions still aren’t moving,” he commented to Mari and Alain. “The Mage Guild has made its try. Am I right that the Mechanics will now insist on their chance?”
“Could anything other than a demand by one of the Great Guilds have restrained Prince Maxim from throwing the legions against this wall already?” Alain asked in turn.
“I cannot think of anything, Sir Mage.” Klaus gave Mari a keen look. “I have been told that your army has been very successful using Mages and Mechanics. Is this how you fight, sending in one kind and then the next?”
“No,” Mari said, watching the numbers of legionaries continuing to swell. “In my army, everyone works together, the Mechanics and the Mages supporting each other as well as the commons.”
“How would that have worked here?”
Mari pointed to where the legions were gathering. “Commons with rifles and crossbows would have kept our heads down while Mage creatures cleared a path to the gates and Mechanics came close behind to plant explosives. Other Mages on rocs would fly above, Mechanics on them with far-talkers telling us everything that was happening and what the enemy was doing. And my artillery would be dropping shells where they were needed to break the defenders.”
Klaus pondered her words as he gazed at the waiting, silent legions. “I am feeling fortunate to be among your allies and not your enemies, Lady. Lacking preconceptions of how battles should be fought, you created a new system to maximize the advantages of your forces. I hope I get the chance to discuss tactics with your General Flyn.”
“I’ll make sure that happens,” Mari said. Field Marshal Klaus headed off the check other parts of the wall, leaving Mari gazing at the apparently endless stream of legionaries still gathering for the assault. She had seen many legionaries fall under the blows of ballista projectiles, but for each that fell many more appeared. It was like fighting a beast which added more claws for each one severed.
Colonel Teodor came quickly along the battlement. “Do you know what will come next, Lady?”
Mari closed her eyes, thinking. “There’s a weapon the Mechanics Guild has. I’m sure they’ll use it. I can’t stop it.” Mari saw immediate looks of dismay “But Mage Alain can. When it shows up, I’ll show you how to deal with it.”
Most of the bombardment so far had been from the defending side, its projectiles falling on the legions and the Imperial ships. But as the waterfront fires subsided, the Imperials were getting ballistae ashore, and some of the ships in the harbor had gotten the range. Enemy projectiles had begun plummeting down. Only a few hit the battlement, most either thudding against the thick stone of the wall or passing completely over to crash among the buildings behind the wall. Some of the Imperial projectiles were aflame, starting fires behind the first wall that threatened to trap the defenders just as the legionaries had earlier been penned in. One of the flaming shots struck the battlement directly not far to
Mari’s left, sending sparks and burning fragments in all directions.
The reserves on ground level were rushing to put out the fires started by the Imperial bombardment. With the Imperial legions still standing in place, there was more activity behind the wall than before it.
The defenders’ ballistae shifted their aim from the streets leading from the waterfront and began dropping their deadly rain on the ranks of legionaries drawn up on the far side of the open area. The legions locked shields above them, offering some protection from the bombardment but not nearly enough.
Mari raised her far-seers and spotted a cluster of Imperial officials behind the legions who appeared to be arguing with a group of Mechanics. “The Imperials aren’t happy with their allies. I’m guessing that the Imperials don’t want to stand there getting bombarded and the Senior Mechanics are telling them they have to while the Mechanics get their act together.” Another Imperial projectile came down just behind the battlement. “I have to stand here and look calm,” Mari told Alain. “How am I doing?”
“You could get behind the battlement and be safer,” Alain told her.
“No, I can’t hide or look afraid.” She pointed up to the banner of the New Day flapping in the breeze. “Everyone knows who’s standing here.”
“The legions will not turn aside just because you do not appear afraid,” Alain said.
“The legions will lose because they’ll decide they’re beaten before we do. I know you’re scared for me, but I have to do this,” Mari said. She nodded to him, letting her fear show for just a moment, then controlled her expression again. “I’m putting my Mage face on,” she added. For some odd reason, that struck her as funny. She grinned, and noticed the soldiers within view smiling at her apparent display of confidence.
For his part, Alain appeared resigned to accepting that Mari would do what Mari thought she had to do. “Tell me what device the Mechanics will send against us,” he said.
She stood a little back from the front of the battlement and waved to both sides at the defenders in view before answering. “You said the Mage Guild’s creatures drained almost all of the power on that side of this wall. How much can you do?”