Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (21 page)

Timothy wiped his sword blade on the cloak
of one of his fallen foes. He rose to his feet and replaced it in its sheath
before returning to the defenders’ line. He walked over to Senndra and just
looked at her.

“Now, why don’t you tell me what you
forgot to tell me before?” she said, a slight edge of irritation in her voice.

“And what do you think there is to tell?”
Timothy responded. “I already told you everything. I am a magician as is
Lemin.”

“You don’t have anything else to say for
yourself?” Senndra shot back.

“What do you want me to say?” Timothy
questioned. “There's nothing to explain.”

“How about telling me why you…” But Senndra
was cut off by Lemin, who had just approached the two cadets. In the battle,
the pendant had come loose from his shirt and was now resting on his
breastplate.

“Timothy, nice show of power out there,”
he commended. “If it weren’t for you, I would never have been able to collapse
the buildings on time. You also used your power admirably while fighting.
Remember, however, that you must only use it as Elohim commands; never use it
for your own gain. If you are confused at all on the point of whether you are
to use magic or not, don’t use it.”

Senndra had been sputtering throughout
this whole speech, but now found her voice.

“And you!” she said turning to Lemin.
“You’re a magician too? Why did I not know this? And isn’t that my father’s
pendant?”

"I would like nothing more than to
explain this to you," Lemin said, "but it's a long story that would
take a lot of time to tell."

"I've got time," Senndra said.

"We need to prepare for the next
dwarf attack," Lemin countered. "I don't have the time right
now."

"Then make time," Senndra said
and crossed her arms.

Lemin glanced over his shoulder at the
retreating dwarves, then back to Senndra. She was glaring at him, and it was
evident that she would not be put off. Also, in a way, he owed her an
explanation.

"Alright, I'll try to keep this
short," he said. "I don't remember all of it and there are some parts
that I do not wish to repeat, but in a nutshell this is the account you're
looking for. I don't tell anyone that I'm a magician because I don't like magic."
He gave a humorless laugh and amended, "More correctly, magic doesn't like
me."

"What do you mean?" Senndra
asked.

"I've used magic many times in my
life and every time I do it seems to lead to something terrible," Lemin
said. "As a child I had a run-in with some very bad wizards and it's
followed me for the rest of my life. It seems a curse that I cannot shake is
following me. Anyway, when the dwarves attacked, I suspected that I would need
to use my magic again, but I wasn't ready to accept it. That's why I gave you
the pendant and did not keep it for myself. I now understand that all available
resources need to be brought to bear against our foe, which is why I have
reclaimed the pendant. I am resolved to use my magic no matter the
consequences; if I do not, we may all die."

"I still don't get it," Senndra
said. "Is the pendant magical? Why do you need it?"

"The pendant is hard to
explain," Lemin said. "It is not magical, do not make that mistake,
but I still require it to use my power. Let's just say that it keeps the curse
at bay."

"The curse from your childhood?"
Senndra asked. Lemin nodded.

“Look Senndra,” Timothy said after a
pause, “I know that you’re not happy right now, even I'm a little miffed at
Lemin right now, but we have bigger problems at the moment. Like now that we
have driven the dwarves back, what are our plans?”

“I have conferred with the general of the
army of Saddun,” Lemin answered. “All of the stairs to the southern wall have
been destroyed, so the only way up is by the gatehouse. We were originally
planning to protect the gatehouse from the ground, but we have decided that we
don’t have enough time. Instead we’re going to get everyone onto the wall and
defend it from on top. You had better get moving. We need everyone on the wall
before the dwarves put together another attack.”

“Well, I have at least until we get on top
of the wall to talk,” Timothy told Senndra. “I can answer any questions that
you have and I’m sure that there are a lot.”

“That’s okay,” Senndra answered. “I don’t
really want to talk to you right now.”

“Oh come on,” Timothy said. “I just met
you. Did you really think that I was going to tell you every last deep dark
secret about myself? I try to get to know people before I give them a reason to
mistrust me.”

“You’re a
magician
,” Senndra
retorted. “What’s not to trust?”

“Molkekk’s a magician,” Timothy pointed
out.

“Even so,” Senndra said. “I would have
thought that with something this big you would have told me.”

“And all of the while your response is
justifying my actions,” Timothy countered.

“I’m done with this conversation,” Senndra
said and stalked toward the wall. Timothy rolled his eyes and started walking, making
sure to stay a few steps behind. In battle and in dealings with others he knew
when to attack and when to fall back. This was definitely the time for a
strategic withdrawal. He’d give her time to cool down before he attempted to
speak with her again.

******

Josiah looked down from the tower in which
he and his men had taken refuge. Two hours had passed since the army had moved
onto the wall, and in those two hours, the advance of the dwarves had come to a
complete standstill. At first they had tried to force their way up the stairs
of the gatehouse, but to no avail. Next they had tried battering the gate down,
but these efforts were met with a barrage of arrows and rocks on the rams that
were being used. The dwarves had even brought siege engines up to destroy the
wall, but the defenders' ballistae were able to foil this attempt. After being
defeated for the third time, the dwarves had fallen back to the middle of the
city, which was where Josiah saw them now. They had set up field hospitals and
were caring for their wounded. They appeared to be happy, at least for the
moment, to wait out the defenders. They knew that there were probably no
provisions on the wall, and they would gladly starve out the defenders. What
they didn’t know was that reinforcements would soon be coming to the aid of
their enemies. Josiah looked toward the south and saw a small cloud of dust
rising from the plain outside of the city. He motioned for one of his captains,
and Stanslaw approached him.

“Take a look at that and tell me what you
think it is,” Josiah said and pointed to the cloud of dust.

“It’s definitely a rider,” Stanslaw
commented. “If I had to guess, I would say it is the advanced messenger of our
reinforcements.”

“That’s what I was thinking as well,”
Josiah said. Together the two cadets watched as the horseman covered the
distance to the city. Within thirty minutes of the first sighting, the man was
at the foot of the wall, and Josiah ordered a rope to be lowered to him. The
man nimbly climbed the rope and was hauled over the wall’s crenellations.

“Get this man some water,” Josiah ordered
one of his men. To the messenger he asked, “What news do you bear?”

The man looked Josiah straight in the eye
and said nothing for a while. A soldier arrived with water, and the messenger
drank it before responding. “Only this news,” he finally said, “our governor at
Feling has decided not to send any reinforcements to help. There will be no
army from him."

“What do you mean?” Josiah exploded. “You
are telling me that the elders of Gatlon have laughed at our request for help?
Don’t they know that if this city falls, the enemy will almost definitely
overrun Magessa?” He turned away from the messenger and stalked down the wall.

“It was not my decision,” the man tried to
explain. “If it was up to me, the whole army of Magessa would be coming to your
aid. As it is, there seems to be some treachery in the ranks of Gatlon’s
authority.”

“After this is all over, you can be sure
that someone will look into that,” Josiah said, turning back to the messenger.
“For right now, though, there are more pressing matters at hand. I’ll arrange
for food to be brought to you before you leave.”

“I’m not leaving, sir,” the man replied.
“I said that if it were up to me the whole army of Magessa would be coming this
way, and I meant what I said. I don’t have that power, but I’ll be staying here
to fight.”

“So be it,” Josiah answered. “If you will
come with me and repeat what you have told me to the general, you can be
finished with that and start preparing for battle. By the way,” he added, “I
don’t know your name.”

“My name is Petrarch Bentinck, but I am
called Petra by my friends. I am curious, however. Why do you think the dwarves
won’t attack again for a while?” he asked as the two men started down the wall
together.

“When we retreated to the wall, they
attempted attacking us several times,” Josiah explained. “We were able to repel
them, and they sustained such great losses that they have not attempted to
attack us since. We will still keep our guard up, of course, but now our plans
are focusing more toward attacking them.”

“Was I informed correctly when I was told
that this battle only started this morning?” Petra asked. When Josiah nodded,
he continued. “Why are you already thinking about a plan of attack? I mean, it
never hurts to be aggressive, but I have never heard of an aggressive attack so
soon into a siege.”

“But this isn’t your normal siege,” Josiah
answered. “The battle may have started only this morning, but the enemy has
already taken the city. Normally, the siege would be over at this point and we
would all be dead, but then again, I have never put too much stock in
normal
warfare. Anyway, the reason we’re thinking of a counter attack already is that
we have no supplies. We had most of our resources in the city, and we were
pushed back too quickly to take many of them with us, so we have less than
three days’ worth of food. We are in control of the gatehouse, so we control
the gate; but that doesn’t mean that we can use it. Any attempt to bring anything
in that way would result in a dwarf attack. If we had to, we could always
resort to lifting stuff up the wall by ropes. But as it is, we have nothing to
lift. We were supposed to get supplies with our reinforcements, but…” Josiah
sighed. “Well, you know better than I what our support is.”

“Yes,” Petra said after a few moments.
“The situation is indeed grave and calls for drastic action. Perhaps an
immediate counter attack would be best.”

Josiah stopped in front of the door to
another tower, and Petra halted behind him. Josiah stepped up to one of the
guards and spoke a few words in an undertone to him, and the guard led him and
Petra through the door and into the tower. The interior was pitch black, but
the guard quickly lit a lantern and placed it on a table in the middle of the
room. Without a word, he left the tower, closing the door securely behind him.

“You might as well make yourself
comfortable,” Josiah told Petra. “Apparently the general is attending to other
matters at the moment, so the guard is going to get him. If I have learned
anything in my academy years, it is that the general rarely hurries. We could
be here for a while.”

As Petra took a seat at the table, Josiah
took the lantern and used it to explore the interior of the tower. He found a
tinder box and proceeded to light several more lanterns that were scattered
about the room. When he had finished, there was a fair amount of light, so he
returned to the table and took a seat across from Petra. As had become his
habit in the last several hours, he sat almost perfectly still and began to
pray to Elohim. He was so caught up in his prayer that he was startled when the
door opened and the general entered. Josiah and Petra jumped to their feet and
saluted the officer, holding the salute until he returned it. The officer
walked across the room to the table and took a seat behind it as Josiah moved
to stand beside Petra.

“And what is the purpose of this meeting?”
he asked when he was comfortably seated.

“This is a messenger from Gatlon, sir,”
Josiah answered. “He has some news that I thought you should hear.”

“From Gatlon,” the general muttered to
himself. “You may speak,” he said out loud to Petra.

“There will be no reinforcements from
Gatlon,” Petra responded curtly. He waited for an outbreak from the general,
but none came, so he continued. “I believe there is some treachery among the
ranks of the authority of Gatlon. I only heard about your plight because I am
the doorkeeper of the elders’ council chambers.

“As soon as the meeting adjourned, I went
home as quickly as possible and told my brothers and father about it.
Immediately we set off, each in a different direction. My father, who is quite
old, stayed at home, while my brothers left to take the news of the attack to
Belvárd, Rampön, the ogres, and the elves. I came here to warn you that no help
is coming unless my brothers succeed in bringing it.”

“The news is grave indeed; however, you
have softened it sufficiently,” the general said. “The hope of any help at all
is enough to keep us fighting until we drop dead one way or another. Even if
there was no help coming, we would still give our lives to protect the country,
and even the slightest chance of help is enough to keep us going.” He turned to
Josiah and said, “Commander Pondran, make sure this man gets on his way without
anything hindering him.”