Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (30 page)

“All of your intelligence up to this point
has been hampered by the magic of the dwarves,” the man said. “They have been
reinforced on the march and now have close to one hundred and fifty thousand
men. Also, you are correct when you say that the dragons will not arrive in
time to assist you; however, this is not the time to cower in the sight of your
enemies. Elohim is on your side, and He will give you the strength you need to
meet your enemies with courage.”

“But what is the point?” Josiah asked,
despair evident in his voice. “There is absolutely no way that we can defeat
the dwarves.”

“You’re right,” the man said. “There is no
way that you can defeat them. But isn’t that the point?” 

Josiah had uncertainty written on his face
as he lifted it, but the man had gone. Or, rather, Josiah had gone. He was no
longer in a long hall with a curtain covering a doorway on one end. There was
no more golden furniture, nor were there angelic voices coming from behind a
curtain. Josiah was back on the plain. His horse was a short distance away
eating grass, and the sun was just coming above the horizon. Josiah turned away
from the sunrise and looked intently across the plain. He thought he might be
able to make out some movement, but he couldn’t be sure. As he looked, he saw
sun glint off of metal. He leaped to his feet and left his horse as he sprinted
toward camp. The army was in disarray with soldiers getting ready for the day’s
march. People were milling around, gathering up their weapons and armor, and no
one seemed to be on the lookout for the enemy.

As Josiah burst into camp, a single roar
went up from the ogre camp. Pandemonium broke out in the human camp as they
also spotted the massive army moving in their direction. Men panicked all
around as Josiah stopped to catch his breath. He began to search for General
Uriah and quickly found him standing by his horse and staring out at the vast
army of the enemy.

“Your orders, sir,” Josiah said
breathlessly as he came to a stop in front of Uriah. Uriah didn’t answer but
kept his gaze fixed on the approaching army. He kept mumbling to himself, and
Josiah realized that he was in shock. He turned and pushed his way through the
soldiers to the front line to where a few dozen of the more seasoned soldiers
had formed a shaky line.

“The blasted general has never been in a
battle except for the one at Saddun,” Josiah muttered to himself. “I guess he
just isn’t cut out for this sort of thing. Form battle lines!” He bellowed
aloud at the panicking soldiers. The sound of his voice over the panic seemed
to calm the men down to a certain extent, and many of them turned to look at
him.

“Swordsmen in front and archers behind,”
he shouted. When few soldiers moved to follow his orders, he added, “If you want
to live out the day, move!”

The soldiers quickly scrambled to form a
more solid line. Even so, they looked pathetic compared to the advancing
dwarves, and Josiah knew they didn’t stand a chance against the horde. He
quickly gave orders to cut the length of the line and increase its depth. The
soldiers expertly moved to follow the new order without so much as a pause.
Even with the new formation, the army looked too small. Josiah turned to face
an approaching ogre.

“What is it?” he asked when the ogre had
halted in front of him.

“Commander Looran wants to know what you
would have him do,” the ogre responded.

“Tell him that if he would split his
troops into two groups and position one on each side of our line, I would be
obliged.”

“Yes sir,” the ogre said, but he remained
where he was.

“Is there anything else?” Josiah asked.

“To be honest, sir, what can we do against
the enemy?” the ogre asked. “They have five times the number of troops that we
have.”

“Oh, they have a lot more than five times
as many men,” Josiah said, “but we can still give them one hell of a battle. We
can buy time for our army back in Saddun. No, we can’t beat them, but we can
help save Magessa. And as long as we fight with all of our might that is all
Elohim asks.”

“Thank you, sir,” the ogre said. “I needed
to hear that.”

“Really,” Josiah said with a raised
eyebrow. “Most people wouldn’t want to hear that there is no hope.”

“Not that part, sir—your
reason
for
fighting.”

The ogre turned and ran back toward his
commander to relay the message that Josiah had given. Josiah turned back to his
army, casting his gaze over the small group that had rallied under his command.
As he looked into the eyes of the men, he saw fear in most of them. He broke
away from the army and turned to face them. He had always heard of great
generals giving great speeches before battles, and he felt that he should do
something like that.

“Soldiers of Magessa,” he began. “I know
that many of you cannot see victory at the end of this battle. The truth is
that we are badly outnumbered, probably worse than many of you are aware. And
because of that, I see fear in the eyes of many of you, a fear that would be
covering me as well.  But I have realized something. Whether we live or die is
not important in the grand scheme of things. No, the lives of a few thousand
soldiers are not worth much; however, it’s what we do with our lives—how they
end—that is what is really important. What use is running from this battle to
escape death when the very army that we are facing will then go on to destroy
our country? At that point, I think many of you will find that you do not have
a reason to live. On the other hand, all Elohim asks is that we fight bravely,
even if that means giving our lives to defend Magessa. As long as we are
faithful in His service, the result of the battle is up to Him, and He will
make all things work toward the continuation of His plan.  As long as we serve
Him faithfully, He will invite us to something much better when we pass on. I
don’t know about you, but that encourages me to no end.”

As Josiah looked into the eyes of the
soldiers this time, he saw that while some still held fear, many of them were
devoid of that fear, and it had been replaced by peace. They gripped their
weapons with steadier hands, and Josiah knew that he could trust them to fight
until life left their bodies. He took a place on the front line and watched as
the dwarves advanced. They were just out of bow range now, so he made the
signal for the archers to nock their arrows. As the dwarves reached the range
of the bowmen, they let loose a volley from their crossbows and broke into a
run. Josiah motioned for the lines of infantry to raise their shields, and the
volley splashed against them, punching through some, but causing only a few
casualties. The infantry returned their shields to their former positions and
waited as the enemy drew nearer. Josiah gave the signal for the archers to draw
their bows. The dwarves pressed even closer. They were only a hundred yards
away now, then only fifty. Finally Josiah signaled, and the entire line of
archers let loose their arrows, cutting down hundreds of dwarves. Quickly the
archers nocked arrows again and drew the bows, letting loose another volley of
arrows when the enemy was no more than twenty yards away. They scrambled to get
off another volley, which hit the dwarves when they were less than five yards
from the front line of the human army. Then, with a mighty crash of metal on
metal, the dwarves smashed into the army of Magessa, driving the defenders back
a few steps. The fighting was fierce as the dwarves tried to drive their enemy
back, but the defenders would not give. The dead soon covered the ground,
giving evidence to the resolve of the soldiers. The dwarves surrounded the
army, trying to sweep in on the flanks, but the ogres held them off until the
humans were able to form a large ring. The ogres fell back to take their places
among the defenders, smashing their way through the large crowd of dwarves with
their clubs. The fighting was brutal and lasted throughout the day. The ring of
defenders slowly contracted as it lost more and more men. The humans and ogres
slew their fair share of dwarves, but there seemed to be no end to the horde of
enemies. They continued to press the beleaguered humans and ogres until dusk,
when they finally fell back for the night.

The first day of fighting was over, but
Josiah knew that their numbers had been more than cut in half. Another day like
this would certainly result in the total annihilation of their army. They had
to find some way to turn the fighting in their favor.

“I need to talk with the other
commanders,”
Josiah said to himself.
He turned to look for someone that he trusted to carry out the task for him and
saw Cirro and his captains coming across the battlefield. When they reached him,
they offered a salute which he returned.

“At ease,” he told them. “I need something
from you immediately,” he continued. “I want you to gather the other officers
of this army that are my rank or higher and ask them to meet me at the rear of
the army.”

“Yes, commander,” they answered, and with
another salute they were gone.

Josiah made his way to the back of the
army and sat on the grass to wait. He didn’t know what the meeting would
decide, but he did know that if they wanted to survive the next day of
fighting, they would have to move to a better location. Perhaps the large group
of officers would give General Uriah some ideas to consider. Josiah thought
their best chance would be to fall back to the Pelé River. If they made their
stand there, they would have the advantage when the dwarves attempted to cross.
Of course this plan was not without its difficulties. The dwarves could split
their army into several groups and cross the river in multiple places. The army
of Magessa would not be able to protect all of these crossing points.

Josiah tried to fill in all of the holes
in his plan, but his ponderings were cut short as the officers began to show
up. He rose to his feet and greeted each as they arrived. It was half an hour
before most of the officers were present, but Generals Uriah and Looran had
still not appeared. Finally, after another ten minutes, the ogre general
lumbered up, followed shortly by Josiah’s Captain Stanslaw.

“Where is General Uriah?” he asked with
some urgency in his voice.

“Deserted, sir,” Stanslaw answered. “I
just heard news that he fled back toward Saddun with several of his officers
just as the battle was starting.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Josiah said. “You
are free to go; however, please send me two soldiers to act as my messengers.”

“It shall be done, sir,” Stanslaw said. He
turned to go, and Josiah faced the officers that had gathered at his wish.

“This meeting has suddenly become more
vital than I had originally thought,” Josiah began. “I had planned on simply
advising General Uriah on what to do next; however, the general has turned
coward, fleeing to Saddun at the beginning of the battle. Due to this
unforeseen difficulty, we need to decide who will lead the army against the
dwarves.

“Before you cast your vote, be sure to
consider the qualifications this person must have. First, he must be
intelligent in the ways of military strategy. He must be someone that the men
will follow even to the death; he must be willing to commit all of these
soldiers to the defense of Magessa; and above all, he must have the courage to
stand with his soldiers, to stay and fight with them until victory is achieved
or he has given his life in defense of our country.

“Now I would like for you to nominate the
officers that are most likely to fill this position, together with all of the
requirements that I have just stated. I myself think that General Looran is the
most likely candidate for this position, as he is of the highest rank and has
all of these qualities. What say you, general? Do you accept the nomination?”

“Nay, I cannot,” Looran answered, rising
to his feet. “I am not the one that is able to fill this station. I do not have
as good of a mind for military strategy as many humans do, and I am sure that
not all of the soldiers here would follow me to the death. It was not I that
stopped the soldiers from retreating and formed them into organized battle
lines. No, this position should go to someone who is better suited for it:
Commander Josiah. I trust him to pull us through this battle. But even if that
is beyond his power, I will follow him to the death. I say this because I know
that he is not one to spend the lives of his men lightly, and I feel that he
will stand with us to the bitter end, if that be our lot. Therefore, I think
that we should give him at least a temporary promotion to the rank of admiral
so as to give him the authority to unite these two armies.”