Mindbender (59 page)

Amid shrieks and cries, the Lancers broke and scattered in every direction to avoid the descent of the supernatural monster. Alexander was dumbstruck with the power he had just wielded. It had no substance, couldn’t actually attack, but it could create a belief within the mind of the enemy. He smiled at the power of one of his father’s favorite principles of battle taking shape before him. The enemy believed they were about to be attacked by a dragon, so they ran for their lives. That the dragon wasn’t real made no difference. Their belief was as real as it needed to be to cause them to act.

With their spirit broken, the remaining Andalians escaped the scene of the battle and headed east toward the city of Grafton. Alexander had made preparations in case they chose to flee in that direction. Two thousand archers were deployed in units a thousand strong and carefully concealed in the tall grass on either side of the road.

Alexander’s cavalry chased the Lancers into the kill zone, where they were met by arrows falling in their midst like a deadly rain. After the third volley, the entire enemy force littered the battlefield.

Alexander doubled back with the bulk of his soldiers to collect the force lances that had fallen and to round up the rhone steeds that were still alive.

By evening, Alexander had destroyed the entire force of Andalian Lancers to a man, confiscated their supplies, and collected nearly all of their lances. He knew they would be of no use to his soldiers since they were tied to the oath of loyalty that each Lancer gave to the Andalian crown, but he wanted to see if Mage Gamaliel could find a use for them.

They managed to round up nearly five hundred uninjured rhone as well, which were far more useful. The oversized horse-like creatures were fearless and trained to charge into an enemy. Alexander had plans to put them to use against the Regency Army on Ruatha.

By dusk of the following day they reached the Ithilian camp and found the city of Grafton locked down and surrounded. When Alexander entered the command tent, he was met by Abel, along with his general staff and Mage Lenox.

Abel smiled warmly at Alexander and offered him his hand in congratulations. “I hear the Lancers are no longer a threat.”

“We managed to destroy them completely,” Alexander said as he approached the map table. “Thankfully, we were able to catch them by surprise.”

“Your gift of sight has proven to be much more powerful than I would have ever imagined,” Abel said. “As for the soldiers within the city, they have refused to surrender, as predicted.”

“Good, let’s end this tonight,” Alexander said, pointing at the main gate. “I’ll open the gate and send up a signal arrow. When you see it, send in the cavalry, followed by the infantry. Flood into the city and kill anyone wearing the crest of the Reishi Army Regency. Show them no mercy and give them no quarter.”

“What of the soldiers and people of Grafton?” Abel asked with a tinge of worry to his voice.

“Capture the soldiers and treat the people with courtesy and respect,” Alexander said. “They had no say in the treachery of their leaders or the occupation of their home.”

Abel nodded his approval of the plan.

“How do you plan to open the gate? The enemy has several hundred soldiers with bows atop the gatehouse walls. They’ll pick you apart before you can get close,” General Kishor said.

Alexander shook his head. “They won’t even see me coming. We attack in one hour. By morning we’ll own the city and we can be on our way north to the Gate.”

Alexander returned to his friends and briefed them on his plan of attack.

“I don’t much like the idea of you approaching that gatehouse all by yourself,” Anatoly said.

“I will accompany Lord Reishi,” Jataan said.

“You’re both missing my point,” Anatoly said. “You made some spectacular magic with that new sword of yours this morning,” he said to Alexander, “but how can you be sure it can conceal you from all of the soldiers on that wall?”

“I’ll know before we make our approach,” Alexander said. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll fall back and come up with another plan.”

“So if it does work, then I’m coming with you,” Anatoly said. “If you can make two people invisible, three shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Actually, I wasn’t planning on making us invisible,” Alexander said. “I was thinking about creating a thick fog to cover our approach.”

“Even better. Everyone can come along,” Anatoly said. “But if that’s your plan, then we should probably all be carrying a heavy shield. If I was on that guard tower, I know what I’d do if the approach to the gate was suddenly shrouded in fog.”

“Good point,” Alexander said.

It was late and he was tired, but what he’d seen in Fellenden and Northport was wearing on him. He felt a gnawing urge to speed up his plans and get back to Ruatha as quickly as possible. The time to strike was now, even if he was too tired to think as clearly as he’d like.

Alexander led his friends to the edge of bow range and appraised the walls of Grafton. The interior of the city was enclosed but there was still a shantytown built up around the walls, although the people had evacuated into the city itself.

Alexander grasped the hilt of Mindbender and focused on the fight. Even though he wasn’t under attack, he knew he soon would be. His concentration narrowed down to the present moment the way it always did when he was in a fight. He envisioned the result he wanted and released it into the sword. Slowly at first, the air around the gate began to thicken in the dark of night. Within a few moments, a thick shroud of illusionary fog blanketed the area in front of the main gate. Alexander led the way with a shield held over his head. His friends followed in single file. They could hear the alarm bell begin to toll and saw the fiery streaks of flaming arrows cut through the obscuring mist and catch some nearby shacks on fire. Alexander pressed on.

As they got closer to the walls, arrows began to rain down around them. The heavy shields they carried deflected the projectiles but the experience was still harrowing. Alexander picked up the pace and soon reached the large double doors of the main gate. They stood twelve feet tall and were barred and locked with stout pins top and bottom. Alexander drew the Thinblade and sliced through the door in a number of places, cutting the bar, the lower locking pins and the hinges, then slicing crisscross through the door. Chunks began to fall away, eliciting cries of alarm from within the gatehouse itself. Soldiers rushed to defend. Alexander stepped through the newly formed hole in the door and assessed his environment. He stood in the gatehouse with a broken door behind him and a portcullis before him. A dozen soldiers armed with crossbows were preparing to fire.

“Hold,” Alexander shouted to Anatoly as he crouched down behind his shield. The soldiers fired a volley of crossbow bolts. Most hit the broken door behind him. A few drove into his shield and a few inches further, but one found its mark, penetrating his shield and stabbing through his forearm and out the other side. Alexander cried out in pain. It was such a sudden shock that it took his breath away and left him momentarily nauseated.

At the sound of his cry, several more sections of the door broke away and fell into the gatehouse under an assault by Anatoly and Boaberous. Jataan slipped in behind Alexander and quickly assessed the situation. Seeing the soldiers protected behind the portcullis, he snapped an order.

“Boaberous, Anatoly, raise the bars.”

The giant and the man-at-arms raced for the portcullis. They each took hold and heaved on the tremendously heavy iron bars. Between Boaberous’s natural strength and the magical strength conferred on Anatoly by the belt he wore, the bars came up several feet. Jataan darted under into the dozen soldiers.

At first they were incredulous that one man would face them all, but then he killed two men with blinding speed, leaving them to bleed out on the floor as he moved toward his next target.

Lucky came to Alexander’s aid a moment later. “You’ll be all right, Alexander. Use the Thinblade to lop off the head of the crossbow bolt so I can pull it back through your arm and the shield.”

With gritted teeth, Alexander did as he was told. Lucky gave him a look that spoke volumes and then pulled the bolt free. Alexander screamed at the pain but composed himself quickly and unbuckled the shield.

A dull grinding sound echoed through the gatehouse hall over the sounds of combat between the battle mage and the overconfident soldiers. Alexander looked up to see the portcullis lift out of Anatoly and Boaberous’s hands. He glanced across to the other side of the gatehouse and saw Jack’s colors at the portcullis winch.

Boaberous and Anatoly didn’t miss a beat. Both slipped under the heavy iron gate and joined the battle beside Jataan. Alexander let Lucky wrap a quick bandage around his wounded left arm, then turned and found the pull cords for the locking pins at the top of the doors. Once they were released, he shoved the doors open and sheathed the Thinblade, handing Lucky his bow and a whistler arrow. With the signal sent, he turned to see the inner gates opening for a company of enemy soldiers that had mustered to defend the gatehouse.

“Withdraw!” Alexander commanded.

His friends fought an orderly retreat until the sound of hoof beats could be heard coming from behind. They pressed against the walls as a column of heavy cavalry poured past them and into the city. The enemy infantry were driven back quickly, leaving the soldiers atop the walls of the gatehouse as the only organized resistance left.

Alexander raced along the wall toward the staircase. His friends, seeing his objective, fell in line behind him as the soldiers continued to pour past on horseback. Once they reached the top of the gatehouse, Boaberous and Anatoly took the wall to one side of the gatehouse while Alexander and Jataan took the other. They crashed into the line of soldiers firing arrows down into the column of cavalry.

Within a few moments the archers tried to turn their bows against them, but lined up along the wall, only the nearest archer had a clear shot. Alexander cut the first in half with a single stroke. Before the man behind him could get his shot off, Jataan darted past him and neatly cut his bowstring and then the left side of his throat before moving on to the next man in line.

On the other side, Boaberous rushed the first man and tossed him off the wall, then barreled into the next with a sweeping blow from his hammer. The archer’s broken body fell twenty feet to the ground below. Within a very short time, the remaining archers broke and ran, leaving a clear path for the cavalry charging into the city.

Chapter 33

By morning the battle was over. What resistance the enemy was able to mount was quickly overpowered by the superior numbers of the Ithilian Army, leaving only small pockets of holdouts. The soldiers of Grafton were only too happy to surrender and pledge their undying loyalty to Abel once it was clear what had happened. The soldiers from the Regency were less willing to give up but that suited Alexander just fine. He had long since decided that those who chose to side with Phane deserved what they got.

Most of the people of Grafton were relieved to be back under the banner of Ithilian—the rule of the Regency soldiers had been less than gentle. Abel put General Kishor in charge and left a legion of infantry to ensure Grafton would remain under his command and to root out what enemy remained in the outer parts of the province and on Grafton Island. The other two legions left the next morning for the Reishi Gate.

It would be a long walk for the infantry and archers, probably taking the better part of two weeks, so Alexander and Abel rode ahead to Ithilian with an honor guard of a thousand cavalry. They arrived several days later to the sound of the city’s horns blaring notice of their return.

Queen Sofia was standing at the gate with tears streaming down her face when they arrived. Evelyn bounded off her horse and ran to her mother. Alexander smiled at the emotional reunion. This was at the core of his fight: protecting people’s right to live and love as they chose and protecting the innocent from experiencing the heartache of needless loss at the hands of would-be tyrants.

Not long after Alexander and his friends were shown to their chambers, a messenger arrived with an invitation to a private banquet in celebration of the return of Princess Evelyn. Alexander was tired but knew it would be impolite to refuse, so he reluctantly changed into his finery. He felt a little conspicuous strapping two swords to his belt, but he wasn’t about to let either of the weapons out of his sight.

When they arrived, it was just the family along with Mage Lenox. There were no courtiers or delegates and the dining hall was much smaller than the banquet hall they used for the more formal gatherings. Alexander was grateful for the informality. He had no desire to put up with the self-importance and pretension of nobles or delegates. Matters of far greater importance were weighing on his mind and his anxiousness was beginning to build.

The meal was simple and well prepared. Lucky seemed to enjoy himself as usual and offered effusive praise for the chef, which Sofia was only too happy to accept. Conversation revolved around Evelyn’s retelling of her adventure. Alexander thought she embellished just a bit but he was content to listen to the young woman recount her view of the ordeal she’d just lived through.