They were less than twenty feet away when a massive ball of fire flew toward them. Acting almost on instinct, Will did what he had once seen his grandfather do. He expanded his will, creating a wide sphere around himself that was nearly devoid of turyn. During his practices, the purpose was to then fill that space with power for use in a spell, but now he merely hoped it would protect them.
As the ball of fiery power rushed toward them, his empty shell devoured the turyn, filling Will with burning energy. Meanwhile, Tiny had taken the lead in their three-man charge and he swept the sorcerer’s guards aside like dolls with his shield. Dave was right behind him, and he dashed through the gap and buried his sword in the sorcerer’s throat.
Will had fallen slightly behind. The burning power the sorcerer had thrown at them was almost more than he could handle. Running up to Tiny and Dave, he put his hands on their shoulders and tried to imagine them as part of himself. In his mind he created a small circle, a space within his power that had to be protected, and then he released the power he was holding. Flames burst outward, turning the enemies around them to ash and creating a burning circle of death forty feet wide around them.
“Fuck yeah!” Dave yelled, his hoarse voice barely rising above a whisper. “Die, you bastards, die!”
A wave of lightheadedness passed over Will, but he ignored it. He was empty, almost devoid of turyn, but his grandfather had trained him for that. He stayed on his feet by pure will alone, and gradually his vitality returned as his body drew in turyn from around him. Bending down, he pulled the heart-stone enchantment from the sorcerer’s chest and began plucking it apart with his fingers. Be free, he told the elemental in his mind. Help us if you can, but most of all, be free.
Dave fell on his ass as the giant fire elemental materialized above them. “Holy shit.” His eyes were wide with fear and awe. Then the fiery monster turned and moved away, wading into the Darrowan soldiers. Dave looked at Will. “What just happened?” he wheezed almost inaudibly.
Will straightened up. “There’s still one more,” he said, pointing in the direction of the remaining sorcerer.
The air was full of smoke and the stink of burning flesh. The Terabinian army had reached the remaining Darrowans, and the field had once again devolved into a chaotic mess. But the enemy sorcerer continued fighting, sending bursts of flame into any clumps of fighting soldiers that appeared to be mostly Terabinian.
The flames had almost died away, but those that were in their path winked out as Will began walking toward the last sorcerer with Tiny and Dave on either side of him. Despite the tumult around them, the few Darrowan soldiers who were in their way ran when they saw them approaching. The sorcerer watched them too, and he turned to flee, but made little headway through the mess. Will began to run after him, heedless of the pandemonium.
This time Will got there first, and he drove his sword into the sorcerer’s back. The fighting continued to swirl around him, but Tiny and Dave stood over him while he extracted the heart-stone enchantment and released the sorcerer’s elemental. This time he asked it to simply be on its way, as he worried that in the mixed melee it would harm as many Terabinians as enemy soldiers.
When he got back on his feet, he saw that the battle had moved past them. He and the remnants of Sixth Squad were standing on a torn field with nothing but the dead and dying around them. Dave was leaning on a broken spear he had found, and the ex-thief looked as though he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.
“Should we go after them?” asked Tiny, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
Will understood their exhaustion. His mail felt as though it had turned to lead, but there was one more thing he needed to do. “Where’s the baron’s body?”
“Over there,” panted Dave, pointing to a cluster of blackened corpses.
The three of them walked over, and Will bent down to free Lord Fulstrom’s two elementals from their magical bonds. Again, he urged them to leave in peace, and he watched with a feeling of satisfaction as the elemental beings faded away.
“What did you do?” asked Dave. “I’ve never seen so much weird shit in all my life.”
Will gave looked at the man, his face devoid of expression. “Nothing. I did nothing. We fought and killed the sorcerers and that’s all.”
Dave stared at him for several seconds. “Right…” Then he nodded vigorously, as though he had made up his mind. “Fuck it. You’re right. If anyone asks, that’s what I’ll tell them.” He held out his hand. “Brothers first.”
He had never imagined saying such a thing to someone like Dave, but Will took the other man’s hand. A second later Tiny put his massive hand atop theirs. “Brothers first.”
Dave’s legs gave out, and he sat down in a barely controlled fall. Will and Tiny sat beside him. All three of them were done. Then Dave said, “I’ll never forget what happened to Sven, but at least we made them pay for it.”
Chapter 51
It took more than two hours to restore order to what remained of the Terabinian army. They had lost more than half their numbers, and of those that survived, many were injured. Company E had taken the worst losses, having been nearly wiped out by first Lord Fulstrom’s fiery death and then the reprisal that followed as the Darrowan mob surrounded them.
Corporal Taylor was found near the perimeter. He had died during the first clash, and Will hadn’t even noticed. He felt badly for the man, but not guilty. He had too many other things to feel guilty about.
More than twelve hundred bodies littered the former Darrowan camp, two-thirds of them belonging to the enemy. At least seven or eight companies of Darrowans had routed, fleeing back toward Barrowden.
The Terabinians had won, but the cost had been terrible. Lieutenant Stanton assumed command of the remnants and tried to organize the survivors to clear the area and loot the bodies, but there were simply too few men in good enough shape to begin such an undertaking.
And then the bad news came. A mounted scout came galloping into the camp. Another of the Patriarch’s armies had been spotted. Will was close enough to hear the man’s words as he reported to Lieutenant Stanton. “There’s at least five thousand soldiers on the road. They’ll be here before evening.”
“Goddamn,” muttered Will.
Dave was close by and he leaned in with interest. “Did you hear what he said?”
“There’s a huge army marching toward us from Barrowden.”
Dave’s eyes widened in disbelief and he swore, “That’s not fair! Goddamn it! We won! It ain’t fair!”
Shortly after that, new orders made their way through the tired army. They were to abandon their position and retreat to their own camp. Since they were too few—and too tired—to take the supplies left in the Darrowan encampment, they set fire to them and began to march. They left the dead behind, both theirs and the enemy’s.
The sun had nearly set by the time they reached their tents, and Will felt grateful that they hadn’t broken camp the day before. He didn’t think he had the strength left to put up a tent. Supper was cold, as no one had the energy to cook. Despite his multitude of worries, he fell asleep almost instantly when he found his bedroll.
It seemed that no sooner than his eyes had closed, he woke to the sound of Sergeant Nash’s familiar yelling. “Rise and shine, assholes!”