Richard Tuttle - Army of the Dead

“I doubt that Vand even knows that you have missed the boat,” mused Lady Mystic. “He will not be holding court over there like he did here. He is in the land of his enemy. He will keep himself surrounded by only those he trusts dearly. Everyone else will have to go through Premer Tzargo to get a message to Vand.”

“But the mages here would surely keep him informed of what is happening in Vandamar,” countered Xavo. “If he hears my name, he will be incensed.”

“No doubt he would be,” nodded Vand’s daughter. “Well, we must make sure that no word gets to him then.”

“Impossible,” retorted Xavo. “There must be a thousand mages still in Vandamar. Any one of them is capable of sending a message to Vand.”

“Then we must eliminate a thousand mages,” shrugged Lady Mystic, “and we must do it quickly.”

Xavo’s jaw dropped as he stared at Lady Mystic. For several long moments he stared as if he thought his lover had gone insane.

“You can’t be serious,” he finally said. “Such a plan is suicidal, even if it was possible. I am willing to give my life to help my daughter and her people, but I will not give yours.”

“I have no wish to remain behind when you leave this world,” Lady Mystic replied with a smile. “While I have not learned to appreciate your daughter’s people as you have, I know what evil my father is. I will do anything to stop him.”

“But a thousand mages?” balked Xavo. “It is impossible. Even our combined talents will not be enough to overwhelm such a group. There are many talented mages left in the city. Some of them even approach our skills. It is just impossible.”

“So it would seem,” shrugged Lady Mystic, “but it must be done. Not only that, but we must then deal with the generals. If we fail, the elves will surely perish. Are you willing to allow that to happen?”

“No,” Xavo sighed heavily. “This madness must be stopped. I will contact the Torak and see what he can suggest.”

“You trust Marak, don’t you?” asked Lady Mystic.

“Very much so,” nodded Xavo. “He is a clever man, and one can tell that his heart is in the right place. He showed me what a fool I was after my wife died, and he has impressed me ever since.”

“Then contact him immediately,” advised Lady Mystic. “We do not have time to waste.”

Xavo nodded and wove an air tunnel to Khadoratung.

* * *

The large room at the rear of the temple was filled with black cloaks. Some of the Motangan mages looked perplexed; others were merely curious. A few hosted skeptical glares as Xavo entered the large room and called for quiet. Vand’s disciple let his eyes rove over the assembled crowd without a hint of the nervousness that he held inside himself.

“I have had a coded communique from Vandegar,” Xavo announced. “The situation here on Motanga is extremely serious, but there is worse news. The enemy has found a way to intercept our messages when we use air tunnels. Even worse, the enemy has been forging messages and sending them to Vand. The messages appear to originate from here, but they always contain information meant to deceive our people. The Emperor has commanded that we temporarily halt the use of air tunnels to him so that he can discover who is trying to deceive him. He will only accept messages from one of two people, and those messages will be encoded.”

“What two people?” scowled one of the senior mages.

“Myself,” answered Xavo, “and Vand’s daughter, Lady Mystic.”

“I thought Lady Mystic was rebuked?” retorted the senior mage.

“You are correct,” nodded Xavo, “but Vand has changed his mind. Do you wish to argue with him?”

The senior mage frowned, but he did not speak. Xavo continued with his speech.

“It is believed that the elves utilized false air tunnel messages to take over the three southern cities,” declared Xavo. “Vand also believes that a huge army of elves is currently heading towards Vandamar.”

“We will be ready for them,” shouted a mage in the back of the room. “With thirty thousand soldiers and a thousand mages, we could conquer Elvangar, wherever it is.”

“A bold statement,” frowned Xavo, “but the elves are not interested in defeating our armies.”

“What do you mean?” questioned the senior mage. “Why else would they attack Motanga?”

“To kill you,” Xavo answered as he stared at the questioning mage. “The reports coming out of the southern cities indicate that the targets of the elves were the mages housed in the temples. I suspect that that will be true in Vandamar as well. They will avoid our thirty thousand men if they can, but they want to annihilate every mage in Motanga. Our knowledge of air tunnels is the gravest threat to their existence. They will sacrifice whatever they must to see us all dead.”

“Let them try,” sneered one of the mages. “They will be sorry to have misjudged us.”

“Indeed they will be sorry,” Xavo grinned as his eyes passed over the mages. “Vand has developed a plan to crush the elves completely. It requires your immediate action and without delay.”

“What is this plan?” asked one of the black cloaks.

“All of you are to board a ship within the hour,” explained Xavo. “Take nothing with you. The temple is to appear as if you are still in residence.”

“You want the elves to attack the temple thinking that we are still inside it?” asked one of the mages.

“Exactly,” nodded Xavo. “Once the elves commit themselves to the attack, you will be brought to land to attack them from behind. You,” Xavo said authoritatively as he pointed at the senior mage who had been asking all of the questions, “are to organize the elements of the attack. I would suggest five groups of two hundred mages each, but the choice will be yours.”

The chosen mage swelled with pride and immediately lost his skeptical glower. “Do we expect the elves to attack by sea or by land?” he asked.

“While we cannot be sure,” Xavo smiled inwardly, “I suspect that it will be a combination of the two. I think their land forces will be meant to distract and engage our military forces while the bulk of the attackers arrive by the sea. Your ship will be around the western edge of the jungle. They should not be able to see it when they approach.”

“And how will we know when the time has come for us to attack?” asked the mage. “You have already ruled out the use of air tunnels.”

“Either Lady Mystic or I will go to the beach and signal the captain of your ship,” explained Xavo. “The two of us will be remaining on land to spy on the elven movements.”

The senior mage smiled and nodded. Xavo spent a few more minutes answering questions that were easily handled then he ordered the assembled mages to head immediately for the docks where a huge troop transport was waiting for them. It took an hour for the ship to load and sail out of the harbor.

“How did it go?” asked Lady Mystic when Xavo returned to their secret cove.

“Much easier than I expected,” smiled Xavo. “Now we have to deal with the generals. I hope Marak’s plan works as well as he thinks it will.”

Xavo and Lady Mystic watched as the mage ship sailed out of the harbor and rounded the western point of land. Within minutes its lanterns were lost to sight as the ship sailed behind the jungle just west of the city.

“How long will it take?” Xavo asked softly.

“Providing they all have a drink of the water,” shrugged Lady Mystic, “they will be asleep within the hour.”

“It’s risky,” frowned Xavo. “Not all of them will drink at the same time. Some are sure to notice the others falling asleep. They will be alerted and search for the cause. Those mages are not stupid.”