10 War Games (1/2)

”Oh great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable,” this was my call to the fairy gift bestowed on me by the patriarch of the Trickster Pavillion. And when my eyelids opened again, I whispered, ”That's more like it...”

Thanks to the bird's-eye-view granted by Fool's Insight, I saw most of what transpired in the initial clash. The arrows momentarily blocked the ground from my sight, but when the path cleared and they fell on the Magesong soldiers, I watched dozens fall and dozens more waver in their charge, but it was not enough. There were too few casualties.

”Keep firing, Qwipps'' I called out while lightning streaked across the sky and thunder boomed around us.

Bowstrings sang again. Another volley of arrows launched into the air despite the heavy downpour of rain. They fell on the hillside with murderous intent. Yet our enemies were unfazed and continued climbing despite the threat of dangerous projectiles falling from the sky.

”Again, Qwipps! Keep firing volleys until they reach the halfway mark,” I ordered.

It was the fourth rain of arrows that finally slowed the charge up the hillside. These weren't aimed at the front where the trolls thick skins could protect those behind them but toward the middle where the humans in their ragged grey leathers stood. They had climbed high enough now that they were all within our archers' range.

”Look out!” Aura yelled.

I felt her grab my leather vest from behind and drag me back. This caused me to lose focus and abruptly cut off my connection to Fool's Insight. When my sight returned to ground level, that's when I saw the incoming fireball of death.

I'd seen them being cast by the enemy magicians while my gift was active. A counterattack of fireballs to harass our archers, hoping to prevent us from causing more damage to the enemy forces. Most of these hubcap-sized fireballs never made it pass our vanguard line, but as I'd relocated to the rear of our forces after the rousing speech I'd given earlier, the giant fireball that threatened to turn me into fried meat meant there was at least one powerful magician among the enemies forces.

Luckily, Aura was able to yank me back, and at the same time, she cast a spell to protect the both of us.

”Spirits of the sacred flame defend me from those who mean me harm,” she chanted as she raised her wooden staff before her. ”Breathe life to my Shield of Flame!”

Immediately after her chant, the orb at the tip of her wooden staff glowed a fierce red, and an arcane pattern of molten lines blazed to life in front of us. It expanded itself into a round shield that burned at the edges. The fireball that rammed into this flame shield dissipated harmlessly across its surface and even seemed to have strengthened its form, enlarging it to half its original size.

I was grateful to the rainfall as its continued presence meant the enemy's fireballs were weaker than they would have been if the skies were clear. However, it was unfortunate that the rain also affected Aura's spell. It fell onto her shield and caused steam to appear where the raindrops touched the flames. The shield's form wavered slightly.

”I can't hold this spell for very long in this weather,” Aura admitted.

”Keep it there for as long as you can,” I pleaded, grateful for the cover.

The enemy was nearing the halfway point of the southern hillside. That was my cue to unleash one of my countermeasures.

I looked over to Qwipps and signaled him with my raised falchion. He responded with a mischievous wink. Then he and several of his fellow pixies vanished from my field of view.

Next, I raised my falchion and waved it toward Varda who'd positioned herself among our vanguard. Thankfully, she was looking back at me, and despite the surrounding chaos, she understood what I wanted.

Varda knelt on the ground and placed both hands on the soft earth, and although I couldn't hear her, I was certain she'd begun casting her spell.

Another giant fireball struck Aura's shield.

”Don't they realize they're only strengthening your spell?” I asked.

”I think whoever's hitting us... is trying to overload... my Shield of Flame,” Aura struggled to get the words out. ”I can't control... too much power...”

To even figure out the mechanics of Aura's spell, it seemed Azuma wasn't the only adversary we needed to worry about in the enemy's army. I would need to think up a counter to this capable magician.

”Don't worry... it won't be much longer now,” I hoped. This belief in Varda was justified seconds later.

We heard it before we saw it. The roar of the waking earth as Varda's spell caused the ground along the southern hillside to rumble. Thanks to the wet earth easily giving way, a great wave of muddy earth cascaded down the hillside.

The Magesong clan's trolls, these eight-foot monstrosities with thick, hairy hides and long muscular limbs wrapped in light mail armor, met the mudslide with their huge hands raised like shields.

Contrary to how human popular culture usually portrayed them, trolls aren't dumb. In fact, they've been known to produce some of the brightest minds among the fay these past five hundred years. However, this didn't mean all trolls were smart. Just like humans, there would always be slow learners among the bunch. This was most likely the case with the trolls employed by the Magesong clan's army because—and I don't care how big they were—who in their right minds would try to stop a landslide with just their bodies?

The obvious conclusion to the clash between the trolls and the mudslide was an overwhelming victory for Mother Nature. She buried the trolls in a mountain of dirt. The hobgoblins and humans hiding behind them fared no better as the wave of destruction continued down to the bottom of the hill.

I quickly reactivated Fool's Insight and sent my vision high into the sky so that I could survey the damage dealt by the timely use of Varda's spell used in tandem with the weather and terrain advantage.

The mudslide devastated the southern hillside with half-buried enemy soldiers scattered under the newly turned earth. The trolls who attempted to stop this seemingly natural disaster were nowhere in sight, but the hobgoblins were climbing out of the dirt like cockroaches that just wouldn't die. Further down below, the magician's unit in the landslide's path had erected a rather large Mana Shield that kept them relatively safe from the onslaught.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I had hoped at least some of them would get buried alive.

While the enemy forces positioned in the south lost around fifty to sixty of their number, the soldiers climbing the western hillside remained mostly unscathed.

”It was a good plan... sadly, there are still a lot of foes making their way to us,” Aura kept a firm grip on her staff with both hands while she surveyed the battle below. ”At least the fireballs stopped coming... What else do you have up your sleeve?”

I glanced over to her and noted how pretty she looked in her serious face. ”I've got a few more tricks to try.”

I'd read somewhere that a siege was the easiest type of battle for beginners as you only had to defend while the enemy kept trying to break through your tactics. However, I doubt conventional human wisdom took into account a fairy's arcane power. This was exactly what I witnessed as I surveyed the western hillside.

Thanks to their weariness against another mudslide, the magicians in their grey hooded cloaks who were originally safe in the back-line now gathered nearer to the front where they could raise magical shields to protect their army the moment we sent another mudslide their way. This also meant they were slower in climbing up the hill which gave our side some much-needed breathing room. Unfortunately, another mudslide probably wouldn't be as effective.

Varda must have come to the same conclusion I did as I saw her abandon her post at the front and found her running toward me and Aura in a huff. I deactivated Fool's Insight just as she arrived as my eyes were beginning to sting in a not-so-good kind of way.