Chapter 12

“20,000 footmen? You have to be kidding, where did he get such numbers from?” Galdacil’s tone of disbelief was understandable, the population remaining in Mistrew’s entire keep and the surrounding farm lands was just under 5,000. “And another 4,000 cavalry. Where did he get all of these men?”

Narn shrugged briefly, “From what I can tell we are actually in something of an oddity. The Sorcerer who summoned us is apparently unusual for not keeping larger numbers of men and cities around his keeps. In fact he’s the only one who doesn’t have his tower in a major city. He seems to have distrusted large numbers of people, and his status as first of the Seven, combined with his magical prowess was enough to prevent any other Sorcerer from trying to move against him alone. And he never attempted to widen his power base directly, so he has never had need of an army. Up until this point whenever a former apprentice would challenge him he was able to raise enough demonic forces to route the other’s armies.”

Galdacil grimaced and rubbed his face, “This is much worse than we expected. There is no way we can meet those forces in the open, and supported by as many of the demon-kin as you report they are we’ll be hard pressed just to hold the castle walls even with the training I’ve been putting them through. How is it though that we defeated this Mistrew so easily if he was so powerful?”

Erimbril leaned back as he took up the explanation, “Simple really. Surprise. That and fatigue. The spell he had crafted was extraordinarily potent. From what I can tell we are even further from the lands of Fae than I would have originally thought, and there is mention as well of a barrier, one that prevents interaction between this realm and the rest of the worlds. It’s one of the reasons we’ve never found this stronghold before, and probably never would have. Mistrew was quite frankly exhausted. I don’t even think I could attempt the spell he used and the power required would have drained him. He also just wasn’t expecting anything like us. He never had a chance to put up any defenses against us. It’s been at least two thousand years since they fought the Fae and he likely doesn’t use those kinds of protections anymore. If he had.” Erimbril shuddered, “If he had put up the kinds of protections against us that he had against the demon lords there is no way I could have broken them before he recovered enough to at the very least send us back or to the demon realms.” Erimbril grinned slightly, “Of course if he had been fully with it he would never have summoned us in the first place, and if he had and sent us elsewhere he still would be in the same position he was before he used up all his power, that of losing a war to a student who is even more devious than he is and as powerful.”

“So, we aren’t going to be able to hurt Terimak?” Riulan asked, after exchanging a look with Weldan.

“I didn’t say that. This apprentice, Terimak. I doubt he has any clue as to what we are. And likely doesn’t even know the simplest protections against our kind. His spells still affect us of course, but the differences are enough that what would kill you will only injure us severely. That may be enough. And the addition of 15 trained mages, working in concert, should be enough to keep his demon princes busy and uncomfortable. But we really need to whittle down his army before he gets here.”

Weldan leaned forward at that point, “Then we are going to have to ambush them outside the city.” He looked at Narn at that point, “Your scouts are the only ones who have been training to hide in the woods and they know the terrain the best. What do you think you can accomplish?”

All four turned to Narn and he cleared his throat briefly, “I only have 100 scouts. As a force they wouldn’t accomplish too much. I could sting them, but that’s about all. On the other hand…” He stopped to think about it, his eyes unfocusing briefly as he stopped to think things over, “If.. If I could be given 500 of your best troops. One we can trust to follow orders and who can ride. I could make a quick strike, once, against the army. An attack at night should allow us to get in and out of their camp quickly without major losses. And if we do it right we can aim for the demon forces in the camp. Night would mean the humans in the camp would be sleeping, so we wouldn’t be fighting men. I’d prefer to concentrate on the demons because those troops, if we can defeat this Sorcerer, will be our best source of new recruits.”

Galdacil nodded, “That sounds good. And if Erimbril and one of the healers accompanies you then they can stop many of the magics and provide you with magical support.” He looked around the rest of the table and said, “In fact I think we could even mount 1000 of our best and I will lead them. Weldan has the training covered and the more damage we can do on this attack the stronger we will be later. We won’t get another chance to strike at him like this and the army won’t be expecting this kind of attack, especially without the telltale traces that a demon reinforced group would have.”

He looked around the room and nodded, “Good let’s put it togethor people. I want to have the strike force ready to move out by tomorrow. The sooner we hit them the less time they have to discover what’s going on here.” He stood, moved off with Weldan, “We will need to figure out which people you think I should take and make sure I leave you enough to keep the rest training and organized.”

Riulan looked at Erimbril as the two of them left, “I’ll go as the healer. None of the rest are strong enough or ready enough to be able to help more than a few people. And they can continue the training you’ve set them on while we’re gone.”

Erimbril looked thoughtful as they walked through the halls, “Your probably right.” He grinned at her as they walked into the area the Mage’s had claimed for their work, “But even if you weren’t I don’t think I’d want to argue with you. Your stubborn enough that it wouldn’t matter what I’d say.”