Sorcerer from Another World

“I cannot get close!” Galen shouted.

“We have lost too many with nothing to show for it Chieftain.” said one of the warriors. 

“I am well aware of our losses, Joriagal.” Galen said with far less force almost in defeat. 

“Can you do something about this blasted weather, Sorcerer?” said the warrior Kimli. 

I couldn’t. But humans had been adapting to weather conditions without controlling it. Why couldn’t I with greater power? It was crude but I fashioned a thin metal roof and held it levitating with a finger. 

It was a drain on my power, but tilted at an angle it also offered a buffer against the wind. 

“That will do.” Kimli said, stepping back to look at the roof in awe. “You could kill us all and there would be nothing we could do about it.”

“But he won’t. Damian Grey is our ally.” Galen declared and raised his sword high. “He gifted me this weapon which always strikes true. It never rust or shows wear. It is capable of slaying anyone. Am I correct?”

“Yes.”

“Even you?” he insisted.

I gulped at the rather unhappy thought, “Yes, even me.”

The warriors nodded and seemed to relax after that. 

Tara stood at my side, her hand on the hilt of her blade. It seemed to me that she assessed the warriors for any hints of danger before coolly dismissing them. 

“We need a plan.” Tara said. 

“But what? Not even the sorcerer could get close enough to hurt it.” said Joriagal. They cast a glance in my direction and gave a brief shrug. “No offence.”

They were right.

I stroked my chin and I took their measure, “None taken.”

“If we can hack its roots off from the earth, then like any tree it will die. Is this not true?” Galen said.

We all agreed and they talked further about what they could do. We took the chance to drink and eat a little to regain our strength. While they talked. I improved Tara’s blade till it was as powerful as Galen’s. Her armour too I made near impenetrable. 

I couldn’t let my protector use inferior tools to do her job. 

“Sorcerer, if we fall in behind you we can carve a path directly to it. If we all charge like a spear’s point in a column two by two.” Geoff said. 

Tara crossed her arms and scowled, “It will take too long to cut it down. Sorcerer Grey will be put at risk.” 

“That is why it is your job to protect him, Tara. What say you Damain?” Galen asked. 

“I cannot guarantee success. You are asking me to protect you all from attacks, cut through the branches and face any of the dead that block our way.” I admitted sincerely. 

“It is our best chance to take it down now, before it reaches Ferisdarm and slaughters everyone.” Galen answered back. 

“The fact that you are right does not make our chances any better.” Tara bit back. 

Galen paused, paced and then faced us, “We know what to expect.”

“Aye.” Joriagal said.

“Today is our time of glory.”

“Aye.” Joriagal, Kimli, and a few warriors said.

“Win and protect your friends and family.”

 “Aye!” The warriors cried.

“Succeed and become legends!”

“Huzzah!” we all screamed.

I sat behind Tara on her horse, with one arm wrapped around her waist to hold on, as she galloped with Galen at her side at the front. Behind us were his warriors. It was easier to hold on that to create and maintain a movement spell.

I was strained enough as it was having raised an entire army out of a forest. I lifted the metal plate and extended it as one great shield. I angled the shield like an upside down ‘v’. 

“Ride! Ride into fear, into death and into legend!” Galen roared and rode first from the front of the charge. 

We galloped at his side. Arching through the sky, the logs came first. They battered off the shield. Some bounced and crushed the dead, others splintering down on the shuffling corpses. Every log hit with the force of a missile. I smoothed over each thud and crater. The riders were safe from the attack. 

On the ground, the dead were shoved aside or smashed on impact with my metal shield. I pushed them apart and rolled over them. We pierced through the tidal wave of the dead that intended to swallow all in its path. 

My tree pawns still fought and engaged with the dead. But the Yewam had wrecked carnage on the forest in our brief absence. The once enormous woods were now smashed, shattered and cleared in large chunks of brutal destruction.  

Staff in hand, I was ready to fight and this time win. I called down the storm and concentrated the energy on the path ahead of us. I blasted the way clear as best as I could. At the same time, I stopped the rain of improved spears the size of wagons.

The rest with gleaming armour hacked their way through with skill and fury. 

We came to the Yewam’s branches. The Undead Yewam, not content to merely throw weapons, stabbed down improvised spears with its thousands of arm-like branches. My metal barrier was pummelled under the flurry of attacks gradually beyond repair. 

I raised my staff and conducted the storm through the enchanted object. A dozen bolts of pure energy flowed within and waited to be released.

I let the shield drop, then I thrusted the staff forward. Surging from the captured storm within a beam of pure energy blasted away the branches blocking the path ahead. They turned to dust and marred to blackened wood. 

We charged through into the breach. Above us the storm subsided with a few stray bolts of lightning being called out at command. Galen and Tara sallied forth the warriors and smashed down with their great blades any foul arm of the Yewam that sought to strike back. 

Great big spiders dropped down and shot their webs. They were as much bone as rotting flesh. But they took none of us, as our mighty warriors beat them back with precise strikes. The arachnids broke before the determined charge. Not even their bodies could slow us down as our horses stomped over their corpses.  

We reached the Yewam’s body. It bore many shifting faces: a dying child, a starved wolf and then a joyful elder and so on…

I dismounted and turned my back to the hulking creature to focus on protecting my allies. Knowing that death was at my back made my heart leap to my mouth with nerves. 

The warriors got to hacking the damn tree down. 

At the base of the Yewam I conjured anew and shifted the metal plate into two massive helicopter full length helicopter blades and spun them. For a little extra oomph I blasted lightning bolts through them to electrify them. Fire and steel burned through the Yewam’s branches and pawns. 

My back was turned. I rotated the helicopter blades till they blurred. They slashed through the branches like cutting through paper. I carved and protected a semi-circle dome to protect the warriors. But, I was too busy focusing ahead…

I didn’t see the knife thrust. Nor did my lightning jump to my defence.

Tara did. She deflected the blow in a clash of sparks. 

A Redcap. Taller and broader than the other of its kin I had met. In its hand was a knife made of a metal I could not recognise screwed into its arm in place of a hand. My magic repulsed at its touch. I could see the blade, but could not feel it with my magic. It mattered not. The assassin creature could not pass my stalwart warrior and protector. 

The weapon and armour I had forged for her chipped away under the strange blade, but they did not break. 

Sensing a lost cause, the one armed Red Cap fled in a burst of choking smoke. 

Unnerved, I placed my life in Tara’s hands. I continued to focus on tearing down any attacking dead or Yewam branches. It took the warriors awhile, but eventually…

“It’s done!” Galen shouted.

The Yewam toppled over and died.

“Hurray!”

“We did it!”

I hugged Tara and Galen in turn. 

It had been close, we had lost brave warriors. I was stained with sweat and my mind fuzzy from all the spellcasting. But, we had won.