Terics Academy -- The First Tenet

Everything was going just splendidly until our sorcerers exploded in a massive blast of black fire. That really put a damper on things.

I suppose for a young Dragonlord, in the first campaign of his career, I could have done a lot worse. The Army of Three Spears--while merely a mercenary group, fighting for some obnoxious Dzurlord or other--has a lot to recommend it. The food's plentiful, the conditions not unduly unpleasant, and even the officers have been tolerable. Sure, none of them is Sethra Lavode or anything, but Lord Abin is an experienced Dragon with a series of successful campaigns to his credit, and has every bit of the tactical prowess that makes the e'Terics line famous. Captain Fentor, while a strict son-of-a-kethna, certainly knows how to whip the troops into shape; and even the young cavalry commander, Lieutenant Loftis, has shown remarkable mettle. Of course, he's an e'Drien, like me, so that's only to be expected.

Still, things have gotten less encouraging, lately.

Our forces presented themselves quite well, at first, handing the Army of the Black Wands a string of defeats, and forcing them into a defensive posture. Then we had tried to push them out of Ezeera, and everything went to hell.

The Black Wands were an Athyra-led Army, about the size of an Imperial Brigade, consisting of a few hired Dragon regiments, a smattering or light cavalry, and about the best Sorcerers Corps this side of the Sorannah. We had pushed them for weeks, until they fortified in Ezeera. That's when fourteen regiments of crack Dragon infantry units attacked from all sides simultaneously. We had them about to break; that was when our Sorcerers Corps--not a bad group of magicians, though certainly not the greatest ever assembled--basically evaporated under a combined attack by the best wizards in the House of Athyra.

I'm not sure what kind of spell it was, I'm not really much of a sorcerer myself, but the results were fairly spectacular. Eighteen of our sorcerer corpsmen sent to Deathgate just like that, and our few survivors wounded with nasty burns that took months to heal.

Without the support of our wizards, the infantry attack crumbled. Black fire crossed the battlefield in massive waves, laying waste to entire regiments. It was about then that Colonel Rysan (a proud Dragon of the e'Lanya line) decided that perhaps a withdrawal wouldn't be such a bad idea. I can't say that I blame him, considering I'd just had about half my messmates knocked out of action by then. I hate to admit it, but I was fairly close to pulling out at that point even without the order. Well, maybe not. But I'm awfully glad I didn't have to stay and find out.

We did take Ezeera, eventually. It took months, and it cost us dearly, but we managed to destroy a pretty significant portion of the Black Wands' conventional forces in the process. Their Sorcerers Corps continued to make life difficult for us, but our few remaining sorcerers concentrated on defensive spells, so, eventually, our superior numbers paid off.

The Black Wands Sorcerer's Corps was impressive. I saw an intelligence dispatch once that listed some of the names on that Corps. Lord Dyss, their defensive specialist; the Athyra. Wizard Hatachin, renowned for once causing an entire Dzur army to surrender in confusion after a single onslaught; and their overall corps commander, Count Ytra, whom Tortaalik had even considered making his Court Wizard.

They prevented us from pressing the advantage, as the remainder of the Black Wands made their way to the little town of Thalew, which they had prepared as a defensive stronghold. The earthworks there might not have been the most elaborate ever made, but they were pretty convincing when I first saw them. Mounds of dirt fifteen feet high with sharpened stakes lining the ditches in front of them. Even given our superior numbers, those defenses were more than enough to keep us away--especially considering the likelihood that black flames were likely to rain down on whatever brigade was unlucky enough to be first across the field.

Lord Abin decided we needed reinforcements at that point. So there we were. Camped out around Thalew, just out of range of their sorcerers, trying to train a bunch of Teckla conscripts to march in line so that, eventually, they could all get slaughtered trying to take some rather substantial fortifications. Oh well, I suppose it gives one time to contemplate the lessons of war.

It was during my musings that one of my squad members, Cheryl, came to find me.

"Etrick, you no good kethna farmer," she began. Cheryl was always a little too cheerful for her own good. "Randi and Mora and I were looking for a fourth for a game of shereba."

"And so you thought of me? I'm touched."

"Yeah, we needed someone with more money than smarts." This was a bit outside the normal bounds of protocol, considering I was their corporal, but Cheryl always knew just exactly how much she could get away with.

"Figures," I replied, "I knew it couldn't be the pleasure of my company."

"I'll tell Mora you said that," Cheryl replied, "She's been asking about you lately."

"Oh yeah?" I said, "Maybe I'll join your game after all."
"I thought you might," Cheryl grinned. "We've got a campstool set up as a table in Mora's tent."

Cheryl and I fell in next to one another an ambled back towards her squad's encampment.

"Have you heard any of the rumors coming out of Dragaera City?" she asked.

"No. I've been occupied with this damnable siege. What's been happening?"

"A rider came in last night. Lord Rollondar is calling for a mustering of the Imperial Army."

That surprised me. Lord Rollondar was my distant uncle on my father's side, and he was serving as Tortaalik's Warlord. I thought I would have heard from my family if there was going to be a war.
"The Imperial Army? Are we at war?"

"I couldn't get the straight of it," Cheryl replied, "Something about rioting in the capital. Lord Adron's name was mentioned, also."

"Well, certainly, if the Imperial Army is being mustered," I mused, "Lord Adron would be the first man I would call on."

"I got the impression that he was the one the Army was supposed to be fighting," Cheryl replied.

Now that just didn't make any sense at all.

"I don't see how--," suddenly the juice-drum started playing 'Corporal's Tears'.

"Hold that thought," I said, "It sounds like I'm needed elsewhere."
Cheryl frowned. "Damn. And just when I'd found you, too. Now the game's off altogether."

"Get your squad organized," I instructed, "I want you ready to move once I get my orders."

"Yessir," Cheryl answered, then trotted away, back towards her tent.

"I wonder what this is?" I asked myself. The Teckla reinforcements had only been drilling for a few weeks. Long enough for them to march in step, and keep from accidentally spearing their comrades with their pikes, but that was about it. Colonel Rysan couldn't be seriously considering an attack?

I rushed to the command pavilion, and took it as a matter of pride that most of the other corporals hadn't made it yet by the time I got there.

Once the other corporals had gathered, it was Colonel Rysan himself who gave us the battle-plan. This was more than a little unusual, but made more sense once we heard what the plan was.

"The four Dragon Brigades will form up along the left and right flanks of their line," Rysan began, "But hold back until the Teckla are about halfway across the field. The Teckla will march directly on the enemy center. Once the Teckla Brigades have the attention of their Sorcerer's Corps, you will advance on the flanks, and sweep around behind their fortifications. If we can destroy the bulk of their infantry, their Sorcerer's Corps alone won't be able to hold the city." Suddenly it all made sense. The Teckla units didn't need extensive training if all they were going to be used for was a diversion.

I glanced around the pavilion. I think every single one of them knew what kind of losses the Teckla Brigades were in for. So, it seemed, did Colonel Rysan.

"Don't worry about the Teckla units," he said, "I've already received enough volunteers from the other Brigades to staff their command positions, so don't go getting your hopes up."

I breathed a bit easier, I wasn't anxious to die before having made a name for myself. At the same time, I found a part of me was disappointed at not having the opportunity to serve in such a noble capacity.

"That kind of thinking's likely to get you killed," I thought to myself, "And then you won't ever have a chance to make a name for yourself. Let older officers have the glory, at least for now."

When I got back to my tent, my platoon was nearly finished getting ready for action. Since we were laying siege, there wasn't any need to strike the tents, but it wouldn't do to have needless clutter waiting for us when we got back. Cheryl handed me a whetstone so I could sharpen my sword. I'd have to suggest her to the captain as a candidate for promotion.

Once we had had about a half-hour to get our gear in order, the juice drum started playing, ordering us to form up.

I wasn't sure how I expected things to go, given our recent series of offensives, It sure sounded nice to have the Black Wands' sorcerers looking the other way while we went for the flanks. At the same time, I think even then I had a feeling that maybe things wouldn't work out quite as well as the Colonel had made it sound. There I go, thinking again.

My platoon was on the left flank, which put us south of town. Thalew wasn't much of a town, really, but it's positioned at the junction of the Merwin Highway and the Stonybrook Road, which gives it a fairly significant tactical importance.

The earthworks on this side were a bit lower, I estimated roughly eleven feet high, and there were some gaps in the ditches in front, presumably to allow couriers places to ride in and out of the enemy lines. I tried to count the heads of the soldiers behind the piles of dirt in front of us, but they were keeping their heads down. They could hear our drums as well as we could, and they knew something was coming.

The attack started well enough, the Teckla certainly had their attention, and while they were certainly aware of a certain presence along their flanks, we weren't moving yet, and the Teckla units were a lot closer.

Strangely, their Sorcerer's Corps held steady, even once the Teckla were, by my estimate, well within range. Oh well, the closer the Teckla units were to their lines, the bigger a distraction they would be when our turn came.

The Teckla made it halfway across the field, and the juice drums played 'Time to Be Alive'. We started forward.

We were close when they opened up on us. Not with Javelins, as I had been expecting, but with waves of lighting.

So much for our attack distracting their Sorcerers.

I found out later that their Sorcerer's Corps had erected an impenetrable wall of pure sorcery across the entire center of their line. Our Teckla units, instead of being wiped out gloriously, were all milling around in confusion in front of empty enemy positions. Meanwhile, the Black Wands had redeployed their forces to the flanks, and their sorcerers were attacking our forward units.

"Barlen, Verra and Trout!" Cheryl screamed as a thunderbolt sizzled through the air between us. "That was close!"

I grunted. Our lines were holding up okay, but by now we could tell that the fortifications ahead of us held about twice as many troops as we had been expecting. Even without their sorcerers, it was going to be close.

"Oh well," I thought, "Perhaps I will have my chance to die gloriously, after all." I was not especially heartened by the prospect.

We made it across the ditch in good order, and began scaling the earthworks. I was nearly impaled by a set of spikes, but I managed to free myself in time to avoid another lightning bolt. About a quarter of our troops were out of action by this point. Things did not look good.

We hit their lines as well as could be expected. They were Dragons, and by this point, they'd been pretty well seasoned. I saw Randi go down, hit in the leg with a dagger. He'd always let his left side guard slide a little too low, I thought. I absently hoped he would live, as I parried a stroke at my head from the Dragon in front of me.

Mora was holding up her own fairly well, three enemy bodies were stretched out in front of her before she received a gash in the thigh, and went down. I glanced around quickly, and noticed that barely a quarter of our units were still engaged. That's when the juice-drum gave the order to retreat.

I started to turn, but lost my footing, as suddenly the ground began to shake tremendously. Our troops simultaneously lost all interest in battle, and we were saved only by the fact that the enemy units suddenly lost all of their interest in the battle as well.

While the earth shook relentlessly, I became aware of an absence in my mind. As if something that had always been there was no longer present. It wasn't until a few days later that I realized that this was the exact moment I lost contact with the Orb. The Interregnum had begun.

It really wasn't even a battle after that.

Once their Sorcerer's Corps lost the ability to use sorcery, our Teckla conscripts made one charge against their lines, and that was it. Even though the defenders were Dragons, the disparity of numbers was just too much for them.

They lost most of their Sorcerer's Corps; some of the best wizards in what used to be the Empire. Much of the rebuilding of battle-magics after the restoration wouldn't have been nearly as challenging if a few of those Athyra had survived. Not that I'm complaining. By that point, I was sick of the whole idea of battle-magic.

Me, I went home. The Dzurlord who'd commissioned us, Lord Kyleth, Baron of someplace or other*, had died in the Disaster, so there wasn't much point in keeping the army together.

On returning to my family estate, I found out I was one of the lucky ones. My parents, never ones for ostentation, had long resisted the urge to build a floating castle for themselves. I lost a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins that way, though; killed when their precious homes fell from the sky.

I'm not sure what I'll do now that the Empire has been restored. I heard that Lord Fentor has been organizing a campaign for the Duke of Southmoor against some count from the east. Sethra Lavode is supposed to be in command of his forces, and that sounds intriguing. Oh well. Whoever is in charge, I'm sure there will be the chance for glory, and in the end, that's what the life of a Dragon is all about.

* The Dzurlord Kyleth, was Baron of Mordenna

No victorious army in history, of any size, has ever failed to suffer some kind of significant setback.

The Battle of Thalew

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