Ascendant by Craig Alanson Page B

silently? ”
    Lepto shook
his head. “ No,
my lord. They are behind a screen of brambles, very clever, for that would
deflect any arrows, but they can see through it. They would surely see me and
my men, before we could get to them. ”
    “ Lord Salva, unless you can
do something about those sentries, and do so quietly, I think this attack is
impossible. Then, there are barricades on the valley floor both north and
south, blocking our path, and the valley walls east and west are too steep for
my men to attack from there. Anything you do about their wizard will alert
their soldiers. ”
    Despite the
cold, and his muddy, soaked clothing, and his empty belly, Paedris smiled. The
Duke underestimated the power of a master wizard. “ I have a plan. Let ’ s get out from under this
rock, and prepare. ”
     
    The enemy
wizard was well aware that the men under his command were cold, wet, tired and
hungry, which did not make for alert sentries. The sentries were, therefore,
relieved every hour, to keep their eyes, and ears, fresh. And to keep them
awake. It would therefore have surprised the wizard from Acedor to see that the
sentries at the north barricade were yawning, and barely able to keep their
eyes open. The two men were very sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. Unusually, suddenly,
terribly sleepy. Their wizard had placed wards around the area, how could an
enemy approach without being detected? The sentries did not need to watch, they
could sleep. Sleep. And so they did, without their wizard noticing anything
wrong. Soon after, Lepto ’ s
scouts carefully moved the brambles aside, and had the two sleeping enemy
sentries bound and gagged. But the scouts then retreated back to the north,
which also would have surprised the enemy.
    The ridge to
the east of the valley was steep, especially at the top. At the top, there were
many large rocks clinging to the slope, in many places held in place by other
rocks. It started with a few pebbles slipping down the slope, then small rocks
clinking against each other as they fell. Small rocks coming down the ridge was
nothing new, the valley floor was littered with them. What was new, and would
have alarmed the enemy if they had known, were the very large rocks that were
swaying back and forth. The clatter of small rocks became a cascade, which now did
cause the enemy below to look up in curiosity, but it was too late. One giant
boulder, the size of a farmhouse, broke loose, and that started an avalanche.
With a terrible roaring sound, rocks slid, tumbled, rolled and bounced down the
slope, gaining speed as they fell.
    Enemy troops,
dulled by sleep, staggered out of their tents, fumbling for weapons. Officers
were running around, shouting and kicking their men to get them to move, when
the first boulder smashed into the barricade, crushing the logs like a pile of
twigs.
    While Paedris
had shaken the rocks loose from the ridge, he had not been able to control
where they fell, and most rolled down around the barricade, missing the main
encampment. In the dust, darkness and confusion, the enemy wizard held his
staff high, with an angry red glow from the tip of the staff illuminating the
valley. He had sensed no magic. Was this merely an accident, a rockslide caused
by the soggy ground being loosened by several days of rain? The wizard was
still gathering his senses, to search for a hostile presence around the valley,
when his mouth opened wide in terror, and he was surrounded by white-hot flame.
The flame burned hot, his staff burst into splinters, and pieces of the staff
scattered where he had been standing. When the flames were snuffed out, there
was no trace of the wizard.
     
    Duke Yarron
put a steadying hand on Paedris ’ shoulder, as the court wizard swayed from momentary weakness. “ Will you recover, Lord
Salva? That fireball must have taken much of your strength. ”
    Paedris leaned
on his staff, catching his breath. “ The
fireball was not the problem, it was the spell I concealed the