1: His First War

Adam looked around. Surrounding him on all sides were soldiers, clad in armour and bearing wicked weapons, all bearing Lord Pragen’s three-spears banner. To his left was a unit of spearman, to his right a light cavalry division. He could hear orders being shouted, trumpets and drums sounding, and he wondered just how the hell he came to be in this position.

"Hey! Hey! You, Mage!" Adam realised that someone had been trying to get his attention and had called him several times. He looked and saw a portly officer on a chestnut charger. His helmet was under his arm and he was attempting to control his skittish mount.

Warily, Adam approached the officer.

"Damn you, when I call, I expect you to respond!"

"I'm sorry," replied Adam, "but it is rather noisy, and..."

"When the cavalry charge sounds," the officer interrupted, "I expect you to be available to provide support. Will you be able to keep up?"

"Well, yes – I've prepared a spell that will let me..."

"Good. Wait for the call, and don't let yourself get killed!"

"Right, but what..."

The officer rode off before Adam could ask what the call was going to sound like.

"Hey, Wizard!" came a call from his other side. He whirled, catching his hat so that it didn't fall off. The commander of the spear unit was addressing him now. "You'll be with us, right? With protective spells?"

The commander was outfitted in mail, and he was wearing a tall helm with a bright horsehair plume. "We're going to need your spells. We're hitting the centre!"

"Well, actually, I'll be..."

"If you let us down, I'll personally come and hunt you after the battle. You got that?"

"Of course, but the..."

"Good man!" The spear commander turned to address his troops. Just then he noticed a small boy tugging on his tunic. The boy handed him a note and ran off.

"Orders from command," it said. "Destroy enemy catapults on right flank."

No sooner had he read the note than seemingly without warning or signal the army started to move. The cavalry kicked up such a cloud of dust that he had trouble seeing where they were headed. The noise level was rising, and he gathered from the shouts that the enemy – whoever they were – had taken the initiative and were approaching.

Confused, he looked around. The commander of the spear unit was nowhere to be seen, so he tried to follow the cavalry. He was practically breathing in dust, so he looked for some clearer air, acutely aware of the commotion building around him.

Suddenly a rider appeared from the murk, cantering towards him with sword raised, bellowing a battle cry. Adam froze, unsure whether it was one of his own side or an enemy. The pattern of the armour didn't look familiar, but he knew that there were quite a few different units gathered for this battle. Fortunately, before he could react, an arrow hit the man in the throat and he tumbled to the ground. The horse continued on, terrified, and Adam lost sight of it.

He looked at the man at his feet, bleeding his life out. He had never seen a man killed before, and he hadn't even seen who killed this one. The arrow had green fletchings, but he didn't know whether that was a good sign or not.

The fighting drew nearer. He could hear the screams of men and beast getting louder. Time to start acting and stop reacting, he thought.

He took another glance at the dead man and determined that that would not happen to him.

Briefly, he closed his eyes and reached out to the green river that flowed under his feet. He had never tried this before, but he knew that he had to do something or he would be ridden over or worse. He was supposed to be a wizard – that was what he was here for, wasn't it? Time for a spell.

The green energy swirled around him, ready to be used. He reached out with his mind and drew it under his feet, making a platform which slowly rose. As his feet left the ground, he felt a momentary panic. He twitched, and almost stumbled. It would not be a good idea for him to fall off this green platform. He took a deep breath.

He concentrated on the energy beneath him, lifting him, and rose some thirty feet into the air – high enough to have a good view of the battlefield.

He could see immediately that the battle was not going well for his side. The cavalry regiment he was supposed to have accompanied had been cut to pieces. Their horses had shied at charging an enemy pike formation, and many of them were fleeing, riderless. So much for that order, he thought.

The spear formation seemed to be doing better. They had a unit of archers at their flank and seemed to be holding their ground. Looking to his right, he tried to locate the enemy catapults, but the dust was too thick. Okay then.

He visualised the green river again. Dimly, he was aware of the spearman below changing formation, forming a triangular group. The formation was protected on the sides by the spearmen's shields, and bristled with pointy shafts. He directed his spell at the formation, creating a mystic and otherwise invisible dome around most of the formation. At that moment, a command was shouted and the entire formation began to charge the enemy.

"No, you idiots!" he shouted. "That's a static spell!" They didn't hear him over the din of battle, marching steadily away from the spell of protection.

There was a sound – like a hundred angry cats – and a flight of arrows descended on the spear formation. Many of the spearmen died immediately, and their formation fell apart. As Adam watched, a unit of infantry plunged into their side and started cutting them apart with swords and axes. He could see a second unit just beyond, leaning on their shields and jeering.

He willed the platform to move towards his right. If he could find and destroy the enemy catapults, then he might be able to face the army's commanders after the battle and report some kind of success.

At that moment a group of enemy archers seemed to notice him, shouting and pointing. A few of them put arrows to their bows and let fly, but their aim was off. Adam hoped he wouldn’t have to dodge arrows – he was sure that he’d fall off the green platform if he had to do that. He directed the platform to move up and away from the archers.

After rising another twenty feet into the air, he finally spotted the two catapults on the flank. They were preparing for another shot. He could see the crew of the war machines hefting heavy rocks into position, while a squad of spears formed a screen around them. It appeared that at least one unit of skirmishes had already tried to attack, and had been utterly wiped out.

No matter, because Adam the Wizard was here! After sending another glance at the archers on the ground, he drew on the green flow, felt its energy, allowed it to fill him. He gathered it into his hand, feeling its intense heat, and before he could burn himself, he pointed it at the nearest catapult and released it. The magical missile struck, and the catapult's crew set to work with burlap sacks, extinguishing the flame almost as quickly as it had been set. To tell the truth, it was pathetic. The catapult, undamaged, jumped and shuddered as it hurled its deadly missile towards Adam's ostensible employers.

This is bad, thought Adam, as he looked below him and realised that his side was being utterly destroyed. The enemy's cavalry had almost reached the command tent. Enemy soldiers were hunting for survivors. He dropped further towards the ground, thinking that it might perhaps be time to leave.

There was a sound from behind him. Looking around he saw a soldier, shouting something and gesticulating with what looked like a glowing blue baton. The soldier noticed him, looked up, and pointed the baton at him.

It was a most unpleasant sensation. All hint of the green river instantly vanished, and Adam fell about fifteen feet and hit the ground with a painful thud. As he realised that he couldn't move, the soldier came over, still pointing the baton at him. "Why, you're just a boy!" he said. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you some kind of idiot?"

Adam wouldn't have contradicted him, even if he could.