C49: Bad News

The next day, Cera headed to the mages’ guild only to find Ann looking quite disturbed.  Having not seen her so worried before, Cera had to ask what was going on.

Unexpectedly, the answer was simple, though not good, as Ann responded, “It appears we’re going to war.  If you’re quick at leaving, you might be able to avoid being called on, but you likely only have one or two days to get out of the city.”

Caught off guard by this, Cera shook her head before replying, “There’s no way I can leave so soon; is there any chance I can get out of having to fight?  I can’t just leave with no warning; I need to let people know I’m leaving, and have a plan.  I also need more practice hiding myself.  Which reminds me, we had a deal that you’d help me with that; I just hadn’t wanted to seem pushy.”

Ann sighed and remarked, “I was trying to find more resources before we began, Cera.  I haven’t forgotten.  But there’s no way the guilds won’t be called on.  Even the damned assassins’ guild, as the nobles have closer ties with them than most would like to admit.”

After a short pause, Ann cocked her head to the side before stating, “You know, you might actually be able to leverage your status as a healer to get assigned to focus on that instead of being called on for magical combat.  But I’m not sure which would take precedence.”

“What is happening, anyway?  Surely there’s more warning about war than just a day or two,” Cera inquired, her worry building at the idea of going to war in her new life.

With this question, Ann shook her head, then answered, “I forgot that you likely wouldn’t know.  Our kingdom and our neighbors aren’t entirely at peace.  The Marquess of Iwald, I forget his name, has long coveted our city due to the resources we possess.  Duke Loralis has been expecting an attack for a while now.  I’m not sure of the exact specifics, but he stationed troops here several months ago.  Unfortunately, the approaching force is significantly larger.”

She sighed before adding, “It’s likely we will lose, if they prepared well.  But we only have to hold out a few days.  But our count is a fool who refused to fortify the city, despite being on the border.  He was always insistent that no one would dare to attack us since Duke Loralis is one of the king’s favorites.  And no fortifications means we’re at a disadvantage.”

Cera took several moments to think in response to that.  Not only were lower numbers a problem, but it would be easy for their opponents to attack the city itself, meaning even those not fighting would be at risk.

Even as Cera was thinking, however, Ann resumed, “On the plus side, the commander here isn’t a fool like our count, and has a reputation for trying to consider everyone’s skills, so hopefully that will help.  I’m going to have to do quite a bit, I’m afraid.  Most of the defenses for the guild are going to be redistributed for the battle, since I’ve made quite a few golems, and they are mobile.  I think most of the rest of you will be put in more limited positions, as none of you are nearly as powerful.  Though I’m going to be glad of one thing; our idiot count is going to be forced to fight on the front lines, and we might lose him.  I’m sure nearly anyone else would be better.”

Cera absentmindedly nodded, mind racing as she considered what she was capable of, both theoretically and in proven terms.  She was confident in her shields holding up well enough to keep herself and maybe a few others safe, even for hours.  She also thought that she might be able to enhance a few combat spells to target specific individuals over a long distance, but she lacked significant area-of-effect spells.  Perhaps she could do a shotgun blast of ice shards, but that wouldn’t do much against frontline fighters wearing armor.

Even gambesons would be able to blunt the impact fairly well, and they weren’t terribly difficult to produce, so it was likely their enemies would be using them.  She was worried that she would be expected to fight, though she was also able to heal, as Ann also mentioned that each guild was required to give detailed information about each member to the commander.

Once Ann finished speaking, Cera made sure to emphasize that she wasn’t as good at fire magic as she was with crystalline things such as ice, and that ice was less useful against even minor armor at her current level of power.  In response, Ann informed her that she’d already known that, and was going to describe her as a barrier specialist.

In light of the news, Cera decided that her class would focus on combat magic for the next few days, at least for anyone who showed up.  Before time for her students to arrive, she began browsing the library again, searching for anything that might help her defend herself if attacked by someone prepared for battle.

Unfortunately, there was nothing terribly useful that she could find in the time she had, though she had also split her focus, as she was quite talented with magical constructs, and intended to maximize her chances at surviving an attack.  While it wouldn’t be easy, she should be able to create a reasonably solid targeting mechanism that could be attached to other spells.  Naturally, her target would be the face, though helmets that obscured it would throw it off.

She was still designing the construct as the others began to arrive, each being briefed by Ann before joining her.  Three of them immediately turned around and left, leaving her with only five people today.  Annoyingly, one of them wouldn’t shut up about how his father was a battlemage, and how he was going to prove himself as a great warrior, everyone should listen to him, he was sure to be given an important position, and more.

Cera couldn’t stand him and simply told him to leave.  Then, when he refused, she created a curved shield and used it to shove him outside the room they were using, then shut the door behind him.  With only four people left, she began her lesson.

To begin with, she told them that in an actual battle, they should do whatever it takes, ignoring the polite unspoken rules of duels.  Fire magic was the most effective for most people, as simpler forms of armor would burn, and if they had good aim, people tended to lose their ability to fight when their head was on fire, even if they had nonflammable armor.

Feira was the only one who didn’t try to object, simply nodding instead.  The other three insisted that it wasn’t honorable to do that.  Cera simply responded that it was better to survive, and it was unlikely that their enemies cared enough to decide not to kill them.

She wasn’t entirely certain, admittedly, as it was likely that a mage was worth a fair ransom if captured, though that capture would be difficult to pull off.  Cera certainly wasn’t going to rely on it herself.

It took a while to convince them, or at least get them to stop arguing, but they did get into some of the potential tactics they could expect, and possible responses they could utilize.  By the end of the session, Cera felt a little better, as she’d relaxed a bit.

The chances of whoever the commander was simply throwing the mages into a vulnerable position wasn’t likely, after all, given what Ann had said, and how she seemed to respect the man.  And Cera had managed to complete her new mana construct, at least in theory.  It still needed testing, after all.

Surprisingly, when she brought that up to Ann, the woman immediately decided the two of them were going to test it right away, and took her down into the basement.  There was another stairway visible on the other side, but more striking were the rows of golems filling almost the entire basement.  There had to be at least thirty of them, and none of them looked easy to deal with.

Most of the golems were designed similarly to knights, except instead of swords, each had a morning star.  They were mostly composed of stone, but two of them appeared to be made out of metal, though Cera was not entirely certain what type, as she’d never been terribly interested in metal.  Ann noticed her distraction and promptly shook her by the shoulder, reminding her that they needed to get moving.

Cera nodded and, at Ann’s direction, cast a shield around her.  The plan was that Ann would act as a target, while protected by both her own and Cera’s defenses, and they would use a simple mana bolt as the offensive spell.  It should be absolute overkill given how weak an attack they were planning to use, but it was always best to overdo defenses, especially in a situation like this.

She would prefer to use a nonliving target, or aim to the side of someone instead of at them, but that would completely go against the point.  Her construct was supposed to guide the attached spell toward the face, after all.

Ann made her way to the other stairway as she cast her own barrier, which blazed to Cera’s manasight, making it clear she was still far from being the strongest around.  After a moment to verify her shield, Ann gestured for Cera to begin.

The first bolt was a simple verification test, unguided and sent to the side of Ann, to make sure it was weak enough.  Much as expected, it didn’t even break Cera’s own shield, let alone Ann’s below it.  It was important, however, as it made Cera more confident in actually aiming at a critical location on an ally.  The next attempt wasn’t terribly accurate, as it appeared to not be good enough at altering the velocity of the bolt.

More control wasn’t terribly difficult, however, and it only took Cera a few seconds to locate and change the problematic component in the construct.  It took two more attempts and alterations before she was happy.  But in the end, she could fire nearly thirty degrees off-target, and it would still slam into the shields right over Ann’s face, despite the relatively short distance between them.

Having accomplished their goal, Ann bid Cera farewell, then escorted her out before returning to the building.  Cera found herself curious if the woman ever left, then shook her head and returned home, having a large meal before going to bed.

Unfortunately, she was still worried enough that it took over an hour to fall asleep, even hugging her tail.