Chapter 7

Herc was so pleased at the results of the first raid that he wanted to try a second one the following night. He hoped to wear down the mercenaries before they even reached Alieria. This time, though, he decided on a little variety.

Herc felt that the walking fire was the appropriate form of attack this time. He took Teekay along as a kind of insurance, but was sure that he wouldn't be needed. This time, the fire illusionists were left home, and only the firebrands went on the raid.

The firebrands were riding their version of the flying carpet, so it was easy to move them from place to place. They attacked the first camp with the box technique they had used before, but without the breaks for the illusionists. The mercenaries were so scattered out that it was difficult to surround very many at one time. They caught about 100 mercenaries in the box and squeezed them all into cinders.

They did the same thing at the other 4 camps and got about 500 mercenaries burned to a crisp on that night. This was even better than the rock bombs! In two nights, they had cut the opposition by 25-30% without losing a single man of their own. Now, this was the way to fight a war!

The next night, Herc tried to repeat the fire wall success, but he had little success. The mercenaries had camped in an even more scattered array, so that it was difficult to catch more than about 20 in the fire box. Still, 100 enemy were killed this time, so the raid wasn't a complete failure. However, it looked like a case of diminishing returns, so Herc called off the raids as not being worth the effort.

On the other hand, the mercenaries tended to bunch up while they were marching, so Herc tried to hit them on the march during the day with another harassing raid from the exploding stones. As before, Teekay was carrying 500 stones, but Herc wanted to concentrate on a single marching column this time. This was something of an experiment to see how the enemy would react.

There were 100 firebrands along on this raid, so that was the limit to the number of stones that could be exploded at one time. The firebrands stayed on their flying carpets, but moved as far apart as practical. Teekay positioned the stones along the line of march, but so high in the sky that they couldn't be seen by the enemy troops. He released them 100 at a time, and the firebrands exploded the stones at 50 feet altitude. Teekay had released the next set of 100 stones before the previous set had exploded, so that there was a walking rain of bombs on the column.

Most of the mercenaries tried to escape by running away, but some simply dropped in place. It didn't seem to make much difference which they did. Those that ran to the sides of the road had the best luck in escaping being hit, but most stayed on the road, and were hit by the next batch of bombs that fell. This attack took out about half of the column, so General Travis had lost around 1,100 men before he even reached Alieria.

Herc was ecstatic over this success. It was unprecedented, and he was actually beginning to think that they had a realistic chance of saving the city. He was sure that, if they could drive off this latest hoard, it would be at least a year before another siege could be attempted, and more likely two years, if ever.

Sam was less optimistic. After all, they were fighting the Devil, and the Devil was nothing if not patient and stubborn. In line with these thoughts, he went hunting Agar to ask for his opinion on the subject.

When asked, Agar's answer was, "I know of only one way to bar the Devil's presence from our mortal plane. He is here by virtue of magic, and He would be snapped back to Hell if His magic could be blocked. If the Devil's physical body could be sprayed with powdered brizium, He would lose all magical powers in this plane and could not return until he had removed every trace of brizium from his body."

"That's it, then. We must find a way to get the Devil to breathe some brizium into his lungs. He would have a hell of a time getting rid of every trace, then. Can you get me some powdered brizium if I can figure out a way to administer it?"

"Yes, in fact, I have enough powdered brizium in my laboratory right now to do the job. Let me know when you are ready for it."

"I sure will, and thanks." Sam left to work on this problem.

The mercenaries finally arrived and set up camp. A little over 2,000 humans were nothing like the host of over 30,000 demons, but they were, somehow, more intimidating. Herc predicted that there would be little fooling around, they could expect the first mercenary attack the next morning.

Agar alerted the wall host illusionists to be ready before daylight and have their illusions going before the sun showed itself. It wouldn't do for the attackers to see empty defenses suddenly filled with troops. They would smell a rat right away. The same alert went out for the artillery crews, and the mine firebrands were ordered to move into place with the wall host illusionists. Teekay and the teleporting messengers were ready to report to the CP before dawn.

Sam and Princess Olena spent the evening in her apartment, first over supper, and later just talking. Sam asked, "Olena (they had gotten to first names by now), why haven't I met the rest of your family?"

Olena's face fell into the deepest sadness as she said, "About a year ago, my parents were cursed by the Devil, Himself. For political reasons, I tell everybody that they are dead. Actually, they are in a deep coma that even Agar is not able to break through. The Devil can't take them into Hell as long as they are alive, and he can't kill them, because He would lose them to Heaven if he did. The Devil is so vindictive that he wants them alive when he captures Alier, so that he can torture them to death and extract some pleasure that way.

"I can't become queen until my 25^th birthday, which isn't until next year. Because the people believe that my parents are dead, they accept me as de facto queen, and I can rule without opposition. If they knew that my parents were alive, there are opportunists who would try to take over and run the country to their benefit. This is the only way that I can be sure of having the authority to continue the fight. It is my hope that we will one day find a way to defeat the Devil and release my parents from their curse."

"I understand, Olena, and you have my deepest sympathy. Under the circumstances, why hasn't the Devil cursed you, also?"

"I really don't know. He must have some devious plan up His sleeve, though I can't imagine what it is."

"Well, I certainly have enjoyed our evening together, but it's time to collect everybody and move to the CP."

They used the flying carpet to move to the CP and set up operations there. Agar used his magic to keep plenty of non-alcoholic refreshments on hand so they wouldn't be distracted by low blood sugar.

As the sun rose, they could see the enemy camp stirring as the mercenaries woke up and prepared for battle. The enemy camp was out of normal trebuchet range, so there was no way to use them, yet, but Teekay was already moving his first load of bombs in position to attack the camp. The firebrands were ready, so Teekay released the stones and they were exploded at the usual altitude over the men lined up to collect breakfast.

This was the first time the enemy had congregated enough people to warrant Teekay's attention, and he made the most of it. Agar reported that the first salvo had resulted in 61 of the enemy being put out of the fight, either killed or seriously wounded. Their wizards quickly threw a shield over that part of the camp to protect against falling rock. Their shield had a limited coverage area, so it wouldn't make much of a difference during the upcoming fight.

It was almost 3 hours after sunrise before the attack began. The troops moved out in a dispersed group, mindful of the potential of Teekay's massed bomb attacks. As they got nearer the city's walls, they caught sight of the illusionary men hanging from the poles. Men broke ranks to run to the aid of the hanging men and were blasted to pieces by mines as they got close.