GAYM part 07 -- The first battle
By
yungngay1ru2@yahoo.com
This is a sort of crossover story, combining science fiction, fantasy, and gay humor. It is based loosely on "Another Fine Myth" and "Myth Conceptions", part of the Myth (or MYTH) series by Robert Asprin, 1978-80+, which I discovered in paperback from/by Ace Books, New York, in the 1990s.
"Am I to understand you two have issued some sort of challenge?" The head of the local unit of Istvan's army was unsure whether to address Aahz or me. "What's to stop me from ordering my men to shoot you down right now?"
I noticed a number of archers were aiming down at us. I hoped Ajax could take care of them, if the need arose.
"Careful sir. The young one's a magician, sir. I don't know about the other," said the soldier we'd spoken with earlier.
"I'm the negotiator," said Aahz.
"Very well," said the commander. "What do you want?"
"Your unconditional surrender," said Aahz.
"Ha, uh, ugh..." When the commander could speak after his fit of laughter and coughing, he addressed Aahz. "You, at least, must be a local. That's the funniest, most Idiotic thing I've heard. You expect US to surrender? To you and what army?"
"I assure you," said Aahz, "we DO have a force. Even now our elite are hidden among the trees watching."
Well, they WERE watching, but only Ajax and Brock (the latter shrouded in his invisibility cloak) were in range. I hoped that together they'd offer whatever protection we'd need. The plan was that Ajax would fire if it looked like we'd be attacked, and Brock, invisible, would rush in and make it look like we'd disappeared, shielding us with the invisibility cloak. Aahz and I each had a D-hopper (each set with the coordinates for our hill) but we'd need time to use those teleport devices, time we wouldn't have if attacked by surprise.
"Very well," said the officer. "We intend to move through here on the way to our rendezvous spot. If you think you can stop us, you're welcome to try."
"Agreed," said Aahz. "Shall we engage tomorrow at noon?"
"Agreed," said the officer.
"We'll be here," said Aahz.
With that, we each returned to our camps.
I was glad we hadn't engaged in fighting yet, there was so much to do to prepare. For starters, I needed to check the area for force lines. Although Aahz had taught me how to store energy, I figured I'd need all the power I could get for an all out war. I discovered two force lines: one ground and one air.
Aahz decided he'd make a trip with Brock back to Deville for the Devo Market, the Bazaar, to see if they could find anything to aid us.
Ajax and I were on watch. Gus and Andy were napping, with my dragon, Gleep. I didn't know about Gus' salamander, Berfert, or the Gremlin.
"Well, well," said Ajax. "Earlier we were just minor resistance,' now we're armed opposition, must be subdued forcefully.' How do you like that?"
"I don't! Sounds like he's calling for reinforcements. We can handle this supply unit, but I'm not sure we're ready to take on any large number of real fighters," I said.
"Well, if we can believe his signals, he thinks he can take us," Ajax reported. "Claude, that's the captain, must be hoping for a promotion. He just could be stretching his neck out a bit far."
"And we're just the ones to CUT his neck; aren't we?" It WAS a question.
"If we can believe the signals," said Ajax. "Claude may suspect we've broken his code. If that's the case, they might send misleading messages, but it appears the local commander, Claude, has refused help. Hey, they're getting ready to move, already."
"But it's early, and Aahz isn't back yet!" I groaned.
"Well, you better think of something, and quick, or we'll lose the advantage of position."
"Well, they've broken our agreement, so if you need to stop them, shoot, but hold off as long as you can. I've got an idea, but I'll need Gus." I went to find the gargoyle.
"Gus, can you do a transformation or deception spell? You know, disguise?"
"'Fraid not, boss. I'm not the magician, you are."
"Well, I'll just have to disguise you and hope I can keep it up at a distance. For now, I want you to be me."
"Why?" asked the gargoyle.
"Gus, we need someone to go out and meet the enemy. Ajax says they're starting to move early. Your stony `skin' should offer you protection, but I don't want the enemy to know we have a gargoyle on our side, not yet. Get it?"
"Got it. But what do I do? HOW do I pretend to be you? And how is that going to help?"
"They think I'm our leader. They know I'm a magician, but they don't seem to know much about magicians. They'll probably use archers for defense, and offense. When they draw their bows, raise your hand into the air; that will signal me to use my telekinetic powers to stop the arrows in flight. And if any arrows should hit you, they'll bounce off. The effect should be quite dramatic -- one `magician' stopping the advance of over 100 soldiers. And I think I can arrange a trick with Ajax for flaming arrows to hit their supply wagons, if we're lucky. But Gus, if they pull any surprises, like pulling out a cannon (although we haven't seen one yet), don't hesitate to get out of there; fly if you need to."
Gus understood, and agreed to the plan.
While he headed out, the rest of us took up our positions. I tapped into the ground force line, storing up all the magic energy I could.
Claude had set a wicked pace for his men, and his camp looked like a beehive as they prepared to bug out. Gus was making steady progress towards the camp but finally was noticed. I could tell because slowly each man seemed to stop what he was doing to try to find a place to watch the proceedings.
I couldn't tell just what Claude said, but I suppose it was a warning, because Gus stopped. Claude then must've barked an order, because about a dozen archers appeared. With slow deliberation, they drew and cocked their arrows.
Gus threw up a hand dramatically as Claude barked again and the bowmen loosed their missiles. I concentrated my energies and the arrows stopped in mid-air, then fell to the ground.
If the bowmen were shaken, they didn't have much time to ponder before Claude ordered a second volley. This time, Gus raised his other hand. This volley was more ragged than the first, which made stopping it a bit more difficult. At least one archer managed to strike Gus, only to watch the arrow bounce off.
I could see the bowmen looking at each other in amazement.
"Nice work, handsome," Andy told me.
"I don't know which stop was more impressive," said Ajax, "but that's got `em panicked."
Sure enough, the men were starting to break ranks; many were starting to retreat. Claude barked at them and they drew their swords for a charge. As they moved forward, the wagons were left unguarded. This is just what I'd been hoping for.
"Now, Ajax! Aim for the wagons!"
"I remember," he replied with a grin.
As he raised his bow, I concentrated an intense ball of energy a few inches in front of it. As each arrow sped from Ajax's bow, it burst into flame and continued on its flight.
I thought it was a good thing Gus had the invisibility cloak and could disappear during this, because I couldn't have maintained his disguise and concentrated on the arrows as well.
Ajax had hit every one of the enemy's wagons. All were smoking, and a few were in flames.
"That ought to do it," I commented, proud of myself, and of my troops.
"Don't get cocky," Ajax warned. "Now they've no reason not to charge. We're greatly outnumbered, and I don't reckon I've got enough arrows for `em all!"
"Andy, set your D-hopper for Deville. We may need to make a quick get away."
"Good idea, boss."
"Anybody seen Gus and Berfert?" I asked.
"Look! There!" said Ajax.
We all looked to see a small fire burst from nowhere onto the field between the advancing swordsmen and our camp. Quickly, the fire spread into an arc, and then a circle, but not around the enemy.
"It's Berfert!" Andy shouted. "He must be trying to protect Gus."
Then, suddenly, in the middle of the fire ring, appeared Gus as himself, a gargoyle.
The effect was wonderful. The soldiers in the front began to scatter. Some ran back through their own ranks.
That gave me an idea. Now Gus is pretty impressive in his own right, but I decided to use the disguise spell to make him look even fiercer. I'd double his size. Now instead of being maybe 9 feet high and 3 feet wide, he'd appear to be a living mountain: 18 feet high, 6 feet wide.
Soon all the opposing men were running away, though I doubt all of them knew what they were running from. But before I get Gus to full doubled size, he disappeared!
"What happened?" asked Ajax.
"I don't know," I replied.
"How'd I do, boss?" The voice made me jump.
"Gus? Gus! You were great. But what happened out there?"
"Well, I've never tried to move under an invisibility cloak before. It was awkward for me. Berfert must've sensed that and decided to run interference. Then, when I tried to scoop him up, the cloak slipped off. You don't know how hard it is to find an invisibility cloak when it's invisible! I had to try to find it with my feet, while facing the enemy, so I'd still look something like a magician. Fortunately, Berfert seemed to know where the cloak was. He ran under it, then back out a few times, but when I found it, I decided `enough with invisibility! We're teleporting back!' So here we are."
"One more thing to do before we celebrate," said Ajax.
"What's that?" I asked.
"We better take out their signal tower, or they'll call for reinforcements. Course they will anyway, even by word-of-mouth messenger, but we should at least try to slow `em down."
"Right," I agreed. "Ready?"
"Always," Ajax replied.
I lit another of his arrows and knew it hit its mark as the tower platform burst into flames.
To be continued