For the moment, Lerial doesn’t have to worry about Twenty-third Company, since the Heldyan archers, if that is what the attackers have in mind, cannot reach the middle of the wall, let alone the northeast corner, beyond which Kusyl’s men are formed up.
He continues to watch, and before long the first of the flatboats halt in the marshes less than a hundred yards south of the wall tower and little more than a hundred and fifty yards from Eighth Company, although the hedgerow west of the lane assures that any archers cannot fire directly at the lancers, if indeed they even know Eighth Company is there.
Lerial pauses for just an instant to check what has happened to the south. He can’t help but frown, because the Heldyans appear to be withdrawing. They pushed their way ashore … and they’re withdrawing? There’s nothing he can do about that, and certainly Drusyn can send more accurate information to the arms-commander just as quickly as Lerial can.
While there might be archers on the flatboats, no arrows are loosed at Lerial, who is most likely the only visible target, and, after a time, the flatboats move away from the reeds, and let the current carry them toward the wall. Lerial watches as the first of the flatboats nears. In the front and on the shore side is a wall of shields. Below and behind the shields he can sense the archers he had felt would be there.
He can sense no chaos around the nearer flatboats, nor does he feel the chaotic mist that usually means a white wizard or chaos-mage hiding behind a shield of sorts. At the same time, he recalls something that Saltaryn had told him years ago—that water, especially large bodies of water, tends to mask concentrations of both order and chaos … and make using either more difficult. Still … shouldn’t he sense something?
The six flatboats with the archers swing away from the shore and the narrow lane in front of the wall, and another line of flatboats, a good seven or eight of them, begins to angle toward him.
Frig! Lerial raises a concealment around himself and urges the gelding toward the middle of the wall. Far too late, he can see the plan of attack on the part of the Heldyans. He just hopes he can reach a point where his archers can see him and take his orders, because there isn’t time to send an order around the walls and through the south gate.
The boats seem to move almost as fast as he and the gelding do. At least, when he reins up just short of the midwall tower, the boatmen are throwing out anchors, slowing and then halting the shielded flatboats holding the Heldyan archers.
“Lancer archers!” Lerial releases the concealment and uses order to amplify his voice. At least he hopes it does. “Target the Heldyan archers offshore!”
He has barely finished the command when arrows arch from the shielded flatboats toward the wall. Then … moments later, just as Mirror Lancer shafts begin to fly at the Heldyan archers, a chaos-blast arcs from one of the boats amid the flatboats holding the archers.
Lerial snaps a triple five-line order-coil out to redirect the chaos back at the Heldyan white wizard, but the wizard’s shields hold, and the redirected chaos-bolt slams into the water on the west side of the boat, raising a cloud of steam.
At the same time, Lerial can sense something well beneath the water and the ground, which begins to shake. Then, just to the south of him, less than ten yards away, the masonry of the wall begins to shake … then sags, before dropping into a pile of rubble perhaps a yard high, if that, as if the earth or rock beneath has been removed and the wall dropped into the gap. With the collapse come yells and screams as the handful of archers on that section of the wall are thrown in one direction or the other.
An earth-mage? Or one who can use chaos below ground?
Another chaos-bolt arcs toward the wall, and Lerial redirects it. Again, the wizard’s shields hold, and more steam rises. With it come screams from the boats, and Lerial realizes that steam and boiling water must have splashed some of the Heldyans.
Another earth rumble shakes Lerial, and a second section of wall crumbles, to the south of the first, throwing more Lancer archers back into Lubana or forward onto the lane. The first of the second wave of boats grounds just south of the gap in the estate wall, and shield-bearing armsmen with bright blades jump from the square prow of the flatboat.
For a moment, Lerial just watches, trying to think what he can do that will not cause more harm to the remaining archers and lancers of Eleventh Company.
He can’t raise lightnings, not out of water.
Think!
Steam? Lots of steam? He concentrates on breaking apart the wood of the flatboats, separating order and chaos within the wood of the flatboat grounded near the wall. Then the one that holds the chaos-wizard—and possibly the earth-wizard. As he can feel the buildup of chaos-order separation, he creates a momentarily larger shield, hoping it will hold just long enough.