Book 2 Ch 44: Bullets

I love surprises. Especially when they’re delivered with flair.

• Lady Arbessa

Vaughn quickly left the room and Solomon realized that the popping noises he was hearing was the firing of guns.

He followed his brother out of the room and out onto the wide street of the camp. They jogged lightly up to the wooden wall where Solomon could see a number of soldiers peering over the side and firing their rifles. He also saw one of the mage auxiliaries had made it there and was firing off bolts of fire and lightning, though Solomon couldn’t see what they were all firing at from where he was.

Vaughn was yelling orders as he moved and one of his men tossed him a rifle as he approached the wall, climbing onto it then staying low at the top. Solomon followed him up. He knew he wasn’t meant to be at the wall during an attack, but he wanted to know what was happening and no one had stopped him so far.

His brother peered over for just a moment, then moved a few steps down and popped up to fire off a shot before taking cover again. Bullets whizzed by where he’d been when he’d first peeked up.

Solomon moved over to where he was and peered over the wall as well.

He could see what looked to be at least a hundred orcs, forty or so Untoss, and two dozen elves. Many were on wargs that were getting closer and closer, but others were further back behind the cover of stones that Solomon was certain hadn’t been there when he’d arrived. He could see at least three powerful impressions of mana scattered amongst them.

A bullet struck him square in the center of his head, falling down and he decided he’d looked long enough.

“Get back to your quarters!” Vaughn yelled at him, just realizing that he was there. He couldn’t blame him. There was quite a lot going on.

Solomon shook his head.

“No. Get me a damned gun.”

He may not be able to use his more obviously helpful abilities in that moment, but he wouldn’t be sitting around in his room while his life was in danger.

Vaughn frowned at him and gestured to one of the men below the wall. At Vaughn’s orders they had all of the walls and watchtowers filled with their best marksman, and their backups were just below them reloading rifles and passing them up, ready to replace anyone who went down.

Solomon was handed a gun and he subtly cast a simple barrier over himself before peering over the wall to search for a target. He didn’t want to lose any more of his homunculi than he needed to, and he also wanted to practice the spell.

He saw three warg riders grouped together and aimed for their center. He took a deep breath and let it out as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet fired and the frontmost warg fell, tripping up one of the others and causing an orc rider to be trampled.

He ducked back down and tossed that rifle down so that another could be handed up to him. He found another cluster of targets and fired, gratified as his barrier blocked two shots that shattered against it. His mana wasn’t controlled enough to regulate it perfectly so, like so many spells, his only choice was to push as much mana as possible into it. It was a risky choice, as that much mana created some opacity to the barrier, but in the dark with only the enemy directly focused on him it was a risk he could take.

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He fired off a few more shots gratified that he was hitting most of his targets. He’d always had good eyes and he’d read a number of books on firearms in preparation to fight the Lord of the Black Wood, but that fight had only allowed him a single shot. He guessed it was likely his practice with the discus spell and aiming it that was helping him the most.

There was a flare of magic in his vision and he saw a large stone flying toward where he was, lit like a fireball from all the mana he could see emanating from it.

He threw himself from the top of the wall, landing hard on the ground, and Vaughn did the same.

The boulder smashed into the log wall shattering the top of it, and landed heavily in the ground killing one of the men that had been reloading for them.

Vaughn pushed himself to his feet, straightening up his uniform as he continued to bark out orders. The panic caused by the boulder was quickly overrun by his authority as he made his way all down the wall, checking supplies and ensuring that his men kept up the pressure.

Solomon stayed where he was, holding the rifle in his hand and unsure of where to go or what to do. It had been simple when he was up on the wall with a single goal, but with all the other shooting positions and watchtowers taken he was adrift. It felt particularly acute as he watched the soldiers all move into positions effortlessly and adjust to whatever orders they heard almost automatically.

“Are you okay Lord?” asked Edmure.

Solomon had completely lost track of his valet in the chaos, but now he saw that the man had a rifle of his own and was holding it as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I find myself unsure of what to do,” he answered.

“I think the best choice would be for us to get out of the way for now.”

Solomon nodded and they quickly made their way back toward the mine, careful to avoid the soldiers as they moved back and forth. Solomon hadn’t exactly taken a headcount when they’d arrived, but he was fairly certain that they were outnumbered. At the same time, the mine was more of a fort and had been well maintained. They also had the mage auxiliaries, all of whom he’d seen making contributions on the wall, though at least one of them had been dropped by a well aimed bullet.

He guessed that the orcs had at least three mages with them based on his mana sense and at least one of them was capable of using magic to manipulate stone. That’s where the enemy barricades had come from as well as the stone that had been launched at him as if from a catapult.

Aside from the enemy attacking from the outside there was also the matter of the prisoners within the fort. One of Vaughn’s first orders had been to send additional men to guard their quarters, but with their allies just outside he couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t try something.

He made it back to his quarters and took a moment to force himself to eat and drink something, working to calm his mind as the sounds of bullets and boulders travelled all throughout the mine.

Once he felt restored and his mind settled he went back to the wall with Edmure in tow. They reached it, but the sound of fighting seemed to be largely dying down. The rapid exchanges of shots had slowed to the occasional pot shot and the roars of the wargs could no longer be heard.

He found Vaughn speaking to a number of his other officers, getting status reports from everyone. When he was done he turned his attention to Solomon.

“How did you learn to shoot?” he asked.

“I read about it in a book.”

“A book?” he asked incredulously.

“It was quite detailed,” he responded.

“I must ask that you return to your quarters. It’s not safe this close to the wall.”

Solomon looked pointedly at a dead warg only a few yards from them.

“I hadn’t realized. What’s going on?”

“An orcish strike force. I have no idea how they got this deep into our territory. How they managed to get as close as they are before we even realized they were here. Their initial assault has failed, but it is inevitable that they will try again. I assume they’ll wait through the rest of the night and most of the day to see if the prisoners give them an opening to work with.”

“Will we receive any help?” he asked.

“A group of auxiliaries is meant to pass back through here within a few days, but they likely won’t be enough to solve the issue for us. At least they’d be able to send help for us. Until then we need to hold.” He stepped toward a broken piece of wooden wall, kicking it lightly. “I requested stone walls more than once.”

Solomon regarded his brother silently for a moment. He was good at what he did, that was clear. He hadn’t hesitated to give orders or take part in the fighting himself. It was possible that without Solomon’s interference the fort could hold out until rescue. In the meantime though, many people would die.

He would need to find a way to help.