The Accidental Archmage - Book Five by Edmund Batara (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

“Well, everybody starts with glima, or wrestling, and proceeds from there. Other body movements in combat intended to overcome one’s opponent were considered tricks. That includes brutal tugging, furious kicks, even a rock thrown at close range at an opponent’s head,” added Habrok.

“Then the temples for battle magic,” volunteered the einherjar.

“A rock?” Tyler couldn’t imagine the purpose of man’s oldest weapon in a battlefield full of swords, axes, and spears.

“The shield does serve as a weapon too. A large rock hitting your enemy’s helm at an unexpected time means he’s dead,” said Tyndur. “Not that I’ve tried it. I don’t think raining down small boulders and large rocks on a dokkalfr patrol counts.”

“Though if ever the time came for Kobu to return to his homeland, I think I’ll go with him. Just to see if there’s something to be improved in the present attack with insane fury school I’m familiar with,” he continued.

***

 The party continued along the road, with the mage magically checking their surroundings from time to time. His mind was bothered by the fact that the three assassins didn’t set off any alarm or sense of threat in his mind when they arrived.

Could it be because they were specifically after the exile, or the creatures had an innate trait concealing their magical nature? wondered Tyler. If it’s the latter, then there would be other beings out there capable of doing the same thing. Not good.

They took two more rest breaks before the party was in sight of the bastion. The tall structure was manned, with archers and a catapult on top. The road ran right through it. A triangular red banner with black borders, decorated with an emblazoned stylized blue raven, flew from the top of the fortification.

“Odin’s colors and symbol,” said Tyndur. “Everywhere I go in the northern lands…”

The einherjar didn’t finish his statement. The party continued to walk forward. Tyler strengthened their magical frontal shield and added another above their heads. A force of around twenty warriors came out of the opened gate, adopted a wedge formation, and marched toward them, spears pointed skyward. A mage was with them, right in the middle of the protective screen.

At least it’s not a pattern for an attack, thought Tyler. Not that I would know. They could easily swing their flanks around us. But the way the spears were carried by the warriors is encouraging. But there’s no hiding my energy shields from that mage.

Before the two groups could meet, the wedge of warriors split in half, each going to either side of the road. One warrior, with the welcome sight of a shield slung at the back, and the bastion’s mage continued toward them.

Tyler told the party to stop and wait for the approaching duo. The fully-armored warrior, face covered by a faceplate, held up an arm, palm out.

“Góðan daginn,” greeted the figure. Tyndur quickly moved forward with a nod in Tyler’s direction.

“Good day to you too, my fine figure of a warrior,” loudly replied the einherjar. “To what do we owe the honor of such a display?”

“Jarl Geir’s instructions. We were to watch for a party of four individuals coming along this road and to bring them before him immediately,” came the reply in a decidedly feminine voice.

“How do you know we are that party? We could be bandits,” challenged Tyndur.

The mage again inwardly sighed. A diplomat, Tyndur will never be.

The woman merely laughed.

“Our mage. First to make sure you’re not undead and second, that you have magical wards in place. The description was quite detailed, including that of a burly, surly warrior bearing a battleaxe.”

“Surly? I disagree. Vehemently!”

“Come, Tyndur. We are indeed expected. Lead on, warrior,” said Tyler, successfully stopping a heated argument from the warrior about how he was described.

“Of course, High Mage,” answered the woman with a deep bow. “But it will be the mage who will guide you to the jarl’s trelleborg. I command this bastion, and regretfully, my responsibilities keep me here.”

The group followed the redoubt’s commander and the battlemage, introduced to them as Aage.

“What does a battlemage mean?” Tyler asked the einherjar in a low voice.

“A newfangled concept. It’s an outlandish idea, if you ask me. Neither a warrior nor a mage,” whispered Tyndur. “Rather like a cross between a horse and a donkey.”

As they passed under the bastion, the female warrior removed her helm, and her men went back to their positions. She was strikingly beautiful with long blonde hair. Tyler caught Habrok and Tyndur openly staring at her as they walked past. Fortunately, the woman was too busy with her helm to see the stupefied reaction of the duo. Tyler noticed that the bastion was well-maintained, unlike the stone fortifications he saw in Scarburg.

Once they were some distance away, the mage leading them spoke without turning his back.

“Her name is Rona. Took on a batur’s worth of undead during one patrol. All by herself. Knocked them all back to where they came from.”

Around thirty to forty opponents. That’s hardcore, thought Tyler, and noticed that the ranger and einherjar had looked at each other when they heard Aage’s words.

Chapter Seventeen

Hedmark

Tyr spake:

37. “Of the heroes brave | is Freyr the best

Here in the home of the gods;

He harms not maids | nor the wives of men,

And the bound from their fetters he frees.”

Loki spake:

38. “Be silent, Tyr! | for between two men

Friendship thou ne’er couldst fashion;

Fain would I tell | how Fenrir once

Thy right hand rent from thee.”

Hedmark

One could smell the ancient atmosphere of Hedmark. It was not that the town was dirty, squalid, or comprised of dilapidated structures. Far from that. The environs of the fortress were clean, the narrow and straight streets paved with stone, and the reported strong smell of piss and dung, ever so present in ancient and medieval towns of Earth, was thankfully absent. But also missing were what one would call its permanent inhabitants. Most people within sight of the mage were armored and armed.

But