Free Star Mage (Book 5) by John Forrester Page A

all Stelan Knights returned to Carvina. When we heard there was war in Ishur amongst the magical Orders, we struck out against the few Jiserians remaining in our city.”
    Nikulo frowned at the man’s words and scanned the ragged crowd and the ruined city. A handful of sorcerers and necromancers did all this? The city was easily ten times the size of Naru, though far less dense. Still, the prospect of facing such powerful fanatics didn’t thrill him. Did it really matter if he helped them? The Naemarians would certainly bring back the pain if they found him distracted from his goal of reaching the ship to Carvina.
    “If we are to defeat our enemies I will need your help.” Nikulo remembered back to history lessons of successful military maneuvers and strategies of legendary campaigns. Distract, divert, divide, and destroy, he thought, remembering the four D’s of warfare. Likely these citizens were inexperienced in the ways of war and winning. “Do any of you have a map of Ursula?”
    An old man ambled up to where he stood and at Yarin’s nod, produced a thick parchment penned in an ornate and flowery hand. Nikulo studied the map and observed the position of the buildings in the center of the city, and asked a few clarifying questions as to the locations of their enemies. When he asked where the others of their resistance lurked, he gaped in bewilderment at their utter lack of organization or communication infrastructure. No wonder the Jiserians had had an easy time defeating them. They’d won already and were just entertaining themselves in the city’s slow torment.
    Nikulo sketched out a four-pronged plan of attack on the map, splitting the band of citizens into four groups to lure the sorcerers in four different directions. He knew the necromancers would avoid coming out in the heat of the day, shunning sunlight for the cool of the dark. His plan included dealing with them separately. As for the sorcerers, from experience he’d seen them keep their distance and fly high and away from bowshot and sword, only swooping down to strike when necessity demanded. That was where he would come in and shoot the sorcerers at a safe range. At least that was the plan…
    The crowd divided into four squads as Nikulo had ordered, and Yarin joined the lead group that would strike from the west. Nikulo commanded double the number of undead to follow and protect each group, infusing their plagued minds with a fervent loyalty towards the living. He hoped there would be enough to keep the revolutionaries alive and provide a suitable allurement for the sorcerers.
    Callith left the wagon and stood by his side, watching the ragtag squads marching off through the streets. She scoffed and shook her head. “Strangest army I’ve ever seen. Do they even have a chance of surviving against the Jiserians?”
    “Not likely,” Nikulo said, as the last of the citizens left the square. He had kept a group of around forty undead to protect them or to use as bait against the sorcerers. “Let’s go. We’ll move in after Yarin.”
    As they trekked through the littered streets, Nikulo thought about what could go wrong. The sorcerers might not take the bait and go after the squads, and the necromancers might not stay inside. If the Jiserians joined forces against a perceived larger threat, that could make things extremely difficult for him. He hoped that dispersed attacks over time would split the sorcerers and allow him to kill them one by one. But he hadn’t anticipated that there might exist a rivalry amongst the Jiserians.
    The first drone and boom of a fireball came sooner than he’d expected. Nikulo chased ahead and commanded the undead to follow, veering around overturned carts and piles of bodies decomposing in the street. Soon he spied a sorcerer hovering in the air above a crowd of cringing citizens, while the protective undead clambered up a building in the impossible hope of attacking the sorcerer.
    Nikulo drew in power from the