Finding Valor (48 page)

“Don’t tell anyone you were able to heal my scars.”

“Why not?”

“My hand looks exactly like yours.”

“Is that a problem?”

“I’m not eighteen.”

“You want me to add a few age spots?”

“I’m not
that
old.” Vince laughed. “But if word gets out that you can reverse the effects of aging, you’ll have every middle-aged woman in camp storming your tent demanding a facelift.”

”Good point.” Josh smiled, relieved that Vince had lightened up a little.

He lifted the tent’s flap then paused in the entrance. “And…thank you.”

“It was just one hand.”

Vince shook his head and ran his fingers over his coat sleeve again. “I haven’t been able to feel the difference between wool and silk for over twenty years. I can’t wait to run my hand through…”

“Through Wisdom’s hair?”

Vince's mouth twitched up into his familiar, distorted smile. “Is it that obvious?”

Josh grinned at him. “Yep.”

~***~

He headed over to the training arena to watch the Camp Defense Corp practice. He’d expected to be entertained. What he saw amazed and frightened him. Channie was holding off both Zen and Tim as they blasted her shield with full-force, sustained energy. His first instinct was to cover her with his own shield then knock the crap out of his two best fighters. But he knew that would embarrass and piss off Channie. Besides, she was doing great. She didn’t need his help. He sat in the shade of a sycamore tree. He wasn’t hiding, but he wasn’t going to announce his presence either.
 

Zen stopped attacking first. Tim soon followed. Both men leaned over, bracing their hands on their knees. Zen waved Channie closer.
 

Josh enhanced his hearing.
 

Zen stood up and arched his back, obviously exhausted. “I think your shield is every bit as strong as Valor’s. But if anyone tells him I said that, I’ll deny it.”

Josh expected Channie to laugh. She didn’t. “The new Book of the Dead said I need to fight beside Josh. You have to help me convince him.”

Tim frowned and shook his head. “You’d definitely be an asset, but Valor will never let you fight in a real battle. I’m surprised he’s letting you train.”

“I’m going to fight whether he ‘lets me’ or not. If he won’t fight beside me, I’ll find someone that will.”

Josh’s chest contracted, squeezing his heart and lungs.
She can’t be serious.
They hadn’t argued over the Book of the Dead’s message for weeks. Josh thought Channie’d given up. He should have known that she was biding her time, training and growing more powerful every day. Demonstrating to everyone what a great little soldier she’d become.
 

He’d tie her up and throw her in the cage with Wisdom if he had to. No way was she going anywhere near a battle.
 

~***~

As the days grew longer, tempers grew shorter. Josh was no stranger to heat, he’d won more than one race in hundred degree weather, but the humidity was killing him. Channie cut the legs off their jeans and the sleeves out of their shirts. Most of the men and boys went bare chested, but Josh didn’t like the way Vixen practically drooled over him so he kept a shirt on during the day.

Cleansing spells and showers were pointless. He was drenched in sweat before he could finish toweling off.
 

It wouldn’t have been so bad if it cooled off at night. But the temperature, as well as the humidity, never dipped below eighty. The entire camp slept outside. Josh was willing to bet there wouldn’t be many babies born in April or May.

Even the newlyweds slept in separate cots and hammocks.

Josh exhausted himself, and his magic, casting cooling spells at night.
 

Channie threw a fit when she woke up one night and figured out what he was doing. “You nearly died casting heating spells last winter! All magic—”

“Has its cost. Yeah, I know.” She was right. As soon as the spells wore off, Josh was even hotter than before. It was a never ending cycle. “How can you sleep when it’s this hot?”

Channie sighed and rolled onto her side. “You get used to it.”

“I don’t like this separate cots business.”

“Me neither, but it’s too hot to cuddle.”

“It’s too hot for
everything
.” Josh reached out and hooked her pinkie finger with his.

“I can think of one thing this weather is absolutely perfect for.”

“Oh, yeah?” Josh perked up at her seductive tone of voice. He propped himself up on his elbows. “What’s that?”

“Skinny dipping.”

They weren’t the only ones that preferred lukewarm lake water to drowning in their own sweat. Carver and Ness were neck deep and devouring each other’s faces.

Channie whistled, low and quietly, but it was enough to get their attention. “Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to let y’all know you’ve got company.”
 

“Do you want us to leave?” Carver sounded resigned and disappointed.

“The lake’s big enough for all of us. Besides, y’all were here first. Just turn around while we strip down.”

As soon as they turned their backs, Channie peeled her shirt off.
 

Josh kept his gaze trained on Carver, just in case he decided to take a peek, and almost missed the sight of Channie slipping into the water. It took his breath away.
 

Moonlight sparkled on the ripples surrounding her perfect body as she waded deeper.
 

She twisted her hair into a rope and wound it into a knot on top of her head. When she was waist deep, she turned around and smiled. “What are you waiting for?”

Josh hooked his thumbs under the waistband of his boxers and yanked them and his pants off at the same time. He splashed in until the lukewarm water hit his knees then dove under the surface.

When he came up, Channie was submerged to her shoulders. Josh shot a quick glance at Carver, but the boy obviously only had eyes for Ness.
 

They hadn’t been in the water ten minutes when several people back at camp started shouting. Josh couldn’t tell what they were saying since they were obviously trying to outshout each other. He groaned then called out to Carver and Ness. “We’re getting out.”

Instead of turning their backs, the young couple swam towards Josh and Channie.
 

Carver said, “Why don’t we let the women stay and swim. You and me can go check out the commotion.”

Josh thought that was a great idea.

Channie did not. “I need to stay with Josh.”

Carver frowned. “You’n Ness’ll be safer here.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. The Book of the Dead said for Josh to cling to my hand and fight every battle by his side.”

Josh cupped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “It’s probably just some good ol’ boys fighting over a jug of moonshine. Stay here with Ness.”

“No.”

“Don’t argue with me.” Josh slipped into his “Prince Valor” persona without meaning to.
 

Channie pressed her lips into a tight line and narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say anything.
 

“Will you stay here with Ness?”

Her gaze shifted to Carver and Ness then back to Josh. Anger rolled off her in waves, but she nodded.

Josh gave her a quick peck on the top of her head then swam to shore.
 

He and Carver were about halfway back to camp when Hunter ran into them. “We got a situation you need to handle.”

“What’s going on?”

“One of the patrols came back early. Dominance’s bunch is at it again. They’ve burned the entire town of Sleepy Pine to the ground.”

Josh’s heart kicked into high gear. Sleepy Pine was thirty miles away, but it was the closest town to Freedom Ridge. It was also predominantly inhabited by mages. Mages that refused to take sides. He grabbed Hunter’s arm. “Are there any survivors?”

Hunter shook his head.

“Do you think Dominance’s dogs know where we are?”

“The guys on patrol got there too late to help so they followed the scumbags back to their camp. There’re only a couple dozen of ‘em and they’re camped less’n five miles outside our misdirection spells. I don’t think they would’ve attacked so close to base if they knew we was here.”

Josh was torn between wanting to run back to the lake to protect Channie and getting to camp as quickly as possible. There was only one way into Freedom Ridge and the lake was about as far from it as you could get, so she was safer where she was. “Carver, go back and guard the girls, but don’t tell them what’s going on.”

“Unless they got kin in Sleepy Pine, I think they can handle the news.”

“I intend to send a message to Dominance. I don’t want Channie to think she’s going to help deliver it.”

~***~

This raid was nothing like the last mission Josh had been on. The men were better trained, organized and equipped. Every one of them had body armor, helmets with night vision, encrypted military radios and an automatic weapon. And they knew how to use it…except Josh.

He stayed hidden in the bushes, ready to intervene with magic if needed, but out of the way if not.

It was over before it began—more of a slaughter than a battle. If Josh hadn’t already seen combat, he might have felt bad about not giving the enemy a chance to fight back. But this was war. And those men were fighting on the wrong side. All but one of them died. They got a few rounds off, but none of Josh’s men were hit.

He stepped out of the shadows and confronted the captured soldier, a man in his late thirties.

“Why did you attack Sleepy Pine? They were neutral.”

The man shrugged his shoulders. “If you aren’t on the queen’s side, you’re an enemy.”

“You’re a little far from home.”

“When this war’s over, the entire world will be ours.”

“Are all of Dominance’s minions delusional, or just you?”

The man tried to spit in Josh’s face, but he flicked it right back at him with a wave of his hand.

The man’s eyes widened into perfect circles. His jaw fell open as his own loogie dripped down his cheek. “How’d you do that?”

Oops. Josh hadn’t meant to reveal the fact that he had extraordinary magic. Hopefully the guy was too dumb to figure out he was different.

“Are you an elemental mage?”

Time for some damage control. “What I am is pissed. Our commanding officer is not going to be happy that we’ve only got one prisoner for him to torture. He won’t be able to use his favorite sharp, shiny toys since you’ll have to be passed up the chain of command.”

The prisoner gulped but didn’t say anything else.

Josh sighed heavily for dramatic effect. “We’ve got a long march ahead of us and I want everyone to get some rest before we head back to camp.”

Thankfully, none of Josh’s men questioned his misleading statement. They were less than an hour away from Freedom Ridge. “I’ll take the first watch.”

He waited for everyone to fall asleep then sat on the ground, next to the prisoner. “You need to stay quiet and listen carefully.”

The man nodded.

“I’m a spy. I’ve been undercover for years so I don’t know what the queen has planned other than what I hear from these rebel scum. But she needs to know that they’ve gotten a lot stronger than she originally thought they would.”

The man turned his head to whisper in Josh’s ear. “Have you heard anything about a new mage that’s risen to power?”

Josh shook his head.

“Supposedly he’s the queen’s grandson. The bastard of her traitorous son that everyone thought was dead.”

Josh gritted his teeth. “What about him?”

“Rumor has it that he’s got a Book of the Dead.”

“Does the queen believe the rumors?”

“She’s got us scouring the countryside searching for him. The orders are to bring him in alive and unharmed or suffer a long and painful death.”

“Why does she want him alive? Do you think she wants to recruit him?”

“She wants to control the Book of the Dead. And the only way to get it is to torture the poor bastard until he agrees to transfer ownership. If we rough him up, he won’t be strong enough to survive her favorite techniques.”

“I’ll probably pay for this with my life, but I’m going to let you go. You need to get a message to the queen. Tell her she’ll never beat the rebels with force. Too many of her own people have switched sides. The group I’m with is just a small band of scouts. She needs to think of a way to end this war without going head to head with the entire rebel army.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure she’ll think of something.” Josh didn’t want to spell it out for the guy, that’d be too suspicious. But it wasn’t unprecedented for warring factions to settle things by letting their leaders fight to the death, winner take all.

“What name should I give her? Who are you?”

“It’s obvious she’s got more than one traitor in her midst. If any of them learn my name, I’m a dead man. If I’m not already.”

“Cut me loose. I’ll cast a be-calm spell on you so you can claim I got the drop on you. Maybe they’ll let you off with a beating or something.”

Josh didn’t like the idea of letting the guy knock him out, but he didn’t dare refuse.

He woke with Zen leaning over him, patting his cheek, none too gently, and shouting his name. “Valor, wake up. The prisoner’s gone.”

“I know.” Josh yawned and stretched then explained his plan to Zen.

“I wish you would have discussed it with me first.”

“It was sort of a spur of the moment thing.”

“I also wish you hadn’t revealed you’re an elemental mage.”

“That was definitely
not
part of the plan.”

“Do you want to spend the night out here, or head back to camp?”

Josh couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around Channie, but he dreaded facing her. She was gonna be pissed.
 

He was surprised to find her cot empty when he got back to camp. The sounds of snoring and other night noises wafted over him with the pre-dawn mist. Somewhere in the near distance a baby cried.
 

He hoped Carver hadn’t kept Channie and Ness at the lake all night. Maybe she’d gotten cold after swimming in the lake and decided to sleep in the tent. If she wasn’t inside, he’d run up to the lake and get her.