Master Mage (20 page)

“I was wondering where you might have
got off to,” Killian said, greeting Thad with a firm handshake. “I
see you have brought with you a few more swords, though their gear
looks a bit old and worn.”

“The enemy forces had already
discovered the tunnel heading west, so I was forced to escape to
the south. I found these good men at the slave academy along my
way,” Thad said in reply to the unasked questions that he was sure
Killian wanted the answers to. “I see I was not the only one to
come bearing gifts of more swords. It does look like my force pales
in comparison to your own, Reeve,” Thad said, greeting his old
friend.

“As promised, I have brought four
thousand along with me, though most of them have never held a sword
in their lives before. I just wish we could have arrived sooner,”
Reeve said, giving Thad a wry smile.

“It is sad to say that we are not the
only ones gathering our forces, though,” Bache interjected. “The
Rane forces have stopped their advance. At first, I had hoped that
the losses they received at Digger’s Fort made them rethink the
invasion, but Parson’s scouts reported that a massive force more
than thirty thousand strong is on the march. They will arrive
within the next four days.”

Thad cursed to himself. If the Rane
forces thought them broke and didn’t bring in many more troops,
then with the addition of Reeve’s forces, they had a chance at
destroying them and setting a defensive position back up. Now that
seemed like a lost dream. “How many soldiers do we have in all?”
Thad asked hopefully.

“With the addition of Reeve’s forces,
we have a total slightly over six thousand troops. We lost far more
than anticipated in the last battle at Digger’s Fort. The enemy
just came too quickly over the walls. We would have fared much
better had we started the bulk of the evacuation days before as you
had initially suggested,” Bache said, the inflection of his voice
showing his humiliation at the loss of so many under his
command.

“What should our next move be?” Thad
asked more to Killian than anyone else. The old warmaster had seen
more battles than the others combined, so it was to him Thad looked
for advice.

“We have two choices that I can see at
the present,” Killian said, bending down and using a small dagger
to draw in the dirt. “We could set up a defensive position here at
the manor. It is large and will house the bulk of the troops,
though not comfortably. The manor was built soundly and would be
hard for even siege engines to bring down easily, but once the Rane
forces arrive, it will be near impossible to escape.”

“And the other choice?” Thad said,
looking dour.

“Our other choice is to fight small
pitched battles, trying to slow down the Rane forces for as long as
possible. We will have to set up a few token defensive fronts and
hit quickly, then pull back. Otherwise, the Rane forces will see
through our tactics and move at haste toward the capital. Both
choices will cost us a lot of men in the end.”

Thad thought through the two choices.
The more he thought about them, the more clear it seemed to him
which one he should choose. If he was going to die, he would rather
it be on an open field than cooped up inside the large manor,
waiting for the end. “We will go with the second choice,” Thad
replied confidently, though most of it was feigned.

“I figured that would be your choice,”
Killian said, giving Thad a sly wink. “We will need to start the
attacks as soon as possible as well as decide who will lead the
attacking parties and defensive parties.”

“Then we better get inside and find a
good place to talk. I doubt this will be settled in the course of a
few moments,” Thad replied, turning toward the manor. “Bache, can
you find someone to outfit our new recruits with suitable weapons
and attire? I am afraid what they have is ill-suited for a real
battle,” Thad said, remembering the men he had brought with him
from the academy.

Bache led the small group of warriors
and advisors to a large room that had once looked to be a study.
The sheer number of books and scrolls lining the wall amazed Thad
and nearly rivaled that of the queen’s own archives. Fighting back
the temptation for a search through the tomes, Thad took his seat,
while the general ordered one of his officers to make sure the
kitchen staff prepared them food and had it brought to them. Thad
was very gracious about the general’s command as he had not stopped
during the day to have a proper meal.

The day passed rather slowly as the
group of men and women discussed the formation of troops. In the
end, it had ended much the way Thad had expected. Reeve and one of
his officers along with Killian and his men would lead the small
forays against Rane. At the same time, Parson, Thad, and Bache
would concentrate on putting up staggered defenses for the Rane
army to attack.

Thad had thought they would wait until
Rane received their reinforcements to begin their attacks, but
Killian had strongly protested that notion. He wanted them to start
their plan on the following day, not giving the Rane forces a
chance to savor their hard-fought victory at Digger’s Fort. Thad
was not in any hurry to see more bloodshed, but he knew arguing
with the seasoned warmaster was pointless.

As soon as everything had been worked
out about their moves over the next few days, Thad headed to a
large room they had set aside for his use. It wasn’t anything
grand, but after weeks of sleeping in a tent, a soft bed was well
received.

The next morning came all too soon for
Thad. Thad didn’t mind fighting nor did he mind the endless waiting
for the next action. What he did hate was that war never seemed to
wait for one when they were in the mood to relax. It always seemed
that the enemy decided to attack just as you were starting to
relax. The few times the enemy left you alone, it was your own
officers that decided that was the time to move. That morning, Thad
would have easily given up his other eye for just a few moments of
sleep.

Thad along with a group of 1,500
soldiers moved out, leaving behind the majority of their force.
Reeve and his counterparts were working in much smaller numbers of
less than fifty men. Though they had much smaller forces, Thad was
sure that, in the end, they could end up dealing much more damage
to the enemy than his larger force would.

Thad’s objective was to march just to
the west of Digger’s Fort, where the Rane army had set up camp.
After the magical display within the fort, it seemed as if none
were too eager to sleep in what was left of the fort.

Thad had left the care of the new
soldiers in General Bache’s hands. It was not that he didn’t trust
the academy’s teaching, but he had learned the difference himself
between learning in the classroom and on the field. There was
nothing besides a battlefield that could prepare you for
one.

“Tuck, are you traveling with Reeve?”
Thad asked his young elfin friend. He had asked him to move with
the second group but didn’t know if the assassin would let him or
not since Tuck had no knowledge or skill in their work.

“Yes, and Reeve was much quicker to
agree than I had figured. It seems that he likes the idea of being
able to talk with you before the battles.”

“That’s good to know. Keep me informed
about what you learn and how things are going on your end. Other
than that, just make sure to keep yourself safe,” Thad added,
hoping that his friend would do just that.

“I don’t think I will be in much
danger. Reeve has agreed to let me come with him. He has even
promised to train me up a bit, but I don’t think he will let me
join in any of the fighting until I can prove at least somewhat
confident. I think you are the one who should be worrying about
staying safe. From what I understand, you are going to be the one
in the most danger.”

“I shall do the best on my end. I can
promise you that.”

I think you should listen to
your young friend. As I said before, I don’t fancy having to wait
around a few hundred years for another mage that I can halfway
stand. You are bad, but most of the mages we have met are far
beyond helping.

“I think you are just too picky. Roger,
Horus, and plenty of others would make you a great companion,” Thad
said, trying to defer some of Thuraman’s contempt.

Roger is spineless and too
easily bows to that old wretch of a teacher of his. Horus is a
lackwit who can’t think beyond the next moment. At least you can
think, and you got a bit of a spine as long as there is nothing
with a dress about.

Closing his mind off from his staff,
Thad continued his march. It would take a day to reach Digger’s
Fort, and while he didn’t plan to move that far, he wanted to get
most of the traveling done and set up camp well before the sun
disappeared from the sky.

It wasn’t until midday that Thad
noticed a small childlike form and its stone dog companion. Shaking
his head, Thad moved up beside the Nadari and gave her a stern
frown. “What, are you thinking of coming along with the army? We
are going to be fighting,” Thad said in reprimanding
tones.

“Avalanche didn’t want you to leave
again. She is sure you would get hurt. I told her that if you got
killed, I would take care of her. She didn’t like that idea. She
even said that I forgot to feed her too often. Can you believe
that? She said I forgot. Well, it’s not like she never forgets
anything. Why, just the other day, she forgot that I was riding on
her back and started chasing after some bug and threw me off. My
butt still hurts. Want to see?”

“No, I believe you,” Thad said,
regretting asking Arianna anything. He should have known better. He
had asked the Nadari a few questions in the past, but she would
soon forget what he was asking and go off in a totally different
direction. He would have said it was like talking to a child, but
that would be an insult to children everywhere. “Just stay in the
back, away from the fighting.”

“I will try, but I don’t think
Avalanche will listen. She really likes to play with the soldiers.
Well, except for the ones with the white swords. She says it really
hurts when they hit her, so she tries to stay away from them. I
wonder why it hurts so badly when they hit her and not the others.
Do you know why? I wonder if they are really skilled miners or
something. You know, because Avalanche is made of rock, they know
where to hit her. I wonder what they would find if they mined her.
Do you think she is filled with those gems she eats? It bothers me
sometimes that she eats, but nothing ever comes out. Where do you
think it goes?”

“I don’t know,” Thad answered, holding
his head as it began to hurt. Not only was Arianna speaking so fast
he could barely keep up, but she had a shrill high-pitched voice
that after a time seemed like a small dagger was being pushed into
his brain. “Avalanche can fight, but I think you should head back
behind the army. We don’t want you getting hurt,” Thad finished,
hoping that would be the end of the discussion.

“OK,” Arianna replied simply, leaving
Thad shocked. The Nadari then turned to Avalanche and started
rattling off more, and Thad quickly decided it was time for him to
make a hasty departure.

They reached their position well before
nightfall. Thad was a little concerned about camping less than a
mile away from the Rane forces, but Killian had asserted that if
their plan was to work, that was what they were going to have to
do.

While the others put up the tents and
prepared the fires, Thad walked around the exterior of the camp,
putting up shields. He only had six left, having used most of them
back at Digger’s Fort to help support the eastern wall. As he
placed the last one, Thad wished he had more time and supplies to
prepare more, but it was hard to get gems in the middle of a
battlefield.

Once everything was finished, Thad
contacted Tuck so that he could let Reeve know that they were in
place. Knowing that the morning would be a bloody one, Thad crawled
under his blankets and settled in for a good sleep. If war had
taught him nothing else, it was to get rest when one could because
you never knew when the next chance would present
itself.

Thad was woken by the sound of alarm
throughout the camp. Everything seemed to be moving just as Killian
had suggested. “Tuck, how did it go last night?” Thad asked his
elfin friend as he belted on his sword and buckled up his
armor.

“Reeve seemed happy with the night’s
events. They were able to kill a few dozen men, disable two siege
weapons, and burn a large store of supplies.”

Everything had worked well. Killian had
said the main goal of the sneak attacks was to destroy supplies,
not troops. Even the best swordsman would perish without anything
in his stomach. It was a harsh way to win a war, but if it worked,
Thad was not going to argue. Now it was time for his part, to force
the army to expend their energy and fight.

Exiting his tent, Thad found that the
Rane forces were forming up to come take care of their guests. That
had not been in Killian’s predictions, but Thad had expected it. It
was obvious that they would be suspected of the sabotage and
killings the night before and that Rane would not allow them to
stay on their doorstep if they could help it.