by P. S. Power
It would be a few days before they were in danger of meeting bandits on the road. Eight or so, if he’d understood the maps correctly and their speed of travel stayed about the same. It was a little repetitive, so far, since all he did was get up in the morning, make sure the horses were saddled and all their gear was collected. Then they rode until mid-afternoon and set up camp again.
A thing that his only expected job for was collecting firewood and water. Then there were hours of daylight left, so he tried to practice as he could with his bow and keep up on his magic. His Yanse language lessons as well. Most of that was done in his head, since no one really needed him to run around changing the color of their uniforms daily.
Lacking levies meant that there were no other dedicated archers with them. Several of the foot soldiers had crossbows with them, for hunting and defense. Each of those men were responsible for the upkeep of their own bolts, so he wasn’t needed for that at all. Even caring for Master Tolan wasn’t a difficult task.
The old Wizard, who was lean, a bit wrinkled through the face and good on a horse, didn’t ask him to do anything. Not even that he clean their clothing or gear daily. Anders did it, hitting Prince Alpert and his assistant’s things at the same time. Mainly to have something to do. The man hadn’t said anything about it, even though there had been a nod a few times, as it was done.
Magic was used for it, which seemed correct, given that he was working with the court Wizard.
They finally stopped, near a field that was full of wild flowers and enough animal droppings to mean that the small creek about fifty paces away was clean enough to drink from. After sliding down from the back of his main horse, who was named Chestnut, he tied the mare off to a low branch, thinking about where the best source of dried wood would be. It tended to be under the trees, even if they had full green leaves on them.
Just as he was thinking about that, one of the soldiers whispered, standing not five feet from him.
“Boy, can you get a bow ready in time to hit that deer?”
The answer was no, since it was only about seven paces away. Nearly right there with them. It froze coming out of the woods. A large buck, thick with meat and getting ready to run away.
Without thinking Anders turned a bit, brought his right hand up in a fist, and opened it rapidly in the direction of the beast’s head. The visualization to go with it came naturally, since Depak Sona had insisted he have at least one rapidly lethal spell in his new magical system. It caused a small explosion. Enough to kill a man, as long as he was close enough to them and his aim was correct.
This time it worked well, the animal making a deep sound from inside it’s body and falling over instantly, dead. There was no blood. Just a single fist sized lump on its neck. The horns pointed in several different directions, spreading out enough to cause the head to cant at a strange angle to the ground below it. There was grass in that area, making the thing look a lot like it was sleeping.
With its dead eyes open.
Anders felt a small thrill of shock run through his body, starting near his head and running down into his back. Even his legs went weak for a few moments. He tried to seem strong then, not wanting to let the reaction show. The soldier behind him took a deep breath, which turned into a strained chuckle.
“I suppose you can just use magic if you don’t want to bother with the bow.”
Forcing a smile that he didn't really feel, Anders nodded.
“There was no way to hit the thing in time if I did that. It takes about ten breaths to recover my bow and string it, if everything is ready. Which is something to think about. I guess that’s why I was sent with a spear in a keeper.” The thing got in the way as he rode, even if he’d gotten used to dealing with it over the last days. It didn’t fall out all the time any longer, which was nice. The first two days had been horrible that way.
Behind him, the large fellow gave a considering look toward the deer, then laughed once.
“This worked. I’d heard we had a Wizard with us. I thought you sort just pointed at stuff and mumbled about who was bedding whose wife, to be honest. Useful for troop movements, not this kind of thing.”
Looking back, Anders smiled again, the last one having run off his face.
“That’s not me. Master Tolan is the Wizard. I’ve learned a little magic, is all. Mainly in the Magician style. That’s more physical. Things like this? Anyway, I have no clue what to do with this now. You?” There was a wave at the downed animal. Which got a snort from the man.
“We need to hang and bleed it. I have some rope we can use for that. Then we need to butcher it fast and get it on a fire. The cooks can do that part, being as their job like it is. This boy is big enough to give everyone here a portion tonight, I’d wager. On the march we need to supplement the food or we’ll run out too soon.”
Even if the man thought he was some kind of real magic user, which clearly he was, if a new one, they still had to work together. First carrying the deer away from the camp by a good distance, then stringing it up over a tree branch using a thick rope.
“Slit the throat, on a line, from here to here.” The big man, his beard not having been shaved off for ten days drew a line with his finger to show what was meant. “If you have a sharp knife? Or some magic what would do that.”
Like everyone else there from the Prince to the lowest serving boy, which was him as it turned out, had a knife on their side. He didn't use one in the castle, since that wasn’t really allowed for the lower born people. It had been put in his travel kit. Actually, three of them had, with one being so large that it was nearly a small sword.
A thing that he hadn’t been trained to use at all. Instead he had the smallest of them on his belt, one made of good hard steel, in a leather sheath. He’d kept it sharp, working it each night, since the Master Bowyer had taught him all about the benefits of keeping his tools in good working condition.
That meant, when he reached out with it, taking the soft and still slightly prickly fur of the hanging animal’s head in his left hand to stabilize it, there was no need to saw back and forth to make a red line appear. Blood gushed out, pouring onto the ground below.
They stood there then, the man next to him speaking a bit gruffly. He was older, compared to the others marching with them on foot. Well into his third decade, with just a touch of gray in his beard, though the brown hair on the top of his head was free of that sort of thing.
“Sergeant Bennet. First foot. That’s army.” The man shook his head then. “Which you know, being with us the whole time. Sorry there, we work from the castle town, which means that everyone always thinks we’re guard there, if’n we don’t explain the difference. This won’t take that long.”
They stood there for a moment, the red life blood of the beast he’d taken the life of dripping onto the earth below. It was mesmerizing and slightly terrifying. After all, he hadn’t hesitated to kill it. If it had been a man standing there, an enemy, they would have died just as certainly. Even a resistant person would have, most likely. All animals had that basic trait, from what he’d been told and the deer, the large buck, was bigger than most grown men.
Meaning that he could kill. The feeling was right for that and interestingly came mainly from the boy he looked like, instead of old Farad. Hunting hadn’t been a sport for most of his adult life. He’d cooked and eaten meat, while others had provided that for him, his work being considered too important for that kind of effort to be part of his life.
Blinking he looked up from the blood.
“Anders Brolly. Right now, I’m basically the fire boy for Master Tolan.”
There was a sly grin at the words, and a head shake.
“He make you take it up the rear? I noticed you walking a bit funny the first week on the ride.”
It was meant to be mocking, in a hard kind of way. Also, given the rumors around the Wizard, probably just the man being curious. Anders got ready to hit him, if only with a fist, as if that would do much. The old ma
n inside of him simply shook his head.
“Nah. He’s good at not doing things like that. I hear he likes men for company. Not boys. That seems to be the case. At least he’s never hinted at anything else that way, so far. I can introduce you to him for that, if you’re interested? He’s a bit older but I suppose you can’t be too picky on the march like this.”
The man stiffened up, looked at the dead deer and then snorted. Loudly.
“So you ain’t going to take nothing off of anyone, are you? Don’t have to neither, I’d say. Then, I won’t claim that I might not be tempted to a bit of old man flesh come six months into this campaign. We don’t even have camp followers with us or pleasure ladies. Not even the Prince brought any with him. That’s a good sign.”
Glancing at the man, the blood still pouring from the fresh kill, if slower than it had, Anders looked in a questioning fashion.
“Why is that good?”
“It means the high types don’t think that we’ll be off doing this for seasons on end. Otherwise there would be a train behind us, with more food, women and even the littles of some of that sort. We haven’t been told much so far. There were some bad raids, or maybe real attacks across from Yanse at us. We aren’t a big force, so it’s probably something not all that important. Bandits or the like. Maybe the Yanseies looking to take us on. Probably not, given all I’ve seen so far.”
The bleeding took a while longer to really stop, then the man had him grab the antlers after cutting the buck down and recovering the rope, carefully. It wasn’t cut, the knots being carefully untied. Good rope was hard to make and expensive to buy, after all.
Then, working awkwardly, Anders not really being strong enough to do the job at hand, meaning he had to struggle through it, they carried the thing over to where the cooks were staging for the night. They had a fire pit ready, a large ring of stones with wood in it, that hadn’t been started yet.
The head cook, who was in an army uniform like the rest of them were, smiled.
“That’s a nice looking piece of flesh there, Sergeant. You get it in?”
“Brolly here got it. Took it down with magic, faster than you could blink. Still, I reckon it will taste the same. We bled it off, quick like.”
The other man stared at Anders for a bit, then called out, looking away.
“Morrit, Renner… Help me get this ready to cook.” Then he turned, speaking to Anders directly. “If you come up with anything else, just bring it to me right quick. Even on the trail we can get things ready for when we stop. Rabbits, deer… Even cows if they get stupid and are in our way. Not that you heard me telling you to do that last one. We have half rations here, since we’re a fast force.”
What all of that meant Anders didn’t know. Nodding, he waved at the men and took off back toward where the camp was being set up. Master Tolan was doing all the work that way, even if it wasn’t hard, including collecting the firewood. Prince Alpert glared at him then, and walked over, from where his assistant was setting things up.
He was taller than most of the others there, having light hair and blue eyes. That wasn’t uncommon in the castle, though only a handful of the heavy riders or foot soldiers had that trait for themselves. His face was annoyed though, as he stomped over.
“Are you all right, Anders? I noticed that you vanished there, for nearly an hour. Leaving your Master to set up for you. Are you ill?” There was a healthy mix of honest seeming concern and accusation in the words. As if he didn’t want to accuse him of playing instead of doing his scant work for the day, if there was a real reason.
Also, as if he didn’t want him to get lazy and take to hiding from responsibility.
“A deer, a large buck, snuck up on me, so I killed it. One of the foot soldiers, Sergeant Bennet, helped me string it up and bleed it, then carry it over to the cooks. We should be having it for late meal. There should be time for it to cook.” It was the problem with meals on the road, he knew, if only from his training. Large bits of meat took a long time to warm all the way through to the right level.
You could cook hot and trim the outside of it off, if you had a spit. That meant everyone had to eat at a different time.
Rather than scold him for playing, the Prince smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
“Right, then! Still, you need to make sure your charge is carried out.” That was all he said on the matter, moving back to his own camp, where he largely stood, talking to the army Captain while things were put together for them.
Normally Master Tolan was over doing that kind of thing as well, so it might be important.
“Thank you, Master. I’ll do this now. Um…” Glancing over he noticed that the Captain was rather grubby looking. Not that they all weren’t after a full day’s ride like they’d had. “I could use magic to clean up clothing, if… I’ve been doing yours that way and Prince Alpert’s. It isn’t that hard. I just haven’t thought to approach the Captain. I don’t really know him.”
That part was simply the truth. Prince Alpert spoke to him every day, even at length a few times, in the evenings. Master Tolan did the same, without ever suggesting any work at all for him to do. The Captain stood back from him, as did most of the men. Other than a few well mets, the others had stayed away from him.
Probably due to the anomaly of a single boy being there in the first place. He’d figured it was his open use of magic, since he needed to practice and used it regularly in public. Sergeant Bennet hadn’t seemed to be disturbed by that much, so it might not be that at all.
Smiling, warmly enough, the older fellow next to him nodded.
“That would be a kindness. I’ll bring it up to the man over our dinner. Now, you caught a deer? That’s good. We’ve been worrying each night about the stores holding out. We don’t have dedicated hunters and on the move you can’t trap or fish. You have a bow…”
It was leading to something, which made sense, given the context of what was being discussed. The man was suggesting that he take to hunting, if it was possible. Possibly doing anything he could to supplement their food.
The head cook at the palace had taken him aside for a few nights and let him read the food herbals and plant guides that they had there. One of them was about collecting wild herbs, roots, berries and nuts, which might be useful. They’d passed many things on the road like that. Almost each day. The rivers would have things as well, most likely.
“I can try to get some things? I didn't know that was at issue. I’m sort of low as to who people tell things to.” The servants were, of course.
Standing up, Master Tolan looked mildly troubled. He had a nice fire build ready to go, with nothing to start it out yet. Moving in a bit, so he wouldn’t miss the array of logs, which were a little bit large for starting such a thing with flint and tinder, Anders pushed his thumb and smallest finger out, focusing on the sense of flame growing.
Thanks to the exhaustive practice Depak Sona had put him through, it started almost instantly. The whole thing coming to flame all at once.
The Wizard waved at it.
“Would you be willing to do that for others? No one has known what we’re allowed to ask of you that way.”
The words got him to smile back.
“I can do that. I’d thought that I was just useless here. Should I just go and do that? After I get some water in here.” He had a bucket for that, for the Master to use. The horses all had to be led to water down stream. Several times a day, if it was available. That came first, then he needed to groom them. It didn’t take that long, really. About an hour for their four horses.
There was a head ducking then, which was a bit too shy for an older man.
“Anything would be appreciated, I’m certain. We need to have more food in. Also, we’re likely to be seeing first possible contact with the enemy in the next few days. They’re about four days ride in…” He didn’t point along the road, rather in the general direction, off to the right by enough to make a large difference. “That way. The Captain wa
nts us to keep to the current pace, so that we don’t run into a force unprepared. We’ll be putting scouts out in the next two days, to ride ahead.”
None of that was anything he could help with.
“Do you need me to take notes for you? Or memorize what you say. I can do that, if writing isn’t needed.” It had sort of worked out the one time after all.
Master Tolan bowed to him, though only a little. They didn't do a lot of bowing out on the road. On purpose. That way it would be harder to tell who was the important person, making it harder to mark them for assassination. As if the nicer clothing wasn’t going to give them away.
“That would be most useful, if you have the time? A flaw in my normal technique is that the trance I work in doesn’t allow me to write while doing so. I try to recall things but that only works so well. If I have another there to aid in that, it’s better. More detail can be gathered that way.”
Why he didn't have an assistant all the time for that then didn’t make sense.
“I have a lot of time. When do we do that work?”
“Oh, after we tend the horses and eat? Tonight…” He looked off into the clear blue sky and shook his head. “It’s going to rain, later. We don’t have tents with us, so will need to find some way to keep the water off. You have an oil cloth?”
That had been put into his gear. It was heavy canvas and new, though not large enough to turn into a real tent. The thing was large enough to wrap over him, however, in the rain.
“I do.”
That got a nod, with no instructions as to what to do with it.
“After the meal, come find me? I’ll be with Prince Alpert.”
That was the normal pattern, since they did planning in the evenings, most days. He hurried through the horse tending duties, seeing another three deer off in the distance, when he went to the water. Too far away for him to hit with magic, by about fifty to seventy paces. His new bows would send arrows that far. Missing was possible for him, which could mean losing arrows. That was a risk, since he’d only brought twenty with him.