by P. S. Power
Everyone had mentioned that you didn’t carry hundreds of arrows each, unless you had a more permanent position available to you. A camp or base to store things. They were too heavy when you had that many of them.
Any loss could be felt later. Then, so would hunger, if things ran out.
Moving carefully, he took his small quiver, with ten arrows in it, and headed back to the river, highly suspecting that the animals would have moved on, being too near the strange horses and men walking their own beasts to the water like they were. It took walking for a while to find them again, coming across a small herd of the things. Mainly does, with a few small ones right there as well.
Slowly, trying not to startle them, he picked a large one that seemed to possibly be without a baby. Then, under his breath, he muttered a spell, that was put on the arrow he had nocked. It was a small explosive, since those didn’t always destroy the arrow they were on. The big explosions did. They worked and would make a large hole in the ground, about three feet across and half that deep. This was little compared to that.
Taking careful aim, knowing that he might not do it right, even after all his practice, he let fly. Missing his intended target completely. Instead he hit the flank of the one behind what he’d aimed at, since they’d all started running. The soft boom made her fall, though the thing was crippled and down with a broken back when he walked up to it. Not dead.
The arrow was stuck well into it, nearly falling out, since there was a large hole in the side around it. Blood poured out, spurting enough that it died in front of him. It was work to hang it, and he had to go and get his own rope for the work. Then struggle to hoist the thing upside down. Slashing its throat like he’d been showed worked, though the whole thing looked a lot different, with blood pouring down the left side of the animal as well.
Even being careful he ended up with blood all over himself by the time he managed to carry the thing, supporting the weight over his shoulders, to the cooks. The head man there waved for him to set the bloody thing off to one side.
“Too late for tonight. We’ll cook it up for the late meal tomorrow. That will lose some of the meat. We have no way to keep it cool out here.”
Which wasn’t totally true.
“Do you want it frozen? I can thaw it tomorrow, when you need it.”
The man laughed.
“That works. You have a high mountain peak to put it on overnight in your pocket?”
Anders didn’t of course. Instead he pointed with his main finger on his right hand.
“Que-neg-fen ot neeth.” It took a bit but after some few moments, frost started to cover the fur of the thing on the outside.
“It will freeze solid, then start thawing normally at sunrise.”
He walked away then, since he had some real things to do, other than that. Stopping, he looked at the man.
“Oh, Master Tolan said that we should have rain later tonight.”
That got a nod, the man looking slightly bemused.
“I’ll pass the word on that, my lord.”
“Anders. Anders Brolly. Not the lord of anything.
“Master Brolly. I’ll let the men know you said that, when they come to meal. Even if the sky is clear right now.”
That seemed about right.
“I know, I was thinking that myself. Still, I’ve never seen Master Tolan be wrong yet, so I know that I’m getting my oil slick out.”
Taking some time, since the food wasn’t ready, he tied his rain slick up between two trees, making a slanted shelter. It wouldn’t be much protection and he might want more than that if a slanting rain came at him later. Still, for the moment it gave him something to stay under. A roof, if a poor one.
Then he pulled his bow, already strung, and used a single arrow to go over his exercises that way. Never firing the thing at all. It seemed to be helping at least somewhat. It had been, if not easy, then still a thing he could do to draw and shoot the deer earlier. For hunting he would have failed, if not for the magical effect on the arrow and some luck.
When the food came, instead of simply cleaning up after himself and Master Tolan after, he did that and then walked over to the Prince’s fire. It was still light out, so the men there saw him coming. The Captain looked annoyed to be approached, though Prince Alpert just raised a hand in greeting. They were all sitting on the ground.
“Master Brolly! We had word that you took a second deer, then preserved it for tomorrow. The cooks wish you to do that every day, from now on.” The man smiled at Anders, laughing a bit and then sipping from a cup that smelled like tea. They had a heavy metal pot over the fire there, awkwardly hanging on a stick.
Master Tolan had one as well.
“I’ve asked Anders to come and take notes while I work. Or in this case, commit everything to memory. Rumors say he’s most able that way. It probably won’t be needed as of yet. Working together might allow us great facility later, however. I hope you gentlemen don’t mind?”
The Captain waved his hand then.
“If it gives us an edge, then I sure as hell don’t. Brolly is it? Captain Horner. Army.” That and a nod was to be their introduction it seemed, since Master Tolan dropped straight into a trance, his left hand out, toward the direction of the enemy.
Then he started to speak, giving a lot more information than Anders would have suspected was possible.
Chapter twenty-one
Clear skies on going to bed or not, it rained during the night. Anders had protected his bows, using a spell that carried water away from them, before turning in. It wasn’t until daylight, as he rose to relieve himself in a nearby bush, that it occurred to him it was possible to do the same for himself and the rest of his gear. Master Tolan’s as well.
It meant the first portion of his morning was spent on that, drying out ten different people’s gear. Most had listened to the warning given at dinner, so weren’t soaked through or anything. Everyone, except for himself and those nearest him weren’t dry.
When they rode it tried to sprinkle on them, which had him cast a similar spell on himself, keeping the rain off. It didn’t exactly work perfectly. The rain wasn’t deflected like it might be off an oil sheet. Instead it hit him, wetting his clothing, then ran off, so that spot was dry. In the end, he was far drier than anyone else. More comfortable as well.
The day wasn’t cold, since it was summer. Just damp and warm in the way that would have left him feeling uncomfortable if not for the magic he was using. The spell needed to be reworked, since it was too wet for parts of it. Speeding up how quickly the water left his clothing and skin would probably work for that. Along with better instructions for where the collected water was to go. As they rode he tried doing that, for first the horses, then whoever was nearest to him as they traveled.
Several times he stopped, digging out roots or collecting leaves. All of them were edible and if not the kind of thing that a hungry soldier was going to love eating, they were good for them. It meant his poor bay spare horse was loaded down with enough greenery to make bitters and herbs for the whole troop by the time they stopped for the evening.
This time he didn't find any deer near the water. Instead he noticed that there were fish in the small river they passed. It took about two hours to figure out how to get those onto the shore. It was just a movement spell. The real trick was that he’d had to invent a word for fish and teach himself how to use it, complete with a memorized visualization.
It was attached to a hand gesture, which was hard to hold his hand in, being two protruding knuckles on his right hand, which was extended at the start, then a sharp pulling motion was given to activate it. The new trick worked, meaning they had some thirty-three fish by the time he’d depleted the area of anything big enough to be worth taking. It wasn’t enough, of course. Not to feed two hundred men.
When he delivered it all to the head cook, the man just nodded, pointing to one of the wagons. They were being rained on. A thick mist that got into everything. It drained fro
m him still, leaving him mainly dry, compared to the others. Behind them one of the cooks fought to get a fire going.
“You can thaw the deer, you said? We need to butcher it before cooking. Next time, as like, we should do that first. We’ll have the rest of this tonight, if the fire ever starts. I hate the rain. No one is going to understand why we can’t get them hot food when we have it sitting right there, even as they whine and bellyache about their damp feet.”
The man seemed bitter in regards to the prospect. Anders just walked over and held his hand out toward the damp logs they were using that night. They hissed and popped at him for several full moments, smoking and finally drying enough to catch fire, after a long time of him standing there working on it.
The intelligent move would have been to dry the wood first, a thing he’d worked on all day long. That it hadn’t occurred to him left him feeling slow and as if he were a bit useless. Only a little, since they had a fire now. Then he moved to the deer, removing the cold from it. The meat was left warm, though not cooking yet. The idea of cooking things without a fire had actually occurred to him before. It worked if he heated a pot or pan, then did it. The meat or bread didn’t turn out right if it was warmed all the way through at once. Thawing wasn’t like that, fortunately. He could warm something well enough that way and then cook it without any real issue.
Doing it the way he was would have it come out being more or less fine.
That night he set to making certain all his gear was drying faster, doing the same for the others that were putting up their camp near him. That included the men who were working in attendance of the Prince and Captain. Their things were right there, after all. Leaving them out seemed mean. None of them had even been introduced to him, for some reason. They didn’t do it when he came to work for them, either.
The one man, who was working with Prince Alpert, was older, and in army gear. His face was weathered, though he nodded when Anders moved to cast the spell.
“Fine work there, Master Brolly. I’ve never even heard of water being taken by magic. Not protected against, either.”
He nodded, since he hadn’t heard of that himself. Instead he smiled at the man.
“I didn't get your name?”
“Right. We were told not to bother you, on the first day. Prince Alpert mentioned that you were along for a reason, not why that was. Now I see it. I didn't know that a magical hunter and woodsman was a thing. It’s helpful, out here. I’m Corporal Negat. Assigned to Prince Alpert as his man for this trip.”
That was all they were going to talk about it seemed, since they were interrupted by the sound of thunder, off in the distance. Negat let out a low moan.
“That’s what we need, isn’t it? Thunder and lightning bring the heavy storms. Wind as well. I don’t suppose you can control the weather?”
“Not at all… I might be able to…” Really, when he thought about it, there was a lot that he could do against a storm, if he was clever about it. Not that in a simple way, of course.
The big things would be preventing people from getting too wet and keeping the wind from carrying their things away. Lightning strikes were a threat as well, which he had no way to deflect or influence.
First he tried to make an area that was ten paces by ten paces large, that would move the water away, toward the river, on the far side of the thing. Then he needed to come up with a way to catch or move the wind away from the inside of the space. That took four minutes of constant spell casting to make happen at all. In the end he was breathing hard from the effort of it, since the spell ran regardless of what was going on outside. It tried to stop the wind and rain, even if they weren’t starting yet.
Anders recovered after ten minutes or so, even if the effort was a constant drag on him. His plan had been to make enough still and dry areas to put everyone in. Instead it looked like they were just going to have one, or possibly two of them.
Moving over to Negat, who was near Prince Alpert, he explained the concept.
“So that area there. It isn’t that big. I can, maybe, do another one. I’ll need to eat more and it’s still going to pretty much be what I can do for the rest of the night. It isn’t enough space for all the men and horses.”
Looking at the open ground, Prince Alpert nodded.
“We’ll put the dry good wagons in here and what gear we can. Then we can have the men sleep or huddle on that, if possible. It isn’t the best case but protecting part of what we have from this kind of thing is better than doing none. The rest of us will have to be outside the protected area. Captain!” He waved, explaining quickly when the other man came over at a quick walk.
The clean faced man, who took time to shave even on the road, just nodded.
“I’ll spread the word on that. We’ll need to secure the horses tight. Good beasts but half of them will try to bolt in the storm, regardless of that. Let me set the men to that. We get two of these haven spaces?” The look was directly at Anders, who nodded.
“It will be hard. It’s pushing the edges of what I can do. Let me try. We’ll know a few moments, if I can do it or not.”
That was, in the end, a lot closer than he really wanted to admit. He was doing it, holding the two spaces, powering them as the soldiers got what gear they could inside of them. The whole time he was breathing hard, as if running constantly. The smooth kind but it was clear effort keeping it going. A thing that didn't stop, even as the Prince, Master Tolan and their Captain settled for the evening inside the still area, between two wagons.
All of his own gear was right there as well, since no one even suggested that he should be in the worst of the storm that was coming. The area worked to keep the gusts off of them, as well as all the rain, so far. The worst of the storm was still coming toward them, being visible in the distance.
He moved to go and get Master Tolan and himself their late meals, only to find the old man waving him down.
“I’ll set that up for this evening, Master Brolly. This construction of yours is simply amazing! Also, clearly a stress to your magic. I’ll be but a few moments.”
It took longer than that, though the man came back, loaded down with food. Anders had mentioned needing a bit more. This seemed to be a little bit too much, if he were going to be fair about it.
“We have the cooks making the morning meal bread now. It’s just this and some cheese. The cook fire is going to go out as soon as the storm hits. That isn’t inside the protected area here. I have this sack and there are four more.” The man, along with the heavy tan canvas bag filled with real bread, had two wooden bowls, each with two kinds of meat, some fish, greens and tubers in them. One of them was heaped full, standing two inches over the top of the thing.
That one was set down next to Anders.
The other men there, including the Prince, got up to see to protecting the food for the next day. Around them men secured the horses and got ready for what was coming. Some managed to get themselves tucked in next to the gear in the dry places he was holding for them. The rest wrapped up as well they could, putting backs against trees and tying the horses off as well as they could manage.
He felt awkward, being the only one not really working. Instead he picked at his meal, eating it all, slowing due to the heavy breathing he was doing. Sweat from the effort poured from him, just as everyone else came back, the sky going dark, except when the lightning flashed overhead. The trees howled around them, the wind pushing them to the sides during the gusts. Branches started to break almost instantly, cracking and popping in a threatening fashion.
Fear tried to crawl into his throat, having been born in his stomach. It wasn’t only the boy within who quailed at the forces around them, either. Farad the old felt his breath being stolen, even as he held out against it as well he could. The power needed from him didn’t really increase as rain and then ice beat down on them, the world screaming. A large stream of water collected over them, which was visible as the night sky lit up, becoming blue and then pitch blac
k.
The horses made loud, unsettled noises, and some few of them were kicking against the trees they were near, in fear. The poor men left outside of his protections made no noise at all. Nothing that could be heard over the wind that howled at them. For some time, nearly two hours, everyone just lay there, waiting for the thing to pass. When it finally stopped, a hand found his arm.
He was sitting up, between the two wagons, which weren’t hooked up to horses. Their wheels were blocked off, so they wouldn’t roll, if the winds took after them. When he looked up, Anders couldn’t see who was touching him. That left him feeling uneasy, though he didn't let the fear show.
Master Tolan spoke gently.
“I know this is hard. Hold if you can. This won’t be over. Storms like this come in pairs. Its brother will hit us in the next hour or so, the winds just as fierce and rain as driving.”
He nodded, even if that sounded strange to him. The man was good with information and if he claimed another storm might come, it was worth the heavy breathing and sweat to keep them all safe and dry.
The night was torture, and by the time it was over, he felt both sick and ready to fall over. Sleep hadn’t been possible for him. He really doubted that anyone there had managed much of that. Even after the sky had stopped trying to kill them all, it had been too close to rest easy.
At dawn the areas stopped working, since that had been how long he’d set them to last for. That was announced to him by the wind slapping into his face. On the good side the clouds were totally gone, and the wind, while not warm, was a strong breeze, not something that wanted to tear the trees from their roots and throw them around.
No one was pleased with the day they started, being too tired for friendliness or more than sullen nods as they started out on the road for the day. It wasn’t normal but the Captain had the heavy wagons go first. The horses went last, with the heavy mounted troops behind everyone else that day. The road churned up as they traveled, which would have led to the wagons being stuck if they’d done it otherwise.