by Shawn Muller
“Sir, you know my schedule, I cannot have a wizard who will hinder my missions,” I stated.
“Bob, I honestly do not know who the wizard is. But if you have to leave him to choke in your dust while you race around the countryside, then so be it, as long as he is with you most of the time.”
“Thank you, sir. May I please be dismissed now? I have much I must attend to,” I asked with a slight bow of the head.
“Certainly Bob. Good luck with your missions. We will see you at the victory feast,” Prince Marcus said.
I saluted him and did a smart about turn before walking out the command tent. Behind me I heard some of the commanders mumbling about what missions I will be doing, what makes me so special that I could leave now, the loudest from Count Vimour.
“Any other questions?” I faintly heard the prince ask to those grumbles.
I did not hear the questions as I made my way to the umpire wizards, as I called them, to find out who my babysitter was. After asking around, I managed to find the head umpire, an old, burly wizard with a great white beard hanging right down to his navel. He had piercing blue eyes that seemed to look right through a person. Power emanated off him, flowing, and swirling around him continuously. I heard that he was one of the most powerful sorcerers ever to be born. Meeting him face to face, I could believe that.
“Excuse me, sir.” I saluted him.
“Yes, Commander Bob,” he replied.
“Sorry to bother you, sir, but I would like to meet with the wizard who is to accompany me during this battle,” I asked him - not showing the fact that him knowing my name surprised me.
“Indeed. And so you will, Bob, when the time is right,” he answered.
“Sir, with all due respect, I need to know if the wizard will hamper me at all on my missions. If I feel that they are unfit to keep up, I will be leaving them behind.”
“Rest assured, young one, your concern is not yours alone. She has worried about the same. Nevertheless, she will not hinder you at all. In fact, she will be of great assistance when the time is right,” he answered.
“She? The wizard is female?” I asked.
“Do you have a problem with that?” He raised an eyebrow, looking down at me.
“Not at all, sir, I just haven’t met a female wizard yet.”
“Good. My name is Schneeder by the way,” he said.
“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” I shook his hand, which surprised him.
“Normally people are too afraid to speak to me, never mind shaking my hand. They seem to fear that I will instantly turn them into a frog or something, which I could do if I really wanted, actually,” he said.
“Sir, I have met with all sorts of people in my life, some scary, others normal. You sir, I feel your power and I have respect for your power, but scary, no I don’t feel that in you, sir.”
“I shall have to work on that. A slight fear ward placed about me ought to do the trick,” Schneeder said, almost to himself.
He laughed heartily when he saw my eyes and mouth open wide in shock.
“As much as I do enjoy putting fear into people, I do it mostly for show. I am one of the most humble wizards you will ever see. Most of the pompous fools wear ridicules gowns, amulets and trinkets hanging off them, carrying staffs of power and almost all of them have a few magical wards about them increase the fear of them. But you never heard that from me,” he said with a slight wink.
“Right never heard a thing. But back to the wizard that has been assigned to me, sir. When will she meet with us? I plan on being the first to receive the spells and to be the first to leave this camp tomorrow morning.”
“She will report to you before first light and lead you to the spell-casting area. Be sure that all your men are ready or those left out of the spell will be forced out of the games.”
“Thank you, sir. We will be ready before first light. Good evening, sir,” I greeted him as I left to head back to my camp.
“Good evening to you, Bob, and Bob, good luck.”
That last bit surprised me.
I did not expect an umpire, never mind the head umpire to wish me luck. Pondering this as I walked back to the camp, I bumped into a small woman. Almost knocking her off her feet, I hastily apologised and helped steady her before walking off. She mumbled a small curse at me under her breath as she went on her way.
Once back at the camp, I called a quick meeting with my sub-commanders. I informed them of the plans for the next few hours and advised them to make sure all was ready and to hit the sack early. Tomorrow was going to be the beginning of a long week. After the meeting, I called for Thackeray to stay behind and asked him if he knew any female wizards.
“Not really, Bob. There were a few at the college I went to at The Capitol, but I never really got to know them that well. Most were snobbish, brushing off us lesser mortals for more noble men.”
“And their skills?” I asked.
“Magic wise as with everybody, it all depends on their personal strength. Through the ages, there have been very powerful and influential female wizards. But whether she can ride a horse like us I dunno, really. Not many people can,” he said, smiling.
“Great, thanks,” I answered before he left to sort himself and his men out.
Later that night, I made my final rounds among the men and sentries, chatting here and there with them, calming them of their nerves before the big day tomorrow. I know I was nervous. Talking to them calmed me as much as it calmed them.
Looking over the camp, I realised my little company had grown quite large over the past few months. We now numbered just over fifty-three members, excluding our admin staff such as the blacksmiths. I was overwhelmed at what had been achieved in such a short time. I still hoped to have a larger company, a mixture of all the races, male and female, but I only expected this after a few years. Well, I said to myself. I must not let the prince down for putting so much faith in me. And I must not let my company down either. It was truly more a company now than a platoon. Or more one full platoon and a few spares. This gave me five squads of ten, with the three left over being myself, Thackeray and Max. We would join whatever squad needed us for whichever mission at hand. I slowly headed off to my tent to sleep while I could, deep in thought once again as to what lay ahead.
It was cool the next morning. My men were just about done breaking down the camp when I was approached by Schneeder and a small person wrapped tightly in a long, black cloak as I was busy tying down the last of my things onto my horse.
“Greetings, Bob, good to see your men are up and about,” Schneeder greeted me.
“Morning, sir. We should be done within the next half hour, well before first light,” I replied.
“Excellent. I will not keep you up. But before I go, please meet your wizard, Mia,” Schneeder gestured the small figure standing just behind him forward.
I began to bow my head to her, before I realised it was the woman I almost walked right over.
“Ma’am, I am very pleased to meet you. I must apologise for last night. I was lost in thought and I didn’t see you.” I said with a low bow.
“This clumsy oaf will be my charge?” She fumed at Schneeder.
“Yes, this clumsy oaf is your charge. Be nice to him. He is new to the games and has much expected of him,” Schneeder said to her.
“I am really sorry, ma’am about that. Really I am. My name is Robert. But call me Bob, please. I hope that we can work well together.” I stuck my hand out to her, hoping that she would accept the apology.
I could not see her face under the cloak as it was drawn far over her head, hiding her features in the shadows. Most of her body was hidden within the bulky cloak. She gingerly extended her right hand out from within her cloak.
She had the most delicate hands I had ever seen. Small, thin delicate fingers with well looked-after nails. Her wrist was almost as small as a child’s. I gently took her hand in mine, careful not to crush those beautiful fingers. Her hand was dwarfed within m
ine. I could easily have wrapped my fingers almost double around her wrist. I was very surprised with the firm grip she gave me when we shook hands. After shaking hands, she pushed back the hood of the cloak to reveal one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She had the most flawless, pale skin with red cheeks from the chill in the air. Her nose was slightly longer than normal, but thin and elegant. Her jaw was small, but framed her face perfectly. Her lips looked just right, red, and soft. But it were her eyes that caught me. Under perfectly shaped eyebrows, stood the longest eyelashes I had seen for a very long time, curling up towards the eyebrows and almost touching it. Her eyes were sharp, missing nothing, showing a keen intelligence. But the colour was fascinating. It looked like a dark blue around the pupil, but towards the outer part of the iris, it turned to a light, emerald green. As I lost myself in those beautiful eyes, they change colour completely to an icy blue as if by magic. I did not hear anything that she said at that moment, but I knew that I had just fallen in love with her.
“I asked are you ready to move to the casting area?” she asked.
“I am sorry, ma’am,” I said, shaking myself out of my perfect dream. “Um, yes, I think maybe in the next few moments.”
“Well you two. I shall be leaving you then, good luck, Bob with your battles. I see you will be having many in your life,” Schneeder said.
“Thank you, sir,” I replied, not able to take my eyes off of Mia.
I was positive that if I were able to draw my gaze away from those beautiful eyes, I would have seen Schneeder, smiling the biggest smile ever.
“Are you going to stand here all morning, or are you going to hurry your men so that we may leave as you wanted, by first light,” Mia asked.
“Right. I’m on my way to hurry them up. Can I get you anything while you wait? Some warm milk, wine, water, breakfast?” I asked, not wanting to leave her side.
“Thank you, but no. I am just waiting to leave that’s all.”
“Right. We will be ready soon. Max! Titanius! We leave in ten minutes. Move your arse boys and girls! We got places to go and things to kill!” I shouted to my soldiers.
Within the ten minutes we were marching in a double file, leading our horses towards the spell area. Mia was in front leading her horse with me in tow like a little puppy. Max and Deez just sniggered under their breath as they realised what was happening. Minutes later, we had arrived at a cordoned-off area, roughly the size of four football fields. Max gave the orders to assemble by squads and rapidly company came to attention.
The orcs, comprising of two squads led by Kimba, Mycotaur, and Fremod stood in the middle in precise squares of ten orcs each. They did not have any horses, as not many could bear their weight for very long. They were to be our main foot soldier force with the dwarves, who had a long ancestral fear of horses. On the right stood my rangers or archers, depending on the need, led by Tachojay. To my left, in our precise square, stood the main cavalry unit and I. Bruce and the last squad stood at the back of the orcs as our reinforcements. Mia stood by my side, holding her horse steady with her left hand, standing out from the orderly unit that the Ghost Company portrayed.
In front of us, on a wooden platform, stood Prince Marcus with Jeroch, Queen Canderson and Bruniks. Just behind them stood Schneeder and a handful of wizards, glowing in the early morning gloom with the power of their spells held within themselves, ready to unleash on us when told to. I felt a bit nervous of this. Who was to say they never made a mistake, and instead of the right spell for the games, they unleashed fireballs or pure energy at us?
Before I could worry about this anymore, Prince Marcus took a step forward and began to speak.
“Soldiers of the Ghost Company, I bid you a fond good morning. I have not seen such a well-drilled, disciplined force in a very long time. You are an honour to which all should take note and copy. I trust your commander, Bob, and I have deep-rooted faith in him that he will lead you to victory!”
The men, and woman, of the Ghost Company gave an emphatic hurrah at this.
“But first, the wizards behind me led by Schneeder will cast their spells over you. Once that is done, good luck, and raise hell!” This elicited an even louder hurrah from the men.
The prince stepped back as the wizards stepped forward. All of them held out their hands towards us and began chanting. A faint light could be seen swirling around their finger tips slowly spreading and merging with each other until a large blanket of light was formed in front of the wizards. With a single gesture from Schneeder towards us, the light rose and moved over our heads. By this time it was large enough to comfortably cover us and our horses and supplies. Another gesture, this time a downwards one from Schneeder, directed the light to descend over us. Slowly it moved down, covering everything underneath it. I never felt a thing as it moved from my head to the ground at a slow, steady pace. Once the light reached the ground, all the wizards clapped their hands once in unison and the light vanished faster than it had formed.
Stepping forward once more, Prince Marcus said his final words as the next group of men began to line up outside the cordoned-off area.
“Go forth and carry the name of Doorengaan and Ghost Company with pride! Let all those before you know that they have been bested by the best.”
“Attention! Present arms!” I shouted the orders as the company saluted the prince as one man.
“By squad, move out!” I said.
We left the area through another entrance and immediately headed north at a walk. Fremod, who was in overall command of the orcs, strode up to me.
“Fremod, please meet the lovely Mia. She will be our chaperone during the battles,” I said, introducing Fremod to Mia.
“Please to meet you, madam.” Fremod bowed low to Mia as we rode next to him.
“The honour is mine, great Fremod,” Mia replied.
“Right, you know what to do. We will be seeing you in a few days’ time. Make sure that the welcome party is nice and hot,” I told Fremod.
“You can count on us. I will whip these orcs into shape in no time. Rest assured that when you need us, we will be ready,” Fremod promised.
I nodded to him and wished him luck as he left us and headed back to the orcs before leading them and the dwarves north east away from us.
“Are they not part of us?” Mia asked.
“They are. But they are not needed now. They will be setting up a base somewhere out there for us to use when the time comes to use one. For now, the rest of us will be looking for the forward elements of Prince Owyne’s army,” I explained.
“Oh. And why is that?” Mia asked.
“To see which way they intend heading. From there we can put our plans into motion.”
“And how do you intend finding them.”
“That my dear, is a secret,” I said with a wink of an eye.
“I am not your dear, and I need to know what you are planning to see if it is within the rules,” she replied.
“Don’t worry. I made sure that it is within the rules. I asked Thackeray, Smoothie, and Schneeder if what I have planned is allowed and all said it is.”
“We will see, Commander Robert.”
“Please, just Bob,” I asked.
Mia just gave me an icy stare as we made our way across the grasslands.
We spent most of the morning in a kilometre-eating canter, taking short, frequent breaks to rest the horses. We took a longer break at noon to have lunch, and to tend to the horses. We did not want to over exert them, as they would be our main means of fighting. It was during this break that Thackeray approached me.
“Sir, the lead elements have left and comprise a heavy platoon of elven rangers and human scouts, roughly the same size as the company. The main army is busy moving out as we speak, and they are mainly the foot soldiers and orcs. Reports indicate that the supplies and support elements will be the last to leave, probably tonight only, with minimal protection.”
“Direction they are heading?” I asked.
“Probably. So far so good. Tell our men to stay low and quiet, and to only report any change in direction and if any force leaves the main body.”
Thackeray left with a salute to relay the message.
“You have spies in the enemy army?” Mia asked me astonished.
“Yes. Don’t they have any in Marcus’s army?”
“Probably, but you can communicate with yours with magic?”
“Of course, it was the first thing that I had Thackeray research, a means to communicate over very long distances.”
“I can see why you said it is within the rules. I don’t think that either side has considered this before,” she said, pondering the news.