To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6

by John Buttrick

  Endenborn, a city located on the west side of Lake Enden, less than one hundred spans east of New Oben, was only ten spans northwest of where the armies of General Kall had been contained. Until tonight, Daniel thought, and walked into the command center, located in the forest about a span south of the city, while his Chief Aid stood perfectly still, probably in silent communication with Franklin Togan concerning the new base to be created. The assistant and bodyguard followed their Maestro inside the open-air shelter, while Silvia and David drew their weapons and took up guard positions to the right and left of the shelter. She had her mini-crossbow in hand and he a daggerlance.

  Inside, an amethyst sphere of light was shining from the apex of the roof and a table and chairs were provided, although no one was sitting down. Leah Barryn, First Accomplished of the Atlantan Guild, commanded four lightning bolts of potential and possessed a regal dignity. Her countenance had been stern while she was speaking to Three-bolt Accomplished Zera Logos, Two-bolt Accomplished Rishard Rooble, and Captain Jacob Tanner of the Chosen’s Sentinels, but when she saw Daniel approach she leaned back on the table and smiled, causing dimples to form on her darkly pretty face. She was statuesque and equaled him in height, Ecoppians and Ducaunans were a tall people, and although she appeared to be no older than thirty-two, her actual age was ninety-eight, as of a week ago.

  “Greetings Maestro,” she began and they exchanged the traditional nod of respect, as did the other Accomplisheds. Captain Tanner gave a salute, which Daniel returned. The Four-bolt, Ecoppian-born Accomplished, then spoke up after the formal greetings, “I will give you a quick update of the current situation. General Kall’s forces, now about forty-eight thousand strong, are advancing in a front that is half a span wide, backed by two thousand Serpents, led by Tri-Con Chen, and they are now driving west against Lobenia’s Fifth Legion out of the Lake Remear region along with two more legions. As you know, Queen Clarees has brought the Ninth and Seventh legions in from the northern border, leaving the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth to defend against the combined forces of Battencay and Fon Kay.”

  Daniel did know where the Lobenian Legions, each fifteen thousand strong and backed by a hundred soldiers of the Benhannon Guard, were supposed to be, and was not surprised by the additional Serpents; it was the person leading the surge that his mind locked onto. “So, Fenton Chen has finally shown his true allegiance,” Daniel commented, while making up his mind how to proceed. He wondered if the leaders of Aakadon knew about the traitor. It might be a good idea to inform Terroll.

  “Sir Daniel, we have slowed the advance for now, even with the twenty-five hundred additional enemy horsemen and sixty-five hundred archers carrying longbows to contend with. We are about to reinforce the three Lobenian Legions, cavalry and foot, with five thousand Sentinels,” Jacob added his part to the briefing, with news Daniel believed would have been better if not for the huge number of enemy Accomplisheds.

  The lanky Ducaunan with dark hair and eyes, and a reputation for bold craftiness in battle that sometimes bordered on insanity, had been a Sergeant during the siege of the Benhannon Northland Holding that had occurred months back. He and his squad of Sentinels had been out on patrol when the gates were shut and so stayed in the woods. Instead of hiding as someone more prudent might have done, he and his squad of twenty attacked the supply-lines defended by five to ten times their number, while Daniel helped in the effort by proxy, using Sasquatches and other creatures of the forest. The current situation was different and the type of reinforcement was curious.

  The two thousand five hundred additional horsemen Daniel could understand, but why sixty-five hundred more archers? Wouldn’t six thousand five hundred more spheroid slingers be better?

  “Maestro, we have two thousand Accomplisheds ready to enter the theater, half of which are of the Defense Department and the others are from the Department of Seekers and Security squads from the ISIG,” informed Zera Logos, with news Daniel felt improved the situation when taken with the Captain’s report.

  The Three-bolt Accomplished of the Defense Department, of Serinian birth, had been an Aakademned for a hundred years, but was a Solar of the Sun Guild before being captured and Condemned. She was among those who had been recovered after the seizing of Shantear from the Serpent Guild, and like many restored to humanity, desired to follow Daniel. At one hundred thirty-nine years of age, she appeared to be an athletic, fit and trim, woman in her fifth decade. Her light brown skin held no wrinkles and her long wavy hair was black and well hidden within the confines of her hood.

  “The push has been slowed, but I cannot say we will contain Kall’s forces for long, not when the Serpents can at any moment double their numbers using teleportation circles,” Rishard gave his assessment.

  Accomplished Rooble of the Department of Defense, in his eighty-seven years of life, spent eleven as a Forester of the Willow Guild, before that, two as a Sapling, one as a Sprout after graduating from Talented at age nineteen, and later was an Aakademned for fifty-four years. He was restored by Daniel after being found by the Conductor of the Department of Seekers, Sandra Treena, personally. His Lobenian ancestry gave him blue eyes, red-gold hair, and six cubits of height. The spell, Restoration had given him the body of an athlete, and the appearance of a man half his actual age. Daniel could follow the helix-shaped recipe strands, which caused the person to have the body their unique recipe called for, but did not yet know how to alter the recipe to reverse aging or change the pattern that seemed to have been set at conception. Whenever the pattern was set, he could not alter it, even if that pattern called for the individual to have six fingers on his right hand, like Rishard. Those were issues being studied by the Atlantan Guild Health Department.

  Perhaps further alterations could be made after the recipe has been followed, but the person would have to be awakened and asked if he or she wanted the change. Daniel figured the idea worth pursuing, sometime after the little matter of stopping Chen and Kall had been taken care of.

  Daniel knew he, Leah, Sherree, and Jeremiah Lassiter, the Conductor of the Defense Department, had decided that containment would have to do. Since the beginning of the war, every time a major assault was visited upon Kall and his men, huge numbers of Serpents would teleport in and do battle, flashing about the region and playing catch-me-if-you-can, and taking the heat off of Kall’s troops. Daniel was growing weary of the gamesmanship, even though the number of enemy troops had been whittled down to the around thirty-nine thousand only a week ago. The number had been brought back up, since the Serpents teleported in more legionnaires, but that too had been done before.

  “We are going to fight to the finish this time. We will not stop until Kall and his legions are no more and we will not be distracted. The goal is also to take out as many Serpents as we can, especially Fenton Chen. I do not want to face him or them again on any future battlefield,” Daniel responded, then gave specifics of how to meet the goal. Containment of the threat simply would not do. According to Ruth, he had to win the war by the end of summer, and fall was only months away. “I will hear recommendations.”

  Leah leaned forward off the tabletop and stood up straight. “I think Jacob and his fellow Sentinels should move in from the west to help the Lobenians hold the line. I am willing to take charge of five hundred Accomplisheds and attack head on. Zera, should take five hundred, split them and attack from the south and north. Rishard should be given command of five hundred Accomplisheds, it will be his job to play catch-me-if-you-can against the Serpents, and I do want him to catch and kill a good many of them. Daniel, if you approve, I would have you lead the remaining five hundred Accomplisheds, which are mainly Security squads, take them, and attack Kall’s legions from the rear.”

  “I approve,” Daniel replied. Her plan fit in perfectly with his.

  The Chief Aid stepped into the pavilion and cleared his throat. “Bulragard, the crow, has a visual I can use to get us to where we need to be. I will contact Conductor Copa, so she can coordinat
e communications and have the five hundred Accomplisheds under your direct command rendezvous with us there.” Simon once again demonstrated his usefulness and the fact that he had been listening while using the array on his head.

  Leah blinked her eyes and the pavilion vanished, having been a construct of solidified color-tinted air, even the table and chairs. The removal of the Da Capo on the spell was a mental function and did not require the blinking of eyes, it was her personal style. She glowed with potential and Daniel averted his eyes moments before the brilliant amethyst flash and double whip-crack sound announced her departure and that of Captain Tanner. She must have taken him along for the ride. Zera and Rishard also utilized the spell, Conveyance, having focused their potentials, saffron and crimson, through their crescendos, and they too vanished.

  Daniel stood in a dark patch of forest that no one would have guessed had recently served as a command center. Neither Silvia nor David clipped or sheathed their weapons, Carlos, Sero, and Simon each had their batons in hand. They were ready for battle. A tiny sphere of light, cobalt blue, about the size of a robin’s egg, appeared in the air above Simon’s head, providing enough light for them to see each other dimly.

  “Do you have to make it so bright?” David asked while shielding his eyes with his free hand.

  Daniel thought of the Symphonic spell, Running with the Wolves, he had composed. “If you reach into your shirt and turn the wolf-head amulet around so the gem is no longer in contact with your chest, the light will cease to hurt your eyes.”

  The former juggler shook his head. “Not a chance. That one is nearly as handy as the shield amulet. I prefer having my senses enhanced to equal those of a wolf, especially when going into battle at night.”

  Silvia nodded agreement with her husband. “I’m wearing mine as well. Perhaps you spell-casters ought to call forth the tune in your minds, that way balls of light will not be necessary.”

  Daniel considered; he might cast the spell at some point in the battle, but only when it would be advantageous to do so. “It is going to get mighty loud where we are going, I don’t really want to make it louder, but if all were to get quiet, I will cast Running with the Wolves upon myself.”

  Simon stepped closer, as did Sero and Carlos. “Maestro,” the Chief Aid began. “We should convey to the place I have chosen,” he did not say where that was but Daniel trusted him, “the twenty-two squads of ISIG Accomplisheds and the three squads of Seekers who have been assigned to you will soon be arriving at the site.”

  “Thanks, Simon,” Daniel replied. He noticed the quick intake of breath made by Carlos.

  The bodyguard was the one most often given the honor of conveying his Maestro to other locations. The Three-bolt would not be irritated with the Chief Aid, but with his own inability to provide the service. None of the creatures in his swirl of animals were in the area his leader needed to be, but neither were Daniel’s at the moment, a situation he would soon fix. That fact aside, the man saw the situation as a personal failure.

  Darkness swallowed Daniel up, he could not smell, hear, or feel a thing for about three heart beats, and then a deep blue ball of light sprang into existence, illuminating the entire area in which they arrived. The hue was that of Carlos, who apparently chose that way to be of service. Daniel was standing near broken-down carts, siege engines, catapults, and scores of ruined wagons, three of which contained portable smithies. The conveyances did not seem to have been damaged in any traditional way, such as assault by conventional or spell-powered weapons. If this had been the work of Atlantan Guild Accomplisheds, everything here would have been utterly destroyed, he was certain.

  Silence held sway for a few moments more and then the crickets began their nightly chorus, having been interrupted, no doubt, by the sound of displaced air. This had been the camp Kall abandoned, Daniel recognized at once. He walked up to the nearest covered wagon, and stuck his head inside, a chuck-wagon. He summoned a sphere of light, vanquishing the shadow created by the blue ball outside, and shook his head, wondering if he was seeing another example of his swirling of events.

  Ants were crawling all over the food sacks, most of which had been eaten empty and the rest not far from it. He backed away a step and noticed the wheels had broken, all of them, as if they simply could no longer hold the weight. He bent down and peered under the wagon, his sphere of light automatically moving to illumine the area of his focus. The axil was split and had holes in it. In and out of those holes came carpenter ants, about twice the size of their cousins up top that were finishing off the foodstuff. The other axil was in no better condition.

  He could hear the squads of Accomplished arriving near where he was examining the wagon even before he straightened up and turned to face them. No one could fail to hear so many whip-cracks of displaced air. He had also sensed every single person through the spell, Find All, as well as scores of owls perched in the trees above. He allowed the little sphere to cease and summoned the potential for Mind Touch, focusing the energy finer than a human hair, and began linking his mind to that of the closest owls. They would serve as his scouts and provide visuals for conveyance, if necessary. After he added the twelfth owl to his swirl of creatures, a dwarf-owl he named Squirt, who was about a third of the size of the other eleven feathered helpers, Simon had all of the spell-casters lined up by squads with their leaders at the front. Carlos was glowing with potential and focusing beams into the trees, perhaps adding to his swirl of animals.

  Darrell Logan, five and three-quarter cubits tall, with sand-colored hair that had a hint of red, and who was of Fon Kayan birth, handed a gem to the Chief Aid, who was holding an empty communication array. Darrell had two lightning bolts of potential, was a veteran of many battles and skirmishes even before the war broke out world-wide, and had helped Sherree on several missions in the past. The other twenty four squad leaders followed his example, including Buck Duadams, a Two-bolt Accomplished. At the age of fifty, he had the stamina of a man half his age and his neatly trimmed beard and mustache held only the barest traces of gray in them. He had a silver medallion on his chest with the profile of a hound formed into the oval, exactly like the one Darrell wore, as did every member of the ISIG. Buck was one of the few Aakacarns in the group who had never been a victim of the spell, Condemnation. He simply rode his horse to the Benhannon Northland Holding and signed up to serve, along with three other like-minded Ducaunans.

  Quala Robin, at sixty-five years, had been Condemned at the age of nine, and remained in that state until Sandra brought her to Daniel. Presently, the Two-bolt Accomplished was a squad leader for the Department of Seekers. Along with the topaz blue silks, belt and other accoutrements of an Accomplished of the Atlantan Guild, she was wearing her medallion with an all-seeing-eye. Her dark hair had traces of gray, yet she appeared to be no older than Zera, and seemed always eager to serve her Maestro, who had restored her to humanity. He gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

  Daniel sent his owls flying towards the battle field at about the time the array was filled with gems and Simon handed the communication device to him. “Maestro, how do you want to proceed?” The Chief Aid glanced at the wagon, smiled and then kept on speaking without waiting to hear the answer to his question. “I sent them, the ants I mean. They have been plaguing Kall’s camps for months, all three locations since the war started. I understand Vance Cummin is not happy about the need to resupply the commoner legions so often. General Kall and his men were probably ordered to make a stab at New Oben or lose Aakacarn support. You know, survival of the fittest, the motto of the Serpents.”

  Daniel did know the basic tenets held by associates of the Serpent Guild; might makes right, let the weak die that the strong might live, and Tarin Conn was the supreme authority, were foremost among them.

  He placed the new array on his head, touching his other array, and then pulled the hood up to cover both of them. A snap of a twig to the rear caught his attention.

  David spun around in a whirl of sudden mo
tion, daggerlance in hand, and sent a lance of light streaking to the right. The topaz blue beam of light flew right through a birch tree and vanished moments later, but before that, an Aakacarn wearing the black silks and hooded-cloak of the Serpent Guild, appeared with a hole right in the center of his forehead. The spell-caster dropped lifelessly to the ground. He had been standing, invisibly, in front of the tree, and was likely left behind to keep an eye on the former camp. “I smelled him,” David explained.

  “I am glad you did not take my suggestion to turn the amulet around,” Daniel told the Teki, truly glad, and then faced Simon. “You are quite devious and I am grateful you are on my side.” Ants! Daniel thought while his friend from Battencay grinned and then his left eyebrow arched up.

  “Why haven’t you composed an invisibility spell for us?’ Simon asked.

  Daniel rubbed his chin. “I have thought about it, among a host of other spells that might be handy. All I can say is, some Melodies flow naturally from my soul and are completed almost effortlessly while others only come after I have worked the notes over and over again in my mind until a sense of knowing comes over me, a sense that tells me the spell will do what I want it to accomplish. If you are not satisfied with my answer, go ask the other Aakasear and see what he says.”

  “Thank you for the suggestion, but no. The other Aakasear makes my skin crawl,” Simon replied, almost as if his Maestro had been serious about speaking to Tarin Conn.

  The former acrobat for the Reshashinni Teki stepped in front of the Chief Aid. “I am not picking up anymore scents from places that are seemingly unoccupied by people,” Sylvia informed while her husband nodded his confirmation of what she said. “But there are a lot of people crowded around in a small area and the wind is blowing out of the north. It is difficult to isolate smells.”