by Guy Antibes
It looked like the conversation ahead had stopped for a bit. Neel broke his pose and looked back at the tail end of the rebel army. He wished they had put some rocks on the flyers since the supply wagons that followed the army dawdled behind the main force. With Riotro likely among the magicians that tried to pull their flyers down, Neel would very likely get another chance.
He began to worry about their reception by the General when they returned. He chewed his lip as he looked at the dwindling army behind them. He doubted Niamo would keep them from the fight, but then he had limited exposure to the leader of the Loyalist army.
Trak and Valanna began talking again. Although he couldn’t understand the words, the tone of their voices didn’t sound intimate, so he figured that they weren’t talking about their relationship. He wished that the pair could have met under less trying circumstances. Neel laughed with the realization that he was thinking like a father.
~
Once the trio had passed over the rebel army, Valanna stopped talking. Perhaps experiencing the possible power of Riotro made her understand Trak’s point, or the number of rebel troops sobered her thinking. He had expected a large force and had already met the Black Master.
“We will be fighting the magicians,” Trak said. “If we didn’t need to bring the other flyer back, I’d be interested in attacking Riotro now.”
Valanna shook her head slightly, but not enough to break her pose. “Foolhardy. You don’t know how strong Riotro’s entourage is, even if you think you can match Riotro’s abilities.”
Trak nodded. “You’re right. We’ll need two flyers to keep him distracted. I like the fact that he is traveling away from the army. If Riotro buries himself in the midst of the army, too many innocent soldiers will die.”
“What makes you think they are so innocent?” Valanna said. “They were more than happy to try to kill Nullia and me. The magicians didn’t kill Nullia when they captured her, but if she had been caught by soldiers they would have ripped her apart.”
She looked at him with an expression that made Trak uncomfortable. Fierce, he thought. Trak never thought of himself in that way; competent, hardworking, determined, but not fierce. She had more of a steel spine that he did. At that moment, Valanna reminded her more of Rasia than Honor.
She felt strange to him. She seemed to thrive on the experience, but she didn’t grab onto his idea of turning back and attacking Riotro. Maybe she had better judgement than he did. He pursed his lips. Time to go back over his strategies. With his new perspective of her, he would pay more attention to what she had to say.
“Now that you’ve seen the rebel army, maybe we can review my strategies together and make them better,” he said.
She must have liked his offer since her eyes lit up, and as Trak discussed his strategies, she began to give him both praise and criticism as she saw it. Valanna agreed with Trak on the general approach of taking two flyers with strong magicians.
“I don’t think any of the Moziran Guild are strong enough to take Nullia’s place,” she said. “You agreed that they have to be more aggressive than you first contemplated. That is the biggest weakness.”
“Maybe we should talk to the Moziran Guild leader and test those he thinks would be best suited to one of the three tasks.”
Valanna nodded. “A test. That is a good idea. We can make the best use of a specific talent. That will have to do.” She held his arm while he took a turn being the wind producer. “We can make a good team, I think.” Softness had returned back into her voice. “Maybe we can spend more time together after the war is over. Perhaps we’ll have the time to make some pleasant memories.”
Trak broke his pose and smiled at her. “I’d like that. But you are right, after Misson and Garono have returned to their mansion in Espozia.” He turned back and started to create wind, but now he moved them a bit faster and, for that brief moment at least, all was well with the world.
~
“You make it hard for me to punish you,” General Niamo said holding onto the message case that the Colonel had sent with Valanna. Neel, Valanna, and Trak stood in the General’s quarters, and none of them had flinched under the General’s tirade. They had all assembled after dinner.
Misson stood with one hand holding his elbow and the other playing with his mustache. “And a good thing, too, since none of these people are in your army, much less citizens of Santasia.”
Niamo glared at Misson, who glared right back. Trak had to refrain from smiling. He enjoyed seeing Misson having his way with the pompous General, matching pomposity for studied nonchalance. What Trak really wanted was permission to use a Santasian sorcerer as the third person and he still hadn’t asked the General.
“I promise to coordinate our efforts with you as best we can,” Trak said. “I just need to find one more member of our flying group to replace Nullia.”
“Nullia?” The General looked a bit lost.
Misson cleared his throat. “The former Purple who went north with Valanna.”
Niamo’s eyes cleared with understanding, “Her. She broke something, did she?”
“Her foot.”
The General’s face hardened. “No. You can’t use a single Santasian. I can make that happen. You are all dismissed, including you, Misson. Out of my sight tonight and tomorrow on the road.”
The four of them left the General’s tent and walked slowly towards Misson’s quarters.
“We can’t enlist a single guild member, can we?” Valanna said.
Misson shook his head. “No Santasians. You’ll have to use Ben, after all.”
“We will, but I’d rather not have to use him for flying. He was better equipped to help Asem give aerial battlefield intelligence. Trak kicked a small rock out of the way.
“That may be safer,” Neel said.
Trak nodded. They turned a corner and saw Ben and Asem sitting with some newcomers. He blinked his eyes in surprise.
“Tembul, what are you doing here?”
The Toryan rose with the others. “I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was to be with you, once the regular forces began to chase the Kandannans out of Torya. I brought Sirul along with me in the third flyer. You don’t think I’ll let you send me back, do you?”
Trak grinned and shook his head. “Are you better with wind or shields?”
“Shields, of course. I don’t have much use for wind in the Toryan forests. What kind of shield do you want?”
“One that can keep a flyer up in the air,” Neel said.
Tembul crooked his head. “I believe I am one of the few experienced flying shield makers in the world.” He smiled at them all. “I’m your man, as long as I’m close to Trak. I have to make sure he returns to Kizru.”
Trak sighed. Not only did they have Able to make him return, but Tembul would escort him. He couldn’t escape going to Bennin, no matter how he felt about it.
“Is there anything Sirul can do?” Trak said.
Tembul translated for Sirul and relayed his reply. “He’s okay with wind, if that is what you mean, but Sirul’s better at projecting fire and lightning. Adequate with a shield.”
Now he had enough competent magicians that he could rely on. General Niamo could complain all he wanted, but none were Santasians he could order around. “We have three teams. Valanna, Neel, and I will be the primary flyer fighting Riotro. Kulara, Tembul, and Honor will fly in the secondary flyer that will distract Riotro and the third team of Asem, Ben, and Sirul will provide intelligence for General Niamo. Are you all okay with that?”
Trak’s request was rewarded with unanimous nods.
“What about me?” Rasia asked.
“Why don’t you ride in Asem’s flyer? If they are brought down, you can help them fight their way to freedom as much as your broken arm permits. You are also our best scout, so your eyes may see something that the others miss as you pass over them,” Trak said, feeling good about that addition to the reconnaissance flyer.
Asem rose from
his camp chair. “Let’s spend the next few days practicing your formations until we catch up with the rebels. My team’s job is easy compared to yours.”
“Let’s fix up our flyers. I’d like all three to have the little wall installed at the edge of the flyers, so we don’t drop whatever we carry,” Neel said. “Can we do that, Trak?”
“I suppose so. We also need to gather food and water to take with us. We have to be ready to spend the entire day far above the soldiers. And with the raised edges, no one will fall off if we just stop and rest up there,” Trak said. He felt a lot better about the success of their efforts.
Ben rubbed his hands. “I’m glad to welcome Sirul to our team.”
The young Toryan smiled after Tembul translated. “This isn’t my fight.” He looked sideways at Tembul, who gave him an encouraging nod. “But I will do my best. You saved my life, Trak. I am indebted.” He bowed to Trak, who felt a bit flustered at Sirul’s comment.
“Serve the General well, and you serve Torya well,” Misson said. “Santasia hasn’t tried to invade Torya for centuries and we can be better allies than that.”
“I know better than any of you,” Sirul said.
Neel nodded in agreement. “Tembul and you are Torya’s representatives in this war. Santasia won’t forget.” He turned to Misson. “Will it?”
Misson grinned. “Certainly not. Enough of this talk. You must all get to work, and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow the march begins to speed up.”
Trak took Sirul and Tembul aside. “I can count on the both of you, right?”
Sirul readily nodded, but Tembul just gave Trak a wry smile. “We want you safe, and we want Riotro dead. The General of the northern forces told me so. They have verified that the Santasian Black Master is behind all of this with help from other outsiders. Riotro has discounted you as insufficiently strong, so that is to your advantage. That was before what you did to the Kandannan army at the promontory. Once he learns of that, he might be more aggressive.”
“He already tried to take us down on our way here. We passed right over a group of magicians in the Halgo River valley. We strengthened our shields and left him behind. But his spell was, I think, stronger than yours and I’m not so sure he couldn’t take us down if we were lower.”
“And you have to be lower to use your power, right?”
“It’s a matter of effectiveness, but that’s why Neel will be coming with us. He’s good with shields, as are you, and in case it’s too much for one magician’s pose, we will make all of the magicians practice creating shields. It’s already part of my strategies, which you and I will be going over tonight.”
“I never was much for sleep,” Tembul said.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Eight
~
Asem had proven to be less supportive than Trak thought. Was that because Kulara was on one of the battle flyers, as Trak had begun to think of them? Or because he was as weak in magical power as he claimed. They all met before dawn on the day before the battle. One more day of travel, and then a night of preparation.
During an uncomfortable silence, Neel stood up and took over the meeting. Trak fidgeted with his fingers as he looked on. Since he had worked out all of the plans, he felt a bit angry and disappointed that all of them weren’t looking up to him as their leader,
“I think that one of the flyers needs to go north with the splinter army, moving up on the western side of the valley,” Asem said. “Then we can move back and forth between Colonel Mirona’s troops with the battle flyers. Communication means everything.”
Trak bit his tongue. Communications were important, but defeating Riotro had to be the army’s primary objective. Take him out and the rebel cause would collapse. Why didn’t these people understand that? He had read about the many victories gained when the leader of the other side had been killed.
“Riotro.” Ben said. Trak sat up a bit straighter. “You aren’t factoring in Riotro. He can change the course of the battle.”
“But we have Trak for that,” Asem said.
“Trak may have as much or more power than Riotro, but he doesn’t have the experience.” Honor folded her arms and stared at Asem. “I know by personal observation of the Black Master. We can’t trust in one person, when we can rely on a team strategy. If something happens to Trak, what do you propose we do?”
Asem grunted. “Am I better at conventional forces than magical foes, Kulara?”
“Idol of my life,” she said, “Honor speaks for most of us. You are thinking like the General. Rely on the strength of an army’s arm. It is the Ferezan way, is it not? We will have to fight powerful magic with powerful magic, where the force of arms will do us little good.” She looked around at the others. “If Trak is disabled, then we concentrate all of our efforts directly on Riotro. As a group, we must be powerful enough to bring him down.” Her face turned grim.
Trak could see Asem’s mind begin to work. “I hate to withdraw my point, but you have skewered me on it well enough, my love.”
Trak noticed the suppressed smiles. The Warishian had made a good observation, if they fought a conventional foe. He didn’t know how to make the current situation less uncomfortable.
Neel knocked his knuckles on the table. “So how can we improve the communications? Asem has a point, since he is supporting the conventional troops.”
That was better, thought Trak. Let Asem use his battle skills to come up with a strategy he would agree on. Trak looked up at Neel. “Birds?”
“At the mouth of the Halgo, the armies won’t be that far apart. If we distribute more of General Niamo’s birds to the other two commands, we can get communications faster than a flyer,” Ben said. “I agree with Trak.”
Asem nodded his head. “We just need to deliver a cage to Colonel Mirona. The Second Army took along enough to last for, hopefully, the full battle.”
“Then you deliver those, Asem. Leave as soon as we break up tonight and fly over the conventional forces. Right, Trak?” Neel said
“Make sure your shields are strong and you fly high when you are over the rebels. The magicians were traveling on the east side of the river. If they are still there, stay away from them. The spell that brings flyers down loses its power over distance. If you feel the flyer dipping, then reinforce the shield, increase your wind speed, and head away.”
Asem smiled. “Just like you wrote in your plans?”
Trak’s face grew hot for stating the obvious. “Right. It’s worked for us multiple times.” He stood and wiped his hands. “Time for you to go, then.”
All of them helped load up the flyers with the large rocks that Misson had delivered. Honor and Rasia ran off and returned with provisions. Asem took off as soon as they returned with sacks of food. The crate of birds arrived with some soldiers, as well as messages for the Colonel from General Niamo. Trak watched them disappear into the new dawn.
“Neel and Valanna, are you ready to fly?” Trak said.
Neel furrowed his brow. “Is this a new wrinkle in your plans?”
Misson stood with them. “A contingency?”
Trak watched over their preparations with a wry smile on his face. “Just until they pass the magicians,” Trak said. “They are, magically, our weakest team. The General needs them more than we do, so I want to make sure they are available for tomorrow’s battle.”
Trak urged Neel and Valanna to board her flyer. Trak took them high into the air, and Valanna began to propel them towards Asem’s flyer.
They traveled as the sky began to lighten, and far ahead Trak saw the morning sun light up Asem’s flyer, now just a speck in the distance. Soon, the wagons of the enemy began to appear, stringing out below them.
“Should we give them presents from above?” Neel said, grinning.
Trak took them lower, and while Valanna matched the much slower speed of the column, Trak and Neel began to toss rocks off of the flyer. Some of the rocks hit the wagons, but most of them hit the soft ground, sending up a
plume of dirt into the air.
“I have another idea,” Trak said.
Neel laughed. “Why did you draw up those plans if you’re going to ignore them?”
“They gave me some ideas. I don’t like it, but we need to do more damage.” Trak said. “Let’s catch up to Asem and use a strategy that I thought of when fighting the Kandannans.”
Valanna moved the flyer so quickly that Neel and Trak had to hold on. Soon Asem’s flyer slowed up as he stopped moving over the army, and the two flyers floated in the sky next to each other.
“Rocks hit this softer river valley soil and don’t break up as much as they did when we fought the Kandannans. This time I will explode the rocks as they descend. I can’t do it from our flyer very well, since after they drop I don’t think I’ll have time to aim at them.”
“Aim?” Asem said. “You’re going to explode the rocks before they hit?”
“I did that with the bigger rocks we used to fight Kandannans. These are smaller rocks, but there will be a larger effective diameter if we can blast them from up high. Less damage, but more of it. I think that it might be more effective than what we are doing now.” Trak said.
Asem shrugged his shoulders, but at least Ben looked excited. “It’s worth a try, and if it doesn’t work, then we can move forward. Why are you following us anyway?”
“I want to make sure Riotro doesn’t stop your mission to the Colonel,” Trak said.
“You don’t have to travel much more until you can head east. At least let’s give this a try over the supply wagons,” Neel said.
Asem looked over at Neel, Trak, and Valanna. “You let us know when you are done, so you can get back to your other team and load up with more rocks.” He finally nodded to Trak. “Keep thinking, boy. This war isn’t over yet.” Asem said something to Ben and they circled back over the wagons that had begun to disperse, slowing up the back of the rebel army even more.
Trak drew his sword and leaned against the railing, waiting for the first rock to be dropped. Sirul seemed to have the honor. He dropped a big one. Trak didn’t let it get too far before he used the force spell that had shattered rocks in the pass. He sighed when he missed and the rock fell to the earth, missing a wagon. He waved his hand for another rock.