More depressing than the empty stretches and fallow fields, however, were the occasional blackened stretches of earth, or burned ruins of a building. Stark reminders of why so many of the locals had long since fled.
I had seen enough maps to know that the coastal cliffs protected the eastern border of Ardann from invasion by sea, and the southern forests that stretched across a large part of our border with Kallorway grew too thickly for any significant troop movement. But that still left a long section in the middle of the kingdom where only the Abneris River—our western border—stood between us and our enemies.
Smaller fortifications existed along the border, but our goal now was the fortress town of Bronton, set a short way back from the river. And when we approached it, I observed for myself why so much of the fighting centered on this one small section of the border.
Once again our procession slowed, passing through a second artificial bottleneck. This one was created by a wide stretch of jagged rocks that pressed against the road on both sides, too large and sharp to permit either horses or vehicles to cross.
I stared in fascination at the unnatural looking phenomenon.
“Twenty-five years those rocks have been there,” said Clarence, reciting the facts in the same voice he had used earlier. “Colloquially known by members of the Armed Forces as the Wall. It took a team of a hundred creator mages to set it into place, and every mage officer of the Armed Forces since has added compositions to its layers of protection. The whole length of it is a death trap, and the only safe passage to and from the border is the West Road.”
None of us replied to his unnecessary history lesson. We had all learned the same thing in our armed forces discipline studies. But somehow seeing the reality was altogether different from reading about it in a book.
“Do you feel safer, seeing it in person?” Saffron asked the quiet carriage.
I bit my lip as we left the rocks behind us. “I did when we were on the other side of it.”
The barrier was necessary, I could understand that. It was the only reason the rest of the kingdom could function almost normally despite the protracted conflict. Its protection allowed us to secure the border with a far smaller force than would otherwise have been necessary. But it didn’t escape me now that the same bottleneck would hamper any evacuation, if it ever came to such an eventuality.
I had grown up with an awareness of the human cost of this war, but I had never experienced the destruction it had also wrought on our physical land. If King Osborne ever broke through the Wall and brought Ardann to its knees, what would be left for him to claim? What good was the ancient birthright he claimed gave him overlordship of both kingdoms if his prize was a dangerous ruin?
I ground my teeth. Osborne’s greed had already consumed too much of Ardann. Had it not done the same in Kallorway? When would the madness end? When would his own people say enough, if he would not do so himself?
The possibility brought me no comfort. Kallorway had continued to harry us for thirty years with occasional major incursions. I had no reason to believe our western neighbors were likely to see reason any time soon.
Bronton came into view long before we reached it, the ground in every direction around the border town cleared for miles. High, sturdy walls surrounded the buildings, blocking them completely from view. Instead my attention was caught and held by a tent city that surrounded Bronton to the north and west.
Canvas walls and flags filled my vision, and the sound of barked orders, shouts, marching boots, protesting livestock, and clanging metal nearly drowned out the background roar of the river. The smell of too many people and animals living in close proximity hit us as we approached closer and set everyone in the carriage coughing.
“They say you get used to it,” said Coralie weakly, but no one looked impressed at the idea.
I risked leaning my head slightly out of the carriage window to see Colonel Jennica at the head of the columns directing the soldiers behind her on where to disperse. The wagons also trundled away from our procession into various parts of the huge camp city. The carriages, however, along with Jennica herself, proceeded into Bronton.
The town’s western-facing gates stood wide, although as we passed through them, I noted they were thick and built of solid wood treated in a special flame-resistant pulp. No doubt they were soaked in invisible protective compositions as well. The entire town certainly pulsed with a stronger sensation of power than even Corrin.
A number of the intelligencer compositions we had studied in discipline studies began to make more sense. I had always wondered why the Kallorwegian mages didn’t sense the power involved in their use. But if their border towns were soaked in as much power as Bronton, almost any working could be conducted undetected.
An uncomfortable sensation wiggled down my spine. Yet another reminder that for all its protections, the front was not a safe place to be.
The town itself was an ordered grouping of low stone houses. Two considerably larger houses of red sandstone had apparently once belonged to branches of the Ellington and Stantorn families, but the original owners had long since relocated elsewhere. Instead the Armed Forces used them as headquarters and lodging for senior officers, with a steady stream of local townsfolk and soldiers coming in and out.
General Griffith emerged just as we rode up to the front of the larger of the two buildings. He greeted Colonel Jennica, Lorcan, Beatrice, and Lucas, ignoring the rest of us. Except for me. Several times I caught his eyes straying in my direction despite my attempts to bury myself in the midst of the cluster of trainees.
But thankfully he didn’t call me out to join the group of senior mages, and he made no attempt to issue me any orders. We could hear enough of their conversation to learn that there was no room for us in the town itself. While the prince, Lorcan, and Beatrice could be accommodated in the mansion being used for the general’s quarters, the rest of us would be housed out in the tent city.
Only Beatrice took him up on the offer, Reese also being offered a place once Lorcan and Lucas had turned the general down, asserting their intention to remain with the rest of us from the Academy. I couldn’t help a feeling of relief. I didn’t like the idea of Lucas separated and alone, although logically it made sense that he would be safer behind Bronton’s walls.
And with Lorcan it was a purely selfish sensation. I wanted to shelter behind his presence before I was consumed by the enormous and ravening beast that was the war effort.
Back outside the town walls, several soldiers appeared with orders to show us to our assigned tents. The girls were to share one tent, the boys another, with the exception of Lucas who had his own tent along with his squad of the royal guard.
I expected a protest from Natalya and Lavinia at being forced to share, but neither of them said a word. When Coralie caught me eyeing them both suspiciously, she leaned over to whisper to me.
“They may not like us, but in some ways they’re not so different from us.”
I gave her an incredulous look.
“They’re scared,” she said. “And they like being alive just as much as the next person. More, probably.” She snorted.
When I still looked unconvinced, she shook her head at me.
“They might not have ever thanked you, but I guarantee you they haven’t forgotten you protected us all back at the Academy. No one can react to an unexpected crisis as quickly as you can. You just became everybody’s favorite bunk mate.”
“No pressure.” A sick feeling settled in my stomach like it had no intention of leaving any time soon.
But perhaps she was right about the reason for their silence over our sleeping arrangements. They certainly seemed to feel no such reticence when they discovered we were to eat in the mess tent along with the regular soldiers. Apparently the Devoras and Stantorn trainees had finally become accustomed to my proximity. Commonborn soldiers, on the other hand? The general’s children didn’t expect to find themselves eating shoulder to shoulder with the common
rabble.
“This is life at the front, children,” said a commanding voice from behind where our group stood huddled together, just inside the enormous tent used as the mess hall. The words broke through Natalya’s torrent of complaint.
She spun around, an icy look aimed at whoever had dared to interrupt her, but the expression disappeared and she made no retort when she saw the identity of the speaker. Colonel Jennica.
“She’s about as senior as they come among the Stantorns,” Coralie whispered in my ear. “With the exception of Duke Casimir and General Thaddeus.”
“Even your father eats here when he’s not up at headquarters,” the colonel continued, directing her words at Natalya. “We don’t have the resources to be wasting time and energy carting food to individual tents. You’ll learn that soon enough.”
She eyed us all, the faint traces of a smile curving her lips. “And I warrant you’ll see the value of eating the food where it’s hot once you’ve been on your first winter patrol.”
“Evening, Jennica,” said Lorcan who had approached during the colonel’s comments. “Naturally we will eat here, as is your way.” He eyed the Stantorn. “But please don’t forget these are Academy trainees and not new recruits. They will not be doing patrol duty.”
The slightest rise in her eyebrows suggested surprise, and the sick feeling in my stomach renewed its churning. At the Academy Lorcan had seemed a solid rock, able to shield and protect us all. But we were on the general’s turf now, and it didn’t give me a good feeling that the second highest ranking officer at the front seemed to have the impression we were here to do more than observe.
I stumbled blearily into line for breakfast the next morning desperate to get some food into my still-unsettled stomach. I hadn’t slept well, and from the rustling blankets around me all night, I hadn’t been the only one.
With a full tray, I turned to find a spot to sit. Everywhere I looked was a seething mass of gray with only the occasional flash of silver robes. Was I supposed to find the other trainees? Or Lorcan? I looked around for white robes but couldn’t see any in the press of people.
“What are Academy trainees doing here?”
Several other voices quickly shushed the curious soldier.
“Wait a minute…” said the first voice. “I recognize her!”
I gave up pretending I wasn’t listening to their conversation and swung around. Her voice did sound vaguely familiar. Perhaps it was someone from Kingslee.
“Elena?”
My eyes latched onto a face that looked far too young to be wearing a soldier’s uniform. Her startled expression gave way to a friendly smile when our eyes met.
“Over here!” She gestured for me to join them with one hand, while with the other, she shoved the young soldier beside her. With a grumble, he shuffled down the long bench, making room next to the girl.
I walked over, hesitating before sitting down.
“Leila?”
“Yes, it’s me. Do sit. Your porridge will get cold, and it’s not the most edible stuff to begin with.” Her nose wrinkled.
“I thought you were posted to the training barracks in Corrin?” I climbed over the seat and sat down.
“That was last year. This is this year,” said an unimpressed young man on the other side of the table who also looked familiar.
I tried to remember his name. John? Jack? Jason. It had been Jason. The boy from the front desk when I arrived to enlist.
“Never mind us,” said Leila, still examining me with wide eyes. “There’s nothing astonishing about us being here. But you…” She shook her head. “I don’t know where to start!”
“Not Elena as in Elena of Kingslee?” A soldier I hadn’t seen before leaned around Jason to get a better look at me. “The Spoken Mage?”
“Um, yes. That’s me.”
He stared at me in awe, and I quickly spooned in a mouthful of lukewarm porridge.
“She enlisted, you know,” said Leila. “And I was her mentor.” She winked at me, and I grinned weakly back.
Another young man pushed in to sit beside Jason, grinning at Leila before his gaze moved on to me. For a moment he focused on my white robe before he latched onto my face, his eyes widening. This face I recognized.
“Tobias, right?” I asked, my voice flat.
“Uh…” He glanced down the table. “I didn’t know who you were. None of us did. I—”
“Oh, stow it, Tobias,” said Leila. “That doesn’t make it all right, and you know it.”
She grinned at the other soldiers. “Tobe here tried the moves on Elena when she arrived, and she showed him his place quick as anything. Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” She turned to me. “But I’ll admit, he wasn’t the only one who had no idea who was gracing our humble barracks. I wish you’d told me.” Her face dropped into a slight frown. “I just about had a heart attack when old silver robe came to collect you that day.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t expecting that. I guess…I guess I just didn’t know what to say.”
Jason quirked an eyebrow at me across the table. “Next time feel free to start with, ‘I’m actually a mage.’”
“Not that you had to tell us anything, really. I mean it’s none of our business.” Leila glared at Jason as if he had been the one to bring up my previous reticence.
“Elena?” Coralie sounded at least half asleep.
I turned and grimaced apologetically at the soldier beside me, and with a sigh, he shuffled even further down, creating space for my friend. She barely managed to make it over the seat without tripping and landing with her face in her bowl, and as soon as she was seated, she began to inhale her food.
“Whoa, slow down there,” I said.
She groaned. “I had the worst sleep. Those cots are—”
“The worst, right?” Leila interjected. “But you get used to them. Everyone does eventually. Or just gets too tired to notice.”
Coralie blinked and looked around at our table mates as if only noticing them for the first time.
“Uh, hi. I’m Coralie.”
“I’m Leila. And that’s Jason.” She proceeded to name everyone else around us, although most of the names went in one of my ears and out the other. “And next to you is Matthis.”
While I had been distracted, the young soldier beside us had left, revealing a mage at least two decades our senior.
“He’s a captain and a very important person,” Leila continued, “but don’t expect to get anything out of him until he’s finished his breakfast. He doesn’t do mornings.”
Coralie peered at the man sitting next to her. “Wait, Matthis? As in, of Callinos?”
He grunted and nodded but didn’t take his attention away from his food.
“I told you, he doesn’t do pre-breakfast. Nothing but a full-scale attack could rouse him, I swear.” Leila seemed to find it amusing and showed no discomfort at sitting beside a senior mage officer.
“He was one of my mother’s year mates,” said Coralie. “I’m pretty sure we’ve met several times.”
“Well, if you run into him in the afternoon, I dare say he’ll recognize you,” said Leila. “He’s particularly bad this morning because he was out on patrol half the night.”
“Do you know everything that goes on in camp, Leila?” asked Jason, shaking his head.
“Of course not, there are thousands of troops here.” She grinned. “But I like to know as much as I can.”
Turning to us, she added, “It helps that I had that year at the training barracks. A lot of recruits came through, and even officers. Like Matthis, for example. He was in and out all the time. So when I arrived here, I already knew a few helpful tidbits.” She winked at us. “Like that I don’t have to worry about formality with him until at least an hour after he’s consumed his morning meal.”
“The training barracks?” Coralie looked between Leila and me. “So is that how you know each other? You’re the girl from the barracks?”
“The girl from the ba
rracks?” Leila crowed triumphantly. “Did you hear that boys? The Spoken Mage told her friends about me.”
“Spoken Mage?” Matthis frowned at me around Coralie. “You’re the Spoken Mage?” His eyes narrowed as he examined Coralie and me as if seeing us for the first time.
“Trainees.” He made a disgusted face, picked up his half-eaten breakfast, and left the table.
Coralie and I blinked at each other in astonishment.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s probably just sour because he found out last night that he’s being assigned to babysit one of your teams,” said Leila.
“One of our teams?”
“Elena? Coralie?” Finnian stopped behind us, directing a nod at the soldiers sitting with us. “Apparently we’re all wanted at the command tent.”
The large square command tent was the hub of the entire camp. General Griffith’s personal flag flew from it, despite his spending most of his time in the main headquarters in Bronton. But the officers who spent their days in this tent ensured that his orders were carried out regardless of his physical presence.
On first arrival, the sprawling mass of tents had overwhelmed me with chaos. But walking among them, I could see the organization that underlay the busy hubbub. Everyone moved with purpose, and the neat rows made it easy to identify the various sections.
The smell and sound of the livestock might permeate the entire area, but the animals themselves were confined to the support and supply quadrant. And silver stars marked the mages’ tents, the same symbol that had identified the officers’ rooms back at the training barracks.
When we arrived at the command tent with Finnian, we found two royal guards stationed outside the entrance. One at least of our year mates had arrived, then. But when we entered, we discovered all nine of them had beaten us there and now stood clumped to one side. Officers came and went around them, some giving them curious glances, others resentful ones.
Voice of Dominion (The Spoken Mage Book 3) Page 11