In between other duties, Nolan snagged them whenever possible and schooled them on running a country. Fortunately Nolan was a kind teacher. Ruthless about homework, though. Becca learned more about governing a country in two weeks than she ever had reading history books at Strae.
At the end of those two weeks, they realized that the city had settled tentatively into a rhythm with their new leaders. The whole of Trexler was still feeling the aftershocks of being conquered, certainly, but no one seemed to mind it much. Between their dragon watchdogs and the new officials running day-to-day matters, they felt like it was time to move onward.
Which brought about the question of their northern neighbor, Riyu.
Becca called for a strategy session with Danyal, Trev’nor, and Nolan in the newly renovated office. Well, she said renovated, but all they had done was take out the gaudy art and furniture and replace it with more sensible choices. Becca was glad to have an office she could work in without feeling blinded by it. She settled at the head of the table, and waited as the men joined her. “Well. Let’s start off with problems. Commander Danyal?”
“We are experiencing problems, mostly from people entrenched in the old ways that don’t want to change,” Danyal started off neutrally. “However, these are minor complaints and easily dealt with. We have more issues with too many officials learning their jobs all at the same time. It’s causing gaps and inter-office conflict.”
That didn’t sound good. “Anything major?”
“No, it’s very minor. Anything major and you would already be feeling the effects of it.”
Point taken. “Anything else?”
“Sagar seems to be struggling with the new rule more than Trexler,” Trev’nor informed her, “but when I visited there yesterday they were making good strides in the right direction. I mean, people were happily melting down slave chains and selling the ore. I think Sagar was worse off than Tiergan because it’s closer to Riyu’s borders. It wasn’t as protected as Tiergan. If we can prove to them that we’ll protect them from Riyu, we’ll have their full support.”
“That’s what we’ll do, then. Nolan, I assume our dragon watchers in Sagar are doing fine?”
“They are. In fact, they’re quite happy, as they have all of that yummy fish in the sea at their disposal.” The way Nolan said this indicated he had heard All About The Fish, in more detail than he probably cared for.
“So, anything major enough to detain us from moving on to Riyu?” she looked around the table expectantly.
“Not that I know of,” Trev’nor denied, “But how did you end up running this meeting?”
“You want to take over?” she offered, perfectly willing to let him lead.
“No, no, you’re doing splendidly,” he assured her in grand, rolling tones. “Carry on, fearless leader.”
“Hmmm.” She stared at him suspiciously, not sure if he were up to something or not. “To return to my question, nothing major? No? Then let’s talk about Warlord Riyu. Commander Danyal, what do you know about him?”
“Not a great deal,” Danyal apologized with a slight shrug. “He’s ruthless. Unprincipled. Greedy. Much like our last warlord.”
Nolan rolled his eyes. “Lovely.”
“Warlord Trexler often complained that he was more clever and stealthy than a snake in the grass. I didn’t ever meet the man in the field. Most of my time was spent either defending a city from one of his commanders or training. I will say that fighting against his men never led to a good outcome. Even when we won, we lost.”
Trev’nor tapped the table with a finger. “Explain that.”
“We might win the battle, but usually the body count was so high it felt more like a loss,” Danyal clarified. “It might be different with you mages in the mix. You’re powerful enough to hit him head on, which we were never able to do. You might be able to defeat him swiftly enough that he can’t employ his usual tactics.”
Becca started praying that was the case. “Do you think the same battle tactics that we used to defeat Trexler will work on Riyu?”
“At least with the first battle, yes. It’s an overwhelming amount of firepower after all.”
“Then let’s go with the same tactics.” Becca stood so she could lean over the table and get a better look at the map. “The question is, which place first? We have two within reach of our territory.”
“Alred Watchtower?” Nolan offered. “I think Jashni is too close to Riyu’s capital city.”
“I’m inclined to agree.” Danyal gestured to Jashni as he continued, “We only attacked Jashni once and it went very badly. If you want to see for yourself how this man fights, how he guards his territories, then Alred is a better place to attack first. It’s not as large as the sister-cities and even though it is very well guarded, it will be a better place to try an attack. The con to this decision is that Trexler always attacked Alred. They are always prepared for battle.”
“Not as many men deployed there, but also more on guard than the other cities.” Trev’nor balanced both on open palms, hands dipping and raising like a balancing scale. “Decisions, decisions.”
“I think we should still hit Alred first.” Becca’s mind spun with logistics, battle strategies, and what little she knew of the lay of the land. “It doesn’t really matter if they’re more prepared and on guard than the other cities. After we attack one, they’re all going to be war-ready, if they weren’t already.”
“No such thing as an easy target, eh?” Trev’nor said rhetorically.
“I’m afraid not,” Commander Danyal agreed with what might have been a sigh. “Warlords, Raja, are we set on this course?”
Becca did a visual check with both of her friends, getting nods of agreement. “It seems we are. Then, let’s leave two days from now.”
“That soon?” Danyal objected.
“We don’t need to take a lot of men with us,” Trev’nor explained to him. “The same ones that fought with us before, and the ones that Becca has re-trained will do. We need the rest to stay at their posts here and help maintain the orders we’ve given.”
Danyal looked set to argue this but paused, really studying all three of them for a long moment, then shelved what he was going to say. “Two days, then.”
“That means that, Nolan? You and I need to get out there in the desert and make sure that Trev’nor’s hard work doesn’t go to waste before we leave.”
“You need to do that now,” Trev’nor added firmly. “You leave the soil baking under the suns much longer, I’ll have to go out and re-do everything. And that will not make me happy.”
“Right now,” Nolan promised. “Ah, Becca, you have a storm coming in already, I take it?”
“It’ll arrive sometime tonight. Unless you want me to hurry it along?”
“Just a tad, if you would. It’s best to water seeds as soon as you plant them. Hours of delay doesn’t help things grow.”
She gave him a casual salute. “On it. Well, sounds like we all have our tasks laid out. Meeting dismissed.”
The boys readily stood and left the room, discussing soil and nutrients and planty-things as they went. Commander Danyal stayed her with a hand. “My Warlord. About the uniform you requested made for you.”
Becca paused just out of her seat. Actually, what she had asked for this morning was a uniform that would fit. Uniforms fit males and females equally well, with some adjustments. She knew that by watching Aletha steal things from Shad for years. How this had become a custom-ordered item, she didn’t know. “Yes?”
“The Rikkan and Rikkana have strong opinions about a woman wearing a male uniform,” Danyal informed her blandly.
“They need to get over those opinions,” she riposted, fingers drumming unhappily against her thigh. “The rest of the known world has female soldiers. Khobunter is the startling exception, and I refuse to let it continue.”
“I had a feeling you’d say that, my Warlord. Your uniform will be done by tomorrow, as long as you can do a fitting for it
today.”
A slow grin took over her face. “You didn’t listen to them at all, did you?”
“Warlord Becca is our military leader,” he stated succinctly. “It’s only right for you to be in uniform.”
“I knew there was a reason why I liked you, Commander. Very well, where do I need to go for the fitting?”
“I’ll escort you, my Warlord.”
This was not the first time she had asked such a question and gotten that as an answer. “Commander, I have learned the layout of the city, you know?” More or less. “You can tell me where it is. I’ll be able to find it.”
He gave her that patented ‘she’s being dense but I’ll be patient’ look that people wore a lot around her these days. “Raya. You are now warlord.”
For a split second that statement didn’t make any sense at all. Then it did and she rolled her eyes to the heavens in a silent prayer. “Hence I need a bodyguard or escort wherever I go?”
“It is proper to have one.”
She eyed him, evaluating the expression on his face and trying to judge just how far she could push this. “You’re not budging on this one, are you?”
He gave her a slight smile but didn’t say a word.
So uniforms, yes. Bodyguards, no. Becca decided to pick her battles. “Very well, Commander. Escort me, then.”
“Yes, my Warlord.” Danyal promptly went to the open door and waited for her to join him.
As she passed by him, she observed, “You are a stubborn, stubborn man, Commander Danyal.”
“I have no argument, my Warlord. I will reflect on the shortcoming later.”
Uh-huh. Suuure he would.
Two days might not have been enough time. Trev’nor realized this as he rushed about at an ungodly hour of the morning, taking care of last minute details that shouldn’t have been pushed off to the last minute. But it was too late now, the main preparations were done, and the army formed up and ready to leave.
Half of the holdup was figuring out how to transport the army itself. On the way to Trexler, they had flown the men via dragons, but they now had too many people to make that feasible. On the other hand, Trev’nor could always take them by Earth Path, but that suggestion had gone over like rotten cheese with the dragons. Garth had been fine with him taking the magicians to Q’atal by Earth Path because that had been the best solution. Also the safest as he was going into very peaceful territory. But going north was a different story. When Trev’nor popped up above ground, Garth wanted to be there to make sure that there was no danger there for him to confront.
Krys was right. Having a dragon was pure trouble sometimes.
To answer the demands of the situations and keep the dragons appeased, Trev’nor came up with a middle ground that made everyone but him happy. Instead of going into the earth, he created a large slab for people to sit on. Because it was earth, he could move it above the ground as he wished, transporting as many people as he wanted to. It was more cumbersome than the Earth Path method (although it worked rather the same in principal) and it did nothing to shield people from the suns, but it kept the dragons happy. It made the men happy too as they weren’t really comfortable with magic outside of offensive or defensive spells, and spending hours in the ground had not appealed to them.
“Are we ready?”
Trev’nor started, as he hadn’t realized Nolan was behind him. Turning, he found the other mage hiding a yawn behind his hand. “Mostly, yes. If we can get everyone on my slab, then we’re ready. What’s the holdup, anyway?”
“Commander Danyal.”
There were so many possibilities that Trev’nor had to ask, “What now?”
“He can’t decide if it’s better for him to ride with Becca or to ride on the slab with the men.”
“Someone explain to me why the military, Danyal in particular, is so enamored with Becca?”
“She’s the first military commander they’ve had that shows consistent worry for their wellbeing?”
“And she’s cute.”
“And she’s cute,” Nolan agreed, chuckling. “Men of all ages are weak to cuteness.”
“I think she banks on her cuteness.”
“I’m positive she does. As long as she uses her powers for good and not evil, we’re fine.”
Trev’nor was not as sure about that. “Get the man to make a decision and let’s go.”
“How about I get Becca to make the decision for him? I think that’ll be faster.”
“Whatever works.” Trev’nor shifted from one foot to another impatiently, waiting for Becca to kick the commander his direction. Danyal did so with much muttering under his breath, none of which Trev’nor could understand, nor want to.
Finally, they were able to leave. Trev’nor sat comfortably at the front of his slab, legs crossed, a wide brimmed hat on his head to shield his eyes from the suns. They were well outside of the city—there was of course no room inside the streets for a slab of this size—so it was a simple matter of moving forward.
Garth had scouted out the tower two days before, giving them a bit better of an idea of the terrain, and he acted as the lead now. All of the dragons and people still traveling on the ground followed his lead. In deference to Trev’nor, he flew slower than usual, which the Earth Mage appreciated. Not that he couldn’t go faster, but the men sitting behind him were nervous enough even at this speed. They were going as fast as a trotting horse. Trev’nor didn’t think that particularly fast but apparently it was.
Even at this relatively slow speed of travel, it didn’t take long to reach Alred Watchtower. Trev’nor had passed this way twice before—the Ruins of Rheben sat just north of the place—but they had been underground at the time so he hadn’t seen anything. The watchtower loomed in the distance, like a lighthouse on a desert sea, standing tall against the blue sky. Trev’nor saw it from miles away and he kept his eyes peeled on it, alert for any details as they came in closer.
The watchtower didn’t seem to have much around it. Judging from the size, its population was likely half of Rurick’s. Trev’nor estimated somewhere around twenty-five hundred people lived there. There was a large base wall, and the watchtower stood in the center of it, going up several stories. Trev’nor counted seven, which was an architectural feat considering they were building out of just stone and the adobe mud that was popular here. There was a flat roof on top, a large balcony that wrapped around near the top of it, and hints of several round mirrors that had to be as tall as a man standing. What were those mirrors for?
Almost as if to answer the question, the mirrors were turned and caught the suns, flashing blinding light out in a system of short bursts.
Danyal, sitting directly behind him, swore. “They’ve seen us.”
“Is that what the mirrors are signaling?”
“Yes. This is the reason why it’s so hard to fight the watchtower. They can see our approach from miles away.”
Impossible to sneak up or catch them off-guard, eh? Well, it wasn’t like they had been really counting on that.
Storm clouds rolled in from the west, becoming darker as they came, and the wind picked up. Trev’nor resigned himself to the fact that he was going to get soaking wet soon. Becca’s rainstorms didn’t differentiate between friend and foe. Ah well, it would actually feel like a relief after sitting under the suns all morning.
Several dragons dove for the watchtower, starting the attack. Trev’nor couldn’t join just yet, he had to get the men closer so that he could break the main gates and get the troops inside. Let’s see, the main gate was—
Danyal abruptly stood, almost jarring Trev’nor. “They’re veering off.”
What? Trev’nor’s head snapped up so that he could see for himself what was going on. Every dragon had veered sharply to the right, flying immediately away from the city. What were they doing?
“ABORT, ABORT, ABORT!” Becca’s voice frantically commanded.
Trev’nor stopped the slab immediately, making people jerk forward an
d grumble. He paid them no heed, but snatched the mirror broach from his pocket up to his mouth. “Becca, what is going on?”
“I’ll explain—ground,” she said, the wind snatching away some of her words. “—NOT engage, I—do NOT—”
“We are on standby,” Commander Danyal assured her over Trev’nor’s shoulder.
Trev’nor had a sinking feeling that something had gone very, very wrong. Stomach churning, he stayed standing and waited as everyone landed around the slab. Nolan and Becca both threw themselves out of the saddles, dropping to the ground with less finesse than usual.
“What happened?” he demanded of them both.
“That whoreson has taken the magicians and are using them like a living shield around the watchtower!”
Trev’nor’s eyes fell closed. “Please, please tell me you’re joking.”
“I really wish I was. He has them in cages, and they’re spaced around the top. I think he has archers lined up to shoot them if we go anywhere close.”
“He does,” Nolan confirmed in a snarl. “It’s not just the watchtower, either, I saw similar cages on the far side of the wall. He’s got them set up in two locations.”
Trev’nor flopped down onto the ground, frustrated and disgusted all at once. “Well, we have our answer. The reason why Trexler was always war-ready was because his neighbor is a conniving, base-court, ratsbane. I’ve seen snakes with better morals than him.”
Becca stared back at him with hollow eyes. “The cost is too high to just charge in.”
“He’s far too callous with human life,” Nolan agreed. He was just as angry, but his anger simmered instead of burned, and cold calculation creased his face. That expression scared Trev’nor a little. He had seen it before. What followed hadn’t been good. “Who knows what he’s going to do next? We can’t just sit here, though.”
“No,” Becca growled, “I agree we need to move, and soon, but a frontal assault is clearly out of the question.”
“He’ll just repeat the same tactic,” Trev’nor agreed bitterly, mouth curling up as the words tasted foul. “It’s very effective and we have no way around it, so of course he’ll use it again. He might even kill a few people to make his point and ensure that we don’t try again a third time.” How had he figured out so quickly that people were their weak point? Had stories of them freeing the slaves spread that quickly, that he could guess what would slow them down?
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