“Jayden, I don’t think we know any of the same songs. Think you can keep up?” Gallian asked joyfully.
“We march to the beat of ba … attle,” Gallian sang as he picked up his sword and shield and slapped them together three times. After repeating the same verse and then hitting his shield with his sword, the others started to join in.
We march to the beat of ba … attle.
We dance to the sound of ba … attle.
We cry to the sound of ba … attle.
Thad soon found himself singing and clapping along to the sound. It started to pick up as other voices joined in, but even then, Gallian’s deep baritone could easily be heard. Within moments, Thad had forgotten the worries of the coming battle and instead had them replaced with feelings of courage and pride as the sound of the singing reverberated through him.
As the song came to an end, Thad noticed that more than the men from his own camp had come to sing along. The cheers that rose up from the gathered crowd asking for more were deafening, but Thad couldn’t help but add in his own as well. Gallian and Jayden bowed and started on another tune. Where the last song had been fast and intoxicating, this one was slow and pulled at Thad’s heart.
As Thad lay down that night, he still found himself humming along to the lively song that had been played earlier. He didn’t know all the words, but the tune was simple enough that even he could carry it without too much fuss.
The shouts of soldiers enjoying themselves were soon replaced the next morning as they prepared to march to battle. Some of the men could still be heard singing, but it had a much more somber feeling to it than it had the night before.
Thad always hated the waiting for the battle to start, but today, Rane didn’t seem keen on prolonging things. Almost as soon as both armies were fielded, Rane started its march. Just as Killian had thought, the cavalry were all located on the edges of the formation. Thad could do little about the ones on the other end of the field. He would have to trust Reeve and his men to take care of those, but he could try his best to stop the ones in front of him. Rane had two thousand cavalry against his six hundred men. To most people, it would have looked like bad odds, but Thad had been training his men just for this fight for days. It still wasn’t the best situation he could ask for, but he was sure that he could do his part in the battle.
Just as was planned, Thad used his magic to place stone pillars anytime the cavalry tried to move too far away from the army. Once they knew they had to ride through Thad’s meager force to get behind the best of the army, they dug in their heels and charged at full speed.
Thad’s unit waited until the horsemen were almost upon them before each one of them dropped to their knees and pulled up large lances that were easily ten feet long. The horsemen, caught unaware, drove headlong into the long poles, snapping timber under the horse’s weight.
The long poles had done their job taking out a large number of the horsemen and scaring the ones left. Thad’s men wasted no time, though, and continued their offensive. It was a simple tactic. Thad would use his magic to unhorse any man he could find. His men would claim the free horses and fight from them.
His men worked efficiently, but they were still vastly outnumbered, and the Rane horsemen had recuperated from the sneak attack much faster than anticipated. Before even a tenth of his men had horses, they were already being pushed back. They fought hard, and for every man that fell, they took at least one with them, but those were odds that didn’t favor them.
Soon, Thad and less than half his men were being herded together as the horsemen rode around them in an ever-tightening circle. Thad tried to use his magic, striking out at whatever presented itself, but it didn’t seem to affect the well-trained troops.
Thad saw Jayden break from the group and grab one of the passing horsemen and throw him from the horse as if he weighed no more than a child. As the man continued his assault, Thad started to see hair sprout from his skin, and soon, where Jayden had stood now was a mountain lion the size of a bear. So shocked was Thad by the sudden transformation he forgot his surroundings and was nearly taken down by one of the horsemen’s lances.
Jayden continued his rampage, gaining the attention of almost every cavalryman. Seeing a break in their ranks, Thad ordered his men to fight for their lives, and that was what they did. Instead of heading toward the breach and safety behind them, the men ran to Jayden’s aid.
Avalanche was the first to reach Jayden’s side, jumping up and dragging one of the horsemen to the ground. As he rushed ahead, Thad caught a glimpse of Arianna doing her own part as she flew above the heads of the riders, using her magic to blind and confuse them. Thad tried to build up his own magic, but the second it began to feel him small multicolored dots formed in his vision, and he was forced to let it go.
Unable to use his magic, Thad used what tools were left to him, his staff and sword. Tired and ragged, Thad fought on with what little strength he had left. The men sitting too high for an easy reach of his sword, Thad focused on the legs of the animals. He felt bad about harming an animal whose only sin was to carry its rider, but he had little choice if he wished to survive. After he had downed his second man, Thad heard a loud horn sound in the distance, and what was left of the riders who were able retreated in great haste.
With the battlefield cleared of enemies, Thad was left to survey the battlefield. The whole of the Rane army had begun to pull back. The ground for as far as he could see was littered with the dead and dying. Focusing on his own men, Thad searched the bodies to see if any yet lived. Until he came across Tuck, who lay writhing on the ground, his leg mangled badly from where he had been trampled by one of the horsemen. Thad helped his young friend to his feet.
After getting the wounded onto the backs of what horses remained behind, less than fifty of his soldiers remained without one grievous wound or another. They had forced the Rane army back, but the cost had been high. How long would they wait before they attacked again? Thad asked himself as he made his way toward where the rest of the army was regrouping.
Directly after reaching the camp, Thad headed for the command tent. Inside, Thad found the generals within the tent, most of whom carried one wound or another. “Lad, good ta see that ya made it through that mess,” Crusher said shortly after Thad entered the tent.
“You as well,” Thad replied automatically, grabbing his friend’s offered hand. “How did we fare?” Thad asked, turning to where Killian and Bache stood hunched over the map.
“Not bad, but not good either,” Killian said, never looking up from the map. “We have lost over half our force tonight, but they fought and died well.”
“Half,” Thad said to himself. Half of their force gone in the course of one battle. How many more would die in the next? Would there even be one left standing after the next battle?
“Sir, they have raised the flag,” a young man reported after running into the tent.
“Good, have the men that are able head to the field and help build the pyre,” Bache ordered.
“Won’t the Rane soldiers simply kill any of our men who wander too close?” Thad asked.
“Rane has flown the banner of temporary truce so that we may clear the battlefield of the dead. I do not even think the Brotherhood would dare to break the rules of the truce, or the majority of their army would leave them. As of tonight, we have a day’s reprieve from battle to mourn and honor the dead.”
“I think I will help clear the dead,” Thad replied before leaving the tent. Grabbing one of the horses, Thad headed back toward the battlefield along with close to a thousand other men.
Thad chose to help clear the woods for lumber for the pyre as others gathered the bodies that lay strewn across the battlefield. Working beside him were two Rane soldiers who looked as weary as he.
The manual labor of striking the trees over and over to fell them made Thad forget about the bloody battle that had taken place less than an hour before. “I saw you before. You’re that fellow that dropped t
he ball of lighting on the captain,” the younger of the two soldiers said. “How did you do that?”
“Magic,” Thad replied, swinging his axe hard into the tree in front of him.
“Magic ain’t real,” the young soldier replied, laughing. “Captain said it was a trick of some sort.”
“If you don’t believe in magic after everything we’ve seen during this cursed war, then you ain’t got the sense the gods gave any boy,” the older soldier said.
“Then I wish we had a few mages on our end of the field,” the boy quipped back as he swung his hammer to drive in the wedge to split one of the fallen trees.
“If you did, they wouldn’t survive the night,” Thad said angrily.
“Why, would your little assassins get to ’em?” the soldier retorted, stopping in midswing and turning toward Thad, giving him a scathing glare. “A kid I grew up with was one of the victims of y’all’s nighttime visits. Didn’t even want to come to this war, and your boys gave him a smile ear to ear when he was on watch.”
“Give it a rest, lad,” the older soldier said, grabbing the younger one by the collar. “It’s war. People are going to die.”
The young soldier broke away from the older man’s grasp and rushed up to Thad, stopping his face only inches away from his. “I should give you a smile and add your body to the pile for burning.”
Thad shook his head and tapped the soldier lightly on the side, sending a small jolt of magic into him. As the soldier fell to the ground, the older man grabbed for his sword, and Thad quickly threw up his hands. “He is only sleeping,” Thad said, taking a step back. “Check for yourself. I figured there had been enough bloodshed today, and it was the only way I could think to keep from adding more.”
The older soldier walked over to the man lying on the ground and placed his ear against his chest. After a few moments, he stood and gave Thad a smile and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, at least I won’t have to hear any more of his whining tonight, though it will make splitting the wood a little harder on my own.”
The rest of the night passed peacefully. Thad found the old soldier a good man who didn’t even show a hint as to the real reason behind the war nor did he seem to care. His king had called him to fight, and like a good man, he had heeded the call. As he worked, Thad wondered how many more of the Rane soldiers only fought on the orders of their king instead of personal conviction. For that matter, how many of his own soldiers fought for the same reason?
After enough logs were cut and stacked, the bodies of the dead were piled high upon the pyre. It didn’t matter what uniform they wore or what race they belonged to. In death, they were all given the same treatment. Once their work was done, all that was left was to light the pyre, but with mostly green, that was starting to pose a problem.
After over an hour of waiting, Thad added his own help, using his magic to help the fire take root. He didn’t have enough strength left to force the whole of the large pyre to take to the fire, but he was able to get most of it started, and the rest quickly followed on its own accord.
As the fire burned, the soldiers of both Rane and Farlan gathered around and started telling stories of those that had died during the battle. For one brief moment, it didn’t seem to matter where you were from or who you fought for. As Thad watched, he once again wondered why men felt the need for war. Why not simply let those who wished to live do so?
CHAPTER XX
Five more days of intense days followed the first with a break in between each for the burning of the dead. Thanks to Reeve’s night work of destroying the army’s supplies, the Rane army no longer had arrows to rain down on them, but that didn’t seem to slow the slaughter.
With the exception of the first battle, it had been Farlan that had been forced to retreat. Battle after battle, their numbers had dwindled to less than four thousand troops, and now they had even been pushed back to the very walls of the Farlan capital. It had been a dreary march, and the sight of their beloved city didn’t seem to help morale. Thad could understand. Seeing the place, even in all its glory, did little to dispel the knowledge that they had no place left to fall back to. If they lost the next battle, the war was lost.
Thad along with what was left of the other generals gathered in a small hut that had once been used as a checkpoint for merchants to discuss their next and most likely last battle. Ironleg, the dwarven general, had fallen the day before, and Crusher had taken his place. Parson, much to Thad’s dismay, had also fallen in battle, leaving a young elfin woman named Sharlee in change. So many had died, and more than a few of them Thad had known personally.
“We will have ta use the city walls. They won’t offer much protection, but it’s better than nothing. The few moments it will take for ’em to be brought down are that many more of tha Rane bastards we can kill,” Crusher said adamantly.
Using the city was the last thing Thad wanted to do. The citizens had no place to go, and there was a large chance that they would be drug into the battle once the walls were breached. Thad tried to explain this, but even Bache argued that the city would have to be used. “If we lose this war, then it won’t matter if the citizens are drug into the battle or not.”
Seeing that everyone but him was for the use of the city, Thad relented, but the decision weighed heavily on his mind. “The queen is approaching!” one of the young scouts suddenly yelled through the door.
Thad knew that the queen wouldn’t be able to keep her nose out of the war once it had reached her own door, but he had hoped that she wouldn’t have come to visit them directly. There was always the chance that a Rane assassin might be looking for her, though Thad doubted any of them would be skilled enough to get through Reeve and his men.
When the queen entered the small hut, everyone hit their knees with the exception of Crusher, who gave the young queen a wink. “Ah, yer looking good today, lass. Did ya happen ta bring me a cask of ale ta lift me sprits?”
Instead of reprimanding the dwarf, Maria gave a light laugh. “I left the ale back at the palace, but you are more than welcome to pay me a visit if you wish for some,” she replied, giving the dwarf a kiss on the cheek.
Maria no longer wore one of her many gowns but the set of armor Thad had often seen in his dreams. Buckled to her side was a thin short sword with an elegantly crafted hilt. “No reason to stand on ceremony, everyone. I am sure you are tired enough, and having to bow down to me must not be making things easier,” she said, offering her arm to Killian, who looked to be the oldest soldier in the room.
The old warmaster gave the queen an odd look, then took the offered arm. “You look to be ready for a war.”
“That I am,” Maria replied, giving Thad a sly wink. “It is no longer the time for me to hide within my palace walls. If Rane wishes to take my country from me, then they will have to face me for it and not just my soldiers.”
“Now that is a queen,” Thad heard Reeve say admiringly.
“We were just discussing if we should use the city and her walls during the next battle,” Killian informed the petite queen.
“If it will give us even the smallest chance of winning this war, then, by all means, use the city. Give every woman, man, and child a sword. I would rather see my city burned beneath my feet than hand it over to my enemies.”
“Well, that settles that matter. Shall we all adjourn to the palace, where I am sure that the queen has far better fare than we have seen in a long time, and I, for one, am famished,” Killian said, smiling for the first time in weeks.
“Shouldn’t we stay with the army in the event of an attack?” Thad asked, hoping for any excuse to stay away from the palace.
“The city is not so large that we could not reach the walls before an attack could be launched. Not to mention Rane knows this will have to be our last stand. They will want to be prepared, and that means more siege weapons,” Killian replied, walking toward the door. “Even if most of them fail to work thanks to Reeve,” the warmaster added, almost as an afterthought.
“Thad, come along. We have a lot to discuss as well,” Maria said, giving Thad a look that sent shivers down his pine.
“Might as well give up, lad,” Crusher said, patting Thad hard on the back. “I think that be one war ya be bound to lose no matter how hard you struggle,” the dwarf added, laughing.
Shortly after arriving at the palace, the queen sent out an order that all residents living within five hundred yards of the city walls to leave their houses. She had also ordered that all inns and homes to make room for those who had been displaced. It was a good move. Not only did it move most of the people out of harm’s way, but the soldiers could stay in the abandoned houses. Maybe a few days with a roof over their head might help with the soldiers’ morale.
After finishing up her business, the queen showed all of them to the large dining room, where a large banquet had been prepared. Thad hated to admit it, but seeing the large amount of food before him was more welcome than even the aid of an additional army at the moment. It had been days since the army had more to eat than beans and hard biscuits.
As was customary, the queen sat at the head of the table. Thad tried to take a place farther down beside Killian, but Maria would have none of it and ordered him to sit at her right side. Thad new the importance of the seat as it was normally held for the queen’s advisors or lover. Thad tried to argue with her, but when she hinted that he would either sit there or simply watch the others eat, he quickly gave in.
As they ate, the queen bombarded the small group of soldiers with questions. Most of them were about the war and their view on the coming battle, but every now and then, she would sneak in a question about Thad and his activities during the previous battles. When she had heard that he had often taken the lead in assaults, the look on her face clearly showed her displeasure. Thad had been sure to leave off most of the details in his reports, only sticking to the bare facts and not the details that he knew she would sure to be displeased with.
Master Mage Page 18