“What is your problem then?” General Anton wondered. He knew what he would be looking darkly about under the circumstances and was curious to know if it was the same with Donahue. King Felix’s Captain of the Guards was a closed book to him and he wondered why the man kept to himself the way he did.
“There isn’t a man amongst them that wouldn’t rather slit the throat of anyone he doesn’t know in the party,” Donahue stated. He was certain the two leaders could see what he did and every bit as clearly. There was going to be trouble during this trip and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Both King Felix and General Anton nodded their agreement with Donahue and motioned for him to approach the men as they finished checking things over for what they considered might be the last time. They were ready to leave, so there was no reason anymore to put off the inevitable anymore. Despite this, they got the feeling the men suspected what Donahue feared could be the way of things in the expedition.
King Felix spoke to address them all, “We came to wish you the best of luck, as well as a warning. If there is any unnecessary fighting between you, you will answer to us upon your return.” He knew the men would understand what he was talking about. He didn’t need to spell things out for them.
General Anton backed up what King Felix said, “Shall we just say I would be very disappointed with my men if they can’t hold their tempers during this trip? I want a good report from you when you return. I believe Captain Donahue might want to say a few words to all of you as well. I suggest you listen to him, as he knows the way of things in there.”
Donahue frowned. He didn’t want to do this, never mind feel forced to lay down the law to a bunch of grown men who probably knew the score as much as he did. They had been on this type of assignment before while serving in their chosen profession. They knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
Well, Donahue decided, he might as well get this over with. He spoke to them from the back of his horse. “I am thinking you are all going to start cursing whoever made the decision to bring that damned wagon with us in approximate one-hundred feet from where we are standing. The floor of the forest is best described as rough. We will be hauling it out of ravines and up slopes, as well as over humps and tree roots everywhere. It won’t help that the damn thing weighs a ton and a half.”
There was a sparse degree of laughter about Donahue’s comment, telling everyone they knew Donahue was probably telling things as they were. The two sides exchanged sheepish looks and listened, albeit reluctantly to what else the captain might have to say.
“You are going to need to find a way to get along, whether you want to or not. I daresay you will find this out soon enough. I have packed very few foods or provisions because at this time of the year there will be plenty of food in the forest. We can pull edibles from the plants as we travel and kill for meat. We will need to keep fires going at night, as well as have a watch. The dangers will not come from men, but from the wildlife and elements. There are many predators roaming free and they won’t like us being in their territory. Some animals are not afraid to travel freely in the daylight, those are the ones with little enough reason to fear anything, including us. Then there will be the creatures of the night, stealthy and dangerous. We will need to guard against those as well. In most cases, our fires will hold them at bay. I doubt if many will be hungry enough to search us out for food, but there is always the odd one that might. There is lots of game, so there will be no shortage for either beast or man in those woods.
When Donahue stalled, one of the men asked, “The elements?”
“Considering the lack of rain lately, we will need to exercise extra care with our fires. We wouldn’t want to be caught in that forest if it begins to burn. The trees would go up like tinder, and I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but I know I am as flammable as our surroundings.” Donahue pointed out. Again, he knew these men would be familiar with what he was saying. There probably wasn’t one of them that hadn’t seen a forest go up in flames. It was a fearsome sight, and dangerous to everyone as well as everything in its path.
Donahue seemed to take a short break and then continued, “If it begins to rain, we will have other problems. We are on a mountainside. Most of the uneven ground has been caused by flash floods when the water gushes down from overhead. Then we will have mud and landslides to fight, as well as animals and insects. The moisture will add to the bugs, and unlike the wildlife, they are not afraid of fire. The damned things are attracted to it and we are tasty as far as most of them seem to believe. After living through a Dragon attack, I would hate to be taken down by a platoon of mosquitoes.”
“Sandflies are even worse,” one of the men added.
“Too true,” Donahue agreed and watched as they all chuckled in unison. It was then he decided these men might mesh somewhere down the trail despite his worst fears. It would be them versus the land around them and none were the type to give in easily. They had worked hard to get where they were and would fight to maintain their positions, as well as to what dignity they could hold onto.
“Is there anything you think you should be taking with you, but aren’t?” Lorne asked.
“Plenty, but we have the basics,” General Anton’s chief engineer stated with a sigh. “In a worst case scenario, we will need to knock down trees for materials to use. It is something we may need to do as we move further onto the mountainside anyway, so we can find room to allow the wagon to pass. A wagon or a war machine takes more space than a horse and rider. We need to keep this in mind.”
Which was why they were taking the brutish and cumbersome beast along in the first place. Everyone knew this, and Donahue was getting the impression from the way the men continued to look at it, they hated it every bit as much as he did. They knew trouble when they saw it. This was exactly what it was, albeit on four wheels.
“If I am not mistaken,” Donahue sighed, “We all hate the monstrosity, perhaps even more than we do the Dragons at this moment. We can envision what it is going to be like to pull it out or off of whatever it gets hung up on or stuck in. I would say even the horses would vote to leave it behind. I have news for them, they don’t have any more say in the matter than we do.”
“As for that,” Lorne pointed out, “They don’t like travelling under the rock pile any better. There is nothing good about it. It is damp, dark, and stinks to high heaven from prior trips. If this doesn’t work out, we will be stuck making the trip in that way again.”
The head engineer shook his head and refused, “You won’t catch me dead in that hole in the ground. I hate enclosed places, especially dark ones.”
“What kind of engineer does that make you?” Lorne asked. “I thought people like you worked in mines and other places like that to shore up ceilings and walls all of the time.”
“People like me know how to do those things,” the head engineer corrected. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we go underground. That is for those who don’t mind being there.”
It was at this point when the ice began to break between the two groups. Unfortunately, as far as Lorne figured, it also told General Anton he was taking his own set of specialists along. The two men exchanged glances and grinned.
“I don’t blame you for not trusting me,” General Anton admitted. “I definitely don’t trust you.” He spoke to Lorne while they rode away from the group, where no one could hear them.
“I thought you were being entirely too trusting with me,” Lorne replied. “After all, you offered me your very young daughter.”
“Notice I didn’t say I would be moving away?” General Anton pointed out. “If you hurt one hair on her head, I will slit your throat in the middle of the night. Truth of the matter is, she deserves better. She is just not in a position to remain safe with a man like that for long. Few would have the power to keep her safe, as well as cared for. Here I can count on her getting the benefit of one of the two you would provide.”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t c
are for her?” Lorne asked.
General Anton gave Lorne a disbelieving look and snorted, “I have seen the way you treat women. There are no feelings and no respect involved. You use them and toss them aside. I don’t consider that caring by anyone’s definition.”
Lorne felt the sting of General Anton’s words, especially when he recognized the truth of them. When he thought of his own daughters, he had to admit, he wouldn’t have wanted them to pair up with a man like him. He would have wanted better for them, the General had the right of things there.
With everything settled, Lorne turned to the men and ordered them to mount up. “It is time to go. We have wasted enough of the day. Also, in case anyone is interested, I brought along enough food to last for two days. The rest is up to you to provide.”
It only took a few moments for everyone to take their places and then they pulled out. King Felix and General Anton watched until the men disappeared into the forest, then headed back for the castle.
“You think they will come back with anything accomplished?” King Felix wondered.
“Yes,” General Anton stated. “However, don’t expect the road to be built any time soon. I get the feeling this land isn’t going to like being invaded any more than those living on the other side of these mountains.”
“You could be right,” King Felix conceded.
CHAPTER XXXV
“What are you listening to?” Anders asked Cambria, as he noticed her grow suddenly still.
They had been gathering Sentinels into a massive group to move to the Valley surrounding the City of Torendal all day, and by her estimate, they were getting close enough to their limit to summon Seladair to open another of his massive portals for them to walk their leafy friends through.
Cambria turned her attention from what she was doing to Anders and reported, “The leaves tell me of trespassers on the mountain.”
“I thought that was what they were saying earlier, but I didn’t give it much credence,” Anders admitted. “There have been others on them in the past, hunters looking for food. We have no quarrel with people trying to survive. Besides, we did extensive sweeps of those riding in the past and found no clear passage that anyone could use to travel from the other side.”
“The leaves are warning of trouble for the future,” Cambria refused to brush this matter off in the same way Anders was doing. He wasn’t as good at connecting with the plants as she was. His Tratchar Talent, although it was powerful, tended to lean in a different direction. She had always understood what the plants were trying to tell her in the past, even when no one else could. They had often sung her to sleep when her parents despaired over not being about to. It was one of the connections she shared with her Great-Grandmother Eden. Now they were telling her the men entering the forests of the mountain ridges were doing so for nefarious reasons. They were not necessarily evil, but their intentions didn’t bode well for the Elven Empire.
“So, what are we going to do about it?” Anders asked. He knew Cambria could usually come up with plans at a moment’s notice. He also figured the earlier they did something about the developing problem, the better.
Cambria cocked her head to the side and listened closer. This time it was to something else. There was another Tratchar in the area, one she had never felt before in the Empire, and she was certain she had met them all by now. She was concerned, yet not for some unknown reason. There was something familiar about the song the Elf was singing and she found she could relate to the melody. It soothed her and the trees, and the rustling of the leaves calmed. It was as if what was happening was the will of the Fates. She then knew that when the time for her to act was right, she would know. She also was sure that if the threat got too great, the armies of the Elven Empire would rise to meet the growing menace to their people. For now, all was well with their world.
Cambria reached out to touch the Elven Tratchar she could sense, but she was blocked. This came as a surprise to her. No one had ever been able to stop her from connecting with them before. Why now? She pushed harder and came into contact with the edge of a power with an ancient feel to it. She could only wonder what or who this could be. It held more than Tratchar power in it, she could tell this much. When she pressed harder to gain more access to the entity, she felt a warning. When she persisted, she was struck strongly enough to make her stumble back into Anders, and he caught her.
“What was that?” Anders asked, the moment Cambria seemed to recover.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say it was the equivalent to a slapping down,” Cambria sounded surprised.
“Who would do something like that to you?” Anders wondered.
“I am not sure,” Cambria answered thoughtfully. “The signature felt somewhat familiar, but I swear I have never heard the voice, or felt such a strong mind touch before. Things are definitely getting weird around here.”
“Perhaps we should concentrate on getting the last Sentinels in this group ready to march and forget about the rest for now,” Anders suggested.
Cambria agreed, at least she said she did, but deep inside, she had no intention of letting this go. She subtly reached out once more. This time it was only to stroke the signature of the Tratchar to find out more about her. The message she got was one of warning. It also had the feel of the Great Guardian to it, and she knew there was more to this than she could probably imagine. There was a touch of agelessness to the essence of the Elf she had reached and the power was immense. She could think of no one past or present capable of wielding this type of Talent and still having the strength to back it up with a reprimand while it was being used the way it was. This was definitely something she was going to have to take up with Gabriella to see what she thought.
“You went after her, didn’t you?” Anders accused Cambria of pushing her luck where she shouldn’t instead of concentrating on important matters. He knew she had been warned off and should be keeping her distance. He also was certain enough of this to be sure she wouldn’t be doing it anytime soon again. It just wasn’t like her to pry this way and yet, he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to do exactly this.
“I only wanted to know the name of the Tratchar I felt in the area earlier,” Cambria claimed. “I wasn’t trying to pry.”
“Really, you expect me to believe this story?” Anders tsked.
“You are spending too much time around Gabriella and T’Harris,” Cambria grumbled.
“When?” Anders pointed out the unlikelihood. “Gabriella was missing for nearly a month. We were training on the islands and only returned a short time ago.”
Cambria gave a huff of exasperation and reached out to take control of five Sentinels at one time. She was pouting because she was losing, and it irritated her. This meant she had spare energy to burn off. It wouldn’t take her long to gather the rest of the trees they wanted to put into this group of Sentinels. She would then call in the needed numbers to Tratchars it would take to move them. Before this day was over, there would be over one thousand more Sentinels settled in the lands around the City of Torendal. Somewhere in between tasks, she was going to reach out to Gabriella, to see what her sister could tell her about what was going on.
The moment Lorne and Donahue began to lead their party into the forest on the mountain sides, Gabriella felt the response of the land to the trespass. There had been no great reaction when Donahue had taken hunters into the forest to hunt for food or the other times he had entered the grounds, but this was different. This time it was not for food. They were intending to see what they could do to the land to allow their forces passage. To do so, they would need to make changes to the terrain and remove many of the trees. This would not be a popular move, and she got the definite feeling these men were about to find out the meaning of hostile territory. She gave a malicious grin, as she felt the land reach out to her with thoughts she knew she could help with. It was information she planned to keep to herself, at least for the short term. When the time was right
, she would share it with those that needed to know, but not before. First, she would have a little fun with these Humans. It wouldn’t be for long, perhaps only a few hours or at most a day, but she felt it was time that Cambria and she got out to play for a change of pace. They would be careful, considering their condition and what was going through her mind. It was never a good idea to misuse powers when they were shared with the Mother Earth and she had no intention of abusing her right to do so now.
As she thought about the matter, Gabriella decided who to bring in on her plans. She was certain Cambria would top the list. All she had been doing lately was work and this sort of lifestyle had never set well with her in the past. She would definitely be ready to take a short break by now. Then there was Chasm. The Elemental was feeling deserted lately with her closest friends serving the Empire on the boat taking Sentinels to the Elven Nation by sea. She needed a diversion and would know exactly who else to bring to the party if Cambria didn’t.
As Gabriella prepared to reach out to her sister, Cambria contacted her. “Have you felt the presence of the Humans on the ridge?”
“Yes, and I have been making plans, albeit short and tentative ones,” Gabriella admitted.
“I knew I could count on you,” Cambria chuckled. There was a sparkle to the response she sent. Things had been getting dull lately with the repetitive tasks they were doing. She knew this would only be a slight reprieve, but hey, a change was as good as a rest. “Who do you plan on bringing to the party?”
“Chasm,” Gabriella quickly stated. “She has been moping around now that her favorite friends are at sea. She could use a little excitement.”
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