Branded Mage (6 page)

The next day
, shortly after breakfast, he was summoned to the audience chamber. Even though he expected it his stomach still tied itself in knots as he waited outside the large elaborate doors. He was somewhat glad he had overheard the conversation the night before. If he had been simply been bombarded with the choice, he wasn’t sure what he would have said. Even after a night of stressed thinking, he still wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision.

Walking into the room
, he noticed the familiar faces staring at him with apprehension. He could even see a thin line of worry marring the queen’s usual impassive face. As he reached the throne, he went to his knees touching his head to the flagstone. “Your Majesty.”

The queen silently raised her hand signaling him to rise.
“Thaddeus, I have requested your presence for an important reason. We have learned that the Kingdom of Abla is planning an attack as soon as the pass clears against Southpass. It takes great time to mobilize the individual armies available to the Queendom, and time is something we don’t have. We ask that you travel to Southpass and render whatever aid you can.”

All eyes were trained on him waiting for his response. He already knew his answer
, but the simple pleasure he gained from making the queen wait, was too tempting to pass up. After what he figured was suitable amount of time he cleared his throat.

“It would be my pleasure.” The words were simple and clear and shocked more than a few people
, including the queen.

Eloen walked over and grabbed him in a tight headlock. “I knew you would come around without much fuss.”

He wasn’t sure if he should be happy, or annoyed at the current situation. She was chocking him slightly, but his face was in a rather nice position. The internal debate ended shortly when something grabbed his right arm, jerking so hard he thought it would come out of socket. He would have gladly followed the princess, but Eloen stubbornly refused to let go of her hold on his neck. So the battle presumed, with both ladies trying to see what would break first, him or the others grip.

The queen was able to stop the two girls before they did any permanent d
amage. As he sat on the floor gasping for breath, he noticed that both the queen’s and Bren’s eyes were puffy and red. He knew they had enjoyed a good laugh at his expense. He wanted to get mad, but his body hurt too much for the reaction to take hold.

Bren helped Thad to his feet
. Thad quickly backed away from the two girls, who were staring each other down like two Billy goats that were about to see whose head was stronger. The whole thing would have been funny, if he was sure they weren’t going to use him in another tug-of-war match.

“
The attack shouldn’t happen for some time, but I would like you to leave for Southpass as soon as you are able. If there is a rapid warming spree, the pass will clear and honestly we stand little chance of holding it without your help. Eloen and the soldiers she brought with her have agreed to escort you safely to your destination.” The queen spoke with authority her face back to its usual stone-like quality.

Thad could see the princess was anything but happy with the arrangement. She was his best friend and he cherished her deeply
, but sometimes she was overly possessive. He found it both charming and annoying to have someone treat you like their personal possession.

“I should be able to leave in the morning. I will have to get word to Shariel of my leaving
, as well as gather some material for the trip. Will that be good enough?”

The queen merely nodded h
er head and dismissed him to begin his preparations. The thought of going to war scared him, but it also excited him. He wasn’t sure why there was such a mix of emotions and for a brief second wondered if all soldiers felt the same.

C
HAPTER V

He was met outside the city gates by Eloen, who was accompanied by nine other soldiers. The young lady cut a beautiful and commanding figure with her chestnut colored hair that was cropped short and her narrow brown eyes looked like twin drops of chocolate. Her dark leather outfit fit tight against her body, showing off luscious curves, and hints of soft cream-colored skin.

Though she smiled sweetly at him
, her eyes looked him over intensely, making him more than a little uncomfortable. His last meeting with Eloen had been less than formal and while she had turned a blind eye to let him escape, he wasn’t sure if he should trust her.

As he reined the horse the
queen had given him next to Eloen, he reached down and rubbed the horse’s neck. He hadn’t named it yet but he was already fond of the animal. It wasn’t very tall only about four foot, but she was a lovely bay with a small but rather heavy head, with small ears, and large eyes. She had a long thin neck and her soft flowing mane seem to dance in the morning breeze.

“Are we ready?” He asked keeping his tone jovial.

Eloen nodded and spurred her horse forward. Thad and the rest of the men followed along, quietly falling into position. Eloen rode at the tip and four men rode on each other’s flanks, and the last man followed at the rear. He thought it was a little silly, how many people would know to look for them, but he doubted that would be their main concern.

The ride was quiet and peaceful. Thad was thankful for that. It had been a very busy and emotionally draining night. As soon as they were out of sight, the princess had acted like a two year old throwing a tantrum, going so far as threating to have him whipped if he so much as looked in Eloen’s direction. Then, he had said his goodbyes to Shariel, who had cried for hours until she finally fell asleep. He had figured she would take it much better than she had. She had taken his incarceration very well. Thinking about it, started to make sense. She hadn’t seen him or the effects the dungeon had on him, but the sight of him riding in from the woods with an arrow in his back was still fresh on her mind.

He had
spent what little time remained of the night preparing for the trip. His staff, rune necklace, and magical sword were must have items. One of his magical tomes for reading, a few changes of clothing, his sleeping mat, and some enchanting supplies were the next things to go into his pack. After that it got hard to decide what he would need and what he would leave behind. When everything was said and done, he had only left himself a few measly hours of sleep before he had to leave.

He had been excited the night before
, but now the enthusiasm was wearing off and his lack of sleep was making his eyes heavy. Not wanting to fall asleep in the saddle, he scanned the countryside for anything that could keep his mind occupied. The area surrounding the capital was mostly farmland, but it was late in winter and a light frosting of snow still covered the ground.

Whether she noticed the occasional jerking in his saddle as he jolted awake, or to alleviate her boredom, about halfway through the day Eloen dropped back and rode next to him. When she did, the other soldiers of their party readjusted their position flawlessly so one couldn’t even tell she had moved.

“So Thad
, what really made you decided to join us?” Unlike her normal flirty attitude her face remained deadpan, and her voice serious. It made Thad second guess himself for a brief moment.

“It seemed like the right thing to do.” He answered simply
, not haveing a better one and for the most part it was true. He wasn’t being completely altruistic, he did have many new spells he wanted to try out and using them on an invading army seemed like a good idea.

Eloen let out something between a laugh and a giggle as she looked at him like he was a simpleton.
“I should have known. While I’m glad to have you on our side, there is something I want you to think about. Life isn’t black and white, and even the colors of gray intertwined are so convoluted most the time that the wisest don’t know how to tell them apart. I promise you the other side believes it is just as right as we do. Better to think on it now, and make your resolve. We can’t afford for your naivety to wear off in the middle of a battle.”

Thad thought about what she had said as the
y continued down the road and talked. She asked about the princess, and tried to twist every other word he said into her own sordid meaning, but no matter what she said, his mind kept wondering back to what she had said about his naivety.

He had been tutored and trained by high quality warriors and scholars, but had little real world experience. Most of his ideas were still of stories he had heard or read. They talked little of how much blood a human body would lose when cut
, though he knew first hand it was much more than he could have believed. They always talked about the thrill of battle and the fire in their veins when they met sword to sword with their enemy. Was it really like that, or would it be like his first time wielding a sword against another human? Leaving him week in the knees and wanting to shake like a newborn babe, just happy to have survived.

W
hy had he decided to come along? He had kept telling himself that it was because he wanted to protect those dear to him, but was that the truth? He wasn’t sure. He had always just followed along with what was around him. Seldom questioning why he was doing it. From his earliest memories, he had done what he was asked without complaint. The mothers at the academy were good about that, never ordering something to be done, just asking. Maybe he had fallen into such a routine that he just did what seemed easiest to keep everyone else happy.

Looking into himself he didn’t like what he saw. He had never done anything bad, but he had seldom made any real choices. While Eloen continued her harassment of
his friendship with the princess, he made a vow to start looking more carefully into his decisions and why he was making them. It was bad enough to lie to others, but he didn’t want to continue to lie to himself.

His mind made up
, and an invisible burden lifted from his shoulders, he stared to engage Eloen in her conversation more. He was even able to return a few of her barbs with some of his own, getting a wry smile from the woman. The group never stopped for a mid-day meal; instead, Thad was forced to eat dried meat and cheese from the saddle. Eloen had allowed him to drink from her canteen, at the cost of teasing him for being unprepared.

They rode until the sun sat low on the horizon and Eloen called for them to make camp. Five of the soldiers quickly formed a perimeter while the other four prepared the camp. Eloen directed him to his assigned sleeping position, which was right next to hers in the center of the camp. Thad wanted to complain
, but knew that it was done for his own safety. Also, if he voiced any concern, Eloen would use it as an opportunity to tease him about his innocence.

He offered to take one of the watch shifts
, but was laughed at by Eloen. “What would be the point of letting the person we had been assigned to protect do guard duty? Don’t worry; there are enough of us that everyone will have plenty of time to get a good sleep.”

Sitting down in front of the fire
, he watched as Eloen made supper for the group. He had never thought of Eloen as the womanly type. She was beautiful, but it was easy to see she was more into swinging a sword than dancing at a ball. As he watched her cook and whistle a bawdry tune, he couldn’t help but smile.

Noticing him staring
, Eloen turned to him and put her hand firmly on her hips and gave him a sultry smile. “What?”

“I was just wondering if I should look for something
eatable. Maybe some pinecones or tree bark.”

Out of her normal
character, she stuck her tongue out. “Believe it or not, but I can cook very well, and I promise you it’s better than the swill any of these bucket heads can whip up.”

The stew was much better than he thought it would be. It was some sort of meat in a pepper stew, spicy but overall very tasty. While he ate
, Eloen sat next to him teasing him about his lack of trust in her cooking.

It was still early after the meal had finished
, so the group settled around the fire and swapped stories. While most of them were in their early twenties, they had still led interesting lives. All of them were free men who grew up on Lady Alysia’s estate. They had joined her army while still in their early teens.

A
ldan, a tall muscular man with a white scar running down the right side of his face, told of his first fight with a group of jackals. Jackals were a humanoid race that looked like a mix between a man and a large hairless dog.

“I and my four buddies were sent out to investigate
the attacks on farms in the eastern duchy. When we got there, all the locals could tell us is that they heard strange howling in the night, and the next morning large amount of animals would be found torn apart, half-eaten. We set up an ambush near where the attacks had been.” Aldan leaned forward dropping his voice to a deep bass. “Then, they appeared. I tell you, the things were all seven feet tall with dark pink skin. Their jaws were short, more like snouts filled with sharp teeth. Their legs bent weirdly from their torso, and their arms were almost long enough to touch the ground. Their hands, if you could call them that, were absurdly large with thick distorted fingers that ended in long sharp claws.”