Master Mage (23 page)

The stern look she gave him as the
darkness enveloped him was almost cute. Thad was starting to think
that a peevish queen was the most attractive. When she was slightly
agitated, she always puckered his lips slightly and crinkled her
nose. Thad didn’t know why, but for some unknown reason, he found
that endearing.

The next morning, when he woke, Thad
still had a smile on his face. He hated to admit it, but Maria was
starting to get to him. He thought about her often, but he would be
damned before he let her know that. It had been over half a year
since Brianna’s death, and he still felt the sting of her loss, but
not as keenly as before. Part of him feared that he was dishonoring
her, but another part of him knew that he couldn’t mourn her for
the rest of his days.

“Ya look refreshed this morning, lad,”
Crusher said, walking up beside Thad as he saddled his horse. “Have
yerself a restful night, did ya?”

“I had a very nice dream?” was all Thad
said in reply.

“Well, if it be about one of yer
lasses, I don’t want ta be hearing ’bout it,” Crusher said gruffly.
“Can’t fer the life of me see what ya got that I don’t, lad, yet
all the girls be flocking ta ya like flies ta dung.”

“I don’t have a lot of girls,” Thad
replied defensively. “I can’t even think of more than one lady that
I am close with.”

“Then ya must be daft, boy,” Crusher
said, giving him a harsh glare. “Don’t ya be forgetting that I
spent a good amount of time in that palace of yers. And I heard my
share of stories while I was there fer yer own queen. Seems that ya
have always been a bit of a rough where the ladies were concerned.
Ya just be lucky I didn’t tell yer lass of a queen what the Vathari
like ta do with their magical visitors,” Crusher added with a sly
grin.

Thad blushed a deep crimson as he
remembered his visit to the Vathari city. It had been much
different than he had thought, and the customs far wilder than he
could have imagined. If Maria even had an idea what had transpired
during his time among the Vathari, she would have him thrown back
in the dungeon.

“That’s what I thought,” Crusher said
when Thad had remained speechless for a long time. “Maybe I should
let the lass know more about those gray little vixens.”

“Crusher, if you value my life at all,
you will never utter a word about this to anyone. If the queen so
much as got a hint of it, I doubt I would survive the night,” Thad
said pleadingly.

“Then you might want to make sure my
mug don’t run dry of ale after this blasted war is over,” Crusher
replied, laughing.

“I will buy you a brewery if it will
keep your mouth sealed,” Thad said, joining in his friend’s
laughter.

The cheerfulness Thad had found early
in the morning quickly died away. With each passing mile, Thad was
reminded of the bloodshed that awaited him. As the weight of the
war once again settled on his shoulders, he started to understand
why the soldiers always acted so freely when they were not in
battle. Nothing makes one forget their worries like a bit of drink
and a lot of laughter.

They reached Bailwood only a few hours
before the sun dropped below the horizon. Thad had suspected them
to reach it much earlier, but he had forgotten that the dwarves
moved at a much slower pace. As they approached where the army was
camped, they were greeted by a large show of arms.

As he looked out and saw the army
forming up, Thad remembered that he had forgotten to let them know
that the dwarves and not an unfriendly army had arrived. “Tuck, let
Bache and Killian know that the army is friendly. I think a hail of
arrows might be seen as a poor welcome among the
dwarves.”

Tuck didn’t reply, but the army quickly
started to break up and go about their business. After a few
moments, Thad spotted Killian and the others coming out to greet
them.

“Thad, you had us scared for a bit,”
Bache said, running his hand through his thinning hair. “It would
have been nice if you had let us know before now what had
happened.”

“No harm done … this time,” Killian
said, giving Thad a harsh glare. “Though next time, you need to
think about things more clearly,” the warmaster added, letting Thad
know of his disappointment in his actions.

“I know. I will do my best not to
repeat that mistake in the future” was all Thad could think of to
say in reply. Thad quickly introduced the dwarven general to the
others, hoping that their meeting might take some of the attention
away from his mistakes.

As the men of war talked about the
coming battles, Thad decided it was a good time to sneak away. He
was normally one of those included within the meeting, but he had
seen far too much war as of late and wanted at least a small amount
of time to relax.

Thad knew what he was looking for and
was sure he could find it with little trouble. Monique and Jayden
had taken up residence outside of the military camp, opting instead
for the comforts of the small town.

Bailwood had never been a lively place
when Thad had passed through, but now with everyone gone but
soldiers, it seemed eerily bare. It was missing the small things
any village or town had such as the yells of playing
children.

Thad found Monique in the inn, cooking,
while her husband played at being the bartender for the rest of the
soldiers who had come to visit. Thad knew that he shouldn’t be
surprised Monique would never pass up a chance to make a quick coin
even if she was heavy with a child.

Upon seeing him, Monique gave Thad a
sweet smile and quickly handed him a plate of what he assumed was
roast fowl. “I am so glad you’re safe. I had heard that you went
off to check on something and that no one had heard from you,”
Monique said cheerfully.

“A bit of a mistake on my part,” Thad
admitted. “But the good news is that the dwarves have come to our
aid.”

“That is wondrous news,” Monique
exclaimed. She gave Thad a cheerful smile and led him to one of the
many empty tables in the common room of the inn. “I have never met
a dwarf before. Are they really short and hairy?” she asked,
laughing.

“Short, yes. Hairy, well, that would
depend on the dwarf. I think your husband has beaten most of them
on his more animalistic days,” Thad replied jokingly.

Monique slapped Thad playfully on the
arm. “There is nothing wrong with a man being a bit of an animal.
The way we see it, you men are more animal than anything. He just
doesn’t try to hide it,” Monique quipped snidely.

“The real reason I have come here was
to talk about your husband,” Thad said after a few moments of
silence.

“Go on,” Monique said, her eyes
narrowing dangerously.

“Well, you see.” Thad replied
nervously. “The next few days are going to be a bit bloody … and I
could use someone who can …” Thad stopped, trying to find the right
word for what he wanted to convey.

“Who acts like an animal,” Monique
replied, all the playfulness leaving her voice.

“No,” Thad said quickly. “I need people
who know the woods as well as how to fight. The hit-and-run attacks
are working, but they have started using horses, and the last time,
we lost a great deal of men. Jayden is strong and quick. I am sure
that if he is with us, he might be able to keep too many more of my
men from dying.”

“I will gladly accept,” Jayden said,
coming up from behind his wife. Thad could tell Monique was not
happy with her husband going to the front lines to fight, but she
didn’t contradict him. Thad felt bad for his friend, but he hoped
that one day he would forgive him.

CHAPTER XVIII

Thad stood in the war room with the
others in charge of their respective groups, looking over a map.
With the addition of the dwarven troops, they had started to fare
much better in battle, but they were still losing ground daily. He
was happy things were looking better, but they were far from having
the upper hand. Even with the Katanga reinforcements of over three
thousand more troops that should arrive within the day, it wouldn’t
make much of a difference. Two to one was better odds than they
have had before, but it still didn’t ensure victory. What they
needed was another ten to twenty thousand troops just to be on even
footing.

Looking around at the tense faces, Thad
remembered why they were there. The Rane forces had tired of their
game of cat and mouse and had split their forces with the clear
intention of making for the capital. Killian had warned them that
it would happen, but Thad had hoped that it would have been after
the Vathari had arrived or after he had at least received news from
them. As it stood, Thad still didn’t know if they would be
receiving any further aid at all.

“We have no choice,” Killian said,
slamming his fist down in the center of the map. “If we do not
intercept the force moving toward the capital, the war will be
lost. Our only option is to leave a small force to guard our rear
and move the bulk of our army to intercept.”

“We wouldn’t stand a chance against
them,” Bache replied angrily. “There must be another
way.”

“Ya may wish for there ta be another
way, but even a blind beggar could see that they got us in a
corner,” Crusher said beside Ironleg, who had said very little
during the meetings since his arrival.

Thad continued to listen to them argue
for a short time longer before yelling for silence. “I agree with
Warmaster. We must protect the capital,” Thad said strongly.
General Bache began to reply, but Thad silenced him. “The queen has
left me in charge of the war, and in that case, I speak for her.
Your concerns are noted, General, but we will march.” Caring little
else for what was to be said, Thad left the command tent and walked
outside for some fresh air and a little quiet.

“You could have stepped in a littler
earlier,” Killian said, sitting beside Thad on a small grassy hill
overlooking the camp. “I was about to challenge your general to a
duel.”

“Blood days ahead,” Thad stated as he
looked at the soldiers below him milling about. “How many of them
do you think will live to see their homes and families
again?”

“Guilt, is it?” Killian asked, a hint
of understanding in his voice. “Any man who must lead others onto
the battlefield knows just what you are feeling. It is the curse we
all must live with. I wish I could tell you that it would get
better with time, but most often, that is not the case. I have
known soldiers who, on their deathbed, decades after a war, lament
about a battle that had left a bad taste in their mouth. We all
must find our own way to deal with our guilt. That is one thing
that neither I nor anyone else I know can help you
with.”

“Will the rest of your clan arrive
before we meet with the Rane army?” Thad asked, trying to get his
mind off his worries.

“I have dispatched a rider to have them
change direction so they can fight with us. I hope their warmasters
will heed my request.”

“I thought you were the warmaster?”
Thad asked in confusion.

Killian laughed and shook his head.
“Most clans of the Katanga are less than a thousand strong. When we
fought for Eloen, four different clans had gathered. During the
course of the war, the other three warmasters fell, and in the end,
their men stayed with me, though if time had passed, new warmasters
would have been chosen. My guess was that at least five different
clans are riding to aid us, though once here, we will decide who
the grand warmaster is for the war. It is never good to have too
many people trying to make decisions for the whole,” Killian
explained. “For example, the large group you have gathered.
Thankfully, most of them will heed to your orders, but if push
comes to shove, they might disregard you and decide to pull their
armies back.”

“Let us hope it doesn’t come to that,”
Thad said, looking back to the tent, where he could still hear the
raised voices of the gathered generals.

Thankfully, by sunrise the next day,
the army was ready to march. They had never really set a permanent
camp since Digger’s Fort as they always had to be ready to fall
back at a moment’s notice.

In the end, they had chosen a thousand
soldiers to stay back and face the army of five thousand that the
Rane soldiers had left behind to hold them. They had been ordered
to dig in and hold their position until they were overrun or until
they received new orders. Thad felt bad as he rode away from the
camp, knowing that most the men left behind would not survive, but
then again, the people riding with him didn’t have the best of
chances either. The war was turning into nothing more than a series
of funeral pyres.

You should really stop
moaning over each death. Will you go from home to home yourself,
telling their families of their death? Even if you did, would they
care? Most of the men were slaves to one noble family or another
with little, if anything, to their name. You need to stop worrying
about the dead and start worrying about those who still live,
namely yourself.

Thad ignored his staff’s words. No
matter how true they rang, he still felt responsible for the war
and the deaths that it had caused. Once everything was over, he
would make sure that no one ever forgot what the men and other
races had died and fought for. The dwarves, elves, humans, and
maybe even the Katanga too fought for the same thing, the freedom
to live.