Master Mage (9 page)

With experimentation, Thad had learned
that any illusion he formed could be made semisolid as long as he
let currents of energy run through them. Though the practice had
been meant to strengthen his skills as well as expand how he
thought and used magic, it still seemed to turn to war. His best
spell was the creation of multiple illusionary swords that would
pass through metal and rend flesh.

Running across the magical bridge, Thad
quickly reached the top of the all-too-thin wall and peered out
across the fields beyond.

The army was still a good ways off, but
Thad could still see them clearly even without using his magic. His
best guess would put the force at around two thousand soldiers.
Focusing his magic, Thad extended his view and looked at the army
as if he were standing only a dozen yards away.

The large group was an army of sorts,
though there was no uniformity between their armor and weapons. The
only thing that the people marching toward the capital seemed to
have in common was their direction. When Thad spied not only Tuck
but Darryl at the head of the formation, he breathed a sigh of
relief.

“Next time you want to surprise me …
don’t,” Thad told Tuck through his ring.

“Was it a little too much?” Tuck asked,
laughing.

Thad couldn’t reprimand his friend as
he had brought an army nearly twice their own with him. That didn’t
mean he couldn’t find a way to get back at his friend
later.

Using his magical bridge, Thad
descended the wall and started walking briskly toward the advancing
army. Had Tuck found them someplace on his trip back from Abla, or
were they the rumored Katanga? The only way to find out was to
greet them. No matter who they were, Thad would be more than happy
to add them to their forces.

“Darryl,” Thad said, grinning widely as
the young soldier came into view. The last time Thad had seen
Darryl was back at Southpass Fort. He had been one of Eloen’s
soldiers. He was a thin man the last time Thad had seen him, but
the years had added some weight and a fair amount of muscle to the
man’s body, though he still looked rather gaunt.

“I heard you were in need of a few
extra blades, so I brought my family along,” Darryl said, clasping
his old friend’s hand firmly.

“Family. I know I needed soldiers, but
I don’t think the world, let alone Farlan, can take more than one
of you,” Thad replied jokingly. “Where did you find all of these
soldiers?”

“Queen Eloen said you might want to
hire the Katanga, so I talked to my family and explained my own
debt of blood that I owe you, and they consented to hear your
terms. When I told them that you were fighting against Rane, even
one of the nine elders of the clan agreed to come and
listen.”

“Then let us get everyone inside. I
don’t know if we have enough rooms to house everyone, but I don’t
care. If I have to make the people open up their homes, we will
find warm places for you to sleep,” Thad said adamantly.

“That would be a nice gesture, but
unneeded. The Katanga are a nomadic people to their core. If
offered, they would still prefer to sleep outside the confining
walls of a city.”

When they were less than two hundred
yards from the city walls, the majority of the army stopped and
started setting up camp, while Thad led a few designated leaders to
meet with the queen and the rest of the advisors.

While they waited for the queen and the
others to prepare themselves, Thad waited with the Katanga, passing
the time talking with his old friend.

“I haven’t had much time to talk with
Eloen,” Thad said as he sifted for words. “What all happened after
I was captured?”

Darryl laughed lightly and shook his
head. “That is a long story.”

“Have you ever known a woman, much less
a queen, to get ready in a hurry? I am sure we have plenty of
time.”

“I see your wit, as well as your
tongue, has only sharpened with age,” Darryl said, giving Thad a
smirk. “Very well, I shall give you the short version of what
transpired after you decided to take a stroll with those Ablaian
soldiers.”

“You make it sound as if I left with
them holding hands under the moonlight,” Thad replied in a false
hurt tone.

“Eloen was devastated after you fell.
She was always an honest woman, and she cared for you deeply. She
lost a lot of her mirth and smile after you were taken. She almost
immediately broke orders, and me and Ballard followed. The first
few weeks were hard on Eloen. She constantly blamed herself for
your capture.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Thad
interjected.

“I know that, you know that, and
somewhere, I think she knew that, but she still blamed herself. We
trudged across Abla, making good time, and finally caught up with a
guarded prison transport. Thinking it was yours, we attacked and
freed the captive, who turned out to be the crown prince. We took
the prince to a nearby town and learned that his uncle had wrested
control of the kingdom. If we promised him support, then he would
aid us in your recovery.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a bargain
on the prince’s end,” Thad said questionably.

“I don’t know. He painted a good
picture of how we could aid him, but in the end, I think he was in
love with Eloen from the moment he saw her. We continued toward the
fort that was supposed to be holding you and even picked up Eloen’s
new daughter along the way,” Darryl added slyly.

“Daughter. That sounds awful fast,”
Thad replied, the shock evident in his voice.

“She took a notion out of your book and
picked up a random kid. I think it was more out of the need to do
what she thought you would more than her own desires. We reached
the fort, but we were too late, and we heard of your demise under
the mountain. We all feared that Eloen would be crushed, and I
don’t know if something snapped, but she became cold and uncaring.
She didn’t even rebuke the prince for this, and when he asked for
her hand, she simply agreed. Honestly, I felt sorry for the man. It
was obvious to everyone around that she would never see him in the
way he desired.”

“I wish I could have gotten word to her
that I was still alive,” Thad said, his voice full of
remorse.

“That would have been nice and would
have saved a lot of people a good amount of trouble. On the other
side of the coin, if you had, then Abla would most likely still be
in unfriendly hands. After the wedding, the two newlyweds traveled
across Abla, looking for allies, and soon started a rebellion
against the false king. During the war, the king hired a band of
Katanga to hunt Eloen and the prince down. When they caught up to
us, they recognized me as one of their family and switched sides.
After that, there was a lot of fighting, and a little over a year
ago, we finally wrested the throne from the king’s rather-limp
body.”

“I bet there is plenty that you are
leaving out, but I understand the heart of the tale. It is amazing
that things worked out as they have. Maybe the gods have a larger
hand in the affairs of men than they led me to believe,” Thad said,
looking off into the distance.

“Fair is fair, Thad. It’s your turn to
tell me all that has happened while you were away. I am sure it is
a much more interesting story than mine was.”

Thad told his story from where he and
Darryl had last seen each other. As the story unfolded, the three
other members of Darryl’s party moved closer to listen. It had
become a tale told too often for his liking, but at the same time,
with each telling, his words flowed more smoothly, and his voice
took on the tone of the storytellers one often found in the inns on
midsummer nights.

Thad left off his meeting with the
different gods as he understood the rule about their existence. He
wasn’t sure why it was kept so secretive, but he didn’t want to
anger them by divulging information better left in the dark. When
his tale reached the point where he had woken up on the elfin
island, the door to the audience chamber was opened, and a young
page announced the queen was ready.

So engrossed in the telling of his own
story, Thad didn’t notice the young page and continued, while the
four mercenaries stared down the young girl until she closed the
door quietly. Once the story was finished, Thad let out a nervous
laugh and looked around at his audience, who each held their own
look of reverence on their faces.

“That was a grand story, my friend,”
Darryl said, placing his hand on Thad’s shoulder. “But I think we
better not keep the queen waiting for too long. They tend to take
it the wrong way,” he added, giving Thad a slanted
smile.

When the five men walked into the large
audience chamber, it was apparent that Maria didn’t take kindly to
being made to wait. Thad flashed her a pleading smile that knocked
off some of the coldness emanating from her, but her icy stare
remained.

“Welcome to Farlan, honored guests,”
Maria said in a grand tone.

“Queen Maria, while we are pleased to
be received in such a grand fashion, it would be much easier and
time-efficient if we kept this simple and concise,” the older of
the mercenaries said, his voice firm and unwavering under the
queen’s glare. “Before we agree to aid you in your battle, we need
to know two simple things. First, why are you going to war against
Rane, and secondly, how much are you willing to pay?”

“We are not going to war against Rane.
They are going to attack our queendom,” Maria replied
defensively.

“Then why are they attacking you?” the
soldier asked, his voice betraying his annoyance.

“We have taken people of magical power
and origin under protection. Rane is working with a group of men
who call themselves the Brotherhood of the Fox. They are attacking
us solely to kill those I have taken under my
protection.”

“Could you not simply hand these people
over to Rane and avoid the slaughter of your own people?” the
soldier asked coldly.

“How dare you insult me as well as the
people of Farlan!” Maria exclaimed, her face turning a light red.
“We would not sit by idly and watch while people who have committed
no sin other than being born are being slaughtered.”

“And how much are you willing to spend
in hard gold?” the mercenary asked, the queen’s words showing no
effect on him.

“If it pleases you, I will let you
empty my vaults. Take hammer and file to my banisters and remove
the gold that lines their edges. Whatever cost you ask, I and my
people shall pay it.”

“That is all I needed to know, Your
Majesty. At present, I have a little more than 1,800 men at your
disposal. I shall send word back to our home camp and ask they
bring every available warrior we have to support your
cause.”

“Will you take your price now?” Maria
asked, slumping back in her throne.

“No, we shall wait until the battles
are over. There is no honor is taking payment before a task is
completed,” the soldier said before signaling the others to follow
him.

“What in the nine hells is wrong with
that man?” Maria shouted at Thad as soon as the heavy door closed,
leaving him alone to face her wrath.

“He is a warrior,” Thad said as if the
simple phrase explained everything. “We need them, Maria, more than
we need our pride.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Maria
asked vehemently. “If I thought it would win us this war, I would
get on my hands and knees and bow to the man. That doesn’t mean I
have to enjoy it.”

The queen’s tirade continued on, and
Thad found the first excuse that came to mind to escape to a safer
place. Once he was outside the palace walls, Thad headed straight
for the Katanga camp. There were plenty of questions to be answered
and even more to discuss. As he saw the sizeable force fanned out
along the city wall, Thad felt the beginnings of true hope spurt
within him. They were still greatly outnumbered, but their chance
of holding out long enough for more support to arrive was
increasing. That was if the support arrived at all.

CHAPTER VIII

The Katanga camp was a lot different
than the other military camps he had seen. The tents were not all
placed in neat rows. They were thrown up with a good distance
between them and seemed to be in no discernible pattern. They only
real uniformity they had was they were all made out of the same
light tan hide and were all the same size. Thad looked around for a
larger tent, expecting the elder and leaders to be near the center,
but he could not find any tent that looked different from the
others.

“Where can I find Darryl or someone of
importance?” Thad asked, walking up to the nearest
mercenary.

“Who are you to be asking?” the man
said, his hand darting to the sword strapped on his
side.

Thad raised his hands, showing that he
had no ill intentions. “Darryl is a friend of mine. As for the
leaders or elder, I am in charge of the war effort and thought it
might be best to talk with them and get an understanding of their
battle tactics so I can make sure we do not clash once the blood
starts to flow.”

“This way,” the man said, nodding for
Thad to go first. As Thad passed the man, he noticed that the man’s
hand was still firmly on the hilt of his sword.