Reborn: Flames of War (10 page)

11-11

The next morning Ash woke before the sun had fully risen due to the fact he had sought his bed early the night before. Looking to his left he had found Tina still sleeping soundly at his side. Rotating his arm, Ash winced from where Tina had bit him the night before. Checking the wound and finding that it wasn’t bleeding, Ash let out a light sigh before looking over, slightly irritated at Tina. Seeing her almost angelic sleeping face, Ash’s anger couldn’t hold and he bent his head and gave her a light kiss on the check before getting up and dressed for the day.

Once he was fully clothed and his weapon was strapped to his side, Ash exited his tent in search of food. Unlike the night before, it wasn’t the two females from the night before but two men who were cooking and just as Tolarea explained the food did not look that appetizing.

After eating what looked like pottage and tasted like bark, Ash went to the command tent only to find Calen. “Welcome my lord,” Calen said as Ash entered the tent.

“Morning Calen,” Ash said in greeting. “Has everything been prepared?”

“Everything is ready my lord,” Calen replied. “Once everyone is up, we will split up the troops. Elithe with take charge of the raiding group while I will be in charge of the main army. We will be attacking a small village about three hours march away. The king’s knights are currently camped about half an hour away between that village and another. They should know we are attacking the village and move to intercept just as you wanted.”

“Good,” Ash said nodding his head. “How long will it take us to reach the capital after we take out the king’s forces?”

“About a day and a half,” Calen said without having to give it much thought. “We could make it in less time if you want to do a forced march, but the men won’t be in much of a condition to fight when we arrive.”

“No it is fine to take longer,” Ash said. “We won’t be doing much of an attack, just enough to get their attention, but I don’t want the men to be put in more danger than necessary. Once we attack the capital, we will pull back and move to merge with the main army attacking any villages that we find along the way. The same rules apply, no killing of anyone unless they pick up weapons to fight. I don’t want needless killing.”

“Understood my lord, but we have been taking most of their supplies, though we have been leaving them enough to get through until the next crop, but it will be hard for them to supply the king with any extra for the war though, if he forces it they will starve.”

“That is up to the king,” Ash said, trying not to let the news bother him. “They are his people and even if we didn’t take anything, he could still strip them bare. If I worry about every action he might make against his own people, then I should surrender now.”

“I was just checking my lord,” Calen said sporting a large grin. “Sometimes it is hard to make decisions that lead to the deaths of innocents. They have to be made sometimes, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It is good to see that you can make them when push comes to shove, though I still think you are too soft in some areas but that is to be expected.” 

“I am what I am and that is something I can’t change,” Ash replied understanding what the demon meant. If this was a normal war, there would be a lot more killing, but Ash wanted to avoid that and surprisingly the demons didn’t complain. Being followers of the goddess Altina, they didn’t like to waste life, even if it belonged to the enemy.

While they waited for the others to wake, Ash and Calen talked about what had been happening in Ash’s absence. Calen had been one of the first ones brought over in the transport array so he didn’t have as much information as Ash wished, but he still knew a great deal. Mostly the army had just been getting mobilized while their orders were kept vague. This was done because when Ash had ordered it, he hadn’t know if there would be a war yet he only strongly believed that there would be. It seemed that the sage didn’t take his orders lightly and had half the demon population waiting on orders to march. He had told Ash that given enough time he could empty the whole country, but Ash didn’t think it would be needed so he had only ordered him to talk to the different commanders and find out what they believed would be a large enough number to win the war with as few casualties as possible. Ash was still new to being a Maoh and just as new to war. While he hated to rely on others to make his decisions, he knew that it was the best choice of action under the current situation.

It took less than a half hour after everyone woke before they started marching. The raiding group left first with the main army moving half an hour behind. While Ash had taken his position beside Calen, who acted as if he deferred to Ash when he was the main one making decisions, Tolarea and Eun worked with the female unit that had been brought for their use.

After she had them organized to her liking, Tolarea had the females march like a wall around Ash so that even if the enemy attacked at long range, he would be safe. Ash felt it was silly, but his wives were in control of the forces and his safety and he didn’t want to say anything that might make others think less of them so he silently went along with their decision. Not to mention it wasn’t bad being surrounded by so many women. It was much better than only men, that was for sure. They even had a better smell about them.

Unlike when they traveled along or with the small group, his wives didn’t talk much and instead kept a calm yet strong front as if they were trained soldiers. It made them seem a little cold to Ash, but once again he kept his silence though it was much harder than before. Ash missed their liveliness greatly and the lack of it seemed to make the day drag on endlessly.

The raid group did not attack as soon as they had the target village in sight, instead they waited until Ash and the main army could get into position. Once the main army was in position, far enough away that they wouldn’t easily be detected by the king’s knights, yet close enough to respond once they showed up one of the demons used their ability to send a cloud of white smoke above where the village was supposed to be located.

Once the signal for the attack was sent, another demon used their ability to scan the area. It didn’t take long for them to find the knights, even though they were miles away and even less time it seemed for the knights to notice something was amiss as they were already headed to the village where the attack had begun only moments before.

With the knights moving and the attack only barely underway, everything was going as planned. Ash would have thought this news would have made him happy, but he still felt slightly apprehensive. It wasn’t as if he felt something had gone wrong, just that it could. Since this had been his idea, Ash felt a lot of pressure for everything to go perfect, even if he wasn’t the one who planned out the fine details.

It only took about a quarter of an hour of agonizing waiting before Calen said it was time for them to move out. The knights had yet to reach the village, but they were far enough along that if the main army didn’t move now, the battle would be in full force well before they arrived. Calen was sure that even without their help, the others would be fine, but it was not worth the risk.

When the village came into sight, Ash could see small tendrils of smoke rising into the air. Once they got closer he could hear the screaming of the people though none of it seemed to be that of pain. Before Ash got a chance to think much about it, a second sound reached his ears. It was the sounds of battle.

“It has started,” Calen said as he quickened his pace.

It took less than five minutes to reach the opposite edge of the town where the knights were currently faced off against the demons. At the moment, the knights were being held back thanks to the demons magic, but there was no telling how long they could last. Even if the shield went down though Ash doubted the knights would have an easy time subduing the demons. With only a silent signal from Calen, the main army charged.

Ash could clearly see the faces on the knights when they turned their heads to see an army of demons more than three times their size charging toward them.

Just a few moments before the six hundred knights of the king were faced off against three hundred demons and were at a stalemate. Even though they had not received any damage, they had not given any either and now more than fifteen hundred more were charging them from the side. The knight commanders first thought was to retreat, but he quickly understood that it would only be a futile attempt.

Unlike the previous attack, there was no need for Ash to lead the charge with their overwhelming numbers so he was positioned just slightly back from the front lines along with captain Calen. From where Ash was, he saw the knights turn to face the coming charge, but at the same time the front lines clashed the demon raiders who had only been defending before joined in the attack, hitting the knights from two sides at once.

Ash felt the urge to be in the mist of the battle, but with almost four demons to every knight, it was hard to find an opponent as they were dropping faster than Ash could keep track of. Just as he thought he found an opponent to measure his blade against, a demon would move in and cut the knight down before Ash had the time to take more than two breaths.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the battle was over and Ash was left to look over the carnage that had been left behind. The knights had been quickly overwhelmed, but that didn’t mean they went down without a fight. For every five knights that died, a demon had joined them in eternal slumber. It wasn’t a bad exchange, but given their large numbers, their losses should have been less. That just went to show how well trained the king’s knights were and how determined the men who wore that title were on living.

“How did you find the battle?” Calen asked when he found Ash watching as the demons stacked the bodies of the fallen knights and demons to be burned.

“Boring,” Ash said his voice showing his displeasure.

Calen laughed and patted Ash on the back. “I know that the fight left a lot to be desired, but I hope that all the battles go as such. It is much better than having our bodies stacked on the pyre or stacking a mountain of our comrades upon it.

“I guess that is true,” Ash said as he looked into the direction of the capital.

“If you really wish for a fun battle then all you have to do is wait. I am sure this war will have enough fighting to keep you entertained.”

“That is true,” Ash said. He didn’t know why, but the prospects of fighting on the battlefield filled him with excitement. “Shall we go say hi to the king?”

“Let us,” Calen said laughing. “We don’t want him to think that we are impolite.”

11-12

After marching for a full day, the army took camp in a large open field, not caring who might see them. In truth, they wanted to be seen. They wanted the king and people in the capital to know what was coming. It didn’t matter, with less than a day’s notice, there was no way for the king to prepare an army large enough to deal with them when the bulk of his forces were in the south and east ends of the country.

Just as before, his wives were like living statues while they marched, but once camp was set and they were alone with him in his tent they returned to their normal warm nature. That was except for Tolarea who kept up her military attitude ever since she was given control of the small unit of women. Then again, she was never the overly warm type to begin with.

After a grand meal thanks to the village they had raided, Ash and his wives sat around his tent talking. Though the tent was large, it seemed almost cramped with everyone packed in it at once. It was not that they didn’t have their own tents, but that unless it was time to sleep, they preferred to spend their time in his. Once night had fully fallen, all but three of them would return to their private tents. One would share his bed while two others would keep watch. Ash had offered to take his turn on watch, but they refused saying that it would take the meaning out of the duty.  Seeing no room to argue, Ash let it drop, though it felt as if he was doing that a lot more as of late.

The next morning Ash felt a twinge of energy filling the air as the army marched toward the capital. When the large walls came into sight, that feeling became almost palpable.

Ash marched alongside Calen once again though this time they had an extra guest. It was one of the young demons that had an ability to survey over long distances and he was currently watching the city walls and the movements of the forces within. Using a large hand mirror, the demon allowed Ash and Calen to see what he was viewing.

Ash had figured it would be like looking through a telescope, but instead it was as if they were looking down on the city from the sky, but not as high as a bird. It was as if they were looking down from a tall balcony.

Right now it was easy to see that the city was in a state of chaos. The citizens were hiding in their houses while the soldiers and knights were running along the top of the walls pointing toward their army. Ash couldn’t see the look on the soldiers faces, though he didn’t have to. Just from the movements, he could tell that it would be a look of fear.

They army stopped their advance just out of bow and magic range. At this time, Ash took his place at the front of the army, standing in his best clothes as if he were dressed for a party and not a war. His armor was currently placed in inventory though his sword was still strapped to his side. The reason for this was because while he wore his armor, his wings could not be seen, though now they spread majestically behind him. When he had first come to this world, his wings were so small they couldn’t even move, but now he could use them to fly for almost a full hour before he began to falter.

A young demoness with bright green hair and glowing yellow eyes walked up beside him and used her ability that would allow his voice to be heard throughout the entire city. It was an adaption of the banshee yell that had been developed to instill fear, so it worked for more than helping Ash to be heard. It also instilled a light feeling of dread on the listeners.

“Hear me people of Heluria, I am Ash Hawkwing, the Maoh of the demons. I came to meet your king in order to pursue peace. For this, he sent two regiments of knights to attack me while on my journey here. After I entered the city, he dared to try and arrest me and finally he ordered my capture after inviting me to the palace. For this, both the Hawkwing kingdom and the demon kingdom have declared war upon Heluria. I have come here today, not to attack, but to let you know that at any time I wish, I could bring an army to your very doorstep. For your treatment of all the kin of Tamerial, we will destroy this kingdom and everyone who stands in our way. If the people of Heluria wish to avoid destruction, you must only deliver the head of your king to me and I will cease all attacks and we can discuss my demands for peace. Remember, as long as your king lives, this war will not end.”

Once Ash finished speaking, the three mages who had reached over level sixty worked together to cast their strongest spell over the capital. A large fireball the size of a small house formed over the capital and slammed into the main commerce street. Ash had wanted to attack the palace, but it was too far. Even with all the mages working together, it still wouldn’t get much farther than it had. Even though the fireball had landed in a fairly open space, a few houses caught fire and instilled the desired effect on the populace.

With a wave of Ash’s hand, the army turned and marched to the east in order to combine with the larger force that was making their way inland. It would be a long march and Ash had no doubt that they would be attacked many times along the way, but he would not leave the demons behind that he had called. Not to mention, Ash was looking forward to the coming battles. It was almost as if his blood was on fire just thinking about it.

“My lord, are we not going to attack the city?” Calen asked with a furrowed brow as they marched away.

“No,” Ash said shaking his head. “Attacking the city was only if we couldn’t escape. There is no way that we could easily take the walls and if we didn’t get through fast enough, reinforcements would come and we would soon find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. For now, we should get as far away from the palace as we can. Soon the king will call every soldier and knight he has to track us down and kill us before we can reach the main force.”

“It is very unlikely that we will reach the main force and even if we do, we will only be a shadow of the strength that we have now,” Calen said shaking his head.

“It will be hard, but we do have a way to get reinforcements, though they will be coming in slowly,” Ash said with a sly grin.

“How is that my lord?” Calen asked.

“The eagles,” Ash said. “Flying, it only takes six days to reach the border of the demon kingdom. The army is most likely closer though not by much. We can receive around thirty people every ten to twelve days.”

“You are right, that is not much, but every able body will help,” Calen said agreeing. “We can also send back those who are no long able to fight. That will keep us from slowing down.”

Calen pulled out a small map then looked to the sky. “Five weeks of marching to reach the border without stops. If we move to attack villages along the way to replenish our stocks, it could take twice as long. The main force is moving at a much slower pace, but if our luck holds, in a little under four weeks’ time we should meet up with them. We just have to hold out until then.”

“We will,” Ash said smiling. “I don’t think the king knows our true strength. It will take him at least two weeks to understand his folly and by then we will be too far from his reach for him to do anything about it.”

“Either way, I don’t think it will be a dull trip,” Ash added as he took one final look at the capital that was slowly drifting into the distance.