The Roar of a Dragon (8 page)

Marching to Boulton was every bit as I imagined it to be: tedious, demanding, and relentless. For the first week of the journey, we marched through torrential downpour. That only made things more difficult — our armor was most problematic, as the rain weighed it down, making it twice as hard to march. Many soldiers around me grumbled and condemned Norvin for making us march in this monsoon, but surprisingly enough, I didn’t share the same disagreements; I knew that difficult campaigning like this was simply a part of war, another thing that had to be dealt with.

The following week, the sun came back out, and the spirits of the soldiers rose again. All around me, they boasted about the great deeds they were going to accomplish, the glory that would be attained. I didn’t join in these conversations either — I felt the same excitement and anticipation they all did, but I knew that my boasting was not welcome. This may have come off as arrogant, but why would I get involved in a conversation when I knew I would just be ridiculed in the end?

One thing I did not expect was for Norvin to leave me alone for the entire march — but he did. He even passed by me a couple of times, but he never said a word. Perplexed, but relieved, I stayed out of his way and continued going about my business.

I wasn’t the only one surprised by Norvin.

‘Really? He hasn’t spoken to you at all, tried to make you do anything ridiculous?’ Derrick asked as we ate our supper of foul-tasting rations together one night.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen him three or four times this entire march.’

‘Hmm,’ Derrick said, rubbing his short beard. ‘Maybe he’s turning over a new leaf.’

That comment was met by hysterical laughter — from both of us.

Finally, halfway through the second week, we arrived at the mines in question. The area was very grassy and full of hills; the entrance to the mines was burrowed into one of these hills, and outside of it, there was abandoned mining equipment strewn everywhere.

Norvin ordered us to halt, and he sent a few scouts ahead to survey the area and find out where the enemy was. Afterward, he ordered the rest of us to set up tents and make ready to camp. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky, the dimming light settling into an orange color.

We ate our meager supper, and were then ordered to get some rest — we would need to be refreshed for tomorrow’s battle. The scouts hadn’t yet returned, and the soldiers began to whisper to each other that something wasn’t right.

Eventually, the scouts did return, but it wasn’t until the middle of the night. I was awakened by their approaching horses. I sat up, as several other soldiers did, and watched as Norvin and the scouts whispered to each other. I was fairly close to them, but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Eventually the scouts finished giving their report, and Norvin dismissed them. Norvin looked over and saw that I was watching. He scrunched up his lips as though deep in thought.

‘Aidan, a word with you,’ he ordered, then walked away, toward a stand of nearby trees.

I frowned in confusion.
He hasn’t had a word to say to me this entire march, and suddenly
now
he wants to talk to me?

I did as I was ordered, rising from my spot underneath a tree to join my commanding officer. Norvin had his back to me as I approached, but he turned and didn’t waste any time with (disingenuous) pleasantries.

‘Aidan, the scouts were unable to find Boulton’s army. They traveled a great distance, in all different directions, but the enemy was nowhere to be found. The scouts are exhausted, and I need to know where the enemy is. Tomorrow, I’m going to give you command of a small group of men, and I need you to scout further ahead.’

I didn’t say anything — mostly because disbelief had stolen any words I might have said.

Finally, I recovered enough to say (daringly, considering this man far outranked me), ‘You are aware that I’m just over one year in the army, right?’

Norvin looked me straight in the eye as he answered, ‘I never thought I would say this, but you are the best fighter we have. I need someone who I know can defend himself, as well as someone who will fight for the honor of our country.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I would have
never e
xpected to hear anything like that from him.

After a short silence, I stood straight and answered, ‘If those are your orders, I will carry them out… sir.’

Norvin smiled in response. ‘You are a good man, Aidan. Now go and get some rest.’

***

I could hardly sleep for the rest of that night. How exciting this was going to be! To my knowledge, nobody had been given command of a unit so early in their military careers… if I succeeded, perhaps they would consider me for knighthood early! I would be easily the youngest knight in Delmar’s history.

By the gods, everyone would
really
hate me then.

But again, friendship wasn’t what I was here for. Friendship isn’t usually conducive to success. All I’d ever wanted to be was a knight, and here was my chance to prove that I was worthy of such an honor.

It still baffled me that Norvin would be the one to give me this opportunity, but for the time being, I decided not to spend too much time mulling it over. I had more than enough to think about.

True, it was a simple scouting mission, but scouting missions could be dangerous too. And it still stood to reason that
no one
had ever been given this chance so soon.

Morning came before I knew it. After a quick breakfast (quicker for me — I was too excited to be hungry), I joined my unit on the edge of our camping grounds. Norvin had selected ten men to accompany me; much less than would be in a regular unit, but more than I would need for a scouting mission.

‘Men,’ Norvin said, suddenly appearing from behind a boulder. ‘The scouts were unable to find any trace of the enemy yesterday. I know they’re lurking about somewhere… Aidan here is in charge, and I want you men to travel directly west from this location. You may find them closer to their castle, which is about a day’s march from here.’

Norvin walked over and put his hand on my shoulder.

‘I know you can carry this out, Aidan. Make us proud.’

Those words didn’t sound like they should be coming out of his mouth — ever — but I nodded reassuringly.

‘We will.’

I was about to order the men to move out when I saw Derrick in the distance, standing near the grove of trees where Norvin and I had spoken the previous night. He was wearing a look of disbelief — and concern.

I didn’t understand the nature of his expression, but I gave him a confident nod. Then, at my command, we were off.

The day was calm and clear, but there were clouds building to the west, headed our way. The weather was on the verge of becoming nasty, I couldn’t help but think that those clouds had a foreboding presence.

But that was far from my mind; I was in command of a unit, in my element, and it was glorious. Standing proudly at the head of the unit, I marched us directly west, as ordered, through a vast area of rocky terrain. Intimidating rock formations bordered the path sporadically on both sides, and the path was headed up a steep hill. I stopped the unit for a moment, taking stock of the situation.

‘What are we going to do,
Aidan?’
one of the soldiers asked sarcastically.

I turned toward the soldier and took a couple of steps toward him. I had been expecting this, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to take.

‘What is the meaning of that tone?’

Another soldier answered with a question. ‘Why were you chosen for this command? Every one of us has a great deal more experience than you. You don’t deserve command of this unit.’

‘You expect me to know why I was chosen for this?’ I asked incredulously. ‘Sir Norvin and I don’t exactly have a great history —’

‘Everyone knows
that,’
yet another soldier answered, ‘which makes your appointment even more ridiculous. It was only given to you because you are the general’s bootlicker.’

I almost lashed out and grabbed the soldier by his throat, but (at great effort) I restrained myself.

‘Look,’ I said, becoming exasperated, ‘I don’t know why I was given this privilege. But I have it, and I am going to do
exactly
as I’m ordered. And you are going to follow me — not because I’m in command, but because we are doing this for our country.’

The soldiers grumbled as they glanced back and forth at each other, but I knew they weren’t going anywhere. Proud of how I handled the situation, I gave the order to march toward the hill.

The hill was even steeper than it looked; about halfway up, we were practically crawling to make it the rest of the way. To make matters worse, it began to rain, which didn’t help the situation at all. Several of the soldiers (myself included) nearly slipped and tumbled back down the hill.

But eventually, one by one, we all finished the arduous climb. I was one of the last to make it, and before I made it to the top, I noticed that the soldiers had made it before me were standing and staring incredulously.

‘What’s the matter?’ I asked. When no answer came, I pulled myself to the top with a loud grunt. My muscles were tired, I was short on breath — I needed to rest for a moment. But knowing there was no time for that, I took a breath and stood up, looking around me.

At least, I started to — my gaze fixed immediately on the danger before us.

Boulton’s army stood straight ahead of us — an army some thousands strong.

I turned to give the order to retreat back down the hill, but more of Boulton’s soldiers were marching out from behind one of the rock formations, cutting off our escape.

We were trapped.

The archers in my unit already had their bows drawn, but any effort on our part would be fruitless.

We were going to die.

My mind was suddenly racing — Norvin had said that the scouts had searched and searched, but seen no sign of the enemy army.

But we had only been marching for just over an hour…

The realization pierced me, deep into my soul, driving a sweeping feeling of both rage and fear through my body.

We’d been set up — or, more specifically,
I
had been set up.

With great daring, I took a few steps toward the vast Boulton army, trying desperately to keep my rage in check.

‘We are merely a scouting party for the White Army of Delmar,’ I called out. ‘You can see that the numbers, to say the least, are not evenly matched. I would speak the commander of this army, and see that we are allowed to return to our army.’ I knew that what I was asking was impossible, but I had to try.

Seemingly to emphasize my feelings, several of the soldiers in the Boulton army laughed. My face burned with embarrassment, a raging fire that not even the cool waters of the falling rain could smother.

Suddenly, there was a
thwip
from behind me, and before I knew it, an arrow lodged in the chest of a Boulton soldier.

Accompanying the
thwip
was a gasp of surprise… an indication that whomever had fired the arrow had not meant to.

‘Hold your fire!’ I screamed, but it was too late — the soldiers of Boulton, consumed with rage at our seeming audacity, were charging.

I had no time to think about our impending doom — drawing my shortswords, I instinctively twirled them in my hands, as I always had during sparring sessions. My only hope was to kill each soldier before more could get to me, a futile task at best.

The battle happened too fast for my mind to even process. I was dodging, slashing, kicking — doing whatever I could to defend myself while creating more space to take on the next soldier.

But it was pointless — I was fast becoming overwhelmed.

Suddenly, a voice in the distance screamed. ‘Hold it! Stop fighting! Back off, you blighters!’

But I wasn’t about to stop fighting until they did, and that was good judgment too, because at least one soldier wasn’t following orders. The large soldier charged me with his giant spear, catching me off-guard because of the angle he was coming from. When I finally did see him, my first instinct (for whatever reason) was to lean straight back to avoid the spear.

I didn’t quite lean back far enough.

The spear caught me a glancing blow in the face, knocking me off-balance and to the ground. For a moment, I didn’t think the spear had caught me — until I felt a stinging pain near my eye. I put my hand to my face and saw nothing but blood.

I was in a compromised position, unable to defend myself, sure I was about to die…

I heard a commotion, and a body hitting the ground.

A soldier, who I could only assume was the commander, had thrown his fellow soldier on the ground. ‘When I tell you to stop fighting, you stop fighting, damn it!’ He then turned away from the soldier and strode toward me, which instantly scared me — this man was in a rage, and I had no idea what he was going to do.

But it wasn’t me he wanted — it was the spear.

For a split second, I was sure that this commander was about to murder the renegade soldier. When the commander reared back to throw the spear, I was sure it was the end; so was the renegade, who shrieked in fear. But the spear was planted in the ground just inches from the fallen soldier, causing him to scream in panic and plead for his life. The commander then kicked him for good measure.

‘I’ll deal with you later,’ the commander growled. ‘Now get out of my sight.’

The soldier scurried to obey.

Taking a few minutes to compose himself, the commander (or at least, that’s what I was still assuming that he was) then turned his attention to me. He had green eyes and a long, blond beard that was well-kept, and almost blended into his pale skin. He held his hands up to assure me that meant to harm.

Good for you,
I thought.
I’m not sheathing
my
weapons
.

‘I am Commander Hardlow,’ the soldier began. ‘Are you alright?’

I didn’t answer.

‘What is your name, soldier?’

Still breathing heavily from the stress and exertion of battle (not to mention still wary of the other soldiers around me), I took a moment before I answered. ‘Aidan.’