Reborn: Flames of War

by D. W. Jackson

  After their quick bath, Ash did just as he promised and burnt the clothes they had been wearing while handing out the clothes he had stored in his item box to everyone. Once that was finished, everyone remounted their horses and continued their ride.

  The night was only half over when they left the capital. It was dark out so they could not travel very fast and though tired, Ash and the others couldn’t afford to rest.

  When the sun started to rise it stung Ash’s eyes as if it were trying to burn right through him. Shaking his head and taking a drink of cold water, Ash tried to keep himself awake since it would be a long time before he would get to see a bed again.

  When the sun had reached the apex in its journey through the sky, they were forced to take a small break to give the horses a rest and to allow them to eat. At the same time the horses were eating Ash and the others did the same. It wasn’t a large meal, only consisting of some dried meat and a little bread that had to be soaked in water just to eat.

  After the meal, Ash felt his eyes grow heavy and had a hard time fighting to stay awake. Yawning, Ash stretched back and leaned against a tree. Slowly blinking his eyes the scenery around him seemed to change. One moment he was alone and the suddenly when his eyes opened back up, he found Li’s soft hair blowing against his face. Turning his head, he found Li’s face only inches away as it rested against his shoulder.

  After shaking her shoulder lightly, Li’s eyes fluttered open. As soon as her eyes opened and she noticed how close Ash’s face she was, she pulled back, her face turning a bright shade of red. “Have a nice nap?” Ash asked, his smile twitching a little as he held back a laugh.

  “My lord,” Li said quickly getting to her feet. “I…I didn’t,”

  Not holding the laugh in any more, Ash shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. No harm done and you did look awfully cute while sleeping.” Li remained silent but the red tent to her cheeks didn’t disappear.

  After checking, Ash learned that he had napped for about half an hour and he had not been the only one. In fact the only ones to stay awake had been Lath and Tolarea. After everyone else was roused, they quickly mounted their horses which were grazing in a small field not far away and continued heading toward the east.

  It was almost nightfall by the time they reached the forest, but not long afterwards they found the army or more like the army found them. “My lord,” a large demon with thick black wings and a single horn sticking out of his forehead said as they approached the forest. “We have been awaiting you. If you follow me I will show you to where the rest of the army is camped.”

  “After you,” Ash said with a smile hoping for nothing else than to find the army, get something to eat, and have a nice long sleep.

  Shortly after they entered the cover of the woods, more and more demons began to gather around them. It seems that the army had a number of demons looking out for the new arrivals so that as soon as they were near they could be guided to the main camp.

  The main camp was located near the center of the woods and from the edge, it took almost an hour to get to on foot. As tired as he was, Ash wished that he could ride the horses, but due to how tightly the trees were packed, that became impossible. So, they were forced to go on foot while leading their horses behind them. Near the center, the area opened up, though not all of it was natural.

  It was easy to tell that while there had been a nice meadow at one time, more than a few trees had been removed in order to accommodate the large number of tents that now dotted the landscape. There was even a tent prepared for Ash at the very center. At first Ash thought it was the command tent given how large it was and even though he didn’t need that much space for himself, he gladly accepted when he noticed the large bed in the center of the room.

  Though Ash was hungry, the first order of business was meeting with the officers that currently were in control of the army. When Ash asked to meet with the current officers, he was taken to another tent near the edge of the clearing.

  Inside were three demons who were currently looking over a map, arguing over which town to raid next.

  “That one is too close to the forest,” A demon with red skin and large duel tusks growing from his mouth said. “It will give away our position. I am telling you that we should go after the village to the northwest.”

  “Excuse me,” Ash said, grabbing the attention of the three demon officers.

  Seeing their new visitor, all three demons stopped arguing and bowed in his direction. “My lord, I am glad to see that you are well and have been able to join us.”

  “I am glad to be back among civilized beings,” Ash said with a crooked smile. “For now, I want you to cease all plans for attack. You do know that the king has sent out an elite group to hunt down your raiding party?”

  “First off my lord, I am Calen, the captain of this army,” the red demon said then he turned to a smaller demon with ash grey skin and large pointed ears. “This is Raouth my first Lieutenant, and over here is Elithe my second lieutenant,” Calen said as he indicated a tall thin demon with pearl white skin and marble colored horns.

  “It is a pleasure,” Ash said in greeting.

  “The honors is ours my lord,” they both said while bowing.

  “As for the so called elite soldiers the king has sent. We are aware of their existence but they use clumsy abilities and only arrive hours after we have left a village. It is easy to avoid their detection as long as we have the Skall clan with us.”

  Ash knew who and what the Skall clan was since he used them in the last battle. They were not very strong on the front lines, but they had a unique ability that allowed them to hide the presence of a large number of people. It was thanks to them that the army had never been discovered no matter how close they were to human settlements.

  “The problem is that I want them to find us,” Ash said with a mischievous grin.

  “Go on,” Calen said in a calm and understanding tone.

  “I want the regular size raiding unit to move out, but in such a way the king’s men can’t miss them. I don’t care if you have to send them a letter to invite them to the battle, just don’t make it suspicious. At the same time, I want you to move the rest of the army where we can attack from their back.”

  “I see,” Calen said his eyes going slightly wide.

  “I told you that the Maoh would agree with me,” Raouth said proudly. “You see my lord, I had suggested something similar yesterday when we learned of the king’s men. At the time Calen was worried that it might upset your plans so he decided against it.”

  “At the time, it would have,” Ash said agreeing “But now is different.”

  “Understood my lord,” Calen said nodding his head. “When would you like us to carry this out?”

  “Tomorrow,” Ash replied immediately.

  “Very well my lord,” Calen said banging his fist against his chest. “It will be done.”

  Once the decision was made Calen started planning it, along with the two other officers. He asked Ash’s opinion, but anyone could tell that it was only done for politeness since both he and Ash knew that Calen had more experience and knowledge when it came to issues of planning a battle.

  Excusing himself, Ash exited the command tent and went in search of food. Due to his hunger and nose, it didn’t take Ash long to find where the food was being prepared and he was not surprised to find that his wives were already sitting around in a circle enjoying large pieces of fried meat along with a number of side dishes that came from raided villages.

  Shaking his head and smiling, Ash received his own plate of food from the two small female demons that had become the camp chefs and took a seat. As he ate, Ash looked around the camp or what he could see from his seat and thought about the fact he had not met many demon women, besides his wives, in the army. When he asked Tolarea about this she laughed. “My lord, women have their own units with the demon army. At one time they tried to put them with the men, but they tended to end up with children
far too often and far too fast and at the most inopportune time. That is why during training they work together, but during a real war they are separated. It reduces the risk of angering the goddess if one of the soldiers fight and die while with child.”

  Nodding his head in understanding, Ash asked about the two cooks only to learn that there was a small female army group that had been dispatched and the cooks were part of the army. The only reason they were cooking was because the first night, the two males appointed to cook had tried to feed the army what was described as burnt wood.

  When Ash asked as to why there was a female section sent along with the men, he learned that it was because of his wives. While they were his guards, they also warranted protection so the female unit was place under the direct control of Tolarea and Eun who were the acting commanders of his current royal guard.

  After dragging all the information he wanted out of Tolarea, Ash explained the plans for the attack in the morning or what little of it he knew since he decided to duck out of the meeting early in order to fill his stomach. When Tolarea heard the news, her eyes lit up and she made a quick comment about needing to speak with the captain and disappeared leaving only half her plate of food sitting on the rough wooden table.

  With Tolarea gone, Ash turned his questions to Tina who had taken a seat to his left. Even with the long journey, Ash had not had much of a chance to talk to Tina and at first had taken her for the shy type like Li, but he had been wrong. Her clans linage had come from a mix of different beast like monsters and such, she had a tail much like those belonging to the beast clan, though hers looked more like that of an imp with a forked end. While she was the quiet type, she was far from shy. Ash had learned that she just preferred to watch and listen more than speak, but when she did speak it was always worthwhile to listen. The only thing Ash didn’t like about her was her habit of biting when she was in a playful mood. It wouldn’t be so bad, but it wasn’t a weak bite and she always tended to draw blood.

  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.

&nb
sp; 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.