by Rosie Scott
“Terran will not die tomorrow,” I said, stubbornly.
“Then he will die another day after continuing to be a thorn in your side,” Cerin argued.
A shaky exhale blew through my nostrils. After a few quiet moments, I said, “You never answered my question.”
“Leeching does not hurt, Kai. I promise you that.” His words were clear and honest.
“What does it feel like?”
“It feels like you are tiring at an extremely fast rate. You could have killed me that day in the cave had you continued leeching, and I would never have known any better. I passed out, and then—” I heard him snap his fingers in the darkness above. “The next thing I knew, I woke up with you healing me. In that way, leeching from someone is more humane. It is not painful, and they keep their dignity in death, for their bodies are unblemished.”
As always, talking to Cerin made me feel immensely relieved. I moved closer to him, letting my face nestle just beneath his chin.
“I love you,” I murmured.
His hands came up to the back of my waist, where they held me close to him. “As I love you. Do you feel better?”
“About that, yes, but we have so much in store for us tomorrow.” I hesitated. “Is it odd that I do not fear? I am anxious, but I am not afraid.”
“That's a good sign,” Cerin murmured, his larynx vibrating beside the top of my head as he spoke. “You do not fear, and they do. Even if some of the soldiers tomorrow were not there to see you attack Sera, they will have heard of it, and they will fear you.”
I said nothing. Cerin was right. My attack on Sera may have been born out of the emotional turmoil I'd been going through at the time, but it mattered little to those who heard of it. The only thing that mattered to them was that I was powerful, and I had killed many, both soldiers and civilians alike. I could understand why some of the soldiers who were my enemies would believe they were in the right in the upcoming scuffle.
“If I was not here with you like we are,” Cerin began, his voice barely a whisper over my head, “and we were not in love, and I did not know who you were as a person...” he trailed off, as if he'd thought better of finishing his statement. In the end, he finally did. “...then I, too, would fear you.”
His words sunk deep into my brain, where my mind began to prod and poke at the words to better examine them. Somehow, I found this new knowledge tremendously empowering.
Twenty-five
Our army followed the river to the northeast, in the direction of our foes. The sun was nearly to the top of the sky, so I knew it was mid-day. The messenger had been sent off with my negative answer in the early morning, as we'd promised. He had a head start relaying his answer to Terran, but our soldiers and hyenas had been prepared throughout the night. We were a few hours behind, but by the time we saw Sera's army off in the distance, we were nearly to the Wastelands.
King Adar had sent requests for reinforcements from his armies in both Al Nazir and Llyr, but both cities were far and would take a few days to reach, even with the night of advanced notice and even with the allowance of mounts to the runners. He counted on Hasani and I to keep Sera's army at bay. If we could not defeat them, our orders were to keep them as far from T'ahal for as long as possible.
Hasani pulled the reins back on his hyena, and the rest of us followed suit, coming to a stop just where we could see the forms of horses and soldiers alike on the horizon of the desert. Their forms were distorted and waving with the heat rising from the flat sands. To the left, the sand dunes we had traveled through to get to T'ahal rose sharply in the sky. My brother had his army to the east of the dunes, where the land was flat and the water was plentiful at the end of the river, just as King Adar's runners had relayed.
“Their horses still fear.” Theron pulled his hyena to a stop beside me, nodding toward the horizon. I followed his gaze, seeing the soldiers having trouble taming the beasts to do their wills. From here, I could see little difference between the Desiccated Wastelands and the sands that bordered them. It was all a flat expanse of land.
“Why wouldn't Terran keep his army in the dunes, where the horses would have little problem with fear?” Jakan asked, a few feet to my right. As I watched, he loaded his crossbow with his right hand with a full clip. His scimitar hung in a sheath against his saddle, and the Vhiri had his long dark hair pulled up in a ponytail to keep it from his bronzed face.
“Cavalry moves better along flat land,” Hasani replied, simply, his eyes watching the other army from our distance. It was clear they knew we were here, for their movements quickened. “Your brother is smart, Kai. Has he been to battle?”
“Yes,” I said, my eyes searching for his form amongst his army. I had little hope of catching a glimpse of him from here, but it didn't keep me from trying. “He has been sent with the army many times since he was eighteen.” As it should have been for all heirs of Sera, even though I had been kept from battle for so long that I had to seek it out.
“The runners have not reported archers in the dunes,” the prince went on, “but if he has archers, that is the best place to keep them. They could ambush and fire from the height of the dunes.”
“That would give the archers advantage in accuracy, and our hyenas will be vulnerable trekking up the slopes,” I mused.
“You took the words from my mouth,” Hasani said.
“Sera does not like to deal with archers,” Theron spoke up. “Any ranged soldiers they have will belong to the Orders of the Mages, unless they have convinced the Celds to join them.”
“The Celds would not have had the time to both be contacted and to agree and send units,” I reasoned. “And I see no Celdic armor.”
“What does it look like?” Hasani asked, searching for them himself.
“The Knights of Celendar wear silver and blue. Archers and mages wear silver and green.” Talking of the Celds reminded me of Silas. I wondered how much he knew about what had happened in Sera and beyond after he'd left us.
“I see no sign of them, then,” Hasani agreed. “And they have not sent the Twelve.”
“The Twelve are dead,” Nyx said, from on the other side of the prince.
“All of them? How?”
“You're looking at it,” she replied.
“Gods. You are a scourge upon your father, Kai,” Hasani breathed.
I thought of Bjorn. “My father is dead,” I replied, simply, before turning my hyena to face the army behind me. “Arbalests!” I called, my golden eyes searching for the ranged soldiers. “Come forward!”
I waited as those who heard me filed forward past the others. A murmur traced through the men and women before me as some of the soldiers passed along my call to those farthest in the back. After a few minutes, the arbalests were finally before us. Many were still mounted, though many more had dismounted the hyenas they'd shared with another soldier. After our fight with Mantus, there were not enough hyenas to go around.
“Those of you with mounts, hand the animals over to another in need. You will not need them.” I waited as my orders were followed.
“The arbalests are trained to fire accurately while on their mounts,” Hasani said, beside me.
“That may be so, but they won't be firing at all from the mounts.”
“We are still far from Sera's army,” he argued.
“Yes, but we will let them come to us,” I explained. “If Terran has an ambush waiting in the dunes, it will be rendered useless if we never near it. We should not plan on having our hyenas approach the Wastelands. Let their army deal with the fear of their mounts. Terran and his cavalry will charge toward us in the flat sands ahead, and the arbalests can fire at will and pick them off before they even reach us.”
“That's if your brother decides to charge at all. Surely he knows how terrible of a strategy that would be.”
“He does know that, but he will have little choice.” My eyes were still on the rearing horses in the distance. “You of all people, Hasani, know why Nahara choos
es hyenas over horses. My brother's horses are starving and in fear, and they have already been in the desert for three days. Our hyenas can feast upon them when it comes to battle, but their horses haven't been able to graze in days. If Terran doesn't attack, he risks losing his cavalry.”
“Gods, you are smart,” Hasani murmured, nodding along with my logic. “We shall wait them out, then?”
“Yes. Like a siege, we will starve them until they make a move.”
For the next few hours, we planned. Sera's army made no move to attack, so I knew my assumptions of my brother were true. He either had access to ranged units and kept them hidden in the dunes, or there was a shortage of them and he knew of the Naharan arbalests. We did not have the benefit of height on our side of the battlefield. The dunes were far past the river, and our land was flat. Thus, my strategy was to keep the arbalests in two groups of equal measure. There were about two hundred and fifty of them in all. Half would wait beside the river, to our left, and the other half would be set up to our right, in the empty sands. The left group would have some measure of defense against the charging cavalry, given the horses would have to maneuver through the river, or run a wayward path to get to them while becoming vulnerable to the arbalests on our right. Both groups would be firing ahead and toward the center of the battlefield, just before us. Only when the cavalry neared us would we charge. Then, the ranged units would not be able to fire so freely or accurately; with our own army charging forward, friendly fire would be a danger.
We had lancers and infantry. Each lancer was also equipped with a close combat melee weapon. The plan was to have the lancers charge first, before changing their weapons. Because Sera's army was so populated with cavalry, I knew the lancers would be unable to retreat to prepare another charge. The infantry would follow, which included my companions and I. Once our hyenas charged, the arbalests were told only to fire if they were sure they would hit an enemy. Otherwise, they too would engage in melee.
As a last surprise for the Serans, some of our soldiers had access to magic. They were fairly green with it, but for the first time, the Naharans could use it in battle. Our men and women had access to the elements—which, of course, meant some could heal injuries. Cerin and I would both be raising the dead. I doubted the dead would be as plentiful in the midst of the desert as it was in Jaalam, but that mattered little. Sera would handicap itself with its ban on the death magic.
Our plan was set, and all we had to do was wait. We did not set our army up in their formations, because I didn't want to give the enemy time to readjust with their own strategies. Until the Seran Army prepared to charge, we would keep our formations unknown.
Night fell, and neither army prepared to attack. The Naharan army slept in shifts on the bare sands. We did not have a campfire, but we did relax as much as we could with the knowledge that the enemy was not far. Even with the extra light of the double moon brightening the sands below, we could not see our enemy at night. Our range of visibility was still better than usual, however, and we made sure to have lookouts at all times.
It was during this night that Anto approached Theron, with a saber hanging from his belt. I knew immediately it was the sword the orc wished to gift the ranger, because Anto usually didn't carry anything more than his arm blades, which were usually attached to him.
Theron sat in the sands, eating dried desert insects, for he had run out of the beef jerky he'd had from Chairel. Nyx had bothered the ranger enough to let her have some of the food, though the rest of us didn't find that particular type of protein to be very appetizing. When Anto approached the duo, the rest of us quieted, for we remembered the awkward conversation between the two men just days before.
Theron did not speak at first. Perhaps he simply figured the orc would not approach him given their distance. Even so, the ranger's brown eyes watched the orc, before eyeing the saber at his belt, which was offered over to him.
“Here, friend,” Anto stated, holding the blade outward with the flats of the metal on his palms. “It is not finished, but I had little time last night.”
Theron frowned, his eyes flicking from the weapon to the man offering it. “You are giving me this?”
“Yes. You lost yours in our last battle, and you do not carry a shield. We need to ensure all of us are fully prepared for our upcoming fight.” The orc still stood before him, the saber glistening from over his greenish hands. I worried, at first, that Theron would refuse the weapon; finally, however, the ranger reached out, taking it slowly from the other man.
“It is not finished?” He clarified, turning the blade, his eyes running over every intricacy.
“No. I apologize, but it was late when we arrived in T'ahal yesterday. My choices of materials were limited, and I only had access to the royal forge, which is quite a walk from the castle.” Anto's words made me realize just how much trouble he'd gone to to make the weapon on such short notice.
“Then you crafted this on little sleep,” Theron murmured, holding the weapon up a bit, and balancing it to test its quality.
“Yes.” Anto laughed dryly. “I assume you have found something wrong with it?”
“No. It is a beautiful weapon.” Theron appeared conflicted. “How much do I owe you? This is of higher quality than I could find from the merchants of T'ahal, and their prices are steep.”
“You are my comrade. You owe me nothing.” Anto started to walk back toward Jakan, where he had been sitting before.
“Thank you, Anto,” Theron said, his voice so low at first that he cleared his throat to ensure he was heard.
“You're welcome, friend,” the orc replied, huffing as he took a seat on the sands once more.
“You are a good man,” Theron admitted. I could tell it had been hard for him to say. “I am too old to forget my biases against the orcs, but I will make an exception for you.”
Anto chuckled. “I am glad. I am your age, friend, and have spent most my life trying to prove I am that exception.”
“You have come far,” the ranger agreed.
The tension in the air dissipated once the two men had come to terms with each other. Despite the fact that Theron was much older than I, I found myself proud of the man for opening himself up to friendship with the orc. I was still the only one of us who completely knew of his past, so I was also the only one who could know how hard it would be for him to overcome it.
The ranger came up to me that night after Anto and Jakan had fallen asleep together in a lump on the sands. He had a humored smile on his handsome face. It was one of the times he seemed to be a young adult again. Theron was the oldest of us, but somehow, his demeanor belied that fact.
“You are a crafty bastard, friend,” he said to me, before he nudged my arm in jest.
“What?” I was legitimately confused at first, as it had been a few hours since the exchange of the weapon.
“You have encouraged Anto to befriend me,” Theron explained.
“I did not. That was his idea.”
Theron gave me a look of playful disbelief. “Sure. Because the orc knew I wanted a saber, even though my last sword was not one.”
I chuckled softly. “Okay, so I told him that's what you wanted, but he did come up to me first, asking about it. I promise you.” As if to further persuade him, I glanced back to Cerin, who lifted up both hands toward the ranger.
“It's true. I was there. Anto came to her,” the necromancer agreed.
Theron exhaled, the breath whistling into the air. “I am conflicted. I want to like him, but I fear him.”
Fear. That word had been popping up so much lately. I was surprised to hear Theron use it. “You never feared the orcs before,” I said.
“No, because they are our enemy, and we know it. We know what to expect.” Theron looked off to the subject of our conversation. “Anto is becoming our friend. We will not expect it if he goes berserk and turns.”
“Nyx did not expect me to hurt her with my fire in Sera, but I did,” I said, self-reflective.
“Many of us have powers we cannot fully control. And even if we think we can, sometimes we make mistakes. Things happen that cannot be prevented. If it weren't for Cerin's leeching high when fighting Mantus, Nyx wouldn't have been injured. But we cannot hang around searching for problems, or else we will never dig free of them.”
Theron watched me for a moment. “You are wiser than your years, Kai. I hate to sound old, but I usually find I have disagreements with your generation. I have come to admire you, and I do not say that lightly.”
I found myself humbled by his praise. “Thank you.”
“I feel a little left out in this group, if I'm honest,” he continued, looking off toward the enemy army's location in the sands, despite being unable to see them.
“Why?”
“I am the only human of us all. By the time you take over Sera, I may not be alive to see it, and I would wish to.” There was longing in the ranger's voice. It appeared my mission of conquest had revitalized him after his monotonous years as a simple mercenary.
“You say that like you know I will.”
Theron nodded. “I do. I told you that I hadn't learned to trust my gut as a lad, and it got Isa killed. I trust it now, and that is what it says. This world will be yours for the taking.”
I thought over that for a moment. He had hinted at his past before Cerin, which meant he was slowly coming to terms with telling the others of it. Though he said he admired me, I also felt the same way for him, so his words meant a lot.
“Because of my power,” I murmured.
“Because of your determination,” he corrected.
I hesitated, before a smile broke out on my face. “I thought I was arrogant already, Theron, but now my head swells with your compliments.”
The ranger laughed, before patting me on the arm. “Then I will stop giving them to you. We wouldn't want your hyena to collapse with the weight of your ego tomorrow.” Theron nodded toward Cerin. “Good night, you two. I'm going to see if I can't catch a lick of sleep.”
