by Peter Last
The next morning came much too early for Josiah. He was awoken by one of his men, and as he sat pulling on his boots, he realized that he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep. Slowly he stood to his feet, stretched, and stepped out of the tent. His four remaining captains were lined up in front of him, and to their extreme right was Cirro. He was holding Josiah’s sword and armor, as was his custom. He approached Josiah quickly and started to help him into the equipment, but Josiah silently refused the help and performed the task himself. When he had finished, he took the sword from Cirro and strapped it around his waist, straightened, and looked at his captains. His attention was immediately drawn to the fifth empty spot.
“Yesterday’s battle was brutal to us," he said after a moment of consideration. "Our ranks have been diminished to such an extent that we no longer have enough soldiers for five companies. The soldiers from Captain Terza's company will be redistributed to replenish your ranks. Keep in mind that we will be fighting alongside soldiers of the highest caliber so be sure to control your soldiers in such a way that would bring honor to Gatlon and Magessa. The army will be leaving in an hour. You are dismissed.”
******
Senndra yawned and raised her head from her pillow. Pain immediately flooded her skull, and she fell back onto the bed. Shaking her head to clear the mental fog, she slowly slid her feet over the edge of the bed and sat up. Every bone in her body ached, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from getting up.
“You okay?”
Senndra slowly raised her head to see Vladimir sitting on the bed opposite hers. He was dressed in his cadet uniform, and though it was a little tattered, he looked fairly presentable. Senndra looked down at her own clothes and realized for the first time since she had awoken that she was dressed in her battle uniform. Though her armor and weapons lay on the floor at the foot of her bed, the rest of the outfit was as she imagined it should be. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and the left leg of her pants was split up to the knee. She remembered the wound in her leg, but strangely she felt no pain there. Painfully she bent at the waist and used her hands to probe the skin on her leg for the wound.
“You won’t find it,” Vladimir said.
“What?” Senndra asked as she sat up.
“The wound on your leg,” Vladimir answered. “Some of the elfin magicians came through here before they left this morning and healed many of the major wounds. I used to have a broken leg, but they fixed it up just fine,” he finished and gave his leg a pat.
“So the elves came in here before they left,” Senndra repeated. Suddenly her eyes flew open in realization. “They came here before they left? Where did they go?”
“After the dwarf army,” another voice answered. Senndra turned to see Timothy approaching. “What are you doing, Vladimir? Telling her just enough to answer the questions? If I were you, she would have already known all about that.”
“Then tell me about it,” Senndra said.
“The majority of the army is chasing down the dwarves before they get to Belmoth,” Timothy began, but Senndra interrupted him.
“Belmoth?” she said. "Because that would give them an easier entrance into the country!"
“That's what we think,” Timothy agreed. “Since Belmoth has not received news of our attack yet, the dwarves will be able to take them by surprise. Plus, all of the armies of Magessa are probably rushing here in answer to our messengers, so Belmoth will be a prime target for the dwarves.”
“So who’s chasing them?” Senndra asked. She slid down to the foot of her bed and began to strap her greaves on.
“The elves and some three or four thousand men,” Timothy answered. “Rumor has it that an army of ogres will arrive here tonight, and they will be sent to aid in the battle. Speaking of which,” Timothy said, directing his next statement to Vladimir, “we just got a part in this battle.”
“Yes!” Vladimir yelled as he jumped up from the bed on which he was seated. “It’s about time. So what are we doing?”
“You and I are going to be messengers,” Timothy answered.
“Messengers?” Vladimir spat in disgust. “What kind of a job is that?”
“A better one than you might think,” Timothy answered. “The alternative is to stay here in Saddun in case of another attack. Besides, there’s a reason they need a magician on this assignment.”
“You’re starting to make it sound exciting,” Vladimir said. “So where are we going, and what message are we carrying?”
“You might want to sit down again before I tell you,” Timothy said. “We are going back to the academy and taking a message for help.”
“The academy? As in the one in Belvárd?" Vladimir asked in disbelief. "And what help do we need now? We already won the battle.”
“If you would stop interrupting, you would find out sooner,” Timothy answered. “We have to get to the academy and tell them to send dragons to reinforce our armies in the upcoming battle with the dwarves.”
Vladimir nodded then suddenly froze.
“How long do we have to make the journey?” he asked. “That battle is going to happen a long time before we can reach the academy, unless…don’t tell me that we’re going over the mountains.”
“And running the whole way too, so you’d better leave most of your things here,” Timothy said.
"Why running?" Vladimir asked. "We have horses; why not ride them? Wouldn't we travel faster?"
"Horses can't cross the mountains," Timothy answered. "If we rode, we would have to go around the bottom of the range, making the journey almost three times as long. Running will be slower to be sure, but we'll get there sooner this way."
“You know, I think that I might want to stay here instead,” Vladimir said.
“Okay,” Timothy responded. “I should be able to make the journey by myself.” He turned and started to walk away, but Vladimir ran after him.
“You know what? I just changed my mind. I think that I want to come with you.”
“Then get ready,” Timothy said. “We leave in an hour.”
“Right,” Vladimir said and dashed out of the barracks, presumably to pack some belongings. Timothy waited for Vladimir to disappear through the door before turning back to Senndra.
“So I found these laying on the ground somewhere,” Timothy said. He handed Senndra her sword and bow which she laid on the bed beside her.
“Thank you,” she said, but he didn’t move. “Was there something else?”
“Do you want to talk yet?”
“About what?” Senndra looked up at Timothy. As tall as he was already, this was definitely not a dominant position, something that she would need if this was the argument that she thought was coming.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Timothy said. Senndra rose to her feet, but a wave of pain shot through her skull in protest. Timothy’s next statement was cut short as he reached forward to keep her from falling.
“Are you alright?” he asked as he helped her sit back on the bed.
“Yes,” Senndra answered. “Just a little light-headed from lying down for so long.”
“Well,” Timothy said. “I know you’re probably feeling like the back end of a horse right about now, but I’m not sure when I’ll see you again, so I’m not leaving until I’ve said what I have to say.”
“That’s fine,” Senndra answered. “Just say it down here where I can actually see you.”
Timothy crouched in front of Senndra, but to her annoyance, he was still taller. The bed that she was sitting on had to be as short as possible without actually resting on the floor. She shook her head and motioned down again.
“Really?” Timothy asked. “You want me to get on my knees.”
Senndra shrugged.
“Whatever it takes to bring you to my eye level.”
“Fine,” Timothy said, a slight smile playing across his lips. He sank to one knee and looked straight into Senndra’s eyes. “Is this low enough?”
“I suppose
so,” Senndra conceded.
“Good,” Timothy said. “I know that you’re mad at me for not telling you about my being a magician. Even though I had my reasons, I understand if you’re angry and don’t want to talk to me. I only ask that you listen to what I have to say.
“I never intended to hurt you or anyone else by keeping this secret. I don’t know, maybe I should have been more up front about it. Whatever the case, if you still want to be friends, you need to know right now that I have more secrets than just being a magician. I have good reasons for keeping them, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I might tell you what they are eventually, but as of now, they aren’t things that I want to share.
“In light of this, I’ll understand if you don’t trust me anymore, but I wanted to let you know that I never meant to upset you or anyone else. I hope we can still be friends.”
Timothy waited on his knee for several seconds, hoping for a response. Senndra was silent, so he stood and was about to leave the barracks when she spoke.
“Of course I still want to be your friend, Timothy,” Senndra said. “Under one condition.”
“That depends, what is it?” Timothy asked warily. He assumed that all hard feelings had been dispensed with, but that was no reason to agree to something blindly.
“You have to help me stand up without falling on my face or passing out,” Senndra said. “I’ve been down here for so long I think I’ll do one or the other if I try to stand by myself.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Timothy said. He offered Senndra his hand and pulled her to her feet, maintaining the grip long enough to make sure that she wouldn’t fall.
“Well, you have a mission to prepare for, don’t you?” Senndra asked. “You’d better get to it.”
“You’re going to be alright now?” Timothy asked.
“As long as I take it slow,” Senndra assured him. “Those elves might have fixed me up, but I’m still ridiculously sore.”
“And we’re good?” Timothy asked. He was backing toward the barrack’s door now.
“Yes, we’re good,” Senndra laughed. The small motion made her ribs ache. “Go get ready for your thing.”
Timothy jogged out of the barracks, and Senndra followed at a leisurely pace. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the sunshine and was about to start walking when she realized that she was all alone. She didn’t know where any of her friends were except for Vladimir and Timothy and they were going to be leaving soon. As she looked around, her gaze came to rest on another cadet that was coming her way. The long, flowing blond hair gave the cadet away immediately, and Senndra walked out to meet Rita. When the two friends met, they embraced each other.
“I wondered what happened to you,” Senndra said over Rita’s shoulder. “I haven’t seen you since the beginning of this battle. Where have you been?”
“Probably doing the same thing as you,” Rita said, releasing Senndra. “I did my part to hold back the dwarves and defeat them.”
“You did all of that without a scratch?” Senndra asked. “That’s better than I did. You should have seen what a mess I was yesterday. I thought that I was supposed to be the better sword fighter.”
“Apparently skill isn’t everything,” Rita responded. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. So tell me everything that happened since we last saw each other, and I’ll show you the way to our tent.”
“There’s almost too much to tell,” Senndra said as the girls walked off. “In fact, I don’t think that you would believe half of the things that I've been through.”
******
Timothy, Vladimir, and Lemin stood at the gate of the south wall of Saddun saying their last farewells. There were no idle words wasted as the cadets received last-minute directions from their instructor. With a firm handshake from both boys, Lemin said good-bye, and the two cadets were off. The ground sloped gently upward, but it was maybe a mile to the real mountains. They ran, knowing that this was some of the easiest terrain they would encounter on their journey. Since speed was of the essence, they had packed very little. They brought only water, food for five days, and the clothes on their backs. The two cadets were very physically fit, but this journey would still push them to their limits. They had more than two hundred miles to traverse, and the first twenty-five miles were through the mountains. But they were still confident that they could make it to the academy before the battle with the dwarves began. The first mile passed quickly, and the boys were moving into the real mountains. The trail, such as it was, seemed to seek out the steepest, most treacherous slopes to scale, and the boys had trouble just avoiding injury as they ran. To make matters worse, a forest began shortly after the mountain did, and they had to deal with the underbrush and tree branches. They reached the peak of the first mountain and took the path downward. The going was faster now, but the trails were even more treacherous going down. At the bottom of the mountain, the trail disappeared, so Timothy and Vladimir took a gully that ran between two mountains. The gully seemed to be a dried creek bed, and they were able to make relatively good time as they ran up it. They granted themselves a rest at the head of the creek, and estimated that they had come close to seven or eight miles so far. After a short break, they continued at a more relaxed pace. The urgency of their mission never left their minds though, and at the peak of the next mountain, they began to run again.
The scenery rushed by too quickly for the cadets to see, but if they had had more time, they might have observed that the forest abounded with all kinds of animals. Deer ran through the trees, and birds flew through the treetops. The streams that flowed down several of the mountains were filled with fish of every variety. Even the plants were pleasing to the eye. Thousands of flowers filled the dirt between trees and grew on shrubs, filling the air with a pleasant aroma.
At the bottom of the mountain, the boys followed a game trail that ran alongside a creek. They stopped for a few minutes to replenish their water bottles and were off again. The path became more stony and rough until it burst out of the forest and into a short plain of rock. To the west was a rock wall a hundred feet tall over which a creek cascaded, creating a beautiful waterfall. They halted and took stock of their surroundings. The massive stone wall blocking their way extended to the left and right for farther than they could see. There appeared to be no way to the top, and they had not brought any climbing equipment.
“So what do we do now?” Vladimir asked. “We certainly can’t climb that cliff, and who knows how far it will be before we find a way to the top.”
“I told you there was a reason that I came on this journey,” Timothy said. “Relax. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Not even you can get us to the top of that cliff,” Vladimir objected. “You’re not strong enough to get us up there.”
“No, I can’t,” Timothy said with a glance at Vladimir. “But if we work together, we can do it.”
“What do you mean?” Vladimir said. “What can I do to help you? Heaven knows I’ll do what I can, but I’m just a regular person.”
“First of all, you can stop the charade,” Timothy said, fixing his gaze on his companion. “You know what I’m talking about,” he added when Vladimir gave him a quizzical look.
“No, I don’t think I do,” Vladimir said. “Wait. You don’t think that I’m some sort of magician, do you?”
“I said cut the charade,” Timothy retorted. “We both know that you’re lying. I know just as well as you that you’re a magician, so you can stop pretending and help me.”
“But…how do you know that?” Vladimir asked.
“I guess you thought you were pretty clever in hiding the fact, didn’t you?” Timothy said. “And you did a good job of it too, but there were too many instances that you knew things that you shouldn’t have. None of them were obvious, but remember that I am also a magician. I know what to look for, and I can practically smell the magic in you.”
“Okay, you’re right,” Vladimir conceded with a roll of
his eyes. “I am a magician, but I have my reasons for not wanting people to know, so don’t tell anyone.”
“Fine, just help me get us to the top of this cliff. Though it's outside my area of expertise, I did learn how to levitate. I’m not strong enough to lift both of us, so I’ll need you to lift yourself.”
Vladimir nodded, and the two magicians fell to their respective tasks. To an outside observer, it would appear as though the boys were simply standing there. Eventually, however, they began to slowly rise into the air. They floated upward until they were even with the top of the cliff. Drifting sideways until they were not suspended over empty space, they fell the six inches to the ground and collapsed onto the rocky soil.
“Good work there,” Timothy said. He was slightly winded from the magical exertion and was having trouble catching his breath.
“Thanks,” Vladimir gasped. “You know, it just occurred to me that we probably could have done that an easier way and exerted less energy,” he commented when he had recovered enough breath to speak.
“Oh, I know you’re right," Timothy agreed, "I just wanted to test your strength.”
“Well, I don’t think now is the best time to do that,” Vladimir said. “We’re supposed to be moving double time, not wearing ourselves out for stupid purposes.” He climbed to his feet and looked down at Timothy.
“Come on, it’s time to go,” he said and offered his hand to Timothy.
The two boys broke into a jog and worked their way westward through the forest, which began again at the top of the cliff. As they ran, they noticed a marked difference in their surroundings. While the forest had been relatively easy to traverse and pleasant to be in at the bottom of the cliff, at the top it was overgrown with no beaten path to follow. There were no visible flowers or other pleasant sights, and the air was filled with the smell of decay. Though the boys were soon forced to slow to a walk, they still managed to keep up a fairly good pace and didn’t stop for several more miles. In fact, their next break was again forced as their way was blocked by another tall cliff. This time, however, they were at the top of the cliff instead of the bottom.
