Emerald nodded. “Good enough. I just like to know who the decision maker is when I’m talking so I don’t waste my breath.”
“Fine,” Richard said before repeating his question. “So, what are your plans?”
Emerald turned to face Lieutenant Dandridge. “Chancee and I would like to help King Hamerstine break the siege at Cantonsburg.” She made a sweep with her hand at Richard’s group. “I’ve a feeling these nice people are willing to help as well. Do you think you can arrange a meeting with your king? I do have a plan.”
“Possibly,” said Lieutenant Dandridge. “I forgot to mention the king’s my uncle. So what’s your plan?”
“Well,” laughed Emerald, “for starters, it’s to get these men some clean clothes. To be quite frank, the ones they borrowed from your soldiers stink to high heaven.”
“Amen to that, sister,” said Tam, Telsa, Tia, and Trinity at the same time.
Everyone laughed.
Chapter 20 – King Hamerstine
_______________________
The tent of King Hamerstine was sparse. As far as Richard could tell, the king didn’t believe in frills. He was all business. Richard took an immediate liking to the bear of a man. In contrast to Lieutenant Dandridge’s clean-shaven look, the king had a shaggy beard and arm-length hair. The combination really did make him look a little like one of the bears Richard had seen at the zoo when he was young.
Despite the king’s barbarian looks and demeanor, he was smart and mission-oriented. From what the lieutenant had told him during their ride to the army’s encampment, the king’s ancestors had carved out the kingdom of Hamerstonia from the vast forests of the north a thousand years earlier. It hadn’t taken long for Richard to figure out the king had no intention of letting a bunch of orcs destroy his ancestors’ legacy, even if those orcs were backed by flying Dragars.
After a brief demonstration by Jerad and Myers on a couple of wizard-scout abilities, King Hamerstine began grilling the wizard scouts and Emerald on their plans.
“Aye,” bellowed the king after watching Myers deflect a thrown knife using telekinesis. “I’m sure that’s very handy during a small-unit skirmish. Unfortunately, my scouts tell me there are over forty thousand orcs surrounding Cantonsburg as we speak. Can you and your friends be everywhere on the battlefield at once? Are their pools of magic so large they can defeat all forty thousand of our foes?”
Emerald looked at Jerad for support.
“No,” admitted Jerad. “Our Power reserves are finite in size. Once our reserves are empty, we’ll only have our wits and the weapons you’ve kindly provided us.” Jerad drew a longsword from a scabbard at his waist. He gave the king a wry smile. “To be quite honest, most of us haven’t had much training with these types of weapons.”
“As I suspected,” said King Hamerstine. “My army has its share of mages and priests already. I doubt a half dozen more will have much effect one way or the other on the battle’s outcome. A good leader knows to use magic users at the right place and time as a force multiplier. In the end, I’ve no doubt the battle will be decided by brave soldiers swinging swords of steel powered by the strength of their arms.”
“I understand,” said Emerald who appeared undaunted. “However, it may well be that the city of Cantonsburg is the right place and time to use my friends’ strange magic. Besides, I haven’t told you my entire plan.”
The king looked to his left at a grizzled man wearing plate mail. “General Onstott, what do you think, old friend?”
The general passed his eyes over Richard and his friends before answering his king. “Sire, we need at least three more days to gather our forces. It’ll take another seven days of hard marching to make the trek to Cantonsburg. It may well be that there’ll be nothing to save when we get there. Competent though these magic users seem to be, I doubt they’d add much to our forces here. What have we got to lose by allowing them to proceed ahead of us? At the very least, they can act as our messengers and let the garrison at Cantonsburg know we’re on our way.”
The king seemed to mull over his general’s words for a moment. “Very well, dwarf. What’s your plan?”
“My plan is to form a Circle,” said Emerald.
The dwarf’s answer confused Richard. From the looks on the faces of Jerad and Myers, they were equally confused. In contrast, the king seemed to know exactly what Emerald meant.
“Ah,” said King Hamerstine, “I’ve heard legends of the dwarves’ Circle when I was a young child sitting on my father’s knee. The stories were told as fables. If the ability ever existed, I assumed it was lost many generations ago.”
“Perhaps many generations for humans, sire,” said Emerald. “For dwarves, it has been but a single generation in the past. My father, King Lokanstanos, had the ability. He formed a Circle during the final defense of Drepdenor.”
Even after his many missions on Portalis, lack of tact was still one of Richard’s shortcomings. Ignoring any possible faux pas for interrupting royalty without being invited, Richard asked the questions he was sure the other wizard scouts wanted answered as much as he. “What’s this Circle you’re talking about? And how can it help this Cantonsburg?”
The king didn’t appear offended by Richard’s interruption. Instead, he gave a broad smile as he looked at the armored general to his left. Reaching out with his left hand, the king slapped the general on the back. “Ha! I told you this was the one to watch. He tries to stay in the background, but he’s the one in charge. You owe me a keg, old friend.”
General Onstott rubbed his shoulder. Even against plate mail, the bear of a king’s slap must have had some force to it.
“So I do,” said the general with a smile of his own. “I should learn not to bet against you.”
Still smiling, the king looked back at Richard. “Well, Sir Richard, allow me to answer your question. As the legends go, a Circle is the formation of a mystical linking of living creatures. Soldiers are stronger and braver, horses are faster and more fierce, and the spells of mages and priests are more powerful than normal.” With a look that seemed to indicate he doubted the legends, the king said, “Or so the stories go.”
“It’s no legend, sire,” said Emerald a little heatedly. “I saw it with my own eyes. I felt its energy flowing through me. I was only a child at the time, but I remember it as though it were yesterday.”
“You say you’re the daughter of King Lokanstanos?” asked General Onstott. “Have you ever formed a Circle yourself? If so, where? I’ve never heard of it.”
Emerald shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”
“Then why do you think you can do it now?” asked King Hamerstine. “Why risk your life and those of your friends by going to Cantonsburg?”
The dwarf pointed at Myers and Richard. “Because of them. I’ve met someone like them before. Also because of things the Oracle told me. A lot of what he said didn’t make sense at the time but does now. I believe I can form a Circle, and I believe they can help me.”
“Rick,” said Jerad. “Have you been holding something back you should be telling us?”
Richard’s thoughts went back to his time fighting in the spirit-wolf wars. He remembered the Power structure formed by the demon with its minions. While the links between the various life forms hadn’t been completely circular, the links had certainly increased the abilities of the creatures involved.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Richard tried to explain. “I don’t think so. I saw Power manipulated once to form links that were kind of circular, but I certainly don’t know how to do it.”
The king gave Emerald a questioning look. “The risk is yours, dwarf. Since it’s only costing me a few uniforms and some horses, I’ll allow you to go to Cantonsburg. At the very least, you can tell them we’ll be there in ten days. We’ll get there sooner if we can. If you somehow form this Circle of yours to help the defenders hold the city until we get there, more the better.”
“Then we’ll leave at once,” said Em
erald. “Time’s short.”
“So it is,” agreed King Hamerstine.
Lieutenant Dandridge stepped forward before Emerald could move. “Uncle?”
The king looked at his nephew. “Yes?”
“My men and I would like to go with them. You’ve more than enough scouts in the army. We may be more useful at Cantonsburg.”
King Hamerstine eyed the lieutenant for several seconds. “I don’t know. It’s a fool’s errand. My sister would have my hide if you went out and did something stupid like get yourself killed.”
“You know my family’s there, sire.”
“Yes, I do,” said the king. “That’s why I sent your scouting party in the opposite direction. I didn’t want temptation pulling on you.”
Lieutenant Dandridge’s back stiffened until it was ramrod straight. “I’m a soldier of the royal blood. I never have and never will shirk my duty.”
The king held up a hand. “Don’t get your dander up, boy. I didn’t say I thought you’d go derelict on me. I said I wanted to spare you the temptation.”
Slightly mollified, Lieutenant Dandridge said, “My scouts and I are from Cantonsburg. We know the secret paths and ways into the city. Even if the dwarf and her friends get to the city, they’d be hard-pressed to slip past forty thousand orcs without being seen. We could get them inside.”
General Onstott whispered into the king’s ear.
The king nodded. “Very well,” said King Hamerstine. “You and your scouts shall go. However, you’ll go as a colonel, not as a shave-tail lieutenant. You’ll take command of the garrison there for the duration of the crisis. It’ll do the morale of the citizens good to know one of the royal bloodlines is there.” Indicating the others standing around the lieutenant, the king said, “You brought these people here, so you can take responsibility for them.”
The newly appointed Colonel Dandridge snapped to attention and brought his right arm across his chest in a salute. “Yes, sire! I won’t let you down.”
King Hamerstine nodded his head and smiled. “I know you won’t. You remind me of your father. He was a good friend as well as my brother-in-law.”
The king stood and began unstrapping his belt and scabbard. He walked up to his nephew and pulled a large bastard sword from its sheath. “This is Morning’s Twilight. Your father gave it to me as a wedding present. I think it’s high time you had it.”
Richard watched the king’s nephew accept the sword and hold it gingerly in his hands. A blue stone in the handle radiated Power. Richard could tell the cutting edge of the blade was coated with energized titanium.
“Creallium,” whispered Jerad in Richard’s ear.
“Holy Metal,” Emerald whispered using the Portalis term.
A few more pleasantries were passed back and forth, but for all intents and purposes, the meeting was over. Before the hour was out, Richard and his group were riding horses south with Colonel Dandridge and his soldiers.
After all the riding he’d done on the dolgars’ spirit-horse, Richard assumed he’d have no trouble riding a real horse. He was wrong. The use of the reins was difficult, and the leather saddle was none too comfortable. Richard began to appreciate how much the spirit-horse compensated for his lack of skill. His ego was spared a little since most of the other wizard scouts were as unfamiliar with riding horses as him. Much to his chagrin, the only exception was Myers. His brother had mounted his stallion and guided him around like he’d been doing it for years. When questioned by Tam, his brother admitted his mother started him riding horses at an early age. He said she’d always told him he’d never know when the skill might come in handy. Fortunately, once they put a few kilometers behind them, Richard’s riding skills improved enough to allow him to ride while concentrating on something other than remaining in the saddle.
Colonel Dandridge dispatched some of his soldiers as outriders to watch their flanks and rear. He sent two more of his soldiers a couple of hundred meters ahead to spot any possible ambushes.
“Maybe we should tell them they don’t need to scout ahead,” said Telsa. “Our passive scans can keep track of what’s going on around us.”
Richard had been meaning to talk to the other wizard scouts and give them a dose of reality. Telsa’s words told him it was time to do so now.
“Gather in,” Richard said. “I think it’s time I brought you all up to speed on how things work on Portalis.”
The other wizard scouts and Matthew and Tia drew closer.
“I don’t know exactly where we are in time,” Richard admitted, “but we’re pretty far in the past. That I know for a fact.”
Tam twisted in her saddle until she was looking at Richard. “How do you know?”
“I scanned the two mages King Hamerstine had with him,” Richard explained. “The links to their Power reserves were heavily trapped. It’s been my experience the farther back in time I’ve been, the more skilled I’ve found the magic users. The closer the missions have been to our time in the future, the less skilled they’ve been. I did a mission only 2,500 years in the past once, and almost no one knew how to protect the links to their Power reserves.”
Jerad waved his hand to include the other scouts. “You told me before that you protected our links. Even if the magic users here are as skilled as you think, aren’t we safe?”
Richard thought for a moment before answering. “I spent a lot of time at the Academy putting traps on all the weak spots for Tam, Telsa, and you. I may touch up a couple of places on your links if I get a chance, but I think they’ll hold up well against even a determined mage or scout.”
Trinity was riding next to Jerad. She leaned forward to look past her husband at Richard. “You left off Gaston and me. What about us?”
“I’m sorry to say the link to your Power reserve is vulnerable, Trinity,” Richard said. “I put a few traps on it when we’ve been together in the past, but there are still a lot of gaps. I’ll start beefing it up right away if you don’t mind.”
Trinity smiled. “Mind or not, I’m all yours. I’d hate to make a widower of Jerad so soon. So do what you must.”
“What about Gaston?” asked Jerad.
Richard turned around and looked at Myers. His brother was riding near Matthew and Tia.
Myers frowned. “I’ll be fine. You’ve already put traps on my link.”
Richard was almost inclined to accept Myers’s words and move on. Something in his Marine training wouldn’t let him. He was too much of a team player to allow a weakness to threaten the group when he could do something about it.
“You’re not protected enough,” Richard told his brother. “I’ve put enough traps on your link to hold up maybe ten or fifteen seconds. That’s fine for a short fight, but a skilled magic user will eventually get past them. Your link needs to be better protected.”
Richard turned back in his saddle and faced forward. Using a voice loud enough for the others in his group to hear over the creaking saddles and plodding hoofs, Richard laid out his plans. “Emerald told me it’ll take three days to get to Cantonsburg. During those three days, when we’re not riding, we’re going to be training. Myers and Trinity, I’ll work with your links while we ride. Myers, you’re a diviner the same as me. I’ll show you how to protect links and how to break them. When we stop tonight, I’ll also show each of you a little drilling technique I learned for getting past protective shields.”
Tam laughed. “I think school’s back in session, guys.”
“Yeah,” said Telsa. “Just like old times.”
Richard smiled. “Not quite like old times. The difference is that whatever I show you this time may mean the difference between life and death in three days.” Richard paused for a few seconds to let his words sink in before continuing. “Look. I don’t know what’s facing us. However, an army of forty thousand is bound to have a hefty contingent of priests and mages. If we’re as far in the past as I think, then they’re liable to be just as tough as a Crosioian scout. You’ve got to be toughe
r. Don’t let the fact they’re orcs make you think they’re stupid. They’re big and ugly, but they’re smart in their own way. A lot of their units are well-disciplined. Also, most orcs I’ve fought have no sense of fear. They’ll keep coming when a human with any sense would run.”
“Are you trying to tell us their magic users are better than us?” asked Telsa.
“No,” Richard said. “Not at all. I just don’t want you to underestimate them. Their infantry will seek to overwhelm you and keep you off balance while their magic users stay back and combine their spells to break down your defenses. Remember, we don’t have our technology to back up our wizard scout abilities.”
Richard pulled the short sword Colonel Dandridge gave him out of its scabbard. He lifted the weapon for all to see. It wasn’t magic, but the sword was well-balanced and the blade was razor sharp. “We’ll need to use these weapons whenever possible. Save your Power for when you absolutely need it. A prolonged battle will drain you dry. Believe me, I know.”
Telsa pulled her own sword out and turned it over in her hands. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but my skillsets with this little pactar-sticker is lacking to say the least.”
To Richard’s surprise, Myers volunteered to help. “I’ll work with you tonight on that. The commandant insisted I practice with antique weapons as soon as I was old enough to hold one in my hands without dragging it on the floor. I’m pretty good at it. I’ll help anyone who thinks they need a little training.”
Although Richard hated to admit it, he knew his brother was good with swords and knives. During his years at the Academy, Myers had often forced him to spar with antique weapons. He had thought it was a waste of time. He’d found out otherwise. After being sent on a few missions for ‘the One’ without his technology, his skill with a sword or knife had saved his life more than once. He grudgingly admitted some of the tricks his brother had shown him during those practice sessions had paid off.
“What about me?” asked Tia. “I’ve had some fencing lessons, but that’s been about it. I’ve never used anything as heavy as this longsword. I’ll need some practice before we get into any fights.”
Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5) Page 20
