Warlords Rising (26 page)

Trev’nor sat at the table in the inn’s taproom and waited as
everyone settled into place. Danyal had commandeered a map from someone and
spread it out on the table for everyone to see, the ends weighted down with
cups and forks and knives to keep them from curling up. Azin sat next to him,
looking small and shaken, her hands clenching and unclenching in her lap.
Facing the warlord terrified her—it was written all over her face.

Under the cover of the table, Trev’nor put a hand over both
of hers and squeezed. She started in her seat, coming half out of it, head
snapping around. “Relax,” he murmured to her, for her ears only. “There’s no
need to be nervous.”

“Sanjar Trexler is not a good opponent,” she whispered back,
voice shaking. “He’s a petty sort of man with an ugly temper. He’s coming with
the largest army that you’ve ever seen, I promise you that. Few can stand in
his path.”

“You’ve met this man before?”

She shook her head roughly. “Not face to face. I was working
on the defenses for Trexler when he walked by. I saw him from a distance. He’s
a cruel, spoiled man.”

“Good. Spoiled men make stupid mistakes.” Trev’nor had to
smirk when she gave him that patented ‘are you joking’ look. “Azin, I’m not
worried about defeating his army.”

The room was still enough that his words carried past the
table and he could hear people creeping in closer. To bolster their morale, he
repeated in a louder voice, “I’m not worried about defeating his army. Five
Mages alone are an army by themselves. That doesn’t even include the dragons.
Plus, this idiot was foolish enough to leave his protective walls and come out
in the open to lay siege against us. He’d have lasted a little longer behind
them.”

“The only thing we’re worried about is leaving you
defenseless while we’re gone,” Nolan stated, glancing up from his study of the
map. He was leaning half over the table, but straightened enough to look around
the room in general. “I think the dragons will protect you, in case this march
of Trexler’s is a diversion to draw us out, but we want to make sure that nothing
happens to you while we’re fighting.”

They’d made that mistake once. No one cared to make it
again. “Can we do a ward here?”

“Well, we can,” Nolan admitted, although his tone indicated
doubt. “But it will interrupt trade if we do that and I’d rather not impact the
city’s economy that way. I mean, if it’s a temporary thing, say a day or two,
then I don’t think it would do much harm.”

“Ward?” Ehsan repeated the foreign word carefully, mouth
maneuvering around the syllables.

“A protective shield that will cover the city as a whole,”
Nolan explained. “It will keep enemies out.”

“Only people the ward recognizes can go in and out,”
Trev’nor sought to further explain. “We left a ward on Rurick to keep it
protected.”

Danyal made a sound of enlightenment. “Is that what that
is?”

Trev’nor cocked a brow at him, still holding onto Azin’s
hand, although she was losing some of her nervousness under their calm
discussion. “You know what we’re talking about?”

“Yes, I do. Warlord Trexler was very angry about it. He wanted
to retake Rurick but couldn’t get any men through.”

That was interesting news. They’d assumed, as they hadn’t
seen any evidence of it, that the warlord was not interested enough in Rurick
to come and reclaim it. Apparently he had tried only to be rebuffed so
thoroughly by the ward that he was forced into a retreat. At least a temporary
one. Still, to not even leave a few scouts? Was the man that arrogant, or what?

“Wards make him mad?” Becca gave a happy sound of evil
delight. “Then I vote yes. Wards?” she asked, holding up a hand for agreement.

Nolan lifted a hand immediately. “Wards.”

“Wards it is,” Trev’nor finished with a lifted hand. “Hey,
do either of you know if a witch or wizard needs a focusing wand for the ward
spell?”

Becca ventured uncertainly, “I don’t think they do…?”

“They don’t,” Nolan stated with certainty. “The spell itself
is their focusing tool. Why? Do you think we should include everyone in this?”

“Wouldn’t that make the ward that much stronger?”

“Can’t disagree with you there.” Nolan thought about it a
second before offering, “And actually, that’s a really good thing to teach them
before we leave.”

It really was, now that Trev’nor thought about it. It was
the ultimate way to protect themselves even if they didn’t have the means to
fight. “Then let’s do that today. Alright. What do we know about his way here?”

“He will take the trade route,” Danyal informed them,
tracing a finger along the road. “It’s the most direct path.”

“How long will it take?”

“Three days.”

Nolan asked, “How big of an army? Do we know?”

“It depends on what is happening up north. Also how many he
chooses to leave behind to guard Trexler. I would venture a guess of three to
four thousand.”

“What about this land? Is it flat? Rocky?” Becca asked.

“Yes, both of those,” Danyal confirmed.

Azin found her voice enough to speak up. “I’ve traveled up
there a few times. It’s mostly flat, with some craggy sections and a few minor
hills that are mostly sand dunes. There’s no one living in that section. Water
is impossible to find.”

“Perfect place for a battle, then,” Trev’nor observed.
Judging that Azin had summoned up her courage, he let go of her to tap the map.
“We don’t have to worry about hurting people or damaging anything out here. We
can cut loose.”

Becca eyed the map as if envisioning the landscape. “So if
that’s the case…still no tornados?”

Nolan glanced up at her from under his eyebrows. “Bec. I’ll
let you discuss that with your dragon and see what she says.”

“Oh,” Becca said with dawning realization. “Right. Tornados
and flying would not mix well, would it?”

“Understatement, Bec, complete understatement.”

“Shrieking hinges,” she swore. “I did not think of that.
Alright, no tornados. So what do we do?”

“First, we need to divide this up.” Nolan tilted his torso
to look at the man hovering at his side. “Commander, how much of that army is
likely mounted?”

“About half. It is routine for every force to be
half-mounted, half on foot. Our tactics work best that way.”

Nolan turned to the rest of the table. “I can dismount them
and cause some havoc in the ranks first thing. I’ll be in charge of an aerial
attack. Also, I think I should be point of contact for everyone as I can
communicate with all of the dragons.”

That made sense to Trev’nor. “Shall I create some fatal funnels,
then? Break up the ranks, give us some dividing lines so that we know who
should be attacking which part? I’d rather we didn’t bumble into each other.”
Bad things would follow.

“Sounds good,” Nolan agreed. “You do that before the army
even gets there, I think. Then fight as you see fit. Becca?”

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, her focus was on the
other two mages at the table. “I think we need them to get their feet wet with
this. Azin, what can you do?”

The Elemental Mage looked jarred to be suddenly called out
and was not one bit thankful for it. She stammered, eyes darting anywhere but
to the person speaking to her, and paused for several long and awkward seconds.
“Um, weapons?”

“Oh? Good thought, that one. Disarming them will help us
later.”

Azin blushed at this small praise and sat a little
straighter. “I will deal with their weapons.”

Nolan nodded in approval. “Ehsan, from the description of
this place, I’m not sure if you’ll have any water to work with. We might need
you to go ahead with Trev’nor and create some water traps.”

Becca negated this with a shake of the head. “My storm will
give him all of the water he needs. He can fight with the rain I call.”

Trev’nor was very glad she offered that as he felt like
Ehsan would be a formidable fighter, given some more experience and practical
application with his magic. “In that case, you two better stick close to each
other and coordinate what you’re doing.”

The man didn’t give any overt signs of relief, but the way
he relaxed into his chair instead of sitting at the very edge of it gave his
emotions away. Ehsan was ready to fight at any time but that didn’t mean he had
any confidence of how to go about it.

Danyal lifted a questioning finger. “What can we do?”

“Help us after we’ve defeated them,” Becca answered
promptly. “Once they’re disarmed, round them up, take charge of them. Our magic
can’t be sustained forever. It’s best if we hit them first and you handle
cleanup this round.” She must have seen the slightly dissatisfied look on his
face as she assured him, “We can learn how to fight with each other for the
next battle later, after we deal with this situation.”

“I understand, Raya. I will explain this to my men and make
preparations.”

“I think we more or less know what to do, then.” Nolan stabbed
at the map. “Here. I think we need to meet him about here. It’s a day away from
Trexler and Tiergan, so the odds of us accidentally damaging anything is very
low. That also gives us the rest of the day to prepare before leaving. On
dragon-back, we should be able to catch the army about noon tomorrow. Any
objections?”

“Wait, you think we can teach magical novices a warding
spell in the space of an afternoon?” Trev’nor protested.

“If we can’t, we use the people that do know how to do it
and move on. We don’t have a lot of time here, Trev.”

Well, granted, that was true but still….

Nolan was already moving on. “Ehsan, Azin, we need to talk
to the dragons and see who is willing to give you a ride there. You’ll need to
be on dragon-back while you fight so I suggest you learn how to ride one today
before we leave.”

Trev’nor half-expected an objection from Azin, but instead
her lips parted with an expression of wonder.

“I can ride one?” she breathed, hands clasped at her heart.

“If you ask, yes, I’m sure one of them will let you.” Nolan
gave him a pointed look.

Oh, right, in order for them to ride one Trev’nor would have
to create more saddles.

“With them, we need the soldiers who agreed to fight with us
to also learn how to ride,” Becca added.

“Now wait one minute,” Trev’nor objected. “I can’t create
that many saddles all at once!”

“Do as many as you can,” Becca urged. “Those that can’t ride
this trip can be carried over, but it will be easier on our dragons to fight
without shielding a passenger or landing with only three paws.”

She really made too much sense for him to argue with her.
Trev’nor resigned himself to making saddles. Quickly. If he enlisted some help
from Azin and some of the leatherworkers in town, then he should be able to
make more in a few hours. “I’ll get on that. Ah, I take it you’ll explain the
battle plan to our winged friends outside?”

“They’ve been listening in,” Nolan assured him off-handedly.

Becca propped her chin in her hand, leaning over the table.
“Just how good
is
their hearing, anyway?”

“Like you would not believe.” Nolan gave her an enigmatic
smile. “Becca, I think you’re the only one free to teach people the warding
spell.”

“It looks like I am. Alright, I’ll do that, then. Ehsan, come
with me. I know you can’t stay for long, you have riding lessons, but at least
help translate so that they understand what it is I’m trying to teach them to
do.”

“Certainly,” Ehsan agreed readily.

Nothing went smoothly, of course. Plans never do. Nolan
ended up borrowing his and Trev’nor’s saddles and putting the new riders on
Llona and Garth for the lessons so that the dragons could half-teach the
riders. Trev’nor worked feverishly in gathering all of the supplies and making
the saddles while that was going on, cursing whenever he hit a snag and
cheating outrageously with magic whenever possible. One would think, after
making three of these, he would now more or less have the system down. But nooo,
things kept going wrong at every possible turn. Likely because he was rushing.
Things always went badly when a craftsman tried to rush.