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“No.” Anders didn’t glare at the whining princesses in front of him. It was a coalition of forces, from two different lands, suggesting that they were working too hard. Desiring to stop and rest for a day, instead of doing their work, fixing the roads.
They were standing around him, as he brought in several elk that had been taken from a herd that had wandered too close to the road. They were floating behind him, the huge things making him breathe heavily, as he was blocked from taking them to the makeshift camp site they had for the night. Still, he forced a smile, even if he didn’t feel like doing it, in the moment.
Javina, a bit indelicately, grabbed her own behind, and whimpered.
“But... I’m not used to sitting on a horse like this. I thought I’d be fine. I just...” She wasn’t throwing a fit over it, just seeming pitiful. Salina and even Lissa were about to lead a collapse into a full screaming match, insisting on their privileges, it seemed. It was enough that Depak and Hoatha both walked over, as did Prince Erold.
Anders simply rolled his eyes.
“You, all of you, know healing magics for pain, swelling and inflammation. Use them. Part of taking a trip like this is so that you can learn to push yourselves, when it isn’t easy or simple to do. Ideally, doing that without complaint? No one is comfortable here. Everyone hurts, and is uneasy, riding toward battle. It isn’t that I don’t care about your pain, it’s simply that you, all of you, don’t have to have that going on, if you decide not to. That, remembering to use your powers, is the hardest part of gaining such skills, for many.”
To her credit, Lissa made a small choked sound and started to mutter, under her breath, making some covert hand gestures at her own delicate places. After a mere few lines, she sighed.
Seeing this had Mathia doing it herself, then the others following suit. Salina glared at Anders, seeming honestly annoyed with him.
“You, are not being kind to me, Prince Anders! I’m a guest here in your land and you’re acting as if I’m your slave.” She hardened as Depak moved up next to her, doing his own bit of disapproving, directed toward her location, but modified her words, a small fraction. “You’re at least treating me like a mere student!”
She was doing her yelling in Scara, which had many people looking at her. Most not understanding why one of the mages was suddenly speaking so harshly. Anders simply nodded in her direction.
“This is a goods caravan. If you wish to turn back, you may do so, of course. My purpose isn’t to abuse you in this. I can harden the road myself, if need be.” Faster than the others were doing it, if with more personal work on his part.
The Princess in question stomped, like a child not getting the desired treat, and stormed off, as if she were the wronged party. Anders kind of hoped she was going to go back. They could send the others as well, along with some guards.
The men with him were, at least, willing to hold their own council, in their misery. Depak Sona glared at her, as she walked away, her red tunic and trousers glinting a bit in the gray light coming through the trees. There was a soft wind, which was a bit chilly, though no one was complaining about that, so far. It was enough that Anders was wearing chain mail, with a yellow and red gambeson underneath. That, the padded linen armor was heavy enough to keep him warm.
Several of the others were doing the same thing, including Javina, who made a face at the scene.
“This... I know that I need to do better. Forgive me. I’m not strong, I guess.” She hadn’t used magic to fix her pain, as of yet, and Anders wasn’t going to tell her to do it.
Her younger sister waved at her however.
“You have the magic for this, don’t you?” The tone was a bit bossy and short, but other than having her sneered at a bit, didn’t start a battle.
Just a long stream of spells, which did have Princess Javina sighing, when it was done.
“This is... I thought it might be a little hard, but travel has always been different for me. I’d thought being on the ship was a true trial, and then riding in the back of a wagon. This, sitting on a horse, this is what it’s like for most people, isn’t it?”
Depak laughed then. It was forced, loud, and he threw his bald head back. Hoatha simply smiled and looked away.
Even Erold rolled his eyes a bit and turned slightly, to hide his rude reaction.
The elder magician, Depak, waved at their own line of wagons, which were working to the side of the road, so that people could pass if they needed to.
“No? This is a wealthy caravan, rich with animals to do the work and good wagons, commissioned by powerful individuals. Most people, in all lands, walk, if they wish to travel long distances. They do not sit upon a fine horse, and most never even see carriages, much less use them. So, this, what you and your sisters are complaining about, it isn’t some vast hardship. It is simply not what you have grown used to in life.”
There was a sigh from Javina, but also a slow nod.
“Sorry then, Prince Anders. We should set up for the night? I could... Make a small house for us? To the side? With good beds...” She seemed desperate on the matter, but it wasn’t truly a problem.
It was important to practice, after all. Even making soft beds counted for that. There was no grand virtue to sleeping on the dirt, after all.
Anders shrugged.
“Spread them out. Keep them very small, so we can take them down in the morning, without damaging the woods. Each of us should make something, for ourselves. I’d also like one for the caravan leader. Who’s going to do that?”
Daren raised his hand a bit, wisely standing back, away from the yelling women.
“I can see to that, Anders. We also need to collect water and wood for a fire. How are we cooking those elk?”
He grinned, since it had been a good find, that herd, and having four large animals on the first day would help them stretch their stores. He’d broken down and simply hired six full wagons, which were directly behind the ten being sent to the front with food treats and wine, by Count Verit. Anders had asked for something like that, but hadn’t figured the man would spend that much on it.
They didn’t have any poor camp followers to feed on the trip, either, meaning that everyone else there was a professional traveler and caravanner. Anders even recognized some of them, from his last trip to the front.
“We need to butcher these. I could use some help with that, if anyone knows how to do it? We’ll share the meat out. Everyone gets to cook for themselves, though. We can use a tarp for that?”
He had some small idea as to how to do that, butcher an animal, but the truth was he lacked high level skill in that area. No one with him stepped forward and claimed that sort of thing, either. Everyone stood there for a moment, until Javina, rallying a bit, called out.
“We could use some help butchering these animals?” Her voice was loud and she spoke in Istlan, which had several men and women slowly coming toward them, seeming scared. That was just their fear of magic, of course.
Anders waved to the six people.
“Hello! I’m Andy. I can catch animals, but the truth is I’m not great at butchering them, so any aid we can get that way will help. We’re going to share the meat with everyone, so pass the word on that? It’s free.”
One of the men, who was already unshaved and probably in need of a bath, grunted.
“You just took them? From the King’s woods? That’s a hanging offense.”
Anders nodded, since that was correct, normally.
“King Mathias has given me specific license to hunt here, though. That means we can have a bit extra, as we travel.” He smiled and the man looked around, a bit shiftily, at first.
“Aye? That... Sounds unlikely, don’t it? Still, they’re already dead and if we part them fast, we can bury the bones, so no one is the wiser. You lot the magic types we have along? I noticed the road isn’t knee deep muck. We made twenty miles today, when I expected us to be stopped as soon as the metaled road ran out. That you?” The man waved at the still floating animals, swallowing as if nervous, but not taking his question back.
So, Anders made a point of seeming as normal about that as possible.
“Right. Actually, several of the others did that part for us. They’re students, learning the hardships of real work, and some others who are off to the front, to support the troops there. Don’t be shy about making magical requests of them. Any of them. They’re here to work, after all.”
The man made a half-choked sound, but guffawed and slapped his right leg with his hand.
“Sure, and that won’t have us turned to frogs or whatnot? Let’s get to that butchering? You knew to bleed em, so that’s good. This is a lot of meat. You really passing that out, for free?”
Nodding, Anders started to move, as the others who had come actually walked along with them. Jeld grabbed a tarp, a large waterproof and laid it on the ground, then took off, probably to get wood, and water, along with Daren. Prince Erold had to get the ladies with them to do that part, since they had no clue as to how it was supposed to be done.
Hoatha moved in with the butchers, and started to handle one of the animals on his own, using a hooked knife that was on his belt. As they did that, Anders trying to help two women with one of the bigger beasts, and largely getting in the way, people started to talk. As if they were friends already.
The woman next to him, who smelled of sweat and had lanky brown hair, lines on her face and who was only in her second decade, not being too much older than Daren was, smiled at him.
“If we’re going to have good roads, we won’t take too long to get to the front. This is going to last, you think? The new road? Does it go away as we pass?”
Trying to take the skin off, through his own effort, a sharp knife running up smoothly, he nodded.
“This will probably last some decades, if not longer. Even today we were slowed by the wagons, not by the lack of people to do the magics. We can also fix wagons, if they break, faster than we might otherwise, so the biggest issue will be animals needing to be cared for. Speaking of which, I should call in some fodder for them. After we do this, though.”
His new road friend spoke again, smiling. She had all her own teeth still, it seemed.
“That’s useful then. All this magic is frightening, but useful, all the same. Back in Losly, where I come from, we had a woman who could grow trees into pretty much anything she wanted. Houses, wagons, even chairs and tables. Not a popular woman. Mean, since no one was that kind to her. Can you do that kind of thing, you think?”
Already separating the joints, Hoatha nodded.
“He can. Probably not in exactly the same way, but the basic idea isn’t a bad one. I heard that you here in Istlan have recently started to accept magic as being normal and even helpful? What was it your King said, Anders? That magic is no more than a tool, like what a blacksmith might use, to shape metal?”
They were lying, since the King hadn’t said that at all, at least that Anders knew about, but he nodded as he worked.
“Right. It’s moving across the land and people are growing more used to such things. We aren’t weak that way any longer and a lot of people are moving to learn various types of magic now.” He grinned at the women, both of whom clearly knew when they were being sold a bill of goods.
So he grinned.
“Which is a good thing to spread around, if it comes up in conversation?”
The first man, who seemed a bit gruff, made a disgruntled noise and glared at Anders a bit.
“I heard there was an attack on the King last night? No one knows what it was, except that some foreign magician battled it back. You fold, some of you, came from the castle, didn’t you? Do you know of that, or is it just talk? No one said the King was hurt or dead.”
Hoatha, moving faster than the rest of them, while also doing as good or better of a job, glanced up at the man and shrugged.
“It was a man of Yanse, ridden by a slough. A dark being of magic. He went for Anders here though, not your King Mathias. Depak, the bald dark-skinned man over there? He and some of the students bound the thing in a pot, so it won’t be a problem again. The Yansian lives, but is blind. Captured by the guard in the castle.”
The gruff, unshaved, man looked hard at Anders, then.
“Why would he go for you, in particular?”
“I don’t honestly know. Probably just to prevent us from traveling today, really. There was a stone golem created, but it wasn’t that fast, so I ran back and forth, keeping it busy, while Master Depak did the real work of capturing the thing. I need to learn to do that, myself. I think the real point is that the King wasn’t even targeted by Yanse, this time. Just me, some castle boy, so it wasn’t as serious as all that. He’d tried to stab me first. Duke Cohen. At least that was the name he’d given. He was taken in as a kindness, and then betrayed us, after taking an oath to the King and kingdom here.”
They spoke then, as they worked, with Daren coming back, a night’s worth of wood floating behind him, covering several different topics. If the men and women there minded the magic, they didn’t complain about it.
Unlike the princesses, who managed to dislike his cooking, got grumpy about carrying buckets of water, even when the Great One of Barquea was doing that himself to set a good example for them. Then they managed to be most embarrassing, carrying on, even after darkness had fallen. It made the whole night unpleasant, since at least one of them, possibly more, kept summoning water into his tiny hut. It was annoying enough that after the third time he simply slept outside, under the stars. That meant he was up before true light hit.
That started a constant barrage of magical pranks, mainly targeting him. He knew who was doing it, since it was a combination of Salina, Javina and Mathia. At least the younger two weren’t actually angry when they did it, just trying to be cute and playful. His temper still frayed, as the days passed and on the tenth day he’d had just about enough. He nearly lashed out, at least with words and had, more than once, contemplated revenge.
Salina was strong in magic, but Anders was still better at it and was willing to kill, if the need arose. Not that her naughty annoyances deserved that level of response. He knew that. On some level. Still, he waved the magic group over, smiling.
“This is the last day, for the ladies.” Dreading the words, he looked at Salina. It was hard enough that she went wide eyed at the move. Possibly recalling that when they’d practiced combat magics together, she always managed to lose. Almost instantly.
Daren also tended to beat her, rather handily, in fact. She was strong, but one on one fights were often about more than that.
“Princess Salina... You’ll be riding to the front with us. That means your jests will have to stop. From this point on we all have assume that any strange magics we can’t instantly identify is an attack. All of us must be prepared to fight, constantly, now.” He felt like making a more direct accusation, because her tricks hadn’t been meant well at all, but instead of forcing her to give a false apology that she didn’t mean, he got ready to stop her from throwing a fit. Using guilt, if it was needed.
Instead, Depak did it for them.
“Indeed, Princess Salina... While humorous, your other activities won’t work for us now. Also, no more carrying on. Things are rather more serious, from this point forward. Understood?” The tone wasn’t even scolding or dark. Just bland.
As if everyone simply accepted that her attacks on him had been about flirting or being interesting. Which, even in his own annoyance, he could see that was part of her intent. Not the flirting, so much, but that, to her, he was practically a brother, or perhaps cousin. A person to lightly torment, as long as they didn’t actually become violent.
Now he simply nodded in her direction, doing his best not to hate her, just a bit. It mainly worked, if only through an act of will.
Her voice was, suddenly, a bit hesitant.
“I... Didn’t think I was actually going to the front. That’s just a thing Anders was saying, to make me work harder. Why would you take me with you?”
That was true, of course, but Hoatha went slightly wide eyed. They were all speaking in Istlan, which meant that he did the same. Without notable accent.
“Why would that be needed? You have been put forward as the new Great One of Barquea. A thing that wasn’t even a title until you came along. I’m certain that you’ll meet that challenge. Still, pranks against people going to war won’t be welcome. Thankfully. I was afraid for a few days that you were going to be turned bright yellow or some such.”
Anders nodded before she could claim that wasn’t possible.
“Salites nisk wol, endri fen ot...”
He didn’t have to point at her, having used his secret name for Salina. She turned a rather lovely, bright shade of yellow, with a pattern of small green and red flowers, all over her skin.
Looking at her arms, the Princess, finally, smiled.
“So, being the target of such things really is bothersome, is that your point, Prince Anders?”
There were at least twenty people watching, some having gone wide eyed when he’d caused her to turn colors in a nicely patterned fashion. Again, he simply bowed, as Erold and Daren both tried to hide their smiles. Depak simply glared at him.
“I’d just suggested that the time for such things was done?”
That required a second bow.
“Of course, Great One. Fen.” He waved at her when he spoke the release word, allowing her to change back to her normal, lovely, appearance.
Then Anders clapped his hands.
“That was the last such thing, until the end of the war. Agreed, Salina? Everyone?” There were nods then, which, he had to allow, should be enough to stop the activities.
Then he got back to work.
“Princess Lissa, please keep them on task and see that Master Tolan, and as she will, Queen Maura, keep up with their studies? Fenris Gull, as well. From this point onward, I want at least one person on look out, using wizardry, at all times. I’ll take the first watch. Search for everything. Horses in the area, men on foot, any sense of magic or ill intent. Even extra fires that seem untended. We’ll change every two hours for that. Draw lots to see who’s going to be woken up and when. No one shirks their duty.”
That went over about as well as he would have thought it might. He hated being woken up to work as well, and if you were doing wizardry in the dark, you pretty much had to stand up to do it, or you would fall asleep. Smiling he mentioned that part of things.
“We need to do that on our feet. That way when you fall asleep, the tipping over will warn you of that change of state. I’m not joking. Even if you stand next to your bedroll or hut, outside. It’s a pain, but we either take things seriously now, or people die for the lack.”
There was a smile, from Depak, who brushed at his mustache with his right hand. It was short and well-trimmed, but still solidly there.
“Agreed, Master Anders. Those traveling forward from this point need to prepare for the hardships of true war. Now, we should collect fuel for the fire and perhaps some greens?”
That got a nod, having been the habit of the last few days. Each night one person was selected to summon things to them, for the meal. Bitters and fresh fruits, if possible. It hadn’t been very much on the last score, since, naturally, it was too early in the year for anything to be ripe. Even the bee hives were far from full of honey. It was better to leave all of that kind of thing for the ones doing the work, the bees, than not, given that factor.
Still, they had fresh leaves of various sorts and some young cabot root, which was starchy, but not that hard to eat. As he cooked, Anders tried to seek out information about the world around them. The knights with them were uneasy, but he wasn’t finding any attacks incoming. Which didn’t mean they weren’t. He’d missed that kind of thing before, after all. Clever tricks could, at times, hide one from wizard skills.
Anders also ran a physical search of the area, before they lost the last of the light. He was joined by Squire Fain, who looked nearly haunted, as they walked in a large circle.
The other boy took a deep breath.
“I dread going back to the war. To have to kill again.”
Anders simply nodded, not speaking for a long while. When he finally did, there was a weight to his own words that matched the tone of the Squire.
“I know. Both that you don’t wish that and that I don’t wish to, either. Except, of course, that I truly do, which no doubts mean I’m either a fool or a monster.” He grinned then. “Though, a person did mention to me once that the term monster was generally held back for those who ate those they killed. I think we’re safe that way, at least?”
The words got a smile at least, from the taller boy. He was nearly a head taller than Anders was, still, even if he’d been growing. Both had, so they were evenly matched that way, for the moment.
“Your mother said that? Or, was it perhaps one of the southern magicians?”
Anders shrugged.
“Truly? It was an old pirate, on a ship that had been taken in battle. Even he, a man who had seen dozens of battles or more, had agreed that going to war was a foolish thing. Also, at times, a needed one. I have no doubt that both of us will do our duty. Well, too. Even the former servants with us will.” That wasn’t a thing he was totally certain of, on Jeld’s part. Daren would stand fast in the face of an army, even if his own death came for him. He’d gotten close enough to that before to show his mettle, after all.
The other man was less certain. Acting like he wasn’t brave might make that happen though, so Anders was willing to pretend hard for his sake.
Fain was in a situation much like himself, of course. Anders was seeking information from the world, so picked up things about the man next to him, at the same time.
“Oh? So you don’t think that I’m a coward, for not feeling easy about returning to the front lines? It has been hinted at, by some others.” He glowered then, as if he’d taken true offense at the idea.
“Not even in the slightest. Indeed, you’re braver than many a fighting man. Your fear, if we call it that, is only that you might enjoy death too much. Which, away in a keep or castle in time of peace, is a very good concern. Now... Here, going to war, put that thought away. Simply allow yourself to be good at your chosen task and don’t bother yourself with concern for the enemy. We can’t survive, in our hearts, if we do too much of that.”
He wasn’t certain his words would make sense, until a nod came.
“I know. When I dream of battle, I feel the thrill of it. The blood lust that happened on the field of battle, in the last campaign. Everyone else I’ve spoken to of that failed to understand. Isn’t that odd?”
He shook his head then, scanning the forest for any sign of activity which didn’t belong. Nothing was there. Not even the stirring of birds in the trees.
“No? You spoke to good people, with pure hearts, who know, secretly, that they would be at risk of failure in their nerve, if they were in the same place. They have no place for the idea that others don’t feel like they do. So... Don’t worry over it? You are simply one of those built for war. When you return home, you will have to fight to be a good person again, but now? Simply free your heart and try not to be cruel beyond measure.”
He was, naturally, speaking to himself, perhaps more than the boy next to him. The man, by all measures of worth and value. The Squire had killed five to seven in battle, man to man, already. Anders had killed so many more that he refused to truly try to count them. Tens of thousands and even saying that was a lie, meant to make him seem less like a fiend. A dark tally he didn’t at all doubt he was going to be increasing, shortly.
So, naturally, he spoke words to Fain that he needed to hear, himself. There was a knock on the arm then, as Fain walked away, keeping to his rounds. Anders simply needed to go and make a small hut, raising it with magic, then pull his newest bow, one not made by himself at all, just grabbed from the bowyers. He still did that every day he couldn’t fire it. Three hundred times. This one was a man’s war bow, but the lightest kind used in real battle.
It took a while for him to do all of that, and when he laid down for the night, he wasn’t hit with globes of water falling on him, or flashes of light going off every few hours, to wake him. Instead, it was, simply, a normal night. Finally.
Before dawn he checked the oxen, his six wagons and all the horses. One of them, a horse being ridden by one of the knights, needed its shoe fixed. He took care of that, carefully, still nearly being kicked in the head by the mighty beast. Then he ran his mind out, making certain first that no attack would come soon and then to ensure the wagons were all sturdy and ready for the day. He actually had to go to the back of the line and do more healing work, as well as wagon repair, before they left, then ride Brownie to the front, after waving goodbye to most of the girls who had traveled with them.
Then, for the entire length of the day, he cleared the way of water, on his own, and improved the road, hardening it, as he rode, at the very front of the line. The Caravan Master wasn’t that happy about the idea, since that was his place, normally but he did mention enjoying the better roads.
When they stopped for the night, when he was planning to go and get some food in, he found that Daren had already done it. Also, the man had made a small house for him. One nicer than the little things they’d been making and destroying each day. Technically it wasn’t just for him, since they all shared it. Then, in the morning, before they left, Salina was tasked, by him, to place some carvings and decorations on it, and make it brightly colored.
Then, not being asked, she moved to the front of the line and did her part, taking the water from the road and making it drivable. A thing that clearly wasn’t fun for her. It hadn’t been for him, either, so Anders merely watched her work and kept his mind out for attacks.
Nothing came, thankfully.
On the day after that, Daren suffered a turn doing the same thing, barely making it. Meaning Jeld was the one at the front of the line when they got to the military encampment.
Anders headed that way, as the road was hardened, right up to the gate of the camp. The men there went wide eyed, but didn’t seem upset to see them.
Before he could speak, Depak and Hoatha both rode up, with the younger seeming, much older fellow smiling.
“Now you and I will rebuild this into a proper camp, Son?”
Depak nodded.
“I do think that is the plan, Father. Perhaps we should find out what the General here would like first?”
That being General Coelder, Anders thought. It was harder than it seemed like it should be, standing back and doing nothing, as a fabulous city grew around them out of the very earth they stood upon. Given who was doing the work, it didn’t take long at all, of course.