Chapter 17 – The Dragon and the General
What were we going to do?
I shook my head as I stood outside the Candlebar Inn, watching the snowflakes float in the breeze. Inside, Alye and Philipia were trying to get the villagers together and figure out a plan, but for once, I just couldn’t listen. The thought of gathering for battle made me sick. So I leaned against the cold wood and listened to the whistling of the breeze. It was the only sound, for no kids were running around outside playing or pretending to play in the snow.
The sound of a shutting door startled me and I turned to see Redmond standing in front of the closed entrance to the inn. He had a rough bandage on his cheek from the arrow wound and his eyes didn’t twinkle. “Are you alright?”
I didn’t know how to answer. Such a simple question. “I don’t know.” And with that statement, I cupped my head in my hands and stopped all thought.
The touch of a hand on my shoulder made me look up. Redmond was watching me closely with sympathy. “Look, we don’t have any choice. If we don’t fight, Delroy will kill every single one of us. At least if we meet him in battle, we’ll have a chance.”
“It…it’s not just that. I’ve never…killed anyone. And the thought of having to do that…that scares me way more than anything else.”
“Then don’t. Use a spell that will knock them out. Believe me, you’ll be fine. You’re a sorceress, and you’re more than a match for one of Delroy’s bodyguards.”
Somehow, that made me feel much better. I gave a small smile and walked back into the inn.
Inside, the entire village filled every last chair and some resorted to sitting on tables or the counter or standing against the walls. All in all, we had maybe 200 people. Which wasn’t bad except for the fact that I was pretty sure Lord Delroy’s forces were roughly two or three times greater. Not cool.
To my surprise, Kymber wasn’t there and I glanced around, wondering where she’d gone. A couple minutes later, when the door was flung open, we all turned in apprehension. Thankfully, it was Kymber.
And her dad.
“Father agrees he should help us by using his blacksmith skills,” Kymber announced, startling us all. The older man nodded and raised his hand.
“I’ll be making swords and mail, as many as I can. Anyone who needs a shield, you can make one out of tree trunks and branches. But my job will be with metal. Everyone who doesn’t already have some kind of armor, line up here now.”
There was a loud scramble as three quarters of the village surged to the entrance in front of the blacksmith. He slowly went down the line, taking arm and waist measurements with a long measuring rod while Kymber jotted them down. This was going to take a while, so the rest of us decided to bail. I wanted some peace and quiet so I could practice my magic.
As far as I knew, these two weeks might be the last chances I would ever get.
Wandering through the snowy village several hours later, trying to concentrate on the rock floating in front of me, I suddenly felt a blast of heat from the right. Startled, I dropped the rock and turned abruptly, staring in surprise.
I’d never seen a blacksmith’s forge. This one was in full tilt, built as just a few columns of wood with a high roof and looking hastily constructed, with Kymber’s father hammering, melting, and shaping all kinds of metallic objects. It almost looked like he had five pairs of hands, he was working so fast. Kymber was racing back and forth with boxes of scrap metal for her father to use, and by the look on her face, she was loving every minute of it. Also standing nearby, happily checking on the hot swords in one of the ovens was Alye, who had sweat covering her face when she looked at me but a wild grin on her features. She was totally in her element. I shook my head and stifled a laugh, walking away before I was conscripted into joining the metallurgy.
The snow continued to fall, soaking through my completely inadequate clothing and penetrating the blanket I had draped around my shoulders. Tired of looking at the sad brown buildings, I decided to take a hike in the nearby forest, where the white clouds of flakes coated the trees like sugar. Speaking of which, I wished I had some. I hadn’t tasted sugar since we first landed in Glovebern. A pity.
My feet led me to Lunae’s house, where to my surprise, I found a score of horses that we’d previously managed to steal from the barracks. Less to my surprise, I saw Philipia walking around with them, stroking them but not smiling. Instead, she had a look of intense concentration, the same kind that she had whenever she was doing a particularly difficult shapeshift.
“What’re you up to?” I asked as I walked up to the horses, one of which was the blood bay Aubrey had given her so long ago. The shapeshifter looked up, startled, and her meditating faded.
“Nothing, just hanging with the horses. This place is actually kinda warm because of all the horses and all the heat they’re generating.” Before she could go on a long lecture about horse characteristics, I stopped her.
“Philipia, what are we doing here?”
She glanced at me, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
I approached one of the equines, a flea-bitten gray mare that tossed her head but allowed me to pat her muzzle. “This whole…battle. This whole rebellion. We’re leading a bunch of people into a battle that we have no freaking idea how to fight in. What was I thinking when I gave that stupid speech?”
My friend walked closer and crossed her arms over her chest. “Tanya, you know perfectly well that this is a good thing. These people needed it. And if we hadn’t done it, they would’ve cracked eventually and done it themselves. Besides, this way, they at least have a chance.” She nodded encouragingly and watched for my reaction.
I decided to change the subject. “Where’s Lunae?”
“She’s out teaching archery again. Got some good progress too.”
I was silent for a minute and patted the gray mare again. “I guess Alye will be teaching sword fighting lessons. What jolly fun.” And to my wonder, I felt myself smiling.
The days passed swiftly. I helped Alye teach villagers in classes of twenty on how to handle a sword, block, and other such skills, while Kymber’s dad churned out weapons at an incredible rate. He also made mail and shields, and every day there was a line of people waiting for new equipment. Lunae brought her archery lessons to the main street, helping her students improve on accuracy and quick-drawing. But apparently Philipia had the best job, for she got to train some of the recruits how to fight on horseback. Sometimes, if her grin had gotten any bigger, it would’ve split her face.
We received no more messages from Lord Delroy and Alye occasionally fretted over Aubrey’s silence, but we didn’t have time to worry about that. Redmond seemed to have resigned himself to not seeing the castle again and flung himself into every sword lesson he could get. Sometimes I worried about him.
One day, the second-to-last morning before our fight, I sat in the back room of the Candlebar Inn with Violet, trying to heal things with my magic. I’d asked her to tutor me since she was our chief physician and she’d know about this. I’d purposely scratched myself several times but I still couldn’t figure out how to knit the stupid skin back together. Very annoying!
“Focus,” Violet hissed as I felt my concentration lapse in frustration. “You’re not going to do this if you don’t FOCUS.”
“I’m TRYING!” I growled back, my arm stinging. I closed my eyes again, gave a few breaths, and put my staff on my arm. I opened my eyes and tried to force the magic to heal the minor scrapes. Finally, after much sweating and a major headache, I saw small wisps of blue flow out of my staff and circle around the scratches. The stinging immediately stopped and I halted the flow of magic, grinning in pleasure at my newly-healed arm. Finally.
Alye burst through the door, jerking me out of my euphoria. “Tanya, Violet, come on, we’re having a practice battle run. Let’s go!” She was gone again before I had a chance to say anything.
In the streets, the pure white flakes swirled in the faint wind. The entire village was gathered, holding branches and things instead of pointy objects (too much risk of stabbing each other). Quickly, Philipia and Alye led them out to one of the snow-covered fields and we all got in formation. I was in the front with my two friends, while all those who’d taken Lunae’s archery class were in the back. Riders were in the front behind us three, and the villagers who used swords or spears were bunched in the middle. Not bad for a grassroots campaign.
For several hours, we practiced charging, splitting into groups, combat, and other such lovely things. By the time the sky began to darken, we were all exhausted, panting, and freezing. Time for a drink at the Candlebar Inn. We all crowded inside and sipped at hot liquid. I didn’t care what my glass held, but when I took a sip, I nearly choked in astonishment. It was like peanut butter and even had a bit of cream in it. Apparently, Clance had taken a large collection of nuts, boiled them, and mashed them like coffee. A great alternative.
It was time.
The day of the battle dawned, and for once it wasn’t snowing, but the cloudy gray sky didn’t bode well for clear weather. We dressed warmly, seized any available armor and all our weapons, and soon the entire village was gathered in the main street. Everyone had a weapon of some kind and most had mail on, at least on their chests. Philipia was nowhere to be seen, but Lunae walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “She’s meeting us at the battlefield. I think she wants to try something extra-powerful for the fight.” I nodded. This was it. This was the moment we’d been waiting for and dreading for two weeks. With a nod to Alye and a lot of shouting, we formed a tight formation and strode up the streets, flecks of hard snow just beginning to dance. Swiftly we walked down the frozen street, crossing several empty fields until we reached the place where we would meet Lord Delroy’s forces. Our group assembled on a small hill, a forest in the back of us. Another hill created a valley, and in the distance we could see the castle, high stone walls almost mocking us, as if saying “How dare you challenge us?” But we did dare.
“LOOK OUT!” someone screamed and I instinctively ducked for cover, flinging myself onto the blanket of white frost and snow that covered the ground. I dared to take a peep up.
What I saw almost made my heart stop.
A huge shape cut across the sky, something I’d only seen in fantasy movies. Black and green scales with huge black wings sliced through the air and landed with a hard thump not five yards from my outstretched hand. I raised my eyes and locked my gaze with a pair of sparkling emerald eyes that had a familiar look of sarcastic humor in them.
Philipia.
Also known as Philipia the fire-breathing lizard dragon of dooooom.
Forcing my limbs to work, I scrambled to my feet and heard Alye’s voice cry out, “Totally NOT fair!”
The great dragon growled a bunch, but alas, I didn’t have my handy guide to dragonspeak.
Or maybe I did. Kymber stepped up slowly, a look of pure shock on her face. Her green and purple eyes threatened to bug out of her head, but she stood her ground as Philipia glanced at her and gave another series of growls. The redhead turned to me. “I can understand what she’s saying.”
“Well what IS she saying?” Alye demanded.
“That she’s been working on this for two weeks now and she wants to know what you think.”
A familiar laugh from behind me made me turn my head. Redmond, clad in mail and with a bright sword hanging from his belt, was chuckling. “Judging by how everyone else reacted, I’d say you’ve done a bloody good job!” he grinned.
Philipia gave a low, vibrating grumble that apparently meant she was laughing. Alye’s expression also conveyed her feelings clearly.
Selene piped up, “As leaders of the Rebellion, don’t you get some special mount? I think this can count.”
Our resident dragon laughed again and obligingly lowered her back until Alye and I could scramble on. She then abruptly flapped her huge wings and burst into the air, soaring around the miniature valley a couple times before landing again and scattering snow everywhere. Heart greatly lightened, I looked ahead and waited for Lord Delroy’s forces to appear.
A burst of a deep horn alerted us and we stared at the hill on the other side. It wasn’t that far away and we could clearly see the features of the people who were striding up the hill, proud, nervous, and even a few who looked like they were on the verge of hurling. Their commander came riding up on an almost blood red horse and I smirked, wondering what idiot Delroy had appointed to lead this group. The guy pushed his hood back.
I froze.
Blond hair. Pale skin. That condescending look I’d seen all too many times. But instead of abnormally bright blue eyes, his irises gleamed a poisonous, vivid green hue, and my breath froze in my throat like a thief had stolen my ability to breathe.
Aubrey.
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