Undying Blood - Beta - Chapter 016 -

“So… how much do you trust me?”

“At this point, I have to believe that Egbus sent you to us because there is no other explanation for your presence,” Stenson declared. “We’re in a war that we have basically just lost after half a year, and now a Sage appears.  I’d almost run out on the battlefield naked with only a sword if I believed you spoke for Thonia.”

A chuckle came from Vella as she shook her head.

“I pray the gods do not request such a thing. No doubt that would send fear into all the creatures forced to look upon you.”

Ignoring their banter as each tried to deal with the truth that everyone expected to lose, Francis set the paper on the edge of the table.

“These columns with the horses.”

“Calvary,” Stenson corrected. “What about them?”

“Why are they stacked like that? In a triangle-like shape?”

“To charge and break through the lines.  While we could set them up in a long row, it allows the enemy to defend against it better if prepared and also we can press deeper into the weaker parts of the troops.”

“And you’re certain there are weaker troops in that mess?”

Francis pointed at the long rows of brown blocks, none with any variance or standing for any troop he knew of based on what he had learned so far.

“He’s sharp,” Vella stated. “You are right, though. We don’t know what is beyond the lines we can see. There are some we have encountered like the mages.  Even the one we killed because you told us where it was had only been seen twice beforehand.  Many of us have debated what lies beyond the first waves.”

Nodding, Francis picked up a stick and handed it to Vella.

“Tell me how far do you think the calvary can press and still be safe? I mean, ignoring how we believe we’re all going to die.”

Smirking she tapped a point on the battlefield.

“How far is that from where our mages could reach?”

Cocking her head slightly, those brown eyes studied him for a moment.

“Beyond their spell range by a good two hundred or three hundred yards.”

“Which means our mages would have to move behind the advancing men and women.”

“They won’t do that,” one of the advisors exclaimed. “They hide behind-”

“Silence.”

Stenson rubbed his chin with his hand, eyes glancing back and forth at the spot his daughter had touched and the area where the markers were for the mages.

“If they were given an order, they would obey even if they didn’t want to.  I could pull a few troops from the veterans to provide cover and use shields.  Tell me, Francis, are you planning on doing what I think I already see?”

“Does that mean you wish to guess what I’m thinking?”

“Gods no boy, why show my hand when I can make you show yours?”

He and the older man grinned, a weird connection as Francis picked up the list once more and then took a random block and handed it to Vella.

“Take this and put it against the main line of the enemy. This will stand as the Frozen Boulder’s spell.  I’d use this first. Soften up the group behind them. Say, maybe fifty yards?  With it having the longest range, it provides the easiest position to cast from as the charge starts.”

She nodded, tossing it to one of the advisors and marking a spot to place it with the stick.

“How wide do you want it to cover?”

“Three-quarters of a mile, right in the middle. No more.”

She took a few more of the same color token and tossed them to each side where men snatched them and placed them as she tapped down.

“Once that spell starts, the men move forward.  We’ll already be on the offensive, not blowing horns and hopefully getting a bit further across the battlefield.  Depending on how they line up and when, we’ll have to see exactly where that spell does strike.”

“Boy you could be an advisor with a mind like that,” Stenson said with a chuckle. “Continue.”

Ignoring the praise, Francis knew why he was doing what he was.

Knowledge is everything… especially when I know how this is most likely going to end.

“I’m assuming they’ll have spells to deflect some stuff but once we start to engage the biggest thing to do is keep softening up that center.  Our goal is to push to the very deepest part of the enemy and see if we can’t cut a head of someone really powerful.”

Men nodded and one even clapped his hands twice before stopping when no one else joined in.

“When we engage they cast the brimstone rain, softening up the middle but more on the right side of the battlefield.  Make sure to hit that entire edge. I’d probably do this about fifty or seventy yards past where we would expect to engage with the veteran troops.”

More tokens flew across the table and were set.

“Now for the hard part,” Francis said as he tapped the paper. “How much time do they need between spells?”

“We’ve never done them that rapidly.  I’m assuming they could cast them rather quickly. Maybe a minute or two max between them. It will probably lessen the range and damage possible, but would you be draining all of them dry like this?”

“Yes… this is our last play. That’s what Baxter wanted. Am I wrong?”

Stenson shook his head.

“So you’re going to use the thorn barrier on the left?”

Smiling, Francis nodded.

“We can cut off a section of the enemy we don’t want to engage, shift the calvary to the right and then use the final spell in preparation for the last push. While that is happening, can we bring the archers we have and use them to weaken the left side? With no calvary over there and only the veterans, they will need help.”

“Holy shit… that’s impressive,” Vella cursed.  “You’d put that spell at max range, forcing the mages to keep on the move, but could take out a chunk of enemies, riding through whatever was left and then clashing with the bulk of the calvary into whatever lies beyond.”

“Exactly! Even better, I’m going to be with the calvary near the back.”

Silence was Francis’s reply as what he had come up with was completely revealed.

“Why would you go with them? Do you even know how to ride a horse?” Stenson asked.

“I don’t but how hard could that be?” 

Shaking his head, the older man frowned.

“These are battle horses, not some tame creature used to pull a cart or plow a field. They are bred for battle and will stay in formation, not leaving it unless its rider knows how to control them.  I would be putting you on something you might not be able to stay on top of.  It would sense your lack of skill and could possibly try to remove you. Even worse, there would be almost no way for you to escape the charge.”

“I’m aware of that,” he replied, doing his best to appear confident. “Trust me… this is the plan I feel we must do and this is the only way it is going to work. I have to be there with them.”

Both daughter and father stared at him, each looking displeased with this last bit of the plan.

“I’ll go with him,” Vella announced. “You need to be with the king.”

“Like hell I do! If one of us is to die, let it be me! I can finally be free from my wife and the constant nagging she does!”

They glared at each other and Vella shook her head, taking a deep breath before letting it out.

“When you survive and hopefully return with that one arm, I’ll make sure she knows what you said.”

“I’d deny it emphatically.”

A little bit of envy crept into his heart.  Seeing a father and a daughter joking like this reminded Francis of what he never got and would never receive.

Someday… if I have a child… no matter how many I have, they’re going to know what this is.

Lifting the list from the table, Stenson moved to a torch and when he held it near, the paper burst into flames, gone faster than one could blink.

“I guess it’s time we went and told the king our plan. Are you ready?”

“Actually, could we get something to eat first and have you bring my brother to join me?” Francis asked. “I’m starving!”

***

Michael sat there, chewing the piece of bread slowly as he stared at his brother.

“You going to stop trying to bore a hole through my head?”

“No… you’re not telling me something… I mean, even more than what you haven’t told me already! What the hell is going on?!”

Almost leaping up from the padded chair he was sitting in, Michael waved the piece of bread in the air as he moved around the tent they were sitting in alone.

“All this! How they speak about you! They say you are a sage!”

The last few words had almost been a whisper.

“You’re not a sage! I’ve known you since the day you were born and we both know you’re not that special! What’s going to happen when you get caught? Am I going to die?!”

Setting down his fork and knife, letting the piece of meat he had been enjoying take a break from the way he had been attacking it, Francis sighed.

“I told you what I could.  Anything else puts you at risk.  Just know… I have a sage skill.”

“BULLSHIT! Bullshit! There isn’t a chance at all that you have such a skill! If so why have we been living like we have for the last sixteen years? Why did we almost starve sometimes? How come we got our asses kicked and mistreated by almost everyone each day of our lives? Why would you hide it?!”

Both hands lowered and his brothers shoulders slumped.

“Why would you hide it from me?”

There in that moment, in the pained words, Francis knew that was the real problem with all this.

Sliding his chair back and standing, he moved to where Michael stood, looking like he had been beaten and betrayed.

Without waiting or asking, he embraced him, pulling him tight.

“I love you more than anyone else. Trust me when I say what I’m about to. One day, I hope I can tell you more. If you believe for a moment that I care for you as I say, wait for that day. Then everything well be explained and the only thing I care about will be safe.”

His brother squeezed him back. Sniffing a few times and nodded.

“I’ll wait… and I trust you… just… don’t leave me alone.”

Giving three taps on Michael’s back, the both broke the embrace, and he gazed at the only person he knew ever loved him.

“Everything I’m doing is so that you and I won’t be alone.”

A hand appeared between them, a half eaten piece of puff bread in it.

“You’re right you know. This stuff is amazing.”

Laughing, Francis punched his brother’s shoulder and motioned to the table.

“Let’s eat a little more then.  In a bit I’ve got to meet with…” pausing as the words almost seemed impossible to say. “The king.”

Sighing, Michael let out the breath and then shoved the bread into his mouth to fill the void.