43 Danger Close (1/2)

After the council meeting in Shärleden, the Trickster Pavilion's preparations for the conflict in the Calmlands began in earnest. The first step was the recruitment of troops and the gathering of supplies that could support a large army that would rival the great host we were going to war against.

Chancellor Orryn did an amazing job at getting things done.

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By week's end, there were forty-five thousand soldiers gathering in hastily made camps on the green training field outside Fort Darah's Redwood Forest. A large number of centaur wagons filled to the brim with rations and other equipment arrived at the same time as the new soldiers.

This made me glad that the Chancellor of the Moon was loyal to House Trickhaven. It also got me thinking that the Foolhardies would need a human resources guy in the future so I wouldn't have to bother with recruiting good soldiers.

Now, as I wasn't part of the logistics team, I thought I'd have some free time to get the Foolhardies into shape, but Darah had other plans for me. So, while Aura and Luca continued the training exercises with our soldiers, I had been tasked with memorizing the terrain of the region we were likely to battle in.

This is why on the afternoon before the gongs of war would finally sound, I was sitting on my bed reading up on the homework Darah gave me. Luckily, I had two extra sets of eyes helping me out.

”This spot here should be a good place to set up an ambush,” Arah pointed to another x-mark we'd placed in the rough map I was able to recreate from memory of the Calmlands hill region. ”You'll want to let them pass you until you see the rear and then—”

”Tighten that noose and choke the life out of them,” Ty finished.

Ty and Arah were sitting on my bed with me. The three of us were looking over the map that was now covered in notes and cheese stains.

”You're right, Dean,” Arah had a finger tracing a line I'd jotted down yesterday afternoon about a likely supply route the enemy would use to get supplies to the front from their probable rear position. ”It's deep enough that they'll feel safe... ambushing them here will definitely get results.”

Arah looked pointedly at me.

”But it has to be a quick in-and-out. A snatch and run play,” Arah suggested.

I nodded. ”Yeah, we spend too much time there and we're likely to get surrounded...”

Ty tapped a finger on his forehead. ”These two hills between the supply path are pretty steep so as long as you can climb up fast enough, it'll be hard to be pursued...”

He glanced up at me.

”Man, you got lucky when you recruited those drow gliders... they're like your personal spy drones,” Ty said grinning.

We bumped fists, switched to side slaps, and ended with a handshake.

”Boys...” The tone of Arah's voice was gloomy. ”It's time... sundown's here.”

Both Ty and I glanced over the window. We'd left the curtains open so we'd know when it was time.

I sighed. ”Ready player one.

I said my goodbyes to my friends with a promise that I would my best to survive. To their credit, neither of them tried to stop me. They knew how important this was for me. Even more amazing, neither of them turned crybaby on me. Although I honestly wouldn't have minded a teary-eyed farewell. The best I got was a hug.

Soon after they left the bed, and after a few embarrassing minutes of them watching me try to fall asleep like sleeping beauty, I finally got called back to that place beyond the Mudgard sky.

I dropped back down to the solid ground of a hilltop I'd never seen except in the details of the map I'd poured my last few days into.

The anchor Aura got me was between my feet. Luca, Aura, and Edo were standing around me.

”Yo,” I said, before giving my brother and my partner high-fives each. Edo sent me his usual raised eyebrows greeting.

”Has it started yet?” I asked them.

For an answer, Luca pointed behind me—and I turned around to the sight I would normally only see inside a television screen.

”Oh, great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable,” I whispered.

With the assistance of Fool's Insight, I began to survey the battlefield in front of me with an eagle eye that took note of everything my sight could devour.

The golden moon shone down on a sea of grass dotted here and there by rocky flat grounds between a series of low hills and cliffs—one of which, we were on, giving us a good view of the surroundings.

On the left side of this field was a mass of midnight blue banners rising over an army equally divided into three halves. Fairies of all kinds and human viseres in blue gear lined up neatly alongside fairy catapults and other war machines.

From our last strategy meeting, I knew that two Five-Thousand Man Commanders, Thors and Vardoom, were given a field commission to act as generals in the battle.

Thors led the center army which was thirty-thousand strong. Vardoom commanded the left army which was twenty-five thousand strong. The other twenty-five thousand strong right army, however, had two leaders. These were Three-Thousand Man Commander Unna Ra Lara—the undine I met along with Commander Vardoom—and Three-thousand-man Commander Tyrox Xor, an albino male centaur I'd only met recently as he'd only just returned from a mission in a faraway land.

The remaining five thousand soldiers and supply troops joined Great General Darah in the command center which was on the hill directly west of the battlefield. The Fist of Fort Darah rose proudly over this hill like a symbol of encouragement to the soldiers below.

Staring down the eighty-five thousand strong Darah army was a larger force of grey-tinted banners and soldiers.