168 Fools Parade (1/2)

After the battle in the Sand Valley Oasis was over, General Red Bull officially commended my unit for a job well done in leading the charge. He even went so far as to declare his own forces mere support for our offensive.

\”You Foolhardies possess insane firepower, that's for certain,\” he chuckled.

Red Bull's praise ensured my unit's name would reach the ears of the clan's higher-ups, which hopefully helped in ensuring our future selection as members of the upcoming war.

\”So many eager young ones in the clan now…\” Red Bull noted. \”But that's usually how it goes in this warring clans era… young commanders who compete with each other and rise quickly up the ranks in the hopes of securing the title of our next generation's four Great Generals.\”

As we sat there around the table of his command tent, I thought about what Red Bull just said and wondered just how much higher you had to climb to be recognized in the same vein as Darah or Grimthorn, warriors renowned throughout the Fayne.

\”Was that how it was before?\” I asked.

Red Bull nodded. \”These days feel a lot more stable, actually… but thirty or so years ago, the battles were more constant, the wars more bloody with death tolls that threatened to wipe out many fairy races…\”

The general chugged down his mug of salamander whiskey before he continued with his reminiscing of the past.

\”Some of us old guard believe these times are nothing more than a reprieve,\” he admitted. \”The calm before the great storm that might finally wipe us fairies out for good, heh.\”

\”I was barely twenty then… just at the edge of my sprout years and clueless of the politics happening around me,\” Aura added.

Once again, I was reminded of the gulf between me and Aura. In her fifty years of living, just how many accumulated experiences had she gone through to be the amazing person she was now I wondered.

\”Heh,\” Red Bull eyed the she-elf beside me who face was still hidden behind her mask. \”Your parents would have kept you far away from all the dark stuff, I'm sure.\”

I wasn't sure, but I guessed that he had an idea of who she really was. The grin on his face hinted as much. But neither Aura nor I seemed to be worried about it for despite being a direct subordinate of Garm, Red Bull has earned the benefit of the doubt.

He turned his beady black eyes on me next, and after offering me a sip of his salamander whiskey—which I couldn't well decline under the circumstances—he gave me one more piece of advice.

\”You keep doing what you're doing, Commander Dapper…\” He glanced over at his lieutenant and there were crinkles around his eyes when he did. \”Find yourself even more people you can rely on, people who can get the job done no matter how hard the task… that's what my boss and those other three did.\”

He chuckled loudly.

I looked fondly back at that night which also marked the first time I'd ever gotten drunk, especially now in this stuffy place I found myself in, sandwiched between two people I wasn't very fond of.

\”Stop fidgeting and stand straight, mudborn,\” Dain Hammerhand growled from my left. \”You want the Starfall folks looking down on us?\”

\”Sloppy is Dean's default, dear Dain,\” Verania replied wryly. \”You can take the boy out of the mud but you can't take the mud out of the boy it seems…\”

\”Can you two shut up,\” I sighed.

\”I second that,\” Al said from the other side of Verania.

The summit to secure the alliance between the Trickster Pavilion and the Starfall clan began a week after Aura mentioned it to me. And the Foolhardies were recalled back to Shärleden to provide extra security. Sadly, we weren't the only ones among the new generation of officers to be called.

Most of our four units' soldiers were taking shifts patrolling outside the walls of the city, but some, like Luca's and Qwipps' squads, were part of key posts that supplemented the city guard.

The heightened security had been ordered by Chancellor Orryn who feared that some third party would take this chance to sow chaos in Shärleden.

And although many of the officers thought he was being overly cautious, I wasn't among them. I was pretty worried about assassination plots or sabotage, particularly because Aura, who'd dropped her disguise and was currently back to being Aurana for the duration of the summit, would be in the crosshairs of any attempt at foul play.