Akyran's Folly, Love and Other Sorcery - Chapter #9 - Free To Read

Chapter Nine

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Chapter Nine

I rolled my eyes. "I am the War Mage, Ecaeris," I told her. "Queen Diandeliera."

"You're Fae," she considered me, undaunted by my old war titles. An unusual woman, I thought. She had the delicate prettiness one thought of when one thought of mankind princesses at all, the fair skin that spoke of being sheltered from the sunlight, but there was a determination in her eyes that defied her birth and species. This was a princess who would lead her army from the front. I decided that I liked her.

"Yes."

"Bane of Nerith," she repeated what Daerton had said. "You fought with Aurien in the war against Phimion."

"Yes."

Her eyes went to Aurien who, dragon-like, had lost interest in the conversation, and stood caught in his own thoughts, his gaze fixed distantly. He would remember every word said in his presence, for all his appearance of inattention. She looked back at me.

"I am glad to have you join us. This is Prince Alaren," she gestured to the pretty faced dwarf man who was barely old enough, by my judgement, to be shaving his first whiskers.

"Lady Ecaeris," Prince Alaren bowed. "It is an honour." I inclined my head in return. The dwarves and Fae were not friendly, and I was not familiar with their royalty.

"Lord Leongrad," Aurien's princess gestured to the half-merman who leaned against the table, his eyes openly interested.

"I have heard stories of the Bane of Nerith," he said to me. He was a handsome man with russet hair and the sea in the blue-green of his eyes. I was intrigued as to how he looked in brethren form, and whether he had inherited the tail of his mer-parent. There was a certain alure to the mer that this lordling was not lacking. "I knew the Necromancer was Fae, but the stories did not say you were a beautiful, young woman."

"Married," Aurien said quietly.

"A shame," the Lord smiled regretfully. "It seems I am surrounded by married women."

"This is General Ruelke," Princess Diandreliera gestured to the half-Ogre woman who stood on the opposite side of the table to Leongrad. "She manages camp discipline, supplies, and oversees training."

"Ruelke," I nodded to her. Ruelke's Ogre heritage was evident in her height, a slight flattening of her features, and a physique that would outmuscle most soldiers. She wore her black hair long and braided at the sides, forming a mohawk through the centre. I wondered how well she wielded the axe at her hip, and met her eyes, recognising my own assessment in her gaze.

"I have heard of you, as well," Ruelke bowed from the waist stiffly as if unsure if it were the appropriate obeisance.

"Perhaps we will spar?" I suggested, and she grinned, pleased.

"That would be fun," she agreed, relaxing.

"And General Mariene," Aurien's princess gestured to the battle-hardened man who frowned slightly as he looked at me. His hair was combed into matted strands and interspersed with beaded braids. It was a styling I had not seen for some time, something that had originated from another continent, where each bead symbolised either an enemy felled, or a battle won. If he had won the beads fairly and had not simply adopted the fashion out of vanity, then he was an accomplished soldier.

"I haven't heard of you," he admitted. "I apologise for that."

"I haven't fought a war in the last couple of centuries," I told him. "I would be surprised if mankind remembered me, except in their history books."

"Can't say I've read too many of those," he said wryly.

"We were just discussing our options on the morrow when the camp moves again," the princess leaned over the map. She was very much in charge here, I noted, sliding a glance at Aurien. The dragon continued to stand off to the side, apparently utterly disinterested in what was being said.

"There are two strongholds within a very close distance here and here," Diandreliera pointed to the map. "Both have sworn to Clareath. We believe they intend to wait until we are between and then attack us from each side, whilst Clareath attacks from the front."

Clever dragon, I decided. Aurien had no interest in becoming king. He was ensuring that no one looked to him for direction or guidance and that no one deferred to him over the Princess. The princess would become Queen of Uyan Taesil, making the dragon king, but in name only. He would not assume the mantle and responsibility for the realm as was traditional amongst mankind where being born male was assumed to make one superior.

"What are their numbers?" I asked.

"Each of the strongholds would have two to three hundred knight units," she said. "twice to three times that in basically trained spearmen, if they call on their villagers and liegemen."

"Your army is approximately eight thousand?"

Ruelke's eyebrows raised in surprise at my guess. "Eight thousand four hundred and seventy odd," she replied. "Two hundred well trained but relatively inexperienced dwarf soldiers, fifteen hundred well trained and seasoned knight units, about two thousand infantrymen, which leaves just under two thousand farmers and the like, with no experience, no weapons or armour, no supplies and no idea.

Young men who joined wanting the glory of war and will likely not live to tell tales of it," she finished grimly.

"And how many do you expect from Clareath?"

"Vienthrey has up to five thousand trained soldiers in residence at any time. They can easily triple that number with untrained recruits and impressment from the town and villages," Diandreliera replied.

I studied the map. Daerton came and leaned over it next to me. We had both fought battles on this ground before, the topography was unchanged, even if the names of the strongholds had.

"The bones will be old," he commented. "If they survive at all."

"After two to three decades, bones in this type of soil will dissolve," I confirmed. "And the soldiers felled here were buried in mass pits, not in coffins. Still," I considered the area. "Soldiers aren't the only bodies accessible in a region such as this, and I can always use the bone fragments in the soil..."

"I thought Necromancy was just a hearth story," Mariene murmured to Ruelke.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "But there are not many that can do it."

"Some of the best stories are about Necromancy in battle," Alaren said enthusiastically. "I never thought I would see it first-hand. There are only a very few mages capable of it."

"I cannot, for example," Daerton told them. "And I am generally exceptional in every way."

Aurien made a faint sound of amused disagreement and the princess grinned suddenly, before turning her head in an attempt to hide it.

"He wouldn't have brought me here if he didn't agree," Daerton told her, brushing off the dragon's disdain. "Would he, Ecaeris?" His lips curled as he looked up at me, his handsome face doe eyed in appeal.

"There are only four Fae mages, and one Elvish, that can practise Necromancy," I said to Mariene in order to return the conversation to the war, ignoring the warlock's flirtation. "And I am one of them."

"We will have to let the men know," Mariene looked at Ruelke. "Or we will have them fleeing the battle."

"What are you thinking, my Lady?" Leongrad leaned over the table with Daerton and I.

"Princess," Aurien corrected under his breath.

"Princess," Diandreliera said with puzzlement. "I have never heard of a Fae princess. Aurien?" The dragon had obviously been schooling her in the Fae. It was in his nature to do so - dragons foremost were scholars.

"There is Siorin," he replied evasively. "Who married Rivyn."

"Of course, Akyran married Ecaeris," Daerton said with relish. "It was always going to happen."

"You married Akyran?" The princess repeated. I followed her eyes to the maid Ashara's back as she left the tent. "Oh…" She knew of her maid's affair with the Prince. "That was cruel, Daerton," she murmured under her breath.

"They're trying to bottleneck you," I said pointedly, returning to the map and drew a line with my fingertip between the two strongholds.

"We were debating whether to split our forces in order to avoid getting caught in their pinch," Leongrad decided to assist me, leaning back over the map, and staring at it with rapt attention. "Or use Daerton to take out their war machines, and then use our greater number to force them back."

"We don't want to split our forces," I told him. He met my eyes with his sea-green ones, and I thought, this lordling held a siren's appeal, as I felt the heat curl through my body. He smiled as if he knew exactly my reaction, and the smile held an open invitation. "Daerton will take out the war machines as planned, and then I believe we should create an obstacle here and here, dividing the lords from their strongholds and forcing them to group into the bottleneck. We can then take them out as they march on us."

"Forcing them to bottleneck in order to reach us," Mariene was drawn in, but oblivious to the lord's flirtation. "They have their own mages," he told me. "They have surprised us in the past with their inventiveness."

"They're quite good," Daerton confirmed, he was not as oblivious and shouldered in between Leongrad and I, determinedly. "The last battle, I was diverted from my attack plans, having to defend against them."

"Are you the only warlock?" I asked him.

"No," he said it reluctantly. "There are a few other warlocks, a handful of witches and other sundry magic makers that are minimally usually." Magic users, as a general rule, preferred to work alone, and Daerton was a typical example of his ilk.

"We use them in the medic tents," Diandreliera told me.

"Well, any which don't specialise in healing medicine are wasted there. Move them to the battlefield and put them in charge of defensive magic," I told her. "Daerton can then concentrate his powers at what he excels at - destruction."

Daerton grinned at me. "You love my destruction," he said with a lascivious wink.

I laughed. Of the two flirtations, the warlock was the least potent, as Daerton flirted with anything in skirts. "I am going to have to source some spell components," I decided. "I brought my kit with me, but I will need some basic additions."

"Ah, this is where I am your best friend," Daerton replied conspiratorially. "I've become an expert at scavenging around the camp."

"Princess?" Ruelke looked to Diandreliera.

The princess regarded me with narrowed eyes. "Why are you here without your husband?" she asked me.

I met her gaze and held it. "Do you want my help, or not?" I asked her. "I am in the mood to kill things. I can either kill for you or go and find a monster."

She weighed it up. "I want the Fae Court to join us. Will you being here be an obstacle to that?" she asked me cannily. "Is your presence here a sign of favour? Or will it bring their displeasure?"

"The Fae Court does not decide policy according to my presence," I replied. "If the king and queen decide to join this war, they will. If they do not, then they will not."

Aurien turned his head and looked at me. He disagreed. "Accept her help, Liera," he said, looking away again. "Her reasons for being here will work in your favour."

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