(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (37 page)

   The next morning before the sun was up, Menimeth sat in the Sword and Dragon with Litlorn, Darik, and Kyler, while the men were preparing to depart, and the packhorses were being loaded with all the items they would need for the days ahead.

   "I want the banners of the empire flown before us as we make our way to the west." Menimeth said to Kyler. "And the banner of the king, as well."

   "I have already sent for them." Kyler replied. "Even if you did not ride with us, you would still need them when you got to Argnon."

   "The enemy carries the banners of the mage king, and so you are right, I will need them at the battle." Menimeth replied.

   "A sight not seen for more than five hundred years." Litlorn said. "The banners of the Great Dragon Empire, against the banners of the mage king, in battle."

   "I fear it is only the beginning." Darik said. "Win or lose, he will never quit until he defeat's us, or he himself is defeated."

   "The empire was always the land that Arnoran wanted the most." Litlorn added. "But he believed the empire weak because he was given land to try to keep peace between them."

   "That was a mistake that will not be repeated." Menimeth assured them. "I will not allow him, or any who serve him, to enter the empire unopposed."

   "And we will be with you to oppose them." Kyler said. "Starting with those who think they can capture the castle at Argnon."

   "They will find it harder to capture than they expect I think." Litlorn said with a smile. "And they will find the empire is not as weak as they

believed."

   "But not before it is too late for them to do anything about it." Menimeth said. "The trap will have already been sprung."

   "If you can trap an army of five thousand." Kyler said, thinking out loud.

   "That is the only problem with the plan." Menimeth replied. "We have to hope they are arrogant, and believe their information is accurate to the end."

   "We will just have to help it along." Litlorn said. "Fool them into believing they were right."

   "That is my plan." Menimeth replied. "But we will need some luck to pull it off."

   "They were forced to change their plans, and attack Argnon before they wanted." Darik said. "The plan was to defeat some kingdoms far to the west of the empire, and use the men they captured to enlarge their army, to attack the empire from two different sides. They believe you to be very weak now, or they would not have changed their plans and attacked Argnon first."

   "They fear that I will unite the empire if they wait." Menimeth said. "But we will use their belief against them, and end the threat quickly."

   "The men are now ready to depart." Kyler informed Menimeth when the messenger arrived. "And the packhorses as well."

   "Send for our horses then." Menimeth said. "And we will soon be ready ourselves."

   "They are already saddled and outside waiting." Kyler informed him. "All of the preparations have been made."

   "Then the time has come to depart." Menimeth said, and stood from his chair at the table in the corner. "The journey begins."

   The banners were unfurled as the precession began, and Menimeth led the way on Donner his warhorse. Danorathin would keep an eye on the enemy while his master rode west with the men, and would meet him at the castle when he arrived. Soon all of his men would be in place, and ready for the enemy who challenged them. The battle was drawing nearer, and the fate of the empire was in the hands of its king, but not all would go as planned.

Chapter Thirty

   It was just after midday when Javen reached the town of Argnon, and the men he commanded began to set up their camp. They were led to a place beside the castle, and behind the training grounds, where the purple and gold tents of the empire were soon placed. The trees and brush had been removed from around the castle from the great road, to the thickets, several bow lengths to the north and west. The trees to the east would not be usable to the enemy because it was not in their line of approach, and because there was enough of the land cleared on that side already, so they were not removed. Menimeth told Falendor which trees to have cut and which ones to leave alone, so the warriors of the empire would have a way to move around the enemy, unseen.

   The people that once lived in the town that was across from the castle, had taken all that they owned, and gone to the east to wait until the battle was over. Javen used the tavern Farlin owned as his headquarters, while he waited for Menimeth and the other warriors to arrive. By the end of their first day at Argnon, Javen had several patrols riding the lands around the castle, and guards posted on the road, and around the camp.

   Captain Brannor walked from the garrison that evening, and made his way across the road, and into the town. He entered the tavern and found Javen standing over a map of the lands around the castle.

   "Falendor has asked me to invite you to supper in the castle Commander." He said. "They all hope you will agree to attend."

   "I would be honored." Javen replied. "I have a few more matters to attend to first, but it should not take long."

   "Then I will let them know to expect you soon." Captain Brannor said, smiling. "But you had better not keep her waiting."

   Javen looked up from the map on the table, and smiled back at the old solder who stood across from him.

   "I guess it can wait until tomorrow." Javen replied, as his smile turned into a grin. "I would sooner face the hordes of the mage king alone, than to have her angry with me."

   "Wise choice." Captain Brannor said. "You stand a better chance of winning with the hordes."

   "That is the truth. She is as strong-willed as she is beautiful, a very lethal combination."

   "Then you had better go and appease her." Captain Brannor said, and he turned and walked to the door, before speaking again. "She has watched for you since you arrived, so you had better have a good reason for making her wait."

   "That is good advice, and advice I intend to heed." Javen replied. "Please inform the regent, that I am on my way."

   "I will tell her." Captain Brannor said, and laughed as he walked from the tavern.

   "You old goat." Javen yelled at the retreating solder, but knew she would be the first one that the captain would see when he reached the castle.

   That night while he was walking with Chrisanna, he learned that the traitor everyone was looking for had been Saesic all along. She told him of her hiding place, and of what she had heard that day, but could not name the man who was with her brother. Javen worried that there was still a traitor in the castle, but could do nothing about it at this time. He decided to watch the castle and see if he could find out who it was, but he would inform Menimeth when he arrived if he could not.

   Over the next three days he sent the patrols farther out, and he had several scouts who looked for signs of the enemy. As far as he could tell, there were no forces close enough to threaten the castle, but he was not going to allow them to approach Argnon undetected. On the third day after they arrived, Commander Rayden found Javen in the inn, and reported the last of the Lost Cavalry was in position. Javen did not know much about the plans Menimeth had made, so he took the report, and asked the commander to send reports daily through a messenger.

   Feran arrived the next day, and his men set up their camp in the trees east of the castle, and north of the great road. He made sure that they were far enough into the trees to avoid being noticed by anyone who was not in the trees themselves, and prepared to turn command of the second army over to Commander Fracher until the battle began.

   Feran walked to the town to look for his friend when the camp was complete, and Commander Fracher was in command. He found him in the tavern as he had suspected, but was surprised at the reason he was there. He expected to find his friend sitting by the fire drinking ale, but found the inn was a functioning headquarters with Javen hard at work instead.

   "You look tired." Feran said when he entered the inn. "And you have been very busy."

   "I am relieved that you have arrived." Javen said to Feran when he heard his voice. "I am not as good at this as you are."

   "You look to have done just fine." Feran replied. "I could not have done better myself."

   "Well, it works for now." Javen said. "But when all of the men are here, we will require more information to function properly."

   "Well, I like it like it is, and as time passes, the additional information that we need will reach us."

   "I am glad you like it." Javen told his friend. "You are the commander of the combined forces, so the headquarters is now yours.

   "You do not wish to move up in rank, and take my position from me?" Feran asked with a smile. "To become the commander of the army of the empire?"

   "Have you taken a fever?" Javen asked his friend. "You must be delirious if you think you can trick me into that position."

   "You have no ambition then?"

   "Two years ago I was a farmer, and now I am the commander of fifteen hundred men, and the most beautiful girl in the western realm is in love with me." Javen informed his friend. "Is that not ambition enough."

   "You do have a point." Feran replied. "But some men would not be satisfied with that."

"Then they have not met Chrisanna."

   "No, they have not." Feran said. "And you have come a long way since we first rode from Alenvale."

   "We all have." Javen replied. "And now we are warriors of the empire."

   "And the life we once thought was so hard, is now the one we fight to protect." Feran added. "Yes, we have all come a long way."

   "And you are the Commander of the combined forces of the empire, so the headquarters is yours." Javen said smiling.

   "Yes, I guess it is." Feran said, "So what information do we have?"

   "I have several patrols in the north, northeast, and east, and scouts have been sent to look for any sign of the enemy. So far we have seen nothing that would lead us to believe that any of the enemies solders are nearby."

   "Meni said they would be close to two week's away, when we reached the castle, so you should not see any sign of them for at least a week."

   "Commander Rayden reported that all of his men were in position, yesterday." Javen informed Feran. "And I have asked him to send a report by messenger daily."

   "You have made my job much easier." Feran said. "Do you have any news to tell?"

   "The traitor turned out to be the regent's son Saesic." Javen told his friend. "But he was able to escape the castle before Falendor learned of his treachery. A secret passage was found in his room that led to a small door at the back of the castle, that is how they think he escaped."

   "He is likely to show up again when we least expect it." Feran said, as he looked at the map that was attached to the table. "But I hope we never see him again."

   "I agree." Javen said. "But we will most likely not be so lucky."

   "Are the distances on the map accurate?" Feran asked, dismissing the traitor from his mind.

   "Yes, we measured it several times, and came up with the same numbers each time."

   "And the trees and brush have been cleared in all of these areas?" Feran asked as he pointed to the map.

   "Yes, Falendor had that completed when I arrived." Javen replied. "According to Meni's instructions."

   "Meni planned it well, and if he is right, the enemy may throw all its forces at the castle on the first attack."

   "If they do, they will all be in the open at the same time." Javen said.

   "While we are not."

   "I am staying in one of the rooms in the back." Javen informed his friend. "You should do the same."

   "Yes, it will be nice to stay in the inn again, and it will be easier to find us if we are needed.

   Over the next two days, the patrols were increased around the castle, and the scouts were sent farther to the north and west. All of the commanders were given a room at the Red Falcon, and a cook from the castle came to the inn to cook for them while they were there, as a show of thanks from the regent.

   On the third day after his arrival, Feran arraigned for runners to be placed in all of the camps around Argnon, and ordered the men to be trained while they could do so, without being observed by the enemy. The runners Feran placed in each camp, linked them to the headquarters as well as each other, but the scouts linked the different armies. When the battle started, the scouts would relay the orders from the headquarters to the commanders, and from commander to commander.

   Commander Fracher had his men wait until the first patrol had returned each morning, before his men were drilled in the open field. It did not take them long to learn the weapons of the empire, and the way in which they would be used in the coming battle. Many of the veterans were impressed with the training, and the way the king would fight the battle. None of the veterans from the wars in the southeast, who had joined the dragon guard, had ever seen the kind of warfare the dragon rider was about to unleash on the enemy. With the special attachment to the saddle, which held the spears while the rider used the bow from a distance, the warriors of the empire would be able to fight the enemy regardless of the formation they used.

   Commander Rayden and the Lost Cavalry were the only warriors who would not be using the bow and spears in the fight for Argnon. They were the only true cavalry in the empire, and Menimeth intended to use them in that way. They could move faster than the other warriors of the empire, and they had been together far longer than the armies Menimeth commanded.

   Within a week of Feran's arrival, he was pleased with the progress that the men were making, and decided to allow them to rest until the enemy was sighted. All of the camps were supplied with fresh meat daily, and it came from the patrols to the north and west. Feran wanted the enemy to have very little game to hunt, as they made their way to the castle, so he only hunted the game in that direction. It did not take long for the hunters to drive the deer and antelope from the path the enemy was expected to use.

   On the tenth day, and two weeks after Javen and the first of the warriors arrived at the castle, the first reports of the enemy reached Feran at the headquarters. The reports put the enemy about three weeks from the town, and moving at a steady pace. The siege weapons were using more horses than they needed, but they were having no trouble keeping up with the main army. Feran ordered the patrols to stay closer to the castle, and to keep prying eyes from the trees around it.

   Early the next morning, with just a faint glow in the east to announce the dawn to come, the solders around Argnon began to rise for the morning. As the light steadily grew, the great bronze dragon became visible sitting on the tower of the castle, and the news soon spread throughout the camps. All of the men believed that with the dragon rider to lead them, they could not be defeated in battle, regardless of the army they faced. For that reason the men did all they were asked by their commanders, and followed every order that was given to them.

   The sun looked as if it was following the king, to announce his arrival to the realm as he made his way along the road. The banners of the empire appeared to glow in the morning light, as the sun behind them bathed the edges in a fiery light. The warriors around Argnon watched as he rode into the town, and turned in the direction of the castle. When he reached the gates of the garrison, he had the men set up their camp on the opposite side of the castle from Javen's army, and went inside to speak with Falendor.

   Litlorn, Darik, and Kyler, went to the Red Falcon when they found out it was the headquarters.

   "Do you two ever do anything?" Kyler asked his friends when he walked into the tavern.

   "Not if we can get you to do it." Javen replied smiling.

   "I was wondering when you would arrive." Feran said as he looked up from the table. "We thought we would have to fight this battle without you."

   "And let you have all the fun, not likely." Kyler replied. "Besides, you two would not know what to do without me."

   "We barely know what to do with you." Feran replied. "But it is good to see you did not get lost along the way."

   "How could I get lost?" Kyler asked. "It is a straight line from Glansford to Argnon."

   "Exactly why we were worried." Javen added. "You always want to turn."

   "You were the one who wanted to go north that day at the great crossroads." Kyler reminded his friend. "Not me."

   "But you went." Javen said smiling.

   "And it almost got us killed if I remember right." Feran said.

   "Yes, but look at the fun we had." Javen replied.

   "Fun! You call getting blasted by a fireball, fun?" Kyler exclaimed.

   "Well, no, that did hurt some." Javen said. "But we lived."

   Litlorn and Darik could hold their laughter no longer, and soon all of the men in the tavern began laughing as well. The morning passed slowly as the friends talked, and the conversation soon turned to the coming battle. Not long after, Commanders Rayden and Fracher walked into the tavern, followed by Captain Dorben and Captain Brannor.

   "The king will soon arrive." Captain Brannor informed them. "We are to wait for him here."

"Then wait is what we will do." Javen replied.

   "What news do you have of the enemy?" Darik asked. "We have heard nothing since we rode from Glansford."