Forgotten Soldiers (2 page)

“All information from scouts and mages says no. But busting their communication lines is more important than ever if they’re planning something major for tomorrow.”

“How are we going to counter their movement, sir?”

“I’m moving the Seventh Regiment to the western front. They should be able to defend it while the rest of the army focuses on the main assault at dawn.”

I clicked my tongue.

He cocked an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“We might be underestimating them.”

“How so?”

“The Geneshans have always been the most resourceful when their backs are against the wall. Isn’t that where they are now? We hold the better position and have better numbers. Yet, they managed a last minute alliance with the Malduks and brought around a regiment to flank us with little warning. We’re missing something.” I paused. “I know you don’t want another Wadlow Hill, General.”

He clenched his jaw.

No one on our side wanted another Wadlow Hill. Five years ago we had nearly lost the war despite having a better position and better numbers. Casualties set us back for years. A little luck from weather and my unit’s assassination of their top general bought our army the time it needed to make it out with enough strength to regroup.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Geneshans recovered most of their lands and had even begun to gain a foothold into Turine again.

Balak’s jaw relaxed and he grunted. I knew that grunt. It meant he wanted my thoughts on what to do next, but was too prideful to ask for it. I walked to the map. He came up beside me, smelling of sweat and worry.

“Would it be possible to add the Eighth and Ninth regiments to the Seventh, sir?”

“And pull away a full third of our forces from the main lines?”

“Well, it’s likely the Geneshans have more than what the reports indicate. You know they’re good at masking troop movement. Why not throw them off guard and attack? Those three regiments won’t break unless the entire Geneshan front swings that way. There’s no way they could conceal that.”

“But what if it’s only the few thousand we know about?”

“Then have the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth keep pushing through. Have them clear the area then break off back toward the main line while our other forces hold their ground.”

I doubted it would come to that. It was probably a hunch, but I just knew the Geneshans were planning something big along the western front.

“I’ll give it some thought,” Balak said. That was code for “I agree but I won’t start issuing orders until after you leave.”

I backed away from the table. “Sir, I really need to get to my unit.” I raised my hand, which held the parchment he gave me earlier. “Orders and all.”

He stared at the map, waving a hand at me.

I took my first step toward the tent flap when he called again. “Tyrus.”

“Sir?”

“Those targets are crucial. Even more so if your hunch is correct.”

“Yes, sir.”

I left the general’s tent in a hurry, noting that despite the late hour, the camp bustled with life. Men took advantage of light offered by the moon, stars, and raging campfires to complete their work. Officers barked orders while messengers darted between gaps in the chow line to reach their destination. Everyone seemed to move with purpose, even if their purpose was simply to find a place to eat their steaming bowl of stew. A lot still needed to be done before soldiers tied down for the night.

Hamath, my second, met me a few steps outside of the command tent. He shook his head, red hair flopping over thick sideburns as we walked. A couple inches over six feet, he had me by as many, easily matching my gait. Like most in my unit, he didn’t carry a lot of extra weight, but what he did carry was solid.

“The old whoreson kept you back so you could tell him how to run his army again, I see.”

I chuckled. “Depends on how you look at it. He never has come out and asked me for advice.”

Hamath spat. “Why should he? You tell him everything he needs to know, and after it works, he takes all the credit. He never would have become a general if not for you. He’d probably still be stuck as a captain.”

“That’s not true. He’s good at getting men to fight for a cause. He just needs a little help now and then when it comes to strategy.”

“More than a little,” Hamath muttered. “I don’t see how it doesn’t bother you.”

I shrugged. “It did in the beginning. But at this point, Balak can have all the glory he wants so long as it means ending the war. Gods, it’s been ten years since I’ve seen Lasha and the kids. Four since I’ve gotten a letter from them thanks to the army’s mandatory silence with outside communication.”

Hamath grunted. “Sorry. It’s just that you should be the one leading us, not him.”

“I’ve got enough to worry about already. I don’t want to think about looking after the tens of thousands Balak has to.”

He took a deep breath. “Speaking of worrying, I came over here because we have a bit of a problem.”

I stopped and closed my eyes. “What is it now?”

“Your sister caught a new recruit in unit three roughing up one of the camp whores.”

I pressed my lips together, shaking my head as I opened my eyes. “Let me guess. She couldn’t let things go.”

“You know Ava.”

I did. “What happened?”

“She confronted the recruit, and they had words. He didn’t know not to argue with her. By the time I got there she had his pants around his ankles and some sort of spell squeezing at his crotch. I swear I’m going to have nightmares about that. It was all swollen and turning purple.” He shivered. “I got her to stop, and the healers said the boy would recover, but it’ll take weeks. Unit three is going to be short-handed until then. I managed to smooth things over as best I could, but their unit leader is calling for your sister’s head. Those she’s wronged in the past are supporting him. They plan to take it all the way to the Council of High Mages this time.”

“Did you tell her any of that?”

“Gods, no. You know she won’t listen to anyone but you. As worked up as she was, I was worried she might do the same to me as she did to the recruit. I calmed her down a bit and then let her go.”

I sighed. “See what I mean, Hamath? You want me to manage an army when it’s a struggle to keep my own unit in line.”

“Not your whole unit. Just Ava. And you only have one sister.”

“Thankfully.” I handed the general’s orders to Hamath. “Here, start getting the others ready while I talk to her.” I nodded to the full moon. “Make sure everyone’s mudded up.”

Hamath swore. “I was worried you’d say that.”

* * *

I found Ava pacing back and forth at the edge of the forest outside of camp, stomping the ground with such determination it looked like she was trying to put out a fire. The guards on patrol made sure to give her a wide berth.

Without her cloak, moonlight shimmered off her black leathers. She ran a thin hand through short, brown hair, and rubbed the back of her neck—a tell-tale sign that her run-in with the recruit bothered her more than usual. When I saw the faintest hints of sorcery crackling at her long fingertips I knew Hamath did right by letting me talk to her. She was having a hard time controlling herself.

Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about any serious injury if she lost her temper. I was one of the rare cases of someone born with a resistance to sorcery. Each of our special units had someone resistant among them. Considering the crap Ava tried to pull on me as kids, it’s a good thing I had the gift. Otherwise, I would have ended up missing a limb or worse a long time ago. It was also a good thing for others near me in battle as one of the nice things my resistance afforded me was the ability to draw sorcery out of others injured by some spell.

“Well?” I asked as I came upon her.

She stopped and gave me a bitter look. Tall for a woman, she could almost give me that look at eye level. “Well, what? I’m ready. Lay into me if that’s what you’re here for.”

“I’d like to know what happened first.”

“Hamath didn’t tell you?”

“I want to hear your side.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Some idiot wanted to prove how tough he was by beating on one of the camp followers.”

“Whores.”

“What?”

“Call them what they are. Unlike the merchants that come and go, the only thing she was peddling was what’s between her legs.”

She grit her teeth. “Fine. Whores.”

“Did you find out what prompted him to lay into her like that?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think you should have?”

“No.”

A long breath passed through my lips. “You know, we’ve had this conversation far too many times over the years.”

“We’re going to keep on having it if little men continue to think they can mistreat a lady.”

I snorted. “A lady? Look, you know I don’t condone hitting women, and I would never put up with someone in my unit doing it, but I’d hardly call a whore a lady. You need to be more concerned with protecting those fighting alongside us, not someone who can’t stay off her back. Quit taking matters into your own hands. You should have reported the incident to the soldier’s sergeant. Now, his unit is shorthanded for tonight.”

She ignored my last point. “Nothing would have happened if I had reported it. You know that.”

I said nothing. She was right. I hated it when she was right.

“There were still better ways to handle the situation than how you did. Ways that would have punished the soldier without possibly crippling him for life.”

She shrugged. “See if I care. Her face is no less important than his manhood.”

“Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here. I’m not trying to defend his actions, I’m just mad at how you handled things.” I shook my head. “Well, maybe the woman will get out of the trade now that she knows the risks.”

“I’m sure she knew the risks, and she chose the trade anyway. What does that tell you?”

“That she doesn’t have her head on straight.”

She frowned. “Could be. Maybe she just saw the money she’d make and didn’t care about getting slapped around. But how many choose that life because they feel that’s the only chance they have to survive?”

“Here you go again.”

Ava cocked her head to the side. “What if that had been Lasha?”

My eyes narrowed. Hypothetical or not, if anyone other than Ava had suggested such a thing I would have been all over them. “Don’t. It wouldn’t happen.”

“You don’t know that. We’ve been gone almost a decade. Neither one of us knows what things are like back home.”

“Stop, Ava. I know my wife. She’d never stoop to that. She’s too smart. Too resourceful.” I opened and closed my hands. “Besides, Lasha’s got friends to look after her and the kids if it came down to it.”

Somewhere in the last few exchanges I had closed the distance between us. I realized that because I saw fear creep into Ava’s eyes. It was odd. I hadn’t hit her since we were kids just being kids, yet I guess part of that older brother and younger sister dynamic remained.

I backed away a step. I hated to see that look in her eyes. She could make me angrier than anyone, but I loved her.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Look, I’m done arguing. We’ve got orders, so we’ll have to continue this later. But I’m going to have to do something. This is getting elevated to the High Mages. Maybe if I take care of it on my own first, they’ll be more lenient.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t do me any favors, big brother. Ao can curse the High Mages as far as I’m concerned. All the gods can,” she snapped.

Ao, goddess of sorcery, was the mother of the gods within the Turine pantheon. All other gods and goddesses descended from her and her husband Molak, god of all things nature. They ruled the heavens according to our culture.

However, ask any other nation and you’d find a completely different set of beliefs. Genesha’s religion was the most puzzling. One and only one god, Beel. A mean piece of garbage who, according to the Geneshans, cultivated power through human sacrifices.

It seemed that they would have wised up long ago and suppressed Beel’s power by just ceasing the sacrifices. I’ve always been of the opinion that the fewer people meddling in my life, god or otherwise, the better.

I shook my head in response to Ava’s curse. “I thought you’d say something like that.”

Had she not burned so many bridges, she could have been a High Mage. She had the talent, just not the tutelage. No one wanted to take Ava on as an apprentice knowing they would have to contend with her temper.

“Return to the unit and get mudded up,” I added.

“I don’t need to do that. I can just cast a spell.”

“Call it pre-punishment. Besides, no sorcery unless I say otherwise.”

“Fine.” She stormed off with fire in her eyes.

Nearby guards on patrol halted as they watched her depart. None wanted to cross her path.

* * *

In the woods, a night sky filled with stars and a full moon could be a blessing by making it easier to find water, shelter, or perhaps even some food. If nothing else, the extra light could go a long way in preventing a twisted ankle.