Stealing Sorcery (13 page)

“I am Asphodel,” the Delaren girl said, stepping toward him and extending a thin hand as her guards looked on with horrified expressions.

Taelien reached out with his own hand, clasping hers at the wrist.
Her skin is cold,
he realized. He gave her a warm smile. “Pleasure to meet you. I’ll look forward to working with all three of you.”

He released her wrist, and she smiled brightly in reply. “Thank you. Please forgive my friends, they are unaccustomed to being so close to so many people.”

“Oracle,” the male guard said, “You should remember what your father told you. You expose yourself to danger when you are within weapon reach of a stranger.”

Asphodel turned around, which Taelien absently noted had actually made her more vulnerable – a deliberate gesture? – and stepped back behind the two guards.

“You two are Asphodel’s guards, I take it? You’ve got nothing to worry about from me. I can’t stand hurting people.”

“You should not refer to the oracle in such a familiar fashion,” the female guard said. “You are merely a human.”

“And your words are suspect. One with such disdain for harm would have little motivation to join a military organization,” the male pointed out.

Taelien raised an eyebrow. “You know the paladins of Laos emphasize protecting life at all costs, right? That’s one of the core tenants of the religion.”

The guards looked at each other uncertainly. “Words such as those are little solace to the dead, one-called-Salaris,” the female guard said.

Well, that was remarkably foreboding and vague.

“Well, your skepticism about my motives aside, we’ve got two beds left here. We’re going to have to split them up.”

“We were just discussing that,” Asphodel explained, folding her hands behind her back and looking at the floor. “Would you share your bunk with me?”

“Sure. You want the top or the bottom bed?”

The male guard took a step toward Taelien, and then turned toward Asphodel. “Oracle, I must insist, you should not be so close to an outsider. He is not –”

“He is the Taelien. I would wish to know him better.” She stepped over to the last bed on the left, the closest to Garrick’s door, and sat down on it. “I will take the bottom.”

Taelien?
He hadn’t mentioned that name – but he was wearing the Sae’kes on his hip.
Did she hear that I used to go by that name from someone, or is she just associating the name with the sword in the way some of the people back home did?

“Sounds good.” Taelien turned to the guards. “We’re going to be working closely with one another. Do you mind if I ask your names?”

“Teshvol,” the man said, not extending his hand.

“Kolask.” The female guard hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Asphodel, and finally offered Taelien her hand. He grasped her wrist and gave her a firm nod before releasing it.

“Thank you,” Taelien replied.

“If you harm her—” Teshvol began.

“Teshvol, that is enough,” Asphodel commanded. He lowered his head and fell silent. “Taelien, we will have much to discuss.”

Taelien turned to Asphodel and raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“That,” she said, “Will best be discussed in private.”

***

Taelien arrived at his assigned testing area ten minutes early, stopping at the door to the three-story training facility. The building had several rooms on each floor, and during the rest of the year, each room was assigned to a specific form of practice. While the outdoor training grounds were more commonly used for direct combat training, the indoor facilities were specifically equipped for handling sorcery training and specific forms of armed combat.

Since the tests had started, the entire building had been made off-limits to recruits. He assumed that meant that the rooms inside were being repurposed for the specific tests they would be undergoing, and when he had been handed his testing schedule, that hypothesis had quickly been validated.

Nervously, he adjusted his uniform, attempting to ensure everything was immaculate. Fortunately, the candidates had been allowed to wear their own weapons of choice – he would have felt naked without the Sae’kes on his hip. He had not let it escape his sight since his battle with Myros in the arena in Orlyn, more than eight months before.

He snapped to attention as the door opened. A uniformed Paladin of Sytira exited the training structure, and Taelien delivered an immediate salute. The paladin was a stocky blond man with a wicked flanged mace hanging from a cord on his left side. The cord seemed to be looped directly through the pommel of the mace, which looked impractical.

Some kind of trick knot that he can quickly pull free to ready the weapon?
After a moment, he shook his thoughts free.
Can’t think about that right now. Focus on the test.

The paladin glanced Taelien over for a moment, and then returned his salute. “At ease.”

Taelien nodded and shifted his stance. “Sir.”

“You’re cadet Salaris, I take it?”

“Yes, sir.”

The paladin frowned. “I was picturing someone taller.”

Taelien barely resisted the urge to note that the paladin was at least half a head shorter than he was. He had an odd scar that ran diagonally across his nose, hooking around to meet the right side of his lips. “Sorry if I’ve disappointed you, sir.”

The paladin made a dismissive gesture. “Nothing to worry about. I’m Lieutenant Trace. I’ll be explaining the details of your first test.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

The paladin paused, glancing at the Sae’kes, and then looked up to meet Taelien’s gaze for just a moment before turning away. “Right. So, this first test will be a simulation. You will be taking on the role of a paladin serving as an advisor to an influential military leader during a major battle. For the sake of this scenario, assume that you are a newly assigned paladin lieutenant, and that no higher ranking paladins were available to provide support. For the sake of convenience’s sake, you may use your real name. Every person you encounter will be playing a simulated role.

“If you encounter anyone you recognize, treat them as a stranger, and in accordance to their simulated role. For example, if you recognize an actual paladin officer playing the role of a servant, ignore his or her actual rank for the purposes of the scenario. Instead, act upon the information that you can glean from the setting of the scenario itself.”

Taelien nodded. During his training under the Thornguard, he had participated in other types of simulations. While he had never taken on the role of a military advisor, he had observed similar tests and studied several texts on historical battles. He wasn’t precisely relieved by the scenario, but it certainly could have been far worse.

“The scenario you will be participating in is a high stakes battle, and it will require careful judgment on your part. Are you prepared?”

“May I ask you questions about the scenario in advance, sir?”

The paladin shook his head. “It will be your responsibility to ascertain the details of the situation when you arrive. You may safely assume that the military leaders have requested an advisor from the Paladins of Laos, and that you are the advisor that was sent. Your orders are to provide any and all assistance you can to the military leaders.”

“Understood, sir. In that case, I am ready.”

“Very well. Remember, once you step inside that room, treat everything in the simulation as if it is your new reality.”

Lieutenant Trace opened the door to the room. “You may step inside and begin the test.”

***

Upon entering the room, Taelien’s path was immediately barred by a pair of oddly dressed soldiers. As they maneuvered their halberds to block his path, Taelien scanned their white and red uniforms for anything he could recognize.

An antiquated style, and I don’t recognize most of the symbology. I think that pin might be an older version of Koranir’s shield, but I’m not sure.

He took a stance of attention, raising his right arm to his chest in a paladin salute.

“Paladin Lieutenant Salaris, reporting as requested,” he droned, examining the situation beyond the two soldiers as he spoke.

The room was at least thirty feet across, and toward the center, three uniformed officers stood around a table. Laid out across the table was a map, and atop the map were numerous different figures.
About as traditional of a depiction of a war room as I’ve ever seen
.

“Come in,” said one of the men around the table, making a dismissive wave at the guards. The two soldiers retracted their polearms, giving a brief salute to the speaker before taking a restful stance.

Taelien lowered his salute, advancing toward the table and pausing a few feet away. “Hello, I’m Paladin—”

“Yes, yes, we heard,” said a clean-cut older man at the opposite side of the table. His uniform was the most decorated of the three people standing around it, with dozens of pins and sigils that Taelien didn’t quite recognize. Fortunately, he did recognize the four bars on the right side, signifying a specific military ranking – a lieutenant general. This man was, presumably, the army’s leader.

It took Taelien a moment of paralyzing shock to recover from the realization that the man standing in front of him was Herod, the retired paladin who had been observing his training.
He looks…impressive like this. The uniform fits him far better than civilian garb ever did.

“There’s no need to be rude, Ravellan. We did send for an advisor,” spoke the lone female officer at the table, an older woman with bright white hair. She wore a pair of short swords on each of her hips, a choice that Taelien approved of. If he hadn’t spent most of his career training with the Sae’kes, he might have preferred a similar style.

“You sent for the advisor.” Ravellan sighed. “But he’s here, so I suppose we should let the boy tell us how we’re waging war all wrong.” The lieutenant general waved at the map. “Please, enlighten us, servant of the gods.”

Taelien glanced over the table, noting soldiers in several different colors on the map. There were several types of pieces representing soldiers, and fortunately Taelien had seen similar ones used in other war games in the past. He quickly recognized spearman, swordsman, archer, catapult, and commander pieces. There were, however, three types of pieces he did not recognize.

There was a city near the center, and black markers for soldiers all throughout. Outside the walls, there were a larger number of white pieces and red pieces. Some of the red pieces were interspersed among the white ones, others were separated into smaller units.

The black pieces inside the walls of the city were almost exclusively archers and catapults. The majority of the city did not have any pieces within – which implied that the black force’s swordsmen, spearmen, and other pieces were most likely still within the walls and that they did not have enough information on their locations and numbers.

This in turn meant that the white and red forces were most likely his forces – and the ones attacking the city. The white and red uniforms matched that hypothesis nicely.

That’s…not good at all. Being the attacker in a scenario with an unknown number of enemy forces inside a city is a terrible situation.

Glancing at the white and red pieces, Taelien estimated at least one hundred of them. The archers on the inside were far fewer, at least – only about twenty pieces. Each side had four visible catapults. He assumed each piece represented either ten or a hundred troops, but he wasn’t sure of which, and it clearly would make a significant difference.

“I’m afraid my briefing on the situation was...well, brief, if you’ll excuse the pun.” Taelien chuckled, but no one else laughed. “Can you clarify for me how many troops each of these represents?” He pointed at one of the red spearmen.

“One hundred of our best,” the third officer said. “The Ember Legion has never been defeated in battle.”

Ember Legion…I’ve heard that name before.

“We’re being quite rude to the poor boy.” The female officer extended a hand toward Taelien. Realizing that they appeared to be simulating some sort of older siege, Taelien took her hand and shook it, rather than clasping her wrist in a modern fashion. She smiled. “Lieutenant, I’m Colonel Morningway. This is Colonel Laurent,” she said, releasing Taelien’s hand to point to the last officer who had spoken, “And our leader, Lieutenant General Ravellan.”

“A pleasure to meet all of you.” Taelien exchanged handshakes with the other two men. “You’ll have to forgive my questions. I would prefer to have as much context as possible before offering any advice.”

“Of course,” Laurent replied. Ravellan simply sighed again.

So, one hundred troops per piece. That means we have roughly ten thousand troops total. I’m sure the commander pieces don’t represent one hundred commanders, but even accounting for that, we have a lot of troops. We clearly appear to outnumber the enemy, but even just their archers represent about a fifth of our numbers. That’s four times our number of archers – implying that if the ratio is maintained, they have four times our number of troops. Fortunately, they probably don’t have quite that same ratio – as defenders, they probably gave bows to as many people as possible, possibly depriving them of other forces. Hard to know for certain.