The Reluctant Mage: Book One in the Zandar Series (16 page)

“Assassins? Sir, I don’t know anything about assassinating people. I can fight with a sword and know hand to hand combat, but that is it.”

Marko had found Lt. Le Clerc in his office shortly after he had unpacked and put on his uniform.  He tried to plan what he was going to say but gave up. He was just too upset about what happened. He had gone from House Lazard’s newest Clerk to an assassin?!

“Relax Marko. I know you are no assassin. Training to become a Night Eagle is a year long. And, you can only apply after serving two years in the Army with an exemplary record. Assassination is only part of our charter. We also go on infiltration and espionage missions.”

“You mean we are the opposite of the squad that attacked the caravan?”

“Yes and no. We do go behind enemy lines, but we don’t attack caravans. Instead we disrupt communication, plant and retrieve spies and well, we do kill high ranking officers now and then. You will be assigned to my team. We lost Sergeant Flax last month to a priest. You will be our seventh member. Your role will be assigned once we do some training tomorrow.”

“Listen, Marko. The Colonel would not have assigned you if he thought it was your death sentence. He must have seen something in you to assign you to us. Granted, your vision is superb. You have better vision than me, and I am aided by my magic. But he must have seen something else in you. I am here to bring that out and exploit it in the service to the Emperor. Never forget that we live to serve.”

“I apologize, sir.  It is just that I went from a student in an orphanage to a clerk in a merchant house and then to a Night Eagle in a month. This is a bit overwhelming. I will try my hardest to make your command successful.”

“That is understandable. Remember, Marko, greatness does not come from doing the same thing over and over. Every senior officer in the Army has been required to perform many roles. The Empire will give you more challenges until you succeed or fail. My command is made up of men and women who have succeeded. They will help you to come out on top as you will help them. Now get some rest, we will begin your assessment right after breakfast.”

That night Marko worked with Stranac again to tap into his reserve. He was starting to use his essence by using other emotions. It was still much easier to use anger. He practiced turning his anger on and off as a means of rationing his reserve.

Marko woke up in his small room. Before it got dark last night, he had noticed that he had a view of the latrines.
At least I am no longer looking at the stables. I am moving up in the world.
He put on his black leathers and walked to the commissary.  He noticed that he received several nods from troopers and other sergeants on his walk. Marko was continually amazed at the response he received from wearing uniforms. In one month he had worn three different ones. He was the same person but people looked at him three different ways. At least it was an improvement each time!

When he reached the commissary, he immediately looked for other Night Eagles. Marko did not know the protocol in this commissary but he figured sitting with people dressed like him was safe. He recognized Miranda sitting with some other soldiers and walked up to her.

“Good morning Miranda. Mind if I join you?”

“Hey, Marko. Sit down. Everyone, this is Marko Kunich, our new addition to the Eagles. Marko, that’s Laurence in front of you, Terry is to his left and Mital is on your right.”

“So what does Le Clerc have in store for your first day?”

“I am not exactly sure. He said something about an assessment this morning.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. You see, to become an Eagle you have to pass an assessment examination. He will probably take you through the same exam to understand your strengths and weaknesses.”

“What can I expect?”

“We don’t want to ruin it for you. But don’t worry, you have already been granted a spot on the team, albeit a temporary one. I am more interested in what role he has picked out for you. If I were to guess, you will be our scout.”

“A scout? Isn’t that the most dangerous role?”

“For you? Hardly. The Army wants you for your eyes. Our teams have been getting decimated by those priests. All he’ll want you to do is to see them coming. We’ll do all the dirty work.”

“Fine by me. Well, I better not leave the lieutenant waiting.”

Marko’s didn’t finish his breakfast, but that was ok with him. His stomach was in knots anyway. He made his way to Le Clerc’s office. The lieutenant was behind his desk writing what looked to be a report.

“Right. Good morning sergeant. Let’s head back to the training field.”

Marko followed Le Clerc back to the grounds where he met him yesterday. Only this time Marko felt the comfortable weight of his sword he had retrieved from the guard house. This morning the field was more crowded with several infantry units going through drills.

“Ok. I am going to start with assessing your steel work and move on to your unarmed skills. Grab a practice blade from the lockers and some padded armor.”

Le Clerc’s assessment of his sword work went similar to that of the army’s assessment at the orphanage. Only this time Le Clerc began with more advanced forms. Within half a mark, Marko was regularly being backed up against a wall or into another soldier. Marko was amazed at Le Clerc’s speed and stamina. Through a sequence of moves, Marko expected a sparring partner to eventually slow down. That is when he would go on the offensive. Le Clerc did not give him that chance. Marko’s only solution was to continue his defense and hope Le Clerc eventually tired of pushing Marko back into people.

“No break. Put up your equipment and we’ll begin the unarmed assessment.” When Marko walked back to Le Clerc after putting away the practice blade and padded armor, he noticed the lieutenant had taken off his boots. Marko knew that only meant one thing; he intends to use his feet and legs as weapons. Marko followed Le Clerc’s example. As tired as he was, he was not looking forward to what was about to come.

The unarmed assessment went much like the previous one. Le Clerc took the offensive and never relented. By the end of the match, Le Clerc had thrown him onto the ground. The only saving grace for Marko was that he was able to grab onto the lieutenant and pull him down with him. A wrestling match immediately began as each man tried to get the upper hand while rolling on the ground. Eventually Marko disengaged and rolled back onto his feet. He noticed that they had cleared a wide circle on the practice field. Other soldiers, no doubt, did not want to get tripped up by these two. He noticed several of the soldiers had stopped their practice and were watching the two.

“Well, looks like we got our exercise for the day.” Le Clerc looked at Marko with a slight smile. “Go get cleaned up and grab some chow. Report back to me at 13 marks.”

Marko walked back to his room with a slight limp. He had never sparred with anyone that had Le Clerc’s skill. He was even better than his father. During the unarmed match, just as the other, Le Clerc never tired. He also showed Marko kicks and punch sequences he had never seen before. He knew he would remember several of them. The bruises they had caused would be with Marko for some time.

After washing up and putting on a new uniform, Marko made it over to the commissary. He quickly found Miranda and other Night Eagles sitting at the same table. He guessed that the Night Eagles had that table reserved for them. He also noticed a few new faces.

“Our new arrival has survived the morning!” Miranda said with a grin.

One of the new faces turned to Marko. “I had heard Le Clerc was assessing a new Eagle. I am Toulon. Please to meet you.”

“Sergeant Marko Kunich, sir.” Marko had noticed that Toulon had a small silver fist hanging from a chain around his neck. His father had told him long ago that all officers had to wear their rank, even to bed or during a bath. They had taken to the practice of wearing their officer symbol on a chain. The silver fist designated Toulon as a lieutenant like Le Clerc.

“For a clerk you are astute. But I guess that is a trait of a clerk. Anyway that will serve you in the Night Eagles, too. Attention to detail can be the difference between life and death. Good luck, Marko.” The officer nodded to several other Eagles before leaving the commissary.

Miranda chuckled. “Don’t let Lt. “Gloom” get you too riled up, Marko. He’s a great officer, but he’s not exactly the guy you want to have around when you are on R&R.”

One of the men Marko met yesterday chimed in. “How did it go this morning? I know Le Clerc does not like to pull any punches.”

“I know. I think I will feel some of those punches for a few days. I could not find any opportunities to attack him with my sword. It was all I could do to keep up my defense for the assessment. He is definitely the best swordsman I have ever seen.”

Miranda looked at him shrewdly. “You kept up your defense? Just how many times did you have to yield?”

“Well, we had to reset once when an infantry ranker backed into me. The rest of the time I barely managed to not trip over someone.”

“You mean he did not disarm you?”

“Well, no. I am sure he could have at any time. His attacks were lightning fast. Like I said, it was all I could do to block them. I was not so lucky in the unarmed assessment. He was able to throw me down once.”

Miranda stared at Marko for a few moments and looked at the other Eagles at the table. No one said anything.

Marko felt uncomfortable with the silence. Had he failed the assessment and embarrassed the table? Were they worried that his incompetence would put them in jeopardy? 

Marko suddenly felt like he had to leave. “Well, Le Clerc is waiting for me. I better get going.” Marko left quickly, not wanting any of the other Night Eagles to remain uncomfortable in his presence.

When he arrived at Le Clerc’s office, he saw that the lieutenant had two horses tied out front to a small wooden railing.

“Good afternoon, sir.”

“Hello Marko. Ready for the next assessment?”

“Well sir. I will try to do better. Are we going somewhere?”

“One of the skills found in the Night Eagles is the ability to travel undetected and to detect others. We pride ourselves on being able to do this day or night. For this assessment, we will be leaving the post and travelling to the forest south of us. I will tell you more there. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions. I know you must feel overwhelmed right now. I will help to clear things up for you.”

As they travelled out of the post and towards the forest, Marko and Le Clerc discussed many things about the Night Eagles and the Emperor’s forces in general at Sibenik. It appeared that the war had been going well up until about six months ago. The Emperor’s forces had secured most of the paths through the mountains and had established a small, forward post in the Umag ruins. The plan was to assault Valpovo, the King’s most western outpost in the spring. Once Valpovo was secured, the Emperor would have a defensible toehold in the Kingdom.

That assault was put on hold. The King had made an agreement with Cardinal of the Royal Priests. He had loaned an unknown number of priest to the Royal Army. That moved had turned the tide of battle. The priests began assassinating the army’s leadership. One day the forward battalion out of Umag woke up to find that every officer had been assassinated during the night.  The priests also turned out to be able leaders and fighters. Their faith magic not only allowed them to move virtually undetected, but allowed them to instill confidence with their troops and move at enhanced speed.

“But I am sure they are no match for you, Lieutenant. I have never seen anyone move as quickly as you this morning.”

“I have fought several priests. Although they are not as fast and as well trained as an Imperial Mage, they are far superior to an average trooper. But that is not what makes them so effective. They have the ability to use their magic to remove fear from their troops. One of the advantages of the Night Night Eagles is that we can infiltrate any army. We too have assassinated army officers. There is nothing that makes an officer so hesitant to battle than knowing that they may die in their sleep. As long as a priest is in a camp, they can dispel this fear. It takes a lot out of them, but we have seen it done several times. They have been so successful that I would be worried if I was an officer in the King’s Army. They are already supplanting the lower ranks of leadership. It’s only a matter of time before we start seeing general officer priests.”

After two marks, they arrived at the edge of a large forest. These were not the trees Marko was used to near the coast. This forest had tall pines and hardwoods. The canopy was so thick that little sunlight made it to the forest floor. This made it easier to travel since there was little undergrowth. The challenge was that is also allowed very little light to see where you were going.

“This assessment is less painful, but no less important. Three Night Eagles have preceded us. They entered the forest by this path. I want you try and pick up their trail. I will be following along with you. We’ll tie our horses up around the corner there.”

Marko dismounted and led his horse around a tall copse of scrubs. He saw three other horses tied up to a large log on the ground. They spent a few minutes rubbing down their horses and feeding them a few handfuls of oats.

“Ok, let’s get started. You have until one hour before nightfall.”

Marko’s father had taught him some basics of trail craft. He and Sako had spent many days in the woods hunting deer and rabbits. Although he could often track an animal, his ability to hit one with an arrow was usually disastrous. Eventually, he allowed Sako to take all the shots.

When they entered the forest, Marko saw three clear sets of tracks along side each other. It was obvious that these three wanted to give him an easy start to the track. After a few hundred yards, they approached a shallow stream. It was the kind that usually only flowed after storms. His father had called them branches.

On the other side of the steam, Marko stopped. He only saw two sets of footprints.
Trying to throw me off already.
This was the oldest trick in the book. Deer would sometimes walk a short distance along a stream to drink in deeper pools. Marko had to pick a direction and walk along the other side of the bank to spot where the deer came out. In his experience, they usually walked downstream. He had no reason to think people would be any different.

After about twenty yards, Marko spotted tracks leaving the stream. He knew they were the same person because there was a lighter indentation on the inside of each heel. This person tended to walk on the outside of his boots. Marko smiled slightly.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s the man we are tracking sir. My guess is he is bowlegged from riding. I don’t think he fancies walking in these woods right now. Must not be comfortable.”

They twisted and turned several times before they came to a small clearing. There was a short rock with a smooth surface. On it sat a man that must have been at least forty years old. His beard and hair were graying. He slowly got up and straightened his back.

“Glad you found me. My back was killing me sitting on that darn stone.”

“Marko, let me introduce you to Sergeant Bastin. Henri, this is Marko Kunich.”

“Pleased to meet you Marko. Now let me get back to the post; I am sure you got plenty to do. I know there is at least one more out there.” He gave Marko a knowing wink and walked briskly past them. Marko noticed with satisfaction that Henri hobbled slightly on his feet.

“Spent twenty years in the cavalry before joining the Night Eagles. Said he got bored shoveling horse, um, you know all day. Now he claims he just needs to stay away from officers and his boots will be forever clean.”

They retraced their steps back to the stream and began tracking the other two Night Eagles. Marko studied the remaining tracks for a moment. He could tell one was from a woman because of its size and indentation. The person who made those tracks was considerably lighter than Marko. The second looked to be from a man that was at least as heavy as Marko. He guessed a few inches taller too by the size of the print.

The tracks became harder to see. The ground became rockier as the path began to climb. He almost lost the trail until he found a small twig that had been recently broken. The bend of the branch was to the left. On a hunch, he began tracking in that direction.

Sure enough, after ten or twenty yards, he picked up the trail of the woman. She did not seem to care about hiding her tracks as they were much easier to track than before. After several minutes the tracks ended next to a big oak tree.

Marko looked up. “Hi there, Marko. Hi Lieutenant.”

“Hi Miranda. How’s the view up there?”

“Good. But I think I’ll come down now.”

Miranda slowly climbed down the tree and jumped the last six feet. She brushed off her uniform and saluted Le Clerc.

He said, “I thought you nearly lost him back there by the rocks.”

“How did you find me? I was sure I did not leave a track.”

“You broke a branch. I warned you about that. It gave you away. Marko nearly missed it.”

“Oh well. There is still one left you have to find.”

Marko looked at her. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Lieutenant. You did not tell him?”

Le Clerc just shrugged. “I figured it would not help his confidence if he knew he was tracking a mage.”

“What! Who is out there?”

Mirada turned to Marco. “Do you remember meeting Toulon at breakfast? He is your third target. Good luck with that one. He’s only been caught once.” With that, Miranda lightly stepped between Marko and Le Clerc and towards the path.

“Well, let’s go find Toulon Marko and get back for some chow.”

Marko shrugged and walked back to the spot where Miranda and Toulon had separated. He knew that they had made enough noise talking to Miranda to alert him if he was nearby. He tried to put himself in Toulon’s shoes. The first Night Eagle used a stream for evasion, and the second used rocky ground cover. It makes sense that they would be testing different strategies. Man learned those strategies from animals. It only made sense that Toulon had tried the same.

Marko picked up Toulon’s tracks and began to follow them. It was not long before he and Le Clerc reached another rocky area. Marko spent another half a mark looking around the area for any sign of the direction Toulon took. Le Clerc just sat down on a log and seemed to be content to watch Marko.

What would an old, cagey buck do if he was being tracked by hunters?
Sako’s father, Krupa liked to tell them stories about his hunting adventures. He remembered the story about a buck he had been hunting for three seasons. Sako’s father had even given it a name: Bijeg. Krupa had figured out that the buck liked to circle around anyone who was tracking him. He would eventually cross over the hunter’s trail behind the hunter and wander off at a ninety degree angle. 

Marko figured if Toulon was doing that to them he would not wander off. He would want to see how Marko was doing against the other two. That meant that Toulon would have circled back and was following the two from behind.
How far back would he be?
He would have to be close enough to see what we were doing. He even might want to be close enough to hear what he was saying to Le Clerc.
That puts him no more than thirty yards away.

Marko glanced back down the path where he had tracked Toulon. He could only see about twenty yards. Then Toulon’s trail curved around a deadfall made by a large pine. Without further thought, Marko sprinted towards the deadfall. When he turned the corner, he stopped and looked around. There was no one there. Marko stood still and took in his surrounding environment.
Had he just made a fool of himself in front of Le Clerc?

Something did not
feel
right to Marko. He could not put his finger on it. Something was out of place. He studied the pine that had fallen down. The needles were mostly brown; a sign that it had fallen a few days ago. One patch, however, was completely green. He studied the patch for a moment and noticed that it was in the shape of a man.

“Good to see you, Lieutenant Toulon.”

Suddenly the shape changed into the man Marko had met at breakfast that morning. “Well met, Marko. I see we found ourselves a hunter!”

“It was actually my friend’s Da who told me about deer circling back. I am such a bad shot with a bow, that it really did not matter where they were.”

Toulon laughed as Le Clerc approached. “Well it looks like our young priest hunter can hunt mages as well. How did you spot him?”

“I saw a patch of green pine needles when the others were turning brown. The patch looked like a man so I just assumed it was Lieutenant Toulon.”

Toulon smiled. “I will have to remember that the next time I cast an illusion. I really did not have much time after I saw you sprinting towards me. Never saw that one before. You won’t be able to do that when tracking an enemy, but it was most effective today.”

The three of them walked back to their horses. All the while, they discussed various approaches to tracking an enemy depending upon the size of the group and terrain. Marko asked several questions about a priest’s use of magic, especially in evading and infiltrating an enemy encampment.

Toulon was the most accommodating. “A priest’s magic is different than a mage’s. The priest gets his magic from their god Vrhovni. Specifically, he his granted a medallion from the Conclave of Bishops. The medallion allows him to manifest the blessings of their god into applied magic. The priest is not born with the ability to manipulate magic currents. As such, they are granted certain, but limited abilities. The one you have to be concerned about is the ability to bend light around them. It is called “Vrhovni’s Sight.” This means that you can stare directly at a priest and only see what is behind him. If he moves, you may see a ripple in the air, but most don’t. A priest also has the ability to instill confidence in the people around him. They call this “Vrhovni’s Peace”. This can affect up to a Company of King’s Guards during battle. It makes them much more effective. Some also believe that it allows limited control by the priest. So, he can direct them in battle as a group. The most well known skill is their ability to heal wounds. “Vrhovni’s Blessing” has been the magic that people have associated with the priesthood for centuries. There are rumors of other skills found in the Bishops, but so far we have never faced one in battle.”