13 Day War (22 page)

The colonel saluted, but General Omirro had already turned to retreat inside his tent. General Barbone followed.

“Close the flap,” ordered General Omirro. “The dust raised by the horses is enough to gag on.” General Barbone dutifully closed the flap and General Omirro continued. “You were closer to the mage tent than I was, Barbone. What did you make of that winged-horse?”

General Omirro sat down and poured two mugs of cold tea. He placed one on the table and raised the other to his lips. General Barbone also took a seat and grabbed the other mug.

“It was not a winged-horse. It was a unicorn. I saw the horn extending from its head.”

General Omirro was about to say that unicorns were mythical, but then again, so were winged-horses. He said nothing, and General Barbone felt compelled to continue.

“I am not sure about the other one. I could not see its head. It looked dead to me, and it certainly wasn’t flying under its own power. Do you suppose the flying one was magically raising it?”

“I think not,” answered Omirro, “but I cannot be sure. I thought I saw two bodies on top of the flying one. Did you see them?”

“Clearly,” answered General Barbone. “They were Federation soldiers, but I could not see the patches clear enough to identify which army they belonged to. They also appeared dead. None of this makes much sense to me.”

“Nor to me,” General Omirro said before turning silent and sipping his cold tea.

General Barbone was well familiar with the moods of General Omirro, and he knew when not to speak. For a long time the two generals sat in silence until the tent flap opened and Colonel Verle entered. The colonel approached the table, and General Omirro informally waved for the officer to sit. The colonel raised an eyebrow in surprise, but he promptly obeyed.

“The missing guards will not need to be arrested,” opened the colonel. “Their bodies were found at the mage tent. It was difficult to identify two of them.”

“Explain,” General Omirro said curtly.

“The mage tent is a bloody scene, General. While we may never know exactly what happened there tonight, I can detail what I found. All eight of the black-cloaks are dead, as well as the four guards. A vicious, bloody assault occurred inside that tent. Some of it was magical, which is the origin of the flames, but most of it was physical. Outside the tent we found three bodies, two guards and a mage. The mage was decapitated, his head found elsewhere. The two guards were mauled by something massive and solid. Their skulls were literally crushed. Were it not for belongings on their bodies, identification would have been impossible.”

“What about inside the tent?” asked General Barbone.

“Another bloody mess,” frowned the colonel. “Two of the guards were gored by something very sharp, very long, and very large. Three of the mages were struck down with a staff, or at least I believe that to be so. We did find a staff amongst the wreckage, and their injuries were not as bloody as the other four. Those four were gored along the lines of the guards. I should also report that the tent was not only burning, it was slashed to pieces in several places, including the roof.”

“And the tether lines at the corral?” asked General Omirro.

“Slashed,” answered the colonel. “We definitely have saboteurs, General. Someone intentionally freed our mounts and caused the stampede.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Colonel?” scowled General Omirro.

The colonel fidgeted and sighed anxiously. “Men reported something very strange this night, General. I don’t know if the men should be punished for drunkenness or not, but the situation is serious enough to inform you of their comments. They claim that they saw a unicorn rise from the burning tent. Some said that a second unicorn rose, but that it was dead when it rose. There were also reports claiming that there were two dead soldiers draped over one of the unicorns. I truly do not know what to make of these tales.”

“Take the men at their words,” frowned General Omirro. “I do not understand what is going on, but General Barbone and I saw something similar. The gore wounds that you spoke of, could they have been inflicted by something like a unicorn’s horn?”

“Assuming that the creatures were unicorns,” shrugged the colonel, “I guess that would be possible. It is as good an explanation as anything I could come up with.”

“I take it that you do not believe in unicorns, Colonel?” General Omirro asked.

“I do not believe in anything that I cannot see or touch,” answered the colonel, “but I stand ready to accept your word on the matter.”

General Omirro sighed and smiled slightly at the colonel’s discomfort. “I don’t believe in them either, but they were here tonight. I want a headcount of our men, Colonel, and I want it immediately. People saw two dead soldiers on the back of that unicorn, and I want to know if they were men of Team Caldar.”

The colonel nodded and rose to his feet. He saluted briskly and quickly departed the tent.

“What did you mean if they were ours?” asked General Barbone. “They definitely wore Federation uniforms. I saw that with my own eyes. What other army could they belong to besides ours?”

“You are asking the wrong question, Barbone,” replied General Omirro. “The real question is why the unicorns would take humans from the camp in the first place? Why would the unicorns take away the bodies of two of our men? If they wanted information about our orders or purpose for being in Alcea, they would have abducted live soldiers to interrogate, not recovered dead bodies.”

“Well,” retorted General Barbone, “I said that they appeared dead. I suppose that they could have been magically put to sleep. Am I missing something?”

“You are indeed. The unicorns did not use a staff to kill the black-cloaks. The humans did. That means that the unicorns were removing their confederates from the enemy’s camp. Two beasts, two riders. Whether they were alive or dead really doesn’t matter to the logic of it all. Taking what I just said as truth, the unicorns have allies that have access to Federation uniforms. More importantly, the Alceans know that we have arrived in their country.”

“How can you be sure that it is the Alceans behind the attack?” asked General Barbone. “What if it was Tauman’s men trying to make us fail? You know that he is disappointed about not being involved in the attack on Alcea. Making us fail might be his way of making himself look better.”

“There is truth to your words,” agreed General Omirro, “but the end result is the same. If Tauman wants us to fail, he would merely tell the Alceans that we are here. He certainly has access to all the portals. Either way, the Alceans know that we are here, but I personally do not think Tauman would stoop so low. Besides, I don’t think Tauman could keep unicorns a secret for very long. They must be Alcean creatures that our spies did not discover.”

General Barbone sighed heavily and nodded in agreement. “What does this mean to our plans then?”

“This knowledge means very little to our plans,” answered General Omirro. “We are facing eighteen-thousand men in all of Sordoa. We are twenty-thousand strong, and we have forty-thousand comrades joining up with us at the walls of Trekum. Sordoa is going to fall regardless of the existence of unicorns. The biggest impact of tonight’s raid is the loss of our mages, and that tells me a great deal about our adversaries. They could have tried to take out the leadership of Team Caldar, but they feared our mages more. That tells me that they have no mages to stand against us and that pleases me. Sword for sword, we will devastate the Sordoans. They cannot stand against the might of the Federation.”

The knocking was incessant. King Arik subconsciously tried to put it out of his mind, but it continued with annoying regularity.

“Are you going to see who that is?” asked Queen Tanya. “Or do I have to get out of bed?”

King Arik immediately sat up and opened his eyes. “I thought I was dreaming,” apologized the king. “Stay in bed, Mother. I will see what the problem is.”

The queen laughed. “Now that woke me up more than the knocking did. I am not even showing yet.”

The king grinned and hurried to the door. He cracked it open and saw a Red Sword officer with a grim face waiting on the other side.

“I am sorry for disturbing you, King Arik,” apologized the soldier. “I know that you had a late night of it last night, but I think this warrants your attention. We had a fairy arrive from Sordoa. She reports that two Knights of Alcea and two unicorns are in dire need of healing.”

King Arik’s heart skipped a beat. He knew that Wylan and Sheri were the Knights of Alcea being referred to. The only other Knight of Alcea in Sordoa was Prince Darok, and he was at the opposite end of the country. If it was two of them hurt, it had to be the human couple. The king frowned deeply, but he didn’t respond immediately. Obviously a healer needed to be sent, but that was something that Prince Oscar would normally handle. The prince knew the locations of all of the healers. He would know who was closest. After a healer was dispatched, the prince would notify the king so that they could discuss the problem with the king’s advisors. King Arik knew that there was more to the problem. The officer would not have come to the king otherwise. The king looked into the officer’s eyes questioningly.

“What is the rest of the message?”

“That was the entire message,” replied the officer hesitantly, “but I think the fairy is lying.”

“Lying?” echoed the king. “Why do you think that?”

“I heard her talking to another fairy,” frowned the officer. “She indicated that the two Knights of Alcea were really dead.”

King Arik gasped loudly, grabbing the queen’s attention. It was one thing for a Knight of Alcea to be wounded and need a healer. It was a more frequent occurrence than the king would have liked, but the Knights of Alcea tackled only the toughest tasks. Injuries were not uncommon. It was a far different story to hear talk about the death of one of the king’s chosen.

“What is it?” asked Queen Tanya as she arrived at the king’s side.

“Wylan and Sheri,” King Arik replied softly, supreme sadness evident in his voice.

The king and the officer stood facing one another, and neither of them spoke. Tanya knew what Arik had meant when he mentioned the names of the two Knights of Alcea. Only their deaths would strike him so hard. She eased in front of him and addressed the officer.

“Call the Council of Advisors together,” instructed the queen. “They are to assemble immediately. And inform Prince Midge to halt all outgoing fairies.”

“And detain the fairy from Sordoa,” added King Arik. “She has some explaining to do.”

The Red Sword officer saluted and retreated. The queen closed the door and stared at the king.

“What is wrong with the fairy from Sordoa?” she asked.

“The fairy reported that the Knights were wounded,” explained the king, “but she was overheard saying that they were really dead. I will not stand for the truth being withheld from me.”

The queen could see tears starting to well up in Arik’s eyes, and she knew that she had to keep his mind occupied with something other than the deaths of two Knights of Alcea.

“Let’s get dressed,” Queen Tanya said authoritatively. “As long as the Council is being assembled, this will be a good opportunity to discuss what has happened so far.”

The king nodded absently and began getting dressed. Neither of them spoke again until they entered the council chambers. Some of the advisors were already there, but not all of them. Some of them did not reside in the Royal Palace. Prince Oscar was one of the advisors already present, and he was orchestrating the morning meeting. Fairies buzzed nonstop to and from the prince, and servants brought in trays of hot tea and fresh bread. The king and queen grabbed cups of tea and chunks of bread and waited silently for the rest of the advisors to arrive. The king was anxious about the delay, but he wanted to avoid repeating anything, and he wanted everyone’s input. When General Gregor arrived, he called the meeting to order and demanded that the Sordoan fairy repeat the message. She delivered the exact message that Twerp had requested.

“Are Wylan and Sheri alive?” asked the king.

“I do not know,” frowned the fairy. “I have delivered the message that Twerp asked me to deliver.”

“Then why were you overheard saying that they were dead?” scowled the king.

Prince Midge was alarmed by the king’s words. The fairy people were sworn to the Bringer and it disturbed him greatly to think that one of his people might deceive the Bringer. He settled on the king’s shoulder and glared at the other fairy. The tiny woman bit her lip and trembled slightly.

“Twerp changed his message,” the fairy offered timidly. “I do not know why, but he said they were dead at first. I have not told anyone that they were dead. I only remarked to another fairy that Twerp changed his message. Someone must have overheard me say that.”

“Show us the images,” demanded Prince Midge.

The fairy instantly complied, showing the original message and the eventual one. King Arik was satisfied that the fairy was not deceiving him.

“Where were Wylan and Sheri supposed to be when they were struck down?” the queen asked the fairy. “Was it at the Doors?”

“No,” answered the fairy. “I am stationed at one of the Doors. Both of the Doors have already been removed. I think they were going to attack the mages, but I am not sure.”

“Did they know about the fear spell?” asked the queen.

The fairy frowned and looked confused. It was obvious that she did not know what the queen was asking. Prince Oscar quickly glanced at his notes until he found what he was looking for.

“Did Thrip arrive down there?” asked Prince Oscar.

“Yes,” the fairy nodded, grateful that she did not have to answer the queen’s question. “Thrip arrived a couple of hours before Twerp. He said that he was searching for Wylan but couldn’t find him. He asked me if I knew where they were, and I said that I did not, but I suggested that he look near the enemy camp.”

The King looked questioningly at his father.

“Thrip was carrying word of the fear spell to Wylan and Sheri,” explained Prince Oscar. “It looks like he arrived too late.”