The Foolhardies 162 Over the Hedge

It was the night after our toast in the command tent. After I, Ty, Azuma, and other viseres clocked out for the day, the remaining Foolhardies under Aura's leadership marched the rest of the way to the oasis in the southwest that I'd designated as our first target. Their pace allowed them to arrive at the location just before dusk.

So tonight, I found myself staring down into a desert valley where a fierce battle was being waged between the forces of General Red Bull and a much larger enemy army than previously reported.

"Well, I didn't really expect that bastard to get in my way, you know," Red Bull answered as he sent me a sidelong glance. "So you're the commander who beat Azuma and Jimmy Jonas, huh… thought you'd be taller."

I frowned. There was one thing I hated about meeting new people and it was always this unfair comment on my height. After all, height had nothing to do with talent in battle strategy.

"Don't sweat it, Commander Dapper," he said reassuringly. "I measure a human's worth by their ability to be useful in battle."

Red Bull playfully smacked the shoulder of his lieutenant, the one-thousand-man commander, April Valentine.

"Look at April here," he pointed a thumb at her. "She looks like a gust of wind would blow her away but you won't find a sharper mind anywhere else in Garm's army."

I glanced over at the pair of them and couldn't help but notice how opposite they looked from each other.

While April seemed like a frail, short-haired, fair-faced angel, her general with his two large horns and muscular physique wrapped in sun-kissed flesh was almost like a demon. Both of them wore similar style scale mail armor, the kind that hugged one's figure like a superhero's outfit.

"I'm surprised Great General Garm even has human officers," I admitted. "He didn't strike me as the type who associated with us Mudgardians."

Red Bull guffawed loudly, drawing attention from the people around us.

"Old Garm's a purist, but he's not a great general for nothing," Red Bull said. "He'll recognize talent and reward those who prove valuable."

He sent me another sidelong glance.

"The big boss hates your guts though," Red Bull smirked. "Something about you not having the proper sense to die when he hit you."

The sound of explosions rocked our ears and turned our attentions back to the battle below.

The oasis, an extrlarge watering hole surrounded by desert firs and shrubs, sat cozily in the center of this small desert valley. It had been heavily barricaded by the enemy with what I assumed was a magically formed fifteen-foot hedge formed around the oasis like a maze.

Red Bull's soldiers chose not to enter the maze which was obviously a big fat trap. They opted instead to blow it to smithereens with some well-placed black powder explosives.

A black plume rose up from the front of the maze. Flames licked the corners of the hedge that hadn't been blown away. It worked. Or so we all thought.

But, as if time was being reversed, the hedge rapidly grew itself back in a matter of seconds, thereby closing the hole that had been created. Unfortunately, some of Red Bull's men had already crossed into the other side and were stuck over there.

Pretty soon we heard the war cries and death rattles that told us our soldiers had been slain.

The satyr crossed his arms

"Well, shit," he scowled. "That was a muddaming disaster…"

He turned his piercing gaze on me, the guy who'd suggested the failed tactic.

"What else you got?" he asked.

There was no accusation in his tone, and I could tell he was giving me another chance to prove myself. In fact, I guessed that he and his lieutenant already had a plan on standby but they were waiting to see if I could deliver first.

I sighed inwardly and wondered why everything in the universe seemed to be one big fat test.

My gaze moved down to the maze once more.

On first inspection, the maze itself seemed harmless apart from the myriad of directions one could get lost in. It wasn't tall enough to impede a pixie's flight either, but strangely enough, not even the birds that passed into this valley would fly over the hedge maze.

Within the hedge maze, the glint of metal revealed several large units patrolling inside it, ready to take out any unsuspecting intruders who stumbled inside. By the maze's size alone, I suspected there were thousands of soldiers hiding within, way more than one could see even from our vantage point above.

At the center of this artificial maze, an army that seemed equal to the size of its attackers was waiting. However, a mist covered this central space, making visibility of what lay inside extremely difficult.

"This is definitely magic," I reasoned.

"Nature magic," Aura explained.

She'd been kneeling on the ground in front of us with a crystal in her outstretched hands. The crystal, which was initially as clear as glass, was now glowing a verdant green.

"A powerful nature spell envelops this entire valley… I would assume that there's a master magician at the center of the maze, and if not, then at least a dozen magicians casting the same enchantment," she explained further.

I took into account the information Aura gave me while I surveyed the maze below.

Defenders and attackers clashed at the edge of the hedge as some of the enemy units braved the outside of it to test our own defensive capabilities. A remarkable thing about this maze was how it seemed to open up whenever their side chose to attack almost as if it was aware of who was good and who was bad.

"How powerful do you think this spell is?" I asked Aura.

"An area of effect spell like this one is most often a high-tier one," she answered.

Aura got up and dusted off her knees. Then she stood to full height and pocketed her crystal.

"You want to see if it'll stand up to a bombardment, don't you?" she guessed knowingly.

I nodded.

"Want me to summon the efreet?" She locked her fingers together and stretched them forward. "I can't promise my power will be enough though."

I shook my head and patted her shoulder.

"No need to worry yourself, partner…" I raised the peace sign high in the manner of a football player after he'd scored a goal. "Let's see if these master magicians can hold their own against the chosen one."

The call came down to the very front where I had Luca waiting on standby with Luca and his Reavers.

I'd seen the maze hedge before meeting General Red Bull, and I already assumed then that I would need the power of the chosen one to break through it.

Red Bull walked closer to me and Aura.

"So that's him, huh?" he said. "Are you sure he's the one? Seems almost as flimsy as April."

We watched the tall figure walk over to the edge of the hedge.

"He's the one," I said, a hint of pride escaping my lips.

It had been five months since Ty officially joined the Foolhardies, and we tended to use his powers sparingly as the situation rarely called for the nuclear option. Tonight, however, I imagined Ty could finally get to show off a bit.

We watched Ty stretched his hands out to the maze. We saw his form shimmer, bathed in a blue aura that I always likened to Captain Marvel when she was flying in the sky.

Then we felt the night turn cold as if father winter had suddenly come upon this valley and let out a long, chilly breath over it. Quickly afterward, that which was once a wall of verdant green was transformed into the snow-white wall that spread out from the place where Ty's hands rested on the hedge.

The entire front side of this hedge and several layers beyond it was now covered in a sheet of ice, proving once more that Ty's magical talents were an overpowering cheat of a gift.

Ty stepped aside so that Luca and his Reavers could begin their job of destroying the ice before them.

A single swing of my brother's broadsword brought down a large portion of the front wall like it was nothing more than a shattered ice sculpture. And just like that, the hedge had been breached.

Then he looked over his shoulder to address his men, and I wasn't there, but I could guess what orders he was giving. "Stick together, team," or "Go, go, go, go!"

The Reavers shattered wall after wall of ice that barred their way while at the same time dealing with the enemy forces that appeared to stop them.

If it was just Luca and his unit, they might have had a chance against them, but by this time, Edo and his Bastards had joined the fray along with other units from the Red Bull's forces.

It was a veritable free for all inside the hedge now, although it was no longer a maze for my Foolhardies led the way forward in a straight line that would take them to the oasis.

The hedge did not grow back, and the places that were still verdant were quickly dealt with by Ty, who, alongside Luca, was at the very front of the growing column of our warriors.

"Not bad," Red Bull noted. "I would have done it differently, but I like this overwhelming show of force too."

I felt a swell of pride for my brother and my friend and the rest of my unit. They were always managing to execute my crazy vision in the best possible way.

"So… how do you plan to deal with him?" Red Bull asked.

He was referring to the Dawn Breaker, of course, the Sunspire Dominion's famous fairy knight who was supposed to be over at oasis number two. And yet, when we arrived here, I was told who exactly was giving Red Bull and his troops such a hard time.

"As I said, you ain't seen nothing yet," I repeated, and unlike those past days when I faced off with other famous military officers, I actually felt confident.

Chapter end