The Foolhardies 43 Danger Close

Chancellor Orryn did an amazing job at getting things done.
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By week's end, there were forty-five thousand soldiers gathering in hastily made camps on the green training field outside Fort Darah's Redwood Forest. A large number of centaur wagons filled to the brim with rations and other equipment arrived at the same time as the new soldiers.

This made me glad that the Chancellor of the Moon was loyal to House Trickhaven. It also got me thinking that the Foolhardies would need a human resources guy in the future so I wouldn't have to bother with recruiting good soldiers.

Now, as I wasn't part of the logistics team, I thought I'd have some free time to get the Foolhardies into shape, but Darah had other plans for me. So, while Aura and Luca continued the training exercises with our soldiers, I had been tasked with memorizing the terrain of the region we were likely to battle in.

This is why on the afternoon before the gongs of war would finally sound, I was sitting on my bed reading up on the homework Darah gave me. Luckily, I had two extra sets of eyes helping me out.

"This spot here should be a good place to set up an ambush," Arah pointed to another x-mark we'd placed in the rough map I was able to recreate from memory of the Calmlands hill region. "You'll want to let them pass you until you see the rear and then—"

"Tighten that noose and choke the life out of them," Ty finished.

Ty and Arah were sitting on my bed with me. The three of us were looking over the map that was now covered in notes and cheese stains.

"You're right, Dean," Arah had a finger tracing a line I'd jotted down yesterday afternoon about a likely supply route the enemy would use to get supplies to the front from their probable rear position. "It's deep enough that they'll feel safe... ambushing them here will definitely get results."

Arah looked pointedly at me.

"But it has to be a quick in-and-out. A snatch and run play," Arah suggested.

I nodded. "Yeah, we spend too much time there and we're likely to get surrounded..."

Ty tapped a finger on his forehead. "These two hills between the supply path are pretty steep so as long as you can climb up fast enough, it'll be hard to be pursued..."

He glanced up at me.

"Man, you got lucky when you recruited those drow gliders... they're like your personal spy drones," Ty said grinning.

We bumped fists, switched to side slaps, and ended with a handshake.

"Boys..." The tone of Arah's voice was gloomy. "It's time... sundown's here."

Both Ty and I glanced over the window. We'd left the curtains open so we'd know when it was time.

I sighed. "Ready player one.

I said my goodbyes to my friends with a promise that I would my best to survive. To their credit, neither of them tried to stop me. They knew how important this was for me. Even more amazing, neither of them turned crybaby on me. Although I honestly wouldn't have minded a teary-eyed farewell. The best I got was a hug.

Soon after they left the bed, and after a few embarrassing minutes of them watching me try to fall asleep like sleeping beauty, I finally got called back to that place beyond the Mudgard sky.

I dropped back down to the solid ground of a hilltop I'd never seen except in the details of the map I'd poured my last few days into.

The anchor Aura got me was between my feet. Luca, Aura, and Edo were standing around me.

"Yo," I said, before giving my brother and my partner high-fives each. Edo sent me his usual raised eyebrows greeting.

"Has it started yet?" I asked them.

For an answer, Luca pointed behind me—and I turned around to the sight I would normally only see inside a television screen.

"Oh, great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable," I whispered.

With the assistance of Fool's Insight, I began to survey the battlefield in front of me with an eagle eye that took note of everything my sight could devour.

The golden moon shone down on a sea of grass dotted here and there by rocky flat grounds between a series of low hills and cliffs—one of which, we were on, giving us a good view of the surroundings.

On the left side of this field was a mass of midnight blue banners rising over an army equally divided into three halves. Fairies of all kinds and human viseres in blue gear lined up neatly alongside fairy catapults and other war machines.

From our last strategy meeting, I knew that two Five-Thousand Man Commanders, Thors and Vardoom, were given a field commission to act as generals in the battle.

Thors led the center army which was thirty-thousand strong. Vardoom commanded the left army which was twenty-five thousand strong. The other twenty-five thousand strong right army, however, had two leaders. These were Three-Thousand Man Commander Unna Ra Lara—the undine I met along with Commander Vardoom—and Three-thousand-man Commander Tyrox Xor, an albino male centaur I'd only met recently as he'd only just returned from a mission in a faraway land.

The remaining five thousand soldiers and supply troops joined Great General Darah in the command center which was on the hill directly west of the battlefield. The Fist of Fort Darah rose proudly over this hill like a symbol of encouragement to the soldiers below.

Staring down the eighty-five thousand strong Darah army was a larger force of grey-tinted banners and soldiers.

The opposing Magesong army was similarly lined up against our side. They were split into three armies with a fourth army in the rear. However, that was as far as similarities go. For while our side had humans, elves, dwarves, pixies, centaurs, and the occasional elemental, the enemy force also included hobgoblins, trolls, and pegasi in their ranks. They had trebuchets and ballista too.

Above the fourth army was a grey flag with an outward-facing open palm as its symbol. From what I heard, this was the standard of the enemy commander, Great General Spellweaver.

I closed my eyes and disengaged Fool's Insight.

"Geez, they've come prepared," I said while blinking the dryness away.

"Yeah," Luca agreed. "And we're supposed to wade into all that without any backup..."

"I wonder which fool thought this idea up," Edo was giving me a pointed look like it was my fault we were at war.

To be fair, I had help thinking up our plan which was inline with Darah's requirements for my unit. I felt a swell of pride in my chest just thinking about the mornings Ty, Arah, and I spent to increase our strategy's chances of success.

"Well, Great General Darah thinks it's a good plan," Aura's voice sounded a bit hesitant to my ears.

I turned around to look at them. "Come on, guys... it'll work. Trust me. Believe in me."

I glanced at each of them and held their gazes.

"Because I believe in you," I said.

"You are so corny, Dean," Luca shook his head.

"I liked it... exudes confidence," a commanding female voice said from behind me.

I turned around and found Great General Darah looking down at me from atop a creature that had the head, antlers, and forelegs of a brown stag, combined with the hindquarters, plumage, and wings of a large white bird.

The creature landed beside me and knelt on its forelegs like a horse sometimes did so its rider could get off. And next thing I knew, Darah was standing before me resplendent in her gleaming golden armor, with her midnight blue cloak billowing in the wind.

"Are you ready to accomplish your task, Dean?" she asked.

"Y-yes, General," I stammered.

I couldn't help get flustered. There was a moment where the picture of a golden-haired superhero surrounded by golden light flashed before my eyes while I gazed at Darah. She was that impressive tonight.

"Whether the battle turns well for us on this first clash is dependent on the success of your mission," she said.

"But... general," Aura addressed her aunt in a formal manner. Even in this situation, she continued to keep up appearances. "Surely our task, no matter how important, isn't so vital as to decide tonight's battle?"

Unlike her niece who was working hard to keep up the act, Darah smiled at her like the doting, obsessed aunt she was.

"You're right and wrong, Lieutenant," Darah answered her.

The general pointed to the grey army on our right.

"They haven't revealed their positions yet but the enemy definitely has their trump card ready," Darah said.

"You're talking about the spell canons, ma'am?" Luca asked.

It was rare for him to speak in front of a higher-up like Darah, and I knew it was because he didn't trust the elders. Just the thought of that old fairy, Kairon, pissed me off. Luca's feelings must have been far more confusing. So, it made me happy to see him speak up now.

Darah gave Luca an appraising look before she answered him.

"Manners... how unlike your brother you are, Luca Dapper," Darah said with a smile.

Luca bowed his head to her in an apologetic gesture. "I'm sorry for his rudeness, great General Darah... I will lecture him about this later."

Darah's smile widened. She turned to me with a this-is-how-you-should-act look that really grated on my nerves. It's not like I wasn't at least a little respectful to her, after all.

After she was done having fun at my expense, Darah answered Luca's question, "Despite their small size, the Magesong have survived wars with other clans because of the devastation caused by their spell canons."

She walked away from us and remounted her steed. But before she flew off, she gave us one final command.

"We cannot allow these weapons to stay on the field," Darah insisted. "It'll be your job to ensure they are thrown off the board."

Then she was gone, soaring back up the sky and in the direction of the command hill.

I looked over to my team. Luca, Aura, and even Edo gazed determinedly back at me. They were ready and able. Now, we just had to round up the rest of the Foolhardies and cause some mischief danger-close style like we usually did.

"You heard her," I grinned. "Time to work for a living."

Chapter end