That went well. Arturo thought as he entered his camp, ten miles outside of Lapoi. Harold had kept his word and given him fifty good soldiers, along with some money to pay them for the year. Harold had admitted that he didn’t think Arturo would pull it off.

  Arturo hadn’t expected to either; getting Lord Errant to come with him had been easy. All it took was winning a duel. He didn’t tell Harold that and accepted the money without complaint. All in all, this trip had done wonders for him. Achillion had officially joined, and he was now up to two hundred soldiers. Now came the difficult decision: Should he head to Vandalor or Azzellia?

  He was torn about going back to Azzellia. Arturo had been avoiding returning to his home country since leaving with the Crystal Syndicate four years ago. The loss of his family still hurt, and going back, even if it was only to Carhan, was still painful. But he couldn’t call his army the Shields of Aidris if he refused to go to Azzellia.

  The soldiers given to him by Harold were standing around awkwardly, something Arturo had expected. They were going to stay in the camp tonight. Some booze and social time were all the men needed. He saw Eurisha walk up and start talking to one of the Eshil Domain soldiers. She was doing well to break the ice. Some appeared not to care that she was a Forest Dweller, but there was no missing the glares from a few of the others.

  “Where are we going next?” Tarmon said, standing next to Jen. Achillion had remained in Lapoi, saying he wanted to enjoy the capital for a night.

  “The next destination,” Arturo felt odd, as if he wanted to avoid this decision. But he was the commander; he had to make the choice. “Azzellia,” he said.

  Jen eyed him warily, almost as if trying to read his thoughts. “Are we going home?” she asked.

  “I have no intentions of going home. We’ll go to Carhan, talk to Talon, and hopefully be gone within a few days,” Arturo said.

  Jen pursed her lips but said nothing. Tarmon didn’t notice Jen’s change in posture and took a step forward. “How many soldiers are you going to ask for?” he asked.

  “I would like to get fifty from both Azzellia and Vandalor. I don’t want too many soldiers, not yet,” Arturo said.

  “What then?” Jen asked.

  “What do you mean?” Arturo replied.

  “What will you do after you have all the soldiers you want?”

  “Ah,” Arturo shrugged. He hadn’t thought too hard about what to do. Perhaps he would help towns plagued by bandits. There were always conflicts going on. Once the invaders came, he would focus his attention on them. “I don’t know. Wait for the invaders, perhaps.”

  “What if these invaders never come?” Eurisha asked, sneaking up behind Arturo and almost causing him to jump.

  “They’ll come,” Arturo said confidently.

  “You may think so, but what if they don’t? Will you disband this army?” Eurisha inquired firmly.

  He didn’t know what he would do if that were to happen. Arturo was convinced the invaders, no, the Durmaddons, would come someday. “I wouldn’t disband the army. Our goal is to help all of Aidris, regardless of an invasion coming or not.”

  Eurisha nodded, more to herself than to Arturo. He didn’t know what that meant. Was she worried he would disband the Shields of Aidris so soon? Would she have left if he had said yes?

  “Spread the word that we’ll be here a few days,” Arturo instructed.

  “As you command,” Eurisha said and walked off.

  “Why wait?” Jen inquired.

  “The men need to situate themselves. We have four cultures mixed together and not enough time to relax. This army will fail if we don’t get used to one another,” Arturo explained.

  Not wanting to talk anymore, Arturo walked off. He hoped Jen believed his words, though deep down, he knew she didn’t. He wanted to avoid going to Azzellia. Part of what he said was true, yet that wasn’t the reason he was remaining here a few more days.

  He stopped in front of his tent and looked around. So many people under his command. These men and women following him were his responsibility. Some followed him for his reputation, while others wanted to go on an adventure. How many would die because he wanted revenge?

  Best not to think about that. Arturo walked into his tent and prepared for bed. He had a few days to think about how to approach Azzellia. The Shields of Aidris was for more than the invaders; it had to be, or that would mean he was lying to not only himself but everyone following him. Disturbed, he got into his bed and turned to his side.

  Three days came and went with little excitement. Achillion had returned the next day, expecting to leave, and was surprised to find they weren’t leaving for two more days. He went back to Lapoi with fifteen others and returned on the third day to acquaint himself with everyone else.

  Achillion was a natural. Everyone in the army wanted to talk with him, even the Forest Dwellers. Arturo found it comforting, for Achillion was able to stop men from fighting, unless he wanted to see blood; then, he would encourage it at times.

  Arturo heard birds chirping all around the camp and groaned. It was almost time to leave, and he had had a tad too much to drink last night. Sunlight entered his tent as the flaps were opened. Jen, standing over him, came in.

  “You need to get up now,” Jen said.

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  That woke Arturo up. He rose so fast his vision blurred for a moment. “What’s going on?” he asked, standing up. He reached for his armor and started to get dressed.

  “You’ll have to see for yourself,” Jen said.

  Arturo didn’t bother arguing. His sister wouldn’t tell him, and he quickly got his armor on. It took him a few minutes, during which Jen stood by, very patiently. “Let’s go,” he said once he had hooked his sword onto his back.

  Without another word, Jen led the way out of the tent. It wouldn’t take a genius to realize something was happening. Many of his men were on the edge of the camp, watching something with great interest. Arturo walked past a few people and saw what was going on.

  In front of a force of well over one thousand soldiers was Lord Errant, wearing bright white armor. Errant had come with Arturo to speak with the king and then returned to his home, only to come back with his army this quickly. How? Did Errant have his army follow shortly after leaving Brodski? This was not what he had expected to see. He knew Errant had his soldiers ready to march, but he must have motivated his men for them to arrive so quickly.

  Achillion nudged past a few people to stand next to Arturo. “I just got back from Lapoi,” he said.

  “Lapoi? Didn’t you stay here last night?” Arturo may have been drunk last night, but he was pretty sure Achillion remained in the camp.

  “I was there a couple of hours ago,” Achillion said. “Rumors are flying around that Harold is going to be marching his army within the week.”

  “Do you know where?” Jen asked.

  “No. Some talked about Azzellia and Malvarian. Nothing concrete either way,” Achillion said.

  “I’m sure we’ll know soon enough,” Arturo turned to a nearby soldier and hesitated as he recalled the name. “Kimper, would you wake up the rest of the camp? We’re leaving early today.”

  Kimper laughed. “That won’t be hard. Most are already awake,” he stopped laughing when he didn’t see Arturo join in. “Sorry, I’ll get right on it,” he said.

  “You worried about something?” Jen asked.

  “I have a feeling this is only one part of the army arriving today,” Arturo said. He didn’t want to risk running into anyone else. “Achillion, tell some of the men to keep an eye out and to inform me if anything happens.”

  “Will do,” Achillion said.

  He and the others began packing up the camp. Once Arturo was done, he was about to get on his horse when one of his men ran up to him. “Sir, a couple of thousand more soldiers are heading towards Lapoi.”

  “Foreigners or Harold’s men?” Arturo asked.

  “Harold’s.”

  Eshil Domain is going to war with one of the four nations. The question was who and why? Arturo didn’t have any contacts to find out what issues were going on between the nations. It was foolish either way. If the Durmaddons were waiting for something, they might attack when they see two of the five major nations fighting. Pointless!

  “Tell the others to hurry. It’s time we ride for Azzellia,” Arturo said.

  Sitting on his throne, eyes closed, was Talon. The battle was coming, far sooner than he had wanted. Despite his speech to the Ashtari, the last thing he wanted to do was reveal them, for he would be revealing himself as someone who could use the power.

  His dreams were haunted by nightmares of losing his School of Power to the mages of Mortham Tower. So many things could go wrong. The only thing Talon was confident in was defeating Harold’s army. That was the easy part. What came after was another story.

  A few miles outside of Carhan, his army awaited. Talon had called the banners and would have his entire force ready to march on his command within the next few hours. Elysian Fields would be red with the blood of Harold’s men. Something that should have comforted him, yet it didn’t.

  Talon opened his eyes and stood. It was time to give his Ashtari the final orders. He gathered the power and felt all his worries and concerns vanish, replaced with overwhelming confidence. There was no need to be afraid when he and his Ashtari could use the power as they wished. He created a portal and stepped through.

  He appeared in a desert known as the Wastelands. No other people lived within a hundred or so miles of this place. The closest people to this location were the Forest Dwellers, and this was where he had his Ashtari stay. The Ashtari saw him and quickly gathered, much to Talon’s satisfaction. Qidan had trained them well.

  Qidan was not part of this group. Talon had told him not to take part in this battle. The mage had been loyal and took great pride in the School of Power. There was no need to force him to fight a battle about which he was conflicted.

  Talon didn’t know the names of the Ashtari. All he cared about was that they followed his orders. “I need the four leaders to step forward,” he said.

  Before sending the Ashtari to the Wastelands, he had told them to provide him with four leaders. They had done so, clearly, as the four came up to him. One was a woman with silver hair and dark red eyes. Another was a woman with black hair and green eyes, with a smooth face. One of the men, about as tall as he, had dark black hair, brown eyes, and looked worried. The last one was a small man with a curved sword on his hip and a bracelet on each wrist. He was bald with a hard face, someone who had seen combat.

  “The battle is coming close, and I need you all to be ready when I give the signal. I’ll create a portal, and once that shows up, you will all step through. The portal will take you to Elysian Fields. The four of you are going to accompany me to the precise location,” Talon said and turned around. He opened another portal and stepped through, with the four Ashtari following him.

  Elysian Fields. A field with a lot of history between Azzellia and Eshil Domain. It was an open field, with two hills and a flat surface of grass between them. There was a line of trees not far from the battlefield. Talon knew why Harold had chosen this location. He wanted to use his superior numbers to overwhelm Talon’s army. At least, that’s what the king of Eshil Domain hoped would happen. Even without his Ashtari, Talon was confident Corvin could win this battle.

  Talon took out four stones from his pocket. “These stones are connected to the one I had you put the power into back at the School of Power,” he said and handed one to each of the leaders. “Each of you with a stone is to travel in four different directions and place your stone in the ground. Make sure the distance is at least five days' worth of riding away. Now go and return once you have accomplished this.”

  “Yes, sir,” the four said at once and quickly created portals and were gone.

  This was an insurance policy. Harold would surely bring his mage advisor to this battle. The last thing Talon wanted was for the mage to portal out to gather the mages of Mortham Tower. Nobody but thirty of his Ashtari would be able to portal in and out of Elysian Fields.

  He waited patiently, with his hands behind his back, enjoying the air that brushed over him. Talon felt oddly at peace, a feeling he knew wouldn’t last. Fifteen or so minutes passed before the first Ashtari returned, and another five before the second, and then the last two arrived within ten minutes after that.

  “Is it done?” Talon asked.

  “Yes,” the four said.

  “Good. Return to camp,” Talon’s voice grew cold as he spoke. “And tell the others that no one is to show up until I give the signal. If any of you disobey this command, you will be executed. Expect the signal in three weeks, though I will return to your camp the day before the battle to make sure you are all prepared. Now go.”

  The Ashtari said nothing and left. Talon hated threats, but he couldn’t risk any of the Ashtari getting overeager and ruining his plan. There was a small chance at peace, one that he would try before giving the signal. Satisfied with the arrangement, Talon created a portal and appeared back in the throne room.

  He was surprised to see Corvin standing there, leaning against a wall with his two friends, Arthur and Peitar. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” Talon said. While he used to avoid portaling from the throne room, he no longer cared. His secret as a power user was about to be exposed.

  “We’ve been waiting for you,” Corvin said. “The army is ready to march.”

  “So soon? I thought there were a few more hours at least,” Talon said.

  “The others arrived an hour ago.”

  “Then it’s time to march to Elysian Fields,” Talon said.