Wars couldn’t be won defensively after all, which was a simple truism. Although she didn’t want it, and didn’t start it, she would finish it. Especially if Sebastian continued to honor the treaty and put pressure on Hadrius’s northern border.

  Prince Cesare, second in line to the throne of Doryn, was dealing with his own rage in that moment. There was something both repellent and attractive in the red marks and black eye on his servant, as the woman cleaned up the destructive mess that he’d made in the command tent at the latest revelation of information. The unshed tears welling in her eyes perversely both made him feel shame and excited him.

  His father was a damned fool.

  It was bad enough his father’s conservative approach to war was hamstringing his efforts, as if the lives of the commoners mattered at all, but he’d been sure once Pirean fell into their hands, that the weak queen of Traeg would follow quickly. He reasoned if the two kingdoms together couldn’t save Pirean, then when Traeg stood alone that annexing them would be as simple as plucking a fruit from a tree.

  But he’d just learned the worthless queen’s daughter had married King Sebastian that day. That meant there would shortly be three kingdoms working against Doryn’s expansion efforts and the long-awaited fulfillment of their vengeance.

  It was… unacceptable. And it was all his old man’s fault. This war could be won already, if King Janus had given him the units he’d requested. It would’ve been far too late for the Traeg queen to find other allies.

  His father hated Sigurd and wanted Pirean as much as he did, but his father was also far too soft on the commoners and lived in fear of the wasteland tribes. The latter of which should be quiescent for generations save small raiding forces.

  Why didn’t his father understand that time wasn’t on their side. If Thaenid got involved in this war, which he imagined was part of the marriage treaty, then there was no way they’d be able to conquer anyone. They’d be facing enemies on all sides, the ocean to the north, the wasteland to the east, Traeg and Thaenid to the west, and Sigurd to the south. It was… enraging. His father’s soft-hearted approach to the useless commons was ruining everything.

  And it would keep him living in damned tents for the rest of his life, and for what? Even if he could succeed, he’d never gain the fruits of his labors. Even if they moved now, as he wanted to, victory would no longer be assured, not even here in Pirean.

  It was untenable.

  Hadrius understood those truths, and he was building a massive army for war in just a few months. Giving the enemy time to recognize the threat only led to alliances that would thwart their destiny to rule them all, in the long run.

  Something needed to be done.

  Seditious thoughts gained hold of his mind, and plans started to crystalize, though he hadn’t committed himself to anything yet. Why should he follow stupid orders, or worse succeed only to watch his father and then even softer and more foolish older brother rule after that. It was his effort, and ruling was in his blood.

  He’d have to be careful though, his father was paranoid about holding what was his, and no more so than with family. He had a large network of informers. No doubt including many of the accommodating and warm servant women he let into his bed, and his whole support staff including his war room advisors.

  He was also stuck in the field, far from the targets of his seditious thoughts, and him trying to recruit anyone to his cause or even speak his thoughts aloud would lead to the gibbet.

  Time wasn’t on his side, but he was forced to bide it until something changed. Point being, if anything was to happen, he’d have to do it all himself. The risk of discovery and betrayal was too high otherwise.

  In fact, it was a damned good thing he didn’t talk in his sleep.

  The weather was more than brisk, and the night sky clear and bright with stars over their camp. All their preparation plans had gone well, and they were camped out just a little over a league from the enemy. She’d even managed to get her hands on a new pair of gloves in the village they’d left their horses in, and had added a scarf besides, so she felt pretty warm and comfortable sitting in front of the fire despite the sub-zero temperature.

  The two elementals lingered nearby, and her power was slowly rising as the trickle of magic she gained despite her holding her array on and maintaining her spells. It was a temporary advantage, once her growth was finished and she had all her spells, she’d no longer gain back anything when the array was active, as it would all be in balance. Until then, that balance was constantly shifting.

  Dawn was just a few hours away, so they’d been in place for an hour now. After what had happened, she was more nervous than usual before a mission, and fearful. But she wouldn’t let that stop her, and she knew the charge of adrenaline that would come when the mission started would cause it all to energize and not enervate her. To make her more aware, feel alive and buzzing and buzzing with energy.

  But the fear was keeping her awake, so it was just as well they’d turned in so early the night before. It looked like the six hours sleep she got was all she’d get until tomorrow night.

  The three men were sleeping peacefully, but Anisa was keeping her company.

  They’d also learned from the quick scouting of the elemental that they were facing three mages, not just two. Mages were generally worthless in battle, but they’d have plenty of time to get spells ready for her arrival. It was spells after that which would be far too slow. So outside of shields, it was almost guaranteed she’d have to shield herself from all three of their offensive spells. Since it was the only offensive one that they’d get to cast, timed to her arrival in their magic range, it just made sense that they’d use all their power. It was a limit of the type of magic user, and conservation took a back seat to that consideration for them.

  Which meant her magic would be close to exhausted as well, from shielding. But she would have enough this time, even for three, she had to believe that. After that, her elementals would subdue the mages, and she’d use whatever magic she had left to assist the others in taking down soldiers. It would have to be something that didn’t use a lot of magic, but that gave them the edge.

  Her secondary plan was if she was totally exhausted in magic, the mages would be brought to them and she’d let her elementals loose into the encampment which was probably fortified. The mages themselves would be tied up, blindfolded, and gagged, so they wouldn’t be able to cast a spell when their magic regenerated. She was determined to question them, even if she had to drag them to the nearest town and enlist the aid of a cleric for the truth spell.

  The third plan if things went really wrong, was to retreat. Especially if she was wrong, and getting hit by three spells killed her, the others would escape and run northeast toward Thaenid.

  In the end, the outcome would be decided in those first few seconds, the rest would be a matter of the flow of battle.

  All three mages had been in the main encampment, but they couldn’t assume that meant both platoons were also in the encampment. If anything, it seemed likely one of the platoons would be set to spring a trap from nearby it.

  Like last time there were too many possibilities to think through and she was sure there were as many she’d never consider at all. It seemed a hopeless task to anticipate the enemy’s actions. But unlike last time that didn’t stop her from trying to think of as many of them as she could. If she’d done that last time, she’d have realized how stupid it was to keep her elementals away, giving up that advantage to sense magic through them for almost no gain.

  The problem was, doing that only fed her fear and uncertainty. Which made her angry, but hopefully wouldn’t make her stupid, or freeze up in fear. She was stronger than that, and she could live through the doubt to make the best effort. Despite the war she took part in with the wasteland tribes, yesterday at noon had been her first true dance with the grim reaper. She’d come close before, had been under serious threat many times since her sixteenth birthday, but she’d never been injured like that before. If her shield hadn’t protected her from most of that second spell before failing, there’s no doubt she’d have died.

  Anisa said, “Times like these, once your thoughts and plans start to go in circles, you’ve got to get out of your head and trust in the fact that you’ve prepared as best as you can. Do the best you can and act.”

  She shook her head, “Am I that obvious?”

  Anisa laughed, “Not to look at your face, but I can see it in your eyes, and your shoulders. Also the way you’re fiddling with your sword. Which is a new nervous tell that I’ve never seen you do before, try not to do that or it will cement as habit.”

  She nodded, and then pulled her hand away from her sword hilt.

  Anisa shrugged, then said, “Also because it’s normal. I probably wouldn’t have noticed all those things unless I knew to look for them. We all do it, it’s part of human nature. Especially as women. It’s as much as an advantage as a liability, because we’re better at seeing the bigger picture than men are because of it, and less likely to become overly confident. That’s a general truth, there are always exceptions, on both sides. Anyway, I doubt the others would’ve detected the cracks in your aplomb.”

  That made her feel a bit better, but not all that much.

  “So, how did you find yourself an empire soldier, and then a royal guard.”

  Anisa grinned, “My family have been warriors for as far back as we have records. It was the thing to do when I reached my majority. I couldn’t imagine anything more worthwhile, and like you I was taught the sword young. I was as good as the instructors when I joined, served in an imperial unit for ten years, until I caught Duke Embry’s notice and was transferred to the ducal guards.”

  She waved a hand at the others.

  Anisa shrugged, “Liam has a similar background, grew up in it. He’s as solid as they come, but don’t you dare tell him I said that. I don’t really know the other two that well, and they served differently. Scouts in the wasteland, and likely more.”

  She laughed, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  They continued to chat, and Anisa was an excellent distraction, but as dawn drew nearer her thoughts started to linger on the coming danger once more.

  Chapter Ten

  The rough wilderness terrain kept her focused as they ran slowly west toward the enemy camp. Any faster, and they’d risk a bad fall. It would take them a good twelve minutes to cover the ground, and no doubt the mages could feel their approach. She just hoped her gamble in rushing paid off, and they weren’t quite ready for her yet. False dawn shed enough light to see the terrain but the sun had yet to rise over the eastern horizon.

  It would do so any moment though, lending them one more advantage as their enemy would be brightly lit up for them, while the men in the camp would be blinded by the rising sun looking in their direction.

  She was right about the adrenaline. The mix of it with the nervous fear had turned into energized awareness and edgy excitement. The immediate future depended on her gamble that her power was greater than three average mages right now, at just over three quarters of her power. It was an educated guess, and the sensations from her elemental had told her the third mage wasn’t any more powerful than the other two, or the ones she’d faced yesterday.

  But it was a close thing, the feelings unquantifiable and ephemeral in nature, and she couldn’t quite feel assured about it. She was sure she’d gain in confidence as she gained in experience, when measuring the magical power of others through her elementals, but for now it was too new, and it was extremely subjective and subtle.

  It wasn’t like the electrified feedback of her own ink array that allowed her to judge her own current magical potential while the array was active. It was more a vague feeling, so vague she feared her interpretation of it could be partially wishful thinking, and false.

  She also reminded herself power wasn’t everything, and it far from assured victory for either side. Diversity, planning, and tactics mattered. The attack yesterday had taken her completely by surprise, today she’d do better.

  Specifically, in this situation. For them, the spells they chose and any synergies the separate spells would have with each other, and for her it would be her shield formation and angles. Heck, if she could manage it, she’d try to dodge at least one of their spells altogether, if not more, which would all but guarantee a win.

  Of course, another military truism was when you expected one of three things from the enemy, they always did the fourth.

  It was a bit confusing, and anti-climactic, when they stopped short at a rise and looked down into a fortified camp nestled between two cliffs and a steep mountain behind them. There was a crude palisade built from several trees that was about fifteen feet high. She realized the enemy wasn’t just here to raid villages and keep Xevell off balance for the war. They were also building ready supply caches for that invasion force and defensible positions, using those raids.

  Essentially forcing Xevell’s commoners to support their invasion force. It was clever.

  The palisade wall protecting the one entrance valley was manned with all forty-eight soldiers of both platoons, and beyond them was the three mages on the ground.

  She was confused and her heart was pounding. Where were those spells that she’d been expecting?

  It was a short moment later when it hit her. Defensive magic often had the advantage, as it was supporting the natural order. All three mages had put their magic into defensive spells, putting the onus of offensive action on her and her team. They wanted her to spend her magic getting through their protections, then they’d finish her off with a spell. They were safely behind their palisade, and their soldiers would buy them the time to cast the spell.

  She hadn’t considered that tactic at all, and she was truly stumped for a moment out of surprise. She had no plans for this, and while they were clearly the aggressors and invaders in this nascent war, and she was the defender and in the right in this war, she was the aggressor in this battle, while they were the defenders. It forced her hand to be so, she couldn’t just walk away because they hadn’t cast offensive magic at her, after all. That was simply a random and absurd thought.

  She tried to sense what was what with magic through her elementals, and she believed all three mages were full of power, and they were connected to a protection spell on the palisade itself, as well as personal shields. Similar to how the mages and Sebastian had defended the keep walls.

  She grimaced, she needed to do something, even if it was wrong. She just couldn’t believe she’d been stupid enough not to consider aggressive tactics, the whole night she’d been stuck on defensive tactics in circles in her mind.

  Because of her inexperience, and her fear probably hadn’t helped with mental clarity either. She was far from stupid after all. She just hoped her off the cuff instincts were equal to their well prepared and thought-out defensive stance and fortifications.

  She decided it didn’t really change anything, except she either had to attack their defenses to wear down their power or let her elementals do it. She needed the elementals to subdue the mages and deliver them, so it didn’t make sense to risk them in battle with the mages to wear down their power.

  All that flashed through her mind in one long moment, maybe six seconds, before she acted.

  She worried it might be a mistake, but it was very natural for wood to burn, so the magical exchange would be fairly even and even a little tilted toward her benefit to use that destructive spell.

  No time like the present.

  She formed a large fireball that looked far more powerful than it really was, and she sent it at the palisades. She feared, and perhaps rightly, that they’d withdraw their protection from the palisade and sacrifice their men, if she threw all her power at them in one go. Then they’d be at full potential, and she’d be drained, which would lose her the battle.

  The fireball shot out and splashed against the wood, and it had absolutely no effect as they supported the shield. She started to shoot fireball after fireball, even as she ignored the rain of arrows that her shields deflected easily thanks to how it was angled. Each one meant to chip away at their power, even as it consumed hers, so if they did withdraw their protections she’d only lose out a small amount of magic for no trade of theirs.

  It was a cautious approach, perhaps too cautious and she’d think of a better tactic in hindsight, but at least she was acting. She supposed she could just attack them all directly, but attacking the palisades had the benefit of both draining their magic and keeping the enemy soldiers ducking for cover. Which translated to less arrows being shot their way, and more of them dying because ducking fireballs made it harder to watch for and dodge incoming arrows.

  It would also prevent her from killing the mages on accident, if she hit them with too much power directly. Better to use the palisade to drain their magic. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she’d intuitively picked the best course to satisfy all the mission’s objectives, even if she hadn’t consciously thought through it all until then.

  Kade and Jonas were hardly idle, as they were firing back at the soldiers while Anisa and Liam covered them with their shields. The soldiers had the top of the palisade to hide behind, but more than one arrow found its mark as the enemy soldiers started to die. More than a few had been caught up in her fireball explosions as well, as she was aiming at the top of the wall.

  She’d drained about half their power, and she was about half as well. Not half her full potential, but half the three quarters potential she showed up with. It was going to be close, on who ran out of magic first.

  That’s when the mages changed tactics, and they all started to cast. Which worried her, they wouldn’t be doing something new unless it benefited them to do so, especially since the current situation was on a razor’s edge of victory for both sides. Or perhaps their way of feeling magic was more exact, and they saw the writing on the wall and were about to escape via teleport. She wasn’t sure, they were too far away to hear, especially over the rolling explosions.