A man he now connected to via communication magic.

  His mind voice was angry, “One of my platoons is gone. Why didn’t you warn me of the danger?”

  He sensed caution from the Mole, along with the mental words.

  “It wasn’t done by us, and it looks to be a vagary and mischance of war. A five-person hunter team showed up at the beginning of a raid, and joined the local guard in defending the village. One of the hunters is a very weak ink sorceress, but her power was enough to tip the scales despite the greater than even odds of numbers given the size of your platoon.”

  Larius snorted, “You’re telling me it was by chance?”

  The mole replied, “Yes. The hunter team was looking for them, but only to collect the information reward, and that village isn’t very far from the one they raided four days ago now. Coincidence, but reasonable happenstance given that.”

  Larius paused, as he sensed the question in the mole’s thoughts.

  “What?” he said shortly.

  The mole asked, “Didn’t your mage tell you this? The twenty four men in the platoon were killed, but the local guard reported the mage escaped.”

  He frowned, his anger deflated as the mystery of that statement got his mind spinning.

  “No, the mage is dead. If they didn’t recover his body… then something isn’t as it seems. Perhaps this clever hunting team knows your military is compromised. Are you sure the ink sorceress is weak?”

  There was a long pause.

  The mole replied, “No. I only have a soldier’s word for that, expressed by one of the other hunters when questioned about a magic user’s presence. It also just makes sense. A powerful ink sorceress wouldn’t be in a five-man hunting team. There was no way to verify it, one of the guards had to ride five leagues to the next village, since there’s no mage in theirs for communication.”

  He replied, “Yet, the hunting team killed my mage and hid that fact from the local guard for some reason. It also implies that to do that the ink sorceress is at least average in power, otherwise the mage’s shields would’ve stopped her attack. That’s the only explanation that fits the conflicting facts.”

  The mole said nervously, “I can’t control outside forces, only my military.”

  Larius snorted, “Calm yourself. Our deal is not in danger, and once the time to raid is past and full war has been joined, Hadrius is looking forward to your company as soon as possible. War is full of reversals and setbacks, and as you’ve said you can’t be held accountable for men not under your queen’s command.”

  While he was sure he believed that he couldn’t truly speak for his king. A man who was known to be unpredictably volatile at times when things didn’t go his way. Still, the mole’s reward for turning on Queen Jacinta was something that the king also wanted very badly, separate altogether from the knowledge the mole could provide, and it was in the king’s interest to honor the deal even through failure. So given that truth, Larius was fairly sure he hadn’t just unknowingly lied.

  Larius ended the connection without another word spoken, and then thought for a while. He wasn’t sure what that hunting team was up to in truth, or if the ink sorceress was truly more powerful. The only thing he did know was he couldn’t assume anything, or rely on the soldiers reports. The one thing that seemed clear to him was that the hunting team knew Queen Jacinta had a mole, if not who that mole was.

  It was possible the mage had just been caught with his pants down, after all. Quite literally, given a third of the platoon had died that way. Yet, it just made sense to act as if both things were true. If they weren’t, no harm done except for one less village raided, and if he was right then the trap would take care of the problem. He consulted his map briefly before connecting to the other four mages and handing out orders, one at a time.

  The two platoons farthest from the location of the incident would ride to join with the two closest under heavy veils of magical concealment. He’d have to set two traps, since he couldn’t be sure if the hunting team would go north or south from that location. They would no doubt find out about the recent raids at Waymeet to the north, and Brookside to the south. He wasn’t lucky enough that they’d waste time floundering around to the east or west.

  He grimaced, and stood up, sure he’d done and divined all he reasonably could. He wasn’t looking forward to making this report to King Hadrius and Court Wizard Adamus. His own actions might be above reproach, but he was the bearer of bad news that one of their raiding platoons had been wiped out. Hadrius had been known to shoot the messenger, on occasion.

  Prince Cesare was frustrated and angry. His fool of a father was too soft on his people, and the old man perversely made unreasonable demands on his own family that he wouldn’t think of making on a stranger. Alberto was no better, and perhaps worse, as he had even more trouble making the hard decisions. The idea of serving his older brother tasted like ashes in his mouth, and he couldn’t believe his sister was still alive either.

  His father was moving too slowly, and the old man seemed to plan to take down Sigurd slowly over the next decade to ease the hardships on the people given the food shortage and expected famine. If he were in charge then he’d not only heavily press the commoners into military service, but he’d leave the eastern keeps lightly manned as well. With just another four companies of soldiers he could push all the way to Sigurd’s capital, which from all reports was barely defended at the moment.

  He could win that battle easily, just by blocking off the three gates and standing off the city. Starvation and disease would win him the war and all of Pirean within the year. His father’s weakness prevented such a scenario, however.

  He had absolutely no intentions of living in a command tent and pavilion for the next ten years of his life. He missed the maids in the castle, who were often very accommodating, and the hardships and pressure of being in the field only made that lack of outlet worse.

  Once Sigurd was taken care of, and made a proper public example of, the queen of Traeg wouldn’t be much more than an afterthought. He could practically taste it, the glory of tripling the size of Doryn would put his name in the history books forever. Three kingdoms becoming one would be the beginnings of a true empire, not the watered-down version Thaenid had had through vassalage, but true rule.

  Of course, that taste was also slightly bitter, since he’d never get to rule it despite his military leadership getting them there. As it was, he was barely staying entertained by forcing his authority on the northernmost villages of Pirean which he was currently holding. For all intents and purposes, they now belonged to his father, though it was his word and actions that they feared. He had enough soldiers to hold his small gains, but not nearly enough to do any more than send out a few raiding parties to satisfy his violent instincts.

  The village women he’d appropriated for service also weren’t nearly as accommodating as his chamber maids, but then that could be fun at times too. He preferred eager and submissive bed partners, but there was some attraction in the other for him.

  He frowned as a thought occurred, one he’d been having more and more lately. Why should his father gain from his actions, was he not a prince? Was he not a better man than his overcautiously useless older brother? Was he not born to rule save the accident of birth order? He was more decisive, and more ambitious to see their enemies laid low.

  Dangerous thoughts, ones that he dared not voice or give indication of, lest his father’s internal espionage network get word of it. He wasn’t truly planning anything though. He was just angry. It was so frustrating to be so close to glorious victory yet denied by his father’s lack of vision and ruthless ambition.

  Wasn’t he?

  The stars were bright in the sky outside the inn’s window that pre-dawn morning. Luna was staring out the window in shock, at her own stupidity. It wasn’t completely her fault. Sebastian had told her that there was no way for her to compensate for her inability to feel magic, and she’d trusted and believed him. Perhaps he even thought that was true, but it wasn’t.

  She could never feel magic, at least not directly. But the obvious answer had hit her like a runaway carriage as she sifted through the vague feelings her earth elemental sent her after tracking down the enemy’s raiding platoon from Waymeet.

  Her elemental could feel magical strength, and who was a magic user. If it could crudely communicate distance and direction, why not that as well? The answer of course, was there was no reason it couldn’t. In fact, it was already doing so. She just hadn’t cottoned on to that fact until just a minute ago, and her mind was spinning with the revelation.

  It would only partially negate her largest weakness as an ink sorceress, as she couldn’t possible always have an elemental summoned and in her attendance to feel the magic around her including relative strengths. That wasn’t that big of a deal though, as her sharp instincts would detect danger from others before they struck. If it was a mage, she’d know it immediately, as when she felt that impending danger she could summon an elemental quickly, at the same time she turned on her ink array and raised her shields. She’d just have to train herself to do so through practice and repetition.

  She’d know if they were more powerful or not, and perhaps even what kind once she got familiar with the subtle sensations through the elemental summoning bond. She wasn’t sure if elementals had the capability to detect type of magic wielder, but she wouldn’t assume they couldn’t until she’d verified it one way or another through practice and experience.

  But despite how shocking and important, that was a task for training, and there were more important things at the moment such as their mission. She pushed her revelation out of her head, and got to the business at hand.

  She turned to Anisa, “They’re camped out, I’m sure this time. They’re a full five leagues northwest of Waymeet, and according to the map there’s no roads or villages anywhere near there. I expect we’ll find their camp a little after noon tomorrow.”

  Anisa said, “Too bad you can’t see out of its eyes and confirm it. We have to assume they’ve had the time to secure the camp with basic traps and fortifications at the very least, and possibly magical protections.”

  She shrugged, then said, “Two weeks.”

  Jonas asked, “Two weeks?”

  She laughed, “It does us no good now, but in two weeks I’ll be able to control animal which enables me to share their senses including sight and hearing. It’s one of the six spells I’m choosing.”

  “From so far away?” Liam asked skeptically.

  She shrugged, “Ten leagues isn’t very far for a bird soaring through the air. It’d take less than an hour what’ll take us four hours tomorrow on horseback. Let’s move on, since the speculation on that is pointless when I don’t have the spell yet. We’ll get within two miles, then tie up the horses and head in on foot. Kade and Jonas will go in first, and they’ll take a look around. At that point, we can make a specific plan.”

  She turned to the scouts, “Don’t get too close, or the mage will sense your presence, even if he doesn’t have a ward setup to do so. He’ll feel me out a lot farther, but giving the soldiers ten minutes to prepare for our attack isn’t something we can avoid. At the same time, I will be releasing my two elementals when we reach that point, which will cut down the mage’s time to prepare to almost nothing. If that goes like last time, he’ll be downed and contained before we even get there.

  “If there are fortifications, I can deal with them. Given our exposure yesterday morning, it’s possible a second mage and score of soldiers will be magically concealed nearby with a trap of some kind on their mind. If that happens then I may give the order to retreat depending on what they’re doing.”

  Liam asked, “May?”

  She shrugged, “I can’t guarantee it, but if they’re both average in power, I should still be twice as powerful as both of them combined. Of course, that threat combined with two score of soldiers is where the balance of the decision lies in. Forty-eight to five is a lot stiffer odds than taking on a single platoon is, even with our advantages. I suppose in the case of a trap like that, it comes down to how much magic I have to use to overwhelm the two mages, and if I have enough left to deal with the soldiers. If not, we retreat for me to regenerate my magic, then go back in.”

  If possible.

  It was a gamble. If she used a quarter of her power for each elemental, then that should be enough to overcome two average mages. But if it wasn’t, and the mages dispelled the elementals, then she’d be at half power and not have enough to summon them more powerfully. But the more magic she used in that effort the less she’d have for the soldiers. Still, she was inclined to use a full third on each elemental to ensure they’d overwhelm her enemy mages, and then face the soldiers with a third of her power, which was still more magic power than an average magic user had in total. So it could work, and almost guaranteed she’d overwhelm the mages.

  Thing was, overkill was almost as bad as using too little magic. Magic conservation was important. She didn’t see she had much of a choice though, and she always had her sword skills to fall back on.

  “Anything else before we get back to bed until dawn? We’ll have a better idea and finalize our plans once our scouts take a quick look.”

  Anisa shook her head, “I like your plans. They’re always simple, which means less to go wrong. A lot of new leaders tend to make complicated plans until they learn that lesson, or die.”

  Liam nodded in agreement, then asked, “What if they catch sight of our scouts. We should have a basic plan mapped out.”

  Kade snorted in outrageous disbelief at that possibility, then laughed.

  She replied, “Then they’ll signal us and run back to us, and they’ll have sprung the trap, so they’ll know exactly what we’re facing. I’ll leave it up to them to decide our next step, retreat temporarily or stand fast together. Either way, run for the moment or stay, I’ll send the elementals to capture and deliver the mages to us.”

  Anisa asked, “Why?”

  She smiled, “Because if they’re not fighting with my elementals and being carried off against their will, then they’ll have the opportunity to take out Kade and Jonas long before they could reach us, with spells. It’s also far less risky to engage them from afar with elementals, if it turns out they’re above average in power it’d be good to know before I’m within range of their grasp.”

  No one else had any questions or suggestions, so they all went back to bed for the last three hours before dawn.

  They got a later start than she liked the next morning. The temperature had plummeted overnight, and snow was falling outside. If they rode out as they were, they probably would’ve died from exposure. They had to wait for the tailor to open up shop. On the good side, they had time for sword practice as well as a hot leisurely breakfast in the warm common room of the inn near the roaring central fireplace.

  They all bought thick overcoats to go over their leather armor. She also got fur lined leather gloves which matched her riding clothes, as well as fur lining to add to the helmet to keep her head warm. It’d taken some fast talking, but she’d convinced the tailor to sew it in on the spot, with the greasing of a few extra copper for her trouble. She even bought new thicker underclothes including leggings, to keep her legs warmer.

  It was a miserable day as they set out, and visibility through the snowfall and gloomy darkness because of the cloud cover was cut down to a quarter mile or so, instead of seeing miles to the horizon. She hoped it was just a temporary cold spell and the fall weather would return after the storm, but she feared winter had come to stay a few weeks early. She’d hoped to have been done with the mission before that happened, but it was what it was, and they’d deal with it.

  Her biggest concern wasn’t mere discomfort. It was that the usual signs of human habitation and passage she’d been depending on her scouts seeing would be covered in snow. It was entirely possible with that and reduced visibility that they’d stumble across the enemy camp still in the saddle, and with the mages having several minutes of warning from feeling her approach.

  It was also possible without those signs they’d wander around the wilderness and never find the place. Not without her throwing out any chance for partial surprise and being forced to use an elemental to lead them in.

  The whole scout them out first plan was out of the question. They’d have to move cautiously, and she’d have to shield when they arrived in the general area that they knew the camp was in.

  At the same time, she thought it might be better just to accept the second risk and summon an elemental to guide them in to start with. To avoid the former risk altogether. Better the enemy knew they were coming for a longer amount of time, than for them to risk stepping into the heart of a trap clueless and unsuspecting.

  She decided that was the best approach, despite being far from ideal. Once they’d gone a league or two north of Waymeet, she’d summon an elemental to guide them in for the last three leagues or so. Another dubious benefit of that approach was it’d take almost an hour to walk those three miles through wilderness instead of road on horseback.

  It’d been over two weeks since her last spells were inked, so since then her magic had grown as had her regeneration. Which meant she regenerated some magic even with her ink array activated. If she summoned two elementals with two thirds of her power, she estimated she’d regenerate enough to have almost half her full power by the time they encountered the enemy instead of a third.

  The last league for the last twenty minutes of the walk was also too short a time to call in for reinforcement. If their fears were wrong, and the enemy hadn’t been suspicious enough to set up traps for them, then at that point it’d be too late.

  So a few advantages, and it would prevent accidental disaster. On the negative side, the enemy mage or mages would have plenty of time to cast several spells and get their traps ready, as well as set up an ambush with their one or two score of soldiers.