“And you don’t want to?” questioned Sheri.
“Want to?” Wylan replied as if the question was absurd. “Of course, I don’t want to. What I want to do is spend the rest of my life with you, raising a family and taking care of our children. Only a fool would be desirous of sneaking into an enemy encampment and killing some battle mages.”
“It has to be done, Wylan,” frowned Sheri, “but you don’t have to do it, and I don’t want you doing it to please me. I will go in alone.”
“You will not,” Wylan replied adamantly. “I said that I did not look forward to the task. I did not say that I would walk away from it. I know the difference between desires and obligations. As Knights of Alcea, our duty is to sneak in there and kill those mages, and I will not falter from my duty. I just wish this killing would stop some day. That is all I am saying. We deserve a life together.”
Sheri smiled at Wylan and kissed him. “We will have a grand life together soon. In two weeks this war will be over. There will be no one left to stir up trouble. We can return to Southland and start a family. We can even resign from the Knights of Alcea if you want.”
Wylan sighed deeply. “That is not what I want. I am proud to be a Knight of Alcea, and even prouder that you are also one. I have always lived to serve my country, and King Arik is exactly the type of leader I dreamed about serving. I guess I just get angry when people like those in the valley back there feel it is their duty to come half way across the world to disturb the peace that King Arik brought to Alcea. Why didn’t they just stay home and kill each other instead of bothering us?”
Sheri could find no answer to her husband’s question. In a way, she was just as angry. She had seen the pettiness and greed up close when she was portraying Lady Zachary, and it appalled her. As much as she yearned to free the people of Zara from their lousy rulers, her desire for peace in Alcea was even greater. She nodded understandingly and playfully tugged on Wylan’s sleeve.
“Let’s go dismantle those Doors and sink them in the sea. Maybe that will cheer us up a bit.”
Wylan smiled weakly and nodded in agreement.
* * * *
General Nunes stood and stared through the open Door at Camp Destiny. The only thing visible to him was an unlit fireplace in what appeared to be a rather small home. The first regiment of the 19th Corps from Spino had already passed through the portal to Cordonia, but the General and the rest of the army would wait for the colonel to report that the staging area was secure. The report took longer than expected, but the colonel eventually signaled for the general to step through the portal, and General Nunes wasted no time in doing so. He stepped into the small house and immediately stepped aside to let the soldiers behind him flow through unimpeded.
“What was the holdup, Colonel?” asked General Nunes.
“It is quite foggy outside, General. We can’t even see the city of Paso across the river. As the visibility is so low, I needed to alter the orders slightly. I have more men on the defensive perimeter than the plan called for, but I wanted each man to be seen by two others. The camp would not be truly secure otherwise.”
“Well done, Colonel,” complimented the general. “Your response to the situation was the proper one. Has there been any contact with the Alceans?”
“None, General. This side of the river is not very populated. General Butwin has the busy side of the river, but even he will probably not encounter anyone. The farm he is coming out at is a league away from the city. On a clear day his army might be seen from Paso, but he will have no worries today.”
“Excellent,” smiled General Nunes. “I ordered the cavalry to come through last after seeing this house through the portal. Those horses will end up destroying the floors of this house before the whole army is through, so change your formation plans accordingly.”
“That will not cause me a problem, General. One of my men did report that the Black River is still frozen. As the bridge across the river is still three days away, I thought I would get your feeling about trying to cross over the ice. It makes me nervous to have our army separated from the 27th Corps.”
“I will not trust my men to the whims of ice,” the general replied with a shake of his head. “Right now we have ten-thousand men on each side of the river. Either army is capable of defeating the entire Cordonian army on its own. Should half of my army get across the river before the ice cracks, I could end up with a smaller army than the Cordonians. I understand the odds of such an occurrence are low, but there is no reason to take such a risk, no matter how small it is. Crossing the river in three days will be fine.”
* * * *
General Testa of the 20th Corps of Spino walked through the portal and into a temple south of the Cordonian city of Carid. He could hear the wind howling outside the temple, and the temperature inside the old building told him that winter had not yet let go of its hold on Cordonia.
“There is fresh snow outside, General,” reported a colonel. “Another week before the invasion would have been better.”
“Better but not necessary,” General Testa replied. “We have more than enough men to easily overwhelm the Cordonians. We have the easiest task of the entire war. The Cordonians only have six-thousand men in what they call an army. I don’t think a little snow is going to change the obvious results of the coming battle. Kantor will fall without a whimper.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the colonel. “General Alden and the 28th Corps will be a while getting here. You might as well wait inside the temple and stay out of the weather. I will notify you when the Aertans come into view.”
“General Alden,” chuckled General Testa. “This is probably the only time I will have authority over the Crown Prince of Aerta. I bet he is none too pleased to be under the command of a Spinoan general.”
“Why is he even here?” the colonel asked cautiously. “I would have thought that he would be in charge of the home guard and not leading an army into battle.”
“Alden and his father do not get along,” smirked General Testa. “If King Anator had pushed for it, I am quite sure that Grand General Kyrga would have made Alden the top general in Force Cordonia, but now he is at the bottom. Obviously his father does not favor him very highly. At least Montero got his choice of posting in Sordoa.”
“He doesn’t get along with his father either, does he?”
“Absolutely not,” laughed General Testa. “They hate each other. King Harowin probably hopes that Montero doesn’t return from the war, but Montero had enough pull on his own to get what he wants.”
* * * *
Sinora and Wesik halted in a small clearing of the Sordoan forest. Wylan and Sheri slid from the backs of the unicorns, and Sheri immediately started rummaging through her pack. Twerp stuck his head out of Wylan’s pocket and sensed excitement in the air. The fairy leaped to Sinora’s head and stood watching the Knights of Alcea. Sheri pulled two Federation uniforms out of her pack and handed the larger one to Wylan. She then bound her chest tightly and pulled the uniform on. Wylan examined his uniform before putting it on.
“This even has the patch of the 10th Corps,” he remarked. “How could you have planned this so well?”
“I was Lady Zachary,” grinned Sheri. “Zack Nolan has an incredible grasp of the situation. When he learned that we would be assigned to Caldar, he made a point of procuring the proper patches for us to use. He then had uniforms made up for us. Mine fits perfectly, but he had to guess about your size. How does it fit?”
“Well enough,” Wylan replied, “but the sleeves are a bit long. It will be fine for riding, but not for marching when my arms are at my sides.”