In his mind’s eye, the battle would range from dawn to afternoon. The war ended in a standoff. Both sides withdrew, leaving dead and dying soldiers on the field. The wizard corps of both sides fought each other, but their efforts did not affect the outcome, and then the vision blurred.
Quint grunted. He knew enough about portents that the outcome in his vision might not occur precisely as he envisioned, but the chances were good the battle would be inconclusive.
He recalled the wizard corps duel taking place off to the left side of the battle. It was futile for wizard to fight wizard, negating the advantages that wizards had in a battle. Quint would have to review his strategy notes to see if that was a standard tactic.
Quint retraced his steps, and this time, he was surprised by a regular army sentry while he crossed the log bridge and lost his balance, falling into the stream.
Quint sat for a moment, letting the water soak his uniform before he climbed the stream’s low bank and sloshed his way back to the wagons, enduring amused looks from soldiers. He avoided the cluster of wizard corps soldiers and sought his bag that contained a small towel.
“You can do better than that,” Gaglio said, approaching Quint.
“I can, can’t I?” Quint created a string that dried his uniform briefly. He shook his head. He could have dried his uniform right after he fell in the stream.
“Find anything interesting?” Gaglio asked.
“I think it will be a draw,” Quint said. “I stood on the edge of the battlefield and invoked the portent string.”
“Then it might not happen,” Gaglio said.
Quint shrugged. “I’ve never tried anything so ambitious, so that we will see. There is a chance it won’t happen the way I saw it unfold. What do you think?”
“It’s happened before,” Gaglio said.
“Why? Doesn’t Strategic Operations make sure the Racellians win?”
“You have strategies and tactics mixed up,” Gaglio said.
“But soldiers will die for nothing,” Quint said. “The wizard corps of Racellia fought the wizard corps of Barellia. It was inconclusive, too. Can’t wizards be deployed to make regular troops more effective?”
“You don’t understand that there are politics involved.”
Quint shook his head. “Then politics is wasting the lives of a lot of people.”
“It always has,” Gaglio said.
Quint left Gaglio, looking at him as he replaced his towel. He was so wet behind the ears he forgot to use a drying string when he fell into the stream, but Quint couldn’t understand the cost in money, lives and time of thousands of soldiers without any benefit.
Quint didn’t feel like sharing a tent with Gaglio, so he slept underneath the wagon like other servants did. The camp woke to the blaring of bugles. The support soldiers waited until the regular soldiers and the wizard corps had their breakfast.
The meadow was suddenly empty of people except for support personnel.
“Nothing to do but wait,” Gaglio said with a short spear in his hand.
Quint was too anxious to do that and used his magic to reshape his spear's head, sharpen the blade, and strengthen the shaft. He walked across the road and through the woods, finding a little clearing. Quint took his uniform tunic off, sat on a warm rock, soaking up the sun,
While nodding off, Quint heard voices. He hurriedly put his uniform on, grabbed his sharpened spear, and crouched down, creeping until he reached the security of the woods.
A few companies of Barellian soldiers stopped when they reached the clearing. An officer checked a map, and they headed straight toward the camp.
Quint followed. These weren’t stragglers. He counted about forty soldiers. There weren’t that many more support troops at the camp. His spear, as sharp as it was, had a very inexperienced soldier using it. Quint didn’t have that much confidence, but he kept in contact with the enemy as they trampled through the forest's undergrowth.
When they approached the road crossing into the meadow, Quint decided to try a potent weakness string that would affect all the soldiers. He had just spent an hour charging his magic and worried he would exhaust it again using the spell.
The Barellian soldiers bunched up as the officer explained that they were to slaughter all the support troops and burn the camp.
Quint took a deep breath, and from behind a tree, he wove the string, stepped out, and delivered the weakness spell with the visualization that the men had no strength and couldn’t walk across the road.
The soldiers stopped when the spell hit them, and they fell to the ground on the road. The officer was less affected, and Quint stepped out and swung with his spear at the back of the officer. The sharp blade cut through the uniform as if it were paper and bit deeply into the back of the soldier. Quint stabbed the wounded man a few times until the officer ceased to move.
“Over here! Ambushers!” Quint yelled, running into the entrance of the camp.
Support soldiers ran to Quint and then past, killing the defenseless Barellian soldiers too weak to fight back. The ambush was thwarted, but Quint stared at the carnage and felt sick. He looked at the back of the officer he had killed and had to run back into the forest to relieve his roiling stomach.
Gaglio spotted Quint walking a bit unsteadily out of the woods.
“Did you see this attack?” Gaglio asked.
Quint shook his head, totally exhausted. “I went to absorb sunlight, and they walked through the clearing I was using. I couldn’t think of any offensive spells that could stop so many soldiers, so I wove a weakness string, picturing them unable to move. It worked. The officer wasn’t as affected as the soldiers, so I attacked him from behind.” Quint shuddered. “I’ve never killed a human before.”
“It won’t be your last. You are a soldier, after all. Your business is to kill people and break things. Maybe you might want to keep this a secret,” Gaglio said.
Quint sighed. “How can that happen? I was the one who called everyone to the road.”
“Then take credit for everything, but don’t volunteer the information. No one will appreciate a hubite taking credit on his own.”
Quint nodded. “I can agree with that. I need some food and some more sun. I almost emptied my magic.”
