“I didn’t think hubites had that much magic in them,” a lieutenant ten or fifteen years older said, eating dinner that, as expected, tasted much the same as lunch. Quint’s idea that lunch and dinner varied only by the thickness of the liquid sludge they had to ingest was verified.
“Your companion is adequate, but your strings had some punch. Have you been in the field before? You look awfully young.”
“I’m a lieutenant in the strategic operations division. I have a good head for strategy, as it turns out,” Quint said, “but the corps doesn’t know quite what to do with me.”
The officer shook his head. “And they sent you here on your own? That’s a risk for you, isn’t it?”
Quint nodded. “We were attacked on the way from the capital, but we repelled whoever our attackers were.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
Quint looked across the mess tent and then shook his head. “There are some things better left unreported. It was a lonely stretch of woods, and we were on an alternate route.”
“Did the girl help?” the officer said.
“She did her part,” Quint said, but he didn’t elaborate about what that part was. He was about to say he was thinking about leaving early, but upon consideration, Quint figured it would be better to leave that unsaid, too.
A higher-ranking officer stood behind them. “Lieutenant Tirolo will share your tent while he is in the camp. His traveling companion will take the extra tent. Are you okay with that?” the officer turned to Quint. “We know you are a Level 3 and can demand the unoccupied tent. “
The lieutenant sputtered into this cup. “A teenager Level 3? No wonder your division doesn’t know what to do with you.” He looked at Quint but spoke to the officer standing behind them. “I don’t have an objection.”
“I’m fine with sharing,” Quint said. “You have to sacrifice a few comforts when in the field.”
“Then that’s taken care of. I’ll leave him to you,” the officer said, walking away.
“What is after dinner?” Quint asked his new escort.
“We meet for an hour to review strategies, and then it’s free time.”
After rearranging the tables and chairs, the strategy session occurred in the mess tent. Amaria sat next to Quint, with the lieutenant on the other side.
“Do you expect to learn something here?” Amaria asked.
“Isn’t that what we are here for?” Quint said.
“You are from strategic operations. How can you expect to learn something from these people?”
“And you know it all?” Quint asked Amaria.
She folded her arms. “Enough.”
Quint shook his head. He was smart enough to know that he knew next to nothing about magic and about life. His experiences in the Racellian Wizard Corps were distorted because he was a hubite, sixteen, and gifted wizard.
An army colonel and two staff stood in the front. A large map was unfurled and hung behind them.
“This is the map of the incursion into Gussellia. As you know, the army’s job is to penetrate the blue line and hold the territory for up to three months,” the colonel said.
“Why don’t you head to the capital and force the Gussellians to surrender?” Amaria asked.
“That is not our question to ask, Lieutenant Baltacco. We do what we are ordered. There are reasons for our orders. As soldiers, we follow them and do whatever our next orders tell us.”
Quint was surprised he knew Amaria’s name. He leaned over to his new tentmate. “Did you know Amaria’s name?”
The tentmate shook his head.
Amaria’s name and rank were on the orders, but he doubted if the colonel knew his name, just that he was the hubite Level 3 from the capital, if that.
The rest of the session dealt with positioning as a group. Quint was struck by how the Wizard Corps was still positioned as a single, large group. Any competent commander would isolate the wizards and focus on regular soldiers. It was the same strategy employed in fighting Barellia, and in Quint’s mind, it was still wrong.
One of the subordinates took over and drilled the wizards in what strings they would use under which circumstances. Everyone was to use the same strings. Quint wondered if the Gussellian wizard corps would fight the same way.
“Now, the information that you’ve been anxious to hear. We fight tomorrow!”
There were cheers in the room.
“Split into your units and discuss your deployments.”
Quint walked up to the map after everyone was dismissed and examined the positions written on the map. Everything was down to company level, but everyone stood in a block, and Quint didn’t know what would happen as the enemy began to chip away at their formation.
“You look disappointed,” Quint’s tentmate said.
“I expected something more creative. We just stand and trade blows with the enemy.”
“Until someone breaks. Once that happens, we follow them into battle, and it’s every soldier for himself,” the soldier said.
“You must be a company commander,” Quint said.
“I am over three companies. A sergeant runs each company.”
