size, the thing had snuck up on us while we fought the others guarding the post. It killed Jachin, a private who’d recently joined our unit, before Dekar and I brought it down. Dekar nursed quite a few of bumps and bruises after the confrontation.
I rose to my feet, wincing at a pull in my side. Sometime in the fight, I must have bruised a rib.
The rest of my unit looked toward me as a false dawn crept across the sky. The dim gray brought a threatening glow over the pale faces of the dead.
We needed to get moving, and my men knew it.
“What’s going on with the other units?” I asked Ava.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t reach them. They must all be engaged. . . .” her voice trailed off.
Or dead, I thought, finishing what she refused to say. I couldn’t blame her. No one wanted to say that out loud.
Small pockets of angry noise grabbed our attention, fighting from somewhere else behind enemy lines. Other units had been discovered. Flashes of purplish lightning and orange flame erupted in those areas, illuminating the dreary morning landscape.
Ira grunted. “Well, we know some of them made it.”
“For now,” said Dekar.
I was glad that the other units had managed to hold off on using sorcery as long as they had. However, those displays would draw the enemy like flies to honey. It would also put the rest of the Geneshans on edge, looking for others like us among them.
“Let’s get back to camp,” I said.
“You mean that’s it?” asked Ira.
I nodded. “Yep. This was the last post we were supposed to take down. Ava, you’ve got point with Hamath. Keep us hidden. No sense in refraining from sorcery anymore. The Geneshans are going to be on high alert.”
She grunted and bent over, hands going to her head.
“Ava? You all right?”
She held up a hand for silence while the other rubbed her temple. She opened her eyes a moment later wearing a look of disgust. “Plans have changed. Balak just sent orders via the High Mages on a new target. It’s high priority.”
Hamath swore as did the others. “We never get off easy.”
“What’s the objective?” I asked.
She gestured to a small rise several miles away decorated in patches of trees. “There’s a post near the top.”
“You gotta be pulling our legs,” said Ira. “We’ll be lucky if just one of us gets there alive.”
Ava squinted at the rise. “Balak said that capturing it could end the war.”
Ira snorted. “He’s said that about every mission he’s sent us on since the war began.”
That warranted a few grunts of agreement.
“So what are we supposed to do once we get there?” I asked.
“There’s a small box inside one of the tents,” said Ava. “They said we’d know it when we see it.”
Hamath started to chuckle.
I cast him a look. “What is it?”
“I just realized what’s waiting there for us. I overheard the captains talking about it yesterday.” He raised an eyebrow and faced Ava. “That’s their Master Sorcerers’ command post, isn’t it?”
Her lips thinned as she nodded.
My hands balled into fists. “That would have been good to know.”
“I was getting there,” she said.
“I mean from Hamath too.”
He shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Did Balak say how we’re supposed to take it?” I asked Ava.
“By the time we reach the post, he’s supposed to have drawn the Master Sorcerers away with the battle. Apparently, the High Mages are getting involved. If everything goes according to plan, their Master Sorcerers should all be out in the field trying to fend off our assault. We’ll just have to deal with the normal men guarding it.”
Bugles blared off in the distance. I could tell by the pitch that they came from our side. Balak’s timing was impeccable.
I sighed. “They’re playing our song. Ava, mask our movements. Let’s go.”
* * *
Balak could be a jerk, and he sometimes had issues with strategy, but when he decided to take action, he took action.
All hell had broken loose as we left for our target, though I’m not sure hell had the kind of fire and brimstone being thrown around by our mages. We were miles away from the action and I could still smell the sulfur. I wondered why they hadn’t done more of that in the ten years before.
We kept our heads down as we snuck closer to the small rise. It was hard not to spare the occasional glance behind us as the sky lit up as if the end