the army. We answered to no one but Balak, and I guess the king. However, the king never left Hol, the capital of our great country Turine, so that technicality never came into play.
Most unit leaders thought we were special because we circumvented the normal chain of command. Not me. That just meant if Balak was in a bad mood, we received his wrath directly rather than having it filtered down to us.
The tent grew quiet.
The Geneshans had invaded Turine nearly a decade ago in the hopes of expanding its ever growing empire. We weren’t as easy to conquer as they thought. All of their other military efforts had ceased in order to focus on defeating us. Battles had been fought on both Turine and Geneshan soil, each side having the upper hand at some point or another.
Momentum had swung to our side once again, and the last thing we wanted was to lose it.
Balak handed out slips of parchment, detailing our orders. Each unit received a series of targets to take down behind enemy lines. Most focused on Geneshan supply caches or communication outposts. Standard military tactics to hinder our enemy.
Some unit leaders asked questions, a few pertinent, the rest an obvious attempt to suck up to the old general. I kept quiet. The orders seemed straightforward enough.
Balak answered questions calmly, carefully enunciating each and every word. After questions, he knocked on the table, punctuating the end.
A small grunt escaped my throat. I knew that behavior well enough to see he was holding something back. I didn’t bother raising the concern. It wouldn’t prompt him to share anything new.
Balak cleared his throat, and tapped the table once more. “Dismissed.”
I mixed in with the others filing out. We’d all be leaving in little over an hour, and I was anxious to get my unit ready.
“Sergeant Tyrus. Stay behind. I’d like a word with you.”
I had almost escaped.
I stepped aside. Several of the younger unit leaders looked jealous as they filed past. I had tried to set them straight before, but they still clamored for a private audience with the general. They thought of their role as a stepping-stone into a higher-paying officer’s position. I remembered thinking the same in the beginning. It didn’t take me long to realize the foolishness in that. Eight years after my appointment without a single promotion or pay increase only validated my current cynicism.
Balak walked around the table, posture perfect, hands behind his back.
“Sergeant, you seemed disinterested.”
“No, sir. Not at all,” I lied.
“Then why didn’t you ask any questions?”
“The orders aren’t anything we haven’t done before.”
I thought it unfitting to add I also wanted to get the heck out of there.
Balak and I had a love-hate relationship. We both knew it, but neither of us admitted it openly. The general loved that my unit never failed a mission. However, I think he also hated having to rely on us so much.
I hated getting stuck with the most dangerous jobs simply because we were good at what we did.
Every day in the army was one away from my family. Each new mission reduced the likelihood I would ever make it back to them. Needless to say, I never got excited about risking my life.
The only thing I loved about General Balak was that he was easy to read and fairly predictable. After learning how to read him, our conversations were not nearly as painful as they had been.
Balak grunted. “This mission isn’t as routine as you might think. The Geneshans managed to form another alliance with the Malduks.”
I shrugged. “We’ve beaten the Malduks before.”
The Malduks are a nasty people full of determined fighters from the far north. The ever-expanding Geneshan Empire had tried using them in the early years of the war. Because the Malduks consisted of individual tribes rather than a unified nation, the Geneshans had struggled to gain more than a thousand of them in support, not nearly enough to swing the war in their favor.
Balak shook his head. “It’s different this time. I’m not sure how, but our reports indicate that the Geneshans brought up eight thousand fighters.”
My mouth dropped. That did change things. “I didn’t think the Malduks had that many men of fighting age. There must not be anyone left in the mountains but women and children.”
“There’s more,” said Balak.
Of course.
“The Geneshans managed to maneuver a small force around our western front. A few thousand.”
I nodded. Since he was being so generous with information I took that as a sign that