Chapter 4
Dev and his men were exhausted. They had fought for several hours that day, and many were the saddles that had been emptied that day. Dev led his tired men back to camp and slid off his horse, very tired himself.
He made a mental recount of the men that had died in the battle, and went to report to the captain. After making his report, the captain told him to stand his men down for a week. They would not be needed again for at least that long. Troop D was now waiting for much needed replacements.
Dev notified his sergeant that they would be on standby, until replacements came in for the company. Still, they would have daily work to be done, but mostly they were to relax and recover from this last battle.
A groom had taken Dev's horse to the corral and he was grateful. He did not think he had the strength to even unsaddle his horse. He went to his tent, pulled off his boots, and that was all he remembered until breakfast the next morning.
The next morning right after breakfast, he went to the medical tent and visited his wounded. Most would recover, but two had wounds so severe that they would not be remaining in the army.
One had had to have a leg amputated, and another was missing four of the fingers of his right hand. Dev was saddened that nothing could have been done for them. While healers were available, they had been swamped by the wounded.
Dev left the tent angry that this was called a border skirmish. What he had lived through for the past two months had been battles of war, pure and simple. The kingdom to the south was once again trying to push north and claim a large portion of the border area, well into his own kingdom of Darlonther.
Since Dev was at loose ends, he wandered to the peddlers' and vendors' area. It never failed, according to his friend and fellow officer Silar Bartlesby, that a military camp drew camp followers, vendors and peddlers.
Dev's stomach rumbled as he smelled cooking. There were plenty of good smells to part soldiers from their money. Dev bought a meat pie and savored it as he wondered the impromptu market.
He spotted a small colorful tent with an awning and a table before it. Items of all sorts populated the table. Knifes, swords, boots, bows, cups, plates, pots, you name it, it seemed to be there.
"Ah lieutenant, do you see anything you like?" The peddler asked.
"How did you know I was an officer?" Dev asked.
"By the cuff of your left sleeve, of course. All know that officers have colored bands around the cuffs of their left sleeve, while sergeants have different colors around their right," the elderly man answered.
For some reason, Dev was perturbed that this man knew this. In garrison, officers wore colored cloaks to identify them as officers, but here in the field, it was just colored bands on the cuffs of their left sleeves.
"No, I see nothing that interests me, thank you," Dev responded and started to walk away.
"I have more sir. Maps, books, rare treasures within my tent. Come see for yourself," the old mans voice quavered.
Dev thought for a moment, then decided it would do no harm to see what the man had. He followed him into the tent and looked around. It took a moment for his eyes to make the adjustment from the brightness outside to the dimmer interior of the tent.
A table loaded with items was on one side of the tent. The other side was where he had his bedding set up. The old man gestured at the table.
"My best is here. Only the best for you," he said in that quavering voice.
Dev looked closer and saw items of value. Rings, bracelets, lockets, engraved cups. At one end was a box and it was to this box the old man went too. He opened it and took out several folded parchments. They were maps Dev saw, when they were unfolded. Maps of this area and south of the border into the kingdom of Ralm.
The old man also pulled out an old leather bound book. It's pages were of parchment, Dev noted when he opened it. His eyes widened when he read the title page.
Telgar's Book of Spells
written by the hand
of Rufio Telgar
Great Goddess! If this was truly written by Telgar, then it was valuable, indeed. Even he had heard of the mage Telgar. He was legendary, and was reputed to be the mightiest mage of all.
"Can you read it? I have had many look at it, but none could decipher it. I will sell it to you for two silver. I have carried this book for years," the old man said.
"I will take the two maps and this book. How much for all three items?" Dev asked.
"Two silvers for the book, and two silvers for the two maps. Four silvers total," the old man rasped out.
Dev set the book down and untied his money pouch. He withdrew four silver, not even bargaining. He also bought a small backpack to carry the maps and book in, so none would see them. He wanted to study everything alone and did not want everyone to see what he had bought.
For the next few days Dev was distracted with his purchases. One map was particularly interesting as it showed a path through the swamps to the south. If what he was reading was accurate, then the army of Darlonther had a path through enemy lines that was not watched or guarded.
Dev brought the map to captain Onders who looked at it with an incredulous look.
"Where did you get this map?" He asked Dev excitedly.
"From a peddler. When I realized what I had, I went back, but he is gone," Dev responded.
"By the gods! Do you know what this means? I have to get this to general Forran right away," captain Onders stated.
Captain Onders left troop D in the care of his senior lieutenant, Silar Bartlesby. Silar told Dev that the captain was likely to be gone for a few days at least. In the meantime the troop was still waiting for replacements and for their wounded to recover.
Dev made sure to keep on top of his platoon, but spent a good deal of daylight hours reading the book by Telgar. For some reason, when a spell written by Telgar was read by Dev, the spell seemed to leap into his mind!
He had several spells already in his head ready to use, and was worried that this might be a dangerous occurrence to him. So he started to just read the spell titles and brief description of the spell that always preceded the spell itself.
While he had memorized other spells before, none that he had learned at Calderling castle had had this same effect. There was a purity and strength to the spells he had learned from the book he had bought so few days ago, that had not been present while he was learning magic back at the Calderling Castle.
He also studied the second map in his possession. This one was a little more interesting to say the least. He still did not know what to do with it. If it were true, it purported to show all the secret entrances and exits of Ralmston Castle, the home of the king of Ralm.
How in all the hells did an old man come by all the treasures that Dev had bought, and for only four silver? Dev was not a religious person by nature, but things were just happening in such a way as to make him believe someone up there liked him.
Over the next two days, reinforcements started trickling in. Dev found his platoon back up to its full strength of fifty riders, one corporal, one sergeant, and himself for a total of fifty-three cavalrymen for the platoon. That made first and second platoons complete. Third and fourth platoons were still short, but more men seemed to be coming everyday, now.
Captain Onders came back, and with him rain. Dev and his fellow officers were gathered in the captain's tent and the news was good. He had brought back more replacements with him, and this brought the company back up to full strength.
"Dev? General Forran was extremely interested in the map you bought from that peddler. He is already having several copies made, and is going to scout the route. He sends a well done," Captain Onders said, well pleased.
In other news, the captain said that intelligence discovered that a sickness was hitting the kingdom of Ralm right now, and so could expect hostilities to drop off for sometime.
"From the sound of it, some sort of sickness came to their kingdom by ship. While it does not appear to be deadly for the most part, it caused high fevers, pock marks on the face, arms, back, and stomach... and vomiting.
"It is said to last anywhere from four to eight days once you get it, and it makes the individual extremely ill. We are asking all of our healers if they have ever heard of this. Also, we have asked the mage's guild for extra healing potions," the captain explained.
They discussed the best way to keep any illness from spreading in their camp, and it was back to basics. Keep the area clean of trash, clean all plates and cutlery in very hot water, and keep the body clean.
Dev was surprised that they were still to remain at camp. He had assumed that now that the company was up to full strength, they would be moving out in massed patrols at a minimum. No, instead they were being kept in reserve.
As Dev made his way back to his tent, rain lashed down at him. He had his foul weather cloak on. It was one of the few things he had bought sometime ago for himself, as it had a hood, and was waterproof.
After Dev got back to his tent, he looked in the spell book he had recently purchased. He was sure he had seen something on potions in it, as well as a spell to repel sickness. Sure enough, both spells were in it just as he remembered having seen their titles.
The only thing wrong with the spell to repel sickness, was that it could not be cast on the spell caster himself. A peculiar restriction. Still, he memorized it, and he saw it glowing in his mind, with those other spells he had read from this book.
Next he read how to make a healing potion. The ingredients seemed straightforward enough. He should be able to get most, if not all of what he needed, from the little market that had sprung up outside of the camp.
With the rain still coming down, he informed his aide for the day he was going to the market, and that he would be back in an hour or so. Drawing his cloak and hood close to himself, Dev made his way to the market.
First he needed to buy a small flask, which he did quickly. Then he went to the herb lady, and bought everything he needed for potion. He had noticed this lady previously, as she did a brisk business with the other vender's selling herbs to them.
He then bought a small pot to cook and reduce the resultant liquid down into the potion. According to the book, he would only get so much potion from the basic stock he was going to cook. During three steps of the process, he was going to have to cast a spell on the cooking potion. According to the book, it was a combination of the rendering of ingredients, and the spell, that made the potion work.
By the time Dev was finished with his cooking of the potion, he was hot and sweaty. He did it inside his tent, using heated stones to cook the potion with. He followed the instructions exactly, and found himself with a golden colored liquid, which was as described in the book. He ladled the resultant potion into the small flask and sealed it. He now had healing potion in case it was needed!
He opened his tent and sighed as cool air blew inside. He pulled off his tunic, which was sweat stained, and decided to go to the bathing tent. He grabbed extra clothing, a large cloth he would use to dry with, and made his way to the bathes.
Summer was winding down, and with only an occasional feint and probing from the enemy, the border was basically quiet and had been for almost a month now. General Forran had used the map of the swamp to infiltrate a large size element to the south, and they had been the cause of havoc to the enemies rear.
Supply trains found themselves being attacked in supposedly well-defended rear areas, and the loss to the enemy in supplies, was starting to hurt them. The force had also managed to set fire to a huge supply depot of grain and weapons, compliments of the magic user from the guild.
After that, the marauding Darlonther force withdrew back through the swamp, where the enemy lost them. All in all it was a good raid and had definitely slowed the enemies advance with the loss of all that equipment and food.
Unfortunately it had an undesired side effect. It made the commander of the enemy decide to try a massive push to capture the supplies of the north. The southern army was very short on food grains, and with the destruction of the supplies at the field depot, they had wait weeks for resupply... weeks they didn't have.
Troop D was just mounting up for morning parade when the captain was notified that the Ralm were invading in mass all along the border.
"This is it! Here is where we earn our money. We need to get to our positions, and get there now," the captain told his platoon leaders.
Dev double-checked his men, making sure they had their leather armor on, and their helmets. While it might seem silly, some men did not like wearing those items during battle, insisting it restricted their movements or interfered with their vision.
An hour later they were in position on the side of a hill, watching the enemy fighting with the infantry, far below them. Spells were being cast by both sides, and Dev winced as sections of their line were decimated by fireballs and other deadly spells.
It was not a one sided exchange however. Dev's side had magic users also, and they were doing a good job of thinning out the enemy lines. Dev itched to try out some of the magic he had learned from Telgar's book, but knew it would open him up to scrutiny from the Mage's guild. He did not feel like being killed in some bizarre accident.
Captain Onders gave the word, and at a walk, troop D started down the hill. Troop C was about a hundred feet to their right. Dev had no idea where all the other cavalry was located. He knew there had to be several cavalry troops with the army they were supporting.
Finally they were close enough, and the captain ordered the charge. Dev had his sword out and was leaning over his horse, making himself as small a target as possible. Troop D hit the enemy line with a shock and tore through it.
The infantry seeing an opening in the enemy line, charged in behind the cavalry. Dev slashed left and right with his sword, blocking and parrying, thrusting, over and over. He dismounted since they were in the thick of things and couldn't move anymore.
All the fighting was now done on foot. Men and horses were down. Dev heard screams, but was too occupied with trying to stay alive to know which side or who was doing the screaming.
Dev finally cleared a small area around himself and had a small respite. He was breathing heavily, and his right arm ached from swinging his sword so much. He saw the enemy was reinforcing this section, and without thinking about it, he cast a fireball spell.
The effect was dramatic. Men turned into human torches and screamed briefly. Dozens of fireballs had appeared when Dev had cast that spell. The area in front of him was now clear of enemy, each fireball taking out a human. Dev didn't think that anyone noticed it had been he who had cast the spell.
Dev felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over him after casting the spell. Well, the book had said that it would deplete his strength for a short time, but he didn't think it would be this bad!
The battle swept past him, and he walked wearily behind it. He wondered if his potion was any good for exhaustion. He took out the flask, and took a small sip. By the Goddess! He did feel very refreshed!
He quickly drank some water from his canteen, looked at the fighting, and made his way back into the fray. Again it became a series of endless thrusts, blocks and slashes. The cavalry saber, while a good weapon, was a little overlong when fighting from foot. Still, he did well with it.
Finally, the enemy broke, and Dev ground to a halt. He was again muscle weary. He looked around. He saw a few members of his troop around him, but mostly he was with infantry fighters. He was amazed to discover he had not suffered any serious wounds.
He was limping a bit, but was not sure how he got that limp. He looked around at the men laying on the ground and saw his friend Silar! He went over, but saw that he was dead, his eyes were staring at nothing.
Dev put up his sword, and pulled out his flask of potion. He gave out cap full sized sips as per instructions, and then would move to the next wounded man. The men who had already had the potion were exclaiming in amazement to find themselves either healing, or already healed, depending on the severity of the wound.
Finally, he ran out of potion, and resorted to bandaging the wounded as best he could. Dev went on until dusk, when he sat down with his back to a tree, and fell asleep. He was shaken awake. He blearily looked around and saw his corporal, Kitch looking down at him.
"We let you sleep as long as we could, Sir. But the captain wants you, and he wants you now," the corporal told him.
Sighing, Dev made his way to his feet and suffered a short bout of dizziness for his trouble. Kitch reached out and steadied him.
"Are you all right sir? We heard about your helping the wounded. That was well done, if I say so myself," the corporal said with pride in his voice.
"All right corporal. Where is the captain? I guess I better go report. Also, what's the status of the platoon, do you know?" Dev asked.
"We lost a lot of men in the battle sir. We have twenty two dead, and nine wounded," the corporal responded as he led Dev to where the captain was resting.
Dev was shocked at the number of men lost, but only nine wounded? That was a plus anyway. He limped up to his captain, who was sitting on a stool. His left leg was stretched out, and a healer sewing a wound closed.
"Dev. I am going to be out of commission for a while. You are the surviving senior officer, so I am placing you in charge of the troop until I recover," the captain told him, and grimaced hugely in great pain.
It was obvious that he had more than just a leg wound.
Edited by TeNderLoin