Chapter 4: Gerud’s Predicament
Nunemund, 2nd day, 217th known year.
Draego took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. The driver of the wagon he was in was still in shock from what he had just seen. At the same time, he was in awe of the youth in front of him. Draego, on the other hand, was exhausted. He had spent a large amount of mana dealing with the soldiers on the bridge. Having used a spell right afterwards pushed him quite close to his limits.
At the moment, his muscles felt as though they were on fire and he felt extremely drowsy. His grip on the sheath of his sword was lax and loose. At the same time, his vision and hearing weren’t as sharp as they had once been. His steps felt awkward and clumsy to him, and his body didn’t seem to move the way it should.
While he was still in such a state, the soldiers decided to give the caravan a greeting. A soldier, a male seemingly in his twenties clad in full plate armor, led a force almost twenty strong to encircle the caravan. They had their weapons sheathed, but their eyes and limbs were vigilant. It was pretty clear they could easily kill off any number of soldiers that may be hiding within the wagons.
Draego didn’t blame them. They were under siege, if even a single enemy soldier managed to make it inside, the consequences could be disastrous. The leader stepped forward and eyed the caravaneers with a stern gaze.
“Who is the leader here?” He asked. Technically, the merchants were the ones in charge, being the ones to have hired the Dragonhands. For some reason, though, all of them turned to Draego. Draego, on the other hand, was too exhausted to respond properly. To an outside observer however, he made just as impassive and imposing a figure as ever.
The idea that he might have worn himself out didn’t even occur to the children who had followed him here. The soldier was somewhat surprised as he looked at the fifteen year old boy. He is their leader? He doubted the veracity of the statement. In response, Draego stepped forward.
“We bear food… And clothes… With armor and weapons… From a… Blockade we passed through.” Draego said in broken sentences. It sounded strange and out of place. The soldier immediately suspected them of schemes. He glared at Draego. Draego didn’t even notice the glare.
“We’ll check the boxes you’re carrying.” He said. “Step away from the wagons and remove all weapons you might have on you.”
It was only now that Stephanie realized how tired Draego was. She stepped up to speak for him and help stabilize the situation when another voice rang across the street they were in.
“Stand down, Luke.” A powerful voice said. The voice was clear and succinct, coming from just a few meters down the street. It had a sense of authority and dignity to it. At the same time, it was tinged with a childish pitch which couldn’t be disguised. Draego turned his vision towards the source of this voice.
There, he saw a demoness walking towards him. Her height was just a couple of inches shorter than his. Her long scarlet hair reached well past her shoulders and her ruby-like curved horns matched the fiery red of her eyes. She wore a set of silver plate armor, and had a long sword strapped to her slender waist. The soldier from the gate… Draego immediately identified her as the guard who had ushered them in.
“My lady, this caravan is suspicious!” The soldier, apparently Luke, replied to her. “We must perform a complete check of the wagons to ensure this isn’t another ploy by the enemy!”
The young girl clicked her tongue in response. Luke actually flinched back at her action.
“Luke,” Her voice was calm, but layered thinly with disappointment. “This one is a Novice mage. This caravan is a supply package sent by my contacts within the Capital. These supplies will help withstand the siege quite a bit longer. We should be grateful to this one and his soldiers for escorting the caravan here.”
Luke listened silently to the girl’s words. She waved her hand dismissively.
“Stand down and return to your post.” She said. “I’ll deal with this personally.”
Luke gave Draego another glare before walking away briskly towards the towers. The girl let out a sigh as he faded into the distance before turning to Draego and his company again.
“My apologies for the curt behaviour.” She apologized sincerely. Stephanie was about to step up to respond, when Draego beat her to it.
“It’s only natural.” He said simply. His voice was impassive as it always was, but his words were less broken than before. Seeing her leader regain some composure, Stephanie stepped back. The girl gave Draego a smile and a slight bow of her head.
“I am Cessa Chase, daughter of Baron Cylton Chase, the lord of this village.” She introduced herself. “I am currently commanding the defense here.”
“Draego, Commander of the Dragonhand Mercenary Group.” Draego said crisply. Cessa blinked, slightly confused with the succinct response. Then, she remembered the explosion she had seen and realized what the situation was.
“You must have exhausted your mana pool.” She smiled at Draego. “Please, find accommodation within the inn nearby. My forces have appropriated it for the time being. I will lead you there.”
Draego nodded in response. With a quick gesture, he signalled to the children to gather their belongings. The two boys and three girls moved swiftly as they picked up their items and fell in line. Stephanie made a quick conversation with the leader of the merchants, deciding on a place where they could settle accounts the following day.
“We’re honored to be escorted by a noble lady herself.” Draego said, somewhat formally. Given his state of exhaustion, he carried himself remarkably well. In response to his words, Cessa gave out a short laugh and shook her head.
“The honor is mine.” She replied. “One doesn’t get to meet a fifteen year old mage everyday. Albeit just a Novice.”
“You are a Novice mage yourself, your ladyship.” Draego replied with due courtesy. “I doubt someone of my meagre talents is all that rare.”
“Well, I can’t say I haven’t met mages before.” Cessa replied with an elegant smile. “However, an additional mage is a welcome assistance given our… Current circumstances.”
Draego nodded in understanding.
“May I have the particulars of this situation?” He asked. Cessa arched an eyebrow.
“You look quite tired to be worrying about particulars.” Cessa replied. “Mana exhaustion isn’t something most people can overcome with sheer mental fortitude.”
Draego kept walking with her towards the inn without any reply.
“The soldiers are led by an old enemy of my family.” Cessa said in a sombre tone. “My father took most of our soldiers, a force nearly seven hundred strong, in a bid to finally seize the village which served as their headquarters.”
“And they had the same idea?” Draego asked. Cessa nodded.
“Except, they had a better idea.” She replied with a sigh. “Their army was, to be honest, always a bit stronger than ours. I hold no doubt they can easily hold off my father’s offensive despite having sent this large force for a siege.”
“How many are there?” Draego asked.
“From our estimates, around five hundred. In comparison, we are defending with only a hundred and twenty soldiers.” Cessa replied. “Our defenses are strong and the soldiers are well trained, so we’re holding off for now, but…”
“There’s something else?” Draego asked, sensing something off. Cessa sighed and shook her head.
“The Dzive river branches into two streams just a couple hundred meters north of Gerud.” Cessa started. “The two streams meet up again half a kilometer to the south. The bridge to our east is the most direct passage into the Capital, and surrounded by woods. The bridge to our west has a long stretch of plains around it which lead just to the vast Demonic lands.”
She took a troubled breath as she explained the situation she was stuck in.
“My father decided to construct a fort near the bridge to the west.” She said. “The fort was about a week from being ready when we were attacked. In haste, I decided to take whatever supplies we could and evacuate to the village, where our people were.”
Draego nodded. Choosing to defend one’s people was always a noble decision. Whether this decision was militaristically correct or not, however, would rely solely on how strong and ready the fort was at that point of time.
“We might be able to do something about that…” Stephanie muttered at this point of time. Her voice trailed off as she wished to discuss the matter in detail with Draego somewhere else. Cessa gave a wry smile at those words.
“If you can, that’d be great…” She muttered. Evidently, she didn’t have much faith in the group. And why would she? They had yet to give her any indications of their skill.
They arrived at the inn as they conversed. There was a hustle at its doors as soldiers moved about in and out of the inn. The defenders had just had a scuffle with the attackers and, as expected, the long day was coming to a close. The twilight lit the ground a strange, light hue of red, almost as though reflecting the blood spilt this afternoon.
A squad of ten soldiers rushed out just as they reached the counter, evidently trying to patch the defenses somewhere. Cessa quickly assigned two rooms to the six of them, bade them a good night’s rest, and left.
Draego divided the rooms to house the three girls and three boys, parted ways with Stephanie for the night, and crashed into his bed. Blood still pumped amply through his muscles, and his body felt like it couldn’t stay still, but he felt extremely mentally fatigued. This was a side effect of using magic. Draego had enough mana within his mana pool to cast the fireball spell about eight times at full capacity.
Of course, if the spell was made larger, or more destructive, the mana consumption for a spell would increase. However, there was a limit to how many spells and what kinds of spells a mage could use. They were divided into several ranks on this basis, and then further into classes within those ranks. A Class 1 Novice was the lowest class of mages, barely able to use a couple of spells.
One in five people ended up becoming mages by the end of their lives. Most of these were novices, reaching up to the rank of a Class 7 Novice. However, almost all soldiers and warriors were in fact mages above the rank of a Class 7 Novice. Although they reached that level, most didn’t have enough depth within their mana pool to cast spells to the same effect as Draego.
Most would only be able to slightly strengthen their bodies or fire off a few spells to surprise the opponent at best. The difference was usually minimal, and most soldiers only bothered using simpler spells to reduce the sound they made and to improve their senses. Add to that the fact that the difference between classes within ranks wasn’t really significant until one reached the Expert rank, three ranks above a Novice.
The fact that Draego could already use several fireball spells at the age of fifteen was an indicator of great affinity with mana. That said, using up the mana he had had already brought him to the verge of collapse. His body wasn’t quite tired yet, however his mind demanded sleep. And so, he fell asleep, foregoing supper entirely.
When he woke up, it was early morning. The other children were still asleep. He checked around for his sword and found it leaning on the wall, close to the door, still sheathed. He picked it up and walked downstairs. The soldiers weren’t hustling at the moment, probably since the replacements had been made and the next change wouldn’t take place for a while.
He ate an early breakfast, before asking for directions to Cessa Chase. He was given the information after some cursory questioning. Then, he made a beeline straight for the two storeyed building which was the village’s administrative center. It housed a large hall with a raised platform on one end and a staircase leading to the second floor on the other end.
After asking for directions from another soldier, Draego found himself in front of the room Cessa was using as her command center. He knocked on the door, and the door swung open on its own, making a soft creaking sound. Noticing it had neither been locked nor been left open, Draego decided to check if anyone was inside.
He lightly pushed the door open and stepped in. The room was fairly large, eight meters by six meters. The door Draego opened was in the center of one of the walls. To his left was a counter, with a tray with a small bag, a few glasses, a pitcher and a kettle on it. There was a small basin on one end of the counter and a small stove on the other.
In front of him, slightly to his right, was a coffee table surrounded on three sides by a long sofa and two smaller sofas. Lastly, right in front of him, opposite the door, was a desk with a chair behind it. A map had been laid out on the desk and several figurines lay on it. Two flags had been placed on it as well, one red and the other green.
Several books lay in a pile on one end of the desk while the other end had several more figures in a jumbled mess. And, seated on the chair with her head on desk, Cessa cut a weary figure as she took deep, stable breaths. Her face was slightly pale and her eyes had slight dark circles under them.
She fell asleep while working. Draego concluded. He walked over silently to the desk and studied the map. The flag indicated where the fort and the village were. The various figurines surrounded the green flag, showing the approximate locations of enemy squadrons. One placed to the east, near the river, had been knocked down.
After studying the map impassively for a moment, Draego turned to look at the stack of books. He had been taught a few basic alphabets when he was younger, and read the titles of the books. Most of the books were accounts of defenses mounted by past generals, and a few informative catalogues of weapons and spells.
Draego looked at the girl. Her beautiful hair was disheveled as she slept with her head resting on both her hands. Her hands had calluses, and Draego knew what from. He himself had similar calluses on his own hands, albeit deeper. He took a long look at the map before turning around and taking a seat on one of the sofas.
He had decided to wait for Cessa to wake up. In the meantime, he started expanding his mana pool. The process for this was simple. He first created a net of mana strands, as he had when he scouted out the bridge. He next divided these strands into even smaller strands and spread them out even further. The strands floated in the air as they became lighter than the latent mana around them.
Draego twirled the strands before retracting them into his body. As soon as the strands returned, he felt a slight increase in the energy flowing through his body. This method was a rather wasteful and coarse method of expanding one’s mana pool. However, with no method to sense the latent mana around them, most mages tended to resort to such primeval methods.
Although the effects of a cycle of expansion were somewhat observable, they were minute at best. It would take several dozens of cycles before one’s mana pool expanded enough to increase the number of spells one could use. Generally, one’s innate mana pool also acted as a determiner for one’s potential for growth as a mage.
Draego repeated these cycles several times. He used to do this whenever he was idle as the guard of the inn Sylphia worked at. When he first arrived, he had only been able to fire seven spells. However, that increased to eight a couple of weeks ago. Now, he felt he was on the verge of pushing that limit to nine spells.
Needless to say, every spell he could use substantially increased his combat prowess. He took fifteen minutes to finish twelve more cycles of expansion. Then, about an hour since he woke up, Cessa also woke up. She let out a soft moan as she picked herself up on the desk. She looked around in mild confusion, trying to get her bearings.
“Ah! The plans!” She remembered what she was doing and got up, flustered and glanced at the desk. Draego looked at the girl, her hair disheveled and her eyes looking tired.
“My lady.” He called out to her in his impassive voice. Cessa jumped with shock hearing his voice.
“Wha-! … Ah, Draego…” She only just seemed to notice him. She let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. Her expression changed quickly from the flustered look just a moment ago to a more refined one, befitting a lady.
“Your voice is really scary when one hears it out of the blue.” She said with a reprimanding smile. Draego nodded in response. Sylphia and Jerory had both told him about this multiple times, but he couldn’t really change his voice and the way he talked. Cessa blushed as she realized something.
“H-how long have you been here?” She asked.
“About fifteen minutes.” Draego replied calmly. Cessa’s face lost its composure as she raised her hands to hide her face. She let out a long groan.
“My lady.” Draego called out to her again, patiently.
“Y-yes?” She asked, trying to maintain whatever little dignity she had. Draego’s expression remained as impassive as ever as he spoke his next words.
“Let’s discuss the war.” He said.