Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (12 page)

The grand admiral said some more things
that Josiah couldn’t hear, and a girl detached herself from the group of cadets
and made her way toward the group of guides. It was decided beforehand that
Josiah was to escort the first cadet called, so he went out to meet her.

“My name is Josiah Pondran,” Josiah said
and extended his hand.

“Senndra Felling,” the girl responded and
shook his hand.

“Let me get those,” Josiah said, gesturing
to Senndra’s saddle bags. She relinquished them gratefully, and the two cadets
left the parade field. In silence, Josiah led Senndra across the campus toward
an antiquated dorm that was reserved for visitors. He pushed open the door and
allowed her to enter a hall on the first floor. The two cadets walked about
halfway down the hall before stopping in front of a door labeled with the
number twenty-three. Josiah fished a key out of his pocket and handed it to
Senndra. She unlocked the door and entered the room, gasping at the sight of
it. Despite the fact that the room was small, it was one of the most luxurious
rooms in the entire academy. It had carpet instead of the standard hardwood
floors of the barracks, wood paneling instead of rough boards for walls, and
even its own bathroom. Josiah slipped past Senndra and dropped her bags over
the back of a chair. Then he retreated from the room and sat out in the hall,
waiting for his charge to emerge. As he waited, other guides and their cadets
entered the dorm. Each of them followed the same procedure as Josiah, showing
the cadets their rooms and then waiting outside. Cirro entered with a young man
in tow, and Josiah looked up to see what he looked like. From his first glance,
Josiah was shocked. The cadet had red eyes.

“Pretty strange, huh?” Cirro commented
when his charge entered his room and closed the door. “The eyes really unnerved
me at first, but he’s a great guy. I think I’m going to enjoy showing him
around.”

“Lucky you,” Josiah responded. “I got
stuck with a girl that is a little too…” he searched for a word, “…feminine for
my taste.”

The cadet with the red eyes emerged from
his room, and Cirro led him out of the dorm. The two chatted about what they
were going to see next, and Josiah wished that he had gotten someone like the
red-eyed cadet.

The door behind Josiah opened, and he
jumped to his feet. Senndra had changed from her bulky flying clothes and now
wore the uniform of the cadets of the Academy of Belvárd. Her hair hung down
past her shoulders, and Josiah thought she looked very pretty. He suddenly
decided that maybe he didn’t mind having a feminine charge.

“Well, what would you like to see first?”
he asked when he had found his voice.

“I don’t know,” Senndra answered. “You
know the place better than me. Why don’t you take me somewhere interesting?”

“You like history?” Josiah asked. “We have
a museum that is dedicated to the war against Molkekk, curse his name.”

“I think I might like that,” Senndra
answered. “Let’s go see that.”

Senndra followed Josiah out of the dorm
and down a path that was lined on both sides by trees that had been perfectly
arranged and trimmed less than twenty-four hours before. The path led to a
fancy building that was surrounded by a twelve foot stone wall. Josiah escorted
Senndra to the gate of the wall, and they entered the museum. The interior of
the building was dim, and Josiah was forced to blink several times to allow his
eyes to adjust. When he was able to see, he led Senndra down row after row of
relics. The shelves and display cases held armor, scrolls, books, weapons,
banners, and many other artifacts that had been used in the war against the
dark lord, Molkekk.

It took the two cadets several hours to
work their way through the entire museum, but they finally found themselves at
the end. Only one more door was left to open, and in an attempt to surprise his
guest, Josiah opened it with a quick movement. Behind the door was another dim
room that was lit by periodic torches. Against the far wall, in a sort of
shrine, was a set of armor with a banner above it.

“And this,” Josiah said with as much
flourish as he could muster, “is the armor of none other than the elvin
magician that confined the spirit of Molkekk to his tower in Volexa Temp. Above
the armor is the banner of Magessa. It is a tribute to the fact that he is one
of the last elves who willingly lived among humans in this country.”

“You don’t mean…” Senndra stopped short
and floundered for words. “Are you saying that this is the armor of the elf
Jothnial?” she finally asked.

“Yes, I’m glad you know his name,” Josiah
said. “Few in this country do, despite what he did.”

“Well I should certainly hope that I know
his name,” Senndra retorted. “After all, he was my father.”

Josiah’s mouth dropped open and he turned
to look at Senndra. He carefully scanned her from head to foot before turning
to the portrait of Jothnial.

“You can’t be his daughter,” he stammered.
“You don’t look anything like him. Besides,” he added with another glance at Senndra,
“you aren’t even an elf.”

“Be that as it may,” Senndra said with a
shrug. “I am still legally his daughter. Of course I don’t resemble him. He
rescued me on one of his missions when I was still a baby, and he brought me up
as his own.”

“I’m sorry for showing you this,” Josiah
said after a short silence. “I guess seeing it probably stirs up memories that
aren’t too pleasant.”

“On the contrary, thank you,” Senndra
replied. “This brings back all kinds of memories, some bad, but many more good.
Also, it is nice to see the tribute that was made to him.”

“Oh yes, he was a great warrior,” Josiah
said quickly. “But even greater than his ability to fight was his faith in
Elohim. Because of it, he was able to be a much better magician than many
others.”

A bell sounded outside.

“That would be the dinner bell, right?”
Senndra asked. She turned away from the armor and left the room. “It sounds
exactly like the bell at my academy. And dinner couldn’t come at a better time.
I’m starved.”

Josiah lay on his bed, his sheets at the
foot, having fallen off as he thrashed in his sleep. The nightmare that he was
experiencing plagued him greatly, and he longed only for consciousness; but it
would not come. In his dream, he stood on the northern wall of Saddun. Before
him stretched a host of dwarves, too many to count, and they were sieging the
wall. He had a bow in his hand, and he loosed scores of arrows at the enemy
until he had exhausted his supply. He turned to throwing javelins but in no
time the dwarves were placing ladders against the wall. Josiah drew his sword
and raced down the wall to where he saw a dwarf scaling it. He knew that he
could never defeat the entire host of dwarves, but he would die trying.

A hand reached out and shook Josiah from
his sleep. He jerked to consciousness and reached for his weapons, but he did
not have them. It took him a second to realize where he was and recognize the
person who had awakened him as an officer. He swung his feet over the side of
his bed and stretched before standing.

“Sir,” the officer said with urgency in
his voice. “The grand admiral requests your presence immediately.”

“The grand admiral?” Josiah asked. Sleep
still clouded his mind, and he wondered if he had heard correctly. “What on
earth would he want with me at this hour?” he said while stifling a yawn.

“I do not know, sir,” the officer said. “I
was only instructed by my superior to escort you to a meeting with the grand
admiral.”

The officer seemed worried, so Josiah
threw on his uniform and followed him out of the barracks. They crossed the
campus, and Josiah in his half-awake state could barely discern that they were
headed to the largest building in the area, the headquarters of all the
important officers of the academy. They passed through the doorway after the
officer had given a password to the guard stationed there and walked quickly
down several halls, up a flight of stairs, and finally to a room at the end of
a hall. The officer pushed open the door, announced Josiah, and left.

Josiah found himself in the room with six
other men. Four of them he recognized as his fellow commanders, one he saw was
the grand admiral, and the other was the general of the academy. They were
surrounding a desk, but turned as Josiah entered the room. Josiah crossed the
room to the desk and saw that a map of Magessa and the surrounding areas was
lying there alongside a map of the city.

“Now that you’re all here, I will begin,”
the grand admiral said. His audience of six looked at him as he took a position
at the bottom of the maps. “Approximately twenty minutes ago, a soldier entered
the city. No one knew who he was or what business he had outside of Magessa,
but he insisted that he had news for me, so I was awakened. He told me that his
name was Tarlex and that he had one purpose: to inform me that an army of
dwarves, while still quite a distance from the city, was approaching and would
be here by sunrise. I asked him how he knew this, and he answered that he
himself had seen the dwarves and had perceived that they were ready for war and
heading in this direction. I immediately sent out scouts to confirm the report
and bring information on the size of the force. When I turned back to question
Tarlex, he had vanished. I commenced a search for him, but so far it has turned
up empty.

“Since the danger of an attack from the
dwarves has been hanging over our heads for some time, I have chosen to take
the man at his word. In any case, we will know for certain if there is an
attack force when my scouts return; but right now, I am thinking of defensive
measures. I do not wish to alarm anyone until we have all of the facts, but if
what Tarlex said is correct, the enemy has substantially more men than we do. I
have already dispatched messengers to nearby cities, so we can expect reinforcements.
In the meantime, however, we need to concern ourselves with defending the
city.”

The five commanders and the general were
silent for several seconds after the speech ended, but soon gained their voices
and all began to talk at once. The grand admiral called for silence, and the
room quieted.

“General Uriah, what do you have to say?”
the grand admiral asked.

“Well, it seems to me, sir,” Uriah began,
“that since we will most likely be heavily outnumbered, we need to take
advantage of our defensive position. Indeed, if the attacking army has no siege
equipment, though I think they will, we would be able to hold them off
indefinitely. I believe we need to take precautions to prevent that siege
equipment from reaching the wall. For instance, if we dug a ditch in front of
the wall, at least around the gate, it may prevent rams from reaching the
gate.”

“What about you, Commander Pondran?” the
grand admiral asked.

“I think we should have every intention of
defending the wall,” Josiah said, “but we also need to take precautions in case
it is breached. This stream,” he pointed to the map, “runs down the middle of
the city and provides the best chance of defense if we lose the wall. If we
destroy the bridge that crosses it, the enemy would be forced to enter the water.
If we then pour oil into the stream, we can light it when they try to cross.
The fire should kill some of them and hold off the others at least for a while.
I also think it would be prudent to set up other defensive structures, either
improvised walls or ditches, in order to slow the enemy if they breach our
walls.”

“We also need to secure the buildings,”
one of the other commanders spoke up without being called upon. “If the enemy
is given the opportunity, they will use the buildings for cover if they should
break into the city. Therefore, I suggest that we lock and block the doors of
most of the buildings, leaving only a few open for us to use for defensive
cover. Choose the buildings so that if we lose them, the enemy can’t use them
effectively for cover. That way, if the enemy should drive us back and take up
positions in the buildings, we will be able to hit them.”

“I think that all of these ideas have
merit,” the grand admiral said. “Smether and Pakerd, take your men outside the
north wall and dig a ditch to protect it. General Uriah will go with you to
supervise the work. The rest of you will remain here to talk about other
defensive measures. Uriah, send for the captains of these men and have them
come here.”

Uriah left the room to oversee the work
and the grand admiral and remaining three commanders turned back to the maps on
the desk.

“If we could do as Commander Pondran
suggested with the stream that runs through the middle of the city, it would be
a temporary barrier. It could kill a few soldiers, but we’ll need some more
substantial barriers, possibly walls and trenches. I think five on either side
of the stream will be sufficient. Pondran, take your men and construct the ones
on the north of the stream; and Fridle, you take your men and do the same to
the south of the stream. Velikogo, you will take your men and do as you
suggested, boarding up certain buildings and leaving only a select few open.
That’s all for now, gentlemen. May the city hold firm.”

“May the city hold firm,” the commanders responded
and left the room.
 Josiah met his captains in the hall outside the room,
and they fell in behind him as he walked quickly out of the building.

“Terza,” Josiah said, and his captain came
alongside him. “I need the map of the city from my office in the barracks. It’s
in the bottom drawer of the desk, on top of everything else. Get it, wake the
soldiers, and then meet us at the bridge that crosses the stream in the middle
of the city.”

Terza saluted, spun on his heel, and
headed back toward the barracks. Josiah led his company of captains to the
bridge. When they reached it, he sat in the middle and waited in silence. His
captains, sensing that there was something important afoot, kept quiet as well.
It was ten minutes before Terza arrived at the bridge. He had awoken the
soldiers, and by now they would be on their way to the bridge.

“Thank you, Terza,” Josiah said as his
captain handed him the map he had requested. He spread it out on the bridge,
and his captains gathered around it. “The Grand Admiral has been warned of an
imminent attack on the city and has required us to make five makeshift barriers
to the north of this stream,” Josiah gestured to the water that ran under the
bridge they crouched on. “If each of you has your men create one barrier, we
will have five. Each barrier should stretch all the way across the city and
prevent the enemy from crossing in one way or another. I don’t care if it’s a
wall or a trench or both; I just want the barriers. And by the way, it wouldn’t
hurt if there were several stages to each one.” Josiah paused for a moment and
drew five lines across the city on his map. “I’ve decided that we will make
each barrier at roughly equal distance from each other, so there will be one at
each of the lines that I have marked on this map. Each of you choose one and
get to work. We only have a few hours until the enemy arrives, so be sure to
work quickly.”

The five captains crossed the bridge to
their troops and led them across to the north side. Josiah also crossed to the
north side. He wanted to make sure that his soldiers did good work. It wasn’t
that he didn’t trust them, but this was his first encounter with real-life
battle, and he wanted to survive.

******

Senndra's dreams were interspersed with
images of dragons, academies, castles, and Josiah. The handsome young cadet who
had showed her around the campus had snuck into her dreams. From the moment
that she saw him, she had liked him and not just for his looks, though they
certainly helped. The way that he carried himself indicated that he had
confidence, and the way that he had treated Senndra showed that he was a
gentleman. It was something that Senndra would never have admitted to herself,
but that she couldn't hide from her subconscious. Even though she had just met
him, she liked Josiah Pondran.

On the other hand, there was also Timothy.
The red eyed cadet who had beaten her in the sword fighting competition had
also been sneaking into her dreams of late. She appreciated him as a friend and
yet, she couldn't help thinking of him in romantic terms as well. He was so
handsome with his clean cut features and his eyes. Obviously they were very
different than those of anyone else she knew, but something besides their color
had captured her attention, something that intrigued her. Timothy was fun to be
around and not nearly as much a gentleman as Josiah. That wasn't to say that he
was rude, but he lacked many of the niceties that Josiah had. Senndra didn't
know if she liked that about him or not.

Even inside her dream, Senndra chided
herself for being such a flake. How much more cliché could she get than liking
two boys at once? She liked each of them for who they were and while she could
control her thoughts while she was awake, she couldn't stop from comparing them
in her dreams. She despised herself for it and yet couldn't help it. This was a
matter of her emotions and not something that her brain could control.

Senndra sat straight up in bed, awakened
by the ringing of the campus’s chapel bell. It was still dark outside, and she was
reluctant to get out of bed. She knew that the bell was telling of some
emergency, so she forced herself to get up. As an afterthought, she grabbed her
weapons from the back of the chair and strapped them on before opening her door
and stepping into the dorm hall. Cadets had already filled the hall and were
heading outside to see what was causing all of the commotion. Senndra glanced
down the hall and saw that Timothy was just emerging from his room. His weapons
were strapped on his back, and he had a breastplate strapped on over his
leather armor. He spotted Senndra and pushed his way through the crowd to her.

“You’re going to want your armor,” he
shouted above the noise when he had reached her. “The only reason we would be
getting up at this time of night is either for a fire or for an attack. I
already looked out my window, and there is no fire.”

“An attack?” Senndra asked. There was
concern in her voice, and she already had the door of her room open.

“We're on the edge of Magessa,” Timothy
answered. “That is the reason this city was originally founded, to provide a
defense against attacks.”

Senndra dashed inside her room, closing
the door as she entered. She quickly unstrapped her weapons from her back and
began to put on her leather armor. A leather shirt and pair of pants were the
majority of the armor. Senndra strapped on a pair of leather boots. A metal
breastplate covered her torso in the front and back, and a pair of leather
gloves completed the outfit. Senndra returned the weapons to her back and
exited the room again. By this time, a large number of the cadets had exited
the building, leaving only a few stragglers behind. Timothy was waiting for
her, and together they headed out of the building and made their way to the
chapel.