Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (35 page)

The dwarves gave shouts of triumph, but
their elation was short lived. Hearing the calls of the dying dragon, the other
riders had come to the rescue, albeit too late. All that remained was for his
death to be avenged, and this was easily accomplished. Waves of fire rolled
across the ground and over the fallen dragon's body, igniting anyone in its
path. The dragon riders shot arrows into the dwarves, killing those who escaped
the fire and claws of their mounts.

As Josiah watched, the dragons annihilated
the army that had once appeared impossible to defeat. The battle lasted for
half an hour, after which time all that could be seen was smoke rising from the
battlefield as the dragons circled overhead and gradually began to land. Josiah
sank to his knees and raised his hands in victory. Then he bowed his head to
give thanks to Elohim who gives all victories.

The army that marched into Saddun had a
very different feel than the one that had left the city only a few days ago.
The soldiers were tired, but the feelings of victory in their hearts showed on
their faces and obscured their exhaustion. The group was small, containing only
a fraction of the soldiers that had left, but above them circled a battalion of
dragons. The soldiers also appeared sure of themselves and more formidable than
they had been only days ago.

The makeshift gates of the city were
thrown open wide for the army, and all of its inhabitants hurried out to meet
the victorious soldiers. The army made its way slowly through the city in a
triumphant procession, which ended in the parade fields of the city. The
dragons landed and let their riders slide off before leaping into the sky again
and flying toward the mountains where they would spend the night. The wounded
soldiers were spirited off to the hospital while the rest of the army was led
to the mess hall where everyone in the entire city, it seemed, had gathered.
Everyone sat down at the tables and settled in to wait for the cooks to throw a
meal together. The noise in the hall was deafening as everyone talked at once,
the soldiers telling about their experiences and the rest listening and asking
questions. Josiah sat at a table beside Cirro and only partially listened to
the stories being told.

“Were you scared when the dwarves
attacked?” someone asked Cirro.

“I was scared spitless,” Cirro answered
with a small laugh.

“
I
wasn’t scared,” one of the other
soldiers boasted. “I said to them ‘Come on and we’ll see who fights better,’
and when they came, I gave them hell.”

“Let’s think back,” Cirro said with a
smirk. “You want me to believe that with the lines upon lines of dwarf giants,
not to mention the crossbows and the tens of thousands of dwarf regulars, you
weren’t the least bit afraid? You’re saying that, as you were looking out at
that massive army, not even the smallest fraction of fear slipped into your
heart?”

“Maybe a little bit of fear,” the soldier
conceded, “but it passed, and I took on those dwarves and beat them.”

Up until this statement, Josiah had held
his tongue, but he could not stand it any longer.

“Really? Not the least bit of fear and
then you took on the entire dwarf army?” Josiah glared at the soldier. “Let me
tell you two things. First, neither you nor anyone else beat the dwarf army;
the dragons did that. Second, if you were so brave, why weren’t you in the
front line when the dwarves charged across the river?”

“You think that I wasn’t in the front
lines?” the soldier retorted.

“Yes, that’s what I think,” Josiah
answered, “and let me tell you why. Every man that was in the front lines died
except for him,” Josiah pointed to Cirro. “They died holding off the dwarves so
that the rest of the army could fall back to safety. If you’re going to tell
what happened, tell how it really happened. You’re a hero in your own right;
you don’t have to make up things that didn’t happen.”

The bragging soldier became quiet, and the
listeners around him turned to others to hear the tales of the battle. Josiah
fell silent again and stayed that way until the food was served. He ate
heartily, and after the meal, he retired to a barrack that had been set aside
for the returning army. As he unrolled his blankets on one of the bunks, Cirro
entered and sat on the bed opposite Josiah’s.

“What’s the matter?” Cirro asked.

“With me?” Josiah asked. “Nothing; I’m
just tired, that’s all.”

“I can tell when something is bothering
you,” Cirro said. “Don’t lie to me. Something is troubling you big time. I
mean, you should be celebrating, not sulking around.”

“What do we really have to be
celebrating?” Josiah asked. “Sure, we defeated the dwarf army. It was a very
large dwarf army at that, but so what? Why would the dwarves attack Magessa?
There has to be a bigger reason than they just don’t like us.”

“So what do you think is happening?” Cirro
asked.

“If you ask me, a shadow is spreading over
the entire northern country, starting in Volexa Temp,” Josiah said.

“So you think that this is the doing of
Molkekk,” Cirro said.

“Maybe so, but no matter who is behind it,
you can be sure of one thing—we may have won a single battle, but the war is
far from over.”

******

Josiah’s dreary state of mind had passed
by the next morning. He and Cirro were up before sunrise, and by the time the
sun peeked over the Apathy mountains, they were already at the practice field
facing each other. Once again they had exchanged their deadly weapons for
blunted practice swords and were circling each other as they each searched for an
opening in the other’s defenses. Cirro lunged at Josiah, and the silence of the
morning was broken by the ringing of metal on metal. The two friends had fought
hundreds of times before, but the feeling of this contest was different. Both
used everything they had learned in the recent battle, making this match
extremely fierce. One thing remained the same, however; the battle ended with
Cirro’s sword at Josiah’s neck. The two friends fought for a few more rounds
before sheathing their weapons and sitting at the edge of the field to catch
their breaths. Josiah flopped onto the grass, looked across the field, and
spied half a dozen figures coming toward him. They were too far away for their
features to be distinguished. As they got closer, Josiah was able to identify
them as cadets from the academy in Belvárd. He recognized four of them as
Senndra, Timothy, Vladimir, and Rita, but the other two were strangers to him.
He and Cirro scrambled to their feet as the cadets approached.

“Good morning,” Timothy called out as his
group neared Josiah and Cirro.

“That it is,” Cirro answered. “Of course,
it could be pouring down rain and I would still think it was a good morning
because I’m alive.”

“We heard about your run to Belvárd,”
Josiah said. “I just wanted to say thank you because without you, the rest of
the army and I would have been crushed by the dwarves. By the way, how did you
get here? I thought you were still in Belvárd?”

“We arrived this morning with a huge
entourage,” Vladimir answered. “Apparently there is going to be some sort of
official ceremony here commending everyone involved in the battle for their
bravery, so practically the entire academy came with us.”

“Rumor is, the elders of Rampön, Belvárd,
and Gatlon are coming and should be here in the next couple of days,” Senndra
said. “It seems like anyone who has any kind of political position at all is
going to be here.”

“Of course you know what that means,”
Josiah laughed. “We’re going to get kicked out of the buildings to make room
for all of the visiting dignitaries. Not that I’m complaining, but it figures
that the heroic warriors get stuck outside while the politicians get pampered.”

“Isn’t that what always happens?” Cirro
commented. “After all, if the dignitaries did end up sleeping outside or
something like that, they might get a little taste of what it’s actually like
to be in the military. They like to think that war is all about glory. Heaven
forbid that they ever find out what it actually entails.”

“So you like to get up early and practice
fighting as well,” Timothy noted, changing the subject. “I always make it a
point to do the same thing. I don’t know why, but it seems that my day goes
better if I do.”

“Actually, he has a terrible memory, so if
he doesn’t practice at the same time every day, he forgets to do it at all,”
Rita said.

“So how good are you at hand-to-hand?”
Cirro asked Timothy.

“He’s spectacular,” Vladimir said before
Timothy could answer. “He won the sword play competition at the academy this
year. Of course, he almost got beat by a girl, but he did end up winning.”

“Well, let’s see how good you are,
Timothy,” Cirro said, drawing his sword. He winked at Vladimir. “After all, if
you almost lost to a girl, how good can you be?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Timothy answered
with a good-natured smile. He drew his sword, and the two cadets moved into the
practice field.

“I never got to thank you for the way that
you commanded the army, Josiah,” the young man that Josiah did not recognize
said. “If it weren’t for you, we would have all died out there.”

“First of all, it was Elohim that kept us
from being killed,” Josiah said. “We were horribly outnumbered, and by all
rights we should have died. Second of all, it was just as much the doing of the
soldiers as it was my doing.” Josiah looked hard at the young man. “Do I know
you, or am I just imagining things?”

“Petra Bentinck,” the man said. “I believe
you were the commander who first met me when I arrived with the message from
Gatlon.”

“That’s right,” Josiah said. “You came and
said that no one was coming. So, how do you think they are going to cover up
that little piece of information?”

“I don’t know,” Petra said. “But you can
be sure that they’re going to come up with something. They’re politicians—it's
what they're good at.”

“You seem just a little bit cynical,”
Josiah stated.

“Remember that I have spent more than a
year guarding the door to the chambers where these men meet,” Petra answered.
“I have heard their councils and the councils of many like them. It seems like
they are always trying to cover something up.”

“And these are the kind of men that are
ruling the country?” Senndra asked with exasperation. “These are the men that
are making our laws and commanding our armies?”

“Making laws, yes; commanding armies, it
would seem not,” Josiah retorted quickly.

“They are not fit for the task of
commanding,” Petra added. “I would sooner trust a mule with an army than those
conniving men.”

“So what loyalties do they hold?” Senndra
asked. “Do they still claim to serve Elohim?”

“I don't know how it is at the academies,
but in the rest of the realm, the popularity of serving Elohim has been on the
decline for many years now,” Petra answered. “There are still people that seem
to serve Him and profess to follow Him, but many do not even pretend anymore.”

“And these are the people that we are
defending with our lives,” Josiah commented. “You have to wonder why Elohim has
granted us success in this venture so far. It seems to me that this nation has
fallen away from Him so much that perhaps it would be better if it was wiped
from the face of the earth.”

“You make it sound as if the whole nation
has followed the path of the few that govern it,” Petra chided. “A larger
portion of the population than you would think still follows Elohim, though
admittedly it is the minority. All that is required to see this is a visit to
the temple of Elohim. It is still in good repair, and the ceremonies that have
always occurred there in the past are still in effect, all paid for by tithes
from regular people.”

“Then why is nothing being done about the
corrupt government?” Josiah asked. “If the common people follow Elohim, why do
they allow a few evil men to rule them?”

“Many of them probably do not realize what
has happened,” Petra answered. “Also, a great number of the people do follow
Elohim, but there are still many that have turned from Him.”

Josiah nodded and turned away to look at
the two cadets on the practice field. Cirro made a quick move toward Timothy,
but Timothy blocked the sword slash. He reached under the crossed blades,
grabbed Cirro’s shirt, and threw him on the ground. Cirro hit the ground and
bounced, his sword flying from his grip, and Timothy laid his sword’s point on
the throat of his opponent.

“So what do we do?” Josiah asked as he
turned back to Petra. “If we do nothing, we will eventually end up like
Cirro...” Josiah brought his fist into the palm of his other hand. “…on our
backs with the sword of the enemies of Elohim at our throats.”

“You’re correct,” Petra confirmed. “Doing
nothing would be one of the biggest mistakes that we could make. Of course,
doing something drastic might also be a mistake, depending on the ramifications
of the action. It all depends on what is to be done, and I don’t think that I
am the one to answer that question.”

“You could ask Lemin,” Senndra offered.
“He knows a lot, especially about the things that you are discussing.”

“Are you serious?” Josiah asked. “I didn’t
think that he was the political type.”

“No, he’s not political, but he does know
a lot about spiritual issues,” Senndra answered. “I know that he will give you
his opinion if you ask him, and his opinions are always good.”

“Thanks for the advice. I think that I
will ask him,” Josiah said. He turned to Petra and asked, “Do you want to come
with me and see what he has to say?”

“I guess so,” Petra answered. “When are
you planning on going to see him?”

“There’s no time like the present, is
there?”

******

It was an hour and a half before Josiah
and Petra found Lemin. They had asked more than a dozen people if they had seen
him, but had no luck. Finally, an older man directed them to the library, where
they found the object of their search sitting amidst a pile of dusty volumes
and scrolls. He was so absorbed in his reading that he didn’t even notice the
two young men approach him. Josiah and Petra stood for a few seconds, waiting
for the elf to notice them. When he did not, Josiah cleared his throat. Lemin
looked up from the scroll that he was reading, and when he saw the soldiers, he
motioned them to two chairs that sat opposite his. He rolled his scroll up as
Petra and Josiah sat down and placed it on top of a small pyramid of
similar-looking scrolls. He looked at his two visitors expectantly and waited
for them to open up the conversation.