Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (37 page)

The two young people caught up to Lemin
and the others, who had stopped to rest on an outcropping of rock. Below them,
the mountains sloped down to the plain outside of Magessa. From their vantage
point, the dwarf fortress, Mt. Nebal, was just a peak rising out of the desert.
The Pelé River passed very close to it and extended through a pass in the
Apathy Range and out of sight. The Apathy Mountains extended indefinitely to
the east and west, with the city of Saddun filling the only visible gap in the
range. From the height that Lemin and the young people were, the city looked
like an anthill with barely visible humans scurrying around it.

As they were admiring the view, Timothy
made a motion to the east. When the others followed the direction of his
outstretched hand, they could barely make out a winding line making its way
toward the city.

“What is that?” Rita asked. “Surely the
dwarves can’t have scraped together another army this quickly.”

“No, it is not dwarves,” Lemin answered.
“Nor is it even an army of our enemies. What you see now is the army from the
elfin nations to the east. They have traveled as quickly as possible, but even
they are restrained by distance and fatigue and are just now arriving.”

“That is the elfin army from the forest
across the mountains?” Josiah asked. A look of astonishment covered his face.
“How many soldiers are there?”

“I would estimate somewhere between thirty
and forty thousand troops,” Vladimir spoke up. “Of course, at this distance, it
is hard to be certain.”

“If they were able to get that many troops
here in just a few days, the size of their full army must be staggering,” Cirro
commented.

“It is not as large as you think,” Lemin
corrected. “Elves are quick to organize themselves, so what you see before you
is probably around a third of their full strength. What makes them such
valuable warriors is not their numbers, but the fact that all of them can use
magic to a certain degree, and about ten percent of them can use it
proficiently. In the army that is approaching Saddun, there are more than
likely between three and four thousand powerful magicians who could have
defeated the dwarf army by themselves.”

“You’re being serious?” Cirro asked. When
Lemin nodded, he continued, “Then why don’t the elves gather their forces and
crush Molkekk?”

“The magic of the elves may be strong, but
the divination of Molkekk is even stronger,” Lemin answered. “Though the whole
power of the elves, ogres, and humans attacked the cursed city, it is doubtful
whether they would succeed in destroying it. Of course, you must understand
that the rifts between the nations are great. It is unlikely that they would be
put aside, even for the purpose of destroying Molkekk.”

“If Molkekk is actually that powerful, are
you saying that it isn’t possible to destroy him?” Timothy asked. “I thought
you said before that with Elohim anything is possible. If that is true, and
magicians use the power of Elohim, how is it that they are not powerful enough
to overcome him?”

“You are correct; I have said that with
Elohim anything is possible,” Lemin answered. “However, I still believe that
all of the magicians combined may not be able to overcome Molkekk. This is not
as contradictory as it may seem, and there is a rather simple explanation.
Magicians do use the power of Elohim; however, this power is limited by their
experience, and more importantly by their faith. I have seen the most awesome works
done by new magicians who had great faith.  As they grew older, however, they
grew more cynical and were not able to perform as many great works.”

“Then there is no hope for the defeat of
the enemy,” Timothy said. “If all of the magicians of the elves, ogres, and
humans put together cannot defeat him, then there is no way to stand against
him.”

“First of all, I only said that victory
would be doubtful; I did not say that it would be impossible,” Lemin corrected.
“Second, Elohim can choose whoever He wishes to defeat His enemies, and when He
decides that Molkekk’s time has run its course, He will raise up someone who
can defeat him. Finally, it does not matter whether or not we can successfully
defy Molkekk; Elohim simply asks that we stand against His enemies. And if we
do that to the best of our abilities, there is nothing more that we can do, and
He is pleased with us no matter the outcome.”

“So you are saying that our ability to
overcome the enemies of Elohim does not enter into the equation?” Senndra
asked. “As long as we fight for Him and to the best of our abilities, He will
be pleased?”

“That is correct,” Lemin answered. “The
act of obedience, not our success, is the only thing that matters.”

“Well that certainly makes it easier to be
brave,” Josiah said. “Since Elohim is pleased with us as long as we are doing
what He wants us to do, the outcome is only of secondary importance. That means
we can do what needs to be done without worrying about what other people think
about us or whether or not we will succeed.”

“Correct,” Lemin agreed. “But enough of
this heavy handed talk. The reason that we came up here was to enjoy the
exercise and fresh air.”

“And we have,” Petra said. “Can you keep
going, sir, or has your age finally caught up to you?”

Petra had shown a humorous side of late,
and Lemin appreciated it. It was amazing how different people were when they
were not fighting for their lives.

“I do think that I’ll take a while to
rest,” Lemin said with a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t let me slow you down,
though. Go off and play patty cake or whatever you young people find fun.”

The young people ran off laughing leaving
Timothy and Senndra alone with Lemin. The cadets looked at their instructor,
but he ignored them as he lay back on the ground and closed his eyes.

“Should we join them?” Timothy asked as he
watched his friends romp together.

“I’m not really in the mood,” Senndra
answered. “Do you want to walk?”

“I guess,” Timothy answered.

Senndra sighed inwardly as they began to
stroll. Ever since facing Timothy in the sword fight competition she had begun
to develop feelings for him. At first it had just been friendship, but it had
quickly turned into something more. Besides being attractive, he was also
strong, kind, and intelligent. He had even shown interest in her several times
over the last few days, but whenever she thought he was indicating something
more than friendship, he would say something to make her wonder again. ‘I
guess’ wasn’t exactly something that set her heart fluttering. Senndra was so
deep in thought that she almost missed Timothy’s question.

“Josiah’s fine,” she answered. “You
probably know him better than I do, though.”

“Really?” Timothy asked, surprised. “I
thought you might be interested in him, you know, romantically.”

“Not by a long shot,” Senndra said.

“Well, that’s good to know,” Timothy said.
“Is there someone else or is everyone too scared of the dragon riding woman who
can kick their butt in a sword fight?”

“Scared, probably,” Senndra answered with
a smile. “I guess they’re just afraid that I can keep them in line.”

"You're blowing my mind right
now," Timothy said. "As pretty and talented as you are, I thought you
would have a hundred guys after you."

"Nope, I'm as free as a bird,"
Senndra said. What did it take for this guy to get a clue? "I'm not
interested in anyone which means I'm free if someone was interested and just
hasn't said anything yet."

"Well, that's too bad," Timothy
said. "Some guy is really missing out. Hopefully he'll catch on one of
these days."

Senndra wanted to scream, but just smiled
as they continued to walk. Timothy changed the subject, but she couldn't forget
it. Was he interested in her or not? All of the questions about her romantic
involvement would suggest that he was, but then he had just blown the whole
thing off. Was he actually too scared to express interest? That seemed
unlikely; after all, this was Timothy, the fearless magician. Was it possible
that he had simply not noticed her interest? That was practically impossible,
she decided. With as obvious as she had been, it would take an idiot not to
notice. He was confusing, frustrating, and impossible to figure out.

Though she tried not to show it, the
thoughts kept bothering Senndra for the rest of the day. All of the way back to
the city, through dinner, and even as she climbed into her bed, she kept
wondering: What is going on behind Timothy's inscrutable, red eyes?

******

It was well past noon the next day, and
Josiah was glad to break formation and watch his men disperse. He had lost more
than half of his men in the battle with the dwarves, but in his mind, the ones
that remained were the best of the best. They had just stood in formation for
two hours through an extremely boring ceremony in which the soldiers that
fought against the dwarves were praised for their valor. Josiah found all of
the formalities to be extremely dull, especially since they took place under
the blazing midday sun. He also had to struggle to hold his tongue when the
elders of Gatlon took credit for sending the reinforcements to Saddun. They all
wore the silver cross of Elohim and couldn't appear more patriotic.

The ceremony finally ended and all that
remained was a feast to celebrate the victory. Then perhaps life could get back
to normal. Josiah saw that workmen were already beginning to set up tables all
over the drill field for the feast. He got out of the way and allowed the men
to do their job. In next to no time, the task was completed and people began to
quickly fill the tables. Looking at the mass of bodies occupying the field,
Josiah was seriously considering the idea of leaving and not attending the
feast; however, he decided to stay for two reasons. The first was that this was
going to be the only dinner that he would receive that day. The second reason
was that just as he was deciding what to do, an elder of Gatlon captured his
attention.

“Commander,” the old man began, “though it
was not recognized in the ceremony, we have heard that it was your leadership
that facilitated the survival of the army when it was attacked by the dwarves.”

“Thank you for the recognition,” Josiah
said and bowed slightly in respect for the man. “However, I only did what was
my duty.”

“No, you went beyond the call of duty,”
the man said. “What you did was a great accomplishment. In fact, you are the
hero of the entire war, and I would like to personally invite you to share the
table of the council.”

“Sir, the offer is very generous,” Josiah
said trying to make himself sound sincere. “However, considering the
circumstances of the invitation, I don’t think that I deserve this honor.”

“Nonsense,” the elder said. “You shall
dine with us today.”

At those words, Josiah’s mood dropped
considerably, though he did not let it show on his face. Had he chosen to
remain at the feast, he would have much rather spent it in the company of his
own men, where loud talking and joking would be accepted. Instead, he found himself
at the table of the elders of Gatlon, where the conversation threatened to be
dull and full of formalities. With a sigh, he followed the elder toward an area
where several tables were set up on a platform. After all, how could he turn
down an elder, especially when they seemed to think that their invitation was
very generous? Josiah stepped up onto the platform and was directed to a seat
at the far left of the table. He sat down and watched as servants brought out
hundreds of dishes and placed them on the table. He was completely famished,
but rather than immediately start to eat, he watched the people at the tables
around him to see how he was supposed to eat politely. He carefully mimicked
the motions of the man that sat beside him, even to the detail of where he
placed his cup when he was not drinking out of it. To make matters worse, the
man sitting beside him felt that it was his duty to ask the most pointless and
dull questions of Josiah, and of course Josiah felt obligated to answer them.
He sat at the table like that for close to an hour, trying to eat in a polite
way, but knowing that he was failing miserably.

Finally there was a lull in the
conversation. Apparently the surrounding people had run out of stupid questions
to ask, and Josiah was left to eat in peace. He ate as quickly as possible, not
wanting anything to tie him to this place longer than was absolutely necessary.
After he was finished with the meal, he sat back and began to scan the crowd.
It was a lot more fun to people watch with a friend, but doing it solo was
still better than listening to whatever droll subjects the council members
around him were talking about.

Josiah's eyes settled on a section of
tables where the cadets of both academies had congregated for the banquet. They
were talking and laughing and, by all appearances, having a much better time
than he was. With the events of the past week, he hadn't had much time to
think, but it suddenly occurred to him that the young men and women sitting out
there were his best friends in the whole world. He had fought side by side with
them, trusted his life to them, and come out the other side with them. If fire
forged stronger steel, combat forged stronger friendships, ones that words
simply couldn't describe.