Book 2, Chapter 6: The Wizard Etienne
Morry and I rode the line, looking for the wizard. Individually, the spellcasters were spread amongst the troops. I didn’t fully understand why, but planned on asking when I found him. Up and down the line, I didn’t find him. As I rode, I greeted the marching soldiers, sharing smiles and laughs.
I therefore decided to introduce myself to another wizard. A younger man, olive skin slightly darker than mine, curly black hair. If I’d been back home, I’d assumed he was of Persian descent. “Excuse me,” I said, still atop my horse, “could I talk to you a moment?”
He held up his hand to silence me, staring off into the distance for a few moments, then saying, “I can but for a short while, Your Highness. I’ve unloaded my duties onto Tansia, and it is costly for her to take them.”
“Ah. I’ll try to be brief. I’m looking for the grand magister. Have you seen him?”
“He would be either ahead of the army or behind it. If ahead, he’s masking the scouts from prying eyes. If behind, he’s covering up our tracks.”
“Oh! I didn’t realize. What, ah, does that entail?”
He took the reins of my horse, “It’s difficult. For non-magicals to understand. The enemy is trying to know where we are, where we’re going, our speed, and whatever else it can learn about us. We are trying not to be found. A large army,” he gestured expansively, “like this one, leaves a lot of . . . indications behind, as we move. Even if they couldn’t see us, they could follow us based on our tracks, dust, old campfires.”
My mind was racing. Our campfires, our new road, giving away our position as surely as satellite footage would. Magic didn’t just slow technological development here, it replaced technology.
“How does, how does one learn magic?” That, I was thinking, might be something I should do. I still had no idea why wizards would support kings rather than be kings, except, I suppose, that situation would result in massive magical battles. Maybe they had some sort of oath against it, however wild and unlikely that seemed.
He chuckled, “Over a long period of time and through many hardships. Most who try fail and die in the attempt.” His eyes unfocused as he stared off into the distance, “I’m the only one . . . none of my fellows survived the training but me. It is . . . arduous.”
“Oh, my god.” That didn’t bode well for me learning magic.
“Perhaps we could talk about that in greater detail at another time, my lady, but I really need to return to my duties, lest Tansia wear out.”
“For sure. One last thing. Since the grand magister is not attending my council, perhaps you’d consider? I need a wizard on that council to lead properly.”
“It will be done. Either myself or another, you will have your council.” And with that, he released the reins, stared off into the distance once again. A slight shudder went up and down his body as he resumed whatever it was he was doing. Obfuscating us somehow.
Birds flew overhead. Something far, far higher, caught my breath – a suborbital? No, it was going too slow. Wide wings, long fuselage, a large plane perhaps. I’d never seen one, so few nations used them now. Still, it seemed far too slow for that, and it made no noise. It soared across the sky at a slow pace, disappearing behind some clouds.
I wondered what they saw of us. Perhaps nothing more than the grass and trees, a gentle creek here and there if we were under an illusion.
Morry and I rode back to our wagons in silence while I contemplated. We had some thirty mages. To twenty thousand troops, though initially we had just over double that many troops. Rounding lazily, that was roughly one mage per thousand soldiers. Assuming an equal sex ratio, that was one magic person to two thousand adults.
Pretty low ratio. Unfortunately, he didn’t give me numbers in how many couldn’t survive the training. So, I couldn’t guess what the odds were of me surviving. But it didn’t look good.
“Hey,” I said to my quiet guard, “I need to talk to the head nurse, Reese. At the medical wagons.” Surely, she wouldn’t be so cagey as these guys.
“That’ll be on the rearward side of the train, past our wagons.”
“Sounds good. Lead on.”
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