Chapter 2
Queen Sara Bellfourth spent the rest of the night sitting and thinking. When she got back to camp, she went to where the Woodsman had setup his bivouac. She carefully searched his belongings. She needed to know more about this mysterious man. She searched everything thing but did not find anything out of place for a person that was living in the woods. There was not a single piece of paper, ascrap of cloth or even a metal that would indicate an allegiance to the Emos army. So much was riding on this mission and now so much was riding on this man. Had the situation been any different, she would have this man taken into custody and questioned. He had just professed to be the First General of the Emos Army. The things she could learn about Queen Hellicus' army from him made her ponder. He might even have knowledge of her battle plans. That knowledge would go a long way to saving the lives of her soldiers. But this was not just any situation. She knew that destroying the Citadel was her top priority. As long as it existed then Queen Hellicus would be almost unstoppable. The way her troops wielded magic in every battle indicated that she had found a source of elven power. Either an almost unlimited source of elven weapons or more likely she had found how to recharge the magic within the weapons. Against that, no army, regardless of how big, stood a chance. This man had not only stated that he knew where the citadel was, a fact she did not know, but had vowed to help destroy it. Could he be trusted? If he could, then it could just be the edge they needed for this mission to succeed.
If she chose to ignore the man's warning about Emos army awaiting them, and he was wrong, she would then be stuck with the only guide that knew the way to Emos that could not be trusted. If he was right and there was an ambush ahead, then she would be totally dependent on this man as he claimed to know of another way into Emos. Captain Walch had claimed there was only one passable way into Emos. She did not like her options. She knew the chances of this mission succeeding were very low when they started. There were just too many variables she did not know and hoped to figure out as the mission went on.
Always in the back of her mind was the fact that Queen Hellicus had captured her beloved husband, Duke Henry Bellfourth. She knew that the citadel was the primary objective for this mission, but she hoped to be able to save her husband at the same time. If this man could be trusted, would he help her rescue the Duke?
When General Lateaf returned to camp with the rest of the men, the sun was just starting to rise above the trees. She sat there, watching the movements of the men and watching her breath escape in the bitter chill of the morning. She could see that hoar-frost had collected on the branches of the trees around camp. She noticed how nature's beauty was in stark contrast to the blood and gore that was what remained of the enemy's camp.
She sat for an hour, just watching the men move about the camp. Most were cleaning their weapons, examining recovered arrows to see if they were still usable, and making repairs to their clothes and armor. It was all done in silence. The only exception was General Allison. He sat there, cleaning his sword and telling anyone that would listen to his exploits in battle. Sara sat there and listened and was amazed at the story he was telling. She had just been in battle too and what he was describing was not the same battle. It was clear he was embellishing, making it sound like he single-handedly had won the day. All of the soldiers just ignored him. Sara was appalled at this man. He was clearly a man that love killing and torture. It was also clear that he was not used to people not listening to every word he said, let alone not believing it.
Finally, when she saw that General Lateaf was alone, she got up and headed over to talk to him.
"General, do you have a minute to talk?" she said. She was queen, and she knew he would drop whatever he was doing to council with the queen, but she still liked to ask.
Topher gave her a look of understanding and said, "Yes, of course." He knew what she wanted to talk about, so he looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot, especially General Allison.
Sara took a deep breath and said, "So, what do you think?" She had so much to ask, and it was summed up in that one question.
"I am not sure what to think," Topher said. "But I did send Captain Walch and a couple of men to spy on the lake. Just to verify his story."
Sara thought that was a good idea but then said, "Will they be spotted?"
"Captain Walch said there was a good spot where they could see the lake but the enemy was not likely to know about it. They should be ok. I expect them back this evening."
"Well, that will help a lot. At least, we will know if our guide is telling the truth about that?"
Topher smiled. He knew that he and his Queen were struggling with the same issues about this Woodsman.
"If they come back and say the way it clear, then we have an issue of a guide we cannot trust."
Topher added, "A guide that is the only one who knows the way."
Sara nodded and then continued, "If he is correct then we have to figure out if we trust him enough to follow him."
Topher took a deep breath and said, "I am not sure we have a choice. Captain Walch was pretty adamant that there was only one way into Emos, and that was through Lake Luka."
After a moment of them both thinking, Sara said, "Well one thing, when the Woodsman comes back, I want to talk with him. I have a lot more questions for him."
"Yes, but I would advise keeping General Allison away. I do not want him knowing what we know."
Sara nodded thoughtfully. "I agree. In fact, I think we should keep the identity of the Woodsman from all the men. If we end up having to follow him, I do not want one of the men trying to kill him as vengeance for the loss of a father or mother in the last war."
Topher had not thought about that, but it made good advice. "Agreed. We will keep his identity to ourselves."
There was another moment of thoughtful silence when a smile came over Sara's face. She said, "And I bet you were worried this would be an easy, boring mission."
The smile made Topher break out into a chuckle.
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