Kingdom Alliance: Chapter 14

 

Chapter 14

Early fall is always very beautiful in northern Carriland. The leaves on the trees in the mountains around Shelbyville are just starting to turn from green to shades of red, yellow and purple. The hills are covered in more colors than on any piece of art work by either humans or the ancient elves. Nature is just a better artist. The days are still warm enough to be comfortable, but the mornings are starting to get chilly and a person could smell the dew in the air. For the locals, the days are very busy as the crops are being harvested and prepared for sale or storage for the winter ahead. The sounds of these activities are almost constant and permeate the countryside. Mornings and evening are quiet times. It is these times that Colonel Holms cherishes the most.

Although he was born in a small fishing community on the western shore of Carriland, Sherman Holms had always loved the mountains. His family had been generational fishermen. His father held some importance in the local community, even serving on the local town council for a few years. As he grew up, he had felt pressure to join the family business. He was the oldest and was expected to take over the family business when he grew up. But while his family looked to the sea for the future, his eyes were always looking in-land, towards the mountains. With so much family tradition confronting him, he saw only one way out that would still save the reputation of himself and his family in the community, and that was to join the military. It was not his first choice as he really wanted to be an explorer, but it was better than leaving and living in disgrace. To his pleasure, he found that he was a good fit for military life. When he found out about the patrols in the mountains, he volunteered. That is how he first met General Lateaf. He quickly realized that he could learn a lot from the General, so he attached his career to the man by becoming his right hand. He had learned to trust the General's instincts. So when General Lateaf told him that he saw something in Private Corval and wanted her on this mission, Colonel Holms agreed without reservation. Besides, he had seen something in the young soldier as well.

That was why Colonel Holms was not surprised in the least when he came out of his tent just before the fifth bell, he found the young private standing at full attention. He smiled as he wondered if she had stood outside his tent all night at full attention.

"At ease, Private," he said as he snapped a salute. "Walk with me."

"Yes sir." Jenny said as she stepped in next to him.

At this time in the morning, camp was quiet and still as most would not be waking up for another hour or so. The sun had not quite risen above the horizon, but was providing enough light to allow for someone to see where they were going without the use of a light. Holms enjoyed the sound of quiet, the smell of dew and the chill in the air for a moment before speaking. "I do not envy you on this mission Private."

"Sir?" she replied.

"Aside from the extra training that you will have to put in this week, you will be the lowest rank on this mission." He paused a moment to let that sink in. "That means you will have to take orders from everyone. You will be given all the grunt work jobs. It is nothing personal; it is just the military way. Are you sure you want to sign up for that?"

"I can handle anything 'dey give me. I will not back down in my duty."

Holms detected a bit of edge and pride in her statement. "We shall see," he said. He paused before changing the subject. "You are Wood-folk, are you not?"

"Yes sir," she replied.

He now detected a bit of wariness, as if she was prepared for a verbal attack. "I thought so. We don't get to many Wood-folk in the army. In fact, you are the first I have ever heard of. I have run into some Wood-folk in the patrols in the mountains. Your people seem like good people. Judging by the number of Wood-folk we have come across, there is not a whole lot of Wood-folk is there?"

"'Dere be a few of us."

He could tell that there was more to her statement but he chose not to follow up. "I suppose that your people have explored the mountains pretty well?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, sometime you will have to tell me those stories. Perhaps during an evening meal this week, I would very much like to hear about it. I am interested in the places your people have explored as well as any myths and stories of your explorers."

She looked at the Colonel with a bit of surprise on her face. She had thought he was either probing her or testing her. "I would be glad to," was what she finally said.

They walked the final few yards to the magic range in silence. As they arrived, Sherman directed the Private to sit on a bench next to the back of a building where there was a set of lockers of different sizes, each with its own lock.

"So, tell me Private, what do you know of magic?" he asked.

"Only what I said last night," she paused before continuing. "'Dat magic comes from 'de elves, who do not exist anymore."

"Well, to understand how to use magic, it helps to understand where it comes from and why it is so valuable." He began pacing as he continued. "The truth is that no one really knows where magic comes from. The current belief is that at one time, when the world was young, magic flowed through the land, kind of like a river. It is thought that magic would just happen randomly and without any control. It was during this time that the Elves lived. They saw this magic and found a way to harness and control it. That is where all the magic items we find came from. However, the Elves where greedy and used up all of the magic, causing it to no longer flow in the land. That is why we cannot recreate those magic items as the elves had done. Now the only magic left is the magic captured in the items we find that were left by the elves."

"'De elves must have been very war like if 'dey use all 'de magic to just make weapons?"

"They did not just make weapons with the magic. We have found other magic items that have no military use. It is clear that they used the magic in all aspects of their lives."  He was glad that she was not only paying attention, but thinking too. "As far as we can tell, there is no more free magic in the land. That is why finding elven magic is so important. Any army with a large amount of magic will have a strategic advantage." He walked over to a storage locker, opened the lock and removed an item. He returned back to the Private and handed the item to her.

"This is a magic wand." he told her.

She had seen these before, that night at the city of Atel. It was longer than her arm. One end was metal, with a round rod coming out the end. She noticed that the rod was hollow. The other end was wood and curved like a crescent moon. Its weight was not too uncomfortable to hold. From seeing the wands used against her comrades, she knew how to hold the wand.

"The elves created each wand with a set number of uses. Once those uses are done, the wand is of no use. We assume that the elves could recharge the wand but we have not figured out how. That is why we think there is no more magic left in the land since we can't figure out how to recharge it."

She held the wand like she had seen the soldiers at Atel, pointing out into the hills.

He was impressed. "Very good, that is how to hold it. To fire it, you place your finger here." He indicated a small indication bottom of the hilt. "And then you tap the button here," he indicated a button on top of the hilt where it met the metal barrel, "with your thumb."

Without thinking, she tapped the button. She quickly realized what she did and was going to apologizes for firing the weapon when she realized that nothing happened.

Sherman smiled. "It is okay, Private. This is a used up wand. We use it for training."

A look of relief came over her face.

"The fact that we cannot charge them is why magic is so rarely used in battles. Magic wands are very hard to find and once used, they are no value. Armies tend to hold onto their magic as much as possible."

She looked up at the Colonel. "But 'dose men at Atel, 'dey used 'deir magic. I did not see a single one of 'dem with a bow. 'Dey did have swords, but never drew 'dem."

"And now you understand why this news is so upsetting to the Queen and General Lateaf. It either means that Queen Hellicus has found a very large supply of spells and wands, or she has found out how to recharge." He paused, not for dramatic effect, but because he had just realized what that meant if she really had found how to recharge wands. He pulled himself together. "That is why this mission is so important." He took back the wand. "We will cover more on how to use a wand later." He walked over to the locker and put the items back. Then he took out another item.

"Today, we are going to learn how to use this." He tossed the item at the Private.

She caught the item with no problem. It was also made of metal but was the size of a large apple. It had an extra piece of metal that looked like a handle. As she looked closer, she saw that it had a small ring where the handle met the body. She could not figure out what the ring was made of.

"That is a hand spell," he said.

She looked at the item.

Sherman smiled. "A hand spell is different than a wand. This spell you activate and then cast or throw it at your enemy. The spell then goes off, killing your opponent. While the wand will kill one person, a spell will kill a group of people." He saw her examining the metal ring. "Don't pull that metal ring. That is how you activate the spell. When the ring is in place, the spell is not active. However, once you pull that ring, you only have about 10 seconds to cast the spell before it goes off." He saw her pull her hand away from the metal ring. "Now, since magic is so valuable, we are not going to practice with a real spell." He took the spell from her hand and gave her a wood version of it. "This is a practice hand spell. It is made of wood, but it is weighted so it is the exact same as a real hand spell, and it won't explode like a real one." He walked back to the locker and returned the real hand spell. He then signaled for the Private to follow him as he walked out onto the practice range towards a small crate.

"Do you see those dummies out there?" he asked.

She looked where he was pointing and could see four objects that looked like people standing in a hole about thirty yards away. "Yes." she said.

"Well, for today, they are going to be the enemy. You are going to cast spells at them."

She looked back at him and then noticed that the crate at his feet was full of practice spells like the one in her hand. He bent over and grabbed one of the spells.

"The first step in casting a hand spell is to activate it. You do this by pulling on the metal ring, thus removing it from the spell." Using his index finger, he pulled on the ring, removing it. "Next you cast the spell at your enemy." At this he threw the object towards the dummies. The object dropped into the hole where the four figures stood. He then faced the Private. "Now you try."

She took a moment to think through the steps. They were simple enough, but she needed to learn them right and quickly, she did not want to make any mistakes. Then she removed the metal ring from her practice hand spell and she threw it at one of the dummies in the hole. The spell sailed true and struck the dummy in the head with enough force to remove the head from the dummy.

He stood in dumbfound awe for a moment. He had never seen anyone throw something that far with enough accuracy and force to remove the wooden head off a practice dummy. "Ah, nice throw Private." he said as he looked at her.

"'Dat was nothing sir. I could have hit 'dem from further away. When I was a kid, I used to hunt with rocks; squirrels and rabbits mostly."

He was impressed. "However, hand spells are a proximity weapon. The goal is not to hit your opponent with it and take off their head, rather to land the spell at his feet. When the hand spell goes off, it will strike him and everyone around him, causing more damage." He could see the disappointment in her eyes. "It is ok, you did not know. Let's try it again." He reached down and handed her another practice spell.