“I am General Bledsoe,” stated the leader of Team Miram, “and this is General Kozinski. Are you King Arik of Alcea?”
“I am King Arik,” declared the king, “and this is Queen Tanya. We need to talk.”
Suddenly, a knife flew out of the crowd towards King Arik. The knife impacted the invisible shield that Jenneva held and it fell to the ground. Even before the knife had completed it journey, Alex’s hand whipped out towards the barricade. A Lanoirian star hurtled through the air and impacted in the forehead of a Federation soldier. The soldier fell to the ground and the Federation soldiers shouted and drew their swords.
“Stop!” shouted General Bledsoe, his voice loud and commanding.
For a moment, no one moved. The general turned and glared at the soldiers around the body of the assassin
“Take that body and hang it in front of my tent for all to see,” commanded the Baroukan general. “We stand under a flag of truce, and I will not have that disrespected. If there are some among you who knew of this dastardly attempt on the king’s life and did not prevent it, report to Colonel Sawar for punishment. If you do not report to the colonel, and I discover your knowledge, your body will also hang before my tent. Now disperse.”
The gawkers quickly moved away from the barricade, but the sentries remained. General Bledsoe ordered them to leave as well and waited until everyone was gone before speaking.
“I apologize for such disgraceful behavior, King Arik. I am pleased that you were protected. Shall we retire to my command tent?”
“I prefer to speak here,” replied the king. “My message is short, and your camp needs no more excitement. I have come to request your surrender.”
General Bledsoe smiled slightly and shook his head. “You are young for a king, but certainly not so foolish as you are making yourself appear. One doesn’t request a surrender; one demands it. Unless, of course, one is in no position to demand a surrender, and that is exactly where you find yourself, isn’t it, King Arik?”
“The Federation’s invasion of Alcea is already a failure,” replied King Arik. “Of the twelve teams sent here from Zara, only four remain a threat. Yours is one of those four. It is my desire to end this foolishness with as little bloodshed as possible. You gain nothing by subjecting your men to warfare.”
“So you say,” retorted the Baroukan general, “but four teams is more than enough to crush all of Alcea, and I find it impossible to believe that you have conquered eight Federation teams. If you are so all-powerful, why are you here requesting my surrender? Shouldn’t your massive armies annihilate my team and concentrate on the other three?”
King Arik sighed with frustration. “I know why you have come to Alcea, General Bledsoe, but I doubt that you do. You think you are here to claim all of Alcea for the Federation, but your own people have betrayed you. The purpose of this war is to provide one-million tears to rejuvenate Alutar, the Great Demon. It matters little to Emperor Jaar’s master whether you win or lose as long as the bloodshed and suffering are great enough to produce those tears. My request for your surrender is meant to deny those tears to the Great Demon.”
“It would seem to me,” countered General Bledsoe, “that you could accomplish your worthy goal by surrendering to me. No blood will flow, and no tears need be created. You defeat the will of Alutar, and I fulfill the mission given to me by Emperor Jaar.”
“Emperor Jaar no longer rules the Empire of Barouk,” interjected Alex. “Someone is staging a coup and has replaced him with a double. Your real concern at this point should be supporting the heir against the usurper.”
“I do not believe you,” scoffed the Baroukan general. “How could you possibly know these things? No ships have left the Sea of Tears in months.”
“We have portals of our own,” revealed Alex, “and we don’t have to travel to Camp Destiny to use them.”
General Bledsoe fidgeted as if he were suddenly anxious for the parley to end. Alex smiled.
“Don’t waste your time sending men back to Miram,” warned Alex. “Your portals are no longer there. You have no way to return to Zara except through us. That is why we can afford to be free with the knowledge we share. You have no one to tell it to.”
“Save the lives of your men, General Bledsoe,” urged King Arik. “I vow that they will be well-treated and generously-fed. Surrender to me.”
“No,” the Baroukan general replied. “I have a duty to the Federation and the wherewithal to carry it out. I cannot in good conscience ignore my responsibilities. This parley is over.”
The two generals turned and retreated.
“I pushed too hard,” frowned King Arik.
“No, Arik,” replied Alex. “General Bledsoe needs to be bloodied. In the meantime, you have given him much to dwell on.”
As the Heroes of the Mage turned to leave the barricade, a fairy dropped out of the sky and landed on Alex’s shoulder.
“General Whitman is dead,” reported Bitsy. “Team Mya is preparing to march on Tagaret.”
“What of the Army of the West?” asked Jenneva.
“They will not be in time to halt the advance,” answered Bitsy.
“So,” sighed the king, “we are forced to react anyway.”
“We are,” agreed Alex, “and we no longer have the luxury of trying to save the lives of the enemy soldiers. We either crush them quickly or we lose this war.”
Chapter 44
Seven Valleys
General Mobami, Tedi, and Natia rode south after their meeting with General Barbone, but they did not rush as the rest of the Sordoans did. An hour later, they caught up to one group of Sordoan horsemen, and they stopped to talk.
“Are your men ready?” asked General Mobami.
“They are ready,” replied one of the horsemen.
“Good,” replied the governor. “Your group will have the tail end of the 10th Corps. If it has already passed by and you are presented with the vanguard of the 22nd Corps, break off the attack. We are only seeking to cripple Omirro’s men. Understood?”
“Understood,” replied the horsemen.
“A fairy will give you the order to attack,” the governor added as he started riding south again. “Good luck.”
Tedi frowned in confusion as they continued southward. “There couldn’t have been more than one-thousand men there, Governor. Is that enough to bloody the 10th Corps?”
Governor Mobami smiled. “The valley they will be attacking in is narrow, as are the next six valleys. I have divided up my men to attack in all seven valleys in quick succession. So quick, in fact, that Omirro’s cavalry will be racing from one attack to the next.”
“I don’t understand,” said Natia. “Why would his cavalry move? I thought he had spread them out to protect all of the valleys?”
“He has,” replied the governor, “but with a twist. The fairies overheard new instructions given to the Federation riders. Each Federation company has a horn, and they are to blow it when an attack occurs so that the cavalry can rally to counterattack. I have worked out an attack plan that will keep them riding instead of defending the column. The attack will begin in the center valley. It will be a large and sustained attack. Before it is over, the valley to the south of it will be attacked, and so on, right up to the vanguard. Those forwardmost valleys have more of my men assigned to them than the others. After the vanguard is attacked, our attack will resume in the center valleys and work towards the rear. There will be no Federation cavalry at all to repel the later attacks, so I can use less men in those valleys.”
“The first attack group will have heavy losses then,” frowned Tedi.
“It will,” the governor agreed solemnly, “but there is no way around that short of General Omirro surrendering, and that is not going to happen.”
“Do you think he will surrender after the attacks?” asked Natia.