***
Wyant was feeling good about the task that he had accomplished. For years he had felt that the tribal warfare so indicative of Fakara was destroying the country. For the first time in centuries, the tribes were banding together and he was being a catalyst for it. Every tribe he had spoken to had agreed to join the effort to stop the Jiadin, which was no small accomplishment. Even tribes that had long standing feuds had been willing to shove their disagreements aside. He was so euphoric about the results of his mission that he decided to ride through the night to get to Ghala and tell Rejji the news. The blow that knocked him off his horse came unexpectedly.
Wyant groaned and stared up at the forest canopy. His vision blurred and he berated himself for his laxness. Bad enough that he had been riding at night in unfamiliar territory, but he would have punished one of his men for whistling while he was doing it.
“What have we here?” snickered one of the men. “Look at the fancy green scarf.”
“I thought the Zaldoni had come over to us,” stated the other man.
“He would be wearing red then, wouldn’t he?” crowed the first man as he deftly removed Wyant’s sword. “Let’s drag him back to camp. Maybe Winus will give us something special for capturing him.”
“I can save you some effort,” groaned Wyant. “I can walk.”
“Then you better start doing it,” scowled the second man.
Wyant rose to his feet and one of the men pushed him towards a game trail. He walked along the trail while his two capturers followed. Within a few minutes he smelled the smoke of the campfires and another few minutes brought him to the edge of the camp. The two Jiadin soldiers prodded him towards a large tent and pushed him through the flap before following him in.
“If it isn’t Wyant,” frowned General Winus. “Where did you find him?”
“Not five minutes south of here,” one of the soldiers replied.
“You have done well,” congratulated Winus. “Put his sword in the corner and leave us. Sit, Wyant. I have a lot of questions you need to answer.”
“Are you sure, General?” asked one of the soldiers as he dropped the sword in the corner of the tent.
“I can kill both of you and him before he reaches his sword,” growled the general. “Do I look like I need a minder?”
The soldiers scurried out of the tent and Winus stared coldly at Wyant.
“I heard you were dead,” the general began.
“No, just left for dead,” Wyant replied. “What are you doing so far from Vandegar, General?”
“Searching for the free tribes and some boy that Grulak wants,” answered Winus, “but I am the one asking the questions here. I heard that Brakas and Klavin did you in. Seeing as they botched the job, I have to assume that you are siding with the free tribes against Grulak. Would that be a fair assumption?”
“Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?” asked Wyant. “I will never tell you where the tribes are. Isn’t that what you pay Brakas to find out?”
“Brakas is an incompetent fool,” spat Winus. “Why you ever let him rise in the Zaldoni is beyond me.”
“Because he was clever, sneaky, and persistent,” responded Wyant. “Good characteristics for being a bandit. Things have changed though. As a soldier, he is only a good swordsman.”
“Grulak has me running all over the country trying to find this boy Rejji,” continued Winus. “Why is he so important?”
“Because he is the opposite of Grulak,” smiled Wyant. “He is a builder, not a destroyer. He is the future of Fakara, General.”
“You expect me to believe that the boy will make a difference when Grulak has amassed the army he has?” Winus asked.
“You can believe what you wish, but I believe in him,” declared Wyant. “I do not know what it is about him, but he brings out the best in people. I do believe that he will rebuild Fakara into a great nation and that he will defeat Grulak. Don’t ask me how, but he will do it. Your army certainly hasn’t been able to catch him.”
“Bah,” spat Winus. “Catching him would be no problem if I could get rid of the magician that has been forced on me by Grulak. The fool has no concept of strategy or tactics. He has had my army split in two for weeks. I just finally got them back together.”
“Before or after your little raid on Ghala?” questioned Wyant.
“After,” frowned Winus. “Brakas commandeered the southern half of my army for that little fiasco. You seem to be very well informed. That tells me much about what is going on.”
“How does that tell you anything?” quizzed Wyant.
“I would have to be deaf not to know that Ghala is getting food from somewhere,” smiled the general. “All of the villages east of the mountains are abandoned. My men saw large numbers of buildings in Ghala and heard Rejji’s name mentioned there. Brakas has reported that Rejji is there and trying to unite the tribes. Now you pop up. You happen to know where the tribes are. Oh, you may not tell me where they are, but you know. I have no doubt about that. Now you inform me that you know Ghala was attacked. Put that all together with the fact that we have been seeing tribe after tribe heading for Ghala and what do you come up with?”
“Why don’t you tell me so I can die with a smile on my face?” retorted Wyant.
“What I come up with is the same thing Grulak will come up with,” smiled Winus. “The tribes and Rejji and food are all in the same place. It will not be long before the full army of the Jiadin descend on Ghala like the vultures upon yesterday’s battlefield.”
Chapter 32
Wyant
“Well those vultures might just die of starvation like everything else in this country,” retorted Wyant. “If you are so sure of victory, why don’t you just let me go? It will only delay my death by a few days.”
“Why are you so eager to die, Wyant?” asked Winus. “You are slipping in your old age. Riding at night alone? Allowing my two men to capture without at least killing one of them? You haven’t even asked why my men were that far from camp.”
Wyant’s face puzzled over as he dwelt on the general’s words. It was true that he had been very careless in getting captured, but the Jiadin men were fairly far from the camp.
“They weren’t sentries, were they?” asked Wyant.
“Very good,” nodded Winus. “No they weren’t sentries. They were out searching for food. Just as I imagine all of Grulak’s men are. Or most of them anyway. I am sure Grulak’s elite are eating well enough.”
“So why didn’t your army seize the food in Ghala when you attacked it?” queried Wyant.
“Brakas told them their mission was to capture Rejji,” sighed Winus. “It appeared that Rejji had managed to escape during the attack, so they gave chase. I doubt the fools even knew there was food there. Brakas never told them the name of the town they were attacking and most of men have never been this far east. I found them before they found Rejji.”
“And why didn’t you go back and get the food?” inquired Wyant.
“I was very tempted to,” admitted the general. “There was one minor problem with that plan. Brakas sabotaged the gates so my men could enter. By the time my army was whole again, I was sure that the gates would have been repaired. Our losses with the gates operational would have been severe. I have less than five hundred men, Wyant. I am saddled with this fool magician who thinks food for an army doesn’t matter. I swear, I don’t think the man eats.”
“Why don’t you just get rid of him?” questioned Wyant. “You do not need a mage for your task.”
“Finally, someone who understands things,” smiled Winus. “The mage is dangerous. He almost killed me with his bare hands. He did kill two of my men who tried to murder him. If I had not known beforehand who they were, I would not have recognized them. Frankly, he scares me.”
“I can’t help you there, Winus,” frowned Wyant. “I know nothing about magic. I have to say though, I would not let him kill my men.”