Chapter 9 – Requisition

“Afternoon, Lieutenant. How are things?” inquired Commander Ashlan. He had to speak loudly, the clips and clops of the horseshoes and armored boots from eighty men ringing off the rocky terrain.

The column of soldiers in front of them were carefully trekking over the entrance to The Spine. While none looked forward to the two week march through the mountains, they’d do it.

“Afternoon, sir!” came the crisp, clean reply from Lieutenant Bredford. “The men are in good spirits, all supplies are accounted for, and the horses are healthy.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Truth be told Elson, I myself am still a little bitter about the trip. Hallen had us out of town faster than he had any right to on such notice. If it wasn’t for that crown of his, I might have refused the order altogether.”

“Sir?”

“Just the musings of an old grizzly bear. Ignore it.” The commander let out a long sigh.

“Understood, sir.”

“The final count, Elson?”

“Eighty-two, sir.”

Ashlan reached into his saddlebag, withdrawing a small leather-bound book. Flipping it open, he made several marks with a charcoal nub. The commander had the same ritual on the first day of every deployment. A tally of men matched against a second tally when they got home.

Commander Ashlan eyed his second in command, catching that look on his face. He scratched at the gray, prickly beard that covered his neck. “What is it?”

“Sir… Where exactly are we going with more than eighty men? Word is that it is some kind of building job, but given the gear we brought and the speed at which we departed…”

Ashlan chuckled wryly. “Just not adding up, is it, Elson. Well, I suppose it hardly matters now that we’re out of town. This isn’t a building job, or a patrol. It’s…” Ashlan hesitated, then shrugged. “I’ll be straight with ya, lad. We are off to raid a demonic tower that popped up out of nowhere. Hallen says that only a handful of wicked creatures guard it, but what’s inside could be worth a king’s ransom.”

“I see, sir,” came the reply. That’s why Commander Ashlan chose Elson Bredford as his second in command. Orders were followed, quite competently, and questions were only asked when they should be.

Looking over, he did catch Bredford’s hand locking around the Solari talisman hanging beneath his collar. The move looked instinctive, but it reminded Ashlan that the boy was from South Valdren. You hardly saw these amulets in the north.

“Yes, yes. I know what you’re thinking. The same I was when Hallen told me. Demons are something that belong in the books of the Solari and that piece of yours. But believe me… I spoke to over twenty men from a patrol party that claim these demons to be real. Very real.”

“Twenty men, you say?” asked Elson.

“I do. So here’s how I figure it. We go out here, prepared to raid the place with some resistance. If the demons were just some folk from Greensward, we’ll hang em up. Let the men stretch, loosen up their muscles before the winter, maybe take the long way back. No one can blame us for needing a few extra weeks of leave to exterminate some unholy demons, now can they?”

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“And if the demons are real, sir?”

“If they truly are as wicked and real as Breck and Hallen seem to think, we’ll hang them up too. And pillage plenty of artifacts and treasure for our trouble. Either way, I expect the men to maintain vigil as we go. I won’t make the same mistake Breck’s patrol did. Is that understood, Bredford?”

“It is, sir. I’ll make sure the squad commanders know.”

“Good man.”

They rode in silence for a time afterward. The temperature was dropping steadily, and would continue to do so as the hilly plains of North Valdren gave way to the rocky Spine.