Chapter 8
Title: A War in Winter: Costis Finds a Strange Creature
Author: Mirabelle ( openedlocket )
Rating: PG-It has some war talk.
Genre: Humor
Word Count: 726
Disclaimer: All characters, settings, borrowed lines and etc. all belong to Megan Whalen Turner, not me. The only thing I own is the strange creature that isn't even made up.
Chapter Notes: Since my author's notes in the community and my notes here are virtually identical I decided to write stuff about the chapter here. Like my excuses for making all my characters act strangely and etc. The Mede are coming, run away!!!
“Has the captain told you where you would be placed yet?” Costis asked. They were hiking to the place near where they planned to meet the Mede. The army was to camp there so they would be ready for everything; the Mede were more or less a day away.
Aris nodded in reply but stayed silent. Costis looked at his friend and asked, “So where did he position you?”
Aris sighed and told him, “Apparently I am now the king’s babysitter.”
Costis laughed. “What coincidence, I’m to watch the queen. You think Teleus did this to us on purpose?”
“Perhaps,” Aris chuckled. Just a while ago Teleus had told him that he would be assigned to make sure the king didn’t get hurt. Aris didn’t think the king knew he would be doing this, the king wouldn’t have allowed it if he knew.
“Do you think it’s because of this guy?” Costis asked him, looking at the bird which was waddling beside them. Teleus had let them bring it along because no one else wanted to feed it.
“Maybe, but who could blame the little guy?”
Costis smiled. “No one, so they blame me instead.” He was one of those assigned to guard the queen, who was to stay at a safe place where she could watch the battle. Since their queen wouldn’t join the battle, unlike the queen of Eddis, there was no chance of getting any of the action. He envied Aris who would be part of the battle, no matter how little he would be involved. In his head he went over the things Teleus had told them earlier.
When they finished setting up camp, they were to help prepare the weapons. Eddis had provided the materials and resources to make a few cannon, which they would move in place. After they had finished with the weapons they were to go over the plans and start the positioning. Then they would wait for the Mede to come.
When the Mede entered their waters, the ships from Attolia and Sounis’ navy would try to fight them off. According to the news from the Greater Powers, there were five warships heading their way with at least three hundred fifty troops in each ship. There would be five ships from the navies, four from Attolia and one from Sounis, to confront the Mede, and the rest of Attolia and Sounis’ navy were patrolling the borders of the countries. The Mede’s bigger and more armed ships would easily beat the navy but it would buy the armies some time to prepare for the land encounter.
Costis tried to imagine how the battlefield would look like during the fighting; he couldn’t do it. He had never heard of a battle during the winter before, and he wondered whether this would give them an advantage or otherwise. He also wondered whether all of them would survive, because it was impossible that they wouldn’t sustain any losses. Who would live?
“I think we’re almost there,” Aris said to him, interrupting his thoughts.
“Oh, yeah sure,” Costis said, trying to look all right. He wondered whether he would still see his best friend after all the fighting. He knew it was unlikely he would get harmed but he couldn’t help but worry. He looked at Aris and wondered whether his friend was worrying too.
They finally arrived at the campsite where they set up their tents and ate an early dinner. They proceeded to help ready the weapons. The Eddisians were already there with their queen but the Sounisians didn’t arrive until dark. It was clear that the king of Sounis had not given his full cooperation in preparing for the war. He sent only one of his ships of his navy to help and he refused to come to the battle. He was in hiding somewhere in Sounis, leaving the Magus to organize everything for him.
When everything was finally finished they retired to their tents to sleep. The next morning the loud sound of a horn woke them; it was the sign that they were to go to position. After feeding the bird, Costis turned to his best friend.
“Hey Aris?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Take care of yourself down there. If anything happens to you I’m never going to let you hear the end of it.”
Aris smiled and nodded, “I will.” He paused and added, “If something happens to you, remind me of this conversation.”
They both laughed and went their separate directions.
Aris found the king after a bit of looking and stood near him, hoping he didn’t figure out he would be guarding him. Costis found the spot where the queen would watch the battle and stood with the other guard assigned to the queen. The atmosphere was tense as they waited for the sounds of the sea battle and the flare that would warn them that the Mede had broken the navy’s defences.