Chapter 5: Reinforcements

I arrived at the dock to see a vast array of soldiers there. If they had even come two weeks earlier, it might have been in time. I said as such to the General there and he blanched. There were over fifty magic users as part of the reinforcements, however something about them didn’t fill me with much confidence in their abilities but having those mages was far better than holding an empty coin purse.

“Boy, I’m ordering you to start taking my troops across this cursed swamp, right this very instant.”

“You are a fool aren’t you? You have no idea of what it entails to cross this swamp! Your soldiers must be prepared to survive the journey, which takes time and potions. Then I am only one man and I can guide only so many boats. The trip normally takes at least seven days and that’s just one way. On top of that, we only have the nine boats, that you see here, which are prepared with the necessary wards to protect them and their passengers from the beasts that lie within this swamp. If I take unprepared soldiers, I will arrive with a cargo of dead bodies!”

The General took a couple of steps back from me. I leveled a very small kraken tube at him. It did not even look like a weapon but more like a scroll tube. If he ordered my arrest, I would jump aboard my boat and flee into the swamp.

Lieutenant Smith spoke up. “General Ames, he speaks nothing but the truth. No one alive knows more about this swamp than this boy here. His name is James Drake; Princess Ellen named him after the swamp. She deemed it only fitting since he had no known last name and this place is so much a part of him. If you want to get any troops across that great mire ask him how to do it. You know all about fighting, well he knows about crossing this swamp and living to tell the tale.”

General Ames was worried because he had delayed in following the King’s orders and he should have had at least a regiment here over three weeks ago. If Princess Ellen dies and loses her fortress, he will surely face the hangman’s noose for his treason. He changed his voice to a much more conciliatory tone.

“James my lad, can you please tell me how best to get aid to General Ellen?”

This General Ames fellow referring to Colonel Rivers as a General, kind of threw me. But I started listening to what he was saying as he told me what troops he had. Primarily he had spell casters which were good in a fight but they knew nothing about potions and only a few wards and runes. I had over two thousand doses of health and fever potions stocked in my little store offshore. Michelle had eighty boats here, that we had never used but they needed wards and runes.

I fetched the potions from the island and the General selected the first thousand soldiers that would be taking them. The plan was that we would ward as many craft as we could in three days, fill them with soldiers and I would lead them across, they were to be piloted by his magic users. Then I would return to make more potions for further reinforcements. If we got enough mages and soldiers to Ellen she just might be able to hold out. I crossed my fingers.

In three days we had forty three boats ready, which completely sucked swamp dragon ass, considering that I had done twelve of them and we had already started with the nine that I had brought in. The General’s fifty-two mages couldn’t even ward one boat a piece. I hope they can fight better with their spell casting ability because they are all going over there on the very first trip.

We started off and since I knew how desperate the situation was I rushed through the swamp. The people following me never knew the danger that I placed them in. I would tell them when we made it to the other side, maybe.

We camped when we arrived at the lake and the men huddled in their boats, terrified at the size of the spiders, the snakes and the crocodiles that they saw. The screams of the swamp cats particularly alarmed them.

I cautioned the mages, piloting the boats, to follow me slowly on the great lake and avoid any large unmoving creatures they saw in its depths with their witch sight. I found out then that many of them had extremely poor witch sight, so I paired them up with people that seemed to have at least adequate magical vision. Many of them, no all of them were upset at taking orders from an untrained boy. I kept my small kraken tube handy and I was wearing my large wooden shield amulets on my front and back at all times.

General Ames was more than worried, while he had brought a good number of the Kingdom’s mages with him; they were the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of power and skill. He felt the noose tightening around his own neck. He had in no way believed that the Princess had secured a landing in the Empire and if she had, he had expected it to be lost months ago. He felt like he was neck deep in the very swamp that lay before him, with crocodiles readying to take a bite. He only hoped that the King would generously permit his son to inherit the family Barony when he, General Ames, resigned because of his actions and disgrace.

During the journey I picked out the people that I thought would make the best boat pilots. Sadly they were probably the most powerful mages and the Colonel would surely need them.

We arrived at the docks for Drake’s Landing, and it looked like they were evacuating. I rushed the new men into the center of the fort to meet with the Colonel. She cursed when she saw me arrive.

“A week late and ten gold coins short aren’t you James?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m sorry General.”

“So after screwing with me, now they want to bribe me so I can go down in a blaze of glory, those miserable bastards. I guess though that I’ll give it a try, too many have already died to throw this all away. How many magic users have you got?”

“Fifty-two of them General, but they are mostly spell casters. I would like to keep twelve of them to use as boat pilots. They are gifted enough to tow at least four boats each. I will need to partner six of them with the other six who have better witch sight.”

“Okay, grab your pilots and I’ll start deploying the rest. Hopefully our new magic users will put some fear into our enemies’ hearts.”

“I’ll take the pilots back to Ester’s Village. We’ll take as many of your wounded, with us as we can and extra boats. There should be enough potions stockpiled here in the fort for almost another thousand soldiers. Taking some risks we’ll speed through the swamp, except while crossing the lake. With a little luck we can be back here with over six hundred soldiers in nine days. After that there are only enough potions for another eight hundred soldiers. None of the new mages are potion makers or much good with runes or wards. There are almost twenty thousand soldiers waiting in Ester. I’ll need to stay there and make potions for them. As they get dosed your new boat pilots can bring them to you. Is that enough to give you a fighting chance?”

The Colonel swore for a few minutes but then ordered Major Timmons to see to the deployment of the new men. Major Williams was still in Ester helping to prepare the reinforcements for swamp travel. She would probably return on the third trip with the company that had accompanied her. “I don’t know if it’s enough. Two weeks ago it would have been. It depends on how good the mages are, I guess. You brought me six hundred soldiers and in nine days I’ll have another thousand, then in another nine days, I’ll get six hundred more or so, including the soldiers that Major Williams has with her. It’ll be close, that’s for sure and it doesn’t help that you won’t be here. How many potions can you make a day for the new soldiers?”

“My target is to send you two filled boats a day. But it will take me time to ramp up to that. I don’t have any potion ingredients, so I’ll need to gather them but I do have people trained in preparing the ingredients for me to mix.”

“I know that’s your best but it’s just a trickle of soldiers when I need a flood. Maybe our mages will be good enough to let us hold out, I don’t know but we’ll give it a try. I don’t expect you’ll be leaving until the morning. If you can prepare some more kraken tubes for us, that will be a help. Those things scare their marines; they’ll even duck down when we bring out an empty one.”

“The rune on the spears is a bit tricky to make, since a non-magic user is activating it, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you James.”

The mages piloting the boats made it back four days before I did. There hadn’t been enough wounded to fill all of their boats so I had taken mine off in search of ingredients for my potions. Luckily the enemy side of the swamp had vast areas off precious potion components that had never been harvested.

The battles during that summer were terrible at Drake’s Landing. I moved back there fairly soon since I despised General Ames to such a great extent. I would make potions in the fort and then send them back with the boat pilots. General Rivers liked that better since she could assign me other tasks if needed, like kraken tubes, wards or healing potions.

General Ames finally got some potion makers in Ester’s village; so I started sending back ingredients instead of finished potions. His eleven potion concocters could make enough potions for over a hundred soldiers a day but they sucked at gathering their own ingredients, so I did it for them. We also got stronger mages for our fort and slowly things started to turn against the enemy and improve for us. General Rivers was severely wounded but I had been hoarding a real healing potion for months just in case, not one of my cheap copies. The quick use of it saved her life but Major Williams was in command for over a week. It had been easy to administer the healing concoction to the General. I had just poured the potion into the big hole in her stomach.

The next year was far better and General Ellen was able to break out of our fortress and attack those besieging us. Though the enemy had mainly stopped attacking us and they were only trying to contain us at that point. I along with two other mages made kraken tubes for a week straight. General Rivers marched her troops out after an attack by our mages, her army closed on the enemy and when in range they brought out the six hundred tubes that they had been hiding. The enemy broke and ran.

According to the Princess there was no way that any Imperial Wizard, would ever make a weapon like a kraken tube that could be used by a common foot soldier. That is if they could figure out how to make the rune we were using in the first place. She envisioned having tubes big enough that they could be used by ships to sink other vessels and even to attack ports. She dreamed of crushing the Imperial Navy which had killed so many of our countrymen. It should be possible to make her giant size kraken tubes but the range would be shorter and they would need a mage on the ship to keep the runes fresh. But that was easier than making the rune anew. Her eyes lit up when I told her my thoughts on the subject.

By the fall of that year, most of the ports along the southern coast of the Empire were either destroyed or under the Kingdom’s control and they were suing for peace. It took another year to get the terms the King wanted. Princess Ellen was made the Governor General of the captured territory. The area was the size of several duchies and included four ports of varying strategic importance. The Empire owed the Kingdom reparations for the war which they had started and for the blockade that they had enforced. The size of the Imperial Military was now limited per the treaty. The civilians in the new Kingdom lands seemed to like the change in rulers. I know that for a fact, because I went out and I had talked to many of the local people. I wanted to be sure that the Eastern Empire was run by bad people and that I had taken part in a good thing.

I was called in to see Princess Ellen. I took a knee, I was learning court etiquette. She laughed at me, the bitch. I didn’t notice the clown sitting off to the side.

“James what do you want to do?”

“Go home to my swamp and never leave.” I liked being by myself and frankly I had enough of people and of wars.

The clown made a big harrumph noise.

“James, we have a slight problem. Back before the war, Drake’s Swamp was not part of the Kingdom nor obviously was this land here. But now it is and the throne made a deal with the Mage Guild long ago, that all magic users that sold magical goods or services inside the Kingdom must be certified by the Guild, which means attending one of their small schools or the Royal University and taking their tests.”

“Well I could argue and I will argue that since I was a resident of Drake’s Swamp before it became part of the Kingdom and as the only resident, I recognize myself as lawfully practicing mage in that Swamp. How come your father didn’t consult with me before claiming my swamp? I can tell you that claiming and actually enforcing that claim are two different things.”

The clown started to sound like a drowning duck.

“James, please don’t talk that way, some people might take you seriously.” Her eyes flashed. She knew good and well that I was serious.

“Okay, I’ll go home and I won’t sell anymore magic to anybody ever again, not even potion ingredients.”

The duck started drowning again.

“I mean, I’ve made all that gold over the last few years, risking my life and working myself to the point of collapse. In fact I’ve been meaning to ask about that. I’m still owed a lot of gold, like four thousand coins. Just when am I going to be paid?”

The Princess winced and the duck died.

“James, there are problems with that. I know we have taken in a lot of money but there are many people that the Kingdom owes and have owed for a very long time because of the blockade. The Empire is slowly paying us reparations to make up for their actions. Finally the King has a problem paying someone who is not a guild magician, especially not so much money.”

“Pardon me?” I now knew that what I had done for the Kingdom was easily worth three or even four times what I had charged them. I had worked myself like a slave for the entire time and I was still working for them; making fortifications, potions, runes and wards.

The Princess looked away and then seemingly forced herself to meet my eyes. “James, I well know that we owe you for far more than what you’ve charged us and I know that you aren’t stupid. You see people walking off with fat coin purses and yet we’ve barely paid you for your years of service. For that I am sorry. But as Princess and as Governor General, I must obey my father the King. If you will attend the Royal University in Sweet Port for two years and take the tests you will be admitted to the Guild and be fully compensated for everything that you have done for the Kingdom. On top of that you will be ennobled but I am not sure what rank you will receive. The lands that will be granted to you will be either a portion or the entirety of Drake’s Swamp. The size of that area demands that you be made at least a Duke but you are the only real resident at this time, so that calls for you to be only a Landed Knight. But then we get back to the sheer size of the place. So you could be ennobled as either a Baron or a Count.”

“Princess, the game already sounds crooked especially after everything that I have done and suffered through. Remember the time that my legs were nearly burned off or the occasion when I had an arrow through my pelvis? It’s quite possible that I’ll fail my classes or be made to fail them and the same with the tests. Now that I am no longer so desperately needed here; already nobles, officers and mages are looking at me with scorn and treating me shabbily. How should I react to your instructions?”

Her face was white, possibly with rage, I just didn’t know for sure. “James I know you’ve worked hard, I know you suffered, I know you saved my life on many occasions, and I know if not for you we would not have won this war at this time. I swear on my personal honor that you going to the Royal University; is almost a mere formality. You will be expected to do your best there but you will never be flunked in any of your classes. As for your magical tests, those are all practical examinations and the Guild wouldn’t dare fail you because your skills and power are too well known now. I will personally guarantee that you will be treated fairly and respectfully by the staff at the University, as your valiant actions and ceaseless work have earned you to be.”

I knew that I had put her on the spot but I had done so much for her, like knocking her out of the way and taking a spelled arrow through the bladder.

I looked over at duck man. He seemed to shrink back into his seat.

“This is Lord Thomas; he is a member of the guild and an advisor to the King.”

“Mister Drake, I can assure you that you will be treated as fairly at the University as your upbringing demands.” I guess he thought he was being smart and that I wouldn’t understand him.

“Just how fairly would that be for a former child slave of the Witch of Drake’s Swamp, Lord Thomas?” The Princess had beaten me to that question. She looked absolutely furious.

I was ready to leave and start walking back to my swamp.

Duck man stammered.

“Lord Thomas, this man here invented the kraken guns. He gave us safe passage through the swamp which let us attack the empire. He made countless potions, wards and runes for us, to keep us safe and healthy. Finally he invented an entirely new kind of healing potion which is easier to make and cheaper too. He is not an ignorant person. Yet you think to play word games with him, when you know damn well what his childhood was like? You play those games after I just gave him my personal guarantee that he would be treated fairly? A guarantee that my father gave to me, because I recognized the unfairness of all this and challenged him on it. You will speak carefully now and try to undo what you have done or you will surely regret it.”

“I apologize, Your Highness. I indeed played word games. Mister Drake will not have an easy time of it at the University. Someone with his sort of upbringing has never attended there.”

“I know you made promises to my father in insisting that James becomes a Guild Mage. You also made promises to me. Are your promises no good?”

“I am sorry but I do not have the power to guarantee my promises. There are others that control things at the University.”

“Yet you gave promises and guarantees. I will contact my father and have him reverse himself. He will be greatly angered with you and the Guild for causing him this embarrassment.”

Three weeks later, I had to ask myself how I found myself on a ship bound for Sweet Port and the Royal University there. Lord Thomas had sent off furious letters and so had the Princess. Talks were held between them and others. Dean Reynolds had sent letters, as well as his senior staff stating that I would be treated the same as any other student at the University. He and they gave their words of honor. The King and Princess accepted them.

I was sharing a cabin with a young ensign. He was bragging about the new kraken guns on the ship which the Mage Guild had invented. According to him the inventor was Mage Bartholomew Thomas. Oh yeah, I could really trust that guy.