"I don't see how this is going to work," Gorbanni said as he looked back over his shoulder at me.

"Shlara draws down past the river. You give the signal when half their force crosses. Malek blows the dam. Shlara turns to hit them while Alexia flanks from the north," I said simply.

"What about my troops?" He turned his horse to face me.

"Clean up what doesn't die in the flood." I turned my mount to head down the hill. I would be with Thayer guarding our flank from the east and south.

"Kaiyer," Gorbanni called out behind me.

"Yes?" I turned to him. His armor was embroidered with rams locked in struggle. It matched the horns on his helmet that sat on the back of his saddle. His face looked conflicted for a second. He ran one of his metal encased hands over his short blonde hair. It was hot and muggy, and sweat dripped off of both of us in buckets.

"Why do I always get the shit jobs?" he asked. His voice was tinged with sadness and anger.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm never the one at the front to take the brunt of the impact. Cleaning up after Shlara and Alexia? My men grow bored with such trivial assignments. We want to be used like the others. Why don't you trust me to do any heavy lifting?" He gritted his teeth and the muscles in his jaw bunched up like a knot on a tree.

I frowned for a second. He was right. I always kept him from the risky jobs. I'd never justified my reasoning to him.

"Your team is best suited to handle this task today. Agreed?" His angry face told me he still didn't understand.

"No Kaiyer. I don't. I would like another role. My men and I deserve it." He spoke confidently but I saw past his bravado. The blonde man had never stood up to me before. He always took my orders without question. Perhaps it was time we had this discussion.

"Your team has the mobility, but is not used to retreating. They are horsemen. The Elvens we are fighting against are mostly infantry. Do you think you can entice them to follow you?"

"No. But we can get their cavalry to chase us and then crush them in the same way." He grinned in satisfaction and licked his lips.

"Then we kill a few hundred Elvens and their horses. Instead of six thousand,” I corrected him. "Your team isn't the best at guerilla warfare, that is also more the strength of Alexia. Will your team enjoy hiding in the trees and waiting to flank the enemy?"

"We would do what we need to do to win," he said in his defense. I stared at him with a smirk on my face and he let out a slow sigh.

"You have a few skilled Air users on your team--can they blow the dam?"

"Yes! Of course they can," he said angrily. "My mages are as good as Malek's.”

"Fine. Let's say they fail, then Shlara and her troops will be killed, as will Alexia. Still confident that your mages can handle the same task as Malek's? Do you want to bet a third of our forces on their abilities?"

He considered for a second and looked away.

"No."

"Agreed. It would be foolish when Malek's team has been doing this sort of task for the last six years. You can guard the east and south. I'm sure Thayer would prefer not to be holding the low rocky ground, taking arrow fire, and buying time until the rest of the forces can circle back around and lend him a hand. He'll take losses today--but I doubt he'll lose a third of what your team will take in the same situation. The terrain will mean that you'll have to leave your horses. Will it be alright if Thayer's troops use them? They will need them to quickly assault the debris from the flood and dispose of them before they can organize."

"Okay. I get it." He gritted his teeth in anger and looked away from me.

"No my friend. You do not." I pushed my horse a bit forward and it walked into his, forcing his horse back a bit. Its head snapped up and he turned to me in shock while his steed backed away. My horse was an angry bastard and didn't like others. "This isn't about favoritism; this isn't about giving you 'the shit jobs,' this is only about one goal: killing the Elvens. Your purpose in this goal is to command your troops to the best of your ability and follow my orders. At this moment you are upset because you have not seen much combat. Your men are pressuring you to come to me to ease their boredom. It is your responsibility to explain to them their role in this conflict. Do you need me to explain your role?"

"No Kaiyer, I understand my role."

"Go then." He turned his horse and it began to carefully make its way down the rocky slope.

"Gorbanni," I called after he had moved a few feet down the trail. He stopped and turned in his saddle. "In a few years we will be too large to always be running and hiding. We will be chasing, harassing, and trampling them beneath our feet. Then you will not have the shit work." I smiled at him.

"Thank you Kaiyer," he said as his face became the sun after the clouds have parted. "I will look forward to that."

"I will too," I said as I twisted my gruesome helmet over my head and turned my horse around to the opposite slope. The massive animal drove down the embankment like an avalanche and hit the level ground galloping to the north. Alexia's troops hid in the trees to my west but I couldn't see them, although I'm sure they could see me ripping across the dry river bed.

Within a few minutes I had reached the top of the channel where Malek's troops were studying the rocks, logs, and mud that we had used to construct the dam a few years ago.

"We are almost ready Kaiyer," Malek said as he rode to my side. I twisted off my helmet and latched it onto my saddle as he stopped next to me. I'd had the armor on for a few hours so far, just enough time for the pain it brought me to fade into a dull ache.

"Shlara should be here in a few hours. Wait for Gorbanni's signal." He nodded.

"Can I talk to you for a few minutes before you join Thayer?" he said. He looked around at his mages and signaled with his head to a spot a few hundred yards farther to our north. I nodded and we moved our horses in that direction. The spot offered a spectacular view of the voluminous lake that our efforts had created. I spun around to study the valley the water would soon occupy. I imagined the bodies of six thousand Elven troops drowning in their armor and smiled.

Malek pulled me from my musings with a soft clearing of his throat.

"Sorry. I was thinking about the plan. What do you need?" I asked him with a light smile.

"I wanted to talk to you about Shlara . . .” he trailed off to gauge my reaction. I didn't give him one so he let out a long sigh and frowned slightly.

"Okay. Go ahead."

"You aren't going to make this easy on me are you?" He twirled some of the gray hair by his temple.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know my feelings for her?" His blue eyes looked hopeful. I didn't remember them interacting at all besides at our strategic meetings. Were they hostile toward each other?

"I don't. Fill me in," I said.

"Shit man. I thought you would have seen this. Hell, you notice everything else. I'm in love with her." His face broke into a grin. I couldn't help but smile for his happiness. I didn't know if I enjoyed the idea of my two best generals becoming lovers, but I figured that Alexia was probably involved with either Thayer or Gorbanni. At least Shlara wouldn't be pressuring me anymore.

"Excellent. She is a capable warrior and a great general. Was that all you wanted to discuss?"

He looked down at the ground, then back up, though he avoided making eye contact.

"She said that she loves you and won't take anyone else. She was very . . . rigid in her position." He let out another sigh. "This is difficult for me to speak of with you. I care for her very much. She has impressed me over and over again with her abilities, intelligence, leadership, and cunning. She is also amazingly beautiful. My heart seems to stop beating whenever she is around. I’ve tried being with other women, but she is the only one I want. I think about her all the time, I feel like she is the water that will quench my thirst."

I turned to look back over the valley. There was no reason to speak of this right now. Malek and I needed to focus on the task at hand. There were Elven bastards we had to annihilate in a few hours and any mistake would lead to Shlara's death. I was surprised at his expression of love for her. Malek was definitely more vocal about his beliefs and feelings, but I had never heard him talk of love. None of us ever spoke of it.

"Do you love her?" he asked to my back. I considered for a moment before I could give him an honest answer.

"I won't love anyone until this is all over, Malek."

"She is waiting for you! Don't you realize that?"

"I'm not making her wait."

"Bullshit Kaiyer! She thinks she has a future with you after this war. We all know that will be many, many years from now. Are you going to deny her happiness because you want to keep your options open?" His words came out quickly and were lined with anger. I turned to look at him over my shoulder. Our eyes met and we stared at each other for a few minutes.

"What would you have me do?" I asked.

"Set her free."

"How can I do that?" I wanted to tell him that I wasn't trying to keep my options open. I had thought it would be easier for her to handle my rejections if she believed, well, it didn't matter. Malek wanted to love her.

"Tell her that there is no chance the two of you will be together. Tell her that she should find another lover." He nodded as if agreeing with his own logic.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I asked him. His feelings were illogical and I felt almost ashamed for him. Shlara was in love with me but he didn’t care. He would rather have her, knowing he was her second choice, than not have her at all.

"She knows how I feel about her. I am confident she will choose me." He looked at me again. "Will you do it?"

"Of course. You can't let this get in the way of your work though. I need you both to focus on what is important." I smiled at him and he frowned again. His brown eyes filled with sadness. "What is wrong? I am doing what you are asking, right?"

"No, no, my friend." He quickly shook his head. "I am happy about that. I am sad for you."

"What?"

"What do we have if we don't have love? We have let them take everything from us except for that. When the war is over we will have to rebuild our lives, create families, and civilizations. Someday we will lay down our weapons and love, Kaiyer."

"I know. That is what we are all dreaming about," I said in agreement.

"No! That is what we are dreaming about. Not you. You only dream about exterminating them. You don't care about anything else. You don't even want to dream about anything else. You are my best friend, my savior, but you don't understand this war. What are you fighting for? Whom are you fighting for?" I heard his heart pick up speed.

"Today, and for the foreseeable future, I don't need to understand what you think this war is or is not. I just need to do my job. As do you.” He nodded but his eyes were tight with pity.

"Make sure the dam breaks. I'll talk to Shlara tonight," I finished as I put on my helmet. Then I descended into the gorge toward Thayer's position. I could almost hear the screams of a thousand Elven voices as I paired it with the sound of the water filling the valley.