With a wave of her hand, she altered the sand below to mimic the rolling farmland of Arovan along the thickly forested Glis border. Her gut told her the worst of the fighting would be in this region. With a practiced eye she studied the terrain that she already knew by heart and tried to find some further advantage for her allies. Truthfully, though, terrain was little help when you couldn’t see your foes. That was the biggest issue right now, the Blights. She didn’t like to admit how truthful she was with Remedy. If it came to war right now, they would lose. There was no question about it. The Blights simply altered the field too much and they didn’t seem to be affecting the other side, which meant someone, perhaps Myth, was controlling them.
The sound of the door opening drew her attention and she looked up to see Faramir enter, followed closely by Oma. The girl looked even more pale than usual and kept her gaze on the floor as she walked. “Good afternoon, Faramir. Hello Oma,” Symphony said with a forced smile and pushed back off the table.
“Symphony, sorry I’m late,” Faramir said in greeting ,and frowned as Oma remained silent. With a slight shrug to Symphony she moved to take the opposite side of the table and looked down at the sand below. “You have come to the same conclusion as me, then,” Faramir said, looking up to Symphony with an approving nod.
“The worst of it will be there,” Symphony replied motioning toward the sand.
“Yes it will be. I wish we had the proper techniques for the Blights so we could run a few mock battles, but I’m afraid we don’t know enough about their tactics,” Faramir said with a sigh. “So let’s switch to another terrain and foes we know more about.”
With a flick of her hand the older woman altered the terrain to the Delvay Mountains and raised her eyes to Symphony. “Do you want Delvay or Rivana?” she asked quietly.
“I want Nerathane,” Symphony replied quietly and waved her hand over her side of the table. Small draconic forms began to take shape from the sand as she watched and she glanced up to find Faramir watching her closely.
“You think Nerathane will attack?” Faramir asked quietly.
“Nerathane and Seravae both refuse to speak with us, so I must assume they are on the other side. I don’t know if they will attack Delvay, but I want to have a rough idea of how it will go if they do,” Symphony explained.
“I don’t think either Nerathane or Seravae will get involved in this. They typically don’t,” Faramir said, but nodded toward the dragons. “Still, it’s better to be prepared,” she said with a sigh and formed her own army in the image of the Delvay forces. “So let’s see how this will play out with known tactics.” With a wave of the hand, she made her first move on the field and watched Symphony as she studied the attack. With a nod Symphony countered her attack with a known dragon tactic and focused her attention fully on the board, allowing the sand to steal her thoughts from every other concern.
With each move she made, it was becoming more and more obvious that Delvay would not fare well if Nerathane chose to move. By the frown on Faramir’s face, she could see her mentor was coming to the same conclusion. Round after round, through three games, the Delvay forces were crushed by the dragons. Looking up at Faramir once more, she shook her head slowly. “I think we should both pray Nerathane doesn’t move,” she said softly.
“It would seem so,” Faramir agreed and dismissed her sand army with a flick of a finger. “They hold up well against Rivana but their tactics are not suited to an aerial opponent. Of course, I’m sure Lord Delvayon is more inventive with his strategies than I am.”
Symphony raised an eyebrow doubtfully at her and shook her head slightly. “Stubborn, fierce, and enduring are all descriptions I have heard of the Delvay. Never once have I ever heard them described as inventive,” she said dryly and sighed. “I have sword practice soon with Vaze. I’m going to have to go, Faramir.”
Nodding, Faramir smiled. “Beat him bloody and don’t worry about leaving here early. It isn’t often Vaze is in residence and you should take advantage of the time that he is. Besides, I have a lot to work on with Oma,” she said, her voice encouraging.
“Thank you for understanding,” Symphony said and gave Faramir a hug. The woman was the closest thing she had to a mother since her own mother had died in Merrodin. “Good luck, Oma, I hope your lessons go well,” Symphony said with a smile and turned to leave.
“I’ll see you at dinner tonight, Symphony. We can discuss other ways to get Nerathane to talk. You have a very valid point about what would happen if they joined the fight, and if we are going to win we have to keep them on our side,” Faramir called as she opened the door.
“Sounds good,” Symphony agreed with a smile and stepped out into the hall, eager to be on the field. Matches against Vaze were always good ones.
*
“Do you really think you can keep Nerathane out of the fight?” Oma asked quietly as she moved to stand beside Faramir.