“Those are not slaves in armor,” Neph said quietly as they drew to a stop. They had crossed the border into Avanti days ago, though it had taken quite a bit of convincing to get Jexon to continue on with his men. After the last victory in the Greenwild, Jexon had considered the war over. It had been Jala’s insistence that if they didn’t break the Avanti completely they would simply be riding north again in another month.
“Those are Elites,” Badger drawled as he leaned back in his saddle, the broken end of a grass stem protruding from his teeth. He glanced over at Jala and smiled. “I hate Avanti Elite,” he said with a slight shake of his head.
“We can expect Serpent teeth from them so we should have the healers on standby,” Valor said in disgust. Vanguard shifted beneath him and Valor dropped a hand to the horse’s neck to calm him. The horse could sense the coming fight and he was already working himself up for it.
“Why did they choose here?” Jala asked. The field before them was flat and level leaving a perfect path for a cavalry charge. From what she could tell there was no terrain advantage to the Avanti forces at all. There weren’t even trees for them to fall back to.
“Arrogance,” Jexon said as he rode up. Jala glanced over her shoulder to watch her husband, her disgust rising at just the sight of him. “These are trained soldiers, Jala. They don’t expect any difficulty from you at all,” Jexon continued, his voice oddly polite.
I don’t like his being nice. It makes me more nervous than when he has that devious smile on his face, Marrow said. The Bendazzi flattened his ears back and paced away from Jexon’s horse to sit closer to Valor despite Vanguard’s prancing hooves.
“It looks even, numbers wise,” Neph said, his eyes still roving over the Avanti forces.
“I don’t like the ground they have given us,” Jala insisted. It seemed too much like a trap to her, though she couldn’t tell where they might be hiding any surprises. The ground was flat and level without so much as a bush showing.
“Caltrops in the grass maybe?” Badger offered hesitantly. Shrugging, her father looked over to Valor and raised an eyebrow. “What do you think, Lord Hai’dia?” he asked. Jala raised an eyebrow at the title and smiled at her father. He didn’t use the lord title when he addressed anyone else in the army.
“It could be, but I doubt it. I would guess that they plan to rain arrows down on us from across the field. That I can block for my Knights though with a simple wind spell,” Valor said after a short pause.
“Could you perhaps summon another storm?” Jexon asked and they all turned to look in surprise at the polite tone he was still using.
Valor shook his head slowly eyes flicking to the bright blue sky that held only a trace of clouds in it. “Too much effort with the weather this clear. I wouldn’t get much in the way of results till nightfall,” he said cautiously with suspicion clear in his voice. Apparently he didn’t trust Jexon’s new courtesy any more than Marrow did.
Jexon nodded slowly and let out a long sigh. “My Soulblades cannot do a wind spell to block the arrows. The best they could do to avoid the Serpent’s teeth would be a spirit form to cross the field, but not all of them have that ability and for those that do their attacks would be delayed while they regained their physical forms,” he said with a shake of his head.
“I’ll lead the assault,” Valor announced, straightening in his saddle and glancing over his shoulder to locate his Knights.
“Valor, I don’t like this,” Jala insisted. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something felt wrong. On the surface the battlefield looked to be in their favor. It was perfect for her knights and the infantry would be able to maneuver easily as well.
“Blights?” Neph asked her with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” Jala said with another shake of her head. “Something is wrong here,” she said softly.
Fishing in his pocket for a moment Neph pulled out the pair of glasses that Sovann had given him and put them on. Slowly he turned his head and scanned the entire field, then turned back to Jala and shook his head no. “It’s clear as far as I can tell,” he said with a shrug.
“I’ll lead the charge. Badger, bring the militia in and disperse the Soulblades among them. Have Wisp and her archers on the sidelines in case there are mages. Neph, you can go sit in the back and read if you like. I got this,” Valor said with a smile as he signaled his knights forward.
“I hope your horse falls on you, Valor,” Neph said dryly without even the trace of a smile to show he was joking.
“Where is Jail? Maybe he can scan the minds of the Avanti commanders before we attack,” Jala said quickly before Valor could fasten his helm in place.
“Jala they will be protected from that,” Valor said with a smile and winked at her. “Have I ever failed you before?” he asked with a grin.
Jala shook her head slowly and let out a long sigh. “No, and I trust you Val. I just have a very bad feeling,” she said softly.
Valor pressed his horse closer and smiled down at her. “We can’t just sit here, Jala. I agree it looks too good to be true, and it probably is. You have to have faith that I can handle whatever they throw at us and I will have faith that you are back here waiting with your magic to support me,” he said in a voice pitched for her ears alone.
“Val…” Jala began but let her voice trail off. She wasn’t sure what she had been about to say, anyway. Swallowing heavily, she nodded and gave him a forced smile. “Kick their ass,” she said at last and nodded, her gaze going once more to the Avanti side. Whatever it was, she would find out soon enough, and Valor was right. They couldn’t simply sit there.
“I’ll bring the Soulblades forward,” Jexon said with a nod as he turned his horse and rode back into the ranks of the army.
“I don’t like nice Jexon. It makes my skin crawl,” Neph said quietly as he watched the Lord ride off.