“Freezing a river?” Elvira repeated the question, “I… Well, I suppose it could be done.”

  “Could it be done here, though? Could you freeze the Elster?” Varre urged.

  “I… well, probably not the whole river, but if you’re asking about making a new crossing…” she trailed off.

  “Yes. It wouldn’t need to be very wide,” the king gestured, “the wider the better of course, but even something like the bridge that’s already there would suffice.”

  She slowly nodded to herself. “The Elster isn’t that big… It would take a lot of aura to cast, but I think it should be possible.”

  Varre smiled and looked around the tent. His commanders’ faces were slowly lighting up. This could allow them to cross safely and attack Clement from an unexpected angle. “Can you do it then?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied bluntly, but noticing his surprise quickly added, “I mean not me. I need to save my energy.”

  “How come?”

  “If Tobias is really out there, with the rebel army, I’ll need to be ready to fight him,” she said resolutely, “but the other mages we have… they should suffice. They can create the bridge for you.”

  “Tobias, huh?” Varre had almost forgotten about him. Of course, the former Court Mage could cause a lot of damage before he would be stopped by regular infantry during an open battle. “Do you think you’ll win? You’ll be facing him alone.”

  “I don’t know,” Elvira replied, “we are both senior mages, so we should be at a somewhat similar level. Of course, he had more time to prepare surprises for me, but I won’t be completely outclassed either.”

  The king scratched his chin. “I see. Is there someway we could help you? I don’t want you to get hurt out there.”

  She smiled warmly. “Oh, don’t worry, your majesty. I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll be perfectly fine.”

  Varre raised an eyebrow. “Really? Didn’t you just say that he might be stronger than you?”

  “Oh he might be. But that’s not how us mages duel, your majesty,” she covered her growing smile with her hand, “there’s only so many of us around, you see. And the guilds encourage a bit of healthy competition between their members. If every fight resulted in death or injury, we’d run out of wizards in less than a decade!”

  “What? But he’s a traitor. And he’s already wanted for Mikkel’s murder too,” the king protested, “are you sure he’ll play by your rules?”

  “Absolutely,” she nodded and revealed a huge grin, “he may be an evil man, but he’s no pariah. Word gets around you know? If other mages find out that he killed, or even just hurt me too badly, he’ll be wanted by every guild from here to Corunya.”

  “He’s already wanted in all of Logres,” Varre reminded her, “and for a pretty serious crime. I’m not sure if this will give him any pause.”

  “Trust me, it will,” she said with full confidence, “right now, all he needs to do is get on a boat and sail to another kingdom. You’d never see him again and a mage of his caliber will be welcome pretty much anywhere. But if he is declared a pariah… that would be the end of his magical career. Forever. A hefty reward would be placed on his head. And not just in gold, but in prestige. Any wizard who met him would try to slay him. Tobias would need to leave it all behind and become a hermit. Or worse, a peasant. And for a man like him, that’s a fate worse than death.”

  “If you say so,” the king shrugged, “but are you certain that our other mages could prepare us a crossing then?”

  “I’ll need to talk to them again, but I think so,” she confirmed, “I haven’t seen their exact stats, but I have a good idea of what to expect from them. They should have enough aura. All they’d need to do really, is extract heat away from the water. Every young wizard practices that while studying. Freezing a river is harder of course, but that just means they need to use more of their aura.”

  “Will the passage be wide enough? Like I said, I’d like it to be at least the size of the bridge here.”

  “That’s the easy part,” Elvira explained, “they’ll freeze a whole section of the river. It’s hard to control water like this, so at their level, don’t expect anything like a real bridge. Even I’d struggle with that. They’ll just create a thick layer of ice on top of the water. Probably a few dozen feet wide. They’ll jam it into the river bank and your men can safely walk across.”

  “That’s wide,” Varre scratched his chin again, “but will it last long enough? It is summer.”

  “It will melt eventually of course,” she answered, “depending on how thick they manage to make it, it should be around an hour. Maybe two. It’ll last longer if they refresh the spell after some time, but it will cost aura again and I can’t tell you if they’ll have enough energy for that. It will take a bit of… tinkering. But they’ll be able to monitor the ice and warn you if it gets dangerously thin.”

  The king listened to her intently. Finally, after he heard the full explanation, he spoke up. “Good. That’s all we need. Get it done.”

  Elvira bowed her head. “I’ll talk to them, your majesty.”

  Varre turned back to his officers. “And as for you, commanders, here’s what I’m thinking.”

  -*-*-*-

  The next day, the army continued fortifying their positions. They didn’t expect Clement to leave his safe position across the river, but they didn’t need unnecessary risks either. A full palisade wasn’t necessary, but a couple watchtowers and impaling some sharp sticks into the ground would complicate enemy charges.

  Meanwhile, the soldiers could rest from the two days of marching and enjoy this change of pace. Many of the commoners were peasants and knew exactly how to forage in the woods. They left the vicinity of the camp, looking for berries and mushrooms. Even some of the city dwellers, especially those from smaller towns, knew their way around the forest. That would provide a nice boost to the army’s supplies. At least for a while, until the nearby resources were exhausted.

  Some of the cavalry also emptied out a few wagons and visited the nearby villages. Varre ignored Baron Gregory’s suggestion about looting. He was more than willing to purchase any supplies that the locals were willing to share.

  The peasants were very open to this idea. It wasn’t easy for the average serf to acquire currency and the army was willing to pay above market rates. The locals who chose to stay behind didn’t mind emptying their pantries to the absolute minimum. The war would end eventually and they could easily replenish their stocks afterwards. They’d end up making a nice profit too.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  If it happened that the war lasted too long, then the peasants would need to flee to somewhere else anyway. In that case, coin would be more useful than stores of pickled vegetables. Not to mention easier to move.

  To further assist, Chamberlain Benjamin took a few of the administrators travelling in the army and meticulously counted the remaining stocks of food. They were keeping track of it as the army marched of course, they needed to have a general idea of how much supplies had to be ordered for the next shipment, but now it was vital that the measurement was accurate. A few bags of grain could have easily gone missing, either eaten by rats, or stolen by some entrepreneurial soldier trying to make some extra coin.

  By the afternoon, the bookkeepers provided Varre with an updated report. He didn’t want to introduce any heavy rationing for his army, but considering their current supplies together with the foraged and purchased food, they should last for around nine more days. More than enough to achieve his plan.

  The next day, the army began moving again. A force containing about one thousand infantry and five hundred knights grouped up into a column and set out towards the Northern crossing. It was about two days away from here, so the armies wouldn’t be able to communicate easily.

  Varre remained with the bulk of the infantry at Elstercross together with Count Jan, while Baron Gregory led this new Northbound force. A few other officers joined him, though he was the most prominent.

  Messengers and scout would continue to travel between the two armies, but at this distance, the commanders would have to make their own decisions, without consulting the main army. They were given detailed orders and instructions. Now it was up to them how to interpret them.

  A few wagons travelled together with the second force, although most remained in the main camp. At the very least they’d be away for four days. Too long to expect all of the infantry to carry enough food to feed themselves.

  Three thousand infantry and a mere one hundred of the knights remained in the main camp, watching Elstercross. The discrepancy between the heavy cavalry and the common soldiery was huge now, so to obfuscate this weakness, many of the knights left their squires behind. With the fog of war in place and rebel scouts contained to the Eastern bank of the river, they’d have trouble correctly assessing the scale of these two separate armies.

  They reacted as best they could. Around two hours after Varre’s Northbound force set out, Clement split his army in two as well. His army was smaller and he couldn’t be certain of Varre’s plan, though he suspected that the loyalists were heading for the Northern ford.

  The river obscured the rebels just as well as it did Varre, but the scouts reported that Clement sent around one thousand soldiers North. Perhaps a little less. Interestingly, they did notice that none of the knights joined that force.

  Count Jan had a simple theory to explain that. The one hundred cavalry that managed to distract and trick him during the siege of Tresannes were still missing. Most likely, they were crossing the Northern ford just now and it was simply easier to turn them around and hold that location.

  Even though the knights were on horseback, they couldn’t travel that much faster than the infantry. The animals could gallop for short distances, completely outclassing most soldiers, but the mounts would get tired quickly. During marches, they’d keep a similar pace to the infantry. They’d also need to stop for hours each day, to allow the horses to feed on grass. If they were to carry oats on wagons instead, they’d be back to square one, forced to match at the speed of the carts.

  Scouts were the exception. They wore less armor and equipment, and their mounts could sustain a faster pace for longer. They also didn’t need to travel in formation or be prepared for battle at a moment’s notice. Oftentimes, their horses were even bred for speed over raw mass, more suitable for charging. That’s why Clement would be able to send a relatively fast message to his distraction force, using them to hold the Northern crossing.

  Things were getting tense, even in the main army camp. The soldiers weren’t told of the actual plan, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that something big was going to happen soon. The enemy was just across the river after all. Soon, a decisive battle would commence. Even the average infantryman was aware of their inherent numerical advantage this time, so everyone hoped for an easy victory.

  Clement, no doubt was just as aware of the danger, which is why his troops were even more agitated. They tried to fortify the bridge to the best of their abilities. Not an easy task considering the constant threat of loyalist archers should they get too close.

  Both sides were on edge. Both armies were on the clock, expecting one to run out of supplies sooner, rather than later. The battle was coming.

  As Gregory’s army marched North, the backroads they followed led them away from the riverbank. They stuck to the villages, trying to use the dirt paths as much as possible. Occasionally, the settlements were separated by stretches of forest as well. One of them, located around four hours away from Varre’s main camp would serve as the lynchpin of Varre’s secretive plan.

  Here, the Northbound army split again. One thousand infantrymen, along with one hundred knights and most of the remaining squires kept moving further. They’d head straight for the ford, drawing Clement’s troops there as well. Even if they were spotted by the rebels moving on the other side of the Elster, they wouldn’t be able to accurately gauge the loyalists’ numbers. They wouldn’t notice that most of the knights were left behind.

  Four hundred knights with the bare minimum of support staff set up a temporary camp hidden amongst the trees. They were led by Baron Gregory and joined by all of Elvira’s mages. To further obscure them, messengers took up positions just a couple miles away on the road in both directions. They’d ensure that no unexpected guest or enemy scout could happen on this hidden force, even if it was an unlikely risk.

  Gregory’s soldiers had to struggle through the night without fires. They couldn’t risk alerting enemy patrols on the other side of the river. Plumes of smoke could be seen even during the night. The wizards helped a bit here, casting spells that could contain the smoke long enough to cook meals.

  They remained in the forest for the next day, just as the plan called for. Meanwhile, somewhere around the late afternoon, the Northbound army should have arrived at the ford. If it was empty, their orders were to cross and travel South to rejoin Gregory’s force. Most likely though, Clement’s troops made it, having marched late into the evening to make up for lost time and closing the gap.

  The big event would happen the next day. After everyone had the chance to rest.

  Just as the plan called for, early in the morning, Gregory’s knights moved through the thicket and approached the riverbank.

  The mages took a few moments to examine their location, but they weren’t too picky. Time was of the essence. Without the ability to communicate with other elements of the army, they had to stick closely to the timetable or risk sending the rest of the loyalists to their doom. Every part had to act like a well oiled machine for this risky gamble to succeed.

  The twins, together with five other mages quickly went over the preparations for their upcoming spell. Everyone was already well aware of what needed to be done. The oldest and most experienced of the wizards gave his signal and the group all enhanced themselves.

  Gregory couldn’t help clenching his fists as he saw the familiar shimmer on the mages. He knew what it meant. Soon, the wizards got right up to the water, lowered to the ground, and held their arms just above the surface.

  At first, nothing happened. After a few moments, the flow of the water appeared to slow down, before finally stopping. Then, the top of the water began turning into ice. The layer began paper-thin, but it quickly grew, both in size and thickness. The flow of the river was clearly disturbed, as the pressure forced it to speed up below the ice sheet.

  Finally, a couple minutes after they began their spell, the mages finally stepped away from the river. Some of them were clearly panting as the spell must have taken a lot out of them. As a final check, Jury went forward and stepped onto the middle of the sheet. It was covered in a thin layer of slush, making it a bit less slippery.

  She jumped a few times to test its weight. She wasn’t nearly as heavy as a company of knights of course, but the mages could test the effects on the ice as she did so. Apparently they were satisfied. Jury bowed theatrically and returned to her side to retrieve her own horse.

  Gregory took a last moment to look at the rows of his knights. The plan was risky, but there was no turning back now. He gave the signal, and the army crossed to the other side. Within four hours, they’d arrive in Elstercross. Just in time for the main battle.

  A second force of 1000 infantry and 100 knights moves to the Northern ford crossing, dragging about 1000 rebels there with them.

  Meanwhile, a secret third force of 400 knights crosses the river just past Elstercross, planning to join the main battle.

  The actual battle plan is a little different, but I wonder if anyone can figure out which real battle inspired this crossing strategy.