Meta Gods War 3 by B. Miles (the ebook reader txt) 📕

do,” Theus said. “But are you sure? Key wants it.”

“Did she tell you that?”

“She doesn’t have to. You know Key.”

Cam smiled. “Yeah, I do. She’ll take the right flank. I’ll give the left to General Stavar.”

“When do you think the fighting will start?”

“Tomorrow maybe,” Cam said. “If not tomorrow, then the day after. We’re close, Theus. What happens next will determine… everything, I guess.”

Theus nodded and patted a hand on the boulder. “I’ll do it,” he said. “I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. And if things look bad, you’ll wade into battle and start using magic, right?”

Theus grinned. “Right. It’ll be easy.”

“Just remember, if you fail, we all die. So, no pressure.”

“You bastard. You’re trying to make me snap, aren’t you?”

Cam shrugged with his hands. “A little bit.”

“Come on,” Theus said, standing straight and pushing off the rock. “I need to get some sleep if I’m suddenly expected to have some real responsibility tomorrow.”

“That’s probably smart.” Cam hesitated and watched his friend. His eyes moved down Theus’s burn scars and a wave of shame rolled through him. He embraced the shame and reveled in it.

“I’m sorry, you know,” Cam said.

“For what?” Theus asked.

“Everything,” Cam said. “Your face. Dragging you into this. Making you learn magic. Growing apart.”

Theus took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. “It’s just the way of things,” he said. “Just how it’s gone. I don’t blame you for any of it. Well, maybe for the magic thing.”

“I still feel like we’ve lost something.”

Theus nodded. “I know what you mean. But there will be time to be friends again when this is all over, right?”

“I hope so,” Cam said.

But he wasn’t so sure.

“We’ll work it out. We always do.”

Cam smiled but felt no joy. “Come on. Let’s go get some sleep.”

Theus reached out a hand and Cam took it. Cam let Theus pull him to his feet, and the two of them walked back to the camp with Miks as their shadow.

33

They marched before dawn that morning. Cam only got a rough few hours of sleep and felt himself drag. Men grunted in the pre-dawn stupor but the camp was disassembled quickly and the road churned with wagon dust and stomping boots.

Cam marched in the vanguard that morning, leading it up through the pine forest toward where the mountains narrowed and formed a pass about ten miles wide. It was the entrance to their small world, and beyond that pass was a deep, dank forest that practically crawled with wolves and possibility. The bulk of the army reached the pass around noon that day, sooner than Cam expected, and he called a halt.

Preparations began. Cam had them dig two layers of trenches: One set out before them where the main wolf army would appear, and one set behind them, where any stragglers or reinforcements might harass their rear. Cam assigned a small division of light infantry to guard the rear along with whatever camp followers had managed the march so far.

Scouts streamed back in waves. “The wolves were spotted ten miles to our south,” a young man with a hooked nose said. “They’re coming straight for us.”

Cam nodded and leaned over the command table. He stared down at the maps, but the maps were not the territory. He wished he could float in the air like Lycanica and see the world from a bird’s perspective. Then he’d know the terrain, the roll of each hill, the placement of each tree.

But for now, he sent orders out to each General assigned to the three main sections. From there, those orders would pass to Captains, from Captains to Lieutenants, and down into the ranks of soldiers that would shoulder the burden of death and fear and blood.

“You look tired,” Brice said. She sat in the corner of the tent, her legs crossed, chewing on a fingernail. She wore a tight tunic and long dark pants tucked into heavy boots. Cam knew they were the clothes she wore beneath her armor. Her whole division was ready to dress and fight as soon as the call went out.

“Didn’t sleep much last night.”

Brice clicked her tongue. “You need rest. We’re going to need you in good shape when the wolves come.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m usually good at stilling my mind, but last night…” He gestured helplessly.

“Should’ve found me,” she said, her words almost studiously casual. “I could’ve done something to ease your burden a bit.”

He grinned. “Look at you. We sleep together one time and now you’re throwing yourself at me.”

She blushed crimson. “Don’t be an asshole,” she said. “Miuri and Key and Felin basically welcomed me into your little… what do you call it?”

“I call it a family,” Cam said.

She smiled a touch at that. “Well, they practically welcomed me into your family. So I think I have a little leeway.”

“Fair enough.” Cam slumped back into his chair.

“You haven’t given me an assignment yet, you know,” she said.

“I know. I haven’t been able to make up my mind about the heavy infantry.”

“What’s the delay? Put me right in the middle. We’ll break a space down their throats and save all your asses.”

Cam tapped his fingers on the map. “Something’s been bothering me,” he said.

“Oh, you mean, aside from practically everything going on in this camp?”

“The wolves aren’t acting right.”

Brice made a grunting sound. “I know what you mean.”

“When we found Lagon and the wolves attacked, they stopped when things got bad, right? But before, they would’ve kept coming until they were either all dead or too wounded to go on. But that day, they hit us, realized they were going to lose, and withdrew. It was…” He trailed off.

“Rational,” she said. “Controlled. They were organized.”

“Organized,” Cam said. “That’s it, they were too organized. Key reported something similar. The wolves have been acting too organized.”

“You think it’s Lycanica,” Brice said. “You mentioned this before.”

“That’s my theory,” he said. “And now I worry what that means for this fight. I’ve been setting it up in my head