The Fields of Fire

Chapter 20: Tau Adana

Tau had taken his advice and signed up with the Atherian Army. They didnt' have very rigorous record keeping so they just let her join, so long as she could prove she was a magic user and not a spy. Brandon managed to conjure some wind in her hand which helped her get past that requirement. But since getting her uniform and being sent on the ship, she'd become more and more anxious. Maybe it was just that every passing day she got closer to home, so home was on her mind more and more. Sitting on that ship with the rest of the Atherian soldiers she couldn't help but feel like she didn't belong, and that everyone else knew it.

"How close are we?" she whispered in the dark.

Close to her in the dark torchlit cavern of the ship Brandon said, "I don't know."

Tau spent her first few days on the ship at the top of the deck. She never had been stationed on an aircraft carrier, so it did take some getting used to the rolling of the waves in the ocean. But she liked the view on the deck, constantly checking the horizon for any sight of land, any glimpse of home. Though ever since they entered the bay of mist, all non-essential personnel for commanding the ship were forced under into the lower decks. Supposedly there were things you could see in the mist to make you jump overboard, and they didn't want to lose anyone if they didn't have to. It astonished Tau that they could even navigate through the Bay of Mist, she'd always knew it as impassable by any ships. The current was strong, and the winds always seemed to blow towards the vampire kingdoms, where the unfortunate passengers of ships marooned upon those rocky foreign shores would be enslaved. But no such thing had happened to their ship. Maybe by magic, or the common screeching sound of the dragons that flew above them, their small fleet seemed to know the way. It was an ingenious plan, since the Zytrians believed this part of the Eastern ocean to be impossible to attack from, the coast would be unguarded. It also meant that Tau could slip into the country side after landing without having to do any fighting.

Suddenly the uneasy silence among the others sitting with Tau broke. There were three elven men, one elven woman, a dwarven woman, an orc, a fairy, an alzcan and two other humans. The Elven woman looked to Tau under the orange glow of the torches and asked, "What's your story?" Her face seemed stern and inquisitive. Tau didn't know if she could read minds, so she decided to think exclusively about cheeseburgers for the next twenty seconds, but in so doing she awkwardly forgot to answer the question.

Brandon spoke up for her, "Refugee who fled the genocide, just like the rest of us humans." He nudged her on the shoulder, "She's just glad for the opportunity to go set her homeland free."

"Yeah I just... Want to protect Atheria."

The dwarf spoke up, "Oy, and what do you think we'll be doin when we get there?" He coughed a worringly rancid cough.

The Elven woman answered, "Liberating the humans from the oppression of the Zytrian Crown. Once they see the beauty and stability that comes with freedom, democracy, and equality, they won't want anything else. The plan is to defeat the Zytrian military, and then win over the hearts and minds of the people. By the time they realize they don't have to bend the knee to any more kings or queens, they'll be picking up guns and fighting for us."

Tau shook her head, if you wanted to win over hearts and minds you probably should have tried to do that before burning any cities to the ground.

"Oy, you make a good point! I reckon, realistically, they'll be throwin parties for us when we arrive. I mean I don't know what sorta propoganda they been hearin, but when they see what we's actually like. They'll be all for overthrowing the monarchy."

Tau couldn't stop herself from talking, "And what happens when the monarchy is overthrown? Huh? What do we do then? Hand the land back to the elves and the dwarves and everyone else. Annex them? Make them apart of Atheria? Just kill them all?"