John Moore by Heroics for Beginners

Author:Heroics for Beginners [Beginners, Heroics for]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-25T21:37:04+00:00

*

If there was one thing Deserae did not lack, it was good maps. Logan appreciated that. Because of Deserae’s strategic position among the Twenty Kingdoms, enough armies had passed through it, or planned to pass through it, that accurate military maps were in abundance. He said as much to his cavalry officer. They were both looking over one such map, in Logan’s tent, still a day’s march from Angst.

“There are two roads south from the Valley of Angst.” Logan traced them on the maps. “We don’t know which one he plans to take.”

“We’ve gone up both of them,” said the cavalry officer. “There’s no sign of any troop movement. It seems he hasn’t moved yet.”

Logan nodded. “I didn’t expect him to. But I want to cover all possibilities. We’ll take the eastern road—it’s slightly shorter. But there’s a chance he might decide to come down the western road while we are on the east. I don’t want to divide my forces and go up both roads. That would leave either half too weak if it encountered Voltmeter’s army.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So we’ll go up the eastern road and you take your cavalry up the western road. If you run into Voltmeter, send word immediately and fight a delaying action. We’ll reverse course and intercept him back here.”

“Understood, sir.”

“The important thing is to force a battle while he’s still in the mountains. I realize this contradicts the advice I was giving to the Council of Lords just a few days ago. But we don’t want to let Voltmeter get his Diabolical Device near a heavily populated area.”

“His Diabolical Device, sir?”

Logan reached for his glass of brandywine. He gestured toward the bottle, indicating the officer should pour one for himself. The officer did so. “His Diabolical Device,” Logan continued. “All your up-to-date Evil Overlords have a Diabolical Device. I’ve led three military campaigns against Evil Overlords, and each one had some sort of weapon of mass destruction. Very nasty things, too. Or so they say. We never found out for sure what any of them was supposed to do, because we managed to destroy each one, in some heroic fashion, just at the last possible second.”

“Yes, sir.” The cavalry officer reflected on this. “Er, Your Lordship, how did you know…?”

“That they were destroyed at the last second? They each had a timing device that counted down the seconds. Very convenient little gadgets. They let you know just when the last second was coming up.”

An orderly entered, carrying a pair of polished boots and a pressed uniform. He set the boots beside Logan’s cot and put the uniform away in a chest. A supply officer entered. “Sir, another mounted knight rode up and volunteered to join our force.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Logon looked exasperated. “Unless he brought his own provisions, we can’t take him.”

“Sir, it’s Prince Bigelow.”

“And he has his own provisions.” Bigelow stepped in behind the officer. “And his own horses.”

“Does he have his own feed for his own horses?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.

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