Two years since the Haverdash took Hathor, the City of Grace, they were yet to lose a battle. The war was not lost though. Since the Haverdash were so few in number they were having trouble with their expanding border. Each city they took needed rebuilt in a Haverdash image, meaning used-up manpower, and as a result their progress had slowed significantly from the first year of the war to the second.

Despite this they had extended far beyond Hesin-re, and there were only two cities of significance between the advancing Haverdash line and the capital of Donfas. Their resistance had been stiff, despite not having drawn any other kingdoms into the conflict yet, since the surrounding nations had let Donfas pull all its troops down to the war without taking advantage of them. What was once the cruel satisfaction that Donfas was getting what it deserved had transformed into fear. They had lost their belief that Donfas would win the conflict in the end.

Tubarai had heavily invested its active military into scouting and spying on the Haverdash movements, not trusting them to not attack if any opening was left. Interestingly, that was dissuading them very well. They might get too close, but then when their movements got scouted out they would pull away.

There was a rumor among the troops in Donfas that those in Tubarai had heard. It said that the leaders of the Haverdash knew if they would win a battle before it happened, and would only send their troops once they had enough. It couldn't possibly be verified without someone undercover in a Haverdash camp, which could be impossible because of the volume of fatal poison that would be around them. Though they couldn't verify it, the Tubarai officers treated it as though it were true, moving their troops en masse to whatever location looked threatened by Haverdash movement.

*

Moxey led General Skadis and General Ghaulos deep into Tubarai territory. The Tubarai scouts were relentless and thorough, but by using a legion of troops splitting off into three directions as bait, they were able to sneak up onto a ridge line unseen. At the end of this ridge the geography was so perfect that they'd be able to see every relevant fortification and city in the area on a clear day.

They traveled through the night to reach the correct spot, and at dawn they discussed the plan of attack. Tubarai was going to join the war soon anyway, the writing was on the wall for Donfas, so there was no point in avoiding conflict to spare manpower for a different front.

Moxey pulled handfuls of pork out of a pack and handed them out, then took a swig of wine. "There will be three mostly simultaneous attacks. You see the city in the cleft of those mountains? We want to hem that in, so that by three attacks we are essentially taking four cities. The Council of Six did not inform me who they wanted to attack each city, but I think we can decide that relatively quickly. General Skadis, since your troops have been fighting so far east in The Rivers region so long, they might be physically worn. They shouldn't take Mavozshidog," he pointed up at a fortress high on a snowy mountain, "Agreed?"

"They'll be disappointed to miss the challenge, but you're right, they're not fresh."

"We'll give them the closest target to compensate them for their disappointment, and assign Velnaris to you. General Ghaulos, the third city in the attack is Tabok, which is isolated enough to completely cut off Tubarai from heading to the Donfas coast if we take it."

Ghaulos asked, "That all sounds very simple when you say 'just take the cities', but we can't prevent the Tubarai scouts from knowing we're coming. If they disperse their forces evenly that would work out, but what if they give up one city to heavily fortify two? Or give up two to guarantee the defense of one? The Council did consider that, did they not?"

"Yes they did, through personal action even. I'm sure you're wondering who the third attack is led by?"

Ghaulos commented, "I certainly was. And you seem to want him to attack Mavozshidog, which is the hardest target."

"Trots will lead that attack personally. Your attacks will wait until Tubarai has moved their forces to Mavozshidog to defend it, guaranteeing our victory at all three targets."

General Skadis was enraged, "Watch your tongue, you of no rank! He is General Trots, and you will call him as such! Receiving orders from the Council of Six doesn't change your position."

Moxey's eyebrows raised in surprise, and Ghaulos had a look of dread on Skadis's behalf. "General Skadis," Moxey asked, "How long have you been away?"

He had expected Ghaulos to share his sentiment, but instead he felt uneasy, "From before the war with Donfas started at Hathor, I was in The Rivers putting down the natives. It was an unforgiving climate, and they were a clever people."

"I see. I applaud you for finishing that arduous mission, General Skadis, but you have much to catch up on. You'll be forgiven this time, because your ignorance was coated in a desire to honor Haverdash. Take note, Skadis, my tongue will do what it may, take care of your own. 'General' is not his title."

At that moment, by chance of fate, Trots passed through a cloud above and behind them. Skadis and Ghaulos we're immediately entranced by his glorious aura, and Ghaulos bowed with his face in the dirt. Ghaulos was behind Skadis though, and Skadis was in shock, so Moxey told him, "When you meet Glorious Trots, Skadis, it is customary for you to bow."

Skadis bowed with his face in the dirt, and Trots landed in front of him.

Moxey turned to Trots, "I'm surprised to see you, what's going on?"

Then Lars soared through the cloud on invisible wings, and landed next to Trots. Moxey looked at Trots for an explanation.

"There's been a change of plans. There's no need for you to return to the front, you will instead act as an advisor to Lars, who will be acting in my place as leader."

Ghaulos was deeply disturbed by the idea, but said nothing.

"But Trots, what will you be doing? I thought we had optimized our movements at the council meeting."

"I met with Glorious Manier, and he had an excellent proposal. I will go to hash out the details of his attack, and then since I am not tied up in Tubarai I will go to the strange world. It was revealed to me in a dream that I can open gates from it to this world from there, so we don't need to restrict our movements in it to places we have already been."

Moxey laughed, "That's fantastic! Then we can move scouts, assassins, Lars, or the Glorious through to anywhere!"

"Yes, it is amazing! Then again, that's just what we should expect living for Haverdash. Unfortunately I'm the only one of the glorious able to do it this far, so progress will be slow. Speaking of which, I had better go, or risk making no progress at all." He looked down at Ghaulos and Skadis. "All rise." And with that he left.

Ghaulos and Skadis stood, and Ghaulos complained to Moxey, "Why is your human leading an attack? He should be a soldier! Haverdash should not be led by humans!"

"Oh no!" Lars cried, "Another random Haverdash has issued a formal complaint!" He looked at Moxey helplessly, "I guess we're screwed."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Moxey smirked. "Quite right. Our apologies, Ghaulos, you can go tell Trots the change in plans."

"Me? Now wait, I don't -"

Moxey cut him off, "Then it's your turn to watch your mouth." He turned back to Lars, "Honestly, these generals. You give someone a rank and they think they're a whole new person."

Ghaulos was fuming, but Moxey and Lars ignored him as Moxey explained to him what his role in the attack was.

*

At Tubarai’s Military Academy of Magic and Magic Affiliates a party was being held, celebrating the 125th anniversary of its founding. Andal and Jeva were sitting up on stacks of chairs by the wall. Jeva had just finished dancing, so she was breathing a little heavy and had a glint of sweat on her forehead. She'd left a glass of punch up on the chairs before she got down to dance, which risked spilling it in Andal's opinion, so she was holding it now.

Andal was tossing an invisible ball back and forth with Jessica, Jeva's closest friend from her dorm. The goal was just to catch it as often as they could, holding their hands open at the same position each time and trying to throw it directly into their hands each time. Even now that they'd been consistently catching the ball it was a fun novelty to suddenly feel the ball land in their hands.    

"What's the count?" Jeva asked.

"19!" Jessica said.

"32!" Corrected Andal.

"Well, which is it?"

Jessica held the ball so they wouldn't drop it while arguing, "Andal lost the ball and it landed on the stack of chairs next to him. He says it doesn't count since it didn't hit the ground, but I say he lost the ball so we have to start the count over."

Andal summarized, "We disagree a bit on the rules. Technically we did say at the beginning that it's how many times we catch the ball without touching the ground."

"But then I could just lob it onto a chair each time, then you grab it!"

"I don't think that would actually be a better strategy than throwing it to me."

"But you could still do it, and that's not the game!"

"But maybe it could be?" Andal teased.

Jeva intervened, "Maybe we should just keep two different counts, like you were doing." She handed Andal her glass, "Can you hold this real quick? I want to grab a plate, I'll be right back."

"Oh? You don't want to set it on these slanted chairs again?"

"I would be fine with it, but somebody," she scanned the room as if looking for someone, "Thought I shouldn't do that!"

"Sounds like a very wise person." Andal took the glass and grinned.

Jeva rolled her eyes and jumped down. Jessica was still holding the ball, not wanting to throw it while Andal was holding the glass.

Andal waved for her to pass it anyway. Jessica held it up to throw tentatively, and Andal told her, "Go for it, I think I could catch it with just one hand!"

She gingerly lobbed it up to him, and somehow landed it in the cradle of his arm. It slightly bounced off his body though, and in order to not lose it he brought his other hand in to block it from falling. He moved the glass too quickly, and a big slosh of punch splashed on the floor. Andal looked down guiltily, and Jessica told him, "I'm not cleaning it up, I wasn't going to throw it."

Andal slid down and handed the glass and ball to Jessica, "Hold these, I'll get a towel."

Jessica undid the invisibility enchantment on the ball so that she could set it down and not lose it. "I'm going to refill her glass."

Andal passed the tables of food and drinks and went to the hallway where he knew there was a janitor's closet. Professor Tharow was leaning up against the wall by the closet, a map of Tubarai in hand. Andal found a towel in the closet and turned to go back to the party, but Tharow spoke to him, "You were right, Andal."

Andal looked at him curiosity. He liked being right, but he wasn't sure what this was about. "The Haverdash," Tharow clarified, "You were right."

Andal felt vindicated, "So you're finally convinced by all their warmongering that they're going to attack Tubarai as well?"

"No, I am convinced because I can communicate long distances with several other people, and I was just informed that the Haverdash are currently attacking Mavozshidog."

Andal dropped the towel, "Currently?"

"Yes. There's an army moving quickly up the mountain to it. From now on we're part of the war. Though, the situation is actually very favorable to us. There's a strong easterly wind that will stop them from using a gas to cover the city, and we saw them coming early enough that the border troops could centralize in Mavozshidog."

"What's stopping the Haverdash from turning and going to a weaker city if we've put most the troops in that one?"

"Nothing's stopping them, but they haven't done anything like that yet against Donfas."

"They’re just using bad strategy?"

Tharow bowed in head and grumbled, "They haven't lost yet, I don't see how they're not using proper strategy."

Andal couldn't deny the logic of that, and with the Haverdash track record in mind, it would be unsafe to assume Mavozshidog was safe despite the favorable circumstances. "I have to go."

"Yes, I'm sorry. I probably ruined the party for you."

"To Mavozshidog, I have to go help them."

Tharow was surprised at his boldness, but also not surprised. "Hah, another act of rashness by Andal the Haverdash hunter. Your feelings are commendable, but I'm not letting you take one of the horses so you might as well forget about it. You'll probably get drafted soon anyway, so don't fret about not getting involved."

"I have my own horse, I can make it there tomorrow."

Tharow was oddly disturbed by that, "We've been taking care of your horse for you? Have you been paying us somehow?"

Andal was caught off guard, "I haven't, nobody told me I had to."

"Yes, you do. Has it been here since you first arrived?"

"Professor, is this really that important right now?"

He muttered, "We'll talk about it when you get back." As Andal crossed from the hallway back into the party Tharow yelled after him, "Don't give your life to protect someone when you're there! You're an asset, act like it!"

Andal went straight to Jeva and Jessica, who were where they had been playing catch earlier expecting Andal to return. "Jeva, Jessica! The Haverdash are attacking Mavozshidog, we need to go help! Where's Panlo?"

Jessica said, "That's too far away, if they're already attacking then we can't help."

"They're not actually at the city yet, we can make it there tomorrow and they might not be passed the walls yet!" Then he spotted Panlo, and waved him over, "The Haverdash are attacking Mavozshidog, we need to go help!"

"We- what? No- how are we supposed to get there?"

"Two of us can ride on my horse, and Jessica, Jeva told me you have a spell for fast travel?"

Jessica snapped a mean look at Jeva, "I do."

Jeva was disappointed she didn't tell them about it, so Jeva told them, "It's so cool! She can slide on the snow like ice, and she can go really fast with it! She'll probably beat you there to be honest! Oh, and she can cast it on two people at once, so we're all covered."

"Wonderful", Andal turned to head out, "Let's go right now."

"Wait," Panlo said, "There will be an official response soon enough, we should join that."

Jessica agreed, "Yea, that makes a lot more sense than running off on our own."

Andal turned back to them, and had pleading in his voice, "But this is what you said you would do, there might even be a Glorious Haverdash there."

Panlo became more sure of himself, "Then we definitely shouldn't go on our own! We agreed to that two years ago, Andal, come on. We know better than that now. We can't win a war by ourselves."

"But we can make an impact individually! We're more than numbers in an army getting thrown at each other! This is how the Haverdash do it, every one of them goes to fight if they can."

"And you want to be like the Haverdash?"

"I want to match their tenacity! If we don't care as much about the war as they do, how are we going to win?"

"By being smart! Jeva, don't tell me you agree with Andal!"

"I do, I think he's right."

Jessica stepped back, "Well we're not going, sorry."

"Yea. Good luck though."

Andal solemnly asked Jeva, "Are you ready to go now?"