Valerian, The Legendary

109 Tough Crowd.

Valerian and Quies were sitting on the back of the flame sparrow with a soldier who was controlling the beast. There hair were ruffled by the strong wind. The old warrior asked, “What are we going to do?”

The boy thought for a bit and said, “What else can we do than to regroup with the blood guards. I totally do not understand what are the defense ministers thinking by arranging all the power at one place instead of placing them all over like a tight web.”

Quies smiled faintly and asked, “What if an enemy force attacked all of a sudden and outnumbered the forces placed all over? Brute strength can tear apart the net with ease.”

This point sounded valid but sadly, Valerian was not in agreement with this old man. He said, “A strong brain can bring down the mightiest of them all. Old Sir, do not think that because I am young I do not understand the technicalities. If the forces are placed in a manner where they can support each other and yet are not concentrated enough, they can act like waves of power hitting the enemy and take him down.”

Quies shook his head and asked, “What if the enemy is stronger than what you estimate and instead of falling down to our forces the situation turns out to be quite the contrary? Who will be able to bear the losses?”

Valerian thought about it. He was not a foolish young man who would defy the logic just to prove himself right. So, just as the old man was about to enjoy triumphant feeling of defeating this young man, he heard a calm voice, “We are talking about the power of a nation versus a another nation.

Ignoring the fact that we have the shadows and the blood guards posted in all the other countries, we can still notice the army moment with just the scouting units. Do, you really think, their exists someone who will be able to destroy the army on his own?”

His words cut off Quies, and that too miserably at that. The implications of Valerian’s statement was simple, ‘Can you not see the enemy move? Are you dumb to wait for them to reach your home base and kill you?’

The rest of the journey was silent, Valerian did not have the mood to rant about the situation. He was simply laying down on the back of the bird. He did not have the time finish his book, thinking about it. He took out the book from a small sack tied to his waist, and casting an illumination spell, he began to read.

.....

He did not cast the illumination spell, like a blob, but simply conjured the mana at the tip of his finger. Quies saw his reading the book with a calm face and asked, “Valerian, what do you think is the motive of these invaders?”

Valerian looked at the old man and said, “What else could they be after other than the fortune of these lands? They have already plundered the lands of Valkyria, how can they watch the others prosper? Do you not know the nature of these berserks?”

The old man nodded, Valerian had still not raised his head from the book. His thoughts were partially moving between the content of the book and the dragon back at the imperial palace. He was worried if the Empress had managed to keep the little thing safe and hidden from the rest.

It was not that they did not trust the other people around them, but they did not wish for the many people to know. The more diluted the news, the easier it was to leak through. As they were flying under the crescent moons, suddenly the altitude dropped. Valerian asked, “What is it?”

The soldier replied, “Your highness, there are thunder clouds ahead.”

Valerian closed the book and sat up. He looked ahead and found dark clouds with lightning snakes twirling between them. They could travel ahead but not without the risk of getting bitten by these serpents. However, time was not their friend.

Quies said, “Jabbar, land near the road. We will continue on foot and then you can catch up in the morning. We have covered half the distance already.”

His tone did not leave any room for negotiation for the soldier, but Quies was being considerate. Flame sparrow was a bird, her feathers would get drenched, and although it could use fire mana to dry itself quickly, it would scald the people on its back.

Jabbar was a young soldier, who had just finished training and was responsible for the flame birds operation. Hearing the old man, he hesitated, after all, the prince with him did not say anything yet. Valerian understood this and said, “You can do as the old sir, told you, Jabbar. After landing, find a place to avoid the rain.”

The soldier let go of the heart in his throat and then landed on the road. Valerian handed him the book and said, “Jabbar, keep this book and use the food to get by the night. Do not move in the dark. The forest in a rainy night is a quagmire waiting to swallow you.”

Jabbar nodded gratefully and then watched Valerian and Quies jump from the back of the bird and they ran in the direction of the military outpost. The speed was so fast that in a few blinks they had vanished from Jabbar’s vision. The young soldier took a gloomy sparrow to find a shelter from the wind and rain.

...

Valerian was young and his speed was quick, but the old man was also a grandmaster. The old man will pull ahead of the child as soon as the latter created some distance between them.

The silver-haired child also did not give up, but exerted his strength. Quies kept doing this for a few minutes, when suddenly, he turned around and found the boy to deliberately slow down the pace. He wanted to understand why the opponent has given up the competition.

Valerian said, “It is good to compete, but if I did not have any energy when we reach blood guard and slowed down their pace, it would be shameful.”

Quies was surprised by this reason but he did not say anything. After all, he had forgotten this fact while competing. They ran and a moderate controlled pace and covered the distance quickly. They were still quite far from the destination when it started raining like cats and dogs.

However, there speed was not effected, as the downpour became intense it effected their vision. Quies immediately channeled his battle aura in his eyes and the scenery became clearer. Valerian used mana for the same thing. He thought of something and said, “Old Sir, I will give you a push, jump as high as you can.”

The old man jumped hard and Valerian said, “Gustus.”

A strong gust pushed the jumping old man forward at a high speed. The leap that should have covered only five meters, turned to cover thirty meters. Valerian cast a wind movement spell for himself when he was moving through the void.

The speed of the two increased and they quickly reached the military outpost. The guard saw them and someone shouted, “Stop! Who goes there?”

Valerian looked at the old man beside him, who opened his mouth and introduced themselves. The guards immediately became respectful and allowed the two of them inside the outpost from the small gate behind him. Behind the gates, was a dim-lit building.

The walls had torches protruding in them, yet the surroundings were dim. Valerian shook his head and said, “Luminare.”

A blob of light lit up the place, and then he began to control the fire attributed mana in his body to dry himself. He did not say much and followed Quies through the corridors. The speed was calm, and they had to take a lot of turns, and pass through corridors before they reached a room.

The warriors outside the room saw them approaching and stood up alert, when they recognized Quies, they bowed their heads and one of them knocked the door.

A stern voice sounded, “What is it?”

The guard replied, “Commander, grandmaster Quies is here.”

“Send him inside.”, said the person on the other side.

The guards opened the door and Quies gestured for Valerian to enter first. The young boy shrugged and walked inside calmly. He was not afraid of anyone. Valerian found that the inside of the room was lit up brightly. A big Solaris stone was embedded in the center of the ceiling.

Valerian spotted the second prince and a three older people. He could tell that one was a mage and other was a normal human. Quies followed behind him and greeted everyone, before he made the introductions.

The normal old man stood up and bowed to Valerian slightly and said, “Greetings, your highness.”

Valerian replied, “Greetings to you as well, Commander.”

He did not even gaze at the two people and asked, Vertex, “What is the situation, Your Highness?”

Before the second prince could say anything, the warrior looked at Valerian and asked, “Are you ignoring me and old mage here?”

Valerian gazed at him with cold eyes, and a bad premonition in the hearts of the second prince and the old man.

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