The Foolhardies 168 Fools' Parade

After the battle in the Sand Valley Oasis was over, General Red Bull officially commended my unit for a job well done in leading the charge. He even went so far as to declare his own forces mere support for our offensive.

"You Foolhardies possess insane firepower, that's for certain," he chuckled.

Red Bull's praise ensured my unit's name would reach the ears of the clan's higher-ups, which hopefully helped in ensuring our future selection as members of the upcoming war.

"So many eager young ones in the clan now…" Red Bull noted. "But that's usually how it goes in this warring clans era… young commanders who compete with each other and rise quickly up the ranks in the hopes of securing the t.i.tle of our next generation's four Great Generals."

As we sat there around the table of his command tent, I thought about what Red Bull just said and wondered just how much higher you had to climb to be recognized in the same vein as Darah or Grimthorn, warriors renowned throughout the Fayne.

"Was that how it was before?" I asked.

Red Bull nodded. "These days feel a lot more stable, actually… but thirty or so years ago, the battles were more constant, the wars more b.l.o.o.d.y with death tolls that threatened to wipe out many fairy races…"

The general chugged down his mug of salamander whiskey before he continued with his reminiscing of the past.

"Some of us old guard believe these times are nothing more than a reprieve," he admitted. "The calm before the great storm that might finally wipe us fairies out for good, heh."

"I was barely twenty then… just at the edge of my sprout years and clueless of the politics happening around me," Aura added.

Once again, I was reminded of the gulf between me and Aura. In her fifty years of living, just how many acc.u.mulated experiences had she gone through to be the amazing person she was now I wondered.

"Heh," Red Bull eyed the she-elf beside me who face was still hidden behind her mask. "Your parents would have kept you far away from all the dark stuff, I'm sure."

I wasn't sure, but I guessed that he had an idea of who she really was. The grin on his face hinted as much. But neither Aura nor I seemed to be worried about it for despite being a direct subordinate of Garm, Red Bull has earned the benefit of the doubt.

He turned his beady black eyes on me next, and after offering me a sip of his salamander whiskey—which I couldn't well decline under the circ.u.mstances—he gave me one more piece of advice.

"You keep doing what you're doing, Commander Dapper…" He glanced over at his lieutenant and there were crinkles around his eyes when he did. "Find yourself even more people you can rely on, people who can get the job done no matter how hard the task… that's what my boss and those other three did."

He chuckled loudly.

Perhaps it was because of the fire whiskey—that fiery taste sliding down my throat and settling inside me, sending a warm feeling to the rest of me—but I found myself laughing out loud with him. The rest of the night turned out just as merry with my guys getting a fair share of quality salamander whiskey straight from the general's own stock.

I looked fondly back at that night which also marked the first time I'd ever gotten drunk, especially now in this stuffy place I found myself in, sandwiched between two people I wasn't very fond of.

"Stop fidgeting and stand straight, mudborn," Dain Hammerhand growled from my left. "You want the Starfall folks looking down on us?"

"Sloppy is Dean's default, dear Dain," Verania replied wryly. "You can take the boy out of the mud but you can't take the mud out of the boy it seems…"

"Can you two shut up," I sighed.

"I second that," Al said from the other side of Verania.

The summit to secure the alliance between the Trickster Pavilion and the Starfall clan began a week after Aura mentioned it to me. And the Foolhardies were recalled back to Shärleden to provide extra security. Sadly, we weren't the only ones among the new generation of officers to be called.

Most of our four units' soldiers were taking s.h.i.+fts patrolling outside the walls of the city, but some, like Luca's and Qwipps' squads, were part of key posts that supplemented the city guard.

The heightened security had been ordered by Chancellor Orryn who feared that some third party would take this chance to sow chaos in Shärleden.

And although many of the officers thought he was being overly cautious, I wasn't among them. I was pretty worried about a.s.sa.s.sination plots or sabotage, particularly because Aura, who'd dropped her disguise and was currently back to being Aurana for the duration of the summit, would be in the crosshairs of any attempt at foul play.

It was why I felt so restless and kept on fidgeting while I stood in that line of young officers standing at attention behind Great General Darah and Grimthorn, both of whom were waiting for the Lord of Stars and his party to finish their parade along Shärleden's main street.

A crowd of Trickster n.o.bles and common people were gathered on both sides of the street, eager to get a glimpse of the audacious human who'd conquered one of the oldest and most prestigious fairy clans in the Fayne.

For his part, Christ Pint didn't disappoint. His bright red cloak billowing behind him like he was Superman, the Lord of Stars cut an impressive figure as he gazed out at the scenery with a toothy grin while waving a hand at the crowd.

And don't get me started on the open carriage he rode in. That thing was bedazzled to such an extreme that gazing too long at the glittering jewels covering the carriage surface put one in danger of getting blinded by all the lights flas.h.i.+ng off them.

If that wasn't enough, the high number of scantily clad females joining him in his carriage was enough to make a teenage boy like me feel more than a little uncomfortable.

I averted my eyes from his display and instead trained my focus on the rest of his entourage.

There were twenty swifthart riders to each side of his carriage, and like stars set against the backdrop of a dark blue canvas, the Star Knights' polished silver armor glinted under the proverbial spotlights trained on them.

But what caught my eye was the knight riding toward the rear of the right line. She had long braided blonde hair, had blue-eyes, and was very beautiful—and she wasn't naked like the first time I met her. Yeah, I did recognize her. It was the human girl Chris Pint bought during the auction. I guess he saved her after all.

"Someone go down there and demand that s...o...b..at hurry his Mudgardian behind up here already," Darah growled.  

"Must you always sound so mudd.a.m.n vulgar, Darah?" Grimthorn complained.

"Shut it, dwarf," Darah turned her ire on him. "Or I'll rip you to shreds."

"You shut up, she-elf witch," Grimthorn countered. "Or I'll cut you down to my eye level."

The two turned their heads toward one another, their eyes staring daggers at each other.

This sort of thing happened pretty often whenever two or more of the great generals were in each other's immediate vicinity. I guessed that rivalry from their younger days never really went away.

"Humph… no way my liege would lose to that elf-witch," Dain Hammerhand whispered under his breath.

Lucky for him Darah was too preoccupied with his master for her to hear him. Under normal circ.u.mstances, she would have punched him into the sky with a single hit. So it was left to me to defend my great general.

"Dream on, dwarf," I countered in an equally low whisper. "Darah could punch anyone's lights out… anyone."

Dain and I glared at each other, almost as if the old rivalry of our seniors was spilling over onto us.

I don't know how long we growled at each other like two pit bulls sizing each other up, but by the time I realized it, Al was whispering my name in a rather urgent way.

"Dean," he called.

It was only then that I realized that everyone was looking at me. Rather, they were looking at me because of the person standing before me. For some reason, he'd ditched his convoy below and climbed up the steps to where I was in the short time I was distracted by stupid Dain.

"Yo, fellow sense knight," Chris Pint said in a louder voice than I would have liked. "Fancy meeting you here."

I groaned visibly. I can't believe he just outed me in front of so many people especially when I once told him that only a few members of the council knew what I could do.

Chris didn't wait for me to reply. He simply wrapped a shoulder around me, and after a quick nod toward Darah and Grimthorn, he p.r.o.nounced to the people around us, "I'm borrowing this guy for a bit."

Next thing I knew, I was being dragged up the stairs via neck lock while my fellow young commanders looked on with mixed emotions of pity, annoyance, and even envy.