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Scout says, "Princess, the army has entered the forest!"

"How many are there?"

Scout says, "Five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry!"

Alexa says, "That\'s more than we expected. I guess your father is serious."

Zamart says, "More importantly: are they using the road?"

Scout says, "Yes, Mr. Wizard."

Zamart says, "Good, then at least all the effort of moving the plants wasn\'t in vain."

"Alright, let\'s follow the plan - let\'s get started!"

Alexa walks away shouting orders to our troops, the scout runs after her. I turn and look at Zamart, only to see him smile.

"Do you think our chances of winning are that good?"

Zamart says "No princess, it\'s not that. I\'m ashamed to say I\'m excited, it\'s been over fifty years since I cast a spell in combat."

"Don\'t worry, you\'ve earned the right to enjoy yourself a bit. Between the mages you recruited among your former apprentices and the new mages you\'ve trained among the rebels, you\'ve contributed much to the battle ahead."

Zamart laughs and says, "Not to mention the weeks I spent preparing the forest for the enemy."

"Yes, I know how much work you put into that, and believe me, my friend, I am very grateful."

Zamart says, "Ahem, yes, well, I should join the other mages. Things will start soon."

"Take care Zamart, there is still much to do after this battle."

Zamart says, "Don\'t remind me, you take all the fun out of things!"

I laugh with Zamart before he heads off to join his mages. I walk slowly and confidently to where my horse awaits me. With all the troops watching me, I can\'t afford to show any signs of nervousness or concern. I\'m glad all the speeches and morale campaigns are over, now all that\'s left for me to do is lead the cavalry in the fight.

We have fifty cavalry and just over a thousand infantry, but we are outnumbered. Our advantage lies in the terrain and in our mages. The enemy will face several traps and ambushes before we can meet him head on. Even if half of the enemy dies in the traps, we will still be outnumbered by a ratio of three to one.

I sit on my horse and rack my brain, trying to think of something we can do to improve the odds. We\'ve been plotting and planning this for weeks, and I can\'t come up with anything new until I hear Alexa shout orders for the infantry troops to get moving.

Soon after, Alexa comes over, mounts her horse and rides up beside me. We both watch as the foot soldiers march. I try to make eye contact with as many as I can to give them one last hug. Even if the battle goes well, many of them are going to die today and I feel responsible for all of them.

Alexa says, "The reports were accurate, the new Knight Commander is an idiot."

"Umm, Raveos, right?"

Alexa says, "Yes, that\'s right, he\'s even dumber than Tarrik. They went through the first traps and kept moving down the road."

"What about your scouts?"

Alexa says "All wiped out, they march blind."

-So, is Zamart\'s plan working?

Alexa says "So far, exactly as planned."

"How many have lost so far?"

Alexa says, "It\'s hard to get an exact count, but I\'m guessing at least five hundred so far."

"That\'s better than we expected isn\'t it?"

Alexa says, "Yes, but don\'t get your hopes up. They brought in more than we expected, so a larger number isn\'t as helpful as you might think."

"If Raveos is as stupid as reported and advances straight through the worst we have, what do you think our odds are?"

Alexa sighs and says, "Even if he suffers maximum casualties, I\'d still say our odds of winning are around twenty percent."

"That bad?"

Alexa says, "Yes, Princess, even at even numbers we would be in trouble. Our soldiers, though brave, are mostly farmers with what little training we were able to give them."

I try not to let my disappointment show as I go back to watching the soldiers march to their positions. At least, with the equipment acquired in Illium, our troops are as well equipped as the king\'s army. Had we had more time to prepare and train them, a few more months would have made a big difference.

As the last of the infantry troops pass, another scout rushes back to report. It takes him a minute to catch his breath before he can speak.

The scout says, "Commander, the enemy sent out flanking squads to try to keep our archers at bay."

Alexa says, "He divided his forces? This Raveos really is an incompetent idiot!"

Scout says, "Squads were wiped out, estimated enemy losses are around two thousand."

"Excellent! You can have some water and then rejoin your squad."

The scout bows to me and runs off. I watch everything spin as Alexa re-examines our plans. After a minute, she smiles and shakes her head.

"What?"

Alexa says, "If I had known earlier, we could have changed a lot of things, but at this point it\'s too late to use the information."

"Can\'t you think of anything?"

Alexa says, "It\'s not something we can implement before the fighting starts. We should take our position now."

I nod to Alexa and get my horse moving, Alexa stays by my side and the other fifty riders follow right behind us. We are the center of the formation for the battle, our job will be to counter charge their cavalry. We stop as we reach the edge of the clearing where the battle will take place.

This clearing did not exist two weeks ago, somehow Zamart used magic to move the trees and bushes to make it just right for this battle. I am about to ride into the clearing when I hear footsteps behind me. I turn in the saddle and see one of the mages coming up panting, he is out of shape and obviously not used to running. I have to wait for him to catch his breath long enough to speak.

The mage says "Zamart says to stay at the edge of the forest, visible to the enemy, but not in the clearing."

Alexa says "What, why, we can\'t form troops in the trees."

Mage says "He just said to stay out of the clearing."

Alexa sighs and goes to spread the word to the troops. I signal the rider behind me to ride to the other side, then ride a little farther forward until I reach the edge of the clearing. The minutes seem like hours as I wait for the enemy to appear, I have never seen a real battle before and now the waiting is torture.

All I want to do is turn around, ride off and get all my people to safety. I don\'t want to lead them into battle and have their deaths on my hands. Just as the waiting is about to make me scream, something bright catches my eye on the opposite side of the clearing.

A rider in armor has just emerged from the trees, soon joined by another and another. Soon about two hundred horsemen line up in front of me in the clearing. Then the foot soldiers start coming out and forming up, and I can\'t help but count them. Two hundred, then four, then eight, soon I pass two thousand on my count.

It looks like two and a half to three thousand infantrymen have survived and are ready to fight.

I am about to give the order to charge when I remember what the wizard said, so instead I sit and wait even though it makes me want to scream in frustration. Then I notice it gets darker and I look up, the sky that moments ago was clear and blue is now covered by black clouds.

A rumble makes me look down again, the enemy is advancing towards the clearing. If we don\'t get into formation we won\'t stand a chance, but I trust Zamart, so I sit and wait. Then I see a bright spot fall to the ground in the clearing, I get confused as I look up and see dots of light falling from the clouds.