HDMGF Book 2- Part 3

Jake’s POV

“Hello everyone,” she announced as she landed. “I am Second-Lieutenant Datahu. You may refer to me as ma’am or Lieutenant. I trust that you have all had time to get acquainted, so I will skip introductions for now.” Lieutenant Datahu looked over at me. “You must be Sentinel. I will speak to you in a moment, but first… this.” She manipulated the golden pins so that they floated in front of each of the Neame. “Privates, these are your rank emblems. While you are on base or operating within our kingdom’s territory, you will wear them. They are your life, they are your family, do not lose your family! If you are caught without them, you will be punished. You may wear them wherever you want, but they must be placed in the correct orientation, and they must be visible from the front.” She carefully attached each of the pins to the Neame. “Now that my introduction speech is over, follow me.”

She spread her wings and started flying towards the exit, before stopping and hovering for a moment. She turned to me, “Sentinel, we will be flying quite a distance. Your master can simply summon you once we’ve arrived, please wait here.”

“Sure,” I said and sat back down. They all flew away and closed the vine door behind them. I ended up waiting for about ten minutes for them to summon me. While I did, I pulled out a sheet of paper Suma had helped me write. On it was, as she called, the rules of magic. While she travelled for three days to the city, I had asked her for more information about magic, and she took the time to explain. I made sure to write down as much as I could, well actually I typed it out and printed it off later but whatever. Whenever I had a few moments, I made sure to study it.

There were a few different types of Magic: rituals, rites, and spells are all draw from the same source, but are accomplished through different means. Rituals are complicated magical events that require a minimum of two mages to perform. They are used to apply some measure of extreme control over an object, person, or environment, often with supernatural or unusual effects that normal spells can’t achieve. They are semipermanent but can be undone with great knowledge and effort. This type of magic requires the most amount of energy to perform and usually takes a significant amount of time. They also apparently require expensive magical components to perform. I guess it’s essentially some combination of rites and spells being performed individually, but I didn’t really understand that one too well.

Rites are more of a cross between a ritual and a spell. They only need a single caster to perform, but often take a good bit of mana and sometimes magical components. A rite allows a caster to take more control of something than a spell would, but in return it takes longer to cast. Suma said the boding I did with my weapons was a good example of rites. She also said it included summoning, domination, and curses.

Spells were the one she didn’t need to explain much to me. Their quick and easy to perform magical events that require minimum energy and are usually only performed by a single mage. They’re used for everything from day-to-day chores to battlefield attacks. I guess spells make up most of all the magic most people do. Honestly, I just assumed they were all spells, and like different subtypes, but apparently not.

Just as I was about to read the section on magical artifacts again, Suma summoned me. I appeared in a large cavern like place, but made entirely of vines and molded stone. In the room was about twenty-nine Neame of various sizes and colors. Most were shades of blue, then there was the Second-Lieutenant who was white, and there was Odens and Rou.

“Good, now that everyone is here, we can begin.” Second-Lieutenant Datahu said. She flew up and perched on a molded stone column near the front of the room. Beside her were eight other Neame, each with what I figured were high ranking symbol pins of their own. Among the Neame, was the major from our bootcamp.

“Greetings everyone, I am the Major in charge of the Drake Brigade. I am the highest commanding officer in charge of your team, and my job is to oversee the entirety of this operation. You will be organized into four squadrons, each commanded by a Captain and a Lieutenant. You will receive your orders from them, and your missions from me. As a part of the King’s Armed Forces, you will be sent many dangerous locations, and as a part of the Drakes, you will be expected to accomplish the impossible. Each of your squadrons will be mostly comprised of battle mages, your familiars, and one healing mage.”

“Only a single healing mage?” Suma said over our private connection. “That seems dangerous.”

“The reason for this is due to the nature of our operation. The Drakes rely mainly on stealth and RARR tactics. That is: Rapid Assault and Rapid Retreat.” The Major said.

Hit and run style guerrilla warfare. I thought to myself.

“RARR tactics require small squadrons moving quickly and covertly to accomplish their missions. You will be sent behind enemy lines, most of your missions will be without backup, and you could be gone for months at a time on missions if needed. We are now going to break you up into your squadrons. The captains will call your names and numbers, if you hear your name or number, go to the Captain that called it. They will be in charge of your squadron. I wish you all safety, luck, and most importantly… success.” The Major ended his speech, and the first of the four captains began calling out names. Suma and I were in the third squad, which was led by Captain Gigolos, and Second-Lieutenant Datahu.