"Have Ulki and Janaff returned yet?" Soren asked abruptly.
Tibarn cast the sage a surprised look. "No, not yet. You asked for an in-depth report on a foreign army, did you think they'd be back by lunch?"
Soren scowled. "I don't appreciate the flippancy, Bird King. Yes, I expected your scouts to be back sooner than this. They're supposed to be the best in Tellius."
"They are," Tibarn replied, still calm, fixing the strategist with his dark amber gaze. Soren glared back for a moment before he stalked away, muttering under his breath. Tibarn thought he caught the word "incompetent" more than once, but he let it go. The kid was under a lot of pressure. Besides, that one always seemed to have his robes in a twist. It wasn't like this was new.
Ike sighed, though. "Sorry about that," he muttered.
Tibarn shrugged. "I can deal with it. Man, though, you'd think that they've been gone a month. We haven't even reached the fort at Serpent Pass yet."
"I know." Ike's customary frown was firmly in place today. "Which isn't ideal, of course. But if we have trouble getting up here, then so will they."
"Except they won't be lugging wounded," Tibarn felt obliged to point out in his usual sophisticated way.
"True. But didn't one of your men just report that the path is still flooded?"
"Yes, it is."
"And the dragons are in Daein, on their way to the fort. So that's good news." He sighed and ran his hand through his short blue hair.
"General Ike?"
Tibarn was pretty sure he was the only one who heard the small growl Ike let out at the sound of that title. "Yes, Empress Sanaki?" the tall beorc replied calmly enough.
The Empress of Begnion — still a midget, so she rode a borrowed pegasus instead of trying to keep up on her short legs (not that there was a creature in Tellius brave or stupid enough to say that to her face) — brought her steed to ground to pace alongside Ike and Tibarn. "We received a message from Lehran," she announced. "The rest of the Begnion Central Army is camped in Daein, near the foot of the mountains." She eyed the surrounding peaks and mist. "We can call reinforcements from them as needed, but I'm sure you agree that it's not feasible to call the entire Central Army up into the mountains. It's simply too big."
Ike nodded. "Yeah, I know. They're fine where they are for now. We can join up with them when the snow falls or we lose this fort, whichever comes first."
Sanaki raised her eyebrows. "Always the optimist."
"As a General, I don't think I'm supposed to be optimistic, Empress."
The girl almost smiled. "Perhaps that's true. Still, I don't understand why you're always so surly about leading the army."
Tibarn swallowed a laugh at the expression on Ike's face as he looked carefully away from Sanaki. Ike was biting his tongue in a big way.
They were both saved, however, by the beat of tired wings above them. "King Tibarn!" Janaff's voice called. "We're back!"
"I can see that," the hawk king replied. "All right. Come on, then: we'd better go see the snarky little strategist."
Author's note: Sorry for how short that ended up being, and very sorry for no update yesterday. Homework being the bane of creativity, I have not had as much time or inclination as one would hope. But, I promise not to abandon the story, even if I can't update as often as I'd like. Thank you guys so much for the reviews and for sticking with this story. If there's anything that you guys would like to see — places, people, cool ideas — let me know and I'll try to work them in. This is for fun, after all, and every story needs a little filler. Hopefully the next chapter I post will be longer and more interesting.