Chapter 56

Ildri glanced at every prone body that she saw lying on the ground and every man that she saw walking around. Most did not pay her any mind.

"Who are you?" asked a soldier suspiciously. She recognized him vaguely and thought that his name was Derrick.

"Er, I'm... Ivan?" she said unconvincingly. "Derrick, I'm just—"

"My name's Erich, and I don't care. I'll be taking any suspicious people to his lordship. Best if you don't struggle."

"Listen, please—"

Ildri felt a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine, Erich. I know... Ivan," said a very familiar voice.

"Ty," Ildri said in a voice embarrassingly like a squeal. "Er, Lord Tyson! You're all right!"

"And why wouldn't I be, Ildri?" he asked as Erich left them.

"Maybe because you're in a war, obviously. How did you know it was me anyway?" she asked.

"You're swimming in magic, and you still look quite a bit like yourself. And you still walk like a girl, and talk like a girl even if your voice is different and you're larger and your face is more angular."

"I don't talk like a girl," Ildri disagreed.

"Yes, you do. That little squeal? Very feminine. And you still smell like you."

"What?"

"Never mind. Forget I said that. What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about... everyone."

"You should have stayed where it was safe," he said.

"Probably. But I didn't. I wanted to help."

Ty shrugged. "You're helping by... how?"

Ildri wrinkled her nose. "I'm not leaving unless Lord Wildwood makes me."

"Oh, yes. Of course, if Lord Wildwood says it you'll do it."

Ildri scowled. "Now that I know you're fine I have to get back to where he told me to wait."

"Fine. Take care," Ty said, although he sounded like he did not much care if she did or not.

"Fine," Ildri agreed and she stormed off to where she had been told to wait. She felt like crying frustrated tears. She came all this way for what? For Ty to be cold and nasty to her, that's what. She wondered if she was in a lot of trouble with Lord Wildwood, too. And all for nothing! She had not helped at all. A wasted, ridiculous effort.

Ildri sat down on the ground and waited for what felt like a really long time. People moved around with obviously various tasks related to organizing and defence. Ildri sat there uselessly. After a while Jim and Anya returned and waited with her.

Anya leaned her head on Jim's shoulder and Ildri felt very alone. She supposed that it was better than sitting alone, however. At least Jim's presence kept people from asking too many questions of the strange supposed men in the camp, although a few people stopped to gawk at him and the still rather masculine looking Anya leaning on him.

Finally Lord Wildwood returned and Ildri noted that Lady Theresa was still looking very male even though the potion had begun to wear off of Anya.

"I've decided that you two will stay here, but you will continue taking that potion regularly, Ivan and Andrew."

"Thank you, my lord," Anya said, and she immediately dug around in her bag and took a swig of the potion. Her features lost more of their femininity again and it seemed to remind her that she was supposed to be a man, because she moved away from Jim.

Ildri took a drink of her own and Lord Wildwood kept talking. "Do your best to blend in. You will all follow orders if and when I give them, and until then you will remain here in the middle of camp."

Lady Theresa narrowed her eyes.

Before she could speak he continued. "The three of you were eager to be part of this army, and now I will allow it. But my commands are not to be questioned, here."

Ildri and Anya nodded and even Lady Theresa gave a slight movement indicating her agreement, reluctant though it might be.

Lord Wildwood spoke again. "Your familiars need to stay out of the way, too. I don't want anyone to know who you are. Order them to remain hidden or to return home."

Ildri and Anya nodded again, although Ildri wondered if she would be able to follow that order.

* * * * *

Thus Ildri found herself cooking alongside her lady and Anya. It was like her life had come full circle. Lady Theresa was muttering something under her breath about a tyrant and Anya was working without complaint.

Erich the soldier came up. "So who are you again?" he asked.

Ildri recited the story Lord Wildwood had given them. "I'm Ivan and this is Tom and Andrew. We lived on farms outside Wildwood and we felt inspired to follow the army."

"So very inspired," Lady Theresa repeated in a very flat tone.

"We were a little late," added Anya helpfully.

Erich shrugged. "I heard that you saved Lord Wildwood, Andrew, so I'd say that you got here just in time."

Anya shrugged. "I was just at the right place at the right time," she said.

"Really, though, I've heard that it was a wizard who was cloaked so that Lord Wildwood would not notice that he was there. How did you do it, Andrew?" the soldier asked with what might have been admiration and keen interest.

"Er, instinct, I guess."

"You certainly have good instincts then. And I heard you knocked out a couple of enemies, too, Ted."

Lady Theresa shrugged. "They were in my way."

"It's impressive as you've had no training yet managed all that. We need good soldiers on our side if we're to have a chance of turning this thing around. I wonder why Lord Wildwood stuck you three cooking when you could be so much more useful elsewhere."

"I wonder that, too," she agreed very dryly.

Ildri sighed. Erich continued babbling about the state of the king's army, if it could even be called that since he was not present. Ildri already heard what was going on and the entire situation depressed her. The entire castle had been taken over and the royal family was prisoner, although apparently still alive. The king's army was a ragtag bunch of the remaining loyal lords and soldiers and was greatly outnumbered by the opposing forces. It seemed apparent that a great many of the noble families or Edelland were holding back and waiting to see who won before declaring their support for any particular side. Everything was absolutely bleak.

And she was sitting here cooking.

Finally Erich left. Ildri hauled a great vat over above the fire, filled it with water and threw some substandard vegetables inside it. She left it to boil.

"If I had known it would be like this I would have stayed with Lillie," Lady Theresa muttered as she kicked the makeshift cooking table. "Ouch!" she snapped and eyed the table darkly, as if it had been the table's fault.

Ildri felt bad for her. "Oh, my lady, I mean, Tom."

"I'm sorry I allowed you two to do this," Lady Theresa said glumly, as she sat down on the ground. Ildri did not care that she was not helping because the lady was basically useless in a cooking capacity even when she was trying to help.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Anya said.

"My idiotic husband just doesn't want to see us get hurt. As intelligent as he is he cannot seem to get it through his thick skull that I am as worried about him as he is about me."

Anya smiled a bit. "Jim's resigned to not ordering me around, but he does try to reason me into agreeing with him."

"Wildwood has his good points, too. When he's not driving me to distraction," Lady Theresa allowed.

Ildri sighed and stirred the boiling vegetables. It would be a tolerable soup when she was done with it.

"Bloody mess, lady," she heard a voice say softly. Ildri jumped.

"I didn't know she knew how to whisper," Anya commented, looking at the bird.

"Me neither," Ildri said as she looked at her familiar. "Normally she screeches, but I think it's because she likes attention. "Keziah, you know you are supposed to stay hidden except at night."

"Bloody bloody blood mess," Keziah repeated as if for emphasis.

"Go, Keziah."

Keziah gave Ildri a sharp look then turned and flew out of sight into the green.

Lady Theresa scowled. "She's absolutely right. This is a bloody, bloody mess." She stood up. "I'm through with this. He will listen to what I have to say." And with that, she walked away and out of sight amongst the tents.

"Is she—he allowed to do that?" Ildri asked.

Anya shrugged. "I don't think that Ted cares either way."

"I hope Ted doesn't make life harder for us."

"Lord Wildwood won't punish us for the actions of Ted," Anya said.

Ildri sighed. She remembered how satisfying cooking for people used to be. It was not the pathetic cooking tools nor the poor ingredients that was stealing her pleasure at the task. She was feeling dissatisfied because she had not come here for this, and now she was stuck doing exactly what she had always done, like nothing had changed, when everything had changed.

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