Annan knew the names of nearly every veteran who had followed him from Star-Moon Bay to Free City.
But no one had time to grieve. The war was still raging.
That afternoon, the Mad Dog Duke launched his second attack.
This time, no cavalry appeared on the battlefield. Only soldiers in metal armor, carrying Wooden Shields large enough to cover their entire bodies, advanced slowly.
The Magic Muskets' copper bullets struck the Wooden Shields, sending splinters flying, but the soldiers behind them remained unscathed. Even when repeated shots punched through the same spot in a Wooden Shield, the bullets were deflected by the soldiers' metal armor.
Fortunately, the Magic Cannons worked. The dense shield formation advancing so slowly was an easy target; one shot could bring down several shield-bearers. The mages cast Grease and Burning Spell to slow the advance and clear away the Wooden Shields, while Illymoyas led thirteen White Dragons in harassing them from above. The fighting lasted until dusk, when the enemy withdrew, leaving several hundred bodies behind.
But the balance of casualties had shifted.
The Mad Dog Duke lost fewer men in the second battle, while Annan's side lost more: twenty-five killed.
Lord Loran said the Lionheart Knights' Order's commander, Darvey Swann, was an old noble who had lived through many wars. To him, war was like a spinning wheel in a woman's hands, like paint on an artist's brush, like words beneath a poet's pen, like—
"You're using too many comparisons," Annan interrupted.
"Not at all. Lord Darvey Swann is the man I admire most," Lord Loran said earnestly.
"Then you're in luck." Seeing Lord Loran's puzzled look, Annan added, "You have a chance to defeat the man you admire most."
That night, Annan and Olmedo held a "funeral" for the thirty-eight dead soldiers in