Reborn: Flames of War by D. W. Jackson

many mages. I don’t plan to have a full scale battle here, but instead it will let us escape and alert the city about the war. From what I understand, the king wants to keep the fact we escaped as secret so the attack will come during the day for all to see.”
    “You just don’t want to look like a dog running away with its tail between its legs,” Eun quipped in a teasing tone, something she did far too often.
    “True, escaping at night would once again make us appear weak while a daytime assault will show that we can attack anyplace within the kingdom at will. I think it is well worth the risk,” Ash explained.
    “Well I know of one way to help pass the time,” Seia said as she moved next to Ash wrapping her long tail around his waist. “We haven’t had much time alone, but right now it is only us here so we might as well use it.”
    “True, once we join the main army it will be impossible to have any time alone with our lord,” Celina said moving up to the other side of Ash.
    Mia just laughed and clung to Ash’s back. Within moments Ash was under attack from an enemy he could do nothing about. He knew he would be defeated, but even kings must lose a battle from time to time and who better to lose against than his wives.
    “So be it,” Ash said giving Seia who was currently closest a quick kiss.

11-9
    Two days passed quickly. With only the news he got from Lath once a day, Ash was starting to grow restless. So far the king had kept the declaration of war a secret and was moving to make it seem as if the demons were attacking without cause or warning. At the same time he was starting to mobilize his troops though the official reason was because of the rumors of the war with a neighboring country that have been circulating for over a year now among the people. Most of the nobles knew that it was more than a rumor since the kingdom had been calling on extra supplies while moving troops toward the border, but now those orders had been changed to move them toward what had once been the Hawkwing duchy. Sadly the common people did not know about this since it was a well-kept secret.
    Other than the movements of the Heluria forces, Ash had finally received news about his own forces. Just as ordered, his army was starting their march, though one small detail had left him stunned. The army did not march alone. Emelia had been able to gather just under a thousand soldiers mostly made up of demi-humans and was marching alongside the demon army flying her own flag. Ash had expected Emelia to send troops, but he had not expected her to join the battle herself since she was physically weak when it came to fighting.
    Ash didn’t like the idea of Emelia being anywhere close to the front lines, but he had little say in the matter. She was now a queen just as he was a king. What was he going to say? “I can go to war, but you are not allowed to.” She would just laugh in his face and it would be the start of a fight that he couldn’t win. There was no upsides to the argument so Ash decided to keep those particular feelings to himself.
    So far to his knowledge, his army hadn’t attacked a city yet and were marching slowly, waiting for him to arrive, but most likely they would have a couple of battles under their belt before Ash was able to arrive since he planned to come over land with the small force that was amassing outside the capital.
    Ash could simply use the large number of eagles that he had brought to fly directly to the larger camp as he originally planned, but he had decided against it. He wanted to make a show that he could do as he pleased. Ash had tried to play the nice guy, but the king had tried to walk over him and it had stirred his ire. Ash knew that a large number of humans and demons would die, but for some reason that didn’t bother him as much as it did only a few months before.
    Ash didn’t know if that was because he was getting used to the idea of killing or if it was because the current world