Chapter 31 - Bel

I don't think I've ever been this excited. Unable to control myself I dart around camp telling everyone I run past that I'm going to be a father. I don't even care that I've left Kor alone in our tent even though I'd felt how hard he was before I left, usually something like that would end up with us making plenty of noise that the other soldiers would poke fun about but not today.

No today I'm ready to announce to the whole world that Emmy is pregnant. Even though there is no way that the baby could biologically be mine the great thing about us all being mates is that the baby is just as much mine as theirs. Already I love the baby just as much as I love my mates, perhaps even more, which something I'm sure all of us can agree on. This child is loved so much.

"I'm going to be a dad!" I say stopping briefly near where a few soldiers are sitting eating their breakfast. They look at me in shock but before they can say anything I race off stopping not far away and repeating myself to another group of soldiers. And another. And another, on and on I race through camp.

Several laps of the camp later after I've told many people, and possibly some of the same people several times, I'm made to stop running by Kor who grabs a hold of me. I'm pulled back against his large chest with his arms wrapped around me to prevent me from running off again and continuing to tell everyone about the baby.

"Time to calm down Bel." He tells me a deep purr rumbling in his chest which really helps me start to relax. Damn dragon knows what his purr does to me.

"Just want everyone to know." I pout leaning my head back to look up at him. Giving a short laugh he leans down to give me a kiss. "Share our happiness."

"And they will but you don't need to be telling everyone this early in the morning. Your tunics on backwards by the way." I look down realising that he's right, in my haste to leave the tent I hadn't dressed properly before I ran out. That's not even it though as I notice that I've somehow managed to put my boots on the wrong feet. Gods I must seem insane.

"Your Majesties. Is something wrong?" Asaroth asks walking over towards us with General Rowe next to him. I guess we do look a bit weird standing in the middle of camp like this especially as my clothes are on backwards and clearly rumpled.

"We received a letter from Hadlau last night. The Queen is pregnant." Kor tells them a small, almost unnoticeable smile, on his face as he gets to say it out loud for the first time.

"I got a bit carried away in wanting to tell everyone." I admit unwrapping Kor's arms from where he's wrapped them around my waist, "Now I should go get dressed." I leave the three of them to it, we'll be moving out soon and I can't do that until I'm properly dressed for the day.

Getting back to our tent I find that Kor has laid out some clean clothes for me along with my spare pair of boots. After so much running around the pair I have on are covered in mud so they'll need to be cleaned, I'll hand them over to a squire before we set out. Chances are they'll be clean by the end of the day.

Pulling on the clean clothes I wash my face before heading back out now that I'm actually ready for the day. We've got another long march ahead of us today, just like the last month. Although based on our estimates we're nearly there and if we can keep our pace then we should be at the border in just over two weeks.

Gods I can't wait to get there. Once we arrive it should be easier to send letters to Emmy and Lilas because we'll finally be in a fixed place and I've even heard that several dragons have volunteered as messengers so our information relay should be much faster. That'll keep Kor and I more informed about the baby. It'll almost make up for us not being there to see it ourselves.

Wandering back out of the tent I find Kor, Asaroth and General Rowe standing around a nearby table looking over a map. Likely planning out today's route and evaluating where we could make camp for the night. I walk over and join them hoping that we'll be able to set out soon.

"-could camp here. It's not too far from some woods so there should be some good hunting, fresh meat for the night. We should send scouts to see it before we commit though." Asaroth is saying as I approach the table.

"This all sounds very interesting but are we setting out anytime soon." I ask impatient to set out and get the march over and done with.

"We'll be setting out soon Bel. Just wanted to go over our options for camp tonight but I think we're nearly done." Kor replies giving the map another look over.

"Yes, we have several options. And I think with how close we are to the border the men aren't too concerned about where we camp, much like King Belath they just want to get to the border." Hasan adds gaining a nod from Asaroth who starts rolling up the map.

"Let's start moving out then." The two of them walk away starting to give orders to the rest of the camp. Despite the early hour the men had already started disassembling the camp but with the order to move out they sped up the process.

"We should get ourselves ready." Kor mutters leading me back into our tent. Silently we grab our light armour and swords, we haven't needed them so far on the march but we've still been wearing them every day.

"Don't forget this." I say passing a cloak into Kor's hands. Being a dragon he runs warmer than a human does so he doesn't need a thick cloak even in this cold weather but I've still been insisting that he wears one. Especially because he demands that I wear one despite not really feeling the cold either and being incapable of becoming ill. Dragon or not Kor can still become ill, as rare as it is there is still a possibility. It's only happened a few times since I've met him each time at least a few hundred years apart.

"Here's yours." He grunts tossing my own at me as he takes his own and puts it on. The cloaks are the same just slightly different colours, grey for me and black for Kor, and lengths that had been gifts from Lilas a few years ago after a particularly cold winter.

Having everything we need for the day's ride we head outside leaving our tent to be dismantled by our squires. They'll pack up the rest of the stuff as well and much better than the two of us ever could. Somehow the manage to finish everyday in time to join the end of the march and are able to get everything set up again at the new camp in time for us to eat dinner.

We head over to where the horses have been kept for the night preferring to tack them up ourselves rather than having a squire do it. Our squires already have enough to do without adding this to the list. It's actually rather calming tacking our horses up together every morning and untacking them at the end of long days ride. In a strange way it calms my mind down in preparation for the mind-numbing boredom of spending the day marching to the border.

With Kor's training the soldiers have the camp dismantled in almost no time and the soldiers fall in line as we set out for the day. Like everyday since we set out from Hadlau Kor and I are at the front of the army surrounded by guards. Today we're joined not just by Asaroth and Hasan but also by Borgan and Halmed who usual ride at the front of their own men rather than with us. Since we've been getting so close to the border they've started riding with us so that we can go over defensive strategies for when we arrive there.

Any strategies are purely hypothetical at the moment but they'll give something to work off when we do finally reach the border. They also have the added benefit of driving off at least some of the boredom that comes with riding mindlessly ahead without anything else to do. I really hope that wherever we camp tonight I can go hunting with Kor to at least do something fun after being stuck on a horse all day. Gods when we get home I could do without even seeing a horse for at least a year if not two.

There is only so long I can hear them debate about what defences might already be in place. I'm sure that they've been going backwards and forwards on the number of archers that they can station at the keeps near the border. Not to mention the potential spaces for catapults which also keeps coming up extending the conversation to possibly hours long.

"How much longer before we get there?" I whine not at all concerned that I sound like a child complaining. I'm not used to such long drawn-out travel even before meeting Kor anytime I needed to get somewhere it was at a run, my vampire speed getting me where I needed or wanted to be in very little time. Not since I was human had getting somewhere been so tedious.

"Should be three weeks at the most. Less if we can keep this pace." Halmed replies glancing at our surroundings, "We're making good progress for the amount of men we have with us." No one knows this area better than him. Originally Halmed was from one of the dwarf cities near here before he came to Hadlau and even now he tries to make a trip home every few years.

"Can't wait." I mutter as they fall back to strategy talk, focused this time on the terrain of the area and the impact it might have. At least it's not archers and catapults anymore.

"If they do manage to make it past our defences this area will be excellent for setting up ambushes to slow them down." Borgan grunts looking around as we slowly walk on. There's a forest to our right and ahead of us we can see the mountains that line our northern border, our destination. It's in sight now but still so far away due to the terrain and the number of men.

"We won't let that happen." Kor states firmly making it clear that there is no other option. Nerkise's army won't be allowed to cross the border let alone start making their way south if they did it would majorly delay our return home to Emmy and Lilas. It's something that I won't let happen either, we'll both do everything in our power to end this war quickly. Even if I have to tear Rhistel's head off with my bare hands to end it.