by Zack Finley
"Jorvik is on his way back," I told the room.
All reacted as if this was a signal for everyone to return to their seats and look at the door, waiting for Jorvik.
Jorvik and Orik brought in two men from the Losan King's Guard and Arla, King Arvich's transport mage. After the guardians assured themselves King Arvich was unharmed, the guard stood at attention in Ramda's office waiting to escort him elsewhere. Arla sat at King Arvich's side, poised to teleport him away given any sign of threat.
Refreshments arrived just as we were settling back at the table after introductions.
King Arvich asked Arla to have the lead mage from the king's guard join us but to keep the entire matter a complete secret from anyone, not present.
King Rufix seemed amused to have a Losan meeting break out in his office. He offered to leave us to our planning but agreed to stay after King Arvich gruffly asked him to. Rufix asked Ramda to provide refreshments for the armorer guild members waiting in the ballroom.
King Arvich greeted Jorst, the Losan guard lead mage when he arrived and asked Jorvik to brief him. Arvich and Rufix continued chatting amiably, still catching up after decades of absence. Everyone gave them space while waiting for the meeting to restart. Argon and I stuffed our plates from the sideboard while Inoa sipped chee and nibbled on tidbits.
With Jorvik communicating mentally, it only took a moment to have everyone back on the same page.
"King Arvich, with your permission, we are ready to proceed," Jorvik stated.
I was impressed how quickly Jorst and Arla got past their shock.
"King Arvich, this explains much I have observed in recent weeks," said Jorst standing at the table. "Officers I have known and respected for years in the king's guard were cashiered on the flimsiest excuse. Commander Allixon, who once met weekly with the mage corps, canceled all of our meetings beginning three months ago. He only met with our captain, who was as puzzled about this change as we were. Of course, I never imagined anything this bad," he looked around trying to find the words but failing. "You can count on us," he ended, sitting down, clearly communicating he felt he had failed his king.
At least no one denied the pending rebellion. Inoa shared the identities of the coup leaders with the mages at the table. She indicated we needed to either kill or incapacitate them before they could communicate with anyone if we wanted to gather all parts of the plot. Capture was preferable; as it would allow us to ensure we determined everyone responsible.
"In Augun the traitorous head of the secret police duped many to take part who thought they were helping the kingdom. Other participants were bribed to look the other way. Few realized they were part of a plot to crush the kingdom," I added. "The plotters maintained good operational security."
Inoa and Argon used the time waiting for Jorvik's return to prep dossiers on each of the 19 at-large Losan plotters, based on the information gleaned from Allixon. Argon sent a set to Ramda and asked if she could turn them into something for the kings to review. In only a few minutes, Ramda brought copies of the dossiers, minus the photos, for the two kings.
Argon just patted me on the hand when I mentally asked how it was possible, indicating we could discuss it later.
Inoa interrupted the study of the dossiers. "When we targeted those in another plot we hit them all at once. We used a combination of battle mages and king's guard for each raid. You should consider something similar to avoid triggering different aspects of the coup. For example, it is much easier to knock out a boatload of slavers and marauders before they disperse into the countryside. Remember mages are much easier to stun or kill if they aren't expecting an attack. You do not need me to plan your actions. I'll be available to Steve and Argon for consultation as needed. I will forward any new information I get from the Allixon imposter. I will also interrogate any captured mage you send me." With that announcement, she teleported out, stunning most in the room.
"You should take Inoa up on her offer about the interrogation," I said. "Questioning these mages is very tricky due to their death geas. She has learned ways to avoid triggering the geas while also learning much about the conspiracies. I suspect we will all benefit from her handling the interrogations and comparing what she learns with what she has already uncovered, but that is your choice."
"I endorse using Inoa for your interrogations. She is an extraordinary talent," said King Rufix. "I will leave you now to discuss how you wish to proceed. Feel free to stay as long as you like, Ramda can contact me should you need my help. If you wish to meet with the rest of your mages in the ballroom it has an area you can use as well. We are very limited on trained fighters after losing so many in the coup, but I'll have my commander round up a company of experienced Augun King's Guard to stand by in case you need them. I will not tell him where they may be assigned, for operational reasons."
King Rufix stood up from the table and looked toward Argon and I. "I urge you to recruit these two to assist in the raids. They personally killed or captured the entire Augun cell by themselves."
I was tempted to follow Rufix out, but Jorvik mentally asked us to stay.
King Arvich took charge.
"While I do not approve of the tactics which brought us here," Arvich scowled at me, "I cannot ignore the message. Our kingdom is under siege. We don’t know who we can trust to save it. While we know the identities of the foreign agents fomenting this crisis, we don’t know how far this corruption has spread. With mages at the heart of the coup, we will need mages to thwart it. I also think it is prudent to prevent information about our actions from getting back to the group fomenting this terrorist plot. While I would normally look to the king's guard to lead such an effort, this option is obviously not available to us." King Arvich paused to look around the table and seemed pleased with what he saw.
"We need to locate these assassins and strike quickly. Let’s take King Rufix's suggestion and move to the ballroom. Jorst, have your entire squad meet us there but retain strict operational security. I only want this operation discussed only here in Augun, where it won’t be overheard by the wrong people."
I stopped to talk with Ramda as we trooped through her office on our way to the ballroom.
"Olive is pulling together a group of Augun King's Guard for immediate deployment. She has volunteered to lead it. The king has agreed. She hasn't been told where they are going, but she said if you are involved she knows it is important," Ramda said.
"Tobron, I need you to meet us in the Augun ballroom with at least 20 mind shields. Also, alert the duchy guard to be ready for deployment within the hour," I sent.
"On my way," sent Tobron, "should I bring Erik?"
"Yes, I should have thought of that," I sent back. I was pleased Tobron was already thinking about the pending action in Losan.
When we walked into the ballroom, the place was crawling with mages. Jorvik had had his guildmates push tables together in the corner of the ballroom, anticipating the arrival of a lot more people. Two Augun King's Guard members remained on duty at the ballroom teleport node but had orders to give the Losan group space.
Tobron and Erik 'ported in just as we arrived. Tobron held up the mind shields, and I took them. I wasn't sure where they would be of most help, but I wanted any mundanes taking part in the operation to have one.
"I brought 15 mage cuffs," Tobron sent. "It was all Inoa could get released for use outside Klee. When we get back, I'll commission the Klee Mage Guild to create a batch for the Duchy."
"Good plan; I still have two pairs from this morning's operation, so we have enough," I sent back as the four of us sat at a table next to Jorvik.
King Arvich authorized Jorvik and Jorst to brief the assembled mages. While they met with their teams, Argon murmured to Erik about the pending mission. We still didn't know what role we would be expected to play. Tobron was eager to take part.
Jorst stood up within a few minutes and pointed out Erik. "That man is not a mage, but I cannot read him." Several of Jorst's mage c
orps stood up ready to strike Erik, prompting me to enclose the four of us in a stout force field. "He is the sergeant in the Toffad Duchy Guard," I announced. "I volunteered to bring my guard to assist in Losan. I thought it was good for you to see the effectiveness of our mind shields. He and his men will accompany us in the field without giving away our actions."
Jorst had his men stand down after King Arvich signaled him to back off.
I disabled the force shield, although Argon had hers ready on a hair trigger. "All of my guards have similar shields, and I am prepared to equip the volunteered company of Augun King's Guard as well. While I hope we capture all of the foreign mages tonight while they sleep, I suspect we may need more manpower to arrest their followers. You may wish to arrest or detain any non-mages helping the plotters."
King Arvich stood up, cutting off any further comments from his group.
"If we cut off the head of this plot, we can wrap up the remnants at our leisure," declared King Arvich. "Doing that will be difficult and dangerous. It is hard for me to admit it but we need help from outside our kingdom. I want Steve to lead the counterattack. Steve, you have clearly thought about how we should proceed."
I was stunned, I expected the king to have either Jorvik or Jorst lead the effort, but I couldn't shrink from any challenge. Jorst's group began muttering amongst themselves. I suspected they had expected him to lead. If the armorers were surprised they discussing it mentally.
After I stood up, it took a gesture from King Arvich to silence Jorst's team of mages.
"Unlike the rest of you, we have been dealing with these rogue mages for weeks, not minutes. Some of those we faced in Augun were strong battle mages, but not all were very skilled. The key to gathering them all up is to capture or kill them before they can communicate with their fellow conspirators. I prefer to capture rather than kill only because we gain more intel that way," I said, looking at the more than 40 mages gathered around me.
"We first have to locate the 19 assassins. The Allixon imposter knew where about half were staying, but the rest could be anywhere in the kingdom tonight. We need to locate and capture them, and we have little time to do it. Especially if we are limited to those inside this room," I said.
"Jorvik between you and King Arvich, please come up with an excuse that gives the king and Allixon an alibi to stay away from the royal keep and out of sight until tomorrow morning. We need a cover story that doesn't alert any of the assassins in the near term. Inoa says the coup leaders have a mental conference each morning and only report to one another outside of that conference for important issues," I said. "King Arvich, I also want to recruit more Losan mages to help find the nine missing assassins. We need to bring in trusted members of the Losan Mage Guild. I don't know them well, so you and Jorvik should discuss this." Jorvik nodded. He, King Arvich and Arla moved to the edge of the table to work out their strategy.
"Jorst, Allixon likely has someone watching your offices. You need a plausible reason for your entire group to be absent for the rest of the day. Please communicate it to your captain. It would be better if he remained on duty and clueless about the real reason for the absence. If you need to, leave a few of your mages behind until end-of-shift."
"Blarn is my second in command," said Jorst. "He will keep me apprised of the plans, while I lay the false trail." Jorst teleported out.
"Argon will meet with each of you to assess your skill set as Orik, Blarn and I meet to discuss initial tactics."
Blarn and Orik headed my way as Argon gathered the Losan mage corps and armorers together. Tobron moved to assist Argon and Erik stuck to my side.
"We need to stake out the locations for these 10 mages," I placed the 10 dossiers corresponding to our known assassins on the table. "We need a good place to stage in each location, including a good teleport site. Right now, we just need a quick recon. I don't know what teleport locations your teams have. Those who can get there the quickest should go to the location and report once you have a staging location. Do that now." Blarn and Orik began polling their teams.
Within a few minutes, we had four Losan king's mages and six armorers standing in front of us. Blarn spoke for the group. "These men have teleport locations not far from the target locations."
"How are their mind shields?" I sent to Argon. "Not bad, it will do for a quick foray, but we will need to toughen them up before final deployment," she replied.
"We have a lot to do today," I told the 10 mages standing in front of me. "This is not the right time to be heroes. This is the time to slip in, gather intel, and slip out. No one should know we were there. Do you understand?" I waited until each nodded in turn. "Go." In a flicker, they were gone.
The mass teleport silenced the room momentarily. I noticed Arla had also teleported away and Jorvik and King Arvich walked over to sit with me.
Jorvik grinned. "We have our alibis set. The discovery of the lost armors has precipitated a big celebratory dinner, which the king has commanded Allixon to attend with him. Arla is taking care of the schedule issues. She is meeting with the other three king's transport mages and will send them here promptly."
"What about the mage guild, can they help us locate the other nine assassins?" I asked.
"I am wary of bringing them in as a group. While I doubt they would knowingly take part in an attempted overthrow, I could see them as unwitting participants," said King Arvich.
"Are there any you trust?" I asked.
"Yes, and Arla will bring them," the king sighed. "There are so few of them. I regret having allowed things to slide for so long, I have become insulated from my people and have so few I personally know and trust."
"I'm gathering my guild," said Jorvik. "Everyone is coming ostensibly to see the lost armor and to meet with the king. They will all be wearing their best combat armor and weapons. I am not worried about traitors, we scanned all of our masters last night, and the masters scanned all of their apprentices when they reported to the forges this morning. All my masters are battle tested and understand operational security. They do not know what is afoot, but they will be ready to help when we need them."
Jorst 'ported in as we turned to locating the remaining nine. "My group has been invited to view the lost armor at the armorers' guild," Jorst said, joining us. "My captain is miffed we were invited, and he wasn't. He agreed to release my men early so they can get ready. He doesn't realize we left early."
"It will be better if we can find the remaining nine before we start our operations," I said. By then, I had everyone gathered around me, with some of Jorst's men crowding behind those seated to hear. Argon and Tobron sat across the table.
"Does anyone have any ideas on locating our missing assassins?" I asked loudly.
"About half have business on the docks," said one armorer. "Send out several mages with good mind magic to figure out where they were last seen."
I already decided to do this but having it endorsed was good.
Two armorers and two king's mages volunteered to scout the ports. I put them with Argon to prepare. Argon helped them fine-tune their mind reading apps, including adding a mage detection pulse. She also strengthened their mind shields. She must have messaged Ramda because a few minutes later a messenger arrived with some cloaks for the scouts to wear over their armor.
Argon took charge of the communication nexus, setting up several communication channels for this operation. She established the communications channel for the entire taskforce where she posted the dossiers, a subchannel for the four scouts headed to the docks plus a command channel shared between us, Jorvik, Orik, Blarn, and Jorst.
"Concentrate on the mundanes. We cannot afford to alert any of the foreign mages. Right now, their weakest links are their mundane accomplices. Some of the mundanes will have mind shields, but unless they have improved a lot, you can read through them. These murderers are counting on normal mages not caring enough to make an effort. Also, at this point, they haven't committed any crimes or atrocities, so they don't hav
e to be very careful. I suspect you will find some of them have berths aboard ships and others may have rooms in the two warring camps. If you spot one of the targets, report in and shadow them until someone relieves you," I looked to Jorvik and Jorst, but they had nothing more to add, and we sent the scouts off.
Argon moved through the remaining mages, helping them strengthen their shields and mind reading apps.
"It may be impossible for us to randomly locate any of the remaining mages, but we must try. Any suggested locations for monitoring?" I asked.
Someone produced a map of the city of Losan, and everyone began making suggestions. I was pleased it took Jorvik and Jorst only a few moments to bring order to the chaos. Soon after, mages began teleporting out. I was pleased someone had marked where our 30 mages were going on the map. The armorers were sending 10-minute updates to Orik; Blarn was getting similar updates from the guard mages.
I was getting impatient for our first 10 to start arriving where our known assassins were. Once we had nearby teleport locations, Argon or I would teleport in to verify identity and scope out the best way to take them down. We might even take them into custody immediately, depending on the situation.
