by Frank Morin
Hamish flew up to the window a moment later, carrying Jean in his arms. Connor opened the window and helped her step inside.
“Sorry we’re late,” Jean said, smoothing her blue dress and her hair that had gotten tousled by the wind.
Hamish dove inside with a forward somersault and rose with a flourish. “Had to throw her over my shoulder and jump out a window to get her out of the hospital.”
“Some of us have work to do,” she said with a mock stern look.
Captain Ilse, who sat across from Evander, held up a fist in salute. “Welcome, our two new Blades!”
The two grinned and Hamish said, “We practiced some before Jean ran off to the hospital. Jean wields a scalpel so fast now, she could carve up just about anyone who messes with her.”
Jean looked appalled by the idea. Aifric said, “If you keep healing like this, the girls will never let me take the control position again. No one will need me around.”
“I doubt that. You’re ten times the Healer I could ever be,” Jean told her as she and Hamish took seats on the other side of Verena, near Evander.
Kilian patted Aifric’s hand reassuringly. “I don’t think the other women could hold you back. You’re one of the strongest personalities of the bunch. We’d miss you.”
She started to blush, then her face shivered slightly as one of the other ladies took over. Her posture straightened a bit and the tone of her voice shifted slightly into Student Eighteen. “Don’t go embarrassing Aifric, Kilian. We can’t have her all flustered. It interferes with her healing.”
Kilian smiled.
Verena nudged Connor with an elbow and whispered, “It’s fascinating to see those two together. I don’t think Kilian really understands what that gaggle of women is doing to him.”
Connor doubted it too. One woman could mess with a man’s mind almost beyond comprehension. At least some of those nineteen women definitely felt attracted to Kilian. Hopefully he recognized the danger.
Shona was regarding Jean with a look of wonder, and she wasn’t the only one. She said, “I was impressed that Connor could help you all establish primary affinities, but I still barely believe you already have such a strong secondary affinity. It’s unprecedented.”
“Hopefully not,” Connor said as Jean blushed under the attention. “I plan to try to create as many as I can.”
“Don’t push too hard, or you could sunder some of them before they settle into their first affinities,” Wolfram warned.
“I’ll explore it with only the most motivated people. I don’t think anyone else could make it work,” Connor agreed.
Shona looked like she wanted to remind him she was motivated to get her own tertiary, but Ivor tapped his knuckles on the table and said, “Keep us posted, Connor. Your efforts will play a critical role, but not the only one. Now that we’re all here, we need to finalize our plans. Time is short.”
Most of the team turned to Evander. He looked unchanged from the last meeting, but Connor spoke up before Evander could. He’d been mulling over some of what Evander had said. “One thing I’ve been thinking about is that sculpted slate.”
Evander extracted the long sculpted stone from his coat. Connor was glad it was Evander guarding it and not himself. He wasn’t sure he could maintain contact with such a powerful stone and resist the urge to tap it. That stone was so powerful he couldn’t help but wonder what he could do with it, but would that make him vulnerable to Earth’s influence?
He said, “We’ve made a point of not discussing one clear option for using that stone, but I don’t think we can afford ignoring any possibilities. With it, we could take out one entire part of the equation. The queen’s army.”
Captain Ilse said, “We talked about the potential for destroying the slate affinity but decided against it.”
“We might want to revisit it,” Connor said. “Fire is already gone and slate is the other most powerful battle stone. If we destroyed slate, there would only be one major battle element still in play.”
Rory glanced at Anika, who seemed to share his thoughts and said, “Without as many tertiaries getting in the way, we could get right to the bash fighting.”
That had tons of merit. Getting the two enormous armies to simply bash fight to exhaustion would be enormously popular among all the Boulders and Rumblers. Connor doubted it would actually accomplish anything as far as resolving the conflict, but it would be a dream come true for all those soldiers.
That wasn’t his point, though. “I was thinking bigger. What if we used the stone to attack them like the queen used serpentinite against Jagdish?”
Silence fell over the group as they considered the idea. Verena looked shocked and exclaimed, “Doing that would not only destroy the slate affinity, but you’d kill her entire army.”
Hamish gaped too, pulling a hard breadstick out of his mouth. Jean looked horrified, but she would since her whole focus was on healing, not killing. Most of the rest of the team looked grave but thoughtful. Connor honestly hated the idea, was not sure he could bring himself to unleash such destruction even upon an army that planned to kill them all, but it was an option they could not ignore.
The group discussed it for a few minutes, trying to separate the horror of what such an action would entail and the tactical pros and cons that might require it. Luckily the consensus very quickly turned against using it.
Captain Rory said, “Not only do I dislike the idea of inflicting universal destruction on an enemy army without giving them the chance to fight for their lives, but many in the queen’s army have been pressed into service. They don’t wish to fight for her, and if we can defeat her I’m convinced many of them will surrender or even switch sides.”
General Wolfram added, “Although it seems obvious to all of us that such an act is beyond what we consider appropriate or moral, that does not mean we can’t use such a suggestion in our ultimate plan.”
Captain Ilse smiled. “Excellent. We’re already feeding misinformation through that speakstone. We could spread a false plan to utilize the stone. We might be able to use that to draw the queen out.”
As they considered that, Ivor grimaced. “The only problem with that is that if the queen seriously thought we were preparing to unleash the stone against her forces and destroy them all, wouldn’t she just come here alone and kill us to take the stone?”
As scary as that idea was Connor said, “But that would separate her from her army, wouldn’t it?”
Shona said, “I would prefer to separate her in a way that did not place this entire city and everyone in it at risk. We might be able to defeat her if she came here, but how many people would die simply because they were standing too close when we started fighting?”
That was an excellent point and Connor did not doubt that if the queen came to Merkland she would come prepared to destroy everyone and everything. He couldn’t see how they could risk it.
Hamish leaned forward excitedly. “Hey, I just got a great idea. What if we gave that sculpted stone to Anton so he can ascend? We could use another ascended Petralist.”
That was an excellent point. Connor often forgot that Anton wasn’t already ascended. He was so powerful, he must be brushing against the threshold all the time already. Then he realized the big flaw in the idea and said, “Except it’s the stone that creates the slate affinity in the first place.”
Hamish slumped back into his chair and pulled a little cake with delicate, white frosting from an inside pocket and shoved it into his mouth. Jean patted his hand and said, “Using that stone to ascend would grant him so much more power just in time to destroy his affinity.”
“The idea of Anton ascending is worth considering, though,” Student Eighteen said.
“Except we don’t have another sculpted slate powerful enough to use,” Shona said.
Verena sighed. “I’m not aware of any, either. Gisela and her team are already working around the clock making low-grade sculpted stones for mechanicals and to supplement the po
wer of Spitters and Sentries. They don’t have the time to create a piece powerful enough for ascension.”
“Could we get one from the king in Edderitz?” Ivor asked.
That was a good idea. Surely the king would be willing to invest a stone from his treasury to help them gain another advantage. Unfortunately, Kilian shook his head. “Anton ascending would indeed help us against Aonghus, but I fear that my mother would sense such an ascension. That returns us to the potential consequence that she might decide to come to Merkland and lay waste to the city.”
Shona said, “My position remains unchanged. We cannot risk her coming here unless there is no other option.”
Connor concealed his frustration as the discussion moved on. Kilian was probably right, but had they just ignored a vital advantage that might prove critical in the upcoming battle?
Kilian was speaking again. “The idea of leveraging the ancient sculpted stone still has merit. Not in luring my mother here, but in using the stone to bring her somewhere else. That sculpted stone is immensely powerful, and no doubt she hopes to reacquire it to bury it again at the convergence point where Evander took it. That would restore slate with far less effort than crafting a new one and starting over.”
Hamish asked, “So how could we use it to lure her somewhere besides Merkland?”
Verena said, “Lure her anywhere. It doesn’t really matter, does it? If she wants the stone, that’s our chance. If we can lure her out to fight us for it, we let her snatch it back. She thinks she’s outfoxed us. Then when she tries to tap it, it’s already quickened. She’d suffer the Nicklaus effect and hopefully be weakened so we could destroy her.”
That was actually a really good idea, but Connor saw the glaring flaw in it. “That won’t work if she acquires it just to bury it again.”
She slumped back in her chair and gave him a sour look. “It was such a good idea, though.”
Evander said, “It is a good idea, and it may provide the path to the final solution. We could indeed attempt to lure the queen away from her army. Our most recent reports from her camp suggest that she understands that we’ve learned about the convergence points and the ramverk, and that fact displeases her. We could indeed send false information and reveal that we plan to destroy the elfonnel slumbering at every convergence point.”
“You wouldn’t really do that though, would you?” Connor asked.
If Evander was right about their purpose, by killing all of those elfonnel, they would in essence destroy all access to the green frequency of power. Sure, most Petralists could not access those levels but Connor could and he shuddered to think of sundering that access.
General Wolfram asked, “Why not? Please do not think me uncaring, Connor, but although such a move would affect you, it would leave the majority of us unaffected. The greatest dangers posed by Queen Dreokt reside within the green frequency, do they not?”
Kilian also looked troubled. He’d been a Petralist for so long. He looked around the table and said, “Such an idea is pretty extreme, but if all else fails, we might need to make the attempt.”
Ivor added, “It’s severe enough that it would definitely draw out the queen. Just listen to us. Most of us are not even the ones who would be affected, but we’re all horrified by the idea. She couldn’t possibly ignore it.”
“I do still think the best option is to destroy the elfonnel slumbering by sandstone,” Evander interjected. “Destroying fleshcrafting is the best option for canceling out my dread grandmother’s invulnerability.”
“That would no doubt draw her to that convergence point,” Jean pointed out.
“We could still reactivate Sucker Punch,” Verena said. They had buried it to make it harder to find, but it was there, and Verena could activate it again, as needed. “But drawing the queen there would make the job of destroying fleshcrafting harder, and she might discover Sucker Punch. It’s still an important advantage. I don’t like the idea of putting that at risk.”
After a moment’s consideration, Evander said, “We could provide the misinformation to lead her to believe we plan to strike at a convergence point farther to the south first. For example, we might suggest that we plan to destroy soapstone first, then slate, thus depriving her armies of both of their battle stones.”
Connor cringed. Destroying those affinities would cripple her most powerful Petralists, but would cripple theirs too.
Ivor whistled softly. “Even hinting that we plan to destroy those affinities would guarantee a reaction.”
“She would no doubt leave her army with the intent of intercepting us at the soapstone convergence point,” Evander said. “Thus providing the opportunity for us to instead destroy the elfonnel slumbering with sandstone. By the time she caught up with us, the elfonnel would be gone and we would be prepared to once again block her from healing through the use of Sucker Punch. She would quickly exhaust the remaining fleshcrafting and finally be vulnerable.”
The idea of losing his fleshcrafting still troubled Connor. There was so much good he hoped to do with it, but he had to admit it was an excellent plan. The thought of destroying affinities at all seemed insane. No wonder the queen had fought so hard to suppress knowledge of the ramverk. Attacking it could destroy all Petralist powers.
After a little more discussion the team agreed to put the plan into place. Even though Verena agreed that it had merit she said, “I still think we shouldn’t ignore the possibility of quickening that stone.”
“If the situation requires it, then I agree we must do so,” Evander said.
Verena held out her hand. “Can I see it?”
Sculpted stones were uniquely precious and priceless, and that particular stone was doubly so, but Evander did not hesitate to hand it across. Verena inspected it closely, sliding her hands over the exquisite carvings and admiring it.
General Wolfram said, “We now have a plan to separate the queen from her forces and to strike at the heart of her greatest powers. That begs the next important question. How to respond to her army?”
Captain Ilse said, “General Aonghus is an unknown quantity with his surprise switch to slate. We don’t know how effective he’ll be, or if the change will cripple him.”
“I plan to make sure he’s more than crippled,” Hamish promised, glancing at Jean, whose expression turned haunted at the mention of General Aonghus.
“The queen’s generals will certainly never surrender,” General Wolfram agreed. “The army is motivated and on the march. If we can separate the queen from it, we should consider altering our battle strategy from simply defending Merkland to taking the fight to the attackers.”
That actually surprised Connor. All of their planning through the winter had been focused around fortifying and defending Merkland and making any attacking army pay dearly before they even reached the famous white walls. It was a little late to change tactics, wasn’t it?
Verena gestured with the sculpted slate, nearly brushing Connor’s skin with it. Power radiated off it like heat. He shivered and only barely restrained the urge to reach out and touch it. She said, “I think that’s a great idea. When that swarm of summoned monsters attacked, we winnowed them down, but we had nowhere else to go once they reached the walls.”
Lady Briet said, “We do have contingency plans in place. Should Merkland fall, we can retreat to Badurach Pass to make another stand.”
Verena nodded but said, “That’s true, but wouldn’t it be better if defending Merkland was our first fallback? All of our reinforcements are at the pass. The flying Battalions are functional. Our army is more mobile than any army in history. Why not take the fight to them?”
Shona seemed ecstatic about the idea of keeping the fighting farther from her beloved city. Ivor rubbed his hands together and said, “They’ll be traveling upriver from Crann. We can hit them anywhere along the way. There are many sections where the land is conducive to an ambush.”
Kilian nodded. “We could strike from multiple sides. As soon as we confirm
my mother is engaged elsewhere, we’ll be free to attack at will.”
General Wolfram grinned like a predator. “They won’t be expecting us to attack them. They’re expecting us to be huddling in fear behind these walls. We could take the momentum of the battle instantly and despite their higher numbers, once we hold that momentum we can keep it.”
Captain Ilse matched his grin. “Then let’s call for some parchment and get into specifics.”
24
Always Ask for Dessert
The specifics Ilse was so eager to dive into quickly turned into ten thousand details. It became clear they would need to schedule meetings with their various staff and officers to prepare detailed battle plans for their individual areas of responsibility. Connor figured it would be hard enough for their core team to manage the summaries. The battle was shaping up to be the most complex engagement ever.
“Let’s focus on the big picture,” Shona said, leaning over a large map of northern Obrion that had been fetched. She pointed at a small town situated about a third of the way south of Merkland toward Crann. “I recommend we prepare our ambush here, at Lossit.”
“It’s a good choice,” Rory said. “I’ve traveled through Lossit a couple times. I think we could leverage the unique terrain there to our advantage.”
“Tell us about it,” Ilse said as the rest of the team leaned over the map. Connor loved maps, ever since the first one he’d seen in General Carbrey’s tent.
“Lossit lies in a flat plain two miles long and over a mile wide on the west side of the river,” Shona explained. “The land rises abruptly in steep cliffs over eighty feet tall all along the western side, forming a half-circle that hems in the land there.”
“Are these four big lakes on the high ground?” Verena asked, pointing at the map.
