Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset

by James Osiris Baldwin

  “Lucien,” I admitted. “I… I dunno, Karalti. It took a while to really sink in, but I think what happened back in Taltos is finally getting to me. What’s the point in training that hard if my rivals can just cheat their way up? Max stats and everything.”

  Karalti rumbled, her crests flattening. “The point is… we train. Everything we have, we earned. Together.”

  I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. Then, I smiled.

  “Alright. Let’s take a couple hours.” I drew a deep breath and looked up at her. “After that, we have to go back to Korona and deliver some bad news, and hope to RNGesus that we don't lose all the Renown we just gained."

  Chapter 41

  Four hours later, all three Starborn, one dragon, and every major Hero of the Defense Force were seated in the Korona War Room. Before they had arrived, I’d ordered the room cleaned, cups and bottles removed, and the reeds on the floor changed. The Officer's Mess had been closed - the officers would eat with their troops from now on. The fancy candelabras had been moved in here to give more light to the windowless room. I ordered that the officers’ reserved snacks – the cheese, fruits and candies - be distributed. The candies and fruit were sent to the Engineer Corps while the cheese was sent to the Orphans. I had Istvan draft letters to go with the gifts: an invitation for Master Artificer Viktor of Provern and Taethawn the Bleak to attend the War Council.

  Both Viktor and Taethawn were seated at the table tonight. The Master Artificer of House Soma was so old that his neck looked like a turkey's wattle, wobbling beneath the edge of a weak chin. His eyes were piercing though, dark and intelligent. He was visibly anxious: perched on his seat and rubbing his knees, shoulders taut. By contrast, Taethawn the Bleak was sprawled in his chair like… well… a cat. He had one leg hooked over the arm, one foot resting on the ground, his arms flung over the back and side. His tail danced through the gap between the seat and the cushion. He was easily the tallest Meewfolk I’d ever met – taller than Soma at a full stretch, which made him close to seven and a half feet. He had a scrappy, piratical appearance: His eyes were mismatched – one bright blue, one amber - and his chipped ears were heavy with rings and jewels. His pure white fur was tinged brown with grime, shaved in places to reveal jagged tribal tattoos. According to Rin, they marked him as a criminal and an outcast from Meewhome – something he was apparently proud of.

  Suri and Karalti sat knee to knee, more comfortable around one another than I’d ever seen them. Rin was seated across from Viktor and looked almost as anxious. Istvan, Ur Gehlan and Admiral Gehlan – who were indeed younger and elder brothers – sat side by side. Lazar and Lord Zediwitz took up the other seats: the medic was dignified and crane-like, while Zediwitz fidgeted and sweated in his fine armor. Last of all were Vash and Zlaslo. They were both on their feet, Vash with his hands folded in front of him like a bouncer beside the door, and Zlaslo leaning indolently against the opposite wall.

  I arranged the final markers on the battle map and then took my place at the head of the table. “Alright, everyone. Thanks for coming. Viktor, Taethawn.” I nodded to each of them. “We’re definitely glad to have the Orphans on our side.”

  “Such is the effect of my gallant Company on the massesss, My Lord,” Under the hiss, Taethawn had a strong, musical accent straight out of South-East Asia. “We figured Prezyemi to be a hopeless messs, but with that woman on your side and Lord Pigsty out of the way, I finally have hope for the future of thiss province.”

  “How did these two convince you to come back?” Istvan motioned to me and Suri.

  “How d’ya think, mate? I kicked his fuckin’ arse, is what I did.” Suri had her arms crossed, knees spread, her heels planted on the floor. “He loved every minute of it, too.”

  “She put me in a masterful headlock. I have never been ssso scared and yet so aroused at the sssame time.” Taethawn’s tail lashed slowly from side to side.

  “You deserted us when I needed you most, Taethawn,” Istvan said sourly. “Can we trust you now?”

  “Of course. As long as the pay isss good.” Taethawn squinted his eyes like a smug cat. “But you can come down from your tall hookwing, Arshak. Sssoma makes deserters of us all, doesn’t he?”

  Istvan bristled.

  “Whatever anyone did in the past is being put aside,” I said, before the Captain could retort. “Including Soma. The undead are marching north, and if they reach Vastil Pass, Vlachia is fucked. The Sathbar Plains-” I nodded to Taethawn “-will be their first target. We know what the Demon wants now, and he won’t stop until he’s found it.”

  Vash grunted. “You know, do you? Then tell us: why is this walking corpse swizzling his dick in our province?”

  “Eww.” Rin grimaced.

  I leaned forward on my hands. “The swizzler’s name is Ashur of the Ten Thousand Swords. He’s a Napathu general, a servant of the Breathless. He’s here to dig Matir out of his Dragon Gate and kill him.”

  A murmur of disbelief rippled around the room.

  “That is absurd,” Admiral Gehlan rumbled.

  “I have multiple sources. The first clue was when one of the undead officers said something to me on the battlefield. He told me that the Napathu were here to ‘take back what we stole’. Just recently I learned that Matir is entombed here, in Myszno. His Dragon Gate used up all the mana from Napath. It had to be done to create the Caul of Souls, but Napath doesn’t see it that way.” I tapped the mountains in the south. “Matir is somewhere down here. Ashur is using a magical artifact to remotely draw energy from the Dragon Gate, and that’s how he’s raising and maintaining his army.”

  “But he already has the south,” Rin said. “So why is he advancing north?”

  I traced a line up from the approximate location of the gate, all the way to where Karalti had picked me up. “Because when the Gates were built, his consort, Lahati, had her tomb constructed as a mirror to Matir’s and then had her descendants spread and maintain the rumor that her resting place was the real Dragon Gate. It’s not, but Ashur doesn’t know that.”

  “That sounds like something the Black God would do.” Lazar nodded.

  “This all sounds like fairy tales to me.” Admiral Gehlan shook his head. “Matir? Dragon Gates? How do you know all this?”

  “I went to Lahati’s Tomb and spoke with her.” I regarded him flatly.

  There was an awkward pause, until Vash giggle-snorted.

  “You know that Yanik lore about there being a city under the swamp?” I looked to Istvan and Zlaslo. “It’s true, kind of. Lahati told me this entire province was one draconic city. The city was destroyed at the end of the Drachan War.”

  “The entire province?” Lord Zediwitz’s moustache bristled. “That seems impossible.”

  “Well, we’re pretty big.” Karalti replied, blinking at him. “And every Queen must have her own territory. Even sisters will battle for land if there is not enough of it. Dragon cities don’t look like human cities.”

  “Did this city sink into the mire, as the stories say?” Istvan asked.

  I wanted to shake my head, but after a moment’s hesitation, I nodded instead. There were some things they didn’t need to know yet. “Yeah. But now we know why Ashur is here, we know what he wants. And we have to keep up the ruse.”

  “Right. Because if he realizes he’s sitting on the Gate already, we’re screwed,” Suri said. “Can he like… open this temple or whatever it is?”

  “No. But he has an Artifact he can use to siphon energy.” I reached back and patted the haft of the Spear. “It’s a stone like this ruby. Both the Gate and the Star of Endless Night have some powerful magic worked into them, including the magic of misdirection. Ashur knows the Gate is here, but not where. He’s following the old legends, trying to push north to Lahati’s Tomb.”

  “Oooh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Rin nodded.

  “That intel will inform our strategy moving forward.” I drew a deep breath. “First thing I want to do is reassign some command pos
itions. Istvan, I’m reinstating you as Commandant of the Defense Force. Lord Zediwitz, you’re Captain of our Heavy Cavalry. I want the two of you to collaborate closely with Taethawn on tactics and training.”

  “Yes sir,” Istvan gave me a nod.

  Zediwitz struck his chest with his fist, moustache bristling. “As you command, Your Grace!”

  The Meewfolk man squinted his eyes.

  “Suri, Vash, I want you to work under Istvan as his Lieutenants, with a focus on infantry” I looked to her. “With the two of you buffing the front line, they stand a chance going forward.”

  Suri’s golden eyes flashed dangerously. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”

  “I wouldn’t nominate you if you didn’t,” I replied.

  She hesitated, then nodded. “Alright. Never been a Lieutenant before. Think you can handle me, Vash?”

  “In any way the lady could possibly desire.” He bowed from the waist.

  “Viktor, I would ask you to remain in your current post as commander of the Engineer Corps, but take Rin as your First Officer,” I said to him. “I’m hopeful we can bring Lord Soma around in the near future, but until then, you’re in charge.”

  “As you say, Your Grace.” The older man stopped scrubbing at his thighs and relaxed back on his seat. “Uhh… what would you have us focus our efforts on? Lord Soma had us bent to the task of creating portable magical shield generators.”

  “We’ll talk about that later,” I replied. “First, I want to discuss our broadest strategy. We know what our goals are: stop Ashur from moving deeper into the province, minimize casualties, keep the location of Matir’s Dragon Gate secret. I spent most of the afternoon looking over this map, and in my opinion, the only viable strategy is to retreat and regroup.”

  “You want to abandon the Wall?” Admiral Gehlan startled up. His brother’s brow was furrowed, lips pursed.

  “More like we don’t have a choice,” Suri said. “Think about it. How long is this barrier? About fifty kilometers, thirty miles or so? We’d need about ten thousand mob per kilometer to properly hold it against an assault. We got, what? About ten thousand for the entire bloody wall right now?”

  “Sixteen thousand, five hundred and ninety-three now that the Orphans are back on the payroll,” I said. “But yeah. It’s not even just the lack of manpower. As soon as nations gain air power, walls like this one are obsolete. One Hussar would be enough to blow this place to kingdom come, and the only reason that Ashur and his force haven’t done it yet is because they haven’t faced enough resistance to think of finding and fielding one. Regarding our troops, out of that sixteen and a half thousand, about two-thirds are cavalry. Any flat terrain we have is made up of rivers and swamps and ravines. We have no mobility aft or forward of the Prezyemi Line, which means the only thing we can do here is react to an assault. If we want to get the better of the undead, we have to go on the offensive.”

  “It is true.” Taethawn’s gaze slid to Zediwitz, who nodded. “It iss part of why we left. My Ro’wor riders can do little but strop their claws and pick their teeth here. But the corrun and coursers stand idle.”

  “What is your proposition, then, Rytier?” Ur Gehlan, the Knight of the Red Star, spoke up for the first time.

  I glanced at Karalti. She smiled and nodded back.

  “I think our initial strategy should be to focus on reducing the volume of Ashur’s army, and then defend against a smaller force while a team of specialists goes to take out Ashur himself,” I said. “The way I see it, we can execute this in three stages. First up is the reduction. We do that by maximizing the opportunities presented by the Prezyemi Line. I want to collapse the entire west half of the line by opening the Gul River Dam and letting it flood and sweep away a freshly-evacuated Slutlava. The debris will narrow the battlefield and will funnel the undead forces to the center of the line by necessity. We’re going to turn that battlefield into an obstacle course that will punish every single step they take. My prediction is that Ashur will use his zombies as cannon fodder and hold his better troops in reserve.”

  “Yes. That is his core strategy.” Istvan was scrutinizing the map, his hands laced under his chin.

  “What we do is let them choke the battlefield.” I drew a blob, indicating where the zombies would come in and try to assault the wall. “But by the time they get here and start laying explosives and climbing, we’re already gone. We start the evacuations tonight: The Orphans, our cavalry, everyone who doesn’t need to be here goes north to Litvy before Ashur arrives. We have a series of un-manned fortifications, pull back as each line is overcome, and then bust the Sarviz Dam. The Wall will already be armed with demolition charges and payloads of Greek Fire. When I first got here, Istvan, you told me the only thing that worked on the dead were fire and water. We’re gonna give them both at the same time.”

  “Right. It probably won’t destroy his army, but it’ll piss off the Demon… uhh… Ashur the Swizzler something chronic,” Suri added.

  I nodded. “We want to control their movement, reduce their numbers, and make them angry. If they’re angry, they go where we want them to go. The fire and flood should render his cheap units unusable. The ruins of Slutlava and the wall and everything else will act like a big grinder. The goal is to lure them to Krivan Pass.”

  Rin wrinkled her nose. “Oh my god. I can already imagine how this is going to smell.”

  I chuckled. “I know, right?”

  “If we’re luring them in, that means we gotta make it seem like the Pass is the last place we want ‘em to go,” Suri said. “Lahati’s place isn’t actually in Krivan Pass, yeah?”

  “No. There’s one really obscure portal that leads there.”

  “Right. Then this has gotta look like a proper last stand, with us all fleeing in terror.” She tapped the southern entry to the Pass. “This bottleneck here is pretty great. Let’s say we have a garrisoned force lying in wait here and here. The ships lead them right through the middle, and we kill’em. More Yanik Rangers would be great, but I dunno if we have time to finish that side-quest.”

  Rin gnawed on her bottom lip. “I don’t think so.”

  “What is the third stage?” Admiral Gehlan asked.

  “If it looks like the undead will break through the Pass – and realistically, there’s so many of them that they probably will – we retreat to Litvy,” I said. “Our troops and Heroes in Litvy will have been busy all this time: recruiting, building, fortifying. The defense at Litvy will prepare as if the approaching undead army is arriving at maximum strength. The retreating force will make the road to Litvy as difficult as it can be before he reaches the highlands.”

  Admiral Gehlan nodded, stroking his long white moustache. “The ground of the Pass is almost impossible to negotiate by foot right now. Our air power is going to be decisive against a ground force. We need more ships.”

  “For sure,” Suri replied. “Have to be in Litvy to get those.”

  “Are we planning to evacuate the majority of the force from the Prezyemi Line today, then?” Istvan asked me.

  I nodded. “Like I said: starting tonight, we send people to Litvy and the Pass to begin preparations. I vote we conscript every able body to start building ramparts and digging trenches on 8-hour rotations. Any personnel or civilian who volunteers 24 hours of hard work gets first pass out of here to Litvy. All buildings are to be stripped and relocated. We leave enough munitions and men to hold the Wall for the assault.”

  “You want the Gul Dam destroyed in advance?” Viktor said.

  I gave him a sharp nod. “As soon as Slutlava is cleared of people.”

  “We’re gonna need ships from Litvy and Boros ASAP,” Suri said. “We don’t have enough for the evac.”

  I was about to disagree, but took a second to glance at the Mass Combat menu and the capacity of the aircraft we had. We technically had enough to move about 14,000 people, but… “You’re right. Between Slutlava and the garrison, we’re gonna need more ships.”

&nb
sp; “We need Lord Soma to acquire more airships,” Viktor spoke up, his voice reedy and dry. “Let Rin and I speak to him and see if we cannot convince him to join this effort. It is a well-thought out and feasible plan, though we shall be exhausted by the time the Demon arrives.”

  “Better tired than dead,” Suri said.

  Viktor bowed his head. “Indeed.”

  “I think it is desperate and risky,” Ur Gehlan said. His brother nodded. “But the situation is desperate.”

  Suri snorted, crossing her arms. “Yeah. The time for safe bets was about two months ago.”

  “If you’re all happy with this strategy, I’m going to meet with each of you to work out tactics through the night. We’ll adjust the plan accordingly.” I looked around the table, then back to Zlaslo and Vash. “Any questions?”

  "The final retreat is not a certain thing," Viktor said nervously. "If the timing of the dam and wall demolition is not extremely precise..."

  "Take it from me: death is nothing to fear, old man," Vash grunted. "If we die in an explosion or a flood, then we die in such a way that we cannot be reanimated into the walking dead. It is a good and natural thing."

  "Exactly," Suri said.

  "I'll help protect the ships! Don't worry!" Karalti bared her teeth and tossed her chin up at Viktor.

  The Baru sighed, then shook his head. “My only concern is that we should have moved earlier. Many will suffer regardless of what we do.”

  “Indeed. But not as many as before.” Taethawn, who had been lounging in silence, pricked his ears and sat up straighter. “Lord Soma could still be the death of this place if we lag.”

  I held up a hand. “That’s enough ragging on Soma for today. He fought, he lost, and he has been honorable enough that if he’s sorry for what he’s done, I’ll believe him. We’ll try and get through to him. Until then-”

  There was a pounding on the door, and everyone turned as it burst in ahead of a Yanik scout. The man was wild-eyed with fear. “Mayevi! Da ruyê! Da ruyê!”