“Yeah. And he can do it from behind a defensive buffer,” Suri said. “Revala as a shield, to protect Ilia while he mops up.”
“How many troops is he fielding?” I asked, frowning.
“Roughly a hundred thousand, all counted,” Kovacs replied. “Most of them are, shall we say, involuntary volunteers?”
“Slaves,” Suri said flatly.
The general nodded. “Yes. In addition, he fields approximately two hundred and seventy dragon knights, and a navy comprising about a hundred ships of various classes.”
“And Revala?”
“Revala can call on about two hundred thousand troops, plus a navy of three hundred ships.”
“Then how the fuck did they lose all of this?” I gestured to the field of blue and gold flags. “They outnumber Ororgael two to one. Dragons or no dragons, they should have crushed him.”
Ignas vented a soft sound of frustration and shook his head. “Ebisa, repeat your report.”
“Hyland has made his inroads by two means,” Ebisa recited, in her dry, husky voice. “Land vehicles, the likes of which we’ve never seen before, and the dragons.”
“Land vehicles?” Rin perked up, brows furrowing in alarm.
“Yes. They began the campaign by posturing at the border. Then they detonated shells of substantial size and power at the fortresses, smashing walls that have stood for hundreds of years. They must also have had interior intelligence, because the dragons teleported to precise locations, then wreaked havoc on vital supply points. They did not engage directly. They dropped bombs onto granaries, barracks, and other important production centers. Then Ilia’s land force rolled in, fielding these what appear to be human-made Sangheti’tak walkers. Blood-fuel machines, which consume the mana gained from biomass.”
“Sangheti’tak, in human hands!” Rin covered her mouth.
Ebisa gave her an expressionless nod. “These machines tore up the Revalan cavalry with exceptional speed. With their supply lines destroyed and their retreat cut off, a wave of surrenders followed.”
“So now we know what Ororgael was doing during those first couple of months,” Suri said, looking over to me, Rin, and Karalti. “Building himself a fuckton of death machines.”
“Revala was able to adapt to this strategy and slow them down, at which point, the commander of the Ilian forces changed tactics,” Ebisa continued, reaching out to draw her finger over a now-conquered defensive line. “He began deploying the dragons directly against the Revalan Navy. They targeted troop carriers.”
“Revala’s navy, while impressive for the Hercynian Region, is nowhere as modern as ours,” Ignas added. “Most countries field only a few hundred ships, some of them quite old. The dragons were able to fly rings around the Revalan Fleet.”
“Yes. And their lightning breath weapons are capable of penetrating and overriding many forms of magical shields,” Ebisa said. “Their ships were forced to retreat, while Ilia’s advanced. They began bombing the countryside. They reduced entire towns to rubble, and this Commander, Lucien Hart, made public displays of poisoning wells and executing the captive families of those who rebelled against the invaders. They gave many settlements the chance to surrender, and they did.”
I rolled my eyes and tipped my head back. “Okay, and what part of this is ‘amateurish’ again?”
“My choice of words was not precise,” Count Lanz said brittly. “Ilia’s tactics are sound, if not brutal. But their campaign cannot sustain this kind of energy for long. Not when they are being attacked on two fronts.”
“Then they have a card in play that we don’t know about,” I said. “Allies? The Princeling Nations are embroiled in some kind of conflict of their own, right? Maybe he’s recruited one or more of them. Maybe he’s convinced Gilheim he’s their prophesied god-man in human form. Maybe he’s somehow gotten the fucking Mercurions on board. We don’t know.”
“I have been trying to make this point for some hours now.” Ebisa spread her hands and sat back.
“For the sake of civility, please refrain from cursing at me, Dragozin.” Lanz’s thin mouth sloped down to one side.
“Oh yeah, because my cursing is the real problem here,” I snapped.
“Ebisa. Do we know if Hyland developed these tactics, or was Lucien the mastermind?” Suri held up a hand as the Count’s face reddened, and he swelled with an excess of ‘civility.’
She inclined her head. “As far as we know, the general strategy was developed by Hyland and his advisors at the highest levels, but the implementation seems to have been left to Commander Hart.”
“Then Lucien’s gotten smarter,” I said grimly. “Much smarter. And he’s been studying warfare.
“Power-leveling his mental stats?” Suri asked.
“He must be.” I sighed and sat back. “Baldr Hyland served as Powered Armor Infantry in the War, and Ororgael got his memories when he possessed Baldr’s body. So that’s where the PAUs are coming from.”
“P.A.Us?” Ignas asked.
“Powered Armor Units,” I replied. “Think of them as like mini Warsingers. You stick a pilot in a big metal suit that is larger, stronger, and more resilient than a normal infantryman. They can field bigger weapons and soak the kind of fire that would send normal soldiers flying across the battlefield in chunks. They’re not immortal, so the Army and Marines usually fielded one PAU with a fireteam of two rifles, one marksman, one grenadier or machine gunner. Same strategy as protecting tanks, but the powered armor squads were much smaller and a hell of a lot more maneuverable. Incidentally, that’s the tactic I’d use with the Warsinger, too.”
“Squads? Fireteams?” Ignas laced his hands, regarding me curiously. “The army in the world you came from, the world of the Architects, deployed soldiers in small groups of four or five?”
“Sure did,” I said.
“Hmm.” The Volod nodded slowly. “A tactic also used to great effect by the barbarian raiders of the Sathbar Plains.”
“That makes sense only if the soldiers are Starborn and can return from the dead,” Count Lanz said stiffly. “Barbarian tactics break against fortress walls. We fight in disciplined formations in Vlachia.”
“Right, and your disciplined formations lost two-thirds of a country in a month,” I quipped back. “We just used maneuver warfare tactics to retake Bas County and execute the robber baron occupying Solonovka in a single night. Less than two hundred of my soldiers reclaimed the castle and capital from an occupying force of over two thousand.”
General Kovacs looked to Ignas in disbelief. A wry smile played over Ignas’ thin lips, his grey eyes calculating and bright with interest.
“And how many did you lose in this mad gambit?” Count Lanz asked.
“Eighteen,” Suri answered.
“Did I mishear you? Eighteen men?” Lanz scoffed. “My liege, do you believe this nonsense?”
“I do. Because I can verify their story,” Ignas replied, resting his face against the tips of his fingers. “The Royal Kingdom Management System does not lie, Voivode Lanz. The Lord and Lady of Myszno did indeed stage and succeed in their operation against the deserter, Zoltan Gallo. They deployed barely two hundred souls, drawing from elite Yanik native forces and a Meewfolk mercenary company. They suffered eighteen fatalities, but they slew just under four hundred of Zoltan’s men as well as Zoltan himself. The rest surrendered after a brief battle in the city.”
At mention of the cat people, the other men at the table grimaced.
“To be honest, I don’t think we should assume Ororgael’s goals at this stage. We need a solid idea of why he’s doing what he’s doing,” Suri said, after a tense pause. “The fact he has us on the defensive proves there’s something we’re not seeing.”
“Right.” I nodded. “He’s shown us again and again that he’s capable of putting us in a position where we have to try and figure him out, and when we think we’ve worked out what he wants, he rips the rug out from under us.”
Rin glanced nervously at
us both, then to Ignas and General Kovacs. “What does Vlachia plan to do?”
“We plan nothing short than a total assault,” the general said. “We have overwhelming numbers compared to Ilia. Our soldiers outnumber Ilian forces three to one, which is an ideal situation for a counter-invasion. Our airships are considerably more advanced than Revala’s or Ilia’s. We have developed defenses against their dragons, and weapons to destroy them.”
“DESTROY them?” Karalti rose in alarm, her pupils pinning. “You can’t destroy them! Those are my people!”
Lanz and the two officers flinched as the telepathic broadcast suddenly intruded into their minds—and then they looked to Karalti, as it dawned on them who and what she was.
“Oh, ehh... apologies, your Holiness. I was not aware you were here.” The Admiral cleared his throat.
“They’re innocent! Baldr is enslaving my kin with powerful magic, compelling them to fight in this war,” Karalti continued, pleading. “You can’t kill them! W-We need to capture them, or... or SOMETHING.”
“My lady, as someone who lost his father to the violent machine of politics, I understand your distress.” Ignas’ long, lean face was even more graven than usual. “It is neither fair nor just that your people are being used as slaves to fight a despot’s war. But we cannot change the fact that the dragons crushed Queen Aslan’s supply lines, her garrisons, and her villages and farmland. They will destroy us if given the chance. We must face them without flinching—and we will. It is the cold mathematics of war.”
I sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Karalti. He’s right.”
“But...” Karalti searched our faces, her own expression crumpling. “There isn’t any way?”
“There has to be some way to stun dragons without killing them,” Rin said. “A sonic weapon could do it.”
“We have no such technology, and no time to develop it,” Ignas replied. “The knowledge that we must battle the children of the Nine pains me more than words can express. Your people are sacred to us, and I can only hope that you and the gods can forgive us once all is said and done. If you cannot bear to continue this conversation, you may leave the meeting without shame.”
I reached for Karalti’s hand, hoping to comfort her, but she jerked it away before I even so much as brushed her fingers. She turned and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her.
“She’s a Queen dragon,” I said, before anyone could make any snide remarks. “The dragons of the Eyrie are her brothers and sisters. They were all born of the same mother.”
“She can’t command them because of the curse placed upon her relatives, correct?” Ignas asked me.
“Yeah.” I struggled with the urge to kick the underside of the table. “We were planning to try and find some way to break the geas before it came to this, but we’re just not strong enough yet.”
“Then the best thing we can do is to fight to win as quickly as possible.” Suri cocked her chin toward the map. “Do that, and we minimize casualties on both sides. There’s only a single company of dragons, and as soon as Lucien figures out that Vlachia can stand toe to toe with them, he’ll pull them back out of the firing line.”
“That is our hope.” Ignas nodded. “Our goal at this juncture is to remove Lucien Hart, then push his forces back through sheer attrition. The Ilian army is as motivated as they are, in part, because their leaders are immortal. If we capture their leader and they scatter as a result, they will be overwhelmed by our numbers.”
“He’s Starborn, though,” Rin said. “You can’t kill him.”
“Obviously not. We will imprison him. We may even smuggle him to your castle, if you have a spare cell.”
“I will be more than happy to brick him up in Kalla Sahasi and pass him food through a slot for the rest of his miserable life,” I said.
“Excellent. And I will send a work crew to assist.” Ignas paused to chuckle. “We have reinforcements coming from Dakhdir and Jeun. A massive show of force will put Hyland in his place, at least for a time: long enough for us to send aid to Gilheim and the Princeling Nations of Hercynia.”
“I don’t know if relying on Dakhdir for anything is a good idea,” I replied. “Sultir whats-his-face is crazier than a shithouse rat. Violetta, who leads the Mata Argis as Baldr’s other lieutenant, was there with her agents. They’re feeding the Sultir’s fear of being deposed by Suri.”
“Deposed? By a Fireblooded?” General Kovacs gave her a curious look. “No offence, my Lady, but the Fireblooded are of low status in Dakhdir. Why should he be concerned about you?”
“She IS Starborn,” Count Lanz said drily.
“I’m the direct descendant of Queen Sachara Ha’Shazir,” Suri replied, ignoring Lanz. “The dynasty overthrown four generations ago in a bloody coup by the Sultir’s ancestors.”
“Ah. Yes. Well, I can see how that would lead to anxiety.” The general’s doughy face creased into thoughtful lines. “We do know that Khemmemu is an unstable man. It has been an issue ever since he inherited the throne. If the Mata Argis are there, your Majesty, can we be certain Dakhdir will honor the terms of the Alliance?”
“We have spies and influencers in the Sultir’s court as well. If he reneges on the Alliance, he knows that Jeun and Vlachia will level devastating trade sanctions,” Ignas said. “Dakhdir is mostly wasteland. Without Vlachian food and Jeun mana, the Sultir’s people will starve. He is nervous, but not foolish. We can always sell our surplus to Jeun, or with our new long-range airships, even to Lys.”
“I’m worried about this,” I said. “Something about the situation feels off to me. Baldr and Lucien are setting something up. They have to know that the Alliance will respond with their fleets in force. They have to expect this response. So why is a small military force inviting a counter invasion?”
“He’s right,” Rin said. “Strategically speaking, it would only make sense for him to invade Revala if he thought he had some kind of edge.”
“He is vastly outnumbered and outgunned. He is also overconfident in his dragons and his fancy Mercurion toys,” Count Lanz said dismissively. “There is no grand strategy in his invasion of Revala. Had he gone west, he might have stood a chance at consolidating an empire that would be of serious threat to the combined might of Jeun, Vlachia, and Dakhdir. But Hyland and Hart are not thinking that far ahead. They are both drunk on the power of being immortal. Why should they care if they lose once or twice? They always have time to wait and try again. They think of themselves as gods. “
“Literally,” I said, shooting Lanz a dark look. “Baldr is the figurehead of the Cult of the Architect. You know, the cult that Andrik was part of?”
My rival Voivode grimaced. “Indeed.”
“Your Majesty: please tell me you’re not going into the area of operations yourself.” Rin looked to Ignas. “Something isn’t right about this. It feels like a setup.”
“Unfortunately, I must. A king does not shelter behind his men: he leads. But what is your opinion, Kovacs?” Ignas looked to his general.
General Kovacs hummed. “It is my opinion that the risk of your participation in the battle is within acceptable limits. With Ebisa standing unsleeping by your side, assassination is unlikely. We are taking all precautions, and Hyland simply doesn’t have the numbers to face us head on.”
“He won’t face you head on,” I said, more urgently. “He’ll maneuver around you and strike at something important. It might not even be Ignas who’s at risk. It might be Taltos.”
“Parliament and His Majesty voted this morning: I will be acting regent while Vlachia is at war, and I assure you that I will not permit any harm to come to my city,” Count Lanz said. “The First Fleet is on standby to defend Taltos.”
“We should have been at that vote.” Suri’s eyes narrowed.
“You were campaigning in Bas, and thus unavailable.” Count Lanz gestured dismissively. “Your own Steward, Istvan Arshak, filed a Leave of Absence due to your being engaged in mass combat operations.”<
br />
“Legit.” I scratched the side of my nose. “Well, Your Majesty, I guess the only question now is what role you want us to play. You summoned us for a reason.”
“Yes. The Warsinger.” Ignas sat back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other knee. “I need a report.”
“Well, we found her. Withering Rose was sleeping in Dakhdir. She was still in good condition, worked just fine until it ran out of mana.” Suri replied. “And after it fell over from lack of fuel, Baldr Hyland showed up to personally ruin our day.”
General Kovacs straightened. So did Ebisa and the Admiral.
“Implying…?” Ignas gestured to her.
“Withering Rose is a wreck.” Suri’s expression turned stormy. “Ororgael called some super-beam magic from the sky and cored out part of the Warsinger. The pieces of it are lying all over the Bashir Desert.”
“Pieces? Khors’ hammer, that is not good news.” Ignas’ brow furrowed. “If it was so easily destroyed, perhaps the machines’ power was overstated?”
“No, it’s not. At full operational capacity, the Warsinger is incredible. We all saw Suri unleash some kind of energy weapon that killed eight or nine sandworms in one strike,” Rin said. “A three-thousand-year-old machine, with less than 2% fuel and less than 5% integrity, and it shredded those sandworms like they were nothing. It was... awe-inspiring.”
Suri pressed her lips together in a tight, stubborn line.
“That is... there is no weapon on Archemi capable of such an act.” Ignas looked to his officers, who looked almost as awed as he did. “Stunning. If we get the pieces, can it be fixed?”
Rin nodded eagerly. “We—and by that, I mean, me and Lord Soma and the Engineers College of Litvy—need more information on how they’re constructed. He’s been trying to reverse-engineer the prototype Warsinger we captured, but has had no success so far. The construction and magical encoding is just so alien compared to current artificing. But if we could figure this out, then the possibilities are endless. We could create airship or ground weapons that make use of their technology, for example, or rediscover principles of metallurgy lost in time.”
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