Industry & Intrigue

by Ryan McCall

  “Help the agorid did you?” asked Selim, as he moved into the light of the street lamp, where Isaac could now see him.

  Isaac could tell that the elf was drunk. His words slurred and he stumbled towards the church entrance. He made his way down the steps and went to the elf. Selim held up his hand.

  “Don’t trouble yourself cleric. I jus’ came here to say my piece then I’ll be off.” Selim sounded even more inebriated than he first thought. “I’m done with this city for now. First thing in the morning, I’m leaving for Longhaven and I’m going to get that kitsune cunt and give her what she deserves.” He held up his hand, looked to the night sky and said loudly, “For Brenna.”

  He looked back at Isaac and hiccupped. “I find anything that ties your boss to the drugs, I’ll be coming back for him too. Stupid fucking clerics.”

  Isaac ignored that comment. He suspected Selim had meant it for High Cleric McSheora. He decided to humor the elf. “By all means officer. If the high cleric had a hand in it, no one more than I wants to see him brought to justice.”

  Selim stared at him intently with his wild blue eyes and nodded slowly. “Good, thought you’d like to know for when I return,” he said. He waved his hand clumsily and turned and walked away from the church.

  The elf may have been a grieving fool, but at least someone in the watch had taken his suspicions to heart, even if it wasn’t officially. He would do what he could from his end, keep an eye on McSheora and find out how connected he was to the tarcaine trade.

  Chapter 69

  Smoke and dust-clouds drifted up past the walls of Sethain. The Galrian armies had laid siege to the city for a week and had yet to crack the stiff defenses of the city walls and impressive gates. The Galrian artillery were barely able to reach the top of the walls where the majority of the city’s defenders were stationed and unable to do much damage before they were driven off by a combination of gunfire, cannons and magic from the garrison towers.

  Zuri banked sharply, avoiding a large drift of smoke from a heavy fire that had destroyed the tower on the left of the southern gate. She came in to land next to her fellow Scepters, about a dozen of them were doing their best to contain the fire. The latest Galrian strike had been beaten back, but they had managed to concentrate enough firepower on the towers on both sides of the gate to destroy them. If the fires spread they could cause severe damage to the defensive works.

  “Zuri,” said Arnette, relief on the senior mage’s face upon seeing her. “You made it back. I was beginning to fear you had been struck down during that last assault.”

  “I’m fine,” she replied. “I took one last pass over the Pale Brothers defending the Galrian pullback. I hit them with several fireballs. I don’t know how many I incapacitated or killed, but they peeled off their attack on the towers.”

  “You did well Zuri,” said Arnette. “If they had poured anymore energy spells on to the towers the gate would have been compromised.”

  She walked towards Arnette and stumbled, her recent spell casting had taken a lot of energy, it was a wonder she had managed to maintain the strength to fly back.

  Arnette caught her before she fell. “Take it easy mastermage, you need to regain your strength.” Arnette led her to the back of the wall and sat her down.

  “Oh,” she sighed in relief at being able to sit down. “How can these Galrian mages have spells that can reduce stone to melted slag?” she asked Arnette. “No one among the Scepters or Warded Spirals has such powerful magic.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the Pale Brotherhood made a deal with demons? We’re fortunate they’re not greater in number or they would have breached the walls by now. They’re more interested in targeting us.” Arnette’s head dropped in a moment of grief. A number of Scepters had been killed in the initial days of the siege and Arnette looked weighed down by the deaths.

  “How many this time?” asked Zuri. The recent assault had been brutal and she was sure more of her comrades had borne the brunt of the attack.

  “Nine dead, eleven critically injured,” Arnette’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “We only barely held on, a few more assaults like that could finish us off for good.”

  “Shouldn’t there be reinforcements coming to relieve the city?” The whole of the empire was organizing for war and military units were being put on the trains and headed south as fast as they could be formed. The government was meant to be sending a fresh army to drive the Galrians away from Sethain.

  “There was, but not anymore,” answered Arnette.

  “What? Why not?” she asked.

  “Two Galrian armies pushed through Araiin and seized most of the smaller towns. Three more armies crossed the border and are headed for Arketh. The sixth army is being diverted to halt them. They also sabotaged the main south-west rail tracks. The sixth army would have to fight through a significant number of Galrian forces to reach us. For now, Sethain has to hold with what we have.”

  Arnette shoved food and water into her hands. “Here, you need to regain your strength. We have no idea when the next attack will come.”

  Zuri’s stomach growled at the smell of the food and she quickly wolfed it down while processing the news.

  Galria had thrust everything they had at Alkos. The walls of Sethain could take a lot of damage and the city was well-stocked with supplies. It was possible they could hold out. The winters here were not as harsh as further north, but the Galrian armies wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold as well as the city’s defenders.

  A bell sounded from the towers. The Galrians were going to attack again; so soon after their last attempt. She swallowed the bread in her mouth and washed it down with water.

  Arnette looked down over the wall. “Damn bastards,” she said. “They didn’t even give us a chance to recover.”

  “Alright,” Arnette called out to the mages gathered in front of her, the differing colored robes of the Scepters creating a rainbow-like crowd. “They’re going to attack again. Those of you with hydromancy training, I want you to get that fire under control before they hit again. If the gate is compromised there’s only the infantry to hold them back. Anyone that can use geomancy, continue repairing and re-bracing the walls as they’re damaged. Everyone else, fire your offensive spells.”

  Zuri stretched out her arms and wings, getting herself ready to take to the sky again.

  Arnette looked over at her in concern. “Are you sure you can go up again so soon?”

  Loud gunfire snapped nearby. The soldiers at the edge of the wall were firing at the renewed Galrian attack. The cannons in the nearest tower boomed and fired down as well. In spite of her fatigue, Zuri couldn’t let the other defenders down.

  “Yes,” she said in a determined tone that didn’t reveal to the Scepter deputy-chief how exhausted she was. “You need me up there.”

  “If you’re up for it,” replied Arnette, nodding.

  Zuri uttered a brief incantation and her body became engulfed in darkened shadow. She would still be visible to Arnette and the other Scepters, the spell offered little protection close up in daylight. But high above the battlefield all the enemy forces would see was a shadowy speck. She flapped her wings and took off, leaving behind the other Scepters to conduct their fight from the wall.

  She soared over the wall, soldiers all along its length firing long-range rifles at the enemy. She pushed herself higher by another hundred meters and past the edge of the wall.

  Looking down, she could see the fast moving forces of the Galrian armies on the fields in front of the city. Their artillery units were pounding on the city walls and the southern gates, creating massive clouds of smoke that would be stifling for anyone on the ground.

  A noisy popping sound came from the spot she had taken off from and she looked back. She smiled, Arnette had created a large offensive spell with the other Scepters by channeling their energy together. Such spells were costly for the younger and less-experienced Scepters like herself. They would not be able to cast any
more spells for the rest of the day.

  It did look impressive though. Forty or so multi-colored spheres of light, roughly the diameter of a tall drakon appeared above the mages. They held in place for a few moments before suddenly moving, faster than Zuri had expected. The spheres flickered with reds, blues, greens and yellows of all different shades and hues as they sped through the air towards the main bulk of the Galrian armies.

  Zuri flew out further and risked going lower, so she could get a better view of the ambitious spell Arnette had cast. Moments before the balls hit, one third of them flared with white light and vanished. The Pale Brothers had managed to counter a good number of them, but it was too late for them to deal with the rest.

  The spheres impacted along the Galrian lines and while she was too high to hear them, Zuri imagined that the men down there were screaming in fear and pain. She had never seen a spell of this magnitude cast before.

  As she flew over the Galrians she could make out the damage. The effect of the spheres was determined by the color they happened to be flashing at the moment of impact.

  The red spheres exploded in a wave of angry flames and she could see the effects of this, soldiers rolling on the ground trying to put out the magical fire that engulfed them, others turned to burned and charred bodies.

  The blue ones released a torrent of cold mist that turned to ice as it was exposed to the air. Zuri could see patches of the ice having encased entire units, there would be men slowly suffocating to death trapped inside the deadly ice.

  The impact of the green spheres had summoned thick and sharp vines out of the ground. Soldiers were trying to work their way out while the vines had claimed less fortunate ones as well as several cannons and held them up in tight knots as if in triumph. They were being crushed to a pulp by the strength of the unnatural vines.

  Clouds of yellow gas were slowly drifting above the line of damage, having been released by the yellow spheres, choking the life out of anyone breathing it in.

  She flew back up. The fire on the walls had stopped, the stunning attack of the spheres had managed to shock their whole army. Zuri prayed it would be enough to drive them back. She doubted the Scepters would have enough strength to cast further offensive spells after that.

  She few back and forth several times, keeping careful track of the direction of spells being cast below as it was used to counter the effects of the spheres. She had managed to pinpoint several concentrations of Galrian spell-casters when she heard their artillery units open fire again. They had recovered from the attack and were not intent on retreating.

  Damn, she thought. I had hoped to be able to inform the long-range snipers of the location of the Pale Brothers, so they could target them on a retreat. But they’ll move positions if they’re still attacking. I’ll have to do it myself.

  She focused on where she had spotted the largest concentration of magic and prepared her spell. For several long seconds she maintained her position in the air, her wings flapping enough to keep her in the same place.

  The words she muttered were quiet at first, but they slowly grew in volume until she was shouting. She could feel the strength in her wings lessening and she grunted as she struggled to keep herself afloat.

  Sweat beaded on the dark skin of her forehead and flowed down her face. She said the final words of the spell. “Uasud Mosono Taeus!”

  With the release of the spell she lost what strength she had been holding onto and fell suddenly. She managed to find enough strength in her wings to stop falling and pushed her body upwards. She looked down to see the results of her spell.

  A wave of midnight-black fire swept across the front line of soldiers below. They had a few seconds to scream before it engulfed them and burnt their flesh to the bone, leaving behind only black skeletons. The fire swept through the ranks, rushing towards the location of the Pale Brothers, its intended target.

  It swept into several of them, killing them instantly, but stopped as it hit an invisible barrier. The fire burned against whatever defensive wall the Pale Brothers had erected and couldn’t penetrate it. It kept burning for another minute, before the spell ended and it dissipated, leaving behind the skeletons and charred ground as signs of its passing.

  Zuri was disappointed. She had hoped her shadow fire would at least do more damage than that. She’d only managed to kill a few Pale Brothers and a couple of battalions of infantry.

  Before she could gather herself to fly back to the walls, she felt something smash into her and knock her back. She was flipped back in the air, turned upside down and then she was falling. She beat her wings as fast as she could, but all she succeeded in doing was slowing her descent. She didn’t have the energy to turn herself back up. She was going to hit the ground this time.

  She let herself fall, trying to save what energy she had left. She waited until she was only a few stories away from the ground and then flapped as hard as she could. It would at least mitigate the damage from the impact.

  The ground rushed up and slammed into her, the blow even harder than the force spell that knocked her out of the air. She couldn’t breathe, the wind had been knocked out of her. She tried to move but felt an intense pain in one of her wings. She hoped it had not been too badly damaged. The thought of losing her ability to fly was too horrible to contemplate.

  There was more pain in her left leg when she tried to sit up. It felt like a broken bone. Her vision was starting to go blurry, the pain was too much, she couldn’t take it.

  She heard voices. “Hurry, Brother Zhyba wants her taken alive. We need to bind her hands and gag her before she can recover.”

  She could make out several shapes, but it was getting harder to stay conscious. As one of the dark shapes drew close, she gave out a slight moan in protest. She felt someone grab her hands and tie rope around them. Then her eyes closed and she passed out.

  Chapter 70

  Tanaka was suitably impressed with the line of ships sitting in the harbor. The docks of Caer Anvos were not as large as Alkos City or Daltilloch, but they were better suited for the large military vessels currently berthed there. They had longer berthing points and deeper waters. The troop transport ships were directly docked at the piers, while the armored attack ships and gunships were anchored out in the bay.

  At the moment, the restored Royal Estaran Army was in the long process of boarding the vessels. His own army, forty thousand of the best the Red Knights had to offer, were waiting inside a series of warehouses rented for the operation.

  When he first arrived, Tanaka had briefed his commanding officers on the mission they were about to embark on. He had ordered them not to spread word down the ranks, in case of Estaran spies.

  Over the next few weeks more of his Red Knights filtered into the city as well as most of the Estaran exiles. The exiles were garrisoned and preparing in the huge grey fortress that lay on the northern side of the docks.

  In times long ago it had served as the seat for the Lord of Caer Anvos. The elimination of individual city lords during the Northern Domination War, had seen it become another fancy piece of imperial property. It had seen use in other wars, but once the age of gunpowder and cannons arrived, the ancient fortress became little more than a relic. So it sat, preserved as a historical monument for a time, until eventually even those days had slipped by and the once grand castle decayed and crumbled.

  The combination of its enormous size and disinterest by most citizens made it the perfect place for the Estaran exiles to gather, not to mention it was near the docks and the Estaran soldiers were able to board their vessels without having to travel where prying eyes could see.

  The Estaran transport vessels were wooden sailing ships, what remained of the Estaran Navy. During their civil war, the navy had remained loyal to the monarchy, which was why they had been able to create a capable fleet in such a short time.

  Tanaka suspected that the more modern ships out in the harbor were Alkon vessels, repainted over with the red and green Estaran colors
to mask their origins. He was surprised the Alkon government would take such an outright and obvious step at aiding the exiles, but his only concern about the ships was whether they would be able to protect him and his troops as they made for landfall north of Senaea.

  He spotted the Estaran general, Ursa Opherus, and approached her. A female general. These Estarans wage war far differently than I am used to.

  Over the years Tanaka had slowly become accustomed to the more progressive mainland culture compared to his homeland. In Minakaya, females were restricted in what they could do. However they were protected as well, crimes against them were always met with harsher punishment and females of the high clans were able to walk the land in perfect safety and security. Any criminal who accosted them knew he would suffer the most terrible punishments from the high clans.

  Alkon allowed its women into government and gave them an equal footing, but even they had never gone so far as to allow them into the military. Estara was the only nation which had done that. Much of that had been repealed by the republican government with repressive new laws and edicts.

  “General Opherus. How much longer before my own men can begin boarding?” he asked the woman.

  She turned around to face him. She was wearing an exquisite armored uniform in red and purple. Her hair was hidden by a red and white officer’s cap which was adorned with five diamonds indicating her rank.

  “Another hour or so, Commander Tanaka. Please make sure your men are ready to leave promptly.” Her tone showed the disdain she held for him and his mercenaries, an issue he had quickly become aware of. Fortunately she was too professional and loyal to her queen to risk insulting him directly. He was concerned that it could affect her judgment when it came to the campaign.

  But if push came to shove the Estarans needed his Red Knights more than Cicero needed the money, so he doubted she would do anything stupid. The Estaran exiles had managed to pull together a force of fifty thousand soldiers. Having the Red Knights fight with them, doubled their numbers. Not to mention that the Red Knights had more modern equipment than the old Estaran weaponry.