Age of Azmoq_The Valantian Imperium

by Rajamayyoor Sharma

  “Elbir,” I asked earnestly, ignoring his previous comment. “Do the Yerins have great knowledge about Azmoq?”

  Elbir seemed perplexed by the question. “Why do you ask?”

  I was a little impatient to know the answer. “I’ll tell you. Please answer my question.”

  “Ok… Well… not really. We had nearly no knowledge before Master Forresgrim showed up. Only rumors. He told us more about the metal, a lot more. Come to think of it, now that I know he is an Azmoq smith, it shouldn’t be surprising. But that’s about it.”

  I pulled out the dagger that the assassins had. Dev had given it to me for safekeeping. “Is this a Yerin weapon?”

  Elbir took it and examined it. “Not that I can recognize. It looks like it was forged by the Valantian army. Why?”

  I took it back and looked at it closely. It did resemble a lot of Valantian weapons. The grip, the pommel, and the thin strip of white metal just above it which was there on all Valantian weapons, seemed to confirm their origin. I hadn’t observed it closely so far. This proved that the Yerin assassins were under Valantian pay. But it didn’t prove my point. Then I remembered something.

  The last time I saw the thin strip above the pommel, it was blue. It had changed color. That’s why I couldn’t recognize it as Valantian straight away. Was this it?

  “Elbir. I think I know what is going on. I am sure that the Yerin assassins are at the barracks. They each had one of these daggers. I am sure that when I saw the dagger first with Dev, this strip was blue. Now it is white. That means the dagger detected something that made it change color.

  Assume these are of Valantian make, what would the Valantian Imperium want so much that they are willing to put this strip on each and every weapon the Valantian army carried, including the weapons they gave assassins?”

  Elbir was intrigued. “The revolutionaries, I guess?”

  I was certain, but wanted someone to confirm my theory. “Yes, they do despise the revolution. But there is one thing that they desire more than the destruction of the revolution. And that is Azmoq.”

  “So?”

  “So, is it possible, that the reason that they put this on, is so that, they can find, however difficult and improbable it might be, another source of Azmoq?”

  Elbir went along with my reasoning. “It is possible. In fact it makes perfect sense. So you are saying that these white strips can change color when they detect Azmoq?”

  “Yes. I think so. It has just changed color. If I think about it, it hadn’t changed color for all the time it was with Dev. And now that he is at a distance, with his Azmoq weapons far away as well, the color has changed back to white…. Maybe it also takes them some time to change back to allow the color change to show up during an inspection at a barracks.”

  There was a glitch in my theory. My weapons also had hilts of Azmoq. The dagger should still not have changed color. Maybe the fact that my weapons were wrapped in a cloth and still inside the coffin was enough distance to prevent a color change. Maybe the amount of Azmoq in my hilts was too low to create a color change. I was still convinced my theory was right.

  “Makes sense. But why? Why are you thinking of it right now?”

  “Because I think I know what the troop movement is for. Say the Yerin assassins, while on a mission, found a large Azmoq reserve by mistake. They return to the barracks to report back the color change as they were instructed to. The barracks in charge alerts the Valantian Imperium, who immediately orders the army to mobilize and capture the land with the reserve. Does that make sense?”

  Elbir’s eyes widened. “Is there an Azmoq reserve under Villasboro? The mobilization is to attack Villasboro?!”

  That had to be the truth. There was no other reason.

  Elbir wasn’t convinced. “Why would the Imperium send their own army? Two thousand of them to capture one village? And that too almost three months later? Why not send Morgenian army from the local district as soon as they came to know?”

  That seemed like a flaw. I thought about it. But then, it struck me.

  “They couldn’t move immediately. They had to be cautious. The location of the Azmoq reserve is the issue. The largest and richest country in the continent, Morgenia—what is the one thing it doesn’t have? Its own reserve. That’s the only hold the Valantian Imperium has over Morgenia. As soon as they have their own reserve, Morgenia could become militarily more powerful, potentially even challenge the Imperium for continental dominance, something the Imperium would not want.”

  The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Everything was connecting.

  “That’s why the Valantian Imperium is making such a big fuss about the death of the elite archer unit. They wanted the Morgenian leadership to be worried and stuck with the search for these ‘revolutionaries,’ tying down a considerable amount of their best military resources in the gigantic city of Welehölla, to search for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Only that there was no needle. In the meanwhile, the Valantian army would move, secure the reserve and set up the system for its transportation, and before the Morgenian government realized it, the Imperium would be ready to exploit the reserve, guard its route of transport via the Grand River directly to Ganolfan.”

  Elbir was more convinced. “But they didn’t know we were going to kill the archer unit. Were they waiting for a coincidence before they moved?”

  All the pieces had fallen into place. “No. They wanted your death to showcase that there were revolutionaries acting in Welehölla. When we destroyed that trap, they took whatever opportunity we gave them.”

  It all made sense. The Valantian Imperium was going to capture this reserve. The only thing standing between them was a tiny, unknown village. The village won’t survive. And if the Imperium was lucky, it would even discover a man who was probably the last great smith of Azmoq outside its direct control.

  “We have to stop them,” said Elbir, grimly. “I can’t fail master Forresgrim again. Never.”

  “I agree. But how? We are just three people. There is an army that’ll march towards Villasboro. Probably with at least a few of the Final 100.”

  Both of us were unable to think of what we could do. Then Elbir thought of something. “Could we hurry and warn the people of Villasboro? There must be a few hundred people there. Maybe if there is enough time, we could train them to defend themselves. Worst case, get them to evacuate the village.”

  That was possible. We could find our horses, hurry across. The army would be wary of exposing its movements, so it would probably move along hidden or deserted corridors. We could dash across open country and reach the village faster. We had Dev who knew the pass well, so could lead us to his village fast. This trip to the barracks could help us gather some more intelligence about their troop movements.

  But for that we had to reach the barracks. Till then, there was nothing we could do but wait. And hope that Dev hadn’t jumped out. Although, given the size of our convoy, we would know immediately if someone saw one of the corpses jumping out. That funny thought gave me an idea of how to navigate the barracks.

  It took us almost the rest of the day to reach the barracks. It was located reasonably close to Welehölla. The convoy moved rapidly, covering almost 30 kilometers in a day, extremely fast for convoys.

  We entered the barracks. It was the largest barracks outside of Ganolfan, given the importance of Morgenia. The barracks was a circular building, known colloquially as the “Round Lotus.” We were entering one of the most well-guarded and manned buildings on the continent.

  Chapter 25: The Round Lotus blooms

  As the carriages entered, we had to return to our coffins.

  I hoped Dev was fine. We continued for some time after entering the barracks. Then we felt the carriage open, and heard instructions pour out on what had to be done with the bodies.

  “Take these bodies carefully to the cold chambers. Get the cleaners to remove all the ice from the boxes. Dry the bodies and boxes. The bodies a
re to stay in the cold room in these coffins till the ones from the High Seat arrive.”

  We felt the coffins being moved towards the cold room. I was worried. Anyone opening the coffin tops would find a couple of living people in them. I was hoping that we would have a small window of time to get out of the room after being placed there. But it wasn’t likely. I was ready to crack a few skulls.

  We reached the cold room in some time, while listening to some mind-numbing drivel from our carriers. The size of their shoes and how their wives were always talking, their prior gambling debts, their petty rivalries and games. After travelling for almost an hour, I now hoped that they did try and open the box so that I could smash their heads together and make them stop.

  We were lowered onto the floor. I was waiting for them to open the top. However, before they did, I heard some crunching sound, commotion and something falling. I suddenly couldn’t hear the idiots. Then the coffin top opened. It was Elbir.

  “I am sorry if you had any other plans. I couldn’t bear to listen to those idiots anymore! So I knocked them out. I figured we would need their uniforms anyway to move around the barracks uninterrupted.”

  A man after my own heart. We were going to get along famously. “Great job, my friend. Let’s hope the kid is alright.”

  We opened his coffin to find that Dev was soaking wet. It looked like he hadn’t exited the coffin at all through the journey. He was shivering like a leaf when we took him out.

  “Dev, you idiot! You didn’t leave the coffin at all! Why were you lying in the coffin all this time?”

  Dev smiled through his shivers. “I figured you would know the right time for us to leave. I trust you.”

  We first got him out of his clothes and into one of the imperial troops’. He didn’t stop shivering any way. We were still in the cold room. We all changed into the uniforms. Thankfully, there were enough idiots for us to choose from. Elbir had managed to sequentially knock out six soldiers as they entered the room with coffins. We changed, tied the soldiers up and stuffed them into the coffins. Hopefully, till the time we were done, these soldiers wouldn’t be rescued. If they were, it would become difficult to keep our movement under wraps for long in this barracks.

  I updated Dev of our discussion and our conclusion. He took the news hard, as he never thought there was any imminent danger to anyone else in the village because of these assassins.

  “I wish I had been better, stronger and faster so that I could have killed these monsters before they escaped from the village. Then Villasboro wouldn’t have been in this danger,” he said.

  The fool was taking it personally. He couldn’t be more wrong. He had already done more than most at his age. He had unlocked a power seen only once in a century.

  “It was impossible for you alone to defeat these two assassins anyway. Let’s be grateful that we arrived upon the right conclusion and now can attempt to defeat the Valantian army before they have Villasboro.”

  Dev nodded. I could feel his resolve increasing. We had to get out of the room, find the exit, and then find the right opportunity to head out with all our weapons. The last bit was finding our horses, which were with the trader who was holding them for us as he travelled North West towards Khratosh. Then we could break for Villasboro.

  As we headed out of the cold room, we had to get our bearings right. None of us could carry all our weapons but for Dev, who could pass his short sword as a Valantian spike sword at first glance. Elbir picked one of his smaller hammers, and I took the Goujian. We left the rest in the coffins. So we had to make sure we understood the directions we took. It was more difficult than we thought.

  The building was like a large lotus, with a central observation and command tower which overlooked the entire barracks. Almost all the buildings were arranged one behind the other in a circular fashion, with each row slightly offset from the previous circle and the buildings smaller in length and width than the buildings in the circle outside it. This peculiar arrangement was to make any large-scale movement difficult, to ensure any invading army would find it exceedingly tough to infiltrate the barracks quickly.

  This arrangement made our journey difficult as well. The plus point was the size of the barracks. Even though it was built to house more than 10,000 soldiers, with just 2000 soldiers gearing up for an attack, it was bustling with people, rushing in every direction, preparing for assault. It was easy for us to slip into this hustle bustle without standing out too much.

  However, none of us knew the layout. We were moving around randomly for a couple of hours before we got a hang of things. Thankfully we found a laundry spot, and stole better fitting clothes for ourselves. But it was already dark by then. We had to find our way out soon. Otherwise we couldn’t get ahead of the troops, who would be rolling out soon. I figured they would move out as soon as the Final 100 members arrived from Welehölla. It was also difficult for us to find a place to hide and rest within the barracks, as there would be night patrols. Although they wouldn’t be on the lookout, allowing us to easily evade them, we would have to constantly avoid them. That wouldn’t allow for any sleep.

  We finally reached the boundary wall near the exit and located the point of exit by following the wall. There was only one entry or exit point for the barracks to allow the residents to control the traffic easily. Just as we reached the exit, we saw that the chances of our exit had evaporated. The massive, 10-meter-tall gates had been closed for the night. These would now open only for an emergency. Although our quest was urgent for us, I didn’t think I could convince them that it was a barracks level urgency.

  We decided to head back to the cold room and hide somewhere near there. It would be easier for us to hide, ensure that the soldiers we trapped couldn’t escape, and rest till morning when we could plan our escape. Our hunger levels were quite unbearable. What was helpful was that the cold room was adjacent to the kitchen, so we were able to steal some food quite easily from there.

  As we returned to the cold room which hosted the dead bodies, we realized we wouldn’t be able to rest there. We hadn’t repacked the coffins with fresh ice, and although the room was cold, the distinct smell of rotting flesh was evident. Without direct ice on the bodies, they were slowly rotting. We could also hear the low, but audible thumps. The soldiers we had knocked out were up and asking for help.

  We rushed in, despite the smell, and opened the crates to knock the soldiers out again. But as we opened the first crate, and I raised my sword’s hilt to knock the soldier out, I saw that the soldier had chewed through the cloth we stuffed in his mouth. He saw me and screamed. “Stop! Don’t attack! I am Warren, part of army regiment B, division Tiger.”

  His scream made me hesitate. He hadn’t seen me so far. I could pass off as a fellow soldier. But then I realized, he would raise a barracks level alarm for intruders and we would be caught sooner or later. I was about to proceed with the knocking out, when suddenly we heard a lot of soldiers running in. It was the night patrol. They must have heard the man’s scream.

  We couldn’t knock these many soldiers out. I motioned Elbir and Dev to stop.

  “Hey Warren. What happened here?” I asked, as I helped him up. At the same moment, fifteen troops of the night patrol rushed in. We could have killed them easily, but that would just be escalating the situation. I preferred to see it play out.

  “What is going on here?” said the captain of the night patrol, “and what is that smell?” The night patrol usually consisted of low capability and low performing soldiers, as no one wanted night duty. This seemed to be the case with this group too, thankfully.

  Warren ground his teeth. “Captain, we have been infiltrated! There is at least one man who has managed to enter the barracks unnoticed!”

  “What? What makes you say that? And why are you tied up?”

  The captain seemed exceptionally slow. Why would someone voluntarily get tied up? Didn’t he see that the infiltration comment and the tied-up soldiers were connected?

 
“Captain, my fellow soldiers and I transported the coffins as ordered. As we started to open the coffins, someone broke out of one of them and attacked us. I was knocked out, tied up and stuffed back into the coffins. When I woke up, I was inside a coffin. I continued to knock the top till this comrade,” he jerked a thumb at me, “opened the top and rescued me.”

  The captain looked at me. “Thank you, soldier. You helped us identify that there has been an invasion.”

  “Of course, Captain. Just carrying out my duty.”

  The soldiers and Elbir opened the other coffins to find the other soldiers, whom we had stripped naked.

  The captain was furious. “This intruder seems cocky. He has stripped our soldiers to shame them. And you all—how could you get knocked out by one man! Shame on you.”

  He seemed to have missed our clothes strewn underneath the soldier’s garments. Given this guy’s intelligence, it was a miracle he noticed the clothes at all.

  He looked at the three of us. Suddenly he became suspicious. “You,” he called out to me. “What were you doing here? Why weren’t you in your sleeping quarters?”

  We were busted. There was no excuse for us loitering after curfew.

  “We were out for a late-night snack, Captain. We picked up food in the kitchen before heading back, when we heard the tapping sound. We decided to check it out. The fact that it was coming from the coffins scared us, so we decided to be cautious as we opened the tops, ready to strike in case of any danger,” responded Elbir.

  I wasn’t sure telling part of the truth was the way to go, but the captain seemed to believe him.

  “Got it. Your help here can’t excuse your nightly excursions. Your punishment will be decided tomorrow. For now, you can return to your beds.”

  Elbir replied, “Yes, Captain. But one point if I may.”

  The captain nodded pompously, ostentatiously “allowing” Elbir to make his point.