The comment made the man frown again and he wondered aloud, "I wonder when she will be back. It has been a long time since Heline hasn't been by my side. I am surprised that I haven't heard any word from her since she first left."
"You two were close?" Megan asked and noticed Niadene blushing on the other side of the table. "Ah... that close," she added with understanding that made the general look up at the blonde haired maid still beside him.
His attention returned to the newest woman on his staff. "Heline and I have known each other a long time," the man stated without continuing any further as he began to eat his meal.
"Perhaps she is worried about the dangers of being in the spire?" Megan suggested knowing that it really was none of her business and, in fact, that someone with considerable power over Heline must have been able to sway the woman, if she and Amelyer were so close.
Niadene frowned at her and the wizard thought perhaps Amelyer wouldn't wish to answer something that might lead to personal feelings. The general had already said that he tried to remain above such base things after all, though Megan had begun to wonder. While the man hadn't hit on her specifically, his willingness to speak of such personal matters implied that he was softening towards her already.
"Perhaps," he admitted simply.
"Do you wish to take charge of the spire? Will you strive to become the new emperor then?" she asked trying not to push her luck, but Megan was growing tired of having to lie to these people. Though she wasn't overly close to either Niadene or Amelyer, being so deceitful wasn't the way she wanted to live. Being a teacher, the wizard rarely had ever needed to lie or conceal the truth; though she might have to put off telling an apprentice something that was beyond their understanding early in their careers.
The general sighed and joked, "I thought that I wasn't supposed to think about those things until after breakfast."
Niadene frowned at her now also and placed her hand on his shoulder as if to place her positive energy there to strengthen the man.
"I had hoped to unite the empire under one leader, but Corven continues to dispute me. He wishes to champion orcs and I fear that he has begun to work on bringing the creatures in the west into this as well. I lead trolls and orcs as well, but some of the latter have disappeared of late. It doesn't take much to guess that they will follow Corven instead of me if it comes to a fight.
"I am also beginning to wonder if I should continue to resist him. This city is just one part of the empire. I can't see someone like Corven binding the rest to him. Maybe I should just take my army and go to one of the outer forts or maybe to one of the other cities. Aetelier has a large population of elves. With my army I could unite the elven forts between Ensolus and Aetelier perhaps."
He looked up at Niadene and asked with a laugh, "How would you like to live beside a lake that is the heart of the river which flows all the way to Southwall?"
Megan noted indecision in the maid's eyes, but she answered, "Will I have to clean an entire castle? I don't mind a few rooms, but I have to draw a line somewhere, Amelyer."
The fact that the woman would call him by his first name implied intimacy and familiarity with the general that she hadn't realized before.
"So you plan to give up on Ensolus then?" Megan inquired absently. The question was meant to appear to only have slipped from her mouth as she considered her thoughts aloud.
It brought Amelyer's gaze back to the newest maid and she saw a little anger in the look.
"If I don't consider it, we will likely destroy Ensolus instead. Even if I were to defeat Corven, there would be little enough to rule after our armies were done."
"You can't get support from the wizards?"
Uttering a sound of disgust, the man replied angrily, "The hunt master wants his lord to come back and rule, but Devolus doesn't seem to care at all. Besides I am not sure where his allegiance would fall. Zarl is part orc and part elf. He is also technically part of the wizard and warlock guilds run by Echolus."
Running his hand through his hair in frustration, Amelyer complained, "The grand master is just as bad. I wonder if he plans to attack anyone who tries to take the throne. Knowing warlocks, I would even guess that he wants Corven and me to beat on each other's armies to become weak enough for his wizards and hunters to come in and sweep us aside."
Megan didn't know what to say to that. She feared the same and that was why the woman had backed Lesolas' plan for Sanctuary.
Her mission continued to look like it supported Amelyer's beliefs also, but the wizard didn't want to choose one of their sides. She had already chosen and worried that they would be too late to avoid being caught in a war between at least three sides. Time was running out, she feared.
Megan let the conversation lapse while the general ate. To her surprise, when the general readied to leave, he said to Niadene, "If you would consider following me, maybe you should bring your things here for now. There might be a time where we will have to leave quickly."
Neither woman questioned the man before he stepped outside his door.
Chapter 22- Ultimatums
Torva looked over the rubble that had once been the inner wall and towers guarding Ensolus. Work on it still progressed, but it seemed unusually slow. He had visited the sanctuary sight twice and the work was much farther along on a larger scale build than clearing the stone before rebuilding the fallen fortifications.
He had been called to Captain Rorsted's office late the previous afternoon.
"If you are finally finished with the wizards' tasks, then it is time that you got back to business," the orc warlock had told him with a typical orcish frown. "What have you been doing for them anyway? No one sees you for days and then you just pop up without a word."
"Did you miss me, captain?" the man quipped.
"Very funny," Rorsted replied though his face didn't look amused at all. "I spoke to the warlocks in your squad and they didn't seem to know any more than I did about what you have been doing."
"It was just a two man search in a few areas for the wizards," Torva replied giving just enough that he hoped the captain would be satisfied.
"A search for what exactly?" the orc questioned him unrelentingly.
"They wanted me to check out a few areas for resources as well as looking for wizards, since that is what I do most of the time."
"And did you find any?"
"Some of the resources they were hoping for, yes; but there were no new candidates for the school," Torva replied skirting the truth as best he could. To his surprise, Rorsted dropped the subject and told him to gather his squad in the morning. They would check the ruins of the portal chambers in the morning and move south to the broken inner wall.
Captain Rorsted stood with him and a team that the orc led personally at times. There were no elves assigned to the captain's team, and the soldiers who backed the magic wielding warlocks were all orcs and trolls. Though less diverse than Torva's team, he had four human warlocks who seemed to follow the orc comfortably enough.
Rorsted was a rare orc who could use magic and had trained in the school. His mind was as good as any human or elf as a commander also, though he was likely as high in command as he would ever get. True blood orcs rarely made it above captain, since they were viewed as limited in their thinking by the humans and elves serving in the various military services.
Since the portal chambers had been much closer to the emperor's spire, the two squads had checked there first. The broken stone and bodies hidden in the rubble had all been taken care of by wizards and those in charge of the dead. There had even been some progress with rebuilding the two buildings that were basically just rooms for the gates made by Ensolus' warlocks. Simple construction was mostly done by goblins and orcs. Armored viles had been useful for removing the stone, but the large beasts were better at tearing things down than building. Their long claws were like steel and not very useful for delicate work.
While Rorsted hadn't been fully satisfied with what he saw there,
the outer walls only brought frowns and discontentment.
"It's been almost a month since the attack, what are those wizards doing? They should be overseeing this work and using their magic to move it along quicker.
"They're fine with working on the gate houses apparently, but even those aren't as far along as I would have expected. What are they wasting their time on? Echolus wanted Zarl to back him for taking control of the city, but the elf can't even be trusted with something simple like this," the orc complained and realized that he was speaking to one of the high elves when dealing with Torva. "Um, no offense," Rorsted added quickly.
Ignoring the racial slur, since it was minor compared to some the squad leader had heard in the past. Some had even been directed at him, though even his people tended to speak ill of the supposedly lesser elves; so an orc's dislike of Echolus, a lower elf, wasn't that unusual except for the fact that he was also the most important magic user in the school.
"Wizards tend to train apprentices and do their practices. You know that. You were one of them once, captain," Torva spoke to his superior as if they were the same rank or perhaps that the elf was above the captain even. It wasn't intended to be disrespectful. Wizard hunters were just less strict in dealing with fellow leaders once they were promoted above the common hunters. "Saying that, I am surprised that the grand masters haven't done more to fix the wall. The outer wall stands undamaged and winter will likely keep Southwall from following up on their attack on the emperor before spring, unless they use portal magic again. Marching an army all this way from the protection of the wall would be difficult with all the snow and ice."
Rorsted growled, "It is precisely why they should be working hard to fix them. We don't know what the enemy will do. We've seen what they're capable of and need to make certain that our defenses will stand ready to face them again."
"Perhaps Echolus doesn't feel comfortable sending his people that far south away from the protection of the school?" Torva suggested.
"They are wizards and warlocks. What do they have to fear?"
"The generals' forces have been seen outside the spire and fighting has occurred several times. I have even heard that there seems to be an orc organizing the creatures in the west, while there have been disturbances between the eastern orcs and humans in the quarter also.
"If Echolus feels that his people will be in danger while they work to make the city safer, maybe he doesn't want to risk it until something is settled?"
Rorsted remarked with a doubtful shake of his head, "That's ridiculous. Why would anyone attack wizards working on the wall?"
"For control," the hunter said simply. "If not that, then the wizards might have decided that it was too cold outside."
The captain laughed at that, though Torva knew that most of the school was kept almost as warm as a summer afternoon. They avoided the cold and drove it out of the school's halls with the power of furnaces driven by magic, so he could almost see that being Echolus' excuse.
"Well, it'll be interesting to hear his explanation with my own ears," Rorsted answered. "I've seen enough here. Time to go speak with the grand master to see what his excuse actually is. One moment he is talking of having the wizard hunters back his bid for emperor and the next he can't even get his people to fix a little wall."
As the two squads turned back north, Torva couldn't help thinking that it was interesting to hear from Rorsted that Echolus had once considered becoming emperor. It was in line with what they had been hearing from Master Lesolas as well. Megan had been sent as a spy to watch over Amelyer and they had no doubt that General Corven had someone in his camp keeping an eye on the orc. There were likely even spies within the hunters that could tell the grand master if Zarl had changed his mind.
Riding horses inside the cave city was somewhat unusual, but Rorsted had chosen to move faster. Even his trolls rode wagons, though the largest members of his squad would likely have kept up walking alongside their mounts if it had been necessary. They were too heavy to burden even the largest horses with their weight so a wagon was the best choice of transportation for them.
Soon enough they were in front of the school and nearly back to their barracks since it sat between two wizard hunter bases. Guards were at the front gate and nervously looked at the two full squads of wizard hunters rolling up in their black armor. There were relatively few soldiers in charge of the school's protection, since the hunters were often on loan as their true guardians.
"S-s-sorry, captain, but you can't come in this way," one of the men in front of him stammered a warning of sorts.
Rorsted's forehead furrowed before asking, "What do you mean I can't come this way? We are wizard hunters, soldier. Our job is to protect or contain wizards as we see fit. Who would give you such an order?"
"The grand masters have said that no armed bodies are allowed near the school for the students' safety... sir," the man finished seeming unsure if the orc required such a title in his address.
The captain dismounted and regarded the guards. Four more joined the pair in the front, but they were still greatly outnumbered by the hunters. "As a captain in the wizard hunters, I will enter with my men and speak with Grand Master Echolus. If you have a problem with..."
Poleaxes crossed in front of him before the captain could finish and the soldiers shook their heads, though even in the cold Torva could see them beginning to sweat from their nerves.
"No, sir, I have already told you..." the soldier started and found himself interrupted in a different way.
"Restrain them," the captain ordered with a slash of his hand towards the men.
His warlocks cast snaring spells as if reading his mind. Torva's trolls hopped down from the front seat of their cart. Picking up the guards like cords of wood, they threw them into the back of the wagon. Gock and Bocha stood beside the wagon watching over the men as the remainder of the two squads proceeded to enter the front courtyard of the school.
Those who had learned magic had once known this courtyard well. Now as hunters it felt odd to be entering like an enemy to confront the grand masters. Torva knew that he would have to back the captain, even if the school might choose to throw its magical might at them. The hunters were more than enough to deal with a few guards and squads like these had brought down enemy wizards before, but there might be hundreds here counting the apprentices.
It was only slightly surprising when Grand Master Echolus, Grand Warlock Suma and a dozen wizards met them coming from the front door of the school. Apparently the men had seen the small convoy approaching and readied a force of their own to confront the men.
The riders spread out in the courtyard even as Rorsted and Torva dismounted to speak with the warlocks.
"Grand Master Echolus I came to speak with you regarding the lack of effort with the repairs to the city, but now you act like we are foes. Sending pathetic soldiers to the gate to tell me I can't enter the school? Should I take offense?"
Echolus strode to the front of the stairs, but didn't start his descent. He was shorter than the two wizard hunters and much less of a physical threat to the armored and armed men, but both of them had magic and could see the power of his aura. Not bothering to hide his strength, the grand master addressed the captain, "If Hunt Master Zarl wishes to speak with me about it, he can come... alone. This show of military force doesn't impress me, but rather offends me, captain."
"It was not meant as a show of force for you. We toured the city checking in on the repairs to the portal houses and the inner wall. All I saw were some goblins and orcs trying to haul away the stone, which should have been cleared by both force and magic by now. As the leader of this school and the wizards and warlocks in it, you were supposed to have sent teams to assist in the repairs."
Echolus answered drolly, "When the hunt master refuses to choose a side to help bring stability to the city, why should I risk my people when we have goblins, orcs and trolls that are built for such service? We have more than enough work to do here. Zarl ca
n come speak with me about it, if he has a problem with the way I do things in my school.
"He has no more power here than you do, captain, but I will speak with him if comes to me respectfully."
Ignoring the wizard's repeated attempts to get him to bring his leader, Rorsted instead countered, "You talk as if your wizards are in danger in Ensolus. This is your home, grand master, why are you afraid as you say? Southwall has retreated, so surely it is safe enough to send wizards to repair the city.
"If you want more safety, help reopen the portal rooms so we can recall our troops from Litsarin, if we must. Rebuild the walls and towers also. They will defend us from outside threats at least. We were caught off guard or they never would have been destroyed, but that is talk for another time.
"Hunt Master Zarl has given me the authority to monitor the situation of the repairs, so regardless of what authority you believe I have here; this comes from him when I speak to you, Echolus," the captain finished dropping all terms of respect for the head wizard.
Echolus took a step forward and ordered with a dark frown, "Get out of my school, captain. I won't tell you again."
"Are you threatening an officer of the wizard hunters, sir?" the orc leveled a warning look at the elf. "We are supposed to be on the same side. Why would you start a fight with the shield of your school?"
"I am not starting a fight. I am kicking the orc, which we taught magic to, out of my school, Rorsted. Now leave. You are wasting my time and patience."
Torva could sense auras fluctuating as the warlocks standing with Echolus seemed uncertain if the grand master was bluffing or not.
Calmly eyeing the elf, Rorsted turned and remounted his horse. Torva followed his lead as the orc replied, "I have said what needed to be said. Fix the wall. If I have to come back here, I don't think you will be avoiding the fight you say that you aren't trying to start now."
Battle Mage Broken Empire (Tales of Alus Book 14) Page 29