“Why me?”
“You are more powerful than even you know,” Fakir said with a smile. “Dress in a long cloak with a hood. You will be going into the land of humans, and they must not see a dwarf.”
“How long will I be gone?” asked Dorforun. “I will want to tell the others when to expect my return.”
“You will tell no one,” instructed the Mage. “As for the duration of your commitment, I can give no answer. Perhaps you will never return.”
The dwarf swallowed hard as the Mage’s words struck home. The human had not explicitly said that death awaited him, but it was clear that the possibility was more than minimal.
“Everyone will know that I have left,” countered the dwarf. “Even if I don’t say farewell, the guards will report my leaving.”
“The guards will not know of your departure,” declared the Mage. “No one is to know. I will wait for you in the valley south of Tarashin. Do not be long.”
Chapter 7
Thirteen Days
Alex, Tedi, and Natia passed through the Door and entered the Royal Palace in Tagaret. Alex spoke briefly to the guards stationed there and then the Knights of Alcea made their way to King Arik’s study. They entered the study to find the king and queen talking to Theos, the Tyronian mage. The conversation immediately halted as the royal couple turned to greet the newly arrived Knights of Alcea.
“I was hoping that you would show up,” welcomed King Arik. “The meeting started some time ago, and I wanted to hear from you before attending myself.”
“I had some things that needed to be taken care of,” apologized Alex. “Has Jenneva arrived yet?”
“No,” frowned Queen Tanya. “The fairies assured me that she has been notified.”
“Time is getting scarce for all of us,” mused Alex. “I suspect that we are all running a little tight on time right now. It is not going to get any better. There are more coming from Zara. I took the liberty of asking the guards to have the others report directly here instead of going straight to the meeting.” The Knight of Alcea nodded to Theos, and the mage nodded in return. “Has Theos been introduced to everyone yet?”
“Not yet,” answered King Arik. “I was planning on doing that at the meeting.”
“Do not introduce him as Tyronian,” suggested Alex. “It is not that I expect any of the group to betray a confidence, but it would be better if no one slipped and called him the Tyronian mage.”
“Good point,” nodded the king.
The door opened and Zack Nolan, Wylan and Sheri entered the room. Directly following them was Jenneva and Clint McFarren. The Ranger was still dressed in his Federation uniform.”
The Tyronian’s eyes widened nervously.
“That is sure to get some attention at the meeting,” quipped the queen. “How did you get past the guards?”
“I had to vouch for him,” chuckled Jenneva.
“Even though they knew who I was,” complained Clint.
“I am surprised that you found time to leave Zara,” commented King Arik. “I thought you were hurrying your army to Despair to free the emperor?”
“Plans have changed,” frowned the Ranger as he turned and faced Jenneva. “I think a mage has taken over the emperor’s body. I need to know how I can verify that.”
“Tell me why you suspect such a thing,” replied Jenneva.
Clint detailed his conversation with Colonel Taerin and added in his suspicions based upon the emperor’s behavior. Jenneva nodded increasingly as he spoke.
“It sounds very much like Reflecting Pool,” stated Jenneva, “but it could be some variation of it that we are ignorant of. If it is Reflecting Pool, getting the emperor to cast a spell will break the illusion, but it must be done at an appropriate time. Once the illusion is broken, there is nothing to stop the mage from reconstituting it. If you wish to reveal him to someone, make sure that person is present before you force the mage to cast a spell.”
“Like the emperor’s son,” stated Zack.
“That will not be necessary,” smiled Clint. “I have made contact with the heir of the Empire of Barouk, but now is not the time to discuss that. There is more important news. Grand General Kyrga has ordered the movement of troops. The 9th Corps of Barouk and the 25th Corps of Aerta are already on the move. They have received orders to report to Camp Destiny. The war is starting soon.”
“How soon?” asked the king.
“About two weeks,” replied the Ranger. “It depends on where General Kolling and General Gertz have stationed their troops, so I can not be positive of the timing, but the fairies will surely report their arrival in Camp Destiny.”
“We cannot wait for their arrival in Camp Destiny,” the king replied anxiously. “We have our own troop movements to accomplish. Why are they starting so early? Has spring arrived earlier in Zara than here?”
“The northern portion of Zara is having one of the worst winters on record,” answered Alex. “There is no hint of spring there.”
“I agree,” offered Theos. “I have never seen a winter so severe.”
“But that is not true in the south,” retorted Clint. “And it is in the south where their armies are massed and waiting for orders.”
“What about near Camp Destiny?” asked Jenneva. “That is farther north and it is close to the Barrier.”
“I do not know,” answered Clint. “I can check it out when I return to Zara.”
“The fairies can handle that,” interjected Alex. “You have too much on your plate already. Do not spread yourself too thin. Where is the A Corps now?”
“They were marching on Despair,” frowned the Federation general, “but I stopped that. If Emperor Jaar is not going to honor our agreement, and he will certainly not if he is dead, there is no reason for my troops to go to Despair. I turned them around and headed them towards Ramaldi Pass to aid in the liberation of Vinafor.”
“We should get to the meeting and let the others know that the war is coming sooner than expected.”
“There is more,” warned Clint. “The Federation has continued to grow their army. It is hard for me to get accurate information as I am not supposed to be in Despair, but the best estimate that I can come up with suggests that they have added another sixty-thousand troops.”
“Sixty-thousand?” gasped the king. “Are they coming here?”
“I can’t be certain,” answered Clint, “but I suspect that they are not. There has been no formal announcement of the new armies, and the new generals seem interested only in training their new troops.”
“They are for crowd control,” suggested the Alcean spymaster. “Whoever is planning on taking over the Federation is gathering the armies to ensure that he is not foiled in the attempt. If I am correct, expect to see those armies stationed in the major cities of the Federation, especially Despair.”
Alex nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense, Zack. The usurper is planning to seize control while the bulk of the Federation armies are in Alcea. The new armies are to counteract any resistance from the home guard.”
“And that is why they needed to replace Jaar,” agreed Clint. “It does make sense now. Jaar had gotten out of hand, and they could not afford to attempt a coup with eighty-thousand loyal troops in Despair. Those troops would unerringly follow the heir, but I suspect these new troops will be under the control of Grand General Kyrga. The new generals will owe their allegiance to him alone.”
Alex paced wordlessly to the window and stared out at the blustery winter scene. The others turned and stared at his back, wondering what he was thinking about. The king opened his mouth to ask that very question, but the queen stopped him with a slight touch on his arm and a shake of her head. The room stood in silence as Alex pondered the ramification of the new information. Eventually, he sighed heavily and turned to face the others.
“Do not send your troops into Vinafor, Clint,” commanded Alex. “They may be needed in eastern Zara.”
“What do you mean?” scowled The
os. “The liberation of the western countries was promised. You cannot just walk away and leave those patriots under the heel of the Federation.”
Alex looked the Tyronian mage in the eye. There was no reprimand in the gaze, only sympathy. “The western countries must all fall in succession, and they will, but only when success is assured. We are now facing one-hundred-forty-thousand troops when we expected only eighty-thousand. Even that lower number left us woefully outnumbered. Now we are facing odds that require a reassessment of our strategies.”
“If the liberation of the western countries is timed properly,” suggested Zack, “some of those new armies would be forced to respond. Perhaps that might be the key.”
“Clint?” prompted Alex.
“General Tauman would probably be the first to respond,” declared the Federation general. “The 1st Corps is considered to be the finest army in the Federation, and Camp Destiny is close enough to arrive in Vinafor quickly.”
“He wouldn’t leave Camp Destiny unguarded, would he?” asked Wylan.
“That depends on timing,” answered Clint. “As long as he thinks the Doors are still working, no, but if he discovers that he is guarding nothing important, he would eagerly respond to an uprising. He certainly will not keep his army tied down in Camp Destiny if it is worthless there.”
“Which also makes him a threat to any action we take in the eastern countries,” stated Alex. “Tauman and the 1st Corps have to be neutralized. Can you accomplish that, Clint?”
Clint frowned heavily. “I am proud of what I have made the A Corps into, but they are not Alcean Rangers. 1st Corps outnumbers us five-to-one, and they are far better trained from what I have heard.”
“Can you do it?” pressed Alex.
“We will do it,” Clint promised, “but I don’t know how just yet.”
“Station the A Corps close to Camp Destiny,” instructed Alex. “I will let you know when all of the Doors have been neutralized.”
“You two can work out those details later,” interrupted King Arik. “We have a room full of people waiting on us. Let’s get that meeting over with so they can all return home and prepare for this war.”
The discussion ended and King Arik led the group out of his study and into the meeting room. General Gregor was addressing the group and King Arik nodded for him to continue as the smaller group filed into the room.
“The holding pens need to be dispersed,” instructed the general. “It is dangerous for them all to be located in the same place, and it is not wise to have them near the capital cities. The maximum number of prisoners in any one pen is to be one-thousand men, and that should be broken up into smaller segments if possible. Remember, the purpose of these pens is to keep the enemy from regrouping and causing havoc after they are captured, so keep the locations of pens secret. If any one pen is compromised, it will be easier to handle if they cannot help others to escape.”
“Transporting large numbers of prisoners will not be easy,” complained Governor Mobami of Sordoa, “especially if we are still engaged with other prongs of the attack.”
“Each prong should have its own cadre of citizen militia for this task,” offered Bin-lu. “That way we do not take valuable resources away from the army. The militia need not be made up of warriors. They only need to be proficient enough with bows to keep the prisoners under guard. The prisoners will already have been relieved of their weapons, so the greatest threat is escape. In Lanoir, we have already created these militia and the holding pens. I can share with you the problems we encountered if you are interested.”
“Mention the transportation problems, Bin-lu,” suggested Colonel Gregor. “If anyone needs to hear more, he can get with you after the meeting.”
The Knight of Alcea nodded. “Transportation will be a major problem because the pens should be located well away from the city. It is safest to move the prisoners in a contained fashion rather than have them march to the pens. In Lanoir we are using wagons and ships. This means that we need to have the wagons and ships available for use without their importance becoming noticed by any spies in the area. Governor Za-chan has accomplished this by requiring every cargo ship in Lanoir to be inspected before the first day of spring. The harbor of Ongchi is already crowded with ships, but the inspections have been delayed for some strange reason, so none of them have left yet.”
Many in the room laughed at the wily methods of the Lanoirian governor.
Bin-lu smiled and continued, “A side effect of this slow inspection process is that the streets of Ongchi are overcrowded with wagons. Most of the wagons arrived in the city with cargoes for the ships, but the ships are not ready to leave because they have not been inspected. So we have the wagons and ships ready for the transportation of prisoners without letting any spies know their true purpose.”
“Clever,” commented General Gregor. “I think that is enough about handling the prisoners. I will turn the meeting over to King Arik.”
“Thank you all for coming,” opened the king. “I have just received news that the Zarans have started to move their armies towards the portals. While we do not have an exact date for the start of the war, it is estimated that we have two weeks before the first Zaran troops arrive. That is a little bit sooner than we had planned on, but the timing is not under our control. General Fernandez, I think this affects Cordonia far greater than the others. You need to start moving the Cordonian army to Targa immediately.”
“We are still badly snowed in,” frowned the Governor of Cordonia. “My armies will never reach Targa in time to be of any help.”
“I can help with that,” offered Prince Oscar. “I can have my ships transport your soldiers to Dalek. It will still take a fair amount of time, but I think it will at least get the bulk of your troops here in time.”
“We can’t afford for spies to see the soldiers boarding the ships,” warned Alex.
“And they won’t,” promised Governor Fernandez. “My men will not be wearing uniforms, and we can load Prince Oscar’s ships at night from several different cities. I have also prepared a disinformation campaign to keep the spies from noticing the lack of soldiers in the cities. False reports of army activity will spread through the cities so that anyone wondering where all the soldiers went will be satisfied with what they hear.”
The king waited to be sure that the conversation was ended before taking back control of the meeting.
“Anyone else who needs to move armies to be prepared for the invasion will need to start thinking about doing that very soon. The first Federation armies destined for Alcea will be coming through Doors in the city of Barouk in Lanoir. From the time they step through those Doors, they have allotted themselves thirteen days for all of their armies to rally at our major cities. The last armies to arrive on our soil will appear in Danver Shores on day nine of those thirteen days, giving Tagaret only four days to halt their march. All of the other armies will be somewhere in between those mentioned. General Gregor has created maps for each of you. The maps detail each of the Federation armies and where they are supposed to be on each of those thirteen days. Do not take these maps as a certainty. The locations are what the Federation plans, not necessarily where they will actually be. In some cases, our forces will be trying to slow down some of those armies.”
The king paused to gaze around the room. He saw a lot of nervousness among the group, but he thought little of it. He was also nervous. No matter how much they planned, King Arik knew that things would change the moment the fighting started.
“All right then,” continued the king. “I think it is time to break up into groups and finalize your plans. I want a report of those plans before you leave Tagaret. If there is any need for assistance from the crown, make sure you get it before you leave here. This will be our last meeting before the war begins.”
The assembly broke up into provincial groups and spread out to different areas of the large room. Alexander Tork, figuring that this would be his last chance to speak to the leader
s before hostilities broke out, decided to touch base with each group. He started with Lanoir where General Za-hong, Bin-lu, and Rut-ki were talking quietly in the corner.
“Lanoir will be first to receive the Federation,” Alex said in way of a greeting. “How do you feel about your preparations?”
“Good for the most part,” answered General Za-hong. “Bin-lu seems to have considered everything.”
“Not everything,” frowned Bin-lu. “We have significant surprises in store for the enemy, but I am still anxious. Perhaps it is because I have traveled with the likes of Jenneva and Tanya, but our mages do not appear capable of much in the way of offensive magic.”
“The Lanoirian army has never depended upon magicians,” retorted General Za-hong. “The strength of our army has always been in numbers. The strategy was to overwhelm your opponent.”
“The numbers are not on our side this time,” countered Rut-ki. “We must learn to be more clever than our opponents if we hope to survive.”
Alex turned and glanced at the Tyronian mage. Theos stood quietly behind the king, watching everyone, but remaining silent. He turned back to the three Lanoirians.
“I cannot speak for King Arik on this matter,” Alex said softly, “but perhaps you could borrow Theos, the new mage. I understand that his offensive magic is quite impressive.”
“I will discuss that with King Arik,” replied Bin-lu, “but I suspect that Theos is a replacement for Fredrik. There was much talk at the previous meeting about the last remaining Claw of Alutar. Prince Oscar wants a mage to constantly shield the king. I would be surprised if Theos was not holding a shield over the king right now.”
“Does King Arik expect an assassin among his advisors?” asked General Za-hong.
“That is not the right question,” retorted Rut-ki. “I am sure that King Arik trusts everyone in this room. It is Theos holding the shields and his decision to do so. He does not know any of us, and I think that is an advantage. He will not let his guard down because the threat seems familiar. I know that feeling. When I was accepted into the Knights of Alcea, I did not know the rest of you, so I could not be lulled into complacency.”
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