“Yeah.” I glanced at the two men as they gave each other the stink eye when they thought no one else was looking. “Because it sure as hell looks like you need it.”
Chapter 15
The War Room at Korona was nothing like the palatial digs at Vulkan Keep. There were no fancy maps or mahogany furniture here: just chickens in the hallway outside, old smelly reeds on the floor, and a solid stone table covered in a messy jumble of maps, markers, notes, bottles and wooden cups. The walls were covered in more maps, ledgers, notes and scraps of parchment, with routes through the Endlar marked up with flags and pinned thread in different colors. I couldn’t help but notice the vast majority of the swamp was uncharted.
“Kutzi keri. You see what I have to deal with?” Istvan said sourly, plopping down onto one of the chairs. He knotted his fingers up through his hair, staring down blankly at the map nearest him. After a moment, he pushed it away and took up one of the bottles. “Do any of you want a drink?”
The cup nearest me smelled like fermenting fruit juice. I peered over the rim. There were a couple of mold floaters on the surface of the liquid inside. “Not for me, thanks,” I said, steering the dragon to a seat. Karalti darted her head to one side like a curious bird, staring at a shiny letter opener on the table glinting under the light of the chandelier.
“Suit yourself.” Istvan got one of the cleaner mugs and filled it to the brim with a milky, frothy liquor that smelled a cross between sweet bourbon and yogurt. “So, you want a briefing on Korona? Two thousand men arriving on short notice, another hundred in quarantine, close to a hundred injured – some brutally – and a constant flow of refugees beating on our gates. There’s plague spreading in Slutlava. Everything has been a disaster since Karhad fell. You want to know my problems? I can summarize with one word. ‘Soma’.”
“Listen, I know you hate the guy, but this kind of talk isn’t helping you or anyone here. He’s your commanding officer, whether we like it or not.” I steepled my fingers and let them rest between my knees. “You’re digging yourself into a hole, my dude.”
“The hole was already dug.” Istvan paused to slam back his drink. “There’s nothing to do in Myzsno now but join the ranks of the dead.”
“Start from the beginning,” I said slowly. “Because you look like the kind of man who doesn’t scare easily or normally say shit like this. Tell us what happened in Karhad.”
Some of the fight drained from Istvan’s wiry frame. He shook his head slowly, taking another pull off his mug.
“The Demon destroys everything in his path,” he said haltingly. “He twists the land, tramples and Stranges the fields, seizing, or just butchering the animals wholesale. He adds their carcasses to the rest of the dead in his ranks. They march without tiring, destroy without caring. The only things that repel them are fire and water.”
“And what about you?” Suri asked. “What’s your story?”
“I am... was... the Castellan of House Bolza.” He looked up, his pale green eyes flashing. “I was orphaned at a young age, and my life was spent in service to the Voivode of Myszno. I served in Egbolt Castle in Karhad, fighting while Andrik Corvinus refused to send aid. We struggled alone against an army who grew larger with every battle we lost. Every person who falls is added to this… this thing’s army. I lost my family, my hold… then I had to fight them. My wife. My children, my neighbors. Even my own dog came at me, guts hanging everywhere.”
I leaned back. “Jesus.”
Karalti crooned in agreement, searching the table for things to push onto the ground.
Suri stayed standing, as she often did. She wasn’t much of a sitter. “I’m sorry, mate. Can’t think of a worse situation than what you went through.”
Istvan bowed his head. “Nearly everyone here has a story like mine, except for Soma. You must understand first that Karhad is not a city built for war, but for river trade. The city walls are rammed earth, wood and daub. The worst things we ever saw there in my lifetime were Tyrannosaurus, Yanik raiders, sometimes monsters. We did not need large walls until now.”
“What kind of tactics does the Demon use?” Suri asked. “Any idea as to his overall strategy? What he wants?”
“Who knows? We have no idea what he wants.” Istvan shrugged. “As for tactics... in Karhad, they hurled the living dead over the walls with catapults to begin the assault. Kalxat came forth next, blacking out the sky alongside chimera stitched from the bodies of wyverns and quazi and other animals. The horde followed: fast, fearless, immune to pain, carrying all kinds of weapons and tools. There were countless number of them, tens of thousands. They climbed over their own fallen corpses as their bodies mounded against the walls, and soon, it was over. The wall fell quickly, and they overran the city, butchering everyone they came across. How can you fight a man who pushes himself along your pike and feels no pain?”
He paused to drink, then sighed. “We held them off at the castle for a while. Closed the gates, poured oil in the moat and lit it ablaze. But the undead piled into the water until the flames were extinguished, and when they reached the gate, they punched through it with nothing more than nails and teeth and axes. I remember the smell, more than anything… and their commander. Behind the mass assaulting the castle rode the Demon himself.”
“You saw him?” I leaned in with interest.
Istvan nodded. “Briefly.”
“What did he look like?”
“He…” The man closed his eyes for a moment, swallowing. “I have never seen anything more terrifying. He is monstrous. Tall, well-built, like some terrible bronze temple statue come to life. His teeth gleam like sharpened metal stakes. He wears half plate with cloth of gold and all kinds of tarnished finery, and his mount… he rides a great skeleton aurochs made of gold or bronze, a bull the size of a tyrannosaurus. I never once saw its hooves touch the earth. He stood behind his elite guard during the assault, I remember, with a whip in one hand and a long gold staff with a great black stone in the other. I watched him use the staff to cast foul magic on the castle grounds. The gardens withered before our eyes, and the gates rotted away. His army poured in like an ocean of flesh and bone... it was all we could do to flee for our lives.
“You’re lucky you got away,” Suri said.
“Am I? Truly? I should have died with my lord. Everything I loved is gone.” The Captain picked up his drink and threw the rest back in a couple of long swallows. His hand trembled as he set the empty cup down. “Now, my only reasons for being here are duty and dread. Duty, because Lord Bolza ordered me to leave and gave me the task of avenging Karhad, and dread, because I cannot bear to think of this plague flowing out from Myszno to cover the rest of the world. But it’s hopeless. The Meewfolk mercenary company deserted just the other day. Food and medicines are short. Talks with the Yanik have faltered, and we have not been able to recruit them to our side. My father’s people, abandoning us! My best scout, Zlaslo, has fallen ill with some disease the healers cannot cure, and Soma ordered the garrison’s hero out into the swamp on a fool’s mission. All for his ego.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Suri crossed her arms.
Istvan fixed his gaze on me. “If you think like a self-involved idiot it does. He has not seen the Demon or the full might of his host yet, and scarcely believes it’s as bad as we ‘soft Southerners’ and ‘Yanik swamp rats’ make it out to be. Take Vash Dorha, for example. He is an incredible warrior, loyal and faithful to Lord Bolza’s memory. The sight of him on the walls gave the men hope. He could leap from the bailey up to the bastions in one bound, and he once punched a zombie wyvern that had climbed onto the wall and laid it flat with a single blow. He invented the healing potion that cures Grave Rot. But he is a Baru, and the only master he answers to is Matir. He is proud and insolent to those who do not earn his respect, like Soma. My liege loved that insolence. He used to say that Vash was the incarnation of his conscience.”
“Lord Bolza sounds like a good man,” Rin said.
I
stvan bowed his head. “Lord Bolza was the best liege a retainer could have asked for. Honest. Fair. Just. He was a melancholy man, prone to fits of brooding, but you would find no man more committed to his family and his duties as Voivode. We loved him and Lady Oksana, his wife. They were twenty years married as of this year, and they had a son and two daughters, one of whom was barely ten. That I survived and little Zophia did not...”
He trailed off. The Captain’s depression was like a black cloud, deepening with every passing moment. Time to change the subject. “So why did Soma send Vash Dorha away?”
“Oh, yes.” Istvan shook himself, blinking a couple of times. “Soma and Vash had an argument that ended badly. Soma decided that he was trying to incite mutiny among the ranks here. He sent him on some harebrained ‘scouting’ mission out into the deep Endlar as punishment, and Vash, being the stubborn ass he is, went along with it. Everyone here knows that to venture that far into the marsh is death. Not even the Demon’s army has been able to mass and get through. Our scouts report that the Demon seems to be preparing to cross with his army, though we don’t know by what means.”
Rin pursed her lips. “Can’t he go around?”
Istvan shook his head. “You surely saw the mountains on your way here. If he were to go around, our airships would pick him off in the valleys. There are hundreds of lakes, and fortified gates in every pass… even the Demon cannot defeat a ten-thousand foot bottleneck, especially with an army that falls apart if it spends too long in the water.”
“They don’t like water? That’s good to know.” Suri glanced at me and Karalti. “But if Vash is as good as you say, he could still be alive.”
“Not a chance. Not after six days.” Istvan shook his head. “The woods are full of hungry dinosaurs, monsters, mires, and worse. Just because the Demon hasn’t been able to get anything more than small attack squads through the swamp doesn’t mean there aren’t any undead there. Vash and the men who went with him are gone, and everyone knows it. That is why the Orphan Company deserted us. Everything that gave the men sanity, Soma has taken away. The men loathe him, and insubordination is on the rise. I tried to serve this lord faithfully and well, but I’m at my wit’s end with him. And now you’re here: a pair of foreigners full of fairy tales about Starborn, here to lay claim to my Lord’s county. You know why Ignas sent you here, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, absently rubbing the small of Karalti’s back as I normally would have while thinking. “He sent us here to win this thing.”
“No. He sent you here in exile.” Istvan tipped the edge of his cup toward us, then drained the rest. “To get you out of the capital.”
“Nonsense. We put him on the throne,” Suri snapped.
“You are naive.” The captain barked a short, bitter laugh. “That you put him on the throne is even more reason to be rid of you.”
“Look, this is pointless.” I waved him off. “We’re here to fight a war. You’ve listed off a bunch of things that are wrong: let’s start talking solutions. We need to solve problems.”
“There is no point if the Volod will not send the troops we need to fortify us.” Istvan’s face sharpened, the muscles of his jaw tensing. “While we are under Soma’s command-”
I stood up from the table and banged my hands down, rattling cups and trash. Karalti jumped in her seat. Suri and Istvan both froze.
“Quit. Whining.” I stared him down. “Soma might be the biggest piece of shit ever shat out of a whale’s ass, but he’s not the only one with an attitude problem here. There’s millions of people in danger. The ducal seat isn’t going to reclaim itself. You want to lay down and die? I’ve got some rope in my inventory. Go hang yourself and get it over with.”
Istvan’s face darkened. He shot to his feet. “You dare-!”
“You were jumping Soma’s shit about HIS ego.” I slashed my hand toward the closed door to the room. “Well, what about yours, Arshak? I did not travel all this way to hear an officer of your standing speak this way. We go out and we recruit. We fix the morale. We repair the walls. We brew potions, heal or evacuate the wounded, and we go out into the damn swamp and drag Vash back by his asshole. There is no practical choice in war but to win, and winning starts with strong leadership. We WILL fight to win from now on. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah!” Karalti leaped up like a kid at a baseball game.
“I... you...” Drunk, flushed, and furious, Istvan tripped on his words.
“This is the time you salute and yell ‘Yes sir!’” I banged my hand down again.
“Yeah!” Karalti beat her hand on the table with delight.
Istvan paled slightly. “Yes... sir.”
“Damn straight.” My face tingled with pins and needles as I retook my seat. “You should be able to give us a quest with all the shit you need done. Assign it and we’ll get started, my dude.”
Istvan’s mouth twitched, as if he was fighting back a sneer. His expression turned sullen. “Fine. I will compile a quest. For all the good it will do... do as you please.”
He closed his eyes, and I got an alert from my HUD.
[Congratulations! You have reached Leadership 6!]
“Yikes.” Beside me, Suri winced. “Check out his profile.”
I did, and I also winced. We were at -50 amity points with Istvan, buuuut... “Okay, he hates us. But at least he’s recruitable?”
Suri snorted. “Kinda.”
After a couple of minutes, Istvan opened his eyes, rubbed them, then frowned. My HUD chimed, and Suri cocked her head, no doubt hearing the same sound. So did Karalti. “Fine. There you go. It’s long.”
[You have a new Quest Update!]
Quest Update: Unto Death
You have arrived to discover the Myszno Defense Force in shambles. The Prezyemi Line is undermanned and underpowered. Korona Fortress is plagued by low morale, limited supplies, and feuding officers. The people’s hero, Vash Dorha, has been sent on a suicide mission and is now missing. Desertion is rife, all while the Demon’s armies loom on the horizon.
The Fort Captain, Istvan Arshak, has issued a series of quests to address the problems of the defense. View each Individual Sub-Quest for more details:
All the King’s Men: Find the Orphan Company and convince them to return.
Into the Swamp: Rescue Vash Dorha and the soldiers who accompanied him - or retrieve their bodies for proper burial.
Supply Train: Find out who - or what - is holding up the supply train coming from Boros to Fort Korona.
Bayou Warriors: Recruit the Yanik tribes to join the defense force.
Hold the Line: Discover sidequests in Korona to bolster the defense and gain Renown.
Special: All sub-quests are optional. The number of quests you complete will affect your main quest line.
Difficulty: Varies
Reward: Varies: See individual sub-quest descriptions
“Okay. Thanks.” I clapped my hands on my thighs and stood again, eyeing the ‘Dark Moon Pact Oathbreaker’ status that had accompanied me from Taltos. “We’ll get back to you with some good news as soon as we can.”
Istvan eyed the liquor bottle. “We shall see about that, Tuun. We shall see.”
Chapter 16
With the arrival of the reinforcements, space in Korona was suddenly at a premium. Karalti, Suri and I got a single room to share in the gatehouse that separated Korona from the Wall and the Waterfall Gates, the elevators that went down to the battlefield. Vulkan Keep had spoiled me, with its huge bathtub, spring-flushed toilet, and well-paid, well-trained servants. Our room here was a bare stone hexagon with two stone beds, shutters that whistled when the wind blew, and a fireplace full of dirt and moss. The reeds on the floor were damp, the bedding musty and worn. We got a single earthenware chamber pot to share.
“Home sweet home.” I plopped down on the edge of one of the beds and brought up my message window. “Let’s see how Rin’s doing, and then huddle up and decide on a game plan, okay?”
&n
bsp; “Yay! Comfy bed! Comfy bed!” Honking like an excited swan, Karalti leaped onto me and flung me onto the bed. Five-and-a-half feet of polymorphed dragon began to romp around and around on hands and knees like an excited puppy, burrowing under the blankets and then bursting out of them. “No more cold! No more caves! Blankets! Pillows! And snuggling!”
“Grr…HURRK!” I tried to cheer, but then I took an armored knee to the gut and just decided to curl up in the fetal position and wait until she was done.
The door opened a second time, admitting Suri. “Woah, guys – sorry to interrupt.”
“No! You weren’t interrupting anything!” I bellowed, flailing my arms at her, as if trying to push back the storm of drama I sensed on the horizon. She burst out laughing.
“Are dragons ticklish?” Suri asked us.
“I… uhh…” Too stunned to react sensibly, I watched as Suri took a wrestler’s crouch and began to pace toward us. Karalti scrambled from the covers, bunched up on the end of the bed, and hissed. “No touchie!”
“Arrrrre they?” Suri wiggled her fingers.
“No- EEEEK!” Karalti squealed as Suri tackled her back onto the bed. Karalti was fast, but Suri was strong, and my dragon was not used to fighting in human form. I rolled off just in time for the pair of them to collide, and then watched helplessly as the larger woman pinned the smaller one and began to mercilessly tickle her as she yelped and squirmed.
“Hector! Hector! She’s killing meeee!” Karalti lashed her body from side to side, kicking ineffectively as Suri got her fingers up into her armpits. “Murder! Murderrrr!”
“Welcome to the mammalian kingdom! Time to shape up those combat skills of yours! First rule: never let someone get you in a headlock.” Suri laughed, winking over Karalti’s shoulder at me. I crossed my arms and grinned back.
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