The Beginning After the End: Book 7: Divergence

by TurtleMe

  “The forest itself is a part of the kingdom of Elenoir, and there are still tribes of elves housed outside of the cities,” Alduin stated, his voice growing louder. “By the same reasoning, Sapin would be better off abandoning the Wall and letting the small outpost cities near the border fall so that there is less land to protect.”

  “That’s hardly an adequate comparison!” Blaine said incredulously, slamming his palms down on the round table. “The easiest path to Elenoir’s major population centers is through the northern range of the Grand Mountains, from Sapin. If Sapin were to fall, even just the outermost cities, the Alacryans could march their armies straight into the heart of your lands as well!”

  “Watch your tone, Councilman,” Merial snapped, her bright blue eyes growing dark. “You act as though the elves are in your debt, yet we have sent plenty of mages to help your forces fend off the Alacryans. If even a fourth of those soldiers were assigned to guard the forest borders, this meeting would be entirely unnecessary.”

  “The truth remains, Merial,” said Priscilla, her voice carefully cool, as if she could sooth the heated argument with just her tone. “While you can say that the Elshire Forest is part of your kingdom, no elven city, or even town, has seen battle. Until such a need grows, sending troops will only serve to weaken the Wall, where Dicathen faces continuous battle.”

  Alduin rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. When he opened them, his emerald eyes locked onto mine. “All we’re requesting is to recall some of our men back to Elenoir so that they can defend their home.”

  “These soldiers are no longer your men. Did you forget? The Council was formed to unite the three races because we predicted an outside threat. Our job is to stay impartial and lead the entire continent to victory over the Alacryans, not just Elenoir,” Blaine rebutted before turning to face me. “I implore Commander Virion to remain impartial for the sake Dicathen, and all its people.”

  “You talk of impartiality yet you’ve been single-mindedly focused on what’s best for your own kingdom!” Alduin argued, the tip of his ears turning red. “The purpose of this Council is to unite Elenoir, Sapin, and Darv so we are better able to protect one another, not so elven mages can shield Sapin while the enemy rampages through their home—and what of the dwarves? One third of this Council is missing, executed for treason for putting their own selfish desires above the well-being of the people, as I’m sure you remember—”

  “Enough!”

  Those present felt the palpable pressure that I pushed out through the room. Even Priscilla, with her core on the verge of turning silver, paled as she struggled against the weight of my intent.

  “I’ve heard both sides, and before you further degrade yourselves by arguing like spoiled children, I would like to speak.”

  Both Blaine and Alduin flushed with anger and embarrassment but remained silent.

  I looked to each of them in turn, my expression sharp, before speaking again. “Based on the consistency of the attacks, Sapin remains the priority for the Alacryans. As Councilman Blaine mentioned, the easiest way to the major cities of both Sapin and Elenoir is through the northern range of the Grand Mountains, through the Wall. We will proceed under the assumption that the Alacryans know this as well, and will continue to prioritize the defense on that front.”

  “That still doesn’t—”

  Alduin’s jaw snapped shut as I released another pulse of mana.

  “As for the defense of the southern borders of Elenoir, we’ll relocate several units of the Trailblazer Division to the dungeons nearest the border. If there is another incursion through the forest, they can resurface and act as additional support.”

  The room remained tense, but everyone seemed satisfied—just barely.

  “Good,” I nodded. “Now, as for the biggest issue: Our relationship with the dwarves has remained neutral at the best of times, and fallen into hostility due to the treasonous actions of their leaders. Even since the formation of the Council, the dwarven representatives have always had their own agenda and priorities, but I’m hoping that will soon change.”

  I turned my head toward the door and everyone followed my gaze. After a moment of silence, I cleared my throat. “You can come in now.”

  “Damn, I missed my cue!” a gruff voice said from the other side of the door.

  I could feel a smile forming on my lips.

  The ornamented knob shook harshly before the door flew open and a brawny dwarf with a thick white beard and a decorated robe—which seemed a few sizes too tight—walked into the Council chambers.

  With a childish grin, he took a seat in the empty chair closest to him before introducing himself. “Buhndemog Lonuid. Pleasure to meet y'all.”

  ARTHUR LEYWIN

  Walking down the never-ending flights of stone stairs, I was entranced by the bustle of activity all around us. I couldn’t help but think how misleading the name “the Wall” was—it was so much more.

  Each flight of stairs led to a different floor within the Wall. The highest stories remained relatively minimal with reinforced metal and stone blocks continually being maintained by human and dwarven mages. Even now, I was able to see cracked stone blocks being temporarily filled by an ice mage while a team of dwarves were shaping a large metal beam. There were also teams of conjurers and archers stationed on these upper floors, responsible for keeping up the bombardment through the numerous embrasures.

  Adjacent to the multiple staircases spanning the entire height of the Wall were dozens of pulleys that hauled arrows, provisions, and other supplies to the upper levels.

  The sound of tools clashing against stone and steel fused with the constant shouting of instructions, rushed footsteps of soldiers and workers alike, and constant sounds of battle below.

  “Please excuse the noise, General. I’ve been told it’s quite overwhelming for those that aren’t used to it,” Albanth shouted, his voice barely audible from the clamor.

  “Overwhelming indeed,” I drew in a breath. “I regret taking this long to actually visit the Wall. It’s amazing!”

  “Aye, it’s quite the marvel,” he said, waving at a few workers that saluted to him.

  We continued our walk down the stairs until we reached a gate flanked by two soldiers standing guard.

  “The floors from here on out are accessible to civilians as well,” Albanth explained, flashing a badge at the guards.

  “Captain!” The guards saluted, but they eyed me uncertainly.

  “Fools!” Albanth barked. “Were you taught to stare in the presence of a Lance?”

  The armored guards’ eyes widened, their faces paling.

  “General!” They immediately bowed in unison.

  The captain scratched the back of his neck. “My apologies, General. Most of the soldiers here have never even seen one of the Lances.”

  “It’s fine,” I said with a smile at the soldiers. “And a salute is enough.”

  “Yes sir!” the soldier on the right replied, standing back upright in a salute.

  His companion followed suit, staring at me with an awe-struck grin. “It’s an honor to meet one of the famed Lances!”

  “Just open the gates,” Albanth sighed, shaking his head.

  The guards scrambled to unclasp the metal bolts, and we continued our descent. By the next floor, my eyes were stinging and my nose burning. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek. “Is there a fire somewhere?”

  “In a way, yes,” the captain said, tugging at the neckline of his gorget to allow some airflow under his armor. “We’re near our main forge.”

  After another flight of stairs, the massive smithing operation opened up around us. Although the smoke was ventilated through narrow slits near the ceiling, the entire level was still filled with a dense, dark cloud. Oppressive heat radiated from several forges, each one manned by a team of blacksmiths and their assistants.

  The forge was a complex machinery of smiths, workers, and mages interfacing with several different pieces of equipment
. Some I recognized, but others were foreign to me. The manufacturing processes of my old world had left traditional blacksmithing behind long before I became king, but I was surprised by the intricacy of some of the equipment.

  I watched as two smiths took turns rotating and manipulating a piece of glowing-hot metal, which was being repeatedly struck by a large wedge of iron that moved up and down within a solid framework nearly as large as Boo. The mechanism reminded me of an old steam-driven hammer, but I couldn’t see any piping that would deliver the required steam. Curious, I glanced around the back of the device and saw a thin, bare-chested mage using gravity magic to manipulate a counterweight, causing the hammer to rise and fall.

  “Please bear with the heat for just a bit longer,” Albanth chimed in, drawing my attention away from the mana-powered hammer. “We’re almost there, General!”

  I also spotted a handful of dwarven metal mages who molded ingots like putty. It was fascinating and somewhat unreal to watch the metal stretch, twist, and bend under their careful application of mana.

  The farther we traveled down the more people there actually were. Aside from the soldiers and workers, there were a fair number of merchants and freelance adventurers present as well.

  “There’s an entirely separate economy here,” I mused.

  “Absolutely,” Albanth agreed, wiping the sweat from his face with his gloves. “Because there is no law mandating service for the war, we’ve set out rewards for adventurers who clock in time out in field. It’s easy money for them, and we get a consistent supply of able-bodied mages and fighters. There is occasional tension between the soldiers and the adventurers, but everyone here gets a belly-full of fighting without turning on each other, so it hasn’t become violent.”

  “And the merchants are here because of the adventurers?” I guessed, surveying the lines of stalls and tents set up on the ground floor.

  “Yes, sir. They’re restricted from operating in the main supply route, and they’re also taxed quite heavily for doing business here, but they still come in droves,” Albanth chuckled. “Always eager to make a coin—but without them, we’d suddenly have to worry about food, clothing, weapons, and entertainment for a few thousand mercenaries. We pay the adventurers, the adventurers spend their hard-earned coin with the merchants, and we collect the taxes to pay the adventurers. Everyone earns a living, and we all share a stake in the defense of the Wall.”

  “Brilliant,” I echoed, nodding to a pair of guards who bowed deeply as we passed. It was a resourceful use of the pieces at hand, which spoke volumes about the senior captain in charge of the city-like complex.

  Albanth led the way, easily maneuvering through the crowd on the ground floor, which seemed to instinctively part before us. “I’m sure flying down would’ve been much faster, but I hope this little tour helped you become familiar with the Wall.”

  “I appreciate it, Captain Albanth.”

  The captain smiled, his crow’s feet deepening.

  We walked for several more minutes until we reached a quieter area. An unusually large canvas pavilion stood out against the mountainside, several mages standing guard around it. Albanth gestured toward it. “This is where the captains and heads hold their meetings. You came at a good time, since there’s a meeting going on right now. I was actually about to head down just as you arrived.”

  “I’m glad I got here when I did, then—despite the fireball,” I replied.

  “It’s constant excitement around here, I’ll tell you that,” he chuckled, flashing his badge once again at the guards. “Senior Captain Trodius is inside, along with the other captains and several heads.”

  Trodius? I thought, vaguely recognizing the name from somewhere.

  The guards opened the flap, and I followed Albanth inside. The interior was dominated by a large round table covered by a detailed map of what looked like the Beast Glades. On the map were several wooden figures shaped differently to indicate various positions of the dungeons and troops.

  There were seven people seated around the table, all in battered armor and disheveled robes, and all leaned over the table, apparently in the midst of some discussion regarding the map.

  At the far end of the circular table sat a man that I could only describe as the perfect image of a traditional gentleman. Handsome, with shiny black hair meticulously cropped, his uniform so well kept that it looked like it had been made just that morning. His eyes were sharp and deep-set, his irises glowing with a slight tint of red.

  The man stopped mid-sentence upon noticing our arrival and stood up. He dipped his head toward me. “General Arthur Leywin.”

  Upon hearing my title, the rest stood up and bowed as well. Captain Albanth saluted. “My apologies for being late.”

  “Given the nature of your arrival, it’s of no consequence,” the man said, showing no emotion. “Please, have a seat and allow me to introduce myself. I am Trodius Flamesworth, senior captain in charge of the Wall.”

  199

  Return

  “Currently, there are five units in this region and another three farther east, based on their last transmissions,” the captain of the Trailblazer Division reported, pointing to the relevant markers with an outstretched finger.

  Jesmiya Cruwer was the captain of Tessia’s unit. She moved and spoke with natural grace and authority, but there was also a fierce quality to the way she held herself; one hand always rested on the pommel of her saber, as if she was always ready to strike. I had imagined that the captain leading the Trailblazer Division into the dangerous wilds of the Beast Glades would be tough, but Captain Jesmiya appeared as though she could frighten away mana beasts with just a sharp look in their direction.

  Trodius shifted his gaze from the map to a sheet of paper he was holding. “Captain Jesmiya, the log sheets for clearing the dungeons—how accurate is this timeline?”

  Captain Jesmiya straightened her back before speaking. “Fairly accurate. Taking into account—”

  “A week is too long,” the senior captain stated flatly, cutting her off. “The number of corrupted beasts attacking the Wall continues to grow. Four days for each dungeon, that’s all we can allow.”

  “But sir!” Captain Jesmiya bolted up from her seat. “Rushing the expeditions to that degree will cause significantly more casualties. Some of these dungeons have never been cleared before, and extreme caution has to be taken or an entire unit can get wiped out!”

  “That is an order, Captain Jesmiya Cruwer. The Wall is the last line of defense on the eastern border. If a soldier from your unit dies out in the Beast Glades, that soldier’s family isn’t in danger. However, if the number of beasts becomes more than this fort can handle, many more lives will be lost here, and those monsters—and the Alacryan mages controlling them—will move on unimpeded to the towns nearby.”

  Captain Jesmiya’s expression as she returned to her seat was even more severe than it had been before. Captain Albanth, who had taken the chair nearest to Jesmiya, glanced nervously at her sword-hand, which still gripped the pommel of her weapon.

  I learned that most of Albanth’s division comprised workers and blacksmiths responsible for the maintenance and construction of the Wall. He reported on the daily goings on, briefly listing off a series of repairs made, resources used, and supplies which required restocking.

  I stayed silent as the two captains continued their reports to Trodius. The unit heads present in the meeting occasionally chimed in to give more detailed accounts when asked.

  Trodius looked up from his notes. “And what is the progress on the new routes for our Trailblazer Division?”

  “We’ve just finished securing the fourth tunnel. It’s the longest one yet, and the entrance is hidden in a small crevice along a riverbank. A team of earth mages is still reinforcing the tunnel, but it should be accessible to units within the week,” Albanth explained, drawing a line with his fingers to indicate the rough layout of the tunnel.

  “Pull back a fourth of the workers and have
them work nights instead,” Trodius instructed. “We were forced to flood another route just last week because its location had been compromised. Securing more underground routes is priority.”

  The senior captain then turned back to Captain Jesmiya. “Are there new updates on finding any transportation gates?”

  The captain shook her head. “We’ve only allocated a single unit to scouting for gates. I’ll need more time.”

  “Teleportation gates?” I asked, my interest piqued.

  “Yes,” Trodius answered, his red eyes shifting to me. “With the constant attacks on the Wall, the best way for our soldiers to access the Beast Glades is through our underground channels. However, with the new mode of transportation currently being built to connect the Wall to Blackbend City—a ‘train,’ I believe they’re calling it—we would have far easier access to the city’s teleportation gate. If we are able to locate and connect that gate to any gates hidden in the Beast Glades, then we can move troops without hours of marching through underground tunnels.”

  My eyes focused on the map. “How are you certain that there are any teleportation gates in the Beast Glades?”

  “We’re not,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Which is why we’re expending only a limited amount of resources on the search. Several ancient texts make reference to gates hidden within the Beast Glades, but whether this is true or not remains a mystery.”

  The teleportation gates were an interesting subject for me. Along with the floating castle and Xyrus City, the gates were a relic left behind by the mages of old. It was fascinating to me how these ancient mages used magic to do things the strongest mages of the present couldn’t even fathom replicating.

  The stone arches engraved with indecipherable runes looked archaic, yet entire cities were built around them and relied upon them as modes of transportation. Modern artificers had unlocked how to connect teleportation gates to each other and change their destinations, but actually building one themselves was a distant dream.