“A gate terminus, milord.”
“A what?”
Orahda glanced at Cundia, then in a low voice said, “The Nhia-Samri have a magic gate spell that lets them open a gateway between two places, and instantly travel between, as if stepping through a door. It can be done over short distances without a terminus, but I suspected they might have put some in here.”
Dohma looked at the golden disk again. “You mean the Nhia-Samri could pop out of this wall magically from one of their bases?”
Orahda nodded. “We must cover up the fact that we found these. We also must be careful to not talk about this. The fact that these are here means there are spies at work. It would be like the Nhia-Samri to attack the Assembly the second war is declared.”
“How do we find all these gateways?”
“We don’t, milord. There are probably a couple dozen. We can find as many as possible and disable them, but we must be prepared for attack any moment. We are not protected by distance or these walls.”
“We have to tell someone. If we get help, we can find and disable more.”
“Many will be well hidden. Who do you trust, Milord?”
“General Neyon.”
Orahda stopped and looked at him, then went back to digging. “Are you sure, milord?”
“Yes, I am sure. I didn’t mention him because he is Electra’s grandfather. I like him a lot. I know he is trustworthy.”
Orahda nodded as he extracted a second disk. “This is enough to disable this one. You are probably right, milord. With the general, we can have some trustworthy officers to patrol and look for the signs I will give them. I can then inspect any suspected location, but we won’t find them all, milord. It would be helpful if we could get a map of this place. There might be some hidden corridors.”
As much as I hate the idea, this is far more interesting than all the diplomatic meetings I am having to do.
Dohma looked out the window which had a wonderful view of the sprawling city below. “Ah, what about in the city?”
“I am sure there are gate termini in all cities, milord. Probably a half-dozen or more.”
We have to protect the Assembly and the citizens. We need an army.
Remembering the stories of the Nhia-Samri, he recalled how they cut down regular army soldiers, as easily as children, with wooden swords.
No, we need a highly trained army. But the Covenant forbids the Alliance from having a standing army, and we are a soft, lawful people.
He looked around. “What are we going to do if they attack?”
Orahda looked at him. “Run, milord. Run very fast.”
His thoughts leapt to his brother, sister, and Electra. “What of Llino?”
Orahda grabbed his shoulder. “Llino is safe for now. It is too far from here to be a primary target. Shar-Lumen will focus on Duke first and foremost. Also,” he leered, saying, “I am positive there are no functioning gate termini in Llino.”
Dohma looked at him. You have already found all the gates in Llino and disabled them. Lords and Ladies, I thank you for such blessing. You have been protecting Aelargo for over forty years and we never knew.
“Thank you, my friend.”
Orahda nodded. “Milord, perhaps we should ask to see the general this afternoon.”
He squeezed the golden artifacts in his hand so hard, his fists turned white. “Come, there is much to do and little time.” Dohma turned and walked to the main palace.
General Neyon will be in his office at this time.
The palace complex was large, and it took them nearly half a mark before they were approaching the diplomatic office building. Four Gracia palace guards stood at the entrance. As he approached, they snapped to attention. He walked past them without acknowledging their presence, clutching the golden artifacts. Inside, he went to the general’s offices and walked in to stand before the secretary, dressed in the same army uniform as the staff.
The secretary stood and saluted. He was a middle-aged man with a solid grey head of hair, neatly trimmed, that flowed down into his brown and grey beard. His uniform was sharp. He had a dozen or so ribbons on his chest, showing his long and distinguished service. “Lord Dohma, how may I be of assistance?”
“I need to see the general on urgent business.”
The secretary looked him over and could sense his tension. “Of course, milord. One moment, please.”
The secretary went through the door behind his desk. Dohma resisted the urge to pace. Instead, he concentrated on slowing his breath and trying to relax.
I have never heard Orahda say the solution was to run. I know he was not exaggerating. I have to make the general understand the danger. He will know how to best deal with the situation here. This place is too encumbered with its bureaucracy.
The secretary came out and motioned for him to go in.
Need to be reasonable and calm.
He walked around the desk and through the door the secretary held open for him. The general’s office was large, with a fireplace surrounded by chairs and a sofa. At the far end of the room sat an immense desk of hardwoods. One wall was lined with bookshelves, and the opposite wall had windows which looked out over a garden that was in the center of the building, for use by the staff.
The general was already walking towards him as he entered.
“Lord Dohma, I am busy with the preparations. What is so urgent?”
Dohma nodded to the general. “General, is this room secure?”
The general stopped where he was, still a few paces from Dohma, and his brows creased as he took in Dohma’s stance.
“Yes, it is secure, both magically and physically. This building and this office were built by the first Empire’s paranoid military men, with all their wonders.”
Dohma looked back at Orahda, who nodded in agreement. Dohma held out his hand with the golden artifacts. The general stepped over and took them from him, examining them.
“What are these?”
“These are a part of a magic gateway that would have allowed the Nhia-Samri instant access to the outer hall of the Assembly.”
The general’s head snapped up and he glared at Dohma, as his eyes moved back and forth, while he processed the implications. The general motioned towards the chairs in front of the fire place and sat down on the sofa. Dohma nodded and chose the chair next to the general. Cundia and Orahda stood behind Dohma.
The general pointed at the open seats. “Please, everyone, sit down. Now, tell me everything.”
Dohma laid out the entire situation for the general, after which, the general sat back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
When the general spoke, his tone indicated he was worried.
“My Lords and Ladies, we are in serious trouble. Perhaps we can have the Assembly meet someplace else. I dare not risk all the rulers of the Alliance to such an attack. It would cripple the realms.”
Orahda shook his head. “We dare not let on that we know what we know.”
The general glared at Orahda. “You would risk the Assembly?”
Orahda didn’t flinch under the general’s glare. “There will be spies. If we do anything to alert Shar-Lumen, he will bring his men through to a location near to where we move them. He will then attack there. Here, we have resources, walls they cannot break through, and time to plan how to evacuate the Assembly. We can provide instructions to each Assembly member, so they will know what to do and who to follow.”
The general nodded. “Home territory advantage. Is there someplace we can move them to safely?”
Orahda looked at the general. “If you have maps of the Assembly and palace areas, we can locate and unseal the emergency evacuation routes to the stables.”
Surprised, the general looked at Dohma, and then back at Orahda. “Now, how the hell do you know about those? They have been a state secret for generations.”
Orahda smiled. “General, I know many things that Shar-Lumen does not. I can only assume he remains unaware of these routes,
especially since they have not been used for so long.”
“If we get them to the stables, then what?”
Orahda shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I need to see your maps and go have a look. I believe we could evacuate everyone into the city, and then perhaps, flee to the elven lands to the west.”
“Do you mean we surrender Gracia?”
Orahda sighed. “That depends on how many gates we do not find, and how many properly trained warriors we have. But we must plan for the worst scenario first. We must save the leaders so that this attack will be one battle. We can win the war.”
The general looked at Orahda, thinking it through, then looked at Dohma. “Lord Dohma, I will give you all the assistance you need. You are new here, and therefore, touring around the areas will not be out of line. I will help coordinate. I thank the Gods, you, your Daggers, and especially, your weapons master here.”
The general stood and went to the door. Opening it, he said, “Major, please call all senior staff here as soon as possible. Have war rooms two and three made ready and get the maps to the city and palace set up there. This is senior staff eyes and ears only.”
The general closed the door and went over to a cabinet. Opening it revealed a dozen crystal decanters. He picked one and poured four glasses, which he then brought over on a tray. He gave one to each of them.
He held his glass high. “Chance favors the prepared. To success.”
They all stood and held their glasses high, saying together, “To success,” and then they drank. The burning feeling of old sharre poured down their throats and into their blood.
If Orahda had not come, we would have been slaughtered. I must find a way to repay him for his service.
Electra stood in the control room with Arkady and Vesta, looking at the displays. Vesta had made a number of enhanced images of the Nhia-Samri hidden home. There were women, children, old men, and farmers living there. The valley was protected by the Nhia-Samri army. Her heart ached at what was being asked.
How can I make this decision? Vesta says no and Arkady says yes. They are looking to me to cast the deciding vote.
She paced, looked at the pictures, sat thinking, then stood and paced some more.
Vesta and Arkady were content to wait as she considered all she had just learned.
This is the knowledge the Gods didn’t want us to have. We have done this before. Arkady has seen wars where weapons of even greater power were used.
Her heart pounded, her throat was tight, and she felt cold.
“The entire valley will be destroyed, and everyone there killed. Will they suffer?”
Arkady looked at the floor. “Anyone not deep inside the fort will be killed. I don’t think the blast will penetrate, as deep as we think that thing is. But they will not have air, and will suffocate in the dark.”
She started crying harder. The dream tears she shed there in the control room felt real. Her heart ached so much, it interfered with the mental connection she was using. In her chambers, she could feel real tears running down the sides of her head, making her hair wet.
She looked at Arkady. “How can you even propose doing this?”
Arkady shook his head. “Because if we don’t, those warriors will kill every man, woman, and child in Gracia. The citizens there will be hunted down like wild dogs and killed in terror, screaming for mercy. Some husbands will see their wives and children murdered. Women will see their husbands cut down and their children stabbed before they die. And some of the children will see their friends, mothers, and fathers killed before feeling the knife through their own skin. I do not murder because I have no feelings. I murder because it is a necessary evil that some must be strong enough to do so that others will be safe. This is the soldier’s burden. All soldiers care for their families, friends, or countrymen. They care so much that they are willing to be monsters so others may know safety and peace. This has always been the price some must pay so most will never know the real horrors of war.”
Vesta was crying, too. Electra could see in Vesta’s eyes, she knew what the final decision had to be.
This day, I cross a line, never to return. I become a soldier for the realms. This day, I know the true burden of the soldiers. Lords and Ladies, please forgive me.
“Do it, Arkady. Destroy the valley. We must attack and destroy that outpost, too.”
CHAPTER 16
RUNNING WORKS
Dohma looked over the maps, to the complex spread out on the table.
Eight days before the Assembly meeting, and still, Duke has not been seen. Where the hell is he?
A sergeant handed him a cup of arit.
Damn it, these gates are hard to find.
He traced with his finger, the areas already searched. The command staff had been marking searched areas off daily. Each afternoon, the senior staff had afternoon tea, which was the excuse to get everyone into the command building. Once everyone was present, they moved the meeting, from the central garden, into the war room to plan the next day’s search pattern to maximize coverage. In five days, they had located only three gates.
I know there are more gates. In fact, I am sure we have missed a few. None of these gates are in areas that have had any work done in ages. It is hard to tell if they are new, or have been here for a thousand years.
As the day of the Assembly meeting approached, more nobles arrived, usually with a regent in tow. Dohma had more formal lunches, dinners, and informal meetings daily. If not for the probable Nhia-Samri attack, the meetings would have been fun.
My goal would have been diplomatic, reestablishing ties to kingdoms Aelargo had not had much contact with, other than via the shipping tariffs.
Orahda had been adding to the maps anything he found that was unique. He was good at finding the hidden doors, fake panels, and the secret corridors which were honeycombed throughout the complex. Not less than four different escape routes per Assembly country had been established by the general with his senior staff. Each route was tested and double-checked by Orahda. The hard part was slipping the king, queen, and regent out to show them their four routes and make sure they knew all the twists and turns.
The stables make some sense as a destination, but it would have been better to make these secret escape routes go down into the city, instead of to the stables. What were those ancient city builders thinking?
Dohma looked over the older maps of the city. There was a choke point getting out of the palace, so that meant anyone who made it to the stables would still have to escape via that choke point, or go hide somewhere in the complex. Orahda said he was sure any hiding would be useless.
Orahda had ordered some special ropes made that were long enough to scale down the outside walls and cliffs to the city streets below. He had added some strange clips that the smithy was making, day and night, to get the two hundred Orahda wanted. They were devices that allowed someone to wear a rope harness and descend down the rope in a controlled fashion. Once in the city, plans had been made for each of the nine groups to make it to one of four pickup locations, with different ones for each group. Only key personnel knew the four pickup points for a given group, and even fewer knew all thirty-six locations.
The elven delegation had agreed to have secret patrols, using their skills to remain invisible, checking all the evacuation points. Hopefully, any surviving members of the Assembly would be picked up and swept into the elven lands to the west. Orahda said if they could make it into the elven forests, they would be safe.
I guess Shar-Lumen won’t attack his own homeland.
All of this was being communicated via Dohma during his ‘good will’ meals and meetings.
If it was not for the fact I am a new delegate who has to meet with everyone, I doubt this could have been communicated as safely. We still don’t know where the spies are, but my instincts tell me they are here.
Not a single noble protested to all the preparations.
Most of them are probably scared sleepless. At least, th
ey are good at not showing it.
Since the majority of escape preparations for the delegates were complete, the general and his staff were turning their attentions to the problem of how to defend against the Nhia-Samri when they had no idea where they would come from. Dohma looked over the maps again.
We have forgotten something.
Then his eyes stopped on the map of the city.
What are we going to do about the population? If the Nhia-Samri attack, would they try to hold the city? We can leave orders to cooperate. He knew that was not a possibility. Gracia is too large and too far from their bases. They will most likely do as they have always done—kill everyone and vanish.
“General, is there an evacuation signal we can give to the populace?”
The general looked at him, his face going white as he realized they had overlooked the citizens.
The general’s eyes watering, he said, “You are a good man, Lord Dohma.”
The general considered it for a few minutes. His staff stopped their conversations to pay attention. The general’s lips tightened and his eyes hardened. “Yes, there is. We can set fire bombs to burn the palace and these buildings. That will cause panic and mass flight.”
Dohma felt his blood pulsing, and he took a quick breath, shocked at the proposal. He stared at the general. “People will die. Old and weak will be left. It will be chaos.”
“Yes, but most will escape. Those that survive will be the young, the hardy, and the crafty, which is who we need to survive. We can gather them into a resistance army to retake our lands and defeat the Nhia-Samri.”
“You surprise me, General.”
“Plan for the worst and fight as hard as you can to prevent it, but don’t hesitate to retreat. Those that run away live to fight another day. I learned that lesson well in the last war. We cannot stand against the Nhia-Samri unless we are in control of the situation. The moment we lose control, they will destroy any that try to muscle on.”
“Are they such a hard adversary?”
“You fought them already in your own city. What do you think?”
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 38