Authors: Nicholas Taylor
She nodded, "Yes, it appears to be relatively standard, but like I said it's hard to tell."
"What's a power vat?" Ankle asked.
Emma looked at the glass making a face, "It's a mixture of a couple different kinds of algae and some yeast. The Iumenta use the vat to power crystals."
Ankle thought about asking more but decided that it would be over his head. So instead he asked, "So, do you know where we are going to be staying during this assignment?"
"Yes, you will be with our staff in the north fortress, I believe you will be in some of the barracks there," Emma said.
"Hmm, well it sounds better than a tent to me."
* * * * *
Heath took in the gates of the north tower and urged his horse through. From the outside it had looked like one big structure but Heath could see now that it was a collection of buildings. A few were destroyed but for the most part everything was in good shape, he'd heard the south fortress hadn't done as well. He left his mount at the stables and followed a boy in a brown pair of pants and white coat to a building that said, "Housing building twenty-three," in Glosso.
"You are room 305 Sir," the boy said moving on to tell others where they were to stay.
He entered the building, walking along its smooth stone floors, the sound of his and others shoes reverberating. He made his way up a graceful staircase and along another hall until he stood in front of a redwood door. The Number 305 was in brass. He turned the handle, pushing the door, which swung without a sound.
He stepped into a room that was only built to accommodate one. He let out a whistle, taking in the fine rug on the floor. He walked to the bed, sitting on it feeling himself sink in, running his hands along the silken sheets. He looked out of the large window getting a view of Salez. He didn't want to get off the bed it was so soft. His desire to explore got the better of him and he examined a writing desk with a marble inlay top and oak armoire. Next he found that he had a bathroom to himself and, "A shower!" he said. "You landed in it this time Heath."
There was a knock at the door and he opened it to see Ankle.
"Pretty amazing isn't it?" Ankle said.
"You can say that."
"Hey I was wondering, do you know what these little discs on the wall do?" Ankle asked pointing to a little brass disc in the wall.
Heath touched it, making a light in the ceiling go on and making Ankle jump, "Looks like they control lights."
"So there is still magic here?" Ankle asked concerned.
"Looks like it. I bet the Iumenta only had time to disable the jump crystals and anything the military would need. That's good for us, it looks like we'll have hot water and the building will stay warm," Heath said not sharing Ankles concern.
* * * * *
Barnin wrapped a towel around himself stepping out of the shower. He knew some of his men were worried about the magic the building used but for his part, if the place was safe enough for the House guard to let Sasha stay in it, it was safe enough for him. When he got out of the shower and in his room, there was a knock at the door.
"Coming!" he said putting on some pants and a shirt.
He answered the door to girl in a brown skirt and white shirt. She bowed. "Master Barnin, may I interest you in some dinner?" she asked.
"Um sure, you don't have to call me master," and then, "Do you work here?" he asked wondering why any of the human staff was left on.
"Yes master Barnin, I do. I assume you, like the others, are wondering about my trust worthiness." She turned lifting her hair, exposing a mark on the back of her neck, "I am, well was in the care. Most of the human staff here was killed by the Iumenta as you know, but I and a few others hid. We showed the Elves how to get around the passageways."
"You don't mind staying here?" he asked.
"Oh no, we are still of use to the Elves and I don't really have anywhere else to go, now do I." Then she said, "If you follow me I will take you to the dining area."
* * * * *
Keither cantered along, not paying attention to the country side as it passed around him. Over the years he had become more confident on Pixie, but still didn't care for horseback. Ahead there were spirals of smoke from a refugee camp that he was to assist.
I wonder what I will find?
He thought,
Perhaps an issue with clean water or maybe a housing problem
? In a way he should be thankful that he had seen and fixed most issues that arose from the various camps. But as he drew closer he could see that this camp and its problems were in many ways the same and different from that of former camps. Hordes of people were in the fields around it clogging the main entrance. The high linked fence that surrounded the camp looked like it could burst with the numbers inside.
People cleared out of the way for him the best that they could and a group of soldiers on horseback rode out to meet him. One was holding up a thick hand. "Whoa there," he said sounding both frustrated and concerned. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
Keither held out a sheet of parchment that the man unfolded and read, the look on his face didn't harden or perk up as he looked up. "Sorry about that, we have been getting people trying to come into camp with all manner of live stock, please follow us to the command building."
Keither did as he was asked, still not saying a word. Rather he tried to take in the hundreds if not thousands of disheveled and dirty people.
Where did they come from?
he wondered.
Inside the camp he could smell waste and death, the people having no room to move about and for a moment Keither thought that those outside of the camp where better off. As he looked he could see that the camp was set up properly even boasting several Elvin structures.
No, this camp is different; it suffers not from poor organization but from being overrun.
They came to what he presumed was the command building. One of the human house’s banners flew outside, ash staining the fine fabric. Inside he was met by a portly man named Sith, who lead him to a small room where several others sat around a table. All looked wore upon, Sith didn't bother to introduce the attendees to Keither.
"This is Keither; he is here to consult us," Sith said with a tone of exasperation.
Those in attendance eyed Keither not with distaste but rather a lack of faith. He took his time before speaking, "I can tell by the looks on your faces that you aren't overly confident in me."
Sith waved a hand, "It's not personal, it's just you are the fifth person sent to try and help us deal with our situation. So far no one has been able to fix our camp. But I suppose we should try, would you like a report?"
"Let’s start with that," Keither said.
He listened to people report back what he assumed was going on. The camp had neither the room nor the staff to handle all those around.
Adding insult to injury the chief of security said, "We are running into issues with security now as well."
"How so?" Keither asked.
The burly man looked down, a tint of shame to his face, "Some of the men are obviously getting frustrated, thieving is rampant and just with the amount of congestion in the camp they are getting to their whit’s end. I'm not making excuses, but we are finding that some of the guards are getting rather abusive, sadder still with leadership being overwhelmed we have found that some of our staff is engaging in still rather worse activities."
"Such as?"
The man turned redder still, "You name it, theft, assault, prostitution, kidnapping, even murder and rape are running rather rampant. We have been trying to keep things under control, but it hasn't been easy."
Keither nodded, he was using the Mahann, helping him to think clearly and the reports of abuse did not bother him in this state, but were just another bit of information. He paused closing his eyes for a long while until someone cleared their throat, to which Keither raised a finger. Prior to leaving Salez that morning he'd read over reports from every camp in the occupied land as he did every day. He could name the commander in each, how many supplies they had along with every other detail.
His mind reached out, connecting with a set of individuals assigned to relaying messages back and forth with Salez. Soon he was hearing his assistant’s voice in his head clear as day. They spoke for a moment before the assistant reached out to the Elvin communication network. A short time later Keither broke the connection opening his eyes to the room.
"There is no way to fix this camp, you have been over run and been stretched too thin, this in no way is a failure on anyone’s part," Keither said.
"But then what are we to do?" Sith said with worry etching his face.
"I have been in contact with my office; there are many camps in the area that are under capacity. Still further south west there are some that can handle many, many more people. We will arrange cannel boats from Salez to go down the Kayloose transporting refugees elsewhere, in the mean time I will petition the Pawdin Empire to send Ascended to the area to help calm people. I will also see if I can get some Venefica to the area to help you police your staff and help take care of local tensions," Keither explained.
The people in the room seemed to relax and take him in with a bit more respect, but before they could speak Keither went on, "Do you know why you are getting so many more refugees? Our estimations show you should be getting a tenth this many."
Sith shook his head, "It's the Iumenta burning towns as they leave I think, people don't want to be near the front and are fleeing."
Keither shook his head standing, "Thank you for your time, I do not mean to be rude, but I will be able to better serve you from Salez where I can personally procure transport and resources for you. I will be back in the next few days. In the mean time, please try and find out from which parts of the Empire people are coming from." He spoke with a few of the attendants briefly, but left as soon as he could.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bellum Omega
"We tell ourselves that hindsight is perfect, that we can see what could and should have been. The reality is that hindsight is just as blind as foresight. We pick apart whatever the outcome of something was, as though if we'd done something different the troubles of today would not exist. This is a falsehood, we may have an idea of the imminent outcome had we acted differently, but past that we know nothing. The only difference between hind and foresight is with foresight we don't yet know at least one of likely many outcomes."
-Rivulets of Time
Legon's nostrils filled with the scent of sea air as his wings opened, catching the breeze. He could feel Iselin's mind join his as she completed her jump. Below them was the roiling northern sea, the battle group moved in perfect formation. Several Carriers along with many other ships moved along seemly unfazed by the rough waters. Legon angled to one of the Carriers making his decent. Wind buffeted him and he remembered back to his first attempt at landing on a Carrier. The thought amused Iselin as she read his thoughts. Legon moved in with confidence now, using just a bit of magic to help stabilize himself with the wind and the ship’s movements.
He landed inside the hanger, transforming into his Elf form as his feet touched down. Iselin came in behind him doing the same, followed by Opes who stayed in his Ascended form. Legon and Iselin were met by an attendant that ushered them down the ship’s corridors to a meeting room near the bridge. An Elf woman in purple robes stood and introduced herself, waiting for Legon and Iselin to be seated.
"It is an honor to have you aboard Un Prosa and Prose," she said in a warm tone.
"Thank you Captain," Legon replied with equal warmth. "Has the weather been like this long?" he asked making small talk.
The captain smiled, "Yes I'm afraid so, it hasn't been bad enough to keep Ascended from flying but it has made for much less contact with the Impa Navy."
"How have things been going with the Impa Navy?"
The Captain gave a non concerned look, "They have not posed much of a threat in several months now, it was like this in the War of Generations as well, once they have been beaten they keep their fleets close to land."
"Hmmm, I wonder why that is," Legon wondered aloud. The Impa ships were a force to be reckoned with, though not to the same quality of the Pawdin Navy.
The attendant that brought him and Iselin to the room reentered caring a tray of glasses and Poti, along with several cakes and other snacks. Legon took of sip of his drink making more small talk until the Captain came around to the point of their meeting.
"We have received word from the front; we are taking losses here in the north," she said.
"How bad?" Iselin asked.
The Captain took a sip of Poti, "Not catastrophic but enough for House Coreen to pull out of some areas, I dare say with the poor weather and being so close to Impa air space we have been unable to properly control the skies."
Legon nodded, "Yes, we have been told that the Impa have been making a strong presence up here."
The Captain waved her hand at the wall, opening a panel that revealed a crystal that shone with a map of the northern Cona lands. Symbols represented different groups varying from civilians to military units. To the south were mountains, that bottlenecked a stretch of land holding several large cities. These cities needed to fall. Beyond them the mountains opened back up. Once clear of the mountains the Pawdin forces could come on the Capital from the north, cutting off its retreat. Bailaya rested against still more mountains, its strategic advantage being that there was only one way for an army to make an efficient run at it. That meant coming from the south, but to do that they would have to deal with a dragon dome.