Bang!
The sharp cracks and explosions had been keeping the entire neighbourhood on their toes for the last day but no one dared to interfere. The knights had gathered to watch and if they weren't doing anything, who could raise a complaint?
Another crackling bolt zoomed down the range, disturbingly invisible. The rock smashed into Etani's screen and with an earsplitting crack smashed into a shower of fine dust and chips that bounced off the inner screen.
Beside Etani was a large iron plate. The thick plate of iron had numerous holes and dents pounded into it as Nal tried shooting the rocks with different power.
"Something that tiny can actually punch through iron plate," Nal shook her head and muttered in disbelief, hefting another tiny rock in her palm. It was so tiny but when the rock went that fast, it became extremely deadly. "Morey, what could you be thinking, to make something like this?"
She concentrated and the rock flew downrange at Etani again. Once again, the sharp snapping sound told Nal that she had got the speed and weight correct, the eyewitnesses had all agreed that the weapon was like an invisible thunderbolt.
What exactly happened to objects moving that fast to make that sound, Nal had no idea. But she didn't need to understand Morey's weapon to try to figure out how to block it. She still couldn't replicate his accuracy though.
To think that Morey could make an original invention so quickly after arrival. And without an Academy education too! Small objects being easier to push than big ones was something that every mage knew, but every mage also 'knew' that small and light objects wouldn't get through shields and armour. Well, they thought wrong.
At least they had a defence now.
She nodded at Etani and dropped the fistful of rocks onto the ground.
"The shield works this time," Etani nodded, satisfied, "double screens work very well. An Academy training really does turn you into a genius, it seems. "
Nal just smiled and shook her head. The idea of multi-layered shields was something she had always been toying with. Two or even more layers of shields weren't impossible, just that you had to layer them properly since a disruption shield would block your control of the shield layers on the other side. Making all of the layers part of a single spell was Nal's innovation.
It had been scoffed at. Simple shields were fast and easy to cast, barely even considered spells. Multiple layered shields required proper design and practice of the spell. And there existed a simple shield for every type of attack, so multiple layers were needlessly making things difficult for yourself. Simple shields were fast enough to be casted in reaction to almost all attacks, with only a few exceptions.
Well, Morey just overturned all of that. Even this inferior rock-throwing spell she was trying to mimic his attacks with had been completely unblockable by simple shields. The dents and holes in the iron plate where the knights had tried to defend was testament to that. A deflection or deceleration shield were simply punched right through, a pure disruption shield didn't stop the rock even if it stripped off the weight increasing spell.
And no one could put up a shield in reaction to an attack that quick.
Nal's idea for making the shield turned out to be correct. A strong deceleration field would indeed shatter the rock, if it didn't have it's weight increasing spell.
The knights nodded and whispered among themselves as Etani and Nal began to sweep up the rock fragments from the training ground. One of the knights approached them, a young spellstorm who was probably fresh out of the Academy.
"Um, can you teach me that shield?" she asked.
Nal suppressed the urge to pat her on the head, that would only open the floodgates to getting her own head rubbed and she still had traumas about her time in the Academy. "Sure, that was my intention," Nal said.
The rest of the knights crowded forwards, eager to learn. This shield would likely save their life after all.
"I'll train the battlemages, and you can take the spellstorms," Etani said, generating nods all round.
Nal just sighed instead. She had been spoiled by the way all the different disciplines had come together in Morey's party.
"I just hope we can stop Morey before he does something unrecoverable," Etani muttered.
Nal tacitly pretended not to hear it.
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Morey looked over the gathered slaves in front of him. There were a few of the sympathizers sitting there with them on the forest floor but most were slaves. The last of the slaver caravans heading to the town of Narul had returned to town empty handed and no more would be coming now that the word had got out.
Morey stood on the rock and looked at the crowd again. Over a hundred and fifty slaves.
"I understand your anxiety," he began, "escaped slaves are never welcome in Illastein. "
A wave of mutterings went through the crowd and he raised a hand to quell it. "But Inath does not condone slavery, even if it does tolerate it. You have the option to leave Illastein to go north. With my name and my position, you should have no problem settling a village of your own. "
The muttering had a different tone this time. Morey continued, "but Illastein remains a problem. Slavery is not solved just because I have emptied Narul. Many more of your fellow people are shackled by the greed and evil of others. This evil is something that I will not tolerate. I say this now as someone who is ally of all humans. All people deserve to be free! To make their lives their own!"
He looked around and caught the eye of Ereli and Locoss standing to one side. Ereli's eyes were starry and Locoss was expressionless. The crowd was listening, although Morey had hoped for more excitement. So much for inspirational speeches.
"I have weapons, I have magic. I am willing to teach how to use and make them to anyone who can commit to freeing the other slaves in Illastein. I cannot free the entire country by myself. " Morey pointed in a direction vaguely north, "I will not stop you from crossing the border to a life of your own. You deserve that more than anyone else. But I still ask if you are willing to help me free your fellow slaves. Who is willing to help, raise your hand!"
The slaves looked at each other worriedly, no doubt they were thinking the task was impossible. The one hand went up near the back.
An old greying man stood up as Morey's beckoning. One of the escaped slave network's. If he recalled correctly, this man was the coordinator for the network here in Harul.
"Are you certain you can do this?" the old man asked him.
"Nothing is certain, I cannot say for sure when or how I will free the slaves," Morey said, "but I promise you that this is my goal and even if none of you here decide to help me, I will proceed by myself. "
The man nodded then bowed, "I may not be much but I'll help you. "
"Father! Er... Ahed!" A familiar girl sprang up, incredulity written over her face and raised tail. "You're old and can't fight anymore! Hiding slaves is one thing, but you can't just reveal yourself like that! What if the knights come after you!"
"My mother was a slave," the man said simply. There was no need for explanation, everyone present understood the frustration and anger of having a family member enslaved. "Besides, by freeing all of you, Morey has proven his ability to keep his word. He can strike without fear of the knights, even killing some of them! I have hopes that he can change things. "
Another voice joined the conversation, one of the pink tattooed women from Zain's estate. "You're the one they call the Hero of Inath, aren't you?"
He nodded, "Ereli and Locoss over there are my companions in the search for the Sword. To end this war with the monsters. "
That sent a wave of murmurs around the crowd and Morey could see the faces look more hopeful now. He could only sigh. All his accomplishments and work was completely overshadowed by the title of Hero. He could almost read their thoughts. The Hero was freeing the slaves. With the Hero they would surely win.
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The thirty ex-slaves who finally agreed was far less than Morey needed but more than he hoped. He had no expectations that the children or those too old to run would agree to join his cause. Add in those who had to take care of them and he couldn't expect much more than he got. Amazingly though, all the Fukas had joined.
The non-participants would journey north to find a place they could settle a village. Hopefully the name of the Hero was enough, otherwise they might have to use the wands he gave them.
"All right," Morey said to the much smaller remaining circle, "our task here is not just to free Narul but all of Illastein's slaves. For that we will need resources. And legitimacy. And without a doubt, we will need to fight. All of you, yes, even you Ahed, will have to learn magic and undergo training. "
He looked at each of them in turn and got a grim nod back. Good, no delusions here. "Since Ahed already has a place in Narul, I would like you to collect information and spread rumours," Morey said.
"Why? What do you mean?" Ahed asked.
"We need to know what's going in Narul, what the knights are planning to do about us, that sort of thing. I'm sure you have connections there, I would like you to use them," Morey got a nod from him. "Good, then there is one other thing I need you to do," he said, holding up a few pieces of paper, "I need you to put up posters. "
Posters? He saw the looks going around.
"We need to have people know who we are and what we are doing," Morey said, "we need to show people what it means to be a slave and why they should oppose it. Rumours and talk in the streets are not enough. We are going bigger. I want you to use this to make posters, hundreds of them. Hang them on the walls, let everyone see them. "
The paper contained drawings describing a rudimentary printing press. He needed it quickly so Morey was settling for wood cut prints but the idea was there. With one block cut, old Ahed could run off a few dozen posters a day with no one the wiser. No need for expensive scribes who would talk.
"We also need funding and recruits," Morey looked over the ex-slaves, "we can ask for support but under no circumstances will we stoop to robbery or looting. Other than to free slaves. "
Once they all indicated they understood, Morey added the last part, "and while I'm taking responsibility for this movement, I ask that you don't treat me like a Hero. My commands are not absolute, if you have a problem, please speak up. If you thought of a suggestion, discuss it. I am only one person, to free the slaves of Illastein requires all your efforts. "
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Etani stormed into the makeshift headquarters and planted herself into the front seat with a huff.
Nal looked up from practicing the barrier spell. She wasn't getting much progress in improving the casting time anyway, it was simply too complicated.
"What did they say?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
Etani jumped out of her seat as if she was waiting for that question. She paced around the main hall, ranting without caring who was listening, "The nobles want us to attack him! Now, they said!"
Nal sighed, "it's the posters aren't they? Illastein Slave Liberation. ISL, huh?"
This was the first time she had heard an acronym used. Despite her skepticism when Morey described them in his stories of Earth, Nal had to admit it rolled off the tongue easily. The ISL name was already spreading among the knights and townsfolk.
The poster asking the town to rise up against slavery was an inflammatory appeal. The inked figure of a young girl tied down with chains that were pinned to the ground with swords was a sharp reminder of the force underlying the slavery system. Where Morey had got the idea from, or the artist willing to paint so many posters was beyond any of the knights.
The more disturbing posters were the ones that reminded the townsfolk that they could be the next slave.
"What do you think of the slavery system?" Nal asked.
Etani paused in her cursing of the nobles and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"The nobles here control the rights to do business," Nal elaborated, "everyone else has to take on debt to earn money at all. There are even cases where the nobles boycott stores that refuse to take on the crushing payments. And those that slip or fail, they get sold into slavery. "
"Are you having doubts?" Etani asked her, "I get it, the fact that the children of slaves are also slaves is terrible. It is an evil system that should not exist. But the monsters are even worse. As bad as slavery is, it is better than being dead. "
Nal nodded. Indeed she was right, the Sword was more important and Morey was forgetting his role as the Hero. And yes, she was still angry at Morey, but she did understand why he was doing this. He came from a gentler world, it was understandable that he found it hard to tolerate injustices.
She had to understand Morey in order to convince him. Etani's straightlaced direct approach was just going to push him away.
"The nobles have made their request," Nal said, "we have the shield spell and the knights are gathered. The longer we wait, the more Morey digs himself into a pit. Let's go convince him to give this up, shall we?"
Etani looked unhappy but she nodded anyway. Nal sighed in her thoughts, Etani always looked unhappy ever since they had the disagreement with Morey.
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Morey nodded as the man finished his report. "The full force of knights then. Nal and Etani have learned my lesson and are leading, not just commanding. "
He sighed heavily. Would it that the situation would come to this, where he had to fight against them. But this was what it was.
Fifty knights of varying combat styles were heading out of town in search of Morey and the escaped slaves. With a mission to capture or kill all of them, issued by the nobles. Nal and Etani would do their best to make sure Morey, Ereli and Locoss weren't killed, but they could spare no thought for the slaves.
And who knew what might happen in the chaos of combat?
So Morey had to win, and win fast. He signalled the ex-slaves to ready themselves and the group formed up as they had drilled. It was time to leave. Ereli and Locoss checked their weapons silently. After the week of practice, there was not much they needed to talk about.
The knights entered view, heading up the tiny forest path, Etani at the lead with her ridiculous looking door hanging by the side of her Reki. The mounted knights were intimidating and powerful but Morey was prepared.
With a signal, there was a series of cracks. The four guns he had made since that time were of inferior iron and could not guide as well as the first steel gun, but it was enough to hit the knights.
"Reload!" Morey shouted, they were far enough to be unheard and hidden behind clever dugouts. Locoss was already popping the next carved rock into the barrel.
The knights milled in confusion as the attacks hit home. Five knights went down, two unarmoured spellstorms surviving when the bullet went through their soft stomachs without shattering. Morey shook his head as the knights seemed to do nothing, probably putting up shields.
The next volley met with a surprise. One of the bullets exploded beside Etani. Oh, so they had a shield already? Three others still found their mark and smashed the battlemages' armour like cracking an eggs. The last never seemed to hit.
The knights seemed to gather into some sort of formation, looking about worryingly. Then the third volley splashed futilely against the screens, puffing in misleading calmness.
Morey scowled, the puffs made it clear where the shots were coming from. Etani was pointing in their direction and the knights formed up into triangles, ready to charge forwards with their shields held front. He almost wished he hadn't talked about cavalry formations to Nal. Worse still, Rekis were far more maneuverable than horses, being inherently dog-like. They didn't have problems charging over the uneven path.
"Aim for the Rekis, if they get close, use the firebolts," Morey said, not looking back.
There was a purposeful scrabbling behind him as the shooters adjusted their aim and the fourth volley rang out. Rekis went down, only two shots were intercepted.
Not enough. It wasn't enough to stop them. The knights would adjust their shields for the next volley.
Morey sighed, he had hoped he wouldn't have to use this card now, but he guessed he would just have to think of how they would try to counter it.
"Firebolt launchers, aim and set timer for launch. Ereli! Fire Grand Cross!"
"What?!" Ereli exclaimed in shock. She pointed down at the knights, "Etani and Nal are down there!"
"They won't let Grand Cross hit," Morey explained, "it's just to delay them and make them spend their magic. We're getting out while they're dealing with it. "
Ereli looked troubled for a moment then nodded.
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The knights went into a panic the moment Grand Cross appeared but Nal took charge immediately.
Before the magic had finished forming, the spellstorms were already hurling disruption blasts at it. Simple magic like disruption could be casted fast and furious and if one had enough magic, could counter just about any spell. Ereli was powerful, but fifty knights was more than enough to ritual cast Grand Cross twice over.
When the specks of magic began to rise towards the huge intimidation green blob in the sky, the second danger appeared. A tidal wave of firebolts entered magic sensing range, zooming towards them like a swarm of angry bees. No, not a swarm, the lockstep rows of firebolts was organized, meant to hammer through shields.
Row after row appeared in their magic sense. There were so many of them! The power was almost the same as Grand Cross itself! Etani rallied the battlemages and everyone else who could cast a shield and wasn't busy with the Ritual summon. The rain of fire devastated the forest around them, bouncing and splattering into hot flaming gas on disruption shields. The heat radiating from the searing air mere meters in front of them sent rivers of sweat pouring down Nal's back. The detonation on contact was similar to Nal's original attack on the Crab thing.
In a blink of an eye, the rain of fire was over, leaving only blackened trees and ash in an arc in front of them. Grand Cross above sputtered and failed as it was pierced by concentrated salvoes from the spellstorm parties.
"Advance and return fire!" Nal shouted, "Don't forget the shields!"
The knights remembered the deadly bullets and hastily reformed their screening spells. Funny that they hadn't come under fire from those things, the storm of fire just now would have been perfect.
A stream of firebolts flew out over their heads towards where the attack had come from, disappearing out of sensing range. Three times larger than the attack on them. Nal frowned as they landed in a storm of flames. The knights cheered as the fire tore into Morey's position. There was something wrong with the flames.
She thought hard as another salvo flew out, the battlemages joining in the bombardment with their own oversized bolts. More flames appeared.
"Hold fire!" Nal shouted suddenly. She gritted her teeth, that was what she found wrong. Their return fire hadn't collapsed any shields; of course, because they hadn't hit any shields at all! "He's gone," Nal said.
The knights looked around uncertainly but no further attacks occurred. They still took over an hour to finally relax their guard and be relieved that the enemy had retreated. It was only then that Nal had fully realized that she was truly treating Morey as their enemy.
That thought was more disturbing than Nal wanted it to be.
That night, the knights had turned in for camping after a fruitless day of searching. The return fire had ruined whatever Morey had been using to launch firebolts at them but twisted melted pieces of metal meant it was an alchemy item.
No clues were found as to where Morey was hiding out, other than the trail leading deeper into the hilly forest. The rising elevation as it sloped upwards into mountainous terrain was full of nooks and crannies that made searching nigh impossible. No doubt this was the very reason why Morey had chosen this region to hide out in.
Nal was walking in circles around the main campfire, thinking about Morey's new idea. She was sure that firebolt swarm was timed delayed wands but no one, not even Locoss, could make timers accurate enough to send entire blocks of bolts flying their way simultaneously. Individual bolts hadn't a chance at breaking through, the knights could patch up their section of wall or lend some power easily enough, but concurrent impacts had brought the patchwork shield wall to near breaking point. One swarm getting through and they would have mass casualties, firebolts were dangerous after all.
A sentry changing shifts nodded politely at her, pouring a cup of tea for himself from the kettle next to the fire. She nodded back politely.
The problem wasn't as dangerous as the super-fast bullets. She was just worrying over nothing. Nal sighed, not sure if she should trust her impulse to simply forget the problems and go to sleep. Surely the knights could pull through, firebolt swarms weren't something completely unblockable. But what if Morey had found a way to synchronize all the swarms. But that was impossible.
Nal sighed again. Her thoughts were running in circles, that was never a good sign.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She looked at the sentry sipping his tea, still staring at the fire in his armour. A battlemage, if she remembered correctly, one of the few who was attached to a spellstorm party, apparently he was there because his sister was a spellstorm.
There was a sudden crack and his head disappeared in a spray of blood.
Nal blinked in shock at the body toppling forwards into the fire. It only lasted a moment before she flung herself to the ground and shouted, "Alarm! We're under attack!"
Her magic flew out, settling into the familiar triple layer of the anti-bullet screen. She shouted the alarm again.
The knights roused out of their tents and screens began appearing all around the camp. There were a few more cracks and choked cries of lives lost then the bolts from the darkness stopped as suddenly as they started.
Parties ventured forth to find the attackers but they turned up nothing. They could only tell that the attackers had left already.
There was nothing to say that they wouldn't come back. Nal put out the fire herself and they huddled in their tents. The screens couldn't be raised all night, the magic consumption was too great for anyone to bear, and one never knew when the next person was going to die.
It was only just before dawn when Nal realized that her worry was indeed justified. She did need to worry, only she was worrying about all the wrong things. The knights had been treating this expedition like an oversized monster hunt. But of course, monsters couldn't shoot back, and weren't intelligent enemies. They were fighting Morey, and Ereli and Locoss. This was completely different. Morey had talked about this in his stories of Earth after all.
This was war.
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The knights trudged back into town, weary and defeated. The constant harassments and poking attacks that killed one here and injured Rekis there wore them down. They had only managed to determine that one of the ex-slaves was responsible for all the night attacks, probably an experienced hunter.
The light forest was just thick enough to conceal Morey's constant retreat but not thick enough to seriously obstruct lines of fire. Ideal terrain for the strange snipe and run attacks that Morey was pulling on them. And they couldn't even find Morey, the few trackers that caught onto their trail had mysteriously disappeared.
No one thought it was really very mysterious after finding a burnt out crater where the last tracker party who found Morey's location had burned. Morey was obviously no longer there. As to how Morey was tracking them, that was no big secret. The knights and their Reki laid a trail through the forest that a child could follow. Morey's scattered groups of three or four were nigh impossible.
By the third day, no one had dared to light a fire and they slept in dug out holes for fear of missiles flying at random. The tents were all broken on the second night as salvoes of forcebolts ripped away most of the camp. The battle on the fourth day when they finally found the main camp had turned into firefight but Nal's mimicry of the rock throwing spell was futile when pitted against the shallow trenches Morey had got the slaves to dig out.
Spell battles were not supposed to turn into long range firefights! No one could aim and kill at such a distance and indeed the casualties were light compared to the sheer magnitude of magical forces they were throwing around. They had found, to no one's surprise, that the trenches were empty by the time they got there and defused the nasty rock bomb Morey had left behind.
It was a sheer miracle that more than half of them made it back to Narul. Even if the stinging attacks and defeats cost little other than spent magic and weary bodies, the death toll added up and morale disappeared faster than any encouraging bonuses.
Nal looked up at Etani storming in, freshly back from the Order's meeting.
"And what is it this time?" Nal let the wet cloth flop from her tired eyes.
Amazingly, Etani did not spit fire. She seemed to deflate and tossed a set of poorly bound books onto the table. Then she laid a opened letter on top.
"From the baron Jinat," Etani explained, "knights found slaves building a village near his territory. They were heavily armed with magical weapons. With unknown magical weapons. "
Nal raised an eyebrow. She had always wondered what happened to all the other escaped slaves who didn't want to fight. It hadn't seemed as if the knights were fighting a large force. She picked up one of the books.
A moment later, she was sitting on the floor in shock, flicking rapidly through all of them.
"Did Morey write these?" she asked incredulously. This... this was incredible knowledge! The sort of knowledge that she had expected to come from Morey's stories of Earth.
"I doubt it. Those were confiscated by Narul militia at the gates from an Inath merchant," Etani said, "they were being replicated by a local printer. Bootleg copies are almost certainly circulating in the criminal underground and definitely beyond Narul. "
"What's a printer?" Nal asked and Etani just pointed at one of the folded pages in the thinnest volume.
She put down the bound papers gingerly as the implications sunk in. Easy replication of books? When said books came with diagrams of how to train magical power?
"The Illastein nobles have already banned it," Etani said, "on pain of death. "
Nal sighed. Someone had added some pages at the end of the magical training methods book. The change in writing style to a pedantic lecturing tone favoured among Academy scholars was too obviously different from the original author's clipped notes and observations. Probably some alchemist added that into the text without thinking too hard about the consequences of detailing how to enchant firebolt wands.
She still had her doubts as to whether it was possible to learn magic without a teacher but if even one in a hundred people managed to learn, chaos was inevitable. They would be stamping out rogue criminal mages until the monsters killed everyone. Worse still, there was no way to tell if someone had practiced magic if they didn't use it, rebellious peasants learning magic could just pretend to be law abiding until they were ready to revolt.
The hardest part would be the first few steps, learning how to properly sense and manipulate magic. But Nal was certain that practically any commoner was willing to try, who had not dreamed of learning magic and becoming one of the knights when she was younger?
"Are you listening to me?" Etani snapped her out of her thoughts, "really, ever since Morey left, you've always been staring off into space all the time. "
Nal blinked. Had she? She didn't feel like she had been thinking any more deeply. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"I was saying that the Illastein nobles have no chance of controlling it," Etani resumed, "no one is stupid enough to overlook the fact that these books detail the secret knowledge of the Inath guilds. Knowledge that Illastein nobles control in order to maintain their advantage. Even now, I expect village blacksmiths to be building their own presses. "
Nal also doubted that printing presses would be that easy to make, or easy to use. But the point was fair, every man and their piyo would be trying out the things written in the books. Especially when most of them looked like they should work.
"We can persuade Morey to give up this diversion of freeing slaves," Etani said, "with something like this happening, it wouldn't be surprising if the commoners decide to revolt against the nobles all on their own. For that matter, I wouldn't be too confident of Inath's stability either. "
Nal nodded, Etani's grasp of noble attitudes matched her own assessment. But Morey... "He won't listen," Nal said, "the slaves are something that matters very much to him and leaving it to the commoners of Illastein to fight for freedom is not something Morey would do. He will want to help. He can be stupid that way. But I guess that attitude is also a bit cool. "
Etani looked down at the pile of books for a moment. "Then shall we help him?"
Nal almost fell over in shock. What... what was Etani saying! Help Morey free slaves?!
"I haven't gone crazy," Etani smiled, "but you might want to remember that I'm not as straight and law abiding as all of you seem to think I am. Illastein does not have my loyalty. That lies with Queen Amarante and Morey. "
"So what makes you want to support Morey now?" Nal asked.
"Illastein is too big to fight," Etani said, "we would lose far too many knights even if Inath would eventually win. But doing so will certainly allow the monsters to kill us all and that really will be the end. And while Illastein is not a very active participant in the war, it's provision of arms and food do come in useful in the southern states, especially in the Passage of Kirita. Selna knows that the Calva Principality would have been long overrun without Illastein's help.
Illastein comes with its own costs. The frontline states dislike Inath and Illastein precisely because we are not on the front. We do not pay for the defence in blood, merely in coin. Inath aside, Illastein is resented and their presence makes the Federation unstable. Not to mention that their slavery practices makes them few friends. All in all, a revolution in Illastein would improve matters in the long run, however painful it is at present. That much Morey understood. But a revolution that fails, and especially one that the Hero of the Inath Federation is supporting, would be disastrous for Queen Amarante. Illastein may well withdraw their support entirely!"
She paused and continued, "I admit, I was wrong when I first opposed him out of reflex, but then I didn't think his slave rebellion was even possible. It seems like Morey has a chance and if your assessment of him is right, we cannot persuade him otherwise. Now, we have two choices. One, we continue to oppose Morey and perhaps die fighting him. Even if we live, we will be so busy trying to help stop the civil war that we could be in Illastein for years. Amarante will appreciate the stability and help in appeasing the Illasteins angry at the Hero. Queen Amarante will have to disavow his actions and that will be as good as saying he is no longer the Hero.
Two, we help Morey and destabilize Illastein as quickly as possible. The Federation might be risky for a year or two but it's a short sharp pain compared to a long drawn out agony. If we win, Amarante won't have to worry about Illastein any more and instead gain a strong ally already trained in Morey's effective war fighting methods. The civil war will probably happen anyway, the silencing of these books could be the last straw for the discontented commoners in this country. With commoners learning magic all over Illastein? There won't be a King of Illastein for very long if an uprising occurs and I don't think we can do anything about it.
If we lose though..." she trailed off. The consequences of that was horrible to contemplate.
"So if you can't stop him from the front, you'll just get behind him and push?" Nal shook her head, "so that he can win faster and get back to what really matters? You really don't care about Illastein, do you?"
Etani raised an eyebrow, "I don't think you do either. They do practice slavery after all. "
They shared a grim smile.
Then Nal grinned, "come on, admit it, you just giving up because you don't think we can actually stop Morey. The last week made that clear to me. "
Etani sighed and raised her hands in surrender.
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Morey nodded at the two girls sitting on the rock, watched over by the wary group of slaves. Nal didn't seem to mind that at least two of the guns were aimed at them from concealed locations.
"So you decided that I've already won and gave up?" Morey asked.
Etani looked a little troubled then shook her head, "circumstances have changed. I think if it wasn't for these, I would still try to stop you. "
She took out a series of books from her backpack and Morey idly flipped through it.
Nal laughed as he fell off his rock, "that's nearly the same reaction I had!"
"Isn't this from Earth?!" Morey exclaimed, "that thing here, that's a printing press! And this periodic table... someone wrote these books using knowledge from my world! The names are all the same even!"
Nal frowned, "couldn't the books just have come from your world? Maybe Amarante has heard some your stories and decided to see if she could summon a book?"
Morey bounced up from the soil, reading the books again. "There's too much detail," he said eventually, "while maybe this is a First artifact like I'm sure they're saying, the detail placed into the diagrams and machines make it too easy to build them. A textbook would have more theory and less practical detail. Someone wrote this with Inath in mind, to make it easy for you to build these. "
"Well, don't you want to meet the person who wrote this?" Nal asked sweetly. Too sweetly.
"I'm not giving up the slaves that easily," Morey said, "I can't know if there is someone else from Earth here in this world for sure, after all there is the always the First to explain rediscovered knowledge like this book. "
He paused, but it really was so similar to an Inath guidebook to kickstart an industrial society. Even if most people in Inath would not understand the full potential, the history of the industrial revolution was ingrained throughout western culture, Morey perceived the cultural experience behind the books and known it to be familiar.
"I'll write the author a letter, one that a person from Earth will definitely recognize," Morey said, "I need to find out who and where that person is first though. "
"Then the first step will be to write a letter to Queen Amarante, I'm sure she already knows who is responsible," Etani said.
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The Lesser Council talked in hushed tones, their voices bouncing around the vast hall, empty and dark save for the circle of light around the marble table. The table of Kings and Queens was covered with a mass of reports, hasty messages and stained cups. The Greater Council would never see such a sight, the less-than-regal looks of the harried leaders of Inath.
"... but how shall we respond to this?"
"I'm also getting reports on discontent all over my lands..."
"... knights are not enough to keep order..."
"The increasing party size is worrying... I suspect they're cheating the limit..."
The mutters of the Lesser Council washed over Vorril like a calming wave, pricking up the corners of his mouth with little sticks of irony.
The King of Illastein glared at him but quickly looked away when met with a scornful pair of eyes. The General had been summoned to the Council and now he sat in his chair, leaning back with one huge muscled arm irreverently draped over the backrest. To the General's eyes, the King of Illastein looked like a man out of touch with reality, for once seeing his blustering threats as nothing more than the whining of a desperate loser. How was he to round up all the escaped slaves and execute them when Morey was in charge of the slaves?
The result of the disastrous attack on the slave village was a forbidden topic in these chambers.
The King looked up again, an accusing fire in his eyes. In so many ways, the disagreeable, might makes right, ruler of Illastein mirrored the General. Both were formidable men, who could best most other knights, and both ruled their domains by reputation and force. But mostly by force. The General knew that the King reflected the worst parts of his own self, the reason why Vorril had never tried to become King Vorril.
As much as he respected the man, he would never allow a brute like himself to take the Inath throne. Flowery and honourless Amarante was lacking in the respect Vorril afforded to men and women of strength but she was the legitimate Queen by birthright. And Vorril was the Sword that kept the tide of darkness at bay, and the Sword must not turn on its wielders.
It would be sad to lose his mirror, Vorril mused, but not too sad. He never liked that bandit anyway, and the irony it brought to the humourless chambers of the Council was much welcome. So much for all that scrabbling to avoid looking like they wanted power. Real men and women reached out and grabbed it, like Morey was doing.
The Lesser Council adjourned once again without a conclusion. As it had for the last three days.
"Walk with me," Amarante said and Vorril followed her dainty footsteps.
When they were finally alone and heading towards the palatial residences, she continued, "What do you think are the chances of Illastein surviving this?"
"None," Vorril said instantly, "Without Morey to lead the slaves? Maybe one in four. "
"What makes you so sure of that?" Amarante asked.
"Morey is building an army," Vorril said, "if he survives the next month, there will be no force in Illastein who can stop him. With Etani, Nal and Locoss by his side? He will survive the next month. Without Morey, the revolution will be bloodier and more desperate, but however much force King Alrain brings, I doubt it will be enough. There are a lot of commoners in Illastein. "
"That was what I was afraid of," Amarante sighed, "can we stop Morey?"
Vorril knew what the question was really about. "Without an army? No. If he decides to be the next King of Inath and the slaves are willing to fight, which they will if he promises to give them Inath land, we lose. By the time the revolution in Illastein is over, Morey will have turned the slaves into an army like that of the old days. "
Amarante whispered, trembling in the night wind, "but wasn't that what brought us to this end? The War of the First and Tsar, destroying the world and awakening the spirits of old. The monsters that assail us now. "
She looked down and Vorril frowned, realizing that she was actually crying. Amarante futilely tried to choke back her tears, "I've worked all my life, ever since I was old enough to understand how the First destroyed themselves. I followed the stories, I learned from them. A world without war, a federation of all people, I help build them both. I brought all the leaders of the known world together and made them renounce their violent ways. No one wants an army now. I summoned the Hero like the stories said. "
He steadied her hand as Amarante climbed the steps to their royal bedroom. What could the General say to that?
"So where did I go wrong?" she was crying for real now, "the Queens and Princes are fighting with words in the Council chambers. The Hero is building an army to take a throne by spell and sword. The monsters are at our gates, strangling us slowly. Where are the answers I need? What more can I do?"
"You should worry more about Inath itself," Vorril guided her to a large fluffy chair and squatted in front of her to bring match her eye level, "the books threaten the foundation of our nobility. If you're not careful, Inath might suffer a revolution too. We'll need an army then. "
Amarante quivered, not saying anything. That blow had struck home.
"Listen Queen Amarante, know that I speak this in the best interests of Inath as I know it," Vorril said solemnly, her lost and confused eyes staring into his, "our country is in mortal peril, you yourself know this best. But if you bind our legs, how shall we move? If you seal our lips, how shall we speak? If you chain our hands, how shall we fight? Lift the restrictions on the adventuring parties, give us back the power to raise armies. There is no other choice now. "
Amarante wavered but said nothing. She shrunk into her chair, pulling a stuffed pillow from the bed into a hug.
There would be no answer tonight, but this was the first time he did not get an unequivocal no from her about raising armies. "The world does not run on stories, Queen," Vorril said, rising from his kneeling position and leaving her alone in the royal bedchamber.
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He got back to the barracks and rung the bell. Vorril was barely out of the parade armour when Jared appeared.
"You called?" his right hand man asked.
"Pass on this message to River of Light, Flowers of Arcia and Vesant Ball. Tell the party leaders to meet me at the War Room by next week," Vorril said. Jared repeated the order back to him and he nodded. "Also put out the word for Silent Night and First Staff, I would like to talk to them if those two can be found. "
Jared's eyes had been growing wider and wider. Those were big names, the biggest names in the Order of Knights. The three most successful and largest parties, all at the legal limit of party members, and the two eccentric adventurer alchemists. For what purpose could the General be calling them and so urgently too?
"What is happening, sir?" he asked, "are the rumours that Illastein slaves are coming to attack us true?"
"No Jared, if you just thought for a moment, you would know that cannot be true," the General grimaced, "I cannot wait for the Queen any longer. In order for Inath to survive, I have to act now. "
"But why now? The war is going well after the Hero joined us, is it not?" Jared asked again.
The answer he got was no more reassuring.
"I am preparing for the worst. "
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A/N: That ends Morey's arc for this part. It was far longer than I expected and some parts I had to cut short due to time. (you may find Morey's acceptance of Nal and Etani's surrender to be a bit short)
But well, the chapter was already late enough.