“Hold on, run that by me again. You did what?”
“Well, they wanted to arrest us for ‘abandoning the battle,’ no matter how untrue that is, so we knocked them out and arrested them,” Mae explained, “After that, we decided to be the ones to run the fortress until you arrived.”
Mori took a breath, sighed, and shook her head, “I… Alright, fine, that works. Violence would not be my first choice, but they did not seem like they were willing to listen to your arguments. I’ll let it slide this time, but use your words next time. Violence is not the only answer.”
Mae nodded, shrugging lightly, while Ally and Tisi pretended to be engrossed in one of the identical stone huts that were omnipresent in the fortress’ inner wall. Shaking her head, Mori forged on, “Alright, since you’ve been running the show for the last week, how has everything been going?”
Mae pursed her lips, “It’s going… better than before. Fewer deaths, fewer injuries, more experience for the undead, more scrap for the mechanics, more waves. That sums it up, mostly. The dragons haven’t changed much at all. They fight, they sometimes get hurt when one of them gets fed up with the constant battles and dives into the airships, and they hunt their own food whenever they can. They’re thaumavores, though, so they don’t do it much. It’s mostly for their mental health and whatnot.”
“Alright, alright,” Mori muttered, “What about the necromancers and the Blue Robes? And, for that matter, I heard something about a bunch of bards coming along, what’s up with them?” she asked.
Mae’s slight smile, barely noticeable, became strained, “Well… the Blue Robes have essentially refused to help at all. The necromancers haven’t made an appearance since the beginning of our rise to power and the bards have opted to give their tunes to the soldiers resting instead of the ones fighting. Apparently having more soldiers ready is better than having the ones that are ready be better themselves.”
Mori nodded to herself and looked around in thought. They were walking towards the keep of the fortress slowly, taking their time as they discussed amongst themselves. VII peeled off at one point, right as they entered the second layer of the fortress, saying that she wanted to explore. Mori trusted VII not to make a mess of anything, so she simply wished the Clockwork woman good luck.
Fara had, according to Aerolat, gone back to bed after the battle ended, which made her unfortunately indisposed. Mori’s death dragons much prefered to stay in the break room rather than waste time in the fortress. The two Earthborn peeled off as soon as Mori mentioned that Eva and Desire were aboard ATHENA’s body, and ATHENA herself did not seem particularly interested in finding a way to squeeze her large body through the wall’s gate.
In the end, it was only Mori herself and the three fury sisters making their way to the keep, “Oh yeah, mistress,” Ally suddenly said, “What do our tattoos do? You never mentioned that.”
Mori thought back and, much to her own shock, Ally was entirely correct. She had not told the sisters what their tattoos did, “Huh… you’re right, Ally. I guess I was focused on you three getting her faster.” She searched her memories to remind herself of what happened, and she was correct; she prioritized getting the three to the front before telling them their new abilities. Were she to have lips, she would have pursed them, “That’s not good…” she muttered, “Well, whatever. That can come later. Anyway, your powers. Mae, you have telekinesis that means you can use projectile weapons with interesting results. Ally, your tattoo should increase your strength if you put mana into it. And Tisi, you tattoo acts as a battery; it stores mana when you feed it and keeps it until you need it. You guys got that?”
The three nodded, mana almost immediately flowing into Tisi’s tattoo while Ally shoved a large amount of it into her own all at once. It burned red on her scales for a few moments, then returned to its normal state. Mae was the only one not to test her tattoo out, making Mori give her a curious look. Mae noticed, turning her head to meet Mori’s gaze, “Oh, I already figured it out. I’ve been thinking about ways to work it into my own fighting style.”
Mori nodded, leading the three into the keep. The building was just as she remembered it physically, but there was a strange tension in the air. Soldiers would shy away from them as they walked, letting them walk unimpeded through the keep.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Walking a well-walked path, she eventually reached a back room. Opening the door, she found three familiar faces sitting around a table, “Hey guys,” she greeted, “Long time no see, huh?”
Aetra only gave a weak glare, “Mori… you’ve been gone from this battle for weeks, we think you’re dead, and then you suddenly reappear with a small army of weird undead as an advance force. And, after all of that, all you have to say is ‘long time no see?’ Mori… I’m honestly livid at you right now…”
“Don’t be,” Ushkia remarked, “She’s had quite the adventure, it seems.”
“You could say that,” Mori replied, sitting down at her own chair, “So, we might as well get this over with. Anything else you guys want to complain about? I honestly don’t blame you, but just hear me out at the end of it all.”
The three shared looks, Yutrad leaning forward, “How about you tell us your story first? Aetra heard a somewhat watered-down version of it, but hearing it from you would be nice.”
Mori hummed, tilting her head, “If that’s the case, then that’s fine.” She proceeded to explain her adventure in detail, not sparing many details and only leaving out her dealings with the gods, deflecting the questions about that time by saying, “I can’t tell you what the gods don’t want you to know.” After answering with that line four or five times, she began to feel like a cult leader, deceiving followers with slippery rhetoric. She consoled herself, however, with the fact that the gods she represented were indeed real and that everyone else in the world believed in them as well.
“Okay, so you drew the Cyst away by bringing along someone that the Hive wants dead for reasons we aren’t allowed to know. You couldn’t fight back as well because your death knights were becoming dragons, so you retreated to the Averus Range only to find something you aren’t telling us for a different reason from the first. From there, your death knights became dragons and you destroyed the Cyst, letting you remake it into a mobile base through some method you aren’t going to share with us. From there, you produced an army of immortal undead, the powers of which you don’t want to tell us about. After that, you sent three of your death knights ahead to relieve us with a small group of your true army, the real number of which you don’t want to talk about,” Yutrad summarized, “Mori… Are you sure that each of those reasons is because of the gods?”
Mori hummed in thought for a moment, “Not all of them. The last two were more about keeping my own secrets than anything else, but you’ve got the jist. So, any more questions?” she asked. None of them replied, giving Mori the stage, “If that’s the case, then here’s what I’m proposing: we finally go on the offensive-”
“Yes, Mori, we all want to do that,” Aetra cut in, “We don’t have the manpower to do that, though. We don’t have the edge we need to quickly strike the enemy. After so many Clockworks have been built, I don’t doubt some of the predictions that the Hive stretches from the sea to the Range.”
Ushkia huffed at Aetra, “Don’t ignore the possibility. You all saw what her undead could do,” she said, pointing at Mori, “And I have a guess that you want to make more?” Mori simply nodded, “In that case, find the Necromancer’s Guild. They’re the ones who’ve been squirreling away the bodies of the dead soldiers. If there’s anywhere you can find the ‘materials’ needed for an immortal army, that’s where you’ll find it.”
Mori nodded slowly, her armor flowing smoother and smoother in joy, “In that case, where are they? Mae couldn’t find them during her time as… acting general. Do you happen to know where they hid away?”
Ushkia gave a wry smile, “Not a clue, but your arrival likely made waves. Waves that the guild will be all over. I’d say just wait.” She then turned to the other two at the table, “How about this as a compromise: Mori here brings about five thousand of her immortal undead, and have them be the tip of the spear, in some manner, hmm? Is that possible, Mori?”
The lich in question tapped her fingers against the table rhythmically, staring at her hand, “I can make that many, but I don’t want them to just… be thrown away. If any sacrifices need to be made, we’re making them together. Understood?”
Ushkia gave a gentle smile, “Is there a reason for that stance?”
“Yes.”
“May we know why?”
“No.”
Ushkia nodded calmly, “That’s fine. So, are we in agreement?” Everyone present nodded, “Good. Mori, bring an army of five thousand and we will stand with you. And, I know this goes without saying, but don’t kill random people to do it. We all know you’re better than that, but I might as well remind you.” Mori rolled her eye-flames, nodding, standing and taking her leave. She had plenty of work to do, not to mention whatever the state of affairs aboard ATHENA would become with the other Earthborn around.
She sighed, ignoring her death knights’ pitying glances, and strode forward. There was much to do and too little time to do it.