Francois combed his beard, feeling like a human being after the trim he’d just received.
“Excellent work, now back to the war!” He announced, returning to his office.
The three original scribes were all hard at work with processing the influx of letters. Another table had been moved into the room, larger than all others combined it commanded the space. In no small part due to six assistant scribes coming and going, tracking troop movements and supply caravans. The sort of boring administration that won wars.
Six towns now had earthworks, but the priests in thirty towns had abandoned their post or evacuated.
One step forward, five steps back.
“Report! Have there been any new developments?” Asked Francois.
“No sir! All ten crusade legions have departed, each of them has separated into centuries and begun marching towards Khereshetal, Greenhaven, and Vere in the south west, as you have commanded.” Said a scribe, bowing to Francois.
“And the cat companies? How are our former slaves purrforming?” Asked Francois, accidentally inhaling a sliver of hair and hacking a furball.
“Uhm…” Said the scribe, turning to the other men in the room. “Mark! What say you?”
A reedy man jumped in surprise, jerking away from a wooden icon of a cat. He looked guilty, as if he had been petting the figure that represented a century of one hundred felinids.
“Ah what? Oh! Yessir! The felinid centuries or cat companies are odd. They refuse to fight without their females present. Our observations show that there are usually one or two women they are actually trying to protect. The others are just cover for this cat queen. At first it took us ages to understand, but now I suspect these are plants by one of the nobles. Since their collars are of an unusual construction and were particularly difficult to remove.” Said Mark, beginning to lose the plot and ramble.
“Ahem, Mark, I am only one mortal man. Summarize, what problems require the power of the Lord Bishop’s station to address?” Said Francois.
Mark was a recent addition, and a man entirely too obsessed with the notion of ‘fluffing catgirls’ whatever that meant. Though his expertise on the subject was a boon to the church. As was his familiarity with their culture.
“Yessir! We’ve removed most of their collars but it seems Viscount Blackwood was plotting to lead a felinid rebellion, since the collars have hidden orders that can be activated from great distances, not to mention the damn things are practically impossible to remove. It takes a dozen level five paladins to break the sealing spell, and our control crystals do not seem to work.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Francois was getting annoyed, the man was still babbling. Viscount Blackwood had been deposed years ago. If the man had even survived Pandora’s arrival his only responsibility would be to train the next lord. A duty that Duke Hamilton was handling personally. Blackwood had no place in this world, not as a man, a husband, or even a slave. Death would be a mercy to him.
“Yes, I’m aware of former Viscount Blackwood’s plans. And all our legions have more than enough leveled paladins to remove those collars.” Said Francois, trying not to snap at the new kid.
“Yes! But that only gives us a hint! I suspect all of those special collars were given to eclipsiarchs! Three legions have already confirmed as such, but the other felinids are refusing to demonstrate their powers. If we consider that Blackwood somehow knew which felinids were eclipsiarchs and collared them appropriately, we know what to look for in all our shipments of slaves! All told, reports have counted two hundred of the special collars. With most wearers being above the age of puberty!” Gasped Mark, sweating with excitement.
He looked like a man about to visit a whorehouse. Bursting with excitement. Francois clenched his jaw, why did this scribe care about cat puberty? Was this specialist a pervert he would need to keep an eye on?
“I’m not interested in feline copulation…” Said Francois.
“Copulation? No sir! I beg your pardon! My meaning is we have two hundred magi! Of age magi! They’re powers should have already awoken. If we can earn their trust, or gather and reassure them, then our magi would effectively double across the legions!”
There were less than two hundred magi in the ten crusading legions. Double the magi meant double the lives saved. A fact Francois was painfully aware of.
“DAMNIT MAN! LEAD WITH THAT NEXT TIME!” Shouted Francois, turning red in the face. “MARK! Find a way to appease them, get their collars removed post-haste! And keep track of them. If any appear to be related to Lightning Lord Nyota Green, assign them bodyguards. Knights at the very least, paladins if they can be spared. After what we’ve done to them…” Francois closed his eyes, shuddering at the hell he knew the eclipsiarchs had endured.
Aldric should have just killed them, vivisections were too cruel, too irregular. We learned nothing of their internal anatomy nor what structures were unique to magi. It’ll take generations to forget our sins. And an eclipsiarch can live for hundreds of years. What will the world be like a thousand years from now?
“Extend every luxury to the eclipsiarchs. If any demonstrate magic, assign them a teacher that best aligns with their affinity. This is on my direct orders! The Lady Nyota Green’s kin are to be found and pampered! We must seek to erase all past insults with the finest cushions, gifts, cat-treats, catnaps, catnips, whatever! Make it happen Mark. And god damn it! Stop phrasing things so creepily!” Ordered Francois.
“Yessir!” Said Mark, snapping to attention and saluting.
Francois spent several more hours coordinating the crusades, and subtly shifting distant troop movements towards Talocandel. If there was a circle hidden beneath the palace then he knew exactly which paladins could help him find it. A high level earth paladin would be most desirable, but battlemage Owen had been sent to Khereshetal years ago and it would be difficult to explain why another level 10 earthshaper was parading around the capital when farms needed to be defended.
Damn, I’ll have to ask Renosipe instead. What a boor.