The next morning, I woke up as Leyara was leaving. At this point, the palace staff didn't even bother worrying about finding Leyara in her room. They just had her normal maid waiting inside her room to help her bathe and get dressed. Each of the maids blushed and smiled each time I would come out of my room. I donned my regular 3-piece suit and made my way out of the room to find that Leyara had waited for me this time.
Her smile brightened up the gloom of early evening. Transitioning to a full nocturnal schedule had been wonderful. I was no longer sluggish and Dog stayed with Duskra so often, he wasn't an issue. Leyara had bones and meat sent over to make sure Duskra’s mom was not put out. After our evening of Squirrel racing, Drak spent most of his time inside the pocket of my waistcoat and would pop his head out periodically to add a "nuk nuk” to conversations.
As the carriage set out again to the same military base, I couldn’t help but feel amazed still by the beauty of Trunk and the Folioran people. Granted, I am fairly certain that I was going to be fighting and the cause of a war, but I tried not to focus on that and just focused on what was going on right now.
“You are quiet this morning. Everything alright?”
Leyara had on what could only be described as a pants suit but was her uniform as both a top tier general and the princess. She had a look of concern on her face as she broke my silent reverie with her inquiry.
“Yes, everything is actually…magnificent.”
“Magnificent? Are you sure you aren’t just happy you don’t have to bathe in Ron’s pee to go out?”
"Haha, you are super funny this evening aren’t you.”
“Morning.”
“It’s evening.”
“It’s morning if it is the beginning of your day…”
Her mischievous smile once again reminding me how much I cared for this beautiful woman in front of me. Did I mention she was a fucking princess? I may just be the luckiest vampire alive in this world or any other. Our playful banter was interrupted as a soldier on a ground lizard pulled up beside the moving carriage and handed a dispatch in. Leyara opened it and her eyes widened right away. I raised an eyebrow at her before she handed over the notice.
Betrapall and the human alliance of Angleton were declaring war on the Sea of Leaves and they were aligning themselves with Vinitak. Their reasons were far and many. Chief among them was the Folioran’s alignment with myself who they referred to as “that undead cretin”. Leyara nodded at the dispatch rider and he departed after a quick salute. The carriage sped up and soon we were at the military base again.
We headed inside and inside there was the King along with several of the same military officers from the previous day. This time though, there was a chair across from Leyara on the King's left side that was reserved for me. I noticed the chair was a bit more elaborate than the others and only matched the King's in quality.
“Please join us as we begin the first meeting of the Sea of Leaves alliance war council.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here. Do we have any additional information?”
“Right to the point, I can appreciate that Vampir. The dispatch you received on the way here is the latest information that we have. We are having some struggles getting more information as all of our scouts to seem to go missing."
My jaw hung open as I realized that the King had just referred to me by my actual name. Maybe it was just because I was an official ally in the impending war or maybe he had grown to respect me, but the surprise wasn't lost on myself or Leyara who sat across from me. Hey, eyes grew big as her father dropped my name so casually. King Rulard just smiled smugly like he was proud of himself.
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“This is not the first time that Angleton has tried to declare some kind of sovereignty over the Sea of Leaves, however with Vinitak, they may just stand a chance no matter how asinine an alliance with a predator like the Elves is.”
“I can probably assist with scouting. I can turn into mist and at least move sufficiently easy.”
“We had a similar thought; however, they have also hired some mercenaries from Lapoint. They have put up magic circles around the entire country of Angleton.”
I nearly spit out my drink at that last statement. The sheer magnitude of magic was intense. My memories told me that such a thing was possible, but I just never figured that something like that was possible. I should start using both sets of these memories. I guess I had just gotten complacent because I was finally feeling like myself. Well, as much myself as possible in the new world and body, etc.
“The whole country?”
“The mages of Lapoint are amongst the most fearsome in the entire world. They are strictly dedicated to magic and are incredibly powerful sorcerers.”
“I can at least get an aerial view and I can speak with an acquaintance of mine about the magic circles. Do we know the specifics of the circles at all?”
“Our mages have analyzed those closest to our borders and they appear to ward off undead and Foliorans and will alert them to anything that crosses the borders. You know someone from LaPoint?”
“I think technically I am from LaPoint, well I was before I was a vampire. I do however have a witch from LaPoint back at my cave.”
Everyone turned suddenly in my direction after that last statement. A few eyes seemed to want to pop out of their heads, but I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as even the aides who had their heads buried in documents popped up reminding me of a bunch of gophers with their heads sticking up out of the ground.
“I may be a bit rusty but I could probably set up something similar around the Sea of Leaves also. I need to once again converse with Casidhe on that…”
Everyone that was just recovering from the last shock spit all of their drinks they had just taken a sip of to clear the last shock.
“Do you mean the Mad Fungi Witch Queen, Casidhe Witherwright?”
“Oh, is she famous?”
I looked over at Leyara, but she just shrugged and grinned. She reminded me often in our sweet whisperings that she was not a 'magic nerd'. Some of those were here though.
“She is famous as being an incredible sorceress and magic researcher but also infamously insane. She was even banished outside of the main LaPoint capitol due to her strange behavior that led to her moniker. She is an ally of yours and would be willing to help?”
“I had no idea other than she was a perverted psychopath, but yeah she’s obsessed with me and my ability to cast Source magic. I can just trade a spell or something for her cooperation. Just gotta swing by home and collect her.”
“That would be a considerable boon to our Alliance, where is your cave, if I may ask?”
"Oh, well sure. It's from Angleton."
At that, everyone in the room's jaw hit the floor. It wasn't my intention, but there was a shit ton of things being discovered right now. Mostly, that we were dealing with some of the most skilled warriors on the continent, one of the largest standing armies, and mages who could affect entire countries with their spells and formations. This was escalating at a rate that was beginning to become difficult to even fathom. I wasn't sure how everyone else seemed to be so calm about the whole thing.
“Maybe I should try to teleport her here. That would help rather than infiltrating against their formations 2 times. Hang on.”
I focused on that warm center inside of myself that was the Source and began picturing the spell in my head. Teleporting was not all that difficult, but I haven’t had to cast custom magic so often since I got a hold of my mental faculties. I drew thoughts from my favorite animes and even took the name from one of them. I cast it aloud before all chaos broke loose.
“Instant Transmission!”
A flash of light occurred and there in the middle of the war table was a claw-footed tub and inside covered in suds and not much else was Casidhe. She squealed when she saw me and instantly cast off all of the bubbles with magic for a full view which caused all of the men to spring nose bleeds and spit their drinks again. I was prepared this time and kept all the drinks and fluid from Leyara and myself.
“Meet Casidhe Floette Witherwright. Casidhe, I want you to help me out with some things here in the Sea of Leaves.”
She just breathed heavily and nodded emphatically. Fucking creep.
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Name: Drak
Date of Birth: Unknown
Title: Senior Disciple
Race: Undead Giant Squirrel
Possessions: Throne Saddle
Powers: Physical Reformation, Immunity, Regeneration
Weaknesses: Holy Water, The Sun, Delusions of Grandeur
Strengths: Fast as Hell, Undead, Convincing Himself of his Greatness