“You’ve included one of his reports?”

“Yes, second bundle.”

“Hmm…”

Talexia reclined in her seat, raising the first of three bundles of papers. They were military reports composed by the generals underneath her and gave an in-depth overview of the ongoing situation across her domain.

Of course, there was nothing stopping her from retrieving reports from elsewhere. Even though John wasn’t under her authority, all it took was a few calls to get what she wanted.

She skipped the first bundle of papers and looked at the second noticeably thinner one. Although, the fact that it was as thick as it was told her that there had been no shortage of notable events there. Normally reports from the Strongholds, especially Charlie which was stationed in the middle of nowhere, were sparse.

Now though, she had been hearing news. A few key pieces of intelligence had been passed around and suddenly she was being inquired. They were asking about numbers, and that never meant anything good.

She read through the introductory page before skipping a few, getting straight to the meat of the subject. Summoners loved to fluff up their reports to make it seem like they were doing more work than they were. She had long since gotten skilled at figuring out where the real information was.

Soon enough she found it. Her eyes scanned through every word one by one, an image being painted in her head regarding the most important news coming from Stronghold Charlie and its forward base, the Treehouse.

There were only two names plastered on this report. The first was expected, the second was an anomaly. Colonel Polly was famous enough and had been vying for the endlessly coveted position of General. Her name had been getting passed around everywhere despite several attempts by other summoners to keep her out of the light. She was good, a valuable asset, even if she was pulling strings and setting up a retinue full of bootlickers to pass along their achievements.

Now though, she was unable to take all the credit. That was rare, and the name that intruded upon her fame was one she hadn’t expected to see in a long while.

“Captain John Cooper…”

Talexia muttered, a small smile on her face. He was certainly smart. It was no wonder he was able to achieve the rank of Captain so quickly. More than that though, he was being proactive. That seemed to be something he was good at. That and sticking his name into situations he shouldn’t be. Only problem was that in the military, such things got you killed. Taking on too much would land one in positions they couldn’t handle, and in missions that they couldn’t fight their way out of.

If you weren’t killed though, it was a surefire way of getting promoted.

John seemed to be playing his cards right. She knew the military would be a good place for him. He seemed like the type to fit in there. But this was a bit more than she expected.

She had read about a few of his exploits. He had somehow managed to get his name plastered right beside Polly’s; he wasn’t going to stay hidden forever. Plus, there were probably a few Generals who would use John to knock her down a peg. Promote the newbie and keep Polly down. More politics.

She read his reports, including a particularly dangerous reconnaissance mission and a close second around the Pass. Details were vague and rather unattributable, given everyone who had a Colonel rank was plastered on it, including a few Snow Doves. It was probably a more secretive mission, and likely ongoing if her thoughts were correct. There had been many such attempts to recon enemy territory. They never ended well.

However, during this mission, John seemed to collect a few key pieces of intelligence. It came at the cost of two entire squads, one wiped out, the other missing in action… but still better than what historically happened.

The Scourge was moving in with a massive army and a new species to boot. John dubbed it the Bombardo. A peculiar name, but she didn’t pay it much mind after an initial thought.

An image had been attached – surprisingly detailed, with a person-sized scale attached – that portrayed precisely how large it was. She had never seen anything like it. Behemoths were common enough, but when their size was a consequence of some special purpose, it became far more worrying.

And there were dozens of them moving in on the Treehouse. Talexia subconsciously leaned forward, reading the numbers, their movements…

There were excerpts taken directly from Captain Cooper’s personal reports, including maps and analyses on past movement histories, and all of them painted the picture of a disaster waiting to happen. The noose being tied around the Treehouse’s neck was almost tangible, and she couldn’t even chalk this up to faulty logic, as some summoners were often to do.

She knew John. She had watched him, seen him with her daughter, seen him as a stranger, seen him personally, and seen him professionally. She often challenged his views, quietly or explicitly, and questioned his decisions. She had a decent grasp on his character because of this, as she should, considering he wanted to marry her daughter despite everything they were facing.

He could definitely be emotional. It could be said that everything he did was driven by what he felt to be the correct course of action. Perhaps it would be more apt to say that he had certain unyielding principles, but they were often masked by his casual visage. He both seemed to brush off everything that came over him and take on every challenge he was faced with.

When it came down to it though, he was far from illogical. At some point, Talexia understood that he could only be emotional, or seemingly so, because he had already rationalized everything he did, and why.

But these reports didn’t have a hint of what could even be called emotion. Only cold facts, figures, and logic stared back at Talexia. If he was trying to scare people, these reports would do just that. Perhaps if he were emotional, he’d be painting this kind of picture to make himself stand out more. There were plenty of summoners who did that. Some even dropped ‘errors’ into their counts, exaggerating the true danger while trying to downplay it as if they were being purely analytical the whole time, like some kind of reverse psychological tactic to legitimize themselves.

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However, this report did quite the opposite. It was the numbers and pictures that scared Talexia precisely because they left no room for doubt. Everything was so detailed, from the pictures of army camps and formations, charts of locations, targets of interest drawings, analyses based on past and present data, extrapolations…

It led everyone who read it to but one conclusion.

The Treehouse was screwed, and if it fell, the Stronghold would fall not long after. The Scourge had introduced another chess piece from nowhere and figured out how to move armies through rough terrain while completely ignoring the logistical challenges it posed. None of the things that implied were good.

The entire military had been on edge with Anarchy’s recent attack. Everyone was paranoid, wondering what would be the next to fall, and when. Some were even talking about calling the Church in to reinforce. They doubted the Kingdom’s ability to defend itself. Nobody felt safe.

Whoever read this would only feel worse about everything. More than that, they’d realize that they needed to fight back. With just the loss of a single base, it felt like every wall that they had erected so proudly, confident in its ability to stem the tide, had come crashing down, washed away in a flood of terror.

Even Talexia found herself coming to the conclusion that so many others had already decided on.

They needed to reinforce and hunker down. They needed to save the Treehouse and prevent the Scourge from overrunning a critical defensive line. If they failed to defend against the oncoming army, their flank would be wide open, giving the Scourge an easy opportunity to carry out pincer attacks and wipe out their front line.

Even more than that though, they needed a victory. There was more bad news spreading than anything good, and with this report, both generals and Sovereigns alike were left wanting. This was one of the few times that they were ahead in the intelligence game, and, despite actions suggesting otherwise, nobody wanted to remain defensive forever. Attrition was wearing the Kingdom down far more than it was wearing on the Scourge. They would fall first if this continued.

“Oh John, you always know just how to stress me out.”

Talexia set the papers atop her desk, massaging her temples.

She’d have to send out a division worth of warlocks, at least. The Lancers, maybe. A couple of platoons of support and special combat personnel. She had seen the transfer requests for healers from Stronghold Charlie get denied so many times already.

Suddenly all the questions she had been getting made sense. “What’s the minimum garrison here”, “how many can you move from there?” They were going to pull on other bases. They were going to pull on reserves. They couldn’t reinforce halfheartedly. It would have to be overwhelming, more than enough to deal with the inbound army and not let the victory turn pyrrhic.

She, being the head of the Warlock training programs, and having a major say in where their reserves and fresh recruits went, would be taking on the brunt of these reinforcement requests.

She had more power than most knew, though. Their reserve forces weren’t just weaklings. In fact, a large portion of the Kingdom’s military was in reserve, including many powerhouses that could turn tides. The reason they haven’t been moving was because, before Anarchy, things had been stalemated. There was no reason to mobilize everything all the time. Soldiers needed breaks, vacations, and slotting them into the reserve forces for a year or two at a time was a good way to keep their troops fresh and let the strong soldiers make families. That’s how powerful lineages were created and prolonged, how they got more Magi and soldiers.

It was only after Anarchy that they started readying for total war. The Kingdom was primed. Like the Scourge, they had been accumulating, both numbers and power.

Until now though, there hadn’t been a major reason to mobilize so many forces. Anarchy had attacked, but that had been a sudden onslaught, one that didn’t have any significant follow up. They had been blindsided, and instead of retaliating with everything at once, they had taken a step back to recuperate and analyze the situation, waiting for the Scourge’s next moves.

Now, this was a clear signal to stand up and counterattack.

Or, it was more like John had provided the military with an opportunity, an opening to fit in one of their own swings.

Talexia couldn’t help but see this as the precursor to much more. She just didn’t think it would come from John, of all people.

Sure enough, in the military, those bullheaded smarts of his had found their place. It was his natural damned habitat.

Unfortunately, he was also alone. He didn’t have a trustworthy squad to keep him safe, making these recent happenings that much more dangerous to him. She was worried, but she couldn’t send Umara over there.

It had been six months since they separated, and things were going well. They were all progressing with amazing speed. Her daughter was especially outstanding, certainly doing far better than she had at the same stage in her life. She wanted to maintain it, and besides, her daughter had Tana with her, a partnership that had already proven to be lifesaving.

“...”

Thinking thus far, Talexia reached over and grabbed another sheet.

This one was also a request, but not for any amount of normal troops. It was for her daughter and Tana.

The name at the top spelled ‘Gurns’.

“Already getting scouted… I suppose I have Feiden to thank for that.”

Another source of stress. She didn’t want to send her daughter into special operations so quickly, but if this kept up, she might not have a choice. Umara would just leave herself, especially if Gurns approached her personally.

Before that happened…

“... Dear.”

“Hm?”

Ikhor looked up from his paperwork when his wife called.

“Can you retrieve my Black Tome tonight?”

“... Are you sure?”

Ikhor was surprised, setting his pen down.

Talexia nodded with a sigh, resting her chin on her fist.

“Yes. I have a feeling our daughter will need it.”

“The other nobles will question us.”

“The other nobles are doing the same exact thing, and they’ll think twice about pi- provoking my anger lest I leave their children and prized troops stranded without competent support.”

“Very well. I’ll have it for you in the morning.”

“Thank you. I don’t feel like dealing with the Ancestors right now.”

Talexia sank back in her seat. She had caught herself before letting loose a very John-like outburst. He was rubbing off more on her than she had thought. The stress of reading those reports and thinking about all the trouble tomorrow would bring certainly didn’t help either.

John’s knowledge was apparently working wonders for her daughter, but the spells in the Black Tome were more than theory or works in progress.

They were developed killing spells, and their might, lethality, and efficiency was proven time and again, passed down through the family for generations. They were not handed out carelessly because, although they worked so well, they could put the warlock that used them in even more danger, whether that was by complacency or by danger to themselves. It was not uncommon for warlocks to learn one good spell and then morph their entire battle style around it, making it their only trick and turning them predictable. That, or it would just kill them when they screwed up the spell.

She had a feeling Umara was smarter than that though. Those spells would compound with her already obscene ability to manipulate the elements. She would turn them into her own, not let the spells turn her into something she wasn’t.

It would be one of the only things that she could do for her daughter to directly help her become more powerful. The rest of her support would come from the shadows, making sure her future wasn’t ruined prematurely, or placing her in positions she could learn from. She would make sure Umara had enough time to grow and thrive before getting thrown into the deep end to fend for herself.

Whether her daughter would appreciate her or not would be inconsequential to preserving her life. Nothing mattered past that.