Chapter 22
Valter looked up from the war table he was studying, the doors to the room opening to admit Desari, Sarnai Hellfire and four of her leaders. The glass had been fused back together and placed back into the window I the intervening hour and a half of reading and discussion.
Egrin rose from his chair.
“This is Headmaster Egrin,” Mya said.
“You’re something of a legend around these parts,” Sarnai laughed as the two met, shaking hands.
“I’m just an overworked teacher, on a strange educational trip.” He quipped.
Sarnai laughed. “Well it is good to meet you in the flesh, Mya said that you had a proposal for me?”
“My council does, I just agree with their viewpoints,” Egrin turned to the others around the table.
“Jana deals with our administration, Penrik is head of research and theory, Zedna represents our teachers, Ikor is wearing the hat of war and infrastructure department. We have other seats for the students, those living here and the city. Though most of those roles and departments were merged with recent events.”
“My crew is a little less illustrious, but they do well in a pinch,” Sarnai winked, holding her hand out to the people behind her. “We have Olva who is in charge of my communications. Kelvix keeps a track of all our trading. Asmea runs our security.” She turned her focus back on Egrin and those around the table. “So, what you proposing?”
“Becoming citizens of Ilus.” Mya said, pulling out a chair before falling into it.
“What does that exactly mean?” Sarnai’s eyes flicked through those in the room.
Mya put her boot on the table and crossed it with the other. “You don’t have to manage the ports, you don’t have to worry about people attacking them from the ground. Your people’s families can get an education in the best magical academy in the material plane. Learn more than just using the heat and wind. Direct access to the technologies and abilities of Ilus. A trade agreement is a transaction. Citizenship, that binds you to one another completely.”
“And why would we want to get that kind of binding?” Sarnai crossed her arms.
“You took the ports,” Desari said.
“So?” Sarnai asked.
“It shows that you want to put down roots. That you don’t want to just be travelling on the heat of the molten sea. Those ports are full of people, all that need managing. You’ve managed ships and fleets, you’ve never managed a city, let alone a series of them. Ilus and its administrators can take that over, you continue to run your ships, reduced port fees, but a part of your income would be taxed.”
Sarnai grimaced at the curse word. Valter just kept watching the byplay.
“Those taxes would be used to enhance the ports, build up the people and the land. Your crew and their kids could attend the academy. They become a part of those building a new future,” Desari said.
“You could have a trade agreement,” Valter agreed. “Though that is just a short term agreement. If you were to become citizens then you bind yourself to Ilus. More than that, you would have a powerful faction inside. You would be just another business under Ilus. Sure you would be asked to defend it, though you would do the same for any of your ports. It binds you to Ilus, but it also binds Ilus to you.”
“Never look a deal on the surface,” Sarnai moved towards the table, Mya pulled out a chair for her, three other seats moved back by themselves. “Lets see what you’re thinking.”
***
Sarnai lifted her pen from the documents.
Valter looked up from his reading and put the pages in his hands back down.
“Well, I guess I’m home,” Sarnai slumped back into her chair and gave a half laugh. “Tell me, was this your plan all along?”
Mya looked at Valter.
“It was my hope,” Valter said.
“So you’re the brains behind this one?” Sarnai studied him in greater detail.
“Just one part.” Valter shifted in his seat. “The next part is creating a similar agreement with Molten Fist.”
“A similar agreement? But we just agreed to be part of Ilus,” Asmea frowned.
“What better way to end the fighting, than to make the other group part of your own?” Mya stood and stretched her back.
“You want them to become citizens of Ilus too,” Sarnai said the words out loud, her eyes distant, thinking on it. “That, could well, yeah that should work. I guess, now looking at it. I knew that the administration for the ports was going to be a lot. It wasn’t until I saw how the administration for Ilus runs, for one port that I started to get an understanding of the level of scale.” She nodded at Jana who’d gone through the information. “Some people would be good at running a port, though most joined up to sail, because sailing is what they know how to do.”
“Selfishly, they’re also good fighters, with them on our side it makes us much stronger. Having them harass the ports would be a right pain in the ass,” Asmea said.
“Nothing indicates that they want to keep fighting, but they thought they had to,” Desari said.
“Molten Fist, Infernal Marauders and Ilus. This could start to really draw people’s attention,” Sarnai said.
“Our geography protects Ilus from the ports that are further up the coast, those that are inland have to work away the remains of Cinderstein now,” Valter said.
“A weakness of ours is that we know how to use magic and create a lot of things. Though we did not train in the way of warfare. With that kind of knowledge our arts may be adapted,” Egrin said.
The man wished for magic and peace to be synonymous together, the last year had been the hardest on him, breaking his world vision and bringing it smashing into his new reality.
“It will probably change how we fly our ships too,” Sarnai said.
“And open up all new markets.” Kelvix added. “I can think of a few ways that we can bring Molten Fist over to our side.”
“They have dealt with military units a lot but they have not dealt with holding cities and regions more than a defensive mesure.” Jana said.
“Even if they don’t know it, they’ll be ingrained to hold onto those in some way. They think in terms of fighting and they’re bastions for them.”
“Food will be the first. They are running low. If we can feed them, it will soften them to us,” Mya said.
“There are cinderborn units that are moving throughout the area. Without cinderstein they won’t be coordinated,” Asmea said.
“They were treated poorly by the other castes, kept insular. Most of them had left the cities on different exercises with their families. Other than the ones that were closely linked to the higher castes and on their payroll.” Desari said. “They were forced to be soldiers, we offer them other options through say the Molten Fist or through the Infernal Marauders, increases the populations in the towns, in the farms. Let them pick out what they want to do with their own lives. Or let them travel on. We do not need to keep everyone.”
“Just the ones that are willing to do the work,” Kelvix said.
“The others that move on will pass the word to others,” Egrin said. “Are you sure they will come to us, we did destroy their home.”
“Make sure to split them up and spread them out, give them time and they’ll come to our side.” Desari said.
“How can you be so confident they will?” Asmea asked.
“I did and I would do so again. We offer them a place to do what they want and opportunity. They’ll jump at it. I would say that we circulate information between different groups. Stories of the Molten Fist looking the other way for Ilus. The oppression within Cinderstein. The way that the upper castes worked and operated. Everyday people doing what they could to survive. We expose everything about the soverigns and the upper castes, use that to bind everyone together in mutual anger.’
“One of the fastest ways to get people working together,” Mya nodded along.
“We can also offer spells that remove the tattoos upon them for free if they so desire,” Egrin said.
“Breaks down the visual barriers,” Jana nodded along.
Petor opened the door to the room, holding out his hand in apology and keeping them in their seats, all except Ikor and Valter.
“We have preparations to make for today,” Valter said, the night was returning to day once again.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The talking came back together quickly, crafting plans to bring those who were once part of Cinderstein and Molten Fist into Ilus.
***
“How do they look?” Valter asked as they started walking down the corridor, Petor closing the door behind him.
“The basics are there, they’re willing, they’ve been fed well and pushed hard to train their bodies. It pretty much goes in a dozen different directions from there. They’re organized into units at least, but they’re all kinds of units. The strongest are the leaders instead of the most capable. Units are specialized, there are people who know water spells say, they didn’t have enough to round out some of them, so they took on mages that had at least some use in water to round it out.”
“What was your thinking process?” Valter asked Ikor.
“There are larger overall units. Each of them controls a part of the city’s defense, then there are units built to mitigate damage within the city and help those that are hurt. In the overall units we had some different smaller groups within them to give them a variety of spells to pull on. They could teach one another more about their specialization and get stronger that way” Ikor said.
“Its created an inner friction. The larger wall units have usually one overall kind of magic they use, that denotes the unit. Then others within the unit that use different spells are seen as less than.” Petor shook his head.
“Thoughts?” Valter asked.
“Well, depends on what happens with the Molten Fist, though I would suggest essentially dismantling all of the various units. We return to the basics. Teach them how to fight alongside one another, fighting as a shield wall. We beat them down into nothing and build them back up together. Then once they’ve completed that, we run them through a magic course.”
“They already know how to use magic.” Ikor said.
Petor turned down a corridor. “Yes, but they don’t know how to use battle magic. Defensive, enhancing, melee and ranged. Magic is powerful, though I can’t think of a person that knows fighting that uses just magic.” Petor shook his head and turned down another corridor. “They use magic like its running out. They don’t conserve their power at all. They see something they blast the hell out of it. I don’t know if this is because they’re taught to do the maximum amount of damage possible, or what.” He glanced over to Ikor.
“We tried to teach them how to make their spells more lethal,” he shrugged.
“And then they got put up against trained fighters. It reminds me a bit of young snakes,” Valter said as they slowed, reaching the elevators, Petor tapping on the call button. “The youngest snakes are the deadliest, not because they have more venom than older snakes. Its because they don’t know the measure of how much to use. The older snakes know how little they can use to take out their prey. The younger aren’t so sure of it so they just go all out on every prey they have.”
“That tracks. They’re just throwing everything into every attack to make sure that they’re safe. Goes hand in hand with the lack of training. They don’t have the confidence or the discipline to use less and then scale up as they need to,” Petor clicked his cheek. It was something innate to how he did things, built in with the decades of training and fighting.
“Taking apart the units would leave us defenseless,” Ikor said.
“Do it a couple of units at a time. Do it alongside the others that are joining into the military and you start to have a group that is bonded together. I could be highly effective in blending groups together,” Valter said.
The elevator dinged and they walked inside.
“Few things bond people like mutual suffering.” Petor grinned to Valter. He snorted and nodded his head with a glimmer of a smile. “That kind of grin gets troops swearing under their breath.”
Petor’s grin widened and he laughed, punching in the ground floor button.
“It would have people from the other groups in it though,” Ikor said.
“What unites a country?” Valter asked.
“A whole number of things,” Ikor said. “Though I’m going to guess you’re talking about something military related?”
“You can create a powerful place with several strong nobles that are able to rally up people to fight for them and then inturn the people that they support. They can also do it against people they used to support. If you take away their ability to rally people, or they can only rally a few people. Then you take people from across your nation into a single fighting force that is ready at all times and at the beck and call of a single body. You create unity.”
Ikor sunk into his thoughts. “They wouldn’t attack others within the country, as the people within would be from there. It creates a stability within the country and instead turns to threats beyond. Few can call upon that military and it would have to be used very sparingly and in the right situations or else they would fracture and turn against the structure that organizes them.”
“It acts as a check to those in power, while keeping everyone in the country safe. It shows that we’re not going to raid people from cinderstein, the Molten Fist farms or crash Infernal Marauders ships.”
“Or loot Ilus. Doing so with that force would be stupid.” Ikor said. “It brings everyone together into a mutual network.”
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
“Major Galeck here will take you on a tour of the defenses,” Petor waved to a severe looking man standing in the reception. He drew himself up and nodded to Valter who returned the gesture and reached out his hand.
“Major.” They shook, the older man didn’t try to overpower his hand, his grip firm but testing. He had left the days of trying to overpower another behind, confident and reading another than just simple tests of strength.
“Mister Valter.” Those light grey eyes studied him in a way that reached beyond the physical, as they released hands.
Valter studied him in the same way, drinking in information.
Galeck hadn’t let age degrade him, he held himself upright, marks on his body and face showed he worked outside and with his hands. There was a steadiness and grounded feel to him. A boulder standing in a field, weathered and worn.
A sixth sense told Valter he would be a damn good fighter, the kind that could fight hard, remain in command, unaffected by the highs and lows of a battle.
He’d easily accept this man fighting beside him, a thrill ran through him, thinking about fighting against him.
“Galeck worked as the head of a family guard until he retired to let the young bucks chase after their lord on his hunting trips. He came here with his daughter and her family, his grandchildren attend the academy. When the transition happened he took up training people.”
“As much as they’ve let me,” Galeck’s voice carefully neutral. His eyes didn’t move, but Valter knew what he meant.
“The council didn’t think that we would have to resort to such training methods.”
“Which is being reconsidered in light of new possible changes,” Ikor said, sounding tired. The argument obviously a well worn one.
Galeck’s eyebrow twitched higher. “This have to do with the Infernal Marauders and the Molten Fist?”
Valter looked at Petor who shrugged. “Bunch of academics, they’re bound to talk. Not like any secrets but the very important ones don’t pass through a camp.”
“Fair,” Valter said. “What do you think of their forces Galeck?”
“I don’t have enough information on the Infernal Marauders to understand them. I am also someone that has fought on the ground my entire life. I don’t know ships, and I definitely don’t get these ones that fly.”
I like this guy .
“Though you have some thoughts.”
“Everyone does, its if they are useful or not. Seeing as you’re pushing it I’m guessing you want my guesses.”
Valter nodded.
Galeck crossed his arms, tilting his head slightly, looking off into the distance. “They’re well coordinated, can see with how quick they were able to mount attacks on the emberclaw, then roll those into attacks upon the different ports. They’re open minded with coming ashore and talking to the council. They’re good fighters to win those fights.” He shrugged. “Though I’ve never seen them in action. The Emberclaw were too confident in their abilities. Had the swagger, the ships and the tech, but damn if they weren’t idiots in a fight. Didn’t have strategy, bickered, worked against one another as much as with. Didn’t seem like a family, they did everything they could to win against one another. The Infernal Marauders, how many independent fleets they have?”
“I think in the range of ten to twenty, depends on the time,” Valter said.
“Why the variance?”
“They group up and break apart depending on the job.”
“So good cohesion even if they’re separated or thrown together. That shows good leadership, good training. They hire out for their positions?”
“Yeah, looking for a new job?” Valter asked.
“This dog has all the tricks he needs,” Galeck said dryly. “Though that shows they’re looking for ability and quality over bloodline. One of the things I appreciate here. Meritocracy, the people that are in the know are the ones that get picked.”
Valter grunted, how many times had he seen some idiot leading an army based on who they’d squirted out of, instead of the ability of the grey matter between their ears.
“Aim is to bind Infernal Marauders, Ilus and the Molten Fist together.”
Galeck looked him in the eye.
“Your serious and you don’t mean in the light manner. Then the fact you’re talking to me,” Galeck let out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. “My job just got a whole lot harder.”
Petor let out a dry chuckle.
“Well you two have fun, I have a meeting spot to make,” Petor said.
“Ikor,” Valter turned to the older man.
“Yeah?”
“How did you become the councillor that deals with infrastructure?”
Ikor coughed and then rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Well you see, I might use lightning a lot, it was the first kind of magic I got to know. It is pretty destructive . I blew up a few training and testing areas and well the teachers got annoyed with having to fix up after me. I got forced to take lessons on structures and then how to build them using spells. I rebuilt the buildings that got smashed up. Then I started designing new ones.” Ikor shrugged. “Then well I spent more time building and making designs for places than I spent blowing them up.” A grin spread across his face. “Also, meant that I now know the fastest way to bring down any building I’m in.”
“Well lets go put that to use,” Petor said.
They headed off and Valter turned back to Galeck. “Alright lets take a look at what you’ve done here.”
Galeck waved for him to follow. “So, what’s your background?”
“Trained since the age of seven with different weapons, joined the army, served for seven years before I lost my leg in a fight with something I shouldn’t have been fighting. Made armor and gear. Got caught up in a battle that made it to the rear echelon. Got fused with armor and served for another twenty years running from battle to battle.”
“Sounds pretty shit.”
“It was.”