Chapter 25
Desari watched all happening in the room, with her own eyes and through her elemental senses. She was also stretching her senses through the air and ground. The level of detail was greatly reduced and took a larger amount of mana to sustain. Though it gave her the most information possible.
Petor next to her was chatting about the ways they’d built the hall and surrounding buildings to her and the rest of the party.
“The doors were pretty cool, they just grew sheets of mixed stone and metal from the ground, sorry, extruded. They fused them to the walls, in a couple of points. Then they removed a cylinder halfway up or down those points, where it stopped they carved out a line of stone and there you have it, stone hinges. Cut the bottom of the doors, make sure everything fits and it all works.”
“It is impressive,” Valter said with true feeling. He had been paying attention to it the most. Though Desari knew the signs, Mya even while she tapped out a song on her blade’s hilt was listening along, intrigued by Ilus’ building methods.
“The ability of so few to create something like this. It would take dozens of stone masons and their apprentices to make something like this over a decade.”
Sometimes the things he talked about were incredibly advanced in the areas of smithing and enchanting. Then basic magical happenings were limited and basic. Desari wanted to ask more. Though now was not the time to do so.
Especially when something felt so wrong . The feeling rose in her gut, making her shoulders itch and her eyes move across everyone there. The sense of unease happened when the Molten Fist contingent arrived.
She bent the wind to her purpose.
“I feel something isn’t right,” Desari said.
“How so?” Valter’s voice steeled, ready to act.
“I’m not sure, its just in my gut, but its there.”
“Relax, stop tracking with your eyes, let your eyes drift, trace the thought and feeling,” Mya’s voice was almost lulling.
Desari might have dismissed her, now she trusted in them to keep watch and withdrew into herself, letting the emotions and thoughts falling away. A pressure released from the back of her head as she shifted.
Everyone sat down at the table, the Molten Fist’s leader leaning back in his seat and keeping his hands under the table. No not there.
Egrin cleared his throat and leaned on the table with his elbows. People stepped forward with pieces of paper and put them infront of everyone. “We were brought into this conflict through means beyond our control. Now some of those pressures have been removed. It is our hope that we can move forward together and create a lasting stability for this region. In the papers provided we have listed out fair terms for everyone.”
The packets were opened, only Sarnai didn’t open hers.
“I have already agreed and trust in you.”
That caused Torin’s features to pinch as he rested a hand on the packet. Elara from his delegation was reading through it.
“So you want us to surrender?” Torin asked.
“No, we want to see if we can build something out of this almighty mess,” Ikor grumbled from his seat.
Desari searched for where that damn tension was coming from, it was something familiar, but it was wrong , it didn’t belong here. Though— there .
“Scorpion.” she hissed to the others.
“The creature?” Petor asked, rubbing his face to hide his mouth.
Maybe her fellows weren’t the only ones that were still holding back secrets.
“Assassin.” Her eyes were bouncing through the people around the room. “From Geraxi. Third mage light left from the main door, wearing the three slitted helm. Don’t react.”
Petor rolled his shoulders and moved from side to side, as he was doing before. The others continued their bored act, Desari’s eyes kept looking, studying.
“Scorpions act alone. They are given purposes and targets and then released. Though rarely is this done alone. Most of the time there are at least two scorpions sent at the same target. Or sent on similar missions with different targets. We’re trained in isolation so we do not know who the others are if we are to see them. This means if another is killed then we won’t react.”
“How do you know they’re scorpions?” Valter asked.
“While we’re trained in isolation, we’re still trained and I doubt that the training is tailored to each person. I know I could hear others training in the same buildings I was sent to. Their hand placement. Most scorpions are trained to fight with special throwing blades and needles hidden in our gear. The best place is to hide them under a breast plate and another along the forearm.”
The guard lounged near the wall, her hand at the base of her breastplate just above her belt.
“She’s facing Egrin, probably her target,” Desari said, her eyes settled on a man.
“Between the fourth and fifth light on the right, the one leaning against the wall, looking at the dome with his hand behind his back. Smoke or other kind of bomb. Checking trajectories?” Desari kept looking.
“What’s the call?” Mya stretched, covering the movements of her mouth.
“We attack them in here then we aren’t going to be in a good situation,” Valter said.
No it would break the negotiations apart as soon as that happened. Desari hated the words before she spoke them.
“We’re going to have to give them the first move. Isolate and kill them.” Her eyes moved to the Infernal Marauder’s group, nothing marked them as suspicious. They had brought on people recently and there wasn’t much time for people to integrate with them and reach such a high position. She hated it but her eyes turned to the Ilus guards.
Who knows how long they’ve been here ? Scorpions acted when they needed to, most of the time they worked in the shadows, getting others to do the work for them. A neighbor, a criminal, a noble, a guard .
“Mya, Ilus guard with the blue horns and two to his right, they looking nervous to you?” Desari asked.
“Ohhh yeah they are.” Mya said.
“They’re judging the distances between them and the Molten Fist group.” Valter said.
“Valter, Mya, be ready to take them out. Petor, your with me against the scorpions. They’re used to being in close with their targets or at far range with a bow. I don’t see weapons like that. Though they could have storage devices. Protect the delegation.”
Desari bent the air to Ikor and Penrik. “Don’t react tow what I’m about to say.”
They continued what they were doing. “There are possibly two scorpions and our own people have been infiltrated. Protect yourselves and the others if something happens.”
Ikor leaned over to Penrik, the air around them distorting for their private chat.
“So, you want us to meld all of our groups together and then what, you command us all. That will be any better than what the Cinderborn did?” Lyra asked.
“I am a teacher and administrator Lyra. I do not know the first thing about spying properly. Gathering information through other than official channels. I do not know how to train and army, nor fly ships. Why would I want to control all of that?” He raised an eyebrow. “We know how to manage cities, to build a people up. First is food and water. We know that you are hurting with all of your farmers called from their fields to train as soldiers. We can help with this, your farmers with our own students and teachers armed with our knowledge of agriculture, and the magics that support them.”
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“They will work with the people of the land to increase their overall productivity and teach them their knowledge.” Torin read.
“Food is scarce here, with your farmers and our knowledge we can work to create food stability,” Jana said.
“Then people will not have to farm all the time and they can take lessons. Learn how to read and write, how to use magic themselves. Send their children that would take time away from their tasks to learn as well,” Zedna said.
“The academy would be open to all at this table and people that you represent,” Ergin said. “Our aim is to combine the military might of all our forces as well as its knowledge to create a stronger force that is able to defend us all.”
“With food and security established, well there are a great number of things that Ilus can make that a lot of other people will be interested in, and then,” Sarnai looked at Mya who pinched her hat, close to the two guards, Valter with her. “There are other business interests out there.”
“We already have our structure,” Torin said.
Jana tapped her fingers on the table, ringing out through the room. “Torin, do you want to lead mercenaries, or a nation?”
“I can do both,” Torin said.
Jana gave him a long look. “Then you become the bottleneck. In the middle of a battle a lot of things need to be decided quickly. With a nation decisions that you make now will influence how things turn out in several decades. Do you want to rule? I do not ask this for an answer, I ask you to ask yourself this question. You have now seen what it takes to be a ruler. Many think it is living in luxury, most of the time it is worrying about all of the decisions you are making to shepherd your people into the future.”
“Each of us here has strengths and weaknesses. With one another we become stronger and we shore up others weaknesses,” Zedna said. “Most of the time, it is our emotions, the giving over power, of letting something go that is probably not serving us, but we have some kind of attachment to, that holds us back.”
Torin frowned and sat back into his chair, he pulled back the packet and started reading it again.
“You have outlined taxation in these plans and administration. I am interested in how you see these going forward,” Elara asked.
One of the scorpion’s eyes locked onto Desari’s. A knowing, a tension radiating through them both.
“Barrier!” Desari yelled, her blade tearing out of her sheath as two poison needles and three grenades were thrown out.
Petor’s emerald barrier shot out of the floor, the needles hit, discharging, the barrier darkening at the points of impact.
The two scorpions acknowledged one another. The man, further away, sunk a blade into their nearest fellow guard, others were coughing on the cloud of smoke.
A pistol cracked out and an explosion, followed with the hollow noise of metal hitting flesh.
“Poison!” Desari yelled.
The delegations around the table jumped to their feet, Lyra drew a crossbow and fired on Egrin, Penrik and Ikor’s spells were ready, destroying the bolt and chasing the path back towards Lyra.
Lightning slammed into her and threw her back. Petor’s barrier jumped back, covering The Infernal Marauders and Council members.
Lyra was thrown backwards, Elara and Torin moving away from her, armor covering them and weapons in their hands.
The wind carried two needles away from her, she closed her eyes, relying on the senses of mana sight as a grenade detonated.
The elemental within was torn apart, tearing through all kinds of fire mana senses.
Petor ran forward as guards drew their weapons and charged the barrier.
Desari kicked her legs out from under her, the wind pushing on her as she slid on the polished stone underneath the female scorpion’s stab. Her own blade glowed purple, the woman shifted her self, to catch the blade on the bottom of her breastplate instead of between it and her belt.
The purple etched blade cut through her armor and stomach. Desari twisted the blade, tearing it free as she drew together the ambient heat in the room, and drew it towards herself, through the back of the woman’s head.
She had no time to react, the capsule of heat releasing into her heat, boiling her brain to mush.
Desari threw herself up with an updraft of air, the woman’s head exploded behind her as she met a guard’s blade with her own. Fire singed their hand, causing them to flinch back, her blade tore out their neck, she slid to the side, a dagger passing where she had been, her blade flicked away an arrow, exposing her side, the dagger wielder stabbing at it, extending themselves.
Their canteen exploded, a shard of ice stabbing through their ribs and into their chest.
The strength went out of them as Desari slipped a potion from her belt, flicking the topper off with her thumb and pouring it on the person’s face. A bolt past her, disturbing her hair, hurling another attacked back.
The potion fell on the ice-dart man’s face, he coughed and writhed as she threw the potion and hit it with a fireball among two others, the poison exploded in a fireball. Petor stabbed one, still distracted. He twirled his spear back, cutting the second down before he could pull together a true defense.
The male scorpion threw out two more poison grenades towards the Molten Fist party and fired a hand crossbow at Desari, his veins crawling up his neck as he charged forward.
Desari smacked the bolt away with her sword, drawing a potion and drinking it down. Power, like a rumbling beast raced through her, it was euphoria, increasing one’s own core power without the channels digging into her body.
She channeled her own mana and rushed to meet her opponent. His sword met hers, his dagger aimed for her face.
She pushed off of him and out of his attack, the ground beneath her turned to a sludge, he stepped forward into the attack, his feet catching, she slapped away his dagger, and threw one of her own at him.
Its enchantments ignited and stabbed into his armor, using their power to drive in deeper. He grunted in pain and lashed out with his sword.
She moved away from his attacked, his feet out of the sludge ground. “Left Desari.” Mya’s voice reached her.
She danced out of the way as the round hit the man in the cheek and blew out the back of his head.
Four of the dead ‘guards’ now attacked their fellows.
Torin landed a blow that took teeth from Lyra’s face and smashed her into the floor.
Petor hit a man up between the legs with the length of his spear drew it back and slammed the butt into their throat.
Their blade dropped from their hands as they stumbled back coughing. Valter’s arbalest nailed another guard to the wall, the undead stabbing the remaining guards before collapsing.
An explosion rocked the building, Desari drew the air filled with poison together and gave it a spark of fire as she moved to the doors.
It flared, consuming everything. Petor was coughing but threw a poison cure down his throat.
“Hate that shit,” Petor grumbled as she reached the doors, her sword at the ready as she pushed the main doors open.
The stables were filled with sounds of fighting, smoke poured out of it.
A rider slapped their mount up to speed. Only way they could have got a mount ready and out of there is if they knew what was going to happen.
“Ilus guards! Draw back!” Desari’s voice boomed through the space as she dropped her blade, it sunk into the stone as if it didn’t exist before the purple filling the enchantment dissipated.
Desari took out her bow, drawing and arrow back. She tilted it up and breathed in deeply, releasing the arrow.
The streak of fire from the phoenix arrow traced through the sky.
The rider shifted to the side, dodging the arrow. Desari reached out with her power as it passed him. He glanced back with a grin on his face, thinking the danger had passed.
Desari turned the arrow with the wind, grunting at the effort and brough it up chest height.
His grin was torn away as he slammed into the arrow, throwing him from his mount.
“I got this one,” Valter said. Ignus appeared in the courtyard. Flames flared in his eyes as molten red edges showed between the armored plates.
Valter jumped ontop of his back, Ignus’ hooves cracked the stone as he charged forward, stretching out his body into a full gallop.
As he reached the edge of the compound, his hooves glowed, the fire stamped into the ground as his speed increased again.
Torin stepped out of the doorways, sword in his hand and face thunderous. He took in everything with a glance.
“Store your blades Molten Fist or I’ll shove them down your fucking throats! See to the wounded, not one leaves!” He made eye contact with several guards, turned on his heel and walked back into the meeting room.
He drew out a piece of stone, it glowed with his mana as he talked into it.
Desari stored her bow and drew her blade from the ground, heading back into the meeting building.
“Well, this has been all eventful,” Sarnai said taking her seat. “The fuck Torin?” She looked pointedly at Lyra spitting out blood, Elara’s blade at her neck as she threw away storage devices, her eyes glowing with spells at the ready.
“Sarnai, your people are probably good. Egrin, you and the council stay there. Torin, I would only keep the guards you know from before Ilus appeared with you. Others afterwards might be more scorpions,” Desari stood.
“Guess your acquainted?” Sarnai asked, taking her seat again.
“They’re an old enemy, probably wanted to kill some people in here, break up any chance of this agreement coming to pass and keep us fighting with one another.” Desari grimaced and looked to the council. “The Geraxi Empire know where we are and they’re not done with us.”