The invasion of Zagliastrua chapter 3- Royal Reinforcements
"Ah, the old bugger! And how refreshing to know I wasn't aware of everything!!" his fellow Dradnian companion did not seem to be shaken one bit by Leind's account of his discussion with Londse.
"I always say, you never know enough. Anyway, don't worry, I'll take care of notifying everyone, not that a good portion already doesn't know about that" he accompanied the words with a wink.
"In the meantime, you should take care not to miss the arrival of the boy from Sanctum." in the same joyful tone he always had
"You do know that this particular 'boy' is over a hundred and twenty years old, right?" Leind was not very knowledgeable about the kingdom of Sanctum but he remembered a few details of the family tree of the rulers. At the top was the empress and a few members of her descendants and of these ones, one of the earliest was Retn Names. He remembered that the prince was definitely born a few dozen cycles after the sixteenth Medrion.
Without breaking his smile, his friend replied "Surely he will be the oldest boy you will meet in your life, but as soon as you'll see the landing, you will understand."
Ok, whatever you say, though Leind to himself
Having said his goodbyes to Akser, Leind set out for the landing area he had been shown a few hours earlier in his dormitory. Apparently, a part of his platoon, including himself and Hurd, had been chosen to welcome Retn Names. Their role was to properly welcome and show him, and his army, which part of the summit they were to place themselves in.
Not such a challenging task, after all the company next to theirs, had fared much worse; It was up to them to bring all the dwarven-made weapons sent by the Erdroloth Empire, which arrived at that morning at the landing port and had to be moved to all the encampments.
Hurd flanked him "There you are! Ready to welcome an old man with an army of molten-assed automatons?" his change of mood had been remarkable after getting confirmation from Leind about Akser's news.
While stretching he replied "As usual, ready to do something meaningful. How soon should they arrive?"
"According to the calculations of the coachmen who stayed here, in a few hours. I suggest picking a rock, making yourself comfortable, and waiting for their arrival" with a hint of irony he added, "maybe in this little interval you will finally be able to grow two hairs on your face."
Leind smilingly replied more than quickly "Aah but I wouldn't want to take the credit away from you for being the hairiest soldier in the platoon. Anyway, I happen to have brought a deck of cards here with me, would you like a game of Perd old man?"
Hurd's complicit grin was enough to give the confirmation he was looking for, so Leind quickly drew the deck and began to shuffle.
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"Monarch takes over Regent and Great Counselor. And I won this one too! You owe me quite a bit of money, my friend."
"Hey wait! And who said there was money involved, you thief?"
"Since when haven't we used our salar-
A gust of wind sent all the cards into the air, which Hurd hastened to catch on the fly and put in his pockets, Leind interrupted his speech shortly afterward and imitated him. Before long the deck of cards was rescued from the rising wind and secluded in their pockets.
Although neither of them had yet been warned by those in charge, it was impossible to get confused; the air was too full of Essence to dismiss it.
The chariot with reinforcements from Sanctum had arrived.
Just one silver albatross landed near the planned location behind a wagon very different from the one Leind had taken a few weeks earlier. The main differences were in size and ornaments. It was significantly smaller and ruby red in color with gold trim. It definitely looked like a more elegant chariot, surely dedicated to important people and not to 'mere' soldiers like himself.
Three individuals dismounted from the chariot, from the way they walked and dressed one could tell they were big shots of the Sanctum royal family.
Of the three figures, the central one showed little more than twenty cycles of age and was probably one of the most handsome young men Leind had ever seen. The boy silhouetted before him as a well-placed figure with amber skin, dark ash-colored hair tied back by a golden lace, and brown eyes embellished with scarlet highlights. At his chest was an armor rich with carvings and decorations while his arms and legs were covered with long bracelets formed from complex intricacies of black stone, probably volcanic, and gold. A tight-fitting fabric covered all of his body, the material seemed elastic and very durable.
On the right stood a man in his 60s, with lighter skin, eyes too half-closed to see their color, and graying hair. He was wearing a suit that looked almost ceremonial with long designs that adorned the sides.
Finally, on the left was a woman, probably about the same age as the man on the right, with black hair and a few strands of white in between, dressed much like the older man, if not for the darker colors.
Leind could not help but think how these people treated themselves much better than most Ksaminian nobles.
Still...the more he looked at the trio, the more something did not add up. Retn Names had to be over a hundred years old and there was no ritual or magic, to Leind's knowledge at least, capable of making individuals so young. Moreover, the youngest of the trio seemed the most important, likely he was one of the royal family... Had it been a case of misinformation and a younger member of the family had been sent instead of Retn Names?
The young boy advanced and bowed his head slightly to the waiting platoon.
"Theramien Siem, I am Prince Retn Names, third son of Empress Umbra Shaerpen Names IV," his voice was light but at the same time firm. "and with me are my two trusted personal advisers, Shura Nexa and Selonia Lordel"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The two on either side bowed slightly as the prince pronounced their names.
Leind was shocked, that boy was actually a man over a hundred and twenty years old. He could understand, and with no little difficulty, if a sixty-year-old-looking man had said such a thing, but that boy?
It was absurd, perhaps it was a perfect illusion to appear with a younger body. But as far as he knew, a path of the Fog was needed, and it was reported from the texts that Retn made use of casting and explosions of the earth in combat, surely not present in cultivation magic as particular as the Fog one. Maybe one of the two sorcerers at his side was doing that...Still, a trace should have been visible and from what he saw, that was Retn Names true body.
Hurd himself, like the entire platoon, was speechless at those words.
Sure he'll be the oldest mister you'll meet in your life, but as soon as you'll see the landing you'll understand.
How on earth did Akser know everything?
The fake young man did not seem to mind their doubtful faces and continued, "I trust you have been told which place is reserved for Sanctum and I would be most grateful if you could be of assistance in finding it," accompanying this with a faint smile.
Forcing himself out of his own stupor Leind, after bowing, broke the silence "Welcome to you Prince Retn Names, you honor us with your presence. Obviously, we know where to escort you, but to my knowledge, you were to be accompanied by a large number of elemental automatons, and we thought it only fitting to wait until your entire army was..."
Retn Names interrupted Leind by raising a hand
"Your concern is unfounded. Our army is already here, stored in a safe place, and ready to be deployed at the first sign of battle. For now, we would appreciate being escorted to the part of the camp dedicated to us."
With that decisive sentence, the prince of Sanctum had made it very clear that he wanted to leave no room for further pleasantries but to get straight to the point, which was 'bring me to my camp'.
Leind, if he had to be honest with himself, did not care much about the prince's coldness. He was just happy to have a figure of that caliber fighting alongside him and his comrades.
"Of course, it is not far from Ksamin's camp, please follow me and my comrades."
As they crossed the encampment Leind began to think about Retn Names' sentence.
Our army is already here, stored in a safe place and ready to be deployed at the first sign of battle
But here where? Perhaps in the regal cases, they were carrying?
The report that arrived that morning referred to over a thousand magma automatons. And even if they were shrunken down, how could they fit into such a small space?
He had absolutely no idea but found it amusing to think again of one of Akser's phrases, "you never know enough" as a good justification for his own ignorance.
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After a bit of time passed, they arrived at the determined point, an immense flat clearing.
Leind, halting himself turned toward the royals.
“Prince Retn Names, we have arrived. As you can well see, the clearing is currently empty as we did not know your preferences for lodging but we will be more than happy to build an encampment for you in short order."
Hurd from behind snorted slightly. Leind knew well how he was anything but happy to toil for those nobles from another kingdom. But the orders were clear, support the prince in his every request, and he would make sure that those orders would be carried out without hindrance or failure.
The amber-skinned boy took a few steps forward, observing the clearing for long moments.
"That won't be necessary," he said breaking the silence and, bending down, placed the palm of his right hand on the ground.
Leind would have liked to ask what he was about to do, but he sensed that the prince was concentrating, and, not wanting to disturb him, he waited.
The answer came seconds later as the ground before his very eyes started to move. Piles of clay and earth began to rise, at first seemingly thin and unstable while later growing larger and stronger.
In front of him, walls were rising, alternating with multiple piles of earth. As if the magnitude of what was taking place was not astonishing enough, the ramparts began to take shape, linking together and thickening more and more, until they formed compact walls. All the while other various piles shifted most of their earth upward and downward, soon becoming polished columns to support the vaults that were rapidly forming above.
Before long in front of Leind instead of a clearing of grass and earth stood an encampment that could have been the envy of most of the noble palaces of Ksamin's capital. Leind was speechless and could do nothing but stare like an open-mouthed idiot at Retn Names.
The "young" prince stood up, turned to him, and smiled, with his usual look mixed between superiority and forced politeness"I think that will be enough for us. If you would be so kind as to carry our luggage, we would be grateful."
Having said this he turned his back to enter his creation, but as he remembered one thing he stopped instantly."By this evening two more heirs of the Empress should arrive, with more automatons, to help in the war. Please lead them to me as soon as they set foot on Zagliastrua."And he left Leind, Hurd, and all who had seen what had just taken place staring open-mouthed at the newly established camp.
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"What an asshole with a broom up his ass!" Hurd never held back with insults, and even today during the evening he was in full literal outburst. Grabbing the mug full of Borderat, a typical liquor of the Aedren archipelago, Hurd began draining it until there was nothing left and slammed the empty container on the table which was accompanied by a dull noise. Leind was eating and merely grimaced at Hurd.
An indistinct voice from the table replied curtly "Yes! Screw that royal and whatever gives him the look of a twenty-year-old when he's a soft-assed shrunken old man." the voice was soon followed by many others, all with very similar comments though certainly with a varied vocabulary. Crazy how the same concept could always be expressed with so many variations of insults.
Having swallowed a mouthful of meat Leind decided it was time to chime in and retorted "He may be what you say but you cannot deny the strength he emits and more importantly that he has demonstrated. In a few moments, he erected an encampment of earth and clay that could have housed more than forty people as a size and was so good that it looked like one of the finest palaces ever seen in Ksamin. That is no ordinary sorcerer." he halted in order to take a sip from his Borderat, then continued "Also, I think it is because of him that the Empress sent two other outstanding beings, with corresponding guards, to support us, so I think a silent “thank you” is in order."
The voices had stopped for a moment and now a slightly awkward silence hovered in the air. Perhaps he had ruined his comrades' happy moment but he firmly believed in what he had said and would not have-
"Well said, my friend!" Leind jumped back as Akser sat between him and Hurd. That guy had the ability to move without making a sound and this, besides making Leind very uncomfortable, caused him dismay every time he appeared. Some things are really hard to get used to.
"These royals are shrouded in an air of superiority but they certainly can be justified. I think if we were to put Retn Names on a scale of power, it would be enough to compare him with our General Londse. I am sure that between the two, our old man would have the worst of it, even if it could be a long and arduous duel for the prince. The same cannot be said for the queen's other two heirs. They are certainly strong but both are far inferior to Retn, that's for sure "
Another indistinct voice chuckled in response, "If the general heard you, he'd kick your fucking ass right now, you know that?"
"And why should he? The strongs respect and recognize other strong beings. Especially a man like Londse knows well who and who is not in his league. But what do you know about that? You are not even worth as much as a fart of his" accompanied by the laughter of the table Akser imitated Hurd's gesture and lifted the mug completely draining it.
If it was true that the more the days passed the closer the decisive moment came, it was also true that lately, Leind felt more at peace with himself. Maybe he had accepted his fate, maybe he was just feeling calmer after the few events of those last two days, maybe having all those people so similar near him at that moment gave him strength or maybe it was simply those things together, why not.
The evening continued amid shouting, drinking and strength challenges, and more. They knew well that these moments could be their last and were determined to make them as enjoyable as possible.
Thus another four days passed between new troop arrivals, training sessions, and evenings with friends.