Prelude to Battles Part 1


Az thought to himself. The officers were gone now, off with their orders after leaving Bristugo on the way to Dalimond. General Escasia was with her legion heading to the last suspected location of Laslo QuickFingers south of Bristugo. Az wished she could be here with him in Dalimond.

Getting to the cliff by the bay near the little tower had not been easy, with so many civilians watching his every move. This was the one spot of quiet he had left to himself. He looked at his feet. He would never get used to invisible stone. The great stone walls and ramparts were finished. The six hundred year project was finally done, though it was probably older, according to a couple of discreet scholars. The grand wall followed the diagrams for Dalimond city proper in Ashlander's personal diary, but which he had never started. The Gnomish machines, weapons and rails had been added on in the last twenty-seven years enabling disappearing catapults and their larger cousins the trebuchets. In the grand wall there were also apartments for the military, hospitals, munitions, and areas for massive troop movements with their own portals. Behind the grand wall were the great dwarven pillars higher than the wall but instead of fire on top there were huge gnomish devices. Infrequent towers rose above the wall, as where designed inFeladan but more massive. The wall were twenty two meters high and ten meters wide except in some places where it was thicker. There was a massive fortification at the bay entrance, with a huge raisable stone gate, as well as large fortified entry points. Unknown was the two metersprotuberances from the wall to the outside, which according to the gnomes just simply appeared ten years ago. The center of the bay held the greatest of secrets: An assortment of aerial vehicles with components and weapons never before seen. There was something else. Something unimaginable. It was there, and all agreed, but none knew above and around them. Strange things had been happening in the bay for centuries, but no one spoke of them, for fear of ridicule. Their quiet conversation always ended with hex signs drawn in the air.

He was furious with the course of the events this night and for the last thirty years. Only twenty more years and he could have exterminated the WA in a single week with a preemptive attack with these same strategies, tactics and weapon systems. ALL preparations were thrown away now, out of necessity. His hands trembled and right eye twitched.

Taking a deep breath he focused.

Down below Az could see with his spyglass, Fiendish General Clovis with his body guards, three Fiendish Master Class Blood mages at the town center. Slowly his head of security Colonel Vladockt forced the four individuals into a ever tightening noose over the last two and a half hours. Az grinned in admiration. Vladockt was a fiendish murderer out of Kirasanct. He formerly had been in the Imperial Kirasanct Guard. He was one hundred and fifty years old. He was a genius with a eidetic memory as well. He had been in charge of counter espionage, and a host of nefarious black ops out of Kirasanct. Originally a temple assassin, he had a history of unnecessary and unsanctioned kills to perfect his technique. He had gotten himself imprisoned in one of the secret Imperial bunkers, dedicated to the most dangerous criminals in all of Istaria. He had refused to become a Blood mage for the goddess of vengeance, saying it was far too limiting for anyone of true professionalism. Many said the goddess of vengeance was afraid of him, and that was why she allowed him to be captured, so his threat to that sacred city was neutralized.

Vladockt was a force like no other. Not less than forty-three free assassination requests, from the illegal guild of killers, had been brought to his attention. Supposedly Vladockt had killed two of their Guild Masters for practice. Vladockt was merciless, vicious and absolutely loyal.

Az turned his spyglass to the name of his pain, the Kirasanct general in charge of Imperial Kirasanct troops in the lands of the snow. General Clovis was a traitor. He had been watched by more than one department out of Tazoon for the last thirty years. He had the connections to squelch anything that could be done about him. Scuttlebutt rumors had indicated that he owned at least forty percent of the Imperial judiciary.

Vladockt had proven it. Since then he had verified two hundred and thirty-eight counts of treason, with seventy-eight counts not requiring a court. General Clovis had set back his plans for twenty to forty years, due to his incessant blatant inquiries. His spying for the Withered Aegis had prevented a winnable one week war. The total extermination of the WA was no longer an option. Since he had come to Dalimond after his demotion, it had been far easier to avoid him while Vladockt tracked, recorded and did his planning on what to do about him. The general's network had been deep, large and encompassing.

Vladockt had been impressed by Clovis for a while. Over a thousand people reported to him. This network had enabled him to buy slaves for the Withered Aegis armies, and find secrets in the Tazoon bureaucracy for blackmail and extortion. Military secrets were his biggest endeavor, for sale to the WA. The WA had turned him from his loyalties decades ago. Vladockt's final report had estimated on the conservative side of over twenty-five thousand deaths, mostly of innocent civilians. Vladockt had proven four thousand of them, all tied directly to Clovis. The time for his termination had arrived. The straw that broke Az's back, and necessitated this route, was the murder with his sycophant, the city magistrate, to eliminate the High Priestess of the Temple of the Goddess of Vengeance, deep below Kirasanct. Once the successful murder was carried out, then the magistrate, now high priest, bullied the Supreme Commander to send five legions of Imperial troops to defend Kirasanct. Once they arrived, he bespelled them and placed them under a geas. He left them naked outside the walls, freezing to death to be a “blood sacrifice” to the dark goddess, when the WA arrived. The idiot goddess had fallen for it. She had obliviously not been paying more attention to those under her own roof. Complacency was a terrible crime.

Now Tazoon had approximately three hundred and fifty troops with over one hundred thousand enemy combatants on the way, led by three of the great dark lords. Indication of a force of ten thousand hovering on the borders of the observatory with a lesser great power, twenty thousand on the border of the Cauldron and fifty thousand at the edge of the Dead Pool, also led by more lesser or great powers. An emergency civilian and military response was not enough. Only a declaration of war would legally place the imperial troops, with the authority of a war time standing, and that standing's available resources.

Az took out his tell stone and called Supreme Commander Leaf. “Supreme Commander Leaf?”

“Yes Supreme Commander Az?” she answered.

“We have a full blown war now instigated by the WA. We need only verify what is going to come out of the gate at the Eastern Outpost. The Magistrate of Kirasanct, acting under the orders of General Clovis, has your five legions of Tazoon Imperial troops bespelled. They are under a geas, stripped naked freezing outside their walls, waiting for an attack by unknown enemy forces, to be killed as a sacrificial offering for the dark goddess. General Clovis is here trying to spy again, is a traitor and I have proof of it here in Dalimond. Our few troops are spread out with little to no resources. I have a plan, but now will need additional resources to carry it fully out.”

“NO!”

“No what?”

“I refuse to declare war. It would be illegal as the WA has not declared war on us. There is no full council to make such a declaration, and no King to declare one unilaterally, to ask for assistance to protect his race, which would force our hand. Are you such an idiot that you have forgotten the basic tenants of Imperial treaty law??!! By the way, Clovis would never do such a thing, and neither would the Kirasanct magistrate. I have known them for more decades than you have been alive, and trust them both. So you are either ignorant, not properly informed by your criminal band of villainous individuals, or suffering from those human problems that affect the mind after so many years. You are above thirty years old. You are on your own. I am going to press charges on you for stealing my Seal of Office seven years ago. So make sure you get a lawyer. I am very busy getting these portals taken care off for military and civilian use. I think this is all a ruse on your part to seal me into a deep bunker so that you can take over the empire. You are a liar. I am a princess. You are a commoner. Good bye and good riddance.” The princess terminated the call.

Az made the second call to the Gifted Lunus dragon who wasalways with Malicore another legendary gifted warrior, “Mordel are you there?”

“Certainly Supreme Commander. Malicore is with me. We are having an ale at Aughundell watching all the dorfs go running around. We are not exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing. General Granite Fist has not been available for orders. There is a rumor of a forces coming out of Old Rachival heading here. Is there any thing we can do for you?”

“Did you hand out and drop all those little scrolls I gave you for Kirasanct?”

“Yes, we finished that about thirty minutes ago. It caused quite a fervor.”

“Did you see the imperial solders?. Did you happen to get visual proof of their existence there?”

“Are you kidding? We had those dark wizards trying fry us with their various spells and what not.”

“There have been complications. We must have proof for their existence outside those walls, or we cannot save them to fight for Tazoon. Do you understand why they were there? They were requested by the magistrate and general to reinforce Kirasanct for help for the hordes coming there. The Supreme Commander Leaf did not know they were to be used for a nice sacrificial offering to the dark goddess. They were able to do this after they murdered the chosen high priestess. The magistrate is the sycophant of Clovis. Clovis is a traitor in the employ of the WA. It is a long story. I need you to trust me.”

Mordel paused, shocked and appalled. Az never lied about anything, as he considered a lie a waste of time. Mordel thought that he really wanted to be there when Az finally did lie.

“Is this going to be really dangerous, really important, and going to get us a lot of enemies?”

“Oh yes, yes, and absolutely Yes.”

“Let me ask Malicore as we are a team”

AZ could hear the cadence of a argument going on.

“What is the payment for this little escapade?”

“The nefarious glory of fly by snatch and grab of a high ranking Kirasanct official and thumbing your noses at the defenses, while you get surveillance on the Imperial Soldiers. Their goddess is going to be furious, especially after she interrogates him and his friend. If you will do the other missions I will ask of you, risking your lives and skins again, you will become heroes to every other race in the lands besides us. The Fiends will of course hate yourguts. So food and drink for the rest of your unnatural lives, whenever you are at Dalimond”.

“So about the snatch and grab...”

“Grab the magistrate, take him out of the city limits, above the clouds and drop him on my command. You will need to be able to carry Malicore on your back and hold the magistrate in you taloned paw for up to an hour.”

“Why?”

“If he can sprout wings and fly like he claims to be able to do, we got big problems. If he goes splat, then I need to know if he resurrects himself. If he is gifted, we will have even bigger problems. I am not sure exactly when I will be able to give that order, but no more than an hour.



“Will you do it?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you Mordel.”

“There is no reason to thank us. We are being paid and I am very bored. Goodbye.”

Lifting the tell stone again Az called, “General Granite Fist.”

“Yes?”

“Are you by yourself?”

“You must be joking. In this bunker?”

“Very well then. You would have heard my conversation with the Supreme Commander. You will remain calm and keep an impassive face. There is a plan. General Granite Fist, I am hereby resigning my post as Supreme Commander of all Istarian Military Forces. As second in command, you will, of course, take my position. You will inform Princess Leaf. You and your twelve advisers will come immediately forthwith to Dalimond, to begin your duties. For us to survive this night, I must take up other sundry obligations. The enemy is unloading out of Old Rachival. You know where they will be going.”

“Of course I know. Are you alright Az?”

“No I am not. I am furious. I have a full picture now, and it is disastrous.”

“After this call take a moment. You should rant, rave scream and curse. I have noticed that humans think far more clearly after doing this . If you remain as you are, we will fail. I am quite aware of what others have done to us, and its results. Since General Clovis is in Dalimond, he is your responsibility. Good luck to us both Az.”

Citizen Az put the tell stone in his pocket absently thinking. The events so far tonight had been horrific and overwhelming. Shaking his head he cursed stamping his foot. There just had to be a traitor. There just had to be a bad apple in the barrel. He clenched his fists tightly in fury screaming in near mindless rage. The howl of his outrage for the first time echoed throughout the bay bouncing off unseen walls overshadowing the noise and confusion in the human city.

All grew quiet. The blue tattooed Wardogs, stood at attention clapping their fists on their chests in salute. They knew that fury, outrage and hate. It belonged to them and their Master Az.

The Fiendish, master class body guards, stiffened and immediately took a triangular defensive stand around their client, Fiendish General Clovis. General Clovis shivered behind them in their circle of protection. He could not help but to shudder at that howl, like the forgotten creatures of darkness hunting with a feverish need of blood and violence.

Clovis whispered to the trio,” Remember your contract!” Getting no verbal response, he screamed it, clutching at the lead of the trio of master class blood mages. She shrugged off his hand grunting in disgust.

The Dogs of War had already reacted to their movement, with the established pattern ordered by Colonel Vladockt for this particular mission. The pattern of total encirclement by crossbowmen keeling between long spear men. Behind the kneeling men, stood longbowmen. The longbowmen pointed their arrows waist down. The crossbowmen aimed waist up. The spear men would center their thrusts at the midsection. In a circle around them, and placed on building tops, were various casters and additional longbowmen of different schools. All their orders were clear. Only fire/aim at the blood mages, and only after a spell was indicated as being launched. Each had been trained to hold their positions for over an hour without movement or noise. All had been trained in the minutiae of facial/muscular movement of blood mages and other types of casters. In the case of master class blood mages, the blue tattooed Wardogs knew the secret language of heart beats, blood circulation, as well as changes of blood pressure in various parts of the body. With total control of their own bodies and blood, a master class bloodmage could hear, interpret and send messages in total silence in the middle of a crowd up to three meters.

The lead blood mage realized something was very wrong. She recounted their movements. They had been trapped. The foolish coward behind, them kept screaming at all the civilians and Wardogs, that they could not do this or that or whatever. As if his rank made any difference at all to these humans. These were not stupid, untrained barbarians. The surrounding soldiers were calm, their hearts a slow regular rhythm. None of those bolts or arrows or spears were aimed at their client. She realized suddenly that they were aimed at them. The General had lied. There was nothing in their contract for offensive combat, life and death, hazard pay, death benefits to families, beneficiaries, death rite fees to the temple for burial or the final tithe to the Dark Goddess of Vengeance.

They had been played by a miserly little ***. If any of them lived the Guild Master would have to be informed. This was actionable treason in Kirasanct. The soldiers around them were professional killers, with training far beyond the norm of imperial soldiers. Any movement of any of theirs resulted in the creaking of knuckle bones, creaking of bows or more gestures from the further out casters. Only one individual could produce such killers and trap master class killers that they were as bodyguards and that one had been in prison for over fifty years.

By happenstance she looked up. There he was, Vladtockt The Lord Of Death, First Assassin in the dark goddess's temple. Sweat began to bead down her spine for the first time in her life. She could not speak up. She could not move. She and her sister blood mages would die in place as their contracts required—for a traitor.

Hard, flat stares met icy cold grins, and dead eyes. The great pack of the Dogs of War waited hungrily and patiently for the kill. The stage was set. The die was cast.