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Into the Icy Darkness II: The Next Generation
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1705790" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>“Now, how did they make this work?” Vintressa said an hour later. A warmth flooded her body, radiating from the ruby orb in her hand. <em>It already feels warm.</em> Her heart had slowed, once it became apparent Val was okay. As for Royukgan, she hadn’t seen him, but the clerics had assured her the worst had past. “You said it started to make... soldiers?” She looked at her tired looking friend.</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, they were forming until Ananias vanished,” Raven mumbled back. Her eyes were no longer strained, as the tenseness in her chest was long gone. “He mumbled something, I couldn’t hear what he said clearly, and I couldn’t make it out on his lips.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, you aren’t the best lip reader,” Vin replied, before looking back at the stone. <em>Now that we have this thing... how do we use it? Do we WANT to use it?</em> “What language was it? Could you tell?” <em>I can’t use my magical sight on this thing... I think my eyes would burn.</em> Her regular eyes could easily see the air around the stone shimmering from the magical power within.</p><p></p><p>“None that I know... it sounded harsh, and had lots of growls I think,” Raven tried desperately to remember, only to have her mind draw a blank. “Maybe it was the language of the drow? Or... maybe it was a demon tongue. Ananias gave up his life to be a demon, right?”</p><p></p><p>“Umhm...” <em>If it requires demonic speech to use the power of this stone, I’m not so sure we should keep it.</em> Vin finally set the orb down on the ground, sitting down next to it, thinking as the warm feeling left her body. <em>Do we want to use this? If it makes soldiers, we could defend Iskeldrun... but how would I tell them what to do? Are the soldiers illusions?</em> Vin asked Raven the questions on her mind.</p><p></p><p>“I... don’t really know,” Raven said thoughtfully. “They were almost materialized when Ananias killed off the drow, and they melted away once he died,” she shrugged. Vin then looked up towards the five most senior court wizards, who were all busy staring at the stone in puzzlement.</p><p></p><p>“Master Aeron, can you tell me anything more about this thing?”</p><p></p><p>“Other than its magic is powerful, deep, and has been touched by evil, no,” the Chief Court Mage sighed. “I would not advise Your Highness to be in contact with it for too long... we do not know what effects it could have on the body.”</p><p></p><p>“It did not affect Val in an ill way,” Vin replied, picking the stone up again, and feeling the warmth fill her body again. “It... might be useful in defending the city. It makes soldiers, Raven has told us that. What we need to do is figure out <em>how</em>.” The Princess then turned to Avaril, the officer having changed into the more formal silver plated armor of the Household Guard. “How long do we have before Lord Erelion’s hosts arrive?”</p><p></p><p>“Perhaps two days. His vanguard marches through the villages of Thorpe and Genays as we speak,” he replied. “What does Your Highness intend? As things are, we cannot stand with them in an open battle.”</p><p></p><p>“I fear it will have to be an open battle. We cannot abandon the souls inside these walls without one,” Vin said slowly, her mind returning to the images of a conquering army inside the walls. She gave a mental shudder. “I am their Princess, I have been charged with defending them.”</p><p></p><p>Avaril’s eyes looked into the Princess’ briefly, and Vin could tell he was trying to judge her resolve. After a moment, the armor-clad man gave a bow of deference. “As you command, Your Highness.”</p><p></p><p>“Aeron... you are a master of languages as well as magic. What are some common command words in the Demonic tongue?” Vin asked pointedly. <em>I don’t like this thing either... but I don’t see any other way. If it can help us hold off Erelion long enough we can evacuate the city...</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“<em>Nik’Tados Mil’Farghan!</em>” Vintressa snapped, watching the five apparitions form into a line. While her heart trembled as if she had seen a ghost, the five were clearly not phantasmal. They were clad in heavy chain hauberks, the metal being dyed a deep, rusty red. Their shields were blank, the same red coloring that steel. Each carried what looked to be a well made longsword, and their helms were closed-faced, the steel flowing in feather shapes to completely cover their heads. No single part of their body was uncovered by armor or tunic, so it was impossible to see what was underneath.</p><p></p><p>“Highness, I am not sure if this is wise,” she heard Aeron’s voice repeat, echoing off the walls of the plaza inside the palace. It had taken two hours of guessing to find the command words to make soldiers form. And instead of hundreds, Vintressa created five. It had taken even more guessing to find the ways to get the five to do simple things such as walk forward, move back, and draw their weapons.</p><p></p><p> Vintressa shot him a defiant look. <em>I got all of us in this mess... and now I will get all of us out! Val is down, Royukgan is down! I have to defend them!</em> her eyes blazed. She heard another voice... this time of her father, coming into her head. </p><p></p><p><em>Sometimes, in order to save an angel, once must be willing to dance with a devil,</em> he’d told her long ago after a particularly raucous Council meeting.</p><p></p><p>“It’s better than the alternative,” she said simply. “Now that I know ‘forward,’ ‘back,’ ‘draw swords,’ and ‘form line,’ we have at least the basics for a battlefield command.” <em>Its all I’ll need, hopefully,</em> she hoped, her mind still sorting together parts of a plan.</p><p></p><p>“Val is the one that I can see in combat command,” Vin heard Raven say simply, and she turned to look at her friend. Raven’s eyes were a little wide in disbelief at her friend’s change of tack. “You never go onto something without a plan, Vin. What are you thinking of doing?”</p><p></p><p><em>I did once go without a plan... and it got us in this mess,</em> Vin’s mind thought darkly. <em>Not anymore.</em> “If we can convince Lord Erelion that there is a far larger army here than he expects, he might pause... hopefully giving mother and father time to catch up.”</p><p></p><p>“Highness, no one knows the location of your parents or their forces,” Aeron jumped in, prophesizing more doom. “Perhaps your Majesty would be inclined to send out a message by raven or carrier pigeon. Just in case they do not know of our predicament.”</p><p></p><p>Vin ruffled slightly at that suggestion. <em>My parents are excellent commanders! Of course they will come!</em> She knew if Val was beside her he would say some comment about uncertainties of war... one she knew she would have to agree with. “Yes.. of course,” she replied. </p><p></p><p>That seemed to set the Court Mage a little more at ease, and he quickly bowed and left to make the arrangements. As he left, Raven walked up to the red soldiers, smacking the helm of one with the flat of her palm. She backed away, wincing as she held her hand. </p><p></p><p>“Real steel,” she said simply. She wiggled the hurt limb back and forth for a bit , mouthing her pain, and then looked to Vintressa. “So... you are going to make an army of these, to fight the real army of Erelion? How many?”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know.” Her mind wrestled with the problem of how to <em>control</em> these things once they were made... and there wasn’t time to go piddling through records in the Imperial Library or dash back to the Temples in Kulloden. She still didn’t know how to make the soldiers go away... <em>And if I control these beasts wrong...</em> Images filled her mind of the raping of Iskeldrun, now at the hands of red-helmed warriors with no faces.</p><p></p><p>“Maybe make some and keep them as a backup?” Raven offered, her voice rising in naive hopefulness. “Or not use them at all... considering we only know the barest ways to use it?” Vintressa’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she ran her hand over the ruby orb now in a pocket of her cloak.</p><p></p><p>“I’m thinking we only need the barest ways to use it,” Vin said hopefully. She had an idea, more and more parts of a plan falling in place in her mind. “Come with me, I need to go check my mother’s chambers.”</p><p></p><p>“What for?”</p><p></p><p>“A certain suit of armor,” Vintressa smiled, stories of old forming in her head. “Armor of the person Lord Erelion fears most.”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Vin?” Valaron said weakly. The Prince sat up, wincing as he did so, but that movement alone was far more than he would have been able to accomplish only a few hours before. His eyes wide in wonder was a far larger reaction than he would’ve given then also. Of course Raven assisted him with the former... her eyes had already done the later a few minutes before.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, its your sister!” Raven cried proudly, looking at the apparition that now loomed in the doorway to Valaron’s chambers. “Come on, Vin!” Raven waved her friend forward.</p><p></p><p>Uncertainly, the Crown Princess clunked into Val’s room, each step seeming to take an eternity. She wore an elegantly carved steel breastplate, dyed red with gilt, plate armor colored the same covering the rest of her body. Her shoulder guards were made of dragonscale, bending upwards to form vicious looking spikes that jutted from her body. A long sable cloak fringed in gold was clasped around her neck by a brooch of crossed swords, while her head bore a blood red helm, the massive, beautiful form of a dragon cast in shining bronze as its crest.</p><p></p><p>Her head wandered about slowly and uncertainly, the massive helm and crest undoubtedly weighing down on her head. At her hip hung a katana and washazaki... two weapons she was not familiar with at all.</p><p></p><p>“How do I look?” Vin’s muffled voice came through the closed helm.</p><p></p><p>Val’s eyes were still wide. <em>Inside that thing... her voice even sounds like mom’s...</em> “Um... terrifying would be a good word,” he said, awed. “Isn’t that the armor...”</p><p></p><p>“That scared off the last Erelion revolt?” the muffled voice finished. “Yes. Which is why I wore it. If I can make this Lord Erelion think the Empress opposes him, maybe he’ll run just like his brother did!”</p><p></p><p>“His brother didn’t run... his soldiers ran. The ArchDuke fought like a lion till he was surrounded and brought down,” Val corrected.</p><p></p><p>“Same difference,” Vintressa tried to wave her hand, and gave a grunt on trying to raise the limb. She gave up after a few seconds.</p><p></p><p>“You know in that mess you aren’t going to be able to do any magic of any kind,” Raven said, walking over to her friend and taking the helm off the young girl’s face. “And from your attempt right there, I don’t think you’ll be able to swing that huge sword there.”</p><p></p><p>“I know,” Vin replied, breathing hard as her body drank in fresh air. “I’m not going to be tilting in this outfit! Just sitting there, looking imposing!”</p><p></p><p>“What if they call your bluff?” Val asked. It was not with a voice of contempt, but concern. “They’ll still outnumber you, and sis... you don’t know how to wear armor like that!”</p><p></p><p>“See, that’s where Ari comes in,” Vintressa replied. “As well as the Fire Stone... and our hurried marching.”</p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Milord Manse! I do hope you are feeling much better today!” </p><p></p><p>Albrecht Manse gave a nod, as his hand reflexively grabbed the shoulder in question. A dull remnant of pain still ebbed there, but now he could move his shoulder almost as if nothing had happened. <em>Thank Tarantor and His priests.</em></p><p></p><p>“Albrecht, you know the drill. One of the servants will have your spiced wine along shortly,” Baron Valdemar Erelion smiled, patting Manse lightly on the back before returning to his other guests... the gathered lords and bannermen of two thirds of his forces... nearly fifty thousand horse and mercenaries, and some thirty thousand peasant levies.</p><p></p><p>“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Manse smiled in return at the new title Erelion had given himself. As his liege lord turned away, Manse had a second to look at the crown he now sported on his head... an iron circlet with seven gold swords rising ‘round his head.</p><p></p><p><em>Iron to show his resolve, swords to show his means, and gold to show his blessings,</em> Manse repeated the words of the Tarantor cleric that had crowned him the day before. <em>Emperor Valdemar the First, Lord of Erelia, Prince of Comnitas, Keeper of the Northern Marches...</em> </p><p></p><p>Manse then felt along his head for the small circlet there as well. His was brass, not iron or gold, and no swords or any other markers rose from its ring. It was simple, all Manse desired for his ‘raising’ to a Barony. As he looked about, all the other nobles had similar circlets on their heads as well... Emperor Valdemar had announced every noble backing him was to recieve an raise in rank, and more lands. Manse managed to track down an unoccupied servant, and quickly had a goblet of spiced wine in his hands before Erelion could rise at the front.</p><p></p><p>“Milords... those of us who rise to defend the honor of our Empire by defending its rightful heirs,” he spoke clearly, above the noise of over a hundred nobles rising out of their seats in the massive central tent. “We sit tonight barely one day’s march from the rightful hall where this morning’s ceremonies should have taken place. And, I have just recieved word...” he paused, before beaming brightly, “that Lord Hyppyn’s columns have engaged the Imperial armies at Thuyciden!”</p><p></p><p>A loud roar of approval came from all the barons, their eyes glinting with the idea that Iskeldrun was ripe for the taking, even as Manse’s own smile slipped away. Manse knew the full content of the message strapped to a raven’s leg that had come only an hour earlier. Hyppyn had indeed engaged Imperial troops... a heavy column that included Imperial Guards and heavy horse. But he could not verify if he faced <em>all</em> the Imperial armies, or only one. </p><p></p><p>And Manse wouldn’t rest easily until <em>all</em> the Imperial columns were accounted for. Even if Hyppyn indeed was battling and pinning down the Emperor and the Empress, there was another column out there... the one that ambushed Haldarman and Haldris’ columns only days before... and then vanished.</p><p></p><p><em>We are only one day from Iskeldrun... but we could have an entire Imperial army in our rear!</em> He’d been there, twelve years before, when the Desert Dragon had melted away the first Erelion’s force as if it had been ice stranded under a desert sun. <em>We have thirty thousand levies in our force... if the Dragon is there, we can’t count on them...</em></p><p></p><p>“Sir Manse... or should I say, Baron Manse!?” Bearsans laughed, walking up to him. “Your face is long, yet life is short! What is on your mind?”</p><p></p><p>“I am doing my job as a chief bannerman,” Manse replied. “We know where at most, two Imperial columns are. There’s still another column out there... and I wish I knew where it was at.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1705790, member: 15043"] “Now, how did they make this work?” Vintressa said an hour later. A warmth flooded her body, radiating from the ruby orb in her hand. [i]It already feels warm.[/i] Her heart had slowed, once it became apparent Val was okay. As for Royukgan, she hadn’t seen him, but the clerics had assured her the worst had past. “You said it started to make... soldiers?” She looked at her tired looking friend. “Yeah, they were forming until Ananias vanished,” Raven mumbled back. Her eyes were no longer strained, as the tenseness in her chest was long gone. “He mumbled something, I couldn’t hear what he said clearly, and I couldn’t make it out on his lips.” “Well, you aren’t the best lip reader,” Vin replied, before looking back at the stone. [i]Now that we have this thing... how do we use it? Do we WANT to use it?[/i] “What language was it? Could you tell?” [i]I can’t use my magical sight on this thing... I think my eyes would burn.[/i] Her regular eyes could easily see the air around the stone shimmering from the magical power within. “None that I know... it sounded harsh, and had lots of growls I think,” Raven tried desperately to remember, only to have her mind draw a blank. “Maybe it was the language of the drow? Or... maybe it was a demon tongue. Ananias gave up his life to be a demon, right?” “Umhm...” [i]If it requires demonic speech to use the power of this stone, I’m not so sure we should keep it.[/i] Vin finally set the orb down on the ground, sitting down next to it, thinking as the warm feeling left her body. [i]Do we want to use this? If it makes soldiers, we could defend Iskeldrun... but how would I tell them what to do? Are the soldiers illusions?[/i] Vin asked Raven the questions on her mind. “I... don’t really know,” Raven said thoughtfully. “They were almost materialized when Ananias killed off the drow, and they melted away once he died,” she shrugged. Vin then looked up towards the five most senior court wizards, who were all busy staring at the stone in puzzlement. “Master Aeron, can you tell me anything more about this thing?” “Other than its magic is powerful, deep, and has been touched by evil, no,” the Chief Court Mage sighed. “I would not advise Your Highness to be in contact with it for too long... we do not know what effects it could have on the body.” “It did not affect Val in an ill way,” Vin replied, picking the stone up again, and feeling the warmth fill her body again. “It... might be useful in defending the city. It makes soldiers, Raven has told us that. What we need to do is figure out [i]how[/i].” The Princess then turned to Avaril, the officer having changed into the more formal silver plated armor of the Household Guard. “How long do we have before Lord Erelion’s hosts arrive?” “Perhaps two days. His vanguard marches through the villages of Thorpe and Genays as we speak,” he replied. “What does Your Highness intend? As things are, we cannot stand with them in an open battle.” “I fear it will have to be an open battle. We cannot abandon the souls inside these walls without one,” Vin said slowly, her mind returning to the images of a conquering army inside the walls. She gave a mental shudder. “I am their Princess, I have been charged with defending them.” Avaril’s eyes looked into the Princess’ briefly, and Vin could tell he was trying to judge her resolve. After a moment, the armor-clad man gave a bow of deference. “As you command, Your Highness.” “Aeron... you are a master of languages as well as magic. What are some common command words in the Demonic tongue?” Vin asked pointedly. [i]I don’t like this thing either... but I don’t see any other way. If it can help us hold off Erelion long enough we can evacuate the city...[/i] “[i]Nik’Tados Mil’Farghan![/i]” Vintressa snapped, watching the five apparitions form into a line. While her heart trembled as if she had seen a ghost, the five were clearly not phantasmal. They were clad in heavy chain hauberks, the metal being dyed a deep, rusty red. Their shields were blank, the same red coloring that steel. Each carried what looked to be a well made longsword, and their helms were closed-faced, the steel flowing in feather shapes to completely cover their heads. No single part of their body was uncovered by armor or tunic, so it was impossible to see what was underneath. “Highness, I am not sure if this is wise,” she heard Aeron’s voice repeat, echoing off the walls of the plaza inside the palace. It had taken two hours of guessing to find the command words to make soldiers form. And instead of hundreds, Vintressa created five. It had taken even more guessing to find the ways to get the five to do simple things such as walk forward, move back, and draw their weapons. Vintressa shot him a defiant look. [i]I got all of us in this mess... and now I will get all of us out! Val is down, Royukgan is down! I have to defend them![/i] her eyes blazed. She heard another voice... this time of her father, coming into her head. [i]Sometimes, in order to save an angel, once must be willing to dance with a devil,[/i] he’d told her long ago after a particularly raucous Council meeting. “It’s better than the alternative,” she said simply. “Now that I know ‘forward,’ ‘back,’ ‘draw swords,’ and ‘form line,’ we have at least the basics for a battlefield command.” [i]Its all I’ll need, hopefully,[/i] she hoped, her mind still sorting together parts of a plan. “Val is the one that I can see in combat command,” Vin heard Raven say simply, and she turned to look at her friend. Raven’s eyes were a little wide in disbelief at her friend’s change of tack. “You never go onto something without a plan, Vin. What are you thinking of doing?” [i]I did once go without a plan... and it got us in this mess,[/i] Vin’s mind thought darkly. [i]Not anymore.[/i] “If we can convince Lord Erelion that there is a far larger army here than he expects, he might pause... hopefully giving mother and father time to catch up.” “Highness, no one knows the location of your parents or their forces,” Aeron jumped in, prophesizing more doom. “Perhaps your Majesty would be inclined to send out a message by raven or carrier pigeon. Just in case they do not know of our predicament.” Vin ruffled slightly at that suggestion. [i]My parents are excellent commanders! Of course they will come![/i] She knew if Val was beside her he would say some comment about uncertainties of war... one she knew she would have to agree with. “Yes.. of course,” she replied. That seemed to set the Court Mage a little more at ease, and he quickly bowed and left to make the arrangements. As he left, Raven walked up to the red soldiers, smacking the helm of one with the flat of her palm. She backed away, wincing as she held her hand. “Real steel,” she said simply. She wiggled the hurt limb back and forth for a bit , mouthing her pain, and then looked to Vintressa. “So... you are going to make an army of these, to fight the real army of Erelion? How many?” “I don’t know.” Her mind wrestled with the problem of how to [i]control[/i] these things once they were made... and there wasn’t time to go piddling through records in the Imperial Library or dash back to the Temples in Kulloden. She still didn’t know how to make the soldiers go away... [i]And if I control these beasts wrong...[/i] Images filled her mind of the raping of Iskeldrun, now at the hands of red-helmed warriors with no faces. “Maybe make some and keep them as a backup?” Raven offered, her voice rising in naive hopefulness. “Or not use them at all... considering we only know the barest ways to use it?” Vintressa’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she ran her hand over the ruby orb now in a pocket of her cloak. “I’m thinking we only need the barest ways to use it,” Vin said hopefully. She had an idea, more and more parts of a plan falling in place in her mind. “Come with me, I need to go check my mother’s chambers.” “What for?” “A certain suit of armor,” Vintressa smiled, stories of old forming in her head. “Armor of the person Lord Erelion fears most.” “Vin?” Valaron said weakly. The Prince sat up, wincing as he did so, but that movement alone was far more than he would have been able to accomplish only a few hours before. His eyes wide in wonder was a far larger reaction than he would’ve given then also. Of course Raven assisted him with the former... her eyes had already done the later a few minutes before. “Yes, its your sister!” Raven cried proudly, looking at the apparition that now loomed in the doorway to Valaron’s chambers. “Come on, Vin!” Raven waved her friend forward. Uncertainly, the Crown Princess clunked into Val’s room, each step seeming to take an eternity. She wore an elegantly carved steel breastplate, dyed red with gilt, plate armor colored the same covering the rest of her body. Her shoulder guards were made of dragonscale, bending upwards to form vicious looking spikes that jutted from her body. A long sable cloak fringed in gold was clasped around her neck by a brooch of crossed swords, while her head bore a blood red helm, the massive, beautiful form of a dragon cast in shining bronze as its crest. Her head wandered about slowly and uncertainly, the massive helm and crest undoubtedly weighing down on her head. At her hip hung a katana and washazaki... two weapons she was not familiar with at all. “How do I look?” Vin’s muffled voice came through the closed helm. Val’s eyes were still wide. [i]Inside that thing... her voice even sounds like mom’s...[/i] “Um... terrifying would be a good word,” he said, awed. “Isn’t that the armor...” “That scared off the last Erelion revolt?” the muffled voice finished. “Yes. Which is why I wore it. If I can make this Lord Erelion think the Empress opposes him, maybe he’ll run just like his brother did!” “His brother didn’t run... his soldiers ran. The ArchDuke fought like a lion till he was surrounded and brought down,” Val corrected. “Same difference,” Vintressa tried to wave her hand, and gave a grunt on trying to raise the limb. She gave up after a few seconds. “You know in that mess you aren’t going to be able to do any magic of any kind,” Raven said, walking over to her friend and taking the helm off the young girl’s face. “And from your attempt right there, I don’t think you’ll be able to swing that huge sword there.” “I know,” Vin replied, breathing hard as her body drank in fresh air. “I’m not going to be tilting in this outfit! Just sitting there, looking imposing!” “What if they call your bluff?” Val asked. It was not with a voice of contempt, but concern. “They’ll still outnumber you, and sis... you don’t know how to wear armor like that!” “See, that’s where Ari comes in,” Vintressa replied. “As well as the Fire Stone... and our hurried marching.” “Milord Manse! I do hope you are feeling much better today!” Albrecht Manse gave a nod, as his hand reflexively grabbed the shoulder in question. A dull remnant of pain still ebbed there, but now he could move his shoulder almost as if nothing had happened. [i]Thank Tarantor and His priests.[/i] “Albrecht, you know the drill. One of the servants will have your spiced wine along shortly,” Baron Valdemar Erelion smiled, patting Manse lightly on the back before returning to his other guests... the gathered lords and bannermen of two thirds of his forces... nearly fifty thousand horse and mercenaries, and some thirty thousand peasant levies. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Manse smiled in return at the new title Erelion had given himself. As his liege lord turned away, Manse had a second to look at the crown he now sported on his head... an iron circlet with seven gold swords rising ‘round his head. [i]Iron to show his resolve, swords to show his means, and gold to show his blessings,[/i] Manse repeated the words of the Tarantor cleric that had crowned him the day before. [i]Emperor Valdemar the First, Lord of Erelia, Prince of Comnitas, Keeper of the Northern Marches...[/i] Manse then felt along his head for the small circlet there as well. His was brass, not iron or gold, and no swords or any other markers rose from its ring. It was simple, all Manse desired for his ‘raising’ to a Barony. As he looked about, all the other nobles had similar circlets on their heads as well... Emperor Valdemar had announced every noble backing him was to recieve an raise in rank, and more lands. Manse managed to track down an unoccupied servant, and quickly had a goblet of spiced wine in his hands before Erelion could rise at the front. “Milords... those of us who rise to defend the honor of our Empire by defending its rightful heirs,” he spoke clearly, above the noise of over a hundred nobles rising out of their seats in the massive central tent. “We sit tonight barely one day’s march from the rightful hall where this morning’s ceremonies should have taken place. And, I have just recieved word...” he paused, before beaming brightly, “that Lord Hyppyn’s columns have engaged the Imperial armies at Thuyciden!” A loud roar of approval came from all the barons, their eyes glinting with the idea that Iskeldrun was ripe for the taking, even as Manse’s own smile slipped away. Manse knew the full content of the message strapped to a raven’s leg that had come only an hour earlier. Hyppyn had indeed engaged Imperial troops... a heavy column that included Imperial Guards and heavy horse. But he could not verify if he faced [i]all[/i] the Imperial armies, or only one. And Manse wouldn’t rest easily until [i]all[/i] the Imperial columns were accounted for. Even if Hyppyn indeed was battling and pinning down the Emperor and the Empress, there was another column out there... the one that ambushed Haldarman and Haldris’ columns only days before... and then vanished. [i]We are only one day from Iskeldrun... but we could have an entire Imperial army in our rear![/i] He’d been there, twelve years before, when the Desert Dragon had melted away the first Erelion’s force as if it had been ice stranded under a desert sun. [i]We have thirty thousand levies in our force... if the Dragon is there, we can’t count on them...[/i] “Sir Manse... or should I say, Baron Manse!?” Bearsans laughed, walking up to him. “Your face is long, yet life is short! What is on your mind?” “I am doing my job as a chief bannerman,” Manse replied. “We know where at most, two Imperial columns are. There’s still another column out there... and I wish I knew where it was at.” [/QUOTE]
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