City of No End by Nathan Karnes

Author:Nathan Karnes [Karnes, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

26 - Decisive Action

“To the courteous Avitus Arkentek -

Your conversation and suggestions at our recent meeting intrigued me. I find your company quite enjoyable, and your offers worth considering. I invite you to call on me at my family’s home at your nearest convenience, so we may discuss further business.”

-Yene Norn, Letter to Avitus Arkentek, 500.3.4.

The mood in the command crawler was truly pitiable. Davion Redmond had seldom seen such demoralization, even in the aftermath of battle. No battle had been fought today, but Fraedrik Leibowitz, Liber Djevak, and their assembled officers glowered at the floor and each other with equal parts rage and dejection. They had lost. That was the silent consensus. They had lost without ever really facing the enemy.

It had only taken around twenty seconds of dead silence for that sense of defeat to permeate the room. They had yet to discuss it. The head of Djevak’s scouts, a burly, tattooed mutant, still stood there at attention, seemingly oblivious to the fallout of his report.

“Thank you, Captain Dauber,” Liber Djevak said, finally breaking the silence. “I do not believe we have any further questions. You are dismissed.” The mutant saluted and left the room.

“The bastard denna even exaggerate,” Davion grumbled. He remembered well the threats and boasting of their mutant prisoner, and the unbelievable numbers he had claimed his master commanded. Most of the allied Electors had dismissed it all as bravado, but it had made Davion uneasy, and now he knew why. It was because it was absolutely sincere.

Odham sat straight-backed, the only person in the room apparently unfazed. “Your spies must be mistaken, Liber,” he said coolly. “The bands of marauding nomads you informed us of could never raise such a force.” He fixed the Lord of Secrets with a hard stare. “Or is it possible you completely misled us about the kind of threat we came here to fight?”

“That is quite the accusation,” Liber said, avoiding the older man’s gaze with a pretense of scanning the room. “I have no motivation to do any such thing. I perceived a threat to my demesne, and acted. Why would I sabotage myself? My information was faulty, that much I am forced to admit. I never deliberately misled anyone, nor did I withhold any facts. What is clear is that we are now facing a far greater threat than any previously guessed. We were right to find the ravings of a barbarian incredible, but my scouts cannot be mistaken about what they have seen with their own eyes. We Marshers haven’t ventured this far into the Lowlands in over a hundred years. How were we to know a threat of this magnitude had arisen in that time?”

“A hundred thousand spears,” Davion quoted. “Except now we know there’s bows, axes, and mebbe rifles in the mix, all nice. Ye wonder how that could’ve come up in this time without yer notice, aye; I’m wondering the same thing. What’ve you lot been doing out here in the Marsh if not keeping a weather eye for teeming hordes of heathens?”

Liber frowned.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.