Chapter 33

“John, Kate, Arwen, let’s go,” Roxanne commanded as 24 hours had passed since the destruction of the frequency changing Orb and its backups.

We portalled down to our original encampment to find a totally different world. The struggling jungle was no more, replaced by thick verdant growth to the point where you could hardly tell that this was the place we’d first set foot here. Nor were the sizzling energy streams present or the ozone content.

“No Orcs, none at all,” Arwen eventually stated.

“What of their works?” Roxanne asked.

“Gone, no trace of them at all ... no, hold on, I have several thousand of them held in some kind of stasis,” Arwen stated looking confused. “They just appeared ... from nowhere.”

“Any others than Orcs?” Roxanne asked, frowning a little. “Intelligent life that is.”

“Yes, some sort of insectoid life.”

“Probably the Crach. Looks like the Higher Powers kept some in that mysterious chamber that only you could detect, Kate,” I chuckled.

“Seems likely. Let’s go see if they have anything to say about these mysterious Orcs,” Roxanne agreed.

The vast and hideously ugly city of Ursom was gone; to be replaced by several large, cone-shaped buildings, which, it has to be admitted, weren’t that much better. To the side of them was an impenetrable stasis field with rank upon rank of Orcs, though none of any great status as far as I could tell merely by sight. Nearby though was a Higher Power, its shape insectoid, like the (presumably) restored denizens of Craachan.

‘Greetings Mages and thank you for restoring this world to us, ‘ came a beautifully modulated mental greeting.

“It was our honour and privilege,” Roxanne replied out loud.

‘I present to you these Yr’ch, the remaining survivors of the great cull and who were innocent enough to be capable of rehabilitation.‘

“We thank you. The Power we call Athena will be pleased.”

‘Yes, we have much hope for her in the great tasks ahead. Much of that which was unseen before becomes clearer. A warning though. Do not become complacent. The future can still be written many ways. Still we wish you great fortune in this task you have undertaken.‘

With that, it just blinked out and we found ourselves back in our Loegrian side base, along with the Orcs who were now out of stasis and looking close to panicking.

‘Athena! A little help here!‘ Roxanne sent out urgently.

Within a second, Athena and her handmaids were there, moving amongst the Orcs and calming them as we wondered just what the hell we were to do with them as this planet also held the Akhhlognuisi who were ‘flourishing’ under the care of their new Powers.

“Another world lost to us,” came the harsh tones of Archimandrite Brrnt at a meeting of the Council of Archimandrites.

“The loss of a senior Dastur as well,” Karkol added.

“It is troubling,” Bittern admitted.

“Troubling? Were we not assured by the Most High that this would deal the enemy a blow from which they would struggle to recover?” Brnnt asked rhetorically. “Only it strikes me, revered Archimandrites, that the ones who will struggle from this act of folly will be the Yr’ch and Beog himself.”

“It is my belief and that of the Most High that this enemy were damaged by the word of cleansing,” Bittern hit back.

“This is not what the very few survivors have told us!” Karkol snapped back.

“Indeed not, it appears this enemy were so hurt they managed to compromise the orbital launch system and systematically destroy both our Dastur and the frequency changers leading up to a direct assault on the Orb!” Brnnt stated coldly. “As with Nansack, Craachan is now closed to us, its old gods restored. Nor do we know where this enemy will strike next!”

“You originally suggested cleansing that world, did you not?” Bittern sneered.

“And was rightly chastised by Beog. Where is the chastisement for this failure?”

“You dare! You dare question my wisdom?” came a croaking voice from the darkness at the end of the room.

“24 billion of our people! Another world lost to us! Should I not be questioning?”

Brnnt was immediately bathed in the crackling green light and turned to face the Most High, not affected by the power at all this time, remaining upright and glaring his despite into the hidden face of the Most High.

“I demand an accounting,” he finally demanded. “An accounting from Beog himself!”

The light snapped out.

[SO BE IT!] came a distant, if powerful, voice.

A shape formed at the other end of the table, Yr’ch-like in outline, but clearly from elsewhere.

[WHO SUMMONED ME AND WHY?]

“I did mighty Beog,” Brnnt got out before the Most High. “An accounting is demanded concerning the decisions made by your Most High on Craachan.”

[I FELT THE LOSS OF WORSHIP. A GREAT LOSS INDEED. YOU HAVE GIVEN SUCCOUR TO MY ENEMIES. YOU ARE MY MOST HIGH NO MORE!] the being hissed out pointing a finger at the shape in the shadows which simply collapsed in a gurgling sigh.

“Who will be your next Most High?” Bittern asked into the shocked silence.

[CHOOSE WISELY!] the shape stated before vanishing.

The tension in the room ratcheted up several notches as the assembled Archimandrites began formulating plans for the oncoming bloodbath that normally followed with the choosing of a new Most High.

“Right, we have the new Orc ... converts settled on the opposite side of this globe from the Akhhlognuisi. Athena is going to be a bit busy for a while feeding and educating them,” Roxanne announced at a group meeting almost a week later. “I expect the rest of you to keep helping with Kyra’s treasure trove until it’s all catalogued.”

“Yes, Mage Roxanne,” came a few unhappy replies as Kyra had gone a bit berserk in pulling masses of items from the storage at the old Orc base during the panic caused by our firing rocks from orbit at various Orc installations.

“Mission parameters are changing. I believe we now have a pretty good grasp of Orc society, at least on their outer worlds. Our mission now is to seek out methods to undermine it and push them off those worlds and restore them to the original owners. From what I can tell, this will give Athena more converts and increase her power until we can finally get to a stage where she can kick Beog’s arse.”

“Mage Roxanne, you realise we’re talking billions of intelligent beings here,” Mage Xi interjected.

“Aye, I know, but sooner or later they’ll start expanding again and we can’t have that. Best to do it now and have a chance than be forced into it when we don’t stand one.”

“Not likely we can force them into doing it to themselves in the future either,” I added.

“You’re right, John. They’d have to be insane to try that again. Thank God for the Null shield for protecting our encampment on Craachan.”

“Yes, it could have been worse,” I replied, glancing over at the Drow contingent. “Again, my regrets, my friends.”

“It was unfortunate. We Fae are oft times reluctant to use Null as it distorts our senses and gives us nausea,” Talshish replied for them.

“This is true, friend John,” Lenna added. “They may have hesitated and it cost them.”

“We barely managed ourselves,” Alice spoke into the silence. “The urge to just simply die was almost overwhelming during the first second.”

“Just glad most of our active teams were working at the Orc base,” Roxanne nodded.

“Yes, we had over sixty of our people planetside, yet only lost four Drow,” I agreed sombrely.

“We will honour them and their names. Death is but a stage to the next adventure,” Harmel stated, giving the Æsir view on death, one that was being adopted by both Mage, Fae/Drow and also the Mazdani.

“Awaken, Seeker, you have been judged and granted healing,” Karkol stated as Crnnch came suddenly awake.

“Craachan?”

“Is lost to us, as I and Archimandrite Brnnt feared.”

“But the Most High...”

“Is no more, he too was judged in Beog’s sight and found wanting.”

“What of this enemy?”

“They appear to have survived; you witnessed their destruction of the Orb, recently transferred from Tracca because we felt that randomly moving it and its counterparts around increased their security. Only for the removal of our people to cause a situation where it was easy to detect and destroy the backups and approach the actual Orb with no one to stop them, according to the TechnoYr’ch.”

“I failed, revered Archimandrite. My injuries were too severe to face them, hence I ran.”

“Our orders to you were not to be taken, you acted with wisdom.”

“Thank you, revered Archimandrite. What are your commands?”

“Once we know where they will go next, you will continue to research them. Our need for data is great. So far they have made us look like fools, this includes the Council of Archimandrites,” Karkol replied, holding up a hand to still Crnnch’s rebuttal. “The truth is as it is, Seeker. To deny it is to fail and fall back into the trap of underestimating this enemy.”

“You are right, revered Archimandrite. I apologise, though forgive me if I do not think you and Archimandrite Brnnt are fools.”

“Thank you. Nevertheless, hold your thoughts private amongst others of my kind; they would not take too kindly to the truth being spoken aloud.”

“As you command.”

“He shows great promise,” Karkol stated to Brnnt as Crnnch left, to go to his quarters.

“He does, though it may not be enough.”

“This is true, however our choices are few.”

“I have set in motion the necessary manoeuvrings to gain the Most High post for Bittern in the most extreme of ways.”

“Good, he is another fool who cannot see that his views are not necessarily those of Beog, or indeed the best for our people.”

“This is true, brother. But then again, as we both know from bitter experience, neither are Beog’s plans best for our people.”

“Yes, but this way will also remove at least another two Archimandrites who are potentially blocking the path to sanity.”