Chapter 79

All the Battalions were assembled on the parade ground of our Loegrian side base. The names of the fallen had been spoken with reverence and the colours paraded in front of the assembled mission staff. Medals had been presented and promotions announced as the Drow took pride in their achievements and had confirmation of their realisation that, as soldiers and warriors, they were both feared by their enemies and honoured by those who sent them into battle.

“I cannot see the rebel group, the ‘Order of Druchii’, ever tempting them back to the old ways now,” I mentioned to Brinont.

“No, John, not now. They have pride in themselves and their ability to win battles against fearsome foes and with Birintuphaloq’s promotion to Major they see they can lead themselves upon the path of honour,” he agreed.

“Yes, he’s done extremely well and will lead the Unbroken in battle without needing to follow my lead,” I nodded. “He has also caught the eye of Taqual’s daughter, Esira.”

“A good match ... for both of them and the two clans, though Birintuphaloq’s clan had no great status, at least, until now.”

“I can see Birry leading the Shayetet Kheshig soon enough.”

“As can I, John. He will provide my Queen with an unbeatable force which will also be able to be called upon by the Alliance Council at need.”

“Yes, finally the Fae have their own Special Force.”

“Agreed. My Queen is determined to keep them as a permanent force, as the Royal Guard is now. Something her enemies will not be able to match at all.”

“Very much so, Brinont,” Arwen said, as she had been listening in. “Such a force will make rebellion unlikely and will pave the way to the political reforms I intend to introduce in defiance of hidebound tradition. That, in as much as anything, is why I insisted on this force fighting alongside our allies; to see how they behave with each other and deal amicably with the odd differences we have.”

“I see interesting times ahead, Highness,” Brinont chuckled.

“Our population grows, change is inevitable. I intend for it to be to the advantage of all, not merely a select group of nobles.”

“The Dökkálfar will follow where you lead, our lives have been much improved since the defeat at Myrkálfar and the healing terms offered by your mother, freeing us from the tyranny of tradition and a cabal of ruling clans determined to keep themselves at the top of the hill.”

“Yes, I have studied your society on Jingol, Brinont, and as the Fae move towards an urban existence, that is the path I’d like to see us follow,” Arwen nodded.

“Just point and tell us who to fight, Highness, and it shall be done,” Brinont chuckled, along with a respectful nod.

“I’m hoping I won’t have to do that, but it’s nice to know I have a force that can and will,” she stated with a smile.

Crnnch was discussing the next moves on Draenoric with his Adepts, though with the addition of Pugard, Whirric and Seekta who were representing Yr’ch society as a whole. Locally they were finally making progress in Draenor, with several of the refugee encampments finally being tempted into talking in return for supplies, particularly food. However some groups looked as if they needed dealing with militarily, as they appeared to have turned to banditry to supplement their diminishing supplies.

“The group led by ex-TechnoYr’ch Tikko are apparently the main culprits,” Pugard stated. “Whilst getting rid of the Klarven was a necessity, it also enabled this bunch of thieves to raid their neighbours with impunity.”

“Yes, though they also still have good shields and weaponry too, so attacking them directly will cost us casualties,” Crnnch nodded.

“We can ask our allies?” Slaarg queried.

“We may have to. Although if we do, I’d prefer them in a support role as we did in Dumall, otherwise all we’ll face for a while are accusations of being their puppets.”

“I can ask Gregoreeuz to tell us when one of those groups have a raiding party in the open and we can extirpate it away from their stronghold,” Pugard posited. “All we would need is the help of the Mages to portal us to within sight of them.”

“Good idea,” Crnnch nodded approvingly. “Other than the portal, it will be completely under our control and seen as an Yr’ch victory for the forces of Ar-Thenna.”

“The Book of Ar-Thenna says she will help those who help themselves,” Seekta added. “This means we must at least try to find solutions for our own problems.”

“I agree,” Slaarg nodded. “Our goddess is wise and seeks only the best for us, but only if we try.”

“How are matters on Vultoq?” Whirric asked.

“A tense stalemate,” Crnnch replied. “They cannot breach or even get close to the outposts, but constantly snipe against them. Elsewhere they portal raiding parties to various cities causing damage and death, though our allies deal with this as soon as they are detected and wipe them out with overwhelming force. Of their god and their patripures, there has been no sign of activity and we believe they are formulating a plan to try and break through our defences somehow ... but that is merely a guess.”

“How are the translations of the ancient writings coming?” Fumel asked.

“Slowly, our very language both spoken and written has changed over the millennia and this is causing both the Seers and the group assembled by Karkol some difficulty, as often the real meanings have to be deduced,” Seekta replied.

“Anything of note?” Crnnch asked.

“They believe some of it details how Chakra removed the ancient gods of the Yr’ch and left Beog dominant, though nothing definite as yet.”

“A mortal removed a god?” Kurl asked, astonished.

“Well, he did come up with a method of locking them in stasis via the Orbs,” Seekta shrugged.

“That’s true,” Kurl mused.

“Some good news, the brewery is now back up and functioning,” Pugard added with a smile.

“Praise Ar-Thenna,” Fumel chuckled as the rest of the Yr’ch smiled.

“And on that, I call the meeting to a close,” Crnnch stated into the happy silence. “Go about your tasks with the blessings of Ar-Thenna.”

“How goes the design and assembly of a new Wrath-Bringer?” the senior patripure asked of his team of thinkers who were tasked with keeping the tools of cleansing intact and functional.

“Slowly,” the senior of the thinkers admitted. “Much of the knowledge was lost during the banishment when the false godlet killed many of the thinkers during the final battles when we sought shelter in the neardark. The one who knew it intimately died during the destruction of the previous device.”

“Yet you had time to study it, did you not?”

“Study it, yes, though it would not and could not function in the neardark. None of our weapons could.”

“It is urgent that such a weapon is available to us, the enemies have us trapped here and we can, as yet, no longer travel to other worlds.”

“It shall be done. We shall prevail!”

“We shall prevail!”

The Unbroken were being rested, along with the other three Battalions. However, all that meant was my team was assigned to other duties on the surface of Draenoric, following up on information unearthed by the Seer group. Hence we were getting eyes on information on the various surviving settlements, those who were lucky enough to avoid or fend off the Klarven, troichin and adelshaut. Most of these had developed a kind of siege mentality where strangers were shot at on sight, particularly strangers who weren’t Orcs. That however, wasn’t our business, we were merely there to scout them out, assess the territory and send a report up to Athena’s Council for them to formulate a response.

“Wonder what the population is now?” Clara mused as we observed a heavily armed and fortified private estate.

“Was about three billion, God alone knows what it is now. Though the Seers might,” I replied as I looked over the defenders and defences with a powerful set of binoculars.

“They reckoned about a hundred thousand adelshaut along with a million troichin and perhaps up to five million Klarven,” Róisín added.

“They were quite thorough too,” I mused. “I’d guess the population is below half a billion now, possibly quite a bit below. Certainly there will be a lot more Orcs on Vultoq now.”

“Athena has about a million, though setting up secure sites for them is time consuming and means a good few are still Loegrian side,” Kate piped up.

“Yep,” I nodded. “Plus the large cities are mostly uninhabitable, potential sources of disease and returning to nature to an extent.”

“Will take them decades to rebuild ... assuming we win.” Róisín agreed.

“Athena will help with a few miracles, but yes, you’re right, decades at least,” Clara added. “Hello, company, and probably not pleasant company either, looks like a raiding party.”

I swung my glasses over to where she was indicating and spotted a large group of armoured Orcs carefully approaching the main entrance of the small estate, though remaining out of sight as much as they could.

“Looks like they plan to ambush anything returning to or leaving from that site,” I murmured as the party took cover and concealed themselves.

“We have their potential leaders in our sights,” Dunon sent over the radio link as his team of Loegrians observed for us from a nearby abandoned tall building.

“Keep observing. It’s really none of our business until Roxanne makes it our business,” I replied. ‘Any thoughts?‘ I sent out to Lagertha who was observing us for the Seers.

‘Attacking force; are a known nuisance in the area. Roxanne says use your judgement, ‘ came an eventual reply.

“Some sort of truck convoy approaching,” Clara observed. “Looks like it might be carrying supplies retrieved from the local area.”

“Target attackers if they start anything, Dunon,” I ordered.

“You got it.”

“Callum, Kate, hit that overhanging concrete slab with an RPG and let’s see if we can drop it on their main group as and when the Loegrians open up. The rest of you, prepare,” I ordered. ‘Lenna, pull your people back.‘

I got a series of confirmations as the team prepared to deal with a minor nuisance to those Orcs who were just trying to stay alive without robbing their neighbours.

The lead truck was just approaching the turn towards the barrier when the concealed enemy struck, using a beam weapon to cut down a stone column directly in front of it and block its path. That was the signal for the Loegrians to open fire on the attackers, taking out their presumed leaders and causing confusion in their ranks as they realised that they weren’t the only ones setting a trap. This was compounded by the twin RPG strike on the overhang, which, with a little mental telekinesis push, collapsed on top of the main group of attackers.

Róisín had in the meanwhile ‘lifted’ the fallen column out of the way, clearing the path for the foraging trucks to race towards the opening barrier and safety.

“That went well,” I chuckled as the erstwhile attackers beat a sullen retreat to wherever their strongpoint was.