Chapter 635: Our Real Enemy
Another round of thunderous applause filled the great hall along with scattered shouts of "Lord General Thane!" and "Victory!" Toward the back of the great hall, a few even took up a bolder chant, shouting "Death to the humans!" as the flames of vengeance stirred in their hearts.
Sitting next to his wife and surrounded by Eldritch men and women from clans he’d never even seen before, Daithi shifted awkwardly in his chair, shifting to position himself protectively close to his wife as his hand dropped to the dagger at his waist. The scaled men and women closest to him didn’t seem to have become caught up in the rising tide of hostility that followed Lady Nyrielle’s latest announcement, but he’d seen how quickly crowds could turn before, and he wasn’t about to be caught unprepared now.
"Silence," Thane said, filling the single word with the power of the Voice of Command as he looked out over the people gathered in the great hall. The discipline of the soldiers had held for the most part, but far too many of the common folk bore scars of battles in the past. Some of those scars were still fresh and tender, covering wounds only beginning to heal after Owain Lothian and Liam Dunn’s summer offensive had ended.
Others bore long nurtured grudges for fathers, grandfathers, uncles, siblings and husbands lost in conflicts dating back to the War of Inches and even longer ago. Their hurts and their hatred were well justified, but Nyrielle had chosen her words carefully when she spoke about their enemies in the Kingdom of Gaal and within the Church without claiming that all of humanity were their enemies. Now, Thane stepped forward to ensure that the people gathered here understood the difference.
"I understand the people who shouted ’Death to humans, ’" Thane began. "But please, listen to a few words from a man who was once human himself," he said, subtly reminding the people in the room that not only were Nyrielle’s progeny human, even Lady Nyrielle’s parents had once been human, and so had the Mother of Trees. They might all be counted among the Eldritch now, but that didn’t mean that they had forgotten their roots.
"Most humans are weak," Thane began. "They must gather together in vast armies or don heavy armor before they can threaten the Eldritch people. But the right to don such armor or to command those armies is restricted to a very few humans, mostly those born as descendants of their powerful lords. Humans are not like the Eldritch. It is all but impossible for a person born of humble origins to gain strength and power sufficient to issue a challenge for the right to rule."
"Our enemies are, and always have been, the powerful lords and priests who command the humans’ armies," Thane explained. "There are some things that we can learn from our enemies, and the methods for raising and commanding vast armies who can retake lands long lost to our people is one of them, but make no mistake," he said as he infused his voice with power and his half cloak seemed to grow into a great cloak formed of both fabric and inky black shadows.