Interlude: Perspectives V
“This is the genuine imperial article!” the seller exclaimed. He gestured sweepingly, almost pushing into Lira where she stood. “You are fortunate to find it here, but I will give it to you for a reasonable price!”
Mona furrowed her brows and looked at her battle-sister. Lira seemed captivated, barely twitching when there came a shout from another stall a few paces down the street. The market was crowded and noisy today, but not so much that their business would be disturbed.
She glanced back at the object the man was talking about. Unfortunately, she couldn’t really tell if it came from the Empire or not. Although to be fair, it seemed like something hard to replicate. It needed fine metalwork, and the needle of the compass was clearly built directly into the casing, swinging on some kind of clever hinge. Compasses could be made outside the Empire, but it would probably use a stolen pattern or something, anyway.
“Come on, Mona, this will be useful on our next expeditions! Do you remember that time we got lost in the caves below the rock dome? A dark elf scout had to show us the way out!”
“Fine,” Mona conceded, looking at the seller. “But we have a limited budget from our order, so I can only buy this if it’s not too expensive. Six sesters, say.”
“My dear lady Delver, this is worth at least twelve!”
They settled in to haggle, and after a few minutes, she bought the compass for nine silver sesters. It was a steep price, but Mona could afford it. She actually could have afforded twenty right now. Her party was flush with cash from their latest mission, and she’d gotten additional funds from the order, too.
“This is great!” Lira enthused as they walked away. “We can study it, I’m sure the others will be thankful. Or jealous. And it will help in our coming adventures.”
“I could have bought a horse for this price,” Mona grumbled.
“Maybe an old one, hardly a warhorse, and you don’t need a new horse anyway,” her younger compatriot retorted. “Admit it, you’re pleased with this too.”
“Maybe.”
They kept walking through the market at a casual pace. It was rather lively today. By habit, Mona kept track of the people present and the goods exchanging hands. As a Spellblade, her magic wasn’t much good for analysis, but she didn’t need it, either. There were many different foodstuffs, bolts of fabric and other practical essentials of life for sale, and a few more luxurious indulgences, as well. This town was on an important trading crossroads and occasionally saw more well-heeled patrons. She also took note of the coins exchanged between people. The sester was the local currency, so most of the traffic was in that one, but there was also foreign coinage used, including what looked like a few coins from the Eternal Dark and even Imperial marks. She couldn’t have found those here two years ago when she was last here.
“Do you think this is private enough to discuss matters now?” Lira asked after a moment.
Mona looked around. No one was paying any attention to them, and it was loud enough that it would be hard to listen in on them from more than a few paces away. “Certainly,” she conceded. “I appreciate that you kept your silence for so long. I just needed a bit of time to consider how I felt.”
“About our next steps?” Lira asked, mostly rhetorically. “You want to decide now so we can convince the others?”
Mona gave her a pointed look. “Isn’t that why you brought it up now?”
“Fair enough. So the way I see it, we basically have two options.”
“Yes. Go downward or go west. I think almost everyone will do the same; either answer our fellows’ call in Cera and fight for the Last Progenitor, or remain focused on the dark elves and their war.”
Lira nodded. They walked more slowly, and the younger woman placed a gentle hand on Mona’s arm, steering her to the side and to a part of the marketplace where they could speak more freely. “I was inclined to go underground, honestly. The Reformists have requested our aid — or that of the order — and I think we want them to win, right?” Lira argued. “Personally, I have to admit I was always a little disquieted by the dark elves’ treatment of their men. It would be nice if they got a bit more freedom now. Besides, they’re probably allied with the Empire anyway, right?”
"They would likely pay well for the privilege of our assistance, considering dark elf nobles,” Mona mused. “But no, they’re not allied. I think we would’ve heard; the last messages from the south didn’t mention anything, did they? I did hear about a diplomatic envoy, but that’s all.”
“Hm, alright. Regardless, I don’t think it matters. From what I heard — and I think Linus knows what he’s talking about — Lady Madris was the psychic teacher of Empress Regina, wasn’t she? I think that says something.”
Mona paused for a moment, frowning despite herself. “It’s hard to imagine her having a teacher,” she admitted. Especially a dark elf. Though, while it wasn’t like she’d met Madris Ulaven, she’d met people who had and they’d spoken well of her as a member of their order.
“Really? Even for something like that?”
“Well, we are confident they didn’t have psychic arts back then,” Mona mused, “unless whatever psychotherapy really was counts.”
“If you say so, I’m not as into the history and all,” Lira shrugged it off. She glanced around again, then lowered her voice slightly. “So, where do you want to go? Fight the gods or follow the money?”
Mona sighed. She just knew she was going to regret this. “Well, admittedly, I have been wanting to see the Hivekind with my own eyes,” she answered. “And money aside, the dark elves’ war is not really our business, is it? At least not as much as fighting for the Last Progenitor and the schools she’s built, it seems to me. Maybe after the war is over, I can study there — Just thinking of all the collected books they must have …”
“Wow, we’ll stay in the Empire for a while then,” Lira said lightly.
“Lira — you’re sure?”
“Of course.” She grinned at her. “Where you lead, I’ll follow. Besides, you have a point. This will be quite the adventure!”
“Then we just need to convince the rest of the party.”
Her companion laughed, dragging her off easily. Damned warriors and their physical Stats. “Shouldn’t be an issue. Come on, let’s go find them!”
Mona freed her arm, then hooked it into Lira’s with a little sigh. She couldn’t help but smile, though. This would be quite a trip. They would be heading into danger again, but such was the life of an adventurer — and this time, she knew it would be worth it.
When the war had started, Esianekel had felt tentatively hopeful. Of course, this was quickly overtaken by some pragmatic apprehension. She knew wars rarely meant good things for normal people, even here in the Eternal Dark, where people like her wouldn’t be directly involved. There was always the risk of enemy houses raiding their homes, or food shortages because it was sent to the soldiers instead.
On the other hand, there was also the chance that her entire people’s lot in this society would be improved. She had to acknowledge there had already been improvement, even if it felt achingly slow. The matriarch’s recent edicts had helped, but they’d also brought much more open discontent from other people, so she wasn’t sure if they’d really helped at all.
Sian had, as far as she knew, been born here, in the Eternal Dark. She barely knew what it was like to feel sunlight on her face; and she counted herself lucky for the two trips to the surface she had been on. She worked for the food production of House Epiren, which was a very respectable position. It hadn’t been easy to secure it, though she’d learned things from her parents, who’d been working as drudges in adjacent areas and sometimes on the fields for several decades. They’d been captives taken in war, both of them. While technically free to leave for a few decades now, they’d already built a life here, had children, and where would they have gone? They had been a minority in their former home kingdom as well, even though the dwarves had once invited gnomes to their lands. Neither of them knew much of the Gnomish Confederation, where their grandparents had supposedly come from.
Most of the other gnomes she knew had similar stories. Sian counted herself lucky to have been born a woman, at least. While she probably wouldn’t have been expected to join the army either way, at least she still had a few more options than even a dark elf boy in some regards, and it would be expected that she’d take charge of a joint household over her husband, if she married. Not that she planned to marry a man.
So, she understood why a few of her fellow gnomish women had mixed feelings about the Reformist cause — what little of it made their way here in the news they got, at least. They were jealous of what privilege they did have. She rather doubted the soldiers of the central government getting more power would really change much about their lives here, though. No — a complete stop of taking captives as well as citizens’ rights for all settled non-dark elves, that was the card.
Still, she couldn’t deny feeling some apprehension every time the House leadership issued new proclamations and put news bulletins up on the public reading walls. Like everyone else, she read all the news with interest, of course, but she was more focused on the changes to procedure that might be happening right here. Today’s news, though, looked different. There was a small crowd, and Sian had to push a little to get close enough to see the board, trying to find an angle where she wasn’t blocked by tall dark elves.
Objectively, the most important news was probably that the war was going well. There had apparently been some kind of battle; or maybe it was just the continuation of a previous battle, she wasn’t sure. But Reformist and Loyalist forces had clashed … somewhere in the northwest (she didn’t recognize the name) and the Reformists had beaten them soundly. Apparently, they’d used some kind of genius strategical move to flank the enemy by pretending that one of their areas of the tunnels with important crossings was being overrun, leading the Loyalists to commit their forces there, and then used traps, hidden tunnels, and waiting elites to overwhelm the Loyalists from several directions. The key to their success — coming up with the strategy, coordinating troops and influencing everyone so it’d work, if she understood this right — was being attributed to Madris Ulaven. Sian did a double take at that name. Really?
“Ulaven, really?” someone else muttered beside her, bumping into her shoulder slightly. “Did you get that, Sian?”
Sian turned and glanced at one of her best friends. Itiul-se, Ti to her friends, was even shorter than her, and not just because she was a dwarf. “Yes, that’s what it says,” she confirmed.
“But how come Madris Ulaven is even around? Wasn’t she, like, dead?” Ti asked.
“No, she was exiled. Well, something like that. Not officially,” Sian corrected.
“I bet she came back because of the war,” someone else chimed in, and Sian looked over to see one of the couriers she knew two spaces to the right. He grinned at her briefly.
“Terken, focus, by the gods,” another man she didn’t know well scolded. “Why are you talking about some noble mistress when there’s a notice of conscription pinned right here? You should be worried about that!”
Sian made a face as she looked back at the board. Unfortunately, the paper hadn’t changed. This was probably more important than the battle for their community. The House was going to draft more people for the war. She wondered which men might leave for the west soon.
“You’d think winning a battle would mean they wouldn’t need as many soldiers,” Ti muttered.
Sian hummed, then grabbed her friend and maneuvered both of them out of the crowd, away from the other people pressing in to see. “I’ll tell you what it says, Ti.”
She quickly summarized what she’d read, taking the opportunity to think through it for herself. They’d have to go to work soon, though, so they didn’t have much time.
“… Do you think we have to worry about any of our folks being conscripted?” Ti asked.
Sian shook her head. “I doubt it. They’ll try to recruit dark elves first, not gnomes or dwarves, right?”
“Let’s hope so,” Ti sighed. “Do you think they’ll draft women, too?”
“The announcement only said ‘men’. So I don’t think so. Even the Reformists aren’t that reformist, right?”
“Probably.”
They exchanged a look, and Sian would have dearly liked to seek out her other friends and family and speak to them about the matter. Unfortunately, the ponds needed to be surveyed and the drains cleaned today, and she was probably already late for work.
This was just going to have to wait. Their work went on despite the war.
The fog rolled in, sweeping over the coastline, and the fleet of ships came with it.
From his position on the deck of one of the foremost ships, Lucas Clasen smiled. He had not been with the fleet long, and it had not been the full fleet there, anyway. But now, it looked suitably impressive.
There were hundreds of ships here. Most of them from the northern coasts, to the east and west. Many of them built according to the traditional shipbuilding practices honed there, by people with dedicated Classes with their own Skills and magic they had developed to make their vessels almost as robust as steel, despite being made of wood — or even more so, in some cases. Some ships needed no wind to sail.
For all that, they were mostly transport. It wasn’t like the Empire had a coastline, after all; though a number of ships would be braving the rivers. Most of them would disgorge their cargo here. Due to their number, they’d be split among several small harbors in the vicinity.
And there, the troops would wait until the army was ready. Further ships were still missing, from the warmer, southwestern coasts. They had quite the journey, along the horn of the continent, through the channel and around the northern peninsula into the eastern sea. But he knew they were on track and their soldiers would arrive soon.
Lucas smiled again as the first ship made it to the pier, and others started throwing anchor and sending out boats filled with men. He was looking forward to stepping on land again.
His hand clenched around the amulet worn at his throat. He hoped his patron could see him now. Lord Deirianon would be pleased with their efforts, he knew it. After all, he was bringing hundreds of thousands of strong warriors to join their war. Renowned sorcerers, elite warriors and legendary champions among them.
The Heathen Empress truly should have thought twice before disrespecting the gods and starting trouble with the Western Confederation. She appeared to have forgotten that the gods watched over more than simply the Confederation and Esemen. There were godly men everywhere, and rulers that would be convinced of the righteousness of their cause. The Empire would rue forgetting about their existence.
No matter their technological tricks, they could hardly hope to stand against the rest of the continent alone.