Chapter 17: Undead Come to Roost
It took most of the night and part of the next day to settle matters with Azamar. Nathan had hoped it would be as simple as freeing all of the slaves and telling them to go to Giantsrest, but of course it wasn’t that easy. To be fair, it was far easier than conquering a city should have been.
It took some argument to convince Hibril that he needed to abandon the city. He was attached to Azamar, but eventually accepted that an evacuation was necessary. Giantsrest had the space and farmland to absorb the population in every one of its child cities. None of them were even a tenth of Giantsrest's size, and they had all been founded by ambitious mages looking to expand Giantsrest’s territory and provide access to raw materials, not because the capitol had lacked food or space. But it would be significantly easier to defend one city instead of a half-dozen, and Myrla and the forces of the new Giantsrest would be unable to defend Azamar.
Not too different from the villages of Gemore. Except Gemore doesn’t have nearby farmland because of the ruined city, so they actually depend on their villages to provide food. And there's a ton of estates available for building, not to mention mansions that can fit a lot more than currently live in them.
After that, Nathan and Khachi had gone around and freed most of the slaves of Azamar, starting with the slave-soldiers and then moving on down to the artisans and domestic slaves. Remembering Myrla, he’d looked to Hibril’s scribes to find leaders and found a dour man named Blan who handled logistics for the whole city. He hadn’t shown any surprise at Nathan’s request that he organize an evacuation, just acknowledging his freedom with a long blink before getting to work directing thousands of people towards Giantsrest.
Hibril had tried to help but Blan had just given him a level look and ignored his previous master with a faintly satisfied smile. Nathan had been worried the ex-archmage would insert himself again, but instead he'd just watched the proceedings with a kind of dumbfounded bemusement, as if he hadn’t been aware just how unnecessary he was until that very moment.
Nathan sidled up next to him. “Will you be able to listen to ex-slaves when they tell you what to do?”
Hibril shrugged, though he didn't look entirely content. “I never liked organization. I was good at politics, playing the other Archmages off against each other. I liked being left alone to watch my city grow.” He turned to Nathan, baffled but not upset. “But I was never good at coordinating industry. I’ll listen to the experts on matters of organization and combat. But on matters of magic, none match my grasp but the Founders.”
Nathan raised his eyebrows. “I know some of the mages of Gemore might disagree with you. Dalo and Kullal Caxol in particular.”
A light lit inside Hibril’s eyes. “Oh, the Guardians of Gemore. They have some Insights worthy of the Giant.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I would like to trade Insights with them. Can you make the introduction?”