out over the anvil, “because I’m starting out behind and now my brand-new magic’s going to have a brand-new handicap.”
Chapter 9
“All went well, then?”
The light-destroying figure in the mirror-scroll smiled. “Exactly as we expected, yes,” Kerlamion said in the eerie deep, howling tones of tortured air. “Condor is on his way back to you even now.”
It nodded, smiling; despite the human form, anyone watching would have known there was something desperately wrong from that smile alone. “Excellent, my King. I will keep an eye out for him. It would not do for him to meet up with anyone else along the way who might reveal some unfortunate facts.”
“Even so. But enough of your private projects.”
“My apologies, Majesty. If I can only be assured of the one other—”
“Yes. I have given the directions. Balinshar is not entirely pleased, but you have assured me of the necessity, and so what you requested you shall have. Now, of the other matters...?”
Very good. Very good indeed. With the Black City now arrived and all wars progressing, Kerlamion had been delegating more of the details of remote operations to it, trusting the humanoid yet inhuman figure with completing the plan which, admittedly, had been more its than Kerlamion’s. This did unfortunately demand rather more of its time than it had expected, especially with the promising and extremely capable Thornfalcon now regrettably out of the picture. “Aegeia is in complete chaos now; I expect the endgame of that little farce to play out in, oh, the next few months. The Academy appears to be out of the picture, or so I am assured by Kurildis and, indeed, no communications other than Kuri’s have been forthcoming, so I’m reasonably confident that the job has been done.”
It gave a sigh and shook its head. “There has unfortunately been some sort of...disruption in Skysand; forces that we were unaware of. Shangvaldi thinks she can still prevail with the additional resources granted her, but I am, regrettably, dubious. Whenever someone starts in on that ‘everything’s under control, I just need a little help’ approach...”
Kerlamion frowned and nodded slowly. “But if they are delayed even a few months...”
“Yes, that’s how I view it. Even if Skysand recovers fully, it will take them months to get any of their forces anywhere that matters, and by then the battles should be decided. Same for Balgoltha and his debacle. All he needs to do is keep the Artan busy for even the fourth part of a year and his failure need not be fatal.” Though depending on how things are going at that point, it may well be fatal for Balgoltha in any case. That one’s been dodging the consequences for failure since the Fall, and I think his time’s just about up .
“So. What of our greatest adversaries?”
“The Empire of the Mountain, I am afraid, cannot be prevented from mobilizing, though they, like the Dragon-King’s State, must keep some of their forces busy bottling up our puppets in Dalthunia. News of the emergence of the Black City will reach Zarathanton soon enough. In the Empire, well, it will be heard there as well in very short time, if the Archmage has not sensed it on his own.”
“No matter. We have anticipated this, and their armies will be ineffectual by the time they reach us. But—”
“—yes, Majesty, I was just getting to that. Of Khoros...I must candidly say I cannot find him. I did not expect to, honestly; he is...very good at evading detection. The Wanderer is in fact on the move as well, but I cannot say precisely where he is, either; you know how hard he is to track. Nonetheless, he will tend to be both more straightforward and more cautious. I would expect him to choose some group or location to aid and travel there directly. Khoros is undoubtedly playing the puppetmaster as usual, and thus his hand may be felt anywhere, even if his actual location is far distant.” He shrugged. “Our plans attempt to take
Chapter 9
“All went well, then?”
The light-destroying figure in the mirror-scroll smiled. “Exactly as we expected, yes,” Kerlamion said in the eerie deep, howling tones of tortured air. “Condor is on his way back to you even now.”
It nodded, smiling; despite the human form, anyone watching would have known there was something desperately wrong from that smile alone. “Excellent, my King. I will keep an eye out for him. It would not do for him to meet up with anyone else along the way who might reveal some unfortunate facts.”
“Even so. But enough of your private projects.”
“My apologies, Majesty. If I can only be assured of the one other—”
“Yes. I have given the directions. Balinshar is not entirely pleased, but you have assured me of the necessity, and so what you requested you shall have. Now, of the other matters...?”
Very good. Very good indeed. With the Black City now arrived and all wars progressing, Kerlamion had been delegating more of the details of remote operations to it, trusting the humanoid yet inhuman figure with completing the plan which, admittedly, had been more its than Kerlamion’s. This did unfortunately demand rather more of its time than it had expected, especially with the promising and extremely capable Thornfalcon now regrettably out of the picture. “Aegeia is in complete chaos now; I expect the endgame of that little farce to play out in, oh, the next few months. The Academy appears to be out of the picture, or so I am assured by Kurildis and, indeed, no communications other than Kuri’s have been forthcoming, so I’m reasonably confident that the job has been done.”
It gave a sigh and shook its head. “There has unfortunately been some sort of...disruption in Skysand; forces that we were unaware of. Shangvaldi thinks she can still prevail with the additional resources granted her, but I am, regrettably, dubious. Whenever someone starts in on that ‘everything’s under control, I just need a little help’ approach...”
Kerlamion frowned and nodded slowly. “But if they are delayed even a few months...”
“Yes, that’s how I view it. Even if Skysand recovers fully, it will take them months to get any of their forces anywhere that matters, and by then the battles should be decided. Same for Balgoltha and his debacle. All he needs to do is keep the Artan busy for even the fourth part of a year and his failure need not be fatal.” Though depending on how things are going at that point, it may well be fatal for Balgoltha in any case. That one’s been dodging the consequences for failure since the Fall, and I think his time’s just about up .
“So. What of our greatest adversaries?”
“The Empire of the Mountain, I am afraid, cannot be prevented from mobilizing, though they, like the Dragon-King’s State, must keep some of their forces busy bottling up our puppets in Dalthunia. News of the emergence of the Black City will reach Zarathanton soon enough. In the Empire, well, it will be heard there as well in very short time, if the Archmage has not sensed it on his own.”
“No matter. We have anticipated this, and their armies will be ineffectual by the time they reach us. But—”
“—yes, Majesty, I was just getting to that. Of Khoros...I must candidly say I cannot find him. I did not expect to, honestly; he is...very good at evading detection. The Wanderer is in fact on the move as well, but I cannot say precisely where he is, either; you know how hard he is to track. Nonetheless, he will tend to be both more straightforward and more cautious. I would expect him to choose some group or location to aid and travel there directly. Khoros is undoubtedly playing the puppetmaster as usual, and thus his hand may be felt anywhere, even if his actual location is far distant.” He shrugged. “Our plans attempt to take
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