[Ouroboros' End]
Another four days later, Darganth stood atop a fully reconquered wall. In these days, the smugglers had mounted an increasingly strong resistance to their advance, slowing down lidra’s undead and repeatedly forcing either him or soone else from their group to intervene as the front lines beca bogged down by the smugglers’ defensive efforts. But with still no new mythic ranks joining their foes, these defensive positions had always been rather short-lived once they deed them worth their effort.
A few hours ago, they had thus managed to breach the last two segnts of the wall that stood between them and the town’s soldiers. Having shattered the tower in between these two by having Venrie conjure a massive tree beneath it, they had first blocked the last line of retreat for their foes before letting lidra’s army march across the battlents and through the corridors. With the undead on one side and the entrenched positions of the town’s guards on the other side, the smuggler had then swiftly surrendered.
Now, Darganth was overlooking the large sea of scattered camps and small watchtowers that stretched out behind the wall. anwhile, the town they were defending was visible as a small spec to his right, its shallow profile almost vanishing below the wall’s towering outline. Around it, a small wooden palisade ran between over two dozen of the smuggler’s camps, forming a half-circle that surrounded the town and isolated it. Or at least it had done the latter before Darganth’s group had broken the blockade of the wall.
As he stood there in silence, a voice suddenly called out to Darganth from his right. “Surveying the battlefield, your lordship? These lowly smugglers won’t even know what hit them once the esteed ladies, you, and her highness Lady Neandra start tearing through their lines, I’m sure of it.”
Glancing over his shoulder and seeing one of the officers of the town’s guard approach, Darganth raised an eyebrow. Though he recognized the man from the eting their group had with the guard’s leadership a few days ago, they had exchanged no words. Darganth hadn’t even been told of the man’s na, only being introduced to him and three others as the mage corps general’s advisors.
For this advisor to now take the initiative to start a conversation with him thus took Darganth by surprise. The way the man was addressing him only further added to this, with the overly formal tone and excessive usage of honorifics fueling his suspicions. Thus, Darganth kept a close eye on the advisor as the latter walked over to where he stood leaned against the side of the battlents.
Arriving at Darganth’s right and letting his gaze sweep over the nurous smuggler camps visible from the wall, the man didn’t wait for Darganth to react to his initial words before continuing to speak. “This must be how your kind always feel, isn’t it? With everything else just tiny specs beneath yourselves, re blimps in both potential and lifespan.”
These words puzzled Darganth with how sudden and out of the blue they were. However, in its cryptic nature, they achieved what might’ve been the original goal and afforded the man Darganth’s full attention.
“How do you an that?” Darganth asked.
“I ant nothing in particular, I’m just curious. It’s not every day one gets to see a dragon, not to ntion being afforded the privilege of talking with one.” The man said.
Darganth wasn’t convinced by this. If it had co up in the middle of a conversation, he might’ve been, but as one of the first sentences the man ever exchanged with him, it was just too strange. As such, he couldn’t help but suspect a hidden motive for it, especially with how randomly the question was posed.
“Then you’ve wasted that chance on such a nonsensical question. And with it, you’d show that it isn’t worth my ti to entertain this conversation. That or you do have in fact have an agenda in asking that, in which case I’m not sure I should trust you enough to answer your question.” Darganth said.
As Darganth let his gaze wander to et the eyes of the guard commander, silence fell between the two. Mustering the man opposite of him during these seconds, Darganth let a grin creep onto his lips as he saw the brief flash of nervousness on the guard commander’s face.
“So an agenda it is. Now stop wasting my ti with these gas and veiled questions before I forget that you are one of my allies.” Darganth said, still with a grin on his lips.
The man held Darganth’s gaze for a few monts longer, hesitant to confirm his suspicions but also not daring to outright lie and deny it. However, under Darganth’s glare, he could only hold this tense atmosphere for so long, soon causing the man to deflate with a sigh.
“Yes.” The advisor admitted, “Please don’t take it personally, but the general deems it necessary to know your stance on our options for the aftermath of this battle.”
“Going by your earlier question, he wants to know whether I care for the fate of the smuggler, am I right? Though it leaves to wonder whether he thinks I’d be too harsh or too lenient.” Darganth wondered out loud.
Speaking the second sentence without really expecting to get an answer to his question, Darganth paused when he saw the man’s eyes dart from side to side in response. Briefly surprised, he quickly found himself intrigued by the answer. And seeing the man's apparent worry about being overheard, Darganth promptly ford a barrier of air magic that isolated them and ensured no sound was audible outside of it.
“Now then, which one is it?” Darganth asked once his spell ford.
The advisors’ eyes briefly followed the shifts in the air currents caused by the spell’s activation. Reaching out with his mana sense, he then probed it to confirm both its purpose and functionality. Only when he had done this did the tension leave him, with his shoulders relaxing before he turned to Darganth.
“The second. While there is so disagreent between the different branches of the guard on this topic, my commanding officer is keenly aware that your group won’t stay long after this. As such, he believes it to be in the best interest of the town and its people if we ensure that the smuggler group is wholly eradicated. That ans destroying any material and immaterial assets, including key figures, that could be used in a renewal of these operations, whether by the existing group or anybody else.”
As Darganth listened, he found himself chuckling in response to the explanation that was given to him. Not because it was surprising, though the fact that the man was actually considering the possibility he wouldn’t be willing to go far enough was still a rarity for him, but because it showed that the town’s leadership was unaware of two major factors.
The first was that they underestimated how little they wanted to have to do with the aftermath of the fight. The second thing was that they still hadn’t realized that attention was the whole purpose behind his ddling in this fight. Because if they knew, they’d realize that if his plan succeeded, there would be enough attention on the town from different factions that its leadership wouldn’t have much of a say about the aftermath.
Case in point, Darganth glanced up to where he knew a starweaver unaffiliated with either the town or the smugglers was hovering in the skies. They had discovered its presence a day ago, though it could’ve already been in the area for longer. In either case, it still hadn’t reacted to the fighting in any observable way, making Darganth and the others confident that it belonged to one of the factions they had hoped would catch wind of the fighting.
With that in mind, Darganth thought about how he wanted to let his conversation with the advisor play out. Briefly considering just saying sothing, his thoughts suddenly jumped to the starweaver and an idea flashed through his mind. Finding it amusing, he quickly made the decision to drop the barrier with a snap.
“Follow .” Darganth said to the advisor, leaving the man staring at him with a puzzled look as Darganth unfurled his wings and shot into the sky.
Purposefully slowing down and waiting until the advisor shook himself out of his stupor, Darganth locked his gaze onto where the starweaver’s invisible hull hung in the sky. With a slight tug on his mana reserves, his eyes turned draconic as he pushed power into them until his sight pierced through the shields obscuring the ship.
As his gaze pushed past the shields, the starweaver materialized to his enhanced vision. Light magic illusions that were covering its shape with pictures of empty sky started to flicker and fade away. anwhile, the perception of nothingness darkness magic had caused and over which the illusions had been projected beca illuminated by his enhanced senses, giving the appearance of the ship slowly erging through sothing akin to a black curtain.
With the starweaver's appearance, Darganth swept his gaze across its deck. Only briefly making note of the roughly two dozen high fourth ranks and likely freshly promoted mythic ranks, he soon turned his attention toward the figure standing at the bow of the ship. Roughly humanoid in shape, its appearance nonetheless couldn’t be mistaken for that of one of the common humanoid races. Standing at almost three ters tall, the at least human-like appearance of its body was broken by the insect-like features that a closer look revealed.
Chief among these was the thick, black exoskeleton that encased its body like a perfectly fitting suit of armor. Not even the joints were left bare by this armor, with overlapping segnts covering the gaps between the solid plates on its torso and arms, leaving no openings in the armor at the expense of limited mobility. Its hands and feet were similarly armored, with only three small fingers, or toes in the case of the feet, protruding from the solid shells of armored chitin.
This trend of limited dexterity for maximum protection was also mirrored in the creature's head. There, the exoskeleton covering its torso extended upward past its neck, completely encasing it in an armored collar before converging into an incomplete do shape that covered the back of its head. In the gap at the front and top, a head that encompassed a mixture of human and insect features poked out. While roughly human-like in shape, many of its features made it noticeably distinct. Chief among these was the easily fifteen-centiter-tall horn that grew out just above the eyes. Besides this horn, the top of the head was completely bald, with a leathery skin that had a similar black color as the exoskeleton and horn stretching across the elongated, slightly bulbous top of the head. Together with the proportionally narrow chin, this created a sowhat V-shaped front profile for the head. Lastly, two mandibles grow out to the sides of its fanged maw, with the two appendages clicking softly as the creature let its surprisingly human-like eyes scan across the surroundings.
As Darganth shot past the railing of the starweaver, the creature's gaze imdiately snapped toward him. Turning its entire body toward him with slow, lumbering movents, its eyes narrowed as it watched him glide onto the deck and land with a look as if he belonged.
At the sa ti, Darganth t the creature's gaze and mustered it. Not having found any insignia he recognized during his landing, he wasn’t sure which faction it was a part of and what its stance toward him would be. As such, he remained cautious and didn’t move even as the adviser from the town’s guard landed next to him a few seconds later.
His arrival seed to have snapped the starweavers’ crew out of their surprise. In an instant, the man closest to Darganth, an aura user as it would turn out, thrust out one arm, pointing it toward Darganth as he materialized an aura construct in the shape of a spear in his hand.
“Identify yourselves, intruders!” He ordered. With his words, the entire deck’s attention snapped toward them, with the ship’s crew all reaching for their weapons, readying themselves to act.
However, to Darganth, this was a comical display. Because apparently the man hadn’t bothered to first scan him with his mana sense, otherwise this fourth rank would’ve realized that he could do nothing to stop Darganth if he wanted to do sothing.
His words were naturally also influenced by this lack of danger he felt from the crew, sothing that showed itself in an almost carefree tone as he spoke. “I know you aren’t from the area. Whose crew are you?” Darganth asked.
“We serve the great goddess, Lady Malestos. And who are you, that board a craft sailing in her na?” The insectoid creature standing at the ship’s helm replied.
Hearing this, a smile flashed across Darganth’s lips. Though one of the lesser factions would’ve also served his purposes, having one of the major three factions present made it all that much easier to get enough of their attention to stand on equal ground with them.
“A few of your fellow believers t us when our ship arrived on this realm fragnt a few months ago. However, beyond that, my na is unlikely to have reached your ears. Still, said believers indicated that your goddess could be interested in a cooperation with one of my colleagues.” Darganth said.
As he said this, Darganth closely watched the ships’ commander. Though the insectoid features made it difficult to accurately read his expression, he could gauge the mont the man finished his deliberations and ca to a decision.
“If your claim is true, then I can extend an offer from you to her highness.” The commander said, “But that requires proof. You say that your colleague drew a fellow believer's interest, so I’ll et them and determine whether they are worth negotiating with my goddess.”
“Why so complicated? Below, we have the perfect test subjects for my colleagues and to demonstrate our power.” Darganth said, his eyes glancing toward the smuggler camps he could see below.
Pausing briefly and following his gaze with his eyes, the commander soon gave him a sharp nod.
“Acceptable.” He said.
As a polite smile ford on his lips in response, Darganth briefly nodded before turning back to where the town's guard advisor was standing. The man had spent the entirety of the exchange rooted to the sa spot, looking on slightly confused as he tried to understand what was happening.
“You ca to with a question on behalf of your general.” Darganth said, his voice low enough that only the advisor could hear it over the wind. “About whether we'd be willing to see this through to the end.”
The advisor straightened slightly. “Yes. And I still haven't received an answer.”
“You have, just now.” Darganth said, motioning toward the starweaver crew with one arm. “I estimate that there is still at least a week of fighting before us. By then, the town will have the attention of at least one of the major factions on it, possibly more depending on how fast word spreads.”
Briefly pausing until he saw acknowledgnt of this fact in the advisor’s expression, Darganth continued, “Even once we leave, this region will no longer be remote enough for a smuggler group like the one we are facing to establish themselves. As such, there shouldn’t be a need for extre asures. And if such a need nonetheless arises, my group’s opinion will be only one of many your boss will have to worry about.”
The advisor was quiet for a mont. Assessing Darganth’s words critically, his lips slowly dropped into a frown. “The generals, all of them, won’t like to hear that.”
“No.” Darganth admitted, “But it's what is almost guaranteed to happen. Your general wanted to know our stance on the aftermath, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter. We won’t stay here to influence it, and other powers will fill the emptiness our departure will leave, powers belonging to factions who will have their own opinions on it. Tell your boss to prepare for that instead of worrying about us.”
The advisor held his gaze for a mont longer, then looked away and down toward the town below, its modest silhouette small against the landscape. Whatever he had co up to the wall expecting to accomplish this morning, Darganth suspected this was not it.
“I’ll relay your words.” The man finally said.
Hearing this, Darganth nodded and turned back toward the railing, content to let the matter rest there.
User Comments
0 comments from readers