Dominic thought hard about what ssage he could send that would definitively prove that it was him, and that the Commander sending the ssage wasn’t compromised.
"Tell her that you have t with outside Soutford, and that I brought Lytesin Manor’s staff with . Then add that I am going to go play with the zombies and there is nothing that she can do to stop ."
The Commander smiled. "I sent that verbatim. I will await the response."
Only seconds later, there was a response from Prince Claudius.
[Tell the dragonkin that his wife is going to kill him when he gets ho.]
The Commander looked concerned, but Dominic just laughed.
"I left her with a thousand debutantes and an equal number of Noble sons in the middle of a major rainstorm, with a week’s worth of unfinished paperwork." He explained.
"Sir, for the sake of your own health, you may want the Undead to actually kill you."
Amie nodded in agreent. "If they don’t, then I will bring him back ho before the end of the day. We’ve been gone long enough, and that’s not even ntioning the part about how he was thrown through a portal by an explosion, and she thought he was dead for half a day."
"Are you perhaps doing this specifically to annoy your wife?"
Dominic waved his hands in denial. "Nonono, it’s all pure coincidence. They tried to blow up my trolls, and the Second Prince of Cygnia. Things got out of hand.
Now, Amie, we should head into town and see what is going on."
The Commander gave him a salute. "I wish you well, Duke Dominic. If it’s not too much trouble, we would appreciate it if you could forward a status report after you have finished your investigation.
Even if it’s third hand, relayed to central operations, that will be enough to at least ease their fears, or confirm them."
"Of course. No matter what we find, we will report it to the Crown Prince, as well as to Cygnia. We have a working relationship with Prince Fahad at this point, and there are ongoing negotiations for trade deals, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to share information."
Dominic turned and led Amie east toward the city through the woods while the rest of the occupants of the Manor worked out their plans with the soldiers.
They didn’t have to go far before they ca into a clearing and the city ca into sight in the distance. It was still easily ten kilotres away, but from here you could see the black haze that marked any coal burning city.
Dominic was not looking forward to the sll.
"Well, at least we’ve got magic for running. I was serious about finishing this tonight and heading back ho. If we can’t get any information, we’re going back to Wistover at dark." Amie insisted.
"Got it. Are you going to be able to open a portal here? I know that you were having issues with it earlier."
"Yeah, the effect seems to have faded. I think it was just whatever was in that storm that was ssing with . Whatever wrath Dagos has brought down on itself, it’s definitely more powerful than I am."
At a magically enhanced jog, it still took them nearly an hour to make it to the edge of the city, where guards in Shersdonia uniforms were stationed.
"Well, that makes this easy." Dominic joked.
"Don’t get us arrested."
Dominic joined the line being checked by the guards as they entered the city, and noted that the soldiers looked bored, just doing their jobs and not giving anyone any real hassle.
However, when they saw his fancier clothing, the guards looked much more attentive.
"Good afternoon. Do you have a mont for a few questions?" Dominic asked.
"Step to the side of the line, and soone will be along in a mont, Sir."
Dominic moved to wait opposite the side where the soldier’s rest area was, and took a pair of folding chairs out of his storage cube so that Alexis didn’t need to sit in the grass.
They only had to wait a few minutes until a portal opened and three mages in black robes with hollow looking faces and deep black rings around their eyes stepped through.
Dominic prepared for things to get interesting, but the half dead looking mage in the lead was waving happily at him.
"You are Lord Wistover, are you not? The Dragon Prince?"
Dominic nodded slowly. "I am Dominic Wavemates, Duke of Wistover."
"Oh, that is lovely. Everyone has been wondering where you went. After you vanished out of the military camp near Sarasalton, nobody could find you."
He had been in Sarasalton?
"Long story. But I ended up in Lytesin. The whole area is flooded, right proper ss. But down to business. Axbridge is sowhat concerned about the presence of the Necromancers and the Shersdonian Army here.
I don’t suppose that you could elaborate on the situation for ? As far as I know, your force eliminated all the Nobles in town, and occupied Soutford."
The mage sighed. "Technically, that is not wrong. However, we were sent here to do relief work by the Necromancer King. He didn’t specify why we needed to, but when we showed up, the Nobles started going on about how we had betrayed them, and then they attacked, so we set the zombies on them.
The town is much more peaceful now than it was before, and with a workforce that doesn’t sleep, we’ve been able to do a great deal of cleanup after the storm."
Amie stared incredulously at the Necromancer.
"Wait, you’re saying that the whole thing is a misunderstanding, and not an invasion? You’re just here to clean up the city after the storm?"
"And rebuild infrastructure. Would you believe that they don’t even have magitech stoves in most of the houses?"
"I would, actually. Dagos Nobles don’t believe in letting commoners have luxuries."
The Necromancer frowned. "That explains so much more than you could possibly know. Shersdonia doesn’t really have a hereditary aristocracy. All our Aristocrats are either Immortal Undead, or appointed by the King to a lifeti peerage.
Well, now that we understand that, we can start fixing a few more misunderstandings.
Can you wait here? Our Commander will want to speak with you before you go looking for a room. There is paperwork, you see."
"Paperwork? Perhaps they could forward it to my office in Wistover?"
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