Chapter 21: The Feldrok Sorcerer

Chapter 21: The Feldrok Sorcerer

Wenlianna walks delicately into the tent of her mother’s war-camp. It’s perched along the shore of the Great Gulf, a massive body of water predominantly surrounded by the kingdom of Bromlund. In exchange for helping recapture the capital, and thus, the Kingdom of Bromlund’s treasury and castle, Bromlund’s surviving royalty and nobility sold a large portion of the Kingdom’s land to the Grand Duchy of Stalvaltan, including the rather large port town they’re in now.

Wenlianna does her best to sneak into the tent, where the military command map is. It has a rough layout of all of the troops as they’ve been reported most recently. Rikuto has helped capture the capital and stabilized many of the cities and towns on the southern side of the kingdom. The current map shows forces from Stalvaltan and the Kingdom, while other sections are marked with the kingdoms further north and across the Gulf. Almost the entirety of Bromlund is under renewed control. Because the Empire had to step in, the cause of the revolution will be investigated, and a sort of reset will cripple the economy of the kingdom while they try to restore order and balance to the lives of the lower classes.

But, Wenlianna has no real interest in Bromlund. She has no interest in the mansion Aramellianna plans to build on the gulf. She has no interest in the revolutionary war nor the greater war with the demons.

“We already have troops en route, Wenlianna.”

The Magic Artisan squeaks with a jump as she whirls. Her mother entered right behind her, standing gracefully with her usual prideful expression.

“Your beloved will be in your arms soon enough, Wenlianna. They have orders to ride for Fort Twilight with haste.”

Wenlianna blushes. “M... Thank you, Mother. But, what if...?”

“Do not fear ‘what if’. Control what is within reach.”

Wenlianna glances at the map, and Aramellianna sighs. “There have been no reports of demon attacks on any of the border fortresses. As soon as our troops arrive, we’ll reclaim Daniel, and he’ll be out of harm’s way.”

“Mother... What if he thinks we abandoned him? It’s been so long...”

“It’s only been a couple of months. You should be more angry that he played along with that foolish plan those ignorant cutthroats foisted on Rikuto. If he had given me the chance to respond, we would not be in this mess.”

Wenlianna looks down. “Daniel is quick to do what he thinks is right... Even if it means detriment to himself. He was the first one in the water after the princess. He saved two lives. I know in some... otherworldly way, he thought he was protecting us.” She murmurs as she clutches the first diamond they made together in her hands. “I want to protect him better...”

“We will, Wenlianna. We will.”

A man clears his throat, and they both look to the entrance of the tent. “Your Grace.” He presents a rolled up scroll, and Aramellianna accepts it. She unrolls it and reads it briefly. Her eyes narrow, and she asks, “When was this sent?”

“About a month ago, your Grace. From Fort Peony. ‘The Flower Garden’, at the north end of the mountains.”

“Why...?” Aramellianna shakes her head in confusion and frustration.

Worry creeps into Wenlianna’s voice, “Mother? What is it?”

Aramellianna hands the letter over, asking distantly, “Why is he...?” She looks at the map suddenly.

Wenlianna gasps upon reading the letter. It’s a report of a Divine Summon going missing somewhere west of the mountains during a ‘free scout’. Wenlianna asks, “W-... Wasn’t Daniel supposed to be headed to Fort Twilight?”

Aramellianna says softly, “They never crossed into Bromlund... Our riders didn’t fail to catch them. They had already diverted course...”

“D-... Did King Regent Rikuto deceive us?”

“No. The escort likely made the decision based on merchants and others leaving Bromlund. They would have known problems were arising before anyone else. Our riders weren’t stopping as often as the escort. They didn’t have a chance to hear about the brewing revolt until it was too late and they were deep inside the kingdom of Bromlund.”

The Grand Duchess grips the edge of the table tightly. “If we had known sooner...”

The messenger adds, “Your Grace, there... is a follow-up message from Fort Peony. Perhaps...”

She sighs. “Let me see it.”

He hands it over, and Wenlianna leans in close as Aramellianna unrolls it to read it. They both sigh in relief. “So, he was found a week later. Good. That’s a relief.”

“Will you send a reply, Your Grace?”

“Not in the form of a letter. Thank you. You may go.”

He bows and exits the tent.

Aramellianna says softly, “We’ll send our own riders. I don’t want anyone to realize how valuable he is to our house.”

Wenlianna smiles tenderly. “Thank you, Mother. I’m... I’m sorry all of this happened...”

“It’s not your fault, darling. More than likely, it would have been wise for us to maneuver in order to help Bromlund stabilize. Under our rule, we can keep taxes and trade at more reasonable levels in our new territory, which should benefit us in the long run.”

Wenlianna gives a nod of understanding. “I’ll continue to work on my projects, Mother. Diamond powered equipment is working as well or better than salt, though it’ll remain limited for the time being, of course.”

“Keep it that way. There’s no telling when we might need them.” She asks at a whisper, “How do they fare with water?”

Wenlianna smiles. “Unfazed, Mother. It’s just as he predicted.”

She nods in approval. “Good. Make something with those, then. It’ll make for good relief equipment.”

“Mother, if anyone discovers that we can...”

“I know. It will be mysteriously and seemingly endlessly full water vessels. That is all.”

Wenlianna smiles. “I see. I’ll make it work, Mother.”

“And, I shall send our fastest troops northwest. Let us continue to show the world why the Feldrok is our sigil.”

*****************

Destruction engulfed the land, and all at once, Kera’tai found herself without a home, without her family, and without a dream. It’s only natural for an orphan to find any means of survival, even if it means joining with the other clans to grow the informal ‘army’ serving the Demon Queen. While she is nowhere near as powerful, she is descended of the first of her ancestors to have received the blessings of the great Kirin, and informally, her people are known as Children of Kirin, or Chi’rinnis in their own tongue.

The issue is that they need to cross the mountains, and other means are going too slowly. That is why the dragons insisted on leading an assault and breaking through, even though the Demon Queen has held orders of maintaining borders for now. The Dragons are the only beings in the world that can challenge the Demon Queen herself and potentially win, and they can become restless by nature. As such, the dragons sent the younger brother of the Dragon Lord, a shimmering red dragon with a name unknown to all lesser beings allied with him. And, with him, they also sent an ancient flightless drake as backup. The drake is carrying a massive amount of supplies, and while not sentient like the Red Dragon, it can still breathe fire and take commands.

At present, the human sorcerer shouting taunts has yet to reveal himself, and the Red Dragon has just landed on the wall blocking the path ahead. For all of his bravado, the sorcerer seems to be merely a human.

While not all races in the demon lands understand the shared language of the enemy races, Kera’tai does, and she calls out in retaliatory taunt, “Where is your bravado now, foolish, pathetic human!? Cower before the might of the almighty dragons!”

She watches as the melting stone of the wall dribbles down around the dragon’s feet, and the drake crushes the last remaining trees in its way as it reveals itself.

However, a terrifying noise startles Kera’tai, and a relatively tiny burst of fire comes from the dragon’s left. This ‘tiny’ burst of fire deceives the observer of the startling crack of thunder that booms out from that very same general direction, and even the dragon is forced to flinch.

Though, if time is paused, they’d never know the difference.

He’ll check in a few minutes. In the meantime, he poses the other three goblins and stores them so they’re identifiable. He then ponders his other four survivors.

The tiger women look ferociously powerful, so he decides he probably shouldn’t chance it. He stores both of them as well, and then eventually talks himself into storing the demon woman. Her appearance screams succubus, and he’s not interested in finding out if her powers will work on him where her feminine wiles might not.

That leaves only the Kirin woman. He suspects she’s capable of magic, so he binds her mouth for the time being and carries her a little further west. He assumes that it’ll take a day or so to reach the main garrison, and they’ll go to Quarters and stage for battle. It’ll then take a day or so for them to decide that it’s taking too long and send a recon team, who will discover the base damaged but intact.

That said, Daniel can’t rest until he’s certain the Kirin woman is awake and try to pick her brain for some intel. He knows she can understand him, at least, and he’s pretty sure she shouted a return taunt in Imperial Common.

Daniel makes a small camp and tucks the Kirin woman in while he keeps watch. There are no signs of returning combatants yet, and Daniel hopes it stays that way. He did kill two dragons, so he’s hoping that gives the demon troops a good spook. As far as he can tell, no single person is strong enough to kill a dragon alone, judging by how people speak of them. And, he doesn’t know how anyone would get past their scales. Though, in fairness, even he hasn’t tried to attack them yet, so he doesn’t actually know if they’re impenetrable.

He makes idle work with his hands cleaning the rifle. He also applies a more liberal application of oil to try to help lubricate the bolt, which was giving him some trouble. Thankfully, it worked as well as he hoped.

Finally, the Kirin woman coughs. She flutters her eyes open and rolls her head, making sense of her surroundings. She realizes she’s bound and gagged, and she squirms. As she pieces together how she’s tied up, she writhes and kicks.

Daniel approaches, making his presence known. She glares at him, and he gestures at his mouth, pointing at her. He eases close to remove the gag.

However, she headbutts him and rolls adeptly pinning him down with her body weight. She tries to howl through her gag, apparently calling for help.

Daniel points his revolver at her chest from beneath her, and he remarks, “This is a miniature version of what took out your dragons. Wanna find out what it does to a person?”

Her eyes widen in horror, and she looks at the revolver, and then back at Daniel’s face. He says calmly, “Now, relax. I just want to talk. You’re the only one I’m fairly confident I can communicate with. If you try anything, you’ll end up like the second dragon. Do you understand?”

She hesitates, but nods her agreement. She even shifts off of him using her knees. She waits patiently as Daniel sits up and keeps the revolver trained on her chest. He says gently, “Now, I’m going to remove the gag from you so we can talk. Will you behave yourself?”

She nods once. She seems strangely calm and confident all of a sudden. But, Daniel is playing the game as he had been; do what he can to survive and hope magic really can’t affect him.

Daniel holsters his revolver for a moment, and he removes the gag from the Kirin woman.

He then asks, “Now then, you can understand me, right?”

“Yes. Are you indeed the sorcerer who defeated me and my allies?”

“I am. Sorry you ended up against me.”

She nods softly in agreement. “I see...” She takes a deep breath and carefully lays down on her back, spreading her knees as much as possible. “I accept my fate.”

Daniel cocks his head. “Uhh... What fate? I haven’t decided what to do with you yet.”

“I have been told humans, especially, make use of their captives. Do with me as you will.”

With a scoff, he retorts, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Or rather, I don’t care about that. I want you to answer some questions, first.”

“I was the commander of the infantry. I did not command the dragons.” She squirms a little, adding, “If you wish to make use of my body, it will be my first time...”

Daniel sighs. “Let me ask the questions, please. Why did you attack the base?”

She hesitates, but she does answer softly, “It was the dragons. The Dragon Lord, the red dragon’s older brother, believes the Demon Queen is being too pacifist with you eastern races.”

“Really?”

She confirms with a nod. “His brother chose to lead the attack for glory, and we were to prove that the eastern races are weak and complacent, capturing the border fortress and the main fortress in the first strike.” She murmurs as she looks away, “It seems, we were bested by a single sorcerer.” She looks at him, asking surprisingly curiously, “Are you a Feldrok sorcerer, by chance?”

“A ‘Feldrok’ sorcerer?”

“Yes,” she replies before explaining further. “Descended from the Feldrok race. Your power is unprecedented.”

“I probably shouldn’t say one way or the other, should I?”

She bows her head, “You can trust me.”

Daniel chuckles. “That’s probably the laziest counterintelligence I’ve ever seen.”

She shakes her head. “I belong to you, now. I shall not betray you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I have been defeated. That is the way of things.”

“Is it?” asks Daniel skeptically.

“It is.”

Confused, Daniel remarks, “A minute ago, you thought I was going to take advantage of your body, and now you seem to welcome it. Do you have no intention to fight to the death for your freedom?”

She shakes her head, looking into his eyes. “Our people pride ourselves in continuing strong bloodlines. If we are defeated in battle, it is only natural, should we survive, to pledge ourselves to the victor.”

“Uh... Natural?”

She nods confidently. “Should I survive my trials as your captive, and our children make it back to their native lands, then my greatest duty will be achieved.”

Daniel shakes his head, confused. “That... What if you get killed? Or the children are enslaved immediately after? What then?”

She cocks her head. Now she’s the one not understanding. “We cannot choose who is stronger than ourselves.”

Daniel sighs. “Listen,... I’m not claiming you as property or anything of the like.” He moves closer to her, saying, “I’m going to help you sit up so we can continue to talk. If I find what you say convincing, I’ll be letting you go. If I don’t, then I might just leave you for the soldiers when they return to re-man the fort.”

She nods agreeably, and he helps her sit up. “I already told you. I am yours, now. You may do with me as you wish.”

Daniel sighs once more. It’s going to be a long night.

***