Crusader

Chapter 77

Vara

Day 141 of the Siege of Sanctuary

“The good news is that our plan is working,” Ryin said, his hushed voice still seeming to echo in the quiet Council Chambers. “The bad news is that our plan is working but not as well as we might have hoped.”

Alaric was a still statue-it might as well have been one in his chair for as little as he moved, Vara thought. His expression was dark, as though carved from stone, and he appeared not only weary but less expressive than usual. “Explain it to us.”

Ryin sighed. “I’ve run sorties from the nearby portals to scout convoys passing through the Plains of Perdamun. Their sentries have finally reached the point in the last week where it is no longer safe to hit them with a raiding party. I’m observing escorts of five hundred to a thousand soldiers marching along with each convoy, larger convoys now than there used to be, and spellcasters intermixed with them. I suspect they’re also using wizards and druids to teleport some of the richer convoys directly, even though that’s likely to tie up considerable amounts of their resources. Our raiding days have come to an end is what I’m telling you.” He looked around the table. “In addition, there appears to be no appreciable change in the numbers of the horde that surrounds us. All we’ve managed to do is pull more dark elves into the Plains of Perdamun.”

Alaric’s eyes flashed back and forth, assimilating this. “Vara?” he asked. “Have you heard anything from your sister?”

“Only to echo that the battle lines around Reikonos remain quiet,” Vara said, finding the words most disagreeable. “The only good news is that the humans are preparing for a major offensive in the coming weeks, after the New Year passes and the Winter Solstice has gone by. Perhaps that will relieve some of the pressure around us?”

“I have doubts about that,” Alaric breathed, as though he meant for them not to hear it. “The line remains unchanged for the elves as well, bottled up behind the River Perda, staring at their foes across the water. The bridges between Termina and Santir remain a ‘No Man’s Land,’ and I have my suspicions that King Danay will not find the courage to change that anytime soon, given his …” Alaric sighed, “… personnel challenges.”

“You mean the fact that any elven soldier killed can’t possibly be replaced?” Vaste asked-with his usual flair for the annoying, Vara thought.

“Yes,” Alaric said without a trace of amusement, “that was what I was referring to. Unless Danay finds himself in possession of a rather extreme amount of pluck, I wonder that they will prosecute this war further, putting themselves on the line to dubious purpose for the humans. Vengeance for Termina would seem to be his only motivation for going forward.”

“But if the Confederation and the Kingdom don’t work together,” Erith said, shaking her head, “it seems that the Sovereignty will eventually break them both.”

“Probably not the elves,” Vara said quietly. “Oh, they’ll glare at the dark elves across the river, certainly, but now that their army is massed, the Sovereign will have a devil of a time putting his troops across the Perda, and Danay knows that. The rest of Arkaria could well burn, and the Elven Kingdom would be able to sit apart from them, quite safe, all things considered, and simply wait out the war.”

“Until they all grew old and infirm and the Sovereign could simply march over the bridge and take the entire Kingdom without any sort of fight that didn’t involve a cane being smacked over someone’s head,” Vaste said.

“Yes,” Vara replied acidly. “Until then. But as that is several thousand years off, I very much doubt that is something we shall have to ponder too deeply in the immediate future.”

Alaric was unmoved, again, quiet for a piece. “The humans wait too long, then. By the time the Sovereign strengthens his grip here, in the Plains of Perdamun, he’ll have all the supplies he needs to deal a final, crushing blow to Reikonos. Without Reikonos, it seems likely that the Riverlands and Northlands will fragment and argue amongst themselves. At best, they could rally, but they would have a hard time defending against the dark elven onslaught. There are simply too few good spots to mount a defense of the Northlands or Riverlands. If Reikonos falls, so too does the best chance to face the dark elves in a decisive battle that could turn them back.”

“Except here,” Vara said, turning their heads. She shrugged when they looked at her. “A hundred thousand at least surrounding us, another fifty thousand or more spread out around the plains; that is no small host, and its loss or breaking would likely hamper the Sovereign’s war efforts.”

“Oh yes,” Vaste said, “his mysterious and seemingly unlimited army. How many soldiers does he have, anyway? Anyone?”

“At least one more,” Erith said with a smile. “He has more than anyone has been able to predict thus far. Who knows how many he has in reserve? One thing I can tell you …” She hesitated. “I probably shouldn’t, but since we’re all dead anyway if the dark elven army breaks down the gates-Saekaj Sovar was an overcrowded mess when I left twenty years ago.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Ryin blinked at her. “You’re talking about the diaspora? When dark elves began to migrate out of the homeland again, twenty years ago?”

“Yes,” Erith said. “It was at capacity, the streets were choked with waste, and the tribunal that ruled in the Sovereign’s absence finally approved the opening of the city. People weren’t exactly starving, but there was heavy rationing. That’s why you saw so many dark elves start cropping up at once-those of us who were more opportunity-minded wanted to get the hell out, take a chance elsewhere, somewhere that you weren’t living twelve people in a room a quarter this size.” She shook her head. “The average citizens were stacked on top of each other, four and five to a straw bed half the size of this table. Ticks were rampant, fleas. The meat we ate was that of the vek’tag and their milk was the drink of choice, and it was old mushrooms baked into bread three times a day most of the time. The noble houses lived fat and had more space, the lower classes scrapped for every damned thing we could lay our hands on.” She shrugged. “It was nice to get out of there, even nicer when I finally got my own room in the Daring’s guildhall. Living here was like a dream.”

“And the point of that wildly veering narrative?” Vaste asked, feigning a yawn.

Erith favored the troll with a sour look. “That Saekaj Sovar is huge. Massive. When I left, the population was easily over two million.” She looked around the table in patient expectation.

Ryin was the first to show his reaction. “Well, then that means … oh. Oh, damn.” His head pivoted to Vaste. “It means-”

“Yes,” Vaste said, “I got it right off. Millions of people means hundreds of thousands of soldiers if need be.”

“Yes,” Erith said, “and keeping in mind that the Sovereignty is a society where you can live a thousand years and not really feel the strain of age until you are over eight hundred-”

“They have a larger population of war-ready men to draw from than any other nation.” Ryin looked at Vaste again.

“I said I understood the first time,” Vaste looked back at the druid intently. “Why do you keep staring at me? I know how dark elves age, probably better than you do.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to look at you!” Ryin said. “I’m just …” his gaze swept the table and found Vara. “Did you know about this?”

“No,” she said, finding herself somewhat hoarse. “No, but it is hardly a great surprise now, is it? The dark elves have a big army. The sky is blue, water is wet. They’ve paraded countless number of soldiers through the world, are fighting a war on three fronts and they don’t seem to be suffering greatly for it.” She tried to shrug from indifference, and found that it wasn’t hard to find. “They have us outmatched. Their enemies are not fighting them at present, largely out of fear. They have us surrounded, and they have thrown a hundred and fifty thousand troops at the bothersome fly we have become to keep us from continuing to bind them down here in the plains.” There was a certain hopelessness that came with her pronouncement, but she wasn’t sure she could entirely feel it.

“None of it is good news,” Alaric said finally. “But neither is it the worst. We may be outmatched, but they have yet to find a way to reasonably break through our fortifications.” He smiled. “Take heart, friends. We will protect our foyer as we have, we will keep them held off at the wall, keep them at a distance, and we will remain here until the situation changes.” There was only a hint of hope in Alaric’s tone, but it was there, Vara could hear it. “In a battle against the entire world, I still believe that the Sovereign has bitten off more than he can possibly hope to digest.” Alaric steepled his fingers in front of him. Now, let us hope that the rest of the world discovers that exact same truth … before it becomes too late to take advantage of his misstep.”