Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Council

Upon entering the tent made mainly from whatever pieces of cloth the rebels could find and put together where the war council was meant to be convened, Tiar and Bara immediately noticed something unusual. Apart from Elgo and Osinth there were several herkleri and almeya soldiers inside along with a female almeya not much older than Bara and a wolf Tiar recognized to be a member of the endangered lavatongue species.

The presence of the wolf was only a little surprising but what really shocked the last two to come into the tent was the middle-aged male almeya who was tied up and chained with two of the almeya soldiers holding him, even having a gag in his mouth to prevent him from speaking. He wore pompous clothes in stark contrast with those of the young woman next to the lavatongue while having a great facial resemblance with her, presently displaying the most infuriated and violent expression of everyone around.

As if sensing what question had immediately come to Tiar and Bara’s mind after their arrival, Elgo intervened to clear up their confusion as quickly as possible and ensure the war council could proceed without any hindrances.

‘There you are. Arit, Bara, meet the newest members of our resistance’s elite – Negite’s Master, Ril Smouldertongue, his daughter, Urilin Wolfborn, and their family’s pet wolf – Kaya. It was Urilin who brought the information that became the reason for convening this council – something we owe her much gratitude for.’

‘And her father? Why is he restrained and gagged?’

As it would eventually become her habit, Urilin interrupted Elgo now, clearly feeling she was the one always entitled to explain the circumstances behind her father’s bizarre state. And perhaps she felt entitled to give those explanations because she was the reason for such bizarre states more often than not.

‘He isn’t feeling like himself right now, but he is more experienced and has a better strategic mind than me, so I thought he might be able to contribute to the discussion we’re about to have. I won’t be removing that gag or his restraints until I see fit, though. Trust me, that is the safest course of action with fathers sometimes.’

Not having grown up with their fathers, Elgo and Tiar couldn’t truly relate to Urilin in this instance, Osinth only showing a slight annoyance as this made him remember his time of dealing with his rebellious daughter many years ago. Bara, however, could relate all too well, Ril’s daughter noticing this by her sympathetic expression.

‘I agree. Some fathers should be restrained as often as possible in the presence of their daughters.’

Immediately realizing she had spoken out of turn, Tiar’s apprentice became flustered, Urilin going to her to reassure her as a favor for the relief she had given her simply by having arrived and having reacted to her words the way she did.

‘Don’t even think about apologizing for what you said. You’re a magic wielder that helped save my city as much as Lord Arit did. As far as I’m concerned, you’re one of the only two here who have enough authority to only need to accept apologies, but never to give them.’

Bara’s embarrassment passed as she returned Urilin’s smile and bowed to her, as a conversation started between the two the former’s teacher going to the latter’s father.

‘I would still like to apologize, Princess Urilin. And I would also like to express my gratitude for the aid you’re giving us in this most crucial time.’

‘I’m not really a princess, but even if I were, Bara, I’d prefer it if you called me just by my name. As far as your gratitude goes, I’ll gladly accept that.’

‘I would like to apologize for my apprentice’s behavior as well, Master Ril. And though you cannot answer me, I want to say it is a great honor to meet you. I saw how fiercely you fought during the battle for Negite and hope to be able to rely on you as a trusted ally for all the battles to come.’

Osinth and Elgo had become downright aggravated at this point, the guardian pulling Tiar away from Ril while the boy prince pulled Bara away from Urilin, the herkleri and almeya soldiers not being able to fully suppress their laughter at this moment of ridiculousness between some of the strongest beings on Almeya in the present.

‘Enough with the introductions already! We have gathered here to discuss a very important matter and cannot afford to waste more time on anything else!’

‘Os has a point, so leave the friendly chatter for later! All of you!’ – as everyone present in the tent became serious again, Elgo turned their attention toward Urilin to finally begin the council – ‘Urilin, if you would, share the information you have with everyone here.’

‘I and all of my father’s closest associates escaped from the prison near Negite earlier today, just before our escape a rift raven arriving in the prison. It had been sent by the elite command of the Almeya Chaos Harpies in response to the information about the battle in Negite they had already received.’

‘Those harpies really move fast, don’t they …!’ – said Tiar angrily, his allies not suspecting the reason for his anger was the fact such capable units were now his enemies.

‘The Harpy Queen Loagri has ordered the remainder of the Chaos Harpy forces in the other six cities of the Southern Sovereignty Seven and any outpost in the vicinity to gather and strike at Negite, their mission however not being to actually defeat the rebel forces here. They are only meant to prevent us from leaving the planet until the queen herself arrives with the Chaos Harpy military elite on Almeya to destroy all hope of resistance personally. That is what we learned.’

No one said a word for a while after Urilin finished her report, the first sounds to be heard coming from Ril who was trying to say something through the gag without any success. The others looked at his daughter in the hopes of convincing her to remove that gag, Urilin sighing as she did that. He father pierced her with an all too threatening gaze for only a moment and coughed a bit before looking at the other members of the war council to speak.

‘If what my daughter says is true, I’d say we have no more than a day before the attack begins – that’s how long it should take for the Chaos Harpies in the other cities of the SSS to consolidate their forces and arrive here. Negite takes a central position among the seven geographically as well with three of the other cities being located north of it and three – south of it, the distance between the southernmost of the former group and the northernmost of the latter one to it being approximately the same. A day from now … we will be crushed between tens of thousands of harpies like a hammer and an anvil.’ – as hopeless at the situation had become, Ril had not forgotten Tiar’s introduction from earlier, looking at the Viktar now while his gaze had turned to Bara – ‘And lastly, I’d like to apologize for my daughter’s behavior as well, Lord Arit, and to say it is an even greater honor for me to meet you and be part of the same war council as you.’

‘Likewise, Master Ril. Bara, I thought you said the Chaos forces’ numbers stationed in this region are much smaller compared to the rest of Almeya. How come there will be tens of thousands of harpies coming for us now?!’

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Though Tiar wasn’t even looking at him at the time, Ril quickly diverted the Order champion’s attention from the guilty-looking hammer maker back to himself.

‘Do not blame the girl, Lord Arit. I suppose she hails from a region far from my home and could not possibly be aware of the current state of things in the SSS.’

‘What exactly is that state of things?’ – asked Elgo only to be answered by Urilin who spoke before her father could.

‘The Chaos Harpies have been amassing great numbers of their forces on SSS territory for a couple of months now. Our cities had become too bold in opposing the Chaos rule, disregarding those monsters’ laws and commands at every turn until they finally had enough. The execution of my father and the other City Masters … it appears it was meant to be the beginning of a campaign to purge any rebellious spirit from the SSS. First they were planning to eliminate the main instigators among the population and then to kill some of the rest to a point where none would dare defy the harpies again.’

‘That’s all good and well, but do you always interrupt others, child?’ – Osinth couldn’t stop himself from reprimanding Urilin because for him the value of her information did not excuse her disrespectful conduct toward not just Elgo, but her own father as well. His words seemed to only mildly annoy Ril’s daughter who now looked at him, clearly having already prepared a quip to answer the old-crown herkleri.

‘Only when I think what I have to say it more important, old man. Might as well get used to that as I don’t intend to change my behavior anytime soon. What we should really pay attention to is how we’re going to counter our enemies.’

‘Fair point. I will thoroughly discuss the matter of your upbringing with your father later on, though, and I assure you such insolence will not be tolerated in our ranks. If you want to be a part of this alliance, you will change your behavior.’

‘Are you the leader of this alliance? No. What’s your rank among its leaders even? Last? I don’t care for you assurances but only for those of your prince, Lord Arit and Bara.’

Elgo was the one to diffuse the tension between the young almeya and the veteran herkleri this time, seeing as how they were both too stubborn to acknowledge the gravity of their situation – something that could no longer be allowed.

‘Os, calm down. Lady Urilin, the same applies for you. You said yourself we should focus on our strategy, so let us not waste any more time on trivial matters.’

The members of the council were now looking at each other in search of the one who could propose a plan of action, Ril stepping up to the task.

‘After giving the explanation my daughter did instead, I was planning on suggesting a possible solution to our predicament, if you could hear me out.’

‘Of course, Master Ril. This is your home, after all, and no one would know better how to defend it.’

With Tiar’s permission, Ril began his presentation, having become the center of attention for the war council once again.

‘The Chaos Harpy forces in the other cities of the SSS moving out en-masse may actually prove useful for us. By making Negite their sole target, Chaos control in the other six will become less strict and will in turn allow the locals to rise up and eliminate whatever enemy soldiers are left in those places. From there they’ll be able to form their own rebel forces and follow the enemy armies to here. The villains will think they’ve hammered us from the north and the south, but in truth we will be the ones to hammer them.’

Osinth was the first to agree with the proposal Negite’s Master had made.

‘I see. You’re counting on the fact that even if they receive word the rest of the SSS have rebelled, the Chaos Harpies will be so focused on following their queen’s orders to keep us in Negite that they won’t bother to send reinforcements to their comrades in the other six cities. The almeyas there will thus be free to come to our aid and with their help we will successfully push back the Chaos Harpies of the New South and escape Almeya before Loagri and her troops reach us.’

‘No. We’re done running.’ – the fortitude of Elgo’s words drew everyone’s attention to him, the herkleri prince’s face exuding even more determination than his voice, so much so that even Urilin was impressed this time – ‘From this day forward the servants of Chaos will have to run from us. To escape the fury of our vengeance.’ – Elgo now singled out Osinth among the council members with his gaze – ‘We used a portal in the mountains beyond Negite to bring in the herkleri rebels that fought beside my royal guard here. The refuge they came from is home to many more of my race and the ones there can contact our allies in different corners of Yut. Moreover, we can send envoys to other parts of Almeya as well to tell the people of our victory here and that we need their help now more than ever.

With the combined strength of herkleri and almeyas, we can do more than survive. We can achieve something that hasn’t been done in Yut for over 300 years – fully free a world from Chaos’ grip. And I say that is exactly what we should do.’

Everyone seemed to have been inspired by the boy prince, Urilin preparing to speak first in the aftermath of his announcement, but stopping just as swiftly when she saw Bara was going to say something as well.

‘It appears we’ll have to postpone the victory celebration until all of Almeya is freed.’

‘There’s another obstacle on our path to that celebration as well. Every single one of our enemies will be airborne. Some may come down to a lower altitude to attack us, but they still have the advantage of long-distance attacks with their wind magic. It’s not as if we have an infinite amount of arrows to shoot them down to the ground with and I see no other way for us to fight them on even terms.’

‘Not to worry, Lady Urilin.’ – Tiar who had been making a separate plan in his head now joined the discussion again – ‘I may have a solution to both the problems you and Bara mentioned.’

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