Part 2 - Drums of War

  “The Gods weave their Will into the fabric of Their Creation, shaping reality into a tapestry of Their own Grand Design. The luckiest of mortals are granted glimpses of The Great Plan. The unluckiest are given roles in a play that has spanned eternities. These unfortunate few burn blindingly bright, but far too quickly and painfully so… This is how a Holy Martyr is born.” - Part of an answer to the mid-terms exam for the module on "Advanced Religious Studies for Civilian Scholars”, by Student Kuon Feeir, KUO274021097334283LDX, Social Studies Tower, Year 5, The White Towers University (TWT-U7-GX75T9) - 14th of [ERROR], Year [ERROR]

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  “So, on a scale from zero to let’s jump down this tree and save ourselves the trouble, how bad is it?”

  Nar, like everyone else on that line by the edge of the wooden altar, pulled his eyes from the beam of green light in the distance to stare at Jaz.

  “Right… my bad,” the archer muttered.

  Row squeezed his shoulder. “Go on and check on the injured, will you? See if you can help Jasphaer and Leta.”

  Jaz nodded and stumbled away; his head hung low.

  Nar took a deep, but discreet inhale. At his side, Sej, biting her nail with a lost, wide-eyed stare at that beam of light, did not inspire much confidence either.

  “Why don’t you take a break too,” Sarke said, gently turning Sej towards the stairs. “I’ll answer their questions.”

  “But—”

  “I’ll be okay, Sej. We all will,” the reptilian guide said, pushing Sej away. “Go eat something. I’ll be there soon.”

  Once the distraught, blue skinned guide was out of normal earshot, Sarke offered Kur, Row, Leon, Calli and Nar a slight bow. The rest of the domain party were all either down for the count or trying to help the injured.

  The fight against Silver Fists and his matriarchs had not been won without price, and they were down sixty percent of their fighting capabilities for the next two or three days. It looked as though they continued to defy Kur’s much dreaded statistics, but staring out at that green beam of light, Nar wondered if their luck was about to finally run out.

  “I apologize for her behavior. She’s just worried for me,” Sarke said. “This situation is covered in our contract with Tsurmirel, and as such, we will continue to perform our duties to the best of our ability.”

  “It’s… fine, Sarke, don’t worry. And rather than contracts and whatnot, I’d rather if we could just help each other get out of here alive,” Kur said.

  The guide considered him for a moment, her turquoise eyes glowing emerald from that distant beam of light.

  “Very well. I’d appreciate that too,” she said.

  Kur nodded.

  “Then… Me and Row read a bit about this war, but Tsurmirel was stingy and the information was limited. I’m sure the aethermancers have done a much more thorough preparation, but I think that you guys, like us, would rather if an expert gave us the full details,” Kur said, eyeing Leon and Calli.

  “Please,” Calli said, nodding at Sarke. “I think it’s best to proceed as though we don’t know anything.”

  “That is probably the best approach,” the guide said, and passed a hand over her scaly scalp. “Then, I think the first thing you need to know is that a lot of people are about to die. Maybe even amongst us.”

  A ripple of unease spread around her.

  “Unavoidable?” Leon asked.

  “Unavoidable,” their guide said. “This is not a fight. This is a war. We’re about to lay siege to the lands of the Atlatl in order to get the Heart back and survive.”

  Siege, Nar thought. The word alone carried weight in his mind, invoking deadly contraptions, untold numbers, and sudden death and chaos unleashed in the press of bodies.

  “We will need to storm the Gate of the Golden Skulls, and then, to survive the Endless Climb in order to first reach the Lands of the Atlatl,” Sarke said, and Nar thought he caught a discrete gulp from the guide. “These will be heavily defended, and we will pay our advance in blood. Then, we will need to cross the jungle in order to reach the capital of the Atlatl, the City of Gold. During the War Quest, the city triples in size, its walls and towers soaring to form nigh impregnable defenses… But before we even reach there, we need to cross the jungle, and face all the garrisons, fortresses, and guerrilla warfare of the Atlatl…”

  “Azzin,” Calli whispered.

  “And before we can even storm the Gate, we will need to capture the Jungle of Divide, and the Monarch Trees for their sap…” Sarke said, her voice lowering to almost a hush. “I’ve been stationed here for seven years, and while I’ve never participated in the War Quest, the stories are chilling. It will be an accomplishment to even reach the city with our forces somewhat intact,” Sarke continued. “The Atlatl forces will be brutal, efficient and level 70. Plus, they love taming dinosaurs, so we’ll have to reckon with their great war beasts as well.”

  “This keeps getting better and better,” Leon muttered.

  “To make matters even worse, our allies, the Illum, will be weakened, starved and demoralized after months of losing ground to the Atlatl. We will have to protect and bolster them first, if they are to become useful allies in this war,” Sarke said. “To make it… further worse, our own forces are split between the Scimitar’s apprentices and the two guilds that had to put a pause on their War Quest.”

  “And they will not be happy with us,” Row muttered. “They’ll suspect Tsurmirel stole their War Quest.”

  “And neither are the apprentices united under a single faction,” Kur mused, rubbing his chin. “Damn.”

  Leon snorted. “Maybe Jaz was right? Does anyone want to jump first?”

  Calli slapped his shoulder.

  “Don’t joke about that kind of stuff!”

  “He has a point,” Kur said, sighing. “Our side will only win if we unite, and if we have a capable leader to command us.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Leon said.

  “What? The Pile I will!”

  “I agree with Leon, but, let’s deal with that later,” Row said. “Anything more about this killer ritual?”

  “The Atlatl will take prisoners… Every Illum they sacrifice upon their altars will speed up the ritual. Every delver they sacrifice will speed it even more,” Sarke said, grimacing. “Captives will be tortured first. For maximum effect.”

  “Of course they will,” Nar said, his eyes dark and still focused on the glowing green clouds in the distance.

  “The Heart will be held by the King of the Atlatl himself, and we need to kill him to take it back before the ritual is complete,” Sarke said.

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  “And I bet he’s going to be insanely strong and well protected?” Calli asked.

  Sarke nodded. “If we survive, you can expect our casualties to range from twenty to thirty percent.”

  “That high?” Kur shouted.

  “This is the best-case scenario… The War Quest is not usually this deadly, but none of us here are prepared to fight it. So, it will get far worse for us. Especially if we end up with poor leadership.”

  The paladin passed his hands over his face.

  “We’re fucked,” he said. “As optimistic as you want to be, we’re fucked.”

  “Leon…”

  “I’ve seen sieges before, and we aren’t ready for it!” the paladin said. “And this isn’t just a series of sieges. This is a campaign. It takes months of preparation alone to set up and decide the supply chains, chains of command, the strategies, the units, the plans, the backups, how and where to set up camp, how to move, how to communicate, the objectives, the-the—A hundred other things!”

  Kur eyed him.

  “I’m not panicking, but I don’t trust anybody else to lead this but you!” he told Kur.

  “Why? I’ve never done a campaign before! I’m just as lost here!” Kur said. “And why can’t we let the guilds lead this?”

  “They’d throw us to the meat grinder, and you know it,” Calli said.

  “And I for one don’t trust that Juf of yours!” Leon said.

  “Dak can do it! He—”

  “He won’t want it,” Row whispered. “And you know it.”

  “But—”

  Nar passed an arm over Kur’s shoulders, and brought him in close.

  “When you have options, you can hesitate. We don’t have them,” he told his wide-eyed party leader. “It’s either do, or don’t. And do you really want somebody else issuing us orders? Isn’t that worse than what you fear?”

  Before Kur could speak, a window opened.

  “Well, there’s that at least,” Leon said. “Between killing one of the Lords of the Jungle and Mach’s spirit rewarding us, it should be good.”

  Kur nodded to himself.

  “We should prioritize you, Nar and Eum. I have a feeling that your gains are going to be a cut above ours, and the faster you guys are upgraded and ready to fight, the better it will be for us.”

  “Me and Eum will go first then. We’re emptied, but we’ll recover aether even while we sleep, and Era can speed that up too. But Nar needs to meditate, and help watch over camp while Gad and Tun recover,” Leon said.

  “Sounds good.”

  “Then, let’s get to it,” Leon said, glancing at the green lit horizon. “The faster we’re on our feet, the faster we get to that shrine before anyone does something stupid.”

  **********

  A tap interrupted Nar’s meditation late that night. Morning would come in just a couple of hours.

  “Your turn,” Kur said. “Get those gains and get up and fighting as soon as possible. We’re going to need everything we’ve got to get out of here in one piece.”

  “Will do,” Nar said. “And Kur, you, more than any of us, has the capacity to make that happen. So think about it.”

  Kur clenched his jaw, but he offered Nar a nod.

  “Go on, we’ll watch over you.”

  Darkness took him before he could fully register the enormous gains he’d made, but one word stood out in that window the most.

  Indomitable.

  **********

  A few steps away, stirring a pot of tree barnacles that Sej had gathered nearby, Row gasped.

  “Holy fucking gods!” she breathed, drawing Rel, Cor and Cen’s attention. “What the fuck are these gains?”

  Rel at her side, eyed Nar’s status with dark eyes.

  “This is the result of endless pain, torture, and willpower,” Rel said. “It is all earned.”

  “So this is the kind of path he’s building,” Cor whispered. “This will make him unstoppable!”

  “No,” Cen said, reading through Nar’s new skills. “This is just the beginning of what’s to come.”

  **********

  “Damn…” Leon whispered.

  His face shone a deep blue and purple as beside him, Eum, Mach, Medis, Calli and Era slept within Era’s sleep regenerative skill.

  I was right, Leon thought as he read through Nar’s gains. You really are something special, aren’t you? All the more reason why I need you by my side.

  The rope holding them all had stretched, and stretched, and soon, it would snap.

  When he did, Leon had to hope that all his hard work would pay off, and that together with all the allies he’d accumulated, that it would prove enough.

  But having Nar with him would make it all so much simpler.

  He had to get him.

  **********

  Kur stood alone upon the altar, staring out across the canopies of green and silver now muted by that distant, brilliant emerald.

  His party deserved better.

  Row, who had entrusted her party to him, also deserved better.

  And someone of Nar’s caliber deserved an equally strong leader. More than that, Nar needed someone that could continue to take him to higher and higher heights.

  Kur glanced down at his own hands.

  Clean.

  But not for long.

  Not if he really took command of this campaign, and sent off hundreds to die.

  Is that what it means to lead? he asked himself.

  His [Worthiness] in the triple ring still showed zero, and perhaps it wouldn’t change until he knew the answer to that question. And accepted it.