AO 5 Ch 11

Chapter 11

"So, what do you think?" I said, trying not to bias my anchors. After explaining the general's plan, I found myself sitting with my four anchors around a fire pit. Night had fallen on the fort and with its few occupants it was eerily quiet for how large the structure next to me was. I knew that one of the others around could be spying on us, but I ignored that and just focused on our group.

Zuri gave me an appreciative look. “I know we all swore Ard’s oath, but it still amazes me to see you prove that as you ask our opinion.”

Emlyn chimed in, "He's giving us the option. He's also not telling us several things." She gave me a look.

I rolled my eyes. "If I don't volunteer, the general then has to send the message back to House Aldous to requisition me for the role, which he thinks will likely be too late to actually sneak behind Garrish lines. I’m trying not to sway your opinions.”

Emlyn nodded. “I don't know if that's so much part of the decision that we're discussing here.”

“The question that brings is, do we say yes or do we say no and still likely end up going?” Aurelia clarified. "Is it possible Ard’s mother refuses?" The Virel glanced over at Zuri. "I'm not as familiar with these sorts of operations. How much risk is Ard actually putting himself in?"

Zuri tilted her head and opened her eyes wide with a strange expression as if she’d been asked an impossible question. "There's no way to really put a number on it," she said. "Of all of us here, the only one with any actual spy training is the one who's not going to voice her opinion." Zuri gestured at Maribelle, who was quietly folding some of the clothes we had acquired from the supply caravan.

"Whatever Ard thinks is the best option will be my decision as well," Maribelle continued to fold. "He gets my vote."

I held my hands up in surrender just before Emlyn shot me a glare. "I'm giving her an equal part of this conversation. It's just that her equal part happens to be ceding to me." 

Emlyn's glare died as a sigh came past her lips. "Ard, this is a big decision." Emlyn shifted nervously.

"Yeah, I am aware. Hence my first response to the general was to come talk to my anchors. Look," I gestured at all four of them, "this is dangerous. However, in the two days I’ve been truly at war, I've watched an incredible number of people die. My previous desire to stay out of the war is now fighting with the knowledge that the longer this goes, the more death will occur. It's simply..." I made a gross expression. "It's like a meat grinder. It doesn't matter who or what, but both of our forces... The mages, the anchors, they're not going to die that easily. And instead, all of these normal people are used as fodder." I said. "Think about the caravan group now operating as makeshift soldiers. Some of these people on the wall might as well be dogs, just there to bark when something comes along."

"That's not very kind to your soldiers," Aurelia said.

I raised my hands in the air. "But it's true. Think about the game keeps and mages. All of the points are earned when a player captures the enemy mages or keeps theirs alive. Keeping all the fodder alive is a mere trickle of points. Heck, I would even go as far to say that most of the time, trying to protect the soldiers is a losing strategy. That's why I'm so fucking bad at the game."

Zuri waffled her head back and forth, not disagreeing with me, but not openly admitting I was right. "This is the way of war. War is a very messy thing, Ard. Some pieces are worth more than others."

I rolled my eyes. "Clearly, it's quite gruesome. And we have an opportunity to sneak past and finish the game. Rather than the borders of Avente and Garrish continue to grind up all of our lives. Look, the village I came from, there was a massive gap. You had some teenagers, a couple kids, and then you had everyone in their 40s or older. This war has already done so much damage. There will practically be a missing generation from our country."

"So you want to go," Emlyn stated, more so than asked. 

"I want to be a part of stopping it, yes," I agreed with her. "But not if," I gestured at all of them, "it goes against your wishes. It's dangerous, and I need you all to accept the risk. If we are to go as anchors and mages, I'm sure as shit not going without all of you. So it doesn't matter how many votes I get, this needs to be unanimous." I said, looking out over my anchors. I was unwilling to lose a single one. This was an obvious risk, but if we were going to go, we were going to go and take the risk together. 

Zuri nodded. "My grandfather believes this is the correct path. He would not so casually use Ard. Besides, I think it would be good for us to get out of the kingdom, at least for now." 

I frowned at her.

"The king could retaliate against you. The first prince is probably unlikely to. But after Carmilla's death, I think they would be interested in any reason to cut off the growing shoots of the Aldous family." Zuri explained.

I wrinkled my nose at that, but had to agree it was a likely reality. "Alright, Zuri wants to go." I glanced at Maribel, who nodded with me. "Her too. Alright. Emlyn, Aurelia." 

Aurelia was polishing her battleaxe. Though she'd been polishing the same spot for long enough to know, it was more of a nervous tick than actually taking care of her weapon. 

"I don't want to lose you," Aurelia said, staring at the shine of her battleaxe as the fire gleamed off of it. "Part of me wants to say that we shouldn't go. We should stay at the fort. We should take a safe job." She continued polishing the axe, even though I could see an inverted image of the fire clear as day. 

"So," she hesitated, “At the same time, I have to agree with Ard. This war's claiming many lives. Even if we stay at the fort," she gestured over towards the paths where we knew it was obliterated, and then towards the mountains that we had chased Colin into, "we're fighting things that don't guarantee the safety of anyone. If we stay here, we're locking ourselves on the defensive, and that's not my strength," Aurelia said. "I would prefer to be on the offensive. Which it sounds, if we go into enemy territory, we'll be where we're focused." 

The grin spread across my face. "Exactly. I think that's part of it. Sitting in the fort would be..." I struggled for the right word. 

"Tedious. Fort life wears on everyone," Zuri finished for me. 

Now that left one final person to help make our decision. All eyes fell on Emlyn. 

"Of course you make me go fucking last," Emlyn grumbled before throwing her hands up in the air. "If everyone else agrees, I'm not going to disagree." 

"Oh, don't let peer pressure get you, Emlyn," I said. 

"What am I supposed to do? If I say no, we just don't go?" She asked, her brows pinching down in suspicion.

"Exactly. If you say no, I will respect Ard's oath to you. And we won't go." 

Emlyn squinted at me and I could see the wheels turning in her head.

"Do you want to say no just to get control?” I asked, knowing Emlyn better than she did herself at times.

“Can I?" Emlyn whispered. 

"Go ahead." I motioned for her to get it over with.

"All right. I don't want to go.” Emlyn said evenly.

I jumped to my feet. “That's it. That's final." I crossed my arms in front of me. "We won't go. There." I dusted off my hands as if the matter was closed. 

"Wait, wait, wait," Emlyn waved. "Sit back down. I just wanted that," she gestured at me, "that if I say no, we don't go and I wanted to know that." 

I nodded at her. I understood Emlyn's strangeness and that having the option to say no needed to be there for her and she needed to feel like she could exercise it to truly make a decision.

It wasn’t just her. The other anchors all had a thoughtful expression when I quickly accepted Emlyn’s ‘no’.

She leaned back and stared up at the sky. "Part of me wants to go kill whatever crappy king made Colin. Made the other weird corrupted. Part of me wants to go and just put an end to this whole ordeal that killed Zuri's parents." Then she glanced at me. "We go only if Ard can swear on his life that he will listen to the people who know how to do this and Ard doesn't go off and do something stupid that gets him killed." 

I could almost hear Maribel's smile and turned to her. "Sir, I will make sure that you survive this." 

Emlyn nodded and held a hand out to Maribel. The two of them shook. "Good. Then I agree. Let's fucking go."

"Zuri, if you would,” I glanced at my anchor. “Go find the general and tell him that I will volunteer for his little plan. Maybe on the way back, if you spot Lord Valken and Eva, you can invite them over to our little campfire." Zuri nodded sharply and got up, marching away into the night. I glanced back at the rest of my anchors. "Thank you all. Emlyn, how is Zuri doing?"

"You mean, how is she dealing with her parents' death? She's completely compartmentalizing it. I'm a little worried she's going to wind herself too tight."

"Good thing we might have some people she can be violent on," I said. "But noted. Do you think if we find someone who's related to the war that she can keep her cool?"

Emlyn's brows pinched down in thought. "I think so. Zuri is usually incredibly level-headed and logical."

"Yes, because level-headedness and logicalness is absolutely going to come through when the emotions of your recently dead parents come to the surface."

"You know what I mean, Ard. I think she'll be okay. She just needs time and maybe a good outlet or two."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Or two. Maybe three. You can do all the holes if you want, Ard." Emlyn said drly.

I blinked. "Wait. You think she needs..."

"Yes, Ard, do I need to spell it out for you?" Emlyn interrupted me. 

"Nope, nope, that's fine, yeah, I'm on the same page now."

"Well good, because it sounds like we're going to be busy, so tonight would be a good time."

I rubbed my forehead. "You can't just spring this on me, Emlyn."

"No, should I just let you pounce on her?" There was a giant grin on Emlyn's face.

I rolled my eyes. "While I'm happy we can have this amusement instead of talking about going on a daring mission."

Emlyn shrugged. Her blue eyes shined, illuminated by the fire. "That's because we'll be fine, Ard. Though it does beg another question." She glanced at Aurelia. "If we're going to go and it's going to be as dangerous as we think it is, perhaps we should take precautions?"

Aurelia nodded in understanding. "I know what you're asking." She hesitated and glanced at me. "I'm unsure if I'm ready. Don't get it wrong, Ard."

I waved my hands in the air. "There's no need for excuses. You can be ready when you're ready and not a second before."

"No, I am committed to you as my mage. This new reality that I could bond with you to the point that you have control of my soul is insanity."

I nodded along with her. "It's absolute insanity. Watch." I put a hand on Maribelle’s shoulder before I snapped my fingers and Maribelle went slack like a marionette with its strings cut, only for me to stuff her right back in. She grumbled something under her breath, pushing herself back up straight and fussing with the shirt that she had dropped mid-folding. 

"You see? It's not okay to give someone control like that. It's also not okay for you to do that, Ard," Emlyn said. "You will not do that to me."

Aurelia was watching with wide eyes. "You could just…” 

“Yeah. Do you want to see me swap them?" I said. 

Emlyn's eyes went giant. "Not on your life. I will wake up in Maribelle's body and I will strangle you." 

I gave her a giant grin, one that both said, 'I will never do it, but if I did do it, it would be incredible’. "You see, Aurelia, Emlyn has complete faith in me that now that she said not to do it, that I won't do it, even though I absolutely could do it. And I will reward that faith as much as I can. I don't want to lose you or Zuri, and the only reason I'm letting this be a conversation is because I can do something to ensure I don't lose either of you. At the same time, I'm sorry that it's part of the conversation. I'm sorry that being my anchor is going to bring you all in this much danger."

Aurelia scoffed. That scoff then grew into a full-bellied laugh as she threw her head back, her red hair dancing in the night.

"What's so funny?" I hadn’t even gotten to my best jokes yet.

“Ard,” Emlyn said, exasperated. "Aurelia is a Virel. They grow up living to hunt monsters. It means her childhood dreams are cutting the head off a wyrm. Danger and the thought of dying probably only gets her jollies off." 

I gasped and turned to Aurelia. "Is that true?"

"I do not get off on danger, but it's a very accepted part of my life.”

“Think about it this way. You can kill the monsters this way, and not die. The two-per."

Aurelia smirked. "That sounds nice. I still need to think about it."

"Of course, you'll be ready when you're ready, and not a second before. However, when you are ready, feel free to let me know."

Our banter had lasted long enough that Zuri was already returning, Uncle Valken and Eva in tow. Uncle Valken was an older man, appearing to be in his 60s with what little hair he had gone white. Yet, he didn't possess the frailness of a 60-year-old. Instead, he had a lithe, athletic form that moved with confidence. He wasn't an overly tall man, but he looked tall standing next to Eva. 

Eva came up about the same height as Maribel, only her form was far less voluptuous. Then again, Maribelle's was ridiculously so. Unless you're an anchor able to heal your body with life magic and reinforce it, I would not recommend anyone to have a chest Maribelle's size or you'd be in for a world of pain throughout your entire life. Maribelle had even had her body particularly modified for her own purposes. 

Anyway, I focused back on the present, not letting Maribelle's chest distract me once again. They were incredibly distracting. 

"Ard," Eva said, coming in and sitting down. Zuri brought his back and I saw she had talked with the general. "I assume that means you made up your mind." 

I glanced at the Vel’shae. “Okay, she's talking like she's coming with.”

"She will be," Uncle Valken said. "All of the Royal line are taught a fair amount of spy craft. You never know diplomatically when you need an extra spy and it would be a shame if the Royal family didn't know how to handle themselves in that situation." 

My mouth made a large 'o', my brows rose up, trying to touch my hairline. "Oh, that makes sense. That makes more sense than I expected. All right, so even though some, you know, some, Maribelle here is a trained spy and assassin." 

I glanced at Aurelia and Emlyn. "They didn't have spy craft and basic anchor training, did they?" 

"No, Ard, they did not. You aren't completely alone on this," Emlyn said. 

I let out a breath and wiped my brow. I was really worried that here for a moment I would be surrounded by a bunch of experts. Meanwhile, I knew absolutely nothing about what we were doing. It's not like that's my daily life. 

Eva cracked a smile and started chuckling. At least I got one laugh. This was going to be a significant challenge for me. Being a stealthy spy didn't really feel like it was in my natural wheelhouse. 

"There is good news, though," Eva said. "You'll actually be able to blend in very well. It's not like we have to untrain noble poise from you." 

I gasped and put a hand on my chest, only for Emlyn to wave for me to shut up and let her finish. 

"As I was saying, we don't have to untrain regal poise from you. And there's some methods of spycraft where it's really just about talking." 

"Oh," I perked up. "I like this. I can do that one." 

"I thought you might like that," Eva said. "Because walking around in the shadows and being flighty makes for being a terrible spy. You have to blend in, chat up random people, and seem like part of the greater whole. Sometimes at night it's far easier to spot someone wearing black than it is someone wearing brown." 

I nodded along with her. "That makes perfect sense. Perfect sense. All right, so, don't wear black. Got it. Good thing most of my outfits are blue nowadays. And then second, talk to everyone and make everyone like me, which I am incredible at." 

"You are not incredible at that," Emlyn said. "Half the people in the village thought you were annoying." 

"Yeah, and that's how I get along with people. They think I'm annoying. Then I am annoying. And because expectations are matching reality, we get along perfectly." 

Emlyn turned to the other anchors and gestured at me as if to say, 'this is what I dealt with my whole life.' 

"Love you too, Emlyn. So, spycraft. Oh, this is going to be exciting." I rubbed my hands together. "Spycraft where I get to talk a lot." 

Eva glanced at Lord Valken. "This may have been a terrible idea." 

"It may have been, but I think it's already too late. The general has his heart set on sending us through the breach in both of our lines and getting Ard here deep into Garrish territory." 

I bobbed my head. "Is there like an existing network?" 

"There is," Uncle Valken said. "I have several contacts from Zenovia that we can use to get started. And the general will discuss some with you as well." 

I squinted, a thought occurring to me. "Will the Avente royal family be aware of this operation?" 

Uncle Valken snorted. "No, considering it includes a member of the Zenovian royal family, they will not. We will, however, be getting some instruction from General Trevis, as well as several ways to contact Avente agents. Now, if those agents report back correctly, there is a chance that our presence could be known to the royal family. However, it is my hope that even to those agents, we remain cloaked."