[TFW] Chapter 377 - Turning Of The Wheel

Note :

Today really hasn't gone like I expected it to. Like, at all. I realized that I am late posting this so I'll put it up. Maybe expound upon it later/in the next chapter.

I made an actual collection for book 10 of TFW and book 2 of MFR, hopefully it'll update correctly and not break down whenever I upload a new chapter.

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter ! I decided to throw in some events that were supposed to happen later, and speed things up a bit. It's time to kick this thing into...well, not overdrive, but at least into gear !

Chapter 377

Western Wilderlands, Elkis Republic

City of Mystral

Coledar, general of the of the New Republic Army, rode into the town.

All around him, he saw hopeful eyes. People, throngs of people, lining the streets, only held back by unarmed soldiers in the uniform of the Republic's army. His uniform. Just with the patch of the senate still on their shoulder.

He had told them they would be allowed to retain their weapons, but they had refused. For the past three hours, one by one, the defenders of the city had tossed their weapons down, forming a veritable hill of steel before his army.

But there were no cheers. Just a sense of...expectation.

The commander of the garrison hadn't told him why he must head to the center of the town. 'City', however official the title was, didn't truly befit this place. Only that he must, and that he would be perfectly safe.

He trusted in the commander's surrender, and their word, but he was still accompanied by a large group of bodyguards, and an 'honor guard' a thousand strong, the Ignis battalion. They may be perpetually understrength due to their staggering losses, but they got volunteers almost as fast as they lost people, and if anyone could get him out of an ambush, or an attack by senate fanatics, it was them.

At last they neared the market square. Mystral was the heart of the western wildlands of the Republic. The newly life bearing areas whose conquest and incorporations had enabled it to survive the spectacular debacle of the Far Reach.

There was a life, an energy to it, that was hard to find anywhere else. He had never been in Rebirth, perhaps never would visit the city that he would most likely call capital soon, but he had heard from Malcom that it had the same feel.

It wasn't like the stale heartlands of the Republic. Slowly decaying, stewing in its own past glory. This place, this people, had a will, a hunger. Not to pillage, to take, or to fatten, but to create.

Amelia had been right to send him here. Yes, the strategic situation had dictated it. If this town was taken, it would cut off the Five Sisters, the fortresses that locked the border with the Far Reach, and would cause the western wildlands as a whole to fall to the New Republic.

But the future of their nation was here. In these people. He could almost taste it. Their artists, their scientists. Their poets, their engineers and their mathematicians.

They wouldn't balk at what Crystal and Allya were bringing. They would seize those wonders and run right besides them.

The crowd packing the market square parted before him as he arrived into it.

Five people waited for him at the center. Each was dressed in the same uniform he was, just...changed, slightly. A unique emblem on their breastplate, and a brightly colored feather attached to their shoulders, almost covering the rank insignia of a commander.

And each had a sword in their hand.

Coledar stopped his horse, and dismounted.

Everyone stared at him as he walked up to the five officers. Each looked like they'd had one hell of a story to tell. One, he was almost certain, was suffering from the weakness that accompanied resurrection.

The Five Sisters had teleporters linking to Mystral. No journey would have inflicted this to them.

He stopped before them, and at once, they tossed their swords down at his feet.

He looked down at the blades, then seized by an impulse, he stepped forward, grabbed the shoulder of the centermost officer, and tore the senate patch from his uniform, tossing it to the ground and crushing it underneath his heel.

"Welcome home." Said the general, before saluting the fortress commander.

The commander saluted back.

"Good to be back sir. What are your orders?"

There was a pause. Not a sound could be heard.

Coledar raised his voice, using all that he had learned on the battlefield, bellowing orders, to have his words echo throughout the entire market square.

"Open the gates to the mountainfolk. Vacate the holds, and gather your men here. Then...then we shall march east. To Elkis!"

The entire market square devolved into cheers. The soldiers didn't just fail to hold back the crowd, they joined them, tearing the senate patches from their uniforms and crushing them underneath their own boots.

Mystral, and the Five Sisters had been liberated. The western wildlands would now fly the flag of the New Republic.

And soon, the flag of Rebirth.

Now to take the heart.

*****

Allya set the communication crystal down, and drummed her fingers on the desk.

The advantage of having the New Republic de facto swear loyalty to her, or at least try to, was that there no longer was a sharing agreement between them. Their intelligence branch just flat out reported in to Trira.

And through her, Allya.

The New Republic could march on Elkis now. In theory, at least. Divide and conquer was all well and good, but it wasn't necessarily a good idea against fortified positions. Elkis wasn't the insane stronghold that Pavrow was, but it was still the fifth largest city on the entire continent, with defenses to match. The senate may have been corrupt, but it wasn't about to leave itself wide open to an attack.

They couldn't recall the troops at the border with Tark. Not with Amelia's third army moving into Eternity from Gorromar. With the army groups there gone, her forces could sweep in and allow the Hegemony in.

With the brands broken, and Gorromar having put them under a military trade embargo, the senate was out of options.

Now to see which way they'd jump.

Allya sighed, leaning back into her seat.

She didn't hate this kind of grand strategy, getting into the head of your enemies and predicting their moves, but damn it Alexandra was ten times better at it than she was.

Tomorrow, the delegates from the Kingdom would arrive. It was actually fairly limited, the royal magistrate from Darthar and a couple of other dignitaries. While they were still in contact with the capital, the road between it and Rebirth wasn't secure. CQ's raiding unit was still hunting down the remnants of the supply convoys, some of which had managed to survive the slaughter, and that was to say nothing of the mines and unexploded ordnance left behind.

Besides which, that magistrate had made her Archduchess. He had all the power and gravitas needed.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Yes?"

It swung open, and Éclair stepped through, her gunblade drawn, a couple of city guards in tow, visibly relaxing as they saw her.

Allya sat up, alarmed.

"What happened?"

"An assassin was found, milady."

The archduchess' eyes went wide.

Simultaneously, she hit a button underneath her desk.

On the mesa fortress, gun lockers were thrown open and railguns brought out.

"Pyn?"

"No milady. They tried to kill Anders."

"Take me to him. Now."

*****

To say that the guard post was a mess would be a considerable understatement.

It looked like a war zone. Or one of Alexandra's prototype testing grounds.

Bodies, mostly golems, littered the place, and the wounded were being tended to by healers. A necromancer scuttled through, setting up around one of the human bodies, and Allya's eyebrow rose.

"Not soul sealed?"

The necromancer gazed over his shoulder at her, and she recognized him with a start. Hadn't he talked to her a long time ago?

Right. When Myskaros was assassinated. He said he was an animancer and enchanter as well as a necromancer, and had come here to study the golems.

"None of them, apparently." He sighed in relief. "Which is a great boon."

"No doubt." And unusual. The Republic never gave a shit about limiting collateral damage. None of her enemies had. This was something new. "Carry on, Elervir."

He seemed to start at the mention of his name, and stared at her, wide eyed. They probably hadn't talked to each other in over a year, and he was no doubt floored she even remember his face, let alone his freaking name.

She smiled encouragingly, and walked further in.

The fight had been short, intense, and clearly unexpected. The assailant had been a sorcerer. Lots of artifacts and powerful spells locked in equipment and scrolls for an incredible, but short lived burst of mayhem. Probably meant to overwhelm everyone while they made their way to their target and took them out.

But they'd been found out too soon, and the guard post had responded far too quickly. Instead of flying in a panic, they'd responded like a well oiled machine, probably thanks to Trira's training and Alexandra's golems.

She entered the heart of the post, no less than six heavily armed guards parting before her, and her eyebrows rose as she took in the scene.

There were four more bodies. One was a guard officer. Two were Alexandra's newer golems.

The last one was pinned to the wall, Ander's sword rammed through its head and the wall behind it, only a few centimeters of the blade remaining visible before reaching the hilt.

Identifying if it had been a he or a she was pointless. The guards had emptied their magazines into it. And not all of it was before it was pinned to the wall.

Anders was sitting on a table in the center of the room, a healer fussing over what was left of his left arm.

"Are you okay Anders?"

He looked up, and smiled.

"I'll live. You should see the other guy."

"I did. Not much left. Who...what the fuck were they?"

The guard commander gritted his teeth as the healer began incanting, and his flesh started to regrow.

"Sorcerer." He spat out. "Not just a user, either. Too familiar with the spells."

Allya nodded. You could have a sorcerer outfit someone, but there was a familiarity with magic you made that nothing else could replicate. And in an assassination, a split second was all the difference between a successful kill and a miss. It's why she made her own charms for her kunais, the little scrolls wrapped around the handles for an added punch after hitting the target.

Though, of course now her charms weren't just a flame spell anymore, but a full scale fireball.

And the kunais were unholy mythril abominations from Alexandra's forges with the same enchantments as her special Mackie mark 2 armor piercing rounds. She could trigger one, and drop it through a whole spider tank. No need to throw, gravity alone would suffice.

In combination, they turned her kunais into armor piercing explosive warheads to rival airship shells, and Alexandra was already in the process of adapting the idea for her own military projects. Which was fucking terrifying, to say the least.

"Well. We have a new enemy."

"Senate's got sorcs."

Allya snorted.

"They do. But this isn't their modus operandi. Your people weren't soul sealed, and they never send lone wolves. Sunrise's down, and even then, not their style. Also, why attack you? No, this is something else."

Anders nodded at her words.

"Also they didn't attack the dungeon, I guess. Kind of a hallmark of the Republic making a pass at you before."

"No, they haven't."

She'd warned Alexandra, of course, but she needn't have worried.

With her relative here, security was at an all time high, and she'd dispatched a platoon of her new Advanced Combat Units to accompany her.

Anyone attacking the dungeon would have a very, very nasty surprise.

Anders panted from the pain as his arm finished regenerating, before nodding in thanks at the healer as they finished their job.

"Thanks, doc."

"Anytime, commander." Answered a soft, feminine voice, and the woman left the room, clearly realizing that what was about to be said was way, way above her paygrade.

"Any ideas?" Said Allya, and the commander hopped off the table, walking to the body.

"I have one. And it answers why I was targeted."

"Oh?"

He looked around.

"Are we secure?"

Allya tapped the collection of crystals and baubles on her belt.

It wasn't Alexandra's insane high tech solutions, but money and reputation could buy you a lot. Or, in this case, the best divination disruption Gorromar had to offer.

"Reasonably."

The commander seemed to deflate.

"It's the Sapphire Kingdom. If they kill me, the Far Reach might pull out of the summit."

"Ah."

Shit.

Well, she supposed it was inevitable. She had, after all, pointedly not invited them.

Poor bastards probably figured they were on the menu.

Which...they might be. Alexandra was making some noises towards that, despite earlier being keener on finding a way to have them step aside.

"Let's call an emergency council session." Said the archduchess. "This needs some discussion."

"I'll go grab a fresh outfit."

"You do that. I need to consult some people."

Namely, Alexandra.

But Anders knew that.

He simply nodded, and left, as she turned around.

"Make sure, certain that my wife is secure." She said to one of her bodyguards. "And triple the protection details of every council members. Ask Crystal for reinforcements if we don't have enough men."

The guardsman -actually, one of the royal knights that had been put under her- nodded, and took off.

The part about Pyn was superfluous. The guard detail would be useless compared to the high tech troops in the mesa fortress, but it's what any enemy watching would expect of her.

Because there was another possibility to this. That it was a probing attack. Meant to provoke a reaction, maybe even towards the Sapphire Kingdom.

Unfortunately for them, assassination was her domain. If they wanted to play that game, they were going to have to bring bigger guns.

Far bigger guns.