SB: Chapter 220 – Interlude 28

AN: I am going to 2 chapters/day for Spellblade for a while. I still owe 4 more chapters. This will impact the free release as well. I need to build up a backlog so I am less stressed. I can't say how long this will last, but I will say indefinitely. I apologize, if some of you were expecting 4/day for a longer period of time. But with multiple stories, family stuff, doctor's appointments, it is wearing me down. I can do more, but that is when nothing else is going on. If family stuff comes up or a doctor's appointment, like the last couple of days, it is way too stressful.

I want to stick to a consistent release schedule. I don't like my current release schedule, since there is too much stress. Riding the lightning, is shocking my rear a bit too much.

***

Governor Sweetsap Moonwood

I looked at the map of our city defenses and the surrounding Moonwood. The cursed dwarven war machines were constantly forcing us back. I let out a sigh as I sat in my throne, overlooking the planning map.

We had strength, but not enough. There were too many legends, too much dwarven equipment. Curse those dwarves and their ancestors seven generations back.

When the Reforged Eldarin Empire turned on them, they would be the ones crying with no elves to alleviate the pressure that would come crashing down. There was a knock on the throne room door. I waved my hand slightly and one of my guards opened it up.

“Madame Governor, the daily reports,” my Steward said. He set the reports on the table next to me and began updating the war map.

“Anything important, or are we still just holding while the Eldarins bring up more war equipment?” I asked.

“The war front is holding for now. Our three legends are quite effective across the front,” he replied as he adjusted their positions slightly and the disposition of enemy troops. The changes were minor.

The humans were consolidating their battle line like they had numerous times in the past. We were being ground down, like the wind and rain, wearing down a mighty tree.

“The entire populace has transitioned to a war economy and our Fletchers have all lifted restrictions on apprentices. The arrows flow. Our smiths are working on working out the secrets of the dwarven war machines,” my Steward said. These were things I already knew, but it was good that he was up to date as well and there were no complications.

“The other families are moving support towards us, but it is in the form of supplies and weapons,” my Steward said.

“Dammit! We don’t need supplies. We need bodies to throw at the human lines,” I declared with frustration. The entire populace was mobilized, but it wasn’t enough to resist the Reforged Eldarin Empire. Anyone with eyes could see that our defeat was only a matter of time.

“We can enact the plan your ancestors did,” my Steward said and I glared at him. He quickly bowed and closed his mouth. They had burnt the Moonwood, the forest and the city, wiping out several legions and legends of Eldarin Empire. Creating a massive line of destruction.

After a thousand years, the city was finally getting back on its feet. But if we burned everything, my ancestors would be cursing me as well. While I understood the necessity, it was like cutting off a hand and a foot to only deal a cut to an enemy.

Also, the ritual was risky. The appropriate sacrifices would be hard to get and escalate the war in a direction no one wanted. If we started to employ rituals, I had no doubt the cursed Reforged Eldarin Empire would do the same.

They had matched us elves blow for blow so far and had warned us that if we used certain skill groups like rituals, necromancy, or soul magic they would respond in kind. Breaking that agreement would have the other Elven families cast me down from my position, even if I dealt a blow to the Eldarin Empire. Using a ritual to burn everything was a refuge of absolute last resort.

“For now no. But prepare the ritual chamber regardless. If it becomes necessary, I will make the necessary sacrifice myself,” I declared. My Steward’s eyes went wide. I would substitute someone else in and flee. I wasn’t about to shred my soul no matter what.

“There is one other minor matter of interest. Lost adventurers have come out of the depths. A human, a deformed human, and a beastkin. The human has a silver adventurer’s card and our scans have been blocked. He has claimed he is a graduate of the College of Advancement, but offered no proof. The deformed human is small, like a child. But they are the age of an adult. The beastkin is a beastkin. Both the deformed human and beastkin have claimed they are from the beastkin continent and ran into the adventurer,” my Steward explained.

“Interesting. To claim to be a graduate, but present no proof, they are either lying, or graduated in a few years, not the full seven,” I replied. The beastkin and the deformed human were of no interest to me.

“Indeed. The human contributed to the war effort and also made a contribution directly to you. His request was for a departure to be arranged as quickly as possible so he can return to the College with his companions,” my Steward explained and set a pouch on the table.

There were ten yellow cores. A decent amount to show sincerity despite the headache this caused. I could use the human and his companions in many ways, but messing with Adventurers was a good way to get the neutral human ones to turn against the elves. The knowledge would leak, no matter what I did.

“All the routes have been closed and the children have already been evacuated,” I said.

“Indeed, Madame Governor. Otherwise I would have arranged something already to be rid of this problem. We can’t allow them to remain here and sending them back into the dungeon creates certain risks in the battles to come,” my Steward said. I nodded slowly at this.

“Some merchants have been complaining.” We had captured several human and dwarven merchants. “We will send them away together if they can pay a transport fee. Don’t make it excessive, but take everything you can. Our coffers bleed,” I declared.

“Your will, will be done. I will see them off first thing tomorrow morning,” my Steward said. Sending along a human adventurer with that group would help them calm down that we weren’t about to kill them all. I was tempted to do just that, but I couldn’t afford to alienate so many rich families. The humans had sent the elven merchants back with most of their wealth intact.

I picked up the reports my Steward had left and casually looked through them. There was nothing else productive I could do at the moment. I needed to be here to coordinate the war effort. While my Steward handled the details, my departure to do anything else would create a crisis we could ill afford.

And my strength was only that of an elite. We needed more legends, more elves, more skills, more power. We needed more of everything, I thought as read the reports from the front line.

The report regarding the city of Moonwood had everyone pushing themselves to the limit. If it wouldn’t create a higher risk of assassination or leave critical areas undefended, I would have sent the remaining guards to the war front.

Our hit and run strategy was working to a certain extent as we used stealth combined with stealth skills and archery skills. Our trade in casualties among individuals below that of legend was around 5 to 1. For every 5 humans, one elf was killed. We needed a ratio of 20 to 1 if we were going to have a chance of winning.

As for legends, we had lost 2 and killed 3 in return. Proving that elves were higher quality than humans in every regard, except having children. With the dwarven war machines, were struggling to hold back the humans.

At the start we had estimated a loss ratio of 15 to 1 like the battles over a millennia ago. But those metal monstrosities were proving to be too much to handle. I looked at the pouch of yellow Mana cores. They had some value, but I would have preferred blue cores if I had to enact the fire ritual.

I picked up the last report detailing the human and his companions. Oh, he had a pet. My steward hadn’t mentioned that. I knew it was a growing fad that the College had started. The pet was to remain with the adventurer in question at all times. That was standard practice. A Winged Serpent, that was unique, not one of the more common ones.

Justin was the adventurer’s name. I tried to recall where I had heard it. It was a common human name and I was tired. Coordinating the war effort was quite draining. The deformed human and beastkin were of no interest.

I set the report to the side and rubbed my temples in frustration. I needed something, anything, or we would be defeated. Unfortunately the battle line was massive, encroaching on a huge section of the Moonwood.

The humans were cutting down the trees themselves, ruining over a thousand years of hard work to build the forest back up. It was our shield and home. Looking at the war map was depressing.

If I had 10,000, no just a 1,000 professional combat elves, I would threaten a flank and hopefully collapse the battle line. But we were on our last legs. I considered no entacting the fire ritual, but that would be foolish.

The final evacuation would have to happen soon. We would withdraw everyone, from the front lines, the city, and retreat back to other elven territories. Or we could surrender.

I looked a the ornate scroll the Eldarin Empire had sent. It was tempting to consider. Complete and utter surrender. Induction into the Reforged Eldarin Empire as citizens. But that is all we would be. Citizens, in a much larger human dominated empire.

The elves had gotten such an offer many times in the past from the First Eldarin Empire. But we knew that accepting such an offer would save many lives, but kill our culture and people. Some enclaves would endure, but the humans would spread across our territory like locusts.

The dwarves were content in their fate. I couldn’t tell if it was confidence or hubris, but their lack of aid, had pushed things to this point. Their war machines, if they were on our side could have helped crush the humans.

The dwarves had offered to sell them, but they clearly wanted to trade to both sides, which was despicable. That was why dwarves were the worst. They only cared about coin and craft. Their people were a resource, not a treasure to be protected.

At least there were no human supreme legends anymore. The fact they had all died in the dungeon was the only reason we kept fighting. If Supreme Warlady Elena stood with her husband, we would have had no chance.

The Moonwood would be nothing but kindling before her legendary blade. The others were less of a concern, since they didn’t participate in conflicts on the surface as far as I knew. Now that they were all dead, there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

I was missing something. My skill Elven Intuition was a powerful tier 3 divination skill. Better than Danger Sense. It was warning me that I was missing something important. I looked back at the map. We knew where the Emperor was. Near the front, but he seemed content to coordinate rather than fighting every chance he had.

I looked at the scroll. It was rumored that he had powerful social skills, which was how he swayed so many legends to his side. But the scroll had been checked carefully. There was no Mana, no enchantment of any kind. Not even the smallest trace of Mana within the offer of surrender.

There was something else. What was I missing? Normally I would have realized after looking through the reports. Some maneuver to try and draw our forces out of position. Some scheme of the Emperor. My Danger Sense wasn’t triggering, so it wasn’t dangerous or some assassin. Not that it was much of a comfort with the counter divination skills out there.

I was just missing something. It was going to be a long night.