Nero Walker, Book 4 Ch.66 (297)

Out of options and desperate, the kobalds had given up on direct confrontations and instead had begun hiding behind piles of rocks and poorly constructed spell-stone barriers. Unfortunately for them, all that did was delay the inevitable. With there being only a few hundred enemies still alive, Cathleen had chosen to put Angelton in command of the remainder of the fighting. The man had both the necessary experience with situations like these and the capability of making the most of this training opportunity. And besides, she had better things to do.

Now that they were back in range of the Battle Hub, and no longer in any significant danger, she had taken the opportunity to coordinate their retrieval with army command. While initially she’d been somewhat suspicious of their intentions, she accepted that she couldn’t put off contacting them any longer.

When she did finally manage to get in contact with the commander in charge of the area they were currently in, she was surprised to find that they had been just as caught off guard as she and her Wackos had been by similar ambushes over the past few hours. According to command, the kobalds had abandoned what was left of their encampments in a coordinated withdrawal, spreading out through the tunnels and reforming into assault groups.

Combined with the new illusionary techniques and tactics they were using, the army was having trouble adjusting. In comparison to some of the other engagements that the commander mentioned, she and her Wackos had done exceptionally well for themselves.

After having the situation explained to her, and having her doubts addressed, she was perfectly happy to coordinate the rest of her withdrawal with command and the teams they had in the field. Unfortunately, Blackwood and several other former soldiers among the Wacko’s leadership remained skeptical. They were not shy about voicing their displeasure with the idea of giving the army another chance to lead them into an ambush.

While being confronted with a group of her team leaders expressing their opinions, even as the Battle Leader, she knew it would be best to hear them out. She didn’t, however, have to give them her full attention, or even half of it. Instead, she was paying closer attention to the conversation she was currently having with Lady Verena over the link while half-heartedly participating in the back and forth between her, Blackwood, and the others. Ideally, she’d be able to stall them until Angelton finished up the last of the kobalds and returned to the impromptu command area where they were currently standing so he could deal with their inane paranoia.

While nodding in understanding to something the Blackwood was complaining about, she replied to Lady Verena over the link, “So, has any of this been confirmed? Or is everything you’re saying just conjecture?”

Lady Verena replied, “Not formally, no. But, I’ve been in contact with Quincy, the former leader of the evaluators, and he’s gotten wind of what the local nobles are planning. The archmage’s fears were proven correct. Dorchester will no longer allow Lord Walker to remain in the fighting, even with his status as a unique. He could likely make use of his status to challenge or even overturn their decision, but doing so would be counterproductive to our goals.”

Replying sarcastically, Cathleen asked, “Our goals? Or yours?”

Sidestepping the unspoken implication that Lady Verena was putting her house’s goals before House Walker’s, Lady Verena replied, “In this case, all of ours. Other than causing discord between House Walker’s interests and the local nobility, further participation in the war would achieve Lord Walker nothing.”

After pausing for a moment to see if Cathleen would opt to contradict her, Lady Verena continued, “As I was saying, both the archmage and I believe that Lord Walker’s path will no doubt lead him out of the city. What we have to consider is where it would be best for him to go from here. Therefore, it would be in everyone’s best interest if you could make it back to the city as soon as possible. Without him here, events are proceeding further and further out of both his, and our, control. He honestly never should have left in the first place, but he’d been adamant and the archmage had decided to indulge him.”

Being sure to keep the frustration she was feeling out of her expression so that Blackwood (who was STILL complaining) wouldn’t misinterpret anything, she replied frostily over the link, “I don’t see how him remaining there would have changed anything. That said, we also questioned why he’d chosen to come back as well… at first. But after hearing him out, I along with the rest of the leadership believe he made the right decision. He made a solid argument for why his presence was still needed here, and aside from continuing his debate with you and the archmage over House Walker’s path, nothing he could do there would affect how the nobles choose to play their game.”

Replying calmly, Lady Verean said, “As an experienced warrior, you of all people should recognize the importance of strategic planning before an engagement. And I’m sure you can agree that the upcoming confrontation with the nobles will be just as much of an engagement as any fight he’d be facing alongside you in the mountain. As lord of his house, he should be here to prepare.”

“Again, I disagree. I AM an experienced warrior, and I can tell you that the most important aspect of any engagement is the proper use of your available resources. He can mentally plan how he is going to deal with the nobles just as well here as he could with you and the archmage in the city. He simply prioritized the safety of his forces over the proximal availability of your council. If you truly feel the need to be involved in the decision-making process, you can still coordinate a group conversation with him and the archmage through his link,” Cathleen replied sternly.

Cathleen felt Lady Verena’s frustration over the link as she replied, “You don’t think I’ve tried that? He’s not answering.”

Barely managing to keep the amusement she was feeling at the thought of her lord ignoring Lady Verena’s pings, she replied, “Well then, you’ll just have to wait until we return to the city to speak with him. As lord of House Walker, he is your superior. It’s his prerogative to address your concerns at his leisure, not yours.”

Even though Lady Verena, formerly known as Vera Salvatore, and Cathleen had always been friendly, they’d never been ‘friends’. Cathleen had no trouble putting the woman in her place. Which, in Cathleen’s opinion, was the arena of politics. Now that they were at war, she had no business interfering with how she or Lord Walker chose to handle the serious matters of combat.

Clearly having realized that she might have overstepped, Lady Verena replied, “I had not intended to suggest otherwise. However, I am also duty-bound to provide my council to the best of my ability. And, considering that the archmage and I are in agreement on this matter, I believe that my opinion should not be so hastily disregarded. Not even by the Battle Leader and household manager of House Walker.”

Accepting Lady Verena’s point, Cathleen replied, “Fair enough. I’ll talk with him.”

Having apparently decided that she’d achieved what she’d wanted, Lady Verena replied, “Then you’ll have my gratitude. And when he ignores you as well, I’ll continue to patiently await you and our disagreeable little lord’s arrival at the Walker estate.”

Without giving Cathleen time to reply, Lady Verena cut the connection, leaving Cathleen awkwardly biting back the retort she was preparing in response to the woman’s final word volley.

“Battle Leader, what do you think? If we send the scouts out now, we should be able to find some alternatives.” Blackwood said curtly, causing her to mentally review what had recently been said by those around her.

Stifling a sigh at the stupidity she was dealing with, she replied, “There is no point in attempting to disguise our route. The army has, and will be continuing to track us. They’d notice that we weren’t following the agreed upon tunnels the moment we went off course. Besides, if what command is saying is true, then all we’d accomplish in doing so would be to run into more kobald ambushes like the one we just recently survived.”

Holding up her hand to stall their expected arguments, she continued, “How about we discuss this issue with Lord Walker? If he also believes that we are being led into a trap by the army, then I’ll agree that we should discuss our options.”

Seeing that everyone was agreeable to her compromise, she reached out through her link to Lord Walker and waited for him to accept her ping. And then she waited some more… and then some more.

Frowning in annoyance, she sent a command override to force a connection but found his link replying with an auto-reply. “Nero can’t come to the phone right now, he’s busy killing kobalds… or doing something else equally important… like interpretive dance. Please leave a message after the beep.”

Widening her eyes in surprise, she listened to the message relaying the sound of Nero ‘beeping’. For a moment, all she could do was wonder how in the world he’d managed to alter his link to do that before she remembered that he was ignoring her.

Turning away from the group to glare over toward where Nero currently was, she saw him standing there waving his arms around as if he were trying to intimidate them into agreeing with him. Even from as far away as she was, she could tell that he was animatedly talking with a group of Wackos who’d arranged themselves in a circle around him. Objectively, he looked like he was giving a lecture, or possibly holding some sort of religious service. The fact that he’d chosen now of all times to do so, while actively going out of his way to ignore what was going on around him made her blood boil.

Raising her voice, she shouted, “Lord Walker!”

—--

Reaching out to his link, Nero was immediately bombarded by multiple missed pings along with messages waiting for him in what passed for his ‘inbox’. Although he hadn’t yet accepted the connection to Cathleen just yet, he could feel how intimidating her presence felt. It was like she was just pacing back and forth outside the bathroom door while he was hiding in the tub with the lights off, hoping she would get tired or maybe get distracted by something on the TV.

While he was hesitating to accept the connection, he idly wondered why his link had been set to silent. He didn’t remember changing the settings.

The moment the thought occurred to him, he felt his mind sink a little deeper into his link. The intuitive nature of the interface immediately answered his question. The system itself had been affected by the way he’d been using it. Between the way his mind perceived the connection and the Hubs themselves, the system had realized that he wasn’t in the mood to deal with any pings and therefore adjusted the settings accordingly. While he wasn’t sure it was supposed to work like that, he had to admit that it was pretty cool that it did.

‘Huh… I’ll be damned,’ he thought happily.

“LORD WALKER!” shouted Cathleen, her voice loud enough to make his arm hair stand at attention.

Snapping out of his trance-like state, Nero’s eyes refocused back over in the direction of Cathleen. Somewhat embarrassed that he’d been caught not paying attention, and a little annoyed at how thoroughly she’d surprised him, he shouted right back, “I’m coming! Chill, woman!”

Noticing the shocked faces of the surrounding Wackos who he’d been chatting with, Nero offered them a shrug before apologizing, “Hey, looks like duty calls. It was good catching up with you all. Keep on keeping on.”

Walking off toward Cathleen, Nero decisively closed his connection to his link. Considering how many headaches were waiting for him inside it, he figured it would be best to put off dealing with them until later. Even with Cathleen’s interruption to his recent cultural and spiritual epiphanies, he was still in much too good of a mood for all the expected drama the pings he had waiting for him would undoubtedly cause.

On his way over to Cathleen, he made sure to walk at a calm and measured pace. He didn’t want to look hurried, or more accurately give her the satisfaction of seeing him come when she called. Instead of paying attention to her, he made sure to survey the surrounding cavern and ensure that there weren’t any glaring issues or events that he’d somehow missed.

Spread out through the cavern were the expected Wackos meditating over their recent experiences, some of whom preferred to arrange themselves in lines like they were at a monastery. Piles of kobald bodies had been stacked all over the place, towering over the junk and failed defensive structures left behind by the kobalds who were either still fighting or had now sadly become permanent residents in the corpse-stacks. He could also see that there were still a few spots where Wackos were gathering to be healed. However, there didn’t seem to be nearly as many healers around as he’d remembered there being.

Looking past where Cathleen and the other team leaders were standing, he quickly got his answer to where the missing healers had gone. Instead of the armor-clad melee fighters, they were now the ones fighting the kobalds. Nero tried not to show the surprise he felt at seeing robed mages and healers attacking the sole remaining, poorly coordinated kobald formation in the distance. Among them were still a few melee fighters who were supporting them, but there was no doubt that many of the casters who’d spent the previous few days healing or maintaining the shield were now getting their hands dirty. Behind them was also the unmistakable sight of Knight Angelton shouting orders and urging them on.

Before he knew it, he was walking up to Cathleen, already having forgotten about how pissed she was.

Without tearing his eyes away from the battle, he said to her, “What the hell’s going on over there? I get letting the casters have a chance to hone their skills. But it looks like you benched the starters and sent out the C team in the fourth quarter.”

Cathleen merely stared at him, her expression making it clear that she had no intention of answering his question.

Blackwood, however, the ever-helpful chum that he was, spoke up in her place. “With how poorly the kobalds are fighting, and with how few of them are left, we thought it best to give of our mages the opportunity to grow.”

Confused, Nero turned his head toward Blackwood and asked, “I thought combat didn’t necessarily give anymore experience than any other activity? I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere.”

Blackwood shook his head and replied, “It doesn’t. Not exactly. It’s about the experience. Not many mages get the opportunity for physical combat in real-world conditions like this. It’s only logical to give them the chance to experience the feeling of matching blades with the enemy in a safe and controlled environment when we can.”

Shrugging, Nero embraced his new ‘roll with it’ life philosophy and replied, “Makes sense I guess.”

Turning his attention to Cathleen, he asked, “So, I’m guessing the fighting is about done then? We won. Good on us, right?”

Cathleen, not amused, replied, “Yes, the battle will be over soon. Now we have to decide how to proceed.”

Nero replied quickly before she had a chance to elaborate, easily ignoring the anger rolling off her in the ether. “What’s to decide? Back to Dorchester for the afterparty at the estate. I’m carrying a crapload of victory supplies, but I figure it would be better to get somewhere safe before I start tapping the kegs.”

One of the team leaders, whose name Nero thought might be something like Gerrald… or maybe Steve, spoke up, “My lord, we need to decide if we’re going to continue to follow the recommendations of the army. They led us right into an ambush, and there is a possibility that it wasn’t a mistake.”

Nero immediately turned his head to look over toward the small group of army scouts who were keeping to themselves. At first glance, they didn’t look all that duplicitous, but Nero knew that didn’t mean anything. Nobody untrustworthy looks untrustworthy. Narrowing his eyes in thought, Nero began seriously considering the possibility that the ambush had been a setup.

Cathleen, sounding more annoyed than usual, said, “Lord Walker, if you’d been listening to the command channels, you’d know that the army has been suffering similar ambushes throughout the upper city.”

Turning to meet Cathleen’s eyes, Nero’s expression made it clear that he neither had any idea what she was talking about nor did he feel even an ounce of shame for his ignorance.

Sighing in defeat, Cathleen explained, “After the kobald encampments began to fall, the kobalds broke up into smaller groups and took to the tunnels. Their tactics changed to an ambush strategy, one which we just experienced. We’ll likely run into more fights like the one we just had if we choose to ignore the intelligence provided by command. While their mages may not be able to tell us exactly where the kobalds are, through competent scrying they can at least tell us where they were. Command has already begun plotting our best route back down through the remainder of the upper city.”

Nero, seeing sense in what she said, didn’t give it much more thought before he replied, “Sounds good then. We have our exit strategy, so what’s the problem?”

Sounding uncomfortable, but still feeling the need to speak up, Blackwood asked, “Can you just dismiss the possibility that the army might lead us into danger… intentionally?”

Nero cocked his head a bit in confusion while replying, “Who cares? If they lead us into danger, we’ll kill the kobalds when we get there. If they don’t, we get back quicker than we would have if we went off on our own. If the kobalds are spread out across the tunnels, then without guidance we’re guaranteed to stumble into them. By trusting the army to lead us, there is at least a possibility that we’ll be able to avoid running into them.”

Throwing up her hands as if she couldn’t believe Nero had just said that, Cathleen nearly shouted, “That’s what I’ve been saying for the past 20 minutes!”

Blackwood, still being the helpful type of guy that he was, replied, “No you didn’t. You just said that you believed what command was saying. That’s not what Lord Walker said at all. He’s saying their intentions don’t matter.”

One of the other team leaders added, “Lord Walker’s right, it’s logical to assume that we’ll run into at least one ambush if we choose our own route. At least if we follow command’s suggestions, there is a chance we’ll make it back to Dorchester without a fight.”

Seeing that everyone was agreeing with him, Nero's innate sense of chaos told him that now was the perfect time to ask Cathleen, “So, this is why you called me over here?” Shaking his head as if he were disappointed in her, he added, “Come on, you’re better than this…”

*Chapter 297 - A troll in a good mood is bad for everbody.

*There are certain people that enjoy stirring up shit.  When women do it, people accuse them of being drama queens.  When guys do it, they're called trolls.  Either way, I've found that the better mood they are in, the more likely they are to screw with people.  When they're distracted by life, or deep in thought, they usually let everyone be.  But, give them a holiday like Christmas, and then oh-boy do they start lighting fires.

'So, Cathy tells me that you're husband lost his job?  That's awful.  Are you planning on going back to work then?'... 'Oh, I see you're enjoying the party dip Eric brought.  I thought you were allergic to peanuts?'... 'It's a shame about Harry.  Oh, you didn't hear?  Nevermind, pretend I didn't say anything.  So, what's been going on with you?'