Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 4, Chapter 11

Empire in Chains: Act 4, Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Deafening silence settled over the table, filling the air with a tension that inevitably snapped.

“…how?” Commander Enz grated two metres to Ludmila’s right. “How?! How are we to accomplish this?”

“That’s what we’re here to figure out, Enz,” General Kabein replied calmly.

Commander Enz closed his folder and tossed it onto the table. He took a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his short-cropped, sandy hair. The exasperated sigh that followed seemed to speak for every man at the table.

Uncertain what the ensuing silence would bring, Ludmila nudged the discussion forward.

“Your Excellency, what are your regular procedures regarding the Green Dragon population in The Blister?”

“We leave them alone until it looks like one is being kicked out of the nest, my lady,” General Kabein told her. “After that, we hire independent contractors to deal with the problem while monitoring the situation with Rangers on the ground and reconnaissance flights from our air wing. In the past, we could rely on the Head Court Magician as a last resort, but he’s effectively retired.”

For all of the Empire’s confidence in its institutions and bureaucratic excellence, its ‘absolute power’ once again proved to only apply to those which it could extend its control over. It could tempt the powerful with righteous cause, prestige and wealth; employ propaganda and attempt to raise generations loyal to the state, but, ultimately, the mantle of service was simply one of many options available to the strong.

The chains used to bind the average imperial citizen to the Empire had no hold on those that did not care. When push came to shove, the Baharuth Empire had no choice but to bow its head to the unbreakable rules of the world. Perhaps this, too, was one of the purposes of Lady Albedo’s missive: laying bare the hollow pride of a nation drunk on its own hubris.

“Even if the Head Court Magician was available,” Moen, commander of the Third Division said, “he wouldn’t help us here. Our relationship with the local Dragon Lord is a trivial burden in the grand scheme of things: why can’t we just leave well enough alone?”

Murmurs of agreement rose from around the table. The men seemed to pointedly avoid looking in Ludmila’s direction. It was a strange compromise: they did not dare voice their complaints directly to a representative of the Sorcerous Kingdom, so they instead opted to have her overhear their thoughts on the matter.

“His Majesty’s Court is aware of your concerns,” Ludmila said. “As your liaison officer, I’ve conveyed the problematic nature of this task to His Excellency the Grand Marshal and several other of His Majesty’s ministers.”

“Then you should understand that our concerns are justified, my lady,” Commander Enz said. “The Baharuth Empire faces ruin in the face of failure. By His Imperial Majesty’s command, we have done everything that the Sorcerous Kingdom has requested of us. But this…this is…”

“…playing with millions of Human lives,” Ludmila said softly.

“Exactly!” Commander Enz slammed his palm on the table, “Lady Zahradnik: if you are aware of this then please speak to your superiors once again and have them rescind this ludicrous order! As Moen says, the Viridian Terror’s demands are trivial. The risks that accompany this venture are unacceptable.”

The men turned their attention towards her. A few glanced at Commander Enz worriedly. At the head of the table, General Kabein took a sip from his mug, seemingly content to let his men voice their frustrations.

“This is a short-sighted view, Commander,” Ludmila said. “Or perhaps it would be better to say that it is a narrow-minded one.”

Around the table, the Commanders exchanged frowns. By all reports, they were highly capable leaders, some had occupied their positions since before she was born. It was probably not an assessment that they were used to receiving and certainly not from someone who could barely be considered an adult from their perspective.

“What do you mean by this?” Commander Enz asked.

“The Baharuth Empire is over one hundred and fifty years old,” Ludmila’s gaze went from face to face until it fell upon Commander Moen. “In its current state, how long do you believe it will continue to stand?”

“That is not a question we can answer with absolute certainty, my lady,” Commander Moen shifted on his feet. “We can only do what we can to ensure that it does. Which is what we’re asking here.”

“A Dragon is not a problem that goes away, Commander Moen,” Ludmila said. “They are beings that grow stronger with time. That is the strategy being employed here, is it not? When one of sufficient power appears, it offers two alternatives. The first is that those within its domain become tributaries. This tribute is calculated to be far more reasonable than the alternative, which is obliteration. Thus, an accord is reached and the Dragon grows in wealth and power. With every generation, the gap in power between you widens. How long before it decides that it has grown enough to extend its domain over the rest of the Empire?”

Her eyes left Commander Moen, and she examined the men around the table before focusing her attention on General Kabein.

“It may feel that Her Excellency the Prime Minister’s missive is a callous decision that does not consider the Empire’s position, but it is precisely out of consideration for the Empire’s position that we’ve encouraged you to address the matter of this Dragon Lord. The Baharuth Empire is a client state of the Sorcerous Kingdom – the first member of its hegemony. As such, we desire that you stand proud in this fact. But true pride cannot be fashioned out of qualities that are not forged out of one’s own legacy. How better than to have one of the Empire’s most venerable institutions, the Imperial Army, take the first decisive step in defining what it is to occupy a seat in the greatest order that the world will ever know?”

The men stared down at the missives before them. After several moments, General Kabein’s quiet voice came from across the table.

“So it isn’t just the fate of the Empire that rests on our shoulders, but the very definition of what the Empire’s place in this ‘hegemony’ entails.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” Ludmila replied. “Whatever the result, it is what it is.”

Several moments passed in silence as the men around the room digested her words. The General set down his folder.

“Then I suppose we shouldn’t set the bar too low,” he said. “Please, take your seats.”

The rustle of uniforms rose into the air as everyone settled themselves into their chairs. Captain Germund sat to Ludmila’s left between herself and Commander Enz, while Officer Roberbad seated himself to her right. The General raised his hand and made a gesture. Two of his aides rolled a huge map out over the table.

It was a finely-detailed map of the area around The Blister. Of The Blister itself, however, there was little to see.

“Is there no information at all about the interior?” Ludmila asked.

“Imperial power ends at the fort at the lip of The Spill,” General Kabein answered. “Beyond is the exclusive territory of the Green Dragon’s minions.”

“What sort of minions does she have?”

“There are Goblins everywhere one goes, of course. Aside from them, there are tribes of Ogres, Trolls and Troglodytes. Gnolls are the dominant power.”

Ludmila frowned at the mention of the Hyena Beastmen. General Kabein smiled tightly behind his snow-white moustache.

“I see that you understand just why our information is so limited. The best we can safely accomplish is aerial mapping, which is next to useless since it’s pretty much all dense layers of canopy with a few visible bodies of water.”

“How do the Green Dragons factor into this?”

“We only have bits and pieces of lore passed down through the generations,” General Kabein said. “If they’re to be believed, it’s like a little collection of kingdoms in there. The young Green Dragons exert their dominance over the savage tribes, playing games of intrigue and waging war against one another. They all compete to earn the favour of their mother, who sees it as entertainment and a way to ensure only the most capable of her offspring survive.”

Rationally speaking, Dragons could probably survive this sort of upbringing yet Ludmila couldn’t help but feel disgusted over the fact that a mother was forcing her children to participate in a deadly competition with their siblings. Her own upbringing was strict and tough, but there were clear limits.

“…and then she kicks them out of the nest,” Ludmila murmured. “How did the Empire survive Green Dragons coming out of The Blister early in its development?”

“The Demon Gods,” the General told her. “They didn’t just wipe out whatever the nation that used to be here was. Demihuman and monster populations were decimated too. Dragons take a century to grow into Adults, and a century after the Demon Gods was when we first started seeing them.”

“But they didn’t get the mother…does she have a name, by the way?”

“I’m sure that she does, but we don’t know what it is. Everyone around here just calls her Baroness Blister or the Viridian Terror. When the annual tribute is delivered to her, she is addressed as the Viridian Dragon Lord or ‘Her Eminence’. As for how she survived, I assume, like any sane individual with the option probably would, that she just flew away when the Demon Gods showed their faces and came back when they left.”

Ludmila nodded at the General’s explanation as she tried to match what she saw from her flight over the Empire with the featureless part of the map. Her eyes traced over the ring of mountains and the forests around its outer slopes that had been cut back to make room for agricultural development.

“That brings me to my next question,” she said. “These younger Green Dragons who survive to their Adult stage are supposedly the product of a century of infighting. How does the Empire manage to keep them from escaping in the same fashion as their mother with the Demon Gods?”

General Kabein looked to an officer in an Imperial Air Service uniform two seats to his left.

“Wing Commander Burke is probably in the best position to answer that question.”

The compact, powerfully-built man with midnight-blue hair straightened from his chair.

“Yes sir,” he said. “The truth is that we don’t know whether we’re getting all of them, my lady. Dragons are spellcasters, so if one learns Invisibility and flies out in the dead of night, they could be hundreds of kilometres away by dawn and we’d be none the wiser. The first we’d know of it would be when they feel strong enough to come out and make demands in some other part of the Empire. Or they could have just flown out to other parts of the world.”

“I guess we’ll be scouring the Empire for Dragons at some point,” Ludmila muttered. “What about the ones that you do detect?”

“It’s a bit tricky, but the Dragoons and War Wizards of the Imperial Air Service can drive them to the ground. Younger Green Dragons aren’t nearly as fast or manoeuvrable as Hippogriffs and the Second Legion’s air wing can work together to harass them to exhaustion. Once we intercept one, we never let them escape.”

“What happens if you try this with the Viridian Dragon Lord?”

“In theory, we die,” Wing Commander Burke smirked. “In the best-case scenario, we’d be ineffective. She’d be resisting our spells left and right and we’d need highly-enchanted arrowheads to hurt her with physical attacks. Even then, most of our attacks would be no more than pinpricks. In return, we get blasted out of the sky with spells. Also, an Ancient Green isn’t as manoeuvrable as a Hippogriff, but their flight speed is far greater once they get going. The Viridian Terror could just flat out ignore us and head off to some other place.”

Ludmila examined the Wing Commander. He appeared to be high Platinum or low Mithril in strength. If he was the strongest member of the Second Legion’s air wing, then his assessment was most likely accurate.

“I see,” she said. “Still, I’d like a demonstration of how you would accomplish this when possible.”

“Of course, my lady.”

“I would like to know how we can prepare the civilians,” a man in Clerical vestments with green trim said to the General’s right. “Our cities are next to defenceless against this Dragon should she decide to lash out at them in retaliation.”

“Can the Undead forces do anything about that, my lady?” General Kabein asked.

“If there is a large concentration of them that just happens to be there, Your Excellency,” Ludmila answered, “they would be a substantial threat. But she won’t know that until they fight at least once. Thousands of citizens would die in seconds.”

In the middle of the right side of the table, the Commander of the Second Division, Levres, cleared his throat.

“Does this Dragon have to know we’re together? If she assumes that the Undead are not associated with the Empire, then it’s unlikely that she would attack us. The Undead are not exactly known for cooperating with the living.”

“How do you propose we use that to our advantage?” General Kabein leaned forward on his elbows.

“What if we send them into The Blister to wreak havoc?” Commander Levres said, “Burn down a bunch of settlements; kill some of her kids – she’ll come out screaming eventually.”

“That sounds terrible out of context,” the Cleric frowned.

Several snorts sounded from around the table.

“It’s the most sensible-sounding plan so far,” General Kabein said. “But it might already be too late for that. It’s something we would have needed to organise before Lady Zahradnik’s arrival.”

“What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?” Ludmila asked.

“I’m not sure if this will make any sense to you, my lady,” the General answered, “but the Viridian Dragon Lord is something like a feature of the region. She’s been a part of the land since before the Empire. Being a Green Dragon, she has agents of her own. Human ones. To minimise the risk of word getting out to her, the only people who are aware of the specific details of our operation are in this room. We’ve also been keeping as low a profile as possible with our preparations, but anyone could have seen those Undead coming through.”

Humans betraying their nation to the very same Dragon who was exploiting them. Ludmila couldn’t wrap her head around that.

“What do these Human agents have to gain from doing such a thing?”

“The same any of their ilk think they can gain,” Commander Enz sneered. “Wealth. Treasure. The luxury and influence that it brings. Parasites who think nothing of undermining the hard toil of generations that they themselves could not exist without.”

“Can Imperial Intelligence handle them?”

“The bit crooks, yes,” the tall man said. “As for the Adventurers, Workers and whatever else, we have another measure in place for them.”

“…but someone will eventually get through,” Ludmila looked across the table at General Kabein. “That’s what you meant by ‘spinning out of control’.”

General Kabein nodded grimly. Ludmila suppressed a sigh. Lady Shalltear was right: battle was rarely so straightforward.