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The emergency briefing soon devolved into a brainstorming session for the colonels and their intelligence officers, to work over various theories of what the enemy planned to do with this nasty surprise I had stumbled across.
Starting from before the meeting began, my ‘bat’ continued its journey through the tunnels and galleries of the Carael Mines, slowly confirming the numbers, looking for any nasty surprises. It had long since seen enough numbers to confirm Durash’s claim of ‘ten thousand demons’. I had once again expanded my mind, just far enough to accommodate a second awareness, which Sirth was occupying in order to keep in contact with my little spy. Now, I had her sending it on an extended mission, to the breach into Ilim Below where Ceria, Bruna and I previously went.
I had no specific information from Durash and Trisiagga, but logically, it should be how the demons were infiltrating. Surely someone would have noticed ten thousand demons crossing overland in order to reach the mines. So, I wanted to confirm it.
The strategic experts were convening and the rest of the attendees had gone their various ways to take care of whichever matter they were assigned by their superiors. Nobody had ever adjourned, but it just wasn’t really a meeting anymore, and I was just sitting there.
But Aenëe was still supplying answers about Cara Ita and its surroundings, and the mines in particular. Since she had guarded that area for months, she was a handy resource. I needed to stick close to her until I figured out how Trisiagga’s blood insects were tracking her, otherwise I would have already excused myself.
I was also entertaining myself by secretly investigating Mirna, the hooded mage maintaining the [Chamber of Secrets] spell for the meeting. I had no particular reason, other than the fact that something about her really bothered me. The way she showed up in my fairy sense just felt a little off.
It took several minutes before it finally hit me, she had a low-power stealth spell operating. The point didn’t seem to be to hide herself, but rather to keep people from being particularly curious about it.
She didn’t want them looking too closely at her? That raised an instant red flag! To my mind, infiltrating demons were the highest danger right now, so I amped up my fairy sense in order to penetrate the stealth…
… and nearly fell out of my chair. No, she wasn’t a disguised demon. But she was no mortal, either. She was some form of magic race.
In modern times, there are the fairies, and their lesser fairy relatives, and pixies. There are also the seven elemental races that include the Shades like my mother’s butler and head maid, Carson and Benedetta.
But she was no fairy, and her broad mixture of mana types making up her body meant she was no elemental.
There are very, very few other intelligent magic species in the modern age. In the Primordial Age, the age of the ancient gods, before we Elders arrived, the world had been full of them, to the point that the mortals struggled to survive. But most had been wiped out in the global disaster that required our arrival, and most of the survivors had been eliminated during the rise of the demons.
Honestly, I thought until that moment that they all had been. The fairies came afterward, and elementals form naturally, in the wombs of mortals, so those that exist today are not descendents of the Primordial Age.
Yet here I was, looking at one. I was seriously curious to know which she was, but she was obviously trying to hide it, so I didn’t want to expose her.
Ged mercifully chose this moment to notice that the meeting had gone very late. It was already far past sundown.
“Colonels, I’m going to take my leave now,” he informed them. “Do you still need Lady Aenëe here? This is probably getting tiresome for her.”
As eyes went toward her, she had been caught in the middle of stifling a yawn. She was still suffering blood loss symptoms, so she might have been using [Persistence] skill to stay active for this.
Colonel Tieg, the senior officer under Ged and the commander of one of the regiments facing the demons, consulted with the two intelligence officers by means of a glance. They both shook their heads, so he asked Aenëe, “Can we call on My Lady if we have more questions?”
“Certainly, Captain,” she answered with a smile.
Colonel Perta stated, “We’ve had a tent prepared for My Ladies to rest. My orderly will guide you.”
Ged held up a hand. “I interrupted my dinner and these two haven’t eaten either. I’ll have cold cuts and bread sent to my quarters. Have him fetch them from there after we dine.”
We were soon in the secondary room in the command tent. As I had suspected earlier, Ged really was bunking there rather than having a tent dedicated to himself.
I regretted leaving Mirna behind. She was remaining in order to maintain her spell for the group still in discussion. I really wanted to pull her aside and find out what was up with her.
It wasn’t just curiosity. Yes, she was apparently on our side, working diligently as an officer in the Royal Army, but a mystery being concealing themselves in the midst of mortals wasn’t necessarily a benign existence.
Ged had said ‘cold cuts and bread’, but there were battlefield luxuries like canned peaches, canned butter, jam and wine. I gratefully ate my very late dinner while withholding any comments on the fact that the so-called bread was hardtack.
I had a choice to make. Ged might consider some of what I was about to tell him to be royal secrets. Should I say them in front of Aenëe?
When I looked over at her, she looked like she also wanted to comment on the hardtack and was politely abstaining from doing so. She was currently buttering a piece, preparatory to stacking sliced beef and cheese on it.
Finally, I decided I could probably edit where necessary. I turned to Ged.
“Your Highness, may I ask if you are still determined to not withdraw?”
He frowned as he took a sip of wine, then set the glass down and straightened his glasses.
“I take it you would not approve.”
“I do not,” I stated firmly. “You don’t have the resources to face that many demons.”
“While you were gone, two flights of Royal Transport Corps wyverns delivered squadrons of combat mage reinforcements. We have more arriving in the morning.”
“Against demons, you would be a lot better off bringing in combat healers trained in using [Purification]!” I retorted.
“If we had a surplus of healers, they would already be here,” he answered calmly.
I pressed my lips together, then nodded. Healers aren’t easy to come by, after all.
“Can you cast [Realm of Silence], Your Highness?” I asked.
After he complied, I explained what I had done, simply calling it ‘vampire magic’ without details, in order to eavesdrop on an archdemon as he shared information with his asura minion on the front line.
In a movie, the evil mastermind speaking to his underling might map out his entire plan while the hero eavesdrops, but in reality, when two people already know a plan, they don’t rehash it point-by-point for the viewing audience’s benefit. I had overheard a lot of vital bits of information, but they only mapped into a picture that clearly said they had something very big underway.
As I spoke, the translated bits of conversation played themselves again in my memory.
…that fool Zagolig forgot that an archdemon’s strength is the demons he commands. That fool got himself killed by recklessly exposing himself to an enemy he shouldn’t have faced directly…
To that, Ged simply commented, “I heard the Hero’s Party took out an archdemon with your help. Although Rod was adamant that it was you who did it, with their help.
I smiled and didn’t comment. The official report for Royal Staff ears was that Ryuu and company had killed Zagolig.
…I have reports that the missing princess may be in Arelia. I’ll be sending you there to fetch her once you turn matters in Hamagaar over to Dastolith…
Ged’s unhappy eyes were all the response that this item got. I simply assured him, “I have a safer place for her, and I’m on my way to pick her up and bring her there once I finish here.”
“How much safer?”
“It’s the safest spot in the vicinity of Tëan Tír, Your Highness. Possibly the safest spot in the world.”
…Lâsin has disappeared, but the Old Grove clan and their allies are still cooperating. They still think they are working for Regaritan refugee aristocrats and Parna…
“Lâsin is… one of the most senior clan patriarchs in Faerie, I believe? Leader of the Old Grove clan.”
His eyes had traveled to Aenëe as he mentioned her clan name.
“That’s correct, Your Highness,” I stated stiffly, glancing at Aenëe. “Most of the fairies on Cullen’s side are his clan or his allies.”
“I am not one of them,” Aenëe declared staunchly, responding to our glances. “I am loyal to my lord and my husband only.”
“Husband?” Ged echoed, his eyebrow rising.
“She means my grandfather, Your Highness,” I replied. “Lady Aenëe is a candidate for royal concubine in Faerie.”
He pursed his lips, then nodded. “If you are loyal to Ti’s grandfather, then I will assume you are an ally. He has sided with us in the civil war.”
It was Aenëe’s turn to raise her eyebrows.
I nodded to confirm it. “He has pledged his assistance to us.”
… they’re moving in on Owen soon. He only has his loyalists and Serera guarding him now. Once I signal you that he’s been attacked, you are to unleash the demon army on his son. We should be able to contain the second prince once the other two are dead…
Ged’s frown at this was profound.
… we’re still trying to locate Deharè, but if our infiltrators can take out her daughter in Pendor when we hit the king and the first prince, we should have both Pendor and the North in chaos…
Ged smiled wryly. “Is that what he meant by Deharè’s ‘daughter in Pendor’? It seems like the demons haven’t yet realized who she actually is.”
My breath caught for a moment. The fact that Sasara = Deharè is a royal secret, after all. But of course, ‘Sasara’ is my foster mother.
“The idea that Mother is a fairborn and the daughter of Deharè is a popular rumor among the mortals, Your Highness. It sounds like the demons have accepted it as fact.”
… that fool Parna still hasn’t realized that Cullen is long dead…
He listened to this part gravely, then drummed his fingers.
“Cullen seems to be alive and well, though,” he mused.
“My Lord’s father, the baron who hired me, was impersonated by the lich who killed him. I don’t know exactly when the substitution occurred. The same thing might have happened to Prince Cullen.”
As I said, it wasn’t the mastermind’s plan in a few paragraphs, but the incidental details all added up to a grand plan that wasn’t about Cara Ita or Hamagaar at all.
I didn’t know why Trisiagga was a confidant to it, exactly, but the way Durash spoke to her, despite the condescending manner, gave me the impression she was his close aide.
“This whole battle is about killing you, Your Highness,” I summarized. “And they have plans to do it while taking out your father and my foster mother.”
