Two
Looking over the map of Dolphen, Nick really was surprised with the actual size of it.
With correct valuations on distance, the land that was controlled was significant. It wasn’t just what was within the walls, but extended beyond them a significant distance. There were more than a few cities and vassals that extended outward.
The country had grown since the last time his ancestors held the throne.
There was even more land beyond that of course and that was where all the envoys came from. All of them with their own homelands and cities.
“Well,” Nick began, clicked his tongue, and looked to his Marshal, Chamberlain, Spy Master, and Royal Inquisitor. “What do I need to know and where are we with the resupply? I’ve put in every order you requested at cost.
“We’ve also been selling grand amounts to everyone else to keep our costs positive. Or net-neutral at worst. As far as I can see from my own point of view, and the reports I’ve been given, we’re more or less ready for this.”
“It’s more or less exactly as you stated it, Sire,” Marshal Ferish stated and dipped his head. The older man had regained his strength almost immediately after giving the throne to Nick. He was also seemingly deeply pleased his grand-daughter was already pregnant with the royal heir. “There’s nothing at this time that needs your assistance directly. We’re moving forces up into the lands north of the wall to create a great many defensive positions, fallback points, and traps.
“The irregular forces supplied by our allies have been very useful in this matter. The Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, have all been particularly helpful with utilizing disguised traps. We will be able to truly harm the enemy while also causing them to slow down to a crawl.”
Nick snorted at that and nodded his head.
He’d taken a ride with Lucian once to scout, look, and be seen. He had indeed traveled north beyond the wall and found those forces working diligently to create a path of death and destruction that any invading army would have to go through.
At the time he hadn’t even considered going north to see the enemy army or check their situation. He hadn’t wanted to risk gryphons attacking them.
“Good work, Grandfather,” Nick murmured, blinked, and then remembered he’d received a letter from Cordelia this morning. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled it out and handed it over. “Cordelia’s well. Her… disposition is beginning to show. It was addressed to me but I’m sure you’d like to read it over.”
Marshal Ferish blinked, then gave Nick a small smile and took the letter. He slipped it into one of his coat pockets.
“My thanks, Sire. You’ve been most kind to my family and I all things considered,” Ferish demurred.
“You’re not the one who attacked my family. Nor am I the one that was betrayed. We’re both descendants of that and we have to fuddle through it all. Your granddaughter makes me happy and I wouldn’t want my children to not know their great-grandfather and relatives. They won’t have any from my side other than Lucian after all.”
Marshal Ferish looked like he had been about to open his mouth, but instead tilted his head to the side, then nodded, grinned, and looked to Distis.
“Yes, I can hear you laughing, Steward Distis,” grumbled the Marshal and then looked to Ternahl and Janet. “Is there anything you two can add?”
“Nothing,” Ternhal admitted, then huffed. “We’re making progress, but… not great progress. We’re starting from zero. We don’t even know their language. The people I’m sending north need are keeping themselves absolutely hidden for now. At least until we can get some people who can speak the language. Though… maybe…?”
Ternahl had said the last while looking at Janet.
Who harrumphed, shook her head, and then folded her arms under her impressive bust.
Not for the first time, Nick was thankful Janet was his mother-in-law. Julie was a gorgeous woman and would age into a majestic and beautiful older woman in time.
“We’ve exhausted our efforts without damaging them,” Janet admitted and shook her head again. “We’ve gone through every prisoner we have. There isn’t any of them that are willing to assist or help us at all. Not even to teach us the language.
“The ones we captured first were the most knowledgeable and gave us what we have now but… it’s limited as you all know.”
“You do have permission to do more, Mother,” Nick reminded her.
“Yes, I’m aware. We’ve already gone ahead and liquidated more than a few people to get information. Except it only was reconfirmation of what we knew,” admitted the dark sorceress. “Then they start making claims that are clearly false under pain of torture. Confessing to everything and anything, really.
“And yes, it really is false confessions. Because someone else has already said the opposite or claimed something entirely different. It’s as if they’ve all been conditioned to break under actual torture and spout everything and anything.
“We get whatever information we can best when we just… leave them in the dark, with little food, little water, and no one to talk to. Your original suggestion has been the best one.”
“Conditioned to break,” Nick mused and clicked his tongue. “Well, that’s certainly one way to handle it I suppose. That or some type of oath. They seem to worship gods, do they not?”
“They do. They have their own religion entirely. They fear the Dark Lord of the North and worship a pantheon all their own,” Janet confirmed. “They’re unwilling to speak of it more than when they lose track of themselves, but it’s there.”
That didn’t help Nick much, but it definitely helped him to better understand his opponents.
Looking over the map, Nick though long and hard about the situation.
“Alright,” he finally said. He didn’t like his choice, but he needed to make one. Sitting around waiting for the enemy to arrive was a reactive choice. He needed to get ahead of them and be ready. “Set up a slow grinding siege for those stuck at the Harbor. Use Lucian’s Teeth to keep them hemmed in and let them wither. Leave just enough of a force to keep them penned in.
“For the rest of the army, transfer them all to the North Wall. If we wait any longer, they’ll figure out the mud is dry enough to march on before we do.”
“Yes, Lord Dragon King,” everyone said collectively, saluted, and moved off, though Janet hung back.
Looking to her, he grinned at her even as everyone filed out.
“Yes, Mother?” he asked, well before his inner-advisers had departed. He didn’t mind it that people wanted to hang back and speak with him. By acknowledging her in front of others, he was signalling, ‘this is fine’ to them.
“Oh, well… I just wanted to let you know Julie is fine. She misses you,” Janet confessed, moving over to stand beside him. “I spoke with her briefly. This morning. Claudia, Cordelia, and her, are spending most of their time with one another. Though apparently they’ve taken to going into the family vault and remaining there with Lord Lucian.”
Nick raised an eyebrow at that, but wasn’t surprised. Lucian was giving gifts and providing information to all of his consorts. The idea of Lucian inviting them into the family vault just to remain safe wasn’t unexpected.
The children of Randolph, even if they were but developing babies, were ‘priceless’ to Lucian.
“That was all. I need to go. I’ve got a rather pretty young healer setup in a new configuration,” Janet said with some excitement. “I locked her into a chair, put up a single pulsating magical light in her peripheral vision, offset with a soft clicking noise, and put her in the dark otherwise. I think it’ll provide results!”
Janet patted Nick on the shoulder, then set off.
Well.
What do you think, Gramps?
Want to pick me, Delaney, Nathaniel, Jessie, Sara, Harlowe, and the current Royal Guard, up, and go for a flight?
I feel like we should go take a look north of the wall. Far north.
See if we can’t find the enemy army.
“A wise course of action, Sire. Cordelia, Claudia, and Julie, do indeed spend much of their time with me as Janet noted,” Lucian confirmed. “They carry the future, I will always welcome them into the family vault and protect them while they’re there.”
“Uh huh. Let me guess,” Nick started and began walking to the open field he often summoned Lucian into. “Cordelia realized she could turn the portrait room into a series of bedrooms and she said, ‘what a lovely place to hide from everyone. I don’t have to do anything anyone wants, and grandpa Lucian will chase everyone off.’
“Is she putting furniture in even now?”
“She is, Sire,” agreed Lucian, sounding amusing. “As is Julie and Claudia.
“Now… shall we go on that flight? I haven’t gotten to stretch my wings today.”
Nick smirked as he moved.
There was an odd part of him that enjoyed flying with Lucian very much. He’d wondered on more than one occasion if it was some part of him that was Draconic seeking the skies.
***
Flying beyond the wall, and the engineering teams working diligently below, Nick could see for a long ways in every direction.
“Gramps, why didn’t the family ever go out north? Beyond the harbor or the walls?” Nick called out over the wind pushing past.
Without Claudia, Cordelia, or Julie, there wasn’t anyone who could shift the wind blowing past them to the sides. Everyone was hanging onto Lucian physically and putting their lives in Lucian’s ability to fly without sending them tumbling to the ground far distantly below.
That and ropes tied into their belts that went around Lucian as a whole. A strange ‘not-saddle’ that had enough tightness as well as slack to let everyone hang on pretty well.
“There was never a need to risk it! I did try it a few times early on, but I often wasn’t able to get far enough with the time allowed to see anything of note!” called Lucian. “Those who were sent north, didn’t often come back! Those who did, spoke of the desert and a lack of supplies nearly killing them!”
Nick lamented that.
He couldn’t fault his ancestors or Lucian for their beliefs or how they handled it. Realistically, he would likely think the same thing with the information available.
It was just regrettable.
Truth of the matter was that it was entirely possible even now Lucian wouldn’t be able to cross the desert. Or perhaps even reach it. There could be a significant distance between them and the shift in terrain, let alone going beyond it.
Maybe it was even too far to get there period.
“It seems we’ll need scouts who can penetrate deeply into the northern area unseen,” mumbled Nick to himself. A sudden problem he’d come across had just appeared in his mind and the solution to match it.
He just didn’t like it.
Passing along the territory, they crossed from the foothills around the wall into the open lands beyond it.
As far as Nick could see, he couldn’t see much of anything other than treeless plains that lacked anything that’d hold terrain together. No bushes, no brush, no scrub, not a damn thing.
Just endless brown turf that didn’t freeze enough to become solid, or dry enough to revert back to dirt.
A soupy quagmire of lows and rises that looked like a swamp without trees made entirely of mud and standing water.
“I wish I knew why that existed, but it looks impossible to get through without a lot of resources!” shouted Sara from directly behind him. She had her arms wrapped around him and her knees pressed to his sides.
She was in a suit of armor that Lucian had gifted her from the vault. Delaney had received something very similar to it. There were many suits of armor, weapons, and other trinkets in the vault from many long years of war, fighting, and adventuring.
All of which had been guarded by Lucian from the Fash family.
Sara’s short black hair was hidden behind her helmet, as were her bright blue eyes. He couldn’t see much of her rather pretty face at all at the moment.
Even her athletic figure paired to her bust and waist that made her eyecatching was, one again, hidden away by her armor.
Thankfully Nick had seen a lot of her without her armor on recently.
Without anything on, in fact.
“Definitely a lot of resources!” agreed Nick, looking down at the muddy wasteland.
Right now it was acting as a buffer from what they were expecting to be an army. Yet as he looked Northward, Nick couldn’t see anything that jumped out at him.
Just a black mass of what was likely trees on the distant horizon. Likely where the plains became a bit of forest before it turned into the desert. Which might explain why the desert hadn’t crept southward yet.
Held partially by the trees.
Flying northward they kept at it.
“We need the Dark Elves!” Sara called out.
“What about me?” Jessie asked from directly behind Jessie.
“Not you, Jessie! The Dark Elf envoy! The woman! She’s a representative for multiple cities!” Sara answered, looking back over her shoulder at Jessie. “She wants to be a Consort, representing all the city-states of the Dark Elves, and she’ll bring a force of ten-thousand Dark Elves as a force!”
“Damnit! Damnit, fuck me, shit, damnit!” screamed Jessie. Clearly losing her temper. Apparently she hadn’t heard about the Dark Elf envoy and what she wanted from Nick. “She’s got bigger tits than even you! She’s more like Cordelia! Damnit! I’m getting shown up everywhere!
“I bet she’ll get pregnant the first damn time he loads her frickin’ oven with his daddy-dough! Damnit! Sara, the fuck is wrong with me? I just wanna get pregnant!”
“I’m not pregnant either! Elves and Humans have a hard time of it!” Sara responded.
“Fine! Okay… okay fine! Take the stupid big titty Dark Elf beauty as a consort. But put a bag on her head and pretend it’s me!” Jessie demanded. Nick felt a fist gently thump against his shoulder. “Bag on her head, pretend it’s me, call her Jessie!”
Nick wasn’t about to do that as it would be deeply insulting to the envoy.
He was thankful though that Jessie had approved or something he had already agreed to mentally and just had to try and figure out how to get Jessie on board. If she was on board, he could approve the Dark Elf Envoy of their request and get the troops.
Up to this moment, he hadn’t been aware of a way to convince Jessie to allow it to happen.
At the moment Nick was staring at the tree-line was it grew closer and closer.
Below them was still the endless stretch of hostile landscape.
Pushing in closer to his back, Sara pulled on him. Her helmeted head moving up to rest beside Nick’s uncovered head. Her fingers dug into him and began to cling to him.
“That’s… not… that’s… that’s the enemy,” Sara muttered next to Nick’s ear. It was almost too soft for him to hear. Almost.
“That is indeed the enemy, it would seem,” Lucian confirmed. “It is an entire sea of enemies. We will not be able to make such a flight as this again, without them sending Gryphons up to meet us.”
As Nick stared at the large black mass on the horizon, he realized they were right. It was a large group of tents, camps, small buildings, horses, wagons, people, and various other things.
It was a massive invasion army that’d been prepared here to move south once the pass was clear.
To the south and south west was a long tendril of people that went into the mountains and hillscape. A large number of people that seemed to be trying to carve out a way through the harbor that slowly resolved into a truly gargantuan effort.
Yet even as they dug, it seemed the ground itself worked against them. Where they carved out stones, more fell from above. Where they had clearly flattened a hill, one had grown out of the ground.
Dolphen itself was actively resisting and keeping the pass, closed. Keeping a mountainous region impassable wouldn’t be hard he realized.
Trying to keep an open plain muddy for longer than nature would allow, would be problematic. He now saw why Dolphen had been quick to seal the pass, but hadn’t been able to suggest anything with the northern expanses.
“Well,” Nick called out as they got close enough that he could see the enemy was actually preparing siege weapons. Fully functioning trebuchets, catapults, battering rams, and even ballista. All of them being formed here, far back in the ranks, where they were safe.
Then being likely rolled up to the wall.
“Gramps, think you can give all those siege engines a pass of fire as we go by? And as you said, we won’t be able to swing past like this again!” Nick requested of the Earth Dragon. “As much as I’d love to target the people, those engineers and their weapons are far more of a problem!”
“Of course! It’s a wise idea, my boy! Let’s have us a flameout!” called Lucian. “Hold on everyone! I did remind you all to bring those ropes for a reason!”
Nick nodded his head and pulled tighter on the rope that went around Lucian and was tied into Nick’s belt. He felt it cinched tight and was ready.
Lucian flipped upside down, pulled his wings in, and began shooting in toward the ground. Pulling himself into a steep descent toward the ground.
Once he’d gotten his angle of attack the Dragon flipped back over.
Hurtling toward the ground Nick had enough time to see where Lucian would pivot but that was about it.
The massive Dragon banked, slid his wings out, turned his head, and began breathing out.
To which Nick did the same.
He activated Dragon’s Might, took in a quick deep lungful, and exhaled with Dragon’s Fire. Laying out a violet colored flame that was just as hot as Lucian’s just not as wide or deep.
Nick made sure to drench two trebuchets he spotted that were side by side as Lucian continued his banking turn, wheeling them away from the army and back toward the south.
As they slid away from the army, Nick turned around to look over his shoulder.
The Royal Guard were all shooting bows, throwing magic, or just hurling things off their person. Doing all that they could it seemed to cause issues for the enemy as they went past.
“Seems like I won’t be heading back to the pass today!” Nick shouted over the din as Lucian began flapping his way back up to altitude. “I’ll need to start assisting with the wall and plains today!”
“Not quite, Sire! First you need to see Dr. Palt and then the envoy,” Lucian countered but inside of Nick’s mind. “You must settle the envoy, tonight, and take her forces with you to the wall. We will need every single one of those ten-thousand Dark Elves.”
Ah… yes. That’s a valid point, Gramps.
Dr. Palt should be arriving from his capital visit to give me a check-up. It’d be rather rude to run off.
That and… and the envoy.
“And the Envoy, Sire,” huffed Lucian, sounding bothered. Lucian couldn’t deny he tended to favor Jessie over everyone else just as Nick did.