Battle of Breaking Iron
Contents
Father, what does that mark mean?
Clear Moon's youngest daughter, Liantha, pointed at her father's shoulder. In the flickering light of the hearth fire a scar was plainly visible, still red and raw from the branding. It was a sunburst as big as a ripe plum, with five triangular rays extending away from it. The old rider looked down at it and pushed aside his empty bowl of stew, nodding to his smiling wife.
"That's a long story, and my girls should be in bed soon. The sun's been down almost an hour now, and there's plowing to be done in the morning. I think I'm feeling tired too." He faked a yawn with one arm thrown back in a stretch behind him.
The three girls, the oldest only thirteen and the youngest six, all cried out together. "No, father, tell us! The sun's just now going down. Please!"
Clear Moon laughed and said, "All right, all right, I'll tell you, but story-telling is thirsty work..."
Liasta, the eldest, jumped up from her seat and ran into the kitchen after a tankard of beer.
"Hmm... well, mmm... thank you, but now I think my back is starting to feel a little sore."
Lianor, the middle child, leaped from the floor and stood behind her father and began rubbing his back with both hands.
"Good, ah... good. But now my lap seems terribly cold, even with this fire. What should I do about this?"
Liantha leaped onto her father's lap and hugged his chest fiercely, then looked up at him and said, "Please, father, tell us!"
"Yes, I think that's just about right. Now listen closely my girls, and I'll tell you all about how Shouting With Iron set to settle the score with Storm of Amber by waging war on the Marukan, and how he proved his honor without losing a single man entrusted to him, how the great champion Nameless Ravine received his sword from the young wizard Rivers Between Us, of the cunning of Leaf Shakes the Wind and the wisdom of Song of the Silver Wind, and all the brave men who guard Marukan while the old Mahekos watched and our allies folded their hands."
Clear moon took a deep draft from his tankard and began his story.
In A Quiet Place
The words in Old Realm had little meaning, and to the uninitiated it sounded like a halting child's school rhyme twisted into nonsense through repitition. Subtle flares of glowing essence snaked out of his mouth and twisted scurried down the speaker's arms, wrapping around his fingers for a moment before scurrying into the corners of the room and disappearing. The ritual completed, Amilar Vondy clasped his hands before himself and took his seat at the long table. In a gruff, breathy voice, he said, "We may speak freely now."
"Thank you." Yushoto Albia folded her gnarled hands before her and inhaled sharply. "I hope I don't need to remind you that information shared in this meeting is classified. The General Staff will be given a summary of our findings, but for the moment we first need to build a coherent picture of what actually happened. I would like to thank Karal Linwei for the superb reconnaisance work the First Field Force has provided us and Amilar Vondy for the information his gens has managed to filter out regarding the activities of the cult. Finally, Yushoto Tarkim has reports from a few of my directorates agents in the field as well."
In the caves beneath the old city of Lookshy, four children of the dragons bowed their heads respectfully to one another. No sound rose from the elegantly jade paneled walls, no echoes and no rasp of a passing breeze. No sounds left the small room, carved in the living granite, to whisper past ancient vaults and silent sentinels.
Yushoto Albia, director of Intelligence for the city of Lookshy, looked at her guests carefully for a moment. Her long, thinning hair, the bright orange of crisp leaves in the fall, was tied in a sever bun high on the back of her head, seeming to stretch tight the graying spruce green skin of her forehead. She pursed her lips and said, "Now, let us begin. What exactly happened at this little skirmish in the hills, and what does this have to do with the Mask of Winters?
Why did we fight?
Clear Moon coughed and took another drink. "We fought to defend our homes, girl. Listen, a couple of months ago this thunderbird, Shouting With Iron, came up to the border of our lands and decided to cross over and fight with Storm of Amber. It seems they had a history, and if you look at the feathers that the rider wears in his hair then you can probably guess a bit of it. He was a circuit rider before he became one of the Chosen, and he delivered a judgment against the old bird that he could not bear. He chose to further the shame of his previous crimes by seeking vengeance.
"Now, before he could cross the river into our lands he'd have to deal with the Storm's allies. His officers started dying off in the night before he even reached the border. Some say that Leaf Shakes the Wind had something to do with that, but he isn't telling anyone. Then when they reached the river, that wizard Rivers Between Us set it to flooding with his spirit allies. Wiped out hundreds of them. The old buzzard was as blood thirsty as a starved wolf, but when he tried to cross over to fight the boy he was knocked out of the sky by Leaf's knives.
"He didn't learn then. He crossed over the river and started burning and pillaging everything in his path. Mind you, he got as good as he gave, since their champion Nameless Ravine and Leaf dogged their steps the whole way. Meantime, the rest of the Chosen petitioned the 'leaders' in Celeren for their support. They gave their support, all right: they sent us out to fight. The circuit riders went out through Marukan and called up the militia to help face the horrible hill tribes and beastmen. Seems even the Illuminated had heard of your father's arms of steel and asked him come help them."
Three little girls giggled.
"You should have seen their fortress. I've been to Blackoak Mountain before, mind you, a couple of years ago hunting bear. I don't know how they build the Plum Blossom Retreat since then. It was all woods before, dark and misty most of the time, creepy and full of old things. Now its all gardens, with all kinds of flowers and pools and fruit trees. A girl not much older than you three was in charge of feeding all of them. Isn't that funny?
"There were five thousand of us in all there, five thousand brave soldiers against almost an equal number of degenerates and half-men, and a prouder army you've never seen. All kinds of spirits and gods and Chosen were coming in and out of that place, organizing the troops, doing scouting missions. You'd have thought that we were going to battle with the old army of Great Forks. I'd swear that legions of Lookshy weren't better organized."
The Warriors Watch
The ghostly image of vast plain unfolded over the table, and in miniature a disorganized rabble moved through the grass. Karal Linwei held the Recorder of Everlasting Glories before her, dangling from chain on her wrist. "As you can see, nearly six thousand troops began the trek with the thunderbird. This image was captured by one of our skyships three hundred miles from the Marukan border. Superimposed over this, lets take a look at the same force four weeks after they had crossed the border..."
A second image hovered over the first, this time moving through rolling hills. Amilar Vondy murmured with surprise. "As you can see, half the troops are gone and they've lost what little coherence they once had. Our spies report that this is largely due to the work of one of the anathema leading the cult, a wretched by the name of Leaf Shakes the Wind. Fortunately, though they are very careful about dematerialized spies, they have no protections against sorcery or charms listening in on their councils. Otherwise we never would have known that Leaf was even an anathema. To date we still haven't been able to get an accurate description of his appearance, unfortunately."
Amilar jumped in, "And he wasn't the only one busy before the battle. A delegation of the anathema cult leaders went to Celeren just before the battle and managed to convince the Mahekos clan to loan them almost eight dragons of militia, practically a full legion. Some of them seem to have quite a way with words. They blew through the assembly, from what I heard. They're not just warlords, that's for certain."
Yushoto Tarkem added, "What's more, they're sorcerer appears to be quite the artificer as well. He recruited one of our technicians, Berren, a youngster working on the third triumph class warstrider assembly line. Apparently he was after the mold for one of the Godfangs, mothballed along with certain other anathema instruments and practically forgotten by the Stores Directorate. Naturally we recruited Berren ourselves to feed us information on their activities."
With a nod, Yushoto Albia stated flatly, "Please inform them of how successful that was."
"Yes... Berren contacted us through the Marukan Redoubt and informed us that their sorcerer technician, Rivers Between Us, was using the mold as a decoration in a sort of museum at his manse. However, Taimyo..."
Karal unrolled a diagram and spread it on the table, "...this is the sword wielded by Nameless Ravine at the skirmish. He most certainly did not possess it two weeks prior. It's like nothing we've seen, and according to our archivist it is not a first or second age pattern. However if you look at the weight, the dimensions, certain aspects of the crossguards..."
Yushoto Tarkem continued, "...it has the same soul, you might say, as Appointed Blasphemy."
Amilar Vondy rubbed his wispy beard between his thumb and fingers. "Hmm... so the little spy lied. Will be assassinated, or retrieved for public execution?"
Yushoto Albia shook her head with a twitch. "Not yet. Disinformation can flow both ways."
"Ah... excellent use of limited resources."
"Indeed."
