Chris Evans - A Darkness Forged in Fire

Konowa wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry. "My patience was at an end before this conversation started. You sent for me, not the other way around. In the few days I've been back in civilization, I've been attacked by extinct creatures, heard enough rumors to last several lifetimes, and still I don't have the first clue what is going on."

Marshal Ruwl stood and withdrew a thin scroll of parchment from his jacket, handing it to Konowa. "We know why the rakkes have returned. They are but the first. More will come. Unless we find a way to stop Her."

Konowa gripped the scroll hard. The dream he'd tried very hard to forget flashed vividly before his eyes. The Shadow Monarch's cold hand reached out to him from the shadows. He could feel the paper softening with the sweat of his own hand. The marshal and the wizard stared at him, waiting.

Konowa had no choice. He was going to accept no matter what they had planned. She had to be stopped, and he needed to belong again. It was like standing on a mountain peak; there was nowhere to go but back down.

Konowa nodded and slackened his grip on the scroll, prying open the wax seal and pulling the rolled paper to its full length. When he finished reading it, the strength in his body gave out and he sank into the chair, the scroll sliding from his hand.

"You're reforming the Iron Elves…"

"I really rather expected you to have pieced that together before now," Ruwl stated, his tone bringing Konowa back to his senses.

Konowa's mind raced with the possibilities. "To do what, lead them on a death march? Her mountain is well guarded, Her power too great for a single regiment, not that the men wouldn't try. But no one who enters Her realm comes back."

There was a small, dry noise from the wizard that sounded an awful lot like laughter, but when Konowa looked, the elf was busy stuffing still more of the endless supply of nuts into his mouth.

Ruwl looked annoyed. "No one is asking you to attack Her directly. There isn't the time or the resources to mount an expedition to travel across the ocean and lay siege to Her mountain. No, you are to take the regiment north following the Baynama River as far as Luuguth Jor."

"You said before you knew why the rakkes had returned. What's that got to do with Luuguth Jor?" For no reason Konowa could explain, he pictured the fort smothered in a sea of twisted trees.

Ruwl looked again to Leaf Talker, who nodded. "We believe more than just rakkes have returned."

Konowa put it together. "You can't be serious…I killed him. I put my saber through his heart. You court-martialed me for it."

"For disobeying orders," Ruwl said in an entirely matter-of-fact tone. "Killing him was beside the point. In any event, it seems he, or something like him, has returned. An apparition has been sighted in more than one place. It looks like the departed Viceroy, but claims to be Her Emissary."

"You have proof of this?"

Ruwl sighed, a pained look crossing his face. "No, at least, little more than rumor. Seers, shamans, and wizards among others say they have seen or felt something amiss, and it all points to Luuguth Jor. The garrison there has not been heard from in almost a fortnight. Strange stories are beginning to drift down from the north, but the new Viceroy has convinced Her Majesty that the cavalry should be pulled back to go after the orcs in the west. With them out of the north, we've had no way to confirm anything."

Konowa remembered the feel of his saber sliding into the elf's chest. He couldn't be alive, could he? "Jaal-the Duke-told me about this move to the west. Is the Viceroy now in charge of the military here?"

The marshal rose slightly from the cot, then regained his composure. "He is Her Majesty's representative in this country, and his orders are the Queen's orders."

"Why us? Why go to all this trouble to reform the Iron Elves just to check out a rumor?"

"Simply put, we have no other choice. The Viceroy's orders apply to all Calahrian regiments in Elfkyna, and he wants them all focused on the western border and the orcs." The disdain in the marshal's voice was obvious.

"You don't suspect this new one, do you?" Konowa asked.

"He serves Her Majesty and has yet to show divided loyalties. Still, the Iron Elves are being raised by personal fiat of the Prince and as such do not fall under the orders of the Viceroy."

Konowa's head began to pound even harder as he tried to pick his way through the gambits within machinations. He looked at Leaf Talker, who smiled back as if nothing the least bit strange was happening, but then, wizards never played it straight…or monarchs or generals, for that matter.

"So the Queen allows her Viceroy to move all her forces in Elfkyna to the west, while at the same time allowing her son the Prince to raise a regiment to head east? What am I missing?"

"A head for politics," Ruwl said. "It is both naГЇve and dangerous to view the Empire as being of one mind. The Queen, in her long reign, has developed that most delicate of royal traits: holding contradictory views at the same time."

"Then she suspects the new Viceroy." Konowa had only met the Queen once, several years before at an award ceremony for several officers, himself one of the recipients. She'd smiled and been pleasant, laughing and making small talk, yet Konowa came away from that meeting with the distinct impression he'd been a mouse in the presence of a very charming cat.

Ruwl offered Konowa the briefest of smiles. "Her Majesty is prudent in all matters. Therefore, the regiment will proceed to Luuguth Jor and ascertain whether the Red Star has indeed fallen back to earth. If the Star is there, you will retrieve it."

" That prophecy?" Konowa said, looking straight at the wizard. "Shooting stars fall from the skies like rain. What about the old Viceroy?"

"Kill him, again. And this time, do a proper job of it."

Konowa blinked. "Kill a dead elf, again, and find a mythical magical object. Anything else?"

Ruwl pinched the bridge of his nose. "It is obvious that trees make poor intellectual companions. Your grasp of the greater import of things is not what it used to be. I would have thought the rakkes would be enough to convince you things have changed. If they can come back from the dead, why not the Viceroy, and if him, why not others? The Star, whether real or myth, is a significant threat, and must be kept from Her."

"It's still a faery tale," Konowa said. "Like the Ice Queen of the Julg orcs. The return of Stars from the heavens in the world's time of need is just legend."

"That matters little," Ruwl said, absently brushing at his sleeve. "To the elfkynan, and for that matter, to a great many in the Empire, the legend of the Star is the very foundation on which their faith is built. The Star's power is incalculable. The people believe it to be true, therefore it is true."

"It'll be a hunk of crystal," Konowa said, rolling his eyes, "a shiny gem that reflects the light in pretty colors."

The marshal tapped his foot. "Perception is reality. He, or she, who holds the Star commands the legend. What if the other Stars turn up? Magic or glass, we need this one. With it, we convince the elfkynan that the Empire remains strong, and thoughts of rebellion drift away. With it, we convince the Shadow Monarch to stay on Her mountain and not interfere in the affairs of the Empire. Without it, She and many more will grow to believe the opposite, even perhaps that they can defeat us."

"Maybe they can," Konowa said.

"Indeed," the marshal replied, "but to oust the Imperial Army from Elfkyna would cost untold thousands, tens of thousands, of lives. They are a proud people, but they do not have the weapons or the army to challenge us at anything close to parity. The bloodshed would be horrendous and Her Majesty would send reinforcements. Is that what you want?"