Chapter 11 #3
“I don’t know that we are.” Harald still couldn’t relax.
It was all too easy to imagine a pair of burning purple eyes watching him from some dark window or behind a tiled gable.
“I’m Level 9. A solid Silver-ranker. Nessa, you’re Level 7.
Sam? 5th. Kársek has his own thing going on, but I seriously doubt we could take a Gold-ranker by ourselves, and their group fought one off without taking losses. ”
“Exactly.” Nessa sheathed her blade and moved to a well where she began to draw up the bucket. “Vic has well and truly screwed us all over.”
Harald reached into his Cosmos and summoned Shadowpaw. The massive hound appeared by his side, frosty mist burning off his thick pelt as always. “Scout around,” Harald instructed. “Be careful. Make sure we’re not being watched.”
Shadowpaw huffed, gave himself a shake, and slinked off to disappear into the shadows. Harald sighed, rubbed at his face, then turned to his companions. “Thoughts?”
Sam was hugging herself and staring off at nothing. “I don’t know.” She blinked, focused on him. “This is… I don’t see how we can take on twenty Handmaidens.”
“If Vic is correct,” said Kársek, “then we may have to face them eventually, regardless. An assault on the 41st could cause Eclavistra to summon her Handmaidens back.”
“Is that the way forward, then?” Sam sounded unsure. “Provoke a defense, draw them back into the dungeon?”
Nessa set the sloshing bucket on the lip of the well. “And do what? Allow ourselves to be massacred on their home turf only to return right after to resume taking control of Flutic?”
Sam shrugged helplessly.
“Kársek’s right,” said Harald. “This feels like a serious commitment on Eclavistra’s part. She’s weak, so she can’t have endless legions of Handmaidens. She’s taken a gamble. If we can defeat them here, we weaken her forces on the 41st.”
“Big ‘if,’” said Nessa, raising water to her lips with cupped hands.
“We’re making assumptions,” said Kársek. “Nobody said we had to fight them by ourselves.”
“The Houses are hardly lining up to fight them,” said Nessa, scooping up more water.
Kársek shrugged. “Lady Hammerfell is a potent ally. She may be able to draw other raiders to our cause. I can rally the dwarves.”
“And…” Harald warmed to the idea. “The Houses are in disarray and think Vic has the Crown. Maybe they’re willing to bend knee because they think everyone else is doing so already. If we rally them…”
Nessa laughed darkly. “You think they’ll rally to you, Harald? After what you did at House Celestara?”
“Maybe not me.” Harald toyed with the idea. “Maybe Lady Hammerfell. Or.”
“Or?” asked Sam.
“Countess Sonora.” For some reason that felt… right. “She’s known as a Naked Countess, which earned their scorn before, but with Gorkin dead, and her possessing an Infinitum… I don’t know. If anyone could stand for honesty and integrity without being second-guessed, it’s her.”
“That’s asking a lot of Anna,” said Sam.
“True. I don’t even know if it’s feasible.
But.” Harald wagged his head from side to side, as if trying to slot the idea into place.
“We ask Lady Hammerfell to rally her Gold-rankers. Her old raiding team. Kársek, you rouse the dwarves. Then Anna goes on a lightning tour of the Houses, explains what we’ve learned, the trap the demons are setting for them.
If we can just gather enough force to crush the Handmaidens, we’re set.
We don’t need everyone at Anna’s banner. ”
“And then?” asked Nessa, crossing her arms. “Say this works. We drive off or kill the Handmaidens. What then? Anna will be the center of attention. It would be criminal for us to leave her and return to the dungeon then.”
“Fair.” Harald blew out his cheeks. “I’m working on this plan as we go.
Anna needs to agree, obviously. But Kársek’s right.
We don’t need to do this alone. We can’t.
We need to somehow rally enough strong raiders to our cause to foil Eclavistra’s plan.
If we can pull off that miracle in less than twenty-four bells, well. We’ll take it from there.”
“I’m in,” agreed Kársek. “I will speak to my people. Our enclave in Flutic is small, but there are many potent dwarves in Deepforge.”
“Let’s take this to Lady Hammerfell,” said Sam. “She’ll have a much better idea if any of this is even feasible.”
“Agreed.” Harald scanned the rooftops again. “I just… I find it hard to believe they just let us walk out. But Shadowpaw’s not found anything. Maybe they really do underestimate us.”
“Let’s get back to Sonora Manor,” said Nessa. “If they’ve let us escape, it’s their problem, not ours.”
“Right.” Harald continued to scan the gambrel rooftops, wishing he had a power that could flush out any hidden watchers. Shadowpaw was up there, prowling among the chimneys, but even with him not scenting anything, he couldn’t release the suspicion they were being watched.
Maybe he was just paranoid.
Nessa led the way back out onto the avenue. Sam and Kársek fell in behind her. After a final search, Harald gave it up and followed after.
Time to see if they could come up with a plan to save Flutic from itself.