Chapter 5
Five
Imade my way through the stone halls lined with candles to the council room.
It was a large room with high, arched ceilings.
It was bright due to the large reinforced windows that took up the entire west wall.
The walls behind my chair in the centre of the room were lined with every weapon in existence.
I appreciated art, but weapons were what I truly loved collecting.
The history contained in a blade was beautiful—the thought in the ore selected for the metal, the craftsmanship and the lives it took.
These pieces of metal were steeped in history, bearing witness to both life and loss.
At the center of the room was an enormous round table carved from mahogany.
At its center was a topographic, wood-carved map of Maureia and its surrounding realms. The Academy and the mountain on which it sat were at the centre.
Maureia had Morgad on its right and Voldina on its left followed by Neretva, Suncela and finally Cazina on Morgads other side, all realms perfectly circling the Academy, splaying outwards to the edges of the continent.
Viv, Visarous and Sienna were sitting there waiting for me.
Viv was moving models of our armies and Morgad’s soldiers to paint a picture of the most up to date information from the border and the conflict that was currently raging on.
‘No Cain today?’ Sienna asked as I entered, but Viv didn’t look up from the models she was rearranging, not realising I had entered the room.
‘No, he’s monitoring Demir’s movements to see when he runs into our friend who I sent out of here yesterday,’ I said.
Viv snapped her attention towards me, shocked I had managed to sneak in without a single one of them being aware, or perhaps she was shocked by the fact that I was still standing and looked like my usual self after what had transpired last night.
Sienna, for all her goodness, could not keep her mouth shut when it came to my inner circle.
Looking at the table before me, these people were allies at best. People I trusted to protect my lands, my people and me, to the degree that it related to the first two.
I saw these people as friends in some ways, but I would always hold a part of myself back from them.
They accepted that. Having known me long enough, they knew what affections lurked within me, as well as my limits and why they were there.
Out of my four advisors, only Viv would die for me, but that was only because she was obligated to.
You must swear a blood binding oath when you become Master of War and my right hand.
Should I die due to a failure of hers to protect me, the spell would stop her heart instantly.
Her family name tarnished and all relatives executed.
Her name would forever be stripped from the history books; she would be all but forgotten, as if she had never existed.
Should she die protecting me, then all the glory imaginable would be hers, and glory is what tends to motivate those infatuated by battle and blood, like her.
I sat at the head of the table in silence, with Viv to my right, Sienna to my left and Visarous across from me.
His gaze bore into me. Meeting it, I held his gaze without shrinking back, waiting for him to fold and look away, and just as expected, he did just that.
Nodding to Sienna to begin her report first, I settled into my chair, my hands resting on the dragon heads carved into the armrests that set mine apart from the rest. She coughed, adjusting herself.
She was still not comfortable with the formalities required of her role.
Being raised among the Wiccans to become the next Elder, she was the one people reported to.
Twelve months in, she still saw herself as our friend more than as an advisor in her own right.
She had spoken to me about not understanding her place here in the early days.
Why I had selected her, given my people’s residual animosity towards the Forest Fae and Wiccans.
Clearing her throat she began, ‘We have been able to heal many of the injured from the latest clash at the border. Twelve succumbed to their injuries. Had we gotten to them sooner, we could have saved them.’ At that, she shot a scathing look at Viv, accusing her of the soldiers’ delay in getting medical attention.
I shot Viv a warning look, telling her to back down, knowing exactly what she was going to say.
The delay was due to the soldiers being pinned down by enemy forces for too long; that is where they lost time and, in turn, lost our people.
If it were up to Viv, she would not lose a single person.
Sienna continued, ‘We are looking at setting up healing stations closer to the border so that we can attend to the wounded. We had kept them further back so that our enemies could not pick off the weak but now they will be housed in the war camp. The Wiccans will be sending over some final year students to assist… and following last night, we will need to put some measures in place for your trip to the Academy.’ Viv’s eyes flared along with Visarous’s.
They exchanged a look, and in that moment, I knew Sienna had not told them anything until this very moment.
‘What happened last night? What measures?’ Viv asked, concern written on her face. Worried that she had missed something—a crucial part of her role.
‘The nightmares and the panic are back. We will need to be cautious that it doesn’t rear its head at any… inopportune moments,’ I sighed, frustrated with myself.
Viv didn’t respond, instead turning her gaze to Sienna. ‘Is her capacity impacted?’ she asked, always recalculating her strategy.
‘Fuck you, Vivianna. When have I ever let it stop me from doing what needs to be done? Watch yourself. It’s starting to sound like you’re undermining me, and I have no purpose for that on this council,’ I stated firmly, with venom injected into each and every word—a warning.
Viv couldn’t help but smirk, taking that as a sign that there was, in fact, nothing to worry about.
I was still my usual self if I could bite back.
She knew when I wasn’t; she had known me long enough to see when the panic turned into the heaviness and fog that made me unable to move, let alone rule.
It had been some time since that last happened.
Ending the discussion, I turned my gaze to Visarous. ‘Anything new your research has brought to light that you need to share?’
He hesitated for a moment, wanting to prod further, but thought better of it.
‘No, I’m still searching through the scrolls we found when rebuilding the first temple.
I will let you know what we find. In the coming month, we will begin preparations for the Ascension of the Souls.
You will need to partake in the ritual to send off our fallen warriors and people so they can have a truly clean death.
This will be your first time being involved at this level and there is a lot you need to learn. ’
I nodded. One of the most important days of the year within our calendar was soon approaching.
It was a bittersweet day for me and my people.
One filled with loss and hope. The Ascension of the Souls was the day when lost or trapped souls who had died in the last year finally crossed over to the spirit realm.
I had always been a bystander at this event, watching my mother act as the conduit between our realm and the next.
Viv nodded solemnly in acknowledgement of her fallen brothers and sisters.
She took each loss personally. So did I, but she wore it on her sleeve a lot more clearly.
‘I want to send a small battalion with you to the Academy,’ Viv said, moving on with the meeting.
Ignoring the fact that it was on neutral ground.
The Academy sat atop a mountain at the center of the six realms. The borders of each ended right at its base.
It was protected by old magic that not even dragons could undo if they were still alive.
The moment you stepped off your land and onto the Academy’s grounds, no one could seriously harm another person.
That is why it was often chosen as the location for peace talks.
‘Do I need to remind you as to why that’s not necessary?’ I bristled.
She stared at me for a moment challenging me before continuing, ‘I’m not worried about the ball, I’m worried about our border with Morgad near the base of the mountain.
You heard what that spy said about Demir’s plans.
’ We both knew she was being overly cautious, and once Demir crossed paths with what was left of his spy, none of this would be necessary.
Sienna spoke up at that moment. ‘The Wiccans we are sending to the healing camp have already detoured and fortified the wards on the borders near the Academy. No one can cross. It took five High Elders to cast that spell and it will take five High Elders to undo it completely. The protection will only last one week before it begins to fade slightly again, but you won’t be more than three days. I don’t see it being a problem.’
Viv could not argue with that even if she wanted to.
‘Fine,’ she grumbled before giving me her report.
She spent the next fifteen minutes describing the latest updates on our push and pull battle with Morgad.
The Wiccans had reinforced our wards, which meant that no Morgadian forces were stepping foot on our land for the time being.
Should the wards fall sooner than we anticipated while I was away at the Academy, we sent another 300 soldiers to be ready, taking our total to 500 sitting there waiting.
The Morgadian King currently had only 300 soldiers by his border; they wouldn’t stand a chance and were not stupid enough to try their luck with those odds.