Wolves of Empire [EPIC DARK FANTASY] [Book One Complete]

Thirty-Five

Estrid

Varanos, Kalduran

23rd of Tantus

Aladar looked much improved from when last Estrid had seen him. His eyes shone clearer, and he stood at the head of the assembly straight backed, his head held high. Wearing the plain black greatcoat that was his trademark, he didn't look the part of supreme commander, but he mastered the role regardless.

"In the coming days, the Imperium will arrive at our walls," the Baltanos said. "They cannot be allowed to proceed past us and into Drasken."

He let his words hang in the air, an ominous cloud settling over the large gathering. Unlike the more limited meetings Estrid had hosted in the field with the other three kandras, Aladar's audience was comprised of every significant military officer in Kalduran's four armies, with a smattering of Kavan's Quendinthans besides. They convened in the Baltanos's office, all of them wearing their dress uniforms to remind them that, despite being safe behind the walls of Varanos, they were still at war. Several dozen veteran officers, their collective anticipation electrocuting the atmosphere. Only Tanas seemed calm, standing at ease at Aladar's side. Because they likely didn't think to look, no one but Estrid noticed the way Aladar leaned in towards his husband, almost as if needing a physical bolster to prevent collapse.

"They wouldn't have gotten so far had we taken the fight to them sooner," Elek said from his position a few places across from Aladar. He stood opposite Estrid, his eyes locked onto hers as he spoke. "Even if there was strategy to your plans, letting them get so close paints us as weak."

Estrid raised an eyebrow but refused to speak. Elek only wanted a reason to call her out in front of all those who mattered. But his failure to follow up on the vague threats he'd delivered at Dujaro proved their emptiness, and anything he said to her now could be disregarded.

"Smashing them against our walls is effective," Aladar replied steadily. "If we'd faced them in an open field, there was always the chance some would escape, or move around us, or overwhelm us. If we don't halt them here, there is every possibility they will divert east and march around the mountains straight into Drasken."

He leaned away from the table and clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze skimming across his subordinates. Tanas leaned back with him, the movement small and subtle, noted only because Estrid paid attention. "I know some of you oppose my decision to name Kandras Elerius my successor, and to place her in command of this campaign," Aladar continued, "and I know some of her decisions have backfired, but her reasoning is sound and her aim of drawing the Imperium into a fight where we have the advantage has so far been successful."

She'd spoken privately with the Baltanos before today's meeting, sharing her encounter with Endarion in Zaljuras and the information she'd gained there. She'd told no one else the purpose of her foray, knowing Elek would interpret it as her colluding with the Imperium, that Ilona and Laszlo would agree with him. She'd been worried Aladar would think her foolish to meet with Endarion, and even more foolish to trust his word when he'd proven himself so dishonourable in recent weeks.

But, just as readily as he'd allowed her to take her army to rescue Endarion on Shaeviren four years ago, he accepted her judgement now.

"What advantage would that be?" Elek asked. "Even with Arch-General Aza, we're outnumbered. We have the wall to our backs, yes, but we are more desperate than the enemy. They could smash us against our own capital more easily than we could smash them."

Aladar didn't respond, instead dipping his head slightly and looking to her, as if in deference. She took the unspoken cue.

"Just as I've secured the loyalty of Kavan Aza," she began, sparing a second to gesture towards the man in question, "I believe I have secured the loyalty of another Imperial commander. If he does as he's promised, the battle will turn against the Imperium in short order."

"Which one?" Ilona Redik asked. From her tone, she already knew the answer.

"Boratorren."

Elek barked a sarcastic laugh. "The funniest thing is, you actually believe what you're saying."

"I spoke with the Paramount-General himself," Estrid replied, keeping her tone even. "He told me what his plans for the coming battle were and all but ensured he wouldn't fight us when the time came."

"When did you speak with him?" Ilona asked, not quite accusing.

Estrid tensed herself for their reaction before she spoke. "I allowed him to capture one of my scouts and lured him to Zaljuras. Without the presence of other arch-generals and kandras, we were able to speak openly about his loyalties."

"Loyalties?" Elek said with a sneer. "You had a private and illicit rendezvous with your former lover, and you expect us to believe you talked about loyalties?"

"Paramount-General Boratorren being my former lover is irrelevant. When we met, we did so as enemies under a temporary truce," she said.

Laszlo cleared his throat and interjected. "If you had the Paramount-General in your custody, why did you let him go?"

"We could have used him to negotiate," Ilona added.

"Or made an example of him," Elek supplied.

She looked to Aladar for support, but he only watched with a curious gaze. Kavan was a bulwark at her side, but by necessity remained silent; anything he said in her defence would only be construed as two Imperial traitors supporting each other. At her other side, Borso stood with his arms folded across his chest, his usually jocular features sharpened into severity as he drilled his gaze into Elek, though the smaller man didn't seem to notice.

"If I hadn't let him go, the first thing that happens is that the Caetoran puts one of his own lapdogs in control of the Denjini army, and we lose them as a potential ally." It was a struggle to keep her voice measured, to address these people who didn't trust her as if she respected them. "The second thing is that my plans regarding Boratorren are for nothing, and we face the Imperium outside our walls with the same disadvantage Kandras Danukos is afraid of. The third; we either kill Boratorren, thus wasting a bargaining chip, or he is returned to the Imperium for empty promises and then killed by them anyway."

"They wouldn't kill their own Paramount-General," Ilona said resolutely.

"They tried to kill me when I was still an arch-general, if you recall," Estrid replied, a bite to her tone. "The way I understand Imperial politics, Boratorren was only given his position so he could be stripped of it and later executed. He'd be killed by his own people for the same reason I almost was: they are afraid of him."

"He'd end up dead either way, is what I'm hearing," Elek said. "The only reason you let him go was to spare him. Why?" He left the question to fester for long enough to scoff at it. "Because you're still in love with him. Not because of your strategy, and certainly not for loyalty to Kalduran and Drasken. Every decision you've made has been with this single fact in mind."

She clamped her mouth to lock in the angry retorts and shook her head.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Elek aimed an accusing finger at Kavan. "When you took this Imperial dog into our fold, you didn't allow your soldiers to touch Boratorren. It could've been finished at Allodek, had you the loyalty necessary to destroy him."

"Except there were still three other enemy armies in the field," she pointed out. "Two of them led by arch-generals personally loyal to the Caetoran."

Elek looked ready to start slinging insults when Kavan interjected. "Kandras Elerius's decisions regarding Allodek were sound," Kavan said. "If Boratorren wasn't touched, suspicion would be cast on him by his own allies. The divide between him and the Imperium would widen, giving him more cause to turn against them, causing him to, not two weeks later, reveal his plans to her at Zaljuras."

"No one asked for your opinion, turncoat," Elek snapped, his pointed finger becoming a fist he thrashed against the table.

Estrid glanced at Kavan, but her old friend didn't give Elek the satisfaction of being baited into an argument. "Fair enough," Kavan replied with a small smile.

"Baltanos, sir, I ask you to cast aside this lack-witted woman," Elek said, bringing Aladar back into the conversation. There was a rumble of support from his officers, and from those amassed around Ilona and Laszlo. "She is sabotaging our empire. Her and her crippled lover and their friend over there."

A low rumble issued from Borso's throat at the implication, though Estrid silenced him with a nudge of her elbow. No use providing Elek with bait he didn't need.

Aladar said nothing, and Elek took it as a sign to elaborate.

"The Warmaster has a reward for Elerius," he said. "Let us claim it and make up for the loss of the Paramount-General's capture. Let us hand her back to them."

Estrid gripped the edge of the table with white knuckles as hot flames licked at her gut. She'd not drawn in aasiur outside her infrequent training sessions with Borso and regretted neglecting her magic. Even if she'd be apprehended the instant after, it would be pleasing to light Elek up like a pyre and watch him burn.

Kavan's voice split into the ringing anger in her skull. "You'll have to hand me back first, then," he said. An easy smile lightened the menace in his words. "And I won't go easy."

"None of that will be necessary," Aladar said.

"Why not?" Elek asked. "We lose nothing by being rid of Aza. As for Estrid, promote her masantra to kandras in her place. He should've been given the title in the first place."

Borso, as grim-faced as she'd ever seen him, shook his head. "I would not accept."

"Someone else then," Elek continued.

A pointed silence descended, and dozens of pairs of eyes drifted back to the Baltanos, expecting a response. Aladar's glazed eyes hinted more at deep thought than an impending episode, but Estrid still tensed. When no reply seemed forthcoming, Tanas, as firm a presence at Aladar's side as Kavan and Borso were at Estrid's, slashed his hand through the air, as if waving away Elek's words at the same time as diverting attention from his husband. "No one is being ransomed to the Imperium," he said. "Kandras Elerius has arranged allies for us within the Imperial ranks, and we spit on her gift like ungrateful children." His gaze encompassed them all, then he focused its full might on her. "Please, tell us what you plan to do. If anyone feels the need to interrupt, I will happily worldstride them out of the city."

She filled her lungs, bracing herself. Elek watched her with the intense eyes of a predator. Rather than stare him down, she let her eyes rove across the ranks around her, giving each officer a few seconds of her attention before moving on.

"I'll be positioning you all in compliance with what Boratorren told me. He has promised to release false information about our whereabouts, which will allow us to surprise the Imperium's forces in their unguarded flanks. Though he also promised he wouldn't fight, I believe I can force him to go a step further." She paused, waited for the inevitable interruption. Tanas's threat held firm, though. "If I can ensure his defection, we will gain another thirty thousand-odd soldiers to our cause. In the event the Imperium isn't defeated at our walls or is able to fall back and gather themselves again, the Denjini numbers will prove invaluable.

"If Boratorren does defect, he will also bring Arch-General Ricardus Naevon with him. It will probably trigger their insurrection. If we support them in this, the Imperium can be neutralised as a threat. Permanently. As the Varkommer wanted."

Aladar took advantage of her break, eyes clearing. "How do you plan to have him defect?"

They'd spoken of this, but the other officers needed to hear it.

"I know Arch-General Tyrannus wants me captured, for the Caetoran. I'll lure him off the field, corner myself in the foothills around Varanos. Boratorren will follow. When Tyrannus attacks me, Boratorren will intervene."

"And you're sure of this?" the Baltanos asked.

"I stake the lives of my entire army on it," Estrid said. "Boratorren will defend me. If not, I'll ensure I have a way out. Those foothills are littered with narrow valleys I can make use of, if I need to."

Endarion had displayed a despairing willingness to die during their conversation at Zaljuras. As many times as he'd wronged her, and despite his involvement in the sacking of Dykumas, she knew she couldn't let him kill himself. She hadn't been able to let him die on Shaeviren, and she wouldn't let him die now, however much he thought he deserved it. Compelling him was the only way out; placing all ten thousand of her Dasjurans in his hands was the only way to compel him.

She hoped he'd prove himself a better guardian of her army than he had of Vadonis and Dykumas and, though a slither of doubt remained, she presented a resolute face to the gathering.

"Does anyone have any issues with this plan?" Aladar asked.

Elek raised his hand. "I do, but no one will listen either way."

The Baltanos considered, then rolled his eyes in a strangely infantile gesture. "If this fails, you can take control and lead the campaign."

"There'll be nothing left if the plan fails," Elek said.

Aladar sighed. "We'll see," he said, his tone final enough to indicate an end to their meeting.

The officers filed out of the room, murmuring amongst themselves and occasionally shooting her and Kavan suspicious glances. She didn't suppose, even if they were victorious in the field, any of them would be able to ever trust her again, not with their kandras opposed to her. She'd alienated the people she'd lived amongst for twelve years, just as she'd become so effectively isolated from her countrymen back in the Imperium. It wasn't a new experience, but it still stung.

She remained at the table, nodding to Kavan and Borso as they passed and ignoring the angry glare Elek fired at her. When they'd gone, she moved around the table towards Aladar and Tanas.

"Baltanos, sir, may I speak privately with your husband for a moment?"

Aladar shared a glance with Tanas. "By all means," he said, before pacing away and following his subordinates.

Only when the door had eased shut behind him, and a ringing silence consumed the expansive room, did she clear her throat to speak. "Do you think we can win?"

"I don't see why not." Tanas regarded her coolly through eyes as slate grey as his cropped hair. "That's not what you wanted to speak to me about, though."

She settled back against the table, her back to the door. "Aladar's last fit."

"Yes?"

"He said something strange. I can't remember it all, exactly, but he said, 'I didn't kill Incáraï'. Do you know it?"

A flicker of recognition sparked in Tanas's gaze, there and gone in a blink. She would've missed it had she not known it would flash by.

"I don't."

"You're sure?" she said. "He was adamant he didn't kill Incáraï, whatever or whoever that is."

"Rambling," Tanas replied. "You know he does that."

"But the things he's made me see. What if it's linked? What if he showed me Incáraï?"

Tanas shrugged, his composure returned. "I can't explain his fits. Incáraï isn't a place on this world. As far as I know, it's not a place on any world. Nor is it a person. It's likely a word he made up, something to focus on during his fits."

"He also said something about people being trapped somewhere, and how he wouldn't help them escape."

"Rambling, again."

"Did something like that happen in his past?" she asked. "Could his fits be brought on by guilt of some action, some crime he committed?"

Tanas's features creased in uncertainty. "It's possible, but I know little of his past. He prefers it that way."

It struck her as odd that Aladar's consort, the man he loved, the man with whom he should share everything, was as ignorant of his history as everyone else. Unless, of course, Tanas lied to her now.

She moved on. "He also destroyed a table in his pavilion."

"You've seen him fitting before. He lashes out. Of course he breaks things."

"Let me elaborate, then. He unmade that table. It disappeared from existence. No trace. Not even as if it'd been burned. He touched it and it unravelled."

The flicker in his eyes was more marked, and the set of his jaw suggested he had clenched it. "Are you sure it wasn't something he made you see, like before?"

"The table was gone, Tanas. There's no magic in the world that can do that, vision or not."

He let his arms drop to his sides and chewed at his lower lip. "I don't know what to say."

She shook her head and looked away. She'd gotten what she came here for: confirmation that Tanas knew what was happening to Aladar. He knew of the visions, he knew what Incáraï was, and he knew about whatever Aladar had done to the table. For whatever reason, he wasn't going to enlighten her. Maybe he didn't trust her, which was a brand of paranoia she understood.

"What is he?" she asked quietly.

Tanas started as suddenly as if she'd punched him. "What?"

"Is Aladar an immortal? A mage?"

Tanas smothered his startled reaction with a forced chuckle. "No, he's not a mage."

She noted his words: he denied 'mage, but not 'immortal'.

"I needed to ask," Estrid said with a dismissive shrug. "It was for my own peace of mind."

"I understand. It can be frightening to see him as vulnerable as he is during his fits." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "When this is over, I'll try and find out what's causing it."

She raised her hand to his and patted it. Though she wasn't convinced, she needed him to believe she was. "I suppose we'd better win this fucking war, then."