BECMI Chapter 156 – Unmoored Parts moving in the Dark

The dwarven Regent Karrackheim took a deep breath, and stared at the map, calculating the things that he would need. Then his blue eyes moved to those of his friend Antius. “Und what does Darkmoor about this disaster?” he asked the human king gruffly, knowing he was not one to sit idle.Antius smiled in a way his opponents on the opposite side of a battlefield had come to fear. “There are two things that we are doing, of course. Lady Edge’s two crusades against forces that threatened the North, and our chastising of the Ertobolle clans, means that the threat of hostile forces coming to the North is at the lowest it has been in a generation. The Iron Graf is now making secret overtures of his own, especially with the recent showing of the technology of the Greens. Did you know he was present during the fall of the Cavern of Nifl, Himmel?”

The dwarven Regent blinked in shock, looking to me, and I just nodded gravely. “He saw everything first-hand. Elder Equavus arranged it, and he was sequestered with the spearmen of the Free Company. One could say he learned far more than he wanted to about what he was facing, but also that it likely has done far more to convince him of the lunacy of attacking the North than the best of his spies could have.”

“That… bin good news,” the dwarven Regent admitted. The dwarves, of course, had no true conflict with the Imperials per se, and even did business with them to a certain extent, although not in military goods, of course.

“It turns out that in the future, there arises an elven Immortal willing to work with humans who respect the elven lifestyle and are good and honorable men,” King Antius went on calmly. “Since I do not have to keep as many men under arms, dispatching them to the future to be trained as Rangers under the auspices of the elves there is being made ready. Elder Equavus and his people already have the first hundred nominated and approved, good folk who have honorably dealt with and done business with the elves for generations. Given a bit of time, I am hoping for a good five hundred of them, drawn from across Darkmoor and Elb. There are even a couple of Greens who’ve eagerly sought permission to be accepted into the movement!”

Regent Karrackheim nodded slowly. “Setting in place a skilled, powerful, und versatile force… und in place to support dur und mein own efforts,” he noticed shrewdly, earning a smile from his long-time friend. “Und they, in turn, can prepare a ‘colony’ for the people ov Darkmoor…”

A gem glowed on the gauntlet of King Antius, and I let him take over the . The map moved and scrolled, something he had long memorized, drawing back to show multiple lands and nations going by, including the nation of Rukheim itself, and then moving far to the north, well over a thousand miles all told.

“This land is described to us to be open and ready to be settled anew, populated largely by barbarians of one sort or another, and perhaps contested between local empires of the era. But there is room enough to settle any number of folk there… and there are also many clans there who would also welcome any of the Ceruil or Mealyn who do not seek residence in Belle’s principality in the nation of Zanzyr… which, she has tacitly admitted, is most definitely not a place for humans with no spellcasting ability to emigrate to.”

“Oh, ho.” Himmelstern’s blue eyes twinkled. “So du seek a neighbor, not a vassal, then?”

“Good neighbors are much harder to find than one might think,” Belle stated, her own violet eyes deep. “Moreover, your dwarven mages will grandly upset the very notion of dwarves in Zanzyr, where those without arcane magic cannot ever truly rise to power. I am perfectly willing to value good neighbors other natives of Zanzyr might not… and if their ire proves too much, then encouraging you to join King Antius’ colony in the distant lands of Eislas is also possible.

“I also hope that your mages will come to learn the Schools of Geomancy, Pyromancy, and Cryptomancy in Zanzyr, of course.”

Both of their eyes twinkled alike, schemes coming together. “I like this one, Antius,” Himmelstern said calmly. “An elven Princess, aye?” He turned his attention to Ukker. “Und a dwarven Prince. Dealings betweenst du?” he asked shrewdly.

Ukker shook his head once. “I und mine go to the new North. If more than one holding ov dwarves comes through from Darkmoor, we shall set up a second holding in the lands of Eislas. We… cannot return to Rukheim. The revelations ov what we have seen und know to be the truth would tear apart our people. Dwarf would slay dwarf, both sides would be right, und our home would be washed in blood as we destroyed ourselves.

“It bin my hope to build a place where the heritage ov dwarves new und old may come together to build something greater. It cannot be so close to Rukheim, given mein own ancestry.”

“Oh?” Himmelstern carefully kept his disdain of royals in the present day from showing. Prince Ukker was very much a rival in every sense to him, a true dwarven noble hero of the ancient tales, the image of what a dwarf should be in the eyes of many. While his own tales rang louder and in greater number in the North, there was grudging and growing respect and acknowledgment of the younger Dwarf.

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“In my own time, my older brother went on to become King of Rukheim after I bin trapped in the Inn und came back to this era. I am ov the royal line ov Rukheim, und by the rules ov Rukheim, in Lady Edge’s time would default to being the most senior member ov the House ov Denalan und thus should be seated upon the Throne Under the Mountains.”

The dwarven Regent blinked. “You… could be Dwarf-King?” he asked strangely, looking back and forth between dwarven noble and priest, neither of which had great status among the dwarven clans of the North. Still, the potential power within those titles was far from lost upon him.

“Did I wish to split Rukheim asunder? Aye, I could. Combined with knowledge ov what bin done to our people? That bin what would happen,” Prince Ukker stated with grim foreboding. “I cannot raise a hold ov my own near Rukheim. To the Eislas I will go, und we will build as well.

“The Northmen among the Free Company, the mage Hanvol, and the hyn Brandybuck have also stated that they would go with us, und Lady Edge has promised me her help, und those of the elves of the Free Company who bin not engaged in service to Princess Brittabelle,” he stated solemnly. “We shall scout the lands und prepare them for the arrival ov the refugees from the Doom, und the true colony from Darkmoor, by agreement with King Antius and the Greens.”

Himmelstern nodded slowly. The technology of the star-lost people would doubtless prove to be of great value in such a thing.

“So, disaster looms in the future, driven by Immortals who would create such a thing as the beast-folk, und we move to prepare und survive it,” the dwarven Regent summed up. “I will do this.” He looked about the table. “How many can know ov this?”

“We do not know the triggering conditions, so the focus must be the present and here, and things that develop as the legends say they do… subject to what I have already caused to go off-course,” I replied evenly. “So, we plan in the quiet, and we do not acclaim. We just… go on, and do what we must.”

“As few to know the needs und why, only this… Code Black protocol.” He nodded understanding at the grim words. “The elders and regents haf all been told?”

“As they are trusted to do so. Some will work with us. Others, such as the Mealyn, trust nothing save the worst news and will find their own way.” And thus become this timeline’s shadenelves in time, no doubt.

“For mein people, our history, und our legacy, I will do this,” Regent of the Halls Himmelstern Karrackheim swore, leaning forward again. “So, let us plan…”

I could see them running around in panic when I was spotted, dark as shadow giant Bat with crimson trails behind him visible at quite some distance, especially with the slow approach. picked out the Casters and the archers trying to gather up and organize themselves, the soldiers in lines wondering if they were about to die as the Khirifi had done… and the man striding out of the large tent in the middle of the camp, looking up and seeing me coming.

His face hardened, lips thinned, and then he turned to bark out orders to the fearful troops under his command. At first they looked at him like he was mad, and then he repeated his orders with mounting anger on his face, and they realized that he wasn’t afraid or panicking, he was actually angry at them for panicking at the sight of me.

The frantic alarm horns suddenly stilled. The gathering troops were shouted back to their jobs and positions. The archers broke formation in some confusion, heading back to their own tasks. The Wizards of the Cabal of the Arcane sort of stood around, looking foolish even as they tried to appear wise and dignified and powerful and not quavering in their boots. They discretely Cast to look at me… and I let them pierce my just enough to see some of the mix of my personal spells.

Every single one of them went clutching at their eyes and staggering away, screaming as well over twice their Caster Level, and for some four to six times higher, completely overwhelmed them.

Yeah, fellas, that was not a good idea.

The Iron Graf looked at his powerful mages and personal agents stumbling around, some of them bleeding out the eyes and nose. Even Callivus Vyar, the strongest of them, was clutching his eyes and forehead, clearly blinded and in great pain as he stumbled, trying to regain his sight.

The iron Graf was irked at the poor showing and lack of discipline from his subordinates as Duum lazily swooped on down, so black he looked like a slice of night, the cut of white across his fur and the streams of crimson behind him shockingly stark against the darkness there. With perfect control and none of the dust-whipping silliness most large winged animals had, he glided on in, arrested his momentum, and set down as lightly as a feather, not even disturbing the horses nearby, who should have been panicking at the sight of such a large carnivore coming in close by.

His Hat and Monocle, of course, remained jauntily and stylishly in place.

“Lady Edge,” Graf Brage Lukovar greeted me, holding his ground with folded arms and a disapproving glance at his personal guard, who were clearly trembling to see me there. Perhaps the crimson roses growing from the black mists on the ground, all seeming to face their way with unnaturally long thorns, was the reason why.

“Graf Lukovar,” I returned the greeting coolly. “Your invitation came with remarkable speed. I should not have to tell you that King Antius was most intrigued by the possibilities. You do know that I do not speak for Darkmoor, correct?” I asked aloofly.

“I believe, Lady Edge, that in this circumstance it does not matter,” he replied with pragmatic resignation as I swept down and settled softly to an inch above the ground. I lifted an eyebrow as he offered an elbow automatically, admiring his cheek and manners, and calmly accepted it.

His personal guards almost fell over when they saw their lord walking me into his tent, acting more like a concerned vassal than an enemy general. He made a gesture to them that he wasn’t to be disturbed… which in this circumstance included even his personal magister and the head of the Cabal, Callivus, who was still standing there blinking and trying to clear his eyes, looking rather flushed, angered, and fearfully vulnerable.

Duum simply hovered there, above the bobbing field of crimson roses in black mists, and nobody tried to bother him.