Primogeniture

Chapter 13 - Garrison

     As the Altracian army marched to the border towns in droves, the ambers are smoldering in the background as they banged their war drums and marched to the Altracia-Historia border. War had already begun, and this was nothing new to him. He, Emrick Blumenthal was already dyed in the colours of war in Maxia and this invasion was similar to Apollonia's army invading Serzan and Tirno. His spirit or rather companion, Anem was floating beside him whimsically and Emrick alone was able to see him as he was the only magus in the division. The spirit religion had little to no influence in Altracia and thus not many have contracted a spirit and became a magus. Thus, having Anem floating freely in the air.

     Emrick's mission was to move into the battlefield and give support fire to the frontlines, that was the job of his division, but he was also carrying out Levi's mission, that was to give information about the army movements to agents dispatched by Levi while in the battlefield. He was in the frontlines now, and now his messenger to Levi is as always Circe. She sometimes came to him in the middle of the night when he was on patrol and sometimes, she came to him during the mid-day under the veil of the supply team. She was the eyes and ears of her mentor, and she kept a sharp eye on Emrick and Ron who was with him in the frontlines. Circe is a hard-working and efficient worker, she was never late, never clueless and always on top of everything when it came to helping Levi in his schemes. She was very wary of Emrick, he was an anomaly that appeared out of nowhere and attacked them in an alleyway. But then he was recruited by Levi because Emrick was of use to him, she felt that he did not really belong with them too. He looked Altracian but was clearly not of Altracian descent. His accent seemed manufactured, Emrick did speak with a Altracian accent, but it seemed cold and robotic meanwhile his past in Stormridget Palace and the reason for him fleeing seemed like a lie to her. Furthermore, he was a very athletic person on top of being witty. The more she thought about it, the stranger Emrick seemed in her eyes. Who is he? She thought as she went to the frontlines in her Horse drawn carriage on her regular checks on the frontlines. 

     As Circe approached the frontlines, she saw it. The Altracian army setting up camp in a clearing outside the forest that was on the border, and it hid the Altracian army from the scouts of Vi. The camp was a square but had many sections with walls. These camp designs were set up in this way to be easier to defend if attacked as they had many layers of walls to act as defenses and places to fall back on.  When the carriage reached the camp, she got down and scanned the area with one look and saw Emrick standing on a patrol tower atop the walls of this makeshift camp. She eyed him and he nodded. Later, he got down and talked to Circe in person.

     "Sorceress." He said while passing a small, folded note containing all the information that was collected by him and Ron this week. 

     "Saboteur." She said as she as she grabbed the note, she knows that he is Emrick Blumenthal but that did not erase the fact he is still Saboteur, an alias that was given to him by Levi. He then went back to his post feigning his short absence as him going to the washroom. She saw his small back and felt a small gust of wind that trails his path. He seemed really lonely for some reason and for some reason she spoke. 

     "Are you okay?" It came to her randomly, but she spoke to him not out of care or worry but pure curiosity. This mysterious person that she knows nothing about, not even the fact that he was a mentee of the closest advisor to the Historian throne drew attention to him. He was not well known before she met him, but he seemed in all honesty capable in her mind. There are not many people around her age who could go toe-to-toe with her in a battle of magic. Furthermore, his espionage skills are unparalleled from the details notes that she receives from him. The number of troops, movement of other battalions in the Altracian army and the route of supply lines were always immaculate. Not only he was able to camouflage himself as an Altracian soldier, but he was able to eavesdrop on his superiors to extract information and concisely express them in writing. The longer she worked with him, the more curious she grew and now she finally broke the silence.