Finua

Chapter 40: Showdown

I sat hunched over on the throne of the Dark Lady, feet planted flat on the ground. The tower of bones had been removed. Directly before me stood my new council of war: three generals and an admiral, reporting for duty in the throne room of Syfor Lek.

"How many bases do we have scattered about?" I asked.

"A few hundred," said General Pack. "But you said we don't have a timeline?"

"No. I just want everyone available in reserve."

"Could it be a trap?" suggested Admiral Teriss Nea, an armor-plated dragon-man. "Some sort of diversion to drain those bases?"

"Suffice it to say that they want something within this realm."

"Can that something be moved out of the realm?" asked orc general Alonso.

"No, I tried. It's a magical artifact. It stays put."

"And you're not gonna tell us what that artifact is?" goblin general Carter demanded.

"It's bad enough that I know what it is."

"You're peaking my curiosity, Lady Finua," Carter said. "And when I want to know something bad enough, I end up finding out."

"Not with me you don't. Teriss Nea, I want you to gather up every ship we have along the Northflow and direct them towards the sea. I want our entire forces arriving through no more than ten different warp portals on Syfor Lek soil. General Pack, do you know where those optimal portal spots are?"

"Huh?"

"General Alonso, do you know where—"

"No, no, no, I know where they are, Lady Finua!' Pack cried. "Sorry, I was just... there's a pile of sand in the corner of the room and it looks just like a tiny little mountain range. But yes, I know the optimal portal spots, I can mark them on a map if you'd like."

"Please do."

"I... also know where the optimal portal spots are, Lady Finua," Alonso assured me.

"Excellent, when Pack inevitably loses his pen or develops a new scab, you can stand by with a replacement."

"Lady Finua, do you earnestly expect us to keep everyone here indefinitely?" Admiral Teriss Nea asked skeptically.

"That would leave us fully vulnerable in every other part of the world," Alonso added.

"As of right now, we have no interests anywhere else in the world," I asserted. "We keep Berahd out of Syfor Lek. That's the bottom line."

"But even if an army tried to occupy us, you could take them out yourself," Carter said. "Like you did for that mountain town."

I didn't respond. The other three officers stood by in awkward silence.

"What?!" Carter pushed. "You expect to make such a big righteous deal about keeping an invading force out of Syfor Lek, when you have publicly demonstrated your ability to wipe out entire groups of people at will? Where's the crisis? What's the problem?"

"General Carter!" I raised my voice. "Unless you are able to summon forth our full legions between the moment Berahd's fleet is spotted on the horizon of the southern sea, and the moment their cannons come within range of our shores, then we will keep all of our reserves on hand, as Teriss Nea said, indefinitely."

Another silence, even deeper and more awkward than the last one.

"The hell's the southern sea got to do with it?" Alonso finally asked.

"We are not going through the flat earth thing again—" I said, but to no avail.

"Is that why you want us to gather everyone here?" Carter said, aghast. "On the off-chance that Berahd decides to try and cross the infinite plateau?"