Sons of Ironstorm - Book 4: Griffon's Stand

Uncomfortable Questions

"An ambush by our own forces?" The Chancellor frowned as he gazed down at the large, flat crystal in his hands. Across its surface marched the investigators' report in the angular Kaal Eran language, blunt and to the point.

Standing across the plain, black stone desk from the Chancellor, hands behind her back, the lead investigator nodded.

"Initial traces yielded evidence of a Picean attack, despite our reports the sea people have been unable to penetrate our defenses at the mouth of the labyrinth. However a closer examination yielded traces of a Tjor'riin presence though great effort had been made to wipe those traces away, along with any evidence of their involvement," she confirmed.

"Did you discover their headquarters?" the Chancellor queried. Again the investigator nodded.

"It nearly slipped past us, Lord Chancellor, so complete was the effort to remove evidence. But we did find enough to link the Tjor'riin to those under Bren's command on Uepolua."

The Chancellor's eyebrow slowly climbed. Bren? That the human had a burning ambition and a thirst for destruction that nearly matched their own, was no secret. But was that thirst so thwarted in their inability to advance significantly onto Reutha that the sorcerer was turning on his allies in order to slake it?

"The current mood of the Tjor'riin in the city?" he quietly asked.

"Unaware, Lord Chancellor. If they're involved in the sedition, they're concealing any indication so completely from us they appear innocent."

"And the human enclave?"

"Also unaware, my lord. If Bren has indeed turned against us, I would submit he's done so on his own."

The Chancellor nodded; the evidence certainly suggested that conclusion. That, or one of his subordinates desiring power and seeking to do so by implicating Bren in treachery so the Kaal Eran would remove him and elevate the underling to greater position. Considering how self-serving the humans and the soldiers they created for their armies were, it wasn't a complete surprise that such subversion would be taking place. Frankly he was astonished it hadn't happened until now, all things taken in their context.

Unfortunately it also left them with a choice: do they weather additional insults, because he was sure they'd be forthcoming, for the sake of the invasion of Reutha? Or do they take immediate action and purge Bren's traitorous troops now, before it got worse?

"Our mission, as outlined by our masters and the Great Lord of Shadow, is clear: finish the Earthforge gateway and commence invasion of Reutha. We will only take direct action against Bren if he significantly interferes with that mission. In the meantime, assign investigators to Bren's headquarters on Uepolua. Our ally bears closer scrutiny."

A frown twisting his withered features downward, Bren watched the Kaal Eran portals fade to vapor after disgorging no less than a full dozen investigators, the demons heavily cloaked in their typically secretive manner when dealing with non-military personnel. He then waved a hand over his scrying bowl and the scene faded from the cloudy water. He then sat back in the plain wooden chair he had beside the massive metal bowl to tap a thoughtful finger against his chin.

If he was right, those were members of the Kaal Eran's highly secretive covert investigation team, an extension of their covert intelligence unit. But such investigators were usually arrayed against an enemy. What were they doing here? Were the demons planning something he should be aware of? Thankfully Bren had felt the ripples across the ether that announced the dark magic portals forming in a secluded portion of his holdings or he wouldn't have discovered their arrival. Now he could monitor the monitors and perhaps discover why they were poking around. Hopefully they wouldn't do anything foolish enough to warrant him killing them. Powerful he was, along with the sorcerers under his command, but if the Kaal Eran bent their will onto his destruction, he would be destroyed. And he had too much to accomplish to let that happen.

Pushing the Kaal Eran from his mind for the moment, he reached for the maps he had been examining before feeling the demons' imminent arrival. Back to preparing for the invasion of Hydrai!

Despite what the cadaverous sorcerer wanted to believe, Bren wasn't the only human spell caster on Uepolua to be aware of the investigators' arrival. From a shadowed recess in a ruined building close to where the investigators ported in, Agdin watched the Kaal Eran investigators pause after their portals disappeared to converse in low voices amongst themselves. Then they were scattering in every direction, each with a specific goal or location in mind. Within a handful of shades they were gone, leaving the dusty courtyard empty once more.

Settling back in his shadows, the wiry sorcerer smiled. He couldn't have timed the demons' arrival any better. Within a watch the tjor'riin general whose mind he now commanded, would launch a force for Hydrai where they would lay in ambush for the expeditionary force Bren would be sending there shortly. The Kaal Eran would be on hand to see Bren receive reports of one of his most decorated generals, armed with one of his new reaver blades, ambush an expeditionary force meant to extend the Shadow's hold on Ramnor and prepare for Reutha's eventual invasion. To suggest the demons would be confused by one company of their allies attacking another could be a gross understatement.

A second thought flitted through the sorcerer's dark mind, eliciting a frown. Perhaps that was the reason the investigators had travelled to Uepolua: they already suspected something. Could one of his fellow council loyalists be seeding chaos elsewhere where the Shadow already held sway? If that were the case, it would be a powerful foundation on which to build their conspiracy of chaos. Unless the Kaal Eran themselves had reconsidered the alliance they had made with Bren previous to the council suggesting they divest themselves of the powerful sorcerer and his union with the demons.

The smile returned to Agdin's thin lips. It didn't matter; either way the alliance was about to fly apart and Bren was going to find himself without allies against one of the most powerful destructive forces in Reality.