The Empire Book 3Chapter 19 The Duels
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“You took a Seer into direct combat?” Morgana rhetorically questioned me when she finally made it through the portal along with her ‘commando’ group.
“I wasn’t given a choice, my Mage,” I replied as a smug looking Adsila stood next to me.
“You could have contacted me,” Morgana responded sternly.
“You were busy. We all were, my Mage,” I replied.
“Even so, John!” she said in exasperated tones.
“My Mage, you really need to be taking this up with Seer Adsila. Technically she outranks me anyway,” I replied.
“Do not bring technicalities into this. You were in charge, not Adsila, and you two aren’t the ones who will be getting it in the neck from the Council,” Morgana stated.
“Personally I’d have Adsila on my team any time. You didn’t see her pluck the still beating heart out of a Daoine Sidhe’s chest after punching through his armour,” I chuckled.
“Ye God’s, really?” Morgana exclaimed looking somewhat aghast.
“We Seers are not defenceless little flowers, Mage Morgana,” Adsila replied.
“Yes, but...” Morgana began.
“We’ve tolerated this coddling for far too long. Any further attempts to restrict our freedoms and right to choose will be met by a mass resignation from the Council and Bureaus,” Adsila stated.
“I see what you mean by no choice,” Morgana sighed to me.
“Yes, my Mage. Turns out we need them far more than they need us,” I chuckled.
“We’ve already informed Julia and Simon of our decision. They didn’t like it any more than you do, Morgana, but they have agreed,” Adsila announced.
“You realise that we’ll still try to protect you as best we can?” Morgana replied.
“We know this. We’ve no intention of putting ourselves at any more risk than you other Mages. Those of us who wish to do so, that is,” Adsila chuckled.
“Abi will be happy then,” I added.
“As will Jemima; she’s wanted to tag along with Arch on any number of his activities,” Adsila replied.
“How will we manage your duties though?” Morgana asked frowning.
“Same way as you do now. There will always be a gestalt available; but we’ll also reserve the right to tag along if we think we can be of use too,” Adsila said with a smile. “Subject to a legitimate refusal of course.”
“How long have you been plotting this? And who decides what’s legitimate or not?” Morgana asked archly.
“Since Abi went to Tír na nÓg. We trust you and Julia to decide what’s legitimate or not, most of the time we suspect it won’t be an issue,” Adsila replied.
“Knew it was a bad idea, Tír na nÓg that is,” Morgana muttered then grinned.
“We just want to be treated as everyone else,” Adsila shrugged.
“Well, you’ve got your way. You can join John’s group and alternate with Abi, assuming she isn’t with Jemima and Arch,” Morgana replied.
“She’ll mostly be with Jemima, she still has much to learn,” Adsila replied with a gracious bow.
“Pointless asking what, it never makes sense,” chuckled Morgana.
“It’s more of a practical nature. As a gestalt we know how to do many things, but in practice as individuals, we still have to learn how to control it ourselves. Bit like knowing or memorising the rules of football, it’s until you actual play it, you simply can’t compare one to the other,” Adsila replied.
“Good God, you’re slipping. That one actually made sense,” I chuckled, seeing her and Morgana grin in return.
“I’ll try harder next time,” she laughed.
“So, over all, how did we do?” I asked.
“Well, we forced them into another embarrassing retreat, though we didn’t kill off as many as I would have liked,” Morgana said sombrely.
“Meaning they’re likely to regroup and have another go?” I asked.
“Yes, although I suspect they’ll be a lot more cautious this time, still their ward blocker will be useless to them now as they wouldn’t be able to get close enough to invade Kedyrn,” Morgana replied
“They’d have to know if we see them grouping that we’ll just attack again,” I mused.
“Well, the Daoine Sidhe at least have shown they are capable of learning,” Adsila added.
“Yes, though they’ve yet to take the field in any great numbers, our biggest bag so far was at that raid where Thea was lost,” Morgana said softly.
“We may have taught them to fear us too well,” I nodded, feeling a pang of loss that seemed never to go away.
“Sooner or later they’ll have to take the field, or their cause is lost. Particularly if Oonagh wishes to remain dominant,” Adsila acknowledged.
At this point we were joined by Mage William, whose armour had all the signs of having been in a pretty serious fight.
“Mages,” he greeted us, rather than go through the whole rigmarole of individually greeting everyone by rank.
“Good to see you, William. I take it everything is still under control?” Morgana asked.
“Yes. If anything it’s improved, at least in Kedyrn. The locals have finally decided to throw in with us; well, most of them,” he replied.
“Removing a threat of invasion might just do that,” Adsila chuckled.
“Oh yes, they’re definitely going with the flow, though as long as they didn’t get in our way, it was never a real issue,” he replied with a smile.
“Anything we can help with?” Morgana asked.
“No, I’m just here to convey Verry’s thanks and see if there’s anything we can do for you,” he chuckled.
“We need to rest and recuperate, plus deal with our losses; particularly the Æsir and the Murians who took the brunt of them,” Morgana replied with a nod.
“We couldn’t have done it without them,” William admitted. “Verenestra’s people still struggle with a lot of basic military concepts beyond attack, attack, attack,” he finished with a chuckle.
“You’ll be expected, as will we, to take part in the leave-taking ceremony for the Æsir,” Morgana informed him. “It can get a bit wild, but usually there are no major incidents as it’s in essence a wake.”
“Verry will probably attend then. She can also handle herself if necessary,” William nodded.
“They’d appreciate that,” Morgana nodded. “Not sure what the Tuathans have planned, but they appear to be following the example of Vaniralla Freya.”
“No casualties amongst the Mages?” William asked.
“No fatalities. Emily came closest, but her armour saved her from anything worse than broken bones. She’s fully healed now,” Morgana replied. “Mostly we just ensured the Sidhe couldn’t use magic against our allies.”
“They do appear to be realising their best chance comes with closing with us,” William nodded. “They don’t have answers as yet for some modern technology ... or the werewolves come to that.”
“Biggest problem for the werewolves is they don’t like the taste,” Morgana chuckled.
“Yep, Leonova was bitching up a storm on our return about that,” I added.
“I’m surprised they came, to be honest,” Morgana replied.
“They see it as an honour thing because of what you did for them, my Mage,” I replied.
“Yes, but as mothers I wouldn’t expect them to honour that at least until their children are full grown,” Morgana acknowledged.
“They don’t see things as we do,” I chuckled.
“Best go see them and thank them,” Morgana nodded.
“They’re out near the perimeter where they pop out to patrol occasionally,” I replied as we all left the command tent to go to see Leonova.
“Mage Morgana it is an honour to greet you,” Leonova graciously hailed us as we approached.
“My dear friend, you did not have to do this for us; at least not till your children are grown,” Morgana replied as the two women embraced.
“To be honest we had to draw lots to prevent a fight amongst us when the news came,” Leonova chuckled.
“Well, the Lycana Belikovna again gained great honour to their clan in this fight,” Morgana replied seeing the other two wolves almost burst with pride when she did so.
“Indeed they did,” William added. “Word came to my Queen of your deeds in the initial fight and the rescue. She sends you greetings and a promise that the house of Verenestra owes the Lycana Belikovna a debt of honour.”
“It was enough to be permitted to fight alongside our friends,” Leonova replied glowing with pleasure.
“Long may we remain in friendship,” William acknowledged with a formal bow.
We then moved amongst our individual forces with William giving the personal thanks of Verenestra to each and all as well as promising to attend the leave-taking ceremony.
“What’s the correct amount of weregeld?” he asked Morgana as we were walking towards where Torsenn was organising the reinforcement of the berms around the portal with some concrete and rebar from the Earth forces.
“It’s a token, a simple gold coin from you to the deceased. The important part is to say the name and the deeds in their honour,” I replied. “Unless of course you actually knew them and then its ten coins.”
“Well, the Sidhe don’t have a great deal of use for gold save as a decorative metal. They’re still very much a barter economy, when they do need to trade for something, or rarely, they’ll use silver,” he nodded. “Would they be insulted if we paid out ten coins per warrior?”
“No, they’d be deeply honoured that you’d care enough for the honour of their fighting people to do so,” I said after a moment’s thought. “Though they’d probably appreciate it more if you had it crafted into something like a dagger to lay upon the body.”
“I’ll see to it, many of the Sidhe under me really like the Æsir,” he replied.
“Ah, the death is nothing to be feared thing they’ve got going for them?” I asked.
“Yes. It came as a quite a revelation to many of the Sidhe, particularly the young,” he replied.
“I suspect they were more bored than anything else,” I nodded.
“Yes, the elders never let them make any decisions for themselves and more often than not left them high and dry in any raids they took part in,” he replied with a wry expression.
“I thought the Seelie court didn’t get involved in raids on humanity?” I queried.
“They fought the Unseelie court. Oberon and Titania’s elders used it as a way to cull inconvenient underlings,” William replied with a grimace.
“Surprised Verenestra didn’t end up in one of those,” Morgana added.
“Verry’s just too damned good with a sword,” William chuckled. “Going up against her even at two to one odds was tantamount to suicide; three to one odds would have brought down the wrath of Titania and Oberon, though I suspect her opponents at that level would have to be at least as good as Mage Roxanne.”
“Ah, she was still their daughter, so they couldn’t be that obvious,” Morgana nodded.
“Very much so, Mage Morgana,” William replied.
“Roxanne enjoys sparring with her, says it’s nice to run across a new equal,” Morgana added.
“Verry appreciates it too. Very few Sidhe were even close to her abilities and you don’t keep your edge by fighting inferior opponents,” William replied.
“Mage Roxanne fights me,” I chuckled.
“She’s training you, John. It’s not quite the same thing,” Morgana replied with a smile.
“Lasted all of ten minutes during our last session,” I grinned.
“That’s about eight minutes more than I do,” William chuckled.
“Hell, you’ve got a kingdom to run,” I replied.
“Yep. Verry uses me where a verbal insult simply won’t do,” he replied with a laugh.
“Surprised some of them haven’t contrived to eliminate you by now,” Morgana mused.
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