Empire Builder 4: Breed, Populate, Conquer, page 16
“Melody!” Ben shouted. “Don’t let one of those arrows get near us!”
Melody nodded, taking out her wand and flourishing it as she prepared to cast. The soldiers launched their arrows, and as they arced through the air, Melody fired off a lighting spell. The cracking zip of electricity shot from one arrow to another, electrifying them and zapping them into cinders as they flew.
When the last arrow was gone, Melody wasted no time starting her offensive. She cast the lightning spell one more time, this time aiming at the soldiers. The blast of energy connected with one on the far left, stiffening his limbs for a moment before he collapsed into a lifeless heap. Brock made another attack, launching his body forward and hitting a soldier in the front row. The repeated impacts of the rocks killed him on the spot, blood trickling down and out of his helmet as he collapsed to the sand.
One by one, Ben and his party took out the soldiers. Ben cast a burst of Flame Cannon forward, roasting two of the soldiers. Zito and Lyra attacked from the flanks, slicing through the Xurian fighters with precise attacks.
Ben turned his attention to Marlena, who was still in her orb of protection, the other wizard with her assisting with whatever spell she was planning to cast while Uzax was still summoning whatever he was summoning. Suddenly, a red swirl of energy appeared in front of Marlena. It grew larger and larger until Ben recognized it was the same sort of disruption field she’d summoned in the cave.
“Uzax!” Ben called out. “Whatever you’re planning on doing, do it soon!”
Uzax didn’t say a word, his concentration too focused on his spell. Ben summoned Flame Cannon, blasting it forward against the orb of protection, but it didn’t break through; instead, it spread over the surface and then dissipated. The red swirl Marlena was creating grew ever larger, and soon it was nearly the size of the entire space inside the orb.
“Now, Uzax!” Ben shouted. “Do it now!”
Uzax flicked his eyes up, casting a wave of blue magical energy that rushed over Ben’s head and toward the orb. It connected, the orb vanishing and the red power that Marlena had summoned expanding outward.
“No!” she shouted. “It’s not ready yet!”
Uzax dropped to his knees, and Ben could sense that whatever he’d done had deeply drained him.
“That’s a teleportation portal!” Uzax shouted, his voice barely strong enough to carry the words. “She’s going to try to throw us all inside. You want to win this fight, then take advantage of it!”
Ben hurried behind Marlena, closing his eyes, summoning Siphon, and using it on the wizard. He searched through her spells, finding more than he could even begin to count. As much as he wanted to drain all her power right there on the spot, he knew he didn’t have time for that.
He settled on one that caught his eye: Phase Shift —a spell he figured was related to Marlena’s ability to manipulate his transportation networks.
Ben siphoned it as quickly as he could, taking the occasion to pull as much of her mana as he could along with it. Once she was drained, Marlena fell to her knees in front of the growing red orb.
“Now!” Uzax yelled. “Now’s your chance!”
Ben cast Force Wave, blasting it toward Marlena and knocking her off her feet and toward the red energy. She cried out as she fell into it, vanishing among the red swirl.
And then she was gone, the red magic vanishing with her.
The soldiers were dead, Marlena was banished, and all that remained was the last of the three wizards. He was youngish with short, blond hair, blue eyes, and a lean build. He regarded Ben and his allies with total terror as if he were looking into his doom.
Ben knew that he held the wizard’s life in the palm of his hands. But it didn’t feel right to just kill him on the spot. His entire group had been slain, bodies all around him. And more than that, Ben wanted information.
“Please,” said the wizard. “Don’t kill me. I’ll do anything!”
Ben closed his eyes and summoned Siphon. Despite the mana he’d taken from Marlena, he still didn’t have enough to fill his newly grown pool. Raising his hand, he pulled every last drop of mana out of the wizard.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” Ben said. “You’re going to tell me everything.”
Chapter 16
Ben stepped over to Uzax, the wizard seeming completely out of it from the spell he’d cast.
“I need… I need some mana,” the wizard said. “Now.”
Mana was something Ben had in ample supply, so he closed his eyes and activated Siphon, sending over a blast of mana into Uzax. The wizard accepted it, his posture growing straighter as the mana flowed into him. When Ben had filled his supply a quarter full, Uzax was able to rise and stand.
Uzax surveyed the carnage. The nearly dozen soldiers burned, electrocuted, or cleaved with blades, the first wizard dead from his fall, and Marlena gone. Uzax’s eyes landed on the third wizard, who still wore a fearful expression.
“You might want to kill him as soon as you can,” Uzax said, raising his finger toward the young wizard. “The last thing you want to deal with is a member of the Xurian Realm on your shores.”
“If that were the case,” Ben said, “you wouldn’t be standing here.”
Uzax let out an amused snort as if conceding the point.
“Where… where’s Marlena?” the young wizard asked. “What did you do to her?”
“I can field this one,” Uzax said. “Marlena’s goal here was to trap Ben in a space between travel points, an endless black he would wander through until he died of thirst or hunger or whatever happened to take him first. Ben avoided that fate. Marlena didn’t.”
The wizard gulped hard.
“Only fitting, really,” Uzax said. “If you ask me, that’s a very, very cowardly way to deal with an enemy. Well, she’ll have plenty of time to think it over while she wastes away.”
“Your name,” Ben commanded.
“G… Goran,” he said. “Goran Alabor. Third rank of the Xurian Mage army.”
“Third rank,” Uzax said. “That means the lowest rank. And that raises the question of why Marlena would bring a wizard as lowly as you on a mission like this.”
Goran opened his mouth to speak, but Ben silenced him with a raise of his hand.
“The real first question is this: how are we going to get back?”
“Well, my spell only was able to bring us here. Nothing about getting us back.”
“Then we’re going to have to walk ?” Melody asked. “That’s going to take a week!”
Uzax put his hands on his hips. “You wanted to take care of the wizard, and that’s what we did. Having to deal with how to get back is a pretty good problem, all things considered.”
Ben glanced over at Lyra, who had a thoughtful expression on her face.
“What is it?” Ben asked.
“I know this region—it was part of the territory where the rest of the Black Army and I hid out after the second tower fell. We didn’t travel this far south, but I’m familiar with the area north of it.”
“You mean the desert?” Zito asked. “The one we’d have to march across to get home?”
“It’s not all desert north of here,” she said. “Only the most direct path. But most importantly, there’s a village not too far from these woods—a lumber town called Shadowglen, named for the clearing in the woods underneath the shade of these massive trees where the town is located.”
“OK,” Uzax said. “What good is this town going to do for us?”
Lyra shot him a hard look—one that made it clear she didn’t appreciate the wizard’s tone one bit.
“The transportation network is clear, right?” she asked.
Melody’s eyes flashed. “Right! And that means we can go there, connect it to the network, and then transport home!”
Ben grinned, pleased with the idea. “And how far of a walk would it be?”
“No more than a few hours,” Lyra said. “I bet if we started now, we could make it there before nightfall.”
Ben nodded. “This is good. We’ll reach the town and tell them who we are and what we have planned. Then I’ll fly back to the tower, collect a crystal, and bring it here to connect the town to the network.”
“And,” Uzax added, “I hope you’re planning on bringing the town under your control when that happens. Might as well fold it into your empire while you’re down here. And if they object, simply return at a later date with your army at your back.”
“One thing at a time,” Ben said. “First, let’s reach this town and make sure they’re not hostile. If they are, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But I want to get this plan underway so we’re back at the main tower before too much time has passed.”
Now that the matter of the transportation network had been resolved, Ben was eager to take on the third tower. But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself—he knew he still had to connect with this new town and make sure they weren’t a threat.
He glanced over his shoulder at Goran, the young wizard’s eyes flashing as he realized Ben had remembered he was there.
“Let’s move. And, Goran, whether or not you make it to the town in one piece depends entirely on how loose your tongue is—understand?”
The wizard nodded without another word, and the group started. Ben stayed at the forefront, Goran at his side.
“Tell me,” Ben started, “why were you here?”
“You know why we were here,” Goran said. “To kill you through sabotage of the transportation networks.”
“I understand that. But tell me more about the plan. What does the Xurian Realm know about me and my empire?”
Goran looked aside as if he realized that he was standing at the crossroads of a major decision. If he were to work with Ben, to tell him what he wanted to know, he’d make himself a traitor to the Xurian Realm. But if he were to refuse, he’d be dead.
He took a deep breath and spoke. Ben allowed himself a small grin, seeing that the wizard had chosen wisely.
“They know very little—which scares them. Let me ask you this—what do you know about the Xurian Realm?”
“I know that they control the rest of the world,” Ben said. “The other continents.”
“The other three continents of Alora, our world, are under the control of the Realm. But not this one.”
“It once was,” Melody said. “But that was only at the height of the Realm’s reign.”
Goran nodded. “Yes, long ago. There was a time, long before I was born, when the Xurian Realm was the uncontested power of this planet. They controlled every city of every continent, and no one was free from their grasp. But that hasn’t been the case for a long, long while. Their control over the northern continent was only for a short time at the peak of their power. Since then, it’s been a lawless land outside of their grasp. That is until you came along.”
“What do they know about me?”
“Very little. They know that recently, over the last few months, the towers of the northern continent had been claimed. But they didn’t know by whom. Scouts sent into the regions rarely came back, and only through the slavers that the Realm still maintained contact with did we have any clue what was transpiring up north.”
The group started up a path that led through the cliff face and back up into the woods.
“Two things happened that gave the Xurian Council pause. The first was that one of the lords of the towers had claimed another. Five lords squabbling over towers wasn’t a concern to them. But when you took the second, that concerned them deeply. People began speaking of the Forgotten Ruler, wondering if he had truly returned to claim Alora once more.”
“And what was the other?” Lyra asked.
Goran smiled slightly. “That you outlawed slavery in your realm. Slavery is the backbone of the Xurian Realm. Out of the population of one hundred million, it’s estimated that over half of the Realm is comprised of slaves.”
“Wait a minute,” Melody said. “That many? I knew the realm was into slavery, but to that extent?”
Goran nodded. “Without slavery, the realm ceases to be. So, you can imagine why they would be worried about an empire that has rejected this most important aspect of Xurian culture. If you were to make inroads in the continent, claim it, and declare slavery illegal… you can only imagine the effect this might have on the stability of the Realm.”
“That’s right,” Uzax said. “If fifty million slaves got it into their heads that they didn’t have to be slaves, then…” He grinned as if it pleased him greatly to imagine all the chaos this might cause.
“Even if it didn’t reach that degree,” Goran went on. “Knowing there was a free continent could lead to thousands upon thousands of slaves trying to make their way here. Every lord with more than a single slave would have to deal with worrying about escape. And then there’d be the issue of how you would have access to all this new manpower.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “The culture of slavery in the Realm relies on the simple fact that there is no other way . Slaves are resigned to their fates and behave accordingly. The Council has made it illegal to speak of you, Ben, but that doesn’t matter. The mere fact of there being an option where they don’t have to be slaves is enough to have sent shockwaves through the Realm. And that’s why the Council decided on the course of action that they did.”
The group continued, making their way through the forest. The air was cool with a light breeze—perfect for walking a great distance. Ben’s belly grumbled with hunger, and a small pond ahead seemed like the perfect place to stop for a quick break.
“Come,” Ben said, gesturing forward. “We’ll stop there.”
The group went with him, and moments later, they were at the shore of the lake. The group refilled their waterskins, and as they sat and drank and ate, Ben nodded for Goran to continue.
But Melody beat him to it. “I get it. They wanted to kill Ben so they could sweep him under the rug.”
“That’s exactly right,” Goran said. “If they were to take Ben out with a simple assassination mission, their problems would be over. You’d be gone, and if Marlena’s plan had worked, there wouldn’t even be a trace of you left to prove you existed. But now that the plan has failed…”
Ben grinned. “They’re going to have to resort to more drastic measures—like a full-on invasion.”
“You’re right,” Goran said. “The Realm is in a bad place right now. Centuries of decadence, corruption, and an overreliance on slavery have made them weak. They’re still the great power of Alora, sure, but their position is precarious. With you, they have two options—do nothing while you grow stronger and they grow weaker, the Realm risking a slave rebellion in the process, or mount an invasion that they can scarcely afford. My guess is that they’re going to try the latter—an expeditionary assault that they hope will be enough to conquer you.”
“And what if that doesn’t happen?” Zito asked, the glimmer in his eye suggesting that he had a good idea what the answer was.
Ben handed Goran a slice of his bread, the wizard eating it hungrily and washing it down with water.
“If the Realm invades, they’re going to mount the strongest possible army they’re capable of,” he said. “And if you’re able to win the battle…”
“Then we win!” Melody said, her face lighting up.
“In a sense,” Goran went on. “If you were to defeat a Xurian invasion, and do it decisively, you would shake the Realm so hard that it might not recover. Slaves could revolt, far-flung regions of the Realm might break away, and every scheming noble would see it as their opportunity to gain more power for themselves. It’d be the beginning of the end.”
“And you, my lord,” Uzax said. “Would be able to begin your campaign of total conquest. Once your stronghold in the north is complete, the back of the Xurian Realm broken, you could retake this world once and for all.”
Ben said nothing, not wanting to get too far ahead of himself. He flicked his gaze over to Goran.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” he asked. “You’ve gone above and beyond what I would’ve expected of you. Have you no loyalty to your own people?”
Goran narrowed his eyes and spat. “They’re not my people. When you’re a magic user in the Xurian Realm, you’re just as much a slave as the ones doing the physical labor. When I was a boy, my parents sought to keep me hidden away from the military, not wanting me to be inducted into their army of wizards. There’s only so long a child with magical abilities can be hidden, however, and when the local lord learned that my parents had been keeping me a secret, he wasted no time in acting. He killed my father, sent my mother off to be a slave on another continent, and pressed me into the military. I have no loyalty for the Xurian Realm.”
Ben nodded, taking in his words. “A compelling story, but I’d be a fool to trust a Xurian so soon after he tried to kill me. When we reach my realm, you’ll be held as a prisoner until I decide what to do with you.”
Goran nodded somberly. “I suppose that’s only fair. In the meantime, I’ll do what you require of me.”
“Ben’s justice is fair,” Lyra said. “I was an opponent once, and he gave me a second chance to prove myself to him.”
“As was I,” Uzax added.
Goran regarded Ben with a curious expression “Then perhaps you are the Forgotten Ruler. The Forgotten Ruler of legend is known for his ruthlessness and brutality. But he’s also known for his justice. So far, it sounds like you just might be him.”
Ben finished his bread and rose. “Enough talk. Let’s reach the village and do what needs to be done.”
The rest of the group assented, taking the last bites of their food and refilling their waterskins for the rest of the trip. When they were ready, they headed through the forest once more.
A few hours later, the group was ambushed by a small squad of archers. The archers, seemingly not having any malicious intent, emerged from the woods and demanded to know who, exactly, was trespassing on their lands.
