全城危机

"It would never work!" snarled Battalion Commander Biruz. His clawed hand crumpled the marching orders given to him by Regiment Commander Shriak. "Rin-Turah may be without walls, but their blasted magic makes up more than just the difference. To simply march into their cities is suicide!" Biruz nearly screamed out the last word.

They were in Shriak\'s command tent, where he had just gathered his 6 battalion commanders. He had, just moments ago, essentially broken the news that King Dirz\'On wanted to invade Rin-Turah.

Shriak eyed Biruz lazily. A close inspection of Biruz yielded very good impressions. Tall and powerfully built, he wore his battered armor with a veteran\'s ease. Biruz looked extremely impressive. Feral, almost.

But most intriguing was the intelligence that lurked behind Biruz \'s bright eyes. It gave him an all-knowing look, as though he could look deep into your very soul and read the contents of your heart. Shriak shivered slightly. It would not do for anyone to know the depths of his ambition.

Shriak narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Powerful magic, you say? Suicide, you say? That may be so. But could it also be.. Cowardice?"

Biruz \'s eyes widened in suprise. The penalty of cowardice in Zan is horrendous and barbaric. The coward will be stripped naked and thrown into the Borg breeding grounds. Borg-meat.

"No, Sir. Of course not cowardice!" Biruz quickly replied. "I have seen them blue robes work, they are incre..."

Shriak narrowed his eyes again.

Biruz stopped. He glared at Shriak in frustration and sighed. "If these are my marching orders, then so be it." He said quietly. "But we will need more troops. 5 regiments are not enough. We need the two artillery battalions as well."

Shriak\'s eyes snapped open. "What?" he growled. Shriak glared at Biruz, who stared back at him with an unreadable expression. "What artillery battalions? You know we Zantrolls do not attack from afar, that is cowardice!"

Biruz remained silent and kept his stony gaze on Shriak, who glared at him in both surprise and anger. Anger directed at whoever leaked the information, and anger at Biruz for uncovering the secret. It was now extremely tricky.

Shriak had developed the two artillery battalions on his own initiative, to be unveiled in glorious display against the walled Kingdom of Rosendur.

Currently their allies and bound in the permanent armistice of the Twelve Kingdoms, Rosendur would be the first to fall when King Dirz\'On of Zan finally makes his move - the complete and utter betrayal of their closest ally.

On that great day of infamy, his two artillery battalions will punch through Rosendur\'s walls and seal the Kingdom\'s doom. It will also earn Shriak an enormous amount of battle glory. And the King\'s pleasure, with all the perks that come with it, of course.

No, it was too early to reveal the battalions. The stench of perceived cowardice will overwhelm the meager results produced in the Rin-Turah campaign. Rin-Turah will fall without the artillery.

Plus they have no walls to showcase the artillery\'s effectiveness. The other commanders will definitely use this as an excuse to send him to the Borgs. They had long made it clear that his meteoric rise from staff sergeant to Regimental Commander was an insult to tradition and a very personal threat to them.

Those old antiques. Useless and corrupt to the core, Shriak had wonderful plans prepared for them once he ascended into power. But for now, those antiques still had teeth. He needed to be careful here.

Shriak studied Biruz again. This was no foolish Zantroll who got his post by family influence. Biruz was the real thing. Like Shriak, he had risen very quickly through the ranks due to his competence and efficiency. To achieve his grand plan, Shriak needed subordinstes who were able to get things done. And above all, he needed a loyal right hand man. Was Biruz the one?

This Rin-Turah campaign was make or break for him. He would either be gloriously rewarded, or he and his entire family will be borg meat. And it was true for his entire regiment too.

In a startling realization, Shriak realised that Biruz was forcing his hand because he thought he had been dealt a death sentence. The blue robes. "Tell me again about this blue robes." he commanded.

Without hesitation, Biruz began his explanation. "As you know, sir, Rin-Turah is a kingdom of mages. Race, wealth, physical strength, intellect and every other quality is considered third rate. The most important trait in Rin-Turah is first, arcane power. It is a Kingdom built upon magic and governed by merciful justice."

Shriak smirked. "What a load of Borg Poog. Get to the point, Biruz and tell me about the blue robes."

Biruz nodded and continued, "Yes sir. Rin-Turah is primarily a mining Kingdom. They sit upon the richest land on the continent. They are the sole supplier of diamonds, rubies and all other precious stones. Diamonds, sir, are the only precious stones known to react to magic.

So far, only three pieces of diamonds are known to exist outside of Rin-Turah. In the pommel of King Zarius of Lea\'s sword, in the wand of Archmage Rin-Valaros who serves as Rin-Turah\'s ambassador to Lea and in the shield of King Barock of Rosendur. All three are the only magic users outside of Rin-Turah."

"I hear King Barock\'s shield is able to withstand a full blow by a Mountain Bugbear. And I hear, it was the Mountain Bugbear\'s paws that broke!" Shriak interjected enthusiastically.

"Yes sir. I was there during the incident." Biruz said.

"You were? What were you doing there?" Shriak snapped.

"Sir, I was part of the hunting party that was invited to King Barock\'s annual hunt. Then-Regimental Commander Halrus was escorting King Dirz\'On, and I was the staff sergeant assigned to guard the King."

Shriak remained silent. A former King\'s guard. THE former King\'s guard. It was a notorious story.

King Barock had invited King Dirz\'On for their annual friendship hunt up in the mountains of Valguro. Long story short, they met two giant bugbears. One attacked King Barock which was miraculously deflected by his shield. The other one was taken down by King Dirz\'On\'s mysterious personal guard. Biruz, apparently.

Competent, indeed. "Go on, commander. The blue robes."

"The diamonds, sir, in addition to many magical properties, they function as a strength indicator of the mage wielding it. If held by a mage, it will turn to one of 6 colours, black, grey, blue, red, yellow or white. A colourless gem simply means the wielder has no arcane power. King Zarius, as you know, has a grey sword."

"Ah yes. His famous sword, Shadowmist. I have always wondered how he managed to get such a beautiful shade of grey on his sword. So the diamond caused the sword to change colour?"

"Yes sir. Mages can choose to allow the colour of their diamonds to flow into any thing they hold."

"Interesting. So King Zarius is a mage. A second level mage. King Barock has a black shield. He is a first level mage. Tell me, how powerful is a first level mage?"

"Sir, I only have stories to draw my conclusions from. They might be in accurate."

"I am beginning to enjoy your history lesson, Commander. Tell me everything you know or guess."

"Yes sir. King Barock\'s shield withstood a direct blow from an enraged Bugbear. A full, two-handed blow from a leaping bugbear. But even when threatened by death, the King did not launch any magical attacks. I saw the King after the battle, he seemed extremely ragged. I would assume that a black robe\'s maximum offensive or defensive output would be equal to that of a bugbear\'s two-handed blow. Beyond that, the mage must somehow recover his power."

"Ah yes, that makes sense. Excellent, commander. How about King Zarius? How strong is his magical power?"

"King Zarius is a difficult guess sir. He is a Swordsman of the Rose long before he acquired his Sword, the Shadowmist. His exploits in the field of battle, no matter how legendary, can be attributed to his skill with the sword. However, in Lea\'s last expeditionary war across the sea, I heard rumours that he single handedly took down the iron gates of Zhemish fortress. If that is true, then the grey robes are at least five times stronger than the black robes."

"That is an accurate guess Commander. Five bugbears would be enough to take down that cursed iron door, and even so, with difficulty. So, black, grey and now, blue. What about the blue robes that you \'worry\' about, Commander?" Shriak chuckled at Biruz\'s discomfort at his inflection of the word \'worry\'.

"In our last trip into Rin-Turah, we saw the blue robes in action, sir. Three blue robes were levelling an entire stone hill. With their wands, from a distance."

Shriak stared at Biruz in disbelief. "A stone hill? Impossible. A giant pile of stones, you mean?"

Biruz chuckled. "Forgive me sir, but I assure you, I would not be worrying about blue robes if all they did was move stones." In a more serious tone, "No sir, they were blasting at a real, solid stone hill with some sort of invisible power. And the stones were flying everywhere as though they were hit with a sledgehammer the size of a tower!"

"So the legends are true.." Shriak murmured.

He stood up and said, "Very well commanders. You have your orders. Prepare the battalions for a campaign. I will find a way to deal with the blue robes."

Biruz remained where he stood and shook his head. "Sir, with all due respect, Zan is not strong enough to conquer Rin-Turah. Not with 5 regiments, not with artillery, not even with King Rosendur\'s 3 Cavalry regiments!"

"You forget your place, commander!" hissed Shriak in anger. "I can have you hanged for that!"

"Forgive me sir. But it is simply the truth. We must know our limits or we will blindly rush into our doom. A platoon of blue robes can destroy our battalion in minutes. And we do not even know what their red robes can do. And I hear, their newly minted War-Princess is a white robe!"

Shriak glared at Biruz, his mind aswirl with conflicting ideas.. "I will place your words under consideration. Now, get out of my way before I feed you to the borgs!"