Council of War

The two Archmages prepare Aurei's group for intense battle, but the sudden appearance of an enemy may cause great harm.

19.

Council of War

 

19.

Council of War

 

“Listen, all of you, because we haven’t got much time.”  Kinzer began addressing them by getting right to the point.

“Drake and I are only allowed to do specific things in this situation.   Primarily these tasks are to send Vallex and Torvus back to where they belong.”

“Vallex has been defeated.”  Queen Eioldth interrupted as she sat on a bench seeming pale and weak, caressing her pregnant belly.

“Defeated?”  Kinzer looked to Drake and Sophia, who both shrugged.   “When did this happen?”

The Queen quickly relayed to her the defeat of the demon.

 

Kinzer was very surprised and equally as impressed, “The three of you ladies defeated him?”  

Siris, Alis and Eioldth just meekly nodded, not relishing in the memory of the very brutal battle.

“I am very surprised - no offense, please, but though Vallex is just a minor demon lord, he still is a worrisome adversary.   To think that three young women, two of them carrying babies, could accomplish this is extraordinary.”

“Does this change your strategy, Lady Kinzer?”   Haroldris asked as he sat protectively near his wife.

Kinzer rubbed her eyes, “Well, no, not exactly; in fact, it does relieve us of a major problem.    But Torvus is by far the worse.”

“Why is he worse?”   Aurei asked.

“Well, first, though he was placed in the pits of Hell, he is actually not a demon.”

“Not a demon?!”  Eleazar exclaimed, “He certainly carries himself as one.”

“Torvus is one of the worst ideas that the Sidhe could have ever thought of during the time of creation.   A manifestation of death!  Why would there be any need for such a creature as this?    Isn’t death itself terrible and fearful enough, in many situations?   I will never understand their logic in creating Torvus.”

 

“Ma’am, doesn’t he kill people?”  Alis asked.

“Yes, that is all that he does.   Without malice or spite, or any feeling at all.   His whole purpose is to kill people of all types.   He does his task like an animal, with the complete lack of any empathy or sympathy.   That is what makes him so dangerous; he is not evil, and certainly not good, he is the essence of death and that is his whole focus.   He is indiscriminate too; anyone within his path will very likely not survive.”

“How can we stop him?”  Alvis inquired.

“He cannot be killed, not by weapons, or by magic, not even by our magic.   That is why he was placed in Hell, for down there he has no one to kill.   I imagine it was one of the Liches that brought him forth, and he would be willing to risk the wrath of Yesh for the opportunity to kill.”

 

“But wouldn’t he endanger the Necromancers?”

“He would those that are living, for he will target any living being.   But the undead do not interest him at all, which is why they have probably left him somewhere in the city while they retreat to prepare a new attack before dawn comes in several hours.”

“So how will you defeat him, Lady Kinzer?”  Haroldris asked.

Kinzer paused for a moment, “It won’t be easy, King Haroldris; we will have to force him through a gate that I must open up that will transport him back to Hell.   He will be trying to stay here.   It will be extremely dangerous for us.”

“Can he kill you?”   Aurei wondered.

“Oh most certainly he can!   We are Watchers, but even we can be killed; though any killed by Torvus will only lose their physical body.   The souls of the faithful of Yesh will join him in paradise.  Torvus cannot prevent that.   But he will kill anyone that the blade of his scythe touches.”  

“You must stay away from it, and away from him.  

He can teleport short distances to come through locked doors and through walls, so barriers will not stop him.   Protection spells against evil will also be useless against him.”

“What about protection against death magic?”   Rori asked somewhat timidly.  

“They offer some protection, but his powers were given to him by very powerful and very misguided Sidhe, so even those protection spells are not foolproof.”

“Why doesn’t Yesh just destroy him, Lady Kinzer?”   Aurei again spoke up, “Certainly God has the power to destroy him.”

“Yes, my dear, he certainly does have that power, but for much more complicated reasons than even I can understand, he chooses not to do so, at least not now.   It doesn’t seem logical to me, either, Aurei, but it is his will that Torvus remains, though he desires him to be imprisoned in Hell.”

“Well then, why couldn’t Yesh merely place him there again?”   Aurei demanded to know.

“He is doing that, through us, my dear, and that is how he works now, by using us.”

“This endangers your life and ours too.   I don’t mean to sound sacrilegious, but why do it this way, when he could do it with a mere word from his lips?”

 

Kinzer sighed as if addressing a very familiar, but rather frustrating question, “Aurei, we don’t have time for deep theological debates right now, but often times the reason Yesh uses us to do dangerous things is to test our faith in him and show to us that he expects us to fight against evil and danger, even when the odds are against us.”

“He doesn’t put us in danger or set up situations for evil to challenge us, but he allows them to happen to show him our faithfulness in him.   Look what happened to you.   Twice, in fact.   You survived two explosions of Lights of Yesh, and only you, and now Eleazar, who was in the last one with you, can say that.   The first time you had no magic to spirit you away.   It was Yesh who saved you from dying as a reward for your faithfulness.”

Aurei nodded, though she remained somewhat frustrated at the situation.   There was just too much else to worry about right now to fret about the reasons things happened.

“Lady Kinzer, what part are we to play in destroying Torvus?”   Zeatt asked, anxious to get back on topic.

 

Kinzer sat down on the edge of a table, “I don’t want any of you to endanger yourselves trying to help Drake and me in our endeavor to imprison Torvus.  Certainly you are free to do whatever you think is best, but I would offer you this suggestion:   There are ten Necromancer Guild airships that hover very close to the ground.   I suspect that the assault that will soon come will utilize all of their forces, in an attempt to control King’s Reach.”

“They are working against time, for they must have at least major control of the city before sunrise.   They have their Orbs of Night, but I doubt they’d rely upon them with so many enemies around.   If one was destroyed in the middle of the day, it could mean mass destruction.”

“So I would guess that they will try to overwhelm the forces against them, then position their undead that can function in sunlight, to guard and hold their position, as the Vampire Lords, the ghosts and other spirits, as well as the two Liches, retreat into the holds of their airships, which they will send up to great heights for protection.   The Wyverns will constantly circle around them at this point, making any assault on them very difficult.”

“The living Necromancers will also be active and protecting their masters in the daylight hours.  So while the airships are empty of most of their troops, this would be the best time to destroy the elementals that power the ships, and, if possible, the master of each ship.”

 

“They will be Vampire Lords or the Liches, Lady Kinzer.”  Alvis commented.

“I know, Sir Alvis, and they will have guards even with most of their forces active in the invasion, but during this invasion, it would be the best time to combat them, though it is night.”

Haroldris had just asked Kinzer how best she thought they could accomplish this when suddenly their council of war was disrupted by the appearance of a deadly visitor.

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

"He would be willing to risk the wraith of Yesh..."
I think that was supposed to be wrath.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you Erin, you are right.