A Call to Arms

The town of Yartin was a day's ride from Merwindolyn but being five times larger, would make a much more suitable meeting place for what was needed next. A major port city on the west side of the continent, it had easy access to trade routes to most of the baronies along the west coast, include Havlen, Lykaris and Turuk baronies. Several others of the outer baronies who had been sympathetic to the rebellion movement throughout the years to varying degrees had sent representatives, some by horses, others by wyvern. The summons had gone out that this summit was one of the highest importance.

"...no longer have the prerogative of waiting for the perfect time," Sergeant Takeda emphasized as he addressed the group of officers and nobles. "While we might have been able to hold the line behind magical barriers that warded the Empire's scrying and counted on our distance to give him pause, once his newest project reaches fulfillment, he'll no longer be hampered by distance or logistics. The slightest hint of challenge and he'll have an entire army right on your doorstep in mere hours."

"It's true," Keiko emphasized. "The number of magical crystals his operation has accumulated means it's only a matter of time before his fortress, Project Aetheria, becomes airborne. Once that happens, any resistance movement will be doomed in the long run. The Empire will be able to respond and crush any such coalition before it has any chance to develop."

"Then who runs the Empire once he's deposed?" Baron Lykaris demanded. "You're asking us to commit our forces to fighting this cause, shouldn't we know there's something worth fighting for?"

"Haven't your lands been crushed by tyranny long enough?" Jun retorted. "Yes, I'm sure that should we win the day, some government will be formed, but that's not going to happen if a dozen different Barons focus on vying for position before the first blow is even struck!"

"Some of us have had rivalries between our families that go back generations," Baron Belray brought up. "And even if those of us here stand together, what about the ones who stand loyal to the Emperor? Will they face appropriate reparations for their years of loyalty to the tyrannical regime we're trying to overthrow?"

"A new country can't stand strong if the first thing it tries to do is cannibalize itself for every past grievance," Akiko announced. "Yes, I understand some of you have rivalries and jealousies that go back years. I also get that the baronies that sat comfortably while we had to fight to free the country may seem unfair. But at some point, a country... a people... must be willing to stand as one. If that means offering amnesty for past sins, then it may take that kind of courage from all of us." She took a moment to emphasize her words as she looked to the everyone in the crowd. "Those of you who hold the titles of nobility... that's supposed to mean you represent something greater than yourselves and your individual families, but your nation as a whole. Ask yourselves... where is the greater good served... for your lands, your people and your country?"

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After the meeting, the group of Keiko, Amberbrooke, Akiko, Jun and Hiroshige were in a separate room with a table with Keiko drawing a sketch from memory along with notes from her time spent in Fort Magish.

"...and about 1800 meters wide, maybe 3000 meters long. I want to say the towers were maybe 150 meters tall from the rock surface, but the big rock was uneven so I can't be certain. Either way, I can't be sure how deep it goes into the rock, because of the exit points along the bottom of the carved mountain," Keiko concluded.

"Yeah... that'd have to be magic alright," Akiko concluded. "Something that big and unwieldy wouldn't be able to stay upright otherwise." She looked at the crude sketch that Keiko was drawing on a large draft board. "These open buildings on the bottom... the way you describe them look too small for wyvern to land. We'd have to land on these platforms along these towers on the top, and those look really exposed... probably where the Empire is expecting to fly their own wyvern from, meaning they'll have people waiting to receive and defend those positions."

"That makes sense," Keiko admitted. "They weren't flying any wyvern when I was watching, but these short squat buildings along the sides do look suspiciously like stables and not standard barracks. They'd be just about the right size for wyvern." She paused, "Which makes me wonder what those platforms down below are for. Surely people weren't planning to just jump or lower rope and ladders and have people climbing up. That'd be probably the most inefficient way to load men I could imagine."

"Probably lookouts," Jun concluded. "They would use scrying for most of their information gathering, but sometimes nothing beats having soldiers being able to see for themselves, and having a balcony looking down without any obstruction basically gives them a completely unobstructed view of their surroundings."

Hiroshige pointed at what appeared to be a large crystal at the bottom center of the structure. "What's this? It looks too obvious to be just ornamental."

"I... I'm not sure," Keiko admitted. "I didn't get onboard, so I don't know if it's magically linked to anything. It looks kind of like a focusing crystal, but I've never seen one that big before."

Amberbrooke looked concerned. "Did you managed to see its configuration?"

"Red, orange and yellow with a Mandelbrot pattern and a snowflake exterior, heptagon shape," Keiko recalled. "Almost like an evocation crystal, but way more complex than the ones the Empire combat mages carry."

"That sound like an evocation crystal, alright," Amberbrooke confirmed, "but more likely one for ritual casting. This would be something where multiple mages could pool their will and mana into a single crystal to generate power far beyond what any single practitioner could accomplish. The exact effect would depend on the number and skill of the casters involved, but just the concept would be frightening. We could be talking about a magical spell that attacks entire formations on the battlefield, devastates towns with a single blast, or perhaps more insidious effects, if they were to be crueler, such as curses or clouds of deadly poison that would leave the lands uninhabitable for years."

"Then we need to destroy that weapon, regardless of what we do to the Emperor," Akiko determined. "Whether we take His Highness alive or otherwise, that weapon has to go... no one should have that kind of power, at least not without some kind of restraint."

"With a fortress that size, we'll have to split up to accomplish that," Jun suggested. "Also, magic artifacts like that normally take magic to destroy, don't they?"

"An artifact of that size, yes it will take magic to break the enchantments that created such a weapon," Amberbrooke confirmed.

"Do we know if the Emperor is going to be on Aetheria or in the capital?" Akiko asked. "I would have preferred all of us united when we confronted him, but this target sounds too important and we might have to hit it at the same time, which means splitting our forces."

"Most days, he's in the capital, but for something as important as the maiden flight of his new flagship, I have to imagine he'll be there," Jun speculated. "It's impossible for me to believe he'd miss something like that, but I also have to think the security and military presence for that launch would be enormous."

"Meaning, the capital might be about as light as it's ever going to be," Akiko pondered. "If there's ever a chance to take the castle and all the magical infrastructure behind it, that'd be time."

"The castle's enormous, with levels going from the highest parts of the city down to the dungeons. Trying to take it even with a reduced force would be a nightmare of mazes and mystical traps if you don't have someone familiar with its layout," Hiroshige warned.

"We have such a person," Akiko reminded everyone.