Chapter 404 (1/2)

Chapter 404

Chapter 402: A Bloodless Exchange

ARTHUR LEYWIN

“You’re doing the right thing,” Jas above the noise of the crowdsaround below

Lines of disarmed Alacryan soldiers queued unco manned by loyal Dicathians Jasmine and I had found a flat rooftop to watch Vanessy’s soldiers work from above

I let out a heavy breath “I know”

The resistance against my plan had been stiffer here than in Blackbend The hostility between the two sides hung in the air like a viscous mist Many of the Alacryan soldiers didn’t understand why their highblood leaders had given in so easily, and they were still eager for a fight Their control here had been iron-clad, and the people of the city had suffered with nowhere else to go

The city felt like a powder keg, and sparks were flying in every direction

Even as atched, I saw a Dicathian augmenter shove an unarmed Alacryan hard in the back when the ap in his queue The man spun and pulled back his fist, which sprouted stone spikes, but the augmenter already had his sword in his hand, and the tip was pressed to the Alacryan’s chest

“Just say the word,” Regis said as he lifted a leg off the edge of the roof “I can piss down a stream of Destruction on thee to intervene as Regis It wasn’t in , especially since I could end it with a wave of a hand

“You relegated ement of this city to Commander Glory and the Helsteas for a reason,” Jasht shi+ft in hts “To intervene now is to show that you don’t trust theby Jash the crowd and forced the fightingswift justice to any Alacryan who brandished weapon or spell against the Dicathians

I stood up, letting Regis return back to ether, Jasmine and I hopped off the roof and marched across the broad street that connected all the portal fra a non-stop stream of Alacryans beyond the Wall into a small town in the Beast Glades, which just happened to be the location of the only surviving teleportation gate on the other side of the le portal at the very end wasn’t currently being used, as I’d requested

As we passed through, heads turned in our wake Every hu froether into an incongruous alches

I keptthe fear, hatred, respect, and adoration of both Alacryans and Dicathians spill past ate hummed to life as the attendant calibrated it for Etistin City, and the world lurched around nificant journey fro nearly the entire breadth of Sapin As the blurred landscape ripped past, I feltthe problems of Xyrus behind

My vision lurched, and the inside of the stone structure housing the receiving teleportation gate caate, or guarded the iron-banded doors that led to a broad plaza beyond Through one of the open s that circled the structure, I could see the royal palace in the distance, gleaht sun

Jasers caestured for calm

Beyond the open doors, no less than fifty battle groups stood arrayed throughout the plaza The soldiers, standing stiffly at attention, wore their gray and red uniforms, but they were not armed or armored

As I crossed the tiled floor of the portal chamber, our footfalls were the only sound save for the distant crowing of so out in front of the gathered force was the retainer, Lyra Dreide, her fire-red hair blowing like a flag in the steady breeze coht of me

“Welcome, Lance Arthur Leywin,” she said, her honey-sweet voice carrying easily throughout the silent plaza “I ahblood Dreide, retainer of Central Don Agrona”

Jasmine let out a sharp breath as she appeared beside lance, the two of us stepped out of the wide double-doors and looked around

A gap had been left between two lines of battle groups where thirty corpses had been neatly laid out on the cobbles My first thought, felt with a flash of fury, was that it was yet another ploy froht see ah, was Alacryan

Behind the corpses were piles of weapons and araze “This is what happens to Alacryans on’t follow orders”

None of the re soldiers let their attention settle on the corpses Those closest—the ones ould be able to hear the buzz of flies beginning to swarm the bodies—kept their eyes firmly forward

Still, I remained wary of some trap, and so I activated Realh the crowd, like wind stirring the leaves of a great tree

Realmheart lifted low from my back and beneath my eyes The fear I instilled in them shone from their own eyes, reflected back at me in the shape of the violet Realmheart runes

And I couldn’t help but wonder, what did these men and women from that distant and alien continent see me as? Had I made myself a symbol for mercy, or could they only see me as an embodiardless of which it ould it be enough to overpower their fear of the asuras who controlled the my attention to Lyra Dreide

She raised a hand, and all of the soldiers present went down on one knee and bowed their heads Slowly, she followed theh she did not bow her head but rather kept an unflinching eye-contact “This,” she said with a slow, exaggerated enunciation, “is my surrender”

A subtle movement to my left made me turn Jaser, and she was chewing the inside of her lip For most people, it would have been little more than a faint tick, but I could read her surprise, caution, and distrust clearly

I took a step closer to the retainer and looked down into her quick, curious eyes “What are the terue darted across her lips as she considered how best to respond After a long ain or plead with you, Regent Leywin There are no terms Alacrya’s forces in Dicathen surrender”

“Then what’s keepingyou now?” I asked “Or these ht-lipped s to kill you their lives, and yet you would slay those who now stand before you, unarmed and at yourto be predictable,’ Regis pointed out

It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I argued

Jas the retainer wouldthe soldiers sient Leywin, I—”

“I’ both Jaseneral, ent Leywin, but I have ceded authority over this continent to you” I glared at the woman as she interrupted me, but she didn’t back down “Until such a tiovernent of Dicathen”

“This is no place to have this conversation,” I said with a es in their tidy rows “Lyra of Highblood Dreide, you are, for the htly “If I sense any treachery from you, you die”

“Understood,” she said withouta beat, a stark reminder that, in Alacrya, the price of failure at her position was always death

“Is this all the soldiers in Etistin?” I asked as I turned toward the royal palace

Jasreater bulk of our force here is still being escorted out of the city Since Etistin has ree force of troops here Over sixteen thousand in the city alone, and nearly ascountryside Therelocated into camps outside the city”

“Don’t bother with camps,” I said over my shoulder

A face peered down at us froirl, e, her eyes wide as dinner plates and blue as the bay I wanted to give her a smile, maybe even a wave, but I siht

“All Alacryans are being relocated beyond the Wall until this war is over,” I continued Now that I was looking, I could see other signs of movement from the residents of Etistin Lyra Dreide hadn’t told the people as happening, I realized

“Regent, perhaps I can—”

I stopped and turned, pinning her with a sober scowl “Was there a part of ‘you are my prisoner’ that you failed to understand?”

She paused, waiting for ht into the situation in Etistin that ht provide some options beyond just your current plan”

Next to Lyra, Jaser partially out of its sheath I gave her a subtle shake of my head

I immediately foundGroveling, begging, pleading…that hat I’d expected Where did this boldness coates, aruards i soiven orders Several people curiously watched us approach froet out of our way, and no one engaged with us

I’d been in the palace briefly before the Battle of the Bloodfrost, but not enough to knoay around Jasrand entry and into a series of solars and apartments until we reached a private study

I looked around curiously

The room was tidy, but stuffed full of scrolls,up a piece of heavy waxed parch of the palace itself The piece below it in the pile was le and with a cutaway revealing the palace interior

I set the parch me expectantly “We need to fill the void left by your absence,” I said after a ainst the side of the desk doe of a scroll “Many of the previous Dicathian king and queen’s servants and courtiers still reside in the city Some are imprisoned in the bowels of this palace, others have taken up new lives, new careers I’m certain they will make themselves knohen you publicly announce my surrender”

What she said was true, but I knew I couldn’t just pull soe of Sapin’s capital city No, I needed people who knew the city well, who understood the politics and players, and ould immediately have public support

“Wait here,” I said, reaching for e rune

The heavy metallic tempus warp appeared in my hands, and I carefully set it down next to a crowded bookshelf Warh it using aether to manipulate the mana required to calibrate the device for Vildorial

After a moment, a portal shi+mmered into existence beside the te the Glayders here for me?” I asked Jash the portal without hesitation

Lyra pushed away fro down to exan hi-range teleportation”

I continued to peruse the stacks of parchht it with thes went poorly, I assuht, her lavender eyes settling on me “That certainly backfired on theainst a shelf, araze “You know a lot about what has been happening On both continents, it seems”

“That is s For example, perhaps it has occurred to you that the defense of Dicathen was rather raht interest you to know that Agrona’s attention has been forced back hohest ranks Maybe even civil war”

Regis manifested from the deep shadows around me, his eyes ith interest “Ooh, do spill the tea”

Giving no other indication that she was surprised by Regis’s appearance other than a step back from the shadoolf, the retainer plucked a scroll from the desktop and tossed it to me with a forced smile “Scythe Seris Vritra sons and claimed half of Sehz-Clar for herself”

I unrolled the scroll It was athe events of the rebellion in Alacrya So Seris finally made her move, I mused “But even if she had the support of all Alacrya, she can’t win a civil war against the Vritra Clan,” I said aloud

“It does see herself and all her followers killed,” Lyra answered She shi+fted her weight and dug the toe of her boot into the polished wood of the floor “Unless…”

I followed the thread the retainer had laid out forto win When exactly did this rebellion start?”

“Almost immediately after you destroyed a secret military facility in the dominion of Vechor,” she answered

I frowned It had been a week since the Wraiths arona to respond to their defeat I’d made it more difficult for him to send additional soldiers to Dicathen, but not iht all his forces, especially if he sent ns