Chapter 069: Caught In The Middle
"The war is on and it's time to choose a side
Here within the great divide
Where al those who won't decide
Or just don't care anymore
Count as having chosen..."
Signs of War - A Geoff Mann Band
Wearily I wiped the sweat from my brow and surveyed the scene around me.
I was fairly sure that this was the site I had been aiming for, but from the
looks of it it had been abandoned quite some time ago. There were only a few
outlines of dwellings that had not yet been reclaimed by the jungle, and any
casual passerby would probably not have recognized them as such. Not that I
expected anyone else to pass this way; I wouldn't have done so myself, if I had
had the choice.
Not for the first time I wished I had stayed in the Courts, just
socializing and not getting into anyone's way. Since I had started out on our
quest concerning Brand's legacy, problems and complications had come cropping up
at an ever-increasing rate, and this latest one really took the biscuit. I guess
it had all started when I had gone to see Random on a personal matter.
"Cardane, eh?" He frowned slightly and turned back to the piles
of papers and documents strewn all over his desk. "Come over here for a
minute," he said and started rummaging through his notes. "What are
you interested in, their internal political situation or the external one?"
"Both, I think," I replied, feeling vaguely bemused. I had
really come to him to find out about Cardane's civil war, but if there was also
some larger picture at stake I had better learn about that as well.
"Well," Random said, "our conflict with Chaos concerning
the region was in a way suspended when the Logrus went temporarily out of
business. The latest reports say that the region has stabilized a bit and that
Cardane hasn't suffered too much damage. I'm afraid there's no news of who got
out on top in their internal struggles, but I can tell you that they are going
to have a whole bunch of other problems fairly shortly. You may have heard about
the current tensions between Sherwyn and Galoria. Well, it seems they have
finally declared open war on one another, and even as we speak an army from
Sherwyn is making its way through Shadow towards Galoria. My spies tell me
they're just about to break through to Nassar. If they continue on their present
course, they will almost certainly pass through Cardane too."
"Oh..." I really didn't know what to say to that. "That's
not the news I wanted to hear," I managed. Random was keeping a steady gaze
on me, trying to gauge my intentions.
"As long as this army doesn't deviate from its path in the
direction of Amber, there aren't any grounds for us to become officially
involved in this," he said calmly. "It would be better policy just to
wait and let them fight themselves to death against the Galorian troops." I
nodded, slowly. Yes, that would be best for Amber. However, there was more at
stake in this than my own homeland.
"I'm afraid that I feel rather attached to Cardane on a personal
level," I said softly. Random wasn't surpised.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I had been hoping actually to take my children over there for a
bit. Give them a chance to grow up amongst the other side of their family, you
know." I sighed. "I don't suppose the Sherwynian army would leave
anything unscathed on their way through, would they?" Random only shook his
head. He wasn't entirely unsympathetic to my concerns, I felt, but he had no
choice to play this one but with his crown on.
"It's too early to step in," he said, "but if you like I
can make an official statement to the effect that you're free to go where you
will and that all your actions will be purely those of an individual. Our
quarrel with Chaos has been altered in a way, and that whole border area seems
less important than it was." Not important enough to start a whole new war
over was what he was trying to say. "There is, however, the fact that a war
such as is being waged between Sherwyn and Galoria involves a great deal of
turmoil and destruction, and it might be easier to get away with certain things
in such an environment." That was as close to a carte blanche as he was
going to get. Of course I would be on my own in this, so what else was new?
"In that case," I said, "I think I will put in an effort
to save Cardane from its certain doom, one way or the other."
"Listen," Random insisted, "I understand how you feel, but
my hands are tied. The only thing I can do to help is give you some information
concerning the attacking force, so you have some idea of what you're up
against."
He handed me some reports from his scouts describing the size and make-up
of the army. As I studied it I felt a pit of despair open in my stomach: it was
bloody huge! Most impressive were the multi-headed hydra-like creatures:
although there were but few of them, not more than ten or so, their size, which
far surpassed that of any saurian I had ever heard of, made them more than
formidable enemies; you would need a good-sized army even to fight one of these
monsters. The main part of the army consisted of grey-skinned humanoid
creatures, millions and millions of them, with lesser numbers of insectoids
armed with weaponry hailing from some higher tech Shadow acting as their
commanders. There were also some accounts of other kinds of creatures, all
individuals, wandering around and seeming vaguely out of place between all those
uniform ranks of grey, and of huge worms occasionally popping up out of the
earth, but there were no clear reports on how many of these creatures there
were. And then there was the air force: flying squads of big white ferocious
beasts and floating red balloon-like creatures chock-full of tiny worms that
would devour anything that they came in contact with. An army of horrors
straight from hell, and I was going to tell it where it could and couldn't go?
Oh, goody...
"You might want to consider getting in touch with your cousins on
either of the opposing sides," Random offered. "I've talked to Adrian
myself, and... Well, I don't know how far he can be trusted, but he claims that
things have got quite out of hand and that this current state of affairs was
never his intention. So, he might be motivated to help you out, just to show
some goodwill. On the other side you've got Galoria and Alexander who I presume
to be quite busy trying to come up with ways to keep that army from reaching its
destination. A little dialogue and coordination might yield some results."
"How long until the army will reach Cardane?"
"Depends on which route they are going to take. Here, I'll show
you." He unrolled a large sheet of paper wich turned out to be a rough map
of the Shadow clusters around that particular area. "This is Nassar,"
he said, pointing at one spot, "and you can see they have three options
from there: Viaz, Gallian, or Terpin. Gallian would be the most direct route to
Galoria, but their level of technology is quite high, so they would be fairly
well protected. Terpin, however, is a mountainous Shadow, and up till now they
have avoided such places. Which leaves Viaz as the most likely candidate: there
is some potential for technological development there, but at the moment they're
still stuck in the early stages. You know, first explosive devices and such.
Viaz lies slightly more in the direction of Amber too, but they would still
mainly be heading for Galoria. However, we are keeping in mind that it may yet
be a trick and that
Amber is their true objective."
A quick glance at the map told me that there were only three Shadow
clusters between Nassar and Cardane, but the most direct course between them ran
through Gallian. A line marked the advancement of the army till now, and I could
see that they favoured a direct route, sometimes even through areas that would
have been an obstacle to other armies. However, there were places where they had
digressed from their course, yet the reasons for these diversions were not
immediately apparent. Meanwhile, Random had found a piece of paper and was
sketching me a rough copy
of the map around Cardane along with some notes and comments on the
various surrounding clusters. That would certainly come in handy.
After this there was little point in me staying any longer. Random wished
me good luck, and I promised at least to keep him up to date. A quick stop in
the classroom to say goodbye to the kids (all six of them, this time, including
the disciplined truant pair) and then it was off to Cardane again. Having had no
word of how the civil war had progressed in the meantime, I decided to aim for
Wylde's rebel camp where I had stayed during the first time I had come to visit
our children. It would be as good a place to start as any.
And that was where I was now. I was just contemplating my next step, when
I felt the tingle of a Trump contact. That was quick. Curious, I accepted and a
fraction of a second later I regarded the familiar features of King Adrian I of
Sherwyn.
"I think we should talk," he said right away, "but not
like this. Not over a Trump."
"Alright, you're welcome to come over," I said, not for one
moment considering the possibility of going over to his side. He nodded and
stepped through, immediately stopping to take in his surroundings.
"Where are we?"
"Cardane," I said, studying him closely. Yes, he knew about its
significance.
"Ah," he said lightly, "I've just heard a few things about
it. In fact it is the foremost reason for me to have this conversation with
you." He turned and regarded me squarely. "The troops that are going
to attack Galoria, the ones that I am allied with as well, are moving this
way."
"So I've heard."
"This is by far the easiest route for them, so you'd better count on
them coming through here. I suggest you find some place to hide or something.
They're not too keen on oceans or mountains, and at the moment there are no
valid reasons not to pass through Cardane. Either some reason has to be found,
or you'd better start planning the evacuation."
"Quite a pretty business," I scorned.
"Nothing pretty about it," he replied.
"I could of course try and make things difficult for them."
Adrian gave me a speculative look. "For instance, should they set foot in
Cardane, I could drastically slow down its relative passage of time, which I
guess wouldn't at all be to their advantage, would it now?"
"Well, the advantage would be that the troops would have a
break," he remarked lightly, "while the disadvantage, of course, would
be that our enemies would have more time to get organized. With the emphasis on
`advantage' and `disadvantage'." There was something odd about the way he
was behaving. What was he trying to tell me? "Let's say we sign some form
of treaty," he continued. "That would make everybody happy. However,
if we do come to an agreement and you decide to betray us, the two of us would
be having some serious problems. I could never let you get away with something
like that." He was still giving me odd looks. What kind of deal was he
trying to con me into? If he thought that the Cardane would be a match for his
monster army, he was gravely mistaken. "Yes," he said, "it would
be for the best if we came to an agreement." So much for his terms; time to
put mine on the table.
"That's all very well," I said, "but I don't want these
troops to enter Cardane in the first place." An uncomfortable look passed
over his face.
"How are you going to stop them?"
"Simply by making life as hard for them as I can. By making Cardane
appear so unappealing that they have no other choice but to re-plan their
route." We gazed at one another for a few seconds, but I refused to budge.
Finally, he sighed and turned away.
"I'll relay your message to them," he said, "but I'll have
to tell them who it is that is blocking their way."
"You do that. Look, I have no real quarrel with this army and I
don't mind them taking on Galoria, but I do mind them passing through here and
levelling the whole place in the progress."
I wanted to add more, but suddenly I felt another Trump contact coming
on. Of course it had to be Alexander. Fortunately, I had intuitively positioned
myself in such a way that he couldn't spot his brother already being on the
scene.
"Hello Dorian," he said cheerfully. "We are gathered
together over here with a few folk to try and find a way to put a stop to the
army from Sherwyn, and since Cardane appears to be right in its path, we figured
that you might want to add your own observations."
"As a matter of fact, I am already rather involved," I said.
"Well, if you'd like to come over and discuss things..."
"I'd say we've got quite a discussion going from where I'm
standing," I interjected and looked over at Adrian, thereby giving
Alexander a glimpse of him as well. Alex frowned and looked rather disappointed.
"Does this mean that you'll let them pass through Cardane
unhindered?"
"Oh no, no, no," I said with a smile, "on the contrary.
The only thing is that our, that is `my' dear cousin here has to think of a way
to explain the matter to his little friends." I had raised my voice a bit,
so Adrian would be sure to hear me too. He didn't look happy, but then the same
could be said for his brother.
"If you really think you'll be able to handle things by yourself,
you're welcome to it," Alex said, with just a hint of reproach.
"Let me put it this way," I replied, turning more serious,
"I'd rather try and deal with this myself."
"If that's the way you feel about it, I guess I know enough."
And he was gone. I didn't feel too good about letting him down like that, but
there was no other way. With a grave expression I turned back to Adrian.
"I believe," he began hesitantly, "that considering the
situation here they might do better by taking another route, but that would
probably mean having to cross some ocean Shadow, and that's quite a problem for
them. I'll try to convey your point of view, but I can't guarantee
anything." I nodded. I had learned from Random's map that the way from
Nassar to Cardane was much of a bottleneck; any diversion around Cardane would
certainly lead through more difficult terrain than they would favour. I would
really have to convince them that Cardane was a wrong deal.
"You do realise of course that if the army does reach Cardane, all
of this will be destroyed, don't you? Even if you manage to slow down the time
stream."
"It's but one of the things I could try."
"What else could you do?"
"I'd rather leave them guessing," I said enigmatically.
"However, if you feel you need some other incentive to convince them... How
good do you think their intelligence service is?"
"Oh, very, very good."
"In that case, you might want them to consider who it was that
repaired the Logrus."
"Ah...," he said with a smile. "Alright, I guess that
means that we are now officially at odds. I'd like to wish you ill
fortune." He reached into his Trump deck and left for places unknown.
Well, that was that, and another fine mess I had got myself into. I had
been quite sincere to Alxander when I had told him I wanted to handle this by
myself. I really couldn't afford to ally myself with Galoria, even on a personal
basis; my loyalty towards Amber wouldn't permit it, and besides, what had
Galoria ever done except make life hard for me? Okay, I might feel that I owed
Alexander himself something for the way he had protected me in the cave of the
Logrus, but there was no way I was going to allow either him or Adrian to turn
Cardane into a battleground. Letting either of them gain entrance would be
tantamount to siding with either Galoria or Sherwyn, and that wouldn't do any
good to Cardane in the long run.
So, I had my job cut out for me. First things first, though: I had to
find out the current internal status of Cardane, see who was in charge at the
moment and warn them of the coming danger. If Wylde had been victorious, as I
hoped she had, it would make my life a lot easier, but if her opponents were
still in charge, I would have to look for a way to get them to cooperate. There
was one thing that I knew for sure: there was no way that I was going to let my
children reproach me for standing by idly while their home was being trampled to
the ground. That wasn't going to happen, period.