When Leon awoke about a day after finishing off the remaining Hesperidic Apples, he felt immeasurably better. With the Iron Needle out of his soul realm for the time being, the power that flowed into his soul realm from the apples healed his soul realm almost completely. By his estimation, replacing all the sandstone he’d used to reinforce his soul realm following its spectacular growth would need a month or two, but by the time he’d finished, all of the remaining damage that the apples hadn’t managed to fix would be healed.
So, he was left feeling somewhat all right with how things turned out. For just a moment, after he’d woken up and before he’d opened his eyes, he allowed himself to revel in the gains that he’d made. From twenty-five hundred to nearly ten thousand was a massive jump, putting him within range of reaching the tenth-tier with the next apple harvest, if not sooner.
But the reason why he hesitated to call it a complete win was all the political chaos that came in his absence—the Sunlit Emperor’s new offensive on the Sword using some of his Clan’s arks being the cause of nearly all of it. So, after his moment of revelry was over, Leon properly awoke, finding that his ladies had spent the night with him—including Valeria, he was happy to note.
Once he’d gotten to his feet, his day was spent receiving the many guests that came to pay their respects and provide him with all the updates that he’d missed. Land for additional thunder wood and Hesperidic Apple groves, expansion of the bureaucracy and central army, tax revenues, expansion and training of the Tempest Knights—who were essentially now at full strength with one hundred members from each of the Ten Tribes—and more.
But Leon, mostly happy with how things had been run during his absence—thanks in no small part to the ministers he’d put in place before his two-month nap—allowed them to continue their work without much disruption. He reserved most of his attention for the war on the Sword.
To that end, before the day was up, he got in contact with both the Jaguar, as his Marshal, and Iron-Striker. Both were happy to see him back up and about and were more than willing to give him an update on the war.
That meeting lasted several hours, but the summary that the Jaguar gave at the beginning described it well.
“The Sunlit Emperor invaded last month with a force nearly a million strong, with a navy and air force large enough to support them. The Pegasi States have been lending him their support as needed, keeping his supply lines robust. We had less than half a week to prepare once we noticed his approach. Using this short period of time, we reinforced our positions as best we could, abandoning those positions that were deemed untenable.
“They made landfall at three locations, the largest beaches on the island’s north side, taking them at the cost of high casualties from our prepared defenses. Our navy engaged here on the west side, the battle proving a tactical stalemate but forcing them to turn back and focus on the land invasion rather than surrounding and blockading the island.
“To that end, they steadily pushed inward over the next few weeks, our armies and fortresses proving tenacious, but ultimately, the Imperial forces managed to seize half of the island, including the biggest cities on the northern coast.
“The military council authorized a deployment as soon as the invasion was sighted, and our initial forces arrived after only a couple days, with the rest of our emergency forces arriving two weeks later. We’ve been running defensive operations since then, keeping the Imperials from gaining further territory while a proper counter-offensive force is assembled in Raimondas.”
Leon took in all that the Jaguar told him. On the island, the Sunlit Emperor, after receiving some reinforcements not only from his Argos but also from the Pegasi States, had a force some million-and-a-half strong, while he had perhaps half that. However, the central army, with the assistance of many loaned ships from the eastern fleets and monsters under thrall to the Booming Brown Bears, had a million deployment-capable soldiers already in Raimondas and would begin their deployment in a week, with hopefully more to come.
Arks, Leon was told, were decisive weapons, though more heavily weighted in Sunlit’s favor. Much of the reason why half of the island had been taken in just two weeks was that when the Imperial army failed to take a Tribal strongpoint in time, Sunlit would move in his Thunderbird Clan era arks and strike the place from beyond the range of their ability to retaliate. So far, there hadn’t been any conclusive answer to how they were going to answer the use of those arks.
When Leon had visited the Sacred Golden Empire to inspect the crashed supercarrier, he’d had Nestor give him a rundown on all the classes of ark that their Clan had used back in their heyday. The supercarriers were among the heaviest and largest in the ark fleets, and more than a few such massive arks had been used in the Clan’s invasion of Aeterna. Leon, hoping that the Sacred Golden Empire’s discovery wasn’t setting a precedent, was pleasantly surprised to hear that the arks that the Sunlit Emperor was using were relatively small compared to what he’d feared.
These ancient arks were still larger and more heavily armed than what his people were using, including the newer models that the Ravens had barely managed to finish in time, but the heaviest was a light cruiser that had a crew of perhaps eight hundred, three were destroyers with crews of four or five hundred, and the last was a small corvette, with little in the way of weapons but faster than just about anything else on the plane. In fact, Leon thought that only the Director’s personal ark, made from the salvaged components of a small ark from his Clan’s time, could match it in speed.
Of those arks, the light cruiser was the deadliest threat, with eight ancient Lances to a side, four in front, and two behind. With the armor and defensive enchantments it had, Leon thought that even five of the new Raven arks would struggle against it. Three new Raven arks, meanwhile, he estimated could match one of the destroyers since they had matching weapon complements, but he wasn’t eager to put that estimation into practice.
After all, as the Jaguar and Iron-Striker described these arks to him, Leon couldn’t help but feel some amount of greed and indignation boiling up from within. The Sunlit Emperor claimed the mantle of the Thunderbird Clan, but it was Leon who had that power and the recognition of the Thunderbird herself. That Sunlit was now using his own Clan’s weapons against him offended Leon greatly.
He wanted those arks back, if possible. He valued his Kingdom more highly, of course, so he wouldn’t cry if the arks had to be destroyed, but if the opportunity to seize them presented itself, Leon was going to seize them without a second thought.
After his long chat with the Jaguar and Iron-Striker, Leon made for Nestor’s workshop, but not before one last exchange with Iron-Striker.
“So,” Leon had said, “should I interpret this as an answer to my offer?”
Iron-Striker looked a little confused for a moment before what Leon was talking about clicked with him. It had been four months since Leon had made the offer, and it seemed that he’d had all the time he needed to consider it.
“If it’s still open,” Iron-Striker had said, “I would be honored to accept your offer.”
Leon grinned in response. From that moment on, he had his Chancellor.
Once all of that work was over, he finally found himself in Nestor’s workshop dealing with more personal business.
---
“So,” Leon began as he finished his brief greetings with Nestor, “have any ideas?”
“I’ll admit that I’ve never studied Hesperidic Apples in much detail,” his ancient kinsman replied. “Other members of the Clan have, as is only right for such things, but I personally never have. I can’t even hazard a guess as to why the released magic of a Hesperidic Apple reacted in such a way with the Iron Needle. I can only speculate that it possesses more powers than we know.”
Leon frowned as he glared at the Iron Needle, hovering in the air within the larger gold tube, lazily spinning around in a manner that Leon read as nonchalant, as if it were some trickster whistling and avoiding eye contact with the hapless victim of some ‘definitely, absolutely harmless’ prank.
Though, he wondered if he was anthropomorphizing the Universe Fragment a little too much.
“The Thunderbird says these things are intelligent,” he grumbled aloud, “but not truly sapient in the manner of a human being. To be honest, I’m not sure I can wrap my head around this; it certainly seems like the Iron Needle has been trying to fuck with me for the past few we—months…”
“What it may want,” Nestor replied, “it certainly isn’t sharing. It’s proven resistant to all my attempts to study it, and yet lends you power during a fight, and then dangerously amplifies the power of a Hesperidic Apple… I’ll admit that I have a hard time imagining what it's doing. Could just be reacting to outside stimuli, like an animal, or reacting according to some kind of universal design in a manner like that of a golem.”
Leon rolled his eyes. “And yet, the stone giants have proven that even golems can change and become something they were not designed to be.”
Nestor roughly laid down the tools he’d been absent-mindedly tinkering with—some upgrade to his current body, Leon assumed—and turned his full attention to Leon. “First off, boy, I designed my golems with the express intent to create sentient life! If the golems have done as you say, then they would be acting in accordance with their design. But since they aren’t, they aren’t. All they’re doing is continuing to act as I’ve instructed them: to venerate the Clan and to act as cheap labor, mostly for building projects. They cannot act outside of those constraints.”
“Maybe I ought to drag you back north the next time I go and see if your opinion changes.”
“It won’t,” Nestor insisted.
Leon grinned as Nestor returned to what he was doing while Leon regarded the Iron Needle again.
He poked the glass covering the Needle and whispered to himself, “What the hells are you doing? Do you want something from me? Can you hear me at all?”
The Iron Needle gave no indications that it heard him, instead continuing to lazily spin in the air within the golden tube.
Leon quietly chuckled and asked Nestor, “How secure have you made this place in the past few months?”
“None but one of us are allowed in the workshop at any time. This place is a vault.”
“So if I leave the Iron Needle here, nothing will happen to it?”
“It would be secure, yes.”
Leon frowned lightly and, before committing to leaving the Iron Needle behind, gave the idea a little more thought.
The thing had nearly killed him just a couple months ago, but it had saved his life—and Nestor and Xaphan’s—during his fight with the Sunlit Emperor. The Iron Needle represented the most powerful weapon in his arsenal, but how useful could that weapon be if it was so utterly unpredictable? What might happen if it decided to emit that multicolored lightning again without prompting, while he was in the middle of a battle?
He took some comfort in knowing that it had never ‘acted’ against him until it encountered the power of the Hesperidic Apples, but he still wasn’t entirely sure.
“What do you think, Nestor? Should I leave this in your care?”
Nestor paused his tinkering a moment. “There is nothing more I can do to study it,” he admitted. “I would require better tools which I don’t yet have. I have exhausted my options for study, and so it would just sit here, doing nothing, if you don’t bring it along. I will keep an eye on it if such is your wish… but know that that course of action will bring you no benefit.”
Leon sighed and, after one last moment of thought, pulled the entire golden tube back into his soul realm. “I suppose I’ll take the risk, then. Who knows? Maybe the Needle will prove itself useful again at some point…”
Nestor shrugged.
“Now, as for something else—totally unrelated, I assure you… These arks that Sunlit has…”
Leon heard the uncomfortable sound of tearing metal; Nestor had ruined the piece that he’d been working on.
“Yes…” the dead man growled, hatred almost dripping from his voice. “Those arks. Flown by barbarians. Desecrated by their filthy footsteps. Dirtied by their tainted hands. Polluted by their tainted breath.”
“Defiled by their corrupt presence?” Leon sarcastically asked. “Profaned by their debauched… debauched whatever?”
“Need a thesaurus? I’m sure you can find one in the library. This palace has one of those, by the way, as I’m sure you were unaware.”
“I’m very aware of the library,” Leon sullenly retorted. “That doesn’t stop words from failing me from time to time. But back to the matter at hand… Have you any ideas for dealing with these arks?”
Nestor took another moment to mull the problem over. “That… depends,” he said. “If you’re able to get inside the arks or not… and whether or not they continue to be operated by their original wisps. Good chance of the latter, I’d say, since I doubt any of the primitive barbarians on this plane would’ve had the capacity to replace any of them in the past eighty-thousand years, and those arks need dedicated wisps to handle many of their functions.”
“So we’re also assuming that these functions haven’t been replaced or overhauled to allow humans to handle them?”
Nestor craned his neck as if he were exaggeratedly rolling his eyes. “Yes, we’re also making that assumption, Leon. Because to assume otherwise would be to assume that they have knowledge of magical engineering that they haven’t yet shown.”
“They can build arks that don’t need wisps already, I’m not sure you’re giving our enemy enough credit.”
“Then why don’t you just rule out the possibility of seizing those arks, then? Destroy them as the profaned things they are! Bring all the force you can bear down upon them! Those classes of ark weren’t our most powerful; I’m sure that the facsimiles that have been built down on this island can do the job if in great enough numbers!”
“All right, all right, I didn’t mean to upset you so much.”
Nestor waved his hand dismissively. “I’m not upset. Just offended at the actions of that arrogant shit.” He paused a moment and turned his head in Leon’s direction. “I… don’t suppose you’re planning on taking that presumptuous little shit alive, are you?”
“I wasn’t planning on it, but if given the option I probably would. I can’t imagine the option will present itself, though; Sunlit seems the sort to resist to the very end.”
“Mmm. He nearly killed me, Leon, so I was hoping to get a pound of flesh in recompense.”
“I can carve one off for you?”
“No, no. Just focus on those arks. If they are still operated by wisps—as they should be—then simply getting aboard ought to allow you to seize control over them using Demetrios’ ID card.”
“As I recall, the Director said that Sunlit has a platinum card of his own…”
Nestor went quiet. In a softer voice, he said, “Those cards were given to all members of the Clan… but those of the Princes would still be prioritized. So long as this Emperor of Piss and Shit doesn’t have one of those cards, then yours would supersede his.”
Leon frowned for a long moment. “Penthesilea’s crown was taken by the Sacred Golden Empire… What are the chances that other Royal ID cards also survived? He claims that he is descended from remnants of our Clan, but who, specifically? Some distant relation of yours in the same generation maybe? Or maybe another Prince from another generation? Did your father have any siblings? Did any of your siblings continue their line?”
“Many questions, Leon. Maybe try letting me answer one or two before just barreling on?”
Leon shrugged.
“My father was the only one of his generation. My grandfather had three siblings, of whom only one had a child, but that child died without continuing his line. My father—and consequently, me and my siblings—had no ‘close’ relations. Only Clansmen. And of my siblings, only my second-eldest brother had a child, and even then, his son was a bastard who was forbidden from awakening his bloodline. If there are any other Royal ID cards on this plane, they would’ve been of my father’s line, not of another branch of the Clan.”
Leon nodded, not quite fully relieved but still feeling a little more confident.
“And if those arks don’t respond to my card? What then?”
“I’ll draw up a few plans. They won’t be perfect, but they ought to be serviceable. They’ll point you straight to the engines and power stores. Destroy either of those and the arks will be rendered completely nonfunctional.”
“Those plans ought to work even if we can’t get on board, right?”
“That they should.”
“Get that done as quickly as you can, then.”
Nestor nodded, and without much more to discuss, Leon departed the workshop. As much as he would’ve loved to continue discussing arks with Nestor, Sunlit wasn’t going to just wait around for him to finish his business.
Thankfully, the Ravens had finished a replacement for Leon’s ark that Sunlit had ambushed and destroyed. It was the only new model ark that hadn’t been deployed to the war; it was just waiting for Leon to take control of it. Leon just had to finish his administrative business on Kataigida, and then he could join the forces amassing at Raimondas, and from there, join the war on the Sword.
Even as he left Nestor’s workshop, his blood was already singing in anticipation of the war to come.
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