Surviving Arkadia

“Time for introductions,” said Agnes. “I think most of you know me. I’m Mistress Agnes of the Black Woods and I have taken Charge of the people of the Black Woods. Our colour is Black. If you see anyone with a black ribbon round their upper arm then they have my trust and you should speak to them as if you are speaking to me.”

I hadn’t really thought about what the black ribbon around my arm meant. I began to feel the weight of the obligation a little more keenly.

Agnes beckoned to Gertrude and the Mayor and they came to stand behind her, where the people on the other end of the crystal ball links could see them better.

They introduced themselves before claiming the sky blue colour for the Moonstone Faction. Then the Mayor turned to Jethro and I, and tied a blue ribbon next to the black one on each of us, sealing it in place with the same words. I felt an additional weight of responsibility settling across my shoulders.

As Gertrude and the Mayor returned to their seats Geraldine stood up and came forward with a golden ribbon in her hand.

“Some of you already know Geraldine Henning, one of the escapees from the Moonstone remnant. She’s here representing the Federation of Guilds. Master Smith is running the Guild command centre from the Navigator’s guild in Uln.

“Thank you,” said the familiar looking white haired man from the crystal ball. “I’m only going to remind everyone of this one last time. We were in this fight before the lot of you. We’ve had our eyes on the Ostians since they expelled the guild of nurses from Ostia City, and demanded that every other guild cut ties with the Federation, and swear allegiance to Ostia.”

“You’re never going to let anyone forget that,” said Agnes.

“Nor should he,” said the Mayor, and his voice cracked as he said it. “He was right and I was wrong. I should have listened.”

It was hard to tell with the distortion of the Crystal but it looked like Master Smith might be tearing up.

Before things could get even more emotional, Geraldine tied a golden ribbon around Jethro’s arm and sealed it in place. “We’ve picked gold as the colour for the guilds, since the economy of the cities rests upon the shoulders of the guild masters. I’ve messaged the Weaver’s Guild buildings in Uln and Boblingen with the exact dyes and specifications for the faction ribbons we need. If you can’t get the approved ribbons where you are then get as close as you can and ask a Beast Kin to make sure that they can differentiate the colours. The important thing is that they’re different enough to be told apart at a distance.”

Agnes half turned in her chair to face the rest of the Council. “I know that some of you are wondering how we’re going to defend ourselves. You ran because you couldn’t fight off a professional army with an Empire at its back and that was the right thing to do. Now I’m telling you to stand and fight and all you’ve seen is a few hundred guerrilla fighters hiding in the trees. The difference is that we know the ground and we can control it.”

On the crystal balls the images of the woman with the wooden face and the person with all the tattoos waved.

Agnes went on, “The Sisterhood of Dryads and the Druid Collective have formed into one faction and given permission to the Rangers allied with them to join up with the Black Woods Defenders. Sister Oak, do you want to add anything?”

“Thank you. The people here have lived in harmony with the land for centuries. By managing the woods, taking only what they need of the animals, harvesting timber without killing trees and preventing the farmers from encroaching on the woods they have earned our trust and gratitude. The Ostians have shown no respect to the woods or the life within it. Also we’ve heard about how they deal with the Fever and they can get fucked.”

I wondered what she’d actually said in her own language that my brain had chosen to translate as such a whiplash of tone.

“Thank you, Sister Oak,” said the druid with the tattooed face . They had the high pitched, sing-song voice of the profoundly stoned but there was an edge of determination there too. “The Collective is of one mind with the Sisterhood. We have supplied medics with combat abilities to both the city forces and to the Black Woods Defenders. We understand that you have your own healers but if you would welcome a few more we have some standing by. We have some combat casters available if you need the extra firepower for the Citadel. The Green faction will control the battlefield. Between us we can see through every eye in the forest, guide every animal and manipulate the growth of every plant.”

That gave me the shivers. It sounded like something from a horror movie. Before I could contemplate the full awfulness of it, I heard running feet approaching and Asser burst into the tent.

“The train proximity alarm is going off. Sounds like the Ostians are back for another look,” he said, between panted breaths.

“We’re pretty close,” said Akira from the array of crystal balls, “do you want us to take a closer look?”

“Please do,” said Agnes, “I’m going to test the Remote Mirror so it will be good to have another signal in the area.”

“Remember,” said Asser, “Don’t approach the train until you see the flash.”

I could hear Akira mumbling something about not being an idiot as he passed the crystal ball to the man in green and the connection was abruptly cut off.

Agnes fussed around the frame of the Remote Mirror and I realised that there were tiny brass dials concealed in the ornate scrollwork. The dials moved the focus of the mirror around. The trees visible on the mirror receded as the focus pulled back. Eventually it became a dense, dark green patch on the lighter, less even green of the fields that surrounded the woods.

“Let me,” said Asser. “I think I remember something of the route we took.”

Agness moved out of the way and Asser moved the focus south, looking for the roads that crossed into the southern edge of the woods.

“Hey, Petra?” said Amris from his seat with the rest of the Council members, “You helped pick the route, didn’t you?”

“I did,” I said. Asser turned round with an expectant look. “I think it was further west than that.

Asser moved the focus rapidly westward and then moved in so that we could see more details of the road. At last I spotted something that looked like the road we’d followed into the Woods. I pointed it out and Asser adjusted the focus until we could see the gap in the trees that marked the route of the road.

“I think that’s it but it’s hard to be sure,” I said.

“I think you’re right,” said Asser, and he tapped the glass of the Mirror next to a couple of dark spots that moved carefully between the trees. “Those look like Ostian uniforms.” He tapped one of the dark spots and then touched some control on the frame and a whole bunch of other dark spots appeared, outlined in red, concealed by the trees.”

“We’re in position, as close as we dare,” that was the voice of the man in green from the crystal ball array. I looked up and it was clear that the man was holding the ball up to show us Akira crouched on a tree branch looking down at the train, coiled in on itself in the clearing. Akira was at least 50 feet away from the closest part of the train.

Asser glanced up at the crystal ball, “Yeah that should be fine. The vertical range is much shorter, just don’t get any closer.”

Akira took the ball from the man in green and used it to show us the black uniformed bodies already lying strewn around the train.

“Don’t worry, they’re mostly not dead,” said the Druid. “We’ve been monitoring them. They’re the second group to have been knocked out by the Train countermeasures. We moved the first group to a stockade. They’re not very happy about it because we haven’t fed them. They have their own rations so they’re not going to starve.”

“Why didn’t you move the second lot?” said Agnes.

“We’ve been busy,” said the Druid.

“And we thought we might as well wait for the next group to investigate and move them together,” said Sister Oak.

“Some of these might not survive a second blast of the countermeasure,” said Asser.

“How sad,” said the Dryad, not sounding sad at all.

“They’re almost there,” said Asser.

“I see them,” said Akira, “they think they’re very stealthy.”

I could see them too. Not just on the Mirror but on the tiny curved surface of the crystal ball. They were creeping closer to the train in a low crouch-walk that must be hell on the back but wasn’t doing a lot to conceal them from above.

One of them was checking on the prone bodies. His body language seemed relieved but he couldn’t rouse them. The others kept moving ever closer to the train. They must be able to tell that there was no one there, surely by now they’d wondered why there were unconscious ostians all over the place.

“One of them is trying a spell,” said Akira, in a barely audible whisper. “I know it. It’s for detecting traps.”

“Shield your eyes,” said Asser.

I don’t know how everyone else did but I was halfway through closing my eyes and bringing my hands up to shield them just as the spell flowed out from the Ostian revealing invisible runes all over the outside of the train. I saw some of the brilliant blue-white flash that followed and then I didn’t see anything for a bit except for weird negative after-images. My ears were working just fine so I got to hear the sizzle of electricity and the thud of bodies hitting the ground.

“Detection spells trigger the countermeasure?” said Akira, as I waited for my vision to clear.

“And adds a little boost because it has to work on people standing further away,” said Asser.

“How long will it take to recharge?” said Saleh. I blinked and tried to focus on him but he was still blurry.

“It’s got to be fully discharged now,” said Asser. “At least six hours.”

“Would you like us to conceal the train?” said Sister Oak. “As soon as we get the Ostians out of the way we can encase it in foliage and completely block it from sight.”

Asser looked up at the Mayor.

The Mayor was rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands and took a moment to realise that he was being deferred to. “Please do, but give Akira and his squad time to check the bodies for intelligence material first. Anyone dumb enough to approach a high value target surrounded by unconscious bodies is also dumb enough to do it with attack plans in their pocket.”