tOrison thought to himself, "This disgusting piece of work can"t die horrible enough but he is loyal to his country."

tXia added, "It sounds like one of the islands that would have previously belonged to the Speaker of the Right"s own clan has some unexpected problems. What do you say on your end to mitigate this situation to better favor his predicament, Legate?"

tOrison laughed, "What a nice way of stating that even though I am spoon feeding you an opportunity, I need to lend my troops and bleed for it too... Elder Liu, I"d like to go kill some Domain elves with you today but the soldiers will need some incentive. Twenty percent spoils and first pick with two of your people for every one of mine in the vanguard."

tElder Liu"s eyes brightened as his ashen skin tightened further. "Half a percent per soldier that kills two or more up to a maximum of ten percent. I want both of your so-called captains and the vanguard will only be promised equal numbers."

tOrison"s eyes narrowed as he said, "Last shot, Elder. Half a percent for every two kills "total" up to a maximum of of twenty percent. They"ll have to work hard to earn it and I"ll drum up thirty troops or you can half the total. I can only promise one captain. I"ll try to get you both but I"ll need three hours and mounts for ten. The other clans need to start their attacks before then which means I"ll have to leave Avenar with Granny Xia."

tElder Liu laughed like a lunatic. "That"s a lot of pressure you"re putting on yourself. I like it. Done."

tOrison took the gold elf"s spell book and four of the six scrolls from him. With a sneaking suspicion, Orison ordered Avenar to tell him if there were any beacons near or on the trade post. He was unsurprised to find out there were two and one was an underground relay right underneath the barracks. Afterward, Orison ordered the gold elf to obey Granny Xia in anything related to the attacks but nothing that threatened him or his people. If the elf couldn"t stop her from forcing him into an action that threatened Orison or his people, the elf was to kill himself. He did this brazenly before the old woman which only made her smile, almost fondly, as if she was proud of him.

tAs Orison rushed off, he could hear Xia using him as an example to Elder Fvaris that no matter how hectic things became, she should never lose focus of small and potentially fatal details. What he didn"t hear about until later were the many examples of how and when he had failed to keep his.

tThe young mage thought it was a bit too much to force his newly acquired gold elf clan mates to fight their own people so he let them stay with the rest in the suite. With a quick call to rally, Orison had Calix and his soldiers gear up. Afterwards, he explained the situation tersely to the captain.

tTurning to the troops he said, "Today, we are going to spill some Domain blood beside an enemy. That enemy is going to pay handsomely for your services as long as you make the gold ones bleed and not them. I"m off to drum up some old friends to fight with you... Captain Calix, once they are suited, get them to Elder Liu. Don"t start sh*t but don"t take more than what"s appropriate. If any soldier doesn"t see as many or more obsidian elves in the vanguard than there is Centerland soldiers, don"t march. Barring a drop into the Abyss, I"ll be back in time but I try to prepare for the worse."

tBy the time he had made it outside, Orison saw a file of ten skeleton horses with their own leather as tack. Dark lines ran down his head for a second before he shrugged.

t"Don"t look a gift horse in the skull, I guess," Orison thought as he had them rank up in front of the Summerland suite.

tStepping inside, Orison fired off a scroll with the underground relay. It took him almost a minute to find the hidden catch but once it was popped open, he stepped out casually to the dropped jaws of the three soldiers inside.

tSmiling benignly, Orison said, "Thank your lucky stars I got my foot on the neck of a Domain diplomat right now or this could have been nighttime with a different flavor of elves coming to slit your throat while you slept... Your welcome... I need to see Captain Nadir right now and it"s a full alert emergency. NOW!"

tThe three ran off as the young mage stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. It surprised Orison how much he missed the decommissioned consulate. Squabbling with Nadir didn"t seem nearly as stressful as what he was dealing with. He had to remind himself that if he hadn"t went to bat with Nadir, he would have ended up owing logistics thousands before it was all said and done. More importantly, he would have looked soft and easy to squeeze to the senators he"d be dealing with soon and that could be disastrous.

tUnwilling to take the risk, Captain Nadir came running up from the dock area but began frowning as soon as he saw Orison "taking it easy".

tTo head off inevitable posturing, Orison shouted out to the captain, "You need to see this now," and disappeared into the barracks.

tWalking and discreetly trying to catch his breath, Nadir entered the barracks to see the opened relay with the magic circle in it. "That"s definitely not good."

tOrison nodded and said, "That"s not even the half of it, he collared me too. I got better, then collared him back but still, I got a taste of magic slavery. I can say with certainty, that I wont be applying for additional experiences."

tCaptain Nadir said, "This definitely deserved my immediate attention but not a full alert. I have men pulled from essential duties because of your false alarm."

tOrison smiled benignly, "Who said it was false? The alarm is that we have two and a half hours to reach New Fvaris if we want to kill Domain soldiers for honor, glory and loot."

tHe quickly gave Nadir the breakdown and let the captain make up his mind.

t"As tempting as this is, I don"t have enough horses to gear and I could only get eight there with the horses I have that I"m willing to spare from official duty." the captain said, shaking his head with fake solemness.

tOrison said, "You"d do it otherwise?"

tNadir smiled a fake smile and said "Of course I would. That"s good gold. It"s a shame."

tOrison shouted, "You heard him, men! Your captain is calling you to kill the Glorious Empire"s direst enemy! Suit up in ten and be ready to ride in five!"

tThe men scrambled before Nadir could stop them.

tTurning to Orison, he just sighed and rubbed his head. "What tricks do you have up your sleeve to make me look foolish this time?"

t"Just follow me and I"ll show you," the young mage replied.

tTwo more scrolls burnt and some creative stacking, Orison had ten skeletal horses on the post. Captain Nadir mirrored Orison"s look from earlier with much the same end result. The young mage could see the fight and hesitation dancing in the captain"s eyes.

tSpeaking plainly, Orison said, "Captain Nadir, the extra gold may just seem like a deadly lure but listen to me on this. Once this fight is done, Centerland soldiers will have fought beside their biggest detractors on this island. If you can hold them together long enough to get a few lives saved and a little camaraderie as an icebreaker, a lot of the hostility could be laid to rest. Without a little good will to break some of the bad blood, things could turn ugly not long after I leave. You know I"m not just talking to hear my teeth rattle."

tNadir attempted one last volley to back out. "What"s to stop them from turning on us or honoring the split after it"s done. One little argument could turn the field into another battle."

tOrison didn"t want to admit it but the last part was all too true. "I know you won"t take my word for it but Elder Liu is more honest than any other Elder on that council and not by a small margin. He"ll do what he says but to sweeten the pot for you, this island battle is your merit if it turns good and my failure if it turns bad. I swear it to you. I already have foiling the Domain plot and urging the obsidian elves to burn their bridges with Summerland already anyway."

tNadir thought for a moment then said, "Throw in finding the underground relay to me. That"s just embarra.s.sing."

tOrison laughed. "I"m not stupid, Nadir. That"s pretty much key to the whole Domain plot. I can write in that after informing you of the one under the emba.s.sy you found yours without any help from me."

tNadir smirked. "Can"t blame me for trying."

t"I can. I did and I will forgive but never forget. That aside, I do miss you from time to time. Calix isn"t bad but he"s not you. I"ll never admit it to anyone else though. I really wish things hadn"t gotten this way but I guess we are who we are." Orison said, a little regretful.

tLooking a little regretful himself, before he turned to organize the soldiers, Nadir added, "My mistakes wouldn"t have been mistakes if it had been any other legate in the entire empire. I know that"s a sh*t apology but it is my truth."

tAs Orison watched the captain work his special brand of military magic, he thought, "d.a.m.n it, I believe you. Why else do you think I can let go of the stunts you pulled. It just p*sses me off that I couldn"t have the best man for the job beside mom and me because of it."

tRiding like the Abyss opened behind them, Nadir had taken every man he could that knew how to ride except for a couple out on courier duty. Doing the math in his head, Orison counted up a total of thirty-four and after they arrived, two would be leading horses back which left thirty-two. It made Orison a little nervous that if more than two couldn"t make it to rally then they"d lose half count. To lessen the odds of that happening, Orison shouted at Nadir that little piece of new, causing the captain to let out a string of curses.

tOrison thought at worse case, if he had to, him and Gan could make up the numbers but if Morrel was still AWOL when he got back, he had more important things to attend to and d.a.m.n the loss of reward. No sooner had that thought pa.s.sed through his head before the most rickety of the skeletal horses stuck a small jump a little too hard that it shouldn"t have been made to do to begin with.

tThe little show-off that was having too much fun with his ride, was spilled and when he stood up, the soldier fell back down with a scream as his leg bone poked out of the top of his left greave. Orison, who wasn"t too far away, waived everyone ahead then turned around to apply first aid and s.n.a.t.c.h up the fallen soldier. With two quick slaps of heal to the leg and tail bone, Orison tossed the soldier on to Stupid Horse like a sack of potatoes and took off again.

tThe rest of the way was playing catch up. Luckily the show-off on Orison"s horse served as a lesson to the rest not to take the undead horse"s unflagging stamina for granted. As they got closer to the deadline, a couple horses went lame slowing Orison down again. Once healed, the horses followed Orison as if it was the most natural thing to do but despite this unexpected a.s.sist, he was painfully aware that his horse was not going to catch up to the rest. Responding to it"s maker"s frustration, the the recently dubbed, Danann Key flared into brilliance as the horse model within Orison"s mind underwent a change to it"s original full potential, increasing it"s aspects all around. Once finished, the orb disappeared.

tThe lifelike and beautiful white horse didn"t much resemble Stupid Horse anymore and had a telepathic link with the caster as long as physical contact was maintained. To commemorate it, Orison decided to rename the spell to Summon Enbarr. It occurred to Orison, belatedly, that the orb had unintentionally pulled a nasty trick on him.

tBlanking him out to fix the ancient elven spell also meant that Orison would have to find a calm time to meditatively search for the orb as he didn"t feel where it went. If the orb was used or in danger of being claimed he"d know instantly but until then he would be in the dark. Unfortunately, that meant his biggest "cheat" if he found himself in the upcoming fight had been removed, significantly lowering his desire to go.

tPa.s.sing by a pile of three legged horse bones outside of the city, Orison said, "Well, Patrin, you got what you earned but it still looks like I need to have a quick word with Elder Liu. That could have gotten someone"s neck broke."

tThe soldier clinging to Orison, somewhat pale but in working order, said, "Legate, I admit to enjoying myself but I didn"t signal that horse to jump."

tThe captains pooled their men and without Orison having to say a word, Nadir took lead with Calix temporarily taking the second"s spot.

tWhile the two caught up on finer details, Orison addressed the soldiers as Elder Liu observed. "Yesterday"s enemy is today"s ally. That isn"t just politics, it"s life. Whatever may come tomorrow is tomorrow"s order of business. While you"re out there reaping gold in more ways than one, remember two things. You have to be alive to spend it and you need a clear conscious if you want to enjoy it.

t"To help you remember those two points, this battle has one additional rule set. Any incident of friendly fire or buddy f***ing of any kind will dock your reward by half but any incident of going above and beyond to save a "living" clan member will earn you fifty percent more than the base number before additions and subtractions. There is no additional reward for saving your fellow soldier as that is what you should be doing without question but notable instances of valor will be rewarded as per tradition."

tWith one last word to Nadir and Calix that the leader"s share would be split between them sixty to forty in Nadir"s favor and that he would be taking none, Orison turned to Elder Liu for a final conversation before battle. "Venerable, I did what I could on my end to provide incentive for useful cooperation. Old hatreds aside, I"d appreciate a return of that. Things like a shoddy horse that ran out of animation before it could pa.s.s through the arch of this city doesn"t inspire much trust."

tElder Liu didn"t show any reaction in either direction to that reveal. "Whatever I may feel towards Centerland, Legate, I and my clan know the rules of engagement. Chaos in the field serves neither of us. As for this horse, I"m not inclined to look into it. Rushed work is bound to have flaws. I will heap shame on the one responsible for tarnishing the repute of their craft."

tOrison nodded. "Speaking of craft, when I agreed to one clansmen per soldier in the vanguard, I meant living clansmen. No matter how you try to play on those words, a corpse puppet is a possession not a person. Their spirit is what you treat in death as in life."

tThe elder showed signs of shiftiness so Orison added, "If you won"t do it for good faith do it for morale. Even a soldier of your own clan flanked by corpses they do not control is going to feel compared in importance to them. That makes for a poor fighter."

tElder Liu said, "Using corpse puppets as vanguard is a cornerstone of our fighting style. Changing it for this one battle is going to cause more harm than a minor drop in moral."

tOrison said, "Then have the soldiers guard the controllers and share kill count two to one. Since earning a percentage increase for saving a clansmen was added in to our side, there won"t be a problem with that. Treating the soldiers I brought to help you as autonomous corpse puppets, I have a big problem with that."

tOnce the elder and Captain Nadir where in their strategy meeting to hash out the details, Orison went to find Gan after insuring that, at least on their end, soldiers were stationed to poke holes in unauthorized appearances at the beacon circles. Upon entering the Centerland suites, the young mage saw an unfamiliar face in the crowded main room.

t"Vener- uh, Legate Cantrip, I know we have never met. I"m Ruolan. I believe that Morrel is about to be in great danger," the young obsidian elf woman said, a single tear blazing a trail down her wine-stain birth marked face.