Disaster, Strangely Familiar?|Malagard, Khelek

[Kender Bard]

It wasn't often in Khelek that people went about in a mad-dash of a hurry. People had to move out of the way very quickly when a man on horseback came charging through the capitol in just such a state, heading straight for the palace. He came to a sharp stop and hopped off his poor, exhausted horse. He himself looked worn out but despite his hasty entrance, he was calm, collected, and grim as any good Ice citizen.

"I need to report an urgent matter to King Kazimir," he informed the guards once he'd caught his breath. "Amastar has been attacked."

[Darastrix]

One of the guards gave a curt nod and motioned for the man to follow. "This way," he ordered. "One of the king's personal guards will check you before you see him."

That took less time than it might have normally; Schuldig happened upon the men as they were en route to the king's study. His eyes narrowed at the guard's report and threw a thought out to Lucifer, Crawford, Nagi, and Farfarello so they would each be aware before he arrived.

"I'll take him from here," he told the palace guard, already probing the man's mind to verify his claim.

[Kender Bard]

Despite his outward calm, his mind was reeling with emotions, thoughts, and mostly memories. All were quick and fleeting as the man tried desperately not to think about any of them for too long, lest he lose his fortitude and do something unmanly and un-Icy. What was there was more than enough to prove the truth. Fear, the memory of the smell of smoke, images of men wearing strange outfits racing together like a tide of monsters with swords in hand, coming to kill indiscrim-

Ice. Snow. Unbroken plains of it. He focused hard on these, even as the dark memories bled through again and again.

[Darastrix]

Schuldig grit his teeth and set off for Lucifer's study as a brisk walk, closer to a run. He didn't bother checking to see if the Ice would follow; he was fairly certain he would. On the way, he projected the memories he'd gleaned from the man to Lucifer and Crawford, so that when he finally burst through the study door, the king and his regent were already looking at both Schuldig and the Ice with their undivided attention.

"Sit," Lucifer told the Ice, as Schuldig moved to stand beside the desk.

Nagi, also present, silently offered the man a cup of hot tea from the service sitting on a table in the room.

"What has happened in Amastar?" the king asked.

[Kender Bard]

The man accepted the tea and held it between his hands but didn't sip. It shook, faintly, despite his best efforts not to. "It was a normal day, Majesty," he answered quietly. "We had absolutely no sign that anything was going to happen. One minute, we were all going about business as normal and the next there was a hue and cry going up from one end of town and spreading. As soon as the noise was loud enough for those of us by the docks to hear, we could see them. Men, probably close to a hundred of them, coming at the town from over a hill bank where we could see them approaching. Once enough of them were over they didn't bother trying to use concealment and came in a big rush. We tried to get there to stop them. Every man and woman able to hold a sword or something as a weapon tried to defend their houses while the local guard spearheaded the defense. But we were off guard and they rolled over us, spread out. A good force hammered on the guard and the rest just started to break into houses. A lot of them had... sacks or something and they were stuffing whatever they could lay hands on in them. If they ran into a man, they killed 'em. If they ran into a woman, they killed 'em. Sometimes... the children..."

He trailed off and his shaking increased. "And then they all started runnin' back the way they came. A good lot of them died but... we were hurtin' real bad too and no more than a couple handfuls chased after 'em. I got picked as one of three runners to come report. The others are either dead or they'll be showing up later."

[Darastrix]

Lucifer was silent for a moment as he digested the news. Bandits, it sounded like. From the report, it sounded unlikely that they would strike again. They'd probably gotten all they could the first time. Even so, it would be wise to shore up Amastar's defenses.

"Schuldig," he said. "Contact Lord Utkin and inform him that we may have need of a unit of his cavalrymen in Amastar. I want General Katarina and Commander Tallak summoned as well. Once we have reinforcements in place, supplies can be sent in larger numbers, but for the moment, the bare essentials will have to do. It will do no good to send everything at once when Amastar is still vulnerable to another attack."

Schuldig nodded and slipped his fingers up his sleeve. ~Lucifer requires your presence in his personal study now,~ he sent. ~Amastar was attacked and raided.~ To Filly, he said ~Find Harmony and keep her with you. Amastar was sacked and we don't know who did it or if they were part of a larger force.~

"Did these men have any sort of uniform?" Lucifer asked the Ice. "Or a common emblem?"

[Kender Bard]

~I'll need to fetch her from school~ Filly remarked and left to go do that. ~Do you think there's a real danger to us here in the capitol...?~

The Ice shut his eyes as he tried hard to remember. He didn't bother with excuses of things happening too fast or the memories being too raw. Either he would remember or he would not and he truly didn't want to fail his home or his king by failing to recall anything so critical.

After a few moments he started nodding as he mentally flipped through one flash of memory to the next. "Yes," he finally answered. He traced with his fingertip in the air. "Three triangles. I can't remember if they were all the same size or not. And the triangles were red. Some of them wore it upon their armor or shields or other things. Others had a pin; treating the metal to give it a reddish tint or else it was a reflection of the flames." He swallowed hard. "Some had the same symbol twice, but upside down so the points faced each other."

He took a deep breath and let it out again. "I wasn't in the very thick of the fighting but I think they were all mixed Elementals. There was definitely Fires. But I thought I saw lightning and felt the Earth move a couple times."

[Darastrix]

~I don't know, but I'd rather have her here.~

Nagi closed his eyes as well as the symbol was described so that he could picture it more clearly in his mind. Three red triangles...the same symbol reflected above. Like teeth?

When he heard the word "Fires," his eyes flew open and he gasped audibly.

Lucifer was frowning faintly at the description. It wasn't Morilantan, but once a village had been raided, "at least it wasn't Morilanta" was a meaningless thought. At Nagi's quiet exclamation, he turned his head and gave his heir a questioning look. "You recognise this symbol?"

Nagi shook his head. "Not exactly, but.... The islands that were recently discovered, the Firegem Isles. One of the islands is to them like Ekaitz and Morilanta is to the rest of Naruta."

Lucifer nodded. "They are called Fireteeth, are they not?"

Nagi took a quill and a piece of blank parchment from the desk and drew out what he'd pictured. "And if you take a row of three triangles like that and make two sets, it looks like a set of teeth." He held the page up for the Ice to see. "Is this what the doubled symbol looked like?"

[Kender Bard]

The Ice let out his breath in a hiss and nodded once, hard. "Yes. That's exactly it. Not everyone there had the first three, but many did. And the ones who had both rows of 'teeth' as you put it, seemed to be doing less fighting and more... shouting. Officers, I suppose."

At this point, Katarina arrived followed shortly by Kalevi. Katarina saluted Lucifer while Kalevi bowed deeply.

[Darastrix]

Lucifer nodded once to his general and commander and held up a finger as he addressed the runner again. "If there is nothing else of import you can tell us at present, Schuldig will escort you to our main healer. She is a Mind as well, so if you recall anything in the meantime, she can pass it along to us."

Schuldig pushed himself off of the corner of the desk he'd been partially leaning against and stepped close to the door. ~I'm bringing the runner that came from Amastar to the sickroom to be looked over when you get back with the kid. Not sure if he's hurt, but he could probably use something to calm down with. The ice isn't too thick with this one.~

[Kender Bard]

~He survived a raid, I think he's entitled to something special~ Filly remarked.

"Thank you, your Majesty," the Ice whispered and drank most of his (now cold) tea before followed Schuldig.

"How much of our military resources do you want diverted?" Katarina asked.

[Darastrix]

"How much would you say we can safely divert?" Lucifer asked. "I ask the same of you, Commander Tallak. From what was described, it sounds as though it was simply a raid for goods. A second attack seems unlikely, as it would be unprofitable for the raiders, but I would prefer to err on the side of caution. If we don't risk spreading ourselves too thin, I would also like to send some men to Cruuelka and Gwellon as a preventative measure."

"It was a force of approximately one hundred," the king continued. "They were organized, of mixed elements, and with obvious leadership." He gestured to Nagi and the prince held up the page with the sketched symbol on it.

"Those who appeared to be officers wore that symbol in red, while others wore the bottom row on shields, armor, and pins. What we do not know," Lucifer said, "is whether this was the entire group, where they are camped, or how they entered Khelek."

"They most likely came from Fireteeth, one of the southern islands we've recently become aware of," Nagi added. "They must have sailed to reach Naruta itself, but if they sailed all the way to Khelek, they would have to have set anchor well to the west or south and marched inland; the attack started on the outskirts and took some time before those at the docks could hear what was happening."

"That leads one to believe that this was planned in advance," Crawford said. "They didn't just come across Amastar and take an opportunity presented. The area was scouted first."

---

~He could probably use some of that mindmelt,~ Schuldig said as he ushered the man into the sickroom.

"I'm going to pack up some stuff from here," he said aloud. "Lucifer hasn't said yet, but I'm guessing as many folks as can be teleported in are gonna be, so I'm going to grab a couple of healers when I go."

[Kender Bard]

"That depends on how much you want us to keep up our vigilance to the south in the event of a sudden Morilantan incursion," Katarina explained. "With the Anarlinan knights gone, and their belief that such an incursion is now unlikely, we can probably afford to move them. If that's the case, then we can easily afford half of our men, possibly up to three fourths. If you do go with the latter, then I think the amount of guards should not be tampered with."

Kalevi merely nodded. "The General has the numbers down well. I think you would do well to focus most of the militia in Amastar whereas we can divert some guards around to bolster the numbers in the other towns, supplemented by a minimal amount of militia. The bulk of the guard-forces to be shifted would likely come from the capitol, however."

---

Filly teleported into the room shortly before Schuldig's declaration. She'd left Harmony in a bewildered daze in her room, promising to come back and explain things more later. She silently pointed to two healers. "You two prepare field-kits. Schuldig, I don't suppose you have an idea of what most of the injuries are going to look like, do you?" She moved the shaken Ice man to a chair and forced him to sit as she whisked about the room with brisk efficiency to gather up materials for dosing him with calming agents. "Whether or not most of the damage would be done by brute, melee violence or most of it is going to be from their surroundings."

[Darastrix]

~Sending three quarters of the army to any one area would be complete overkill unless we knew a large force would be coming,~ Nagi said, surprised at the suggestion.

I don't think she was suggesting we send them all, Lucifer thought. I simply asked how many we could divert.

"I believe, for the moment, that our southern border is as safe from a Morilantan invasion as it can be at any given time," he stated. "However, given their distance from Amastar, the majority of what numbers we have keeping watch to the south may be better utilized by being sent to Cruuelka and Gwellon to supplement their guard."

"Sixty percent of the southern force," Nagi murmured, running through the numbers in his head. "Thirty percent of those to Cruuelka, thirty to Gwellon. The remaining forty to return to the capitol, and that amount plus another half from the capitol to move to Amastar?" He looked at Katarina.

---

Schuldig nodded at the Ice. "He'd know better than I would at this point."

[Kender Bard]

"That sounds very good," Katarina remarked with warm approval for the prince. She flashed Nagi a tiny smile as well, wondering if the heir had been brushing up on tactics or if it was just a natural gift. "If His Majesty agrees, the two of us will begin implementing the men immediately."

"I strongly suggest we spare at least twenty men at Amastar to try and scout out any signs of a camp or the like," Kalevi added.

---

Filly grilled the man while he was still lucid, even as she plied him with her relaxants. It sounded to her that most of the survivors would be injured by melee and some by fire. She moved around her little clinic like a whirlwind, though came to an abrupt halt when she noticed a deficiency in a burn-salve from their stocks. "Damnit," she swore. "I'm going to go to the market and try to get more. Schuldig you have my full authority to take as many healers as you want or can and all the supplies I've packed away so far."