The base was bustling with activity. It was almost noon, and people were organizing supplies, and helping to prepare more reasonable meals than the military rations. Some civilians were being trained in a bas.e.m.e.nt shooting range on the operation of firearms. They did not have many people, and the constant threat of invasion by the Draug helped to keep people motivated. Val himself was in one of the storerooms, which was being repurposed for a meeting. Most of the military personnel, including Kainoa, was meeting with Val, Asha, and Muninn as they shared information. Val"s party was trying to catch everyone up to speed with the consequences of the World Fusion event, as well as what Val had discovered in the last few weeks."Martial Law we know about, but you"re saying we"re down to three states? Nevada, Ma.s.sachusetts, and Texas?" A commanding officer from the Army, by his uniform, was clarifying what Val had told them.
"Yes, but more importantly, we have a decision to make here. The President has declared the West Coast as lost, there won"t be any more convoys rounding up survivors here. Not only that, we can"t take a direct route to Carson City either, if we decide to evacuate. The roads from here to there are occupied by Aurulian soldiers now." Val spoke slowly, making sure he was understood clearly. His words caused a small commotion in the crowd of nearly fifteen before the CO called for everyone to quiet down.
Kainoa sighed. "So we have the Draug on one side, Aurulian aggression on the other... Got any suggestions?"
"The way I see it, you either stay here or head south. If you move soon, you should be able to slip through, cutting through Oregon along the 101. The Aurulians have not ventured that far to the West at least as of a few days ago, and the Draug won"t make it that far up from the coast yet. If you continue down to San Rafael, there is a sizeable population of survivors. You can either stop there or continue on to Carson City." Val explained, adding after that he could vouch for them to the San Rafael group.
Kainoa frowned. "Wait, you"re talking like you"re not coming with."
"I"m not. I"m staying here for a bit, to scout out the Draug presence, gather some evidence, then take it to the Dwarves. With any luck, they"ll see the urgency of the situation and rally their forces. You guys still have the responsibility of getting non-combatants out of the way."
"You"re not in any shape to be going anywhere near them right now."
"Regardless—"
One of the soldiers interrupted. "If it"s evidence you need, we might be able to help. We took some photos. Disposable cameras still work, some of us didn"t sleepwalk out there. We were getting footage of the state of the city, got some of the Draug bodies on our way out. Won"t be able to print the photos, but we can develop the film, and I can give you some of the raws."
Val was slightly taken aback for a moment. "That... Might work."
"Speaking of the Draug presence, you were out when we debriefed, but we think we know where they"re based up here. We didn"t find all of our people. Apparently, some were taken to Bainbridge Island. I think it"s a safe a.s.sumption to consider the island lost since we don"t have any ferries or boats to get there right now."
"I see." Val paused, looking to be in thought. Kainoa looked at him with suspicion, maybe suspecting Val would try to swim the five or six miles at a minimum.
"Since you have your proof, and we"ve done what we can here, why not come with us? Partway at the very least."
Val turned to the elf being a fly on the wall. "Asha, do we have any reason to continue north?"
"None right now, unless Huginn returns with a summons."
"Let"s do that then, sooner we can organize some form of resistance, the better. If I can get the film segments, then I"m not all that thrilled about sitting so close to the Draug. This place is not easily fortified." Val said decisively.
"We"ll rendezvous with the survivors in San Rafael, drop off civilians, then continue to Carson City. If the roads are dangerous enough to stop recovery efforts, we won"t take civilians till it"s clear. We"ll get this intel back to command, maybe we can do something as well. We roll out in two days, 0600, gives us enough time for recuperation and logistic operations." The CO announced. Everyone filed out, quickly setting to work, taking stock, and moving trucks into the lot by the gate.
"What do you think of the situation?" Val asked Asha after they distanced themselves from the other soldiers.
"They"re good soldiers, but if what we know so far is any indication... This war will not go in our favor, considering the ongoing conflicts."
"Yeah... It"s all too convenient that we"re all busy bickering and fighting, letting the Draug gather and grow un.o.bstructed. Optimistically, if we convinced all of Kar Lodihr"s available forces to mobilize, any idea what we"re working with?"
Asha thought for a moment. "It"s a single city with some towns, it runs deep, but... Perhaps ten thousand, at best. Their army is primarily organized for defense, the last time they marched to war must have been centuries ago."
"Ten thousand is not enough. The first Draug war cost several hundred thousand of our best warriors." Muninn interjected.
Val balked. "Where the h.e.l.l are we supposed to get that number?"
"Aurulia can probably field half that number, but it will take time for them to mobilize... Provided they can be convinced." Asha spoke without optimism.
"We used to have a military force little over two million if you counted reserves... It was a point of pride for our country to have the largest fighting force. It sounds like we"ll have to figure out how this conflict can be ended if we want to stand a chance. I don"t suppose the Elves can help?"
Asha shook her head. "I sincerely doubt it, we have a small military, and we have not partic.i.p.ated in any wars for thousands of years. It took a long time for us to recover after the Crusade, like most of the Ljosalfar now, we have only heard stories of our Golden Age might. The Queen can declare war, but unless she receives the backing of each house, it won"t amount to much. Mine, for example, is only one of a few who have the capability to support such a decision."
"Well, guess we"ll see what happens with the Dwarves first. Also, uh... Thanks, yesterday, for helping me recover my mana." Asha simply nodded, departing to help the soldiers with preparations.
Val did not have much to do himself. Being mainly treated as an invalid. His muscles had yet to heal. Though he only had a day"s worth of time to recover so far, at the current pace, he guessed it would take four or five days to be in top form again. With little else to do, he returned his attention to the book Karl had prepared for him. Valor had mentioned Peorth, a strange, almost horseshoe-shaped rune.
The part that interested him most about Peorth was that it was one of the runes he had categorized as non-combat in its use. Nearly half of the twenty-five runes he had read about were like this. He had all but disregarded them as their usage was either too arcane or had too few references to draw context from.
Peorth, in particular, was a.s.sociated with Frigg, Karl"s wife. Every time she was mentioned, she just seemed more eccentric and mysterious. The rune itself, unlike many of the others that were closely tied to cla.s.sic Greek elements or natural phenomenon, was to invoke the power of the "veil." It was not evident in the context if it meant a literal veil or a specific one.
There were only a few historical references described, and only one translated into his language. Frigg had used the rune as a base for a spell to beckon her dead son Baldr to the world of the living for one night. The reference seemed to deal with some form of necromancy. Still, Karl and Huginn, both on separate occasions, made it clear that even attempting such magic without the permission of the deceased"s keeper could be fatal. The keepers of the dead did not take kindly to poaching or robbery of their charges. This example contrasted with Valor"s described use, so Val was beginning to carve Peorth around the base so he might find an answer.
Val was attempting to create a square formation around the central buildings where people slept. Without someone or something powering the ward, its effect would not last very long, nor be very powerful. However, he had picked up some ideas after seeing how the Dwarves constructed their grand fortress. The formations they used were different, instead of simple lines between encircled runes, theirs were drawn with one continuous stroke as if to enclose the runes in knots.
He set to work imitating the Dwarven style he had seen, carving into the ground at the scale he needed took effort, but his mana reserves were less the problem than his physical condition. Some soldiers watched him curiously, but no one stopped him or questioned him too much. Everyone was far too busy preparing for departure to give him too much attention. At four corners he carved Peorth, it seemed redundant to him considering he previously just used Radh to propagate the desired effects, but he simply did as the Dwarves did.
In almost an hour, Val was finished. He tested his handiwork, standing at the first corner, he placed his hand above the rune and activated his magic. The rune responded, to his surprise, the formation greedily consumed his mana, threatening to bleed him dry if he did not cut off the flow. Orange light flashed and flowed along the lines, looping back on itself as it traveled across knot-like designs. It was hardly ten seconds when the orange glow returned, and the entire formation ignited into life.
A mildly fl.u.s.tered and very alert Asha appeared not even a minute after the formation activated. She narrowed her eyes at Val. "What did you do?"
Val looked somewhere between stumped and elated. As if unsure whether to be happy about his work. "I"m not sure, to be honest. If I was not misled, I should have just shielded us from Draug magic."
"Indeed, you did. Where did you learn to use this? I have not seen it used in so long; I all but forgot about it." Muninn alighted on a nearby truck.
"Valor told me about it, or mentioned it briefly, anyway."
Asha inspected the rune. "Hmm, it"s uneven but powerful. I cannot feel the wind as I usually do beyond this formation. Also, you are aware this formation design is overkill?"
"I was mostly experimenting, to be honest..." Val gave her a blank look, to which she sighed.
"The density of the formation along its perimeter, the wider the angles, the better magic can conduct along the formation. These characteristics are what determines its strength. This applies to most line formations, runic or otherwise. Sorcerers and Wizards of higher skill design intricate, dense circles for their more potent spellwork. I"m guessing you copied this from the walls of Kar Lodihr, but those were designed to withstand cannon fire. This barrier you"ve created all but bars magic from breaching it entirely." Asha explained in a slightly annoyed tone.
Val wore a wry smile. "Whoops. Well... At least we can sleep soundly."
"...Indeed. At the very least, as long as you don"t go refueling it, this will last for the next week." Asha sighed.
Another thought occurred to Val as he stepped outside the runic perimeter. Using a small amount of power, he cast Feoh and Thorn to launch a small firebolt the size of a baseball. As if hitting an invisible wall rising straight up along the formation"s lines, the firebolt fizzled into spa.r.s.e embers, as if losing all of its magic.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Val grinned. "Yeah, that"ll do."
"Yes, thank you for blinding me a whole mile around." Asha remarked sourly. She glanced around like an alarmed rabbit, fidgeting uncomfortably as if suddenly caged.
Val waved a hand dismissively, returning to studying the runes, eager to experiment with something else. Runewords were far more interesting now that he had figured out some sense to the rules and "syntax." He took a pen and began to write in his own notes, recording his discoveries so far and adding to reference sections. Asha looked on in horror as Val quickly alternated between jotting something down, and carving a few runes in sequence, feeding only enough mana to the runes to barely invoke them. She was all but terrified he might find something else interesting to experiment with that would bring her further discomfort.
Asha forced an uncharacteristically sweet smile. "Hey, Val? How about I teach you something about those two daggers of yours instead?"