One day later.
Stretching his legs and hands, Jonah checked to see whether the healing had gone well.
After disappearing the day before, the Bishop had not been seen by anyone. Even in the discussions that had taken place to factor in the new information they had gathered, she had only responded through trinket rather than appearing by herself to talk to the commanders.
This had done nothing to improve the morale of the troops. In an army camp, news always had a way to spread. No one knew how, but the details of the ma.s.sacre of the Tenebrous Knights had reached all the members of the Church who were in the second wave, and they had not taken it well.
He could tell that the slightest amount of doubt might have gnawed on them after the defeat of the first wave, but this had cemented it. Many were saying that the Bishop had wrongly estimated the continent and that they were not sufficiently prepared to deal with it, and a few were even talking about abandoning their posts and being arrested for desertion.
In the Church, such an act would not sentence anyone to death, as would be expected if it were the military organization. As it was one based on faith, the idea was that one should always be able to reconsider their decisions, and hence, they would only be jailed so that they could await sentencing when they went back to the Headquarters.
It seemed that he had once again been forgotten by the Bishop, so after her spell had started to wear off, he had taken the liberty to drag himself to one of the medical tents where he had been treated by one of the many healers sent by the church. These were individuals who had been trained in the premier inst.i.tute for healing on the Mainland, so in just a few hours, Jonah felt like a new man.
The only problem was that the "dragging" part had taken a long time, and he had also had to wait while the small number of healers had tended to the grievous injuries of the remainder of the first wave. Apparently, believing that not many of them would be required, the Church had only sent a few and after seeing the queue, it was obvious this was definitely one of the many decisions that they regretted.
For the past ten minutes, he had pondered about what he should do. One option was to go back to the room with the commanders, but without the Bishop present, he didn"t know whether he had enough protection. Unlike before, everyone now knew about his treason, so he couldn"t be certain that one of the more violent ones might not decide to take out their anger on him as the Bishop had done.
Hence, during those ten minutes, he had studied the second wave as much as he could even though once again, this information would not be reaching Daneel.
His disciple had obtained means that he had never even dreamt of, but sadly, this was a barrier that still existed between them. During all that waiting, Jonah had thought long and hard for an idea that might break it down, but alas, he had come up with nothing.
The weapons of war that were arrayed out in front of him had seemed like unsurmountable forces of destruction that he had imagined would have no problem wreaking havoc on the ranks of Angaria. Now, though, when he thought about them going up against that army of the sea…it was almost laughable, as for every beast that they killed, there would be a hundred to take its place.
If Angaria could somehow find a way to add all the strength that it must have acc.u.mulated to this army…Jonah did not really see how the Church could hope to secure its victory.
This thought did not give him any joy, though, as he had learned not to trust what was visible on the surface. There were still a lot of variables, so right now, the most important thing he could do was to uncover them.
Building up the courage, he decided that he would go to the command room no matter what dangers awaited him there. Even as he walked in the direction of the building in the middle of the large surface, he began to think up ways in which he could escape if he was truly going to enter a situation where he would be asking to be tortured.
Surprisingly, when he reached his destination, the Bishop was back. He hadn"t even thought of this as a possibility as he had been sure that she would summon him as soon as she returned from wherever she had gone to, but now, on seeing him, all she did was raise one eyebrow and then ppint to one of the seats in the room.
She had clearly recovered from that first and only public breakdown that he had seen her go through, but the coldness that usually accompanied her mood was also not present, which meant that she was extremely serious.
When Jonah took a seat, he saw that an image of Angaria was floating in the middle of the room. The second wave could also be seen on the edge of a boundary made of mist that was actually invisible in real life, and it looked like he had come right in time to see one of the simulations of the a.s.sault.
Leaning forward, he watched with avid interest as the tiny, ant-like individuals and objects that made up the second wave began to leave the secondary headquarters and travel in the direction of Angaria. It looked like their approach would be no different from that of the first wave, but just before they crossed that invisible barrier…they stopped.
That was when a different, smaller force set out from the headquarters again, and this one was made up of individuals he had not seen before. There were only five of them, and a moment later, after enhancing his vision and seeing the details of their faces, Jonah realized that they were five of the commanders who were sitting near him.
There were two different kinds of commanders. Some were those who were the veterans of thousands of battles and had hence been recruited to serve with their knowledge even if their power wasn"t something to behold, and others were chosen because of their ability to stand head and shoulders above their peers and thus inspire the desire to follow.
These five were a part of the latter. They were some of the most accomplished individuals in all the three waves, and Jonah had thought that they were being held back as trump cards that could be deployed whenever suitable.
Seeing them go now, he wondered what they were up to. They made their way to the second wave which was waiting outside the barrier, and as soon as they neared, the tiny figures took out even tinier objects from their pockets which began to blow.
The color of the glow was enough for Jonah to see that they were figurines of the Saint. It was normal for those of the Church to use these objects which were coveted throughout the Mainland for the instant boost in Energy that they gave, but here, strangely, each figure had taken out 10 figurines.
From his research, Jonah knew that each one was equivalent to at least a thousand Ker gems, which meant that a Hero would be able to train with just one figurine for months.
Yet, the main attraction of the figurine wasn"t how much power it held, but that it was capable of being used instantly instead of having to be absorbed like all the Energy resources found on Angaria.
Together, all five figures drew on the ma.s.sive amount of Energy from all ten figurines and cast a spell.
For a few moments, nothing happened, but then… the entire second wave began to float upwards.
Jonah could only continue to watch as all of the soldiers and the weapons went higher and higher until they even crossed the clouds with the protection of multiple defensive barriers that kept being broken, and as he realized the plan of the church, he wondered whether he was dreaming.
At the same time, the Bishop spoke, and although she had not completely regained the same arrogance with which she had regarded Angaria before, her tone held the confidence of someone who was determined to win, no matter what the cost may be
"If the sea is their domain, then we will rain death down from above. The strategy has been confirmed. Everyone, prepare to move out. We don"t know what else they might be capable of…so let us stop looking at them like an insignificant insect that we thought we could squash with ease. They have earned the respect of the Church… so they have earned our full and absolute focus, too. My the holiness of the Saint bless us all. Let the a.s.sault begin!"