Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (54 page)

“
We’ll raise it with Wylan tomorrow,” Samm promised.

“
There are other ways the people can screw things up for Ale’ald,” Jolan said. “Again, I’m going on things I read about one of the wars on Earth, but since Ale’ald is having the locals act as its manufacturing source, the workers can simply do a poor job. If parts are left out, or sand substituted for powder, randomly maybe, or simply poor workmanship that tends to make something fail, the effect would be cumulative. It would often be hard to trace the fault back to a particular worker. Ale’ald might still take some harsh retribution, but at some point that also becomes counterproductive.”

“
What about Ale’ald itself?” Samm asked. “When do we start poking around inside the country?”

“
I’m even more anxious than you,” Jolan said, “but I suspect we need to wait until Ale’ald is having more difficulties and their attention is divided between multiple problems. Hopefully soon. We should start thinking about getting more people trained. I think more of the paired teams will be required. Luzoke told me the other day that a new class of mages will be available soon.”

“
That reminds me,” Kavel said. “Your friend Ronoron came to see me the other day. He wants to apply to the teams. He’s anxious to go into Kimlelm and help out. He’s got the desire, but I think he’s too weak.”

Jolan nodded. “Ronoron has been frustrated by the situation. He’s a great guy, but his powers are poor except in specialized areas. Vaen would be very unhappy if something happened to him, because he has some unique skills that are very useful from time to time. I haven’t been taking him along with me of late for those very reasons.”

“
What do you think I should do?”

“
Talk to Vaen. She’ll probably make the decision for you. If it were me, I’d thank him, but make it clear the mages on the teams have to have a level five ability minimum for good reason. Even that might become an issue. I’m concerned that I’ve encountered two of these wizard triads in recent weeks. They are very strong. The only thing that seems to work against them are the coppered weapons. We may need to start equipping the men with some kind of handgun or carbine that fires a special bullet.”

“
Ya know it’s just because we’re friends,” Morin said as he took another long pull at the cool tankard of ale. It was the tavern’s best, and on a hot day like today it was much appreciated.

“
That’s not true,” Jolan countered. He, Asari, and Morin were sitting in a private room in one of the finer establishments in downtown Carta. They’d come from a meeting with Tomas and some of the court, and Jolan had arranged this time with Morin in advance. He hadn’t had much time to visit with his old friend in a long while, but this particular discussion was driven by Jolan’s feeling that Morin would be better used if he were to relocate once again, this time to Cobalo.

Morin looked at him with doubt over the top edge of the tankard he held.

“
The war’s been going poorly, and even if things start to turn around, you’re thinking we’d be safer all the way over in Cobalo, far from where the fighting’s going on. Come on man, ya got to tell me that’s true.”

“
Of course Cobalo’s safer,” Jolan admitted, “but that’s not what this is about.”

“
I’d feel like a coward, deserting my own country when things are looking down. Besides Iart is off somewhere fighting them bastards. What’d he think?”

“
You’re going to waste here,” Jolan countered. “There’s a real need in Cobalo, and there you’d be contributing to the fight. Here you’re just drifting.”

“
I’ve got to admit, I’ve not been too busy of late. I thought there’d be a lot more to do when I first came here.”

“
That’s because of the way we’ve changed operations,” Jolan explained. “Rarely is the portal here in Carta very active. The control is all being handled from Cobalo. Ward is overburdened and has other things he needs to do. He needs someone who’s a good organizer, and you have the skills. You are also already in the know, which means we wouldn’t have to bring someone else on board.”

It was also an advantage that Morin wasn’t a mage, so there was no worry about him learning some of the controlling spells which they wanted restricted as much as possible.

“
I don’t know,” Morin said.

“
Think of Ingari,” Jolan said, trying another tack. “You’d have a nice place to stay in Cobalo, and the social opportunities and shopping would be far more convenient than living out here in the country on Tomas’ estate.”

“
What do ya think lad,” Morin asked looking at Asari. “Ya know ya let Yashy get away. Married that fool merchant from Jaya she did. Moved away more than a month ago. I always thought the two of ya would make a nice pair.” He sighed and took another pull.

Asari smiled. He really liked Morin. He’d liked Yashy too, but never in that way. From time to time he’d thought a lot about Ashreye, but he’d tried to look her up a couple months ago and discovered she’d hooked up with an older guy and left Carta. Whether she was concerned about the war and wanted to get away from the obvious target Carta offered, Asari didn’t know. Even if he’d been able to find out where she’d gone, there was obviously no point in doing so any longer. The news had left him free to look around, and he’d have to admit, he’d had a couple of pleasant times here in Carta the past few weeks.

“
It’d be great,” he said enthusiastically. “Finally we’d all be in the same place. I could use some more company. Practically everyone I know is a mage.”

“
And I’d be working for one,” Morin said shaking his head. “I used to be my own man. Led my own caravans, carried what I wanted, when I wanted. Jolan here has changed all of that for good. Even if we win the war, it’ll never be the same. Used to be a man wanted to go from Cobalo to Seret, it took a couple of weeks. Carrying a load of goods took more than a month. Now you people make it a morning excursion, and the goods come through in mass via that tunnel Jolan had built. Never be the same profit to be made there. Lots of people are going to have to rethink their way of making a living once the government stops paying premium prices for the goods they need shipped.”

“
And that train you got planned. I heard Tomas talking about that the other day. Thing is huge and the amount it can carry in a single load. If he’s right, the first ones will be making the run all the way from Angon to here in Carta by the end of the year. The world’s changing mighty fast if you ask me.”

“
Progress is hard to stop. I realize we’ve booted it in the ass a bit with all the knowledge we’ve brought from Earth, but there is no way to stop it now. Cobalo is going to be the center of all that progress once we get past this war. That’s where you’re going to want to be.”

Morin looked at Jolan. “I remember when you didn’t even know for sure where Cobalo was. Now look at you. You’ve become a big shot, rubbing shoulders with the leaders of at least two countries. You’d best watch out. Someone is going to make you into a dragon cursed politician.”

Jolan smiled. He could tell that Morin had decided to come. It would be nice to have his company again on a more frequent basis.

“
So, you’ll come?”

“
Let me talk with Ingari. See what she says. If she’s game, we’ll make the move.”

Jolan raised his tankard for a toast. He already knew what Ingari thought. He wasn’t so innocent that he hadn’t asked her before approaching Morin. She liked the idea of Cobalo. Having their own place rather than living on an estate, despite all of the luxury, had appealed to her immediately.

Exactly one week, ten full days after the attack on the airplanes in Kimlelm, the special forces teams commanded by Samm and Kavel executed a series of attacks that rocked the Ale’ald command structure. These attacks were coordinated with a major push by the military troops commanded by the head of Seret’s army, working in close coordination with Major Wylan, against the enemy forces in Seret.

Several preliminary attacks by the army had been carried out during the days leading up to the combined assault when it became clear the deadly aircraft would no longer pose a threat. These attacks were mostly probes to see how well prepared Ale’ald had become to defend the land they had taken under the protection of air power. These initial encounters showed very early that while the troops had gained their foothold because of the protection from the skies, the Ale’ald army had had time to move sufficient men and supplies into place that they were now quite capable of defending the areas in a conventional fight. Pushing them out of Seret was not going to be as easy as some had hoped.

Wylan and his counterpart in Seret used the time to reposition troops for a series of major attacks. The first move was against the Ale’ald army that had moved across the river in the middle of the country. The occupying forces in Belth presented a different, and in many ways more difficult, problem. While Ale’ald hadn’t cared about the people of the city, Wylan had to, and they couldn’t easily move against the city without endangering the citizens. Kavel had started a covert operation to encourage the population to start moving out, which would make it easier to begin a fight that would result in street by street urban warfare, with a great deal of destruction to the city.

It was still dark the morning it all started. The portal on the eastern shore of the continent near the northern edge of the city of Sisco was isolated from any structures and almost secluded in a grove of large trees. There was no one watching, but if they had been, they would have been surprised to see man after man appear at the edge of the large stone structure and slip across the open space between the trees and the first structure at the edge of the industrial area. Twenty men made the brief crossing, each carrying a heavily loaded pack filled with explosives. These were some of the first of the new explosives that Gene had declared fit for combat use, and would be used this morning to destroy the factory where the poison gas was being manufactured. Magic could have been used, but mages were in short supply at the moment. They were in great demand by the military which would need their protective abilities and destructive skills against the Ale’ald army in the attacks that would already be starting.

Kavel’s spies had watched the building for several days since they’d pinned down the location, and the schedule of the workers and guards was well understood. They would have to take down the five guards, but that would be easy enough. The guards were hundreds of miles from the combat areas, and had gotten lazy in the certainty they were well away from danger. An hour later Kavel’s men made the return journey, crossing over to the stone structure, but waiting expectantly for the heavy series of explosions that marked the destruction of the factory.

Knowing they’d accomplished their goal, the men slipped back into the portal, the leader going last and shouting out “Covert One,” as he returned to the portal room in the Council building. Morin’s control team shut down the portal they’d just used in far away Sisco. Anyone who checked on the other end would find an inert structure, sitting as it had for hundreds of years.

The team exited the control room and headed down the stairs to the tunnels below. They would re-equip and be back in less than an hour for their next missions. There were a couple of factories inside Yermo that were slated for similar treatment.

Back in the portal room, Sniper Teams Alpha Two and Bravo Two were getting ready to depart. The technician checked with the team at the Buris portal for clearance using the intercom that Gene had installed. Over at the College, the team would use the viewing function to scan the area where the Alpha and Bravo Two teams expected to exit to be sure no one was obviously watching. Seeing all was quiet, they passed the word back. Cleared to go, Alpha Two entered the portal along with a number of Kavel’s operatives they would be working with and exited immediately into the city of Davo hundreds of miles away. The portal would remain open until they returned, and then closed to conceal their means of entry.

Alpha One was already in position, having made their jump over a half hour earlier. They were in downtown Yermo, the capital of Kimlelm, where the headquarters of the occupying forces was located. The two snipers that made up the team had quietly made their way through the streets before dawn covering the six blocks from the portal to their current position. They now watched from the roof of a small warehouse across the street from the large government building that the enemy used for their command center. The range finder had mapped out the distances that needed to be considered, and now it was simply a matter of waiting for the arrival of their targets. The senior wizard in Kimlelm, a level six and a particularly nasty individual, was on the list, along with two senior military commanders. Odds were against being able to catch all three, but the wizard was the primary target. They would wait for him, and then take whomever else was available. Pictures had been taken of the targets, so the sniper team knew whom to look for.

Today was going to be the first use of a new variant of their rifle. Two of the rifles had been made, the second being assigned to the lead sniper of Bravo One and was currently in faraway Belth where that team waited for their own opportunity. The rifle had an eight-inch extension screwed onto the end, which was roughly two and a half inches in diameter. It made the rifle look awkward, but the device was actually a very effective sound suppressor, and reduced the report of the rifle down to something equivalent to a .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Nothing could be done about the supersonic crack made by the bullet itself, but with the reduced muzzle blast, locating the shooter was going to be very difficult.