Heirs of the Enemy (13 page)

Queen Samir’s eyebrows rose. She had expected the whole meeting to be one long berating session about her incompetence, but Jaar was acting as if the center attacks were a minor inconvenience. That made her suspicious.

“What of the reeducation center here in Despair?” she asked. “Was it also attacked?”

“It was,” answered Emperor Jaar, “but Grand General Kyrga reported that he successfully crushed the rebellion. Your own forces would do well to emulate the Grand General rather than allow a bunch of rabble to embarrass you. I had planned to point out your failures in greater detail, but there are more important items to discuss today. I can only hope that each of you has learned something from your miserable performances. Such laxity will no longer be acceptable.”

Kyrga’s own eyebrows rose upon hearing the emperor’s words. He had half expected Jaar to use this council session to gain allies to throw off the yoke that had been placed around his neck, and he was ready to take action if that occurred, but the emperor was behaving true to his old form. Kyrga was surprised.

“In the past,” the emperor continued, “you have asked about the timing of the attack on the horse countries. I have been evasive in my answers to you. I am sure that has caused some minor discomfort, but you will now understand my reasoning for such strict secrecy.”

The emperor nodded to Kyrga, and the Grand General unfurled a large wall map of Alcea. The three monarchs stared at it in confusion.

“That is the true target of our armies,” declared the emperor. “The land is called Alcea, and it is a land of untold wealth and bounty all of which will soon be ours.”

“Where is it?” asked King Harowin.

“It is across the sea to the east,” answered the emperor.

“How will we get there without ships?” frowned King Anator.

“Our methods of attack are secret,” answered Grand General Kyrga.

Emperor Jaar smiled thinly as the monarchs looked at him in protest. “I have promised the Grand General that I would not pry into his methods, and neither should any of you. He has assured me that he can accomplish the invasion, and I have put my complete faith in his abilities. In a moment we will have representatives of the other countries of the Federation in this room. Their questions will be along the same lines as yours, and their feelings of being left out of the details will be just as valid. Are the three of you willing to allow our secret methods of attack to be potentially discovered by the Alceans?”

“Surely the three of us can be trusted with such secrets,” protested King Harowin. “We are equals in the Federation after all.”

“As are the others waiting to join us,” the emperor pointed out.

“I also take offense at this secrecy,” stated Queen Samir. “If the three of us are not trusted by the emperor and the Grand General, then why should any of us trust in the two of you?”

“I have given my assurances to the Grand General,” Emperor Jaar smiled thinly. “I will have to defer that question to him.”

All heads turned to the Grand General. Kyrga frowned at the unexpected praise from the emperor while he tried to formulate an answer. K’san had told him to make public the attack on Alcea, but not the portals, yet he was to reveal the portals to the generals. Would not the generals confide in the other monarchs, especially now that the monarchs knew of Alcea and the imminent attack? He mentally wagered that the information would eventually find its way back to these three powerful monarchs, but he was also willing to bet that it would not happen until after the attack had commenced.

“I am willing to reveal the nature of the secret to the four esteemed members in this room,” Kyrga said conspiratorially, “but only upon the condition that each of you swear an oath of secrecy. If this knowledge became known to the Alcean spies, we could end up losing this war.”

The three monarchs quickly stated their vows, but Emperor Jaar merely nodded to the Grand General.

“The method of reaching Alcea will be provided by the Order of the Black Citadel,” declared Kyrga.

“Magic?” gasped King Anator. “Is that possible?”

“Very possible,” answered Kyrga. “That is why we no longer need the warships that were destroyed. In fact, the need for cargo ships is much greater now. We will need a tremendous amount of ships to haul back the bounty of the conquered lands. As the four members of the Federation who have access to the Sea of Tears, that bounty will flow into our ports.”

“Which means,” interrupted the emperor, “that our nations will reap the greatest rewards. Do not endanger those rewards with loose tongues about the magic used to transport our armies. I can not stress this need for secrecy enough. You have been entrusted with knowledge that could defeat our armies. Safeguard it wisely.”

“I understand now,” stated King Harowin. “You can depend on us.”

“How much bounty should we expect?” asked Queen Samir.

Emperor Jaar chuckled. “You have the same taste for extravagance that your predecessor had, Queen Samir.”

“And why not?” grinned the queen. “What is the sense of being a ruler if one cannot flaunt it?”

“Indeed,” replied Emperor Jaar. “Alcea is comparable in size to all of Zara.” The monarchs gasped in appreciation, but the emperor continued without giving a chance for a response. “It is ruled as a single country by a boy king. We plan to take the boy’s treasures away from him. As to the size of the bounty, from what I have heard, it is immeasurable. You shall have more jewels than you can imagine, Queen Samir.”

“I have a vivid imagination, Emperor Jaar,” retorted the Queen of Spino. “You keep those cargo ships coming into Valdo. I will tell you when to stop.”

“I am sure,” the emperor replied with a smile, but he immediately turned more serious. “In a moment Grand General Kyrga will usher in the representatives from the other nations of the Federation. We will not mention the method of attack, nor will we linger on the embarrassing episodes of the attacks on the reeducation centers. I will announce our plans to attack Alcea, and Grand General Kyrga will explain a bit about the country we are about to plunder, but I do not intend to bring the others wholly into our fold. Are there any objections to this?”

“None whatsoever,” stated Queen Samir. “Those countries were properly conquered, and they are recent additions to the Federation. They should not have the same standing as the rest of us.”

King Harowin and King Anator simply nodded in agreement.

“Bring in the others, Grand General Kyrga,” ordered the emperor.

Kyrga walked to the door of the chamber and opened it. The emperor watched as Kyrga abandoned protocol and sent a soldier to gather the other representatives. He smiled inwardly at Kyrga’s fear that he would try to enlist the aid of one of the other monarchs in his absence. Jaar would no more trust any of them than he would trust Kyrga himself.

King Bartomir of Candanar entered the chamber first. He was an obese old man, and the emperor expected him to offer as much to the meeting as his country offered to the Federation, which was practically nothing. Candanar had been admitted to the Federation merely because it resided east of the Barrier, and it was decided that a membership in the Federation would stop the small country from becoming a launch point for any attacks by the western countries. As the countries of the west now belonged to the Federation, Candanar’s significance was even less than it was before. General Fabio attended for Karamin, and General Forshire for Tyronia. With the mysterious absence of General Garibaldi, General Nazzaro was invited to stand in for Vinafor.

Emperor Jaar gave a short speech about the formation of the Federation and the high points in its history before turning to Alcea. Clint listened to the brief overview about Alcea, but nothing was presented that he did not already know. In fact, very little was revealed about the Zaran’s knowledge of Alcea. None of the representatives asked about how the attack was going to be conducted without warships, which he thought was strange until he realized that the major members of the Federation had already been in the room before he was summoned. He made a mental note to speak to each of them before the celebration ended to find out how much they really knew.

When the meeting ended, Emperor Jaar rose, and Grand General Kyrga escorted him out the rear door of the chamber. The other people filed out of the room without comment. Clint joined the end of the line and returned to mixing with the rich and famous of the Federation. Less than an hour later, a soldier made his way through the crowd speaking softly to the generals. One by one the generals left whatever group they were conversing with and left the room. His interest piqued, Clint looked around and saw General Antero nearby. He left the group he was speaking with and casually moved towards the Aertan general. He arrived just in time.

“Grand General Kyrga has requested a meeting of the generals,” the soldier whispered to General Antero. “Your attendance is required. It will be held immediately in the Grand Dining Room.”

General Antero nodded, and the soldier consulted a list in his hands as he looked at General Forshire. Fearing his name might not be on the list, Clint immediately walked away from the group, not wanting General Antero to know of his exclusion. He weaved quickly through the crowd to hinder any attempt of the soldier to follow him and inform him that his attendance was not requested. Unlike the meeting of the council, Clint knew that the generals would have questions about any attack, and he wanted to hear the answers.

Clint circled around the crowd and managed to move next to General Antero as he left the room. Together they strode towards the Grand Dining Room and merged with the flow of other generals streaming into the room. Inside the room, Clint was relieved to see that the long tables had been pushed aside and rows of chairs put in their place. Had the tables remained with a seating place for each requested general, Clint would have stood out, but the current arrangement would allow him to blend in.

General Antero moved towards the front of the room to get a good seat. Clint separated from the Aertan general and lingered by the door, keeping out of the way of the stream of men entering the room. The seats filled up quickly, and Clint followed General Whitman when he entered the room. The Aertan general frowned as he saw all of the seats near General Antero already filled. With a sigh of disappointment, General Whitman moved to one of the still open seats in the rear. Clint moved quickly to join him and they both sat down together.

“I guess we should have come earlier,” Clint said softly.

“I am sure that they invited the generals in some particular order so that only the favorites got a seat up front,” scowled General Whitman. “Do you know what this is about?”

“I have my suspicions,” smiled Clint, “but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you. It will probably be along the same lines as the council meeting was a short while ago.”

“You were in the council meeting?” General Whitman asked with surprise evident in his tone.

“Of course,” replied Clint. “In addition to being the Commanding General of A Corps, I am also the representative from Tyronia.”

“I was not aware of that,” General Whitman said. “You should probably have a seat up front.”

“I was notified at the same time as General Antero, but I dallied on the way here. I do not mind sitting in the back. It gives one a good chance to observe the others.”

Grand General Kyrga marched into the room, and the soldiers at the door promptly closed it. Clint slumped down in his chair to hide behind the Aertan general as Kyrga’s eyes moved over the room.

Grand General Kyrga marched to the front of the room, and the audience of generals immediately fell silent.

“Many of you are aware that a war is coming soon to the Federation,” the Grand General began, “but few of you know who we will be attacking.” The Grand General walked to the wall behind him and unfurled a large map of Alcea. “Our goal is to conquer the country of Alcea.”

Murmurs filled the air. Kyrga smiled thinly and waited for the murmurs to die before continuing.

“The nation of Alcea is a wealthy nation that is under protected. While it is about the same size as Zara, its armies are pathetically small. Until recently, the four provinces of Alcea were different countries. A few years ago they underwent a bloody period of conflict that resulted in a boy king gaining control over the entire landmass. Their losses during the war were severe, and we plan to take advantage of that. To facilitate planning for the war, I have aligned our armies into five major divisions.”

The Grand General picked up a long pointer and used it to identify places on the map. “This large section in the northwest is the province of Cordonia. It used to be the nation of Cordonia before the war. General Ross will command Force Cordonia, and he will be responsible for conquering that province. The main goal of the attack will be their capital city of Kantor, located right here.”

Kyrga tapped the pointer on the map indicating the location of Kantor. “General Fortella will lead Force Targa. His goal is to secure the main province of Alcea and the capital city of the entire country. Tagaret is located on their east coast right here. General Gattas will lead Force Sordoa, and he will be targeting Trekum.” The pointer tapped again and the Grand General continued. “General Franz will lead Force Lanoir in the attack on Ongchi. I will be meeting with those four generals this afternoon to go into finer detail of their assignments.”

“You said five forces,” General Antero said when it appeared that Kyrga was done talking. “What is the fifth force?”

“The fifth force is to protect our homelands,” answered Kyrga. “I will be in charge of that. I have a roster made up with the armies assigned to each force. I will pass those out, but they must not leave this room. As far as the rest of the army goes, they may know about Alcea in general, but specific objectives or force assignments are not to be discussed.”

“How are we to get our forces to Alcea?” asked one of the generals. “Our fleet of warships no longer exists.”