Good...morning, good morning, good morning and welcome to this Mammoth Monday's episode of (drum roll) Phoenix-fire! (Applause)
Starring today is...the lovely Loivissa! Enjoy!
A chance
Loivissa POV
It had been almost a month and a half since Aiedail had been formed. During that time, Nari had returned to his group and had managed to accomplish what he had promised, so that a network was slowly but surely being formed over the lands of Alagaësia.
Evandar, Delvaria, Dweyrn and Augms were currently out scouting for a base of operations that they could permanently settle into, as there was no way that they could have continued running their operations from the basement of Stronghammer Keep without being discovered by Alliance forces in the very near future.
While they were doing that, Vanir traversed the ranges of the Spine to seek alliances with the local urgal tribes, a task which his ambassador background would complement quite well. From what Loivissa had last heard from him, it was not going overly well.
Earl Karl was still stuck in transit somewhere between actually being given a position in Ilirea and…not being. The specific details still eluded Loivissa, but she understood that the gist of the problem seemed to be that there was not actually any important position available that was not currently in the midst of being filled by some foreigner.
Until Earl Karl came into position, they were almost as blind to Mercury's activities as the common citizens, so in order to rectify this problem, Loivissa had sought employment as a barmaid at a local Ilirean tavern that was frequented solely by the soldiers of the First Sword.
She had had to magically alter her appearance to that of a human that did not resemble her in the least. Her golden hair had been turned brown, her red eyes were now grey and all of her elven features had been removed.
It was necessary to do this to avoid the risk of being recognized by any of the soldiers, as Loivissa was sure that although no wanted posters had been put up among the public areas yet, hers was sure to be prominent among the ones that had to be there in the military quarters.
Despite all of these initial preparations, she had almost not been hired by the owner of the tavern back when she had first applied for the job four weeks ago. In the end, it had taken a quick foray into the man's mind to find the correct answers to his questions, and a small bribe from her 'benefactor', before she had been given the job.
Who could have known that the Alliance even demanded that the owner do a background check of those that wanted to work in the tavern that their soldiers were drinking in after hours? Then again, after the first week of working there, Loivissa had discovered that the reason for this was because the Alliance forces had signed a contract with the owner, which largely consisted of their soldiers being directed to only drink at his and several others' taverns in exchange for their soldiers' guaranteed security.
It was far from a dignifying job to do for her, and it was made so much worse by the tavern being located in Ilirea, just a short distance from the old Dragon Quarters, which Mercury had transformed into the holding ground for his captured dragons and dragon riders. It physically ached her to be so close and yet so far from her partner-of-heart-and-mind.
Still, she would persevere, as always, and when Mercury had finally been slain, preferably by her hand, she would reunite with her beloved Adûn and be whole once again.
"Ophelia, when are our drinks coming?", one of the many groups of soldiers called after her, using her pseudonym that she had taken during her time here.
"Coming!", Loivissa shouted back, as she waved her way through the chairs and tables with the drinks for another table, if only Karl would hurry and get that job already, then I would be out of here at a moment's notice!
If it was not because these inebriated soldiers let slip more information than would ever have been published, Loivissa would have never even considered agreeing to this. She did not remember from whom she had learned that the best information about an army was gathered when its soldiers did not know that they were being listened to, but it was still a perfectly viable advice nonetheless.
A few moments later, Loivissa had successfully managed to serve the table that had been shouting as well, though she had accidentally mixed up one of the orders, so that the patron got a single-malt ale instead of the mixed malt that he had ordered.
It was all well and good anyway, as he had laughed it off as a simple mistake and told her that if she joined them for a drink, it would be water under the bridge. Loivissa took a look around the tavern, and seeing no other patrons that needed her immediate attention, readily accepted without sounding too much like she had been waiting all day for an opportunity like this.
Though the group knew her well, she only knew the group superficially, as there were many soldiers that frequented the tavern, and many more that only came in once in a while. Still, she knew that this particular group was amongst those often assigned to work in tandem with the Varangian Guard, so they were often her best source of information on Mercury's activities.
"So lass, missed me?", one of them half-drunkenly asked.
"Always. Whenever you are not here, my heart skips a beat and I get this strange sense of something that I cannot describe", Loivissa answered and made a swooning gesture, before she rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"And Darren took a direct hit again. Will he never learn?", one of the others laughed, soon followed by the rest of the group.
It was important for her to keep up the charade, and the half flirtingly half teasing that she often used was very effective at integrating herself into the group. This group in particular was so used to it that she had practically become part of it already, despite her not knowing that much about its members.
"So boys, what has you all drinking this early in the afternoon? Should you not be at work?", Loivissa asked, pressing her luck, before quickly adding with a wink, "not that I mind having you all here. More tips for me that way".
The group looked warily at each other, before one of them hesitantly said, "we are not really supposed to tell anyone about it".
Oooh, that means that it is something good!, Loivissa cheered on the inside, but kept her appearance in check, as she hastily recognized that they would not spill the beans on this one, not yet anyway. To try and waylay their wariness at her question, she instead said, "such a shame, but I guess that it cannot be helped then".
They all seemed to visibly relax at her dropping the subject so easily, and Loivissa knew that she would have to make sure that they remained in the tavern for the rest of the night and got a whole lot drunker, so that she could find out whatever it was that they were not supposed to say.
"So, tell me Edmure, what have my dazzling little soldiers been up to since the last time you all visited? It seems like an age since then", Loivissa addressed the member of the group that seemed to have taken the most liking to her, and one of the only ones, whose names she remembered. It did not seem like the usual lust that many of her other patrons displayed, which she had always politely, or not so politely at times, declined, but she was not sure what else there was at play.
"Nothing much, just guard duty, lots and lots of guard duty", Edmure replied monotonously, as he drained a bit of his ale, "I cannot believe that we have been made to fit in for the city guard. I mean, we are members of the First Sword, so how can it be that we have to do such menial chores?"
"Hear hear", came the chorus from the rest of the group.
It is because you aided your boss in killing half of this city's guards, was what Loivissa would have liked to have said, but she wisely kept her tongue. It was best not to draw attention to herself whenever subjects like this one came up, as they might suddenly realize that they were sitting with a citizen of the lands that they had just conquered.
"I mean, I know that a lot of people died during the battle, but did this country send every single one of its capable citizens to that battle?", Edmure continued unobstructed.
"Well, you can quit anytime that you want if it becomes too menial for you to do", a dökkálfar said jokingly.
"No thank you, I like my head right where it is", Edmure spat, "though you guys still have the opportunity to terminate your contracts without such penalties".
"Narh, you would just miss us if we did", the dökkálfar laughed and clapped Edmure roughly in the back.
From what she had learned from interacting with the soldiers of the Alliance on a daily basis, Loivissa had discovered that, with the exception of some murderers and so on, all of the soldiers in the Alliance's forces had actually VOLUNTEERED to be a part of this killing machine.
Supposedly, the Alliance had not had to conscript a single soldier in almost two centuries, despite it being at war more years than not during that period. How it worked was beyond Loivissa's comprehension, as the Empire, the dwarven kingdom and the elven kingdom had all drafted soldiers amongst its populace whenever a big war had been on the horizon.
According to what she had been able to wheedle out of her brother, then contrary to popular belief, the situation had mostly been the same back when they were assembling their grand army, as the number of volunteers had not even come close to the manpower that they had deemed was necessary.
The fact that only a fraction of their STANDING army and navy had been used during the invasion of the entire Alagaësian continent further convinced Loivissa that there was no way that they could ever achieve military victory over an opponent as large as this one, as even if they had completely wiped out all forces in all of Alagaësia, then there would supposedly still be another 150.000 left of their regular army troops, and that was before considering that the Alliance could still draft more soldiers, but simply chose not to.
No, a military victory was unlikely at this point, which was why their plan of simply cutting off the head of the snake instead simply had to work.
"What is with the frown?", one of the group asked concerned, and only then did Loivissa realize that she had let her thoughts influence her facial expression. It was a grave mistake that could cost her dearly one day.
"Sorry, just wondered if your boss, the…lord commander was it?...has ever lost a war?", Loivissa tried to steer the conversation safely away from other topics, as she had found that a favoured pastime amongst all soldiers was to compare stories about their different superiors, and since Mercury was superior to them all, there were quite a few about him.
Gathering intelligence about his earlier exploits was also important, as it might give them a clue as to what he would do in the future.
"…I actually do not know the answer to that one", the one that had asked her answered, "hey, guys, anyone know of a war that the lord commander actually lost?"
"Perhaps the Third Emerald Water War?", another one butted in, before another overruled him, "no, remember that that one ended with the treaty of Oglican, not as an actual loss".
"Oh, yeah, now that you mention it", the first guy said.
Before Loivissa could get an answer to her question, she was called away to carry out the stack of orders that had piled up while she was with the group, but as she went about getting everyone what they had ordered and so on, she noticed that the group was in a heated debate.
Eventually, when she got some free time again, she returned to the group with a fresh batch of drinks, which had been spiked a bit to get them drunk sooner, as Loivissa had quickly learned that no soldier would ever complain that his drink tasted stronger than it should for fear of ridicule.
"We discussed it while you were away, and the closest thing that any of us could remember to the lord commander ever losing a war was what is now called the Tropic-North War", Edmure told her as she sat down, "it took place quite a while ago, at least two and a half centuries at least, and after losing most of his given navy in a battle at sea, the lord commander had no choice but to make a run for it".
"What happened next?", Loivissa asked, already suspecting that something had to have happened since it was not counted as an actual lost war.
"Well, the thing that you have to understand is that his enemy at the time was a major naval power that had never even heard of snow before, let alone felt its bite, so they decided to pursue what remained of his navy", another continued the story, "according to the story, the lord commander recognized this opportunity and although he had multiple opportunities to lose them during his escape, he made sure that it looked like his remaining fleet was just within reach of the enemy at all times.
The enemy naively followed him, even after he made landfall on the coast of The Northern Wastes, which for your information, is just as cold and harsh, if not more so, as the Coldharbour province north of Bedegraine".
"I can testify to that", Edmure butted in slightly more inebriated than before, and shoved his left hand, which only had four fingers left, up near Loivissa's face, "lost the fifth one during my first training exercise up there. It literally has a blizzard four months a year and it snows the remaining ones".
"Anyway", the original narrator continued as they made Edmure remove his hand, "the enemy navy chose to make landfall on the coast and follow the lord commander and his few remaining men deep into the heartland of The Northern Wastes during the middle of winter.
They were probably beyond pissed at not catching him at that point, which is really the only reason that I can think of for anyone to do that. Not even the lord commander himself makes anyone do exercises during the winter months up there.
As you might not know, the lord commander is actually also the archduke of that province, and for reasons unknown, he chose to literally build his home, or castle actually, atop a mountain in the middle of the most inhospitable place on the planet, so that was naturally where he decided to escape to when the enemy army kept following him.
Since this castle of his is built atop a mountain, there is only a small narrow road leading up to it, and even with just the usual guards there, the place would be able to repel almost any attack, which was just what happened when the enemy army finally reached the place.
According to the story, the enemy were repelled the first day, ran out of fuel to feed their fires the next day, and they all froze to death on the third day after beginning their siege. The entire crew of the world's then most powerful navy, more than 20.000 strong at the least, simply froze to death because none of the superiors understood what it meant to wage war during winter".
"They say that during the warmest of summers, the snow retreats just enough to allow you to see the thousand banners of the army, and that once upon a time, you could even see the frozen corpses, all huddled together as they tried to keep the cold out", a dökkálfar soldier added.
"Yeah, though I have never seen it myself", the narrator agreed, "but after that war, it became mandatory for all commanders and supreme commanders to participate in a wargame during the 'summer' months of The Northern Wastes at least once every decade, so as to remind them of the effects of waging war in winter".
"Fascinating", Loivissa commented in her best voice that indicated that though she had no idea of what that meant, she still wanted to make it sound as such. It was far better than revealing just how fascinated she was of the story and how much she really understood its ramifications.
"Are you goofing off here again? Get back to work, or do you think that I am paying you just to chat?", Loivissa's boss seemingly appeared behind her back without anyone's notice and scolded her.
"No, it was our fault for keeping her here", Edmure tried to excuse her, but Loivissa sent him a kind smile and apologetically said, "sorry boys, but these drinks do not serve themselves", before she left with great irritation, but without showing it.
She kept working diligently for the next two hours, while constantly making sure that none of the group's members were ever without a drink, and that the drinks were always a bit stronger than they should have been, before the first of the group managed to find an excuse to leave.
After that, they kept trailing out one by one, despite her best efforts to make them stay, until only Edmure and his dökkálfar friend remained. Loivissa's shift ended just as they too decided that it was time to leave, but with a few flowery words, combined with the promise of another round of drinks to share with her, she made them stay a bit longer.
Edmure was highly inebriated at that point, and though his friend was not exactly sober either, he was still lucid enough to keep suggesting that they get back to bed. There really was nothing that Loivissa could do to stop both of them from leaving, at least nothing that would not cause a major scene, and so she opted to instead focus her efforts on simply making Edmure stay.
It took a few promises on her part to convince Edmure's friend that he was safe in her care, and more than a bit of insinuation on her part, before she was eventually left alone with Edmure. After that, she spent the majority of the night trying to steer him back on the topic that she wanted, while also stalling the advances that he kept making towards her, but without actually putting them down.
"Did you know, hic, that my boss once had an actual PRINCE come up to his office and DEMAND that he be given back his old kingdom?", Edmure said in a slurry, "according to the story, the horse colander, no wait, the lord commander, yes that was it, told the prince that he was welcome to rule over the province, but first he had to do 10 tasks for him.
The prince accepted, and the lord commander told him that his first task was to move an entire hill by only using a pair of chopsticks. Funny thing, chopsticks, I have no idea how people in that area can eat with them. Anyway, according to the story, the prince is still going at it to this very day, or his ghost is anyway, I think.
…Or was it that the lord commander told him that he could have his kingdom back as long as he kept wearing its crown? I do not remember, but that one is a funny story too, because the lord commander had had spikes imbedded on the inside of the crown, so that no one could wear it without being in terrible pain.
It is said that after just a few minutes, the prince begged and pleaded with my bossman to remove the crown…or was it that the prince had to catch a whale with only a fishing rod and a carrot?"
"He sounds like a fascinating man", Loivissa lied through her teeth, "I would love to know what he does nowadays?"
"Huh, but he is visiting the archduke of Lav Fjäll of course", Edmure drunkenly replied, while only barely keeping himself awake at this point, "saw him and twelve of his guards leave myself a week back, but wait, I am not supposed to tell anyone about that".
"Do not worry, I will not tell anyone", Loivissa assured him, "so, if he is gone, who runs the city then?"
"His aide de camp of course", Edmure drunkenly replied, "the little vixen is capable of running any province that she wants to, but it is only until her lord returns to Ilirea in two weeks. Did you know that she always keeps a leather armour underneath all of her clothes, even the dresses? Rumour has it that she never takes it off, even in bed."
"No, but I find it fascinating to know", Loivissa encouraged him to continue, as he was a goldmine of information right now.
Unfortunately, he fell asleep not long after that, and without adding much more relevant information, but what he had revealed was of utmost importance to Loivissa, because what it represented was exactly the chance to ambush Mercury that they had all been waiting for.
Now, all she had to do was alert her fellow conspirators of this, her one chance at redemption.