Halls of Ivory

Chapter 15 - End of an Era

The Charr have always had a philosophy very different from that of humans, Norn or other Central Tyrian races. Their perspective was very Darwinian with a heavy emphasis on 'Might makes Right'. Their way was one of constant improvement through hardship and conflict. Those whose skills relevant to warfare were beyond their peers would emerge victorious in the many constant wars and skirmishes between them and live to create the next generation. As such, they didn't believe in parental upbringing, let alone generational wealth. Every generation of a bloodline was to prove their merit in their own right. Which was why their tradition was to remove each cub from their parents and raise them separately in a joint schooling and training program known as the 'Fahrar'.

And once that was finished, they were expected to venture forth and carve out a life of their own, independent from their parents. There weren't even any family names that they could inherit. Instead, whether as pledged legionnaires or as gladia, they would join or form small taskforces dedicated either to working for one of the legions or running a business together, which were known as a 'warband'. The Charr would then assemble their second name by combining the name of their first warband with another term associated with them individually.

Their plan was a success. The treaty was nullified. The Charr's claim to the lands of Kryta was undone. Fully aware of how irate Anise had become ever since the decision, both Aldryn's and Zalambur's entourages made it a point to evacuate the inner city as quickly as they could. Zalambur had the ministry put their decision in writing five times to give him and Aldryn copies of it and then agreed to have his men escort couriers with missives on the ministry's decision to the camps of all three high legions of the Charr. But that was where their due diligence mostly ended.

In fact when they returned to the Ossan Quarter together, Zalambur brought all the witnesses with him. The Commander pointed that out: "What of the witnesses? Don't you plan to return them to their homes?"

"Where the Shining Blade can come after them for what happened today? Have you seen the countess' face? None of us are safe in Divinity's Reach for now. And these people are innocents who risked their lives doing their duty for the kingdom. I'm not abandoning them just like that. They have a target on their backs and most of them lost their employment after the Charr came. But between me and what this city has become, there is no love lost. I'm leaving and I'm taking all my businesses and fortunes with me. Where I'm going, I'll have plenty of paid work for them." He turned to his staff that was already rushing about loading dolyaks with goods and bringing along more of them. "Get a move on, people. Amnoon, here we come!"

The Krytans decided it was best to follow the Elonian's advice and leave the city. Aldryn rounded up almost all his local operatives, got together all the dolyaks they had available and even purchased some extra to carry everything and then with everyone armed, they set out to return to Scarycave. In case there was any trouble, they had one empty cart covered in very long furs right behind the men in the front.

By the time they left, night had long fallen, so the exact thing they worried would happen, did happen. Two Shining Blade soldiers - the exact same ones from when they arrived, marched towards their caravan. "Halt! What is your business at this hour?"

This time, without putting on an air of innocence, the minister plainly stated: "Our business is concluded, we are leaving the city. We will not cause any trouble."

The female soldier lectured him with a raised finger. "You can't feign ignorance now, mister! You will answer for breaking the curfew."

The minister answered with a calm and unsettlingly cold tone in his voice: "We are leaving the city. Will this be a problem or not?"

"You think you can be this irresponsible and just get away with it? This toxic male attitude has to end! We need to set an example!" It was no use. Now that they knew Anise was angry at 'Ordhral', he couldn't leverage his standing to intimidate her any more. He swung his shield, sending out a wave that froze both soldiers in motion. During this time, he raised his sword and sliced her throat while several of his disguised soldiers did the same with her male comrade. Without further ado, they raised the furs on the cart in the front row, tossed the bodies onto the cart and covered them with the furs. To anyone coming along henceforth, it would seem as though the soldiers had simply vanished.

With the patrols out of the way, they made their way out swiftly and quietly. Within the shadow of Zalambur's caravan. Once past Shaemoor Garrison and in the open fields of Kryta, the minister sent out couriers with copies of the same missives Zalambur had, to deliver them to the legions, just in case something happened to the Elonian's couriers.

This time, they marched straight home. No detours, no hidden pathways, their infiltration mission was at an end, so there was nothing to hide any more. The next time they would pass the mountains to Queensdale, they would do so not as covert operatives, but open insurgents.

Back in Maguuma, they kept abreast of what was going on in Queensdale through scouts operating independently from them. Apparently it took a while for the legions to start packing up, as they first sent legionnaires of their own to Divinity's Reach to confirm that the treaty had indeed been nullified. But eventually, they left and if one returning spy who caught an open waypoint line could be believed, the Shining Blade was in complete panic over the new situation.

With the Seraph driven from the city months ago and the Charr making their way home for lack of a reason to stay in Kryta, the Shining Blade was all on their own. A defenseless city with no standing army, no genuine allies to speak of and whose only occupying force lacked the manpower to mount a serious defense. Or as the minister - now back with his usual face and in his usual extravagant attire - put it on their debriefing: "It was a full success! Divinity's Reach is ours for the taking! I'm having operatives in the field prepare for the offensive as we speak."

"In the field?"

"If we're to take the city, we need to get past its walls, and the walls of Shaemoor Garrison. Anise had the garrison vacated on the day of the Shaemoor massacre, but that's only because she knew that Charr were coming through - and she fully approves of Charr. But unlike the Charr, we don't have her approval, so you can bet that she will use it as a line of defense against us."

"So how are we going to get through there?"

"By taking down the walls of course. We have repurposed several of our hideouts in Queensdale to build catapults and when we pass by them on our way to the city, we will bring them along to get through Shaemoor."

"What if we lose the catapults or can't get through?"

"You, Captain, are one of our backup-plans. If all else fails, we will enter the city through the underground tunnel system and stage another attack on the palace, except this time with our full force. Take the city from within. But I have a feeling that as long as the Commander of the Pact is at the Frontline, we will win the battles we face."

So this was it. From here they just waited, until that day came. The day before they would announce their plans to the Seraph. Once the announcement was made, they would waste no time marching upon the gates of Divinity's Reach. Even now, people in the underground streets were surprisingly calm. The impression of good tidings had bled over from the Separatists to the Seraph and the citizens.

The Commander left the city in search of a place where he had some peace and quiet. He navigated up the path along the cliff, but when it got to the tunnel east, he took a different turn and climbed up onto the plateau further up the mountain. There he found Logan, staring off into the distance, upon the jungle below and joined him.

"It's hard to imagine we've come this far. When you came back from those caves and told me about Aldryn and the Separatists for the first time, I thought of all this only as leverage. To put us in a better position so we can make Anise see reason. Overthrowing her was only supposed to be a threat. Not something we actually follow through with. But now, it feels like it's the exact thing we should do." He turned to the Commander. "How do you fare with this?"

"I wish it wasn't the case. But the moment her poison arrived, there was no way this wouldn't end badly. Either for us or for her. I feel the exact same way Zalambur described: Between me and what the city has become, there is no love lost. Jennah's been gone for half a year and the treaty was her only legacy worth mentioning. And now the treaty is gone too. The Kryta we know is dead and gone."

He paused, caught by surprise by a cold breeze. "I think the same thing Anise said about the people of Kryta, applies to herself instead. Jennah's Kryta ended with her. If we are to build a future, we have to let go of it. Anise is part of Jennah's Kryta, and ever since the day of the searing, she's been holding us back from rebuilding. I believe that Kryta has a future, but I'm not sure if Anise has a place in it."

A dreadful silence settled between them for a while, it took Logan to break it. "If the Separatists get a hold of Anise, what do you think they will do to her?"

"I hope we get to her first. So we can make her stand trial and answer for her crimes."

"Here's to hoping for a better future."

"I'll say…" a grumbly voice added from behind them. When they both turned around, they found Rytlock ascending the plateau as well. "A better future where things actually make sense again."

Rytlocks' refreshing pragmatism always made Logan laugh. "Are you joining us tomorrow, too?"

"Did you think I wasn't?"

It was still hard to fathom. The end of Jennah's legacy didn't just mark the end of her age. Hers was a dynasty dating back to when Salma took the throne centuries ago. And her lineage dated back even further, all the way to King Doric himself.

All of this was to just come to an end and they were to start something completely new.

Even on the very first day of Kryta's new age, the first signs of its nature were showing. Gone were the days of blind obedience, when Krytans could trust the line of Doric and its protectors to guide the people. But gone too were the days when humans who valued the wealth and well-being of humans as a race, would stand alone. Word of Scarycave's location was quick to spread among Anise's allies in Lion's Arch as their assault and the poison tank proved. But it soon reached the rest of the port city's people and through them, it spread throughout Central Tyria.

They were visited by small groups of Norn, Sylvari, Asura and even Charr, adventurers and self-professed heroes in the making from all races came to see their makeshift city and help the inhabitants however they could. They were offered daily tasks, to clear out areas of hostiles or deliver them supplies and those that did enough, were rewarded with weapons of distinct design, hand-crafted by the Separatists' best blacksmiths to add to the adventurers' growing collections. They were drawn to Scarycave by curiosity but many would stay nearby, either out of sympathy for the humans' plight or just for the sake of amassing a Separatist weapon of every type.

One day, when the Commander was about to venture out of the caves to join them, he was stopped by Grell. "Commander!" The thief waving at him to join him on the side of the road.

The Commander was impatient with Grell. "What is it?" He hadn't forgiven him for Shaemoor, he wasn't sure if he ever could. No human outright claimed that the Shaemoor Massacre was a good thing, but to all the old guard Separatists, it had been a blessing in diguise. From what he had heard from the adventurers, there were stray human villagers and townsfolk driven from their homes hidden all over the region, and the single thing that pushed them to commit to joining the Separatists, the final straw that broke the Dolyak's back was hearing or in some cases, seeing what would happen to them under Anise's rule.

That was why whenever he tried pressling Lord Aldryn over Grell's involvement in the massacre, the minister simply dismissed it either saying to leave past grudges behind, or by reminding him that all the similar fates that other villages had were not Grell's doing and would have happened with or without for the time being, the Commander just had to live with the fact that this mass murderer was free to walk among them and it did help in easing Separatists and citizens still shaken up by the overall situation, into accepting visits to their city from other people willing to supply them or reinforce their ranks for battles to come.

Grell answered: "Aldryn said it's time I brought in my friends. You know for - uh - reasons you can imagine." Such as the upcoming assault on Divinity's Reach that visitors weren't supposed to know about until shortly before their departure. Early enough for volunteers to join but too late for the Shining Blade to mount a meaningful defense. So the Commander joined him and followed him around the corner, into an alleyway a little outside of prying eyes. Four other charr were waiting for him there. "So here's my warband. Blade Warband." Of course. Charr were raised away from their parents and got their second names from the first warband they joined. This was where the 'blade' in 'Grell Nightblade' came from.

Once the Commander was on their side of the road, out of the way from anyone carrying goods in or out, the thief stepped back so the Commander could see the other Charr better. They were a Charr warband not unlike other warbands the Commander had seen, wearing armors and carrying tools and weapons that looked like a mix from all three of the high legions home to the Black Citadel. All five of them - including Grell - had Iron Legion sniper rifles hanging off their backs.

A Charr taller than the others with a more rough-looking face and with downward-curved horns, decked out in blood-red blood legion armor lowered his head. "My name is Haryn Fourblade. Former Blood Legion Centurion and leader of Blade Warband." His name wasn't inaccurate. Four spiked swords hung off of crude open hilts on his belt. "We have reason to believe that if you face the Shining Blade, it will involve conventional infantry warfare. Your rickety wooden constructions may be able to hit walls, but they lack precision. Your bows still require standing close enough to be prone to enemy arrows and the same goes for your firearms. My warband can offer something better. Iron Legion standard issue sniper rifles. High precision, long distance. We can shoot an enemy in the head from a safe distance, where one of your archers would struggle to hit them at all."

"Wasn't the purpose of nullifying the treaty to get the Charr OUT of Kryta?"

"Not quite..." Grell corrected him. "The purpose was to get the legions out of Kryta. And they've all closed shop and left for home, haven't they? We're here to help you deal with the Countess, so the humans can have their sovereignty back. That'll be one problem out of their way."

"Why would you help us?"

Haryn answered his question: "Lion's Arch never sleeps. If you think your race is the only one with problems, there's a whole other world of trouble waiting for you. With the legions back in Ascalon, Tribune Brimstone's chances at finding out what's going on with Imperator Smodur will improve by a lot. And if we can stabilize Kryta in a way that leaves it out of the hands of Lion's Arch, that means we won't have to worry about a human army backing up whatever the bureaucrats throw at us, should we boot the cabbages out of the citadel."

That only confused the Commander even more. "Cabbages? What cabbages?" 'Cabbage' didn't refer to a vegetable, it was a racial slur directed at Sylvari, commonly used by Charr. "What's going on in the citadel?"

All the Charr around him sighed in a way that sounded annoyed. "A bunch of troublemakers from Lion's Arch throwing their weight around in the name of their new Commodore. It doesn't matter. What matters for now is that you get your country back. And we're getting there. It won't be long until Aldryn will call to arms. And when he does, we'll be ready to follow you and shoot down any infantry that comes your way."