This is not what I expected the arrival of the Snowlords to look like. I expected the storms to take on titanic proportions as their very steps would shake the walls. I expected them to be followed by an army of Icebeasts at their back, all growling and snapping. (Even though Shamon was clear that it was not really possible. What can I say, my imagination is very active.)
Nothing like that is happening right now, though. Their arrival on the battlefield is about as anticlimactic as it can be. They just appeared like blips on the horizon. If I weren't straining the Ironskin to its limits, I wouldn't have found them even at the southern gate. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but this certainly scares the shit out of me.
At the moment, they are standing right at the southern gate. They have yet to attack us, but just looking at the present state of the gate, I can't let them remain there. Just as I am getting the perfect shot on them, Shamon stops me.
"Captain, the enemy has come to us in peace. You cannot attack them," the man says. I can see the flag the man is speaking of. It is a piece of cloth covered in a symbol. It is a nonsensical pattern, resembling a spell rune.
"Why would I not be taking such a perfect opportunity to strike them?" I reply, as I look up from the ballista. There is no way that they are going to be making peace deals with me. "You don't understand, they won't negotiate with the Legion. This is a trap."
"Maybe it is, Captain. The peace has been assured by the Commander, though," he speaks, his voice carrying caution with it. "If a Snowlord comes to the land of the Snowwind Empire with their tribal flag, they come in peace. No weapon of the Snowwind Empire shall strike them, unless in defense of the self. This ballista of yours is still our property. If you break this truce, the Commander will be forced to provide your head to the tattoo tribe."
"Fine, but just remember that no negotiation will be successful. I am surprised that they are already not attacking us like rabid beasts," I reply to the man as I stay my hand, very reluctantly. "There is a trap here. I am not going to go and greet them."
"That's fine. I will go in your place. You man the ballista, but don't shoot unless they are clearly intent on attacking," He replies. "Do you really want to fight them at such a vulnerable spot? It won't take them much to get into the fort from here. A bit of caution and tact would be wise now."
(After about five minutes.)
I wonder how we have ended up in the present situation. The Snowlords are standing right at the weakest point of this fort. We should be attacking them with our full force. They are not going to be easy enemies to fight.
Instead, we are doing the exact opposite of that. Even as I am staring at them, my soldiers are hurrying down there, removing everything in the path. I can see the enemy's reasoning on coming to that particular gate. Just standing there, they are making us remove all of the reinforcements on the gate. If it wasn't Shamon commanding them to do so, I would have already executed these soldiers.
Three Snowlords are standing at our gate even at this moment. The main threat of the trio is the man the size of a small hill. His entire body is covered in some kind of runic tattoos. None of them are active, but once they are, he is clearly going to be a pain to manage.
The other two are more muted in the mana that they emit. It is flickering as if they have been overdrawing on their mana. That should make fighting them a bit easier. Still, there are three Snowlords that I have to fight. I should be able to handle them, but I can still feel the sweat drip down my back at the thought.
As I am speaking this, Shamon and his soldiers have been preparing to greet the Snowlords. Normally, it should be the strongest person in the fort who should be doing this task. (Which is me) Maybe that is what they are banking on to reach me.
The only reason that I am allowing them to enter is that the fort will make for a perfect ambush if they do anything suspicious. (I would rather live even if it means offending the Commander.) I can riddle them full of holes more easily in these narrow confines if they try anything. Right now, I am hearing what is happening at the southern gate by enhancing my hearing with vital mana. It will leave me with a headache, but it will be worth it.
"Greetings, Snowlords," Shamon speaks while the soldiers behind him move the broken gate to the side. (It lost its hinge, after all.) "For what purpose have you decided to come to our humble abode?"
"Your master seems to have a certain amount of spunk, to dare to intrude on our lands," It is the man who speaks, his voice strengthened with mana so that it is audible to everybody in the fort. (Including me.) "Come on out, little spawn of the sages. Just because you are not using the arts of your people, do you think that we will not be able to smell your soul?"
I still am not making a move, though. The only reason for that is suspicion. There is no way in the hells that I got that lucky now, could I have? I used the Legion arts in front of them. There is no way that they would think of me as anything but of the Legion after that, right?
"I do not know what you mean, I am the commander of this fort and I have presented myself as is the tradition," Shamon replies, as cool as a cucumber.
"Well, "commander". We understand the mana signature of the sages and the strength of their souls. Even now, I can feel their mana sense probing us," The man speaks, his voice normal now.
"Sage, we are waiting down here. If you do not get your ass down here, I will be forced to tear down this fort of yours," he screams again.
(After about a couple of minutes.)
I have finally made my way to the gate. Normally, I am much quicker than this, but I did not use my vital mana. What, there is no way that I am expending vital mana before a possible fight with somebody that strong. Even at my full strength I won't really be able to fight the opposing enemy. (Especially without my sword.) Just surviving is going to take everything.
I am taking an absurd risk by coming down here. If all of this was a clever ruse to get me away from the ballista, then I am screwed. All of my mana reserves should be nearing the threshold value. Still, I would not prefer to activate the formation now. Activating it will spark them into action, truce or no truce. Better to leave it as a last resort.
"For a sage, I must admit that you are quite fit. Especially for one of your cultivation," the man says with a dismissive grunt, as he begins to probe at me. (Without permission) "Our discussion will have to wait. We are in Snowwind territory, and we will have to follow their traditions."
Saying so, the man begins to charge in. (by shoving me to the side.) His words make me want to pepper him with water spears. I supress it though as I turn to Shamon behind me, who only signs for me to wait. I force myself to think. I will have chances if the other party thinks of me as a sage. It would not be wrong to call these two factions as allies.
I follow suit, and soon enough, we are in a room that has been cleaned up by the soldiers in a hurry. It is a kind of massive guest room and I swear I have never visited the place even once in my time here. (I was sure I checked out every inch of the place.)
"It is in no way comfortable, but at the very least it shall do. Sage, the bastards must be offering you quite a bit. If you are willing to stay in this hellhole," the man speaks, his two fellows behind him like a couple of ghosts.
"Well...." I begin.
"No need to break protocol now. Otherwise, the bastards will begin to take it as an invitation to stab us in our back tomorrow," he replies. "Any talk of business will have to be postponed till tomorrow."
"What is your name?" I ask, supressing my irritation. It is rare for people to set me of this much.
"I have no desire to fall victim to your magic, sage. I shall not be giving you the name of any person here," he replies with an air of finality. Turning to Shamon. "I am following your Commander's rules, Snowwinder. Go and prepare my feast now."
With that, I leave the room.
(After almost a couple of hours.)
Shamon has rounded up a few of the soldiers and opened up a random room full of food stuffs. All this while, the man has been cooking this up as a feast for our enemy, and I have to admit that he is good at cooking.
I am surprised that the soldiers have not raided this pantry before. The rations that these guys have are filling, but they are not appetizing. I am in the kitchen at the moment, salivating while smelling the food that is being made here.
"Captain, we will not be getting to eat unless the guests have eaten," Shamon speaks from behind me, shocking me into attention.
"How are we suddenly feeding the Snowlords?" I ask. I did come to do exactly that. The food had just made me forget it for a moment.
"Answer my question before that, Captain," Shamon asks. "You made it sound like the Snowlords had a blood debt with you, the way in which you spoke of them. The reality is anything but that."
"They don't seem to know that I am of the Legion, Shamon," I speak. "Every word I spoke was the truth. The only thing they seem to know of my identity is me being a child of the sages. The sages have a very complicated relation with any of the tribes. Still, they don't attack them at sight."
"Whatever the case, we cannot attack them first," He replies, looking at me pointedly. "Is there any chance this can be resolved peacefully."
"No, They might not know I am of the Legion, but they will eventually. That along with my being of the blood of a sage will be enough to cause them to go truly berserk," I reply. "This is just a matter of time. Especially if we are forced to interact for an extended period."
"Right now is the day of rest. Today they shall feast and party. Any business has to be left for tomorrow," he replies. "The day of rest is a pretty important rule of our treaty so they will have to follow it."
"Isn't that kind of stupid?" is my only reply. "Wouldn't letting them into the fort increase the risk of us being attacked?"
"It might be, but this is how the nobles do it. Going against their traditions is pretty stupid," he replies. "We cannot break protocol until they do. For now, I would suggest that you return to the ballista. After all, if they do end up making a move, that is the only thing that can hold them back. I can see the gleam in your eyes. You must have something planned for them."
Saying that, Shamon essentially dismisses me to the tower. As I do so, I cannot help but think about the sages. How do I describe sages to men who have never dealt with them? I think the best way to describe them is that they are men of every faction. The bastards are capable of selling the same spells to both sides of a war. On top of that, they will do it in such a way that both sides have no option but to buy.
Their ability to do this is to a degree that even the Black Mountain will be able to learn lessons from them. They deal with every faction on the continent. Part of the reason for this is that their services are indispensable to everybody. Very few beings can beat a sage in terms of magic.
Even the Black Mountain (with its massive reservoir of magical knowledge.) struggles to compete with them sometimes. (The keyword is sometimes.) That is mainly due to their bloodline. The sages tend to have certain abilities that make magic quite easy for them. They say a sage can cast a spell even before they can speak.
As for how I am descended from a sage, that I will have to leave for some other day. It is an annoying and depresssing story to tell.
I don't know why, but the Snowlords seem to be thinking that I am a sage. (I wonder how they detected that, though.) All I can guess at this moment is that there is a communication gap between the various Snowlords. Still, if they were to know of my allegiance with the Legion, they are not going to give a shit about any truce. They will attack me, whatever Shamon says. I will have to prepare for it.
The negotiation is going to fail ultimately. Still, it is going to at least give me time to figure out how I am going to kill three Snowlords at the same time. With the proper trap, I am sure that I can take out at least two of them. (And I already have a little something that might work.)
As for the third, I have plenty of tricks up my sleeves. I can just activate the formation if things go bad.