Apostles of Doom

“Good. I will also double-check the links to our demon agents guarding the beacons on land, if you will take care of those at sea,” Ramses said.

“I will. I’ve placed some of my brighter demons on the ships. Defending a beacon on a ship is a bit trickier than one on land,” Exador said.

“Fortunately, if things do go badly for our demons, they will be able to simply fly outside the perimeter and return to the Abyss. We have lost so many mortal forces that we can’t afford to lose demonic ones as well,” Ramses said.

“You really are not going to let that incident and Lenamare’s school go, are you?” Exador asked, shaking his head.

Ramses chuckled. “Nope. Not for another few centuries, at least.” He glanced up into the night sky. “Don’t look now, but here comes Daerth Tromlane.”

“I am sure the Thirteen are anxious to begin.” Exador shrugged.

They waited quietly as Daerth Tromlane landed his massive — well, Exador wasn’t quite sure what he was riding. It was some form of dragon; it did not, however, look like a zombie dragon. The best guess he and Ramses had come up with was that it was a lich dragon; however, neither had ever heard of such a thing.

Daerth Tromlane came over to them, the red embers of his eyes smoldering through the openings in his golden helmet. Exador once again noted that all one could see within the inky blackness of the helmet were the glowing eyes; there was no sign of flesh within the helmet.

“Are we ready?” Daerth Tromlane asked in his typically dour hiss.

“Nearly,” Exador said. “All beacons are in place; we want to fine-tune the ship beacons and assure they are aligning properly. We should be able to test within two hours. If the tests go well, we should be able to bring it up shortly before dawn.”

Daerth Tromlane stood there. Exador took a small motion of his helmet to be a nod of acceptance. They were on schedule after all.

“We will join you at the command center for the activation,” Exador finally said.

“Very well. I go now to arrange for the storm clouds to block the morning atunlight,” Daerth Tromlane said before pivoting on his heel and marching back to his dragon.

Exador stood silently watching the Lord of the Sky as he left them.

“He is ever so sociable,” Ramses observed.

“If you think he has a stick up his butt, you should have met Stoivenychas, whose work we have recreated. That guy had serious issues,” Exador told his colleague. “Serious issues,” he repeated, shaking his head.

Citadel Command Center: DOA + 19, Early First Period

“The Wardens are reporting changes in air pressure indicating a storm front is moving in,” Warden Commander Fielos, Eldon’s most senior commander, reported.

Ashena Brightfeather chuckled. “Well, they wouldn’t be the Storm Lords if they didn’t bring in their black storm clouds to shield their armies from Atun’s light. We will have a little surprise for them this time.”

“You are going to break up the storm clouds?” Garion Hearthhand asked.

“Indeed. While our mortal priests have not been able to break their lock on the clouds in nearly ten thousand years, I have every confidence that with the power of Krinna at my disposal, we will not have too much trouble,” Melona Tramen replied confidently.

“One question, if I might?” Stevos asked. Dashgar nodded to the saint. “They are going to need an incredible amount of time get their forces in place. They have not bothered with any attacks, not even aerial, and we do nothing to disrupt them, either. Why is this?”

Dashgar grinned. “War with the Storm Lords and the Citadel is something like a game of chess. Rushing too fast causes errors. They will not launch aerial attacks until they have the proper ground game in place to support the attacks.”

“The moat is filled with running Holy Water,” Eileen Sealegs added. “That will prevent any casual ground game by the Storm Lords; they will need to do very coordinated tasks to cross it on the ground. Further, the running water disrupts many of their aerial forces; they will want magical support on the ground ready to be able to counter the running water on behalf of the aerial forces. From the sea? We have strong currents in place sufficient to act as running water and similarly disrupt their air game.”

“I believe I saw Jacquesparrow heading down to the docks earlier,” Inethya noted.

“Indeed. They will not come by sea while he is there,” Eileen Sealegs replied.

“Now as for us?” Dashgar said. “We are going to be observing where they set up their various support operations — specifically those Eileen just mentioned — we want those all located and well understood so that we may attack them directly while they are at their weakest and we can do the most damage. Meaning we want all of their forces here, not in the surrounding woods or on the roads. They will need most of the day to construct their war machines. We should have the lay of the land by dawn, so we strike then with Atun in the sky, and the storm clouds dispersed.