As expected, it took another ten minutes before the ladies were ready to face the world again, freshly washed, and with their hair loosely braided so it wouldn’t go wild as it dried. Their travel packs weren’t exactly loaded with the finest of hair products, so frizz was just a fact of life for adventuring Elites, but after the effort to get rid of the ash, it was worse than usual.
“Alright, that is everyone. Lead the way, Lieutenant.” Bob announced once the group was back together.
Karl decided to let Bob take the lead on this one, as he had all the experience on his side when dealing with military leaders. He was out here all the time, preferring to be on a mission to being anywhere else, so he was constantly in contact with the military leadership, and knew more about just where his role as an Elite fit into the social framework. Karl hadn’t had enough experience with that yet. Though he was certainly one of the more powerful Elites now, and everyone granted him the respect that a Commander deserved when he had the badge on his chest, there was a lot to be said about knowing how hard you could push before someone would push back.
But the one thing that they had all missed was the word “Generals” not “General”. When they entered the Command building, which used to be the council building of the small town that had been commandeered as the military camp when they lines were pulled back from the volcano, they found four men in highly decorated uniforms waiting for them.
By the change in Bob’s expression, Karl knew that this could mean trouble. So, he gave the officers a closer look, to see if he could guess which would be the issue. Not all Generals were Elites, most of them were too old for that, and commanded based on experience. But these four were all Elites, and surprisingly, one was a Royal Rank Elite as well.
That must be the cause for Bob’s change in expression.
In a room full of Commanders, military Rank didn’t matter much to the Mercenaries like Bob. But even for regular civilian Elites, the Royal Rank General still had authority over them due to his power level.
Not the sort of power that a General had over his troops, but enough that he could easily change their deployment orders and nobody would question it.
Bob stopped in the middle of the room, with Karl and Doug on either side of him. “Generals, it’s a pleasure to see you all again, though I must say I’m surprised to see you all in the same spot.” He began.
The Generals chuckled at his comment as they looked between the trio of Commanders.
The Royal Rank General replied with a straight face and a gravelly voice. “Yes, seeing three Commanders in the same spot is somewhat unusual, isn’t it? But let’s skip the pleasantries. What happened to the Frost Giants? The reinforcements have stopped, Our scouts tell us that the city looks like it’s been destroyed, and you were the only forward team in the entire region.”
Bob shrugged. “I wish we could take credit for all of that, but we’re only partially responsible. We were killing the reinforcements as quickly as we could, but they were using a Shaman Magic type cloning spell to create more every day. It was the servants of the Magma Dragon that attacked the city and presumably either destroyed the spell, or some of its components, and forced the Frost Giants to abandon the city.
The Magma Dragon’s influence is spreading inland, and soon that whole region will be thawed.
There is a volcanic hot springs under a kilometre from the city, and from what we can tell, it is increasing in intensity. That alone will keep the Frost Giants from returning to the region unless their magic can overcome whatever the Dragon has done.”
The Generals nodded as their assistants took notes.
“Similar events have taken place all along the border. For whatever reason, it appears that most of the Summoning Spells were placed on top of trapped Dragon Elders, and now that they are free, the Frost Giants are in real trouble.
What we need to know is how much trouble they are in. The Hill and Mountain Giants are giving us enough trouble along the other sections of the border that we can’t spare manpower to sit around here if we are not being attacked.” The General insisted.
“Has the new snow began to retreat?” Bob asked.
The Generals nodded. “In fact, not only has it begun to retreat, the natural weather is nearly back to the old border, except for the region around the volcano, where the snow has retreated even further.
That volcano was well within the Frost Giants’ border before the war, and now everything up to thirty kilometres inward of it has melted.”
“Then what is left of the actual battle lines? There was nothing here, we would have passed it on our way if there was.” Bob asked directly.
“This portion of the line is only still in place to secure against invasion by the Magma Dragon. The next pass is also now completely unguarded by the Frost Giants, as our soldiers finished a push just this morning and eliminated all resistance. The next two passes are still fighting, but north of that everything has been abandoned by the Frost Giants, and nobody knows if they are ending the battle or withdrawing for a larger offensive.”
Bob nodded in understanding. “Well, we can’t tell you much about that. But we can tell you that this section of the line is unlikely to see Frost Giants in the near future. They already lost a major city to the Magma Elementals. It doesn’t appear as if the Dragon’s allies are hostile in this direction, though. We saw no evidence of attempts to expand in our direction, only toward the city, where the core of the Frost Giants’ force was located. Once the battle was won, the forces of the Magma Dragon retreated and did not attempt to occupy the city. There were no combatants left when we entered, only a token force of Frost Giant guards outside the city, left when the rest of the occupants fled.”
The Generals brought out a rolled map, which an assistant set up on a folding table, along with a number of blue stones. “These are the known population centres of the Frost Giants. The red stones are the number of Frost Giants that have been reported killed during this conflict.” The General explained.
The red stones were still being set up, but already they vastly outnumbered the blue stones, and there was a concentration of them right where Karl and the others had been fighting.
Karl might not have liked math class much, but it was fairly obvious that the known population of Frost Giants was about a third as many as the number of Frost Giants that had been killed on their battle lines since the conflict started.
“They have summoned three times their population to send to war?” Doug asked, startled by the scale of the devastation.
“Not all of them are summoned, but close to that, yes. That is why it is so imperative that we find out what happened to the summoning ritual materials. Not hearsay or guesses, we need solid proof of how they are doing it, and of any locations that have been forcibly stopped.
The problem is, many of the suspected locations have been the site of natural disasters in the last few weeks, and now we don’t have the troops to search them all.” The General agreed.
Doug gave a rueful laugh as he took a long drag on his smoke. “I suspect that there is a ‘however’ coming up in your next sentence.”
The General’s face turned up in a slight grin as he watched the unconcerned High Priest becoming a very high Priest in the middle of their meeting.
“You would be absolutely correct. We have an official mission for all of you. We have a location for you to scout. This location previously generated large troop movements, then suddenly stopped without any visible signs of attack.
The spot is well within enemy borders, and the complex is suspected to be currently occupied by a Royal Rank Frost Giant and his retinue.” The General replied.
“So, it’s a trap, we know it’s a trap, and you want us to go spring it anyhow, for the chance that we can kill a Royal Rank Frost Giant?” Doug asked with a vague wave of his hand.
“There will be appropriate compensation.” The General agreed, his raspy voice making the promise sound more like a threat, or a promise of restitution for the grieving families.
One of the other Generals, a portly young man with a blotchy face that spoke of years of alcoholism, smirked at them as he joined the conversation.
“It is non-optional.”