Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

and rushed to the roof of Dinant Palace, only to be confronted by three dragons and their riders. Baldr Hyland, and his Starborn lieutenants: Lucien Hart and Violetta DeVrys. They ordered that we surrender. The Warden refused, and there was a pitched battle before Baldr slew Warden Scandiva and kicked his body off the battlements. I was captured, my spellgloves removed, and was pinned under the feet of one of the dragons while Baldr and the Skyrdon entered the palace and put every man and most of the women to the sword.”

The room had fallen silent now. Ignas watched pensively, his brow furrowed. Queen Eevi's lovely face had set into hard, scowling lines. The others ranged from impassive to frightened. Rutha herself was speaking automatically, her eyes distant, voice increasingly detached. Like she was telling someone else's story.

“After it was done, I wasbrought to the throne room,” Rutha said. “Dead servants and soldiers lay everywhere in heaps around Diamond Throne, where Baldr had taken his place. He told me that I was to be loyal only to him, and every time I refused an order, no matter how small, he would mutilate me, starting from my ears, moving to my toes, then my lower limbs. He needed my hands for magic. After watching him so casually dispatch the Warden and so many, I resolved myself to play the part, observe everything, protect who I could, and escape when possible. Even though I swore I would do him no harm, I was taken and… tortured… for several days.”

Gilheim sneered. I shot him a dark look.

Rutha looked down at her hands. “I had about as much power as a caged canary while Baldr established his court. He kept me by his side, but if I spoke or looked askance, he would prescribe a violent reprisal. He held a public execution for the entire state apparatus, including Pavetta Blackwin, the Imperatrix of the Church of Kyrie and the head of the Mata Argis. He installed Violetta in her place. That was massively popular, as she was not well-liked by the people of Ilia. Those who swore fealty to him received prominent positions in government, and as the weeks went by, Baldr began to invest more... trust... into me. And in doing so, he started to confess his plans, perhaps looking for a woman's mercy to justify himself. So I listened, and encouraged him to speak.”

She looked to Queen Eevi, then the ambassadors from the other Hercyninan nations. “Baldr is now in the process of conscripting an army. He intends to conquer all of Hercynia, starting with Gilheim. It is possible that he was lying to me, but what I do know is that once he has control of Hercynia, he plans to besiege the rest of Artana. How he would do so, he did not disclose, but he did tell me that his end game is to conquer the entirety of Artana under his banner, form an empire...”

The murmuring around the chamber was growing louder.

“... and then, once he had that empire consolidated, he plans to rend the Caul of Souls, summon forth the Drachan, and defeat them,” she finished, raising her voice to be heard over the anxious chatter now filling the room.

“DEFEAT the Drachan?” I hissed to Suri. “That can’t be right.”

She shook her head, brows furrowed.

“What about specifics?” Ignas asked. “What are his plans? His strategy?”

Rutha cleared her throat softly. “To my knowledge, Baldr intends to invade Gilheim first. He told me multiple times over the last month that Gilheim is where he plans to start, due to the metal and mana resources there.”

The man from Gilheim suddenly found himself in the spotlight. His lips mumbled silently for a moment before he chuffed in irritation. “We have seen no evidence of an army massing in the west. Not to mention, Hefflund stands between us and the borders of Ilia.”

“That is true,” Ignas said. “Did he mention plans for overcoming Hefflund?”

Rutha squirmed under his scrutiny for a moment. “I hate to say this… it sounds so far-fetched. But Baldr has… well… he has an elite bodyguard of invisible creatures, creatures he uses as assassins and spies. As I understand it, he plans to use those to assassinate the Lord Regent and decapitate their military leadership, then move his army in and occupy. Hefflund is strategic, but it’s a small country. He seemed to think they wouldn’t put up much resistance once he lopped the head off it, especially once the dragons arrive.”

“Grim as it is, it makes strong strategic sense that an aspiring emperor would avoid attacking Revala and instead swing west,” Ignas said. “He must hope to consolidate the peninsula before moving east toward the mainland.”

“Starborn, pagan demons, invisible armies… pah.” Gilheim stiffened in his seat. “Perhaps the threat of Ilia is real, yes, though countless warlords have broken themselves against the shields of Hefflund and Gilheim over the last millennia. I shall pass that on to the Holy See, but anyone in Hercynia can tell you right now that even if the Starborn are not figments, then the Drachan most certainly are.”

“On behalf of the Jeun Empire, this one assures the representative of Gilheim that we possess clear, consistent records of the Drachan in our archives,” Ambassador Moon spoke up from behind his fan. “As do scholars in Dakhdir. It is well known to us that the Caul suppresses their Great Evil.”

“Yes. The Drachan and their demonic hordes,”the Dakhari Emissary said, shooting a dark glance at Suri. “Our Grand Archives span five thousand years of history, Gilheim. Why do you think the Caul exists? It is there to protect us from the Nether Dragons, the demon children of the Great Oblivion.”

“It is well known that the Caul of Souls was a gift from Lyric and Kyrie to the human race after Saint Grigori drove the Aesari into the oceans and freed our kind from enslavement, superstition, and ignorance!” Gilheim snapped back. “Multiple scholars have asserted that no earthly magic