Touch of Fate 219 Highly Informative

"I'm a little surprised you agreed to this mission. Your situation as an unofficial supporter of the Princess means that you will have much to gain if the Second Prince were to perish. Rescuing him would probably postpone the worst parts of the dynastic struggle, even allow us to put it aside until the Tenundians were taken care of, but it would continue afterwards regardless." Emmanuel commented as he sat down behind the plain desk he was making do with at the moment.

Mike took his seat on the other side. "I'm not going to lie, I wasn't really paying attention until he specifically asked me what I thought about the idea."

The Marshal blinked at him in shock, "What, really? Do you have any idea what you volunteered yourself for?"

"Other than it involves rescuing the Second Prince and fighting some naval ships, no."

Knuckling his forehead in exasperation, Emmanuel sighed. "Alright, let me explain. We recently received some intelligence that the Second Prince's ship was captured by the Tenundian Navy a few days ago, and is currently being used as part of the blockade of the Almirn Bay. The council was suggesting that we take the opportunity to launch a rescue mission in the hopes that it will mobilize his supporters to aid us."

"They are just leaving him in the blockade?" Mike asked, wondering exactly how much he missed of the briefing.

"Indeed. Although, the way the Tenundians are handling the situation was a little strange. Normally, a captured member of the royal family would be brought somewhere secure and held for ransom or used as leverage during negotiations. In this case, they aren't doing anything of the sort."

"Could the perhaps not know he's the prince?"

Emmanuel nodded. "That appears to be the case. Based on where the vessel was supposedly captured, it seems likely that he was traveling incognito. From the sounds of it, he was meeting with representatives of the Ateshi Commonwealth to negotiate for their support of his bid for the throne. Of all the nearby powers, he has had strongest relations with them, and they would be his best bet for external support now that the elves of the Forest of Shadows are allied with our faction."

"So, they are treating him as a captive crew member, which means..." Mike trailed off, realizing that he didn't know enough about naval warfare in this world to make the supposition. In his own world, it was not uncommon for sailors of captured ships to be forced into servitude.
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"That he's likely been impressed into the Tenundian Navy, and so long as no one reveals him, he will likely be relatively safe there."

Mike frowned. "Isn't there an Almiran Navy? What are they doing?"

Emmanuel hesitated before speaking, "We've been trying to keep this under wraps in order to avoid a panic, but the majority of our ships were caught in a major storm that blew up out of nowhere. The few that survived, were scattered and isolated when the Tenundians invaded. Only a handful were able to limp into neutral ports, where they are now trapped until we can clear the Tenundians from the bay. Combined with the vessels that were lost when our forward naval bases fell during the initial invasion, when our command structure was in tatters, our navy was almost completely captured or destroyed."

He leaned back in his chair, looking older and more worn than before. "With the exception of the airship that you recaptured, the sum total of our naval assets at our disposal include a few warships that were in the Almirn harbor for repairs, and whatever commercial ships that can be converted for wartime use."

"And you didn't want to tell us this, because?"

"It would cause a panic." He shook his head. "You see, Almirans are a maritime people. They have it in their heads, that so long as the sea is open, then their is no reason to fear the invaders. Many still have personal boats they intend to evacuate with, should the walls fall. As such, the news of the blockade was rather disheartening, and only the minor deception that our navy was working to break it kept the populace from rioting."

Mike took a moment to visualize the situation he'd gotten himself involved in. It was starting to look desperate.

"Its not all bad news, though." Emmanuel commented after a few moments. "Our last word from Count Graveston indicated that he was commanding a fleet of vessels from the Barren Isle, although his destination was unclear. Nevertheless, the threat such a force poses has kept the Tenundians from capitalizing on their naval victories."

"Good to hear, I suppose." Mike murmured. "Alright, so what's the plan? I just swoop in, grab the prince, and high-tail it back here?"

"That would be the simplest solution, yes, but I think you'll find it a bit more difficult than that. Despite what we said in the council room, the Tenundians will likely have methods of attacking airborne targets. Indeed, a covert infiltration would probably be most effective in this case, but I will allow you to proceed as you see fit. You will be the one facing the challenge." Emmanuel finished with a sigh.

[Covert, huh? Might be a good chance to practice my Stealth skill.]

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Mike shot his teacher a calculating look. "Not to sound insubordinate, but wouldn't it be easier for you to just teleport in, grab the prince, and teleport out? I feel like that could save us a lot of time and effort."

"Yes and no. I could do as you say and simply try to remove him with Space Magic, but I should point out there are two limiting factors that make that idea untenable. First, it is difficult to distort space enough to teleport without being able to see the target location or being particularly familiar with it. While it can be practiced without such knowledge, the results would be quite horrifying if I messed up. Even though the teleportation spell displaces matter in the target location, meaning you won't accidentally kill yourself by teleporting into an object, you could still wind up buried alive underground, cursed to slowly suffocate while being completely unable to move."

He shivered involuntarily. "Second, if I try to use that kind of magic anywhere near the fleet, their mage's would probably detect it, and take steps to prevent me from escaping. Now, I could potential teleport in, find the prince, and leave fast enough that they won't be able to respond, but there is a lot of margin for error. Should I fail, it will expose the prince, and put my own life at risk."

"Okay, fair point, but I still think this kind of thing might be better suited for people with different skill sets. Don't we have any spies or operatives that could do this sort of thing?" Mike asked, already sure of the answer.

"We do, of course, but almost all of them are currently deployed to various places in both the city and the region, gathering intelligence and countering their Tenundian counterparts. Not to mention the group that has been working on tracking down the assassin who killed my predecessor." A flash of anger passed through the old mage's eyes. "We cannot allow her to threaten our leaders if we want to have any hope of fighting against the invaders. Thankfully, she has been inactive since the last time, perhaps she needed time to recover after you wounded her."

[Or maybe she's already completed her mission and has left the city.]

Mike sighed, and made a placating gesture. "Alright, I won't try to get out of it any more. I volunteered for it, after all."

Emmanuel gave a sympathetic smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I can't think of any other person who is more qualified for this mission. You already have experience rescuing royalty from ships. After doing it in the air, how hard could one on the ocean be?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." He waved off his teacher's attempt at a joke. "Anyway, I need to be heading out. I've got an appointment with a pottery merchant that I don't want to be late for."

[I would probably be forced to buy more of his cheap crap, just to make up for it.]

"A pottery...No, I don't want to know. Once again, I'm leaving the details of the mission up to you." He handed over a capped tube. "Here's a scroll of the Invisibility spell. Its Arcane, but you should still be able to make use of it. I recommend activating it before you take off. It should last about ten minutes, so don't dawdle."

"Will do." Mike replied with a half-hearted salute before turning to leave the office.

"Good luck," His teacher offered as the door closed, Mike completely missing the look of sorrow and guilt on the old man's face.

-------------------------------------------------------

A few short leaps later, Mike was standing in front of Seth, the information dealer, once more. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for some disturbing news to pop up.

"They weren't able to get anything solid at all?" He asked, feeling slightly exasperated.

[Maybe I should just blast in there myself. It would probably save a lot of time and effort.]

"Like I said. The Tenundians are keeping things locked tight. My agents can hear all sorts of rumors, but nothing confirmed. We're working on getting a few infiltrators into their inner circle, but that kind of thing doesn't happen overnight. It will probably be a few days before we see any results." Seth said with a shrug. "It happens all the time in this business."

"Is there anything useful you can tell me at all? Anything that might give us some indication of what's coming?"

The merchant hesitated, glancing around at the mostly abandoned market before answering, "Tell you what, since you seem like a nice fellow who appreciates fine pottery, I'll tell you this bit for free. A few of my guys have seen a person of interest going into and out of a big tent in the center of the camp. That's the part of camp the Duke has locked down. Only his personal troops are allowed in and out."

"Who is it?"

"We aren't too sure. He's always completely wrapped in grey robes, so much so no one has seen his face. That said, one of my agents overheard a few guards talking about him briefly. Apparently, his name is Grim, and he is in charge of some secret weapon the Duke intends to use against us."

Mike frowned, eyes still focused on the large vase he was pretending to consider. "Any idea what kind of weapon it is?"

"They haven't heard. In fact, it seems like that is a closely guarded secret." Seth paused, looking a little disturbed. "Although there is one piece of information I haven't told you yet."

"Oh?"

"My agents saw large groups of captives being brought in from the surrounding countryside, villagers and travelers who had the misfortune of being caught out in the open when the army rolled through. All of them were taken to the large tent in the center of camp."

"So, its some kind of prison?"

"If only. None of my agents ever saw any of them leaving, but one of them overheard two soldiers discussing the disposal of the captives' clothes."

Mike recalled stories he'd read about the atrocities committed during World War II, and suddenly he felt tired.

[Are they testing it? Or is it something that requires live sacrifices to operate? This is giving me the same sort of feeling I got during the attack on Wyrport. I wonder if the Cabal is involved somehow.]

"I see. Thank you for telling me."

Seth shrugged. "No worries. All part of the job. Anyway, I won't make you buy anything this time around, but give me a few days, and I'll see about getting you some information worth your money."

"How much for the vase?"

This earned him a heartfelt smile. "Ah, I see you are indeed a man of refined taste. Since you are a connoisseur, I will give you the special price of eight silver for this work of art. Quite the steal, you know."

Mike resisted rolling his eyes as he passed the money over. "Alright, I'll be back in a few days.

Chapter end