Metal and Flesh (The Rohvim, Book 1)

12.2 Plans

   "Please! Let me continue. Thank you. I do not necessarily mean one of us here in this room, but the master of that army is most undoubtedly a warlord with a true knowledge of himself. He is also remarkably powerful. I managed to enter the minds of several dozen soldiers, and I saw that they were all being controlled by one man, who I do not recognize. The few that I managed to release from mental bondage told me that they were from the northern kingdoms, and cannot remember much of the past few months. All who I liberated report that over the past several years, they suddenly lost control of their bodies to some witchcraft, and watched as they gathered themselves into an army that then marched south this past month. They appear to have some memory of their bondage, but not much. They had nearly nothing in common. I saw men, women, old, young. Most of them, from what I could tell, had been criminals-mostly petty crimes. I know not if this is important, but I tell you what I know."

    "Did the army have a leader?" asked a woman in the front row.

   "As I said, I did not recognize the man I saw in their minds. However, the army itself seemed to be led by a captain that I also did not recognize. I do not know if he is a drone, but he gave a speech in the city center soon after the invasion. He announced the rule of his Lord Shiavo, and claimed that he was ushering in a new era of peace, prosperity, freedom from sickness and want, and an end to the rule of royalty. In the freed soldiers' heads, I could see that they clearly came from the north, and I saw vague images of a compound or an estate in the country where the drone army was assembled over a few years time. I believe this compound is where Lord Shiavo may be right now, and that he is probably the one responsible for the assemblage of this army. How he learned his nature and his rohva powers, well, that is a mystery. I have asked all who have ever recruited for the society if they remember this man, and none can. It may be that he discovered his true nature himself such as Clara and I did, but for him to do that and subsequently learn on his own all that he needed to know to accomplish this monstrous task is ... formidable." The healer paused. Hushed silence wrapped the hall. He continued, "I call on our representative of the king's court, healer Jona, to address us now." He returned to his seat, and another man seated near Clara arose, stepped to the front of the dais, and spoke.

   "Greetings to all. The king was made aware of the invasion about two days after Elbeth fell. This came as a complete surprise to him, as none of the kingdom's scouts in the north had ever reported the massing of an army, much less one of this size. We are currently at peace with all the northern kingdoms, and have been for over two hundred years. There has not been even a whisper from our diplomats that there was any trouble brewing in the north. The king and his council therefore believe that this is a mercenary army assembled in secret, though how or why they know not. Since we are in a time of peace, we have no standing army ourselves, and the royal guard is insufficient to retake Elbeth and the surrounding towns.

   The king has therefore decided to deploy the guard to the next largest city on the way from Elbeth to the capital, in order to stop any further advance of this army. In the meantime he will be raising a liberation army to retake the towns, though that is at least six months off."

   A murmur of dismay went up from the crowd, especially from the refugees of Elbeth and the towns surrounding her. "The king, however, knows a bit about the society." The hush returned to the hall. "He has not been made aware of the society's true nature, nor of his, but he knows that we are more than just a group of healers. He believes we practice witchcraft or magic of some variety, and that we have powers and capabilities beyond that of regular men and women. In his mind, he sees this as heretical, but also sees the value in having his people provided with the healing and hope we give, so he permits us to continue our work, even requesting that the society send a representative to speak for it in matters of the kingdom, hence my presence in the capital. He puts pressure on the priests to not speak out against us, so long as we publicly maintain a face of faith in our religion. What we do and believe in private does not concern him.

   He summoned me a week ago and requested that I bring a message to the society. The king requests that the society act of its own accord to rid the kingdom of this invasion with whatever means we see necessary." With that, many in the crowd cheered, Aeden included.

   Jona returned to his seat, and Clara, still seated, spoke to the assembly. "What then shall we do, my beloved rohvim? There are several here with the skill of the blade, though I doubt even your skill is match enough for an army of thousands. We can heal, and verily we can cast the usurping rohva out of every last head of the invading army, but that may be a temporary solution and I do not see how we can approach soldiers without being questioned-perhaps questioned aggressively with a blade. We are few, but powerful, being blessed with the knowledge of our true selves. What think you?" 

   Jona raised his voice, "Shall we not march to the north and assault this Lord Shiavo in his own stronghold? We have an army in this room of at least one hundred, with perhaps another fifty we could assemble in a week's time. And we could most assuredly receive the support of the nobles of this city and others that we pass through on the way to the warlord's stronghold."

   Another ancient, shriveled woman seated on the dais spoke up, "And what if this Lord Shiavo has an equally large army waiting for us when we arrive at his compound? The society could be destroyed! We cannot take that risk, and lose the true knowledge of humanity for another ten thousand years."