Chapter Twenty, State of the Crew

"Why didn't you try to kill him when we had the chance? He was barely defended."
Alicea looked over at Barret and her other bodyguards. There were still bits of gore left in their thick beards from the battle. It seemed unlikely that the mountainfolk would bother to wash any of the mess out within the forseeable future.
"I could still hit him miss. If you want me too."
Ishylde had held back further, unlike many of the other archers her quiver was still full. Zack had set her up with an alchemically activated, enchanted quiver; she could refill it with her minor magical capacity and had no need to fear a depleted supply of ammunition like the other archers. Alicea had seen her in the battle launching her wyrm' bone arrows deep into the hearts of Ga-Vok still in their landing ships. All her doubts about how worthwhile the hunting of the dangerous beasts had left as she watched them pierce thick steel armor time and again.
Zack had gone to lie down, even with his vast array of trinkets and relics he'd found this long a battle exhausting. A mere sorceror like him was lucky to have survived the magical onslaught brought by the Blue Army's shaman, all battle tested and worn by life amongst the clans. Yet he had survived, and he had represented his family well with his clever machinations and carefully woven spells. What Zack lacked in strength he made up for with a keen and intuitive mind.

Alicea brushed some grime off of her Leather bracers, she could see the fur mixed into the blood and powdered stone. The townspeople had fought hard, and they'd been confident of victory right up through the last wave. But she knew how little chance they would have had if Tasand had continued his assault, and how few troops he'd actually commited to the assault. At any time he could have ended it. Casabal had been little better defend than Marelle was, and he had overrun the walls in a mere two hours from the time they commenced the assault. Few Nielda could have known of his victory there, but Alicea could discern from todays victory that the greatest General of the Ga-Vok army had held back. He'd thrown the battle, few warriors would ever commit so great an offense against their leader.

"He'd have granted us the same privelige. He didn't come to talk to us, he came to make a point to his officers. We're just tools to his genius."
"You mean, he lost and he still us? That jerk."
"I think the General and the Alpha have had some sort of falling out. He threw the battle, and the advisor he executed was the Alpha's representative, and spy I suspect."
"He what?"
"He threw the fight. Look at the fleet, don't you see the smoke stacks just behind them? He purposefully hid his numbers so we'd underestimate him, make us more confident of our chances. But that means he has potentially thousands more troops he could still commit to the battle if he wanted to, we barely withstood that last wave. And the retreat; I don't know why he pulled back when he did, but he did. We could have repelled those ships as it was, because of the tricks we'd kept up our sleeves, but we wouldn't have withstood the one that followed. For whatever reason, he didn't want to win. I think there might be something going on in the top brass of the Confederacy."
"How do you know all this stuff? How'd you know who this," Jod nudged the still feebly gasping advisor with the butt of his splintered spear, "Was a representative of their Alpha?"

Alicea looked over at Orion. Her companions had heard him talking Vokil before, she could say he'd translated for her. He had fought hard, even though several of his crew had fallen in the fight. The crew of the Juline had been a valuable asset in the battle, holding their ground in the thick of the fray. But he seemed out of himself since General Tasand had assaulted the Ga-Vok advisor now being dragged to the town jail by a few of the citizens. She chose to allow him some time to clear his mind of whatever troubles may have flooded it.
"My father taught me before I went to the monastary. He decided it would be useful for me to know."
"Well then, we should probably get a move on with recruiting more troops if we hope to beat him."
"Quite. Captain Orion, how soon can we be under way?"
Orion responded rather more quickly than she'd expected.
"We can get supplies aboard by tomorrow morning working overtime. If Master Zack can get his golem to help at least. I'll try to pick up a couple more crewmen. We can set sail by this time tomorrow."
"Thank you Captain. Ishylde, could you go and wake Zack so we can get started."