227 The Alliance (2/2)
”My strategist is right to be surprised, Rah,” Darah continued. ”It has been five hundred years since more than two clans have allied with each other… not since the coming of the empty throne…”
Lord Rah laughed a long and hearty laugh.
”You think too small, Darah,” he said after he'd finished laughing. ”I do not speak of an alliance between four clans… I speak of an alliance of eight — a third of the remaining twenty-one fairy clans.”
Even Darah looked momentarily taken aback. I'm pretty sure Aura and I looked like we'd just had our minds blown, which was the case.
It was a while later when Darah asked her question, ”Who else would join such an unthinkable proposal?”
Darah slapped the table.
”The Hermitage…” she answered her own question.
Lord Rah nodded. ”The Hermitage is already at war with the Scarlet Moon… and they're already allied with the Chariot Lords of Wheel Nation.”
”And the remaining two?” Darah asked, and although I couldn't see her face from my spot behind her, I was pretty sure she had an eyebrow raised at Lord Rah.
”I believe the Skyscraper clan can be coerced into joining this alliance for they too have had recent… difficulties with the Scarlet Moon,” Lord Rah answered. ”I believe it will be up to you to convince the final member of our grand alliance to join us.”
Darah was quiet for a long moment. Long enough for Lord Rah to decide we needed a clue to whatever he was talking about.
”In the not so distant past, this structure,” as he said relic, Lord Rah's eyes travelled across the room, ”was the derelict home of brigands and thieves… Now it is flourishing, a growing center of trade here in the eastern side of the Westmarch.”
Lord Rah's fingers continued to tap on the table — and I could have sworn he was drumming the beat to the happy birthday song.
”It has come to my clan's attention that this growth is in part due to your flourishing trade with Broken Sellsword's Canyon—”
”—Which is a base of operations for the Lover's Embrace,” I finished for him just before I realized that I'd once again interrupted one of the most powerful beings in one of the largest clans in the Fayne.
I sighed, realizing that I might as well push forward with the budding idea inside my mind.
”You want us to use our contacts with their clan to convince the Lover's Embrace to join the alliance too,” I deduced.
It took a second longer than natural for Lord Rah to answer, ”Yes,” and I assumed it was because he thought talking to me, a lowly one-thousand-man commander, was beneath him.
To make myself feel better, I recalled the moment Lord Rah got his butt kicked by Chris Pint, the Lord of Stars.
”You are already well-connected to one of their clan's chief operators within the central region,” Lord Rah insisted. ”I see no reason why she would not help you gain an audience with Embrace's leadership.”
Darah glanced over her shoulder to me.
”Is it possible, Dean?” Darah asked.
”Y…yes, ma'am,” I answered.
I neglected to tell them that the possibility wasn't very high. In all my dealings with Kallista, not once did she offer any info on her clan. But Darah and Lord Rah didn't need to know that.
Darah turned back to Lord Rah. She too drummed her fingers on the table as if in mimicry of him.
”Assuming we can get all our eggs in one basket and this grand alliance actually happens… to what end?” she asked.
”To the end of the Scarlet Moon,” Lord Rah answered quickly. ”It'll be a great war the likes of which has never been seen before… One that'll shake the very foundations of the Fayne…”
I doubt Lord Rah knew how accurate his statement would turn out to be. In fact, this 'Great War' he proposed to Darah would be the catalyst for an event Aura had once mentioned to me and Luca while we sat underneath a starry sky — I believe she called it Ragnarok.