Chapter 10 Part 3 of 3 (Patreon)

“By now it should be done,” Lord Abe Velten, Milo’s father-in-law said sitting in one of his family estate’s living room. Maria smiled, sitting next to Milo, biting her lower lip before she hid it behind her teacup.

“I wish that we were able to communicate with those inside the sub-realm. We have placed our trust in Louis Gerard and the others, and now it is time for us to do our part,” Milo drank from his cup, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice as he glanced at Maria and returned to Abe.

I have missed you, all of this planning has been too long and too far apart.

“Caution is our greatest ally here,” Abe said, stroking his finely trimmed beard and mustache.

Milo coughed away his immediate words.

“Slowly we shift opinion in our favor without the input of my sister or the recently deceased Marshal. Once Louis returns then we will be able to quickly succeed Dujardin and take control over the clans.” Milo paused in thought. “I am scared that upon returning that Louis Gerard will have the popular opinion on his side. We must take measures to protect against this.”

“We hold all of his family’s defense contracts, if he wants to go against us, then the losses from the contracts will be extreme,” Maria said.

“Of course, but he is a man of passions as much as he doesn’t want to show it. He leads with his heart and once he is set on a path it is hard for one to dissuade him.” Milo said.

“You are correct, the less chaos in you assuming power the better. If there is a fight for succession then it will only weaken us and create greater issues in the future. Others will use it to get more concessions at the very least.” Abe said.

Milo sighed.

“Do not worry Milo, we have waited Decades to bring about this change, now we are just weeks away. We must remain strong. How go your preparations?”

“Two Cruisers, Three destroyers, Five Freighters and fifteen Corvettes have allied themselves with us. The recent fighting and the Violet Sky Realm fleet took a lot of our resources. We have begun moving ammunition to the loyal ships so they are fully stocked if any complications arose.

They were meant to be a defensive force to ward off others that might make trouble as they were putting the Sha Clans in order. I hope that they are only used for defense. He wasn’t so naieve to think that if there was a force that rebelled in the clans, that they would just defend against external threats.

“Your ally among the crafters is very resourceful,” Abe said.

“I will reveal who they are to you once this is all complete. They pride themselves on their secrecy.”

“We all have our hidden cards,” Maria said.

“We are all united in our cause, without that backstabbing murderer leading us, the Sha Clans can finally grow and we can become the clan my father hoped to create,” Milo said.

“Your father was a visionary and a man with great ambition. I see that flame has remained strong within you.” Abe smiled.

Milo bowed his head. “Thank you father-in-law.”

“So what are our next moves?” Maria asked.

“Strengthen our position, make sure that our fighting forces are ready to defend our holdings and start to approach friendly traders to start selling the items we have stored up over the years. Mana stones and resources are a great bandage for any political wound,” Abe laughed.

A knock at the door interrupted them.

Abe frowned and cast a wind spell on the door and turned the sound cancelling formation inlaid into the table beside him.

The door opened to reveal one of his secretaries.

The man marched in a quickly ducked into a half bow, holding out a report folder.

“There has been a change with the Black Phoenix Clan.”
Milo’s stomach gripped as he rose with the others.

Abe strode forward and took the report.

“Speak.”

“They are under attack by other clans a united force of smaller sects and some forces with a few airships. They are attacking their shipyard locations. The attack started just minutes ago, they have breached the yards and are moving to attack their ships.”

“Desperation?” Milo asked.

“No, they are showing their allegiance, each of them have roots in the lower realms, they want to become allies to the Alvans, they must be using this attack to show that they are on the Alvan’s side and gain recognition. For one nation in the first realm to create such a stir.” Abe fell quiet and waved the secretary away.

He ducked in his bow and quickly retreated, closing the door behind him.

Abe activated the formation table again.

“It seems that you will have to move up the plan to claim Alva. They are still just a minor nation in the first realm. Now that they don’t have their two lords anymore, their position will become tentative. There are sure to be others that will want to take up the position of Lord of Alva.”

“Are you sure that you want to keep them as an ally, there are just a small force.”

“A small force that is capable of making gunpowder and weapons that use it. We need to secure power over them to make sure that they do as we say. There is a reason that they have not claimed any of the cities in the lower realms. They are too weak to do so, otherwise why would they just take resources and establish recruiting halls.”

“I have heard that they are rather popular,” Maria said.

“A thing of interest, they had some power in the fourth realm. Of course weaklings in the higher realms would be interested to go to the lower realms and gain position. Neither West or Rodrigeuz have a family to our knowledge, without a clan then one is groundless and without allies. Family is everything. You can’t trust others that are not in your family unless you have binding contracts and there are ways around them.”

***

“Where is mother?” Milo asked one of the servants as he walked the halls of his estate.

“She is in the conservatory,” the servant bowed.

“Thank you,” Milo said.

“It has been a long day, I will freshen up in the room and meet you for dinner afterwards?” Maria asked, her hand resting in the crook of his elbow.

“Certainly my love,” Milo smiled and kissed her.

She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him.

They looked at one another breathlessly, she looked into his eyes.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Milo smiled.

“Tell your mother I say hello,” She released her hands.

Milo wanted to ask her to join him, but he saw the pain in her eyes when she was around his mother. They had been childhood friends and when their marriage was announced by their fathers Milo had been nervous at first but their friendship had turned to affection.

He squeezed her to him.

She grasped him to herself as well.

“Be safe with all of this,” She whispered.

“You are the one that is doing all of the leg work,” He held her lower back, separating, she traced out the design of his shirt on his chest.

“I know, you and father have done so much, working so very hard. It is the right thing to do, justice must be served. But I don’t want to lose you. Promise me, if we hcae to we’ll flee this place. I don’t care if we have to remake our lives as long as we have our lives.”

“Everything will be fine, we are only doing what is right. We can set things how they were supposed to be, get the clans to work together instead of fighting one another. We’ll forge the clans into what it was supposed to be.”

Maria pressed her lips together into a smile and kissed him.

“Just be safe.”

“This is the Ten Realms its only through our strength that we can bring around change.”

“I wish that wasn’t the case,” Maria said.

He kissed her and released her.

“Go and get cleaned up, I’ll see you once I’ve seen mother.”

“Okay.”

She held onto his hand till the last second as they parted.

Milo walked through the estate, passing through echoing rooms. The conservatory was bright, filled with flowering plants, their subtle scents mixing together as he walked to where his mother sat.

She was looking blankly at an array of roses.

“Mother,” Milo pushed his smile into his words as he kneeled next to her, holding her hands. They remained cold, seemingly devoid of life.

Shortly after the death of his father she had declined into this state, barely eating or drinking, spending her time staring off into space, caring not what happened in the world around her.

“Mother, finally things are moving. I am sorry that I have not seen you these past months but I had to make sure that everything was in place.” Milo bowed his head, he took a breath, as he felt tears well up in his eyes.

He looked at her, tears running down his face.

“Mother, finally that murderer will be brought to justice. I didn’t want to tell you because it might give you a  shock, but I cannot hold onto the lie any longer. Father was killed from behind with a Sha weapon.”

He swore he felt her hands twitch, but he couldn’t find any traces.

“It wasn’t that assassins that went after the Marshal, no the Marshal didn’t want to lose his power, he orchestrated it all and used a hidden weapon up his sleeve to kill father. Then he blamed it on the assassins and killed them all to silence his actions. He killed a man he called brother without a second of regret,” He bowed his head as he rubbed the back of his mother’s hands with his thumbs.

“I have worked all of these years since his death, not forgetting his actions for one minute. I have worked to bring him to justice. In the Violet Sky Realm where the Ten Realms hold power no longer those on the side of justice will strike the blow against him. They will remove his tyranny, and we will work to end the division between the clans. We will bring peace to the clans and grow together, I will do the work that father wished to carry out before he was betrayed.”

Zala Leblanc furrowed her brows, her lip shaking for a half second before it disappeared.

Milo looked up from her hands, to find her blank expression.

“Mother, do not worry, father will rest easy now and we will develop the clans properly.”

He held on hope to see something in her expression but she kept looking at the roses. He sighed, standing and released her hands, he kissed her on the cheek.

“Maria sends her love, she has just returned. I hope you have a nice day,” He pulled out a blanket and put it around her shoulders.

“Make sure you don’t get a chill.”

He rubbed her shoulder, grimacing before leaving the conservatory.

***

“There has been no change,” Ranko’s voice projected into Stassov’s ear by her sound transmission device.

Stassov bared her teeth.

“Go through it again.”

“When we arrived there were some signs of fighting, the ships started firing into the ground, collapsing sections of the forest and opening up the under-city below.

They angered the beasts underneath and slaughtered them. They cleared the area, then returned to their ships and the fleet moved on.”

“For what reason?”

“I cannot be sure Captain.” Ranko said.

Stassov bit the inside of her cheek.

“And since then they have just been going between different points of interest?”

“That’s correct.”

There must have been some prize.

“Also Captain we have lost seven people.” Ranko ground his teeth.

“Lost them, how?”

“The ground is much more deadly than the air, there are many powerful creatures and we cannot use our true power to fight them.”

Stassov hated losing more clan members to the sub-realm, but she had her mission and it seemed that the Sha had their own internal issues.

We won’t get another opportunity like this.

“I will send you replacements, make sure to continue following the Sha.”

“Yes Captain.” She cut the channel and started to call Commander Chmilenko.