Chapter 13 - Rebels of Val Foret (3) (Patreon)

"He will be the Voice of the Outer World, the Speaker of Maker, and his sole representative on the face of the world. He will bring salvation to the worthy and damnation to the sinners as the Astrals rise across the world once again. The Reckoning will start with the birth of the Prophet who will bear the Mark of the Maker."

- Orange Fundamentalism Bible, Book of the Prophet

***

"It should be possible... but I will need a good view of the area so I can create multiple portals."

Ciri, for several matters, pondered over the requisites that Kordillus had. With her Elder Blood, the creation of the portals and anything that was related to the Space was much easier compared to the other Mages.

The Elder Blood was overpowered in this aspect. 

For her, it was much easier to open the portals, and many restrictions when it came to the Portals and using the Portal Spell that were being applied to the average Mage were not applicable to Ciri.

"Then we will go with this plan. Do we have the concrete hideouts for the targets?"

Seeing that Ciri was alright with his plan of his, he asked Commander Drautos as they could now approach the plan-making stage. With the Mages, they could create an illusion of the places where their targets are hiding, and Ciri could then subsequently open the portals there. 

"Yes, and the most problematic thing is that nobody is together. Morelet Laurens was located at the hidden complex under the sewers that is barricaded by the rebels. Those Clerics of the Cult of Andraste, Amabilla Chappelle and Petellia Martiana, are actually the most accessible in terms of location because they are in one of the biggest buildings in the city, the former temple of Andraste that was shut down. Same with the Suero De Medrano, who is in an entirely different part of the city, holed up in one of the manors that belonged to the former nobles of the Val Foret."

Kordillus nodded as they would need to set their priorities straight and decide who would be going where. The Clerics of the Cult of Andraste were of the utmost importance, so he would assign Commander Drautos to see them captured personally.

De Medrano was, according to everything, just a fool with little more power and zero insight, so he was of the lowest priority, but would be killed nevertheless because of that. Kordillus wasn't taking any chances with him, because there was still a very tiny possibility that he could do something dangerous.

"I will lead several Glaives to the hiding spot of Laurens and kill him. Commander Drautos, you will take a larger group of Glaives and capture Clerics Cahppelle and Martiana alive and unharmed so we can bring them to the interrogation. For the last group, select one of the Captains to handle De Medrano."

He assigned everyone their task, and because everyone was Mage, opening Portals to the known location wasn't a problem.

Especially if the said portals were to the short distances, like to the center of the city.

"And me? Where am I going?"

Ciri asked almost immediately, while Commander Drautoss just nodded and immediately left the war room as he went to organize the three strike forces. Drautos wasn't really the most talkative person around, and he preferred to do his duties.

"You will remain here."

He said with all seriousness as Ciri almost bristled at him, but as soon as that happened, he grinned as he was just teasing her.

"You are sometimes so easy to tease... You would be coming with me. In the case we get lost in the sewers, we need a skilled teleporter."

Ciri's eyebrows twitched as she wanted to punch him so hard, but in the end, she decided that it wouldn't be worth it. In the end, she just huffed and silently walked away with the silent treatment, which was her most effective weapon.

It was more or less ironic because Ciri was more social than Kordillus on average, but on the other hand, he was more social with people that he knew and was close to. She was a more outgoing person than he was due to her more extroverted personality.

But most interestingly, when it came to punishment, she could be silent and maintain the silent treatment for a long time when he pissed her off.

***

Val Foret, City's Plaza

Not even half an hour later, everyone was already gathered on the plaza of the Val Foret's inner city as Kordillus spoke with the Governor Lambert van Reese and Captain of the City Guard Gaston.

Commander Drautos was coordinating the Glaives together with the Ciri as they would be opening the portals to the specific locations. Several Kingsglaives that were highly proficient in the screening spells would reconstruct images of the location where Ciri would then open the portals.

"Once we finish the decapitation operation, you can await increased attacks on your positions, Captain. When those fanatics lose their leaders, they would go berserk, so you need to prepare for this and coordinate with the 2nd Legion after the decaptiation operation is finished."

Kordillus stated as he looked at both men, who nodded. It was something that they already expected would happen, once the leadership of all these rebels was either eradicated or captured.

Some of the believers of the Cult of Andraste were pretty zealous, but on the other hand, the same thing could be said about the believers of the Holy Fundamentalism Order. And if one asked who did the brainwashing better, then it was undoubtedly the Holy Fundamentalism Order.

The Holy Chantry was much better at spreading the word of Maker and the existence of something like the Orange Fundamentalism Bible, which was much more efficient at spreading the faith than the Hymns of the Andrastianism.

Either way, the next few hours would be crucial, and the City Guards of Val Foret were right now bolstering their defenses in the case of the wave of attacks against their position. 

Commander Gaston gave orders to seal the area completely, and they were even prepared to retreat from the 1st Inner Walls completely to the Inner City. The 1st Inner Walls were the only ones that could theoretically fall, because to reach the 2nd Inner Walls, they would need to cross the bridge that connected them.

And the bridge was retractable from the 2nd Inner Walls.

"We are preparing to close up the bridge in the case they manage to somehow breach the 1st Inner Walls. But hopefully such an approach won't be necessary because the Inner City would then be completely cut off from the Outer City."

Captain Gaston of the Val Foret's City Guard wasn't a fan of this opinion, because it would mean that their forces would be locked in the Inner City en masse. Three out of five districts in the Outer City were under the control of rebels, with only two being under the control of the Governor's Administration.

Those two Outer Districts were barely holding up because attacks on them were pretty intense during the past days.

"Don't you have some means of attacking from behind the lines in the case you are locked down in the inner City?"

Most of the cities, the older ones had underground sewers that were spread across the entirety of the city, but the ones that were constructed according to the new Orlesian standards didn't.

Mainly due to security reasons.

If the enemies were smart, they could infiltrate the city through its sewers. The underground sewers were very important for the city to get rid of waste, yet it was also one of the vulnerable places in the city.

"Partially... we have a few areas through which we can leave the inner city through the sewers, but not in great numbers."

Kordillus nodded as Ciri started opening portals to the very first location, as the Glaives were entering the opened portals. 

First group.

Then the second group that was led by Commander Drautos personally.

And lastly was the final group of something around more than twenty Kingsglaives that entered the portal under the leadership of Kordillus and Ciri.

***

Val Foret, Outer City, 3rd District, Former Chapel of the Cult of Andraste

Chapel of the Cult of Andraste was one of the largest buildings in the 3rd District, and it was also the one that looked the grandest. Before the conquest of the Val Foret, the Cult of Andraste was a highly influential religion in these ends as they were pretty prosperous.

Within the Cults of Andraste, only women were allowed to become Clerics of the Cult, because the women were viewed as purer compared to the men in their religion.

The portal opened directly into the basement of the Chapel, which was primarily filled with crates, old things, and old furniture, as the Chapel was turned into a pseudo fortress of some kind.

"Ulric and Lazarus, you are up. Secure the perimeter and kill everyone you see. This entire place is filled only with enemies either way. Each of you takes several Glaives and goes through the corridors and straight to the main Inner Chapel. I will be taking the remaining five Glaives and going through the center."

Kordillus said to the two Kingsglavies, both officers within the organization.

Luche Lazarus and Nyx Ulric were both refugees from the Tevinter Imperium and were members of the Noble Houses of the Tevinter, but their Noble Houses were already fallen ones.

Which meant that any and all power that they held was already non-existent, and they were barely surviving in the Tevinter. Like most were, because most of the Mages in the current Orlais were of the Tevinter origin or were from the former colonies of the Tevinter.

Because of the development of the Orlais, many who had nothing in the Tevinter would take their chances in the Orlais. It was rather an ironic cycle, because many Mages from other parts of Thedas were escaping to Tevinter because of the treatment of Mages there.

While many of the Tevinterean Mages were, on the other hand, escaping to Orlais because of the cutthroat society and countless internal conflicts within the Noble Houses and various Mages and Mage Towers.

"Per your order."

Both of them saluted and took their units while the remaining Glaives followed after Kordillus and Ciri. The reason why he and Ciri were left with only five Glaives instead of a higher number was mainly because Kordillus and Ciri were actually the strongest out of the entire group.

Cirilla had her Elder Blood and its derivative abilities, while Kordillus had his Pyromancy.

Two were like unstoppable bulldozers that were starting to advance through the corridors as they were directly headed to the Inner Chapel. At the same time, Captains Ulric and Lazarus took the longer routes, as they were also supposed to kill as many people as possible here.

This was primarily because the entire place was swarming with the people who were behind the organization of the entire rebellion.

Because the rebellion was initiated by the Cult of Andraste, primarily by the Cult of Andraste, most of the people who were coordinating the other people and were closest to the definition of "officer" were congregating here.

The five Kingsglavies took a battle formation, centered around Kordillus, who was basically the main Spellcaster of the group, because his attacks were the most destructive. Even though he was using Pyromancy, he could control his spells so well and precisely that there was little to no chance of litting this place on fire.

Which would be really easy otherwise.

The Pyromancy was a pretty volatile thing.

And a very dangerous one in anyone's hands.

Fortunately enough, Kordillus was very skilled in Pyromancy in controlling his Pyromancy Flames and Flame Magic. Obviously, the two were not the same thing, because Fire Magic was just a branch of the Elemental Magic that was native to the Thedas.

While the Pyromancy was something that he was born with.