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The Council

"Ahh, yes. What a great idea. We'll teleport them out of the city so that they can run for a few minutes before they are hunted down by the orks. I'm sure the orks will find that favourable. A meal is always better after you must work for it." the noble replied, even though he had never worked for a meal in his life. "All hidden tunnels have been blocked. There is no way out of the city, for if there were, then it would also be a way in."

"That said, we have taken precautions to protect the civilians. When the fighting commences, they are to be escorted into the palace. The governor has been generous enough to give up his home to his subjects." the general added.

"Or try to teleport them to the nearest garrison of troops or to another city with a represenative from this city." Navariësé told the noble. "He should be giving up his home out of duty as he is required to protect his subjects." She told the general. "But we will not last a day if Norkel's black dragons arrive here first." She told the room.

"The nearest city is over a hundred miles away and the nearby garrisons have been depleted of troops to defend the city. How do you expect anyone to teleport any number of people that distance. Even if we managed to send one group, the person casting the spell would be completely exhausted. It can't be done, can it?" the noble turned to Eändíré for an answer.

Eändíré looked rather reluctant to reply. With a dismissive sweeping of his hand, he gave a weak answer. "It would be... difficult for one person to teleport any significant number of people that far. What would you say, Master Boros?"

The leader of the Magical Order looked as unwilling as Eändíre to respond to the noble. Like Navariësé, he shared a dislike of the rich and famous who did little to help the poor. "He would be correct, I am afraid. It would be more than difficult to teleport any number of people over such a distance. It would be impossible. If there were only one person doing the teleporting, that is."

"What are you suggesting?" wondered the noble, who was known as the Duke of Caleshan.

"That we use more than one person to teleport the people from the city. If we were to employ the help of, say, Eändíré, some of my guild members, a few other magically inclined members of this society and myself, it would be possible (though draining), to deliver a medium amount of people to safety. Perhaps... five hundred. Five hundred adults, that is. Maybe eight hundred children." Boros explained.

"While that is a good thing, surely our resources would be better directed at forming some kind of shield to surround this part of the city? Look, I want to defend the citizens as much as the next man, but we would have to choose between people and that is no decision that any man should make. A shield would be our best bet at defending the citizens and buying us more time. Time is all that we need. It is all that we have." Aradir proposed to the council.

"That is a choice no-one should have to make." Navariësé said to the council. "But if we can buy enough time for our allies to arrive, then we don't need to choose between the children and adults. Eandire, have you told them about our allies?" She asked the sage.

The Council

"They were the ones that told us, remember." Eändíré replied. "They knew of it before we did."

"The most recent report is that they have docked and are now marching north towards the city. I don't know how long it shall take them to get here, but the legate of the legion has sent some triremes further up the sea to dock in Palmu and try to pull orks away from the palace, or at least fortify the position to provide a flank when the legion arrives."

"I meant the other ones which could deal with Norkel's dragons." Navariësé said to Eandire in a low tone and was unsure if he had informed the council about them.

The Council

"Ahh... Yes... I am not sure if the High Chancellor has briefed you... I am sure you, Governor, your Grace, shall know of it, but the others? There is a group of dragons, a majority, if I may be so prudent, that are opposed to Norkel and are currently engaged in a pitted battle with the dragons of Norkel. It is they who shall decide the outcome of this siege. Even if the orks were to be defeated by the legion, if the black dragons of Norkel were successful, they would be able to bring fire to the city and burn its walls down as though they were made of wood." Eändíré told those assembled, with only slight exaggeration.

"Then what is the point of defending the city?" the Duke questioned, looking rather frightened.

"Well, there's the obvious point that not defending the city would lead to our certain death, while defending teh city at least gives us a chance." replied Aradir, rather tired by the Duke's inane and pointless comment.

"To buy enough time. I have personally meet their leader and whilst I did not part on good terms with them. I fully believe he will lead his kind to the aid of the city if the black dragons have been defeated by them. If not, we will either die violent deaths or fall to the dragons of the dark lord." Navariësé told the council. "But by nature, we will not sit back and allow the orks to kill the citizens. Not whilst we still have enough men to form a defence and not untill my very last breath has left my body." She said to the council.

"Enough men!?!" spluttered the Duke of Caleshan. "We barely have five hundred men. There's too much wall to defend. It simply isn't possible!"

"Which is why we should think about bringing my proposition into effect. There are enough male citizens of fighting age to guard the walls. They may not be tough, but with the shield, they could hold the walls for at least an hour and an hour in this battle is worth a day in any other." the general said.

"They may rout before the orks are even at the walls." the Lord of Daimon replied. "They aren't trained to face such enemies. Even the guards ran. Only the legionaries have such a mentality to fight against greater odds, and even at that some of them retreated after a few minutes."

"Which is why we organise them into small squads commanded by the most inspiring legionaries. It may not keep all of them fighting but, coupled with the fact that they will be fighting for their lives and those of their families, it will keep some of them at the walls."

"But most will give into fear. They have not faced a single ork and one is enough to install fear into a citizen." Navariësé told the council. "They will be no match for the orks. For every ork they kill, they will lose 5 to 10 men. Or more and panic can destroy the line even with the legionaires at the helm." She said to the council. "However, if you use them as archers, it could slow down the horde. Not much but combined with magical attacks, it could do some real damage to the orks. But i suspect the shield requires all of the mage's attention so that plan may not be an option." She informed the council. "However, if they saw the governor fighting, they may be inspired to fight for their city and their familes." She added afterwards.

The general spluttered at this. "Archers? Do you know how long it takes to teach someone to use a bow without hurting themselves or others? Years. We don't have years. We have hours. We need to begin training them right now if they're to even have a chance to stand against a lowly goblin. And the governor is better positioned here, where he can observe military manoeuvres. No offence to his Grace, but the governor is not a fighting man. If anything would cause a full scale rout, it would be the death of the governor."

The governor nodded in agreement.

"Prehaps but seeing their leader fight for them could do a lot for their morale or would he prefer to scarifice his citizens whilst he hides in the palace and ignore his duty?" Navariësé said to the council. "But prehaps i was a bit rash. He doesn't need to fight but to have a presence on the wall. Inspire his troops by giving a speech or just raise morale with his presence if the city holds him in high esteem." She told the council.

"That is my job." the general retorted, having his hand balled into a fist under the table to limit the anger apparent on his face. How dare this commoner come in here, this hobo, this nomad, and demand that the governor risk his life for no reason. "I am a fighting man, therefore, I inspire more people to fight. The governor's flair lies in the sector of administration. It is his guidance which has allowed Palmu to become the richest city in the world. His Grace's place is here, with his citizens in the palace. My place is with the soldiers on the walls. The speech shall come from me."

"But there is no reason why I cannot deliver a public appearance before the battle commences." the governor stated, not wanting to appear cowardly in front of his nobles. "I shall inspire them before they must find their way to their swords."

"He would be risking his life to protect his citizens!" Navariësé told the general. "You are just a warrior of no note. The governor has ruled this city and ensured that it has flourished. A speech from him would raise morale and show that he cares about them instead of holing up in his palace whilst people are killed by the orks." She said to the general and stood up. She looked at the governor and said "So be it but remember who the people that you serve. Which are the citizens of Palmu. What you say and do today will be remembered by everyone."

The room suddenly got very quiet as the confrontation escalated. "Sit! Down!" yelled the general. "You are only here because Eändíré has extended an invitation to you. If it were up to the rest of us, you would not be here! You have no importance in this council. You have the gall to call me, General Arcadan Practem, leader of the Legion of Palmu and one of the highest-ranked military officers in the Imperial Senate, a warrior of no note. Pray, tell me, where your authority on the matter is? Tell me your greatest military achievement. Tell me when you led a force against an orkish army ten times larger and won."

"Indeed. Sit down, for your own health. It is sore for the legs for one to stand up for so long when a seat has been made available" the governor said to Navariësé, his hate barely masked now. "I do not need you to tell me what my priorities should be. I know what they are. Perhaps it is you that does not know what the priorities of this battle should be."

"Our main priority is to protect the citizens!" Navariësé informed the council. "As for you General, i've been fighting these foul creatures since before you were even born." She retorted to the general and sat down. "Besides, we are getting distracted. Our chances of surviving the horde depends on how much time we can buy for the red dragons but if we are unable to defend every wall, then prehaps we should line the undefended walls with oil if we have the time to spare. If not, prehaps some magical traps." She suggested to the council. "Eandire, would it be possible to use that spell that you used back in the cave?" She asked her friend in a low tone.

"Ahhh, yes. I am sure your... engagements with small bands of orks is equivalent to my grasp of manoeuvres involving entire armies of many different varieties. Your seniority accounts for nothing within this council. If my recent intel is to be believed, you were stupid enough to get kicked out of an allied base due to your most asinine behaviour." he said this with a quick glance to Eändíré. "And line the walls with oil? What do you mean? Set the wall on fire? While that certainly would be effective, once the oil burns out, we'd be flanked by orks almost straight away. The best bet is to conscript. And the priority is to defend the city, not the citizens. While the citizens should be defended, if some of them must be sacrificed for the city and for the rest of them, then so be it."

"It would be possible, but my attention would be drawn to the shield. Sustaining both a shield and multiple traps would be far too taxing on my physical and mental state." the old wizard replied truthfully.

"At least i've been taking steps to protect people by ensuring those ork bands never made it to their target. Which was often a lightly guarded settlement instead of sitting in a palace and drinking fine wines and dreaming about glory." Navariësé said to the general. "But we don't have to light the oil. The oil itself could hinder them and may prevent them from attacking us via the undefended walls." She told the council. "That is unfortunate. Whilst i meant a different spell which you used, i believe that it is not an option for the same reason." She said to Eandire.

"It seems there is much about the Orkish Wars which you are ignorant about, namely the part which I played in the defence of numerous towns and villages at the risk of my own rank. I disobeyed my superiors to protect the civilians of this nation, so do not accuse me of something which I am not. Believe me, my achievements are many and far exceed your own." the general replied, rather angrily.

"We are getting distracted." Navariësé told the general. "Besides, you had an entire army behind you. I've been working alone and relied on no-one during my attacks on Norkel's foul beasts. Now, let us return to the topic at hand which is the city and it's citizens." She said to the general. "Does the mage guild possess anything that can be used against the orks which does not require a mage to use?" She asked the head of the guild of mages.

"And the fact that I had an entire army with me reflected the far superior enemies which I had to face. You are the one distracting us, nomad. With your insults and blatant ignorant. I have met children with more knowledge than you, and lords with more humility. Perhaps you should silence your tongue and allow your menagi friend to speak." the general hissed, looking at Gailen for his opinion on the matter.

"All things magical require someone magical to use, my dear." the slightly absent-minded Boros replied. "Such mechanical contraptions would fall into the realm of the Guild of Warriors."

Baldáin Kráidáin, the ancient yet powerful leader of the Guild of Warriors, a humble organisation that acted in much the same way as the guard force, yet with a further reach, was present at the meeting. He had been silent since the start and only spoke when he was addressed. "Ahem... yes. We do have some traps, but they are for hunters and are to be used against game and fugitives, not entire armies."

"If we have the time, we should use the traps on chokepoints if there are any." Navariësé told the council. "If not, use them on the walls that we can't defend but are too dangerous to allow the horde to use and before covering the wall in oil. It would slow them down for a bit." She suggested to the council.

The Old City

"You! You two! The elf and the barab!" yelled a limping guard, coming from the palace. "Ronin and Yalveni! You are needed in the palace. I was sent to escort you to your friend, Eändíré I believe. There is a council ongoing and your presence is requested!"

"Alright, lead the way," said Ronin, although he waited for Yalveni to respond before starting to follow the guard.

"Of course," Yalveni said after helping as many people as he could. "I bet it's good news;" sarcasm stung with his every word.