Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 149: Good News/Bad News

"Your Supremacy! I don't understand! I have brought you the location of the energy rich plane that I promised so long ago. What is wrong?" Xerev quaked in fear, and slunk even lower, bringing himself as low as possible. He dripped with sweat and his hands shook, he slowly raised his gaze and to his horror, saw that Xurha was approaching him.

"You! You had the coordinates at least a half hour ago, didn't you. Yet you spent all this time prettying yourself up like some *****!" Xurha's boots were now visible in the edge of Xerev's vision, but he kept his head bowed. How had Xurha known that  he received the coordinates so long ago, and why did he even care?

"Do you take me for a fool! Play your silly games of imaginary power and maneuvering when it doesn't concern such an important matter. And you'd do well to avoid making any more messes in my garden!" Xurha picked up Xerev by the throat, holding him high. The thick fingers wrapped around Xerev's throat slowly grew tighter and tighter, and Xerev stared, terrified, into the inhuman, glowing red eyes of the beast before him. 

The broken face, the deathly pale skin and thin crown around his brow all only contributed to the terror Xerev felt, Xerev shook more than ever, and if it weren't for the fact that he hadn't had anything to drink this day, he might have wet himself in fear.

"Trash." Xurha said with a disappointed tone, pulling the cylinder from within Xerev's cloak, and tossing it on to the seat of his throne.

Thwack! One of Xurha's thick hands backhanded Xerev, knocking him unconscious, and then Xurha tossed the explorer aside, he had no more time for this fool, he had a war to prepare for.

Many, many planes away, on a plane rich in both history and culture. On a small piece of land known to the natives as the Isle, a report had reached the Grand Marshal of the Ursten Army that had turned his mood completely, he had been so pleased at the success of the first step of his expansion southward, but this had changed everything.

"My dear, if only you were here in the flesh." Tam whispered, gazing into an empty space slightly in front of and above him, with a wistful gaze, half lifting one of his hands to reach out into the air.

He leaned back into the chair, a tired expression on his face, and massaged his temples for a moment. Then he stood up straight, and strapped on his sword belt.

"Rod, where are you lad!" Tam yelled out as he poked his head out from his tent, thanks to the many obscuring and defensive runic constructs on the tent, he could yell constantly without anyone hearing.

"Right here, Sir!" The young soldier came sprinting out from the network of tents around Tam's own. They had camped on Multas, and now that the soldiers were sure of an extended campaign, many small 'arenas' had formed throughout the encampment, where soldiers constantly dueled and trained.

While it made for a far less organized encampment, Tam had no complaints about something that made his soldiers stronger in the long run. 

Tam watched the skinny soldier come skidding to a halt in front of him, the red stubble had grown into a frizzy red halo of hair around his scalp, made worse by the constantly changing air of the Multas Islands. He was still thin, but he had spent a fair amount of time training and Rod now had a wiry strength around him. 

"I need you to go and fetch a soldier named Rufus, from the Nighthawks unit. Understood?" Tam said to Rod, who currently stood as strictly to attention as he had when he had first joined up with Tam's army, some things never changed.

"Of course, sir. Will that be all, sir?" Rod looked visibly pale as he heard the name 'Nighthawks', the soldiers were all mysterious and many of them picked fights with other soldiers, no matter the other soldier's strength or standing. And they often won.

"Ease up Rod! They won't be picking on new blood like you. You can take it as a sign of respect even if they do." Tam chuckled and gave Rod a reassuring pat on his shoulder.

Rod nodded, and gulped a few times, he then marched off briskly, still looking a little pale but with an expression of firm resolve on his face.

Tam headed back into his tent, and pulled a bronze device with a small green Mana Crystal set in the center. It was one of the devices that Anteris' fleet used to communicate with each other, the devices themselves were ingenious, they used Wind Mana to communicate the speaker's voice to the other device, which would amplify the sound that it received.

Tam frowned in concentration, and then turned the dials on the face of the device, trying his best to remember Anteris' instructions. Then he picked up the squared shaped device, and took it outside, just like his voice, the mana from this device wouldn't escape his tent, since it would be shaped mana, touched by a person. 

"Anteris, it's me, Tam. Let me know if you can hear me." Tam spoke tentatively into the device. A few minutes passed, and then a soft clicking noise came from the device, and Tam flicked a switch.

"Yes, I can hear you, I thought you'd stop with that 'Can you hear me?' business after the first few times. What is it?" Anteris' voice, slightly annoyed, came from the device.

"I need to see you. Come as soon as you can." Tam spoked seriously and clearly into the device, there was no answering reply, but Tam knew Anteris would be hurrying over right this minute.

Since Tam hadn't sued any of their agreed upon code words, he would know it was something unexpected and urgent, and that meant something, trouble in Ursten.