“Alright, let’s see if there’s anything new we can work with. Come on.”
I signal my second-in-command to follow me to the bridge.
It was busy at the Eye. People were walking all around the place with paperwork in their hands or analyzing the magic tablets that were placed orderly by the side. It’s no surprise it’s a busy place, but now it’s worse than usually.
The Eye was an underground observatory that uses magic to oversee anything and everything that happens in the outside world. We work here as part of an organization without an official name. After all, our existence is secret to anybody who lives outside. The people here seem to have grown fond of calling themselves and their colleagues Silent Gods. Somebody thought of that name a while back and it stuck. We observe the outside world and intervene if anything occurs that could threaten the existence of any of the factions. However, our policy demands that we don’t leave the slightest clue behind, should we be forced to intervene. We rarely have to, but it would explain why most people here name each other Silent Gods. The reason to our secrecy isn’t that hard to find either. If people know they’re being watched and ‘judged’, they will act unlike themselves. And for that, we have these magic tablets. They link to millions of places, but now they’re all fixed on a few specific areas.
As we pass through the door to the bridge, a tall man turns around to see who it is.
“Nothing yet, ma’am.” he tells me with a disillusioned expression on his face.
I asked him what we could’ve possibly overlooked, but he didn’t know the answer to that either.
“Ok, let’s retrace what has happened. There must be a reason.” I continued.
“Very well. It all started yesterday at 17:39.” the man said as he walked to a large map in the center of the room. He zoomed in on one of the 4 territories on the map and placed a couple of markers in it.
“When the troops of the Malgorn faction, led by general Creigo, marched into Gardona territory here, they slayed all scouting patrols they encountered. The Gardona faction didn’t expect an attack from them, but from the Jorph faction to the north. They reinforced their northern border with most of their troops, led by their general, general Stulliwyn.” he said while marking a large area on the edge of the map.
”By the time they got the message that they were under attack from the south, they were forced to get back to their capitol as soon as possible. This would’ve been a 3-day trip and they would never have arrived in time. General Creigo was well aware of this, so he marched towards the heart of the Malgorn Empire, slaying every battalion that tried to slow them down as much as possible.”
He moved the marker that represented the Malgorn army towards the center of the map and continued.
”This delay barely had any effect. In just 35 hours, general Creigo and his legion stood at the capitol walls. With the attack force he had at his disposal, he could’ve claimed the metropolis well before general Stulliwyn and his men would arrive.”
“But he didn’t.” I clarified. “Now the question is: Why?”
I lean over the map, looking for any clues that could even give the slightest hint to this strange behavior. They had nothing to fear and everything to gain.
“Did the intercepted orders enlighten anything, Uraph?” my second-in-command, Gretoh asked.
“Our spies got all orders they could find, but those only contain info about attacking the capitol.” the tall man replied. “There’s nothing that would point towards a retreat. The Calwax faction to the west didn’t show any sign of hostility, so they couldn’t have feared for an attack from them. Calwax also has no pacts with the other factions.”
Uraph takes a deep breath while looking at the map.
“It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“We must be overlooking something.” I said while joined him in staring at that wretched map. “You don’t just put your entire army behind enemy lines to reach the grand prize and leave without even touching it.”
“Uraph…” Gretoh suddenly said.
I looked at him and saw a glimpse on his face that would indicate he might have found a clue or something.
“Can you track down the current position of general Stulliwyn and his troops?” he continued.
“Yea, sure. Just a minute.”
Uraph went to one his private tablet to enter some data. The map was whipped of all markers and not much later, a new one appeared.
“What are they doing there?” I asked myself while curiously looking at the flashing area that just appeared.
“And now check the location of Malgorn’s armies.” Gretoh continued, still showing that same expression on his face.
A bit more data was entered in the tablet, and another market appeared.
“Are you sure that’s them?” I asked.
“Absolutely, ma’am. It seems that general Stulliwyn finds chasing the enemy more important than protecting his homeland.”
“No, they’re not moving fast enough to be hunting them. It’s nothing like a chase.”
We both looked curiously at Gretoh when he said those words. I didn’t make him my second-in-command for no reason. He has more military experience than anybody I’ve ever encountered. Which is why this was so curious. If he says they’re not chasing, they’re not chasing. But what were they doing then?
As those thoughts passed my mind, I saw his posture change as if he had it all figured out. And he almost did.
“I know what pattern that is.” he mumbled, still trying to put the pieces together he just seem to have found. “They’re not hunting them… They are joining them.”
I was stunned by what he just said. I wanted to believe him like I always have, but this would be like defying the laws of nature.
“Malgorn and Gardona have been at war for over 25 years.” I said in disbelief.
“Besides, if there were orders like that sent to the armies, we would have known.” Uraph added to that.
That look Gretoh had didn’t change a bit after hearing that. He had a theory, and it was well grounded by the looks of it.
“Exactly!” he said.
He looked at me, and I noticed a glimpse of pride. He must’ve put all the pieces together, there’s no doubt about it.
“Malgorn and Gardona have been at war and they sent no orders. That’s because it’s not them. Gardona never could’ve sent a message to their army that fast. By the distance between the border and their current position, the Gardona army was already on its way when the city was reached by the Malgornian troops. They’re disobeying orders to protect the border.”
“What?” Uraph said shocked. “Then what about their defenses against the Jorphans?”
“See for yourself.”
Gretoh nodded to the tablet and Uraph understood he should track down the biggest army the Jorph Empire had outside their walls. A little bit later, a third point on the map started flashing. That one wasn’t where it was supposed to be either. As ironic as it may sound, it was all so strange that it actually started to make sense.
“Shall I track down the main Calwax army as well, just in case?” Uraph asked.
I nodded and a moment later, a fourth point was marked. As we all suspected, it was way out of its patrolling area.
“So it’s a military gathering of the entire continent, huh? But what will they be doing there? I’ll check if we had any relative intercepted messages from any of the other factions.”
I looked at Gretoh to see if he could save him the effort by explaining that as well, but he didn’t seem to have gotten that far in solving the riddle himself either.
