As For The Fifty-Seven Other Cases, Typically One Of The “Usuals” Is To Blame

  The other consequence was exploitation to the fullest of Lommad's abilities by Taomenk Genarostaf, who no longer relied on the caprice of fortune to make available guides who were themselves capricious. Lommad, with Atkosol's permission and often his presence, expedited the mapping effort by ferrying the engineer's team between worlds. Initial fears that the formerly trapped fairies alone knew where they might safely make the transfer were not vindicated. While she had never used her transportation ability before, Lommad soon became confident. “One can determine it. It is no different from knowing that a lake is wet before one steps in it and so.” The results aligned with her assurances, and the single aberration she noticed during the trips prompted her to remark that a strange power suffused fairyland, one nothing like fairy magic, the ritual for preventing mold she had paid to be done at home, or a show put on by a Reciter who specialized in entertainment.

  Dirant learned of the unknown energy when a request came down that he accompany Mr. Patklenk on an excursion to determine whether rituals were implicated, which both concluded was not the case. He heard more about it when Atkosol again requested his presence, this time to sit on a panel of fairy experts, in a relative sense naturally. Another bold theory had come to Atkosol, and he wished to confer.

  “Can this energy be the reason for this settlement's existence? I have concluded that it is. The ancient Ertithans either discovered it here or else invented something to generate it. Presuming one of those scenarios to be true, how do we go about subjecting the energy to study?”

  Silence filled his drawing room, the only one in camp, in the wake of those words until Atkosol clarified that was not a rhetorical question. He had not gathered people with direct experience simply to listen to his ideas. He had employees for that.

  Aptezor, present and grateful to receive a small consulting fee, remembered something of possible relevance. “The fairies told us the strongest knew something about the central area. I presumed that by the strongest they meant Ydridd, Ava, Ishtu, Zatdil, and Jiojjil, but I was unable to polish the silver.”

  Takki leaned over. “Is that a saying?” she whispered.

  “It is. It refers to confirming that something's nature matches its appearance.” Dirant raised his voice. “The exact wording, was it that the strongest can 'make something of it,' or? Mr. Taomenk?”

  “I remember it that way, Mr. Dirant. I won't pretend we haven't all decided the center is full of Ertith Energy the kings and queens pull out when they want it.”

  “Cannot we make a better term than 'Ertith Energy?'” Gabdirn had a good point but bad timing, the others concluded.

  The discussion went on in the manner of an artist painting over a pencil sketch. As necessary as the intermediate steps were, the final form had been fixed long before. Atkosol Tellanstal, upon the advice of and with the support of everyone present, decided that in order to isolate and study the Ertith Energy, to give the phenomenon its provisional name, the best course was to conquer the five fairy realms and place his wife over them as the sole fairy queen.

  Even Adabans were reluctant to go conquering without preparation, an observation from Takki which brought the polite correction that the phrase “Adabans especially” should be preferred in the interest of accuracy. No one was so rude as to suggest the comparative land area held by Adabans and the Jalpi Peffu followed inevitably from the corrected statement.

  The resources required for the campaign had to be determined. After considering the known performance of fairy armies, the attrition which had already taken place in the form of fairy dispersion, and his own experience with coordinating activity in both the private and public spheres with a particular emphasis on rapidity, Atkosol decided he had enough people right there. He offered bonuses to his own laborers as well as other camp residents and Ividottlofers for military participation and hired Medant Denmarof to command them despite his record of zero wins and one loss as Dirant pointed out.

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  “'We prefer the general who loses productively to one who triumphs wastefully.' That I have an authoritative quotation ready is a further reason for the decision,” Medant opined.

  “The quotation is unfamiliar to me, and yet—“

  “Exactly. No more need be said.”

  “However—“

  “If you will not accept a suggestion, Lieutenant, you must kneel to an order.”

  A harsh demotion from captain, but Dirant had accepted it, just as Medant accepted the rank of guard-captain which, implying as it did merely a domestic assignment, would not rattle the state authorities so much as it otherwise might. Over in Beborelp, the capital of Enpasatosalkir (and therefore a city regardless of the tendency of visitors to argue if it ought to be categorized as a large town or whether it was more precise to dispense with the adjective), discussions were underway regarding the proper governmental actions. The question of whether the fairy districts fell within Enpasatosalkir's jurisdiction because they could be entered from it caused extensive disputes by itself. Atkosol had no wish to add to the anxiety there. Far from that, by swift action he hoped to spare the local Entet the need to make any decisions whatever.

  Medant straightforwardly calculated that a victorious campaign there, conducted while in the employ of no less eminent a person than Atkosol Tellanstal and witnessed by a veritable cornfield of reporters, had the potential to impart to his career such velocity that his aim of becoming a condottiero before he had to retire owing to a bruised and broken everything might be realized after all. Failing that, a swift rise in reputation at the least was assured.

  Dirant volunteered for subtler reasons. He wanted, in a very sophisticated and nuanced fashion, to use a bunch of fairy rituals. A few visiting Ritualists, drawn there by a fascination with either Ertith or general novelty, signed up with the same desire in mind, and their shared conviction that such a demonstration would be an ornament to their profession confirmed each in it all the more. He further wanted, in a primitive and brutal sort of way, something which he thought proper to warn his temporary superior about beforehand.

  “But Dirant, it isn't good practice to permit even a Ritualist to work over a prisoner. Probably you aren't capable of doing much to him. Very good, but then what do I say to the next soldier who wants time alone with a hated enemy? That is if we are called upon to imprison Doltandon at all, which there is no reason to predict.”

  “Everything you say is correct, and henceforth I have it available to present as an argument against my worse impulses when they petition me to adopt unwise courses.”

  Regarding Doltandon Yurvitas, the laborers who signed on for the private army, most of them since more pay for less danger was a combination persuasive to everyone but the fiercest lover of holes, had the impression Mr. Doltandon was in need of rescue and exhibited especial enthusiasm for the campaign because of it. The contrast during drills from what Aptezor saw in the lake district amazed him, and soon Medant succeeded in forging into a sharp steel sword the metal-hard Adabans and also the Survyais, who could be the hilt and the little decorated pommel if they wanted.

  The reporters who still had jobs divided in their opinions on which to prioritize in their coverage: The growth of the army and the upcoming fairy war; the ongoing disappearances with emphasis on how long fairies could be blamed for people wandering over to Cowsick Point and getting themselves transported; guides concerning how to tell if one's wife, cousin, or accountant had been a fairy the whole time; or the excavation. Nalfenk alone favored the last option.

  Some tried to collect mercenary pay at the same time, and since nothing prevented a Duelist from being a reporter, not all failed. If anything, many publications preferred their society correspondents to possess some combat skill in the event of extra-judicial reprisals; Baozir Nalna's class, Workman, exposed Over the Plain's small recruitment pool, which in turn explained a few other things.

  The last prerequisite for a well-ordered campaign was a plan. While guaranteed to be discarded, it made the foundation upon which the actual plan would be built. They were not there yet, though. First the troops, in an excess of fervor according to the state government when articles concerning the matter came to its attention but with commendable initiative in their commander's view, created their own banners. More precisely they were Lommad banners, as someone unfamiliar with the situation could perceive with a single look on the basis that they consisted of her name spelled vertically in red letters against a green background, proof that no Colorists or Drastlifars had joined the army.

  Atkosol for his part approved. Lommad looked on the innovation with complacency, not an uncommon condition for her. A reporter did ask whether she would look to put some other name on the banner later in view of the propensity of the underground fairies to change theirs.

  “I already did that. Mrs. Atkosol Tellanstal.”

  The interviewer loved the line and chose not to report that Lommad followed it by saying, with an unassailable smile, “Therefore I own two names.” She put an immoderate emphasis on the “two.”

  A good banner can triple unit cohesion, and a bad one can too, Guard-Captain Medant claimed someone who ought to know said. The behavior of the volunteers during the arts and crafts process and afterward in the exercises satisfied him. He declared his soldiers fully qualified to stand around in a manner reminiscent of discipline, which sufficed for the first stage of the operation. That much had been worked out by Medant, Atkosol, and various consultants.