Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 84: Defectors

Heith called his advisor over, his back to the entrance of the room as he watched debris and the mushroom cloud rise into the sky. Mana pulsed around him, causing his desk to collapse. His body shook as he grabbed the wall. "Very well, otherworlders. You will all burn." He said, turning his back to the scene. He walked over to his now destroyed desk, staring at it. "Tsk." He kicked the crumpled wood to the side, sitting on his chair.

"Sire!" A young man yelled as he walked into the room. He took note of the desk and immediately got down on one knee, looking at the ground. "You called for me?"

Heith crossed one leg over the other, staring down at the man. "Yes. Call for the war council. Every General shall be there. I do not care if we must use the remaining teleportation mirrors. Call for them. They are to be here by evening tomorrow."

The man nodded. "Yes sire. Will that be all?"

Heith looked at his desk. "Have a new desk brought to me."

"As you wish, milord."

In the morning, servants rushed about. The head butler sighed and leaned against a wall. He looked at the massive hall in front of him. The meeting room was arrayed in a dome, with seats for each high ranking advisor displayed with name plates for each. Maids ran back and forth among the rows, sweeping the dust off aisles, and polishing the wooden desks. The butler looked up to the fourth and fifth rows. "Ignore sections 60-80. We do not need to pull the red carpet out for riff rafff who will likely not show up." The man commanded the head maid. "Lord Heith has informed us to prepare every seat to his liking. Let us prepare this place so that he may hold his meeting with peace of mind."

The maid bowed. "Yes, Lord Owersky."

"Good. You may go."

After sending the maid on her way, Owersky began making his own preparations. He laid out documents detailing troop movement and unit capabilities, as well as reports for the industrial development sectors that had been unaffected by the blasts.

Heith walked into the chambers, causing every servant to bow.

"Resume your duties."

Owersky nodded as he handed the most recent production estimates to Hieth.

"Milord, the otherworlders seem to not know of our other projects. They only hit the Llrathel facility and nothing else in any of the other provinces."

Heith smiled as he patted his butler on the back. "Very good, Owersky. I am most pleased. How many know of these plans?"

Owersky paused as he pulled his notebook out, reviewing a list of names. "Fifteen, my liege. Including myself. So fourteen outside of you and I."

Heith sat down, looking at the map. "Kill all of them."

Owersky stood straight and bowed, his face hiding his shock. He knew better than to question his Lord. "It will be done by sunrise tomorrow, my lord."

Heith smirked, tapping his hand on the desk. "Very good, Owersky. I will leave you to it."

As Owersky left the chambers, he grumbled to himself. "I have to inform Mia that they have more."

He left to carry out the prince’s orders.

Owersky sat in a room with fourteen other people. They had gathered after he sent out the servants to collect them. "It is time for us to defect." Owersky said as he looked around.

"The prince has become increasingly hostile, and he just now ordered me to kill all of you. Gather your family and friends. We leave tonight."

A man from the back spoke up, his body trembling. "Can we escape? We are still deep in empire territory. We have no way out."

Owersky smiled and held up fifteen mirrors. "Being the prince’s right hand man has it’s benefits, my friend."

A woman to his right than spoke up. "And how do we know you are not lying to us, just wanting to kill us each in a secluded area?"

Owersky dropped his smile, his eyes going cold. "That piece of shit killed my daughter and defiled my wife. I will never forgive the empire. Even now, as we speak, the elves and dwarves are treated as mere livestock..."

He parted his hair to reveal his ears. "And i am part elf."

"If there is anyone that hates the empire more than me, let me meet them."

Murmurs around the room erupted as they nodded in assent.

That night, fifteen noble families disappeared from the capital. Heith was woken up by one of his guards. "Sire! Apologies for waking you, but I have an urgent report!"

Heith stirred, angrily getting out of bed as he splashed water on his face. "This had better be good, lest your head is separated from your body."

The guard gulped and nodded. "Sire! Some of the noble families that were supposed to show up today have disappeared. It is as if they all vanished."

Heith smiled.

Owersky moves fast.

"Bring me the list. If they are who I think they are, then I already know of it."

As Heith perused the list, he nodded. Each family name gone meant only one thing: Owersky had done his job.

"Fetch me Owersky. Have him report to me."

The guard nodded. "Yes sire."

Heith sat at his desk, looking out over the horizon.

The guard returned a few minutes later. "Sire, Owersky is not in his quarters. His wife is gone as well."

Heith’s eyebrows narrowed. "Find them."

The guard gulped, feeling the pressure radiating off of Heith. "Yes sire."

The guards searched until mid morning. Owersky was nowhere to be found. Heith paced in his office, his hands clasped behind his back.

"That scoundrel betrayed me." He growled.

He looked at the map, tracing his finger along Esponia. "Very well. If he wants to defect, he will live with his choice. The freedom he sought will be the noose of his own making."

He called off the search.

"Is the council ready?"

The guard nodded. His body trembling as sweat trickled down his neck. "Very well. Let us proceed."

He walked out of his room, heading down the hallway to the first floor. When he walked into the chambers, chairs squealed as hundreds of people kneeled. He took his own seat, and waved his hand. "You may sit."

Silence presided over the room.

"Effective immediately, Owersky and the following families are branded as traitors. Reward for their capture dead or alive will be one million Empire credits per head."

He read from the list.

"These families have stolen empire secrets and technology, and any one family harboring them will be executed."

He then turned to his reports. "Now, getting to the matter at hand. Recently, we have finally removed the obstacle that has plagued us for so long. The Esponia mountains that have been our barrier to Riemskin are no more."

A general in the front raised his hand, kneeling. "Sire, permission to speak?"

Heith nodded. "Granted."

The man stood up. "Sire, we have confirmed that the enemy has fallen back to behind the foothills. It seems that they are consolidating manpower and resources to engage us head on."

Heith sneered. "A foolish endeavor."

The General nodded. "Yes sire. We will have the main forces ready to engage within the month."

Heith crossed his hands over the desk as he looked at the map, his fingers traced a line around the foothills of Esponia.

"We will blockade their measly forces. From the eastern coast to the western coast. We will push through Esponia and encircle them."

Generals began scribbling notes as they listened. Each soldier here knew that he gave the orders. They would decide how to fulfill them.

"I want Riemskin gone by the end of the year. We no longer have the mountains in between us."

Heith stood up to dismiss the generals as his eyes widened. A voice filled the entire hall. "Disregard that order" it called. Air pressure squeezed on every soldier present. Some fighting just to stay conscious as a man walked into the room. He looked like Heith, but instead of blonde hair his was graying. The pressure ceased as the man walked in.

"You have failed me again, Prince Heith." The man said, his eyes narrowing as he walked up, taking the throne next to Heith. "Father... I..."

Mithrael waved his hand. "Silence child. You have wasted enough resources as it is. Your pride and ego have cost the empire enough. Take prince Heith to his quarters. He will be on house arrest until I address him at a later time."

Two guards approached, apprehension on their face. The last time Heith had been placed on house arrest, the prince had killed ten guards.

The prince clenched his jaw and looked down. "Must I, father?"

The God sighed and closed his eyes. "You have not learned to swallow your ego, and have led too many men to senseless deaths. For that, I must teach you. For now, yes. Go. You sicken me. You failed. Leave my sight."