After mentally rolling her eyes at the Fortuneteller, Sammy bampf’d back to her realm for some nighttime updates and such. Redberry had the equivalent of a finger held up in a ‘just one minute’ gesture, so she focused on other things.

Pythia had been right about Zadkiel giving up Port Al Kenstrom… but it did not go quietly. Demons and Naugites within fought to the death, all orchestrated and set up to cause as much damage as possible rather than actually hold the city. It had largely been abandoned, Zadkiel discharging the citizenry with emergency food supplies, some coin, and the promise of ‘a better way someday soon.’

He really commits to propaganda. But wow, he legitimately wants to rule these lands.

Eventually, inevitably, the Dominion persevered and occupied the town and the castle, however…

Not very long after the news was dropped, Jeeves came back with an alarming report. He flashed imagery of incredible devastation seen from a bird’s-eye-view. Smoke plumes looked like a city had been carpet-bombed. “Your Majesty, the walls, the castle, barracks, and all fortifications of Port Al Kenstrom have… detonated. Seemingly. Explosions blanketed it all at once and the stone has completely collapsed.”

Sammy stared wide-eyed at the carnage. Great lines of fire in the night. “Holy shit! He can do that?!”

“Apparently so. And probably a great time to reveal it, all things considered. The Dominion was apt to make a celebration in the castle of this victory after all the grueling battles they’ve been drawn into so far. Good wine was popped open for it.”

A devilish grin blossomed on Sammy’s face. Somehow, she imagined Zadkiel was making the exact same one right then. “Ha! So a bunch of drunk soldiers and wizards just bought it. Sweet, sweet heavens. How did they not detect that lurking it if it was magical? Wouldn’t they look for traps and such?”

Jeeves shook his head with an air of disbelief and shrugged. “They would have, I would think, and their wizards are literally the best at it. It is either a tremendous oversight or somehow Zadkiel arranged for something that just could not be detected.”

“Like what?”

Jeeves shook his head. “It can’t be conventional gunpowder, at least.”

“Right. It just won’t work. But maybe some other alchemy could be developed. Zadkiel is a powerful wizard, probably an alchemist, and likely has some secretive wizardly order or something in his back pocket.”

“It seems feasible. Most Naugite clans do not like wizardry on the surface, so a secret organization would be the best path for political reasons among them. Even if Zadkiel controls some clans absolutely, others are merely allies.”

“So what do you think the damage is from this, here?”

“Heinous, Madam. Of those spellcasters lacking high levels or contingency protections, a significant percentage of them are now dead. The Dominion has large numbers of low-level war wizards… and there are also the other soldiers, who wouldn’t have fared well from explosions and collapsing stone. Zadkiel traded some of his forces and resources for this, but he got many multiples more casualties out of them.”

“Alright. Continue to assess and investigate, then.” After Jeeves disappeared, she called, “Pythia? Anything to say, here?”

The feline appeared on the top of her throne, looking down. “Too early for me to say anything. I don’t know what it means yet. There’s Zadkiel The Public Persona, and then there’s Zadkiel In His Own Little World, where he guards his secrets closely. I do know portal or gateway shenanigans were going on in the castle, but he is very careful and meticulous about scrying wards.

“He has to guard against Dominion-level intelligence-gathering, so we’re especially ill-suited to penetrating that web. You’re better off trying to pry it out of him persuasively. Shake the shapely green butt a little, maybe.”

Sammy had her head completely turned upward, and her eyebrows climbed upward too at that last bit. “Um, excuse me?”

The Cat-Sith shrugged as she stretched out on the top of the throne. Licked a paw. “In any case, there’s no uncovering details from the site at this point. I am sure he’s covered his tracks and annihilated any evidence in the demolishing act. If there is anything, perhaps we can overhear from the Dominion agents through eavesdropping… but I’m not getting my hopes up.”

“These gateways, just how easily can he set all this up?”

“Not easily nor cheaply, I think, but we can’t know for sure. I don’t think he’ll pull this exact trick again, knowing they’ll be ready for it. Not unless it is legitimately easy.”

“Alright. So… now, the Dominion will be pursuing deeper south and east, correct?”

“Quite. Zadkiel is unlikely to fight for poorly-protected towns, so primarily the battles will be at the fortresses beyond him endlessly skirmishing with expendable troops. Perhaps more ingenuity with traps as well.”

“I feel like he’ll have a few more tricks up his sleeve. Anyway, you’re dismissed. Thank you.”

“Hmmph.” Pythia disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She thought about contacting Zadkiel to try to pry loose some intel, but it seemed unlikely without going down a road she was especially not inclined to. Perhaps she could just ask Redberry to work on him a bit. After all, the headaches were gone. While it would be amusing to hear her reaction to the idea, there were other more pressing topics with her.

I bet that trick Zaddy pulled is one of the reasons he wanted that general dead so badly. A genius tactician probably would’ve sniffed it out or maintained more disciplined habits that mitigated it.

In Fobent, her Mystagogue Saphos reported she had secured a meeting with Linnore the following day, by which Sammy could spy her in the mirror and hopefully bring her into the fold. This would be fairly critical for the war and for Linnore’s survival itself, as had been related to her by Pythia shortly after Azure and Sammy had returned from the Hall.

Not long after the bits of news, Redberry contacted her: “Moth. We have things to discuss. Care to join me?”

“Sure.” Sammy gave a quick affirmative and accepted an invitation to Red’s realm.

She was brought to a forest well-lit by a daylight sun, with tall trees as a canopy for plentiful flowering bushes, grasses, and mosses. Wooden steps were nearby, leading to a long, winding platform stretching through the wilderness, reminiscent of nature trails. Redberry was in her typical minimalistic garb, fully at home in the forest environment. She was another of its growths — perhaps its pinnacle one.

Sammy switched her dress out for some light summer hiking gear: a tucked-in, light blue t-shirt with a gold crown symbol on it, khaki shorts, hiking shoes, and a brimmed khaki hat.

Redberry looked her up and down and chuckled. “Adorable as always, Moth.”

The nature goddess snapped her fingers and appeared in an almost matching set to Sammy, only her shirt was dark green with a tree symbol on it. The hat was slightly different, with a band and a small feather bundle, including a teal peacock feather sticking up. Her dark hair was in a long, trailing braid behind her.

“Ahh!” Sammy practically screamed in delight when she saw it, rushing over for a hug. “You’re ridiculously cute, too!”

“Yes.” Returning the hug, Redberry gestured to the platform. “Shall we walk and talk?”

“Certainly!”

They began down the path, under trees and the lovely display of various hanging plants, bundles of wildflowers, and herbal bushes teasing with their fragrant scents. Occasionally, a river could be seen peeking through vistas beyond the brush.

“The Pantheon seems to be developing well,” Redberry started as she moved, eyes drinking in the details around as if they were novel to her as well. “My Followers are slowly rising back up to meet my desires, though some are not interested in helping. My target is over 2000 Faith Energy between the next two mornings, to which I have some shot of meeting.”

Sammy made an impressed noise. “Obviously, I’m not going to hit that. Something shy of a thousand I’d guess.”

“Three or four days, then. We are on target.”

“Good, good.” After a pause she offered, “I got the chance to talk to Marjorie and she is fully on board with the most efficient means of resurrection. So the dryad body is a go, if it is on your end.”

“Excellent. I have fully investigated the necessary means of the act and it is hypothetically sound. Many trees are amenable to the potential coupling. I could use more info… impressions of a psychic nature, things about who she is, to make the best aural pairing.”

“I… didn’t realize it would be like that. Ah. Okay, sure, we can work on that.”

“Not to worry, Moth. The tree psyche is a subtle force and a gentle symbiosis. She will be entirely dominant, only feel the tree more or less as a kind of emotion. They cannot ‘talk’ in the quick way of mammals. Because of the strength that she will give the tree, it will generally be warmth and support, though she may find herself drowsy and sluggish in the winter.”

“Fascinating… you get that way, too, right?”

“Yes. But do note, these details about physical dryads are not how I function, nor will I reveal that function to anyone.”

“Oh. Sure! No, sorry, I didn’t- that’s fine, yeah.”

Smirking at her side-eyed, Redberry stopped by some wildflowers to pluck out a blue one, which she then maneuvered to tie into a lock of Sammy’s hair.

Sammy grinned at the gesture. “I’ll expect a gesture likewise in the real world.”

“Oh?” Briefly, Red quirked an eyebrow. “As you wish, Goddess of Light. One that will live in bloom forever, no less.”

“Well… you don’t have to do th-”

Redberry began walking again and interrupted, “I’m afraid there is plenty of time to arrange the aural matters with Marjorie, as I have issues with the material requirements of the act. Unsurprisingly, resource reserves of the rare things I collected have deteriorated and disappeared over the last century. Most of these I know how to acquire within my demesnes, but a few are going to be tricky…”

Sammy jogged a bit to catch up, ducking under some tree leaves with red berries at the end. “Tricky how? Ooh, is this a quest?!”

“Likely, yes, and me with no champions. Whatever will I do?” She glanced at Sammy with a wan smile. “Sadly, one I think I have to do myself, as it requires the month-fresh blood of a High Regenerator. In other words, a level 10-plus, natural, monstrous beast of some sort. Or a troll, which are near to beasts these days. The beasts of my lands are largely extinct and the champions left of the remainders are likely all slain.”

Redberry sighed and grabbed a passing dandelion seedhead to idly twirl and cause to scatter. “I’ll need to make an Avatar and go elsewhere. A troll champion, or a young hydra. Beneath the mountains for a giant Muck Creeper… but one could fight hundreds of lesser specimens before finding one. Mmph.”

Traesh has to know a viable troll to go after! But…

“Does the troll have to be killed?”

Redberry snorted. “It’s not easy to do in the first place! No. They can lose an arm and not care, Samantha. It’ll grow back, and they’ll probably find a way to flee. Only magical fire, acid, disintegration spells, and so on can kill such a powerful troll, and by the time they reach that point, they’ve faced such things and survived somehow. Otherwise, they’re essentially immortal.”

“Red, I need you to focus on your realm, not run around in the mountains hunting trolls. I have connections in the Borderlands and in Traesh. I’m better suited to dealing with this, so just leave it to me, eh?”

Sammy put on her best winning smile, to which Red frowned doubtfully.