The following day after the last of Honaril's soldiers were cut down and had their bodies raised Yorun stirs as he begins to wake once more, the smell of blood still permeating through the air with the worried and hushed tones of the soldiers who surrendered audible nearby, smoke from fires caused by magic still billowing upwards all the while Yorun can sense the injured nearby both former enemy and ally yet above all else he feels all the new undead connected to him. As Yoruns eyes open he feels someone healing him and he recognises the face of the woman doing that.
"Gira? Argh... When'd you get back?" Yorun asked her as he slowly sat up
"The elves were told of the situation and word reached my ears so I came to help however I could, learned quite a bit in my time in Qur'anther so thanks for that Yorun" Gira said
"No problem... Gods I still feel like my brains rattling around in my skull" Yorun said as he gently touched his head
"Well given everything that's hardly a surprise, I did my best to alleviate that which I can do a lot better now, other than that the stab wound to your shoulder I also dealt with, the blade was still in you when you fell unconscious, just be glad you were caught and didn't just hit the ground." Gira said somewhat jokingly
"Point made" Yorun said as he slowly got up with Gira's aid
"How's everyone doing?" Yorun asked
"I've mainly been attending to you but from what I've seen and heard whenever Golanier and Sunhale came round is that things have been mostly fine, your forces have increased substantially and the elves took some hit to their forces but less than predicted, Honaril's forces however were nearly wiped out save for a few thousand smart ones that surrendered" Gira said
"You said mostly fine and listed only positives save for the hit to the elves" Yorun said
"Well true but there are a number of elves not too happy about it especially since their former comrades have now been raised alongside the ones fought to be apart of your army, suffice to say it caused a little friction" Gira said
"Hardly a surprise, they weren't happy the first time around either" Yorun said with an understanding though slightly irritated tone
Yorun steps out of the house he was placed in while the battle continued to rage, when stepping out he sees a veritable sea of undead and elves as well as humans originally from Kelinrask walking around, it takes only moments for Golanier to teleport next to him while Gira walks away to check in on other injured soldies.
"Hello Yorun, congrats on the win" Golanier said with a smirk as he pats him on the back only making Yorun groan from his still fairly in pain body
"Thanks though maybe I'll appreciate my win when I don't feel like death" Yorun said
"Oh come on the pains temporary Yorun. You. Won. You won against the first son of the emperor in one on one combat with one arm while he had more experience than you depriving the empire of their primary heir and a top soldier while gaining a massive addition to your forces" Golanier said
"Ok putting it like that makes me feel a lot better even if he did manage to hurt me through the armour both just due to force of being knocked around and that damn stab" Yorun said as he puts his hand to where the armour still has a noticeable hole through it from the blade
"Well I do have an answer for you about how he did that if you're curious" Golanier said
"Explain away" Yorun said
"The dragons scales especially those of Ghairlakriar are beyond tough but there are ways around it, dragon scales are very good at absorbing magic hence several reasons we made the armour but a sufficiently powerful opponent focussing both physical object and high quantities of magic into one spot can pierce it should the scales have already absorbed a lot of magic without getting rid of whats been absorbed. Prolonged fights make it worse for the armour, this is usually not a problem for dragons themselves given their size and as such they have far more scales while being generally a lot more dangerous, plus the nobles at least back in my day did enjoy hunting dragons for prestige so if they do so these days too then they've probably got knowledge on doing that" Golanier said as he walks with Yorun
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"Noted end battles quicker. Anyway I need to know how many ships we got from that alongside undead, determines a lot about our future plans" Yorun said
"Well we kept most of the ships intact though a few were flat out destroyed or damaged during it, at least three have damage from when the giants pushed them to the city and pushed a bit too hard causing them to hit into the port" Golanier said
"They need repairs then but either way we should have enough to have a proper undead naval power alongside the knowledge we can gather from Honaril about naval combat and such" Yorun said
"Indeed but thankfully means the ships won't all be a bit overcrowded though we should take some time" Golanier said
"Agreed and much as it terrifies me, it is time to give me a new arm. I could have ended that fight sooner if I still had it or had the new one sooner. So we need to work on that" Yorun said
"Alright, fine with me" Golanier said as he walked with him to where Sunhale and Norilas
"Here comes the big heroic corpse mover" Norilas said in a mocking yet joking tone
"I heard some elves were... not too happy about their comrades bodies being repurposed again" Yorun said
"Yes, I've quieted them down for now but they will have more problems with it when the war is over so you had best give them back" Norilas said with a serious tone
"I will" Yorun said
"Anyway need appraised of the situation or have you been filled in entirely?" Sunhale asked
"I've heard enough from both Golanier and Gira who I was admittedly surprised to see here, anyway I want to get back to the fortress and figure some things out" Yorun said
"Fair enough, Norilas I suggest you and the elves stay here for a bit while you figure your own things out though the people back home will likely want to know more about what's happened here" Sunhale said
"Indeed" Norilas said before walking away
Within seconds Sunhale, Golanier and Yorun appear in the fortress war room overlooking the plans they've made previously across the maps and documents left in the room from the last time they stood inside. Yorun looks at the Zeilna islands once more.
"This time we take the Zeilna Islands and hold them, we've the excess forces to properly have a force on the island as a permanent thing instead of a hold back the tide force" Yorun said
"Agreed and this time we don't need to do it so sneakily nor do I want too" Golanier said
"Things to set about doing later, we're back in our seat of power so we should rest properly" Sunhale said looking at them
"Right, though tomorrow Golanier and I will set about working on getting me my new arm" Yorun said
"And here I thought we'd deal with those two in the cells" Sunhale said jokingly
"Fuck I forgot about them, right I'll need to think about them too, arm first then them. As it stands right now our army is in a better place than it ever has been even if most of the available soldiers are still damn near brain dead until they've been around a while" Yorun said with a sigh
"Indeed, how's the princes soul doing by the way?" Golanier asked with a smirk
"I can feel his rage boiling within him yet he knows he can't do anything, he's keeping himself especially quiet as the reality of the situation is still hitting him" Yorun said
"Well small mercies are the fact he is quiet" Golanier said with a laugh
Yorun rolls his eyes and heads to his room shambling inside before laying down on the nice bed he's gotten used to from all the time he's been here, Yorun stares at the roof.
"Raeknar, you've been quiet for a while" Yorun said then Raeknar stepped through reality into the room
"There has been little to say, you've been progressing along the path you needed to go down, you've gotten stronger, more magically gifted and made your army larger. You've been more in tune with the abilities gifted to you as my chosen as well without my input. Suffice to say you need me less as was always to be the case eventually" Raeknar said as their form changed again
"More and more as time goes on I question certain things, if I do win and get my family and friends back, do I give up this army or do I try and take the emperors place like Golanier has suggested multiple times? Do I trust that Helimirals time as emperor would be better for everyone outlier villages included or do I take action of my own? I will live past my wifes natural death due to my magic, I will see my kids grandkids if not more than that. In that time so much can change and I could affect so much of it. Why should Kurinet and my family be beholden to people so far away just because they have been?" Yorun asked not even looking at Raeknar yet still towards the roof
"All things to figure out in time for yourself but be careful of how you act, these questions I have seen spiral many to acts that earned them their place within Konlair. Ideas they would have thought reprehensible once yet deemed better for one reason or another. I trust you will choose well Yorun" Raeknar said before disappearing once more leaving Yorun to ponder the future past his quests end...