Kobin hopped off the vehicle. ‘Then I will let you discover Waikor’s power alone,’ he said, and he began to walk away.
‘Return to your position, Callibrian. You have not been given permission to leave.’
Kobin paused, but did as the general wished. ‘I have never known a commander to wish to see his men die.’
Alkon shook his head. The comment was so ludicrous coming from Kobin that it did not warrant a response. Kobin, the man that had betrayed his own people to slaughter and continually show signs of no regard for human life ... attempting to lecture on the value of soldiers. Ridiculous. Alkon would leave Kobin to his mindless ramblings and walk back to the front lines where he found Lieutenant-General Liet Revarn using a pair of binoculars. He was using them to keep watch on a man in Alliance uniform walking through the wheat field and into the city.
When the man disappeared, Alkon spoke.
‘Do you think his skills sufficient?’
‘We will soon find out,’ Liet shrugged. ‘It is not his first negotiation.’
Alkon nodded. ‘The Callibrian tells me that they are a proud people who will refuse all offers, even if it means their deaths.’
‘I have heard similar stories.’
‘They have no defence,’ said Alkon.
‘Then why is it that you wish to ally with them, General?’
‘Weaponry. Their technology may lead us to greater finds.’
‘But that is not all,’ said Liet knowingly.
‘You can read me well, friend,’ said Alkon with a faint smile. ‘I think I will live here, someday. It is a beautiful city.’
Both stared into Waikor, through the gardens and buildings of the ring sections to the great mountain at its centre, miles in the distance. Alkon tried to imagine what it would have been like if there were people walking the streets, bringing the city alive with its daily routines. He wondered at the lifestyle, as there did not seem a poor man’s hut in sight. Even the buildings in the first ring were beautiful, easily equal to those in Ceahlin. And yet they appeared desolate without the people among them.
Alkon felt uncomfortable with the ghostly eeriness that had been left lingering. It made him think of how few people there were in this land compared to the other continents. Aurialis was one of the most uninhabited, with populations low and only a few major cities scattered across it. There was very little reason that the High Council could have had for invading here, aside from conquest over the Resistance and perhaps to further their empire over the entire world.
Like many others, Alkon had often wondered at the High Council’s motivation, as when he had first joined their ranks, it was simply a war between hostile nations that branched out under the message that the world needed to be cleansed. In the beginning, they had indeed cleansed the nations of those that would attack another unjustly, but what were they cleansing it of now? They had become that which they had set out to destroy. It had left him sleepless for many a night, and had given him fantasies of challenging the rule, taking control for himself so that good would be done.
Ceahlin had been abandoned by the time they had reached the city, scouts reporting the entire population had moved to Waikor, but the city had been almost entirely clean and as pure as what was before him now. If there were any civilisations to marvel at, Alkon believed these would have been the ones that would leave most in awe.
The birth nations of the Alliance were moderately well kept. They were not filled with rubbish but they weren’t completely clean either. They did not possess the same quality as Waikor and Ceahlin. Perhaps it was out of jealousy that the High Council had ordered for them to be destroyed. There would be strong repercussions for refusing to obey the order, but they would praise him when they saw the latest addition to the Alliance.
‘Then we will hope to live to see that day,’ said Liet.
‘It will depend on what comes from Corsec,’ Alkon agreed.
Liet went silent as he held a black device with a screen on it up toward his eyes.
‘What troubles you?’ asked Alkon, noticing Liet’s concerned expression.
‘He’s disappeared,’ said Liet.
‘What?’
Liet tapped the screen, as if it would somehow bring the dot he had been monitoring back up. ‘He’s disappeared.’ Liet turned to the man on his left and took his black device. ‘Without a trace,’ he said, after carefully examining both devices.
‘How is that possible?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Liet. ‘If he were dead, it would still show. There must be some sort of interference.’
At that moment, a great lock of machinery sounded from just beyond the wheat field, continuing for almost a minute as the two commanders looked on.