Even if the garrisons all fell, the forces holding them could continue to retreat into Brosengae, fighting holding actions all the way. Their supply lines would grow ever shorter, while those of the attacking army would extend farther as they fought for every foot of enemy ground. Despite that, Michael had attempted to advance along that route repeatedly over the years. Each time, he had been forced to turn back. It took the entire strength of the Army of Anuire to assault the garrisons along the border, while only a portion of Arwyn’s troops were needed to hold them.
Each time they had advanced, Arwyn had forced them to turn back by employing the same tactics—as Michael attacked the garrisons south of the Seamist Mountains with his full strength, Arwyn detailed the troops of Taeghas and Brosengae to hold them, meanwhile using his own Army of Boeruine, augmented by troops of Talinie and goblin battalions from Thurazor, to advance along forest trails he knew well to attack western Alamie.
The situation had seemed virtually insurmountable, no matter how Aedan looked at it. Attack Arwyn in the south, and he would send the troops of Boeruine and Talinie to attack the empire in the north. Counter the attacks in the north, and the troops of Brosengae and Taeghas would attack in the south, advancing into Avanil. Back and forth it went for years, with a steadily mounting body count, and nothing was resolved. There was only one possible alternative, but it was highly dangerous.
If they could find a route through the Shadow World into the coastal region of Boeruine, then they could bring the war to Arwyn’s doorstep. However, finding portals into the Shadow World was easier in regions like Thurazor, Tuarhievel, or the Spiderfell, where confluences of ley lines occurred. These lines of force that ran beneath the earth were what enabled halflings to open portals to the Shadow World. Somehow, the halflings tapped into the energy that flowed through these “underground conduits” and used it to break down the barriers between the world of daylight and the world of shadow. No one knew for certain exactly how they did it. Aedan had seen Futhark create these portals many times, but watching it gave him no clue. It seemed to work like magic. And there was a limit to how much Futhark would explain.
He had explained, however, that portals into the Shadow World could be created more reliably at or near points of ley line confluence than elsewhere, and exiting the world between the worlds in similar regions, such as Markazor, the Sielwode, or the Erebannien, was likewise more easily accomplished. In a region like Boeruine, however, where ley lines did not meet, exiting the Shadow World would be more difficult and unpredictable.
They could enter the Shadow World through a portal created just within the borders of the Spiderfell, the nearest point of ley line confluence, and then march through the Shadow World in a northwesterly direction until they reached the region that corresponded spatially with Boeruine. But with no confluence of ley lines in Boeruine, there was no sure way of predicting exactly where they would come out.
Sending halfling scouts through an exit portal first would not address the problem, since if the ley line on the other side was weak—in other words, too far away from the point at which they intended to leave the Shadow World—the area in which the scouts came out might not be accessible again.
“I don’t understand,” Michael had said when he and Aedan had discussed the plan with Futhark. “Do you mean the scouts would be unable to return, or that we would not be able to follow them out?”
“No, we could send scouts through,” Futhark had explained, “and they could come back and report to us what they had found beyond the portal, but the portal would not necessarily open out onto the same place twice. It is conceivable, even probable, that we could come out in a different location altogether, and accidentally wind up surrounded by the forces of the enemy.”
That was not exactly an encouraging thought. Nevertheless, Michael had decided to attempt it. They had gone in near the Spiderfell, which was risky in itself, as it was the domain of one of the more powerful awnsheghlien. It was said that the Spider could see through the eyes of all the arachnids in his domain and thus knew everything that went on within the Spiderfell. If this were true, and Aedan had no idea if it were, the Spider had thus far refrained from taking on the entire Army of Anuire. However, he could decide to send his creatures against the emperor’s forces, and Aedan did not relish the thought of being attacked by millions of poisonous arachnids. The very thought made him shudder with disgust and fear. Nor were lethal spiders the only danger in the Spiderfell.
The awnsheghlien had the ability, empowered by bloodtheft, to create other creatures like themselves, less powerful, but still quite dangerous. And awnsheghlien also had human and demihuman troops at their command, some of which the emperor’s forces had engaged on previous occasions. It was bad enough to have to face the combat-seasoned forces of Lord Arwyn without also having to do battle with gnolls, monsters, and human predators along the way. Regardless, Michael had decided that the attempt was worth the risk. Futhark and his halfling scouts were highly dubious, but they agreed to try. They had taken on ample provisions and marched from Anuire into the Spiderfell, then gone through a portal into the Shadow World. Once they had crossed over, they turned east and marched for about three hundred miles, across the region of the misty world that spatially corresponded with the Heartlands, heading toward Boeruine.
Unfortunately, as Futhark had feared, they had failed to find a portal that would lead them to Boeruine. Instead, they had emerged on the high slopes of the Seamist Mountains, where they had fought a battle with a savage tribe of ogres into whose territory they had blundered. The hulking, brutish demihumans had been greatly outnumbered, but they had fought hard to protect their domain against what they had thought was an invasion. Reasoning with ogres was impossible. They were only slightly above the level of beasts. The army had been forced to kill them all in order to defend themselves, and despite being outnumbered, the ogres had inflicted heavy casualties. When it was over, there was no question of continuing the campaign. Michael had been forced to give it up and retreat.
So they had trudged back through the misty Shadow World, having failed in their objective. On the way back, several men were lost to poisonous snakes and the voracious albino spiders, and three of the advance guard had blundered into a sinkhole as they crossed a marsh and disappeared in an instant. The morale of the troops was low, and Michael felt responsible. He had fallen into a sullen silence and not said a word for days. Aedan had tried to lift his spirits, but it was no use. He had known the emperor all his life, and he had seen his sullen moods before. At times like these, it was best to leave him be.
Talking with Sylvanna as they rode before their troops helped Aedan keep up his own spirits, for which he was very grateful. In the past eight years, they had grown close, and with his heavy responsibilities as the lord high chamberlain, it was a great help to have someone he could talk to without having to weigh every word he said.
Aedan was not sure when he first realized he had fallen in love with her. He had guarded himself carefully against such feelings ever since his ill-considered affair with Princess Laera. However, with Sylvanna, there had never been a time when passion simply struck and overwhelmed him. His feelings for her had grown gradually, almost unnoticeably, until one day he realized she meant more to him than anyone else in the entire world, except perhaps Michael.
Michael was his liege lord and his friend, and he had a duty toward him, a duty to which he had been born. He loved him as a friend and as his sovereign, but he loved Sylvanna with all his heart and soul. He had never told her outright, but he was sure she knew. And he was sure she felt the same way, too. It was something that neither of them had ever acknowledged openly, for there were many reasons it would be unwise. They served different sovereigns, allied for the present, but still with a long history of enmity. Aside from that, Sylvanna was immortal, and though she looked younger than he did, she was many years his senior. By elvish standards, she was still quite young, but in human terms, she was old enough to be his mother. And then, of course, there was Gylvain, who had become both a friend and mentor to Aedan and the emperor. And Aedan felt sure he would not approve a match between them. So he kept his peace. He had learned his lesson with the Princess Laera.