Chapter 462: Where the hell is he?
"Negative." Viola firmly shook her head. "There is absolutely nothing he could do to get out of my grasp and by the time the curse weakens, everything would already be over. His blood hall would have fallen and he would become a nobody in this continent. I suggest you go and take care of the other matters instead of wasting time asking these useless questions to me."
Viola then stood up and directly left the room without giving Michael any face.
"Ouch. That’s got to hurt." Reynard laughed. "The golden boy completely ignored." He stood up and patted Michael. "It’s ok. Relax and take it easy. Beautiful women are like that. They can treat us however they want. Its the rule, bro."
Michael shrugged him away and the next second, he too was gone from the room. Only Reynard remained. A cunning glint silently appeared in his eyes but it quickly disappeared as he went back to his casual demeanour. He laughed loudly and stepped out of the room as well.
A few hours slid by, and then two whole days passed.
"Where the hell is he? He could have at least sent me a freaking message before disappearing like this?" Kate walked back and forth in the throne room of the Blood Hall. It had been almost two days now, and yet she had not heard a single thing from Damon.
"You are acting like some sort of worried housewife." Mark teased her.
Kate shot him a glare, which made him laugh nervously. "Alright. Alright. But you know how he is. He is always doing something. Maybe he is in a situation where he can’t contact us. We can’t do anything. We can only wait and see."
Kate grit her teeth. "Come on. There should be something we can do." She continued pacing back and forth in the room. Ellora, Kaelthorn, and Riven silently waited in the back of the throne room, everyone listening intently but no one daring to say anything.
Well, at least not Kaelthorn and Ellora. All of a sudden, Riven spoke up. "Ummm... my lady, can’t we simply ask the vampires arriving here. Can’t they make a portal to the crimson mountains or whatever that place is? Maybe then we can go over there and search for the lord?"
Varnyx, who walked into the room, answered the question on Kate’s behalf. "The legacy families of the Crimson mountains would never risk something like that for the sake of a small blood hall like ours. Opening a portal from here to there is like giving the light factions direct access to our inner sanctum. They will never agree to it."
Varnyx then turned to Kate and Mark and bowed his head respectfully, showing the same respect he usually showed for Damon, perhaps even more. Damon might be the current blood hall lord, but these two were individuals with a god’s blessing, and in his eyes, that demanded a much higher reverence.
"My lady and my lord, we have received news. The holy and divine dogs have finally made their move. The army has started marching and should arrive at our doorstep in a couple of hours. The battle is about to start any time now. We need to prepare ourselves and mobilize our units. Shall I give the final command?"
"I... I..." Kate stammered a little, not knowing what to do, but Mark decisively answered, taking command.
"Yes. Make the announcement. Everything should be perfect. The lord has paid 2.5 billion gold coins. It is not a simple amount. The reinforcements had better be prepared. Everything has to go perfectly, and both our offense and defense have to be rock solid. We will win this battle with or without our Blood Hall Lord. Make it clear."
Since there was no way he could help Damon personally, this was the least he could do. He would make sure that they did not lose this battle under any circumstances.
Varnyx bowed again and then quickly rolled out a crude map on a low table. "Please, my Lord. Take a look at the plan and let me know if it is to your liking."
He outlined the entire city and the newly stationed reinforcements. He pointed to the roads the army would use and where he was putting the mages and the archers. He outlined all the big details of the battle setup and waited for Mark’s response.
Mark took a moment and observed everything. He did his best to see if there was anything he could contribute, but at the end of the day, Varnyx was a lot more talented and experienced than he ever was, especially in these sorts of things. He could only agree with his planning.
"Where do you think I should start?" He asked the old vampire for his opinion.
But Varnyx immediately shook his head. "My lord, I think you should wait. I think that we should first get a lay of the land before you step in."
Mark nodded. The vampire then quickly made his move while Mark and Kate were left staring at each other. "Fuck, this is really happening." Kate finally spoke. "How are we going to win without him?"
Mark also had a grave look on his face. "We have to win no matter what. There is simply no other choice."
"What do we actually do first?" Kate was very nervous. The last time around, they were merely fighting as part of the army, but this time, everything was different.
Mark calmly pointed to the main roads on the map. "We lock the gates. We set the archers on the rooftops and the mages where they can cover the lines of advance. The army holds in reserve behind the eastern ridge. If the dogs break the front, we funnel them into the kill zone by the old market."
"Mages here and here. Healers separated into three groups, and the rest we would have to see and arrange based on how everything progresses."
Ellora stepped forward. "I’ll take the forward squad with Kaelthorn. We’ll hold the center road."
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