Rebirth and Second Chances

I looked across a field of grass as the men of Genghis Khan went about their day. It was easy for me to hide. A bit of illusion, the tiniest touch of glamour, and I was all but invisible. If someone did manage to notice anything, they would see a bird nestled comfortably in a tree.

I'd had Balfour scouting out the fortifications that Khan had established. He wasn't known for that type of warfare, hiding in trenches and using siege tactics to advance his armies. He, instead, relied on numbers. His men and their horses a vast tide that moved with inevitability.

His army was like a glacier, expanding as it will, forcing the ground before it to shape and conform as it advanced.

Balfour had managed to gather a myriad of rumors for why the Khan had decided to entrench instead of continuing into Norse territories. Word was spreading that he was dying, not unexpectedly; he had reached an advanced age for a human.

Other rumors hinted that the Vikings had paid a tribute large enough to give even Khan pause. Another was that the Beastkin from the Kievan Rus region had begun expanding and threatening territories controlled by Khan.

But the most prevalent rumor was that Khan was going to create a competition to decide who his heir would be. There were three genuine contenders for the title of Khan, and each of them was going to be assigned an area to expand. The contender that expanded the borders of the Mongol Empire the farthest would be elevated and become heir.

It was a unique idea. One that would prove to the people that the next Khan had earned his position and proven his abilities. It made much more sense than how the rest of the Empires of Man selected their leaders. Inheritance is probably why those countries floundered. Just because Alexander was talented did not mean any of his children shared those same talents.

I had used a [Fairy Ring] located in the Taiga Forest the Elves made home once I'd settled matters with Lleu Llaw and Diarmuid. Close enough to the plains the Mongols occupied to watch from stealth, close to the Brownie that had betrayed the Sidhe and brokered a deal between Lleu Llaw and Odin.

I would deal with that Brownie in the fullness of time, but for now, some of Balfour's best agents were instructed to observe and report her movements. I doubted any other Sidhe were using her as a go-between, but it was better to be safe. The Azi-fey had been a boon, a real gift from [Fairy] mixing the best traits of the Aziza and the Demi-fey.

Balfour had them scattering across the globe, almost from the moment they were given breath and life. The Sithern that gave them birth continued to produce swarms of the Demi-fey for Balfour to call upon, a function of the Sithern I'd not been aware of.

I had made it standard that any time a [Fairy Ring] was accessed in a new location, a suitable place be found to form Underhill. I was slowly seeding the continent with these hidden enclaves. The Sitherns automatically connected a portal to each Underhill as it was created. The only requirement to establish and maintain an Underhill was the blood bonding of a Sidhe to each location.

I was creating a network of linked territories, each Underhill tied by blood to an Under-King or Queen. Most of these new territories were inhabited by the more prolific races - Knockers, Goblins, Korrigan, Red Caps, and Sprites.

The Underhills were sparsely populated, some barely having ten or more people living there, but with the portals opened and tying them together, and to the Sitherns, freedom of movement between locations mitigated any sense of isolation.

For those Sidhe that were more solitary by nature, the chance to settle in these new Underhills was a welcome respite. Because no matter how well the humans searched, no matter how certain they were that a [Fairy Mound] had been built and Underhill existed, they could only enter with an invitation.

An invitation that placed the person entering under the precepts and magics that are the makings of every Underhill. They could come in, but if they did, when they left, centuries will have passed, and the effects of time that they had ignored will rebound, killing them instantly.

The Mongol forces had been more active today than in the weeks. We had been watching most of the morning. Balfour had left as soon as we'd noticed the camp's activity was only increasing as the morning progressed. It had taken him until late afternoon to return, but he had the information I needed to understand what was going on when he did.

"Ogedei, the third son of Khan, has arrived," he said by way of explanation. "The rumor that had been spreading, that Genghis Khan has decided to hold a competition to determine his successor has been proven true.

"Ogedei has been tasked with mounting a campaign against the Beastkin and claiming the lands of Kievan Rus. His brothers have likewise been given targets. Jochi has been tasked with claiming the lands of Siberia, while Tolui has been tasked with invading and conquering the Khwarazmian Empire."

"Do we have someone that can contact Beowulf of the Beastkin?" I asked as I considered my options and began to make plans.

I needed the Mongols to go to war with the Viking King, Ragnar Lodbrok. The pressure that Khan and his armies could bring to bear would keep Lodbrok and his war parties away from Sidhe territories.

I had planned to wait for Alexander and Ptolemy to begin their attack on Caesar to instigate an action that would see the Norse border devolve into war until I knew how Lodbrok had appeased Khan. I hadn't been able to find out what tribute he had offered the Mongols, but no matter what it was, the tribute would not be enough to counter Mongol rage if they were attacked.

Actually, as I thought about it, the Mongol armies making preparations and beginning their move to the north to engage Beowulf might work to my advantage. If I waited until only a holding force was left behind to attack, massacring them almost to the last man, the armies of Khan would return to retaliate, and their vengeance would ignore any efforts at diplomacy Lodbrok might try.

"Yes, I sent a small colony of Azi-fey to begin negotiations with the Beastkin as soon as you instructed," Balfour replied.

"Do they have the new scry devices too?" I asked hopefully.

The Knockers and Korrigan had been given schematics and enchantments to create a small device that allowed scrying no matter the distance or talent of the operator. It was a barebones prototype of the Magical Artificial Intelligence, the M-AI that I used, but the tools and knowledge I was willing to share would take time to be studied and understood.

The Silinium I had seeded the Sitherns with was being harvested, but only in limited quantities. It would take some time, even with the Sitherns ability to increase production for the nodes I planted to grow large enough to make significant pruning possible.

I had gifted each Sithern with a complete set of instruction manuals to allow the Sidhe to make a technological leap forward. It would take hundreds of years for this world to advance to the same technical level as my home world, even with those manuals, but the Sidhe now had the tools and techniques to make it happen.

They only needed the will and dedication to persevere and the desire to master my shared knowledge.

"They do," Balfour informed me.

"Contact them and let them know what we have discovered. Tell the Azi-fey in charge to inform Beowulf that I plan to attack the Mongol army's boundary camps soon after they move out.

"That should gain Ogedei's attention and force them to return, but the Beastkin should be prepared for an invasion if my plan fails.

"If they have agreed to an alliance, inform him that the Sidhe will support the Beastkin with weapons and troops. If they are still dithering about details, give them an ultimatum. Make up their minds to join the alliance or fight the war against the Khan's armies independently.

"In fact, send the same messages to the Elf leadership, Dracula of the Vampires, the Druids of Briton, and the Dwarven King, Niroth Hammersmith. If they can't see the value of an alliance, then we will have to assume we will be left to deal with the armies of Man on our own.."