//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 The War Begins // Story: DARING DO AND THE COMPASS OF DISCORD // by De Writer //------------------------------// Well rested, the next morning the expedition found another already at table. Meridian Courser smiled at them all and pointed out, “These flowering tops are lovely, a bit spicy but a fine flavor. This hay, I am sure that you have already found. The grass for it only grows here in the Selene Mountains, making it a wonderful exotic export. They have several different preparations of Maize, from this, almost a porridge, to these crisp chips. Mistress Moonstone informed me that Morail loves these with this sauce, which, I think must be an acquired taste!” As they were falling to on the plentiful and tasty food, Morail was happily scooping up the meat sauce with her maize chips! She asked around a mouthful of crunching maize chips, “What has brought you here to the Spinel Drift, Meridian?” He sipped an excellent and robustly brewed coffee for a moment before answering, “You folks, I am afraid, Adjutant Morail. You have done nothing wrong. Even if your weapons are a violation of my religious views, you have used them with care, precision and to good effect. “Your surprise attack from the rear of the Zebra Confederation Army Unit brought them the majority of their casualties. It led to the capture of their orders and, most importantly, their maps. I am here to interrogate prisoners and verify through truth testing spells the veracity of the captured documents and maps. Especially the maps.” With a sinking feeling, Daring Do inquired, “Maps?” She drew a deep breath before adding, “What do they show that is so important that you need to be here in person?” He looked at her almost hopelessly, “Boundaries. The maps claim all of the Selene Mountains and nearly a quarter of the Eland Republic beyond them. If they are true, the Republic's Trirectory will recommend War with the Zebra Confederation. It has fallen to me to verify the maps.” Daring Do took a shuddering breath and put a comforting wing over Meridian. “With your religious beliefs, that must be a hard thing to do indeed. I am sorry.” He lifted his horns up proudly, “It is difficult, yes. Nevertheless, it is not hard. Both my religion and my nation's needs are aligned in this. By whatever means, Nils Downitall must be stopped. I do hope that the loss of innocent lives will be as small as possible. He is a monster in a Zebra skin.” Morail nodded, “In this, for sure, the Council of Enclaves is in total agreement with your Trirectory. I know that it is hard for you to make such a declaration or even give the information that will lead to it. Not so with us. The Full Council of Enclaves has Declared War. Our first attack began four days ago. It should be bearing fruit this morning.” Idly, Withers asked, “As a point of interest, may I inquire as to the nature of the attack?” Nearly snorting chips and sauce out her nose, Morail laughed, “We sold them full charges of fuel, iron ore and limestone for all ten of the blast furnaces in the Degrate Iron and Steel production complex!” “Um, that almost sounds like the reverse of an attack. I assume that there is some sort of nasty hook in there somewhere.” Clearly enjoying herself, Morail nodded, ears up in delight! “It started with a Downitall attack on our Blast Furnace #2! They captured a diamond dog Blast Furnace operations manual! Fortunately, no lives on our side were lost, just some operational records and the manual. “The coal that we sold them, from Ancient Trees Drift, was perfectly sized, coked and rinsed for the fastest and hottest possible fires! “The limestone for flux came from Endless Caves Drift. It too was rinsed, but about half the normal size, just as the captured manual said was best! “The ore cobbles from Ironstone Drift were a bit over twice normal size and rinsed, just like the captured manual and production records said was best! “They initiated a massive war production run with all ten furnaces of the complex this morning. Nils Downitall even gave a stirring speech!” Meridian was listening intently. “What in all of that constitutes an attack?” Morail looked about the room with care. “Everybeing here has Amber's Clearance. Doctor Do, I apologize to you for not revealing my place in her staff as Personal Adjutant to Supreme Matriarch Amber but diplomatically the situation was delicate. “The oversized iron ore cobbles were soaked for a whole day under pressure in water with a bit of soap to help the water penetrate deeply. Withers suddenly sat up in shock! Ears up and spread, he looked up from a doodle of a blast furnace, showing the loading layers of coal, ore and limestone for flux. Each set repeated three times! “How hot do those furnaces get?” “About 2,000 to 2,500 degrees C,” Morail replied, ears flickering in diamond dog type laughter! Withers sat and looked at his sketch again. “How many tonnes of water are trapped in the ore cobbles of each furnace?” Barking a little, Morail nodded, “You have got it! About twelve to fifteen tonnes of the ore load is water!” She pulled her Magic Net mirror out and tapped codes. Matriarch Moonstone looked up from a chart, delight in every line of her body! “You did it, Morail! You saved shaft 73! We hit the pocket just where you said, this morning! We have already recovered twenty eight first rate emeralds! Our cutters are going to be really busy now! “I see by the code group that you are calling on diplomatic business, but I just had to tell you! What can I do?” “You know of the War against the Zebra Confederation.” That was a statement, not a question. “I wish to have the attack result, as Magic Net broadcast from Degrate, put to my mirror, if it has happened yet.” That brought a different and more feral smile from Matriarch Moonstone! “It did quite well. Sadly, Nils himself simply gave his speech and left. He was not hurt when the Presidential Palace got hit by a two and a half tonne debris chunk! He was inside, though! “Here, putting the whole thing on your mirror now. Set to record, this is priceless!” They all crowded around the mirror to watch! The ten tall blast furnaces stood billowing out huge columns of smoke. One suddenly cracked! Incandescent material beginning to pour out was suddenly obscured by a huge blast of whitish vapor, lit from below by the raging coke fed fires at the base of the Blast Furnace! In less time than it takes to say it, the tall furnace was ripped to flying fragments! Some hit two nearby furnaces, the impact setting them off! No cracks had time to appear! The furnaces simply ripped themselves to shreds, setting off the remaining eight furnaces literally simultaneously! The force of the blast flattened everything near it! Buildings, heavy metal working equipment, anything at all, was reduced to mere rubble! For nearly a half kilometer about the furnace complex there was nothing at all! Some concrete slabs remained but nothing was left standing on them. Further out, there were ruins, collapsed buildings and the few that had been strong concrete had huge holes in them where heavy objects had blasted through them! Panning out to the city of Degrate, the image showed ruin and devastation almost everywhere. The Presidential Palace had a huge hole shattered through it, taking away most of one wing and caving in the ornate dome. Even the harbor had been hit! Two heavy cruisers at anchor had severe damage but remained afloat. A dock was hit badly enough that it was hard to tell how many ships or boats had been there! The famous Degrate lighthouse had been hit a glancing blow but remained standing. Withers nodded, “Even worse than I thought. Tonnes of superheated steam all letting go at once like that was amazing to see. And not a speck of magic used at all. How hard was it to provoke the Downitalls into attacking your furnace and 'capturing' the documents that set this up?” Morail herself was a bit in shock at the sheer devastation as she mumbled, “Not hard at all. We knew that they were planning the raid so we just let them do it.”