Chapter 715: A Geological Middle Finger

"A twist?" Alpha Frostwyrm repeated.

"Correct," Serena replied. "After the war summit, we established full battlespace denial and closed the map for them. As every Alpha is aware, we were able to do that because it is not possible to make portals in those five areas in Skardos due to nullstone crystal and black aetherstone in those locations. Both materials destabilize Fae and mage anchor points for portal formation. That worked to flush them out, but they came back."

She was aware she had restated the concept. She was also aware that half the Alphas at this table had been trained in combat, not chemistry or magic, and that clarity was more valuable than brevity when the audience included men whose expertise was hitting things.

"What I am proposing adds a layer into the original framework," she continued. "I am recommending mining and embedding nullstone crystal and black aetherstone into our border and surrounding forests. The material does not need to be refined. One supply run of raw aetherstone scattered across a kingdom’s tree line prevents portals from opening."

She paused. The pausing was deliberate, because the next sentence was the sentence that turned an inconvenience into an arsenal.

"One square inch of black aetherstone or nullstone crystal blocks portal formation within a full mile radius per square inch. Skardos has deposits of both in abundance in those five locations. We have historically avoided mining it due to the fact that reaching those locations is inconvenient."

Bingo. That was the thing most, if not all of the Alphas had not known. She just gave them a number to work with. She could practically feel the mindlinks going out to their Master Mages now, confirming that number because that ratio was absurd. An entire mile of portal suppression from something the size of a thumbnail.

Alpha Bloodmoon’s mouth curved. The curving was the curving of a man whose intelligence moved fast enough to see the completed picture while the artist was still painting, and the picture was something he admired.

"That converts every kingdom’s border from a line on a map into a wall that Fae portals cannot cross," Bloodmoon translated for the table. "And it does it with rocks."

His translation was more effective than Serena’s full explanation, and Serena did not mind, because the job of a good proposal is to become someone else’s obvious idea. She needed the message to land and could not give a flying fuck about who got credit for it.

"Expensive rocks that require conventional transport and non-trivial logistics," Alpha Frostwyrm countered. "Mining and distributing enough material across eight attacked kingdoms requires coordination we have not established and time we may not have."

After sitting in Shadowclaw’s war room, Serena had realized that every council needed a Frostwyrm or panel of elders. Someone whose first word was ’but’ to prevent the room writing checks the continent couldn’t cash. Without pushback, there could be blind spots. If one voiced it, that meant others were thinking it and that was key information.

Frostwyrm was annoying and essential, and the annoying was what made him essential.

"It does," Serena agreed. "And I am not saying eight, Alpha Frostwyrm. To be clear, I am recommending every kingdom at this table, which is nineteen, including my own."

The number hit the table like a middle finger because she was publicly telling seven kingdoms that voted no exactly how to stop getting their borders fucked.

Frostwyrm’s mouth opened, fully loaded. Serena held up her hand and continued before he could say anything.

"There are only a select handful of mages in Skardos that fully understand Fae ward architecture. Mage portal architecture? Yes. Fae? No. Even so, let’s say your Master Mage is able to build a powerful ward grid that blocks both types of portals. Congratulations, you are putting a bandage over something that you will run into again. For those unfamiliar with ward architecture, a ward diminishes over time unless maintained. A ward grid within a Keep is one thing to maintain, but an entire territory is something else. Still doable, but more investment. And just as ward defenses evolve, so do ward offensive measures. Your Master Mage will be the first to tell you that."

She paused, giving the Alphas a moment to mindlink their Master Mages and receive confirmation that everything she had just said was correct, because it was correct, and the confirmation was going to make the next part of her proposal land harder.

"Wards are ground based," she continued after a moment. "Rift portals, or the kind of portals formed in the sky, can only be done with Fae magic and require a more complex ward architecture. No matter how powerful the ward is or brilliant the mage who designed the architecture, there is always a way to hack a ward. Always. We don’t give them that chance."

Mages in the crowd were nodding along to her lesson on wards, which was the most devastating endorsement Serena could have received and she was well aware. They were underrepresented in wolf councils. Yet, most Mages unofficially sat at the same level as the Beta of a pack because they were vital. Tiberon Drakenfell and Riven Nightspire were likely the only two Alphas at this table who understood that fully.

"Nullstone crystal and black aetherstone repel portal formation in every direction," she added. "So that means, one square on a border patrol tower repels portal formation for one mile, both vertically and horizontally. Your sky is closed. Your Master Mage can focus on other counter measures instead of spending his energy maintaining a ward grid."

There is a particular kind of silence that fills a room when a table of Alphas are all tracking the same speaker without interrupting. The woman speaking had been building this proposal in the back of her mind for longer than anyone at this table knew. She had been toying with this idea for a month or so, actually. It had been in the back of her mind, but hadn’t had a chance to bring it up to King Tiberon yet with everything going on.

"Taking one day to send a team of warriors who can shift into wolf form and run a mile or so to reach one of these sites, collect rocks, and distribute those rocks to your borders is worth the investment. It requires less coordination than fighting another eight simultaneous sieges, which is what will happen if those portals remain viable. For the packs that were not attacked, it is insurance that it stays that way," she concluded.

The table absorbed that. Translation: scatter the rocks or expect another siege. That was the equation. Rocks or war. She didn’t dress it up. She didn’t soften it. She dropped it on the table like a bill past due and let every king in the room decide how badly he wanted to argue with arithmetic.

Every kingdom on the continent had been sitting on the solution for centuries. It was in the ground. Under their feet. And it took a woman to point at the dirt and say ’use that,’ reducing an entire continental defense strategy to a goddamn geology lesson, to bring it to light.

In Shadowclaw’s section, Aeron Lancaster was trying and failing to keep his expression neutral, pure pride radiating from him. Elder Voss’s chin was lifted, like he had endorsed this idea himself. Next to him, Beta Sharpe was fighting a grin. Gamma Knox leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, like he knew this was coming and was enjoying the show.

A few mouths around the table twitched.

"With rocks," Alpha Valegrave summarized from across the table.

"With rocks," Serena confirmed. "Wards expire. Mages tire. Rocks do not, Alpha."