Warrior (The Key to Magic) by H. Jonas Rhynedahll

Pyn had urged service to the Empire could only mean that both expected the war against the Brotherhood of Phaelle to heat up soon.
    Pyn was not as easily put off, however.   "You could still sign on with a trading skyship.  That would be just the right place for a man with your convictions.  In my opinion, wet sailing will be all but gone in a few years.  Seaborne ships just won't be able to compete.  There's a big cargo skyship that just lifted off the blocks at Mhajhkaei and it has started taking on crew.  Her captain is an acquaintance of my father's and if you like I can have a word with him."
    "Well, actually, I had intended to work my passage down to Gh'emhoa.  I've family there that I haven't seen in a number of years."
    "This must be your lucky day.  The first voyage of the Empress Telriy will be a run down the western skirt of the Archipelago all the way to Lhorvhavhen on the coast of Szillarn."
     

TEN
    17th Year of the Phaelle’n Ascension, 325th Day of Glorious Work
    Year One of the New Age of Magic
    (Firstday, Waxing, 3rd Springmoon, 1645 After the Founding of the Empire)
    Plythtwaelndt Fortress, north of Mhevyr
     
    "Plydyre is in open revolt," Bhrucherra announced as he entered the command room from the alcove where the far talking disk operators were stationed.  "In a single day, the Apostate's saboteurs and Plydyrii mobs have taken effective control of three-quarters of the island.  Only the northern area around the city of Bhaestryndt remains in our possession.  Many of the local administrative brethren have been cut off and must be assumed to have been killed."
    The large chamber that now served as Director of Forces Whorlyr's center of operations had once been the lavish quarters of the Mhevyrii nobleman that had been in command of the Plythtwaelndt Fortress.  The nobleman had fallen upon his own sword after the sack of Mhevyr, but his fine furnishings, including the large, exquisite table now used to display maps of the continent, remained.
    Sitting in one of the matching chairs at the table, Traeleon shifted his gaze to consider the First Inquisitor.  His deputy seemed unmoved by the news.
    "You still feel that we should order complete withdrawal?"
    "Yes, brother."
    Newly anointed as Governor of the Colleges of the Brotherhood of Phaelle and thus second only to Traeleon himself, Bhrucherra obviously saw no need for a repetition of his often presented arguments for that very course.
    "We continue to have insufficient Salients to fully crew all the platforms," Director of Forces Whorlyr contributed.  "If the priority of the Emerald Gate were reassigned, we could evacuate all of our remaining brethren from Plydyre in a matter of hours.  The conscript troops could be left to their own devices.  Many of them will desert in any event."
    "Loss of Plydyre will mean tacit cession of the southwest quadrant of Bronze to the Apostate's control," Traeleon suggested.  "Our seaborne supply and communication routes to the smaller islands and Communities will be compromised and it will be difficult to reinforce them should they come under attack."
    "Any military action that the Apostate and his Mhajhkaeirii undertake in that area will be of limited scope," Bhrucherra stated.  "Whalgheir, Droahmaer, and Trozae remain strongly defended.  None of the smaller islands possess any strategic importance and their capture will not produce any tangible advantage.  Even should the Apostate commence an offensive, he will have to abandon it when we move west."
    As always, Bhrucherra's logic was unassailable.  Nonetheless, Traeleon found another retreat unpalatable.
    "This will also cause damage to the esteem of the Brotherhood."
    "It will also serve as a distraction to the Apostate," Whorlyr suggested.  "If he is looking to Plydyre, the surprise of our attack will be all the greater.  None will recall our setbacks in Mhajhkaei and Plydyre once we control the entire continent."
    "Our strategy must be one of