Authors note: I highly recommend the song, it is musically very interesting. Note, no offense is meant by this song/ songfic, and it is not meant to cause a great pro/ anti war debate.

War Pigs- Cake (Cover of Black Sabbath)

Generals gathered in their masses

Just like witches at black masses

Evil minds that plot destruction

Sorcers of death's construction…

The sirens indicating another attack was imminent started howling, startling kel out of her thoughtful trance. She had spent all morning in war council with the king, Alanna, Raoul, Wyldon, Buri and the other commanders holding the Tortallan border with Scanra. She had been told over and over her inclusion in this elite group of military planners was an honor, but she disliked the way battles and troops were reduced to nothing more than arrows and little wooden pegs. She had spent the past two years living with, and commanding these troops; she knew their names, the names of their wives, lovers and children. She knew their dreams and fears and she couldn't stomach their reduction to mere objects to achieve a means. In a way the scream of the sirens was welcome, at least on the battle-field Kel could fight and defend the men she commanded.

She, along with all the other commanders, ran for the door calling for their horses and armor to be brought. Kel saw Tobe bring Peachblossom around and her throat tightened. What kind of place was this to be raising a small boy? What would happen to him if she didn't survive this battle? What of the next? Sighing, she settled her helmet over her head and wheeled the horse around to give order to the men who had amassed before her.

In the fields the bodies burning

As the war machine keeps turning

Death and hatred to mankind

Poisoning their brainwashed minds

Oh lord, yeah!

The stench of burning bodies was nauseating. The battle had been won by the Tortallan forces, but at a cost. The Tortallan bodies had been taken away for burial and the Scanran bodies pulled into a pile to be burnt. Kel was the only one who stayed to pray for the Scanran men. On the battlefield they were enemies, but lying in a pile they were just men. Men who, like her Tortallan soldiers, had families and hopes and dreams. She hoped that their families would hear about what happened so they wouldn't be tortured by wondering what had happened to their husbands and fathers. Some of the boys in the pile looked like they couldn't be any older than Tobe. She thought, they ought to be at home playing on their parents land and learning their numbers in school. She cursed Maggur and his sick need for power.

In the background she could hear the blacksmiths already at work; fixing weapons and armor damaged in the attack today. Later they would gather the weapons collected from the killed Scanrans and melt it down to make new weapons. The great war machine didn't even stop long enough for the dead from the previous battle to be buried before it ramped itself up again to prepare for the next. The logical part of her knew that those preparations were what kept her and her men alive, but right now all she wanted to do was fall to her knees and scream in frustration over this war that just went on and on…

Politicians hide themselves away

They only started the war

Why should they go out to fight

They leave that role to the poor

Dinner that night was a tense affair. The King and his Prime Minister Gareth of Naxon Junior had stayed in the fort during the attack and had changed into nice clothes before supper was served. No matter how many times Kel told herself that it was important for the King and Prime Minister to stay safe during the war she couldn't help but feel like a proper king would be on the field defending his people ; not safety tucked away letting commoners fight in his name. Eventually Kel couldn't stand being in the same room as the King anymore and excused herself saying she needed to check on Adner, her former refugee who had joined the army and was now under her command. He had taken a nasty cut to his shoulder during the battle and last she had seen of him Neal was busy scolding him about getting hurt while Adner tried to stay conscious. Kel wanted nothing more than to drag the King off his velvet covered seat and take him to the infirmary and tell him all about the men lying in those beds.

After visiting Adner and being assured that he and the other men who had been injured would be ok, Kel went for a short walk on the ramparts. Aside from the metallic smell of blood the Vassa plain that stretched before her looked untouched. The moon was full and gleaming beautifully down, dancing off the river in the distance. The dichotomy between the battle of this afternoon and the quiet peace of the night was too much for Kel, and a few silent tears slid down her checks. Soft footsteps behind her announced the arrival of a companion. Raoul slid down beside her and silently put an arm around her letting her silently weep into his shoulder. Court gossips would have a field day if they saw them this way, but Kel didn't care. Raoul had been like a father to her and right now all she needed was a hug.

Time will tell them they have power minds

Making war just for fun

Treating like people just like pawns in chess

Wait until that judgment day comes

The next day saw her back in the council room reviewing troop movements and revising battle plans to make their army more effective against future Scanran attack. She knew it hadn't been the Kings choice to go to war, but she couldn't help but feel like they were treating the movement of squads and companies like an elaborate game. Surely Mithros didn't intend for things to end like this…

Now in darkness world stops turning

As you hear the bodies burning

No more war pigs have the power

And as god has struck the hour

They have judgment

god is calling

The war was finally over. The final battle had been a blood bath. Maggur sent his entire army to attack Northwatch in a desperate attempt to continue the war. After three years of fighting the Scanran army was run ragged; the soldiers were emancipated and often not more than boys. At the conclusion of the battle Maggurs own men turned on him and killed him, angry that once again he had sent his men to die needless deaths in a foreign country. A final funeral pyre was built and once again Kel was the only one who stayed to say prayers for the Scanran soldiers. In the distance she could see Tobe holding Peachblossom and Hoshi, she was riding out with the Third Company immediately to escort the King and Prime Minister back to the capital to prepare for negotiations. It would be her last assignment as a member of the cursed war council that she hated so much.

Kel looked forward to being back in Corus, she would have time to be with friends and family and pray for the souls of the men she had killed over the course of this war. Kel hoped the King planned to do the same, while her hands were stained with the blood of the enemy she had killed, his hands had the blood of all the enemy and his own soldiers whom he sent to die.

On their knees the war pigs crawling

Making mercies for their sins

Satan laughing spreads his wings.

The giant pageant that was held in Corus was not what Kel had in mind when she had hoped the King would repent. The Chapel of Mithros had been polished till it shone and all around her were nobles dressed in velvet and ermine, waiting to see the spectacle of their King being absolved from his sins during the war. King Jonathan the IV came down the ill, dressed all in black and knelt before the alter. He said a brief prayer for the souls of the dead and the priest poured some holy water on his head. Kel couldn't keep the look of disgust of her face, as the King was declared absolved and cloaked in a brilliant blue hood to symbolize his freedom from mourning. Kel thought, if this is all that is required to rid yourself of guilt, no wonder kings have no problem going to war. She imagined Uusoae laughing madly in the Chaos Realm, enjoying the show as human kind self destructed.