Finally becoming one
Mercury POV(a week later)
It was midday, a week from Mercury and his Varangian Guard's little skirmish with the enemy cavalry attack. The city of Viana had fallen shortly after their gates had been breached. There had not been all that much resistance from them after that, especially from their mages, as they had expended quite a lot of energy to keep the gates up.
After their defences had fallen, the populace had become quite compliant, probably in the hope that if they did not stand out too much, then these hideous beasts would not devour them and their children. It was unfortunately a problem that was hard to deal with.
The general populace of the former Ra'zac Supreme had lived for centuries with the very simple rulebook that said that if you opposed the ra'zac, you got eaten, if you stood out too much in a negative light during a visit of theirs, you got eaten, and unless you were exceptionally skilled at what you did, the ra'zac might just eat when visiting anyway.
Still, to them, it had always given a far higher chance of survival if you were one with the flock. It was the same logic that many fish and other herd animals used to increase their chances against predators, and in a twisted morbid place of his mind, Mercury could not help but be slightly intrigued by it.
Sure, it was something that he would make sure was banned when he finally got full control over the islands, but it was still an interesting social experiment to view; how, despite all of their superior knowledge, brainpower and so on, humans would still revert to animalistic methods when they were now the helpless prey.
But alas, he had let his mind wander again, when it should have stayed on topic. Needless to say, the populace of each city that they had taken had all been quite confused and suspicious when no random punishments had been administered and no one had been eaten yet.
It often took some translators followed by willing human citizens from elsewhere in Damocles walking around with small gifts like toys or candy, which enticed many a child before their parents could stop them, to convince the populace of the city that none of them were in fact going to get eaten or rounded up as slaves.
It had been Loivissa's idea to do so, and although Mercury had silently mused that it sounded a lot like how he would kidnap a child, he had obliged her request. The trick seemed to work though, as the parents of the child would quickly come running to fetch their child before it could be taken from them, only to have to stay there and listen when the child discovered that it was safe and that it could get more candy that way and would therefore not come back home with its parents.
Queue the domino effect, where all of the good-will ambassadors were soon swarmed by children wanting free candy and toys, which were only reluctantly followed by their far more distrusting parents. Mercury supposed that that meant that the efforts were at least partially successful, as since the children would now have a positive view of the dökkálfar, and they were the next generation after all, then the entire population of Damocles would slowly become more accepting of them.
This was a particularly good thing for Mercury, as he certainly did not wish to become estranged with the dökkálfar of Alalëa, and it would help somewhat when he had to begin the payments to them. Paying large amounts to someone that your people hated always seemed to Mercury to be a recipe for discontent.
Speaking of payments, Mercury would have to find capable and somewhat loyal soldiers willing to accept the extra payments that went with joining the Varangian Guard. The skirmish, although victorious, had taken its toll on the unit.
There were 14 dead, seven handicapped beyond magical repair and four still recuperating from severe injuries, although they would be able to resume their posts when they were healed. He had to permanently replace 21 out of the previous 40 in his Guard, and make temporary replacements for an additional four of them.
Mercury's own injury had not been that grave, or at least not immediately life-threatening, so he had just bandaged it up to stop the bleeding and waited until Loivissa was done with her tasks in the city for her to heal it up again.
She had not been pleased when she had seen him, especially because he had specifically told her not to withdraw from her assignment and fly to his rescue.
Mercury had tried to calmly and slowly explain to her how she had saved more lives by continuing to pin down the enemy archers on the walls than she could have by helping him, which had not done much good, and the unedited version of what Mercury recalled about the battle had certainly not helped things either, which in hindsight, Mercury wished that he had edited a few things out of.
When Kilgharrah had arrived later that night, he had not been that amused at the recount either, although his response had been far more subtle, as he had just admonished Mercury for not calling for reinforcements immediately, which in Kilgharrah's case, meant that he was very displeased by the threat to Mercury's life.
Although Mercury had not mentioned it to anyone, he actually thought that he had called for reinforcements, although he had not specifically mentioned it. Mercury had sent Slava back to organize the defence and had expected him to send a detachment of spearmen immediately, not until after he had finished organizing the defensive line.
In retrospect, Mercury should have known that taking such initiative was not Slava's style. Slava was an expert in defensive positions and holding his ground, which was why Mercury had entrusted the task of setting up the defence to him, but he would never risk a detachment until his main force was secure.
It had been an error on Mercury's part, not Slava's, as Mercury, as the Commander of the army, should have known and considered such things before he had ordered his men about. The rush of the moment was no excuse.
Directly opposite to Loivissa and Kilgharrah, the rest of Mercury's army seemed to find great joy in retelling how Mercury and his barely 40 guards managed to not only stop an enemy cavalry force of 200 attacking suddenly from behind, but defeat and utterly crush them as well, although the enemy numbers seemed to rise with every retelling, being around 500 at the moment.
It had given quite the reputation to the Varangian Guard, which until that skirmish had been considered nothing more than a glorified guard-unit. Now they were considered as being the most elite unit in the army, and veterans, especially wounded ones, from the skirmish were generally treated with far more respect at communal meals and gatherings than they had been previously.
I suppose that it is good for them after what happened, Mercury mused, as he rifled through some status reports from Naina, though if they begin getting cocky, then I will have to remind them that such an attitude is not wanted.
There was not actually a very high chance of the original members of the Guard becoming cocky. No, the problem would most likely be found in the new recruits, as the original ones generally seemed to have a mixture of pride in their achievement, but sadness at the loss of so many of their close comrades.
Mercury had made it mandatory for the entire Guard, himself included, to attend every funeral pyre of their fallen comrades to both show their respects to the fallen and to knit the unit closer together. Funeral pyres were not actually the norm when someone died, as they took far too much fuel to be feasible for a large army, but if someone gave an exceptional last stand or otherwise was deemed heroic enough, then it was allowed.
"Did anything interesting happen back at The Capital?", Loivissa asked from her position stretched out on his bed.
"You awoke from your nap", Mercury said and looked over at her, "no, nothing of real importance has happened so far".
"I was not asleep, I was meditating", Loivissa pouted playfully.
"So I suppose that when I poked at you earlier, you just chose not to respond?", Mercury questioned mischievously, as he pushed his paperwork away.
They were not actually that important to do right now anyway, as he had only been doing them to pass time until his next meeting with the Supreme Commander, which should happen any moment now, and since it was much more fun to toy with Loivissa, that option won.
"I might have, if it had actually happened", Loivissa simply said with an amused grin while studying her nails.
"What makes you say that it did not happen?", Mercury asked intrigued.
"I know you", Loivissa simply said, "you would never do something like that to my sleeping form".
"So you were asleep then?", Mercury quickly recovered from his initial plan.
It was becoming more and more difficult to play mindgames with her, which was Mercury's favourite means of toying with someone. Loivissa had been subject to his ministrations for too long and had begun picking up on what he would and would not do, which greatly limited the possibilities to suggest that he had done something to her, although he really had not done anything.
"Mercury…", Loivissa said.
"Yes?", Mercury asked innocently.
"Stop trying to use me to alleviate your boredom", Loivissa said simply.
"But Kilgharrah has not reacted to it for centuries now", Mercury pouted.
"And you do not have any other way to entertain yourself than playing with people's minds?", Loivissa questioned in a slightly admonishing tone.
"I had", Mercury answered playfully sullen, "but the puzzle is still on my ship, as are all of my books, and I doubt that I can leave the army for a few weeks to go exploring, and it is unlikely that I shall be given many other opportunities to participate in the actual fighting".
As much as Mercury maintained that his place was at the back, controlling the flow of the battle, he still longed to actually participate in the actual fighting. Nothing gave an adrenalin kick and spiced up a dull day like a brief brush with death.
"So all of your toys are gone and you cannot go play with the other kids", Loivissa mocked, "there are other ways to entertain yourself when you are a grown up".
"Exactly, but you are no fun playing with anymore", Mercury complained.
"Am I interrupting anything?", the Supreme Commander suddenly asked from Mercury's enchanted mirror.
"Not at all, we were just discussing something unimportant", Mercury quickly answered and admonished himself for not noticing the presence earlier. It was simple luck that the Supreme Commander never bothered to learn the human tongue and therefore did not understand what was said.
"Good, I wanted to discuss your latest report", the Supreme Commander said.
"What about it?", Mercury questioned, "as I mentioned in the report, the city has fallen and order has begun to be restored, and I believe that my actions during the ambush incident were prudent".
"Well, I do not", the Supreme Commander objected, "if you had died, our enemy would have gained new courage and it would have been a blow to our long-term strategy".
"I could not have abandoned my Guard to face the enemy on their own", Mercury objected, "it would have demoralized them and such an action would have turned the entire army against me for my display of cowardice, and then our long-term strategy would have been in jeopardy. I felt that my participation could turn the tide from defeat to victory, and I was right".
"At the expense of much of your Guard, yes", the Supreme Commander commented, "but I did not call for this meeting simply to discuss this, so let me just remind you that you are not allowed to die yet. What are your plans for the volcano of Rushno?"
"If the city of Ottaviano falls easily, I plan to divide my troops up yet again when the extra siege engines from Hydronium arrive", Mercury explained, "if I can take the cities of Ottaviano, Terzigno and Ercolano quickly, then I will be able to reform my army at the crossroad to Irisweld to stop any response the Ra'zac Empire can muster".
"It seems a fair decision if it can be done quickly enough", the Supreme Commander agreed, "I am in the midst of securing the countryside surrounding Middelfart in preparation to lay siege to it, but I think that if you beat the Ra'zac Empire's army when you have planned, then my remaining conquests can be done much quicker".
"I concur; if my plan works out, there will be no need for secrecy any longer", Mercury agreed.
"Good, then I will see you in person when we next meet in Kalt", the Supreme Commander said.
"Will you, or should I take care of Tel Betri?", Mercury questioned.
"hmm, I suppose that I could send a detachment to take care of it if you provide support from the Sea of Tel", the Supreme Commander suggested.
"Then it shall be so", Mercury obliged, "until our next meeting", before he punched his chest in the dökkálfar tradition.
"Until our next meeting", the Supreme Commander copied his words and actions, before he cut off the connection.
"Something unimportant, huh?", Loivissa, who until then had kept quiet and out of sight, said.
"It was unimportant to matters involving him", Mercury answered.
"If you look at it that way…", Loivissa trailed off, before resuming on another line of thought, "so, who is going?"
"Hmm?", Mercury uttered confused.
"You just said that you would divide up your army after Ottaviano, and since you now have two dragons under your command, it is only reasonable to assume that one is being sent with the army that you are not with, so my question remains; is Kilgharrah or Adûn and I going with the other army?", Loivissa clarified.
"I need to talk to Kilgharrah about it", Mercury tried postponing the decision for later, "besides, the discussion only becomes valid if Ottaviano falls as easily as I hope that it will".
"Why is it that you only seem to postpone things with matters involving me?", Loivissa asked with an undertone that Mercury was not entirely sure what was, "have you been 'postponing' anything else involving me?"
Luckily, a knock to the office door enabled Mercury to evade answering that question. After a brief, "enter", and a last look from Loivissa stating that this was not over, before she moved to stand at his side, the new guest, or guests actually, as there were apparently more than one, came inside.
The ones that came inside were: Vollar, the one Mercury had put in charge of his southern army the last time he had split up his army, Teleri, a respected and capable but unimaginative officer, Slava, the best defence-oriented officer in Mercury's arsenal, Hsath, the head of intelligence, as well as most of the rest of his command staff.
Seeing all of them together like this, uninvited and unannounced, made Mercury's mind automatically jump to the most plausible of his scenarios that involved his entire command staff organizing something without his knowledge; a coup d'état.
His hand had already begun to secretly reach for the miniature crossbow under his desk, when Vollar, the apparent spokesperson of the group, said, "we, the officers and our fellow soldiers, have been considering something for a while, and we have finally come to an agreement on the matter".
"I assume that this has something to do with me", Mercury stated, while keeping a steady hand on the hidden crossbow and feeling Loivissa tense up behind him when she caught sight of his hand's position.
"It has", Vollar agreed, before he took a final look at his fellow conspirators and then drew his sword, put the tip in the ground and sunk down on one knee with his hands on the handle.
Mercury had almost shot him the moment the sword had been drawn, but he was now more confused at what he was about to do, when the other officers similarly copied his actions and sunk down on their knees.
"We would like to swear ourselves to you, your highness, and the kingdom of Damocles", Vollar surprised Mercury by saying.
This…was not a part in any scenario that Mercury had thought of. Never had it crossed his mind that well-paid and respected dökkálfar officers would rescind their affiliation with their city states and swear themselves to him and his new kingdom.
Although he knew that roman legions had from time to time turned on their emperors and state and declared their commander the new emperor, he had never expected it to happen to him, especially after such a relatively short amount of time had passed since he took command.
"You do realize that if I accept your pledge, you will be rescinding all former pledges and vows to whatever city state you originally hail from?", Mercury asked as he folded his hands in front of him. He needed to be sure that they knew what they were going in to before anything was done.
A brief shutter went through the group now kneeling, before Vollar once again spoke, "we are aware of the consequences of our actions and were hoping that once the war is over, we, and our families, would be allowed to resettle in your new kingdom, your highness".
"How many are 'we'?", Mercury asked pointedly.
"As I said, the officers and soldiers alike have declared this their intentions", Vollar answered.
So Mercury would have to relocate and house 10.000 troops and their families if he accepted this pledge? That could easily turn out to be more than 50.000 people that he would be stealing away from right under the noses of their previous anaxes and ánassas. 50.000 was no small number, and given the sparse population density of Alalëa, it was quite a lot of its people.
Doing something like that would not only be a major slap in the face to the Supreme Commander, who represented the united city states of Alalëa in all matters on this expedition, but if word got out that he had made an entire army forswear their oaths and become his new personal army, then the least that would happen was that the cordial relations and cooperation between the Supreme Commander and Mercury would turn icy, and the worst would be that the Supreme Commander withdrew all support before the war was over in protest.
"I would like to hear the reasons that have led you to this decision", Mercury requested to both gauge how deep their loyalty to him personally ran, and in a bid to gain a little more time to think the ramifications of this over.
"We figured as much, and although many have differing reasons that not all agree to, we have all come to the agreement on these arguments", Vollar obliged, "the actions of the Supreme Commander in regards to our continued survival against the full onslaught of our common enemy leads us to believe that he does not care for us any more than he would by trying to squeeze a few extra drops of milk out of a dying elk.
When you first came to us, we were in despair and without much hope for the future. Although your changes were radical and foreign, they also gave us a small glimmer of hope, and after the siege of Tel Noach, we were beginning to regain our former confidence. Then after the battle of Red Grass, we began to believe that with you as our Commander, we would be able to beat anything that the Ra'zac Empire threw at us in spite of our lacking numbers when compared to the past or to the Supreme Commander's army in the north.
After that battle, many were willing to swear themselves to you, but others cautioned them that because you never personally took part in any fighting, you could simply be using us, and the more practical ones warned us that even if we did swear ourselves to you, there would be no place for us to go after the war had ended.
But those arguments were swept aside as you laid claim to these isles and held off an enemy ambush with only your personal Guard unit with you. You could have easily ridden to safety with the rest of your command staff, but you chose to instead meet the enemy head on and prove to us that your absence in battle was not because you were inept or afraid, but because you believed that your presence did more good directing the battle than participating in it.
You have become the men's guiding star, and they would follow you into whatever watery hell you chose if you asked it of them. For these reasons, we would like to once again offer to swear ourselves to you and your kingdom of Damocles, your highness".
As Vollar finished what was no doubt a rehearsed speech, Mercury also came to a conclusion on the matter. He had been half listening and half pondering his options during the extensive speech, but that did not mean that he had not paid attention to both.
Although he could say that he was surprised that his own actions during the ambush was the final trigger for this, as he really never had thought his participation in the battle as anything special to his army.
HIS army! For so long now, Mercury had thought of them as such simply because it was the army that he was responsible for, but if he accepted this pledge, then they truly would be HIS men under no higher authority than HIM.
Things sure have changed a lot from just two years ago, Mercury mused, back then, I was wandering the world, nationless and without any other commitments than those to Kilgharrah and Naina, but now I have not only declared war on the mightiest state in the world, and am winning it, but have a kingdom to look after, a personal army at my fingertips if I so choose and…Loivissa.
His thought process stopped there, not really knowing how to categorize Loivissa in his mind. Naina was his charge, Kilgharrah was his partner and soul-brother, Damocles was his kingdom to look after and rebuild, but Loivissa was…something else, something different from all of those.
Never mind, it could wait for now to categorize Loivissa, as he rose from his desk, walked around it to stand directly before his officers, and said in a formal tone, "if this is your will, then I accept it and ask that you rise and never again bow down to an authority not of my own".
A gulp escaped Loivissa, but it went unnoticed as the officers rose from their positions to once again tower over Mercury, before he said in a less formal tone, "when can I inform the soldier of what I have decided?"
"Right away, your highness", Vollar answered, "they have gathered outside in anticipation of your answer".
Mercury did a double intake of air at the news that he would have to make a speech that he had not prepared for, before he gestured for Loivissa to follow him outside and then went outside his temporary office in the city to view the parade grounds in front of it.
Gathered there on the parade ground was his entire army divided up into the rectangles of the Centurions, and the moment they saw him step outside, they began to either clap their swords against their shields or stamp in the ground with the end of their spears.
It was quite the moving sight to see, and what made it even more so was the knowledge that each and every one of them had chosen to follow HIM rather than the city state of their birth. The noise eventually stopped when Mercury reached a small improvised podium directly in the front centre of the gathered army and held out his hands to silence them.
"Dökkálfar! I am honoured by your devotion and have accepted your pledge and will enable your wishes to come to fruition once this war is over!", Mercury proclaimed in a raised voice, which instigated a round of cheering, before Mercury could get the word again, "in appreciation of your pledge, I hereby dub this army as the first of the Swords of Damocles! This army shall forever be known as the elite army that surpasses all others! You will write its history, and I have no doubt that it will be well-written!"
Yet another round of cheering occurred at this, before Mercury finally could get to the third and most important part of what he wanted to say, "as much as I wish that we could openly declare this momentous occasion, I fear that in order to not prolong this war unnecessarily, we will have to keep this turn of events to ourselves for the moment. This should not be considered as deceit against your fellow dökkálfar in the other armies and navies, but rather as a precaution to ensure that our common enemy, the Ra'zac Empire, cannot use this information to sow malcontent among troops that should be allied. Will you adhere to this first request of mine?"
"We will!", the army almost shouted in unison.
"Then let forever this day be known as the day that the First Sword of Damocles was formed and have a drink tonight on my expense tonight", Mercury declared and ended his speech.
He had done it. He had formed the first of his new kingdom's armies. The name for them had been decided the moment that he had renamed the isles, as he would sit on the throne of Damocles and they would become the Swords of Damocles. It all fitted quite nicely in Mercury's mind as both a personal reminder and a general notion of what armies were.
Now then, things are progressing quite nicely in my opinion. Oh, and to VaderTahu101, this will be the final clue to why he named it as such.