Part XIII: 27 AWSS
With the royalist forces crushed both in the Ice Capital as well as on the battlefield, the Icewings military position became much more favorable. Having secured the northern desert region and most of the "neck" of Pyrrhia, the Icewing Republic forced the other tribes to take their new government seriously. After successfully negotiating both the Sandwings and Mudwings out of the war, the Icewings became free to mount an offensive against the pesky Skywings that they had been at war with for practically the whole revolution.
It's amazing the effect that one single dragon can have on an army, especially if that dragon is the army's leader.
A single year ago, no one would have ever imagined that the Icewing army would be where they were now, deep in Skywing territory and about a hundred miles from the Sky Palace with the Skywing army in a nearly constant state of retreat. But that is exactly where they were. Somehow, despite being constantly outnumbered by their foe and having their supply line stretched further and further with every step they took, the Icewings were not just winning, they were dominating their foes. And it was all thanks to their general: Napoleon.
To Saxifrage, one of the ordinary rank-and-file soldiers of the Southcentral Icewing Army, such a turnaround was nothing short of miraculous. A few months ago, the entire army had been in miserable shape: supplies were low, the troops were largely untrained, and their relative inaction had made many of the dragons a bit stir-crazy. The fact that they had been stationed far from the front lines meant that few of the politicians or high-ranking generals were very concerned about their status and made little effort to give them any aide. Saxifrage himself had considered requesting a transfer to another division to leave the dismal army but had stayed for the sake of the few friends he had made. He had pretty much accepted that, barring a massive and successful invasion from one of the other tribes, he would be on the sidelines for the duration of the war. So, when word came that they were receiving a new commanding officer, Saxifrage hadn't really expected anything to change. Of course, he turned out to be completely wrong.
It wouldn't be fair to say that Napoleon whipped them into shape because he really didn't have the time to focus on their somewhat lacking training or mediocre supplies (although overall discipline improved and drills increased rapidly under him), but he instead inspired them with his belief. Napoleon was convinced, and he convinced the army in turn, that they could fight and that they could win. Furthermore, Napoleon had implied heavily that they would soon have a chance to prove it. Saxifrage, of course, had no idea of what went on behind the scenes between Napoleon and the other generals involved in the war, but Napoleon and the Southcentral Army got their chance.
Several months ago, only a short time after Napleon's arrival, they received confirmation to begin a massive offensive against the Skywings along with several of the other Icewing armies, specifically the Southeastern Army and the Eastern "Army of the Neck" which had seen the majority of the action against the Skywings. A short time later, they followed the coast south before crossing the Great Five-Tail River to the east and beginning their invasion of the Sky Kingdom. Most of the soldiers had assumed that they would attempt to follow the coast northeast towards the Sky Capital, but once they had secured a talonhold east of the river the true plan was revealed to them. The Southeastern Army and the Eastern Army would indeed begin pushing northeast, but the Southcentral Army under Napoleon would do something completely unconventional: they would separate themselves from their supply lines and continue east over the Claws of the Clouds Islands, catching the Skywings living along the Diamond Spray River completely off-guard. Napoleon's army would then advance northwards to the Sky Capitol and meet the other armies there.
Crossing the mountains had been an ambitious and risky plan, but they had somehow been able to do it. Between the rather scarce prey, the unfamiliar terrain, and the supplies that they had to carry with them, the trek was rough and arduous, but they pushed on and arrived at one of the Diamond Spray River's many tributaries on the other side in just over a week. A series of hard-fought battles ensued between them and their Skywing opponents, for although they did have surprise on their side, they were outnumbered, cut off from reinforcements, and had only the supplies that they carried with them and what they could find in the land. Numbers wise, they probably should have lost…but they didn't.
Napoleon first turned his attention towards the city of Windward and captured several nearby minor settlements along the Diamond Spray, provoking a response from the Skywing Army. One they had been coaxed out of the city, Napoleon promptly met their attack and defeated the majority of the force out of Windward, enabling him to take the city and cause the Skywings to fall back to the north. Similar engagements occurred at the Skywing cities of Hightower, Airgem, and Crimson Rock, with the Icewings winning battles against their foes and causing them to retreat further and further into their own territory. Even as the Icewing offensive in the west stalled and faltered, Napoleon's army continued northward.
It seemed that with Napoleon, the enemy numbers hardly seemed to matter. Skywing reinforcements came slowly, then poured in as they tried harder and harder to stall the Icewing advance, but the Icewings continued to emerge victorious. Outnumbered almost two to one at the battle outside of the city of Clearsky, they were able to outmaneuver and encircle almost half of the Skywing army, inflicting devastating losses. They did it again a week later at Violet, where only a desperate and rapid breakout by the Skywings prevented the route to the capital from being almost completely cleared. The Skywings prided themselves on their aerial speed, but it seemed that it didn't translate well into the battlefield for them.
Now the Icewings were a mere hundred miles south of the Sky Capital, and it didn't look like there was much the Skywings could so to stop them.
All in all, Saxifrage though it somewhat ironic just how much the situation had turned around. It seemed like only a few years ago that the Skywing army was knocking on the door of their capital, and now they were knocking on the door of theirs. He hadn't joined the army until a little after those events had taken place, but he still felt quite a bit of anger just thinking about it. Those Skywings had dared to threaten his homeland, and he was glad that he finally making them pay.
It was why he didn't quite so mind times like these, where his job was not fighting, but rather moving, well…stuff. They had just taken the town of Cloudbreath, one of the last main steppingstones to the Sky Capital, and they were using it as their staging ground before they moved on. Sorting out both the old supplies and the new ones they obtained was always a menial but necessary task, as the two tended to get thrown together in the process of winning a battle. Still, organization is important when your life depends on it, so Saxifrage found himself performing the task of moving food, spears, and other supplies from one building to another as his superiors instructed. It was a thankless job, but his moral was high from the recent victory and his expectations of the next one, so he hardly cared.
Even as he worked, however, he noticed all of the dragons simply milling around with nothing to do. Icewings simply sat throughout the town, engaged in idle conversation or throwing rocks at some of the signs outside the Skywing houses. It was one of the many problems in the army; when not fighting or preparing to fight, there didn't seem to ever be too much to do. These dragons had secured the town and now they nothing to do but wait for orders. It almost made Saxifrage glad that he was working and doing something.
As he was in the middle of transporting a crate of supplies that had come with them over the mountains (one of the few that had survived this long), he noticed that it contained a large number of roughly cylindrical objects with small fuses attached to them. He had no experience firsthand with these types of things, but he thought that he recognized them as fireworks, even though he had only seen them once or twice at special celebrations in the Ice Capital. He thought that these were supposed to be rather special and rare, and it didn't make sense for them to be here. He couldn't help but wonder why they had bothered to bring such unique and celebratory items all the way across the continent.
Making a mental note to ask his captain about it later, Saxifrage carried the crate into its proper storage building and found a proper place to put it. After taking a moment to ensure that everything was in order, he exited the building and came to a screeching halt as something completely unexpected caught his eye. Four Icewing soldiers marched through the streets with a portly red male Skywing at their center. The Skywing had a stick with a length of white cloth attached clamped tightly in its jaws, and it looked extremely nervous. As the five dragons moved down the street, all of the Icewings that had previously been doing nothing got up and followed, their curiosity obviously piqued, and Saxifrage couldn't help but follow with them. It only took him a moment to realize where they were heading: Napoleon's tent.
Currently located in the town's center, Napoleon's tent was practically the basis of all operations in their front of the war. All important information, plans, and personnel went through it before anything major happened. If the Skywing was being brought to Napoleon himself, then Saxifrage knew that something major was going on, especially because the Skywing did not appear to be an ordinary prisoner.
Napoleon had apparently been informed of the arrival of the Skywing, as he was already standing and waiting outside of the tent as the Skywing and the guards approached and came to a halt in front of him. The large collection of soldiers who had followed behind similarly stopped to watch and listen as the Skywing hesitantly approached their general.
It gave Saxifrage no pleasure to see that the Skywing dwarfed Napoleon in both height and size, but he was satisfied to see Napoleon being the intimidating one as he stared stone-faced at the red dragon, which was still clutching the apparent flag of truce in its jaws. They simply stood there for a minute, looking at each other as the surrounding dragons waited, before the Skywing finally spat out the stick raised himself to his full height, and spoke.
"I am Duke Realgar, cousin to Queen Ruby, and I have been sent here to," the Skywing faltered for a moment, "...negotiate," he finished with a sigh. Cheers immediately broke out amongst the Icewings present and Realgar shifted nervously. Napoleon, however, didn't seem to move in the slightest.
It wasn't until the cheers calmed down that the general made any move to speak. When he did, it was short and to the point: "If you wish to negotiate surrender, then we shall speak. If you wish to negotiate a cease-fire, then I'm afraid that is not in my authority to do."
"Yes, um…yes of course!" the Skywing said, a bit flustered sounding, "We've already sent a delegation west to communicate with your government, but we would like to prevent any more bloodshed before things become official. You understand, right?"
Once again, Napoleon hardly even blinked. "I suppose," was all he said after a moment.
"Here, look," the Skywing said, "I have several documents with me, well, which your soldiers took from me upon my arrival but brought here now, and if we could just talk for a moment then I'm sure we can reach an agreement." He looked at the surrounding crowd before adding, "…and I'd prefer we talk alone."
One of the Icewings that had escorted the Realgar to the tent walked forewords and handed Napoleon a couple of scrolls, which he glanced at briefly before nodding. "Very well," he said before slipping into the tent, and the Skywing wasted no time following him.
After that, nothing happened for a very long time. Several guards remained outside the tent to ensure no one got too close and although muffled sounds were occasionally heard, none of the crowd could make out what was being discussed. Still, no one wanted to leave and miss finding out firsthand what would become of the situation.
After just standing there waiting in the center of town for around an hour, Saxifrage finally pushed through the crowd until he found a good place to sit and lean against a nearby building to wait. As another hour or two passed by, he grew increasingly tired and allowed himself to close his eyes and rest. He had just begun to nod off when the crowd stirred and jarred him awake. The general and the Skywing had finally concluded their business, and now everyone wanted to see how it had turned out.
One of the first things that Saxifrage noticed as Napoleon and Realgar exited the tent was that the seemed that the Skywing Duke had finally found some of his confidence and was no longer a nervous wreck; instead, he wore a face of relief. Napoleon himself wore a faint smile on his face, and Saxifrage took these to be good signs.
As the guards approached to presumably take the Skywing, the Icewing general waved them away and told them that Realgar was free to return back to the enemy lines. The two dragons briefly exchanged a few more words, which Saxifrage could barely make out but sounded like affirmations of whatever had been agreed upon, and Realgar took off to the north with several of the scrolls that he had brought with him. Saxifrage and the others watched him fly away until he was nothing but a small dot in the sky, then all eyes turned back to Napoleon.
The Icewing general looked over his troops for a moment, then smiled in earnest. "The Skywings have begun suing for peace between us. I have been informed that the concessions they are willing to make are quite generous and include both official recognition of our recently won Northern Desert Territories as well as well as ceding land east of the Five-Tail River, expanding Icewing territory the furthest it has been in centuries. Having received multiple assurances that a treaty will be accepted and signed within the week, I have decided to suspend the offensive for the time being and instead prepare to head back home. We have won here."
Cheers broke out once more among the gathered Icewings as the news sunk in. For months they had fought and won battles, and now it seemed as though they had won the war.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire