11/26 Red wolf moon
"So, the stories of that attack are true?"
"Yes, Lady Edelgard and I fear that the rumors of such attack had already spread. The lances of the Holy Kingdom are already pointing at us" Hubert said as he took a seat next to her. The room where they were sitting was empty except for the two of them, the torches casting away the cold.
"Then a counterattack will happen at any time and the frontlines had been weakened after the last great battle. If they attack now, we will lose territories we have been fighting for years. Even if we weren´t the ones responsible of that attack we must be prepared to react"
"I appreciate your diligence, but I am afraid that reinforcements will take some time to arrive. The roads to that area are constantly sabotaged. If we could have another way to move our troops alongside our food supplies…"
"That would mean open war with the Alliance, but the idea of obtaining better supplies is tempting. Unfortunately, most troops of the Alliance have relocated to its southern and western borders" She sighed as she looked at the map of Fódlan in front of her. "Are the reports to the east true?"
"I am afraid that Claude seems to be in good terms with our neighbors. No new invasions had been reported, even though the eastern border of the Alliance is practically defenseless. However, there aren´t any new reports of troops coming from the east of Fódlan"
"Hopefully they will remain idle, although I wouldn´t hold my breath for it. We have a clear enemy to the north and the northwest and a dubious pacifist at the east…And we are just in the middle of it"
"Petra has suggested to ask for help in Brigid. Their forces would be certainly helpful in future battles"
"Even if they are brave warriors, Brigid isn´t enough. The Empire has the mightiest army of Fódlan, but now it is dispersed in half the continent. The moment we show our back we´ll be stabbed by one of the other nations. I don´t trust Claude, he is clearly waiting to attack us the moment we focus on our fight with the Church and the Kingdom. Have they reached an agreement with the Alliance to fight against us?"
"No, Lady Edelgard. In the first months of the war, there were some movements from the Holy Kingdom, but the Leicester Alliance has been keeping his borders closed ever since. It doesn´t seem like the Alliance is interested in leaving its apparent neutrality"
"And the Empire loyalists can´t move at all"
"As long as Lorenz remains in the Alliance capital, Lord Gloucester won´t openly mobilize against the Alliance. House Ordelia is in good terms with the Empire, but of its own won´t do anything too risky. We could use mercenary companies from Dagda. As long as we combine them with our troops, we could have a safe last resort line in case that the Alliance decides to move"
"Better than nothing, I guess" she sighed. "But Dagda has already its own problems, if the rumors of internal fights during these years are true. We don´t know what will be the next move of the Alliance, but the only thing that I can say for certain is that the Kingdom will attack us again in a short while. Those creatures don´t want the carnage to stop"
"With great reluctance I must say that there could be another alternative to resolve the problem of a double front in this war"
"Tell me, even if I already suspect what you are going to tell me"
"Lady Edelgard…a marriage proposal could prevent any hostilities raising from the Alliance. If two rulers of this land are engaged, the ambitions of the Kingdom and the Church will be in great peril. Religiosity isn´t as strong in the Alliance as it is in the Holy Kingdom, the Church doesn´t have any power there…and the armies of the Alliance while less experienced than the Holy Kingdom´s, they could be decisive if we decide to advance to the Kingdom capital. It could mean the end of the war in just months"
"Only if Claude decides to accept such proposal" she said while looking at her hand.
"Claude is an ambitious man, he wouldn´t possibly object to such offer"
"He will decline if his objectives differ from us and I suspect that he will place his own conditions. I highly doubt that he will allow our troops to enter his territory without making sure before that he has the upper hand. Such proposal could have been more effective with Dimitri…but now it seems that he just wants my head on a pike. He has never been patient when he gets obsessed with something"
"We could offer generous conditions while we get rid of the most difficult elements of the Alliance, although attempting on the life of the Alliance´s leader so early could mean a great disturbance"
"Hubert, you really surprise me sometimes. You are able to talk about marriage and murder without changing the expression of your face"
"If you wish so, I will try to be more expressive"
"Don´t feel forced to do anything you don´t want to. Anyway, I think that the solution to this problem won´t be through marriage, but on the battlefield" she said as she stood up. There were more reasons for her refusal, but they were too embarrassing to admit them in front of him. Even if he was his most trusted confidant, there were some things he couldn´t just discuss with him. "I think that bringing some mercenaries groups from Dagda could buy us some time while we try to prepare for the upcoming Kingdom attack"
"Understood, Lady Edelgard, consider it done" Hubert said as he bowed. "You should discuss the matter of Brigid with Petra soon, even it is a small land…
"Everything counts in war. I know it, I´ll talk with her about that matter, but before we need to make sure to resolve this problem before us" she said as she stood up. "Please, leave me alone. I need some time to think"
"Understood"
"Claude, what are you really up to?" she wondered in silence. The war against the Church and the Holy Kingdom could be considered straightforward compared to the balance of powers Claude was doing in the Alliance to keep away the pro-empire forces. It was a rival she needed to keep all her focus on, but she couldn´t just ignore the menace coming from the north. But above all she was wondering about the strategy of the forces of Thales. "Doing such reckless attack is a sign that they are up to something. There are many things happening at the same time, ignoring just one of them could mean the demise of us all"
Every death until now was on her, but at least she had been able to keep all of her classmates alive. "My…friends" she corrected herself as she looked to the outside world. They were experiencing the worst winter in years, but even like that she still had the hope…the believe that he was somewhere. "Someone like him couldn´t possibly die so easily. He´ll return I believe in him" she muttered, before focusing on her work again.
"Lady Edelgard is too kind" muttered a voice to the other side of the door. He couldn´t about feeling a bit of an irony that the person that has dropped all her religious believes had regained her faith in someone else.
Like that Hubert left to continue with his tasks. It was his duty as the emperor´s advisor…and perhaps as a friend.
…
He was feeling exhausted after patrolling the surroundings of the monastery in the search of the soldiers that had attacked one of their caravans. The monastery was far behind the frontline, but that didn´t mean that from time-to-time groups of armed soldiers appeared from nowhere. In most cases, they were just bandits, people that didn't have the courage to fight like a true soldier. But sometimes the source of the problem could be deserters.
"Deserters" he thought. Deserters were broken men that they have left their own humanity behind the moment they had decided to run away from the war. No matter where they went, they would be despised by those who knew who they were. Some of them were cowards that were too scared of dying, but others had fought and fought until the war had broken them. Those were the most dangerous. They wouldn´t hesitate to kill even former companions if that meant surviving another day.
If the religion embraced the past and the rulers aimed for the future, the deserter was the present; a present whose only purpose was to survive until they were killed, sometimes by his own former friends.
"War changes us all" he thought as he cherished a scar on his face. His dear sister joked about it, saying that it made him manlier, but it was just the living proof of the luck he had when the northerner sword impacted on his helmet. The north had been the tomb of many of his comrades, many of them worth of being called friends. As a commander, their deaths were a burden he would never forget until his last breath. Losing those you were supposed to protect was a painful experience, yet her sister was willing to enlist herself to take part into the war. As a soldier he should be happy about her devotion to the cause, but as his older brother he had the fear that he might have to bury her with his own hands. "Youth makes us feel immortal. How deluded I was back then" he sighed.
"Five years ago, I wouldn´t believe those words coming from your mouth" said a voice close to him. It was Ladislava. She was wearing her usual armor, her delicate features a delight to the eye, but her eyes were sharper than most blades he had met on the battlefield. He knew that she wasn´t the one to comfort those around her, but having her around was somehow a relieve.
"Ladislava…"
"You were young and inexperienced five years ago, but now you know the true meaning of war. Tell me, how many men have you killed?"
"Too many to count"
"And how many have you lost?"
"Too many to consider myself a good commander"
"You have won the battles you have fought, you shouldn´t belittle yourself. In war people die, it is the responsibility of the survivors to continue fighting. Otherwise, their sacrifice would be in vain. Tell me, what are you afraid of?"
"How could you know?" He asked surprise
"It´s written all over your face. Your future as a spy would be gloomy, relieve yourself that you are a warrior"
"My…sister is eager to join the ranks of the imperial army"
"Wouldn´t that mean a reason to celebrate? Fighting for your motherland is the greatest honor for a soldier"
"I know…but I´m afraid of losing her. She is too reckless in a world where those attributes can lead to a quick death"
"Randolph…you were once as you are describing her, yet you went on the battlefield alongside me. You were willing to fight and die if necessary. Do I need to remind you your vows"?
"No, sir"
"Sir?" Ladislava said, her tone incapable of hiding a bit of surprise. "Being on the battlefield doesn´t make me a man, Randolph. Underestimating me because of being a woman has allowed me to send many men to hell already. They tried to get rid of me quickly and then they met their demise"
"I apologize, sincerely. I´m aware that you aren´t…well, you really are…please continue" he said as he felt like he was dying by the embarrassment.
"Your sister is just following your path. With the little information I know about her I´m sure she admires you. Joining the imperial army is just a natural step she is following. Your desire not to let her join us is just based on egoistical reasons. Will she get hurt? Probably. Will she start to doubt many things she believed until now? Certainly so. You can´t protect her from the world. Even if your intentions are born out of worry about her wellbeing, pain and hesitation will eventually come to her"
"Ladislava…how did you overcome those feelings of despair. If I could know a way to handling them I could probably…"
"The emperor showed me that there are things worth fighting and dying for. Despite her injuries, she had kept walking forward even if every day the burden of dead bodies grew heavier. I was hopeless before she found me, yet the little girl she was showed me the light I had lost long ago. I´ll proudly give my life if that meant the fruition of her dreams. You are worried about your sister. In that case, train her, keep her at your side and teach her everything you know. You are soldier, instruction is natural part of our everyday life"
"I still have many things to learn. I need to be stronger, like you" he said before he bowed before her. "Please train with me, even if it´s just for a short while I would be eternally grateful for your help"
He was afraid of looking at her face so he was keeping his eyes closed. He was expecting her to mock him. After all, she was the elite of the vanguard of the Imperial forces, she had overcome many battles and her troops were among the ones with the least casualties. She surely had many issues that required her attention. He was about to apologize when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Asking for such favor doesn´t require you to behave like this, we are both warriors and we´ve been already through many trials. I´ll help you in your training" She said, her eyes were firm and sharp, but there was a light smile on her face.
"It wouldn´t be too bad if you smiled more often" he was tempted to say, but her hand was still on his shoulder and he didn´t want to get a beating. "Thank you, Ladislava. I truly appreciate it" he said with a wide smile.
…..
11/27
"This forest is really big"
"Of course, it´s big, Balthus. It´s the greatest forest of the Leicester Alliance, but we are just at its outskirts There are stories of monsters in the deepest part of the forest, but luckily enough our objective isn´t there. I´ve also heard rumors of a powerful witch that lives somewhere in the forest, her spells capable of bringing doom to those that dare to trespass the area. I hope we leave undetected; it would be too annoying to face someone like that"
"A witch in the forest? That just sounds like a tale for kids" Balthus laughed.
"If you get killed, I won´t bother burying you"
"Hey, no need to be so dark about it"
"We should arrive when the sun sets. From now on we should be wearier of our surroundings. Hapi, Constance prepare enchantments to hide our presence in case they have magic casters among them" he said as he looked around. Overconfidence could lead to an earlier death.
"Do you really think they are that dangerous?"
"They were able to defeat an army of the Leicester Alliance and they have taken control of an abandoned castle…and they could possibly have a relic. We can´t underestimate them"
…
The night was already on them when they arrived to the area, torches lit in the distance.
"We finally found their place. I can´t believe that a group of bandits had taken control of a place like this"
"An emptied castle has no way to defend itself, the strength of a fortress relies on the men on its wall" Yuri replied to Balthus while they kept hidden in the bushes nearby.
"There are too many of them, we must take control of the sword before something bad happens" he muttered when his eyes caught a glimpse of a golden hilt. The sword of the Creator was being carried by a middle-aged man with green eyes. His face was strangely familiar, he had the feeling he had seen him somewhere. The man was entering the castle through the main gates, the surroundings guarded by multiple men.
"We don´t know how many of them are inside, so we must be careful" he said before his attention was caught by a smaller group of soldiers that were approaching their area. "Prepare for an ambush" he whispered with a quick look at them. Hapi casted a magic aura around them to mitigate the sounds produced in the area while Constance casted magic mist.
The group was already on them, but were unprepared for their attack. Taking advantage of the ambush, they neutered them easily before they could even realize what was going on.
"We´ll be using their armors to get into their den. They are many men roaming the area, they shouldn´t recognize just a patrol in the middle of the night, but be prepared to defend yourselves in case of it been needed"
After they had taken the armors from the patrol, they slowly started to approach the abandoned fortress. The sleeping giant was of a monstrous size but some towers had already collapsed, giving it a ruinous appearance. They were lucky that the guards didn´t stop them, there weren´t any villages or armies nearby so they appear to not be extremely worried about security measures.
The insides of the castle had different signs of deterioration, but he was more surprised with the different equipment and treasures located in the aisles. There were patrols located inside the fortress as well, but they might have thought that they were patrolling as well since they didn´t bother them.
After a while following the different passages within, they arrived to a wider area, guards before a pair of wooden gates.
"The leader must be there" Balthus muttered next to him.
"Hapi, Constance, spells to silence the area" he whispered as they approached the soldiers in front of them.
"You aren´t allowed to enter this place, turn around or we´ll have to tell…"
The guard couldn´t finish his sentence as he was beheaded in the split of a second.
"Hide the bodies, we don´t want the whole garrison over us" he said as he took care of the body before him.
Once they had disposed of the bodies they stood in front of the wooden gates. He could sense the sword to the other side. It was certainly a dangerous weapon with an unknown potential, but even with all the risks it was wiser to keep it away from the hands of a group of thieves.
"Be sure to not alert anyone" he said before stepping inside.
…
The room was covered in tarnished carpets, torches in the corners of the room. It appeared to be the courtroom of a noble, the remains of an unknown herald at one of the walls.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here? Do you want to steal all my treasures? The treasures that me, the great Pallardó has spent so much time collecting, so much time cherishing. How would you dare to come to a place like this"?
"Your treasures? That´s really funny coming from a thief. But there are some other things you should care more about." Balthus laughed as he prepared his fists.
"You have a weapon beyond your control" he said as he carefully approached him. He knew what could happen if he started using the sword, he had already seen the effects of the hero relics in crestless men. He had to stop it before something worse happened.
"Do you mean this sword?" Pallardó said as he pointed it at them. "This weapon has been incredibly helpful during all these years, not once have it failed me. We were even able to get rid of an alliance army with it"
"What…? Are you a wielder of a crest?" asked a shocked Yuri.
"A crest? Not at all, but that doesn´t matter, disappear or reinforcements will certainly get rid of you!"
"You don´t understand, that weapon could drive you insane at any moment!"
"The only ones that are insane are you, if you really think I would give up such gift. I found it at a riverbank, it was a strike of luck that I found it!" he said as he smiled. When he looked back, he could see countless soldiers starting to surround them. The place was filled with enemies, all of them pointing their weapons at them. "It seems that the conditions of surrender have changed, what a pity, you almost had me" he said as he pointed the sword of the creator at them. "Get rid of…"
"Finally, I was able to meet you again. To think I would have to spend so much time in the dirt, how disrespectful, to treat your benefactor like this" It was a woman´s voice, her voice resonating everywhere.
"Who had just talked?" asked a shocked Pallardó looking around.
"Why are you interrupting me, I think I haven´t let you the right to open your mouth" said the voice again as Pallardó´s sword hand fell to the ground, a river of blood accompanying its fall, but the Sword didn´t fell with his arm.
"These years have been so annoying, but I needed a useful idiot to recover some of my powers. You should never underestimate the greediness of your fellow humans. Well, to be fair greed was what created me as well so maybe I should be thankful to that" The woman´s voice within the sword was talking again as it was floating before him, its surface starting to grow brighter.
"What are you?" he asked in disbelief. The bandits around them were as surprised as he was, no one couldn´t believe what was going on. A relic speaking like if it was a living being…or perhaps had it been like that since the beginning?
"You are really sharp, that will make our talk easier, but first allow me to get rid of these nuisances" A explosion of light happened, blinding him for a second. When he recovered his sight, he was shocked to see a pool of blood covering the floor of the room, not a single thief was alive, all of them murdered in gruesome manners that were impossible to describe. He was sure that the vision of those bodies would certainly haunt him for the days to come.
"You shouldn´t surprise like that. I´m sure you have already felt a similar power, when you have come in contact with me" said the voice again, but before him the sword had disappeared. Instead of it a woman of fateful beauty was standing in front of him. Her clothes where whiter than the first snows, her long green hair falling gently up to her waist. He had seen a painting of her at the cathedral what appeared to be years ago, but he felt his heart was about to stop beating the moment he saw her eyes. He was expecting to see a pair of bright green eyes, but there was only a black void where they were supposed to be, the soft skin cracked by the darkness within her eyes. The dark aura coming from its deeps was the veil promise of eternal suffering.
"What are you?" he muttered in shock and disbelief to the being in front of him.
"What a rude way to welcome an old friend, even though I have lent you my strength so many times. You already know the answer to your question. I´m Sothis, the beginning of everything in this world, although others would call me the demise of this world" The woman in front of him said with a light bow.
"How about you take a sit? I´m sure there is much you want to know, although if the knowledge you seek will engulf you in despair is yet unknown to me" she said with a wide sinister smile.
Hello again, hope that everyone is doing fine. Some people might wonder about this last part, but an explanation will certainly come, don´t worry. See you!