Chapter 5: Reaching an Accord
Not far from Alnus Hill King Duran watched his men and warrriors from other nations, Mudwan, League of Principals, Alguna, and his kingdom Elbe, they're all preparing for a big battle tomorrow. They've been all summoned by the Saderan Empire to join the war against a nation from beyond the Gate, but Duran find this very suspicious, according to the emperor they've nearly beaten the savages who've taken Alnus and they want his and the other vassal's army to fight the battered enemy, and yet they are here and there is no signs of the Saderan army anywhere, sure it was said that the Seventh Legion will be sent as reinforcements but they're supposed to be here by now, plus he kept hearing many rumors about the fate of the two Legions, the Fifth Legion marching through the Gate to conquer the unknown lands and they were nearly annihilated, the Fourth Legion who take defensive position around the Hill was badly decimated, not to mention why would the emperor wanted their help when the enemy they spoke of is nearly defeated? Something is not right here, he could sense they're walking right into a trap.
Duran was greeted by his old friend and ally Brynmor King of Mudwan. "It's been some time my old friend." He said happily.
"Yes, happy to see that you're still looking well despite your age."
Brynmor gave a hearty laugh. "I'm old but that doesn't mean I'm helpless, I can still swing a sword and defeat five men in battle, and I'm not going sit around for this coming battle."
"So do I, but I feel that something is not right." Said the King of Elbe.
"How so?" The old king asks.
"You read the emperor's summons, right?" Brynmor nodded prompting Duran to explain more. "He said that Fourth Legion have nearly defeated the enemy from beyond the Gate, if that is the case then why does he ask our help in the first place? And where is the Fourth Legion? If emperor's claims of victory is true then should there be at least a thousand Saderans ready to march for the final assault."
Brynmor thought about it and knew that his friend could be right, there is something off about this. "Yes, now that I think about it, I keep hearing rumors about this enemy that the Saderans are facing, I hear whispers, tales from the survivors of the Fifth and Fourth Legions, stories of monsters called Iron Giants, metallic dragons and flying ships swarming the sky, soldiers using unusual magic that can kill a man from a distance."
"With the things you said I think it would be wise to know who these people are before we fight them." Duran said.
"Good idea my friend."
After talking the two kings turns and went to the command tent with the other two leaders, they were greet by Leveticus the King of Alguna, and standing beside the table looking down on the map is Gudrik the Duke of League Principality.
"My good friends, glad to see that you're joining us, Gudrik here have already made plans of attack against the enemy on the hill." Leveticus greeted.
"Yes, our combined strength and numbers will overwhelm the enemy, it will be an easy victory." Gudrik proudly said, he counted their men, his army from the League numbered to a twenty thousands, combine with the other three kingdoms and it make up almost a hundred thousand.
"Before we send our forces we should set up defensive positions around our camp." Brynmor said. "In case we need to fall back we'll be easily counter-attack their advance."
"A solid tactic, we have a strong offense so we must also have a strong defense." Leveticus comments which Duran and Gudrik agreed to Brynmor's reasons.
"What's our plan then?" Duran asked.
"We will combine our forces, mixed them together and separate the foot soldiers, archers, cavalry, dragon riders, and auxiliaries, first we'll send in the auxiliaries to get them out in the open, with this we can see what they look like and examine their tactics and fighting styles." Explained by the Duke.
A simple tactic, but still an effective one. "I suppose we'll send the main force once the auxiliaries began fighting the enemy?" Brynmor said to him.
"Yes, in way, if the enemy proved too strong we'll order the auxiliaries to retreat and that the foot soldiers will form a wall of shield to counter the enemy's advance and the archers raining arrows down on them." Leveticus explained.
Brynmor agreed with this tactics and guessed the second one. "And if the auxiliaries do able to break through and crush their forces we'll send the cavalry and dragon riders."
"Precisely." Leveticus answered.
Gudrik smirks seeing that everyone agreed to this. "Well then is there any objections or ideas?" At that only Duran answered.
"Before any battle happen I suggest we talk to our adversaries." This cause silence and murmurs in the back. "It'll be foolish to just attack without knowing who they really are, this way we can also convince them to surrender, there is a good chance that we can simply end this without spilling a single drop of blood."
For a while the leaders think about and slowly agree, the king of Alguna then spoke in support of Duran's plan. "I concur, if the enemies we're about to face is indeed weaken by the Fourth Legion like the emperor stated then their numbers could only be a few thousands, perhaps even less than a thousand."
"Reasonable enough, is anyone agreed to this?" Asked Brynmor, the other three answered with a yes. "Very well, we'll talk to them today, and if they don't surrender a battle will begin tomorrow."
The base around Alnus Hill is still under construction, though they already constructed an airfield, barracks, water purification facility, and since the command center isn't finished yet the commanding officials discuss their strategy and tactics inside the G1 Mobile Base.
"The enemy have begun setting up perimeter around their encampment and no doubt formulating a battle plan for tomorrow if not tonight." Dorothea Earnst reported, showing images and live feed from a flying drones, gunships, and four Sutherlands with enhanced Factsphere, all this allow them to view the enemy closely.
"And how many are we dealing here?" Asked Marianne.
"One hundred thousand, my Lady."
"We beat two of their armies with very little effort and this army will be no different. I say send hundreds of Knightmares with a strong air support to wipe them out." Duke Thomas Godefroy proposed.
"We could just simply bombard them with artillery and airstrike." Suggested General Montgomeri.
While discussing the best course of action Lelouch is examining the encampment for minutes until he noticed something. "Mother, Schneizel, Cornelia, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
This caught everyone's attention then immediately turns to the images and live footage of the medieval soldiers, they was wondering what the Prince just saw then Schneizel suddenly said. "Ah, yes, I saw it."
"I notice it too." Cornelia added.
"I must've overlook that." Marianne said to her son.
Only a few have understand what Lelouch meant and Michelle ask them. "Pardon me, your Majesty, but can you enlighten us in what you saw?"
"It's not that we saw something, but rather we notice that something is missing in that army." Marianne said but the military commanders didn't understand.
"What she meant was that the enemy have banners which indicates which nation they belong to, we look at them and notice that there is only one nation absent: Sadera." Schneizel explained clearly.
With information is now clear to them, they look closer at the footage and they can't spot any Saderans in it. "So that means these army belongs to the vassal state then?"
"Yes, thanks to Colt Formal he gave us the list of every vassal states, nations that have an army which is not big but can prove troublesome for the Saderans if they rebelled. He draw banners so we can easily recognize them, and there are four vassal states participating here: Elbe, Mudwan, Alguna, and League Principality." Schneizel explains further.
"Since the Saderans are absent I am very certain that they're just are sending these men to die here, that man Molt is probably anticipating that these allied army is going to fail horribly, if they fight us that is." Cornelia said.
"So what should we do then your Majesty? Should we send an emissary?" Montgomeri asks her.
Marianne watches the allied army, which is when she saw ten mounted men coming out of the forest. "It seem that we don't have to, they're already sending their own emissary." Everyone turns to the screen.
"Who should we sent to meet them?" Said the Knight of Two.
"I'll go, coming with me will be squad of Knightmares led by Cornelia in her Gloucester, I think you should come too Lelouch, inside the Gawain, so that way we can show them what weapons we have and what can we do." Schneizel is very good when it comes to negotiations and talks, he might be able to convince these kings to turn and go home rather than fight and die for a nation that doesn't care.
"Are you sure this is wise? Why does it have to be us?" Leveticus asks his fellow king, he and Duran were going to the enemy with just eight men to guard them, why can't they just send some low ranking noble to talk with the people from the Gate.
"So that way they won't immediately attack us, they'll be on guard that I'm sure of, they'll see that we're just here to talk." Duran reasoned.
"Well it seem it work, because they're coming at us." The king of Alguna pointed at the hill.
They look on with alarmed, this is perhaps the strangest thing they saw, coming down the hill is ten giants, not like the ogres but these appears to be made of metal, they're guarding a carriage, a horseless carriage that make the two kings wonder if the people occupying the hill have powerful magic.
"Those must be the Iron Giants that the survivors spoke of." Duran marveled at the arriving group, these giants don't walk nor run but slide, these things are sliding down the hill, and soon they make a sudden halt when they're in front of them.
One of the giants then move forward a bit and began to talk which they notice that it doesn't have a mouth. "Presenting her Royal Highness, the Princess and Princes of the Holy Britannian Empire!"
"Holy Britannian Empire? This might not go well for us." Said the King of Alguna, fearing that they could be facing an army that could be much larger than they anticipated.
The giant then continues announcing the names. "Schneizel el Britannia the Second Prince, Cornelia li Britannia the Second Princess, and Lelouch vi Britannia the Eleventh Prince."
"They share the same name as their country?" Duran commented, he find the names interesting.
A man exited the horseless carriage and opens the door, the two kings assumed that this man is Schneizel. "Good day to you gentlemen, I see that your journey here was a pleasant one, setting up camp, ready for a battle." He said politely.
Duran was unnerved by the prince's tone, like he's not afraid of the allied army, which could reaffirms the possibility that these Britannians have outnumbered them. "If you don't mind me asking, Prince Schneizel, but where is your brother and sister?"
Schneizel pointed at the two Iron Giants at his sides. "They're piloting these two Knightmares." He answered.
"Knightmares? Is that what they are?" Duran asks as he and the others look at these giants with more interest.
"Yes, the Autonomous Armored Knight or we like to call them the Knightmare Frames, it's not some kind of beast that you assumes but think of it as a weapon, a giant weapon that is." Schneizel explains enjoying the awed looks on their faces. "Now before any negotiations can begin shall we talk in your camp along with the other leaders?"
They thought about it for a minute, if the talks take place in their camp it'll be easy to capture the three royal siblings, but that prove to be a bad idea as they don't know what these "Knightmare" can do and they might incur the wrath of an empire, not to mention the stories of the survivors of the two Legion about metallic dragons, flying ships and soldiers wielding dangerous magic could be true, for now they'll go along with it.
"As you wish, Prince of Britannia." Said Duran as they all went back to the camp followed by the Britannians, he, Leveticus and their men watch the carriage with curiosity wondering if this empire is very advance in terms of magic.
When they arrived at the camp many of the warriors look at the Knightmares with awe, curiosity and also fear as they realize that these things is what they're going to fight against when the battle begin. They set up a large round table were the four leaders of the Allied Army sat on one side while the royal siblings seat on the other side.
After the leaders introduced themselves the second prince began the negotiations. "Now on some important issues, your presence here." Every men in the Allied Army who heard him tense up. "The Saderans have declared war on the Holy Britannian Empire when they slaughtered and enslaved my people without mercy, now I don't see why you are here and preparing to fight us when this war they've started doesn't concern you."
Of course, those damn Saderan just have to pick a fight against anyone who isn't like them, brutally subjugating small nation is considered normal for the Saderans, and they tend to say that the butchered innocents are uncivilized savages and need to be eradicated or enslaved.
"Our nations are just a vassal or tributary states to the empire, good Prince, emperor Molt have summon us to fight you and if we didn't obey then our homes will be destroyed and the people enslaved or massacred." Brynmor explained who appears like he wanted to back out of this.
"And we can't just surrender either." Leveticus added. "The punishment for that is also the same as disobedience, we have to follow them."
Lelouch then spoke up. "And where are they now? Should they be here to lead you? To fight by your side?"
Gudrik then answered him. "Emperor Molt have promised that he'll send the Seventh Legion as reinforcements, together our number will reach over one hundred and twenty thousand men."
Cornelia merely scoff at the mentioned numbers. "Pointless, we Britannians outnumbered you as we have four hundred thousand under our command, and if we like we can ask for more forces to double the numbers, and believe me I'm NOT bluffing."
Upon hearing those numbers, the allied leaders just become worried, even if the Seventh Legion arrive it will be of no use as they are heavily outnumbered, and they can't say that the princess is lying because she look dead serious about this, and with the fact about the rumors of Iron Giants are true then all the other things about the Britannians are real too, metallic dragons and flying ships.
"Also, I highly doubt that this Seventh Legion you've speak of will arrive to aid you, we have inflicted devastating damage to the Saderans, their Fifth Legion was basically annihilated and over half of the Fourth Legion are wiped out. They are probably too busy rebuilding their numbers than to help you and I'm very certain that this Molt is just anticipating that you all fail miserably." She added.
Such wild claim and yet they can't argue with that, Molt sol Augustus is shrewd and manipulative ruler, with some dose of paranoia fearing that some of the vassal state would rise and oppose his rule, the more they think about it the more it make sense, though on the other hand they might face punishment for not fighting the Britannians.
Lelouch smirks he then speaks. "It seems that you're in deep thought, either believing or doubting us, so how about this agreement: if the emperor of Sadera kept his promise and your reinforcements arrive then a battle will commence, but if they didn't arrive and that man is lying then all of you will cut all ties with that nation and all of you can go home. How long will it take for this reinforcements of your to arrive?"
"I believe three days." Gudrik answered.
"Then they have three day to arrive."
The leaders of the Allied Kingdoms gave a moment of thinking, they look at each other and nodded as Duran talk to them. "Very well, we'll accept this agreement."
And so the waiting game begins.
Three days have pass and nothing big has happened, the Allied Army have dug trenches and wooden spike barricades during their vacant time, after the talks Duran sent a messenger to the Saderan capital that they needed the reinforcements and also one secret letter to his agent who's listening and watching the throne room and the senate, numerous scouts are stationed looking out for the Seventh Legion and observing the Britannians. Each passing day, the number of Knightmares on the hill are increasing and getting closer that on the third day they're within the range of the archers, but Duran knows that arrows are useless against these metallic beings, the huge number of Iron Giants is making the men from four nations anxious.
Today is the deadline and the Saderans are not here yet nor send messenger to answer their request, if the promised Legion is not here by tonight then they can all go home. Then a man with small piece of paper arrive to him. "My King, the letter from our agent have arrived."
He take the letter and open it to read the agent's report, and that moment he ordered his men. "Inform the other leaders, they need to hear what my spy have reported."
"Yes, my King."
After a short while the leaders of the Allied Army: Duran, Brynmor, Leveticus, Gudrik and their respective guards and bannermen have gathered inside the command tent. "My friends, it appears that the Britannians and our suspicions are right. And here is the proof from my spy."
He handed the letter to one of his men who read it out loud. "My King, there is a great treachery, the Saderans have deceived us, the Seventh Legion are staying where they are, and I overheard many of the senators of the emperor's plan, he wants us to delay the enemy's advance and at the same time severely weaken us, the people from beyond Gate have inflicted immense casualty on the two Legions, they possess strange but great power, I beseech you my King, do not attack Alnus Hill or it'll end up in a massacre like what happen to the Fifth and Fourth Legion."
After reading out the spy's message the whole tent is silent for a moment until Gudrik reacted, banging his fist on the table. "That bastard! I knew that there is something off with this, I wish I could have seen through his lies sooner!"
Leveticus voiced his opinions too. "My agents outside the capital have reported that they are conscripting every young men and hiring mercenaries, but the Seventh Legion isn't leaving the city."
"To him we are just lambs to slaughter. I shudder to think what kind of terrifying magic the Britannians would use on us if we were to march up that hill." Brynmor commented, disgusted by the deception, but he was also curious about the Britannians.
Duran's feeling two emotions right now, anger for the emperor's deception and relief that they don't have to fight the Britannians. "With the lies now known I think we should respond by following through with the Prince's agreement and cut all ties with the empire."
"Before we go home we should first make a peace treaty with the Britannians." Leveticus proposed to which many say "Aye".
The decision that they made this day will be seen as a sign of treason to the Saderans who will no doubt try punish them with force even though that this is a response to Molt's deception, fortunately for the four nations the Saderans are in no shape to make any kind of attack against them, they'll be too busy with the Britannians, and if the time comes right they might even join them in any fight against the Saderans to gain lands and territory.
With this they went outside the command tent and the leaders ride their horses going to the Britannians to make peace, and if possible establish an alliance.
Pina is not having an easy time, it was just a simple mission yet it proves to be hard to get any kind of information on the enemy who occupied Alnus Hill, she talks with merchants, travellers and surviving soldiers from the Fourth and Fifth Legion, and they all say the same thing: Iron Giants moving with phenominal speed despite its size and casts powerful magic that blows warriors to pieces.
She was getting tired of these stories, she wanted more useful information, just who are the enemy? Who leads them? And what is their purpose for being here? For two weeks now she and her knights are moving from town to town, getting closer to the Alnus, seperated to two groups to hasten their search for answers, and still she did not find anything new.
Her party came to a stop when they spotted an encampment, looking closely to the banners and realizes that this army belongs to the kingdom of Elbe. Something is not right here, this army is supposed to be in Alnus right now fighting the unknown enemy, are they late? Or did they won? She'll have to find out.
Her group went closer to the camp until they were intercepted by five horsemen. "Halt! Who are you? And state your business?" The man demanded.
"Pina co Lada, Princess of the Empire, and I come to speak with your king." The young woman said with authority. The riders stares at her with a neutral looks on their face, showing no respect nor reaction, Pina doesn't know if this is because she's a woman or being a princess of Sadera.
"The King was expecting you, he's currently eating in the command tent right now." They led the princess and her knights through the camp.
There Pina notices that the warriors of Elbe looks clean, fine and lively as if they never fought the unknown enemy, if they did not fight then this could be trouble for Duran as her father can have the king executed for disobedience, but if they did fought then Pina should really need to talk to Duran about the encounter.
When they're near the tent she and her knights climb down their horses and enters, inside they saw the king and his advisers and bannermen dinning on a delicious meal and drinking fine wine, the sight of roasted goose and grilled pork made her want to join the feast since she ate little this morning but she push her hunger aside and focus on much important issue.
"Ah, Princess Pina, you have grace us with your presence, please, take a seat and feast with us." Duran merrily said.
Not wanting to be rude and she was quite hungry she accepts as she and her knights sat down, serving came to give them plates, cups, forks and knives and they begin to dine in, Hamilton help herself with leg of a lamb and Grey's sipping corn soup, Pina have plateful of bread and grilled pork as she begins the conversation.
"King Duran, I'm was hoping you could answer some of my questions, if you don't mind?"
"Ask away princess." Duran drink a lot of wine from his goblet.
"I was wondering if you have encountered the enemy who have taken Alnus Hill." She said as she chews on the pork.
The tent became more silent after that, after swallowing his food Duran answered. "Why yes, we've met them on Alnus Hill."
The Saderan Princess were stunned of his answer, they fought the enemy and they leave unharmed? "You fought them, and actually defeats them in battle?" Pina nearly choke on her food.
"I didn't say we fought them, princess, I said we met them."
"So you surrendered to them?" Pina was surprise of his actions.
"If I surrendered I wouldn't be here now, would I?" Duran smoothly said.
"Then what did you do?"
Duran chuckles, liking the disbelief look on their faces. "We merely reached an agreement. You see, when we arrived at Alnus Hill the warriors of the Fourth and Seventh Legion are nowhere to be seen, me and the leaders of the other kingdoms and your enemy have notice this and suspected something, so we went talk about it, their prince has propose a wager you see, if the promised army arrive to help us a battle will commence, but if they didn't we can go home without any bloodshed."
"And you just agreed with them!" Pina stood up from her seat, shock that they didn't fight.
"Your emperor lied to us, princess, he stated that the Fourth Legion won and the Seventh Legion will come and aid us, he lied on both counts, when they didn't come we came to a realization that your father didn't expect us to win but rather fail and die!" What Duran didn't include is that he have a spy in the senate.
"This is treason! This is ground for execution!" Pina shouted, many of the warriors of Elbe were looking like they're going to kill the Saderan Princess but they didn't move. "Your disobedience could result in the destruction of the Kingdom of Elbe! Your city will be burned to the ground and your people slaughtered!"
Duran just laugh out loud like finding her words funny. "I don't think so, princess, if you do attack then I'll make sure that we inflicted immense casualty to your army in the process, so that way your nation will have less men to fight your enemy from beyond the Gate!" He smirks as he saw Pina's worried face, this proves that they're still rebulding their numbers. "Lady Marianne has told us of their reason for coming here, the purpose of their invasion, their resolve, when the Gate on Alnus Hill opened the Fifth Legion stepped through it and savagely attack their city resulting in the death of thousands of innocent Britannians, and we symphatize with them."
Pina's party interest perks up, it's seem that they're about to learn more of their enemy, who they are. "Britannians?" Hamilton said.
Duran smiled wickedly as he's going to enjoy watching their reaction at what he's about to reveal. "Yes, you heard it right, from beyond the Gate there is another empire, this empire is far more powerful, much larger, much advanced than your precious little nation, and this country is called the Holy Britannian Empire."
The king gave them a moment to let the name sink in. Pina was shaking slightly, feeling very unnerved. "B-But that can't p-possible, right? This has to be a trick, there is only one empire and that is Sadera."
The King of Elbe chuckles darkly as he tell them more. "Believe me, they're real, very real and very dangerous, and they are very angry at your nation. Like I said before, the Fifth Legion that your father sent have murdered thousands of innocent lives, and now the Britannian wanted vengeance, they're coming for your city and nothing on this world can stop them."
"WHAT! Are you certain of this?" Molt yelled at one of the generals, moments ago when he hears that Pina have learned the name of their enemies he was very curious, Arcturius read Pina's findings, he, the military commanders and the senate was abuzz about learning more about the savages from beyond the Gate, Holy Britannian Empire is the nation they're currently facing, the empire from the other side, from what Pina have heard about what Duran told her about their adversary the Britannians are much larger and powerful than Sadera, though some laugh thinking that it was a lie but some find this serious, but when Arcturius read out the report about the vassal the whole room is in uproar.
"As Princess Pina have reported: the Kingdoms of Elbe, Alguna and Mudwan, and League Principality have reach an agreement with the Britannians and all are returning home and severed all ties with us, further proof from the Princess stated that the army seems intact and fresh." Arcturius said.
Senators and some military commanders are shouting at the top of their lungs in how to punish the vassal states.
"We must send our forces to make an examples out of these traitors!"
"Burn their homes, take their livestock, and kill everyone!"
"It'll be a waste, I say enslave them to teach them a lesson!"
Some of the much wiser or peaceful voiced their opinions, mostly military commanders.
"We can't just divide our army and send them to attack these former vassals."
"He's right! Almost half of our forces are new recuits and still in training."
"If we did attack them, it'll be a costly one, we are going to need all the men in our defense against these Britannians."
"Enough!" Molt ordered silencing the whole room. "If we divide our forces and attack the former vassals it will only weaken us." For a few moment many are starting to see reasons and thinking logically. "For now we must focus in regaining our numbers and strengthen our defenses, and slow the enemy's advance, build many fortifications between our Capital and them, and commence the Scorched Earth Policy on all the lands near Alnus."
Some of the senators rose to protest. "But your Majesty! That policy can cause many consequences in the long run."
"It can damage our economy greatly."
"He's right, destroying farms, towns and villages could drastically lowers the tax revenue and will result in a massive resentment and unrest among the commoners."
"This is the best way to slow the Britannian's advance, burn the fields and kill the livestock, destroy houses and roads and bridges so it will be of no use to our enemies. We can easily built houses and so we can easily build it again, in time the commoners will recover and will understand that it is for the good of the Empire. " Molt said with cold authority, he doesn't care what happen to the commoners, to him the need of the state is greater than the need of the people, he'll let thousands of people die or suffer if it means the survival of their nation.
Chapter End
An: Finished much sooner than expected, hope you guys like it. If you guys are wondering what attire that Lelouch is wearing it'll be the clothes he wear as Julius Kingsley during Akito the Exile, without the eye-patch of course.