...Argland Council...
"Civil war? So that's the game." The Platinum Dragon Lord said in a low voice.
"Yes, it seems that someone named Philip has raised up most of the nobles behind him in rebellion, he may seem like an idiot, but he has someone backing him and he's eating up Royalist territory like you do cattle." The Worm Dragon Lord replied.
"So we're essentially being 'plundered' is that right?" The Platinum Dragon Lord asked.
"That is about the size of it, those first few weeks were...well just the 'excuse', it seems to me that the nobles following Philip started doing these things on their own estates just to get the crown involved, then when the crown tried to stop them, Philip used the interference with their independence as a justification for civil war, now none of our merchants can get through to the Sorcerer King, making our friendly offer essentially moot." The Obsidian Dragon Lord replied.
"Well, then lets mass our armies along the border with Re-Estize, and see how this 'Philip' responds to that, also, lets send a letter to the Sorcerer King advising him of our actions and our reasons, we don't want to send the wrong impression while trying to send the right one, and we definitely don't want it thought that we're denying him resources for his war as a punitive measure either." The Platinum Dragon Lord suggested with a shudder of discomfort at the latter thought, a shudder the Obsidian Dragon Lord shared, and that the two visitors to his country shared the same reaction at the thought of angering the Sorcerer King, was not lost on the remainder.
...Kasaga...
Braunin's funeral was treated as a sort of 'affair of state' with his entire unit granted special parole to attend his being laid to rest, allowed free on the condition of their return to 'secure holding' afterwards. It was fair to say that her generous behavior towards the defeated warriors did much for Skana's reputation, tempering her public image as more than simply a fierce warrior, but one of considerable compassion for worthy foes, and building up further her reputation for mercy to the defeated. Braunin as she found out, was a popular figure in the city, and many of its citizens were in attendance, the priests of the old gods blessed his body as it was laid to rest for the final time, and one by one those who knew him best, spoke of him in good terms.
Skana, for her part, chose to take position before the crowd as well, this drew a...mixed reaction, but the most overwhelming emotion was curiosity, it was not every day that a man's killer spoke at his funeral. "I am Skana, I took the life of the noble Braunin Takos." Silence greeted her statement. "I knew him only long enough to kill him, but even in that brief time, that was enough to show me the character of a man who the world was better off for having. He had honor, he had courage, and he put his life on the line for those who followed him, and he fought for what he believed. What he believed and what I believed forced us to be enemies, but in another life, another world, another place where things had been different, I would have been proud to call him friend, and to call him brother, and I envy those who got the chance to do so. May he rest in peace, now I ask that all who stand here, bow their heads in a moment of silence, for ALL the honored dead, no matter their faith, and then please feel free to stay to give condolences to his surviving family, his father, Amran Takos."
When the funeral ended, Skana left, the soldiers of the defeated force seemed intent on keeping their pledge of parole, and that freed her up to tend to the matter of Kasaga's administration, it wasn't the sort of thing she would have imagined for herself ten or fifteen years earlier when she was a child but...so it goes. The city's official governor proved to be a nervous but amiable fellow who seemed to care more that the city was well managed, than who managed the city, and for all his handwringing initially, the continued enforcement of prohibitions against plunder and the requirement that even Black Justice soldiers pay for their beer, seemed to make life manageable for everyone.
Still as she sat in the 'occupied' office with the former governor in the 'guest seat' she found every reason to be hopeful, the governor on the other hand, was wringing his hands again.
"Ahhh...governor Skana...general Skana...when your replacements arrive...will your policies about plunder and purchasing and so on remain in place? Or...should I be concerned?" He asked.
Skana folded her arms on the desk and said, "Governor Nanka...for the third time, we will adhere to the standards laid out in the Draconic Accords, no matter who is in charge, and if anyone who is put in command should violate them, you have only to complain to Neia Baraja, or you can just write to me, and you can wager your life that retribution against such a violation will be swift, permanent, and public."
"Yes but...what if the other nations violate those accords, does that not void them?" he asked, still wringing his hands, his somewhat nasal voice was annoying, but...she considered her annoyance a defect of her own, after all his office was modest, his home was what you'd expect of a public servant of high office, nice but not extravagant, and the people were well fed and generally content, so her opinion of him personally was good...he just annoyed the ever loving crap out of her.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled tiredly, "Governor Nanka...even IF they do that, our faith remains unchanged, those rules of war are there because other rulers are NOT like us, need I remind you that WE are the side who proposed these measures? I assure you, we are not going to turn this into a city of the dead or anything else."
"But Wenmark..." He began to say and Skana looked at him with anger, "I was at Wenmark, you did not see what I saw, the horror, the torture, the abuse...THAT was a city of evil like no other I can imagine in this world..." her tone calmed somewhat and she sighed again, "this place is not. You have been fair to your people and even your prisoners do not starve, we took this city because of war, not malice, and Wenmark was destroyed because it had to be, there was no saving such evil from the consequences of their choices. Now...do you have anything else, when the new unit arrives I want to be ready to receive them."
"Ahhh...no...that will be all." He said, then stood, bowed, and exited, making a mental note that she seemed to think that she'd be getting relieved soon, and he rushed home to pass that information on to those who would make use of it.
...Prart...
Neia was bored. She supposed that was a good thing, excitement without Skana could only mean danger, no fun at all. Her aptitude for war had grown considerably, but just as practice makes perfect, familiarity breeds contempt, and her fondness for war had not grown in the least. The stupidity, the waste, the tragedy, she hated it all. Sometimes wounded would filter in, those who survived a fight with skirmishers from Hoburns, sometimes villagers whose lands had been siezed by Astrakian Loyalists, the good thing was...the undead kept showing up too. Farmers who had warning about what was coming didn't have to sacrifice their undead labor, instead they brought it with them, and in addition to their twenty five thousand living soldiers, they had an increasing number of undead soldiers, already in the thousands, and these did not require living space, they could be stored until needed, and there were now warehouses full of them, while others were put to use around the city aiding with the preparation for the inevitable siege.
Services at the temple were kept available around the clock and priests tended everything from counseling others on their fear to treating the injured who were hurt on a construction project. They now had mangonels ready to use and the walls were constantly fully manned and scouts were always patrolling on undead horses.
That evening when she was finished, she leaned back in her chair and let her arms fall at her side in exhaustion.
"So much work..." She said... "But Prart will not fall again."
Just as she was dozing off...CZ entered the room and said, "Its time to go. Lord Ainz requires your presence." Neia was on her feet almost before the gate opened.
...Hoburns...
Astraka was not a man to waste time, and he was not a coward. When word came of Kasaga's fall, he had the next two divisions that he had intended to send east, and instead sent them south, twenty thousand soldiers, and he went with them. His banner flapping in the wind, his soldiers armor gleaming, their spears reflecting the light of the dawn, and he knew he cut a dashing figure on his warhorse, waving to his not very loyal subjects in the capitol.
He felt good riding out. And that good feeling lasted for all of one hour after exiting the gate. It stopped feeling good because a hundred skeletons came over a small hill and charged at his entire formation. It seemed...utterly absurd that this should be the case, a hundred skeletons might slaughter a village, but against twenty thousand well trained soldiers, that was a flea bite. The formation halted, crushed the attack, scouts were dispatched to chase after whoever was responsible, but other than hoof prints leading into the woods, nothing could be found.
Twenty minutes later it happened again.
Twenty minutes later it happened again.
A half an hour later it happened again.
Forty five minutes later it happened again.
Every single time it happened, the entire formation had to stop and deal with it, and it became tiring, few people were hurt, though it did happen, he had priests on hand to deal with the injuries. His formation had to slow to a crawl.
Stopping a formation took long enough, starting it up again was tice as bad, and every time it happened, well a little mana had to be expended on the wounded. It took six hours to move the distance that should have taken one hour.
It was the seventh hour when he realized that was the point, but it couldn't be helped, it continued until the twelfth hour when he ordered camp established. That night...one thousand skeletons attacked the camp and woke up all of those who slept and forced them into combat. Defeating such a small force was easy enough, but when two hours later another hundred attacked, it seemed to be just to make noise...and in that it was successful, few were dead and few were injured, even when there were a thousand such skeletons...but exhaustion creeped in to their bones, and little sleep was had.
The next morning, they found a dozen sentries dead at their posts, killed by arrows through the throat or the eyes, or with their throats slit and their weapons and any supplies on them taken.
While they were preparing to leave, another hundred skeletons attacked the camp.
It was then that King Astraka realized that the walk to Kasaga was going to be a walk through a living hell.
...Gustav's line of march...
He kept a careful count. The number abreast, the number of ranks per banner, the types of soldiers, what they wore, how they were armed, per the instructions he'd been given, he gathered every detail he could about them and wrote it all down...it took the better part of the day before the invasion force had passed him by, and when it had, he made copies of his report and sent it South to Kedyn, their direction was North along the coast, that put Prart on their line of march...Neia was in Prart...and Neia did not have enough soldiers.
"Shit." he said, as his reports went out to everyone who needed them.
No sooner however, had he dispatched the last of the reports on undead mounts, than a gate opened and something wholly unexpected happened, a pretty maid with long blonde hair emerged from it and said, "The Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, with Queen Calca, has called you to a meeting. Please, come with me."
It was with a heavy swallowing motion that he handed temporary command to his second, and stepped through the gate.
...Border of the Slane Theocracy...
Building the encampment took two days, General Enri had wasted absolutely no effort on it, their undead laborers built supply stores of wooden walls with a cheap metal interior to make them appear vulnerable to fire when they were not, she had latrine pits dug at precise intervals to ensure no disease would spread into any water supplies, she had double rows of walls established, with the larger one before the interior to create a deceptive appearance in the event of an attack, and she dug deep pits laid with spikes on either side to make for a brutal killing ground. It was shocking to her how quickly and easily she came up with and implemented things to end lives.
"What if we laid spikes down within these pits, we can smear them with excrement and make for a really lethal surprise?" She'd said, and her hard eyed stare had caught her friends as much by surprise as the suggestion itself. She wondered if it was a good thing that she could do that...or not? Beyond those were arrow positions where shielded soldiers could strike at anyone who took the wall, laid at an angle so that they would the right side of a soldier, since most carried their shields in their left hand, it was brutal down to the last detail.
Between the ogres, the undead, and her many other military resources, they now had what appeared to be a nearly unassailable encampment as a link in their supply chain.
It was a well timed completion, because on the third day, the Sorcerer King called her to a meeting, and a gate opened in front of her.
...E-Rantel...
General Nimble and Emperor Jircniv rode in to E-Rantel with great fanfare, and General Rockbruise was waiting for them on...an undead horse. The streets had been cleared to allow the soldiers to pass, though the peasants and citizens of all classes lined the streets, this was no mere parade. Leinas rendered a prompt and genuine salute, and cracked a smile at them both from her clear face.
"Emperor Jircniv, General Nimble, please follow me, I will escort your forces to the staging grounds and they can get some rest, then we should adjourn to the governor's manor." Leinas said politely.
The march was quick, and the soldiers acted in unison as they moved, it was a well oiled machine that snaked its way along the broad roads of E-Rantel, the former military staging point for Re-Estize, now staging point for the Sorcerous Kingdom.
When they arrived, General Nimble called forth his commanders and filtered down their orders, pay first, then two days recreation before next assembly, no departing the city beyond the range of a bow shot.
Afterwards, the three of them rode in amiable silence to the manor, dismounted at the gate, leaving their horses in the care of a stable hand, and walked in to a simple office, and General Rockbruise took a seat behind her desk, while General Nimble & Emperor Jircniv took equally comfortable seats opposite her.
"First...its good to see both of you again." General Rockbruise said with a genuine smile.
"It is, I'm truly glad you've been doing well in my lord's service." Jircniv replied.
"I admit, I've missed your company." Nimble added.
"OK, pleasantries accomplished, now down to business," she said, "You probably noticed that there weren't many other soldiers in the city, right?" He asked.
"Yes..." Jircniv replied.
Leinas sighed, "Do you know why?"
Nimble & Jircniv looked at one another, "No." They said together.
"One of the Sorcerer King's servants, a personal attendant during his expedition to the Beastman Kingdom...went missing while in the care of Queen Draudillon." She said brusquely.
The two men's eyes went wider. "So...when is her funeral?" Jircniv asked.
"Oh she's very much alive, but the Sorcerer King was infuriated, he had everyone move out in advance, General Enri is probably already on the border of the Slane Theocracy, we've shipped mountains of weapons to Prart, and I'm only here until after a meeting with the Sorcerer King, then I'm going to the Abellion Hills. I was there briefly already meeting with their chiefs and seeing to the gathering, I came back only to welcome you, attend a joint command meeting, and then I'm being sent back there again." She said, a serious expression clouding her face.
"So...what happened to the servant?" Jircniv asked.
"I wasn't given all the details, but when I followed up, I was told she was tortured and abused until she killed herself to end the pain and to keep from betraying our shared master...or just to end the pain, nobody knows for sure yet." Leinas said gravely.
"He...could not have been pleased about that." General Nimble said, displaying his unrivaled ability to engage in understatement.
"They're probably only alive because she was found in a river, and could have floated there from anywhere, and she doesn't remember anything from after the time with Queen Draudillon except for being in extreme pain." Leinas said.
"So...why are you telling us this?" Jircniv asked.
"Because nothing stays hidden from his majesty for long, and when it is discovered who it is, if it is one of the rival nations in this conflict, this war is going to become the stuff of the nightmares of demons. His majesty is very protective of his servants, you know that, so we have to be aware that this ordered process of conflict may turn on a dime and become far...far worse very, very quickly." She said softly.
It was at that moment that a gate opened, and a pretty girl in a formal dress stepped out and said, "Lord Ainz wishes to see you all now. Please follow me." She said with a very sweet smile that revealed very sharp vampire fangs.
They were only a half step behind her when she entered the gate.
...Mountains of the Dwarves...
The tunnels were finished, the walls were impregnable, they could now surprise, outflank, surround, and destroy any force they encountered as it tried to enter the passes, but that was not enough. Zaryusu knew all to well how easy complacacy could destroy even the finest armies, and underestimating even an idiot could result in yourself playing the fool.
So he began to dispatch scouts, a few lizardmen, toadmen, and others who were tasked with watching afar, and given a means to give long range signals that would warn them of any advance.
How is master knew Re-Estize was a threat was impossible to guess, but a threat he saw so as far as General Zaryusu was concerned, a threat it was. What he observed though, was that Re-Estize seemed to be chiefly a threat to Re-Estize, scouts reported Argland council trade caravans being surrounded and captured, and then reported humans fighting humans, and small skirmishes erupted into full fledged rebellion, human armies had started to move...against other humans, and one side was clearly outdoing the other, which seemed to flee without even a struggle worth mentioning.
It was such a difficult thing to grasp that Zaryusu descended from his position and shadowed an army, there at the head of it was a human that defined the term 'unimpressive', though the same was not necessarily true of his army. He stayed to watch as the idiotic looking fellow pulled out a horn and blew it, a very off key, very sour note emerged that was definitely not the impressive sound he was going for, and the fellow shouted, "For King Philip! Charge!" and he they rode against an estate that was already all but abandoned.
General Zaryusu might have remained longer, but it was then that a dark haired maid emerged from a gate and said, "Lord Ainz requires your presence, please follow me."
Zaryusu did not hesitate to walk through the gate.
...Re-Estize Kingdom...
Philip couldn't stop laughing, the Count that had tormented his family was fleeing, his servants were gone, the army had melted away, Philip's brilliant strategy of attacking straight on to break their morale had worked like a charm, they hadn't even tried to fight, Philip sent his heavy cavalry chasing after their mounted archers, but those idiots hadn't caught anyone, stupid, the heavy ones should be better at this, they must have been weak, everybody was so weak and stupid next to himself. He gave a heavy sigh, and his favorite courtesan slipped up behind him, she wrapped her slender arms around what he thought of as his massive muscled chest, and leaned in, whispering into his ear.
"Oh...my fierce dragon of Re-Estize, how brave you were, how wise of you to stay in the rear to control your army, and how cunning it was of you to say nothing while they maneuvered, you are such a man...such a king...you are greater than a god..." Her tongue teased at his ear as her fingers found their way into his shirt.
"But what can top such genius now...how can you outdo what you've done today...I can't bear to wait to find out..." She squirmed and pressed her body against his..."I...I can't contain my excitement till tomorrow..." She looked at him with hunger in her eyes and Philip gave a heady grin.
"Tomorrow we make for the capitol, we're going to finish of the royal family, with any luck we'll catch these ones away from their stronghold too, I think we can attack best straight from the road, the gate can't be that strong, so we should have no problem once we get there with finishing off whatever feeble resistance they can muster." He grinned, "Now, come to bed, I'm going to please you all night tonight."
She grinned wickedly as they went to the bed he had brought along for his use, and they fell in it together.
A minute and a half later she was praising his performance and encouraging him to rest for tomorrow. When she was sure he was sleeping, she crept out of bed, scrawled what she could recall of what he said onto a note, and slid it into a music box her mistress had given her. How it worked...she had no idea, but whatever she inserted, her mistress would receive. She rolled her eyes, the only redeeming quality that this idiot Philip had was that she only had to pretend to enjoy him for a minute or two per day. But...eyes on the prize...the reward for success here was wealth beyond her wildest dreams, and a minute or two of annoyance with an incompetent was a small price to pay for that.
...Draconic Kingdom...
Raising soldiers was fairly easy, having plundered the estates of the corrupt nobles, she had ample reserves of wealth, and to that end she began recruiting soldiers in great numbers, within two weeks she had the twenty thousand spears the Sorcerer King demanded, within another week they were well into their training, they would not be great soldiers anytime soon, but she was sure she had at least some time before the new front had to be opened.
The remaining noble estates were divided up among a more merit based crowd, and she included new rules with them. No more than twenty armed men per house, no more private armies. She imposed legal restrictions on the means by which they could profit, and much of the stolen wealth was distributed back to those it had been essentially stolen from...that would take time...but it had begun at the least. The estates were then reduced accordingly, and trials were underway for those nobles who had been charged with administering the Draconic Kingdom's affairs, and several had already been found guilty of severe corruption...and they were being sent to the Sorcerous Kingdom, for some kind of farm work. Demoting them to peasant status seemed...fairly light, but she was in no position to argue.
Still, things were looking up, even with that oddly light punishment, that was what she thought when she was alone in her room...and a gate opened, and through it stepped a familiar face, the fury. "Vanysa?" Queen Draudillon asked nervously, "Ahhhh, you're not being sent to punish me...are you? I am trying to get things in order, truly."
Vanysa shook her head, "Nah, ah come ta getcha, thers this meetin is majesty wants ta have, an yer part of it, m'kay?" She smiled her sweet smile that somehow looked insane and dangerous.
"OK...ahhh...lets go?" She said softly, uncertainly, and Vanysa stepped through the gate, with Queen Draudillon following close behind.
AN: Well another double release day, if a little later than I'd planned, but here you go, enjoy it...you slave drivers. :)
The ' d' server is up if you want to join it.
Tomorrow is the last release day (I think...I have to check, might be one more day) but if you want to work me like a sled dog some more, well donations to bdgiving dot org will do it. 'lol'
Till tomorrow, enjoy and leave reviews! :)