...Re-Estize...
King Zanac stood in front of the walls of the city of E-Pespel next to General Nimble. This city had chosen to make a fight of it, not quite the result he'd expected but…nobody ever said that the one in charge was always the one who should be there. He looked over to the left of himself, to meet the gaze of the imperial general. "Are they ready?" He asked.
General Nimble actually smirked. "Your majesty, we have thousands of undead ready to charge ahead of the living, we're about to use Death Knights against walls that haven't seen a siege in two hundred years, with the utmost respect to your august person…it is not the readiness of our side that is in question."
King Zanac let out a deep and hearty laugh at the exaggerated way in which General Nimble spoke. Over the course of riding together he'd noticed that General Nimble had an understated sort of humor about himself, perhaps a bit withdrawn at first, he had shown a tendency to play at humor by turning words back upon the speaker and understating them in most amusing ways. He could tell a man to go to hell in such a way as to make him think it was his own idea to go there…and to look forward to the trip. It made for good company, and the last few nights they'd enjoyed more than a few cups of wine.
"Then give the signal General." King Zanac said politely as they approached the first city.
"Your majesty, may I suggest that you do this?" General Nimble said politely, "Let the histories show that when it came time to reclaim his country, the king, not a foreigner, gave the order."
King Zanac nodded somberly and clapped him on the shoulder, "I'll pour the first cup tonight, and we'll call it even." The King replied.
He raised his sword and lowered it towards the walls. From behind him waves of skeletons began to approach in methodical steps. They moved past the two humans, while the human armies of both Kingdom and Empire stood patiently waiting for their turn. The sound of death knights could be heard from well behind them as they began to approach to stand beside the two men.
It was, in a word, bizarre. General Nimble was the consummate knight. More than that though, he looked the part, young and serious in appearance, strong in body and keen of eye, if you had not seen him in armor, you would nonetheless figure it was not far from him.
By contrast, King Zanac was short, rather squat, a little overweight, and had somewhat beady eyes that would have looked better on a cutpurse than on a king. Yet it was precisely because he did not fit the part he was born to play, that he was more impressive than he otherwise might have been. General Nimble had read the reports of the demonic disturbance. During the course of it, both the former king and the…then, prince Zanac had abandoned the palace, the former despite his advanced age, the latter despite being the least warrior like person Nimble had ever personally seen. While not exactly great warriors, they did what his more impressive looking older brother did not do, and now here he was just barely out of arrow's reach and reclaiming his kingdom. Conversation had revealed that…while he did not have the evident genius of the Sorcerer King, or the considerable brilliance of his own emperor, King Zanac was not the idiot that 'King' Philip had been. More importantly, he showed an acute self-awareness of how unkingly he looked, and he made up for it by redoubling his efforts when it came time for action.
Nimble mentally shook the thought off and watched the scene unfold in front of him. The skeletons in enchanted armor and bearing enchanted weapons were going up ladders quite easily, though the men on the walls pushed the ladders away, it did little good. A ladder would fall backwards, the skeletons that were on it would pick the ladder back up, then they would walk back to the wall and climb up once more as if the previous fall had never happened in the first place.
"Death Knights, take the gates." King Zanac said, keeping his voice as calm as he could as he commanded the forces handed to him by the Sorcerer King. "Kill only those who resist." He said, drawing a nod of approval from General Nimble.
"Good of you." General Nimble said.
"I did not come home to rule a country of corpses, what was it the Sorcerer King said at the party before we left? 'There is plenty of time for death, but never enough time for life', Something like that anyway." King Zanac replied.
"Makes me wonder what he was before he was undead." General Nimble remarked as the death knights reached the gate and began to punch through. The wood was thick solid oak, and based on the way they bounced back, they'd been reinforced, but it was clear that it would not take long for them to break, the death knight's swords were already puncturing holes with every strike.
"I try not to think of that, personally. Its confusing enough without imagining what kind of terrifyingly powerful magus or whatever he might have been before turning himself…or being turned…into that." King Zanac replied.
"I can understand that, but no king has ever been well served by ignorance." Nimble replied and looked over his shoulder, "Imperial Archers approach, target beyond wall, center gate!" Human archers marched forward within range, and arrows began to arc in waves over the top of the wall, landing to the unknowable other side, cries of pain, panic, and fear could be heard, informing them that some band of soldiers was on the other side.
"Kingdom Archers forward, center gate beyond the wall, fire when ready!" King Zanac said, and they approached in turn. After the next flight of imperial arrows, while they were reloading, the Kingdom's archers had already loosed, in a constant back and forth their arrows fell like rapid punches of a boxer, one, two, one, two…over and over, each volley bringing forth a few cries of pain.
General Nimble stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at King Zanac, he wondered if the young king would look away from the fruits of his orders, if he had the mettle of spirit to see things through to their conclusion. To his pleasure, King Zanac looked neither bored nor…perversely overjoyed, at what was happening, instead he was studying the situation carefully as the death knights blows got through. Dirt began to spill from the gaps in the gate.
"Ahhh, so that is why…" He said thoughtfully.
"Yes, it appears whoever was in charge was not entirely ignorant of siege craft, they stacked up bags of earth against the gate to keep the doors from bursting open. A reasonable but futile measure, though it did slow the death knights down in terms of progress, at least for a few blows." Nimble remarked in a professional tone of voice.
Now however, many of the bags were punctured and leaking dirt, or forced off the area they'd been stacked up on, and the gates were nearly shredded, the death knights began to tear away the wood, before finally simply bashing each door inwards with all their strength and sending wood chunks and bags cascading into the city, most of it stopped at the portcullis, however fragments of the broken entry and clumps of earth flew thirty feet further in before bouncing to stops over the cobblestone streets.
As the death knights moved in, the portcullis was next, simple wrought iron, they simply cut the metal to strips, then bashed their way through, the hulking behemoths had made their way into E-Pespel. Zanac looked up at the wall, there were fewer defenders now, the skeletons were up.
"Shall we now?" King Zanac asked.
General Nimble waved his hand towards the ground a few times, "No, not yet, lets wait, when the undead are farther into the city, we can simply move in and start occupying areas behind them. The Sorcerer King said he didn't care how many of these we lost…which in and of itself is terrifying when you consider that its an army of legends all by itself. But since he doesn't mind, we can make this much easier on ourselves and our soldiers."
"I'll follow your advice General Nimble." King Zanac said, "As you say, there is no reason for us to rush things."
"Hold arrows!" General Nimble shouted, and a moment later, King Zanac emulated the orders.
The fighting began to sound farther and farther away.
"Now?" King Zanac asked.
"You're learning well, King Zanac." General Nimble said with the utmost sincerity, drawing a smile from the face of the unkingly looking king.
Their armies marched in, the two commanders were the first to make their way through, a fact immortalized by bards in generations to come, and made famous in a painting made years later entitled 'Kingdom Come' that ended up in the largest museum in Re-Estize.
The two passed through the ruined portcullis and opened out into the light, there were numbers of dead soldiers scattered about, including a fair number directly in front of the gate who had been felled by arrow fire, many others were scattered farther away, smashed against walls by the charge of the two death knights. As their soldiers began to follow behind them, the two commanders began to bark out orders to occupy various positions, the walls were reclaimed and the banner of King Zanac put in place while the banner of King Philip was torn down and thrown into the grass and the dirt. The steel of both human armies was clean of blood, which from General Nimble's perspective, made it the best battle he'd ever fought.
Soldiers were dispatched down streets and undead skeletal armies in enchanted armor moved ahead of them and did the dirty work, surrenders became more and more common, which the undead readily accepted, and the prisoners were given to the command of other humans, who quickly bound and secured them.
Foot by foot the city fell back into the hands of the old ruling family, and foot by foot the prisoners increased just as the dead and wounded decreased. There were peasants aplenty in the city, merchants, even a handful of very junior nobles most likely, but none were on the streets. Still it seemed that by and large one of the oldest rules of war, that there was always fire, had been broken. Zanac had not wanted to destroy what was his, and the silent opponent had apparently not wanted to destroy what he already had either, therefore neither had made use of fire as a weapon, it was a rare sort of thing, but one Zanac was rather grateful for.
Within an hour a third of the city had fallen, and within two hours, half of it had, by the fourth hour the only thing slowing them down were the many twists and turns of the streets that lead them to the seat of government within E-Pespel, but opposition had ceased to be an issue.
Those still choosing to resist had chosen to make a final stand at the gate. There were perhaps fifty armored figures at the steps, they had chosen to make a kind of hedgehog formation, they had gritty looks on their faces and the resolve to die was as clear in their eyes as their fear of doing so was in their shaking, trembling bodies.
Zanac approached the gate from atop his horse, he knew quite well he did not look like much, so remaining mounted gave him a slight edge in projecting the desired image. Elsewhere in the distance, the death knights uttered their customary scream, driving a shudder through the defenders.
He looked between the flimsy bars, those wouldn't stop a riot of drunkards, let alone a death knight.
"You men have no wish to die, but you believe that as traitors to the crown, it is the headsman's ax or the noose for you anyway, so why not die fighting?" He said as loudly as he could.
They said nothing, but he could tell from their faces he had read their motivation properly.
"I am King Zanac, and I tell you that I will spare your lives, surrender, and you may go free. None of you will be imprisoned, none of you will be executed, none of you will face trial unless you have committed a wrong against the people of the city. Surrender, and you can die of old age instead of turning into a death squire when the death knights make their way back into this direction." He said loudly, firmly, and as confidently as he could.
"We surrender, we live and go free, right?" One largish looking fellow with a thick brown beard said in a deep baritone voice.
"That's the deal. You go home, right now, just leave your weapons, so the death knights don't mistake you for combatants." Zanac said with a sincere nod.
"Deal." He said and threw down his spear. "I don't mind dying…either some day or for good reason but defending a noble's right to sit in a damn chair isn't reason enough for me."
One by one and then in twos and threes, spears clattered to the ground until the hedgehog was stripped of spines and nobody was left to bar the way, the surrendering soldiers approached the gate and opened it with caution, holding hands up so that it was clear that they were unarmed. They passed beside the soldiers of the two armies and quietly slunk away, the chance for immortal fame or ignominious end slipping from grasp, while King Zanac and General nimble rode to the base of the steps, dismounted, and trod over fallen spears. A scream from death knights echoed in the distance, closer than they had been before. King Zanac took one more look around before he walked in, skeletons were now positioned at regular intervals along the walls, he couldn't see a single one of Philips banners, it was a satisfying moment. He and Nimble opened the door together and walked in, followed by a few dozen soldiers as escorts, and one by one the rooms were cleared and found to be empty.
It was when they came to the main office of the building that they found their quarry seated in a chair in the center of the room facing the entrance, with a lovely woman beside him. As soon as they saw the couple, Zanac and Nimble dismissed the guards and closed the doors behind them, each closing half the double door and leaving the four of them alone. There was no need for guards, he didn't have long and neither did the woman sitting beside him.
The nobleman was slender, young, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties, he wasn't a bad looking young man, the armor he wore was clearly relatively new, the finest quality available, and it had obviously never been used in battle. He had soft brown hair and sad looking eyes blurred by welling tears.
He was also bleeding to death from his wrists. Next to him was a young blonde woman, around his age, with brown eyes of her own and a fresh, beautiful face, she was dressed as if she were going to a royal ball, but women did not typically attend balls when they were bleeding to death from their wrists, as she very clearly was. Each one held the other's hands, fingers interlocked.
"You've won the day…King Zanac." The nobleman said, "I thought you might…but I…I had to try. We…we had to try." He said and looked to the woman next to him.
"Just…parting request," she said as her voice grew weaker, "Don't desecrate our bodies…or at least…don't desecrate his…I wanted this…I pushed him to join Philip, I thought it was our chance…" She managed to stammer out, Nimble and Zanac gave one another a glance and let them speak their peace.
"I wanted it too…so tired of bowing, scraping, doing what father said, I just wanted our own h-house to be great too, and we thought that idiot was our chance…I didn't join…we didn't join, because of hatred for your rule…King Zanac…and we didn't resist because we hate you now…we just…we couldn't go back…" He staggered out his words, blood from the pair soaked their fingers and hand, their grips were growing weaker.
"We just couldn't let go…I won't ask forgiveness or pardon, but our families weren't part of this, but as a kindness to the dying…please bury us together…please don't desecrate our remains, let us face the gods…whole." She said, shaking her head softly as tears ran down cheeks. Cheeks that must have been beautiful and rosy only hours before, now they were pale, it was clear the couple didn't have long.
"Well your majesty, what is your judgement as king over Re-Estize? What fate do you decree for these traitors? Shall I give them a quick end? Shall I mutilate them while they live and can still see and feel, this is your campaign, the judgement falls to you and you alone?" General Nimble asked.
The couple looked panicked, their hands were losing their grip, they'd lost control over their nerves, they desperately tried to close the grip again, and King Zanac looked down at them and was moved to pity.
"This. This is enough, and at least they died in their station, and with courage. No enmity will fall on their house's survivors because of them, leave their bodies intact, let them be buried in one grave…and," he turned to face from Nimble to the dying pair, "let me give you one parting gift." King Zanac said, and he went and cut a strip of blood soaked cloth from the bottom of her dress, the dying eyes looked at him as their bodies shook, they hadn't long, so Zanac moved quickly. He took the strip of cloth and slid it under the joined hands of the couple, he then pulled each end up, outside their grip and wrapped it over top of where the noblewoman's hand rested, and he tied a small knot and pulled it tight, so that their hold on one another would not fall away.
"There, now you can at least die together the way you wanted. I forgive you." King Zanac said softly, looking at them with some pity and sorrow on his face, he had no idea who they were, but they were not as bad as Philip had been, whoever they might have been.
"Thank you…" They managed to whisper out, and King Zanac and General Nimble stood in front of them and watched them slip away.
The light faded from their eyes, their heads slumped forward, and they passed within moments of one another, when they were well and truly dead, General Nimble said, "That was kind of you."
"Was it?" He asked. Neither was looking at the other, they were looking at the bodies of the noble couple that had ruled E-Pespel, whose blood was seeping permanently into the rich carpet and no doubt staining the wood below forever.
"I think so." General Nimble replied, "You could have hurt them much worse, their deaths took several minutes, you could have filled those minutes with pain."
King Zanac shrugged, "For Philip…yes, for this pair…" He gestured to the corpses, "there was no point, there is no reason to torture the dying, and it is easy to forgive those who are already dead, it cost me nothing and…I think my father would have approved."
"For whatever it is worth your majesty, I approve as well. I'm not fond of pointless butchery. You've won today, that is enough, E-Pespel is yours, next stop, the capital." General Nimble said.
"Agreed. I wish I could stay longer to establish things here, but the longer I wait, the harder it will get to reclaim the rest. I hope things are going just as well for General Zaryusu." King Zanac said soberly.
"I expect so." General Nimble said.
"I do too, but for now…we've got our own work to do, and only a little time to do it, go recall the Death Knights General, I'll see to the soldiers and call the citizens together, I have a lot to say to them, and tomorrow won't wait on our convenience."
"Yes, your majesty." General Nimble replied, leaving King Zanac alone with the bodies for just a few minutes more…
AN: Well I hope you enjoyed that, I certainly did, honestly Re-Estize isn't my favorite area to write for, and it won't have particularly long chapters because it is not going to be especially hard to bring back under the control of King Zanac. I'm much more eager to get to other areas of the war…BUT…
All that is going to be on a slight hold because I'm researching material for my next side story, a fun little diversion dealing with a serial killer at work in the Draconic Kingdom, hunted by Neia Baraja and Vanysa. To prepare for this story I'll be doing some research into medieval and ancient criminal investigation methods, early forensics, that kind of thing, to bring the best possible representation of this stuff to the fore. The outline is almost done, and I'll have a draft up on my discord in a few days. Why? Because writing is fun, and I want to try something new. God Rising won't be delayed by much…and I may get another chapter in during the course of this new story. Of course I can ALSO be bribed by way of charitable donations to bdgiving dot org to focus on the main story for a little longer, but…well otherwise, I'd like to do something different for a bit. ? Enjoy.