AN: Please review the author note at the end.
…Prart…
Neia and Olasird'arc departed Kasaga in 'relative' triumph, though she was troubled by the failure to capture Astraka. She'd searched for hours but found neither hide nor hair of the man from above, though a fair number of common soldiers were captured thanks to Olasird'arc's assistance from the air. Initially when she'd begun the pursuit, she'd drawn her bow on first sight of these enemies of her god fleeing for their lives. High above them, they were mere dots, less than ants, yet even at this distance from on high she knew that her arrow would be guided to pierce hearts and throats. She nocked her first arrow and breathed deep as she put power into the shot, pointing it at a man and deciding he would die. Then from behind her, CZ's touch fell on her shoulder. It wasn't anything much, just a single simple touch of her friend's hand folded over the space where armor joined from shoulder to the base of her neck. Neia looked back over her shoulder with questions in her eyes. CZ shook her head. Neia looked back down at the fleeing dot and pulled the string of her bow again as she checked her target. The hand squeezed again.
"No." CZ said and shook her head again as Neia looked back at her a second time. Though the wind howled around them in the sky, Neia heard her perfectly. She held the draw for a long moment…then relaxed her grip and put her arrow back in its quiver.
"Thank you, CZ." Neia said softly with a shake of her head. 'War. Swim too deeply into it and you drown yourself in the blood you shed.' Neia thought to herself sadly. These were broken men who had lost their will to fight, to strike them down would not be battle, but murder. Instead she oversaw another capture. Olasird'arc descended at her instruction and landed in front of the fleeing soldiers, between the dragon, drawn bow, and leveled spell gun, there was no will to fight, so another group of five surrendered to her. She quickly bound and secured them for her own soldiers to find, after searching them for any intelligence they may have had concealed on their person, and then took off again leaving them for their inevitable discovery. That was the routine for hours after the battle of Kasaga had ended, and it went on until the evening, after which she returned to the outside of the city.
The remnants of the siege were still fresh, but many of the bodies were already buried and the dead stripped of any useful armor or weapons. When they landed, Neia dismounted Olasird'arc and approached the front to meet his eyes again. "Thank you again, you've been very helpful, but also, thank you for fulfilling a dream of humanity." He looked at her curiously.
Neia smiled, "Every human ever born has wished at some point in their lives to fly like a bird or a dragon, myself included."
"You're…welcome." Olasird'arc said, trying out the words for the first time, it was strange to think of a human as some kind of peer, yet she ranked highly in the Sorcerer King's organization, and a look into her eyes told him why, and when she touched his nose as he lowered himself to look at her, he felt the chill of death caress him, it was a moment he had only felt once before, and that had not been a pleasant memory.
"I realize it must be strange, and rare, for a dragon to carry a human, so the very least I can do is express gratitude, the city might have fallen without you. Can you stay with me through the siege of Prart? With your help I have no doubt that we could win." Neia said to him enthusiastically.
Olasird'arc shook his head, "No, I'm being sent to the Abelion Hills invasion of the Slane Theocracy along with the rest of my family, they have a task of some sort for us. I can take you and some cargo back to Prart, but the city's defense will fall to you." He said.
Neia smiled at him, this smile was not nearly as friendly as the last one, "More's the pity for Remedios then. A dragon's maw would have been a quick and legendary death." She laughed a little and then added, "You put a lot of effort into this for us all, and you must be hungry, surely some horses have been taken that we can offer you to eat?" She asked.
Olasird'arc had indeed been hungry, he hadn't eaten in quite some time and that had been a great deal of flying and fighting. He'd 'snacked' on a few during the battle, but a meal that was not. "I won't say no to a good meal." He said.
"We'll see to it then, I have to go into the city and check on a few things, but we'll have some roasted meat brought out to you as soon as possible." She said, and he nodded politely in return before Neia and CZ departed.
Not a few had paused in their work when the dragon and his riders landed, but work must be done, and to their credit their stares did not last long before they resumed the business of field stripping the dead of vital supplies and tearing apart the siege equipment for useful materials.
Neia however, had her own task to see to, and she set about it with great vigor and enthusiasm. She sought out the priests of the old gods, Amran Takos, the one she'd read about. Finding him wasn't hard, he'd been holding services during the battle, and it was still going on, such was the distress the many followers of the old gods had felt over what was happening at their walls.
She came to the double doors with CZ beside her and they walked through together. The priest was at the far end of the temple and was the first to see the pair, he froze. Neia and CZ had become renowned enough to be recognized on sight and finding her walking into his temple was a shock. When the priest froze, the worshipers turned to look over their shoulders to see what had disturbed him so much that he'd stopped.
Neia chose not to allow the silence to become awkward and immediately spoke. "I am sorry to interrupt your service, I would have been content to wait, however since you have paused, I suppose I should tell you something." She said, the silence held as they waited to see what she would say.
"We won. King Astraka is defeated and his army has been completely routed, driven from the walls, and fleeing home." Neia said bluntly. "In no small part because I came here on dragon back to help out, turns out dragon breath is very effective at routing unworthy kings." She added.
The reactions from the city's citizens and the priest ranged from sad to horrified to fascinated, but Neia brushed all that aside to continue. "However, as you might guess, there are a great many dead and they must be properly buried and given their last rites, as the priest here is well respected for his piety, and I expect all those who oppose me are followers of the old gods, I wanted to request the immediate assistance of himself and some members of his flock to tend to the dead so that they may be properly put to ground."
"I am Amran Takos… and yes, I will do what you ask." The old man said solemnly. "So you would be Neia Baraja." He said softly.
"I am. And this is CZ Delta." Neia said, gesturing to the maid demon beside her.
"Thought you'd be taller." He said reflexively.
Neia rolled her eyes. "Everybody does." She said, "Nevertheless I am she. I realize I'm not welcome within this temple and I have no intention to further impose, were it not for the needs of the dead for their final service from the living, I would not trouble you."
Hostility and fear were in the air when her identity, and that of the maid demon next to her, was confirmed, but Neia was well used to that and brushed it off.
"Go to the front gate with any volunteers, the dragon outside will not harm you, I give you my word, he knows the battle is over." She said with some degree of tenderness in her voice.
Nobody moved. Finally, Amran spoke, "I'll go first to ensure the safety of the outside, then I'll return to you all." He said to the temple goers. They visibly relaxed.
"Will you escort me?" Amran asked politely, "Not that I don't believe you but…well I do not believe the wife of the woman who killed my son." He said frostily as he walked past them.
Neia followed, surprise registering at his words, as they got outside, Neia chose to address the odd statement.
"Wife of the one who killed your son? Forgive me priest, but I do not know what you're talking about." Neia said as CZ took up a position of security behind Amran.
"Your wife, Skana." He said with hostility and bitterness in his voice, "She killed my son in single combat."
"Oh, Skana is not my wife. She's my lover, yes, but…now that you mention it…" Neia trailed off and slapped her palm to her face. Softly she said, "Skana… what the hell?" She looked over at the priest whose expression had gone to one of curiosity.
"She asked that if she were killed, her tombstone be inscribed with the name 'Skana Baraja'." He clarified, "I just assumed…" he trailed off as Neia shook her head and laughed.
He looked at her with a stony expression on his face. Neia's laughter paused, "I'm not laughing at you, priest. My Skana has a rather… how do I put this?" She paused and thought her words over, "Well, she's not named 'Skana the Bold' for nothing, as she's more likely to act than most, obviously the warrior she faced was formidable and she wasn't quite sure she was going to win, so she chose to take my last name for herself before properly proposing to me. That woman is not exactly known for her sense of propriety."
"I… see." Amran said as they walked.
"For what it is worth, I don't doubt that she thought very well of your son, if she chose to use my name as she did, and I'm sure he died a clean death, doing what he thought was right." Neia said.
"Still dead though." He said bitterly.
There was nothing more to be said in response to that, but Neia took him on a brief detour on the way towards the gate, drawing a briefly suspicious look from him.
"Just talking to the quartermaster, I have a hungry dragon out there that needs to be fed you know." She reminded him.
"Oh." Was all he answered, the detour was brief and the quartermaster was quick to start arranging for a great deal of meat to be prepared. They reached the damaged gate and found many soldiers of Black Justice still tending the wounded and clearing out debris, the fighting had obviously been very fierce and few could be said to look anything but either relieved or exhausted, not a few were working in spite of wounds of some sort.
Neia led him out the gate and he looked around as her people worked, casualties had not been terrible, that much was clear. But nor had it been a bloodless victory, a priest of Black Justice stood watch over the dead of his own as one by one the bodies were brought over to him, each one he identified by name and then checked it against a list.
"What are they doing?" Amran asked, pointing to the priest handling the documents next to the dead.
"Checking to see what their final wishes were for the disposition of their remains." Neia answered.
"I don't understand." Amran said. "Don't you bury your dead?" He asked.
"Some." Neia said, "Others are consigned to the flames, some of our bravest martyrs have had that done for them, we honor them publicly and burn their bodies, letting their flame light the night and the smoke carry their spirits to the beyond. Others choose to be buried where the land is to be worked, so that they may make fields fertile for another year, perpetuating the cycle of life, being food for the crops that they lived off of when they were like us. Others however, they choose to become undead so that they may continue their service after passing away."
Amran looked at her with horror.
"We don't see the undead as you do." Neia said, "True a wild undead is a dangerous thing, but so is a wild beast, yet we don't rail against the evils of cattle or dogs. Just as you domesticate those, we domesticate the undead by creating them in a controlled fashion, in this way they can continue to work for the living for as long as they chose. For some it is for a fixed period, others choose perpetuity, and they deed their undead skeletons to whom they wish." She added.
Amran still looked uncomfortable as they approached the gate and four of her guards began to open it up for her. "What will you do, when you die?" Amran asked her.
Neia did not pause to answer. "I am offering my body to the Sorcerer King. He can do what he wants with my corpse when I pass."
"Your…Skana, she takes no issue with this?" He asked curiously.
Neia chuckled lightly, "I would not love her as I do, if she could not understand or accept my sense of duty to my god."
Perhaps Amran would have asked more, but his jaw could not close to form a word as he saw a real live dragon for the first time in his life. Olasird'arc was a very impressive looking dragon, so Neia did not fault the priest for his silence. She didn't slow her steps however, and he had to move quickly to catch up to her. As she approached, he lowered his head in front of her again.
"Hope I didn't keep you waiting, Olasird'arc," Neia said politely, "Business to tend to and all that. However, I spoke with the quartermaster and they're preparing a meal for you, we'll go after you've eaten."
"As you like, Pope Neia." He said deferentially, causing Amran to swallow hard as the dragon spoke in a subordinate tone.
Olasird'arc looked over at the priest, as if wondering why he was with Neia and CZ.
"Pay no mind to him." Neia said, gesturing to Amran, "He's a priest of the old gods, come to tend the dead of his faith, he came first to see that it was safe, now that he knows you're not going to turn on him or anyone else, he'll return and bring his people out to get to work." She said patiently.
"I see." Olasird'arc said. "She's right, so long as you do not attack, you are not going to be attacked in turn." The dragon said, and all Amran could do was nod. "A word of advice, priest of the old gods." He said with a tremor of his massive body, "Do not fight the turning wheel, their god is rising, he could slay me in an instant, you all live because he has chosen not to kill you. Be at his back or at his side, do not bar his way."
The voice of the dragon advising him to surrender entirely gave the priest a chill to his bone that had nothing to do with the cold breath that came from the giant beast, but he could say nothing in response, so he turned to Neia. "I am satisfied, I will go and bring my worshippers to work."
"Good." Neia said, "I will leave you to it then." She said.
Leave it to him she did, she kept company with Olasird'arc outside the city and chatted idly between he and CZ while she patiently observed the behavior of her own forces and those citizens who had come to assist in some way by tending to the dead or cleaning up the debris. She was under no illusions about their loyalties, Braunin and Amran were two leading figures of the old faith and because of both their character and force of personality, Kasaga had been one of the few cities in the north to not be have the Sorcerer King's new religion make deep inroads quickly. She disabused herself of the notion of outright hostility… but they were not her followers either, properly treated, it would yield to Queen Calca when the war was over.
Eventually, as promised, several carts of well cooked meat were brought out and slowly wheeled over to a very hungry dragon. Those drawing the carts were humans, she laughed when she saw them try to use horses, and the beasts locked up and would not move a foot closer to the dragon. So the humans unhooked it, drafted a few additional people, and pushed the carts over by hand.
"What is that wonderful smell?" Olasird'arc asked as they drew closer and the breeze carried the scent over to them.
Neia took a whiff of the air, "That would be the meat, Olasird'arc." Neia looked at him quizzically, "Have you never had it cooked before?"
Olasird'arc looked down at her with surprise, "Never. This is what cooking does?!" He exclaimed; he was salivating enough that Neia stepped aside by a solid foot to avoid droplets from his maw.
Neia laughed, "You think it smells good, wait till you taste it."
Olasird'arc did not have to wait long, a few strong backs made quick work of bringing the line of carts up to him.
"Thank you." Neia said politely, but the humans from the city who performed the task did not linger to accept her gratitude. Being in close proximity to a hungry dragon was not typically the way to ensure you died of old age.
The hungry beast curled his mouth over one cart after another and ate in large, satisfying bites.
"That was the finest thing I've eaten in my entire life." Olasird'arc said with shock. "Ordinary humans eat like this, while I, a king over dragons, was eating… what was I eating for my entire life?!" He shook his head in dismay.
"That was just ordinary fare," Neia elaborated, "They rushed it because I told them you were quite hungry, so it might lack for the customary seasoning, slow cooked meat can take many hours, involves meticulously crafted sauces and many spices that draw out every ounce of flavor, what you just had was the rushed food of a camp with limited supplies."
Olasird'arc looked at her in disbelief.
"Don't take my word for it, when you go to the Abelion Hills, ask for a slow cooked meal when time allows, you will not be disappointed." Neia said confidently. "For now though, they seem to have everything well in hand, I was going to have us take armor and swords from the defeated back with us… but Kasaga may end up needing it again, since we didn't capture Astraka, so now that you've eaten, we should be going."
Olasird'arc lowered his head and looked longingly at the now empty carts as Neia and CZ reclaimed their positions in the saddle. "No speech?" CZ asked.
"Not this time. Actions done today were worth ten thousand words." Neia answered, and the great wings of the frost dragon king turned mount of the warrior pope spread wide apart as if to engulf the world. He beat them up and down and gradually rose into the air, slowly gaining lift until the city appeared small below them, then he took off and headed back in the direction of Prart.
From so high up, Neia began to understand the arrogance of dragons, riding high in the air, all the world looked like tiny dots, great cities were like anthills and the bustling people were like insects, and dragons could look down on them from above as if they were gods. She shook her head, what a terrible mistake that would be if one were to look down at the Sorcerer King that way.
When they landed in Prart, they received a hero's welcome, cheers from the ramparts began to echo throughout the city before Olasird'arc could even land. It felt strange to the dragon for him to be 'cheered' but it was not an unwelcome thing, after all, who does not like praise? He struck a regal pose as he landed and lowered himself to allow Neia and CZ to easily dismount, again she went in front of him and placed her hand on his face, and that chill aura, cold enough that the frost dragon felt it, swept over him again, her voice was warm and her eyes seemed to be a kind of sleeping darkness that he did not wish to awaken. "Thank you again, I wish you could stay, this may be the toughest battle of the war, and a dragon would be a welcome addition."
"You're dragon enough." He said with a sincerity that surprised them both, and he lifted off the ground again and flew away without another word.
The gates could not open fast enough for her eager supporters satisfaction. Neia and CZ walked back towards the gate, and found Tinamoc waiting at the entrance on foot. When she approached, he opened his arms and embraced her, "Welcome back!" he said with a warm smile and sparkling eyes, looking every inch like a jolly uncle. She returned the friendly embrace before it broke and she grinned at him confidently.
"Good to be back." She said, though thanks to the deafening cheers she had barely heard the words he'd spoken even though she stood so close to him. Her return caused an impromptu holiday, and a number of her soldiers approached and formed an equally impromptu escort on either side of the trio as she walked back to the governor's manor and waved to the people as she walked.
"Rule suits you." CZ said, but Neia brushed it off wordlessly.
"There is a guest here to see you by the way, well, perhaps 'guest' is not the right word." Tinamoc said, correcting himself as they walked.
"Who is it?" Neia asked as they made their way deeper into the city.
"Queen Calca." He said, and Neia looked at him in surprise.
"The Queen is here?" She did not even try to disguise her shock. "Doesn't she know we're facing a siege?" She asked.
"That is why she's here, she wants to confront Remedios herself, apparently she had a meeting with the Sorcerer King and… well why don't you just let her tell it?" He said and ran his hand through his hair, it now had more gray in it than it used to, stress had aged him a bit, that much was clear.
The streets were lined with supporters, and to her great comfort, most of them were heavily armed, many had the deep tans of peasants, leading her to conclude that many villages had been abandoned in anticipation of Remedios Custodio's coming, which no doubt meant that they now had ample undead forces to help fight the battle ahead.
"Do we have any further information on how soon?" Neia asked when they began to mount the steps of the manor.
He didn't need her to clarify, there could be only one thing coming that would merit that question. "Remedios and the Slane Theocracy's combined armies will be here in perhaps a week, we thought they'd be arriving much sooner, but she's been taking the time to burn villages, hunt heretics, and quite frankly we suspect worse. More than that though, they've been subjected to constant attack by peasants and red paladins and others on our side working in the field to slow her down, they also paused for a day to dispatch several thousand of their own men back to the south, most likely to deal with Gustav Montagne, he's been making a wonderful mess of things down there for them according to the reports that came in just after you left."
That drew a sadistic smile to Neia's face that was like a chill wind over him, but as the door to the building opened, it was gone, and he tried to brush it off as his own nerves at work.
They walked in amicable silence down the hall to where Queen Calca was waiting for them, and he found that he was having a harder time than expected brushing off the chill he felt. "Something wrong?" Neia asked as she felt the tension in her friend and colleague.
Tinamoc didn't look at her for the space of several steps and then he stopped dead, she continued for only a step before she realized what he'd done, then she stopped as well.
"You're different." He said softly.
"I know." She replied as she crossed her arms in front of him. "You would be too, if you'd had to do as I have."
Tinamoc reached out and touched her arm gently, Neia looked at it, and then looked him in the eyes, he met her gaze, "Neia… I'm with you, I'm saying this because I care, you're driving yourself to do and be what nobody can, and you're neglecting your own soul along the way. Don't lose yourself to your beliefs, and don't lose yourself to old battles, you're my friend, my comrade. I just want you to be OK."
Neia's face had been hard when he touched her, but it softened a bit as he spoke, and her voice was as soft as his own when she said, "I don't think I'll ever really be OK. Some things… you just don't come back from." She gave him a bitter smile, "When I think about who I was, happy, naive, and altogether younger and more foolish, I wonder how I got here. You don't know how close I've come to going over the edge, like she did…" Neia said as words poured out of her in a torrent of pain, she didn't have to say who 'she' was, the dread paladin coming for them all was never far from their minds.
"I'm already lost and I know only one direction to go, forward." She said softly.
"What's at the end of that?" He asked, stepping closer to her, his proximity might have been uncomfortable, had there not been long association and shared hardship between the two, but there was, so she remained at ease.
"I don't know. I think, a better world. It gets my god the place he deserves, if I'm lucky… maybe I'll get a place with Skana and settle down, little dreams, but who can say, we might not live through this at all. You know, to prepare for my time with you I trained in Nazarick." She said, and he nodded slightly.
"I recall." He said.
"While I was there, I had some 'recreational reading' time and I picked up a book, in it there was a story about a man and a woman, they lived in a garden, naked, innocent, ignorant, cared for by a god. A snake came along and offered the woman a fruit that gave her knowledge of good and evil, she ate, gave some to her companion, and they had to leave the garden and go out to struggle in the world. Some of the other writings treated her, and him, as wrongdoers. But as I read that, what I was thinking of was growing up, growing older. I know, I'm young compared to you, but look at the things I'm having to face. In that story, I saw it as a lesson that you can never really go back to who you were. I've lost some things, I've changed, but I'm trying not to lose what I want to be along the way. I have a job to do, and I'm the only one who can do it right now, if there were someone else, I'm sure the Sorcerer King would have replaced me already after Wenmark." Her body trembled involuntarily at the mention of the dead city.
CZ reached out and took her hand silently, it was a simple gesture, but the little squeeze she gave, helped Neia regain her composure.
"I'm sorry." Tinamoc said, "I don't mean to bring up the unpleasant, I'm just worried about you. I know you hate Remedios, but sadism is just… it's not the Neia I know, respect, and care about. Don't lose yourself to your hatred." He said and smiled as warmly as he could.
"My hatred will die with her, and as long as I have you all to help me… I'll always be able to pull back from the edge." She said, then shook her head vigorously, "Come on, I have a Queen to meet." She said as her voice regained composure.
They resumed walking down the hall, and a few minutes later they arrived at the large office of the city governor. Neia grimaced at her memory of the place when she'd first arrived, the man who had occupied it was burned into her memory. Bringing him down had been gratifying, bringing Remedios down would be bliss.
The doors opened and Neia found Queen Calca standing there waiting for her. Neither Tinamoc nor CZ followed her in, "We'll leave you two to speak privately for now." Tinamoc said, sensing the Queen's wish, and he closed the doors and remained out in the hallway with the maid demon.
Neia didn't blink at that, she simply walked the rest of the way in and stopped a few feet in front of the Queen.
"Neia Baraja, it's good to see you again." Calca said kindly.
Neia did not bend her knee to the Queen, Calca knew better than to expect it, there was only one she would kneel to now.
"Your majesty," Neia replied, "I'm glad you're well, but we're in a bit of a situation here, or rather, we're about to be."
Queen Calca nodded, "I know, that is exactly why I'm here. I want to talk Remedios down if I can, she was always loyal to me and to my ideals, maybe she'll listen to me, maybe she'll realize she's gone too far, maybe I can stop this."
"Or she'll kill you because she's gone completely mad." Neia said with some regret in her voice, "Your majesty, she's become a killer, her sense of justice has had her perverted beyond all reason. One reason she's slowed down her march is because she 'somehow' got a copy of the schedules for the Red Paladins and Chained Priests and has started hunting them, from what I hear, she's literally burning people alive as heretics at night. Her right hand is a woman named Yuri who has developed a reputation for abetting her cruelty, and the paladins she still has with her are beyond fanatical."
Calca's face paled, she felt her knees grow weak, she stepped slowly to a chair and sat down, easing herself in by holding on to the arm rests. "How did I not see this coming? How could I have failed in so many ways in the guidance of my country?"
"Your majesty, you failed because a lot of people failed. I didn't see it coming either, I admired her once… Gustav Montagne risked everything for her, and nobody could have known just how the influence of the Theocracy had permeated the south. Everything may be clear in hindsight, but nobody could have known anything of what was to come at the time. In retrospect, the signs were there, we just didn't know how to read them."
"Well, it won't happen again." Queen Calca said fiercely. "When this is all over… I want you to be the first to know, I'm going to offer my country to the Sorcerer King. I'll remain a governor… if he'll have me after all this, and we'll be a province of his country. I've seen him in his nobility, the care he exerts over his people, taking steps for them I never even imagined, he deserves the throne he has." Calca said, carefully leaving off admitting what she'd been made a witness to between the Sorcerer King and Neia Baraja in what had been intended to be a private moment.
"A province… not a vassal state?" Neia asked with surprise.
"Yes. The greatest benefits to the people will come from that, and furthermore, I trust him to rule well." She said in a confident, but still small voice.
"Will you convert to our faith then, accept him as god?" Neia asked seriously, speaking with the evangelical power of her profession.
Calca nodded, "I have read his book, it merits acceptance. I will accept your religion as mine. Your god will be my god, my people will be his people, my nation, his nation."
Neia's facial expression was equal parts proud and approving. "You are a wiser Queen than you give yourself credit for, your majesty. I will be honored to set you on the throne again. Does the Sorcerer King know your intent from your own lips yet?" She asked.
The Queen shook her head, "He does not. I will inform him after victory is clear, I want to tell him at the same time I tell 'King' Astraka." She said, giving a somewhat vindictive smile to Neia as she said it.
"I can think of no better time." Neia said with a satisfied expression on her face.
"Enough of that for now, what are you going to do next?" She asked Neia with the uncertain voice of someone who has never commanded soldiers before.
"Would your majesty care to see?" Neia asked.
"I would." She said with a warm smile.
Neia went and opened the door and turned to one of the guards stationed outside, "Soldier, go to the barracks set aside for the Vines and the Blood Miners, and instruct them to gather on the field in front of the city in two hours, armed and ready to depart." He left quickly to follow her instructions, and she touched Tinamoc and CZ on their shoulders, "Thank you both for everything, I've got some things I have to do, but you've earned some time to yourselves."
Tinamoc's face suddenly looked very tired, and he gave her a weak smile, "Thank you, I'll take you up on that." He said and stood up, he shook her hand vigorously and walked away.
CZ, however, shook her head. "I guard you."
Neia was about to object, and then let out a heavy sigh, it would do no good. She snorted instead, "I can always count on you."
"Always." CZ said in a neutral voice that, with long exposure, Neia could detect the affection that lay beneath the surface.
Calca felt the iron resolve of the maid demon and followed quietly behind. Neia lead them all the way back to the city entrance, the impromptu holiday had become a festival of victory, on some level Neia felt like they should be preparing for the siege, but as she considered the matter, raising morale before a fight was also important, so she let it go and eventually she reached her destination, she mounted the stairs of the tower to the left of the gate and went upstairs. The sound of celebration echoed off the walls as she went up the circular stairway, but as she rose higher her own footfalls became more and more pronounced until she reached the top of the wall, she went to the center over the gate and waited. Elves and humans began to filter out underneath and formed ranks outside.
"Not that long ago," Neia said as Calca and CZ took up positions on either side of her, "all those you see," she pointed to the gathering ranks, "were Wenmark slaves, humans and recalcitrant elves were worked to death in the mines, the rest of the elves, male and female, were slaves in the city. Those on the left, the ones who are all elves, they were 'The Vines', an underground communication network of elves within the city who passed information, with some help, they formed a resistance core that I helped to escape the hell that was Wenmark… and I fucked up and got a lot of them killed. Still, they follow me, perhaps more because they want a chance at revenge than anything else." Neia said with a voice of pride that gradually became bitter and pain filled as she mentioned her failure.
"Those on the other side, who are both humans and elves alike, they're the Blood Miners, they were the hard labor force, one of my successful rescues, in no small part because Remedios is a moron who spent days in the dead city rather than chasing me. They were all in terrible shape, mentally and physically, but food and some treatment, and a chance to fight back, has left them sharpened to a razor's edge." Neia said with more enthusiasm as she explained it all to Queen Calca.
"Amazing." Calca said, not clarifying what exactly she was surprised by.
Gradually the ranks were filled out and formed up, and eventually Neia estimated that they had all gathered.
"Soldiers! Atten-TION!" She shouted, and as one their feet came together and their backs became ramrod straight.
"Prart stands on the verge of great danger, and many stand in its defense! You however, have a special task ahead of you!" Neia called out, putting power into her voice that reverberated to their souls.
"You will fight those who have enslaved you, those who have abused you, and those who would do so again if you give them the chance! Will you give them that chance?!" She asked loudly.
"Never!" A uniform chorus called back to her.
"I do not want you to fight pitched battles, I want you to fight like bandits! Raid them, slow them, erode them! Exhaust them! Make them hate every step forward, make them pay with their blood for every scuff mark on your boots! Fight in small bands, keep them from their dreams at night and make their days into waking nightmares! Know that every hour you delay them, gives us an hour more to make swords and arrows, an hour more to train others more for the fight we face, and an hour more for help to find us! Your goal is NOT to die gloriously for our cause! Your goal is to force them to die for THEIR cause!
Cheers rang out. "Neia! Neia! Neia! Neia!"
As she heard her name called out, an abiding shame at her having failed them before welled up, but she concealed it in her voice as she said, "Go, requisition five days supplies per sword, then move out in squads, and go turn the road red!"
Calca had watched as Neia spoke, and the aura of shadows and a heavy weight seemed to exude from the pope next to her. It was disconcerting, but she seemed to inspire those she commanded, and the formation several thousand broke apart into squad sized elements and sent representatives back into the city to draw what they needed from various quartermasters, while the rest waited outside.
Neia did not leave her position, nor even indicate that she might, she simply stood and watched.
"Are you going to stay here?" Calca asked curiously. "Aren't you done?" She asked further.
Neia didn't look her direction when she answered firmly, "I will stand and watch, many of those who leave today will not be coming back here, this might not be a suicide mission, but it is a death sentence for many. If I can give the order, I have to at least pay them the respect of staying to watch them go to their deaths. I owe them that much." Her voice was strained, as if holding up a heavy weight, and Calca went silent, no reply was needed, instead her response was in the form of action, she remained where she stood, standing beside Neia as men and elves came back outside drawing cartloads of equipment to hand out to their fellows, and squads parted ways with handshakes and well wishes. Not a few rendered an additional salute with hand over heart to Neia at the walls before turning their backs and walking away together.
…Road to Hoburns…
The days and nights were bad ones for King Astraka, he ran, he hid, he stole horses to replace the one he'd ridden almost to the point of death, he managed to kill a few pursuers along the way, but it had been a narrow thing, their strange fighting style meant it was only the advantage of a lifetime of training, raw desperation, and the occasional ambush that saw him through the encounters. Finally, he made it back to the capital, and entered without fanfare. When he reached the palace, the guards who served him almost didn't even recognize his face, it was worn, bedraggled, dejected, and frankly not a small amount of fear was left on him.
They'd escorted him inside, had a bath drawn, had his council gathered, and within a few hours he was explaining what had gone wrong, it was then that he learned that though they were still drawing up casualty lists, somewhere around twenty percent of his army had survived and escaped, they'd been trickling back in, and were still coming. Other old god loyalists had been gathering since his departure, but most of the fighting was in the form of small group actions between peasant bands from different villages, or towns versus towns. His support, however, was clearly not as strong in the north as he had hoped for, mercenaries, however, were plentiful, though adventurers under the Sorcerer King who patrolled against threats to civilians made short work of those they encountered for the most part.
"We need to turn this around." King Astraka said angrily.
"And what does his majesty suggest?" one of his advisers asked.
"A victory, a big victory, one that breaks the spirit of resistance in the north." He said, "Or at least, one which does so much damage that they no longer feel invincible." He said and slammed his mailed fist down on the table.
"Majesty, stories about the dragon at Kasaga and the," he swallowed, "Dragon Riders, who took your army in the rear by surprise are everywhere, what do you propose to do to turn that around?" He asked.
"We had too few magic casters to deal with that threat, and we didn't know it existed at the time." He said, "However there is one place where that won't be the case, one victory that will wipe out the greatest threat to my rule and potentially undermine this new religion." He said with a growing smile.
"Majesty?" They said curiously.
"Where I should have gone in the first place." He said.
"When my soldiers are gathered again, I'm going to march on Prart and join with Remedios and the Slane Theocracy."
There were enthusiastic expressions around the table, that told him that they agreed that this was a very, very good idea.
AN: Well I trust you're happy to see Chapter 73 up, this particular chapter came out to 27 pages on Verdana at font size twelve at a spacing of 1.5. It took about 4 hours to write, and it isn't the only chapter I've done today, the other chapter for 'Synod' is currently being beta read and will be up today in all probability. So, here's the deal:
1. I have an increased work schedule for the summer thanks to high mobilization rates, that leaves me less time for writing, so expect the chapter release rate to slow down a little...but still be several times faster than average.
2. I am currently fixing defects in older chapters, hopefully I can finish 2-3 per week.
3. While I love writing this, my chief recreational activity impact wise is charitable efforts, ideally, I'd like to be able to combine these two efforts, so going forward, here's my effort at making that combination work. I set a very low goal of $15 per week donated to bdgiving dot org.
Every time I hit that goal, I'll release a chapter that week, any 'overage' from that week will be applied to reaching the same goal the next week. Remember, I don't take anything from that, its just a hobby I'm passionate about, much like this one. If a goal isn't reached, well no big deal, I'll just delay a bit until it is. Nobody 'has' to contribute anything. However I'd much like to be able to make this work. If you can't afford it, you can donate blood (get yourself vampired) or food to a nondiscriminatory food shelter, and that will be counted as the equivalent of a $5 donation (or the estimated value of what you've donated, just submit a photo proving that you made it.
Thanks for reading, please leave reviews, those are fuel, and see you next week. :) (Also, don't forget you can always join my discord server for early chapter access and other unique features like live chapter readings)