AN: OK so here we are at Chapter 77, frankly I have to change my outline somewhat to account for additional material, since I'm having to increase this by about twenty chapters or so to properly and fully explore the events of the war. I should say however, that the writing and the research to do the 'Synod' story took a lot out of me, and the last two days in the real world I've had to play the role of escort and security for two traumatized PTSD suffering soldiers, suffice it to say I am worn the fuck out. I want to say thank you to those of you who have written in to tell me I've been spot on when it came to depicting Neia's mental state, and the state of the suicidal... but it takes a toll to deal with that stuff the way it should be done. So, I'm taking a few days off of writing. I might do a chapter of 'Desires of a Demon' just to do something a little off the wall and fun (plus I still owe a donor another chapter for that one). Till then, if your desire for my work is vital to your happiness, I'll be uploading some exclusive content to the Discord and the P atreon dot com slash godrising. That content will include one shots and stories edited out of other chapters for length reasons. The discord link is on the author page, and the p atreon support goes to turning this story into an audio book (I need to have the equipment for that).
Also, if you want to keep me writing more, (after I come back in a few days) donating to bdgiving dot org's charity, means I don't have to stop writing to go do work elsewhere to support my charitable aims, that means faster release dates and changed lives. And no, I don't make a penny.
Alright, that sums everything up for now... except one more small thing:
Thank you to everyone who leaves reviews, let me tell you, it means a lot to authors to get your feed back, even a simple 'good job' provides motivation to write more, it tells us our work was appreciated and enjoyed, so even if you don't do it for every chapter, if a story is worth reading, its worth giving feedback for.
Allllriiiight...NOW that is all, on with the show! :)
...South of Ikari, North of Crossroad City...
Enri Emmot-Barear was now famous among friend and foe alike. The easy destruction of the false army had been touted by Slane Theocracy speakers and political leaders as a grand victory over the forces of the undead and his heretics.
Nobody wanted it put about that they'd lost Ikari City because they were busy knocking over straw figures and that they'd only managed to kill or capture around five hundred men and women, so 'the great victory' drew mass recruits to join the Theocracy forces from the bottom, while at the upper echelons of command, the cleverness of General Enri made her a figure of considerable concern.
The commander who had made the foolish mistake, and his staff officers, were now eager to defeat the famous general who had captured their northernmost city. While those who had their absurd false victory, who kept silent out of private shame for having been so thoroughly duped, were moving north again intending to punish the southern marching peasant general before she could reach the city of Crossroads. If that fell, the Slane Theocracy's breadbasket of Wheaton was at risk, they couldn't allow that to happen.
And that was how, twenty miles from Crossroad City, General Enri Emmot-Barear found herself standing atop a low rising hill looking out at the arrayed armies of the Slane Theocracy. The white flag had gone up and from the center there was a small trio of horses riding over the field.
"Looks like they want to talk." Enri said thoughtfully.
"Looks like." Lupusregina said. "What do you want to do?" She asked.
"Why not? We may be at war, but there is no reason we shouldn't be polite." Enri replied, and she ordered the white flag raised from her side in turn. "Lupu, Sun, you're with me." She said to her friend and to the goblin strategist who had taken for his name, the identity of 'Sun Tzu' a god of strategy from the first world of the Supreme Beings.
The trio trotted over to the space equidistant between the two armies. Enri looked her opposite numbers over. Humans, that wasn't surprising. At the center was their commander, a burly looking man with a square jaw and dark hair framing brown eyes. His armor was adamantite and probably enchanted. Flanking him on his left was a woman no less burly than he was, she had what looked like a heavy two-handed maul on her back, her large breasts were protected by adamantite plate, and black hair cascaded down behind her. Flanking him to his right was an older man with salt and pepper hair and a crooked nose with sky blue eyes, who also wore adamantite plate.
"So, you're General Enri," the commander at the center said in a deep baritone voice.
"I am," she said, fixing him with her stony gaze. "And you are?"
"General Boabdil. These are my vice commanders. Vice Commander Ira," the woman inclined her head, "and Vice Commander Heikeran," the older gentleman bowed politely from atop his horse.
"This is Lupusregina, maid of the Sorcerer King and my personal bodyguard, and this is my adviser, Sun." Lupusregina smiled politely, holding her massive weapon over the back of her neck and draping an arm over it casually, and the goblin strategist politely inclined his head as he stroked his beard.
"Are you… human?" General Boabdil asked Enri curiously.
"Yes, of course," she answered in surprise.
"And you're really keeping company with… well, she's not human. I can say that for sure, and goblins, and… well all those other beings over there?" General Boabdil's voice said he could not for the life of him understand what he was seeing.
"Of course, you think that strange? My army is made up of werewolves, vampires, elves, dwarves, humans, demihumans, beastmen, dragons, frost giants, ogres, and even undead, though those are tightly controlled." She replied in a very simple tone of voice that suggested his question was absurd.
"First, let me say, I admired your strategy, you knocked eighty thousand soldiers out of the fight for Ikari by sacrificing a paltry five hundred. An incredibly astute move, one I didn't see coming, and neither did anyone else." General Boabdil said with some reluctant admiration in his voice.
"Thank you." Enri replied. "Did any of my five hundred survive?" She asked with concern evident in her voice.
The question and its tone was greeted with approval evident in the expressions on the faces of her opposite numbers.
"Yes… a handful were captured alive, though severely wounded, they are now prisoners of the Slane Theocracy." General Boabdil answered.
Enri's eyes narrowed. "How are they being treated?" She asked.
"They're not being tortured if that is what you're wondering, my nation signed the Draconic Accords, and I have held to them." He answered.
"Many of your people do not." General Enri replied harshly, "I found many elf slaves still held in bondage despite my orders, some of them are now in my army and eager for payback."
"See." General Boabdil said, looking at his companions, "I told you slaves are vipers clutched to breast." He said, evidently making a point about some past argument with his companions. To Enri he said, "I can answer only for myself and my orders, if you withdraw from my country, you won't have to find out that I speak the truth about abiding by that agreement."
Enri's face and her voice softened immediately, "That isn't going to happen. I have come to take Crossroad in the name of the Sorcerer King and take it I will. But I will remember your words when the time comes. I pray they are true ones." She replied.
"You side with the enemies of humanity…" He began, only for her to cut him off with a vicious anger that called up the moment of her youth when she clutched little Nemu ready to die on a knight's sword to give her seconds more to run away.
"The enemies of humanity are in front of me, the saviors of humanity are behind or beside me." She snapped out. "I haven't forgotten the first time I encountered the representatives of the Slane Theocracy. You sent your people to my village, you killed my parents in front of me, you would have killed my baby sister and myself, skewering a child barely out of her toddler years, through my own body. Your people destroyed numerous villages like ours, all to draw out one man. The true savior of humanity is the one who fights for our future, a future free of the kind of strife your country brought to people who had never done you any harm, people you claim you are supposed to defend!" Her voice was loaded with venom as she spoke, and her lips were pursed tight when she stopped, as if to bite back insults that she longed to hurl.
It had the Slane Theocracy representatives frozen in surprise.
"Everything we do," General Boabdil said slowly, as he recovered from the sudden outpouring from General Enri, "is for the future of humanity."
"No, you do these things for human supremacy, I want a future where supremacy is not an issue at all, where those who live according to the social contract, who live as good neighbors, honest merchants, true laborers, and gentle rulers, are judged by the virtues shown by their actions, not determined to be evil by accident of birth. I regret that we must be enemies, but there is no turning us from this path, and your nation has chosen to make that cause for a fight, therefore we'll fight it out and settle things the bloody way." She said confidently.
"Fine, but we outnumber you, and your dragons are not invincible, scriptures and magic casters can hurt them, and our soldiers are brave and eager to prove themselves." General Boabdil said confidently.
General Enri sighed, "If you are wounded or captured, call for my judgment on the battlefield, I will see to it that you're treated as well as you say you've treated those prisoners of ours you have taken. Lupu, Sun, let's go." She said and began wheeling her horse around, a gesture imitated by both her companions and her Slane Theocracy counterparts.
When they got back to their lines, Enri got down from her horse and stretched herself out, limbering herself for the fight ahead, and then she addressed Lupusregina. "What do you think, Lupu?" She asked her friend, companion, bodyguard, and the personal attendant of the Sorcerer King.
The beautiful red headed maid grinned with the sadism that Enri had long since learned underlay her nature, and which she had long ago learned to accept.
"Tell me, do you know what I am -su?" Lupusregina asked, her hands were on her hips as she spoke, she wasn't looking over at Enri, but nonetheless the peasant general felt 'observed'.
"A servant of the Sorcerer King." She answered reflexively.
"Yup. But I'll give yah a hint. The first part of my name means 'wolf' and the second part means 'queen' in a language of First World, the place the Supreme Beings came from. In short, I am named 'Wolf Queen' can you guess now?" She asked, her teeth bared in her smile, seemed suddenly quite sharp.
"You're... a werewolf?" Enri said with some surprise in her voice.
"Not just any common, ordinary kind, I'm a werewolf of Nazarick, created by one of the supreme beings, and my master has given me permission to use any strength I want or need to win this battle." She said in a predatory way.
"So, you think we're at a disadvantage?" Enri asked.
"Do you see those?" Lupusregina said, pointing at a series of flags.
"Yes." Enri replied hesitantly.
"You remember what they are, right?" Lupusregina probed further.
"Yes, those are Slane Theocracy Scriptures, they style themselves as the heroes of humanity." Enri said, her voice growing bitter and her eyes growing hard, "One of those 'heroes of humanity' killed my parents and was going to wipe out my village."
"I see you're resolved then." Lupusregina began. "That is good, you need that hard edge, these are some of the best of their very best, come here to stop you, come here to kill you, if they succeed, you'll never see Carne again. You'll never see Nemu again, you'll never see Kuuderika or Nfirea again. They've come here to stop you because your victory over the iron governor and his command, and your deception of their massive army, gave you a reputation. Do I think we're at a disadvantage?" Lupusregina's voice had been for a moment, serious as it had ever been, but as she asked the question, she laughed and her hands came up in front of her, her fingers parted and she started to shake from excitement, her eyes went wide, and had Enri not known her for so long, it might have been profoundly disturbing.
"No, we have dragons to reinforce us, you have me to protect you, we have vampires, magic casters, werewolves, lizardmen, dwarves, and countless others. We have the volunteers of your home and from E-Rantel, Black Justice elites, frost giants, ogres, and we have the undead servants of his majesty, to name just a handful. Yes, we are outnumbered, but they are a thousand stalks of straw, and we're a steel bar!"
"I can't wait, it's so exciting..." She said in a voice that carried her fanatical devotion. "I'm so honored to be here...Lord Ainz will be properly honored by an ocean made of the blood of fools."
Enri had always been a gentle woman but beginning with the death of her parents and the constant threats from beyond her home's safety, life had hardened her considerably, a fierceness built up in her that kept her calm in the face of calamity. She looked over her shoulder, her armies were arrayed in vast numbers, all looking to her, all listening to her. It was unreal, so far from her dreams in her childhood.
She got on top of her undead horse and turned to face the massed ranks.
"It seems they don't want to surrender!" She shouted out, and that drew a mass of laughter.
The sound of the Slane Theocracy's army beginning to move echoed across the stretch of land between the two. "I will make this quick! I've brought you to the party, now dance if you can!" She drew her sword up and turned her horse around again to face the oncoming horde.
They'd just taken their first step when the wave hit. A powerful, terrifying, glorious, wave of unutterable rage, an aura that was unlike anything else in the world but one, one that Enri knew quite well, one that knocked the entire army to its knees, including the powerful Lupusregina Beta. A moment later, it passed them by, and Lupusregina Beta began to laugh. "Did you feel that?!" She shouted.
"Did you?! Of course, you did! Wasn't that amazing?! That was the wrath of the Sorcerer King! That was the wrath of our god, see what he's done!" Lupusregina Beta shouted out with joy as she got back to her feet and pointed across the low field, the ranks of the Theocracy had fallen to their knees as if in prayer were shaking, terror, raw and unbridled, was washing over them and pressing them to the earth itself. Here and there, soldiers who got to their feet first began to drop their weapons and shields and run.
Enri looked to her left, the Goblin Strategist read the question on her face, and nodded with a grin.
"Cavalry charge! Goblin wolf riders! Horsemen! Centaurs! Ranged battalions, hammer their lines! Infantry hold formation. Forward march!" Enri called out her orders, and the cavalry stationed at the rear and on the flanks broke from their positions and charged screaming towards the enemy, their morale boosted, a few among the Slane Theocracy's forces were men and women of true courage, and they sent fireballs and lightning at those they could as soon as they were able, but it was like shooting an arrow at an avalanche.
Lupusregina stayed beside Enri as they moved forward, holes were already appearing in the Slane Theocracy's ranks as the wave of the Sorcerer King's furious aura swept over them, and people chose to abandon their place in the line and run away.
The clash of the cavalry was like the clap of thunder and with the severely weakened armies of the Theocracy now in fixed positions, Enri shouted her next order. "Send out the lunch boxes!" A signal flag was raised, and the roars of dragons were heard in the distance, carrying armored ogres, minotaurs, and a handful of elites from various races, the dragons flew over the army and landed the boxes at the back, the doors opened and they charged into the rear of the formation. An ogre wasn't very smart, but armored and carrying a mace it was a terribly hard foe to bring down, a minotaur could be as smart as a human, and it had a great well of strength and could and did dual wield axes meant to be two handed.
Already it was clear how the battle was going. Enri watched calmly as she slowly advanced with her infantry at her back. "Heavy hitters, charge!" She shouted, and another signal flag went up, and the ones classed as heavy hitters, the ones twice or three times the size of humans peeled off from their position and charged for the gaps, the spirits of the enemy army were already broken, this was just putting down bodies.
The scriptures were working terrible havoc, held in place by things like 'lion's heart' to give them courage where they had none. They could and did still fight and mages continued to inflict casualties on her forces here and there, but they were quickly forced to stop to engage in magic duels against the ranks of the goblin mages, among others, and against such overwhelming numbers of magic users, they began to falter.
Explosions rang out here and there, fire scorched the sky and lightning tore through the air, but General Enri kept her eyes forward, only when they'd come to easy sprinting range did she give the order. "Infantry charge!" A signal flag went up, and the shouts of goblins, vampires, werewolves, humans, dwarves, elves, and others mingled into one voice as they flowed into every gap. The dragons, having done their part in delivering their cargo now fell to their secondary role, sweeping the remaining archers who had been strengthened by paladins or mages, ice swept the grass and brought the spring of their lives to winter, ending many where they stood.
That was when Enri and Lupusregina began to rush in. While Enri was not a swordswoman of great skill, she was excellently guarded, and being seen in the thick of it all was good for morale. This was also the first time she'd ever seen Lupusregina as she really was, her flaming red hair was flaming red fur, and she let loose a howl that chilled the blood of her enemies, other werewolf howls responded, they were one pack and these in front of her were simply their prey. She ran on all fours for only the briefest of moments because she could just eat up ground that fast, her claws tore out throats and when her bite clamped down, a simple swinging of her head back and forth tore the arm away and sent the wounded screaming into the mass ranks of his friends.
Halberds were thrust at her, but they were mere offerings, and if she did not grab them and pull the soldiers wielding them into the final embrace of the maid, then one of her comrades nearby would lop it off and wade in, surrounded on all sides, ranks breaking apart, mages falling, dragons raking the field with their breath weapons, the beautiful green field had become a blood soaked nightmare. Hell had come to Crossroad City's fields, the grass was watered with blood, sweat, and tears from the dying, the cries of man and beast pierced the air like the arrows that flew overhead.
Black Justice soldiers lived up to their reputation and fought in battle pulses that wore down their heavier armed enemies and took advantage of their unique versatility to poke holes in the Theocracy lines through close range archery use before moving in with swords to further disrupt the lines.
Eighty thousand strong, the Slane Theocracy had come to the fight, but thanks to the wave of the Sorcerer King, those numbers had been reduced before the clash had even begun, thousands had been broken and run away, and thanks to the combined arms of Enri's flexible army, the remaining number were being rapidly eroded, and still more had begun to abandon their positions.
Enri swung her sword from the back of her undead horse, holding her banner aloft so it could be seen by all, she was certain that despite her best, and all the equipment she'd been given, she would have been killed were it not for the werewolf that she called one of her best friends, a woman like an aunt or a godmother to Nemu, and she was a monster.
There was no time to think, her banner had made her a target, and the Slane Theocracy's cavalry were struggling to reach her, an arrow came out of nowhere and hit her in the chest, for a moment she believed herself to be good as dead, only to realize it had bounced away, deflected by the superior armor she'd been given. Lupusregina seemed even more enraged by the danger she'd just endured, and redoubled her killing pace, swinging her arms out wildly and tearing through steel like a knife through butter, the Slane Theocracy's army was buckling badly, and a horn pierced the air, it blew three times, and the Theocracy began to break off the engagement, their mages focused their efforts on the dragons, trying to drive back the aerial threat while archers who still fought struggled to force the ranks of General Enri to give them space. Those of her enemy's forces who were fighting in the rear were relatively few, and certain soldiers, seemingly deemed suicide units, began to form up and make 'last stands' holding back superior numbers and fighting a delaying action.
It took a short time before Enri realized what was happening, the Slane Theocracy was trying to save what they still had and fall back to the city. She waved her flag furiously above her; she didn't want to let that army flee into the city, she didn't want another Ikarian style siege.
"GO! GO! GO!" She shouted, she reached down in a spare moment and grabbed her signal horn, she blew it twice, sounding the general charge. Ranks no longer mattered, formation no longer mattered, 'pursue and kill' was the order of the day and shouts from the army of the Sorcerer King echoed their happiness at the order. Recognizing the futility of their effort and that an orderly retreat was impossible, the Slane Theocracy's armies simply routed, a few at first, followed by vast numbers as the trickle became a flood and they ran for their lives. The pursuit began, the battle was over.
This had now become a massacre. Enri sheathed her sword, she didn't need it now, there were others better suited to this task than herself. She looked around as soldiers streamed past, Lupusregina walked up to her on two legs, still in the form of a werewolf queen, she was the epitome of terror, blood, and noble beauty, her bloody gaping maw was open as she looked up at General Enri, a stray intestine dangled from between her teeth, her eyes met those of the peasant, who looked back in return. There was a question there, unspoken.
Enri got off her undead horse and approached the werewolf queen, from down on the ground, the maid towered over her. She reached up, took the intestine in her hands and pulled it out, and she threw it away with a roll of her eyes. Lupus looked at the ropey piece of intestine thrown to the side as if she wanted to run after it and play 'fetch'.
"Lupu, you shouldn't play with your food." Enri said simply.
Gradually the form of Lupusregina Beta began to shift, until she was back to her customary look, that of a beautiful red-haired maid. She grinned toothily and gave a 'V' for victory sign with one hand, while the other was planted firmly on her hips.
"We win. -su," she said.
There were still screams around the field, in the distance there were still clashes where a few hold outs had decided to make a final stand, but there was no question of what the outcome of this clash was.
There were cries for mothers coming from the lips of many races, cries for the mercy of an end to pain from no fewer of either, the Slane Theocracy had fought as hard as anyone could expect under the circumstances, and they had not died without shedding the blood of Enri's soldiers.
As she looked around the grim hellscape of red grass and screams, Enri looked over at Lupusregina Beta. "Go, heal the wounded you can, the least I can do is go and comfort the ones our healers don't get to in time". While the bulk of her army undertook the pursuit, Enri sought the injured. She knelt beside the wounded, held the hands of the dying, blood and sweat stained her clothes, but she didn't care.
She took names, wrote them down, took final thoughts and put them to paper. A young man lay with head in her lap as healing magic casters and Black Justice priests went around the field saving whoever they could, it was clear they weren't going to reach him in time. A halberd had opened up his guts, a massive gash on his head was streaming blood, and an arrow pierced his thigh and clipped a vein, he was bleeding out while she held him, the soldier was delusional at this stage. "Mother… mother… don't let me go… please don't let me go…" He whispered out as his voice grew ever weaker.
"It's alright, it's alright, you're just going to sleep, don't be scared of the dark, I'll stay with you till you sleep…" Enri said, using the motherly voice she'd taken to applying with Nemu and Kuuderika before coming South.
"Thank you… thank you… it won't be scary, not as long as you're here…" he said as he drifted into his eternal rest.
When he slipped away, she went from one to the next, talking the dying into their rest while her medical corps saved those they could. It was a credit to their discipline that they did not leave the wounded of their enemies to suffer needlessly, but what she did not notice, was how widely her actions were being noticed by those who followed her, and those who did not. Whether Slane Theocracy or Sorcerous Kingdom, human or nonhuman the dying she could reach were held as gently as if in the arms of their own mothers.
The battle itself had ended in under two hours, the cleanup after the battle took five more, even without organizing prisoners and accounting for the dead. By the time all was said and done, her exhausted force simply could not march further, and camp had to be made on the field itself. Before nightfall, before the first round of sentries had been relieved, she learned that she'd earned a new nickname.
"The Grand Matriarch?" Enri said incredulously while Lupusregina Beta laughed so hard she had to clutch her belly to keep from doubling over more than she already was, even Sun had a crooked smile on his face.
"Ayup, that's what they're callin' you out there now. Seems they saw how you were all motherly to the dying, and some poetic sap whose name we'll never know decided the name fit you, it spread from there. Looks like you're as much a mother to the army as you are a general to it." Lupusregina said, wiping away tears of laughter as she straightened up and put her hands on her hips.
"This is good, General Enri." The goblin strategist said. "The god of war in the first world said that if your soldiers love you as a father, or in your case, mother, and you love them in the same way, they will follow you to the death."
Enri sighed, it might be good for morale and all that, but lofty titles were still not something she thought she was ever going to get used to. She rubbed her forehead wearily. "I need to rest." She said.
"Perhaps you should visit the prisoners first." Sun suggested, "And you still need the casualty reports before you sleep if you want to know what orders to give first thing in the morning." He reminded her.
"Alright fine, another hour or so without sleep won't kill me." She said tiredly, "Lupu, you coming with me?"
"Course." She said with a grin.
Fires were lit all over the place already as people gathered around to cook food, ogre sat with vampire, vampire with human, dwarf sat with elf and elf with human. The integration of the various races of her army had gone seamlessly, her admiration for her master had only ever gone up, but this sent it beyond the stars. As she walked through the camp, she began to truly see a vision of the world he sought to create, she'd said it often enough, but now, even more than when she saw the beginnings of it after Ikari, now it was right before her eyes. Like some imagined thing in the distance floating on the sea, carried slowly to where she stood on shore, and gradually coming into view until she could truly tell what it was as the tides of time brought it close to her feet. She reached out in the fading light of the field to a small group of companions trading stories. She cupped her hand low, and looking down the length of her arm, it was as if they sat within that hand. It was like a jewel sat there, shining and bright, and all she had to do was protect it, and it would be hers.
She sighed heavily; she was exhausted. She lowered her hand from her whimsical moment and walked on to where the prisoners were kept. Lupu was behind her so she felt completely safe approaching the improvised security zone. The prisoners were all secured together so that they couldn't move individually. To make that work, each chain had one single dangling circular loop from the center, and through that loop a long metal pole passed, this pole ran through the dangling center loop of every chain, and this pole itself had two metal loops secured to it, which were then locked to chains attached to stakes hammered hard into the ground. These stakes were unreachable, since the pole ran through an improvised wooden barrier. There were numbers of these enclosure stations for prisoners scattered about the camp so that the prisoners could not work together from one enclosure to another, a sensible precaution by any measure, but it did require additional guards, a fair enough trade off for increased security.
General Enri, the Grand Matriarch, approached one of those enclosures where the prisoners were eating, they'd had their armor and weapons taken, and some still bore minor wounds that hadn't been healed due to mana limitations and the greater needs of others, but those who were present looked healthy enough as it was. When they saw who was approaching, they froze.
"Good evening soldiers… or I suppose I should say, prisoners." Enri said politely, holding her hands folded behind her back and standing with her feet slightly apart, it was a commanding stance and it got their attention. "You're looking rather well I suppose, that is good. Does anyone speak for you? Who is the ranking member of your numbers?" She asked, and eyes turned to a sandy haired man with a golden beard.
"I do." He said, 'Company Commander Ignatius Elgin." He said crisply.
"Alright commander, first I suppose I should pay your soldiers a compliment, you fought as well today as anyone could be expected to. You're a credit to the courage of the Slane Theocracy." She said.
The compliment was the right move to make, their expressions all seemed to soften.
"The second thing I should ask is if you're being well treated, according to the Draconic Accords prisoners are to be provided food, water, and medical care. Moreover, abusing you is absolutely forbidden, have any of my soldiers harmed anyone among you?" She asked with equal crispness, a hard edge coming to her eyes that was impossible to miss.
"No… no one…" He said slowly, hesitantly.
Enri leaned forward a bit and put her hands to her hips, "You sound reluctant to answer, are you telling me the truth, or just what you think I want to hear?" She asked.
"It is the truth…" He said slowly.
"Then why are you hesitant to speak it?" She asked.
"I'm hesitant to admit it. It wasn't what I was led to expect from an army of…" He trailed off.
"Of?" She demanded.
"Undead worshipers and monsters." He finished with an uncomfortable swallow.
Enri nodded understandingly and straightened up. "I see, well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you'd think that way, all things considered." She folded one arm over her belly and rested her other arm's elbow on the upturned hand, then raised one finger. "For starters you've been told what to expect by people who wanted you to die rather than surrender." She raised another finger, "For another you've been told how we are by people who have no idea what we believe and don't care if they're getting the information correct." She raised another finger, "And last but not least, you decided what we were before knowing what the truth was. Did you forget that it was our master, not yours, who proposed the Draconic Accords in the first place? Did you forget that it was he who had slaves set free and who has chosen to treat all with fairness? What injustice have we perpetrated in your eyes except that we have not put any one race over any other? Was it not our master who did what you could not and would not do, and saved the Draconic Kingdom from literally being consumed? No, whatever you thought or think of us, clearly it was wrong, and your leaders either did not know this, or did not care and chose to lie to you. Thank them for your chains, thank my master for your lives." Enri said confidently.
It was a sobering moment and it had a number of prisoners looking down uncomfortably. "What happens now?" Commander Ignatius asked softly.
"Well, those of you who are captives will be transported to the Sorcerous Kingdom for the duration of the war as prisoners, you will be put to work in a nonmilitary capacity and paid for your labor, those who refuse to work will be held more or less the way you're all held right now, but nobody will be tortured or otherwise mistreated." Enri replied.
"And after the war?" He asked with great trepidation in his voice.
"You'll be released I assume, so long as none of you are guilty of war crimes, and none of you commit crimes while imprisoned." She replied flatly, allowing her arms to fall at her side in a relaxed fashion before her hands folded behind her back again.
"I… I see. This is unexpected." He looked at her with some suspicion.
"You don't have to believe me, I understand, but it is the truth, and you'll see it for yourself." She said, putting as much sincerity into her voice as she could.
"For now though, I have questions that will need answers, I'll be having some people drop by to ask them, I just wanted to stop by and check with a few of you first, get a close up look at my enemies without sword swinging being involved." She said.
"Could I ask a question, ma'am?" Ignatius asked.
"Go ahead." She replied.
"How many of us did you take?" His voice was almost awed as he asked it, and Enri thought the question over silently for a moment.
"I haven't seen the final report yet, so don't hold me to this, but a rough estimate is about fifteen percent of your army was taken prisoner. It might be as high as twenty percent, it might be as low as twelve percent, either way, there are a lot of you." She answered, but she raised a finger in caution, "However, do not think for a moment that means you'll have a chance at escape, the undead guards that will be assigned to you are unbeatable by anything less than a legendary warrior, and if you had any of those, well I doubt they'd be in one of these confinement zones, would they?" She asked the question pointedly.
A great many uncomfortable looks found the ground to be very interesting all of a sudden, and then Enri bade them a good night and moved on to another confinement cell. She visited five of them before returning to the command tent, ensuring that her captives saw her and knew who had defeated them. They seemed to find her to be quite impressive, but all she really felt herself to be was very tired.
By morning she'd know if the leaders of the Theocracy army had been captured or killed, and by morning she'd be rested and ready to march on Crossroad. Today was a great day for the Sorcerous Kingdom, and tomorrow would be a better one, the last great northern Theocracy Army had been defeated in the field. However, many had escaped, well even if it constituted a military force still, it didn't have its former power, and that was a very comforting thought to have as she laid down to rest for the night.