...North of Crossroads…
Enri was tired, even empty. The casualty reports she'd reviewed long into the night had gotten to her. Hard. Particularly the news of Goan's mother. Part of her fumed all the way till she'd fallen asleep. "Damn it, Moira! That was stupid." She must have said it fifty times, "Single parents should not volunteer for suicide missions." Lupu of course, could always be counted upon.
"She did what she did for Lord Ainz. That is all that matters." It had been something of a loop. But nonetheless Lupu had stayed with her, and for that Enri was profoundly grateful. Lewd offerings of stress relief aside, it was probably only because the werewolf queen had stayed with her that she had gotten any sleep at all.
She got up and stretched, arching her back and rotating her hips. Military bedding was not especially comfortable. She'd barely been up for a minute when Lupusregina entered her tent. "Ready General?" She asked with her usual enigmatic but somehow slightly predatory smile.
"I ask myself that every day." Enri replied seriously, then broke into a smile, "But so far, the answer seems to be yes."
Lupusregina's grin was a little bit wider after Enri said that. "Good, because we have news, the survivors of the last battle have gathered themselves together." She said, her fingers twitching as if she was already thinking of how best to tear them apart… and she probably was.
"Crossroads?" Enri predicted.
"The same. They're thinking their walls will save them." Lupusregina said with a dismissive snort. "Stupid, dragons ignore walls and I can just tear through them."
"How many?" Enri asked.
"Is a rough measure acceptable?" Lupusregina asked.
Enri nodded. "I'd rather have a good estimate than no clue." She said seriously.
"About twenty thousand got away from the fight, mostly those who ran early when Lord Ainz's wrath hit them. Sure it made the last fight a lot easier, but unfortunately, the ones who run away, you sometimes have to fight twice." Lupusregina said with mild annoyance.
"True, but at least we know they're prone to running. Want to chase the prey?" Enri asked, and a hard, predatory look reminiscent of Lupusregina Beta's more sadistic expressions took over her face.
Lupusregina clapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs up, along with a very happy smile and said, "That's the spirit, this is why we're friends. Always knew you had it in you."
Enri rolled her eyes, "Never change, Lupu."
"Don't plan to, but speaking of plans, I assume you have something in mind?" Her bodyguard replied.
"I do, Crossroad City is unique, the walls are very thick, eight feet if you can believe it, and the gates are enchanted with sixth tier magic, the very limit of human capability. Moreover, they've had weeks to prepare for our coming, so they'll have scorpions ready to shoot down dragons and who knows what manner of siege equipment behind the walls. But they're not invincible." Enri said as she went to her work table, pulled out a map, and spread it open on the table.
"We have the numbers to surround them, so that'll be the first step. They're outnumbered here, even with the survivors, and that'll force them to spread their lines thin. Now, I don't 'think' scorpions can bring down dragons, at least not easily, but they've probably put a scripture in there by now. Do you have that report?" Enri asked, looking up from the map.
"Yes, it looks like all of the scripture members present at the last battle made it out. You can expect to face the entire Windflower Scripture." Lupusregina said with a serious expression. Although she hadn't fought them herself, it was easy to identify where they'd been stationed through simple observation of the battlefield. In those places, there were plenty of her own side, and precious few of the rest among the dead.
"They're not the combat specialists, are they?" Enri asked.
"No, they're not. They're mostly recon from what Lord Ainz has told us. He apparently extracted a fair bit of information from the captive Sunlight Scripture and Gray Scripture members." Lupusregina said calmly.
"I see, I want triple the guards around the clock. A group like that will want to make us fear the night, and I don't plan to let them have their way." Enri said thoughtfully.
"Our first priority is to take out their means of preventing an air based attack, they really don't like our lunch boxes." Enri said with a savage smile.
"Then, should we use them?" Lupusregina asked.
"No. While that is going on, we dig. We have the best diggers in the world on our side, and even though most of the quagoa went north with General Zaryusu and Lady Shalltear, we do have some. We will tunnel under the walls, prop them up with support beams, and when we've got a wide enough breech, we burn the supports and bring the damn wall down. We do it in two places in quick succession, and use a smattering of ladders in a feint against the unbreached sides, just to keep them from bringing sufficient force to bear. Then we bring in the dragons. The city will fall within an hour of all that." She said confidently as she rolled the map back up.
"You really thought that through." Lupusregina said, impressed.
"Well, I spent some time talking with my goblin strategist. Sun is very good at this, but yeah, most of these were my ideas." Enri said proudly.
"You were wasted as an illiterate peasant." Lupusregina said confidently.
Enri put the rolled up map back into a tube meant for such documents and then looked over at her best friend. It was still weird to think of her best friend getting off on her death, but then, Lupusregina was a weird one, and her praise was obviously sincere. "I guess you're right, who knew?" She said with a smile.
"Lord Ainz, apparently." Lupusregina said with a contented shrug.
"Apparently." Enri agreed. "Now I'm going to get dressed…" She started to say before Lupusregina interrupted her.
"Oh no! Help! My general is going to demand my services, oh someone please!" Lupu froze in the middle of a dramatic expression and an 'eek', and Enri blushed a strawberry red that stood out on her skin.
"Damn it Lupu! Get out of here, we've got work to do, I want this army moving in an hour!" She said with the sort of infuriated voice that by now, Lupusregina knew was not that mad and she waved goodbye behind her as she waltzed, or perhaps 'sauntered' out of the general's tent.
Enri rubbed her forehead. 'I wonder if General Boabdil has to put up with this.' She thought to herself.
...Crossroad City Prison…
Moira sat in the interrogation room. It was poorly lit, probably on purpose. Guards were stationed by the wall behind her and the door in front of her. The table she was sitting on was crafted from simple unfinished wood, an embarrassment to any decent carpenter. The chair she was sitting on was no better. The only unique feature was that her wrists were chained uncomfortably. One wrist was fixed to the table where an iron loop had been attached, leaving her just enough freedom of motion that she could have, say… written a document. The other was secured to an iron loop fastened to the chair itself. That arm had no freedom of movement.
In front of her stood an interrogator, a man of medium build, ordinary brown hair, ordinary brown eyes. In fact, the only thing that seemed to make him extraordinary, was his extreme ordinariness. She felt like you could pass him a thousand times on the street and never really notice or remember him.
Even his voice did not stand out as anything special, it was unnerving how bland the man seemed.
"What is your name?" He asked.
'OK, we're starting simple.' She thought.
"My name is Moira." She replied.
"What was your mission?" He asked.
"Don't you know that already? I mean, you did capture me." She said somewhat sarcastically.
"Answer the question, please." He said.
"I was tasked with diverting General Boabdil's reinforcements away from Ikari. I was also successful. I and my comrades, at least." She said smugly.
"How will General Enri try to take this city?" He asked. He started to walk around the table, slowly, methodically. She tried to turn her head to look at him.
"How the hell would I know that? I was a soldier on a suicide mission." She snapped out.
"I'll ask the questions." He said without missing a beat. He passed in front of her again. "How many soldiers in her army?" He asked.
"First, I wouldn't know, but a lot. Second, even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you." She said harshly, slamming her fist on the table, rattling the chain and snarled at him. His expression did not waver even a little.
"Suppose we offered to loosen your tongue." He suggested. She shook a little at that.
"Doesn't matter. I won't say anything, do whatever you want." She replied.
He cocked his head and looked at her, "Why?" He asked.
"What do you mean, why? Isn't it natural for a soldier to be loyal to her comrades, to her people, to her ruler?" She asked, incredulous at the question.
"Maybe most of the time, but your ruler is undead, he doesn't give a shit about you." He said. "So why protect him? Why help him? Help us, and we'll reward you, the Slane Theocracy rewards those who help it."
"You don't know anything." She said sullenly. "Not a damn thing you damn fool." She said, reiterating her expression of contempt.
"So help me to understand." He said in a gentle, inviting tone of voice.
"The Sorcerer King saved my country, saved my life, saved my baby, so it doesn't matter what he is. I won't say anything that will hurt him or his cause. Go. To. Hell." She said, trying to lunge up from the chair, only for the restraints to hold her back.
This caught him by surprise, though his face didn't show it. "Where are you from?" He asked her innocently.
A harmless question, she chose to answer it. "I was born and raised in the Draconic Kingdom." She said honestly.
"So, you were there when he went after the beastmen." He asked.
'Shit.' She thought, 'I shouldn't have answered that. Too late now.'
"I was." She replied.
"Do you know what magic he used? Did you ever see or hear him cast a spell?" He asked her.
She laughed. "Hell no. All I know is that he showed up and everybody that wasn't human, died that day. He saved humans, he saved us, and what did you ever do? Everybody knows the Slane Theocracy was just using us as meat shields. You don't care about us, you never cared about us. We're both humans, and you bastards offered us up like a buffet to be eaten just to keep those things off yourselves!"
She struggled to rise, and failed again, but rattled the chains loudly as she did so. "If I'd had to rely on you, then I'd have birthed my boy just to see him eaten as he cried for my breast! Go to hell you self righteous, manipulative, predatory pricks! I'm not saying a goddamn thing, and it doesn't matter what you say or do to me!" She looked at his indifferent face while she wore a mask of hate. He casually wiped some of the spittle from his face that had flown from her mouth during her tirade.
"I see." He said dryly.
"Suppose I offer to ask your comrades… hard?" He proposed.
"What do you mean?" She asked hesitantly as she relaxed herself in the chair again, ceasing her pull against her bonds.
"Suppose I offer to hurt them, not until they talk, but until 'you' do? You seem to have the most knowledge of the Sorcerer King, the only one with hands on experience. Perhaps if you had to choose between your friends and your dark master, you'd be a bit more talkative." He said as if he was just casually discussing the weather.
"I don't think you'll do that." She said, trying to keep the doubt from her voice.
"Oh? Why not?" He asked, with seemingly genuine curiosity in his voice.
"You haven't done it to them so far, not while I was 'asleep', so I don't think you'll do it now." She replied.
He let out a sigh, which had her somewhat relieved until he started talking again. "You're right of course, General Boabdil is rather… impractical about these things, but you know, he only commands 'here'. I could send you to Wheaton, or Fortress Cross, or even Kami Miyako, all it would take is a letter from me, and I can have the lot of you shipped off with him not even knowing what I have in mind."
Her blood ran cold, but she kept a brave face. "Do it then, but I'm not saying a damn thing."
His face, which had previously maintained a calm and neutral air, suddenly took on a whole other demeanor and he leaned in, inches away from her. "We'll see how you feel, when the inquisitors start asking questions, you heretical whore." He said in a vicious voice, with his face twisted into a mask of demonic hatred.
Moira looked up, and spat on his cheek. "Go die in a fire." She said.
He froze, stood up, wiped his cheek, and looked down at her. "That'll be your fate, heretic." He said, and looked over at the guard at the wall. "Get that thing out of here, I've got a letter to write, resecure her in her cell. Oh, and put her on suicide watch, I don't want her dying any other death but that of a heretic."
The guard approached, started to unchain her, and as soon as she was able to move, she hit him in the face with her elbow and tried to go on the offensive.
The interrogator moved so quickly she never even saw his fist meet her face.
…Yaksun…
Queen Draudillon had seen better days, but she'd also seen ones so much worse that this looked pretty good by comparison. The walls of Yaksun looked fairly strong , and the people manning them appeared to be well fed and enthusiastic.
They also were not very large in number.
"Get the siege equipment ready, and call up what mages we have for cover. They probably expect that the Forlorn Fortress destroyed a lot of our equipment, and they almost certainly have no idea that we had a one woman siege weapon already there." Draudillon surmised.
General Musan gave her an approving look. "Astute thought, Your Majesty. They'll expect us to spend time rebuilding what we need to take the walls, giving them ample time to prepare. I assume you expect we can win if we attack now?" He asked.
"I do." She said.
"I agree." General Oma said, she scratched her ear reflexively as she spoke. It made Draudillon wonder if she were insecure about what was surely distant elven ancestry. "However, we should prepare for the possibility of a longer siege. Keep back a hundred men to lay a camp, it'll only take a few hours, and I think it should be done before the first day of fighting ends."
Queen Draudillon thought that over, "Fine, go set a hundred men to establishing a fortified camp. They'll skip the fighting today, but if it goes on, they'll be first into the fight tomorrow." She said thoughtfully.
"It will be done, my Queen." She said confidently, and rode back to the rear.
She saw the distress on the walls when perfectly intact siege equipment began to roll forward, ladders, a ram, and a low rolling set of platforms with a partially protective wooden wall at the front and sides of it. The platform was only six feet wide, enough that a sallying enemy couldn't just attack the archers that were placed on it, and the front and side walls provided some protection from return fire.
"How many archers?" General Musan asked.
"About thirty each. They'll still be outnumbered, and their defenses are inferior, but we can be confident that no cavalry will be coming out to harass them or drive them off. In addition, as long as the archers fight, the infantry can do their work." The Queen said in a clipped, professional manner that surprised her general.
"Majesty, may I speak freely?" General Musan asked politely.
Queen Draudillon's eyes narrowed as she looked at him.
"Nothing good ever follows that sentence, but go ahead." She said.
"I'm glad you're with us." He said in a casual tone of voice.
"I stand corrected. Good things do come after that sentence sometimes." She glanced over at the moving soldiers and the siege equipment. Flags were going up and down as signals were sent indicating orders, and to the rear she heard the sound of construction going on as a camp was established.
"But why do you say that?" She asked curiously.
"Well, in the past, we both know you were not as attentive as you could have been or should have been. I don't mean to criticize you, Your Majesty. But you do not deny this yourself. However, as I see you out here, away from the palace, among the army, your people, your soldiers, I see you thriving. Perhaps a part of the great trouble with your early rule was your long isolation. Maybe being out here, in the air, even with all the danger and discomfort, has let you truly come into your own as a great Queen."
"There may be something to that." She replied, "I should make a habit of being out more when all is said and done."
She looked ahead, "They're reaching the walls, looks like the archers are giving a good account of themselves." She said, as screams were reaching them from the wounded, and silence reached them from the dead. Flaming arrows shot from the walls. A man fell with an arrow in his face. Queen Draudillon watched, she owed them that much, so she forced herself not to wince or look away.
"Your Majesty, would you prefer to be at the rear?" General Musan asked, his rough, gray beard gave him a very grandfatherly appearance and it felt good to have him nearby.
"I would. But I need to be here." She said as the ladders reached the walls and the ram began to 'knock' on the door.
Someone was giving solid orders to those on the walls at least, and the archers had begun to concentrate their fire on the infantry instead of dueling with their counterparts.
"Damn, I'd hoped they'd keep that up." General Musan said.
"I'm surprised they did it at all." The Queen replied, caressing her horse to calm it down as it moved its hooves anxiously.
"I feel the same. My guess is that they didn't have a command authority present, and didn't expect us to attack this soon. Looks like your aggression paid off, Your Highness." He said with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes it does. Let us hope it reaps high dividends." She said with satisfaction. Two ladders were pushed off the wall, another however, had soldiers trying to make their way over it. She saw the first man to reach the top fall, but the one right after him made it on to the ramparts.
Sword, mace, ax, and spear were brought to bear, a little knot of Draconic soldiers had forcibly seized several feet of the wall for themselves.
"This may be a rather artless fight, but it looks like we're going to take this section at least." She said hopefully.
"Maybe, but we'll pay a butcher's bill for every stone." General Musan replied.
Cracks appeared at the gate as the heavy wood began to finally split under repeated blows.
Mages began to duel, with lightning and fire, two mages slew one another in the same instant, falling to the ground, one from the wall, one from where he stood atop the roof of the ram that continued to crack the gate into ever more splinters.
"Find out that mage's name when you can." Queen Draudillon said with awe, "We must honor his sacrifice."
General Musan nodded somberly.
Somewhere among the chaos on the wall, a greater chaos ensued. A massive warrior wielding an enormous hammer began to smash his way through the soldiers of the Draconic Kingdom. He was so tall that even from where they sat on their horses, they could see him walk purposefully through the nightmare of battle as if the hellscape of the wall was a garden through which he could stroll with ease. He wore no helmet, but his arms were wrapped in orichalcum and his weapon was clearly something other than simple steel.
His voice boomed out like a drum, "Push them back or I'll kill you myself!" He shouted at his own side. Whoever he was, he was relentless, the incarnation of war in a human body, Draconic soldiers began to fall, the gain they had made was in danger of being lost completely.
"No…" Draudillon said with horror, "How?" She asked no one in particular. "Could he be from one of the scriptures?" She asked.
"This far east? Unlikely, they didn't even know we were coming until it was too late, and the Sorcerer King's intelligence on the scriptures puts the best of them in the Southern Holy Kingdom, Northern Holy Kingdom, and the rest scattered around as far north as Crossroads." General Musan said softly. The wall was nearly clear, those of her soldiers on the wall who were still alive, were running for their lives back down the ladders.
"We don't have anyone who can get past that man." General Musan said.
"Yes. We. Do." Queen Draudillon said.
"Who?" He asked doubtfully.
"I didn't want it to come to this." She said, biting her lip anxiously.
They heard the clanking sound of metal rising, a portcullis was opening.
"Pull back the ram!" She shouted in a sudden realization, the order went out, the general blew his horn, the soldiers under the roof of the ram could still hear, even if they could not see the signal. They began to pull it back, only to realize too late that they hadn't a prayer of escaping the sally with it. The Slane Theocracy's soldiers burst out of the gate and under the ram. It was over quickly. A few staggered out from cover, stumbling away desperate to flee, only for them to be exterminated within a few steps. For good measure, one of the Slane Theocracy soldiers stabbed a man in his calf, driving him to the ground, then for all to see, shoving his halberd through his neck even as the wounded man's hand reached out, desperate for help that would never come.
The killer however, did not leave the sally alive, the archers, having witnessed the slaying, whirled in one body from two towers, and riddled him with so many arrows that his body could not fall, he had been pinned to the earth upright, a 'counter example' of the Draconic Kingdom's wrath.
Those survivors who had escaped the wall now looked at it with trepidation, the prospect of going back up there had no appeal. The Queen was swearing.
The sun was starting to set, there would be no more fighting now. "Send a messenger." She said.
"Saying what?" He asked.
"Challenging that warrior to single combat." She replied.
"With who?" He asked dubiously.
"With me." She said. "Tomorrow, that city falls."
He looked at her dumbly.
"Do it!" She said in a voice of royal command, sparing no room for debate.
"As Your Majesty commands." He said, and as the army of the Draconic Kingdom began to pull back to the encampment, the cheers of the Slane Theocracy battered at their backs like a hammer.
That evening as General Musan saw to the dispatching of a message and oversaw the rest of the camp's actions, Queen Draudillon sought out General Oma.
The two sat alone in the Queen's private tent. "You know by now what happened." She said to the olive skinned beauty.
"I do. It was bad. The man on the wall, I heard the soldiers talk about him afterwards, he's like a war god." She said, reluctantly impressed.
"I've had a challenge dispatched seeking single combat." The Queen answered.
"Majesty, you can't! You're not a warrior! You're not a Neia, or a Remedios, or the Sorcerer King, or…" General Oma trailed off as the Queen reached out and touched her hand across the table.
"No, but I can kill him, I just can't do it alone. I need three hundred volunteers, men ready to die without hesitation, can you find me that? Promise them that their heirs will be given noble titles and lands, we have plenty of both we can hand out now thanks to the purges. Let these be the first awards." The Queen said firmly.
"I can… among those who joined us there are some who took the option of service to gain forgiveness for past crimes, but some of them have families behind them as well. I'm sure I can find you that many. Our people are desperate to restore their pride as well, and many will die for that, and for immortal fame for their courage." General Oma said with reluctant confidence.
"Do it then, conjure them by whatever means you need, but bring them to me tonight." She said.
"It will be done, Your Majesty." General Oma said.
As she was leaving, a guard poked his head in, "General Musan is here to see you, Your Highness." He said.
"Send him in." She replied perfunctorily.
General Musan approached and rendered his salute. "Sit." The Queen said.
He sat.
"How did it go?" She asked.
"He's agreed to the duel. The chance to kill you and throw us into chaos is too much to resist, but Your Majesty, I must urge you to reconsider. If you die…" She held up her hand to stop him.
"I won't die." She said.
"But…" He began.
"No arguments. I'm the Queen, damn it, and I've made my decision." She said firmly in a voice of mild rebuke.
His head drooped. "We just don't want to lose you." He said softly, and her face softened with it.
"I know. Don't worry about it. Everything will be fine, I swear it. It has to be, I promised Vermillion I'd come home again." She had a warm smile on her face.
"Morning?" She asked.
"After morning meal." He confirmed. "We just plant your banner in front when you're ready."
"Good, dismissed, General Musan." She said, preempting any further objection.
"As you wish, Your Majesty." He said, and saluting her again, he left her tent.
The next few hours were busy ones for General Oma and Queen Draudillon, with many a whispered words, a toasted goblet from which the Queen herself would not drink, many an oath was made, many a promise written down, many tears were shed for the following day, that none appear to disgrace them when the time came.
They ate their fill, all was open to them, nothing was denied them, the army was abuzz with anticipation.
That morning the two armies stood face to face. Before the wall of untaken Yaksun, the ruins of the ram, now burned black and collapsed in a heap of broken wood and metal gave a silent testament to the battle of the previous day.
The breeze was high in the air and it picked up the banners of both sides, proudly flying them high over the heads of their bearers. Those three hundred ate their fill in the morning as well, and in the open space between the two armies, Queen Draudillon stepped out, bearing her banner herself, she planted it a bowshot away from the wall, and then stepped back.
The gate slowly opened, and a man the size of a small bear stepped out of it, wrapped in heroic armor and bearing in one hand, a giant hammer and in the other, a banner of his own. "Regar. Regar. Regar." The chant went up from the wall as the hero of the city came out to meet the Draconic Queen.
He came closer than she did, close enough that she could hear him, she and all her army.
"So you're the whore for the undead that has come to take my country?!" He shouted.
She didn't respond to the provocation, and he stabbed the banner hard into the ground.
"This city will never fall so long as Regar defends it!" He shouted at her.
To this she answered, "Regar will not be defending it for much longer!" It was the right thing to say, the spirits of her army went up. She looked every inch a monarch in that hour, clad in white armor and a white cloak thrown back so that her head and face could be seen, she had the light of an angel cast off her by the rising sun.
He snarled at that. "Then let's get this over with." He said and took the maul to the front of his body, holding it in two hands as he crouched, ready to charge.
"There is time enough for that," she shouted back, "but first I wanted you, and all your city, to see something, I wanted you to see the resolve of the Draconic Kingdom!" She let her voice go loud as it could, and from behind her stepped her three hundred.
"This is a duel! Not a battle!" He said in rebuke as if she intended to have them attack with her.
She shook her head. "Do it!" She shouted, and he tensed, ready to take on all three hundred if that was what it took. But then he froze, the first man stepped forward, took a single knife out, and slit his own throat. The man next to him did the same, then the next, the next, and the next, on down the row.
Regar couldn't believe his eyes, but nor could the rest of the wall. The Slane Theocracy's soldiers stood watching dazed and confused with many of them sickened or horrified. It was one thing to fight and die, it was another entirely to see so many simply end their lives without hesitation in a twisted mass suicide.
The line of men had nearly finished their bizarre display of suicide when someone started shouting from the Theocracy wall. "Regar get out! Get out of there now! Clear the walls!"
Somebody knew what was happening, Queen Draudillon laughed inside her own mind, it was far too late.
"Come and get me Regar! But as you die, know this! To face the Queen is to face the whole of her nation!" She shouted, and Regar, who had never fled in a hundred battles, did not listen to the shouting behind him, he charged towards the Queen, who held her arms open invitingly, and then…
As if to remind the world that she was born of a dragon's bloodline, her mouth opened, and it seemed as if it might have unhinged like a snake to swallow enormous prey, and from her mouth poured a horrible, terrible, beautiful white light. Powered by three hundred dead, it flared brighter than the sun and rushed straight towards Regar, who had only a moment to know its radiance, before he ceased to be. He, his weapon, his armor, all that he was, were erased as if they'd never been.
It was not however, at the end of its work, it raced past him, straight to the wall, towards the gate, it erased the body of the man who had died upright by the mass of arrows, it erased the ruin of the ram, and as if this light was meant to erase the stain of yesterday's failure, it turned the stone to nothingness, the gate was gone, and so was everything beyond it for a quarter mile. Not a single member of the Slane Theocracy that held that gate survived long enough to know just how they had died.
"Charge!" The Queen shouted, rushing back to her line and jumping on her horse, she waved her sword at the suddenly created gap, and though caught in shock and awe, neither side had moved until her horse began to gallop, as if she were going to take the city by herself.
It snapped her people back to reality, "You heard the Queen! Go! Go! Bring them down!" General Musan shouted, with General Oma echoing the sentiment from where she sat further down the line, the whole of the Draconic Kingdom army moved as one body, horses and men bearing down on the gap the Queen had given to them.
The Slane Theocracy's lines descended into absolute chaos, they had thought to defend the walls, but now the wall was irrelevant and they were scattered. The Draconic Kingdom cavalry made it in first, and they rushed to blockade the towers from which the Theocracy soldiers would have to emerge.
The bottleneck, formerly a Theocracy advantage when the walls were being seized from above, had now become a detriment when the attack had the option to take them from the ground.
The horses raced through the city, seeking every hint of resistance everywhere they could find it and strike it down. Unprepared for this, and with many dead from the terrible wild magic that had torn its way through so much of the city, disorder had become the order of the day.
The vastly greater numbers of the Draconic Kingdom were now in play, and with no hero to lead them and no men fit to become heroes in their own right, the city of Yaksun began to fall in earnest. A quarter of the city, including every soldier who had stood on the wall, was dead or captured within two hours. Half the city had fallen within two hours of that, and the last little keep, held by only a few hundred men, was surrounded and its little low walls being scaled by ladders within an hour of that.
The Slane Theocracy's last remaining soldiers fought with an admirable kind of desperate courage. Each of them trying to fend off four or five, and failing one by one as the space of ground they controlled grew ever smaller.
The gate was opened and more poured in. At the head of them rode Queen Draudillon and the last Theocracy soldier fell with hate on his face and fear in his eyes. He tumbled forward to the ground, with the face of the Draconic Queen looking down at him. As she rode past his charge, her face was the last thing he saw before he was carried off to the afterlife.
The little offices of the administrative center were quickly raided and civilian leaders dragged out and put on their knees before her. She did not get down off her horse as she rode past them and looked down at them from the side.
"For years, generations, your country used mine as a shield to save yourselves. That has begun to end. When all is over and done, we will be one country, whether you like it or not. Your city is now my city, and I claim it in the name of revenge for my people, and in the name of the Sorcerer King. Have you anything to say?" She asked coldly.
They were silent, only glaring. "Good enough. Your lives, as well as the lives of your citizens, will all be spared, so too will be your property and liberty, business will go on as usual, but your merchants will be accepting both the coin of the Sorcerer King, and of the Draconic Kingdom in exchange for goods. Any complaints from your citizens may be brought to me, but any attempt at uprising or violence against our occupation will be ruthlessly and completely crushed." She said firmly.
"Am I understood?" She asked.
They glared.
"I asked a question." She said, "When the Queen asks, you answer." She took her sword and held it under the chin of one of the men on their knees.
"Yes…" He practically hissed out.
From behind, her soldiers glared at the man with a tangible killing intent.
"Yes, Your Majesty." He corrected himself.
"Good, appoint one of your numbers as a liaison between your government and my army, that is your first task, we will be settling in here for a while. Do not test my warning." She said in a calculating voice.
She looked back over at her soldiers, raised her sword, followed rapidly by General Musan and General Oma, and they split the sky with their victory cheers.
In their cheers, the three trapped on their knees felt that they were hearing the sound of the Slane Theocracy's death scream.
AN: Before you complain about chapter length...this is 20 pages on word. Sooo...hush. ;D Anyway, if you enjoy the chapter, reviews are welcome. Thank you to the beta team. :) Also, looks like the siege of Prart will get pushed back to Chapter 95, need to cover a few other things first because once the siege starts, it will span multiple chapters and most of the rest of the world theater will be of only minor significance.