Disclaimer, I own nothing, don't sue me.
Chapter 9: A grand gesture
"General, please give the order! I will take the dragon knights and destroy these rebels immediately, we can't keep sitting around doing nothing!" An officer slammed his hands onto the table, causing a pile of papers to collapse and drawing a small frown from the general in response.
"We can and we will. Five more ships are coming from the front to reinforce us, we won't move until they arrive or the peasants attack, whichever happens first." Major general Largo sighed and ran his fingers through his greying hair.
"BUT SIR! They continue to mock us with their defiance! We have to crush them, our fallen comrades deserve vengeance!"
"Sit down captain, my answer hasn't changed from the last three times you've asked me about it. I made the mistake of allowing that idiot noble to try and resolve the situation, his recklessness cost us the Belfast and any hope of settling things peacefully." Largo pulled out a file from one of the stacks and handed it to the junior officer.
"That's the report on the disastrous parley, take a good look at it Gingham. Bloody idiot attempted to assassinate the leader of the rebellion and got caught off guard when they saw it coming. Intelligence can't identify what those green orbs are but the destruction they caused speak for themselves, Belfast sunk with all hands. That is not something we can take lightly even with magic on our side."
"B-but this doesn't make sense! How can peasants have access to magic!?" Gingham flipped through the report before settling on the part where the report detailed the 'ambassadors' being shredded by gunfire.
"No… not magic… what kind of… what kind of weapons can do something like this… how did they get their hands on something like this!?"
"Ah so you noticed, there's hope for you yet captain. Our esteemed intelligence department still believes the fiasco to be the work of royalist mages seeded amongst the rebels." Snorting in contempt, Largo poured himself a cup of tea and sighed as the warm liquid burned on the way down.
"They are either wilfully blind or just idiots. These rebels aren't your average peasants with torches and pitchforks. They are a heavily armed faction hostile to us. I won't deny the possibility of royalists' agents working with them but these are not royalists."
"Sir?"
"These weapons… the royalists' forces holed up in Newcastle definitely do not have access to them otherwise Reconquista would have broken long ago. These rebels must be receiving support from an outside source… maybe Germanian mercenary groups or saboteurs from Romalia which raises the question of what else they have access to."
"Romalia? I understand those Germanian barbarians being willing to fight for whoever has coin but the holy see?"
"Pope Vittorio's official stance is that this is a matter for Albion to sort out on their own and Romalia will adopt a wait and see approach. But, there are more than a few who believe our revolution is heresy and would see us destroyed. I have heard tales of magical artefacts in the church's possession capable of feats similar to what the rebels have displayed."
Gingham swallowed nervously as the ramifications of having the church against them sunk in. If the pope decided that Reconquista needed to go and declared a crusade against them, they were doomed whatever Cromwell's assertion of divine protection. They didn't have the capabilities to fight a war against the unified forces of the rest of the world.
"So what do we do sir?"
"We wait and see. Collect whatever intel on the rebels we can get and wait for Cromwell's stealth destroyers to arrive. No need to rush off into battle captain, the storm will hit soon enough. The rebels will have to act or risk losing steam." The general paused in thought before scribbling a few lines on a piece of paper, handing it to Gingham.
"Take that to Major Giles, I want the guard rotations changed up. The rebel commander… whoever it is, will almost certainly attempt to break our walls to send a message and the attack will likely come at dawn or at meal times. I want the rotations moved forwards half a cycle."
"Sir? How do you figure that?"
"A guess based on his tactics at field of gold, he used an ambush to make up for a lack of numbers… I don't believe his manpower issue has changed so his main advantage will be these… unknown weapons. Dawn is the best time for an assault when the guards are sleepy. All he needs to do is focus on a single point and if he breaks through, Midgand's invincibility will vanish and he will gain all the support he needs."
"I understand, thank you for enlightening me sir!" Gingham saluted and left the office with orders in hand. The greying general sighed again and returned his attention to the paperwork piled in front of him. This tenuous peace wouldn't last much longer and he could feel it, he just prayed that Albion would remain intact once the storm passed.
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"I'm not quite sure how I feel about breaking a criminal out of prison." Wales commented while seated in the vertigo's co-pilot's seat. His hands fiddled with a sealed letter before returning it to his pocket.
"Look at it this way, you're already aiding a bunch of treasonous fools intent on tearing down the existing order, adding one more criminal to the mix won't change much." Saito replied while keeping an eye on the readings.
Night held full sway over the land as the stealth bomber cut through the air. No anti-air magic spells rushed to meet them and the radar indicated no interceptors closing in when they crossed into Tristainian airspace. So far so good, now they just needed to retrieve their VIP and deliver Wales's letter… preferably without starting an international incident.
Setting down the vertigo on the roof of one of the many castle towers, Saito handed Wales an anchor spike and climbing rope as they exited. Ensuring no one was looking, both planted the anchors in the ground and tossed the rope over the edge.
The cool night air was refreshing as they rappelled down, exchanging a nod midway to the ground, Wales snuck in through an open window while Saito continued downwards. The inquisitor stuck to the shadows as he progressed through the castle grounds.
He had to suppress a snort at how laughably easy it was to sneak past the guards, half of them were asleep on their feet and the other half weren't far off from joining them. This place was just too peaceful… or was it overconfidence?
Upon seeing the warden asleep at his station, Saito shook his head in exasperation and relieved the man of his keys and entered the dungeon. 'They're seriously lucky I'm not their enemy.'
Making his way past the sleeping inmates, he crossed them off one at a time in search of his target. He found her at the end of the hall, a green haired noble with dishevelled robes. "Hello there."
Fouquet snapped awake at the sound of that hated voice. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she stared disbelievingly at the door to her cell as the thrice damned gandalfr stood on the other side. "You!"
"Me?" Saito blinked in surprise at the unexpected vitriol in her tone. He was used to his enemies cursing his very existence at every opportunity but by someone he was here to rescue? That was new, and pretty jarring considering all the things he'd heard from Tiffa.
"Why are you here!? Come to gloat, have you? Isn't it enough that you've destroyed everything!?" The bitterness in her voice was tangible and the hate in her eyes a blazing inferno.
"I… have no idea what you're talking about. Matilda of Saxe-Gotha, right?"
"Wha!? H-how do you know that? I never told anyone about that name."
"Tiffa told me."
"Damn you. Kill me if you must, leave her alone!"
"That's… not really an option. I'm not sure what your problem with me is, seeing as today is the first time we've met. But whoever it is you're confusing me for, I assure you I am not them. I'm here to help." Saito unlocked the door and pushed it open, gesturing for her to leave.
"Please, after you."
"You put me in jail and now you break me out? What are you playing at." Matilda asked dubiously, not quite sure whether to follow the apparently amnesiac gandalfr. A small part of her wondered if her adopted sister had decided to mindwipe the familiar and send him to break her out before dismissing it. Tiffania was too innocent to ever consider doing something like that.
"Again, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know who arrested you or why you keep thinking I'm him and I don't really care. My mission is to retrieve you and bring you back to Westwood village. Whatever problem you have with me can be worked out later, right now we're on a tight schedule."
"How can I trust you?"
"Well… you can't. Look at it this way, you have no wand and no magic, you can either come with me and return to Westwood or, stay in this cell and rot. Best make up your mind soon, we don't have a lot of time."
"…Alright, I'll come with you. But this better not be a trap. And if you do anything to hurt Tiffa I'll kill you myself."
"Noted."
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Sleep deserted Henrietta this night, her mind weighed down by matters of state and the heart. Reconquista's corruption ran deep and she was powerless to do much about except wait for Agnes and Saito to bring back news.
Then there was her impending marriage to the Germanian king.
Her heart was torn between her feelings and her duty. Tristain was too small, too weak to stand on their own forever, they needed the alliance with their more powerful neighbour to survive… at least that was what her advisors constantly nagged her about.
Without Germania, Reconquista would definitely invade or the treasonous nobles within Tristain itself would hand the entire nation over on a silver plate. But even if she did marry for the alliance, there was no guarantee Tristain would remain a sovereign nation for very long.
Reports of how Albrecht III ascended to the Germanian throne by beating out thirty-nine other imperial princes were sketchy at best but the various rumours and corroborating evidence painted an ugly picture. Some said he invited the other princes to a banquet announcing his retirement from the race. Others said that he had an independent arbiter call a meeting of the candidates to settle the succession dispute in a civilised manner without the need for a civil war.
They all ended the same way, thirty-nine princes and their entourages locked inside a palace while it burnt to ash. An accident? Attempted treachery on the part of one of them that tragically spiralled out of control? Cold blooded assassination by Albrecht? Nobody knew for sure, what was certain was that he was never there and the crown defaulted to the one prince still standing.
Her lips curled in disgust as she tried to imagine herself actually wedded to Albrecht III. If she actually went through with it, unfortunate accidents might befall her and any other successor to the crown she nominated, putting Tristain under a foreigners control.
"You know, you look nicer with a smile on your face." The familiar voice drew her from her thoughts and she spun around to face the intruder standing at the door.
"Wales?"
"But of course. It's been awhile my dear, I missed you." The crown prince of Albion executed a bow before nearly being bowled over by Henrietta rushing in for a hug. Patting the sobbing princess on the back, they stood like that for a long while as time remained frozen for the both of them.
Regaining control of her emotions, Henrietta felt lighter now and pulled away with a light flush on her cheeks. "W-what are you doing here? I thought you were in Albion fighting Reconquista."
Wales pulled out the letter Henrietta had given to him so long ago and handed it over. "I march to war at dawn, I came here to return this to you."
Hugging the letter close, she stared up at Wales while doing her best not to let the tears start falling again. "Must you? Stay here, Tristain can provide a safe place to hide. You don't have to fight anymore."
"I can't do that. Albion is my home and I cannot leave things as they are. My duty as crown prince… no, it's more than that, I wish to build a better world for the people. Whether it is Cromwell or my father, both of them aren't what's best for Albion."
"What are you saying?"
Wales smiled sadly and shook his head. "Cromwell is a despot hiding behind the robes of a priest, and my father… my father has lost sight of what it means to be king. Others have taken up arms to forge a new nation, one where oppression will no longer exist, I have chosen to stand with them. I can't walk away from this anymore than you can walk away from your role as princess."
"Can you… can you win?"
"Yes. We will. We must. In the morning, we strike the first true blow against Reconquista, a grand gesture heralding the birth of a new Albion." Wales proudly declared, his eyes already set on the future he would craft with his own two hands. Caledfwylch hung at his waist, thrumming with power and reinforcing his resolve.
"How can you be so strong? Aren't you afraid?" Henrietta wondered aloud drawing a small chuckle from Wales.
"To say that I'm not afraid at all would be a lie, I'm not strong at all. I rely on the people around me as they do on me. Alone we are weak, together we are strong. I'm… sorry I can't be here for you right now, but put your faith in those you trust, they will carry you where I cannot."
Henrietta was about to deny those words, that there couldn't possibly be anyone who could help her out in this time except him. The denial died in her throat when images of her loyal musketeers and her childhood friend plus eccentric familiar flashed across her mind.
A small beep came from a communicator in Wales robes signalling that Saito had already retrieved their target and was on the way back to the vertigo. "I need to go. Stay safe my love."
The two embraced and shared a kiss before Wales reluctantly parted and made for the door but not before giving Henrietta a few parting words. "Stay strong Henrietta, you're better than you think you are."
Turning away he sprinted off into the silent corridor, adamant about not showing her his own crying visage.
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"Why is it so crammed in here?" Matilda grumbled as she was squeezed in a very awkward position between the co-pilot seat and the cockpit's canopy.
"Well the plan was to stuff you in the empty bomb bay but since you insisted on sitting up front, deal with it." Saito answered while flying the stealth craft back to base.
"I'm keeping an eye on you… and you didn't say anything about working with the crown prince of Albion!"
"Hey! I'm sitting right here, there's no need to shout into my ear."
"Must have slipped my mind. I understand you mixing me up with someone else but what is your problem with Wales? We will be working together for the foreseeable future so I'd appreciate if you speak your piece now or this uncomfortable ride will be the least of our problems."
"He's the crown prince! His father was responsible for the deaths of both of Tiffa's parents and the destruction of my entire family! I'm grateful for you breaking me out but you cannot expect me to work with him!" Matilda cursed again and glared at the prince who was now rubbing his ears in pain.
"And what do you expect me to do about that? I was a kid at the time! What? You want me to attack him with my wooden sword? Or maybe you want me to stop his assassins with my non-existent magic? I didn't even know about the death of my uncle until months after the fact."
"So I'm just supposed to ignore all the abuses your family and the nobility continue to perpetuate to this day? You see injustice and you just look the other way! Oh, it's just nobles disciplining some upstart peasant. Oh, I'm sure he had a good reason to execute an entire family. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine… easy to blind yourself to the truth isn't it?"
"Grrr… and just what the hell do you think I'm trying to do? I've sided with a peasant uprising aiming to destroy both Reconquista and the royalists to create a world where none of that can happen again. I'm fighting because I wish to have a hand in bringing about that ideal and because it is my responsibility to right the wrongs perpetuated by my family… and just so you recall, Tiffania is my cousin, that makes her royalty as well. So do watch what dirt you sling about criminal, whatever the crimes of my family, my hands are clean, yours though…"
"Why you-"
"Enough! Both of you! We have enough enemies already, no need to turn on one another. I understand that both of you care for Tiffa in your own way, one an adopted sister, another a cousin, so please. If only for her sake, try to be civil."
Silence ruled the cockpit as each retreated into their own thoughts. Matilda was the first to break it. "Alright, I'll put aside my vendetta for… for Tiffa. Truce?"
"Truce."
Matilda nodded and a small locket in her pocket, a gift from the half-elf she'd kept with her for years, a good luck charm of sorts. "Why did you rescue me anyway? What exactly do you want me for?"
"At dawn the rebellion will march on Midgand fortress and take it or die trying. Of course, a direct assault is suicide, the walls are too thick and reinforced with magic, we won't break them in time to avoid being shredded by the counter attack. We have a plan but it necessitates the involvement of a powerful earth mage, something we're in short supply of. Then, Tiffa recommended you."
"So you broke me out of jail figuring I'd prefer death by suicide mission instead death by executioner's axe. Wonderful." Matilda deadpanned as she tried to figure out if they were seriously planning to assault one of the most fortified locations in the world in little less than six hours from present time.
It was Wales who answered instead of Saito. "First off, it's not a suicide mission, the plan has a decent chance of working and Midgand isn't as invincible as it appears to be. Secondly, you won't be fighting, we just need you to create several tunnels and ensure they don't bury us alive."
"And you want me to finish those tunnels before the attack I presume."
Wales shrugged and answered honestly. "Yeah, it's rushed to be sure but we don't have a lot of choice in the matter. Ideally, we would have readied the tunnels days in advance but locating you was a problem. It was luck that we found you at the last minute but the attack would have gone ahead with or without you, with you though we're hoping to keep casualties to a minimum.
"Look on the bright side, history is about to be made and you'll be right in the middle of it." Saito pipped up while checking a notification from his base that indicated his forces were ready to be deployed.
"Destiny calls, let's not keep it waiting. The eyes of the world are upon us."
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Dawn was less than an hour away and the sky was beginning to lighten. Final preparations for the attack were underway. Militiamen kept a tight grip on their weapons and engaged in nervous conversation with one another while the armoured vehicles provided by Saito rumbled into position.
The army wasn't exceptionally large by anyone's standards, barely the size of some of the larger mercenary companies. Even with Saito's cyborgs their numbers barely edged over a thousand but what they lacked in numbers they made up for with spirit.
Wales stood on a platform overlooking the amassed might of the rebellion, Saito and Charles were stationed several paces behind him. Closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath, he let himself be fully immersed in the moment. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut but the sense of impending doom was missing.
The militiamen had been put through their paces by Charles and the equipment issued by Saito was unmatched by anything Reconquista could field. The men weren't daunted by the odds, their faith in their commanders was unshaken despite the fact that more than a few of them would not be returning come nightfall.
Perhaps it was the fact that they were fighting for their freedom, for a better future for their families. Perhaps it was because they'd already bloodied their oppressors once and Reconquista no longer had that sense of invincibility. It was probably a mixture of both Wales mused to himself as he felt the butterflies in his stomach settle down after witnessing the militia's conviction.
"Gentlemen of the revolution." He began to speak and the masses quieted down to hear his words.
"You are about to embark upon the great crusade, towards which you have striven with all your heart. You do not stand alone, with you marches the hopes and prayers of all who desire the return of liberty to Albion.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms the Marked, you will bring about the destruction of the Reconquista war machine, the elimination of tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Albion and security for us all in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. They will fight savagely to retain their grip on our great nation.
But! Today, is a new day! Much has happened since Reconquista's triumphs of the past. We have inflicted on them a great defeat at the field of gold. We have the overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war now.
The tide is in our favour! Even now they hide behind their walls, too afraid to face us in the open. Look around you, look upon the faces of those who march with you. Yesterday they were strangers, today they are your brothers. We are all free men and we march together towards victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and your skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than total victory, we will not stop until all of our chains have been broken. No more will our fellow men be oppressed by anyone.
I stand before you not as the crown prince of Albion but as just another man, unable and unwilling to stand by and watch as injustice reigns supreme.
The price of freedom is steep, always has been. Some of us might not return at the end of today. If anyone wishes to go back to their families and live to see another day nobody will fault you. Please step forth and go with our blessing."
Wales waited as silence gripped his audience.
Not a man stepped forth except one in the front row. "Sod off! You want us to run away and live under some despot? The hell with that. I don't know about everyone else here but I am willing to fight. I ain't letting some snot nosed prince march off into battle while I hide under my bed! I don't know bout the rest of them nobles your princeliness but I'll march under you."
Baring his teeth in a feral grin and saluting, a great cheer went up from the rest of the army as they shouted their own intent to fight.
"Very well. Today marks the beginning of a new age! Today, we take the first step on the road to a new world. Today! We! Make! Destiny!"
The resultant cheering was deafening.
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"What the hell is this? Hey sarge! Come take a look at this!" A Reconquista private picked up a strange glowing object and held it out for the rest of the squad to view.
"I found it just lying on the ramparts. What do you think it is?"
"Eh? Probably something one of those fancy nobles dropped. Forget it, we have better things to-" Whatever the patrol sergeant was about to say would forever remain a mystery as six high impact shells landed on their position and the area vanished in a blast of white.
As the first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon, the sleeping inhabitants of Midgand awoke to a cacophony of screaming and explosions.
Dragon riders and moored ships scrambled to take off before the artillery rain destroyed their air power. Soldiers rushed to their positions and tried to take shelter wherever they could find them. On the walls, mortar teams hurried to ready their own guns for the return salvo.
Inside an underground bunker that served as the fortress command centre, General Largo puffed on a pipe as the chaos outside drew his attention. "So it's begun."
Sending a pulse of magic into the war table, the surface of the black stone shimmered and a bird's eye view of Midgand and the surrounding area popped up. Several gasps came from the younger officers and nobles in attendance who had never seen the Muninn system active before.
Largo ignored them and watched keenly as the rebel's strange war machines swarmed out of the woods and raced for the breach in the fortress' walls. The smaller vehicles peppered the battlements with either bullets or slower projectiles that exploded on contact like a bomb. The larger ones appeared to be armed with their own cannons and were mainly focused on increasing the size of the breach by firing on the weakened sections.
He frowned at the rate of fire the enemy was putting out, aside from the initial bombardment, their weapons weren't strong enough to break the magically reinforced walls but they were slowly chipping away at it. "Modified variants of existing weaponry with improved speed, power and accuracy eh? Just as I expected."
Sending a second pulse of magic into the table, Largo fired up the second enchantment, Huginn, and a hologram of one of his battleship captains appeared. "Captain, take the Birmingham and destroy those rebel weapons before they damage the wall any further. Frigates Victory and Thunderbolt will support you. Be ready for any 'surprises' the rebels might have."
"Yes Sir."
The hologram cut off and Largo returned his attention to the live feed, trying to pinpoint the source of the continuing artillery barrage. Wincing as he witnessed several artillery rounds land atop a munitions stockpile and bring forth a vision of hell, he traced the path with his finger and staggered slightly when the shockwave hit. Looking up again, he noticed his finger had landed on a small patch of forest that was discoloured.
On closer inspection, he noted that it was a strange scorpion-like thing, six small legs anchored it into the ground and a 'tail' was pointed into the sky, every few seconds the tail would launch a deadly shell towards Midgand.
"Clever bastards, hiding in the woods eh." Snapping his fingers, the artillery piece was outlined in red and several more highlights appeared scattered across the map, indicating the location of every one of the spectres.
There were ten in total, eight were within range of his guns while the last two lay just beyond it. Using Huginn to relay targeting coordinates to the gunners, he then issued the order for Gingham and his dragon knights to sortie and finish off the remaining two.
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Feeling the wind whipping against his face, Gingham squinted and tried to spot his target in the distance. His orders were clear, the peasant's artillery platform was to be destroyed at all cost but finding it was an issue.
"Captain, I don't see anything. Are we headed in the right dire-WHOA!" The dragon knight who spoke pulled hard on the reins as a glowing projectile shot out from the trees and passed right through the centre of their formation.
Gingham watched with wide eyes as the shell landed directly on top of a gun emplacement and reduced it to twisted scrap. "What absurd accuracy… we need to kill that thing now!"
The Reconquista dragon knights sped off in the direction the shot came from and kept their eyes peeled for their target. Gingham's vice-captain was the first to spot the spectre camouflaged among the foliage.
The knight raised his wand and launched a fireball towards the offending machine, engulfing it in an inferno and dealing some damage. Strange plant like stalks erupted out of the ground and opened up into a something resembling some kind of exotic plant.
"What the?" The vice-captain was caught off guard when the turrets tracked and fired on him, spitting out a full salvo of green missiles. Vanishing in an explosion, the turrets didn't let up and immediately began tracking the other knights and firing on them.
Gingham swore as he forced his mount into a steep dive to avoid sharing his subordinate's fate. Coming out of the dive in an attack run, he fired wind spell after wind spell at the turrets. The other surviving dragon knights followed their captain upon seeing that the turrets either couldn't or wouldn't fire upon him when he was close to the ground.
Satisfaction replaced fear when the first of the turrets broke under the combined assault of the knights and crumpled in on itself, the two remaining weren't in very good shape either. Trusting in his comrades' ability, he focused on the artillery piece again.
Swearing when the spectre launched another shell towards Midgand with a deafening boom, Gingham fired a ball of swirling wind towards it. Detonating upon contact, the winds mixed with the remaining flames from the earlier spell and created a localised fire tornado with the spectre right in the centre of it.
Metal casing cracked in places, belching thick black smoke and half its cannon missing, the spectre wasn't quite dead yet. Retracting the six claws anchoring it into the ground and returning to its caterpillar tracks, the spectre tried to retreat and reengage the stealth generator.
Noticing his quarry was trying to escape and beginning to fade into invisibility, Gingham narrowed his eyes and took aim at one of the rents in the armour. Firing a wind spear into it, he was rewarded with the spectre shuddering to a halt and blowing up into a million tiny pieces.
"Target destroyed. No new orders from the general… alright, we'll help drive off the peasants still trying to break the wall if the guns haven't already destroyed them." Gingham ordered and his heart sunk when only four voices answered him, his original squad of ten had been cut in half and the day was still far from won.
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The inquisitor frowned as the signals from his spectres cut off one by one, only three were left and their status indicated that they were under heavy enemy fire.
"Something wrong?" Wales asked when he noticed Saito had stopped in his tracks. They were deep underground inside one of Fouquet's tunnels with quite a bit of distance to their target.
"Reconquista found my spectres, they're being destroyed one at a time." Saito answered and keyed in a few commands, ordering the surviving spectres to retreat if possible.
"Will that be a problem?"
"No. It would have been nice if they could continue their shelling for a bit more but it's fine as it is, their main purpose has already been fulfilled and they'll have to stop the bombardment soon anyway." Saito shrugged and resumed walking, the spectres being found and destroyed was annoying but ultimately inconsequential, the vertigos were already committed and the militia almost in place. All that was left was to do his part.
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High above the clouds, a flight of four vertigos cut through the air, carrying their deadly payload towards its final destination.
Midgand's walls were battered and barely standing, great chunks of it were missing in places where concentrated fire had overwhelmed the defences. The damage was the worst at the northernmost point where the initial bombardment had focused on.
Scorpion tanks, raider buggies and attack bikes milled around like tiny insects trying to avoid being shot to pieces by the three airships raining bombs on top of them while firing on the walls. Their high mobility made is hard for Reconquista to land killing blows on them and the vertigo pilots could see several more air ships moving to reinforce their brethren along with several flights of dragon knights.
Sinking the ships would have been so easy but the vertigos lacked enough bombs to do that and still succeed in their mission. Ignoring them for the time being, the vertigos homed in on the damaged section of the wall.
"Target verified, bombing run initiated."
The bombers uncloaked for a split second right over the heads of the startled defenders and jettisoned their deadly package.
The bombs exploded on contact with the wall in a massive blast that shook the wall to its very foundations. Already weakened from the earlier artillery strikes, the wall couldn't take the punishment any longer and shook under the stress, great cracks spreading across its surface.
Like a magnificent train wreck, it was painful to watch yet impossible to look away from. Its structural integrity fatally compromised, large chunks of masonry fell of during the shaking before the wall collapsed in on itself.
Beginning slowly at first, as though it itself was unable to believe it was collapsing, it was a slow majestic fall inwards before speeding up and taking the rest of the section down with it in a rush to the ground.
As the vertigos banked hard and flew off in the direction of the air tower, they strafed the airships with their own machine guns, blasting holes in the wood and shredding any crewmen unfortunate enough to be caught in the way.
Stealth generators kicking in again, the vertigos flared momentarily before returning to invisibility, leaving only the devastation they wrought in their wake.
As the dust from the collapse settled, the defenders' hearts sank even further. The damage was clear as day, a massive breach wide enough to fit two mammoth tanks abreast had been punched into their invincible wall.
And the vehicles milling about earlier were now making a break for it. There weren't many of them left but if they made it inside, destroying them would be a lot harder since their guns couldn't fire into the fort and the air ships would have to cease fire or level the fort along with the rebels.
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The fort commander was paying full attention to the table before him. He didn't know what manner of flying monster the rebels had fielded against him or how they were capable of hiding from the Muninn but he didn't have the time to deal with it right now.
His response to the breach was swift and resolute, all available earth mages in the area were to reinforce the breach at once and do everything they could to stall the enemy advance. Dragon knights would assist however they could and they were to last until the rest of the fleet managed to get airborne. There would be no retreat.
Just thinking of the grounded airships gave him a headache. He'd initially thought it was good fortune that the ships had survived the artillery strike. That changed when they refused to take off.
He had the reason for that on closer inspection of the fort, the officer barracks had been hit during the initial strike. Given that only craters marked where the buildings once stood, he doubted that any of the residents had survived.
Only the foresight to insist that at least half the ships ready for launch at any time prevented the situation from being completely unsalvageable. Never had he been gladder about overruling the uppity nobles by pulling rank.
"Unnecessary they said, uncomfortable they said. Well, I just saved their founder damned lives." Largo grumbled and continued searching the table.
The battle outside the fort was being handled and he could do nothing more except wait and see if he played his cards right. His more pressing concern was the assassins running about assassinating his troops and planting bombs.
"Come out you damned rats…"
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As the last member of a Reconquista infantry squad fell to the ground dead from a head shot, shadow team alpha retreated into the shadows to hide. Their charges were set and ready to detonate as soon as they were clear.
When the armoury went up in a ball of flames, more Reconquista reinforcements came running like moths drawn to a flame. They went down in a hail of gunfire once they entered specially prepared kill zones. Shadows bravo and Charlie pulled back from their positions and moved to set up new ambush points.
The stealth cyborgs had been wreaking havoc behind enemy lines once they were done setting up artillery beacons. Their mission was technically complete after the initial set up and they were now picking off targets of opportunity. The more they killed, the easier it would be for the militia to do their part later.
Bravo sequestered themselves inside an empty building and began setting charges when several dragon knights dropped out of the sky and landed next to it. Drawing their automatic pistols to gun down the hostiles, they were too slow and the dragons exhaled a torrent of white-hot fire into the windows, incinerating the cyborgs instantly.
Team Charlie met a similar fate when several mages used earth magic to collapse the building they were in on top of them and then flooded the rubble to drown them.
Alpha split up into individuals once they saw their comrades' vitals flatline. Scattering across the base, they ditched strategy in favour of gunning down everyone in their path. One met his end impaling himself on a rock spike that erupted from the floor, one ceased to be when a dragon knight did a strafing run and burned the entire alley and one found his destiny inside the jaws of a dragon.
The last shadow was eventually hounded down by the knights and made a last stand when there was nowhere left to run. Missing an arm from where it had been hacked off with a sword, the shadow unloaded the last of his ammunition, bringing down a dragon before the others lined up to blast him.
Before his death, he managed to piece together that it was the dragons who had managed to root out their positions. Wherever they went the dragons followed even when other Reconquista forces lost them. Transmitting his findings, the shadow stood in place as a wind spear pierced his heart and ended him.
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Saito fingered his communicator and debated if he should wait any longer. His shadows had been eliminated and the armour divisions still hadn't made it behind the walls. The concentrated fire from the air ships and the mages attempts to barricade the breach was proving more problematic than initially expected.
Much of his cyborg army had been wiped out at this point and he only had a few cards left to play. With his assets inside the fortress eliminated, the flow of information had effectively ground to a halt. The communicator was good at what it did but unfortunately, it was never designed with the intention of coordinating a full-scale battle alone. The degree of battle control it afforded just couldn't compare to a proper command centre.
At far as he could tell, roughly half the fleet stationed at Midgand was now airborne and harassing his armour units. His attempt to ground the fleet by wiping out the commanders had only succeeded partially much to his frustration.
The plan was to capture and use the ships once Reconquista had been beaten. With half the fleet airborne, capturing those would be impossible now. He sighed and recalled an old adage, no battleplan survives contact with the enemy. Time for plan B.
"Fuck it, half a fleet is better than no fleet. I'm sending in the stealth tanks."
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Gingham circled overhead staying just ahead of the raider buggy trying to track him with its guns while raining wind spears down on it. Sweat matted his brow as he felt himself starting to run low on willpower.
The battle below was almost won, enemy ground forces were no match for the combined firepower of so many heavy guns. The victory if you could call it that left a sour taste in his mouth, the battleships Scarlet Tide and Strife had been sunk and most of the others bore damage of some degree.
Considering their opponent should have been nothing more than a bunch of rebellious peasants, such a loss was unacceptable… and that wasn't even counting all the damage Midgand had sustained.
"What's wrong with you? There's nothing there!" Gingham's mount started acting up the instant he destroyed the raider buggy, snarling at empty air as though there was an enemy present. Pulling on the reins to regain control, his eyes widened in shock when more rebel vehicles disengaged their stealth generators.
The strange lobster shaped vehicle pointed their turrets towards the fleet and opened fire, sending streaks of green into the sky. Multiple explosions blossomed across the fleet as the rockets found their mark. The Birmingham was the first to fall, the crew unable to do anything as their vessel was effectively sheared in half.
"They're going to sink the fleet..." Gingham whispered, unable to believe his own words or what he was witnessing. Regaining his senses, he did his best to rally the other knights and mount a counter offensive.
"STOP THEM! DESTROY THEM BEFORE THEY DESTROY THE FLEET!" Roaring at the top of his lungs, he made a dive for the newcomers, several knights followed his lead.
Firing his wind spells on the tanks, panic mounted when he was barely able to breach their armour, his willpower was being depleted fast and his focus had been thrown off. "No no no no NO! I won't let it end like this!"
Reaching deep into himself, he drew upon reserves he didn't even know he had and cast an earth spell he'd only ever seen used once. A wide area devastation attack favoured by his mentor, one of Albion's strongest strategic mages on par with Tristain's heavy wind. "QUAKE!"
A spell designed to agitate the earth itself and unleash a massive earthquake that could shake apart entire fortresses or open up massive fissures in the earth to swallow armies whole. While lacking the power of his teacher and the experience in using the spell, his desperate overloading of willpower made up for it.
While nowhere close to the level of damage the original could do, it still succeeded. Partially. Stealth tanks in the vicinity of the spell ceased fire when the rumbling threw off their aim. Additionally, three of them fell into crevasses that opened up beneath them before being crushed.
Gingham felt his body sag as the spell took everything he had left. His willpower was completely drained at this point and he had nothing left to throw against the rebels. Sensing its masters duress, the dragon turned and made for the fortress.
The captain stared at the raging battle he was leaving behind and grit his teeth in frustration. Despite their best efforts, the fleet was still taking heavy fire and at the rate the stealth tanks were firing, most if not all of the ships would be sunk before the enemy could be wiped out.
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Saito sat patiently as the reports continued flowing in. None of the armour units had managed to breach the walls in the end and he was looking at total annihilation of all cyborg units. The enemy dragon knights were proving to be more of a nuisance then he ever thought possible.
"Magic. I hate magic." He cursed and buried his face in his hands. Retraining all those troops would be a massive pain in the ass, assuming he survived the day that was.
"Things not going so well aboveground?" Wales queried.
"Dragon knights are annoying. Reconquista is good at blowing stuff up. What else is new?"
"Ahahaha… well Albion's dragon knights were always one of our strong points."
"Sucks to be on the receiving end."
"How bad is it?"
"I was expecting the diversionary unit to sustain great losses, 100% fatalities was out of my projections… well it's fine I guess, acceptable losses and all that. We just have to avoid any large-scale battle in the near future until I can build a new army." Saito shrugged and stood up stretching as he did so to work out the kinks.
"It's time, the militia are in position and most of Reconquista have been drawn to the walls. The vertigos are a few minutes out, once they arrive, we strike." Wales nodded and rose as well, Caledfwylch already drawn and ready for battle. A chorus of clicking sounded off as almost a hundred awakened turned their safeties off and stood in file behind the prince.
The rest of the militia were standing by in tunnels similar to the one they were in. Each group were gathered beneath a key point of Midgand and as soon as Saito gave the word, they would burst out of the ground and storm the fortress itself.
After a concerted assault from both the ground and air had been repelled, Reconquista would never expect an assault to come from beneath their feet. The sacrifice of his armour divisions would not be in vain.
It was a stroke of luck on their part, most people were unaware that Midgand had actually been built on top of a large network of tunnels that spanned miles in every direction.
Normally that would have raised serious questions about the structural integrity of the fortress sitting atop all that empty air but unlike the surface, the underground was saturated with magical energy resulting in the rock being incredibly tough. In fact, Midgand's walls were built to replicate that effect.
Originally conceptualised as a second layer of the fortress, additional barracks and storage areas were to be built there where they'd be protected from all possible forms of attack. That fell through when engineers found it impossible to seal off all unnecessary tunnels and while resistant to conventional assault, any square class earth mage would be able to bend the rock to their will albeit with some difficulty. All this made defending the place a logistical nightmare and the project was scrapped.
Attempts to map out the tunnels and caverns were halted and the royals of the time decided that the complexity of the tunnels would be the greatest defence. If nobody had a map of the place, nobody would be able to make it to the fortress' soft underbelly before being detected.
Only the royal family kept the most complete map and the tunnels were repurposed into emergency passageways during a civil war of the past. As the years passed, memory of the passages faded away and when the royals moved to Londinium even the map disappeared.
It wasn't until the late archduke of Albion stopped by Midgand for an inspection was the map found again. He kept it until his assassination where it was then used by a young Matilda to spirit Tiffa away from the fortress they had sought refuge in.
Tiffa had kept that map as one of the few mementos she had left of her father and eventually Saito had gotten his hands on it. With it they had identified key infiltration points and Matilda had delivered spectacularly on her part.
Multiple additional tunnels connected all the points allowing for easy and speedy access without any chance of getting lost. The inquisitor wondered if poetic justice really did exist, years ago the mage had escaped the fort with nothing but the clothes on her back while carrying an innocent child with a bounty on her head. Now she was helping a group of rebels intent on tearing down the ones responsible break into the fort through the same way she left.
The notification he'd been waiting for came through at last. The vertigos had arrived and struck at the largest clustering of enemy infantry, the small shudder that ran through the ground from their bombs heralded the rebellion's ascension.
"Gentlemen. It's go time. Midgand must be taken no matter the cost. I'll see you all on the other side, god speed." Giving the signal, Saito triggered the explosives set beneath the exits, blowing the floor up and outwards. Rushing at the wall, he scaled it in record time with the awakened following close behind him. Wales used magic to fly his way to the top instead.
As soon as he emerged, he came across several Reconquista nobles disoriented from the sudden blast, he put a bullet in each one of them without hesitation. Once the strike force was above ground, Saito split off from the prince and took half the awakened with him.
His objective was to find the commander and either kill or capture him while the Wales would secure the remaining ships and prevent them from being used in some kind of suicide move.
Saito sucked in a breath as he charged down the streets, army in tow. The sound of gunfire and explosions came from all over the place as the rest of the militia made their presence known. Chaos reigned supreme as the defenders were completely unprepared for an enemy assault from inside the fortress itself.
Forming a greatshield with Aegis, he held it out to block incoming fireballs from enemy mages as the awakened cut them down with ruthless efficiency.
When enemy spearmen tried rushing him head on, he never faltered nor backed down, only increasing the speed of his charge. Their spears met his shield and broke, leaving the shocked spearmen to be bulldozed and either shot to pieces by the awakened or trampled underfoot.
As they made their bloody way through the fort, squads of awakened broke off to support other struggling militia squads. They were replaced by several squads of tiberium troopers that had surfaced with the militia.
Their grey coloured powered armour and red faceplates burned gold in the light of the flames they unleashed on their unfortunate victims. Saito watched with grim satisfaction as the hard work he put into retrofitting these cyborgs with flame weaponry paid off.
Unlike liquid tiberium, the tiberium based fuel being used had no environment destroying side effects but retained the same effectiveness. Garrisoned infantry were incinerated by the dozens as the mages within had no defence against the flames.
Using the shield as an umbrella to keep the blood and gore of a downed dragon from touching him, Saito planted an explosive charge on the door of the building his shadows had identified as the enemy HQ.
As soon as he blew the door of their hinges, he was met with a volley of spells from the mages within and awakened dropped like flies. Blocking the spells aimed for him with Aegis, he had the awakened pull back before lobbing several hallucinogenic grenades into the defenders' midst.
Once the mages started firing on their own, the inquisitor had the awakened march in to finish them off in close quarters using their mechanical limbs. The risk of destroying valuable documents that could be captured was too high to justify using guns or flamethrowers.
Clearing the compound floor by floor using the same procedure, Saito eventually found himself standing outside the general's office. Readying a breaching charge, he halted when a voice came from within. "Come in, the door's unlocked."
Keeping Aegis at the ready, he directed one of the cyborgs to open the door just in case it was some kind of a trap. As it was, he needn't have bothered, no offensive spell rushed out to meet him, no gunfire attempted to perforate him, no sudden explosion or spikes or anything.
Behind the door was just a simple office with one additional door at the back. An oaken desk was situated prominently in the centre and an aging general sat behind it.
"Come in. Would you care for some tea?"
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Wales stabbed a Reconquista soldier through the sternum and ripped his sword free before decapitating another on the back swing. Wiping a bead of sweat away, the prince allowed his escorts to sweep past him to overrun the enemy positions.
The battle was a mess but the tide was in the rebellion's favour. The docks were almost completely under rebel control now except for the pockets of resistance holed up inside the ships themselves, those would take more time to clear out.
He couldn't tell what was happening at the walls but the scattered conversations he picked up from militiamen he passed by indicated that things were going well there as well. The dragon knights that had been so integral to blunting the Marked's offensive were already drained from fighting the cyborgs and made for easy pickings for the militia's machines guns and rockets. Upon checking in with the cyborgs in his company, Reconquista had already begun retreating through the breach in the wall.
Victory was almost theirs, now they just had to mop up the few pockets of resistance left inside the fortress and secure General Largo. Despite that, the impending victory tasted of ashes and Wales had to resist retching.
Soaked in the blood of his countrymen while hundreds more died all around him both peasant militia and Reconquista agents. Their broken corpses lay where they fell as others fought standing over them. Madness had claimed the combatants, had claimed him, now that he had a reprieve from the fighting all that just hit him in the face.
Wondering what sort of peace could be built on top of so many corpses, Wales spat to clear the taste from his mouth and shook his head vigorously to rid himself of such thoughts. Raising Caledfwylch, he stared into the blade's mirror like sheen and pressed his forehead into the metal.
The feeling of the cool enchanted steel against his flesh calmed him down and granted him focus again. Whatever his doubts he'd already committed to the war effort. It was the only way, both Reconquista and his father's own tyranny had to end one way or another.
Grabbing one of the cyborgs, he ordered it to assemble a small squad to follow him. His job was done here and he would rendezvous with Saito, preferably before he found and executed the general. In the time he'd known Saito, Wales had realised he was many things, a good commander, a brilliant fighter, a loyal if eccentric familiar… but merciful wasn't one of them.
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General Largo sat in his chair and offered a cup of tea to the enemy commander who had blitzed his way through Midgand. He had made his way here from the underground bunker as soon as the peasant militia erupted from underground and started shooting his dragon knights in the back while securing the fortress.
Staying down there no longer served any purpose. Muninn and Huginn were effective magical systems but their usefulness was limited to directing the battle from a centralised location. It had no ability to pull out a miracle to turn the tides at the last moment.
Reconquista had been out manoeuvred and paid the price for it. He didn't have any troops left to stem the rebel advance into the fortress after committing his forces to the walls to hold of the enemy armour.
Reconquista had lost.
He had lost.
All there was left to do was discuss surrender terms.
He didn't know who the man before him was other than intelligence had identified him as the spokesperson for the uprising. In all honesty he would have preferred negotiating with the prince since at least he could count on the prince being willing to talk.
Considering the last time Reconquista had attempted to parley, he considered it a good sign that he hadn't already been shot.
"Tea? You must be joking, why would I drink anything you've poisoned." Saito kept his pistol levelled at the general's head while looking around the place warily.
Largo sighed and withdrew the cup, taking a sip from it himself. "Suit yourself, this is fine stuff you know. Imported straight from Gallia, most people go their whole lives without being able to enjoy a cup."
"More unnecessary decadence at the expense of the people. People like you make me sick."
"If that is how you wish to see me I can't stop you. I'd say that I bought this with the fruits of my own labour but you won't believe me anyway."
"…Pretty much. Die." Saito pulled the trigger when a wind barrier sprung up around the old man, deflecting his bullet to the side.
"GENERAL!" Gingham burst through the back door having heard the last part of the conversation. Throwing up a desperate wind barrier around his commander, he managed to deflect the first shot and skidded to a halt when two more bullets stopped inches from his face, held there by Largo's magic.
"That's enough captain, we've lost so stand down."
"But sir!"
"Stand. Down. Captain."
"But I… yes sir…"
"I apologise for my… overeager subordinate. You've won this battle and I would like to discuss surrender terms now." Largo continued speaking calmly, unperturbed by his brush with death.
"Surrender? If my men tried surrendering they'd get a public execution. Heaven knows Reconquista had done far worse for far less." Saito shrugged and continued pointing his pistol at the general while the awakened behind him levelled their guns as well.
"How about I show you the same mercy you've shown everyone else. No prisoners, only trophies." The order to fire was halfway out of his mouth before either Reconquista officers could protest when a hand forced his gun arm down.
"That's enough Saito, enough blood has been spilt already." Wales said tiredly as he pushed the arm down. His appearance drew a shout of 'the crown prince!' from Gingham and a raised eyebrow from Largo.
"You cannot be serious. We have them dead to rights, kill them now that's one less problem we have to worry about in the future." Saito protested but otherwise made no move to raise his sidearm again.
"Maybe. But we don't kill people who've already lost the will to fight. I don't give a damn if that's what Reconquista would do, we're not Reconquista."
"What would you have us do then? Imprison them all? That's a waste of resources. A bullet for each of them and we won't have to worry about feeding these useless sacks of flesh."
"They are prisoners of war and will be treated as such. If that means feeding them and tending to their wounds so be it. We will not summarily execute enemy captives now or ever. They will be placed in holding cells until the war is over then they will be put on trial for any crimes they may have committed. The innocent will be released and one day they may become our allies."
"Rrrghh… and if they become a problem?"
"Then we deal with it then. You told me you would keep the uprising in line, that it would not come to a full circle revolution where we become the very things we've been fighting against. If we start behaving like our enemies because it's what they'd do, how long do you think it will be before we become them? How long before you'll have to turn your guns against us?"
"I… understand. I don't agree with your view but I'll follow your lead." Saito waved his hand and the awakened lowered their weapons. Once done he stepped back and left Wales to conduct the surrender talks.
"General Largo… it's been awhile hasn't it?"
"So it has kid, almost ten years I think."
"You were always one of my father's most loyal generals, why side with Reconquista."
Largo shrugged and sipped his tea before answering. "Wasn't that hard of a decision to make. Cromwell can be something of a crackpot but he has influence, enough to unite Albion under one banner. Your father's completely insane and on the path to destroying the nation. I chose the lesser of two evils."
"Cromwell desires to rule the world. He would have us all fight an unwinnable war then Albion would be destroyed anyway. What the hell were you thinking!?"
"I was thinking that the status quo could not be allowed to stand. Cromwell's one world order is still a long way off, plenty of time to change his mind. But your father… I don't think you realise how deeply your father has sunk into madness.
"Then tell me. Tell me what could possibly cause a man I consider to be like my own uncle to betray everything he once stood for."
"Your father is attempting to extract the heart of the void and use it in some insane attempt to grant himself immortality." Largo's answer elicited gasps of shock from both Gingham and Wales while Saito only looked on, not getting the significance of it.
"You're joking. The heart of the void is a myth, a fairy tale, Albion floats simply because of a combination of naturally occurring wind and earth magic. There is no void magic involved, let alone a 'heart' that produces it. It's what the scholars have concluded." Wales denied.
"Then why only Albion. If it is naturally occurring why just one country? And why aren't there examples of other elements mixing and creating a new kind of environment? No, the heart exists and it was our ancestors who used it to float the island in the first place. Void magic is the reason Albion exhibits features you can't find in any other nation."
Wales wanted to deny it but the words died in his throat when he recalled the legends he heard about in Saxe-Gotha as well as the experience in the strange underground city. Just 'magic' couldn't explain any of that.
"Alright, say there is a heart. What does my father intend for it?"
"It's void magic. The same magic the founder used to bring about miracles on his own. If he manages to harness the heart, it stands to reason that he could do the same… become a god. The problem is that he is not a god, he isn't even a void mage. His trying to extract the heart is liable to drop Albion out of the sky and for that he must be stopped. If that means selling my soul to Cromwell so be it."
"Then where is the heart? If we can keep it from him…"
Largo sighed and shook his head. "Were it so easy. The heart isn't in a place, it's sequestered in a some kind of magical vault that will only come into being once a series of trials have been completed. There is no cheating the trial but you can brute force it by throwing enough people at it. I'll give you one guess what happens to every convict locked up in the dungeons. That's all I found out before I defected to Reconquista."
Wales swallowed hard, he didn't want to believe Largo's words but even before Reconquista was a thing, his father had been acting strangely. If he really was… no, he didn't have time to worry about that right now.
Now they had to secure the fortress first.
"That's quite a lot to think about general but for now give the order to your remaining men to surrender. I promise you will be treated as befit your station."
"Unnecessary boy, I'll share the same fate as my men. I just ask that you spare their lives."
"Very well, Saito?"
"I'll handle their processing. But if any of them resist then I'll put them down. I assume you don't want me hunting down those who fled through the breach in the wall?"
"Yes, leave them be."
"As you command." Saito bowed and left the office, issuing orders to the militia and cyborgs as he went.
Largo watched him go before turning to Wales and asking the question that had been on his mind. "If you don't mind, why did you go through all that trouble to break the walls when you already had a way into the fortress."
"The diversion had to feel real to draw as many troops to the wall as possible. With everyone there, the peasants would have an easier time capturing the rest of the fortress and locking Reconquista out. Also he said something about breaking down the wall to serve as a possible avenue of retreat for Reconquista. That as long as a losing army has an avenue of retreat they will choose to run instead of making a last stand and maybe routing the enemy instead."
"Huh… so that's how it is. Where did you find someone like that anyway? I know full well no commander like that exists on the royalists side."
"I didn't find him, he found me."
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News of fall of the invincible fortress spread like wildfire. Cromwell's stealth destroyers arrived too late to do anything except pick up retreating Reconquista soldiers. The tales they told of miracle weapons and monsters in the shape of men who wouldn't die when you killed them drew attention from spies of other nations who relayed the news back to their masters.
No one who wasn't there in person knew what actually happened but what was clear was that the once invincible fortress of Midgand was no longer that. And it had been a peasant uprising that took it over.
From the hallowed halls of Romalia to the crowded feasting tables of Germania, the sudden upending of the status quo was the main subject of gossip.
(Londinium)
"What!? What do you mean Midgand's fallen!? That's impossible!" Cromwell raged and hurled his crystal goblet against the wall, shattering it and staining the wall red with the wine.
(Romalia)
"Your eminence, we have received several disturbing reports about the situation in Albion."
Pope Vittorio nodded but otherwise kept his gaze focused on the cityscape spread out before him. "If this is about the peasant uprising that brought down the invincible I already know about it. My stance hasn't changed, we will continue to observe. This does not concern us yet. I'm more interested in finding out who's supporting Cromwell from the shadows."
(Gallia)
"Master, Midgand has fallen."
"Is that so Sheffield? I wasn't aware that the royalists had forces in the area or that they were strong enough to capture it."
"No master, the royalists weren't involved it seems. Reports indicate that it was a peasant uprising that brought down the fortress and destroyed its walls. Some say that prince Wales was among them but those reports cannot be confirmed."
"Peasants? Peasants took down Midgand?"
"Yes sir. Shall I have Cromwell punished for such a failing?"
"Bwahahahah! No no… leave him be. Unexpectedness makes the game more interesting wouldn't you say?" Joseph of Gallia said as he moved a black pawn piece and knocked over a black rook.
"It is as you say master."
(Tristain)
Henrietta had heard the news and thought of Wales immediately. She didn't know what was happening on the floating continent but that would change soon. "A grand gesture huh… Agnes, do we have anyone available? I'd like someone to go to Albion and get a better understanding of the situation."
"I'll look into it your highness."
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The sun had set and the cyborgs were hard at work clearing up the rubble left over from the battle. The militiamen were celebrating their victory with the fortress' wine stocks. Today they would celebrate their hard fought victory, tomorrow they would mourn their fallen.
Two men weren't part of the festivities, Inquisitor and prince stood on one of the undamaged sections of the wall, overlooking the revelry going on below them.
"You know, I thought you were going to go ahead and shoot even after I tried to stop you."
"If you were anyone else I might have done just that. But you are the leader of this little rebellion and one day you will be leader of this nation. And so I follow you."
"I don't feel like much of a leader. Caledfwylch did most of the work today, the sword moves my body more than I move it. And the plan that lead us to victory was again your effort. I didn't do much at all. Even Matilda contributed more. So why do you follow me?"
"You proved that when you stopped me from killing the general and his subordinate."
"Huh?"
"Call me naïve in this aspect but I believe a leader… a good leader must be able to look at an opponent and see more than just another enemy to cut down. I can't do that, I see an opponent and I look for the fastest way to kill them." Hunching over and resting his arms on a pile of sandbags, Saito looked upon the men with a melancholic expression.
"As a soldier, as a battlefield commander that serves me well, but there's no place for men like me in times of peace. It's why I won't be a part of your government once this war is over. I'll give my advice but I will not hold office… and you can't change my mind on that. That will be one order I will refuse."
"Are you sure I'm worthy of it though?"
"You are. It is up to you to remain worthy of my respect though. Relax Wales, today we've won a great victory so for now rest. Nobody knows what the morrow will bring so take your victories wherever you can find them."
Saito's expression grew stormy as he stared off into the horizon, thinking about Matilda's insistence that there was another him running around in Tristain… another him that was GDI.
Author's notes: Wales' speech is adapted from Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day statement to the allied expeditionary force.
Longest chapter yet. Was going to break it into two chapters at least but decided to leave it as one in the end.
Nod Saito force breakdown:
10 spectres (1 survived)
30 scorpions (2 survived)
40 raider buggies (0 survived)
40 attack bikes (1 survived)
18 stealth tanks (0 survived)
4 vertigo bombers (4 survived)
8 SAM turrets (Temple Prime hubless versions 0 survived)
30 squads of awakened (12 survived)
3 shadow teams (0 survived)
6 squads of tiberium troopers (2 survived)
Refineries here work like KW tiberium spikes, the ones that give 10/s instead of the TW versions.
