Just a reminder that I will be absent last week of this month due to work event. More specific dates to come.

Cover Art: GWBrex

Chapter 77

The ships roamed the coast up and down and returned with worryingly few survivors. Those people, men, women and children all, didn't once complain about who their saviours were. They were in too much shock. That the Dark Lord was the one helping them didn't matter as much as the fact that their wounds were treated, they were safe, and they were offered warm food and drink. One person from each group was brought before him to answer questions, the healthiest of any survivors, and from them he began to get a fuller picture.

Any and all defences had been taken away from every town in Vale to fuel the army thrown at them in Mistral, and that included Chosen. There were rumours now that there might not be any Chosen left that were not initiates in training. Either way, everywhere else in the kingdom had been effectively abandoned on the premise that there would be no risk if the Dark Lord were killed.

He knew it was a lie, but why was Salem turning on her own people now? Had she really given up? Had they really struck so devastating a blow that she would wipe the board clean now? If so, she was greatly overestimating them because they'd never been weaker, and a concerted force of Grimm might have been enough to finish them off.

"Underestimating you has brought her to ruin multiple times now," said Ozma. "Could it be that she's taken the realisation too far and begun to overestimate you instead?"

It looked like it. Or this was some other scheme on her part. It hardly mattered. Vale was going to be annihilated if he didn't do something, and history would blame it on him. All their plans had to change now.

"The first thing we need to do is slow the bleeding," he told the assembled faunus and humans in front of him. There were even a small number of survivors from Vale standing awkwardly among them. He knew they didn't trust him, but he trusted they would want to follow orders that benefitted them, and other combat-capable survivors might not follow blasphemous faunus or the Dark Lord's acolytes. "The Grimm are rampaging across Vale and the church has no interest in putting a stop to them. Do the survivors know if it's other towns and villages as well or just the coastal ones?"

"We lost all communications," said one. "The roads weren't safe to travel."

"We'd best assume all," said Taiyang. "The tribe might know more if we can find them."

The Branwen tribe. He'd promised to leave them be, but he had a feeling they wouldn't complain at him catching up to them in this situation. "We'll avoid the city of Vale. Ideally, the church should at least respond to towns nearby that are in danger. It wouldn't be any risk to them."

"If they respond at all," said Pyrrha.

That a Chosen would say that had many of the survivors shivering. But Pyrrha was fallen, treasonous, and in their heads, they might still have dismissed her words as lies. That would change soon. Or maybe it wouldn't. Maybe they would refuse to ever believe them. As long as they fought, he didn't much care.

"We can't be everywhere, Pyrrha, and we have a responsibility to our own as much as we do to people in Vale. We'll send out parties in search of survivors. If you run into a walled town that's holding its own, don't bother going near. They'll only open fire on you. Focus on places in need of help and escort people back here."

"How far do we range?" asked Nora.

"As far as you feel comfortable. You'll be travelling in sizeable parties. A hundred at least. We don't want any of you being lost. If the Grimm are too much, back away. We're doing our best to save people but we're not risking our lives for them."

How was Ansel? How were his family? Ansel was far, far away from the coast so there was simply no chance he could get there in time to make a difference. He had to hope his family had survived, or that they'd retreated to the nearby foothills and taken to the caves for safety. Few Grimm could have fit inside to get to them.

"I'll look for the Branwen tribe in the meanwhile with Taiyang, Yang and a small party of our own. They ought to have some idea what's going on here, and they'll be glad to share if we offer them a ship and a route off Vale."

"What of those of us with nowhere to go?" asked one brave man, raising his arm. "Are we part of your army now? Are we conscripted?"

"I don't know," Jaune admitted. It didn't satisfy the man any. "We didn't come here expecting to find you all in danger and we didn't have any plans for it. If there was somewhere safe we could leave you, we would."

"What about the capital?"

"It wouldn't be safe for us to go there and how do you think the church would treat you knowing that you accepted aid from the Dark Lord?" The man grimaced. "You'd be branded heathens and executed on the spot. The best I can offer is to give you supplied and cut you loose."

"We'd be slaughtered."

"I could have you all dropped off in Mistral if that would help any. There are ruins of towns and villages you could take over."

"There would be Grimm there as well. No?"

"There will be Grimm everywhere. Contrary to what you are told, I do not control them."

"I think that was obvious when you killed them," said another. "Let us talk to the people. We are not landowners to make decisions on their wellbeing without their input. May we have time to talk our options through with them?"

Jaune nodded. "Yes. We'll be staying here in the shallows while we search for other survivors. You'll have several days, if not a full week or more." He raised his voice. "We're going to have to delay our planned march on the capital. I don't think it will make a difference. Salem cannot magic up fresh armies to fight for her, and we wouldn't want to lay siege to Vale while leaving legions of Grimm at our backs anyway."

There were nods all around. This was inconvenient for sure but ignoring the Grimm would be suicidal. Salem would bring them back around the smash their army against the walls of the city, caught between thick stone walls and an army of monsters.

They had to deal with their problems one at a time.

/-/

Pyrrha reported to him later with a grim smile. "I've spoken to the Valeans we picked up and three hundred of them have offered to join you – though only to help rescue fellow people here. They won't join in any attack on Vale."

"Three hundred." Jaune mused the number. "Is that good? It hardly makes a difference to our army."

"It's a good sign of your legitimacy. Three hundred may not sound like a lot, but it's four-fifths of able and healthy adults we saved."

"So few… How many lived in those towns before, do you think?"

"Well over a thousand in the one we picked up sixty people from. It's a massacre. There's no other way to put it. But we didn't expect to gain anything from this anyway, did we?"

"Maybe not, but my family lives in Vale. I'm worried about them."

"Ah." Pyrrha grimaced. "I remember now. Maybe they fled to those hills you took Cinder and I too. A small number of people could hold off a much larger force there."

"Hopefully…" There was nothing he could do and sitting around complaining wasn't going to help. "Is our group ready?"

"Yes. We have eighty people. Taiyang, Yang, Ruby, myself and a mixture of faunus and new survivors. We thought it would be a good idea for them to see you in action. Namely the fact you're not insane and not some manic warlord dreaming up the end of civilisation."

It was a good idea, though he hated that he still had to pander to people on the issue. He'd saved their lives, stealing them away from the Grimm, but he supposed it was harder for them to believe he'd done that out the goodness of his heart than it was that Salem might be evil. They'd spent their whole lives under the Goddess' grace, and Salem had given stability to those who didn't question her.

Vale was far away from Mistral and the people here likely had no idea of the awful lives people had lived under Willow Schnee. As far as the average person in Vale knew, much like how he'd once been, the world under Salem was a utopia. The Goddess watched over you, the Chosen came to save you from Grimm, and the world was united against the evil Dark Lord. There were times he wished he still lived under that blissful ignorance, though that time wasn't now with the Grimm rampaging across the land.

"We'd best get going then," he said. "Will the survivors we've left behind be safe?"

"They shouldn't cause trouble if that's what you're worried about. They're scared, injured, sick and homeless. You are quite literally their only hope."

"What a sad state of affairs that is…"

"I agree. Salem may have lied but the church did not know of it. They still think themselves just. I don't see how or why they could let this happen. It must be a direct order from Salem. Even if they hated to follow it, they would tell themselves the Goddess knew best and could see further than them." Pyrrha clicked her tongue. "Excuse-making, I know. We did that a lot. It's only now, looking back, that I realise how pathetic we were."

"Hindsight is easy." Jaune strapped his sword to his hip. "Let's go."

His group of eighty or so were waiting awkwardly outside for him. He could tell the newcomers because they tensed at his approach whereas everyone else was more worried about what they'd find than the Dark Lord among them. Jaune strode up to the horse Ruby was holding and mounted it, then reached down and hoisted her up before him with one arm. They didn't have many horses, though they'd captured many more after defeating the church's army. There just wasn't much room on the ships for them, and not much need for them in the expected siege of Vale. They'd left hundreds to graze and roam Mistral that they really could have done with now.

Clearing his throat, Jaune addressed them. "I know many of you don't have much reason to believe in me, but I don't need you to. Your loyalty isn't required here, only your empathy for your fellow people and your bravery in striking out to help them. Today, we are united. Fight with us against the Grimm and we shall protect you."

There were nods from the Valeans. Reluctant nods but nods all the same. It was enough.

"If we come across a town that has managed to survive then you're free to approach and request to stay there, but take care not to mention us. For your own sakes. They'll only assume you spies and turn you away."

"Our town had the largest walls for miles around," said one. "There ain't gonna be anywhere else that fared better than us."

Jaune grimaced. "Let us hope you're wrong. Move out."

/-/

The man had not been wrong.

They passed through three villages on their route to the west, and each and every one had been cleared out. They were smoking ruins with bodies strewn everywhere. No one had survived or, if they had, they'd fled to the forests. Jaune didn't like their chances there with wild animals and Grimm on their tails, and didn't expect any to have made it far.

At each village they stopped for ten minutes to search through the homes on the off-chance someone might have had a basement or hidey-hole to retreat into. There were none. The attacks had come swiftly and without warning, and the palisade walls had been cracked wide open. They hadn't stood a chance.

The most obvious signs of it being Grimm and not anyone else, aside from the fact bodies were torn to shreds, was how much of the important infrastructure lay undamaged. Fields of crops swayed in the breeze and homes were left mostly intact. The only ones burnt down where by their defenders, some of whom might have chosen to go out on their own terms or, more likely, caused by firepits being disturbed by Grimm trampling through. They didn't have the time to bury or make pyres for them all, so they mounted up and rode on.

Around five hours in, they spotted smoke on the horizon, and not the blackish plumes of a burnt-down village but the narrower lines of campfires. There was excited chatter among the party as they rode toward them, though Jaune sent scouts ahead in the form of Taiyang and Yang to make sure it wasn't a force from the church. As unlikely as that sounded.

Yang came riding back alone with a grin. "It's mom! Dad went ahead to tell her you're on your way."

They'd found Raven already. He almost wanted to say it was too easy, but for the simple fact that if the Grimm had started this rampage soon after they arrived, the Branwen tribe wouldn't have been able to make much distance. They'd have hunkered down to build defences and protect themselves, and that was obviously still the case. Walls of spiked wood aimed outward surrounded a larger camp than Jaune remembered, and many of the spikes were dented and cracked, suggesting large creatures had recently expired on them.

The bandits on guard were bandaged and tired, and one was missing an arm entirely, grasping a spear in his other and leaning on it. They'd seen better days. Within the camp, many more faces stared out at them, gaunt and afraid. Raven had taken in survivors. It was surprising for a bandit, but she must have figured their biggest threat wasn't starving to death, and every able-bodied person capable of holding a weapon would increase her tribe's odds of survival drastically.

"You're free to mingle and talk to the other survivors," Jaune told those in his own party. "See if any are related to the ones on our ships and tell them they're friends and family are safe."

"What will you be doing with them?" asked the man from earlier.

"That'll depend on what Raven wants to do. I've a feeling she'll want to join with us to stay safe, and then we'll take all these people with us back to the ships." He paused and eyed the man. "Unless you have another idea?"

"No. It's just we'd best start telling them they're not going to be sacrificed or something."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Yes. Feel free to get on with that. I have bigger problems right now than how these people see me"

Marching ahead, he found Raven and Qrow talking to Taiyang. They looked in rough shape, but they were mostly whole. Qrow had lost an ear and a good portion of his hair, and had a white bandage awkwardly wrapped around his head. He'd been lucky not to lose it as well. Raven had a few cuts and a fresh scar down her collarbone but was otherwise whole. She scowled at him.

"I can't believe I live in a world where we'd have been better off fighting in your army against the goddess than coming back here. What the fuck has happened to the world I thought I knew?"

"You'd know more than us, Raven."

"Taiyang has told me you want information. Well, I'll give you what I can. We arrived maybe two weeks ago and started our journey west, both to deliver your message to your family and hopefully make our way to Vacuo where we'd be away from your bloody war. Fat lot of good that did." She spat on the floor. "The Grimm were wild from the moment we arrived, and the nearby towns were locking themselves up and sending messengers to the church for aid. Wouldn't even let us inside their walls."

"I notice you took on survivors."

"What else could we do? We were bloody and beaten as well, and food is the least of our concern. Everyone I've taken in knows they'll only be looked after as long as one of their family can grip a weapon. I've been sending fucking children to fight Grimm." Even she seemed furious at the idea. "Or I've been having them hold the camp, anyway. We haven't moved in over a week. Every time we think to, either the Grimm attack or we have too many wounded. Or both. We've just been existing here waiting to die."

"Then it's a good job we're here," said Taiyang.

"Oh, yuck it up." Qrow punched Taiyang's arm, but he was smiling, naked relief dripping from him. "But goddess knows we'll join you if you'll have us. We're doomed here. Raven has kept us alive, and that's a miracle all in itself." He laughed. "But we're fucked, and we know it."

"You're welcome to come back with us to the ships," said Jaune. The two of them sagged in abject relief. "But I'll need you to tell everyone here that. There are a lot of people who will panic if they hear the Dark Lord is here to take them away."

"You'd be surprised," said Raven. "They prayed to Salem nonstop for the first few days but there hasn't been a single prayer in the last two. Hard to keep the faith when the church is refusing to step out past their tall walls. These people would take the Dark lord if he came with food and shelter. They don't have any other choice."

Raven's words proved to be true, for though she did give her speech to try and calm them down and prepare them, it didn't matter much. They didn't have much fight left in them and would accept anyone who could keep them safe. The injured were loaded up onto horses and wagons while the limited food supplies left in the camp were abandoned. They had plenty more in the ships and the excess would weigh them down.

They had come as eighty and left as a little under four hundred, though half that number were incapable of fighting. Their journey back was free from Grimm – the monsters had gone on in search of more prey, though Jaune was sure they would begin to congregate on the coast once they sensed the critical mass of people off the shore. With luck, they'd be able to rain magic on them from afar, but he worried they would more likely be caught between Grimm wading through the shallows and great Grimm monsters in the deep.

"It might be best for us to move our ships along when we get back," said Ozma. "The Grimm will have sensed us by now and, by extension, Salem. We should not stay in one place for too long."

Jaune relayed the orders to those with him and they agreed. The less time they spent in one spot, the better. This was also answer, in a sense, as to what had happened to Sienna's spies. In an ideal scenario they were locked in the capital with everyone else, but the much more likely answer was that they'd been killed by Grimm trying to deliver news back to the army.

When they did make it back, it was to find the other parties had much more limited success. All told, they'd come back with maybe one hundred people among all of them, and most of those were small children who had fled while their parents bought time. Thankfully, there were enough mothers among the other survivors willing to adopt them, especially those who had lost their own families."

"That's maybe twelve-hundred people all told," said Weiss, addressing the gathering once more on Sienna's old ship. "And I don't expect we will find many more. Of those, combined with the Branwen tribe, we've gained maybe five hundred able-bodied fighters. Some of those better equipped and trained then others."

"It's not a bad number," said one faunus. "Not enough to make up our losses from Mistral, but it makes us a little steadier on our feet. I don't see that we can siege Vale, though. I don't think we can even conquer it."

"That depends on the state of Vale, doesn't it?" asked Taiyang. "Look at what's happened to the land. And for the church to be doing nothing? Well, it doesn't make sense. I expect things aren't as ideal in the capital as we're all expecting."

Jaune sighed. "You think it's fallen?"

"Nothing that extreme, but I think Salem has more in mind than simple slaughtering her own peasants. I'd have thought she was driving them to the capital to be recruited like Willow did, but then she's having them killed. Makes you wonder if this isn't supposed to be some kind of ark. Keep those loyal trapped in the city while she annihilates the rest of the world, then starts again with a small batch of devoted followers."

"That's wasteful," said Nora. "There are still loads of people loyal to her."

"Ah, but she's panicking. Losing. That's new and frightening. Wouldn't surprise me if she's overreacting and catastrophising right now. And let's face it, she's not had to make strategic decisions for thousands of years. Brute force has seen her through millennia. I doubt she remembers how to do much else."

"We need to know either way," said Jaune. "We'll set sail north and move up the coast. Vale shouldn't have much of a fleet left, but we'll back off if we see one."

He didn't want to risk it, but there really was no choice.

"We need to see Vale with our own eyes. Anything else is just guesswork. We can only know for sure what's going on if we get close to her seat of power." He took a deep breath. "And if things are that bad, and if she's gone that insane, then maybe all we can do is retreat to Menagerie and do the same thing. Take the survivors with us and make our own ark to weather the storm."

The assembled commanders and generals nodded, and left to take the news to their ships. They would set sail come morning, taking with them their new cargo of survivors and laying eyes on the capital for what felt like the first time in years.

Jaune dreaded what he would see.

Next Chapter: 10th September

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