Chapter 23 Victors and Prisoners
The day after the successful capture of Lescatie, the Commander, Lizzy, Prince Nicholas, General Felix, and Jessica meet with the King and his council to deliver the good news of the operation.
"I have to say, I was hesitant about you and the Dark Guard leading our army in this new crusade against the monsters however you've impressed me to say the least. You and your guard have proven yourselves to be not only capable but powerful enough to stand against the strongest and vilest of the foes. " The King congratulates the members of the Dark Guard and continues saying, "From my son's and General Felix's recounting of the battle, you've used some really interesting tactics and weapons to retake the city."
A voice cutting through the King's praises, "What about the disgusting offspring that came from the abomination? Prince Nicholas said that you, Commander have managed to capture…it but what happened next? Did you kill the thing or what's its fate?" Many voices chattered and whispers of speculation are heard throughout the room, all eyes on the Commander, waiting for a reply.
Commander steps forward and explains, "After I defeated Druella with the help of Lizzy (He gestures towards her) the Demon Lord appeared moments later and was approaching the city. My ship engaged her but that only slowed her down, we weren't ready for her yet so I had to come up with something that would make her fall back. I've decided to give Druella back to her mother but not/TRAITOR!"
Commander's explanation was cut short by all the councilmembers' outrage as they all stood up and yelled 'traitor, betrayer, deceiver, etc.' Commander knew he would get this kind of reaction, especially after telling Prince Nicholas and his party back in Lescatie but he explained his plan and they calm down. He also asked them to not tell the King and the council when they go back because they'll get this exact reaction.
After a few minutes of non-stop yelling, accusing, and curse spitting, the King stands up and takes in a deep breath. Nicholas, Jessica, and Felix quickly cover their ears along with the Queen and anyone else noticing what the King was about to do.
"SSSSLLLLIIIINNNCCCEEE!" The King's voice roars dwarfing all others thus making them all shut up and stare at the King in intimidation. The King looks around seeing all of them compliant, he looks at the Commander and asks, "I trust you have a very good damn reason you've let someone like her go free considering all the damages she has done to not only the Order but the whole human race?"
Commander nods his head and says, "As I was about to explain before the sudden interruption is that I've infected Druella with a very dangerous disease that I believe only the Demon Lord or others of her caliber can prevent Druella's death. If the Demon Lord chose to secure the city instead of falling back to help her daughter then she would have lost her and a very good possibility that Lescatie would have been lost with a very large amount of casualties on both sides "
Murmurs can be heard among the councilmembers until one asks, "And what's stopping them from curing this disease of yours?"
Commander addresses the councilmember's question, "This disease is very different from any other normal disease, for what I gave to Druella is an artificial,
design to deform and kill extremely powerful foes. The only thing they can do is slow the disease down if not delay it indefinitely until then Druella's life shall be forever threatened if she hasn't already died."
More murmurs are heard until the King starts asking, "So in other words, you've gambled to see where the Demon Lord's priories were, the city or her vile offspring?" Commander nods in confirmation to the King's question. The King leans back into his throne and sighs before speaking again, "So when will you be attacking the Demon Realms?"
"We aren't." Commander's short answer made the King raise his eyebrow in concern and prompts him to say, "Why not?"
"We've been gathering information from the ones we've captured in Lescatie including some of the high-ranking monsters that helped Druella in devising a plan to bring down this city and the Order in its entirety." All the whispers and quiet voices stopped and total silence echoed throughout the room as everyone's eyes were on the Commander. "We've learned that Druella and a couple of her advisors have a plan that is still in action right now, designed to weaken the Order and ultimately defeat you."
Commander's eyes light up then looks up at the ceiling, a black misty flat form slowly expands covering the majority of the ceiling. The councilmembers and the royal family with their guards stun and slightly frightened by the foreign object hanging over their heads like a dark void ready to come crashing down upon them. A slight moment passes and an image of a map is clearly seen by everyone as the Commander starts revealing what they have learned. "This was their plan before we, the Dark Guard stepped in and ruined it, Druella's lieutenant known as Scarlet was in charge of taking Highland City and a nearby village. Highland City was to be a staging area for the final assault against the Order by sieging and taking over the capital city that we are currently residing in." The map shows the two cities and the surrounding area with the Order controlled areas marked in blue and the Mamono controlled areas marked in red. A red arrow overlapping the city icon labeled Highland City then that icon and the surrounding area change from blue to red.
"Their plan had two ways of ending the Order based on your reaction: 1-If you chose to reinforce your capital by pulling back your forces that are providing protection from monster incursions alongside your borders in the northern and the southern sections. They would have supplied those forces that they've deployed or hired to start a rapid conquest in the countryside aiming to cut off all routes of escape and supply lines. In the end, would have completely isolated the capital from the rest of the world and simply let you all starve out into submission." Everyone watches the map and sees the various arrows slowly and menacingly creep into the heart of the Order until a single small blue area remains with the city icon labeled Alyonia." Everyone shuddered seeing the map all red with the only blue spot remaining before it too turned red.
"The second option which the monsters were hoping you'll do and somewhat you did was sending your forces to the other cities and towns for whatever reason, leaving this city less defensible. That's why your borders are currently a mess because they wanted you to respond in force. Once they see you've devoted a good portion of your army." The map resets and now shows blue arrows heading towards the north and south then a large red arrow pointing towards Alyonia.
"They'll gather a large enough army and strike with the force of a tsunami to overwhelm all of your defenses. They want to take the capital overnight and once captured it'll be a matter of cleaning up the remaining scattered Order forces. At least the ones who haven't given up." The map shows the blue area split into two and slowly being turn to red until the whole map is completely red again.
Minutes of silence as the people take in the information as they realize they've heavily underestimated the monster and seeing how close they were to being defeated, the Order fallen to their archenemy in a matter of days if not weeks.
Commander seeing how shocked and terrified the people in the room are even sees the King having trouble believing in the facts presented to him. There is one other bit of information to tell but isn't the right time to reveal it, knowing full well the consequences could result in a civil war. A civil war that would no doubt end the Order with the mamono not having to do anything other than picking off the remaining survivors.
"So…" King starts but quickly weavers, "do you already have a plan of action then?"
"Yes, we have already started gathering information about these groups on where they are, how many there are, and if they have any prisoners who need rescuing. The last time I checked there are eight groups with the potential of being a serious threat if left alone." The map shows eight green bots along the Order's border.
"We'll be dealing with them very soon and when we are done, we will turn our attention to the Royal Makai and its downfall." The whispers and chatter fill the room as the Commander looks around, seeing almost everyone talking to each other but cut short by the King.
"Commander, I leave this matter to you and our resources are yours to use as long it's against the monsters," King says, and the majority of the council nodding in agreement.
Commander nods his head and they continue with their talks.
Inside the Dark Guard's ship, the holding area reconfigured into a large brig holding the captured mamono, all of them wearing tight collars and various tight size cuffs. The only sounds of wails and mumbling prayers can be heard as they all sit or lay around. Mimil sits silently as she slowly looks around seeing familiar and unfamiliar faces that surround her. When she became conscious earlier, she tried to break free by using her magic however her collar activated, and the shock she experienced nearly made her unconscious. All the other mamono suffered the exact same result whenever they tried something with no one able to do anything. Once awhile she sees the people responsible for her and her brethren's defeat and now their imprisonment.
She sees one walking down the row she's in and when he is right next to her, she speaks, "Where are we?"
The Guardsman doesn't reply and keeps on walking as if he didn't hear her nor acknowledge her existence. She watches him go further away then she looks at the cuffs around her wrists and they aren't the kind of cuffs she has seen in dungeons before. The ones she has seen before were dirty, scratched up and solid iron cuffs but these seemed so decorative. She examines them and sees no keyhole, just two sliver discs and a rotating light source in the edges. A thought pops into her mind as she imagines they would look good on her if she wasn't in this prison. She takes her left paw and grabs the right cuff to see if she can pick it apart.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. They'll give you a nasty shock as that collars did to you earlier." A voice warns, stopping Mimil from going any further at the cuff.
Mimil looks around for the one warning her until she looks at another row of holding cells across from her. She sees a Dark Mage looking back at her with a sadden expression. Her attire is all torn up, with no staff and hat with her as one would normally see upon any Dark Mage.
"Who are you? You look familiar." Mimil asks.
"My name is Beth and we probably have met though real briefly when they (she points at a nearby guardsman) left after setting Lescatie on fire. I and another Dark Mage saved Lady Druella at Highland City and brought her back to her city." Beth says in a tired tone.
Mimil takes a closer look at Beth and sees her eyes are slightly red, tear stained cheeks and her face also show signs of being in pain along with the obvious sad expression.
Mimil concern, asks, "Hey, are you ok? Are these collars still hurting you?"
Beth looks at the ground then shacks her head as new tears start flowing down her face. She takes a slow breath then she says, "They killed her."
"Was she your sister?"
"No." Beth starting to sound like she is about to cry as she explains her tale, "She was a fellow Dark Mage but I've often see her as a sister since we've, we've…" Beth starts taking deeper breaths at a faster paste as she struggles to speak, "S-she and I were always together since we were kids, we've always started working on new spells or viewing the many wonders of the world but now…" Beth breaks down and cries as she brings up both her hands to her face. Mimil about to say something but Beth continues on, "We were in the medical ward to help treating some of the more seriously injured mamono but then we started hearing screams and things breaking. Moments later a group of maids burst through the doors to explain that all over the city and inside the castle were being attacked by the Order that suddenly appeared out of thin air with strange people in black.
Mimil stays silent as she listens to every word Beth says but already has a faint idea of how this story will end.
"The next moment a large group of Order soldiers storms the medical ward, quickly killing all the maids and the mamono lying on the beds next to the doors. They were ruthless and without mercy as many of the injured mamono begged for their lives but only to be answered by the end of a sword. A couple of guards and Karen take a stand against them while I and a few of the more mobile injured patients escorted or pushed the rest of the bedridden patients out of the room to a more secure area."
"Was that her name, Karen, the other Dark Mage?" Mimil quickly asks.
"Yes, that was her name." Beth takes a slow deep breath and finishes her story, " I went back to the ward to gather the last of the unconscious but that's when I saw one of them start entering the room. A huge man struggling to get past the door and when he did, I saw how much he stood out. He was dressed in wizard style clothes all in black, a silvery thorny looking halo hovering above his head and his staff wasn't normal at all. The bottom half had a wide curve and the top half was straight but there was a floating, fast rotating, long purple hexagon shape crystal gem on top. His skin was the darkest gray more so than a typical zombie then there were his eyes, purple iris shining fiercely amidst all the darkness surrounding them.
Beth stops talking as she takes in a small breath and resumes, "He raised his staff towards some of the guards then that strange crystal glowed after that the screaming started. His crystal started shooting beams of death as any who are hit by it turn to ash after yelling out in agony. One after another fell so quickly, too quickly and Karen must have seen that too because she summoned a magic barrier to stop that man's attacks. It was working until that man began using his staff as some sort of hammer as he started striking the barrier. The first few strikes nothing happened but soon the cracks on the barrier appeared and all of the humans were cheering him on. I rushed to support her but as soon I was halfway there, he broke through and…and."
Beth's breathing starts to look like she is about to hyperventilate, "He turned her to ash…I..I…"
"I'm so sorry Beth. I/He looked at me then my vision turned black and now here I am. Alive but my dearest friend isn't. I should have done something! I-I…" Beth starts crying, leaving Mimil to herself as she huddles herself into a ball and wonders to herself, 'Did Druella and the others escape?'
Back at the castle, Commander is about to start a show for all the people present in the King's Throne room, "Everyone, if you please turn your attention to the map again. We are about ready to show you as one of our groups is getting ready to deal with one of these monster groups along the border." The map twists and wobbles as the image zooms in on one of the dots in the northern part of the border.
Commander's eyes light up and telepathically asks, "You ready to start?"
To D.J. Scales: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the battle. There will be more to follow for sure.
To MadFrog2000: Yeah, this story isn't for you.
To EndlessFun99: Thank you, while Druella still lives, there is a purpose for her for which I won't spoil.