Story:Kings of Strife/Part 52

Part Fifty-Two
She had seen the sun rise and fall over the same city for days now. The last time she had seen this many people perish in one city was the night her country fell to pieces.

Vainia fought in the rear of her vanguard and the first half of her army. She had seen little action herself, but she had witnessed and commanded her army fighting in front of her and the second half surrounding the city and its fortifications. The day had been a bloody one.

King’s Town was populated and defended much lesser than she and her officers had predicted, but it was still holding thousands of enemies. There were no airships surrounding the metropolis, but there were waves of infantry and ground defenses. The first wave of her vanguard had been almost completely wiped out by the defenses of those from within the fences and structures surrounding King’s Town; cannons, archers, riflemen, artillery, etc, etc. The second wave of her forces marched on the corpses of their peers, and broke through the city’s encirclement in only a matter of hours. When the city was cracked and forced open, her third wave poured in after the second; the procedure repeated elsewhere in the perimeter of the city four times. She had divided her forces up into fractions to allow this strategy that thinned out the defenses of the Inusian city. The strategy worked in infiltrating the city, getting behind enemy lines, and confusing the bluecoats standing against her… but it also resulted in massive losses in almost every first wave that assaulted the city.

She had fought alongside her men, and she had witnessed them die for her.

Screams, moans, and the rackets of gunfire and the clashing of swords rang ceaselessly throughout the entire city. The casualties had been immense, and startling. Explosions and collateral damage shattered cars on every side of the streets, and buildings collapsed, blocking alleyways and crushing entire groups of soldiers and fleeing innocents. Shattered bodies of civilians began to litter the streets more and more as they got deeper and deeper within the innards of the city. Children stood standing around, shell-shocked, or they hid and screamed. She had ordered her men not to attack children or bystanders or risk severe punishment – yet the bodies of noncombatants cluttered the battlefield regardless. In the few moments she had the chance to think idly, Vainia wondered if her army was killing the Inusian innocents, or if they were being slaughtered carelessly by the same army that was defending them.

At her side were friends and in front of her were enemies, but when they were dead all the men and women around her looked the same. Inusian or Shorican, Mortisian or otherwise. She found it hard to despise a group of people when they were mixed with her own allies beneath her own feet.

The battle lasted for hours and no one was given the chance to rest, especially once they made it into the city. To rest was to die; to advance, to fight, was to live. Vainia was not far from the front lines at any given time – she, Asearya, and Tasshon led her forces ever forward along with the Shorican generals from her army, driving them from one square of the city to another, encouraging them to fight ever onward, directing the wounded to the back of the advancing party, and fighting themselves. Bullets, arrows, lances, and bodies rained and polluted the air. Explosions rang through the city near and far, and exhaustion screamed in every one of her bones. Vainia and Asearya both struggled from their endless charge onward, ever onward into the city’s heart; in between screaming and close skirmishes the two would look at each other and they could see the pain and terror in each other’s eyes. After hours, the glances grew more and more frequent, but the battle refused to slow, so Vainia refused, as well.

Her division, once gaining a foothold in the city, began to rush up the streets towards the tall tower of the city’s main hall, where Vainia could get a view of the entire city and effectively control her troops from every angle. They poured through slim streets, huddled around cars, fought against artillery and attackers in and on top of buildings, and suffered casualties, but they continued to endure. Her forces began to thin as the hours went on – but so too did the lines of her enemies.

She dared not use her rune abilities beyond manifesting weapons and protecting her body with a layer of chains beneath her uniform. Taking hold of the city was only the first step. All throughout the battle, she could not keep herself from thinking of the next town over – her ultimate goal, and home of the next Crystal awaiting her grasp. Her forces would hold King’s Town, but she would take hold of that Crystal if she had to go and find it herself. Something in her gut told the Queen that she would need all of her power about her to succeed at her daunting task, and she dared not go against her instincts. Not again.

By the time the sun started to set, Vainia began to see the colors and banners of her own armies in the spaces between buildings. Fire and flares lit up the sky, almost bright enough to hide the coming of night. The skies and the streets ran red with blood and fire. Her division behind her was only a fraction of what it was when they approached the walls of the city, but they were still hers and they were still strong. She marched on as resistance slimmed, and her rapier pointed forward, to the top of the city hall’s tower. As they grew closer to the center of the city, the amount of men behind her grew organically, each battalion they met on the way merging and looking amongst each other for reassurance and strength.

When the moon was full in the sky, Vainia and her armies reached city hall of King’s Town, and the sounds of battle began to fade for the first time in days. Constantus Veit met her there, likely the sole survivor of the vanguard. He nodded to her silently. She had no speeches to give, not this day. When they reached the shattered stone steps of the capitol building, she simply raised her sword straight up into the air and gave a celebratory cheer, her face streaked with tears of exhaustion and agony. Her army was just as shattered, just as weak, just as pained – and just as proud of their victory. Almost every face looking up at her sported the same torn tears, even Asearya. The entire city roared with their excitement.

She knew the battle was not won, not yet, but Vainia couldn’t help but sink into a chair within the base of city hall’s tower and sighing immensely. With the center of the city hers now, it felt like a colossal weight had been lifted from her shoulders. If nothing else, she held this city now. It would not be taken from her.

Asearya began to pick over Vainia’s body and inspect her for wounds. Vainia forced an eye open and scowled at her maid. “Stop this, Asearya. You need to rest too. Summon the medic team.”

The maid shook her head and pulled out a wrap of bandages from her pack. She had to speak up loudly to be heard: the entire anteroom buzzed with activity and noise, full as it was with medics, officers, soldiers reporting, and people clamoring for Vainia’s attention. “Nonsense. You are the most important person here. Your safety is paramount.”

Vainia sighed, but gave in. “How is your wound? Did it pain you?”

“Immensely,” Asearya confessed. “But I will be fine. A few more stitches, and I will be alright again.” She looked up to Vainia with eyes as sharp and as piercing as her own rapier. “And how about you, my lady? Your eyes… They still glow. How is your vision?”

“Fine. I did not push myself much.” She felt herself shivering, and the earth rumbled from an explosion. Gunshots still rang out around the building; she had positioned a numerous amount of men around the tower in all directions to fire upon any Inusians who attempted to pounce on the capitol. Asearya continued to look up to Vainia for answers, but the Queen felt she had said enough. She waved forward a man who was nervously standing nearby, first in line with the officers seeking her attention.

The man walked forward with a limp. She recognized him as the man in her camp from the other day, the one whose name she had forgotten. Again, his name slipped her mind. “Queen Vainia,” he started, bags beneath his eyes deeper than she had seen before. “Most of the battalions have started to file into the formation around the hall. An entire brigade has been lost in the storming – most of them the recaptured bluecoats.”

She nodded. That was to be expected, since her vanguard had been comprised of 60% Inusian turncoats. “And how many have we captured here?”

“Not many, I’m afraid. Few have surrendered.”

“Probably because they did not witness what the Morshians did. As expected, I suppose.” She shifted her weight in her seat. “Give me numbers, sir.”

“We have around… seventy thousand able men, from our first reports, and ninety thousand wounded or captured innocents who are not fit to fight. About double those numbers of our own have been lost, and the enemy has reported losses of almost a hundred thousand as well. Unknown counts of civilians are dead. We’ve already started building shelters and medic centers around the tower in a perimeter, and calling for all wounded in the city, bluecoat or civilian, to come and rest beneath our flag. Some five hundred thousand are estimated to still be in refuge among the city, of King’s Town’s population.”

“Good,” Vainia said, but she sighed and sunk in her chair. Those were grim statistics. She had left Morshia with an army well over three hundred thousand Shoricans and bluecoats, and now less than a quarter of them were still ready to fight onward. Of that number, she knew most of them to be exhausted and likely shell-shocked beyond belief. The march through the winter had been devastating, and they had lost many men to disease, starvation, and random airship attacks, but she did not predict losses of this caliber. ‘It is alright. We are close to Kornelia… The battle is almost over. We have carved out the north in my name. All we must do is hold it, and that requires much less manpower than is needed to take.’ She waved her hand at the officer and nodded at him with satisfaction. “Thank you, sir. You have done well, in this battle and in your service. I will reward you handsomely.”

He bowed deeply, and backed away with a nod to Asearya as well. The next to step within earshot was a minor officer of hers pleading for a reprieve from his guard duties, and after him was an Inusian merchant lord asking for a safe space to house his wares and the market shares of his peers in the city’s organized market. She glared at the former and waved off the latter, instructing the merchant to speak to her organizing officers and encouraging the soldier to choke on his rifle. The next to grace her was a female officer in tan, her arm bloodied and in a sling, asking for specifications for the defense mechanisms and machines they were to construct to protect the city. “Seize the rooftops and bring up our strongest artillery to keep watch over the perimeter in every direction,” Vainia answered. “I want half our able men up there at all times. Of the remaining, half will be allowed to rest and the other half will patrol the streets, taking care of resistance forces still fighting and taking care of prisoners and citizens still at large. Rotate the three groups every two hours. On with it, then.” The woman bowed, bent her good fist over her chest, and replied with a salute to the Queen’s glory.

Martessa and Kamanus met her next, their faces grim and stained with ash. “It is good to see you two made it through the battle,” Vainia greeted. By then Asearya had finished her primping of Vainia and had gone off to inspect the camps that had sprung up around the great capitol building.

“Same to you, my lady.” Martessa bowed deeply, and Kamanus nodded the same with crossed arms.

“The battle is won, but with great losses,” he sighed.

“Yes, I know. We have lost many good men… but so have the enemy.”

“This is our only army,” Kamanus replied. “The Inusians have a hundred times more guns out there that can crush us if need be.”

“I know this as well, Baron Casvaal. But where were they during the battle? Why was their defending force so scarce here?” She leaned forward, letting her elbow rest on her knee and her face stand on her raised fist. The question was both a rebuttal and a genuine inquiry. “This went much smoother than I expected. I did not think we would win the city in a day.”

“You underestimate your own forces, my lady,” Martessa said, daring to smile. “I saw your Knight firsthand. He cut through two thousand men on his own, easily. And all of the formations you had Tasshon teach the army learn came in handy. The defenses of the Inusians crumbled.”

That was to be expected. The strategies Vainia had recommended and the tactics each group of men were to enact were some she had memorized months and months ago, in the old libraries of Zeta Academy. It never ceased to amuse her how the very tactics that won Inusia domination of the world millennia ago now contributed to their downfall, long after the Empire’s power had rid them of any enemy worth practicing war tactics on. “Yes, the victory was earned… but the odds are not to be ignored. This battle was too easy.”

“They aren’t trying to defend themselves,” Kamanus said, his tone as cynical as ever. He kept his eyes on Vainia’s, even when she wasn’t looking at him. “The majority of their forces aren’t here. They can’t be. There’s no airships, no cannons, no bombings. They’re toying with us.”

“What do your scouts say? You sent eyes and ears all around the nation, didn’t you, Baron Casvaal?”

“Aye.” He shifted uncomfortably and raised his head. “The armies of every major southern city have been raised, mobilized, and sent on airships. But they aren’t riding north. At least not yet.”

‘The west, then? Shorica?’ Vainia frowned and scratched at her chin. Her eyes were beginning to burn her. ‘That can’t be. Why would they let me lead my armies east? Surely seizing what I leave behind is worth less than defending their homeland?’ She sighed. ‘No matter. It means nothing. All I must do is cause Inusia to buckle, and hold onto it. Save their citizens and show them more care than their Inusian overlords. And show my overwhelming strength. As long as the armies of the World Government are disorganized, my own will grow, and we will sink our feet into the sand. We will not be toppled.’

“What have you heard from Shorekeep? The Eternal Corps? Leader Rin has sent no correspondence yet?”

Kamanus turned his eyes away for the first time. “Nothing. My sources are silent.”

That was odd to her, but Vainia did not get a chance to vocalize her fears before Martessa spoke up, her voice quiet and almost imperceptible in the noise of the central anteroom. “Queen Vainia… What of the plan you told us about, before the battle? The… the city to the east.”

Vainia’s face darkened, and her hands began to writhe on each other. Her eyes throbbed again. “I mean to seize the Crystal myself.”

“What?! You can’t be serious, my lady!”

Even Kamanus blanched at her. “To do so would be the ultimate foolishness. You need to rest.”

“I will rest when I am dead.” Vainia shifted her weight and crossed her legs. “The army and my forces need to stay here and defend the city. That much is right, and I am not foolish enough to disregard common sense in this trying time. So I will act on my own, and take the Crystal on my own. Then I will have the power enough to defend myself in a pit full of enemies, at least long enough for the army to advance once King’s Town is reasonably secure.”

“You’re fooling yourself,” a deep voice said from the side of them. Vainia and her Barons turned to see Tasshon el Divrus approaching, a bandage beneath his deep cerulean bangs and a cane in his hand helping him walk towards them.

“Tasshon!” Martessa gasped. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine,” he replied quietly, turning his eyes downward but not lessening the intensity of his scowl. “Just a bullet to my thigh and a knife to my forehead. Surface wounds. I can still fight… but the same cannot be said for most of the army. Even if we have legions of men still, they are tired and they must rest. Moving forward immediately is to move to our deaths.”

“That is why I said I am leaving behind the forces,” Vainia answered, unable to keep a hint of annoyance out of her voice. Her head was starting to throb as frequently as her eyes did. “I will travel on my own.”

“That’s even more foolish,” Tasshon replied, emboldened apparently by his wounds. “If this is a trap, you’re walking right to your own execution, Lady Vainia.”

“You think I cannot fend off a few bluecoats? You insult me, Baron Divrus.”

“You can hold your own, but can you fend off an entire city? What proof do you have that the trinket you’re rushing toward even exists?”

“These trinkets are what allowed me to level Morshia in an instant, Baron Divrus. Unless I have the power of them, our forces don’t stand a chance of enduring the assault of the Inusians for more than a month at most. Baron Casvaal reports the vast majority of Inusian forces are in the air somewhere, ready to strike us at any time unawares. We have the defense of this city, but that will not help us if we are outnumbered ten to one.” The young queen stood up in her frenzy, her eyes narrowing and the power from them flowing through her neck and all of her veins. “The survival of everyone here – of the righteous nation we all fight to build – it depends on me and my power. I am the turning point of this war, and I need these Crystals.”

“You push yourself too much,” Kamanus added, somewhat gingerly, when Tasshon was forced silent by Vainia’s outburst. “This is not your war anymore. It involves all of us. All of us have lost family and friends. All of us fight. You are not alone, my queen.”

Vainia blinked and exhaled, remembering for an instant the screams that had rose out of the palace at Grainis and mixed with the smoke. It haunted her even now. “Yes, I know. But you cannot deny how important my powers are, given our odds.”

And none of them did. Tasshon bowed to her and walked away as briskly as he could, and Martessa spoke up next once Vainia retook her seat. “You should at least have the Knight go with you, and Baron Divrus to defend you, Lady Vainia.”

“No. Constantus will stay here to help defend the city personally, and the Baron of War is especially needed to oversee the operations. Besides, he is too wounded to be of much help.” She shifted her legs and sighed, her eyelids suddenly heavier than ever. “I will take Asearya with me, and that is all. We will leave at first light.” With one eye closed, she looked at Kamanus as both of her Barons bowed and raised their fists to their chests. He seemed startled by the golden glow that must have been lighting up her face. Of all her confidantes, he seemed the most shaken up by her new eyesight. “I want to hear from Leader Rin before I leave. Do not fail me, my Baron.”

Kamanus Casvaal gulped, but he nodded and bowed deep enough that she could not see his face, only his falling straight locks of cardinal-crimson hair. “For the Queen’s glory.”

The Queen stood and nodded at him back. She could not defeat a feeling of dread still rising in her heart, or the tiredness moaning deep in her chest.

She woke again to the stirrings of Asearya and dim light at the edge of her room’s windows. She had finally found sleep in a reclaimed office near the top of the tower once she stripped it of all furniture and made herself a bed out of discarded papers; now, she woke with faint sun in her eyes and a groan behind her teeth. Had the night gone by already? It felt as if she had laid down only moments ago. Every part of her still ached, and the yawn that forced itself out of her maw was larger than Constantus Veit, and louder.

“Eager to steal into the castle, aren’t we?” Vainia croaked, her voice little more than a hoarse moan.

“Forgive me for waking you early,” Asearya whispered, “but I had no choice. You need to hear this, my lady.”

The tone of her best friend drew alarm and energy to Vainia’s mind immediately. She sat up and started to button her uniform blouse around her chest. “What is it? Is the city being attacked? Are the enemies coming by land or by air?”

“From the earth,” Asearya answered. “The dead are walking once again. Bluecoats, the Shoricans… and civilians. All of them are attacking, in waves. The army has begun to panic.”

Vainia felt her blood run cold. ‘No. Not again. This cannot be. Two hundred thousand died from the siege… All enemies, once more.’ She bolted out of bed and dressed quickly, taking her rapier and wrapping it around her waist. “My power. The army needs my power, to cut through the mobs and give them strength again.”

“My lady,” Asearya said, still rooted in her spot at the edge of Vainia’s bed. Was that fear that trembled in her voice, or something else? “What of the castle? Your plan?”

The queen hesitated, her breath momentarily hitching in her throat. ‘The Crystal.’ Her tired, bloodshot eyes pulsed again, almost like the artifact called to her very vision. “We are still going to it, you and I. After I make my statement.” She turned to her maid, making sure to project only the greatest of her confidence. “Prepare yourself. As soon as I finish, you and I will ride to the east as fast and as hard as we can.”

*****

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