21.

“This is where we allow them to breach,” Prince Sammus had a cluster of officers around him. His lean form made a fitting image of royal heroism, his black uniform trim and his boots gleaming while his lacquered sword case glinted in what hazy light pierced the veil of ash above them.

The cluster of officers around him nodded and took notes. A wall of junior officers were waiting behind them ready to actually carry out their orders. The section of wall they were looking at was near the middle of the wall, wide ceremonial gates half slagged drooping on their hinges.

Now useless tanks and armored vehicles had been dragged in front of the gates, forming a wall of hardened steel between the Armory and the demons laying siege to them. Companies of soldiers were forming defensive lines, cracking open the stone roads with picks and hammers and digging firing lanes.

A secondary elevated position was being made, sandbags and loose pieces of armor hastily erected over a latticework twelve feet in the air. Tarps were stretched across every building's roof, stretching it out to cover from peering eyes. Erak hadn’t seen any of the Hellspawn since the Armory had blanketed the sky with fire.

Cannons were being moved around from damaged parts of the wall and positioned to face the melted gate. Mortars and extra weapons were being dredged from the bowels of the Armory, their handlers uncomfortable with their new designs. Erak kept grip of the simple steel of his spear and shield. There were no worries about sharpened steel and how it would be changed.

“If they keep their cycle pattern on firing, they’ll be hitting this area in the next hour. We have to be ready when that happens. We lure them into the kill box and absolutely destroy them. But…we have a secondary objective. They have large…uhmmm…flesh things?” Sammus looked around for help and Erak gave him a thumbs up.

“They’re large and they have these inside of them,” Sammus lifted the power core up with a quick flourish.

“Each of these monsters will have several inside of them, hosted in the joints and core. We will need to retrieve them after the battle to access the Sword of Empire. Any questions?”

There were lots of questions and General Foy allowed the young prince to handle all of them. She stood off to the side, talking and pointing to her staff as they enacted her will. Sammus was doing the morale portion of the briefing, giving general strategy and trying his best to encourage the men. Foy was doing all the hard work.

They were playing off each other’s strengths. Foy’s whispery voice and frail frame was not something that the men could rally behind. Erak just waited for the two of them to tell him where to stand and who to kill. He grabbed a peanut and cracked the shell between his fingers, discarding the empty shell to the ground as he popped it in his mouth and enjoyed the snack. A pile of empty shells sat at his feet, growing larger by the moment.

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“I see that you are fine. I must thank you for carrying me,” Nevia said, striding up to him the picture of health. She had a new uniform on, the effects of her wounds nowhere to be seen.

Erak offered her a peanut from his dwindling bag. She peered at it, tiny between his dirty, blood caked hands, and then shrugged. She grabbed the peanut and carefully peeled it apart.

“My men will stay with you. Wherever you go, so shall we.” Erak was touched by that. Most of her soldiers had died, broken in the basement surrounded by the undead. If she had no desire to ever see him again then he would not blame her.

“We need better armor and a way to communicate with you aside from the academic. I don’t mind Julius, but he had no place in this.” Erak agreed with her, but he could offer her nothing more than a thumbs up.

“Excuse me, but I believe I have a solution to your problem,” Dull said, materializing in wisps of white light in front of them. Nevia startled, her sword half drawn before she realized that Erak hadn’t reacted.

“There is a small research vessel in the floating docks. Not yet finished unfortunately, but there was an A.I stationed inside of it. Now, it hasn’t communicated with me, but it should have been on a closed system, so there is a chance that it is alive. Once you enter the floating docks, if you would liberate my sibling, I would be grateful, and they may be able to help you with communications,” Dull continued, ignoring the half-drawn sword.

“The fuck is that?” Nevia demanded.

“I am Dull, the spirit of the Armory.”

“I missed too much in the infirmary. Lord Bloodsworn, I am going to be trying to secure armor for my men and weapons that are a bit better suited for the tasks ahead. You will be here?”

Erak nodded to her and went back to eating his peanuts. Sammus had finished off his orders and was drifting closer and closer to Erak until he was standing right next to him.

“I would never have guessed I would be here today. A leader of warriors.”

“I would never have guessed about the demon invasion, personally,” Erak signed to him.

“Of course, that is the surprise of all surprises. As bad as this all is, and it is a tragedy beyond scale, it probably saved my life. Court politics can become a bit lethal and a new Queen, well it would shake up the status quo. Some of my older siblings might have wanted to have pruned the family tree a bit, to say the least.” Sammus reached over and stole one of Erak’s peanuts, throwing the whole thing in his mouth.

“It’s rather quite tragic. The blood loss and death that happens. It’s why my sister ran away so young. Became an Adventurer. Plundering ancient tombs or some such nonsense. She’s out there, somewhere,” Sammus pointed out at the city while Erak stared at his bag of peanuts and the audacity of the smaller prince to steal from him. Sammus reached and grabbed another one, munching noisily on it.

“She came back here with her company for the coronation. Party of the decade she said. How right she was.” He grabbed another peanut. Erak grabbed his bag and pulled it back to himself.

“I worry about her, but if there is anyone who could withstand what is happening it is her. Well, and you I guess. Where did you find that armor by the way?”

Erak just ate his peanuts as he turned away from the chatty prince and towards the army working to build their trap. He’d be busy soon enough. More challenges, more strength claimed, and one step closer to returning to the Queen and fulfilling his oaths. Sammus kept talking, filling the air with a constant stream of chatter as Erak munched away placidly. The time for action would be soon enough and maybe the peanut stealing prince would find himself on the wrong side of a demon’s spear.