Chapter 47: Battle for the Twin Cities, Part 3
All through the Union’s fleeing army, DM sabotaged the soldiers’ efforts wherever he could. Randomly, a soldier would turn around and start attacking his or her allies. They would eventually get cut down, but the damage, both physically and emotionally, was considerable. The random tentacle slaps and ranged attack spells contributed as well. Amazingly, DM was not the most valuable player when it came to this overall effort.
Two other strategies yielded more substantial results. The first was the local population, under the guidance of Lupy’s employer as well as a few other organizers throughout the city. Citizens threw objects down from roofs and second-story windows, pelting fleeing soldiers and taking cover to avoid the soldiers’ arrows. Occasionally, a group would lose patience and attempt to enter a home or business, only to find the door barred and not worth the effort to break open. Although these efforts were terrifying for the Union, they didn’t cause as much harm as the second strategy.
While the Union was fighting down by the river, the Guild sent adventurers all over the central and northern districts to lay various traps, ranging from caltrops to tripwires to deadfalls such as falling bricks. Some of the traps were armed or pulled taut by citizens, others by the adventurers themselves. Bandit, under the guise of being the Guild Master’s messenger, organized these efforts. At the same time, the Guild’s archers, scattered throughout the city, rained down arrows and bolts on the Union’s army. Between the traps and the arrows, many soldiers lost their lives or took serious wounds and were forced to take cover behind whatever they could find.
As the Guild Master had explained to his assembled adventurers, they normally wouldn’t be getting directly involved in a conflict like this. Armies generally steered clear of the Guild branch during any invasion. Even if ownership of a city or territory turned over to a new lord or nation, the Guild would continue to operate for the public good, and the adventurers would be granted rights to remain. This case was an exception.
The Union had boldly invaded the Lower Gordu Dungeon, a landmark that was obviously under the Twin Cities Guild’s purview. Should the Union interfere with the Guild branch’s livelihood, the Guild was well within its rights to fight back. Of course, the Guild Master never ordered his adventurers to engage the enemy army directly; that was a job for the city guard, knights, and others. Still, he wasn’t at all opposed to striking them below the belt, and that’s what happened.
By the time the bulk of the retreating Union soldiers reached the northern gate again, their numbers were so diminished that they no longer had a numerical advantage. As far as anyone could tell, the Holy State losses were minimal by comparison. If the Union troops could reorganize and combine with the divisions holding the east and west gate as well as the isolated unit holding position outside the southern gate, they might be able to squeak by with a win here. Of course, that would require a great degree of improvising. The Supreme Commander was most likely still positioned well outside the city, and no protocols were set up for how to issue new detailed orders to the soldiers at this juncture.
Ideally, the Supreme Commander and the rest of the forces outside the city would march straight to the northern gate, combine strength, and implement a new plan. The only problem with that optimistic idea was that the Supreme Commander had no idea what was going on inside the city or which divisions were where. If he had birds in the sky reporting real-time intelligence to him, perhaps he could salvage this situation. Unfortunately, that was a capability only his enemy had, not that even they realized it.
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“…I’m tempted to cut you down right here.”
“W—What?” The Supreme Commander, utterly mystified regarding what was going on in the city, turned to his attendant who suddenly threatened him seemingly out of nowhere. He was an odd chap, and one that likely needed to be replaced with someone more competent at the next opportunity, but he didn’t necessarily seem to be disloyal. He’d let the written plans get snatched from his hand by some bat-type monster, but that seemed more like bad luck that anything else. How could you expect papers to get snatched out of your hands like that, seemingly out of nowhere?
“…The only reason why I don’t is because I expect you’ll suffer a crueler fate if I let you go.”
“Who are you? Wait, are you connected to those rumors about the dungeons?”
“…Rumors?”
“I dismissed them as rubbish. The idea that a monster was behind—“
“…Do you really have time for this?”
“But if so, then that bat! And all those losses at the north gate! Wait, time?”
“…It looks like your units have had enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“…I suggest you organize a retreat.”
“Retreat!? Why!?”
“…Just how many losses do you think your poor soldiers suffered inside the city?”
“Not enough to justify a retreat! How utterly ridiculous!”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“…I’ll show you utterly ridiculous.” The attendant who had been speaking nonsense drew his sword and plunged it into his own abdomen. He collapsed, never to rise again.
“My God!” The Supreme Commander recoiled in shock, then slowly approached his deceased attendant to assess the damage. As others ran over to find out what was going on, he received the first report of soldiers returning to his location from the Twin Cities.
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Over the next several hours, the remaining Union divisions, feeling isolated, exited the city via whichever gate they were nearest and also marched away from the city seeking further orders.
The city guard immediately regained control of the gates and shut them. At the same time, engineers and laborers began emergency repairs of the damage to the northern gate. The entrance would become unpassable for the time being, but actually fixing a gate that could open and shut would take too long.
Lord Davidson climbed the western wall again to monitor the enemy army. A few minutes later, Vulp and the knight she’d been traveling with joined the group as well.
“What do you think they’ll do next?” the Lord asked his advisor.
“Sir, I can’t imagine they’ll make a second attempt to sack the city. Their numbers are incredibly diminished. Also, our residents demonstrated that they will fight to the last. Unless they have considerable reinforcements still on the way, they’ll likely retreat beyond our nation’s borders. Time is short for them now.”
“Yes, perhaps we’ll actually get some help one of these days. Oh, that reminds me, I’ll need to send a fine bottle of wine to the Guild Master.”
“You’ll need to keep that private, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, don’t I know,” said Lord Davidson. He turned back to look at Vulp. “Vulp, can you have one of your Guild friends discreetly pass along a package to the Guild Master?”
“Okay.”
“And if any of them got hurt, let me know. I’ll make sure the Church gives them premium care. They still owe me after their failure to answer my questions about a certain previous Lord.”
“I—I see…”
The Lord turned back to look out at the Union forces, who were showing signs of retreat to the north, but he kept speaking to Vulp. “These next few months are going to be exciting for both you and me, I reckon.”
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Kat and Shiba both collapsed into chairs, exhausted.
“What’s happening at the city,” Kat asked the morphling.
“…The Union forces are retreating north. The other girls are fine.”
“That’s good…” Shiba sighed.
“…Daphne isn’t doing so well, though.”
“W—What happened!?” both girls chorused.
“…It seemed like she was trying to disable fleeing soldiers by targeting non-critical body parts with her bow.”
“And? Was that a mistake? Shouldn’t she have—”
“…Wait, relax Shiba. Physically she’s fine. …She kept hitting them in critical areas instead of non-critical areas…”
“Oh…”
“…She’s being praised by the Guild for her performance but she considers it an embarrassing failure.”
“Will she be okay?” asked Kat.
“…I’m not in a position to sympathize with her. Killing is no laughing matter, even when it’s justified, but she’s not a literal monster like I am. …She’ll probably need some support from her friends but I’m sure she’ll get it.”
“All right…”
Both girls turned toward the sound of groaning from nearby. They hopped up and stepped over to Vera, who was lying down.
“Vera?”
“Uh…” She brought a hand to her forehead and squeezed. “Katherine?”
“I helped too!” Shiba yelled in protest.
“Helped with what…?” Vera was still a bit out of it, although it wasn’t really fair for Shiba to expect Vera to know what the heck was going on to begin with.
“Shiba, you’re confusing her!” Kat turned back to Vera. “I’ll explain what happened, but you should keep it a secret from the church. Probably…”
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The retreating army crossed over the Nar Union’s border unmolested. That result was quite favorable considering the infected bats hovering overhead enabled tentacles to spawn at any time. The army bypassed both the Lower Gordu and Upper Gordu Forests as they proceeded further north into the central region of the Union.
Around the same time, the first wave of reinforcements from the central region of the Holy State of Whites arrived at the Twin Cities. The arriving soldiers were not needed to defend the city so instead they were assigned various cleanup and construction duties. The Lord’s manor was structurally sound but devastated on the inside following the Union’s occupation, so the first planning meetings occurred in a smaller building nearby. Lord Davidson insisted that Vulp and Rufus join him, among his other advisors.
While Davidson briefed the leaders of the reinforcements, Rufus and Vulp held a whispered conversation in the back of the room.
“I heard about the shield. I’m, uh, sorry that I gave you such poor advice. Once we’re done here, I’ll help you find the perfect shield right away… one that better balances cosmetics with practicality.”
“It’s okay.”
“Of course, I’ll pay for the decorations!” Well, that wasn’t whispered. The rest of the room paused their conversation to stare at Rufus, then turned back to what they were just talking about in exasperation.
“Th-Thank you.”
“Vulp, I wasn’t able to see it from where I was, but I heard the Union representative attacked you without cause.”
“It’s because I’m a…”
“Nonsense!” He ignored the sideways glances from the rest of the room. “It’s because he had no honor. Nobody should be cut down simply for existing. Take pride in defending yourself, your country, and your Lord, flawed as he may be!”
Vulp sat there slack jawed as she noticed everyone’s heads slowly turn to stare at her and Rufus.
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“Ah, Nina. Report.” The Guild Master invited Bandit into his office as she updated him on the happenings in the city.
“The remaining traps are finally disarmed. An adventurer got injured by one of the traps, but a white mage healed them right away.”
“Just one? Excellent. Good work. How goes tallying the archers’ results?”
“It’s done. You’ll get the numbers in writing later today.”
“Excellent. Did we have a winner?”
“Yes, but…”
“What is it, Nina?”
“She’s not happy about it.”
“Hm, who is it?”
“It’s Daphne.”
“Oh, that young elf? What’s the problem?”
“She seemed upset about all the killing.”
The Guild Master leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Of course.”
“That’s all.”
“I’m too far gone to help her.”
“Guild Master?”
“Nina, figure out who else is experiencing trauma after today’s events, quietly, and make sure they get the Guild’s full support.”
“I’ll try…”
“I’ll talk to the rest of the staff as well.”
“Okay.”
“Oh,” said the Guild Master, delaying Bandit’s departure. “Davidson’s men will be questioning prisoners. Find out whatever you can about the two dungeons, discreetly. Your friend might be able to help you with that…”
Vulp appeared in Bandit’s mind as she walked out.
The Guild Master watched Bandit depart the office then mumbled to himself. “That damn Union…”