“…Its our last trip out. So, fill the ship to the top with everything we can bring out of here.” Ronin was back at the ships, helping to coordinate the final loading. They already had all the people accounted for, now they just had to find out how much equipment they could add. The more weight they added, the harder the strain on the engines and the more energy it would burn. Still, this place represented a gold mine in artisan tools and forging equipment.
“How much longer should we wait for the gilded lily?” Guts asked, from his position at flight one’s ramp. He was helping the people on board and making sure they had everything they needed, since they wouldn’t be getting back off again.
“Patriarch,” Harken called out from behind him. “I really need to formalize my title, and the chain of command.” Ronin thought bitterly. Getting called; sir, boss, patriarch, lord Ronin, my lord, White flame, my lord White flame… it was getting old. Sometimes he didn’t even know if they were talking to him or not.
“What is it, Harken?” he asked, turning around to find the old bugbear at the head of a large group. Ronin looked them over, the gilded lily clan’s representative stood at the front of the group. She was no longer dressed in thin robes, instead she wore leather armor that had been reinforced with small steel plates. She also had a military style saber at one hip and a long dagger at the other. Ronin thought she looked much more at home in the armor, as opposed to the robes.
“Patriarch,” she said with a bow. “I never got a chance to introduce myself. I’m Lily, the matriarch of the gilded lily clan. As specified; I’m here within the hour and have brought four adults and forty children between the ages of eight and twelve with me.” After she was finished speaking, Ronin turned his attention to the group she’d brought with her.
All of them were female. The adults were armed and armored the same as lily. The children wore civilian garb, but they all carried a bundle that held two sabers and two daggers. One set of wood and one of steel, he frowned at that. They hadn’t brought any food, yet they brought training swords. Frown still in place, he turned back to lily.
“Hello Lily.” He said, “the armor suits you better than the robe.” The grown women bristled at his words and many of the young kids took in shocked breaths or whispered amongst themselves. It took Ronin a moment to catch on to the problem, but when he did, he laughed. “No,” he said. “I didn’t call her ‘matriarch’ Lily. That’s because the moment she steps onto that ship, she’s no longer your leader. I am.” He swept his gaze across all those present before turning them back to Lily again.
“We understand, patriarch.” Lily said, causing the muttering to instantly die down. “We have no qualms with this. I simply wish my clan’s traditional fighting method be kept alive. Those you see before you are the most talented youths that my clan had to offer, along with their teachers.” She motioned from the youngsters to the adults before continuing. “You mentioned that you would be enrolling our children into a school. I thought, what better way to contribute than to give that school a few new teachers.”
Not being able to find fault with her logic, Ronin only nodded. Motioning them to get on the ships. He did split them up, however, the kids into one ship and the adults into another. He could hardly believe they’d just shown up without some double cross planned though, so he turned to Harken to ask about it.
“No, patriarch.” The old bugbear said, shaking his head. “She didn’t try to argue or bring down more than you stipulated.”
“I don’t understand,” Ronin said scratching his head. “Why is she being so accommodating? I expected at least a little fight from them.” He looked back at the warrior women as they boarded the ships without complaint and frowned. He couldn’t help the feeling that there was a shoe about to drop somewhere.
“She, uh…” Harken started to say before he hesitated. When Ronin looked at him directly however, he continued. “She had a spy network set up in our clan. They saw you fighting with your bodyguard for nearly two full days without rest, then your battle with the queen… Lily is a prudent woman, Patriarch, she knows she couldn’t best that monster and is likely just happy you offered her as much as you did.”
Ronin supposed that was plausible, but it didn’t explain everything. Still, why look a gift horse in the mouth? He’d go with it for now and see how things worked out.
“Get yourself loaded in, Harken.” He said at last, looking to the helpful bugbear. “Once we finish the last of the loading we’re leaving.” Having said his peace, Ronin ascended the ramp and moved through the crowded ship to the cockpit. Nodding to Sam as he entered, he slipped into the copilot’s seat and waited for the ‘all clear’ from his people.
The ride back to the wall was made in relative peace. There were simply too many people and too much gear on board to risk a confrontation with a queen, so they stayed well above their range. There were a few fights, due to lack of space. Ronin tried to let them slide, since everyone was crowded, but he did have their names noted down. If there was more trouble going forward from them, he’d have it taken care of.
Reaching the wall, Ronin had his people set the craft down in the same burnt-out neighborhood they’d landed in before. Worming his way through the increasingly frustrated bodies inside, he exited the craft to find the elven lord waiting for him. He had twenty sparrow riders with him this time and he looked angry.
“Lord White flame,” he said with heat in his voice. “I’d like an explanation about that abomination you placed down outside the wall.” So much had happened since they’d passed through here that Ronin honestly had to take a second to remember what the elf was talking about.
“Oh, you mean the crate I dropped outside the walls?” he asked with a smirk. “Sure, what do you want to know about it?” thinking back to the surprise Owl two had cooked up, Ronin chuckled in anticipation. He’d wanted to see it in action, but circumstances being what they were it hadn’t happened.
“Think carefully about what you say next, White flame.” Ellanaril was clearly angry, but Ronin didn’t understand why. “What was the intended purpose of that box?” the sparrow riders around them were readying their weapons, heat in their eyes as they stared at him. Anger began coursing its way through Ronin at the threatening posturing. With a gesture, he motioned his own people to get ready.
“I’ll answer your questions, elf.” Ronin said with heat entering his own voice now. “But mind yourself. I’ve done nothing to offend you, or your people and I don’t appreciate your attitude.” Why did everyone around him constantly question his motives? He’d never done these people wrong, yet here they stood obstructing him. With nothing but bows and oversized chickens.
“Stop your measuring contest boys.” Elyria snapped from the ship’s ramp. “Ellanaril, if he’s done something I get the pleasure… I mean, I’m duty bound to execute him myself.” She said testily to her brother-in-law. Then turning to Ronin, she snapped “Don’t overestimate your abilities, and know your place.”
Jumping down from the ramp she took an arrow from the quiver she’d picked up and an arrowhead from a pouch at her waist, she then snapped it onto the arrow. Pressing a button, she activated the arrowhead with a beep. Then fired it side on, at a thick wooden hitching post. Ronin stared in amazement as a footlong beam of radiant energy shot out from the arrowhead in all four directions. When it contacted the post, it zipped right through. Like there was nothing there at all.
“Try to remember you’re a small fish in a very big pond, White flame.” Elyria said as the beam split into four pieces and fell apart. Ronin was left speechless at the moon elves technology level. He’d been fooled entirely, having seen nothing out of them besides big birds and bows and arrows. Swallowing his anger, he did his best to ignore the smug elven woman staring him down.
“Lord Ellanaril,” he said turning his attention back to the elven leader. “You’ll have to forgive me… it’s been a trying few days.” He had to grind his teeth together to stop from cursing out Elyria, who’d snorted with laughter as he apologized. “Now, what questions do you have for me?” It was as far as he was willing to bend. If the elf didn’t reciprocate, at least a little, they’d have it out right here.
“What is wrong with me?” His temper had been flaring up almost daily it felt like. “Is it the stress, or is the power I’ve gotten going to my head?” He didn’t know, but he resolved to work on it. A few successes didn’t make him all powerful. A reality that Elyria had helped to drive home. He glanced at her where she was retrieving the arrowhead. At least they seemed to have limited numbers of those destructive tips.
“Follow me,” Ellanaril said motioning him towards a stone staircase imbedded in the giant outer kingdom wall. Turning to his people, Ronin told them to go back into the ship. All except K3 who followed him up the stairs. It was a long climb, and the wall and the stairs looked very similar to those from White mane clan city. Ronin wondered if the bugbears had built this wall as well. It wouldn’t surprise him if they had. Their ability to work stone was quite remarkable.
He'd managed to calm himself down by the time they reached the top. His temper having settled down thanks to his focusing on the wall’s craftmanship. It bothered him a little that he was surrounded by elves with only K3 for backup. Still, he really didn’t know what they were so upset about. Hopefully this was just a misunderstanding that could be cleared up quickly.
“Well, White Flame.” Ellanaril said with a tilt of his head, once they’d reached the outer edge. “What do you have to say for yourself?” Ronin looked out over the tide of locusts, taking in the sight for a long moment.
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The cargo crate he’d dropped off sat close to the wall. Four turrets swiveled around, one on each corner. Around the crate, in all directions lay a sea of corpses that extended three hundred yards in all directions. There was another fifty-yard no-man’s-land surrounding that massive mound of locust bodies, where the locusts refused to enter. It provided an area of wall nearly one thousand feet long that wasn’t being constantly assaulted by the swarm. After taking it in, Ronin turned to Ellanaril and asked.
“So, what’s the problem?” he wasn’t being snide, he honestly didn’t know what the issue was. The crate was doing what it was meant to.
“The… the problem, White flame… is that those locusts died, screaming in agony. I want to know what is in that box and why you put it out there.” Ellanaril said, having a hard time getting the words out around his rage.
“Listen,” Ronin said holding up his hands in a calming gesture. “I’m afraid I don’t understand the problem, it’s just flea and lice powder.” He said with a shrug, “My assistant developed it to help disinfect the goblins we’ve been rounding up from the cave. He just dialed it up several fold and put it in tanks. There are a few air compressors in that crate that pump up air pressure and when the turret detects movement, they spray the powder at it… the locusts eat their dead too, so we get added exposure.”
“You use poison as a weapon?” Elyria, who was at his side, snapped the question at him, as if he’d committed some awful taboo.
“No.” Ronin said flatly, “I use poison to kill bugs. What are these locust drones except really big bugs? And don’t act so self-righteous Elyria, I haven’t seen any fleas or lice on you. If the life of insects is so precious to you, why not feed them with your flesh?” she glared at him but didn’t say anything in response. Turning from her, Ronin faced Ellanaril.
“What is the problem, Lord Ellanaril? With that one box, I’ve freed the defense of this wall for nearly one thousand yards. That’s people you can use elsewhere to save lives, that’s time your people can rest, that’s munitions you’re not wasting. Dead is dead, Ellanaril. Does it make it better to lose your people killing them the slow way? because it doesn’t make it better for me. I lost two good men to Kaldarr my first day on this planet. If there’d been anything I could have done to prevent their deaths, I would have.” Ronin said seriously. He knew the prince would never have used poison. Yet, he wasn’t able to bring himself to let more of his people die when he could avoid it.
Ellanaril stared into his eyes during his explanation and continued to do so for another minute afterwards. Ronin just stared back at him, honestly curious what the elf would say. He never found out however, because another voice spoke up before the elven lord could.
“No.” It was Elyria speaking from where she stood behind him. “I’ll gloss over most of what you said, White flame, because you truly believe what you're doing saved lives. I understand the loss myself; we all do… still, don’t ever do anything like this again. There are some lines good men just don’t cross.” Turning to Ellanaril, she said “Please get my things… get Allanaril’s bracer as well.” She added solemnly, staring into her husband’s brother’s eyes.
“Elyria, you can’t mean to…” the elf lord started to protest but was cut off before he could finish.
“I swore an oath, brother.” She said seriously. “He walks a fine line, but nothing he’s done so far has crossed it… without an excusable reason anyway. Besides… there are, circumstances.” She added a light tinge of pink entering her face. Ellanaril, noticing the color, darted a furious glare at Ronin.
Ronin just shrugged, not having any clue what was going on. Cursing himself for adding so many diverse cultures into such a small geographical zone. With so many different customs and belief systems, he never knew how someone was going to take what was normal to him, the wrong way.
“… Understood.” The elf ground out eventually, seemingly not finding in Ronin’s face whatever he was looking for. “Your sister and her husband will be accompanying you for the time being.” He added in a tone that brooked no argument. Elyria frowned but said nothing, Ronin didn’t comment either because he still didn’t understand what was going on. He did have other questions, however.
“Where is Song and K2?” he asked, looking around. “I sent them here days ago to relay information and answer your questions. Where are they?” The way Ellanaril looked down at his question caused Ronin to go on alert. Glancing at K3, he squared his shoulders readying himself to act.
“Peace, White flame.” Ellanaril said with a sigh, “I detained them when they arrived. In order to question them about the poison box.” Rage blazed in Ronin’s eyes at those words.
“For all our sakes, Lord Ellanaril. I pray that you haven’t harmed my people.” He said the words calmly, more calmly than he felt at any rate. Yet, his vision was going red at the thought he’d sent his people here to be tortured.
“No, we simply detained them. They didn’t know anything about the box, so we let them be. I’ll have them brought to your ship before we even make it down the wall.” Ellanaril said, having the grace to at least look like he was sorry.
“Very well,” Ronin said, secretly relieved. He didn’t want to lose anyone else, but he dreaded a war with the elves. Especially after what he saw that single arrow do. What else did they have up their sleeves that he hadn’t seen yet? Turning around, he walked directly for the stairs. He’d had enough politics for one day.
“White flame,” Elyria’s hand on his arm stopped him on the first step. “This was a misunderstanding, yet one that shouldn’t have happened. We apologize for our transgressions, and I offer a gift in return for any suffering your people may have experienced.” Pulling him along by the arm, she pushed passed a protesting Ellanaril and strode down the stairs.
He followed her, in confusion as she moved passed his ships and into a large Wearhouse building in the burned-out zone. Upon entering, Ronin stopped dead in his tracks, despite the hand trying to pull him along.
“What is this?” he breathed out in confused excitement. Not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not.
“It’s my gift to you, as compensation for the misunderstanding.” Elyria said, she didn’t look happy, and Ronin could tell her opinion of him hadn’t changed. Still, she was committed to her oath whatever that was, and wouldn’t violate it.
“K3, please go get Sam and Eric. We need to look it over and get it ready to go back with us.” Ronin said to his guard, who albeit unhappily, left the warehouse to return to the ship. Once he’d gone, Elyria excused herself as well, she said she needed to collect her belongings. That left Ronin alone, to walk around his gift.
It was a Kaldarr vessel. However, it was smaller and sleeker than the shipping crate shaped troop transport dropships. This was a proper gunship. As Ronin walked around it, he took it in with a smile. If he had to guess, it likely sat fewer than twenty people. Yet it’s more aerodynamic frame let on that it was a much faster ship. It also sported a pair of machine guns, each attached to a swivel mounted chair. Four missiles and a large barreled gun on a turret mount that would look right at home on top of a tank.
He remembered the gunships in the book he’d gotten the Kaldarr from. They were inferior to their enemies’ crafts, but they were sturdy and packed quite the punch for their size. Ronin felt like a kid who’d just been given a piece of candy for the first time.
“What is it my lord…” Sam asked as she rushed into the warehouse. She was being trailed by a somewhat less excited Eric, while K3 brought up the rear escorting Song and K2. Ronin pointed at the ship and spoke.
“Would you guys’ mind looking it over? Check for any damage, energy levels, all that good stuff. Also, is there anyone on board that can fly either flight one or this craft? I’m going to need a pilot.” Having finished talking with his pilots, he turned and walked swiftly to his people.
“How are you doing?” he asked his recently imprisoned people. He clapped K2 on the arm before placing his hands on Song’s shoulders with a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry,” he said looking into her eyes. “I hope they didn’t mistreat you. If so, we will deal with them accordingly.” The excitement at the new ship was being replaced with the anger he’d been feeling before he’d seen it.
“No, my lord,” Song said in her clear, musical voice. “They asked us questions about the crate, but you hadn’t told us anything about it. Once they realized we couldn’t tell them anything, they just locked us up.” She looked down then and lowered her voice, “I’m sorry I failed you, my lord. It was my first solo mission, and I failed.” K2 was also bowing his head in defeat.
“Nonsense,” he said lifting Song’s chin and thumping K2 on the chest. “You two did exactly what I asked, neither of you could have done anything different. Because neither of you was to blame for the crate. That was on me.” He reassured them for a little longer, before bidding them to wait outside the ship. They had hundreds of people still crammed on those ships, and he needed to make this quick. Turning around he walked up the stairs that had folded out of the hatch when Sam had opened it.
“What do you think guys, and why is it so small in here?” he asked the pair, who were busy going over the controls in the cockpit. Just like the drop ships, this vessel had an enclosed two-person cockpit. Directly behind it was a small compartment filled mostly with ammunition. A hatch on the floor opened on the tank gun turret. Two seats in the walls opened onto the machine gun turrets. Behind that compartment was another small compartment with six chairs. Three on a side facing inwards. The ship was only half the size of the troop transports, yet the inside space was nonexistent.
“My lord,” Sam said with excitement at his question. “This ship has a full charge. The magazines are full, as are the missile and piercer rounds. It looks like the pilot left the ship, flew right to ground, and landed here.” She said with a beaming smile. “As for the size, well this is a fighting vessel. It’s thickly armored against enemy fire and has larger energy cells for longer engagement time.” She was almost bouncing with excitement as she explained the crafts features.
“Samantha was a gunship pilot more often than a dropship pilot my lord.” Eric said in way of explanation. “She can pilot one of these things as good as anyone. As for flight one, Owl five has been working with me in her off time. She’s familiar with its operation and shouldn’t have a problem flying it back to base.” A fleeting feeling of annoyance flashed through Ronin’s mind at the thought of Owl five working one on one with Eric. The thought was unreasonable however and he quashed it soon after it surfaced. Owl fives inhibitor worked just fine on everyone else. It was only him where she lost control.
“Very well,” he said forcing a smile. “Eric, would you go touch base with Owl five and get her refamiliarized with flight one. Sam, go get anything you need from that ship. This will be your new bird going forward. K2, get K1 and move to flight two. I want you to pick up the crate. If they dislike our help that much, they can fight on this front themselves.” Having finished giving orders, Ronin and K3 left the warehouse.
“I hope you found your people and your…gift… to be in order?” Ellanaril asked when he had rejoined the elf.
“I did,” Ronin said with a smile. “That ship will go a long way to evening the odds against the locusts.” He looked up at a shadow swooping down from above. It was Elyria on the back of a sparrow. She was also trailed by a second sparrow, who had several large bags slung across the saddle.
“Are you ready to go, White flame?” Elyria called from her mount. Clearly impatient to be on the way. Another pair of shadows circled above, Ronin recognized her sister and her husband up there. He didn’t really like the idea of housing two more elves, but he didn’t think it wise to argue the point.
“As soon as my people get the gunship running, we can be on our way.” He said with a nod, “will you be riding with me or flying your sparrow?” He already knew the answer from the way she was patting the bird, but it was only polite to ask.
“I’ve been cooped up in that Kaldarrian scrap heap for long enough.” She said, spitting to the side. At least for this trip, I’ll be flying with my girl Sprout here.”
“Fair enough.” Ronin said, bidding his farewells and walking towards his new ship. He fought to keep the grin off his face as he looked at the well-armed and armored ship. There was a lot of work waiting for him back at the valley, but he’d muddle through somehow. Right now, though, he just planned to enjoy the ride.