Even from a distance, Corco could hear the groans of pain, which were soon complemented by the image inside the medical tent. While he had been busy organizing the main camp during their rest period, the doctors and their assigned assistants had already set up a series of tents to better care for the injured.
As he entered, the sounds of agony grew louder, and the smell of alcohol, blood and bitter bile hung in the air. Inside, there were several bunks, improvised from straw and loose wood from the nearby village, and atop them lay all the wounded from his encounter with Rupilo. Although the battle had been an overwhelming success, there was no such thing as a flawless victory in the real world. These were the victims of his orders, at least the ones who had survived the encounter.
With a sigh, Corco stared at all those who had suffered under his command. Soon however, one of the men who rushed from bed to bed came towards him and interrupted his thoughts.
“King Corco,” he spoke in Chutwa. No wonder, since this man was Doctor Itzali, the physician Corco had picked up back in Hueatlan.
“What brings you here?” the doctor asked while he wiped the blood off his hands with a dirty cloth.
“I'm looking after my people.” The king frowned as he stared down at the cloth in Itzali's hand, white covered in dirty brown spots from all the dried blood. It seemed like the doctor had used the cloth quite a bit over the course of the day. “Didn't I tell you to always use fresh supplies for each new patient?”
Itzali sighed in response. “Indeed you have, but how are we to do so? We lack in supplies, in almost every regard. Not enough cloth, or gauze. We are heating and reusing needles. We have run out of catgut, so we are using cooked twine for the shallower wounds instead. We are also lacking various herbs to brew concoctions, most of all ginseng. To be honest, if there is another battle, we will not be able to treat most of the injured.”
“Sounds like it's my fault then, huh?” Corco mumbled as he looked at all the suffering around him.
“No, this master would never imply such a thing,” the doctor was quick to deny.
“You're right though. Honestly, this entire operation was put together sloppily. You and the other doctors stayed in Saniya for only a few days. You barely had time to get over your sea sickness when I already ordered the moveout. We already didn't have time to collect enough supplies, and we had to leave some more behind when I chose to evade Pacha's army through mobility. Still, now that we're here I can scrounge up what we left behind before, so hang in there for a bit longer.”
“I could not ask for more.” With a forced smile, the doctor accepted the limitations of their situation. In truth, none of it was Corco's fault either, they had been forced by the circumstances. He had to attack since Fadelio and the craftsmen were trapped in a dire situation, and he had to do it fast or the Narrow Sea would have been blocked.
“So how are you doing here, apart from the supplies? Give me an update.”
“King Corco, besides the earlier deaths, so far only two more men lost their lives. There are another seventy-one injured here, around ten of them are in critical condition and another eight may lose a limb and become cripples. Overall, the new techniques King Corco has taught on our way here have proven astonishing treasures. Together with some of our own great Chutwa medicinal techniques, we have managed to save far more lives than I ever thought possible. If we had the chance to learn more before we were forced to participate in the battle, we could have done much more.”
Although Corco noticed the obvious stab at his hasty deployment, he wouldn't scold the doctor over it. They weren't his subjects, just temporary hires. There was no reason to enforce superficial loyalty and make them angry, and the doctor wasn't wrong either.
“Yeah, I get it. You'll get your chance to learn some theory and practice as soon as we're back in Saniya. Then, I'll teach you whatever I can, and you can impart your own wisdom on my people.”
“This master will relish the chance. In truth, it is a surprise that master would allow us to learn these godly techniques without any cost attached.”
“Knowledge isn't worth much if only one guy has it.” Corco sighed. “Even if I was smart enough to turn every theory in my head into reality, I would never have enough time for everything. The best role for me is as a teacher, imparting my knowledge onto those who can make better use of it. That's what I'll be expecting of you.”
“Of course. Further, the battle has not only brought us disadvantages. In fact, war is a fantastic chance to get more patients to practice our medical skills on.”
For just a moment, even Corco was speechless.
“Okay, it seems like I'll have to teach you about the Hippocratic oath first once this war is over. Speaking of which, I'll go talk to the patients for a bit. You go do doctor things.”
Against the master's insistence that the king stay away from such a dirty place with bad qi, Corco spent the next hour going through the medical tents and talking to every soldier in person. Although their stories were often dull and a lot of them couldn't form any coherent sentences in the presence of their king, he still patiently listened to and talked with everyone. He had left Tama in charge of the rest of the camp for the day, so he had plenty of time.
Still, there were some things, he had to – or wanted to – do himself, so he said his goodbyes to Doctor Itzali and left the bloodied tents behind. Just as he was about to leave, a group of warriors carrying a heavy pot came towards him. The spicy smell from the steaming pot overwhelmed the iron stench in the air and lifted Corco's spirits.
“King Corcopaca,” the men put down the pot to salute.
“At ease,” Corco said lazily as he approached and looked at the pot's contents. Inside, there was a steaming, dark red liquid, with precious herbs from the west floating inside. “You're bringing mulled wine to the patients?”
“Yes, King.”
At the succinct answer, Corco turned to the at-attention-standing warriors.
“...you know that they're recovering from injury, right? They shouldn't be drinking poison, no matter how nice it might feel.”
The warriors shared awkward glances for a bit, before one of them took a heart to face their master.
“King Corcopaca, Lady Tamaya has tasked us with serving the wine to the injured, to raise their morale. However, if King disagrees with the order, this servant will turn back right away.”
While he listened, Corco picked up a cup from the other warrior and waited for the first one to ladle some mulled wine into it.
“Thanks,” he said and slurped the hot drink. The cold hadn't been that bad over the past few days, but the wine still warmed his core and its taste had always been a guilty pleasure for him.
“Well, if Tama said so it's probably fine. Morale is important after all. Just don't give them more than a cup, they're all still recuperating. And be careful about the ones with heavier injuries. Ask the doctors in cases you're not sure, and use your best judgment for all the others. Also, get me another cup.”
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“King Corco is finished?” One warrior asked cautiously, his eyes on Corco's cup which was still almost full.
“Don't be stupid.” The warrior's flinched back even at Corco's joking tone. “No, I'm not an alcoholic... I think. The second one is a present for my next visit.”
After Corco had thanked the warriors for the second cup, he didn't bother them any more and proceeded towards the run-down village not far from their camp. They had camped their tired troops on the edge of this abandoned little fishing village for a good reason. This was the place where they had hidden all the supplies they couldn't bring with them on their march west. Although he hadn't been convinced by the choice of location at first, they had remained undiscovered.
The village was far enough off the beaten path to not be an obvious destination, and it was still close enough to be convenient. At the same time, it was hidden from view from the open sea, yet still close by the coast. Like this, they wouldn't be spotted by scouting ships from Arnao's blockade fleet either. This place had turned out to be a surprisingly good find, and Corco was about to visit the one who had uncovered this prefect hiding spot.
Within this tiny fishing village in the southeast of the Sinchay coast, Princess Sumaci had been hiding out together with her crew. While the girl's ships had been stowed away safely in the little inland river and covered with dry reeds and snow, the young captain herself – together with her crew – spent most of their time inside the abandoned buildings to make sure they could make contact with Corco's army at any time.
“Hey there, great captain! I bring good tidings, and presents!”
Grinning as if he hadn't just seen the horrors of war, Corco burst into the run-down shack made of wood and bamboo. The inside consisted of a single room, almost entirely empty. Apart from an empty, splintered bed frame, there was only a large a fireplace in its center, which warmed a pile of blankets and furs in its front.
“Hey, captain? Your great teacher is here,” Corco shouted into the empty room as he traipsed towards the fireplace. His confusion was cleared up when the mountain of blankets began to move and soon revealed a human face. If the other sailors hadn't informed the king on his way here that their captain was hiding out in this house, he might have just left before he would have found her here.
“You've been having a nice vacation?” the king asked while he held out his second cup of mulled wine.
“Is this your great home, oh king? This place is a frozen hell.” Sumaci complained as if she had suffered a great betrayal, but still reached for the steaming wine.
“Yes, I can see your fashion sense is already influenced by our forefathers. Like those great people of the past, you have made full use of furs and cloth, yet you still managed to wear those fifty layers with real dignity. Truly, an icon of our time.”
Before the girl could taste the wine, her lips pursed in annoyance, before she shivered and disappeared back into her blanket pile.
“Why don't you go dive head first into the frozen pond outside, great teacher?”
“I'd love to, but I'm a bit busy right now.” Although her attitude was unacceptably rude towards a king, Corco didn't really mind. He had left his guards outside, so there was no one to listen in and thus no reason to punish her. “Unlike you, who gets to play tourist and experience the wonders of Medala, I have a war to win.”
“So you're here for your weapons.” Her dim voice came from within the covers.
“Among other things.” Corco nodded, even though she couldn't see him. “We've had a big battle, and we'll have to restock. We might need the rest of the gunpowder pretty soon, and we will need the rest of the medical supplies right now. Some of the building equipment wouldn't be bad either, this next battle will probably turn out to be a defensive one.”
After a long slurp came from within the covers, Sumaci asked a blatantly obvious question.
“You've fought? And you will fight again?”
Rather than the outcome of their battle, Sumaci seemed more concerned with the fact that they had fought at all. Corco understood her well, and tried to sigh away his own concern.
“I'd love to avoid any more battles, but we don't have much of a choice. Fadelio – my attendant – has been trying to get the craftsmen across the border, but his progress has been a lot slower than we thought. Also, we're already on the wrong side of Pacha's forces, since I wanted to avoid a long war. I'm not sure our spies can prevent our enemies from learning of Fadelio's movements in the east any longer. We've tried our best to interrupt his intelligence work, but this is the north after all. My uncle has a well-established network here, and he should already know about Fadelio's move south. If I were him, I'd head straight east to prevent them from crossing to the border. That's what the entire war boils down to after all. Pacha should have realized that he can't break Qarasi Castle. The only reason he stayed in the war was because he had my attendant and some warriors trapped in his territory. If we get them south, he has no more cards left in his hand and it's our win.”
“You'll have to hold off the northerners.”
“Yeah.”
“More deaths.”
“Yeah.”
For a moment, the two shared in the silence, until it was broken by more of Sumaci's slurping sounds. From one moment to the next, Corco's shoulders lost all tension.
“I'm quite confident though,” he said to lighten the mood. “Our men still lack experience and discipline, but we did well in the last battle, and that was us attacking up a hill. The next battle will be a defense, preferably on top of a mountain. So long as our scouts can find a good, defensible position, everything should be fine.”
Of course, he wouldn't mention that Pacha would have at least twice the number of troops Rupilo had, or that the enemy's next commander wouldn't be as incompetent as the last one. Still, even though she should have somewhat been aware of the danger, Sumaci mumbled, “good luck,” and left it at that.
The atmosphere had gotten a bit peculiar, so Corco decided to change the topic.
“Sooo... how about you come along?”
“What do you mean?” Again, her head appeared from beneath her blanket fort, a curious expression on her face.
“Well, I can't really have my student dying,” Corco grinned. “You've already risked quite a bit by hiding out here behind enemy lines. If anything happens to you, I'll have to answer to your brother too, and your father. I wouldn't want to sour our alliance after less than a month.”
“I was not expecting the mighty king to care for his students.” Sumaci's voice sounded a lot less enthusiastic than before.
“Yeah, well... you're welcome I guess.” Corco thought for a moment, before he clapped his hands to drive away the weird mood. “Okay, you should get yourself ready. We're moving as soon as we're resupplied. We need to set up a nice surprise for Pacha after all. Building a wall might take us a while.”
“No.”
Corco had already turned around and was halfway through the door when Sumaci's rejection forced him back towards the fire.
“Excuse me?” he asked to make sure he hadn't misheard.
“Thank you for your concerns, great teacher. But no, I will not come with you. Right this moment, my brother is not here, which makes me the captain of this fleet. I am responsible for my father's men and I will not leave them behind.”
Even though the claim to authority seemed a bit ridiculous from a shivering girl buried under blankets, her voice was too firm for Corco to joke around.
“The sailors are coming too, obviously,” he clarified instead.
“Then what about the ships?”
“We can't exactly carry those on our shoulders, so I'm afraid that's not an option.”
“Exactly. How will I explain myself to my father if I lose half the fleet assigned to Saniya? I am the captain, and I am responsible for these ships and their well-being. Now that you have come to resupply, we will have to move and look for a different hide-out as well, or our ships will be found and sunk or stolen. With all this blasted snow around, your men will be very easy to track all the way here.”
Corco first pushed down a joke about weak-willed northerners, before he nodded in response.
“Fine, I guess that's something I didn't consider. There's bound to be a much better hideout somewhere east, closer to Qarasi Castle. With the castle's support, you'll be safer there. We won't need any more assistance until the end of the war either, so it's fine for you to move that far away... but be sure to fly my banner or the castle's cannons might just blast you out of the water. Not fun for anyone.”
“I will take it to heart.”
Another uncomfortable pause ensued, while both of them sipped their wine. At last, Corco remembered that he still had more to do for today, and it was even something he had been looking forward to all day. How could such a fun meeting ever have slipped his mind?
“Anyways, you stay in your little blanket fort for now, I'll have to meet up with my newest guest.”
“Of course, I will no longer keep you,” the dignified princess said, before she retreated back into her hideout like a turtle.
“And good luck,” she mumbled from within.
“Yeah, that'd be nice.”