Janis looked out over the city burning beneath the rising sun and contemplated mortality.
It wasn’t actually burning, of course. At least, only a few spots were. Smoke and fog hung over the buildings, not helped by the dawn light. They somewhat hid the destruction the city had suffered, but the smell of smoke and dust in the air would have been enough to clue someone in. Before the battle, from what she’d caught from the drones’ senses, the city had smelled slightly different from the human cities she was used to; now it just smelled different again. Janis was trying to sort through them and match the smells with the air currents she could feel. Exercises to help her control over air, which she was doing right now rather than focus on the sights or her memories of the battle.
A lot of people had died, obviously. Gnomes, humans, it didn’t matter. Janis had grown used to that. She was barely twenty years old and already a veteran of many battles. Well, ‘many’ might be overstating it a little, but this was hardly her first battlefield. She liked to think it gave her the experience to step back and consider this in tactical terms, to consider the strategic consequences.
And they were looking pretty good. Even if the hive had probably lost more drones here than in any single battle before, their army still stood. New Swarm Drones were being hatched by Drone Breeders this very moment. It might be the merciless calculus of war, but the gnomes weren’t going to get reinforcements that quickly. And more importantly, the hive had just captured a key strategic position.
Regina might want her to go back to Cera or even wherever else she might decide to set up court. Personally, Janis hoped she would be able to stay for at least the next phase, to see the beginning of the new push she knew must come after this victory.
Probably not today, though, she told herself, glancing at the armies still largely encamped close to the city walls. The vast majority of them consisted of War Drones, and the Delvers and other human soldiers who’d come were mostly inside the city. All of them had taken casualties. The healers were still just as busy as during the battle, if not more so. If her mana well wasn’t dangerously low, Janis would be with them now, helping to heal the wounded. She’d head back there soon. She might not be an Ancient Doctor, but she knew Basic Heal, which was more than enough to be useful and needed.
Quite a few Delvers and Cernlian mages were going to come out of this having learned that Spell, Janis suspected. Of all the things they could learn here, she really couldn’t feel the slightest bit of concern about that. Like more technical knowledge of medicine, any kind of healing magic should be spread as widely as possible. It’s usually the civilians who bear the brunt of the damage, anyway, she reflected, glancing at the city again. More healers would be a godsend, not matter what.
Somehow, her contemplation had turned into considering the logistics and infrastructure requirements and then making a plan to found hospitals across the Empire, with special attention paid to training programs, preferably medical faculties in associated universities, so they could teach enough healers for the people. Janis caught herself thinking of who to approach for the project and how they might have to split resources with the other educational programs the Hive was already sponsoring. It still felt a bit weird to realize she was the sort of person who could actually make something like this happen, but she was growing used to it.
And apparently, her being here wasn’t hurting that capability any. That just figured. Somehow, people always seemed to think the leaders should be those who were good at perpetuating violence, not even just good at directing others on how to do violence at large scales. It didn’t really make much sense if you thought about it. Some nobles sent their heirs to war specifically for the reputation boost. At least Janis was confident that hadn’t played any part in Regina’s decisions.
She still thought about it, though, even as she turned and headed deeper into the area the hive’s troops had secured, to the medical facilities they’d put up here. It was a large building on a main street which Janis supposed had once been some kind of commercial center, though it seemed to have been abandoned in advance of the battle. There was access to running water and enough space with some amenities, though.
“Your Highness!” someone called to her.
Janis blinked and turned to look. That couldn’t be someone from the Hive, and even the Delvers tended not to be that formal. Sure enough, it was a human but not one of them.
“Baron Neralt?” she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her tone. “What are you doing here?”
He smiled, apparently not offended, she hoped. “I am here to help secure this city,” he told her. “We don’t want the gnomes to take it back, now do we? I’ve been aiding in reconstructing and reinforcing the walls.”
Janis nodded; that did make sense. “Well, it’s certainly a pleasant surprise to see you,” she responded with a smile, recovering some of her diplomatic skill. “Although I had heard that you would be involved in constructing the new capital.”
He smiled back. “It appears I’m headed there after I am done here,” he said cheerfully.
“Looking forward to the project? I imagine it’s going to be a challenge, but hopefully an interesting one.”
“I’d be certainly surprised, and yes, disappointed if it wasn’t. Say, I assume you are quite busy?”
Janis looked at him for a moment. It was still weird that this man, who’d technically been her lord once, in charge of the village where she’d lived, now saw her as a superior. Not that she disliked him. As far as nobles went, he really wasn’t so bad. And he wasn’t trying to denigrate her now or anything. “I’m needed with the healers, but I certainly have a minute to talk, if you won’t mind walking while we speak?”
“Of course, my Princess, I would be delighted to accompany you. I have been curious about our efforts regarding the hospital, anyhow.”
Janis continued on her way with Neralt coming with. They were pretty close to her goal, anyway. She still didn’t speak first, content to let him breach whatever subject he wanted to talk about.
“You’re aware my mother acted as Her Majesty’s envoy to the Esemen, of course,” he began.
Ah, so that was what it was about. “Of course,” Janis agreed, watching some gnomish civilians scurry past the intersection at the end of the street.
“Since then, we have been a little uncertain about what the future holds for her,” he continued. “Of course, I don’t imagine anyone was anticipating the Empress founding the Empire. Except perhaps her or you, I suppose,” he added consideringly. “But the governorship that seems to have been in her future is looking a bit different, now.”
Of course, it was much less of a prospect now. After all, their deal with Nerlia meant the hive had effectively given back the majority of the territory they’d captured in the war. Regina’s plans had to be adjusted accordingly. But she had promised Marianne Neralt governorship over half of that territory. Now Neralt was trying to make sure she wasn’t getting screwed over by this.
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Luckily, Janis was aware of the issue and Regina’s intentions. “Naturally, things have changed. Lady Marianne is currently working to steward the Hive’s core territory outside our central base, but this is only a temporary posting. If I recall, Regina intends to offer her the office of director of one of the new ministries that will be built. If that is not suitable for whatever reason, alternatives are being considered, either as diplomatic representation of the Empire or perhaps a more challenging administrative role.”
“Such as, say, here?” he asked.
Janis smiled slightly and shrugged. It would depend on how this war turned out, of course, but it wasn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility that they would need a viceroy, a military governor who wasn’t too military, or something of the sort, and for several reasons, choosing a human instead of a Hivekind would probably be better.
“By the way, have you been named an advisor of the Empress yet?” she asked, genuinely curious.
Neralt smiled a bit more stiffly. “I have not received that honor.”
“Ah. Well, I wouldn’t worry about that. Unless she thinks it’s redundant since you will be given a suitable office and title for building the capital.”
Neralt dipped his head. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, Princess Janis. As it happens, that was not all I wanted to speak about, though.”
“I’m all ears.” Janis paused the conversation a bit to focus on the hospital they’d just entered. Not that it was much of one. But at least they had enough space to care for patients, the healers were well supplied with bandages and other necessities and even some more delicate tools, and there was plenty of distilled alcohol for disinfection. Considering most of them would use magic to heal, it really wasn’t bad. On the other hand, most everyone she met was clearly exhausted, not just physically but magically.
Neralt was equally silent for a bit, probably hesitant to come right out with whatever else he wanted to say. “How long do you reckon the war is going to continue on for?” he finally asked.
“That’s not something I’d be very confident estimating,” Janis replied, readying herself to cast some more magical healing and checking on the patients. Most of the more acute cases had already been dealt with, thankfully.
She stopped by one man, probably one of the Delvers, and checked his stump. He’d lost the arm, amputated by one of their healers to save his life. It was clean and uninfected but had been properly finished, thankfully. He’d have to be seen by Regina or one of the few healers in the Empire who knew Greater Heal in order to regrow it. At least, she hoped it would work.
“But it could take years,” Neralt said.
Janis shrugged as she turned. “It could. It could also be over in a few months. A lot depends on inestimable factors in how the war will proceed and how any kind of settlement will look like.”
“So, it doesn’t need to be a war to the death?” he pressed.
Janis glanced around them, at the hospital and the people beyond it. “Poor choice of words, Baron,” she commented drily. All wars are wars to the death, aren’t they? There is certainly death here. “But I did not say ‘settlement’ to mean it wouldn’t be necessary for the Hive — excuse me, the Empire — to conquer them. There will need to be some kind of final settlement either way. We are hardly going to genocide all the gnomes in the Gnomish Confederation of the East.”
He nodded. “Of course. I did not mean to offend. But I notice you did not say it was going to have to be total conquest, either.”
Janis sighed. She paused before continuing on to the patients, not really looking forward to that anyway. “It’s not my decision to make, and I won’t comment on Regina’s intentions. I’m sure we would all prefer this to conclude with as little loss of life as possible. I certainly would. But it’s anyone’s guess whether the gnomes would even be open to negotiations at this point. They seemed to be quite set on vanquishing the Hive, ideologically. I don’t want to fight this war only to have to fight it again five years later, after another unprovoked atrocity, either.”
I’m already starting to sound like a politician, she noted, cringing internally just a little. No specific position or absolute statement. It’s true, though, for all that. Janis knew Regina didn’t have much of a plan. To be fair, she had something more like a priority goal list and some thoughts on how to proceed, with a lot of flexibility.
“That’s understandable,” Neralt said quietly. “I dare say no one would feel differently. All the same, this war is a definite drain on the Empire, not just monetarily or militarily, and I think it has the potential for danger in more than the obvious way.”
Janis shook hair out of her eyes, regarding him again. “Perhaps you’re right,” she said. “But is there a specific point to this? Not that I do not want to hear your thoughts on the matter, but I should be getting started healing our patients.”
“Of course, my apologies for the delay. I would like to note that dragging out this war, or even concluding with some kind of ‘complete conquest’ might be bad for the Empire’s position, domestically and especially internationally.”
“We are aware of that,” Janis said a bit drily. They’d discussed the issue, she just didn’t see an obvious solution.
“So, it occurs to me that it would be the best solution to have a reasonable settlement with the gnomish state, with assurance that they are going to hold to their side of whatever arrangement is reached, and their … ideological prejudices against Hivekind being combatted and diminishing if not entirely gone.”
“We’d certainly like that scenario.” Janis paused, turning to face him fully. “Are you advocating for a strategy of regime change in the Confederation, Lord Neralt?”
He met her gaze squarely. “It would solve our problems most fully, and I believe it is achievable,” he said calmly.
Janis hmm’d. She had actually advocated a not dissimilar position to Regina. “If it was possible, certainly. But engineering regime change is a dicey proposition, especially for an enemy you’re at war with and who hates your kind. This kind of change would most likely have to come from within, wouldn’t it?”
“Who’s to say it wouldn’t?” Neralt paused, raising his shoulders a little. “Milady, I’ve had dealings with the gnomes since before you even came to the barony. Only occasionally, of course, but still … I would bet my name that there is dissent in the Gnomish Confederation. They’re hardly a monolith. From what we’ve been able to tell, the ruling Historicals have used the war to crack down on opposition and consolidate their power as well as pushing this ideology to support the war they started, but I doubt they’ve accomplished it entirely. Perhaps, just perhaps, there’s enough political opposition left to topple their control, if they lose as they’ve been doing.”
Janis nodded slowly. “What, exactly, are you proposing to do?”
“For now, we could start very small. I know your Hive has taken gnomish prisoners and they’ve been transferred to Cernlia. Please let myself and some of my people, as well as others who have the necessary expertise, participate in the interrogations. Let us make suggestions on potential targets, not just soldiers but supporting staff too, especially females. Let us talk to the gnomes in this city. We will conduct an effort to gather more information and assess if a strategy such as we wish for is possible.”
Janis stayed quiet for a minute, tapping her fingers as she was thinking. A part of her wanted to find reasons to refuse, to critique his words. But she had to admit she felt he was mostly right. And he wasn’t asking for much, right now.
“Alright,” she conceded. She didn’t even need to ask Regina for this, giving him access to the gnomish prisoners was entirely within her authority. “You’ll be authorized to participate in the interrogations, stay in occupied territory and suggest intelligence targets for the military command staff. After I’m done here, I’ll write up something official, giving you some responsibility for the prisoner interviews. You are still just as forbidden from using forceful methods without authorization as anyone else, though. And I’d like you to keep me informed of your conclusions and data. Fully, including any points of concern. You’ll need to defend this course to Regina sooner or later, anyway, and she’ll see if you’re not being honest or holding something back.”
Neralt gave a short bow. “Of course. Thank you, Your Highness. I will make sure to keep you informed.”
Janis nodded. “Then, I really should get to the healing. Thank you, Baron, I hope to see you soon.”
Even as she got started on healing the injured, though, Janis couldn’t help but think of what Neralt had said. She never wanted to feel like she was waging war unnecessarily. Of course, life would be a lot easier if that was always clear.
For now, Janis concentrated on the patients she was helping, feeling like she was at least doing something good on a more tangible scale than the great moves of nations. Healing was never really her specialty, she was steeped in elemental magic, but maybe she should give healing magic more attention, there was really something to be said for this.