29th of Coldborn, second month of 984:
“Welcome, my loyal subjects.” Started Countess Simil, who stood in a hastily prepared grandstand in the outskirts of the city. To her right and two steps behind, kneeled High Commander Kraus; to her left, one step behind, stood her heiress Maliz.
“Even if the reason we are reunited today is bleak news, it is an honour to see all of my twenty one barons united together. And I am proud we stand as one in this new battle!” Countess Simil marvelled at the twenty thousand men fielded in the plains, their look bringing an array of different colours to the plains of ‘Ice Garden’. Yellow, orange, blue, green,... While the Imperial Army had a standardised uniform, each noble family, military order and Knightly Order dressed their forces as they liked. While almost all were levies, it was by no means a small force. “The barbarians from the Islands didn’t learn their lesson three hundred years ago, did they?! Upon the North falls the duty of teaching these dogs what it means to show and steep all over our beloved soils with their cheap boots!!”
The cacophony of the soldiers almost ruining her hearing, she continued unabated, “They dare to bring less than half a hundred thousand?! Then we will bury them in waves of cold and hard steel!!” After waiting for a few moments so that silence returned to the field, she ended with,” High Commander Kraus will explain the strategy our Duchess has chosen, hear!”
Walking forward, Kraus hailed and started, “Our battle plan consists of a layered deep defence separated in four frontlines. The first one will surround the beach as closely as they are able to. Consisting of you, our levies, you will hold the line. The second will be our men at arms, who will reinforce the line and charge in their weak points as their commanders see fit. The third will be the countess troops, and will be in charge of support and range attacks. The last one will be our Duchess main army together with combat mages, who will rain fire upon the enemy and act as the reserves. You shall be organised on site by our Great Duchess onto the first two lanes. You may be proud, for you have been selected for the most important place, full of glory and victory!!”
The illiterate levies started cheering.
“Now, rest after your long trek. We will start marching tomorrow's dawn!”
The armies started to set camp, as there was little daylight left. Noct’s was not an exception.
The gazes of the soldiers eyed Noct as he helped them put up the tents, now a mixture of fear and respect. He did not sleep in a bigger tent, nor did he eat flavourful food. He had been the first in their march together with High Commander Andras, walking as they had. He had set the night patrols and he himself had watched. He had eaten the same, salted fish and dried pork, as they and he had not once acted as it was expected from a noble. With loyalty now mildly backed by actions, their morale had gone slightly up if anything.
“Do they plan to pincer us with both the pirates and the Duchess forces? While effective, it carries a high risk of the flanks being able to evade the encircling.” Meditated Andras, resting on a big rock.
“And that’s where we will be, even if I have to kneel and lick their boots.” Accepted Noct. as he tied the ropes to fix the tent.
“A plan worthy of the most hardened warriors, a battle of wits and words!” Merrily laughed Andras.
“How are the men?”
“Curses be casted upon me, no deserters as of now. Stamina is also high, you planning for the long march helped. What I fear is proper combat. Most are greenhorns that have yet to shred blood. They will perform at a decreased rate, and that is putting it lightly.” His unease could be seen in his small pauses between words.
“You fear they freeze up and get themselves killed?”
“Yes.”
Raising up and dusting his hands, Noct addressed, “Had you helped me, I would be saying sweet nothings. Now, I will say that it's your job to stop that. I will keep an eye on the most kind of the recruits, but I fear that will be all I will be able to do. I will be the first to engage and the last one to retreat after all.” Grumbled Noct.
“Nothing you can think of?”
“Apart from the old trusty one of ‘repeating till their ears bleed how bad and evil the enemy is’, no. For experience there’s no substitute.”
Andras breathed out, he was tired of seeing younger people die. A hand found his shoulder and he heard.
“Do not fret. If they can do the same formations they should be fine. Peer pressure does wonders. If you got a friend at your side you are not letting the bastard in front of you live to kill them. Rest a bit. After all, you are getting old.”
After making what could be the combination of a sigh and a laugh, Andras replied, “You pray, I still have twenty years left to keep beating you in swordplay.”
“Want a bout once we come back? I will wipe that smirk out of you.” Smirked Noct
“Promise to not cry warg and I accept.” Andras laughed again. Having relaxed, sleep started to try to find him. “But I will take you on that offer to rest, my endurance is not what it used to be.
………….
“So, High Commander Lantraz, what is the plan?” Asked the captain of the Undead Cavalry brigade.
“Isn’t it evident? To not participate.” Palpable hate could be felt in its eyes as he oversaw the tens of thousands of human soldiers.
“Only stalking? For that I alone would have been enough! Do you have an idea of how hard it is to hide an army of three thousand strong?!” Eve wanted to tear its hair out.
“Those are enemies, Firstborn Eve.” Retorted the captain of the spear brigade. “I surmise we are here to ‘drill’ in case of an emergency to support our Lord, right, Secondborn Lantraz?”
“Indeed.”
“Well, my mages could make a severe difference in the field. Meatbags tend to disregard the arcane arts.” Kal meditated out loud from its resting spot near a tree. “A few dozen is enough to completely wipe out half of that, and I have eight well trained mages and a few beginners.”
The captain of the swordsman brigade rising from its kneeling, “I will prepare our siblings for the new march. And you take us lightly, our equipment is realms beyond those ones. They would need twenty meatbags to cause some trouble to one of the mutes. A named skeleton would wipe out the floor with them and have enough energy to clean it after the fact.”
“Overconfidence is a slow killer, Potros. But rest assured, I am the one who trained you all after all. You would win, of that I am sure.”
“....Anything more to discuss?” A bored Eve said. The concerned gaze Kal directed to it was overlooked by Andras, as it was still looking at the swarming armies in the plains.
“Will your…”
“For Heaven’s sake, yes, my sisters are ready to tear and rip apart humans. I was asking for important things left to be said.”
“Nothing left….And thank you both.”
“He is our lord too, oaf. No need to be thankful.” Snapped back Eve as it started to walk. A nod of Kal reinforced the notion.
As they gained distance, Kal addressed its misgivings in a low tone. “Are you sure it is smart to keep sneaking to Noct’s chamber to bite him”
“Elenia’s undergarments! For the fifth time, I only sip a few drops. You know once he gets back he will buy from that damned reptilian alchemist and those will become useless again!”
“I do not know how to feel about you slaving Noct to you.” Kal confessed.
The head of Eve turning towards it, it resisted the urge to slam Kal on a tree and scream at it. Taking a breath, Eve slowly said. “We want the same, we made the pact long ago. I become his wife, you get your happy family and we get Noct out of that place, right? Are you going to let him die in combat?”
“That’s why I am here, Eve. I can also get angry, you know? Long have passed the days of you being the best of us in combat. I want you to say those words again, even more slowly. A husband, not a slave without will. You cannot win love with your poisons.” Retorted Kal, surprising both with the amount of words it was wasting today.
“And what are you going to do about it?” Eve smirked. Both of them knew Noct would first turn into a monk that even toy with the notion of Eve poisoning him.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Kal refused to answer, choosing to magically blend into the surroundings and walking out.
“Thank you, Kal. This is just the start, I won’t go as far as you fear.” Still said Eve.
…………………
“You are telling me nobody has found Samil yet? It’s been a week!!” Pleaded Soral.
“My new pack has searched all around the city and nearby forest, Matriarch. If she has gone something she has gone with the men of iron and arrow.” Answered Moonhide.
“Andras already prohibited her from going! She told me herself!”
“Then either she lied or she disobeyed her father.” Gemegs shrugged. Irritation letting herself be seen in his voice, he counterasked, “Can we get back to our jobs, my Lady? The reports from the expansion of….” A claw grasped his shoulder and he quieted down.
“Work can wait, fellow packmember.” Softly murmured the wolfman.
“Work cannot wait, wolfman! We are at war, it is the only time we are expected to work overtime to oversee that everything goes according to plan! A tardy delivery, a faulty armour or cart, non drinkable water mixed in and people will die!” Snapped Gemebs, as if that had touched a sore nerve. “Now, our Lady can either get the things done or I will!”
“You are right, I am sorry.” Guilt evident in her vocabulary, Gemebs could but realise he was projecting on a bystander. “Is the convoy of rations and ammunition ready to start marching in a few days?”
“As ready as it can.” Nodded Gemebs, looking at the papers on his desk. They were the only ones in the room as of for now. The others were in the field collecting reports from the guilds.
“Glad to hear.”
An uncomfortable silence came in as they worked on their own. Unaddressed fears for the friends and acquaintances weighing down, a prayer from Soral scrapped its confined place.
“Please, arrive without problems! Grant me this, Zun, they do not deserve to die of starvation.”
“You remind me of a mother.” Interceded Moonhide. Receiving the angry look he had wanted Soral to bestow upon him, he started to talk to try and ease the tension. “I know that look well, very well. I think the first time I saw it was when I was a pup without a name.” Ignoring the iracund glare of Gemebs as he wanted him to shut up, he continued as Soral was listening, curiosity winning the battle in the adolescent girl.
“I was too young for a hunt, they had repeatedly told me. I did not listen and there I went.” He started to snarl in a mocking manner, “The first thing I did was to get lost in the green sea. Too many bushes and trees to see well, too meek and subtle the hunt marks for a green horn, and too dumb of a pup to take to mind my tracks. Still, I did find a prey.” His eyes now full of nostalgia, even Gemebs was paying attention to his monologue.
“It was another pup, a deer. The mother was a bit too far away to notice me right away, so I had launched myself at it with wild abandon. It had been a good prey, it had dodged and ran, it had fought me head on in a battle for its life. And the honourable pup had managed to get behind its mother who, seeing me as a non threat, had proceeded to kick me in the chest.” He whimpered a bit, too delighted in the memory to reign in his instincts. “You had the same look when talking about your friend, the look that made me leave my old pack, never to return.”
“Why did you leave?” Asked, hesitantly, Soral.
“Because that deer teached me something. There’s sanctity in any life.” Now baring his fangs, he grumbled, “My brethren are too heated, the blood within ourselves flows too quickly, easy to anger. You call us beasts, and you are half right. But beasts know when to not kill, an act we are, usually, too red to take. I was different, more meck, more of a coward. They gave me a choice, and I chose. I travelled north, hoping to meet our far brethren in these lands. I met softskin’s iron and fire, I found chains and slavery!” He bit the air a few times before stopping himself. “And I was freed by your blood brother.”
“I’m sorry for what my kind has….”
“Do not be, pup. Your kind does that to everyone, even to their litters. I resolved myself for death when I made my choice. You, softskin, granted me the life I had wanted to have. My disgust from bloodshell didn’t come from age.” Realising he had gone off track, he ended it, “Do not be shamed by your fears, they come from care.”
Trying to give him a smile, Soral nodded.
“Well, what a bunch of things I did not want to know.” Started Gemebs. “What can a goblin do but share his story now, too?”
“Do not feel pressured, fellow packmember, we all have secrets we want to bury.”
Not realising his mistake, Gemebs now had no way to share his story now if he did not go against his word.
“If it’s not too rude to ask, why are you here, Gemebs?” Asked Soral, work long forgotten in the room.
Smirking, Gemebs monologued, “Well, you are right to ask it that way. We goblins are not well received, better, we are expelled from other sapient communities. The reason you could ask? We are called thieves, scammers; and our appearances do not help us a bit. Small, green and, in your eyes, disgusting and malformed kids. Why are we called thieves?”
Starting to toy with the papers, he let his mind flow to the past, “We have always lived harsh lives, little strength to fight for our niche, our small size makes most predators dangerous. The only thing we had got going for us for a long time was smarts and each other, so we became more and more communalist. After all, the tribe was our lifeline. We gained a lot of beautiful things, but lost some others along the way. One thing we lost was the notion of private property and individual possessions, for what need was there if everything was of everyone? You needed a shovel? You took it from Gimmil house and returned it after you finished your business. Food? If you are hungry you just eat, looking if anyone intended to do the same of course, first come first served after all. We had and have no need for money because we buy nothing. We make what is needed and we just share it.”
Eyeing them, he added, “You can guess the why of our reputation now. My people have struggled a lot with your idea of possession. Goblins possess nothing, and the term is so far away from our psyche we have never understood. You can explain it for two weeks and we will still not get it, we are wired that way. We see a hungry human kid? We take food from a nearby stand and gave it to him. ‘Money? What is it?’ Has turned into a joke on our communities to diss you lot.”
“It looks like a perfect society.” Daydreamed Soral.
“Only until you really think about it. Your room, your house, your brushes and clothes? They are of the community. Did you know? Our societies lacked a lot of insults until we met other sapients, we had no need nor want to degrade anyone. But one that has remained as our most disgusting diss was, in human terms, ‘Greedy’. Not your greed, of course, if you told your ‘greedy’ to a goblin you would get torn apart!” He started laughing. “Our ‘greedy’ means ‘who which hides things so that others do not use them’. Even our most ‘greedy’ goblins would never take from another. We just want to have some kind of possessions that are ours, truly ours, not of everyone. This is the reason I left. I spent half a year building and crafting my things, recollecting myself the materials I crafted them from, and I left.”
His eyes looking out the window, which was a bit far, he said, “I had never imagined your kind could be so heartless. I spent years regretting my departure, fearing that the work I did for myself could have damaged other goblins as I had wasted that time on myself, and then I see your cities, your lords. Girl, how can you all live like this?” That inappropriate question escaped his filter he always used when dealing with those in power. “It is not an attack on your barony!! Here is heaven on earth if I compare other…..” Starting to intentionally cough to stop himself from digging a bigger hole, he finished, “Well, now you know why I left. I wanted to have something for me and for me only. I never realised I would become that for another sapient.”
Not knowing if the act of apologising on the humans behalf would be seen as empty or as pity, she muttered, “I see….”
“Fars are bad, that’s what I can understand from your tale, fellow packmember.” Said, nodding, Moonhide.
“That I can agree upon.”
…………………….
“Darling, your plan sucks.” Singed Ilkom in a mocked voice. “If your puppets didn’t have their heads in their asses they could crush you before we even sat a foot on the beach.”
“I have enough men to win by myself and I have prepared for that impossible situation.” Rebated tiredly Larra, not even mustering the strength to fight against that stupid nickname.
“The whole collecting mages as if they were woods of different shades? What good would it be to have five or six more eminences shooting fireworks from the back?”
“You will see in battle. If I can ask something unrelated, shouldn’t you be, I don't know, in the open sea, in your fleet and leading your men?”
“Lass, I got enough right hand men to form two ‘Kickaball’ teams. They will manage eight thousand veteran soldiers for two weeks.” Said as he opened a bottle of liquor from Larra’s Castle’s reservoir and filled a cup for himself.
“Do I kick him out?” Asked one of the Knights that protected her in the throne room.
“Oh, by Elenia’s, that hurts my feelings. How could you even ask that? As if my best friend and lover could hold such bleak thoughts!” Mocked Ilkom, ‘I will remember your face, boy. You have enough pride to drown a whale.’
“I can still call off this alliance. Refer to me as Duchess or, at least, stop with your mockery act of impersonating a barely human figure.” It was not the first time today that fury flashed in her eyes, and she feared there would be months of it. ‘I will have to eat healthier or I will risk a heart attack.’
“Chillax lass, I am just making fun of your idiot of a knight. Thank me for not requesting his head on a pyke for talking like that to a foreigner King.” Laughed Ilkom.
“Will you provide coastal shell bombardment as we discussed today or not?”
Moving his left hand as if to dismiss her, he said, “Yes, yes, yes. Gods, would it kill you to talk about anything other than work?”
“We are at war, your Royal Majesty, I cannot afford lesser commitment.”
“Now you are talking in my language.” Bellowed Ilkom, the hate of such mockery dwarfed by the arrogance provoked by his understanding that it was her trying to ease the tensions in their alliance. ‘A Noblewoman with ‘noble’ in big letters, huh?’
“If we could only talk and not scream in it.” Already regretting trying to joke around with the bastard, she sighed.
“Ohoho, I like you already, Duchess.” Ilkom smiled darkly, ‘If only I recruited women, you would make a fine captain. Well, maybe too uptight but nothing I cannot work with.’
………………