The fresh breeze coming from the sea ruffled his blonde hair. He breathed in salty, clean air and sighed.
Leonard observed the squad of soldiers spread around them. They were far enough to give a veneer of privacy but close enough that they could still hear.
That was good, as he wanted them to know what was discussed. They’d each have to make their own choice, and he wasn’t above influencing them by showing their Captain coming to his side.
If he ends up going that way. But I’ve gotten to know him well enough that I doubt he’ll disappoint me.
Leonard could always use some of his more esoteric abilities to convince the knight, but he’d prefer if Gerard came to his side of his own volition. True believers were always better than coerced soldiers.
“What do you see when you look at this town?” He asked, walking a few feet until he was at the edge of the stone wharf and sitting down.
Gerard sat down next to him without hesitation. The clinking of his armor reminded Leonard of the past, but he didn’t let that distract him.
“Alpar is not perfect, but I see the seeds of resilience here. Despite being abandoned to our means, we have managed to survive. I don’t know where the future will bring us, but we are not done yet.”
Leonard hummed at the answer. It was an optimistic one, but also naive, “That is true, in part. The problem is that seeds require sunlight, water, and good earth to grow. Some manage to make do without one, but never without two. Alpar has been left with only its own natural grit for too long to survive.”
It was a scathing sentence. In essence, Leonard was saying that there was no future for the town as things stood. What little merchant traffic came from the southern countries mainly consisted of them unloading the worst products in their stocks and taking slaves to sell around the world. From the north, only the bare minimum trickled in. The lack of commerce was slowly choking them, and if that wasn’t enough, the upper classes monopolized the local resources.
“So you believe rebellion is the answer? Do you not have friends among the powerful? I know several high noble scions fought with you against the Void.” The knight replied. He wasn’t trying to rebuke the assessment, which was a point in his favor, but his vision was still too narrow.
“I have made some friends, yes, and pulling on those connections should be enough to get something, but you should ask yourself one thing. What makes you think I haven’t tried that?” And Leonard had. Despite fighting a war for four years, he had still gotten out of it almost as naive as he had entered. The horrors he had fought were so alien to life that the atrocities were relegated to the recesses of his mind.
So, foolishly, he had asked his friends for help when it became evident that the promised help wouldn’t arrive and that no matter his and a few others’ efforts, Alpar wouldn’t be able to deal with the refugee crisis by itself.
He could have convinced himself that his friends had been prevented from answering if he hadn't received answers. Maybe that his letters hadn’t reached them.
But they had answered. Bernard de Luminier, his male best friend in this world, who had trained with him and helped him grow into who he was now and currently served as the First Lance of the Royal Guard, had prevaricated, saying that he should trust His Majesty’s plan.
William Nassay, son of Duke Nassay and a man of many means, had flatly ignored his request for help, instead sending him a handful of interesting trinkets he had picked up on his visit to the kingdom of Eturia in the north.
The only person who had offered personal help was Jean Franklin, the genius mage apprenticed to the current Chief Archmage of the kingdom’s Magic Towers. She was a kind and empathetic girl who would have answered his call if not for her master forbidding her from leaving the capital. Her personal means were also minimal, being an orphan from a commoner background who had barely avoided slavery.
So Leonard could only conclude that the state of things was how it was because those in power wanted it.
Gerard’s face tightened. The implications were not pleasant, but he didn’t seem to reject them out of hand. “There is no other way than open rebellion, then?”
The soldiers shifted in agitation. It was not something that was ever evoked lightly, much less by a Captain of the Royal Army.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Leonard stood up silently. He stared at the soldiers, who had lost the pretense they weren’t listening. Gerard stood up, too.
“There is no other way. This is the right path. A system that actively works against the weak and dispossessed is not a system that deserves to stay around, and the king has shown to be either too incompetent to prevent its failures or perfectly fine with them. Haylich needs to change, and if I have to be the one to do it, I’ll be glad to have you with me. We fought back the armies of the Void together. We bled and sacrificed much to protect the people, and yet the nobles would have our suffering be in vain. Join me. Let us build a better future for all.” Leonard’s voice thundered through the port. People of all social strata stopped what they were doing to witness something their instincts told them was of fundamental importance.
The soldiers should have, by all rights, unsheathed their swords and ran him through then and there. He was an admitted rebel who intended to strike at the crown.
And yet, one by one, the men knelt. They laid their weapons down without hesitation, and Leonard could see that the choice had been made in their heart. They would fight for him, for the cause, because they understood it to be right.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/8z9TYC1s/persimmon0-soldiers-kneeling-down-to-take-an-oath-revolutionari-e645c771-817e-4e52-a423-a9ae4a457895.png]
Sir Gerard was the last to kneel, but he did so nonetheless. He removed his sword from his hip and placed it on his knee. “May the Light bless us. We will join you in your righteous cause, Hero.”
Leonard walked over to the man and grabbed him by the shoulders, gently forcing him up. He stared into his eyes, seeing that he was truthful. No shade of uncertainty remained in him. Gerard had made his choice.
Leonard hugged him, “Thank you, brother. We will fight and bleed together once more, but our victory will finally bring justice to Haylich.”
----------------------------------------
It took a while for the situation to calm down enough. Leonard had gone to every man in the company and personally thanked them for their decision. He had then been brought to the garrison, where he repeated the question to the soldiers resting there.
With the support of the local Captain, there wasn’t anyone who dissented. Not that Leonard had expected it, as everyone knew the issues he talked about. Even the most privileged of Alpar’s residents were aware that the situation was untenable. They just thought they might squeeze the lower classes for a while longer before it exploded.
In one fell swoop, Leonard had received the loyalty of the 105th. It was the only significant force left within Alpar that could try to oppose him, which meant that the town was basically in his control. He only needed to formalize the acquisition, which was why his next stop would be the courthouse.
He had already covertly sent a message to Amelia, through the network of minor spirits she kept summoned at all times, to begin to gather the people there, but he had a few hours to kill before the stage was ready.
Thus, Leonard found himself discussing the general situation with the garrison’s officers. They were sitting in Gerard’s office, which was spacious enough to host the twenty Sergeants, two Lieutenants, and one Captain alongside Leonard.
It was a room he had been in more times than he could count, as during the Incursion it had been used by the Heroic Party as a war room. They had planned several assaults on the Void’s forces from there, including the last operation to eliminate what they believed to be remnants and instead turned out to be a sizable contingent led by a monstrously powerful entity.
Despite being only five months ago, those times felt like a different life.
“So you believe the Royal Army might not mobilize all at once?” One of the Sergeants asked, forcing Leonard back to the present.
“Indeed. Local garrisons will be activated, of course. Some sooner than others, but seeing the Court’s policy towards Hetnia as a whole, I doubt they will expend any more effort than it is essential, especially since they are still very much in the process of rebuilding their strength after the Incursion and need what little they have left to guard the borders.” He answered.
The Sergeant, a man with short-cropped black hair, dark eyes, and a scar running down his brow to his chin, hummed at that, “I suppose that Garva will be too busy guarding against raids from the tribes in the Death Pass and the northern provinces have their own issues.”
“Eturia won’t attack if there is an army to man the forts, but they cannot leave them open. Nor can they staff them with raw recruits, as the ruse would become apparent at the first skirmish along the White Bridge.” Another commented.
“So we’ll have time to grow a fresh army by defeating the first few enemies,” Gerard added, staring down at a map of Haylich. The man had transformed once he had decided to dedicate himself to Leonard’s cause. Not as dramatically as Gareth had, but it was still noticeable. Gone was the weight pressing him down, and a fire Leonard hadn’t seen in months was back.
For a long time, it had seemed like the knight had been lost, adrift in a peace he didn’t feel. Now that he was back in familiar terrain, he had regained his edge.
“We might need to preemptively strike Thelma before they can muster. Their soldiers are not as bloodied as ours, and I doubt they have as many Journeymen as we have. They should operate mostly with Apprentice soldiers, as their wards have kept them safe behind their walls instead of fighting the voidling like us.”
Leonard nodded. That was similar to his own assessment. In a way, Alpar being abandoned to its fate meant that since it managed to survive, all those who had served in its defense were much stronger than the average soldier. Of course, many more died in this meat grinder, but it produced excellent fighters. Everyone who had fought against the Void had received their second Blessing, and some, like Gerard and Gareth, were even stronger.
His initial forces might not be numerous, but they were mighty, which, in a way, was better.
“We might have fewer absolute numbers, but I’d pit any man in the 105th against five in the 104th.” Leonard said, earning some puffed chests and many “hear, hear” from the men.
“We’ll leave the proper planning to once we have seized control of the town, and the war council can be assembled, but for the moment, proceed with what we have discussed. Close the gates, and don’t let anyone out.” He finally added.
The men agreed, standing up and saluting him. It was easier than he had expected to fall back into a military bearing, and the local soldiers seemed to have no trouble with it. He was the Hero, after all, and they had already been under his nominal command only months before.
Then, his shadow twitched, a shadeling emerging for just a second to give him a thumbs up. The creature was a wispy, fat little humanoid, which he knew was the case because Amelia preferred them, thinking them cute.
They had always reminded Leonard of cartoon ghosts.
Giving the creature a subtle nod, it dissipated, its role complete.
The stage was set.