Thunder rumbled over Thelma as the summer storm did its best to make its displeasure known. Heavy rain poured down; enough that almost no one dared leave their homes.
Amelia walked through the downpour without hurry.
The water stopped well before her skin, seemingly understanding that it would mar something beautiful by touching her. Her purple eyes glowed ominously as she listened to her summon’s feedback, occasionally nodding and humming.
“I’ll have to change a few things if they are giving command to Count Pollus as it seems. But this is good too. By the time he’s ready to take the field, we’ll have a hardened army.” She murmured, dismissing her shadow.
The imposing building in front of her might be deemed impressive only by the country bumpkins who lived in this area of the south, cut off from the civilized world by the Serpent Sea and the Darkwood as they were.
Amelia didn’t bat an eye as she reached the mayoral mansion and entered it, barely slowing to nod to the two guards who held the door open for her. Inside the building, safe from the fury of the elements, people rushed around, yelling at each other to make way and waving pieces of paper.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/fyyc8PRr/persimmon0-two-medieval-guards-holding-the-entrance-door-to-a-g-b3245028-e8a2-4a1c-ba99-f592ae6c15e8.png]
Still, no one impeded her path, and she left the burgeoning bureaucrats of the revolution to their jobs. Despite their chaotic methods, they seemed to be doing good work, and she knew Damien was subtly guiding them to become more efficient. The vicar might not be as magically talented as her or little Jean, but one had to look beyond simple battlefield capability to run a country. Cunning and social talent were also important. She was very relieved that Leonard seemed to understand this already.
“My lady!” One of the guards standing outside the council room saluted, and she granted him a fleeting smile, secretly enjoying how the trained soldier reddened.
Entering the room, Amelia was pleased to see someone had the good sense to remove most of the tacky decorations. A large banner depicting the golden griffin with the broken chain in its mouth - the new symbol of the revolution - had taken the place of a Lantean tapestry that she was sure had been sold as some prank, given its eye-watering colors. Knowing the elves, they must have found it amusing how poor human nobles from the hicks were willing to part with what little coin they had to claim one of the famous art pieces.
The rest of the council was already present, except for Gareth, who was still busy drilling the recruits. With their tight timeline, they couldn’t afford to waste even rainy days like this.
“Are you finally done with your skullduggery?” Lia croaked from her chair, favoring her with an impish grin that looked out of place on such an old hobgoblin.
The revolution’s coming had revived her more thoroughly than any of her brews. Where before she grew visibly weary with every month that more and more people came flooding into Alpar, she now had a revitalized, almost girlish air about her. Considering that Amelia knew just how involved Lia had been in removing dissenters and chasing down useful whispers, she had weird tastes, but that wasn’t anything new.
“I have completed my duties as Spymistress," Amelia answered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. While Leonard might not mind being casual during these meetings - everybody respected him too much for such a thing to lower his standing - she preferred to maintain a more professional demeanor. After all, they were laying the foundational stones of a nation. It wouldn’t be appropriate for her to be perceived as a frivolous woman. Not that she would allow such a portrayal, but still...
“Anything we need to know?” Leonard asked. It was one of the many things Amelia appreciated about him. He knew not to overstep and micromanage everything. He trusted her to do her duty.
“There are some interesting whispers. As we already knew, De Hoop sent a communication about our arrival here to Treon and one to Hassel, though he didn’t manage to tell them the town fell. I learned that some of the more capable nobles in Hassel are pushing for a rapid mustering, though it will take a long time before they overcome the larger factions’ resistance. No one wants a new war so soon after the Incursion.” Unsaid went that it was their actions in forsaking the southern lands that pushed things in this direction. Had the nobles helped the dispossessed as promised, the revolution would have found much poorer soil.
That wasn’t to say it wouldn’t have happened. Leonard’s hatred of slavery and aristocracy was too great and well-known. Someone would have tested him, and even if they didn’t kill Belinda, they would have provoked him into acting. And Amelia knew very well that he could fight this war by himself if necessary. A targeted strike at the royal palace would be enough to send the country into chaos.
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Hearing that, Leonard became more serious, and the others followed suit. “How much time do we have before we can expect the army to show up?” He asked.
“If nothing slows them down, they could be ready to march within a few weeks, though traversing the Darkwood will test any green army. As far as I know, the orc tribes have resettled well. They won’t appreciate any further transgression of the Pact," Amelia replied.
Everyone knew how slow the response to any problem tended to be in Hetnia. Many towns on the eastern coast had been razed to the ground during the early days of the Incursion specifically because one noble or the other ordered the men under their command to parade or hunt instead of marching them to where they were needed. The fact that it could take only a few weeks for the Southern Army to be called up was quite surprising.
“I suppose you expect the command to be given to Count Pollus?” Leonard asked, scratching his chin. It was the only real possibility, given the notorious lack of martial talent of House Hetnia. The Duke and his children were much more likely to spend the tributes they gathered yearly from their lands in the capital living lavishly.
Amelia nodded, dark hair cascading around her gracefully. “Yes, the Count is the only realistic option. If it had been a simple rebellion, the command could have been given to a noble scion, but since it’s us, they have to fight seriously; even Duke Hetnia won’t take chances. Pollus has significant merits under his belt from his time in the 1st Mage Corp in the Capital, and he has been the de-facto ruler of Hetnia for years now. He won’t allow any upstart to take command.”
The news was received with grim acceptance. No one expected the upcoming fight to be easy despite the quick victories in the first two battles. However, hearing that the enemy would have a skilled commander was still unwelcome.
“I assume you have a way of affecting the speed of their mustering since you specified they would take a few weeks without interference?” Gerard asked. The new minister of war was much more shrewd than his fame as a headstrong commander would make one think, and he had shown to be particularly cunning when plotting out their future moves, always taking into account all possibilities.
We’ll have to do something about his personal might. He’s a good general, great even, but it will be worthless if he dies the first time someone with a good aim shoots him in the head. But I suppose that’s more Leonard’s business. I need to trust him to handle these things by himself, or I’ll never be able to do my job.
Still, a suggestion here or there would be enough to nudge a talented knight like him in the right direction.
“You are correct,” she replied with a small smile that made the man cough in embarrassment. They’d have to work on that too. A weakness to beautiful women might be useful in enemies, but in allies, it was unacceptable. “I have several assets in place that should make it much harder for them to go through the initial phases, and even after they begin marching, I’m preparing some options for delaying them further.”
It wouldn’t do for the revolutionary army to be caught before they were ready to fight. Ideally, they’d be able to conquer the entire southern belt of towns all the way to Treon before the army mustered, but that wasn’t likely. Not unless Leonard started showing more of his power and facilitated their advance, but that could have the unfortunate side-effect of making their forces completely dependent on him rather than building their own strength.
Or we could attract more attention than we can handle. Better to keep a low profile for the moment.
“Good, we need as much time as possible. The main army corps won’t move as long as the fighting is restricted to Hetnia, and the local forces still have to engage us, so concentrate on delaying their efforts," Leonard ordered before turning to Gerard. “We need to use the time Amelia is earning for us efficiently. The training you have devised for the recruits is good for now, but nothing can beat real-world experience. You have a week before we need to move out. Giving Lamprey Port too much time to prepare could be disastrous."
The minister nodded sternly, “Yes, sir! We’ll focus our efforts on preparing the men to fight against larger forces, with an emphasis on personal excellence. I have already drafted plans, in collaboration with Sir Gareth, to initiate the formation of elite forces. We believe that some of those methods can be applied to the larger force. We may not match the Royal Army in numbers for a long time, but by training high-quality troops, we will still be on par with them.”
“I have finished sorting out our storage of herbs and alchemical ingredients. I can supply you with a hundred batches of stamina potions that should allow you to squeeze the men more,” Lia interrupted, sliding over a piece of paper to Gerard, who immediately began reading it.
Soon after, he nodded in apparent satisfaction. “From our earlier discussion, I thought we’d only have enough for the elite squad since you needed the time to brew mana potions for the new mages and healing elixirs for the campaign, but if these numbers are correct, we’ll be able to get much more done.” The grin on his face showed that the poor recruits had a grueling few days ahead of them.
“The local nobles had their own stores, which were untouched by the looting as they had magical protections. By commandeering them all and conscripting all of my apprentices’ apprentices, I’ll be able to produce much more than I initially expected,” the old hobgoblin replied with a feral grin.
She’s having fun, eh? I imagine Jessica and her girls will be too busy brewing to do their original jobs, but that might be for the better. If we want to build a new society, we need to offer lucrative jobs to everyone, even the dregs of society. As long as they are loyal to the revolution, of course.
“That’s very good, Lia," Leonard praised, earning a more moderate smile from the woman. “I had thought I’d need to be around to act as a healer since I’m the only one capable of casting [Regeneration] without needing to rest, but this will free up my time."
Amelia could see the inkling of an idea form in his eyes and resisted the urge to demand to know what it was. He’d tell her if it was important enough, and it wasn’t like he was obligated to involve her in everything. It was important to remember that. She didn’t want to become too oppressive.
She had known that Leonard had spent all his free time, while not conducting court and administering justice, at the barracks, but she hadn’t known he was acting as a healer. It made sense, though, since the local priests under Damien were being put to use to get the freed slaves to good health, and the magic they could use was only of the first and second tier. Everyone knew that receiving [Healing Touch] would set back one’s training progress to what it was at the beginning of the day.
[Regeneration] was a completely different matter, being a spell of the third tier.
With that, the meeting was adjourned, though Amelia remained in her seat. One look from Leonard was enough to know he wanted to talk in private.