Bringing up the guns is something of a pain. Most of our horses were left with the cavalry for obvious reasons so there aren't many to spare for hauling things. We did keep the one, my personal horse, which Pasche has quickly formed a friendship with by dragging cannons and ammunition side by side. She should probably be with the cavalry as well, seeing as she is my newest cavalry officer, but when I suggested she perhaps be trusted with them she simply shut down for a moment, before staying by my side as if I'd said nothing. That I can't bring myself to punish this blatant insubordination might be a sign that I should have paid more attention to the marshal and his myopic speeches... But that I get to see Pasche smiling, working side by side with a friendly destrier might be a sign that I made the right choice, not growing up to see the world in a Steely way.

Despite some difficulties we move the guns into position, much to the surprise and concern of my resting infantry. I can tell they know they're about to be ordered to do something difficult again. That more of them were going to die today.

This was going to be hell on my heart.

I stand before my troops, most of them sitting around campfires and resting their legs after the march here. Showing my face again changes the atmosphere dramatically, making it far, far more tense. I wonder if they hate me. Well, they have to be alive to hate me, so it’s hardly the worst reaction to inspire in them, even if it isn't great.

"Soldiers, attention!"

They hastily, albeit rather sloppily assemble before me, taking some time to get into their proper lines, to form according to their new regiments, and for their officers to ensure their men are paying attention to me... To think, this is ‘only’ two thousand men... To think, I ‘only’ had five thousand before. Even this many feels like a sea of human beings, my mind can’t escape the fact that they could easily trample someone to death.

But can they trample a castle? "Soldiers! We have received news about the location and disposition of enemy forces in the area. We are, at this present moment, under threat of being attacked by an Icenian relief army within the week."

The officers relay the news to soldiers who aren’t close enough to hear me shouting, the information slowly flows through the lines and with it brings an obvious sense of dread.

"We must be prepared for their arrival. If they catch us in the open we will be stuck between the Icenian army and the Magyar garrison, and we will be destroyed. There is no other option, we must crush the Magyars here. We must take this castle and fortify it, and prepare for what may come. Tonight we storm the walls, and your job will be the most important one. We will be taking the front gate, drawing the enemy's attention away from General Malmo's attack on the other walls. When they find an opening to exploit the castle will fall right into our hands, and we'll be able to get to the business of fortifying the place... We attack in an hour, I recommend you see to your equipment."

The troops are expectedly distraught by this plan. I swear I see some of them talking amongst themselves, one even looks ready to punch a nearby ensign. I quickly throw out my magic to catch this man, who restrains himself and finds his confidence for a second, before I withdraw it again. I need every man; I won't have them being court-martialed and sacrificed for fighting their officers when they should be storming the walls…

My eyes turn to Xena, part of me expecting to be flicked in the face for giving such a boring speech... But no flick comes. She dispassionately pats my head in equally baffling fashion. "Good. Tell the troops what to expect without puffery or aggrandizement. You're being honest."

My eyes drift to the side, this is terrible advice and yet I can understand the virtue behind it. "If I couldn't literally force them to be brave and impetuous with magic then we'd all be about to die."

"There are more boring things than being dead."

"I'd prefer to offer you at least a little more excitement than being a corpse though."

Another pat on my head, which makes me wonder if Xena has ever tried to tame a human being before. "Good. You're being ambitious, I like that- And what do you think you idiots are doing?"

Xena's eyes fall on the gunnery crews preparing the cannons, sighting the guns, preparing powder loads. She suddenly holds a quiet fury, and stomps over to lecture the gun crews about proper sighting, citing a bunch of mathematical nonsense that makes me realize that Xena speaks many, MANY languages that I do not understand. The gunnery crews, far from being offended by this intrusion, eagerly accept the instruction and follow Xena's advice to the letter...

Xena just so happens to be a genius artillerist, I wonder if I should consider making her employment in my army more official and give her an officer’s commission... Does the Avernian army have a uniform that would fit her is the real question, given her... Proportions. I doubt they make uniforms in her size…

"... Still smaller than the Queen."

And yet they’re still quite similar, similar enough to draw some comparisons certainly. Similar… I bite my tongue, bidding Velvet to leave my head alone for even five minutes. I have a war to fight and a castle to take, I do not have time to consider Her Majesty's divine figure, or for my head to start looking at Xena in that fashion... It’s going to be a long hour's wait for the men to be prepared. I miss Lazierte. She'd understand what I’m going through, she'd make the time fly by. I hope she’s doing well in Samnia, but it’s probably foolish to hope my brother hasn't been too insufferable. I don't hate him, I love him dearly, but he is a little bit of a braggart and something of an aspiring thespian, It’s hard to imagine Lazierte enjoying his company much... Does she still miss me? Has she perhaps befriended her own Pasche... Is she sharing beds with other girls... Well, it's not as if I haven't, and it isn’t about what she does while we’re apart, it’s about the fact we're going to be together again. I know we will... I just have to take a castle, and then the future where that happens can come a little bit closer.

"Uhh, Serena?" Pasche shakes me rather violently, it’s quite a shock which leaves me wondering what in the heck she’s doing. "It's time?"

I look up and find the sun has descended just that little bit more, my musings about the women in my life have somehow taken an entire hour. "... Thank you, Pasche. I'll get ready to magic up the men."

"They've assembled in rank behind the guns, waiting for your order... Serena, are you sure you're up for this? Wherever you just were, it took a lot of shaking to get you back to Lutice."

I didn’t even notice it... Velvet has paralyzed me with longing for at least two different girls. "I can do this. Only I can do this. It'll sting, it'll be bloody, flesh will be spent but-"

Pasche takes my hand in hers for a moment, running a thumb of her mailed glove over the back of my hand. 'Everything's going to be alright'... I manage to offer her a smile before slipping free of her hand, and the two of us make our way to the men.

Xena appears to be sighting the guns with a telescope, the artillery crew having decided to let her have free rein over their kit. Knowing even what little I know about Xena, I trust she'll make better use of it than the crew would. The Magyars on the walls have noticed our preparations and are preparing their own guns, their own soldiers. I just have to hope we can blow them off the walls before the troops rappel up them.

This is probably as good a time as any to tell the troops their movements. "Alright, the first wave will be the 54th and 68th regiments, when the first cannon volley fires these two units will storm the left and right sides of the gatehouse respectively. When the second cannon volley fires, that will be the cue for Malmo's troops to begin their assault on the sides and rear of the castle. The 54th and 68th will be followed by the 79th and 81st to help secure the gatehouse after the first two regiments take it." Notably, the soldiers of the 54th and 68th do not look confident that they will secure the gatehouse... Not confident yet at any rate, once my magic hits them their confidence will be non-negotiable. "I imagine there will be important medals and promotions in the futures of many among you men when you achieve this victory, Malmo has assured me that you will all be darlings of the press for the victory we are going to win today."

These men clearly have their priorities in order, their fear of being shot outweighing the secure feeling of not being hated by the public... They're so young, it’s obvious now that I’m looking at them.

Young and inexperienced, barely more than a militia, armed with old muskets and sent to die by a nineteen-year-old with half an officer's education... Maybe they are right to be so unruly and undisciplined. Or at least, they aren't nearly as wrong as such a state would imply.

They'll grow up... The ones that live through this will grow up. "Cannons?"

Xena gives a thumbs up, not taking her eyes off the telescope to look at me.

"Fire!"

The first volley of cannon fire rings out, knocking Magyars off the top of the walls and sending them flying. Xena's math powers can kill with ease, I hope I never make her upset with me... I cast my magic over the men of the 54th and 68th, and they eagerly rush forward to perform their duty, charging at the walls with gusto, albeit without being able to keep their rows and ranks. When even the officers are overcome with bravery there is no one to keep the regiment in check...

Perhaps I need to learn some precision with my magic. The gunnery crews begin to reload, taking their sweet time making sure to get the powder load exactly to Xena's specifications... And while the cannons reload I can see Magyars falling from the walls, raining down on top of our advancing soldiers... Gunfire erupts from the fortifications in front of us, but not gunfire directed at our troops.

Xena shakes my shoulder, offering me the telescope. "... Serena, I think you need to see this."

Observing closer with the telescope I see soldiers wearing not the white uniform of the Magyar Empire, but the forest green of the Alemannian Principality... And one of them is holding a standard, a poorly stitched together rendition of an Avernian Lion, which they wave in the air as his comrades butcher Magyars around him... Betrayal amongst the enemy ranks? Alemannia is technically also in a state of war with Avernia, why would their soldiers be doing this?

And oddest of all is the bear amongst them, somehow holding a halberd and... Wait, that's a woman! A seven-foot-tall woman wearing a bearskin and little else, her mouth wet and stained red... And in her other hand, she had a burlap sack, whose contents she emptied over the side of the castle wall. Heads. Over a dozen severed heads.

"... I didn't expect a bear woman."

"Bear woman? ... Let me see that." Xena takes the telescope back, curious about what I meant by ‘bear woman.’ "... Fascinating..."

Xena doesn't speak with the enthusiasm I’d typically expect from someone who has just seen a woman wearing most of a bear and carrying a halberd. But I suppose that by her standards, she sounds quite excited, looking eager at the prospect of studying a woman wearing a bear.

Maybe Xena knows something I don’t, it’s the only explanation I can think of for her being so excited by the bear-wearing murder freak. "... What do you think she's doing-"

"Serena, go and tell your men that they are not to touch the seven-foot-tall bear woman."

"I... What-"

"Tell them she's to remain unharmed. She will be a fascinating research topic" She speaks with a measured tone, but it’s apparent there is the Xena equivalent of an urgent scream behind it.

“… Now please.”

"Okay okay! ... Delay the second cannon volley, I'll give you the signal when to signal Malmo's troops."

"... How? You'll be all the way over there- Oh..." The warmth of my magic immediately makes her realize what the signal will be... And seems to embolden her voyeurism of the clearly mentally disturbed woman on the wall. "Fascinating indeed..."

This is going to end very poorly for all involved... But I did make a promise, and now I am once again chasing after my troops as my heart slowly dies in my chest... Or at least I was, but mercifully Pasche appears by my side, riding my horse.

"I expected you to be at the front with your men. Are you sure you’re okay-"

"Pasche, there's a bear woman on the walls and I need to warn the troops that she might be a friend."

"... What the fuck-"

"Now, Pasche!"

Pasche takes my hand and pulls me onto the horse, the pair of us sharing a saddle. My horse, whose name escapes me at the moment, gallops faster than I ever thought it capable of, almost bowling over a few men in my attempt to get close enough to issue orders.

"Soldiers, do not fire upon the Alemannians unless fired upon. The Greenjackets appear to be allies."

The shout takes a lot out of me, and I clutch my chest as the pain begins to come in earnest. A lot of the men have already begun climbing the walls, I hope they can hear me.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Pasche, whose heart is currently not being shared with almost a thousand other people, shouts an addendum that I really should have thought of at the time. "And their pet bear woman, don't shoot her either!"

I see the men on the walls hesitate for a moment despite my power, bear women are apparently the extent of magical bravery. Still, they continue to climb, soon they'll seize the gatehouse proper... Not that they even need to, the gates soon open without our efforts, the bear woman and several of her green-clad comrades having opened it the old-fashioned way. Getting a closer look, the bayonets of these men seemed different than normal, seemingly designed for slashing rather than stabbing. They put me in mind of giant scalpels, and I wonder if they’re as sharp.

The Bear Woman shouts something in German that I cannot for the life of me even begin to understand, before finishing her speech with some words that at least make it to my brain. "Avernia! Leather!"

... An adherent of Leather... The men who haven't scaled the walls take to swarming the front gate, and mercifully they follow my order to leave the bear woman and her comrades alone. Pasche rides us a little closer to the bear woman in question. She has the smell of blood about her... Her black hair is wild and utterly untamed, and her eyes are a striking shade of gray...

And her mouth is wet, still stained red, with a wide, genuine smile on her face revealing her rather sharp teeth... I know there are rumors, ghost stories really, of some adherents of Leather that still practiced human consumption. But I always thought they were a myth, a thing invented by children to scare other children! And yet a real-life example is staring us in the face, and that example is bounding over to me and Pasche with both incredible power and overwhelming excitement. More like a large, friendly dog rather than a walking horror novel.

"Katarina." She beams at me and bows courteously, and I’m not quite sure how to take that.

"S... Serena." Being so frighteningly close to her certainly causes a rise in my heart rate... "My name is Serena."

"Pasche..." Pasche seems rather guarded, which I admittedly would be as well if I wasn't just far too overwhelmed by this.

Katarina speaks to us in German, rather excitedly, and with a clear belief that we understand even a word of it. I nod along, realizing that we’re going to need Xena on this to get any context for the bloodbath that had opened the gates for us... Oh heck, Xena! I haven't given her the signal to fire again yet! I cast out my magic, reaching her back over at the cannons, and soon the second volley rings out, firing far above the castle walls so as to not hit any of our troops. It seems to have the desired effect as cannon volleys ring out from the other walls of the castle. Malmo's assault begins... I pray that his troops will also catch on that the Alemannians are on our side.

Xena makes her way to the space under the gatehouse, actually running for what might genuinely be the first time in her life. Seems she’s remarkably eager to meet the bear woman- Katarina. And thank the gods for that, now we might finally have some idea of what we're dealing with. Katarina for her part bounded over to Xena in turn, apparently eager to make a new friend. If she had a tail it would be wagging, it’s dissonantly adorable behavior from the cannibal priestess. At least we'll know what her deal is soon.

... Or maybe Xena will talk to her in German and not give a thought to translation. Katarina herself is clearly pleased that someone is speaking to her in her native tongue, and the two quickly talk up a storm... Katarina even manages to draw a genuine-looking smile out of Xena... This feels wrong somehow, it’s almost profane to watch, but it’s difficult to look away.

Difficult for me to look away in any instance, Pasche is entirely capable of getting our shared horse moving. "That's quite enough of that now, we have a castle to take."

"Right..." I feel myself start to fade, and I reckon the troops are probably in a good position to continue the fighting without my power, so I withdraw it. "So, what's the plan? There are two of us and we are on a horse."

"I thought plans were supposed to be your thing, General." Pasche's chuckle is well-meaning, the girl is being nice, but she does also have a point.

"True... Their command staff. If we capture their command staff then we'll be able to get them to surrender. Save some lives, spare us some flesh."

"See, that's why you come up with the plans! ... Where are the command staff?"

I gesture to the castle's keep, the tallest part of this behemoth structure. "Presumably up high, watching the battle."

"Yeah, that sounds like something they'd do. Now we just have to call for your guards, I'm sure they'll-"

"They declined to remain in my service after the whole troll incident, apparently they didn’t consider that to be covered in their contract... Maybe we could ask those Alemannians at the gate for help."

"We can't even ask them for the time of day, they don't speak our language. Unless we have Xena join us, which I think might be a terrible idea."

"True..." I think it over for a moment, before dismounting the horse and drawing my pistol. "... Maybe we'll get lucky and their guards will have been sent to the walls to try and plug the gaps."

"... Serena, what are you-" Pasche practically jumps off the horse in her attempt to reach me in time and stop me from doing something stupid.

Regrettably, my stupidity is very, very fast, and I push open a surprisingly unbarred door into a surprisingly unguarded foyer... Which has surprisingly been repurposed as a slaughterhouse. Human limbs are stacked into piles in some unspoken order, torsos hang from meat hooks, and the walls, floor, and ceiling are caked in blood. Muskets form a haphazard stack in a corner, and there are severed heads kept on their own little shelf, each of them carrying an expression of pure terror.

I fall to my knees and clutch my mouth and stomach, unsure what else a person can do upon seeing this. Pasche gags at the sight and the smell, this is different from how trolls operate. There is an order to this, there is a system. Almost like a regular commissary, except for human meat... And the Magyar command staff are probably somewhere beyond this human abattoir, or they are among its piles.

"Are... Are the Alemannians gone?" A soft voice makes its way from under a nearby table... A survivor?

"You speak Avernian?" I get to my feet quickly upon being addressed, and ask an admittedly silly question for the current circumstances.

"If you're going to invade a place, I reckon it helps to know the language. I made sure to take classes... I never learned German though, I somehow didn't expect to be at war with our Alemannian allies!"

"Well, those allies are not here right now. If you’re going to make a break for it then now's the time. Just don't take the front gate." Pasche speaks quickly, her revulsion making it difficult to form longer sentences without gagging halfway through them.

"Oh, thank the gods! When the General said he was going to hire local mercenaries, I was skeptical. I guess I've been proven right." The source of the voice slips out from under the table, revealing itself to be a nervous-looking man in a captain's uniform, albeit with the Magyar white now drenched red in fresh blood. "Normal folks don't do this, it takes a German to be this crazy."

"What happened here?" I don't want to know, but I can’t stop myself from asking regardless.

"Well, the boss was told by the Icenians that we'd be getting a rather lavish budget for hiring mercenaries, and for some idiot reason he decided to hire from the Von Moniks family. They came cheap, well recommended, and I think he might have had an eye for the lass leading them. She seemed a cheerful sort at first, all her troops did, and while they were a bit weird it's not like being a weirdo means you can't take a bullet."

"A mercenary then... And she turned on you?"

"The gold the Icenians promised us never arrived, so we had nothing to pay her with. She shrugged it off at first, we thought the Germans would simply stay put and wait for the money to come in... Then she took her chance at switching sides the moment you lot attacked."

"And she started with the command staff, with the general."

"... She tore out half the General's neck with her teeth, chewed, and then swallowed. I didn't even think a human could do that! Her troops quickly took out the rest, cutting them to pieces with those bayonets of theirs, and then they rushed to the walls to cause as much havoc as possible... Oh dear gods, the castle is falling, isn't it?"

"I guess next time you should pay your mercenaries-" Pasche is clearly trying to put on some sardonics to try and regain her composure, but her attempt is cut short by a sudden revelation. "... Those chests of gold in Malmo's office."

"... You folks did this?" The captain looks rather distraught at having made the connection... And then rather furious. Murderously so even, he draws his pistol and aims right at me. I try to draw a bead on him in turn, but he’s quicker on the draw. There’s a gunshot, and I begin to fall... Completely unscathed. I look up and saw Pasche, standing where I had stood, clutching her chest through her cuirass with one hand and slashing the captain from hip to neck with her saber in the other... Pasche must have pushed me out of the way. She took a bullet for me! ... And she isn't even under my spell.

She soon falls to the ground, finding her way to a sitting position as she tries to focus on her breathing. I quickly scramble beside her, not quite certain how to help but determined to try everything. Anything... I will not allow Pasche to become part of the inventory here.

She moves her hand, letting me examine her wound... She’s bleeding, but not especially heavily. She laughs as best she can, and gently knocks her cuirass with a hand. "Armor. It's a comfort to have."

"Not getting shot is a comfort to have, what the hell were you thinking, Pasche?!" I’m furious... I’m holding her.

"I was thinking that you saved my life and it was appropriate I did the same, even if it killed me... I was thinking I wanted to keep you safe, no matter what." Her laugh settles into a smile, albeit one twinged with flashes of pain.

I can't stand it. "Why are you smiling? You big idiot, you were just shot, why are you smiling?!"

"Because I did what I wanted. I kept you safe... I was a good knight, wasn’t I?"

This girl is infuriating! How dare she get shot for me, how dare she protect me, how dare she always be at my side and caring for me? How dare she say something cool and sweet while in my arms, she's just the worst!

Why am I kissing her?

Whatever reason I have, she certainly must have her own because she eagerly accepts it, and for a moment she seems to let her facade fall and allow being shot to be a painful thing for which she wanted comfort.

Only for a second though, before she slips herself away from my lips, trying to give a brave smile. "We... We shouldn't."

"We shouldn't."

What did I do? Surely this is blasphemy against Her Majesty! My kisses, my… Other things, surely they belong to her! … So why are my cheeks so red? Why does this feel so right?

Pasche's cheeks are briefly as red as mine until they begin to turn back to sheet white as she bleeds in my arms, which is enough to bring me back to the situation at hand. She doesn't seem to have a mortal injury, but she'll be recovering for days. I need to get her to a Cotton Priestess, I need to-

"Serena... Can I have some of your magic? Please?"

An odd request, she isn't going to be facing any more enemies today, I won't let her. "I... I don't think you need to be filled with fighting spirit right now, Pasche."

"It's not... It's not fighting spirit for me. I have enough of that to spare for you already. I just… I want to feel your heartbeat for a little while. Please."

... There is a cruelty in how sweet that is. I cast out my magic and catch her within it, and soon my heart is beating for her as well as me... We might've spent hours in this room together, our hearts simply beating together, the world melting away around us. Or it may have been less than five minutes, time is screwy. Either way, we’re soon interrupted by some triumphant-sounding Alemannian soldiers, along with Xena and Katarina who... Are they holding hands?

The Alemannians slip past us into this meat commissary, quickly noticing the captain who attempted to kill me, and carving him to pieces with their bayonets before adding his bits to the various piles. Maybe he was right to try and shoot me, seeing as these people were now my allies.

Katarina gives Xena an apologetic look, mumbling something in very poor, accented Avernian. "Sorry. Mess."

Xena simply shrugs, an odd thing to do while she’s holding the bear woman's hand. "I have a chemical solution for that."

Both Pasche and I look at Xena simultaneously, and as our hearts beat as one, so do we speak as one. With one unified voice, we both shout. "Xena, no!"