“Let’s go! Keep moving!” Gaius shouted as he, Victoria, Marius, and all the rest of the remaining leaders in their army urged their people onward. It had been a terrible few days, with the army taking hundreds of additional casualties, and while they had been unable to find and deal with the enemy harassing them, they still had to keep to the rough schedule.
When they had broken off from the Consul of the Central Territories’ Legions, it had been with the understanding that they would make their way to Ironford with all due haste, not get bogged down trying to fight a guerrilla war in the forests and valleys to the south of the city. To that end, Gaius had met with the leadership the previous night to discuss their options.
The possibility of staying to find and kill those who were harassing them and taken so many of their lives was floated, and while it received strong support, Gaius had rejected it. That didn’t make him any friends, but his appeal to their orders won out in the end. He didn’t want them stuck here, for occupying a single insignificant valley wasn’t their objective, even if leaving would wound their pride.
And so, with twelve thousand knights, men-at-arms, and squires, they charged out of the castle and fortified camp, leaving most of their wounded and servants behind with a token guard. The more recent attacks against their patrols were smaller and less confrontational, leading Gaius to believe their enemy in the valley was much smaller than most had assumed. Consequently, he felt that leaving five hundred men-at-arms to guard the camp and their wounded was more than sufficient.
The army surged through the forest, covering vast distances without challenge. In the forests, their force could do fifteen miles per day if they pushed themselves, but Gaius managed to get them to do twenty-five. It would only take another day or two to reach Ironford at that pace, depending on how rough the land was between here and there…
---
“They’ve stretched their line out dangerously thin,” Leon stated, indicating the map in front of himself and the leaders of his unit. They had gathered at the top of a large hill to the northeast of the valley which Octavius’ army would have to approach if they wanted to reach Ironford, though they hadn’t made camp and were simply gathered around a large boulder that served as a makeshift table. “Many of their slower units were practically left behind, with a larger mass of people behind this thin, snaky line of faster units.”
“If we had a proper battalion, we could exploit the hells out of that…” Grim bitterly stated, bemoaning their lack of numbers. Even as few as five hundred would drastically increase their options when such an opportunity presented itself.
“Indeed,” Leon agreed, sighing a bit at their lack of ability to properly exploit this chance. “As it is, I think our only hope of confronting them and preventing them from reaching Ironford would be at the end of the valley.”
Many at the meeting agreed. The valley narrowed at the northeastern end, while it widened and opened up into the Southern Territories to the southwest. It didn’t quite narrow to the point that their hundred and fifty could properly block it by themselves, but it was still their best bet to slow this army down.
“I don’t suppose we’ve seen any sign of the 7th Legion?”
“Not yet, but I’ll be making one last scouting fly-over before we commit to any course of action,” Leon said.
There wasn’t much more discussion, simply an agreement on where to meet. They had one last chance to slow this army down before it reached Ironford, one last confrontation. If they failed to hold the army until the 7th arrived, then Minerva would be outflanked and Ironford would fall. It would, in all likelihood, be the killing blow to August’s cause.
---
From Anzu’s back hundreds of feet in the air, Leon could see the entirety of the valley. He could see the long snaky line of Octavius’ forces as they slowly wound their way through the forest toward Ironford. He could see the castle they’d left behind, still guarded by a significant garrison. And as he turned his eyes southwest toward the opposite end of the valley, he could see something else through the haze of distance that greatly piqued his interest.
Something shiny, that caught the light of the sun and reflected it back in dozens of places. It was large, mostly crimson, and moving in his direction. As he flew closer, he could pick up on the faint sounds of marching and the occasional signal horn.
---
“Sir Tullius!” a panicked runner shouted as he came riding forward, looking for Gaius.
“What is it?” Gaius tersely asked. He rode his horse at the front of the formation—or, at least, just behind those who were busy clearing the way. The forest was dense enough that a few fourth-tier mages were the ones who were actually leading the way, and in their hands were big woodcutting axes that they were using to remove any trees that were in the way. They didn’t stop to completely clear a new path, all they were doing was making room for the benefit of the horses.
“The garrison defending the camp for the wounded sent a scout just a few minutes ago, Sir! Legion forces have arrived in the valley!”
Gaius was momentarily confused; this was noble land, there shouldn’t have been any Legions in the area. Besides, the Central Consul was nearby, relatively speaking, so if Legion reinforcements had been sent after them, then Gaius should’ve heard about it.
Suddenly, barely a second after his mind parsed those theories, it clicked in his head. This Legion wasn’t here to support them.
Gaius’ blood ran cold as he thought about that possibility. If that Legion had arrived to reinforce their mission, then they would’ve sent word before now. Gaius would’ve heard something about their march at least three days before their arrival. That he hadn’t indicated to him that this Legion wasn’t friendly to him.
That in itself was a bit surprising, since there hadn’t been any indications of Legion activity following August’s flight from the capital, though Gaius considered it likely that some eastern Legions might be sympathetic to his cause thanks to Dame Minerva in August’s corner. Of course, he wasn’t anywhere close to Octavius’ inner circle, so he had no clue what was going on regarding August’s base of support.
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Right now, all that mattered was that a Legion had just appeared seemingly out of nowhere right on his tail.
“We have to move faster…” Gaius muttered as anxiety filled his body with panicked adrenaline.
He urged his forces onward as quick as they could move, but some of the more heavily armored cavalry began to fall behind. Gaius had to slow the entire column back down so they wouldn’t be left behind, though Gaius could tell that they were losing ground to the Legion following them anyway—far in the distance he began to hear the deep rumble of thousands of soldiers marching in formation.
His force was mounted, but in the rough terrain of the Eastern Territories, the 7th Legion was going to move much quicker, if only because they were simply following the path that Gaius’ people left behind.
Eventually, he realized that he was going to have to make a decision. Messengers had been sent to the force inquiring as to who they were, but they were rebuffed, clearly indicating this Legion’s hostility. Since Gaius wasn’t going to be able to outpace them, he had to decide if he was going to surrender or fight. He didn’t think he would make it to Ironford before the Legion caught up to the rear of his column, and the last thing he wanted was to be trapped between the defenders of Ironford and this Legion.
His first instinct was to fight. Despite everything, he still retained some amount of pride, and his sense of honor demanded that he put up some kind of resistance and not simply roll over like a well-trained dog as soon as a Legion showed up behind him. To do so would obliterate whatever might remain of his reputation.
However, the more he thought about it, the less Gaius wanted to resist. To surrender would be to prevent the deaths of thousands, at least in the short term. It would also mean giving up on capturing August, and with a Legion arriving at Ironford to reinforce his position, that would also mean that this civil war would intensify.
Gaius had nothing against August personally, and he hated Octavius quite a bit—probably far more than he ever hated Leon, but he had yet to truly compare the two. He had to stifle a groan, for the more he thought about this, the more conflicted he became. His duty as a knight and a member of a noble House in vassalage to the Bull Kingdom was to hunt down traitors, even if he knew the trial had been rigged. That was simply the law. However, his own conscience demanded that he surrender and put an end to this as bloodlessly as he could. He didn’t want anything to do with Octavius’ war.
Of course, he wasn’t even sure if all the disparate elements of his army would even listen to him, no matter what he chose. Some of the nobles would undoubtedly surrender, taking all of their knights and men-at-arms with them, while some would demand that he fight to the death. There’d be essentially no way he’d be able to thread that needle.
“Sir!” shouted one of the knights leading the way, jerking Gaius out his thoughts.
Gaius glanced up toward the knight. The front of the column had reached the end of the valley, the narrowest point where it would open back up onto the Iron Road. Ironford was less than twenty miles away.
They’d never reach it. The reason that the knight had so loudly pulled Gaius out his thoughts was because of what was now standing before them: a relatively small force, perhaps a couple hundred at the most, along with a large stone giant. Their tiny unit was too small to block the passage, but that wasn’t the point. With the 7th Legion on their heels, even this short delay would keep them from their destination.
Gaius almost ordered his people to charge. Their enemy’s numbers were so small that the words were practically out of his mouth, but a single person standing among those arrayed against him caused his words to die in his throat.
She was a striking woman, with long silver hair, plate armor shining in the light of the sun, and a glaive in one hand casually resting on her shoulder.
Valeria Isynos.
As soon as she fell into Gaius’ gaze, his mind went blank. He simply froze in shock at seeing her in such an unexpected place; he’d thought that she had been assigned to the Royal Guards and was still protecting the King’s harem.
“What are your orders?” Victoria asked as she caught up to him. “The Legion is closing in on our back ranks, if we’re going to fight then we need to halt and form up now!”
“… no…” Gaius whispered. Victoria shot him a look of disbelief, but it paled in comparison to Gaius’ own. He hadn’t heard a word she’d said, all of his thoughts were dedicated to trying to process the simple fact that the woman he’d loved for almost his entire life was now here, standing against him. He didn’t even realize that Leon was standing right next to her, his blade drawn and ready for battle.
“Sir Gaius!” Victoria shouted in realization. Gaius’ dead-eyed stare at the tiny force in front of them cued her in to the fact that he hadn’t been answering her question when he said no. “What are your orders?!” she demanded with increasing desperation. It was the last time she intended to ask, for the Legion behind them had grown so close that she couldn’t wait around for Gaius to get his head back on straight.
Pulling himself back together as Victoria shook him back to reality, Gaius quickly glanced backward. He’d already been leaning in one direction before seeing Valeria, but now that he knew she was here, there was only one decision he could possibly make.
And he made it.
---
“Are you sure about this…?” Valeria hesitantly asked Leon as they stood in front of the advancing knights of Octavius. “If they don’t stop, then we’re all dead. We’ve been terrorizing them for a week, now, and killed many of their leaders, they could very well want to kill us all in revenge.”
“I’m not sure about this in the slightest,” Leon replied with an almost cavalier attitude about the risk he was forcing everyone to take—though his heart erratically beat with anxiety and he was ready to fight for his life if his doubts about his actions proved prophetic. “However, I hope that whoever is leading that army is competent enough to understand that even if they push through to the walls of Ironford, they’d only be smashed against them between the city’s defenders and the 7th. Given their conduct so far, I’m simply betting that their new commander is somewhat inexperienced, cautious, and even, perhaps, a little indecisive.”
“I guess we’re about to find out…” Valeria whispered as their enemy stepped out from the forest and into the light. Leon’s people could see the for a while, but it wasn’t until now that they were close enough to make out more than a few disparate details amongst so many armored horsemen. “Hey, is that Gaius?” Valeria suddenly asked, pointing out one of the knights in the front of the column.
“Hmm? Who?” Leon asked, not quite sure who she was talking about. Even during the graduation ceremony from the Knight Academy, Gaius hadn’t taken up much of Leon’s thoughts lately.
“The third-tier in front, the weakest of them,” Valeria said in a tone of mild surprise and curiosity as she took a few cautious steps forward.
“Oh, yeah, I think that’s him,” Leon said with even less curiosity than Valeria showed. “I didn’t even realize. What are the odds.”
“Huh… what do you think he’ll do?” Valeria asked.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Leon answered. “He and I were never close. In fact, I should be asking you that question; I recall you and him have known each other for years, yes?”
“When my father was Exarch of Calabria, he and I were acquainted since his family rules the Duchy of Lentia, just down the Naga River from Calabria.”
“I see. Do you have any idea of what he’ll do?”
Valeria frowned and thought for a moment. “I think he’ll surrender,” she confidently stated.
“Oh? Feel like be—” Leon began, but a moment later he was silenced by the sounding of a horn from Octavius’ knights. For a moment, he, Valeria, Lapis, and all the rest at his back readied themselves for battle, but a moment later, they all somewhat relaxed. What they had heard was a standard signal for surrender, and sure enough, a few seconds later, white flags began to appear among the army as the knights and all the other fighters began throwing down their weapons and dismounting from their horses.
“Well… would you look at that…” Leon whispered in amazement.