“To survive, people would change with the times. Those that stubbornly refuse to let go of the past, no matter how glorious, are just destined to become part of the past themselves.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“Since it will be a few days of riding to reach Gor-Seinnon, why don’t you tell us about this divide in your council?” asked Mimia to the Antemeian necromancers who chose to join them in the expedition force. Since there were quite a few dead horses from the crusaders, the Antemeians had no difficulty securing undead mounts for their own use. “We caught wind of it happening even in the Lichdom, but the details we received were rather scarce.”
“Certainly, Lady Disciple,” replied one of the Antemeian necromancers. The short interview they had in the command tent had confirmed Mimia’s status as one of the Bone Lord’s personal disciples to them, so the group was particularly respectful to her and Èirynn as a result. “The divide in the council mostly had to do with the treatment of those who did not belong to the Order.”
“Elaborate on that,” noted Èirynn from her seat behind Mimia. The two were riding on Haon’s back as usual, comfortably perched between his ‘wings’.
“Right, the Council of Flesh Artisans are mostly split into three factions over this issue,” explained the female necromancer respectfully. “The course of the dispute is because we have been experiencing repeated cases of entire villages absconding to other nations of late, mostly to the Lichdom, but sometimes to the Empire as well.”
“We did notice an increase of refugees from the north, but hadn’t connected it with the division we heard of,” noted Mimia. “Continue.”
“Our factions, the egalitarians, advocated for better treatment to prevent the people from escaping in search of greener pastures,” said the necromancer. “We only have a few of the elders supporting our cause, but the movement received considerable support amongst the younger flesh artisans, especially those of common birth.”
“That makes sense,” commented Èirynn with a nod of her head.
“Those who opposed us the most are the hardliners, who instead advocate for cruel punishments and making examples of the commoners who tried to escape. They barely have any support though, with only two elders and a few other older artisans vouching for this approach,” continued the necromancer. “Meanwhile, the majority of the council mostly hold the opinion that the situation is not so dire that immediate change is needed, and thus favor keeping things as it is.”
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“Then the Vitalicans came crusading in and made the matter even more contentious, didn’t they?” asked Aideen from the side.
“Indeed so, milady,” replied the necromancer. “Just about everyone willing to escape to safety had followed our call and went south, while the others had gathered in the west, trusting in the council to protect them,” she continued. “Given how strong these crusaders are proving themselves to be, we are no longer so certain that the council would be able to stop them, however.”
“How far away were the crusaders from Gor-Seinnon when you last received news from there?” asked Èirynn all of a sudden. “And did you have a good estimate on their numbers?”
“They were supposed to be around two weeks away from the city when we left, Lady Disciple. That was a little over a week ago,” answered the necromancer quickly. “If I recall correctly, there were approximately forty thousand crusaders, closer to thirty-five now, unless the five thousand that chased us came from a different group.”
“What do you think?” Aideen asked from the side once she heard the information.
“If they have the same proportion of cavalry as the group we faced… Then they could probably engage the council at Gor-Seinnon while sending a detachment around the city…” muttered Mimia as she caught on to what Aideen was hinting at with her words. “Would they bother to do that though? No… these lunatics already slaughtered most of the people who failed to escape, so they probably would in their fanatic drive…”
“That’s what I figured out too,” noted Aideen in approval when she saw that Mimia understood her hidden meaning. “Arno! Take your third division and head towards the west of Gor-Seinnon! See if the civilians there are safe, and only rejoin us at the city once you’ve ascertained their safety!” she then yelled out the next moment.
Arno wasn’t too far away and naturally heard her command, gave an affirmative gesture, then rode off towards his division. Not fifteen minutes later, thousands of cavalrymen rushed ahead of the group on their undead steeds. The Wings of Night had expanded in both capability and size in the centuries that had passed, and at the present day, each division was two thousand five hundred members strong.
Aideen judged that with the skill difference, one division should be plenty to take on any crusaders that skirted around the city of Gor-Seinnon to hunt down the civilians hunkered down behind it in safety.
The cavalry division marched out at full speed – something they could afford to do all day long as their steeds were untiring and needed neither rest nor food due to their undead nature – right away, instead of keeping up with the pace of the slower infantry. As such, it didn’t take long before they were barely visible on the horizon other than the dust trail they left behind them.
“We should be able to reach Gor-Seinnon at a faster pace than when you left since you had civilians with you,” noted Aideen to the Antemeian necromancer once Arno’s division had left their sight. “Baruk! Think we can get there in four days or less?”
“Should be doable,” replied the infantry commander in his usual curt manner.
“There you have it. We’ll reach Gor-Seinnon in four days from now at the latest,” Aideen continued. “I just hope that we’re not too late for the battle. Those fanatics might well be traveling faster than you expected, given how they managed to catch up with your people.”