The second prince had lost much during the attack on Venezyne. Vang, the cadre of spies Chancellor Graeci had spent his life developing, had been wiped out, and Selene himself had forfeited his right eye in battle.
“I still struggle a little with judging distance, but otherwise, I’m in the best shape I’ll ever be.”
“What of Móralltach and Beagalltach? Can they not heal you?”
“They’ve done enough already. I wouldn’t ask for more. If not for them, I would have been bedridden for several months yet.”
He smiled faintly, and the twin blades flared into being in his hands. Herma and Phroditus did not react to their sudden appearance. They were well used to their liege’s strange armaments.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” the prince said. “Will you lend me your strength again?”
The blades glowed with ripples of light, pulsing like a heartbeat in reply.
Selene nodded, pleased, but his face grew grave once more as he turned to Herma. “How fare our preparations?”
“Finished in all senses but one, Your Highness. House Brommel is yet to reply.”
“I suppose that means they aren’t in a mood to talk.”
“So it would seem. More nobles are visiting Logue than ever. It appears they no longer consider House Scharm to be their masters.”
“Give me ten thousand men,” Phroditus interjected, “and I will reduce House Brommel to a smoking ruin.”
Selene could only crack a rueful smile. He well understood where Phroditus’s confidence came from. She was strong, even more so than her brother, and she had a tremendous aptitude for spirit weapons. Even so, he was doubtful she would succeed.
“I’d prefer you to remain here,” he said. “I would have you fight by my side.”
“Of course, Your Highness!” Phroditus’s head plunged down in a vigorous bow, her cheeks flushed faintly pink.
Selene smiled again and turned to Herma, who was visibly relieved that someone had headed his sister off. “What of House Heimdall?”
“Malaren promises to send troops to our aid if House Brommel moves against us. I only fear...” Herma trailed off awkwardly.
“You only fear what?” Selene pressed.
“The archons and the yaldabaoth have been causing more and more trouble of late. House Heimdall may not have soldiers to spare.”
“Then I will not force them. I would sooner see the end of House Scharm than the end of Friedhof. If the Spirit Wall were to fall, none of our victories would amount to anything.”
Phroditus butted in again. “Then it sounds like we have no choice but to take Lady Celia Estrella up on her offer.”
Herma grimaced a little, but he could not deny the truth of his sister’s words. It was hard to blame her for thinking they should swallow their pride. The north was teetering on a razor’s edge.
“That, I fear, I cannot do,” Selene said.
“Why not?” Phroditus was not willing to back down. “No one seems to have a bad word to say about her. I know I haven’t met her myself, but I don’t think she’d ask for anything in return.”
Selene smiled wryly. “Most of the empire’s strength is in Faerzen. Over a hundred thousand men, or so I hear. With that many, they likely mean to march on to Six Kingdoms. Send to them for help and we’ll slow their momentum when they need it most.”
The empire had been left with a sparse guard, but its troops were spread too thin to send assistance to the north. What was more, Liz had taken most of the commanders of repute on her campaign, leaving nobody of note in the central, western, or eastern territories. A high general might have helped to turn the tide, but von Hass the prodigy had perished in battle with Six Kingdoms, von Loeing the warmonger had fallen upon the sword of his own failed revolt, and now Strongarm von Cain had died on the western front. The empire’s forces were lacking for leadership.
“I will not take Hermes away from Friedhof,” Selene continued. “That only leaves the Warden of the East, but with the empire so thinly guarded, I doubt Rosa can spare her. She probably can’t spare any troops at all.”
The south stank of unrest. If it erupted into violence, Rosa would need everything she had.
“But then...” Phroditus fell silent, grinding her teeth.
Herma laid a consolatory hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Do you believe the Vanir Triumvirate will join the fray, Your Highness?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. The álfar are long-lived, and I’m sure they still remember the persecution they endured at human hands. I doubt they will have forgiven us. Now that the empire’s guard is down, they have the perfect opportunity to seek revenge. They’re probably overjoyed to hear about trouble in the north.”
That said, Rosa surely had plans of her own. Selene had already heard that she had sent eastern noble troops down to the southern territories, presumably to fend off any coming invasion. Fortunately, the south’s best commanders had not joined the Faerzen campaign. With their strength in the mix, the Vanir Triumvirate would not pose a problem.
“I doubt Steissen or Lichtein would be willing to aid them. My only concern is Draal. It’s still recovering from the old grand duke’s death, and it borders a lot more nations than either Steissen or Lichtein. Its regions are more like their neighbors than each other.”
“Do you expect it to fracture, Your Highness?”
“I fear it might. Even here in the empire, we hear about the feuds between the faerie worshippers in the south and the spirit worshippers in the north. If the south has answered the Triumvirate’s call, the north will have to look the other way or risk a schism.”
It was widely whispered that Draal’s current grand duke was not respected among his nobles. While his father and elder brother had both been charismatic figures, he was a retiring man who did more or less what his retainers said.
“I can say this for certain, though,” Selene said. “If the Vanir Triumvirate does try something, the Free Folk will join them.”
Between Steissen and the Vanir Triumvirate lay the land of the Free Folk, a nation rooted in a history of persecution. Half-blooded álfar had fled oppression in their homelands and come to the Vanir Triumvirate, which had taken pity upon their plight and granted them a land of their own. They would fight to repay that ancient debt.
“The Free Folk...” Herma scratched his chin. “It’s like the dark history of the empire’s come back to haunt us.”
“Another product of the third emperor’s legacy of oppression. The same could be said of Six Kingdoms. Not exactly the fruit of our own failings, but close enough.”
Selene paused and took out a book. Any imperial citizen would recognize the Black Chronicle. Despite its unknown authorship, it had sold widely when it was published, although copies were now hard to come by.
“There’s a curious passage in here,” Selene said, opening the book and flicking back to a well-thumbed page. He began to read aloud. “‘When the war with the zlosta approached its zenith, Emperor Artheus thought to raze the lands that had refused to join his cause, for they had been false brethren. But his brother Mars counseled him thus: would one man use his authority to birth countless misfortunes for the sake of one grievance? And so one triumphed over countless, and countless triumphed over one, and Mars’s one remark was as countless words from other men.’”
“Brothers indeed,” Phroditus remarked.
Selene chuckled. “They were certainly fast friends, weren’t they? Mars’s counsel was nothing special. Hardly words to sway the people. But it seemed to work on Artheus well enough.”
Powerful enough authority could make anyone bend the knee. Opposition would melt away, and others would cease to disagree for fear of punishment. No doubt Artheus had been pleased to have someone in his service willing to contradict him. Certainly, the Black Chronicle suggested he had been grateful rather than irate.
No amount of power could conquer solitude, and Artheus seemed to have been no exception. It may well have been an intimate concern for him, even if those whose nations he burned would have little sympathy. He had only been able to manage it thanks to his closeness with Mars, and if the War God had put a foot wrong, the empire could have been split in two.
“It seems the third emperor did not learn the same lesson,” Phroditus remarked. There was a certain amount of frustration in her voice, and small wonder. The third emperor’s actions still haunted the empire a thousand years later, and the people of the modern day were paying the price for his sins.
“He was said to have been a paranoid man,” Selene said. “I suppose he looked around and saw enemies on all sides. He certainly didn’t hesitate to quash them.”
The third emperor’s purges had wrought a great deal of misery. All across Soleil, humans had taken to persecuting other races, leading to an age of oppression not so different from that of the zlosta. Still, some humans had stood up in defiance of his tyranny: his younger brother and the still-living descendants of Mars’s Black Hand.
“The rebellion failed, and the emperor’s brother fled west, swearing to return. The descendants of the Black Hand went with him, branded renegades. That much, any child knows.”
The third emperor had grown increasingly consumed by remorse, to the point of eventually taking his own life. Time passed, the ages turned, and when the fifth emperor took the throne, he officially pardoned the Black Hand and reined in discrimination against other races. By then, however, the seeds of resentment against humans had already been sown.
“Everything comes back to that history of oppression,” Selene murmured. “Not least the founding of Six Kingdoms.”
＊＊＊＊＊
The thirteenth day of the tenth month of Imperial Year 1026
The sun went down, the moon showed its face, and the night wind took on a chill. Firelight flickered in the breeze, footsteps drowned out insect cries, and the air trembled with voices. The road to Licht, the capital of Esel, was a sea of lights. Upon closer inspection they revealed themselves to be a veritable city of tents. Lion banners fluttered in the wind, dancing with shadows in the light of the bonfires.
The imperial army’s march into Esel had come to a stop just before the town of Carlen. They had not encountered any particular obstruction; they had simply stopped to rest with the setting of the sun, intending to resume their advance the following day.
The Crow Legion had claimed a portion of the campsite for themselves. They were a disciplined force, and typically, their encampment would have been quiet. Tonight, however, the opposite was true. Outsiders had joined them, bringing chaos in their wake.
A horned man danced with a flagon of ale in his hand, grinning broadly. He proffered his drink to the Crow Legion soldiers on guard. Eventually, three of his drunken fellows came and dragged him away. Similar scenes played out all across the encampment. The merry troupe of newcomers were dressed like bandits, but while their rowdiness was drawing some disapproving frowns, there was no alarm in the air. They were allies, not enemies. They were soldiers despite their garb, ones affiliated with the next encampment over. Yet while they were working together, the Crow Legion had no authority over them, leaving the black-clad soldiers at a loss for what to do.
There were other traits that put the newcomers at odds with the Crow Legion. For one, their cheerful dispositions compelled them to squeeze all the joy they could out of every second, and for another, they possessed inhuman strength. In short, they were the race commonly known as beastfolk.
The Crow Legion soldiers were not the only ones fighting off the beastfolk’s attentions. Hiro, too, was suffering a similar plight inside his own tent.
“So when do you intend to return to Steissen?” he asked the beastwoman before him.
She glared up at him as she bit into a large hunk of meat, still on the bone. “Eh? Once the next battle’s over, probably. Shouldn’t be long.”
She sat cross-legged on the ground in front of him. Her underwear was clearly visible, but she didn’t seem to care. Her typical garb was little better than underwear anyway. At one point, he had asked why she showed so much skin, and he vaguely recalled her saying it made for easier movement. In any case, she was undeniably beautiful. The skimpy tribal garb was almost vulgar, but a modest scattering of jewels lent an edge of elegance that kept it in check, making her look like she had stepped out of a painting. Her taut muscles seemed more artistic than sensual, accentuating her allure. Her name was Skadi Bestla Mikhael, and she was the high consul of Steissen.
“Now, Huginn, you mustn’t waste a morsel. This meat is positively divine.”
“Erm...Miss Luka? I can eat on my own...”
Hiro glanced behind Skadi, where Luka was feeding portions of sliced meat to an unwilling Huginn. He downed his wine and turned his attention back to the beastwoman. Better to leave the pair to their own devices.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I was worried you might keep going until you got bored.”
“Give me half the chance and I would, but I figured you’d rather we went home.” She took a long gulp of wine, exhaled in satisfaction, and wiped her lips. Crimson droplets splattered on the ground. No small amount of liquid spilled from her mouth and trickled down between her breasts.
“That’s true, I suppose. And I’m sure you must want to keep an eye on the Free Folk.”
“Them? Bah. I’ve left my best back in Steissen. Free Folk act up, they’ll sort it. No need for me.”
“You don’t sound very concerned.”
“We beastfolk like to look on the bright side. No point moping your way through life, eh?” Skadi downed her umpteenth goblet of wine and grinned widely. She truly was carefree to the core. “But before that, I want to go a round with you one last time. One-on-one. You wouldn’t turn me down, would you?”
“No, thank you,” Hiro said flatly. “I don’t think I have the energy.”
Skadi tossed her goblet to the ground, undeterred. “Don’t be like that. Every woman’s got needs. I’ve been itching for a good scrap ever since I got here, but these Six Kingdoms soldiers ain’t up to much. I need someone who’ll really get my blood pumping.” She slipped an overly familiar arm through his. She seemed to be a pushy drunk.
Hiro sighed. “Six Kingdoms has several Dharmic Blade wielders. Can’t you find one of them to entertain you?”
Then again, Lucia had returned to Anguis, while Nameless hadn’t been seen since their last battle. There was a chance the latter would try to intervene in Esel, but if not, Skadi would be starved of opponents.
“The Dharmic Blades, eh? Bah. Don’t like how the wielders fight. No warrior’s spirit.”
“Have you fought one?”
“Once. One of the Free Folk’s got one with a funny Graal.”
“Funny how?”
“Eh, how to put it... You could say it senses you. The wielder never even looked at me. Just stood there with her eyes closed and waited for me to swing, then countered.” Skadi’s brow creased as she struggled to remember through her drunkenness. She began to nod as more memories returned. “It was sharp, with heavy strikes, and I couldn’t land a blow. She was damned good at dodging for someone with their eyes closed. Wasn’t much of a fight, though. It’s hard to have fun when you’re the only one attacking.”
“That sounds like an interesting fighting style,” Hiro said. The conversation genuinely intrigued him. He didn’t know much about the Free Folk aside from what was common knowledge: Their nation had been founded by refugees from imperial persecution, and they had close ties with the Vanir Triumvirate. Reputedly, they were on bad terms with Steissen, with whom they were constantly skirmishing.
“Who won?” he asked.
“Turned out a draw, in the end. She was just trying to keep me occupied. Scarpered once she’d bought enough time. Left me itching for a good fight, so afterward I went out and mopped up a bunch of bandits.”
She began to nuzzle him with her cheek. The drink really did seem to be getting to her. Her breath tickled his ear. She seemed more in tune with her animal instincts than even other beastfolk, leading to some very bestial gestures that he did not quite know how to respond to.
“Could you tell me more about the wielder of this Dharmic Blade?” he asked. The more information he gathered about the users of the Noble Blades, the better.
“She was all pale and willowy.” Skadi paused, thinking. “Verona, I think her name was.”
Hiro was not familiar with the name. He would have expected someone strong enough to go toe to toe with Skadi to feature in a rumor or two, but he had never heard of this Verona before.
“You probably wouldn’t know her,” Skadi added, seeing his confusion. “Keeps herself to herself, that one.”
“But you fought her?”
“Aye, a while back. The Nidavellirites invaded the Free Folk’s lands. Burned a village.”
The Nidavellirites were a group in Steissen primarily composed of dwarves. As the largest faction in the senate, they had established a despotic regime under which they had wielded their authority with abandon. With Liz’s assistance, Skadi and her Jötunheimites had put an end to their age of glory.
“Once Verona learned what had happened, she walked right on into the Nidavellirite camp. Just her, no one else.” Skadi lifted her goblet, discovered it was empty, and set about pouring more wine. As she watched the burgundy liquid flow, she spoke again. “Odds were in her favor, though. With a Dharmic Blade on her side, it was a bloodbath.”
The Nidavellirites had lost two thousand soldiers to a single warrior, but even that had not been enough to quell the Free Folk’s anger. They had marched on Steissen in vengeance, and Skadi and her Jötunheimites had needed to join the fray to repel them.
“Verona showed up to help the stragglers retreat, and I was at the front, so we fought. Like I said, she was only trying to keep me occupied. Scarpered as soon as the rest were out of there. Ain’t heard nothing of her since. Hard to tell what she was thinking, that one.”
Nonetheless, if this Verona had been chosen by a Dharmic Blade, she must have possessed some conviction, belief, philosophy, or other driving force that it found compelling. If possible, Hiro would have preferred to leave her to her own devices, but he couldn’t afford to disregard her. Whether she would ultimately prove an ally or an enemy, she merited investigating.
“But enough of that,” Skadi said, bringing her lips to his ear. Her gaze took on a passionate intensity, and although her speech was not yet slurred, her eyes adopted a drunken, unfocused look. “Tell me, do you really mean to follow through on your plans?”
She spoke in a whisper so that Luka and Huginn could not hear. Her voice was filled with anticipation, but there was something foreboding in it too.
“I think you’ve had too much to drink,” he said.
“Don’t worry about me. I can hold my liquor.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her chest against him. “I’ve felt eyes on me, you know. Ever since I came here. More than I can count.”
“Watching us, you mean?”
“Watching you. Seems like they’re very interested in you.” Skadi lowered herself down in front of where Hiro sat cross-legged and entwined her legs around his waist. “So what’s the plan, Your Majesty? Far as I’m concerned, I like what you’re thinking. I’d throw my lot in with you...although if you messed it all up, maybe I’d have to rethink where my loyalties lay.”
“I won’t mess up.” Hiro’s brow wrinkled at the whiff of wine, but he looked Skadi dead in the eyes, gaze unflappable despite the nearness of her sweat-slicked warmth. “Everything is going according to plan. All will be one.”
“Now that’s what I wanted to hear.” Skadi nodded, pleased, and then pushed him backward onto the floor. She leered down at him, coldly composed despite her pressing body heat. “I like the look of your face. That’s a man’s face. A man I can trust.”
She leaned down to lick his cheek, face glowing with delight. Now that the wine was getting to her in earnest, it only seemed to accentuate her sensuality.
“But turn on me and I’ll show you no mercy, king or no.” Her voice took on a note of warning. “Remember that.”
“Of course. I’ll give you the chance to satisfy your desires.”
“I like the sound of that. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
At that moment, a shadow fell over both of them. They looked up to see Luka glaring down, Vajra hefted over one shoulder.
“I see a rutting beast has sneaked in,” she said coldly. “Shall I exterminate her?”
Knowing her, she meant it. Still, a beastwoman was not so easily intimidated.
“Who’s this, then?” Skadi asked, rising to her feet and staring Luka down. “Looks like a corpse warmed up.”
So it had come to this. Hiro could only watch. A part of him had seen this coming. He couldn’t even muster the energy to try to hold them back.
“Cut it out, you two! What’s gotten into you?!” Huginn hurried to intercede, her face paling, but the pair didn’t even seem to register her.
“I see the rutting beast has a death wish,” Luka sneered. “I’ll be all too glad to squash her to pulp.”
“Go ahead and try.” Skadi grinned. “Maybe I’ll tear your guts out with my claws. See if I can’t squeeze some blood out of that corpse-heart of yours.”
They inched closer by the second, two powder kegs waiting for a spark. Violence could break out at any moment.
“That’s enough,” Hiro said. “Save your strength for the enemy.”
He was trying to avoid provoking them further, but they both swung around to glare at him.
“You are the cause of this,” Luka hissed. “You and your refusal to assert yourself. You let everything and everyone walk all over you. Perhaps that might be permitted in an age of peace, but in these times, only children have the luxury of indolence. Well, I suppose you are a child in some ways, but even that has its limits. You cannot afford to take in every stray kitten you find by the roadside.”
Hiro met her tirade with resignation, wondering how to head her off. He had hoped things wouldn’t come to this, but it seemed unavoidable.
A scathing voice interrupted his thoughts. “And where do you get off acting so above it all, eh? You weren’t complaining when you had your face in my bosom. Come on, let your wilder side out. Can’t say I blame you. Our walking corpse over here ain’t working with much.” Skadi guffawed, rapping Luka’s chest with the back of her knuckles like she was testing a rock.
Luka froze in place, deathly still. There was a soft smile on her face, of a kind that would have seemed perfectly natural to anyone who did not know her. Anyone who recognized how out of character it was, however, would have quivered in terror. When Luka lost her temper, blood tended to spill.
That was it, Hiro decided. The two needed to be separated.
At that moment, however, Huginn jumped in front of him. She stared both Luka and Skadi down with arms outstretched defensively. “Leave His Lordship alone!” she cried. “He’s a good sort, that’s all! He’d never leave a stray kitten out in the rain!”
Hiro sighed, cradling his head in his hands. It seemed there was to be no relief in sight.
“You see how Cerberus and his swiftdrake are around him!” Huginn continued. “And the boss, my brother, me, the whole Crow Legion... What are we but strays he took in? He’s a friend to all animals! That’s how you know he’s got a good heart!”
There was a lot Hiro wanted to say to that, but he thought better of it. Better not to risk setting her off again.
Skadi rounded on Huginn with anger in her eyes, not at all pleased with the comparison. “Did you just call me a beast, girl?”
“Touch her,” Luka said, “and I’ll carve your head from your shoulders.”
The air crackled with more tension than ever, but Hiro couldn’t bring himself to maintain focus. He felt like he had just had the wind knocked out of him. For lack of anything better to do, he took a sip of cold tea.
“Good grief.”
These moments of rowdiness were welcome in a sense. War was exhausting, both physically and mentally. With time, its accumulated strain hung heavy on the heart. That was all the more reason human connections mattered so much on the battlefield. Nobody could fight in solitude. It was through drinking, talking, making merry, sharing burdens, and growing closer with their comrades that they found the strength to make it through. That was as true now as it had been a thousand years ago, and as it would be for the rest of time.
Hiro smiled as he watched the trio bicker, memories of his old comrades flitting through his mind.
＊＊＊＊＊
The merriment was echoed in the imperial camp, where the soldiers had been permitted a little drink. Friends and comrades grinned over cups of liquor. Spirits were high for troops so deep into a grueling campaign, and the fear of death seemed far from anyone’s mind. Perhaps it was the empire’s string of victories that was fueling their confidence, or perhaps it was their faith in their commanders. Both likely had a part to play in keeping their hearts firm and their unease at bay.
Give or take a handful of rowdy beastfolk filtering in from the Crow Legion camp, the mood was generally carefree. Their commanders, however, had no time to rest. There were officers to brief and consult with, stockpiles to check, supplies to procure, and letters to the capital to be written. All of that would then be compiled into reports by aides and sent to the chief strategist, who would give the sixth princess final say on any decisions.
The command tent was full of aides dashing to and fro as they attended to various matters. At the head of the table sat Aura with a stack of reports before her. She and Liz were reviewing the day’s batch.
“Hey.” Aura’s brow furrowed. Liz had drifted off again mid-conversation. “Are you listening?”
Liz had been acting oddly all day. Her mood seemed to change at the drop of a hat, from a cheerful grin to a pensive frown or from a creased brow to a compassionate smile. Presently, she was sighing sorrowfully.
Aura leaned closer, peering into her eyes. “Are you feeling all right?”
Liz recoiled exaggeratedly. Her surprise was obvious, but she tried to play it off with a laugh, making a show of rubbing her eyelid. “It’s nothing. I had something in my eye, that’s all.”
Aura could tell she was being lied to. Under normal circumstances, she would have shown tact and let it go, but she was feeling less patient today.
“You’re annoyed, aren’t you?” she asked with a hint of mirth.
Liz’s eyes widened momentarily in surprise, but she soon forced a smile and brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Whatever do you mean?”
“You seem very—”
“Whatever do you mean?”
Aura glanced at Liz. There was a radiant smile on her lips, but it very definitely did not reach her eyes. A chill ran down her spine. “Nothing.”
In a sense, it was an impressive expression. Still, it left Aura no less clueless as to what had earned Liz’s annoyance.
The surrounding aides had been watching in silence, and more than a few sighed to see Liz smile so brilliantly. Aura, however, had seen the expression at close enough range to sense the murderous intent in its depths. Provoking her further would be unwise. With a polite cough, she returned to work, picking up a report from the stack.
“Esel is warning us to leave their lands,” she said, scanning it.
“Of course,” Liz said. “But we don’t have to listen.”
Aura nodded in agreement, privately breathing a sigh of relief. Her change of subject had succeeded. “No. But we can’t push too hard.”
The empire’s plans would come to nothing if Esel fully collapsed. It needed to retain a baseline level of order if it was to be a bulwark against future aggression from Six Kingdoms.
“It’s about time to force them to negotiate.”
Liz gestured for one of the aides to unfurl a map on the table. Several marks had been drawn over Esel’s towns, villages, and fortifications.
“Let’s take some forts to start,” she said, tracing the road with a finger. “And we’ll write to the towns asking them to surrender. If they refuse... Well, it’ll depend on our strength, but we’ll have to take them if we don’t want to risk being flanked.”
It was difficult to judge exactly how many soldiers would be needed to take a town, but the empire’s agents had been hard at work over the past three years surreptitiously gathering information on Six Kingdoms. The empire had access to vast numbers of reports stretching from the past all the way up to the present day, which Liz and Aura’s aides had been hard at work summarizing to aid the campaign planning.
“All right. I’ll try to tailor my offers to the local nobles. If our spies are right, some of them should be easy to convince.”
“I’ll leave that to you,” Liz said. “Accept any conditions they want as long as they aren’t too ridiculous.”
With so few troops left behind to guard the empire, getting bogged down in the west would be extremely dangerous—something Six Kingdoms no doubt knew. From here on out, the campaign would be a race against time. The imperial soldiers might have to endure intense fighting, but they would simply need to overcome it.
“Good thinking,” Aura said. “But if anyone starts getting ideas, I won’t hesitate. They’ll make a good example for the rest.”
Her leaden gray eyes flashed coldly. She was not joking. Naivete could be deadly in war. Anybody who aspired to seize victory or sought to avoid defeat had to harden their heart. More to the point, advancing their plans would require the willingness to put logic over compassion. Their decisions would be written in the blood of countless corpses, and they would have to assume that guilt, spending the rest of their lives asking themselves if they had made the right choice.
“Don’t worry.” Liz gave a resolute nod. “I knew what I was signing up for.” She lowered her gaze to the map again. “What are the other kingdoms up to?”
“Vulpes, Scorpius, and Tigris had stationed troops in Esel, but they fell back across the border once we moved in. It looks like they’re going back to their own lands.”
“Do you think it’s some kind of trap? If I were them, I’d pretend to retreat and stage an ambush.”
“Our scouts haven’t reported anything. Maybe they just don’t think the human kingdoms are worth saving.” Aura looked unconvinced even as she spoke. After a moment’s thought, she looked back up at Liz with new determination in her eyes. “I’m not sure yet, but I want to check something. May I?”
“Go ahead,” Liz said. “Just don’t tie yourself in knots. For all we know, that’s exactly what they want.”
“I know. I’ll report back once I have a better picture.”
Overthinking was dangerous. If a commander grew too fixated on one thing, it would limit their ability to strategize. Still, Aura was well aware of that. When she said she would report back, she presumably meant she would entrust the final decision to Liz. What was more, she did not seem tense or lacking in composure. Her youthful appearance made it easy to forget her age, but not only was she Liz’s senior in years, she had also spent longer on the battlefield. She was sure to arrive at the right conclusion.
“I’ll leave you in charge of that,” Liz said. “What about Greif and Esel?”
“Greif’s military was depleted after the battle in Faerzen. Esel is worse, though. It’s one of the smallest kingdoms, and it fought hard in Faerzen. It doesn’t have many soldiers left to draw from. We don’t expect much resistance.”
The empire had initially been prepared for a long, grueling battle to retake Faerzen, but in reality, only Greif and Esel had seriously committed to its defense. The conquest had concluded in surprisingly short order.
“Anguis, though...” Aura mused. “Anguis is the only one I don’t understand.”
Anguis had abandoned the new capital it had established in San Dinalle and brought its soldiers home, forsaking the Greif and Esel troops that had jointly garrisoned the city. Prisoners of war had testified that it had divided its forces into small units and sneaked them away piecemeal disguised as merchants. Its losses had been minimal. Indeed, Anguis was in the best shape of all six kingdoms. But if it was in such an advantageous position, why had it provided no support to Esel, opting instead to stay firmly within its own borders with no movement in sight? Its silence was disconcerting.
“Anguis is planning something. We can count on that.”
The queen of Anguis had been responsible for ravaging the empire’s western territories three years prior. She had cut down High General Vakish von Hass. Third Prince Brutahl had been executed on her command. She was more than clever enough to have realized the empire was looking to turn Esel into a buffer zone and split Six Kingdoms in two. Just because she wasn’t doing anything overt didn’t make it safe to take their eyes off her. She merited being watched like a hawk.
“Send more scouts north to keep an eye on Anguis,” Liz said. “Aside from that, we’ll continue as planned.”
Aura nodded. “And then it’ll be a race to bring Esel to the negotiating table.”
“The sooner the better. Rosa’s letters are starting to worry me.”
Several letters had arrived from Rosa detailing a litany of concerns—mounting tensions in the north, strange rumblings in the Vanir Triumvirate, suspicious activity among House Muzuk and their southern nobles. Shifting the bulk of the empire’s strength west seemed to have unleashed a thousand years’ worth of accumulated strife.
“I knew it would happen,” Liz continued, “but there’s a lot depending on the battle with Esel.”
In the north, Lebering was massing soldiers. In the west, Draal’s grand duke was sending messengers all across his territories, making clear something was afoot. In the south, Steissen and Lichtein were little better; they had entered into a ceasefire agreement, but they had forged no alliance, and any sign of an impending imperial collapse would have them at each other’s throats once more.
“It feels like there are enemies on all sides.”
The empire’s vast size was also its greatest weakness. It could not attend to or keep watch over all of its lands at once. It teetered precariously atop a thousand years of twisted history, and now the stack was beginning to tip. What had taken a millennium to build up could come crashing down in a moment. In the blink of an eye, all would be gone. The age was turning with tremendous speed. It was like a dam had burst beneath the weight of a thousand years of stagnation, allowing time to flow once more.
Still, that was no reason to despair. The way ahead might have been shrouded in darkness, but Liz would forge on, believing that light lay ahead.
“We’ll carve a path through.”
Soon, she sensed, the curtain would rise on an age of chaos.
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