Chapter Four: The Battle of Nobis
I
The sun sank low beyond the horizon, casting red light over the broken arrows and notched blades that littered the blood-soaked earth of the Freyberg Plateau. A flock of bone-picker birds with their poisonous magenta plumage circled in the sky above. The pale forms of slavering dusksight wolves flitted in and out of the shadows of the dim light between the trees. Tonight, they would feast to their hearts’ content. There was more meat to be had than they could possibly devour, so copious were the dead that covered the ground, blotting out the surface of the plateau.
After Olivia’s forces drove away Patrick’s Helios Knights, they rendezvoused with Blood. While cheers rang out around her from the soldiers of the Second Legion, Lise gasped when she saw the beautiful young woman with pale blonde hair who stood at the front.
“Captain Lise Prussie, how good to see you again,” the woman said solemnly. “I don’t believe we’ve met since the commissioning ceremony at the military academy.”
“You too, Claudia Jung,” Lise replied. “But I thought you were with the First Legion?”
“I was transferred to the Seventh Legion a year and a half ago. Now I have the honor of serving as Major Olivia’s aide.”
“I didn’t know,” Lise said. “But Claudia, why are you being so stiff? Here we are, meeting for the first time in years, and you’re talking like we’re strangers.” She pouted prettily.
Claudia, unruffled, replied, “It’s only natural, ser. I am a lieutenant, while you are a captain. You are my superior officer.”
“Well then, here’s an order from your superior officer,” Lise said, grinning. “You are to talk to me just as you did back at the academy.”
Claudia’s eyebrows twitched. “Crafty as ever, I see,” she said at length.
“And you’re the same hardheaded dork”—her eyes went to Claudia’s waist—“married to your sword.”
“Hmph. ‘Dork’ is a bit harsh.” They stared each other down for a moment, then, laughing aloud, they embraced.
Blood supposed they must have been classmates at the military academy. Watching their happy reunion, he remembered his own departed friends, Lindt and Latz.
After their brief embrace, Lise stepped back from Claudia, her face set, and bowed her head low. “Without you, the Second Legion would never have made it out of here,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Stop that!” Claudia bellowed. She sounded almost angry. “We go to the aid of our allies! That’s nothing special.” Lise slowly looked up, her expression a mix of exasperation and relief.
With a small laugh, she said, “You’re as painfully earnest as ever. It’s comforting, in a way.”
Claudia huffed, averting her eyes uncomfortably. “I’m hardly going to turn into a different person in a few short years.”
Lise brushed back a strand of hair that caught on her ear, shooting Claudia a teasing smile.
“I hate to interrupt your reunion, but we do have some things to discuss.” At Blood’s interjection, Claudia scrambled to salute.
“I beg your pardon, ser! Please forgive the delay, and allow me to introduce Major Olivia!” With a slightly boastful air, she ushered forward a girl clad in ebony black armor. It was adorned with the crest of a skull over two crossed scythes, just like on the banner. A buzz of excited voices rose up from the gaggle of officers crowding around to get a look at her.
Olivia stood up straight, then, with a satisfying click of her heels, she saluted. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, ser! I am Major Olivia Valedstorm.”
Blood returned the salute, while privately marveling that the much-discussed Death God stood here before him. “I’m Lieutenant General Blood Enfield,” he replied. “First of all, you have my wholehearted gratitude for coming to our aid.”
“Not at all, ser! Your gratitude is appreciated!”
“You know, your decoy was very pretty herself, but she’s nothing compared to the real thing,” Blood observed without thinking, staring openly at Olivia. Just then, he felt a sharp jolt of pain. Looking around in confusion to the source of the damage, he realized that Lise was pinching the skin of his right hand, an icy smile on her face.
“Captain Lise...?” he stammered.
“Isn’t it nice, ser, that Major Olivia is so very beautiful?” she said. “Young too. Do you plan on taking up lechery in addition to your duties as general?” Her smile grew wider, and before Blood could attempt to defend himself, she snorted, and looked away.
Olivia, looking up at him, only said. “Yeah? Um, I mean, do you think so, ser?” She didn’t affirm or rebuff him, just responded automatically. But then, an exceptional beauty like her was probably used to comments like his. She didn’t appear to be totally unaware of her beauty, but what really caught Blood’s attention was something else.
“What’s this? You don’t seem comfortable with all our military formalities,” Blood commented with a wry smile.
Olivia nodded fervently. “Yes, ser. It’s all so weirdly complicated.” So he’d been right. Olivia probably felt suffocated by the unbending rules of the military. He ought to know—he felt just the same. The fact of the matter was that military life didn’t suit him.
“I’ll be honest with you, Major. I feel the same way. You can speak however you like with me.”
“What, really?”
“That’s what’s more comfortable for you, isn’t it?”
“But Colonel Otto always said I absolutely have to be respectful at all times to superior officers...” With a particularly grim expression she added, “He always says it like it’s some sort of curse.” Apparently, it was something she’d had thoroughly drilled into her. Listening to her, Blood saw how her superiors might be exasperated with her. Disrespecting a superior officer was strictly forbidden in the military. At the same time, what Lise had said to Claudia was true—the Second Legion’s rescue was entirely down to Olivia and her forces. Compared to that, proper terms of respect no longer seemed very important.
“Colonel Otto?” he asked.
“You don’t know Colonel Otto? He always looks like this.” She banished all emotion from her face. That expression on her put him in mind of an artwork by a master sculptor.
“Ahhh, the Man in the Iron Mask. He’s with old Paul, right? I can imagine he would give you a hard time. He’s basically a walking copy of the military code,” Blood said, remembering Otto’s scowl.
“You think so too?!” Olivia gasped. She leaned toward him, her uncannily black eyes sparkling. “Oh man, I’ve thought that for forever.” There was so much intensity in her gaze that Blood found himself leaning away.
“Well, um, pretty much. Anyway, I can’t stand this formality stuff either, so I’ll call you Liv.”
“Liv...” Olivia said thoughtfully, then smiled, flashing white teeth at him. “Sure! That works,” she said, nodding. Lise, frowning hard, interjected, pointing out that they had to set an example to the soldiers, but Blood only smirked at her.
“Oh? You know, only a few hours ago I’m sure someone else was here twisting the military code to suit her. Who was that again? It was something about an aide having the right to refuse orders from her superior...”
Lise widened her eyes in puzzlement. “What an outrageous notion,” she agreed. “Someone really said something so absurd?”
There was something almost refreshing in how brazenly she feigned innocence. Off to one side, Claudia sighed and rolled her eyes. Given she didn’t know the particulars of this situation, Blood assumed this wasn’t the first time she’d heard such a thing either.
He decided to get the conversation back on track. “Anyway. Going forward, I’ll need Liv and her forces to temporarily join the Second Legion. I know it’s a drag, but we’ve taken a serious lashing.” Only twelve thousand of the Second Legion’s soldiers remained. The Battle of the Freyberg Plateau was over, but they didn’t have the luxury of enjoying their victory yet. If they were going to join the First Legion, he needed Olivia’s forces with him. Blood was only mentioning it as a courtesy—as far as he was concerned, the matter was already decided.
“I’m fine with that,” Olivia said, nodding without any apparent concern.
Blood nodded back to her. “I appreciate that,” he said. “Right, Major General Adam?”
“Yes, ser!” said Adam, stepping forward.
“I’m giving you two thousand soldiers. Take our wounded and get them safely back to Fis.”
“Understood, ser!” He was a man of around fifty summers, and spoke with vigor. Though he had no showy victories to his name, he was a tough old soldier who could face down even the direst of situations with a clear head. It was in no small part thanks to him that the Second Legion had held on for so long while on the brink of collapse. Blood trusted him to handle whatever happened, even if the scattered and retreating enemy somehow managed to muster a counterattack.
“The rest of us will regroup and head straight to join the First Legion. I want everyone to march. Let’s go.” As Blood finished, everyone sprang into motion. Olivia stood up as Claudia made to leave, but Blood called her back. “Hey, Liv?”
As she turned, he lunged. His sword was already in his hand by the time he had her in range, blade flashing up with the speed and precision to catch a bird on the wing straight toward Olivia’s neck.
Time seemed to stand still. With Blood’s sword at her throat, Olivia replied calmly, “Yes?”
A pause, then Blood smiled apologetically and said, “It’s nothing. Sorry to draw on you all of a sudden like that.”
Olivia cocked her head, nonplussed before Claudia, alarmed, hurried her away. The petrified onlookers seemed to come back to life, their frozen shock replaced with expressions of confusion.
“My lord?” Lise asked tentatively. “What was that...?” She seemed just as bewildered. Of course, he had just drawn his sword on the woman who’d saved the Second Legion from certain destruction, so her reaction was eminently understandable.
“Sorry if I alarmed you,” Blood said. “I just wanted to check something.”
“Were you...” Lise’s tone became accusatory. “Ser, were you testing her?”
Blood returned his sword to its scabbard with a shrug. “That’s right. But now I get it. I see why the imperial army is so scared of this one girl.”
“Not having seen her fight, I can hardly comment...” Lise said dubiously. “Is she really all that?”
“You saw what just happened, didn’t you? When I drew my sword on her, she didn’t even twitch.”
“Yes, of course I saw it, but surely Major Olivia was merely too taken aback to react?”
What she said was plausible. People weren’t good at reacting to anything outside what they expected.
People struggled to react to anything they weren’t expecting. The shock made their minds go blank and delayed their next actions. Blood was confident that with the strike he’d just demonstrated, he could dispatch almost any opponent before they knew what hit them.
There were probably some who could keep their wits about them to react quickly. But Olivia didn’t fit into that category either.
“That’s not what happened,” Blood said. “The moment she saw me coming, she knew that she didn’t need to move.”
“Are you sure, ser?”
“What would I lie for? She knew exactly how my blade would move, and so she knew that it wasn’t going to touch her.” He rolled up his sleeves and showed Lise his arm. “Here’s the proof.”
“Your hair’s all standing on end...”
“Now you get it, right? My instincts are telling me I should be terrified of her. If she ever turned against us, well. Even if we had a hundred lives to spare, it wouldn’t be enough. Whoever called her ‘Death God’ had the right idea.”
“Even you couldn’t beat her, ser?” Lise asked, awe in her eyes. Blood thought her question was a bit off the mark. They were at war, which was a clash between nations, not individuals.
“One-on-one? I wouldn’t have a hope in hell. The difference in our skill is too vast.”
Lise looked disbelieving. “However strong she is, surely she can’t be that...”
Blood shook his head. “It’s kind of you to overestimate my abilities so, but I guarantee you, it’s true. What sort of training she must have gone through to reach that level at her age...” He put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, then let out a smoke-filled sigh. He could still see Olivia, walking away from them. Even at this distance, she seemed to tower over everyone around her.
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