VI
Violet’s Camp, Army of the Alliance
A little over a week had passed since the fighting had begun. Violet’s orders from Blood were to subdue the combined Swaran-Stonian army that was closing in from their rear to catch them in a pincer formation. Behind the scenes, she set her plan into motion...
“Did the enemy take the bait?”
“They seemed to at first, but they pulled back straightaway. The commander said they were probably wary of a trap.” The messenger’s words confirmed what Violet had suspected from the start of the battle.
“I knew it. They aren’t really interested in fighting.”
“Ser...?”
“Just talking to myself. You needn’t concern yourself.”
“Yes, ser! By your leave, ser!” The messenger departed, just as her aide, Major Cassachy, who was in command on the front line, returned.
“What do you mean, they aren’t interested in fighting?”
Violet narrowed her eyes at Cassachy. “I can’t say I approve of eavesdropping.”
“I wouldn’t dream of eavesdropping, ser. It just so happens that my only redeeming feature is that my ears work better than anyone else’s.” He didn’t look remotely embarrassed.
Wearily, Violet said, “I meant what I said, nothing more.”
“They seem to be fighting in earnest to me.”
“Their commander must be exceptional, then, if they were able to pull the wool over the eyes of my talented aide.” Into the second half of this remark she injected a healthy dose of sarcasm, but this was apparently lost on its target. She stared at her uncle in awe as he gravely declared that the enemy commander must be a person of great cunning indeed.
“Right or wrong, the commanders are of the view that we should strike first, lest it comes back to bite us later. I think we should actively listen to them—it could directly impact morale.”
Violet only had twenty thousand soldiers—half that of the forty-thousand-strong Swaran-Stonian army. But every one of them was a member of the Azure Knights. The commanders must have decided that—even accounting for their disadvantage in numbers—now that the fighting had been going on for some time, they could afford to go on the offensive. In broad strokes, their judgment was correct.
“I thought they’d start talking like that around now.” This was the only comment Violet made. Cassachy seemed to infer that she wasn’t going to agree with him. He put forward a different suggestion.
“Why not call for a truce, then? Swaran and Stonia are the empire’s puppets, after all. They’re only fighting because they’re forced to. There’s no need to sacrifice soldiers to this farce.”
“They have orders from the empire to exterminate the Azure Knights. If you were in their position, would you take our bait?” The empire was undoubtedly watching. Under such conditions, they had no choice but to fight. Cassachy’s proposal entirely ignored their opponent’s situation.
“So no change in our tactics, then,” Cassachy said. He sounded deferential, but he pouted like a child. The total disconnect between his words and his face was so entertaining that Violet burst out laughing.
“I suppose what you want to say is that we should cut the farce short, then go off to fight the undead.”
Cassachy gave her a grumpy look, then, when that had passed, he made a tube with his hand and gave a fake cough. “Some of their fangs may be broken, but they may still bite with the ones that remain. It is my view that we ought to go along with the farce without provoking them unnecessarily.”
It was such a perfect about-face that Violet could only smile helplessly. She could understand that he was worried about his lord’s daughter, but there was no room for such concerns on the battlefield.
“We aren’t fighting to gain anything here. It is imperative that we go on as we have been—solidifying our defenses and not engaging in active aggression. At this stage, all you need to do is the job I’ve given you and no more.” Cassachy indicated his understanding, but he didn’t look away from Violet. “Do you think I’m being naive?”
“No, my lady...” he said. “But the enemy may take advantage of leniency to go on the attack.”
Fighting spirit burned in Violet’s voice. “Then we will see that they fear the Azure Knights in the very marrow of their bones. You need not be troubled.”
Cassachy dropped to his knees and bowed low. “As you command, my lady.”
Main Command of the Swaran-Stonian Army
“Even the Azure Knights hesitate to rush into an attack,” said Marshal Liberal Eltoria of the Swaran Kingdom. He was so off the mark that General Cecilia palla Cadio of the Principality of Stonia had to repress a heavy sigh.
In their crushing loss to the Holy Land of Mekia, Stonia had lost many of its senior retainers, chief among them Field Marshal August gibb Lanbenstein. Command of the Stonian Army had fallen to Cecilia, who once more found herself standing on a battlefield against her will.
She looked up at the fluttering banners of House Anastasia. “The Azure Knights’ commander is one of the greatest of our time. She guessed at our plan and is holding back from attacking. That’s all.”
“Our plan, eh...?” Liberal said significantly. Cecilia outright scowled at him.
“Am I the only one who went in fully aware of what we were doing? If the Azure Knights attack in earnest, it won’t matter that they have half our numbers. They’ll crush both our armies to dust in a matter of days. I’ve said it before, but so you don’t forget—we aren’t an army so much as an undisciplined mob.”
Liberal folded his arms and laughed bitterly. “I don’t deny that. But I also don’t think they will be happy with how things are going.”
Of course the “they” that he spoke of was none other than the imperial overseer sent to observe them. Clad in black armor, the overseer lurked in a corner of the camp as they spoke, staring unsettlingly at them.
“And I’m doing all this so that they don’t pick up on it!” Cecilia, conscious of the overseer’s eyes, automatically dropped her voice to a whisper. Liberal’s smile vanished, replaced by a grim expression.
“The empire today is not what it once was. I don’t have the slightest desire to stand against those monsters. Whatever extenuating circumstances there might have been, I can’t comprehend how the Azure Knights could stage an open rebellion. I thought we were of the same mind on that point, General.”
Cecilia had no reply. The news of the Azure Knights’ rebellion had come to Cecilia via the mouth of a traveling merchant. She’d learned that the bizarre rumors that had started to fly at the same time were true when an emissary arrived from the empire. Now that she had seen the monsters with her own eyes, she fully understood that they were even more dangerous than she could ever have imagined.
Even then, I can’t...
There was pity in Liberal’s eyes as he looked at her, but it seemed to be just as much for himself as for her.
“Our king is still a child. If I am to protect my country, I must stay alive—no matter what, I must endure to that end. The same is surely true for you, General Cecilia, as successor to the great Marshal August.”
“But you saw it too, Marshal Liberal. That light.”
She had put together a battle plan that so utterly played into their opponents’ hands. This was in part because she had found out that she was fighting Violet, but the greater reason was that she had seen the empire’s monsters snuffed out of existence in an instant. In that light, like the wrath of the gods given form, Cecilia had found hope.
“Magecraft...” Liberal said. “It’s true; after witnessing that power I understand why they call mages the messengers of the gods. I also understand why it gives you hope.”
“Then—” she began, but the look Liberal gave her silenced her.
“But in the end, they are still only messengers. They cannot defeat the gods themselves.”
Cecilia had nothing with which to refute this. She found herself dropping her gaze and busied herself staring at the ground for no good reason.
“I have no objections to carrying on with your plan for the time being. But if the situation changes, so too may my position. The same is true if they catch on to you. I trust we understand each other. If you mislike it, you may by all means do as you please, but I will have you put down a sworn statement in writing that Swaran had nothing to do with it. That’s acceptable, I hope?” The softness of Liberal’s voice conveyed his resolve on this matter all the better.
“It is acceptable...” Cecilia said at length. In the end, the alliance between them was fragile, built on nothing more than the empire’s commands. Of course they could not stand as a united front. Cecilia bit back everything she wanted to say to give her agreement.
“If you must bear a grudge, let it be toward your own ill luck in being born into such times. Although, on this one occasion luck may be on your side.” With these words of despair and bitterness, Liberal turned away from Cecilia.
She gazed at the Swaran crest on his cloak and thought, You are focused on the present without seeing the future. Haven’t you considered that we may be the next target of those monsters? Feeling a strange chill, she hugged her shoulders and looked up at the sky. All I can do is cling to hope.
Even if that hope were as ephemeral as a fading candle.
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