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The Warlord Ch 08

The Warlord Ch 08

by aspernessling
19 min read
4.85 (3600 views)
adultfiction

WARLORD Chapter 8

- "She'll ask for more troops." said Wantrao. "The Hadyks are doomed, and we'll be next."

- "Does this change our plans?" asked Armene.

- "No. We still take Goldenrod as quickly as possible. Even if we can't benefit from having another production centre, we can deny it to our enemies."

- "For as long as possible." added Wantrao.

- "It's a strategic location. It shields Jacaranda, and partially covers both Ivy and Hyacinth. It gives us a central position, too."

We had ridden out to join the main army, halfway to Goldenrod. My four bodyguards were with us, plus Luth. It wasn't a very large officer corps, so I had to do something about that immediately.

The troopers were waiting for us, in orderly ranks, creating a sort of avenue for us to ride through. The moment we came abreast of the first two units, they started cheering.

There was nothing I could do but grin and bear it. And salute. I did a lot of saluting.

We spread the word, asking every unit in the main army to choose one representative, and had them meet me just outside the camp. I couldn't address all 14,000 troops that were here, but I could just manage a crowd of 140.

- "Every unit is to elect its own officers." I told them. "You know better than I do who is best suited for positions of responsibility. People with talent. People you trust, and have confidence in. That might be you, or it might be someone else."

- "What title should we give them?" asked one tall woman.

- "Captain, for the first officer in the unit. Give them two lieutenants, to assist or replace them at need. Each squad of ten should have a junior leader. Call them corporals."

We dealt with supply issues fairly quickly. They still had food for another five days. Once we captured Goldenrod, I could use its Touchstone to replenish our stocks of food and water. I also tackled the subject of camp sanitation and latrines, because Wantrao had been right. Fourteen thousand soldiers do a lot of shitting.

But I also had to tell them the truth.

- "You're all people, and so are the servants. There are no more Graham peons. That's the good news - but it's also the bad news. There won't

be

anymore Graham peons. I can't create people from a Touchstone. That means that... after this turn... we won't be getting any reinforcements. We have to win the war with what we have now."

I didn't conceal the fact that we were going to be seen as heretics by the other families. Outlaws. Outcasts. It wasn't a concept they were familiar with, but they got the idea.

- "We're still with you, Lord." said another soldier. I recognized him; he was another Nosey.

- "Thank you, Nosey. But let's stop calling me 'Lord'. I'm just a person, like you. 'General' is my rank. Other than that, I'm just Daniel."

I sent them off to organize the elections of officers. Then I called it a night. Sleep when you can, the old soldiers say. If the other turns were any indication, I might have to go without in the very near future.

Turn 5 began just before dawn the next morning.

***

We marched for Goldenrod, and on the way learned something about an army made up of people rather than peons. I had expected that we would be slower, because peons didn't get tired, and didn't have to stop for lunch. But our people moved faster. They marched with purpose, and rose to the occasion. It made the former peon army look a collection of dawdlers out for a stroll.

The troopers sang as they marched, which helped them keep the pace, and also kept their spirits high. When one unit stopped singing, to catch their breath, two more units picked it up.

Soldiers called out to me when they saw me. Not all of them, obviously, but enough that I spent a lot more time answering, saluting, and waving.

We surrounded the city. It wasn't at all difficult to see that the walls were very thinly manned. It appeared that the Hadyks had built forces here and then immediately moved them to Dahlia. Had they abandoned Caladium as well, since it was likely to be the first place attacked by the enemy coalition?

- "Makes sense." said Luth. "Rather than take heavy losses defending two cities, they can build up a stronger force in Dahlia. It also gets them out the way, so the enemy can confront us directly."

The storm of Goldenrod was completely anti-climactic. Concentrated fire from our archers kept the defenders' head down. There simply weren't enough troops to hold every part of the wall. Many of our soldiers reached the top completely unopposed.

The Hadyks and half-Hadyks commanding the defence didn't stick around very long. The result was never in doubt, and they left through the Portal long before any of our fighters got near them. With their escape, resistance ended.

There had only been two hundred defenders. Half were killed. The remainder, our prisoners, became people as soon as we took control of the Touchstone. There were a hundred troopers, and a thousand servants. They were utterly amazed. Our army was delighted.

We lost seven killed in the fighting. I would have felt the loss if they had been peons, but somehow it was much, much worse now. The fallen soldiers had only gotten to enjoy being people for a few days.

I used the Goldenrod Touchstone to create some new supplies for our people, and then set about getting to know the new captains. It was a process that I wasn't going to finish overnight, if ever, but there was no better time to start. I wasn't going to move the army until we heard from our scouts and our flanking forces.

The next morning, we heard the ominous gong again, followed by the powerful voice.

- "

The Shorrs have declared war on the Morcars

."

***

Our scouts weren't able to confirm what was happening until the following day. The Hadyks hadn't stirred from Dahlia, but they clearly had over ten thousand troops there. Meanwhile, there was no news of the Balabans. The Shorrs easily took both Eglantine and Caladium.

But we found out about the Morcars firsthand, because they came to us. Sudha sent them with an escort. We had ample warning that they were coming.

- "If they ask for your protection, it's customary to ask them to surrender their weapons." said Luth.

- "

Our

protection."

- "That may not be how they'll phrase it."

We waited for them just inside the city gates, with plenty of troops on hand, partly as an honour guard, partly for security.

The Morcars were partial to yellow clothing and trimmings, and most of them had blonde hair. Their leader was a very young woman flushed from the exertion of riding here - or perhaps it was embarrassment that gave her red cheeks. Her hair was partially piled up, behind her head, while much of it was allowed to hang loose, behind her neck and down her back. It was a style I'd seen before, on Lady Rona Hadyk.

- "I am Melanie Morcar, heir to the Morcar family." she said. "I ask for your protection, Lord Graham, against your enemies and mine."

They were fine words, except that she wasn't heir to squat anymore. Also, she'd been

among

my enemies only a day ago. Finally, Melanie had a raspy voice that reminded me again of Rona Hadyk, and she hadn't learned that a half-scowl doesn't qualify as a smile.

- "I grant you the protection of the Grahams." I said. "I must ask, though, that you surrender your weapons until such time as we have discussed the status of your family." Luth had briefed me on the 'rules', and I remembered what Rona had said when Lady Shorr and her family had come to us as refugees after the fall of Jacaranda and Ivy.

The Morcars had lost their last city, too, and their army, in its entirety. They now had to throw themselves on the mercy of another family. They could intermarry, and effectively join the Grahams, or they could offer to 'serve' as allies, in the hopes that we might grant them a captured city, and restore them to great family status.

Lady Shorr, at the mercy of Rona Hadyk, had chosen 'none of the above'. She'd gone and made a deal with the Balabans, instead.

- "We understand." said Melanie Morcar.

I invited the Morcars into our dining room. There were eleven of them, plus six half-Morcars and a strange little girl with glasses. Melanie introduced all of her family members, in a tone that simultaneously suggested that I should be impressed, even while it ticked me off. Then she rapidly skipped over the names of her half-kin, only to finally introduce Peachy Exel, the little runt in spectacles.

That name was like a delayed lighting strike for me. "You're the strategist. Wait - Peachy? How do you spell the rest? It's not your last name, is it? You spell it XL?"

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- "Umm... yeah. How d'you know that?"

- "You play Conquest? Warlord?"

- "Yeah. You're freaking me out a bit, here..."

- "You'd know me online as NeOublie."

- "No way!"

This little runt in glasses, who looked to be about 4' 9" and weighed maybe 87 pounds, had kicked my ass in multi-player games for the better part of two years. More often than not, anyway. She was quick-thinking, ruthless, and knew exactly when to turn on an ally - and now that I got a better look at her, appeared to be about twelve years old.

- "I'm fourteen." she said, a little sullenly. "And if you're smart," she added, "you'll watch out for a little Red Wedding action before the day is over."

It was a warning that couldn't have been clearer, even if she and I were the only two people in the room who would get it.

I had food and drink brought for our 'guests', and stepped out of the room to make a few arrangements.

Melanie Morcar was not in the best of moods. It was understandable, I suppose; they'd lost their last city, and their army, to treachery. She was reduced to casting herself on the mercy of the upstart Grahams. She could have been a little nicer about it, though, given that we weren't obliged to extend our hospitality.

She might have been a good match for Moran Hadyk. Melanie was spoiled, wilful, and ill-humoured. They might have done everyone a favour and killed each other on their wedding night.

- "No, I cannot renounce our family status." she said. "My mother is not here."

- "Where is she?"

- "In Eglantine. Captured by the Shorrs." Lady Morcar wouldn't have been able to escape through the Portal, because she had no other city to go to.

- "Then doesn't that make you the head of the family, in her absence?"

- "In some ways. You could grant us a production centre, and I could form an alliance with you."

- "Why would I do that?" The Shorrs had just been granted a city by their allies, and had promptly betrayed one of them.

- "You are desperately short of commanders and officers. We have more here than you do. And a second strategist, for what she's worth."

I glanced at Peachy XL. "What's that supposed to mean?"

- "When Mother used her boon, she specifically asked for a strategist that was better than you. And this is what we got."

I could have laughed at that, but Melanie Morcar wouldn't have got the joke. Instead, I went to speak to the strategist herself.

- "They don't seem to appreciate your talents." I said.

- "Why would they? I haven't exactly been on a winning streak."

- "Was it your idea to try and recapture Ivy?"

- "Yeah, but you saw that coming. You and that damned cavalry force. And horse archers. I didn't even know that was an option. And I couldn't do anything about anything, because they wouldn't let me out of the damn castle!"

- "They were fooled by your appearance?"

- "Yeah. They treat me like a little kid. Most of them, anyway. These are my friends, Travot and Stina." She indicated the two half-Morcars sitting beside her. Stina was obviously a half: she had the blonde hair of the Morcars, but the dark skin of the Shorrs - which was probably unfortunate for her, at this stage. I greeted the two.

"I wasn't kidding about the Red Wedding thing." said Peachy.

- "I believe you." I said. I was standing about two steps from the doorway to the Map Room. Nosey and Pudge were in there, while Boloda and Kisel were with me. Once inside the room, I had no doubt the four of them could defend it easily, however many of our Morcar guests had failed to hand over all their weapons.

Sure enough, they telegraphed their intentions. Four of the Morcar family members, seated closest to the exit from the dining room, 'nonchalantly' got up from their seats.

- "

Now

." I said, for the benefit of my bodyguards. We simply moved into the Map Room. The Morcars who'd stood up produced daggers, and surged in the other direction, into the hallway.

They'd probably intended to surprise the guards at the door. It didn't happen. First, I'd tripled their numbers, and moved them a little further down the hall. I'd also put Armene in command of them.

The Morcar quartet, temporarily foiled, made the bold decision to go the other way - toward the Portal Room. If they could take control of our Touchstone...

That wasn't going to happen. Wantrao was waiting there with eight more troopers, and another dozen back in the Portal Room itself.

We heard shouts, a clash of weapons, and then a pair of high-pitched screams, mere moments apart.

In the dining room, a group of the Morcars came toward the door to the Map Room. One brave fellow launched himself at us, with only a dagger. Nosey ran him through.

If the Morcars had been determined enough (which would have required at least eight or ten of them to show suicidal courage) they

might

have gotten close to me. Didn't happen. Not even close.

Four of them died trying to get past Wantrao. He wasn't the most merciful of fellows. When he and Armene entered the Dining Room, the remaining Morcars threw down their weapons (except for Peachy and her two friends, who had dived under the table as soon as the trouble started.

Lady Melanie and her surviving family members were searched and disarmed, then led away to be locked up.

- "Not them." I said, indicating Peach and her cohorts. She had warned us, and the other two had not participated in the attack on us. That was good enough, for now.

Wantrao let Armene take the prisoners away.

- "I need to speak to you." he said.

- "So do I." said Boloda.

- "About what?"

- "Did you not see Nosey kill that man trying to come through the doorway?" she said.

- "Of course. That was well done, Nosey."

- "

Daniel

." hissed Boloda. "Peons can't attack people."

- "But Nosey is a person..." I began. And then it hit me.

Our entire army was no longer composed of peons. Every single member of the Graham community was a person, now. And people could do more than simply defend themselves. People could kill...

My first thought was that Moran Hadyk was in for a nasty surprise.

- "Stubby. Little Red." said Wantrao. "Step forward."

Two of our soldiers - two of our shorter soldiers - stepped up beside him.

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"I was about to tell you the same thing." he said. "The Morcars concentrated on me. I skewered the first, but the second tried to stab me in the neck with his dagger. Stubby killed him. And then Little Red took care of one of the others."

- "Thank you both. All three of you, I mean." Wow. This was big. Potentially big.

- "That's not supposed to be possible." said Peachy XL. "Peons can't attack people. Right?"

I nodded. "But Nosey is a person. So are Stubby and Little Red."

- "You use half-breeds as guards?"

- "There

are

no half-Grahams. There never will be. The half-Hadyks who joined me are all full Graham family members. And our former peons are all people now."

- "That's crazy. How did that happen?"

- "I used our boon."

- "To make peons people? Damn..." Peachy shook her head. "That's seriously messed up. No wonder you suck at Conquest and Warlord. Lady Shorr got fifty thousand troops, and you got peons who need food and water."

I'd heard what she said. "

Fifty thousand

?"

Mother of Mercy.

***

- "Tell me what happened." I asked Peachy.

- "Our field army was supposed to join with the Shorr army, to attack Caladium. The Shorrs suddenly declared war on us. They had split their forces, and sent infantry to attack Eglantine."

- How many?" I asked.

- "Twenty-five thousand." she said.

- "Total?"

- "Infantry. Lady Shorr used her boon to ask for more troops. The Gods granted her fifty thousand."

To his credit, Wantrao didn't immediately leap into the air and scream 'Told you so!'. He didn't sneer, or curl his lip. He simply looked away.

- "How big was the Morcar field force?"

- "Six thousand. We kept 2500 to defend Eglantine, in case you tried something. So the Shorrs now have 56,000 troops, if not more. How many do you have, anyway?" asked Peachy.

- "Not that many."

- "So you have five cities, and she has three. Caladium is toast."

- "I doubt the Hadyks even tried to defend it. They only left a skeleton force here."

Peachy sighed. "Time to make nice with the Hadyks and the Balabans, then. You're gonna need all the help you can get."

- "The Balabans are allied to the Shorrs." said Armene.

- "Right. A deal they probably regret, right now. Did you see how quickly Lady Shorr turned on the Morcars? She'll finish you guys off, and the other two families won't stand a chance."

- "What makes you think that we're next?" I asked.

- "Wouldn't you concentrate on the most dangerous enemy first? Besides, the other two families have over ten thousand troops each, and only one city to put them in. Could be expensive to storm. Meanwhile, you have a bigger field army, but five cities to defend. I mean, if this was a game, I'd come after you first. Take your production centres, or force you to fight a battle, and

then

take your production centres."

She was right. I knew it, too. It was time to let all of my family know the bad news.

***

They took it reasonably well. Once again, Wantrao passed up the opportunity to remind everyone that he'd been right. Nobody else had any recriminations to make.

- "You did the right thing, Daniel." said Boloda. "Now we have to fight to preserve it."

- "Wait." said Faldor. "If our former peons are now people, and can attack people - I mean, members of other families - then does that mean that their peons can't attack our people?"

- "Oh, wow..." said Vanea.

- "No." said Luth. "We lost seven killed storming the city."

- "How is that possible?" asked Faldor. "Peons can't attack people."

- "That compunction isn't innate. It didn't come from the Gods. The families all agreed, long ago, to order their peons not to attack family members."

- "But they didn't include half-Hadyks?" I said. "Half-family?"

Boloda looked at me sadly. "You're forgetting where half-kin come from. Every family is run by a matriarch, and not one of them wanted to extend any protection to the illegitimate children of their husbands, brothers and sons."

- "But Daniel adopted us." said Jashi.

- "Oh, you're all Grahams. But do you think that Rona Hadyk will order her peons not to attack Grahams? Obviously the Morcars didn't, either."

The next morning, we all heard the gong, and the announcement. Turn Five was over.

***

Peachy found me in the Map Room, staring at the ten cities of the Decapolis as if some kind of plan might leap up and smack me in the face.

- "You're starting early." she said.

- "Have to. I got us into this mess."

- "Nobody seems to blame you, though. And your soldiers and servants look a hell of a lot happier than the Morcar peons."

- "If I can find a way to keep them alive."

- "Well, talk to me, then. Maybe I can see something you don't."

- "You want to help us?"

Peachy shrugged. "Don't know if you noticed, NeOublie, but I'm not exactly swamped with job offers at the moment. Besides, your side is beginning to look like the good guys."

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