Warlords Rising

by Honor Raconteur

  On the faint hope that someone was still alive in there, she felt like she had to check. If nothing else, she needed to verify what had happened. She took three steps toward the door and was abruptly checked by Danyal, who stood half in her path.

  “I will go,” he volunteered quietly.

  She opened her mouth on a denial, only to pause without a sound emerging. The look in his eyes was one of worry for her, but also spoke of hardened determination. She wanted to argue that as the leader of this battle, it was her duty to see this through. In truth, she had no confidence that she could walk in there and not lose the contents of her stomach. The smell alone gave her trouble already.

  Whether to help her maintain her dignity, or perhaps to shield her from the horrors of battle, Danyal was volunteering to go in her stead. His stance said he would not budge until she relented.

  Rather than fight about something that she wasn’t sure she could handle, she gave a slight nod. “Please do, Commander.”

  Relieved he hadn’t gotten an argument, he snapped out a salute, called three other men, and walked in. Becca took in a breath, re-focusing on the immediate situation. “Sergeant Mose, let’s secure the prisoners. Find me a place to put them.”

  The grizzled veteran snapped out a salute before turning sharply on his heel, barking out orders as he moved.

  They could settle the living well enough, but what to do with the dead? Becca felt like it was a bad idea to ask Trev’nor to bury any bodies. He was likely at his limits already considering what he’d had to do tonight.

  Danyal was back before she could find an answer, and even in this poor lighting, the man looked green around the gills. He stopped before her, swallowed hard several times, as if fighting back bile. “No survivors, my Warlord.”

  Just how bad was it, when a man who had seen action for nearly fifteen years looked like this? Becca was suddenly grateful that he’d gone inside for her. She would have new fodder for nightmares if she’d bulled ahead and not heeded his warning. “Thank you, Commander. We’ll set a detail tomorrow for clearing the building and burying the dead.”

  “I’ll see to it, my Warlord.”

  Cat leaned her head down and informed her, “Trev’nor and Nolan down.”

  Relieved that she could put off any decisions for a few minutes, she turned toward the tower. “Let’s go see how they fared.”

  They arrived just as people started emerging from the tower. The slaves took in the soldiers with uniforms on and instantly flinched, backpedaling into the tower, or trying to. Then some noticed that Becca glowed as only a mage could, and stopped, confused.

  With a winsome smile on her face, she loudly introduced, “I am Riicbeccaan, Weather Mage and Warlord of Trexler. This is my right hand, Commander Danyal. We are here to escort you to a safe place for tonight.” Gesturing to the building right next to her, she introduced, “The dragon is Llona. Please give her your names. She is our record keeper.”

  Llona extended her head down to street level so she could talk to people more easily and before anyone could stop them, three different kids were trying to climb on her.

  Some of the adults were too afraid to go talk to a dragon, choosing instead to speak with Nolan and Becca, as mages were more familiar to them. Trev’nor didn’t let them shy away but would drag them directly to the dragon himself and make proper introductions. When Llona greeted them with human words, their fears eased a mite, and then disappeared completely as she talked around one child that seemed determined to climb into her mouth. Trev’nor had to haul her out three times and then finally gave up and just perched her on a hip to make sure she couldn’t try it a fourth.

  Really, did kids have no survival instincts? Becca hadn’t been that bad at that age. Or had she? Some questions were safer to not have answers to.

  It took several minutes, and then the ones that had talked to Llona were gathered up by Danyal and led off to some building that had been commandeered.

  Trev’nor watched them go for a long moment. “Becca.”

  “Hmm?”

  “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You knew eventually we’d pick up magicians, and they wouldn’t want to trust enemy soldiers, so you deliberately put on the same uniform so they would link magicians with this uniform.”

  She grinned up at him. “Now you’re getting it.”

  “That was brilliant. I should be in uniform too, shouldn’t I?”

  “It wouldn’t hurt,” she agreed. “I should probably teach you how to salute, too, and military protocol. You’d get more respect from our soldiers if you did.”

  “Is that why they call you ‘my’ Warlord? And I’m only Warlord?”

  Now that he mentioned it…they did do that, didn’t they? “That might have something to do with it.”

  He gave a decisive nod. “Let’s do that later. What needs to be done tonight?”

  “Cleanup.” Becca grimaced as she said the word. “Trev…” she fumbled to a stop, not sure how to tell him.

  He stared back at her, aging a decade in front of her eyes. “Tell me.”

  “They had a third location with magicians. We didn’t know about it until it was far too late.” The words felt lame in her mouth, like a poor excuse. “We lost forty.”

  Trev’nor covered his face with both hands, a sound like raw pain coming out from between his fingers. He stayed like that for a long second before dropping them again. His eyes were bright but no tears fell. “You got the ones responsible?”

  “Our dragons do, yes, and they’re not of the mindset that those men should be kept alive. I’m inclined to agree.” Trying to get things on a slightly better note, she continued, “So they’re part of cleanup. But fortunately, there’s not much, as it’s not that big of a place and it fell pretty quickly. But the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can rest. Cat?”

  The blue dragon was not visibly nearby but answered clearly enough, “Yes?”

  “Arrange for a few other dragons to take first watch, will you? And have someone tell Azin to fix the gates. I’d sleep better with those back up.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I think the slave pens got smashed as we came in, which isn’t a bad thing, but it means we don’t have any holding cells to use. Find or make something that will hold a few hundred people. After that, go crash. Danyal has already marked a building for us, he’ll tell you where to go.”

  Trev’nor went off immediately, calling for Commander Danyal as he moved.

  Becca turned to watch him go and heard Garth call out to him, “You did fine, fledgling.”

  “I’m not fighting a battle like this again, Garth. The cost was too high. Even if it means we have to sit around for a week and think of a better plan, we’re not doing this again.”

  Becca silently agreed. They would not fight such a losing battle next time.

  Becca watched Trev’nor go off with a worried frown. “Nolan. How is he?”

  “Not good,” Nolan sighed, looking at least ten years older than he actually was. “He was crying when I landed on the balcony. I don’t think he was even aware of it. Tears were streaming down his cheeks the entire time I was up there, but he never stopped moving, and he didn’t falter. He blames himself for not being fast enough. But there were over twenty soldiers up there, on two different levels.”

  “Not even Shad can defeat that many all at once,” Becca objected.

  “I know. I said so, too. I think eventually, once some of the guilt has worn off, he’ll see the truth of the matter for himself. But right now it’s hard.”

  Hard didn’t even begin to cover it. “Did anyone say something to him up there?”

  “A few thanked him. I heard them do so. Bec, not one person has said a critical word against us. I think they were expecting much worse than this.”

  Now didn’t that send chills up and down her spine. “I don’t like that theory, Nolan.”

  “Did I sound happy and cheerful saying it? I just think that something else
is going on, something we don’t know about yet, and I’d feel better if we interrogated the commander of Alred and found out what.”

  Now that he had planted the seed of doubt in her mind, Becca wouldn’t be able to sleep until she got some answers. Growling, she did an about face. “Follow me. I know where he is.”

  Nolan fell into step with her. “How was the fight down here?”

  “I know why they used such a cheap tactic. They didn’t have the manpower to properly guard this place. Oh, there were a good three hundred soldiers, which would be enough in the normal scheme of things. The gates and walls are nice and thick, it would be easy to defend them.”

  “Against normal troops.”

  “Against normal troops,” she agreed with a feral smirk. “Not against us. I don’t know what information they’ve gotten up here about us, but it was enough for them to realize they didn’t stand much of a fighting chance against us. Hence their sleazy tactics.”

  “Just so you know,” Nolan sounded eerily calm, “I might do something nasty to the commander.”

  “Feel free. I already did.”

  Nolan gave her a sideways glance. “Do I want to know?”

  “Probably not.” Becca took a better look at the city as she had been rushing last time to get the watchtower and wasn’t paying attention like she should have been. Structurally speaking, the city hadn’t been impacted too much. Some buildings, obviously military, had been crushed by the dragons. The gates too. But otherwise, Alred looked alright.

  The people here were another story altogether.

  Not one had tried to leave the city, which was very, very strange. Fleeing the vicinity made perfect sense when dragons and mages started dropping out of the sky. Most were holed up in their own homes. They had to be dragged out just to talk to. Becca hoped this meant they were too cowed to offer resistance instead of meaning they were plotting something.

  Either way, that would take time to deal with.

  For now, she had dragons and soldiers watching the houses to make sure no one tried anything tonight. Her attention went to other things until that could be resolved.

  The one place large enough to hold all of the prisoners was in the central marketplace. It made for a short walk, as the watchtower was within spitting distance of it. Every soldier was kneeling, hands laced behind their heads, waiting. The commanders were kept separate from the men, off to the side, and under special guard by Captain Hadi’s team. She approached and gave the men a salute. “Captain.”

  Hadi and his team snapped to attention and returned the salute. “Warlord.”

  “We need to interrogate the commander. Bring him forward.”

  “Yes, Warlord.” With another salute, he gestured for the man to be brought forward.

  The commander of Alred was middle-aged, seasoned, and had a dark countenance to him that Becca did not like at all. Looks-wise, he seemed a normal enough soldier, but there was something about him that made her squirm.

  “Commander,” she started without any segue, “what was your plan for defending this city?”

  “My orders were to use any means necessary to keep you from attacking.” His lip curled. “You’re more ruthless than we were informed. The plan obviously failed.”

  He had no idea how effective that plan actually had been. Becca wasn’t about to correct him. “I want to know your plan exactly.”

  “Commander Otsu Hamid, serving under Warlord Riyu, all glory to him,” the Commander barked out, staring straight ahead.

  Wasn’t going to answer that question, eh?

  Becca rocked back on her heels. Bluffing seemed to be in order. “Commander, do you know that there are different types of Mages? Earth, Elemental, Air, Water, and so on. The man standing at my right is a Life Mage. Anything living falls under his domain. That means he can do unspeakable things to you and keep you alive.”

  Nolan glanced at her uncertainly. “You mean I really can switch his arms and legs about? You won’t stop me?”

  The Commander went white, eyes wide.

  “Why should I?” Becca returned, buffing her nails against her uniform. “The man won’t answer my questions. He’s useless to me.”

  Captain Hadi took a step forward. “Raya, Raja, it would be my pleasure to chop them off for you.”

  “Splendid man,” Becca praised.

  “How sharp is your sword, Captain?” Nolan asked, pondering the possibility. “This has to be done with surgical precision otherwise it won’t work very well. Even with my magic, he’ll be in danger of losing his limb, and even if he chooses to cooperate later, I won’t be able to switch them back.”

  “You’re bluffing,” the Commander scoffed, or tried to, his voice was shaking too badly to pull the nuance off. “Magic can’t do that.”

  Nolan dug into a pocket and pulled out a handful of seeds. He tossed them into the ground and watched with a bored expression as stalks grew straight out of the soil, leaves formed, and a few blossoms came out in vibrant colors.

  “All life,” Becca reiterated quietly. “Plant, human, animal, it makes no difference to a Life Mage. Or did you think all of the blood on him was just for show? What do you think he’s been doing ever since we breached the gates?”

  Those dark eyes fixated on the blood all over Nolan’s tunic and he went a few shades paler. “W-we were ordered to use the slaves as a living barrier around the watchtower,” he choked out.

  “That much we know. What else?”

  “If you tried to advance again, we were to take non-essential civilians and put them around the top of the walls.”

  “Non-essential civilians,” Becca repeated, bile rising in her throat. “What does that mean?”

  “In order, sickly and disabled, elderly, children, and any woman past child-rearing age.”

  Becca felt the ground tilt under her. What had he just said?!

  “You were going to sacrifice the people in order to keep this place from being overtaken?” Nolan shook his head a little as if questioning his hearing. “Are you mad? Without the people here, this city isn’t a city at all, but ruins.”

  “You should have refused that order, Commander.” Becca was nearly shaking with rage and it took all she had to not kill the man on the spot.

  “As a man who served Warlord Riyu—” he retorted heatedly.

  “YOU SHOULD HAVE REFUSED THAT ORDER!” Becca bellowed. What little activity in the area ceased immediately. “When a country’s soldiers have to sacrifice innocent lives in order to keep territory, then they are a fallen nation, and there is no saving it.”

  He stared stonily back at her. “I obey my orders.”

  “Pray that the Guardian of this world has mercy on you because of that. I certainly won’t.” Sick to her stomach with this whole conversation, she turned away from him abruptly. “Captain. Execute this man at dawn, along with any officer that knew of these orders.”

  Hadi looked a little sick to his stomach too and was quick to salute her. “Yes, Warlord.”

  Turning on her heel, she stalked away, fighting the contents of her stomach. She felt like throwing up after talking to that man. “Nolan. Trev’nor is running around here somewhere building holding pens for our prisoners. Track him down and tell him everything we just learned.”

  “You think that will help?” Nolan asked quietly.

  “If we had delayed, it would have meant losing half of the city. I think he needs to hear that.”

  “I can’t disagree. Alright, I’ll tell him. What are you going to do?”

  “Clean house. There is evil in this place and I want it all gone by dawn.”

  They spent the next day burying the dead. Becca ran from pillar to post, re-organizing the town and making sure that she had every corrupt official and officer executed. Trev’nor helped as requested and was glad she had taken over that part of the duties here. He didn’t have the stomach for it, not yet.

  They gave the fallen magicians proper burials, letting the families left behind grieve, an
d chose not to take them immediately to Q’atal. They had been through enough in the past few days—taking them to a foreign on country on top of it all seemed cruel. Better to give them some time first and heal.

  Becca issued orders to Trev’nor and Azin to “Go play in the dirt.” By that she meant prepare the land around the watchtower for planting. Trev’nor harbored a suspicion she partially did this to help him get over the trauma of the battle, give him something soothing to do, but he was not about to call her on it. In truth, he needed time with the earth to find his center again. If she was offering that time, he would take it.

  When two mages got it in their head to change something, there wasn’t much that could deter them. Before Trev’nor could get breakfast down, Azin had already started by pulling minerals out of the soil and stacking them nearby in an impromptu rubbish heap.

  Trev’nor handed her a breakfast roll and a mug of hot tea, which she gratefully took, then switched places with her and changed the soil composition so that it could accept water without pooling. Becca, Nolan, and Ehsan joined him, looking a little the worse for wear. Trev’nor had a feeling that no one had really slept that well since breeching the city walls.

  He greeted Nolan with, “This enough?”

  “A little more, if you would. And create canals so that Ehsan has a way to direct the water.”

  “Azin can do that,” Trev’nor disagreed. “In fact, she’d be better at it. How much further out?”

  “To about—” Nolan stopped dead and peered hard into the distance, eyes narrowing. “We have people coming.”

  “How far out?”

  “I can’t judge distance all that well out here. But I can feel them clearly, so less than twenty miles?”

  Trev’nor looked around for Garth to verify only to realize that most of the dragons had taken off with the dawn light for hunting. There wasn’t enough prey to be had here, so they were likely going toward the sea for fish. For them, it wasn’t a very far distance to traverse. “How many?”

  “Five,” Nolan stated definitively. “Four men and one woman. All mounted on dragoos.”