by Billy Wong
"That's a plausible thought, but you have no proof of it do you? Your suspicions don't justify an invasion. Also, this reminds me of a certain organization I'd hoped had been dealt with. Some other party could be manipulating you, trying to set us at one another's throats to weaken us for their own gain."
"The anti-magic faction?" Keith asked. "But how would they control monsters?"
"Maybe not that group exactly, but it could be related. Could be that somebody who helped them, also sows chaos by other means as well."
"I see," Becca said, "you think there might be some grand conspiracy working to throw the continent into shambles. I can't really rule it out."
Julianna looked dubiously at her. "If you're so uncertain about Ostuh being the culprit that you'll consider my theory this easily, why are you going so far as to already be about to invade?"
"My generals have the itch to invade. They're tired of sitting around, and want some action again. I don't necessarily want to go to war. I meant to track the next group of monsters first, to see where they really come from before committing ourselves against Ostuh. But since sending soldiers over their border might cause them to retaliate anyway, might as well be ready for that too."
"Can you wait until I get permission from the Council? That way you can still trace the beasts to their origin while avoiding a war."
Becca waved a hand. "All right old lady, play mediator like you did back in the day."
Julianna and Keith hastened to the Tower of the Council in Ostuh, where Gilbert greeted them with a sardonic tone, "The voice of reason arrives. Are you to call off that pack of rabid dogs sitting on our border, then?"
"I definitely intend to prevent a war from taking place," she said. "But Severil claims great numbers of monsters have been coming into their territory from yours, yet you never warn them about it despite having agreed to. Can you explain this?"
"I am unaware of large groups of monsters going from Ostuh to Severil. If the creatures have learned to escape our notice during their movements, we can't be blamed for that."
That attitude wasn't the most conducive towards good international relations, but not every country could be expected to put their neighbors' interests first especially if they had largely opposing outlooks like Ostuh and Severil. "Queen Becca wants to track the monsters into your land, to find out where they're coming from and if you really aren't responsible for it. Does she have your permission to send troops across the border if a horde or nest of them is discovered? With our supervision, of course. The warriors of Severil won't harm Ostuh's citizens under our watch."
He discussed the matter for a while with other members of the council, then said, "If we have your assurance that Severil will conduct itself properly, permission is granted for its troops to cross the border for the purpose of exterminating monsters in case they are found. However, we would also like for them to be accompanied by a force of our own as a safeguard against misbehavior. How many do they number?"
"Twenty thousand," Keith replied.
Gilbert paled, and nervous muttering from the rest of the council filled the chamber. "I had forgotten that small kingdom could muster such an army on short notice," he said while Julianna held back a bemused grin. "They are a warrior people, I suppose. We cannot match their numbers at the moment, but will raise what troops we can." He paused, seeming to hesitate. "And I will join them."
"You will?" Julianna asked. "I didn't think that kind of thing was for you."
"As we still have not found a new High Knight, I can trust no one more than myself to oversee this."
"They sure are taking their good time with that," Keith mumbled. "Then again, I guess there might not be that many highly qualified warriors in Ostuh." Even so, Julianna thought there must be some officers more suited to leading a military force than Gilbert who had basic self-defense training at best. But if he wanted to do this, she wouldn't insist on stopping him.
"By the way," she said to the Premier, "I have a man staying in my castle in need of a way to get back down to the lower world. About whatever vessel you used to store magical energy inside that mechanical knight to power it—can it be made in a portable form that a person could carry around, and would it hold enough power for say a mage to fly back up from below?"
"I would assume a small version of it can be made. As for whether it would house sufficient power though, you would have to test flying with it to know."
She imagined one might spend a lot of energy experimenting with it before confirming it would do for a trip down and back. "I think our visitor had better stay put until our situation is more stable, then."
They waited a few days in the capital while soldiers were gathered from around the region, until an army of four thousand had been assembled. Still not much compared to what Becca brought and for the most part less formidable individually too, but if having them around made Ostuh feel better so be it. They marched to meet the Severil force, whose hard-looking members eyed the nervous troops of Ostuh with contempt. Julianna and Keith escorted Gilbert through the camp to Becca's tent, where the queen flashed him a wolfish smile.
"Premier Gilbert," she said picking under her nails with the point of a dagger, "now that you're here, can we send out our search party now?"
"Y-yes, you may."
"Then I will be one of them, along with my most trusted general Jermain." She looked at Julianna. "Would you care to join us?"
Keith said, "It'd be less boring than waiting here until they get back, though perhaps one of us should stay to keep peace between the armies."
"Do you mind staying?" Julianna asked. "Kind of mean of me when you're the one who mentioned it, but my magic is something extra I have that might be useful if we get in a pinch against the monsters."
Though she saw some disappointment in his eyes, he shrugged. "That's fine. Fair reasoning, anyway."
"Just the three of us?" Julianna asked Becca. "You, me and Jermain?"
"Well if we get in trouble and have to fly away, I figure you'd be hard pressed to carry more than two others. So three seems like a good number. If your fiance wanted badly to come, we might have to flip a coin between him and Jermain."
"I would have volunteered to come as well," Gilbert remarked, "but it sounds like that sadly won't be viable."
Julianna figured he only said that now knowing he wouldn't have to do it, but felt no need to call him out. "Wait, has a group of monsters appeared recently enough that we can track them?"
Becca nodded. "Thankfully, since I know you'd be fussing over more wasted time otherwise, we just intercepted a pack of salamanders coming from Ostuh. Their trail should be quite fresh for us to follow."
"Alright, let's go then."
They met up with Jermain, a musclebound young warrior with a dragon tattoo covering half his face and neck. Julianna suspected he got his rank because Becca was fond of him rather than being the most proven of her generals. After heading to the spot where Severil's warriors had slain the fiery lizards, Jermain said, "This is where I took the largest salamander's head, which I made a hood of for my queen."
"That's kind of icky," Julianna whispered to Becca, face crinkling up in disgust. "Do you actually wear it?"
"No, but it holds its own in my room of unappealing gifts from men. I can tolerate such trivialities in exchange for a pair of strong hips."
"I hope he's actually competent."
"Don't worry, he's a very skilled tracker and axeman, though not on par with us of course. But how many are? His tattoo goes a ways towards compensating, though."
Jermain frowned. "You women do like your secrets. I wager you're having a laugh at my expense, but it's not as if men don't find some of your quirks peculiar either." Hmm, he was smarter than he looked. Even then, she and Becca might not fit very well into the mold he likely had in mind.
They traced the salamanders' path over green fields, not speaking much as they focused on the task at hand and staying alert though Julianna was curious as to what a man
with such a wild tattoo would talk about in casual conversation. She considered nicknaming him Facetat, but decided against it since he might take offense. It wouldn't suit a Saint Princess to make an enemy over silly humor just after meeting him. The open land they traversed wouldn't conceal lizards the size of horses well, so Julianna figured Ostuh's border patrols were just being lax if nothing more sinister was going on. She would have words with Gilbert on that when they got back, but for now they continued on. When they made camp for the night, she found Jermain's manner surprisingly friendly and soft-spoken as he shared stories of his childhood with the older sister crippled during the last war who he now supported. He seemed almost gentler than Becca herself, though how much of it was a act to charm her Julianna couldn't say. After a few days the plains gave way to more rocky ground, over which mountains loomed further ahead.
"Mountainous terrain," Julianna said, her voice anxious in her ears. She felt a little weak, probably due to a lower concentration of magical energy now that they were somewhat close to the continent's edge. "Remind you of anything?"
Becca mulled it over a bit. "Didn't the Father of All Monsters come out from inside a mountain?"
"Indeed. I'm getting a little scared that if we keep following this trail, we'll find something we won't like."
The younger woman wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "The Father is dead though, by your own hand if you recall. If we come upon a swarm we can't handle, we'll just run away and come back with our army."
"I know, I wasn't saying I want to turn back or anything. Can't help being a little nervous, that's all."
"When I get frightened," Jermain said, "I think about my valiant queen and how she would face the situation with strength and dignity, and it gives me the resolve to press on." Becca giggled, and Julianna inwardly complimented him on his flattery skills. Of course, thinking about her valiant queen wouldn't work very well for her... but she could imagine how Julian, so much weaker and less experienced than her, had striven on in her absence, and draw inspiration from him.
In the side of a valley they eventually came to a huge opening that led underground, over twenty feet tall and wide enough to fit a dozen men side by side. Just about the kind of thing Julianna hoped not to find, but nonetheless they had to see this through. They descended, going down gigantic tunnels until one opened up into a wider area. Creeping forward more cautiously to avoid detection, they stepped onto a ledge that ran downwards around a mammoth cavern. The space below was utterly immense, easily tall and wide enough to fit multiples of her palace. At the bottom of it teemed thousands of monsters of all shapes and sizes—gremlins, nagas, salamanders, dog-boars, insect-men like that which Julianna had saved Eve from, cyclopses like hulking one-eyed barbarians only thrice the height, spiders bigger than houses, thick cylindrical wurms scores of feet long, giant fleshy orbs which floated in the air whose whole front was almost taken up by a toothy maw surrounded by undulating tentacles. On isolated lower ledges littering the sides of the chamber perched flocks of the gaunt, scaly avians known as wyverns and gargoyles like winged hairless apes whose skin resembled cracked stone. Some of them slept while others moved about, producing a multitude of noises such as grunts, hisses, squeals, trilling, squawks, eerie moaning, and more.
"Madness," Jermain murmured. "Are all the monsters birthed from the Father gathered here?"
Becca replied, "Probably not all of them, but a whole lot."
At the center of the floor below, Julianna spotted something out of place. One of the figures didn't look to be a monster, but a seated... man? wearing a cloak. She squinted to see him better, registered the strands of gray hair sticking out from his hood and the staff resting against his shoulder. "Isn't that our friend?"
"Friend?" Becca followed her gaze and stared. "The man who communicates with monsters! You think he brought all of them together?"
"Either that or they met up here and he joined them. But I'd say your theory is more probable."
The queen nocked an arrow and lined it up with him. Just as Julianna was about to warn her not to be rash, she lowered the bow. "Nah. We might not be able to escape if we alert them to our presence, and besides I'm curious to ask him what the hell is going on. We'll come back with the troops."
They carefully retreated out of the chamber and hastened back to the border where the armies waited. Rounding up Gilbert, Keith and some of Becca's generals, they held a meeting in the command tent. "Did you see for yourselves that Ostuh is innocent?" Gilbert asked tersely.
Julianna shrugged. "We didn't see any evidence you were involved, but that doesn't necessarily prove you weren't. I'm leaning towards thinking you aren't guilty though, although your patrols leave something to be desired. More importantly, we have a problem on our hands. There is a massive horde of monsters gathered under the mountains of Ostuh."
Keith's eyes widened in alarm, while Gilbert recoiled. "What? How massive?"
"Thousands," Becca replied, "perhaps as many as ten. Most likely enough to wipe out any unprepared town. Good thing I already had an army ready to take on your country."
"Yes, of course, that is such a relief," he said with thinly veiled sarcasm. "Since you obviously have the stronger force and being warrior queen and all, we will happily let you take the lead on any action against these monsters."
"Naturally."
"Does this horde consist of one type of beast," Keith asked, "or different types? If the latter as it sounds like, how did they all come together?"
Julianna answered, "Many different types. We haven't confirmed the reason they've flocked together, but do have a major clue. That strange man who we met in Severil was among them, and I'd think the likelihood is high that he set up this party."
"If he does control them and isn't in league with Ostuh," Becca mused, "then he's been sending groups of his creatures over here to frame our neighbors and fracture relations between us. Pretty devious to sacrifice his pawns for the greater cause, in that case. But now that we've found him out, he won't trouble us much longer."
Gilbert looked questioningly at her. "Are we confident our forces are sufficient to overcome theirs? They are not even human!"
"I don't know if your soldiers are sufficient, but the ones of Severil are more than up to the challenge. Sure some of them may be big and powerful; we still outnumber them and possess better wits, training and discipline. Besides, look at who we have with us. The Saint Princess, her man and yours truly of course. We'll rout those monsters, no sweat!"
The combined force made its way to the ravine where they had found the passage underground. "That's a big hole," Keith said. Gilbert bit his lip, probably imagining what monsters might have fit through it. "What's the plan?"
Becca replied before Julianna did. "The tunnels narrow slightly deeper in, so we shouldn't need our ranks to be able to fill the entrance." At the others' puzzled looks, she explained, "I was thinking we could take a smallish group, like fifty of our best, to launch a quick strike and then retreat in hopes of luring them out after us. If they take the bait, the rest of our forces can ambush them out here. Seems better to me than attempting to cram our entire armies down there."
"Doesn't sound like a terrible plan," Julianna said. "Dangerous for the fifty chosen, though."
"That's why we'll take our best. You and Keith can be in front with Jermain, and I'll be at the back with the archers. I'm thinking close range weapon users in the very front, pikes behind them, some backup melee fighters to relieve the front liners when you get tired or die, and then some archers to shoot over your heads into the enemy."
"Solid plan," Keith said. "Can Julianna and I borrow some shields if we're to stand in front?"
"Certainly. Can you swing that heavy sword with one hand?"
"I'll manage."
Becca's men lent them heavy shields, and they fell into formation at her guidance. They formed a block of warriors eight wide and six deep, with a couple extra archers at the very back. None of them were Gilbert's, b
ut Julianna imagined few of his qualified as among the best. She and Keith stood on opposite sides of the formation, as being the strongest they would do better to support others than each other. They marched down into the depths, even Severil's hardened troops whispering nervously among themselves. It wouldn't get any better once they saw the nightmarish medley they had to face, either. When they approached the ledge, she saw fear in many eyes at what they glimpsed below. But they held their ground, and parted neatly as Becca instructed for the archers. Keeping low as they came forward, the bowmen put arrows to their strings.
"Kill as many fliers as you can," Becca reminded them while they picked out their targets. The first volley flew. Winged monsters tumbled off the ledges into the mass below, but as they were initially confused the archers had the chance to loose another barrage. Then the chamber filled with noise as creatures cried in anger at their fallen comrades, prompting Becca to signal them back behind the melee fighters and for the latter to close ranks. "Time to go," she said.
They retreated into the tunnel and towards the surface, holding back the monstrosities that surged after them. The fliers and smaller beasts reached them first, so they didn't have to deal with anything much larger than man sized just yet. Though the front line faced no more than ten or so foes at any given moment for now, it was disconcerting to know thousands pushed forward behind them. Julianna, Keith, Jermain and the others cut and thrust away at swift wyverns, brutish gargoyles, and agile gremlins, but no matter how many fell under their blades more instantly replaced them. Some larger beings made it to the forefront, chitin-armored bipeds and the odd cyclops Julianna and Keith hurried to kill before they troubled their allies too much. The soldier to her right fell in a crimson spray as a dog-boar tore out his throat and she did double duty, fending off two warriors' worth of opponents until someone moved over to take his place. Monstrous blood drenched her, flowing down inside her armor to make her feel uncomfortably wet. She took some painful hits too, but it was probably okay as long as she stayed solid without trouble. Just before they would have made it outside, Jermain yelped, grabbed his thigh and dropped to a knee. Julianna pushed him back behind her and again waited for a new ally, though she didn't really need one for now as her spear wreaked havoc among the enemies.