493 - 501

Tying Up Loose Ends

"A government is at best a necessary evil, and at worst an intolerable one." ~ Andinaq Auguslo

Kriston had come to submit his report on the Bureau of Internal Affairs -- as the department was now called. Lorist initially thought he was there to ask for a bigger budget and more manpower. But such was not the case.

"How did you come up with using the constabulary? I thought you'd want to form a new department."

"In the old empire, Krissen III felt the garrisons were useless and made mistakes too frequently, so he formed an independent constabulary to patrol the settlements and keep the peace. When Krissen VI came into power, he gave the constabulary charge of solving crimes and combating the spread of underworld syndicates.

"They were also later put in charge of taxes and spying on political enemies of the crown. They were pretty much what you want me to set up now. So I thought we might as well make use of a similar model. Plus, it won't take as long as setting the bureau up from scratch."

"Did you forget about the constabulary cage incident at the end of Krissen VI's reign? They were given too many responsibilities so it could do none of them effectively. The citizens had also become afraid and untrusting of them.

"When the cage incident happened, the entire city took to the streets. Even the nobles, who usually never got involved in protests, much less joined the commoners in doing anything, joined in and demanded the emperor disband the constabulary. The emperor was so furious when he learned what had happened that he executed three thousand of their leaders in a single day and banished every constable and their family from the empire. He only formed a similar organisation ten years later and explicitly limited their powers to managing the cities.

"It's not a bad idea, mind you, but I cannot let the constabulary get involved in anything other than just doing some basic peace-keeping. Do you know why I decided to form the Bureau?--" Kriston shook his head, "--I need an organization that'll keep enemy spies off my lands and out of my organizations. I need an organization that'll stop anything like this rebellion from even coming up as a thought for any of my subjects, subordinates, or vassals. And I need an organization independent of all the others that'll keep my officials in line and punish them if need be.

"Think of it this way: if the house is a great tree, then I want to make the Bureau a gardening that'll prune the tree and keep it growing properly. That'll cut off all the dead and rotting branches and nip any ill-growth in the bud. At the same time, however, it must not have the size and power to take large scale action on its own. It's fine to reprimand a few solitary officials, but if you need to tackle something that requires a reasonably sized force, then you can just contact the constabulary or the guard and have them deal with it."

More than anything else, Lorist wanted to avoid something like the constabulary cage incident. It was a well-known scandal on the continent. The constabulary had gained too much power and had become the de facto rulers of the capital -- for as long as they could keep the emperor ignorant of their doings. They accused people they disliked or that crossed them of treason left, right, and center, often hanging entire families from the gallows at a time. Countless rich merchants disappeared overnight, families included, their property and estates were seized, and the story would be spun as the constabulary successfully unearthing yet another conspiracy against the crown. People were so terrified they didn't even greet each other in fear of it being used as an excuse to kill them.

Some nobles came home from their studies in the capital telling stories of hearing wails all over the city at night, like ghosts haunting the streets in search of revenge, especially near the canals. A small group of them went in search of the cause of the wails one night. They stumbled through the underground network of sewage tunnels, following the noise, until they found a stuffy room. Inside it large iron-barred cages hung from the roof, each had a single occupant, most barely any more than a skeleton with skin.

They ran away as fast as they could, their faces looking much like ghosts as well, and told their instructors. The news quickly spread to the citizens, whom were in an uproar. The constabulary could detain people for questioning, but they had no authority to imprison anyone, and yet here they were, locking poor souls up in cages and letting them slowly starve to death and rot away.

The entire city was whipped into a furor and marched in the streets in protest, joined even by the nobles. This had all be done behind the emperor's back, and he was just as furious when he heard what had been going on. It only took two days for the entire constabulary to be uprooted, their leadership executed, and the rest banished from the empire. Unfortunately, whilst their expulsion rested the hearts of the capital's citizens, it didn't make the city any safer. Gangs and syndicates quickly rose to fill the power vacuum their absence created. Krissen VII was forced to reform the constabulary when he took the throne a decade later. It was all fine and well to limit the new constabulary's power as he did, but he didn't create other bodies to do the jobs the constabulary was no longer allowed to. With their vigilant gaze keeping rebellions and conspiracies at bay, the emperor's death years later plunged the empire into a civil was which lead to its eventual break-up.

The rejection took the wind out of Kriston's sails, but he didn't give up.

"Your Grace is right. We must learn from the past, but that's just it. We did. We know how to avoid such a future now. Using the constabulary as the base for the bureau is the fastest way."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not against the idea completely. While I won't allow you to merge the two organizations, you're welcome to poach some staff from the constabulary. Rather than merging the two to make a massive, bloated new constabulary, just work closely together, making use of each organization's strengths.

"I have other plans for the constabulary. The Northlands now has 3.2 million inhabitants. We have a lot on our plate to keep them safe. I want to have the constabularies specialize in peacekeeping and law-enforcement. They operate in the open light of day to keep the dominion safe from those who conspire against it in the open. The Bureau, however, works in the shadows to fight those that conspire against me and my people in the darkness. D'you understand?"

"I do, Your Grace. The constabulary will work to keep us safe from small criminals and those that conspire in the open, while the Bureau works against those that move in the shadows or whom the constabulary can't touch. I'll go revise my proposal immediately."

"Hold on. I have another job for you." Lorist turned to his desk and took out a black folder.

"This has been troubling me for a while but I don't know how I to deal with it. Take a look. I want nobody to get wind of this. If you have any bright ideas, have Reidy help you out. Return the folder if you can't think of anything."

Kriston took the black folder and shuddered.

"I will think with something."

Lorist waved without a word. When he was alone in the study again, He sighed deeply, a conflicted expression on his face.

An eagle arrived from the bastide three days later carrying news of Irina's death. He had died from a sudden illness while under house arrest.

Lorist was too busy, so he sent Glacia to handle the funeral in his stead. He also had her bring his second son, Koboshik back with her.

The council meeting lasted five days and the military department's name was settled by the end. It would henceforth be called the Ministry of Defence. It was also decided that any mobilization of more than ten men without Lorist's personal order or the Ministry's stamp of approval would automatically be considered treason. Even people like Charade had to go through the ministry to get permission.

Besides the 220 thousand men who stayed in active service, the rest were declared either reserves or civil defence and lost their benefits and half their salaries. 240 thousand were moved to local garrisons, now classified as reserve forces. About two legions' worth of garrisons spanned the Northlands, and all the other territories under Lorist's jurisdiction each had a legion of their own which had to protect every settlement, not one man more was allowed to be hired. With these reforms Lorist had cut his armed personnel in half.

Spiel had finally won a small victory; the military spending was finally less than a third of the entire annual budget. His euphoria was quickly shattered by all the other officials' protestations. Charade, Camorra, and several other official were dead set against demilitarization.

Their biggest issue was with the constabulary's downsizing in both manpower and responsibilities. Yes, it had been involved in the rebellion, but they all considered it an indispensable part of the house's forces. It was the only force over which the administration institution had any control. The constabulary was also only ever used by the administration. They were never involved in any military actions. Lorist had nearly entirely forgotten they even existed.

"This cannot be avoided. I've thought about this a lot. We must separate the branches of the government. And we cannot let any branch be a threat to the role of the other. The constabulary has no need for its current size, it can do its new job just fine with the numbers I am willing to give it. Anymore just makes it a threat to the military, a threat I will not tolerate. If you really want them to stay as big as they are now, then they have to become part of the military, which would only create more needless bureaucracy.

"We'll move the responsibilities I took from them to the military police. With the separation, no administration's official can mobilize the garrison on his own authority. Each garrison, barring a special order from the Ministry of Defence or myself, will have no right to mobilize outside the towns and its surrounding farmland.

"Everything else will be handled by the military police. We'll set up constable stations and booths in the towns and city neighbourhoods manned by the constabulary. They are the only ones the administration will get to control."

Lorist also made it clear that the administration would be responsible for covering the cost of running the constabulary, not the military, as had been the case thus far. Kedan was given interim command of the constabulary until a permanent appointment could be made.

When the meeting ended, everyone jumped into action. They wanted as much as possible done before the new year's celebration. Lorist had no free time until the 11th month came around.

Glacia was back by then. Irina had apparently died from a heart-attack after hearing what had happened to her son. She'd cried in her room for days on end, literally crying herself into the grave. In that time she only opened her mouth to curse Lorist to hell and back. She'd died in the evening. She cried herself to sleep every night, but not before midnight came around. The guards, confused as to why tonight she fell asleep so early, peeked into the room, and found her lying on the floor. They didn't check any further since she had fell asleep like that a few times before. When her maidservant went to wake her the next morning, however, she found her cold as ice and blue as water, still lying on the floor exactly as the guards had seen her the night before. Glacia had checked the corpse herself, and there were no wounds anywhere on her body, not even a needle prick or insect bite.

Glacia wanted to adopt Koboshik. The kid was completely terrified, having lost both his mother and brother in less than a month. He wasn't even thirteen yet. Lorist agreed after some consideration.

Reinforcement

"When a side is willing to fight to the death, then, no matter their disadvantage, they will win."

There were some things Lorist had to do, but couldn't let his three disciples handle. Though Reidy was loyal, he was far too straight-laced and dealt with things too straightforwardly. While Howard seemed like he could handle everything perfectly, Lorist didn't want to stain his hands, at least not this early in his life. Most of all, though, he didn't want Howard's impression of him to change. And Jinolio was simply still too young.

The other reason was that everyone knew they were his disciples. He had no plausible deniability if any of them were caught doing something. Their involvement in something immediately implicated him. He needed a pair of hands that were not associated with him that could be stained on his behalf, a pair of gloves, as it were. Tarkel was a suitable candidate, but he was too well-known. It was not at all uncommon for random people to recognise and call out to him whenever he was out and about.

Kriston was another candidate. He was neither well-known nor closely linked to Lorist personally. Also, his position as the head of the Bureau of Internal Affairs made such things part of his job description.

Kriston had visited the bastide on the day of Irina's death to investigate a drowning. They didn't finish in time to make it to the first town on the road back to the capital, so they stayed over for the night. He did not join his two subordinates in the tavern below to drink and make merry, but had his food brought up to his room instead. The waitress that took it up to him praised him as a gentleman on her return. She was a little baffled, though, at how the madam's nightly wailing didn't seem to bother him at all. When she asked him about it, he just said she had lost her mind after losing her child so he didn't want to make a fuss.

Moved by his compassion and understanding, the waitress almost jumped into his arms to hump through the night. Now back in the tavern, she was even considering waking him in the middle of the night to a beautiful moonlit surprise. For some unknown reason, however, she chose not to, and she was happy she did the next morning. Just imagine, she'd have been bobbing away whilst the madam was dying just a couple dozen meters away. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

It had to be admitted, though, that the madam, for all her insanity, had picked the perfect time to kick the bucket. She died on the very night the biggest shot in crime investigation was staying in the bastide and could quickly solve the case.

Lorist took the folder from the baron and tossed it in the fire. He didn't take his eyes off it until its ashes scattered up the chimney.

The peasantry were very disappointed by this turn of events. They thought the only reason Lorist had yet to execute his old flair was because he couldn't be bothered while he reorganized his forces. But they'd hoped he would get around to it eventually and give them a good spectacle. Why did the hag have to be so inconsiderate and die before the duke could deal with her properly? Everything was pointing in the direction of the lord executing her in a grand fashion. Her curses and wails had spread through the lands very quickly and everyone was waiting to hear about her dramatic execution, only to hear that she'd went and died of a heart attack. God, how selfish.

Lorist buried everything in the darkest corners of his mind and abandoned the bastide all together. It might be the place his family had come from, but did orphans revere their shitty orphanage when they were adults? When Glacia asked what he was going to do with the bastide, he told her to let it sit for now. He would just give it to Helias when he graduated from the academy.

Helias, Lorist's nephew via his elder brother, would thus get the family's ancestral homeland. Unlike his bastard cousin, the kid was revered and praised by everyone he met, even Lorist fancied him quite a bit. Leaving the bastide for him would be considered a great honor by both the kid and outsiders, and let Lorist rid himself of the place easily.

Glacia asked to be made commander of the garrison forces in Wild Husbandry. Most of the old garrison forces now banished from the Northlands were now in it and she wanted to once again be their leader. Lorist agreed but refused to let Koboshik go with her. She insisted however, saying that it could only do him good, and that, since he was now her foster son, Lorist could not stop her.

Lorist called for another house meeting near the end of the 11th month. This time the meeting dealt with the main projects and targets the house would be undertaking in the following year. The administration would mainly be occupied with settling the immigrants in The Northlands. They would also resume construction on the palace, delayed by the rebellion. Their new task was to build the various constable stations across the lands.

Camorra was now the head of the armory under the Ministry of Defence. The reconstruction of the artillery brigade and the establishment of the Bureau of Internal Affairs were not on the docket since they were secret matters.

Lorist returned to his room to relax a little once the meeting finished. Winter was coming. Apart from the household forces, most of the officials had already gone on break. Only the last vestiges of paperwork were left. Charade and Spiel would be in charge of the celebration so Lorist didn't have to worry about it.

Dilianna and Maria were pregnant again, so they were off his back, but Sylvia and his two other concubines rode him enough to compensate, determined to be pregnant by new years.

Two unexpected guests showed up with the arrival of the 12th month. Kenmays and Fisablen had travelled all the way from the plains across the kingdom for the celebration, well, officially, anyway. They'd actually come to get reinforcements.

Lorist suddenly remembered the kingdom was at war. News from the front-lines was grim. They were at a stalemate. The Union had launched five offensives in the last 7 months alone, three of which were repelled, but two of which had forced them to give up land for better defenses. They'd lost control of Krido and Ritt, Bluwek was their last stronghold in the region. If they lost that final city, they would be driven back to the empire's historical borders.

Kenmays was particularly sour. He only had a single legion, and it was the one Auguslo put in front of the enemy the most. He only had 18 thousand of his original 45 thousand left when he left the front-lines. His losses meant that, despite having made a lot of money from plunder, he only just broke even. As things stood, however, he was not going to get anymore wealth out of this since he couldn't plunder friendly territory -- and even if he did, it was already cleaned out -- and he was still losing men. If this continued, it would turn into a loss and he couldn't get out of it.

Whilst Kenmays had suffered pretty badly, he was not the only one with severe losses. Less than a dozen nobles still had more than half their starting forces. Shazin's two light infantry divisions were completely lost, and Felim's Pegasus only had a third of its original forces. Whilst Fisablen's two legions looked to be in a much better state, most of their men were new recruits; of the original soldiers, only a tenth were left, if even that.

"Is Auguslo intentionally trying to cripple his vassals?" asked Lorist.

Fisablen shook his head. Apparently even the king's legions had lost at least 50 of his original 300 thousand men, a full sixth of his army. That was before the last five attacks. He only had three legions left over when the two left.

"He's losing too many men too fast," sighed Fisablen, "All-in-all we've lost 200 thousand men. No one has not suffered and no one will not have it hard after the war is over, if it ever ends. We can still just barely afford the loss if we win, but that's not going to happen. The Union has the upper hand. If the king takes steps to withdraw they'll charge in and we'll lose.

As far as they're concerned we're the old empire reborn. They won't let us stay united. They'll throw peasants at us until we crumble, even if their cities are left empty. They won't even take a rest between attacks and plan their moves properly, they just keep throwing people at us hoping to bury us under their corpses."

"Aren't they suffering a lot as well?"

"Yes. They've lost at least 300 thousand, maybe even as much as 400 if you count people who died of their injuries. The problem is they can afford to take the losses, and they're fine with taking them. They're willing to rebuild everything from scratch, but they're not willing to let us live in peace. Their new territory has also seen centuries of peace so they have a good population they can afford to thin out.

"We're different. We've seen non-stop war for nearly a century. Our people are few and our land barren. We can't neither stomach so many losses nor replace them easily. Auguslo wouldn't have accepted your conditions otherwise. If he'd known this would turn into such a slugging match, he would not have started this war. Now he can't back out and he can't keep going. He's been forced to send his personal guard onto the field more than once recently. If this keeps up, the Union will really bury us under the corpses and just walk over them into the kingdom. And if they do, they'll turn every inch of land into a desert so we won't ever be able to recover.

"Auguslo's even willing to give back some of the land he currently controls to end the war, but the Union will have none of it. He's willing to give you jurisdiction over Yungechandler if you'll help us end this.

"What will I do with that place?"

"You've already invested in it under your agreement with Duke Forund, Lorist," Kenmays reminded, "While you never finished the work, you would still start off far better than if you worked on any other province."

"The Union's using inferior versions of your catapults. They're not as strong or effective as yours, but they can field them in enough numbers that it doesn't matter. They've been the main killers on the battlefield," Fisablen chimed in.

To Deploy or to Not Deploy

"Let not your lust for war blind you to its dangers."

Lorist initially refused, but eventually agreed to give it serious consideration. He called another meeting of his confidantes the moment the two dukes left.

"Should we consider it?" he asked after explaining everything.

"Do we even need to discuss it? The Union doesn't know what's good for them. We should teach them a good lesson. They should just sit in Morante like good little boys and not bother us. Plus, we can make a good profit while we're at it!" Loze chimed in almost before Lorist was finished.

Then again, he was a freak for battle so it would be stranger if this wasn't his answer.

"No! We shouldn't. The king can't make a good offer and we've never had a close relationship with him. The Union knows how thorny we are and they'll be stretched to the breaking point by the time they reach our borders; I seriously doubt they've march into our territory. Our men and stability are worth much more than the king's throne and delusions of grandeur. Besides, as Your Lordship just said, the plains are meat grinders. If we march onto them, we'll just be throwing our men away and we might become just as embroiled as the king and be unable to withdraw," said Charade.

He'd never had a good impression of the king. He'd also not grown up in the empire and had no loyalty to it. His only loyalty was to Lorist personally. He had no issue with abandoning the kingdom altogether. Lorist, however, could not be so carefree. House Norton was famous for its loyalty, and -- until recently -- only for its loyalty. If he had any hopes of preserving his house's standing and legitimacy with the rest of the continent's nobility, he could not just stand by and watch the kingdom crumble.

Charade, however, however much he disliked the king, didn't support abandoning him purely based on his distaste for the man.

"Next year will be crucial," he explained, "If we don't settle the immigrants, complete the palace, and complete our restructuring, we will be unstable for years to come. We can't afford to divert attention and resources from these endeavors. We've also not yet fully healed the wounds from the rebellion. We can't afford to move our forces out of our territory, especially not whilst those that stay behind will be in disarray while we restructure. You also can't go on your own, we need you here to keep what remnants of the rebels have yet to be uprooted at bay and the peasantry calm. You've just returned from a year's absence and injury in this very war, the people will be restless if you go back now. If you must help the king, at the very least wait for a year or two."

Lorist saw through Charade's charade. He wanted Auguslo to suffer a lot more and be in a far worse state. That way they could extort him for much more benefits and he would not be in a position to meddle with them for several years. He would have been inclined to go along with it as well if this did not concern the whole kingdom and not just the king. If nothing else, Houses Kenmays, Shazin, and Felim were still in an alliance with him, he had to step in and help them.

"What do you think, Pog?"

"We'll have to take the field eventually, even if it's only when the Union is on our doorstep. If the king can't hold on, the Union will not stop until they've wiped out every man, woman, and child that call themselves subjects of the king or any of his vassals. If we wait until they're on the river banks, we'll have to face them alone. Best settle this far away from our lands while we still have allies that can stand on our flanks.

"At the same time, fighting on the plains is definitely not acceptable. That whole area has been trodden into mud and both sides are completely entrenched. We won't be able to break through there no matter what plan we come up with. Especially not now that the Union also has siege weapons -- as inferior to ours as they are."

"We have to teach those merchants a lesson, even if just for the fact that they dare march blademasters into your lands and steal your plans!"

Freiyar's fervour was understandable. Until recently he'd served as the sentry legion's general and was only involved in logistics and security. Now that he'd been moved to a combat legion and finally had the chance to go to war, he would naturally jump at the chance. Ovidis, similarly, also wanted to take revenge for the blademasters sent into Lorist's dominion. The merchants would only get the message that House Norton was not to be trifled with through a beating or two.

"Well said!" Loze chimed in happily.

Lorist shot him a glare, and he shut up. He motioned for another bottle of wine, which Jinolio quickly supplied.

"Spiel, what are your thoughts?"

"Potterfang is right. We cannot allow the Union to defeat the king and march on our lands. The best option is to keep the war on the plains. If things are going to get wrecked anyway, we might as well make sure it's in the Union's territory. If we can get Yungechandler in the process, all the better."

Lorist saw Spiel in another light. He did not think the stingy man could think so far ahead.

"The king didn't mention anything about covering our costs, though, so this will be a big investment. At the very least we'll have to clean out any land we occupy to lessen the burden."

Lorist rolled his eyes immediately.

I knew he had another angle. He really only sees coins. Does he really think we can do it again so easily? Even if we do break through and get onto virgin territory, the king won't let us just take whatever we want again.

"With the king and the Union bogged down on the plains, we could just go around them and march straight into their under-defended territory. We can both take some pressure off the king, and will have untouched land to clean out."

It sounds great, doesn't it? But does he really think Auguslo hasn't thought of trying it himself? I knew you weren't a genius when it comes to military matter, but you're a complete idiot! Why'd I even ask you?

Charade was currently the house's chief administrator, but he had extensive experience with war. He knew how obscene Spiel's suggestion was and didn't know how to respond. In the end he decided to explain everything to the old man.

"That won't work. At best we'll just move the front-line a little, at worst we'll be surrounded and lose all the men we marched across the border.

"We caught the Union off guard last time, but they'll be ready for us this time. Even when we caught them off guard, we still lost 20 thousand men. This time we could easily lose everyone."

The Union was present in the area in force and woefully outnumbered the king's forces. Their recruitment and training machinery was also in full swing. It wouldn't take them long to respond to the new enemy with overwhelming force. They'd either be crushed, or, if they pulled out in time, they wouldn't even have raided enough to cover their deployment costs.

Spiel turned red in the face. The Union was a far bigger foe than he'd thought. The Union outclassed them in every metric that counted in a grand and long war like this. If they joined the fight, they were doomed to suffer heavy if not total casualties, but if they didn't, they would smear their names with shit and ruin their reputation. Besides, even if they could keep the enemy off their land their economy relied heavily on trade with the lands outside their own. If they were cut off from their trade, they would crumble within a few years. Even if the Union didn't besiege them, they certainly wouldn't allow them to trade, which was no different. Even if they someone managed to not crumble, they would not be able to grow at a rate comparable to the Union, if at all, and in a decade or maybe even less the Union would be big enough to steamroll them.

"I've thought things through, Your Grace," Malek interjected, "We have to strike the Union a fatal blow in one move. I have one idea that might let us do this. I don't think it'll defeat them, but it should damage them enough that they have to stop their attacks and recover, and it might even do enough damage to force them back to the negotiating table, even if only to sue for status quo."

He pointed at the map.

"Impossible!" Loze shouted, "We can't even march around the enemy to strike right behind their front line, how are we supposed to strike at Morante?"

"Who said anything about going in over land?" Malek asked, "Tarkel said Morante is their logistics hub. We can get in, burn their stores, and be out again before they can react. And since it's a port city, we can go by sea.

"Senbaud always boasts about Northsea's invincibility -- even the king agrees. I suggest we move Northsea on Morante. We can burn the Union's Invincible Fleet on the way there as well, then pull back to Hanayabarta to resupply before returning to Silowas."

Invincible Fleet

"Treat your ship as you would your women, and the sea as you would your mother, and you shall have fair sailing all your days." ~ Old sailor's saying.

Northsea fleet, Hidegold Bay; Invincible fleet, Morante...

Everyone was shocked by the suggestion. The room was so quiet you could hear a needle drop. Lorist raised his brow, considering the proposition. Malek's suggestion was far too shocking. Even Lorist didn't think Northsea could defeat Invincible and still have the momentum to go on to Morante. It wasn't that his foresight was lacking. Invincible was known for its perfect record.

When the Union first formed it, it was known simply as Union. Its purpose was to defend Morante from pirates and keep Hidegold Bay safe. Eventually, but the scope of their operations soon expanded to the trade routes through the sunshine seas and the golden coast. They curbed piracy in the territorial waters of other nations. It had not suffered a single loss in the century of its commission thus far and its name was changed to Invincible somewhere along the way.

The merchants clamored for a downsizing of the fleet and their military in general when the empire fell into civil war. They first cut the garrisons, but when they went after the fleet, the big-seven vetoed their motion and nothing happened. While they could reform their mothballed land forces in a matter of months in the event of war, it would take years to bring the fleet back up to strength.

Can we really do it?

Senbaud declared Northsea undefeated and Lorist was keen on agreeing but there was a difference between claiming invincibility and actually having it. They had indeed never lost a fight, but they'd never faced an established navy, and they were just two-thirds the size of Invincible. That said, they did have the bronze cannons...

But Invincible had a completely different operation protocol and structure. They had decades of experience. At least eight tenths of their sailors and marines at any given time were veterans. He heard of their exploits almost every six months back in Morante. The thought of facing them had never even crossed his mind.

Northsea wasn't meant to be a wartime fleet. They were formed only to patrol local waters and take on small bands of pirates. Their ships, training, doctrines and command structure was not meant for fighting large scale naval engagements against even a similarly sized fleet, nevermind one one-and-a-half times larger.

It wasn't that he didn't have any ambition. Grindia was a single, massive landmass. Whilst travel by sea was faster, it wasn't necessary, besides a couple of islands, you could get everywhere without ever having to use a boat. He'd never made his fleet big enough to fight Invincible because it didn't mean much against the Union's incredible influence in the world of trade. If they announced a boycott against Norton goods and trade, then even if he could dominate the seas, the ports would still refuse to dock his ships and it meant nothing.

A strong fleet was neither necessary nor sufficient to keep a nation safe. Nor was it needed for trade. It made trade faster, easier, and less expensive, but one could still do just as much trade over land.

This all made it a pointless endeavour to invest in Northsea. Lorist might as well toss the money directly into the sea for all the good it did him. He had an unspoken agreement with Chikdor to not meddle in each other's waters. Each had their territory and neither would make trouble for the other.

The two fleets were the most powerful to have ever existed, each with its own speciality. Northsea excelled at mobility and immense ranged attack capabilities while Invincible used numbers and superior crew for close combat. Invincible did not sail into the northern seas because the ships they had weren't suited to the stormy conditions there. Northsea also did not enter the southern seas because it was uncharted territory and they didn't want to face Chikdor on its home turf. The only time the two interacted was during the yearly House Norton's annual meeting and Chikdor and Peterson's fleets docked at Silowas, during which many spices and daily necessities would be traded. In some sense, the two guilds treated House Norton as a supplier. The two completely withdrew when the war started, however.

Northsea had 16 Blitz class warships were fitted with bronze cannons, 28 LLDAM, 56 MSM class and 26 Swift class. They were split into two flotillas and a patrol detachment. The flotillas each had a unit with 20 LLDM class because Northsea was also in charge transporting daily necessities to Hanayabarta and spices from Shyarsia. They had to escort the merchant fleets to the two archipelagos every year.

The great majority of Northsea's power was vested in the 16 Blitz class ships. The rest were almost entirely transport vessels. The fleet's combat detachment was far smaller than Invincible's. They had a good chance of winning if Invincible fought them in the north, but those chances dropped drastically the moment they went south.

"Tarkel, briefing them on Invincible's status. Jinolio, check the logs. See when your father will arrive for the celebration."

"Understood, Your Grace."

Tarkel took out a few files on Invincible.

"Invincible was formed 136 years ago with just 20 vessels. Now it has enough ships to fill four Northsea-style flotillas. It has at least a thousand ships. There is no fleet that can compare. It has a force of about 43 thousand men. Its operating cost stands at two million gold Fordes a year. And it's mostly responsible for patrol and escort duties in the sunshine seas and the golden coast. They charge a fifth of profit as tariff for their protection. We have on record two instances of noble fleets in their area of operations being attacked and wiped out by pirates, but we suspect Invincible to be the true culprits.

"Chikdor is in direct command of the fleet and take four tenths of the fleet's profits. The rest is split between the other big guilds. As for the fleet's structure, it is split into several flotillas. Each has two floating fortresses, known as Sabnim class vessels. They are only deployed when the fleet plans to annex a location.

"Each flotilla also has 50 LLDAM and MSAM class vessels and at least a hundred rammers. The small ships form the largest part of their combat operations. They're typical approach is to swarm the enemy and ram into them. If they want to wipe out a fleet, they'll just keep ramming the hips until they sink. If they want to take the ships intact, they'll ram into the ship and deposit their contingents of marines.

"In dire situations they have used the small ships as fire ships.

"Each flotilla has ten thousand crew and armed personnel. Civilian detachments, mainly traders and transport vessels and their crew add another 10 to 20 thousand. Whilst their assignments change from year to year, they always have at least on flotilla at Hidegold Bay--

"You mean the ships in the bay is only a quarter of the whole fleet?!" Lorist shouted.

"This is would be the case under normal circumstances. We're at war now though. While I don't know how much of their fleet is now in Hidegold, it's definitely not just one flotilla."

Lorist nodded. He was just about to speak when Jinolio returned.

"I've checked the logs and Admiral Senbaud left Silowas five days ago. He's expected to arrive in Northsea tomorrow and be in Ragebear in three days."

"You little rascal. He's your father; why call him 'Admiral Senbaud'?" Lorist asked, stroking the child's head.

"This is a formal meeting. You were the one that said private and official matters must not be confused."

"Hahaha," Lorist laughed, "Let's end it here for the day. It goes without saying that this is confidential and top secret. I'll speak with Senbaud about Malek's idea when he arrives. We can make our final decision with Senbaud's input. Dismissed."

Senbaud entered Lorist's study, the snow still perched on his shoulders.

"I can sink Invincible any day you want me to!" he proclaimed when he heard the plan.

Northsea

The cold breeze carried flecks of snow. The ships oscillated non-stop with the waves. The northern seas were the most terrifying in winter. Black dominated the world, a black abyss beyond the edge of the deck. The cold froze to the bone. Even the inside of the ship was never more than cool.

Senbaud stood undaunted at the helm of the ship, gazing into the black beyond like a king over his lands.

A decade. A full decade had come and gone since he swore fealty to His Lordship. For ten years he'd sailed in the cold, chasing pirates not much different from his former self. Barely not rotting away on Silowas and the surrounding waters. Now. Now, ten years after his fate changed, it was finally time to prove his loyalty, to show the extent of his skills, to demonstrate his worth to his liege.

He'd finally been given land and title by His Lordship. A reward for his years of service. His hands clenched when he thought about that night, to the promise His Lordship had made, almost casually, as he saw him off.

"If you pull this off, you'll come back a viscount."

God, wouldn't that be great? He would become the only knight under His Lordship to have risen to viscount.

"Invincible, we're finally going to have a good showdown. Let's see who's the real unbeatable one..."

Come on, Silowas, come on! Faster, faster! He would have loved to sail straight for Morant from Northsea, but he had to stop and stock up, and pick up eight Blitz class in Silowas. He was determined that he would not stay for more than three days though.

Loze, Freiyar, Josk, and the rest all look down on me. They think the only thing this old pirate can do is kiss His Lordship's ass. They think I sent Jinolio to buddy up to His Lordship. Hah! Do they really think His Lordship would have accepted him if he wasn't talented enough? They're just jealous! His Lordship didn't accept Freiyar's twins, now did he? I'll show them! I'll wipe Invincible out and lord over them as their senior noble! Just try and mock me and Northsea then!

A waved crested and crashed into the ship's flank, shaking the deck. Senbaud stood firm; his legs were long used to this. His gaze lifted to the sails, bulging in the wind. If the wind got any stronger, they'd have to lower the sails to keep them from tearing.

"Blow the horn! Remind the others to be alert! We'll reach Silowas tomorrow! I don't want any accidents!"

The wind wailed and howled across the deck and around the ships as eight black silhouettes cut through the black night.

Flagfish Ridge was Northsea's headquarters. The curled deep into the ocean, creating a small bay of calm water where the fleet sat at anchor. Senbaud jumped onto the jetty from his small row boat and headed for the castle. The few on guard shivered in the cold. They saluted him stiffly as he passed.

Inside, soothed by the relative warmth, he cuddled up to the fireplace, an open barrel of rum beside him and a dozen sausages on a plate, ready to be grilled over the fire, on the table on his other side.

"Why'd you come back so quickly? I thought you'd want to keep warm with the wife a little longer. I thought you said you were going to be made a noble. I thought you'd go look at your territory after the celebration and only come back after winter ended," a towering man grumbled as he stepped into the room. It was Tok, the second flotilla's commander -- a fellow former pirate.

"I was, and I would have, old friend, but we have a job to do. A change to not just gain glory that'll outstrip all the others', but to make history. To do something so huge our names will be sung in shanties for hundreds of years to come!

"I didn't hand in your request for leave. They wouldn't have allowed it, anyway. You'll only get it after we're done with this job. And trust me, you don't want to miss this!"

"Really?" Tok shrugged casually, "Let's hear it, then. I don't mind delaying a little if it's worth it. You sure you want to sail in this weather though?"

"Yes. We won't be in this weather for long though. We're heading for Hidegold Bay!"

"What?!" Tok dropped his chicken, "Does His Lordship know about this?!"

Chikdor and Peterson stopped all trade the moment they heard about Lorist wiping out Wessia. They didn't even bother to pay the 450 thousand gold Fordes' debt they still had. Senbaud had submitted requests to go take the money from Hidegold Bay several times, but was always refused. His Lordship thought the peace treaty would be signed quickly and trade would resume.

When the negotiations failed, Senbaud again asked to go and take the money several times, but with His Lordship's whereabouts unknown he couldn't leave, and later when the rebellion started leaving was even further out of the question.

Now, however, rather than Senbaud again submitting a request, His Lordship had ordered him to move out.

"Yes. In fact, it was his idea this time."

"Great! I'll ring the bell and gather the men! Let's show those monkeys who's boss!"

The two sides were not without their friction. While they had unofficially divided the ocean between them, Northsea's men weren't happy that Invincible had claimed the Sea of Grief, which was part of the north. But they couldn't do anything since Invincible insisted on holding on to it to keep Hidegold Bay safe. They'd tried numerous times to dislodge Invincible with small skirmishes, but they wouldn't budge, and they couldn't engage them with full force without permission from His Lordship. Invincible operated as if they thought they were the ones letting Northsea keep hold of the north only because they couldn't be bothered to clean them out.

Last summer, for example, two Invincible LLDAMs were out on patrol and tried to run into one of their ships. They could easily have avoided the collision, but they just kept their course. The men aboard the Northsea ship would have sunk them if only they weren't forbidden from firing their cannons unless openly attacked.

The bell rang loudly. Mountains of muscle soon burst through the doorway. When Senbaud announced their mission, they roared uncontrollably. Some even turned around and punched the men behind them.

"Tok and I will lead twelve Blitzes. Eight LLDAMs will follow with supplies. Well man each Blitz with a hundred corsairs. The other four will stay here and keep the peace. Don't worry. You won't be the first wave, but you'll get your chance. It's still mid-winter; we have all the time in the world.

"Those of you not taking part in this first attack will return to Northsea. Your ships will be overhauled and fitted with cannons. We'll keep harassing the enemy and keep them on the back foot until you're done. I want the big fight to be in the 4th or 5th month when you're all ready.

"We have 200 cannons to work with, so, while you won't match our Blitzes, you'll still have more than enough firepower. The men have to be able to fire blind once the training's done, you understand?"

"Understood!"

"You'll all get to join the fight, so don't worry. Concentrate on getting used to using the cannons, I won't have any mistakes, misfires, or friendly fire during the battle, you hear?!"

"Yessir!"

"Alright, go get the men ready and make your preparations, you leave tomorrow."

When the captains heading back to Northsea had left, Senbaud began his briefing.

"Our first target is the patrol ships in the sea of grief. There're still quite a few of them out despite it being winter. We'll sink them all.

"Our second target is Eilniba. It's the closest to Hidegold Bay and an important hub for ships going north. Everything sailing up from Morante has to stop there to resupply before sailing further north along the Golden Coast to Hidegold Bay. After we sink the patrols, we'll go around the bay and blow up the city's port. It'll cut the enemy fleet off from supplies. We'll also seal off the entire region. I don't want a single ship to pass us by!"

"Admiral, why don't we just rush into the bay and sink the fleet?" asked Tok.

"Are you out of your mind? You want to sail right into their trap? D'you know how many ships are docked there? We don't even have enough cannonballs and gunpowder on board to sink them all even if they don't move. No. We'll fight them on the open seas outside the bay when the time comes."

The First Encounter

"The navy is an idea by geniuses designed to be executed by idiots. If you're not an idiot, yet somehow still find yourself in the navy, your only hope is pretending to be one." ~ Lord High Admiral Senbaud

Sylode was a newly minted captain. Thirty years had passed since he started sailing when he was 15, working his way up the chain of command step-by-step he was now finally a captain in Invincible. Who knew how much hardship he had gone through on the seas? He recalled that others called him an idiot for volunteering. But when he was officially included in the fleet's long-term roster, people envied him. He was only 30 when that happened, however the owner of the grocery shop in the street where he lived wedded his then-17-year-old daughter to him without hesitation. Sylode had two cute children.

His first command was an LLDAM vessel. Success was a simple affair. All it took was decades of hard work, following orders obediently, and handing out valuable gifts to curry favor with the right people. He never complained or cursed for having to go out on a mission in the middle of winter when everyone else was resting. He just nodded and made his preparations. Sailing in such cold stormy weather was risky, and he had to pay attention to the smallest details.If his luck were good, he would arrive at his destination without problems despite the weather.

His patrol path took him around the sea of grief in a wide circle before he returned to port. The sea of grief wasn't barren in winter; patrols came across a few ships from time to time. Everyone knew most of them were smugglers. Though Andinaq and the Union were at war, smuggling still persisted. The harder the two sides fought, the more egregious the smuggling got.

The captains didn't bother them, however. As long as they had the right colors, they were of no concern. It was known as 'having the colors'. Merchant captains paid several gold coins to loan a flag from the fleet that showed they had permission to sail in their waters. The flag had to be returned when they returned to port, or within a certain amount of time, whichever came first. It was a red flag with a single blue line from bottom mast to top fly. The end of the flag nearest the mast to which it was fixed was called the mast, and the end of the flag that flapped freely in the wind was called the fly. So a line that ran from bottom mast to top fly, ran from the bottom corner near the mast to the top corner flapping in the wind. As long as a ship flew that flag, they could sail unmolested in waters under Invincible control, and was entitled to their protection.

The best kind of find to make, thus, was not a smuggler that had the colors, but a smuggler without it, any ship without it, for that matter. If such a find was made, everyone would get a nice bonus. Ships captured at sea without the colours could be dealt with however the flotilla wished. Most would sell it and distribute the reward as a bonus among the crews. It didn't matter if it was a smuggler ship or the ship of some noble.

Fire crackled in a brazier in the middle of the captain's cabin. Sylode granted himself this luxury, he had earned it with his years of hard work, after all. A captain was entitled to his luxuries. Sylode wasn't content with his current station, however. He wanted to earn a title and a fief before his retirement. It was much easier to get a fief and a title in the Union that in any of the traditional aristocracies. Here, with enough wealth and the right connections, anyone could buy a title and a bit of land. Elsewhere, one could only serve one's lord loyally and hope they rewarded one with a bit of land and a title.

"Ship! Black ship! They fly the Raging Bear!" shivering voice descended from the black abyss above the ship.

Everyone was excited. Oh, they would make a great haul today! The Union had given permission, nay, ordered them to attack any Norton vessel they came across.

"Hahaa... So the rat came out of its hole at last!"

It seemed this had been good rather than bad luck. This was yet another silver medal for him. He just hoped it wasn't a mouse. They were impossible to capture.

When he stepped into the deck, the voice descended from the abyss again.

"It's not just one ship! I count twelve five hundreds marks away! They're coming straight for us! Alert!"

"Battlestations!" Sylode roared.

Five hundred marks was a kilometer. So they were coming for a fight, huh? At this distance it would be ten minutes before the fighting began, more than enough time to get ready. His gaze lifted to the abyss above him. The weather was perfect for a fight.

WHen he didn't hear any more reports, his frowned.

"Bastard, finish your report!"

"I did! Twelve black ships--"

"Only twelve?"

"Eye, captain! Just twelve! Four hundred marks yonder now!"

What're they thinking? They have 16 black ships, if they're finally moving to confront the fleet, then why bring only 12? Has the black fleet lost their rudder?

The men called House Norton's fleet the black fleet because they refused to acknowledge them. The seas belonged to Invincible, everyone else was just an imposter. As far as they were concerned, they were no different from noble-backed pirates.

Their 16 warships were said to be armed with dwarven cannons. A few patrols had seen one of them spewing flames and sinking a pirate ship. Sylode wasn't worried about it, however, because according to the people that saw it, the black ship could only hit its target from 50 or so meters. Even then their first volleys missed. That was even worse than their own catapults.

House Norton's black ships themselves however did interest the fleet somewhat. They had a weird ship in the middle of their formations with certain unique characteristics. For one, they could sail quite easily in the stormy north. But, when their shipwrights told them one cost at least six times as much as an LLDAW (large long distance armed warship), they lost interest. The fleet made a lot of money every year, but most of it had set recipients. It could not afford such a lavish expense.

Maybe I can capture one. If I can take it back to be checked out, and maybe even ask to be given one as my next command, I will be a lot closer to getting a title. We will win. We have twelve daws and 24 saws (moderate swift armed warship).

Sylode didn't drop his guard though. He thought the enemy commander had probably lost his rudder, he couldn't be careless. It wasn't that the black ships didn't have any chance of victory at all. If all twelve carried a hundred corsairs, they could still overwhelm his men.

Each patrol had at least twelve LLDAWs and 24 MSAWs. Half of the LLDAWs were fitted for close combat, the other half for ranged combat.

They may be trying to board us, Sylode smirked coldly, We've seen all sorts of situations. Do you think that'll work on us?

"Blow the horn! Have the saws split off and hold the flanks! Have six daws move forward and screen the centre. Avoid close combat for now! We'll move in to board when the enemy's crippled!"

The horn echoed across the black water soon after in a long series of blasts. When it was done it repeated. When it finished, Sylode ship, the Seahorse, a ranged LLDAW, led the charge. He stood on the deck like a mast and watched the crew prepare the stone slingers and ballistae.

When the twelve black ships were only 150 marks away, they suddenly turned broadside, exposing the port sides of their vessels.

What's going on?! Are they trying to flee? We're too close for that to work, aren't we? Even if they turned around and fled as fast as they could, the turn would cost them time and burn speed. They could not get away. Even the greenest captain knew this. If they wanted to flee, the best would be to charge through the enemy formation so they were the ones that had to turn around and bleed their speed.

He was still trying to figure out what they were thinking when dozens of windows suddenly appeared on the ships' sides. Moments later white smoke burst out of the windows.

Their cannons! But they can't hit us from that far, can they?!

The mast in front of his suddenly exploded into splinters. A moment later a cascade of bangs blasted into his ears as the sounds of the enemy's cannons finally caught up. The rest of the mast fell slowly, like a tree being felled in the forest, and crashed into the water. The rest of his ship's sails were shredded and their tatters danced in the wind.

The shockwave nearly toppled Sylode as he shielded his eyes and was showered with splinters. The ship immediately started slowing down and turning due to the mast dragging in the water on one side like a giant oar. His helmsmen was not as lucky as he and rolled on the ground grabbing his eyes, hundred of small cuts all over his face and several splinters stuck in his skin.

Just as the ship got back on course, the enemy's ships spewed white smoke again. The ship shook and splinters exploded everywhere again. An instant later the bangs echoed across the deck again. When his hearing recovered, he heard men wailing like dying dogs. He opened his eyes and saw his ship shattered. The deck was in tatters, the railings had dozens of holes in them, chunks of wood lay splattered across the deck and thousands of splinters covered it like snow. Here and there he could see splashes of red and the odd limb. A few men were rolling in the mess, some clutching stumps where once there were arms, others hold their intestines in their hands, and yet other clasping pieces of wood embedded in various places in their body. Two fist sized metal balls rolled across the deck, covered in blood, linked by a chain.

Seahorse wasn't the only one struck, either. Wails echoed from all six of the ships in the lead. The two further to port were on fire, their lamps toppled by the shocks and explosions, spilling their oil onto wood and rope, which quickly caught fire. The Octopus, the ship directly to starboard of the Seahorse had also lost its middle mast. It's however, had collapse backward onto the helm, crushing the captain, his helmsman, and the wheel. The ship was completely immobilised and out of control now.

The ships on the very flanks and to the rear were untouched and continued the charge. The 24 MSAWs sped through the floundering LLDAWs and moved in to screen them. The six remaining LLDAWs moved forward after them, charging straight for the enemy.

For several hours following that, he watched his flotilla get ripped apart. The enemy would sail away until they'd opened up enough distance, turn, fire a broadside, and sail away again. The scene was burned into his mind and haunted his nightmares.

The enemy's cannons roared across the sea further and further away. His men had no choice but to watch their comrades get torn to shreds and their ships explode in splinters with every volley. When they could no longer see the enemy, they just winced with every volley. The enemy didn't just hit the sails and decks of the other ships, they tore into the body of the ship. Most sunk, the worst kind of death sentence out here in the cold waters. And none of them could do anything.

The black silhouettes soon re-appeared on the horizon, like giant black demons. They sailed past the six crippled ships and chased down the running MSAMs. For several hours more roars sounded. Everything went quiet eventually. No one on the ship cried in pain or moaned either, they'd all died, and everyone else just stared at the horizon where the ships had vanished.

The black silhouettes eventually appeared again and came for them. This was it. Their end. Sylode knew he'd never see his wife or daughter again.

"Quick, hoist the white!" he suddenly yelled.

"What?!" his quartermaster yelled.

"Quick! Hoist the white! I'm saving your lives! If you don't want to be fish food, hoist the damned white!"

The Second Naval Battle

"Invincible's arrogance cost it its existence, but Northsea was no better. Their arrogance cost them a perfect record only a few days after they'd used the enemy's arrogance to inflict on them a great loss. In all honesty, neither fleet was any better where its commanders and tactics were concerned. Northsea was saved only by its technology." ~ Professor Nico, Nico Academy

On the 17th day of the 1st month, Year 1790, Invincible's patrol flotilla heading to the sea of grief was attacked by Northsea and sunk. Captain Sylode surrendered six LLDAWs and nine MSAWs. This was the start of Invincible's fade into obscurity.

In the evening the 20th, Admiral Senbaud attacked Einiba. They sunk the 500 merchant vessels in the harbor and defeated Invincible's third flotilla. The fleet was completely unprepared. They did not think Northsea would be daring enough to strike their home port so deep in their territory. Most of the flotilla's men were ashore and could only watch as their ships were sunk.

Not even Senbaud thought everything would go so smoothly. His men couldn't stop laughing and kept joking around for hours afterwards.

The port was engulfed in flames. They had to stop firing after a while so the cannons could cool down, so Senbaud had the ships close in so they could use their backup catapults. The ships moved without hesitation. When the ships left, the entire city was burning. The flames didn't die down for two weeks. They left nothing but ash and cracked stone in their wake. The ships that arrived after the attack could only drift outside the port and watch the blaze from a distance. One or two ships tried to beach themselves nearby so their crew could help put out the fire, but were forced to turn around when gusts of wind blew sparks dangerously close to the sails.

The attack, the first port burning by sea -- soon called the Burning of Einiba -- instantly made the fleet and its admiral famous. Few people actually died, only a couple thousand, but the Union's material losses were enormous. And put the Union in a terrible position. The surviving sailors were forced to walk back to Morante and so were out of commission for several weeks. The ships burned in the harbor carried the weapons and armor intended for the next wave of reinforcement destined for Southern, which meant they had to be deployed unarmed and armored. It also didn't just destroy Invincible's reputation, but also the trust merchants had in them. Those who lost ships in the port and in the encounters with Northsea out at sea blamed Invincible and called them incapable and inept. Some even demanded outright compensation.

The city's inhabitants refused to leave their carcass of a city, which forced the Union to divert resources to tide them over for the winter. This one, single burning, the actual attack of which lasted only half a day, cost the Union at least 20 million gold Fordes. But the damage went far beyond monetary and resource loss. Without the port the Union couldn't adequately resupply the front line. Even worse, it shook their confidence and morale. And things only got worse.

They soon heard that a patrol flotilla had gone missing in the sea of grief, and rumours started trickling in of merchant ships going missing up and down the Golden Coast. A few incidents were even reported further south than Morante. The higher-ups didn't believe the last could possibly be Northsea, but after what happened in Einiba, they couldn't be sure. They were suddenly fighting an enemy that appeared to be popping in and out of existence everywhere.

The Union had gone from controlling most of the known world's oceans, to controlling only the port in Morante in a couple of days. At the very least the entire Hidegold Bay region was silent, as if it'd vanished off the face of the world. Any ship that sailed north of the ghost city vanished. And most of them carried much-needed supplies.

The plains could not hold without their supplies. The two years of war had stripped the plains clean, no crops were left in the field their forces could requisition, no rivers had any drinkable water left, no fruit tree or berry bush had not been picked clean. Their forces there were completely reliant on supplies shipped or carted in from elsewhere, and most of it was moved by ship. The forces could be kept alive by land supplies, but it was only barely enough to keep them from starving, not enough to keep them in fighting condition.

The Union had to retake the seas, only, they didn't have the manpower. The first flotilla was wintering in Jigda, and the second was wintering in Chikdor's new dominion. The first could not be pulled because they were there at Jigda's request, and moving them would break their agreement. The second could also not be moved because Chikdor's dominion was the source of most of the supplies heading to the front, and their coasts were rife with piracy, if they moved the fleet they would only be worsening their supply situation, not solving any problems.

The third flotilla didn't exist anymore, burned with Einiba and, though the crews were mostly alive, they had no ships. The fourth was on station in Hidegold Bay, but they were already engaged with Northsea, and had lost a flotilla of their own already. The biggest problem for the fourth was that they didn't know how to face their enemy. They didn't know how big their fleet was, but they clearly had enough strength to wipe out a patrol. How many should they mobilize, then? If they sent everything out, and the enemy could fight them, they'd only be destroying the flotilla. If they sent out less, but they weren't enough, they'd be whittling themselves down.

Most of the crews knew this, and many refused to sail unless the entire flotilla moved, some even refused to sail at all, regardless of whether the entire flotilla sailed together. By the second month, however, they'd finally come to a decision and convinced everyone to follow it. They sailed out of the bay to have a decisive battle with Northsea and let the gods of the sea decide the victor.

They sent out a different force than normal. They deployed all their ships save their two Subnims and their ramming ships, which stayed behind to protect the bay. They wouldn't be worth much in a confrontation with Northsea anyway since they couldn't sail well in the stormy winter sea in the north.

The second clash between the two fleets took place not long after. They came across the captured merchant vessels heading for Silowas a day after leaving the bay, escorted by just four Blitzes. They sent out 39 LLDAWs -- 28 of which had a hundred corsairs on board -- 83 MSAWs, and a blademaster.

The commander split the force into three waves, three kilometers apart. They knew from the one or two ships that had seen the burning of Einiba and survived, that Northsea only had 20 ships in the region, which operated in four contingents.

The day was dark, the black sky peppered with the occasional snowflake. The darkness blinded by the vicious rocking of the ship in the waves and the darkness. The two sides only noticed one another when they were 400 marks apart.

When the merchant vessels noticed the flotilla, they immediately swung out and ran strait for them. The Northsea contingent's commander made a grave mistake in that moment. Rather than immediately fire at the approaching enemy, he shot at the fleeing merchants instead.

The chaos destroyed the fourth's formation and they suffered heavy casualties as they tried to avoid the merchants. Things soon cleared up, however. The first wave was ordered to keep the enemy busy while the rest of the flotilla surrounded them. They new Northsea couldn't match their numbers, so they were willing to pay any price to sink the enemy. Unfortunately, they severely underestimated their enemy, for which they paid dearly.

The first volley aimed at the flotilla destroyed three LLDAWs. Another lost its masts and was dead in the water, though in no danger of sinking. A dozen MSAWs managed to close in, however, and started fighting the enemy's LLDAWs at close range. Those enemy ships weren't armed with cannons, only the usual ballistae, which the flotilla could match. Two of the four enemy LLDAWs were soon smoking.

"More enemy ships! They're six hundred marks away on our flanks!" cried a lookout.

Though his telescope increased his range, it was almost completely negated by the rough seas and the darkness. Though he noticed the second wave further than the first, it was still too late to pull out. Right at that moment, however, several of the ships shuddered in explosions of splinters. Moments later a blur of booms echoed across the ocean. The lookout didn't even need to check to know who it was. Senbaud had arrived with the rest of the contingent.

Another volley from the four black ships wiped out the rest of the first wave. Six MSAWs were limping away. In exchange, however, Northsea's contingent had lost three LLDAWs.

"Give chase! Sink every last ship!" Senbaud shouted.

His voice had barely faded when the lookout shouted.

"Enemy ships to port! More than 30! Currently 700 marks and closing!"

Moments later he shouted again.

"Another thirty to starboard! Six hundred marks and closing!"

It's a trap!

"To port! Broadside to the ship forward! Break through the encirclement!" the admiral ordered.

The fourth flotilla's commanders had predicted the enemy wouldn't give up easily, but they didn't think their cannons would pack such a punch and have such a range. The first wave was reduced to splinters in just a couple of volleys. The two enemy detachments were separated from one another however, and flotilla's blademaster was slaughtering his way across one of the encircled black ships' deck.

A few minutes later the other back ship was boarded as well.

"Turn broadside on our captured ships! We must not let the enemy take them!" Senbaud ordered.

Invincible did not expect the enemy to fire on their own ships even before they had completely fallen. The two ships were quickly reduced to rubble, and the flotilla's only blademaster was dragged down with them.

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Conclusion of the Battle

"There is an old sailor's tale. It tells of two black ships sailing the sea around Hidegold Bay. Tattered sails and broken hulls they straddle the waves. By all rights they should be at the bottom of the sea, but they are kept afloat by the ungodly hatred of the undead crew. They say that if you see them, you will never see land again. But if you're from Silowas or Northsea, you can only pray you die before they get too close, because if not, your soul will be forever doomed to torture in their bowls."

The historical 'Clash of 218' was the second engagement between Northsea and Invincible. After the battle, Invincible declared itself victorious. Northsea did not contest.

The fleet announced they'd freed the thirty ships Northsea had captured and destroyed two of their black ships and four LLDAWs. What they didn't announce, however, were the losses on their side. If one considered losses, while Northsea got a slap in the face, they came out much better and might even be considered the overall victors. Of the just over one hundred ships Invincible deployed, fewer than 50 returned, and most needed months in drydock. The flotilla didn't send out a single ship for the rest of winter and the entirety of the rainy season. They lost 7000 men and a blademaster. The entire flotilla was now combat-ineffective and out of the fight.

No one expected Northsea to be so ferocious. They sunk their own ships when they were in danger of falling to the enemy, they didn't even wait to confirm that they had indeed fallen. Just a hint of the possibility was enough to make them fire on their own. The loss of their blademaster was a blow almost equal to all the ships and men they lost. While they technically won the battle, because the enemy was forced to retreat, in terms of losses, they were the clear loses. Pyrrhic victory could not even describe this. If this went on, they'd lose the war even if they won every battle along the way.

The battle was over, but nobody expected the enemy admiral to leave things at that. This was a massive humiliation to Northsea. And indeed, the enemy admiral struck almost immediately. He charged at them as soon as the two remaining black ships joined the rest of the contingent. His contingent couldn't match the flotilla in numbers, but they had ranged superiority and, without being encircled, the speed and agility to keep their distance while they fired.

Knowing that they couldn't win unless they encircled the enemy, the fourth flotilla pulled back to the bay, but were dogged all the way and lost a number of vessels along the way, with many more severely or moderately damaged. Not a single ship got back to port without some damage.

They did try the take out their pursuers halfway home, but the same tactic couldn't work on their enemy a second time. Shortly before they reached the bay, their pursuers changed tactic. The contingent split into three groups, on continued to chase them from behind, whilst the other two caught up along their flanks. The ships got into position, then closed to just within firing range, fired a volley, and retreated. The flotilla was on the brink of collapsing entirely, and were even preparing to raise the white, when Northsea ran out of gunpowder and was forced to withdraw.

The only real victory for the flotilla was their freeing of the captured merchants and sinking a couple of enemy ships. The freed merchants had some supplies onboard, and, while not enough to solve the military's problems, could take the worst edge of for a couple of days. Word finally reached Chikdor that the merchant ships weren't just being sunk, but taken by their enemies, supplies and all, and they stopped sending any ships at all.

The Union understood they had to finish off Northsea before they could use the seas again, so the bit the bullet and mobilized the second flotilla as well as Chikdor's personal fleet. They would also send every ship capable of sea travel north loaded to the brim with supplies under the flotilla's escort. If possible, they would conquer, or at the very least blockade Silowas.

Shortly before the fleet was to set sail, however, the fourth flotilla's report made it to the leaders. Every surviving captain had signed his name to it. It said that they stood no chance against Northsea. The report detailed meticulous the engagement. Most shocking was the black ship's range and destructive power and their willingness to sink their own ships to keep them out of enemy hands. Second was their maneuverability. Ships of any size were as mobile as ships one or even two classes smaller.

The only even remotely viable tactic was to swarm them with smaller ships, but those ships couldn't brave the rough north, so they only stood a chance in the south where the waters were calmer. The report concluded with a request of funds to research similar weaponry.

The leaders laughed bitterly. They knew of the cannons for a year already. Their blademasters sent into Norton territory brought back blueprints and news. Unfortunately, the cannons were too heavy to transport, and they none of the blueprints they had contained anything on the cannons. Even if they had them, they neither had the recipes for the metal they used, nor for the propellant. They'd hoped to solve at least the gunpowder problem by relying on the dwarves, but their negotiations had been less than smooth. They also didn't have the funds to rebuild the flotilla.

The Union was rich, but war was expensive, and it had been at war constantly for almost a decade and it had been unable to trade for several years prior to that. It was nearly bankrupt. It didn't have a single spare penny to rebuild any ship it lost, they could barely even afford to repair the damaged ones. They had only one option. They had to through every ship they had at the enemy and sink their ships. Even if they lost every last of their own ships in the process, at the very least they wouldn't have to worry about attacks by sea for several years thereafter and could focus on the war on land.

As long as they could conquer Silowas, they could write House Norton off for several years. The island and its ports were their headquarters, and its dry-docks were where all their ships were made. Without it they would lose the seas. Without their dry-docks, House Norton would never be able to build up at a pace matching the Union, who would control every other inch of coastline, and every dock outside Andinaq.

Their plans made, the Union deployed both the first and second flotillas. The two would meet up outside Morante before heading north together. They would escort the merchant convoy to Hidegold Bay before heading for Silowas with whatever was left of the fourth flotilla. Since they couldn't match Northsea ship for ship, they would just sink them with numbers.

Senbaud arrived at Silowas at about the same time as the Union settled their plans. His campaign was a massive humiliation, for himself, the fleet, and his lord. The shame nearly made him fling himself overboard several times on the way back. The only thing that kept his feet planted on the deck was his determination to clean up the mess. Killing himself and leaving this mess to his subordinates and his lord would only bring further shame.

He wanted to set out the moment the ships restocked their gunpowder stores and flatten Hidegold Bay, but the rainy season, known as the Season of Storms by sailors, started. He could not move the ships out. He also had to repair his ships, and it was time for their annual drydock maintenance. He spent the season locked in his office and study, studying sea charts and history books, planning his revenge.

Lorist's Preparations

The rain poured continuously.

"We'll rendezvous at Armatrin Harbor," Lorist said as he tapped the red dot on the map with his wooden pointer, "You know this was our first stop on our way north with the convoy. Armatrin is the only port within Lormo."

The meeting room was quite empty. Only Charade, Spiel, Kedan, Malek, Camorra, Terman, and Reidy were present. Apart from Spiel, Kedan, and Camorra, the rest went all the way back to the days of the convoy.

"I picked Armatrin because it's only a day and a half away from Hidegold Bay, and only two from the front-lines. Even if Northsea can't destroy Invincible as planned, it won't stop us from reinforcing Bluwek.

"It would be ideal if they did; then we could strike Morante from there, but failing that won't derail our plans. Our minimum goal, then, is to reinforce the king. We'll take over the city's defenses and free some of his troops up so he can go on the offensive. I have no intention of driving my men into the enemy lines for just Yungechandler. We might have invested some in its development, but it's still a very poor province. It's not worth thousands of my subjects' lives.

"If this were also the only motivation, I wouldn't even have bothered going to war. But we need to teach the Union a lesson. They crossed my bottom line when they marched into my territory and joined in on our personal internal issues. They even dared to march on our forbidden grounds, slaughter our people there, and steal our secrets! They will pay back their transgression ten times over!"

Everyone knew Lorist was spouting bullshit. He wanted to plunder Morante, and this was just a convenient excuse. It was the richest city on the continent, he could probably make his entire fortune over in just that city, a fortune that took him a year and 5 provinces to accumulate. It would also be the biggest medal under his belt possible since he would be the first man in history to conquer the city.

Lorist would never admit it, however. He had to have an excuse that included everyone. Even if everyone knew why they were really going, appearances were still important.

Jinolio sat in a corner of the room noting everything down. His transcript would be copied and sent out to every city, town, village, fort and outpost in Lorist's territories, it would eventually even make its way to Hanayabarta and Shyarsia. It was also meant to make the men more capable in combat. History had proven time and time again that troops that believed justice was on their side fought harder and raided more thoroughly than when they either didn't know, or thought it wasn't.

"This war should not have happened in the first place. The Union occupied the empire's territory unjustly. Andinaq bears the empire's heritage and had to retake its lands. His Majesty didn't want to fight this war, he just wanted to take the land rightfully his. The Union betrayed our trust and threw their name in the dirt. His Majesty even rolled out the white road for them, but they spat on it! They are the cause for this war!

"We must punish them for their shame and vile behaviour! You, my men, my trusted children, have been chosen to bring down the sword of justice down on these demons. Fight! Fight knowing that you don't do this for yourself or your kings or lords. You fight for your family, your parents, your siblings, your wives, and your children!"

Lorist wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fortunately, he only had to give the speech for a couple of people in a small room. He didn't think he had a thick enough skin to lie through his teeth to thousands of loyal subjects when he could see them staring at him. This whole business was Malek's idea, god smite him. Lorist really need to hire a speechwriter. He knew Charade was bad, but he didn't think he was no good either.

Jinolio finished recording the nonsense and handed the draft to him. He signed it after giving it the once over and handed it back. After finishing with the bullshittery, it was time for serious business.

"Our agreement to reinforce the king will give us Yungechandler. I'm making Shadekampf the governor. Charade, see to it that the necessary staff are assigned to him. He'll report to you, so you should also make sure everything stays on track."

"If I may, Your Grace, Shadekampf is dealing with Wild Husbandry. We'll need to fill his position there if we move him. How about Hector?"

"Make whatever arrangements are needed."

"Spiel, we'll develop Wild Husbandry and Yungechandler at the same time. Adjust the budget accordingly."

"I will, Your Grace."

"Kedan, I'm putting you in charge of the reformed constabulary. I want only the best, most loyal men. We can't afford mistakes, don't disappoint me."

"Don't worry Your Grace. I will make sure only the most loyal men are selected and I'll swap them out every couple of years to make sure they don't get too cozy anywhere."

"Good. We can't have anymore wavering or split loyalties. They have to be upright individuals whose lives will be the examples for the peasantry. They also won't be allowed to get involved in the local governments and other matters of administration."

"Understood, Your Grace."

"Malek, what's the status of our active forces?"

Malek stood up and flipped through a folder in his hands.

"Firmrock should be on Silowas by now. They'll weather the rainy season there before moving on to Armatrin where they'll wait for the go ahead to march to the king's aid. Tigersoar and Jaeger are camped outside Vanades. They'll march to Armatrin once the rains stop and join Firmrock. The sentry legion moved out by sled and ski a week ago and have reached Flowater Creek where they're busy setting up the first supply hub.

"Camorra is responsible for the supplies, and will take over all the Ministry's logistics once he takes his post. General Terman and I will stay here and retrain the domain's garrisons. They'll be a loyal, reliable force when we're done with them, I promise."

Lorist nodded. He looked at Terman, was seated beside Malek.

"Are you frustrated I didn't allow the knight brigade to deploy? You've had to sit back for two battles. I'm sure your knights are getting restless."

"We obey your orders without question. We just hope to be given a chance to prove ourselves."

"It's not that I don't want to let you take part, we need a reliable force to hold down the fort here, you saw what happened the last time we didn't. I made you the deputy chief of the Special Investigations Unit so you could help settle everything faster. You will get your chance, my friend."

"I will look forward to that day."

"The key to this battle is Northsea. Malek, Senbaud made his report and asked to be held responsible for the two Blitzes and four LLDAWs we lost. Does the Ministry have any thoughts?"

"We've looked into it determined that the admiral is not responsible. He didn't make any mistakes or give any wrong orders. The fault lies with the commodore who fell for the enemy's trap, but he went down with his ship, so there's no one to be held responsible. The admiral deserves praise for salvaging the situation and preventing the enemy from capturing out ships."

"Do you believe Northsea can defeat Invincible?"

"It will be difficult, but it's possible. We've only faced a flotilla in combat so far, not the whole fleet. We can be certain our next engagement will be with at least double that number. The Union will undoubtedly deploy their remaining two flotillas and sail into combat with whatever is left of the fourth. We just don't have the numbers. Fourteen Blitzes isn't enough, even with the other ships that will be armed with cannons added, we can't match Invincible."

"Don't worry about ships. Bullhorn Bay's shipyards are working day and night to finish every ship they can. Grandmaster Sid has fashioned 300 bronze cannons and 16 we had on the whaling ships have also been moved to the larger ships. By the fourth month we'll still have a further 80 ships waiting to be retrofitted. I don't doubt we'll have the numbers and firepower to fight the enemy. As long as our captains, commodores, and admiral are trustworthy, we'll win."

"We still have a shortage of capable high-tier fighters. Senbaud reported that he saw a blademaster slaughtering his way across one of the Blitzes' decks before he sank it. We don't currently have anything to match that."

A sinister smile cracked Lorist's face.

"High-tier fighters? No problem. I, Reidy, and Shuss will head for Silowas after the rainy season and join the fleet. I wonder if Invincible has a swordsaint."