Chapter XVII

Kontia.

Enya, Brigadier of the Tanaoi.

Pressure from the city was gone overnight, owing to a mix of me moving all of my forces into the city itself and the appearance of at least two thousand Imperials close to Kontia's great bridge. They were encamped in an abandoned farm perhaps half a mile from the city or so. My scouts reported that several small groups have been sighted moving to the city from the farm.

"They have taken rest at the bridge, perhaps they intend to flee across and back towards the Empire?" Nalia mused, leaning over the walls of Kontia as we beheld the small Imperial encampment from afar.

"Perhaps so." I replied, looking at the score of other officers with me enduring the unseasonably high winds. If they had more to add they did not offer it, many of the women about me looked miserable and avoided eye contact when I glanced at them. It was tiresome honestly, the good cheer that had come over the mixed tribe battalion had faded when Tanya was delayed. I ordered patience rather than a submission to our nature that could see our advantage cast away.

The women under my command had quickly grown restless and dissatisfied with my caution and quiet grumblings had become commonplace, but I was not concerned. With the large cavalry force outside of the city I no longer had the ability to deploy small forces outside to maintain the blockade of the city as any small force would quickly be threatened by the concentration of the human horsemen.

But with none of my forces being tied up maintaining the blockade I now had nothing better to do but to push deeper into Kontia. The city terrain would make the advantages of cavalry come to nothing and dispel any notion of inactivity from the minds of my subordinates. I turned away from the bridge and back towards the main gatehouse firmly in our control. Followed shortly afterwards by the commanders of companies still meeting Tanya's strict outlines of what constituted combat capable.

Some considered the particularities of Tanya to be a consequence of her exile to Imperial lands, the time she made her way across the Saderan Empire and returned. But that simply was not true. Tanya had always been a queer sort, with a mind for organisation and thrift that set her apart from her peers. She had apprenticed under many warriors, seemingly never being satisfied with the raids or battles they offered her.

I had taken her under my wing for a time, roughly when she discovered her talent for magic and while she made a fine second in battle and on campaign I did not feel like I had much to offer the girl. Perhaps that was why she had little respect for the practice of apprenticeship, preferring instead her experiment of having the girls form warbands at a young age and following a strict training regime.

Gods knew why she had forbidden girls from joining the battle line. Made the lot of them soft as far as I was concerned.

I sighed and settled down at a table inside of the gatehouse and a young girl of two and ten set a bowl of stew before me as the commanders sat down at the cramped table, their own apprentices offering them food and hot tea before being sent away. Nostalgia threatened to overwhelm me as I remembered the days before ambition put Tanya at odds with her sister. Back when Tanya was a tiny fluffy blond thing with sharp blue eyes that sought to bring the whole world to order.

Perhaps that never changed, actually.

"Brigadier?" came a voice and I focused again on the here and now.

"I was just considering our situation." I lied, regarding the women as she picked at some bread impregnated with dried fruits she had likely looted from the city. I set aside some petty jealousy and drank from my bowl of savoury stew feeling the water just shy of scalding fill my belly with warmth. "I believe it is time for a... how would our Queen put it? Tactical revaluation?"

"At last." Nalia intoned, her tongue eager to get herself into strife. I attempted to cow her with a glare but it proved fruitless. There were some who would not be satisfied until they had suffered a beating for their insubordination and Nalia was one of them.

"With the Imperial force outside of the city the humans will be emboldened, this is why they have eased off their attacks. They believe that they will be able to amass enough men to dislodge us from the city." I began. Looking out at the assembled commanders, not everyone was present, as Delilah and the others with understrength companies were out defending our current position.

"Let them try!" came a booming laugh from a woman who was more meat than sense and yet had somehow met Tanya's standards of literacy.

"That would be rather sporting." I teased. "But I am not so kind to Humans!" That earned a roar of approval from the table, the officers clearly engaged now I began to explain my plan. "Humans and Orcs are blind as bats when night falls and there are few Goblins among their number. Get your girls ready for tonight and we will set upon the Imperials, we shall give them a good reason to fear the darkness."

"We are attacking?" the commander of the 115th asked, rubbing at a scar on the bridge of her nose. "Right after they get reinforcements?" Her voice was incredulous.

"There shall be no better time for it." I said with confidence I did not truly feel. "I am confident in my decisions in this matter. As I am confident that now is the time to strike, when they believe themselves once more in control of the situation." I glanced about the table and found only women waiting for the plan itself.

"We shall make several advances along the walls of the city and raise noise and havoc among the citizens. This shall appear to be an attempt to take the five gatehouses and keep the Imperial cavalry out of Kontia, but this shall merely be a ploy. The city palace is far from any of the walls and close to the middle of the city. When the Imperials send their men to protect the gates we will advance with all of our strength to their palace in an effort to take it and deprive the Imperials of their bastion in the city." The commanders looked shocked.

"Is this truly wise? If we were to move to the palace we would need to pass through the temple district, otherwise we would need to march a great distance and draw much attention to ourselves." Nalia said, arguing for caution despite her grumblings in the past few days.

"We shall pass though the Temple District, they will not have been permitted to fortify that area." I clarified. Temples were forbidden to be used in times of war and were strictly neutral unless a God ordered their followers to war directly.

"I'm not sure we should risk angering the Gods in such a way." another once bellicose woman protested. "What if the Gods take offence to such an act? Are we not abusing their rights in the siege?"

"So long as we do not turn upon the servants of the Gods there shall be no grounds to take offence." I dismissed the concerns. I had no intention of harrying the temples themselves and any offence taken would be mitigated by the favour the Gods clearly had for the Tanaoi.

"If this is what you command, Brigadier." Nalia said at last and was joined by a chorus of muttered agreement.

"Very good, prepare your companies, have them rest as much as they can for now. We strike when twilight fades."

Kontia

Lucious Trier, Governor of Kontia.

It was late in the evening when we joined for another meeting. The place chosen this time was a dining hall normally reserved for my close family now occupied only by the men of importance in the city. Tribune Brutus Acrus paced about the dining hall looking to have aged a decade in just a scant few days. The defence of Kontia clearly had taken a toll on the man.

"For goodness sake man, sit down and relax." Nicola Luci the guild representative said at last, setting aside his wine to berate the Tribune.

"How can I relax when I learn that an army of headhunting rabbits approaches! Kontia is to be lost and you sip wine as if nothing matters. As if nothing has changed!" Brutus jabbed his finger at Nicola and the representative rolled his eyes before opening his mouth to retort.

Only for the door to open and an Orc clad in ill fitting armour entered the room followed by the hunched form of the elderly senator.

"I am glad to hear that you have started without me." The old man muttered before seating himself at the table with a sigh.

"Nothing of importance was discussed in your absence, Senator." I replied, earning little more than a glance from Godasen.

"Regardless, with everyone here present we must discuss the evacuation of Kontia." Godasen began the meeting before stuffing some cured meats on the table into his mouth with little grace, making a scene that was ill becoming of a senator.

"Is there nothing that can be done to recover our position?" I argued, the prospect of losing my seat of governance was galling and I felt a wave of fury at the foolish boy prince that had blundered in such a way as to leave me vulnerable to a horde of Lepus.

"Anything we do here will only cause more destruction and death. We must think about what is best for Sadera. We ride for the wall, it is a terrible thing to say but we must abandon Kontia, flee with what we can beyond the bridge and destroy it lest the steppe horde descend into the eastern expanse of our Empire and turn upon the good people with rapacious glee." It was easy for the Senator to say but I was going to suffer the most from this affair.

"Could we not retreat to the other side of the river and use the bridge as a choke point to hold back the horde? Is there truly a need to march all the way to the wall itself?" I questioned. More wealth could be saved if we just had to move it across the bridge, it would be difficult with the Lepus in the city but not impossible. A full march back to the wall would however require many things to be totally abandoned.

"The Tanaoi have a spell that can slay men and do great damage to things from a distance. I do not know just how far but it could be as far as her cursed eyes can see. We cannot leave the bridge as it is since she could simply destroy any fort we build on it. It is best to cast at least a section of the bridge into the river and render it useless to them." the Senator explained.

"In the last meeting you questioned again and again about the capabilities of these savages to employ magic, and you also tell us that this horde's queen is a sorceress? You speak of this spell that can cause death at a distance, but I do not understand how this can be the case. What exactly does this power do? Forgive me for I am no mage." Nicola interjected. I turned to regard the man for a moment, noting the carefully crafted mask of professionalism that was common to the Equites who make a name for themselves with thrift rather than honour.

"Exactly what I say, the Tanaoi are not like the other tribes of Lepus. They are driven by far darker things, I fear, and are possessed of magical abilities that are utterly unnatural. I have suffered at the hands of this sorceress in battle and I intend to make way to Rondel after Sadera so as to raise a force that can do battle with this tribe." The Senator replied.

"That does not exactly answer my question, good sir." Nicola pressed, earning a frustrated eyeroll from the Senator.

"It is impossible to explain such magic to people who know nothing of the art. Suffice it to say that she can slay many men from a distance as if she was cutting a hole through them with great force and she has another spell that allows her to make great explosions, far greater than what many mages working together could accomplish." I could scarcely imagine how a Lepus would have more power than many Imperial Mages, but I could understand how such power would make battle difficult.

"Can we not call upon the Wyvern Knights to put an end to this woman? She clearly cannot be allowed to live." I suggested.

"It would be a fine idea, had she not cast three of them from the sky." Godasen spoke with a grim tone. The table was quiet for a moment as the implication of Wyvern Knights being killed settled in.

"If it is as you say. Then we have little choice but to abandon Kontia and make way for the wall. But the road is long and difficult, so we should begin preparations at once." I said at last, earning muttered agreement from the demoralized men at the table.

"I shall support you in this, but I must caution both of you. Should the Lepus know of our intentions they shall sally forth from the city and waylay us as we approach the bridge. It will be impossible to defend a long column of supplies with how fast the beasts can run." Nicola explained with clarity and wisdom.

"That is true, even with my men we cannot defend against an attack and it shall be impossible to disguise our exodus from the she-beasts." Godasen lamented.

"We shall need to occupy the attention of the Lepus." Nicola explained. "With your leave, I shall begin preparations for a series of distractions that will allow us to slip away from the city unmolested."

"Do so." Godasen commanded turning to me shortly after. "We shall begin by bringing whatever can be carried to my army encampment close to the bridge, in groups small and well defended enough to make them unattractive targets. We must also begin a train of wagons bringing things from this side of the bridge to the far side. Set up a camp on the far side purely to unload things there."

"Of course." I conceded. "I will have to see to my wife and my slaves to ensure they are prepared for the journey with their families." I nodded and departed the room. There was little more to be discussed and if I was to abandon the city I would need to do so with all haste. Let the Tribune and Nicola organise the distraction.

I made my way through the halls of my home looking at the great works of art and statues that I had commissioned or inherited. Many things that would be impossible to carry with us on the journey and would no doubt be defaced by the Lepus when they took the city proper. I felt an odd sense of melancholy as I entered my personal chambers and saw my wife and daughter sitting by a roaring fire speaking of light things while engaging in embroidery.

Several slaves tended to the room, many having spent their entire lives in service to my house, some served when I was but a child. Others, like Aief, my new Lepus slave, were new to my household but had no less value because of it. I would not allow my slaves to be abandoned in the city nor to fall ill in the march back to Sadera. If I was to rebuild my life in the city I would require competent staff and prestigious slaves for networking with my peers.

I took the time to embrace my daughter, and kiss my wife upon her lips before I sat about ordering my slaves to prepare for the journey. To prepare to flee from the seat of my ancestral power.

To begin again, so far away.