Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade: Volume 5, page 17
“It’ll only lead to hard feelings, coming from me,” Lise said, not looking at Amelia.
“What, and it won’t if I say it?”
“You surprise me. Are you not the commander of the Second Allied Legion after all?”
“Fine, fine,” Blood grumbled, heaving himself to his feet. “Of all the stupid...” Running his fingers through his hair, he made his way down into the thick of it.
“Looks like you’ve all got energy to burn!” he shouted. “How about going a round with me?” He looked to the Royal Army soldiers, who all shook their heads in horror. Then, he turned to the Winged Crusaders. One burly guardian stepped forward with a swagger.
“If it isn’t Lord Commander Blood! You came all this way to humiliate yourself?”
“Pretty feisty, aren’t you? I like that.” Blood tapped the sword at his waist pointedly.
The burly guardian grinned at him, then drew his own blade. “Too late to think better of it now,” he said. The guardian raised his sword threateningly, but before he’d finished the motion, Blood’s longsword had left its scabbard, the edge of the blade coming to rest against the man’s neck.
“Huh?”
“You’d be short a head now, if I’d felt like it,” Blood said. The guardian grasped what had happened, let out a voiceless cry, then fell down on his backside.
Blood looked around the other guardians and demanded, “Who’s next? I’m not standing on rank today.”
They all shuffled away uncomfortably.
Dear me. That’s them dealt with for today, at— Eh?
Blood felt an intense pressure from behind him and turned. Amelia was no longer delicately sipping her tea. Now, she had her chin resting on her hand, her gaze fixed on him. He shrank back despite himself, overcome by a sense of repulsion like a great snake had enveloped him in its coils.
Yikes. Heaven protect me. Blood hurried back up the stone steps. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket just as Lise came and sat down beside him. Thinking that she was a little too close, he lit the cigarette, then blew out a mouthful of smoke.
“I hope you’re satisfied,” he said.
“Witnessing the prowess of The Flash is enough to cow even the guardians of the Winged Crusaders, it seems.”
“I’m begging you to stop calling me that mortifying name.”
“Understood, ser,” Lise said, chuckling. Then she looked down at the soldiers, who had resumed their drills, her face turning grave. “This whole situation seems rather dire, though.”
Blood scarcely needed to be told. He wasn’t happy with it himself. If they went into battle against the imperial army like this, an internal breakdown in the ranks was inevitable. Having said that, Blood had come up with no ideas for how to better the situation.
“Guess it’s time to ask for help...”
“Ask who for help, ser?” Lise asked.
Blood looked at her. “I said that out loud?”
“Yes, ser. Loud and clear. Now, who are you going to ask for help?”
“You know there’s only one answer to that.” With his cigarette in his mouth, he stood up, then flew down the stairs two at a time. He was thinking of a certain young man.
“There he is, I knew he’d be here.” Blood found Ashton in the barracks mess hall with Olivia. Without asking, he sat down in an empty chair beside him, picked up a sausage from Ashton’s plate, and popped it into his mouth.
“Mm-hmm. That’s pretty tasty.”
“You can’t just go around eating people’s food, General Blood,” Olivia scolded him. “You should say ‘please’ to Ashton first.”
Seeing her frowning at him, Blood couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Olivia’s antics were a thousand times more entertaining than any second-rate comedy routine.
“You make a good point, Liv.”
“I never make anything but good points.”
“Oh? First I’m hearing of it,” Blood replied, pulling a face.
“General Blood,” said Ashton, looking curious, “did something happen?”
“We have a bit of a problem. Hence me coming here to borrow the mind of our great tactician.”
“Oh...” Ashton replied without enthusiasm. Blood snatched another sausage, at which Olivia, her cheeks bulging fit to burst, moved the plate away from him. He then explained the issue at hand to them.
Ashton sighed. “I thought that would be a problem too.”
“That sounds like you have some sort of solution in mind.”
“Well, I have something...” As Ashton replied, he glanced surreptitiously at Olivia. She cocked her head at him, all innocence.
“You want Liv to do something?”
“Well, yes. Only, it’s an idea that Colonel Claudia’s already rejected once before...”
Listening to the plan that Ashton proceeded to lay out, Blood thought it sounded like it would produce some results.
“You up for it, Liv?”
“Maybe... I just...” Olivia mumbled. Contrary to his expectations, her response was less than enthusiastic.
“You don’t want to?” he asked, privately perplexed.
“It’s Claudia...”
“Claudia? You’re worried about Colonel Claudia?”
“Mm...” As Olivia faltered, Ashton leaned over to whisper in his ear. What he said was so shocking that without thinking, Blood turned to stare at Olivia.
“You— Making Colonel Claudia angry scares you?”
“Yeah...” she said. “It really scares me.” She didn’t look like she was joking. Blood, who had never thought he’d hear such a thing, could only gape at her. This was Olivia, who had taken the heads of all those renowned enemy generals, who was spoken of with terror in the empire as the “Death God.” Who would have guessed that she was afraid of her own aide?
“I’m not surprised you don’t know, General Blood, but Colonel Claudia really is terrifying when she’s angry.”
“Then if I’m the one to suggest it, we’ll be away laughing. I am still the commander of the Second Allied Legion, you know. Colonel Claudia can’t argue with a decision from me. Right?”
Olivia nodded, looking unconvinced. Blood took the spyglass from the holster at his belt and held it out to her.
“Here. A little token of thanks.”
“But I’ve already got a spyglass,” she said.
“Come on, just go take a peek outside.”
“Okay...” Olivia got up and went over to look outside. Mere moments later, she let out a yelp of delight, turning back to him with a radiant smile as she bounced up and down. “This is amazing! It can see so much farther than any other spyglass!”
“You like it, then?”
“I love it! Thank you, General Blood!” She pulled a rag from her pocket, then happily set about polishing the spyglass. It was, Blood thought, a small price to pay to win her cooperation.
“Is that one of the new models?” Ashton asked with interest.
“I pulled a few strings,” Blood muttered in his ear. “Got them to lend me a model still in development.”
“So it’s a prototype, then?” Ashton looked at him dubiously. “Is that all right?”
Blood patted him on the shoulder, then stood up. “Not a problem. A small sacrifice for the greater good, as they say. Right, I’m counting on you two.” As Olivia excitedly urged Ashton to look through the spyglass himself, Blood strode from the mess hall.
The next day saw the training ground crowded with people.
“Is something happening?”
“They say Lieutenant General Olivia’s going to do something.”
“Straw dummies, now? Trust the Royal Army to have such innovative training methods.”
The center of the training ground was lined with columns of straw dummies placed at irregular intervals. Claudia stood amid the crowd of curious onlookers, with her fists trembling and a face like thunder. Meeting her eyes, Blood tried to act as though he were oblivious.
Liv and Ashton were right. These serious, straight-and-narrow types like her are bloody terrifying when they’re angry. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s a damn relief I got Lise as my aide. She’s just the right amount of laid-back.
As Blood nodded to himself, Lise, who stood beside him, turned to him with disapproval in her eyes.
“Were you not just thinking something reprehensible about me?” she demanded.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Blood replied, as coolly as he could while privately panicking. Meeting Lise’s silent, expressionless hostility with flawless indifference, Blood called over to Olivia, who was stretching.
“Ready to go, Liv?”
“Ready when you are,” she called back. She wore her ebony armor and cloak emblazoned with the Valedstorm family crest, probably at Ashton’s direction, to remind everyone that she was the Death God.
Blood nodded, then mounted the platform and cleared his throat loudly.
“We will now see a demonstration from Fernest’s greatest sword fighter, Lieutenant General Olivia. Training isn’t all about going through the motions yourself—even just seeing an expert at work is valuable training in and of itself. Think of it as a kind of master class.” Feeling that he’d said the sort of thing he needed to say, Blood gave the signal and said, “Let’s get started.”
Olivia slid the ebony blade from its scabbard. All eyes were fixed on her.
She took one step forward, then slowly crouched down—
“Huh?” Blood blurted out like an idiot before anyone else could speak. Somehow, Olivia was now at the other end of the training ground, waving enthusiastically at them. And that wasn’t the only strange occurrence. The straw dolls were all strewn on the ground, leaking red fluid.
I bet Ashton told them to put something like blood in the dummies. But more importantly, that was unbelievable, what she just did. I did manage to follow her, but only just...
That was the best even Blood had been able to do. Not only the soldiers of the Royal Army, but the guardians of the Winged Crusaders, too, were staring at the fallen dummies. Their faces were impossible to read. Except for Amelia, that is, whose clenched fists were trembling.
“Was that enough?” Olivia called, coming back over with her scarlet-drenched sword in one hand. Understanding seemed to dawn on the guardians, and, as if they’d rehearsed it, they all backed away. More than a few even let out tiny screams as Olivia approached, smiling innocently. The only ones who remained were a group of soldiers who had started off in Olivia’s Independent Cavalry Regiment and knew what she could do. They all stood with their chests thrown out in pride.
Blood thanked Olivia, then returned to the platform to make the most of the moment.
“That concludes the demonstration. Lieutenant General Olivia provided us with an excellent example of her sword work, which I hope will provide you with some mental sustenance to work even harder in your training. Also, I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you this now, but remember that anyone who gets in the lieutenant general’s way will meet the same fate as those dummies. She’s a champion of love—to her, there’s nothing more important than cooperation and harmony—which is to say, she means to make anyone who starts another fight, for any reason, into her own...sustenance.” Blood finished with a ghoulish smile.
As he briskly descended from the platform, he saw Olivia looking puzzled, mouthing, “Co-o-pe-ra-tion? Har-mo-ny? Knight...of love?”
That day saw an abrupt end to the squabbles between the Royal Army and the Winged Crusaders. Olivia’s reputation among the latter had spread like wildfire.
Chapter Six: Twin Lions at Dawn
I
First Allied Legion Command, Kingdom of Fernest
It was the Lachrymose Moon of Tempus Fugit 1000. The First Allied Legion marched forth from Galia Fortress with a force eighty-five thousand strong. With each army’s banners flying proud, they proceeded west for six days until they reached the Kochonn Plains that stretched out to the east of Kier Fortress.
“Give the order for all forces to halt,” said Cornelius, who served as supreme commander for the First Allied Legion. The army ceased its advance on the Kochonn Plains. Another hour’s march northwest would put them a stone’s throw from Kier Fortress itself.
“Well, then. We have made it this far without any notable response from the imperial army. That confirms they are preparing for a siege,” Cornelius said confidently. Beside him, Neinhardt nodded his agreement.
“Everything is going according to plan. The imperials have fallen for it.”
Ten days earlier, royal intelligence agents had come with the report that the Crimson Knights had arrived at Kier Fortress; in other words, their disinformation efforts had borne fruit.
“If the empire loses Kier Fortress,” Cornelius went on, “they lose their foothold in Fernest. That might not have been enough to seize back the advantage before, but now, we have taken the southern and northern lands back. If they have an eye to the mood among their vassal states, they will have no choice but to opt for a siege over a field battle.”
“Still, ideally I would have liked to draw out the Azure Knights too...” Neinhardt said. If the Azure Knights left the imperial capital, it would dramatically raise the Eighth Legion’s chances of success. Capturing Emperor Ramza, the instigator of all of this, could neutralize the entire imperial army.
Cornelius stroked his beard, a wry smile on his lips. “That would be a little too idealistic. We ought to be grateful we drew out even the Crimson Knights. On a different note, are you getting along well with Lady Crystal?”
“I’m not sure, ser,” Neinhardt admitted. “Honestly, I’m never sure what she’s thinking, though for my part, I think it’s going well.”
As coordinator for the First Allied Legion, which included a force of twenty thousand from the Winged Crusaders, Neinhardt had plenty of opportunity for conversing with Lara Mira Crystal. Less than a month had passed since they were first introduced, but from what Neinhardt had seen, she was, without exaggeration, an exceptional warrior.
“She tends to idolize her mistress to the point of obsession, but there’s no doubting her martial integrity.”
Apparently, Cornelius also held Lara in high regard. Her right-hand man, Johann Strider, had also shown himself in training to be a commander of uncommon talent. The guardians, too, maintained a consistently high standard, living up to their reputation.
“Of course, it all comes down to our acting abilities from here on out,” Neinhardt said, looking down to where Lambert was giving a rousing speech in that booming voice of his. Cornelius broke into a grin.
“Acting abilities, indeed. Your area of expertise,” he teased. “I expect good things.”
“Yes, ser!”
A battle was the product of the players working to outmaneuver one another. In a few words, it came down to how long you could go on deceiving your opponent. In this battle, their opponents would be the Crimson and Helios Knights. For deception to be at all possible, they would have to tread with the utmost care.
Can I really pull this off? Neinhardt wondered. Captain Katerina, standing beside him, had assumed a grim expression. With the fate of Fernest riding on the battle that awaited them, she would be nervous.
Neinhardt himself was no exception. He felt a complex jumble of emotions, not quite nerves and not quite exhilaration. Cornelius laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Emotions are wont to run high on the eve of a great battle, but you should let go of some of that tension. Nerves are healthy in correct doses; exceed that, and they are poison. It all comes down to balance.”
Hearing this from the Invincible General allowed Neinhardt to clear his head. At the same time, he felt a little silly to have been seen through so completely. It set him greatly at ease knowing that Cornelius, as always, was keenly perceptive and considerate of the feelings of his subordinates.
“This is changing the subject, but do you think the Second Allied Legion will manage their part?”
“You fear they won’t?”
“If I’m honest, then yes...” Neinhardt admitted. “Their task is greater than ours.”
No one could doubt the leadership abilities of Blood, who served as supreme commander for the Second Allied Legion, and Olivia, his second-in-command, who had crushed the invading Northern Perscillan Army. Neinhardt had never personally spoken to Amelia Stolast, who led their division of the Winged Crusaders, but he had Lara’s assurance that she was a competent leader.
Yet when defeat could mean the end of the kingdom, he couldn’t help but fear the worst.
“General Blood and Lieutenant General Olivia both know what they must do. We must focus our attention on doing our best in the battle in front of us.”
“Of course. I beg your pardon, ser!” Neinhardt replied, saluting. Cornelius nodded.
“We know how the enemy will move,” he said. “I will hold a war council in one hour’s time. Let Paul and Lady Crystal know.”
“Yes, ser! I’ll send a messenger at once.”
As he watched the messenger gallop away toward the Seventh Legion, Neinhardt reached into his pocket to touch the bloodstained rank insignia he kept there.
Give me strength, Florenz, he thought. He looked out on Kier Fortress in the distance, a fierce light burning in his eyes.
Seventh Legion Command, Kingdom of Fernest
Senior General Paul and the other generals were taking a meal break when he noticed a faraway look in Major General Osmund’s eyes. Beside him, Lieutenant General Hermann had also realized his neighbor’s thoughts were elsewhere, and his hand on his knife came to a stop.
“You all right there, Osmund?” he asked.
“It’s just,” Osmund said slowly, “the Seventh Legion feels somehow lonely with Lieutenant General Olivia gone.”
Paul wondered if his ears were deceiving him. It was two years since Olivia had come to enlist in the Royal Army, during which time she had risen with unprecedented rapidity to the rank of Lieutenant General. He might have expected resentment from Osmund; he had certainly never thought to hear him say he felt lonely. Otto must have shared Paul’s feelings, for he now gazed with interest at Osmund.
