The Union

As he rolled his eyes he discovered that the others were suffering too. It wasn"t just him. It must have something to do with their dinner.

This is bad. Tomorrow would be the battle against the evil King of Castonia and Queen of Vanadis. He and his comrades had volunteered to defend Mythrille. But he cannot fight with the state he was in. He cannot even move his mouth.

The tent flapped. Cold wind from outside kissed his skin. Two Falconheads then entered. Good , he thought. At least they could still move. Her Highness Sarah could still defend Eastern Canton.

But what happened next was horrifying. The two Falconheads unsheathed their swords and stabbed his mates. It wasn"t just a normal murder. It was something gruesome. They should be allies. The Falconheads should be their friends. And yet his comrades were being murdered by them.

He was the last one who remained. All his comrades were b.l.o.o.d.y and minced on their beds. When the Falconhead finally went to him, he saw the Falconhead"s glee from its eyes. The last thing he saw was the glint of blade.

**********

Timothy was wrong, very wrong.

It was dawn when Abraham woke them up. He and Lucia were still tied in a pa.s.sionate embrace. Donning their clothes, they went to the site. Guards and scouts already stood around the enemy camp.

He almost vomited, bile rising to his throat. They were butchered, no, mauled was a better word. He prided in being familiar with the sight of death but the things scattered around were just too much.

"Dead, all of them sire" A scout reported, a chill was on his voice "About twenty thousand dead in one night. No signs of survivors"

Timothy covered his nose. Early flies had already feasted the corpses. He held Lucia"s hand. If he was terrified, so was she. This is not a thing a human would do.

"And Falconheads?" Lucia asked with grimace.

"Gone" The scout said "All of them gone. Not a sign"

Marvin trotted towards them "What do you think happened Tim?"

"It"s obvious what happened General. Sarah killed them. She killed them all with those Falconheads"

"Wh Sire, that is impossible. Two thousand Falconheads couldn"t have done this"

"Poison" Lucia said "See those unwashed bowls and unkempt tents? Sarah fed them poisoned food. Late Goodbye if I should guess. It makes a person weak and bedridden. It is one of the poisons I still don"t have an antidote of. After the poison had settled, the Falconheads went from tent to tent to put them to the sword"

"And why would she do that? Why in the Omniscient"s grace would she slaughter her own men!?"

Lucia gave Timothy a meaningful look before answering the General. "Not her men. Look at them. Those are Inkish, Hadean and Cantonese. There are Wismarine levies included in the pile of corpses but let"s be honest, she doesn"t view levies as her men or even as humans for that matter. As to why, she wants to blame this monstrous act to us"

"The Queen"s words are the truth General" Timothy said immediately.

"Why?" General Marvin lowered his head "She...She would lose"

"She would" Lucia was the one who adjuncted first "Because she"s trying to lose anyway"

"Please explain Your Majesty" Marvin bit his lips "She"s not trying to win?"

Lucia turned to Marvin. "She wants to win General. But right now she wants to lose because losing would give her a weapon for the future engagements"

"How?"

"Wismar is a large nation. Their population is a few times larger than that of Cantonia and Vanadis combined. Their resources are many. Their armies are large and powerful. They have war elephants and Falconheads. And yet during the Castonian civil war, they were only able to send twenty thousand. Now they are sending fewer to stop us. Why do you think that is?"

"Levan" Marvin nodded slowly.

"Yes, the two Kingdoms are not at war but there have been aggression. Most of Wismar"s forces are tied up north, guarding their border with Levan. Sarah couldn"t have won against us no matter what she did. Our victory had been certain all along. It was written in the stars. That is all because Wismar doesn"t take us seriously. Sarah knew this. Sarah knew that even if, say, the Rooster was defeated, there were other legions willing to serve the Union. Vanadis and Castonia are committed to this. Wismar is not. Defeat was certain for Sarah so she"s accepting it. But not without advantages General. She wants to squeeze every bit of this situation into her advantage"

"Advantages like what?" Marvin"s tone was shaky.

"First, information. She is trying to gauge us. The battle of Crimson Pa.s.s showed our way of fighting to her. Now she knows about Abraham and Bear, the h.e.l.lfire bombs and our newly trained cavalry. Sending us the name of her spies was a way to gauge our espionage and counter espionage capabilities. The a.s.sa.s.sin though was just for fun. She did that just to mock the royal guards"

"Second was support..." Timothy added as he looked at Lucia "Right? She wants to show her father that the war with the Union was a serious one. By losing badly, she could show them that the Union could indeed threaten Wismar. She wants Wismar to finally commit into this war. When that happens, we will have a hard time. This slaughter was also for support. She wants us to be seen as monsters. No, not just monsters but competent monsters. Competency and infamy should go together in order to breed alarm. She wants to make it look like we killed twenty thousand men in one night without giving them the right to surrender. She also dethroned King Harold for support. She knew that Eastern Canton was a lost cause. But she wasn"t willing to give it to us without rousing the populace into her side. We would get both Mythrille and Cloudcliff but the whole region would still side with the Wismarines. The only thing worse than losing a territory is gaining an insurgent one. King Harold"s rule would be shaky" Timothy turned to Ash "That"s why King Harold would live. He is weak. Sarah wants a weak King on the throne of Canton so when she comes back it would be an easy waddle into the capital. And now we are stuck with King Harold. We are stuck with a weak ally. We can"t replace him without looking complete hypocrites"

"So when she comes back..." Marvin said hushed "She will have the entire Wismar behind, a pro Wismarine region of Canton, a weak King to fight and the information about us"

"That is right. And we can"t push to Wismar without dealing with Hadea and Inkit first. So she will have time to a.s.semble the Wismarines while we pacify Hadea and Inkit"

"d.a.m.n" Was all General Marvin could say as the old General rubbed his beard. "When did you realize this?"

"When she sent us the names of her spies"

"And yet you still willingly fell into her plan"

"Strange thing General..." Timothy gripped the reins and angled opposite to the corpses "This move benefits both sides. It shattered the status quo. The situation was heading to an ugly stalemate. And you know why we don"t want a stalemate"

"The cull?"

"Yes, the cull. If Shadow is right then it"s going to happen this year. Everything should have been settled by then. Petty wars like this should stop. We don"t have time. And so we don"t have a choice but to accept this. Our enemies grew in numbers, Eastern Canton is against us, the giant that is Wismar is finally flexing its strength, and we have a weak ally- but at least the war keeps going. In short, we just won a battle but inched closer to defeat in this war"

Marvin didn"t utter a word after that. A nod and a salute and he was gone for the cleanup of the mess. Lucia and him were separated too as they both manned different sides of the large camp.

The bodies were buried, carefully as there could be traps hidden. And there were. Poisoned needles were scattered and even vipers were hidden. There was even a live rooster with talons dipped in poison- probably to mock the Rooster legion. It was a hard task, grueling. It took the whole day to finish.

When the sun had set and the sky welcomed the night, the Castonians were silent. They had won. The enemies were all dead. But the way they won was strange, eerie even.

Timothy sat on the gra.s.s. It had been a disgusting day. The only consolation was that Lucia would come soon.

But when she finally arrived, Lucia hurried to his side and whispered to his ear.

"They released him. We should go in secret" Lucia eyed Ash "And bring her with us"

They didn"t waste time and went to an obscure location about a league away. The scouts roamed around. The royal guards were vigilant.

Below an oak tree stood a Falconhead. This was the first time Timothy saw a falconhead in person. Its helm was quite...unique. Behind the Falconhead was a person with a burlap on his head.

"This is King Harold I suppose?"

Ash became restless on her horse but the Falconhead didn"t talk. It just stared with its empty eyes from behind its helm.

"Oh right. Oath of silence. Well go on. Release him"

The Falconhead then took the burlap off. Ash dismounted her horse and approached the King warily. She knelt and embraced the Harold.

The Falconhead then stepped forward. The royal guards pointed their spears. Abraham held the reins of Bear tight and prepared his axe. The Falconhead halted and presented a letter.

"Take it" Timothy ordered on of the royal guards. He had enough of Ash"s poisons. The guard inched forward and took the letter. Fortunately, there wasn"t a viper hidden in it. When it reached Timothy"s hand, he closed his distance with Lucia. Unrolling the letter, the words written by their enemy were presented.

"It was fun"

The next time Timothy lifted his head, the Falconhead was dead- with its own blade on its stomach.