Enlightened Empire

Chapter 390: Uncaged Beast

His head empty of thoughts, Loreius Ichilia stared down onto the snow-covered fields around Antila. All he registered was the endless white of the plains. Who knew how long he had stood there, still and sunken into a trance.

“Lord Ichilia! Lord Ichilia!”

It took him a while, but Loreius finally realized that the voice was addressing him.

That’s right. I am the lord now. At the same time as he realized, he also noticed that his face had been scrunched up into a frown, his forehead almost twisting into knots. Before he turned around, he smoothed his expression, to show his usual, calm confidence. He couldn’t afford to show weakness. Least of all now, and least of all towards the man who had addressed him.

“Duke Herak, what are you doing up here?”

The beast’s mountainous figure came towards him. Loreius himself was quite well-endowed, and yet this foreigner was even wider. Yet where Loreius had fat, Herak was pure muscle. Even without armor he looked like a monster. Maybe it was that bronze mask of his, or maybe the full beard he had grown underneath over the past few months that made him look even less civilized.

“You have to come back down, younger Ichilia. The losers have started talking again. I need at least one adult in the room when we negotiate or I will go insane.”

“And what makes Duke believe that they would listen to their junior?”

“And what would be the point of staying here, junior governor? Get down there, do something,” the duke replied in his usual, gruff tone. As always, he refused to speak a word of Yakua, even though Loreius was sure that he knew the language perfectly well. At least, he remembered hearing the duke speak the words of the locals in the past. Luckily, Loreius had learned the words of the foreigners, though he worried that the beast seemed to be reverting backwards. Though these days, it felt like he wasn’t the only one.

A few days back, the lord of Antila finally returned to his home. Lord Sucopia was joined by two fellow lords from his league of lords. Though by that point, it seemed that the league was mostly done for. At least that was what Loreius had grasped from them. It was hard to tell through all the incoherent mumbling. Clearly, they hadn’t done well on their dangerous trek through the midland hills. Either way, the new lord of House Ichilia had no interest in wasting any more time on them. He really didn’t have the patience for it, not when he had his own worries.

“Does this view not feel grand?” Loreius thus said, rather than answer the question. At the same time, he turned back towards the view of the empty, white fields beyond Antila’s massive walls. “Up here, one can feel invincible, in complete control of fate.”

“And you do not control your fate elsewhere, lord?”

The stinging comment made his heart sour, but Loreius wouldn’t show it on his face. Still, the reminder hurt his pride. In the past, he had thought that he was in charge of not only his own fate, but the fate of everyone. Throughout his life, he had managed to calculate others and make them play in accordance with his plans. This way, he could get others to do exactly what he wanted, even if they hated him or his family. That had been his pride.

Over the past few years, he had put together his greatest trap yet, a plan that was meant to spell doom for the southern kingdom which had made so much trouble for Huaylas over the years. At the same time, the completed plan would lead to House Ichilia’s total dominance over first the central kingdom, and then later the entire Medala Empire.

Yet three days ago, it all came crashing down when a runner from Huaylas had finally reached him. The runner had taken more than ten days to make his way through the two northern kingdoms, through eastern Medala and then via sea route all the way to Port Ulta. Only then did Loreius learn of their failed invasion of the southern kingdom, and of his father’s death. In an instant, his carefully laid plans had been destroyed, and it wasn’t the only unfortunate news they had received that day.

“Who is truly in charge of their own fate?” he finally replied after he had calmed his stormy mood again. “First father died in combat, and on the same day Sucopia and his two idiot friends showed up in Antila and told us of their crushing defeat. Ever since three days ago, it has been one disadvantageous message after another. We are outmaneuvered and outnumbered, with low morale and no advantages to our name. Who would dare still claim that fate is on our side, now that the enemy is in possession of a true miracle?”

Loreius sighed and looked up at the darkening sky. Even the heavens seemed to support the little king of the south. Whether he truly had the support of the Divines or whether he was just taking advantage of coincidences and rumors, the effect was undoubtedly powerful. The king’s men were strengthened, and his own were weakened. It would also impede what Loreius was best at: Any allies would be less willing to work with him against the miracle from up above. However, it appeared the monster was not intimidated by those up high.

“Exaggerations of a defeatist,” he said, a sneer on his face. “There is much good that has come from the last days.”

Loreius looked over to the creature in confusion.

“And what good, pray tell, has come to us these days?” he asked.

“For one, we managed to add another ten thousand knights to our numbers.”

That was indeed an advantage. At first, the league of lords had been a powerful force in their own right, largely independent from his influence. Now however, they were all unified under the united command of all anti-Saniya allies. Since the leftovers of the league were barely able to function anymore, that meant Loreius and Herak held most of the power.

“Though you overestimate their impact,” the young lord refuted anyways. According to Sucopia and Curichi, they had left Kapra for the east with 14,000 warriors. On their way here, they had to travel through snow-covered, empty nothing. They had been lacking supplies, and had received constant harassment from small scouting teams of the southern kingdom, who had followed them all the way east. As a result, they had lost four thousand men on their way here. Some had died, but most of them had simply left the camp in the middle of the night. Whatever was left was low on morale and physically weak from the arduous trek. They wouldn’t be helpful for a long time, and even with them, Loreius felt that they couldn’t hope to defeat the invincible southern army in an open field battle. Yet once again, the beast would not relent.

“Maybe they cannot win a fight, though that remains to be seen. But if nothing else, they can force that little merchant king here. Force him to show his cowardly face for once.”

A laugh escaped the beast that made Loreius’ skin crawl. Uncomfortable from his companion’s strange manner, he looked away, back out into the endless white.

“And that little merchant king keeps winning,” Herak continued. “Now he is even a god or whatever you people call it here.That means he is getting arrogant, even more arrogant than before. The perfect chance for him to make a mistake. A single slip-up is more than enough. Give me a glimpse of him, and I will take him out personally.”

As he spoke. Herak pulled his massive war bow from his back. The weapon was already stringed as well, for whatever reason. In fact, he had never seen the weapon without a string since the start of the war. Maybe the beast was simply always ready to pounce.

At first, Loreius was apprehensive about Herak’s intentions, so he took a step back. Though he couldn’t feel any malice from the creature, so he simply watched as the duke drew an arrow, aimed his bow towards the fields below and loosed it into the air. The arrow sailed into the sky and soon disappeared into the distance.

“You truly believe the king will come to attack us? He has never launched an attack on a city so far. Every time he fights, he maneuvers his enemies into an impossible spot and gains decisive victory on the open field or in a defensive battle.” As Loreius spoke, he watched Herak continue to fire arrows into the snow, seemingly without sense.

“That is the best news of all. We have what that king wants. He needs to come over and get it, and he wants to come over and get it. I guarantee that he will show up with his army within a few days at the latest. That is why I came to this backwater after all.”

“What does that king want then, other than our lives?” Again, Loreius was confused by the strange thoughts of the beast. Were all foreigners like this, or was this one a particularly unusual specimen?

“We control the people he needs,” the beast explained, still calmly firing arrows into the evening air. “Epunamo Villca has been a guest in Port Ulta for years now. He is still the legitimate heir of Cashan. That king’s allies who have stolen the land will pressure him. They want to put an end to the threat to their rule once and for all, so he will be forced to attack. And now, we even have the little king’s uncle.”

“Lord Ogulno,” Loreius finished the thought. More and more, he understood where the beast’s confidence was coming from. Maybe he wasn’t completely mad yet.

“I hear he has been trying to kill that man for a while.” The beast grinned a vicious grin. “That kid has always been angry, vengeful, and persistent. He will never let that uncle of his go, even if he crosses ten more mountain ranges to reach him. If that is still not enough, we hold this entire damned town hostage. He always cares about ‘his’ people, does he not?No matter what, I will make sure that he comes here. And he will come here soon.”

“And you say we can beat him once he is here?” Although the young lord was now convinced that they could lure King Corcopaca here, that would only get them a desperate fight against a superior army.

“What do you think I have been doing here, little lord? I am not up here to provide you company. and I do not fire these arrows for enjoyment.”

Herak shot another arrow into nothing, before he spoke up again.

“There you go, that should be as far as my arrows will go from here. Go tell your people to look for them out there, and rough up the earth from the walls to there. Make it look like a muddy field that an army has run through. Give them hills and valleys to run through as they approach the walls. Slow them down, make it as ugly as possible. That way, they will be easier targets for me.”

“And that will be enough to deal with them?”

“You really have a lot of questions, huh?” The beast turned, and finally looked at Loreius. His dark eyes, hidden deep inside his mask, looked like those of a wild animal, flickering and restless.

“Just…” Loreius paused for a while and breathed deeply, to make sure his voice wouldn’t tremble. “many have been saying the same in the past, yet King Corcopaca keeps winning his wars.”

“What do you mean, he keeps winning?” Herak growled.“I’ve only fought the brat twice, and he lost each time. First time he hid behind his walls, second time he ran away like a coward before his troops could break. Would have broken them like a twig if it hadn’t been for his cowardice.”

“Is that true?”

Loreius took a closer look at Herak, and realized something strange. The duke was much more talkative than he had been in the past few years. It felt like something had changed about the man. Somehow, he seemed even more dangerous than in the past.

“With the new arrivals, we have no fewer men than him,” Herak said. “They have some good muskets, but so do we. They have cannons, so do we. We are in no regard inferior to them. We could take them in open combat if you people weren’t so terrified of some lightning dropping somewhere. But now, we are even behind walls, in a strong, well-defended position. That king’s arrogance will lead him to keep attacking, keep bashing his head against our wall. And then, once he’s tired out, we’ll counterattack and destroy him. The merchant king’s luck ends here.”

“Still… would it not be better to do this in Port Ulta? Defend there, with the cannon ships behind us? With their support, defending would be easy.”

“And lose all control over the mountain pass? What are you, a coward? Again, you people keep asking to run away.” Herak shook his head, then raised his voice. “You need to face your fears, boy. Your father is dead already. Your army has been destroyed. Your back is against the wall, so act like it. This is it, the great chance for a comeback. If we beat them in Port Ulta, nothing changes, and the war goes on. But if we can beat them here, when their little king is with them, we can end it all. If we defeat these barbarians and kill the merchant king, you get to keep your lands, and I get to go home. So show some spine, and fight for your life.”

Finally, Loreius realized what was different about the foreigner. All these years, he had seemed like one of the tigers in his father’s private collection, a trapped beast running around in a cage, with no purpose. Now, he looked like he had finally left the cage, a beast on its hunt for prey, with a deadly calm imbued in his every action. Finally, Loreius stopped fretting about his perfect plans that were no longer possible, and about the past. He was ready to face their troubles, and the future. if he couldn’t control fate, then he would bend it to his will, even if it broke.

“Now come with me, and help me reign in the three idiots,” Herak continued. “There is much work left to do if we want to give the merchant an unforgettable greeting.”

Without another word, the freed tiger turned and stepped down the walls. Before he followed the duke, Loreius stared out into white nothing one more time, and imagined a great battle that would soon decide his fate.