“Sir, I cannot speak for the other two armies. The worms we bred to attack the town had been killed by a force of unknown Worshipers. The dragon meant to back us up never appeared and three other armies met us on the battlefield. Lieutenant General Clovis failed to reinforce us because the Coalition defeated his army.”
He already had a report on what happened with the incompetent Clovis. He had the battle in the palm of his hand, then instead of securing his victory, he let his soldiers loot the undefeated city. He would not miss that fool, who only had his position due to old family connections.
“If everyone had to rely on Clovis to win battles, we would accomplish nothing. Still, you had many other advantages. I had bandits operating in both the Alis and Alea regions, some led by Coalition traitors.”
“Sir, I am aware but—”
“Also,” he raised his voice above the man. “I had planted many dragons knowing it would be a prime breeding ground. The enemy army would have to go through them too.”
Bannan had nothing to say. Kent had not ordered the lieutenant here just to yell at him. The situation was just too much. Zombies devoured one army, another defeated due to stupidity. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
“Bannan, are you able to regroup?”
“No, sir.”
“What?”
“Something is going on with our goblin allies—”
“The ones you used to cover your retreat.”
Bannan winced at the rebuke. “Yes sir, those goblins. They have been rebelling. A goblin has been attacking their leaders and forming a power base. His name his Vix and his goal is to break off all alliances with humans and other monsters. All attempts to negotiate have failed.”
“They probably grew tired of being used as fodder.”
Realizing the conversation was not going his way and figuring that this was just an excuse to pin the blame on him, Bannan changed pace. “Sir, give me another chance! I have a plan.”
“Do you now?” For the first time since the conversation started, Kent grew interested.
“Much rivalry exists in the Coalition forces…like ours. Many of them believe they should not be lending aid to those who do not submit to their gods first or at least become a client state. We can use that.” Kent signaled for him to continue. “Now that the country has an army of its own and a militia force, we can set all of them against each other.”
“Turning it into a quagmire. If we can’t win nobody else will either.” Did he really want to dump more resources into that country? Yes, he had to save face. “You have my blessing. Take what you need. Do not fail me again.”
“Yes sir, thank you, sir, I won’t sir.”
Bannan left him to scheme. Now all he had to do is convince his superiors not to replace him.
Leyla Lewitz enjoyed victory when earned. She and her legion had won two great battles at Grayhaven and Ridgehill, at least that’s how the higher-ups spun it. They got lucky, that’s what really happened. An unknown force had attacked the Inimi encampment giving them enough time to regroup the Dwarves and counter-attack. It was the same with the Ridgehill battle, two whole armies showed up to lend aid. Others had won her battles, and she received credit for it.
Command had recalled her from the war to have honors and accolades heaped upon her. That is why she stood in the richly decorated hall of the great church. She kept her armor on instead of the required ceremonial garb, keeping it dirty where usually it would be sparkling. Leyla was sending a message, the war wasn’t over, and none should pretend that it was.
The high priest gave her a disapproving frown. “Commander Leyla against all odds crushed three armies of the evil Inimi! For her service, she receives this medal.” He attached the medal on her breastplate. She didn’t recognize it; a smith must have created it just for the occasion.
The audience of politicians, merchants, priests, soldiers, and even commoners clapped and cheered for a victory that wasn’t hers.
Later in her room, she drank devil’s water by herself. The electric candy drink was the best thing Alta had to offer. One of her knights, Vera, entered the room. “You skipped the after party.” She placed herself beside her.
“Knock before entering.”
“I did, you did not answer.”
“Then you should not have come in,” she did not mean to be rude but she wanted to be alone.
Vera traced her hand along her arms but Leyla pushed her away. “What is bothering you?”
“Nothing.”
“Is it me or us?” Vera’s lower lip trembled.
Damn, Vera didn’t deserve this it was not what she meant at all. “Nothing has changed between us; it is the state of the war that troubles me.”
Vera stared at her a moment, making sure she was being truthful about their relationship. “We won a great victory, the war is going well.”
“No, it is not, we are losing and not because our forces are lacking. While we have great military capability, too much of the army is lacking in character.”
Vera shifted on the couch. This was a topic she would rather not talk about. “Leyla, you should not talk about this.”
“It is because nobody talks of this that the problem persists. Two traitors were among our legion. The crimes they committed were unspeakable, yet we need to speak them.”
“The traitors are dead.”
“Not by our hands. If others take justice upon our soldiers into their own hands, we could have a rebellion.” They had no clue who killed the fire mage Asha, or the bandit Knight Gorin. They were not people a random Worshiper could defeat.
“I don’t want to bring your mood down any more but we do have a rebellion in the far west.”
“I knew it! This is because we tried to force our faith on them.”
“We provide protection, they should provide worship as thanks.”
Leyla cared for Vera but on this, they will never see eye to eye. Conversion at the point of the sword never works for long. Even the Inimi realized this, they were fine with having the people submit.
“I don’t like these rewards, but I will use my new gained influence to do this occupation right. This country will see the benefits of being in the coalition.” Alta’s new king would make a great ally or cause problems.
“Maybe don’t call it an occupation?” Vera helpfully added.
Leyla ignored Vera’s last comment.
Vera had not stopped trailing her fingers along her body. It had got her in the mood again. Grabbing the girl for a deep kiss, she began removing their clothes.
Next time victory would be hers; she would show everyone there was a better way to lead: her way.
***
Agents of the cult typically didn’t waste resources on small countries. However, accurate intelligence required they have at least one agent on the ground so Sheena got stuck with this dead-end post. However, things had changed recently in big ways.
First and most importantly, the Necromancer Yazid died in house arrest. The organization still had use for him and her superiors would not be pleased. Yet keeping him alive was not her responsibility, watching him was. They had only recently informed her of his existence, everyone else in the world thought he had already died.
Second, the god of Corpsewood had also died. Gods faded away and died more than most people knew, but this death was strange, this death was through assassination. Someone murdered a god, the result being the fairies also stopped disguising themselves as elves, renewing their relationship with the dwarves.