Chapter 8 Part 1 of 2 (Patreon)

The tent was a simple affair, four sticks with a piece of cloth draped over them and secured to the ground with ropes. Inside, the main table was covered in a map weighed down in rocks.

Several officers were standing back from the table, in their armor, sporting the new Vermire crest; a black mountain with a golden-colored wagon wheel impressed atop it.

“Are you sure?” Lieutenant General Pan Kun asked, looking to the previous Lord Aras. He wore a simple padded jacket for warmth and defense. He had a simple sword on his hip, his gaudy clothes and rings had been taken by the newly formed Vermire Empire.

“My Cousin, while he might be many things... he is loyal to me before the Rodenheim kingdom. He will comply,” Aras said.

“Good, I do not want to spend more lives here. If I do then, I will simply use spell scrolls upon the city.” Pan Kun turned his head to the side.

“How are the preparations, Colonel Quan?” The middle-aged man braced himself. He shared similar features to Consortium Leader Quan, who had once been leader of Quan’s old mercenary group. His mercenary band had been one of the first groups to join the Beast Mountain Range Army.

“Our forces are ready and waiting. We are set to move in twenty minutes.”

The tent flap opened as a messenger opened it.

“Message from Brigadier General Lukas!”

Pan Kun waved the woman over and received the letter.

“Ah, good, he has taken Zahir City without casualties. He is reinforcing it and creating interlinking towers,” Pan Kun passed the message to Colonel Quan who accepted it with both hands and read it.

“Lord Aras, I hope you are correct. You and your people will be at the front of our column. Let’s get mounted up.”

He left the tent with the other officers, Aras stuck to Pan Kun like glue. Outside the command tent, the army was formed into squares of melee fighters, mages and ranged. Each wore different weapons and gear to denote their position while their gear was uniform in each unit.

Damn impressive sight.

His guards had his mount prepared for him. He swung up onto the mount as Aras waited.

“Head to the front of the line, you will do all in your power to turn the City of Shida.”

“Yes, Lieutenant General.” The man bowed his head and walked off towards the group of men and women that were out front of the army. They wore simple clothes and walked on foot like the army. Pan Kun surveyed the army and looked behind him. The road had been expanded to nearly four times the size for the army to pass.

Trees lay felled on the side of the road. Construction workers were cutting them up and putting them on carts that headed to the rear, or tearing out the stumps from the ground.

We must have the best crafters in the First Realm for road building, after all of the things they had to do to cut through the Beast Mountain Range.

Colonel Quan rode up on his beast.

“Sir, we are ready,” Quan reported.

Pan Kun turned and looked out at the fields that surrounded Shida.

“They don’t have much in the way of farms; really, it’s just a trading city. Pretty big though.” The city was a third the size of the remodeled King’s Hill City.

It sat directly on the road that led to the Beast Mountain Range. It was round in design, with one third of the city on the left side of the road, and two thirds on the right. The nobles’ taller homes and places of business were on the right, far away from the road and the Beast Mountain Range.

Sandstone walls made the city feel warm even as the wind threatened coming snow.

“Let’s begin.” Pan Kun said.

Colonel Quan turned to the signaller who raised a horn to his lips and blew on it.

The noise spread across the army and towards Shida.

The group of Shida residents, led by Aras, moved first, going up front as they walked towards the gates of their home.

Melee fighters, archers and mages followed in their blocks. The sound of their marching filled the air as their feet struck the cold hard ground.

Pan Kun clicked his tongue, calling his mount into movement.

“Barriers?” Pan Kun asked.

“They have none and ours are active.”

The army marched across the open ground under the watchful eyes of the city guards.

They moved in close to the gates which remained closed.

“Bring the army to a halt,” Quan said to the signaller.

The horn sounded again and the Army snapped their feet together as one as the cold wind ran over their still, armored forms.

Aras and his group yelled up at the gate, talking to people at the top.

Pan Kun used ‘Eagle Sight’ spell to watch the exchange. A man yelled at Aras from the gate and Aras shouted back to him. Finally, the man on the wall grit his teeth, turning and yelling to people around him. They disappeared from the wall and the gates of the city slowly opened all the way.

The man that had been on the wall walked out of the gate with a group of twenty or so people.

A signaller waved his flag.

“Well, let’s go see what they have to say.” Pan Kun canted forward with Colonel Quan and their guards.

They rode between the different units to the front where the Shida groups were waiting.

“None of your attitude, cousin. They could easily take the city if they want to,” Aras berated the other man. Even bound under contract he hadn’t lost his fire.

“I got it, I got it.” The other man sighed.

People moved apart for the riders. Pan Kun’s guards moved out, tense and ready to act at a moment’s notice.

“Lieutenant General Pan Kun, if you allow my family to survive and do not take our belongings then the city Shida”—the man’s jaw worked—“Surrenders to yourself and the Vermire Empire on the Ten Realms.”

The formations on the walls of Shida faded.

The City formation must have failed, now that they are no longer allied to their old kingdom.

“I accept your surrender.”

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You have taken control of the City Shida for the Vermire Empire.

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