DF226 - When Doves Cry (Patreon)

Numbers made all the difference. Kirido had always boasted walls that were higher and stronger than the importance and size of the town had warranted.  The previous barons—Suliel’s ancestors—had often cast a wary eye on the dungeon just outside. Lucrative as it was, the possibility of a dungeon break could never be ignored. Even if the threat had never materialised.

The Elitran raiders had overcome the old wall. They had leapt to the top to engage the defenders, only breaking an opening so they could carry captives back through. Suliel had rebuilt the walls higher and stronger, but it was still the men and women who stood atop them that protected the town.

But after the raid, Kirido just didn’t have enough soldiers. Suliel had done what she could, bringing in young fighters from the outlying villages, but it hadn’t been nearly enough.

Until now. Now, soldiers lined the walls. They could have been cheek by jowl if his commanders had been idiots and hadn’t arranged for shifts and rotation. Though, “his commanders” might be a little presumptuous. Anton was outranked in his own town. There were counts commanding on the walls, and Anton found himself conferring with his own duke as an equal. Not to mention his Queen and her advisors. They were all on the roof with him right now.

The roof of his keep had the best view of the entirety of the battlefield, so that was where the discussion of the coming battle was taking place.

“Stirred up like a hornet’s nest,” Duke Ariman said with satisfaction. He was talking about the mess around what had been the tunnel entrance.

It had taken the Tiatians a little while to realise that Kirido was being reinforced, not relieved. They’d sent a detachment to drive the remnants of the Queen’s force off—and chase the Queen down the tunnel. But the Queen’s forces had managed an orderly retreat—and Kelsey had dealt with the persuers.

Anton had always been told that dungeons couldn’t make changes to floors that had people on them, but Kelsey had found a way. The tunnel entrance was more than a mile away, but they had felt the deep crump of Kelsey’s explosives right before the tunnel collapsed.

The deaths had pushed Kelsey past a milestone, which was probably why she was looking so smug. She hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but Anton was one of the few who could tell.

“Kelsey”, Level 31, Necro-Industrial Complex, S: 24 T: 21 A: 23 D: 20 P: 26 W: 27 C: 22

“Thanks,” she replied to the duke. “Always nice to be appreciated.”

“I notice that the troops are keeping a greater distance than would be normal in a siege,” the Queen put in.

Anton nodded. “That’s mostly due to the range of the rifles—they’ve learned that the hard way,” he explained. “The cannon has a longer range, and we’ve given them some scares, but it isn’t well-positioned to shoot forces on land.”

Queen Syrelle turned around, looking down into the harbour. The tower had a commanding view of the sea, but the harbour was lower than the surrounding hills. It was a bit like putting a ladder in a hole—it got you right back where you started.

“I take it that the cannon’s primary purpose is defending from naval attacks,” she said. “It’s hard to believe that just one weapon can hold off a fleet of that size.”

“I think it was the surprise, more than anything else, that did it, your Highness,” Kelsey said. Anton imagined that Sulilel, still commanding down on the tower, was giving Kelsey an earful about respect for the Queen. “When the captains saw their buddy’s boats going down with one shot, they lost their nerve. And it wasn’t just the cannon. We had the Whiskerwind out there as well.”

“Advanced weapons,” the Queen mused, “the next step of the escalation.” She glanced at Kelsey, who grinned back at her.

“Kelsey came up with the balloon to fix the cannon’s sighting issues on land,” Anton continued. He gestured up at the floating platform. “They were the ones who spotted you coming in.”

“Gotta couple of kids up there,” Kelsey explained. “I reckon they’ll be getting really interesting Classes when the time comes.”

“It seems the best course of action is to get another one of these cannon on the wall and see the invaders off for good,” Duke Ariman said.

“We had an issue with getting enough crew,” Anton said. “Mind you, those soldiers must have gained a Tier’s worth of levels by now. We could split them up and train another crew or two.”

“We could provide troops for such a purpose,” Duke Ariman declared.

“I’m not sure,” Kelsey drawled, “That I want my advanced weaponry falling in the hands of people who are essentially strangers.”

The duke bristled at the insinuation. “We are allies! And Kirido is a vassal of Queen Syrene, before you!”

“Well, that’s all politics,” Kelsey said, waving a hand dismissively. “The common folk of Kirido and I go way back. We have a history.”

A history of trying to kill each other, Anton thought. He was gathering himself to intervene before the duke lost his temper, but Queen Syrelle got there first.

“Calm yourself, Lord Ariman. We are guests in this domain. Guests who have brought considerable baggage.”

She pointed to the north, where another army was cresting the furthest hill.

“Our rear guard has been dispersed, and we now face a force twice the size of what either of us has contended with.”

Kelsey glared up at the balloon. “I’m gonna have a few words with those sleeping teenagers. They should have reported this already!”

She stalked off, headed downstairs. Queen Syrelle watched her go. Once she was out of sight, the Queen turned to the duke.

“I think it’s for the best that the advanced weaponry stays as closely held as possible.”

“Surely you don’t mean to include us in that, your Majesty?”

“The D—Kelsey made it clear that her people will retain the best weaponry. I think she intends it as a way to ensure her safety. If we have rifles, she has…”

“Cannon and machine-guns,” Anton supplied.

“If we have cannon and machine-guns, then what will she need? What comes after those?” She looked at Anton again.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Bigger guns?”

“I fear the future she described,” the Queen confessed. “She claimed it was inevitable and… I don’t intend to sacrifice my life to stop it. I need time… and advice.”

“So we need to survive this siege,” Duke Ariman said grimly.

“We do. I suspect that if we turn out to need the advanced weaponry to survive, her objections will fall away. She doesn’t want to move faster than she needs to, and I… I want her to move as slowly as possible.”

“She cares about goals, though, not people,” Anton put in. “From what I’ve seen, her quarrel is with the gods, not our nation, but if she needs to sacrifice us to achieve her goals… she won’t hesitate.”

“That’s not unusual, in the politics of nations,” Syrelle told him. “It might make more sense to think of her as a nation that we are currently allied with.”

“Better to think of her as a wild beast that we have hitched our cart to,” Duke Ariman grumbled. “It is only a matter of time before she turns on us.”

“Thinking like that only guarantees that she will turn against us,” Syrelle said. “If we cannot trust her nature, we must have faith in our shared interests. And if that fails, we have a hero we can rely on.”

Anton didn’t know what to say to that. They watched the two armies approach each other. They didn’t merge, but they exchanged messengers. As the King’s army settled in to make camp, a large party rode across to the Elitran command fort.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” the Queen said, “Do you think that structure is part of normal Elitran doctrine?”

“It’s an adaptation to the cannon,” Anton explained. “Their first command post was there—” he pointed to a pockmarked hillside, much closer to the walls, “—and we forced them to break off their first attack by bombarding it. The new one is out of range, but they must have realised that we could put the cannon on the eastern wall. So they raised defences.”

“Can you believe it?” Kelsey exclaimed as she returned. “The little scamps were making out!”

The queen glanced at Kelsey as she approached, but decided not to engage with whatever she was saying, turning back to Anton.

“They raised them? They have that many stoneworkers?”

“We think it was wizards, your Majesty,” Anton explained.

“It’s cheating, if you ask me,” Kelsey complained. “Getting fortifications up that fast.”

“It’s nothing you couldn’t do,” Anton said.

“And when those wizicles start raising fortifications in their stomachs, I’ll stop complaining!” Kelsey lied. Anton knew she wasn’t ever going to stop complaining. “They’re building them out here! In the open air, where any mana I try to use just poofs into nothingness!”

“We all have different areas of expertise,” Syrelle said diplomatically. “Many are envious of the abilities of wizards.”

“Hmph,” Kelsey grumbled, but she allowed herself to be distracted by the arrival of Princess Elara.

“Your Majesty,” Elara said with a half-aborted curtsey.

“Elara,” Queen Syrelle said warmly, pulling the younger woman into an embrace. “I think we can forego the formalities during a siege.”

“They told me there wouldn’t be an attack today?” Elara asked.

“Probably not,” Anton answered. “They’ll need time to merge commands and plan their new battle plan. We just saw the King’s command group ride over to the fort.”

Elara looked longingly across the field. “Do you think my brother is still in command?”

“Sorry, they were too far away,” Anton said. “We got out of the habit of using the… binoculars—” He stumbled over the unfamiliar word “—to identify leaders. We should get someone with Nobility’s Privilege on that—”

“I wouldn’t bother,” Kelsey said, looking eagerly at the fortress. “They’re all in there, are they? Who do you think is going to end up in charge?”

“If Father has truly given away the kingdom, then he is only a governor now,” Elara said sadly. “A prince of the Empire outranks the son of a governor.”

“We haven’t seen Prince Jiro in the field,” Anton told her. “We think he’s still on the fleet.”

“It might take even longer to arrange matters if messages have to be sent back to Jiro for approval,” Elara mused. “But it will still be his decision. If Driecht is placed in charge, it will either be because Jiro is impressed by his tactical acumen… or he needs to placate him.”

“I see my brother didn’t neglect your education,” Syrelle said.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Kelsey said. “The point is, they’re all in there, aren’t they? It’s not going to get better than right now.”

“Better for what?” Anton asked.

“For this,” Kelsey said simply. She raised one fist in the air and brought it down sharply.

She had timed her gesture to match the sudden cracking sound exactly. A moment before, Anton’s attention had been grabbed by the sudden trembling of the walls of the fortress. Geysers of dust or smoke shot up into the air as the cracking and rumbling sound washed over them.

“What…” Syrell gasped.

Kelsey laughed excitedly. “Well, what did you expect?” she crowed. Anton wasn’t sure if she was talking to them or the doomed fortress. “They had that thing in the same place for two days! Ain’t no thing to get a tunnel underneath!”

“Driecht!” Elara shrieked as the entire fortress tumbled inward, revealing a giant, jagged hole. Soldiers were jumping clear at the last moment, some of them carrying less physically gifted companions.

“Give me a minute,” Kelsey said with a grimace. “You know, that didn’t kill anywhere near as many as it should have. Stupid magic humans with your super-strength.”

Her voice dropped as she started muttering to herself. “Tier two spam… Tier three general… quartermaster… spam… spam… spam… not a single wizard… ah! There it is! Driecht Kalond! We got him!”

She beamed happily at the assembled group, who were looking at her in disbelief.

“He’s dead?” Elara cried, collapsing into the arms of her aunt.

“Were we… not supposed to kill him?” Kelsey asked in a confused tone. “Because I really thought we were trying to kill him.”

“He was my brother, you monster!” Elara sobbed.

“Oh. Well.” Kelsey looked nonplussed. “Bright side, I can arrange it so you can meet him any time you like. Just…wear a helmet.”