Chapter 12 - Rebels of Val Foret (2) (Patreon)

"A strong and noble woman was loved by the world. She granded succor to the stars and brought man and god together. This was the trident of her line. It makes allies of the wielder's holograms."

- Orange Fundamentalism Bible, Book of the Oracle

***

"Yes, Your Highness. Please, this way."

With the pleasantries exchanged, Governor Lamder van Reese and Commander Gaston led them to the Governor's Castle, which was located in the center of the city. Due to the implementation and security reasons, it was literally impossible for the rag-tag rebels to break through the defenses of the inner city.

They would need some really heavy siege engines and Mages, but fortunately enough, they didn't have either of those, so for the time being, until the 2nd Legion arrived, they were safe.

The Golden Lion Legion was only a few days away from reaching the city, but the rebels managed to get control of the walls of their respective districts, which would further complicate the suppression.

So the decapitation operation was needed.

Commander Gaston led them to the war room, while Commander Titus Drautos ordered his Glaives to spread out and start casting screening spells on the city and gathering information, as they would not take everything that the Commander of the City Guard said for granted.

Primarily because of two reasons.

One was possible infiltration, as it was possible that there was a mole among the local garrison or in the administration of the Val Foret's Governor's Office. Or due to the possibility that the Governor's office itself may or may not have the most current information about the state of the rebels and Andrastianists in the Val Foret.

The Glaives quickly dispersed into the work, as everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing right now after hearing the orders of Commander Drautos. Everyone was professional, and everyone in the Kingsglaive was a Mage and trained in the arts of espionage as they were in the arts of combat.

"Now that we are in the war room, we can start the brief."

Commander Gaston then proceeded to introduce everyone to the situation in the Val Foret. 

Kordillus looked at this rather satisfied because he had imported a lot of new concepts from his past life, especially when it came to the military. Not only in the regard of training, but also in the structure and hierarchy, the importance of obedience and rules.

In the world, technically speaking, professional soldiery was rare, and even if one took "professional soldier", it was just a better-trained peasant. In the end, the internal discipline and hierarchy were shit, and most of the Nobles, Kings, and everyone else depended primarily on the levies when there was war.

Levies were one of the worst things that could ever happen to the kingdom, because the nation was basically a bunch of peasants who never held a weapon in their hands and were sent to war.

"The leader of the rebels is a man by the name Morelet Laurens, a fanatic of the Andrastianism that actually lived in the city when it was occupied by the Orlais. The problem is that, before the spread of the Holy Chantry into the Val Foret, the city had a strong presence of the Cults of Andraste, and the ban on it caused a lot of tensions. He isn't leading the rebels alone, as there are several people with him, the most notable of whom are three others. Amabilla Chappelle and Petellia Martiana, both Clerics of the Cult of Andraste, and Suero De Medrano, who is a former nobleman of the former Medrano House that was destroyed by the Kingdom several months ago."

Surprisingly, the local City Guard managed to get a lot of rather detailed information on the rebels and rioters. When the Glaives returned from the task, they would compare it with the intelligence they had obtained and decide on their next moves before making any decision.

Right now, Kordillus only wanted to hear the information and nothing else.

So right now, as he was counting, there were four people that they needed to kill or capture. 

In fact, when it came to the Clerics, he wanted to capture them because they would for sure hold some valuable information on the Cults of Andraste, while the remaining two men were of no immediate importance.

It was more than evident that Morelet Laurens was nothing more than just a puppet leader, or rather, he was just a public face of the rebellion in the Val Foret. While the De Medrano was someone from the fallen aristocratic house and still had some money, he was stirring up trouble.

Even without a second look, Kordillus knew that he was a pawn of the Cirinane Clans in the Nahashin Marches that wanted to create problems for the Orlais and stall their imminent invasion for as long as possible.

According to the spies, the Clans and Tribes in the Nahashin Marches were preparing some sort of unified defensive front against the advance of Orlais. This proved to be rather entertaining for Kordillus, because in some sense, they were doing work for him.

Gathering all the enemies in one place so he could crush them in one place.

"And the overall numbers of combatants on the opposite side?"

This was one of the most important information, because Val Foret was a relatively big city in the current Orlais, boasting a population of forty thousand or so. Which was a lot, because not many cities had a similar population.

Urbanization wasn't a thing in Thedas.

"Around seven thousand, Your Highness... they managed to conscript a lot of commoners, but most of them are not a real threat in combat. Despite their numbers, they couldn't properly handle their weapons, and they are using only their numbers to push through the positions."

Hearing the words of Commander Gaston made Kordillus and Commander Drautos cringe, because while this could be considered good news, it was also bad news. A lot of casualization, which wasn't a good thing for the Orlais that was on its rising path.

"Rather high number considering that your city has a population of only forty thousand... almost one fourth of the city rebelled, Governor van Reese?"

Governor Lambert van Reese looked rather tense when he heard the question, because from a certain point of view, this was a huge blunder. The fact that his administration allowed such widespread rebellion across the entire city.

He heard that Prince Kordillus was not forgiving his mistakes, especially the costly ones like the rebellion in the city. At least, the situation wasn't insurmountable, and that bad, actually, or else, he was sure that his head would roll from the chopping block.

"Well..."

But before he could answer, the Prince stopped his answer mid-stream.

"But considering the fact that you managed to contain them, I am sure that mother would be lenient in the punishment."

One way or another, Kordillus considered this a serious blunder because the city was the Governor's responsibility. And one way or another, the fact that more than seven thousand people rebelled against the Orlesian rule couldn't be changed, no matter what.

"Thank you very much, Your Highness."

Kordillus nodded when he heard the Governor.

"You are both excused. I need to consult something with Commander Drautos before making any move. For the time being, increase the security around the Inner City and prepare for the upheaval."

Kordillus sent both of them away as he wanted to speak with the Commander of the Kingsglaives alone. For the Kingsglaives that reached the Silver-Tier at minimum, casting some screening Spells was a pretty easy matter, and they quickly gathered the information required and relayed it back to their Commander.

As Commander Drautos went over the information, it seemed that everything that the local garriosn has reported to them was true, which was a good start. At least it meant that there was no real infiltration in the ranks of the City Guard and the Governor's administration.

"Well, it seems that the information is true and we don't have spies among the higher ranks of the City Guard, which is certainly a good thing... but the fact that our targets are barricaded in the depths of the civilian district is complicating things to a certain degree."

While Kordillus was rahter pleased that the information received from the City Guard of Val Foret was true, there were still a bit off in specific lines. Especially in the ones that told them about the location of the leaders of the rebellion.

Because it seemed that they were pretty paranoid and they went into hiding.

"Well, it made sense, Your Highness. If most of their support comes from the Nahashin Marches, then they are waiting for further reinforcements from the nearby Clans and Nobles that would support their cause."

To the north of the Val Foret were the Nahashin Marches, and down to the south were the Dales. Getting past the Dales to the Val Foret was nigh impossible for the Cults of Andrasste due to the presence of Elves that lived in the Dales.

The entire Dales were home to millions of Elves, and the entire region was protected by the Emerald Knights. Elves functioned rather weirdly, because after the fall of their Ancient Empire to the Tevinter Imperium, they lost most of their power.

Including most of their language, history, and lore. However, after Andraste and her husband Maferath led their Alamarri army against Tevinter some 180 years ago, the elven slaves led by Shartan rose up and joined the fight against their former masters.

Shartan was killed attempting to save Andraste when Maferath betrayed her to the Tevinters, but in later, Maferath gave the Elves the Dales as a reward for their part in the war.

At that time, the Dales were on the fringe of Tevinter territory and were barely populated, with only the Ciriane people to the west, and the Alamarri of the Fereldan Valley on the other side of the Frostback Mountains.

Most Elves lived in Tribes and had something akin to the Confederate Kingdom of Dales. There was no king, only the Chieftain Council of Clan Leaders and Chieftains of various Dalish Tribes that inhabited the area.

"That's astute observation, Commander, but fortunately enough, due to Ciri here, we don't need to fear support from the south, only the north."

The female in question was sitting bored in the corner of the room, because before they arrived, Kordillus forbade her from wandering off to god knows where, so she was stuck in one place and rather bored.

Because Ciri was technically something akin to half-elf right now, or so, due to the particular awakening of the Elder Blood in her, as the Genes of Lara Dorren were giving her some evil traits, Orlais actually had a very good relationship with the Dales.

To the point where the Holy Fundamentalism Order spread acorss the Dales like a wildfire and many towns and settlements were even building Chantries and their branch of Holy Chantry in there.

Kordillus predicted that the Dales would be slowly assimilated into the wider Orlais Kingdom in a few years at this rate.

"True, the Emerald Knights would stop anyone trying to enter their territory, especially the Cults of Andraste, as they became rather anti-elvish in the past decades."

Commander Drautos agreed, as they needed only worry about possible intervention from the Clans and Nobles in the Nahashin Marches. Due to that, this entire rebellion needed to be destroyed before their enemies amassed an army and marched on the Val Foret.

The Emerald Knights were an elite force of Elven Mage Knights, and each one was minimally at the Silver-Tier, and there were a lot of Gold-Tier individuals among their ranks as well.

"If we have a clear view of the buildings where they are hiding, perhaps Ciri could open portals there, and we can easily sneak in."

Kordillus proposed that everyone ponder over the solution, especially Ciri, because the plan was primarily centered around her powers. She was the one who was very gifted with the Space-Time Magic and could cast it easily, as Kordillus could cast a Fireball.