All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 182: A Clean War

Chapter 182: A Clean War

“Gentlemen.” Arthur addressed the assembly. “We have no choice but to split up our forces. There is no single target that the undead will have to solidify their hold on this province. Not until we pass over to the far side, at least, to their capital. But even that is not a large city. While this province is extremely wealthy, it's also quite sparse.

“The weather has been seen to grow good crops and it’s often used as a vacation area. But no large cities have really sprung up here since we captured this area some 200-odd years ago.” Arthur cleared his throat.

Satisfied that every single person was paying attention to him, he picked up a series of pins from a box next to the map and began sticking them in. “The first Legion shall go west. The second…”

He proceeded to quickly lay out the rest of his plan, where the army would split up and chase down the various tracks we saw.

"None of the undead offshoots should have grown to the size and strength where we’d be unable to defeat them, even with a diminished force. But if we allow them to grow, things become a problem once again. Chasing them down one at a time is simply not an option. If we spend all of our time going after one, the other four groups that have gone in various directions will have doubled in size, and we will never catch up until this province too has fallen. Additionally, remember that the southern border leads directly into the heart of the kingdom. There are no great mountain barriers here to protect us as there have been before."

I was quite impressed with Arthur's deductive reasoning. I had noticed that there was going to be an issue, but. I hadn't figured out a good solution to deal with it. I figured what would be easiest is if I just zipped around the country and sucked up all the zombies. But the people really seemed to be dedicated to taking care of this problem themselves. As each of the staff received their orders, they nodded or smashed their fists into their breastplates in a salute that sometimes left a small scratch in their armor. I really would have to teach them better at some point. They really could use some better salute that didn't mar their armor. Perhaps I could bring that up to Arthur sometime later tonight.

***

The next day as we marched, I floated next to Arthur for an in-depth conversation. Who would have thought fighting consisted of so much organizing? I knew that he did spend a lot of his time working with reports and figures, but there was so much more that I didn’t know.

We talked about how wars were decided based on culture, levels, supplies and so much more. About how with the proper numbers and information, Arthur could predict what an enemy would do with frightening accuracy. Even though most large scale combat appeared to be utter chaos, it was anything but. I apparently just didn’t have the experience to recognize the patterns. Not yet, at least.

“That’s not to say the ebb and flow of battle is ordered. There are uncountable ways that small disturbances can ripple through and change everything.” Arthur explained from his horse. Many of the young officers were crowded around, litenting in. Despite the audience, it was meant to be a private conversation and Arthur ignored them all.

“In my mind, that is what command is. Finding all the little levers that control the flow of the battle and finding the right way to pull on the ones you can while mitigating the ones you can’t.” I was sure that I was following most of what he was saying, but it was so much easier once I had related it back to cleaning.

If the house was seen as the battlefield, then there were many things that could happen to it. Keeping it in order was a matter of identifying variables I could control altogether and fixing the ones I couldn’t. For example, I couldn’t stop dust from gathering, or the smallest humans from throwing food from their high chairs. But humans could put their dirty clothes in the right bin rather than leave them on the floor.

Extending the logic to the castle, I could also teach the children good habits. With a few flicks of my Sanitation Lamp I carved my comment into my tablet and held it out for Arthur to read.

The one concession that he made to the audience was that he read it out loud for all to hear. “What can be controlled varies.” Rubbing his chin, Arthur thought about it. “That is a good point. It's not enough to just memorize some tactics. That can only get a commander so far. You really need to understand why those tactics work. Only then can you adapt strategies effectively. New levers and disasters can appear based on a myriad of factors.”

I wiped my rock clean and made another comment for Arthur to read. It felt a little wrong interrupting him, but he always cut off to read my thoughts, even mid word. “There is only one factor you can always control.”

Before he responded one of the audience broke in, “Wha-!”

The young officer didn’t get very far before his neighbor socked him in the side, cutting his words short. Arthur ignored the interruption and responded to me without comment. “I suppose that is true, though rarely do you only have one option for what to do. At least, in my experience.”

A bit of silence fell on everyone for a few minutes as we all thought. Eventually Arthur continued. “Void, you are talking about more than command, right?”

I beeped my agreement after a minute of thought. This wasn’t too much different from what I had been teaching Beatrice. Especially considering how similar war and cleaning were. For the first time in hours, Arthur addressed the audience. “You should all think on this. But there are also tasks I believe you need to see to.”

For the most part, everyone recognized the dismissal for what it was. Those that didn’t were quickly informed by the ones next to them. After we were alone Arthur turned to me and asked a strange question. “Have you written a book on your teachings yet?”

I scribbled on my slate for a minute. Arthur grunted. “I suppose I could see her doing that. I’ll need to talk to the High Priestess next time we meet and see if I can get a copy. I would like to see it distributed. Your comments echo how my own philosophies feel in a few ways. I would like to see how that would apply to the other disciplines, outside of war.”

The stories Beatrice wrote about our initial adventures…. Well I wasn’t sure if those would really answer much of Arthur’s questions. After all, it had a particular Beatrice slant to it. Though it still was pretty popular with the castle’s inhabitants. Susan may have been the human closest to Arthur in personality, and she seemed to like them well enough.

Before we had a chance to continue our conversation, the officers returned at a gallop.

“SIR!” he hollered at Arthur. “Sir, contact reported.”

As the officer passed along the report from the scouts, I looked over the army marching around us. We had taken the largest column of the army and were marching directly to the province capitol. The hope was that we would get there first and be able to defend it. But if we were too late, the undead army would be much larger than we could feasibly handle. In that case, Arthur would recall the largest section of the army for help.

I had, of course, offered to zip ahead and take care of the problems for them. Arthur had surprisingly asked that I did not. Apparently, his men needed the levels and experience. He seemed physically pained about asking his men to take a real risk of dying, but he had explained his reasoning.

"Right now, we can rely on your aid, Lord Void. However, that won’t always be the case. What if one day, you’re not around when trouble arises? Or if the threat appears in multiple places?” The commander laid out the scenarios patiently. “If we allow chances like this to pass us by, then we will lack veteran soldiers to protect the people. Weakness means the country will be overrun by monsters. Not to mention neighboring countries.”

Still, I had been asked to come along and help if it was needed. There was no point in getting levels if they were all wiped out. Me showing up to the city a few hours earlier wouldn’t make much of a difference. If they held through the several days, they could hold for a few more hours.

We were still a few hours away from the city, but the scouts might have made it there much more quickly. With a quick question to Arthur, I took off and zipped up into the air. I would go make sure that the undead wouldn’t take the city before the army caught up with them. Also, I wouldn’t want to let the army walk into a fight that they couldn’t win.

I couldn’t blame them for wanting to level up as well. After all, I had used the same logic with Beatrice too. Besides, taking out an army of low level undead wouldn’t do much for me anymore. Maybe taking out some of the elites would be just as effective. Also, the clean up after the fight would be even more effective for my own advancement. I was sure they wouldn’t stop me from taking care of the aftermath.

The flight was nice. I hadn’t felt so free in a long time. It took me a bit of self control to not do happy loops as I soared high into the sky. Remembering that people were counting on me, I redoubled my efforts and tried to break my previous speed record. Even though I was hundreds of feet up in the air, a wave of dirt billowed out from under me wherever I passed. In an effort to avoid leaving such a mess behind, I moved over a little so I wasn’t over the road.

It was slightly better. Dust no longer got everywhere, but the trees were losing their colorful leaves much faster than they should have. Every one of them became completely bare as I passed over them, a torrent of leaves circling in my wake.

With a little effort, I pushed it out of my mind. Those leaves were going to fall soon anyway. I was just speeding it along. Plus, I needed to get to the city fast. A few minutes later the shining walls appeared on the horizon.

This city wasn’t nearly as large as Caleb, but it was also more solid. I could see the thickness of the walls from here and the height alone seemed to be giving the undead surrounding it trouble. Each of the buildings inside were much larger than any I had seen aside from the castle. They also appeared much more fancy. Shining stone, gilded trims, multicolored windows, and decorative tile made the place gleam like a pile of gemstones. And most importantly, the city was clean.

It was not perfect, but by far the best city I had seen so far. The best part was, it was still maintaining this appearance as it was under siege! Thinking of that, I studied its attackers. Something wasn’t right there. After all my conversations with Arthur I expected more…