All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 322: Four Helms Deep

Chapter 322: Four Helms Deep

"The capital of Barleona is a fortress," Harold explained in a sonorous voice. We had spent most of the night in the common room of Beatrice's penthouse, arguing over strategy and different plans for the coming invasion. It was nearly morning now, and most people had long since gone about their tasks. Aside from Beatrice and me, Harold was the last one left. Although his firsthand experience with the place was proving pretty useful, they'd been going around in circles for almost an hour about. Mostly planning around the defenses we'd encounter.

I rolled along the floor, leisurely sanitizing them for a fifth time and sucking up the small particles Beatrice produced as she did her alchemy. She'd started working on a concoction just after midnight, juggling it with the conversations around her. I was pretty proud of her developing multi-threading capabilities, however small they were.

Beatrice remained silent as she poured some more powder into a large metal sphere. Its exterior was engraved with countless runes and markings that seemed incredibly hazardous.

He walked closer, holding a flickering candle. "The entrance is well guarded -- it has a reputation for being impenetrable. How do you intend to bring down such a mighty gate?"

As he got closer, Beatrice's hand snapped out and caught the candle before it got too close to her alchemy, and she held it in place. She leveled a glare at him, one that seemed to communicate, "What do you think you're doing? You should know better" in an impressively efficient manner. Harold looked up at her with concern on his face as he took several steps back.

Finishing up her work, she set a lid on the container and stepped away. She walked towards the penthouse's balcony, where the sun was just beginning to rise.

As she moved, she spoke. "If the gate falls, the capital will too."

Harold followed her to the balcony. "Even if the gate does fall, it'll take far more forces than we can bring to bear quickly to take the capital. Hundreds of elite fighters."

"Thousands of elite fighters," Beatrice corrected as she stepped into the morning light.

"But, High Priestess, no such force exists…" Harold protested as he followed her out. The wind whipped his hair into his eyes as they widened in disbelief.

Below them, stretching out across the grassy field, an army had gathered. Ranks of soldiers lined up side by side, their white armor gleaming with the sun's fiery rays. As Beatrice stepped forward, they raised their spears and swords to salute as cheers rose up from below.

I was honestly a little surprised. When Arthur had said that he would be assembling a "strike force," I had expected something much smaller than this. Maybe he'd simply gone overboard.

The wind blew out the candle that Harold was holding as he stared at the force below. His jaw hung open. The people below started to chant in unison. It sounded something like "for the glory of Void."

After letting it go on for a handful of seconds, Beatrice raised her hand and silenced the crowd.

"A new threat is rising. Yet its defeat is at hand," she yelled. The proclamation was met with more cheers from the army. Sensing the mood, I started playing some appropriately epic music from my speakers.

"On this night, we shall march on our last enemy. The enemy of not just the Theocracy, but all mankind. They shall be overthrown, and we shall reign victorious!"

Beatrice's speech whipped them into a frenzy, clattering their weapons against their shields in a close approximation of applause. I liked to think that the music helped, too.

"March! March to Barleona!" She yelled with a final gesture.

I decided to have a little bit more fun. I swooped out in front of the army, projecting massive explosions and fires around them. I'd seen things like this in sporting events so long ago. Arthur led the army off toward their destination before we all went back inside.

"...Well, that was fun," Beatrice laughed. I beeped happily in agreement as Harold finally shook himself out of his stupor. It had felt like an appropriately epic sendoff.

After a brief pause, Harold nodded in agreement. "Right. But… do we really need your alchemy?"

"Of course. How else are we going to bring down the gate?" Beatrice replied.

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"We have a dragon. Why do we need this?" Harold questioned again, gesturing at Beatrice's creation.

In a way, he was right. I projected an image of Daedalus tearing through the city, destroying building after building. It has seen enough of his power to make a pretty accurate demonstration of the mess and rubble he had probably caused when he had attacked the place during that "diplomatic mission." But I continued my portrayal of what would happen if he were let loose, emphasizing the amount of rubble and general mess the walls would be left in once he was done.

Harold hummed thoughtfully, and Beatrice nodded in agreement. "Yes. The loss of life would be incredible, and we wouldn't be able to hold the city afterward," she stated. "Well, whatever was left of the city."

My processor hiccuped for a couple nanoseconds. Yes. Those were also good points. That was exactly what I had been thinking, too.

"This is a far more precise method. A surgical strike on their gate," Beatrice said. "Arthur is in charge of the actual plan, and he's the one who requested such a thing."

Harold nodded. "I… see. Alright. I won't question your decision, then."

"It's understandable, "she gestured to her creation. "Besides, the army is going to take a day or two to even get there. They are walking, after all. Arthur has time to change his mind if he wants to. But that leaves us plenty of time to set things up before flying over ourselves. Well, Void, Archibald, Daedalus, and I can once we've set everything up here."

Harold nodded. "All right. Well, it seems like you have things generally in hand. Just let me know if you need any more information."

Beatrice nodded her thanks. "Yeah. I appreciate all you've done, Harold. Once this is over, we'll see what we can do to recognize your service. I know public attention isn't something a spy particularly enjoys, but you've contributed a great deal to our country."

"Thank you, High Priestess." Harold gave a respectful bow and headed down to the elevators.

After he left, Beatrice turned to me. "Sometimes I can't believe how far we've come. Can you believe he was the dean of my school?"

I beeped noncommittally. "I mean, I never knew him back then, so it wasn't that surprising."

Beatrice just shook her head in resignation. "Oh, well. I better finish this, though. Now I can finally focus a bit."

With that, she continued working on her alchemy project.

---

Arthur stifled a yawn as the march started. Behind him, a collection of his officers did the same, the dark circles under their eyes telling a story of what they'd been up to in the past 24 hours.

Most of his soldiers had gotten a fairly good night's sleep beforehand. But he and a few other lucky souls had been up all freaking night planning and organizing supplies. That meant it was just a small group that looked dead on their feet rather than the whole group.

He rode his horse a little bit farther forward to go talk to the next company's officer. Everyone followed after the vanguard, who ran ahead with seemingly endless energy. As expected of the Nighty Knights.

Most of the men wore faces grim with determination or looked enviously at the boundless energy of youth. The Knights wouldn't actually be involved with the attack on the city. Once the city was taken, they would be involved in hunting down the monsters and demons that were sure to plague them at every step. Despite that, Arthur relented and gave them the position of honor. He had hoped that it would help motivate the troops, but it was apparently having the opposite effect.

The initial boost from the rousing speech that Beatrice sent them off with helped to offset that. The ethereal, unearthly music that Void had projected also underlined the importance of the coming battle. The two combined had certainly kept them going for about 15 minutes.

Now, the soldiers' work began. The hard, never-ending days that they had trained endlessly for.

Arthur stifled another yawn. He really was getting too old for this.

---

Harold waited in the elevator heading down from the High Priestess's apartments. He couldn't believe that his student had come so far. Well, a "student" in name. It was strange to even think about the fact that he had once taught her. Admittedly, he could have done a better job. But, well… he consoled himself with the thought that if he had done a better job, then she wouldn't have become who she was today.

Still, it had been a fairly intimidating sight, seeing that many elite troops laid out below. The Nighty Knights alone were terrifying, honestly. Harold could only imagine that the elite units of the army were as intimidating.

But now, his part was finished. He had provided all the information that he could. Still, as the Warden had continuously reminded him for the last couple of years, he was not necessarily good at leading anyone, much less armies. It meant his contributions to these meetings were mostly him playing devil's advocate.

Still, it was reassuring to know that the leaders had everything in hand. And he was happy that he wouldn't even be needed. He wouldn't even have to accompany the occupying force of the regular soldiers being sent out later this week after the elites had done their work.

That group was a more "standard" army, but in appearances only. Their levels and strength were far above what any other nation could dream of fielding. That only made the thousands of elite soldiers that they were sending ahead more impressive. It would be like something out of myth and legend.

Harold grimaced slightly. He really hoped that the High Priestess's weapon could help minimize the casualties. Otherwise, this war would be a bloodbath. Even with the demons in the city, he had no doubt that it would be human troops on the front lines.

Perhaps with more the surgical approach they were going with, they could avoid causing too many issues. It would be best to secure the city enough that some of their elites would advance deeper into the territory and towards that secretive location the demons kept. It would take several days to get there, which made him nervous. He had a sense that something would happen there soon. All of his information pointed to it.

Also, there was something else that felt off. He wasn't superstitious or anything, but there would be a solar eclipse soon. Perhaps it was just his paranoia getting to him.

Harold shook his head and headed off to get some sleep.

// I'm not sure this chapter turned out the way I wanted it too. I might remove the first bit entirely before the kindle release. let me know what you think!