Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 3, Chapter 12

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 3, Chapter 12

Chapter 12

?We must apologise for the conduct of Lady Soruel.?

The echo of Ludmila’s footsteps slowed as she made her way back through the polished marble corridors to the western palace. She glanced over her shoulder, but it was already clear that Queen Oriculus was using a Skill and not chasing her down the hall.

?Worry not, Your Majesty. It’s something of a common reaction everywhere we go.?

?Ah, so you can communicate like this. We were curious how well-versed the Sorcerous Kingdom was in various things. Sebas did not respond to Us, so We figured he might be a Lord in name only.?

Ludmila would have snapped her mouth shut, but it wasn’t open in the first place.

?Then I take it this is common in the Draconic Kingdom??

?No. Even grasping rudimentary forms of this sort of communication is the mark of capable Commanders or certain types of Lords. I suspect that the Emperor of Baharuth can do it as well, but he dislikes Us for some reason…?

?If that’s the case, what about Your Majesty’s military Commanders? Captain Scavo appears unaware.?

?He knows that We can do this, but we do not know what he has attempted to achieve on his own. This Skill is more common among Commanders as they must project their voices across the battlefield by necessity and can more easily take the essential steps, but the Captain of the Palace Guard has never been in such a situation.?

?I see. Is there some form of etiquette for this in the Draconic Kingdom??

?Nothing as formal as that. Those who are capable generally attach the mundane observances of proper behaviour that they are accustomed to. Not calling on someone when they’re probably sleeping or busy and such. It is also normal for those who have grasped these types of Skills to keep them a secret, as unworthy wielders would cause all sorts of problems. Independently grasping it is a sort of rite of passage in itself, and bestowing the knowledge of its existence is a gesture of absolute trust.?

It made sense and it didn’t at the same time. Skills that allowed one to communicate over distances not normally achievable by conventional communication would present challenges and threats if it was widespread, but, at the same time, it was an invaluable tool. It also wasn’t as if Message spells didn’t exist.

In the Empire, communication Skills were passed down as a matter of course for military officers. It strengthened the Imperial Army, which in turn supported the imperial throne and stabilised the nation. So long as it was believed to be something only officers were capable of, it was unlikely to fall in the hands of its ambitious and scheming aristocracy.

…at least that was how she thought it worked. Culture and tradition seemed to have a way of defining what one’s Job Classes were capable of, even if the same Job Classes appeared to exist elsewhere. The notion so far proved to be relevant for Martial Arts, Skills and Abilities overall.

As for how Ludmila had been introduced to communication Skills, she was hard-pressed to believe that it was a gesture of absolute trust from Lady Shalltear, whom she had met only a day before. It was more that she was surprised that Ludmila couldn’t use them and acted to rectify a deficiency in her new vassal.

The servants who came with the Sorcerer King, as well as His Majesty’s servitors, were fairly open with the existence of various things that the common population weren’t aware of in the early days of the Sorcerous Kingdom. After a month or so, however, they stopped casually spreading awareness of knowledge that they took for granted.

?I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty. While we are speaking, are there any concerns you wished to address in private??

?Only if you’d like to hear Us rant about everything for hours. All of the river barges in the Oriculon Reach could not carry Our troubles, but they mostly revolve around matters of state. Now, We must leave you to your affairs – Ioena here is looking at Us as if We’ve fallen asleep with Our eyes open.?

She smiled slightly at the tone of Queen Oriculus’ voice. While her people might see her as a child and she might act the part, she had the relaxed and confident air of an experienced ruler in private. Ludmila supposed that, with the Draconic Kingdom constantly under threat by its powerful neighbour, the Queen and her subjects were in reality much more resilient than one might expect.

The setting sun flooded the palace hallways, which had now been cleared of the mess left behind by the Beastmen. Before returning to the northwest tower, she stopped by the state room provided for the Sorcerous Kingdom’s delegation. Aemilia poked her head out from the drawing room just past the foyer.

“Welcome back, my lady.”

“I still don’t get how you can sense when you have something to attend to. I’m fairly certain that no one in the palace can detect me when I conceal myself.”

“Something like a hunch, I guess?” Her Lady’s Maid came up to stand before her, “Will you be staying for long?”

“I just came by to check on things,” Ludmila said. “Did anything come in while I was away?”

“A Shadow Demon comes by every evening to deliver paperwork from home. It just left. Let’s see…”

Aemilia reached into the satchel slung over her shoulder, pulling out a slim green binder. Ludmila received it with a glance at her Maid’s waist.

“Are you carrying that around even in here?”

“I’m feeling just a bit paranoid, my lady,” Aemilia placed a hand on the satchel. “We’re in the royal palace of a far-off land and all I can think of are those stories of intrigue and spies and Assassins. There are even handsome footmen everywhere that look like they might try to seduce me at any time and the Maids here all have really sharp looks.”

“Most of them just look tired to me,” Ludmila said. “They’re all buried in work with all that’s happened to their country. I don’t think they have the time to be plotting and scheming against one another at the moment.”

Though she had been her Lady’s Maid for a year now, Aemilia still wrapped herself up in tales of high society filled with all sorts of fantastic things. It didn’t seem to matter that the reality of House Zahradnik didn’t match up to how she thought things could be. She just wished for that world of her dreams and harboured a sense of wonder in all the little bits and pieces that suggested it was there.

In a way, Aemilia’s energy did seem to nudge things in that direction just a tiny bit, but Ludmila didn’t think that any weird legends would rise around them anytime soon.

“That may be so for now,” Aemilia said, “but things will start returning to normal eventually. If I catch some Rogue sneaking around in here, I’m going to zap them with Light Inflict Wounds first and ask questions later.”

“You learned an attack spell?”

“Well, I originally learned it to help you, my lady, but it’s useful for Undead maintenance in general. I have no idea how our Skeletons get chips and cracks sometimes. They don’t even do field work.”

Ludmila briefly imagined Queen Oriculus summoning her because Aemilia had ‘zapped’ one of the Nobles working in the palace. That was one headache that they didn’t need.

“Just to be certain,” she said, “you understand that even a single cast of that spell can potentially kill a regular person, yes?”

“I know,” Aemilia replied. “But it’s my duty as a Maid to protect my mistress’ belongings.”

“Who told you that?” Ludmila furrowed her brow.

“Miss Alpha did. She’s a really nice person, but she knows when to put her foot down, too. Sometimes people think being good means that you’re a pushover, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth.”

“That may be the case, but killing someone as a guest is taboo very nearly everywhere. Even Demihuman tribes out in the wilderness observe similar customs of hospitality. It’s probably better to think of something else.”

“What would you suggest, my lady?”

“Hmm…something that discourages people from acting against us, maybe. Since you’re well on your way to being ordained, we should get you a weapon. Maybe a mace. If you discover someone snooping around you could just break their legs. If they still have some fight left, you could heal them and break their legs again. They won’t be able to demand fees for healing since you’re the one healing them.”

She flipped open the binder and scanned through the pages. Most of the content consisted of updates compiled by Nonna. Seasonal activities were well underway and the Elder Lich noted nothing out of the ordinary. The construction of various projects was on schedule and excavation work for her subterranean farms had started, resulting in stockpiles of much-needed stone.

The only thing that might be considered irregular – at least as far as irregular in Warden’s Vale went – was that league matches had been suspended since Olga and Raul were with her. Their teams were not idle, however, instead taking the opportunity to focus on improving their respective crafts for future matches.

“Did anything else come in?” Ludmila asked.

“No, my lady,” Aemilia answered. “We’re heading into the time where Nobles usually go around holding court, but the work of the Elder Liches has made that pretty much a thing of the past nowadays. I hear it’s starting to happen all over the duchy, so the other Nobles have been using the free time to further their ambitions.”

“What does that entail?”

“Everyone has one project or the other going,” her Lady’s Maid said. “It actually started over the winter while we were away. The harvest was just so good but it’s hard to sell anything, so everyone is trying to think up what to do with the surplus. Most are giving Miss Alpha’s proposals for public education a more serious look to help with raising labour for urban centres.”

That much seemed like a given. New realities were now undeniable and every administrator was faced with the task of figuring out what to do about them. Since Nobles were competitive creatures – at least between themselves – she imagined that they needed little encouragement.

After signing off on a few things, Ludmila left the state room and continued to the northwest tower. A familiar aroma drifted in the air as she approached the tower entrance. In the war room, Wiluvien, Lluluvien, Olga and Raul were sitting at a side table for their evening meal.

“Keep eating,” Ludmila raised a hand as they rose in response to her entry. “We need to get going in a bit. Has anything changed?”

“No, my lady,” Saiko said. “The Beastmen continue to gather across the valley. They have made no attempts at skirmishing with our forces on the other side.”

“You’d think they’d at least throw rocks,” Ludmila muttered. “Have we uncovered any flanking attempts?”

“The Wraiths and Bone Vultures along the river have not spotted any crossings or movements on our side.”

She kept expecting more, yet ‘more’ never happened. Perhaps her exposure to Hobgoblins, Gnolls, Frost Giants and the Imperial Army had resulted in unreasonable expectations for the region at large. The Royal Army had squads with as close to as perfect communication as possible, tireless soldiers and unflinching morale. Furthermore, the enemy appeared to be oblivious as to what was going on, giving Ludmila’s forces the initiative along any number of potential avenues.

The cautious, defensive side of her nagged constantly that she shouldn’t frame her opponents as ignorant, stupid or powerless. Rationally speaking, however, she should be exploiting their advantages as much as Undeadly possible.

“Was the Southeast Army Group able to accommodate our request?”

“An additional infantry company is en route to join the Katze front.”

“Good,” Ludmila nodded. “We ended up with far more Zombies than we thought we would here…have the squads determined what the limit of effective control for each Squire Zombie is?”

“Given the poor manoeuvrability and speed of Zombies, there is little issue with managing their broad movements. Fine control, however, is getting progressively worse. We estimate that somewhere around thirty is the point where it is simply better for Squire Zombies to control their subordinates as a whole unit rather than individual soldiers.”

Before arriving in the Draconic Kingdom, the Royal Army was divided over offering Squads that had built up Squire Zombie cohorts to their prospective client for the improved coverage that they would offer. After witnessing the reactions to the Undead, however, it was probably better to not have tens of thousands of Beastman Zombies wandering all over the place. As such, she recommended that they be added to the Southeast Army Group once they were done sweeping away the Beastmen occupying the Draconic Kingdom and fresh companies be offered in their stead.

“Let’s go with thirty per Squire Zombie, then,” Ludmila said. “We have a lot of Death Knights to accommodate and opportunities to bulk up our ground forces like this will probably be rare.”

“Shall I request that the Southeast Army Group prepare squads in advance?”

“Yes, please do. We’re going to end up cycling through plenty of infantry squads at this rate.”

The original plan for showcasing the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Undead security forces to the Draconic Kingdom involved having them participate in frontier patrols much as they had done in the Baharuth Empire. In doing so, the hope was that they would be able to earn the appreciation of the Draconic Kingdom’s military and receive their endorsement. This went hand-in-hand with Clara’s efforts at forging economic ties and bringing their southeastern neighbour closer to them diplomatically.

While their long preparations had not been for nought, their original plans had essentially been scrapped. The gradual process of gaining a foothold in the Draconic Kingdom had turned into an impromptu counter-invasion-plus-relief-effort thrown together at the last minute with what they had on hand.

For the Royal Army’s part, it became a mad dash to methodically zombify all the invaders to flesh out as many infantry squads as they could. The Undead servitors were probably ecstatic about the sudden influx of work. Liane would likely say something about it being another horrifying page added to Ludmila’s military record.

There was little else to be done, however. By every account, the Beastmen did not consider diplomacy with the Draconic Kingdom an option. In fact, they considered it akin to negotiating with a nuk. Humans were little more than food that could manage themselves. Furthermore, the Draconic Kingdom would not simply let the Beastmen walk away now that they had the means to destroy them at their disposal, nor should the Beastmen expect any leniency considering their acts of aggression against a sovereign state.

Ludmila studied the map for the impending battle while Olga and Raul finished their meal. The pair put on freshly-tailored gambesons, followed by coat-of-plates. In place of a helm, they wore the flight caps provided to the mages of the Imperial Air Service.

While not particularly powerful as far as magic items went, the artifice of the Empire had produced magic items that greatly aided its air wings in their duty as aerial support for everyday policing duties and reconnaissance missions. The lenses of those goggles not only worked to magnify distant scenery, but also provided Darkvision up to one hundred metres.

This range was seemingly insignificant, but the reality was that most beings with Darkvision only had about twenty to thirty metres of it. The major exceptions to this rule were beings with both natural Darkvision and Job Classes that qualified as ‘scouts’, which somehow combined to greatly enhance their vision. Even so, it wasn’t that much better unless one was particularly strong.

Both the Second and Sixth Legion used their air wings to great effect as reconnaissance in force during their campaigns with the assistance of this piece of magical equipment. The goggles’ qualities also made them useful for Commanders in night combat – especially if they were flying around unnoticed.

She tugged on the straps of Raul’s armour, ensuring that it was secure before taking in the sight of her two apprentices.

“Are we all ready to go?” Ludmila asked.

Olga and Raul nodded. Ludmila turned her attention to Lluluvien.

“We may have a lot of loose Beastmen running around after this, so the sergeants from the infantry company here will be coming to help keep track of everything. Are there any last-minute things to discuss before I get going?”

“Not that I can think of, my lady,” Lluluvien said. “As you said, we’ll just be keeping track of things from here and making adjustments where necessary. I’m beginning to think we need a bigger table, though.”

The war room’s central table was two metres in diameter, yet it was already covered in clutter from all of the information they were managing. It would presumably clear up as their campaign progressed, but things would become worse before they became better.

“I like how cosy this tower is,” Ludmila said, “but you’re probably right. I will request one of the state rooms be made available for our use once we’re done with Blighthold.”

Now that they were actually conducting a campaign, areas where they were lacking made themselves readily apparent. The sheer number of ‘little things’ that they were missing was more than a bit daunting.

Ludmila guided Olga and Raul to a corner of the war room. Saiko came over to join them.

?I’m headed out, Clara. See you in a few days.?

?Have fun.?

“We look forward to your return, my lady,” Wiluvien and Lluluvien lowered their heads.

The dark portal of a Gate spell appeared and they stepped out into a windswept plain. A thin mist seeped through a sea of tall grass stretching out to the far horizon. Behind them, the grassland abruptly ended, marking the edge of the Katze Plains.

“Welcome, Lady Zahradnik…wan.”

Ludmila turned with a smile, drawing her skirts out in a curtsey.

“Good evening, Lady Pestonya. It’s always a pleasure to see you.”

“Likewise,” the Royal Housekeeper bobbed her head. “How are things faring in the Draconic Kingdom? Wan.”

“A part of me is relieved that it’s not as bad as they could be,” Ludmila said. “Another part of me worries over how bad things have become. The capital has been secured and we’ve started negotiations with their government, but we’ve barely begun reversing the Beastman occupation.”

“But their suffering will soon come to an end, yes?” The Royal Housekeeper said, “And with the leased security forces, they will be able to live in peace from now on. Wan.”

“That may be the case, but…well, let’s just call it a bad feeling.”

Both she and Florine shared the same ‘bad feeling’ when it came to the Draconic Kingdom, or at least it seemed that way. The sense was still too vague to define, but it was definitely there.

“Since you’re here, my lady,” Ludmila said, “does that mean Lady Shalltear is still indisposed?”

“Yes. Between her duties at home and establishing a transportation network in a new region…I don’t think Lady Shalltear has been in E-Rantel for a month. Wan.”

“I see. I haven’t heard from her at all since I returned from the Empire, so…”

Ludmila reached into her Infinite Haversack, withdrawing a magical decanter.

“If possible, my lady,” she asked, “could you see that this gets to Lady Shalltear?”

“This is…”

“Blood,” Ludmila replied.

The Royal Housekeeper stared at her.

“My blood,” Ludmila quickly added. “Lady Shalltear usually comes by once a week for some so I figure she must be out by now. She’s always working so hard and she has her needs, so I am more than happy to see to them.”

Lady Pestonya tilted her head in a curious gesture.

“Ever since I heard about Lady Shalltear taking a new vassal,” she said, “I was afraid to think of what the relationship between you might be…wan.”

“We’re all greatly indebted to Lady Shalltear,” Ludmila replied. “She is an excellent liege. Not only in the contractual sense, but she’s helped us with so much. My friends and I can only reciprocate the care that she’s shown.”

The Royal Housekeeper brought a gloved hand to her dog-like head in a poor attempt to hide her smile.

“Is something the matter, my lady?” Ludmila asked.

“Not in that sense,” Lady Pestonya answered. “I suppose your glowing opinion of Lady Shalltear isn’t what one would expect. When I think more deeply upon it, however, you are much like one of her Area Guardians in their sentiment, wan.”

“‘Area Guardian’?”

“Hmm…put in your Human terms, they’re…Barons? Counts? No…Kyouhukou is a Duke…”

Florine had cast ‘Lady Chartia’ as a Grand Duchess in Dreams of Red, but, in reality, Lady Shalltear appeared to at least be a Queen. A Vampire Queen…with Dark Elf cousins…a Dark Elf Vampire Queen? If Kyouhukou was a Duke in Lady Shalltear’s demesne, did that mean they were another relative? She should have asked His Majesty more about Lady Shalltear’s family so she could better attend to her liege.

“At any rate,” Lady Pestonya continued, “an ‘Area Guardian’ is a vassal who manages territories called ‘Areas’ within her domain. Lady Shalltear is very fastidious when it comes to her responsibilities and she makes sure that they have everything they need to perform their duties. It would make sense that she would extend that treatment to new vassals who also manage their own respective ‘Areas’. Wan.”

Now that they were on the topic, Ludmila recalled that His Majesty had granted permission for Lady Shalltear to entertain Ludmila in her domain. With so much going on, neither she nor Lady Shalltear had the time to visit.

The sight of Raul kneeling and pulling up stalks of grass for some unfathomable reason brought Ludmila back to the task at hand. Behind Lady Pestonya was the fresh infantry company she had requested from the Southeast Army Group, as well as two Skeletal Dragons that had been dominated by Elder Liches – probably the same ones Liane and Florine had been riding given how rare they were.

“Raul,” Ludmila said, “you’re being rude to the Royal Housekeeper.”

“It’s alright,” Pestonya made a placating gesture, “I’ve been working at the E-Rantel orphanage since last spring, so I understand how restless children can be.”

Raul shot to his feet, tossing the grass away and brushing off his hands. Ludmila turned her face away from him with a smile.

“Thank you once again, Lady Pestonya. We should see to our preparations here.”

“It is a pleasure to serve, Lady Zahradnik,” the Royal Housekeeper replied with a nod. “This is not something I have any control over, but please bring about a swift conclusion to this conflict. Prolonged suffering can only lead to great sorrow.”

They parted ways with Lady Pestonya, going over to address the newly arrived infantry company. Ludmila checked the surroundings for wild Undead before coming forward with her two apprentices.

“Saiko.”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Has this company been briefed on its part in the battle?”

“They have.”

She turned her attention to the company.

“In that case, did anyone have any questions or concerns about the operation?”

One of the Elder Liches raised a hand.

“This manoeuvre requires that we enter territory potentially controlled by aquatic races,” it said. “Thus far, this campaign has been completely terrestrial. Our briefing materials say nothing about what we might encounter.”

“Our efforts to forge economic and diplomatic ties were originally supposed to be a gradual process beginning far in advance of any military action,” Ludmila said. “This included an investigation of the potential relationships we might forge with the aquatic races offshore. Unfortunately, circumstances demanded that the army move immediately.”

Ludmila turned her head to look at Saiko on her right.

“Saiko,” she said, “did we encounter any aquatic denizens when we were moving our forces across the Oriculon Estuary?”

“None that we were aware of,” the Elder Lich replied.

Nothing had confronted their barges on their journey to the Draconic Kingdom, either. It was mentioned that races existed in the waters between the Draconic Kingdom and the Theocracy, but they were either evasive or simply didn’t care what was happening on land or in the shallows.

“In that case,” Ludmila looked back to the infantry company, “we still haven’t developed any expectations of what’s down there. If any aquatic races approach you, display no aggression. If they attack, use crowd control spells to pacify them. If they persist, head to shore and keep going. We have not been authorised to engage in hostilities with anyone but the Beastmen invading the Draconic Kingdom.”

The infantry company set off on their run south to the inland sea. Ludmila brought Olga and Raul over to the two Skeletal Dragons, who were lying on the ground awaiting their passengers. She lifted Raul by the waist and seated him in front of one of the Elder Lich controllers.

“Did you activate your Endure Elements brooch?” Ludmila asked, “It can get very cold up there.”

Raul nodded.

“Are your goggles working?”

Her apprentice lowered the goggles over his eyes. He looked about for a bit before turning back to her and nodding.

“Good,” Ludmila smiled.

“What about your goggles?” Raul asked.

“The goggles do nothing for me,” Ludmila answered. “I can see much more than you probably think.”

She turned to find that Olga had already climbed up onto her Skeletal Dragon.

“All excited to go, I see,” Ludmila said.

“Will we really get to command an army?” Olga asked.

“Let’s have you watch what goes on first,” Ludmila answered. “There will be a lot of things for you to get used to. Once you’re comfortable with what goes on below, we’ll see about having you issue orders to parts of the army. If you notice anything really strange, however, let the Elder Liches riding with you know and they’ll contact Saiko, who will be with me.”

“Where will you be?”

Ludmila pointed up in response to Olga’s question.

“I don’t have a Dragon to ride around on, but I still have my flight item. I’ll be up there with you – it’s just very difficult to talk normally to other people unless we’re very close. Plus, if you shout, the Beastmen below might hear you.”

“Will they be able to get us?”

“I can’t guarantee that it’s impossible,” Ludmila said. “What I know is how much it would take to knock you out of the sky. They’d have to know you’re there first, meaning they’d need to be able to notice an invisible Skeletal Dragon through all the Bone Vultures flying around. You’re sitting on top of the Skeletal Dragon, but you’ll be a tiny dot in the sky beyond the range of their Darkvision. Then they would have to be able to hit you, and it’d take a fairly powerful Ranger to knock a Skeletal Dragon out of the sky in one hit from that distance. Even if the Skeletal Dragon is destroyed, the Elder Lich will fly away with you.”

Given that the Beastmen didn’t appear to have any ranged attackers thus far, it felt unlikely that everything would line up just right. If anything, a powerful Ranger would notice Ludmila just floating out in the open with Saiko and attack them first.

After checking over her apprentices one last time, Ludmila sent them off. She frowned over how little sound they made as they rose into the twilight: Skeletal Dragons being something like Golems made entirely from bone and animated by negative energy, there were no wingbeats to be heard. If anything, the sound of the wind whipping at the robes of the Elder Liches riding them was louder.

As they rose, the light from the sun, which had gone below the horizon, caught their bony white frames.

?Hold on. Stay under the light from the sunset. You’ll be seen from kilometres away otherwise. Don’t cast Invisibility until you get closer to the battlefield.?

The Skeleton Dragons banked and descended in a wide circuit until shadow covered them once again. Nodding to herself, Ludmila activated her hairpin.

“Let’s get going, Saiko,” she said. “Battle awaits.”