The Calm Before

Leo

Leo looked down upon the vegetative mass that had once been his father. Sato had somehow managed to seal the opened tissue about his throat. It wasn't clean, but the wound would not have naturally healed at all. Where it had once been, there was instead a gilded gullet. The gash was still apparent, red and raw on either end of the gold. Leo found some sort of sick irony in it. His father's words had always been gilded. Now he looked the part.

The Duke's face was no longer the same bluish-purple as Leo's portals that it had been when he was desperately grasping for what he believed were his final breaths. Thanks to Sato, they were not, but they might as well have been.

The Masked Doctor had already been summoned to the castle for the Festival. When the attack occurred, he rushed over to support Sato's aid. He had later declared that the Duke had been too long without oxygen in his brain and most likely catatonic and dead of the brain. His heart still beat and his lungs still pumped in his chest, but no one was there to receive it.

Leo, as King Apparent, had as much say as his mother in what to do. It mattered not. They were of one mind on this. Leo had willingly agreed to the task. He placed his hands on the Duke's gilded gullet.

"Father, I have wanted you dead long as I can remember, and I have hated you longer still. I lament that you fell in the way you have still. There is so much I wanted to say to you. So much I wanted you to know. It feels useless to say it all now, knowing you cannot hear it. Still, I will say my peace." Leo lamented. He paused to take a breath.

"You are a horrible father and a nasty man. I know once you were a hero, young and brave, with ideals and aspirations, but all that went to Rott under the power that melted your mind and consumed your body. You are sick. You never should have been King. Mother would have ruled much more justly than you ever could. You are a fool, a drunk, an abuser, and worst of all, my father." Leo's hands tightened around the Duke's golden gullet.

"I am grateful that Mother and my sisters will not have to endure another day of your foul accompance. All you ever taught me was hate and resentment. These lessons I learned all too well. My greatest regret is that I never felled you myself. You are not my father, simply that who begot me." Leo's hands constricted around the Duke's golden gullet.

"Bruno was everything you never were. He was warm, compassionate, caring, protective, and loving. I love him, Father. I love him as I never loved you. I hope you are forgotten, as I surely intend to forget you. Never will I forget the lessons you learned me. I swear never to forget those. Goodbye, Father. May we never meet again." Leo's hands strangled the Duke's golden gullet.

The gilded gullet defied destruction. Leo loosed Wyrm and plunged it into the spectacular substance. The gilded gullet stopped the strike dead. Leo had used enough force to shatter bone. That gave Leo an interesting idea. Sato and he had much work to do. He had to get this over with.

Leo thought he heard a sound and saw something in the Duke's eye as he brought the tasseled down pillow down on his father's face. There was no struggle. No fight left at all. The Duke died quietly.

The Duke was dead. Long Rott the Duke. His father was at peace. A peace Leo feared he would never know.

Daniel

Sato and Leo had been sparring all day long in preparation for their final confrontation with Grimm. They were now getting some much-needed rest. Their mission was separate from all the other defensive fortifications. Their mission was offensive. In order to protect their deploy, the whole garrison was going to have to push past the walls. Defensively, this was a blunder, but they could not win the war with a defensive strategy.

They were entirely surrounded, cut off from reinforcements, save for the Pryde, by a clever diversionary ploy, and many miles. Help was not coming tonight, and they had to hold out. They had food reserves, but the Sea was their lifeblood, and the enemies had already taken it. Not only did it provide their enemies endless food, it also camouflaged their movements. They could not survive a prolonged siege without it. 

They were outnumbered, surrounded, cut off, and headless with the death of the Duke. If he wasn't dead yet, he was soon to be. Daniel had seen it in Sato's eyes yesterday. If he could help him, he wouldn't be drilling or dreaming.

Their prospects were all but hopeless, which is why Leo had offered to take him and Rebe home, at Sato's request, no doubt. They had both rapidly rebutted him, and Leo had not argued the issue further. He knew he needed every last man.

The plan was as simple as it was dangerous. Sato and Leo, under an envelope of knights, would ride into the Sea, locate Grimm, and eliminate him. That was the only way. Grimm held the shambling masses together, all but literally. Without him, their unity and cohesion would collapse. General Sullivan could command in his stead, but too few would listen. There were too many different factions: the Green Growers, the Reapers, the Undien knights, the Wolves, the Rats, the Royalists, the Unrotten, the farmers, the laborers, the Felene, the local lords, and the turncoats. This was the glimmer of light peaking out of the end of this oh-so-dark tunnel.

Everything else was a diversion or a defense. The archers, the draggoons, the pikemen, the New Knights, the guards, and the Good Knights. Bruno, Daniel, Rebe, and all the rest. Anyone who volunteered to go out of the gate was granted that assignment.

The evacuation that Daniel and Luci had masterminded was well underway, facilitated by Rebe and Luci, Sam, and Frenchie. The people had been evacuated in waves. Those of the castle had left first, hiding deep in the dungeons. Most of the villagers were sheltering in the castle proper. 

The farmers had not been offered shelter of any kind. Not even just behind the town wall. Frenchie had said it was too risky. Any of them could be spies, traitors, or turncoats. They could not open the gates except when exiting in force. 

Even then, it was a great risk. It was uncertain if any would be let back in. In charge of it all was Bruno. The excursion that is. Frenchie commanded from the castle, with his New Knights handing out his orders. Each division had its own captains, but Bruno and Frenchie were in command. 

The defenders were all gathered below the walls. Volunteers were ladling out something hot to those awake enough to receive it. For too many, it would be their last meal, and the looks on their faces said they knew. Most of these men had not been at war for many years now. They had grown comfortable. These were not the brave soldiers who had been off fighting on the front under Sier Fredrickson. These were guards. Those who stayed. Those who remained.

Most were fully armoured, pikes resting against the wall. Some chatted, some joked, some diced, some prayed, some swore, some slept. All were making peace in their own ways. Daniel knew he must do the same. He was not a frontliner. His training was rudimentary compared to even that of Rebe. And it was laughable compared to that of Sato. But then again, none of these men had had the kind of intensive, focused training Sato had. Maybe some of the wealthier knights and draggoons. 

These guards were all under Captain Whitley's command, further divided among Siergents. Some would go out with Bruno, but most would stay to defend the outer and inner walls. Many of the villagers had volunteered to fight to protect their town. Captain Whitley had raided the armoury for extra pikes, dirks, shields, and anything else they could fight with. Some defended their homes. Some fought with the guards. Some even insisted on going outside. 

Daniel looked and saw the knights' guards too. He saw young Sier Macs on the dawn of his first battle. He was excited. He was polishing his sword obsessively. He saw Sier Seph, Sier Erest, Sier Temet, Sier Armold, Sier Elmon, and more. They would serve as Siergents and soldiers wherever they were needed. Most would be going out the gate to fight with Bruno or defend Sato and Leo. 

The cavalry stood in contrast to the guards. The bulk of the cavalry was komodon riders, and due to the deepness of the dark, their mounts were out of commission. This was the major drawback of komodon. The cavalry was useless at night. Before the Pryde had arrived with their 16 horses, the mission had been doomed. They had rode hard all night and arrived in time to grant them all hope. These men would be Sato and Leo's shields outside the walls. 

The knights of Leo's Pryde were all assembled. They stood out against the rest. They wore full-plate armour with greatness under their arms. Longsword, lances, maces, and axes. These men were ready for war. They wore the faces of soldiers. A face that says it has conquered fear. Not destroyed it, simply overcome it. Daniel admired them. In a strange way, he envied them. Not their mission, but their constitution. He knew many of them would not return. They knew this, too.

They were not his Leo's Pryde. They were the dying Duke's Pryde. His most trusted and experienced knight. Veterans of war. True soldiers. They were older than most of the guards, but also stronger and braver by many magnitudes. Their royal red cloaks symbolized their bonds of brotherhood. 

They wanted revenge. Each of them wanted to slay the man who slayed their Duke. Because to them, he wasn't just a Duke. He was their king. Daniel could see that in the determined gleam in their eyes. That was when he knew, despite all odds, despite everything else, these men would get Sato and Leo to Grimm. No matter what. And if either fell, they would fight to the last to slay the monster that martyred their king. 

Daniel looked and saw the range fighters: the draggoons, the bowmen, the crossbowmen. Most were up on the curtain wall, in the ramparts, in the crenulations. They were stringing their bows, checking the barrels containing their arrows for duds, and trying to rest. The Crossbows didn't have the range of the longbows. They were stationed lower to the ground, guarding the gates and the Castle.

The Draggoons were highly hierarchical. They were divided by class. The commoner mercs in leathers would be out on the front with the pikemen and knights once the battle began. The Nobles in their fancy robes were up in the towers and around the castle, far from the front. A few volunteered to go out, but far fewer than did not. These men were not the same kind of proud as Leo's Knights. These men were too proud to be noble and too noble to be proud. Daniel didn't like them one bit.

Daniel looked and saw the clockers. He saw Grandfather and his guildmen preparing fortifications, warmachines, weapons, and traps. Most of which he couldn't even conceive of the purpose. Some would stay behind to operate the machines, but most, including Grandfather, would fall back before the fighting in earnest. They were considered too valuable to risk outside the walls.

Finally, Daniel looked and saw his fellow New Knights, under Lance's command, were placed within the castle as well. Their lack of armour would not serve them on the front. They were better bodyguards than soldiers. That was his assignment. A group was going off with Sato and Leo, but those were draggoons, not knights.

Daniel looked and saw nobles and mercenaries, guards and villagers who were willing to fight. Daniel understood all of them. What it was to be a proud knight. A true soldier. A scared guard. He didn't know if he could ever aspire to all that. But he, like every man here, and the women, had his role to play. He was assigned to the Clockers. With his master.

Daniel was too scared to be tired. He wished he could be brave and inspire others to bravery. But all he was was terrified. The attacks could resume at any minute. Once Sato and Leo awoke, it would be time. A part of him hoped they would never rise. He wasn't going out with them himself, Frenchie's Orders. Still, he preferred the men to be in here with him than out there with them. The stories he'd heard from the men of the Undiens savagery and brutality. They were more monsters than men in his mind. The descriptions he'd heard of General Sullivan were nothing short of bone-chilling. And Grimm had haunted him to his core when he saw him. He had hidden under the table like a coward.

Daniel had no desire to face either, period. Let alone on the battlefield. Sato would have to face Grimm. He would have Leo by his side, but still. What if they got separated? Daniel was certain, even with his training and relic, Sato alone would not survive that conflict. 

It was dark. It was silent. The stars were gleaming. The wind was whistling. For just an instant, all was calm and right in the world.

That was when the rain began to fall.