CHAPTER 10: A LEADER'S RESPONSIBILITY

***Telis’ camp, in the initial hours of Kuro’s amphibious assault…***

A young fox-warrior suddenly barged in Telis’ hut, with his face devoid of any color. He was also panting, a proof of the distance that he ran to report to their commander. “Captain, the Human king’s ships appeared at the northeast and is currently landing his armies there.”

The fox elder immediately sat up on her litter, “What? The northeast?”

“Yes,” the warrior replied, “the villages there are being evacuated as we speak, but the enemy has been dropping exploding barrels on our kin! Our forces defending that area are asking for help.”

“Quick, call the other leaders,” was Telis’ instructions. “Tell them to gather the men they can spare and march to the northeast as soon as possible.”

“Yes, your—”

Their conversation was interrupted when a loud explosion rocked Telis’ hut, followed by screams of pain and despair. The fox elder and the orderly rushed to check on what’s happening. But just as they stepped outside, a bomb fell nearby that made the other fox turn into a red mist. Telis herself was thrown off to the sides along with her servants carrying the litter, utterly disoriented.

“W-What the—”

As Telis’ eyes turned to the skies, she saw several Avinus Eagles flying above her camp and dropping wooden barrels that explode upon hitting the ground. Her warriors, as well as their families, were panicking, trying to avoid the deadly projectiles, but they were mostly just running in circles. The fox elder watched in horror as children and their parents were torn apart by the explosions. Her men desperately shot their arrows or threw whatever item they could grab at the Eagles, though it was ineffective as the Avinus were hovering in high altitude.

“Da-Damn these Avinus t-traitors!” she could only spit curses while crawling away. Fortunately for Telis, her warriors saw and quickly pulled her to safety.

“Captain,” her commanders followed Telis to her hiding spot amidst the bombing, “we heard that the Human king has already gained a foothold of our island!”

“Does it mean the Isidus are quickly defeated?” one of them asked, still in disbelief.

“I don’t know about what happened to Chief Sekhte and her tribe, but well, your eyes are not fooling you,” Telis pointed to the Eagle squadrons above them. “Those are the Human king’s warriors. Of course, they wouldn’t be there if the enemy has not come. The Avinus archipelago is way too distant from our island, after all.”

“Ah, speaking of the Eagles, some of our warriors also say that there are enemies that landed in the ridges near the lake,” another commander added to their growing list of concerns. “Their numbers are few compared to the ones at the beach, and apparently, they were carried in there by those Avinus.”

“What did you say?” Telis couldn’t hide her shock at the news. “Did the Saint’s palace fell to their hands?”

“Uh…captain, there’s fighting going on at the ridges and at the forest canopy directly below it. Our warriors defending those areas are asking for reinforcements as well.”

“We cannot allow the Saint’s palace to fall to the Human king’s warriors; we sheltered our families there, and they would surely be taken hostage! How are our other armies?”

“They’re marching to this place as we speak, captain. Although, we halted their advance after we saw those Eagles attack this camp.”

The fox-woman was silent upon hearing the reports. Taking a deep breath, she pondered on her options amidst the tremors, horrific screams and loud explosions caused by the bombing runs.

“What are your orders, captain?” a commander asked, trying to push Telis to decide as soon as possible.

“Split the armies into three columns. Two will head to the northeast, while the third will reinforce the garrison at the Saint’s palace,” the fox-woman drew her instructions on the ground as she sighed in resignation. “Move through the thickest of the forests to avoid those Eagles, for they are keen of sight. We’re going to drive back those filthy invaders to the sea!”

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***The 1st Black Feathers Wing, somewhere in the forests of the Cauldron***

“Everyone, push!”

The members of the Black Feathers gave it their all as they desperately lifted the rock that crushed Sir Loin. Though it barely budged at first, their combined efforts finally caused it to be moved away, revealing the parka guy underneath.

“Goodness, what took you guys so long to lift this stupid rock? I’m getting lonely underneath!” was Sir Loin’s greeting to them the moment they got it off. Everyone was dumbfounded. Apparently, their overall commander fell unto a shallow pit, narrowly avoiding a gory fate. Nevertheless, they were still astonished by what they saw…

“Sir…” a Chicken tribesman pointed to his arm and back, “…what are those?”

“Oh this?” Sir Loin showed to them the pieces of metal attached to his body, “This, here, is an ‘exo-suit’. It basically strengthens my body more than it looks. I guess I haven’t showed it to you yet, since it’s always invisible.”

“What about your hand?”

“Well, my hands are made of metal, too. Surprise, surprise! Haha!” the parka guy tried to diffuse the awkward tension by laughing, though it did little in the end.

“So that’s why he can swing that big railgun like a twig…”

“Err…I know he’s weird, but this is too much…”

“What kind of human magic is that I wonder…”

“Ahem!” At once the Black Feathers stiffened, for they knew that the moment Sir Loin cleared his throat, it meant that he wanted their full attention. “How about—instead of you guys exchanging rumors—we get a move on? Don’t forget that we’re still in the middle of enemy territory.”

“Y-Yes sir!” they immediately complied.

Sir Loin then looked at his hand, the ‘skin’ of which was partially destroyed when he used it to keep the boulder from crushing him. And he had to take a look at his exo-suit as well, for it seemed like it got affected too. But first, he had to check on Rumia…

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He found the dog-girl at the rear of their column. Her ears were drooping, and her tail down. When she accidentally looked at him, Rumia quickly averted her gaze. Nevertheless, Sir Loin approached her.

“You must’ve realized how dangerous your actions are by now, Doggie-chan.”

“…”

“I mean, there are times when we have to sacrifice to save the others. I don’t think it’s heartless, you know. After all, we’re only mortals, and we can’t possibly protect everyone.”

“Sir Loin…I’m really sorry…”

“It’s fine. But I hope you don’t make the same mistake in the future, when you’re finally the one at the helm. Leadership is something that would require painful things from you, for the greater good of everyone is a leader’s responsibility.”

The dog-girl said nothing, but she looked at Sir Loin.

“W-What?” he began to feel awkward.

“A-Are you…going away?”

“Hm?”

“Well, you said that ‘when I’m finally the one at the helm’. What do you mean by that?”

“Oh? Actually, I’m recommending you to be the one to succeed me, you know?” the parka guy laughed. “After this war, I intend to resign from the Chief of Staff position, and just travel around and do illegal—I mean, legal stuff.”

Sir Loin meant the last part of his statement as a joke, just to lighten the sad atmosphere between him and Rumia. However, much to his surprise, the dog-girl was even more depressed.

“Sir Loin…can you please…”

“Err…”

“Can you please remain with us instead? Luka and I see you as family, and we would always welcome you!”

“Doggie-chan—”

“Please call me Rumia! I won’t demand anything else but that!”

Now it was the parka guy’s turn to stare at her. Then he sighed, and gave the dog-girl a head pat. “Rumia, I’d like to thank you for that. However, I have to be honest, I’m not so sure of myself as well. I don’t know if I’ll stay or be gone the next minute. But, as long as I am here, I’d do my best to protect the friends I made in this world…and that includes you.”

“Sir Loin…”

“Ah, anyway! Maybe I’d stay in this kingdom for a while. As for you, I’m sure you’re going to be a great military commander in the future,” the parka guy smiled. “But, before that, let’s defeat these foxes and get the hell out of this place.”

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**Kuro**

Acting on the information Ruro gave us about this island and its people, our hope of putting an end to the bloodshed was to convince Telis that resistance was futile, and her tribe was risking annihilation if they continued to fight. The fox tribe, though they were small, were proud and crafty warriors with experience of fighting Konka’s armies way back in the past. While their villages were scattered throughout the Cauldron, they were a close-knit society that puts family relations above everything else.

That’s why, their elder’s support for their ‘adopted’ daughter, Ruro, is that nearly unconditional…

So, putting those cultural facts into consideration, I surmised that if we capture or bomb their villages along with its civilian population, the greater the chance that Telis would surrender.

“…”

But damn it…as much as I don’t want to kill any innocent person, this is a total war. Civilians are considered fair targets, for they contribute to the war capability of their side.

I took a deep breath and sighed. Being a leader was a hard role to do. It’s as if I’m selling my soul to the devil so I could do despicable actions and save the rest from further punishment.

“…”

Don’t lose your focus, Kuro. You’re almost at the end of your goal…you’re about to unite Cherwind!

In any case, I’m worried. The shores where we landed had several villages scattered from the beach itself up to the slopes of the island caldera, some of which were on the forest edges. Our advance and subsequent fanning out across the areas near the shores captured some of our targets, which was already bombed out and empty of civilians (we only saw dead fox warriors). Marching further inland made us encounter several fox tribesmen defending the area, all of them fought to their deaths instead of surrendering.

“…”

Looking at our map, our earlier reconnaissance missions revealed the presence of fox villages at ridges of the caldera. And since there were places like that in unlikely areas, we highly-suspected that there were also fox communities hidden under the forest canopy that led to the ridges and crater lake. Capturing those along with its people will enable us to use them as ‘bargaining chips’ for Telis.

That’s the reason we sent in our airborne forces in the first place. Not only they were tasked of sabotaging enemy fortifications along our route of advance, they also had the mission of capturing any villages they come across.

However, with the enemy resistance getting stiffer the higher we advanced up the caldera and the forest canopy, I could only surmise that the airborne assault may have failed to attain its objective, or they were experiencing difficulties in doing so. But it was my secondary concern; I’m more anxious about the people we sent out.

What happened to them? Are they still alive?

The Eagle squadrons were repeatedly doing their bombing runs, in accordance to our plans to clear everything in our path. Supporting our advance were the ships’ cannon fire, after the smokescreen we laid down dissipated. And even I were providing ‘sniper’ cover, having killed a good number of our enemies to wreak chaos on the opposing side. But the fierce resistance continued…

And still, no news about the Black Feathers…

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As I supervised the progress of the battle, one of the Eagle tribesmen conducting missions suddenly landed in front of me, “Your Majesty! I didn’t know you also came with the army!”

“Well, I prefer to lead at the front. Anyway, why did you come to me? Got anything to report?”

“Yes Sire,” the Eagle-man then pointed to our east and west. “While flying over this mountain, we noticed movement under the trees in those directions. The forest cover was thick in those areas, so we can’t confirm whether or not those are the lost airborne warriors of ours. We’re afraid of hitting our own allies if we try to bomb those places.”

“No, don’t do it,” I told him. “It’s too risky, since we lost visual contact with Sir Loin and the 1st Black Feathers Wing. Though keep up your aerial patrols over the area in case your squadron’s help is needed.”

The Eagle tribesman saluted, but he added, “Nevertheless, we implore you evacuate back to the ships, Your Majesty. We think the foxes are massing for a major counterattack.”

“If they’re not the airborne guys, then it’s all better,” I smirked. “We can finally shoot at every direction we wished.”

The Eagle-man gave me a long stare, as if he was unsure whether or not to admire what I just said. But as someone who went through a lot of hell and got a good number of arrows, swords, spears and other weapons that tried to kill him, the prospect of getting surrounded by the enemy was like ‘another day in the office’.

Once the Eagle tribesman left to rearm himself, I went to the trenches to prepare our men for the possible enemy counterattack. We already captured several defensive trenches at the edge of the forest and cleared the ditches of traps, while the soldiers were slowly pushing back the defenders stubbornly clinging to every inch of their territory.

I ordered them to turn back, so we could merge our gains.

“A report has come to me that the foxes might be massing to make a counterattack,” I explained to the bewildered officers, surprised by my order to regroup. “We’ll hold them in these trenches, and hopefully, they exhaust themselves in the offensive. After that, we can resume our push upwards.”

After recalling the soldiers, we immediately prepared our defenses for the expected attack. The ‘real’ trenches at the end of the fox breastworks was designated as our first line of defense, while the ditches were quickly dug and enlarged, to serve as communication and second-line trenches. I had the railgun placed on the rear-most trench (a former ditch), as putting it at the front would make it attractive to enemy archers and skirmishers.

While we’re heading in for a defensive engagement, I had some of the Eagles run supply errands to replenish our food, drinks, ammunition and even spare parts for our weapons. Minister Ruja went even further by sending some extra provisions, just in case the encounter dragged on.

However, he also gave the logistics runner a message: “Supplies are almost 75 percent depleted. I already have two ships detached to get more provisions on the mainland, but it might take time.”

“…”

Yep, I have to force a conclusion to this battle before our supplies are exhausted.

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“Enemy skirmishers incoming!”

The moment someone shouted that warning, we immediately jumped down our trenches. Soon, javelins came whizzing above our heads, with some of our men becoming casualties in the attack. The enemy held the higher ground, so not only do they had good vantage point to which they could pick their targets, their lethal missiles also had increased gravity and power in skewering any unfortunate victims caught by those.

“Your Majesty, where are you going? Come back here!”

“Pour those bullets against the enemy! Protect the king!”

“Keep down! Don’t shoot!” I roared as I moved around our defenses in an attempt to heal the wounded, sometimes running the gauntlet through the field of fire. But some of whom I’m trying to reach died while I was en route, either by blood loss or getting hit repeatedly by the deadly projectiles.

Damn these fuckers! I can’t even do something about our injured…

“Hold your fire!” the officers were shouting orders for their soldiers to lie low. The enemy kept on peppering us with javelins, which were soon joined by darts and arrows. To counter their attack, our men had to expose themselves to fire their muskets, which was risky, so I sent an order for them to wait the enemies to exhaust their ammunition.

But the foxes stocked a good number of their supplies as well. The rain of deadly projectiles continued for quite a long while now, effectively pinning our forward lines from returning fire.

And since we couldn’t answer the foxes’ fire, it was the Eagles who came to our rescue and dropped their bombs with impunity.

“Whooo!” the men from the first trench cheered on the bombers as they flew overhead.

“Get those foxes!” was the thunderous order of the officers to proceed firing at the enemy. I and my orderlies ran to the railgun and began firing at the retreating skirmishers, which was followed by organized volleys from our guys at the first trench. The enemy fell like dominoes before our counterfire, and it was an encouraging sight to us.

But then, it is only the start of the battle.

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Across the forest were the marching sounds of the fox armies approaching our positions. The officers put a stop to the volleys as they listened to where the attack would come from. The tense waiting on our side was cut when we heard someone blew a war-horn somewhere in the forest in front of us, and then…

“Attack!”

“Raaaaarrrrghhh!!!”

As it turned out, our officers shouldn’t have worried about the direction of the attack, for the fox warriors surged out of every way—save for the rear—trying to overwhelm us. Armed with clubs, swords, spears, daggers, axes, and impressive amounts of courage and daring, they rushed to close in the distance between their positions and our defenses, ignoring their friends who felled beside them.

Our soldiers resumed firing their muskets, but they only got to discharge two volleys before switching to melee combat.

Swords versus bayonets. Clubs against musket stocks. The foxes continued to pour into the first trench in an effort to swamp our men there. However, we fought as fierce as they were, with some even resorting to punching, kicking and biting their enemies when their weapons broke.

The other soldiers stationed in the communication trenches couldn’t shoot their muskets, for fear of hitting our own. And so, in an effort to help the beleaguered first line, they also engaged the foxes in close quarters. Spears skewered bodies, swords hacked through flesh, daggers and bayonets pierced chests or necks, the bloodbath continued unabated for a several minutes.

Our casualties were mounting, and the wounded being evacuated to our rear was starting to exceed my capacity to heal. There were times that some of the injured would refuse treatment as long as they could still move, insisting that they remain in their positions to continue the fight.

“His Majesty is risking his life for us! Why should we retreat if he’s standing his ground?” was the sentiment of our warriors. Likewise, I won’t leave them for my own safety.

However, the other commanders pleaded, “Your Majesty, please evacuate from this place! It’s dangerous for you to remain!”

“No, I’ll go with you guys!” I reiterated. “Call anyone in the rear trenches that can still fight. Bring muskets, bayonets, swords and grenades; as many as they can. We’ll push these fuckers back.”

At a moment’s notice, we gathered an entire company of able-bodied men—both officers and common soldiers—armed to the teeth. Then I took personal command of this group as we marched towards the first trench.

“Form lines!” I shouted the order, “Fix bayonets!”

Once the enemy came to our line of sight…

“Get down! Fire!”

The first order was for our men engaged in close combat with the foxes. The second one was for our makeshift company to discharge their volleys, which felled several of the enemy.

“First line, retreat! Second line, aim! Fire!”

Another set of foxes went down like dominoes as we advanced through the narrow trench and relieved the tired defenders of that line.

“Second line, retreat! Third line, aim! Fire!”

Still, another group of enemies were killed. Soon the foxes realized that we’re the more dangerous threat and concentrated on overwhelming us.

“Phalanx formation! Present bayonets!”

As in their training, our soldiers moved closer to one another to form a human-beastmen wall three ranks deep. The first line kneeled, with their bayonets slanted upwards, while the second and third lines had their bayonets pointed forward in an alternating arrangement. It was the perfect ‘bayonet wall’; but the foxes just threw themselves to our forest of bayonets like they were in a battle frenzy.

With a sword tied to my severed arm, and a matchlock pistol on the other, I also added on our kill count. Watching me fight also invigorated the exhausted men of the first trench, and they fought like it was their last.

The foxes tried to flank our position by going over the top of the trenches and pouncing on us from there. However, the Eagles took care of them with their own volley fire from the skies. And our ships also added to the carnage by shelling the foxes a short distance from us, in what could be dubbed as ‘Cherwind’s first creeping artillery barrage’.

With every combatant on both sides engaged in the bloodletting, the end drew near. The enemy gave us a good amount of headache, but they realized we won’t break easily too. As the deaths and injuries mounted, they began to pull off—even while under intense cannon fire, slowly retreating into the forest though they remained facing us.

“…”

We watched the foxes in silent admiration. I mean, with everything that we threw against them, they were only defeated, not vanquished.

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***Telis’ new camp***

The reports of the battle at the trenches soon reached the fox-elder just as she was moving towards her new headquarters, after the old was destroyed.

“C-Captain, sad tidings!” a runner came to her, “The enemy fiercely repulsed our attacks and many of our kin lay dead and injured before them. Several of your commanders were among the casualties too.”

Telis could not speak for a few moments. She didn’t know what to feel at that time, for her tears won’t come out, though she was overcome with extreme sadness. She couldn’t scream as well, though rage was filling her heart. She just stared at the runner, who seemed to say something else, yet she didn’t understand any of it.

“Captain!”

The fox-woman’s senses returned to her when the messenger finally shook her.

“Are you…alright?”

“Y-Yes, Jehu…I…I’m alright,” she replied, trying to hide shaky voice. “What are you saying to me again?”

“I was talking about how our dead kin were honored by our strange enemy.”

“H-Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, while we retreated, we sent some scouts to see if the Human king and his army would pursue us,” the runner said. “However, much to our scouts’ surprise, the Human king didn’t come after us and instead ordered his men to bury the dead—ours and theirs, saluting them both as well.”

The fox-woman had difficulty understanding what she had just heard. The Human king honored her dead kin by burying and saluting them? The Lord Kuro sure was weird, but to be this weird…it’s something that she couldn’t explain to her men.

“N-Nevermind the Human king, that guy is really strange,” she switched the topic. “What happened to the armies? Where did they retreat?”

“They are currently regrouping to the west of the enemy trenches as we speak, captain. Your remaining commanders are planning another attack once we combined the remnants of the columns that took part in the battle.”

“How about the third column? Where are they?”

“As far as we know, they are heading to the Saint’s palace to bolster our forces defending that place.”

Telis then pondered on her options once again, before telling the messenger, “Tell the commanders near the enemy trenches to stay on the defensive for a while. Then send a message to the third column to conduct an offensive against our enemies that were fighting at the ridges; do not let those bastards near the Saint’s palace, or even the lake surrounding it. Once those guys are defeated, we’ll resume our attacks on the Human king’s forces.”

Without further delay, the runner saluted his captain and left with her instructions.