A Natural Awakening

When I opened my eyes, I realised that I was in an unfamiliar room, and that it was probably already midday.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the bed. Gah, why didn’t Zeya wake me up?

…oh

I frowned, getting out of bed, and slowly remembering what had happened. Kassora had fallen, Zeya had died so that we could defeat Audra, and now we were in Zelle. Then, I met the Lord-Mayor and… I fell asleep whilst he talked to me.

Surprisingly, the room around me looked even nicer than my one in the palace in Kassora. I suppose he couldn't have been too upset if he sent me here… I noticed a spare change of clothes were neatly folded on one of the chairs, so I got changed, and headed out the room.

As I walked out, I realised I didn’t recognise the layout of the castle at all. I wandered around the halls to little success, and eventually bumped into a maid.

“Err, excuse me… Do you know where the Lord-Mayor is?”

She bowed slightly at me. “The master is in his study. I shall tell him you are awake, and arrange a meeting for you and your comrades.”

I blushed a little, embarrassed by how much more formal the maids were than in Kassora. “Ah, erm, thank you.”

The maid walked off, and I waited in the hallway, looking around at Zelle Castle. The wall was covered with glorious tapestries, paintings, and enormous mirrors. I looked at my reflection, and realised I really did look exhausted.

Eventually, the maid returned, and bowed again. “Follow me, if you please.”

She took me down a spiral staircase and into a large meeting room. The Lord-Mayor sat at the head of the table, and Xiulan, Cordelia, and Cassel were seated as well.

“Xiulan!”, I said, running up to her. She stood up and hugged me, smiling.

“I heard that you fell asleep in front of the entire welcome ceremony. We were wondering when you’d wake up!”

“How long has it been?” I asked.

“You were asleep for a week.”

“What?!”

Xiulan laughed. “I’m just kidding, just kidding. You only slept for a day.”

“That’s still pretty embarrassing,” I grumbled.

I turned to the Lord-Mayor, and bowed deeply. “I’m so sorry for my disrespect, sir! I hadn’t slept in far too long, and I’d come from a battle, and-”

The Lord-Mayor raised a hand. “Please, no need to apologise or to call me sir. Take a seat, a friend of Zeya is a friend of mine. My name is Norell, and I’d like you to feel at home in my city. As you likely noticed, I’ve set you up in a room in my castle.”

“I’m really grateful, and sorry about falling asleep again.”

Norrel smiled. “I don’t blame you for falling asleep. After all, if you managed to get here faster than Zeya did, you must have been pushing yourselves to the limit!”

I briefly made eye contact with Cordelia and Cassel, and their apologetic expressions made me realise that they hadn’t told the bad news yet. It seems like they left the difficult job for me to do.

I gritted my teeth, and began to sweat. As I spoke, my voice wavered a little.

“Uh, actually…”

Everyone stared at me expectantly, and I struggled to hold back a tear.

“Zeya… died to protect us and kill Archmage Audra. I’m so sorry… Her sacrifice saved us all…”

Norell averted his gaze. “Oh my…”

There was an awkward silence, and I glared at Cassel and Cordelia across the table for making me have to break the news. Xiulan, who was sitting next to me, put her hand on my shoulder.

Norell regained his composure, and adjusted his glasses. “I suppose I cannot let her sacrifice be in vain. Were you able to take Blitz with you?”

“Blitz?”

“Our family heirloom, the sword. It’s a somewhat pagan artefact, but I figured you’d understand why we kept it...”

He continued. “I know the rebellion banned the use of magic, but we might need to make an exception for The Bloodletter. Duke Sylvanus can heal anyone who’s suffered a wound that causes bleeding, but if we use electricity, there’s no way he can recover his troops.”

I gritted my teeth again. “Er, she died in an explosion and the palace collapsed in on itself. There’s no trace of anyth-”

“Enough! Enough! That’s enough, I get the picture! Damn it!”, yelled Norell. I sat in stunned silence, and trembled a little.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I’m a bit emotional right now. If our only weapons are guns, then he’ll be able to heal his troops back to normal again and again and again. It’ll be a war of attrition until his magical energy runs out, and I’m not sure we have enough men for that… especially as the Saliers are getting involved.”

“What? The Salier Empire is getting involved? Why did nobody tell me?”

“You don’t like information being held back from you? That makes two of us!”, Norell hissed, glaring at Cordelia and Cassel.

Xiulan took a deep breath, trying to defuse the tense situation. “Some scouts reported that they saw knights from the Salier Empire burning local villages and killing local militias. It’s not a full army, but it’s a notable force.”

“I imagine they heard about the instability in the country, and saw it as an opportunity to attack… Although there are rumours that they’re working alongside Duke Sylvanus,” she continued

“But the Salier Empire is Leyth’s mortal enemy!” yelled Cassel, his outrage overcoming the shame he felt from Norell’s stare. “I don’t care how evil you are, not even an Archmage would do something like that! It goes against everything we stand for!”

“The whole justification for the magical rulers in the country is based on using magic to prevent the Salier Empire from attacking!” Cordelia added. “You wouldn’t truly understand, Seraphine, but there’s nothing a Leythian hates more than a Salier!”

“Is there any risk that the Salier Empire could take Zelle, or one of the other towns?” I asked.

“A small detachment of knights, take the mighty fortress of Zelle? Don’t be foolish! Zelle has resisted sieges of the entire Salier army three times!” boasted Norell. “It’s not about Zelle falling, it’s about how they risk ruining our attack on the capital!”

“Attack on the capital? Wait, you already planned one out?” I asked. “Why are we planning to do everything so fast?!”

Norell sighed. “I didn’t want it to come to this. See, if we had Blitz, I could have used its magical attack to stun the Archmage’s troops whilst you all attacked the city. But if all you have is guns, then he’ll be able to heal their wounds over and over again until he runs out of magical energy.”

“However,” he continued, “If he realises that Audra is dead and Kassora is empty, he’ll head to Mount Ley with hundreds and hundreds of sacrifices to increase his magical energy. Do we have enough gunpowder to sacrifice? Do we have enough lives to throw away? His men will rise up again, and again, and again.”

I bit my lip. “So even Audra knew we’d never be able to kill him… that’s why she told him to go in the back of the army so he’d choose to escape instead! Damn it, she planned this all out! The only thing she wasn’t expecting was that Zeya would kill her before she could finish the job.”

“Norell, the troops aren’t ready. We only have a hundred or so spare guns that we gave to the troops, and a couple of cannons,” Xiulan explained. “We can surround our gunners with a spearman shield wall, but…”

Norell frowned. “And what else would you have us do? The odds are tiny, but if he goes to Mount Ley, it’s over for us! We need to press the advantage.”

I frowned a little, realising that by oversleeping, I had wasted valuable time for the rebellion. Still, I felt more energised now that I had recovered, and I was ready to start thinking of solutions.

“With the cannons, we can probably bombard the city from a distance. We’ll probably be out of range enough to be safe from their spells.”

Xiulan nodded. “We can make earthworks so that they can’t just blast through them, and then use our cannons to fire back. If they want to charge the cannons, well… Norell, can an Archmage turn someone back into a person if our cannon blasts them into red paste?”

Norell shook his head. “You’re such a lovely lady, and yet you say such vulgar things… No, if a person is well and truly dead, he can’t heal them. He can only heal them if they’re at least barely alive.”

Xiulan leaned over to me with a grin. “Well Sera, I think we’ll finally be able to play with those new toys you made.”