Chapter 40

In the aftermath, Kaze and I were faced with a choice: go after Lady Flir once more, or stay and help as best we could.

We chose to stay.

Not a day after the hero’s defeat, the Royal Army arrived in force. For all his failings as a leader, Hipoin at least sent for help. That was enough to save him from the gallows. Exile was still in the cards, and his commission was pulled, so there was some justice in the world, at least.

As the only survivors who saw more than a tiny part of the battle, Kaze and I spent endless hours debriefing with everyone from the first captain to arrive on scene with a scout company to the field marshal who was to be taking charge of the campaign against Lady Flir.

“So you thought it wise to obliterate all of the city’s remaining field artillery and most of its powder in order to take out…how many heavy infantry?”

“Dunno. A couple thousand, at least,” I said. “I didn’t exactly stop to count.”

Marshal Essow grunted and scribbled some notes on her diptych.

She was a short, squat woman, probably closer to fifty than forty, and looked like she could overhead press a knight in full armor. Women don’t have the privilege of climbing the ranks of the Royal Army on the strength of their connections. They have to rely on skill, and by all accounts, Marshal Essow was as formidable as she looked.

“Fair trade, I’d say,” she said. “Artillery is usually good for two percent casualties on a sustained barrage.”

“Two thousand was closer to twenty percent,” I said. “Add in the other twenty percent that made it into the city, and I’d say that was the lion’s share of the army’s teeth.”

We estimated, in the aftermath, that the hero’s stolen army had about ten thousand souls, all told, plus the elites borrowed from Lady Flir. A little under half of them were the teeth, combat troops expected to face us down in battle. The other just-over-half were the tail, the logistics and support such an army needed to sustain itself.

“I’m not arguing, General Nock. If it was up to me, I’d hang enough medals around your neck to bury you. And that woman of yours.”

There was gentle mockery in her voice when she called me General. My commission was valid. That wasn’t to say it was earned. Had I not acquitted myself in battle, I expect the mockery would be a lot less good natured.

“I guess it’s a good thing it’s not up to you?” I asked, matching her playful tone.

“I’ll be blunt: the Crown is furious. The king needs someone to blame and he’s fresh out of options. I could hang this on that rat bastard Hipoin’s head, but he has enough connections to save him from complete disgrace. Lieutenant Colonel Degle proved her worth in ways not even King Garus can deny. If I include you or Sagar in any of my reports, it’ll fall on you.”

“I don’t suppose you could just show him a mirror, eh? None of this would have happened if he got the lead out sooner.”

She snorted. The noise sounded more like something a horse would make, or maybe an ogre.

“Fat lot of good it would do. Be careful who you talk like that around, mind. The word ‘treason’ is awfully sticky these days.”

“With respect to the Crown, I predate its existence,” I said. “Ask the King what happened to the last monarch that got on my bad side. He bleeding well knows.”

“That was you?”

“In my defense, there weren’t any better alternatives at the time,” I said. “I could kill the Emperor or watch him enslave the rest of the world after the Taming. I didn’t fight so damned hard to make it happen just for him to turn it into a tool of terror.”

“When you put it like that, the Schism doesn’t seem so bad.”

“It wasn’t great, but it could have been a lot worse,” I said. “And he damn well knows it. I made a promise to his great-great grandfather. I intend to keep it.”

“You know what? I don’t want to know,” she said. “And I’m certainly not writing you up now. The old fool is already paranoid enough, hence the need for a scapegoat.”

“Why not use the hero? This whole mess is his fault anyway. Omit the parts where he turned traitor and say he died defending the city as a valiant fool. It’s a lie, but a useful one.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“Aye, that would do nicely. Saves us the trouble of explaining how he was corrupted, and it gives our propagandists someone to subtly shade in shades of shit. For the next month, he’ll be remembered as a hero. Once the pundits start combing over the records-”

“He’ll be a laughingstock,” I said.

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer fellow. What will you do next?”

“Flir’s still out there,” I said. “So long as that’s the case, I intend to put her down.”

“Figures. You’re good on my end, then. Just take your lady friend with you, aye? I’ve kept her out of irons, but she’s not well trusted.”

“She’ll be coming,” I promised. “This means as much to her as it does to me.”

Kaze and I left town that night and headed north, back onto the high plains of Leur. With the hero dead, the bounty was null and void. The presence of so many adventurers bought us some breathing room. No army would venture as far as our little hidey hole in the side of the hill.

“This view never gets old,” she said, stretching out on her bedroll.

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “Seems like an eternity since the last time we were here.”

“It does,” she said. “So much has changed since then. And yet, it feels like nothing has changed at all. We’re no closer to catching Lady Flir.”

“I’d say we’re a little closer. We know where she’s going to hit next.”

Pesden’s flash paper map survived the trials and tribulations of the battle unscathed. Good thing it did. I had it tucked deep in the pack, between my socks and underwear. If it went up, I was in rough shape until I could get to an outfitter’s.

I hadn’t yet told her that Flir’s next target wouldn’t be a keystone. Ignimancers don’t do anything the easy way. We blunted plan A, aye. Plan A is usually the noisy, messy one that’s designed to make you look left so you don’t see the sucker punch coming from your blind side.

That was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, it was just us, a bottle of wine, and a sunset. Battles have a way of making you appreciate the little things.

“I’ve always wanted to visit Wilos. I hear it’s nice this time of year,” she said. “But that’s not quite what I meant.”

“Oh?”

“We’re making more assumptions than I like based on incomplete information. Destroying the keystones is an excellent first step for any normal megalomaniac, but Lady Flir is far from normal. It doesn’t feel…grandiose enough. Something tells me there’s more at play here.”

“That business with the gods?”

“I can’t help but feel they have a hand in this,” she said. “Between the hero being corrupted and Aethna acting so openly, there’s something going on that we’re not privy to.”

“They’re gods,” I said. “They don’t make a habit of telling us their intentions.”

She rolled over, her golden eyes boring into mine.

“Doesn’t it bother you, though?”

“Oh, sure, it bothers me,” I said. “There’s just nothing we can do about it. We’re less than ants to them. Do you have any idea how much energy it would take to even reach the astral…oh.”

My heart sank as the pieces clicked into place. I knew what she was after now, and it was enough to turn my guts to water.

“Oh?”

“Sorry. Should have completed that thought,” I said. “Allow me to start again. Oh, fuck. Lady Flir isn’t just trying to undo the Taming. She’s trying to become a god.”