Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 23

『…are you alive?』

『…is that some sort of joke?』

Still on her hands and knees in the bloodied mud, Ludmila waited for her regeneration to restore the damage she had sustained from the Viridian Dragon Lord’s retreat. Their gargantuan foe’s sudden spring towards the treeline caused the ground to violently heave, breaking both of her legs. Something told Ludmila that she could ignore her injuries and stand, but strange worries about healing in a weird way had her wait for the half-minute or so that it took to completely mend.

『I-it wasn’t meant to be a joke. I heard that you have died several times in the past, but I’m not sure how that feels as your companion. You’re technically not ‘living’, you know.』

『I’ll be fine. Where did that Dragon Lord go?』

『I’m shadowing her right now.』

『As a Dragon?』

『No, as a Human. It’s quite easy to sneak around in here with all this cover.』

Ludmila rose to her feet. She fished out a Trooper’s Towel, cleaning away the mess of mud, blood and plant juices smeared over her body. Surveying the damage in the clearing, she took inventory of her forces.

A few dozen Zombies and Squire Zombies were scattered around. The Death Priests were helping the Death Knights recover. Four of the Death Warriors had been destroyed. She let out a long sigh.

Why did I send them in?

Despite their incredible offensive ability, they were painfully fragile. With the equipment that His Majesty had bestowed upon her, Ludmila’s defensive capabilities were far superior to theirs. If she was continually taking crippling damage in melee, the Death Warriors would have fared far worse.

In her single-minded desire to achieve her objective, she had lost forty per cent of her strongest attackers. Considering that the objective was not to kill the Dragon Lord but to force her into a defensive mindset, she felt like a catastrophic failure as a Captain who should have been looking out for their well-being.

Unequipping her glaive, she organised the survivors of the fight. A quartet of shadows crossed over the landscape. The beat of feathered wings filled the air as Wing Commander Burke landed nearby with his flight.

“By the gods,” his voice was incredulous, “you did it!”

Ludmila wiped away her bitter expression, replacing it with a neutral mask before turning around. The short man’s blue hair was a sweaty mat from sitting under his helmet, but his eyes were alight with admiration. His wingmates, too, turned awestruck looks at her from their mounts.

“The real battle begins now,” Ludmila said. “Did you inform General Kabein?”

“We updated him when the fight concluded, my lady,” the Wing Commander seemed to collect himself. “He’s awaiting your confirmation to initiate operations.”

“Do you have people keeping track of that Dragon Lord?”

“Not directly, but she’s sending up birds and other flying animals out of the canopy as she moves around. We don’t know where her lair is, but her progress is slow.”

Ludmila turned her gaze towards the dark undergrowth of The Blister. There were three general scenarios laid out in the event that her ambush drove the Viridian Dragon Lord away.

The first was that she would double back and attack them again while their guard was down. It didn’t seem to be happening, else Ilyshn’ish would have brought it to her attention.

With her heading deeper into the jungle, the sensible course of action – at least by Human reasoning – was that she would head to the nearest tribes for healing. After recovering her injuries, she would either rest and plot their demise or come back out for revenge and to recover her treasure. This was the worst-case scenario, but the Empire’s apparent involvement in the attack was nonexistent so far and Ludmila could turn the Second Legion back around if Ilyshn’ish observed it happening.

Her companion, however, put forward the most comprehensive case. Due to a Green Dragon’s nature, she would not immediately seek healing out of a desire to maintain an image of strength in the eyes of those under her rule, She would also be extraordinarily suspicious of everything in her injured state. As such, she would return to one of her lairs – using an indirect route – to brood and scheme.

How long it would take the Dragon Lord to recover would be dependent on how long it took for her to overcome her insecurities. During that time, the Imperial Army was free to act. It sounded absolutely ridiculous to both Ludmila and General Kabein’s staff, but they still made plans to take advantage of things in the event that she was right.

“We should get as much done as possible, then,” Ludmila said. “Let General Kabein know that he’s clear to move. Also, inform him that I’ve lost four Death Warriors.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Wing Commander Burke walked over to speak with his War Wizard. Ludmila eyed the flights gathering above. The Second Legion’s air wing would be striking at targets on the far end of the jungle while the Legion’s divisions swept in from The Spill. Hundreds of Rangers would be deployed at the van, identifying targets and dealing with lesser threats while the rest of the army and Death-series servitors went after the rest.

The aim was to scatter the Demihumans, making it all but impossible for the Viridian Dragon Lord to easily receive healing. Once her support was gone, they would be able to ‘pester’ her to death.

『What’s our big green friend doing now?』

『Still slinking around. I’m pretty sure I was spot on with my assessment of her behaviour. She’s zig-zagging all over the place and avoiding the Demihuman tribes along the way.』

『Can you put those tribes out of commission? Any Dragons along the way, too.』

『Out of commission…you don’t want me to kill them?』

『The primary goal is to run their healers out of mana, so just bashing them around will do. But eliminate any major threats to the Imperial Army that you notice. Only those, though: if you stop to kill every Goblin along the way, you’ll fall behind our quarry. Oh, make it noisy.』

『Why?』

『So the Dragon Lord can hear it. She’s already running scared, let’s keep her that way. If she comes looking for you, just evade her and attack elsewhere – the more time she wastes, and the more paranoid she gets the greater the window of opportunity available to the Imperial Army.』

『And Miss Gran calls me evil…』

A few moments later, a Frost Dragon’s roar filtered through the trees. The Wing Commander and his men looked up from their conversation nervously.

“That’s my Dragon,” Ludmila told them. “There are many like her, but…well, no, she’s very special.”

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when you appeared and struck the Viridian Terror out of the blue like that. Is she one of the Frost Dragons rumoured to have become the Sorcerous Kingdom’s slaves?”

“They are citizens of the Sorcerous Kingdom,” her tone cooled. “Most of them are employees of the postal service. That Frost Dragon is my companion.”

“Your companion…” Wing Commander Burke furrowed his brow, “Do you mean to say that she is bonded to you, my lady?”

“That’s right.”

The man’s eyes widened. Behind him, the two other Dragoons appeared similarly shocked.

“You had so many questions about us that I…does that mean you’re a Dragoon as well? I don’t think one could have survived that opening strike otherwise.”

“I’ve had no formal training as a Dragoon,” Ludmila said, “but perhaps I’ve become something like one through my experiences. The questions I had for you were in earnest, however. I only recently started riding a Dragon, after all.”

Wing Commander Burke appeared to mull over her explanation. After a few moments, he slowly nodded.

“Most of our Dragoons come from martial houses,” he said. “I’ve always assumed it was because they were from cavalry traditions, but it’s possible for soldiers from other vocations to earn their wings.”

“If that’s the case, I hope to be able to learn more from you and your officers…speaking of which, do they all have command abilities?”

“All Dragoons are officers for that reason, yes,” the Wing Commander said. “Rather than a Commander, we’re essentially Captains. If squads or companies lose their officers or need additional ones for unconventional formations, we can drop down and shore things up by assuming leadership. I’ve had to do it more than a few times when patrols have gone sideways.”

Relief flooded over her, though she maintained her cordial expression. At first, Ludmila worried over the possibility that she was a Dragoon meant she had ‘contaminated’ her ‘build’. Still, she would have to check with Lady Shalltear when it came to the nuances of how Job Classes fit together.

From behind the wing commander, the War Wizard cleared his throat.

“Sir,” he said, “Headquarters just got back to me. The army’s on its way. We’re cleared to begin operations.”

The riders checked over their mounts. Ludmila eyed the saddle on the Wing Commander’s Griffon, wondering how Ilyshn’ish would feel about wearing one. It was difficult to stay mounted while the Frost Dragon went through violent manoeuvres and she felt that Ilyshn’ish was holding back to keep her on, as well.

Wing Commander Burke vaulted onto his mount.

“I guess we better get to it, then.”

“Fight well,” Ludmila said.

His face broke into a bold grin. He offered her a traditional imperial salute.

“We’ll give them hell, my lady.”

Bits of plant material were swept into the air as the Dragoons took wing. They ascended in wide circles over the clearing until they were high enough to disappear over the trees to the northwest.

Another roar drifted out of the jungle.

『How are you doing, Ilyshn’ish?』

『I’m rawring as hard as I can rawr. These Demihumans are accommodating me with some lovely reactions.』

『Have you encountered any major threats to the Imperial Army?』

『There are all sorts of creatures in here that I’ve never seen before, so I’m not sure whether they’ll be aggressive to Humans or not. I did get a couple of Juvenile Green Dragons, though.』

『…are you certain that they can’t be negotiated with?』

『They can, but it won’t result in anything you’d like. If I notice a deviant, however, I’ll point them in your direction.』

Ludmila returned to the Undead contingent patiently waiting near the trail. The Death-series servitors were restored to an undamaged state, while the Death Priests were down to a tenth of their total mana. With the removal of much of the Demihuman leadership and the Viridian Dragon Lord in full retreat, however, the Death Priests would likely be experiencing a net gain as they accompanied the Empire’s ground forces.

With the mobilisation of the Second Legion, the Death Cavaliers conducting exercises would relocate to patrol around their assigned cities. The Fifth Division would ride to join the other four divisions coming up from the lake. The Death Knights, Death Warriors and Death Priests would be distributed among the army’s forces to assist in their sweep of The Blister.

Two hours later, the rumble of hooves sounded through the trees. Ludmila looked to the sky, where the sun was vainly trying to shine through the blanket of grey. Twilight would fall in six hours. The Imperial Army had training in night warfare, but, given the cavalry traditions of the Empire’s martial nobility, it was probably nowhere near what she was accustomed to.

The advancing column spread out over the clearing. Shouts of officers filled the air as they organised their men. Mounted atop a huge black warhorse, Commander Enz rode up to her with the First Company acting as his bodyguard. He dismounted, his boots hitting the ground with a thump.

“Lady Zahradnik,” he offered a salute. “I heard you had quite the fight.”

“Now I’m curious how much of it your air wing reported.”

“From start to finish,” the Commander replied. “My communications officer had a hard time getting it all down.”

Squads of dismounted Rangers started to pass them by. Most of them gave her a good, long look. The fact that she was wearing her combat equipment had slipped her mind. She resisted the urge to tug her skirts down.

“I hope that War Wizard has enough mana left to help his flight,” Ludmila muttered.

“You’ll be a legend, at this rate,” Commander Enz smirked. “I heard that you declined to participate in those crazy duels the Captains always get themselves into, but everyone was too polite to voice any speculations. Now, your martial prowess is beyond question.”

“I still saw a few things I’d like to learn,” Ludmila replied. “Are your men setting up in this clearing?”

“Our first forward base, yes. The Blister is a treacherous place and those Green Dragons aren’t the only reason. We won’t be able to operate effectively in these conditions without encampments to work out of. Well, the Rangers probably can, but not the rest of us.”

Commander Enz gestured towards the clearing behind him.

“We should head over to the headquarters area. The command pavilion should be up soon.”

Near the centre of the clearing, a wide area had already been flattened. Felled trees were being trimmed of branches and added to a rapidly forming palisade.

“Your engineers work quickly.”

“Oh, something like this is a special occasion for them,” Commander Enz said. “The only major mobilisations that we’ve had recently were the annual battles with Re-Estize and there’s not much work for them to do in the Katze Plains. This place, though…they really get to transform things.”

The aforementioned command pavilion was already raised by the time they arrived. A few of the Commander’s aides were preparing a table and several other furnishings.

“How far will the army be able to advance today?” Ludmila asked.

“The Rangers are mapping things out as we speak,” Commander Enz answered, “so we should have some estimates soon. The divisions will be branching out and setting up encampments every five kilometres or so. From those encampments, the companies go out to hit everything discovered in the area. Once we’re done, we’ll leave behind a garrison and move on to the next position to repeat the process.”

“I know we’ve worked things out in advance, but I hope the army will be able to remain flexible as the theatre develops.”

“I’m certain General Kabein will make sure of that. Also, the Clerics are already moaning and groaning about all of the disease and poison they’re going to have to deal with.”

“At least they’ll moan and groan less about the Undead.”

Commander Enz snorted, pouring out two cups of water.

“Times change. It’s as you said: if the Temples can figure out that summoned Angels aren’t actually messengers of the gods, they should be able to come to grips with summoned Undead not being the bane of all life.”

“I wish the rest of the Empire could adopt that stance,” Ludmila said. “I’m worried about what I might find when I go over to the Sixth Legion.”

An aide delivered a pile of reports to the table. Lifting one with a furrow on his brow, the Commander let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Ludmila asked.

“It’s a casualty report.”

“…casualties already?”

“That was my thought. They’re all in this camp. People getting bitten by venomous animals, stung by weird insects or touching strange plants. I can’t quite believe it, but there are cases of poisoning as well. If you’ll excuse me, my lady, I need to get this sorted out.”

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