Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 9

Eighty-eight…eighty-nine…ninety…

The air parted around Remedios’ blade as she performed her morning sword drills. She ignored the household staff as she went through her forms, but then the doorbell rang.

“Miss Custodio,” Carla said. “The Grandmaster is here to see you.”

Remedios lowered her blade with a sigh. Decent warriors honed their bodies and skills in the morning, but Gustav was never one for improving his combat capabilities.

“Get some breakfast ready for him,” she said. “I’ll be right down.”

She sheathed her blade and made her way up the stairs to her solar. Fifteen minutes later, she came back down in her full uniform. Upon entering her dining room, she found that Gustav wasn’t.

“Not here on official business, Captain?” Remedios frowned.

“What,” Gustav put on an innocent look, “I can’t visit an old friend for breakfast? Besides, nothing that I’m about to share is official…yet.”

Remedios took a seat across from her guest. Gustav always did things in roundabout ways and she supposed that becoming the Grandmaster of the Holy Order hadn’t changed that. If anything, it had made those tendencies worse.

“Where’s that young man I sent your way?” Gustav asked.

“Working,” Remedios replied. “He went and infiltrated one of the houses around the city.”

“…for some reason, it feels strange that you can say something like ‘infiltrated’ with a straight face.”

“Is there a better word for it?”

“No, just saying. Honestly, I half expected you to raise him as a Squire. What did he find out?”

“A lot, but nothing that we can act on so far. He said that things are going to get heated soon, though.”

Gustav popped a fig into his mouth, munching away with a slight smile.

“What?” Remedios said.

“You seem to be doing better now,” Gustav told her. “Back to being the old pain in the ass.”

“Except I don’t have to deal with all of that paperwork anymore.”

“Didn’t Sanchez and I do most of it back then?”

Remedios cut out a piece of broiled fish. Paperwork wasn’t the reason why she had been made Grandmaster anyway.

“What about you?” She asked, “How were things out east?”

Gustav settled into his seat, leaning back as he sipped his tea. Remedios reached for a slice of cheese.

“The Royal Army is gone.”

A sharp clink sounded as her fork punched through the wedge of cheese, split apart the stone cutting board under it and embedded itself into the table.

“Gone?”

“I was mediating a logistics dispute between the local leaders near the wall and the Royal Army when the survivors started returning from the wilderness. We rushed back to the capital after hearing a half-day’s worth of their accounts. The Royal Court has three weeks at best to figure out what to do – after that, the news will have reached the ears of the common citizens.”

“But…but how could a whole army just be ‘gone’? If you include the forces that the southern Nobles committed, that army was twice as large as what we had to fight Jaldabaoth!”

That fact still rankled her like a poisoned arrow. The southerners had withheld their forces even when the very existence of the Holy Kingdom was at stake, then conveniently produced a giant army once there was something to gain.

“It sounded like a whole lot of things went wrong in quick succession. The army followed the highway to Re-Estize for thirty kilometres before heading east into the Renclusa Valley, spreading out to clear the tribal settlements.”

Remedios envisioned their advance on a map in her head. There was nothing remarkable about Marquis Bodpio’s strategy, though nothing remarkable was required. All they were doing was sweeping away tribes of primitive Demihumans that weren’t anywhere near as powerful as those found in the Abelion Hills.

“When did things start to go wrong?” She asked.

“Roughly three or four days in,” Gustav answered. “All of the carrion left behind by the fighting started attracting scavengers from the mountains. It wasn’t long until wild Gryphons, Wyverns, Manticores, Perytons and all sorts of monsters went from feeding on the carrion to raiding the army’s supply lines – and their escorts. Once the army was paralysed by provisioning issues, the Demihumans they were pushing back rallied and launched a massive retaliation. That’s the last bit of information that we got from the retreating scouts.”

“Dammit!” Remedios banged her fist against the table, “I told them that they needed me to come along!”

“You weren’t the only one,” Gustav noted. “Marquis Bodipo himself requested your presence, but the royalists insisted that you should be kept at home for national defence.”

In their blind greed for acclaim and territorial gains, they had disregarded her warnings about threats that only powerful combatants could counter. As usual, most of the southern Nobles believed that chivalric élan and numbers were the only things that mattered in war and that very élan had fed their numbers to the perpetually hungry wilderness.

“How many of our people survived?” Remedios asked.

“I don’t know. Anyone more than a day into the wilderness that isn’t a Ranger is as good as dead. The only survivors will be army scouts and some of the troops assigned to the supply lines.”

Remedios leaned on her elbow, rubbing her temple. A colossal headache was on its way.

“You already reported this to King Caspond?”

“Of course,” Gustav said. “He’s convening the Royal Court to discuss the matter this morning. I’ll be there and I’m sure you’ll be summoned, as well.”

“What do you think they’re going to do? Open recruitment?”

“Recruitment’s already open,” Gustav told her, “and this travesty is going to make enlistment go from crippled to dead. More importantly, we’ve essentially lost the entire army. Getting a few recruits isn’t going to do anything when there’s no army for them to join anymore.”

“Then all of our domestic issues are going to get worse, too.”

“…I’m afraid to ask what ‘domestic issues’ you’re referring to.”

“Hmm…well, while you were away,” Remedios leaned back in her chair, “the Nobles basically took over Hoburns’ economy and law enforcement. The Holy Order barely receives any reports from outside the Prime Estates anymore. Iago Lousa was assassinated and now someone that people refer to as the ‘Faceless One’ is rallying Los Ganderos as a new militant faction to defend their interests against the Nobles. The other Nobles are up to something in the west and the rumours say that Duke Debonei’s moved into the Summer Palace in Rimun to organise them.”

Gustav stared at her as she listed off one thing after another. Remedios wiggled her fork free from the table and worked on the rest of her meal.

“His Divine Grace never mentioned any of this.”

“Maybe it’ll be brought up at the court session.”

The Grandmaster inhaled his breakfast before rushing off.

That can’t be healthy…

“He didn’t even thank us for the meal,” Carla sniffed.

“Busy’s busy,” Remedios said. “How do you think the Nobles will respond?”

“It’s a massive blow to both factions,” Carla replied. “The loss of Marquis Bodipo stands out as the greatest, but the royalists invested heavily in the campaign expecting major gains. With everything that’s happening around Hoburns tying up the royalist’s attention and resources, I believe that the conservatives are free to make their next move.”

“And what move might that be?”

“The Duke’s motive for moving to the Summer Palace is clear: he’s going to throw his support behind Prince Felipe when the fleet arrives in Rimun. All of his faction’s activities should revolve around building up and consolidating their power while formalising the structure of their political movement.”

“…are they going to fight?”

“Prince Felipe’s faction will insist that King Caspond is unsuited to rule and point to the Holy Kingdom’s current state as clear evidence of that fact. King Caspond shows no sign of remorse over his edicts and policies and the royalists are guaranteed to support him. Unfortunately, civil war appears to be our current course.”

Damn that Jaldabaoth.

As if leaving the Holy Kingdom in ruins wasn’t enough, the Archfiend had left a legacy that would perpetuate even more ruin long after he was gone. It was as if no one cared about the country anymore; the future was filled with endless bickering over a land that spiralled further into destitution with every passing month. The legends of past Fiends were nowhere near adequate a warning for the reality that came with them.

And I bet that Sorcerer King will conveniently appear to ‘save’ us again.

She wouldn’t be surprised if the Sorcerous Kingdom had a hand in their current troubles. Everything since Jaldabaoth’s invasion in the autumn had conveniently worked in the Undead menace’s favour, and he was all too happy to exploit the situation to make himself appear as a saviour.

“What will you do?”

“Me?” Remedios blinked.

“Yes, Miss Custodio. Will you continue to follow the orders of the Holy Order and the Holy King? Or does your dislike of what the Holy King’s policies have done to the Holy Kingdom mean that you will take up Prince Filipe’s cause? Both sides will be courting you – not just as the most powerful warrior in the country, but also as the personification of the Holy Kingdom’s justice.”

“…I don’t know. I swore an oath to protect the Holy Kingdom and its people. How can I just pick a side when neither appears to serve the Holy Kingdom’s justice?”

Picking a side would be unjust, but so would standing by and watching the country burn.

To make things even more disagreeable, she wasn’t particularly fond of any of Calca’s brothers. Caspond had proven himself an incompetent ruler but Felipe didn’t seem much better. His head was filled with alien ideas picked up from his travels and it was rumoured that he had several mistresses that weren’t even Human.

“What about you?” Remedios asked, “Your house will be part of Prince Felipe’s camp, won’t he?”

“I am simply a Maid of this household,” Carla smiled serenely. “I will follow you wherever you lead, Miss Custodio.”

The Maid continued smiling as she saw Remedios off. Remedios frowned as she eyed the increased security of the Prime Estates.

Does this have something to do with what happened to the Royal Army? But that would mean the Nobles got their information faster than Gustav could rush back to the capital…if not, why would they look so wary?

It wasn’t as if the Royal Army had been destroyed defending against a Demihuman invasion. There was no reason for them to look around themselves as if something might jump out at them from the nearest hedgerow.

As Gustav had predicted, a court summons awaited Remedios when she arrived at the Holy Order office. She strolled through the brightly-lit marble halls that she and Kelart had walked thousands of times – at first to visit their friend Calca, and then to attend to their Holy Queen. The sound of her steps felt lonely, even with dozens of other people walking in the same direction.

“You’re here…what’s that look for?”

Gustav stood on the throneroom balcony, where Calca usually did. Remedios wiped the sour expression off of her face, looking past the Grandmaster to the panorama of the city her dearest friend loved.

“Just used to someone with less facial hair.”

“…what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

The Nobles entered in order of their precedence, dividing themselves into their respective factions. Gustav made his way to the Grandmaster’s place below the throne. Remedios leaned against a balcony pillar with her arms crossed as the Holy King entered the high hall of the Holy Kingdom. She scrutinised his nearly blank expression, unable to tell if he was bothered at all at the loss of so many of his people. Never mind being traumatised and turned bitter at what was undoubtedly a horrific period of imprisonment by Jaldabaoth’s forces, Caspond now seemed barely Human at best.

Once the usual formalities were complete, the Nobles gazed up at the throne with looks of anticipation. Remedios had seen it often enough to know that they had their reactions prepared in advance.

So they do know…

“The good Grandmaster brings grim tidings from the east,” Caspond said. “According to reports from the frontier, Our Royal Army has met with catastrophe.”

…or not.

There weren’t any expressions of feigned dismay, outrage, or disbelief. Every Noble in the room was dumbfounded. They didn’t utter a word or even exchange looks with their peers. Dozens of jaws simply hung open in shock.

“I in no way intend to question the credibility of Grandmaster Montagnés,” Count Cohen said after a minute, “but are you certain? And what is the extent of this ‘catastrophe’?”

Gustav repeated what he had shared with Remedios, though this time he didn’t paraphrase things. As he related the reports from the army’s survivors, the shock of the courtiers transformed into horror. At least half of the noblewomen fainted dead away.

“Does that mean we face another Demihuman invasion?” One of the Nobles asked, “One that was capable of annihilating the Royal Army?”

“I don’t know, Lord Cohen,” Gustav replied. “If Pavel Baraja was still around he could tell us for certain, but we no longer have any Rangers remotely approaching his calibre. All we can do now is prepare for the worst.”

“‘Prepare’ you say, but we’ve already committed our available forces to support the Royal Army…”

“The Demihumans won’t give a damn about our deliberations,” a Noble from the royalist camp said. “We have no choice but to mobilise our reservists.”

“But…but, the economy!”

Remedios’ lip curled into a sneer.

Here we go…

While every member of the Holy Kingdom’s population served their time in the army, the north bore the brunt of Demihuman aggression. The south had developed in relative safety and its Nobles had a mindset that reflected that. They had nowhere near the same sense of urgency when it came to martial matters as the northern aristocracy and, now that the northern aristocracy was gone, the culture of the Royal Court was dominated by the outlook and interests of the south.

Of course, with the royalists controlling the east, they would be the first to suffer from any retaliation against the Holy Kingdom’s campaign in the Renclusa Valley.

“You fool!” Count Cohen said, “We must muster a defence or there won’t be an economy to worry about!”

“Let me guess,” came a snide retort, “since the royalists contributed the majority of the forces to the campaign, you will demand exemption from the mobilisation and have the rest of us cough up our men.”

“It’s only fair…”

“Only if you ignore the fact that you ‘royalists’ pushed for the campaign in the first place! You volunteered those men – we had no obligation to commit any forces at all. Why should citizens who have already rendered good service to the Holy Kingdom be made to pay for the consequences of your blind ambition?”

The debate devolved into a dozen different arguments. Remedios glanced at the throne, but the Holy King seemed to care little for the disorder of his court.

Once the din of the hall rose by two notches, Gustav slammed the scabbard of his sword against the dais.

“Order!” He shouted.

He had to repeat his actions twice before the court quieted down. It usually only took her one attempt.

“What about the marines?” A conservative Noble suggested, “They were successful in fending off Jaldabaoth’s southern thrust.”

“Only because the conditions were ideal. They had the assistance of our Demihuman allies, as well. Holding the wall will be a different matter.”

“But they’ll still be a far cry better than bringing in reservists that haven’t fought for years or even decades.”

“Ones drawn from the north should have plenty of recent experience.”

Remedios stormed forward from her place on the balcony.

“Haven’t the people suffered enough already?” She said, “You speak of fairness between yourselves, but it seems that the north hasn’t been granted the same measure.”

Silence fell over the court at her words. The Nobles from both factions offered nothing but cold gazes in response.

“We believe that Our citizens would ask the same question,” Caspond said.

Count Cohen lowered his head to the throne before speaking.

“It is a simple cost-benefit analysis, Your Divine Grace. As mentioned, reservists from the north have the benefit of recent experience fighting against invading forces in their home territories. At the same time, the north is still in the process of recovery. Disrupting the south’s healthy economic activities with a general mobilisation in favour of providing labour for the north’s crippled industries is a highly inefficient course of action that will only hurt the Holy Kingdom in the long run.”

“Is that so?” Caspond nodded, “Does anyone have a counterargument for Lord Cohen’s rationale?”

“It’s not about efficiency, you heartless wretch,” Remedios grated. “People aren’t numbers that you can manipulate as you please!”

“Do you mean to say that they would do better if we don’t?” Lord Cohen answered coolly, “Need I remind you that the ‘manipulation of numbers’ is the entire reason why the north hasn’t already starved to death? You propose to alleviate the immediate situation of a hundred thousand by extending the plight of millions in the interests of ‘fairness’. I do not understand how you can even entertain this laughably evil notion.”

Dozens of Nobles backed away as the creak of Remedios’ clenched gauntlet came in the wake of Lord Cohen’s words. Evil? Her? It was a statement that could not go unchallenged.

One of the Nobles from the conservative camp cleared his throat.

“To give voice to a more practical concern,” he said, “Can the Crown even afford to field a hundred thousand men? If the Royal Army was truly lost in the Renclusa Valley, that means we need to mobilise, equip, retrain, station, and supply a new army from nothing.”

Caspond looked to his cabinet, where the Minister of Finance was seated. The Minister of Finance – a Baron from the royalist faction – shook his head.

“As everyone present should know,” he said, “the Crown’s revenues are a mere fraction of what they were last year. Never mind the time it will take to mobilise a new army, I fear that we cannot muster the numbers to defend against this new threat.”

“But the budget was still able to sustain the thirty thousand members of the Royal Army, was it not?”

“Yes, Your Divine Grace,” the Minister of Finance replied, “but if we must do everything that was mentioned, the Crown can only mobilise five thousand soldiers.”

The buzz of hushed discussion filled the hall. That sounded about right. Supplying an army was certainly a costly venture, but they weren’t simply cycling temporary recruits in and out of an established army now.

“A compromise, then,” Lord Cohen raised his voice. “The lords of the south will loan the funds to raise a new army while the north provides the soldiers. Of course, we will not hold back any men from the south who wish to volunteer their talents to the country.”

In the end, the proposal met with unanimous approval. With nothing else to address, the Royal Court was adjourned an hour before lunch.

“I can’t shake the feeling that the royalists played us somehow,” Gustav said as they made their way across the palace grounds.

“…are you saying they sacrificed the Royal Army for some unknown reason?”

“Not that part. Everything after that. I bet they had you brought in just to be baited into that response of yours and that helped them get what they wanted.”

“Maybe I would have done the country a favour by punching Cohen’s head off back there. What do you think they did?”

“Something with the army,” Gustav said, “but I have no idea what.”

“I could ask Carla about it,” Remedios said. “We have our new source, too.”

“Our ‘source’, huh…”

“Morning, Captain.”

“Hey, Hugo,” Gustav replied.

Remedios did a double take as their ‘source’ was led past them in chains.

“What?” Gustav stopped and looked at her.

“…that was Liam just now.”

“Really?”

She gave Gustav a look.

“Hey,” Gustav said, “I spoke to him for ten minutes, at most.”

People person, my ass.

They followed Hugo and his captive back to the Holy Order office. Hugo came back out to the front counter to file his report after locking Liam up.

“Hugo,” Gustav said. “That man just now didn’t look like he was from the Prime Estates.”

“I brought him in from the west quarter, Captain,” Hugo said.

“That far?”

“Yeah,” the senior Paladin shook his head. “Two counts of assault and battery. They couldn’t keep someone that dangerous in the local gaol.”

Remedios walked off toward the prison. She opened the door viewer to each cell, peering into them until she found the one with Liam inside. Then, she realised that she didn’t have the key to his cell. Halfway back to the office, Gustav appeared, holding up a keyring in his hand.

“You didn’t have to rush off,” Gustav said. “It’s not as if he’s going anywhere.”

“That’s what you say,” Remedios said, “but I’m not sure what the limits of his capabilities are.”

They entered Liam’s cell and closed the door behind them. Remedios crossed her arms, leaning against the entrance as Gustav took a seat across from Liam.

“I’m Captain Montagnés. What’s your name?”

Both Remedios and Liam rolled their eyes.

“I guess this is convenient,” Liam said.

“Don’t tell me you beat up two guys just to see us,” Remedios frowned.

“Uh, that’s a different story,” Liam replied. “But I couldn’t get past all the increased security in the Prime Estates to see Remedios this morning.”

“What happened?” Gustav asked.

“A lot of accidents,” Liam answered. “Things might get ugly faster than expected.”

Liam gave his account of what had happened since he had last spoken with her. Remedios sighed as he described the events that got him arrested. In the past, patrols on and along the Great Wall had similar accidents happen several times a week. His account of the accident with the child, however, disturbed her to no end.

“What are those idiots doing?” Remedios bit her lip, “Are we going to have a pile of kids stabbed to death by jumpy patrols every night?”

“They’ll probably be extra careful about that from now on,” Liam said, “but scared people still do stupid things. What will probably stop it from reoccurring is parents keeping their kids inside while it’s still dark.”

“Those charges levelled against you are valid, though,” Gustav noted. “If it can’t be proven that events went the way you described, you’ll be in a bit of trouble.”

“How much is ‘a bit’?”

“Two counts of assault and battery is…a week in the stocks?”

“Or a month of temple service,” Remedios added.

She didn’t like the idea that Liam might be undeservingly punished, but the Nobles were especially slippery when it came to matters of law.

“Oh, that’s not bad. I got stuck in the stocks once.”

Remedios and Gustav frowned at Liam.

“You did?”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “Two years ago, I was pinned for some kind of theft. The town militia beat me up before locking me in a pillory for a few days.”

Re-Estize throws kids into the stocks?

He said he was fourteen, so that meant he had been incarcerated when he was twelve. On false charges, no less.

“Still,” Gustav said, “you’re pretty cavalier about all this.”

“It’s just a weak retaliation,” Liam smirked. “House Vizela is screwed either way for killing that kid.”

Remedios resisted the urge to wrap him up in a comforting embrace. Someone his age shouldn’t have so easily rendered such a cold, vengeful reply.

“Speaking of which,” Liam said. “House Restelo is probably going to end up with House Vizela’s part of the city soon. You may want to focus patrols along the new borders.”

“I know they got into a scuffle,” Gustav said, “but they’re still all royalists. They won’t break their solidarity so easily.”

“That’s the thing,” Liam said. “I don’t know what it looks like in the Royal Court, but House Restelo’s been cut loose from the royalist faction. Did you hear about the incident with Iago Lousa?”

“I just got back from the east, but Remedios mentioned something about it. Are you saying that they’re responsible for assassinating Lousa?”

“No,” Liam shook his head. “What was actually going on was that House Restelo found out Lousa was doing business with both the royalists and the conservatives, so they asked their allies to send some men to set Lousa straight. Then, he mysteriously died and no one knows who did it. Since Restelo is the only house with a clear motive, everyone’s assuming that they’re responsible. Personally, I think it’s a third party that wants to shake up the politics of the north.”

“So an enemy of House Restelo or someone trying to weaken the royalists,” Gustav stroked his beard. “And now Hoburns has an independent house set against all the royalist houses occupying it.”

“Which is why it’s probably a good idea to watch their jurisdiction,” Liam nodded. “So far, there have been four incidents related to the other houses trying to pressure House Restelo in the city. Two of them have led to fatalities and one of those fatalities was a kid fetching water for his family. The other houses might back down for a while because of what happened, but they won’t tolerate House Restelo gaining ground in Hoburns.”

“How long do you think before they start causing trouble again?” Gustav asked.

“I don’t know,” Liam shook his head. “It depends on everything else that’s happening, I guess.”

“I see,” Gustav rose from his chair. “Well, good job so far. I’m glad you were able to work with Remedios here.”

The young man shrugged.

“Once you understand that her brain doesn’t stand between her heart and her mouth, she isn’t very hard to get along with.”

Gustav snorted.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Remedios said. “If people were more forthright in their interactions, they wouldn’t have all the headaches that they end up with.”

“That aside,” Gustav cleared his throat, “We can’t testify on your behalf in court, so I hope you’re not expecting us to get you out of trouble.”

“I’m not.”

Remedios straightened from the door as Gustav made his way over.

“In that case,” the Grandmaster said, “may the gods be on your side for this trial.”

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