All's Fair in Love and War - Chapt. 9

Magic. The potential was limitless. Sorceresses, succubi, demons, none could surpass the natural alignment to the arcane held by the daughters of the Demon Lord herself.

That was all it was, however. Potential. Untapped, as well. In order to exploit it, training would be required. Experimentation. However, she knew better than to wait eternities for the luxuries of purpose-built rooms and material, and much less start with so difficult abilities to learn. With only a candle to illuminate her study desk, she aimed her palms at a cup of water before her. Mental focus and subtle movements of her fingers had their effect: The water in the cup moved, little by little levitating in an amorphous, hardly stable shape.

Liquid. Such a difficult state of form to levitate with. To levitate a solid, it'd be easy to just apply force to any of it points, to pull or to push upwards. A liquid, however, would deform, slipping through telekinetic fingers. Past strenuous effort, she could keep it in place, even if it shook and threatened to spill.

It began to slow down, until crystallization turned apparent. She had manipulated the temperature around the water to a freezing point, slowly turning it solid.

But a mistake occurred: A bolt sparking from nowhere for no apparent reason from her palm, blinding and deafening her as she jerked back in fright. With focus lost, the water fell and spilled onto the desk. The candlelight flickered, but once it calmed, Victoria turned to see where the lightning had struck: A spot of soot had been left behind.

Subtle disappointment over a failure quickly turned to morbid curiosity. A far lesser focus of the same kind that led to the incident led to sparks connecting her fingers, a sight leaving her in great wonder. Lightning.

She had to learn it. Control it.

Master it.

---

"That's the crux of the issue. We don't know what everyone's good at."

So said Marie, marching along a patch of grass with several dullahans among her. Melanie walked beside her, carrying a great roll of cloth on her shoulders as did more than a few of their companions. They carried tools as well, hammers and spikes. Halting in place, Marie gestured aside, pointing to the ground: The space had been denoted, that which a few walked up to in order to set up their tent; careful planning and measurements needed to be taken: Though a bit of wasted space seemed nothing, multiplied hundredfold by all the tents that would be required would prove to be disastrous. Afterwards, they continued onward, the cacophony of thousands of voices amidst the camp's set-up accompanying them nonstop.

"I've gotten to know a few girls since I got here." Said Melanie. "I can check if they know what you need."

"Carpenters, cooks, smiths, everything a miniature city will need. For now, we mainly need cooks to feed everyone."

"Cooks? Can't everyone do that on their own?"

"Whoever's cooking isn't working."

"Point... taken. I'll check on it when I see them in archery training."

Marie halted again, pointing to the empty space on the ground. Another group of dullahans advanced and set up, but rather than continue, she turned to Melanie with a raised eyebrow.

"I pictured you and the others getting sent to cavalry."

"Valerian wants us close to Victoria to deal with anything that might happen rather than specialize. He thinks it'll be like the paladins, but for our side."

Marie remained silent, staring as she processed the idea. Her gaze shifted aside without aim, but after a few seconds, she gave a slight shrug. Then, they moved onward again.

---

A hundred meters away rested a flag. Another one rested a hundred meters further away. Finally, at three hundred meters, the last flag stood: a flag hardly anyone in the rank of dullahans could see too well.

"Two hundred meters!" Shouted the instructor, an elf by the end of the line. "Nock!"

Without delay, the dullahans took an arrow from their quiver. Their arrows touched the bow, repeated in quick enough succession to turn into a minuscule cacophony lasting a second.

"Draw!"

Strings were drawn back, and bows were raised at the same time. Strung to the best of their ability, the dullahans pointed the arrowheads to the sky.

"Loose!"

In short order, over a hundred arrows flew off. Faint whistling rang out, ending abruptly as distance grew. For a few seconds the arrows gained height, reaching their apex before starting to fall.

The elf's face contorted into a grimace as she saw where the arrows started landing. Barely a few reached the flag, with the great bulk landing closer to the one before it. Some didn't even reach the first flag.

"...Hundred meters! Nock!"

Once more they took an arrow and put it against the bow, its end against the string.

"Draw!"

Again they pulled, to then raise their bows up high.

But the order to let loose did not arrive. The elf, instead, stared as the dullahans kept their bows drawn.

"Hold fast!" She shouted, growing a grin.

Though some still held onto their strength, others had begun shaking. Some grit their teeth. Others closed their eyes and prayed for the order to be given. To hold the draw weight for so long proved to be gruelling for unaccustomed arms.

And then, one dullahan had reached her limit. Her arms gave in, her fingers seized. The arrow was unintentionally shot.

"Loose!"

Immediately, and almost too quickly at that, they let go of the bowstring. The projectiles flew on, their trajectory varying wildly with one another compared to less than a minute ago.

Upon landing, the elf saw the accuracy had worsened. The worst she had seen, and for an easier target at that. Predictable, she figured, as if a few of them massaging their arms didn't give away the exhaustion.

"It's tiring, isn't it?" Said the elf out loud. "You won't learn how to use a bow in an afternoon! The only reason we elves excel at it is because we live our lives with a bow slung on our backs! You all will have to put in the effort of a lifetime to get anywhere, and Lord almighty I'll make sure it's the most miserable experience you'll ever go through! I'll not consider this training done till your hands are calloused and you arms are deformed! Anyone want to give up yet?!"

Silence. None said a word.

"...Three hundred meters!" She shouted, much to the great audible dismay of all. Their whines and complaints, however, only grew a grin on her. "Come on, hurry up!" She urged, all nocking another arrow on their bows.

---

Melanie had been left in the stables on her own, fastening the saddle on her horse with a melancholic expression betraying doubts. Staring on empty-gazed, thoughts after thoughts crossed her mind.

"Oi." She heard someone else greet, a voice shocking her to reality. Turning aside, she saw a red-haired dullahan come around leading her own horse.

"Oh, Rose." She greeted in turn, returning her eyes to the saddle. "Thought everyone left already."

"Well, we're the only ones left here. Better hurry up if we don't want to be late."

"Sure."

Monotonous noises of equipment prepared on the horse followed, both not saying a word. However, rather than depart, Rose remained.

"Something in your mind?" She asked, gaining the confused stare of Melanie.

"Hm? No, why?"

"You used to be one of the fastest at this."

"Got lazy, not much else." She replied, jumping over onto her horse and taking a few steps forward, just enough to end right next to Rose.

"You're an awful liar, you know that?" Said Rose, growing a smug grin. "Come on. There's nobody else around."

With a strenuous sigh escaping her in irritation, she turned her eyes aside momentarily. Silence followed, until Melanie turned to her once more.

"Where do you think the war will go?" Asked Melanie. In return, Rose's grin slowly waned to nothing.

"What do you mean?"

"If we start winning... Nostrum isn't just gonna wait till it's over, are they? They'll call for help. What if we're getting sucked into something way past what we can handle?"

Intrusive as they were, they kept Rose in stasis as she heard it. Slowly her gaze shifted, looking aside and staring at nothing as she pondered it. A few seconds later, she pursed her lips and let out a minuscule sigh out her nose.

"Maybe." She said. "Maybe we are, but what else can we do? The only two ways to end it is to win it for good, or have us all die in it."

Quiet steps turned audible, prompting the two to stare as chills ran down their spine. Their fears had been confirmed as they saw who approached, a rat girl with a grin on her face and her hands together behind her, calmly arriving to them. However, the grin felt less of an actual expression reflecting emotion and more a neutral state of her face.

"An old rat said that if you want peace, you should be ready for war." She said. At least she wasn't about to punch their throats for being late, thought Rose and Melanie. "It looks like the peace you had till now was only because the Nostrians allowed it out of disinterest, wasn't it?"

The two replied with nothing, though her words sunk into their minds.

"It's been that bad all along, huh?" Lamented Melanie.

"And I'll make it ten times worse if you two don't get out there yesterday. Slacking off while training's about to start! The nerve! Or maybe you two want to try formation riding without a horse next time?"

Dread and terror coursed through them at the all too plausible threat. Without time to waste, Rose jumped onto her horse and galloped out the stable with Melanie. The ratgirl remained in place, following with her eyes at the last two dullahans to leave the stable this day.

---

The thunderous cacophony of a stampede reigned. Hundreds of horses furiously galloped across the field outside Victoria's villa, circling it with Melanie at the head. Not long after, they saw their target:

Valerian's half of the army.

A training exercise, though as stressful as it'd get. Valerian against Victoria, and though Valerian had command of all the archers, it was Melanie who led all the cavalry Victoria held control over. However, with no archers of her, own, Victoria's infantry could hardly advance, showered by arrows and advancing at snail's pace under the cover of their shields. A great effort was needed to maintain that tortoise shell-like formation of shields.

But it was hardly anything more than a distraction. To charge against Valerian's rear formations had been the plan, but as Melanie came to see, part of it detached and positioned itself towards them in too efficient a manner for an improvised order. She grit her teeth as she concluded that Valerian must've guessed what they had been planning and prepared accordingly. Archers, and spearmen.

"Rose!" She called.

"Yes!" Answered the red-headed dullahan, galloping next to her.

"On my mark, you take your half of the cavalry and split left! Go around them and hit the ones at the front from the side! I'll take the right!"

"Split on your mark, got it!"

The archers ahead nocked their arrows, an ominous sight for Melanie. In these planes without cover, without woods nor hills save for that the villa stood on, there was nothing else to do but take them. A painful prospect, but they'd not bring down all of them.

They strung their arrows, drawing towards them, angling upward enough to compensate, and with the order from their captains, they let loose.

For a few seconds, nothing happened: The arrows took time to fly, soaring high in the distance, looking so harmless and distant, until they so quickly approached. Seconds before impact, Melanie's heart choked, praying none landed on her nor her horse. She could not pray for the safety of all.

Impact. Shouts escaped from both dullahan and horse, struck either or both by the demonic mental and their strength sapped enough to fall. Mild bruises would be the worst to expect for horses of a demonic realm as well as the dullahans themselves, but hardly did it turn it into a pleasant prospect.

They had yet to cover the full distance. The cavalry still galloped now without a few riders, but again the archers drew their bows. Another order had been given, and arrows flew high once more, first distant to then arrive at breakneck speed. Another few were struck, though luckily enough not Melanie nor Rose. Lord forbid either fell and ruined their improvised plan, though such luck only made Melanie think she was on borrowed time.

Distance grew shorter. Enough, in fact, for Valerian's archers to fall back and the speardullahans to take their place, preparing their weapons and shields for the eventual charge. To drive into them would be suicide, though perhaps their captains counted on a far lesser competency at commanding this horde of horses.

And then, Melanie felt it time.

"Now!" She shouted, forcing her horse to turn right. "My half, with me!"

Immediately thereafter, the group split in two: Those who followed Melanie, and those who followed Rose. Cohesion had been almost lost: The formation could not be maintained, turning the cavalry into irregular forms reminiscent of a wild stampede rather than a disciplined force. Not like it'd be needed, given the alternative of charging head-first into spears. The very same spear formation they'd have hit remained in place, confusion reigning as Melanie led her troops aside.

It was as she suspected. That detachment had been the only reserves he had to stop them, though hardly much he'd have if so great a number of archers he had been given. Circling around, Melanie saw the front line: A line of infantry, and ahead of it, the line of archers shooting at Victoria's dullahans.

Two options had been present before her, of which she chose one: To charge the infantry, or to charge the archers.

To charge the archers would remove them, but it'd only invite the infantry to rush forward and aid them. Their removal, however, would allow Victoria's infantry to arrive in force.

To charge the infantry would disrupt them before they got the chance to form up. It could throw the archers in disarray, terrifying them by how they'd be sandwiched by infantry and cavalry alike into running away. If it didn't, if the archers held their ground, perhaps Victoria's would not come in time.

A risk.

"...The infantry! Charge the infantry!"

Steering the stampede, she galloped towards the infantry line. Valerian's infantry attempted to respond, but as she imagined, they could not in time. The reserves turned and gave chase, and the infantry line at the front tried to turn, but too fast were their horses: Steeling herself and gripping her spear tight, she and the others crashed into their formations, driving through like knife into a wound.

Tunnel vision. Everything other than her immediate surroundings ceased to exist. Horsemen kept arriving behind her, numbers growing more and more in the melee that ensued. She thrust her spear wherever the opportunity appeared, the infantry disoriented and in disarray, but at that very moment her horse gave a shout as it reared on its hind legs. Too much rearing, falling aside, a dead giveaway of a wound that would have been inevitable in the situation. She fell with it to the ground, pained at bruises dampened by the grass, but quickly rose to her feet, drawing her sword to replace her lost spear.

Already a sword swung her way. She parried it, but before she could even return a blow, another dullahan on her horse passed to thrust her spear into the attacker. As quickly as she came, she left, remaining mobile in this mess of a fight.

Did it work? Did the archers break? Without her horse, she couldn't even check. All she saw were the other dullahans fighting. She couldn't even see a few meters past.

"Keep moving!" She shouted, but she could not even hear herself.

Too many shouts. Too many screams. Too many taunts. The clash of steel, the thuds against the ground, the cacophony now ever-present, it drowned out anything and everything. Communication turned into an impossibility. Hell, where was she even supposed to go anyway? What was north, what was south? Where was Valerian's line, and where was Victoria's towards?

More attacks from more opponents. Inevitable, as they organized themselves to the defense. With her shield she deflected it, and with sword she countered, only to be parried in turn. She had exchanged a series of blows, but more opponents came forth. The hints began to show: She was not going to win this. She could not defeat them faster than they came. In due time, she'd be overwhelmed. For each attack, she countered and stepped back, but for each counter she attempted, another one showed up. First two, then three, then four, following her as the great many others attempted to bring down the horsemen still carving their paths about, but Melanie, a horseman stuck on foot, was all too tempting a target.

At that moment, they halted in place, to then withdraw in haste. Confusion reigned in Melanie's mind, to then turn around and see that the main infantry force had arrived. Without a second to waste they rushed onward, passing Melanie by through their formation.

"Melanie!" Shouted a familiar voice, just enough to get past the waning cacophony. Melanie turned, to find Rose arriving on her horse leading yet another. "Figured you'd need a replacement!"

"What are you doing here?!" She asked, sparing no second in jumping over the new horse.

"Their right flank collapsed, they're in rout! We saw your girls we bogged down, so we came around!"

Glancing aside with her newfound height, she saw it with her own eyes. Valerian's line was withdrawing in full haste.

"He's not calling it quits, huh?"

"So it would seem." Answered a voice. Not that of Rose's, but of Victoria's instead, for both to find her calmly pass them by on her horse as she kept pace with the infantry ahead. "Cavalry on me. They aren't routing just yet."

Melanie glanced and gestured to Rose, who nodded and galloped away barking her orders to regroup at those afar of her group.

"Cavalry! Regroup!" Shouted Melanie, turning aside to those of her half. Scattered about were those of her group, an abhorrent mess of a formation or lack thereof, who quickly repeated her orders to all those who could hear before approaching.

Little by little, the cavalry formed into a cohesive group anew behind the lilim. From few, to many, even those who just now recovered from the numbness of their wounds. Far ahead, however, the formations of infantry of both sides seemed to have halted, without the cacophony of combat to signal gruelling clash of steel. A peculiar sight for Melanie, who kept on following Victoria.

As she approached the ranks of her infantry, they took notice and stepped aside leaving her room. There, Victoria and Melanie advanced enough to gain sight of the opposing ranks of infantry a few meters away from theirs.

It had all turned into a standstill. A stalemate, as if, of neither side willing to throw themselves into the ranks of the other first. When Victoria halted by her ranks, the opposing ones slowly split in equal manner, giving way to Valerian and a few of his captains to pass and appear. The lilim and the man with the living armor then stepped forward, meeting at the very middle of the opposing lines with their respective staff officers.

"It's all just going to be a melee from here." Said Victoria, sporting a faint smile. "Your archers won't be any good now."

"They dropped enough of your cavalry and infantry, though." He replied in equal manner. "Guess the outcome of this is a coinflip."

"I'd have to agree, unfortunately." She glanced about. "There's not that much to gain in a brawl that the rest of training doesn't cover, and you know as well as I that neither of us will want to be the loser, so... Let's call it a draw."

"Very well. A draw it is."

Sighs echoed about as shoulders dropped and guard lowered, all sharing their relief and exhaustion. Grinning, Victoria calmly began to clap, staring around her at all the dullahans who took part.

"I see what great effort has gone into this by all of you!" She said out loud. "It won't go unrewarded! You'll have a break at your leisure for the next few days!"

Though she met silence at first, stares with eyes betraying surprise and disbelief, clear cheers of joy began to break out. In due time, more than a few audibly shared their joy at the news.

Valerian, on the other hand, stepped closer to Victoria, arriving on his horse to her side.

"Do we really have the luxury of that long a break from training?" He asked, an almost whisper only she could hear.

"They will need it."

---

"My people. My sisters. Daughters of Variland..."

So spoke Victoria at the foot of the villa's hill. Before her, the army had formed: Formations of infantry, of archers, of cavalry, all present in tidy arrangements with their great many flags flowing by the breeze. All of them watching, listening intently in silence. Beside Victoria a few feet behind stood Valerian with Catherine, watching in equal manner with his hands together behind him.

"How many of you have come from Helmsreach? How many of you have seen with your own eyes the fires that consumed it all? And how many of you could even imagine at that moment that it had not been a tragic accident?"

There was no difference in their demeanour. Those from Helmsreach, and those not, it mattered not. The news alone would have shock anyone into stupefaction.

"It had been a declaration of war by the Nostrians." She continued, calmly walking aside along the lengthy front of the formation. "We built this nation from the ruins it had been with nothing but our own hands. What hardships we faced, we overcame. What strength we lacked, we obtained. Those to the south saw this, and knew what we could become... They fear us, and so they sought to put an end to us all while we were unprepared! Look to your sisters, look to your past lives and now to what strength you bear in the name of your nation! This is the war that will prove not only to us, not only to Nostrum, but to the whole world that Variland is the master of its own destiny! Through pain, through misery, through doubt, we must stand victorious no matter the cost."

A pause followed, where Victoria halted her steps. In those silent seconds, she took a deep breath.

"We march to Nostrum anew, stronger than ever before. Lord General Jeremiah fought and died for Variland, and we can do no less. Nostrum seeks to deny us our very own future, but the future..." She threw her fist to the sky, raising her voice to a shout. "The future is our birthright!!"

Cries broke out as fists and spears rose to the sky. Of joy, of defiance, of a thirst for revenge, a deafening chorus tore through the once silent winds drowning out all. The incomprehensible, primal shouts soon found a rhythm, a tempo, a coherent chanting which not long after could be heard in clarity. 'Variland! Variland! Variland!', all shouted as one.

A sight which, even if she wanted to suppress it, grew an uncontainable grin on Victoria's expression.

"It's a pity that I'll have to stay and train new recruits." Remarked Valerian, stepping to Victoria's side to watch the scenery in greater clarity. "I almost want to go to Nostrum, now."

"You won't be missing much. There won't be a lot left standing where I march."

Valerian couldn't keep a light laugh from escaping. "We've gone from raiding to outright invading. Good luck."

---

Index
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