The Fell War - Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Alfre woke just before dawn. Her sleep had been restless, even with Beira’s warmth at her side. There was so much riding on what happened next. They’d received word in the middle of the night that Ren and the others had successfully taken the Cathedral. They’d already successfully fought off one patrol of guards. Ren insisted they could fight off as many as needed.

Alfre hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

She stood atop Sandfur’s Den, watching as the camp came to life, the smell of Wally’s breakfast rousing those still sleeping. They would march just as the run finished rising over the horizon. They needed to prepare.

“Are you nervous?” Alfre did not turn at the sound of Elias’ voice.

“If I wasn’t, you’d call me crazy,” Alfre said, her voice refusing to give away just how terrified she actually was.

“You’re right,” Elias agreed, coming to stand beside her. “I definitely would.” There was a pause, and then he asked, “You are nervous then?”

“Of course I am,” Alfre snipped. “I’m about to lead a literal army into literal war – without one of my best friends by my side.”

“Would you be less nervous if Spica was here?” Elias asked.

Alfre shot him a wry smile. “Wouldn’t you?”

Elias gave a short huff of a laugh. “Yes, I suppose I would. But we’ll see her soon enough.”

“If none of us die before then,” Alfre muttered, her hands clenching behind her back.

“We won’t die,” Elias assured her vehemently. “We’ve got too much at stake. Besides, you’ve got the gods on your side.”

“Well, three out of four isn’t bad, I suppose,” Alfre joked.

“Whatever blessing Orli has given the Granato will be nothing compared to the three of them,” Elias said, and Alfre could almost believed him.

“Commander,” the two turned to see one of Alessio’s soldiers coming up the dune. “It’s almost time. His Highness has requested your presence. Yours as well, Lieutenant Commander.”

Alfre nodded, jumping down from the top of the dune, landing in the soft sand below. Elias rolled his eyes at and followed suit. They entered the cave together, finding Alessio and the other leaders gathered around a map of the City of Heart.

“Queen Ren has informed me of the side gate they used to enter the third district,” Alessio said, marking the spot with a bishop piece. “Should the enemy bunker down for a siege, I would suggest sending a few platoons through this side gate and using them to distract the Granato soldiers so that the rest of the army can more easily break down the main gate. Or, they can open the main gate themselves, which ever option ends up being the best for the situation.”

“That’s assuming they will bunker down for a siege,” Hadi said. “The Granato Army is not built for fighting off sieges. They are almost entirely knights, there are very few range fighters that can pick off attackers from a distance. And they have very few magic users, only clerics for healing. Now, those clerics are very high level, which makes fighting them a pain, but not impossible.”

“That’s good to know,” Alfre said, pleased. “If we can kill off the cleric first, we’ll have a better time at it.”

“Yes, that seems to be the case,” Alessio agreed. “Queen Ren says the outer four districts are in ruins. The outer three walls are completely gone. The fourth wall is almost as bad. There are plenty of places for assassins and hunters to hide and pick off soldiers while the rest of your forces deal with their army head on.”

“The main goal should be to get into the third district and relieve Ren and the others,” Ran added. “Once we’re there, hopefully we’ll be reinforced by the Fell still there. Hopefully Ren’s been able to get through to some of them.”

“We’ll just have to see,” Alfre said, not wanting to say anything that would give anyone false hope. There were only about three hundred Fell they would be fighting, yes, but the Granato Empire was large and their army reflected that.

The sound of footsteps caught their attention, and they turned to see Wally and a handful of lower leveled clerics coming in with plates of food.

“No use going into battle on an empty stomach,” he said with a forced smile. “You’ll need all the energy you can get.”

Alfre smiled at him as she took her plate. “Thank you, Wally.”

He nodded, hesitating a moment before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Stay safe…please.”

Alfre’s smile turned sad. “I’m going into war, Wally.”

He nodded, lips pressed into a thin line of worry. “Then…came back alive.”

Alfre reached out to squeeze his hand. “I’ll do my best.”

His brown eyes rose to meet Abital and Canus’ gaze. “You protect her. She’s the best thing we’ve ever had.”

Canus barked out a harsh laugh. “You don’t have to tell us that, boy. We know.”

Abital rolled his eyes. “I’m fairly certain Alfre would like to tell us that she’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself…”

“I am,” she grumbled around a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“But we will do what we can,” Abital promised.

“What are we?” Hunter groused, “Chopped liver?”

“We will do what we can to protect everyone,” Abital amended. “Is that better?”

Hunter muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

“It’ll do,” Ran assured them with a grin, looking very much like his sister in that moment.

They ate quickly, and moved on to preparing their steeds. Summoners called forth all manner of beasts of burden, be they horses, or elk, or even large, ostrich like birds supposedly native to the more desert-like regions of Ahmar. Alfre, unlike the others, settled herself across Beira’s back. She’d only done this once before, to try and prove that she could not actually ride her direwolf companion. She’d been thoroughly embarrassed to find out she could indeed ride Beira, and could do so rather comfortably. Today, however, the distinct steed made it easy for people to recognize that she was the one to look to.

“They’ll want a speech,” Atticus said, eyeing the army as the army watched and waited.

“This isn’t a movie,” Alfre argued.

“No, but they’ll want one anyway.”

Alfre sighed. She gazed at the army that had gathered before her. Gathering her thoughts, she spoke, her voice carrying in the open air. “Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being willing to fight for what’s right. Thank you for being willing to stand up for your fellow players even though you might not think it’s needed. Thank you for putting your faith in me, I’ll try to make it so it wasn’t wasted. This won’t be easy, war never is. This isn’t a quest. This isn’t a game. It hasn’t been for months. This is life, and I thank you for being willing to put yours on the line to help others. Now, who’s ready to kick some ass?!”

The army cheered uproariously, waving their weapons in the air and pounding their armor in some strange mockery of applause.

Alfre grinned, wild and manic and full of barely hidden fear. “Let’s fucking go, then!” She turned Beira towards the city and spurred her on, the direwolf bolting off into the plains. She could hear the pounding of hoof beats behind her.

They were going to war.