Rebellion - 7 (Patreon)

Pausing on the edge of the clearing surrounding the township, Vivi and I slowed our horses. Branches and what little undergrowth flourished in this time of year had parted to allow our passage after we left the road, letting us approach in relative secrecy, but there were limits to the secrecy of a cantering horse.

Without Lorna and Donovan available we'd been forced to ride on horseback to try and catch up with the northbound forces. It rankled, more than a little with either mud or snow slowing us down, compared to the freedom and speed I'd grown accustomed to with my ability to fly, but this was Vivi's question more than it was mine; not only would rushing in on my own be foolish, it'd be cruel.

I still took flights to let one horse rest and Vivi swap mounts, or simply scout ahead, but I also still spent plenty of time riding at her side.

And a little before noon, I'd spotted black smoke rising up through the trees over this town. Here and now, closer and without the limitations – differences, really – of a raven's sight, I couldn't deny what was happening.

"Tulvan." I spat out bitterly.

The banners were hers, mixed with Darius' and those of a dozen minor nobles. The men and women of the soldiery that were looting the burning wreck of a manor and a few farmsteads all wore the winter gear I'd fashioned for them.

Some were drinking straight from barrels that had to have been pilfered from the local pub, if not the lord's wine cellar.

While in theory I could understand looting, especially of a noble's stores, what I could not was the shivering forms of a noble lady and her children, stripped down to their underclothes and jewellery, left barefoot and made to dance for the soldier's amusement. Red marks on their skin made clear what happened if they refused.

Though not everyone seemed comfortable with it, none acted against it. Enough were laughing that I was disgusted.

"We'll speak with her." Vivi said lowly, spurring her horse forward, and with an angry glower I followed. "Hail to the force! Reinforcements from Lord Crowley, and additional orders!" She yelled as we left the trees.

Amongst those celebrating their victory, there was a swift scramble to gather their weapons and aim muskets our way.

"Name yourselves!" Came the fierce bellow of a sergeant.

"Vivianne Mistmantle and Gwyneth Arevin!" Vivi replied as my eyes remained fixed fiercely upon their entertainment. "If you need proof, Gwen will provide her magic."

Hearing her words I quickly conjured a crown of stars over the both of us, wondering if they were drunk enough to mistake me for someone else. But they didn't. "Where is Lady Tulvan?" I demanded as we got closer. "Why is she not controlling this mess?"

The sergeant shuffled nervously, but a woman I recognised answered. "She's up by the green." Hannah, Lorna's main aid in raising Donovan, said as she pointed to the centre of town. Her off-hand was on the back of a large hound, stroking it and keeping it close. "Seeing to the hangings."

"Hangings." I said flatly. What the sodding hell was she arranging hangings for? I shook my head; I suppose I'd find out, I'd resolve what was in front of me first. "Get that woman and the children a set of clothes and by the fire." I ordered.

"Ah, it be the Lady's–"

My eyes snapped to the sergeant in an instant. Duncan, that was how I recognised his rank; I'd been healing him since he joined up a few years back. He was no Fallan. "Duncan, did I speak too quickly? Stop acting like a fucking troll and give them some Light's damned dignity! Now!"

I was angry. Not the impotent, distressed, frustration that I felt so often dealing with those who had the power to act but hadn't listened, but the true burning anger I'd only felt once before in this life. Seeing people I cared for have their homes raided, their food and possessions burned, had been bad enough. Now I was on the side of doing it to others, and we were doing worse.

In the back of my head I couldn't help but think there was no Celestine to hold me back this time, no greater authority that I considered myself subjected to that could tell me no.

Duncan saluted quickly. "Yes'm! You heard the Lady Arevin, get the lady her dress and her kids warm!"

"Hannah, you're leading us to Tulvan." I told her. She winced but complied; she, at least, looked uncomfortable with what was going on and was leaning on her dog for reassurance.

Making our way through the camp, abutted onto the town as it was, I had to admit discipline hadn't broken down entirely. The tents were in orderly lines, campfires were set up and people were cooking food – stolen food – and latrines had been dug out on the edges.

But the fact that what must be most of the townsfolk that hadn't fled, men, women, and children, were being made to watch as more than a dozen hung from the trees made clear that the cruelty I'd seen was intentional. Of those up there, one even still breathed, struggling fiercely with his noose as it dug into his neck.

The others gently swayed in the breeze, the whispered sobs muted and drawn down by how long ago this had begun.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut him down right now, Tulvan." I demanded, glaring at the woman in armour who was watching the tree with her hands clasped behind her back like this was normal.

She glanced my way briefly and sniffed loudly. "Oh, did Crowley send you to offer aid?" She asked idly, ignoring my question. "And it's Lady Tulvan, girl. You're no friend of mine, no matter how useful you might be."

Vivi put her hand on my arm as I gritted my teeth and let out a long and slow breath.

"And you, Lady Tulvan, would do well to remember that these men are not those of the dales but of the forests, their loyalty is our liege." Vivi said pointedly. "Not to you. Merely an escort, to engage targets of opportunity, as they return you to your demesne."

"Not commit atrocities." I wondered if Sir Magroth would have struck her down already. Deciding to be good to my word, I pushed the tree to lower the last of the survivors to the ground. Then the bodies as well – one, by his dress, was the lord.

Enemy or not, he deserved a peaceful rest. Not being strung up on a tree.

"They're just riverlanders, girl." Tulvan snorted as they touched the ground. "I've no doubt Godfrey's taken his and started on mine much the same. 'Course, he's more of a drawing and quartering type than the mercy of a hanging." Turning to me she didn't look at all intimidated by me or my magic, or Vivi's reminder of where the troop's loyalty lay. "Did you think this was all fun and games? It's a war, not some little spat we'll settle over tea."

Hannah moved past us and started undoing the noose from the survivor's neck, and one of the townsfolk broke rank. No one moved to stop her, the soldier's eyes on us.

"A civil war," I spat back, dropping from my horse to get closer as I coalesced Astral stars around me, "every man woman and child here is a Gilnean! We started this war to end the king's tyranny and cruelty, not to enact our own!"

She just smiled down at me. "I joined this war for revenge. Many a grudge that will be settled in the coming days."

"Then take your revenge on those deserving of it, not the innocents we are sworn to protect." Vivi argued.

"Ludicrous." Baron Bowford stepped out of an inn and shook his head. "The lord was punished with death for siding with the foul king, and those that resisted our righteous requisition of supplies were placed alongside him. No innocents have hung this day."

"That also." Tulvan agreed casually. "Not that these idealistic children would understand. Go, girl, and do your... magic." She waved her hand dismissively in my face. "Some of ours need healing from the battle, such as it was."

I snatched her hand and squeezed, her eyes meeting mine properly as she was forced to wince in pain.

It was very, very tempting to do more. "Anyone I find who has taken liberties, who have proven themselves as foul as the king, will find themselves replacing these bodies on the tree." I looked to Bowford. "After all, hanging people who aren't innocent is fine, isn't it?"

Letting go of Tulvan's hand, not quite doing so much damage as to break it, I walked past her without giving a shit what she thought of me. How? How could she think this was acceptable?

If they had to die, then kill them. Don't make a spectacle of it to traumatise the people and sever them away from us for good. There would be no sympathisers for the rebellion here, not now, not ever. Not even with my intervention; too little and too late, it was all but pointless.

At least it would assuage my guilt for being part of this.

Kneeling down beside the man dressed in simple winter clothes, no finery, no armour, no weapons, just the muscle of a woodsman and what a man needed to keep warm, I eased his struggling breaths and pulsed Life back into his heart.

The younger man, a brother maybe, who had run out of the crowd looked at me with what might almost be thanks.

If it weren't so clouded by fear.

"Gwen..." Vivi's hand rested on my should and I looked away from him. "Let's walk through the camp, make sure things are..."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Hannah, organise burials."

She looked startled. "Pardon? I've no command!"

"Congratulations," Vivi said drolly, "you're promoted to the command of the Mistmantle contingent. Which is us. I've signed orders from Lord Crowley as to our position in the chain of command as we've got our own tasks once we get farther north."

"I'll have to see those." Tulvan said, shaking out her hand slowly. "But if handling any rapists is what you want, then do as you wish. What's a few lost soldiers compared to a mighty witch?" She sniffed again and started walking away. "So long, of course, that you do as you ought and fight our foes; not aid them."

Fucking bitch. But there would be people that needed my help, and like it or not, she was an ally. Unless Darius said otherwise, I... wouldn't act against her. Not if things improved.

Things had better bloody improve.

-oOoOo-

In the end, the morals of Crowley's troops weren't as deplorable as I'd feared they might be under Tulvan's command. There had been incidents, yes, and they were horrible, yes, but there weren't common. The campaign hadn't lasted long enough, the soldiers hadn't been desensitised to the idea, and most of them saw their fellow Gilneans as people and not things to abuse.

There would always be people who were just that awful, but the majority hadn’t even started down that path yet. And, hopefully, they never would.

Some had been stopped before they could get going, others had coerced agreement – food, coin, protection for their families – rather than forced and I'd punished them, just not with death.

But I'd only had to keep my word on four occasions; three men, and one woman, hung from the trees long behind us. There should have been a better way to do it, to handle things, but I'd made my declaration in front of the villagers. After what they went through, after what they had suffered, not going through with it would have been a betrayal.

It wasn't proper justice, dealt with in a court, but it was the best I could offer them in the situation we were in.

So far, there hadn't been any repeats. Not in any of the villages we'd passed through since then, nor had we needed to pillage their stores for supplies and beggar people who had committed no crime save to live under the wrong lord.

"White flag, hmm." Bowford rumbled as he lowered his glass. "Must have seen us coming."

"Not much else to see." Tulvan sniped back before grumbling. "Bog, bog, marsh, flooded fields, and more bloody bog. I hate the riverlands."

Winter had started to break, though it was still cold if not quite freezing, and brought with it a flood of snowmelt. Added to the rains that seemed to be trying to make up for last year, the river ahead was well past its banks.

"Can't you make us a bridge, Gwen?" Vivi asked.

I shook my head. "Across the river? Sure, but how in the nether are we getting the cannons, wagons, and all else to the river through that mess?" Half a mile, at least, of flooded fields and copses, small hillocks and houses poking above the sodden muck.

Making a bridge across a river I could do, even one that'd manage our baggage train. I'd done it before and I was stronger now than I was back then.

But not strong enough to manage something that long easily. And... "Even if I could, a causeway that long? We'd be sitting ducks for any guns they might have."

Where the bridge, which was now washed out, once stood was a village clinging to a small hill. It was one of the driest spots, above the floodplain, and where the small rowboat flying the white flag came from. We'd have been taking it to use their bridge if it wasn't gone.

"We're taking the village whether they've cannon or not." Tulvan said, taking the spyglass from Bowford. "The men need somewhere dry to sleep; most of us don't have the coin to waste on frivolities like your little tent, girl."

I shot her a faint glare but otherwise ignored her sniping. It never stopped.

Fortunately it didn't take the rowers long to reach us, hauling the flag up onto the 'shore' with them. They wore mail and livery, so they were definitely soldiers rather than civilians.

"Lord Permont offers battle on terms, Lady Tulvan." The elder of the two said firmly, meeting her gaze evenly. "If you would hear it."

"No pleasantries?" She sneered.

"None for rebel dogs, no. My lord offers this for the sake of the village under his guard by order of Lord Godfrey, not any consideration to your missing honour."

Tulvan's expression fell and turned flat. "What terms?"

"They are simple and generous both." He said grimly, meeting her look with confidence despite his precarious position. If I had to, I would intercede on his behalf; we weren't breaking parley with our own people. "Lord Permont offers to quit the town and organise a defence nearby, upon Welldant Hill. Should you prove victorious against all good grace of the Light, Tambleton shall be yours with no damage done to it or its stores. Refuse, and all shall be denied to you."

"Generous." Tulvan replied serenely. "If it is not a ruse."

"Our lord–" The younger of the pair, still holding up the parley flag, puffed loudly before being held back. "He wouldn't." He protested more quietly.

The elder shook his head slowly. "The bridge is as yet impassable; some may flee aboard ferries, but would do so regardless. All his lordship asks is that you grant until dawn to account for lost preparations."

"As is tradition for such things." Came Tulvan's disgusted reply. "Riverlanders. Very well, if you wish to sacrifice yourselves for your honour, do so. Until dawn then." Not waiting for his reply, she turned and marched away. Shouting orders for camp to be made and hearty meals to be prepared in advance of the battle tomorrow.

Watching the two return to their boat and take word away, I leaned against Vivi lightly. With Rutherford, I had been incensed and angry, on the defensive.

But by his offer, Lord Permont was... a decent lord. Fighting this war was nothing like fighting against the Scourge; that had been terrifying, disgusting, exhausting, and righteous in equal measure. This... this was a tragedy I'd helped bring about.

"We'll win, you're here." Vivi whispered as she rubbed my back reassuringly. "Could probably take them by ourselves if we had to!" She boasted.

I snorted at her confidence. "Yeah, but... war sucks."

She rested her head on mine for a moment. "Doesn't mean we don't have to fight. My brother's out there, and so's Lorna, Lord Crowley–"

"Mm, I know. I know." I replied, pulling her into a hug. Sir Magroth's reminder that I'd played a part in this, that I couldn't divorce myself from the blame of what happened wasn't going away. But I'd put myself behind it for a reason, and guilt or not, that wasn't about to change. "But! If we're going to fight, let's do it properly." Her red eyes met mine curiously as I outlined my thoughts.

-oOoOo-

Come dawn both forces were as prepared as they could be in such a span of time; the artillery batteries, all of our cannon and theirs, had been formed up behind protective earthworks to shield them from counterfire. Trying to cross the muddy terrain that had been the lowlands between us would be a killing field – so long as they remained.

Gifted the giant moat that they had been, the situation was something of a siege. We outmatched them, but it was scarcely by five to four and eight guns to five. Not enough to make victory decisive in these circumstances.

Though that could change with time; should the weather turn cold enough to freeze the floodplain, or remain dry enough for the waters to recede, they would lose their greatest advantage. While we had other places to be and wanted to get past them, it wasn't nearly as urgent.

That said, it was urgent enough for me to care. So it was up to myself and Vivi, the outliers in our force, to turn the tide. Standing in the trees, sheltered from view by evergreen leaves, I watched from above and focused on the emplacements I had scouted last night.

Since the moment the light of dawn spilled over the horizon I had been gathering magic and, at the exact moment I heard the first thundering roll of cannons firing, I let loose. The battle began with fire beams of astral fire falling from the sky upon their cannon – shattering the emplacements open and scattering the crews entirely.

Alone, that wouldn't be sufficient for long. One cannon had broken apart under the strike, exploding as its unfired shot detonated from the force, but the others held firm enough to remain a concern.

So, the blackthorns I had put to root in the dark rose up to entrap the guns themselves.

"Damnable witch!" Lord Permont yelled from his place in the camp below me. "Reclaim the guns! Get the plants away from them and save the powder! Now!"

Given the chance to react, without my initial attack, the crews might have cut them back. Severed the thornvines before they grew too thick to combat and saved their guns. But those men in position to do so were... dead or crippled, their bodies strewn about from the physical force.

I refused to look at the results. Not now.

Those that scrambled to obey were too slow, too disjointed, to manage the work in time. Merely pulling defenders away from other essential roles as the second part came into play.

A trumpet blew and a lookout screamed a moment after. "Enemy advance!"

With the enemy in disarray, the cannons clearly out of action, Vivi had begun her charge. Her horse galloped across the water, waves rippling from its hooves and sending up a spray of mist, but the surface held firm. Behind her came a dozen others; Hannah and her wolf, Mistmantle soldiers who had answered Darius' call to arms even without their lord, and a few others we knew and trusted – such as Roderic who helped build my home once – making up their number.

It didn't take long for more to follow, Tulvan and Bowford adapting to the sudden events as best they could, but without the advantage of Vivi's magic, they would be trekking their way through the water and mud for minutes yet.

And though they were shocked, the defenders weren't helpless. Muskets started firing at Vivi, though she protected herself with her blade in front – but Hannah was not so lucky, her horse taking a hit and tumbling and falling into the murk.

"Next phase," I declared aloud into the wind, rushing things slightly. My arm swept along with the breeze, stirring it into a merry frenzy as it crossed the enemy's lines. What had been a still day was suddenly a howling gale, clouds forming and freezing rain falling.

Then thunder followed.

Lord Permont, as was evidenced by his response, couldn't be called an idiot. "Take cover! Down! Down now!"

The strikes weren't coordinated, the wind wasn't good for discerning friend from foe, but that wasn't necessary. Lord Permont's forcers were pressed back long enough for Vivi to reach melee and leap from her horse.

She danced through the defenders and the wind, clearing a path through muskets and rifles to one of the cannon emplacements I'd entangled – which quickly shifted to offer her group shelter. In a few scant minutes, any semblance of a proper defence was shattered into pieces.

Splitting my attention as much as I could from the storm, which was still needed to protect the main force's advance, I highlighted Lord Permont with the dancing illusion of fire.

"Find that witch!" Her roared into the storm from his position low to the ground. "Find them!"

No one heard him.

But Vivi saw him, and undeterred by errant strikes of lightning that crashed so close by, she dashed through wind and rain to fall upon him.

His blade met hers as he made a desperate parry, and then another. He wasn't some barely trained militiaman, given a spear and handed a musket, but Vivi was simply faster. Stronger, more skilled, and gorgeous as I watched her fight.

Fire sputtered, spat, and hissed in the rain as it ran along the length of her blade, startling the lord. And with an off-handed grab, she divested him of his sword.

Her blade met his throat, and though I could not hear her words, they were carried to me on the wind.

"Surrender, Lord Permont. You fought bravely but lost."

The man nodded and raised his arms. The fighting took a while longer, a few pockets refusing to surrender, but the first real battle against an opposing force had been won.

-oOoOo-

"And what were you thinking by acting on your own?!" Tulvan roared at me, slamming her hand down on a table in Tambleton's pub. "You usurped my forces, made your own plans, and didn't do as ordered! This isn't an adventure you wind-rotted simpletons!"

I leaned back in my chair, tamping down on my irritation and focusing on keeping my smugly satisfied look on my face. "Did you actually read the orders Lord Crowley sent with us, or just assume he had given you command?"

He hadn't, not of me. Nor of Vivi. Once again, she was ostensibly my bodyguard and thus subject to my orders above all others – and her own judgement should it come to the point she believed I was putting myself in danger, he had made that clear – and I was attached as an aide but not subject to her orders. Hell, we'd been explicitly granted permission to steal troops to make up a force to rescue Howard.

Something of an auxiliary, secondary force, to operate independently of the first. Of course, I was absolutely pushing the spirit of what had been said, but I didn't like Tulvan terribly much.

Nor had I found her orders terribly inspiring.

"Furthermore," I said, cutting over her, "you didn't exactly try to include me in your planning last evening. Just ordered me to act as a form of magical artillery when the battle started. Which I did... and then some."

Bowford, though he was frowning, nodded. "We underestimated her magical abilities, Lady Tulvan. I had thought I had a grasp on them but I was mistaken."

"You weren't at the wall long." Vivi said, though it wasn't accusing. "Taking up the training rotation was important, but we were at the front, day in and day out, for weeks. We had to grow or we'd die."

I nodded along, there was a hell of a lot of truth in that. It wasn't so much being the case of having more power, or knowing more tricks, just because we fought.

But we knew how and when to act, what our limits were, more than ever. I could have wiped out the force with a starfall without much more effort than I’d put into what I’d done, I just hadn’t wanted to; there wouldn’t have been survivors, or much of anything, left afterwards.

"Oh, I had assumed," Tulvan said snidely, "that the way you retreat to your tent each evening, taking pleasure in one another, meant you had no desire to involve yourself in the true business of war."

"But I'm the only one handling the true business of war now, aren't I?" I said putting on an air of confusion. "Tactics win battles, Tulvan. Logistics win wars – and we don't have supply lines for food because of me. You didn't need to ask, I simply did it because I know its value."

Commander Smith, the man in charge of the artillery, laughed. "She's got you there!" He grinned at me widely. "Not a fan o' berries, mind you, but anything's better than bloody 'tack."

Tulvan closed her eyes and let out a short breath. "You shall be included in future planning sessions. A runner shall be sent to disturb you no matter your... decency. Now, about the punishments of–"

"Ma'am, riders." A soldier said, coming in out of the rain. "Merrowfall colours."

Vivi's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. "Isolde! She must've gotten a letter too." Noticing the puzzlement and imminent question, even from me, she continued. "My brother's wife, Isolde Mistmantle Nee Merrowfall."

"Let's go meet our reinforcements, then." It wasn't like we were going anywhere until the river died down a bit. "Assuming you're right, we can fold her command up with ours."

And make the separation a bit more clear. We were still going to pinch Hannah, though. Her wolf was surprisingly good company and I wasn't letting her get punished for following Vivi's charge and convincing others to do so.