Chapter XXX

The legions of Nihilus had been in Arx for several days now, and it was finally time for Kalvyn to strike. Certainly, King Therion had some forces kept at home in reserve, protecting the homeland against uprisings, but he had no idea the military force that Kalvyn had managed to gather over the course of his time there. Kalvyn couldn't just march straight to King Therion's castle and lay siege to it, however, there was much preparation that needed to be done before that.

Since the Nihilite forces had already made it through Ten-Red pass they no longer felt a need to hold onto it, but when things went bad in Nihilus Therion was likely to send messengers through that pass to tell his generals that he was under attack. Kalvyn needed to station a few warriors there to kill any messengers who tried to get through.

When it did come time for Kalvyn to lay siege to Therion's castle it might be several days before they could break through. During that time any other soldiers still in Nihilus would come to his aid, flanking Kalvyn's forces, so Kalvyn needed to deal with much of the rest of Nihilus' army before laying siege to Therion's castle.

Then there was the issue of weaponry. Kalvyn's warriors were outfitted with fine swords and decent armor, but this was not enough for a siege. Kalvyn's blacksmiths couldn't make catapults, ballistae, trebuchet, and siege towers, so he needed to gain access to more of those, or to the engineers capable of making them.

Kalvyn's three most trusted lieutenants were Nikolos, Bartolomeo (usually just called “Bart”), and Rachel. Nikolos and Bart were from the western city-state of Nobost, where they had served as high-ranking members of the city's guard. Since they weren't born in Nobost there was always a lot of prejudice against them, a lot of suspicion that their city-state sent them over as spies to set them up for an invasion. This made it all too easy for a city magistrate to frame them both for a murder that his sons had committed. Kalvyn rescued them both from prison just hours before their scheduled hanging, and they helped him fight against the forces of oppression ever since.

Rachel was from the nation of Arx, and was a member of a minor noble house close to the northern border. There was some in-fighting between different nobles and she found herself dispossessed of her land and her inheritance. Her family wanted to cut their losses and head west to start new lives, but Rachel wanted revenge. Kalvyn offered her that chance, and with his revolutionaries he helped her kill the nobles responsible, though this did not help her reclaim what she lost. With nothing to gain from staying in Arx and nothing to lose by following Kalvyn she left Arx with him to help him overthrow tyranny all over the world.

Kalvyn discussed his plans with these three generals. “Rachel, I want you to be the one to assign men to block off Ten-Red Pass. No messengers must make it through to request reinforcements.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Once you've secured the pass start securing all of the other mountain passes on the Nihilite side, just in case they don't use Ten-Red.”

“Understood, sir,” Rachel nodded.

“Nikolos, when Therion's generals left for Arx they left behind three platoons to patrol Nihilus' countryside, in addition to the soldiers they left to watch the castle. I want you to seek out and destroy these platoons. Hit and run tactics. Whittle them down to nothing. Use stealth, poison, disease, anything you can to wear them down. If they come up behind us and reinforce Therion's army at the siege of his castle everything will be ruined.” More often than from wounds received in battle soldiers died from disease, a result of their bad rations and poor living conditions. The people of Subra had found many ways of “helping that along,” as they put it.

“Yes, sir.”

“Bartolomeo, our spies have discovered a factory where engineers and laborers are constantly working on siege equipment. Most of their stock was taken to Arx, but I believe they may have a few things left. Whether they do or not capture the engineers in this place, bring them to our headquarters, and have them start work on siege weapons for us. If the engineers escape or die during the battle see if you can find any of their blue-prints and we'll work from there.”

“Understood.”

“And remember, all of you, the people of Nihilus must see this as their victory as much as possible. They must feel that it was they who cast off the chains of oppression, and that we just helped lead them to that. Make sure that anyone among them who does something truly brave is honored as a hero. They'll need their heroes in order to get through this. Once it's over, if we can make them see this as their victory, they'll be able to establish a much better system of government, one that takes everyone's needs into consideration rather than treating the common people like fertilizer for a garden of war.” Kalvyn's analogy was a bit of a stretch, and his three lieutenants exchanged glances with each other, silently commenting on it.

Therion and Boanne were listening to yet another prophecy by Deidra. “The ebony marches soon, with only a single vision. Five and five crimson ways will be sealed away, and no paper shall walk through. The ivory with obsidian sight must flee, or despair shall never reach those who sing to rocks. A pair shall defy a commoner who wears the crown.”

They waited long enough to see if Deidra was done before Boanne said, “Those who sing to rocks obviously means the Arxians, but the rest of it...”

“A pair shall defy the commoner who wears the crown...” Therion said. “There are two people who will give Cory great trouble?”

“Yes, he's probably what Deidra meant each time she said that a commoner would wear a crown,” Boanne said. “According to her prophecies it seems he'll bring destruction down on Arx, but there will be two who make this difficult. What she means by the ebony with a single vision and the ivory with obsidian sight I have no idea.”

“I'm bored,” Deidra said, yawning and stretching “Beasty-man, can we go do something fun?”

“What do you have in mind?” Therion asked.

“Let's go swimming!”

Therion laughed. “You know, that's not what the moat is for, and we have to make sure the waters aren't too hot. We should probably also get you some clothes to swim in next time, you put on quite the show for the guards.”

“I didn't want to get my dress wet.”

“I can understand that, but that's why I think we need to get you some clothes for swimming in, and perhaps a pool within the walls of the castle before you do that again.”

“Alright...then can you help me find all the distractions?” Deidra said. “Last time I played that game I found twelve!”

This particular game was almost as confusing as Deidra's prophecies. Last time he simply ran around the castle with her as she pointed out random things and shouted, “There's a distraction!” Then Therion would try to point one out and she'd say, “No, silly, that's not a distraction!” or “I already found that one, cheater!”

“I'm sorry, Deidra, but I have work to do today,” Therion said. “Boanne, will you play with her?”

Boanne resented the depths to which her position had sunk. At first she was Deidra's interpreter, helping Therion try to understand her nearly incomprehensible prophecies, now she was often delegated to baby-sitting her. Deidra was no child, to be sure, but her erratic nature and the fact that she lacked any concept of danger or of what was appropriate in any given situation made her a handful to deal with, and someone who required near constant supervision. The time she tried to paint the east wing with expensive red wine, the time she played hide and seek with the dungeon-guard's keys, and the time she went skinny-dipping in the moat were all proof of that. Because of these antics nearly everyone in the castle other than Boanne and Therion resented that Deidra was even there. Some had even raised the question of whether or not Deidra truly was a soothsayer, or if she was merely a lunatic whose cryptic words were being interpreted as prophecy. At times Boanne wondered this herself. Perhaps Deidra's prediction that the professor at Leti Academy was going to die was just pure luck, she had been pretty vague, after all. Boanne had heard of countless cases of charlatans trying to start cults to make money by pretending to be soothsayers, so it was also possible that Deidra was faking everything as part of a con.

“Of course, Sire, I'll keep an eye on her.”

Deidra ran off to find her distractions and Boanne chased after her. Deidra seemed to be running aimlessly through the halls, with Boanne struggling to keep up with her, and servants and guards alike scrambled to get out of the way. Deidra came to a sudden halt, nearly causing Boanne to crash into her, and she pointed at a wart on the face of a guard standing in front of the royal treasury. “There's a distraction! Can I have it?”

The guard glared at her. He was already self-conscious about the growth on his face, the last thing he needed was some crazy little tart pointing it out and asking if she could take it. “No!”

“Spoil-sport!” And then, as if the wart had never truly mattered at all, Deidra was off running again, with Boanne again trying to keep up with her.

“Slow down, Deidra, you're going to hurt somebody!” Boanne yelled.

“Zoom! Zoom! Wheeeeeeee!” Deidra was cutting corners quickly and rapidly changing directions, making it even harder for Boanne to keep track of her.

Around a fourth corner Boanne completely lost sight of her, and stopped to see if she could hear her footsteps anywhere. With how fast Deidra was running she was sure to make a lot of noise, but Boanne couldn't hear anything.

Suddenly, Deidra came around a corner, wailing loudly and waving around a big, very sharp, kitchen knife. Boanne screamed and backed up against the wall, watching the knife as Deidra swung it back and forth.

“I knew it!” Deidra said.

“Knew what?”

“This IS a distraction!” Deidra giggled. “I think I'll keep it!”

“Deidra! No! Give it to me! Give it to me before you hurt someone!”

“It's mine! Find your own distraction.”

“It's dangerous!”

“It's mine!”

“Not it's not...I found it first,” Boanne said.

“You did not!”

“Yes I did...yesterday. This was my special hiding spot for it.”

“Awww...really?”

“Yes, now I want it back.”

“Okay,” Deidra pouted as she gave the knife to Boanne, who put it back in the drawer with the other knives. “I'm bored now, what other games can we play?”