PA 1.2

Meixiu

When people thought about war, they normally thought of big battles and long sieges. Of war heroes and nameless soldiers dying valiantly to win the day. Of covert espionage and generals leaning over maps to discuss tactics. That these were the things that won wars.

And that would be a lie.

What won wars wasn’t battles or tactics, but logistics. How many soldiers you had was directly impacted by how many you could feed. How do you get supplies from your cities to your armies? What about weapons, how many do you have available for your soldiers to use? How do you even move your army from place to place?

A kingdom who didn’t have answers to those questions was a kingdom without an army.

For Meixiu, General of the Sunset Army, the answer to all of those questions came from the river that every nation in the area relied on to survive. Control the river, and you’ve won every war before its started. That was why, rather than focus on the army, she’d spent the last year or so building up a navy.

Not one that most people would think of normally, though. The Sunset Kingdom didn’t have a navy in the traditional sense—not only would that be way too expensive to afford, but it would also be next to impossible to upkeep. Instead, they had large boats woven by craftsmen out of local reeds, which were then loaned out to people all throughout the Kingdom to use as fishing boats and transportation. The only caveats to this were that they had to be upkept by the owners and that they could be commandeered by the state in times of war. It meant that they had a large supply of boats they could use at any time without having to worry about maintaining them.

There were of course people who didn’t maintain their boats or people who tried to stop her from commandeering them, but it was hard to argue with a woman who had an army at her beck and call.

Thus, from the moment the war had begun, the Sunset Kingdom had a navy ready and prepared for her at Biancheng. And the moment she’d gotten the go-ahead from Joseph, she’d set sail downriver towards her first target.

It was under the cover of night that they arrived at King Wen’s Capital of ‘Dàhé,’ which controlled the northern half of the Wen-Olivia Alliance. Over thirty fishing boats-come-military transports arriving at the muddy shores of the city.

Similar to Sun’s Rest the city was open to the river, relying on a series of watchtowers along the river to give them advanced warning about attacks.

It wasn’t something they had to worry about back in Sun’s Rest, since they had defensive bridges throughout the Kingdom which acted as both a warning system and a way to slow down encroaching navies. This city, though, had none of that extra protection, and so became easy pickings for an amphibious attack.

THUD

Suddenly, a loud banging sound echoed over the river.

THUD THUD THUD THUD

“We’ve been spotted!” she hissed, before turning to the nearby boats. “Start rowing faster!” she told them as loudly as she dared. “Make sure that gets to everyone, but stay quiet—they might not know where exactly we are yet.”

A whistling sound suddenly blew past her ear. Glancing down, she winced at the arrow shaft sticking out of the boat.

“They’re firing at us!” she shouted, forgoing subtly altogether. “Faster! Double time! They know where we are and have range on us—just get to land as quickly as possible!”

Shouting like this wasn’t just to make sure everyone could hear her—it was also to make herself a target.

Which worked, as the next dozen arrows whizzed past her, one even hitting her in the arm.

It didn’t stick, instead ricocheting off her bone, but it showed that her ploy had worked. After all, it was better they wasted their ammo firing at the one boat with the unkillable person.

Still, it looked like she needn’t have bothered anyway. The darkness acted as enough of a cover that maybe one in ten arrows actually managed to hit anything, and barring a few screams it seemed all they managed to hit was the boats.

Of course, that was why she attacked at night in the first place.

“Aim for the center of the city!” Meixiu shouted, pointing as though they could see her in the darkness. “Stay as far from the towers as possible!”

THUD THUD THUD

The beat of the war drums was drilling into her skull as they got closer, driving up her anxiety despite herself.

‘Come on…’ she squinted at the hazy outline of the coast. ‘Just a little more time!’

Another scream echoed from behind her, causing her to grimace. It seemed their aim was getting better as they sailed closer to the city.

However, at this point it was too little too late.

With a dull ‘thump’ the first boat knocked against the coast of Dàhé, and with a bellowing war cry her army stormed the city.

--

Gamila

Days passed by as Gamila got used to life in the foreign city of Fortaleza.

She lived as a soldier did, her whole day structured and regimented to the hour. The mornings she would be woken up just before sunrise and given a breakfast of bread and water to quickly scarf down before heading to the roof. There the Queen would train the soldiers until noon, allowing everyone to break for lunch before getting sent to their positions throughout the city, while the veterans took their place to train on the roof. Finally for diner they’d be called back to the barracks, where they’d be given dinner and then immediately sent to bed. Anyone who messed this up was then punished, with Olivia favoring group punishments over any other. To keep track of everything throughout the day, the Queen had apparently set up a sun dial on the roof of her palace, watched over by a man who would loudly beat a drum to signal each passing hour.

In a way it was almost nostalgic, reminding her of back when she had been serving as a General under Meixiu. Except worse, since she wasn’t the one in charge this time.

While life in the city wasn’t going badly, there was a big issue that she didn’t know how to fix. Specifically, she felt like she’d gotten stuck in a rut, like she wasn’t getting anywhere. She’d infiltrated the city, great! Superb! But now what?

She’d spent so much time worrying about getting into the city that she’d hadn’t thought about what she’d do once she was there.

Which led to where she was now, walking back to the barracks from a shift on the walls, Akil and his friend Chatuluka at her sides.

“Damn hardass,” Akil grumbled, clutching at his stomach as they walked. “I can’t believe that bitch denied us our rations again! Why the hell are we being punished for someone else’s mistakes?”

“You can’t talk like that, Akil,” Gamila hissed, glancing around to hear if anyone had heard. “That’s the Queen! Talking like that could get us all in trouble!”

“And?” he grunted back, looking pissed. “I don’t care anymore—at the rate we’re going, we’re going to die of starvation long before the enemy ever gets to us.”

“Heh, you gotta admit he’s got a point,” Chatuluka scoffed. “I mean, yesterday she didn’t let us have breakfast because, what, two people didn’t show up on time? Come on, why should we have to suffer because two assholes decided to sleep in?”

“Yeah, but didn’t one of those guys get the shit beaten out of them that afternoon? I mean, I was pissed too, but not that pissed, y’know?”

Gamila sighed, slowing down so that she could at least claim ignorance if those two idiots got caught complaining about the Queen.

Then, as she stared at their backs, a thought occurred to her; one she was surprised she hadn’t thought of before.

What was the easiest way for a spy to ingratiate themselves into the local government? What was the easiest way to make herself look above suspicion?

And glancing at the grumbling men in front of her, she realized what she could do to achieve that.

Tyrants hated dissenting voices, after all.

--

Joseph

It was after almost a week of waiting that Joseph finally found out how the war was going for Meixiu.

He was sitting in his throne holding court when a scout arrived, storming into the plaza and marching straight over to him.

“Pharoah, I’ve come with a message from the front,” the scout bowed, the eagerness in his voice only barely restrained.

Leaning back in his throne, Joseph breathed a sigh out his nose before nodded. “While I admire your eagerness to preform your duty, I hope you realize that you’ve interrupted something important? But, since you’ve already done so, let’s hear it.”

The scout had the good grace to look abashed, but continued without hesitation. “General Meixiu has a message for you, Pharaoh. She’s successfully taken Dàhé, the capital of King Wen!”

A rash of cheering exploded from the people in the court, the air of quiet tension that had persisted since the start of the war instantly dissipating with the scout’s words.”

“She’s cut of Queen Olivia’s city from any supply or reinforcement,” he continued, a smile on his face. “and executed King Wen, bringing an end to his tyranny! Now she marches north, ready and able to defeat the rest of the northerners once and for all!”

While the scout’s words brought relief and cheer to his people, Joseph could only focus on one part of his message.

‘And Executed King Wen.’

It was times like this that he was suddenly reminded of what Meixiu was capable of. That she’d be willing to kill without hesitation. That she had once been a warlord just like Domenic.

In a way, it was why she was the one leading the troops rather than him. He could lead, sure, but there was a difference between leading people and leading soldiers. Between being a king and being a general. Both used the lives of people as pawns on a board, but where a King could work to better the lives of his subjects, a General could only work to end the lives of their enemies.

That was why he couldn’t take on a more militarily focused role. He liked to think of himself as a good person. But when war came to his doorstep, and he sent out young men to die to save his own life… he realized he wasn’t.

Joseph still had nightmares of the first war against Domenic. Of all the people who had died fighting for two stupid kings too stubborn and prideful to accept anything other than the other’s defeat.

Back then, if he had wanted to save the most amount of lives, he should have just surrendered. Taken the out when it was given to him. But if he had, Kaiden would have died. He would have died. And he hated himself just a little bit more when he realized that the faceless masses—his subjects or not—were worth less to him than the lives of those close to him.

So perhaps it was cowardly. Perhaps it meant he was a horrible king. But when he was back in his capital, away from all the fighting, he could almost pretend things were normal. Pretend that people weren’t out there, dying under his orders.

The fact that Meixiu was more experienced than him was just a convenient excuse. Just a mask so that he could hide from his own responsibilities. Hide from the fact that he had just as much blood on his hands as any of the warmongering tyrants around.

Joseph took a deep breath, grateful that his subjects were so busy chattering among themselves about the good news that they didn’t bother paying attention to their king.

Centering himself, Joseph raised a hand in the air, silencing his subjects with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Today, we have learned of a great victory,” he told them, his smile getting just a little warmer as the people cheered. “Yes, our brave sons and daughters have won against the tyrants to the north, defeating those warmongers who have attacked our friends! And so, we will host a feast in the city center, as celebration for this victory, a premonition of many more to come!”

His people cheered once more, and Joseph leaned back in his throne, the remnants of the words tasting like ash in his mouth.

‘God, I’m so tired.’

9,898 God-Kings Remain