Chapter 123: Chapter 109 (Mary)

They still existed. The old, large tunnels that were the heart of the mines still existed and were large enough for four men to walk side by side. We even managed to lead a single horse through the dark, wet tunnels. As the air was already stale, we refrained from using torches and rather handed out hundreds of costly magical lamps to the soldiers. The scouts already cleared the path up ahead and so, we were relatively safe as we travelled through the tunnels.

It was illogical that any monster housed in these mines in the first place as there was simply no food down here except the occasional rat. And so, a thousand five hundred soldiers marched through the tunnels, along with me. Somewhere above us, the enemy marched as well in the opposite direction and we should, at least in theory, surface behind them again.

It was a grim atmosphere, even as the tunnels proved no threat to us. There was still this darkness that persisted everywhere and promised to devour us whenever we didn’t look. I had the safest position in the middle of two experienced knights who didn’t sweat one bit so far. They didn’t even look remotely intimidated and rather had a grim expression while I gave my best to look calm, collected and determined.

I was the de facto leader of this army, even though I gave complete control over to more experienced military personnel. The troops still looked up to me and thus, I had to look like I knew what to do, even when nobody saw a thing in these damp tunnels. There was absolutely no way we could lose ourselves as well here, it was just a straight path with many, many dark branches going off it.

“There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.” One of my guards said and pointed ahead. Indeed, there was a faint light in the distance and as I was unable to hear any sounds of battle, I concluded that our opponents didn’t know about this tunnel.

The usual stone above our heads was soon replaced by dirt and roots, held up by a few wooden beams that were dangerously close to rotting away completely. The light blinded me as I stepped out of the tunnel, but I nonetheless moved away from the entrance, blocking the sun with my hands. An endless stream of soldiers exited the mine into a village that was completely devoid of any life. The houses were already mostly broken down, even though some were built with the stones excavated from the mine. Moss-covered, these ruins were a remnant of a mining town that once prospered inside the White´s territory.

A servant graciously presented me my armour, a completely white chest plate with the family emblem on it in silver. There was even some flashy armour for my legs which served absolutely no purpose, but I still wore them nonetheless. It wasn’t armour per se, it was a sign for the enemy and my soldiers. I would stand by their side, be the light that guided them or something like this. As long as it improved morale, I was willing to do basically anything.

Clad in armour, I waited thirty minutes until the last soldier exited the mine and was thankful for my advisors to stop me from wearing the armour right away. Although it wasn’t full body armour, it was incredibly heavy. I wondered how anyone, especially those that stayed behind and were probably preparing for battle right now could move in this type of armour.

After my horse was prepared for me a few minutes later, my guards helped me on it and we marched back. A few excellent scouts travelled ahead and soon confirmed the enemy´s location. The ten thousand men strong army was right in the middle of my two armies of a thousand five hundred each. Everything was working fine so far and if the commander we left behind wasn’t an idiot, we could very well win this war.

Marching was a tedious venture. Although not much happened, my shoulders started to hurt early on. I wasn’t trained for war, that much was obvious now. But still, I held on, gritted my teeth and ignored the pain.

“They are going to fight at location c.” One scout said after he ran up to us. I nodded swiftly and he jogged away once more to find more intel about the enemy. Location c was the perfect spot, it was relatively hilly, meaning we could hide from the enemy rather long. After a huge hill, it would lead into the plains. Right at the beginning of the plains, just out of archer range, the army I left behind would wait and welcome the ten times stronger enemy with open arms.

We had to hurry up though and changed our course slightly. Our pace wasn’t the fastest we could do, but we couldn’t exhaust ourselves too much here. There was still a battle up ahead after all.

After a few minutes, we left the main road and marched straight towards our destination. The soldiers sang a few songs, albeit quietly. They sang about honour in battle, fame and most importantly, the beer and woman that awaited them back home. I knew that these songs would be completely different in another place as the mercenaries I recruited would probably sing about money, money, and bashing a few heads in battle. Anything went as long as it improved their morale.

With a sign of my adjutant, the experienced knights went up ahead to dispose of any scouts my own scouts didn’t already deal with after another one of them came back.

“They have engaged in combat. General Zodiak is holding the ground for now.” He said and swiftly excused himself again. A few minutes later, the tall hill, the battle was fought behind, already came into view and we sped up our pace. Guarded by four of my elite knights, I rode to the front, gracefully and determined. After we climbed the hill, I rode ahead as the army stopped just shy of getting spotted by the enemy.

I stood alone on the hill, the reigns of my white horse in my hands and gazed down on the battlefield for one second. It was a mess. The enemy knights on their horses were already surrounding our forces. The battle line was still held admirably though as our spears kept the enemy at bay, although the archer fire decimated our ranks quite fast. It was loud, men screamed as they died on both sides and I could do nothing to stop it. I drew my ceremonial sword, lifted it up in the air, just a second before the horn resounded behind me quietly.

My army ran the rest of the way up, rushed past me with deafening war cries. A thousand five hundred men rushed down the hill, eager to join the fray, eager to earn their pay. Some of the enemies must have heard the horn and couldn’t quite grasp what was happening. Quite a few turned around and looked at me, a powerful symbol, as my armour reflected the sun and my sword hovered above them. I was definitely eye-catching, but my army probably threw them more in confusion. Those that saw us couldn’t grasp where we came from, how many we were and most importantly, why I, the duchess, was here in this hopeless fight.

Some of them quickly pointed towards us, showing their immediate neighbours the impending danger, but none reacted fast enough. My soldiers were already at the bottom of the hill as only half of the archers who stood in the back of the battle turned around, their bows still in hand. A second horn blew behind me, this time ear shattering loud.

This time, it was a signal for everyone, but most importantly, a signal for Romeo Capulet to either risk his family fortune completely or betray his partners. And just as Lucinda predicted, he wasn’t willing to lose what his ancestors build up. Another horn blew, this time on the right flank of the enemy army. The effects were immediate.

The knights who were just charging into the back of those that stood their ground from the very beginning knew how to handle their new orders the best and started stabbing their previous partners. Knights fell down from their horses even as they were still galloping towards my army. As far as I could see, the Capulet´s controlled most of the knights in the first place, so it was rather easy for them to swiftly dispose of the others.

A complete mess broke out in front of me as the right flank got their new orders. General Zodiak, the originally retired officer, I left in charge of the soldiers who fought bravely so far, sent out his own knights, a respectable force of a hundred soldiers on horses to attack their left flank and with this, they were quickly encircled.

As they experienced one surprise after another, the remaining seven thousand were quickly overwhelmed by the number of new orders being relayed through their ranks which were probably even contrary to each other. More of them died during these precious minutes as my soldiers hacked their vulnerable backline apart, archer after archer, human after human.

And I, I sat on my horse, completely still and watched the massacre down below me. This was my doing. Lucinda had nothing to do with this. It was my decision to stand ground against those that tried to install a puppet as the ruler of this duchy. I was the reason for all this murder on both sides. I started the chain of events as I asked Lucinda to dispose of Arthur and I didn’t budge as they sent me their impossible demands. I still begged that this useless slaughter would stop sooner rather than later and gritted my teeth in frustration each and every minute.

But the enemy already showed their first weakness. The enemy´s spirit was completely broken after a few minutes as they weren’t even sure that the two remaining families still fought side by side.

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Three different command structures under one fragile umbrella just didn’t work out for them, and neither did two. The cracks already started to form as the left army distanced itself from the centre a few minutes after our charge, although we couldn’t exploit this as our numbers were still a bit low, even though we were already moving troops away from the Capulet front and reinforcing the others.

The archers stood no chance against our onslaught. They were neither trained, nor equipped to fight on the frontline and were thus completely massacred by us. Most of them tried to run away, but there was simply no place to run to except into the back of their comrades.

And so, they died.

One after another while I desperately wished that the enemy commander would finally surrender. His command structure was already broken to the point where it was impossible to relay any information, especially as the last archers died and my army stormed into their command centres.

Even then, we apparently didn’t destroy their morale as much as I hoped we would have. Soon afterwards, the army of the Montague´s tried to break out of their encirclement by pushing against General Zodiak´s army, but my own advisors already reinforced this front. There was no escape for them now, and they soon realized that as they were pushed closer together by the motivated and more trained force I build up.

Romeo Montague wasn’t an idiot. The battle waged on for fifteen more minutes and as his last remaining partner, now equally encircled, ordered to stand down and waved a completely white flag, so did he.

“We … won?” I said and nearly couldn’t believe it. Since the very beginning, the odds were stacked against us, but somehow, the actions of a single girl were enough to turn it around completely. It was a hard-fought victory, sure, but it was a victory nonetheless. Even the battered army I left behind waved their flags in excitement as the enemy officers all left their army with raised hands.

The rest of their army was ordered to march one kilometre further into the plains and had to leave their weapons behind, even the Capulet`s army was no exception to this rule. Lucinda had the idea to slaughter everyone at this point, but I couldn’t do it. Neither did my heart allow me to do this, nor my reputation.

It took my own officers fifteen more minutes to search the three commanders for any hidden weapons and to lead them in front of me, one after another. The first one who was dragged in front of me was Romeo Montague, a middle-aged man who wore a bloodstained waistcoat. His armour was already taken off him and as such, he was in front of me in simple clothing.

“Anything left to say?” I asked and looked down on him as an axe was placed onto his neck.

“I … was ordered by the king to test your abilities.” That surprised me a bit. I never thought of him as a cheap liar because there was absolutely no way the king would order an insurrection within his own territory. He could have forced me to marry someone else and install another person as the acting ruler of the White´s territory, but he didn’t do so.

“I see. Guards, imprison him.” It still couldn’t hurt to let Lucinda talk to him to find out the truth. I was sure she would be able to do better than I was, even without using any violence. He was led away without any further protest and soon, the acting head of the Capulets knelt in front of me.

“How did you do it? How did you create ghouls in my own market? How?!” He was a man who apparently lost everything. The trust of his customers, a war and a lot of money were all gone down the drain, just because he rebelled against me. It could still be rebuilt, but his business definitely took a great hit.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I claimed.

“I have proof!” He said but didn’t present me the letter I wrote to him.

“And where is that proof?” I asked while raising my eyebrow.

“As if I´ll show you!” He shouted out.

“Then let it be. I only see a man in front of me who was bribed.” I nodded towards his henchman who held his axe high.

“No! Wait! I-“ His head fell onto the ground right in front of me. Blood splashed on my horse and even my guides shrank back. I had to kill him, not for me, but because Lucinda´s identity couldn’t be uncovered. The circumstances drove me to murder … again, but I couldn’t even look at it. He was the only one who could actually frame Lucinda for wreaking havoc in the market. The letter I sent him was proof enough of that.

‘If we charge, turn against your friends, except when you want to share the fate of your slaves.’

It could be interpreted in many ways, but the implication was clear. We were responsible for the massacre in Verona, his home turf. We could ruin him whenever we wanted, and if he didn’t want to die, he would have to do what I wanted. I would naturally claim that I wanted to enslave him if this letter ever came to light, which I highly doubtful as my army was currently searching each and every single person.

“Imprison the last one as well, I don’t want to deal with the family of my late husband.” I ordered and unmounted my horse. This harness was seriously heavy … and so was the burden of being responsible for this war.

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