Enlightened Empire

Chapter 388: Warcrimes

As someone with the memories of a modern person, convenient travel was one of the things Corco missed the most about modern life. Without planes, without cars, and without trains, getting anywhere took ages in this place. Medala didn’t even have any horses, so most of the time, he was being carried about by other people like some ancient pharaoh in a Hollywood movie. Though considering how little fun Corco had on long journeys, this had been a remarkably pleasant trip so far.

Right this moment, he sat in a comfortable, large sleigh, upholstered with expensive cloth in the kind of gaudy, colorful stitching that only the lords of Medala could find fashionable. The journey on the snow was smooth. Even the sound of the sleigh’s runners as they compressed the freshly fallen powder underneath was pleasant. Now if only he could be pulled by something grander than donkeys, it would have made for a dignified image. Still, at least the donkeys had not stopped walking for no reason, so far, so their progress was quite good.

The troops around him were leading Corco and the rest of his army due east, towards the lands of the traitor Ogulno. His uncle had gone too far a long time ago. Now, finally, Corco had the means to punish him for his crimes, and there was nothing the rest of his family could do about it.

They had long switched not only to sleighs. The entire infantry wore snow shoes to a man, something they had brought with them in anticipation of their march south. Thus, their progress through the hostile environment had been swift, despite their lack of familiarity with the region. The fact that they had brought an experienced guide with them helped too, of course.

“So how much longer until we reach Kapra?” Corco asked towards his fellow passenger. Opposite him sat Mayu, the original owner of the fancy sleigh, with a permanent frown on his face. His equally fancy coat was finally gone, and revealed his slim shoulders. With his cloak, his previous bravado had also disappeared.

“We should be able to reach Kapra within the day. If the snow was not covering them, we would already see the fields on the city’s outskirts from here.” His reply was mechanical, almost pitiful in how emotionless his tone was towards his own cousin.

However, Corco remembered all the horrible things his cousin had done over the years, and the many more he tried but failed to do. As he did, the king’s pity melted away. He wouldn’t forget, and he wouldn’t forgive. This time, he would show the people of his country that there were consequences for breaking his laws, no matter who did it.

Of course, Mayu couldn’t read Corco’s mind. Had he known about his cousin’s determination and idealism, he would have never ended up in this mess in the first place. Thus, the ignorant governor looked down at the heavy metal bindings between his hands and feet, and then over to the guards on his sides,before he spoke up again.

“Cousin, could you please remove the shackles at least?” he said while raising his bound hands towards Corco. “They are dreadfully uncomfortable. And you know that I am no threat to you.”

“Really?” Corco asked back with an incredulously raised eyebrow. “Then why the fuck do I need this big army, right? I should just dissolve them now and trust you to do the right thing, shouldn’t I? Do you think you can expect any kind of trust after what you’ve done?”

“We are family,” Mayu insisted stubbornly. It almost would have made Corco laugh if it didn’t make him so angry.

“Now we’re family!?” the king shouted, but caught himself before he would assault his prisoner. There was no reason to get angry with an enemy who was already defeated. If he got angry at every bad loser, he’d end up with a heart attack before the end of this war.

“You’re lucky you’re still alive.” The king leaned back, now much calmer. “What you’ve done is inexcusable, family or not. If you hadn’t offered to open the gates of Kapra for us and get us inside without a fight, I would have already judged you for your crimes to make an example out of you.”

Again, the sleigh returned to silence, only interrupted by the sound of runners on snow and the steady breathing of the donkeys. After a while, Mayu spoke up again.

“What will happen to me?” he asked, his shoulders slumped and his head lowered. Corco wouldn’t give his cousin any illusions about his fate.

“If you’re obedient and you help me clean up your mess, you’ll get to enjoy exile on some little island somewhere. We may even allow you to pick a few servants and a wife before you go.”

“Estates fight all the time, since long in the past.” Mayu fought back with words, but they were as weak as his posture. “Even within the same kingdom, war between neighbors is the norm.The southern lords never handled conflict like this.”

“Well, I’m hardly a normal lord,” Corco was dismissive at first, but then he started to smile as if he had thought of something funny. “As they say: ‘I’m the captain now.’”

“Who is they? Who says? The pirates of the Verdant Isles?”

As he looked at his cousin’s confusion, Corco was once again reminded that the people around him wouldn’t understand his references. Back in the day he might have tried to explain himself, but he was long past that.

“I don’t know. People I guess,” Corco shrugged. “Either way, I’m in charge, so I get to make whatever rules I like. I don’t need your approval, or your input.”

“Your disregard for those around you will be your undoing. One day you will suffer the same as I have.”

“Yeah, probably. Unless I keep winning.” Corco smiled, unfazed by the implied threat. “I have a plan for the future, but until it’s fulfilled, I don’t mind compromising to get there. You don’t seriously think I’m as mindless as you, do you?”

“Hah, says the man who started a war over a woman.”

Maybe Mayu thought that Corco was being more lenient since he let him talk so much, or maybe he felt like he had nothing to lose. Either way, the governor’s words became bolder, and his head was no longer down. Though with his increased confidence, his attacks seemed to be getting dumber.

“I didn’t start the war, you fucking idiot,” an incredulous Corco replied. “And I already have the woman.”

“You could have avoided the war. Why would you not let me have her?”

“The fuck do you even mean?” He would have been angry had the comment not been so bizarre. “Apart from your question being pointlessly rude, it’s also ridiculous. You had years of courtship to win Maci over. I even supported you wherever I could, against my better judgment. If it didn’t work out in all that time, it wouldn’t have worked out anyways, ever, no matter what I did or didn’t do.”

“Who is to know. Maybe she-”

“Shut up!” All of a sudden, Corco stood up, his annoyed shout interrupting Mayu’s whining. However, the governor seemed to have lost all the fear of his king.

“Do not try to intimidate me,” he said. “What can you do to me that you have not done already? I will not-”

“I said shut up!” Corco repeated, his eyes no longer on his cousin. “And look behind you!”

Finally, Mayu realized that something strange was going on. Across the distant horizon, dark clouds were gathering. Beneath them, columns of black smoke rose into the sky like bridges reaching for the heavens. Confused, Corco asked his cousin again, who knew the area much better than Corco did.

“What is that place? What’s going on there?”

He already had a hunch, but it was too terrible to believe. However, Mayu’s breathless voice broke all of the king’s illusions.

“That is Kapra. The city is on fire.”

As soon as Corco heard his cousin’s ominous prediction, he ordered his army to speed up. Soon, they reached Kapra, the goal of their journey. Yet all the speed in the world wasn’t enough. They arrived at least half a day too late.

Kapra was a ruin. Smoke still rose from the charred remains of the houses. Somewhere in the distance some should still be burning, at least that was what the orange clouds in the sky told the king. The fire hadn’t gone out quite yet, but it was a last struggle of a dying city.

Once the fire was burned out, the famous city on the copper hill would be gone, yet there was nothing Corco could do to stop the flames. Most medalan cities were built with plenty of space between the houses, which made massive fires like this less likely, but Kapra was a mining town.

Lord Ogulno had needed countless workers and slaves to make money for him in his mines. All of them had been crammed together in slums at the edge of the city wall. Now, all that was left of these houses were ashes and mud.

The rest of the town hadn’t fared much better. When the space outside the wall hadn’t been enough, Ogulno had crammed the workers inside the wall as well. Even the inner city – the place where the warriors lived - was tightly packed to fit all the soldiers House Ogulno could afford with all their copper. The flames must have spread from one roof to another in seconds, until everything was ablaze.

Only the castle still stood in the distance, tall and proud, as if looking down on the mortals and their suffering with indifference.

Those mortals who had lost their homes and possessions now sat in the ashen snow outside the walls. At least they had survived whatever had happened here, but it was scant reprieve. With no food and no shelter in the winter, their lives were as good as forfeit anyways. Some screamed and cursed towards the sky in dramatic fashion, others cried over charred corpses, or over their lost possessions. Most, however, just sat there, with a blank stare directed at what used to be their home, and what was now a ruin. Maybe, Corco thought, they wouldn’t move a single step until they had frozen to death. No one took notice of the giant army that had suddenly arrived. After all, what else could these soldiers do to hurt them? What more could they take?

Mayu next to Corco looked confused, shocked into silence for once. The king, however, needed to vent. For the first time in a while, he was furious beyond control.

“What the fuck happened here!?” His discordant voice broke through the funeral atmosphere. Immediately, one of his advanced scouts came towards his sleigh to give his report.

“King Corcopaca, report. According to the survivors, Lord Ogulno went crazy. He started killing the people in the streets, robbed the food from their homes, and fled east with his warriors. Whatever he couldn’t take, he burned to the ground.”

“Motherfucker! Piece of shit!” The king jumped up and down, frustrated with his impotence. “Why!? Has this trash gone insane!? These are his people!”

Corco looked around for a target to vent frustrations, and he found it opposite himself.

“You!” he shouted at Mayu. “That’s the quality of your allies! Those are your people, you see!? You still having fun playing governor!? Let’s side with the mass-murderer, right? He’s way better than the mean mean king who won’t let me rape his wife, right!?”

“I… I did not know. I never would have…”

Mayu’s voice trailed off, lost for words. All this time, his expression didn’t change from one of complete horror, and his eyes never left the ruin. Again, Corco realized that Mayu was nothing more than a pawn, and he had never been anything more to his ‘allies’ or to his uncle. Rather than waste his anger on his hapless cousin, Corco would direct it at something more productive. Thus, he turned towards one of his guards.

“We’re pursuing the fleeing Ogulno forces!” he shouted. “He’s not getting away! Not again!”

“Although I will follow king’s order, however...” the warrior looked uncomfortable. After a few seconds of tense waiting under Corco’s stern gaze, he continued in a quiet voice. “Is it not the lord’s right to treat his commoners however he pleases?”

“Not in my kingdom it isn’t.” Corco sneered. All these old rules would soon come to an end. “No one is above the law here, you hear me!? For everything he’s done, he’ll pay. We’re pursuing them.”

“Of course. However…”

“What else?” Corco barked at the warrior, who lowered his head in response. Still, he spoke his concerns.

“We cannot pursue them through the midlands, can we?” he asked. “We don’t have the supplies for that. And we can’t resupply here anymore, which is probably why Lord Ogulno burned everything down.”

“We’re not pursuing them through the midlands. We can take the easier path that’s closed off to them,” Corco explained, before he gave his orders.“Leave behind half of our logistics staff, and order the surrounding estates to bring us some wood to make houses and fires here. Food too. I won’t let any more people die here just because it’s strategically inconvenient to save them. The rest of the army will follow me north. Along our roads, we will catch them east of the hills. And if they get there before us, we will catch them in Port Ulta. And if they run from there, we will travel across the water, until they stand for their crimes. They are not getting away. Not now, not ever again. Now, the rules have changed.”

On the grim orders of their king, Saniya’s highly efficient machine of war once more whirred into motion, taking aim at a new goal.