Enlightened Empire

Chapter 394: Convictions

“This is an embarrassment!” Pari shouted at bodies who lay panting and collapsed in and around the camp. It had taken them all afternoon to reassemble the routed workers who had rushed into the forest like headless flies. Five had sustained injuries so severe that they couldn’t rejoin construction anymore, which would slow down their plans even without enemy interference. Their injuries hadn’t even come from the cannons. Rather, they had fallen down or spiked themselves on a low-hanging branch during their panicked retreat, all by themselves.

Although Chalco himself was embarrassed by the performance of his subordinates, he didn’t have time to complain about others. Instead, he was focused on salvaging what was left of his plan.

“So what should we do now?” he asked and jerked his head in the vague direction of the river, a deep frown on his face. In truth, he could only put on a tough front, while inside, he felt a block of ice forming around his heart.

If they couldn’t solve this problem, his plan would become bankrupt, and the praise and rewards he had hoped for from his master would turn into accusations, maybe even punishment. Damming the river had been his idea, so the blame would be his alone as well.

When he had last met Master Sucopia, he had been erratic and easy to anger. Who knew what he would do after hearing more bad news? Just like that, a few cannons across the river had put Chalco's life itself in jeopardy.

“What else could we do, bricklayer?” Pari asked back with the same, calm scorn that usually adorned his face. “We need to stop the heretical king’s men, before they can set up their defenses across the river.”

As the old warrior spoke, Chalco could feel the ice in his veins melt just a tiny bit. In moments like these, Pari was just as useful as he was abrasive. Still, the veteran’s courage could not fully eradicate the cowardice in the architect’s heart.

“But… would it not be prudent to return home first?” he asked with ducked shoulders. “We need to report what happened here, and then let master make a decision on our next course of action. I believe we cannot move against those cannons on our own.”

Although he was anxious about his future, Chalco still remembered the last time they had tried to charge against the king’s forces. In the large engagement south of Saniya that had since come to be known as the ‘lightning battle’, rifles and cannons operated by commoners took apart their warriors – trained over generations - as if they were mere rabble.

The image of the blood-soaked snow had become an inerasable part of himself, as had the scar along his chin that he had earned in the battle. He didn’t want to go through another disaster like that, never again. Rather than seek certain death with his enemies, he was more willing to bet on the unlikely clemency of his master.

However, it seemed like Pari didn’t see it the same way. While Chalco was ducked and low, speaking in a hushed voice as if their enemies could hear them all the way across the river, the old veteran stood tall and proud, in defiance of the young southern king’s strength.

“Have you any idea what awaits us over there?” he pointed through the woods and across the water, where their enemies would be reinforcing their position atop the distant hill.

“You mean the cannons?”

The veteran shook his head.

“While you were busy running away and feeling sorry for yourself, I sent out some of my people to check on enemy movements,” Pari replied. There was a reason he was the one responsible for guard work during the dam’s construction, and it certainly wasn’t because of his abrasive nature. “They say the enemies are building another camp across the river. Once they are dug in, the hill will not be ours, ever again. You have seen the way those moles build defenses. If we let them finish, we will break upon them like waves against the cliffs, just like before.”

“Even more reason to move back swiftly and report,” the anxious Chalco replied. “We are not equipped to fight them.”

“Fight who?” Pari sneered. “From what my men tell me, they only have a few dozen people up there, and they could only spot three cannons. Is that all it takes to deter the warriors of Medala?”

Enough to deter me.

Of course, Chalco couldn’t say that. He was afraid of the southern king’s commoner soldiers, but they were all the way across the river. Meanwhile, the scary veteran was right in front of him.

“But we have no army either,” he tried to argue through the fear.

“No army? With all the workers and guards in the camp, we have over a hundred warriors assembled here, and another two hundred commoners. With the logs we cut down earlier, we can build a quick pontoon across the river further upstream, where their cannons cannot reach. Across all those hills, our movements will remain hidden until we are upon them. How fast can you get that done, bricklayer?”

At last back in his element, Chalco made some quick estimates in his head. It helped him forget that many of their ‘warriors’ weren’t quite combat personnel and had only come here to help with the heavy lifting during construction.

After a few seconds of ponder, he replied in a careful voice: “If we only make a simple pontoon for crossing, we need a few hours at most, but-”

“Good, then we do just that. Once we get our men across the river, we charge their unfinished position from the flank and take that hill before they can reinforce it from their main camp. Once we take the hill, we hold until relief arrives from Antila. Then you can finish that precious dam of yours and get all the praise you want.”

“Impossible!” Chalco shouted back. Finally, he dropped all pretense and admitted his true thoughts. “You know what happened last time.”

“So what? Last time, our warriors did not lose to those commoners. That weak Saqartu kid lost us that war, that’s all.” Pari spat on the ground. “Never have I seen a more cowardly lord. With a proper leader comes unity, and with unity comes strength. That governor has taken our sacred, ancient strength, and rubbed it apart between his greedy fingers. We fell apart before we could launch a proper charge, all because of our idiot leader. All that kid did was spit on our proud traditions. Do you want to spit on our pride as well?”

“Surely matters are not that serious. If only we could…”

Chalco hesitated and looked back south, towards Antila. Out of nowhere, he felt a push. Before he knew what had happened, he found himself lying on the ground. Wide-eyed and his heart encased in ice once more, he stared up to Pari who had shoved him over.

The veteran warrior’s face had soured from his hurt pride as he thundered: “Look at you, groveling as soon as you hear about some commoners on a hill! Where has our strength gone, where is our pride!? Why do we have to fear them, hidden away behind walls and rivers!? Where are the times when we would fear none? Where are the times when others would tremble before the warriors of Medala? Do you wish to give up your strength, your position in this world, and that of your family!? Will you give up your pride and dignity, step aside and become the past, like whoever was here before the warriors of Medala came to conquer these lands? We only have a few hundred, but surely they do not have many more. Who cares if most of ours are better at laying bricks, they are still warriors, by the damned underworld! So long as we are united, we can take them, like we always have!”

Seemingly tired from his rant, Pari panted out his anger. To preserve some of his dignity, Chalco wanted to stand up again. Yet before he could, the old veteran continued, now in a somber growl.

“Even if we cannot beat them, we will show them the glory of our people, the might of our will. Now, are you with me, or will you wither away like a coward, like Governor Saqartu did, to shame yourself and condemn your family to a life of slavery?”

“...I really am not sure-”

Again, Chalco tried to stand up, this time successfully. He brushed the snow and dirt off his legs so he wouldn’t have to look at the proud veteran’s manic face any longer. However, he wasn’t even through his first sentence before he got interrupted again.

“Well, if you wish to retreat, you can do so yourself, and then tell that foreign Lord Herak why we have failed to fulfill his orders.”

The simple words brought Chalco’s mind to a stop. The hairs on the architect’s arms stood up at the mention of the vicious, faceless foreigner who had quickly asserted his dominance within Antila’s command structure. Rather than all the fancy words about honor and will, fear was a far better motivator for him.

“I understand. I will reorganize the group to build a pontoon and get us across the river. Just,” A look at Pari’s determined face let Chalco give up on any more attempts at persuasion. Instead, he just sighed, “wait here, and don’t expect too much.”

Defeated by his guard’s momentum, the architect trudged off. He just hoped that their men would mirror Pari's strength later, with their lives on the line.

While the warriors on the river’s east were worried about their opponents, the southern kingdom’s soldiers in the west were too tired to worry about anything. It had only been a few hours since they had occupied the hill, but they had already set up some simple barricades.

Wooden poles had been driven into the snow-covered ground around the three cannons on the hill, and were then filled in with more snow for stability. The cannons had been set up slightly below the hill’s crest, to shield their position from direct artillery fire. Although their defenses were still a bit too simple according to the southern army's troop manual, they had been limited by their manpower.

As far as Taki was concerned, they had done their work well enough. After all, Qhatuq had only had a few cannoneers and scouts to work with until now.

After they had spotted the enemy plans to dam the river, they had immediately returned to the army's main camp. From there, Qhatuq had grabbed the first group of cannoneers he could find and taken them back in a hurry to prevent the damming of the river. In the meantime, Taki had been forced to stay behind and explain everything to his commander, including the three disappeared cannons.

After that slog was over, he was put in charge of a larger fighting force to help reinforce the position. Now that Taki was back and saw what little work had been done by his more experienced companion, he thought that he had done the better job.

In the snow behind the three cannon positions sat the reinforcements from the main camp of the southern kingdom’s army. All in all, Taki had brought around five hundred men with him, half a company’s worth. He considered it quite the achievement for the main army to spare so many on a mere scouting mission, especially after Qhatuq had offended their commander by running off with his men. However, the veteran scout still seemed unhappy.

“Good, you are finally here,” he said in a grumpy tone. His face was red and his breath short, but he still found enough force in his lungs to make demands. “I have marked out the positions for more barricades all over the hill. Get our reinforcements to work, so we can get a sturdy camp done before night falls.”

For once, Qhatuq’s bossy tone annoyed Taki. He had been left in the camp to clean up Quatuq's mess. He had to make the report, and he had to bring all the soldiers here on time. Now, they were tired from the long march. They couldn’t be forced to work non-stop, could they? At least a short break should be allowed.

“You have done so well here already," he complimented his grumpy companion. "This much should be enough, right?”

“What are you talking about? Should this little be our entire protection?” Qhatuq shot back and raised the dirty shovel in his hand towards the top of the hill. “That’s not even half of a standard defensive position according to the manual.”

“But it’s fine, isn’t it?” Taki's eyes followed the shovel up the hill at his colleague’s work over the past hours. “The three cannons are enough to prevent them from building their dam. I see you’ve also put some reinforcements around the cannons in case our enemies send some scouts to attack us. If they shoot back with their own artillery, we’re behind the slope, so they can’t even hit us. Honestly, you’ve done more than I would have. Do we really need anything else? Let’s just take a break and then set up our tents here.”

“And what happens if the enemy launches an all-out attack? We have almost no cover here. Do you really want to fight their warriors in an open field battle?”

“Why would they even attack us?” Taki laughed. “Last time we fought, these mighty warriors were mowed down like wheat and ran before they reached our lines. They have nothing on the great king’s invincible troops.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Taki realized that he must have said something wrong. At least that was what Qhatuq’s nasty facial expression told him.

“Are you a seer? Can you read their minds, or the future? What if they attack anyways? We have almost no defenses at all, and we have no idea how many are on the other side! Are you going to just rely on their cowardice for protection?”

“And that’s why I brought mostly musketeers from the camp,” Taki replied. “We can just scout around the river and if they ever try to cross here, we can shoot them from the shore and drive them back. Easy.”

To confirm the words, Qhatuq looked over the small army Taki had managed to bring. Rather than be happy about the clever strategy, the veteran's sour face got even worse.

“You brought almost no halberds. Why would you-” the veteran said, before he stood still in shock.

“What’s wrong? Did you hear something?” a concerned Taki asked. “Are they trying to cross?" He wanted to walk up the hill and check the river, but before he could, Qhatuq exploded in his face.

“Did you not bring us a single warrior!?” he shouted, his eyes wide open in shock and anger. “Do you want to kill us all!?”

“So what? What good are those old guys anyways? They are our enemies, aren’t they? Who knows what lord they work for, and who knows when they’ll betray us, just like the last batch. The new commoner troops of Saniya are much stronger anyways. If they fight us here, we’ll drive them back, just like we did last time.”

“Why are you always so careless?” Qhatuq held his head in an unnecessary display of frustration. “Do you really think that the same warriors who controlled all of Medala for centuries are so easy to replace? You’ve been to one battle, and it’s completely gone to your head.”

“So am I wrong them?” Now even someone as patient as Taki got annoyed by the constant nagging. Didn’t this guy just try to find fault with everything he did? “In the first place, we wouldn’t have to rush if you hadn’t let our cannons fire so early.”

“We had to stop them early because we have no idea how many logs they already have hidden underneath the snow,” Qhatuq shouted, unreasonably. “And you’ve never been in a proper, fair fight with a warrior, but I have. I was there when we fought them in the central kingdom, against King Pachacutec’s elite troops. If not for King Corcopaca’s heroic charge at the last moment, they would have broken our line and destroyed us. I almost died. It was complete chaos, just a pile of bodies and blood! We had to retreat! Do you understand? That means we lost that day! And we can lose any number of times if we aren’t prepared! And this!”

In anger, Qhatuq pointed at the fortifications around the cannons.

“This is what you call preparations!? Just because you’re a bit tired, how many of us might die here!? Just because of your complacency, just because you had no respect for the enemy!”

“Fine, no need to yell. I’ll go and start another dig.” Taki turned to do as he said, but immediately stopped dead in his tracks. His partner’s worst fears had been confirmed.

“No, I’ll organize the defense,” Qhatuq continued, still unaware of the trouble they were in. “You go back to the camp and get us some more reinforcements. Proper warriors this time. We might need them soon.”

“Too late,” Taki said. He tried to swallow, but there was a heavy lump in his throat.

“Even now you’re trying to be lazy?”

His body stiff from the cold, exhaustion and nerves, Taki turned to his partner.

“No, I mean. Listen!”

Faintly, in the distance, Taki could hear the sound of drums. It was a distinctive noise he had only heard once before. It had been right before the great warrior charge in the last battle.

“It sounds like they’re already across the river,” he whispered in shock. “They’re coming.”