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Before the Storm: Act 11, Chapter 12
🕑 Added 2025-07-12 02:26:35 +0000 UTC“Drew the short straw, eh?”
“Not so sure ‘bout that. Been damn hot all of the sudden. Night watch’s just the thing.”
“Dunno. Rather stand outside during the day than try and sleep in the heat.”
“Maybe. But it’s nice and quiet at night, too. Less to watch out for…”
The two Mercenaries froze as the ethereal form of a headless woman floated by. She didn’t do anything aside from making a few pirouettes as she bobbed up and down along the city wall, but the two men turned as pale as she was.
“That’s it. Fuck this shit!”
“H-Hey, where you goin’?”
“Gettin’ outta this cursed shithole before it’s too late.”
The jingle of chainmail accompanied the Mercenary’s steps as he hurriedly made his way towards the nearest set of stairs.
“The Captain’ll have your hide for this…ah, hell.”
Liam silently shook his head as the second Mercenary rushed after the first, leaving their post on the wall completely abandoned. Given how infrequent night patrols had become as of late, he wasn’t sure if their absence would be noted until the morning.
Is it supposed to be this easy?
The answer, according to both his training and experience, was yes. It was easy to win a battle that your opponent didn’t even know they were fighting. This, according to Tira, was the best part about their line of work. In most other vocations, what you were doing was quickly noted by others and those who felt their interests were threatened by what you were doing would act to oppose you. The only time Liam had to worry about that was if people were aware of his activities and could do something about them, which was nearly never.
He continued his way along Re-Blumrushur’s outer wall, following a familiar path through the darkness as he noted any changes to the city’s defences. An unsettled pall had settled over the people ever since the painfully conspicuous demise of the Clearwater agent, with fearful speculation and wild rumours surrounding the event growing with each passing day. If it were up to Liam, he would have lain low until things calmed down, but Raul had other ideas.
To the Commander-in-training, it was an ‘interesting opportunity’. He instructed Liam to report the state of the people, what they were talking about, and what the Nobles were doing in response. Using that information, which Liam delivered daily via Message, Raul did…stuff.
A woman’s scream pierced the stillness of the night. Liam cocked an ear to listen as he diverted from his route to see what the commotion was.
“The hell you wailing for, woman?!”
“A wolf! It was right there in the street!”
“You’re seeing things. A wolf can’t get over the wall.”
“Maybe it was a dog.”
“It was a wolf!” The woman insisted, “I know what I saw. It was big and black and had sharp fangs and red eyes.”
“You dumb bitch. Wolves don’t have red eyes.”
“Maybe it was a Vampire Wolf.”
The faces curiously watching from the nearby windows turned to the man who had offered the helpful suggestion. A moment later, most of those same windows slammed shut, and the sound of furniture being moved around could be heard dully through the thin wooden walls of the hastily constructed apartments lining the street. The woman who had spotted the ‘wolf’ similarly made herself scarce.
As with the spectre that had spooked the two Mercenaries from their post, the ‘wolf’ that the woman encountered was, in all likelihood, a summon controlled by Raul’s Elder Lich. Raul couldn’t directly attack or do anything that would otherwise implicate the Sorcerous Kingdom in the Azerlisian March’s troubles, but he was otherwise free to do as he pleased…and what he did was proceed to scare the citizens silly.
Unnatural beasts stalked the streets in the dark of night. Apparitions of endless assortment appeared before sentries and civilians alike. According to the rumours, even Lord Reginald had been paid a visit by a ghost while using the latrine. Annoyingly, Lady Beaumont had become even more clingy than before despite having an inkling of what was going on.
In mere days, Re-Blumrushur was flush with more fearful rumours than Raul could hope to create incidents for, and it seemed that the number grew exponentially every time Liam took a look around the city. They all had to do with the Sorcerous Kingdom…or at least every little thing was attributed to Demons and the Undead, which was naturally the fault of the kingdom of darkness nearby. The nobility’s decision to keep the coming war a secret only served to amplify the whispers running rampant through the streets, and, much to the frustration of Lord Reginald and his men, made any effort to counter them absolutely worthless.
Liam crouched on the rooftop overlooking the street, waiting to see if any security forces responded to the incident. As the minutes passed, however, the area remained deathly silent. That, too, was expected. Given Marquis Blumrush’s propensity for personal greed, House Blumrush only cared to keep on enough men to maintain the status quo that had been long beaten into its subjects. Any unexpected difficulties were addressed by employing either Mercenaries or Adventurers, depending on the nature of the problem.
In this case, Adventurers were both unqualified and unwilling to take up work as a policing force. House Blumrush may have at long last been willing to get the Mercenaries off the walls and into the streets, but the idea that an unwinnable war would soon be upon them had the so-called soldiers of fortune steadily melting away to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
About that, it’s about time to make my daily report…
He withdrew to a location where no one would be able to spot the telltale flash of scroll use before contacting Raul via Message.
『Hey, it’s me.』
『…wasn’t a country destroyed a long time ago that way?』
『Isn’t that just a stupid story? Sounds like a stupid story to me. Anyways, the city’s bleeding even more Mercenaries now. By the looks of it, there’ll be another five hundred gone by morning.』
『That’s good. What’s House Blumrush doing about it?』
『I don’t see what they can do. They barely have enough men to maintain order in the city, never mind trying to keep people from running away. Even if they tried, the Mercenaries are stronger than they are.』
『Guess that’s what they get for being cheap. How about the other Nobles? What are they doing?』
『Same as they were doing yesterday. The guys are putting up a strong front while the girls are doing whatever charity they can afford.』
He didn’t think it was out of any specific desire to do so. It was just what they had been taught. Noblemen were expected to be stern and unwavering, while Noblewomen were supposed to be caring and compassionate. The unfamiliar situation they found themselves in had driven many into ‘default’ behaviours that, funnily enough, helped to stabilise things. He supposed that also meant there was actually something to why Nobles did what they did.
『So things aren’t desperate enough for them to break ranks, huh. Well, that should change soon enough.』
『What’s that supposed to mean?』
『The rebels are done with Laval. They’ll be marching on Re-Blumrushur soon.』
『Hah? Are you crazy? Even if the city’s lost a lot of Mercenaries, a bunch of Farmers won’t be able to lay siege to it. Not successfully, anyway.』
『Uh…they sorta just decided to do it on their own. I guess taking Laval makes them think they can take Re-Blumrushur, too. We just have to make it so they can.』
『You make it sound as if it’ll be easy.』
『Well, you never know. Oh, I have something for you to do. A Knight and some of his men just escaped from Laval. I need you to attack them before they reach the city.』
『Attack them…not kill them?』
『At least the Knight needs to survive to let House Blumrush know what happened to Laval.』
『But that will give them time to prepare for the rebels’ arrival.』
『I guess that’s one way to look at it. Another is that it’ll give them time to digest what they learn. Do you have any poisons that might be identified as something the Undead use?』
『Uh…maybe? Most of the stuff I get issued is way too strong for what the weak Undead you might find around here have.』
Liam paused to rack his brain over what he could use. Zombies were some of the most common Undead, but they inflicted disease. Simple Skeletons didn’t use anything aside from what they appeared with.
『It doesn’t have to be anything from around here. The goal is to make them think that the rebellion is more than what it is. A strong poison that the local Priests can’t identify would be better than a weak one that some common type of Undead might use.』
『If that’s the case, I’ve got just the thing. How long until the target reaches the city?』
『Hard to say. Only the Knight has a horse, and I don’t think he’d leave his escort behind. They’ve been fighting the rebels since this afternoon, so they’re running tired.』
The job sounded like it would be an easy one…or was it? Killing was easy, but attacking people while making a convincing show of it could end in weird ways.
『I’ll head out once I pick up some stuff from the manor. Anything else?』
『Plenty, but nothing we can go over with what’s left of this spell. It’ll be at least two days before the rebels arrive at the city, so we can talk about it tomorrow night.』
『Alright. I’ll talk to you then.』
Liam made his way back to the upper city, easily slipping past the sparsely manned inner wall. Aside from it being nighttime, most of House Blumrush’s men were deployed as security in the warehouse district, policing the city streets during the day, and, as of recently, breaking up any gatherings sharing problematic rumours. As for the citizens, they openly complied with the authorities, if only to avoid the severe punishments meted out by the increasingly frustrated and overburdened armsmen.
That being said, their desperation remained. Not an hour passed without someone being robbed somewhere or trying to sneak into the city’s granaries. Like a twisted caricature of a Wagner manufactory, Re-Blumrushur accepted the streams of refugees fleeing from starvation in the north and spat out their corpses after running them through the machinery of the city. The artisans and workshop owners said nothing as the endless march of new faces came and went, giving their tacit approval of the grim process. There were even whispers of alleyway cookpots deriving meat of questionable origin to enhance their meagre offerings.
It stood in distinct contrast to the Draconic Kingdom or the Holy Kingdom, both of which suffered from events that led to similar hardships. Was it because it was Re-Estize? Or perhaps it was because of House Blumrush’s rule in particular. The people of the Azerlisian Marches had likely long become desensitised to injustice and accustomed to helplessly accepting whatever happened to them. Righteousness and intolerance for evil were mercilessly weeded out.
I guess it’s a good thing we’re taking over. The people here have no hope otherwise.
Liam nodded to himself as he entered Countess Beaumont’s manor. It was the very sort of thing one would expect of the god of death, justice, and judgement.
“Mornin’, Liam.”
“Good morning, Jacques.”
Just inside the entrance of the manor stood one of the former gang leaders working for House Beaumont. He was a short, scruffy-looking woodsman with a mop of sandy blonde hair and a fistful of missing teeth. The man was cordial enough, though it was in an uncouth way that the upper city’s denizens didn’t much like.
“It just me,” Jacques said, “or are half the mercs gone?”
“I don’t think it’s that bad yet,” Liam said, “but it’s getting there. Is that what they’re talking about on the way south?”
“Naw. It’s mostly shit about the levy and bitchin’ about the lowers squeezin’ ‘em for food. Want that to change?”
“No, it’s fine the way it is. How’s everything else?”
“Mmmh…normal? Normal as can be with all that’s goin’ on, anyway. Things are starting to green up, so the lean times are likely done. Shit like this makes you appreciate livin’ on the frontier. Sure, it means there’re all sorts of nasties fixin’ to eat ya, but that also means people haven’t turned everythin’ into a damn field. Lotsa forage for anyone who knows what to look for.”
“Doesn’t a field feed a lot more people? Humans, anyway.”
“So long as the crops don’t get messed up by anythin’,” Jacques replied. “But it’s all spoken for anyway. Farmers farm their grain, the greedy-ass Nobles take their taxes, the greedy-ass Merchants give you next to nothin’ for what little’s left, and then the greedy-ass Blacksmith fleeces you for your tools. What’s a guy got left after that? A few nuts in a copse, if he’s lucky. Ain’t nothin’ the damn Farmer can do ‘bout that, and guess what happens when hard times come ‘round?”
The answer was abundantly clear. At least for a place like the Azerlisian Marches, where seemingly everyone from top to bottom exploited everyone else as a matter of principle.
Liam went to the manor’s great hall, which was sparsely inhabited as most of the armsmen were away helping Raul or escorting caravans. At the dais at the head of the hall, upon the lord’s table, was a smattering of texts, documents, and administrative odds and ends. He picked up a map of the Azerlisian Marches and eyed the route between Re-Blumrushur and Laval.
It says Laval’s about twenty-five kilometres from the city. Raul said the Knight and his men are exhausted, so they’ll be moving around two kilometres an hour at best. I can probably maintain about six kilometres an hour and fight at the end of it…no, it depends on how long I have to maintain that pace. Well, let’s say I do six. Where on the highway will I intercept them…why does this sound familiar?
“Whatcha doin’?”
Liam looked up from his calculations to find Jacques standing across the table.
“I’m supposed to intercept a guy coming to the city from Laval,” Liam said. “A Knight and his men. They just escaped the town after losing it to rebels. Just trying to figure out where I’ll run into them.”
“Laval fell to rebels?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh. Didn’t think that could happen. It’s one of the biggest towns in the March. Been there a few times myself. As for where you’ll find that Knight…”
Jacques reached over and put his finger on the map.
“Should be there, yeah?”
Liam peered at the point marked by the man’s dirty fingernail.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Jacques said with a laugh, “How long do ya think I’ve been doin’ this kinda thing for?”
The map was one that only Nobles had access to, but it wasn’t that much better than a Merchant’s map. The spot Jacques had indicated was little more than a squiggle marking the highway. Maybe the man’s confidence came from his familiarity with the city’s surroundings.
“I’m not sure where that is, exactly…” Liam said.
“I’ll show you, if ya want,” Jacques said. “It’s close to where I’m headin’ anyway.”
“Sure.”
“Alright. Just need the Lady to sign off on these papers and we’ll be on our merry way.”
Going by the sounds and smells coming from the kitchen, it wouldn’t be long until breakfast. Thirty minutes later, Countess Beaumont appeared, accompanied by Claire. The young noblewoman smiled brightly upon seeing him.
“Liam! Good morning.”
“Good morning, Countess Beaumont. You, too, Claire.”
Lady Beaumont shooed the Maid towards the kitchen.
“How were things overnight?”
“A bit worse than the last, my lady,” Liam replied. More Mercenaries have fled. The people are jumping at shadows. Do you still plan on going into the lower city during the day?”
“Yes, of course,” Lady Beaumont replied. “My friends and I should be perfectly safe since we’re collaborating with the Temples. Things will almost certainly take a turn for the worse if we break our routine.”
He couldn’t say that things would be perfectly safe, but the Countess did have a point. She and what remained of her faction went out into the city daily to distribute alms, in the form of food and fuel, with the assistance of the Temples, which were far more respected by the people than the local authorities. They weren’t toothless, either. The city’s cathedral of The Four had a sizable contingent of the temple guard, which included not only Priests and bands of devout militant volunteers – the latter of which grew by the day – but also several Clerics and Paladins who were both trained and experienced in interacting with crowds of desperate, needy people.
While the faith militant in Re-Estize was nowhere near as skilled as their counterparts in Roble, what they represented was still a significant mental obstacle for anyone who might consider going against them in some way.
As for the Beaumont Faction’s charity work, abandoning the cityfolk could indeed be what finally plunged Re-Blumrushur into total anarchy. It was for that reason that Lord Reginald allowed the activity at all, which conveniently came at no material cost to House Blumrush.
“Just don’t do anything dangerous,” Liam said. “Follow the temple guard’s instructions when you’re out with the people.”
The Countess smiled and nodded, as if his words to her were the same every day. Maybe they were. Lady Beaumont was no Lady Zahradnik, so he fretted over losing the ‘leader’ of Lady Albedo’s rebellion to something stupid like a stray bit of cobblestone to the head.
Once Jacques had his papers reviewed and affixed with the Beaumont seal – and after sitting down for breakfast – Liam accompanied him to the city’s western gate. The customs official stationed there gave them a bored look as they walked up to his stall.
“Beaumont’s men, huh. Wait, aren’t you the Countess’, ehm…footman?”
Even after all the time he had worked under House Beaumont, Liam was still undecided over what people were insinuating when they referred to him like that. He clearly wasn’t of aristocratic stock like most footmen tended to be, so many from the upper city considered that a mark against him. Others assumed he was only in his position because Lady Beaumont had taken him as a lover, which she annoyingly never denied. A few were somewhat aware of his strength and shady nature, so they assumed he was more of a bodyguard or thug.
“Beaumont’s got some ‘business’ to settle,” Jacques said.
“Isn’t Beaumont to the south?” The official asked.
“Some folk’ve been showin’ up on my route,” Jacques answered. “We’re settlin’ ‘em before they cause us any trouble.”
“Is this something that House Blumrush should know about?”
Jacques exchanged a look with Liam.
“They’re not locals,” Liam said. “I figure things are stretched so thin now that they’re eyeing our caravans.”
“Damned vagrants,” the official spat. “We let them enter our lands, and now those lawless peasants think they own the place. Well, I’m sure Lord Reginald will be happy to have one less thing to worry about. Make sure you burn the corpses.”
As if to stress his point, the official sent a meaningful look at the ditch outside the gate. There, some decayed remains decorated with several arrows lay twisted in the mud.
“How many have appeared?” Liam asked.
“Between Zombies and Skeletons,” the official answered, “a dozen or so last night. More a break from boredom than anything.”
“I see.”
The official waved them through the gate. Liam eyed the destroyed Zombie as they walked past it. Since it hadn’t vanished after its defeat, it wasn’t a summon. How many of the ‘dozen or so’ Undead had been Raul’s doing, and how many were real?
“Surprised you’re worried about that,” Jacques said.
“It’s not as if all Undead are a part of the Sorcerous Kingdom,” Liam replied. “Uncontrolled ones will attack the living no matter whose side you’re on.”
They picked up their pace as they left the gate far behind them, avoiding the flooded ruts and puddles pockmarking the road. According to Raul, Lord Mare had started clearing up the weather over parts of Re-Estize so that the Royal Army wouldn’t be impeded by difficult terrain when the war started. House Blumrush, however, was one of the many members of the Kingdom’s ‘noble faction’ who refused to pave their highways, so it would be a while yet before the well-worn clay thoroughfare could be marched upon without churning it into muck. Going by that, the war would start in a few days. Lady Albedo fully expected the rebellion that she ordered to succeed before the Sorcerous Kingdom’s forces arrived, making it a rough time limit to achieve their goal.
Jacques turned out to be a pretty talkative guy, chatting nonstop about everything and nothing as they journeyed westward. Just before noon, his endless chatter ceased as he held up a hand to stop Liam.
“Looks like our man’s up ahead.”
Liam squinted as he scanned the length of the uneven road, eventually spotting what looked like a circle of lumps in the shade of a copse south of the highway.
“You sure that’s them?” Liam asked.
“Only one way to be sure,” Jacques answered.
The woodsman led Liam on a roundabout route, entering the copse out of sight of the unknown figures. They quietly slipped between rows lined with budding branches, eventually finding themselves within thirty metres of an ad hoc encampment. Sure enough, the men they had spotted from a distance wore tattered and bloodied garb bearing the colours of House Laval.
“See?” Jacques grinned as he spoke in a low voice, “Right where I said they’d be.”
How?!
Never mind barely having any reliable information about their targets, he and Jacques had sat down for breakfast, and the Knight and his men had decided to stop and rest. Yet, the woodsman’s initial prediction had still unerringly pinpointed their location. The rational part of him wanted to explain it away as an inevitability of both parties using the same road, but the map was at least accurate enough to indicate the precise distance along the highway.
“Hey, Jacques.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you go to school?”
“Like, temple school? Naw, I’m as dumb as rocks. Can barely spell my own name. So, what’re we gonna do ‘bout these lumps?”
‘Lumps’ was a good way to describe them. A chorus of snores seemed to shake the new leaves overhead, and even the man positioned for watch duty appeared to be sound asleep. Liam could probably dispose of them all without a struggle, but that wasn’t the objective.
These guys are way too far from the city…
If they were allowed to rest, it could very well take them until after nightfall to reach Re-Blumrushur. Of course, Raul never specified when they needed to arrive, but Liam didn’t want to wait around all day.
“We need to get them moving again,” he said. “Thinning them out would be great, but the Knight needs to reach the city.”
Jacques nocked an arrow to his bowstring and quietly waited for Liam’s signal. Liam figured if they could get the Knight to flee alone on horseback, he would make it to Re-Blumrushur by late afternoon. How to make that happen while having him return with the right story was the challenge.
The Knight’s horse snorted. The Knight pushed himself upright, groggily groping about for his helm.
“Huh? Clementine, what is it? Paul, do you see any–”
A vicious curse cut through the air as the Knight shot to his feet. He kicked the man sleeping nearest to him.
“Get up, you lazy dullards! The enemy is upon us!”
Liam looked at Jacques, who shook his head unknowingly in response. Was the Knight just being paranoid? Given how he had been roused, he was possibly skilled enough to telepathically communicate with his mount.
“Help me get rid of the armsmen,” Liam told Jacques. “Leave the Knight to me.”
“You got it, boss.”
The Knight continued to curse and shout as Liam crept closer to the camp. When the woodsman’s arrows started to land, complete chaos broke out.
“Rebels!”
“The Rebels are here!”
“They’re in the trees!”
“You bastard, that’s my shield!”
More arrows fell at a rapid pace, but it came at the cost of accuracy. They struck the ground more often than not, only occasionally finding one of the armsmen scrambling to gather their equipment and belongings. Liam threw rocks from behind cover, which were good enough to kill any of the half-dressed armsman that they struck. A Sneak Attack was a Sneak Attack, after all.
“There are too many!” The Knight shouted after vaulting onto his horse, “Fall back to the city!”
The call to retreat ended what semblance of resistance the armsmen had mustered. They broke and fled towards the highway, falling one by one as Jacques now took his time to aim properly at his marks. Liam hurled an envenomed kunai at the Knight as he galloped away, but he couldn’t tell whether his attack was successful. He needed to inflict another convincing injury, just in case his initial attempt had failed.
“Scratch him up a bit,” Liam said. “Don’t kill him.”
A dark blotch separated from Liam’s shadow, sliding along the grass to close on the fleeing Knight. Once the Shadow Demon caught up, it emerged and unfurled its wings to fully reveal its fiendish form. A long, terrified shriek sounded over the surrounding selions as the Knight twisted away to evade the razor-sharp claws slashing at him.
You don’t have to toy with him…
The Knight twisted this way and that, manoeuvring his mount off the highway before being chased back onto it again. His torment continued for several minutes, until the Shadow Demon vanished in time with a desperate slash from the man’s sword. Standing beside Liam, Jacques watched the nightmarish scene, his mouth agog.
“The hell is that thing?” The woodsman asked.
“A Shadow Demon,” Liam answered.
“A Dem–!” Jacques started, then took a step away from him, “Uh, I should get back to work. I’m free to go now, yeah?”
Comments
Vladimir Merritt
I'm just glad lunares is alive
Aeridinae Lunaris
Later today. It's a much larger chapter than usual.
Gabriel Marinho
Has the chapter release date changed again?
