The Call of Crows

Chapter 40: Answer the Call

The stench of death crept up Guanyu's nostrils.

But he embraced it. Now, the smell of rot signaled his imminent victory. And with victory, would come his long awaited title.

Guanyu was the first inside the fort they were assaulting. The soldiers that were meant to be fodder for him were nowhere to be found. The bravest had died in the fighting. Now only the civilians who had sought shelter in the fortress remained.

"The enemy has run from us!" Guanyu announced, "Craven! But it matters not! We are victorious!"

Guanyu got no response.

Instead, his soldiers pushed past him and started grabbing whatever food they could take and whatever women and girls they wanted. They killed anyone who tried to stop them or beg for mercy without a second thought.

Guanyu stared in confusion.

These men barely gave a damn about anything except their spoils.

Guanyu set the pommel of his glaive in the ground and grumbled. The people here only followed his orders because they had to. No one really respected his authority. That much was clear.

Perhaps, he admitted to himself, it wasn't the best idea to give him control of an army this big. He'd commanded small groups of Bane Knights and captained his own ship, but with how decentralized the power was, soldiers showed more loyalty to their officers than to him.

Guanyu strolled through the fort, the plundering soldiers ignoring him mostly.

Perhaps he would get his title, but without the respect of the men that helped him earn it, the victory would feel hollow.

But how could he make these men respect him? It was as though this entire situation was rigged against him. The army was used to being led by the Twelve. He wasn't even the next greatest to them.

So then what to do?

They dug up whatever they could take for themselves, like dogs. No, worse than that. They just scrounged up whatever they could for their lords. The men of these levies were ethnic Nikan, first and foremost. They were forgetting they were even part of a cohesive army. He should gather all their spoils and distribute them among the men based on merit.

It was a concept the Khongirats used to great effect in the Age of the Great Khanates.

But it wasn't as though he could walk up to the lords and demand they cease their looting. They would just turn their men on him or leave.

He needed power. More than what just his glaive could offer.

Oh, but I am so much more than a glaive.

Guanyu looked up, startled.

"Who's..." the prince trailed off. A few soldiers gave him odd looks. "Carry on."

I beg of you, master. Use me and you will have the power to command respect from your army.

It...was it the Shedim?

Guanyu looked at his weapon in bewilderment before glancing around to see if anyone else had heard it. Confirming no one had sensed the words, he moved to a more closed off section near the destroyed fortress wall.

Beyond this prison, I hold unimaginable power. You know this, master. You have seen it in your enemies. And in your sister.

It was. It was the Shedim.

Guanyu leaned his glaive against the wall and backed away. "You. What do you want?"

The princes and princesses of the Nikan empire held a special privilege and a special ability in their blood. Only they who possessed the emperor's blood could Banebend an Elder Shedim. Each of them got one on his or her tenth birthday.