The Coward King
By: James Delaney Swinney
Part Two: Retaliation
Prologue
“This, my brothers,” began Auden Lorsley, “is where Gallanuul meets Elaech. This is where knowledge ends, where savagery begins. From here on, you will be surrounded by enemies on all fronts. Your only friends will be the soldiers around you at camp, and even then you cannot know for certain,” he warned, his voice raised loud so that he could be heard by much of, if not all of his army.
Hundreds of men looked around themselves then, examining his neighbour with new eyes, searching him for signs of treachery. Some likely saw it, but they said nothing, and so Lorsley continued his speech. “Be on your guard, men, and keep your wits about you in the coming days. With these next steps, we will enter into the land of our enemies, of Allard the Coward. These men are deceitful, treacherous, vile and savage.
“They are these things, yes, but they are also cowardly and weak. With sword and spear, axe and bow, knife and staff we will break them before us. We make for Werach soon, their capital, and we will repay them sevenfold for the savagery inflicted by them upon our people. Burn their homes and take their precious treasures. Kill their women and dash their children against the wall. Eat their crops and leave nothing living in your wake. This is what they’ve done to us, in our homes. Now, they will taste their own evil.
“I woke before the rising of the sun this day, and I read the messages for us in the stars. Give thanks and praise to the Gods, brothers, for the omens and portents were fully in our favour! With the aid of our Gods, the enemy will surely lose heart, and we will win the day!
“Omens aside, though, look to your arms and armour. Sharpen your swords and harden your hearts for killing. We will surely have enough of that!” With the last word, Auden Lorsley raised his staff high into the sky with a shout, and then brought it heavily down against the temporary wooden platform he stood on. This action was met with an exhilaratingly approving chorus of shouts from the men, and the air was filled with the clattering of weapon against shield, along with the spittle from thousands of shouting mouths. Auden Lorsley briefly allowed himself a proud grin, but he made sure his face was empty of pride before continuing.
“Come, my brothers! Follow me into Elaech, the home of cowards!” He leapt from the back of the platform, his mail armour clattering as he ran swiftly across the mysteriously undefended border. He did not look back, nor did he need to, to know that his mighty army of thirty thousand was following him.
“That was quite a speech you delivered there, Lord Councillor,” said a nearby voice as Auden was patrolling the newly set up camps. He was walking along the outer ring of sharpened stakes, which would be the camp’s main defences when finished, when heard the voice. He turned around to see Ralnair Clarisna, the commander of the First Cavalry Division, following close behind him. “It was riveting, and I could hardly keep from shouting myself,” he said.
“Thank you, Ralnair,” Auden replied. “That was the intent. I needed the men to be furious with the enemy, else this campaign would have been purposeless,” he said, though his voice was empty of emotion. That was saved for his speeches to his men. Besides that, Auden did not feel anything resembling amiability towards the man, or most anyone for that matter.
“You certainly achieved your goal then,” Ralnair said awkwardly. It was apparent from his voice and the expression on his face that he did not know where he was going with this conversation, though that was the very opposite of unusual in the conversations that Auden had with, well, everyone. He only spoke with deference to his superiors, and casually with no one. He turned away from the man and continued inspecting the camp, a decision that Ralnair was unbelievably happy with.
He finished his rounds within the hour, and returned to his tent to find his squire fast asleep on the boy’s cot. Auden did not know the exact hour, but he sympathized with the boy. They had been marching all that day, from sunrise ‘til sundown, and then his men had set up the entire camp from scratch, which they would have to take down the next morning. No one in the army, including young Gordan, his squire, was getting enough sleep these days.
Contrary to his men, though Auden felt not the slightest weariness, and when he laid on his campaign cot, he could not fall asleep. Instead, he filled his mind with images of the Council of the Crimson Tree in Gallyra, of the last session before he left for Elaech.
It had been going for hours already, and the major issue at hand had only just been placed before the Council. War was raging in the east, in Elaech, and they had crossed into Gallanuul, burning and pillaging all the way. It was a growing problem, and the forces that had been sent to deal with it had been defeated. The time had come for the nation to send its standing army to end the issue for good and all. The only problem was of leadership.
According to ancient Gallyran law, a Lord Councillor was the first choice to lead any army. All the councillors had served long in the nation’s military, and they were the natural choice for leadership. Of the nine councillors, one man had stood out from the rest as an able and confident commander of infantry and cavalry and missile-troops. This man had been in the army longer than any other, and had shown great promise from the day he’d been recruited. He had climbed the ranks swiftly, and was High Commander before his thirtieth birthday. Thus, Auden Lorsley was the automatic choice for this issue.
He had argued long against this choice, saying that he had been too long out of service. In truth, though he’d been an excellent soldier, Auden Lorsley had had no love for the job, for it was merely an occupation. He had been a godly man all his life, and the Gods did not love the shedding of blood, even enemy blood. He had no choice, however, for the Council was unrelenting. So now here he was, five leagues into the land of Elaech and leading an army to war against their nearest neighbors.
With these thoughts flowing through his mind, Auden knew that there was a very slim chance that he would be getting any rest this night. He got up from his cot, making his way out of the tent and towards the large, raging fire in the center of the camp. The late night air was chill, and the heat of the blaze was pleasant against his troubled face. He sat there, staring into the flames, until the night was over and the morning had begun, another sleepless night to go along with the many he’d had since the campaign’s beginning.
