Should We Meet Again

Chapter Nine

Riven sat in the large tent that served as the Noxian forces' mobile war room, the ambient sound of the surrounding camp slightly muffled by the tent's leathery surface. Its interior was incredibly minimalist in design, largely due to the constant advance of the army. A scarce few foldable chairs were arranged around a massive map that was stuck into the ground by two long rods on either end. Despite its purpose, the tent rarely saw any visitors aside from General Du Couteau and the occasional messenger. As such, Riven made it a habit to come here when she wanted to reflect on the war. At least, that was what she told herself. A part of her knew that she actually sought to avoid reflecting on her battles, or perhaps even thinking at all. The Noxian shock force was a brutal and efficient beast, bringing death to all that lay before it and crippling that which held its ground. Zaunite war machines on the cutting edge of experimental science followed by Noxus's most elite units of ground fighters turned what should have been vicious and hard-fought battles into one-sided slaughter. It was a tactic that betrayed the supposed honor of Noxus's philosophies, but General Du Couteau's justification was a sound one. The rationale for using such brutal approach was that the General wanted to prevent the loss of Noxian lives as much as possible, and that the repeated devastating losses served to demoralize the Ionian people. If they could drive the Ionians to surrender quickly, then their unwavering aggression on the battlefield would ultimately save Ionian lives.

"Something on your mind?"

Riven turned to see the General lazily looking over the map of the Ionian archipelago. The first few times he had done this, she had nearly died of a heart attack. By now, however, she was used to it, and upon the realization that moving in silence was ingrained into his body and mind, she ceased to hold it against him, as he most likely wasn't trying to startle her on purpose. How thoroughly must someone train to reach the point where it would actually be strange for them to be heard even in a casual setting? Whatever that threshold was, General Du Couteau had passed it, turned around, and passed it again.

"I'm fine," she answered, "just gathering myself for the next battle."

The General took a piece of charcoal out of his coat and marked an "X" over a circle that sat near the location of his troop's most recent deployment. The circles represented known deployments of Ionian forces. When crossed out, it signified their demise at the hand of Noxus. This crossed circle was one of many by now. If she hadn't watched him place it, she likely wouldn't have been able to tell there was a new one, and she saw the map almost as much as he did.

"So I take it your excursion went well?" Riven asked.

"Not as well as it could have," Marcus replied. He took a thumb to the map and rubbed away a charcoal triangle (signifying a Noxian deployment) that was poised to attack a nearby landmark labeled 'Temple of Pallas'.

"We lost?" Riven asked in disbelief. A small spark ignited within her, a hope that the Ionians would fight a war worthy of their dignity as a people was slowly returning to her.

"What I've heard from the survivors is that the temple was guarded by warriors more fierce than any we have encountered so far, the foremost among them some kind of archer. I'm not entirely sure how they did it, but they managed to force our men into a retreat."

"What do you intend to do about them?" she asked.

"I'm not sure I'm going to do anything," Marcus responded. "Aside from the fact that the Ionians seem to think it's important enough to guard with some of their best, we don't really know anything about it. Besides that, the temple itself isn't of any particular strategic value geographically. As long as its protectors don't abandon their post to fight us, leaving it alone shouldn't be a huge problem."

"If that's the case, why did you send troops to attack it in the first place?" Riven asked.

"I told you already, this campaign's purpose is to wither the Ionians' spirits. While taking the temple might be considered a misallocation of resources from the standpoint of conquest, its capture would have done quite a bit for us on that front."