"So the ammunition we brought in with the scattered forces is not enough?" Allyoceer asked Rohlant as he presented a tablet to her.
"Rate and scale that they're coming, we'll be dry of even kitchen utensils." he claims. Though, I saw the point he was making. Even Lavauroas with his strictly enforced practice for the mountain cracker couldn't supply us with much.
"So are we still at least using the fort's muntions, or have we started using what we have brought in?"
"We're coming up on the last rounds from the troops you brought in the other day."
"But they were only a handful of lucky informals." Lavauroas scoffed as he crossed his arms.
"Which in turn means we have gone through every other force from before." Rohlant clarifies as he puts his hand on the table with a forceful push.
"Then we'll exploit the supplies of our opponent. We'll sort out the necessities and make pushes on their stores. Heading back with the same speed that we went in with in order to ensure the supplies make it." Allyoceer explains as I glance over at the other Imdvarce she had brought in.
"That won't be an easy task. With the dwindling support from our guns, their guns will make easy pickings of us."
"We're Valkinvar, no gun crew will make cheap work of us." the other one she had named Wing-Tip asserted aggressively as she shook my side.
"We've been desperately fighting for days now... Their numbers continue to grow whilst we grow weary and exhausted." I tell her before she scoffs at the points I just made. A confusing action that left me quiet.
"It will be done, Wing-Head Allyoceer." she tells her with a firm nod as she quietly stares at us. And, unfortunately, she seems to ignore my concerns so she can push this idea.
"Ammunition is not the only thing we are running into issues with." Dannatili points out as her magic brings out some more tablets. Though, as she did so, I looked out towards our exit. Idly staring in the direction where the boom of our guns came from.
"Yes... We're becoming increasingly claustrophobic at the moment." Allyoceer admits uncomfortably as the great table is cleared to present the next issue.
"Our charity, to put it lightly, has seen us become overburdened. We have too many mouths to feed and not enough to go around. What we have been bringing in is mostly isolated, beaten-down forces. Their own supplies were running low before we brought them in." Dannatili explained.
"How're we going to be able to loot the enemy of their munitions, food and medical supplies?" I ask as I consider the burden this would place on us. Even just one of these things drastically hurt our ability to fight. With a Valkinvar focused on working as a courier...
"You managed to hold the line with just two not that long ago. We can handle it." my fellow Wing-Tip asserted as she brushed aside my concerns.
"The heretics have barely es-"
"You faced the brunt of their army and held the line!"
"Enough!" Allyoceer snapped as she looked over to Lavauroas who seemed to have a suggestion.
"Then we turn those we can away." he bluntly states. With the regular soldiers within the room suddenly jolted at the suggestion.
"No! Our duty is to protect them!"
"And to save the majority we must send some out to die!"
"Do not make such an assertion!" I snap at him as I tightly grasp the handle of my at-side blade.
"When villages cannot help those out, they chase travellers away at the end of a spear." he explains to me as he unfolds his arms and looks down at me. Right into my eyes while I did the same.
"We will not be sending anyone out to die needlessly." Allyoceer decides. Swiftly executing such an idea before it could be pushed further.
"So it has been decided that you lot will go out and fetch me more ammunition as well as ensuring a single hot meal for all of us at the end of the day?" Rohlant asks as he started to pack away his things.
"Dismissed." Allyoceer stated firmly before everyone began to file out. Yet, I stayed and watched her with uncertainty. The stiff facade she had been trying to keep up faltered and she sighed miserably.
"Please do not tell me you are seriously considering our Brother-Ammimpaurst's suggestion...?" I asked her cautiously as she moved closer to the balcony we had locked up before the meeting. The rattle of the door and lock then briefly disrupted the otherwise uninterrupted sound of roaring batteries. And it let them in with greater ferocity than ever as we walked out into the open.
And I made a point of not looking down.
"We are stuffed, Wing-Tip Vapooliar. Crammed in like salted meat in a barrel." she tells me as she looks down at the lower fortifications.
"Saving their lives is not wrong." I remind her as she suddenly turns tense.
"But what if that is what they wanted? To round us all into one, inescapable killing grounds?"
"They've lost far too many for that to have been their plan." I point out to her with a sigh as she steadies her mind.
"The truth of the matter, though, Vapooliar, is that we cannot keep all of these men here." she reminds me as I sternly keep my gaze focused on the enemy. Not letting the sights in the corners of my eyes become the centre-focus.
"We can find a way... Lavauroas can use his magic to shift the stone! We can tunnel deeper into the mountain. Refit the dungeons for better use!"
"You know that won't work, Wing-Tip. We so much as see another spot for a man to stand out in the cold in and we'll fill it with ten like him."
"Don't talk like that..."
"If too much builds up, we will burst at the seams, Vapooliar." she points out as I sigh and give in to the sights below. Taking it all in to its fullest extent as I tried to crush my sword's pommel. Even the road up to the main fortress had become crowded with ramshackle platforms and unstable tents. An open road not meant for that in the slightest.
"There has to be a better way than just leaving them to die..."
"I sincerely hope you can find such a solution, then." she tells me before she walks back inside to look at the tablets.
"I suppose we'll be headed out soon for supplies?" I inquire as I watch her glance at our rough scouting documentation.
"Yes, you and Wing-Tip Uala will take a sister each and you'll take what you can."
"And our support?"
"You won't have any."
"We can't do this with just four Imdvarce." I tell her as I lean forward slightly.
"And what would you have me do? Our stores run low, the guns cannot be as open as they were prior. Sister Dannatili needs rest and time to recoup her magic as do many of our other sisters."
"I won't speak of Brother Lavauroas, I know why he cannot help." I tell her as I bitterly leave the room. Maybe slamming the door in the process before I made my way outside. It was the only place I could move freely. But even up here it looked more like a campsite than the top gundeck of a fortress.
Our situation was dire and like Wing-Head Allyoceer's earlier analogy. We were being squeezed tightly by the armoured fist of our opponent. At the backs of our rescues was a gauntlet punching us into the hole. Crushing us with brute strength and the inescapable tightness of our new prison.
Though, I suppose, I should take pride in the fact they needed an armoured fist to do it. We were a thorny creation that would lacerate them dry of all their life. They would not pass by easily. Nor would we just throw our hands in the air.
These supply runs would just be one part of it. But, how effective they would be against them and for us was something else entirely. If I did not bring back all I could, the chances we would see men sent out to die needlessly grew. But I also knew that I could not bring back enough.
Not with four of us.
Not even if I had an army...
"Guess I best pick those who are able for this task." I remark as I head back inside. Patiently waiting when I could for men to go on by before I forced my way to the officer's tower. And when I got inside the crowded tower. I let my senses take it all in.
Mere glances were just a cover for my ability to pick and choose. Those who seemed to have energy left in them I stared at. The ones who were wrung dry of the ability to exert I didn't even glance at. Eventually, I found two sisters that could likely make the trip there and back.
"You, you, with me." I tell the separated pair as I headed upstairs where it was quieter.
"So, we meet again." Wing-Tip Uala let out with a sneer as she looked at us with crossed arms.
"Wing-Head Allyo-"
"I know." she interrupts as she snatches one of our lesser sisters up immediately.
"We'll be enacting a raid against the heretics. Our goal is to take what we can and bring it back here." I quietly explain to the sister that was left behind.
"How many chances do we have?" she asks me as she starts to practice how she could carry some of it.
"I... I don't know... For the moment, we'll go in once and head back. Give Wing-Head Allyoceer an idea as to what we can accomplish."
"Of course." she says with a nod as we reach the top level of the tower. And as we did so, Sister Dannatili put a stop to what she had been doing and looked at us all unfavourably. We seemed to have interrupted something but it wasn't worth getting involved with.
But, "How do the winds fair?"
"They're growing thinner." she answers as she starts to get involved with what she was doing prior. And without another word, I stepped off the balcony and went into the air.
"We'll make a pass through the sky. Pick up what magic you can and then we'll dive right down at them!" Wing-Tip Uala states without so much as consulting me. Neither of us had been given supreme command but she carried on trying to shove me out of it. She had been like this since she first arrived.
I was unworthy of the symbol I now wore by the grace of our superior in her eyes...
"Wing-Tip Vapooliar?" the sister that had ended up paired with me asked after I failed to follow them into the sky.
"Sorry." I told her as I went ahead of her and the other one to get in line with Wing-Tip Uala.
"Try to follow orders." the belittles me with the moment I got there. And, eventually, I drifted towards the left so I could keep my distance. Sighing against the wind before we came to a stop in a gap between the clouds. Our magic slowly recovered as it was being used.
"We need a clear plan of exit." I point out to them before I found Uala taking the pair in to explain something. Yet, for some reason, she kept it quiet enough so that I could not hear it from here. So I moved closer, but, by the time I got there, she had just about finished explaining.
"We'll be handling munitions." the sister I was with explained to me as the other two made a sharp drop.
"Can you spot anything that might look like a storeroom?"
"Over there is relatively isolated, it would be perfect for storing volatile materials."
"But can we use it is the question..." I quietly comment as I recalled how the guns of the heretics worked. Everything used magic! Our only hope might've been where ever the shotslings got their feed from.
"We'll have to figure it out later, let's go!" my sister urged me as we noticed the signs of battle take a sharp upturn. Wing-Tip Uala and her taken sister had begun to wreak havoc. And we needed to get involved to ease the pressure on them.
So, at the behest of my underling's eagerness, we shot down to the ground. Our blades had their shining tips levelled to our fronts and they quickly took on a red hue. With blurs of flesh and steel going right past us as we carved a path towards what we hoped to be a storehouse. And our halts were more akin to a violent crash.
"Check that one and come back to me as soon as you find anything!" I tell her as I start to cut down heretics with almost sickening ease. The bloody mud churned and flew about me and it only piled on to the filth I had already accumulated. But, to make sure I did not leave my sisters too isolated, I made a habit of throwing large objects about. Whatever I could get my hands on made for a fine weapon in this openly hostile place.
"WING-TIP!" my sister shouted as she came to a stop by me. And her quick, sure nod answered the question on my mind. So we dashed right back and took cover in the storehouse. Though the flaps the tent had faired poorly against arcane rifles and blades.
"The floor mat will have to do..." I muttered just before I bashed away one of the heretics accursed magic bolts.
"I'll take this end!" my sister quickly figures out as she slices her side of the tent down and snatches up the thick, flexible flooring. Taking from her example, I did the same while fighting off those I could.
"Here, you start taking it over the mountain! I'll hold them off!" I tell her as I start to precisely choose my targets. Favouring those holding small or manning larger guns over those with just blades. But the sound of a suddenly bursting spell and a scream took my focus away from the slaughter.
She had been struck by a war-witch!
"SISTER!" I screamed as I realised my mistake. Shooting up into the sky with all the force I could and I brought my blade down on the enemy. Only for them to catch it in some kind of spell as more of them gather about us. Yet, as I struggled against this particularly powerful witch. My sister found herself surrounded by many others.
And amidst her lost supplies, I was forced to watch as she was overwhelmed.
"SISTER!" I screamed again as I released my blade and dashed around my opponent. Swiftly snapping her neck with a sharp crack before I grabbed my blade and shot down. Slicing apart those I could before Uala and her assigned sister joined up with me.
Then, in the brief moment I could find peace in. I stared helplessly at the fallen soldier. I had done it again... I focused too much on one thing. And the danger that actually mattered slipped right past me and...
"Proven right again. The Wing-Head's choice was stupid, idiotic! How can someone like you be called a Wing-Tip when you just allowed this to happen!" Uala hisses in my face after grabbing the front of my armour.
"I..." I struggled to get out as my mind became clogged with reasons and excuses. I lost myself in fighting the soldiers. But she had abandoned us while leaving me in the dark. I failed to account for greater dangers, but she left us open to them.
"Pathetic. You, take our sister back to the fort while this failure here does as she was ordered." Uala tells the other Imdvarce before a sharp jab from her sends me flying backwards briefly. I stopped myself, but I was left trembling as I looked back at her. Anger was rising in me but I forced it down. Whatever I then couldn't get out or suppress I then vented into the few supplies that had survived.
And I shot up into the air quickly and quietly. Not even turning my head towards the other two before I dropped the bag down carelessly in the lower fortifications. Then, after quickly ascending to the top of the fortress, I descended into it. Aggressively pursuing the Wing-Head before I closed the door firmly behind me.
"Back so soon?" she questioned worriedly before I placed my hand on the table. Digging my fingers into the wood and letting it splinter and crack as growls rumbled out of me.
"Do not ever pair me with that creature again." I tell her with a firm snap.
"What happened, Wing-Tip Vapooliar?" she asked me firmly as she straightened out.
"SHE...! I..." I shouted at first before I went quiet as confusion filled me. Did I balance it out or did I focus on how the sister I was assigned was now dead? A Valkinvar had been lost right under my nose...
"You suffered a casualty." she quickly figured out as she walked around to face me. A stern gaze met me but I could not return one.
"Yes... The sister I had ended up with was overwhelmed as she was taking supplies over the mountain..."
"I never assigned any partners."
"No, Wing-Tip Uala made it the case after I found two sisters to go out with, like you requested."
"I see."
"She doesn't respect me... She is vicious in her pointing out of it. I am not worthy to wear this..." I nearly cried as the stress got to me before my superior's hand stopped me.
"I gave you that because I trusted your ability. I continue to have faith in you, Vapooliar."
"My incompetence has sown discord amongst our ranks! Our very first raid out there and I already lost a-"
"All I have done since the lines broke is lose sisters and brothers, Vapooliar." she interrupts me with.
"But..."
"My entire wing had been wiped out before you came. I was ready to die in that valley with the few men I had managed to keep under my protective blade. And then, you came, you managed to at least blow filling air into the embers of my hope. It may not be a strong fire but there is one there."
"You figured out something was off about me from the moment you met me..." I whined quietly as I struggled against her grip. I did not deserve this accolade from her. I was just some pathetic Imdvarce who failed her men once before.
There was nothing for me beyond the most basic of ranks...
"I did, and I also made it clear I didn't care."
"You need someone better than me."
"I have seen no one as brave as you Vapooliar." she tells me as her grip stiffens. With her skin stretching so much I would probably see the white of her knuckles.
"I... I'm a coward... A coward who hi-"
"You are a Valkinvar who overcame her shame and came to fight for Her Lord and country! You took up your blade and you have focused on nothing but saving the lives of this land!"
"Yes... Wing-Head Allyoceer." I answered shakily. Deferring to my taught mannerisms to at least keep myself together. A stern-faced soldier is what I was... So I needed to act like it...
"I will speak to Wing-Tip Uala to see if I can fathom something. But, I need you to remember that lives will be lost, Vapooliar. It is a great difficulty all leaders must address... If you cannot stay strong on your own, give yourself meaning to by staying strong for those around you."
"Those who are weak must stand proud as to avert the treacherous. Those who are strong must live a lie to draw them out..." I recite even though it wasn't quite fitting.
"In a way, yes. By showing that you can take on those threats, you will pass on your courage like a cloud does rain. The soil might turn to mud at first, but it is from that which you will find the strength to drive a village, a town, a city, a country." she tells me as she lets go of my hand. Just as my grip eased on the piece of her helmet.
"I will try, Wing-Head Allyoceer."
"No, you will do." she corrects as she returns to the table.
"I guess I should explain how the raid went beyond our loss."
"Were you able to get a decent amount?"
"Me and..." I started to say before I became frustrated by the fact I did not know her name. The sister I had lost was just a face to me.
"Go on, try to ignore that for the moment." she tells me with a solemn expression. Her insight was quite good, I had to admit. Though, it was particularly obvious that I was ignorant and lying in the dark.
I gulped slightly before carrying on, "We were able to haul up an entire tent's worth of supplies. Of what, I can't really specify for the moment. But, until it went bad, we could've brought back easily enough to fill this entire room to its brim."
"And it would be gone within a day..."
"Even a day's worth of supplies is worth something, right? We are making sure that their position remains weak as well." I tell her. Hoping it would give her some confidence to at least keep up with this plan. Risky as it was.
But the alternative to our supply issue was far worse.
"But if it comes to always cost us the life of one of our own..." she remarks, though not maliciously. Yet, all the same, I felt an uncomfortable twinge in my chest. Like a fine-string instrument was being plucked right at my core.
"It won't cost us that, I promise!"
"We are being worn down, Vapooliar. As our strength wanes, error will spread. Weakness will give way to their strength. We might look down on it when we are at our best, but they have more than enough men to ensure they can stay at theirs while we forget what our best looks like."
"We can take to the highest skies! Filter the magic into our system! Like how our ancestors did in the battles of old!"
"You have felt it, right, Vapooliar? Strong as we are, we are not worth a million men. The magic in the air is pulling itself towards the enemy."
"All the more reason we should try and push them off! We will bathe in their own shortsightedness!"
"Every second they dig their trenches deeper. The ground possibly finds itself wormed away at and danger grows at our feet. They send in fresh men while we have none to meet them with. I cannot encourage an offensive knowing we will be swallowed up by the depth of their scale!"
"But we can't just stay here either..."
"No. We need to figure something out. I need to figure something out..." she sighs as she takes off her helmet. Revealing her scarred face and the beauty that could be seen about it. An aged face that had matured within the grasp of great power.
It was comforting to see the emerald lines in her hair. The green in her eyes. She was an experienced fighter. She really was the best one for this job.
But she still needed a hand, clearly, and, I had no issue with giving it to her.
"In due time, Wing-Head Allyoceer." I tell her as I had no ideas to offer her at the moment. Then, after a brief moment of standing in silence, I finally started to leave.
"Make a point of handling the temporary entombment of her body yourself. Your sisters will respect you much more for doing so." Allyoceer points out to me before I leave.
"Yes, I will... Face my shame." I sigh out before closing the door behind me. Though, at first, I headed back outside and gazed around. I hoped I could find some kind of hint as to where the body had been taken.
But it seemed that it found me...
"And here she comes, the failure who left your sister out there to die." Wing-Tip Uala asserted as she dropped down in front of me as others gathered around the dead.
"Wing-Head Allyoceer wishes to speak with you." I tell her without meeting her gaze. And, when it came to it, I forced my way past her grip and approached our fallen sister. Quickly taking her up into my own arms before I looked around at them. It was a vortex of different emotions, each told to me mostly by the way their eyes formed behind their visors.
Anger, confusion, resentment, regret...
"Did any of you know her?" I ask as I took off her helmet to look down at her bloodied face. Her skin, tanned throughout her service like many of us, had already begun to pale. Dried blood spilt from her mouth and nose and her expression was stiff. The first thing I then did was ensure that her eyes were closed.
"Her name was Annalla." one of them answered, clearly angered by the events that had transpired.
"I am sorry." I told them directly as I looked into their eyes. I then slowly stood up and kept my fallen sister levelled. From there I bypassed the still-present Uala and went into fortress. Carefully bypassing those I could before I arrived at the great shrine within its deepest recesses. Yet, it was not dedicated to Lord Waionr, who we served directly.
It belonged to Guareroisncer. The Lord of Heroes and the Caring Shield. The Protector God.
"But, I can trust in you to keep her safe. Please, my Lord Guareroisncer, keep Sister Annalla safe." I plead to him as I set her down on one of the pews. And I slowly rise back to my feet and turn towards the crowded corridors beyond this place.
"Do you need something, Valkinvar?" one of the men asked as after he found himself squeezed out onto the path to the shrine.
"Can you send word out for a bucket of water and a clean cloth." I tell him before I returned my attention to my fallen sister. To Annalla. Whom I failed to keep safe.
I made an immediate point of trying to make her clean and presentable for her husband. But it was an arduous task at the moment. With so little available to me. Though, at the least, I could free her from her filthy armour.
I set it aside and kept her body covered while trying to recall the prayers I should be making. The calls that would ensure she would be found by Waionr... When he came across our body-strewn battlefield once the fighting ended. She would be welcomed into his arms when that time came.
Nothing these heretics could do would change that.
"And, in the way Honourable War remembers us all. I would like to imitate him." I say to Annalla as I borrow her ceremonial knife. A sharp blade intended for our flesh. But it was so finely wrought that even our finely-made, coming on flawless steel could be scratched by it.
And I put the blade against my stolen bracer. Wiping the muck off as best I could before I then stared at the poorly polished steel. Staring back at me was my helmeted self. So I revealed my face and gazed upon my weary face directly.
Then, with a determined mind, I got to work scratching her name into my armour. I would atone for my incompetence by carrying her name with me from here on out. And if I must change armour at some point, when we won. I would carve it all over again.
With careful, spark-inducing cuts, I got to work. Carefully slicing and sawing the fine edge against my armour until crude cuneiform began to form. Poorly defined at first, but, as the scratching dug deeper, they came to stand out more. A process I repeated until her name was engraved fully.
"A true blade." I commented as I inspected the undamaged edge of the ceremonial dagger. Made for cutting our flesh during our pledges to Waionr. Though, while it was undulled, it was dirtied somewhat by the fine, razor dust I had made. So I tapped it against a lit brazier before I put it in slightly.
The weak, magic-lacking fire did not hurt or burn. I barely felt its warmth at all, in fact. But, with Annalla being so close to the cold of Undwote's touch. She would be able to feel it as if it were Ihtuntar reborn!
I enclosed the blade into her hands and watched as the colour returned to normal. The fine shine remained while the slight orange glow vanished without a trace. It was almost as if it had never been placed into the fire, to begin with. The blade went cold like she was.
"Valkinvar!" a soldier said loudly as the swishing of water filled the shrine space.
"Thank you." I tell him as I take it from him. Gesturing for him to leave before I then turned to my sister. Whom I then sat down beside as if she was a close friend. I then began to process of slowly cleaning her armour.
Polishing it up as if she was preparing for an inspection herself. A pedantic, effort-demanding task that did not end until I saw a glint on the steel. Even then, I went further and cleaned it more. My magic even defined the task further so I could make it shine greater.
Water dripped down as I wrung the cloth. A gentle ambience of crackling braziers and dripping water filled my ears. Something that was rarely disturbed until I placed down a piece of polished, but damaged armour. And I would pick up the next piece shortly after.
"Brave Annalla, fallen sister-"