POV David
The aftermath of the battlefield was an ugly thing to behold. In the far distance I could hear the distant fighting as Bauerdorf was cleared of undead. Mangled bodies lay strewn across the field.
"It's well war is so terrible, or men would grow fond of it…" I said the quote of a confederate general that came to mind. Was this what it was like? That old politicians sent the young to die in countless wars that could have been averted if only they weren't so stubborn?
"Lord Fulton?" Alexious was spattered in blood, thankfully it wasn't his own. The Queen would've tanned my hide if he'd been killed.
"Alexious, what's on your mind?" I asked the prince as he stepped over a few badly mangled corpses.
"Are you really not planning on returning to the court? You'll return to your fief?" He asked.
"I am, I've been gone too long and there's much for me to do once I return." I replied.
"May I accompany you lord Fulton? We're not finished with my studies!"
"I suppose…" I muttered darkly. The rest of the crew would be going their own ways though. No more babysitting the nobles of the realm. I could get a precious few days of work done without them peering over my shoulder. But for now, there's still work to be done on the present.
I turned towards Bauerdorf, the royal 1st should be going house to house clearing the town. I grimaced, that might not be going to well. I started jogging towards the town, leaving all but my daemons behind as they slowly flew along behind me.
Glancing back I could see that my brother had directed elements of the army to move on Bauerdorf. They'd take time to arrive, the battle would likely be decided long before they got here…
It didn't take too long to find the front, the 1st was advancing in a painfully slow and methodical manner. And who else should I have found but her highness herself directing it?
"Ah, David. I take it the battle went well?" She asked as she looked me over, then glanced at the horde of daemons behind me in shock.
"Shyora. Clean out the town." She nodded and gave her new subordinates a look before they took to the skies.
"We need to kill the necromancer before they can escape." I said quietly to Veria so her staff wouldn't overhear.
She gave me a long look. "They're already dead. These undead act predictably, these no necromancer here."
"What?"
"We owe the unsung hero a great service." Veria said quietly. "It undoubtedly saved many lives."
"Who?"
"I don't know." She replied with a shrug.
"Well then…" I said quietly as I looked around as the 1st regiment continued to clear the houses. They gathered the corpses of the undead and burned them, lest they rise again.
"I'll deal with the aftermath and clean up, you can dismiss the other nobles and their regiments, Baroness Barford and I will see to their rewards." Veria said quietly as I nodded.
"You should return to your domain for a time, father your strength for a few… rough months." Veria winced a bit.
"Rough?" I asked.
"Suitors." She replied. "Who wouldn't wish to have one of the heroes of Bauerdorf married into their family, and with your sister gone…" she trailed off.
"I see." I muttered.
We were quiet for a few minutes as we pondered the future. Then my staff and several… extra people came thundering in and on their horses.
"Sir, your brother is bringing up the regiment to encircle the town." A lieutenant saluted.
I shook my head. "Tell him there's no need, the 1st will take care of it."
"Sir?"
"We won. It's over." I chuckled, feeling as if a great weight had fallen off my shoulders.
Alexious heaved a sigh of relief, Venia stared in adoration, Rena closed her eyes, and Juliana stared at me like I was about to vanish if she took her eyes off me. In just a couple hours I could be rid of a few of them and probably even more over the coming days. I couldn't wait…
With the sun beginning to fall towards the distant horizon the last of the undead were cleared from Bauerdorf. I thanked the nobles for their support and officially disbanded the command. A few of the nobles decided to part immediately, but some decided to stay with her highness to further their own goals. Either way, I was leaving in the morning and returned to the camp.
Rena spoke with me about our agreements before leaving, promising to uphold her end of our contracts. She seemed disappointed to be leaving, but I couldn't really be bothered to ask why. But sure enough, as Veria had predicted a few of the nobles asked for my hand in marriage… A few even asked Smith. They seemed surprised we turned them all down.
But I had an… important conversation to have with my brother tonight, and regardless of how I thought about it. It wasn't going to be very pretty. So it was that we and a few others were gathered in my tent with a dozen guards outside to keep unwanted visitors away.
Juliana and Samanta were off to one side discussing the future of the regiment and Shyora was briefing her underlings about my expectations. I looked at my brother with a long sigh and he leaned back.
"What's the bad news?" He asked quietly. I forgotten for a moment that I lived mst of my life around this fucker, he knew my ticks like no one else.
"It's… about Rebecca…" I said slowly. Which made everyone else silent.
"She was kidnapped a few days ago by Soxera." I maintained a level expression and held my brother's gaze.
Shock briefly flashed through his eyes. He quickly put his emotions under control, though his face looked like it had been chiseled from granite. He ground his teeth before returning his gaze and staring at me. "When did you find out?"
"Yesterday, around nine in the evening." I replied.
"You didn't think to tell me?" He growled.
"I knew better than to tell you then." I muttered.
"Sir? Should we prepare the battalion?" Juliana asked.
"Yes." Smith growled.
"No." I countermanded with a gaze that kept them frozen in their seats. I gestured for Shyora to come over.
"Master?"
"Pick your best… is it possible to rescue Rebecca?" I asked, my heart sank when she shook her head.
"We will try regardless, master." Shyora started to turn but I held up a hand.
"If a rescue isn't…"
"So you're just going to abandon our sister? Fucking asshole." Smith shot to his feet, voice filled with righteous anger.
"I don't want to leave her. But how are we going to rescue her with our strength? We're talking about fighting literal dragons here! Beings strong enough to annihilate entire armies with a single pass. You want a battalion to do it?" I countered.
"You know she wouldn't leave you behind." He glared.
"I know that. But I can't order the death of a whole battalion in good conscience if it doesn't even improve the odds of rescuing Rebecca."
"We'll ask for volunteers then." Smith ground out.
"Alright, I'll humor the idea for a minute." I said sarcastically.
"Let's say the whole battalion volunteers. Great, now you need to cross the border, fight through god knows how many slaves, soilders, and let's not forget fucking dragons. Let's not even think about the fact we don't even know where Rebecca is!"
"It's better than doing nothing!" Smith roared.
"I wasn't planning on doing nothing! Shyora and her company can figure out where Rebecca is, and the best way to break her out with the least risk. If they can't, they'll feed us intelligence until we can!"
Smith and I stared at each other down. I knew he was running the scenarios through his mind. I could tell he didn't agree with the conclusion he was coming to. But the ugly truth of the matter was apparent.
He glared at Shyora and her companions "You do everything in your fucking power to rescue my sister. Got it?"
Shyora nodded as she glanced at me. "Master?"
"Find Rebecca." I said with a steely tone. Shyora and the other Succubi bowed their heads and transformed, leathery wings flapping as they took to the sky.
"I won't forget this." Smith hissed before storming off. I sighed and watched the succubi disappear in the evening light. Rebecca… please be safe.