Bekka and company arrived at Cockroach during the day as they had planned. Still, there was no need to enter the city from its gates. The main destination was Paramael Fort, which overlooked the low-lying city from the high rock immediately west of it. The fort had three entrances, one of which was accessible without need to pass through Cockroach. It was the disused south gate of the fort, facing the open hunting ground that was part of the wild-animal infested savanna the knights had trekked. Bekka stopped her lead horse in the valley on the dust road leading up to that gate to examine Paramael's stone walls. Chio, her second-in-command for this operation, pulled his horse next to her. She said,
'They better have good reason for not manning this wall.' She was clearly unhappy about this first impression.
'Well, the General said the north is peaceful,' Chio was referring to Ahn Emis, 'so they send up reserve soldiers.'
She cast a glance at him, and urged her horse forward up the hill. Chio waited a few seconds before he urged his too, followed by the rest of the company. The gate was ajar, but no one manned it although Bekka could hear the voices of a couple of men. One of them had a ridiculous laugh, which he was showcasing when Chio caught up. It was his horse that was heard, because the laughing man stopped, and his companion said,
'Oops. Someone's here.' The gate was opaque and low, so he had to come down by himself from where he was standing to open the gate and see who it was. He was completely clueless. He just stood there, looking up at Bekka and Chio's exotic appearances for several seconds in silence, and then at the three large dogs that were hard to miss. It was his companion who gasped first in shock, and scuttled to the gate quickly to join him.
'What are you doing you doofus,' he shoved the other man away, and then fell onto his knee, to address Bekka and Chio, 'you're welcome, my lord. Please forgive our ignorance. We were not expecting your arrival today.'
Bekka and Chio exchanged looks. The first man was just rising from the ground where he had fallen, and falling to his knee too next to his friend. The two men were the only souls present on this side of the fort. The structures closest to them were insignificant ones, including a storehouse and a latrine. To the right of the gate was a stairway leading up to the wall's battlements, which stretched all the way around.
'What is your name?' Bekka asked the man who had spoken.
'Gislan, my lady.'
'Word was sent that we would be arriving earlier, Gislan. Word was also sent to beef up this fort's defenses, but the walls are not manned, and no activity is going on.'
'My lady…'
'You're addressing General Bekka, soldier,' Chio snapped at him, 'take us to your commander.'
The man had obviously thought Chio was the operational leader, but he also knew that only one General was coming, so he momentarily had his heart in his mouth,
They went through a narrow pass with high stone walls on either side, and ended up at the fort's assembly ground. Now Bekka saw the rest of the soldiers, and became even more flustered, shaking her head in disbelief. The soldiers were at best relaxing, without a care in the world. One man ran off to call the commander, and Bekka asked Gislan,
'It is beyond lunchtime, isn't it?'
'Yes, General. Why?'
Bekka did not answer. She just rode her horse forward, just as the soldiers started to realize she had arrived, and frantically stopped what they were doing to gaze. She was examining the facility keenly, especially the battlements, which could be seen from where she was. As she expected, they were also lightly manned. She was still stationary on her horse when the commander and his officers came running towards her. They all knelt, and the commander, a man of nearly 50 years of age, gave his greetings,
'Greetings, General. Welcome to Paramael. I thought you would come from the east gate, General.' Like the gatekeeper, they were clearly speaking to Chio. Chio said,
'Why are you all greeting me? You're expecting General Bekka Santillan. This is General Bekka, not me.' The small crowd that had formed around were stunned. They began to murmur amongst themselves, although it should have been easy for them to see that Bekka was the General, as she was clad in navy blue, not black like the rest of her knights. Embarrassed, the commander said,
'A thousand apologies. Please forgive us. We would have prepared a meal for you had we known you were coming.'
'Rather than that, I'd like you to tell me what you have been doing since you got the message. The walls are unmanned, and the soldiers are lazy and goofing around. You know the Kayans will be here soon. How ready are you to repel them?'
Chio leaned in to Bekka and said to her quietly,
'Even at a glance, the weapons are bad. It's like they didn't get the message.'
'Is it true?' Bekka said, 'did you not get the message?'
'My lady, we are yours to command.'
'I need everyone at this assembly ground in five, including noncombatants. I should flog all of you for being unprepared, but I'll let it pass only this time. And let me make this clear from the start: I will not allow insubordination because I'm a woman. Is that understood?'
'Y…yes, General.' The commander nodded to his own subordinates, who then left to execute Bekka's command. A bell was gonged twice, and all the men in the facility who were indoors began to rush outside for the assembly. As they did so, Bekka took Chio and the commander, E'nan, with her, and left her company assembling alongside the rest. They were a center of attention in every aspect. The soldiers, like all of Cockroach, had not seen, but only heard, stories about the king's foreign army and their queer looks, their hair that came in different colors, their eyes, the female fighters, the exotic dogs and birds. They would have loved to see the rumored giants too, but that wasn't to be.
Bekka wanted to have a closer look at the fort's appearance and defenses. She walked across the grounds to climb up onto the battlements, and look over. It was a magnificent view in spite of her annoyance. A large stretch of beach stood between the north wall and the sea, but directly underneath the wall was a grove of trees through which one had to walk to get to the beach. The sea was in clear view here. Much of the wall would be impossible to climb over, but the land tilted eastward. The north gate was at the extreme east end of the north wall, and was approachable from the sea after a slight climb. But the east wall, the one overlooking Cockroach, stood on a precarious precipice, with the waves of the sea crashing into the rock face below. Stone walls guarded the narrow paved road connecting the east gate to the city below.
'Their only point of attack is the north wall should they want to seize the fort first,' Bekka pointed out. She was still in deep thought, studying the environment thoroughly, until she was satisfied. She added, 'we need to get to work immediately. They could be only a few hours out, and we cannot wait for Sorcatan.'
'What are your orders, General?' E'nan said.
'Scouts. Send out three scouts five miles west on this coast. Chio, assign them one knight and his wolf. As soon as any sign of warships appears, I need to know.'
'Yes, sir,' said Chio, while E'nan said "ma'am". The title of "sir" was gender-neutral among the Knights Regiment, as E'nan would soon learn, though he thought Chio's tongue had slipped just then. They walked back to the assembly, where a surprised bunch was waiting. Bekka was just a youthful beauty, possibly even younger than the daughters of many of the men, but she was the General, and Chio, who was clearly more mature, was not. Bekka did not miss their reactions. She said,
'Does anyone have anything to say? You look very flustered,' said she. When no one said a thing, she said, 'you are free to speak now. When the fighting starts, it will not be time for socialization.'
'How old are you?' someone yelled. This was a question any of the knights would expect.
'Who asked that? Raise your hand.'
The man raised his hand. He seemed to be a playful soldier. Bekka said,
'I am 24 years old.' The assembly couldn't believe it. When the resultant murmur died out, E'nan the commander cleared his throat, and asked,
'Are you married?'
Bekka shot him a curt look, but she replied.
'I am not. If anyone asks me to marry him, I will not like that question.'
Someone would have asked this. There was a hand that dropped, having been raised previously. The commander had another question.
'If I may ask, how did a 24 year old girl come to command soldiers?'
'The king trained me, and your future queen, when we were eighteen. We were the two pioneers of the Kaffrarian Knights.'
There was one other hand, and its owner said,
'Show us what you can do.' The 250 soldiers greeted this with uniform agreement, which they backed up with yells. Bekka obliged.
'Who is your best man?' she taunted, and drew her sword. They said,
'Commander E'nan!' E'nan met her eyes, and shrugged, and immediately readied his sword. He ordered his two senior officers to stand aside to give them space, and the duel started. Bekka started on the defensive, maintaining it even when E'nan withdrew from his lunges after she parried or dodged them. It moved E'nan to ask why she was not attacking. She said,
'I was waiting for your invitation.'
She disguised her attacks or led him to attack her weapon, until he fell for the latter, and allowed her to use her free hand to land a strong left hook on his right jaw. He never recovered, and in the next few moves, Bekka had disarmed him, put him on his knees and had his own weapon by his neck. The assembly was awestruck. Many mouths had fallen agape. But the knights were merely smiling to themselves. Although Bekka did not like the fact that a whole army leader cold allow this to happen, E'nan was so impressed he got up, and made a respectful bow to her, saying,
'Forgive me, but I would like to say it again. We are yours to command.'
'Good. Send out my scouts first.'
These were already chosen, so they left quickly. Bekka then began to give fresh instructions. She began by receiving from Chio the written royal decree, the same that was already plastered on the walls of Chaldea and the neighboring cities, and reading it.
'Part of the king's armada will be joining us, but we cannot relax and drink, as I found you doing. We must prepare to defend the fort and the city as if the enemy will be here first, as if they will be here in an hour. We will not be simply defending the walls. We will fight them on the beach, we will fight them in the water, and we will fight them here. This is total war. There is no mercy for those who would dare to disrupt the king's peace. The king has entrusted you with the defense of this northern front, so I want to see the best version of each one of you. Is that understood?'
There were nods and ayes here and there.
'Then gird up your loincloths and get to work. I need all the men here on the beach now. Take your anvil, your ax, your carts and your hammers, and follow the lead of Staff Sergeant Chio until I return.' She was going to visit Cockroach with its new police chief, Yorgi, so while the men hurried away to execute her command, she took him and three knights with her on horseback through the east gate. Before she came to the foot, a series of very loud horn blasts were sounded from the fort. She turned to Yorgi for an explanation.
'Oh, that is how war is announced here. The city is duly notified now.'
The war horn was manifest in the city below. The dwellers were as restless as chickens in a poultry coop invaded by a constrictor. Korazin's wars, even the very recent one involving her neighbors, had been fought outside of Korazin. No one in Cockroach knew the last time those blasts were sounded, yet they knew that they were war blasts. To aggravate the confusion, five strange-looking people on horseback came down from Paramael, including an attractive young woman dressed as a man of war. They couldn't mistake them for anyone else. They knew that these were Kaffrarian Knights, as they were many special recognizable features about the foreign army, the least of which was its women. But unlike the soldiers in the old fort on the rock, the people of Cockroach had no reason to expect their arrival.
The Constabulary was on the opposite end of the coast from Paramael, so that Cockroach was between them. Yorgi knew where it was, so he led the way, riding quickly. Yorgi already had his mandate, his instructions, but their implementation was to be postponed until peacetime. So when the group made it to the Constabulary, Yorgi introduced himself quickly as the new chief, but skipped everything else and set about preparing for the wartime. Unlike at Paramael, Yorgi did not have to do anything extraordinary to introduce himself even though the constables did not know him. There was already a leadership vacuum there, and matters were being handled by an acting officer. Besides, those in Yorgi's company said a lot about his authority. The acting officer in charge hailed from Tirzah, just south of the capital, and had himself been north for just over eighteen months. He was a composed, soft-spoken fellow called Costil, and at first glance, Bekka thought he was a competent officer. He immediately vacated the office to welcome Yorgi, and immediately gathered the constables present at the station before he was even told. When Yorgi and company went out to the balcony to address them, Costil was standing with them.
'This station is more devoted to work than the soldiers at Paramael,' Yorgi said, 'that speaks volumes about you, officer Costil.'
'You are too kind, my lord. Thank you.'
Yorgi nodded,
'Times such as these demand good men like you,' he also brandished the royal decree declaring total war, 'times that have prompted our king to call the nation to arms. The horns of war were blown, so you men must be eager to know why. Perhaps some of you already know that our enemies to the south have dared to invade our lands. But you must not know why this city must brace for a war happening a thousand miles south. It is because the island of Kai has joined our aggressors. We have reason to believe that their warships are sailing across the Azlan headed here, so we must be ready. So, the first order of business here will not be Police business. It will be military business.'
'Forgive me, my lord,' Costil was speaking both for himself and his men, 'if the Kayans are really coming, how could we possibly repel them, even with Paramael's men?'
Bekka stepped forward to answer this query.
'It is because we received this intelligence late, and raced across the Dura grassland to come here. I have to say, we were lucky. The king's Kaffrarian Armada will arrive as the main force, but even though the ships are seven times faster, the Kayans clearly had a massive head start. So we cannot be certain that the Kaffrarian Armada will be here before them, and that is why we must prepare to defend Cockroach for as long as we can.'
Costil's eyes shot for the roof. His thinking face. He said,
'You want us to stall them.'
'Exactly.'
'How so?'
Bekka took the decree from Yorgi's hand, and raised it.
'This decree proclaims total war against Korazin's foes. All citizens are called upon to defend Korazin, including civilians. So your assignment, which begins this instant, is to rally the citizens to help the defenders in all relevant ways. Comrade Illianis here will work in conjunction with your new Superintendent to execute the instructions I have prepared, to the letter.' Illianis was an Allonish compatriot that Bekka knew from childhood. He was a sergeant of the Kaffrarian Knights. Bekka went on, 'the garrison at Paramael is already preparing defenses on that beach. The Kayans should attack Paramael, but we cannot leave the port undefended. I will be supervising activities on both Paramael beach and this port, but I will begin here.'
'Are you a Kaffrarian too?' even the quiet Costil could not prevent himself from asking this.
'This is General Bekka Santillan,' said Yorgi, 'do not underestimate her because of her age. The oldest person among the Kaffrarian Knights is not yet 37. But they are the greatest force this continent has ever seen.'
Their awe was expected, so Bekka was indifferent to their reaction to her rank in the army. She went on.
'There will be no going home tonight. All able-bodied men and boys of this city must be put to work. I'm told this city's wall is an incomplete project. I haven't got a good look at it.'
'Yes, my lady. The entire coastline is not fortified. Only the south, in patches of concrete,' said Costil.
'Then we have much more work than I thought. We are going to have to build a defensive wall from scratch by night. Rally all capable persons, male and female. Tonight, Cockroach will build a wall from sand and stone.'
'What?' both Costil and Yorgi were frowning. Bekka was indifferent. This was directly from the Kaffrarian Knights survivalist playbook, and would sound insane to the common person.
'With sacks. We will fill as many sacks with beach sand as possible, and raise them up to form a wall along the beach where there is deep water. At the same time I need the best carpenters and craftsmen in this city here at once. Send out your men and bring them to me. The rest of you will have this declaration read out to the city, and you will assemble the entire city and its leaders in one place, so that we can all understand our roles. Go now.'
And so it began. Yorgi and Costil, whom he appointed immediately as the assistant superintendent of police, got to work in sending out officers to the wharfs and marketplaces and beer halls and all other places where droves of people converged. They transcribed the decree first in numerous copies, so that they could herald it in many different places simultaneously, and leave it stuck on a wall before running to the next place. In just ten minutes the whole city was in total bedlam, but constructively. The call to war that involved the civilian populace was even more unheard of, and Cockroach had never come under attack since its inception. But the war horns had been blown, and Cockroach jumped at the opportunity to defend itself. Coupled with the decade of Goldoran occupation, this sudden invitation to all citizens to walk side by side with the army was hard to reject, and when the words of the decree resonated through the city, they were gripped as if by an invisible force. They heeded the call and ran to the Cockroach's longest strip of open ground, on the beach not very far from the station. Hundreds of the experts Bekka had asked for showed up in droves at the station, where she sequestered them so as to issue them unique commands.
'I am General Bekka Santillan,' she announced. They were even more crazed at this than the soldiers and constables, and certainly had no restraint to keep them from asking so many questions. It was up to the more mature men from the group to call for silence before Bekka could continue. 'Who is the best craftsman among you?'
There was one man. An old, reputable 70-year-old called Schick. Bekka gave him the lead in making two contraptions, one for a small-scale catapult for hurling large rocks, and one that resembled a giant crossbow to be used to shoot more than five arrows at a time. Bekka had the sketches and instructions for the construction of the devices, which she handed to the old man.
'I need you men and women at work all night long at this. They are not very large, and you should have many of them ready by night, no?'
'It can be done. We are many, and all we need is coordination.'
'Good. Now make me these weapons quickly. The purpose is to stall the Kayans when they come for as long as possible, and to disorient them as best we can.'
Bekka left them under the supervision of an officer, and then left to attend to the rest of Cockroach huddled together on the beach like pilgrims. The city harbored so many young ones, Bekka saw, but they too would be put to good use. She had the city's leaders, mostly rich merchants and family men who had been based in Cockroach for decades, assemble closest to her. Bekka had detailed instructions for this group as well.
'Anyone who can throw a stone and shoot an arrow will be needed if the Kayans come here before the Armada. But for now, as I have already asked, I need a barricade right here on the port. The best thing will be sand, but anything from stone to wood will do. The difference between this and Paramael beach is that the water here is deep, and their ships can dock right on our bumper, so it will be more difficult to defend against them, but if we can damage their ships as best we can, that would be great. The best way to do that is to fill this harbor with oil, and not allow them any breathing space. Your fellow northerners are already building some attack weapons, and we came with some of our own from down south. Of course, the hope is that they leave the port alone, and try to take Paramael first. But we must be ready for the worst-case scenario.
'I need the women to cook, the children to fill sacks of sand, and the men to raise a wall here.' Then she raised her voice, 'today, there will be no Cockroach in Cockroach. No one will hide away in a crevice when the city comes under attack. Today, this city will fight. We will repel the enemy on our own strength, and send a stern warning to any future aggressors. Today, this city will write another chapter in its queer history. So, who is with me?!'
The people were more willing than Bekka had imagined. The work kicked off instantly, and went on throughout the night. Bekka alternated between Paramael and the port many times to ensure that the work was being done correctly. She spent more time on Paramael, borrowing some civilian labor to set it up. The topography of the beach allowed for a more strategic plan. The trees skirting the rocky path to the north gate of Paramael provided perfect cover, and if there ever was a spot to employ Kaffrarian Knights, it was a grove of trees. She was with Chio and one of the other officers late in the night strolling through the trees.
'Camouflage. Get camouflage suits and station 30 shooters here. We will bombard them from up the road, and you'll pick off stragglers from here with the wolves.' Once Paramael preparations were complete, she ordered the knights to eat up and catch some sleep right where they were posted, while she returned to the port herself and foresaw the final preparations there. She stationed small boats in the water with 600 barrels worth of flammable tree oil, and had eight of the ten whizzguns stationed along the sandbag wall. Then she caught a breather herself by sitting down by the dock. It was not long before Yorgi found her. He showed up with a large group of city dwellers and surrounded her. He said,
'Don't worry. These good people just wanted to take a good look at you. The youngest military General they've ever seen, who also happens to be a woman.' Bekka just threw in a brief smile at them. They greeted her and left one by one, until only two individuals were left, a man and a woman. The latter held a bowl of cooked chicken meal. She said,
'You are the only one who hasn't eaten. All your men have.'
Bekka took it and gave thanks, and the lady left them. Then Yorgi said,
'This man was in the Debasian forest with the king. He wants you to send him his regards.'
'Oh. What's your name?' Bekka asked the man.
'The king will remember me as Echo,' the man said in a ridiculously thin voice, 'I parried with him once in the forest for a moment. Has he been well?'
'Yes. He is well. Did you win?'
'Pardon?'
'The training.'
'Oh, no. He won easily. Even as a boy, the king was an excellent swordsman.'
'He still is. He was the best swordsman in my country, and I have a feeling it is the same here. I'll pass on your greetings.'
Echo bowed too, and left Yorgi alone with her. Yorgi resumed his fetish of staring at her and saying nothing. She said,
'What is it?'
'You should catch some sleep too.'
'How could I sleep…'
Yorgi squatted next to her, and looked her straight in the eye.
'You sent them to sleep because you want them to be in good condition to fight. If there's anyone here who should be in good condition, it should be you. Eat up, and catch some sleep. We will have prior warning before the ships come anyway.'
'Fine,' she capitulated once Yorgi's look got the better of her, and began to look around. Yorgi said,
'There's a tavern. Right there by the warehouses. You'll sleep there.'
'Have you caught some sleep yourself?'
Yorgi nodded, 'Yes.' He was lying.
It was more than seven hours after twilight. Cockroach would have been asleep except a few workers with businesses that operate in the night. But tonight, the small city was breathing and alert. Only the fighting men and some few skillful chaps would engage in any battle, but the people still did not leave, planning to do so only after the fighting began. Even the small children stayed up, and the hours swept into the deep night with no activity. A stiff silence came after the expectant murmurs, till eventually the young ones grew bored and left the wharfs and piers to return home. Even the harsh waves were not crashing into the precipice Paramael sat on, as the sea was calm for that night.
And then, when it seemed as though the wait would slide into the dawn, the horns were blown again. That was not the only signal to indicate the Kayan approach. Soldiers at Paramael's east wall shot a hundred fire arrows from the ramparts there. No one in the city would miss them before they dipped into the sea below. All those who had active roles sprang into action. The knight Illianis was began by dismissing noncombatants, and yelling at the combatants to get in line immediately. At Paramael, Chio had to be aroused from sleep. He was sleeping in the fort comfortably when the men aroused him, but they did not need to tell him why. He immediately shot past them after picking his weapons, and as he went, began yelling orders too. There was no need for a hurry though, as the Kayans were still many hours away, but there was nothing to take for granted.
The entire Kayan fleet was sailing across the sea in the dark. The overall commander of the landing forces, General Aogo, gave the command to wake all the infantrymen onboard and prepare the landing gear and logistics. They had been sailing nine days and nights straight, taking their time, as there was no Hone resistance expected anywhere on the sea. That was also due to Aogo and his fellow General Rosco, captain of the fleet, who were still resting on their laurels after they sank Hone ships in the Louvithian Sea late last year. Rosco was also on this voyage, but this time, it was Aogo who would lead the assault because it was on land. Nonetheless, the old seadog Rosco was important in case Korazin somehow mounted a seaborne resistance, so when Aogo assembled his senior infantry officers to go over the plan once more, Rosco was invited.
'The assault will start immediately,' Aogo was explaining to his men, 'as soon as we land 500 men, we attack the north gate while the rest set up on the beach. If the Korazites are somehow ready, Horman will pull back the assault, and by that time, Ederin will be ready with the larger group and Dronin's trebuchet to attack again. They'll probably give chase, and that is what we want. Even if they stall us, we outnumber them ten to one. Captain Rosco's men will seize the port with no opposition. Any questions? Good. Prepare for landing.'
The ships carrying the more hardened warriors were lined up closest to the coastline, and the landing boats were prepared. The trebuchet Aogo was talking about was the first of its kind in Moab, designed specifically with Kai's Korazin prospects in mind. The Kayans were proud of it in many ways, because not even the mighty Goldora possessed such a weapon, having only obsolete cumbersome catapults. With such a weapon, Kai had a significant advantage over any of the nine Moabian kingdoms. Its maker, Dronin, was an excellent mason, and was on the ship with three of his understudies to help in operating the weapon. Though the trebuchet had been made in haste, it had delayed the voyage for a couple of days. For the same reason the weapon was untested, and Aogo was hoping that Paramael would be its first test.
The fire signal from the east walls of Paramael was repeated, to indicate that the Kayans had now arrived. Illianis was in charge of the port, while Bekka had returned to Paramael's beach. The daylight on the eastern horizon of the sea was creeping up ever so slowly, but the dark still prevailed. Bekka prayed for this state of affairs to continue, because in the dark, the landing forces wouldn't see the hundred men laying in ambush behind natural rock formations and installed barriers, with only sixty meters of beach sand between the defenders and the Kayans. Six were gunners, at the ready to shell the Kayans with the whizzguns, and the rest were all archers. The old man Schick had also managed to create only two of the multi-firing crossbows she had asked for, and these were also at the ready. The defenders watched in ambush as the Kayans slowly transferred themselves and their equipment from the sailing ships to the boats in large droves, drifting like a wave of hyacinth through the shallows. Once they were squarely within firing distance of arrows, still wading, Bekka took her own bow, and picked two arrows from the bin by her right. The rest of her men readied themselves too. The Kayans provided the light themselves, creating perfect aiming spots for the archers. Bekka pulled, and yelled,
'Fire!'
More than ninety arrows found their target. The Kayans heard the whooshing of the arrows through the air right after the shout to fire, but there was nothing they could do about the damage. The Korazites were ready.
'Fuck!'
'What the heck!'
'It's an ambush!'
Such were the screams and the yells of the Kayans. By the time they received any command, Bekka's defenders had already struck down two more congregations. Many boats lost all their stewards. Bodies piled up in the shallows, living or dead, or those ones that lost balance and fell into the drink. General Aogo did not know where to start. He had prepared for the contingency that the Korazites would be ready, but not like this. These were defending from outside the walls of the Paramael fort, not like men who had only discovered the Kayan approach a few hours prior. He wasn't watching the landing at first, and had to rush to deck to see for himself the cause of the hullabaloo. Chaos. Splashes. Screams. Pushing and shoving. Hassling to return to the ships. Aogo was apoplectic.
'Sir, what is your command?!' the senior officers wanted to know.
'Where are they? Who is firing those arrows!?' Aogo hissed.
'Order the men to return, Aogo,' Captain Rosco implored him, 'we cannot see them. We don't know how many there are.'
'How did they know we were coming?'
'Order them to pull back, first and foremost. This is a bloodbath.'
'No. Use your shields, and keep going! We must land on this beach no matter what, understand?'
'General?'
'If they mustered a large army, we would be seeing them. It is a small force. Shield the boats, and keep going!'
Aogo's instincts were correct. Even before the command was executed, a few men were making it to the beach even though they were masterfully struck down by the concealed archers. But two astute soldiers managed to catch a glimpse in the dim light of the source of the carnage, and grab a boat to swim back to the General's ship. When he saw them, he yelled,
'What are you doing? Get back!'
'General! We got a look at the archers. They are hiding behind rocks and a barrier they built themselves.'
Aogo and his fellow officers looked at one another. Ederin asked,
'How many?'
'Fewer than a hundred, at best, sir. We should widen the landings.'
They heeded the soldier's words. Rosco left immediately to put that adjustment into gear. Aogo strengthened his command to shield the landing vessels from the archers, and to approach in an organized manner, that is, a straight formation. But this had to be done only after the first wave pulled back to avoid being picked off like pheasants on a hunt. Yet in the next few minutes of calm and preparation for a second landing, Aogo received a fresh bad report from Rosco, who came rushing back from behind him to report that the situation in the port, where a few sections had been assigned to attack simultaneously, was calamitous.
The sections that went into the port easily recognized that it wasn't the way it should look. Unlike Paramael, the port could not hide its brilliant defenses, and the Kayans saw the wall of sacks greeting them in the small stretch of deep harbor water. Still, they had no reason to expect it to mean a flash of red, to stay away. But they completely missed the oil in the water, in part because they did not lift their gaze from the staggering sight of the sand wall, and in part because the sun was still just under the sea. About fifty ships sailed blindly into the oil, and just when they spotted the trap they had bungled into, a multitude of fire arrows flew from behind the six meter wall on the edge of the port, and the bonfire was on. More chaos. Painful hollering. Regret. Fear. Sergeant Illianis was the first face to come out of hiding from behind the wall, followed by the team of gunners. They stationed themselves in equidistantly along the port, and began to shell the Kayan ships. This was the first use of the whizzguns for war since their arrival. They had fired theirs before Bekka's at Paramael. The collective blasts were very loud enough to be heard by everyone in Cockroach. Whereas eight guns were not nearly enough to repel the Kayans, it completely frustrated them, not knowing what was mauling their boats. Apart from the fire, the whizzguns damaged two ships completely, and disabled two more. The entire port was set ablaze. The wooden docks caught, and forced Illianis' gunners also to fall back behind the incombustible sand barriers. As soon as the ships sailed back into the sea, Illianis wagered they wouldn't return, and thus gave the order to transfer all the whizzguns back to the fort.
He was right. The Kayans did not dare return to the port, and when Illianis got inside Paramael fort and exited through the north gate moments later, he learned that the landing there had also been stalled. Aogo had changed his mind again, and recalled the landing forces to the safety of the water. When Illianis rode to the beach, Bekka and her century of archers, knights and natives both, were relaxed, but alert. The Kayan ships had been pulled back into the sea. Aogo needed to return to the drawing board and rethink his entire plan.
'How many ships did we lose in the port?' he asked.
'Only twelve, sir,' said one of the witnesses, 'we lost all the men on seven of them, my lord.' This was more than 500 men. Aogo hadn't inflicted a single casualty, but he had lost 500 men already in the blink of an eye.
'Only seven? Only? That's hundreds of men!'
'They surprised us, but we will still win this battle, General,' said their strategist, Jawadi. These were his very first words since their arrival. He was meeker than all his comrades, and while the rest were yelling and screaming and scrambling, Jawadi only watched, studied, and scribbled notes with the stylus of his mind, in silence. The eccentric fellow was down the pecking order, yet he was extremely vital to any plans the Kayans cooked up. The Generals trusted him. His composure was, to say the least, inspirational. He only spoke when he needed to, like at this moment, so he drew complete attention.
'What have you got?' asked Aogo, 'what are you thinking?'
'Our plan was based on the premise that they knew nothing of us. All we need to do is to repeat the landing, but with the knowledge that they know.' Like other likeminded men, the man wanted to draw questions from his counterparts, and not just babble all the words in his head in one go.
'Go on,' said Rosco, 'don't make us beg.'
'From what I see, they only heard of our approach in the last two days and scrambled up a resistance. They couldn't have been more than 600 men. But they've got us on the defensive. They also have a queer incendiary weapon.'
'Yeah, what the hell was that thing?' Aogo had wanted to ask this, but there was no answer.
'Whatever it is, we have to avoid it. Anyway, as I was saying, they put up defenses in the only two places our landing forces could possibly attack if we were launching a surprise attack. Now that there is no surprise, we should land in another place where they didn't put up defenses. There's miles of shoreline where we can do that.'
'Are you saying we discard the original plan?'
'If we stick to it, we'll be slaughtered even if we're many. We'll be fighting from the water. Archers can't really shoot, and no man can wield his sword. And there just isn't enough space.'
Aogo endorsed the plan. He was already pointing on the map on another beach roughly two miles west of Paramael. The two beaches were separated by a stretch of precarious precipices such as the one overlooking Cockroach from Paramael.
'Here. We can land forces here before they reorganize themselves, and maneuver through the woods to their west wall.'
'No, sir. The west wall is in the woodland. The best thing would be to go round and attack the south wall from this plain.'
Aogo stroked his chin, and then said,
'Let's do it. We'll have to keep them busy on this beach. If we just sail away, they'll know. Captain, take 80 ships. We'll keep them busy with the rest.'
By now the sun had finally risen from its slumber, and the land and seascapes were illuminated by the yellow sky. Bekka and some of her men came out of hiding and stood on the beach to watch the Kayans' next move. Nothing went on for several minutes, except that Aogo came out to the port side of his ship for the same reason to see the people responsible for the debacle. By now he would have heard that K'rar's foreign army employed women too, but although he saw just three of them on the beach, he was feeling humiliated by them already.
'We were beaten back by females?!' he yelled, 'females!' But Aogo knew of all people that it was not impossible for them to be competent soldiers. There had even been a long discussion of the Kaffrarian Knights back home when the first plans were being drawn, when there had been need to collect information about their opponents. The information was very scanty, and at best unbelievable. Much of it was sourced from civilians from the Moon Province and Goldora, and all of it was indirect, as it was impossible to contact a single witness. Only one man, General Amavi, could tell them anything solid, and he was already back on the field of battle. Amavi had not told his own men the truth. He had instead encouraged them, and attributed the severe defeat in Moon Province to surprise, that the Kaffrarians could not have been expected to appear at all. But the truth was not difficult to imagine, because only Amavi had returned alive from among tens of thousands of soldiers. No amount of alteration of the facts would remove this sorry fact. So Aogo knew. He knew, and now he had seen with his own eyes, that these so-called Kaffrarians were an extremely dangerous foe.
'Launch the second phase,' he gave the order after taking a series of deep breaths. The command resonated through the fleet, and the soldiers restarted the attack. Bekka and her men had expected it.
'Sorcatan cannot be too late. We need him to find them in the water,' she said. If this happened, the battle in the north would end very quickly, even with less than half the number of Kai ships. But in the meantime, 22 ships had lined up in a row, covering the entire length of Paramael beach. Unlike before, they were approaching with their bows facing forward, rather than their sides. More landing boats would be able to land. Bekka still watched in silence and gave no particular command, because this wasn't all. The Kayans were changing their approach entirely. This time, they were more strategic.
'They're making a boat vanguard,' Chio said. The Kayans had lined up numerous boats tightly close to each other, and were holding them together with beams. They had also shielded these boats, and only a few men in the midribs of the boats rowed them forward. Bekka said,
'Break that line. Bring all the whizzguns and break their line. Illianis, I need all fighting men in the port here.'
Illianis turned and left. Knights frantically returned to their hideouts to retrieve the whizzguns. They rolled them onto the beach in formation, and the lead gunner, one of the other ladies, took position in the center of the formation. The landing party was already within firing range. She ordered the gunners to aim for the boats towards the middle. With only ten whizzguns, they would have to pull and push them to aim at new targets along the beach. Aogo saw them from his ship, and said,
'There, that's the weapon.'
'We need to get our hands on one of them,' Jawadi said. He had hardly spoken these words when they opened fire. Against the rowing boats, only a couple of blasts was detrimental. The officers went mum again. They had not really seen the damage the whizzguns were capable of, but now, it was broad daylight. Shards of wood were thrown about into the air, as if a hand was rummaging through a stack of husks. Like before, the men still fell into the water like statues, and this time the wounds were deeper. Nonetheless, the whizzguns were not enough to keep the Kayans off the beach, and Bekka soon ordered the defenders to pull back.
'Back to the fort, back to the fort!' she yelled, while firing her arrows at one or two enemies. The gunners especially had to get back into the cover of the trees as soon as possible, but there was no need to rush because the Kayans did not give chase. Aogo himself, along with Horman and Ederin, boarded a landing boat and rowed to the beach. The decoy had been successful. But he still had to carry on with it to give it more plausibility. So he carried on with his original plan to head for the walls of the fort as soon as 500 men got onto the beach.
'The second division,' he ordered Ederin, 'organize two companies with Jawadi's initial formation.'
'Yes sir.'
Bekka got all her defenders back inside Paramael's walls in time. There were no pursuers. She was soon facing them in the assembly ground to give them fresh instructions.
'Staff Sergeant Chio,' she said, and Chio stepped forward and stood straight. She went on, 'how much more ammunition do we have for the guns?'
'We still have fifty boxes untouched, sir. We can keep them off the walls.'
'You'll have to use E'nan's men. The rest, bring the dogs, and come with me. We're going on a hunt. As soon as they're in range, I want these guns firing along this wall until all the ammunition is finished.'
'My lady, that is risky,' E'nan protested, 'they are too many. If you get caught behind their lines, they could kill you.' But Bekka's answer to this was brought almost immediately. Sergeant Illianis brought climbing gear, and all but the gunners obtained these and put them on their bodies. E'nan said, 'what are those?'
All she said was, 'The Kaffrarian Knights are a modern army, lieutenant-general. The Kayans will have to learn this the hard way. Open the gate!'
The 27-strong pack of canines raced out first. Their time had also come. E'nan was left marveling with his men. He still wanted a clear answer to his question, so he asked Chio again. Chio said,
'This fort is surrounded to the north and west by trees. That is a Kaffrarian Knight's best hunting ground. Come on, see for yourself from the walls.' He turned around and gave the order, 'get moving. Station the guns in the right places.'
Bekka and her horsemen did not ride out into the open flash point. They stuffed themselves among the trees, in order to approach the advancing army from its right flank. The road would become narrower as the Kayans went up the hill, and in fact more dangerous, because the space to their left flank formed into the precipice of the fort's east wall. From the edge, Cockroach was visible across the harsh waters between Paramael beach and the port. Bekka's plan was to frustrate the enemy further, and keep them away from Paramael's wall as long as possible. It was not long before she and her men saw Aogo's men. Aogo and two of his men rode horses, but the men that followed them in organized lines were on foot. They were dragging with them a heavy battering ram. But something was off, and it made Bekka stall her orders.
'This isn't all of them,' she said, 'and they should be having siege engines on the beach. Why are they dragging that? They can't possibly hope to use that to open the gate.' She was right. The battering ram was even a more obsolete artillery piece than the catapult, even for the Kayans. A long-range catapult was all that was needed to undermine the walls of a fortress if they could station them somewhere without resistance, somewhere like the beach. It would be difficult to hurl rocks at the high altitude fortress from sea level, but this was still the more valid strategy. The battering ram was an insane waste of time even for the weakest Moabian armies. More than that, these chaps had seen the whizzgun. They knew what would happen to them if they tried to force the ram against the gate. That is why Bekka was especially bewildered at this approach.
'I'll check the beach,' Illianis said, and waited for her approval.
'No,' Bekka said, raising her eyebrows, 'they're not there. Give me the map.' A map was as basic a requirement as a sword. Officers always had one on hand at all times, so Illianis pulled out one and handed it to her. Bekka immediately said, 'shit. This is a fucking decoy. They are planning to land here.' Bekka was looking down at the exact spot.
'They were hoping to meet no resistance,' he figured it out too.
'But they did, and now they're shifting the landing. Where is Sorcatan?'
It was as if the heavens had been waiting for this signal. No sooner had she mentioned the name than an almighty explosion sounded from the seaside. And another. And another. Above them, any and all birds in their nests instantly took off from them. The knights beamed in delight, and some cursed at the air in celebratory fashion. Admiral Sorcatan had arrived. The blasts were no thunderclaps. They were ship guns. Larger, heavier and deadlier.
'For fuck's sake, now what was that?' Aogo wanted to know immediately. The advancing army had instantly stopped after the first blast.
'That was the beginning of a bloodbath,' Bekka could see him from where she stood, and she knew he had just asked this question. She drew her sword, 'there is no more need to defend the fort. Shoot a signal. Let them come down.' The color signal was fired almost immediately by one of the knightesses.
Admiral Sorcatan saw it first.
'They're here,' he said, 'send up a signal too. Three captains.' They fired not one, but two signals from the Wild Beast and the Ursan. Meanwhile the other ships, including six Behemoths, had not stopped smashing the anchored Kayan ships from which the decoy force had offloaded. The first signal acknowledged the signal Bekka had shot up, and the second one indicated that Sorcatan would send backup amounting to three Stingers' crews, that is, three captains. Bekka's signal said "attack". Sorcatan would heed it.
But this meant a little bit more for Chio other than the arrival of backup forces. This meant that his love, Jen, could have come to Cockroach with the Admiral. His beaming face was thus conveying two messages. He said to E'nan,
'Now come. You'll see what Bekka meant when she said the Kaffrarian Knights are a modern army.' He turned around, and shouted the command to the rest of the men, 'gird up your loins, men of Korazin! We will defend no longer. We will attack!' he was already scuttling along the battlements to the steps. The gunners quickly moved the whizzguns again away from the walls, and others readied the horses that would transport them down the hill.
Chio's hopes were fruitful. Jen's Constellation was one of the three Stingers to divert from the course and head for the beach, along with the Ursan and the Frostbite. On them were roughly 270 men and women. From the ships, it was possible to see the advance of the Kayan centuries heading up the rocky road. Jen was directly behind them, and she harbored an idea. She said to her first mate, Gallius,
'Those men going up, you see them? I want them set on fire.'
To do this, she also had to send a signal in the air to indicate to the knights engaging the enemy on land to stay away. They saw it, but not before Bekka had already began to advance with her knights toward the Kayans' left flank. Illianis shouted,
'They're going to bombard them!' Though the trebuchet range was much longer than the distance between Jen's ship and the Kayans, it was adjustable. Each ship assigned a knight with the role of calculating the distance between the ship and the target as long as it was just over 500 meters forward. He would then tell his fellows how much the firing arm should be shortened or lengthened before launching the explosive.
The Kayans saw Bekka's advance from the trees, and had shielded the flank. But they were still rooted to the spot and scared, being in the very center of attack from both the back and front. Aogo was stunned and angry. He was clenching his teeth at the advancing horsemen. He drew his own sword, and said,
'I'm not losing this battle.' His officers drew too, but just before Bekka's horses smashed into the defensive line, they suddenly swerved right and away from the Kayans, back into the grove. Aogo was still wondering why, when his men began to react strangely. He then understood why the horses, and dogs, had fled suddenly. A burning missile was headed directly for the middle of the advance, evidently coming from one of the metal ships in the sea. It was too late to do anything before the chemar round landed squarely in the road and exploded. It was the only one fired, but in that instant, Aogo's jaw sagged, and his grip on his weapon loosened. In that instant, more than fifty men were dead and dying. The rest of the men were thrown into oblivion and sheer fright. As soon as the round landed, Bekka and her knights yelled in triumphant cries, standing off among the trees up the hill. She yelled,
'Show!' and the canines all ran back toward the Kayans to attack them. Simultaneously, Chio and his gunners, backed up by the entire combatant population of the fortress, appeared from up the hill. They were dragging whizzguns and shouting battle cries.
The Kayans were perfectly sandwiched between Sorcatan's men, Bekka's men and the cliff. Bekka had all her men except the gunners head back into the trees to relaunch the flank attack. The Kayans had landed about 600 men, outnumbering the defenders massively, even in the decoy. Now, apart from the fact that they were suddenly at the mercy of 300 better-trained, more ruthless knights, they were the ones who were outnumbered. It was a bloodbath indeed. Chio and his gunners sealed off the road uphill, stationing all ten whizzguns there. The racket alone could have killed some Kayans before they were burned. Aogo could no longer issue orders. Every man was by himself, including Aogo. Most of them were heading back downhill, a futile thing to do, because Sorcatan's Orcas were waiting for them. Others ran into the trees, where Bekka, E'nan, and the dogs were picking them off. But Bekka wanted to take on Aogo herself. She declared so, and called dibs on him, before actively hunting him with her eyes. She saw him quickly. He was looking this way and that with a bloodied sword, for another enemy, having struck down two native soldiers so far. He was heading downhill with two of his officers. At one point, he stopped and stared in shock at his man being mauled by two dogs. When other men tried to shove them off, the dogs simply got out of the way, while another couple jumped at the new men. This was the wolves' style of war. They mostly fought in twos, but each dog was trained to look out for another at all times to avoid injury. Bekka arrived at the flash point on horseback. Before she jumped off of it, she sliced the throats of two soldiers, and bludgeoned one with her boot. When she did jump off the horse, Aogo and those close to her saw her. Her intent was clear as day. Ederin and Horman planted themselves between her and Aogo, as she masterfully pruned off all the other opponents between her and them. She soon downed all, and now faced Ederin and Horman directly. The latter went in for the attack first, shouting. Bekka didn't want to waste time on him. She simply picked up a spear from a dead man, and hurled it. He tried to dodge it, but was only partly successful. He saved his life, but was disabled. The spear sunk into his shoulder blade, and he fell on the earth, yelling in pain. Bekka now had only Ederin between him and Aogo. Aogo advanced, shoved Ederin out of the way, and said,
'Out of the way. I don't need you to defend me against a mere woman.'
'You shouldn't have said that,' said Bekka. The duel started with her attack. Aogo was taller and stronger than her, but like all knights, this did not intimidate her. The only thing that a knight respected was simply an opponent's skill, and not size, unless the opponent was Nephilim. But Aogo was a skillful swordsman. Still, he had never imagined himself fighting against a woman, no, a girl. And this girl was an excellent fighter. She matched his every move, and even pushed him back some distance. When he got a second of breathing space, he managed to stop his body, guard an attack, and push her back. The first round was thus finished, so they stood off from each other, pointing their swords. She said,
'What about now? Won't you call for backup?' behind her, Ederin had found a new opponent and was occupied.
'Don't taunt me, girl,' Aogo spat back, and this time, launched the attack. She was even better at defending. She used not just her weapon, but also every part of her body. She even rolled on the earth under a swing of the sword, and tried to trip the man in the process. It would have been over if he had fallen, but he maintained his balance. The fight raged on, but neither of them seemed to have the upper hand. Then he grew frustrated, and then mad. Because of this, he took the element of surprise, and the upper hand, because he managed to beat her sword out of her hand. His eyes beamed. He smelled victory. He went in to stab her, but she managed to move out of the way. He then swung the weapon to decapitate her, but still she evaded it. Then, when he moved in for the second stab, she did something bizarre. She caught the blade. With her bare hand. Aogo had just enough time to stare in shock at this. Though her palm was injured and bleeding, Bekka had regained ground. She kicked off his hand from the blade. He dropped it. The second round had ended. Now they were unarmed. He said,
'You're a crazy girl.'
'Yeah, I am,' she said, making her fists, 'and I'm mad at you now.'
The man wiped sweat off his face, and took his own fighting stance. This should be easy, he thought. In arm-to-arm combat, the odds were completely in his favor. He was eager to finish it, so he launched again, thrusting powerful fists. But she matched this too. Her smaller size actually worked for her. She easily moved out of the way, and because there were no weapons, she remained close to him, and managed to land a jab under his arm. She would have aimed at his side, but he was armored. A hit at the naked triceps left a larger toll. He felt it, and shook his arm to reduce the pain. He thought to himself that if she beat him with her bare hands, he wouldn't bear the embarrassment even in death. So he glanced at his weapon on the ground a few paces away, and then at her. He was closer to both their weapons, thought there was no need to prolong a fight with a girl, and went for it. Bekka shook her head in disbelief, and reached into her many pockets to retrieve straight daggers. Aogo didn't even see her do this. Before his gaze returned to her, two knives landed into his flesh, including one in his neck. The man fell over like a log. Blood oozed from between his fingers where he held his neck wound, spilling all over him. Bekka calmly came by, and picked up her own sword just as he fell onto his side, gasping for breath.
'You've made many mistakes, but that was unforgivable,' she said to him the last words he would ever hear, 'at least, you got to see my pretty face last, and not a man's face.'
Now, Ederin had fought off all his Korazite opponents, and had just seen his mentor on the earth, bleeding out. In a fit of rage, he ran toward her, weapon in hand, yelling, 'you!'
Bekka tightened her grip on her sword, but she did not have to fight. An archer sniped Ederin before he got to her, getting him in the side of his torso. Before he stopped rolling, two canines were on him, tearing him to bits. The archer was an Orca. He nodded to her, and she nodded back. Now she could shift her attention back to the rest of the battle, but there was nothing of consequence. The road was just full of dead Kayans, and those still breathing were being cut down mercilessly. There was a huge hole in the road ahead of her, a black, sooty hole in the grey road. The ground zero of the Constellation's chemar. The hole was full of dead, bloody bodies who had died from the explosive and others who had been piled up on them. Up the hill, the whizzguns were already silent. Even the din from shouting men had subsided. Paramael was safe.
On the sea, the Kayans underwent a sorrier disaster. Sorcatan's ships caught up with the lead Kayan ships very quickly, blocking off the coast. Sorcatan had sailed with 50 of the 80 ships in service. The Kayans had already lost some of their ships, and even if they had not, they would have done absolutely nothing about the calamity. Their ships went down into the drink faster than the Hone ships they had turned against. Even worse, unlike the Hone ships in the Louvithian, their ships mounted no resistance whatsoever. Only one Behemoth's broadside could take out nearly four ships. The guns' range was hundreds of meters, but the Kai ships were sailing at very close range. Besides that, the Behemoths were able to sink ships simply by ramming into them. On these occasions, Orcas engaged in the fight by boarding the ships and fighting the men on them, or by shooting them with arrows. Then they would hoist themselves back onto their Behemoths with their aluminum.
It was a complete and thorough defeat. In five hours, the Kaffrarian Armada had completed the rout, and had returned to the deep waters of Cockroach to anchor there. The Little Man, or the Little Admiral, was on the land to greet and congratulate Bekka. They were at the port because the natives had insisted on it. They also wanted, not only to enjoy the victory with especially the foreign soldiers, but also to simply meet them. Bekka and Sorcatan were in the same tavern she had slept in, along with numerous other soldiers who were mingling with the dwellers of the city. Others were outside, relaxing, and others had, with Sorcatan's consent, taken natives on tours on the warships, both soldier and civilian. However, others were at work with civilians in looting the Kayans' war supplies, especially food, from the ships that had not been sunk by guns, and from those that were gone, but still floating.
'I thought you would be late,' Bekka was saying.
'I was late. You got injured because of it,' he pointed to her left hand, which was now bandaged.
'Why are you worried about my hand? We lost 47 men, even though none of them are knights.'
'The scourge of war,' Sorcatan said. 'Besides, we've slaughtered them all.' To be exact, they had decimated all but 500 Kayan soldiers, and the 500 were back home on the island, completely unaware of what was happening.
'So, what next?' Bekka asked him. She had no further instructions, and would have to wait for them from the king. But the Little Admiral did. He said,
'I have orders to visit Shona. They wanted to avenge the mauling they got in the east sea, and the king has allowed them to use the Kaffrarian Armada. We'll load their soldiers and take them to Kai. There's nothing there to stop them now anyway.'
'You do not need all fifty ships to do that.'
'Oh, no. Not all of them will be going. I also have orders to launch the Net System. Moon Province is already assisting the rest of the armada. They sailed to the south coast.' He meant the south coast of Goldora, and of Moab in the broader sense. The south coast was shared by Goldora, Ziv, Tamar and the Moon Province. The latter was not an island despite the existence of the Trout Channel. The channel was not really one. At its southernmost extremity, the channel's waters were separated from the south sea by land. A thin strip of barren soil and rock joined the two antagonistic nations of Goldora and Moon Province. K'rar's ships thus had to circle around Moon Province to reach the south sea.
'And you'll block the northern routes, I presume?'
'Quite so.' He arose from his seat, 'now, Your Highness, allow me to go.'
He left her there, but she was not alone for long, because Yorgi came to her. He immediately took issue with her injured hand.
'What happened?' he cried.
'Relax,' she said a bit forcefully, 'it's not my throat that was slit.'
Yorgi looked her in the eye.
'The city is full of praises for you. But you're here by yourself.'
'I am not by myself. You're here.'
'Right. Want to see my new office and chambers?' he offered to help her up. She would have refused another man's hand, but it was too late before she realized that she had allowed him.