Under the soft haze, the light of the night, the moon's brightness. There was a silhoute far out there that one of the soldiers saw approaching. Crawling.
"Hey you!" Yelled the soldier. "Are you alright!" He held out a lantern to see the man's face better.
The man, crawling on the dirt road, badly wounded he seemed. The perplexed soldier turned ran back, towards his squad, then soon the five soldiers came running for the man. There were a severe amount of wounds on his face, his clothes ripped open from the back, multiple slashes, from whips they assumed.
"Goodness." One commented, putting the man in a seated position. "Sir, do you need anything?"
The man did not respond. There were only whispers coming out of the man's busted-up lips.
"The guy can't even speak, lets hop him over to the camp, sir." The soldier looked at the seargent awaiting response, but there was no response given. As the seargent looked at the man, his eyes caught something he couldn't rid.
"Look at that, gold. Golden necklace. He's a noble man." The seargent said, pointing at the necklace.
"He survived the castle collapsing then? Wait, no, that wouldn't explain the lashes." Questioned the soldier, but, not even a moment after, the nobleman groaned.
The soldiers squabled over to him. "Hello, sir!? What is your name? Do you need water!?"
A groan still. Did he want water? There was no other way to tell. Quickly, one of the soldiers unbuckled the water canteen from his backback and forced it slowly onto his broken lips.
The noble drank it all in one fell swoop.
"Guess he was in need of it."
The noble's hands reached for the canteen, but before he could get ahold of it, the soldier pulled it back to him. "Before that, tell us who you are, sir. You might even get some accomodation from the second lieutenant if you do." The seargent popped a little smile saying that.
There were a few short gasps of air, before there finally came some semblance of a word. "I... A-am..." The noble started to wheeze, then a cough; the soldier gave him a little bit more water. "D-duek... Th-he... D-du... Ke..."
The seargent's face lit up in suprise. "You are the duke of Krimvald? Sir?"
The duke nodded slightly. The seargent walked back a little, taking a second to grasp the situation. "I'm not fully certain of the circumstances, duke of Krimvald, but I think I know for certain that you have been betrayed by the Betelion empire."
The duke nodded slightly once more. There was a moment of silence.
"What do we do sir?" Asked one of the soldiers. "We can't just bring him back can we? The knights'll find out and... Frankly, I don't wanna deal with them. Sir?"
"We got no choice do we? At morning of the next day; sir Adelheid's ship'll come and we'll dock along with some knights. We can report the finding there, but until then we don't do anything without a higher superior knowing."
"Atleast even the second lieutenant? I mean where even do we put this guy at!?"
"I-I don't know."
Uncertainty filled the air by the every second. "You know what?" The seargent blurted. "We're taking the man to the camp. Hop him up. You two." -He pointed- "Hup, hup now!"
The two carried the man by the shoulders, he wasn't quite heavy, rather so, weak and limp; by that, weightless. The squad was quite a ways off from the camp, they were at the other side the city; the south-eastern gate to be exact.
The streets were desolate and empty. Robbed of the lively feeling a street would have. Where do would be children roaming, there were rats crawling. Where there would be markets, there was mere rubble. Almost the entirety of the commoner's buildings collapsed. The noble district had a few too.
Put the main centerpiece of destruction was the castle. The white bricks laid by the grandfathers of grandfathers. The carefully placed decorations on the walls. The high towers, and the long white walls surrounding the whole castle.
Gone.
There was just rubble. A mountain of it piled on the center. There were larger pieces of castle tower scattered about some street. There were no nobles inside those either. A question arose in the hunt for the disappeared nobles.
How did they flee? Why have there been no bodies found? As far as they knew, the castle did not have a secret room of sorts underground. And even if there was. The mountain of rubble'd make proving the question an impossibility.
It was a war's grounds. And just a day after, it was peaceful in that you'd find peace in an ancient ruin. And in the night, it felt as if there were a hundred people comforting you under the soft glow of the moon. And the cold helped that fact.
"Alright we're nearing the gate. Should we hide em, seargent?" Asked a soldier.
"That'd be stupid, whatever, let the dang knights know who he is. The duke might even meet some familiar faces."
The gate was really the blown out one from when the tanks bombarded the city's walls. The path was cleared of the rubble so that trucks, horses, people could cross without hurdle. Torches were set up and a mix of knights and soldiers guarded it. But even they were at the brink of needing sleep.
But seeing the approaching squad, and the queer-shadowed gentlemen in dark clothes being dragged behind two soldiers. They weren't missing this one. "Who's the draped man?" Asked one of the knights.
"Well..." Added dramatically by the seargent. "I believe you all might know who he is."
He focused the lantern in his hand to the duke's face. Bruised and battered from several punches. A black eye and ballooing lips. The knight's face immidiately lit awake. His eyelids jumped up and his mouth went full down.
"Now, we might need the duke for the lord. So you can't have em."
"Y-yes. W-we sure can't have... Him..." There was an awkward silence.
The other knights, upon realizing who was brought, went back to the camp to report the finding of the duke. Immidiately there was commotion. And a bit of laughs rising up. Like a tavern full of drunken customers.
The ground shook!
A hip ho of movement, the knights were moving almost like a march towards the makeshift gate.
"What's going on even!?" The second lieutenant arrived at the gate, investigating the spectacle before the knights could. Then, looking at the man the two soldiers carried, he immidiately knew. "Is that him? The duke?"
"Yeah... Well apparently the Betelion knights did more to him than betray him with a promise."
The second lieutenant walked to the injured duke. "Did a number on you hm? Well, sir, we'll assure your safety till we get to Unchean. Where you fate'll be decided." He stepped back. Where he turned his head and saw the approaching knights stop in their tracks. Their captain stepped forward.
"Sir, lieutenant. We did not know the duke was still alive, hand him over to us. Sir."
"Hand him over?"
"Yes, sir."
"No. I forbid this. He shall be under my protection until lord Hierd has enacted proper judgement onto what we will do with the duke. Remember, you are to cooperate with me. Not your instinct. Not anyone else here, but me."
"Bu-"
"Captain, I have made myself clear with that simple 'no.'" He sighed. "The duke'll board the K-3 at tommorow's dawn and till then, you are to treat him alike any other survivor. Got it, captain?"
"A... Yes..." There was a slight frown on his face.
"Good."
---
"And that's where we are today." Said Friedrick. "This was the radio call by sir Adelheid's ship. The arrival'd be at approximately twelve in the afternoon. Until then, lord." -He looked at him sternly- "what will we do about the duke?"
Hierd took some time to absorb it all. "What use is the duke for me? I am sure his death is not good, neither him being out and about." He smiled.
"Lord?"
"Lets have the princess decide what to do with him, whether she keeps him or throws him away, it'd be nothing nonetheless."
"Alright Lord." He looked at the soldier beside him. "Please go to the princess' quarters. Inform the lord's want. And... Lord."
"Yes, I will." They both stood up.
( * )
Hierd awaited the ship's coming by the docks. There's a number of merchant ships from Easel city and more uncommon; a number of foreign ones. The sailors and captains conversed with each others about the fate of Unchean and the birth of a new, alien civilization. Germany.
There was a platoon on guard Hierd. Surrounding him in a circle. No man dared come even a meter nearer to the circle. And there was quite the traffic. Seeing the lord in the open at the docks, what could he be waiting for?
There were a growing number of journalists from both Krimvald and some other countries writing on their notepads about the lord's apperance in the public. "Quite de' crowd eh!" Laughed on captain Jack coming out of a pair of barrels."
"W-what...? What were you doing inside there!?" Hierd was visibly confused. Mentally also.
"Ah, mind e' not, lord. Anyways, is sir Adelheid back yet? We was to play some cards later."
"He's... Over there." He pointed to the horizon.
Jack drunkedly stood up and placed a hand on his temple, massaging it from the headache he felt. "Ahah! It's his ship!"
The ship's silhouete was clear and contrast, the smoke coming out of that small funnel was recognizably black.
There was another, new commotion happening amongst the crowd. The crowd thickened and the noise turned incoherent by the amount of screams and shouts. "What the hell's happening!?" Distracted by the raging laughter and conversations brewing behind him, he swiftly turned.
The princess, though in men's clothing, was as beautiful as over. She wore more regal clothing, it was a sharp suit that Hierd gave her. And she looked more like a knight than a noble, a galliant knight at that. A number of soldiers were pushing back, trying to make way out the crowd of people questioning why the princess was there even. Yet she, Marrise did not give the crowd even a whisper of her voice.
Keeping her stern and serious face till the end of the busy horde of commoners. "Once again I make an entrance, dashing as ever says I." The princess said with a sly face at Hierd. "For my... Second? Third? Public appearance, I once more appear for the journalists and public eye that indeed I am a woman who wears sharp men's clothing." She added.
Hierd chuckled a little. "Sorry about that, Marrise. But I am only versed in men's clothing. A woman's garments I am not."
"I can see that. Very. Much. So." He sighed, almost disapointedly. "Anyhow, the duke is alive. It is quite concerning, didn't the Betelion knights betray him? What shall happen now?"
"I guess you were not informed by the soldiers who escorted you out of your quarters."
"What was I not informed of?"
"That you shall be the one deciding fates."
"What."
The ship neared and neared, and fully stopped. The crewmen aboard waved at the crowd of civilians, yet another return of troops, and with them, the hundred knights at the bow. The people were rather confused why there were Betelion troops on the ship, but cheered anyways. The duke was nowhere to be seen on the top deck.
As the soldiers, sailors, and knights left the ship's hold, where they all touched the wet ground of the wooden pier and greeted whomever, Hierd and Marrise on the ship. Adelheid just waiting on the bridge. "Lord." He bowed. "This way."
Adelheid opened a bulkhead door that led further down. It was rather hot inside, the industrial lights powering the lights making the heat more intense. Then, Adelheid opened another bulkhead, a room. "Lord, the duke."
The duke rested on the less than comfortable bed the ship gave, his injuries were being treated by bandages and homemade gels and whatnot. He sat there, lying on the cold metal wall, looking at Hierd. His eyes, Hierd could not the describe, but almost as if it were malice, a hint of jelousy? Underneath the bandages that cloak his face, those eyes were most prominent.
"Good Afternoon, duke of Krimvald." Started Hierd, sitting down on a seat opposite him.
Silence.
"I know you can talk, I understand you can understand me. And I know you know who I am. Chancellor of Germany. Your enemy."
The duke gave him a simple nod.
"The capital has gone, the king is missing, and the Betelion kingdom has indeed done you dirty. But we aren't like them, per-say. Tell us all we want to know, tell us about the dragoons. Tell us about the empire's part in this story."
There was mere silence for a couple seconds, the rocking ship, the ocean waves.
A cough.
A giggle.
A maniacal laugh.
The duke was joyously maniacal. Though the bandages covered his lips, his mouth; a groove formed, and the bandage darkened as spit exited. His laughter died down to coughing. Then a wheeze, breathing for air, for every time he inhaled, he wheezed. "L-lord of Germany... Cha-chancellor of the men. The Betelions. The dragoons. Comical... Those Betelion bitc-" -he coughed.
"T-those Betelion bitches, I gave them money, a... A ton of it. To no avail it seemed. I was beat down by t-the knights. A-and the king sent h-his greatest g-general to the capital."
"General Fuso II?" Questioned Hierd.
"I-indeed, lord."
"And the Dragoons? Are they from the Betelion Empire too?"
"N-no. Another kingdom. Eastern. Ways eastern the capital. The Hesian kingdom. T-they're one of few... That have dragoons. Now that... Their most... Prized battalion of dragoons have past. They are sure to come to you. And that Betelion king? H-he shall come for head too."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Think I know what that General said to you, buttery talk of his. I-I'd take a gander, say it was; a diplomatic mission." He laughed again, after a moment, a raging storm of coughs and wheezes. "Diplomatic mission," -he sighed with a smile- "At the summit of it all, you'll be beaten down like I. They don't like being 'second place,' And... You? Chancellor of Germany. Are rising up, too, too much for that foolish 'most esteemed' to handle. He'll come for your head, as did he mine."
Hierd took it all in. "So double betrayal. For the benefit of this 'bitch' made me laugh there internally duke of krimvald. But how will I deal with them?" Hierd grinned.
"Destiny helped you, duke. That's the reason you are still alive now. Hearing this, I believe the future will be full of trouble. Battle and bloodshed."
"What do you mean lord?" Asked Adelheid, behind him.
"You don't see it?" Hierd's grin dropped and his eyes stared sharp at Adelheid's.
Adelheid took a few seconds. "Krimvald?" Thought Adelheid. "Diplomatic mission, second place, Hesian kingdom. Battle. Bloodshed."
He realized it;
His eyes opened and his heart dropped.
Princess Marisse stepped further into the room. "Two kingdoms we're fighting against then? The reknowned Betelion Empire and the eastern Hesian kingdom. Different goals, same target. Us. Krimvald."
"Ah..." The duke fully took in Marisse's presence. "I hadn't realized who you were, my late liege, Princess Marisse. I apologize you see me in this state."
"Which is alright." She said calmly, sitting down next to Hierd.
"So you have sided... With them? Our enemy?"
"Krimvald was doomed to die from the start. My father knew better than to continue a war with them. Negotiations should've been put first."
The duke sighed. "That I say, that I say to be... Your father was always so bright."
Marisse grew a big smile, then stared at Hierd. "I shall have him under my care and protection, at the manor, I want him taken care of. Then when he is good, he shall become my assistant."
The duke was confused at the uttered words of his highness. "What do you mean by this, Princess Marisse?"
"Your life was in the balance, you. Duke of krimvald, if you hadn't chose your words any careful thought, you would've been dead here."
The duke gave a silent chuckle. "Then I guess I have been blessed."
Hierd stood up. And walked out and into the hallway.
"Lord?" Adelheid said, the two walking upwards to the bridge. "What do we do about this?"
Hierd stopped.
"We attack."
( * )
In the now turned military base, Venit Ille was looking more modern by the second. Cemented buildings, reaching new record breaking heights, as well as trucks and some tanks set along the road. For as Hierd had left ten tanks up at the base in case of emergencies that would arrise.
But at that moment, the soldiers were in their tiny vacation and no-one except the construction workers, engineers and architects were there.
The recruits of course were also there, maybe sleeping at the barracks. Dreadfully waiting for the time the next excersice was called.
And just after the barracks, the examinees had just finished the tests. There was a sigh of relief among them all. They had just finished the most gruesomely long and tiring test of their lives.
Stacks of paper, one pen given. And a multitude of questions. Language? Experience? Profiency? Time? Military? It was a whole new language they were looking at.
Jeane and Gelmund supervised the whole thing, and they too were exhausted waiting. They were at the front of the exam hall, and seeing all the examinees get out, they were relieved. "Lets go to the main building, I want some tea." Said Jeane, seemingly at the verge of sleeping.
"Aye, me too Jeane." He walked up to her, he blushed a bit, looking at her sleep, her red velvet hair, and pale, fair skin. She looked like a noble more than ever before. "But first;" -he laid his arm on her shoulder- "GET UP!"
"AH!" She yelled! "Goodness! Do you have to scare me like that!?" She turned to him, and gave him a pinch on the hand.
He yelped in pain.
"A-a okay, okay, let's just go now."
She stood up, fully awake this time.
The two exited the building and away they were to the main road. "You know," started Jeane. "I never would have imagined in all my life, would I see my childhood village turn out like this. If I was from someplace else, I'd think this place was a home for nobles."
Gelmund chuckled a little. "Yeah." He felt sullen a little, looking at the house he once lived in, abandoned, untouched.
"But hey, atleast we're getting paid more than ever before." Jeane giggled.
A horn!
They looked behind them.
"What's happening?" Questioned Gelmund.
There was a truck approaching from the bridge, crossing, they could see a wailing blonde hair, and the most distinct blue eyes. "Oh! It's the lord!" Cheered Jeane.
The truck stopped some ways into the main road and the two made their way towards him. The door opened, and Hierd leapt out. "Jeane. Gelmund."
"Yes lord?" They said in unison.
"This matter concerns the future of Germany. And the people." From behind the truck, Naturvege, Adelheid, captain Jack, the princess, as well as Jamie, Heduc, and finally Verdel.
The two gulped.
"Now on towards the main building shall we?" Said Hierd with a grin.
---
Hierd told everyone there of the happenstance, that their futures were at stake. Two countries will be declaring war in the near future, and maybe even more than that.
"The Betelion Empire, as I am aware;" Said Hierd. "Had signed an agreement concerning the rules of war. Now. We are not established yet in this continent as a kingdom, so there are 'legal' loopholes in that I assume. And I believe they will strike when our diplomatic mission has reached it's summit."
"What do you suppose we do, lord?" Questioned Naturvege from way to the otherside of the table.
"This is a quick. Brief thought I had. Which after this thought, I questioned myself. Spies?"
The room was intrigued. "Are you suggesting we infiltrate the two kingdoms as spies? To gather intellegence?"
"Yes, gathering intellegence and constructing mini-bases in their cities. So when our army advances, we shall have checkpoints upon which we can refil our resources."
The room then lit up with excitement over it all.
"To the second lieutenants, I shall assign... You." His eyes and finger landed on Jeane. "Jeane. I informally advance you to the role of Lieutenant Colonel."
She gasped, and so did everyone else there. " Lord?" She stood up and said almost teary-eyed; "Lord, I thank you for your kindness."
"Yes. Yes. You may sit down now Jeane." He gestured. "Now. Jeane shall be commanding a thousand undercover troops of ours into the Betelion empire. And to the Hesian kingdom. I shall assign Friedrick to be the one to lead a thousand troops."
Naturvege frowned sadly, almost comically so. "And what will I do lord?" Asked Naturvege, sulking.
"Staying here."
Naturvege's arms dropped and he sulked harder than before.
"W-which is an important role, because we never know when the enemy will usurp us under our noses, so you, Naturvege, have the most important job."
"Ah I see lord!" His energy brightened and so did his mood.
"The task, as I have said, is simple. Under a guise, whilst I buddy-buddy with Betelion's general you two will infiltrate and build the bases in under a month's time. Now I know this isn't alot of time to work with, but we need it as fast as possible." He grinned, staring at the big map laid on the table, sprawled from end to end, he raised then landed his finger on the Betelion empire's capital.
"As I have landed my finger on this city, so too will our forces upon it. I call this one;
Operation Shadow."
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