The General's Legacy

Prologue: The Old General (final part 3)

Quain pushed his way through ranks of men, making his way towards two Rippers near the river. Men with eyes wide in terror, some losing control of their bladders as a Ripper appeared to turn in their direction. In desperation, they got creative, crouched into a dome formation with spears and swords jutting out through shields. They held there like a strange spiked beetle, Valendo soldiers before them cast aside with the beast's relentless progress. The Ripper took only heartbeats longer to tear through the beetle formation. Quain began to believe the men might actually break and run unless he did something soon. Through the cacophony of screams, clank of metal and the crunch of bone in the path of the Ripper's claws he yelled 'Make way.'

Abruptly, the carnage ceased.

The Ripper stood tall and turned its head towards the back of the battlefield. It paused, no sign the beast was tiring, no steaming breath from its mouth. Blood dribbled from the end of its sharp metal claws. Its body turning, it began an awkward run, swatting soldiers out of its path as it went.

A second Ripper followed.

The special operators followed their freed Ripper, still coaxing it towards the Nearhon soldiers, with pairs of men alternating between firing and reloading crossbows. Foot soldiers covered their flanks. Some Nearhons fell under crossbow fire, while others faced the onslaught of the clawed beast, cleverly drawn in their direction by their craving to bite on the dying. The enemy soldiers fell back and the Ripper started to cast around, looking for new targets.

'We need to keep this thing busy!' yelled Jaygee. He looked around, his group was starting to overextend itself in the field. 'Better take it across the field, to cover our rear,' he commanded. Suddenly, his eyes went wide as he saw the two Rippers running towards them. Valendo soldiers made the beetle-like formation. Crossbow bolts tried to find a mark. Jaygee had his long sword in hand, waiting, timing a swing. The first Ripper shifted course and passed by, the second heading the same way moments later. With no time to think about what the running Rippers were doing, he turned back to the other Ripper and yelled a command: 'Get back to keeping this one busy before it notices us.'

***

Magnar looked on from the edge of the battlefield. Whatever faults he had as a general, underestimating his enemies was never one of them. Yet he had seen his two most capable battle mages brought down. Hot with anger at their failure and with himself, he forced his will on the two Rippers he controlled that had been fighting Quain's group, drawing them onwards to the old general and his mage. They were coming, huge clawed hands flapping as they ran awkwardly on small legs. Soldiers scurried out of their path. Magnar smiled; the beasts would soon be upon them.

***

The Great Hall of Dendra Castle was built at the highest level of the main keep. Queen Amari of Valendo stood in the central northern window with a view over the valley. Her husband, Garon, always a better general than a king-consort, was out there on the battlefield. Her expression was unreadable, much the same as her only son, Prince Ceoric, who stood beside her. Prince Ceoric's wife quietly noticed a twitching muscle in her husband's cheek — the only sign of his inner tension. She also observed the others in the room. The ambassador from the neighbouring Kingdom of Emiria was there, along with the elected representatives of the three city states in southern Valendo. Prince Ceoric had insisted the representatives came up here to view the battle and watch their kingdom teeter on the brink. War was expensive, in lives and money, and had gone on for years with young adults never knowing a time without it. No representative had ever been elected a second term in the thirty years since their inception. It was time to make them see the war was real and on their doorstep, to see where the lives and the money went.