The War (All Chapters + Synopsis)

Chapter 1.3 - Amalia

I sit up like a rod, panting heavily as the nightmare fades into reality. It has been ten years since my life was flipped upside down, since I lost everything I once knew.

"Lieutenant Colonel Amalia Crestman, it's time to wake up!" A gruff voice shouts at me through the canvas walls of my tent.

"Coming Colonel!" I respond just as loudly, sitting up abruptly.

I grab my navy blue coat from a hook by the door and slip my arms into its sleeves, making sure the fabric of the coat doesn't catch in the metal of my armor. I glance around the tent one last time, making sure that all my belongings are packed away for the camp cleaners.

Blinking to adjust my eyes to the bright morning light I exit my tent. The morning air is chilly, and I shudder involuntarily at the sudden change in temperature. The grass is covered in dew, and a light fog covers the ground. Soldiers salute and step out of my way as I pass, I give them all brief nods of acknowledgment.

My silver blade's scabbard taps against my leg as I walked, the silver of its grip and guard shining in the morning light. The rapier was a graduation gift from my mother, Lucerna Sol, General of the Holy Collective. I should have a pistol or sidearm as well, but I despise the impracticality of the weapons.

Neither the Holy Collective nor Feralis made or make use of the canons that have become popular in the southern countries across the sea. They are impossibly heavy, they have very poor aiming capabilities, and the chance of misfiring is too high for them to be practical. Plus we have magic, so yeah... no canons, and I never used guns.

I stride through the camp, remembering the young female Colonel who never seemed to fear anything. I pray that I might share her courage.

I clamber onto the saddle of my favored mare and prepare to speak to the soldiers assembled before me.

"Comrades, today we march on the stronghold of the Demon King! Today we defeat King Lues Conclamata once and for all! Today we claim victory for the Holy Collective!" I shout out to the soldiers, who cheer loudly in response. "Today we fight in the name of justice, and justice never fails!"

With that uplifting speech out of the way, I glance over to the Colonel, who gives me an approving nod. Together we lead our troops away from the camp, confident that we will be victorious. Our encampment is by the beach so that if necessary we can have a quick getaway. I know we'll win though, so I don't see the point. I guess the other commanders would see that as my youthful naïveté though, and they have more experience, so maybe they're right.

According to our scouts, the king of Feralis himself is going to greet us in battle alongside his sister. Despite the danger, I'm somewhat excited, to finally cross blades with the one we've nicknamed the Demon King.

My horse is steady beneath me. Her ears are perked up, and I can tell that she's already smelling the makraz. I see some of our ambro scouts, flying ahead to make sure that we won't be caught off guard. I look at the tree-line hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary castle that is home to the Royal Court of Feralis, and to the Conclamata family. I hope to see the towering walls of the city of Moor, the capital of Feralis, but of course I can't because we're on the wrong side of the island.

After a few minutes, I finally see the first red, black, and gold banner of Feralis waving in the wind from a large rectangular building with a single watchtower standing proud. It must be a tower guarding a town or military base for the royal kingdom whose land we are now trespassing upon.

According to the scouts, the main castle has four towers, two long rectangular sections protruding from the top of a hand shaped mountain, two large arenas, and dozens of courtyards. All of the details are only known to me through reports of scouts who got close enough to see the legendary capital of Moor. The ones who made the descriptions went crazy though, claiming that Feralis isn't a bad place, that the king is a kind and just ruler. I turn my attention back to the forest path that our small army is passing through. My second in command comes up to me on her black steed.

"Marianna, can you believe this is actually happening?" I ask her, my excitement making me momentarily forgetting the difference in our rank.

"Yes I can Amalia, and just remember, this is war, so any number of things can go wrong with our plan," Marianna responds, also disregarding the use of rank, unfortunately forgetting about that thing called sarcasm too. "Be careful and don't get cocky just because you're a miri. I'm a full-blooded ambro and this battle scares me. Lues Conclamata is not to be underestimated, and neither is his sister, who, by the way, killed an entire platoon of ambro soldiers in under ten minutes."

"I know, I know, but we will win, how could we lose with all the best fighters in one place?" I answer to assuage her worries. This battle is extraordinarily important to the Royal Court of Nitens, who are basically in charge of the Holy Collective, because if we lose... the Holy Collective doesn't have any chance left.

War is not good for any parties involved. The longer this already ancient battle goes on, the worse for the wear the archipelago will be. Spero is already on the verge of famine, though Nitens, Euros in particular, is doing fine. Depopulation has also been a problem, between the hunger and the actual fighting itself, the archipelago's former population of 44 million has dwindled to about 15.3 million. If we don't expedite the battles and end the war, then we might not last very much longer.

"Thanks for the reassurance. I know we'll try our best to win, but they have their best fighters in this battle too, so... if it looks like we're losing we should retreat and try again once we've regrouped," Marianna suggests. "Please tell Colonel Lari, he won't listen if he hears it from me but he might listen if he hears it from you."

"Fine, fine, I'll pass your suggestion along to the Colonel," I concede. Marianna smiles and salutes then pulls back. I keep my promise and ride forward to the Colonel, passing along the suggestion. He tells me that Marianna is worrying too much, and tells me, almost word for word, exactly what I told Marianna.

I look back to my soldiers, who are joking around to pass the time and hide any anxiety they may have about the bloodshed to come. None of them understand the importance of this battle.

The Royal Court decided that it would cause too much panic and more damage than good if we told everyone, so it's a secret that only the commanders, major and up, know. Out of all the commanders who fit that criteria, only the ones in this particular battle know. I don't know whether or not keeping it a secret was a good idea, but I know that my soldiers will fight their best regardless of how important the battle is.

This attempt at ending the war has to succeed, I don't think I could stand watching Spero suffer any longer than it already has. I can't stand any more children being orphaned by Feralin scouts.

As all my fears and insecurities rush through my head at once, I face forward to the battle and pray to the gods that nothing goes wrong.