The Crimson Field

Chapter 6

The stranger was not pleased. He had kept Borg under his control as their armies raced north through Commonwealth territory, to reach Rose. He couldn't afford to take any chances after the blinded one had forced him to reveal himself a few weeks ago.

The citadel of Rose was a powerful foe. While most of Rose soldiers had gone off to fight Quack, the artillery available to them was far superior both in range and destructive potential to their artillery. On one occasion, they had managed to almost enter the city after heavy bombardment, only to be greeted by napalm.

For now, he was halted outside the city, and was forced to lay siege. The Error soldiers had taken the port without much resistance and had put it under blockade, but he knew there was plenty in the Rose warchest to hold out for months.

Vexz had briefed Valk not only about the Error army, but also about the circumstances surrounding Rose's entry into the war. The stranger knew that he had to do something quickly before the main Rose army arrived. 

"Are you sure about this?", Potpie asked. He didn't approve of the plan. Vexz nodded. Borg had reached out to her an hour ago, offering a Rose trial. 

A Rose trial was an ancient Rose custom where, if there was a stalemate in battle, then the generals would fight till the rival had died or surrendered, and the result of this duel would decide the outcome of the battle. While most people would laugh at this concept, the medieval Rose empire was extremely strict on honour, and the trial worked well for resolving stalemates.

"The main army will be here soon, Vexz", Potpie warned, "Do we really need to take risks? Time is on our side. We only need to hold them off till the Emperor is back."

"Is time really on our side, Potpie?" Vexz questioned. "Their aircraft continue to launch surprise raids on civilian targets. We had to introduce rationing to deal with shortages. Sure, time hurts them more than it hurts us. But time is by no means our ally. No, this ends now."

"Turn back while you still have the chance, Borg" Vexz was facing him, "I don't know why you attacked us, but I don't wish to harm you." Borg didn't bother to reply. He seemed to be having some sort of internal struggle, but he looked at her with a defiant expression. 

As with the rule of Rose trials, both of them would fight with swords. Their equipment, however, was radically different. Vexz was heavily armoured, and was bearing a sword with a shield. She noticed that Borg was carrying a two-handed longsword and was only lightly armored. Clearly, he was going for offense over defence.

The two of them circled each other for a while, and then Borg suddenly lunged forward. He slashed towards her neck, but she got her shield up in the nick of time to protect herself. Her shield arm reeled from the shock of the blow. Seeing an opening, she jabbed forward with her sword, but he easily sidestepped and slashed again, forcing her on the backfoot.

She realized that her shorter blade had put her at a disadvantage when it came to fighting back, as he slashed in wide arcs and easily parried or evaded her thrusts. Seeing a pattern in Borg's attacks, she waited until he slashed again, but this time, she simultaneously rushed him, after using her shield. She jabbed hard at his chest, and although the blade didn't penetrate, she had the satisfaction of seeing the pain of the blow register on his face. 

She continued stepping up to him, cramping him and not giving him space to weild his longsword. Borg tried to fight back with feeble hits, but she held her shield firm and continued inflicting wounds on him.

All of a sudden, he tripped on a stone and fell. Vexz, seeing her chance, jumped up and brought her sword down in a downward arc, a move almost impossible to defend from if you are not using a shield. However Borg managed to roll out of the way and brought up his sword's hilt. A wasted move. Vexz stepped closer and aimed to finish him off with a quick thrust at his neck, when she gasped and dropped her shield.

He had pressed a lever on his hilt to engage a secret blade, and stabbed her exposed flank. She had been a fool to ignore Potpie's warnings. The pain had immobilized her, making it impossible to fight. She silently dropped to her knees and waited for death.

Borg raised his longsword and looked towards her. He didn't want to kill her, but he had no choice. That infernal thing in his brain dictated all his actions. He brought his sword down.

Putmir had heard of the Error siege on Rose, and was rushing towards the city as fast as possible. He saw Vexz down on her knees and Borg raise his sword. "No!", he shouted. But they were too far away to hear him.

"I surrender"

Vexz opened her eyes in confusion. Borg had driven his sword into the ground. "I'm sorry, I surrender", he said again, and began to walk away.

"Wait, why didn't you kill you? You could..."

"Vexz, I'm so glad you are ok!" Putmir was running up to her. "I was worried that I wouldn't be able to prevent the tragedy that the old blind man had warned me about."

Borg spun aroun. He had a wild, hunted expression in his eyes. "Old blind man? How do you know him?" he demanded.

Vexz was equally shocked. She wasn't the only one who had been visited. After a few silent moments, she broke the silence "Looks like we have a lot to talk about".

An hour later, the three of them were having tea together. Their wounds had been treated and they had compared stories of the blinded one, and what they told them all. They further talked about the mystery man, and how he had manipulated the whole situation from the background.

"So if I get this straight" Putmir said, "This person tried to kill Partisan, to make them blame us. Then he killed Sphinx, stole the medicine from Swamp somehow and gave it to Vexz, to get them to join the war. And then, he killed the blinded one when he was helping us. But who is it? Who is resourceful enough to obtain a ceremonial Commonwealth dagger, that too with a sunsteel blade? How did this person know where the Swamp medicine was, or that Vexz's daughter was sick? Who is playing such a grand game?"

"I don't know about the exact identity of the stranger" Borg admitted, "But I do know about a group of people who are well capable of doing all of this. The same people who had placed the biochip in my brain"

Vexz and Putmir stared at him.

"New Pacific Order"