Hounds of War [Yandere Generals x Female General Reader]

28. A Tender Connection.

"♪With strength and wit and wit and strength, Toora Toorayn. With gall and grit and grit and gall Toora Tooralyn. With all the power I have to give, and all the will I have to live, I pledge to Estain.♪"

Vanbinicci stirred groggily. His eyes were too heavy to lift and all he could see was darkness. He felt the gentle dance of fingers moving hair from his face. He relaxed and continued to listen to the woman sing, it wasn't exactly operatic but he found it beautiful all the same. Although the more he listened to it the more disturbing he found the lyrics.

"♪We will paint them with their own blood red, Toora Tooralyn. Slaughter their men, and leave the rest for dead, Toora Tooralyn. To butcher the lot, and watch them rot, All for the glory of Estain.♪"

"♪With strength and wit and wit and strength, Toora Tooralyn. With gall and grit and grit and gall Toora Tooralyn. With all the power that I have to give, and all the will I have to live, I pledge to Estain.♪"

Feeling more awake by the moment Vanbinicci slowly opened his eyes. His slightly blurry gaze landed on a thatched ceiling and wooden walls, but the main focus of his attention was on the face of the woman who was leaning over him. The golden light from the sun poured in through a window, making her appear momentarily ethereal.

"Oh, I'm glad that you're finally awake," she spoke, and the harsh, crow-like tone of her voice immediately revealed her to be general Denlleonis. "I was being to think that Luccian men were as fragile as in the stories, but you should be on your feet in no time."

"Wh-what happened?" Vanbinicci asked still feeling groggy. He tried to sit up, only to find that he was still unable to use the majority of his body. Turning his head to get a better look at his surroundings he saw that he and the general were inside a small cabin and that he was laying on a bed. "w-were are we?"

"Well, you were trying to get yourself killed by attacking that fortress and I was trying to bash some sense into you when the enemy starting firing at us," Y/N replied saltily, placing her hands if her hips. "You knocked me out of the way but ended up getting struck by one of the arrows in the shoulder. You passed out and I had to retreat.

"before you ask you're going to be fine," Y/N added as Vanbinicci began to look himself all over for injuries. "The arrow hardly more than grazed you - your willful nag of a horse is fine too. We've been camping in a small farmhouse on the edge of this abandoned village while I treated your wounds."

"Why?" He fixed his green eyes on Y/N and gazed up at her with a combination of confusion and anger on his face. "Why are you doing this? Why-why, I-I thought that you didn't care-"

"You did save my life at the barricade, I'm just paying back that debt," She responded in her normal indifferent tone as she adjusted how she was sitting on the edge of the bed.  "Also I want to know what compelled you to do something so stupid?! I thought you were smart?!"

"Like I'd ever tell you..." Vanbinicci snapped as he rolled his head away to hide his flushed cheeks, having only just noticed that she was only wearing a blue tunic and the lack of her bulky armor made her feminine figure quite apparent.

"You don't have to tell me anything," she replied with a slight smirk. "But if you don't explain I guess I'll just have to fill the silence with a detailed account of every military disciplining I have conducted in my years as a general."

"Fine!" Vanbinicci shuddered involuntarily at the thought of hearing about her torturing experience. He winced as the bandaged wound on his shoulder protested his shuddering movement. "Fine, I'll tell you. I-I did it because of my father... I-I have always been a disappointment to him, him, and my mother."