Hounds of War [Yandere Generals x Female General Reader]

52. The Eve Before the Attack.

The Army traveled all day and rested once the last light from the sun had disappeared below on the horizon, only to continue west before the first rays of dawn lit the sky in the morning. Even though the terrain they traversed was level it wasn't easy going, the poor condition of the roads meant that wagon wheels would often get stuck or damaged.

Even though it was far from pleasant the army took it in stride, after everything the soldiers in the army had endured at the command of general Denlleonis, ridicule, grueling training, whipping, brutal executions, a difficult march felt as easy as breathing. Perhaps all the suffering had truly made them stronger than they were before.

Finally, as the sun was setting on their fifth day of travel, painting the sky countless firey shades, Y/N gave the order for the procession to halt. The abandoned city of Crivell that sat on the border of the countries was just beyond their line of sight, meaning that they could advance no further without alerting the enemy of their movement.

It was commanded that the army wait there and rest until they were ready to engage the enemy. The soldiers set up tents and unpacked previsions at a rapid pace, looking forward to a night of rest for the battle that was to come.

All the stars had emerged by the time the last tent was set. The men were free to take time to themselves to prepare for the fight to come. As the soldiers milled around enjoying their free time Y/N sat by a crackling fire next to Eslinn enjoying a meal of dried meat oblivious to the four pairs of eyes watching her.

The four generals all badly wanted to spend the evening getting closer to Y/N, but the memory of what she had done to the two lovers was still fresh in their minds and they couldn't help the fear they felt at the thought of being tortured like that. "Come on," Miccio finally said from where they all crouched behind a stack of crates.  "one of us has to talk to her, her punishment for those two soldiers may have been a bit extreme, but she's the same Y/N that we all care about right?"

"Hmpf," Baccoso huffed angrily, making it clear without words that he still didn't fancy the idea of being castrated.

"I-I just don't know how I feel about this..." Vanbinicci chimed in uncertainty. As much as he loved Y/N and longed to set her free, he couldn't help but shudder at the gruesome torture that she had easily carried out. He couldn't help but wonder if his affection for her was even moral anymore? Could he really love someone capable of such evil?

"Stop whining Vanbinicci," Esclave snapped, as he pulled on the end of the distracted brunette's hair. "If we keep avoiding Y/N like this she'll definitely end up with Eslinn - See!" He gestured to the two generals sitting by the fire. Y/N was thumping Eslinn's back while laughing and he tried to cough up an especially tough piece of gristle that had gotten lodged in his throat.

"I guess you have a point," Vanbinicci relented earnestly. "Fine, I nominate Meccio to go and talk to her." Everyone turned their attention to the ginger.

"WHAT?!" Meccio protested, writhing in the grip of the other three generals. "Why me?!" Before anything else could be said he was shoved out into the full view of Y/N like a sacrificial lamb.

"Vilu?" Y/N asked directly but not in an unpleasant way as she looked up from her seat at the twitching general.

"Yeah... So..." Meccio stammered, scrambling to come up with something to say while cursing the three other men who were snickering at his peril from behind the safety of their crate stack. "Hard to believe that w-we'll be going into battle tomorrow... " he said quietly, looking in the direction of the mountains that loomed much closer than they had from the previous campsite.

"Indeed, it feels like only yesterday that I first arrived to lead this miserable collection of garden flowers, you were so petrified that you wet yourself," Y/N said, causing the other generals to burst out laughing and Meccio's cheeks to turn red from mortification. "I'm proud of how far you've come since then - will this be your first battle?" Y/N added, causing Meccio to be filled with a much more euphoric feeling from her praise.

"... Yeah," He shyly admitted. "Vanbinicci and Baccoso never let me do any leading in the field..." Noticing that the redhead hadn't been run through yet the other generals decided that it was safe and slowly emerged from behind the crates.

"Well, there's nothing quite like your first battle," she mused before taking another bite of her dried meat. "It's special, and I'm glad to be the general leading yours."

"Do-do you remember your first battle?" Meccio asked, gulping as he sat down next to her.

"I do," she said, a fond smile stretching her lips as she recalled it. The five other generals gathered around waiting to hear the story, even Eslinn and Esclave who already knew the story by heart. "I was still studying in the temple and my final test was to act as the executioner for a sea pillager who had recently been captured. They brought him to the temple and threw us both in the pit designed for such fighting. They gave us each a knife, if I killed him I would become the next Esedict General Denlleonis, if he killed me he would be absolved of his crimes."

"W-What happened?" Meccio asked, his violet eyes wide.

"What do you think?" Y/N scoffed lightly. "I used the ceremonial knife, the same one that I gave to you, and took my first human life. I kept his head and have it tied to my horse's harness so that I will never forget my first kill."

"Do you remember the stories behind the other heads that you've kept?" Vanbinicci asked, enjoying the stories despite his inner turmoil.

"Of course," she said as she whistled lowly, calling her gazing mare over to her. It complied and soon the three heads tied to the harness were clear to see in the dancing firelight. "Let's see, that's the pirate's head there, the one in the middle belonged to a Nöerrc chief who must have been nearly double the size of Baccoso and the one on the right is an Honorary General who attempted to betray me during a siege five years ago."

"Oh," Vanbinicci was horrified by the stories but he did his best to conceal it. "... Nice collection."

The generals spent the rest of the evening making merry, swapping stories and jokes. They allowed themselves to not be as serious as normal, given the arduous battle they were to face in the morning.

A/N

This chapter is like the calm before the storm. From this point forward the chapters are going to be focused much more on combat, which should be nice since this is a war story.

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~