A Drink Before Battle [M/M] ✅

40: You Chose This

The two Generals Sevei and Urskatha, followed by Thelan and Kahan, stepped through the broad front doors of the municipal house and out onto the colonnaded portico to survey the scene. Under cloudy gray skies, the combined troops of Valesk and Brinland stood in formation, covering the front gardens. Rows of shieldsmen alternated with rows of archers, with more than a hundred Martial Alchemists scattered throughout the field, and a group of Sekkha warriors clustered in the center near a marble fountain.

Across the streets surrounding the garden, enemy Alchemists perched on the rooftops of nearby buildings like a flock of crows. There were only about fifty of them. Normally, Sevei would have liked those odds, except for one person who stood on a high rooftop and drew the eye like a magnet. Master Balan Ghed.

He was very tall, with a surprisingly young and delicately featured face, but he was sickly thin, with long chalk-white hair undulating in the cool breeze. His white robes, lined with red, likewise fluttered about and contrasted starkly with the black-clad Alchemists at his feet. The red-haired woman stood in front of him, and he seemed to tower over her and the few others on that roof with them.

"So that's him," Sevei said.

He peered at Yeresym through the grated faceplate of his helm, and a chill went down his spine at the look of sheer venomous hatred on Yeresym's face. He turned his attention back to Ghed, and startled as he realized that the man's height over the others beside him wasn't right. He raised his faceplate and squinted.

"Is he floating?" he asked, looking at Yeresym again. "Can you float?"

Yeresym scoffed. "If I want to waste my energy," he said coldly.

"It's just a show of power," Thelan said in a scornful tone. "He's only doing half our work for us."

"Are you good, General Urskatha?" Sevei asked.

Yeresym's gaze slid sideways, still full of poison. He jerked his head up, then strode out onto the field. Sevei and the others followed, two Brinnish generals falling in alongside them. Soldiers stepped aside to form an aisle down the center of their ranks. The command party stopped upon reaching the front line and looked defiantly up at the intruders.

"This is an act of war!" one of the Brinnish generals called out. "Can Loranar afford to fight two fronts against three countries? You should all retreat! We'll just count this as a misstep"

The Loranarian general laughed. "You chose this when you sided with Valesk!" she called back. "We don't want war with you. Bring out Prince Rendrick to talk and we'll settle this now."

"Why doesn't your King send an ambassador to the capital?" Sevei asked. "Has Loranar completely abandoned proper procedure?"

The woman leaned out over the edge of the roof and peered down at Sevei.

"Didn't I kill you?" she said contemptuously.

Sevei laughed. "Oh, you certainly did your best," he retorted.

The woman shook her head with a tsk. "You Valeskans are like rats, aren't you?" she jeered. "You think you've drowned them but they just get up and continue pestering."

Sevei nodded. "I've been told I'm persistent," he chuckled, knocking his elbow into the rim of Yeresym's shield.

The corner of Yeresym's lips quirked even as he gave a long-suffering sigh, but then he turned around as a commotion arose behind them.

Gendaran Urskatha stormed down the line of soldiers, his face red and sweating. His brocade robe caught on the fountain as he passed, and he ripped it away as he continued his advance, his beady eyes darting furiously between Yeresym and Meira. Sevei swore under his breath and moved to step in front of Meira, but Thelan got there first.