The Fell War - Chapter 19

It took three days to clear out the rest of the Granato Empire’s forces. They’d ended up having to do it in shifts, so that each person got significant rest. Alfre had to be dragged back to the cathedral square several times at the end of her shift, or she would push herself too hard. Ren seemed to be the same way, as she’d been spotted many-a-time being dragged back to base by the collar of her shirt by Silver.

“You’ll be no use to anyone if you’ve collapse from exhaustion,” Abital chided Alfre on the third day just as they were pushing the last of Granato’s forces out of the city.

“Come on, we’re almost done!” Alfre complained, shifting to get more comfortable in her position atop of Abital’s shoulder, seeing as the god had decided to toss her over his shoulder like a bag of rice. “It’ll only take another hour at the most. Let me finish what I started.”

“You’ll finish what you started when you kill the Emperor,” Abital reminded her. “And that won’t be for several more days now. Calm down. Rest. Get your mana back. You’ve run yourself ragged these past few days. I’m sure you don’t want Wally seeing you like this. You know how he worries.”

“Like a mother hen,” Alfre muttered, knowing very well how much of a worrywart Wally was. She sighed. “Fine. But someone needs to let Alessio know it’s time to move into the city.”

“He’s already been informed,” he assured her. “Elias is on top of things.”

“If Ren were here, she’d say something like, ‘You mean how Alfre’s on top of you?’ or something to that effect,” Alfre said mildly.

“Hmm, she probably would,” Abital agreed. “But that isn’t going to make me put you down.”

“Dammit.”

“I know you’ll just take off if I do,” he said. “And I’m not going to take that chance.”

Alfre pouted. “Can’t blame a lass for trying.”

“I suppose not.”

He did eventually put her down, once they were back in the square, surrounded by their temporary camp and about two dozen people who could easily stop Alfre if she tried to make a break for it.

“I hate you,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Abital smirked a little, looking all the world like he learned it from Spica. “That is not what you told Orli.”

“Changed my mind.”

Abital leaned down to place a kiss to Alfre’s temple. “Are you sure?”

She flushed a pale pink, having not expected the open and obvious affection. “Sh-shut up!”

Abital chuckled deep in his throat. “Keep that up, and I’ll have to steal you away to the underworld so I won’t have to share with the others.”

“The hell you will,” Canus interrupted, trotting up to the pair of them. “Welcome back, snowbird, I see you had to be dragged back again.”

“I was only going to be out there for another hour,” Alfre insisted. “We’re almost done!”

“We are done, actually,” Canus corrected. “Just got word from the front lines. The druids and clerics are setting up barriers as we speak. You’ve done good, snowbird. The first part is over.”

Some of the tension left Alfre’s body. They were right, the first part – the difficult part, she hoped – was done. They’d liberated the city…for now at least. There was no guarantee that Granato wouldn’t come back and try this all over again. The best she could really hope for would be that they couldn’t come back with the same Fell and destroy the city all over again. Or, if they did, the citizens would be better equipped to fight back. Her best bet would be to drive home the idea that fighting Fell was more trouble than it was worth. She doubted she could change the empire’s feeling towards players, especially not if she was going to be killing their emperor, but she could convince them that fighting wasn’t worth it.

“You’re thinking too hard about something,” Canus said. “I can tell.”

“I’m just…wondering if this is enough,” Alfre admitted. “What if Granato comes back? Will what we’ve done be enough to convince them that fighting us isn’t worth it? Or that it was wrong? Who’s to say they won’t sweep right back in once we leave and take over once more?”

Abital and Canus shared a concerned look. There really wasn’t anything they could say to that. They couldn’t promise her that what they were doing was enough. They couldn’t reassure her that Granato wouldn’t come back and ruin everything they were working for.

“All we can do is our best,” Abital said gently. “And the people of Heart will do the same.”

Alfre nodded, but was obviously unsatisfied with that answer. She realized that no answer would have satisfied her, not even if Abital had just said what she wanted to hear: that everything would be fine. There was no way to promise that.

“What do we do now?” Canus asked suddenly, desperate to move Alfre’s thoughts from the dark path they were going down.

“We’ll need to repair the gate we destroyed, first off,” Aflre said, returning to her Commander mindset. “And then we need to wait for Alessio and the others to arrive so we can regroup. I doubt the Granato will be gone for long. They won’t give up the city that easily. But with our ranged fighters, we have the advantage. We’ll be more easily able to defend the city. I’ll also need to gather a squad to go with me to Rubino. If we’re going to end this war, we have to get to the heart of it, pun not intended.”

“I’m going to pretend it was, anyway,” Canus said with a grin.

They wandered further into the square, picking up listeners as Alfre continued to ramble on about what they needed to do – Ren, Elias, Spica, and Hadi wandering closer.

“We need to locate what farmable land we have here, and get some food growing,” Alfre continued. “That shouldn’t be terribly hard with our druids, but we need to get the city prepared for a long siege. Our greatest enemies in that case aren’t the soldiers outside our door, but hunger and thirst. What’s the water supply like around here?”

“Mostly wells, Commander,” Hadi said. “The city was built on top of a very large, very deep reservoir. Too deep for the Granato to dig to and poison, probably.”

“Even if they did,” Oliva said, appearing at Hadi’s side. “We clerics can purify it!”

“Yes, and that will be a very important skill during the siege,” Alfre agreed. “You’ll need to check the water every few hours, just in case.”

Olivia nodded seriously. “I’ll go tell the other clerics!” She rushed off, grabbing her sister on the way.

Alfre watched her go, fondness and sorrow warring in her eyes. “I feel bad, dragging the wee ones into this.”

“Olivia would have jumped in no matter what,” Hadi said. “She’s a brave girl, and almost as stubborn as you are. It’s good that she has found a way to get involved. It brings the people hope.”

“Did you know her, before the Granato showed up?” Elias asked from Alfre’s other side.

“A little,” Hadi admitted. “She and her sister were well known in the city. She’s the youngest one here, you know. Many of us felt sort of responsible for her. We all offered her and Tori places in our guilds. I know she didn’t take up my offer, but I was never sure about the others until we evacuated from the city. We were all terrified for her when we realized she and her sister hadn’t come with us. I’m glad to see she’s safe.”

Alfre nodded. “Still, I can’t imagine what this whole thing must have been like for her.”

“She may be the youngest, but Heart is full of kids,” Ren said. “Tori mentioned that Ahmar was seen as a good starting place for younger players, so a good chunk of the city’s population was kids.”

Alfre froze in place, hands clenching into fists by her side. “You’re joking.”

Hadi shook his head. “Unfortunately, she’s telling the truth. Most of my guild members are around fifteen. And that’s not terribly unusual in Heart.”

“Those bastards…were attacking kids?!” Alfre hissed. “Those stupid wankers were hurting kids…for fun?! What the actual hell?!”

“Alfre. Alfre!” Spica set a hand down on the girl’s shaking shoulder. “I know you’re angry. Believe me, I am too. But now is not the time to do anything rash. You need to focus. We’re going to make them pay, I promise you, but you need to save that anger for when you’re fighting the emperor. Okay?”

No. Not okay. Alfre wanted to scream. Wanted to hurt something. Wanted to rip out the foundations of the Granato Empire and watch it burn to the ground. She was starting to regret not choosing the summer blade class instead. Couldn’t burn an empire to the ground if you didn’t have fire magic.

“Alfre…” Spica repeated her name, concern more obvious in her voice.

Alfre inhaled deeply, exhaling frost and frigid air. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Canus said bluntly, tail twitching worriedly.

Alfre sighed harder. “You’re right. I’m not fine. But I’m going to have to be. I can’t lead an army if I’m blinded by anger…and I hope none of you would let me.” She looked to Ren, to Hadi, to Abital and Canus, to Spica, and finally to Elias.

“Never,” Elias promised her.

“Good,” Alfre said. “Now, there’s still more to do. I wasn’t kidding about that farmland. Nor about the gate. We need that repaired as soon as possible. We’ll also need better places for folks to sleep than in tents in the abandoned districts.”

“I’ll see who has rooms to spare,” Hadi volunteered, already breaking off from the group.

“I’ll go round up some druid and find some farmable land,” Elias said, waiting for a nod from Alfre before running off.

“Ren and I will round up some craftsmen and get them started on the door,” Spica offered with a nod from Ren.

“Thank you,” Alfre said, probably only barely heard as they rushed off to start their quest. Once again, Alfre was left with Abital and Canus.

“And you,” Canus chided, “still need rest. Come on, we know you have a cot around here somewhere.”

Alfre frowned. “But the cot is so uncomfortable. There’s more than one reason I’ve been trying to avoid resting.”

“Suck it up, buttercup,” Canus growled playfully. “It’s as good as it’s going to get until Hadi comes back with news about better rooms. C’mon.”

Alfre yelped as Canus scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, much like how Abital had done earlier. Alfre squirmed, but the two gods had learned. It was much harder for her to escape if they carried her like a sack of potatoes.

“I hate you both,” she grumbled. Beira wuffed with laughter. Alfre glared at her direwolf. “Don’t you start. You’re on thin ice as well, you mangy mutt.”

Beira rolled her eyes, ultimately deciding to ignore her little master’s threats. She never really meant them anyway.