Incursion Empire Ch. 24

Twenty-Four

Xeroc panted heavily as he looked over the battlefield. Dead covered the ground, stretching out in every direction to form a carpet of corpses. Most of it was the natives and his own forces, but there were some monsters interspersed amongst the dead. Xeroc took a knee, looking down at Kage’s still form, the squire’s chest split open from a stray blow. 

“Damn shame. Lost four of my own coterie in that last push,” Dalin said as he shoved his way through the knot of guards that Xeroc had with him. Xeroc resisted the urge to frown at the man’s rude behavior. Instead, he reached over and gently closed Kage’s eyes for the final time.

“The natives aren’t without courage, I’ll give them that,” Xeroc said as he rose. That last counter attack had nearly split their middle, only Dalin’s rapid reinforcements having kept Xeroc from being overwhelmed.

“Did you feel it? That psionic blast?” Dalin asked. He stood bigger than life, a monstrous sword on his shoulder as he looked over the broken fields. His thick armor was dented and scratched, covered in a mix of blood, mud, and guts. Xeroc made a mental note to himself to send a runner to Brina to ensure her health.

“Yes. it was what nearly forced us to yield the field. Half my soldiers were temporarily stunned when it hit us,” Xeroc said. He checked his levels and smiled to himself to see that he would be able to acquire a new class skill. It’d have to be a mental defense skill to keep the psionics out of his mind.

“Were any of you scouts able to find where it originated from. I am loathe to leave someone that powerful still on the field,” Dalin said. Xeroc couldn’t agree more the High-Blood noble. 

“I haven’t been able to receive my reports yet. Juris, raise my standard and give a call to regroup,” Xeroc ordered to his standard bearer. The man had stood and guarded his blindside for the entirety of the battle, the plate armor just as dented and damaged as Dalin’s.

Juris lifted his hand and a flash of light went up and over their heads, green flowing symbols that would be easy enough to discern if you knew the language. Which the natives shouldn’t. Xeroc didn’t take chances, quickly ordering his mages to begin setting up protections around them. 

It hadn’t been long since the mages had earned their classes and their class skills were rather limited, but they set to their task with determination. Soon there was a ring of barriers around them, both physical and psionic. Dalin had a few of his own guard arrive and soon both men were wreathed in a half dozen personal protection spells.

“What is taking Brina. I hope she did not fall so soon,” Dalin said. There was no note of actual concern in the man’s voice over the thought of having lost one of their peers. Xeroc kept an eye on him as he listened to early reports from the battle. 

It was his force that had taken the blunt of the counterattack, but both Dalin and Brina had faced opposition which had locked them in place. Until Dalin had broken free and arrived to relieve him.

“Are the levels living up to your dreams?” Xeroc asked as he finally dismissed the first wave or bureaucracy. There would be more shortly, likely being led by Meeris herself. 

“Ha! Beyond expectations. The only thing that’s not exceeding my hopes is our progress,” Dalin said. There was a tinge of bitterness to his words, but Xeroc paid them no heed. How wrong was Dalin to be bitter? Their incursion was going poorly. Being set next to a powerful monster like the kraken had been debilitating to their short term hopes.

It had forced them to slow down their assault, allowing the natives to adjust and adapt. Xeroc could not imagine the scale of disaster it would have been if he’d failed to stop their push.

“I can’t think that this has not begun under auspicious heavens. We have been favored too often and now the System itself looks to take us to task,” Xeroc said. It was partly to himself, but Dalin heard. The large man snorted softly and shook his head.

“It is not to the System I blame our slow start. Regardless, we will soon be marching again, yes?” Dalin hurried his words as if just hearing how’d he spoken. Xeroc let the rebuke die on his tongue as he saw Brina arrive with her own small procession.

The lean woman was wearing thin, leather armor that moved with her every motion. A cape was draped off of one shoulder and the spotless royal blue garment fell to her ankles. A long wand was in her hand and she looked about herself wearily, as if waiting for an ambush.

“My Prince, may we approach?” Brina asked. She didn’t do anything as foolish as saluting him or declaring his name loudly, but the respect was appreciated. He nodded and his guards opened a seam for her to walk through, her own coterie following close behind her. 

Together the three High-Blood stood together for the first time since the initial phase of the integration. Brina had been holding the front while Dalin and Xeroc had dealt with the kraken. Then they rushed to fill the lines as the natives began to attack, never having a chance to meet face to face. 

“It has been too long, Brina. I had started to forget your scowl,” Dalin said with a chuckle. Xeroc kept his face blank, but it was a struggle. The quip had been decent enough. 

“You look like you’ve been enjoying yourself slaughtering the peasants,” Brina said, her voice dripping with scorn. Dalin shrugged, his blood drenched armor rising and falling as he did so.

“Enough. We are in the middle of a war and can’t be fighting amongst each other. Meeris will be here soon enough, I will need casualty lists. For now, a general feel should be enough for me.” Xeroc paused as he looked at the two of them. Both looked like they wanted to continue their japes, but stopped under his glare.

“Yes, my prince,” Brina said.

“Forgive me. I have no excuse,” Dalin said. Xeroc waited a moment then nodded. They fell upon their business with brutal efficiency, going over losses. It made Xeroc suck air through his teeth in displeasure. It was going worse than he had feared.

“We will have to combine our forces. The losses are mounting and while our levels are scaling quickly, it won’t be enough,” Xeroc decreed. Their initial plans had been for each of them to take the heart of their individual armies out into an attack, looking to fight the others who had come to take this land. 

Anything they would take or claim in the meantime would be theirs, even after the planet’s integration finished and they were returned to the Empire. It was one way for nobles to expand their domains and reward retainers and lesser children. Neither Brina nor Dalin were lesser children who would have been set to inherit little to nothing. 

“My prince, that would drastically lessen our rewards. We would go with the standard army contribution system and that would leave precious little for ourselves,” Brina said. Her scowl had become thunderous and Xeroc couldn’t blame her.

Her forces were mostly whole having not faced the kraken and only traded skirmishes with the natives. Both Xeroc’s and Dalin’s forces were higher leveled on average, but her numbers could currently make up for it.

“I agree with Xeroc. We don’t have the numbers to currently split our forces. If we manage to subjugate another incursion army, then maybe it’ll change. For now, we should focus on unifying and looking at a single, powerful, blow to drive these natives out of the peninsula and allow us our leave,” Dalin said. Xeroc froze at the man’s words. A ripple of unease wormed its way down his back as he stared up at the man. It was nerve wracking to have the bigger man agree with him.

Dalin may be full of laughter and apparent good cheer, but his eyes were that of a killer. No High Blood scion would be poor at politics and Dalin’s charade of being a bumbling fool was poor to begin with. If he was agreeing, then there was a reason that Xeroc wasn’t seeing. Which made him uneasy.

“Standard contribution point allotment. Meeris will oversee it. Now, let us talk of this great blow you speak of Dalin. The natives have managed to keep the majority of their forces unified. Brina, would you?”Xeroc started pointing at the ground. Brina sighed, but waved her hand a local topography map appeared. A red X flashed near a local pass that led them through the rocky terrain that separated the peninsula from the mainland.

“Dalin wants a decisive fight? Well, this is the army we’re going to have to deal with, so I suggest it’s time to hunker down and figure out how we’re going to do it,” Xeroc said. The two other High Blood nodded their heads, but Xeroc was sure he saw a glint of something in Dalin’s eyes. 

“It won’t be the first time that someone tries to usurp command.” The thought gave little comfort to Xeroc as he idly wondered how his Shadows were performing. It would be good when he reunited with his sworn blades.