Enlightened Empire

Chapter 387: Cornered Rats

When Ogulno had left his castle to join in the efforts of the league of lords, hope had been bleak. Now that he was back, it was even bleaker. With a heavy heart, the lord ran his hands across the armrests of his noble seat. Piled onto the table was today’s meal, as opulent as always, but he had no eyes for it. Across from him sat the other two lords he had fled with, all the way to here, back home to Kapra.

Again, those two were talking among themselves. While Ogulno had worried for his future on the march here, the others had somehow gotten a lot closer. It concerned the lord who felt increasingly isolated, but he really was in no mind to fight political games. Not anymore. Rather than worry any more, he stood up and walked towards the large paper window in the room’s southern wall.

Opened, the window revealed everything he had inherited from his father. The view from atop the copper hill onto the city of Kapra was deeply imprinted in his mind, but this time he saw it in a new light. All this time he had considered the possession of this property as good and right. This was what he deserved, and what should be his. Now, he realized that he had been too arrogant.

All of his lands, with Kapra at its center, were about to slip from him, never to return. Ogulno had no illusions about the future. If the king came back here with that giant army of his, there was no Mayu to bail him out this time. There also weren’t any other lords left to speak for him, apart from the two who were trapped with him together. Their army of defeated warriors certainly wasn’t enough to oppose the king.

By then, his lands would be lost, and his life would be gone too. The only thing the lord was grateful for was that his wife and children would be safe. After his political isolation, his entire family had already moved to his Arguna mansion, so at least they didn’t have to see him like this and could continue his legacy once his vindictive nephew Corco killed him.

“Brother Ogulno, did you hear!?”

His brooding thoughts were interrupted by a shout from behind. When Ogulno turned around, his two remaining allies seemed to have finished their meal and their private conversation, and were currently both staring at him.

“Please excuse me, I did not hear,” he tried to say in a composed voice. “I was busy contemplating on our future action.”

“What providence. Me and brother Sucopia were doing the same. Brother Ogulno, what do you believe our chances are to defend this city, or just this castle, against the king’s offensive?”

No one knew the defenses of the copper hill better than its lord. Ogulno mused over the problem for a few seconds before he answered truthfully.

“With the number of troops we have at our disposal, our chances should not be too poor in the short term. With a strong defender’s advantage through my city’s high walls, we should be able to hold out even if we are outnumbered three to one. Not to mention that the modern weapons of the king are only strong in defensive combat. That is why he forces his opponents into charges every time even when he is the aggressor: The rifles are no good when attacking in a siege. So, our chances improve, at least if our goal is only to withstand the initial storm.”

“Yes, in the short term, we will be safe here,” Lord Sucopia agreed. “But what happens after we have withstood the initial charge? What happens once we end up in a drawn-out siege?”

“Of course we cannot survive a long siege,” the unasked Curichi answered the question. “The cannons of the other side out-range any of our weapons by far, so they can attack with no response from us. Not unless we want to sally out past the walls and attempt to cut down their artillery. But then we would be playing right into their hands. Defending a fortified position outside Kapra against our attack is exactly what that vile king wants.”

Ogulno had a hard time following the thoughts of his allies, and it annoyed him. When had their plan changed?

“We know all that, none of this is new,” he said, and frowned to show his displeasure. “And, Brother Sucopia, it was your idea to hole up here. Was the plan not to offer some resistance here and then negotiate better terms with the king once he finds us difficult to deal with? What has changed?”

The two lords looked at each other, before Sucopia spoke up.

“This morning, we received message from some of the warriors who had been marching with us. Brother Maygua is dead. They were in his retinue.”

“What!? That makes two already!” Previously, they had already heard of the death of another lord who had fallen in battle on that nameless hill.

“Three, if we count brother Rafun,” Curichi corrected Ogulno with a matter-of-factly tone, but the lord suddenly felt cold all over.

“This megalomaniac king plans to kill all of us,” he realized. In fact, he had no illusions about his future anyways. Out of all the lords of the south, King Corcopaca would love to kill him the most.

“Thus, since the king plans to kill us, our previous strategy is no longer feasible. We cannot attempt simple negotiations like we would with other lords. The king has lost his mind, and aims to get rid of all his political opponents in one fell swoop. After the lightning miracle, no one can call his actions vile and immoral any longer, so he can be unscrupulous in his actions. We have opposed him in the past, so we will become targets of his wrath, without doubt.”

“Then what do we do?” Since the two were approaching him like this, Ogulno was sure that they had a plan prepared already.

“We stall for time,” a grim Curichi replied. “If we manage to hold out for long enough, the impact of the so-called ‘lightning miracle’ will fade in people’s mind. With time, the king’s air of invincibility will fade, especially if he fails to take us down. If the siege becomes too expensive or too politically costly, the king will still be forced to compromise, even if he plans to kill us now. He cannot let his entire army be bound here for several seasons, not with all the enemies he has left in the north.”

“Even with his cannons, we can hold out here for a long time,” Sucopia added. “Kapra’s famed thick walls aren’t for nothing.”

“While I thank Brother Sucopia for his compliment, the walls will not help us much this time,” Ogulno poured water onto the flames of his enthusiastic allies. “Even if we manage to withstand the cannons, we simply do not have the food to hold out for long. It is the end of winter, so our food storage is close to empty already. Now we also have to feed an additional ten thousand warriors, who eat as much as thirty thousand mortals.”

What he didn’t mention was that his silos were in an even more sorry state than he cared to admit. Throughout the years, he had been the only lord who hadn’t received any fertilizer from King Corco. His estate hadn’t been the one with the most fertile land in the first place, and the lack of fertilizer certainly hadn’t helped matters. Not to mention that the king’s own mining operations had destroyed the price of copper, the source of Kapra’s original wealth.

Whatever surplus grain he had left every year,he shipped north and sold off in Arguna, to raise some additional funds for his family. They needed every coin they could get to buy favor with the northern lords to plan for the future.

However, his allies knew nothing of his concerns, so they didn’t respond well to his objection.

“Such a large city, and the king has been aiming at it for so long. Surely, Brother Ogulno has more than enough food stored to survive a few seasons,” Curichi joked.

Now Ogulno was really getting annoyed. All these years, he had been left on his own, abandoned by other lords like them. They were supposed to be his brothers, yet he had been forced to fend for himself, just barely getting by as he looked for ways out of his predicament. And now they were not only taking advantage of his hospitality, but also making light of his struggle? What did they know about his plight?

“When I say there is not enough, then there isn’t enough,” he shot back. “How difficult is that to understand?”

Before the argument could develop into a fight, Lord Sucopia stepped in.

“In fact, there might be a different option than holding out a siege.” Once he had the attention of the other two, the lord continued. “We could make our way to the far east, to my own estate.”

“And what would we do if we ever got there?” Ogulno asked with suspicion.

“We lack food here, but there is more than enough of it back in my home,” Sucopia explained. “Not to mention that we would not necessarily have to shrink back against the king’s army once we reached there.”

“Continue,” Ogulno frowned. It seemed like Lord Sucopiahad a proper plan in mind. Though it had seemed like that many times in the past few days. Maybe Ogulno was just looking for someone to supply him with answers to impossible questions, so he had become more trusting. But either way, he had no better ideas either, so he could just as well listen.

“First, most of my own troops were left at home,” Sucopia explained. “Due to the long distance and the king’s control over the mountain pass, this lord could only move a few men near to Puscanacra without the king’s notice. The rest of the army still stands ready in Antila to join us, almost four thousand additional men of reinforcements. In addition, Antila has built the second strongest walls in all of Medala over the past few years, right after Qarasi Castle. Not to mention, the neighboring Lord Vareo’s recent actions have also been quite encouraging.”

“Lord Vareo of Port Ulta?” Ogulno realized something. “Are the Arcavians raising their own army to join the war?”

Ever since the last war three years back, Port Ulta had fallen under control of the central kingdom in name, though the real power behind Lord Vareo had been the foreigners from Arcavia ever since.

“It seems they are no longer content with simple harassment across the border,” Sucopia continued. “Most likely, they planned to attack the Anticasa Pass and force their way into the southern kingdom once we were busy fighting the king. However, now their plans should change, since the kings attack and our defeat were far too swift. if we could combine our strength with theirs, and then use our presence to lure the king into a battle across the mountains, they would surely be greatly thankful to us.”

Ogulno thought for a bit and realized that the plan wasn’t bad. With Corco’s character, he would never let the rebellious lords go unless the price of capture was inconceivably high. If they were in the east, they could set up their own defenses, and then force the king to attack them for once. With the reinforcements of the eastern lords and the strength Arcavians, especially their cannons and guns, they would stand a real chance against the king. At the very least, they could drag out the conflict and increase the cost. Finally, an escape from Corco’s clutches looked realistic. However, there was still one major problem with this plan, one that was impossible to overlook.

“That may all be well and good, but all this talk is mere fantasy,” Ogulno said. “How would we ever make it east in the first place? If we wanted to reach brother Sucopia’s estate, we would have to go north, and cross the lands of no less than four of King Corcopaca’s allies. And then, we would still have to somehow get through the Anticasa Pass controlled by House Villca, all of it before the king or any of his allies could catch up with us, on minimal supplies. Does that seem possible?”

Lord Sucopia’s home of Antila was far in the east, one of only five estates in southern Medala that were east of the midland hills and the Anticasa pass at the bottom of the Sallqata Mountains. Thus, it was a territory that would be tough to reach for the three abandoned lords and their starving army.

“There is a second way,” Sucopia said in a deepened voice.“We go straight through the midland hills.”

“Impossible!” Like so many times over the past days, Ogulno was once more getting annoyed at the fanciful plans of his allies. “You have been informed that Kapra’s food storage is insufficient for a siege. How could we possibly have enough to last us all the way through the midland hills!?”

“Brother Sucopia, it is your plan. Surely you understand just how difficult the midland hills are to travel?” This time, even Lord Curichi agreed with Ogulno. However, Sucopia’s grim face told them that he wasn’t joking.

“Of course. My own estate borders the hills, after all. Even with supplies, we would lose many men on the attempt, even more so in winter. Marching through the region with our large army would require far more food than Kapra’s storage can offer. However, both brothers have overlooked an obvious method to obtain the supplies we need.”

At last, Sucopia’s grim look perturbed Ogulno. Whatever the lord was planning, it would certainly come at a cost. Although the lord of the copper hill was uncomfortable, he still had to ask.

“And what would that method be?”

“Plunder.”

“Who? The tiny villages and bandit camps between here and Port Ulta?” Churici asked.

“There is only one place we can reach that is large enough to supply our army for a while, and it is right under our noses.”

With that, Lord Sucopia looked out of the window behind Ogulno, on towards the city of Kapra. Finally, the lord understood his fellow’s plan, and it made his blood run cold.

“No!” he shouted in panic. “How dare you!”

“Dare what?” Sucopia asked. “Now the land is useless to us anyways.”

“I agree,” Curichi added, just as cold as his good brother. “What has Kapra to offer to feel attachment? Anything here will be taken by that fake king as soon as he arrives. The commoners will rebel, and all the wealth of the city will be taken. This cannot be prevented. So why make that king happy and leave everything to him? Why not take what we can, and burn the rest?”

Finally, the two snakes revealed their fangs. This may have been a plan they both had been working on over the past days. All throughout their talk, the two had maneuvered Ogulno here, just so they could pressure him into razing his own city, just so these two could flee east and survive. Although he was caught off guard by the sudden turn, the lord wouldn’t just let them destroy his city, and his family’s heritage.

“My people-” he began, but Curichi interrupted him.

“A bunch of commoners. All the true followers of House Ogulno, all members of the warrior class, can follow along with our march, even if they are not capable of combat.”

“An easy decision to make if the land is not yours.” Ogulno insisted. His voice became as tense as his body. He wasn’t opposed to fighting a duel to defend his land. “The copper hill is the ancestral home of House Ogulno. I would rather die than give it up.”

However, despite the lord’s bravery, Lord Curichi replied with a sneer.

“If you wish to die, great Lord Ogulno, you are free to do so by yourself. However, the two of us will not follow you in your folly. We will simply take what we need, and then go on our way.”

“Brother Ogulno, please do not forget that we control two out of three warriors in this city,” Sucopia added in a more conciliatory tone. “Even if you stayed with your remaining men, would it not be impossible to defend the city with them? Would it not be better to follow us and attempt a comeback later? Once the king is defeated, we will all be able to gain far more valuable estates than this one. Or, if you prefer, House Ogulno can take its spoils and rebuilt the copper hill, grander than ever before.”

The implied threat remained unsaid: ‘If you will not comply, then we have twice the warriors you have, and we can force our way.’ While it wasn’t said out loud, Ogulno could clearly hear the harsh words hidden behind the lord’s amicable smile. The master of the copper hill paled as he understood the hopelessness of his struggle.

With a heavy heart, he closed his eyes and turned around, away from his tormentors.

“Do it,” he whispered, and didn’t say another word until he heard the door to the room close after his ‘fellow’ lords had left.

Finally, he opened his eyes again, and looked at his town of Kapra, his home, his heritage. Once, it had been the second richest city in southern Medala, famed and envied the empire over. By tomorrow, it would only be a distant memory, his ancestral home lost to his own, insatiable greed. All of it, everything, just because he had bet on the wrong nephew four years prior. How much more did he have to suffer, how much more did he have to endure because of one wrong decision?

Ogulno had no illusions about their chances in the war. Even with the Arcavians, he didn’t believe for a second that they could defeat King Corco’s invincible army. By now, he only hoped he could find a chance to make it back north to Arguna, to his family.

With any luck, his wife hadn’t spent all of their coin on bribes yet. With whatever they had left, they might be able to leave Medala’s endless power struggle, and start a new life in peace somewhere. As for his ambitions, the warfare, the honor, the blood and thunder? Lord Ogulno had received more than his fill for a lifetime.