Shadows in the Smoke - Chapter 45 - Public Humiliation

  “The Republic is a highly militarised society. This is a fact and it is a regrettable one. We are a peaceful people who would like nothing better than to devote our time to our own prosperity. However, we are also bordered by two large, hostile powers. The Empire wishes to enslave us and the Lands of the Dead wish to consume us. Unfortunately, for there to be peace, both sides must agree.”

  The Struggle for Freedom by Bjarne Midthun

  =====

  Before she could get more than a few yards into the fort’s tunnels, Jakob ran up to Ester.

  “Mage Mazar!” He was a little out of breath and had a red line down the side of his cheek. “I’m glad to see you’re alright.” He even sounded like he meant it.

  “Thank you, Arcanist-Subaltern. I’m happy to see you survived too.” Ester offered him a tired smile. His uniform was covered in blood, but then she was fairly sure her dress was too. “Did you need me for something?”

  “Ah, not as such. Arcanist-Colonel Lindholm sent me to relieve you. The senior officers will be meeting in eight hours and she requested your attendance.” Ester somehow doubted it had been a request. “Until then, your time is your own.” He looked her up and down. “I’d suggest getting some rest. You look half dead.”

  Ester didn’t have the energy to be properly irritated by that. “I’m managing, thank you. I’m sure everyone needs rest.” He was going to say something about them being soldiers and her just a civilian or a woman or something, she just knew it.

  “Of course we do,” he agreed. “But your section of wall was probably the hardest hit. I heard them discussing it, no one else had to deal with that number of ghouls. Most sections didn’t get any at all. I don’t know if you were unlucky or lucky, but if you hadn’t been there they’d have broken this section of the wall and then who knows what would have happened. The Arcanist-Colonel might have turned things around, or they might have had time for a proper assault on the walls with live troops.”

  “Oh.” Through the fog of her exhaustion, Ester wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Well, good.” A thought came to her. “Why didn’t the ghouls just go past us? If they’d headed into the fort, I don’t think we could have stopped them and that would have caused far worse problems.”

  “Ha, because ghouls are fucking stupid.”

  Ester gave him a blank look.

  “See, the thing is, most undead are bloody dumb, much stupider than a horse or a dog. Something like a ghoul can’t be given sophisticated commands. Actually, ghouls are worse than walkers. Ghouls you just point at a target and let them go. They’ll just keep killing whatever’s closest. So, if they’d taken your section, they’d have kept going along the walls killing as they went. They’re not bright enough to go and hide.”

  “What about vampires though?”

  Jakob winced. “Yes, they could do it. We’re going to have to keep an eye out for any that snuck in, but in a way they’re too intelligent. The thinking undead have two things they want: eating people and surviving. They’ll follow orders, to a point, but they don’t like to risk themselves unnecessarily. So, without their master standing over them, they’re unlikely to want to do something like throw themselves at the walls in the first wave.”

  Ester’s mind went back to the vampire that had tried to infiltrate them on the march. She wasn’t sure how reassured she was by Jakob’s unlikely. There was nothing she could do about it now though, other than keep her guard up.

  “Thank you, Arcanist-Subaltern. I think I’ll go and get some sleep now.” She gave him a weak smile and staggered off. Her bed, however uncomfortable it might be, sounded extremely appealing.

  =====

  When Ester finally woke up, she felt only half rested. After everything, that was hardly a surprise. Especially when she’d had to take the time to clean herself up and renew her basic wards before sleeping. At least her years at the Academy had given her the ability to wake up exactly when she intended. Most of the time anyway.

  She wrinkled her nose at the sight of her dress crumpled in the corner. She’d try to repair it later, but with the amount of blood, gore, smoke and Spirits only knew what all over it, she suspected it was beyond help. With a small sigh, she pulled on another dress. She was down to her last two here. If she kept on ruining them, she was going to have to start wearing more than just a coat from the Republican uniforms. That didn’t seem as bad a fate as it would have before she’d first come to Fort Statvinger, but she’d still rather avoid it.

  As Ester got herself ready to leave the room, her stomach clenched. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she’d last eaten. Too long. No doubt about that. But she didn’t have time for breakfast. Not if she didn’t want to be late for the meeting with the Republican officers. Frankly, she’d have crawled there if she had to. If she was being included in discussions between senior officers, there was absolutely no way she’d miss them.

  With a couple of muttered spells to make sure she looked as neat as she always did, she hurried off into the maze of tunnels.

  A few minutes later, Ester arrived at the command room, joining a few officers as they headed in. Bang on time.

  A few of them glanced at her when she joined them, but most of those glances were neutral, she even got a few nods. As far as she could tell, most of the captains were there, along with Major Norred, Commander Sundt and, naturally, Lindholm.

  Stolen story; please report.

  When they were all inside, the door swung shut and Lindholm looked up from the map table. She looked no more worn than usual, as if she’d spent the last few days resting. Then again, all of the officers with the Talent looked relatively awake and clean.

  “Citizens, thank you for coming.” She surveyed the officers’ faces. “First, I would like to say, well done to all of you. The undead made a serious attempt at the fort yesterday and we threw them back. It is no more than I expected of you, but be under no illusion, they put significant forces into that attack. We have hurt them, badly. Whatever our enemies throw at us, the People's Army of the Republic does not break and you have epitomised that.”

  That got some smug grins and the younger officers nudging each other.

  “However.” Lindholm continued. “Our situation remains tenuous. While the attack cost the undead considerable forces, it was also expensive for us. We cannot afford to lose troops the way they can. Our casualties were much lower, but every man or woman we lose is irreplaceable. An even bigger problem is the expenditure of ammunition. We still have plenty of normal ammunition, enough to fight on for months. However, our supplies of special ammunition are rather more limited and we fired off large amounts of it defeating that attack. I am not sure that we could weather another one so well.”

  Ester pursed her lips. She’d half-hoped they’d have more. It was a weakness in the Republic’s military that could be exploited, if they fought the Empire. Right now, she wished it wasn’t.

  “That being said, we remain strong. We are alive. Fort Statvinger holds. Every day that we continue to hold means that relief is one step closer. We must keep up our vigilance, but knowing the enemy, we are unlikely to be attacked for a little while as they lick their wounds and wait for us to grow weaker. Necromancers and liches do not like to risk themselves and I have no doubt that some of their number were left behind on that battlefield. Does anyone have any questions?”

  It didn’t seem like Lindholm really expected any because she barely paused.

  “Now, the attack does reveal some interesting things about the undead forces. I had thought, or perhaps just hoped, that they would settle for besieging us. Clearly they do have sufficient forces that they can afford to throw them away dashing themselves against the walls of Fort Statvinger. So be it. The more of them that we kill, the happier I will be. In terms of tactics, I was unimpressed by their commander. Their tactics were generally conventional and they appeared to lack any ability to adapt to changing circumstances. That is hardly unexpected for a liche, but it is good for us. The last thing we want is to be facing a military genius. I suspect the strength of the wards also caught them by surprise. Our special ammunition certainly did. The loss of the casters they used to bombard the fort will also be a serious loss for them.

  “Moving on, while there were common themes, the tactics used differed slightly across the different stretches of wall, as did the intensity of the attacks. Perhaps an indication of local commanders’ autonomy, or just a case of using what forces they had at hand. Unsurprisingly the assault was focused on the north face of the fort. If they had had the forces to launch an attack like that from every angle, we would be in far worse trouble. So, there is not much to report on from the forces holding the other faces. Now, in the north, we have more to discuss.”

  Lindholm proceeded to name various companies one by one, inviting their captains to step forward and deliver a report on their performance and the tactics used by the undead, only occasionally interjecting.

  Ester listened carefully, taking mental notes of everything that was said. She wasn’t likely to ever become a Republican officer, but their reports were full of clues about how the undead fought and also how the Republic might fight the Empire. It was interesting to hear about the differences in what had happened too, although ghouls seemed to have been a theme throughout.

  Sometimes Lindholm was critical of their performance, other times she praised them for going above and beyond their expectations. As far as Ester could see, it was all delivered in the same blunt tone without discrimination. There was definitely more criticism of the garrison’s officers than the 13th’s, but neither were immune.

  Then, Lindholm asked Captain Lovas for his report.

  “Thank you, Arcanist-Colonel. We were severely beset on our section of the walls and took heavy losses. I account for this due to lack of special ammunition and the magical support available.” He shot a glance at Ester. “As you know, the garrison was short of both and this meant that many men died unnecessarily, although due to our practically Svendsenite efforts we were just about able to hold.”

  Ester had to stifle a gasp at his implied criticism. Her face heated as it felt like every eye in the room turned on her.

  “Did you not have Mage Mazar supporting you?” Lindholm’s tone was oddly mild.

  “I did, but I would question how much good she did. The undead were able to swarm the walls, leaving my men fighting them off in isolated pockets. There was no coordination with her and, frankly, I think she was trying to avoid having to take orders from me.”

  She wouldn’t set him on fire. She mustn’t! “I—”

  “Interesting.” Lindholm cut Ester off without changing her tone. “I had thought that your section of the wall suffered the worst attack of the battle, with more than enough ghouls to overwhelm it, but still held. I was going to say that your company had done a good job in holding and that you should be proud of the efforts of all those under your command. If you disagree with my assessment though…” She left a space for him to reply.

  Was Lindholm defending her? It took everything Ester had to force herself not to speak. Her section of the walls had suffered the worst attack? She hadn’t really believed what Jakob had said.

  “Ah. Uh, no Arcanist-Colonel. Thank you for your kind words, Arcanist-Colonel.” Clearly Captain Lovas knew when to shut up too.

  “Good, I would not want to think that you missed seeing the efforts of your troops by, for example, hiding back in the tunnels during the height of the battle?”

  Lovas blanched, going even paler, if that was possible. “No, Arcanist-Colonel. I would never do something like that.”

  Ester could feel the atmosphere in the room shift. Suddenly the Republicans’ eyes weren’t directed at her at all. Instead the focus was all on Lovas.

  “Naturally. After all, if an officer had done that, I would be forced to have them shot for cowardice.” Lindholm smiled, although there was nothing friendly in the expression.

  “Indeed, Arcanist-Colonel.” Lovas saluted with his fist to his chest even as he seemed to shrink in on himself.

  As Lindholm carried on with her run through of the various officers, Lovas looked around, a worried, lost look in his eyes. When they met Ester’s she shot him a smug smirk. She’d nearly died to keep his men alive while he’d just insulted her and then he’d tried to blame her for their deaths. As far as she was concerned, he’d earned every bit of his humiliation.

  By the time the meeting ended, Ester was hungrier than she’d ever been. It had been interesting hearing the officers speak about the battle and she’d need to spend a while digesting it. But for now, even though she was still riding high on the feeling of Lindholm humiliating Lovas, she still needed food more than anything else. She was about to hurry off to the canteen when Lindholm’s grating voice rang out above the chatter of the other officers.

  “Mage Mazar, come and see me this evening in my rooms at sixth bell. There are matters I wish to discuss.”

  What in the world could Lindholm want with her? Ester’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe she’d changed her mind about teaching her how to enhance her body with magic. It was just plausible enough that the thought wouldn’t go away. It was almost enough to distract her from the gnawing in her empty belly.

  She sketched a shallow bow. “Yes, Arcanist-Colonel, I will be there.”

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  Dramatis personae:

  Ester Mazar - Chartered Mage, not feeling at all humiliated.

  Lovas - Captain, why aren't they backing me against the crown-licker?

  Sigrid Lindholm - Arcanist-Colonel and war hero, I don't get humiliated, I do the humiliating.