Paladin of the Seraph, page 21
Dozens of captains were proven unfit for command due to buying their position with bribes, and they were either demoted or dismissed. But hundreds of promising soldiers who’d had their careers suppressed because of a lack of connections and influence rose through the ranks with remarkable speed, thanks to how much the army was growing by the day. For most, it was a good day to be in the forces.
More than sneaking into the city to open the gates or learning to fight giant lobster demons underwater, Darren’s favorite drill involved throwing his trainees out of the sky to land deep in enemy territory. He couldn’t put them in his Inventory, but it turned out he could put them in Dagon’s Scale, another dimensional storage item he’d gotten during his adventures in the Fifth Hell.
The soldiers jumped out, one after another. Since they didn’t have wings, they had to hold on to woven bags of cloth to slow their fall. It seemed like a downright terrifying experience to most, but a few of the men had started to enjoy it. Darren was thinking that this drill might have even more combat applications than underwater knife fighting. He could imagine the damage a squadron of elite warriors dropped behind the lines in Whiteguard could do.
And as the days wore on, he was growing more and more tempted to do just that.
“Darren, that’s a brilliant idea!” Callum slapped his thigh and grinned. “I’ll do it.”
“Callum, no! It sounds incredibly dangerous,” Cassandra said.
“That’s why Darren’s not coming with me.” Callum nodded in Darren’s direction. “If it’s a trap, it’ll be sprung on me instead of Darren. Then you guys will know what it is and can come to rescue me without worry!”
“It might work,” Darren muttered.
“Not you, too, Darren...” Cassandra pouted. “We’re perfectly safe sticking to our side of the border. By all accounts, Whiteguard is locked down tight. None of Thalia’s spies have gotten back to her, and not a single one of my merchant company’s inquiries has received a reply. Truthfully, I’m offended. Those were some very lucrative trade deals I was offering!”
“They must have their reasons,” Callum insisted. “And if I go there with Darren’s elite fighters, we can get eyes on the place.”
“They will sense your power,” Darren warned.
“Well, that’ll be what the soldiers are for. You’ve been training them for infiltration scenarios. I’ll just be their transportation in and out and emergency backup in case things go south. Most likely, all I’ll do is a bit of flying in and out. Your specially trained elite forces will do most of the groundwork. And they’re all regular humans, so they’ll blend in fine.” Callum flashed a confident grin.
“It could work.” Darren stroked his chin.
Across the table, Sasha nodded her head as well. “Half of tactics is knowing what your enemy is doing. If we can’t even do that, we don’t know how to prepare properly.”
Thalia sighed. “And so far, my more traditional methods of peering into Whiteguard’s secrets have proven entirely futile.”
“I think it sounds like fun!” Asuriel thrust her fist into the air. “I’d go with you, but I’d be spotted. Kalaziel’s forces might overlook a human archpaladin, but a Fifth-Order seraph flying through Whiteguard would raise every alarm they have.”
“Then it’s settled!” Callum stood. “Darren, if you would?”
Darren tossed him Dagon’s Scale, and Callum grinned. The mission was approved.
That afternoon, Darren told his trainees that it was time for their first assignment. At the end of the week, they’d be leaving for Whiteguard. Callum’s mission would coincide with a religious holiday that wasn’t too popular in the Blackwind Empire but was practically a way of life in Whiteguard. There would be drinking, festivals, and religious ceremonies all over the country, which meant a few Blackwind elite soldiers in disguise would hopefully go unnoticed.
They had a week to make preparations and wish their loved ones goodbye. Darren didn’t hide the fact that this would be a dangerous mission with little margin for error, and if things went sideways, the odds were that not all of them would make it back alive. He promised that any who died would have their families taken care of, and that was enough for everyone who signed on. They’d known this was coming from the moment they’d joined Darren’s special forces.
Surprisingly, Morgana, of all people, had the most to teach Darren’s forces when they were preparing for their mission.
“Listen up, maggots!” Morgana yelled. She giggled under her breath, turning to Darren with a whisper. “I always wanted to say that.”
He held in a snort of laughter and urged her to continue.
“I’m going to teach you how to sneak into a settlement without being noticed and how to pick up valuable intelligence just by standing around and listening. We’re also going to go over how to disguise your accent and hash out a few good cover stories for why you’re in town for the holidays. By the time we’re done, the locals will be inviting you into their homes with free beer!”
Morgana knew a lot about sneaking around while not looking too out of place. Her lectures were a lot less physically demanding than Darren’s, which was probably a good thing, since the troops needed to be in top form for their mission.
The week passed swiftly, and soon they were loading up into the pocket space inside Dagon’s Scale, which Callum hung around his neck.
“Good luck.” Darren shook Callum’s hand as he sealed the pocket dimension and took to the skies. “We will follow you to the border.”
As tensions with Whiteguard increased and the Blackwind Empire restored order, Thalia had ordered several temporary wooden fortresses constructed along likely invasion routes from Whiteguard. Callum had flown by them several times for regular inspections and to drop off more resources. He’d even helped out with construction a few times. One swing of his sword could fell a tree, and he could move the entire trunk into position in a matter of moments, so part of the reason there were so many fortresses established so quickly was due to his own personal efforts.
Callum waved as Darren veered off course, settling down on the ramparts of the nearest wooden castle. The soldiers guarding their position greeted him with salutes of respect and words of admiration. When he first started showing up at these border fortresses, they’d been either terrified or in awe, but his continued presence and a few reminders had gotten them to where they stayed standing and went back to their duties relatively quickly.
Darren kept his eyes trained on Callum’s back. With all the common-grade vision-enhancing skills he’d picked up and combined, his eyesight made the keenest of eagles green with envy. The new telescope that Thalia was so proud of was of little use to him when he could do just as well without it. No doubt she was watching Callum from afar as well.
There were only a few true forests in Whiteguard, all of them carefully managed. Their lands were undoubtedly the best settled of the Sacred Seas, and many claimed they were the first territories settled by humans. Others said it was simply their high population density that ensured all territories were put to full use. Whiteguard’s villages would be considered towns in most other nations, and the pastures and farms of one settlement frequently butted right up against those of their neighbors.
The lack of wilderness meant there was nothing to block Darren’s line of sight until Callum dipped low. They picked a town far enough from the border with the Blackwind Empire that the locals wouldn’t be too suspicious of infiltrators. And between his flight skill and his new wings, Callum made it there quickly.
Darren let out the breath he’d been holding all the while. He’d been waiting for a dozen Fifth-Order seraphim to pop down from the sky or be hidden among the wandering farmland cows to attack Callum all at once. He’d half expected he’d need to race over and recover Callum’s corpse for later resurrection.
But the mission went off without a hitch.
He saw Callum open Dagon’s Scale just outside the settlement, and Darren’s elite forces drifted down with silk sheets outstretched to slow their fall.
They touched down on the road, already wearing their disguises and spread out.
The original plan was that if even one of them made it behind enemy lines the mission would go on. As it happened, every one of them made it just fine. They’d learned a lot from their training.
They separated from Callum after a few brief words were exchanged, and they went on their way. For his part, Callum settled down to wait, but not before flashing Darren a smile and a big thumbs up.
Darren returned the gesture, though he knew Callum couldn’t see him. Callum’s senses were keener than a normal human’s, but to him, Darren would still just be a distant speck on the horizon. He’d be lucky to make out the castle Darren was standing on.
And so Darren waited on that castle rampart. The sun rose, and Callum had to retract his wings and conceal himself as a simple traveler pacing back and forth along the cobblestone road. He was wearing armor recovered from one of the Whiteguard paladin zombies in Eastwood, so while he would still draw attention, he would blend in more than an unmarked paladin would. There was no hiding his large and sculpted physique, so there weren’t any other options for him. It was the reason why he wasn’t following the others into town. He’d draw too much attention no matter what he did.
Morning turned to afternoon and then to evening.
When night fell, Callum waited for the elite troops to return for their ride home, where they’d rendezvous with Darren and tell him what they had learned.
But they never made the return journey. Callum waited well into the night, and soon it was closer to dawn than dusk.
“Come on, Callum. Return.” Darren was waiting for Callum to fly back whether he could recover the soldiers or not. But, of course, Callum had other ideas. Darren could only sigh, since he knew he would do the same thing in Callum’s position.
Callum set a course for the settlement. He was going to take a look himself. Darren followed him all the way to the town gates, which were still open from the previous day. A walled city like this one usually locked up at night, but perhaps the countryside of Whiteguard was safe enough to leave the doors wide open.
Unlike the rest of the Sacred Seas, Whiteguard never had to deal with constant demon attacks. Perhaps that was why they had so many more people than neighboring nations. They’d faced the same threats of cultists and portals to the Seven Hells that everyone else struggled with, but their strong attachment to the Golden Temple had given them a martial culture that encouraged the best sons and daughters of their kingdom to train as paladins, not just the wayward second or third children of noble lines. Completing quests for their sigils was practically a way of life for them. Though there were many things about Whiteguard that had caused trouble for the rest of the Sacred Seas, Darren had to admire that, at least.
Callum had entered the town without issue or challenge from the guards. And that was the last Darren had seen of him.
Darren tried looking through Callum's sigil, but the same issue that caused interference with his clone bodies was interrupting his connection to Callum's sigil. The connection was there, but it was like looking through a pool of muddy water. He knew Callum was still alive, but not much else.
He waited until dawn, and still, there was no sign of Callum.
Face grim, Darren eyed the settlement from afar. Not a soul stood on those walls. In fact, the entire countryside seemed eerily quiet, if not for the animals.
Darren came to a decision. He turned. The commander of the castle stood nearby, ready to receive orders all the while.
“We now have no other options. Prepare your forces to march into Whiteguard.”
20
Darren spent the rest of the day rushing around the various castles and preparing. The regular soldiers needed to be updated in person. Getting those within his sigil network was far easier. All he had to do was send out a quest.
New Quest Available!
Invade Whiteguard (Unknown difficulty)
Join the offensive force at the rallying points along the northern and eastern borders!
The only thing Darren regretted was that the quest he sent would be the first notification Thalia got that her armies were headed to war. He needed to return to the capital to fill her in.
“It’s your empire too, Darren.” Thalia shrugged. “And while I’ve been running civil matters, I’ll be the first to admit our military wouldn’t even exist without you. I leave it all in your capable hands. If you think a preemptive strike is the way to go, then that is what we will do.”
“It is the only path left to us.” Sasha nodded. “They’ve closed their borders to us and, by all intents, have turned extremely hostile, taking no effort to reassure us, nor make diplomatic overtures. Our spies failed, and now our special operations have failed as well. We can only assume the worst. Whiteguard may be summoning a world-ending catastrophe that will destroy the entity of the Sacred Seas. Perhaps they’re calling up the Lady of Darkness from the depths of the Seventh Hell.”
Darren doubted that, since he’d met Laura in person. Even if she wasn’t bound by treaty to stay where she was, he doubted she’d muster the energy to leave her home. She seemed content to spend her days napping and fooling around in her workshop.
“And don’t think you can conquer and pillage without us!” Morgana grinned. “I’m coming with you.”
“We all are,” Cassandra said. “I noticed you sent that quest out as soon as Callum failed to return. He’s your friend, but he’s my nephew. I’ve got to look after him.”
“If Kalaziel shows himself--” Darren began, but Cassandra wrapped her arms around his waist.
“If Kalaziel shows himself, then we know only you can hope to fight him. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help you fight him! You’ll have every boost in my arsenal.”
“And we’ll make sure none of his goons get in your way!” Asuriel placed her hands on her hips. “I remember you fought Commander Thorn to a standstill! Now that I’m at the Fifth Order, I bet I can fight him too!”
Darren smiled. “Thank you all. I’ll be counting on you.”
News of the war with Whiteguard was met with enthusiastic approval from most of the populace. It was common knowledge by now that Whiteguard had killed the emperor and paraded his corpse through the palace as their puppet.
Then, they’d used that position to send in Sinful Servants around the countryside, rounding up entire villages and dragging them to Hell as trade goods to be sold to demons. Half the riots Thalia had spent so much time quelling had been demanding war with Whiteguard already. The people’s rage hadn’t quelled until she started recruiting the most rambunctious of the rioters into the army.
In short, the Blackwind Empire already had all the justification they needed to enter a state of total war. And with Limedeep, the Northern Trade Union, and now the remnants of the Eastwood Kingdom all backing them, Darren had put together what was likely the greatest army the Sacred Seas had seen in generations.
Four grand armies amassed along the borders of Whiteguard, along with a fleet of warships lining their coast. Quite a few of the ships in Cassandra’s merchant fleet were equipped for battle, and those ships were now on the front lines.
Thalia couldn’t fly, so she stayed behind in the capital to manage things in Darren’s absence, and to direct maintenance and supply for what was likely to be a long and grueling campaign. The fortresses of Whiteguard were famous for being impregnable, and their armies were nearly as vast as Blackwind’s, despite being a much smaller kingdom compared to their imperial neighbor.
But Darren and his warriors were prepared for a tough campaign. They would not break, and they would not yield. This war might take years of fighting, but the Sacred Seas could never know peace so long as Whiteguard was under the thumb of the Order of the Rod and a puppet to Kalaziel’s schemes.
At Cassandra’s insistence, Darren gave a speech. She had something long-winded prepared for him, but Darren stuck to the main point of it all. This was a time for action, not words.
“What we do now, we do for the good of all men and women of the Sacred Seas!” Darren shouted, raising Melancholy high.
“War!”
“Crush the Order of the Rod!”
“Justice for the slain!”
“For the Emperor!”
The shouts echoed up and down the coast, and the cacophony might have been audible from all the way back home in Limedeep.
Darren pointed Melancholy forward. “March!”
Those who had reached the Fourth Order took to the air, scouring the skies for incoming threats from the heavens. The scouts had left by horseback an hour ago and would report back as soon as they saw signs of Whiteguard’s forces. Cassandra had used her Psychic Link ability so she, Darren, Asuriel, and Sasha were all connected and could relay information the instant they learned of it. That would keep all four armies up to date, and the instant one of them was attacked, all of them would know.
With that, the army marched. The scouts didn’t report back, which had Darren worried enough that his generals sent out a second batch of scouts.
Those scouts did return, and they told him what had happened to the first batch of scouts.
Absolutely nothing. Their orders were to turn back and report the moment they saw something. And so far, they’d run into nothing worth noting.
Soon, Darren’s army came across the first of Whiteguard’s fortresses. This one was a small border outpost built centuries ago when Whiteguard was worried about the growing Blackwind Empire trying to add them to their fledgling empire.
The two nations had fought a few hectic border skirmishes, during which Blackwind learned the paladins of Whiteguard were good for more than just slaying demons. Immense strength made them useful not only as killing machines that dominated the battlefield, but as a labor force that could assemble castles in weeks instead of years.
