Chương 1328: 1358 - Grinding Siege

All around her were dirty faces, the faces of those who had just literally escaped the Ashen Fields. She could see relief, and some faces were streaked by tears, but on the whole, there was little celebration amongst their group for their salvation. Cassandra could understand why: when Nestor managed to reach them with a band of Lumenite, he'd only managed to keep the band active long enough to evacuate a quarter of the town. Everyone here, in a forum that had been set aside for this very purpose, had lost someone.

She sensed eyes upon her, and when she turned, she found a young boy staring at her, wonder in his eyes even as the woman next to him—either mother or older sister—kept her hands wrapped around his arm like she was afraid he would forever slip from her embrace if she were to let go. Where he was awestruck by Cassandra's presence, the woman was haunted by someone's absence. All around the forum, the refugees were being moved and processed, though the going was slow.

Barracks were being hastily established to house them, and they also had to be fed. Food was something of an issue, but Leon had always insisted on making sure the farmers of the Kingdom grew surpluses and that much of those surpluses were properly stored within the safety of the Artor Valley. The refugees could be housed and fed, and the city could go on as it was for months if not years, assuming nothing else changed. However, everyone knew that would only delay the inevitable.

Triton was outside the valley, waiting to pounce. Thankfully, the situation had somewhat stabilized, though it hadn't much improved. Cassandra smiled and spoke with the refugees for a while, keeping up their morale as much as she could, and making sure that the Royal Family was properly represented. Promises to support them were made, and she would move the Nexus itself to make sure they were kept.

Many of the children even began laughing and playing when Cassandra insisted that Triton would soon be defeated and they would be able to return home. The guilty looks of the adults showed that they understood this was mostly platitudes, though some appeared to appreciate the gesture, regardless. At the very least, it got the children's minds off their lost home. When Cassandra finished her visit, she and her staff left the forum, bound for Westmount Palace.

She had already visited the Southern and Northern Talons, as well as many of the fortresses along the valley wall, not only keeping an eye on their readiness and the tactical situation from those vantage points, but also to ensure that the soldiery knew that they weren't forgotten.

"How many?" she asked Mariah, one of her ladies-in-waiting and her most trusted assistant, not least for having come from the Sacred Golden Empire.

"Two thousand three hundred and nineteen," Mariah reported.

"Of that number, one thousand four hundred and seven are below the age of sixteen." Cassandra sighed as they got into her personal carriage and, accompanied by several other ladies-in-waiting and a contingent of all-female Tempest Knights, set out from the forum.

"Horahwa was a city of ten thousand just a few days ago…" Her carriage went silent after that sobering statement. It was a common enough sentiment these days, but it still affected all of them deeply. As the carriage moved, Cassandra felt the thrum of magic engines overhead and glanced out the window to watch as a carrier with its escorts maneuvered to a new position along the storm wall.

Mir and Leon's wards established around the valley were doing a magnificent job keeping the valley secure, but those were only static defenses, and Triton was clearly much better at penetrating them than Terris had been so long ago. The city's defense fleet was constantly on the move, responding to incessant probing attacks. Few among their crews had gotten much in the way of sleep since Triton invaded, but they continued to do their duty.

'Leon is going to have his job cut out for him when he gets home, handing out all these medals,' she thought with amusement. She caught herself almost considering what might happen if Leon did not return home, but she forced that unpleasant thought out of her head as quickly as it appeared. When she and her staff made it back to Westmount, she made for the private meeting room that she and Elise had been using to receive their updates. When the invasion began, they'd received those updates almost hourly.

After six weeks, they received them only twice per day. Along the way, she almost ran into Elise as the fire-haired woman almost marched to the same place. Cassandra could see the worry lines in the other woman's face, hard set though it was into a mask of Queenly dignity and confidence. Elise had shouldered much of the responsibility in keeping the government functioning in these trying times.

That was fine with Cassandra, as it left her the more active roles of visiting the various fronts and ensuring that the people of the city didn't despair.

'If my younger self could see me now…' She almost smirked, but forced her lips back into a serious line as she fell in with her sister-in-law.

"You should be careful," Cassandra said with deadly seriousness.

"If you keep your face this straight for too long, it might stick that way." Elise glanced at her from the corner of her eye, and it took a monumental effort on Cassandra's part to keep her own expression from slipping. Judging by the ghost of a smile on Elise's lips, even though she didn't respond, Cassandra knew that her moment of levity was appreciated.

"How have your duties gone?" she asked as they walked side-by-side to the meeting room, their respective staffs falling back a bit to a more respectful distance. Elise sighed through her nose, keeping the expression silent.

"Cristina and Asiya managed to evacuate Hindall's Field, Duane's Gate, and Resherlos." Cassandra nodded, understanding everything about that particular effort without any further explanation. Those three settlements were relatively small, but they were in the southeast. An effort had been made to evacuate many of those smaller settlements in Triton's path, but for every handful of evacuated villages and towns, a city and its hinterland would be incinerated.

The death toll was already estimated to be in the tens of millions, if not more. They maintained their silence until they entered the meeting room and took their seats at the head of the table, sitting next to each other. Above the table was a projection of Leon's Kingdom as it stood, and it emphasized the direness of their situation. Triton had seized almost the entire western coast.

The Eagles and Hawks, who had claimed much of the southwestern mountains for themselves, had fled from the flat plains along the coast into the rugged mountains. Though their larger settlements had been sacked, these two Tribes didn't report many losses amongst their civilian population. Their Tribal armies, however, had been severely mauled, and the two Tribes had less than two hundred arks combined.

Thankfully, the mountains had been forged into strong redoubts long ago by the efforts of the giants and Ji Spiders, the former of which had also settled in the southwestern mountains, though the latter had only been there to mine—their territory was further northeast, bordering the Bolt Mountains. Triton's arks had significant difficulty operating amidst those rugged mountains and forests, as the Eagles and Hawks gleefully employed guerrilla tactics to bleed Triton's forces in a thousand places.

Cassandra's ruby eyes traced the fiery lines of the map, her heart racing with fear and fury at the scale of the crisis. She could see that the entire Serpent's Head Peninsula had fallen to Triton, and Queenfall with it. Culain had been sacked, and the Seventh Iron Order had been devastated. The latter had done their best to resist Triton's onslaught, but even with Leon's sponsorship, they didn't have the strength to stand against him.

Triton's push along the northern coast had been checked before he reached Lancefoot. Archelaus and Ingrid had linked up with the military garrison there to form the largest fleet left loyal to Leon in the Far West—more than two thousand arks, facing off against a similar number in the forest surrounding Lancefoot known as the Paleholt. Given the scale of destruction, though, Cassandra wondered how much of the forest would remain when the war was over. Further south, the situation was stabler.

The cities of the Finger Lakes had largely been left untouched—Triton had bombarded their strategic industries, obliterating arkyards and other defenses, but after the northern fleet was assembled and found some success, Triton had pulled his arks below the Southfells, leaving the Finger Lakes alone, and the northern fleets to combat each other. Given Triton's maneuvers further south, it was clear what his aim was.

He'd seized the Lion's Portal on the first day of his invasion and took control of much of the Blue Feather River. Now, the entire stretch of the river south of the Southfells had fallen to him, and the many cities along it had been destroyed. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. However, Triton hadn't immediately pushed eastward after seizing the river. Instead, he'd focused on trying to surround the Artor Valley.

Even though he'd invaded with thousands of arks and millions of warriors, even those staggering resources had limits. The northern flank of the valley was easy enough for him to pressure. The defenses there held, forcing the Ocean Lord's fleet to curve eastward, pushing into the Ancestor Grasslands and the cities there to pressure Artorion from that direction.

Again, though, he hadn't pushed that far eastward—at least, not initially—which gave many of the cities belonging to the Jaguars, Lions, Bison, and Bears time to evacuate. Their losses weren't nearly as heavy as those suffered by the cities to the north of the Artor Valley, populated mostly by people without bloodlines, who either left their Tribe or never belonged to a Tribe in the first place. Given Triton's fixation on Artorion, it didn't take long for him to curve his forces further south.

As Cassandra took in the situation as it stood south of Artorion, her lips twitched upward. There, the Kingdom had seen the most success. Triton had clearly planned on striking Artorion from the south from the get-go. His main thrust had come from the west—that made sense given his territory within the King's Ocean was far to the west rather than the north or south—but he'd still deployed a fleet of hundreds of arks in the south to storm through Seabreak and up the lower Blue Feather River.

Seabreak, however, more than earned its name in those initial battles, let alone the weeks since. The great city was one of the wealthiest in the Kingdom, coming after only Artorion and maybe Storm Hollow back on Aeterna. That wealth, combined with its strategic position at the mouth of the Blue Feather River, had demanded significant defenses. And Leon had made sure that the city had those defenses.

Terris had invaded from the south, and though she'd rued it at the time, Cassandra was now thankful for the nights that Leon had spent supervising the city's defenses rather than with her in bed. The southern fleet, combined with Seabreak's defenses, had blunted Triton's assault and nearly crippled the Basileus' southern fleet. Now, Triton pressed against the southern territories from the northeast, and though he was making gains, it was slow going.

With Seabreak and the southern course of the Blue Feather River still in Artorion's hands, they still had options that they hadn't during Terris' invasion. Most of these gains had been made by Triton in the first week. In the weeks since, he'd sprawled out somewhat, but it still seemed that Artorion was his main focus.

However, he could only pressure the city from the north and east, and if he tried to pull too many of his forces away from the half-completed siege, then the Jaguar sallied out to bloody the noses of those maintaining pressure on the valley walls. Their defenses, in short, were holding. But they couldn't hold forever, and for every moment that they couldn't evict Triton from their territory, more villages, towns, and cities were put at risk. This couldn't continue.

After several minutes, the Jaguar, Iron-Striker, Ipatameni, Gaius, Alcander, and all the other high-ranking palace ministers arrived. High-ranking officers joined them via comm slate projections as they couldn't leave their posts, nor would anyone want them all to be present in the same place during a time of war. The top leaders were somewhat haggard; the Jaguar and Iron-Striker were the two most important, and neither looked like they'd slept at all since the war began—not that they slept much to begin with.

Alcander, in his capacity as the commander of the Tempest Knights, was also in charge of security in the city, and maintaining order was clearly taking a lot out of him, and that wasn't even touching on how much of his family was out of contact, gone with Leon or the Task Forces out into the planes. Gaius was in a similar personal situation, and the Praetors and Inspectors he was in charge of were doing their best to support Alcander's campaign to keep the peace.

Ipatameni looked the most well-rested of them all, but his job as Steward was hardly easy at this time, and would only grow more difficult once it came time to rebuild. Still, all of them looked like they needed rest, but that rest wasn't going to come any time soon… Cassandra tracked the rest of the newcomers as they entered, noting who they spoke to and where they sat. After this much time, their favored strategies had been made well-known to everyone else.

Iron-Striker, Ipatameni, and Gaius favored more defensive strategies. Alcander and the Jaguar were proponents of more aggressive defense, skirmishing where they could and bleeding the enemy wherever they could be bled. Though it wasn't absolute, the ministers supported the former, and the officers supported the latter. Both strategies had proven their merits and demerits. There was less immediate risk in a more defensive strategy, but it also relinquished the initiative to Triton.

In contrast, the more aggressive strategy inflicted damage on Triton's fleets, locked the Ocean Lord's smooth, whale-like arks down around Artorion, and bought time, but it also endangered the warriors who launched the attacks. Before the meeting began, the final members arrived, walking in with their heads held high, and though they didn't sit at the table, they still stood beside Elise and Cassandra.

Serana, Nyra, and Nyra's aureate escorts; perhaps their greatest potential allies, though nothing had yet come of that potential alliance.

"Let's get started," the Jaguar started, his patience for preamble having long since dried up.

"In the past twelve hours, we've skirmished four times around Artorion. The enemy lost nine corvettes, seven frigates, two destroyers, and a cruiser." Cassandra held her breath even as a subdued ripple of approval swept through the meeting room. That was a good day's work, but it was missing an important element: the cost.

"We lost three corvettes, five frigates, and a destroyer," the Jaguar finished, immediately dampening the approval shown. But at this point, he didn't linger long on these updates and moved on with his updates quickly.

"This brings the count to six thousand nine hundred and ten arks maintaining the siege on Artorion. In the north, clashes have brought the number to two thousand seven hundred and eighty-three arks. Furthermore, the Lion's Portal remains in enemy hands, with at least a thousand arks holding it on both sides of the portal.

"Opposing them, we have one thousand and forty-eight arks within Artorion. Two thousand six hundred and fourteen arks are holding firm in the north. Aside from these two theaters, the Tribes have another thousand arks or so, though we're less sure on the count, and they continue to harass our enemy's patrols and supplies. This is making reinforcements slow on both sides, but they are still coming…" With a pointed look, the Jaguar passed the proverbial baton to Iron-Striker, whose update was short and to the point.

"Illum is on the way with his own fleet. He's mobilized another thousand arks, and they'll join the northern theater in a week. However, Triton is also receiving reinforcements faster than we can degrade his forces. He has at least three thousand more arks along the western coast, and dozens more pour into the Kingdom every day. Thankfully, our foreign contacts are reporting that his attempts to rope in other Ocean Lords have been faltering."

"Still no word from Princess Miuna?" Elise asked directly.

"None. Though Director Icarius has indicated that his contacts in the King's Ocean are saying that the Princess is 'indisposed'. I haven't been able to get any further details, nor have I been able to hear anything about her father." Elise frowned, and Cassandra interlaced her fingers with the other woman's hand beneath the table. Elise's skin was cold and clammy with nervous sweat, but Cassandra tightened her grip anyway.

"And our other allies?" Elise pressed.

"Despot Gwarim has promised support, but that may take a while," Iron-Striker said.

"His territory is distant, and his holdings outside of the Nexus are almost on the other side of the universe compared to ours." He paused, and both Elise and Cassandra glanced backward, their silent request for information answered almost immediately.

"My Clan is assembling forces," Serana said.

"But our conquests over the past century were extensive, and most of our forces are already deployed."

"Same with my Clan," Nyra added simply. Serana winced so subtly that Cassandra guessed only she and Elise noticed.

"I have been told not to expect support from the Great Dragon Clans for at least a month, though they are assembling." Silence settled on the room like a funeral shroud, oppressive and dark, as a single thought was shared by everyone:'Will we last another month?' Ipatameni broke that silence, giving them some much-needed good news.

"Prince Nestor has been successful in upgrading our Lumenite bands. We should be able to receive greater support without needing to fly it in via ark soon. Director Icarius has also told me that he's been burning resources accumulating warriors and free arks to aid us, and will source food and other necessities as requested."

"How many and how long?" the Jaguar bluntly asked. Without missing a beat, Ipatameni replied, "So far, less than a hundred arks, and less than ten thousand warriors—and of the former, none are heavier than destroyers. But with Prince Nestor's Lumenite bands, we can move all of them into Artorion fairly easily once they reach a suitable transport position."

"Any reinforcement is welcome reinforcement," the Jaguar said, and Cassandra couldn't help but agree. Despite the theaters where things were going relatively well, Triton was still making gains, and they couldn't last forever under that kind of pressure. Beyond that, Triton was only one Lord, and others could take advantage of their weakness even if they won this war. Cassandra shuddered at the thought of dealing with Anax Alderion after losing thousands of arks between the central military and vassal auxiliaries.

If they had several decades to rebuild after the war, then they might be able to recover, but realistically, Triton had done damage that would take centuries to recoup.

'And who knows if he might call on any other Lords to aid him?' she wondered. The update meeting didn't last much longer. The tiniest details didn't have to be shared; the strategic situation was clear enough to everyone. They were holding, but they couldn't hold for much longer. They needed reinforcements, any reinforcements, and soon. And hanging over them all was a single question that no one was brave enough to voice aloud: where was Leon?

Their forces deployed in the planes were completely out of contact and could very well have been attacked out there, far from the support of Artorion. They'd already lost one Task Force, and if they lost any more, then fighting Triton off would be nearly impossible. And that, of course, didn't even touch on what would happen to them if Leon had been killed far from his Kingdom's shores and without a true successor to keep the Kingdom united. Cassandra could feel her heart squeeze at the mere thought.

But she chose to believe that Leon was racing back. He'd pulled off miracles in the past, and she knew in her bones that he could pull off one more…