Chapter 50 - It’s not a war crime the first time (Patreon)

Now, before I could get to that, there was one very important thing left to do - inform the Crown.

I was about to go and get a courier when I froze, still in the laboratory tent. I could portal there. The spell had completely slipped my mind, but with speed being of the essence, it was the only choice.

It was unfortunate that it’d make me the bearer of bad news…

I hummed in thought. No reason to go myself. Yes, I was far too busy coordinating the defence, someone else could do it.

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“Are you sure that’s safe, Lady Degurechaff?” Ortagor asked uncertainly, staring at the portal.

“Yes, yes, I’ve tested it extensively. It will deposit you near Cintra,” I reassured him again.

“Couldn’t we send a messenger? I should be tending to my men…”

“I’ll open the portal tomorrow at midday for you to come back, so you won’t be gone for long. Since the absence will be short, it makes sense to send someone who is well aware of the situation and will be able to answer all of Her Majesty’s questions, no?”

“Well, yes, but perhaps Roderic could do it?”

I tilted my head, “You are the highest-ranked noble here, Baron, it wouldn’t do to send any commoners or the like, wouldn’t you agree?”

Ortagor sighed, mumbling something before closing his eyes and stepping through.

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“Nolla,” I incanted, creating a large pit, a few meters deep, carefully stacking the earth in a pile next to the hole, the grass nicely intact on top.

I shielded my eyes against the morning sun, looking towards the outer walls of the fortress. We were about a kilometer away from there, in a large clearing with a small creek running through.

A prime location for a camp, if anyone asked me.

I turned to the bewildered and slightly frightened prisoner next to me, “Now, as we’ve discussed, Mister… Jorik, was it?”

The man nodded. No one else was around. A minor risk, all things considered.

“I will cast my spells upon you, then you will be free,” from a certain point of view, at least, “Now, do you mind getting into the pit?”

“What?” The minor noble replied.

I hummed, “I suppose that’s a bit much to ask for.”

Before he could react, I placed one of my hands on him and spoke, “Thar aev morn veth.”

Jorik fell to the ground, the magical sleep, or more accurately, coma, taking hold. This one was a particular variation of my own making, one meant to let someone survive for a while even without food or water. 

I levitated him into the pit with telekinesis and then got to work.

First, I stabbed my staff into the ground, before stretching my fingers as a warm up.

Then I walked to the edge of the pit, raising my hands and pointing them towards the unconscious man. I began chanting, while my fingers formed intricate gestures. The words flowed from my lips, each one with an intangible weight behind it as reality surrendered to my will.

His flesh began sizzling and bubbling, flowing around as if a liquid. I watched, oddly fascinated, as the man was remade in front of my eyes. 

A few minutes later, Alzur’s Double Cross was done.

I observed the result. The man was around two heads taller now, and largely lanky in appearance, though still clearly much bulkier than before. His head was strangely elongated and bald, with the hair having fallen out, while his hands were clawed and his skin a sickly grey.

‘A good first try, all in all,’ I thought as I wrote the details into my journal. Already, I could see places where I could do better next time, controlling the transformation even more. 

“Let’s bulk you up a bit,” I mumbled, before casting Triangle Within a Triangle, though I was very careful with the amount of Power I channeled into the spell. The transformed man grew some more, almost too big for the pit, but I managed to guess the necessary amount well. There was still half a meter or so of the pit left. Of course, were the creature to stand up, it’d be easily peeking out of it now.

“Nolla,” I incanted again, moving the grass-covered dirt carefully over the pit, while compacting the lower layer, to make sure it didn’t bury my friend down there, and adding half a dozen tiny breathing holes.

The rest of the dirt, I simply lifted and spread around. There was a decent amount of it, but I managed to hide it eventually.

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Exactly at midday, back in my own tent, I reopened the portal. Ortagor strode through quickly, his eyes landing on me, “Greetings, Lady Degurechaff, please enlarge the portal. It is a royal command.”

“There is little point in doing so,” I tilted my head questioningly, “the portal is limited by mass. The size is largely unimportant. Whether tiny or huge, the amount that I’ll be able to transport through will be the same. Were I to focus entirely on transporting troops, we could get somewhere between forty and fifty extra infantry, or five to seven cavalry in a few weeks. I’ve done the math. Augmenting our defences in other ways is much more cost-effective.”

Ortagor’s brow furrowed, “Then, please make the necessary arrangements to let a single rider pass through.”

An uncomfortable possibility ran through my mind. But surely not?

I nodded, doing as he asked, even if I was unhappy about it. A horse and a rider would be somewhere between five and seven hundred kilograms - enough of a strain that I’d have to use the Power stored in some of my foci if I didn’t want it to completely wipe me out.

The adjustments took a minute, but soon, the portal was enlarged. 

Out rode a barded warhorse with a heavily armoured man sitting astride on it, a lance in one hand, a shield in another. A battleaxe was on the figure’s back, while the blue and gold of Cintra was everywhere. A golden plume of an impressive size adorned his helmet.

A bit of sweat appeared on my brow, and it wasn’t just because of the strain caused by the immense mass that I had just transported through the fabric of reality.

The figure looked around, “Ho, ho, this is the first time I’ve ridden Fluffy inside a tent.”

The war horse snorted, pawing at the ground, while my eye twitched.

“Your Majesty,” I bowed, greeting the King. Why he was here, with no guards or forewarning, I had no idea.

“Tanya! Just the person I was hoping to see,” The King spoke in an amused tone of voice, clearly in a good mood, “I always knew you witches were useful, but Calanthé hated the politicking. HA!” 

He laughed while I watched the heavily armoured horse and its rider having a good time in the middle of my personal tent.

“Ortagor,” the King spoke once he stopped laughing, “Go prepare my quarters,” he shooed him off, hand motion and all.

The baron bowed, leaving without a word, his large frame moving faster than one would expect. 

“Your Majesty,” I began cautiously once he was gone, “May I ask why you are here?”

“I grew bored of hunting animals. The time has come to move on to a more dangerous game,” he replied as his eyes stared at me from beneath his helmet, a twinkle in his eye.

I blinked, then the King laughed again, “HAH! Of course, I am here to defend Cintra! What ruler would eschew such a duty? Not to worry, my good lady, I’ve never had much interest in military matters,” he finished in a knowing tone.

“Err, of course,” I responded, rather flat-footed, “Your Majesty…” I trailed off, as the man looked at me expectantly, while I debated the wisdom of what I wished to ask, ultimately deciding to risk it, “If you would be so generous as to satisfy my curiosity, I am wondering if I have done something that has pleased you?”

My last meeting with the King was still rather fresh in my mind. Roegnar’s current demeanor was quite different, to say the least.

“Oh, that?” He waved his hand around theatrically, “That was before I knew of your deeds! I had just returned from a hunt, you see. Now, where is this giant serpent I’ve heard so much about? Onwards, to glory!”

He rode straight out of the tent, leaving me scrambling to follow the bit-too-energetic monarch.

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Over the following days, I was extremely busy. The King, mercifully, stayed out of my way, mostly amusing himself by sparring with my soldiers and even hunting, bringing a whole boar back once. At least after he got over his disappointment once he found out that the serpent was dead and burned with the rest of the corpses, after its scales were harvested. 

There’d be no ghouls, nekkers or similar vermin on my watch.

The one unfortunate side effect of his arrival was the splitting of my guards. The majority of the royal guards stayed with him, while only Edwyn and Habata remained with me. I bolstered their number from the regular soldiery, with the most noteworthy addition being Aevinne, the elf proving herself very talented with a sword. The posting was supposed to be temporary, but I could already see I might change my mind.

All of this was done on the first day of the King’s arrival. The rest of my time was spent helping with the training of the levies, though I left most of the actual work to my Commanders and other officers. Mostly, I focused on speeding up the construction and advancing my work with Alzur’s Double Cross. The stock of high-value prisoners was rapidly depleted until only the former commander, Garrik Belhade, remained. As he had been in charge of the force, he was likely more valuable alive, at least for now.

All eventually ended up buried, some with no hope of reawakening. Most of those were the ones I utilised for polishing my understanding of the spell’s effects on one's cognition, using the leshen-derived method. This proved to be a game-changer almost immediately, as I was provided with easily understandable and measurable results. 

Understanding the differences in cognition for animals was difficult and rather limited, as any changes were very difficult to note and test.

Unfortunately, while my knowledge advanced by leaps and bounds, I was unable to replicate the success seen in the animal trials. While simpler animals seemed nearly unchanged, this wasn’t the case for humans. 

My first attempt led to a creature, that while fearsome in appearance, was utterly unresponsive. Some reflexive actions remained, like the patellar reflex, amongst other things, but I couldn’t get it to move an inch. Useless.

Improvements came quickly, and by the tenth, the creatures could understand basic commands, even if they were still largely passive on their own. None went berserk, but while I was fairly certain they could understand, getting them to act was another matter entirely. 

It was an all-around surprising result, if not an unpleasant one. It made me speculate that the Leshen method was somehow fundamentally incompatible with human cognition. A not so surprising conclusion, perhaps, as the monsters themselves weren’t that smart, debatably only reaching the intelligence of monkeys at best.

I thought about keeping those around, but ultimately decided to kill and bury them just like the live ones, though these ones wouldn’t be getting up again. It was too much risk for little gain. 

The ones created without the use of the Leshen method went berserk, as expected, but just like with the serpent, putting them to sleep beforehand was sufficient to keep them docile.