The Lives of Velnin chapter 17

March to War

Mar 28, 2025

The men of the capital were mustered, and shortly we would begin our march. We would march through the lands around the former Black Citadel, picking up more men from members of the League of the Citadel as we went, then meet up with the soldiers from Talore at the grounds of the Citadel. From there we would march to Dragonclaw Pass. Ahead of us raced masons on horseback, keen to begin the rebuilding of the wall at the first possible moment. When the troops arrived, we would lend our hands to finishing it.

Aloree's arms were around me as we said our goodbyes. Her chaperones and guards were carefully looking the other way, as we were arguably being a little bit more romantic than royal propriety allowed.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16

Aloree kissed me long, slow, and simmering, then as we pulled back for air, commented, "Falling in love with the Crown Prince, AGAIN, only to have him probably lose his life on a suicide mission, AGAIN! It's worse than someone coming up and eating your lunch before you have a chance to sit down, then doing the same with your dinner. Aaargh!"

I gave her a quick kiss as she stomped her foot for emphasis, then replied, "If I don't make it, be nice to the next brother, all right? Don't make my next incarnation wait a year and a day before you'll give him your touch."

"No worries on that, love. If you die on this mission, he's going to get a hard slap on day one for dying on me again! Come back to me alive, Veldin, or else."

With this she kissed me with the sort of intense passion Velwin had spoken of in his dying words, the frenzied kisses reserved for besotted teenagers and those madly in love parting for perhaps the last time. I returned her passion, and resolved to ask her to marry me if I managed to come back in one piece, and convince her father and mine to agree. Finally, one of my retainers cleared his throat, saying, "Time to go, Sir."

We reluctantly broke our embrace. Our fingers lingered on each other's as I walked out the door.

Day by day, I marched with my men, a force many thousands strong, with spear, sword, large shield, heavy armor, and supplies for each of my heavy troops. We also had healers, archers, and a few artificers among our number. More troops joined our column as we marched across Tarmel, towards our allies in the League of the Citadel.

My father Melnin had bade me to gather the troops from our reluctant allies on the way. While they had agreed to join the fight, he felt that they would drag their feet unless quietly compelled. I set our paths through the main towns, and send detachments to fan out and pick up troops from those further out. I had no trouble mustering our allies. However much their leaders might quietly wish to surrender to the Dark Empire the moment it became expedient, their young warriors remembered the times under the Black Citadel with horror, and were itching to fight.

We regrouped at the former location of the Black Citadel, now thoroughly reduced to rubble. The forces from Talore joined us there, Canmar at its head. While they included many infantrymen, they skewed towards archers. Among them also were many healers, substantially bolstering our number.

Our forces assembled, we continued onward towards the Dragonclaw Mountains. As we approached the wall at Dragonclaw Pass, I admired at the job our masons had done, rebuilding the wall from its ruins. My men leant a hand to further building, and soon our defenses were well prepared. Our wall would give us an avenue of retreat and a sheltered fortification from which to shoot our arrows, but not impede our ability to charge past. We would sally forth when needed, drive the enemy back, and melt back into the gates.

I bade the artificers to prepare us an ace. Lacking a high tower to collect the mana of the high winds, we had limited power for our magitech. But nevertheless, with the mana available in the winds of the walls of the pass, we could set up a surprise: a one-shot trick to use in a critical moment in battle. I smiled at our preparations.

Our fortifications largely built, we waited. We did our daily exercise, sang battle hymns, received the bread and wine together as we prayed for victory. We drilled our units in battle during the day, making sure our allies that we had integrated with our units were up to snuff, and would fight in sync. Canmar and I discussed tactics, positioning, landscape features and natural defenses inherent in the terrain. I wargamed battle scenarios with my officers, considered how we would react to the various different sorts of troops of the Dark Empire our scout had described.

Finally, on the horizon, we saw the dust cloud of the approaching mass. As numberless as the grains of sand on the beach, an endless column that stretched further than the eye could see, the enemy marched. The Dark Empire had arrived.

WRITE AN AMAZON REVIEW link

I have recently learned the art of making a one-click review link. If you’ve enjoyed the free fiction so far and want to give back, one thing that would help me a lot is an Amazon review for book 1 (collects chapters 1-14.)

Brian Heming - author and pulp fiction fan

Discussion about this post