Chapter 243

"The problem with people who go by the book, is that other people can read it." Neia said while her demihumans went down the far side of the hill. In principle, she erected hasty defenses in the form of crude walls the moment the distant army of Remedios came into view.

Their 'by the book' response was to hole up for a siege on a hill, and by contrast, the opposing army to besiege it and starve the enemy out.

However, what Neia actually did was erect the crude wooden walls to hide the fact that her army was going back down the other side.

The broad wildlands of the area were Neia's backyard for far too long, and taking her army through it was easy.

Remedios did as Neia predicted, her worn out army spent most of the day erecting a camp at the base of the massive hill and getting ready for a siege, they were still not done when Neia lost sight of them.

"She be there long, huh?" One of the young orc attendants asked her, and Neia could not keep her smile from being smug.

"Oh yes. It takes a long time to establish one of those camps, then she'll have to lay smaller defensive positions at each side of that giant ass of a hill, and only 'then' will they start to scout it. They won't figure out that it's empty for some time, and by the time they've figured out we've gone back toward Kalinsha?" She rubbed her hands together a little. "I won't pretend I'm not enjoying taunting that bitch… the dead gods know she deserves it. I'm sure she hated every second of that chase, seeing my banner everywhere we burned out, and I'm sure Vijar has captured Kalinsha by now anyway…"

It left a warm feeling in the heart of the Queen of Frost. She could easily picture Remedios kicking over a fence in a fit of tantrum and temper, taking her anger out on her own people, screaming at scouts to find where Neia went. 'I wonder how many the elves will kill before word gets to her… probably a fair few, those have been showing up in dribs and drabs since their representative made his first appearance.'

The demi-human army had no real trouble with forest beasts, not in numbers and knowing where to go, and being aware of the easy paths to take over the range of territory, Neia led them back to Kalinsha in short order.

The whole of her army cheered when they came within sight of the city, the blue claw banner fluttered proudly in the breeze above every tower, and demi-humans patrolled the walls with confidence and pride in every step or slither.

The yelling and happy dances were proof of their victory and helped their spirits take flight. Neia spread her wings out with a snap, "Ready the ambush, I'm going to go meet with Vijar and congratulate him!"

She took flight without another word, her army's cheering alerted the city, and so she was quickly spotted, she reached back behind her and scratched an itch on her lower back, and wore a contented grin as she sailed over the walls and headed straight for the administrative center. As she drew closer she made a mental note while looking at the open wall, 'I need to make sure I have an upper level entry to my palace so I can enter or leave by air.' She finished the thought and landed with a snap of her wings at the base of the steps of the building.

Seeing the Queen of Frost, the pair of bladers went down to their knees. "My Queen!" They shouted, and Neia handwaved their formality away.

"Yes, it's me, yes, we all made it." Her mood still at a peak, she flashed a winning, if fierce, smile toward the pair at the door. Behind her, she felt a few humans glancing at her, no, staring. She felt their fear, their hatred, their dread and loathing.

But Neia did not look over her shoulder to dignify it, "Just get the door." She said, and the bladers did as she bade, opening the thick brown oaken double doors, for her, and not closing them until she was several paces within.

The most convenient thing Neia found about Holy Kingdom fortifications and administrative buildings was their consistency. Whether you were in Prart, Hoburns, or Kalinsha, the layout was always the same. Nobody could ever be transferred somewhere new, and claim to be lost if they'd been in one of them somewhere else.

So Neia found it easy to reach the main office of the building, she walked past the blader guard, opened the door, and opened her mouth to greet Vijar… only for her mouth to stay open.

"Halisha?" She asked, stopping in mid step as the former king of the stone spitters snapped to attention. His long white hair hung freely around his greenish stone-like body, his eyes were hidden as always, and for an instant he said nothing.

Neia filled the gap, "Where is Vijar?"

Halisha darted his eyes left and right as if to search for an escape, and counted his blessings that they weren't visible to his Queen, before finally speaking up.

"My Queen, we have victory!" He tried to put enthusiasm into his voice.

Neia would have none of it. Out of the three great chiefs, Nasrene, Vijar, and Halisha Ankara, Halisha was the one with the greatest penchant for sadism. While he showed concern for his own, anything 'not' his own, was fair game for pain. It wasn't an endearing quality in the mind of the Queen of Frost, but his strength and courage made him useful as a fallback to Vijar.

"I can see that. Is Vijar in? I need to know our losses, Remedios will probably do a forced march all the way back here and I want us to be ready." Neia pressed the matter, and Halisha's broad shoulders slumped.

"Vijar is dead. A paladin killed him, though he also killed the paladin. I am sorry, My Queen." Halisha's rough gravel voice didn't convey much in the way of empathy, but as Vijar was 'one of theirs' Neia picked up some of it anyway.

"Our losses were few, we lost three hundred, and slew ten times that number to take the city. Olasird'arc is away responding to Nasrene's request for ocean beasts to help feed the many prisoner laborers." Halisha explained further, and Neia went quietly to the nearest desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down, her happiness evaporating like water poured onto a blazing flame.

"The one to kill him, was he skilled?" Neia asked the rhetorical question, already sure of the answer.

"Very." Halisha acknowledged.

Neia felt her heart tear in half. 'I never had comrades when I was a human, now I get them and I lose a comrade 'to' humans?! If there are gods out there, when I die I have to ask them why they loathe me so much?! What did I do?! Why?!' She raged in her head while keeping her voice calm, her frozen breath came out in a steady flow, frost settling over some of the objects on the desk, and they slowly began to crystallize within accumulating ice.

Neia finally stood up, "Prepare for a fight. When Remedios gets here, thinking I've taken the city, I will challenge her to a duel. If she accepts and I win, I will let her army surrender. If they do, we've won the east and we can take the prisoners home. But if we fight, and I lose? Do not surrender. She will have you all tortured and killed. Do whatever the hell you want to them, I don't care. Just protect our Kingdom by any means necessary, do you understand me, Halisha?"

"M-My Queen?" Halisha counted himself a male of great courage, but the breath that came from his Queen was painful to be near, and the icy fury in her eyes, as if Halisha had taken Vijar's life himself, iced over his heart and killed the flame of his courage. Only murder lay in his Queen's eyes.

She went to the wall, backhanded it, smashing through the wood and stone, and scattering the debris outside, "There, that's better." Neia muttered, her wings spread out, and she took off again as fast as she had arrived in the first place.

Halisha sat on his frozen chair, unable to truly follow orders until the terror that froze his soul over, finally began to melt away.