Heretic Spellblade

by K D Robertson

  With those words, Nathan let the women return to their training. He had paperwork to fill out to prepare for the upcoming assault.

  Chapter 35

  A late night invitation from Anna set Nathan’s teeth on edge.

  Generally, being invited by a pretty noble woman to meet her in a private parlor at close to midnight meant difficult times ahead. Nathan had no desire to be tied down to a noble, no matter their status or impressive looks.

  Not that he had ever thought about his future beyond being a Bastion. Staring down the end of the world left little time to worry about retirement and things had only become more complicated since coming to this timeline. His worries for the future limited themselves to the next few months or years at most.

  Nathan walked through the halls of the keep to the meeting place. More soldiers patrolled the corridors than usual, and the lamps kept everything well lit. The fortress bustled with activity. Outside, supply trains ran along the highways from Forselle Valley and elsewhere in the county.

  A young beastkin girl stood guard outside the parlor. Unlike the other soldiers, her uniform lacked Anna’s emblem. She worked only for Nathan and was one of his recent hires.

  At the sight of Nathan, the guard snapped off a salute. Her wolf ears twitched, and her tail wagged faster and faster with each step Nathan took toward her. But she stared resolutely forward.

  Nathan saluted back as he entered the parlor, and the beastkin froze for a moment. He caught her ears shooting bolt upright out of the corner of his eye before the door closed.

  “Enjoying your new personal guard?” Kuda said, catching Nathan’s attention.

  The lights were on, and Kuda was in the room with Anna. Nathan took those as good signs for this meeting. He accepted the coffee that Kuda offered him and took a seat.

  Anna sat opposite him and seemed distracted by her thoughts. She idly sipped at her coffee. A handful of papers lay in front of her.

  “I wouldn’t say ‘enjoying,’ but I do like having soldiers of my own,” Nathan said.

  “And the fact that they’re all beastkin?” Kuda probed. His lips turned upward at the edges.

  “There are a lot of beastkin villages nearby. Wolves near the mountains, cats down by the sea and along the rivers, horses in the plains. I have a lot of ways to make money as a Bastion and not many ways to use it,” Nathan explained. “By contrast, the villages out here don’t have much. The county that Fei grew up in has denser forest than Gharrick.”

  Kuda inclined his head in understanding, and his smile vanished. “True. Very true. A rising tide lifts all boats, but it requires the tide to reach those boats to begin with. The beastkin live a harsh life, even though the Empire has banned slavery. Simple solutions only get us so far.”

  Nathan frowned. Politics. He was never very good at it. The same went for economics.

  Logistics. Warfare. Magical theory. Leadership. Even some elements of nation-building such as the mechanisms of bureaucracy, how merchants made money, and taxes. These were the things that Nathan specialized in.

  But applying those to a political or economic framework never sat well with him. He could make the leap, if he wanted to. He knew what Kuda meant. The Empire was wealthy, and the nobles especially so. Nathan was extending a helping hand, but Kuda was indirectly questioning if it was enough. He questioned if the Emperor cared about the beastkin at all, given how little was done to help them.

  On the other hand, Nathan didn’t run an Empire responsible for protecting, feeding, managing, clothing, and housing countless millions. He didn’t have to keep unruly nobles in line, who might have aspirations to do worse.

  He also had no way to reconcile such ideas with the existence of the academy, and the fact that the Empire had already done more to help the beastkin than most of Doumahr. Every other country beside Falmir and the Empire allowed slavery or a close equivalent.

  In the end, Nathan shrugged off Kuda’s attempt to politicize the discussion. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m a Bastion, not a noble or a ruler.”

  “I could say the same about Bastion Leopold,” Kuda countered.

  Nathan frowned. “This isn’t really a discussion I specialize in, Kuda. War is black and white. Stopping demons is black and white.” Or it was, before Nathan met Kadria, but he ignored her existence for now. “But political change?”

  Anna spoke up, “If you didn’t care, why are you explicitly helping the beastkin?”

  “Because they make excellent soldiers and guards,” Nathan said. “Wolf beastkin especially are exceptionally strong. If I want to build a unit of knights capable of stopping demons, instead of firing catapults from behind walls, then my best starting point is beastkin.”

  “Ah. So it’s not pity, after all,” Kuda said. “My mistake.”

  Nathan shrugged and drained his cup. “I do feel that part of my duty as Bastion is to share some of my largesse. The binding stone lets me create trade goods from nothing, so I’m not hurting for money. There’s a term from Trafaumh about how nobles need to share some of their birthright, because they didn’t earn it.”

  “Noblesse oblige,” Anna supplied. “More specifically, it’s about how nobles must act nobly, and part of that means to extend our wealth and power to those who do not have it. Saying that it’s a controversial topic among nobles is an understatement. Although I imagine you’re about to spark a lot of interest in it.”

  “I am?” Nathan asked. He blinked.

  The door opened and Leopold stepped in. Nathan caught the beastkin guard gawking at the older Bastion and gestured for her to calm down. She blushed and resumed her stoic posture.

  No wonder Kuda had commented on her when Nathan walked in. She only hid her reaction when she thought somebody was looking.

  “Am I interrupting something?” Leopold asked. He eased into a seat with a wince. “My apologies, I had a long ride here.”

  Nathan looked at Anna in disbelief. “You invited him to a midnight meeting on the same day he arrived?”

  “The two of you are going to be busy tomorrow. How else am I going to butt in?” she muttered. Her hands smoothed out her dress, which Nathan belatedly noted was frillier than usual. “We were discussing the idea of noblesse oblige and how the war will cause renewed debate over it.”

  “Ah, yes, the ethical debate over hereditary nobility.” Leopold sighed. “Well, at least I’m sitting down.”

  “Really? That relates to this war?” Nathan asked.

  “To us, this war is about border tariffs, demons, and a power-hungry regent seeking to gain more influence within the Federation,” Leopold explained. “But how do we justify the war to the people of the Empire? I hate to say it, but the reality is that it will be through the difference between our nations. We may be changing slowly, but we live in a country of nobility. The Federation is different.”

  Anna interjected, “Is the Federation really that different to us? All of the regents are people who held power in their former nations. They’re nobles by any other name.”

  “Perhaps. But that’s not how they see it. And when they die, their sons and daughters are not guaranteed to become regents. Whereas your children will inherit Gharrick County,” Leopold said.

  Anna bit her lip but said nothing more.

  More politics, Nathan thought. But this time, he understood it. Because it influenced the way he could fight this war, and the way the countries would react to it.

  Nathan licked his lips. “This seems like the sort of thing that could spiral out of control quickly.”

  “Hah, yes,” Leopold said. “Hence why His Majesty has left me in charge. Ideally, I intend to make this war about the countries as little as possible. Hence the heresy charge. The more we can pin this on individuals at the top of the Federation, the less this becomes about entire systems of governance. Nobody wants a total war between nations. The instability would threaten the entire world.”

  Yes. Yes, it would, Nathan thought.

  He leaned back in his chair i
n relief. He didn’t want to deal with this political mess. Maybe one day it would rear its ugly head. But today, he fought a simpler war. One about stopping a Federation that had attempted to use demons to attack the Empire and had committed heresy against Omria while doing so.

  “Well, it’s late. I assume you called us together for a reason, Anna,” Leopold asked. He thanked Kuda for the cup of dark coffee, then held it high in the air. As he had been practiced many times, Kuda poured a shot of brandy into the coffee.

  Nathan and Anna pretended not to notice. On the one hand, the elder Bastion’s late night drinking habits were his own business, even if they might raise an eyebrow given his age.

  On the other hand, worries over poisoning attempts meant that nobody was going to try to pour something into Leopold’s drink out of his sight. Nathan didn’t need much of an imagination to picture how most of his new beastkin guards would react if they saw Kuda or any other servant slipping something extra into Leopold’s drink. Blood would flow, and a promising new recruit would end their career in a traumatizing way.

  “You’re marching on Vera’s tower soon. I want in on the planning,” Anna said. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, eyes flashing with excitement.

  Leopold and Nathan exchanged glances. Neither had expected this.

  “Don’t look at each other like that. I’m the countess. It’s my armies that will support you,” Anna said, her voice imperious. Her lip quivered.

  Leopold held a hand up and sipped his coffee using his other. Silence fell, and Anna took the chance to regain her composure.

  A subtle lean of Leopold’s head indicated to Nathan that he needed to take the lead here. He caught the cue, then cleared his throat. Anna turned to him, her lips halfway toward a pout.

  “I’m still the Bastion assigned to your county, Anna,” Nathan said, trying to mollify her. “If you want to be involved, you can be involved.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” Anna muttered. “I said it before, didn’t I? I want to be the countess that supports you. My family has protected these lands for generations. I won’t be the one who fails to achieve greatness when it’s within grasp.”

  “Quite greedy aren’t you,” Leopold said, his voice laced with amusement. Anna shot him a cutting look and he winked back at her. “I finally gave you the Bastion you’ve been asking for, after all of these years, and now you also want to claim his glory?”

  “That’s not—” Anna stopped talking and scowled at Leopold.

  Nathan blinked and looked between the pair in confusion. “Years?”

  “Yes, years.” Anna rolled her eyes. “I told you when I met that I wanted somebody to help remind the Empire that this county exists, didn’t I? To the south is land held directly by the archduke, and it is mostly occupied by beastkin. North is better, but it’s strategically important. Other than the old man here, I don’t get my day in court.”

  “You have a vote in the Diet,” Leopold pointed out.

  “A vote.” Anna crossed her arms. “None of the councils, committees, or even working groups that my father sat on bothered to extend an invitation to me when he passed.”

  Nathan coughed, and both Anna and Leopold turned to him.

  “I’m sorry,” Nathan said, not feeling sorry at all. “But, Anna, you told me that you asked for a Bastion only a year ago.”

  Anna stared at Nathan. Then she glared at Leopold. “You didn’t tell him?”

  Leopold drained his cup and placed it on the table. He placed his hand over it to indicate to Kuda not to refill it. His eyes focused on Nathan, and he refused to look at Anna.

  “I didn’t feel it pertinent,” Leopold said. “I was unaware you only told him when you asked for an Imperial Bastion, rather than when you requested that the academy accept a specific person to become a Bastion.”

  “I’m not sure I follow,” Nathan said slowly. The room felt colder somehow. Leopold still refused to look at Anna, despite her angry and confused expression.

  “You’re… Nevermind,” Anna muttered and stopped glaring at Leopold. “Fine. I’ll explain it.” Anna shook her head and faced Nathan. “Before I formally requested a Bastion from the Imperial Army, I spent years helping somebody else to enter the academy. She had been interested almost her entire life, but only when my father fell ill did I gain the ability to sponsor her.”

  “Because you gained the power of your household,” Nathan said. “You weren’t the countess yet, but as the heir, you may as well have been.”

  Anna nodded. “Exactly. Unfortunately, she was never successful. Despite multiple sponsors.” Anna glanced at Leopold, who refused to look back at her. “By the time my father passed away, and I took over full control of the household and county, it was something of a lost cause.”

  “Until you eventually needed military support because your brother left?” Nathan asked, trying to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

  “I prompted her earlier than that,” Leopold said, his poker face smile back in place.

  “You did, yes,” Anna said after a long pause. She didn’t elaborate on why.

  Nathan sighed. “That someone. Who was it?”

  He had a strong feeling he already knew. There was only one person he had met with a strong enough interest in Bastions and Champions—to say nothing of her bitterness toward Leopold—to have applied multiple times to enter the academy.

  “Vera,” Anna answered.

  Chapter 36

  “Seraph’s not here,” Sunstorm reported. “Not yet, anyway.”

  Nathan nodded and let her take up a position behind him.

  Below him, Anna’s army formed ranks and prepared for battle. They had marched through the pass today, and Vera’s tower wasn’t far. Federation banners fluttered around the base of the tower.

  Nathan watched from atop the bluffs above the pass. Leopold, Anna, Vera, and his Champions accompanied him.

  Ciana remained behind. Leopold refused to risk her in a battle that might involve a duogem Champion. She had attempted to convince Nathan and appeal to him in various ways. He had politely declined. Several times.

  One time, Fei had declined on his behalf and thrown a half-naked unicorn beastkin out of Nathan’s bedroom. She had not appreciated Ciana horning in on her territory.

  On the other hand, Ciana’s straightforward seduction attempt made it very clear that she was interested in Nathan. A small part of his mind had worried that she might be more interested in her mentor, but that idea could happily be put to bed.

  Curiously, Kuda accompanied Anna. Given neither had any intentions of participating in the battle itself, Nathan doubted he planned to fight. But he carried a sword and wore light armor nonetheless.

  Anna’s army was larger than Nathan expected. He had kept a decent defensive force at the keep and left his new recruits behind. Despite this, Anna mustered a significant army, if a smaller one than the Federation defended the tower with.

  She had levied soldiers from all across her county. With Leopold’s authority—and more importantly, his money—she had even levied soldiers from the beastkin villages to the south. Very little of the army was professional, and most of it had never fought before, but numbers helped. The beastkin’s raw power and skill in hunting lent a quality all its own.

  Nathan had stepped in and helped organize the army, however. Anna and her officers lacked any experience in command, and had never managed a mixed army like this. Even things as basic as which beastkin played well together were new to them.

  A smart man did not put wolf beastkin in the same company as any other beastkin. For one thing, the wolves were unlikely to talk to anybody other than their own kin. Second, most other beastkin became really jittery around large numbers of wolves. Even Fei acted a bit funny when the wolves in the keep gathered in groups of more than three or four.

  Given the Federation forces outnumbered his, Nathan organized his offensive to handle it. Ideally, he could rely on his Champions to limit casualties.

&n
bsp; Fei and Sen possessed extremely powerful abilities that fell into the category of “anti-army.” The downside was that both were so fantastically powerful that Nathan hesitated to use them too much. Fei’s flames melted flesh and metal, and guaranteed a painful death for anybody she targeted with them. Sen’s spells were less terrifying to witness, but only if she restricted herself to third rank spells.

  Even with fourth rank spells, Sen reduced entire columns of men and women to ash.

  Ultimately, the Federation soldiers were merely men and women who fought for their nation. They had families. Most probably didn’t even know why they were fighting the Empire. Turning countless hundreds of comparatively innocent people into ash didn’t sit well with Nathan.

  He had done that far too many times in his timeline. Entire battlefields filled with corpses lined his memories as far back as he cared to remember.

  If he could avoid doing that here, and instead force the Federation to flee, then Nathan would take the chance. The cost was the lives of the soldiers under him.

  That didn’t sit well with him either.

  War was shit, Nathan thought. It reminded him of why he wanted to prevent this timeline from getting any worse.

  “She may not be here now, but I believe it is wise to assume she will be here soon,” Leopold said, talking about Seraph. He stroked his bare chin and stared out over the armies. “I’m assuming that’s why you’re keeping your Champions back?”

  “It is,” Nathan half-lied. Leopold knew about Nathan’s battle plan. This question was purely for the benefit of those around them.

  Seraph’s presence was the other complicating factor to any plan that relied too heavily on Champions. Even if Nathan didn’t care about slaughtering a couple thousand Federation soldiers, sending his Champions to the front line risked the battle in a different way.

  The only counter to an enemy Champion was a Champion of his own. And if the enemy Champion was stronger than his, he needed several Champions. Everybody knew this, and armies drew morale from the power of the heroes that led them.