Journey of the Messenger Cycle 2 Part 4d

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Their trip to West Port via airship had gone well, so far. Elli and she had slept through much of the first day. Into the second day, Elli had joined Ijah, the two of them had bundled up and spent much of their time up on deck, enjoying the scenery and learning a bit about airships. Roddarra had been happy to have some time alone, to think and to try and sort through her feelings.

She certainly was not feeling up to the task that had been thrust upon her. Of all her father’s children, of which there were many, she was one of seven legitimate children, with twice as many bastards across the realms of the horse lords, she was the biggest misfit of any of them. Roddarra had never been interested, nor ever expected to be forced to take up the reigns of familial responsibility; She had avoided political marriages, three so far. She had declined a leadership position within the military, despite being an excellent rider, skilled at arms, brave, well educated and apparently the sort of person people chose to follow. Her education was such that she could have taken on any number of positions in her father’s court or any other of the lords willing to have her. Yet, for most of her life, she had always had her mind on the horizon, be it near or far, she was more inclined to travel than see to the day to day concerns of a household. Or a kingdom.

Despite these shortcomings, her father had indulged her, never complained that she had not married and most recently had allowed her to take on some of the business the family engaged in outside of their own holdings. She thought that she had finally found something she would enjoy doing that would provide value to her kin. She had done well with the first few trade missions, mostly throughout the mountain freeholds, along Maldorn’s western border.

Those initial small successes had earned her the opportunity to take five hundred horses up to Freeton. If things had gone well she might have been entrusted to take on some of the Maldorn business or either of the two coastal city states to the south of the Herlington lands…

That mission had gone as horribly wrong as one could. She had lost the horses, most of her people had been captured or killed and it had only become worse in the months that followed.

She tried not to dwell on her captivity, nor the failed trade mission. For a while Ijah, Walker and the goings on with them had keep most of those heavy thoughts away. Then Jostan and her cousin had dumped the responsibility of saving the horse lords at her feet. She could run from it all, head back east after seeing Ijah safely to West Port, evade that seemingly futile burden…

She wondered if her people would even rally to her banner. Roddarra had lead people on raids and in hunting down criminals a time or two over the years. She had never lead an army before and she had no idea how to fight the Tannicans. Why would anyone chose to follow her?

Just because of a name? Because it was her duty and theirs as well? Because tradition demanded it? Surely none of those things would change the doom they would find facing off against those western armies. Was a noble death better than life?

Thankfully, Ijah returned to their room, “Still laying around? The day’s nearly passed. Stir yourself woman. Put some clothes on and join Elli and I up on deck, the scenery is wondrous and the air is most definitely fresh.”

Roddarra looked at her, feeling sullen, “Why don’t you take your clothes off and join me in bed?”

Ijah went to the two small windows and opened them, “This room has the stink of despair. Get up.”

Roddarra pulled the blankets up around herself, “I’m fine.”

“As compared to what?” She grabbed up the blankets and yanked them off the bed.

The cold air from the windows was a startling shock, Roddarra sat up with a flash of anger, “Don’t!” She grabbed for a blanket, but Ijah pulled them into a big ball and dumped them in a corner.

Forced from the bed Roddarra angrily yanked some clothing on, she glared at Ijah who just stood there with her arms crossed, staring back at her imperiously. She dressed in a second layer of clothing, found her coat, gloves and hat, put them on as well then said, “Happy?”

“I’ll be happy when we’re in West Port and I know Berri has delivered the messenger’s satchel. Now, let’s go up on deck so you can get some air.” She pulled the door open and made a grandiose gesture, “After you.”

Roddarra capitulated. It was a clear sunny day, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Elli smiled at her, produced a kerchief and offered it, “Glad to see you decided to get up.”

She accepted the kerchief and wiped at her eyes, sounding cross, she replied, “I didn’t have much choice.”

Elli gave a bit of a grin, but said nothing. Instead, she turned her attention to the north, taking in the scenery. Ijah joined them by the railing. The three of them looked down on the land, so far below, everything appeared as though it was a panorama, modelled by a master. In the far distance the western expanse of the mountain range could be seen, the forested slopes vibrant with all the autumn colours. It was very beautiful. Roddarra took a few deep breaths. She did feel a bit better.

After a while Lady Felitta came down from the helm and joined them, “It’s one of the things I like the most about flying, being able to see the world like this.”

Elli agreed heartily, “It is so beautiful.”

“What are your plans after you drop us off?” Ijah asked.

“Well… We’re to be attached to West Fleet for the foreseeable future. I’ll likely be in West Port throughout the winter… then further westwards once the fair weather returns.”

Roddarra looked at her, “Westward? Has Maldorn declared war on the Tannicans?”

“No, I don’t believe so. But ever since the new Empress took power in Tannica, we’ve been preparing ourselves for what seems like an inevitable conflict. Most do not expect your people to put up much of a fight come spring, maybe one good battle, nothing more. Then the Tannicans will be free to march right up to West Port.”

Roddarra wondered if Jostan had felt that way. She did not think so, if anything he had seemed optimistic about her chances, “You seem very calm. Does the prospect not disturb you?”

“Sure, very much so, if I’m being honest with myself. You’ve seen me when I have to deal with a bit of blood, I’ve no idea how I’m going to handle a war. I’m mostly hoping Bounty Fool does not have to do much more than reconnaissance.”

Ijah asked, “Is the ship even armed?”

“Oh yes. Reserve ships have to be armed. We have three heavy mounts, of the older style and a deck sweeper. As well, small arms and armour for the crew. It’s just all stored in the armoury.”

Roddarra looked at the young woman, remembering her from a few years earlier. Certainly, she had changed. Still, she seemed too young to be commanding anyone in a war, let alone operating an airship above enemy territory.

Ijah spoke up, “The Tannicans have four advantages that really stand out. Numbers, no matter how hard we fought through a campaigning season, when the next spring rolled around another two to three armies would show up. Cohesion, which in part ties into the following two advantages, but, they have an unusually high morale, good logistics, they are also well disciplined and trained. The third advantage is a big one, each army has a cadre of priests, who are actually mages. They seemed focused in mind control, fire and healing magic. Last year we had to deal with a powerful necromancer as well, we were nearly defeated. The last big advantage they have are the wyrms, two main breeds, both similar to plains-striders. They are used for transport, the bigger ones can carry a lot of gear or are used to pull their siege platforms, both breeds are also used as war wyrms.”

Elli was surprised, “I’d not realized you’d been fighting the Tannicans.”

Ijah gave a nod, “My family is in Swampdon, this is the fourth year the Tannicans have attacked there.”

“You mentioned the siege platforms, but not as one of their advantages. How come?” Felitta asked.

“Well, in the Swampdon area there are very few stone structures. That includes fortifications of any sort. More to the point though, in the first year the Pwhanna hoard simply charged them. It was a costly gambit to be sure, many of them died, but they succeeded, two platforms were destroyed outright, one was captured nearly intact. In the second and third year the orc destroyed them from the air. I’m not sure if the Tannicans even brought new platforms in this year.”

Elli was confused, “Did you say orc? Swampdon has orc in its army?”

“No. The orc from the Combine have been fighting the Tannicans as well, they have some airships and balloons. Mostly they just dropped big rocks, it did the trick though.”

“Orc have airships? How? I thought they were too stupid for that sort of thing. What’s the Combine?”

Ijah seemed surprised that Elli did not know these things, but most of this was news to Roddarra as well. Ijah continued, “The Combine is an orc nation, of sorts. It is considerably north of Swampdon, north of the Great Barrier Mountain Range as well. Where Semes was.”

“Semes? As in Old Semes?”

“I guess, I only know of that area having once been called such.”

The two Maldorn women looked uncomfortable for a moment or two. Felitta excused herself and went back to the helm. Roddarra moved closer to Ijah, “It might be a good idea if we talked more about your experiences throughout the coming winter. Seemingly you have a lot of knowledge that may be useful to me.”

Ijah regarded her with a serious expression, “Does that mean you have chosen to lead your people?”

Roddarra gave a slight shrug, “I don’t think I have much choice. My self-respect requires me to do so.”

“I’m glad you’ve come to realize that. For the last while I was worried you’d chose to do otherwise.”

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