There
is a small farm in the duchy of Yamazakura Kukkyoku. Outside of it, five horses
are stabled: a grey mare, a black gelding, and a pair of nondescript brown
nags, now joined by a chestnut mare trimmed in Sone livery. Its rider, also
clad in Sone colors, is carrying a courier's package. He walks to the front
door of the farm, and knocks firmly.
A
minute later, the duchess Midoko Komaru opens the door, and asks, "May I
help you?"
The
courier dips his head respectfully. "I bear an important message for Cole
Sone, from his family."
Midoko
studies the man for a moment, and then invites him in. "Cole, there's a
courier here for you."
Cole
stands on the other side of the farm's small common room, holding an armful of
firewood. His brows crease as he looks at the new arrival, "I'm Cole
Soieko. What does my father want now?"
The
courier tips his head, and reaches into his satchel. "So good to meet you,
my lord. Your family pays its respects."
With
a fluid motion, the courier draws a dueling pistol from the bag, aims it at
Cole's chest, and pulls the trigger.
Romana
Komaru settles into the dark wood of her chair. Its lines smoothed by two
hundred years of noble occupants, it is more comfortable than she had expected
it to be. Across the hall from her, Lissende Komaru is reapplying her makeup,
while down her row Sidonie and Yukashii Sone confer in hushed voices. In spite
of herself, she glances down to the lowest tier of the hall, to the seat near the
raised dais that bears the Royal Family's three chairs. It is empty.
The
sound of the hall's great doors being opened gathers the Council members'
attention. The Crown Princess and her Regent stride proudly down the hall,
flanked by four Royal Guard, and take their seats upon the dais. To the
surprise of many, Hideo Sone is with them; absently, he flops into the third
throne, and begins intently surveying the gathered nobility. Adriana gestures
to one of the Royal Guard, who cracks the steel-shod butt of his pike into the
marble floor. As the echoes die away, Pedro Minamet, Scribe to the Royal
Council, raises his voice to call out, "This calls to order the 58th
meeting of the Royal Council, in the sixth year of Her Royal Highness Adriana
Komaru's reign, with Her Royal Highness and Her Highness the Regent in
attendance. All assembled may be seated, and let the matters of the day
begin."
The
nobles sit, and Adriana raises her youthful voice to call out, "Our first
order of business is welcoming Her Grace Romana Komaru, Duchess of Morning, to
the Royal Council. Her Grace takes the seat lately vacated by Her Excellency
Nadeshiko Komaru. Welcome to the Royal Council, Your Grace. We are honored to
have one of your proven heroism and loyalty to the Crown in service to Us
again."
A
wave of polite applause spreads through the Royal Council hall, filling Romana
with a sense of bemused pleasure. She looks down at her hands, folded in her
lap and bare of adornment. It has been many years since she last felt like a
heroine of any sort, and she does not know what to say.
As
the cheering dies away, a sweet voice rises from down the aisle. "Perhaps
Her Grace would be willing to inform us on the state of the Komaru family's
succession? We all are so very curious." Romana looks over to see Sidonie
Sone's charming smile, and sighs inwardly. This is where it begins.
Romana
rises, and though she feels tension in her shoulders, she raises her voice
confidently. "The Komaru are still discussing who best deserves to be
named the Royal Heir, with so many candidates of proven capability and
bloodline to choose from. However, we are confident that the matter will be
resolved soon."
Sidonie's
expression shows her approval of Romana's conversational dodge, but Romana
knows she will not escape so easily. Across the hall, Patience Touraine,
sounding like a cranky grandmother, forces the real question out: "That's
all well and good, Your Grace, but what of the Skye?"
Romana
shrugs, and the words come almost naturally. "Also still under discussion."
She sits down, and lets the stir of whispering swirl across the hall around
her. It lasts for minutes before the sharp bang of a pike butt against stone
brings attention back to the Crown Princess. Adriana calls out, "The next
matter on the agenda is the Crown's judgment against Onyx Touraine, who is
charged with attempting to kill my—the Regent of Komaru." Her voice
wavers, growing quieter and quieter, until at last she murmurs, "Lady
Lissende, please explain the circumstances."
Lissende
Komaru rises, and relates the situation leading up to Onyx Touraine's attempt
on Kimiko Sone's life. The Royal Council makes ugly noises throughout, and many
members, Romana included, pick out Onyx's empty seat amidst the clustered
Touraine. When Lissende concludes at last, Adriana rises again, and speaks,
"It is the judgment of the Crown that Onyx Touraine be stripped of his
title and banished from the Royal Capital for a year. The marquisate of Carabas
will be held in trust for Onyx's son Jet Touraine until his coming of age.
Furthermore, custody of his children, Jet Touraine and Arima Komaru, will be
granted to Jet Touraine, Marquis of Seigake, and his wife Nadeshiko Komaru,
Viscountess of Tetsu Matataku. The Crown commands the Touraine and Komaru to
fulfill this judgment."
Pale
and wan, Adriana sinks back into her throne, and Lissende rises quickly to draw
attention to herself. "Your Royal Highness, the Royal Guard has already
seen both children into the custody of their new foster parents." Romana
notes Lissende's careful choice of words, and recalls the rumors of Seraphine
Komaru's involvement in the entire affair. None of the Komaru expect the young
woman, already unstable with youth and the loss of her beloved Komaru Meiko, to
take this judgment well.
Lissende
sits, and then Patience Touraine rises. Romana wonders at the predominance of
husbandless women on the Royal Council for a moment, before attending to
Patience's words. "Your Royal Highness, the Touraine have met among
themselves and agreed to this decision. As the Marquis of Seigake cannot
reasonably be expected to fulfill the obligations of his own title, young Jet's
titles, and the position of Royal Tutor, we have designated Jade Touraine,
formerly Count of Althea, as executor of Jet-ko's inheritance. When Jet-ko
reaches the age of majority, he will receive the marquisate. Onyx himself has
been assigned to care for the county of Althea, where I am certain he will come
to understand the foolishness of attacking Your Highness during the course of
his exile. I am quite certain he has already come to understand your
munificence in allowing him to retain his life." She bows to the Crown,
and retakes her seat.
On
the raised dais, Adriana glances over at her mother. Kimiko is not happy, but
is satisfied. Romana watches Adriana smile at her, and then turn to her
brother, who offers her a secretive smile. She sees Adriana blush and turn back
to face the Council. In the far seat, Hideo's smile deepens, and he lifts his
gaze to meet Romana's. He winks.
Perhaps,
Romana thinks as she looks back towards her ex-husband's empty seat, this job
will be more interesting than she expected.
The
science of war develops through two complimentary processes. One process is
evolutionary: existing ideas are honed and improved to greater levels of
efficiency. Evolutionary change is gradual: no major changes in equipment or
tactics differentiate a modern company of pike from a company of pike during
Julian Komaru's reign, but few doubt the superiority of the modern company.
Most military advances are evolutionary in nature.
The
second process is revolutionary: new ideas appear suddenly, and dramatically
change the nature of battle. Revolutionary changes are sweeping and inescapable
in consequence: the armies of Julian Komaru's reign would, for instance, never
seriously attempt to use a cannon in open-field battle, and would probably not
even recognize the threat a modern cannon posed to them. Normally,
revolutionary military advances are rare; it is a unique feature of the present
era that there have been several during this author's lifetime.
As
has been discussed in previous chapters, the Battles of Wall and Greyspill
Plains in 203 reintroduced the cannon as a useful weapon, first in use against
fortifications and then against troops in an open-field conflict. In these two
Interregnum engagements, Alessandro Komaru and the Twilight Crux demonstrated
that the nature of warfare had dramatically changed. Archers, long on the
decline, suddenly became irrelevant, while cavalry's superior mobility became
useful again by allowing quick riders to outflank the ponderously heavy new
weaponry. Furthermore, in an eye blink the fate of the massed pike formation,
once the darling of generals across the kingdom, suddenly seemed gravely
imperiled. But, more than anything else, the reintroduction of the cannon
spelled the utter end of the Interregnum-era fortification. Beneath the wrath
of cannon-fire, even the mightiest of fortresses soon crumbled to rubble. The
very idea of the castle had fallen victim to the cannon as surely as Augustin
Bellatrix's cavalry and pike fell before Alessandro Komaru's artillery.
Yet
at the Second Battle of Spear in 223, the castle burst forth from its grave
with murderous vengeance. The origins of the conflict between the Dawning Star,
defenders of the city of Spear and the castle of Hope within it, and the Church
of Inner Light lie in conflicts over control of the Eastern river valley,
emptied of organized opposition to Komaran settlement after the death of the
pharaoh Sokar. Neither organization happily tolerated the other's presence in
what was seen as its exclusive domain, but at first it seemed conflicts would
remain solely political. The death of Robert Leon, brother to Michael Leon, Illuminatus
of Spear, in a bar fight with Dawning Star soldiers, escalated tensions to the
point that Madelyn Courant, Numina of the Banner of the Sun, excommunicated all
of the Dawning Star and interdicted the city of Spear. At the time, the Dawning
Star simply shrugged and continued its enigmatic business within the city. They
had no idea of existence of the Church army gathering in the city of Sirocco,
deep in the heart of the Eastern Furnace.
The
first blood drawn at the Second Battle of Spear was spilled more than a week's
travel from the city, on the outskirts of Sirocco. Whether through simple
oversight or a confidence in the power of gold, the Luminance Robert Angelus,
holding the contract for the Intercession mercenary company, informed its
captain Remi Soultier of his intent to send them to besiege the city of Spear.
Whatever the cause, Remi Soultier rapidly gathered his forces and their
Spear-manufactured rifles, broke contract, and fled into the desert towards
Spear. The Church's general, Illuminatus Michael Leon, rapidly realized the
nature of Luminance Angelus' mistake, and ordered another two mercenary units,
the Red Hand and Melisande's Ravagers, into the field in pursuit of the Dawning
Star-trained mercenaries. Unfamiliar with the desert and unable to keep pace
with the native lizard-mounted Ravagers, the Red Hand soon fell behind, and
returned to Sirocco.
The
Ravagers, on the other hand, were quickly able to intercept the fleeing
Intercession Company. Unfortunately for the Ravagers, catching up to Soultier's
entrenched forces proved to be a mistake. The Ravagers, dispersed and
overenthusiastic from their pursuit, soon discovered that they had charged into
an ambush. The initial volley of fire routed the Ravagers, who attempted to
retreat. However, their lizards, maddened by the scent of blood and easy
targets for snipers, turned a broken unit into a chaotic flock of targets. One
by one, the Intercession Company picked off the lizard riders, annihilating the
Ravagers entirely and clearing their way to escape to the city of Spear.
Although
faced with the knowledge that he was expected, Illuminatus Leon's confidence in
his plans was bolstered by a spy's report that, even with the Intercession
Company, Spear's defenders numbered less than fifth of his army. With Madelyn
Courant's blessing, he ordered his army, much swollen by forces levied from the
Church-aligned nobles of Komaru, to march on Spear. Nine days later, the
vanguard of the Church army arrived on the outskirts of the city of Spear.
Like
many of the Eastern cities, Spear's architecture consisted of a maddened jumble
of walls and towers, seemingly arranged as much to fulfill an alien aesthetic
as to provide the city with defensible positions. When Leon's forces reached
the walls of Spear, they used their artillery to quickly reopen the gashes torn
by the First Battle of Spear in 216, and then marched their legions of Church
pike and Royal Guard into the breaches, facing only half-hearted resistance
from its defenders.
Church
morale peaked with the easy conquest of the city of Spear, but the generals of
the army rapidly realized that the citadel of Hope, perched atop the stone rise
known as Spearpoint, would be a more difficult nut to crack. Spearpoint, a
massive rise of sandstone, was ringed by a series of angled fortifications
similar to the Touraine pocket fortresses of Claypool and Redvault, and crowned
by the spreading ivory wings of Castle Hope. Furthermore, the surrounding
buildings had all been removed to supply the stone necessary for building
Spear's encircling walls. Anyone approaching Spearpoint did so through a
quarter-mile swath of open land.
The
Church, in control of the city, offered the Dawning Star the chance to
surrender, an option Star general Clarissa Bey laughed at. With the forms of
honor fulfilled, the Church cleared the city of Star loyalists and began its
push on Spearpoint. The Church army numbered among its forces a detachment of
artillery on loan from the Duchy of Skye. Supported by a cadre of older Yuasa
artillery and defended by Royal Guard and Yuasa cavalry on Sone-raised steeds,
the Skye artillery advanced into the open swath and began deploying to tear a
breach in the first ring of fortification. As soon as the Skye unlimbered their
cannons, they received an unexpected surprise: a blistering barrage of
artillery fire from the heights of Castle Hope. The Skye, believing themselves
to be staging themselves outside of the range of the defenders' guns, suddenly
found themselves in a killing field.
The
Church leadership ordered a retreat, but not before the Star artillery
devastated the Church artillery. The First Alban Artillery detachment succeeded
in withdrawing to safety before taking crushing losses, but the Skye troops
fell under volley after volley of fire; witnesses report that the defenders
appeared to be selectively targeting anything raising the blue and gold banner
of the Skye family. The few Skye survivors found themselves reassigned to the
depleted Yuasa artillery teams; only one Skye cannon could be salvaged from the
wreckage of the first engagement.
Over
the next three days, Illuminatus Leon ordered several probing raids to
determine the limits of the Dawning Star artillery's range, as well as the
speed with which they could redeploy it. He quickly discovered that the Star's
heavy cannons were indeed capable of greatly exceeding his cannons' range,
particularly with the Skye cannons destroyed. He also learned that it took the
Star a substantial period of time to reaim their cannons, but that their
lighter rifles rapidly repositioned to face attacks from unexpected directions.
Momentarily stymied, he retreated to his command tent to consider his options.
The
next possible solution came in the form of a team of Royal Engineers, a late
arrival from Sirocco. Faced with the puzzle of breaching Spearpoint's
fortifications, the engineers presented several possibilities, which Leon
immediately put into place. The engineers' efforts paid off almost immediately,
allowing Leon to calculate and launch a nighttime advance and bombardment of
the walls. While the shelling did not gut the fortifications as Leon had hoped,
they succeeded in breaching the lowest ring of fortifications and damaging the
middle ring. Confident of his position, Leon ordered the Royal Guard to seize
the outer fortifications at dawn, and then support the advance of the remaining
Yuasa artillery (repaired by the engineers and refreshed by theurgical
support).
The
second push into Spearpoint forced the Dawning Star to concentrate on warding
the enemy artillery away, rather than dealing with the overland push. The
Church's cavalry swept into the broken outer wall, followed closely by more
than a regiment of Royal Guard. There, though, their luck stopped. The cavalry
found themselves unable to enter the area between the two fortification rings
without facing decimating rifle fire; the Royal Guard succeeded in occupying
the outer fortification ring, only to find their supporting cavalry forced to
retreat across the battlefield. After enduring ten hours of rifle fire, the
Royal Guard made a failed midnight attempt to seize the middle ring of
fortifications before ultimately retreating back to Church lines.
Stymied
again, Leon turned to another engineer plan: sapping the fortifications.
Several initial attempts were made, and defeated by the Star, who had taken to
lighting balefire-fueled watch fires on their towers at night and shelling
anything suspicious. This met with limited success, and the engineers were
swiftly able to begin several test digs around the castle. Their initial
progress suffered a dramatic reversal, however, when, on the eleventh day of
the siege, Castle Hope began glowing. For the next sixteen days, the castle
shed illumination brighter than the white moon Lucien at its fullest,
curtailing any effort to advance on the castle's walls. Ultimately, the
engineers gave up on their advanced positions, and began digging towards the
castle from a point outside both the ring of light and the reach of the Star
cannons.
Once
Michael Leon committed himself to sapping the Spearpoint defenses, the harsh
realities of siege warfare set in. While food and water were easily available
from the Aten river valley settlements, military supplies had to be shipped
through the desert. Faced with boredom and the chance to enumerate the
casualties they had taken, the Church army's morale began to decline. In an
attempt to speed the progress of the sapping, Madelyn Courant, Numina of the
Banner of the Sun, traveled to Minamet lands and demanded that the Minamet
provide additional engineers and supplies to support the siege.
On
the behalf of her family, Mineko Minamet, Duchess of Inazuma, refused the
Numina's request. The Numina, annoyed, threatened to interdict the Minamet
family if support was not provided. The duchess, in an equally poor temper,
responded by informing the Numina of how little the Church's threat meant to
her, and ejected the Numina from her castle. It is not clear whether Numina
Courant's interdiction of Minamet lands or Mineko Minamet's orders that Church military
supplies be turned back at the borders came first, but whatever the sequencing,
it severely damaged the Church's ability to resupply its army.
As
the siege dragged on through its second month, the Church army's morale
plummeted. Castle Hope still perched atop Spearpoint, and if its inhabitants
suffered from the siege, no word of it escaped to inform the besieging army. As
the theurgists bore more and more of the responsibility for healing casualties,
more and more of them were called to the Light – but even their golden light
was dim beside the serene radiance Hope itself constantly shed. Meanwhile, the
engineers continued their seemingly interminable digging, in the face of
periodic artillery bombardments clearly intended to collapse their trenches.
The
Second Battle of Spear came to a sudden end when, two months and six days from
the fall of the city, Michael Leon received word that Tohru Komaru, Count of
Minaval, was on his way to the siege, along with three regiments of fresh
Minamet cavalry. Unclear of anything but Tohru Komaru's Royal sanction, Michael
Leon send emissaries to meet with the general, where he discovered that Tohru's
purpose was to end the siege and assist the beleaguered inhabitants of Hope.
Realizing that his situation was untenable, Illuminatus Leon ordered his
troops' retreat into the Aten river valley, surrendering the field and ending
the siege.
The
Second Battle of Spear solidly demonstrated that the face of warfare had once
again dramatically changed. By combining superior fortifications designed to
both resist and support artillery fire with extremely advanced gunpowder
weaponry, roughly two hundred Dawning Star soldiers succeeded in resisting a
force of over ten times as many attackers. Suddenly, the age of the castle had
dawned anew.
The
Second Battle of Spear has a curious cultural footnote. Just as the dominance
of gunpowder weapons on the battlefield became clear, the use of dueling
pistols in personal conflicts was falling out of fashion. Much of the impetus
for the cultural shift seems to have been fallout from a Touraine marquis'
ill-fated assassination attempt against the Regent Kimiko Sone, and the Crown
Princess's resultant decree that dueling pistols were forbidden in the Royal
presence. As always, scientific progress fights an uphill battle against
cultural mores.
—From The Science of War
in the Modern Age, by Gahariet Komaru
As
the trap door bangs shut behind his father, Severin Saury can tell at once that
something is gravely wrong. He watches Gaston fold the extensible farseer up,
and sees that his knuckles are white.
He
hesitates for a moment, and then asks, "What's the matter?"
Gaston
grunts, and walks towards the door, gesturing that his son should follow.
Severin
feels the muscles in his shoulders ache, a premonition of doom. "Shouldn't
we go to the roof? The view will be—"
His
father chuckles humorlessly, and shakes his head. They move through the door of
the house, and the elderly astrologer points upwards.
Severin
Saury, twenty years old, cranes his neck skyward and gasps.
Half
of the night sky is empty of stars.
To
the attendees of the Castle of the Sea,
It
is my great pleasure to invite you all to come visit Castle Sunset on the
afternoon of 4 Waning, of the 2nd Month of the 224th year
of Paraceln's Age. We assure you that, unlike certain hostesses we can speak
of, at Sunset you will be able to conduct your inquiries into the lost arts of
ancient Komaru without fearing for your life. Please come and enjoy our
hospitality.
Castle
Sunset is open to you.
Yours faithfully,
Mercy Touraine, Countess of Sunset
In
the 224th year of Paraceln's Age, Komaru is changing. What once was
worthless is now valuable, what once was a secret is now well-known, and what
once was unique is but one of many. For the first time, but not for the last
time, the paths of fate lead Verity's heirs away from the Castle of the Sea,
under a sky half-fallen into darkness.