Chapter 54 - Dread Princess Lillia

Lillia knew that she was supposed to be playing a role, but she’d never needed to rally the troops before, let alone lead them. In fact, even her father had never needed to lead a military campaign. Even Lillia’s grandfather had only needed to calm some small rebellions on the Eastern border.
If Lillia were lucky, she would take after her great-grandfather. He had been a brilliant military mind and had captured many castles like this one in his campaign to liberate the people of the nation.
She could be brave like him. She had to be.
The bald-headed priestess to Lillia’s right leaned into her a little too close. “Dread Heiress. Our infiltration was a success. The guardhouse is empty, and the battering ram will soon break through the gates.” Her voice was scratchy and hissing, as if she’d done something to her throat.
Havoc dropped out of the window clumsily, falling just to the right of the battering ram. She didn’t see any blood and didn’t hear any screams. It looked like they had successfully switched sides.
The idea of breaking through the gate tickled something in Lillia’s brain.
“Do you think we will face any resistance once we break the gates down?”
“Our reavers are more than ready to overcome their forces in the courtyard, dread heiress,” the woman said.
“Resistance in the courtyard?” Lillia asked. She had already begun to walk forward. If she were working for this side, there wasn’t much reason to wait for a battering ram to do her job.
“Of course, their soldiers will be waiting for us.”
“Understood,” Lillia said. She was going to make her heroic stand in the middle of the courtyard anyway, as long as she managed to pretend that she was the one defending the courtyard instead of breaching it.
Unlike the broad soldiers from the castle, the lithe warriors covered in black cloth within the invading army made room for Lillia as she marched forward. Occasionally, over the clatter of battle, she caught snippets of ‘Dread Heiress’ and ‘Your Highness’.
She could get used to this.
She didn’t want to.
But she could.
An arrow whizzed in front of Lillia, sticking in the shoulder of the man in front of her, who buckled but didn’t drop his position despite the new accessory in his shoulder. The priestess, who had been following Lillia, raised a hand toward the battlement and the archer that had shot at them.
There was a crack of thunder. Lightning struck where the man had been standing.
Lillia was suddenly thankful that the castle’s side of the siege didn’t seem to have any of their mages. Especially considering how out in the open she was.
They were close to the gate now. The rhythmic thumping of the battering ram took over all other sounds. It slammed into the gate. Lillia’s ears rang, and then it slammed into the gate again before she could recover from the first impact.
Havoc caught Lillia in the crowd to the left of the battering ram. He said something. Lillia nodded, pretending she could understand him.
He continued to speak.
Lillia offered a blank stare.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Havoc exaggerated as he mouthed, “You can’t hear me. Can you?”
Lillia shrugged and turned back to the gate. She could see where the wood was splintering in the centre of the door. Each time the battering ram slammed into the gate, it buckled. Torchlight from inside would flash across the invaders for a moment each time the gate almost gave in.
In those brief moments, Lillia could see the defenders on the other side trying to pile extra wood in front of the gate. She knew from experience that without the guards in the room above, the gate would eventually fail, and the wall above would fall in on the attackers, as Lillia had last time.
She could knock down the gate. She would just need to pull Havoc through with her as the guardhouse fell to ensure they were both safely on the other side.
Lillia nodded to herself and summoned Hooke into her hand. Thus far she had a fairly strong streak of executing on plans she’d come up with. It was time to test it.
The battering ram stopped as Lillia held up a hand in command. It was immediate, almost magical, how fast they followed the order.
The ringing in Lillia’s ears died down. She heard her heels click against the stone walkway leading to the gate. Then the sound of her footsteps faded into the rhythmic chanting of the army behind her.
Lillia’s skin pricked. She didn’t know why.
She held Hooke up to the sky so the reavers behind could see her acting as the dread heiress. As long as she kept playing the role, she had a literal army at her back.
One deep breath.
The first drops of rain came down.
Lillia swung Hooke forward, digging it deep into the wood of the gate. The gash Hooke made spread outward, at first along the same line and then in fractal spider-webs across the entire gate.
It took sound a moment to catch up. The sound of a thousand cracks all at once shattered the silence as the gate blasted inward, allowing Lillia to finish her swing forward. Wood and metal together crashed forward into the defenders who were trying to layer extra defenses onto the gate.
Lillia turned the stumble forward into a run. She reached back and pulled Havoc forward. She probably could have told him that breaking the gate would collapse the gatehouse above it.
Lessons for later.
There was barely time for screaming as the gate smashed into the defenders on the other side of it. They were sent flying backward by chunks of gate and board that followed Lillia’s breach. Some of them were fortunate enough to land several dozen feet away; others were crushed against stone walls.
Dust settled. Lillia stood in the centre of the gate’s rubble alongside Havoc.
The rain picked up.
Around them, dozens of soldiers who hadn’t been blasted by the gate stood by in stunned silence.
“Did you think this far ahead, kid?”
“I didn’t think we’d get this far.”
“What now?”
“Heroic battle in the courtyard?”
“You’re suggesting we’re the heroes here, kid?”
Lillia looked around at the defenders, then back to the reavers behind her. None of them had moved yet. All of them seemed stunned by the reality of what had just happened.
“Course we are, Havoc. Whatever side we’re on.”
Havoc just sighed.
Lillia raised Hooke and then pointed forward. “Charge! For your dread heiress!”
The reavers behind Lillia yelled as they ran. The guards also snapped out of their stupor and readied themselves for the oncoming horde.
“Dread heiress?” Havoc said.
“Shut it.”
“Good name.”
Havoc charged after that. Lillia cocked her head at the place where he’d been. Then she followed him into battle.
There was a man in front of her as her first opponent. He was clad in the same dull armor as the rest of the defenders, but his visor was up. He had brown eyes. He held his sword sloppily, like she had when facing down the chitterpede.
Lillia had already been halfway through her first swing when she locked eyes with the man—no, the boy—in front of her. She slowed. Nearly completely stopped.
His eyes were wide. Scared. Panicked.
He looked like someone who had been shoved into a story too large for him.
How many times had—
Lillia gasped as the sword ran through her. The boy in front of her had steeled his gaze and screwed his mouth into a scowl. Warm blood poured down Lillia’s midsection and soaked the tulle dress.
A black axe came down on the soldier in front of Lillia. His armor crumpled like paper to the blow, crushing inward as blood sprayed out from the wound. The blood sprayed across Lillia and the man before her collapsed to the ground.
Lillia stumbled backward. Oh. Oh no.
The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill the pain. It hurt. It burned. It stabbed. It throbbed.
“Kid!” Havoc shouted after he shoved the guard off the head of his axe. Several of the reavers stepped in front of them to form a new front line. “What the hell was that?”
His anger was real, but so was the look behind it. He had seen her stop.
“He—” Lillia didn’t have a good excuse. At least not a good excuse for Havoc. Hesitating because he looked more like a scared kid—like her—than a soldier in front of her? That was a reason to most people, but Havoc would have called her out on it.
Rightfully so. Lillia had been the one with the bright idea to play ‘invader’ and ‘dread heiress.’ She just hadn’t been ready for anything other than the privilege of the position.
Lillia tried to stay upright and almost succeeded before falling to her knees. It was raining hard. The stones of the courtyard were cold.
“Dammit. Do we have any health potions, kid?” Havoc supported her by the shoulder so she didn’t fall over.
Yes. They did. It wasn’t time to wallow. This was the farthest they had ever gotten. Lillia needed to put her best foot forward so that they could win, and she could prove her aunt—
Eisel. She could prove Eisel wrong.
Why was she even thinking about her aunt?
“Dread heiress!” the bald woman from before called before she knelt down at Lillia’s side opposite Havoc. “You’ve led your men dutifully. Allow me to tend to your wounds.”
“Kid, that’s gonna involve the sword coming out of you.”
Lillia looked down. There was still a sword in her gut. Oh.
“You’re strong. Come on. Deep breath in three, two—”
Havoc put his hands on the pommel.
“One.”
Lillia screamed.
“Why are you yelling? I haven’t pulled it out yet!”
“What?” Lillia looked down at the bloody sword still inside her. “Why?”
“I didn’t say zero!”
“Who counts to zero?”
Havoc grumbled. “Okay. On three. One. T—”
He tore the sword out of Lillia when she was halfway through the deep breath. The rest of the breath became a scream. By the end of it, she had almost managed to form the word “Havoc.”
Almost.
But not quite.
Lillia fell backward onto the wet stone. Before she could even register that she was lying down, the priestess had her hands on Lillia’s stomach. A sickly red light emanated from her palms. Lillia couldn’t see more than that. The nice part was, unlike the health potions, whatever spell the priestess was casting numbed the area before rearranging Lillia’s innards.
The surrounding reavers bowed their heads, not in prayer, but in obedience.
The pain in her stomach faded, but Lillia could still feel her nerves twitching through every part of her. Her fingers pulsed. Her heart pounded. Her breath came in gasps.
[Gate Conquered! - Yay!]
[Gained - Hammershield - x 1]
[You are now a member of the Invading Army. You will no longer receive rewards for defensive objectives. This will reset upon resting at a Hearth]
Lillia sat up as the text explained their new reality. Whatever the new objective was—if there was even a new objective—Lillia hoped they didn’t have to do much work. Her plan had relied on the fact that the invasion was one-sided. Without their intervention, the defensive side would have lost.
If they joined the offensive side and the defensive side lost, that just meant they’d won.
Of course, that entire plan relied on the dungeon not expecting Adaptive Regalia.
[Main Quest Updated - Capture the Hearth within Castle Varian]
[Subquest - Capture the Walls to Restore the Hearth]
Lillia finished climbing to her feet as the last message displayed. She heard a siege tower cracking as it fell from the walls.
“What?”
[Reinforcements have been cut off! The shadows darken. Death stays with those who die.]