Chapter 46: It Isn't Better Here (Bruin occupied Jule)
Simon and the few who were able to escape the cloud of death that hovered over all the people who wore gold on that battlefield in between the cities of Runsa and Jule thought themselves to be fortunate. Fortunate to prolong their lives and not fall to the dove and the stag that stood between them and fresh food and supplies, and their own homes in Dol. The men had been panic running for nearly two days when they finally reached the once beautiful city.
"Simon, is that you?" Henny called as the small gaggle entered the city. The condition of the men and the return being so soon did not in any way give Henny and Ally hope for the status of the main unit under Lord General Conner.
"It is, please Ally, grant me a healing spell." Ally, the lead healer for the occupation force who stayed behind with several of the other healers to look after those who were suffering illness, immediately applied a spell to the man to restore what vigor she could before binding and sealing the wound on his body.
"Simon, I take your return to mean…" she asked but already had the answer in her mind. His appearance vividly speaking the answer.
"We were too worn down from the march, too hungry, too thirsty when we reached them. They slaughtered us like we were nothing but cattle. We offered them nearly no challenge." Simon said as he laid down, better to take a good long rest even though his exact location was hard stone roadway, it was still safe and that gave him a chance to relax.
"And Conner, what of General Conner Bolden?" Henny asked with more hope in his eyes than the question posed by Ally.
"He fell like the rest." The soldier said as he closed his eyes to regain himself and rest. Henny slammed his fist into a nearby wall in frustration. There were multiple sources of his frustration, the first being that their best combatant in the entire army had fallen in Conner, and also that with that force failing they knew they were sitting ducks inside the walls of Jule. The walls were damaged from their siege nearly a year earlier, but they still stood strong as most of the damage was to the buildings and the royal keep which now stood as a mired ruinous hall with scorch marks and burned wood about mixed in between the hard stones. "I am just thankful to be here, in safety." Simon said as he exhaled with calm about him.
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"It isn't better here." Henny replied quickly. The now head of the general daily operation spoke the truth, the food supply was still all but shot with many of the locals of Jule succumbing to starvation and death before the soldiers. The Bruin men that remained were mostly injured and weak from sickness as well and thus the situation was a dire one. One that offered no true calls for joy. Ally and the knight, Henny, moved away after getting the word to see or think about what they could possibly do.
"There is only one thing that is of any measure of use right now, and that is to send what we know via pigeon." Ally spoke. Henny agreed and they wrote out the news, of Conner's fall, of the imminent collapse of their hold on Jule, and the situation of food for the few people that remained. Cannibalism of the fallen in the city had not yet become a thought, but even the pigeons kept for communication were beginning to look all too tasty as they fastened their notice to the foot of the bird. Ally let it fly before any wicked thoughts would take over and lay claim to either of their minds as hunger was quelled for a moment when Conner took the majority of the force to battle and flight toward Dol, but now the meager stock they had was now waning and moot for actually feeding those still doomed inside the walls.
"We need to be careful, we could have a full-blown mutiny soon." Henny spoke as they looked out at the injured and the weak spread close in the city to the main barracks. Henny and Ally had taken the keep as their base of operations. The roof of the keep stil had some damage from the siege, but the place was central and thus easy to oversee all affairs inside the walls. The city was mostly a ghost town with so many of the people having died in the siege and the conditions after. Ally sighed as she knew that her mission to look after these men and women here in Jule was a lost cause. She thought of flight, of making a run for it, of ditching her garbs that bore the Bruin insignia and just wandering about until she found refuge, but her duty and sense of honor kept her there, working on and healing people whom she knew would either die to disease or fall in the coming battle for the keep. "Maybe… maybe we could just surrender to Shenis Savoy?" Henny asked with no confidence in his voice.
"We stood by while his younger brother was decapitated and desecrated in this very city. His gates were stormed, his very home burned with fire. We have no mercy awaiting us even though he is a dove. We will find no peace when he arrives." Ally replies with sadness in her throat. Henny understood. He thought about fleeing also, but his knowledge of the land and maps was weak as he was illiterate. He knew that while he was a solid man of war, that his abilities were moot in darkness and unfamiliar territory, especially with hunger in his belly.
The city did still have one thing that kept some form of peace and tranquility even in the horrible situation for food. They had a solid water supply available to them in the city. It was their one saving grace.
"Guess we better prepare for whatever comes at us in the coming days. Who knows how many more we have in this world." Henny retires for the evening as Ally says a prayer to Kaya. She knows that the Bruin army has not behaved in any manner worthy of blessing or help from the goddess, yet she asks anyway, as a priestess should. Though, she can feel in the air the words uttered fall on deaf ears.
