Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (13 page)

“Come in,” Lymee said leaning back.

“Lord Yung is here to see you,” Yoni replied still standing outside.

Lymee and Keo both exchanged glances. What was the Lord of Fu Dynasty doing here?

Slowly the two of them got to their feet brushing the dirt off their pants. Lymee picked Kitsune up and placed her on her shoulders as she turned to face the entrance of the tent.

“Show her in,” Lymee said with a bit of a hesitant tone in her voice.

The tent flap opened and a young smiling woman dressed in a bright yellow dress entered the tent her hands tucked inside her sleeves.

“Good evening Lord Yung,” Lymee greeted. “Did the Lords’ Council come to a consciences?”

“No, Lord Sun,” Yung shook her head. “Nor do I think they will any time soon. Especially not after the scene that you caused.”

“Then what can I do for you?” Lymee asked still a bit on guard.

Lord Yung glanced over at Keo and shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Would you mind if we talk in private?” she asked returning her gaze back to Lymee.

“Lady Keo is my top adviser,” Lymee stated. “I will likely tell her anything we discuss in here anyway.”

“Yes but,” Yung raised her hands so she was hiding her mouth behind her sleeves. “She is also very intimidating. I would be far more at ease if it was only the two of us.”

Lymee frowned. Was she for real? Lymee glanced over at Keo trying to get a feel for how Keo felt about all this. But Keo was completely expressionless making it impossible for Lymee to get anything from her.

This very well could be a trap of some kind. The question was what kind of trap it was. If Yung wished to assault Lymee physically then Keo would probably not be much help anyway and Lymee was confident that she could take this rather frail looking woman on even bare handed. But Lymee was more inclined to think that Yung feared that Keo would be able to see through her words and as such did not want her present when she talked with Lymee. But Yung had also come alone meaning there was no real reason other than her misgivings not to agree.

“Lady Keo,” Lymee said returning her gaze back to Lord Yung. “Could you please wait for us outside?”

“Are you sure, my lord?” Keo asked in the most respectful voice she had. That proved that she did not agree with Lymee’s decision.

“I will call you if I need you,” Lymee assured. She turned her head and gave Keo a very confident smile that told her to trust her.

Keo bowed her head deeply to Lymee then stepped outside the tent.

What Yung and even Keo did not realize was that Lymee would not actually be alone. She did have Kitsune with her after all. But more than that Lymee was more than a little curious to see what Yung was up to.

“Sorry I can’t offer you a seat or anything to drink,” Lymee said once Keo was gone. “All my furnishings are still being brought along with the rest of my forces.”

“Yes,” Yung nodded her head. “That was Lord Niimu’s doing. She was adamant that you get here as soon as possible. I think she wished to make you uncomfortable so you would be off balance and easier to manipulate.”

“We thought it might be something like that,” Lymee nodded placing her hands on her hips.

“But it did not seem to work,” Yung smiled seemingly pleased. “The way you handled yourself today was something else.”

“Thank you,” Lymee nodded not really sure if that was a compliment or not. “You are very kind.”

“I mean it,” she affirmed. “And I must say that I am so honored to be able to finally meet you in person. I have heard so many wonderful stories about you.”

“Greatly exaggerated I assure you,” Lymee stated flatly.

“Only for the better I think,” she gave Lymee an innocent and playful smile. “Though, I never believed the rumors that you were going around and attacking villages and cursing defenseless farmers.”

“That is because they weren’t true,” Lymee grimaced thinking back on the woman who had impersonated Lymee as a way of extorting people. She had caused a lot of damage before Lymee had finally managed to track her down and put an end to her. Lymee was not sure what happened to her after that. She could be rotting in a cell somewhere or dead for all she knew. And she could not really bring herself to care enough to ever find out.

“I always thought as much,” Yung assured. “After all, the stories that I have heard tell of your mercy and compassion. Curtly does not seem to become you. You seemed like someone who was always willing to help others any way you could.”

Lymee liked to think so anyway. She could not say that she had done a perfect job of that but she did what she could when she could.

“In fact that is why I come to you now,” Yung stated. “I would like to call upon some of that compassion and ask for your help as I think you are the only one who can. Would you be willing to hear me out?” she looked up at Lymee with begging eyes.

“Go for it,” Lymee crossed her arms.

Yung hung her head taking a deep breath as she collected her thoughts. “As you may have noticed today that the lords are severely divided in how they think we should proceed. I do not think that they will be able to come to any kind of agreement on their own. In fact I wonder if maybe some of the lords want it that way.”

“And why would they want that?” Lymee asked narrowing her gaze.

“There are so many reason,” she said shaking her head. “Maybe they hope to destabilize the other lords in some way in order to make things easier for themselves. Maybe some of the lords are actually working for the Empress and only claim to want to help but really only wish to divide us.”

Lymee had never actually thought of that possibility. It made sense from a tactical standpoint. Send someone to cause chaos in the ranks. She would do the same thing if given the opportunity.

“The Empress is evil,” Yung stated lowering her gaze slightly. “She seems determined to run our Kingdom into the ground and take all of us lords with her. The levies she puts on trade has destroyed our economies. She hires bandits to rob from her own people. I know that in Su Dynasty you are unaffected by much of what goes on in the rest of the Kingdom but people are not only suffering they are dying. That is why this campaign must be successful.”

Lymee already knew all of this. She had seen firsthand what the Empress had been up to. She had nearly been killed by bandits who were working under orders from her. Lymee wanted her gone probably as much as anyone.

“I agree,” Lymee nodded. “But how do we get the lords to cooperate with each other long enough to do that?”     

“We have to show a united front,” Yung said. “Many of the lords respect you. And I have influence as well. If both of us were to support the same lord for Supreme Commander then the other lords would no doubt have to agree.”

“You really think Lord Tuwa will listen to anything I have to say?” Lymee snorted. “And I doubt any of the others lords care for my opinion any more than she does.”

“I think you give yourself too little credit,” Yung smiled blinking her eyes bashfully. “You are a very charismatic and beautiful woman. You are someone who people naturally wish to follow. And even if Lord Tuwa leaves it will hurt our numbers but it will not be fatal to this campaign so long as all the other lords remain.”

Lymee was not sure if Yung was trying to be a flatter but she was being one none the less. And her casual demeanor towards Lymee was actually rather refreshing. Yung was surprisingly comfortable to be around.

“So I take it you think you should be this Supreme whatever then?” Lymee said.

“Supreme Commander,” Yung nodded. “If you have a better suggestion please let me know I would gladly hear it. I think Lord Tuwa is far too brash and will only get us all killed.” Lymee would agree with that assessment. “And I honestly do not know what game Lord Niimu and Lord Voy are trying to play. They seem to be trying to support some lesser noble and have them take command so that they can in turn command this noble. I am not yet sure if they are working together or if they simply have the same idea of commanding by proxy.”

Well Lymee could not say that she disagreed with anything that Yung was saying. She herself had come to much of the same conclusions.

“And more over,” Yung smiled batting her eyelashes ever so slightly. “We have to think about what happens once this is over.” She swayed her hips as she stepped forward moving in close to Lymee. “The leaders of this campaign will be in a position to reshape this Kingdome however they see fit.” She bit down on her lower lip as she reached out her hand for Lymee’s arm. “And we should-”

Kitsune snapped at Yung’s hand just barely missing it. Yung recoiled her hand instantly clasping it tightly with the other hand as she glared at the fox.

“You will have to forgive her,” Lymee said reaching up and scratching Kitsune under the chin. “She tends to not like strangers.”

“I see,” Yung said slowly lowering her hands back down to her sides but she never took her eyes off of the fox.

“What you say is interesting Lord Yung.” Lymee moved passed the woman taking great care not to touch her in any way. “But I think it is time for you to leave.” Lymee reached out and pulled the tent flap aside and gave the woman a parting smile.

“Yes, it is growing late,” Yung nodded turning and moving for the exit. “Will you think about what I said?”

“I will try my best not to,” Lymee stated her smile remaining but her eyes glared at the woman.

Yung seemed to grow cold at hearing Lymee’s words. “A shame,” she stated her voice seeming to have lost much of the youthful energy it once had. “And here I thought we could do so much good together.”

Lymee did not say anything she just continued to smile and glare at the woman as she held the tent flap open for her. After a moment Yung seemed to get the hint and departed. As soon as she was gone Lymee let go of the flap.

“Lord Lymee,” Keo said hastily entering into the tent, Yoni close behind. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Lymee sighed running her fingers through her hair in frustration as she moved to the back of the tent.

“What did Lord Yung want?” Keo asked.

“To form an alliance,” Lymee sighed turning around to face the two women, putting her hands on her hips.

“Did Lord Yung try something?” Keo asked a look of worry on her face.

“Yes,” Lymee said. “She tried to use her spirit on me in order to sway me to her side.”

Both Keo and Yoni became ridged.

“Don’t worry,” Lymee assured. “She didn’t touch me.” Lymee looked down at Kitsune in thanks. Kitsune flicked her tail and looked up at Lymee with judgmental and smug eyes.

“Do you need…?” Yoni let the rest of the offer go unspoken.

“No,” Lymee shook her head. “I’m fine.” Lymee let out a breath. “You guys can go now. I think I am going to turn in for the night.” The two women looked at each other a little hesitant to leave. “I’ll be fine. I promise,” Lymee assured.

“Let us know if you need anything,” Keo said bowing her head.

“I’ll leave a guard outside none the less,” Yoni said. “Until the rest of our forces arrive we are very alone here.”

“Thank you,” Lymee smiled.

The two of them bowed their heads and exited the tent.

“He, he, he,” Kitsune cackled moving from behind Lymee, her fox ear twitching playfully on top of her head.

“Shut up, I know,” Lymee sighed facepalming in frustration and shame.

Had everything that had come out of that woman’s mouth been a lie? No. Lymee thought. It had all been the truth and that is what made her words so dangerous as well as so easy to believe.

Lymee let out a deep calming breath. “Thank you,” Lymee said.

“Oh I think I deserve more than thanks,” Kitsune grinned her hand sliding along Lymee’s jaw. “But I have told you repeatedly that I want you to succeed. So then the last thing I want is for you to become the pawn of someone else. However,” she placed her arms around Lymee’s neck and moved her face in close to the point where their noses were almost touching. “Don’t think that I will intervene every time someone tries to fool you like that.”

“I know,” Lymee nodded. Kitsune was right. Lymee had been far too trusting of Yung. Even though she had already suspected that her persona was only an act she was still fooled by it. “I’ll do better,” Lymee promised.

“You had better,” Kitsune said. “I would be greatly disappointed if in the end you never amounted to anything. You are supposed to be keeping me entertained after all. I would hate for things to get boring.”

Kitsune had once threatened that if she ever became bored with Lymee she very well might leave and possibly kill everyone as she did so. And given what Lymee knew of the fox, not only was that not an idle threat she was more than capable of doing so.

“You saying you are starting to find this boring?” Lymee asked raising an eyebrow.

“Oh certainly not,” Kitsune grinned, playfully biting down on her lower lip as her tails swayed behind her. “And I think the best is yet to come. I personally cannot wait to see what you do next.” 

CHAPTER 4

Lymee let out a loud cry as she spun the spear around her head and brought it down with all her might. Yoni raised her spear, easily blocking Lymee’s attack and pushing it to the side. Stepping in Yoni hip checked Lymee to the ground.

With a bit of a thud Lymee slapped her hands out to the side absorbing the impact of her fall. “You have gotten a lot better,” Lymee stated deciding it better for the time being to just lay on the ground and catch her breath instead of trying to get back up and continue with their sparing.

It was now well into the night of their second day at the War Camp. And Lymee had spent most of the time in her tent simply waiting for something to happen, trying to work out the tension of the previous days meeting with Yung. She had tried varying ways, most of them involving Yoni. Sparing being the most recent attempt.

“I have had a surprising amount of free time on my hands these past six months,” Yoni beamed slamming her spear into the hard frozen ground. “Not to mention your little comment about being so much better than me back in Hu gave me a little motivation to improve,” Yoni smiled moving her spear to her off hand as she extended her free hand to Lymee. “And since I am charged with protecting a lord who has a tendency to start fights, I figured it would be in my best interest to sharpen my skills.”

“I don’t start fights,” Lymee declared taking the offered hand and using it to lift herself up. “I finish them.”

“Is that what you call your grand exit at the Lords’ Council?” Keo asked walking up to the crude training circle that Yoni and Voss had made.

“I neither started nor finished what happened back there,” Lymee said turning towards the woman. “I merely voiced my contempt and left.”

Keo let out an unconvinced ‘humph’ as she folded her arms across her waist examining the training circle that Lymee and Yoni were standing in. “Some would consider it dangerous to spar so intensity with real weapons,” Keo pointed out.

“We did this every night for nearly two years,” Lymee waved her comment off giving a knowing look to Yoni. “I think we got this.”

“As my lord says,” Keo nodded.

“Is there something you need me for?” Lymee asked shaking out her hands preparing herself for another round with Yoni. Lymee was not being modest when she said that Yoni had gotten a lot better. During their wanderings Lymee had clearly been the better with a spear while Yoni had been better with a sword but tonight Yoni had been the one holding back against Lymee.

Lymee knew in part it had to do with still working out the new style that General Gea was trying to teach her, but even if she been fighting like she normally would Yoni would still be besting her.

“General Gea and General Chee have arrived with the rest of our forces,” Keo stated. “As per your orders they are waiting for you in the command tent ready for a war council.”

“Good,” Lymee nodded relaxing her muscles and handing Yoni her spear. “Let’s go then.” She walked over to where Kitsune was waiting for her and scooped her up placing her on her shoulders as she started heading towards Keo.   

Keo bowed her head and led Lymee through the city of tents to where their army was in the process of setting up.

Lymee was flanked by four soldiers who never left her side. Sai had wanted there to be more but as Lymee pointed out if anyone tried to do anything in force it would not matter how many soldiers there were. What she did not say was that Lymee was more than confident in her own abilities to be able to get out of any trouble that might arise and feared having more guards would only be a hindrance.

Keo opened the flap to the large tent that had been set up and Lymee stepped inside behind her.

“My lord,” Gea and Haru greeted bowing their heads to Lymee.

They were gathered around a single table with a single map laid out across it. Sai was standing in her armor, her helm tucked under her arm, across the table from Lymee. Keo took up a spot to Lymee’s right leaving the other two generals to stand on the left.

Gea and Haru looked haggard and worn out, but that was to be expected considering they just got done marching halfway across the kingdom only a few minutes ago.

Haru was even dressed appropriately for once. It would seem that the cold weather was enough to force her to put on an actual shirt instead of just leaving her chest wrapped. Though that might not last once the fighting actually started. Gea on the other hand was in her standard red outfit with black armor over it that mirrored Sai’s though with a little less ornamentation to it. 

“General Gea, General Haru,” Lymee nodded in greeting, a smile forming on her lips showing how happy she was to see some familiar and friendly faces again. “I am sorry to call you here as soon as you arrived. I know you must be tired.”

“When our lord calls,” Gea bowed her head.

“And I am always ready for a war council,” Haru stated puffing out her chest. “I usually get to kill something soon after.” She looked up and smiled at Lymee an excited grin on her face.

“Sadly I do not see that happening anytime soon, if the war council meeting was any indication on how things will progress from here,” Lymee mumbled. “And I apologize to you all. I should have done this council before we even left Su City but I was ignorant in my thinking. I thought this battle would be a cinch and as such did not see a reason to learn anything about what we are going up against.” Lymee closed her eyes bowing her head deeply to the four people. “Please accept my deepest apologies. I should know that no matter how certain our victory may seem, that is no excuse for me to be unprepared and ill informed. I vow to do better.”

Lymee felt a hand grab her shoulder. When she looked up she saw Haru smiling back at her. Both Gea and Sai seemed stunned to see a lord do such a belittling thing like lower their head in apology while Keo seemed to have her smug smile.

“My lord,” Haru said. “It is our duty as your advisers to advise you when things need to be done. In that respect we are the ones who failed you. We assumed that you did not need our help or our guidance and for that we ask your forgiveness.”

Not taking her hand off of Lymee’s shoulder Haru bowed her head. Gea and Sai were next, followed immediately by Keo who actually seemed to bow the deepest.

Lymee smiled taking a deep breath readying herself. “Alrighty then.” she leaned over to the table setting her hands along the top. “So what kind of defenses does the Empress have exactly?”

“This is the city of Xia, capital city to the Xia Kingdom,” Sai stated pointing at the large city on the map. “It is built around Lake Null, one of the largest lakes in the kingdom. Both the lake and the city are in a large valley in the middle of the Null Mountains.” Sai pointed at the mountain range that surrounded the city. “No river runs into the lake, instead it receives its water from the mountains’ runoff which also causes flooding every spring when the snow melts.”

“Meaning they have an almost unlimited fresh water supply,” Lymee nodded mulling the information over.

“To which they use to grow their own crops inside the valley around the city,” Keo explained pointing her finger to the large flat land around the city. “Due to the runoff of the mountain carrying nutrients and the constant flooding of the lake the land is very fertile. To the point where even a small amount of farmland can produce a very high yield of crops.”

“Meaning they have an almost unlimited food supply,” Lymee sighed liking the situation less and less.

“Making a prolonged siege nearly impossible,” Sai nodded. “And the only pass large enough for an army to march through is Furu’s Canyon. And our army is currently camped,” she moved her finger to the other end of the large cannon that cut through the mountains, “at the mouth of said canyon.”

“To which I take these two walls are what stand between us and the city,” Lymee said pointing at the walls that were drawn in the middle of the canyon.

“That is correct, my lord,” Sai nodded. “The city itself does not have any kind of defense except maybe around the palace. It's only defenses are these two walls. The first wall was built a little over a thousand years ago. It is made out of solid stone and stands at approximately twenty five feet high and eight feet thick.”

“Impressive,” Lymee whistled.

That was a very high and a very thick wall. The walls around Su City only stood at fifteen feet high and five feet thick. Though Su used steel beams as support making them harder to knock over. She doubted that a wall built a thousand years ago would have such a feature but she should not rule out the possibility either. As the old adage goes; they don’t build them like they used to.  

“The second wall,” Sai continued, moving her finger to the wall behind the first. “Was constructed nearly eight hundred years ago. It is thirty feet in height and ten feet thick. There has been talk about constructing a larger third wall behind the second for centuries now but it is hard to find a reason to commit to such a large and expensive venture when the first wall has never been breached.”

“That is a horrifying thought,” Lymee said rubbing her face with her hand. “Is there no other path into the city? Can we scale the mountains?”

“The mountains are much too steep for an army to try and climb,” Haru stated looking over the map. “There are several mountain paths. I have even traversed a few back when I was smug…” her word died in her mouth as she glanced up at Lymee. “Back when I was wandering.” She smiled innocently. “But it would be impossible to get an army though. Even if you did somehow manage, they have watchtowers set up that would easily pick you off long before you reached the city.”

“Not to mention the first snow has already fallen,” Keo pointed out. “Meaning that any pass there was is now covered in snow and likely no longer traversable.”

Lymee gritted her teeth as she thought all of this over. They were in a worse position than she had even dared to fear. “Any idea how many men are guarding these walls?” she asked. Lymee was sure any number was too high but she still needed to ask.

Keo and Sai exchanged glances.

“Somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand,” Keo stated a bit weakly. “It is unlikely the Empress was able to garrison any more than her current standing army due to the quickness of our armies’ arrival. We do not know how many are on each wall either. But if it were me,” Keo reached out and tapped her finger to the wall closest to their army. “Then I would have the soldiers split ten thousand on the first wall and five thousand on the second.” She glided her finger back to the second wall. “If the first wall is about to be taken then they could withdraw their soldiers back behind the second one.”

Lymee was starting to understand why Lord Niimu had been so quick to launch a winter campaign. Even five thousand soldiers could probably hold off their forces using nothing but conventional means. The large canyon wall forced the army to funnel in one direction. And the towering height of the walls meant that archers would have superb rang that the defenders could rain down on their enemy long before they were able to return fire. Even with all their men it would take only a small force of defenders to deal unbelievable casualties.

While Lymee thought a constant attack with their two thousands soldiers would eventually be able to take both walls, the losses would be catastrophic. And that was assuming that the soldiers attacking did not simply decide that it was just not worth dying over and routed all together. She was sure that once that started the entire army would break and head for the hills, as it were.

Lymee now understood why so many lords would want to lead this army. Whoever did lead this army would be remembered in history forever. Either as the general who first conquered the unconquerable city or as the general who led such a vast army to defeat.

“I’m sorry guys,” Lymee shook her head trying to think of something clever. “I got nothing here,” Lymee sighed leaning forward against the table and hanging her head in defeat.

Kitsune flicked her tail across Lymee’s face as if trying to encourage her.

“In the past,” Keo spoke up, turning her head to look at Lymee. “You would often reference other generals from your world’s history. While there is no general in our world who I can think of that has faced this kind of situation, might there perhaps be one from your world who has?”

Lymee thought it over. She had studied a lot of military tactics while playing real time strategy games but never really studied sieges before. After all they were not usually considered that interesting in terms of action. Their descriptions usually read like footnotes. ‘And then the army sieged them out for x amount of years until the defenders starved to death.’ The end.

“Well my namesake, Sun Tzu,” Lymee said still mulling it over, “would say that there is never a reason for a siege. That there is always a way to draw an enemy army out of their stronghold.” She looked up at the others hoping that maybe they had some ideas on how to accomplish that.

“I cannot think of any reason that would make them want to leave their walls,” Sai stated. “They do not have the numbers to fight us on open ground and so long as they remain where they are they can simply outlast us. We do not even have the option of destroying the rest of their land as most of it is comprised of the Null Mountain Range.”

“I doubt that the Empress cares enough to be concerned about any pillaging of her lands that we may do,” Keo pointed out.