Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (17 page)

“But she is a slave,” Kuan said still unable to understand. “She is lower than most animals.”

“She is a human being!” Lymee snapped the last threads of her self-control starting to fray. “And before you go off thinking you know better, I will have you know that Omie is a former officer in the Empress’ military. The Empress had one of her men abduct her daughter in order to force her to assassinate me. She gave up everything to become my slave just for the chance to kill the Empress one day.” Lymee glared at Kuan who was still frozen with shock at Lymee’s outburst. Lymee was not exactly telling the truth having fudged the details to add impact. “How much are you willing to give up in order to bring the Empress to justice? Would you be willing to lower yourself in such a way if it meant winning?”

Lymee’s words hung in the air for a long moment, no one willing to move or make a sound. Least of all Shan who stood there her robes still loose on her body with the widest eyes of all of them.

“I see,” Kuan said taking a breath as she collected herself. “Forgive me Lord Sun. I seemed to have offended you.” She bowed her head slightly in apology. “And while I may not understand, you have given me something to think about at the very least.”

“And forgive me Lord Kuan,” Lymee said though she did not bow her head and her anger had not yet dissipated. “I did not mean to snap at you in such a way. I am sorry.”

Kuan gave a nod of her head saying that all was forgiven. “Then I shall be off,” Kuan said moving between Shan and Yoni and headed out of the tent not even so much as glancing at either of them. Shan and Yoni bowed deeply as she passed and held the pose until after the tent flap settled.

“Well that was different,” Yoni said raising her head. “Is our lord sure that was a wise thing to do?” Yoni asked pointing with her thumb at where Kuan had exited.

“I think I am going to be sick,” Lymee said staggering backwards and falling onto her cot.

“My lord are you alright?” Shan asked fixing her clothes as she moved towards Lymee.

“I really hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me,” Lymee said rubbing her face with her hands, her eyes unblinking.

“Oh of that I have no doubt,” Yoni snorted, an amused smile on her face. At least one of them was entertained.

“My lord, you should not have said such things,” Shan stated standing in front of Lymee. “It is only natural for a lord to treat a slave such a way.”

“Woman,” Lymee pursed her lips in anger as she glared up at Shan. “I just chewed out a lord for treating a slave as less than human. You think I won’t do the same to you?” Lymee gestured with her finger poking Shan in the leg to emphasize her point. “You are a person and my friend, and no difference in status is going to change that.”

Shan let out a chuckle as she bit down on her lower lip. “My lord,” Shan moved forward straddling Lymee’s legs and wrapping her arms around Lymee’s neck. “If you wish to make me moist that is what foreplay is for.”

Lymee let out a laugh wrapping her arms around Shan’s waist, drawing her in close. She pressed her head into Shan’s chest feeling her warmth course through her. Then Shan reached up and pushed her robes down and letting them slid down to her elbows revealing her breasts to Lymee.

Without a word Lymee took one of Shan’s nipples into her mouth and started sucking. Shan let out a pleased moan as she started to move her body with desire wrapping her hand around the back of Lymee’s head.

Lymee then felt a presence behind her as Yoni pressed her chest into Lymee’s back.

“I’m sorry,” Lymee giggled. “Were we leaving you out?”

“Oh be quiet,” Yoni said as she pressed her lips to the nape of Lymee’s neck.

***

“Looks like you wore Shan out,” Yoni said staring over at the woman passed out on the other side of Lymee.

“She’s too use to being with men,” Lymee stated also looking over at the woman. “She does not have the fortitude or the stamina to keep up with other women.”

“I think very few people have the fortitude or the stamina to keep up with you,” Yoni said resting her head on Lymee’s chest using her breast as a pillow.

“You seem to be fine,” Lymee pointed out glancing down at the woman laying on her chest.

“I have had lots of practice,” Yoni smiled nuzzling her cheek against Lymee.

Lymee let out a laugh but quickly muffled it with her hand trying not to wake Shan. It was now late into the night, to the point that all the campfires had long since gone out. Lymee tried to guess what time it was. She assumed it was sometime after one but without a clock there was no real way of knowing. All she could tell was that it was dead quite outside the tent. There were no soldiers talking, no wild life in the area. Only an eerie foreboding silence.

“The witching hour,” the words escaped Lymee’s lips as a whisper.

“What was that, my lord?” Yoni shifted her head so she was looking up at Lymee.

“Nothing,” Lymee shook her head. “I was just thinking about how quiet everything was. In my world we would call this time of night the witching hour. The time when the world is asleep. That is when the spirits and witches come out to cause mayhem and steal children.”

“I thought your world did not believe in such things,” Yoni said.

“Many don’t. Some do,” Lymee nodded her fingers absently stroking the back of Yoni’s shoulder. “But there was a time when my world believed heavily in such things. Spirits, goblins, magic, curses. Those beliefs have faded but there was a reason for them in the first place. Putting a name to the things they could not understand gives you power over it. Even if it is only in your mind.”

“And what fears does my lord have?” Yoni asked shifting her weight making herself comfortable as she laid against Lymee. “Let us give it a name so you can have power over it.”

Lymee just smiled as she stared up at the tent ceiling. “Thank you but I’m fine.”

Yoni hesitated her body tensing slightly. “So tomorrow night is the night,” Yoni whispered her fingers gently caressing the top of Lymee’s chest.

“Yeah,” Lymee nodded. “The rest of the lords should be withdrawn by tomorrow morning and we are going to make it look like we intend to do the same. You, your brother, Shan here, Chee, Sai and the Special Forces teams, along with twenty of Niimu’s finest troops will hide away inside the fox statue. All the while our four hundred cavalry along with Gon’s five thousand cavalry,” Lymee rolled her eyes at how little they actually had compared to Dynasties like Gon. “They will hide under the tarps covered in dirt, along with the four thousand Su and six thousand Gon infantry.”

“And there we pray to The Heavens that we are not noticed,” Yoni stated.

“And if you have incurred any favors with them, I would appreciate it if you called them in now,” Lymee said only half-jokingly.

She had meant it more as a gibe but the truth of the matter was Lymee was truly scared that they would be discovered or that something else would go horribly wrong. The closer the time came for them to set their plan into action the more ridiculous everything sounded. Even if the infiltration team went undetected there was no way that they could hide fifteen thousand troops including nearly five thousand horses. They were going to leave the Fox Statue closer to the wall so there would be no reason for them to investigate the former camp site but all the same there was still no way it was going to work.

Lymee’s chest tightened just thinking about it. She was going to get everyone killed and it would all be her fault.

“It’s alright, Lymee,” Yoni cooed reaching up and stroking the side of her face.

“I’m sorry,” Lymee took a deep breath as she calmed herself down. “Just when I think about everything that can go wrong I start to panic a little.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Yoni assured. “The infiltration team will go undetected and they will never bother to check the field to make sure that thousands of soldiers aren’t actually hiding underneath the ground. Though is air going to be a problem?”

“There are air holes in both the statue and the tarps,” Lymee assured. That was actually a bullet they had almost not dodged until a few days ago when Lymee was running through things yet again and realized the oversight. That would have been an embarrassing way for all of this to end. Asphyxiating while they waited in ambush. 

“Once the sun goes down then our army will quietly form up and get ready to charge,” Lymee said. “Then once everyone is passed out from partying, the infiltration team will sneak out of the fox and split off into two groups and take both the gates. Once you do that, both teams will send up their respective flairs signaling the army to charge. The cavalry will rush straight through and head for the second gate. The infantry will then follow behind the cavalry and take the first gate. Once the gates are secure we will move through and take the rest of the walls.” Lymee let out a long breath.

“Then we will head for Xia City,” Yoni finished.

“Yup,” Lymee nodded turning over onto her side so she was facing Yoni. “And since we will be preparing for all of this under the cover of darkness tomorrow, after tonight we probably won’t see each other again until it’s all over.”

“Then we had better make the most of tonight then,” Yoni grinned her hand reaching down giving Lymee’s ass a firm garb.

“We’re gonna wake Shan up,” Lymee whispered as Yoni started kissing her neck. But despite her protest she did nothing to stop Yoni’s advances.

“And when she does she can either watch or join in,” Yoni stated between kisses. “I don’t see where the problem is.”

Lymee could not help but laugh as her own hands worked their way down Yoni’s back getting a firm hold of her and drawing her in close.    

CHAPTER 6

Lymee could not help but chew on her thumb in nervousness as she sat in her horse’s saddle. She took comfort in the fact that she was ridding the same horse that she had ridden while she was wandering. She had named the horse Bull’s-Eye and constantly referred to it as a male even though the horse was actually a girl and had a completely different name. But knowing that she was riding a horse that she could be sure was not going to buck or bolt once the fighting started helped ease her worries a bit. But that did very little in easing her overall anxiety.

The sun had gone down hours ago and while there was no indication that anything had gone wrong Lymee still wished that the infiltration team would act sooner rather than later. A sentiment that seemed to be shared by General Gea sitting next to Lymee on her own horse also doing her best to not shift nervously in her saddle.    

Things had gone off surprisingly well considering the apparent difficulties that had occurred initially. From what the scouts they had hidden nearby had reported, the enemy commander upon seeing the giant fox statue and the message they had left with it, had wanted to just torch the thing as a giant F You to Lymee.

But it would seem that she was overruled by someone much higher up and was ordered to immediately bring it inside the gates and for it to be brought at once to the palace. But it had taken so long for them to break the top of the first gate in order to get the statue through that it was almost night by the time they were finally able to do so. Lymee was thankful she said to make the statue higher than the second gate as well because the enemy had decided they did not want to take the time or the effort to get it through the second gate and decided to wait until morning instead.

They had also gotten lucky in the fact that in their haste to create an opening in the first gate they had destroyed the mechanism to then close the gate again. Meaning that it was now permanently open until it was fixed. Making their work a whole lot easier.

And even from where they had been hiding nearly two miles away they could hear the sound of celebration coming from the walls. It would seem that even though no blood had been spilt they were more than happy to get drunk and boast about their superiority. But after several hours the noise had died down, leaving only an eerie quiet.

It was just in time for the witching hour Lymee noted with a smile.

Now came the hard part. The waiting. Despite their nerves they had to remain as quiet as possible, which only served to make them more anxious.

Kitsune started to stir underneath Lymee’s chest plate poking her head out underneath Lymee’s chin. Her fur brushing against Lymee’s neck as she looked out at the barren canyon in front of them.

“Hey there,” Lymee whispered looking down at the fox with a smile. She stopped biting her nail and reached down to scratch behind Kitsune’s ears. She could feel the fox stirring and brushing against her chest pushing down on her shirt to get better footing.

“I still feel as though you should have left the fox with Lady Keo,” Gia whispered.

Normally the strategist would remain by the lord and give her advice during battle but this time was different. It was just a straight charge and, as Keo was not a soldier. She would be of no use during this fight. As such Keo had left with the carriages and would return once the city was taken. They were probably already on their way back right now.

“I know you adore the thing,” Gea continued. “But I fear that it will be a hindrance once the fighting starts.”

“I highly doubt that,” Lymee assured looking down at the fox poking over her armor her front paws now resting on top of Lymee’s chest piece. “I have fought with Kitsune before.” And that was before she had known that Kitsune was actually a powerful Fox Spirit that could conjure blue fire with a wave of her hand. “Besides,” Lymee smiled giving Kitsune another scratch on the head. “It’s not like I could stop her from coming, even if I wanted to.”

Kitsune twisted her head around so she was looking up at Lymee and started to lick the fingers that had been petting her.

“As my lord says.” Gea did not sound convinced but she let the matter drop returning her attention to the sky waiting for the infiltration team’s signal.

It was then that a white light arched across the sky almost immediately followed by a second one.   

“That’s the signal,” Lymee said grabbing her spear with one hand and gripping her reigns with the other. Kitsune scurried back underneath Lymee’s chest plate snuggling down near her stomach. “Let’s do this.” Taking the deepest breath she could, Lymee cried out in the most confident booming voice she could muster. “All men!” Lymee thrust her spear forward. “Charge!”

With a giant thunderous roar the soldiers cried out as Lymee spurred Bull’s-Eye forward. She was sure that someone would notice the sound of nearly five thousand horses charging for the gate and maybe an alarm was even be sounded but she was counting on their reaction time being severely slowed not to mention they were still unable to close the first gate. The infiltration team merely had to hold the second gate until the Cavalry reached it.

As they neared the gate the cavalry moved into a spearhead formation making it easier for them to charge through the gates. Lymee noticed a few arrows being fired at them as they neared the walls but she doubted they numbered more than fifty in total. And even then the rate of fire was sporadic at best implying that they were firing on their own volition and not at the orders of their officers.

Seeing an enemy soldier in front of her as she charged through the gate, Lymee dropped the tip of her spear and plowed it into the man as she continued to ride on. The infantry had been ordered to take any prisoners they could but the cavalry were not to stop for any reason until they were through the second gate.

Once clear of the first gate Lymee leaned forward in her horse as she continued to ride it hard strait for the second gate. Their formation reorganized once they were through and tightened up again as they made ready to do the same thing a second time. The second wall was built about a mile behind the first one and once they cleared the buildings directly behind the first wall there was nothing but open flat land between the two.

As they neared the second gate the archer fire they were greeted with was better organized and far more intense than the first gate. Lymee saw several soldiers beside her get struck by the incoming fire. A few bounced off their armor and a few more were wounded and some were even killed but for the most part there were still very few arrows being fired. And to Lymee’s delight the gate was still wide open as they neared.

Plowing through the gate the Gon cavalry broke off in both direction spreading out their forces along the wall. They would be forced to dismount in order to actually take the walls but they would do so all in a single motion.

Lymee’s forces continued forward putting a little distance between themselves and the wall before turning around and heading back for the gate. It was their job to seize the gate and relieve the infiltration team that were holding it.

Reaching one of the gate’s towers Lymee dismounted in one solid motion and darted on ahead, her men doing their best to keep up with her. The door that led inside the tower was open so Lymee did not slow down as she burst inside. She immediately started to make her way up the flight of stairs towards where the gate controls should be near the top of the tower.

There were several purple clad soldiers waiting for her a few flights up but they were disorganized and attacked her one at a time instead of all together. Their movements were also sluggish and cumbersome, nothing like the imperial soldiers she had fought before. It would seem they were still a little tipsy from their partying.

Lymee easily plowed through all of them easily running them through with her spear. The further up she got the more dead bodies she found sprawled across the ground. Lymee was relieved to see that all of them were wearing purple and not the red or green of Su and Gon.

“My lord,” Lymee heard Voss’ voice call out to her.

Lymee looked up and saw the grinning man standing atop the stairs, a bow in his hand and a nearly empty quiver on his back.

“Voss,” Lymee called out dropping her guard as she sprinted up the remaining steps. Shan and Yoni soon emerged from the adjacent room as well. Shan was holding a fresh quiver of arrows in her hand and judging from the blood stains on it, the previous owner had not parted with them willingly.

Yoni looked the worse out of all of them holding the side of her leg as she limped forward but she had on a look of joy and not pain as she saw Lymee rushing up to meet them.

“About time our lord decided to show up,” Yoni teased. “I think we deserve a special reward for having to wait so long.”

“Glad to see you too,” Lymee smiled as Kitsune poked her head out under her chin again giving a few delighted yips of her own. “Where is General Chee and Sai?” she asked absently scratching Kitsune’s head as she looked around not seeing either of the women.

“General Chee took the first fire team to the front wall saying that was where most of the fighting would be,” Yoni stated leaning on her spear for support. Lymee noticed for the first time the beads of sweat on her face. The fighting must have been intense and they were probably all exhausted, even if they were trying their best not to show it. “General Alia is in the other tower of this gate with the second fire team.”

“Casualties?” Lymee asked. By now the rest of her men had caught up to her and were moving around them securing the area.

“None on our end, my lord” Yoni smiled proudly. “A few wounded but our team hit very little resistance. Well,” Yoni smiled looking over at Voss and Shan. “The few that were actually able to get past our two archers offered very little resistance anyway.”

Lymee smiled at the two. She had never been so proud to be their lord. She could not ask for better people or better friends for that matter.

“Good work all of you,” Lymee nodded making sure to meet all off of their eyes. “Your job is done here. Go and get some rest. You should go have that looked at,” Lymee pointed to Yoni’s injured thigh.

“It’s just a scratched, my lord,” Yoni assured. “I would like to see this through until the end.”

“I sympathize with you,” Lymee said and she truly meant it. If their positions had been reversed she could bet that she would want nothing more than to continue on injuries be damned. “But I will not have you dying from an infection because you refused to get proper treatment. This is not a suggestion.”

Yoni bowed her head. “I understand, my lord.” She did not seem very happy with Lymee’s orders but she was not going to protest it. Though Lymee was positive that Yoni would be bring this up many times in the future.

“When you see Generals Sai and Chee tell them the same.” Lymee looked around with a proud smile on her face. “I will see you in the palace.”

“Yes, my lord.” All three of them bowed their heads deeply though Yoni’s was not as deep as the others.

“And get that looked at,” Lymee pointed at Yoni’s leg again as she turned and made her way down the steps.

Her men immediately moved to either side of the steps pressing their backs against the walls making room for her as she passed by.

Once the infantry secured the first gate they would then make their way to the second gate. Once they arrived they would form up the cavalry again and ride on to the City of Xia.

Lymee stepped outside and started to make her way to Bull’s-Eye who was still patiently waiting where Lymee had left him.

“Glad to see you are well Lord Sun,” Lord Niimu smiled riding towards Lymee one of her two daughters flanking her. They both looked a little haggard but they did not appear to be injured in any way.

“You as well Lord Niimu,” Lymee said holding her hand up in greeting. Kitsune now confident that the fighting was over moved the rest of the way out of her armor and scurried up Lymee’s chest wrapping herself around Lymee’s neck. Her tail intentionally brushing across her chin as she did so.

“I am happy to report that we have taken the second wall,” Niimu stated confidently. “And we are receiving nothing but favorable reports from the first wall. I have no doubt that we will be marching onto Xia within the hour.”

“That is excellent news,” Lymee said mounting Bull’s-Eye once more, one hand holding Kitsune in place making sure the fox did not fall off as she did so. “Any idea what kind of resistance we will face once we reach the city?”

“Minimal,” Niimu stated confidently. “There is no fortification around the city and we have prevented any soldiers from escaping here. The only force we have to worry about is the palace garrison and any town guard they may have. I doubt there will be any more than five hundred total. And I am being generous with that number.”

“Good,” Lymee nodded. “Then I see no reason to march with our entire force into the city.”

Niimu shifted slightly in her saddle at the suggestion.

“I fear the chaos a large force will bring,” Lymee stated pulling on her reins slightly to turn her horse around so she was directly facing the two women. “The more men we have the greater the chance of looting. I say we leave our infantry here and only precede with our remaining cavalry. I think five thousand cavalry will be more than enough to handle anything we might find.”