Tanya's Third Life as a Barbarian Queen, Chapter XLV

NOTE: During the course of writing this chapter I decided that the quality of chapter XLIV (44, the previous chapter) was not meeting my standards. Thus I have decided to go back and make significant changes to it. This has included moving a section from that chapter into this one. I apologise for the inconvenience but I felt this was necessary to create the best possible story. So be sure to check out the previous chapter before reading this one.

As always, thank you for reading. I will have the chapter as links to download at the bottom of the post. As well as a link to the Google Document page.

Five miles east of Sadera, capital city of the Saderan Empire

Bozes Co Palesti, Second daughter and Yellow Rose of the Order.

The Eleventh Legion itself was forbidden from entering Sadera itself under arms, as were all legions of the Empire. Five miles from the city the Legion halted and were met by the Pretorian Guard and would surrender their blades in order to travel to the greatest city in the world. I watched the ancient ritual while sitting at Pina Co Lada's side on a platform made in the last few days. What had once been a tradition between the Praetorians and the Legions approaching Sadera to receive honours now had a rather prominent third party attached at Molt's insistence.

The Rose Knights were humble compared to a true Legion at just fifteen thousand members and growing, but it was not all of the Eleventh legion that sought to venture to Sadera proper. The sheer military power of Pina was on full display even as the woman in question looked bored out of her mind.

Only twenty two thousand Legionaries of the Eleventh Legion were present, with the rest of their number being dispersed across the Empire after their campaign. It could be almost an entire year before the full might of the Eleventh Legion could be reassembled for anything other than construction work and fort postings. 

"Do you suppose we will ever be sent to protect the people of Sadera as they were?" Pina said all of a sudden, the various colour knights looking at her before sharing glances.

"We protect people in the capital." I offered, as indeed the Rose knights had become indispensable for many services in the city as Molt pushed Pina to expand the influence of her Knightly Order as broadly as possible.

"I mean... nevermind." Pina sighed and looked towards the long trail of slaves and wealth taken from the steppe by the Eleventh Legion. "I wonder when my brother will return." She inexpertly changed the topic.

"I have heard that he is still fighting one of the tribes." I said, causing Pina to frown and turn to me. 

"Even after the Senate vote?"

"He would not have heard about that with how far away the steppe is." I pointed out. "Unless they sent word by Wyvern Knight, then he has to march home. It will take him some time." 

"Do you know how long it takes to reach the steppe?" Pina asked.

"Roughly three months perhaps." I shrugged. "The Wyvern Knights can reach him in less than a week of flight, but it will take some time for him to return to Sadera." The steppe was a large place, and it was impossible to know where exactly The Ninth and Thirteenth Legions were exactly.

"Such a vast land and the savages did nothing with it." Pina bemoaned and I nodded in turn. "Such vast plains and not a single city, what a waste."

"I expect a land auction soon. It will be pure speculation as to its actual value. But my fiance's father has gathered a fair amount of coin to buy the land from the crown." Hamilton Uno Ror said excitedly from Pina's other side. The younger girl smiled and turned to the slave procession. "Many of the barbarians are still on the steppe so you would get them with the land."

"Zorzal has given me a hundred Lepus slaves." Pina said as Hami's eyes shone with sudden interest in the Princess Knight.

"Did you get any men? The boyrabbits are said to be the most beautiful men in all the world. Even more so than Siren menfolk." Her hands shifted in her lap as her fine emerald eyes bore into Pina.

"I don't know, I have not received them yet, it was just in a letter from Zorzal I got some weeks ago." Pina clarified but did little to stifle Hami's excitement.

"I want one, they say they can last all night and well into the da-" 

"Do not inflict your perversions onto us Hami." I chided, turning the woman's face red as Pina snickered behind a steel gauntlet. 

"I was just saying what I heard, I am not interested in things like that." The woman lied as I rested my head in the palm of my hand. 

"Goodness me, what are the youth coming to these days?" I mocked, ignoring Hami's cries that I was just a scant few years older than the girl.

"Enough, Booz." Pina smiled at me. "Leave Hami alone lest she come to resemble a tomato permanently." 

"Pina!" Hami cried as we laughed at her expense, eventually after huffing and crossing her arms in annoyance she turned back to the ceremony and clapped her hands together. "Look, they are done!"

"Thank the Gods." Pina said, getting to her feet and stretching in the awkward way one must when in plate armour. "But it is a fair number of slaves now that I look at it." She said at last, and indeed behind the twenty thousand or so Legionaries was a column of Lepus slaves in the tens of thousands. "Are they taking them all to Sadera?"

"This is a small amount compared to the full number taken from the steppe, many more will have gone to the Province of Italica to work the fields, there was a slave shortage if I remember rightly." I told Pina as she frowned. 

"Is it wise to bring so many barbarians into our cities? They are a simpler people, I should think that their kind might grow mad with the constant sensation of an urban center." Pina's concern even for slaves brought a smile to my face and I nodded in agreement. 

"Yes, I cannot think that the Headhunting Rabbits will do well in cities, but if they are with the legion then they have already been sold to buyers in the city otherwise they would have been sent to the coastal cities and their slave markets. Their new masters will be responsible for the training and civilising of their new Lepus slaves." I pointed out.

"I suppose I should sell my slaves. I hardly have need of servants nor the inclination to train and house them as they will clearly need." Pina sighed.

"It is quite the responsibility, perhaps it would be better to offer your share of the slaves as gifts?” Pina did need to start garnering more favours. It should be her father or husband helping to manage her estate effectively since the woman did lack the female acumen for management. But with Pina refusing all marriage offers so far and Molt content with his bastard daughter to be unmarried, I was the next best thing.

"You have to inspect them first!" Hami puffed up her cheeks in frustration as Pina laughed. 

"Well, if I have any boyrabbits in my share I promise you can have him." She winked at Hami as the girl in question blushed and held up her hands.

"You have the wrong idea!" She cried as we laughed again. 

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Kontia.

Diabo, Imperial Prince.

“As you can see the prisoners are being kept in conditions that preserve the dignity of your countrymen.” The Tanaoi Queen moved with an odd grace, her back straight and her hands clasped at the small of her back. Perhaps in an attempt to make herself seem less threatening, or perhaps it was to display fearlessness.

A day had passed since I had first met the Queen of the barbarian steppe tribe that had won a terrible victory over the Ninth Legion. The sudden shock at the untimely loss of my brother had subsided but had not fully dissipated. I was now the Crown Prince. It seemed almost unreal, like I was living though a horrible mix of a dream and a nightmare.

I had never liked Zorzal, perhaps that was a terrible thing for a brother to admit, but we had never had affection for each other as family should have. That was not to say that I hated my late brother, not at all, he was a Saderan, he was my brother and for all of his failures it was a terrible thing that he had met his end ingloriously at the edge of civilization.

His departure from this life had not made my life easier, while I had entertained the idea of taking the crown many times it had never been an overly serious exercise. Indeed I had been insulated from the political weight of that position by Zorzal, there was every chance that I could have lived my life with little concern for politics should I have chosen to do so. 

I no longer had that option.

I looked out at the row after row of rapidly constructed barracks. Half submerged in the earth and made from clay brick with concrete with simple thatch roofing they were more than suitable accommodations for a Legionary. The Ninth Legion was indeed being kept prisoner but the Lepus did so using the vastness of the steppe. Any single legionary could fade into the vast and untamed lands but what would be the point? The only way back to Sadera was across the river. 

The Barbarians kept more than sixty thousand soldiers captive with a few watchtowers by the water and the promise of violence should the Legion go back upon their word to remain prisoners. 

“It’s fair treatment.” I offered at last, unsure what else to say. It was clear that the Witch Queen sought peace after her victory here. But I had little doubt that if she was assured that no peace could be had she would slay every man here. It is what I would do where our fates reversed. “I will relay these conditions to the Senate and my Father.” I told her to which she offered a grateful nod.

Her conditions for peace were very purposefully absurd. She demanded every single Lepus slave across the entire Empire and the ceeding of all the land Zorzal had taken in this war as well as all land north of the Kontia river. In return she would release the Ninth Legion back to Sadera. She had also expressed a willingness to offer some tribute to Sadera but had been purposefully vague, likely to draw an offer from me first.

I had managed to avoid making any commitments so far. It would take months, perhaps well into next year for any accord to be established and I doubted that it would hold for more than a decade at most. War would come again to Sadera, our martial reputation would allow nothing else.

But for now Sadera needed the Ninth Legion back. That was my singular task.

“Thank you.” Queen Tanya said as we walked the outskirts of the captive city. “I can have you returned across the river to your men or I can have lodgings prepared for you in Kontia.” 

“I shall have one of my men return across the river with a letter but shall remain here for now.” And for the foreseeable future. It would take months to travel to Sadera and back and I did not wish to travel during the coming winter. If I wanted to seek the return of my countrymen from the clutches of the Tanaoi, I had to remain a guest here at Kontia.

“It would be convenient for negotiations if a Wyvern Knight was assigned to us in order to ferry messages between here and Sadera.” Queen Tanya prompted.

“It would.” I agreed. “I shall make the request to my Father, but I can make no promises.” I was for a moment concerned that I had grown too overtly reticent to make commitments, but the Queen simply nodded as we made our way back to my horse.

“Thank you for your time, Prince Diabo.” She offered me a hand. I grasped her wrist and without delay she returned the Saderan greeting.

“I could offer nothing less in the pursuit of peace.” She smiled at that, one of the great and terrible warlords of the steppe was indeed committed to peace. She wanted to secure what she had gained, what a prize it was to the barbarians, such vast and rich lands in comparison to the savage plains they held. 

Yes, it was more than possible to save the Ninth Legion. I could not bring Zorzal home but I could bring an end to a war we were ill prepared for. Give Sadera time to rebuild and plan for a campaign in the future.

Molt would agree, I was sure of that. 

The accommodation the Lepus Queen had promised was modest. A domus close to the temple district that had been abandoned during the war. It was being quickly refurnished and staffed by servants for my use. I had little doubt that many of them would be relaying information to the Queen but it would be hard to justify replacing them until I could bring my own slaves to Kontia.

I settled into the tablinum to draft a letter to be carried to my men and several more to be sent to my Father and to be read before the Senate when there was a knock at the door. One of my bodyguards entered the room shortly after, he was a young son of some senator, his skin still browned by the sun of the far western desert. 

“A Demihuman woman wishes to present a food platter to you, your majesty.” He began with an air of clear frustration. “I told her to be gone, but she refused and demanded I waste your ti-”

“Bring her in.” I ordered the man as he blinked at me clearly dumbfounded. Regardless he offered a salute and shortly after that he led a diminutive yet clearly womanly figure into the tablinum. She was a small Felis woman who carried a tray with some bread placed upon a sheet of paper of all things, meat and dried fruits upon it as well as a sealed bottle of wine with a small clay cup. Her ears flicked as she entered the house and placed the tray upon a table before me and turned, bowing to me and my bodyguards.

“Compliments of the Madame.” She offered and smiled. “The bread is fresh and supple, your majesty, I’m sure you will enjoy it.” Her implication was blindingly obvious to everyone but the boy I had taken as one of my closest bodyguards. How foolish of me. 

“You will taste for poison demihuman or I wi-” He ordered before I could silence him with a gesture. I sighed at the man's indiscretion and lack of perception as I took the woman's hand and placed a silver coin into it.

“Thank you for the meal, give my regards to your Madame.” I told her. She flicked her tail and smiled before nodding and slipping out of the room in the oddly graceful, inhuman gait of her kind.

I approached the tray of food and picked up the bread and paper, looking at its underside to see that it was indeed more than just paper.

“What is tha-” I shushed one of my bodyguards and pointed to my ears and looked around as the man suddenly had the gall to look embarrassed. Throwing the bread at the stupid man I made my way to the Tablinum’s desk not far from the window and sat to read the letter.

To Diabo, Crown Prince of Sadera.

The people of Kontia remain loyal. I write because my heart belongs to Sadera, and I have seen things here that trouble me. For years rumours of Tanaoi witchcraft plagued us even before Zorzal began his campaign. With the occupation of the Headhunting barbarians I have found the truth behind these rumours.

The Tanaoi possess strange weapons unlike anything in our Legions. They are great metal tubes, so large that only the Lepus are comfortable in carrying them, but I have seen some that are larger still that even they must place them upon sturdy wooden frames with wheels. When they fire, the sound is like the heavens breaking apart, and the ground shakes underfoot. I saw one strike a wall of stone and shatter it like a pot dropped from a height.

When touched in a particular way they loose a ball of metal or stone at great speed, faster than any trebuchet might, to destroy whatever the ball touches. I believe that this touch somehow causes a spark to be introduced to the powder inside of the tube. It was these weapons that cast the Wyvern Knights from the sky and no doubt demoralized the Ninth Legion and forced their surrender. But this is not a product of magic but of alchemy.

Their power comes from a black powder. I have not handled it myself, but from what I have gathered in conversation, it is made from three things: charcoal, a white salt, and a yellow stone roasted until brittle. This white salt, I have been told, can be gathered from large pits or barrels where urine has been stored for many months. Some of my peers believe it to be saltpeter, a material that can be scraped from earth or stone walls of basements or caves if discovered. The three ingredients are ground together into a fine dust, pressed into cloth bags, and kept in heavy boxes. The people here treat this powder with great care, for it will explode if sparked.

I am to understand that more than one goblin slave of the Tanaoi has met his end to this powder. The powder is placed inside of the tube and the ball to be loosed is placed in afterwards. The powder is what causes the ball to fly at such great speed.

As for the tube itself, I have learned they are made by pouring hot metal into moulds to form the tube. Once cooled, the inside is bored out smoothly with a great machine made from many wooden cogs and a steel screw. One end is kept closed to contain the explosion from the powder and push the ball though the side that is open.

I have seen these moulds and several half-finished tubes lying in their work yards. There are many, and more are being made each day. They refer to these tubes as ‘cannon’ and they describe it as a form of artillery like balestie. 

Both the powder and the cannons are guarded closely. From what I have seen and been told, they can produce far more of these weapons, the Tanaoi use bronze to make these cannons but they have recently come into a great deal of steel and iron. I do not know if these cannon can be made with iron but if it can then a single Tanaoi army might have many hundreds of these weapons. 

Your loyal countryman

You do not know my name but should the contents of this letter be discovered I shall not live long, I entrust my life to you my Prince.

I read the letter, again and again until its words were burned into my mind. I then stood, made my way over to the table and placed the paper over a candle until it was consumed entirely.

The last embers touched the table when the windows suddenly exploded inwards causing my bodyguard who had been standing next to them to scream in sudden agony as he was sprayed with white hot flames. I stared dumbfounded as the man rolled about on the floor with dozens of thick glass shards piercing his body and red burns and blackened skin across his body.

I looked out of the window, and I suddenly became aware of panicked screams as the building across the road from me was engulfed in flame followed by a furious roar that echoed out across the city. Some small part of me shrivelled with uncontrollable fear at the familiar sound.

The Wyvern Knights were attacking Kontia.

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