Sunken Kingdom/CreasurStand

After the Slaughter of Xinjin

Roleplay from Aibhlidhn Dubhaine

Message sent to Everyone in Daishi Faith

The Queen's Royal Fusileers filed sombrely through the Great North Gate from the road to Xinjin, their armour battered and covered in crusted ichor of varied hues and indeterminate origins. Overhead their banners stood proud, displaying their many storied battle honours, but it was clear from the silence in which they marched that the grievous losses they'd suffered in recent days had dented even their steely resolve. Aibhlidhn was herself no less battered and bruised than her loyal bodyguards, always in the midst of the heaviest fighting as was the Agyrian way. Even her famed leechcraft had been stretched to its limit, the festering wounds inflicted by the Necromancer's cursed weapons defying all but the most powerful charms. The only consolation was the knowledge that their stand in Xinjin had bought a little time for many of her knights to slip north for what she hoped would be a swift refit. "Excuse me Majesty," a messenger came panting up to her as she was dismounting, a youth of no more than thirteen or fourteen years by the look of him with a sheaf of parchment in his hands. "Can't it wait?" Captain Caedberga was being particularly protective of her mistress today. "It's alright Cae, the lad's just doing his duty," Aibhlidhn drew two silver coins from her purse and handed it to the messenger as she accepted his precious cargo, "Spend it wisely." "Yes Majesty!" he doffed his cap, face beaming at his good fortune, dumbstruck. "Well off you get!" Caedberga pantomimed cuffing him and he fled, his beaming smile out of place in the besieged city streets. "Hmm..." Aibhlidhn's brows knitted as she worked her way through the messages. "Bad news?" "Irondale's Noctan Legion can't march until Spring," the Queen kept her voice low so the news wouldn't be overhead by anyone else. "Creasur will likely fallen before then," Caedberga let out a heavy sigh. "That's a distinct possibility," Aibhlidhn shared her Captain's concern. They'd shared many perils in all quarters of Beluaterra and there were few officers who knew their business better than Caedberga. "Worse still the war between Reven and the Vales isn't any closer to its conclusion." "So no help from either then?" "No troops from either that's for sure," the Queen's tiredness was all too apparent in her voice. They'd none of them slept properly in a week or more and she really needed a bath and a soft bed to crash in. She didn't even dare think of the other matter. She couldn't decide if the hare-brained scheme dreamed up in Gethsemene would make their situation better or worse but that could wait until tomorrow.

Aibhlidhn Dubhaine (Queen of Ar Agyr)