Casus Belli Ch. 02: Fortunes of War

This is the story of Nigawa's continued struggle for survival against an orc invasion. It is a long story, and a slow burn, so please do not expect sex on every page, nor to reach the end in this second chapter.

Note from the author: a map of Nigawa and a floor plan of Bromodin castle's central keep are available, the link can be found on my Literotica profile page.

Cautionary (for series): harshness, non-consent, reluctant, violence, straight sex, inter species sex, anal sex.

Setting: Nigawa, planet Mundea (Galeon III), year 3647 (local).

Characters:

Pryoness Cassandra, human female, 21 years old, heir to the throne, female lead

Kang Nichos III, human male, 53 years old, Ruler of Nigawa

Sir Brando Boruga, human male, 27 years old, Cassandra's betrothed

Sir Tregan Mordian, Drak of Valdon, human male, 47 years old, commander Nigawan army

Sir Marvon Marecomb, human male, 46 years old, Nigawan general/diplomat

Colonel Baldrin, human male, 45 years old, temporary commander of the western army.

Colonel Kiran, human male, 42 years old, temporary commander of the eastern army

Captain Agnious, human male, 33 years old, commander of Bragstone castle

Major Coburn, human male, 39 years old, commander of Bromodin's Royal Guard battalion

Driara Declos, human female, 23 years old, female lead

Burgon Mordan Declos, human male, 54 years old, Driara's father

Burgoness Welda Declos, human female, 33 years of age, Driara's stepmother

Rionne Declos, human female 5 years old, Driara's stepsister.

Tomsin Declos, human male, 4 years old, Driara's stepbrothers

Denora, human female, 24 years old, Cassandra's servant

Vala, human female, 22 years old, Cassandra's servant

Syldan, human female, 19 years old, Cassandra's servant

Leavy, human female, 21 years old, Cassandra's servant

Moiga, human female, 23 years old, Cassandra's servant

Polly, human female, 18 years old, Cassandra's servant

Bashuk, male orc, 32 years old, Green Vale Orcs Warlord

Casus Belli 2: Fortunes of War

To War

The day after the grand gathering, with all the noble families leaving for their home shires again, the keep had been as busy as a beehive. Once their many guests had left it had been back to normal where it came to the keep's daily running, but the council had been meeting almost non stop, one meeting after the other, to prepare for the now inevitable war. It had made for a very tiring day, but in the end most urgent issues were seen to, so the next day they would be able to revert back to the usual one meeting a day again. With the orc ultimatum expiring in two days time though, this wasn't expected to last.

The following day the council had met early in the morning, and afterwards, with the rest of the day 'off', Cassandra had finally been able to relax a bit. Her maidens arranged for tea with cinnamon and apple cake, which she loved. It was the first time she had really socialized with all her maidens since the whole issue with the orcs started. While drinking tea with them she couldn't escape the feeling something was bothering her girls, and she presumed it to be the coming war. They themselves should be pretty safe at Bromodin though, so maybe they were more concerned about their families. Perhaps they had relatives in the army, or living close to the orcish border?

She looked around the table and smiled reassuringly, "So, what's bothering you girls? Is it the coming war?"

Cassandra watched them exchanging looks, before Denora spoke up, "We are worried about the war, of course, but that isn't our main concern right now, milady." She frowned, and Denora swallowed, "When all the nobles were here, a lot of the servant girls were called upon to perform rather intimate services... They served Korkumun tea at breakfast in the female servant's dining room for days to avoid unwanted pregnancies."

She glanced at Moiga and Polly, realizing they must have told the other girls about what transpired during their trip to Bragstone, and what their Pryoness thought about what had happened to Moiga.

Denora looked at her respectfully, "All your maidens want you to know they're thankful for what you did to protect Moiga and Polly, milady. As you expressed your intention to end these practices, we felt you needed to know what happened to many of the castle's more attractive servants during this grand gathering." The girl looked down at the table, "And they won't talk about it, but it wasn't only girls that got abused, milady."

Her maiden's latter remark took her by surprise, "Are you now telling me there are noble ladies abusing young male servants too?"

Denora shook her head, "No milady, that's not what I meant. There were noble ladies requesting intimate services from the attractive male servants, but..." she blushed, "the servants involved generally don't, ehm, complain about it."

It took a moment to digest what Denora was telling her, and then a shiver ran down her back. It was bad enough for a girl to be abused that way by a man, but for a boy... "That's just disgusting," she managed, "Not that it isn't terrible for it to happen to a girl, but for a boy who isn't that way inclined..."

Vala nodded slowly, "Two years ago there was this kitchen boy who killed himself, rumor had it he had been abused that way."

Cassandra had planned to bring the practice to her father's attention once the coming war with the orcs had been concluded, which would hopefully be soon and with minimal loss of life, but now decided otherwise. She would use the current calm before the storm to bring the issue to her father's attention. She looked around the table, "I thought this could wait until after the war, but now I realize it can't. I'll bring this to my father's attention at the first opportunity."

The girls all smiled, then something else surfaced in her mind, something less dark. "Since Polly and Moiga informed you about what happened to Moiga on the trip to Bragstone... Did they also tell you about a rather attractive major's, ehm, interest for a certain maiden?"

The eyes of the other four maidens darted to her two former travel companions, and Polly blushed fiercely. Syldan, who was just a year older than Polly, grinned, "Oh Polly! Kissing and not telling your fellow maidens?"

Polly shook her head vehemently, "I didn't! It was just... I didn't even notice!"

Leavy lifted her eyebrows, "You didn't notice he kissed you?"

Poor Polly bounced on her chair, "Nooo, he didn't kiss me! It was just Moiga and the Pryoness noticing him looking at me."

"Were you sorry he didn't kiss you?" Denora chimed in, grinning.

Polly blushed even more fiercely, and everyone else around the table laughed at her discomfort. With that the topic switched to a certain major's presumed qualities as a husband. Afterwards she went for a walk in the castle gardens, with Leavy and Polly keeping her company. It was a nice spring day, and she loved seeing all the plants coming back to life again after winter, and watching the birds courting and building their nests. It helped her get her mind off the whole situation with the orcs, to relax for a couple of hours, and rebuild some emotional resistance.

***

By the time they got back it was time to join her father for lunch. They had it in the dining room inside his quarters, together with Burgon Declos and his family again. They had somehow managed to convince her father into letting them stay at the castle for a couple more days. Yesterday, at dinner, she had finally discovered the true purpose of their stay, as the Burgon and his wife not so subtly tried to couple her father with their eldest daughter, a lovely girl named Driara. She had always liked Driara, who had a friendly character, but her father was a scheming bastard, and her stepmother a haughty bitch.

And now these two fine characters had been trying to peddle their pretty daughter to a man thirty years her senior, no doubt to improve the family's position. She knew it was considered normal practice, but it still disgusted her, and so did Burgon Declos and his wife. Her father hadn't taken the bait though, he had pretended not to get what they were driving at. She had expected that to be the last of it, but today's lunch proved her wrong. This time they went even further, and as good as offered him Driara for a free test ride. The girl's considerably younger siblings didn't get the subterfuge, but Driara did, and the poor girl turned beet red.

She noticed her father's embarrassment and addressed Driara, "I saw you in the gardens the day before the gathering. Would you like to join me and my father for our after lunch stroll?"

Her father never took her for an 'after lunch stroll', but he picked up flawlessly, something he had in common with Brando. "Yes," he said, "that would be nice, to have two beautiful young ladies on my arms. I would be the envy of the entire country."

Driara was slow to answer and she noticed the girl's stepmother elbowing her. "Ye, yes, that would be nice," she managed, to her stepmother's obvious satisfaction.

So after lunch her father took both of them out into the gardens, which were located south west of the large keep. Once outside he hooked Driara's arm, and Cassandra took her other side. They just walked for a bit, and she could feel Driara's tenseness through her arm. Her father led them into the small arboretum at the west side of the gardens, and out of sight of the keep, then on to the clearing at its center where he sat the three of them down on the beautifully carved wooden bench looking south over the clearing.

Cassandra leaned forward and addressed her father, "Would you like me to give the two of you some privacy?"

She felt Driara's arm clench down on hers. "No, thank you," her father said, "I have nothing to say I don't want you to hear." She felt Driara relax, and guessed he felt it too. She watched him reach out and gently cup the girl's chin, then lift her head towards him, locking eyes with her. "Don't be afraid," he said, "I'm not going to marry you, and neither am I going to bed you." He smiled softly, "It's not that you aren't lovely and beautiful, but I'm much too old for you." He let out a sigh, "And I loved my wife very much. So much that I'll never find someone that can take her place. I'm not going to make a woman who loves me play second fiddle in my heart."

To her amazement she felt Driara lean in to him, "I'm so sorry for your loss, my Kang," the girl's voice sounded softly.

Her father's arm slid up Driara's back and his hand appeared around her shoulder. She watched him pull her close. "You're going to make some lucky bastard a lovely wife someday," she heard him say, "and should they try to marry you off to someone even older and uglier than me just send me notice and I'll come and rescue you."

The girl trembled, and it took a moment to realize she was crying. Her father just held the softly sobbing girl, and she never loved him more before than she did at that moment. He let Driara cry herself out against his shoulder, and then she herself helped the girl fix the 'damage'. Afterwards they resumed their stroll, with her father at the center this time, with a girl hooked on each arm. "I'm sorry I lost it like that, your majesty," she heard Driara say.

"It'll be our little secret," he answered, "Won't it, Cassy?" She leaned a bit forward and looked at the girl on his other arm, nodded her agreement smiling. Driara smiled back at her warmly, and they had a most pleasant stroll, discussing the beauty of the gardens.

When they arrived back at the entrance to the garden an hour or so later she addressed Driara, "Will you find your way back alone? I need a private moment with my father."

The girl nodded, "Yes Pryoness, that won't be a problem. And thank you both for this wonderful stroll, I truly enjoyed it."

She smiled warmly at her, "See you at dinner then..."

***

After Driara left she led her father to a nearby bench and they both sat down. Her father threw her a questioning glance, "Is this about what I just said about your mother?"

She smiled, "No, although you surprised me. I always wondered why you never took another wife..., and now I know." She swallowed, "And now I also know why you didn't marry me off for political advantage, and agreed to me marrying Brando." She leaned into him, "Thanks dad, for loving me that much."

He put his hand around her waist and pulled her close, "You're giving me too much credit. I'm just afraid of what your mother would do to me in the afterlife if I didn't let her daughter marry for love." She pecked him on the cheek, and he locked eyes with her, "So what's on your mind then, sweetheart?"

She let out a sigh, "One of my maidens, Moiga, got abused sexually when we were on our way to Bragstone."

Her father's eyes widened, and his voice sounded shocked, "She was raped?"

Cassandra shook her head, "Not really, someone just ordered her to sleep with him, and she was so afraid about what he might do to her family if she refused that she obeyed him. After which he took her in an..., unnatural way."

Her father swallowed, "Who was it?" then he answered his own question, "Marecomb."

She nodded, "Yes, but this isn't just about what happened to Moiga. After it happened I learned that this is common practice in the castle, powerful men abusing their position that way."

Her father shook his head, "I never..."

She put a finger on his lips, silencing him, "I know, and to my relief neither did Brando." She sighed again, "I didn't want to bring this up while you were facing this problem with the orcs, but something has happened that made me change my mind. Apparently, during the grand gathering, with the entire keep overfilled with powerful men, the problem became a bit of an epidemic." She felt her face harden, "This castle is my home. I don't want things like this to happen in my home. If I come across good looking young servants I don't want to have to ask myself if powerful men that work for you have been abusing them."

Her father nodded, "I understand, and I agree with you." He let out a sigh, "I've always known things like this were happening. I just didn't know they were happening this often, and in my own castle. Before I go any further, I hope you'll understand that things like this always have happened and, regardless of what I do, that they always will happen. I can only make them less likely to happen, even inside the castle. Take what happened to your maiden for instance. If I accused Marecomb of wrong doing it would come down to the word of a general against the word of a maiden. No judge would convict him based on just that."

He shrugged, "I'm the Kang, so I could just punish Marecomb based on Moiga's testimony. That's a dangerous road to take though, as I would be abusing my power as much as Marecomb did. It is a road that leads to corruption of the soul." He placed his hands on her shoulders, "Never forget that, daughter of mine, once your time to rule Nigawa has arrived."

He gave her a thoughtful look, "I'm going to take this issue up with the heads of house-holding. Instruct them to encourage servants that have been abused like this to come forward and report it. They could then forward these cases to a confidant. If it turns out these issues lead back to just a couple of 'bad apples', and I suspect for that to be the case, a few discouraging words in the right ears might be all it needs to stop this."

Cassandra nodded happily, "That would be great!" Then she frowned, "But will they come forward? Who do you have in mind to act as this confidant?"

Her father smiled, "I think it's a role for a woman, for someone all the young womenfolk know and trust." She nodded her agreement enthusiastically, and then her eyes widened as she realized who exactly he had in mind. He grinned, "Yes, you brought it up, so you're going to help address the issue too." A wink followed, "There's a lesson there, future Kangess of Nigawa..."

She pouted, but her eyes sparkled, and he hugged her close for a moment, then let go again and locked eyes with her. "As we're talking anyway, let's talk about the current situation with the orcs for a moment." He sighed, "I know you feel bad about the coming war, and I want you to know that I do too. But in matters of state doing 'the right thing' isn't always an option sweetheart, unfortunately. I do understand these orcs; I only have to imagine how I would react if I came home and found an army I didn't wrong burned my land and slaughtered my people, my loving daughter included."

His face contorted at that last bit, "But who should I blame then? The soldiers who did the deed but were just following orders, or the men that gave those orders, or the people that pay the men that gave those orders, which is what the orcs apparently have opted for. They decided to put the blame solely on the Nigawan nobility, but is the nobility really guilty, and even if it is, are all nobles guilty in that case? Are their children guilty? Are their wives guilty? Ultimately the responsibility lays with me of course, but am I really responsible for what that general did? I didn't order him to kill the wrong orcs. As a matter of fact, I didn't order him to kill the right orcs either."

He shrugged, "Ruling isn't always easy sweetheart... And yes, that goes for this Bashuk too. He's in a difficult position. And say we told him the truth; that there's one man responsible for the slaughtering of his people, and that that guy happens to be dead. So, even if he believes us, what is he supposed to say to this army of widowers of his? 'I'm sorry men, but the guy responsible fell off his horse last winter and died, so we'd better pack up and go home.' That would be justice, but it is a justice they simply can't accept, just like we can't accept the justice they demand. So that leaves us no choice but to defeat them in battle, and then try to make amends with those who survive afterwards."

She nodded slowly, "I understand, and I know you're right, but still... It feels so wrong."

He hugged her against him again, "My first obligation is to Nigawa and all its people. Sometimes that means I'll have to do things I'm not exactly proud of, or can't do the things I would like to do. Take what happened to your maiden. I know Moiga, and I know that lovely girl wouldn't lie about something like this. So I would really like to rip Marecomb's balls off, but if I did, without proof, I would alienate the other nobles. Alienate them enough and they will rebel, and before you know it you'll have a civil war going, at which point the common people will suffer too."

He sighed again, "Not always doing 'the right thing' is just part of the job Cassy. It will happen, and it will be hard on you."

She nodded again, communicating her understanding, then broached another subject that had been worrying her, "This war against the orcs, father, are we really going to win it?"

His face hardened, "Of course we are... Losing isn't an option." His hand stroked her hair, "I understand you're worried sweetheart, but you've heard the Drak's assessment too. When those black orcs descended from Baelok pass last summer there were no soldiers there to stop them. Actually, if it hadn't been for some local woodsmen deciding to hole up in Bragstone with their families when they noticed the orcs arriving, those orcs would probably have burned the castle instead of simply bypassing it. We got lucky there..."

"This time we've got the defenses largely repaired and the bulk of the army up north in time, so now we have both a big numerical advantage and good defensive positions to seal off the Weeping Valley with. Which brings me to the quality of the army: It's no coincidence that both the Lorasian and the Mercandon armies haven't strayed across our borders for over two decades. Our army is well equipped, and its training is second to none. The Mercandon have almost twice our numbers, but still don't dare attack us, because they know the Nigawan army's quality combined with it being on the defensive will more than compensate."