Casus Belli Ch. 03: Road to Ruin

This is the story of Nigawa's continued struggle for survival against an orc invasion. And as I mentioned with the earlier chapters already; this is a detailed and descriptive story, with some hot, erotic elements in the plot. So if you're looking for a two page delayed fuse to an explosion this isn't for you...

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

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

Note: a map of Nigawa, and a floor plan of the keep, are available. Check my profile page for the link.

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

Burgon Magwick, human male, 62 years old, Nigawan foreign affairs

Burgon Goban, human male, 49 years old, Nigawan internal security

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

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

The next morning, after breakfast, Cassandra said her goodbyes to both her father and Brando with a heavy heart. Everything pointed to success, but that had been the case with Bragstone and Windagon too. So she was worried, and tried not to show it, but without much success. Both men tried to reassure her, and partly succeeded. When the servants led Brando's and her father's horses out of the stables for them, she first gave the latter a firm hug, then kissed the former deeply. She waved them goodbye, and watched as they rode out through Bromodin's enormous main gate with a huge lump in her throat.

Her first day as temporary head of state passed without problems, and so did the second one. She received the heads of household staff in the afternoon to discuss the abuse issue with them. With the war worrying the staff enough already they agreed for the heads to handle the issue passively at first. They would take action, and instruct the servants in their departments, before any future grand gathering. Shortly before sundown a courier arrived from the west, as she already expected. The distance to The Forks could be covered in a day by a good horseman riding a good horse, so Brando arrived at his post yesterday, and this morning sent a courier to Iriskan to keep her informed.

The distance to Bagman's Crossing was about the same, but her father was leading an army that traveled at least partly on foot, so he had probably only just arrived at the crossing, and she wouldn't see a courier from him before tomorrow evening. Brando's courier gave her a quick status report, there wasn't that much to tell, and then he passed her a note with a smile. She unfolded it; there was just one sentence; 'Miss you, love, Brando.' She thanked the courier, and then dismissed him before retreating to her living room. Once seated in her favorite relax chair she reread the note, tracing his handwriting with the tip of her index finger.

Another day passed, and at dusk the expected courier from her father arrived. This one brought a somewhat more elaborate report. Her father's troops had established contact with Colonel Kiran who was with the advanced guard of the army shadowing the orcs. They were expected to arrive at Bagman's crossing in two-day's time. Meanwhile, the reserve army was crossing the Amunda and had started putting up camp in the hills to the north of the crossing. Everything seemed to be going as planned... To her surprise her father had send her a note too, and it too contained just one sentence, 'Miss you, love, dad.' She shook her head chuckling, they could be father and son those two. She smiled happily; soon they would be.

A day later more news from Brando arrived; the first orcs had arrived at the bridge across the Neva, the most northern of the three Forks bridges, and started probing the Nigawan defenses. The next day two couriers arrived, the one coming from her father reporting the orcs' arrival at Bagman's Crossing and that they had deployed but weren't attacking yet, and the one coming from Brando reporting that the orcs had attacked the Little Fork bridge without success. Apparently the orcs had attacked without support from their vaunted war-beasts, and were also clearly struggling with the swampy terrain, just as her father had predicted they would.

By this time she had already started to get used to leading the daily council meeting, though the same couldn't be said for a couple of the councilors, who clearly struggled with accepting orders from a twenty one year old girl. That was their problem of course. To her surprise Marecomb had proven a solid supporter, and she wondered if it had been her actions at the parley with the orcs that had earned her his respect. The following day again two couriers arrived, the one from Brando reporting that the orcs were still attacking without much enthusiasm nor much success, and the one from her father reporting that the orcs at Bagman's Crossing still hadn't moved to attack.

Her father had also observed that the orcish war-beasts were missing. He suspected the marshes along the riverbank had slowed the heavy beasts down more than the troops on foot, and that the orcs were now waiting for their support to arrive. Brando had also reported the orcish war-beasts missing, but had concluded it was due to the swampy terrain directly surrounding the bridges. The courier ended with telling them the main concern was to ensure the reserve army deployed in the hills north of the crossing remained undetected by the orcs. The courier from Brando brought a personal note also, this time a sealed one. When she read it, after she had returned to her chambers, she felt her ears warm, and her pussy tingle; such a naughty betrothed...

Cassandra had trouble sleeping that night, and not because of Brando's naughty note, but because something was nagging at the back of her head, something important, but she just couldn't come up with what it was. Around noon the next day she was leading the council meeting when a courier from her father arrived. She let him make his report at the meeting, which would spare her the trouble of informing the councilors later. It wasn't good news... Apparently around ten in the morning of the previous day, roughly half the orc army had, rather suddenly, moved north, into the hills. Her father had assumed that his worst fear had come true, and that the reserve army had been discovered.

So he had activated the emergency plan, devised the previous day when it became apparent the orcs weren't going to attack immediately, which greatly increased the risk that they would discover the hidden threat at their backs. So the roughly twenty thousand men in the Nigawan eastern army had attacked the roughly five thousand orcs still holding the northern side of the crossing, which was actually a maze of fordable streams of varying wide and depth. Faced with the Nigawan quantitative superiority, the orcs had withdrawn under the pressure, but very slowly, and it had taken hours of bloody fighting to take the crossing.

And then the orc forces that had moved north earlier had returned, now accompanied by their war-beasts, signaling the destruction of the reserve army, and the tide of the battle had turned. Now it had been the Nigawans slowly withdrawing under the pressure. The courier had left early in the afternoon, with the battle in full swing, and the outcome still undecided. Her father had concluded that the orc war-beast force had probably come down the road from Cardogan, discovered the reserve army, and then managed somehow to coordinate their attack with the orc army at the crossing. Cassandra remembered pointing the route over Cardogan out to her father, and realized that while their foot army was traveling along the river bank they must have sent this smaller and much faster force over the route through Crows Pass.

A feeling of dread descended on her, "I need a map!" She said it loud enough to cut through the hubbub of the councilors discussing the news. Marecomb locked eyes with her, frowned, then turned and walked over to one of the large cabinets along the walls. He returned a minute later, with a large topographic map of Nigawa, and spread it out in front of her atop the large table. He then looked at her questioningly. She put her finger on Windagon, then traced the road up north to Shandra's Haven, then west to Wik, a small village functioning as a relay, then traced the road further west, over the Sable Pass, to Koban. From Koban there was a road leading even further to the west, but she traced the one leading to the south, to the bridge across the Neva, the bridge of the Little Fork, the bridge Brando was defending.

She locked eyes with Marecomb, "Could the orcs have sent their war-beasts along this route too?

Marecomb frowned again, "Yes, but then they should have already arrived, and we probably would have had word from Sir Boruga that the orcs were now reinforced with war-beasts."

She nodded thoughtfully, then retraced to Koban, and from there across the Neva along the road further west to Grak. From Grak she traced the road south-east to Suwal, and from there east to Breza and the southern bridgehead of the Little Fork bridge. She looked up at Marecomb, saying nothing, and watched the general's face turn white. She could almost hear the cogs in his head turn, then he looked up, alarmed, "Tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow."

Casandra felt an icy chill run down her spine, it looked like the orc war-beast force belonging to the western orc army was going to attack the defenders of The Forks from the rear. Her voice sounded icy too, "Get a messenger to the Little Fork to warn Brando, now! And make sure they have ample spare horses. There's thousands of lives depending on this, maybe even the entire future of Nigawa, so they can ride them to death for all I care." Marecomb said nothing, just turned and hurried out of the conference room. Oh gods, I hope that messenger gets there in time, she thought.

Cassandra left the meeting in a daze, worried sick, and feeling powerless. She walked out of her father's quarters and took the spiral stairs to her own quarters located one floor up. The doors leading from the public hallway into her quarters' hallway were guarded by two royal guards, and so was the second set of doors, some twenty feet down from the first. Having guards at the second set of doors wasn't normal procedure; they were only there because Nigawa was at war. The entire castle was on a war footing, with guards visible everywhere. Yesterday they had even tested the centuries old hydraulics of the elevated entrance to the central keep.

The vast stairs leading into the keep looked like solid stone, but were actually floating on water, and could be lowered into a subterranean basin in case of an attack, leaving behind a large pit at the foot of a twelve feet high sheer wall. It was a reminder of a past in which such measures were deemed necessary, a past in which wars with Nigawa's southern neighbors were frequent. The keep provided all the comfort of a palace from the first floor up, but the ground floor and the basement were built for war. And she had no illusions; the only reason neither the Lorasians nor the Mercandon had ventured into Nigawa the past decades was Nigawa's strong defenses.

But those defenses had been stripped bare of men now, and it would be just a matter of time before their friendly southern neighbors would notice, and get adventurous again, no matter if they were going to win this war with the orcs or not. So they didn't just have to win this war, they had to win it without losing too much of their army, or it would just lead to another invasion. She neared the third set of doors, a good forty yards past the second set, the doors leading inside her private chambers. The two Royal Guards posted at them saluted her, as had the others. They were the most loyal of loyalist troops, loyal to the Abbadon dynasty, loyal to her father, and to her herself. She smiled warmly at them as the two guarding her private chambers opened the doors for her.

The doors lead into the reception room, and she noticed two heads above the reception desk, one auburn and one raven black. That meant Denora and Syldan were 'manning' it. Both looked up from their reading at the same time. "Welcome back milady," Denora said while Syldan just smiled.

She acknowledged the greeting with just a nod of her head, and proceeded towards the doors leading to her private chambers' hallway. Entering the private hallway she turned towards her living room, and her favorite comfy chair, but once there she walked on towards the bedchamber. Cassandra sat herself down on the edge of the large bed, and then leaned back onto it. She closed her eyes and let her worries finally consume her. Worries about the two men closest to her heart. Her father had joked about it, but it was a fact that he wasn't a young man anymore. Brando was a young man, but if the orcs managed to surround his position, it just wouldn't matter.

Cassandra felt the bed move and knew whose face she would see before she opened her eyes, "Hi Denora..."

Her maiden locked eyes with her, her face showing concern, "Is everything alright milady?"

She shook her head, "I don't know, my father's army is fighting for its life, and if Brando's not warned in time he might be in serious trouble too." Denora looked questioningly, she sighed, "My father's plan went awry, and I noticed the orcs were probably going to attack Brando's forces from behind. We sent a messenger to The Forks to warn him, but he might not get there in time."

Denora raised her eyebrows, "You noticed?"

She grinned, "Yeah, I guess my father was right when he said Marecomb was better at diplomacy than at tactics..." A loud sigh escaped her, "All the news I get is a day old, and everything I can think of to help takes another day to get where it's needed. It makes me feel powerless, impotent."

Denora shrugged, "It's hard milady, but just try to imagine how it must be for all those wives, lovers, and daughters who get no news at all. They can only sit and wait, and hope."

Cassandra couldn't even imagine how that must be, she swallowed, "Do you have relatives or friends in the army?"

Denora shook her head, "No, at least no one close, maybe some far off relative, I don't know."

She nodded slowly, "And the other girls?"

Denora shrugged, "No one that I know of. No fathers or brothers at least." She blushed, "And as none of us are dating..."

Cassandra looked down, "I know what's keeping you back, but what about the other girls? Are they not dating because of the job?"

Her senior maiden laughed softly, "Just a little, maybe..." Cassandra looked at her questioningly. "It's just that the important people surrounding you see your maidens as nothing more than servant girls, and the other servants see them as half nobles. It doesn't make dating easier..." Cassandra blushed, and Denora patted her hand, "Don't worry, they all love being your maidens."

She sighed, taking Denora's hand, "I love them too, and I wish I could show it more. On the trip to Bragstone, Moiga and Polly were so nice to me."

Denora blinked, "You're forgetting what you did for them, milady. A callous Pryoness might not have cared that her servants were getting abused, might even have tried to use it to her advantage."

Cassandra blushed, "I would never..."

Her maiden shushed her, "I know, we all know; you have a good heart. That's what makes it so hard for us seeing you troubled like this." She smiled warmly at her senior maiden, who looked at the wall mounted chronometer, "It's almost lunchtime, and with your father not at Bromodin I assumed you would prefer to have lunch in your own dining room?"

She actually wouldn't; having lunch on her own in the large dining room, with just some servants looking on did not seem attractive at the moment. What she would actually like to do was have lunch with her maidens, but while having tea with them in her living room was normal, eating was not. Her maidens had their lunch and dinner in their own day room. Joining them there would be considered inappropriate, and it would infringe on their privacy too of course. She swallowed, "Yes, that would be fine Denora."

Her maiden nodded smiling, "Lunch will be served in your dining room in twenty minutes then."

She watched her get up and walk out of the bedchamber. When the door closed her worries returned. Things didn't look good for the eastern army at Bagman's Crossing, and if the western army deployed at the Little Fork got surrounded the chances of them winning this war were as good as gone. It was worrying to the extreme, even without the two most important men in her life possibly losing their lives. She needed something to distract her mind, and decided to pay her father's personal library a visit. Her earlier visits to the keep's public library hadn't yielded much information on the orcs, maybe she would have better luck in her father's. It would be nice to find something useful, so she wasn't going to feel so useless anymore

No courier from Brando showed that day, so apparently nothing important happened at The Forks yesterday. She had worried all day about their own messenger not getting to him in time, and took those worries, and the ones concerning her father, to bed with her. That night she had a terrible dream, about an orc victory, and a Pryoness having to chose between death and spreading her legs for the victors. In her dream, she chose her honor, and watched herself ascend a wooden podium on Iriskan's main square, her hands bound behind her. On top of it a huge masked orc wielding an equally huge evilly gleaming axe, and a wooden block encrusted in dried blood, awaited her.

She was made to kneel in front of the block, and then someone grabbed her long blonde hair and pulled her head down towards it. She ended up with the block supporting her neck and the top of her chest, looking down at blood spattered floor planks. Fear consumed her, and she felt warm piss drip down her thighs. She tried to get up, but strong hands held her down. She screamed, there was this swishing sound, and next she woke up covered in sweat. She sat up, clawing at the covers, and just seconds later the doors to the living room burst open and a maiden descended on the bed.

It was Vala, "Is everything alright milady?" the voluptuous redhead inquired.

She was still shaking, "Yes, yes it was just a bad dream," she managed.

There were male voices coming from the living room now, the guards she realized, and then Leavy's voice sounded from the doorway, "Is everything okay."

Vala answered for her, "Yes, she just had a bad dream."

The doors closed, and she leaned into Vala, "Sorry for waking you."

The redhead smiled, "We weren't asleep milady. I was on watch, reading in the living room, and Leavy was just relieving me."

It was news to her, "You're keeping watch?"

Vala nodded,"Yes milady, since you returned from Bragstone." The redhead hesitated for a moment, "We all felt how troubled you were, and decided to make sure one of us was on hand at all times."