Crusade Gone Awry Ch. 01

"I take it everything is going smoothly?" The ancient man asked, putting the bucket and the trident beside his fish house. He was clearly sarcastic and Lionheart was in no mood for it.

"My second in command is missing!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What was she doing?" Adrum asked calmly.

"Looking for a blacksmith!"

"How many were with her?"

"She was alone!" Much to the colonel's fury, the old man laughed. It was a dry, croaking cackle.

"Did I not tell you to watch your back? How can one watch one's back alone?" The decrepit man sat in his chair beside his house, picked the fish ofg the trident and began cleaning it with his bare hands. "I tried to warn you, be glad it only cost you one soldier."

"I want her back!" the colonel shouted. His hand gripped his sword so tight that his fingers were white, even through his armor. Adrum stopped cleaning the fish, his hands covered in guts. Their eyes met. The old man appeared serious all of a sudden.

"In all likelihood, she is either dead or not human anymore." Adrum said coolly.

"What the hell does that mean!?" Adrum threw the fish and its guts onto the ground. He stood up, using the trident as if it were a walking staff.

"It means that this is a land of madness, as I told you before. Even if she is alive, which isn't guaranteed, some manner of magic has probably taken her. She was a strong, armed soldier, so it isn't likely someone robbed her or enslaved her. Which means that magic must have been involved. She might not even be in the city anymore. She might be with the creatures in the desert, or dead, or some sort of monster herself. I warned you young man, don't come crying to me if you didn't heed my advice."

"I will ransack every house in this city until I get my answer!" the colonel shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Don't be a fool." Adrum retorted, pointing his trident at the colonel. "I've been watching your boats come in all day. You have eight hundred soldiers at most. This is a city of tens of thousands. If I rally them we will simply overwhelm you, not just with people but with magic." Colonel Lionheart gave the ancient man a deadly glare. He could cut the man down where he stood, but the population would become incensed. The commander of these forces cutting down such an old man who still lived off of the ocean? They would murder them in the streets. Still, how was he supposed to let this go? His second-in-command was likely being tortured at that very moment.

"What am I supposed to do?" the colonel finally asked. "Nothing? Let her disappear? She was one of my best soldiers and one of the few people in this world I would trust with my life." Adrum seemed to growl at himself. He gazed off at the sea for a few moments. After gathering his thoughts he turned back to the colonel.

"The longer you are here, the more aware the Demon King will become to your presence. It would take you at least a week to ransack this city if we resist and that's assuming we aren't effective. By that time, the king will have organized an army of monsters and you will be annihilated without fail. The only hope you have is to catch him before that happens. The longer you wait, the more powerful he becomes." There were a few more tense moments between them. Somehow, despite the man's endless wrinkles, hunched stature and squat legs, he was intimidating.

"I swear to the goddess that when this is over I will return. I don't care if I have to burn this entire city down, I will find out what happened to Lieutenant Colonel Marisa Steinam. I swear to you." Adrum stared at him for a moment.

"I'll find out for you." the ancient man said. "By the time you come back, I will have you an answer."

"I'm going to hold you to that...old man." The colonel then turned and marched away, heading for the city gates. Adrum watched him as he walked away, making sure he was leaving. The moment he disappeared into the buildings the old man scoffed and returned to his chair. He picked up the fish from the ground and began cleaning it again. He then grinned and began chuckling

"So confident." Adrum muttered. "Just like all the others."

Colonel Lionheart walked out of the city gates and emerged into the camp his soldiers made. They had hastily put up tents and were setting fires as the temperature was rapidly dropping. The colonel's officers were waiting near the entrance, warming themselves by one of the fires. They had taken off their plated armor and were in their chainmail. The colonel walked up to them, with each of them standing to attention when the saw him. Major Ackler was a little slower to come to attention than the rest of them.

"Be on guard at all times!" Colonel Lionheart shouted immediately. "Never for a moment think you are safe! There are threats everywhere!" The commander then spat into the sand. All of his officers gazed at one another. It was Captain Talia Fenner that spoke first.

"Sir, have you found Lieutenant Steinem?" She asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"No." The commander replied bitterly. "Unfortunately we don't have any time to waste. The old codg...I mean Adrum believes that she is likely already dead or sold into slavery or something. The longer we wait, the more time the Demon King has to get his defenses ready. We have far fewer soldiers than any crusade before, but we are the most elite the church has. They have faith in us and we can't squander that faith for one person." Colonel Lionheart gazed down at the sand on his feet. "No matter who it is. I don't like this one bit, and once it's over we will return and find out where she is, dead or alive, and make the person responsible pay. For now...we have a mission to conduct." The colonel gazed back up and came to attention. "Each of you report." Although his officers appeared appeared unsure of his decision, they obeyed.

"Well," Oren began, not looking as interested. "It was easy enough to find some vendors. I'm not sure our stomachs will be entirely happy with it, but I've got us food. All you have to do is pay them." The major fell silent as the commander glared at him. For a few moments, tension hung in the air. Then Oren's eyes lit up. "Oh, sorry sir." He finally said with respect. "Apologies sir. Did not mean to offend you sir." He seemed disgusted with the word "sir," but having him say it was probably good enough. The commander let it go and turned to the next person.

"The defenses of this town are surprisingly good sir." Major Sam Ageril stated. He was more matter-of-fact and a lot more respectful. "The walls do not have any major structural weakness, there are archer holes every few feet and it is designed to be manned and fled from in a matter of minutes."

"Very good." the commander said. "I doubt we will be taking to the defense of this city, but it's good to know what it's capabilities are." He turned to the next person.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't find any horses the people would part with sir." Captain Tay Rainground began. "The horses they do have are used for farming along the coast and are not suited for long distances or battles. They also possess camels, but as we are not trained with those I don't think they would serve us sir."

"Horses would probably be poor in this sand anyway. Thank you for looking."

"I scoured the residential district sir." Captain Talia Fenner stated. "Most of them wanted to lure me into their homes. The vast majority of the people laughed at me when I asked if they wanted to join."

"So there are no recruits?"

"Well...there is...one." Talia had a cute squeak in her voice when she said "well." The commander didn't notice.

"One?"

"He says he can help guide us through the desert. It's just...he's...not entirely human sir."

"Entirely?"

"He seems to be...how should I put it? Part fox."

"Fox?"

"Desert fox to be precise...sir. Still, he seemed eager to help us, for the right price sir."

"It seems we've been getting a lot of that." The colonel rolled his eyes. "Beggar's can't be choosers. We're here for the Demon King. We'll accept help from anyone."

"Yes sir." The captain said in acknowledgment. The colonel turned to First Lieutenant Eliza Bevens.

"Almost everyone is off the boat sir." She stated. "There are only a few more. Everyone knew the drill and there were no incidents sir."

"Good job everyone." The colonel said, although he gave the disaffected Oren a glare. "Make sure everyone is prepared for battle at all times. We will move out immediately at dawn tomorrow. I will have to meet our...unusual guide immediately."

"Yes sir." They all said, saluting with their hands on their hearts. Oren was a little slower than the rest of them.

"Dismissed." They all scattered except for Talia. She stood in place, staring at the colonel. "Is there something else captain?"

"Sir, Marisa had a sister." she said bluntly. The colonel flinched, abruptly uncomfortable.

"I see. We will have to send her a message once this is over." the commander said, trying to defer any feelings he had for later.

"That's just it sir, she's on this campaign." The colonel took a deep breath as he suddenly felt a tightening in his gut. He had an obligation to the soldiers under his command, Marisa's sister included. "She's a private on the last boat. The lieutenant colonel made sure of that in case we had a rough landing. She should be here shortly." The colonel lifted his gauntlet hand and put it to his head. This situation was one of the worst he had ever been in. All the battles were nothing compared to what he was about to have to do.

"I'll break the news. It's my duty. You tell our guide to wait in my tent, and make sure he is unarmed."

"Yes sir." Captain Fenner saluted and marched away. The colonel felt even older than he did that morning. This was already the longest campaign in his career and it was just beginning.

The colonel waited by the gate for the last soldiers to arrive. He had asked his quartermaster, who apparently knew both Marisa and his sister, to point out when the woman arrived. When a group of soldiers marched through the entranceway, carrying their possessions on their back, the quartermaster pointed. The colonel marched forward. The moment the group of soldiers saw him they stopped. Some of them dropped their packs in surprise, but they all saluted very quickly. The colonel saluted back to them.

"At ease soldiers." he said. It didn't do him any good to say that, they all appeared just as nervous as before. "I am looking for a Private Steinam, sister of Lieutenant Colonel Marisa Steinhem."

"Huh? Oh, that's me sir." A young woman stepped forward. As the commander examined her, he saw some resemblance. They had the same nose and jaw, but this woman had a much gentler expression. Her eyes were brown and her hair blonde and short. She was also smaller and judging from the way she moved and her smaller hands and feet, she was much more slender than her sister.

"The rest of you may move on. I must speak with Private Steinam alone." The other soldiers saluted nervously and quickly marched away. The young woman appeared very nervous, completely puzzled as to what this was about.

"What is your name private?" The colonel began.

"It's...Catarina Steinam sir."

"Catarina. I have...unfortunate news to deliver to you."

"What is it?"

"Your sister has gone missing." Abruptly the nervousness disappeared from Catarina's face. She appeared very dire and very worried.

"What? What happened?"

"I sent my officers into the city to acquire supplies and scout. I sent her to secure a blacksmith for our armor and weapons. She never reported back."

"Have you organized a search?" The colonel felt the knot in his stomach tie tighter. Families frequently didn't understand the need to put the mission before their loved ones. The commander did not enjoy being yelled at by emotional people.

"I would like to do nothing else. She was my best soldier and I would trust her with my life. However, there is no time. The longer we wait, the more time the Demon King has to prepare for our attack. I threatened to search all of the houses in the city, but we were threatened with retaliation and it would take us at least a week to search the city by force. We cannot wait that long. The plan is for us to strike hard and strike fast. We are the elite soldiers, hand-picked from combat veterans and high scorers during training. We are the best and we have to act like the best. As much as it pains me, we must wait to put forward a search or else the entire operation will suffer. I swear to you, once this over, we will get answers. For now, we must press on." Throughout the whole explanation, Catarina stared at her feet. She showed no emotion through all of it. The colonel continued to brace himself for the inevitable yelling.

"I understand sir." she finally said.

"You do? Well...great. I appreciate your professionalism in this matter. I care for your sister a lot, and I will not rest until I find her or get answers." The colonel saluted and began walking away.

"Sir!" the private shouted. He turned back towards her.

"Yes?"

"If possible...I want to help fill her void in some way." Catarina's eyes were filled with determination and will. She greatly resembled her sister all of a sudden. "I know I can't be your second in command, but I have to help in some way! I can't let my sister just be a footnote in this campaign. I have to help her legacy. She's..." The young woman abruptly looked down at the sand on the ground. "She's...all I have. Our parents...were killed by bandits." The colonel stared at her silently. With that determined look on her face she looked so much like her sister, that fire, that intensity, the loyalty to duty. The commander gazed up at the night sky, thinking.

"It's true. I can't make you my second in command." he said. "However, I can make you my personal aide." Catarina's face lifted, a bright expression on her face. "It was one of her functions as my second. I don't think Major Ageril would be willing to do that." The young woman stood at attention and saluted.

"I would be happy to be your personal aide sir!"

"Very well. Put your things away and meet in my tent. You will need to keep a record of what happens here."

"Yes sir!" Catarina dashed away, eager to cast off her luggage. The commander watched her run away, eager to begin her new job. The colonel then gazed out into the desert.

"How much more will you take from me I wonder?" The desert did not answer. It never did. It only sweltered and killed. The commander took a deep breath, regained his professional composure and began marching to his tent.