60 King Andrew’s Failure

King Andrew walked into the stinking medical tent and saw the faces of injured and dying soldiers before finding his friend Daniel Conners lying on a cot now missing a leg. He grabbed a nearby stool and sank down looking defeated, "Danny, I think this war is lost. Darius was forced back to his territory already and we have lost all but Leonard's brigade on the front lines."

Daniel had his arm over his eyes as he replied, "I'm not a knight anymore Drew. Even if I survive the trip home, what's left for me?"

"I regret this campaign. I thought with Darius beside us, our armies would crush them for sure. How could I have foreseen an army of this size and strength existing here under our noses?" King Andrew looked out to the battlefield where his remaining forces were slowly withdrawing. The grand army of Injia slowly advancing.

Daniel choked out a sob, "Why couldn't I have just died in battle?"

A soldier ran up and said, "Your Majesty, the enemy general has sent terms for our surrender." The soldier held out a scroll.

Andrew took the scroll with confidence, "Leave us." As the soldier walked off he unfurled the scroll and started to laugh as he read, "The terms are that my soldiers may leave now but I will stay with them until a debt of ten thousand pounds of gold is delivered. Or I can allow them to publicly castrate me and leave without my balls for free. All of our weapons, armor, and supplies are to be left as spoils of war."

Daniel moaned not replying with any thoughts. Andrew stood up and roared out, "Full retreat. Load everyone who can't walk into the wagons. We're going to race these bastards to the Connaissance border!"

The sounds of the Windsor Kingdom warhorns sounded the signal for a full retreat. The soldiers at the front turned and ran from the battle causing the Grand Army of Injia to roar out in victory. Anything that was too heavy to carry was abandoned including spare weapons, armor, tents, and even food supplies. As the brave men from the Windsor Kingdom tried to escape, clouds of arrows fell on them from all directions. King Andrew clenched his fists in anger, "They have us surrounded, charge through, kill our way to freedom!" He turned and looked at his friend Daniel and the other wounded and shouted out, "Leave the wounded!"

Andrew still had over a million men under his command as he ran his army through the hail of arrows. Thousands lost their lives in the tragic retreat but seeing that their King lived gave the remaining knights courage to race to the front of the retreat and ride down the archers blocking the path. A trail of dead and dying Windsor Kingdom soldiers created a road of death from the battlefield all the way to the Connaissance border with Injia and Fursia. The massive CCAS Indomitable slowly drifted overhead causing the weary Windsor Kingdom soldiers to almost cry in relief.

King Darius had his army at the Fursian border after their own retreat. His army in much better shape than King Andrew's.

*****

"Captain Queeg do we intercept the enemy forces?" A young officer asked.

The Captain was holding a couple of bees in his hand rolling them over and over in his palm. A thin sheen of sweat covered his brow. "Negative, our orders are to watch for border incursions only."

"Look at the trail of bodies! They are losing thousands!" The young officer pointed.

Captain Queeg roared out, "They aren't our soldiers, Mr. Keith! Our mission is to guard this border against enemy incursions!"

One of the other officers cried out, "The Windsor Kingdom command flag just fell! The retreating Windsor army just got cut in two! It looks like half the Windsor Kingdom army is in Connaissance now and the other half has just surrendered."

Captain Queeg barked out, "Has the Grand Army of Injia crossed our border, Mr. Maryk?"

"Negative sir, they are moving away with the prisoners. The Windsor Kingdom forces on our side are gathering at our Eastern border gate."

*****

Victoria brushed the hair out of her eyes and asked, "Must you leave so soon Remus?"

He nodded at her and reached out rubbing her cheek, "There is trouble on the Eastern Border, I am the lower defense Commander, I have to be out there. Don't worry though, I will be home soon."

Victoria looked concerned, "Will it be dangerous?"

He shook his head, "We'll have big brother hovering over us in the sky." He walked up to her and pulled her into a deep kiss and said, "I can't say I will be home for dinner tonight, but it shouldn't be too long."

As soon as he left his house a runner came over from the Eastern wall, "Captain Staughler, the Knight Commander from the Windsor Kingdom is requesting reinforcements in order to save King Andrew and his men."

He frowned and said, "Get on the Far Speak to Sir Colton, advise him I am on my way to the Eastern Gate. Ask for instructions. Also, see if we can't get the new Far Speak line to that gate installed today. Also, see if we can get the Zealous over here. to cover the West and South."

He yelled out, "Briggs, close the western and southern gates no one in or out today. Stratton, Jones you are with me, we're going to need the Eastern Beehives hot today." He mounted up his horse and soon they were all galloping at their fastest speed to the Eastern Gate.

It took them a little over an hour to finally make it out to the Eastern Gate what the found shocked them to the core. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Windsor Kingdom were sitting outside of the closed gate waiting for entry or yelling for the soldiers from Connaissance to help rescue King Andrew. Floating above the gate was the massive Indomitable casting its shadow over the soldiers ominously. Captain Staughler called out, "Flags! Signal the Indomitable, how close is the Grand Army of Injia?"

"Captain! Indomitable signals GAoI is withdrawing. One thousand meters!" The Flagman shouted back.

Captain Staughler raced up to the top of the wall and called down, "Who is in command?"

A heavily armored knight limped forward and called up, "Sir Leonard McCoy, I am the ranking Knight commander."

Captain Staughler called down to his men, "Open the people door allow him in." A small one-person door next to the massive gate was opened allowing the Knight to limp inside the wall.

The Captain made his way down the stairs and gave Sir Leonard a stiff handshake. Sir Leonard spoke first, "Hello Remus, good to see you again."

"Sir McCoy lets cut the formalities short, you came through with two million and you are outside my gate with less than a quarter of that right now. How do you want to handle things? I can't let your men through at the moment because they are still in chaos from the defeat. I don't have the manpower to stop that many if they decide to start trouble. What can we do?"

He nodded and said, "If you don't mind Remus, I'd like to camp the army outside the gate here, I only request medical attention for my most wounded and basic humanitarian assistance for the rest. We have no tents or food. We had to throw down anything we couldn't run with when we left in retreat. I know that's asking a lot. If we can't do that much is it possible to allow us to send small groups of twenty at a time back to the Kingdom?"

*****

Emily set down the Far Speak at her desk and said to Captain Alexander and Teslaimia, "Darius and Andrew have been defeated. Andrew was taken hostage along with half his remaining forces. The other half is being held at our border. They have no food or shelter. Roger suggested that we disarm them and bring them back to the Windsor Kingdom by a single-file march in groups of one thousand. Even doing that he has advised it could take a week to get them back into the Windsor Kingdom."

Jon let out a breath looking upset, "I can't believe that man was defeated so easily. I know he likes to take risks on the battlefield but Darius as well?"

Princess Teslaimia looked at Emily with concern, "Is my father ok?"

Emily shrugged and said, "It's too early to know. We won't get a message from Fursia for at least two more days. I know you are worried, Mia, as soon as I know, you will know. I promise." Emily looked at Jon and then said, "My uncle charges forward in the assurance that no one else is as smart as he is, that's his fatal flaw." She sighed, "The world is filled with smart people. It's foolish to believe you can out-think everyone."

Jon asked, "Are you planning to house and feed his men while letting them trickle back to the Kingdom?"

Emily tapped her finger on the desk and said, "No, that's not a viable solution. I warned those two that they were underestimating Injia. They didn't bother to gather any intelligence for racing in to claim the prize. We don't have the men or material to take care of this mess." She picked up the Far Speak, "Roger." She waited for his reply, "Disarm them and march them straight through to the Windsor Kingdom. We'll return the weapons to them once they finish assembling back in their kingdom." She listened again and then said, "The quicker the better. We won't be feeding them or housing them. Caring for the most critically injured will be allowed." She set the far speak back down.

Princess Teslaimia asked, "Won't the Kingdom fall apart now? Are you prepared to let your Father's Kingdom fall into civil war?"

Emily stood up picking up her cane and walking over to the chalkboard. She wrote the word 'Pros' and the word 'Cons' on each side and then drew a line between them. She started to quickly write bullet points on either side. She quickly looked over both sides and then started to pace around the room, "Jon I want you to go see Roger in person. I want him to make preparations for war with the Windsor Kingdom if things there start to fall into chaos. We don't have the manpower to occupy the country, which means we need them to choose me as their legitimate ruler, we can only accomplish this with the help of the Church. The Nobles won't want to be enemies with both the north and the south now that they have lost nearly their entire army."

Jon nodded and said, "I'll be back here in four hours, don't run off on any kind of adventures until I get back." He pointed at both women. "My men will be with you but I can't always be breaking down doors to save you."

Teslaimia laughed as he walked off looking heroic, "You've decided to become the Queen?"

Emily said softly, "This is years ahead of schedule, I needed Andrew to watch over my Kingdom at least ten years. I never thought he would be so stupid as to start trying to build an empire his first few years as King."

"This isn't at all like what you have been telling me, Emmy. I thought you wanted to build the perfect city of Tomorrow?" Teslaimia frowned, "Will my Kingdom be next?"

Emily walked over to the couch and sat down next to Teslaimia, "I don't want to walk the path of a conqueror, Mia. The Windsor Kingdom should be my responsibility right now, but I thought for the long term health of the Kingdom and for my own well being I needed to focus on Connaissance and let Andrew usurp my position. The Church wanted him. The Nobles wanted him and the people were more inclined to have him as King."

"Then you weren't planning on taking it back by force?" She frowned slightly.

Emily sighed, "Mia, I wanted to rebuild the City of Connaissance. I wanted to see the skies filled with airships and buildings that were as tall as mountains. My responsibility to the Windsor Kingdom just needed to be served by a capable leader. I never anticipated that my uncle would be this brazen to take the entire Kingdom's military on a war of conquest without hesitation. I fear that he felt comfortable doing this because he had my support in defense of the Kingdom and truly believed that there was no war he couldn't win. I admit a part of me wanted to come back when we were prepared and take back what was rightfully mine, but I am not some bloodthirsty conqueror looking to build an empire."

"I just want to hear beautiful music, see a great play, and visit art galleries with you Emmy. I just hope that once you take this path, you won't move us to the Palace and leave all this behind."