Jospeh XI, Meixiu III

PA 1.2

Joseph

It had been a week since Gamila had left for her mission to the enemy kingdom. And every moment since then had been wracked with tension as he waited to figure out what happened, hoping beyond hope that he hadn’t sent one of his people off on a fool’s quest to her doom.

Fortunately, it seemed that would end today.

Joseph was out on the new docks—they were outside the old walls, with the old ones having been dismantled to make it just that little bit harder for an enemy to invade by sea. Currently the docks had a scattering of merchants—mostly people from the south, though also a bit from the north—who were either brave enough to continue to trade during war, or actively profiteering off of it.

However, Joseph only had eyes for one merchant. A tall man with no distinguishing features besides his bald head, he was the only merchant at the docks who didn’t just trade in goods, but in secrets. At least, hopefully he was the only one.

Their eyes met and, pretending something he was selling had caught his eye, Joseph walked slowly over.

As he did, he considered the man in front of him. The ‘Merchant’ was in fact a part of their budding spy network. He was one of Gamila’s underlings who was loyal to her from her time as a general under Meixiu. His job before the war had been to travel up and down the river to the neighboring kingdoms, learning local gossip while posing as an independent merchant. When the war started he’d been all the way up in the Wustenreich, too far away to contact. However, aware that he’d make his way back to the Capital as soon as he could, Joseph had been waiting for the man to return in the hope that he’d been smart enough to stop in Fortaleza and contact Gamila. He’d been waiting for his arrival ever since the war was officially declared.

And, finally, that wait paid off.

“Pharaoh Joseph,” the man nodded, his face severe. “Lady T’ila sends her regards.”

Joseph raised an eyebrow, but nodded back nonetheless. ‘Lady T’ila? I assume that’s Gamila…? Why did she choose that name?’

“The Lady has a gift for you, Pharaoh. Make good use of it,” the Merchant continued, grabbing something from his pile of merchandise.

It was a pot. A small, brown, unimpressive pot with black markings decorating the sides. And in any mortal’s hands, that’s all it would be. A pot.

In Joseph’s hands, however, the markings revealed themselves to be something else entirely.

ለንጉሱ ዓይኖች ብቻ. አሁን ቀስትና ቀስት የታጠቁ ስልሳ አራት ሰዎች አሏቸው። ወታደሮቹ አረንጓዴ ናቸው. ኦሊቪያ ለዚህ ጦርነት አልተዘጋጀችም. ዋናው ጦር አሁንም ሌላ ከተማ እየከበበ ነው። ይህ ከተማ እኛን ለማዘግየት ታስቦ ነው.

They were words. In a language he didn’t know, but as he squinted his eyes he could already see them transforming into English.

Before being sent to this world, Gamila had lived in Ethiopia. The country had its own national language, ‘Amharic,’ which Gamila was fluent in. Normally, due to the auto-translation function that all God-Kings had this wouldn’t matter, since it would automatically translate Amharic to whatever the God-King’s language was. However, that required a God-King to see it in the first place.

That made it the perfect cypher for mortals. A language that didn’t exist, only translatable by a God-King. Even if a mortal came into possession of it, it would be impossible for them to translate, if they even realized it was words in the first place.

And on it, it read:

Only for the eyes of the king. They now have sixty-four people armed with bow and arrows. The soldiers are green. Olivia was not prepared for this war. The main army is still besieging another city. This city is meant to delay us.

He frowned. The fact that Gamila had successfully infiltrated Fortaleza was a weight off his chest, but the information she’d sent back was more than worrying.

The bow was one of the most powerful weapons in human history, used from the stone age all the way to the advent of the gun. Bows were more powerful, more dangerous, and had a greater range than his slingers ever would have. That was an advantage that he could not allow his enemies to have on him.

That said, the fact that Queen Olivia apparently wasn’t prepared for this war combined with the low troop count was an advantage for them. In fact, knowing that instantly changed his plans for the start of this war.

Right now, with untrained troops and the army weeks away, taking Fortaleza as quickly as possible was a priority. Offense was more important than defense right now—if they could take Fortazela quick enough, they’d be able to blitz their way up the river, possibly even making it into the Song Cua Toi before the main army could stop them.

Sighing, he nodded at the man in front of him. “Thank you for your service, Merchant. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

With a respectful tilt of his head, the Merchant backed away, moving to barter with people who were actually buying from him.

How professional. If only they could rely on him more regularly.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t use this way of communicating again, or at least not soon. In order to keep up his cover as an independent merchant the trader had to sail at least down to the Starfell Kingdom and back before returning north, and at least up to the Wustenreich before returning.

That being said, with what he’d just decided, this war would be decided soon enough anyway.

--

Meixiu

Evenings in the desert were always strange to Meixiu. While days were hot and dry as you’d expect, the transition from hot to cold as the sun went down often caught her off guard. As someone who’d never visited a desert before coming to this world, it always surprised her how often it was the little things that threw her off.

Of course, not every surprise was bad. Sunsets in the desert were always beautiful, in a way that city-life hadn’t prepared her for. The normally monochrome desert was painted in brilliant oranges and reds by the setting sun, looking more beautiful than any painting. Why, it’s almost like they named their kingdom after them!

Meixiu snorted at the thought. Joseph’s humor was starting to rub off on her.

The day was over, now. That was one of the good things about being in the past, she supposed. The day ended with the sun. Even the army got to stand down with the sun.

And so that’s where Meixiu was now. Relaxing in her bed in just her nightgown, wrapped up in her blankets like a burrito. Cozy and comfortable and getting ready to sleep.

“General Meixiu!” the guard outside her hut suddenly called. “A scout from the capital is here to see you!”

“Shiiiiiit,” she groaned quietly. “One second!” she called back, jumping off her bed in a rush only to slam her knee into her nightstand. “Fuck! Fucking fuck!” she whimpered quietly, shakily standing to her feet with a hiss.

A few panicking moments later, she was in uniform and leaning over the war map in a suitably dramatic fashion. “All right, let them in!”

The scout entered her room, bowing his head respectfully at her. The man was dressed in civilian clothes—as all scouts were—but flashed his badge at her so she could make sure of who he was.

Giving it a once over and finding it genuine, she nodded, giving him permission to speak.

“General, I’ve come with a message from the Pharaoh,” the man saluted her.

“Report, then. What news does he have for us?”

“The Lady has successfully made it to the city, and has reported back. The enemy army is currently at only sixty-four soldiers and counting. Apparently, their plan is to delay us for as long as possible. The Pharaoh advises that we go on the offensive now so that we can avoid that,” the man then frowned. “They also have something called a ‘bow and arrow.’ Some sort of powerful ranged weapon. The Pharaoh said it was your job to plan around that.”

Meixiu winced at the information about the bow, and then winced harder at the fact that Joseph was leaving it up to her to figure out what to do about it.

“…I see,” she nodded at the scout, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from cursing. “Thank you for your service, you’re dismissed for now. Go carry out whatever else you need to do.”

“General,” he nodded, leaving her alone.

Once he was out of earshot, Meixiu sighed heavily. “Honestly,” she grumbled quietly to herself. “What the hell am I supposed to do about this, Joseph? Do you take me for some kind of miracle worker?! Fuck off!”

Complaining done, she took a deep breath to center herself. “Right,” she murmured to herself, turning to lean over the map she’d taken with her from the capital. “They have more advanced weaponry than us, but we have more soldiers. If their goal is to delay us, then there’s no reason for them to go on the offensive when they could just hide behind their walls. Instead…” she idly tapped the various x’s on that represented cities on the map. “…no, we need to avoid Fortaleza all together. Go around it and capture King Wen’s Capital, cut off their resupply. With such a small army offense will never be an option for them, so leaving the city behind our lines is less of a danger than normal. That said, they could wreak havoc on our supply lines if we’re not careful, and could pull off a dangerous pincer maneuver if the main army turns around on us…”

Meixiu sighed, scratching her forehead. Why couldn’t there just be a good solution to their problems for once?

“That’s just life, I suppose,” she groaned, turning away from the table.

She was the general of the Sunset army. Their failure and success was on her shoulders alone.

It was both terrifying and exhilarating. And as much as it sometimes rankled her how much stress Joseph was putting on her as general, the fact that he trusted her to lead his army was an extension of faith that she wasn’t sure she would have been able to give anyone had their situations been reversed. She grumbled about it, sure, but it actually did touch her the amount of trust he had in her. That was why she continued to follow him, really. He trusted in not just her word, but her skill as well.

That was why she had to win this war. To prove that his faith in her as a leader was not in vain.

Having psyched herself up, she turned back to the map.

“Right. We’re going on the offense. That’s happening no matter what,” she murmured. “If we could better communicate with Gamila then attacking the city might be worth it, but between the river and their ranged weapons, a long siege would require far too many resources to be worth it. The Oasis city would fall long before Fortaleza ever would. In that case… yes, going around the city is the better option for now. Cut it off from any supplies and we’d basically be sieging it without even having to go near it.”

With a firm nod, she decided on the plan. An indirect offense would be their best bet right now.

With that done, there was only one thing left for her to do.

Sleep.

“General!” the guard outside suddenly called to her. “There’s been a scuffle by the training yard—apparently someone tried to sneak some more rations. They want you there to deal out the punishment!”

Meixiu groaned.

9,900 God-Kings Remain