Chapter 419 — Behold This City, Impregnable as Iron
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"Disaster. A disaster. A dreadful, merciless, brutal war with not a shred of classical courtesy about it destroyed everything," Viscount Carroll could not help trembling slightly. "And, honored sir, pray do not sigh over the ancestors above—those words give me nightmares now whenever I hear them."
Beside him Viscount Consco pressed a hand to his brow, his voice thick with anguish: "We were beaten by the ancestors..."
"...May the gods watch over you. All will be well," said Sir Maqi. He had weathered a great many storms in his life, but a scene like this he had truly never seen, and he had no notion how to take up so bizarre a thread. He could only hurry these fallen gentlemen and ladies into the city. "I have hot water prepared for you. Tramping through muddy wilds must have been dreadful."
"Food first. Cheese, cutlets, wine—by the gods, the bathing can wait!" Viscount Mari Oran said urgently. "Is there anything to eat?"
"Of course. I sent word ahead to have food prepared the moment I rode out; Stonehold's stores are ample," Sir Maqi nodded at once. But as a high knight who held a fortress, he could not help casting a wary glance at that column of nearly a thousand. "Forgive my caution, however—taking so many inside at once is dangerous. I must have them searched as necessary, lest the enemy's spies be hidden among them. In circumstances like these, that happens easily enough."
Viscount Consco glanced back at the soldiers and knights who had followed him all the way through the war zone, and said loudly to Sir Maqi: "Honored sir, these men have faced death at our side, and their loyalty is worthy of all respect. Naturally I understand the fortress's rules, so I ask only that you complete the inspection quickly, that these brave warriors may enter and eat and rest the sooner."
At these upright and generous words the soldiers were all visibly moved—whereupon Viscount Consco, without so much as a change of expression, rode his horse up beside Sir Maqi, lowered his voice, and murmured: "Search them however you like. Just get us something to eat first."
The nobles, knights, and priests in the column made their way toward the city in Sir Maqi's company and that of the fortress's knights, while the rest began submitting to inspection by the garrison. Viscountess Luopeni cast the searching soldiers one indifferent glance, then fell in with the other nobles.
She knew exactly what such an inspection amounted to, and so she was not in the least worried. Without a proper system of registration and identity verification, a "search" was nothing more than asking the others in the same company whether they could vouch for one another. Perhaps such questioning was of some use when a handful of spies slipped into an army—but who would ever imagine that an entire noble's personal retinue, from top to bottom, was made up of spies?
She raised her head and watched the towering gate of Stonehold Fortress draw nearer and nearer before her, then stepped through it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are safe now," said Sir Maqi from the saddle. As he crossed the threshold of the fortress gate, he turned his head with a smile and looked at the nobles, whose faces were relaxing at last. "This bastion is impregnable."
Viscount Carroll lifted his head and looked at the black wall that gave off a faint aura of magic. That famous wall did indeed set his heart somewhat at ease, but still he could not refrain from saying: "Honored sir, allow me one word—the danger that is Gaoyang Cecil is beyond anything you can imagine! By some unknown means he has forged a terrifying legion. We were routed almost before we could bring it to open battle. Even now he is likely gathering men and hoarding strength in the south, and he may well set his sights on this place..."
Sir Maqi could not help turning back: "But I am told it was not he who started the war?"