All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 269: The Armies of Heaven

It didn't take me very long to find Arthur's army. Their camp stretched out alongside the road in a column 15 tents wide, disappearing over the next hill. They were marching in step and still a couple of days out. I was certain the city knew about their coming, as scouts surely could have made it back to report such an obvious force. But there had been no preparations, from what I could tell, for their attack.

Perhaps the city wasn't as well prepared as we had thought. Or maybe Arthur was doing something to intercept the scouts ahead of time. That would be something he would do.

Now that I'd found the army, I figured it would be worthwhile to stop and check in with them and let them know how things were going in the city. Besides, letting them know Beatrice's plan would help with her executing it, and doing it now would save me a trip back and forth between here and the city. So I found the command tent and dropped in. There, I found all the usual suspects sitting and talking late into the evening. When I made myself known with a greeting beep as I entered the tent, their startled jumps quickly turned to formal bows.

"Welcome back, Lord Void," Arthur said in his reassuringly deep voice. "I hope the mission in the city has gone well."

I waved to all of them and gave a happy greeting of chirping noises. Above my chassis, I flashed a quick highlight reel of the past two weeks before responding. "Yes, everything is well. How has the march been? The city does not seem to be aware of your presence."

Arthur and Susan both relaxed slightly. I noticed that Susan particularly looked exhausted, with bags under her eyes and a weary slump to her shoulders, but a small, satisfied smile played across her lips.

"So it's worked," she sighed.

Arthur nodded. "It looks like it has. Good job. Tell your scouts to keep it up there as long as we can. But they're all getting special accommodation when this is over."

"What's worked? I asked.

"Susan and her counterpart have been running a counterintelligence operation for the past couple of weeks. It's been difficult, but considering your update it's been worth it. Not to mention because of the levels they've been getting. I've never seen anything like it - church members excluded, of course."

"They've been tracking down all sorts of scouts, shooting down messenger birds and planting false information in towns a little bit before we reached them to report that our approach is a week or two farther behind where we currently are. We weren't able to hide the fact that we were coming, but the arrival date should be fairly off."

I mulled over this. "I don't think that we will be able to maintain this secrecy much longer. You appear to be only a day and a half away."

Arthur nodded. "Yes, but every hour of preparation counts. So, how's it been going on your end?"

"Quite well." I showed them the clean streets of the capital city. Each one was carefully tended to, repaired, and orderly. "The city is almost ready for our coming," I said. "Beatrice has a plan. I will tell them to open the northern gate for you an hour after sunset tomorrow. They will make a corridor of blocked alleys where the main street is kept free, where you can run down and attack the capital castle as quickly as possible. Once we have the castle siege, most of the garrison is stored there or along the wall, spread out so they won't be able to concentrate on any major defenses. We will hit the castle, keep the soldiers bottled up there, and then slowly expand to take the rest of the city, hopefully with minimal force and collateral damage.

"We have a large contingent of faithful in the city, and they should at least take care of the soldiers in the wall. Everyone who was involved in the church and is on guard has volunteered to take a shift that night." I relayed the message nearly word for word according to what Beatrice told me, only slightly adjusting it to match what I thought Arthur should know.

Arthur nodded. "Tomorrow night. Okay. Let's see... If we march double tomorrow, we should be able to make it. It'll be hard, because if we're gonna hit tomorrow night, we're going to be a bit tired. But if it's really as you say, then we shouldn't actually need to do too much fighting. It's hard to count on that, though."

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As he spoke, Arthur exchanged looks with his officers. They nodded in response, prepared to do what they needed to do.

"Don't worry," I said. "Beatrice will see this through. Also, I have a present."

I pulled out an apple and handed it to Arthur. The apple was only slightly glowing, but I was reasonably certain that it would not be harmful for him to eat.

The man looked at it, frowning in confusion and suspicion before flicking his eyes back to me. "Thanks?"

He took a tentative bite out of it, and his expression turned to a smile. I registered a quite audible and satisfying crunch as he took a second bite. "Wow. That's one of the sweetest apples I've ever had. Refreshing, too."

I pumped my little claw in satisfaction. Yes! I had made good fruit.

Arthur cocked his head and flexed slightly. "Huh? Seems like this has some interesting effects, too. I'm not sure though, perhaps I'm imagining it... How many of these do you have?" He asked.

"Um, not too many yet, but I'm learning how to grow them faster," I explained.

"Hmm. Well, it'll be interesting to see exactly what they do, but thank you for the gift, Lord Void." I sensed that it was time for me to go, as they had much work to do. I said goodbye to everyone, Susan and Tony especially, and headed off to tell Beatrice the good news.

---

After she had asked Void to accomplish the small errand. Bee set out for her meeting with Zeal. His cult members had claimed as many guard duty spots as they could, finding any excuse to swap into position along the wall, especially at the northern gate.

It should be enough. With an additional small force of cultists, Bee, and her companions, there should be no issue taking the northern gate. The wagon contracts had been set up such that they had replaced the drivers with their own people, and most were stashed near the corridor. The barricade was primed and could be established within a few hours of notice.

Everything was set up. Hopefully, Arthur wouldn't arrive tonight, but tomorrow. That might be ideal. Who knew how long it would take for people to notice her deceit. But she had faith in her people, and Void would surely see them through.

As she made her way toward the cult's meeting spot, a flash of movement caught her eye from the alley before her. A figure hurried out of it, their hood pulled low to obscure their face. They were in such a rush that they nearly ran straight into her. She had to dodge sideways to avoid them. As they narrowly avoided bumping into each other, Bee caught a brief flash of the face beneath that hood. It seemed... familiar, somehow. Though she couldn't be certain.

"Watch where you're going," Bee chastened the man. He glanced up at her and scoffed as he passed. That's when it clicked. She'd heard that scoff before. That particular tone of derision and disapproval had burned itself into her brain over the past few years.

It was her old headmaster. The Dean of Demonology himself, who she had last seen right before he performed a summoning ritual that brought Void into the castle. After that, he ran away with the others, abandoning her alone.

As their gazes had met, she'd seen no flash of recognition in them. There was no indication that he recognized who she was. And why would he? She had been a lowly maid. But she knew him.

Harold scrambled to his feet and hurried off down the alleyway. He looked over his shoulders as if worried she was going to follow him. She frowned. That was odd. This alley really only led to Zeal's hideout. What had the powerful magician been doing meeting with Zeal? Was Harold a follower of Void?

That didn't make any sense. He wasn't wearing the right clothes, nor was it likely that he would follow the very creature that he had run away from. But perhaps there was some merit to the idea. If anything, Harold did know the most about Void in some way. Perhaps that summoning had been intentional, after all. They'd just gotten more than they bargained for.

She never did figure out how exactly Void had come to this world. But if her master had just hijacked their powerful summoning circle as they attempted to use it for other purposes, maybe Harold wouldn't have any idea. In fact, he might've been completely confused about who Void was. That would explain a lot of things.

Bee shrugged. Well, perhaps if they had a chance to talk, she could explain some things. If he listened, of course. She didn't think he would be interested in what the maid had to say about magic.

She pushed that out of her mind and made a note to ask Zeal about it after their important business was done. Walking down the rest of the alleyway, she knocked and was soon shown to the cult leader's small office. This time, the woman huddled in the corner looked freshly bathed and clothed, though her face didn't look any less terrified.

Zeal greeted her with a smile. "Beatrice. Come in. Let us talk about the coming of our lord."