“I’ve been waiting for long enough to see you again.”
Alone standing on the hill north of Carthagia, a cavalry commander, with a half-burned cigarette holding on her mouth, laid her eye upon the city.
**
“Who is he? Why is he here anyway?”
In the carriage of the Mercenary Prince, the people inside got squashed into each other in order to welcome another person aboard. His name is Hannibal Barka, no other than an acquaintance of Belisari, who he hasn’t met for ten years. This man was the son of the Carthagian ambassador for Latila, and now in the light of the reunion, Hannibal had joined the expedition army.
“How could you survive the war? I thought they hunted down every governor and their family when they took the capital?”
Asked Belisari in his curiosity. He heard about the imprisonment of the Carthagian Republic Government subsequently to the fall of the capital city from rumors of Aeropostalis merchants coming to Latila a few years after the war. Hannibal, sighs in relief when remembering how he escaped the ordeal, he says:
“My father moved us from the capital to the outskirts before the siege, then we moved much further to where I am currently living. The Elestovakians only reached as far as within the war, they had no desire to search in the desert, deeming us not worth the effort.”
“Oh, yeah. I can see why.”
The settlement which Hannibal’s family located after the war had less than a hundred living souls, the surrounding even less. The main reason for it was due to the lack of trade as the flow of goods usually travel along with the Carthagian river and the uncommonness of arable land due to usual desert wind.
With all of the reasons above, the population around the Southern Army’ path to Carthagia is low. Because of that, it was said by the Emperor of Elestovakia himself that his Imperial Army doesn’t have to try hunting down nationalist governor escapees in the desert, as they cannot raise any army to pose a threat to the stability of the captured province. Ironically, because that is how Hannibal escaped the wrath of the Elestovakians, he had a-basically-debt to Emperor Kaval:
“I was actually very surprised”-the Carthagian man speaks, trying to lift the spirit-”The Kingdom of Latila is still alive, and is fighting back the Empire, and is kind enough to come all the way to Carthagia to help liberate us from those southern barbarians.”
“Ah, haha. Not really, I just thought with the help of your people, the war would be easier for us.”-Belisari admits, but Hannibal says:
“Nonetheless, you are actively helping us. We appreciate all the support. What do we have here? Six hundred troops? They look familiar.”
“De facto, they were Ganeoese Mercenaries, now officially recruited as Latilian Marine Corps, though having no boat. And no, not six hundred, two thousand.”
“Two thousand?”
The Carthagian man expresses his surprise, he gazes back at the line::
“My estimation said it’s just six hundred, where are the rest?”
“In the north. We are moving in three prongs toward Carthagia. One of Liliya, Lily, one of Gerald, you know them boths, right?-nodded Hannibal-”And one of me. In total, two thousand troops.”
“Oh, I see.”
In synchronization with the southern contingent, the other armies are also rushing toward the city on desert. Approximately, the Marines are 40 kilometers away from Carthagia, followed by the Cathedraller with the distance being 45 kilometers. The Winged Husaria, famously known for their ultimate speed and devastation, are just 5 kilometers from Outer Carthagia, hiding in the sand:
“That was well-prepared.”
“I know…”
“...”
“...”
“Hey, may you introduce me to them?”
“Who?”
Hannibal points at the engineer and the pastor, the two people that have been curiously watching the conversation of the two old friends from their corner in the vehicles. Upon being called out, Aurora and Daniel respectively introduce themselves:
“Please address me as Aurora, 15… no, 16 years old, head engineer of the Kingdom of Latila, soon to be Duchess of Auronopolis, and His Highness’s left hand in the expedition army. I am smart, so you may rely on my brilliance at any time given if you ask nicely. Nice to meet you.”
Clearly, Aurora did not hold anything back at all when introducing herself to Hannibal. In contradiction, Daniel modestly speaks:
“Pastor Daniel Borei of the Knights Cathedraller. I’m 20. Nice to meet you.”
“Aurora and Daniel, I remember. Hannibal Barka, 29, my father was an ambassador of Carthagia in Latila.”
“Oh, where is he?”
“He’s gone, dying of old age two years ago, lived a good life.”
“Eh…sorry about your loss. May the Lord be with him.”
“He wasn't a Kristian, but okay.”
Respectively, the two people shake hands with Barka. Well, the man looks imitating with his Mediterranean tan with the symbolic beard of his people’ male individual, but as to further confirm Aurora’s earlier comment about this world, is that people here might look very scary, but they are actually very warm and kind. First Lily, then Gerald, then even here far in the desert, there is this Hannibal. It seemed like the girl had to worry not about meeting people who are ruthless:
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Now that the initial introduction is done.”
Hannibal withdraws his hand from the pastor and the engineer, then returns to Belisari to continue the conversation, but with a whole different topic:
“And I’ve finished my story as well. What about yours, Belisari? How did Latila survive the war? Didn’t Elestovakia attack the Kingdom with full force? Tell me.”
“Well…”
Following the question, Belisari starts explaining anything he could remember to Hannibal, from the initial skirmish at the edge of Liston to the arrival of the joint Milishilian-Maritimer fleet that forced generals of Kaval to withdraw forces from the city of Latila. From the collapse of the outside Flemton wall to the inner Latila wall, to when Belisari and Lily, boths commanding spared scattered contingents to drive the invaders out of the city. Aurora also listens, she was promised to be told the story from Lily, but the Archduchess hasn’t committed to that oath:
“Then, after the Winged Husaria remnants struck the gate defenders, the Ganeoeses fired a cannon at the breached gate and forced the structure to collapse into a dead tunnel. The next morning, the Milishilian fleet arrived on the scene and repelled the Elestovakian fleet, saving us.”
“That sounds incredible…”
Hannibal was impressed by the story. He complimented Belisari:
“Commanding a mercenary army…impressive. You truly have matured.”
“I am 24, I am of course matured. I am a soldier now.”
“And unmarried. Bhahaha.”
“Dammit.”
The sudden words Hannibal said hit Belisari like a chariot:
“I should purchase an arm ring when I get to Carthagia.”
Unlike other cultures, which use finger rings as a symbol of marriage, the Latilians wear decoration-matched arm rings with their partner all the time. Thanks to that, people can show their love in a more magniloquent way than finger rings, and also thanks to that, Barka can easily tell if his friend is married or not, by just takes a brief glance at his wrist:
“Don’t call yourself truly mature if you are a royal and not married when you are 24.”
Leopol of Vlenna already had a wife despite being younger than Belisari, and here, Hannibal is already married despite not being a royal. Before joining the journey with the Latilians, he actually consulted his wife to have an allowance to go. That’s how Belisari knows his friend is married, and has all the rights to make fun of him. With his face clearly manifest a half-baked anger, the Archprince tries to make excuse:
“I was busy planning a war, I had no time to plan my marriage.”
“Marrying is political, you could seek an ally via marriage, that is one step to prepare for war. But then you did not do that, which means you either choose to be single, or unable to find a partner, I think of the latter.”
“Tch!”
The argument of Hannibal thought to have cornered the Archprince, but then Belisari replied:
“What if I tell you that…it was actually the former!”
“Elaborate.”
“No!”
As if Belisari has a childish personality when it comes to confronting Hannibal, the Archprince really talks like he is thirteen, and Hannibal vice-versa, seventeen. After all the last time they met they were at that ages, it’s just a continuation of age timeline for boths:
“It was free will, I don’t want to get married yet.”
“At least find a woman that you love in the meantime.”
“No, the only woman I dear is Liliya, and she is my friend, not my…”
Suddenly, Belisari pauses. The entire carriage fell into silence with him:
“Not your what?”
“...my love interest…Anyhow, I choose to not get married until the war is done, now please let me take a nap..”
Belisari places his helmet to cover his eyes from the light outside before dozing out from the hot sun, and the conversation ends there, over.
**
“Your Grace…Your Grace…Lily!”
“Huh?”
Midnight, Carthagia, the Latilian cavalry is deep in their slumber, except for their discipline commander, who is still waking to watch the city through her binoculars:
“You should get some rest, you won’t last long torturing yourself like this.”
Said Angela, the flier of the Northern Contingent, when she noticed the silhouette of the Archduchess half-sleeping yawning on the hill as she woke up to grab some water. The Archduchess did hear the call of her friend, but she does not answer, nor manifest any respond:
“You!”
Worrying about her commander, the recon tried her best to drag Lily to her tent, but due to the Archduchess’s insane weight and her armors as well, Angela barely moved Lily. At the end, while attempting to use wind magic to boost her lift, Angela insteads tripped and slided down the dune:
“C’mon”-the Librarian speaks, finally gives up doing it on her own-”There is nothing there, they don’t send out scouts. Even if they do, there are other people on night shift, you ought to rest.”
“I don’t want to” Yawn “And not because of that. I am waiting.”
“For who? The other armies or just your Prince alone?”
Obviously, the latter is the main reason, as Lily’s body does vibrate in response to the words. Having known too well and worry much about her former subordinate, Angela attempts to talk:
“Even if that is the case, waiting for them tonight is worthless. They don’t travel at night time. You know that, right?”
“But they will show up in the morning, My and Belisarius’s plan require us to” Yawn ”combine our force, I must be available by that time to...”
“Then sleep, have some rest before the big battle.”
Between Angela’s order and Lily’s response, there is a moment of silence, as if the Archduchess accidentally dozed out before being snapped back, or probably it is like that. Regardless, Lily stubbornly says:
“But I must not miss the moment. I can…still…stay awake!”
Though, her voice sounded tired. The quiet of the night takes a toll on her health. Even with coffee beans chewed between her mouth in addition to the burning cigarette, it barely worked:
Yawn “Why is my vision so blurry…”
“Come on, have a nice rest. When you wake up, Belisari will be there. Now I will take this, okay?”
“But…”
When Angela takes the binoculars from Lily’s hands, the commander was too weak and delirious to retrieve it back:
“I will watch the night for you.”
“Then…fine…okay…”
Before finishing the sentence, the Archduchess fell asleep. Her eye closed tight, breathing slowly, arms and legs showing vulnerability that she would never show when still awakened. Her slumber deeper than those of children after a long tiring day.
But it’s cold in the night desert though, it is not good that Lily fell asleep here. Unable to move the body of the cavalry knight, Angela has no choice but to bring Lily a blanket of her own, then cover the commander in it:
“Ahh…”
Sitting down next to the slumbering, the Librarian whispers:
“You just can’t wait to see him again, am I right? I guess you love your Prince a bit too much.”
