The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 174

Part 25

“The warehouse was a huge stone dome half buried in the ground with no windows and only one entrance that wasn’t a tunnel to the lower levels, and that entrance was just a tunnel from the building next door with big double doors at the end. We had more than enough assigned to it to beat the demons inside there, but only a few of us could get through the doors at once, and we couldn’t just bring the warehouse down on them, because it would take too long to dig through it after, and the demons in the tunnels would probably breach the secondary defenses before we did.

“Everyone the Sylvan had sent down the tunnel to the doors so far had been slaughtered by all the demons inside, and that’s when they disobeyed orders to send any more in. They’d formed a perimeter outside the tunnel and they were all trying to shoot arrows and whatnot and cast spells into the door, but the demons had it pretty well Shielded so they weren’t killing many of them.

“I got there and explained that we had to get in there and kill those demons or we were going to lose the whole city and all the civilians in it. I came up with a plan where we’d breach the roof of the warehouse in three places, because that was all I figured we could do without bringing the whole thing down, then we’d rush through all four openings into the warehouse, and I ordered them to get to it.

“Their commander flatly refused, and he asks who the hell I am that he should have to listen to what I said, when I was obviously just a child. He also pointed out that we’d probably lose twenty thousand of his Sylvan before this operation was finished, and I knew he was right.

“And suddenly it struck me, maybe he was right? Was I given command just because of my family and my power, both of which were of little use right then?

“I thought that there must be some of them who realized the necessity of doing what I was saying, and I scanned them to see if there were any who would speak up to support me. There were none. They were all right on the edge of either throwing themselves into the breach in a berserk and suicidal attack with no strategy, or just quitting the battle and running away. They’d taken too much pain over too many hours, they’d all have been dead a dozen times without my Healing spell, and the fact that they knew it was just an exercise wasn’t enough to make the difference.

“We’d been fighting for more than sixteen hours already then, and I was really hungry, and I really had to pee. I was angry and scared and tired, and I knew there were a lot of hours left in the battle yet.

“And I faltered completely. I almost started crying standing there. In the middle of a battle, while I was supposed to be exerting command, I called my mother. Some commander I am.”

“And all I had to do was cast a mild Tranquility on you.” Alilia pointed out with a smile. “That was enough for your determination to overcome your doubts. You told them rather forcefully that you were Princess Valentia Longstrider of Hilia, that you were duly authorized to command them by the military authorities of The Just Alliance, that you had a combat effectiveness score of over two hundred and forty million with an intellect to match, and that while the stupid rules of this exercise prevented you from using that power against the enemy, no one had said that you couldn’t use it to discipline some stupid and insubordinate troops, all of them at once if necessary. And they shut up and listened.

“And you enacted your plan and led them in a costly but victorious fight to plug the breach into the city.”

“Yah.” Val giggled as she wiped her tears away and tried to get her mood back to normal. “And I cast a little funnel of Force inside my underpants with a tiny Gate in the bottom to the ocean just outside this cove, and I had a nice pee right in the middle of the fighting. And after that I went and got something to eat.”

“Which you wolfed down in five minutes and got back into the war.” Alilia said with a laugh. “You’re an incredible little warrior and commander, and we’re very proud of you, all of you. All you children were incredible today.”

“Seven-year-olds are allowed to have moments of weakness, you know.” Mark told her with a chuckle and a gentle caress to her cheek.