All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 207: Game of Throw Rugs

Bee sat quietly in the tent as she felt an oppressive silence fall over the conversation. Arthur was right; he really didn't have any good options. It was one thing for herself and a few others to consider themselves outside of the kingdom. They weren't really a threat, after all. The King and the adventurers would treat them as they might any territorial monster. As long as they didn't endanger more people, removing them wasn't worth the resources.

An army, though? That was different. They were a very real threat, especially with someone like Arthur leading them. This made Arthur's request all the more problematic. Her initial instinct had been to offer them shelter immediately, but she was reconsidering. Sheltering the army made them a threat by association, too.

"As I see it we have a few options," Arthur continued. "We can go into exile and find some other country to shelter us. Maybe we can work as mercenaries or take ships overseas. Or, we threaten in open rebellion. While the force I have is formidable, it's only a fraction of the kingdom's true power. Still, we may be able to leverage its threat into concessions, but that has its own risks. Even if the warrant for my execution is rescinded, I don't know how I can trust going forward."

Bee thought about it. Really, it wasn't her decision to make, and for that, she was eternally grateful. "What if you were able to raise the level of your army significantly?"

Arthur gave her a strange look. "That depends on a lot of things. Remember that these men are no longer required to be here by order of the king, so there are limits to what I can ask them. I will not betray their trust too much." He seemed to deflate slightly. "But I'm here asking you for help. I'm sorry the suspension that you were proposing something untoward to my men was unwarranted and frankly rude. My sincere apologies."

"But if we were to improve our abilities... how much are we talking about?" Arthur asked with a note of interest.

Bee paused to think and rubbed her chin. She had better ask some questions first. "Well, it depends. What's the average level of your troops?"

Arthur dug through some papers on his desk and said, "at the last self-reported census, it was 17."

Bee thought a little bit and considered. She wasn't sure how accurate that was, but she assumed it was close enough. That meant that the soldiers were significantly higher than the average level of the Caleb citizens, as well as the other residents of the castle. Regardless, her people still managed to gain two levels in a couple of months by regularly training and just doing their jobs. Five levels by adding in the worship of Void, and more for those who took a Devotee class. If they had several months over winter and nothing to do but train, it'd be hard to say what the results could be. They might be able to get five levels as well.

"Arthur, how strong would you need to get to be able to hold your own?"

"It depends on what you mean by holding our own. If you mean to carve out a territory in a very defensible area, I probably could manage it with an average of 3 or 4 levels higher. Especially if we had a few extremely elite people, as in level 45 or higher. But if you mean to challenge the kingdom and take down their armies, well…" The man shrugged. "We'd probably need an average of ten levels, minimum, somewhere around average level 30.

"But," he concluded, "that would make us an unheard-of caliber of force. That kind of threat would put the entire kingdom on alert, even if we kept to ourselves."

Bee sat back in her chair, thinking. They didn't necessarily need to go toe-to-toe with the kingdom's armies. In fact, everyone would rather not. Arthur surely knew many of those in those armies. But if she wanted to be sure of everyone's safety…

Arthur interrupted her musings. "What would gaining this sort of power entail? How high do you think you could conceivably get us? I assume it has something to do with the new god underneath your chair."

Bee heard Void give a slight, shrill chuckle. It was odd. She had heard that noise a few other times, but she wasn't sure what the joke was here. Leaving it be for now, she addressed Arthur. "Yes, it would have to do with that. I think anyone who really wants to grow in strength needs to accept Void for who Void is. But with regular training and following the tenets of the Church of the Cleansing Void... I believe we can make something happen in the 4 or 5 months until snows come and go.

"If you train regularly and do other tasks related to the faith, you could probably gain an average of 5 to 7 levels. Something like that. As for the elites, I'm not sure. It really depends on how much everyone accepts Void and how closely they follow the faith. But as you know, I am thirteen- fourteen, and recently got my third class. So that gives you a small taste of what is possible with Void's help.

"Now the question is really, why should we help? We'd be taking on significant risk by helping you all. The way I see it, right now the kingdom will treat us like it would a particularly nasty monster den. As long as we aren't causing more trouble, they'll just leave us be. And it's not worth the effort to root us out. If we start harboring an army that we are growing and training, we are very clearly a bigger threat." Bee laid out her position.

It wasn't to say she wasn't willing to help Arthur in the army. She just wanted to make sure that they were on the same page. Especially since, no matter what, she would be doing Arthur a massive favor. Much more than just giving his people a safe place to shelter for a while.

Arthur seemed to know it, too, and he grimaced slightly. "This is true. I think if we stay here or anywhere else, there will be a target on our backs. Especially if we get this wrong. But realistically, we can't simply leave. These men have families here, both in your castle and in Caleb. They won't leave them behind, and evacuating them all would be a logistical nightmare. Not to mention that, even if they're safe for now, the threat of retribution against those families worries my men still.

"That leaves us with either strong-arming the King into leaving us alone or splitting off into new territory for Void. I think this second option would be the best." Arthur's gaze turned hard." While we can probably force the King to make some concessions, I'm not sure how long they would last. In a year or two, our power and our position will have dissolved, and the King will have begun to make moves against us."

"So. You're thinking actual treason." Bee asked seriously. "Of seizing a piece of the kingdom and breaking off our own country."

Arthur nodded. "Yes. I think that's the only way we'll be able to get families out. Most of the soldiers who have families already have them here, but several of the officers' families are either lying low or have already left the capital for their own estates together with their people."

"It's going to be rough for a lot of the nobility. But I think they'll manage. We're going to need more land than just this valley, though. So I think we'll probably have to take the whole province."

Bee's head swam. This didn't seem real. Were they really talking about this?

Heedless of her reaction, Arthur continued. "This province is not very important to the King as a whole. While it does export some important resources, there is nothing that can't be replaced. Assuming this ends peacefully enough, we could conceivably establish some sort of trading relationship with the kingdom to fulfill each other's needs.

"But more importantly, the area is quite defensible from many directions. Mountains guard us in one direction, rivers in the other. Nor do I expect a full standing army to be mobilized quickly. The men in Caleb didn't appear to be supplied for a long campaign, and they were mobilized too quickly for that anyway."

Bee nodded in agreement. It sounded like a solid point. All of this made it even harder to turn Arthur down. That, on top of the risk that the kingdom would come after the Church of the Cleansing Void anyway, made her lean toward accepting these men. If they had the ability, then it was the right thing to do. She needed to make this work. Somehow.

She opened her mouth, ready to ask about details and perhaps earn some concessions from the commander. Perhaps there was some formal structure they could use to integrate the army with the Church. But before she said a word, Void interrupted her.

A series of beeps, accompanied by moving images projected into the chair next to her, displayed her master's thoughts. A huge tent city spanned the clearing between the forest and the castle. Some of the forest was cleared away, and the army erected buildings in the new space. Not just temporary buildings or semi-permanent tents for winter, but the beginnings of real infrastructure. Stone foundations of a full garrison and troop yard.

A new wall was being built, encompassing the entrance of the valley and a large area further in. The secondary wall expanded the castle into the seat of a huge city. The castle still stood tall in the background. Snows came, and fields were cleared where soldiers drilled. Winter snow crops were planted and harvested. Pennants flew high, horses were trained, and an entire city-state was born.

Bee and Arthur both stopped to watch in awe. After a moment, Bee smiled. It seemed that her need for negotiations was unwarranted. She had forgotten who was sitting underneath her chair. When a god was the source of their power and safety, there was no other choice but to let it dictate terms.

Arthur realized this as well and smiled, for he had gotten pretty much everything he wanted. If Void was really planning on carving out a full kingdom for itself, Arthur would slot in nicely with his men. If anything, it was Bee who should've been worried. After all, the army was much more powerful and numerous than her own people.

Despite that, she was calm. She had complete faith that Void would see her and its own people through whatever trials that came. She was its High Priestess, after all.

***

On the way back to the castle, Bee replayed the conversation with Arthur in her mind over and over. There was so much she needed to do. The castle needed to be prepared once again, but she also had to figure out training for these men.

At least she wouldn't be doing it all by herself. But still, for any faith-based training, she would have to have a lot of input. It would depend on how many soldiers were interested in becoming followers, but Arthur had assured her that many would be.

In general, her plans for a relatively quiet winter had been completely tossed out the window. There was all the work at the castle to take care of and the leveling she wanted to get the residents to do. Now, that had to be squeezed in besides prepping for the army and figuring out how to run an entire budding kingdom.

Arthur had been very clear that he didn't want to be king. She had no way of knowing whether that was because he genuinely didn't have the ambition for it or because Void was resting under her chair. Either way, their discussion had ended up with the Church being in charge. Ultimately, that meant her.

She had no idea what she was doing. However, she never had before either, and things seemed to be running right. The thought consoled her, if only slightly. All she needed to do was take what she'd learned from establishing a religion and then apply it to a kingdom. It was a daunting prospect. But with Void's guidance, she would make it.

The first thing she wanted to do was mark out an area for the army after informing everyone what was happening, of course. Then, her priority would be getting enough copies of Void's scriptures made so they could be distributed. That was going to be an issue. They only had a few in the castle, and now hundreds more would be needed.

Still, she couldn't suppress her excitement. Soon, they'd be spreading the word of her master throughout the world. Even if she did have to learn how to govern a kingdom to do so.

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