Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (12 page)

“And who would you nominate for such an illustrious position?” One of the lords asked, her tone barely hiding her contempt for the woman. Lymee had to agree, she had zero respect for Lord Gail so far.

“Well obviously it should be a lord with an ancient and respected lineage,” Gail stated puffing out her chest even further.

“Then that rules you out then, does it not?” Kuan older sister stated.

Lymee had to hold back a chuckle as she glanced back at Keo, her expression asking her for the Lord's name.

“Lord Sol, Lord of Jien Dynasty,” Keo whispered.

“Thank you,” Lymee whispered back returning her attention back to Lord Gail.

Gail’s face had turned red with both embarrassment and anger from the blatant insult. She was obviously someone who was used to everyone showering her with praises and always agreeing with her. Probably because she would execute them if they did not.

“Or maybe,” Lord Tuwa smiled looking over at Lord Gail. She carried the same disdain in her voice that she had when she tried to insult Lymee. “You think that your measly eight thousand men will somehow managed to be the key in breaching the walls of a city that has never once been breached or taken in the thousand years that they have stood.”

Gail turned an even deeper shade of red but she somehow managed to keep her mouth shut.

Lymee frowned. She had not realized that the success of this campaign was in such question. She had thought this would be a fairly easy fight given the size of their forces. Did the Empress have such a large fighting force that they could fend off an army of over two hundred thousand soldiers. Or was their defenses really so impenetrable?   

“I think Lord Gail is right though,” Yung spoke up, her frail, soft voice interrupting Lymee’s thoughts. “Having anyone but a Dynasty Lord with a long linage would be unforgivable.”

There were several nods of agreement from several of the other Dynasty Lords.

“I disagree,” Lord Tuwa spoke up again. “A General is what we need. A general with an already large army and experience in war.” As she spoke she subtly rested her hand on the hilt of her sword while also showing off the accommodations that were embroidered into her black uniform. 

“And what experience do you have in war?” Lord Niimu piped up for the first time. She had her cup halfway raised to her mouth and her focus was aimed at it and not the rest of the lords showing her seemingly lack of interest in what was being said. “Need I remind you all, that the only time in recent history that any general would have led an army as large as this one was nearly eight years ago? And she is currently on the other side of the wall.” There was a slight murmur of agreement from several of the lords. “The only experience you can claim to have, Lord Tuwa, is putting down peasant rebellions in your own lands. Unless you wish to say slaughtering untrained commoners somehow makes you a hardened war veteran.”

Lord Tuwa pursed her lips together in anger. Her eye twitching from the insult.

Lymee just shook her head as she feed a sliver of fish to Kitsune who was still sitting in her lap. She greedily gobbled it up licking her lips as she put her front two paws on the edge of the table and stared unblinkingly at the tray of food begging for more.

“At least I win those encounters,” Tuwa stated coldly. “You could not even protect your only Priestess from being murdered by roving bandits.”

Never looking up from Kitsune, Lymee tilted her head to the side at those words so she could better hear.

Tuwa must have been referring to Priestess Ling. The Empress had ordered her to be brought to the Capital where the Empress had planned on using her as a kind of proxy authority of The Heavens to help strengthen her rule. Niimu had tried to hide her away before that could happen but the Empress’ forces found out and killed all the soldiers guarding the Priestess. Lymee happened along shortly after the ambush and had rescued her, hiding her away at temple where she would be safe.

But despite knowing all of this, it seemed that Lord Niimu had chosen to spread word that Ling had been killed by bandits instead of telling the truth. A clever cover. Lymee thought. One that the Empress could not publicly deny and also prevented her from openly investigating further else risk her men’s involvement being exposed. But that also meant that Niimu had to keep her own mouth shut as to what had truly happened in order to safeguard the Priestess while Tuwa used it to bad mouth her.   

“I think Lord Tuwa is right though,” Yung declared cutting the banter of insults off temporarily. “The Commander should be a Lord who already commands a large force. That force should then make up the center formation of the army and have all the other armies work around them.”

“From what I have gathered Lord Yung has brought the greatest number of troops,” Keo whispered.

Clever. Lymee thought. She was going to aim for the ‘largest army should be in control’ angle. But Lymee doubted that her numbers were that much greater than what Gon, or Song Dynasties had been able to muster. Making their differences in size mostly trivial.

Many of the other lords did not seem to like what Yung had said, as this also pushed them out of eligibility, but at the same time they could not find any kind of flaw in her reasoning.

“I fully disagree,” Lord Niimu declared setting her cup down on the table her voice fierce and crisp. “I think the lords of the larger armies should be exempt from being a candidate.”

There were loud gasps of shock from many of the people, Lymee being one of them.

“You are aware that this makes you exempt as well?” Yung pointed out.

“I am,” Niimu nodded. “However many lords already rightly fear that all of this is merely us large Dynasty Lords trying to assert ourselves as the new Empress. I think the best and easiest way to quell any such fears and doubts is for us not to seize power whenever we have the chance to do so but instead follow the lead of an individual who has no ambition for such a position.”

The tent nearly erupted in murmurs and whispers as they talked it over. It was true that many thought this was all just an excuse for one of the big three to seize power for themselves and this would help in alleviating them of those suspicions.

“I imagine you would not propose such an unusual proposition without having someone in mind,” Yung smiled turning like she was anxiously interested in what Niimu had to suggest.

Niimu tensed for a second like she was trying to prevent herself from giving something away. “I do not,” she stated finally looking away. “But I will say that the qualifications are simple. We need a Lord who has commanded armies before, in large battles, against real soldiers. Winning victories where they would normally face defeat.”

Lymee nearly snorted as she realized that she nearly fit that category. If she was an actual Dynasty Lord and not just an heir to a Dynasty she would be the perfect candidate. Lymee’s head shot up as she stared at Lord Niimu.

Had Niimu actually been referring to Lymee? Why would that be?

“I agree with Lord Niimu,” another voice perked up. Lymee glanced over at the older woman in her late forties. She was clad in a brown outfit. She wore no armor but her clothing was more practical oriented than design oriented.

“Lord Voy of Hong Dynasty,” Keo whispered. “The white sash she has wrapped around her sword is a promise to The Heavens that she will only draw her weapon in their name and no other.”

Lymee gritted her teeth as she watched the woman in anticipation of what she was about to say.

“I too will take myself out of the running,” Voy continued. “While I may not have brought the largest army, my army of thirty thousand is still very large in comparison to many and it would be very easy for me to claim that by leading this campaign I somehow have a claim to the throne.”

“This is absurd!” Lord Tuwa jumped to her feet crying out in frustration. “I will not have my men led by some small Dynasty Lord whose lands are smaller than some of the provinces that I rule.”

“You mean that your mother and sister rule?” Sol spoke up again Kuan having just finished whispering something in her ear. “Unless you mean to tell us something about your ambitions once your mother is dead?” Sol asked. Lymee hat to wonder if maybe that comment had come at the suggestion of her little sister.

There was a slight murmur of agreement and Tuwa realized that she was quickly losing any authority she once had.

“I do not need to hear such comments from such minor lords like the ones that I was just referring too,” Tuwa snapped at Sol.

“Would you rather hear them from the likes of me then?” Niimu asked. She had returned to her drinking seeming bored by such an outburst. “Because I will gladly say it.”

Tuwa’s face grew red with anger. It looked like she was truly considering drawing down on the lord as her hand clenched into a fist while the other hand white knuckled the scabbard of her sword. “If you want to put some no name Lord in command instead of a high ranking military official that is fine. But you will do so without the support of me or my fifty thousand troops,” she declared.

“You mean if we put anyone other than you in charge, isn’t that right?” Lymee boomed raising to her feet lifting Kitsune to her shoulder as she did so.

The room fell silent as she cracked her back trying to work out the stiffness as she started readying herself to leave. Keo and Sai seemed surprised by her actions, momentarily frozen in place, then they scrambled to their feet as well.

“Look,” Lymee said turning back to the other lords. “I came here because the Empress is evil and needs to be removed from power. If that’s not the reason for your being here then let me know so I can leave and go back to helping my sister rule our Dynasty. To which I might remind you all is not a part of this kingdom. We are here more as a courtesy than anything else. We do not care who rules after she is gone nor do we care about who leads this stupid army. We just want things to get done.” Letting out a sigh Lymee turned and started heading for the exit. “Now I have far more important things to do than to listen to a bunch of spoiled nobles argue over who gets to sit in the fancier chair,” Lymee waved over her shoulder as she walked. “Come and get me when you are actually ready to do something.”

With that Lymee pushed the tent flap open and stepped outside Keo and Sai right behind her. The inside of the tent was completely still having been shocked into silence.

“So much for not making a scene,” Keo stated once they were several yards away from the tent.

“Sorry,” Lymee said and meant it. “I just couldn’t stand sitting there any longer.”

“I understand your feelings,” Sai sneered glancing back at the tent behind her. “Lord Alia would never let
her
lords bicker in such a manner.”

“I doubt she would let
these
lords bicker in such a manner,” Lymee agreed. “And I wish to god she was here instead of me.”

***

“So what is this game called again?” Keo asked looking down at the lines in the dirt that Lymee had made.

“It’s called tic tac toe,” Lymee said using a stick that she had found to draw an X in one of the corners. They were sitting in a small tent that they had pitched in an area that Yoni had found for them to set up temporarily until the rest of their army arrived.

Lymee had been lying when she said she had better things to do. In actuality because of how light they had to pack in order to get to the Lords’ Council in time they did not have much in the way of anything besides the very basics. Lymee did not mind though as even the basics was more than what she had during her wandering.

They were both sitting in the center of Lymee’s tent a few lanterns providing them with illumination. The tent was nothing special and was smaller than the tent Lymee had been using but it was large enough for people to stand comfortably and not hit their heads. Lymee had no cot or any other furnishing. She had only a bed roll that was still tucked away near the back of the tent to give them room to sit.

They had chosen to sit inside the tent as appose to around a campfire as it was warmer and they felt they could talk a bit more privately about the day’s events. Both of them were in an agreement that if nothing changed it was unlikely that there would ever be a battle at least not with the Empress. Lymee was not ready to rule out that the lords would not start fighting amongst themselves. How they had gone from that to tic tack toe Lymee was still unsure. 

“It seems to me whoever goes first will always win,” Keo stated drawing an O.

Lymee clicked her tongue in disappointment. “I was able to get several games in with Yoni before she ever figured that out.” Lymee said drawing the line indicating that she had won. Dropping the stick to the ground she picked up Kitsune who had been curled up beside her and set her down in her lap.

“I should teach you how to play Gii,” Keo stated leaning back slightly. “A single game can sometimes last for days.”

Lymee shook her head indicating she had no idea what Gii was.

“It is a strategy game,” Keo explained. “You move pieces on a board as you try to capture your opponent’s towers and kill their Lords.”

“Sounds like an awesome version of chess,” Lymee smiled nodding in approval.

“My Lord,” Yoni called out from the other side of the tent.