Carmen Dei 26: For Our Freedom and Yours
Just before dawn, on December 21st, 2004, what was soon to be called World War III began when Imperial Russian forces under the command of the Harbinger Prince invaded Poland amidst a howling blizzard. Polish forces, under the command of one Colonel Eryka Pawłowska, an Electro Vision Holder, attempted to resist the crossing despite the raging storm. Elements of the 34th Armored Cavalry Division and the 18th Mechanized Cavalry Division, along with several Polish capes clashed with the Fatui.
Colonel Pawłowska led her troops from the front, outnumbering the invaders by a narrow margin where she concentrated her troops. The moment the Fatui crossed the border, she ordered a full artillery bombardment despite the lack of visibility. She and her troops heard the guns fire behind them, a massive roar as over one hundred self propelled guns and rocket batteries unleashed hell.
They waited in tense silence for the shells to land and detonate only a few hundred meters in front of them. And waited. Even as the guns continued to fire behind them, there were no explosions in front of them. Then, a frantic call from the forward observer positions revealed why.
"It's the Sleeper! His storm, it's advancing all along the front! It's getting closer, I-"
The call cut off suddenly, and that was when the storm broke slightly. The Colonel's blood ran cold as she beheld the advancing shimmering wall. It was a storm within a storm, and the Sleeper's horrific power.
"We can't fight that! Fall back, fall back!" she ordered, snarling in frustration.
Most of the Polish soldiers were able to withdraw, some firing fruitlessly at the swirling chaos before them. Their bullets had no effect, save for parts of the storm to ripple, revealing Fatui units. They returned fire with devastating effect, completely immune to the Sleeper's powers. Any Polish units who were not quick enough to retreat were either cut down by the Fatui, or swallowed by the Sleeper's storm. Those who vanished into that rainbow cacophony were never seen again by mortal eyes.
For the next three hours, Polish forces could do nothing but retreat in the face of both an unnatural blizzard, and the Prince's deadly power. They fell back first to Berdyszcze, then to Chełm. Nothing the Polish capes or military did had any effect on the storm. Ajaks was barely restrained from throwing himself into it by cooler heads, pointing out that his powers gave him absolutely no resistance to the Sleeper's ability.
Then at noon, a wind from the West began to blow. It was a warm wind, unusually so for that time of year. Where the wind met the blizzard, the storm dissipated, though the Sleeper's power was unaffected. But on the wind rode the Knights of Favonius.
The German Bundestag had met through the night, and shortly after word had arrived that Imperial Russia had invaded Poland, the Bundestag had voted by a narrow majority to declare war on Russia in support of Poland.
Grand Master Cookie and fifty Knights arrived in Chełm at 12:00 on the dot, riding on wings of magic and metal. They alighted not far from Colonel Pawłowska's headquarters, with one knight in particular making an exceptionally undignified landing by way of landing on top of one of the latrines.
"I'm OK!" Itul declared, kicking open the door of the toilet, having entered via the now collapsed roof. Thankfully, he hadn't landed in anything too malodorous, stomping over to where Cookie was gritting her teeth and the rest of the Knights were landing. "Uh, sorry about your glider, Amber."
"It's alright, though I do have to wonder how the heck you managed to crash it," Vorreiter said, lifting her goggles and peering at the crumpled glider that was stuck in the outhouse roof.
"Uh, I think the steering mechanism was broken or something. Anyway, I'm fine! Now where are the Fatui?" Itul said, looking around.
"Not here. Not yet, anyway," Colonel Pawłowska said, striding forward. She was dressed in winter combat fatigues, with the only sign of her rank the insignia on her helmet. The most identifying mark was her lavender colored hair and purple Vision strapped to her utility belt.
Cookie stepped forward and saluted, dressed in a white and grey bodysuit with a tabard with the Anemo symbol in green on it. "Grandmaster Cookie Schmidt. I've got fifty Knights with me, if you include this big moron."
The colonel returned the salute, her expression grim. "Glad to have you with us. But I'd been hoping that Barbados himself would be present for this one."
"He is," Cookie said, gesturing to the clear skies above them. "He's going to keep the Tsaritsa's weather off our backs. Our job is to deal with her army."
Pawłowska's expression tightened, and she shook her head. "Well, then frankly, I don't know how much you can do. Unless you have several capes with powerful Brute invulnerability powers that would rank as a class 8 or higher. We're up against the Sleeper, and he's even worse now that he's a Harbinger."
"Hey, I'm a class 9 Brute, does that count?" Itul asked brightly.
"Itul. The adults are talking. Go wait with the others," Cookie growled, pointing a finger behind her.
"Man…come all this way to fight communists and this is what happens…" Itul grumbled, kicking a rock so hard it sailed out of sight.
"He's actually even more powerful than he is stupid. He's the one who arm wrestled Ajaks for charity last year," Cookie said by way of apology. "And yeah, he's part of my plan for dealing with the Prince. But not the whole thing. Come on, let's go to your command bunker and hash this out. Hospitalar! Vornehm! You're with me!"
It was a quick walk over to the command bunker, where the German knights received a warm if terse welcome.
"Glad to see you," Rozlyn said, shaking Cookie's hand while Hospitliar received a bear hug from Ajaks. "But the situation is grim. We have nothing that can withstand the Storm from the Sleeper, or whatever he's calling himself now. Worse, that storm is hiding what we estimate is an entire Division of Fatui, a significant number of which are armed with Delusions that make them a match for any mid level cape."
"Or in other words, out of my league," Vornehm grunted, sitting down on a stool offered to him and leaning forward on his cane. "Even with my blessing from Lord Barbados." He gestured to the aquamarine gem on his jacket pocket.
"It's not out of the reach of the Knights. We've been gaming this for a while, and we have a plan," Cookie said, reaching into a pouch at her belt and pulling out several small figurines. "May I?"
The Colonel looked amused, taking one of the figurines, which were 25mm scale high quality gaming pieces, a far cry from the little plastic disks they were using for their war table. "I suppose you didn't bring one for me?"
"You'll have to be a generic Electro Vision Holder, though this one is close enough," Cookie said, pulling out a figurine that did indeed look like a much younger (and scantily dressed) Colonel Pawłowska. Placing the figurines across from a model of the Prince and several Fatui, Cookie laid out her plan.
"Normal parahuman powers can't disrupt the Prince's Storm, yes. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a way. We think that with a specific magical ritual of Cleansing, a Cleric of the Church of Anemo should be able to burn a hole in it for a small radius around themselves."
A moth-like figure was pushed forward, along with several squads of knights and Ajaks. "That done, a strike team led by Ajaks will move in and take out the Prince. With him gone, we have a fighting chance of pushing back the Fatui advance."
"I like this plan!" Ajaks declared immediately. "Send the Red Oni with me! He is a proper warrior as well, and I know he was blooded in the Third Sino-Japanese war!"
"I was planning on it," Cookie agreed. "The big lug can probably actually survive the Sleeper's storm, at least for a while. He's been blessed by Barbados, though not with a Vision. I don't understand it all, but he's been declared a Champion of Freedom and been given a sword called the Song of Broken Pines that will help protect him somehow."
"Magic. We are relying on magic swords and spells, something we cannot quantify or measure," the Colonel said flatly.
Cookie shrugged. "You're the one with a magic rock connected to the God of Eternity on your belt. You know that works. Have a little faith."
Fingering a small golden crucifix on her neck, Pawłowska frowned. "There is only one God. But I can accept that Barbados is one of His angels. Perhaps the Raiden Shogun too. I don't suppose you bring word from Japan?"
"Barbados says that the Electro Archon is going to sit this one out unless she's forced to directly involve herself. She sees this as a grudge match between Barbados and Dantalion, much sense as that makes," Cookie said with a disgusted snort.
"A war between angels and demons, with us mortals caught in the middle," Rozlyn murmured, looking disturbed. "Does anything we do here really matter? If the Cryo Archon involves herself directly…what can we even do?"
"Pray, and keep our weapons at the ready," Pawłowska declared. She nodded. "Fine. You risk much with this plan of yours, and Ajaks is willing. Try it. I have no better alternative."
"Vornehm, you stay back and coordinate with the Colonel and her capes," Cookie ordered. "I'm going to get Dorothy and the strike team ready. Ajaks, you're in command, you know this terrain and this foe better than we do."
"Of course! Come, let us ride to glorious battle!" Ajaks declared, sounding delighted to charge to near certain death again.
It didn't take long to get the Knights prepped, which was fortunate as the wall of shimmering death was drawing ever nearer to their position. Artillery continued a desultory bombardment, but it was having about as much effect as blowing bubbles would have.
"So, you are the cleric?" Ajaks asked, looking Dorothy up and down.
"Ah, yes," Dorothy agreed, clutching her staff, which had an image of Barbados some would have recognized as the top of a Statue of the Seven; the Anemo Archon garbed in a robe with two wings spread behind his back, arms extended forward, holding a sphere. Dorothy herself was dressed in a black habit and wimple, with the Anemo sigil on the brow of her hat. "I have that honor, Mr. Ajaks."
"Good! I am counting on your prayers to let me punch that smug bastard right in his handsome chin," Ajaks growled, banging his fist into his open palm as if to demonstrate.
"I will call upon the blessings of Lord Barbados," Dorothy assured him. "He will set us free."
"AJAKS!" Itul cried, striding over, his arms spread wide.
"ITUL!" Ajaks bellowed. The two giants wrapped one another in a bear hug that could have pulverized concrete, slapping each other on the back heartily.
"Good to see you again, pal! How's the family?" Itul asked brightly.
"Good! Teucer demands a rematch between us, you know. He cannot believe I did not take a dive in our arm wrestling contest!" Ajaks laughed.
"Ah, the little guy just can't handle that his big bro ain't the strongest around!" Itul laughed. Then he turned more serious. "So. This Prince guy. Strong?"
"Can't say for certain," Ajaks said, his gaze turning back towards the slowly advancing wall of death on the horizon. "Annoying, so far. Doesn't have the decency to fight. But we will find out soon."
"Ain't nobody that can stand up to the Red Oni and Szlachta!" Itul said, rubbing his biceps. "You ready, Dorothy?"
"First, we must say a prayer to Lord Barbados to guide us on our quest," Dorothy said firmly. She gestured to the rest of the team. "Please, everyone, assume an attitude of prayer."
Dutifully, the Polish and German capes assembled knelt in the snow, with Ajaks and Itul at the front, Itul with his great sword held before, Ajaks with his hands folded together in prayer.
Taking out a silver bell, Dorothy hung it on her staff, then gave it a good ring, letting a sweet note hang in the air for a moment.
"We beseech you in our hour of need, Lord Barbados, Angel of Freedom and Winds. The enemy is at our doorstep, and the storms of our foes rage around us. But though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we will not fear, for you are with us."
As she prayed, Dorothy began to walk between the rows of capes, ringing the bell repeatedly. As she passed amongst them, the wind from the West intensified, wrapping itself about each of the assembled capes, its warm caress buoying their spirits. Strength and vitality filled their limbs, and courage their hearts.
"-thanks be to God, and to Lord Barbados, our Angel of Freedom," Dorothy said at last, ringing the bell three more times. "Amen."
"Amen," the assembled capes said, standing. The Poles finished by crossing themselves, Ajaks taking out a silver cross to kiss before tucking it back under his shirt.
"One last thing," Dorothy said. "Geoff?"
Dressed in healer's robes, Geoff stepped forward, bearing a wrapped package that was taller than he was. He presented it to Ajaks, to took it curiously.
"A gift, from Lord Barbados. He said this time, since you did not favor a bow, he reforged this one for you," Geoff said.
Tearing away the canvas wrapping, Ajaks revealed a great blue and silver spear that glowed faintly in the afternoon light. "What is this? I have never used a spear before…"
"As you are a Hussar of Poland, Lord Barbados thought it would be fit for you to bear a lance. This is the Polar Star. May it guide you on the path of Freedom and Truth," Geoff said, bowing slightly.
Grinning, Ajaks hoisted the spear over head. "EXCELLENT! LET US RIDE TO WAR!"
The plan called for a major counter offensive, and soon tanks, capes, and squads of infantry began to charge towards the pearlescent barrier that continued its inevitable march towards them. The artillery intensified their bombardment to cacophonous levels, the sound of the big guns continuous as the shells vanished into the storm. Overhead, the blizzard whipped up again, but the wind from the West blew at the backs of the attackers, resulting in a swirl of snow and ice that battered against the windy barrier.
"Let's hope this works," Ajaks said through gritted teeth, as he and the strike team charged forward. Dorothy had taken on the form of a moth, fluttering above them with her staff gripped in insectile limbs. There were other Clerics of Barbados scattered throughout the line, and they all began their prayers together, singing a hymn to the Anemo Archon.
To Ajaks' shock and delight, holes opened up within the Prince's storm. This time, it didn't seem planned, as the Fatui within were taken utterly by surprise when shells and bullets were no longer absorbed, but scythed down dozens of them in an eyeblink. Men and women were blown to bloody bits or fell in sprays of blood, and the screams of the dead and dying nearly drowned out the prayers.
"FORWARD!" Ajaks bellowed, leaping forward with his spear gripped tight in one giant paw. He used his power to direct his personal gravity forward, appearing to fly across the sky and right into the center of a Fatui position. His spear took an Anemo Delusion bearer right in the chest, the Fatui soldier gaping in shock, blood spurting from between his lips.
Ripping the spear free, Ajaks spun it about him, striking down half a dozen Fatui before they could react.
"ONI, COMIN' THROUGH!" Ittul roared, slamming his sword into an Electro Delusion bearer and slicing his foe in half, before going through the rest of the Fatui squad like stalks of grain as blood and guts sprayed everywhere.
After the initial shock of the assault however, the Fatui regrouped, and the Knights found themselves pressed hard. Some of the Clerics were struck down by elemental bullets or Delusion holders, and the squads they'd been protecting were swallowed up and devoured by the Prince's storm. It was chaos and madness, with hundreds dying in mere moments.
"We have to find the Prince and end this storm! Otherwise, we're doomed!" Ajaks called to Itul. "Roz! Do you have eyes on him?"
A blue specter popped up beside Ajaks and Itul. I cannot directly locate the Sleeper, my constructs can't penetrate the Storm. But it's most concentrated directly at the center. Forward, and to your right slightly.
With a shout, the group charged forward, clashing with several more squads of Fatui. Ajaks and Itul accounted for most of them, but as good as they were, several other members of the strike team went down, either dead or wounded in the fierce battle. Bullets and blasts of elemental energy were flying everywhere, and all around them, the storm continued to rage. As they pressed further, it even enveloped the area behind them, cutting off their retreat.
Still, Dorothy's prayer continued, and for now the group was safe. They pressed towards the strongest part of the storm, until the reached a section that bowed, but did not break, before Dorothy's prayer.
"He's in there! Shit, we have to get through!" Ajaks snarled, cutting down a Geo Delusion holder before the man could summon a barrier to protect himself.
Itul dispatched an Electro Mage, her body crumpling to the ground and her spell dissipating to nothing. "Don't worry, I got this one! It's showtime!"
With a roar, Itul charged directly into the thickest part of the storm, his blade raised on high. For a moment, Ajaks could only hold his breath, as his comrade was swallowed up by rainbow death.
Then, all at once, the storm broke completely, vanishing from all around them and revealing Itul clashing with the Prince himself, the two men's blades meeting in a blinding series of blows.
"Cur! You dare to besmirch the Tsarina's glorious name?" the Prince demanded, a sneer on his perfect lips as he fought against Itul.
"You tell that cold bitch to get the fuck out of Poland and then we'll talk!" Itul growled, his blade moving so fast it could barely be seen.
"Then SLEEP ETERNAL!" the Prince declared, and a blast of shimmering light struck Itul, driving him to his knees, his sword falling from his grasp as his skin burned and he howled in pain.
Before the Prince could deliver the Coup de Grace, Ajaks was there, his spear blocking the Prince's blow. "HELLO! I AM AJAKS! AND I AM YOUR DEATH!"
"Death cannot claim me before the final curtain! The Tsaritsa has declared it so!" the Prince snarled, and struck again at Ajaks, who pulled himself to the side, the thrust back the Harbinger, taking him in the shoulder.
"Argh! Your darts and arrows are NOTHING to me!" the Prince hissed, hurling more orbs of shimming death at Ajaks.
Ajaks managed to dodge, but others of the strike team were not so lucky, several devoured whole or others losing entire limbs or most gruesomely, a head to the attack. The Prince took blows from several others, as all of them piled on the Harbinger, but he managed to shrug off most of the hits as though they were nothing, focusing his efforts on killing Ajaks.
"You should have been one of us! The Tsaritsa knows you! Why do you abandon her for Barbados? You should have been a loyal son of Syneznya, Tartaglia!" the Prince ranted.
That made no sense to Ajaks, who was doing everything in his power to kill the Harbinger. He parried and dodged, taking to the air to rain more blows down upon the Prince.
"NO ONE STOPS THE ONI!" Itul suddenly roared, springing up behind the Prince and slashing down with all his might at the Harbinger's turned back. A rainbow sphere took Itul square in the chest and he cried out in pain, but it did not stop the blow. He took the Prince directly in the head, dealing a grievous blow that cut away half the man's face.
FOOLS! I…CANNOT STOP! I MUST DO AS MY LADY COMMANDS! The now headless Prince raved.
"Oh…shit. RUN!" Ajaks roared, turning and grabbing two of his wounded teammates as shimmering blood poured out of the mangled body of the Prince, turning to vapor and smoke that scoured the earth around him. Itul booked it as well, with Dorothy beating her wings madly behind them. Most of the strike team managed to escape, but the slower ones were devoured by shimmering light as a fog formed around the body of the Prince.
Fortunately, after the initial burst, the deadly light slowed, as it encompassed an ever larger area. The Fatui retreated into it, apparently still unharmed by the Prince's power. The battle ground to a halt, as the Knight and Polish forces were forced to pull back from Chelm all the way to the village of Lechówka 15 kilometers away. The Prince's bubble was thankfully unmoving, having stopped expanding with a diameter of 10 kilometers, so that gave them some distance from the front lines.
"Is he dead?" Colonel Pawłowska demanded of Ajaks as they retreated, riding in the back of a truck with several wounded.
"No. I do not think so. He took what would have been a mortal blow for any other…but I do not think that thing can be killed so easily," Ajaks said with a grim shake of his head. "We've bought time. Nothing else."
The Colonel grimaced. "That's not good. A second front has opened up. The Dancer and Servent have led an attack through Belarus, who have allied themselves with the Tsaritsa. The fools. They're advancing on Białystok, and nothing we have in that area can possibly stop them."
"Shit," Ajaks groaned, lifting his spear. "Well, I suppose I did say I wanted to fight a Harbinger! Just not two in one day…"
"Colonel!" one of the officers in the truck said, lifting up his headset. "You need to hear this!" he adjusted the set, and a moment later, a tired voice speaking English could be heard.
"-and with the consent of the United States Congress, I, President William Bradley, am invoking NATO Article Five in light of the Declaration of War upon the Nation of Poland, which has recently joined the NATO alliance. As such, I am asking Congress to Declare War upon Imperial Russia. The People of the United States will not allow the tyranny of false gods to oppress our brothers and sisters in the democratic nations of the world. Good night, and…well. I can't say God Bless America. So, good luck."
For a moment, there was only the sound of the truck rattling along the road. The soldiers raised a cheer, one echoed around them in the retreat as news spread.
"I never thought I'd see the day. Poland, in NATO. And the United States honoring its promise," Pawłowska said in bemusement.
"Good," Ajaks grunted, hopping out of the truck. "Poland is not yet lost. We fight on!"
With that, he took off into the sky, heading for the next battlefield.