The next morning I felt quite refreshed, despite how much shit I had to do. I was wearing my clothes and my armor, excluding the mask, since we’d be leaving sometime today. I just had to talk strategy with Ulysses and Bruce first.

We sat in a circle in his tent.

“So let’s start with the obvious. The butterfly shaped design of Glenwell is ideal for a pincer attack… but it’s gonna be an uphill battle.” In the center was a paper map, roughly sketched out. “As I showed you, Ulysses- the points where we’d enter are actually deeper than the entrance. Much deeper. So we’re not gonna just be able to let the gas roll down hill like in Goldcairn.”

Bruce snorted. I rolled my eyes and said to him,

“Bruce. Tell me about this boogaloo you’ve been planning.” He cocked an eyebrow in confusion before deciding that asking wasn’t worth it.

“Originally, I’d planned to bring my men and meet up with my cousin, Duncan; the Chief of Hypogean Loch. From there, we’d storm Glenwell with the ultimatum of join or die, continuin’ this march until we had enough dogs to storm the capital at Copseburgh.” Ah, French style. Very classy, tasteful even. He then added, “Glenwell is barely a five hours walk east from the Loch.”

“Oh, wonderful. That’s about what I was planning anyway.” He just snorted at me.

“Was killin’ innocent pups part of the plan?”

That… struck a nerve. I glared at him and grabbed his collar, yanking him down to my eye level.

“You listen here you little fuck. You are only alive right now because our ultimate goals align, capische?” I said to him, growling faintly. “You signed the treaty. You are ours now, whether you like it or not.” I never did explain that clause, did I?

“So here’s what’s gonna happen. We are going to take rulership over your clan and install you as a puppet. You may lead however you choose and you will have the full power and might of the crown to protect you.” I explained, before letting go of his collar and saying something that would make any libertarian reading this shit a brick in anger. “You just have to pay your taxes and follow our laws. All our laws, even ones you don’t agree with.” I think a bit of good ol’ Roman conquering would be in order. I lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag before continuing.

“So what I’m planning is that after we depose the old rule and put you in place you’ll do whatever you can to appease your people. We’ll help with that- I know for a fact that we already ordered in a shipment of cots for your people in Goldcairn, so they’ll have that to look forward to. But after I take the crown of Fertilia, we’re gonna be taking a more… hands on approach to governing.”

“Ye offer an olive branch in one hand and brandish a knife in the other. And what happens if I refuse? Better, what’s stoppin’ me from betrayin’ you?”

I just shrugged. “Then your people won’t even have the illusion of being ruled by their own. With or without your cooperation, this campaign marches ever onward.” I fully expect his betrayal in the future. “All the meanwhile, our efforts will improve the standard of living for your people, and we’ll take all the credit. I’m a generous motherfucker, so you can even exaggerate how much of a hand you had in these ‘negotiations’.”

Remember, the only reason I’m keeping him around is so that the Diamond Dogs at least have the illusion of self governance; at least until I turn it into a secret police state.

Call me cautious or overbearing. Personally, I believe that letting them govern themselves is a terrible idea and in fact is what got us in this situation in the first place. Ideally, you’d just put a loyal puppet on top but quite frankly, I doubt there’s a single diamond dog who will be loyal to a griffon. The solution is to make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse.

Once again, I would be using herd mentality to my advantage. As pack creatures, diamond dogs hold their leaders, generically called “alpha” in high regard. Presumably the strongest warrior out of a lineage of warriors, the dogs bow to their will out of fear of repercussion. But just like ancient men tamed great wolves, so too shall I tame these dogs. I’m just gonna need a lot of rolled up newspapers.

I honestly don’t think it’ll be a permanent struggle, though- I’m hoping that in a couple generations at worst, they’ll start growing complacent as improving infrastructure and modern civilization cropping up around industry allows them to have the quality of life to invest in education and sciences.

Who knows? Maybe in 100 years, they’ll be our equals in terms of industry. Or maybe someday, some griffon will figure out nuclear energy, and we won’t even need coal anymore? But either way, like Adrian said- progress is better than none, and clearly no progress has been made to breach the isolationist diamond dogs until now.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Ulysses said, turning to Bruce. “You and a team of 20 of your men will join us on this campaign in case any negotiations must be made. You will be given tents and some rations to share like all the rest of us; though I do recommend packing your own. We won't supply you any gems to eat. You may bring swords, but crossbows or bows are forbidden,” He explained simply.

“An’ what about the thunderpipes?” Bruce asked, referring to my gun.

“Oh, that reminds me.” I said, turning to Ulysses- “Any diamond dog found with a firearm in their possession is to be shot on sight.” I really, really didn’t think that the diamond dog's massive paws would be able to handle a firearm with the proper care and respect it deserves.

Besides that- why would I give away my favorite equalizer?

“If that will be all, dismissed. Prepare yourselves, we’ll be leaving in two hours.” He said, and I wasted no time.

The rest of the campaign will be like Sherman’s march to the sea. We’ll go forth and keep going until victory is achieved. Since most of these locations will be in the mountainous regions of Nalot, with many of the griffon roads overgrown from neglect, the large bulk of our rations will be carried on wagons behind us, pulled by paid workers. It was a delicate balance to strike- so in case things get hazy, I was gonna pack me some booze for the road. That said- we would still be making some small stops in Nalot for resupply and morale purposes.

While I cannot publicly advocate for it, hookers work wonders for keeping soldier’s morale up. I’m just sayin’. Support local businesswomen in this tryin’ time.

Of course- I also had other plans in mind. I had to write a letter to my wife.

Hey, baby! The first battle went quite well. You’re gonna love it- their screams were like-

My breath hitched in my throat. I took a long gulp of whiskey from a pint bottle.

music to my ears.

My pen hovered over the paper. I wanted to write all the details, everything she would’ve loved to know. I couldn’t, not so soon.

Though we may be apart for now, you’ve been on my mind constantly. Even when I’m dreaming, I still see your face.

I wrote this while grimacing, having been reminded of that awful nightmare.

You wanna know something wild? I had a dream the other night where we had a kid!

I wasn’t gonna go into the details, obviously.

Do you think you’d rather have a son or a daughter? Personally, I’d rather have a daughter. Imagine how fun it’ll be to teach her how to pick pockets, beat up boys and shoot guns… Damn you for making me think about having kids!

God, even writing to you makes me wish you were here even more. All in time, though.

Excellent job with the posters, if that was your doing. Anything to get my face out there. I even did an impromptu balcony speech the other day! Keep doing what you're doing and everything will fall into place.

Speaking of which- I was thinking we needed a symbol to associate with our movement. I’m thinking of using the Yellow Sign, though in truth, I’m not sure why I feel so inclined to do so. I was even thinking of a flag design- I’m thinking all black with a white circle, with the yellow sign in the middle. Also, another thing- the motto of our little thing here is PROSPERITY, usually with a fist in the air. It’s become pretty popular after I pulled it out of my ass during a balcony speech. Tangent over.

I love you with all my heart, darling. Stay safe.

Your love, Leona.

With that, I posted the letter and headed back to camp, where the boys and I got packed up. I felt safe enough including that little info in the letter, I suppose.

The next few days of travel were quite calm, considering the fact that there was an active war going on. Already, the fruits of our labor were apparent when we passed several carts full of confiscated gold ore heading back towards Ravenna.

You may be wondering why we have free reign through Nalot; well simply put, the Queen of Nalot doesn’t really want to involve herself in the war effort, since most of her GDP is generated through Equestrian trade. We’ve essentially been given the go ahead to do whatever we wanted with the dogs since the queen refused to be informed of what’s happening, as she seems to think that would absolve her of guilt by association.

Something we’d use to our advantage.

We traveled and made a brief stop at Goldcairn, where Bruce picked up his “ambassadors” for Hypogean Loch. My plan to get them in line would be quite… simple. It was a couple days of traveling, which thankfully, no worms got in our bread.

You know, it’s funny. I brought all this booze and I’ve hardly had any time at all to drink. Like, I want to drink but my exhaustion seems to outweigh any craving. Fuck it, I’ll take it.

Hypogean Loch was exactly what you’d think of it- it was a mid-sized diamond dog warren centered around a massive underground freshwater well. Of course, I never bothered to look at it myself- but from what people have told me, it’s quite beautiful.

Above the warren is a large field, which we demanded that whatever standing army they had stand in wait in groups of 10. They were convinced to do this after Bruce told his cousin exactly what happened at Goldcairn.

When I addressed them, there were about three hundred in total- outgunned and outnumbered. They glared at me with hate and disdain. They would never follow me willingly- I would change that.

“Greetings, MacDoggal clan.” I addressed them with a cocky smile, as I often did. We had them utterly surrounded- they wouldn’t try anything. “You may be wondering our intentions. Well, wonder no more. Simply put, we wish to assist you in this revolution your people have been working on.” I said, and was met with utter silence.

“Tough crowd. Ulysses- start passing around buckets.” A simple bucket was passed to each unit of 10 soldiers. Each one had 10 strips of white paper, one of which had a red dot.

“But of course, if we wish to assist you, which believe me, we do… I simply must determine where your loyalties lie. So, we’re gonna have a fun little lotto to settle things!” I yelled out. “Each group member is to draw one piece of paper. Once that is done, you’ll be herded group by group to the loyalty test.”

After a few minutes of waiting, I pulled one group to the side. They seemed furious and I couldn’t quite blame them. A company of fifty soldiers held their rifles on the dogs.

“Whoever drew the red dot is to be murdered by their compatriots. Take as much time as you need to say goodbyes.” I said, and instantly chaos fell on the group. Protests and shouts of anger, calls for all out war, calls for violence and rape… must be silenced.

I raised my hand in the air.

Snap.

B-BAN-BANGBANGBANG-BANGBA-BABABABABANG!

Fifty bullets shredded through the ten dogs, all of which were various states of armored and fell like bricks. A chilling silence descended upon the dogs- I think they’ve finally realized that I wasn’t fucking around.

“Clean this up, Fifth Company. Swap out for Seventh, and don’t forget to reload.” I said to my men, who saluted and obeyed. I paused to let the situation really sink in for these dogs.

“Another group.” I yelled out. This time, I didn’t even have to force any particular one. The one dog seemed particularly pale and shaky. “Same as before. Whichever unlucky bastard who drew red dies today. Take the time to mourn or not, I don’t give a shit.”

Afraid of what would happen if they took too long, the soldiers started savagely beating their compatriot. He begged and cried for mercy and received none, instead only gaining more savagery in return. Eventually, he stopped struggling and a blanket of depression and melancholy descended on the bunch.

“Drag him away and make way for another.” I commanded, and they obeyed without question. This repeated for what felt like ages. I’ll be honest- there were times when someone was getting beaten and they’d cry out for their mothers, their wives… their pups. It always struck a nerve with me, so that I couldn’t help but look away when they started begging to see their family again.

Eventually about three quarters of the way through, something interesting happened. This group looked little different than the others- a group of 10 terrified diamond dogs, with one looking particularly crestfallen. This time though, there was an addition- one diamond dog who, despite his short stature, walked with a certain bravado which I couldn’t help but admire.

“Whoever pulled red, you probably shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.” I said like clockwork, a cigarette lazily sitting in my beak. The crestfallen one lowered his head with a sigh- but the short guy spoke up.

“No! Take me instead. He’s a stronger warrior than I.” The guy was definitely an adult- just one with a heightened sense of bravado. “I will be less useful in the comin' battle.” The rest of his compatriots looked surprised, and then shrugged.

“Wait.” I said, halting the inevitable beatdown. “That was… quite selfless. Brave, really.” I had a smug grin on my face, which the dog matched. I looked to the crowd of remaining soldiers, and saw them looking at the guy with approval.

“The world needs more brave men like you.” I said to him with a wide grin, leading him away from the group. I raised my hand.

“And the world needs less cowards like them.” I said, snapping my fingers.

B-BAN-BANGBANGBANG-BANGBA-BABABABABANG!

The dog looked on in utter horror at what I ordered. “B-but… N-no! No!” He stuttered out, literally shaking. All with that one move, I’ve turned what would’ve made him into a folk hero into a social pariah, since the deaths of those men would be seen as partially his fault.

Once the population of MacDoggal soldiers was finally decimated and broken, I once again addressed them with a smile. This time, they looked at me with fear, as though I were the devil himself standing before them.

“Nothing like a good team building exercise to get to know each other better, huh?” I asked them sarcastically- even their eyes were practically pleading for mercy. “Do not worry. We will assist in defeating your oppressive ruling class and bring prosperity to both our nations. Until then, do as we say.” I explained to them, and many of them nodded wearily. I gave them a… a warm smile, or at least, the best as I could, and summoned Bruce to stand beside me.

“Make no mistake, Bruce here is the brains behind this whole operation.” I said, and he interrupted me,

“Murderin’ soldiers an’ pups was not part of the plan, I assure you.” I growled in annoyance. And the crowd glanced around nervously.

“Yes, but it was an unintentional side effect.” I said through a grit beak, then shook my head. “Anyways… Bruce here will be your leader. Any orders given go through him.” Once again, I smiled. “Don’t think of me as your leader. Think of me as your… Godmother. I’m here in case something were to happen to Bruce, capische?” I asked, and received several weary nods.

Heh. Godmother. Not gonna lie, I kind of like that as a title. Godmother Leona, the Boss of all Bosses.

“Pack ample rations. We’ll camp for tonight then we’ll take Glenwell in the morning.” I yelled out, “MOVE IT!”

I knew I really wouldn’t have the time, but fuck it. I was getting drunk tonight. Big Time. We all were- after marching from The Loch, we’d set up camp a not too inconsiderable distance from our target. It wasn’t too different from most nights, except for the three hundred odd diamond dogs with us, camping in their own quadrant of the area.

They kept to themselves and we avoided them. We were happy with that arrangement.

After dinner, I pulled up a log for me to rest against and kicked back with a sigh. I took my kit off at this point, so I was basking in the warmth of a fire.

“You know what’d make this better?” I asked Adrian rhetorically before pulling a pint bottle of Rotgut out of my pack. The cork popped with a satisfying noise that sent a chill up my spine, and I gulped its contents with gusto. I was in a fantastic mood, putting an arm behind my head to rest my neck… until Rosco decided to speak up.

“So are we not gonna talk about what happened today?” He asked with a sense of exasperation in his voice, and I shrugged.

“I’d rather not. Why would you?” I asked, punctuating my sentence with a sip.

“He’s right! What we did today was abhorrent!” Adrian spoke up in agreement, and I sighed in annoyance.

“It was evil, but a necessary evil. Remember- I don’t just want to undo what they did. I want to make sure this never happens again, at least not in our lifetimes.” I explained simply, staring off into the sky. The sound of a diamond dog begging for his mother rang out through my mind, causing me to grimace.

“And remember- we’re doing this so our kids won’t have to.” I said with a sigh, and Sinan agreed.

“She’s right. This war was gonna happen one way or another, it was simply a matter of picking the most convenient time.”

“And finances- for which my wife is an unsung hero.” I said, bringing her up to take my mind off the screaming. “Seriously, this war has largely been a financial effort. I couldn’t have done it without her.” I said with a nostalgic smile.

“Bottom line is, Rosco,” Jos spoke up, “They pulled the first gun but we fired the first bullet.” Fin simply nodded in agreement.

“Just do what I do when you’re having issues.” I added, “When you’re having trouble, just think of your wife and your daughter. Seriously, that’s what I do. It helps.” I said, grabbing my helmet and flashing our photo a wide grin. “Maybe try getting yourself a hobby?” I suggested.

“Hobby? What’s your hobby?” He asked, and I raised the pint in the air.

“Drinkin’.” I took a sip of whiskey. “Say, want a drink?” I asked him, and he grinned.

“Heh, Ah’d love a drink!” So I handed him the half empty pint and pulled a full one out of my bag.

“Cheers.” I said, taking a long swig. Rosco just shrugged and polished off the bottle.

The rest of the night continued on in this unassured melancholy combined with heavy boozing. I think in time, we’ll get it figured out. Hopefully. But let’s just focus on the now.

We’d be storming Glenwell tomorrow, after all.

A bold strategy, cotton! Let's see how it plays out!

As always, thank you for reading! Likes and comments are always greatly appreciated :3