The prompt is: You are at the forefront of the war leading your regiment against your half-cousin’s rebellion. Up until this point, your army has been losing; all thanks to that precious royal brother of yours, and his idiocy. Your cousin gave you an offer- defect to his side. What will you do?
General Chandran stood over the war map. His focus was intently on both his forces and the figures representing the enemy. The soldiers in his regiment were losing hope as nearly half of their forces were either dead or injured and very tired. Almost all of them were a particular grade of the most elite soldiers in the kingdom. However, it was useless in this battle as the enemy had superior weapons, unlike anything he had ever seen.
No matter what Chandran did, his men were bested each time. If this continued then the city beyond them would be sieged by a militia of poorly trained soldiers armed to the teeth. It was the most humiliating thing that has happened in his entire career as a soldier and yet, something felt odd to him.
“Damn it all! How do they have such powerful weapons?” Chandran yelled out angrily as he slammed his fist into the table. The force of which caused every piece on the table to fall over, shocking his attendants.
“We… don’t know, General. Our intel suggests that the weapon was crafted and mass-produced in secret. However, a rumor has been going around that the weapons were a gift to the enemy from God.” One of his attendants answered awkwardly.
“From God? That’s insane. If that were the case then there would be no point to this battle. It’s probably just a rumor to lower the troop's morale.” General Chandran replied with a scowl.
With nothing else to do, Chandran returned to looking at the war map which now had pieces scattered all over without purpose. Even though the pieces were not in their original places, he studied them as if they were bearing some secret knowledge. None of his attendants dared to fix the pieces out of fear of what the General might do.
As he studied the board for no other purpose than to keep his focus, Chandran began hearing hoof beats from outside. Knowing that there shouldn’t be anyone riding outside, he shifted his focus away from the map and walked out of the tent. Outside the sun was high in the air with smoke from various small fires wafting into the clouds above. Tents were pitched all around his own on the thick grass-covered plains. The only thing that could be seen outside of the encampment was a single large stone road with one way leading north towards the insurgence and the other way leading south towards the city behind them. Beside the road on both sides were arm-length wide moats to prevent carts from going off the road to avoid travel taxes and to the east was a large forest going for as far as the eye could see.
What caught his eye though was a single person riding a horse towards them from the north. To his surprise, it was one of their own bearing the cap of a messenger. Intrigued by what a messenger from the north carried, Chandran walked to the road to greet the messenger.
“I need to speak with General Chandran! I have an urgent delivery for him.” The messenger yelled as he approached the encampment. Sweat dripped from his brow from riding so hard in the middle of summer.
“I am General Chandran. May I ask from whom this message was sent?” Chandran asked.
“You’re cousin's husband, Duke Laftios sent you a gift as well as a letter.” The messenger said before reaching down and pulling a medium-sized bag with a wax-sealed letter tied to it. Chandran took the two items with a thank you and returned to the war tent. His attendants had returned all the pieces on the map back to their original places and were waiting for the General.
Setting the box on the table, he carefully broke the wax seal and opened the letter. Some of the ink had not completely dried which confused Chandran as his half-cousin should have been a three days ride away. Despite that, he began reading the letter under his breath.
“My dear friend and now family member, I ask of you a favor. Upon hearing that you were the one stationed to defend against the insurgence I wanted to spare you from them. You see, I know that you are a smart tactician, even smarter than myself. However, you will lose this war. I have joined the insurgency and am now one of the Generals to which you are currently losing. As such, I send you this offer and gift. Join the insurgence and be granted a title worthy of your legacy or refuse and be slain by my army's superior weapons.”
Over and over he read the letter. The look on his face shifted between disgust and anger with every passing second. His attendants became skittish due to the overwhelming aura the General let out while rereading the letter. Eventually, the General held the letter over a lit candle to burn the letter before ripping open the bag. Inside there was one of the enemy weapons. A flintlock pistol with a ramrod and ten prepackaged black powder and ball paper casings.
The General thought for a moment as he looked over the strange weapon. He had never seen anything like it nor did he know how it worked. Thankfully, there was a small step-by-step instruction guide in the bag. The attendants looked at the weapon as well with heightened curiosities. None of them had seen such a weapon. Was it magic? A gift from God? Alchemy? They did not know but they feared it. Despite the attendants growing fears, Chandran began to laugh.
“What a coward! Does he really think that will win me over? No, Cousin-in-law, you have disgraced me and I shall end your traitorous life with the same weapon you sent as an offering.” He exclaimed loudly with a hearty laugh.
His attendants looked at each other in confusion as they were unsure if the General had gone mad from stress or not. He did seem to be in a state of madness to any onlooker. However, he was thinking clearly despite all appearances. Noticing their glances, Chandron turned to his attendants and stood firm; Uttering two small yet, authoritative sentences.
“Ready the soldiers. By next light we shall see victory.”
Both attendants nodded and left the tent as swiftly as they could. Despite their thoughts about his sanity, the attendants knew the General was serious. As soon as the attendants were out of the tent, General Chandran began following the instructions for how to use the weapon. First, by sticking the paper shell into the barrel and packing it down with the ramrod as instructed. Then, pulling the hammer back, Chandran aimed the pistol halfhazardly and pulled the trigger. A loud boom he had heard a lot in recent battles echoed in his ears, followed by a high pitch sound and the wood case he had aimed near splintered around an eyeball sized hole.
“Dear, God Almighty. What a kick!” Chandran exclaimed as he didn’t expect such force to be expelled into his arm. However, the rush he felt from firing it caused his mood to become more giddy. Though the rush quickly faded and Chandran grabbed another paper shell. As soon as he loaded another round into the barrel, one of his officers entered the tent to his surprise.
“General, the soldiers are getting ready. What is our next move?” The officer asked respectfully.
“Turns out that the enemy insurgency is led by my cousins husband, Duke Laftios. He has asked me to join him as a traitor to our King. Since we can’t beat them I thought it would be best to all join their ranks so that we can ensure ourselves a spot among the elite.” Chandran said solemnly whilst twisting the wedding ring on his finger.
“You cowardly man!” The officer yelled before running up to him and grabbing his collar.
“Let me finish before you regret striking me.” General Chandran stated. With a sigh, the officer let him go and stepped back.
“Good. My intent was to meet with the Duke and discuss our surrender so that once nightfall comes we can attack them from within.It’s disgraceful but with Laftios being the traitor that he is, he doesn’t deserve grace.” Chandran finished explaining. The officer, now enamored by the idea of winning effortlessly after all the soldiers they lost, agreed. He nodded at General Chandran and walked out of the tent to tell the troops.
* * *
Later that evening as the sun was setting, General Chandran had led his troops up the road to the enemy encampment. Guns were being pointed at them from every direction. However, not a single shot was fired due to the aparent lack of hostility coming from his troops. After several long, awkward minutes, Duke Laftios walked out to greet them.
“General Chandran, Have you come to accept my offer?” The Duke asked in an elegantly flawless demeaner similar to that of his attire and hair.
“Yes, I have. These are the men who chose to join me as well. I was hoping to discuss the terms of our surrender and possibly the initiation of my troops into your ranks.” Chandran replied. The troops nodded in agreement.
“I knew that you would be smart enough to want to join us but I didn’t know so many of your men would share your decision. Though I am glad that they are.” The Duke said with an ecstatic tone before leading them in. some of the soldiers still had their guns aimed but most of them put theirs away. As the soldiers entered the camp, their weapons were confiscated and they were led to a temporary holding area. Chandran on the otherhand, was led by Duke Laftios into his tent where a table with two chairs and a chess set sat.
“Please, sit. Would you like some wine or beer?” The Duke asked.
“Wine please. I assume you want to play a game while we discuss my surrender?” Chandran asked as he sat down. The Duke handed him a cup of wine and sat across from him before answering.
“Of course. This will be boring otherwise. I predicted that you would come with your troops to attempt a sneak attack if I gave you the chance. It’s why I sent you the letter and the weapon. Though I never expected you to truly surrender.” The Duke said as he moved the first piece.
“You haven’t changed since we were children. Still an impatient schemer. Though I was prepared for that.” Chandran replied before moving his own chess piece.
“Oh, really? You are outnumbered three to one and your men had their weapons confiscated. If you were planning an attack then it has failed. Plus, I have already told my men to kill yours.” The Duke saiod as he moved another chess piece.
“I hope that is not the case. I had told my men to defend themselves if necessary. One of my men can take out three armed men while barehanded.” Chandran scoffed with a smug look as he moved another one of his pieces. Laftios scowled in as he moved his piece in return.
“That may be true but the weapons my men carry is capable of killing a man in the blink of an eye. I doubt your men could take them bare handed.” Duke Laftios replied with another smug look before moving his chess piece.
“About your weapons… Yes, they are quick but the reloading takes a fair amount of time. To top it off, I found that water makes the weapon unusable. You never had their waterskins confiscated.” Chandran replied. Laftios’ face grew dim. The sudden realization that sending one of their guns to Chandran was a bad idea hit him like a log. Laftios was completely stiff up until Chandran moved his chess piece.
“Well… We’ll see what happens. If we hear the boom of their guns then I’ll know that I’ve won.” The Duke said with a fearful look.
“Why don’t you tell me where you got these weapons?” Chandran asked with a serious look.
“... I can’t tell you that.” The Duke stated.
“Are you sure about that?” Chandran asked as he pulkled the pistol out and pointed it at Laftios.
“I probably should have taken that.” The Duke said in retrospect as he eyed the gun up and down.
“Yes, you should have. Not that it would have made a difference.” Chandran said.
From outside the tent it suddenly got loud. However, gunshots were heard at random intervals before one of Chandran’s Officers burst through the tents door. He was covered in a mix of mud, brush, and ash that concerned both Chandran and the Duke.
“The camp has been taken, General.” The officer said after catching his breath and then lef t the tent.
“Care to tell me who made these now?” Chandran asked again.
“... Fine, I bought them from a blacksmith within my domain who copied an eastern blacksmiths work. I figured that this weapon would allow me to take the throne.” The Duke said with a defeated sigh.
“Good to know.” Chandran said before moving his Queen into a checkmate position. “Checkmate.” With that single word, Chandran pulled the trigger on the gun and blew a hole in the Dukes chest. The look of surprise on the Dukes face stayed plastered on as the light in his eyes grew dim, making Chandran feel guilty. However, he had won.
