Sabine
General Sabine of House Clemain (a.k.a. The Sword of Eratea, First Martyr of the Hegemony)
Sabine of House Clemain was the general under whose command the fortress city of Eratea finally fell to the might of the Feran army. For her valor in the field and her services to the Feran Hegemony, including the slaying of Kelev, the Traitor of Eratea, she was named a Numenary on her death.The city walls gave just before dawn on the twelfth day. Sabine of House Clemain wove her war horse through the wreckage of the gates, the commander at her side. Everywhere was the evidence of the soldiers' passage before them, the great surge of ravening efficiency that was the might of the Feran Hegemony: hacked bodies, broken weapons, smashed barricades, and blood. Screams and guttural cries still rose from the warren of city streets ahead of them.
"Are we to kill all of the inhabitants then?" Commander Kelev asked quietly.
Sabine's gaze flicked to the broken rooftops and ruined windows towering above the street, scanning for any movement, any figure not clad in the scarlet tunic of the Hegemony. Her men would not have allowed her entry to the city via a route that was unsecured, but the habits of years, the habits of survival, stayed with her.
"General?"
Sabine ignored the commander and flicked her hand at one of her escort. The young soldier broke ranks and veered to her side, trying to match his long stride to her horse's walk.
"Yes, my lady?"
"Run ahead soldier. Tell the captains to assemble the survivors in the city square. I may have a use for them."
"Yes, lady."
The soldier ducked his head in a half bow and darted ahead, sword scabbard slapping against his leg. Sabine watched him until he vanished around the collapsed wall of what must have once been a potter's shop. Broken vessels glazed in every color she had ever seen lay scattered among the tumbled bricks and timber. Shards littered the dust like flower petals, but they crunched under the booted feet of her men like dried bones as they passed.
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