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The Company of the Phoenix: Dangerously Ignorant?
I write this publication to give a voice to agents of liberty abroad who have long been denied justice for the actions of Dame d'Estellier and the Company of the Phoenix. As a supporter of the fledgling Republic of Gundarak and an avid scholar, I have recently taken it upon myself to collect accounts from soldiers of the Fekete Sereg or "Black Company" that fights now for their liberty and homeland in Gundarak. These were meant to be for a historical record for the Society of the Erudite, but the conduct of the Company of the Phoenix in the battle of Navorhan demands wider publication.
The battle of Navorhan was a defensive engagement wherein Malocchio Aderre's Invidian forces, bolstered by Falkovnian allies, tried to claim the fortress of Navorhan. The Company of the Phoenix were paid two hundred thousand solars to aid in this defense. I interviewed Lieutenant Gabor Halasz of the Fifth Company who was present throughout the battle. He related to me that during early ground engagements, the Company of the Phoenix were posted on the walls. From those walls, the Dame d'Estellier's wizard threw fire. Fire on the enemy, yes, but also Lieutenant Halasz' own soldiers. This killed two of them. Lieutenant Halasz described this act of friendly fire as naked incompetence on the part of the Company. His anger at the deaths of his own at the hands of his "allies" was palpable, but his story only got worse.
Aderre had brought to the field of battle an engine of war created by poorly educated wizards. This engine was set to fire on Navorhan. The Fifth Company and the Company of the Phoenix managed to capture the device at the tail end of the battle. While an arcanist of the Company of the Phoenix was trying to disable the device safely, one of Dame d'Estellier's men decided to try to smash it. We should not be surprised that a luddite like the Dame d'Estellier, who openly denies the use of magic in warfare, should allow her foreign mercenaries to conduct themselves so. When she employs wizards they are unqalified and get men killed with their carelessness. When presented with a magical threat she has her mercenaries trying to smash it. What was the result of this crude act? The device exploded. An explosion that killed and injured numerous Fekte Sereg. It was with anger that the Lieutenant informed me she made only token efforts to discipline her own for getting good men and women killed.
Did the Dame d'Estellier make an accounting of herself for these crimes against her allies? Does she speak of her failed leadership when writing lengthy letters about the flaws of other military bodies? No. Not a peep of the ugly and incompetent conduct of her own mercenaries. Should we be surprised that a woman who once tried to use her authority as a Gendarme to corruptly support her lover is so careless in who she employs? How they are trained? No.
The Dame d'Estellier's refusal to understand the role of magic in war has led directly to the deaths of those she had promised to aid. Deaths she has never made an accounting of herself for. She will offer excuses, now, I am sure. But I wonder what they will mean to the men and women of the Fifth Company, whose pain and anger was so keen, so palpable? To those that bled not for profit, not for political ambition, but for a love of liberty and their homeland.
Of the Company of the Phoenix Lieutenant Halasz had this to say:
"I told our Captain that never again would I work with such incompetent soldiers, with lackluster discipline. I would rather face the entirety of Malocchio's forces again singlehandedly than fight beside those mercenaries."
It is well that the Dame dedicates herself to road building now; it is hard to accidentally kill men doing it.
She has yet to make amends. I wonder if she ever will?
Signed,
Doctoresse Katja Vinter