Chapter 4: Siege on the City, Part 2: When in castles…
AN: Hello! Hope you didn't get too bored waiting for me!
First, HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING! But only if you live in America, cause you don't know what I'm talking about if you don't.
R&R PLZ! Enjoy!
And to Archsage12, before the chapter, why she doesn't care that he found out her "secret", it's because she knows he won't recognize her ever, and never connected her with Brad, so she just doesn't care.
Side note: I have two things marked in this chapter, so watch out for them at the end author's note.
Disclaimer: I only own Raerek and the plotline pretty much. I did make up Oraia though.
- - -Durshten: Castle District
Arianne had her bow drawn and ready to fire as she crept through the deserted and gory hallways, following the sounds of clashing swords.
"!" she gasped quietly as she looked around a corner and saw three wargar feasting on the bodies of dead soldiers.
She grabbed two extra arrows with her other fingers as she stepped out from around the corner, letting loose one arrow after another and killing all three before they uttered a sound.
'And that's how I got the name, the Rain of Arrows.' She smirked to herself. On a good day, she could even grab more arrows as the last one was flying, making it look like she was letting loose a steady stream of arrows.
Arianne ran to the bodies of the wargar to retrieve her arrows, but frowned when she felt how many arrows she had left in her quiver.
'I'll have to conserve for now, don't want to run out of arrows.' She thought to herself as she resumed creeping down the halls of the elegantly designed palace.
The bright maroon wallpaper with bright colored tapestry and gold designs and pillars every few meters made for a very elegant design. Arianne couldn't help but marvel at its beauty, even if the walls were stained in blood.
Arianne soon came to a large door, very elegantly designed. The door itself was a deep, ocean blue color with silver and gold intertwining designs branching out from the center of the door, like a great tree.
The door would have been beautiful, had it not been smashed in and covered with blood.
Arianne could see the back garden through the doorway, as well as the fighting going on there.
There were a large amount of soldiers there, but she couldn't find the king among them, nor could she see his personal guard.
'Good.' She sighed in relief, 'At least the king made it out.' She jumped as the body of a creature she had never seen before came crashing down beside her.
It appeared to have the torso, head and legs as a woman, as well as…other things…but that's where the similarities ended. The creature had pale grey skin and hair, but that wasn't the weirdest part. The thing had eagle talons on its feet and large feathery wings in place of arms, ending with talons similar to those on its feet. The monster's face also appeared to be womanly at first glance, but upon closer inspection one could see the slit pupils and the sharp, knife like teeth peeking out from between its lips. (Harpy, Dragon's Dogma.)
Arianne recoiled at the sight of such a creature before kicking it away from her and looking to the sky where it came from, only to see half a dozen more of the creatures harassing the soldiers as they tried to fight off a variety of monsters.
"Well," she muttered to herself, smirking, "better late than never. Apollo, guide my arrows." She prayed, looking up to the sun before letting loose a literal rain of arrows, exhausting her quiver, but shocking the beasts enough and taking out enough of them that the guards could start to turn the battle around.
'Now!' she thought as she ran into the field, avoiding stray arrows and spells, and began to gather up her arrows.
The guards, seeing her pick up the arrows that aided them, assumed that she was a friend and protected her while she gathered her arrows by drawing the monsters' attention to themselves.
Arianne soon got enough arrows to do another rain of arrows, but it was unnecessary. While she had been gathering arrows, the remaining guards had been enough to force the invaders to retreat. Now, only the flying creatures remained, which were being made short work of by the archers, shooting them down where ground forces would finish them off.
"Thanks fer yer help, lad. Doubt we coulda turned this around as quick witout yer surprise attack." A guard said to her, his cape and insignia indicating that he was a captain.
"You're welcome." Arianne replied, lowering her hood slightly so that she could wipe the blood off of her face before putting it back up quickly.
"Ah, guessin by yer voice and yer weapon, yer quiet a skilled lass." The captain said, maintaining his heavy accent.
"I am." Arianne replied, slightly annoyed, "But I do have a question. What were those flying creatures?" she saw another get shot down out of the corner of her eye.
"Aye, those winged beasts be harpies. Scourge of the sky, they are." He said, nodding to himself. "Can't say I'm surprised ya don't know 'bout 'em. Usually stay way out on some small islands in the deep ocean waters. First time I've seen 'em this close to civilization, don' matter if it's a port town er not.
"Thank you for your help." Arianne said as she refixed her quiver on her back and prepared to move on.
"No, it's we who should be thankin' you, lass." The captain waved her off, "Good luck with whate'er yer doin. Gods know we need it." Arianne nodded to his statement before taking off in a run down the next hallway.
A low rumbling was heard by the guards as soon as they finished off all of the harpies.
"Get ready, boys. 'Ere comes an army of 'em!" all of the guards grimly drew their weapons and prepared to fight.
Unfortunately, they didn't stand a chance. The battle was over within a minute, the monsters completely overwhelming the small group.
Arianne was too far to hear their screams.
- - -Durshten: Castle District
The group of four had just passed through the gates to the Castle District, but was forced to hide in nearby shrubbery before they could enter the actual castle because of some…difficulties.
"How did so many monsters get into the city?" the swordsman whispered angrily, glaring at the horde of monsters, probably almost a hundred strong and armed.
"What I want to know is who managed to get so many different species together without killing each other." Raerek stated, his eyes scanning the mass of weapons and armor, looking for any semblance of a general, "They don't even appear to have their leader with them."
Aaron closed his eyes and shrunk back a little more behind their hiding spot, thinking intently.
"How are we going to get in?" the bowman questioned, looking worriedly at the front gates of the castle, "Even if we follow them, they'll still reach the king before we do, and we could show up too late to help!"
"I know a way." Aaron spoke up to the group, all of them turning around to face him, "But it'll require a bit of agility and we'll need to be really quiet." Raerek frowned.
"Or we could just follow the army and pick off any stragglers we see while keeping close to the group. That would allow us to launch a surprise attack right after they attack. It's a win-win." Raerek argued, fingering the hilt of his sword.
"But what if we get spotted? Then we're done for!" the bowman argued, Aaron and the swordsman nodded in agreement.
Raerek opened his mouth to make another argument but was interrupted when the entrance to the castle collapsed in a violent explosion, shaking the earth.
"Well," Aaron groaned as he got up, "guess that settles that." Raerek growled a little, but conceded and followed Aaron and the others when they left.
Aaron led them to the area around the back garden of the castle where he then pointed to the windows, which got consistently larger the higher up they were, and explained, "If we can climb these windows to a high enough point that we can squeeze through, then climb around to the balcony, we can sneak in without anyone noticing."
Aaron didn't explain any further as he started climbing and made a 'follow-me' motion with his hand.
The bowman immediately started climbing and so did the swordsman, with only slight contemplation. Raerek frowned as he looked up the building, 'Well, shit.' Were his thoughts as he saw the climb ahead of him.
"C'mon! Hurry up!" Aaron shouted down at Raerek, having already reached a point, four floors up, where they should all have been able to fit through.
Raerek sighed as he looked at his sword, "Gods dammit." He muttered to himself as he secured his sword and began his climb.
It was several minutes before they all got to the window where Aaron sat, a glazed look on his face, and climbed into windows beside him.
"What's wro-" the questioned died in the swordsman's throat as all of them got a look at the garden.
Massacre didn't even begin to describe the sight before them.
The garden floor seemed to be almost flooding with gore; bones, limbs and organs floating around in the thick red liquid. What few bodies remained at least partially intact were brutally ripped open and slashed horribly. The corpses were hardly even recognizable as people any more.
"My god…" the swordsman whispered in horror as the bowman puked and Raerek turned his head away, but Aaron just kept staring.
"Let's go." Raerek said quietly, leading the way to the balcony, just a few meters away, the others following him mechanically, their motions jerky until they reached safety.
"I'll kill them…" Aaron muttered, his voice hoarse.
"Say something?" Raerek questioned looking back.
"I'll kill all those goddamn motherfuckers. I'll rip their FUCKING THROATS OUT!" Aaron was screaming by the end, tears streaming down his face.
"Get in line." Raerek shot back at him coldly, "You're not the only one who's lost something to these beasts."
"But don't you see what they've taken from me!? From all of us!?" Aaron shouted at Raerek, gesturing to the other two guards, who looked solemn.
"Quit being a weakling. Pain makes you stronger, use this pain and stop being such a weak, pathetic creature. You are a man, act like it!" Raerek glared at the soldier while chastising him.
"You don't know what they've done! All of these creatures! I almost lost my best friend to one of them! Her father was killed by one of them! And for what purpose!? Just to spread more blood and death and-" Aaron stopped as he was knocked back several feet.
Raerek stood there growling, fist extended, as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
The two looked about ready to fight, the swordsman and bowman caught in between, until another tremor rocked the building from an explosion, this time collapsing the way into the garden.
"Let's go." Raerek said lowly as he lowered his fists, "If you really want to stop this death and war, then stand up to it and save the king. You might even be able to save your friend too, if my hunch is right." He then turned and left.
Aaron, wide eyed, quickly got up and ran after Raerek, the other two following him as another tremor rocked the castle.
Had they stayed a moment longer, they would have seen one of the garden's walls collapse, and a giant, black/orange hand reach through and a Troll force its way through the wall, swinging its club and roaring loudly.
- - - Durshten: Castle District-King's Domain
"Graah!" A golden armored guard grunted as he swung his longsword in a large arc, killing a swath of enemies around him.
"When are these creatures going to end?" He panted as he looked around at his comrades current comrades, only three others in the room.
They were the king's personal guard, each near masters of their chosen weapon and with seven in all. With him were the bowman, Michaeliavaili (Mih-Key-El-Ey-Ah-Vail-E), of Michael as he liked to be called, cloaked in the regular archer's armor, but golden colored and with a small blue shoulder cape, as well as the captain's insignia upon his left breast.
Then there was their strider, Archianenio (Ark-E-A-Neen-Yo), who wielded twin daggers, each about the size of his forearm and covered in runes, emanating an eerie red glow. He was clothed in simple dark leather armor, a chest plate, arm, shoulder and shin guards, fingerless leather gloves, leather cleat-boots and spiked elbow and knee guards, and cloth underneath it. Archianelio's face was covered by a leather mask which covered his entire face, with holes for his eyes.
His other ally was a large bear of a man, swinging wildly with a humongous double ended battle axe. The axe might have been huge to others, but compared to the man it was the same as a normal weapon. He was Nnarixkavaar (Nyar-Ix-Kah-Vahr), the production of his mother's rape from an ogre, the half-ogre was a beast among men. He was large, and at 6'9" he was only several inches away from the ceiling, and he had large, bulging muscles all around his body, making him extremely intimidating. His sheer size alone was enough to send most men scurrying, not even looking at his features. His beady, and usually kind, eyes were currently narrowed in anger at the small creatures in front of him, his uneven and colored teeth bared in a savage growl. This man was wearing only steel paladin armor all over his legs and a leather battle skirt, his only upper body clothing being shoulder guards and an open steel helm. While this might seem a disadvantage to some, Nnarixkavaar's skin was as tough as leather due to his ogre father, only truly susceptible to the heavy weapons of paladins, and maybe a well sharpened and forged sword. However, one need only look at the man's huge axe and huge feet to see why getting close was a bad idea.
The man sighed at himself as he looked around at his comrades resting, having fought off the most recent wave of enemies, before he remembered his title, 'Siegfried (Sig-Freed)(1) the Unmovable, huh? They why've I lost so much ground?' the man questioned himself, holding up his relatively plain longsword and looking at his reflection. He had pale blonde hair and fair skin with blue eyes, all signifying him as a foreigner to the land of Oraia. He let his hand raise up and trace the scar over his eye, making him frown as he shifted his golden paladin armor(2).
"Sig, uhkay?" Nnarixkavaar's deep voice sounded as Siegfried snapped out of his thoughts, "Yes Nnarixkavaar, I'm fine." He waved off the gentle giant's concern.
"Siegfried, Nnarixkavaar, I do believe that the next wave is to start soon. We'd best be ready." Michaeliavaili's light and eloquent voice echoing across the room and all of them hearing his warning despite his rather soft tone. At this Siegfried signaled the others that he was fine and would be ready when the fight came.
Archianenio remained silent as he drew his daggers, causing them to burst into flames, readying himself for combat. Nnarixkavaar walked over to where he had stabbed his axe into a wall and effortlessly pulled it out, waiting for his next opponent while Michaeliavaili took an arrow and notched his bow, aiming at the door after checking the other entrances to the room. The only other ones were the overhang that the king's real throne was and the hallway beneath that, leading to the dining hall, which no access to the outside world, only to the kitchens and the ballroom, where the king was hiding.
Siegfried sighed as he stood up and picked up his silver longsword and waited, almost gasping in surprise when he saw a cloaked figure come out of the door, not monsters.
"Halt." Archianenio's hauntingly monotonously voice sounded from the silence, "State your name and purpose, or we shall slay you where you stand."
- - - Durshten: Castle District-King's Domain
Arianne froze at the weapons aimed at her and slowly raised her hands into the air.
'Damn it… Aaron, where are you?' were her only thoughts when she heard the ultimatum.
"My name," Arianne licked her lips to get rid of the sudden dryness in her throat and attempting to deepen her voice a little, "is Brad Seatos. I've fought my way into here to look for a friend." Before she even finished she could feel the knight's hostility.
"The same Brad Seatos responsible for bringing the young hydra to the city?" The golden paladin asked, and she could hear his voice trembling with barely contained rage.
"I can explain-" Arianne's excuse was cut off by a low rumbling, this time not from an explosion, but from many, many footfalls in the same area.
"It's the monsters!" the archer shouted in disbelief, "At least a hundred strong from the sound!" The other knights looked on grimly at the news.
"We 'ave mon'ter lead'r!" the large one exclaimed suddenly, immediately silencing anything anyone else was saying and reverting all eyes to Arianne.
"Indeed, we do. If we could kill him now, then the monsters would surely revert into chaos and once again begin killing each other." The masked one stated quietly, his voice still eerily hollow.
The paladin drew up his sword without hesitation, his eyes burning with the intent to kill.
The first harpy flew in, and all hell broke loose.
Arianne danced out of the way of the paladin's slash and attempted to make a run for it, but was blocked by the masked man, blazing daggers raised.
'Enchanted?' Arianne briefly wondered before a burning pain ripped across her arm, showing that she had been too slow to get away.
Arianne didn't stop running though, patting out the small flames on her shoulder as she pushed herself even harder to escape her pursuers.
It seemed an impossible task, though. With the giant and the archer guarding the door and both extremely skilled in combat, they were more than enough to hold off the limited number of monsters that could flood in at one time, allowing the other two to chase her. 'Great, just great.' Arianne thought to herself as she vaulted over the dagger wielder just in time to duck under a slash from the swordsman.
Even as more and more monsters poured in, Arianne found herself unable to counter the teamwork, speed and ferocity of her opponents.
She sighed to herself, this was going to be hard.
- - -Durshten: Castle District-King's Domain
The group's trip had continued in a tense silence, all of them ready to leap into action at the slightest sound of a monster.
"Where exactly does this passage lead, boy?" Raerek questioned as he looked down balefully at Aaron, who looked back defiantly, "This should lead directly to the king's throne room, why do you care?" Aaron looked angrily at his hero.
"Because, I've got a bad feeling about this…(*hint*hint*)" Raerek looked far down the hall, to where he could see a faint light and hear distant sounds of combat, "And it looks like the king is in for the fight of his life."
The other three seemed mildly surprised at Raerek's proclamation, but continued to trudge on after the man who had now drawn his sword, prompting the others to do the same.
When the finally reached the source of the light and sounds of combat, Aaron couldn't help but gasp at what he saw.
"Arianne…" he whispered, seeing her preferred combat wear facing off against two knights, the king's bodyguards to be exact.
Aaron stepped on the ledge and was about to jump when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Burning hot with rage, he turned around only to be sobered by the hard face of Raerek as he observed the combat going on below.
"Use your mind, Haidwell. Those men, one on one, would be able to give one of my kind a work out. Two on one might be able hurt us. Three on one and they might have a shot at winning in direct combat. I might be skilled, but even I wouldn't try to take on four with only my sword." Raerek explained calmly.
Aaron looked dumbfounded, "But what about your legendary abilities? To slay entire armies?" Raerek chuckled a little in reply, "Indeed we are strong, but that legendary strength lies in our abilities. And I can't afford to use mine in here. It would be more of a hindrance than a help."
Aaron looked crushed as Raerek de Lionei, the legendary warrior, told him that the situation was hopeless.
"Of course, that's fighting all of them by myself. We only have to fight two of them and I have four allies." Raerek finished with a smirk before jumping down into a Void Crash, announcing his presence in the arena 'Athena, lead my steel to rend flesh.' Was his prayer while falling.
Aaron smiled a little as he jumped down after Raerek, 'Thanks…' he mentally thanked the warrior before jumping down himself, ready to face the enemies around him while the swordsman jumped down to assist and the archer stayed up to snipe at any foes he could.
Raerek immediately charged at the paladin, engaging him in close combat and leaving the other four to deal with the dagger wielding psychopath.
Raerek swung his sword in a huge arc as he charged the golden armored knight, expecting him to duck. However, the man blocked with his own sword, using the momentum of Raerek's swing to drive his sword into the ground, wedging it there.
Raerek was forced to let go of his sword in order to avoid decapitation, but quickly charged the paladin, avoiding the slow swings from the man's huge sword, and punched the blond in his uncovered face, knocking him back with a bloody mouth and probably a broken nose.
Not wasting a second, Raerek ran back to his sword and broke the floor around the sword because he picked it up with so much force, hefting the large blade over his shoulder with one hand and waited for his opponent to get up.
The man scowled at Raerek before charging him, eyes alight with cold fury as he drew his sword. "Why do you assist that traitor?" he hissed at Raerek as he went for a jab which was deflected upward by Raerek, but the follow up slash was dodged.
Raerek appeared to think about the question for a moment before relenting, "Why not?" he shrugged after blocking another lethal strike from the man.
"I can give you a hundred reasons why not!" the man roared as he once again flung himself upon his ready opponent, "He's the one leading this invasion, for the first!" Raerek's eyes narrowed at this.
"Well, two problems with that, the person over there was unconscious when the invasion started, and I already have a guess as to who's behind this invasion." Raerek frowned as he deflected another strike from the man, countering fluidly but to no avail as the attack was dodged.
The man's eyes widened before they narrowed and he took up a strange stance with his sword. It looked almost as if he was prepared to stab it into his heart.
Raerek realized too late what was about to happen, and thus couldn't prevent the massive release of magical power that followed.
Where a knight in golden armor once stood was a storm of lightning, all extending out from where the paladin had been stationed.
"You don't look surprised. Do you already know of the guardian's heart-bond?" a powerful voice asked from within the cloud, echoing many times before the voice's question was finished.
"Indeed I do, Sir Siegfried. I recognized that stance too late, I didn't know that you had even achieved it yet. It really has been too long since we last sparred, hasn't it…old friend." Raerek finished as he assumed a neutral stance, his sword held at a slight angle in front of him and his feet shoulder width apart.
"Yes, it has." The voice replied calmly as the vortex subsided, revealing what appeared to be a human form, but made entirely of white and purple energy with glowing yellow eyes and bolts of electricity for flowing hair. The creature was clothed in chest guards and a loincloth made of electricity, along with boots. It wielded a large, jagged longsword in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Raerek barely had time to blink before the creature was upon him, slashing and hacking in a most violent way.
"You've improved." Raerek stated, obviously impressed by his expression. "Let's step it up." And with that, magical energy surrounded him before entering him through his eyes, nose and mouth. When the magical energy had finished going inside Raerek, his sword began to glow slightly.
"Haste, Shell, Protect, Veil." Raerek said confidently as he felt the protective magic enter into his system.
"You've been practicing a lot more in magics, I see." Siegfried said almost whimsically as he began to levitate a small amount off of the ground, "That'll just make it that more interesting." And with that, the battle began anew, their blades clashing at a much quicker pace than before, but still matched nearly blow for blow.
R- - -L
When Raerek had gone to fight the paladin, Aaron had immediately launched bullets of ice magic at the unknown knight, who easily avoided them.
However, this gave Arianne enough time to get out of direct combat and make it back to her allies.
"Aaron!" Arianne's voice cracked slightly as she hugged the life out of the spear wielding guard.
"Arianne…" Aaron said softly as he held her close, keeping her buried deep into his chest. Normally she would be opposed to this kind of treatment unless she was drunk, but this was a special occasion.
"Ahem." The two broke apart to see the masked knight standing with his daggers sheathed and tapping his foot, waiting for the two to finish, "Can we get on with the fight?" his voice came out in a slow, bored drawl.
His response was Aaron and the swordsman drawing their weapons and Arianne backing up a fair amount and summoning her bow.
"Bring it!" Aaron shouted as he charged the leather clad knight, but that proved to be a mistake as the man quickly maneuvered himself inside of Aaron's guard and would have killed him had and arrow from the soldier archer not almost taken the man's head.
With a quick nod of gratitude, Aaron proceeded more cautiously this time around.
He experimentally formed a large ball of ice and launched it at his opponent, only for it to melt when it got within a foot of the man.
'Fire magic. Probably Soldier level at least.' This made Aaron sweat a little bit, his main advantage was usually his magic. If this person were able to counter his magic, then he'd be in trouble.
Aaron didn't have time to think any more as the masked man came charging at him, daggers brought to bear.
Aaron dodged the first dagger by moving to the right but would have been cut with the second one if the swordsman hadn't jumped in and attacked the psycho.
With a quick nod of thanks, Aaron immediately jumped into the fray, swinging his spear skillfully at his opponent, who could do nothing more than dodge.
'This should be harder…' Aaron thought as he once kept his opponent on the defensive with the help of the archer and the swordsman, before managing to land a small gash in the masked man's armor.
That appeared to finally get the man's attention, shown by the flames on his daggers practically exploding before the man charged at Aaron, swinging his blades violently.
Aaron didn't even have time to dodge fully as both of the blades pierced through his side, one above the next.
Shock was filling Aaron's mind to the brim as he fell to the ground, the world fading to black around him.
He tried to get up, but his limbs felt so heavy…
So heavy…
'I'm sorry, Arianne…'
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
R- - -L
Arianne's mind numbed as she saw Aaron fall to the floor, the cauterized wound making a gaping hole in his side.
Her first action was denial, 'C'mon Aaron, stop it with the magic and get up and kill him already!'
The second was disbelief, 'Aaron? Aaron? No, you're not dead! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD!'
The final stage was anger and sorrow, mixed together into an emotional mixture to break even the strongest of wills.
"NOOOOOOOO! AARON!" Arianne's scream broke the recent silence as her mind slowed, eyes sharpened.
Arianne formed her arrow of light from nothingness, gripping it so tightly that her hands began to hurt, but she didn't care.
She had one goal.
The masked man must die.
With that goal set firmly in her head, she exploded toward the murderer with surprising speed, snapping him out of the shock of how much magical energy she was exuding.
Arianne didn't give him a chance to block, her first move stabbing him through his stomach and blowing him off of it with a magical burst.
"Die! DIE!" Arianne screamed at him. She knew her eyes were flowing with tears, that her visage was disheveled and broken, but she didn't let up. She kept on fighting the man, stabbing him so quickly that he didn't have time to recover.
Arianne soon realized that she didn't even have control over her own body anymore, but she didn't care, she let herself flow with the wave of magic sweeping over her, her tear filled eyes closing slowly.
All of a sudden, though, Arianne was shaken awake by falling onto a cold, hard floor.
"Ow…" she quietly complained to herself as she stood up and observed where she was.
There was a white marble tile floor, with no walls or ceiling, just white extending as far as she could see. When she looked down at herself, she realized that, she too, was purely white, her outline being defined with black lines.
"So, this is how the afterlife treats its guests." She said to herself bitterly as she scowled at the floor.
"Not quite, my champion." A voice came from behind her.
She turned around, but could still see nothing, nothing but the impenetrable whiteness that was there before.
"Lord Apollo?" Arianne questioned as she spun around in circles, trying to find her patron god.
"You are here, because you are not within yourself. Losing oneself to battle-lust will do that to a person. So, while you are here and I am there, you are not out there, but in here. Therefore, I must be out there." Apollo's voice echoed again, seeming amused at the prospect that he could so easily confuse his warrior.
"If I'm not out there, is there the real world? And where is here?" Arianne questioned, still spinning around hopelessly.
"But you're still out there, just not really out there." Apollo chuckled to himself, "I can see why Hermes enjoys doing this so much."
"What does Hermes have to do with this?" Arianne shouted, even more confused than before.
"Twas a nice chat, girl, but be warned," Apollo's voice turned serious, "this time you were saved, I know not how or why, but remember."
"To lose control, is to lose yourself. That is the true curse of the twelve…" Apollo's voice faded out, leaving Arianne confused and distraught before a bright light flashed before her vision, returning her to the real world.
Arianne wobbled on her feet, swaying back and forth before looking around at her surroundings.
Aaron had been taken by the swordsman, who was now wrapping his cleaner looking wounds. The bowman still remained in place, although his posture indicated a huge amount of shock.
Even though the giant man and the golden-armored bowman were still fighting off the monsters, rather effectively actually, and Raerek had stopped his fight the Lightning …Atronach…thing… to watch her fight with a small amused smile on his face.
Then she spotted her opponent, and almost gasped.
He was covered in non-lethal puncture wounds, all of them bleeding freely, but was somehow still managing to stand.
What did make her gasp, though, was when he took out a yellow potion from a pocket on his pants and downed it in a single gulp, his wounds immediately began to steam and scab over, and his skin regained its color, he stood up straighter and stronger.
It wasn't long before the new scabs fell off, revealing newly healed pink skin, and the man looked ready to fight once again.
"No way…" Arianne heard the swordsman whisper, horrified, and she couldn't help but agree with him.
She grimly grabbed her back and reached back to her quiver when, out of nowhere, the Lightning Atronach flew backwards at high speeds into the masked man and they both went flying into a nearby wall, making a large hole.
Everyone looked back to Raerek, who had his sword over his shoulder in a baseball post-swing position. He shrugged, "What, at least I gave us some breathing room." Before walking out of the hole after his opponent.
Arianne didn't complain as she fished out a Level I potion from Aaron's pack and grimaced, 'Well, at least it's better than nothing.' She thought to herself before pouring the magical liquid down Aaron's throat.
After making sure that Aaron was secure, Arianne was about to go after Raerek when an arrow imbedded itself in front of her, making her look up to find the golden-armored archer.
She grimly realized that he had finished off the majority of the recent wave and was leaving the rest to the giant, who was doing quite well.
She notched her bow as she felt the swordsman hop up beside her and the archer jump down to get a better shot.
She smiled grimly as she grabbed her remaining arrows and grimaced.
'I've got to end this quickly.' She thought as the swordsman charged forward, alone, while she and the other archer took shots at the man in golden armor from a distance.
"Why did this have to go so wrong?" Arianne muttered to herself, earning a look of sympathy from her fellow archer.
R- - -L
Raerek smiled as he stepped out of the hole he created to find his opponents already prepared and waiting for him.
"Good, you're not so weak that a simple wall could stop you." He smirked at them amusedly as the prepared to double team him, before sobering up when the strider formed runes of fire in the air before vanishing from sight and the Atronach charging up for a powerful bolt of magic.
"Such a simple tactic won't work against me." Raerek said boredly as he clotheslined the masked strider, canceling his invisibility, and charged toward the Atronach, making it stop its spell to dodge.
"Why do you fight us?" the now-visible masked man asked Raerek as they readied their weapons again, before shooting off.
Raerek frowned as he heard the hidden plea behind the question and shook his head while engaging in swordplay with the strider, "No, Archianenio. I cannot return to the service of a king, nor will I put down my arms when you fight in a battle with my charge."
Archianenio seemed surprised at that declaration, as did Siegfried, enough for him to stumble in his assault and give Raerek enough room to push both of them back enough to give him some breathing room.
"You're charge?" Siegfried asked, stupefied, "How the hell did that happen?" he questioned, Archianenio nodding in agreement as they once again engaged each other in close quarters combat.
"Is it really that much of a surprise?" Raerek asked, thoroughly annoyed as he blocked a strike from Siegfried with his sword before jumping up and donkey kicking Archianenio away before pushing away the Atronach and summoning magical energies to surround him again.
"Bravery, Faith, Renew." Were the magical words uttered from his lips this time as he prepared to, once again, throw off his attackers.
"Got'cha now!" Siegfried yelled as he appeared in front of Raerek, glowing with magical energy.
"Now quite." Raerek laughed a little bit as he blocked the Atronach with two hands on his sword, one to block magic and the other to hold the sword, but Raerek was taken off guard when the creature smirked before his eyes widened.
"Sorry." Archianenio muttered in his usual monotonous voice as he pulled his daggers out from Raerek's back, letting him fall to the ground.
"Let's go and finish up inside." Siegfried said as he began to walk away, but was stopped when he was again bashed in the head with a giant sword and sent flying sideways, farther away from the castle.
"Wha-" was all Archianenio got out before Raerek grabbed him by his skull and ran up the castle wall before smashing the strider's head into it to stop.
Raerek paused for a moment to make sure that both were well and truly out cold before sighing.
'I've got to stop doing that.' Raerek frowned to himself, 'It has been too long since I faced an opponent who could truly harm me in combat.'
Raerek walked over and picked up the two bodies and started walking back inside, but something caught his eye.
Looking closely at the garden, he could see a hulking shape inside the garden, trying to get inside the hallway before an explosion rocked the world.
Raerek narrowed his eyes through the smoke to try and define the figure of what the creature was before his eyes widened 'Troll!'
He quickly ran back inside to warn the others, hopefully in time to get some back up.
R- - -L
Arianne's first attack was a salve of arrows that was, hopefully, too widespread for the archer to dodge, but it was a futile hope.
That didn't mean she wasn't disappointed when he grabbed one of the dead wargar and hid behind it.
'I just have to buy enough time for those two to get over there.' And Aaron, who had leapt into the fray as soon as he had regained consciousness, and the swordsman were already stealthily making their way to where the king's archer stood.
"Dammit!" she cursed to herself when the archer saw the two combatants sneaking up on him and quickly moved to another location before launching a large volley of arrows at them, which they luckily dodged.
'This is getting us nowhere fast!' Arianne despaired silently as she once again tried to distract the archer. Unfortunately, he was wise to their strategy now and wasn't about to be caught unawares twice.
Fate seemed to smile upon the small group at that moment, though, as their opponent had forgotten about the second archer in their group, who was hiding on the opposite side of the room, and hadn't been quick enough to avoid the arrow now deep into his calf.
This injury may not have been a largely debilitating one, but it was enough for Aaron to catch up to the man and engage him in close combat.
"Whew…" Arianne sighed, wiping some sweat off of her brow, resting easy. She was already coming up with plans to deal with the giant guard when something caught her eye that made her gawk in disbelief.
The archer had managed to avoid Aaron's strikes and knock away his spear, and the two were now grappling with each other, trying to overpower the other, while the swordsman stood surrounded by a small group of monsters that the giant had allowed to slip by for assistance to his teammate.
Arianne readied her bow again after catching the eye of the other archer and preparing to assist the swordsman so that he can help Aaron subdue the archer.
As she quickly counted the number of monsters; four wargar, two goblins and a harpy, she grew more worried when she counted only twelve arrows left in her quiver, not nearly enough to subdue the monsters, the archer and the giant man.
"Oh well," Arianne muttered to herself as she readied three arrows to take out the goblins and harpy, "not like I was expecting it to be easy." She glared at the creatures as she shot them, watching her arrows pierce their heads before they could react.
Her fellow archer had done his job well, leaving only one wargar for the swordsman to deal with and Aaron with help soon on its way.
Feeling bold, Arianne ventured a glance over toward the main entrance to the room and immediately paled, now even more worried by what she had seen.
The giant axe-wielder was engaged against a dozen ground monsters of various races, but that wasn't what scared Arianne. It was that those appeared to be the last dozen of the hundred strong which came through those gates, and that the giant soldier was slowly but surely winning against the monsters.
That, in turn, meant that aid for the archer was getting closer and closer, and Arianne wasn't sure if they could beat the two of them together, even less so now that Raerek was occupied.
'Damn, the one time that we need him around, he's gone!' Arianne silently fumed while turning her attention back to the battle at hand.
It appeared that, with the swordsman's assistance, even the injured Aaron had been able to physically overpower the archer and pin him down while the swordsman retrieved Aaron's spear.
As Arianne and the friendly archer moved from their hiding places to regroup with the rest of their group, Arianne kept a close eye on the giant and how he was faring. The man had already managed to whittle down the monster's numbers to only nine left, and that number seemed sure to drop soon.
As she looked at Aaron's pained face, she notched her bow with an arrow and pointed it at the enemy's face, motioning for Aaron to relax.
"You move and I'll put an arrow in your head." Arianne threatened as Aaron sat down on the ground to rest and gratefully took his spear from the swordsman.
Everyone turned when they heard a collective gasp though, and they saw the king and a dozen guards making their way through the back door back into the king's throne room.
The king was an old man, with a full head of grey hair that showed off his golden crown. He stood tall in his age though, and was intimidatingly regal in his wine-red robes.
"Who are you, fiends!" the king demanded as his guards all readied their weapons, "You shall release Michaeliavaili at once or I shall have you killed!"
All of them grimaced at this point, and looked about ready to give in when the giant, covered in blood, went to stand beside the king.
"Nnarixkavaar, could you go make those evil-doers unhand Michaeliavaili?" the king asked the giant, Nnarixkavaar, who then nodded and made his way to the ragtag group of, now renegade, soldiers.
"You let Michael go, an I no kill you. Kay?" the giant's deep voice echoed within their heads as they moved away from his downed comrade.
As the two started to move away and Arianne looked up to spit at them, something caught her eye, a glinting object behind the king.
Quickly, a plan formed in her head that might let her and Aaron get out of this situation alive, "Behind you!" she shouted and drew her bow.
That's where her plan stopped working however, as the two skilled guards thought she was talking to them and turned around to see her aiming her bow at the king with her last arrow notched.
Michaeliavaili, the archer, rushed at her and tackled her to the ground as she launched her arrow, making her miss her intended target of the king's would-be assassin and hit the king instead, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.
"Murderer!" Nnarixkavaar screamed in rage as he drew his weapon and charged the group and lead the way for the rest of the guards, leaving behind the king and an older teen, who was smiling widely and clutching a dagger in his hand.
R- - -L
AN: Wheh! Almost done! So, as you can see, this is a pretty long chapter, over 8,000 words! But it gets better, this is NOT where it ends! Ya see, I had to divide this one chapter, Siege on the City, up into 3, I repeat, 3 parts! Each one close to 8,000 words long! THAT MEANS THAT THERE'S ONE MORE PART!
Holy crap, right? Anyway, that's why these updates have been taking so long. I've been writing the chapter and trying to end the saga, but the chapter will his like 15,000 words, so I just decide to split it. Anyway, onto the notes!
No, for those of you who recognize the name, this is not Siegfried from Soul Calibur. HOWEVER, this Siegfried is based on him and looks almost exactly like him. So, it's a character based on a real character. Yeah.
Just imagine Soul Calibur Siegfried's armor from Soul Calibur IV, but golden colored.
Now, onto reviews.
Carefree Luminary: Thanks for reviewing! And sort of. Not so much a mass cross-over as it is "borrowing" ideas from different fantasy games and putting them all into one story. But it does have some big crossovers, so points for that
Archsage12: Lol, s'okay. Happens to everyone every once and a while. About the category…
I DID YOU CRAYZEY WOMAN! T_T WHADDOYOU WANT FROM ME!
Okay, freak moment done *brushes off shoulders*. Anywho, about the past, I realized after I wrote it that I probably should have left out a little more, but, if you look closely, you'll find a lot of key things that I didn't include, plus one extra thing that you'll see next chapter. I hope you like what I did, cause it opens up a whole metaphorical can of worms! Sorry to disappoint for now, but their actual reunion won't be for a little while, until all the fighting has stopped. SORRY! But I'll make it good, I promise! ;)
Yeah! Got it in one *Nods head while Morgan Freeman talks in the background*
Yay! I didn't really know how people would respond to that, so I just kinda went with it. I'm glad to see that at least one important person verbally likes it ;).
Thank you! The idea for the 12 actually just came to me while writing this, so I didn't know how good it'd be ^^'. Well, I have a little experience with mental guided arrows in video games, so I had an idea of what to write. And for Apollo, well, he is a god, and I didn't want to make his super-buff, cause he's the god of the music and shtuff, so I made him super tall instead ^_^.
Yay! I was hoping to get that right without making him like a little puppy ^^'. Yup, he's a total beast, in more ways than one *hint*hint*nudge*nudge*. Unfortunately, I had to put the ass back in badass to remind people of his fatal flaw *wink*wink*.
Thanks! The next chappie after this should be up at the beginning of December, heck, I might even be able to get it up right on the first!
POLL:
Okay people, seriously, vote. It might seem like I can drag this on forever, but I can't. Next chapter's the last one for sure, so vote! I can't go any farther with this story until I know what people want, and so far only one person's told me what they want!
Petra-1
Ammodis-0
Iiomeno-0
Remember, I need at least four votes for one category to move on. If I have a majority by Christmas, though, I'll just start with the majority.
Oh! A last minute warning to any soft-hearted readers! The next chapter will be a little gruesome, and I actually have had to censor one part so far, so proceed with caution and read any and all author's notes that you might see.