Two sides III

Elladan POV
It had been several months since Elladan had been demoted after the tag-team incident. Exactly how many months it had been, he did not know, as all communication to the outside world had been banned from the moment that they entered training, and frankly, the days had started to blur together a long time ago.

After the thrashing that his old Decan had gotten during that incident, they had managed to haul themselves together and had actually made it pretty close to be the best Decan in the entire class near the end, though that might have also had something to do with the ones that had been better, dissolving and forming new Decans as members either quit or were kicked out.

His old Decan actually held the class record for the longest standing Decan, what with it lasting a month and a half, though it might also have been two, as Elladan was not entire sure on that subject, before they had been forced to merge with another due to loss of manpower.

He had managed to secure the position of second-in-command in this new Decan, but had then been advanced up to an actual Decanus when the previous Decanus had been dragged aside by the instructors to have a private meeting with the lord commander.

That meeting, as all that had come before it, had apparently ended with the previous Decanus getting kicked out of the class, which was only evidenced by the Decanus packing up his stuff in a fury, before storming out of the barracks.

The meetings had begun just shortly after they had hit 50 surviving members in the class, out of the 200 and some that had started, and the running theory behind them was that since the instructors could virtually never find enough fault to actually kick someone out anymore, they sent the candidates that they had deemed the worst to the lord commander, probably on his behest, so that he could personally kick them out.

It was a solid and proven theory, as no one had ever come out of a private meeting with the lord commander without immediately packing up his things and leaving training, sometimes with annoyed growls or even the occasional fits of rage, though it was sometimes confusing what exactly prompted the choosing, as several of the ones that had been kicked out had been among the favourites of the class.

Currently, they were only 34 surviving members left, which had made the entire notion of dividing them up into Decans redundant, as the entire class now had practice together, though that did not stop them from being so. The atmosphere had changed into one of constant trepidation and competitiveness, as everyone began to realize that they were no longer simply trying to show the instructors what they personally could do, but also had to show them why it was not them but one of the others that should be singled out next.

It had been much nicer back when everyone competed against the instructors' demands, rather than against each other, and although Elladan was not proud to admit it, he had on more than one occasion resorted to dirty underhanded tricks to stay in the game.

Though the change in atmosphere was certainly not nice, it only got worse when the instructors stopped teaching them new things and instead simply started making them do exercises and run drills that they had already mastered months ago.

It was like they had simply run out of stuff to teach, but since they only had some unknown amount of spots open, they had to thin out the herd until that number was reached. But it did not matter, because Elladan was determined to see this through to the end. He had reasons, four of them, that compelled him inexorably to achieve his goal of joining the Varangian Guard, which was why he had fought so fiercely ever since the final rounds had begun, just as he was doing right now.

His current opponent was a the bulking form of a middle-aged human male with a deep scar running down from his left temple and all the way to his chin, a courtesy from the Artaxian uprising, as he had once told Elladan, whom had likely served in more wars than Elladan, and whom would no doubt win if it ever came down to a wrestling match between the two of them.

Despite his immense size and grizzly demeanour, Garen was actually a pretty decent fellow with a great sense of humour and an unwavering sense of loyalty to those that he considered his friends, which Elladan just so happened to have become after he had helped Garen avoid a dirty trap that had been set by one of their fellow candidates, which would have no doubt disabled Garen's legs for at least a while, if not permanently.

Elladan had no particularly pressing issues with simple dirty tricks, but trying something that could disable someone for life just because you thought that he was better than you, was crossing a line. He was sure that the instructors would have seen it that way as well, though they had pretty much turned a blind eye to the underhanded tricks as of late, although that did not mean that they would not kick out anyone that they found evidence of trying something.

They had to know that these things occurred, but a combination of the perpetrators always covering up their tracks and the instructors not caring overly much about it as long as it was kept out of their sight and did not make too much of an incident, made it seem almost as if they wanted the remaining candidates to fight amongst themselves until a group of victors finally emerged.

To get back to the duel between Garen and Elladan, it would be fair to say that it had lasted for quite a while now, while it had also managed to attract a crowd of both the instructors and the other trainees that would otherwise have been in the midst of their own duels.

It had not started out as much more than a regular training session, but both competitors had eventually been caught in the euphoria of battle and competition and they had both stepped up their game to give it their all.

The world around them meant nothing to them as the two friends circled one another with raised shields and dulled swords. Right now, there existed nothing but the duel, the clashing of swords, the hammering of shield upon shield and the fires in both' eyes that seemed to convey more than words possibly could.

Elladan ducked out of the way as Garen swung at him with a powerful swing that would no doubt have been too much of a pain to block with his shield, but the evasive action enabled Garen to step forward with his shield and push upon Elladan's shield, which in his weakened stance meant that he had to give ground or risk falling and thereby losing the duel.

As Elladan tried to retreat a step, hoping that Garen would stumble and have to correct himself, Garen seemed to have anticipated the move and simply followed him all the way back, making Elladan stumble instead, as he was pushed on his back by the still charging bulk of Garen.

Cheers and booing were faintly registered in the back of Elladan's head, but he paid them no mind as he lay there on the ground, just on the edge of defeat, but not completely there yet. Garen tried to finish the duel by swinging his sword down upon Elladan's chest, which would likely have been his head if it had been a real fight, and in that moment, Elladan had to choose whether he would leave his sword or his shield behind for the rest of the fight.

In the end, he chose to keep his shield, as that was his best bet of avoiding defeat from the incoming strike. So, with his back still on the ground and a sword coming down upon his chest, Elladan let go of the sword-handle and instead used the free arm to support the shield that only just managed to get there in time to block the blow.

Garen's sword bounced off of the shield's metal surface, but before he had time to retract it and get back in a proper stance, as believing that he was about to end the duel had made him overly excited and caused him to step forward in order to deliver the final strike, Elladan kicked one of his feet away from under him, which caused him to stumble and fall down on one knee.

Elladan only just managed to get up before his opponent did, though it was without his sword, as getting up without a free hand would have made it much more difficult and time-consuming, which would have made him vulnerable when Garen returned to attack once again.

As it was now, Elladan knew that he had to end the duel fast, as fighting with only a shield and against an opponent with better endurance was a losing battle. The only problem with that strategy was that he had no idea of how exactly to end this, as he had only just been able to keep up with the much more experienced veteran when he had had a sword, but now that he no longer had it, drastic measures would have to be taken.

The sun's reflection in his opponent's shield gave him an idea. Slowly but surely, Elladan began to circle around, so that the sun would reflect better upon his shield, but not so much that the sun actually shone directly into his eyes and obscured his vision.

Garen had apparently not figured out his scheme, as he simply followed Elladan's circling motion, which coincidentally brought him closer to Elladan's discarded sword, something that Elladan knew that he would guard fiercely to keep up his advantage.

Unknown to Garen, that was actually a part of Elladan's plan, as he needed to get to his sword quickly if his plan was to work. So, just as Garen reached Elladan's sword and positioned himself in front of it, Elladan charged forward with his shield raised, as if to try and knock Garen over with brute force alone, an action that would have surely resulted in complete and utter failure on Elladan's part.

Elladan could see Garen bracing himself for the impact, but right before the two clashed, Elladan flipped his shield ever so slightly, so that the ray of light that it had previously reflected upon Garen's raised shield, now found its way to his eyes instead.

Though he was momentarily blinded by the sudden light, Garen still kept a solid stance that would no doubt block Elladan's incoming charge, though it had never been his intention to proceed as such. Instead, Elladan threw his shield forward, where it impacted upon Garen's shield, before he skidded right underneath Garen's shield, elbowed him in the back of his knee on his way, before he finally reached where his sword lay.

In one smooth action, Elladan took hold of the sword-handle once again and immediately followed it up by turning around in his kneeling position on the ground and stabbing upwards at Garen. The dulled tip of the sword flew forward towards its target, which was the belly of the now turned Garen, before Garen impossibly fast used the back of his own sword to knock Elladan's thrust out of the way and then followed it up with a thrust of his own, resulting in Garen's dulled tip stopping mere centimetres from Elladan's exposed throat.

"I win", Garen said painting, and only now that the entire ordeal was over did both of them become aware of just how tired they both were, which quickly resulted in both of them collapsing down on all fours to catch their breath.

Immense cheering could be heard from the circle of enthusiastic viewers around them, and as he heard it, Elladan cracked a grin in Garen's direction and said, "looks like you won after all".

"Yeah, though I have to admit that that last move did catch me off guard", Garen grinned back, "you have talent, I will give you that".

"Not as much as you have", Elladan countered.

"I have far more experience to back up my talent, but you almost beat me anyway", Garen waved it off, "if I could get a few weeks alone with you to teach you what I have learned, then I think that with enough experience, you could become among the best that there is".

Before Elladan had a chance to respond to that somewhat strange statement, not that he knew what to say, a single pair of clapping hands from the back of the crowd made everyone fall eerily quiet all of a sudden.

The sea of spectators parted to reveal the hands clapping to be those belonging to Lord Commander Mercury Iridium, and as soon as people realized who it was, they immediately lined up in order, even the thoroughly exhausted Garen and Elladan.

It was not actually that unusual of an occurrence anymore for the lord commander to supervise one of their training exercises, though everyone always feared when it happened, because it meant that one of them would be singled out, unlike during the usual days, where one of the instructors could, but not always would, quietly drag them to the side and explain that the lord commander wished to have a meeting with them.

"A fine performance indeed, but as in every battle, there cannot be two victors, only one or none", the lord commander said and looked pointedly at where Garen and Elladan stood at attention, "Decanus Elladan, I would like for you to take a walk with me and explain to me just why it is that you lost".

Oh, bollocks, Elladan cursed inwardly, as his dreams came crashing down.

Atanalcar POV
It had been two months since Atanalcar had begun his preparations for taking over Earl Hilkins' title and lands, and it was finally time for the final part of it to be enacted, that final part being actually confronting the earl about it.

Now, Atanalcar was not afraid to get his hands dirty, but if he did not need to do it, then he would rather not, and the same applied to risks, which was part of why he would not be confronting Earl Hilkins alone, but rather at the head of the provincial security forces of Artaxia.

There were other reasons why they were there as well, such as making sure that everything went according to plan and to prevent Earl Hilkins' guards at his summer home on Tal Virv from putting up too much of a fight.

Currently, he and his temporary forces were located just behind a hill near the gates of Earl Hilkins' summer house, where they had been waiting to finally get the confirmation that the earl indeed was still inside the mansion, as they needed to capture him during this raid or he might get away in the confusion.

"The scouts have just returned and have had a confirmed sighting of the target", one of the provincial soldiers reported to Atanalcar, ",my men are ready to attack upon your order, my lord"

"Excellent, commence with the operation", Atanalcar calmly responded from atop his black stallion.

Unlike most of the troops around him that were dressed mostly in cloth or the occasional leather armour, Atanalcar was dressed in an armour traditional for his country, which had been passed down from one generation to the next within his family for almost a century and a half, practically letting it date back to the foundation of Artaxia of old, or Lofia, as it had been called then.

The armour consisted of layers upon layers of long rectangular metal strips that were fastened together with brass fastenings. The layers overlapped each other both horizontally around his midriff and chest, and vertically to cover his shoulders better, and to add in a splash of his own, Atanalcar had had a red cape fastened to his shoulders.

The armour had been one of the only heirlooms that had survived the destruction of his House after that bastard had ordered his grandfather to be executed and to remove his House from its position of power, and the only reason for its survival was because Atanalcar's father had managed to bury it before the bastard's men had stormed their home and taken Atanalcar's grandfather by force.

Now was however not the time to muse on such things, as Atanalcar rode out at the head of his advance cavalry force of just under 50, which were to secure the gates while the approximately same number of infantry units surrounded the mansion walls and prevented anyone from escaping.

"Who goes there!?", one of the guards at the gate yelled as he spotted the official symbol of the province of Artaxia waving shortly behind Atanalcar.

"I am Lord Atanalcar of House Loren, and I have been ordered by the archduke himself to bring your lord and master in for questioning", Atanalcar responded proudly as he stopped his horse before the gate, looked down upon the guards standing in front of it and rolled out the order from the archduke with his official seal on it, while also having the knocked arrows of the guards up in the gatehouse aimed at him, though he made sure not to show how much that detail unnerved him, "I order all of you to lay down your arms and surrender. Any hindrance on your behalf will be seen as an act of rebellion against the province of Artaxia and by extension, the entire Silver Wave Alliance".

The guards at the gate grumbled for a while at this, but eventually they acknowledged that the document was not a forgery and proceeded to open the gates and surrender themselves. They may not like how this would affect their reputation, but the earl's guards were nothing but mercenaries, and if there was one thing that Atanalcar knew about mercenaries, it was that they would not start a battle that they knew that they could not come out of alive. After all, what good was the promise of a large fee if you were not there to collect it in the end?

After the first guards had surrendered and opened the gates, Atanalcar's group proceeded inside to raid the actual mansion. Most guards on their way did surrender after being shown the seal of the archduke, but a few here and there refused to believe in its authenticity and were subsequently put down.

The problem was not so much gaining complete control of the mansion, as that had been established pretty quickly, but rather that the earl did not seem to be in it at all, nor was the alleged basement where the sorcery experiments were said to be done.

This was bad, because if Atanalcar could not procure evidence of the earl's wrongdoing, then not only would he be shamed for life and never taken seriously again by the Artaxian government, but all of his contacts and allies would turn on him to save their own skin.

"Where is the cellar?", Atanalcar shook one of the surrendered and bound guards after he had ordered his men to be leave him alone with the prisoners for a while, "I know that it is here, now tell me how to get into it!"

"I do not know anything about any cellar", the guard tried to deny its existence, "we have never seen one, and I do not think that one was ever built".

"Tell me or you die right here and now!", Atanalcar shouted as a mixture of anger and desperation got the best of him, "and do not even think that just because those men out there are official soldiers, that I will not hesitate to kill all of you. I can excuse it by saying that you tried to attack and overpower me and that I had no choice but to defend myself, which unfortunately resulted in accidentally setting fire to the room with you still inside".

The guard gulped at the idea of being burned alive, but he would still not budge. Atanalcar was now truly beginning to feel the desperation of his situation, but he did not let it show as he lighted a torch and slowly but surely brought it closer and closer to the curtain.

As it inched closer and closer to the flammable fabric, Atanalcar began to worry that there might not be a basement after all. What if the servant had lied to him? What if the truth was that there really was no basement with sorcery experiments inside of it?

As the possibility of that occurrence began to sink in, Atanalcar almost completely stopped paying attention to the lit torch going nearer and nearer the flammable fabric. He cursed as he remembered that he had had the servant killed a few months prior in order to make sure that nothing could be traced back to him, because if this was true, then Atanalcar would have made sure that his death had not been the quick one that he had ordered, but rather a slow excruciatingly painful one that would only end long after the servant had stopped begging for death.

"Stop! Stop, I will show you how to get though the secret passage!", one of the other guards suddenly shouted frightened, "just do not torch us all!"

It was only then that Atanalcar realized that during his musings of how he would have painfully killed the servant traitor, he had not stopped the torch from closing in on the curtains, which were now just about to catch on fire.

"Show me where this passage is", Atanalcar demanded and moved the lit torch away from the curtain.

The guard was soon brought to his feet and began to show the way to Earl Hilkins' bedroom, where he proceeded to turn one of the wall-decorations, thereby allowing a secret door to open in the wall adjacent to it.

Since he did not know what would await him down there, Atanalcar sent a dozen of his men down there first to capture anyone down there and then report back to him when it was safe for him to go down as well.

It hardly took more than a few minutes before one of the guards came up and told him that the coast was clear, before he lead Atanalcar down the flight of stairs and into a room lit only by the flameless lamps, noflams as they were called, that had first arrived in Artaxia when it had been annexed by the Alliance.

The room was huge, easily half the size of one of the mansion's entire floors, and it had clearly been divided into different segments with different purposes. The end closest to the door held a table with numerous documents on it, some of them half burnt, and in front of it, Earl Hilkins was kneeling on the ground, surrounded by the provincial guards.

The part of the room farthest away from the door had cages filled with both animals and living people, while right next to those cages were some other more specifically purposed restraints, of which some of them looked to be designed to hold humanoid figures, but which were reinforced beyond what could possibly have been necessary.

The humanoid restraints were all empty, but a ferret was locked in a heavy steel restraint that covered all but its head, though its mouth had been closed by another small steel muzzle. One quick glance at the severe overkill of the restraints and the creature's maroon eyes told Atanalcar all that he needed to know.

"You were experimenting on creating shades!?", Atanalcar questioned the kneeling earl incredulously.

Experimenting on getting spirits to do things for you was one thing, but to actively study how to create shades from both animals and people, now that was something else entirely. If just one of his creations had gotten loose, then there would be no telling of how much damage it could have done before adequate forces were brought in to deal with it, though the damage would luckily be restricted to this island only.

As much as Atanalcar hated the bastard, he had no doubts that Lord Commander Mercury would personally take charge of removing such a threat, and if Atanalcar was to be honest with himself, then the lord commander was actually the one best suited for such a daunting task.

"This is not what it looks like!", the earl tried to object, but he was cut off from saying anything else by being punched in the face by the provincial soldier that stood right next to him.

"Then how do you explain the shade-ferret over there that is trying to get loose of its restraints, not to mention the similar restraints meant for people!", Atanalcar shouted and angrily pointed at said ferret, but before the earl could get a word out, Atanalcar continued, "no, I do not even want to hear it. Guards, take him to the lowest dungeon that you can find".

"Yes, my lord", the guards saluted and began to drag the earl out.

Just as they moved past Atanalcar, Earl Hilkins grabbed at Atanalcar's red cape and desperately pleaded, "wait, you are all being deceived! Do not let them execute me!"

"Take him away", Atanalcar huffed and angrily tore his cape out of the deranged man's grasp, before he turned to the remaining guards down there, which were all eying the shade-ferret warily, and said, "would someone please kill that thing before it hatches a plan to get loose".

Naturally, all of them were hesitant to approach the creature, even though it could not even twist its head in any direction, and though Atanalcar could relate to their unease, as he was far from comfortable with getting any closer to it, he still demanded that it be done, just not by him that is.

Eventually, one of them finally manned up and did it, causing the shade-ferret to squeak in its muzzle before having its entire body dissolved as a single ball of light escaped from it. After that, it only took a few short hours before the archduke himself joined Atanalcar in the secret basement, as he had both waited for word from higher up on what was to happen now and for word from Atanalcar that the shade-ferret was indeed gone.

"He has made quite a mess of things, has he not?", the archduke, a plumb old man in rich clothes, said.

"He has, but we fortunately managed to stop him before anything happened", Atanalcar responded respectfully, "what is to become of the remainder of his research?"

"I just received word from the lord commander that every paper is to be destroyed, every animal killed and that the human test subjects will be subjugated to extensive examination from both the Psychological Order and the Mages' Inquisition to evaluate what has been done to them before they can even hope of being set free again".

"I understand", Atanalcar acknowledged the prudence of such measures, "and what of Earl Hilkins and his lands?"

"Earl Hilkins will stand trial a week from now, where he will most likely receive the death penalty for his heinous crimes, both on the subject of sorcery and the murdering and enslavement of people", the archduke explained, "as for his lands, I have inquired a little around the land, and due to your aid in uncovering his scheme and the support that some of my more trusted advisors have given you, I will hand them, and the title of earl, over to you. You will also be given Earl Hilkins' old seat on my council as compensation for any personal expenses that you may have made".

"Thank you, it shall be my honour to serve under your direct rule, my lord", Atanalcar said and bowed respectfully, though it also served to hide the massive grin that he could not stop from creeping unto his features as he learned that all of his carefully made preparations were bearing fruit.