Chapter Nine: Rescue

For the couple of days, Pyre's warband continued to train Gwen and her allies until they had the training and skills memorised. They performed the same routine of Charr combat training and Siege Devourer training until Pyre and his warband were satisfied that they were ready. The plan was to attack at night, where the cover of dark would play to their advantage. The Hierophant's stronghold already had two Siege Devourers located in front of the gates. Seer's plan was to gain control of these devourers and use it against the Hierophant's forces. With this strategy in mind, the devourers could attack the archers on the wall, and give Gron and the armoured saurus time to reach the front gate and attempt to break it down.

"Preparations are set." Pyre said, as the party gathered all their tools and belongings. "We move out in ten minutes."

"Meet you outside." Gwen said, sheathing her sword. Pyre responded with a simple nod and he and his warband exited Doomlore Shrine. Ogden and Vekk soon followed after, leaving Gwen and Kyte alone. She walked up to him and grasped his arm, pulling him around.

"Just in case we all don't get through this." and without giving him a chance to say anything, she reached up and kissed him on the lips, breaking it only moments later.

"Gwen-"

"Please don't say anything." she interrupted, smirking.

"We are going to make it through this." he said, before kissing her back. "Now we're even."

"I don't-"

"We'll talk about this after we rescue your people." Kyte said, interrupting her and walking out of Doomlore Shrine without another word, leaving Gwen standing alone, blushing and smiling to herself.

x x x x

The party arrived at the entrance to the Hierophant's stronghold almost an hour later, under the dead cover of the night, just as they had planned. Gron and Seer had scouted ahead, and reported back with good news.

"It's as we expected." said Gron. "Two Devourers out the front, archers lining the walls, text book defence."

"Then our plan goes ahead." said Pyre. "Bonwor?"

"We need to take care of those devourers first off." explained Bonwor. "We split up, our warband will assault the devourer on the right, I hope we can trust you to handle the other one."

"Don't worry about us." said Kyte. "We got it."

"Once we have taken the devourers, they will know we are here, so prepare to defend Gron and the armoured saurus."

"How many Charr are we talking?" asked a nervous Ogden.

"A whole battalion, short legs." Gron replied to the dwarf.

"Fantastic." Ogden said, swallowing.

"Okay, let's move out!" Bonwor said, and he and his warband snuck around the corner to approach the right devourer, where the two Charr guardsmen remained unaware. Gwen and her allies snuck around to the left to seek out the left siege devourer. The sound of two bodies falling let them know that Pyre and his warband had successfully taken out the Charr guardsmen. Upon hearing this, the two other guardsmen from the left siege devourer began to move to see what the noise was. This gave Gwen and Kyte the opportunity to sneak up behind them and take them out without a sound.

Seer Fiercereign headed over to them to make sure that they had done their job correctly, and grinned in approval when he saw the two bodies on the ground.

"Good work." he said. "Now, turn that devourer around and aim for those archers on the walls. It's going to get messy."

As soon as he said those words, a large explosion could be heard from behind them. Pyre and the rest of the warband had fired the right siege devourer, the attack crushing almost half of the archers on the right side of the wall.

"Attack now!" Seer cried out, as he ran back to assist his brothers. Gwen obeyed and used the training she had learned and controlled the devourer to aim for the archers on the left side of the wall. The devourer reared back and launched its ranged attack, the projectile hitting its targets with a deafening bang. The sudden attack sparked a stronghold-wide alert, and the Hierophant's army began to pool outside the front gate, using the teleportation devices located at the top of the fortress walls.

"Defend those devourers!" Bonwor shouted. "Keep attacking those archers!"

Gwen drew her sword and prepared for battle, her friends backing her up and doing the same. The teleportation devices continued to warp in new troops, before the Charr attacked. There were many, but these Charr were low-level grunts, nothing they couldn't handle as a team. Gwen swung her blade in circles around her, deflecting and parrying any attacks that the enemy threw at her. She swept low, hacking at the Charr's feet, knocking them to the ground before finishing them off with a strike to the heart. She looked back to see that her allies were handling themselves quite well, and turned back to eliminate several Charr engineers who were attempting to gain back control of the siege devourer.

"Vekk!" she called over to the asura, who had just fried a Charr swordsman with a devastating lightning spell. "Gron is about to move in with the armoured saurus, cover him!"

The asura nodded in reply and departed the battle in search for Gron, who was leading the armoured saurus through the centre corridor and towards the front gate. Vekk caught up with them and jumped atop the armoured saurus's back, casting his spells from there, repelling any enemy that dared approach them. Gron protected the both of them with a large shield, deflecting any stray arrows that rained down upon them.

Elsewhere, Gwen, Ogden and Kyte continued to hold back the large amount of Charr forces that were attempting to converge on their position. Ogden had cast an protective shield around them and the devourer, shielding them from any projectile attacks, allowing them to focus on the soldiers that were attacking them on the ground. As soon as she cut down two more Charr, she looked over to the right side of the battlefield and saw that Pyre and his warband were struggling. A considerably larger force had been sent out to eliminate them, and they were having a hard time holding back the line.

"Ogden, Kyte, can you handle these guys?" she asked, falling back to join her allies. "Our Charr allies aren't doing so well over there."

"You, offering to help the Charr?" asked Kyte, bewildered. "That's a first."

"If they fall, we fall, and I'm not going to let us die out here." she replied.

"Go, we got this." Kyte said, throwing a kick into an oncoming Charr's groin, sending him to the ground I agony. Gwen gave them a quick nod in response and left them to defend the left devourer, and raced across the battlefield to assist Pyre and his warband. She mustered up her energy, and her eyes flashed violet, before she thrust her palm forward, sending out a powerful telekinetic wave that knocked all incoming Charr off their feet and to the ground.

"Am I glad to see you, mouse." growled Pyre.

"If I had the option, I'd probably let you die." Gwen replied, not even giving him a glance.

"Always a charmer."

"Cut the chatter!" Bonwor interrupted, throwing his massive sword down upon an attacking Charr Shaman. Gwen continued to use her magic and spells to disable her enemies, interrupt their spells, and cripple their attacks. Pyre's warband took these opportunities to mow down the distracted enemies with pure ease.

"How's Gron doing?" she asked.

"See for yourself!" Pyre replied, pointing to the armoured saurus at the front gate. Vekk continued to blow back any ground enemies that attempted to get near the armoured saurus, while Gron used his incredible accuracy to throw daggers at the archers atop the fortress walls, eliminating any strays that avoided the siege devourer's attacks.

"It's nearly done!" he cried out. With one final push, the armoured saurus broke through the heavy barricade blocking the front gate, sending the doors crashing to the ground in a heap of rubble. "We're through!"

The call rang out to all his allies, and they immediately began to push forwards, forcing the Charr back while moving towards the front gate. The Hierophant's forces responded in turn and began to retreat deeper into the fortress. The archers left the walls and the remaining forces left on the battlefield were slaughtered by Gwen and her allies. When they had reached the front gate, most if not all of the Charr had been eliminated, and their bodies littered the battlefield.

"Any casualties?" asked Seer, counting the numbers.

"None." said Gwen.

"I'm impressed." said Bonwor. "You took our training well."

"It certainly helped." said Kyte.

"What's our next move?" asked Gwen, walking through the front gates and examining her surroundings.

"We go for the Hierophant." replied Pyre, stringing an arrow into his bow. "And we take the son of a bitch down."

"Sounds good."

"Let's move, the ritual could begin any moment now that the Hierophant knows we're here."

The group moved forwards into the stronghold, encountering no other enemy on their way to the back of the fortress, but they were careful not to let their guard down. They were behind enemy lines now, and they had to be on the lookout.

"Trespassers, you have no place here." a voice said from ahead. The group halted as a battalion of Charr appeared before them, carrying flame torches and wielding fairly impressive weapons.

"The Hierophant's elite band of Charr." grunted Pyre. "He finally had the balls to send you to clean up his dirty work, did he?"

"Pyre Fierceshot, you are a traitor to the Charr race." the leader of the elite warriors spoke. "You and your brethren will perish here tonight."

"Why don't you stop talking and use that big sword of yours?" Gwen taunted. The elite warrior, who had apparently not noticed her there, turned to her and growled, bearing his fangs.

"Foolish girl." he breathed. "You will suffer a more painful death at the hands of our new gods."

"You're the fool." she replied simply. "Your new 'gods' will kill you all."

"We will not allow you to use such blasphemy in this place!" the elite warrior roared, raising his weapon with his companions did the same in unison. In response, Gwen and her allies drew their weapons. There was a moment's pause, before both sides charged one another. They met with a clang of metal and sparks flying. This fight wasn't as easy as the Charr they had faced outside on the battlefield. These Charr were elites, specially trained for special armed combat, and deadly to any that came across them. This is where Bonwor's combat training would test how much they had learned, and how much they had practiced. Each of them had engaged their own foe, and Gwen was struggling to catch hers off guard. She parried and struck forward, her sword glancing off her enemy's large two-handed axe. The Charr elite roared as it raised the axe and brought it down, Gwen only just managing to jump out of the way before the heavy weapon crashed into the ground, sending bits of rock and dirt into the air. She wished she could use some of her spells to assist her in battle, but the battle outside had drained most of her energy, and it was going to be a while before she could cast anything. She had to rely solely on her combat training to get through this fight. She moved into a different form of fighting style, a more aggressive and powerful one. Her attacks pushed her enemy back, forcing them to defend and unable to get any sort of attack in. Because her enemy was so big and bulky, and his weapon was so large, he moved slow and carelessly. Gwen thrust her blade forwards and caught the Charr elite's right hand, severing the joint between the hand and the wrist. He roared in pain and dropped his weapon, unable to hold it any longer due to him losing the use of his hand. Gwen gave no hesitation as she took control of the fight, burying her blade deep into her enemy's throat and killing him instantly.

"I hate the Charr." she muttered to herself, panting heavily and wiping the sweat from her brow. She looked back to see her allies slowly taking care of their own opponents. Soon, the group had surrounded themselves with the dead bodies of the Hierophant's Elite force.

"There should be nothing between us and the Hierophant now." said Pyre, kicking one of the dead bodies to make sure it was truly dead.

"Seer, you and the rest of the warband head back outside and make sure no one escapes through the front gate." Bonwor said, turning to his brother. "We don't want any strays escaping."

Seer, Roan and Cowl acknowledged their orders and departed for the front gate, while the rest of them moved forward to confront the Hierophant Burntsoul. Gwen looked forward to the moment when she could look into the Hierophant's eyes and take his life from him, just like how he took her friends and family away from her. The group found themselves in a circular arena, surrounded by flame torches and many Charr. In the centre was a pit, and inside the pit, Gwen could see her friends, alongside other sacrifices, such as Charr.

"They're inside!" she said, making a move forwards, but Pyre held her back and shook his head. Inside, Gwen knew he was right. Rushing in was not going to help the situation.

"Hierophant Burntsoul." Pyre Fierceshot declared, as he entered the arena. Every eye in the vicinity turned to face them, eyeing them like they were lambs to the slaughter.

"So the trespassers made it this far." the Hierophant replied, turning to face them with a menacing grin. "I'm disappointed that my Elite band of warriors didn't have the skill to take you out. Good talent these days is hard to find."

"We're here to kill you." Pyre said bluntly, raising his bow and aiming it at the Hierophant.

"You cannot kill me, not while our new gods protect us."

"The Destroyers are your enemies too," said Kyte. "They'll kill you all."

"I will happily die at their hands, pathetic human." Hierophant Burntsoul spat. "But you will not win on this night."

"When we walk away from this, you're going to wish you killed us instead of locking us up." said Pyre, and with those words, he release the arrow in his bow. The projectile soared forwards, but the Hierophant simply held up a hand and the arrow burnt up in mid-flight.

"Playtime is over!" the Hierophant roared. "Release the Destroyers!"

Several caves around the arena began to open up, and Gwen saw several insect-like creatures with flaming hearts emerge from the shadows. The Destroyers shrieked and attacked, cutting down the Charr in its path.

"Prepare yourselves!" Pyre cried out, drawing another bow from his quiver. Gwen and her allies raised their weapons in defence and stood back-to-back. They continued to watch as the Destroyers slaughtered the Charr around them, without any kind of effort. The Hierophant Burntsoul, while watching his people die, approached Gwen and her allies, poised to attack. But before he could even raise his weapon, a large Destroyer swung its blade across his neck, severing his head from his body. Gwen watched as the Hierophant's head rolled away, a look of surprise still etched on his face.

The Destroyers were powerful creatures, but there were more Charr than them, and several Destroyers fell at the hands of the Charr, but considerably more Charr perished in the battle against the Destroyers.

"Can we kill them?" asked Gwen, scanning her surroundings.

"Aim for the underside of their bodies, the chest and the stomach." said Kyte. "They have no protection there."

"Got it." Pyre said. He launched two arrows from his bow simultaneously, hitting a Destroyer square in the chest, between its protective hide. The attack was fatal, and the Destroyer shrieked before falling to the ground, the lava in its body cooling out and going from a burning flame to dead black. The attack encouraged the rest of them to jump forwards and attack the Destroyers, who were still pre-occupied with killing the remaining Charr warriors in the Hierophant's army. Gwen disarmed an unsuspecting Destroyer by severing the joint between its shoulder and arm, before hacking at its waist to split it in two. She moved on to waste a Destroyer who crawled on all fours, by removing its two front legs with two quick precision strikes, before driving her blade into the head of the beast. The Destroyer shrieked in agony and dropped dead. All around her, her allies continued to kill the remaining Destroyers, while the last of the Hierophant's army fell. Suddenly, she heard a cry from behind. Gron had encountered one too many Destroyers, and they were closing in on him. His left arm had been slashed, and blood was seeping from the wound. He had lost his weapon, which lay several feet away from him, unreachable. As Gwen raced to help her Charr ally, she grasped Gron's fallen weapon in her other hand, and began to wield both blades in front of her. She struck down the first Destroyer with complete ease, before moving on to the next one. With both weapons, she was able to cover all sides, and protect Gron, who was struggling to get up due to the gash he had on his right leg. However Gwen had bit off more than she could chew by taking on more than one Destroyer. These beasts were powerful, and it showed in their attack. Each hit knocked her back several paces, and she was starting to lose her balance. The Destroyer struck out once more, and her second blade flew from her hands, away from arms reach. She braced for the next attack, but at that moment, Kyte stepped in between her and her enemy, blocking the blow and thrusting his blade into the heart of the Destroyer, killing it.

"Thanks." she grinned, getting to her feet.

"Getting a bit sloppy?" he jested, before moving on to combat another Destroyer. Gwen looked over at Gron, who was now being helped by Pyre. Despite the casualties, Gwen and her allies managed to fight back the Destroyers and defeat them. When the last Destroyer fell, Gwen walked the battlefield, making sure that the beasts were truly dead. She stopped when she encountered the severed head of Hierophant Burntsoul.

"He sent himself to his own death." she whispered, just as Pyre walked over.

"He was a fool, like the rest of them." said Pyre. Suddenly, Gron's voice was heard over the battlefield, as the Charr and human prisoners were freed from the sacrificial pit.

"My brothers! Pyre Fierceshot has freed you from the Hierophant's yoke!" he cried out in triumph. "Unite beneath our banner, and we shall overthrow these false priests and their false gods!"

In response, the Charr prisoners cheered and roared in victory, chanting the name of Pyre Fierceshot over and over.

"Gron, enough!" shouted Pyre, approaching the prisoners. "Warriors, do not trade one set of shackles for another! I will not lead you, but I charge all of you to spread the lesson we have learnt today: There are no gods for the Charr!"

The liberated prisoners cheered again in triumph and began to chant 'there are no gods!' over and over, celebrating their new found freedom, and their new revolution. Gwen helped her friends free the human prisoners and embraced Captain Langmar in a tight hug when she climbed out of the pit.

"Gwen, what are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought I told you to keep watch of the eye?"

"I couldn't leave you Captain." she replied. "I couldn't leave any of you."

Captain Langmar merely smiled and hugged Gwen back. "We're glad you came."

"Did we lose any?" Gwen asked, looking at the Ebon Vanguard around her.

"Only a few, we will mourn their deaths." someone replied. Gwen turned around to see Anton standing behind her, giving her a small smile. Gwen said nothing and brought him in for a hug as well.

"It's good to see you too, Gwen." he said.

After moments of celebration and tearful reunions, Gwen introduced Captain Langmar and the Ebon Vanguard to her new allies, the warrior, the asura and the dwarf.

"We are grateful for your help." Captain Langmar acknowledged, shaking Kyte's hand.

"Anytime." said Kyte.

"It seems you had quite the adventure." Captain Langmar went on. "Gwen told me of what you went through on our behalf. Rest assured, you can count on the Ebon Vanguard's help to aid you in the future."

"Thank you Captain, we need all the help we can get to combat these Destroyers." said Kyte.

"A storm is coming." Pyre Fierceshot said, approaching them. "The Shamans will not go down easily. For a while, it will be safer to be elsewhere."

"You're the hero of this revolution." said Kyte, looking over to the celebrating Charr.

"Revolutions eat their heroes." Pyre said. "I may return in the future, but for the moment, I have made the choice to travel with you, and fight at your side, if you will have me."

"You proved that I can trust you today, Pyre. It will be an honour to have you with us."

"We will take care of things here in the Charr homelands in your absence." Captain Langmar stated, turning to Pyre. "If it means working with your people to do so, we are willing."

"I will make sure Gron knows that." Pyre said, nodding. He turned to Gwen as she came up to him.

"One good act does not redeem your people." she said to him. She was grateful for his help in rescuing her friends, but she was reluctant to tell him that. "I want you to know: I do not like you, and I still do not trust you, but most of all, I do not fear you." and without giving him the chance to respond, Gwen walked the other way.

"That went well." said Kyte.

"Indeed." said Pyre. "But the mouse is learning."

x x x x

It had been a week since Gwen and her friends had rescued Captain Langmar from the Hierophant's Stronghold, and they had made their way back to the Eye of the North. Pyre Fierceshot caused some uproar when he first arrived, many of the Ebon Vanguard in the Eye preparing to strike him down on the spot, but under the orders of Captain Langmar, they left him be. Pyre had left Gron in charge of the revolution, and they remained in the Charr homelands, using Doomlore Shrine as their new base of operations. They continued to recruit as many Charr as they could, convincing them that the Shamans were false priests and that the Destroyers were a true threat, not new gods.

Gwen hadn't spoken to Kyte about their little encounter in Doomlore Shrine before the assault on the Hierophant's stronghold. She didn't know what to say to him, but mostly she was conflicted with her feelings on how she felt about him, and he was leaving in a day or two. She spent the remainder of the day avoiding him and avoiding any sort of contact with him.

"What are you doing in here alone?" Captain Langmar asked, when she walked into the Hall of Monuments to find Gwen sitting beside the scrying pool by herself.

"Just thinking." she replied.

"About your friends?"

"I guess."

"They're going to be okay." Captain Langmar reassured her, sitting down next to her.

"I know, but it's just…"

"There's something going between you and that boy, isn't there?" she asked. Gwen said nothing and simply glanced at her Captain, shrugging. "You feel something for him?"

"I don't know." Gwen said in frustration. "I haven't seen him since I was a child, and now he's back in my life and I just…"

"Gwen, if you feel something for him, you have to tell him." Captain Langmar said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Or he's going to walk out of here for who knows how long, and you probably won't see him again for a long time."

"I don't even know how I feel right now." she said, getting to her feet. "Everything is just so… confusing."

"You're going to have to decide Gwen." Captain Langmar said, heading for the door. "Make a choice."

Time continued to pass and Gwen remained in the Hall of Monuments all the way into the night. It was not until the doors to the Hall burst open that she snapped out of her thoughts. Captain Langmar, Kyte, Ogden, Vekk and Pyre strode in and headed straight for the scrying pool.

"What's going on?" she asked immediately.

"The eye has been calling Kyte." explained Captain Langmar. "I think it's ready to show him another vision."

Kyte knelt beside the scrying pool and closed his eyes, allowing the pool to find this thoughts, and show him what it wanted him to see.

"I'm getting something." he said. "These Destroyers, they're coming from underground, right?"

"Correct." answered Vekk.

"That means they're home has to be underground. A cave or something, where they all come from."

"And if we find this cave, we can seal it up." said Gwen. "Good idea, any luck?"

"I'm trying to get a specific vision…" at that moment, the pool's water began to shimmer, and an image began to appear in pool's water. A large cavern, filled with lava, surrounded by fire with a large rock formation towering over it.

"I think we've just found where they live." Captain Langmar stated, as the scrying pool's vision slowly vanished.

"Yeah, question is, where?" asked Gwen.

"That's what we got to find out." said Kyte.

"Where to now?" asked Pyre.

"We head north, to recruit the norn to join our cause."

"The norn will be a difficult people to convince." grumbled Pyre. "They are quite an independent race, highly competitive."

"We've noticed." Ogden muttered. "Ran into a few at Boreal Station."

"We'll have to do our best, nonetheless." said Kyte. "We should head out in the morning."

Everyone nodded in reply, and left the Hall of Monuments to prepare for the coming journey to the north, but Gwen remained behind, and grasped Kyte's hand as he turned to leave.

"Wait." she whispered. "About what happened… at Doomlore Shrine…"

"Gwen, it's okay." he smiled. "you did it on a whim, you thought we might not make it back alive."

"I just…"

"We'll see each other again one day." he whispered. "I'm not abandoning you again."

"I know, but I… just have so much to think about right now." was all she could say. Kyte said nothing but reached down and kissed her on the cheek.

"Just know I'll be thinking of you." he said, before turning and heading for the door, leaving Gwen standing alone, watching the man she didn't know whether she loved or not, walk away.