Leopold and Marcello sat underneath an Oaktree in the forest. Their breathing was labored and their clothing tattered. Leopold looked up at the grey, cloudy sky that was threatening the world with rain. Blood trickled down his face. "Marcello, are we going to make it in this war?"
Marcello looked down at the boy beside him. The boy that he saw as the most precious thing in his life. He held a hand over his side to stop his wounded from gushing out blood. "I am not sure Leo. All we can do is continue to fight."
He grabbed onto his lover's hand as another group of demons began to surround them. The white haired boy gave him a weak smile. They stood side by side and readied themselves for death as they readied their weapons.
The demons charged right at the two. They stood defensively and blocked the first few attacks. But they were already growing weak. They were unable to last much longer than that. It was not long before they collapsed.
Gilbert walked to the training grounds calmly. He had gotten word from one of his fellow monks that the children had finally returned. He was glad that they had returned to him. But after the dream he had about Leopold and Marcello he did fear for them. He had hoped that a dream was all that it was.
Sadly Gilbert had been mistaken. When he had gotten to the field he saw that Leopold and Marcello looked as bad as they did in his dream. Wendy and Erland were holding them up and keeping them conscious. Peter was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Peter? Is he not with you?" he asked the children.
Wendy looked up at him. "He went to go get our brother so that he can heal these two," she replied.
He went over to help with their wounds temporarily. "What happened to these two?"
"They were attacked by a horde of demons in the forest. It is a good thing that we found them. We had all planned to meet up today at the church in the noble village to head back here. But they never showed up. Luckily Peter knew that the two had ben sneaking off into the forest quite often. When we got there they were surrounded," Erland explained.
It was not long before Arthur and Peter showed up. Arthur did not speak as he went straight over to the children. He immediately went to work. The two boys had long since passed out. It made working on them a lot easier. He chanted quietly as he healed them with light. It took a long time, but thankfully those around him were smart enough to stay silent.
When he was finished he took a deep breath and stood. "It is a good thing you got me when you did. Though Leopold would have eventually healed Marcello probably would have died. His wounds were very serious. That gash on his side tore at his insides. Though I have healed them to the best of my ability Marcello is going to need to rest for a while," he stated.
Gilbert nodded. "Thank you for your help Arthur. I will make sure that Marcello is taken care of. He will stay at the castle and rest. He will be safe and cared for there."
"It was no problem. Are they back for training?"
"They are. And it seems I will have to push them harder. As well as get them proper weapons and armor as well."
"That would be in everyone's best interest." The blonde man looked over at his younger siblings. "Please train your hardest. We Kirkland's must live up to our status of being the best at what we do." With that said he left them all to get back to his job as a royal sorcerer.
Gilbert looked over at the children. "Tomorrow we will take a trip to see Sadiq. He is the royal blacksmith. He will make all of you personalized weapons. I would like you all to train here a bit for now. I will be taking Marcello to the castle. Leopold should be waking shortly. I would like you all to accompany him home when that happens. Wendy, I leave you in charge for now."
Wendy bowed to her teacher and prince. "I will keep everything in order while you are gone. Please stay safe."
Gilbert left on his long walk to the castle. He would have ridden his horse, but it would be hard with an unconscious body with him. So, he just carried the boy as he made his journey. All in all it took him forty minutes to get to the castle. The guards gave him a weird look, but they let him pass. He immediately took him to his bedroom. He tucked him into bed and made sure that he was at the very least in a comfortable position.
After he made sure Marcello was laid down to rest he went down to his brother's office. His brother was in there reading through files as usual. He had really thought that since his brother had a lover now things would be different. But that seemed to not be the case.
"Brother, how nice it is for you to visit," Ludwig said. Looking up from his papers for only a short moment.
Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Still a bore as always I see. You should be doing something fun with your lover. He will grow bored of you if all you do is work."
Ludwig huffed and put his papers down. "Who is to say that I do not do things with Dimitri? Besides, what I do is not any of your business."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. But I did not come here to talk about you and your lover. I actually came to let you know that one of my recruits will be staying in my room here for the week. He will need to be cared for."
Ludwig frowned. "What happened?"
"He and another one of them were attacked in the forest from what I was told. His injury was bad enough to kill him, but Arthur healed him. But he advised me to have the boy rest. So, I brought him here where I knew he would be safe and accounted for."
Ludwig ran a hand through his hair. "I will make sure that Elizabeta gives him the best care. Is there anything else I can do?"
Gilbert smiled softly. "Thank you brother. And yes, there actually is something you can do. Would you give word to Sadiq that the children and I will be visiting him tomorrow? The children need proper weapons and such."
The blonde smiled as well. "I will let Sadiq know to be prepared for your visit. You should get back to the children now."
Gilbert bowed slightly before taking his leave. He was a bit nervous about the children fighting now that Marcello and Leopold had been attacked. But he knew that they were the best chance he and King Abel had to defeat the army of demons.
After the long journey back to the training grounds the albino man was tired. But he had to stay and train the children. When he got there he saw that Leopold was no longer there, but the rest of the children were engaging in a battle. It seemed that Peter and Wendy were teamed up against Erland. They all held no weapons. They must be doing hand on hand combat. It was what Erland excelled in after all. As Gilbert watched he could see that he had improved a lot since he had last scene him fight against Sadiq.
His movements were not as rough and he had definitely gotten stronger. Peter's attacks no longer sent him falling to the ground. He no longer stumbled. But he was still not ready to defeat someone like Sadiq.
Wendy was not bad at hand on hand at all. But she had not improved from last time. She had probably already reached her limit in that area. She was much better with a sword.
Peter had gotten more fluid and his jumps and dodges were amazing. But his strength had not improved. If it had then he would surely be able to send Erland to the ground like before.
Gilbert analyzed them throughout the whole battle. In his mind he came up with new training programs for each of them. He saw were their limits lied and were improvements could be made. He would sculpt them into perfect warriors.
The next day all of the children, except for Marcello, took a trip to the royal blacksmith's shop. It was not too large of a shop, but it was not small either. On the wall hung many weapons that were already made and were waiting to be sold. None of that however was for the children.
Gilbert walked over to Sadiq. "Hello! I have brought the children just as you had requested before!" he yelled happily.
Sadiq grinned. "I am glad you came to your senses about bringing them to me. I know you did not really want them fighting in this war."
"Well, they seem to have accepted their fate," he said quietly now. "They are ready now. You have seen them fight. So, I have no doubt that you know what weapons they will fight best with."
"I do. I also will make sure that they have the best amour available." He turned and looked at the small group of children. "Alright, I will have to measure you guys to make sure I make the armor to fit."
The children nodded and he left the room to go in the back. He grabbed some measuring tape and went straight to work. It did not take long to measure them. When he was finished he wrote down all the numbers onto a blank sheet of paper.
"Okay. Now that that is all taken care of let us talk about weapons for all of you."
"I want a really cool and big sword! The best sword! Filled with magic!" shouted Peter excitedly. He was practically flying with how much he was jumping around.
"I only need my weapon to be light and beautiful. I want my weapon to be a piece of art," Leopold said calmly.
"Make my sword even bigger than Peter's! With cool fire magic!" Erland exclaimed.
Wendy did not seem to have any request. She just rolled her eyes at how silly and immature the boys were being. It was quite aggravating to be around such idiots all the time.
Sadiq narrowed his eyes. "Shut up. You will get the weapons that I give you. Do not act like children. You are to be warriors. So, take this seriously." The boys looked down and muttered quiet apologies.
With a huff Sadiq went on. "Peter, your main weapon will be a short sword with dragons around the blade and hand. On the end of the handle will be a crystal ball. It will hold very limited magic. Though it may seem odd your secondary weapon will be a bow and arrow. With your amazingly inhumanly high jumps you could make some very good aerial attacks."
"Leopold you will have a spear. I believe it will work well with all the grace you have. Your secondary weapon will be throwing knives. Make sure to collect them as you will have a limited supply"
"Erland your main weapons are actually going to be gauntlets since you fight best hand on hand. They will have claws to dig into your enemy. You will have a dagger as a secondary weapon."
"Wendy you will have a short sword like your brother. It will hold no magic, but it will have detachable throwing knives much like playing cards in shape. It will only come with two so just like Leopold you will have to collect them. Your secondary weapon will be a larger sized sledge hammer."
The kids listened with so much excitement in their eyes. They could not wait for their weapons to be made. Even more so then that . . . they could not wait to use them for the very first time.