Author's note- Hello! Ok, this chapter is gonna be fun. Action chapter, and a few things about Dekrosna will be revealed! Review!
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Chapter 13- Siege-2
Just past dawn at Tall Plains.
Rayde woke to the sound of a deep horn sounding off. When it sounded off again, Rayde noticed he heard a lot of people running about. He got out of his bed, and looked outside to see what was going on. Troops were running about, gathering weapons and putting on battle armor. Rayde looked to the side to notice Dekrosna running at him saying, "Don't just sit there gawking! Get your armor on and get ready. We area about to be attacked. They are on the horizon." Rayde's eyes widened as he realized the situation.
He turned back into his tent and prepared for battle. He put on his silver breastplate, and buckled his sword. He then ran out towards the Ramparts. After about 10 minutes, he got there to see Kane already waiting for him. He ran up to Kane and said, "How many?" Kane shook his head and said, "According to our fieldmen, about 4000. They also have air troops, as well as siege towers." Rayde's heart sank as he heard this, Great, siege towers. Rayde thought. Rayde then looked at Kane and said, "We should take care of the Siege towers as fast as we can." Kane nodded and said, "Indeed, but the problem will be getting to them."
Rayde was about to answer when he heard Dekrosna, who was standing behind him say, "Don't worry. Rayde and I should be able to take care of them." Rayde looked back at Dekrosna, then back at Kane and nodded. Kane sighed and said, "Fine, I will leave the siege towers to you two. When you finish, I want you on the bridge line holding back the enemy forces. They must not cross the bridge." Rayde nodded and said, "Affirmative." Dekrosna nodded as well.
For the next hour, Rayde, Dekrosna, and Kane just stood on the Ramparts waiting for the enemy to come in. Once they reached the bridge entry, Kane readied his troops to open fire once they reached the bridge. Rayde looked at Kane and asked, "Can your Ballista reach them from that far?" Kane smiled and said, "We could hit them now, but the shot would be inaccurate. Here come the siege towers."
Over in the distance, about 18 towers appeared in the distance. They were tall towers, the top was the shape of a dragon's head. The towers were about 10 feet thick and about 30 feet tall. They were made of a red stone. Rayde looked at Dekrosna and said, "18 towers means they are not going to attack the city in one position. I would bet they plan on surrounding the city. 9 for each of us?" Dekrosna smiled and said, "It would be best to destroy them while they are setting up. Doing so before hand would result in us being shot full of arrows." Rayde nodded. Something isn't right. Where is the informant that usually comes threatening us to surrender.
Rayde then looked out to Drome's troops. They started to move across the bridge. Kane then looked up at the Ballista and shouted, "FIRE! Dont let a single man through! Archers on the ready!" The Ballista fired their weapons, 8 foot long spears, at the incoming troops. They hit their mark, taking down about 4 enemy troops per shot. Then the Dreadwings took off towards them, Hundreds of them. Kane looked back and shouted, "Shoot down those Dreadwings, they cannot be allowed to fly over the city!" Hundreds of arrows, as well as Ballista were shot into the air. Some of them hit their mark, taking down a total of 29 Dreadwings. Kane had them repeat this process several times. No matter how many Dreadwings were shot down, more came closer and closer.
Kane looked at Dekrosna and Rayde and said, "You guys need to help deal with those Dreadwings." Dekrosna nodded and said, "You may need to call off the archers and Ballista. You might hit us." Rayde thought for a moment before saying, "Me and Dekrosna will deal with as many Dreadwings in the center as we can. If less come, the more likely you will take them all down. The siege engines are still too far away to attack." Kane nodded and said, "Whatever help you can provide will be greatly appreciated." Rayde smiled and said, "Dekrosna!" Dekrosna nodded and took off towards the sky.
Rayde smiled and formed his crystal-like wings, which made Kane jump in surprise. Rayde then took off behind Dekrosna. They flew high above the Dreadwings to avoid the arrows along the way. Once they reached the center of the Dreadwing formation, Dekrosna and Rayde drew their swords and dived down.
Rayde knew that the troops wouldn't know they were there until they attacked. Rayde flew straight into the nearest Dreadwing, impaling his sword through its head. The Dreadwing fell instantly. Rayde smiled and swung his sword in a circle around him, killing all Dreadwings that were attacking him. Rayde turned to notice more Dreadwings flying his direction. This is gonna be fun! Rayde thought as he fell another Dreadwing.
Rayde turned to notice that there were more Dreadwings flying straight at him. He decided that his sword wasn't going to be enough. He threw his sword into the air and shouted, "Shine, LUMANEX!" The sword shined brightly, as did Rayde, halting the Dreadwings in their tracks. When the light stopped, Rayde was wearing a White a-shirt, white pants, and a new white cloak. Rayde's wings also turned white. Rayde's sword was now a long Scythe. Rayde grabbed the Scythe out of the air and threw it at the nearest form of Dreadwings. The Scythe spun through the air, cutting through 6 Dreadwings, before flying back to Rayde.
Rayde grabbed the handle of the Scythe and spun above him, eventually, he let go of the scythe, but it was still spinning in place. The Scythe started to glow and hum. Right before a pack of Dreadwings was on him, Rayde punched towards the Scythe, sending a huge shockwave of white energy around him, dispatching all of the Dreadwings that were attacking him.
For about a half hour the fight dragged on like this. Rayde noticed that the Dreadwing forces were noticeably killed. Dekrosna was doing as well as Rayde, barely even getting a scratch. Rayde shouted to Dekrosna, "Perhaps we should return to Kane, I think that he should be able to handle the rest." Dekrosna looked at him and nodded. Dekrosna then flew up into the air, away from the Dreadwings. Rayde smiled as he noticed a Dreadwing coming up behind him. He flipped the Scythe so that the pointed end of the blade faced behind him, and swung it upwards behind his back. The blade pierced through the Dreadwing's chin, and out of the top of its head. Rayde pulled the scythe out, and the Dreadwing fell.
Rayde reverted back to his normal form and followed after Dekrosna. Before they got to the Ramparts, Rayde noticed that a pack of Dreadwings were following them. Dekrosna noticed as well. Dekrosna turned around, and thrusted a hand out in front of him saying, "Ventric!." A gust of wind burst out of his hand, and made all of the Dreadwings crash into each other, and down into the other Dreadwings below. Rayde looked at Dekrosna and said, "Nice one!" Dekrosna smiled and said, "If there is one thing that I am good at, it is aerial combat." Rayde laughed in response. Once they landed on the Ramparts, Kane ran up to them and said, "Good timing, the Siege towers are preparing to fire! Take them out immediately!" Rayde looked at Dekrosna and said, "I'll take the right side, you take the left." Dekrosna nodded and took off towards the front-left Siege tower. As Rayde predicted, they were setting up the towers around the city. Rayde smiled and took off towards the front-right siege tower.
Rayde was trying to figure out how to take down the tower. He decided to attack it until something happened. He then pulled out his sword and started chanting something. A few seconds after he finished, his blade suddenly got covered in crystal. Rayde smiled and flew towards the tower. He decided the best thing to do first, would be to attack the troops guarding it. He did that quickly, as the troops had no idea he was coming. Rayde then noticed something on his blade, it was glowing a dark color. He eyed the sword and lifted it towards the top of the tower. It started to glow more intensely. He flew up towards the upper-center of the tower.
The Fang Sword started to vibrate heavily. Rayde decided to hit the tower to see what would happen. He swung at the tower, and broke a small shield-like plating. Behind it was a black crystal. Rayde realized that the black crystal was its source of power. He swung at the black gem and destroyed it. The tower shook for a second, before crumbling into a pile of rubble. Rayde looked over to see that Dekrosna had destroyed his tower as well. Rayde smiled and flew on to the next one, as did Dekrosna.
It took about 15 minutes for Rayde to destroy all of his towers except one. When he was nearing the last tower, he noticed that they put up more defenses around this one. There were archers, a few Dreadwings, and some swordsmen on the ground. "Lets see if the put up a fight this time." Rayde said as he flew towards the archers. As they were the biggest threat, it would be best if he took them down first. The archers were all standing in a row, which amused Rayde. Perfect, this will be easy. He thought as he flew down, he stuck his sword out to the side, and swiped down all of the archers with one pass. By now, the others realized that Rayde was there. 5 Dreadwings flew at him then.
Rayde smiled and flew up into the air, the Dreadwings were close behind. He eventually turned around and faced the Dreadwings. They flew up and surounded him. Rayde smiled as this was what he wanted. One of the Dreadwings flew at him. Rayde grabbed the Dreadwing by it's hair and threw it towards another Dreadwing. When they clashed, they turned and attacked Rayde. The others joined in as well. Rayde impaled the first Dreadwing through the head and kicked backward, hitting one of them in the eye, sending it flying. Rayde then swung his sword to the side, slashing one of them through the chest. Rayde missed one Dreadwing however, it was able to bite Rayde's mutated arm.
Rayde yelped in pain and stabbed the Dreadwing through the head. The Dreadwing released its grip and fell towards the ground. Rayde ignored his arm for the moment and turned his attention back to the fighting. One of the Dreadwings was nearly upon him. Rayde flew under the Dreadwing and impaled it through the chest. The last Dreadwing was flying towards him at this point. Rayde flung the body of the Dreadwing at the other one. The Dreadwing dodged the body, Which Rayde was expecting. Rayde threw the sword right after he threw the Dreadwing. The sword hit its mark, piercing the Dreadwing's skull. Rayde flew up to the Dreadwing quickly, and pulled out the sword, before it fell to the ground. Rayde flew down towards the ground to confront the swordsmen. There were about 7 of them.
When Rayde hit the ground, he immediately struck down one of the swordsmen with a slice across the chest. The ape dropped his sword, and fell to the ground. One of the swordsmen tried to lunge at Rayde. Rayde flicked the sword away with his own and punched the ape in the chest, sending over the nearby edge. Another ape jumped to attack, swinging his blade overhead. Rayde held up his sword to block. The ape hit him full force, making Rayde fall to his knees. The ape was about to strike again after he hit the ground, but Rayde used the momentum he gained through the impact to swipe out the apes feet from under him. Rayde then used his sword to impale the ape through his heart, killing him instantly.
The next ape blindly charged at him, angered by his allies deaths. Rayde blocked his sword and kicked him into the air. Rayde jumped after the ape and threw him into the ground. Rayde then landed on the ape's head, breaking the apes neck with a sickening crack! Rayde turned to see another ape charging at him. Rayde jumped to the side to avoid his blade. He then grabbed the ape by the scruff of his neck, and threw him over the edge, with some effort. Rayde the looked at the remaining apes.
There were 2 left. One of them was shaking and another was standing strong. Rayde then said, "You know I can beat you both. Just drop you swords and run away." The shaking ape dropped his sword and ran off into the woods. The other ape shook his head and picked up the sword he dropped. He prepared for combat, as did Rayde. They walked around in circles, Trying to figure out each other's moves. Rayde noticed the tower, the ape had his back facing towards it. Rayde smiled and ran at the ape. Rayde swung his sword overhead. The ape used both of his swords to block the attack. Due to the fact that Rayde's swords were covered in crystal, they were much sharper and put dents in the apes blades. Rayde smiled and kicked the ape as hard as he could in the chest. The ape was thrown back into the tower. On the way down, Rayde threw his sword at the ape like a spear. The blade pierced the ape's chest and pinned him in the wall.
Rayde walked to the ape and pulled out the sword. The ape fell to the ground dead. Rayde then flew up into the air, and took out the gem that served as the Siege tower's power source. The tower crumbled into rubble just like the others.
Rayde then looked at his injured arm. It had several inch-wide puncture holes. Blood was pouring out of each one. Rayde looked to his left, to see that Dekrosna had already finished his towers, and was flying towards him. Dekrosna looked at Rayde's arm and said, "Let me get that, I will be able to stop the bleeding, and allow the skin to heal, but I cannot heal it completely." Rayde nodded and said, "Be quick about it. We need to see Kane. There has been damage to the city. I know that the Towers were able to get a few shots in." Dekrosna walked up to Rayde, and raised his hands over Rayde's injured arm.
Dekrosna closed his eyes and began to mutter very quickly. His hands started to glow, as did Rayde's arm. Rayde felt an itching sensation as the skin started to stitch itself back together. It made Rayde want to tear out his skin. When it stopped, Dekrosna swayed for a moment before regaining his balance. "There," Dekrosna said, "That should hold you until you can get proper treatment." Rayde looked down on his arm, the skin over the puncture wounds was back, but they had a funny blue color to them.
Rayde patted Dekrosna on the arm and said, "Thanks for that, lets go back to Kane." Dekrosna nodded as they both took off towards the Ramparts. When they got there, they noticed that Kane had to move troops out onto the bridge, Rayde's troops were among them. Rayde and Dekrosna ran up to Kane, who immediately started addressing the situation. "We had to move the troops onto the bridge. We are out of Ballista and we need the arrows for the few remaining Dreadwings. If we can hold the bridge, we can win this." Kane explained.
Rayde was about to say something, but a panicked Atlawa ran up to Kane and said, "There is one ape at the shrine. He isn't normal, he has strange powers. He can pick things up and throw them without touching them! Someone needs to get there fast, or we wont hold out!" Kane shook his head and said to Rayde, "Can you deal with this. Apparently my men cant take down a single ape." Rayde smiled and said, "He is all mine. The shrine...that small island in the back?" Kane nodded. Rayde then took flight, and flew south.
It took Rayde only about a minute to get to the shrine. It was a small island a few hundred feet away from the mainland. Rayde flew in at the edge of the wooden bridge on the shrine and landed. He walked into the shrine, it was a small, circular depression. It was about 10 feet deep, and about 50-60 feet wide. An ideal area for a dueling arena. Rayde looked forward to see a single ape facing the wall. The ape was large, he wore a light purple cloak as far as Rayde could see. The ape turned around to look at him. Now Rayde could see what this ape looked like. He had that light purple cloak, he wore dark purple body armor. He had no helmet. His face showed only one physical characteristic. His eyes where light purple as well.
The ape smiled and said, "You must be Rayde. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Trenice, I have orders from Lord Drome to bring you too him."
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RAH SON YAH!!! AAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHA! Havent done a good cliffhanger in a while. If only I could see the looks on your faces! I already know how this fight is going to go, I am just going to leave you hanging until I get back. I am sure you will like it. Review please!