Chapter Thirteen: Battles, Blood, and Depression
A Pokémon Fan-Fiction
By Hoenn Master
"It is time to decide who we are: Do we fight for the right to a night at the opera now? Have you asked yourselves what price you might pay? Or is this simply a game for rich young boys to play? The color of the world is changing, day by day…" –Les Miserables
Today was the day: The day of reckoning for our overly proud foes, the Ritterbruder of The Teutonic Order of Knights. I, myself, was depressed that I would have to add to the list of faces that would hound my nightmares that paraded around my head like a swarm of Ninjask.
I stood watch in the cannon tower just above the western gates; waiting to give the order to fire. King William had gone out the previous day in an attempt to negotiate a peace with the Order, but their demands were far too unjust to allow: Total surrender of our homes and weapons to those heathens meant little more than a permitted sacking of our lands, and even if we had to fight to the last man, Lithuania would not permit that.
King William pleaded emphatically with the stubborn Lord Innes to relent and return to his lands in peace, but the stout brown-haired man refused.
On his way back to the Citadel, even though King William was still very much under the protection of parley, he was shot by a crossbow bolt in the right shoulder by none other than the smirking oath-breaker and coward that was Lord Innes.
King William barely managed to stagger back to the gates before the enemy cannons opened up a massive firestorm of exploding munitions on our walls. Fortunately, King William had had the foresight to have some Aura Knights place a barrier of energy around the western walls so that exploding munitions would detonate harmlessly on it, rather than on the stone barricades.
The Order had, unfortunately for them, begun their bombardment late in the day, and when the smoke and darkness became too overwhelming to properly see the walls, they were forced to bring their siege to a halt.
Needless to say, our men were enraged at the injury King William had suffered so unjustly.
All I could do to stop myself and my men from charging right then and there, was to yell that if we abandoned our posts, they'd blow us to kingdom come, and we would die uselessly. They agreed, although reluctantly, and we waited without sleep all night for even the slightest advance forward, which would be met with a hailstorm of our own cannonballs.
Ghetsis ground his teeth angrily, and glared out at the mob just outside of firing range. "Those damnable oath-breakers will pay for injuring our king!" he spat viciously.
I jerked in surprise at my companion's sudden outburst; unprepared for noise after an exceptionally cold and silent vigil.
"I-indeed; just remember, the enemy without are far more powerful than we, and strategy must be what wins a day for us. As enraging as the injury of King William is, if we lose our discipline, we fail all of Lithuania, and allow ourselves to be subject to a pagan people once more," I responded somewhat hoarsely, as my voice was weak from lack of use over the course of the night.
"There! I saw some movement in the bushes alongside the forest on the northern side!" came the deep, booming voice of Matthew. As quickly as possible, six men dashed into the cannon towers, and prepared to fire when the order was given. It was then I noticed the movement; it was extremely subtle, but I could barely make out the tips of the horns that adored a dismounted Ritterbruder's helmet.
"There! Third tree from the left of the foremost bush on the right hand side of the right most cannon tower!" I bellowed, dropping my small section of the protection on the wall so as not to burn my energy unnecessarily protecting the walls from our own cannonballs.
Immediately, the towers opened fire on nearly the exact location I specified, the screaming of wounded men and horses filled the air around us ensuring that our bombardment was well placed.
After a few minutes of constant bombardment, I quickly ordered the cannons to cease fire in order to preserve ammunition, and to allow for proper assessment through a spyglass I was promptly handed by young page. That entire area of the forest was decimated with craters. Shredded Chainmail, some plate harnesses, and even partial helmets with bits of brain matter leaking out of them slowly in a sickeningly gelatinous way were strewn about hither and thither. Though the site was revolting, I couldn't help but appreciate the value of the impact upon our foes that this would generate: I knew perfectly well that there were at least three Aura Knights killed, and while only a small thing in comparison to the vast ocean of Knights that the Teutonic Order had, it certainly put our forces on more even footing.
"Octavian, I need you to spread word to the troops on the northern and southern walls, and possibly also the eastern cliff defenses that the skirmish has begun, and to be prepared for any stragglers who wished to perform some form of espionage and somehow make their way into the city. Also, inform Commander Cain of the recent occurrence, and be sure that his Pike and Halberd corps is fully prepared for the upcoming battle," I ordered a short, curly haired man with a thick mustache and beard. The man simply nodded, and with no more noise than the swishing of his cloak, he vanished.
I shivered involuntarily; though on the side of good, the powers which Octavian employed through his Aura were quite, quite, dark. Not to say that they were evil, far from it: It was simply that his powers employed Holy Darkness, rather than the customary Sacred Light in their application.
Just then, a massive explosion rocked my section of the wall, and sent two unnamed soldiers plummeting the full, heart stopping distance to the bone shattering ground, and their deaths.
"Men! Prepare to evacuate the walls!" I bellowed loudly, summoning a small fragment of my energy into my palm and lobbing it at the approaching enemy lines. The small blue sphere hurtled down at an enemy Ritturbruder's highly decorated helmet, and hit its mark to no effect. The Ritturbruder whom I hit looked up swiftly; directly into my face with a piercing glare that only the insane could muster. I was vividly reminded of the insane woman in the siege tower in Fortree not a month prior, and shivered involuntarily.
Just then, the walls shook horribly yet again, and this time, I could see large boulders falling out of the wall from the experienced enemy artillery.
"Get off the walls! Move it!" Blaziken bellowed from below, his blue sash and satchel blowing about in the aftermath of the explosion.
None of my men need telling twice; Ghetsis and I both leapt down the stairs after all the men had left the walls; four choosing to remain behind and exhaust the supply of cannonballs at that station before evacuating.
"Hold the line! We can't let even one of the enemy in! Not a one! They have come to pillage our fair land of forest, what they shall have is a battle to the death!" Matthew bellowed in the midst of his powerful Halbruder unit; all equipped with deadly Halberds and proper armor plating.
All the assembled warriors shouted their agreement whilst forming up the lines, including myself, and once all the Pikemen were in position behind the section of the wall that was now quickly falling apart, I took my unit and placed it directly behind them, ready for action.
The line was a powerful formation of Pikemen in the front, Ghetsis' and my unit of swordsmen, and Halbruder with various Militia scattered about in the back.
For a tense few minutes, we all waited: I could hear the Ritterbruder on the other side of the wall, shouting and cheering, and then, it began.
With a great shout, the abused stone and mortar came to a thunderous crash; bits of each flying in all directions, pinging off armor, and larger stones making small dents in armor and helmets, leaving a massive hole, large enough for five men to walk side-by-side ad still fight comfortably. Before I could fully recover my senses, they were upon us: Shouting, cursing, screaming in outrage, pain, and surprise. The Pikemen had done their job; they had stopped the enemy advance, and were forcing the enemy into a very tight formation indeed.
Unleashing an Aura-powered battle cry, Blaziken and I dashed forward into the swarm of pressing bodies, Ghetsis and Duskull not far behind.
I swung down hard on a distracted enemy, and while my blade slid off the rounded metal of his helmet, it proved enough for one of the Pikemen to get their shaft into the crack between the helmet and the chest-plate, and rip the Order member's throat out in a shower of gore and tissue. I had little time to ponder the death, however, as in my distraction a Ritterbruder dashed directly at me with a snarl, which was promptly cut off by Blaziken's blazing fists ripping through his armor like so much cloth, and sending the shocked man reeling into his fellow soldiers; killed instantly.
I collected as much energy as I could in the scant few seconds I was permitted, and, running it over my free hand, I smashed it into an approaching Ritterbruder, who seemed to spot the tactic, and deflect it with an Aura-Fist as well. Before any more blows could be exchanged, Ghetsis' bellow of rage and the groan of breaking stone caught my ears over the din the battle had already created.
Without warning, a large boulder fell with a sickening crunch right in the center of the breach in the wall, crushing several men, coating the surrounding area in red spray, and also blocking part of the entrance. Where before five men could walk through the wall at a time, now only two could come at once. While the already beleaguered troops were thankful, they knew that it wouldn't be much of a boon against Aura Wielders.
Wasting no time, I smashed my body into my opponent's large shield, and lay hold of the decoration of the Hand of God adorning the helmet and snapped it back and forth wildly. I heard a surprised gasp of pain, and then a deep, wet, pop, and the foe dropped like a stone, and was still.
Though battle raged around me, and I was moving on to the next enemy -a young man with a deep-seated fear in his eyes- I couldn't help but look into the fear, rage, and despair that surrounded me.
I quickly dispatched my foe with my blade, shimmering with my Aura power coursing through it. I stabbed him through the eye hole in his horned helmet, and spun around to face a man with a Poleaxe.
He swung down with the axe blade, I only barely dodging; a large furrow on the left cheek of my helmet a testimony of my escape. I countered with a swift kick, but the enemy simply bashed it away with the butt of his weapon. Now unbalanced, I would have surly died then and there if Blaziken hadn't leaped over my head and crushed the enemy's skull beneath his claws.
Blaziken was a true terror on the battlefield. He was covered in head to toe with gore, blood literally dripping from his claws, and a feral snarl constantly ripping its way through his throat. The enemy that had nearly killed me was quickly dismembered and hurled toward the back of the mob that was still waiting to fight.
After several hours of fighting, the enemies retreated for a time to rest and rethink their plans. By this time, many of the front-line defenders were either retreating to the second wall, or dead.
Only Cain, Matthew, Ghetsis and I, along with what was left of our respective units were standing: The some four-hundred men we had in the beginning had dwindled down to only a few brave souls, who were either skillful enough not to be killed, or simply blessed to be alive. The mounting piles of corpses had caused a blockage in the already narrowed opening, and the few enemy units that climbed the blockade of bodies were swiftly executed by Blaziken's merciless punches, kicks, or claws.
Once the sun waned low in the sky, the enemy retreated, leaving their men behind, and taking up a perimeter around the city.
"It would seem we have victory today…" Cain sighed sadly, sitting on a large piece of rubble, and cleaning and sharpening his Spear carefully.
Blaziken and I solemnly took upon ourselves the duty of extricating our troops from the massive amount of Order members on both sides; I for one, couldn't tell friend from foe after Lithuanian losses were completely tallied.
Today was a victory, but only by a sword's edge.
A.N.
Sorry for the long wait; Christmas and other things carried me away… But look, longest chapter yet! Hope I can be a little more regular with my updates, but unfortunately, life is very busy with me, and I'm not terribly good with these chapter stories yet…
Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.