Reviews:
Greyjedi449t: Glad to hear it, I hope the wait wasn't too long.
Greer123: You'll see Harry's new sword this chapter.
Notsae: I'm glad that you mentioned the idea of a snake, and you'll see why this chapter. As for the HP side of things, It will be important to the story, but there will be less of it in the following chapters though.
Guest: Thank you.
coduss: I'm glad you made that connection between the two, they do act similarly.
Disclaimer- Harry Potter is owned b J.K. Rowling, and Berserk is owned by Kentaro Miura. I own nothing.
Doldrey. Midland's strongest fortress, now currently in the hands of Chuder forces and current destination for The Band of the Hawks. It was Midland's easternmost stronghold, built in a very arid climate and into the side of a mountain. Supposedly, it was impenetrable.
But that wasn't what concerned Harry, it was Griffith. For some reason, Griffith had denied any additional troops of Midland's royal army and insisted that the numbers the Hawks possessed would be enough. He spoke like he had a personal stake in the matter that went beyond any promotion or a new title.
After a brief talk with Casca, Harry found out why. "We weren't always this large in numbers. To build a mercenary band, you need funding. A lord named Gennon offered if Griffith agreed to his terms." She left the next part unspoken, and Harry picked up on the hidden meaning. He knew enough to know that things like that happened to women all the time in Midland, but to boys and men too… it was disgusting! Would something like that happen to him if they lost a battle?
"You think he just wants to get revenge?" Harry had inquired.
Casca looked ahead to where Griffith rode. "I don't know. All I can say is that he seems rather eager to take Doldrey, that's it."
"But he has a plan," Harry reminded. "He always does."
"I know," Casca said. "Speaking of which, we should get ready to break away from the main force before we cross to the plain outside of Doldrey," Casca shouted a command to her men, who in turn rode away from the ensemble to carry out their part of Griffith's plan. Harry was about to do the same, but he heard Griffith calling to him from the front of the host.
Wondering what Griffith wanted of him; Harry went to ride next to the young man. "Riding out with Casca I see."
"Yeah. Do you need me somewhere else?" Harry asked.
"No," Griffith answered, his voice lacked its playful edge but kept a hint of mischievousness. "I just had something that might come in handy." He opened a satchel on his saddle and pulled out an average garden snake. "I took it from the gardens in Windham before we rode off."
"Okay," Harry said as Griffith handed him the serpent, which seemed more comfortable in Harry's grasp. "How is this snake supposed to come in handy?"
"Yours and Casca's force is going to be the infiltration unit while the rest of us draw Chuder's forces out of Doldrey," Griffith recited the battle plan. "But sending your division in essentially blind would do neither of us any good. However, this little serpent would be dismissed without a second thought."
Harry looked at the snake which curled around his hand and back to Griffith whose blue eyes held a glint of brilliance. "You want me to- tell it to spy for us?" Harry whispered the last part.
"You have a unique gift," was Griffith's answer. "Use it."
The sight before General Boscogn was a disgrace of a knight. Sir Adon Corbowitz, a knight only due to his family name had little right to brag. Even with the support of a hundred men, Adon had been inept to kill two soldiers in a forest. Chuder was renowned for its military history; the capture of Doldrey, the fortress they now stood in was a prime example. For the century-long war that had been fought with Midland, thousands of Chuder soldiers had given their lives for the expansion of the empire, they had been the ones to die with honor.
And then there was Adon.
Adon. The misogynist blowhard coward that was so inept a warrior he relied more on his name than his skills to be considered a true soldier of Chuder. Listening to him run his mouth was giving Boscogn a headache.
"Let them come!" Adon boomed to Boscogn and two other knights. "This fortress is too massive to be taken by a simple assault. Many have tried in the past and failed to retake Doldrey." He was clearly looking for someone to agree with his sentiments, but Boscogn would deny the disgraced knight of that.
"Rather bold words from you, Sir Adon. Have you perhaps forgotten that it's the Hawks who come rushing our walls?" Boscogn watched as Adon grimaced. The disgraced knight still had gauze wrapped around his face from when a swordsman knocked his helm from his face and a prosthetic blade for a hand that a young boy had apparently severed. If the same boy was on the battlefield, Boscogn would thank him for giving him the death of a warrior. With Lord Gennon at Doldrey, Boscogn would not let the boy suffer from the lord's perversions.
Seeing his words have the desired effect on Adon, Boscogn decided to dig deeper. "You of all people should know how dangerous the Hawks can be. Just one of their men killed a hundred of your sell swords, as well as your younger brother, Sampson. Did you try to avenge your brother's death? Or did you perhaps hide amongst the dead until the slaughter was over?"
Adon paled further under Boscogn's interrogation. "My survival was- was the result of generations of Corbowitz family training, and-," Boscogn grew tired of Adon's lie and seized him by the throat.
"I do not plan on killing you, Sir Adon," Boscogn told him, still not releasing the hold on Adon's throat. "You have shamed yourself too much to be given death at my hand, and I will not have a coward ride onto the field. Stay and guard the fortress and Lord Gennon." Boscogn let Adon fall to the floor. "If you accomplish that you might be able to save what little pride you have left."
Adon further cowered as a small snake slithered its way past and continuing on along the corridors of Doldrey. "Do not disappoint, Sir Adon," Boscogn advised, putting his rhino helmet over his shaved head. "Snakes are the least of your worries."
Damn dust, Guts cursed at the arid climate of Doldrey. With the wind as a factor, it was blowing all over the place; but, that was part of Griffith's plan. Using the environment to their advantage. It was a risky strategy to be sure, but under Griffith's command, he was confident that it would work. Guts looked to one of the banner's blowing in the wind. After this battle, Griffith's dream will all but be achieved. And me… This will be the last I fight under this banner.
His time spent with the Hawks had been unlike any other mercenary band before. But even in the company as good as theirs, he did not possess a dream of his own. There was no light in that bonfire for him, just another sword on the field. Maybe- maybe once he finds his own dream he'll return. But now wasn't the time to think about it. Doldrey lay before them, and despite its size, it was just an ordinary fortress and it would fall like so many others.
"How are your wounds?" Griffith asked, riding up alongside him. Guts drew his sword and swung it with enough force to part a cloud of dust and sand.
"Don't even feel them," Guts added. "Whatever medicine it was Judeau had really worked." Guts sent a nod of acknowledgment to the person in question.
Griffith gave a small content smile. "Good to hear. We'll need you to guard the rear during phase two after all." Guts gave a half-grin in response, but it did not quite reach his eyes. Just a sword without a dream.
Nodding, Griffith donned his hawk-helm and addressed the assembled troops. "First division advance!"
"You heard him!" Guts shouted. "Raiders advance!"
A cloud of the loose dust and sand formed behind them as a force of two thousand troops rode to meet the first wave of opposition on the field outside of Doldrey. Guts noted that the first wave of enemies was smaller than the Hawks numbers, maybe even less than half their numbers. Maybe the others were holding back, or maybe they didn't believe a large force was necessary given Doldrey's position.
Either way, those men were already dead. Thanks to the supposed Elf dust that Judeau had given Casca for his wounds, Guts hardly felt the pain from his previous battle in the forest. It showed in how he swung his sword in this new battle.
His sword moved like the wind around them, cutting a straight path toward Doldrey. Any man unlucky enough to get in the way of his sword lost hands, arms, heads, and even half of their bodies. The Battle for Doldrey was turning into a one-sided slaughter.
The push forward continued with the Hawks mercilessly cutting down the first wave of opposition, littering the desert-like terrain with fresh corpses for the vultures. Guts led his men the farthest through the enemy ranks, taking a few hits along the way, but always hitting back. He would need to be the farthest when Griffith executed part two of the plan.
Speaking of which; his leader's voice rang out on the battlefield. "All units fall back to the base camp!"
Boscogn watched, confused as the Band of Hawk suddenly stopped their advance and went into full retreat. It made no sense. Boscogn had been watching the battle unfold, and the Hawks had been dominating the field. He spotted one man in particular who cut down men with a special sort of ferocity. He would be a worthy opponent. And then they had retreated. What was the White Hawk thinking? Surely he didn't think he could take Doldrey with the host he advanced with, so why make the blunder, to begin with? It was out of character for what he knew of the young leader, what was he planning?
"General!" Someone called to him. Much to Boscogn's surprise, Lord Gennon sat saddled on his own horse and wearing an expensive set of golden armor. A young boy accompanied the lord, not looking all too thrilled about it.
"Lord Gennon," Boscogn greeted. "You should be back inside where it is safe."
"Bah!" Gennon spat. "The enemy is retreating. Will you miss this opportunity for victory?"
"No, sir. But we-,"
"Attention!" Gennon yelled to the second division of Purple Rhino Knights. "Do not kill the enemy's leader, Griffith. He is to be captured alive!"
What is Gennon thinking?! Boscogn questioned to himself. Griffith was smart and cunning, far too dangerous to be kept alive. Unless… Boscogn looked at the young boy who Gennon had brought with him. Of course.
Gennon continued to issue his declaration. "Any man who captures him will be thrice promoted, and rewarded a holdfast back in Chuder!" Cries of approval rang out from the men.
"You shouldn't make such promises, Lord Gennon," Boscogn advised. "It undermines their military discipline."
"General," Gennon spoke directly to him. "I am taking control of the field. Have your troops pursue the enemy!"
Boscogn was dangerously close to refusing the order, but Lord Gennon was his superior and a source of funding for Chuder's armies. To refuse him would be a blow to Chuder itself, and years of military discipline had taught him to always follow the orders that were given to you, even if you did not agree with them.
"At once, Lord Gennon," Boscogn finally agreed. "All units prepare to pursue!"
Guts cast look over his shoulder as he brought up the rear of the retreating Hawks. They took the bait. Just as Griffith predicted. The unmistakable shape of rhino armor chasing after them through a cloud of dust proved as much. Their two thousand men soon met up with the other half of their forces under the guise of Judeau and Corkus.
"Regroup formations!" Griffith ordered, and the men obeyed. "We have arrived at a crucial moment. Stake your lives on this fight! Our survival demands that we stake our lives on this fight! And to survive is to be victorious!"
Leave it to him, Guts thought as the Purple Rhino Knights made their advance into the cloud of dust that had been picked up by the Hawks retreat. The familiar feeling of overwhelming odds blew past Guts. A real fight was on its way, and because of that, Guts felt himself smile.
Harry and Casca watched as last of the rhino knights poured out from Doldrey's main gate. Their division had broken off early on to approach Doldrey from the side. Scaling the side of the mountain it was built into, they waited until the majority of soldiers would leave to pursue the first two divisions. And that was when they would strike.
Casca had pulled Harry aside as he spoke to the snake Griffith had given him. It was as expected; the snake had been able to scout inside for them without any suspicion at all. In exchange for its services, it demanded mice as payment. It was simple enough and so the serpent agreed and told Harry everything he wanted to know.
It had seen a man in a room filled with young boys, and Harry assumed that was where Gennon was, but the serpent told him that the man left to go out on the field. The other bit of useful information was the knowledge of a small force of garrison troops stationed in the fortress. And then it mentioned a man with half a face and missing a hand.
"Sir Adon's here," Harry told Casca as they set up ropes to descend down into Doldrey from above.
"Is he now?" Casca looked contemplative. "Good." She teethed her rope around her waist. "Once we're inside I'll have a few men take up position around where they are." She handed Harry a rope too. "Ready?"
He took the rope and tied it around himself as well. "Yeah."
Harry had never been mountain climbing before, but he imagined that this is what is like to scale down the side of a mountain. Save for the people below that wanted to kill him and everyone else of course. Once he and the others touched down on Doldrey's battlements, they cut their ropes and followed after Casca.
"Two teams seal the west and south gates!" Casca ordered. "My division, we'll be taking the keep!" Running along the battlements, they came across a pair of guards, clearly not expecting to see enemy troops inside Doldrey when the battle was being raged outside. Casca wasted no time in cutting down the first one, and Harry drew his sword to engage the second.
Godo had made good on his word to make Harry a new sword with ore from the elf cave. The blade was the same length as his previous one, a good three feet, but it felt much lighter to him. It could be because of training his arm since first joining up, or maybe Godo was just that good at forging. Either way, it felt right. The steel it was made of was much paler than a regular blade and seemed to have an almost electric blue tint embedded in the steel. Maybe Godo had seen his lighting scar and thought the color would look nice, despite telling him it was just an ordinary sword.
Sparks flew as Harry's sword clashed with his foes. Ducking under a swing, Harry stabbed his opponent at the waist, through a chink in his armor. The act of killing had become easier to do, but not mentally. Harry found no joy in doing it but did it because he did not want it done to him, to anyone else in the Hawks ranks. But now was not the time for him to dwell on it. He followed after Casca and the others as the found themselves in a courtyard of sorts.
"Halt!" Casca commanded as three of their men fell from the battlements, bleeding from cuts across their throats. Standing before them, with his trident weapon in hand, was Sir Adon.
"Sir Adon to the rescue," he boasted before his handiwork.
"Oh, it's you," Casca said unimpressed. "You're persistent."
Adon gave a throaty chuckle. "I am known as the indestructible Adon! Known for my vitality and good standing. I saw through your cheap trick and waited patiently for your arrival."
"Liar," both Harry and Casca called his bluff.
"You doubt my intuition?" Adon said insulted. He let out a whistle, and the garrison troops made themselves known. "See?! You're all surrounded!"
Casca threw Adon off guard when she smiled. "Really?" She looked over at Harry. "Do it."
Clearing his throat, Harry yelled as loud as he could, "Now!"
Thanks to the information provided by the serpent scout, they had been able to plan ahead for an ambush like this. It worked in their favor, as the Hawks who had taken up hidden positions revealed themselves. Armed with crossbows, they fired down upon the remnants of the Blue Whale Knights.
Adon seethed in frustration as he watched his ambush fall to pieces. "You insolent woman!" He jabbed at Casca with his trident, but she easily sidestepped and tripped him up. Harry was about to jump into the fight too, but Casca raised her hand to stop him.
"Help the others," she told him as the few other Hawks battled with the rest of the Whales. "I can handle him." Understanding that Casca had things under control, Harry did as ordered, engaging in a sword fight with the enemy.
Each and every attack Adon threw at Casca, she was able to deflect back at him, knocking him down more than once at the cost of his pride. "How is this possible? You weren't like this the last time we fought!"
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly at my best last time," Casca remembered. Adon jabbed at her once more, but she knocked the strike aside and kicked him in the face. What little teeth Adon had left fell out.
"Arrrghhh!" Adon wailed as he fell to his knees before Casca's feet. "I surrender!"
"Pardon?" Casca asked, not impressed with how easy Adon surrendered.
"It's yours! Doldrey, if you want it it's yours! I'm just a lowly commander taking orders from the general!" No one, especially the remainder of Adon's men was impressed with the sight of him groveling on his hands and knees.
"You're pathetic," Casca simply stated. Before she could end Adon's life, however, he struck out with his prosthetic blade hand and cut Casca on her leg. She winced and took a step back.
"Simpleton!" Adon shouted standing back up. "That blade was laced with a paralysis poison for just such an occasion as this! It'll wear off in an hour or two, but you'll be dead before you can see that happen!"
Grabbing his trident, Adon charged forth once again, looking to impale her on the end of his weapon. Already feeling the toxins beginning to take effect, Casca made no move to dodge to the side of the attack. She waited until Adon was close enough before grabbing his weapon and using the last her leg strength to flip over him.
Before Adon could fully comprehend what had happened, or even turn around for that matter, Casca swung her sword in full arc. A thin line of blood began to form along the top of Adon's head. He fell not long after.
"Their leader is fallen!" Casca announced propping herself against a wall. "Finish off what's left of them!" A collective cheer went around from each of the Hawks as they made good of Casca's command.
After dealing with his current opponent, Harry made his way to Casca and slung her arm around his neck. Whatever toxin Adon had used must have been fast acting. "Here. We'll get you bandaged up."
"Take me to the battlements first," Casca told him. "Let's hang our banner for them to see." Doing as instructed, Harry hung the sigil of the Hawks over the side of Doldrey's walls. It was hard to see the battle through the large cloud of dry sand that had been kicked up, but he could see that it was more or less even right now. That was to be expected, but there was something that caught his eye that wasn't on the field of battle.
On a hill overlooking the battle sat a horseman. Harry could tell from here that whoever it was, was coated in muscle. "Do you see that?" Harry asked Casca.
"Where?"
"On the hill," Harry pointed out. "That isn't one of ours, is it?"
"No," she confirmed his suspicions. "It isn't."
Harry would have said that they were with Chuder then, but they made no move to jump in and help out. Just who were they?
Up, down, left, right, Guts' sword cut down as many men that came within his distance. One by one the corpses began to stack up. As the rear guard, he was tasked with holding off as many men as possible from getting to Griffith.
Many of the others had taken defense around their leader as well. Rickert took a hit to his arm but was saved by Pippin, who brought his mace down on the boy's attacker. Corkus was panicked and a little banged up himself and was nearly blindsided until Judeau saved him with a throwing knife. Griffith himself fought with all the pose and grace to be expected. With his elegantly designed sword, he cut right at the throats of any who managed to break through to him. And it seemed an awful lot of men were eager to get at him.
Guts would have cleaved many of those men in half, but his sword was now crossed with an enormous battle-ax, hefted by a man in heavy rhino armor, and a horse dressed to match his fashion. No doubt this was General Boscogn. Through the slit in Boscogn's helm, Guts could see a battle-hardened face, no doubt he would prove tougher than the other men.
Their weapons clashed again and sparks flew in the dust storm that surrounded them. Guts was testing his hits against Boscogn's ax, much to his dismay, the general's weapon had more of an edge than his sword. He learned that the hard way when he received a cut along his shoulder. Guts retaliated by swinging upward and cutting off the front portion of Boscogn's rhino helm.
This process continued with each strike dealt. Guts would chip away at the heavy armor worn by Boscogn, but at the cost of a strike dealt with his own body. It was starting to get on Guts' nerves, and he prepared to put all his strength behind one final blow to the staff of Boscogn's ax. Reacting much faster than expected, Boscogn spun his ax to intercept Guts' sword.
Clstraat!
Guts fell from his horse clutching the hilt of his sword, only a jagged piece of metal remained of the once greatsword.
"Captain!" Some of his raiders yelled as they charged Boscogn.
"No! Get back!" Guts shouted, but it was too late. With a twirl of his ax, Boscogn cleaved three of the raiders in half.
A swooshing sound came whizzing through the air, and suddenly a sword was thrown between Guts and Boscogn. It was just as long as his previous sword but was more a scimitar with a serrated edge. It looked almost like the one that had been used by-
Guts looked where it had been thrown from, and he thought he caught a glimpse of a mounted horseman overlooking the battle some distance away.
"Guts!" Griffith called his name. "Use that sword!"
He didn't need to be told twice, grabbing the sword like it was second nature he was able to block an overhead attack from Boscogn. Unlike his previous sword, this one did not break under the pressure of the attack. Pivoting at his heels, Guts pulled away from the lock and twisted in a full arc. Boscogn's head, as well as his horse's, rolled along on the sandy ground now colored red.
The reaction was near instantaneous. At seeing their general dead, the remaining enemies turned to flee back inside Doldrey, only to find the banner of the Hawk now decorating the fortress' walls. In that instant, they simply chose to flee away from the battle, or else risk losing their own lives.
As the Hawks forces chased the fleeing forces, Griffith instead rode to a man in golden armor that had fallen in the chaos of the battle. Looking down on the man, he was more or less the same as when they met close to five years ago. Balding with a full brown beard that made his wrinkled face look a bit younger.
"Griffith," he spoke with awe, looking up at him.
"It's been a while, Lord Gennon," Griffith kept his voice neutral.
Gennon managed to pull himself to his feet. "Oh, Griffith! I've thought about you for so long! Ever since that night we shared and the love we made! We've always helped each other out, that's why you're going to let me escape with my life, right?" Gennon grabbed for one of his hands. "I gave the men strict orders not to harm you, you must understand the feelings I hold in my heart for you."
Griffith's porcelain face conveyed no emotion whatsoever. "D-don't tell me you bear me ill will?" Gennon asked, sounding more afraid of Griffith's opinion than losing his own life.
"I do not bear any ill feelings at all," Griffith settled on, not missing the relieved sigh from Gennon. "However, it concerns me to hear you speaking of our 'making love,' as it means little but nothing to me." Gennon's face fell.
"What are you talking about Griffith?" Gennon said little more than a whisper.
"I took advantage of an opportunity, and it just so happened that it was you who was there at the time," The funding Gennon had provided had been well spent indeed. "I picked up a pebble that lied in my path, and by chance it was you."
Gennon growled at this. Before he could bark out a retort, Griffith's blade found its way into his eye. Gennon's body twitched before Griffith withdrew his sword. "But it would be rather unfortunate if you were alive to spread any nasty rumors of the sort." Griffith rode away without a second glance.
"Here you go," Harry said as he tore off a sleeve from his tunic to wrap around Casca's leg. It wasn't a deep cut, but it would at least help stop the bleeding.
"Thanks," she said. "Would it be too much to ask for a shoulder though?" Harry obliged and led her over to where she could look out over the battlefield. A collective cry of victory spread from every man assembled outside of Doldrey as the last of Chuder's forces went into a full-scale retreat. There was no mistaking Griffith surrounded by some comrades.
The sounds of footsteps approaching caught their attention and a turn of the head showed it was Guts. He sported a few cuts on his forehead and arms, but what drew their attention was the massive sword that he now carried. It wasn't his own.
"Hey," Guts casually greeted the two of them, a rare smile on his face. He joined them looking out over the battlements. "Some view, huh?"
"We couldn't see much because of the sand cloud," Harry told him. "But it looks like it was rough."
"It got a bit dicey," Guts admitted as much. "But we did it." Guts took notice of Casca's cut. "Hurt?"
"It's getting better," Casca told him. "I at least paid the bastard back for it." Guts gave a nod of understanding.
"He sure is something," Guts admired as Griffith went around congratulating the men surrounding him.
Casca gave a smile of the sad kind. "He is. And he seems so far from the rest of us though. Like he's already taken flight."
"There's a quality about him I guess," Harry added. "I don't know how to explain it."
Guts looked between the two of them. "I disagree. C'mon." Guts suddenly picked up Casca, much to her embarrassment.
"What are you doing?" She almost yelled.
"Taking you to meet your commander," Guts said nonchalantly. "That's what you want, right?" Casca looked like she was going to say no, but decided against it. "You coming, Harry?"
"I'll catch up soon," Harry told him. "You go on ahead." It wasn't so much that he had anything else to do, but this was one of the few times that he saw Guts smile. Not a sarcastic smile or borderline sadistic smile, one that was true. And he figured that smile would last even longer if Guts went with just Casca.
Turning his attention back out onto the field, Harry scanned for a sign of that mysterious horseman that he spotted earlier. He found nothing. But even still- a horseman is seen overlooking the battle, and Guts come carrying that other massive sword that he had not had before. A shadow passed by behind him, a large one that could have belonged to Pippin, the silent giant of sorts. When Harry turned to greet who he thought was Pippin, he quickly drew his sword instead.
It was a man he did not know, tall and full of muscle. Instead of armor, he wore almost tribal-like furs and leathers. His hair was dark and spiky like Guts', but his eyes were yellow with spits for pupils. Harry almost dropped his sword. He recognized those eyes, although they had instead been in the head of a demon beast. Zodd.
The human Zodd grabbed the massive sword where Guts had left it, taking a moment to acknowledge Harry's presence. "Your friend can't keep my sword," Zodd said almost sounding civil.
Harry's grip tightened on his own. "W-what are you doing here?" It probably didn't sound brave, but knowing that Zodd could turn into a beast any second wasn't helping.
Zodd hefted the massive blade. "For my sword of course. A warrior is always in need of a weapon."
"Even if you can turn into a beast?" Harry asked not taking his eyes off Zodd's blade.
"Not all opponents warrant my true power," Zodd admitted. "You seem comfortable with your blade, however. I wonder how you would fare against me." Harry steeled himself for an attack that didn't come. "But I've no quarrel with you, another time perhaps."
Harry was relieved, to say the least, but confused all the same. "You're not going to fight?"
"My fight does not lie here. The battle is over, no use now." Zodd sounded disappointed. He walked the rest of the way along the battlements before stopping. "I bestowed your friend a few words last we met. Treasure your days of peace and youth while you can, they will not last." Zodd gave a toothy smile as he jumped from the battlements. Instead of the thud of a body, the sound of wings beating against the wind greeted Harry's ears and a sense of dread in his bones.
A/N: And's that's it for that chapter. The Battle for Doldrey is over. Thank you for reading.