Maeve stood atop the walls gazing at the siege towers being erected in the distance, beside her stood Lakyus. The attack would happen soon in the next few days, she knew she could easily cut down the entire army herself if given enough time. It wasn't such as impressive thing considering this was possible to all of the other guardians in Nazarick except for perhaps Victim. The problem was of course time, as good as they were they couldn't use any large scale spells it would be too conspicuous. She had used Holy Smite as she had seen it being used so there was knowledge of this spell in this world. Sometimes on certain realms, there were some spells that just weren't available to the residents for various reasons. She had made a point on her missions to only use spells that had been thrown at her if she needed to be covert.
The capital walls had a length of over 30km, most of the areas were unassailable due to the terrain so that knocked it down to about 4km of wall that needs to be heavily guarded to prevent an attack. The easiest points of attack were also where the gates were, this made the gates a high priority for the defenders. After observing the plans for the layout for the city it became readily apparent this city was not originally built to withstand a siege effectively. The city was too large, if one side got breached it would take too long for them reinforce it using troops from another wall. True any of the guardians could easily defeat any indigenous being from this realm but the objective wasn't to just defeat the army it was to prevent a breach. That was much harder given the limited resources that was available. However now that the Croxilisk was here it should be able to fend off the attacker from one side.
"You think we can win?" Lakyus asked
"I am sure we can win, but..." Maeve replied
"But?" Lakyus asked with a frown
"This attack is foolish, they know something we don't" Maeve replied grimly, her eyes narrowed
"Yes I have sent Tia and Tina to investigate, so far nothing has come up. " Lakyus said with a sigh
"Well we'll just have to smash whatever comes then won't we." Maeve replied
"You're awfully confident." Lakyus said
"It's not confidence it's just the reality of the situation." Maeve replied
"If we lose here, if we fail due to whatever trickery they might use, Renner will die, this Kingdom will die. Barbro will run this country into ruin, our lands will just become another province for the Empire or the Slaine Theocracy." Lakyus said
"Then it makes it simple doesn't it? My gods have a saying prepare what you can and it will have to be enough, if it isn't there's no shame in defeat." Maeve replied
"Well yes I suppose it is simple then… " Lakyus said as she turned to the army far off in the distance.
"Maeve dono, would you mind joining me for a prayer?" Lakyus asked
"I don't believe in the water god you know." Maeve replied eyebrows raised
"Yes but I would like your perspective on some things, I often find on the eve of battle I find myself looking to the heavens for guidance. I would like to know the thoughts of a follower of the 41." Lakyus said looking Maeve in the eyes
"Very well." Maeve replied
Maeve walked into the temple of the water god, the temple was large almost almost absurdly so. I was made of a cool dark blue stone and the chandeliers were adorned with sapphires giving of a bluish glow that filled the massive congregation hall. Curiously as she looked around there were some strange choices in design for the temple. The pillars were unusually thick for a structure of this size considering the load that the pillars would have to bear. There were no windows and the pews had a strange gap at the end where another row could have easily fit. In fact the gap was the perfect amount to put in another row of pews, the rows numbered 40… curious…
"Lakyus sama welcome to the temple, may i know what she is doing here?" one of the high priests said as he approached giving Maeve a resentful look.
"I am here to pray and Maeve dono is here at my request." Lakyus said calmly
"Is she here perhaps to repent and turn away from the false…" the priest began
"Good priest could we perhaps be alone for awhile." Lakyus said interrupting him
"Lakyus sama this is a holy place I cannot in good faith leave here with the presence of…" the priest said angrily
"I am a high priest of the water god good priest, or have you forgotten? I wish to be alone here with Maeve dono." Lakyus interrupted sternly
"As you will high priest Lakyus." the priest replied resentfully as bowed and left the room
"I didn't know you were a high priest." Maeve said with a slight smirk
"Well yes I am is it that surprising?" Lakyus asked
"No it's nothing, it's just that I haven't been the most popular figure for the priesthood so far." Maeve replied
"Yes I apologise, most of the priesthood disdains the worshippers of the 41." Lakyus said with a sigh
"It's fine I'm aware it's because humans are constantly fighting the other races and the other races still hold to the 41." Maeve replied
"The gods descended to help humanity in their darkest hour, the chronicles say the other races were preying on humans, we lived miserable existences until the gods descended." Lakyus replied
"I cannot comment on the past for I am not very well informed." Maeve said as she continues to look around the temple as her golden eye glowed.
"I have met other followers of the 41 before, they live on the fringes of the kingdom… well the northern fringes close to the Argland Council State the ones to the south have been eradicated by the Slaine Theocracy." Lakyus said
"Eradicated? So they sent forces into your kingdom to kill its citizens. Wouldn't that be a problem? " Maeve said eyebrows raised
"Yes that was many years ago before I was even born. I read about it when I was studying to be a priest. The priesthood at the time pressure the court into doing nothing as the Slaine Theocracy butchered those villages. I had heard these events haunted the king for many years. The irony is that after those events the king became more tolerant towards the followers of the 41 and moved them to the north for their own protection." Lakyus said sadly
"Perhaps it was guilt, small comfort however to those lying in the ground." replied Maeve
"Yes I personally condemn the slaughter of innocents, some of these people were born into their religion. They have no guilt other than being born in the wrong place at the wrong time." Lakyus said softly
"I do not mean any offence when I say this Lakyus but the 41 has touched every part of this world, they predate your gods as I am sure you are aware. No matter how much people will try to cover up that fact, they will always walk in their shadow. The 41 are the true masters of this world" Maeve said
"Then why didn't they step in to save humanity? Do we matter so little to them?" Lakyus asked challenging Maeve's statement
"Tell me Lakyus if a pair of sibling fight is it fair for the mother to favour one over the other?" Maeve asked
"I know you are saying that the 41 are responsible for all beings and not just humans but we were being repressed Maeve. Look around us and see what we have achieved with the gods guidance, look at this glorious temple constructed in their name." Lakyus said fervently gesturing to the temple
"It's funny you mention this temple, you see those pillars?" Maeve said pointing at the pillars that were in two rows going down the length of the hall. The pillars were large near the top they widened significantly showing motifs of flowing water, depicting water flowing from the ceiling down the pillars into the ground.
"The pillars what about them?" Lakyus asked brows furrowed perplexed
"There are 40 of them, and look at the pews there are 40 rows, now look at the back of the hall you see that gap after the last row don't you think another row of pews could fit perfectly there?" Maeve said
"No, I know what you are trying to say, it's not possible." Lakyus said shaking her head in denial
"Well Lakyus you see that back wall there seems awfully close to the altar to me. I can bet there's something behind that wall. I'm gonna chance it and guess the 41st pillar is behind that wall." Maeve said gesturing to the wall right behind the altar.
"You don't know that." Lakyus denied
"I do know that." Maeve replied
"You just said you would chance a guess." Lakyus said
"I was just being polite, I can see what's behind that wall." Maeve said as the glow in eye dimmed
"What?" Lakyus asked getting more and more confused
"This is a gift from the gods." Maeve said gesturing to her golden eye
"Gift?" Lakyus asked
"It's called the Deus Eye. It allows me to see things not normally visible to humans, I used it to see what's behind that wall." Maeve said
"No you're lying." Lakyus stammered
"Then let's test it shall we? I'll break down that wall and we can see for ourselves." Maeve challenged
"... No… I can't allow you to destroy this holy place." Lakyus replied
"You hesitated, why?" Maeve asked
"I don't know." replied Lakyus looking away
"No you don't want to know." Maeve said
Silence was her answer
Evileye was walking towards the water temple, she was looking for Lakyus and one of the guards on the wall had overheard them going to the water temple to pray. She felt it was strange considering Maeve was a follower of the 41 supreme beings. The 41 have not been revered in a very… very long time…
As she approached the temple she saw Lakyus storm out of the temple.
"Lakyus? What's wrong?" Evileye asked concerned
"It's nothing… " Lakyus replied softly
"You want to talk about it?" Evileye suggested
"No I… I want to be alone for awhile… I have some things to think about." Lakyus said as she turned and walked off.
Evileye watched her walk off, her head down, feet dragging ever so slightly. Evileye turned back to the door of the temple and walked in. When she walked in she saw Maeve sitting at the last row of pews. Evileye walked over and sat down next to Maeve, she looked to her and saw her gazing at the wall behind the altar.
"What happened?" Evileye asked looking at the wall
"I told her the truth but she didn't want to see it." Maeve replied neither looking away from the wall
"People sometimes don't want the truth, they would rather follow a beautiful lie." Evileye replied
"Is that why you hide behind that mask? To hide the truth that they can't accept." Maeve asked
"Yes… I suppose it is, thank you by the way for keeping my secret. I suspected you knew after seeing how you found those vials in the maid's pocket." Evileye said
"So are you going to tell them?" Maeve said
"When they are ready or… when I am ready." Evileye replied
"How old are you actually." Maeve asked
"I could ask you the same question." Evileye said
"I am a child, I'm just blessed by the gods." Maeve replied with a smirk
"Hahaha and so am I. So much for the truth huh?" Evileye said with a chuckle
"Hahaha I'm older than you, I look older than you." Maeve replied with her own little chuckle
"Yes I suspected you might be, you don't live 400 years without learning how to read people." Evileye replied
"So you were around before the six descended?" Maeve asked
"Yes I was." Evileye replied
"Tell me what was the world like before the six." Maeve asked
"It was better… this religion is poison." Evileye said bitterly
"You know what this place looked like before they covered everything up?" Maeve asked
"I do, that one was Genjiro, Tabula Smaragdina, Bukubuku Chagama, Peroroncino, Tigirs Euphrates… " Evileye said as she pointed to each pillar
"And there behind that accursed wall was Momonga." Evileye finished wistfully
"You knew all this time, yet you kept your silence." Maeve said
"Yes I did… I am a girl out of time, the only surviving witness to what was… what could have been. I alone survived to see what a wretched mess this world has become." Evileye said sadly
As she said this she reached into her robe and pulled out a rosary, it was the sigil of Tabula Smaragdina. It was old, the shine was faded and bits of it were missing. Maeve turned and held out her hand, Evileye placed the rosary in her hand.
"It's broken… " Maeve said
"Yes just like this world. The races once lived together peacefully, then slowly piece by piece it all fell apart" Evileye replied as she gestured to the missing pieces of rosary.
"But it's still here isn't it, as much they try to cover it they can't cover it all." Maeve said gesturing to the hall
"Yes it is we all walk in their immortal shadow." Evileye replied
"I am trying to fix this world, my brother, Solanna and Quacey we all are." Maeve said
"That's a tall order. I wish you luck. " Evileye said
"You can help you know, this is your world after all." Maeve said as she rubbed her thumb over the face of the broken rosary
"My world is gone, it died 300 years ago, along with my ordo." Evileye said sadly as she gazed up at the ceiling as if begging for relief from the heavens.
"You were from an ordo? Impressive, ordos only take the best. So which one were you?" Maeve asked looking at her upturned mask
I was the Hammer
I was the instrument of their will
I was their Sword as they were my Armor
I was their Wrath and they were my Zeal
I was the Bane of their Foes and the Woes of the Treacherous
Evileye whispered, as her eyes felt hot under her mask. It was so painful to speak those words again, it had been centuries since she last said it. She used to say it with all her brothers and sisters together, now she says it alone in temple that used to be dedicated to the 41. It was like fate was mocking her...
"Ordo Malleus, very impressive. You can be all those things again templar." Maeve said as she cast a spell on the rosary restoring it. She took Evileye's hand and placed the rosary in her hand before closing her hand around it.
Evileye gazed at the restored rosary, it looked like the day she received it from her mentor. Then the tears began to fall under her mask.
"A Morte Perpetua." Maeve said
"Domine, Libra Nos" Evileye whispered. Did she dare dream? To hope for what could be, instead of living day by day with her sisters. Her sisters… the one reprieve she had in this cursed and broken world.
"A Morte Perpetua, Domine, Libra Nos, It means deliver us from damnation, it's literally meaning is Lord, deliver us from eternal death, I suppose its fitting." Maeve said
"Yes it is…" Evileye said softly
"I will tear down their gods and return this world to what it was, bring it to where it could be. Will you help me Evileye of the Golden Roses, Templar of the Ordo Malleus, the hammer of the 41." Maeve asked gazing at the mask
"I'm sorry I am templar no longer, I am Evileye of the Golden Roses." Evileye said softly
Evileye sat silently for a few moments before standing up.
"A Morte Perpetua, Domine, Libra Nos." said Evileye
"41 deliver us." replied Maeve
Evileye slowly walked back to the palace where she was staying, she barely noticed where she was going there was too much going on in her mind. Evileye walked back into her room and locked the door. She took out her restored rosary and knelt on both knees. She took off her mask and kissed the rosary before clasping the rosary with both hands. She lowered her head and for the first time in 200 years she prayed.
A Spiritu Dominatus,
Domine, Libra Nos,
From the Lighting and the Tempest,
41, deliver us.
From Sin and Temptation,
41, deliver us,
From the scourge of the Deceitful,
41, deliver us.
From the blasphemy of the Fallen,
41, deliver us,
From the begetting of the Profane,
41, deliver us,
From the curse of Heresy,
41, deliver us,
A Morte Perpetua,
Domine, Libra Nos.
The Palace of the Capital
"Domine, Libra Nos…" Renner muttered as she read the tome in her hands. She had just read the Litany of Fidelity. It was the first thing that the reader would see when they read the book, on the first page sat the Litany of Fidelity. It was a prayer to remind the faithful that the path to fulfillment is fraught with distractions. This helped to remind the faithful of what was important, the virtue of the 41 is a difficult path but one that reaped great rewards.
She made it a point to always read this prayer every time she opened the book. Somehow Renner felt the words put her mind at ease. Initially when she first started reading this tome titled Intricacies of Natural Healing she was just looking for knowledge to help heal her now late father. However as she got further and further into the book she found herself drawn to the overarching philosophy of the book. The philosophy spoke of the beauty of mortality, how the ever approaching spectre of death moved mortals to do great things and how everything beautiful in the world is beautiful because it will not last. Renner knew she was called the golden princess for her beauty but her beauty won't last forever, one day she will grow old. Her face will wrinkle and her body will become frail. She has heard stories of her father when he was in his youth, they say he had a head of golden hair a strong physique and quite the handsome face. Renner however only remembers his father's wrinkled smile and tired eyes.
Renner believed this book had helped her handle the loss of her father a lot better than she otherwise would have. When the people in the guest room swore themselves to her, she remembers thinking of the quote in this book. When you are gone all that will remain of you is your works, when your works crumble to dust all that shall remain will be the consequences of your actions. The book spoke of how temporary life is, how when your name is no longer remembered, when all you have done is forgotten. The one thing you leave behind is a legacy, your actions shaped the future and that is something that can never be taken away from you. So as Renner closed the tome and put it back into her secret drawer she looked out into the night and saw the light of campfires burning beyond the wall. She wondered what kind of legacy would she leave behind, only tomorrow could tell.
The next day at dawn
The peals of the alarm bells rang throughout the city, most of the guards have slept at the barracks close to the walls to ensure they could reach the walls quickly. Brain stood atop as he gazed at the siege towers that were slowly moving towards the wall. Beside him stood the high elf Solanna and Climb.
"Shouldn't you be guarding the Queen?" Brain asked
"Queen Renner insisted that I be at the walls, she said every man that can swing a sword should be defending this city." Climb replied
"So she told you to come here." Brain asked
"Yes." Climb replied
"No I mean here specifically. As in the western gate." Brain said
"Yes? Queen Renner said to come to the western wall because it's undermanned." Climb said brows furrowed not sure exactly what Brian was getting at.
"This wall isn't undermanned the Croxilisk is here, those siege towers might as well be sand castles." Brain said
"Oh… I see." Climb replied a troubled expression on his face
"Don't overthink it Climb this is perhaps the safest wall so my guess is she sent you to the wall with least danger." Brain replied with a slight smile
Climb didn't have an answer for that he merely looked down blushing ever so slightly.
"So you have a plan on how to use that pet of yours?" Brain asked Solanna
"Her name is Croxy and yes I do. I'm gonna start from the left. I want to herd the petrified soldiers onto the other side of the walls, fear is contagious." Solanna replied with a sadistic smile
"Very wise." Climb said
The trio stood as they watched the siege towers approached. They weren't fast so it took awhile, it was almost a half an hour before the siege towers were within bow range. No arrows were traded at first, bows weren't accurate enough at this range. Then once they were about 30 metres away from the wall the arrows started firing from both sides.
"Oi oi aren't you gonna send it out, we are taking fire here." Brain said as he sliced a stray arrow out of the air.
"Almost, I want the other walls to be caught with their pants down, for that I need to time it." Solanna said as she calmly caught an arrow flying towards her head.
"Some of the guards are going to get shot at this rate." Climb said from under his shield
"I'm here to win the battle not to save a few guards." Solanna said as she tilted her head slightly to dodge another arrow. She pursed her lips in annoyance there was this idiot on the top of one of the siege towers shooting at her.
"I think someone doesn't like you." Brain said as he sliced another arrow
"Guard give me your spear." Solanna said gesturing to a nearby guard as she caught another arrow. After taking the spear she hurled the spear at the archer that was shooting at her, the spear struck the archer square in the chest with such force he was flung off the top of the siege tower falling to the ground below with a sickening crunch.
The other archers at the top of the tower looked at her slack jawed as they turned to see their comrades body on the ground behind them. Suddenly no more arrows started flying their direction.
"Well that's one way to make them stop." Brain said
"I think it's about time, Croxy sic em." Solanna said with a smile
Climb put down his shield and looked over to the left and saw a tower suddenly collapse. There were shouts in the distance and he could see some of the troops panicking atop the tower adjacent to the one that collapsed. Then there was a boom and the next tower caved in on top of itself. Then he started seeing the troops that were standing behind the siege towers started running along the length of the wall screaming.
Then he saw it, a flash of something yellow smashed into the next siege tower, there was the sound of splintering wood, of screams, and the blood curdling roar of the Corxilisk. Then the siege tower collapsed and from the dust cloud emerged the beast. It's shell was caked in blood and offal, it's maw dripping with the blood of the citizens of the kingdom. He saw it grab some poor soul who was scrambling away from it. He had the misfortune for the Croxiliks to emerge and land just a few scant paces from him. Faster than Climb could blink the claw flashed and grabbed the poor man. It tossed the man into it's waiting maw and it bit down on the man's torso severing it from the waist down, swallowing it whole armor and all.
"Croxy didn't eat today, she told me she was saving the stomach for them, it's been a long time since she's tasted humans." Solanna said with a grin
"I see…" Climb said
He realised that the people on the walls have stopped firing their arrows, instead they merely stood slack jawed as they looked at the massacre playing out in front of them. Killing in war is par for the course but this… this was not war, the rebels have been invited to dinner and they were the main course. Climb watched as another siege tower caved into a pile of splinters, he looked down at the swarms of men fleeing along the wall. The rest of the siege towers were being abandoned in short order as the soldiers slowly started realising what was happening. As Climb saw the last of the troops flee with a howling Croxilisk chasing after them he felt pity for what was going to happen at the other walls.
At the southern wall
Maeve stabbed another man trying to get out of the siege tower, he wasn't the first and won't be the last. She could see the lines of men clambering up the stairs of the tower using her Deus Eye. She was standing on the ramp and tossing the bodies over the side, she could have just used her father's gift with the arts taught to her by Takamazuhi sama but the goal wasn't to kill as many as possible. It was to delay long enough for the stampede of men to rush over from the eastern wall after the Croxilisk was done scaring the living daylights out of them. Hopefully the panic would be contagious and the entire army would cut and run. This was a civil war so every life lost on either side was a loss, so they had to keep casualties down to a minimum. They had destroyed all but three of the siege towers on this side effectively creating a bottleneck. The rebels had tried to use ladders but their effectiveness was limited due to the height of the walls. Because the walls were rather high the ladder couldn't support that many soldiers at once causing each soldier to arrive in large intervals making them easily to overwhelm. With all that there was now a large congestion of men standing below the walls.
Maeve looked over to her right and saw Lakyus and Gazef holding their respective ramps quite well. With their stamina they could keep this up for the rest of the day if needed, carving through peasant levies was hardly strenuous to warriors of their caliber. Lakyus was carving through the cheap swords and armor of the peasant levies, she had an unhappy expression on her face as she swung her demonic blade. Gazef was in a similar state his lips were pressed into a line and his brows were furrowed as he cut down another man. It wasn't hard to guess why they were upset, after all they were killing the very citizens they had sworn to protect.
Maeve heard the sound of hoofs kicking up dirt and she saw a group of a few thousand cavalry charging towards the wall. Strange… cavalry were virtually useless in a siege, they might be the elite house troops sent to break this deadlock. Perhaps they were worried about moral which is why they arrived on horses to speed things up. As the cavalry approached the wall they suddenly veered to the right moving towards the gate, then she heard the gate open…
"Shit! Lakyus! Gazef! The gate! Smash those siege towers!." Mazef shouted
"[High Ex]." Maeve muttered as she pointed her crossbow at the siege tower and fired. The bolt flew into the siege tower through the hole that was disembarking men before exploding. The splintering wood injured quite a few troops on the wall but she didn't have time to care about that.
[Dark Blade Mega Impact] [Six Fold Slash of Light] Lakyus and Gazef both unleashed their skills as they smashed the top of the wooden towers to pieces removing any meaningful method of scaling the walls.
Maeve bolted down into the control room for the gate and found some of the guards standing there spears pointed at the door. Two of them were holding the rotating levers that held the portcullis up open, four of their comrades were lying in a pool of blood on the floor their throats slit.
"So it's treason then… " Maeve said through gritted teeth. Her form vanished and she reappears next the lever as the heads of the guards hit the floor. She kicked the lever expecting them to start rotating instead she found the mechanism jammed. She looked to see a thick iron bar jammed into the other wheel of the controls. She grabbed the bar and ripped it out, immediately the mechanism began to rotate as the portcullis slammed back down. She bolted out the door of the room and looked to see about a 500 riders had gotten through and were charging towards the palace. Then she saw something that made heart sink…
There were four gates into the city, the rebel army had placed siege towers facing three of the gates the east, south and west gates. The north gate had no siege towers so they had only deployed minimal troops there and none of the elite were there at all. Now she was seeing about five thousand cavalry riding into via the northern gate the city and most of them were spreading out setting houses on fire, about a thousand of them were headed for the palace.
"Aura! Get to the Palace now, I'll meet you there there's cavalry in the city i think they're going for Renner. Send Croxy to collapse the northern gate and guard it." Maeve said through a message spell
"This day was about to get very bloody" Maeve thought bitterly… how could I not have seen it sieges usually succeed via attrition or betrayal… she was going to get an earful from Punito Moe sama when she got back…
Rebel Camp, Command Tent
"Your Majesty most of our elite cavalry has entered the city, we expect the usurper to be dead by dawn." Marquis Buollop said
"Good, if it doesn't work we still have this… " Barbro said
Barbro reached out to caress the magic item sitting on the table before him. Ever since he got it he has never let it out of his sight, it has never let his person and he has a hundred elite troops guarding his tent at all times. He looked at hand caressing the golden statue and saw the hexagram mark on the back of his hand.
"Yes my rule is blessed by the gods… this item is proof of their favour…" Barbro said as he gazed at the item
It was a small golden statue with a humanoid body and the head of a goat, it had six arms and in each of those arms clasped small spherical gems of differing colours…
Author's Notes:
Hope you like the chapter, this was fun to write. Once again leave a review if you liked it, leave one if you hated it all criticism is welcome.
Sooooo see you guys in the next chapter!