Hannibal the new Carthaki general stood on the plaza elevated a few feet above the crowd assembled, he smiled at the one action he was going to do to bolster the hope of the whole population of Carthak that ever believed or was starting to believe in it's old ruler ever returning. Emperor Kaddar was brought forward, the assembled crowd gasped, removing his sword Hannibal said in serval different languages, "Behold your Emperor! Your saviour of all things wrong and unjust!" the crowd began cheering and chanting, "Hannibal! Hannibal!" Emperor Kaddar looked up to see the crowd cheering but it was not his name, feeling the chains on his arms and legs he assumed he was going to be killed in front of the crowd. Hannibal placed Kaddar gently on the ground and with one mighty blow broke through Kaddar's chains and yelled, "For the freedom of Carthak!" the crowd cheered as it's ruler was freed and placed back on his old throne free to rule again, Hannibal waited almost patiently for The Nameless One to return and see a large part of his empire already under it's own rule but Entonio was no fool he had placed spies everywhere that mattered, within hours of Kaddar being placed on his old throne he had already heard the news and had devised a cunning scheme that would snap, shatter and finally remove the backbone of the rebellion in Carthak.
Hannibal had got his first taste of justice and knew that somewhere that his brother's decapitated body rested a little easier but it wasn't enough to satisfy the once outlawed general, he had to have Entonio's head on a pike.
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King Jonathan stood over a highly detailed map of the border between Tyra and Tortall telling the knights who stood around him the battle plans and what to expect.
Alanna lent against one of the support beams that were placed close to the map. Listening to what Jonathan was saying she realized that since both sides losses were heavy that it would take serval years of hard fighting and skilled warcraft before the border was once again under Tortallan control.
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El're rode forward on Leopold and expertly threw the barbed javelin right threw the straw dummy's heart, the training master nodded and El're had pasted the last of the fighting skills tests, he was now able to join the war on the border only 15 he had the skills of a far older person, he smiled as Sarralyn clapped at his expertise and congratulated him on making it into the Queen's Rider's.
El're took Leopold to the stables and knew with cold certainty he would now be able to complete his quest of avenging his family and friends deaths and maybe just maybe they were still alive.
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The border was a mess of dead or dying people both sides wanted to remove them from the battlefield to prevent the soldiers from being dishonoured by the stormwings but both sides were unsure whether or not that the other side would mount an attack why they were clearing the battlefield. Everywhere there were bits or fire-sharpened stakes, barbed wire and discarded pikes.
The Tortallans were about to launch an attack or rather a faint and quick withdrawal while the mages planted magical wards to warn the Tortallans or any advancement on the Ilyarian side and the ironic thing was neither the Tortallans or the Ilyarians knew a thing about the people they were fighting.
El're crept forward keeping Leopold under strict control and watching for any movement on the walls of the opposition.
The attack was a success and the Ilyarian soldiers didn't know what happened till it was too late: the wards were in place and serval hundred fresh Tortallan Queen's riders attacked the wall like a gigantic wave washing away a small leaf.
Leopold roared his battle roar and attacked any soldiers foolish to come close enough to see the steel on his claws and teeth; the wall was breached and reclaimed after many months of hard fighting.
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Entonio couldn't believe what was happening his Empire was slipping out from between his grip; he managed to keep the Copper Isles but only just: apparently the 'natives' of the Copper Isles were very familiar with rebellion, the Carthakis never before had Entonio met an equal general and the Tortallans he had tried almost everything to win more than the border but they kept him at bay. He was getting furious and when Entonio get furious he unsheathes his 'Bastard Sword'.
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One foolish gesture had made Hannibal come out of hiding: throwing his brother's head through his mother's bakery shop window, upon seeing Hasdrubal's head he said the soon to be famous words: "I see there the fate of Carthak."
And that's exactly what he had done decided the fate of Carthak in that one moment, he would unleash Kaddar's most dangerous but surprisingly still hidden weapons: the war elephants and purge Carthak of all the foreign soldiers.
Hannibal had devised a plan that would hopefully force the invading army to withdraw to whatever unknown country it came from.
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It began with the arrival of the war elephants on the battlefield facing the opposing army consisting of horse riders and foot soldiers and the elephant charge began. The Ilyarian army just divided up and attacked throwing javelins barbed and dipped in a mysterious sticky black fluid that they set alight before throwing, Hannibal seated on top of a war elephant observed the proceedings and wondered what good the javelins wood do: all of the elephants were armoured with archers raining arrows upon the enemy and skilled swordsmen to discourage climbing.
Closely watching her realized that the special javelins were doing something: the elephants hit were dizzy and their wounds bled openly, one of the first elephants to be hit was lying on its side weakly trumpeting.
He was slowly but surely losing the battle, giving up now meant death not only for himself and his followers but also for the Kaddar, which signalled the end of the Carthaki Empire.
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Entonio was smiling his cruellest smile and wondered about the plague his mages were brewing, it was much like small pox but only slower and more painful. He had the army's fletchers dipping arrowheads in the brew, the blacksmiths covering armour with the powder form of the plague and the swords, lances and daggers were also dipped.
Equipping the army with the weapons was easy but ensuring that all of the army had a natural resistance to it was different, in preparation to the plague he was going to unleash, the mages were forced to test the resistance potion on live victims and chop of limbs with poison covered weapons making sure that it worked.
The whole point of the plague was to force alliances with rulers that were forced to make peace for the cure or die out.
The cure itself only lasted a week, so should they start a rebellion the people who planned and started it would die a slow painful death.
The proper antidote lasted for years ten in fact but the rulers and the people would never touch it only the loyal soldiers of his army and himself.
Knowing that soon the pope of Ilyares would soon withdraw his approval of Entonio's actions, he had to act fast to win the pope over once more and the people.
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A/n: I need more support for this story or it will be terminated, sadly :(