(A/N): One part of the Knights of Heaven P.O.V. has been adopted from CT: Midnight.

Zhang Kai: I don't play that. Hey, could you summon reviews for this fic? It helps a lot.

Chapter 2: Withdrawal

"You! Aren't you Champion Osiris' lapdog?" the knight of heaven wrapped in chains retorted.

"Yes, indeed he is. Now I suggest that you put away those chains, Phaernal."

Everyone except the raydrics, who were too busy pulling themselves together, looked up to see who had spoken. Everyone realized him at once. The dark brown hair, green eyes and the garbs he wore along with a pair of golden earrings.

"You've heard him "sir" Phaernal. You'll be argiope feed in an instant!" the swordsman told the knight Osiris called Phaernal. "And you'd better take back what you said earlier. I'm nothing close to being a "lapdog"."

Agranias moved his horse in front of Phaernal's and turned his head to Osiris.

"My apologies, Champion Osiris. My subordinate and I will be leaving immediately after the elves have been routed."

The champion's fists clenched.

"The elves are here?" He turned to the swordsman. "Take what's left of this raydric fighting force back to Glastheim. Report this atrocity to lord Haldivas."

"Me? But what about…"

Before the swordsman could finish, Osiris was gone. Agranias and Phaernal also turned around and rode after the champion.

The swordsman approached Kael and helped him round up the raydrics and raydric archers that were hiding from Phaernal's chains.

"What were the Knights of Heaven thinking?" Kael asked the swordsman who seemed busy thinking of something.

"'Following their orders from some dolt' says Osiris. Phaernal won't kill the lot of you just by mistake."

"But what of the other raydrics in the encampment?"

"We found them. Some dismembered while others were simply slain. All dead. Do you like khalitzburgs?"

…………………………….

"Grand high priest! I have had enough of this!"

"Peace, my lord. Is something the matter?" Abraxil asked back.

Haldivas stood up from his throne and started to make his way towards the exit.

"My king, what is this all about?" the grand high priest called to him.

Abraxil had to keep up with the king who was walking very swiftly.

"I'm going to detain the Knights of Heaven. Nearly all of the 3rd raydric division was slain just because of them and your careless planning!" Haldivas called back.

"Agranias just failed to…"

Haldivas stopped abruptly, causing the grand high priest to cut off. The king turned back to Abraxil.

"Your father made him that way. Agranias and Aelumina never disobey. They're not responsible for this slaughter!"

Abraxil grinned as an idea came into his mind.

"My king, you seem to have forgotten who I am. Am I not the one who influences your people the most? Am I not the holy man the other priests marvel?"

………………………………….

Meothrinas nearly crumpled the letter he just read. It was written by a scout who managed to slip past the rag-tag cordon of remaining raydrics and reached Payon before the makeshift encampment was attacked.

"Lenaedir, you fool…"

The ranger was reported dead along with the raiding party he brought with him. Meothrinas smiled at the thought of revenge. He still remembered the ranger's last words before leaving.

"You'll never get away from this."

Suddenly, there was a sound of a horse neighing then a loud banging noise. Meothrinas opened the curtains and nearly fell down upon seeing a horse running wildly towards him. It was already a few feet from the window.

The door flung open and one of his hawk-helmeted scarlet guards ran in and pulled him down just in time. The horse jumped in, shattering the large window glass. Meothrinas got up and brushed away some broken glass from his robes then looked at the enormous horse.

"We're under attack, my king. I presume that these humans were the one's who defeated Lenaedir."

Before the elven king could even draw his weapon, the steed's rider jumped in from the broken window. Meothrinas took a few paces back as he knew that the knight was wearing a familiar medallion.

"King Meothrinas, you'd better flee along with the others to the caves! It was a mistake to try and come back to our capital!" the guard told the king.

The human knight mounted his horse and drew two slightly short swords and charged the guard. Meothrinas crept outside and slammed the door shut.

He could hear the sound of metal clashing inside as well as blood splattering. The king looked around. More of the double-sworded knight's brethren were slaughtering the hapless defenders.

"King Meothrinas, come with me!" one of his royal escorts came to him.

"I see clearly now. It surely was a mistake to try and repel the humans with grandiose methods." Meothrinas muttered.

Five hunters that were following the royal scarlet guard stretched their bows and aimed at one of the humans that were wielding a lance but before they could fire, a barrage of black-shafted arrows brought them all down.

"Hurry, my king!" the royal guard urged Meothrinas on, avoiding one of the black-shafted arrows. "Most of us are already in the caves. We are already attempting a makeshift…"

"Caves?" Meothrinas cut in. "What about Fox Maiden?"

"Its servants are helping us so there is no reason to believe that it's a threat since it was sealed already."

The royal guard unrolled a banner of the Payonese elves and mounted his brown horse. A squad of elven knights and a group of odd-looking warriors rallied behind them.

Meothrinas recognized the assassins. The katars strapped to their arms and their outfits were already dripping with their own brethren's blood.

After evading more barrages of the black-shafted arrows, their party reached the mouth of the cave.

"Get in, all of you." The royal guard told all his companions.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" a knight asked.

"Everyone's dead. These were the same human knights that decimated our outermost regions."

Everyone except Meothrinas ran further into the dimly-lit cave.

"Telmar? We're waiting for you."

Before the royal guard could turn around and ride in, the same eerie sound of a horse filled the air and echoed all throughout the cave.

"Oh no…"

A group of hunters and knights rushed to the cave's mouth and tried to close the roughly built entrance made with materials hewn from the mountains.

To add to their anxiety, a large horse landed in front of Telmar's. Its rider raised his lance and brought it down on the bewildered royal guard. The lance punched through his scarlet breastplate and pierced through his chest and stuck out of his pelvis. Blood trickled down his wound and suddenly sprayed out like a fountain when the human knight withdrew his lance. The blood began to blend with Telmar's scarlet armor. The royal guard turned to face Meothrinas before finally falling off his horse, lifeless.

"Close the gates! Now!"

A band of hunters lined up in front of the human knight and continued firing arrows at him until the gate was almost closed. The hunters scrambled inside just in time to avoid the knight's whirling lance. The gate was fully closed now. It would take too long to penetrate it. The human knight cursed and tried to pull off some of the arrows that hit him.

"Dornacath."

Another human knight halted beside the lance-wielding one. The newcomer stared at the corpse his horse was trampling on then to the gate. Dornacath had arrows clinging all over his left arm and leg.

"I must tell Captain Agranias about this. Don't blame yourself for anything."

…………………………….

A few hours later, Dornacath found himself riding alongside the captain of the Knights of Heaven.

"Good fight eh, Captain?"

Agranias smiled as Dornacath rode beside him. Strapped to the man's saddle was a metal ring, bristling with bloody, pointed ears.

"You've certainly accounted for yourself in this battle, Dornacath…"

The knight of heaven grinned and looked fondly at the metal ring.

"Twenty pairs of elven ears! Each pair belongs to an elven hunter!"

Agranias nodded his approval and rode on…

"Good work, Dornacath. Between our troop and Osiris' we just might exterminate these elves yet!"

Dornacath grinned with pleasure at his captain's commendation. Then he saw the metal ring that was strapped to his captain's saddle and gaped. At least a hundred pairs of elven ears bristled on the ring…

"You're understating again, captain. You should just say that between you and Osiris, the elves shall definitely be exterminated!"

Agranias merely smiled and nodded before riding ahead…

……………………………………

"They won't stop hunting us down…"

Meothrinas watched the horongs light up the cave while his surviving people assemble materials for more housing.

"The thought of how many ears the humans have stolen makes me shudder…"

"Pardon my intrusion, king Meothrinas, but I've had the count for the supplies acquired."

The king turned around and received the report from one of his scouts. He frowned after reading and gave the scroll back to the scout.

"Any word from Elmeth?"

"My lord?" the scout asked back.

"What am I thinking? All dead of course…with giearths scavenging for ears. Now, we spent years shaping this place. From now on, no one tries to re-establish our capital."

…………………………………..

"Here it is, Necron. I trust that you wanted to know about it?"

Necron looked at the lord knight then turned to the weird-looking armor in the glass cubicle.

"Lord Knight Salendriel, was it all because of my insecurity that many were murdered by our own allies?"

Lord Knight Salendriel fell silent and kept staring at the armor.

"Lord Knight?" the raydric-knight asked him again.

"That, I couldn't answer. You have to find out yourself. Now Necron, this armor would grant you limitless durability, immortality, and power. However, it is cursed."

Necron was taken aback. How could this treasure be cursed?

"Listen, raydric. The wearer would be scarred by the curse and succumb to darkness in return for the ability to heal one's self and protect his brethren."

The raydric-knight moved closer to the armor and examined it.

"At the cost of one's soul? That's absurd. There must be some other way to power other than bearing a curse. Can't we teach divine magic to our knights instead?"

"Such task is considered…impudent." Salendriel told him. "If Glastheim would be attacked by an unstoppable foe, would you wear this armor?"

Necron looked at his own raydric plate armor.

"Never…"