During mid point of the great war, Ceunon earned the ire of elves in their venture into the forest and cutting down of several of their oldest trees. The elves wrath was such that they slaughtered the expedition and overtook the enemy city. Their rule, while short, was terrifying to the people, just as quickly as the elves arrive did they leave, their forceful, violent takeover leaving the people with a deep seated apprehension of the arcane. This was why despite being embroidered in the middle of a civil war neither side attempted to curry favor with the elves or riders.
"We could use an elf right now though…" John muttered. He and Cynitha ducked as a swarm of arrows flew past their foreheads.
Their battle had begun like normal, they led a small army of untrained, unprepared, terrified young knights and soldiers against an army of fanatic rebel farmers that often quadrupled or even quintupled their unit's size, some of which were family.
The commander of Ceunon, in his wisdom, saw fit that John's group would be put in charge of this ragtag group of trainees. John and his squad minus Faris arrived at Ceunon three days ago, bringing with them a cart of food supply, medicine, and weaponry, all of which a normal person would normally be thankful for. Castis, the general's name, was a different man.
"You brought no alcohol?! Who was the group tasked with dealing with the logistics?!"
Cynthia stepped forward, "We determined that the food and water stored in magically sealed barrels would be enough, as it is the enemy's size and threat level is such that even a small amount of inebriation wo-"
"Are you stupid? I can't believe they trusted children to help us!"
Vern stood forward, "Sir with all due respect we are high ranking amongst our peers. John and Cynthia have both won several jousting competitions and single duels. They are more than competent."
This back and forth continued for a while, until Cynthia backed off simply due to the precious time wasted. Either way, Castis now despised their group, and in order to ostracize them he put them at the head of a unit of 25 men, all of them trainees, most of them related to the farmers rebelling, two extremely demoralizing factors. Instead of dying, they managed to win three consecutive battles, utilizing terrain advantage, the four's superior fighting ability, and tools provided by Faris that helped them control the enemy's movements. Castis had been quite covetous of those items, but he was unable to procure any for himself, and the relationship he and the knight apprentices shared made it impossible for them to work together cohesively.
Things had been going on like this until reports of a rising offensive as farmers from outside the normal area were gathering together, the enemy forces would be 500 strong and the aprentice squad of 29 would join with Castis's 300 strong army to face this threat. This was the plan until it was established that Castis lied there where two armies going for a pincer attack, one with 150 men, another by the edge of the forest that was 200 strong, and he and his men on horseback rushed to the 150 man army, leaving Johnathan's squad to face a sizeable army of 200 soldiers.
They lost half their men before they could even find cover in the forest, and eventually went down to only eight men, four of the knight squads, and four of the best, or luckiest, trainees. They of course traded blow for blow, and in the closed off space of the forest, their small squad was able to whittle down the enemy to half strength, they finally retreated back out into the field after exhausting most of the enemy's arrow supply, they hunkered down in a stone hut with only one entrance and opening, set up a repeating crossbow station, and defended the choke point with their lives.
"You're in the clear Manny!" Cynthia turned to their youngest member, a surdan with curly brown hair, Manny aimed the large crossbow at the charging enemy soldiers. He released the trigger, firing dozens of crossbow bolts in a manner of moments. The heavy bolts had a relatively short range of 150 feet but insane penetration power. Men fell as the bolts struck them. Manny swallowed grimmly as they fell. Of the one hundred that charged, 60 were injured or killed by the bolts and rendered unable to approach. 5 more were felled by Vern's sharp shooting with his long bow.
"We'll handle the rest!" John and Cynthia switched from longswords to spears. They took out some pellets, courtesy of Faris, and threw them towards the enemy. The pellets exploded at the enemy's feat, developing into a huge amount of acrid smoke that blinded and choked the enemy running into the fray. John and Cynthia took the moment to launch multiple bola's into the smock field, hearing men and women cry out as their weapons hit the mark, eventually 12 of the rebel forces were able to break out of the smoke, eyes watering and wheezing from the smoke, the smoke rose quickly so the ones who collapsed were safe from choking. John readied his spear, stabbing the first rebel with lightning speed in the thigh, followed by a back hand swing of the offside of the weapon, catching the jaw of a second one. Cynthia slammed the weapon down on a soldier aiming to strike John from behind, and as he collapsed she killed another with an overhead thrust. The remaining eight hesitated.
"Surrender, we can kill you easily if need be." Cynthia commanded loudly. The men turned to each other, then turned to run, dropping their weapons. Before they could take more than 20 steps they were brought down by a hail of arrows launched from over 300 feet away. The four knights in training noticed a group of Ceunon troops on horseback racing towards them, their men cheering as they leapt down and began looting the rebel's corpses and slaying the survivors. Cynthia moved to stop them, the others following, angry looks on their faces.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Vern demanded. At this point it was impossible to not believe Castis wanted them dead, and to have him come here and begin looting the corpses, corpses of his own country men, as if his troops were the ones who defeated them was beyond an insult.
"They committed treason, raising a hand against her ladyship and the kingdom." He was Castis, the leader of the Ceunon Knightage. He had a bushy mustache and wavy hair that was obviously taken care of, his impressive armor and or ate regalia showed no signs of being tarnished, scratched, or bloodied. He smirked, "you squires did well, but you should leave the adult work to my men."
"We aren't squires." John stated, "We are knight apprentices, our formal master is a Knight of the Crown! We are of equivalent rank to you, and must be treated a such!"
"This is my fiefdom to protect, squires…" Sir Castis replied, contempt dripping from his voice, "and these are my men I lead, can you… handle them?" His men looked at the four apprentices with a mix of humor and hostility.
The kids looked like they would respond, but Manny stepped up. "I apologize on behalf of my friends, we… overstepped the boundaries, for the tenure of this campaign, we shall not step in the way of whatever strategy you consider."
John held his tongue, but couldn't help but think, It was this fool's strategy that allowed the enemy to rout our first brigade, he's responsible for our men's deaths!
Castis smiled deeply. "Though there's the matter of your failure, you've lost almost your entire squad that I entrusted you with."
John almost felt a vein pop, he would have charged Castis if Manny hadn't spoken up. "With all due respect, we were outnumbered eight to one, and were given faulty information."
Castis smiled, "I recall no such thing, then again, the dead give no tail."
John took out his sword and unslung his shield, his movements were matched by his fellow apprentices, and then by the trainees, who gulped nervously.
"What's going on here?" All heads turned to see a group of almost thirty men and women, almost a third of the group were children. The one who spoke was a girl they all recognized as Nya, one of the six famous child prodigy mages. One by one the others showed themselves to be mages, all except a woman who held onto the little girl.
"Oh? The mage reinforcements have finally arrived, and you've brought more children, hopefully not as treasonous as these ones."
"The only treasonous fellow seems to be you Sir Castis." Morgan frowned.
Castis mirrored the expression, "I don't understand wha-"
Seya, lazy look in her eye walks forward, lifting up a giant mirror which revealed Castis on horseback, alongside his top lieutenant.
"After we rout the small force we face, we'll pick off the distracted army those four so 'graciously' decided to distract for us." This was followed with some laughter.
"But sir." One spoke, "we're sacrificing 25 new recruits, not to mention, even if they are somewhat at odds with us, they've done well defeating the enemy so far, at the least we should work together until the rebellion ends."
"Fool, a knight's most important trait isn't their skill but their obedience! These brats think to undermine my authority? Their best hope is that the enemy kills them quickly. Besides the great accomplishment you talk of? It's all due to their contraptions. If my me were similarly equipped we'd be the most powerful army in the land." He smirked.
Another spoke up, "with that in mind, what if they win sir?"
"That depends." He scoffs, "If they're unscathed then nothing, if they've lost more than half their men? They've only got themselves to blame when I execute them for insubordination and commandeer their gear. As for the recruits? Most of them are conscripted peasants, and related to the treasonous ilk who dare raise their pitchforks against the Lady." He spits, "all expendable…"
Seya smiles as the mirror cuts off, and splits in two, revealing Lady Rembrant and Queen Nasuada.
"Sir Wimbolden Castis, her majesty and I are both disappointed in your actions, stand down and return to the castle for detention." Lady Rembrant was by no means a great beauty but she was an elegant woman who carried herself regally. She had been an adamant supporter of her husband, but gracefully cut off ties when he was beyond a shadow of a doubt guilty. The whole ordeal had left her family without much face, but she called on old friends who stood by what was left of her family, that combined with her son's contributions in the war effort allowed the Rebrant family to gain some face in a short time.
"My...my Lady! I-I-I" Castis began to stutter.
"Give me a break." Seya muttered, "This guy is a riot! Right guys?!" She turns to the others, who don't speak back, smiling wider she turns back to Castis.
"The whole lot of you, off your horses now, while I'm still in a good mood."
"How da-" a knight was cut off, finding it impossible to say anything, or even breathe, the others began to panic as they saw this, eventually he collapsed. Seya released the spell, allowing the man to breathe once more, and he took long pained gasps.
"Remember, that's me in a good mood." Seya frowned, "and my mood is dropping by the second."
The knight apprentices approached the equally curious members of the big 6, all except for Seya, who separated herself from everyone.
"Hey, you're Nya aren't you?" John began.
Nya nodded, "Yeah, and you're… Wallace right?"
"No! I'm John."
"Doesn't ring a bell." Nya smiled faintly.
"I'm the one who beat you in a duel!"
"Doesn't sound familiar."
"Oh?" John smiled menacingly, "You need a refresher?"
Nya grabbed Katya's sword, eyes flashing, "Any day big guy."
"Word for word this conversation happened two months ago." Cynthia shook her head, smiling. "Thank you for your timely support." She looked back to the rest of the mages, who surrounded the 300 or so knights, herding them towards the castle. "They'd have killed us."
Venka shakes her head, "why are there so many people like that?"
Bartholomew takes a bite from an apple, "cause people can be weak, and weak people are often scared of everyone else, and scared people are dangerous."
"Quite a positive outlook you have there." Manny replied dryly.
"What were they after?" Morgan asks, "He kept mentioning gear and contraptions?"
Manny slows, opening a pack, revealing a large crossbow, "This was made by fa-" he chuckles, "a fairly amazing blacksmith friend of ours by the name Damien."
Nya lights up, "he helped design our magical tools!"
"He did?!"
"Damien certainly gets around doesn't he."
They made their way to Ceunon's main castle and town. The outskirts showed the most sign of war, with many of the buildings missing the ornate, rustic look of old. Katya spots a staue of a dragon's head and neck next to the ruins of the house it lined.
"Ceunon is well known for its prized wood carvers and artisans, they were tasked with building siege engines during the great war." A knight stated, looking forlornly around at the destruction, "These rebels should know how important our history is…"
"Does your history include backstabbing and looting the corpses of your brethren?" John retorted, "I can see why they'd not want to be a part of that history anymore."
Eventually arriving in front of the manor they marvelled at its size, it was almost as large as Stronghammer keep, which was made to fit two dragons in its main hall. The guards situated escorted the 300 and some prisoners, allowing the mages and knight apprentices to enter the main hall.
It was spaceous an long, guards in leather armor lined the sides, spears held up resting on the ground. They eyed the guests but did little to interfere with them as they walked by. Carved into wood were statuettes of the major history of Ceunon, from its founding, to notable leaders, leading up to the clash of two dragons carved out of wood. The statue almost seemed alive as the wood carved into a spirally sphere like storm, the tips of the storm connecting to the bodies of two dragons, the larger of the two missing a forelimb. Finally, it led up to an ornately carved seat, flowers, fluere de lieses, and fire-like taperes, seated on it was Lady Rembrant. The guests bowed, extending greetings, to which she nodded her head, remaining silent for a moment.
Lady Rembrant then stood, observing the young men and women, and turning her eyes to Surmon. "On behalf of my people I thank you for the short notice arrival, your help will be most appreciated."
"We only wish we had arrived sooner." Was his reply.
Turning to the knight apprentices, she bowed, "I must offer my heartfelt apologies, as of late it seems the people of Ceunon have taken on the traits of treachery and thievery. First my husband, then one of my trusted knights and an army 300 strong."
"Please! Raise your head my Ladyship." John exclaimed in surprise, "It is quite alright!"
"In times of war a man's judgement may be clouded by a drive to survive." Manny said, "we do not hold you accountable to their self-destructive desperation."
"Thank you." She smiled, "on to more sobering news, the state of our war has grown worse." She stepped off the pedestal her seat was in, and began walking to a nondescript side door. They followed after her, entering a room covered in maps and arguing men. The men lowered their voices as Lady Rembrant entered. "Please, let our reinforcements understand what's going on."
An older man nodded, grizzled white hair and a speckled beard were his most notable features. "We had been winning the war." He begins with a growling voice. "The rebels were organized, but ineffective as they lacked discipline and good weaponry, but that started changing about a week ago." He took out a stick and began circling areas, "They began receiving reinforcements from the homeless and impoverished in Gil'ead and other large cities. Their leader, a young man by the name of Thane began to show up in battle more often, along side…"
"Along side my daughter…" Lady Rembrant snapped, "her prescence in their side prooved a great demoralizing agent for my army, and her betrayal does nothing good for my family."
John harkened back to when they had apprehened those thieves stealing back plans for the rebellion. Yana had been with those thieves, seeing as she stole both the plans and gold, pretending to be innocent untill the others were captured. Due to her relation to Lady Rembrant she was to be released into her mother's custody. She escaped her escorts and attempted to kill Faris. He was alive, but barely so.
"Do you know why she betrayed you?" Manny asked gently.
"I wish I did."
The grizzled man continued. "Thane's father, Horace, was a farmer who during the war against Galbatorix earned enough standing and renown to become Rembrant's Quartermaster, he was disgraced after a scandal involving the daughter of a minor noble. He was disgraced and made a mockery of by the people."
"So is Thane waging a vendetta against the land for that reason?" John asked.
"That is the assumption." Lady Rembrant sighed, "It was my… husband who had ordered his sentencing, and…"
"My Queen!" The grizzled man began.
"No, they must know, when my husband was found to be the traitorous cur that he is, I began pooling over documents…" She grows somber, "he was the one unfaithful, who had relations with the noble's daughter. Horace was framed for something he didn't do, and because he lacked a noble's title, or a formal knighthood, a proper investigation was never made. I tried reaching out to him, sending reparations as best as I could, but he disappeared, then the rebellion came about and I lacked the time to make a public announcement."
"Perhaps you should do so now?" Venka suggested.
The grizzled man chuckled, "It's much too late, we're too far into the war, if such information is known publicly right now, the moral will topple to the rebel's side." He growled, "we've already advised that the announcement be held off until the rebellion was quelled."
"That's not everything," Another soldier continued, "even with all this information, our 1,000 strong elite unit would not have been defeated by merely 50 farmers."
"Wait what?!" Nya began, "how?"
"Magic," he gravely said, "of the ten thousand rebels, two thirds of them can use magic."
"Over six thousand mages?!" Morgan exclaimed, "That's impossible!"
Katya continued, "That's one half the size of the imperial mage army, and more than three times the size of this year's academy graduates, how could this many mages have escaped detection?!"
"We don't know…" Lady Rembrant began, "but we also know at the least, a great many of them had no magical ability a month ago."
"6,000 magical awakenings in the span of a month? That's impossible."
"If we have anything going for us, it's that they are untrained and lacking in good mental defense. Our keeps mages can handle two or three at a time, but if we aren't careful a dozen or up to even one hundred will swarm a single of our mages, overwhelm and kill him and the brigade he has charge over. The 50 farmers were all mages, and they overwhelmed our three elites, killing them one at a time before torching our 1000 strong army."
"This complicates things more than I thought they'd be complicated, what do we do?" Nya began.
Seya laughed, "Simple, we slay their mages, each of us can handle at least five contemporary mages alone, and more than ten times that amount together, when they swarm, we swarm, then we cut off their tongues and find out what makes them tick."
"What if a larger amount than we can handle arrive?" Surmon glared at Seya, but kept his voice even.
Seya looked at him, "then on that day we'll have killed 200 mages each…."
Callan led the group to a large gathering, men and women garbed in makeshift leather and metal ramshackled armor. The majority of them wielded hoes, scythes, and pitchforks, but many were equipped with swords, spears, and maces, others still actually had full sets of armor, many of which were full of holes and scratches, no doubt taken off the corpses of fallen knights. They all carried very excited looks on their faces, excited, bloodthirsty looks. Callan smirked to himself as he, Nytheria, Alpha, Gamma, and Delta made their way through the campground.
The men looked at him with annoyance and suspicion as he casually strolled through the camp. As for the girls, some of them looked at the girls with rather unsavory eyes. Eventually, a rather tall bear of a man walked forward, he eyed the women, Nytheria especially, who had used magic to hide her ears and horns. Eventually he looked down at Callan.
"Sorry pipsqueak, we're rather discriminatory when it comes to recruits, you can head on back to whatever sand hut you dug yourself out of." He chuckles, alongside some rather scarred and drunk looking men, "but ah… these young ladies will definitely have a place in our army. So they can stay."
"And what rank are you?" Callan smiled.
"First mate."
Gamma looked impressed, then confused, "wait, isn't that for boats?"
"Well aren't you smart?" The man smiled perversely, "how about you tour my boat? I have a rather large mast."
"If you can call toothpicks large." Callan smirked.
The man grabbed his shirt, "what did you say?!"
"Calm down bro, we're all friends here right?" Callan began, "Be the bigger man, oh wait, I guess you literally can't."
Before anyone could say anything else a voice called out. "Alright you all better stop."
They turned to see a teen girl, barely older than Alpha, walk forward, she was dressed in simple but clean looking armor, a mostly androgynous chest plate covering her torso, shoulder plates strapped on to the chest plate, silverish looking greaves and gauntlets, finished off with a pretty rapier with a pink diamond imbedded in its center.
"It's none of your business wench, you don't belong here anyway."
"Oh?" The teen replied dryly, "So I take it that my shipment of weapons was unwelcome. Or should I simply talk about how I outrank you?"
The man scowled, "just because you think you're Thane's woman doesn't mean you can control us! You haven't been part of the fight, and your magic doesn't scare me, I'm a mage too."
She laughed at his words, "You? A mage? Might as well call a wolf pup a vicious hunter."
The man yelled out angrily, "Brisingr!" A ball of flame launched towards the girl, the man smirked, only to have his expression dashed away as the flames dissipated before they reached her. The man collapsed.
"You forget, to use magic takes up your physical stamina moron, the amount of power required to summon physical manifestations is quite a lot, fire is cheaper than other things but still expensive to take care of." She extends her hand, "It's much easier to just break a leg." She uttered a few short words in the ancient language. An audible snap rang throughout the quiet area, followed by a blood curdling scream, the man blacked out from the pain.
Callan smiled, "Well, aren't you lovely." He extends his hand, "Hello, I am Callan, this is Nytheria, Alpha, Gamma, and Delta."
The girl looks at it for a bit before clasping it in a shake, "I'm Yana."