I think that you are going to like this one...
Ambush(ed)
Loivissa POV
Loivissa was crouching low on the ground, purposely keeping out of sight from the road behind a thick wall of foliage. Next to her, more than three dozen others were similarly crouched, all waiting with baited breath for their quarry to pass by.
With the exceptions of Aaron and Nari, Loivissa did not know the names of any of the others that waited beside her. They were all from various human villages, which they had managed to convince to join them in taking revenge on the one responsible for the deaths of many of their fellow villagers, whom had often been family members or close friends of those that were here today.
Since this entire ambush had been fairly rushed, the core members of Aiedail had not even been able to all come together to join in on it. Vanir had still been deep inside the Spine when Loivissa had scried him the night that she had first learnt of Mercury's trip, and to avoid suspicion, only Aaron had been allowed to make the trip on horseback from the Stronghammer family.
Luckily for them, there had been no major lethrblaka patrols between Aiedail's only two dragon riders and where they had set up the ambush, so both of them had been able to quickly cover the distance and recruit the villagers on their way.
Loivissa had had to leave her undercover work that very same night, which unfortunately meant that she could not go back to it anymore. Before she had left, she had dropped Edmure off in the custody of the guards of the military quarters.
After taking responsibility for the man in front of witnesses, she felt that she had to make sure that he got home safely, as anything else might lead to an investigation into what had happened that night, which might compromise today's ambush.
Another smaller part of it was that no matter how much she detested the man's job, she had, during her time spent amongst them, learned that they were not actually bad people, and that it was not actually them that her anger should be with, but their boss; the traitorous manipulative backstabbing spawn of insects.
Yes, if only Mercury would just curl up and die, then the world would be able to come out from under his shadow and enjoy peace and quiet for once. The only problem was that Mercury was not likely to go die in a hole by his own free will, so they had to make sure that it happened.
…Which brought her thoughts back to her current situation; waiting for his party to arrive.
The weather was horrible, with grey skies blocking out the sun and a slow steady rain dripping down just enough for it to constantly be noticeable, but not so much that it actually poured down. It was the sort of rain that could continue on for days without ever stopping for long.
Loivissa much preferred the shorter heavier downpour, where it rained properly for a few hours and then stopped, instead of this dreary weather, but there was nothing that she could do about it anyway. It was the middle of autumn after all, so this kind of weather was to be expected.
An ache in her left thigh made her shift to allow blood to flow to the area once again. The long hours of crouching were finally having their effect on her stiff wet limbs, and she knew that the situation was not much better for the ones beside her.
They could not risk lighting a fire for fear of being discovered, so everyone simply had to make do without, which put them all in a rather grumpy mood. Oaths and curses were already being thrown left and right, as well as more than a few exclamations about whether they even ought to stay here when all they had to do was eat hard mouldy bread and shutter as the wind stole what warmth was left in their limbs.
Justice, it seemed, was something that commoners could only be depended upon to carry out when it was convenient and comfortable for them to do so.
"Are you sure that he will even come this way?", one of the villagers grumbled for the umpteenth time.
"Yes, our informants spotted him yesterday, and this is the only road leading from where he was and towards Ilirea", Loivissa answered sourly, "the rain has probably just delayed him a bit".
In truth, she was beginning to fear that he had chosen to seek shelter for the rain amongst one of the inns on the way. If he had, then it was questionable if they would be able to keep the villagers together until he did arrive. They had not exactly prepared for a long wait.
At that moment, she felt a mind approach her own, but she quickly recognized it as her brother's and let him in.
How are things going on your end?, he asked her concerned.
We are wet, hungry and cold, and I fear that if he does not show up soon, then there might be dissent amongst the villagers, she answered him honestly.
But we need them for the plan to work, Evandar argued, make sure that they do not leave.
I know, and I am trying to make sure of that, Loivissa responded wryly, how are you doing?
Slightly better than you, it seems, Evandar responded, Delvaria and Augms are keeping us warm and dry, but they are anxious and twitchy after waiting in anticipation for so long.
A flash of lightning drew Loivissa's eyes towards it, and after a few seconds, the roar of thunder reverberated through the air. It was not a good sign.
Be careful when you take to the air, she warned her brother.
Thank you, we will, he answered understandingly, but it looked to still be a fair bit away, so I do not think that we need to concern ourselves with it just yet.
Evandar, Delvaria, Dweyrn and Augms were all huddled together behind a hill some distance away, where they awaited the signal from Loivissa to finally reveal their presence. If one from Mercury's company discovered the dragons too early, then they would no doubt turn around at once, not to mention that even if they did not, then they would still have time to overcome the shock and prepare a counter.
Loivissa would have normally not considered that it would take two dragon riders and three dozen soldiers on foot to take down twelve men on horseback and their leader, and certainly not that they needed the element of surprise for it to work, but this was not just any enemy that they were about to ambush.
This enemy had already shown that he knew how to deal with dragons, and if even a fraction of the stories that she had heard during her time as a barmaid were true, then the twelve men that were with him were not exactly slouches either.
Many members of the Varangian Guard had had nicknames given to them by the regular soldiers that had served with them, and some of the nicknames were apparently so commonly known that you could ask any lord or lady half-way around the world if he or she knew it, and they would all answer yes.
There were stories of Dagmar the Kingslayer, who was famous for having slain three would-be kings during his time in the Varangian Guard. Garen the Cunning, a man whom had supposedly once gotten captured by the enemy army, and when the rest of Mercury's army finally arrived to free him, or avenge his death, details were a bit sketchy on that part, he had already managed to start a civil war amongst the factions of the enemy army. According to the story, Mercury had found him still locked inside a wooden cell, languidly chuckling as his captors fought both each other and Mercury's army.
Then there was the commander of the Guard, Elladan the Absolute. His absolute devotion to his lord was only challenged by the absolute results that he demanded from his men. It was said that the man's only conflicting interest with accepting orders was when they involved the endangerment of his lord.
Generations upon generations of stories and heroes just like these had given the Varangian Guard a fearsome reputation, and the regular soldiers practically worshipped the ground that they walked on. The fact that many of the stories were likely exaggerations or outright lies never seemed to cross their minds, and it was only due to an old memory from a long time ago that Loivissa knew not to put too much stock into the stories.
No, the far more likely image of the Varangian Guard was one of warriors trained to be superbly powerful swords and shields for Mercury to toy with, as well as conditioned to be completely devoid of any questions as to whether what they were doing, and whom they were serving, was right and honourable.
Not that anyone knew how exactly the Varangian Guard had been trained, as anyone that she had talked to, whom had ever tried out to be one and subsequently been rejected, had apparently been rendered silent with the magically binding contracts that the Alliance seemed to be so fond of.
Though Loivissa was not much for admitting it, the contracts were actually rather smart, even though they were apparently so expensive to make that they were reserved for special occasions. They worked kind of like a vow in the Ancient language, except that all you had to do was to sign the contract, instead of having to say the words. In its essence, Loivissa's understanding of the system revolved around the signing of the contract somehow corresponding with your statement that what was written on the contract was the truth.
The one copy of such a contract that they had managed to get their hands on, which was nothing more than a transcript of the original, had been filled with dozens upon dozens of escape clauses for both parties, which were supposedly designed to provide the opportunities for both parties to back out of their promises if certain conditions were met.
A dull sound broke her thoughts. It was small and not very clear because of the rain, but it was still there nonetheless.
Thud, thud, thud, it went over and over again in a timely rhythm, only broken by the occasional plop. Loivissa recognized it as the trampling of hooves, and sure enough, a neigh was soon heard above the clatter of the rain.
"Finally", she grumbled as she turned her attention towards the direction of the sound.
Down the road, roughly 100-150 metres ahead, she was able to distinguish the shapes of several horses with riders atop, which rode in a two-row column formation. Only then did she realize that except for Nari, none of the others had the elven senses needed to spot or hear the creatures at this distance and in this weather.
"Get ready, they are coming", Loivissa informed her human allies, which set in motion a whole slew of activity, before she gave the same message to her brother.
Even though the rain slowed down the speed of the horsemen, Loivissa's men only had about one or two minutes to get everything ready before they passed their hiding spot, which was why everyone had been forced to constantly be ready to spring into action.
Bows were quickly strung, arrows nocked and whatever food people might have been chewing on was either thrown to the ground or wolfed down. Loivissa herself was ready just 10 seconds after she had warned the others.
As the horsemen drew nearer, she was able to get a better look at both the beasts and their riders. The horses all looked higher than the regular horses in Alagaësia, indicating that they might have been from a foreign breed, and you could see the powerful muscles bulging underneath the skin every time one moved.
The horsemen on the other hand did not initially look like much, which worried Loivissa slightly, as they might mistake yet another group of travellers for their real quarry, but a quick headcount told her that there were thirteen riders in all, which was exactly the number that they had been expecting to come upon.
The horsemen were all dressed exactly the same, with green cloaks, which were soaking wet from the rain, draped over their shoulders and with the hoods up, along with what looked to be a black leather vest and a pair of green woolly trousers.
It was not until they were only 20-30 metres away that Loivissa saw a glint of steel from underneath the plain travelling clothes because of another lightning strike, which told her that though they tried to look like regular travellers, they were really fully armoured soldiers.
Another inspection revealed that what she had initially thought to be strange poles of some kind that had been fastened to each of their saddles, which she had initially guessed to be tent poles, were actually lances.
There was no longer any doubt in her mind that these were her quarry, and though it bugged her that there were no visible signs as to which one of them was their leader, not to mention that they had not expected for the group to be this armed when they had planned their ambush, it did not deter Loivissa from silently signalling for her men to ready their arrows.
He might be the solitary figure leading the column, but that one could also be a decoy meant to fool us, Loivissa mused as they anxiously waited for the riders to pass the stretch of road in front of their hiding spot, then again, they are not expecting a fight, so perhaps he really is leading them? But then again, they might have just taken the precaution out of principle…unless they knew that we would reach that conclusion as well.
This was why she hated guessing what Mercury had and had not planned for, as it ultimately always came down to a case of whether he knew that she knew that he knew that she knew that he had initially planned this or that.
It would not matter right now though, as everyone in the column had to die during this ambush, but she had hoped that she might have singled him out and thereby increased the odds of it being her that dealt the final blow.
Loivissa quickly banished the thought from her head. It was not becoming of her to think like that. Instead of dwelling on these thoughts, she cast a nervous glance trough sloppy wet golden bangs at the villagers on both of her sides.
Their bows were nothing more than regular human hunting bows, but the arrows nocked on their strings would pierce flesh just as well as any other arrow. The men holding the bows looked just as anxious as Loivissa felt, but unlike them, she could not allow her anxiety to show.
How can it feel like the time is moving incredibly fast and incredibly slow at the same time?, Loivissa mused, as she watched how the riders slowly made their way forward, if only Adûn was here, then he would know just what to say.
It was far from the first time that she had wanted to just run to Adûn and not give a damn about everything else, but she had learned to withstand the urge. It helped if she avoided thinking of him, but whenever she did, she always felt guilty afterwards, like she had just committed an unspeakable crime.
The sound of laughter tore her away from her morbid thoughts, and upon closer inspection, it turned out that the sound originated from the group of horsemen. Perhaps one of them had said something funny. Loivissa would make sure that that was the last time that any of them ever laughed.
"Fire", she ordered, and within a few moments, three dozen twangs reverberated through the air as the arrows were released.
None of the arrows were aimed at the riders, or were at least not supposed to be aimed at the riders, as it had been made abundantly clear that each of them had a comprehensive set of wards that would make the arrows deflect without doing anything other than ruining their moment of surprise.
Instead, the arrows were all supposed to be aimed at the horses underneath the riders, as it was far less likely that any of them had bothered to put wards around the horses, and a horse struck by an arrow could easily run wild and throw its rider off, where he might die, or at least be incapacitated, by hitting the ground at an odd angle.
To their dismay, all of the arrows were deflected by invisible wards and harmlessly hit the ground before the horsemen with a series of thuds, but all was not lost yet, as Loivissa had already signalled her brother to begin the second stage of the ambush. They had after all not counted on every single one of the riders to succumb during the first volley.
The collective roars of two majestic dragons broke the air immediately before said two dragons and their riders rose up from behind a hill on the other side of the road from where Loivissa and her group was camped.
The two dragons, one a dull brown and the other a vibrant gold, flew almost in perfect tandem as they split up and circled round to approach the column of horsemen from both behind and in front, where they let loose two torrents that bathed the entire column in flames.
Not wanting to waste any time, Loivissa ordered her men to pick up their prepared melee weapons and charge forward with her to either make sure that the charred corpses really were dead, or to finish them off in their confusion.
Most of the villagers' weapons were axes meant for chopping wood and other farm equipment that had been quickly converted to serve as a weapon, as there had been no time for Loivissa and the rest of the members of Aiedail to properly equip them.
Loivissa carried the sword that she had picked up in Nolondil, along with a chainmail and a green cloak, while Nari carried his two-handed elven sword and Aaron had brought his family's old warhammer, which was a family heirloom meant to pass to the oldest son when he came of age, along with a wooden shield with a steel edge and cone in the middle. The warhammer had for reasons that Loivissa did not know, not actually been carried when the then oldest son, Evan, had gone to war and his untimely death.
The two dragons had almost finished their pass on the horsemen when a figure suddenly shot up and out of the oval ball of flames. The figure wore nothing but what any of the other riders had worn, but he did carry one of the big lances, which was easily longer than he was tall, outstretched in only one hand.
The figure stopped in mid-air for a moment, where it seemed to make a hand-wave of some sort, and in the very next moment, the entire ball of flames dissipated like a candle that had just been blown out.
That solitary act proved to Loivissa that the figure floating in mid-air was the real target of her ire, but his display of power was not something that she could immediately explain, as according to their understanding of the archmage-system and their three rings of power, along with information from their various sources, Mercury was not supposed to be wearing a ring of power on this trip.
His customary signet ring was still supposed to be locked up in Ilirea, which was part of why they had even dared to attempt this ambush, so how had he just performed such an act with relative ease? The answer to that question would have to wait, as Loivissa had far greater troubles coming her way. Literally.
The moment that the flames dissipated, the remaining twelve horsemen charged directly towards Loivissa's men's charge with their long lances at the ready and in an uncannily almost perfect wedge formation. Loivissa stole one last glance at Mercury's form in the air, which had sped up by then and had started actually chasing after one of the dragons, before she turned her attention down towards the threat on the ground.
It was too late for her to do anything but watch as the charging horsemen rode directly through the left flank of villagers like they were nothing but leaves on their way, and all without taking any casualties or suffering any damage to either themselves or their horses.
The riders gave them no time to breathe or regroup, as they all turned around and ploughed through the right flank as well, leaving a little under a dozen more dead and severely wounded in their wake, and still without suffering any damage themselves.
It was quickly turning into a slaughter as villagers were ridden down left and right without even the slightest bit of chance of defending themselves. As one being, Aaron and Nari led a charge to stop the carnage, while Loivissa tried to rally the wavering remains of the villagers.
Both Nari and Aaron had a comprehensive set of wards, Loivissa had set Aaron's herself, so they did not have to fear the tips of the lances for the first while, though they still had to watch out for being ridden down, as Loivissa had not thought of that possibility when she had set them up.
It was with this in mind that she watched how this two-man charge ran directly towards the full frontal charge of four horsemen, as the riders has split into three groups at this point to better mow down the scattered villagers.
It was almost as in slow-motion that she saw the two groups meet. Aaron and Nari were both so confident in their respective wards that they chose to forgo manually blocking the first strike in favour of positioning themselves to deal fatal blows after the lances had deflected off of their wards.
Lightning chose to strike at that moment, which made one of the lances of the other riders, which had a slightly broken tip, give off a purple glint, and in that moment, when it was far too late for her to warn her fellows of the imminent danger, Loivissa understood that the tips of each of the lances had one the small amethysts, which through dark magic negated all magic in a small area around them, at their cores.
The amethysts were likely too small to affect the wards of the riders that carried the lances, but they would no doubt pierce any ward directly in front of them, which was exactly what happened next. In a sense, Aaron was really the lucky one of the two, as his blow to the chest managed to kill him instantly, which Loivissa could feel by her wards being released, but Nari on the other hand 'only' suffered a major wound to his lower abdomen, before he was ridden down by the horses of the riders.
Loivissa could still hear his wheezed breathing from where she stood frozen to the ground, but just as it seemed like their ground force would be completely decimated without ever accomplishing anything, it got worse.
The wail of a dragon, which Loivissa quickly recognized as Delvaria's, tore through the air, and in her daze, Loivissa could not help but look up, despite knowing that she might be ridden down in the next moment.
Up there, hanging onto the very throat of Delvaria, was the tiny form of Mercury, whom still carried the enormous lance in his right hand. Loivissa knew that none of her brother's wards defended against an opponent clinging on to his beloved dragon, as it would cause more problems in regards to riding her than it would protect her from, but to actually see someone manage to hold onto a thrashing dragon in flight was another thing entirely.
After seemingly having almost lost his grip during a wild series of turns only moments before, Mercury now had the time and relative peace to viciously plunge the heavy lance directly into the throat of Delvaria repeatedly, which elicited more yelps and wails from the thrashing dragon.
Each of the thrusts were no doubt life-threatening to Delvaria, but Mercury seemed to not want to stop slamming the increasingly bloodied lance into the dragon's gaping throat until it stopped moving on its own entirely.
That exact thing happened only a fraction of a second later, as Evandar's soul-shattering screams replaced his beloved dragon's wails and both of them began to plummet towards the ground. The figure of Mercury released his grip and continued to float in mid-air as the pair plummeted towards the earth, and either through an act of his own or some much needed luck on their part, Evandar was thrown from the saddle and into his own fall, but it did not seem like he had any intention of stopping his fall.
No, I will not let him die!, Loivissa screamed inside of her head as she took off with her full elven speed in direction of where her brother was falling, still half-wondering how she had not been ridden down yet.
She crossed the plains very quickly, and when she was within reasonable reach, she let her magic flow through her and uttered the words that would slow her brother's fall. Doing so, and especially at this distance, took a heavy toll on her energy reserves, which made her once again wonder how Mercury managed to keep floating, but she ignored the inquiry, as she focused her efforts on guiding her brother's form down into her outstretched arms.
Augms, pick us up immediately, she contacted the brown dragon directly, which she knew to technically be rude to do without the rider's permission, but it was an emergency.
What about the others?, Dweyrn questioned, though they still did as Loivissa had ordered.
The battle is lost, there is nothing we can do for them anymore, Loivissa replied sadly but sternly, letting the younger rider know that there would be no discussion on that subject.
It pained her to know that they likely still could save many of the villagers, and also Nari, if they could get them treated immediately, but trying to save anyone else at this point would be akin to suicide, so they simply had to cut their losses and accept that luck had not been on their side today.
"No, we are not leaving! I want to go back and finish off that bastard! You hear me, Mercury the Traitorous? I will kill you!", her brother screamed, thrashed and even clawed at Loivissa to get out of her hold, so she had to knock him out and hold his limb form in her arms while they waited in what seemed like hours, but which was more likely seconds, for Augms to get them.
The bloodbath behind them was finally coming to an end, though not a happy end for any of the villagers that had agreed to come with them, and Loivissa had to restrain herself when she saw Mercury casually landing in front of where Nari and Aaron still lay.
Nari was still alive at this point, as could be seen by him weakly raising his right arm towards Mercury, but whether he had intended to give a last parting shot of magic or had tried to plead for mercy, Loivissa would never know, as Mercury swiftly and brutally outstretched his own right arm towards Nari's downed form, with his palm open, as if to offer him a hand, before he swiftly balled it into a fist. Nari's arm went limb immediately after that.
In the next moment, just as the murderer turned to stare in their direction, Augms swooped down and caught both Loivissa's and Evandar's forms in his claws, before quickly taking off in the opposite direction of the man that had just single-handedly taken down a dragon.
...And Mercury was clearly not done killing yet. Anyone else feel like running?
But now the rains weep o'er his hall,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear.