Love Story
In chapter 29,
"We shall let Slade's army conquer Strata," Bruce announced, he never considered Slade as a King.
This time round, there were whispers among the troops of soldiers. All of them were unsure about this decision.
Rudolph explained, "By conquering such a powerful kingdom like Strata, Slade would get proud. He will put down his guard, for sure. He would get greedy, hungering for more kingdoms, forgetting about traps that they were slowly lured into."
Rudolph paused, waiting for any daring objections. However, there were still only whispers.
"They will head here, the last piece of land that holds the key of their victory. All of us knew, deep down inside, Keystone City is a kingdom that holds priceless value. Keystone City have been the envy of the neighboring kingdoms because it was once one of the largest kingdom in this continent," he continued. "Half of Keystone City has already been conquered by our enemy. Slade, especially, would be tempted to strike us, to control this land, which is also coincidently, our last hope."
Bruce injected, "We pretend that we back off during the battle in Strata, deliberately letting Slade have Strata. He will fall into our hidden trap in due course because of his pompous attitude."
The whisperings among the soldiers had died down then. Richard was also there when the instructions of the impending war in Strata was given. Despite the explanations, he still remained unconvinced. Even both the king had mutual feelings.
Could the plan work? Strata was their only hope to defend Slade's army from getting into Keystone as Strata had strong and powerful army forces. What if they make a mistake? It was just a shot in the dark that Slade would be lured into their trap.
Can they afford to risk it? But most importantly, is it worth to sacrisfy Strata for a wild guess?
Still, the doubt and suspicion that grew out of the underlying fate of their future were quietly poisoning the minds of Bruce, Rudolph, and Richard.
Chapter 30
The day had come. The sacrisfy.
They had been waiting for months, waiting for the right moment to attack. And finally, Slade and his troops stumbled on Strata.
Summer had passed them by, like waves crashing against the still boulders, so quickly that no one seemed to notice. Hues if orange and yellow tainted the mountains and hills. The soldiers were like a plague, marching down the hills in swarms. Their red and black armour stood out distinctly against the beautiful hues of the autumn trees.
Richard grasped on the hilt of his delicate sword, breathing through quicksand. His chest full of slit and stone. This damned plan'd better work.
Slade was the first to be in sight. He paused as he reached the flat land. He haulted his army. He was a clever man.
Tension lingered in the air. Bruce and Rudolph, however, did not show signs of anxiey or nervousness. From up the cliff of his mountain, Bruce could have a bird's-eye view of everything surrounding Strata. Rudolph was positioned on the a hill nearest to Slade and his army. King Crockette and some of his men was hidden in the woods, where Slade has marched into Strata from. Richard and Wally was lying flat on their belly, behind huge boulders, at ground level, hidden from their enemy. Sweat rolled down their foreheads. It was true that that was not their first war, but neither could deny that that was not their first faux battle. Wally swallowed, glanncing up for the signal that would come at any minute.
The plan went like that. Bruce and his archers were up on a mountain. Once Bruce felt that it was ready, he would shoot an arrow up to the sky. Meanwhile, Rudolph had cannons positioned up on his hill, oposite of Bruce. He and his troops were targeting at the soldiers standing at the back. Nevertheless, if the land troops needed assistance, it would be their priority to attack the frontline first. King Crockette and his men, on the other hand, planned to destroy Slade's supplies, food and weapons, anything that he and his men found. Majority of their army was with the two princes. Their role was simple, but dangerous. All they had to do was to charge at the frontline once the signal was given. Should there be any assistance from King Rudolph, Wally would fire a gunpowder-based rocket. All of them would retreat when necessary.
Therefore, it could be said that they almost had Slade surrounded.
Slade glanced around, cautious. He snorted.
"Keep you guards up!" he ordered his army.
Malchior raised a brow at Slade. Slade tilted his chin at the the flat land before them. "It's too quiet over there."
Malchior flicked his wrist, "Let's move!"
Both of them kept their guards up, preparing for ambush. However, after moving for some metres, Malchior dropped his guard beacause nothing had happened. He was getting bored.
Slade did not. He was aware of his surrounding. It was until when he crossed almost one-third of the plain that he became more relaxed.
The corners of Bruce's mouth turned upwards. He saw. How Slade loosened his grip on the lead rope of his horse, the way he hunched his shoulders from his initial strenuous sitting position. He was ready.
Bruce slung an arrow on his bow and pulled back on the bow. He aimed and sent the arrow straight at the dark gray sky. The arrow scythed through the air with a loud shriek.
"Charge!"
The land troops rocketed towards Slade and his army. Malchior was taken aback by the sudden attack. Slade puffed. He slid his sword out from its sheath and raised it while pulling back his elegant white horse.
"Charge!"
However before the frontline could move forward, a line of arrows was shot before their feet. Once again, they were suprised.
"Move!" Slade yelled again as he regained his bearings. The soldiers roared and advanced forward.
Richard easily identified the weaker soldiers on the frontline. He frowned, his gaze locked at his target as he removed his sword from its sheath.
As soon as Richard reached his target, he pierced his sword through the soldier. Blood splattered on his face. Dismissing that fact, he went on and slashed his sword through another body. He whistled. One of his men let go of his horse immediately. His obedient black horse galloped to his master's side and Richard mounted on it as his horse raced passed him, wasting no time.
Wally did the same too. After having enough of using swords, he reached for an arrow in his quiver and skewered a soldier right through his armour into his heart.
Bruce led the archers carefully. The archers were perfect, each one of them was excellent. They never missed their targets—the soldiers in the middle batch.
Rudolph and his men focused on Slade's defence. They bombed the defenders first, before preceeding to attack the back.
Crockette and his men were stealthy. They robbed the soldiers of their supplies and sliced their throat off even before they could react.
Wally slung three steel arrows on his bow and aimed at Slade from the back. Slade was too preoccupied with killing their soldiers that he failed to notice that. Slade groaned as the arrows pierced into his skin.
"He's yours, bud," Wally exclaimed, passing the cue to Richard.
Richard smirked and darted towards Slade without thinking twice. He managed to slash a dagger into Slade's shoulder.
Slade growled and sliced Richard's armour with a machete. Richard made a disgruntled noise using his throat. He raised his sword. Slade held his shield up, bracing the impact.
Instead of attacking Slade, the intelligent prince slashed Slade's horse on its leg. The horse had not see that coming and fell onto his knees, bringing Slade with it.
Slade, too, did not see that coming. He fell onto the ground due to the impact. Slade was furious, embarassment did not help but made him more enraged instead. He knocked Richard off his horse and aimed at him but Richard dodged it by rolling away from his spot.
Bruce was surveilling the situation down there. He put a chief general in charge and rode his horse downhill when he saw that his son was fighting Slade. "That was so stupid of him!" he muttered.
Meanwhile, Slade and Richard were getting closer and closer to the edge of the plain.
A sharp wind swept passed, heralding a storm. Soon, the sky roared. Wally diverted his attention to the sky. The thick air rippled with another explosion. He felt the snap in his ears and on his skin and followed the sound rolled away in the rain.
Enough was enough. Wally rode his horse to the nearest hill. There, he climbed down his horse and laid the rocket on the ground. He propelled it with some rocks he'd stacked up. Without wasting any second, he rubbed a stone with a piece of wood. He then ignited the end of the rocket.
The rocket darted upwards, then exploded into sparks. All of his army saw the signal and retreated. Slade and Richard still continued to wrestle.
Bruce's army managed to run off before a wake of white water exploded from the sky. Slade's army was dumbfounded by the sudden retreat but roared with laughter as they thought they were victorious.
Slade and Richard were rolling on the ground just at the tip of the cliff. Slade got the upperhand as he pinned Richard down to the ground. He raised his machete with two hands under the pouring rain. When he was about to plummet it down to Richard's heart, an arrow shot him in his chest. Slade was utterlt shocked and his eyes widened as he saw the archer. He failed to regain his balance and fell of the cliff, and instinctively pulled at the nearest thing to him—Richard. Richard was suprised by the sudden ambush and managed to catch a glimpse of the attacker before falling down the edge with Slade.
"Malchior Wilson!"
"Richard!" Bruce was too late. When he arrived, his son had already been dragged down by Slade.
RxR
"NO!"
Rachel awoke with a strangled scream. The images of her dream was still vivid in her mind, Slade conquering Gotham and executed Richard in front of her, the blood and gore.
She looked out of her window. It was raining heavily. Rachel listened to the clattering of her window, calming herself down.
However, it was not working. She was feeling very uneasy earlier that day. Her mind wandered off to the unthinkable.
Had something happened to him? Did he...
The word was too painful to even think about it.
"This is just a nightmare," she told herself.
Rachel heard her heart punding wildly in her ears. She could not sleep that night. Sleep held on by her will, refusing to succumb to the horrid darkness of her dream again.
It was some time later, when the rough weather had settled down into an eerie silence, that she became aware of her surroundings. It was already morning and Rachel had calmed down.
Rachel proceeded to the washroom to clean herself up. She closed her eyes, attempting to erase the grosteque images off her mind.
Everyone has nightmares.
Very cliché. Sorry about that.