Gate: Thus the Brotherhood of Steel Lyon's Pride Fought in Their Land

Chapter Interlude - Piña Co Lada

Seeing the armored ones, and hearing that they were willing to help was more than enough reason for Princess Piña Co Lada to agree. At the moment she had no choice about it, and she knew it. She knew that the bandits that were encamped just a short distance away was simply biding their time for the attack.

"We accept," she said as she studied the one that offered to help, "We will protect the western wall, but the eastern wall needs to be guarded, please, go there and protect it."

She had already evacuated the residences near the eastern gate, and she knew that she was likely sending them to their deaths. Still, it was something she was allowing to happen because there was no other choice. She watched as they moved toward the eastern side, and she breathed out, waiting for the attack to happen. As it was she didn't keep herself from absolute harm. She still listened to her order, to her advisors, and she stayed behind the lines, but she refused to leave those that were fighting.

"Princess," a small voice said, "I'm sorry, but wouldn't it be better to simply wait further back. I know that there are various escape tunnels in the city."

She looked at the knight beside her, "No," she replied as she stood firm, "I will stay with my people."

She closed her eyes, a feeling of anger filling her, "Damn it!" she said as she struck the stone wall of the building beside her, "I wanted to get supplies, and get out!"

She hung her head as she stood there, "We were meant only to stop, resupply, and continue to the villages closest to Alnus Hill. I wanted to find out more about these invaders, and now we're stuck fighting a battle that seems to have no end!"

She shook her head, "The size of that bandit army is more than the city expected," she said as she looked wearily at those still standing guard, "Their forces are so overwhelmed. Our forces are the same."

"Princess," her subordinate said, but she stopped her. She looked at her and breathed out, "Hamilton, I am the leader of the Rose-Order of Knights. As such, it would be unfitting for me to simply abandon those that are here. I must remain."

The smaller woman nodded, "I understand your highness," she said with a slight bow, "but still, the attack took so much out of everyone, and they will come again. I fear for what could happen to you if they manage to break through."

Princess Piña gave a nod, her red hair stuck to her forehead, the sweat from the day causing it to remain stuck to her, "I understand full well what could happen. Hamilton, it is my hope that they will attack the western gate."

She noticed that the smaller woman was studying her, "I know that means that I sent them to die, but they are likely our enemies anyway," she said, her voice wavering slightly, "If we're lucky they will take a good number of the bandits with them, and we can hopefully finish the rest off."

Her armor felt heavier than it normally did, and the small circulate that she wore as her crown had never felt so unabashedly cold and heavy. She wanted to rip it from her scalp and toss it away. She wanted to tear off her armor, throw it down, take her knights, and run off. She wanted to leave this place, but she knew that she couldn't. She was Princess Piña Co Lada, daughter of the emperor, and the leader of the Rose-Order of Knights.

It was her place to protect her people, and it was her place to ensure that all of them would make it out alive. They could spend the rest of their lives afraid, fearful of the prospect of invasion, but it was her place to protect them this day. Still, she so desperately wanted that taken from her. She looked at Hamilton, and she noticed that the smaller woman was looking at her with adoration. She gave a smile that had no foundation. It could fall at the smallest trimble, but still, the strength to even lift the smile into place was practically worthy of a demigod.

"We will stand," she said, her words filled with more confidence than she felt, "And we will make sure that these bandits never get the chance to do this again."

She saw the way the small brunette smiled that she had been assured of their victory. The problem was she didn't feel it. She looked behind them to see the sky darkening. The first shift of guards had changed out, going to get their much needed rest, and the second shift was taking their place. She stood prepared herself. Sleep was desperately needed. That was what Hamilton was attempting to do at the moment, and she knew it.

She wouldn't leave the lines, but there were buildings right behind them, and arrangements had been made for them to sleep in one of them. A bed, any bed, at this point would be welcomed. She moved toward the building that she had set aside for her, and she walked into it. The home had obviously belonged to someone of wealth and culture. Fine art hung from the walls, the cobble stone floor was covered with woven rugs.

It was a home that spoke of wealth and extravagance. It was one that she accepted as suitable. She moved toward the area that Hamilton was leading her and saw the large tub. Steam rose from it, and she let out a small gasp. A hot bath, Hamilton had already seen that a bath was made, and it had been made hot. A small bit of gratitude filled her for the smaller brunette. She unfastened her cape, removed the holding straps for her armor, and allowed them to fall.

Her hands quickly untied the straps of her panties, and she let them fall to the floor. Slowly she stepped toward the hot water, her eyes drinking in the luscious water that was there. She stepped into it, letting the heat of it radiate through her. The feeling of absolute divinity filled her with each movement until she was inside of the hot water almost completely. She dunk her head under the water for a moment, allowing it to soak her hair, and then she raised back above it.

"Truly, I have missed this," she said to no one, "Gods how I have missed this."

The warm bath filled her with joy as she laid there. Her entire body seemed to rapture in the water, and she began to dissect the events that led to them being here. It had been a simple thing. Hamilton had suggested that they gather a few supplies that would make speaking to the villages easier. Simple trinkets, small gifts, the little touches that would lead to the village leaders being more willing to be forthcoming.

It had been a simple suggestion, and one that she found no fault with. In truth she knew that the nobility often responded to gifts far better than when they were threatened. So, it was decided to purchase a few basic things that some villages might find useful. Some new rope, water buckets for wells, planting seeds, and the such were going to be purchased and then they would resume their quest.

Of course the chance to let the horses rest while they did the same was also on the list of things they would do. After all it would be foolish to not allow the horses to rest, and it would be even more foolish to not give themselves the chance to refresh themselves before heading out again. Instead shortly after they arrived the attacks began. They were called upon by the city itself, and as a knightly order they were expected to act in the preservation of the people.

She had wanted to leave, let the city's own defenses deal with it, but then she looked at their underwhelming defenses. She couldn't leave. She couldn't call herself a knight and leave the people like this. So her and her order stood firm. They stood against those that would attack, and they drove off what was a scouting party. One of the city's own guards moved out, scouting the area, and they returned with dire news.

"There are at least fifteen thousand men, multiple horses, they're all well armed, and they are less than a day's ride out," she repeated the news to herself as she soaked in the tub, "Why? Why did I agree to stop here?"

She looked above her, and felt the weariness of the situation as it rested upon her shoulders. She was responsible now, but her responsibility didn't just eid with commanding her knights. She now was responsible for the safety of every citizen inside of the city. That responsibility was heavy enough to nearly crush her spirit, and that was the reason she had sent the armored ones, the Brotherhood of Steel to the western gate.

There was little denying that they obviously were their enemies, but at the moment they were offering help, "May Emroy have mercy upon them," she whispered as she laid there, "But honestly, I had no choice. There was no possible way out of the situation other than this. She breathed out, and finally she stood. Her toned body was one that had been built by the actual training.

The moment that she could learn actual sword fighting she did. She learned every aspect of being a knight, and she did so gladly. Her body becoming an instrument of war, and one that she had molded to be as powerful and quick as possible. Still, she lacked the scars of one that had been through battle. She lacked the burns and slashed scars that so many of the older knights wore with pride.

She hadn't earned those wounds yet, and she wondered where the roadmap of her battles would begin and where it would end, "It does not well to dwell on it," she said to the empty room, "Still, my map is bare, I have no places of honor written upon it."

She let out a soft sigh and moved out of the tub. The sound of her leaving the water gained the attention of a maid that walked in and handed her a towel. She took it gratefully and wrapped herself. She then moved toward the room where she was given a bed. The bed itself was large, plush, and looked more comfortable than she believed would normally be seen by most commoners. It was just suitable for royalty.

She stretched out onto it, and by the time her head rested upon the pillow her eyes were closed and she was lost to dreams. It seemed that mere moments had passed when she was shaken awake. She looked at the one rousing her, and she saw Hamilton. Her trusted knight wore a face of panic, and she didn't question a thing. She stood, ran nude to her armor, and dressed as quickly as possible. She felt Hamilton assist her, and at no time did she chastise her. She accepted the assistance, and she did so with a worried heart.

"What's going on?" she asked as she secured the cloak to her armor, "What's happened?"

"They're attacking!" Hamilton shouted, her voice panicked, "Princess, they're attacking the Eastern GATE!"

The words drove a spear of ice through her heart. She felt all strength practically leave her. They were here, on the eastern gate, and their help was guarding the western gate. They obviously had realized by now that they had been sent to die. She could not count on them coming to their aid. They were on their own, and there was nothing they could do about it. She rushed out, and she saw the glow beyond the wall. The glow of fifteen thousand torches, the glow of fifteen thousand men, and they were barely a thousand strong.

Most of those were militia formed from the citizens of Italica. She looked at the oncoming battle, and she felt fear as it gripped her heart. It felt as if the Grim Reaper himself had reached into her chest and grabbed her heart in his bony hands. Still, she didn't show that fear. Her knights needed strength, and they didn't need their leader questioning if they would live to see tomorrow.

"Prepare the defenses, get archers along the wall, prepare the catapults, defend the gate, defend the courtyard, and Emroy save us all."

Sentinel Sarah Lyons

Sarah looked at the request forms that had come flooding in. It wasn't just from those that were here at the Alnus Hill base, but instead it was from the otherside of the gate. Requests to send back information about possible resources that were available, requests to report if there were humans untouched by mutation, and of course requests to have members of the brotherhood to change out periodically. The last one she understood. Even with the resistance from the enemy soldiers this was practically a paradice.

Still, as she looked over the requests her radio began to relay some static for a moment before it flared to life, "This is Knight Woodward requesting backup, repeat, this is Knight Woodward requesting backup!"

She looked toward the radio and lifted the microphone, "The Forest is dark," she said, "I repeat the forest is dark!"

There was a moment of silence, "My lamp is empty! I repeat my lamp is empty!"

She breathed out, "Knight Woodward, what is the situation?"

"Sentinel Lyons, the city of Italica is under attack. We were assigned to the western gate, but the eastern gate is under siege by a force numbering in the thousands!" she exclaimed over the radio, "Paladin Jefferson has requested backup, and I support his request! We are heading to the western gate to assist with its defense, Paladin Jefferson will put a flare into the sky once we were there to give the basic location."

She stood, "We will be heading out immediately, and we will be providing air support, hold until we arrive."

She stepped out into the courtyard and looked around her. There were multiple members of the Brotherhood that were going about their business. Since their arrival they had received another half dozen recent knights that volunteered to come and assist with their mission. She studied them before she grabbed the megaphone that was sitting in its place, "Attention, all Knights and initiates. I need three Vertibirds in the air, I want at least six knights and initiates on each Vertibird, and they need to be ready to use miniguns!"

There was a scramble and she saw Sentinel Reeder move toward her, "Something go wrong?"

She gave a light nod, "Paladin Jefferson is helping to defend the city that they went to trade with," she said as she watched them prepare, "There's a large force of combatants that number far more than they are prepared to deal with personally, and we're going to lend air support to deal with it."

He studied, "So, are you actually going, or just sending out?"

She looked at him, and he watched as she moved toward her power armor. She stepped into it, and moved back toward him, "I'm going," she replied, "I will not be some commander that feels comfortable allowing those under men to walk into danger when I won't do the same."

She could see his tense reaction, and she shook her head, "I already know what you're going to say, and normally I would agree, but we both know that this is the kind of leader I am."

He gave a curt nod, "In truth it should be me going," he replied as he walked with her, "You're the official leader here, and I'm acting as a proxy at best."

She stopped short of him, "And you've got more experience in this type of situation than I do," she replied to him, "Sentinel Reeder, I know that I can trust the safety of these individuals to your capable hands."

He seemed to take what she was saying and then gave a nod, "Of course ma'am," he said as he stepped back, "It'll be standing here when you return."

She boarded the Vertibird and felt it begin to lift off. She looked at it and noticed that the old speaker system had been repaired. A smile smile came to her face as she looked at the holotape player. Without a moment of hesitation she reached down and grabbed the tape that was sitting in a small holder, "Knight, put this in."

"Of course Sentinel," the knight replied as he put the holotape into the player. For a moment there was static, and then slowly the sound of violins began to fill the air. The first cords of the Ride of the Valkyries filled the cabin of the Vertibird as they moved toward the direction of the city, "Ah, feels appropriate to be honest."

The driving classical score echoed over the countryside as they made their way. She looked as they crossed over the land that would have taken longer by traveling with the APCs. The city was in sight, and she grabbed the microphone that connected to the radio of the Vertibird, ""Paladin Jefferson, we're headed inward."

She looked out to see a flare overhead and nodded. She replaced the microphone and instead looked around at those with her, "Let's start taking care of those outside, I want you to begin taking out all enemy combatants!"

The sound of the miniguns whirling up could be heard in the cabin as they began to spit the death they held. She watched as the enemy soldiers attempted to return fire with their bows and spears. She saw movement ahead of them, "Get closer to the catapult," she said as the Vertibird moved in closer, and then turned. She lifted a missile launcher and fired it. The catapult exploded, causing the flaming ammunition it held to explode around it, "Good, lets take out the rest of them as well, no sense in risking a lucky shot from them."

The Vertibird moved toward the next catapult, and like the last she took it out. She watched as the other Vertibirds moved across the field, and she could see them laying waste to all of the combatants that were attempting to siege the city. She then grabbed the microphone, "Get everyone out of the parameter inside of the gate. We're going to clean up in there."

After a few moments she looked at the others, and then nodded, "Fire."

The Vertibirds began to concentrate fire into the area where the combatants were located. She joined in, and then she walked to the side of the Vertibird and jumped out. The feeling was always the same. The sense of fear as she dropped, and then suddenly the feeling the power armor as it took the impact meant for its wearer. She opened fired on those that were still attempting to attack, but slowly, they began giving up. She watched as several dropped to the ground, their weapons thrown down in front of them.

"Secure the prisoners," she said before she spotted Adam, "Paladin," she said as she neared him, "It looks clear here," she said as she studied him, "We're going to pull out in a moment, stick behind finish your original objective, and see about setting up some kind of trade agreement with the city itself."

She saw him nod, "Of course," he said before she turned around, "Thank you Sentinel Lyons."

She paused, "Ad Victoriam Paladin Jefferson, We live to fight another day."

She moved toward those that were finishing up and helped with the capture. Little did she know that they were being watched by the Royal Princess that had observed everything happening. The Royal Princess that was currently very frightened of the might and power she had just witnessed.

Piña Co Lada

Princess Piña Co Lada looked at the destruction before her. The bandits that numbered well over fifteen thousand were either defeated in less time than it took for them to prepare for defense. She looked at the slain, and her eyes were wide in terror, "There was no chance for honor," she whispered, "They were slain like animals."

"Princess, how?" Hamilton asked as she looked across the devastation with her, "How could they do this?"

Princess Piña shook her head, "I do not know, but those metal beasts, those metal pegasi, they devastated everything," she said as she held herself, "Anything that stood against them would fall. The empire cannot attempt to wage war with them."

For a moment she stood there the fear of what she witnessed welled up inside of her and looked at the people that were being helped by the armored ones. They were being assisted, and she felt the tides of change as they began to move.

"Princess, will they use this as an excuse to further their influence?" Hamilton asked as she stood there, "Will they demand that we turn Italica over to them?"

She shook, trying to process all that was happening, "If they do there would be nothing we could do other than to prostate ourselves," she whispered, "They could over throw the empire in a day, we would be nothing but slaves."

The vision of her dressed in sackcloth, chained, her eyes glassy and staring off into a void came to her mind. Beaten, abused, and broken into nothing more than a compliant slave. She looked at Hamilton and realized it would be the same for her. The only thing they could do was to hope that these armored ones, these Brotherhood of Steel would follow the same protocols as they did. That they would accept their place as nobility and royalty and agree to deal with them amicably.

"We need to form a treaty, now," she said to Hamilton, "We need to lay out the concessions that would cost us the less, and hope they do not push for more."

Hamilton nodded, and Princess Piña led her toward the mansion and acting court of the city. Once there she began to ask the servants of the city to inquire about the Brotherhood of Steel and to ask for their presence. She then sat down with Hamilton and took out a scroll of parchment. Quickly she began to consider the out laying area. They couldn't give away any of the land, but they could potentially give a token reward.

The quick answer would be gold, but then she couldn't take the city's treasury. Instead the other answer would be to allow preferential treatment. Even that was a token reward at best. She breathed out as they began to write the terms of the treaty. They would allow the Brotherhood of Steel to be an ally, and more importantly they would agree to acknowledge their claim on Alnus Hill.

Giving up the holy place would be a hard sell, but it was far better than attempting to start a war with a people that could potentially overthrow them with so little trouble. She looked at the treaty, one that was quickly written, that gave limited favors to the Brotherhood of Steel, and that maintained the Empire's strength in this land. It could be seen as a slap in the face to someone as powerful as they were, but she hoped that they would understand the posturing that was being done.

She hoped, prayed, that they would gladly accept the terms and then she breathed out. There was no way that they could deny them from patrolling the city. In truth she doubted that they could deny them complete access to the city at all. For all rights and purposes it would become their protectorate. They wouldn't lose Italica on paper, but in reality it would be lost completely to the empire.

It meant that there was no hope of keeping it, and she hated it. Still, she looked over the terms, stood and moved toward the throne that was sitting there. She saw the servant that she had sent and she looked to see some of the civilians walking in with one of the armored ones. His armor was painted blue, a simple sky blue, and strange yellow symbols were painted on it. She studied him, which she assumed it was a him, for a moment before Hamilton moved in front of her with the treaty.

"We have prepared a treaty on your service to the city of Italica and the Empire."