I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my story. This chapter will be much more exciting than the last one (most intro chapters are boring anyway…). Anyways, enjoy the read!
Chapter II: The Onslaught Begins
Roy gazed out the large stained glass windows his private quarters. Outside, a gentle rain began descending, slowly but steadily falling towards the earth. Thunder rolled between the hills that lay beyond the castle walls. Roy sat at his desk, reading a journal of his father's accounts during the Second Dragon War some twenty seven years past. The candle flickered, its shadow in a game of tag with the orange refulgent light dashing from the flame. The candle lit more than the sheets of paper that lay before him, but that entire side of the room. Roy wasn't too focused on the personal or emotional aspects of his father's journey, but the militaristic side. He read about his father's and Lord Pent's invasion of the Bern Royal castle, how Nergal had used magic to increase the strength of the wyvern commander Vaida's power. As he read on further, he read his father's recollection of the battle to Shrine of Seals, facing the menacing Linus and his army of the animate morphs. Roy continued to read until the final page of the book was upturned to his face. He closed the book and replaced it on the shelf. Roy believed that personal experience was more useful in studying an opponent than that of old military tactics record scrolls. Roy flopped on his bed, exhausted from his reading, and dozed off.
Ephraim secured the final piece of armor that made up his old plating. He didn't like changing what worked, and this armor had worked for him for several years and during wartime. Though it wasn't the armor of a nobleman, though it had its own distinct quality of having a pure white cape instead of the usual red and light green issued one. The cape was lined with gold thread, made from the finest materials available. Ephraim had gained a few pounds since he had been appointed the King of Renais, so the armor fit more snug to his body. As he stepped out his quarters, he stopped when he saw her in front of him. It was his wife, Tana.
"Where do you think you're going, all dressed up like you're going to lead an army into battle?" She asked, hands on her hips. Even though Ephraim thought of Tana as annoying when they first met as young children, over the years he became more tolerable of her and even felt a tinge of infatuation from the long blue-haired beauty. After the war, he took her hand in proposal and they were wed several months later. Even though she was technically the Queen of Renais, she seceded her position in order for Ephraim's sister to rule, even though she was a favorite among the commoners.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do in fact. A nation in Elibe has requested our help. The young man leading their forces isn't too much younger than me, and we've been communicating for several years now. I do believe I've earned his trust," Ephraim gallantly replied, sticking his chest out slightly. Tana drove her eyebrows together in fury.
"So you want to take all off our troops, sail off to an unknown country, help a person you've never even met before, defeat a gigantic army, and sail back like everything's okay?"
"Yup,"
Tana sighed. She looked up at Ephraim, the fury replaced with the eternal love and concern of a man's wife.
"Well, I guess there's no stopping you once you've put your mind to something, we learned that few years back, mister 'I'm gonna take three knights with me and attack a military powerhouse!'"
"I did it though right? This time I'll have even more soldiers with me, so my return is guaranteed. I'll be sure to keep you in mind. I promise you now: I won't die,"
With that, he drew his wife close to him and kissed her on her lips. She returned the act of affection and clung to his back, squeezing tightly. When they parted a glistening tear began to make its way down her cheek, illuminating her skin. With his hands, he delicately removed the liquid sadness from the face of his usually bubbly wife. It was the first time in a while that he had seen her cry since the wedding.
"Good luck, Eph," she said, her face now beaming with her usual smile. He returned the gesture.
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"All soldiers, at attention!"
The voice of the paladin Kyle boomed across all of the dock. Ephraim and troops spent the last two days marching to Itha, the port town parallel to the coast of Elibe. They would for a week towards the coast, then go south under the southern shores of Bern, past Valor, known asthe Dread Isle, and land in Lycia. It was a difficult maneuver in part that Bern had no navy, but instead relied on wyverns to patrol its seas. The wyvern riders could spot the ships before the ships could spot them. To counter this problem, Kyle put in a place a group consisting of twenty archers on each ship, on constant duty to attack any airborne attack.
"I have put in place yet another precaution against the possibility wyvern parties. Lady Serene, a vassal from Frelia, will lead a full platoon of Pegasus knights and Falcoknights that will be broken up into front, shipside and rear guard. They will be on twenty four hour surveillance," Cheers erupted from the soldiers; anything that would give them a better possibility of living was welcome.
"Quiet! That doesn't mean we can slack off one bit! Lady Serene didn't have to do this for us, so we should be working and fighting twice as hard to make sure her and her units don't get a single scratch once we land—no, before we even set foot in Elibe!" Kyle was beginning to get worked up. As he continued to lecture about his men's fighting spirits, Ephraim checked over his own troops.
Ephraim knew he would need a variety of troops if he was going to assist, but the problem was he didn't know what the other army already had. The other issue of Renais needing an army spread throughout the kingdom was greatly aided by his dear friend Innes. Innes had lent three hundred troops to Renais during Ephraim's leave. Those consisted of fifty armor knights, fifty archers, a hundred cavalry units, and the rest were a mixed bag. Of his own troops, Ephraim took a hundred armor knights, two hundred cavalry units, a hundred archers, a hundred foot soldiers and fifty mages. Ephraim hoped that this was a sufficient force provided that, again, the army-in-need had a decent amount and variety of troops. He sighed as he gazed off at the ocean, its waters overtaking the horizon from the view of the port.
Roy arose from his sleep, the rain an even softer drizzle, like the feet of fairies joyously frolicking from leaf to leaf. The sky wasn't as grey as it had been before, with patches of the omnipresent blue breaking through the phalanx of grey clouds. Roy sat and listened to the nature outside for several moments, then proceeded to walk towards the corner of the room containing his armor and sword. The two were never far from each other, in fear that Bern, or anyone at that matter, could attack and lay siege to the castle. After securing his armor and sword, Roy proceeded out his room and down the stairs that revolved around a large central pillar made of granite. At the base of the stairs were the four usual guards chatting amongst themselves. Roy didn't pay attention to their conversation, but simply smiled and nodded as he walked by them. He made his way down the First Grand Hall and turned left, where he bumped into a wandering Rutger.
"Sorry Rutger, I'll be more careful next time," the prince said as he grinned. Rutger looked at him with his usual stolid face.
"It's fine, but I'd rather you run into me than into the spear of an enemy soldier," the quiet man replied. "You know, we should spar more often. Your fighting style may be unorthodox, but it is as effective as deadly; quite intriguing."
The scuffling of boots on wood made the two turn around. A soldier, drenched from the rains outside, stopped before them, and doubled over in exhaustion.
"Master Roy! We have visuals on a small sized Bern army approaching the castle! They're closing in fast! Estimated time of arrival is thirty minutes! What shall we do?" The soldier wheezed.
"How large did you say the force was?" Rutger asked.
"About seven hundred men. We—,"
"I thought you said it was a small army!?" Roy exclaimed.
"By Bern's standards…sir,"
"How many men do we have here ready?"
"A little under a hundred,"
Roy swore under his breath. At this rate, they were going to be decimated. If they lost here, the campaign against their attack would be useless. Ephraim's troops would be ineffective, having no army to assist. Roy and the soldiers had to defend the castle at all costs.
"Have all soldiers here take arms. I want you to send a messenger to the nearest fort, requesting for more troops. Have the three bridges to the castle raised, then get all the archers to the top of the castle with a heck of a lot of arrows; it'll be a long fight. We have two hundred feet of grass to work with once they cross they trench where the bridges are. If we make the battlefield as small as possible, then they can't get all their men here at one time. Did you get all of that!?"
The soldier nodded and scurried off just as fast as he had come. Rutger drew his sword.
"I'll go give the others the news,"
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Fir and Rutger stood in the antechamber, the last room before the wilderness beyond. Including themselves, Fir and Rutger with their personally trained soldiers made only twelve, but some of the deadliest to fight in the army. With their lightning quick strikes and foot speed, they could fell ten men before they knew what had happened. Both Fir and Rutger had preached 'speed over strength', and that was about to be put to the test. Fir shifted her weight from foot to foot impatiently as she looked out the now opened doors. Across the moat was the Bern army, now attempting to cross, foot soldiers first. The twelve rushed out the door as soon as the first climbed his way up the moat. Fir cut him down with a quick swipe of her sword, his body rolling back down into the moat.
"There's gonna be a lot more where that came from!" Fir said as she smiled. Twenty foot soldiers from the castle rushed out the door, forming a line of spears that poked at whoever climbed up out of the trench. The line was extremely effective until a ballista bolt few through the chest of a soldier, causing the line to collapse and the Bern soldiers poured in like a flood.
Fir swung the sword at an oncoming axe fighter. He parried the attack and swung the axe vertically downwards toward the ground. Fir jumped to the side, taking a clear swing at the soldier and felling him. She whirled around in time to parry a blow from an opposing swordsman. Using his strength, the soldier pushed off Fir and rushed towards her, a bull at a matador. Fir guarded against the wide horizontal swing and countered with three blindingly quick strikes. As the soldier fell to the ground, Fir smacked an enemy arrow that was heading towards her face out of the air.
"Enemy archers approaching! Pull back inside! Face forwards at all times!"
Rutger heard Fir's call and quickly finished the soldier he had been toying with the last thirty seconds. He motioned his men to follow him, each disengaging their respective opponents for the final time as they collapsed to the ground. Fir and her group were already inside by the door switch, waiting for Rutger's group and the remaining soldiers to regress into the safe haven. As the groups dashed in backwards, Fir and one of her soldiers closed the doors while avoiding the barrage of arrows coming through the opening. After the door was shut, Rutger and Fir lifted a large metal beam across the two hatches protruding from the door. Roy quickly dashed towards them.
"How is it? Are they any stronger?" asked the curious leader.
"Well," Rutger started. "They're a lot stronger physically this time around, and in better shape too, but they're still slow and use old tactics, save the portable ballista."
"How many did you kill?"
Rutger sighed. "We fought kinda hard, but in the end we may have killed about thirty, but we lost twelve. Considering they outnumber us one to seven or eight, that's a big loss on our part. We have to be careful until we get more help. Are the archers delivering the goods?"
"Yeah, Wolt is up there leading the archers. So far none of them have died, but three were wounded by ballista shots. The last report from Wolt was ten confirmed kills and about a dozen enemy injuries. Their armored units have moved up, so the arrows are beginning to become ineffective. If only we had something to help defeat those armored, we may have a chance with the arrow rain. Our only option is to wait for Josh to return with reinforcements."
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Josh punched the spurs of his boots into the horse's side, making it gallop faster. The nearest fort was ten more miles down the road, and at the pace he was going, he could get there in half an hour. It was a dire race against time, and he was on the losing end. He rode for several more minutes, the only sounds coming from the horse's hooves and the gentle rain about him. Another ten minutes passed, and the fort was in sight. Around it were armed soldiers, each bearing the crest of the United Lycian Army, the Sword of Seals burning bright on their sleeves. Josh waved at the group of soldiers who returned his gesture. He stopped the horse about twenty feet from the soldiers and dismounted. Their leader, a green haired young veteran name Lugh, approached him.
"Josh! I haven't seen you in a long while! But to the important matter, we have already heard about the attack, that's why my men are armed to defend this fort because I'm only taking my Magic Corps with me."
Josh winced. "But Lugh, that's only about thirty mages! We need way more than that to stop an army of over seven hundred!" Lugh chuckled to himself.
"Josh, magic is way more powerful than any weapon. We really don't even need to go to the castle: me and the three sages over there can cast long range Bolting spells, that will crush anything in its path, but my mages are also no too shabby with weapons, which would be of assistance considering that you would like the inside of the castle to remain in tip top condition if the fighting were to occur inside, right?"
Josh smiled. He was relieved to know that his old friend hadn't changed one bit: he was still the sarcastic, conceited young mage that he had known all his life.
"We should start heading back now. No telling how things are shaping up now back at Castle Pharae. I'll prepare your—"
Lugh laughed yet again.
"Silly Josh! I have perfected a teleportation spell that allows me to travel to any place that I have visited before. Everyone, circle up!"
The mages circled up, grabbing each others' hand like a sort of pagan ceremony. Josh joined hands with Lugh, who in turn grabbed hands with the last mage, forming a complete circle.
"Are you all ready?" Lugh asked, inspecting each member of the circle. The silent nods from the mages told Lugh that they were ready.
"Tele!"
Josh saw a bright light coming from the ground below him. He looked down to see a large circle surrounding the members of the group. The light began to become more intense, forcing Josh to close his eyes. Once the light had faded, which he could tell through his shut eyelids, he reopened them to find himself in the middle of the antechamber of Castle Pharae. Not too far away from him stood Roy, Fir, Rutger and several other soldiers, staring in bewilderment. Lugh smiled.
"Hello Roy! Long time no see, eh?"
That's the end of Chapter II. Read and Review, and look for Chapter III to be up sometimes next week!