CHAPTER 7 :
ENTER THE LAGUZ LEAGUE
After several days of relentless march, Anna's group arrived in Port Kiris, with the Crimean army in position, both beorc and laguz. An heavy atmosphere fills the air. Anna is brought before Queen Elincia's tent. Elincia's tent was filled with Crimean guards, along with cat laguz under the banner of the Laguz League. Many people in the tent, both the Crimean beorc and the laguz, regarded the arrival of Daein soldiers with some contempt.
The first Halberdier asked, "Why are we lumped together with Daein beorc soldiers? I fought Daein soldiers when Ashnard still was alive; now, the Laguz League leaders want us to side with these Daeins? Isn't that a bit much, Highness?"
Elincia answered, "I have a seat at the Laguz League High Council. It was Klimt's idea to have these Daein soldiers join us here to bolster our ranks; we can't accuse Carcino of anything to ask our United Nations allies to fight with us!"
The second Halberdier then replied, "Hold on, Tibarn also wanted us Daeins to fight alongside us!"
A third Halberdier also pitched in, "Word is that Gallia also joins the United Nations and we get more laguz to fight Grado's forces. Apparently Goldoa may reject U.N. membership for now. Begnion is quite reluctant to fight Grado for itself; the Senate prefers to stay hidden."
Anna tells everyone in the tent that Goldoa claims that it prefers to stay hidden because if they fight on, the enemy may be bolstered with Zombie Dragon Laguz whenever one of them falls in battle. But she also heard that the King did not want the dark god imprisoned within Lehran's Medallion to awaken. And, if the dark god awakens, Ashera will also awaken.
Tormod asked, "Anna, do you suspect the Demon King to be a creation of the dark god imprisoned in Lehran's Medallion?"
Anna answered that the sealing of the Demon King predates the division of Ashunera, the goddess creator of the world. If our data is correct, the sealing of the Demon King took place about 25 years before the division of Ashunera, which marked the "Great Flood", as it is known in Tellius. Elincia then stated that the Dark God was sealed in Lehran's Medallion by four Tellius-based heroes; Altina, Dheginsea, Soan and Lehran. "But we didn't come here to fight the dark god. We fight an army formed mostly of mercenaries, due to approach the city we hold in a couple of hours. They're due to arrive by nightfall.", she said.
A puzzled Royal Paladin of Crimea asked, "Nightfall? How many are they?"
Another person, a Thief that spied on behalf of Carcino, answered, "Ten thousand. This is when you count the Grado numbers with it. However, General Glen is entrenched in Caer Pelyn; this means that if we don't defeat the army we have to fight here, we will never recapture the entirety of Carcino."
Elincia, in a state of shock, "Ten thousand? If only Klimt agreed to empty the prisons and let the prisoners handle the defense of this place… After all, it worked for Onrac and the Daein army under Pelleas. How many prisoners do Port Kiris hold?"
The sniper at the other end of the tent tells Elincia that he never had the watch of the prison and she'd better ask that Archer next to him. He has a better idea how many men can fight among the prisoners. That archer answered, "This place is the only prison left in the free Carcino so the prisoners are in a significant number to turn the tides of the battle." The rainstorm did not prevent the Grado army to arrive at nightfall. However, the Laguz League knows that hawk laguz do not fight very well in the dark, so they left them out at the base camp and they could fight at will in the daytime.
Elincia spouted the standard warcry of the Laguz League, "FOR LAGUZ RIGHTS! FOR THE LAGUZ LEAGUE!"
For some reason, Klimt decided to remain hidden from the battlefields and to strategize instead. It meant that Queen Elincia led the actual battle. Anna transformed while Brom led his defensive battery with equally limited ammunition as the Grado army had when it laid siege to the Tower of Valni (five bolts per ballista) and one of his daughters to protect the battery on the walls. Brom ordered his ballista battery to fire.
A Wyvern Master was hit and brought back on the ground as a corpse. The other people who were hit were either Bonewalkers or living Knights. The mages on the first wall cast their spells at the moment where a fat Grado General went on to expel the loudest, longest, wettest, foulest smelling fart any beorc in the Laguz League stationed in Port Kiris will ever hear in their entire lives. However, the reach of that fart wasn't wide enough to do much damage even if a flaming ballista bolt was fired in that direction. Brom ordered his daughter Meg to stay away from the dragon's line of fire.
Meg had to talk back to her father, "Enemy Fighters are out for me!"
Meg drew her sword and faced the Fighters head-on, for a siege tower was brought up to the outer wall of the city. Because the enemy Fighters broke an entire platoon of Carcinoan and Crimean lance-wielders in pieces, while suffering only four casualties, the heavy sword-wielding units were brought up to the place where the men encased in the siege tower are marching from. She parried, with her shield, a few axe blows until she could hit the axe arm of the first Fighter.
Tormod ordered some men among the Laguz Emancipation Army to target the nearest Siege Tower. The Catapult and mages surrounding it directed all their fire on the second siege tower, who exploded due to the methane the undead soldiers within the wooden frame emitted by rotting. Their debris made a few Mages fall out of the wall. As Meg approached a ladder brought up by the Grado enemy, she only encountered more fighters. With archery fire support (not ballistae because all bolts have been fired) she could push the enemy back from the wall.
Brom ordered his men to target the soldiers on the walls below them. The archers fired as quickly as possible, some Myrmidons fell, and some bandits were brought up the walls. Their main interest was to vandalize the city and slaughter innocent citizen, but they think the Laguz League could just station an army to chase them away. However, bandits saw no use for catapults, ballistae or siege towers; they just use ladders. Meg needed the help of another man to push the ladder back with two bandits on them. These bandits learned that their ladders were not safe to put several people on them to scale the walls because their ladder broke in two. Brom, however, saw the large battering ram being brought up to the city's main gate. The battering ram required fourteen knights for operation; he ordered the last catapult stone available on his catapult to be fired on the battering ram. Kieran, stationed behind the gate, waited for the gate to break before his cavalry enter battle. As for Anna, after she reverted back to normal, she just stayed close to the cavalry. According to her plan, from the very moment the battering ram breaks the gate open, the laguz stationed at that very location will all shapeshift and enter the fray.
On the inner walls, a Hero leads his men to the gates because they know that they will soon need it. As the battering ram begins to dent into the gate… the Hero shouted, "To the gates! Draw your swords!" The moment draws closer and the main gate snaps open. Then Anna transformed into a dragon under the horrified eyes of the people who manned the battering ram, seeing their ram set on fire just after she spat fire. Grado soldiers manned another smaller battering ram, who only required six people to man it. That battering ram was brought to one of the city's smaller gates, which was not nearly as strong as the main gate was. With their arrows, the archers could only dent into the heavy armors of the people who manned the ram before the gate was smashed into bits and pieces.
Brom ordered his daughter Meg to get down at the gate. Two gates were brought down, and the enemy got into the city by these two gates. Meg had a hard time cutting down the enemy Fighters, as they had sufficient axe proficiency to successfully counter swords in a fight. In the end, however, the Fighters were quite exposed to archery fire and that was their undoing.
Fiona warned Meg, "Watch out! A Hammer-wielding Warrior! Even if it's a heavy battleaxe, it can kill you really easily if it hits you!"
At this time, two Bow Knights hit the Warrior with their arrows. In pain, he moves slower, but he could still fight. From the archery hit, and the weight of his own weapon, he was so slow that even Meg could outrun him and stab him behind his back to rob him of what strength he still has. From that moment on, Meg undertook her Generalization. The enemy sought to keep their distances about the light emanating out of her.
What happens near Borgo Ridge, however, is completely different from the grand action that happens in the capital city of Carcino. The Daein army just left its camp, approaching the bandit stronghold the villagers told of. Said stronghold is encroached in a hardly accessible area. When they approach…
The Daein Halberdier on station tells everyone partaking in that operation, "The local villagers tell us that the Bazba Bandits keep a lair nearby. A few of them saw a lad matching the description of our key thief. It seems a fair guess that the youth is part of these bandits."
Ross, puzzled, "Bandits… Here in Renais, our homeland. I had no idea… Burning out villages and stealing from our people without fear of reprisal?"
Garcia answered his son that it wasn't always like this. The knights used to protect Renaisian citizenry… However, with Renais in ruins and its army tattered, law and order are hard to find. If they didn't do anything, Renais will plunge deeper into savagery. A strange figure then appeared in front of the group.
Neimi asked Calill, "Pardon me for asking, but… are you planning on fighting the Bazba Bandits?"
Calill answered, "Yes. Why do you ask?"
Neimi pleaded, "PLEASE, you have to help Colm. You have to! I told him it was too dangerous, but he wouldn't listen to me!"
Calill requested that Neimi starts to calm herself and to start at the beginning.
Neimi says, "All right." She sniffs and cries. "I'm Neimi. I'm from… I used to live in a village named Lark. Except that the village is gone."
Garcia asked Neimi to clear his doubt, "Gone? What do you mean?"
Neimi answered, "Bazba's bandits burned it down. Only Colm and I escaped."
The Halberdier asked Neimi, "What are you doing here?"
Neimi told him that the Bazba Bandits have a hideout nearby. That's where Colm… went to steal something from the bandits.
Calill turned to Neimi. "If the thief we're after has gone to the bandit hideout as well, we share a common cause with her." He asked Neimi, "Could you please lead the way?"
The bandits are going up to the defense of their lair, getting ready to fight the army of Daein. Lord Bazba expected to fight other Renais bandits, Grado or Frelia soldiers, but never he expected, in his lifetime, having to fight an army from another land.
The first Bandit asked his chief, "My lord, since when did you become a bandit?"
Lord Bazba answered that he felt that Grado killed the very essence of Renais when his country was conquered. He hoped to fight on against Grado so we could take our country back. But if you see a stranger, stick an axe in it. Lord Bazba closed the gate of his stronghold. With an Elfire spell aimed at the lock, Calill could at least give the opportunity for her squad to seize the bandits' gate. And Colm has just arrived at the very moment where the lock was burned down, seeing Neimi just behind her commanding officer.
Colm stated out of nowhere, "And here we go! These bandits are easy picking. I might as well start with these chests over there."
Neimi, in a state of shock, asked, "Colm?"
As Colm came out, he wondered, "Neimi! What are you doing here?" He shouted, "I told you to wait for me!"
Neimi warns Colm, "It's too dangerous. Let's go home."
Colm talked back, "But we have no home left!"
Even if a legitimate lord commanded that band of bandits, it didn't mean that the bandits were as equipped or trained as an official army would be. The rabble of the Bazba Bandits were armed and trained like any standard bandit group, with axes only and no armor. The swordsmen of the Daein army crushed the rabble like worms, while suffering a limited number of casualties. Even Neimi could kill two bandits from behind.
Colm just opened the three chests located on the first room. He swiftly and secretly opened the lock leading to another room with only one chest, and Neimi followed him through the door while his companions fought the other way through the cavern hideout. The men could easily kill the unarmored mettle of the bandits while their total casualties would be no more than ten. Then came the enemy commander, who killed some Daein men while they were caught off-guard.
Lord Bazba himself was a General clad in black, heavy plate armor, with white crests not unlike that of Renais (or Daein, but since he never heard of Daein before, it was unlikely that he came from Daein in the first place, let alone defected from the Daein army) officers. His Spear ready to be thrown, he engaged Garcia and Ross, both at once, because he wasn't interested in fighting what he claimed to be worthless outlanders. Of course, with the weight of his armor, he moved much slower than the bandit rabble could and Garcia picked up a Hammer and nailed Lord Bazba down, leaving his son for the kill.
In Port Kiris, however, the battle of the Laguz League did not go as planned, though dawn finally arrived and the laguz of the bird tribes were able to fight again. The enemy has broken through the middle city through the gates of the outer walls. Anna ordered her men to fall back to the inner city.
To cover the retreat of the beorc troops of the Laguz League, Anna spat fire at the enemy, creating a wall of fire that Grado soldiers and bandits-for-hire didn't dare to cross. Further fire spitting burnt some people, including some more Grado soldiers, who thrust Dragonslayers into what they thought was Anna's body, but the survivors only saw their weapons melt. They then fell back to the base camp, looking for other weapons, but the cavalry had the best of them. Because there was cavalry in some corners of Port Kiris still hidden from the fire.
Meg held on, fighting enemy Mercenaries with her heavy armor on. But then came the time for her to fall back to the inner keep. Even with bird laguz, it was hard to defend the inner city. Brom gave the order to pour the boiling oil on the enemy formations. The path of the boiling oil met the flames created by Anna's fire before she reverted to her humanoid form, thus bursting even more enemy soldiers into flames. As the survivors fell back, they regrouped for a final assault with the last battering ram available to force the main gate if that still was possible.
Beorc and beast-tribe laguz were not left behind: they were ordered to kill any Grado soldier in sight. Exceptionally, Fiona captured a prisoner, and brought it to Klimt, entrenched in the castle. Right afterwards, she killed an enemy Archer with a Killer Bow that seemed intent on killing another Daein soldier next to her out on the narrow, paved street in one of the residential districts.
As a Mage killed a wounded Hawk Laguz, he promoted and soon became the target of Fiona as soon as she could see where he is. Her steed was fast enough to dodge spells, whereas the physical speed of the newly promoted Sage was not sufficient to avoid the thrust of the polearm, thus making his body bleed. With one arm, he tried to cast another spell but he wasn't quick enough to dodge, especially with the wounds he received and the physical moves the process of spell casting involves. The Sage died because of his wound-caused inertia.
Fiona's Paladinization made her face a painful choice. She must choose another weapon in order to return to the fray. "Perhaps the axe!", she thought. She knows better than anyone else that axes, though powerful, are more inaccurate than other weapons, provided that the same strength, skill and proficiency levels exist in the various wielders. With her newfound strength, she battles the Grado Soldiers (unfortunately, the enemy Soldiers cannot evolve into Halberdiers, as she discovered) until the bird laguz rejoin her position in a dark street near the inner city.
Brom went into another street with one of his children, Meg, to fight other Grado soldiers along with the mercenaries at Grado's employ. Elincia ordered her close guard to target the enemy cavalry.
The enemy cavalry came into the city as a last-ditch attempt to kill all the defenders left into the city. But the enemy didn't take in account that there still was archery and catapults up in the walls. Catapult "gunners" knew that the projectiles hurled by a catapult would most likely hit more than one rider in the area where it falls. A big rock crushed a rider, not knowing how many rocks there was left for his men to sustain.
Two Cavaliers were rendered afoot because of their horses being frightened. A third one got his horse slain by Brom and Meg was left to fight the two dismounted Cavaliers. These horse riders were so used to fighting from horseback that they lack the training to fight dismounted, so Meg took about one minute to kill both, not without getting her shield scraped in the process.
However, in the dark cellars of the House of Elders of Port Kiris, the building where the Elders of the ruling Council of Elders have their sessions, Klimt interrogates the prisoner brought by Fiona through the sewers. A smelly prisoner was asked a few questions.
Klimt asked the smelly prisoner, "Sir, if you wish this nonsensical conflict to end rapidly, you'd be best to answer rapidly. My first question is who employs you. Because you're trained professionals and…"
The disarmed fighter answered, "Pablo. His base camp is in the Teraz Plateau."
Klimt continues, "Until I'm through with you, you cannot say sub-human. My second question: why did he join Grado?"
The disarmed fighter answered, "As an Elder, he felt that the sub… er, laguz were nothing but trouble."
Klimt asked one last question, "how many people are left in Teraz Plateau?"
As his last words, the disarmed fighter said, "I'd say about 1,500."
The disarmed fighter was thrown in the sewers, where the current washed him and the raven laguz ate him piecemeal as his body went to the sea. Then, the raven laguz went back to the main action and ate the eyes of careless Grado soldiers and foolhardy mercenaries. With some hawk laguz, Elincia and Haar corner the enemy commander.
Haar ordered his men to target the enemy commander. He was fighting a Wyvern Master while Elincia took care of the close guard of the Wyvern Master. (Wyvern Masters are the promoted forms of Wyvern Riders and all have followed a process called Wyvern Mastery, carried out through an Elysian Whip, Master Seal or veterancy) That man had almost the same armor as General Glen, except for one thing: he is unrelated to either him or General Valter. There is no chance that it was any of the two high-ranked Generals of Grado that ride wyverns in battle. In his fight, Haar cut the tail of the enemy steed, making its poisoned flesh hit another Grado soldier. Said Grado soldier complains to his commander that he has been poisoned, sir. "Do you have an Antidote?", he asked.
His commander throws an Antidote from his sash and continues to fight Haar, even with an injured wyvern. The injuries of his wyvern, though, motivated him to take the fight aground, leaving Haar to fight his lackeys until the U.N. Delegate of Phoenicis arrived and transformed.
Haar exclaimed, "It was about time! His lackeys are too strong for me!"
The Delegate of Phoenicis could rip through the body of the Dragon Master but only with Haar's aid. It was about the last man standing for Grado, so the Laguz League earned victory.