The Last Red Shoulder

Chapter 6: The Fall of Castle Almar

It was long past time to show the Western Isles what Squad Seven could really do. Kain was looking forward to it.

The Royalist defenders of Castle Almar, looking over the Ebrakhm Valley, were undermanned and undersupplied, but they were disciplined and experienced, and occupying a defensible location in which they were strongly entrenched. Additionally, they had 500 men to Kain's 1000. While the Red Shoulders and their islander allies had made significant progress over the last several months, to the point where only Almar and Jutes were still in Royalist hands, it had been slower than they'd hoped. The Royalists had occupied several other important positions in the north, and the Red Shoulders had been forced to divide up their men and resources to root them out. Thus, despite the rebels having a significant advantage in numbers and morale, they could only spare two hundred of their own men and eight hundred natives to confront some of the island's best soldiers.

There were three rivers separating the rebel army from Castle Almar. The first was crossed by three bridges, the next two by only one. Those bridges were all large, sturdy affairs made of stone, so the Royalists would probably not be able to destroy them, but they were all guarded by heavily-armored Generals backed up by ballistae and Sages. They would not be easy to cross, especially since the majority of Kain's forces consisted of unruly and poorly trained Fighters, Corsairs, and Bandits. The Red Shoulders, in particular Squad Seven, would be primarily responsible for taking the castle.

All these thoughts ran through Kain's head as he sat on his horse about a hundred yards east from the eastern bridge of the first river, on the Xth of Y, 703 A.S. Around him, upon the rocky ground of Fibernia, stood the other members of Squad Seven: Jann, Deckham, Leitner, Zalf, Kessler, and of course Kassa. It was the middle of the day, ordinarily a perfect time to do battle, but a heavy mist had fallen over the area, making it nearly impossible for anyone to see anything more than a few feet ahead of their faces.

This would work much in Squad Seven's favor.

The battle had already been joined, and it was not going well for the Rebels. Each of the three bridges was defended by a quartet of Generals and Mages, backed up by Sages and Ballistae raining death upon the invaders from farther away thanks to their fellow Mages acting as spotters. The poorly-trained natives were vicious, but still dying in droves, and while the Red Shoulder forces (mainly Cavaliers) weren't faring as badly, they couldn't break through the defenses of the Generals either. Squad Seven would change that.

They were standing some distance away from the battle, seemingly unable to help. There was no bridge here, which meant no way to get across the river. "Seemingly" was the important word there, though. Jann and Deckham had something which might come in quite handy.

"Rrrrgh!" The two men grunted and strained as they began to push forwards one of the "presents" they'd taken along for this mission. It was a pair of large, hollow tree trunks lashed together with rope. In other battlefields across Elibe, it was common for warriors to fell trees near rivers to serve as makeshift bridges if there was no other option. There were no trees in this desolate area of the Isles, but that wasn't a problem for Squad Seven—they figured they'd bring their own. It hadn't been easy lugging them all the way from the small village to the south where they'd had their last mission (single-handedly destroying a force of 50 royalist occupiers), but Jann and Deckham were the strongest members of their band and had risen admirably to the occasion.

The plan was to plop this makeshift bridge over a narrow section of the river away from combat, so Squad Seven could cross it and give the defenders a nasty surprise. If it wasn't for the fog, they might have been noticed, but the Royalists couldn't see them, being too occupied with the masses of troops being thrown at them from the front. The General and the Hero brought forth one last mighty shove and the pair of hollow logs slammed down over the river, allowing Squad Seven to get across.

Kain and Leitner led the way, their black steeds galloping across the logs without hesitation. They neared a couple of unfortunate Sages who heard them, but didn't see who they were until they were already upon them. A pair of Fenrir spells reduced them to dust. The same fate befell a pair of enemy ballisticians nearby, their artillery falling silent along with their corpses. By this point, the other Royalist soldiers had heard the screams and commotion, but the rest of Squad Seven had caught up to Kain and Leitner and still had the advantage of surprise. The dozens of Sages and Archers provided ranged support died at the ends of a Killer Spear and Sword, with Shortbow arrows through their throats, blasted apart by Divine spells, and rendered to dust by more Fenrir magic. The Generals guarding the bridges realized that something was coming up behind them, and the chaos wrought by Squad Seven convinced them that it was actually a much larger force. To their credit, they didn't panic, but they did attempt to fall back to assist their beleaguered comrades. Bad decision—they were promptly swarmed and annihilated by the Red Shoulder cavaliers and the natives.

The rebels had regained the momentum, and let loose a loud cheer, in which Kain and his friends couldn't stop themselves from joining. The battle was still far from won, though—the next two rivers had only one bridge crossing them, and enemy forces were still deeply entrenched beyond both.

That was where the next part of the plan came into play, though.

Castle Almar was located near the eastern coast of Fibernia—the rivers crisscrossing the valley it protected were fed by the sea. Kain grinned when he saw flashes of red and orange light detonating in the distance, strong enough to pierce the fog. They were exploding over the eastern sea—which meant the Rebels' reinforcements had arrived.

The strongest pirate lord of the Isles, Varg, had died during the Civil War, but they'd succeeded in recruiting his successor: Zarg. Though the pirate didn't yet trust them enough to come to the field with them, he'd agreed to spare three hundred of his men on six ships. Thanks to the fog, the Royalists didn't notice them till they'd almost made landfall. Their ships would anchor off the coast nearest to the castle itself, which meant that many of the sages and ballista which would have been attacking Kain and his forces were now occupied by the pirates.

The Royalists were in trouble, and they knew it. Their discipline didn't break, however, and they'd learned their lessons from what happened to their fellows on the first three bridges. The Generals and Sages gurding the single bridge over the second river didn't dare leave their positions, and would be willing to give their lives, if necessary, no matter what was happening behind them.

Against Squad Seven, that was exactly what would happen.

Rather than throw themselves at the formidable defense of the second bridge, the Red Shoulders and their native allies held back, allowing Squad Seven a chance to crack it. And crack it they did.

They stopped their advance for just one moment, to allow Kessler to work his magic. He chanted the words of an ancient spell as he held his Barrier staff close to both Jann and Deckham, bathing them in a dim blue radiance which would shield them from magic attacks. Then they resumed, with the two friends taking the lead, Zalf edging up behind them, and Kessler, Leitner, Kain, and Kassa staying some distance behind him.

The rationale for this formation soon became clear. As Jann and Deckham neared the bridge, they were met by another flurry of ranged attacks. The Royalists thought they'd have an easy kill…but the Hero and the General were no ordinary pair of soldiers. They didn't even bother to dodge the Bolting spells, which spattered harmlessly off of Kessler's Barrier. They only concerned themselves with the Ballista bolts. Deckham broke into a run, which meant that the ballistae found it impossible to hit him in the fog, and Jann simply ignored them; even the massive bolts simply bounced off his huge ebony shoulderplates.

The Royalist Generals guarding the bridge were unnerved, but not broken. They soon would be. As his two companions charged, Zalf quickly nocked an arrow and sent it flying between them. His aim was true, very true—he'd made a perfect, almost virtuosic shot; the arrow slammed right into the vulnerable eye port of one General's helmet and into his brain. As he fell, the magic-users of Squad Seven launched their own magic barrage—a trio of Eclipse spells from Leitner, Kain, and Kassa punctuated by a Purge blast from Kessler. The remaining Generals were set reeling, making them easy prey for Jann and Deckham. Bright silver flashes shone brightly in the fog as the Hero cut and hacked and the General thrust and stabbed. The crunching of metal and a chorus of screams indicated the bridge was now clear, and Kain hollered at the top of his lungs for the Rebels to advance. Kassa got on the back of his horse, Kessler on Leitner's, and the two of them spurred their mounts to gallop behind Zalf, Jann, and Deckham, who had continued to advance and were now focused on destroying the demoralized Sages and ballisticians behind the second river. Squad Seven was followed by the roaring, cheering masses of natives and the other Red Shoulders.

By this point, the Royalist defenders were in dire straits indeed. The pirates had made landfall behind the third and final river and were advancing upon the castle. Realizing they were outflanked and that their defenses were rapidly failing, the Royalists had abandoned their third bridge and retreated back to Castle Almar itself.

There, they still proved they could put up a vicious, vicious fight. Castle Almar itself was not a small, piddling affair. It was close to a fortress, with massive walls ringing a keep bristling with murder holes and dozens of turrets and ballista emplacements. The pirates and the advancing Rebels (who had crossed the now-undefended third river) were again dying by the droves as they were blasted by an unceasing hail of spells from the Sages within the walls along with what seemed to be an almost literal rain of arrows and ballista bolts.

Once again, Squad Seven came to the rescue. "To the east!" Kain yelled. His squadmates didn't know why, but they obediently followed, dodging spells and artillery along the way. When they got in view of the castle's eastern wall, they realized why. There was a large crack running through it. Had the rebels been given some catapults, they might have been able to smash it apart, but as it was, only Squad Seven had the firepower to breach it. Kain and Leitner again spurred their mounts, and the horses galloped up to their impressive full speed, heading straight at the wall and moving too swiftly to be hit by the defenders. As they neared, their riders readied their spells. The Dark magic unleashed a trio of Fenrir spells this time, and the stone of the wall began to rot away as if it were wet wood. A chanting Kessler blasted the weakened section with a Divine spell, and it finally crumbled.

Kain and his friends stopped for a moment, both to let Jann, Deckham, and Zalf catch up to them…and to allow the masses of allied soldiers to pour around them through the newly-created breach. The defenders of Castle Almar could no longer maintain their positions now that their enemies were inside the castle grounds. Archers abandoned their ballistae and Sages put away their Bolting tomes, but the enemy was already upon them, Red Shoulders storming the castle grounds and surrounding and eliminating the remaining Generals and Heroes and the Corsairs and Fighters scaling the walls to dispatch the ranged soldiers.

Now, only the castle keep itself was left. Its gate had closed and it had raised its drawbridge from its moat, but that proved no problem for its attackers. Kain had familiarized himself with the castle's layout thanks to reports from an escaped prisoner who'd once been locked in its dungeons—that was how he knew the section of the east wall was weak. He'd also been informed of how the castle's drawbridge mechanism worked. Thus, he brought his mount over to it, shielding himself in shadow to ward off the spells and arrows tossed down on him. He raised a hand, pointed it at the raised bridge, and summoned the energy of the Fenrir spell—not at the bridge itself, but above it and behind it. The information he'd been given was true. Behind the wall and the gate itself, the chains holding the bridge up rotted away, sending it back down and allowing the rebels entry.

They surged over the newly-lowered drawbridge and into the castle, sweeping away its exhausted defenders. The Royalists had still not panicked or broken completely, but it did them little good, as they knew very well. They fought to the death, refusing to give up, not because they had any hope of victory but because they knew they were already dead anyways.

Those who faced Squad Seven ended up dead sooner than their comrades. The elites spearheaded the rush into the castle. Kain and Leitner trampled unfortunate infantrymen under the hooves of their mounts, Zalf, Jann, and Deckham followed behind, dispatching any Royal soldiers which had been left over, and Kassa and Kessler took up the rear, shielding their friends from ranged attacks with their own long-ranged magic.

At this point, the pirates and natives could take control of most of the castle by themselves, but Kain knew they'd have trouble taking the lord's quarters, where the throne was located. Therefore, this was where he'd next lead his squad. He and Leitner dismounted in the Great Hall, now owned by the rebels, and together with their companions, they charged forwards towards a stairwell at the far end of the room.

As they ascended to the second floor, they were met by a hail of arrows, all of which bounced off Jann's armor, for he was leading their charge. He kept his spear in front of him as he ran, which resulted in him impaling the archer, taking the body up with him, and discarding it only when he reached the second floor. The rebels had already began to penetrate the upper levels of the castle, so Squad Seven's trip to the third and fourth floors went smoothly enough. Only when they reached the fifth, at last, did they encounter what their comrades had been unable to conquer.

When they emerged onto the hallway, they almost slipped and fell, for the floor was slick with blood. The eviscerated bodies of pirates and native axemen were splayed unceremoniously all across the area, and more troublingly, there were also chunks of frozen ice scattered around which were in the shape of hands, legs, and heads.

"Lord Gelmen's the owner of this castle, and I hear he loves his Fimbulvetr tome," Kain said grimly. "Everyone, be careful."

Oddly—and unnervingly—enough, there was no-one alive in the hallway. It seemed as if the rebels had made an attempt on the throne room earlier, were repulsed, and then gave up, leaving everything quiet. At least, until now.

Squad Seven advanced cautiously towards the large oak doors leading to Castle Almar's throne room. No-one came to meet them…though as they neared, they noticed something very strange. There was a breeze wafting in from under the door. No, 'breeze' was too weak a word—there was a chill wind, almost as if a little piece of Ilia was locked in behind that door.

Kain gulped and tightened his grip on his magic tome. He wouldn't be stopped, though, and neither would his friends. "Kessler, restore the enchantments on all of us. We'll need them." The Bishop did as he was told, spending the last charges of his Barrier staff on placing a magic shield around all of his friends. Then the taking of the throne could begin in earnest. Jann walked up to the door, took a deep breath, then, with a dramatic flourish of his Silver Spear, he spun the weapon around in front of him and slammed it into the doors. The wood was strong and thick, but still no match for his strength. They blew apart in a shower of wood splinters, allowing Squad Seven a good view of who their last challenge would be.

The throne room of Castle Almar was actually a rather Spartan affair. No expensive rugs, windows, sculptures, or other such luxuries, few on the Western Isles could afford them, after all, even nobles. There was only a wooden conference table (well, the remains of such, it had apparently been destroyed) in the center of a room large enough to hold perhaps thirty people in a meeting. The walls and floors were bare stone, with only modest glass windows cut into the former to allow the sunlight in. The throne itself was really more of a large wooden chair, lacking even cushions for comfort.

On that throne sat Lord Gelmen, staring impassively at his new guests.

He was clad in a typical Sage's raiment, except his tunic was pure snow-white and his cape was blue. Only a small gold necklace 'round his neck indicated his position. He was about Kain's height, with tanned, weathered skin, piercing blue eyes set into a lean, angular face, all framed by stark-white hair bound into a tight ponytail that fell just down to the back of his neck. He was reclining with his legs crossed, holding a blue Fimbulvetr tome tightly to his chest.

"It's over, Gelmen," Kain began, advancing towards the Sage with his Fenrir tome at the ready. "You put up a good fight, but you can't possibly win. Surrender now, and—"

The lord of Almar Castle allowed himself a small smile. "No, I don't think so. This keep may be yours, but you'll have to work just a bit harder to get it!"

"They always gotta make it difficult," grumbled Leitner, but he didn't have time to grumble much more. Before any of them could react, Gelman flipped open his Fimbulvetr tome—and then the whole world exploded into white.

"Gyah! What the hell?!"

"Dammit, Kain," Zalf yelled, "You've led us into a trap!"

It may have been a trap, but it was like nothing Kain had ever experienced before. Yes, he and his friends seemed to have been blinded by white—because it was snowing inside the throne room itself. Gelman had summoned a miniature, self-contained blizzard with the power of the Fimbulvetr tome. The floor was covered in a thick blanket of snow (making it harder to move), snow, boosted by ice-cold rushing winds, was flying everywhere, making it even harder to see than in the fog outside, and worst of all, Gelmen himself seemed to have disappeared.

"Stupid tricks," Kassa yelled. "Just kill Gelmen and this'll all end!"

"Wait," called Kain, but he heard her chanting, and the next thing he knew he saw a purple sigil form over an indistinct black shape he could make out a few feet in front of him. The Fenrir spell activated with a flash of purple light, and for a moment he allowed himself to hope it had hit Gelmen. Then he heard nothing more than the crumbling of rotting wood, and realize it had hit an empty throne.

Then he felt a massive explosion beneath his feet, pain wracking every inch of his body, and being slammed into the air as Gelmen retaliated.

"AAAAAH!"

A huge ice crystal, almost half as large as the room itself, had blasted out of the ground, scattering the members of Squad Seven and sending them flying. Only Kessler's Barrier spell kept anyone from being killed.

"Rrgh!" Kain gasped as he slammed back down on the floor, fighting a wave of nausea. He blinked through bleary, tear-stained as he struggled to get to his feet. He whipped his head around, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the Sage. Where the hell was Gelmen? He couldn't see his enemy, for some reason—he couldn't tell if it was due to the magic snow, or if Gelmen had actually turned himself invisible. Kain could hear, however, Gelmen's voice. It was another chant, one he recognized as the lead-up to another Fimbulvetr spell.

"Watch out!" he screamed, and around him he could hear his friends scampering around the snow-covered ground, trying to avoid the next blast. Another massive ice crystal materialized out of the air, but this time the shouts of his friends were angry rather than pained—at least they'd been able to dodge it. Kain was still on his hands and knees, but as he attempted to rise, he noticed something interesting. Gelmen actually was invisible, or so it seemed. However, he was leaving tracks in the snow he had summoned. They were almost immediately covered up by the winds of the blizzard, but they lasted just long enough for Kain to get a vague idea of where the Sage was moving. He immediately grabbed his Fenrir tome, opened it, and sent a spell at the last place he'd seen a footprint. Gelmen let out a surprised cry, and Kain heard feet slipping over snow as another purple sigil exploded a few feet in front of him.

The light of the sigil should have been visible to everyone, even through the snow. "ATTACK THERE!" Kain screamed. Almost instinctively, Zalf, Kassa, Leitner, and Kessler followed his orders. Two more Fenrir sigils appeared in the air where Kain's had exploded, a Divine spell fell onto the ground, and Zalf sent an arrow flying blindly to where he thought Gelmen might be.

It was a lucky shot. Gelmen was still invisible, but Kain heard a scream and saw, just in front of him, a black-fletched arrow seemingly floating in the air. It must have hit the Sage's shoulder. "There! There!" he yelled again, but was met by a sheet of ice flying through the air right at his head. He immediately raised his arms in front of his face and tried to summon a shield of shadow; this likely saved his life, but the force of Gelmen's Fimbulvetr spell sent him reeling backwards.

With an angry roar, Jann's obisidian-plated form came barreling at the tiny arrow seemingly floating in the air, but he fared worse than his commander—Gelmen turned just in time to launch a second Fimbulvetr spell, and this one hit the General head-on, completely encasing him in a block of ice. Kain cursed, and Kessler immediately blasted Jann's frozen prison with a Divine spell. The ice shattered, and the General collapsed to the ground, motionless. His friends could only hope he was simply unconscious rather than dead.

If the latter, however, his best friend was determined to avenge him. With a rage-filled, almost berserk shout, Deckham tossed his shield into the air, then jumped up after it. He withdrew the Silver Sword kept in its sheath, and brought it crashing down upon the set of footprints which had appeared just before Jann had been hit.

Kain blinked. As suddenly as it had started, the blizzard stopped. The snow in the air had disappeared, and the stuff on the ground had melted—as he got to his feet, he could hear his greaves slosh around in water. He looked around, and could see his comrades clearly; they were as surprised as he was. He found answers to his questions when he looked to the center of the throne room.

Gelmen stood in front of Deckham, staggering uneasily as blood spurted from the stump where his left arm had been. He took a faltering step back, then collapsed to his knees as his killers gathered around him. Kessler tended to Jann, who had indeed been knocked unconscious, not killed—as the soothing light of a Heal staff washed over him, he grinned as the Bishop helped him to his feet. "Hah, I had nothing to worry about," he joked, "All this armor would've kept me warm!"

Gelmen, for his part, was nowhere near as jovial. He gazed up at Squad Seven, making no attempt to mask his hatred for them, now. "Go…go ahead and kill me," he gasped. "You've already lost. Even if you take this entire island, the King will simply hunt you down. Th…there's no escape…not for you…"

"Maybe not. But there's definitely none for you."

Kain placed one hand on the dying Sage's forehead, and with his other opened his Fenrir tome. And then, with the howl of Dark magic and one last, anguished scream, the battle for Castle Almar came to an end.

::Linear Notes::

The map for Chapter 10A of Sword of Seals is used in this chapter.