Chapter 2: Defend Your Castle

As he ran his lance through yet another of his foes, Paroltean General Doran took the opportunity to momentarily contemplate the situation. Not long after the prince had left the palace, a battalion of soldiers, all dressed in the armour worn by the Reonian army, had appeared. That in itself was unexpected. What was more unexpected was their assault. Reon and Parolt may not have been 'allies' in the strictest sense of the word, but they were (to Doran's knowledge) far from being enemies, either. In fact, throughout the reign of their current Emperor, Reon had refused to take part in any wars unless it was itself invaded.

As a result, Doran was finding it difficult to believe what was going on around him, and had been since the siege began. He was located near the back of the troops, defending the entrance to the castle (he was what a tactician might refer to as a 'knight', a heavily armoured lance wielder), but he could see the battle unfold in front of him, and he forced himself to look away each time one of his comrades was killed.

His trail of thought was interrupted as his noticed the approach of two Reonian soldiers, one carrying a sword, the other an axe. He stood his ground as they came to him, but as they got close, he swung his lance out to its full range, catching the axe-wielder by the leg and knocking him over. This gave Doran the time to parry the sword swings of the myrmidon, doing so with such force the man's sword flew out of his hand, leaving him defenceless to the follow-up strike Doran delivered to both of his enemies.

I hope we get some back up soon, thought Doran, cringing as he once again heard a scream from one of his fallen comrades, or else we're finished.

As that thought ran through his mind, several more soldiers approached. He noticed one thing they had in common – instead of standard swords or axes, they were wielding enormous war hammers. Those were especially dangerous for someone like him – whereas his armour could deflect the strength of most ordinary sword or axe swings, it would instead transmit the impact from a hammer, causing his body to reverberate and possibly even penetrating the armour.

Still, he thought, it is my duty to protect. I must do all I can to prevent these men from gaining access to the castle.

Unfortunately, it seemed 'all he could do' was not enough to stop the onslaught. Despite taking out two of his adversaries, two remained, holding their hammers high and preparing to strike. Doran closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.

He opened them again when he realised the attack would not come. He heard a roar as a huge gust of wind struck the battlefield, creating a blast that knocked the two men onto the ground. Before he had the chance to wonder what was going on, one of the men had an arrow through his skull, while the other had been struck by a javelin.

As Doran turned in the direction the projectiles had come from, his eyes lit up as he noticed Loren and his army. Seeing the predicament he and all the other soldiers were in, they rushed over to him. All the while, Ronal was firing arrows in the direction the enemies were coming from (mostly as warning shots, causing the Reonians to scatter, though one or two did connect with flesh).

"Sire!" exclaimed Doran. "Thank the gods you're okay!"

"Me?" replied Loren. "What about you? You almost got yourself killed there!"

"It would have been a necessary sacrifice, milord."

"Necessary? You're underestimating your own self-worth, Doran. I cannot believe I have to say this, but do not get yourself killed!"

"As you wish, milord."

"He may have a point, though," started Hammond. "Just look at how many of them there are!"

"Not so many that we can't do this," replied Amy. Everyone turned to the tactician, who had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Who might this be, sire?" asked Doran.

"This is Amy," replied Loren. "She might not look it, but she's a very skilled military strategist. I've hired her to work for the Legion."

"Very well, sire." He too turned to Amy. "Do you have a plan to get us out of this mess?"

Amy took another moment to have one final look at the battlefield before replying. "I do," she said. "Notice how the enemy is attacking. In particular notice that they're attacking us in waves. If we defend in waves, as we are doing now, with men positioned different distances from the castle, we'll be overwhelmed. But… if we fight them as a whole unit, we should be able to overpower them."

"So you suggest we have the men positioned further our retreat?" asked Doran.

She shook her head. "That would be unwise. If we do that, we telegraph our plan to them." She looked around the group. "No. What we need to do is push forwards ourselves."

"So, we're throwing ourselves into a fight, are we?" asked Karr.

"That should give us the best chance of victory."

"Who will guard the palace from intruders who slip through our lines?" asked Doran.

"If we all act as a single unit," started Amy, "very few should. We can afford to lessen the number of soldiers defending the doors to the castle."

After a few seconds pause, Loren decided that if they were going to mobilise, they needed to do so now. "No more questions?" he asked? "No objections? Then let's get to it!"

With those words, the seven soldiers charged forwards, drawing their weapons as they did so. Ronal was still letting arrows fly in the direction of his enemies, and the closer he got, the more hit their mark. Eld joined in, casting spells that launched a mixture of fireballs and lightning bolts towards the Reonians.

The sudden appearance of the three horsemen startled many of their enemies, who ended up distracted, allowing the Paroltean soldiers to gain the upper hand. Hammond was striking foes down with his lance, while Karr, armed with several throwing axes, was hurling them into his enemies. Anyone who survived a hit from Hammond would quickly find themselves struck by one of these axes. The two cavaliers made a fearsome team.

Xand, on the other hand, was in a position where he was forced to fight solo. That was hardly a problem – he was much better trained than his foes – but when faced with several opponents at once, even he had difficulty. It wasn't until another blast of wind magic created by Eld crashed into his enemies that he was able to regain the upper hand, dispatching them with relative ease.

By the time Loren, Amy and Doran had reached the main front of the battle, most of the current wave had fallen. They knew the next wave was on its way, though, so they had no time to waste. Under Amy's direction, the Paroltean soldiers began to combine into a single unit, and any man seen fighting alone was given aid quickly so that they could join up with the rest of the army and increase their overall strength.

As she saw the next wave of Reonian soldiers coming over the hilltops on the horizon, Amy called out to the soldiers she was directing. "Let them come to us," she explained, motioning with her hand to stop anyone from simply charging forward. "We'll all stand a far better chance of survival if we stay as a big group."

It seemed that some of the Paroltean soldiers did not share the confidence their prince had in the tactician, as murmurs could be heard all throughout the army. Questions such as "Who even is that?" and "Why should we take orders from a woman?" could be heard rather more loudly that then were intended to be.

Eventually, Loren stepped forward to end the doubts, or at the very least convince his men to act despite them. "Amy has my utmost faith as a tactician," he said. "Listen to her, and I can guarantee not only success, but your safety as well."

The prince's words seemed to calm down most of the soldiers, but one or two still felt they knew better, and that the best solution to their problem was a head-on assault. Amy seethed as they ignored her and simply rushed towards their enemies.

"Let's go!" she shouted to the remainder of the troops, those who had stayed put. "When I said we need to stick together, I meant it! No one gets left on their own!"

By now, the more headstrong of the Paroltean soldiers, those who had ignored Amy's initial words, had closed the distance between themselves and their enemies substantially. As the fighting started, it became clear to them that they really should have listened to her – they were vastly outnumbered, and they likely all would have met their ends had it not been for the rest of the soldiers joining the battle from close behind.

Karr and Hammond were continuing to fight as a pair, though Karr's stock of throwing axes was getting low and he had begun fighting at close-quarters with his lance. They were backed up against foes from afar by Ronal, who was putting arrows in anyone who couldn't be reached from this range.

Doran was up against several foes at once, but it hardly mattered – they couldn't so much as scratch his armour, allowing him to strike all of them at once. One or two mages, seeing his resistance to physical attacks, attempted to cast some fire and wind spells to attack him, but these were dispelled by Eld's own magic, allowing Doran to keep fighting. Each time this happened, Amy took the opportunity to rush in and cut down the mage. They caused little difficulty despite her lack of combat experience – mages are not well known for their ability to defend against physical attacks.

Xand was, in addition to striking down any Reonian who chose him as an opponent, constantly watching the prince. He was confident in the latter's fighting potential, but in such an open battlefield against so many enemies, he knew that one slip could be the end, and he could not allow the prince to come to harm. He would never say so himself, but the prince was by far the most important person on the battlefield, and Xand knew that. He therefore made it his duty to ensure that he did not come to harm, knowing that he'd regret not doing so should the prince come to any actual harm.

His diligence turned out to be a great asset when Loren found himself fighting against two rather strong myrmidons. Barely able to even deflect their attacks, let alone counterattack, Loren found himself pushed into a corner. It got worse when one of their sword cuts hit its mark, and as he felt the metal sear through his flesh, his knew he was outmatched. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

Xand realised he had to help out, and chose this moment to strike. As his horse galloped towards the three men, he lunged forwards with his lance, hitting one of the Reonians straight through the chest, ending his life before he even realised what was happening. His comrade raised his sword, ready to fight, but Xand was too strong, and he met the same fate.

"Milord!" exclaimed Xand after dispatching his two foes. "Are you alright?" He turned out to face the other members of the Paroltean army. "I need a healer over here!"

A man dressed in robes emerged from the huge mass of soldiers, and made his way over to where Loren lay injured. Holding his staff high, he muttered a few words in some kind of ancient language, causing the staff to glow. As he pointed it towards Loren, it gave off some magical energy, causing the latter's wounds to heal.

"Milord," began Xand. "Please take better care of yourself, sire. There are many who would gladly give their lives to protect you. And beyond that, if the others were to see you struggle, or worse, be defeated, morale would plummet. Then we would have no chance of victory."

"I will not stop fighting, Xand," replied Loren. "On the battlefield, my life is worth no more than any other. Surely you have realised by now that is my belief."

Xand sighed. "Very well, sire. However, I suggest you stay close to me to minimise the chance of danger." Loren nodded, and the two of them headed into their next fight.

The battle continued in this fashion for quite some time. Thankfully, the Parolteans' superior numbers gave them the advantage, and they were able to take out a large proportion of their enemy with minimal casualties. Several soldiers were wounded, but Amy, believing that the death of even one soldier was too great a sacrifice, requested that any who were capable of retreating did so, and those that couldn't often had a healer with them with remarkable speed.

Eventually, the Parolteans had whittled down their foes so much that they were able to see a man on horseback, who appeared to be giving orders to the other Reonians.

"Could that be the enemy general?" wondered Amy out loud.

"It seems likely, ma'am," replied Doran. "Should we tell all men to focus our attacks on him, in the hope that we may force the others to retreat?"

Amy thought for a moment before replying. "No, that won't work," she said. "The assault won't stop until they're routed, and if everyone's focusing of taking out their general, the other soldiers are bound to slip through our ranks. But…"

"But what?" asked Eld.

"If a few members of this army can get close enough to take him down, it should reduce morale among the rest of his troops. That should in theory make them easier to defeat."

"But how are we supposed to get near him?" asked Eld. "Not only is there still some distance between us and him, but he's surrounded by soldiers."

"We'll just have to wait," she replied, "and take the first opening we can get."

Fortunately, it was not long before that opening was created. Already running low on troops, the Reonian general was sending ever more men to their deaths, trying to eventually crack the Parolteans. He decided to send out nearly all of his soldiers, leaving only a few to guard him. He only realised what a mistake that was when a gust of winds shot out, knocking two of them down. He saw a woman rush forwards, thrusting her sword downwards and ending the life of one of them before he had a chance to get up. When his remaining soldiers rushed to attack her, they were intercepted by a man in heavy armour, who parried their blows before knocking them to the ground with his lance.

"Do you really think you've won?" he asked the two Paroltean soldiers as they continued to fight against his men. "Even if by some miracle you can defeat me, you're still far from safe!"

Unfortunately, he'd completely forgotten about the mage whose magic had first hit his guards, and now found himself under the facing the same surge of wind. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to stay on his horse, and wound up knocked to the ground. As he stood up, he unsheathed a sword and charged at the armoured man. He fared far better than any of his men, his sword even penetrating the man's armour at one point. He smirked as the heard the scream of pain, but his expression was shorted lived as he narrowly avoided being hit by a fireball. As he jumped away from it, he found himself within the woman's range and, unable to raise his own sword in time, was struck down by a single sword stroke.

"My death…" he said, knowing these words would be his last, "means nothing. You will… fall before… the Empire…" By this point, his wounds were too much, and his body went numb as he died.


As Amy had predicted, he battle did not last much longer after the enemy general was killed. Many of the Reonians fled for fear of their lives, and those that didn't provided little resistance against the Parolteans, who by now far outnumbered them.

Once the battle was over, Loren raced towards the castle, the Posayan Legion and Doran in tow. Once inside, he hurriedly found his two sisters, embracing both of them tightly.

"I'm glad you're both safe," he said, the relief obvious in his voice. "Where is Father?" he asked.

"Father… left shortly after the battle started," replied Lily. "He said he wanted to travel to Reon to determine the reasons for this attack." She saw the colour drain out of her brother's face. "Don't worry. He took his best guards with him. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I hope so. And I hope he manages to find out why the Empire has chosen to attack us now." He was about to say something else, but he was interrupted by Amy, who had been looking out of the castle's windows.

"Loren," she started, "uh, sire. We have to get out of here now."


Next time:

It seems the recent battle was only the beginning of Reon's attack, and now a much larger force is storming the castle. Loren leads his men out through a secret passageway, but this too is being blocked by enemy soldiers. They'll have to fight to get out of the palace to safety.

"The Empire's Might" is coming soon.