Chapter 9: You Do Realize There is an Army at the Gates?
"CRASH!" smoke and rubble covered the sky and ground the silence and ambiance of the early was garroted by the sound of a loud breaking smash upon the ground. The air instantly went thick, the tension rose. And yet, after that singular catapult strike upon the interior of the city, we find nothing. No change to the pace of the people, no alter to their morning procedure. No panic.
"Are they terrorized yet?" A mounted nobleman asked his right hand as they stood outside the gates with their army at the ready. The army assembled was clean, iron clad, and with a proper distribution and diversity of weapons upon their arsenal. The lord at the helm knew full well that they had the superior force at their disposal. They had peerless might at the ready and would be fully able to crush the city without any real effort.
"Young master Conner, they seem to be un-phased as of this moment. Perhaps the city of Jule has not awoken to find that singular catapult shot yet?" The rising of the sun found the city of Jule, the home of house Savoy, in view of a massive military presence. One that nearly held the full sum of the people behind the walls of the city. "Archers, give them a few more volleys lets wake this city up so we can crumble it down!" the right hand to Conner hollered to the men to rouse their spirits for a good early morning slaughter.
…..
"Master Hain!" Crashed rubble was quickly becoming a part of the proceedings in the city as the smoldering giant masses crashing upon the modest city of Jule had no begun causing fear and panic, children, men and women all alike screamed and ran aimless of a goal as they sought to find the safest place from the impending doom upon them. "Master Hain!" amongst the screaming and the roaring crashes thundering throughout the halls of the Savoy keep in the middle of the city a soldier carrying a clean lance was running with purpose toward the lord's hall where he figured knight master Geary, and Lamille the priest would be with the seated lord of Jule, Hain, the younger brother of Shenis. As the soldier entered the hall he found exactly what was expected, even with the noise and screams and the crashes, the three he expected where present and trying to decipher the best solution. "My lord, we are under siege!"
"Yes I know soldier!" a frazzled adolescent Hain remarked in a cracking voice as the terror was gripping him. He had prior to this morning done his best in his brother's stead to be a just and righteous regent but he was just a young boy. He was scared. Geary the aged knight, seeing the fear among the boy's eyes, he grabbed the sword from his side and handed it to Hain.
"Hain, some people get to choose the day they become a man, for you that day is no longer your choice." Hain bit down on his lip as he ceded all military operations to the knight as he was absent understand of the best stratagems for the situation. "Right, well we need to understand something right now. This enemy is not here to subjugate, they are here to exterminate." A hush fell upon the men, other than those noted there were many other low ranking knights, a couple of servants and a few others in the room seeking to know the best way to try and hold. "This enemy from when I was up on a walls a few minutes ago had a ferocious presence about them. I dare say they number in the thousands."
"Are you saying they have a military out there that rivals nearly our entire populous?" The knight nodded and a shock fell over the room.
"My friends, the city will fall. But we must do what we can." The knight was aware of his doom as a thundering crash rattled and breached the very hall they were in. "You there," he pointed to several of the low knights. "Take the young master to the secret passage and pray we can have him escape. After the young master is safe we will slowly funnel those alive out as long as we can." The knight knew this was the best course of action. Lamille gripped his staff knowing his spells would be greatly called upon in this process.
"I only know a handful of the tombs, mostly healing. Yet I will do what I can to aide us in this effort."
"Last one out say a blessing to Kaya!" a young soldier jested. The joke popped a smile on many faces in the room, but the bellowing howl of the march of soldiers upon the walls soon halted the fun. Geary broke the meeting. He took to the forefront with Lamille outside the keep's front door. The men of Jule decided that they would concentrate the military regulars to defending the keep rather than scattering to reinforce the walls or hard barricade the city gates. Inside Hain and the small soldier band moved a bookshelf in the main hall forward to reveal a hidden passage which led below the keep and to the outside of the city. Geary knew the name of the game was to buy time.
"You don't plan on getting out do you Geary?" the priest asked the elder knight.
"I would love to, but I can't just abandon the people to their fate." Lamille and Geary bumped knuckles and shared a smile as the next wave of screaming and rubble and thundering crashes burdened the air. "Just keep me fighting, no matter how ugly it gets priest."
…
"This way master Hain." Now in the path under the keep the solders took the lead as they hoped to clear a way for the young lord's escape. Fleeing was never a fun notion but for this scenario it was for the best. "This way..!"
"BOOM!"
"UGH, UGGH COUGH!" A strong smash and cloud of dust filled the narrow corridor. The young lord found himself strongly coughing and unable to see as the torch they had for light seemed absent amidst all the chaos. "Men where are you." He called out to no answer as the only sounds were those of the ongoing battle outside the cavern. After a few minutes of trying to adjust the light from the main hall caught up to the young lord and he saw the truth. The way was shut. The crash caved in the corridor and blocked the escape route, and killed the soldiers with him. Grief overcame the young lord with a sword at his hilt. He fell to his knees in despair as the roar of battle and the reality that this might be his end began sitting upon him more so than prior. He was fully paralyzed and unsure of what the best course of action was, or it there was truly a correct play in this fray.
"Young master." A friendly voice called as he grabbed the lord on his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Thank Kaya you're alright! We must flee this dead end." The young lord was still inside himself immobile and petrified as the soldier drug him back along the path, once again into the main hall. The soldier kept pulling the young master all the way outside the keep to the ground where Geary stood at the ready as the enemy army had begun attaching their siege ramps to storm the keep.
"Why are you here young master?" the seasoned knight questioned as the howls from the city watch being slaughtered atop the wall posts and at the gates rang forth like a doomed bell.
"Sire, the tunnel crumbled and caved in, the way is shut!" the soldier who pulled Hain from the tunnel explained. Geary's heart dropped in a panic from the news. Those who could bear arms were scattering about in a chaotic panic as with each moment the enemy soldiers became more of a presence inside the walls. They were like a seas of ants befalling a bug they happened upon, swarming and overpowering with each second. Archers and meager lance soldiers on the wall fell after gallant but futile efforts.
"I still have breath!" a young man called forth as head stood he on the wall snapping his bow with strong haste. He was nothing more than a simple archer employed to man the wall but his resolve was shining through and he continued shooting in spite of the waves emerging. "
"THUCK!" his arrow shot true as the hoards of fighters, grew atop the wall. It was clear the fighter's mission was to open the gate to make way for the regular knights, cavaliers, and soliders to enter and raze the city fully. And yes while the city was growing more defeated as Jule had a full population that seeming equal to the enemy army, the men inside the walls knew it was victory or death, nothing less.
"THUCK!" The archer had no time to celebrate a critical wound to the enemy fight as he reached back for his next arrow. As he reached back to his quiver he noticed that this arrow he was drawing was his last in the quiver. He drew its strings back true and fired with haste. Now, was not the time to wallow in despair or celebrate shot as he knew survival depended upon him continuing to fire shots. He was skinny to boot, and while his muscles were developed for bow shooting he simply could not swing a sword or axe with gusto and power. He looked down the wall path and saw the corpse of a comrade. This didn't bring defeat to his eyes, but hope as he saw the quiver on his back was mostly still full. The archer ducked low and began moving toward the quiver. Screaming and chaos as happening all around him as several fighters began dropping of the wall and converging on the guards holding the gates shut. Others began slaughtering and civilians below. Others still held their opposed the enemy and fought for their very lives. The as the archer neared the quiver a couple fighters collapsed upon his positon. They made eyes and moved to cleave his head with an axe stroke. The archer quickly strafed to the side to dodge the first barrage while the second fighter moved to position for the follow up blow. The archer made his move for leapt forward, he tumbled over the corpse holding the quiver and quickly jerked loose the contents of the quiver. Holding roughly 15 arrows he gripped tightly and shoved them collectively as one weapon forward into the neck of the fighter at his side.
"SHUNNK!" behind him the other fighter took a javelin to the chest and sauntered back a few paces before falling backwards and over the wall. The archer looked down to see the comrade who made the throw. The soldier was leaned forward and unbalanced from the throw but the archer nonetheless was grateful for the shot. He nodded his head toward the solider who in turn nodded back as the archer pulled what arrows he could free from the neck of the fighter whom he had just stuck. The archer composed himself for a split second and holstered the bloody arrows dripping with life into his quiver. He tugged back on his bow and continued his shooting.
As minutes streamed forward soon there were no longer defined lines. There was simply conflict. Person attacking person. Slash unto slash as swords broke, lances shattered, shields clashed. Slaughter ensued.
"Shyte!" the archer commented as he found his quiver nearly empty again and his positon almost fully overrun. He blitz further down along the wall scouring what he could trying to in this moment keep attention off of him as at this point most all enemy soldiers were streaming through the now busted open gates. Leaving the blitz over the walls more of a secondary entry way. The archer managed to recycle from corpses several damaged arrows, but he holstered them anyway. He knocked one of the bent ones and as he loosed it, he cringed as the flight pattern altered and struck a soldier baring the colors of Savoy. "Whoops!" he immediately tossed all but two of the arrows he had recycled as he wished to not have any further friendly fire due to flight paths.
However, the need for arrows still remained. Looking down the line of the wall he found a stash box. The archer quickly ducked toward it and opened the box to find dozens of bundles ready to be stocked into a quiver. This box seemed a treasure chest to the soar shouldered young man fighting for his life. He quickly holstered a sheave of arrows and grabbed another sheave to hold in his arm not holding his bow. He dropped the secondary sheave and resolved to fire until he had to move. In a quick succession of shooting he emptied the first sheave and loaded into his quiver the second he had. As he untied the binding at the fetter of the arrows to allow him to draw individual arrows he noticed a several men and women being slaughtered below him as they tried to grip the mostly smooth wall in any attempt to flee. The young man flew quick a few arrows to kill several below but reality began setting in with each shot. As they were not soldiers but there were women and children being slaughtered, showing that these enemies were not going to take prisoners. The young man looked back and forth down the wall and noticed fully that he was the last man of Jule standing on the section of the wall he was at. Even worse he could see off further in the distance others whom were in better secure sectors he could see them faltering and falling from post. The city was overrun.
The city was overrun. A reality that Geary knew as he gathered what men could to the aide of the young lord and ordered retreat as he held the line to the entry of the keep. While he was happy the volley of catapults stopped, he knew it was only to afford better safety for the enemy soldiers now upon them. And now finally a couple of over eager lads found themselves barreling toward the knight. "Have at thee you bitches!" the knight thrust his spear deep into the first to reach him. He raised his shield true to block as slash from the fighter to his right. Geary parried the shot and with full strength available to him, he pulled the lance free from the first enemy and maneuvered it around to cleave the head of the second.
"These are men of Dol." Lamille mentioned as Geary rallied the men to his post.
"These bastards of Dol think we are trapped in here with them!" The knight raised his spear high. "We are not!" He positioned his shield true in his front as fleeing and broken lines all around found themselves encroaching in closer to the knight. He knew he had to hold as long as he could to give as many as possible a chance to retreat inside the keep before they shut it to hold for a final stand. With one more deep breath he bellowed out the final portion of his rally cry, "THEY ARE TRAPPED IN HERE WITH US!" the words bolstered those on the steps of the keep. He sent the young lord inside the keep and bid all others save a few knights and Lamille flee inside. The lines around were faltering further, yet in the distance the knight could see amidst the slaughter an archer continuing to fire, dodge, and stick to his purpose atop a portion of the wall that was no longer even contested save this one young man. "He isn't quitting, so I can't neither." The knight thought to himself as panicked and bloodied men and women raced inside the gentry's hold. Children screamed as they past and mothers cried their futile prayers for blessing for those standing fast with Geary as they hustled inside. Geary organized his men into a phalanx line. And shifted to create a choke point and a safe zone up the low slopped stairs. He had only 7 other knights holding with him, several of whom either had severely bloodied of broken shields, and one of the men clearly had a fully broken leg but they were resolved to give it their all.
The archer noticed that all lines were faltered at this point and only those enveloped and forced to stand ground were doing so at this juncture of the siege. Even his position was fully precarious and no longer even marginally safe. Knowing this he fired two more shots before slinging his bow over his shoulder. He grabbed a final sheave from the cache supply of arrows, which still held many bushels but he could not move the box and no longer could maintain that location. He leapt down from the wall and landed onto a thatched roof below. He resolved to go about on the building crowded commoner side of town where the civilians unable to move toward the castle where making their stand with whatever was available. Mothers swatting at knights with pots and pan. Children biting and gnawing at soldiers. This was war as all bets were off in this siege. He kept moving down further and further from where Geary was making his stand as he hoped to find a spot to escape over the wall safely. The archer remained on the rooftops to stay out of most of the men's eyesight below, and even those who did make him, paid him no mind as they were already fixed to another target. The archer made his way further and noticed the trades sector of the civilian part of town. He noticed a good friend of his below, somehow maintaining, not winning but maintaining his form. "Dax!" He called out to the blacksmith. The man was only a few years older than the archer but where the archer was slender and relatively weaker save for the muscled needed for firing an arrow, the Smith was a massively muscled man, and while no giant in stature his arms were anchors and armor in their own right. The smith holding his favored tool a smith hammer, swung with fight and caved in with one shot the breastplate of a soldier much to the shock of those around as the man died from a blunt chest shot. Dax then picked another soldier up by his neck and smashed his skull to bits with downward thrust unto his tool. The shattered noise sung through the city with a strong ring even as murder, pillaging, crashing, violence, fear, and anguish filled the air, the blows from Dax seemed to bring new light into the surrounding. The archer seemed at awe and dumbfounded by the power the smith possessed in his strokes of the hammer.
"SHUNK!" as he stood still in awe a newly minted corpse fell forward from behind him and startled him back to the pressing situation. The body had an axe in its back.
"Grab that for me please." A voice called from the valley back near the wall. The young man quickly huffed and pulled and eventually loosed the axe from the man's back and looked over back to see a man climbing up onto the roof. He was taller than the average man and had arms just as big if not bigger than Dax. The archer handed the man the axe which was upon seeing tree shavings in his hair knew that the man was a lumber cutter for the city. Both he and Dax were built like fighters, strong in physique and peerless with full power thrusts. The wood cutter thanked the archer for his axe back and jumped down from the roof and proceeded over toward the smith. The two stood a strong imposing duo and the archer felt his best chance to survive the day after seeing both of their power was to back them up. He took his bow from his back and grabbed an arrow, knocking it and jumping from the roof he loosed it into an enemy soldier as he collided into the man's body. The archer hit the ground and rolled to his feet and blitzed to Dax' position next to his forge.
"You okay Somme?" the smith said in a serious tone. The battle was still waging onward but it seemed the trio had cleaved a respite for themselves with their recent kills as most of the enemy was being order to coalesce upon the keep and thrown down the banner of Savoy from it.
"Yeah Dax, I thought I was done for on the wall many a time." The archer replied. "I got luck more than my share today.
"Luck isn't all it is." Dax retorted. The timber cutter and the archer were breathing heavy, with the archer so much more out of breath from the constant conflict of the day. "You trained your body and made sure you had the right tools to stand and fight as an archer. You didn't try to foolishly grab a spear or a sword or a shield mid fight and go from a known form of combat to an unknown one." Somme took heed of those word and remember many around him grabbing spear and sword when they had never held it or had the wrong armor or clothing on to properly use it. He then looked to himself and more importantly the two men next to him. They were not warriors, they were not soldiers, or knights, or generals, or landed gentry lords. Yet, these two stood now beside him in the middle of an annihilation siege, because they stuck to what they knew, much like Somme and his arrows. "Burt how are you holding?" the smith asked the wood cutter.
"It's been a long day Dax, I don't think the city will survive this." The wood cutter said with his hands on his knees as he spoke another squadron of Dol men had made their way through the maze of structures through the city to where the three were. Somme seeing this began to knock an arrow for fire. Dax put his arm in front of the heavy breathing archer.
"Save the arrows Somme." Dax spoke to the archer. The smith tightened his grip on the hammer in his hand and stepped toward the rushing enemy. "Get on the roof here and back us up. Only shoot if you need to." Somme could tell Dax was concerned about the number of arrows remaining for the archer as while he had nearly two sheaves, he knew from the post atop the wall and the stand he made there that those arrows can be gone rather quickly and there might not be any others around at all. Burt seeing Dax move to purpose, ceased leaned forward onto his knees and stood tall.
The men of Dol seeing two move toward them made no hasty moves until their squad captain screamed for action. It was a smaller squad of roughly ten men and the two fighters from the civilians began to make quick work while Somme took post atop the Smith's roof to provide cover. As he took a knee to gain better balance he heard loud horn blasts in direction of the Savoy Keep.
"SHUNK!" Another knight fell flat to the floor around Geary. The knight groaned as he parried back another blow after blow as his phalanx line had fallen prey. Lamille was focusing all his healing magic toward keeping Geary standing upright. The knight at this point was limited in movement as his armor was bashed in all sides disrupting his normal movement patterns. Geary knew it was all falling down. He lunged forward and shoved his lance into a man's face In front of him. While he did this he removed his helmet with his shield arm and began biting loose the straps of his armor in hopes of granting better movement in his final moments.
"Close the door!" he hollered several times with his voice muffled as the Dol army was puncturing through and making their way at the Keep's door. Pulling a main strap loose, the knight used his shield arm to rip off his breastplate which in doing so freed his movement as the countless blows had bent parts of the joints in his armor. Geary let out a wild yell and began hacking flailing his mighty spear with further authority than before. He felt perhaps he could hold out just a while longer.
Suddenly, the pain from the wounds and pain from new wounds became a thundering jolt in his mind as that was all that his brain started to understand. The jolting pain forced him to bite down on his own teeth so hard he cracked all of his molars instantly. He sauntered forward and let a wild slash backward to cover his sides. "Lamille! I could use more healing!" he called as he kept swinging his weapon and parrying with less and less strength of each swing. He began noticing that breathing was more difficult as he coughed up a touch of blood that ran into his beard.
"Lamille! I need more help!" He turned around to see Lamille cleaved into two on the floor. His torso separated from his legs. A swordsman from among the ramble of soldiers, knights, and cavalry had ended the priest. The moment slowed and Geary could see the last of the knights with him on the steps fall in the goriest of fashions. As he looked about he saw civilians being slaughtered men and women being tortured and raped, he could see the sea of the Dol army already with a battering ram upon the very doors to the keep.
"BANG!" a fighter with a true axe strike knocked the large shield held by Geary from his arm, the Knight faltered forward as he let out one final war cry as the enemy proceeded to silence his call with a flurry of lance and axe strikes. Geary was dead on his knees with more cuts than any had ever imagined being he release from life.
….
The axe and hammer fighters finished up the smaller squadron that fell upon the trio but as they heard the distinct battle cries and pounding sound of a battering ram upon the gate to the main keep. The Trio knew the city was fully lost. "We stay here we eventually die." Dax said aloud, hopping to think of someway for them to escape. While just a few moments earlier the air was filled with cries and howls and slashing and crashing or war, the sounds, save those at the keep doors were lessening quickly. This meant that fighting was slowly, meaning most resistance was gone.
"If we can get atop the wall with some rope, over on that side." pointing to area that is furthest from the Dol armies initial position of advance. "We may be able to secure and rappel down the city of the wall and get out of here."
"Better than dying here." Burt replied. The group knew what they needed to do. They quickly sprinted toward the nearest thatcher's hut to get a long stretch of strong rope. Gore and stench of war were fully present on the way to the hut. A few soldiers passed them and were culled from the world of the living and few older women and children the trio put out of their misery.
They reached the thatcher's house to open the door and find that there was indeed rope...Yet, the only rope present in the house was in use already. The Thatcher had used his rope supply to hang himself and his family as the battle's ferocity burrowed down upon them. "We need to cut them down and get the rope." None of them wanted to do this, to move the defeated dead bodies. But after a few moments of staring and lamenting and being barraged by the reality of the siege. Burt chopped the corpses down and cut the ropes at the top of the nooses.
"We can ponder all of this later but our window to survive is waning. They might keep a few women and children alive, but we three are men of fighting strength, the only way we last is to flee this graveyard." Burt who seemed the more strong silent type of the three, knew the right words to bolster to action. The group tied the cut ropes together and then coiled it up and slung it over Burt's shoulders. They made their way to the wall's stairs furthest from the main commotion, on the way they drew a few contests but all fell with ease to the trio that was determined to escape, as the noise of battle save for the keep was gone and those among the rest of the city were purely unruly soldiers, seeking chaotic thrills. Thus men of resolve bested them without effort.
Quickly with as little noise as possible they reached the top of the stairs and secured the rope to allow their descent. The three made their way to the bottom and quickly vaunted toward the nearby trees to stay out of sight.
"THUD!"
"Uhh damn that was my head!" Dalton called as he grabbed his forehead. Through all the chaos and war and gore, what was a bright morning was now as the trio of Dax, Burt, and Somme reached tree coverage was dusk.
"Who are you brigand?" the Smith called as he readied his hammer. As they said this the four in the tree cover with them emerged.
"I am Shenis Savoy, the Baron of Jule, will you help me in rescuing those still alive inside?"
====Author's Note========
Hey there its remi! I hope you are enjoying this chaotic tale.
I had someone ask me recently who the protagonist is. Please comment as a member account I can dm you answers as I want to chat with you. Please. For this story there are many protagonists in my eyes. Tbh the penultimate hero to me has been revealed but I want this to feel GOT/LOTR/ FIRE EMBLEM RADIANT DAWN esque, where the main protagonist is arguable as this is a story of the world of Wiera and not 1 man or 1 woman. It's a challenge for me but makes it fun to be able to write about many different things and not have to be stuck on one party the entire saga. Obviously some characters I see as cooler than others. And this is also why it's a bit unclear about who the many person is because I usually don't like most "lord characters" in fire emblem.
anyway whom do you enjoy right now?