Chapter 23: The Cavalier's stand (Parakles)
"Fire a few ballasta rounds!" Conner yelled to his underling. The massive arrow carts were now in place and slung the giant bolts deep into the city, impaling people and damaging building with extreme malice. The Bruin forces under Conner had surprised Shenis' force by already having Imholt under their wing prior to Shenis' arrival which left Runsa open for recapture, and this time Conner was not going for a soft treaty.
"Lord Bolden the men are ready to storm advance and break the gate after that last salvo has decimated its strength."
"Good. Send the men in and send all that is needed to fully crush the town underfoot! This is no longer a calm occupation this is a decimation." The Bruin forces under Conner had been stalled mostly since the conquest of Jule. Conner had received word earlier that week as well that with the south lands conquered as well as the island of Jali that any new military efforts would be going for Valtrex and not reinforcing their front. Conner was concerned by this news. He knew there would be no influx of men coming and his conquest while under control was creating scenarios assembling heavy casualties for his army.
Inside the chaos and noise of the ballasta shots forced an immediate panic. Ernst Cavan and the men inside were nothing. Parakles riding his trusty steed signaled the archers on the wall to do their duty to the fullest. However there were only three of them. He knew their defense would only be minimal in value. He signaled for Ernst to take position in his main hall. Where Ernst's two guard knights would position at the entrée and hold back while Parakles rode alongside them.
"Sir Parakles!" a teenage boy's voice called amidst the panic of preparations for the failure of the wall. "How can I be of assistance? I want to help." The boy was Griff, a stable hand who takes care of Parakles horse and the Cavan family horses when they are not in use. Griff was barely 14 years old but able to carry quite the load and had heart. Parakles smiled at the young man as another Ballasta shot punched a massive hole in the wooden gate.
"Come with me then as my squire, I'll get you a lance and shield." Parakles motioned into the keep.
"AHHHHH!" one of the archers was hit by a ballasta shot and completely skewed upon the bolt as it sailed past the wall and into the very wall of the keep. The other two atop the wall both felt the same as they looked back to see their long-time friend and neighbor meet such a grizzly demise.
"To hell with this!" said one to the other as he immediately fled his position from the wall and descended the stairs to in front of the gate.
"Tomirys!" the other archer called as he watched the strength of his partnership dwindle. Ladders slammed into the tops of the wall. Marking for certain the ending events of the meager siege.
"BAMMMMM!" The gate broke open and the horde thrusted upon the fleeing archer impaling him without a fight. The archer still atop the wall found his position alone and growing faint with the moment.
"COME ON GAGE!" He thought trying to gain some courage. He quickly remembered the oil trap over the entryway. Quickly as enemy soldiers poured in below he ran to the rope securing it. The knots were tight from long being in place. He removes his side knife and chops it clean. The black thick liquid animal fats pour upon the enemies unlucky enough to be under the vat line. The archer quickly grabs the nearest torch and tosses it upon them. As the embers near the drenched men several look up to see their fate emerge as if in slow motion with the torch's flame engulfing the oil as the initial contact with a single soldier occurs. The reaction is a wave of torment erupting upon the line as men panic and drop their weapons, or begin slashing violently as the fire sears deep into the skin and attempts to melt their armor. The heat is immense and wild. The archer smiles as at first at knows his actions may just buy time or create a gap or perhaps be a catalyst to turn the tide for the people of Runsa.
Noises from the ladder grow louder and Gage sobers to the moment. He knows the fire won't kill enough and will only enrage those remaining. He looks down the line and sees the back path of the town toward the main keep is uncontested. Citizens are taking shelter through the path and Gage knows any last stand will be in the keep with the walls breeched. He runs quickly, there is no other thought to continuing to fire as now his position is overrun as the first few men of Bruin settle atop the wall. "Legs don't fail me now."
Inside the keep Parakles understanding the doom upon them, dismounts his horse and sends his friend away from the incoming bloodbath. All that stand between the end of Cavan is the two knights of the personal guard of Ernst, Parakles, and a young man whom is holding a shield and sword for his first time today. "Griff, make sure to stay back once this gets ugly. Don't let your story end today."
"Sir, I am a stable boy, my story never began." Griff says not with pity or sadness in his voice but with a resolve that somehow bolstered and rallied the rider. Parakles stood lance at the ready, short sword at his side. His dark blue armor ready for abuse as the bangs upon the meager keep door rattled the stone frame. As another bang pounds and cracks the very door itself Parakles looks back to his lord. Ernst was no warrior noble. He had a rapier of his own but was not going to be some man of valor or beast of peerless might in this contest, it was all up to the cavalier.
"Kaya, bless spear and make it deadly."
"BAMMMM!" The door falls off the hinges as presses flat inward. The two knights stand with their shields high and their lance tips forward. They positioned at a choke in the hall that will funnel the men against them and perhaps elongate a final stand. They know their death is at hand, and yet as men of duty they stand. Parakles sees the soldiers rushing and fears the weight of the incoming Bruin men will simply knock the knights over and allow them to storm past absent any contest. He and Griff push and brace themselves behind the knights hoping their added weight will hold the line long enough for the initial push to subside for a rally. But the rush didn't come. The enemy halted and thrusted forward clanging the shields with the lances. The brace proved useless as the enemy now rained lance thrusts into the shields, as if probing for a wince or a knock, something to off the two knights in their stand. Parakles and Griff backed off and readied as they felt the inevitable to come. At the rear of the hall stood Ernst with his rapier ready. Parakles signaled Griff to take up position next to the lord.
And then the moment came a shield came loose and the knight on the left lost his footing just enough as the guard gave way and the soldiers began streaming through. The knights immediately turned back to back to hold and attack as able. Parakles ran into the first to break past the line impaling the soldier. He then kicked the man off his spear and slapped upward connecting with the jaw of the next man. With the tip skyward he then swashes it back toward his right side pushing the man into the next two to cross the breech. The lines were now muddled though as the hall found with each moment a swelling of bodies.
A stab catches the cavalier in the side. He winces hard at the notion and then swipes his lance to catch his assailant. Ernst is powerless but to watch as the three at the front are overrun, and yet not falling. Parakles finds a brief moment to drop to his knee in the chaos. However a solider of the Bruin sees this opening in the hunched lead of the defense.
"SHUNNK!" an arrow robs the soldier of his initiative and knocks him over. Parakles rotates his neck to see the final archer from the wall Gage, still bold to purpose in the midst of the turmoil. The archer moves in and take position next to Griff and Ernst who are now taking their first salvos of attacks upon them. Though they are only extremely wounded men whom have reached the lord and squire so far they are still taxing kills to claim for the duo.
Frustration mounts as the enemy resort from tactics and simply tackle the two knights at the front. Pinning them to the ground and then with their own shields as they flail under the wave they smash both of their skulls in. Parakles grits his teeth and tears shed as he knows the end is neigh. He rallies what strength remains in his bones as blood and sweat lubricate all joints and mucles beneath his previously blue armor. With the aid of what arrows Gage has left the two combine to disrupt the lines, even while the Bruin men attempt to do to him as they did to the knights. Simply drop them from their feet and pound him to death. Yet Parakles resists as he continues his spear swipes.
Once more he lunges, pinning a soldier to the end of his lance. "CRANK!" the lance snaps as another soldier smash down upon the exposed front of the spear. The cavalier lets the spear go and then pulls in a smooth motion in time to block an incoming blow his sword from his side. The attack is parried to his left, the lone front man then kicks high to soldier breaking his jaw. He then slams his foot hard to the ground to draw attention. He is breathing heavy but still seems to have energy for more. More of what? He knows his end is moments away and he is still hungry for more. What is it that drives him? It is unknown and yet it startles the soldiers at the front and nearest him. Sobriety enters them and they are no longer interested in charging as they seek to preserve their own lives over the cause of the mission at hand. One cavalier absent his lance and with only his short sword, no horse in sight and yet a swarm of men still with their primary weapons and their general's words and commands ringing in their ears are held in check.
"HALT!" The word is simple but it forces instantly the men of the Bruin to drop their posture from offense to attention. The men at the front of the hall soon part as they are alerted from the men behind them of the incoming general, Conner himself has entered the room.
"Ernst Cavan! I shall offer this to you one time and only once. Surrender yourself and I will spare your family and your men who still fight this futile battle.
"NEVER!" Parakles screams as he though breathing heavy and off pace raises his sword high to the sky.
"STOP!" the cavalier looks back to see his lord toss his rapier forward. The toss goes in front of the cavalier and drains the remaining spirit the rider has. The sword bounces along the ground and atop several dead and dying and the reality of its end drops Parakles to his knees as his sword collides with the ground the man of valor still breathing heavy knows he has failed, and while perhaps his life is saved, he knows that of his liege is forfeit. "Drop your weapons men, I will not be the reason for the rest of your deaths today." Conner smiled as he also sought to further minimize his own casualties. He knew that the siege would further dwindle his numbers but never imagined the toll the small force would take upon the force. He was glad to see the end of the conflict.
"Take them into custody. And go the lord's apartment and arrest the family." The men bustle off in formation as the three remaining fighters in the Cavan house including an exhausted Parakles are quickly corralled and then put in iron chains.
As the trio of Parakles, Griff, and Gage watch the proceedings and take stock of the battle itself the family of Ernst emerge from another part of the small keep. His wife and 4 small children the eldest being his 10 year old daughter Ella. They all are presented and then Conner asked the citizenry that were cowering in the pantries and halls to come forth. They hesitate at first but then move from the shadows into view. They are frightened and fearful that slavery and chains would be their fate in this demise. Conner however, had another idea in mind and wished to make a simple spectacle for all to see.
"Butcher!" He called for a man from the rear of his personal guard to come forward. The man didn't have heavy armor like most of the men in his ranks. Though he had a giant battle axe. Two men then came forward and grabbed Ernst from behind and forced his head upon a wooden end table another brought out from a side room. Panic and screams and pleas from all the people and the trio in chains filled the air. With the most violent of these begs being loosed from the family of the lord as he lay still and solemn as if he accepted his end. The man titled butcher moved to purposed and smashed his axe down cleaving the head of the lord in one clean swoop. Tears rand down the face of Parakles as Lord Cavan had always trusted him and though he was a few years the rider's senior the lord counted him as a trusted friend.
Griff and Gage both looked away as the event though their ability to hide from it was little due to their chained position. The lady Cavan then fell to the floor and her head collided hard with the stone pavement. One of the soldiers kicked her to see if she would respond as the children in shock from the moment then screamed for both their father and mother. "Sir she's dead." The soldier spoke toward Conner Bolden.
"Probably for the best. She didn't seem a woman of constitution." He examined the kids as they flailed and panicked at the sights. He then ordered that they be put in iron as well. The trio and the children were then led out of the castle as the headless body of their lord and lady were now strewn from the top of the keep as a reminder and visual of the position of the Bruin.
Conner then commanded that the trio be sent to the prison camp that Seutonis had established near Lowell back West, in the Southlands. A place of labor and forced work for all enslaved during the proceedings of the warfare. The children however were to be sent to the capital of Dol to be held as hostages and potential matrimony alliance bargaining chips for the Bruin clan in the future. Conner devoted adequate men to each party and then sent them on their way.
"Parakles….what will we do?" Griff questioned the seasoned rider.
"We survive Griff. That is all we can do." The rider answered.
"I just hope we last the trip." Gage spoke as almost as his sentence was finished a blunt lance smashed upon his back and called for silence from the men as a the walked in chains and had to watch the children of Cavan whom were always so sweet marched off in a slightly different path and to see them fade into the distance.
"We will survive. And we will rescue those kids." The rider spoke as a smack collided with his back. His winced at the pain of the swat but gritting his teeth and trying to keep strong for Griff gave him resolve in the pain.
In all Conner's forces took Runsa this time by force. Though the battle saw another 58 of his men fall from this world by wounds, burn and injures grown too severe. In addition another 40 were given leave to deliver and bolster the prison camp and transport the hostages to Dol. Conner was frustrated at the final tally though knew it was a cost of doing business in these wild parts. "Next we will crush Mitre and then on to Coastal Wharf." His numbers still were massive by any standard but he sought to end the conflicts soon.