A/R:

Kolek Blood Drinker: Again, thanks for the heads up. Keep tripping myself up and hoping that I can avoid those same mistakes, lol. Also Happy new year to you too!

Dandaman5: That's tempting, but if I were ever gonna use a character like him, I'd want to give him ample screentime and with so many characters I'm already using on top of the ones I will use in the future, I feel as though I wouldn't be able to do him justice, especially at this stage of the story…eh, but I guess never say never. We'll see.

Darkwarrior41: We shall see whether or not your prediction is on point my friend.

Wangbu: See that scenario of yours would make sense in a vacuum, and I commend you for constructing that. How it'll actually go down will be a lot more violent shall we say…and shocking.

Annoying POW Marine: Thanks I appreciate that. I figured it was high time that Lyle have someone in high Bretonnian society he could commiserate with and I felt that after reading into Cassyon's backstory he would fit that description perfectly. Also I didn't even consider the Deviantart tags thing until you mentioned them, but yeah when I think about it, that actually tracks. Lol, thanks for the compliment nonetheless.

Deadzepplin: Technically, if you believe the lore, Bloodbowl has always been around, just not as world-spread except for the BloodBowl games. But if you wanna see it that way in my stories case I'm not gonna refute that.

Aymen El Kadouri: Yeah for some, the corruption aspect could be enjoyed or criticized depending on who is watching the game. It's just that Lyle comes from a sport and culture that heavily looks down on those kind of practices.

Women ruiz: Love the Yellow Turban call out, big fan of the Three Kingdoms, I see. And hopefully Lyle's little rebellion is more successful than it, lol. Also you may actually be surprised by the norscan inclusion that comes in later on, beyond them just being fodder for the King early in the story.

Dadg12346: Magical Pasta and Bloodbowl fan unification. You had me at Pasta.

Destroyer78901: It's very easy to make an anti-elf alliance, especially in Warhammer when so many elven societies turn their noses up at the ones they deem lower than them…which includes almost everyone. Also I'm glad I could entertain!

Beans81717: Thank you for the compliment, that means the world to me! Also if you go back to when Lyle was first encountering Beastmen and meeting the dwarves, he actually already has had his name written in the Book of Grudges…or a Book of Grudges technically. Chapter 13.

Focus of the Future: Sometimes the best chats come from the simple things, like sports. Glad you seem to think so!

Zerkil: Damn right!

RandomSovietFarmer: Hey if people are doing at least a double or a triple take at the sight of Lyle's merry band of misfits, I'm not doing my job as a writer, especially if it isn't believable enough to the average viewer.

…

Cassyon stared at the peasants-turned-soldiers with a mystified expression, feelings of conflict overturning in his mind as he saw the peasants, or what he thought were peasants. It was hard to tell or even believe that they were low-born, given how they wore uniforms that made the duke envious and more than a little perturbed, given how they resembled something the men of the Empire would wear. He watched as they drilled and trained under the strict tutelage of the one he heard, Wendel, while others stayed readily alert, watching the now distant treeline. A treeline that oozed danger and a special paranoia not just in the undead army but in the Duke himself, with the ambushes he'd suffered these past few months still fresh in his mind.

He went back to staring at the peasants he was starting to see as soldiers, noting how they were keeping a wary glance at not just him but also the pegasus knights he had come here with. Their stance had been this way since Cassyon and his knights had made themselves at home in their camp, keeping a healthy berth between himself and the other necromancers and musketeers that had littered said camp. Ironically, the tension between the knights and the peasants was greater than that of his very same knights and the necromancers who seemed to follow Lyle's lead in letting them be. It wasn't as though the two sides liked each other; it was just that they didn't fully trust each other, which gave them an understandable and familiar distance to accommodate such distrust.

With the peasants, it was different. There was anger. Resentment. This was no simple distrust, this was a level of volatility that Cassyon wasn't used to seeing. Usually, the peasants would meekly stare down at the ground whenever they were in the presence of a noble such as himself, and some still were, maybe out of habit, but the Duke felt they were simply not in the mood to stare in his direction.

He was sure that things would come to blows between his knights and peasants, especially when some of Cassyon's comrades came to get some water, and the rude comments from the musketeers nearly started a brawl then and there. It was only because Lyle had intervened directly and spoke in no uncertain terms that there would be any chaos between the two parties, lest they make it the last mistake of their lives.

Had it been any other peasant at any other time, Cassyon might have tempted to behead them on the spot. Given the situation, however, and the fact that they held rifles was enough to dissuade him and his fellow knights of that notion. That and after what Cassyon had heard about the rampant corruption and slave trade that ran from Bastonne through Bordelaux, he could understand why the unwashed masses could be a mite upset at anyone of noble birth.

Cassyon had almost immediately tossed out the declaration from Lyle when they had both further discussed the struggles both of them had endured in these challenging times until he had seen the documents that Lyle was keeping on him. It was a sobering reminder of how little the young Duke often perused the documents his stewards usually tended to along with his mother. Now, while he didn't believe his mother would stoop so low as to literally sell out his own people, it may not be a terrible idea to do a once over, despite how utterly drawl he found pursuing over documents.

The sudden burst of gunfire that came from the musketeers drilling was a sharp reminder of the possible consequences of neglecting such duties. Seeing most of these musketeers move in near unison showed just how dangerous they could prove to be to whomever was unfortunate to be on the wrong end of those rifles. A stark lesson for perhaps the change that could be coming to Bretonnia as a whole just as his mother mentioned.

"M'lord." One of Cassyon's fellow pegasus knights, who also kept a stray eye on the musketeers who were drilling and guarding. "The…Spoletta has prepared the meeting area to both yours and his requirements."

"That fast?" Cassyon was surprised. Spoletta seemed to be nothing if prompt. "And you all made sure to follow my instructions?"

"Come see for yourself my lord." The knight said with a jerk of his head. "The Lichemaster seems as anxious to be rid of the knife ears as you."

"Then let us not keep him waiting. He came all this way after all." As the two knights left their spot and their main section of the camp, another volley from the drillers echoed throughout the camp, making the two knights twitch at the sharp and whistling noise, coupled from the scent of smoke, it was still unnerving for the nobles.

Especially for the knight that had come to retrieve Cassyon. "M'lord. Some of the men…they're getting worried."

Cassyon may not have cared for ruling but he wasn't stupid. "About Spoletta?"

"About…you my lord." He kept his voice low, looking about to see if he wasn't being listened to carefully. "The amount of time you've spent around the foreigner. We've noticed. Others have noticed."

"And?"

"...My lord must I truly say it?"

Cassyon rolled his eyes, continuing to move forward. "Hamelin, do you trust me?"

"Always my lord. Even despite all of our setbacks, my faith in you has never wavered. It's the necromancer, I have my reservations about. What he asks of you-

"A small price to pay for the survival of my dukedom. Our Dudekdom. Our. Home." The young duke nearly growled. "If you have any other ideas on how to stave off the invading wood elves and tree spirits that want to see our castles and homes torn down asunder returned to the forests, then by all means. Tell me."

Hamelin looked as though he sucked on a lemon, with both of them knowing full well that there was no readily available answer to that. Or even some hard-to-divine answer that could be gleamed with the help of a damsel. They both knew that without the support from the Barrow Legion, the wood elves would eventually grind down their remaining forces in the siege that had been going on for some time.

It was why Hamelin sighed in resignation. "Just…be careful, my lord. Someone that…open or someone that appears to be that open, it's just hard to believe that he could have intentions that would mean the be-

"Enough of that talk. I'll hear no more of it. Not now, and especially not in the future if Lyle proves himself to be true to his word." Cassyon rebuked sharply. "Spoletta has shown himself to be a man of character, especially with how he put himself and his forces to protect my mother! To come this far and to have gracious terms despite the advantage he has-

Hamelin rolled his eyes. "The idea that he likes Bloodbowl, I'm sure, had nothing to do with it-

"What was that, Hamelin?" The pegasus knight flinched as they continued to walk. "Are you insinuating that you're NOT a fan of the greatest sport of the Old World?"

"I-I said no such thing, my lord I ju-

"Ey, yo! Cassyon! What took ya so long, my man? I coulda grown a second beard with how long you were takin'!" Lyle joked good-naturedly as he stood at a table with a map set up on top of it.

"Then, mayhaps you'd finally get to bed that dwarven maiden you boasted about!" Cassyon joked back as he approached the table with a smile, his mood improving instantly.

"Hey now! I'll have you know she's no simple dwarven maiden! She's the best damn dwarven maiden, and don't you forget it!" The Lichemaster patted his Bretonnian counterpart on the shoulder, both of them chuckling at one another. Also present at the meeting was most of the Inner Circle that Lyle had brought with him, sans Wendel, who was still drilling the troops relentlessly as well as Schmitz, who was working on a project that Lyle had discussed with him earlier.

That left Fredericka, Sybille, Tobias, and Lyle himself to represent the Barrow Legion. On the other side was, of course, Duke Cassyon himself, one of his most trusted men Hameline, who he had traveled with, his most senior knight whose hair was greying significantly in the form of Luc. And finally, none other than the young Duke's mother, Jacquette.

Before the two men could banter further, Jacquette delicately yet notably tapped the table with a single knuckle. "While it warms my heart to see two young men get on as you two have for these past few days, might I remind you we have a siege to relieve?"

"No, no, let them continue." Sybille said with a sly smile. "Mayhaps we could wait for them to bring out the drinks to eventually confess their love to one another and leave their lovers in the winds like so many young maidens would like to write and fantasize about."

"Ohhh, now there's a thought." Jacquette chortled to herself, covering her mouth delicately. "Why these two should consider themselves lucky that no 'young' maidens are in earshot except for the sprit-

"MOTHER! Have you no shame!?" The Duke said aghast while Lyle stared wide-eyed at the mother of the Duke.

"I have shame for many things. What I said is not one of them, considering their results. "She then clapped her hands and tilted her with faux joy. "Now shall we get down to the more present matter at hand, after all the trouble I've gone through to remake the surroundings of our ancestral home?"

"Or you could continue to gush with whatever it is you two love to commiserate with one another about." Sybille shrugged, smirking impishly, as she glanced at Fredericka. "Perhaps you could entertain maidens like Frederick-

"Ooookay, so this is a damn fine map you got here!" Lyle said suddenly as Fredericka blushed maddeningly at the incredibly impure thoughts that one would think a Slaaneshi cultist was trying to impart on her. "I mean, this is a damn fine piece of work, right Cassyon? I mean, you would know this is your home!"

"Ahem! Q-quite! Very well done!" The young duke stammered, glad for the very sudden change of subject, willing himself to focus on the impending task at hand. "And yes, the setup is quite nice-why look at the trees and the road formation!" Much like Lyle, Cassyon had not missed how frequently Sybille and Jacquette seemed to be conversing with one another, almost as much as the Lichemaster and the Duke himself. It unnerved the pair how quickly the two haed gotten on, and almost made them believe they were fast becoming friends.

Something that Lyle, would prefer to focus on later. "Yeah, yeah, so what do ya think? Which route should we go down?"

Getting down to business, The duke coughed into his fist and focused on the map on the table. It was a map that had been brought by the senior pegasus knight Luc for such an occasion, and bits of shrubbery could be found around them to fill out certain parts of the forest. Pieces of wood were also propped up to be used as pieces to signify the different wood elf forces that were both besieging the castle, and that could possibly be in the trees. It was more of a guess since it was nearly impossible to know which parts of the treelines the children of Athel Loren had invested themselves into without getting an arrow for their troubles.

Even with the Barrow Legion helping, Cassyon's expression became grim. "The problem is that there is heavy forestry to the East and the North of my castle, and the only viable path for us to enter the castle is from the South. Exactly where the majority of besieging forests are."

"And if we just go through the Southern path they're most likely gonna have another pain in the ass ambush waiting for us to wear us down before we even reach the besieging army." Lyle huffed. "Pain in the ass."

"Couldn't have put it any better myself I'm afraid. We may have them pinned between your army and my garrison, but the path to victory is still elusive." Cassyon glared at the map, staring at those impromptu trees as if he could will them to combust on the spot. "I should have deforested those damnable areas, the wood elves' protests be damned. For all I know this is why they did not want us to remove those trees, not just because they care about that damnable plant life, but to vex me as they are now."

"Worry not about the past my lord. Victory can still be achieved whether the elves are hidden or not." The veteran Luc groused as he stepped forward eyeing the map critically. "If the garrison still has strength to muster after buying us some time, perhaps we can execute a pincer maneuver to divide and conquer the elven forces."

"That could be done." Tobias mumbled, adjusting his spectacles and squinting his face. "That is of course if we could discern where the other wood elf forces are. I don't believe the pincer maneuver would hold up much water if our forces can't connect due to another ambush."

"We could…send scouts." Hamelin said weakly, but everyone knew that was a lost cause. Sending scouts to try and find hidden wood elves would just be a waste of resources, time and lives. Even Lyle for as little as he knew about the children of Athel Loren, cringed at the idea of sending anyone on what was tantamount to a suicide mission. It only made his frustration at fighting this elusive foe grow by the second, with how infuriating they were to combat.

Once everyone moved on from the absurdity of the scout idea, Sybille picked up where they left off. "Mayhaps split our forces? Try and surround the forests that they're hidden away within?"

Fredericka shook her head, lines forming in her head at the thought of it. "No, too risky. We risk those split forces getting isolated from ambushes. They could react faster than we ever could."

"Mmmm. True. But if we use some of our more expendable undead..."

"They'll see it coming." Luc shook his head. "The wood elves aren't fools. We tried something similar with our peasants in an earlier battle. They completely ignored them and feathered many of our knights. They won't be fooled by such tactics."

"Then something new needs to be afforded." Jacquette needled, steepling her fingers. "I won't be as arrogant to believe I have some military mind, but it seems to me our best opportunity is to destroy them all at once. No small skirmishes, no complex maneuvers, no pretty ideas, of trying to defeat them in detail…a single battle may very well do the job. Get it over and done with in short."

"Alas, Mother, I fear they won't be in any hurry to give us that." Cassyon sighed. "They certainly weren't in my previous battles with them. Not unless they were sure of victory."

"Simply marching in won't do either." Fredericka agreed. "We managed to get better at staving off their ambushes as we got here, but it's still a risky and slow-moving prospect. If the pegasus knights hadn't intervened when they did, more losses might have been incurred, and while I didn't doubt we would have won that battle, if we keep taking heavy losses, there won't be a relieving army left."

The dialogue then devolved into a mess of suggestions, arguments, and hopeful ideas that could go somewhere. When someone had an idea, it would be countered by logic. When someone had a germ of a plan, it was shot down by something the wood elves and the tree spirits could do.

Lyle was content to stand back and allow everyone to get the arguments out of their systems. Let them get tired of realizing that none of their ideas with obvious and inherent flaws would work so that he could assert the notion that he had to offer. It was something his teammates on the football team would do if they were getting frustrated by what the other team was doing.

Once he was confident that they had all had their fill of jawing at one another, Lyle needed only to wait a little bit longer before Schmitz entered the area, making his presence known to all as he strode in, chin held high. When everyone saw him, Sybille snorted and rolled her eyes. "Ah, the vulture makes himself known. I don't recall you being invited to this meeting Sch-

"I asked him not to come until he finished what our equalizer." Lyle interrupted, surprising the witch and everyone else, as they all noticed a couple of Grave Guards holding a heavy-looking sack that took the two of them working together to carry. "And brought it seems he has."

"I'm not one to make simple boasts. Let alone when concocting the true potential of Dhar." The older male necromancer boasted as the skeletons slowly lowered the bag onto the table. "Let alone when I'm doing something that few in our profession have done."

Tobias narrowed his eyes skeptically, slowly backing away from the seemingly harmless bag along with everyone else. "Schmitz…what have you done?"

"Only what our Lichemaster has requested of me."

Fredericka looked surprised at the Lichemaster in question. "Master Lyle? Why didn't you tell us you were-

"And ruin the surprise? C'mon now, where's the fun in that." Lyle then grinned in a way that somewhat unnerved even his fellow necromancer. "Schmitz. Show us the magic."

"With the utmost of pleasure…you all may want to stand back. It's not too lethal up close but…" Everyone had already backed away a healthy distance, and the Bretonnians were looking especially worried. The Grave Guard then slowly untied the bag, and once they lowered it slightly, they revealed nothing other than a cannonball. The same kind of cannonball that the Barrow Legion would use with their…well…canons.

What made the canons stand out from their counterparts was the light blue coloring they were taking on, with light blue dust layered around them. Emanating around this cannonball and the bag was a smokey bluish hue that smelled heavy and ominous.

"What…" Tobias stopped himself daring to sniff before his face screwed up in confusion and realization. "Is that Balefire?"

"Balefire, along with a few other elements and solvent as well as some binding magic to ensure it sticks to the canon itself, even after it is ignited along with high velocity. Master Spoletta helped me realize how much of a useful binding agent gunpowder can be if utilized…properly."

"You…you intend to fire this?" Cassyon asked. He'd seen canons fired from the Men of the Empire and thought of them as cowardly weapons along with muskets. But, desperate times called for desperate measures, and given the circumstances, he was more open with what was on the table to retake his home. "You're confident this can win us the battle."

"Well, that depends on a few things, Cassyon," Lyle said slowly as he addressed the Duke he'd found himself getting closer to these days. "How much do you need the North and the East forests like we were looking at?"

"I…beg your pardon?"

"Lemme put it to you this way so that all of you get it." Lyle said as he pointed at this balefire cannonball. "I want to take these cannonballs. Load them into the canons…and aim them right into those forests." Lyle then tipped over the shrubbery, brushing them aside on the map. "Without those forests. The knife-eared hippies are screwed. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. They'll have to take us on to face just the way we like it."

Hamelin swallowed hard, his eyes widening at the implications. "That's…that's quite a tad extreme, don't you think? To…to burn down the surrounding forests that's-

"Could actually work." Fredericka said in realization as she eyed the cannonball critically. "If this truly functions like balefire, the smoke that it creates when fired into the trees and shrubbery could smoke out the wood elves before it would even burn them out. Any that stayed in place would find that forest to be their grave."

"And in turn would force them to come to us and would leave them disorganized and hapless." Jacquette noted with a certain sadistic tone. "It could work. If they don't see it coming-

"My lady, I'm not going to argue against the tactical advantages it could bring." Luc, the senior knight, mentioned before looking sternly at everyone at the table. "However, the damage that it could do to the forest…the amount of tithe me that it could take to regrow them for the nobles to hunt game-

"-the nobles can cease their prattling and thank us for fending off the invaders." Jacquette retorted, sternly. "They'll be in no position to complain once we've saved the duchy. And if they have any other complaints, we can deal with them…in time."

There was still hesitation. Even with Cassyon who looked at the smoldering bluish cannonball with a critical eye before his eyes drifted toward the trees. He then looked to Lyle who just shrugged.

"Hey, man. If you don't wanna do it, we don't gotta do it. But, you're gonna have to think of an alternative of how you're gonna take back your home."

Cassyon was sure that if his father was still alive, he would prattle on about honor and loathing the idea of not only working with the Barrow Legion and the idea of using a cowardly weapon like a canon. But, his father didn't have the possibility of losing their ancestral castle, which they had held since Gilles founded their kingdom. His father didn't have to deal with a wood elf invasion on this scale. His father hadn't met someone quite the character of Lyle Spoletta and as well as having to deal with the reality that their kingdom was under an invasion from multiple threats.

His father may not have approved. But his father also didn't have the blood of many of his friends and fellow knights at his hands for his mistakes. He wouldn't make another. Not now. Not when so much was on the line.

He looked at his mother who looked at him tightly but gave a sharp nod. He looked at Luc who stared stone faced seemingly resigned at what decision was about to me made. The reluctance of Hamelin made him nearly reconsider, but when he looked to Lyle, he remembered why this decision had so much weight and why he was in this situation.

"How soon can we launch an attack?"
…

"Calm yourself Arina. Nervousness doesn't suit you."

"No, I suppose not, Melil. But it's not warranted, isn't it? I remember you tending to your quiver a bit more than you usually would last night."

"So what if I did?" Came the heated reply, a bit more tersely than even she would have liked. "Would you prefer that I don't allow my arrows to fly without ease? After all, perhaps your own arrows will find purchase if I allow your eyes to linger on the mayflies."

"Hah! You're mad!"

"Not nearly as mad as-

"Enough." An older elf scolded the two younger way watchers, his voice clipped and short. "Have you lost your senses enough to give away our position?"

The two younger elves, female elves, balked and knew better than to retort, especially in a covert operation like theirs. All around them, watchers were perched on branches of the trees they were making their homes, while others stood at the foot of their trees, their cloaks helping them blend in with the environment that may as well have been a second home.

To their defense came the third in the usual wood elf trio, Vumira, who had been standing on another branch, willing herself to ignore the childish arguments until she had no choice in the matter. "The Barrow Legion is not near. This hasn't changed. Their was no danger in sp-

"There is danger in every facet of our mission. Danger that some account for better than others." Before he turned, he gave a still yet withering glare. "Be sure to weigh that danger before endangering the cause further."

When he left, Vumira didn't miss how Melil's knuckles turned white as she gripped one of her arrows, while Arina looked a tad more downcast than usual. It was becoming a concerning and sad trend since they had failed their mission and had their duties taken from them.

Normally, they would have been requested to sequester at their glade, clearly, the higher-ups no longer trusting them with such important operations, but these were different times. Times that requested all hands on bows, as they would say, to support the invasion of Paravon.

If Vumira and her sisters were quite honest, they were shocked, much like many others, that this much had been committed for an invasion that wasn't a Wild Hunt, especially since it was against a longtime neighbor. Sure, relations with Paravon had hardly always been positive. All well-thinking Asrai preferred Carcassone, given its proximity to the tower of the Enchantress and the influence she could wield over the duke of the land there to their favor. But, to resort to such an extreme. For amber, no less?

It was a dark changing of the times if Ariel was resorting to such extremes. If the other elders of Athel Loren thought this to be necessary, along with the tree spirits, it made Vumira wonder what else would be considered necessary for the good of the forest and the Oak of Ages. It wasn't as though she felt any affection toward the short lifers that made up their neighbors, but to go to such extreme lengths when covert and smaller operations had been considered enough for their preferred form of isolationism…

Whatever the reasoning was, it would have to be pondered later since her ears suddenly twitched, making her whole body follow suit when she and so many others heard a series echoing booms go off in the distance.

Vumira knew those sounds. She'd heard them when she had undertaken missions into the Empire. She loathed them given how sensitive an Asrai's ears could be, but to hear them here. They knew that Spoletta had canons, of course, but the fact that they could hear them from here-

"Is it an attack?" Melil asked sharply, drawing her bow and getting behind a tree, trying to focus on where exactly those canon shots were coming from. Already, so many of their fellow Waywatchers were stirring with glade guard down below, getting into a loose yet battle-ready formation from where they believed the canon fire was coming from.

"It…it could be more target practice and drilling." Arina wondered aloud as she prepared herself for battle. "They've been doing that for their muskets, after all."

"But to use canons for target practice? That seems a bit excessive. The short-lifers are wasteful, but to be that wasteful? I don't buy it."

The captains for both the way watchers and the glade guard moved to live with many blade dancers lining up behind their glade guards to back them up if need be. Calls for silence and observation were made, as was protocol. Preparation for battle started to be called and acted upon, yet as time passed, the cannon fire continued, yet nothing was coming close to striking them. No trees were broken, there was no whistling of the shots drifting closer, just the sound of large guns booming in the distance.

The children of Athel Loren were hardly ones just to sit by idly and allow their foes to move about without knowing what they were doing. So once their Waywatcher captains gave the orders, Vumira, Alina, Melil, and their fellow Waywatcher brothers and sisters surged forward, moving on the ground and amongst the trees to get closer to the treeline and observe what was occurring.

"Smoke." Arina muttered as she moved amongst the branches with her sisters.

"Hunh?" Melil muttered as they moved with the others.

"I smell…smoke…I…I don't think I've smelt a smoke this heavy. It's almost like the kind of smoke I would smell back in Sylvania."

"What are you on abou-...by Ariel!"

It wasn't hard to see what had drawn the sharp and panicked response from Melil' as the way watchers neared the treeline. Across their field of view, another small forest was occupied by a blue smoking inferno. The horror the Asrai Way Watchers all felt was magnified for this sight since another group of Waywatchers and Glade Guard were within that very forest.

As the Waywatchers could all only stare open-mouthed in horror at what was happening before them, more canon fire rattled their pointed ears once more, smashing into more of the trees that made of this small forest that was starting to resemble an inferno of kindling at this point. Vumira was sure that if the roar of this great blue fire wasn't so intense, she could hear the screams of her kin, tearing through the now smoking sky.

Many eyes turned to their captain, the same older male elf from before who had chastised Melil and Arina earlier. His eyes were wide, and if half of his face wasn't covered by a dark mask she was sure she'd see his mouth agape too.

"Captain Faenor!" Vumira shouted sharply, getting the elven captain to twitch to attention. "Orders!?"

Faenor turned to the forest and then back to his fellow elves. Indecision ruled him before he righted whatever was ajar in his mind. "W-we need to find the source of those cannons! Silence them before they target any more of the forests!"

"The attack is coming from the west!" Another Waywatcher pointed out, noting the slant way some of the destroyed and burning trees were listing. "If we hurry there we may be able to-

"What if the Barrow Legion army is there to greet us?" Vumira suddenly asked. "This is no accident! They knew we would be waiting in the trees to eventually strike them! There may be a trap within this attack that w-

"I will not consider the words of someone whose partly to blame for this situation in the first place!" The captain bit back arrogantly, remind Vumira of her failure like a stinging slap. "I've no intention of allowing this…this mayfly to debase the forests any more than he already is! He-

"INCOMING!"

Melil shouted at the top of her lungs at a canon that many should have heard coming sooner if not for the arguing and the other canon fire that was striking the trees opposite to them. Yet when this one struck, Vumira swore she saw another Waywatcher turn to a bloody and blue mist of colored rain before that same canon struck a tree, from which other waywatchers were on. Screams tore through the forestry, and flames began to spread from the ruined tree as well as the ground, festering like a fast-acting cancer as smoke began to build.

"By Ariel!" Alina shouted in shock and despair. "Th-they're not just going for some of the trees! They're going for all of them near the castle! They're trying to flush out!"

Trying was underselling it as Vumira looked in horror across the field again, watching as the elven warriors in the burning forest across from them were running out into the field and, in some cases, desperately stumbling about, hunched over or on their knees. The smoke was an easy indication as to why, with their bodies shaking and twitching, no doubt from coughing up whatever got into their lungs. Some were covered in blue soot that lathered their armor and body like dust, signifying how close they had been to the smoke and the flames, and as Vumira heard more canon fire, she had no doubt that if action wasn't taken, she and her fellow waywatchers on this end would be next.

"Captain! We need to move! Regardless of what we do, we cannot st-

More canons ripped into their forest. This time, more than one, and so much wood and splinters suddenly exploded that Vumira and many others lost their footing and fell to the ground. It was only with so many years of practice, training, experience, and a little bit of fortune that the waywatcher managed to break her fall by using branches to slow her descent. That being said it was still a rough landing that left her a bit unsteady and on her rump.

"Vumira!" Melil was by her side immediately on the ground. Whether she fell like Vumira or purposefully came down was unknown to the elder elf, but she didn't care to find out at that moment. "Are you well!?"

"Well enough!" She coughed out already, starting to get a whiff of the smoke. It may have been a good thing that they got on the ground since, with the smoke rising, it would be more dangerous to be so high. "Wh-where's Alina-

"I-I don't know! I-I-we should find the captain. The capt-" Melil stopped herself, looking to the right with her face paling. Vumira was about to ask what the hesitation was all about, but once she followed that line of sight and saw a massive log from a broken tree crushing his mid-section, it became all too understandable. Large splinters were sticking out of his arms and chest, and as Vumira and Melil quickly moved to his side, the pair knew that he wasn't long for this world. The wounds were too deep and with that heavy of a log pinning his body.

Yet even still, he had enough strength to spare to slowly turn his head and cough out some blood as he pulled down his mask as weakly as his arms would allow. "Vumira…You're the most seasoned and experienced besides me…The rest of the army must kno-" More coughs erupted from his lungs as he tried to speak. "Save what you can…I've failed."

"You failed no one." Vumira uttered despite her feelings on how coldly the captain had treated her. "You did what you could."

"And it was found…wanting." He took laboring breaths to keep speaking for as long as he could, with more trees being felled around them and the blue flames growing more intense. "You don't have time." He then pulled out a dagger and handed it to her. "Do it quickly. Better by your hand than with smoke in my lungs. Do…it now."

Vumira did as was bid, not wasting any time and plunging the dagger down to let the fallen captain rest in peace. Despite her feelings, it was not easy to do, but she wouldn't allow her captain to suffer such a fate. She knew he'd do the same for her.

Turning to Melil and seeing other waywatchers and glade guard trying to get their wits at the growing blaze around them. "Melil…find Alina and help me gather any Waywatchers we can. The longer we stay here, the greater the peril that we will be in. The more canons that rain the more that fire and smoke threaten to consume us."

"I-I understand." It was unusual to hear Melil seem so unsure, but it could hardly be faulted, given the circumstances. Nonetheless she burst into action, helping Vumira gather anyone that could still walk upright. Try as she might, she could find no hide nor hair on Alina, and with every passing moment, a stone of dread settled in her heart that she could have gone the way of their now late captain.

That dread only amplified as they tried to make to the edge of the trees to see what would befall them if they did not hurry. The elves that had made it out of the burning forest across from Vumira and her comrades were now set upon by Black knights, spears and swords cutting down the hapless and disorganized elves that had just barely managed to escape.

With no feasible way to assist them and with them already living dangerously close to sharing their fate, Vumira ordered a hasty retreat as organized as they could, even with so many coughing and hacking out of the smoke that was filling the air.

Even now they hadn't found Alina and the Waywatcher leader felt no shortage amount of guilt from that fact.

If only they'd managed to kill Spoletta sooner. To think he could wreak this much damage outright when given the chance. Seeing the stricken look on Melil's face as they escaped the blue inferno made Vumira realize that Melil was thinking the same thing, especially since it was she who fired that arrow on that fateful day.

…

"Blue smoke." Repanse De Lyonese muttered, her eyes narrowing in recognition. "Henri, when was the last time we saw such a thing?"

"Most likely, since we had to skirmish with a force of Arkhan the Black's forces back in Araby…the balefire carts they had that day were a damnable bane for how they invigorated his undead."

"Then we are on the right path…but to see that much smoke. What in the Lady's name could that villain Spoletta be up to?" Even when she uttered the word villain, she couldn't bring any actual heat to it. It felt hollow, considering everything that she knew now about him.

"Only the Lady knows." Massif muttered bravely. "But, she'll guide us to victory all the same. After all, she has brought us this far, all the way from Araby no less."
They were with the main army at the vanguard with the majority of their personal knights as well as reinforcements that they had acquired from the Duchy of Carcassone, who were all too happy to join in on the coming conflict. Their army numbers nearly half a hundred thousand now with the combination of Repanse's errantry army and the forces that were lent to her, and she was fully confident that if given the opportunity, she could smite these forces and everything they had with the mighty host the Lady had blessed her with.

Yet even now, a pit of uncertainty weighed in her gut as their horses trotted forward, the massive and growing blue cloud hanging ominously overhead.

They were getting close now, she could feel it. Whatever was happening, it was in their best interests to come up with a battle plan to confront the forces the The Fay Enchantress had predicted would be there.

The Fay Enchantress…even now, Repanse could feel her hackles rising.

And as usual, Henri could see it before she could say it. "I could…speak with her in your stead m'lady-

"No Henri. That would be improper, and you know it." She said. "I'll go. Just keep the vanguard and the rest of the army moving. We mustn't waste time and deprive our homeland of the peace it deserves."

"...Aye m'lady. I can do that."

Turning her warhorse around, Repanse left her vanguard, returning to the center of the army where the Fay Enchantress could be found. Almost immediately she began to wish that she had just sent Henri, not just because she was finding Morgiana's presence less and less tolerable these days, but also what she saw next after she passed a contingent of men at arms.

Peasants. Not peasant men at arms but peasants of all backgrounds being frog-marched along with the army, carrying and hauling supplies as they had been forced to do. Usually, supply carrying would be relegated to the rear of the army, but the Enchantress was in no mood to give any chance to their new prisoners to flee, even though the idea of any peasant prisoners in the rear fleeing from knights on horseback was laughable.

All of these peasants who had been unfortunate to even be suspected of aligning with Lyle Spoletta or sharing in his ideals increased peasant freedoms. Something that, once again, filled the peasant filled the paladin with conflict. The conflict would honestly would have been magnified if Lyle wasn't a necromancer who was going around and doing a hostile takeover of Bretonnia, and even then…

She saw mothers struggling to continue the march with children crying and being carried by their already weak and malnourished fathers who only had so much strength to spare. Some had already perished on this march and been left on the road, making the paladin feel ill at just the memory of it all. But, Morgiana saw it as a lesson for all involved.

It made it that much of a struggle to look at the divine face of the blonde-haired Enchantress riding her unicorn as they trotted next to each other. Clearing her lungs after getting a bit of the blue smoke into her lungs, Repanse started. "Are we to decide on a course for batt-

"-I assume you still haven't found that escaped prisoner?"

"...no M'lady."

"I see."

The conversation quickly turned to ice as soon as it started.

It didnt stop Morgiana from speaking. "It's be exepected. When you have only a couple dozen knights committing to the search and he has half a day head's start, it was unfortunate to see.

"...quite."

"Tread carefully, Lady Repanse." Morgianna stated, side-eyeing the paladin. "The Lady can only tolerate failure for so long."

"I'm more than aware of that."

"Hm."

More quiet settled, save for the sound of the march and then a stray scream from a peasant woman who was struck with a whip for not walking fast enough by a cruel man at arms. It made Repanse jump slightly, bad memories surfacing to her mind.

"The battleplan M'lady?" She asked, wanting to focus on something else. "It won't be long before we finally do battle with the necromancers."

"Indeed. It would be poor form to come all this way and to come up short against such a hated foe." Morgianna stated as she looked back to the vanguard. "The Lady hath granted me a vision. A vision of what's to come. Spoletta will soon set upon our allies of Athel Loren and I believe this smoke from Balefire is a result of that battle now starting to get underway.

Repanse looked in surprise at the Enchantress. "The wood elves? They're fighting Lyle Spoletta? Near Castle Paravon?"

"Indeed. Even now, as he threatens to overtake and subvert this duchy, the wood elves have risen to the occasion to try and thwart them." She then pointedly looked back up at the smoke. "As you can see. This is Spoletta reacting accordingly.

"Merde!" Repanse muttered in grim realization. "If battle is being met, then little time can be wasted at this point! With Spoletta using Balefire, the tree-spirits will fair poorly against his forces!"

"I could not agree more. Which is why I want you to lead the van and rush forward to strike Spoletta in the rear once you see his forces fully committed against the wood elves. Once you engage, I will lead the men at arms to support and give your knights the space to do continuous charges on his flanks and defeat his army in detail."

Repanse nodded. It was a sound plan, especially considering the involvement of Athel Loren. It all suddenly made sense why Lyle was attempting to burn down trees with Balefire to cripple the elven forces, but that begged the question. How did Lyle get close enough to burn the trees with Balefire? She'd seen firsthand how much of a volatile element it was to the point where she'd never seen Arkhan the Black attempt to fire it in any conventional sense, only using it to invigorate his undead.

She supposed she'd have to see for herself when she finally did battle with the Lichemaster. Yes. Even now, her spirits were starting to lift at the idea of putting an end to this madness in the fields of battle. Maybe after that, she could end the suffering of her fellow peasants being forced on this unforgiving march.

It was a hope she held onto as she kicked her steed's sides to hurry to the vanguard, not noticing the long, lingering look Morgiana was giving her back.

…

A/N:

Okay, so the battle is happening one chapter later than I thought it would, but it truly does kick off the next chapter. I head to set up a few more things than I thought I would, but everything is still on track, as Lyle and co. do the equivalent of a napalming on forests speaking Asrai. But, the stage of has been set and the next battle for the fate of Paravon is now kicking off.

The question is, can this unified force defeat the Asrai and lift the siege? How will the insertion of Repanse change things? These are all questions to consider as you all wait for bated breath for the next chapter of the story. Alas that will have to wait for a bit as I now work on the next chapter of Eight Peaks Royale and commence the chaos that will ensue in that story's own setting.

Leave your thoughts and reviews as always and please don't be afraid to tell me what you think! You're words are appreciated!