Chapter 141 Pt.3:

“Anton!” Cetina’s voice cut through Anton’s murky dreams. “You need to wake up.”

“What’s happening?” Anton rolled in his bed, rubbing away the build-up of sleep in the corner of his eyes. “Is it morning?”

Cetina nodded. Her face was obscured by the faint light of the early morning, but he could clearly see her bright clothes, proudly showing her Bebbezzarian colours. He knew that she slept in he brightly coloured clothes, he had awoken her before, but he thought she might have chosen the Dark Elf attire this night. They were surprisingly comfortable and warm.

“Yeah.” Cetina knelt by his bed. “But there’s something happening outside, something coming from the south. It looks bad.”

“Those Knights they were talking about.” Anton lightly slapped his cheeks. “Good thing they turned arrived before we left for Etoile. Otherwise, we’d be running around for weeks.”

“At least we’d have the Dark Elves to act as scouts for us.”

“True.” Anton sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You…You might want to give me a moment.”

“Why?” Cetina frowned. “We don’t have long before they arrive.”

“Because I need to get dressed.” Anton pointed at her chest. “And so do you.”

While Cetina wore her Bebbezzarian colours she didn’t wear her metal armour. And Verona spoke the truth about her needing the armour, judging by the way the cloth remained tight as she leant forward. Cetina realised and smiled.

“Right…I’ll get dressed. Just give me a minute. I’m not exactly dressed in any way under here.”

Cetina murmured something underneath her breath before retreating from the room. Anton sighed and threw the rough covers off. Thankfully, given his station and importance, he was always afforded a private roof or at the very least a tent. He didn’t want to complicate things with having to explain his legs, more specifically his tail. He had yet to see another mage that had transformed from failing to create a summon correctly.

Probably just go mad or get locked up to be experimented on.

His armoured shirt and pants, a reinforced heavy leather, were not a problem but his boots were a pain. His new toes required work and effort to worm into the small confines. Usually he could take his time, the scales slowly bending out of the way but Anton had no choice but to ram them home. He grunted, the scales gripped on the inside and pulled on his flesh but after a few shakes his foot fell into place.

“Damn things,” Anton grunted as he stood up. “You there, Cetina?”

“Ready!” Cetina sounded jubilant, almost. “Everything good?”

Anton tapped his boots on the hard floor. “I guess so.” Anton opened the door, Cetina stood outside at attention. He smiled at her eagerness, despite the early hour. “How’s everyone outside? Are they ready?”

Outside their forces, a motley mixture of mercenaries and militia mixed with the Slihal guards, scrambled to man the walls. The men were exhausted from their swift march over the past few days, the amount of damage they could actually repair during the night was rather limited.

“If there are Knight we should be able to deal with them pretty easily,” Anton said aloud. Cetina took a step forward and raised a brow. “Knights are extremely powerful on the plains, like the open land between the Border Forts and the Clansmen’s mountains, but here, with a forest and a city protected by walls, they’re just soldiers. We don’t need to worry about their armoured charge.”

“Until they break through.” Conrad pointed to the wooden gate. “That’s not going to last long against a bunch of axes. Can…Can you use your magic to do something about that?”

“Make the gate stronger?” Anton frowned lightly and stroked his chin. “Possibly. But I have a much easier way to deal with these Knights. So long as they don’t have a Principle Mage with them.”

“Come to the battlements.” Conrad shouted down and waved him forward. “You’ll see it better from there.”

Anton spotted the Slihal guards, in far better condition than before. They were clearly still incredibly nervous but held themselves together reasonably well. Anton knew full well without his magic he would have turned to a puddle on multiple occasions.

From the defensive wooden palisade the columns of Knights and soldiers were as clear as day. Just like Cetina, or any of the Knightly orders, they cared nothing for camouflage. A thousand heavily armoured Knights, wearing bright golden painted armour, rode at the front of a further two to three thousand soldiers, identical to those from Gresir. Perhaps with slightly better weapons and armour but not by much. Anton counted only a hundred odd archers amongst them. Whomever their commander was they put too much faith in their Knights, especially against a modestly fortified position.

“That’s a lot.” Anton chuckled.

“Do we have crossbows?” Cetina asked, her hand gripping onto the wood. “I don’t know if archers are going to be enough.”

Conrad laughed. “A few. A few. But we don’t have enough bolts, even if we were expert shots. And your little shadowy friends have slunk back into the night. Any chance of them coming back for this? We could use every hand we can get.”

“No. They were a one-off. And as Cetina said arrows aren’t going to be much use against those armoured hides. No wonder the Clansmen have so much trouble with them. I’m sure the Bebbezarians in the past have tried to invade and were thrown back by these.”

“Qaiviel wasn’t always on the defensive.” Conrad smiled. “I’ll send some men to make sure Belinda is safe and secure. It would be terrible for something to happen to her after coming all this way.”

Anton’s peripheral vision caught a flash of red. Belinda stood in the centre of the roadway, completely ignoring the traffic and hurried soldiers running around her.

“That makes things easier then.” Conrad patted Anton’s shoulder and moved to Belinda’s side. He said something to her, Belinda looked a little annoyed but retreated to the relative shelter of a wooden building. It would stop an arrow but not if it was set alight. However, she could simply walk out of harms way.

“Who are we up against? Golden Knights?”

“The Golden Roar.” A Slihal guard said softly. “They’re a Knight Order near Clausonne.”

“Strange that they’ve thrown themselves in with the Church.” Anton stroked his beard. “Given that their leaders were killed in the throne room.”

“Not theirs,” Belinda said loudly. She stood a few meters from the wall, Conrad frantically waved to the mercenaries with large shields to protect her from any stray projectiles. “Bernard killed theirs.”

“Who’s that?”

“A Knight Commander. Like Marcus but a little…Colder. Anyway, the Church is probably going to protect their holdings so long as they fight with them. Strange to see them so far from the capital without much support.”

“Three thousand infantry isn’t support?” Cetina looked at Anton.

“For that many Knights, this far from their main castle?” Belinda shook her head. “They’re desperate. Feeding all those horses and men…I don’t want to think of the cities that they’ve passed.”

“How many have been pressed into service?” Cetina frowned. “Innocent farmers and citizens…But such is war, I suppose.”

“Indeed.” Conrad lightly held Belinda’s arm, she looked to him with great indifference. “I still wish to see this battle. Surely there is somewhere safe for me to watch on?”

“I was ordered to keep you alive and safe.” Conrad ushered her away, towards the centre of Slihal. “So you’ll just have to watch from safety. Alfred would kill me if he knew that you died so close to Castle Etoile.”

“Very well,” Belinda said loudly, running a hand through her hair. “But I would still like to see how our mage fights with my own eyes. See how he's improved since the Orcs and Clansmen.”

Conrad didn’t argue with Belinda further, ushered her away and returned to the wall.

"Any messengers?" Anton asked.

The enemy force continued to pour out of the forest and into the small open plain before the city. Conrad quietly sent orders for the archers and crossbowmen to ready themselves.

"None so far." Conrad murmured. "I don't see anyone there with a white flag. Maybe they're going to hold up one of those militia, think that will do."

"Could the Church soldiers be in command of this attack?"

"Well..." Conrad rubbed his chin, running his tongue along his upper teeth. "Probably not. And if they are its begrudgingly at best. I...They are the Golden Roar, so they might be. They're one of the worst Knight Orders, obsessed with money over everything else. Which, unfortunately for us, means they have some of the best armour and horses in Qaiviel."

"That won't mean much against Anton's magic," Cetina said proudly. Slowly a frown crept up her face. "Unless they have armour that blocks magic. Does Qaiviel have that?"

"It's expensive." Conrad clicked his tongue. "But if anyone has the money..."

The last of the arrows and bolts arrived on the wall as the Golden Roar knights formed a broad front, the Church militia behind.

"Isn't it a bad tactic to send your cavalry first?" Anton began summoning Large Lightning Crows. "Shouldn't the infantry go first? Cavalry to flank?"

Conrad laughed. "These knights are never known for their intelligence. Just charge and let the best man win."

"But we're behind a wall," Cetina said softly.

"Indeed." Conrad held the wood palisade tight. "I wonder if they're just plain stupid."

A Golden Roar Knight, armoured slightly more resplendently than his fellows, rode forward. He had no white flag or any sign that he wished to speak, thankfully the intent was clear. Nevertheless, Anton summoned a total of four Large Lightning Crows and hid them behind the wooden palisade.

"People of Slihal!" The Knight boomed, even with his helmet drawn down tight. "Know that you harbour heretics of the vilest kind within your walls. Open the gates immediately or we will kill every last one of you. Heretics cannot be allowed-"

"Fuck off!" Conrad yelled. Jeers echoed along the wall but not from the local guards.

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The Knight raised his helm and smiled. "Good. Haven't had much chance to kill people of late. And there's only so many defenceless young girls you can behead before it gets tiring."

"Was that before or after the coup?" Anton asked.

The Knight continued to smile. As he sneered his tongue picked at something jammed between his teeth. Anton quickly enhanced his vision. A small piece of red plant was stuck between his teeth, all of them but only tiny fragments. It looked, if anything, to be some sort of red moss.

"So what's it going to be?" The Knight pulled back on the reins, his mighty armoured horse began trotting back and forth. "Are you going to condemn all of these people to death alongside you?"

"I'm curious how you're going to get in," Anton said. "Last time I checked there was a gate standing in your way." Anton leant back dramatically, out of his periphery Cetina moved ready to catch him. "Yep. It's still there."

"A flimsy gate like that means little to us. But even if we can't we'll wait until you leave. It won't take us long to break it down then, will it?"

"Why are they telling us this?" Cetina asked softly.

"The moss?"

"Moss?" Conrad asked.

“What is your decision?” The Knight asked, clearly growing in anger. “We don’t have all day. Perhaps the fine people of Slihal need not share your fate-”

Anton threw a Lightning Bomb at the Knight’s head, showering his horse in blood, brains and high-velocity pieces of metal shrapnel. The horse shrieked and reared up, throwing the lifeless corpse from its mount. With a mighty thud it crashed onto the ground, Anton heard the snapping bones even over the horse’s shrieks.

Conrad sighed. “I think we’ve just made our decision.”

“Better than let the people think they’re actually going to let them live.” Anton directed the Large Lightning Crows into the sky. “Hopefully, they’re going to take the bait. But…Maybe they need a little incentive. Something to rile them up.”

Anton threw a Lightning bomb into the air, changed to create the loudest explosion possible with the unintended side effect of startling the Golden Roar's horses and nearly throwing their riders free.

"Looks like your God has failed you!" Anton yelled with all his might. "While mine keeps me safe! Prove us heretics wrong if you can!"

"Do you really think that’s going to work?” Cetina almost laughed.

“Charge!”

“Oh…It did.”

The Golden Roar Knights cheered, drew their weapons and charged, the Church Militia close behind. Anton didn’t understand their reasoning; even if they reached the wall there was no way to break through, even the most damaged sections were more than capable of holding back the charging horses.

Anton merely shrugged and ordered the Large Lightning Crows to attack the Church Militia. They had already lagged behind the charging Knights and, should the Knights be slaughtered, they would scatter into the forest, requiring a huge effort to hunt them down to protect the rear of their forces. The few archers amongst the militia loosed into the sky but the Lightning Crows could stay far above their range. Quickly the rear of their ranks began to evaporate under the rapid succession of lightning strikes, now only sped on by a few amongst the militia screaming orders to charge. But the fear of the unstoppable attacks sapped their strength and determination.

“Archers!” Conrad raised his hand. “Crossbowmen. On my command aim for the horses. Bring down their charge.”

“Shame it’s always the horses that suffer,” Anton mumbled, readying a line of tethered flame pillars.

The ranged soldiers on the wall readied for the order to loose. Anton still didn’t understand their plan, even if they reached it would be impossible to actually breach the gate.

Unless they actually plan just to ram it. Those horses are pretty big…

Anton quickly enhanced his vision, focusing on the horse's teeth. Remains of the red moss could be found in their teeth. The horses acted just as rabid as their riders, more immune to exhaustion and pain than truly crazed.

Conrad shouted and the volley flew forth. Arrows bounced off harmlessly on their thick armour, a few finding a gap and sinking into their flesh. Those horses screamed and reared back, desperate to flee from a source of pain they didn’t understand. Crossbow bolts punched through the thick armour, all had followed Conrad’s orders and aimed for the unfortunate horse’s face and chest. Many fell, Anton felt squeamish as one horse bucked and jumped with two bolts jutting out of its eyes.

“Might want to shield your eyes for this one.” Anton released the tethered line just in front of the line of horses. “Remember the Gravestone?”

“How could I-Damn it.” Conrad dropped below the palisades. “Everyone drop down now!”

White Dog mercenaries followed without question, knowing full well what was about to happen. Their militia forces needed to be dragged down as the ground before the city began to glow red. Cetina followed Conrad’s order too, placing her shield above Anton, just in case of falling debris.

Anton peered through a tiny crack as the land beyond grew red then orange. The horses, the only things Anton felt remorse for, pranced and stomped their hooves to escape the heat but it was simply too late. The columns of flame erupted, enveloping the Knights and their mounts in a blinding light. Cetina drew closer hunkering her body closer to the wall, murmuring something under her breath.

With the ebbing of the flame Anton stood back up. Almost half of the Knights had ceased to exist, now nothing more than cindered sticks holding metal, twisted and charred black, aloft in a grim parody of a Knight. The remaining Knights and horses were heavily damaged and scared. They turned to flee but Anton directed the Crows to attack them instead. With the Knights broken the last of Church militia’s morale began to break, not even the few brave enough to continue ordering attack were sufficient to rebuild their shattered morale. Anton saw three fall without his intervention, a great spray of blood against the nearby white clothes.

"Turning on each other." Anton shook his head. "Not that I blame them."

"Again my sword is useless to you." Cetina swung hers back and forth, sighing dramatically. "If only I could use magic, then I'd be useful."

"Ignoring you two," Conrad sneered. "What are we going to do about them? Can't just leave them to run through the forest."

Anton's Lightning Crows turned to chase the Church Militia, he threw Lightning Bolts and Fire Bombs at the Golden Roar's Knights. Of the thousand that attacked there were reduced to less than two hundred.

"All that training." Anton mused. "All for nothing before magic. I'm just glad they don't have any Principle Mages with them."

"The Golden Roar could afford it. But they are a pompous group of arseholes."

"The enemy is still escaping." Cetina softly reminded them. All of Anton's summons had a very large range, considering what they were, but the enemy, driven by fear and panic, had almost already reached the forest.

"Any chance of those Dark Elves?" Conrad asked.

"Not tonight. I've used them as much as I'm willing." Anton gripped the wall. "They're not exactly...Unorganized."

Cetina tilted her head, eliciting a light groan.

"We'll..." Anton squinted towards the far forest. "Looks like they have reinforcements."

A twinkling trail of lights snaked through the forest, a column of something approaching far more rapidly than feet would allow.

“More Knights.” Anton slapped the wood. “Don’t get complacent yet!”

The lights began to spill out of the forest, the Church Militia stopped, tumbling into one another, and tried to run sideways. A horn resounded from the approaching column, nearly identical to the horn blasted by the Blue Firestorm as they hunted the fleeing Clansmen and Orcs.

“Kill these traitors!”

The torches began to drop, the sound of thunderous hooves filled the air. A column of Knights charged forward, splitting in two to hunt down the Church militia. On foot they had no hope of outrunning the horses, their light or non-existent armour offered nothing to stop Knight’s strikes.

"Any idea who they are?"

Anton ordered the Large Lightning Crows to cease attacks but to keep them close by, just in case. Even if they were enemies, some unknown faction looking to take control, they still couldn't breach the outer walls. And the charred corpses would surely give them pause.

"Yellow and Green armour." Conrad rubbed his chin. "Probably the Yellow Strikers. One of the few Knight Orders in the south east of Qaiviel. I think there are another two to the south. Not much happens there, with the Wood Elves on the southern border and all, so they aren't that big. Still, don't want to fight them."

Half of the Knights split off to deal with the Church Militia while the other charged at the remnants of the Golden Roar. Anton's Lightning Crows managed to fire off a few volleys before the two sides collided. There was no grand strategy at play, nothing more than a furious, bloody brawl. Everyone on Slihal’s walls fell absolutely silent to watch the brutal display. Anton dispatched a few Golden Roar Knights that broke away from the pack, Conrad ordered their weapons lowered lest they injure a potential friend, but these new Knights took most of the kills. The few Golden Roar Knights with any sense left fled into the forest, leaving their fellow Knights to die, but were struck down by large arrows loosed by the Yellow Strikers Knights. Several Yellow Striker’s at the rear wielded the same white bow that Kal was gifted, however the size of the arrow meant they were getting help from somewhere. A magically enhanced bow? Kal had mentioned something about the white and black bow being strangely easy to draw and yet extremely powerful.

Another minute passed and the enemy had scattered. Only a handful of Golden Roar Knights survived, a few more of the Church Militia now stumbling their way through a forest filled with wolves and other predators lured by the scent of fresh blood and fear. One of the Yellow Strikers Knights, wearing the best armour of their group, rode towards the gate.

"Thank you for the assistance." The Yellow Strikers Knight looked to the headless Golden Roar, then to the charred remains. "Though it looks like you have things under control here."

"It was a little close there." Conrad forced a laugh. "But what are you doing so far north? I doubt these men." Conrad motioned to the twisted metal and bone corpses. "Ventured into your lands. Forgive me for saying this, my lord, but do you even know what is happening?"

"We do. The King..." The Knight's obvious disgust flowed through that single word, "More accurately, one of those damn priests, ordered us to attack Duchess Belinda as she returned from a faraway land."

"Where is she, anyway?" Anton murmured to Cetina. Cetina tugged on his sleeve, Belinda stood where Conrad had dragged her from previously, a hand on her hip with a slightly bored expression.

"What do you think, Conrad?"

Conrad looked back, slightly annoyed that Duchess Belinda stood in the open without any guard. A few harsh whispers later and four joined her side, much to her indifference.

"Bring those Crows of yours close to Belinda. I don't think they're hostile, it would be strange to attack their allies...But you never know. It could get them inside. Not a bad plan I suppose."

Anton directed the Crows to the wall as the guards opened the gate. The lead Yellow Strikers Knight rode forward, head held high and seemingly uncaring that he almost hit several tired guards. Anton grumbled, Cetina didn't look too happy either. The Large Lightning Crows flapped loudly from their perch to land just before the Knight. His horse tried to rear up but the Knight kept it under control. As Anton stepped down from the wall, Cetina close on his heels with her shield at the ready, the Knight looked and held him with contempt.

"We are all a little bit on edge." Anton began, Cetina remained very close and quietly drew her sword. "And we can't have you attack our charge, not that we think you will..."

"Lord Pendrum." Belinda stepped forward, gently brushing the guards away. "I did not believe you received Alfred's letter."

"I was surprised, I'll say that." Pendrum smiled warmly. "That you had actually changed and for the better too. It took us a while to agree that something was wrong in the north. When those Church freaks came knocking on our gates we knew that something was very wrong indeed."

"How many Knights do you bring?"

"Nine hundred." Pendrum grimaced slightly. "Our order is smaller than those precious people on the border but we have brought all we can. The rest need to remain behind; bandits or if the Orcs ever choose to attack."

"From the Red Spines?" Anton asked.

"And who are you?" Pendrum wielded his horse towards Anton. "I presume you are the one controlling these creatures."

Cetina stepped in between, a hand gripping on her drawn sword as she rested the tip on the ground.

"I am."

"This is Anton." Belinda hurriedly moved between them, though standing far to one side. "A mercenary mage in my employ. As you can see he is extremely powerful."

Belinda's eyes narrowed towards Pendrum. "And more than capable of defending himself.”

Pendrum nodded. “Very well. Just make sure they keep themselves behaved.”

Guess they’re not all like Marcus and Castor…Well, more like Marcus. The rest were stuck up pricks too.

“We shall keep to ourselves.” Anton bowed his head.

The Knight forcefully returned the bow. He waved the other Knights forward and into Slihal. Anton watched them pass in silence, all were as proud and haughty as the first. Anton held their condescending gaze, ordering the Lightning Crows to hover around his head. The Knight’s contempt faded lightly but still remained their most prominent feature.

"They seem nice." Cetina sheathed her blade.

“I’d better make sure they don’t do anything stupid.” Conrad grumbled. “Or one of our men takes offence to these noble men enforcing their will upon us.”

“Before you do.” Anton caught his attention. “What was that about the red moss?”

“I’ve heard rumours that near the red spines this red moss grows. The Orcs use it for paint, or something, but when humans eat it they go a little crazy.” Conrad smiled. “But the Church, supposedly, had it forbidden for safety reasons. Looks like they aren’t exactly truthful, huh? What a surprise.”

Conrad gave a final quick wave before taking off after the knights.

Cetina shook her head. “Please tell me that Atros won’t behave like that. It’ll be difficult to get help, in the long run, if the people we help end up hating us.”

“Absolutely not. We’ll be far more subtle than this. And a lot more humble. We need to keep Atros safe, and a secret.”

“So what now?”

Anton looked to the west and the faintest light of the rising sun. “Too late to get any more sleep. We’re just going to have to power through it for the day. I hope you’re ready for it.”

Cetina gently rattled her sword in its sheath. “You saw me spending most of the night tending to the Ix. That wasn’t the first time I’ve had to spend the whole night awake.”

“Well…Once we’re back together there’ll be less of that.” Anton smiled. “Four people make keeping watch.”

Cetina muttered something but refused to elaborate when Anton tilted his head.

“Don’t worry about it.” Cetina smiled warmly.

“Very well.” Anton clapped. “Onto Castle Etoile then?”