"-Which is why we must press with the helsgar first before moving in our forces!" Richard Ordrin argued as he gestured to the map of the battlefield their scouts had drawn up. The leaders of the major knight orders were discussing a strategy to claim Toldrin while standing around a large table in James' massive tent. Richard continued while motioning to the map, "The northwestern hill would give us a perfect staging ground for the catapults to pelt their walls and draw out their forces. We ca-"

"That will take too long!" Duke Hoffman countered. "The Crown Prince was sent here to deliver us a decisive victory, not continue to draw out this conflict. A frontal assault from the west with helsgar support in the rear will be more than enough to break the main gate and allow the Golden Lions the opportunity to flood into the city and force the Peltairans to surrender!"

"And how many knights will die charging up to that gate, Hoffman?" It was a battle of strategy versus ego. "Archers line their battlements and man the arrow slits in the wall, any assault without bringing down the walls first will be met with a mountain of death that our knights will have to pay for!" Those loyal to Richard started raising their voices and agreeing with the Duke, including Duke Mordrist who was allowing Richard to take the lead in the meeting.

"You sound like you fear Toldrin's walls, Duke!" Hoffman countered and his loyalists started badgering Richard's. "Or are your knights so inept that they can't take a single gate?"

"That has nothing to do with-"

"Enough!" James sat at the head of the table in a comfortable plush chair. He was wearing plate armor that was a glimmering white with gold etched into it in the pattern of a lion's head on his chestpiece. A white silk cloak with golden frills hung from his back that further cemented his look as a shining white knight in a sea of otherwise grey armor. "I agree with Duke Hoffman; we assault the main gate."

"Your Highness!?" Duke Mordrist finally spoke up and tried to object but a glare from James silenced her.

"It sounds like you're volunteering to lead the charge, Duke Mordrist?" James' voice dripped with superiority since all the leaders had to listen to the twelve-year-old prince as if he were his father because he was representing the royal family in this battle. "If you want the honor then I'll happily give it to you despite my initial thoughts about giving it to Prince Terence," James taunted while motioning to the second prince who stood in black plate armor next to Mordrist. Terence had been sent by James to die with a pitiful retinue a year prior but proved difficult to kill as he always managed to survive and turn the tide of any battle he took part in.

Terence held in his disgust as he spoke, "If that is what yo-"

"I apologize for being late!" Lucina burst through the tent flaps and approached the table so that she was standing at the opposite end of James.

"Lucina," James muttered and scrunched up his nose as the smell of blood flooded the tent due to Lucina's robe which caused all those present to move away from the small girl. "I should have expected the leader of the Hellhounds to show up not only last but also late."

"You have my deepest apologies, Your Highness," Lucina sarcastically apologized and gave a subtle bow. "I was waiting for the messenger to come get me but they never showed so I made my way here on my own. If you'd like, I could let you borrow my second, Peter, to whip your lazy knights into shape." Her eyes were alight and her voice dripped venom, "We can't have our Crown Prince look bad during the final battle of the war, can we?"

"You still speak well for a mutt, haven't you resorted to barking?" James insulted back.

"…" Richard felt uneasy seeing Lucina as every time he did the image in his mind of the innocent girl who played with his daughter died a little more. He had only been assisted by the Hellhounds a few times in the past couple of months and the amount of bloodshed they brought with them, and how little it phased them, made him worry. He couldn't let Lucina, no matter how far she'd fallen, die here so he moved to redirect James' ire, "Your H-"

"I didn't know you were into that, Your Highness," Lucina crossed a line, "I'll have to warn Olivia about your preferences!"

Duke Hoffman tried to reprimand Lucina to gain points with James, "How da-"

But James was louder, "You will show respect to your betters, Hellhound!" He shot up from his chair and slammed his hands on the table. "Or, are you volunteering to lead the assault against the main gate!?"

"She is but a child!" Richard argued to try and save Lucina.

"Be silent, Duke Ordrin, or I'll send you both against the Peltairans by yourselves!" James was no longer in any mood to play nice and allowed his true colors to show. While no one dared whisper in such a small space, the knights present all exchanged worried glances at one another about their prince's temper.

"You can't-"

"Very well," Lucina interrupted and agreed with James. "We Hellhounds will take the gate for you, Your Highness."

"What!?" Richard couldn't control his voice from coming out and he turned to Lucina to see her smiling from ear to ear.

"…You're mad," James laughed at Lucina's declaration. "You've truly lost it, haven't you?" James erupted into laughter which further set the gathered knights on edge while Lucina silently smiled to herself and waited for James to finish. "Alright then, if you're so eager for it then I'll grant your death wish." James made a show to swoosh his arm so that his cloak would flap and flutter giving him a graceful and grand appearance. "The Hellhounds will lead the charge against the main gate and buy time for our helsgar to get close enough to begin bringing down the walls!"

"Thank you, Your Highness," Lucina said and gave a curtsy with her robe. "Since that is the case, I will take my leave to begin preparing my knights for tomorrow's battle."

"You won't even pretend to care about the rest of the plan?" James mocked and got a laugh out of his loyalists.

"The tip of the spear doesn't need to know what the swordsmen behind it are doing," Lucina said as she moved to leave the tent. "So long as I pierce my mark, everything will be fine." Richard watched Lucina leave with a distraught expression but he couldn't call out to the girl he now believed was out of his reach to save. Terence, too, watched Lucina leave and his apprehension grew as, despite her obvious mockery, Lucina still listened to James which he believed meant that James had control over the Hellhounds; a dangerous variable to look out for in his future plans.

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Peter was waiting for Lucina outside the tent and fell in line when she exited and asked, "What are your orders, Commander?"

"Gather the men and all our horses," Lucina replied as they hurried back to camp to begin preparations. "We will be the vanguard that meets Peltaira's final stand and delay until the helsgar get into range to bring down the walls."

"The helsgar?" Peter was confused and wanted clarification, "But can't you break open the gates with your magic?"

"Those were the orders from His Highness," Lucina brushed it off with a wave of her hand. "He wants his people to break the gates and claim victory even at the cost of more lives being lost from both sides. As loyal subjects, who are we to go against the orders of the royal family?"

"…" Peter held his tongue in thought and waited for them to return to their camp before speaking again, "So, shall we just delay?"

"Of course not!" Lucina leaped up on a crate in the center of their camp so that she could be just above everyone's eye level and the Hellhounds gathered around her. Their bodies were donned with chainmail and plate accented by red cloth, their arms were guarded by sturdy shields with a hellhound demon etched into its face, and they armed themselves with blade, spear, and mace without a hint of rust or decay. Warhorses who were being fitted with chainmail and plate armor stamped their feet in anticipation as all the Hellhounds gathered around Lucina. Thanks to all the practicing she did with Jeremy, Lucina was getting better at making impromptu speeches and addressed her knights, "Hellhounds, we have been ordered by His Highness to be the vanguard for the siege of Toldrin! We will be without helsgar support as we are meant to distract the Peltairans so that our catapults may approach, and we will be the only members of the vanguard while the other orders bring up our rear! Do you know what this means, Hellhounds?"

"The glory is ours to take for the Princess!" a shout came from one of the knights and they all roared in agreement. The Hellhound knight order was no longer the ragged group of castaways that were barely clinging to life, they were a threat.

"The Crown Prince wishes to claim the gate, but the glory of getting there belongs to the Hellhounds! We are not the distraction, we are the maw that will devour the Peltairans whole!" Lucina shouted, drew her shortsword from its scabbard on her belt, and raised it into the air. "Sharpen your blades, feed the stomachs of you and your horses, and rest well this night because tomorrow we ride into the arms of our enemy! Die well, Hellhounds, because tomorrow we end this war!"

***

"My Lord, they are advancing toward the gate!" a Peltairan watchman reported as Urldrusk's troops began their advance across the plains when the sun was at its peak in the sky. The walls of Toldrin were bustling with archers all checking their bows and distributing arrows to one another in preparation to repel the invaders. Engineers manned catapults that were installed into the tops of the towers that dotted the wall and they began loading boulders into the cups of the siege engines.

"Hold the catapults until you're sure you can hit their helsgars!" barked the leader of Peltaira's defense forces, Bo Breezeson. Breezeson ran his fingers through his long black hair as he stood atop the tower that flanked the main gate into the city and observed his forces that were outside the walls setting up their battle lines to repel any forces that tried to get close and scale their walls.

"My Lord?" one of his subordinates raised his concern, "But our catapults could easily break their cavalry charges, why must we hold?"

"Because Urldrusk is a kingdom of wizards," Breezeson answered while turning his gaze to the horizon where Urldrusk's forces could be seen slowly advancing toward them. "Any boulder we throw has just as much a chance to hit our forces as it does our enemy's. To ensure our hits we must wait for them to be in range and fire first so that their wizards will be too busy ensuring their own boulders hit so that ours may find their marks."

"Well said, Breezeson," a deep, jolly voice echoed from behind them and Breezeson turned to see a giant of a man approach him. The man in his mid-thirties was two and a half meters tall and the air seemed to bend under the weight of his bulging muscles that he freely showed off since he only wore simple white pants and thick black boots. His long black hair and beard flowed in the wind like flags of victory, and his sharp green eyes shimmered behind his face whose beauty rivaled even the most well-defined of statues. With a voice deeper than any other, the man continued, "They hold the initiative as the attackers so we must play our hands sparingly."

Breezeson and all those on the tower immediately bowed in reverence and greeted the man, "We greet The Auspicious Star Born From Our Bloodied Sister's Crimson Lance! Hail, Saint Tao Chadman!"

"Rise, my comrades!" Chadman said with a smile that put those around him at ease. "I no longer feel right hearing your reverence when our enemies are barking at our gates."

"Please, do not say such things, Saint!" an archer said and put a hand to his chest. "Your presence alone is enough to win the day! None here cast blame upon you for being forced to remain by our cowardly king's side!" Nods and shouts of agreement followed the archer's pleas as all those present were on Chadman's side.

"While your words give me solace, that does not excuse my actions in staying trapped within Toldrin's walls." Chadman solemnly gazed into the horizon as a gust of wind danced through his hair.

"The men speak true, Saint," Breezeson said as he stood next to Chadman and gestured back toward Toldrin which was a sprawling metropolis that sat upon the shores of the eastern ocean. The wood used in Toldrin's construction was a brilliant red, even without paint, that reflected the sun's warmth throughout the city, and the special stone many of the roads were built from shined a brilliant green which gave rise to the city's other name: The Jade Jewel of the East. "None can go against our king who holds the old blood of Toldrin in their veins, so do not take any of the blame for our enemies reaching our walls!"

"No," Chadman wouldn't relent and argued, "I and the Heavenly Dragon sect have remained within our capital's walls throughout the war because our king demanded the best protection against potential assassins from Urldrusk. While we have sent many an assassin to their next life, what has that decree cost us?" Chadman raised his hand to his face and clenched his fist in anguish. "Urldrusk has spearheaded through our territory and pushed all the way to the coast and our Jade. They do not care if our forces eventually surround and cut them off since they know all they have to do for this war to be won is take Toldrin."

"We will not let that happen!" another archer shouted.

"The dogs of Urldrusk will never breach our glorious walls!" a siege engineer agreed.

"…Our kingdom is truly blessed with those of good spirit," Chadman chuckled and released his tense shoulders to appear calm for the troops. "However, even when their helsgar get into range I would ask that you not throw your boulders right away."

"Why not?" an archer asked as she finished checking her arrows.

"Because," Chadman answered while turning his gaze back to Urldrusk's forces, "We must first distract their Hellhound if our catapults are to ever hit their targets."

"You…speak of that monster that claims to be The Harbinger of Zulm?" Breezeson asked, and an unease swept across the troops at the mention of the title. "The monster that tore down Yangzho Dam with their magic alone and who drowned Featherspeaker's sect in an instant?"

"Yes," Chadman's voice was distant as his eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance. "The Hellhound of the West will most certainly join today's battle, despite the oddness of Urldrusk's forces."

"While I dare not think of the monster, I do agree, Saint, that the deployment of Urldrusk's forces is most peculiar." Breezeson motioned toward the northwest and mentioned, "We thought for sure they would take the hill and made sure our forces were prepared accordingly, but they seemingly wish to charge our main gate across the flat plains. This goes against all previously known strategies they've employed thus far and I worry that there is trickery afoot!"

"Trickery, or incompetence," Chadman mused.

"I would sooner believe this to be a trick over incompetence, Saint, as only the arrival of a powerful fool could bring such incompetence to their perceived final battle." Breezeson tried to see what Chadman was looking at, but Urldrusk's forces were still too far away for his eyes to focus. "Their second prince has been on the battlefield, before, and has proven to learn the lessons of war quite quickly, and The Hellhound of the West is brutal but would never waste her forces like this, so that means someone above both of them would need to have arrived to take command."

"Indeed, perhaps a child seeking to claim that which he has no right," Chadman remarked and smiled. "The king of Urldrusk was said to be a vain man with a cavern instead of a mine for a head, and it appears that his youngest takes after him in that way."

"The Crown Prince of Urldrusk is also here!?" Breezeson gasped and desperately strained his eyes to try and see him.

"Even if he is," Chadman laughed and patted Breezeson on the back, "Urldrusk's beloved Crown Prince would never stand with his troops like a true warrior. You'd be lucky to see him behind even their helsgar, I'd wager."

"Is he truly such a coward?" Breezeson asked. While he was aware of the king of Urldrusk and his children to some extent, he never paid much mind to politics so he didn't know if what Chadman was saying was truth or speculation.

"Only a fool would purposely ignore an advantage and send his troops to their deaths to claim a 'swift' victory," Chadman said while rubbing his beard expectantly. "Besides, it appears we have other matters to worry about as it appears my other guess was correct."

"Other guess?"

"My Lords!" the watchman shouted as he stared through his spyglass at the horizon. "Urldrusk has begun their attack!"

"What!?" Breezeson turned back to the horizon and Urldrusk's helsgar catapults were nowhere close to being in position to begin launching boulders. "Why would they attack without their catapults!? Where are they attacking from?" Breezeson looked to the flanks to try and see any sneak attacks attempting to scale their walls.

"The front, headed directly for the gate!" the watchman called and everyone on the wall, except Chadman, ran to the edge of the wall to see an insane sight. While the rest of Urldrusk's forces were continuing a steady march, the center column of knights kicked their horses into a fast gallop and started to charge Toldrin's wall and the lines of spearmen waiting down below. "By the iconography on their shields… It's the Hellhounds!"

"HAHAHAHA!" Chadman burst out into a laugh that shook the stones of the wall and he clapped his hands. "A fool whose crown doesn't fit, a son scorned from his birthright, and a monster bathed in blood come knocking at our gates! This will be a story for generations!" Chadman approached the edge of the wall and propped up his right foot atop the edge of the battlements. "Come then, Hellhound of the West! Loose yourself from the chains of the fool and bare your teeth against the Dragon!"