Group two arrived first. Strategically it would have been more efficient to set up traps that killed their horses… But I couldn’t bring myself to do that when there was another way, so instead, we fortified the gates with rocks and a ditch that forced them to dismount. Once they did I just had Bear drop bigger rocks on their heads from above… Problem solved, the person whose horse had tripped eventually just gave up when he came too, although the miracle of the hour was that his horse didn’t break a leg, seemingly as much of a supper mutant of a horse, as the nobles were of humans. ‘I almost feel bad for coming out here the night before to set up these defenses…’
“Next is the rogues… Isy, hold fire for now, we let the traps do most of the work..” Off in the distance, it became clear that multiple castles were already falling, flags were changing, and horns were blowing. In the midst of it all Dragons Tallon was being marched on by the castle right next to them. ‘My best move… In this scenario… Should I stay here? No…’ “Isy, focus fire on the knights in armor, slow down their march, Mo and Bear, when the traps thin the crowd finish them off, then Bear, I want you and Kai to head towards the Mafia.
Just then, the runners arrived and met us at the front gate. Dragons Tallon just needed to hold position like us, but the Mafia was still untouched, likely because no one had ever seen them fight. Sure they were commoners, but their castle was relatively intact, and they were an unknown, not a sure win like many of the other fights that the larger guilds took instead… That would only last for so long though.
‘Ok… If Airsidh wants that castle next to him so badly… How about we just take it now?’
“Get back as soon as you can, tell the Mafia to march on the castle with the Dimond turtle flag to their west with half the force led by the vice-captain. Dragons Tallon will have to hold off the attack as best they can, we will reinforce them soon. In the meantime, send their captain and one other person to the outer perimeter of the castle with the black eagle flag.” ‘I don’t know how large the guild of Larisa knights is… But losing seven fully armored knights should be more than enough for us to do some damage after the fact right?’
The messengers dispersed and I quickly followed Mo back inside as we braced for the next battle. Before long, the sound of screams and falling rocks rang through the courtyards and stairwells, havoc came down upon the rogues and what little remained of them were crushed by Mo’s unparalleled speed and agility. Bear hardly even got to fight anyone. While that was all happening, I messaged my brother, telling him I was sending the Mafia to attack the castle, but that he needed to let them raise their flag over it.
My heart pounded in my chest, all things considered, I wasn’t doing all that much, certainly not compared to a dungeon dive. ‘Complete and utter chaos on the battlefield… This is what I was hoping for… From here, things should be easy…’
Kai arrived on horseback carrying another knight with him, and we quickly prepared for the battle against the 7 Larisa knights, who might have been dangerous were we alone… But Kai’s strength with a sword rivaled my brothers… Who was admittedly better with a bow… But still pretty strong overall. The knight that he brought with him wasn’t quite as strong as Lu, but still no slouch either. Teaming up with my guild six against the seven they sent, and made quick work of them… Although I did almost get my head taken off by a rogue arrow from Isy…
‘My manna is already wearing thin… I need to relax… But it’s just too nerve-wracking.’ Short of breath I turned to the others. “Bear, stay with Isy and help defend our castle, Kai, you and your friend go to the castle with the dragon claw flag and help them defend. Mo, are you ready?”
She smiled creepily, reminding me of the way Finlo looked holding a knife to someone's throat. ‘I’ll take that as a yes…’ “Let’s move.”
Everyone dispersed again. We had a brief window I was sure. No doubt more armies would start marching toward the center after stabilizing themselves on the outer edge, but in that moment the guild that sent the Larisa knights was vulnerable. Granted… I didn’t know how many soldiers they had in total, but being seven down was in all likelihood good enough for what I was planning.
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I took her hand and swung her up onto Frit’z’s back. “Hold on tight.”
“Mm… The castle the knights came from, right?”
“Right…”
The moment Fritz started to galop I could feel her grip tighten around my stomach as she suddenly clung to me like a scared kid on a rollercoaster. “Are you doing alright?”
“I’ve… Never been on a horse before…” ‘Is she serious?’ Before long we were there. ‘Now… where is he.’ I slowed Fritz’s pace until I heard footsteps and quickly road over to find the captain of Dragons Talon.
“Lady Siya!”
I lowered my hand. “Quiet. It may be broad daylight, but we are going to take them off guard, do you understand?” He nodded, listening intently with his subordinate. “My horse is going to kick a hole in the wall, you two are going to run in screaming as loud as you can, and then quickly run back out again and follow my trail as I punch another hole in the wall. The third hole my horse will run through, breaking out the other side, and that’s when I open up another hole with my bear hands right into the keep from the back. Follow me in there. Does that make sense?”
They stared at me blankly.
‘Right…’ “Just… Run in the first hole screaming, run out, and then follow me.”
“Ok… I think we can do that…”
‘Let’s hope…’
The plan proceeded as I said and complete chaos was ensured, the guild members were scrambling, reinforcing against enemies they heard, but were no longer there, as more holes breached their walls and the seemingly wild horse ran through camp… Taking out three men before jumping over the back wall… It all must have felt like a bad dream…
Making our way around in the middle of the panic, Mo had already split from the group to do her own assassin thing, while I channeled my magic into reinforcing my body and used my metal gauntlet to protect my hand as I shattered the stone wall. With the training they had gone through, the two men with me were able to take one knight, while I took the other two, catching the three of them completely off guard as we created our own back door.
‘Alright… It’s working well so far… Although maybe this plan is a bit too dramatic… Well… We are sieging a castle with four people and a magic horse…’ I lifted a finger to my mouth signaling them to stay quiet again. “Help me bar the door to the keep, we need to move anything heavy we can think of in front of it.”
After moving a pile of wall rubble in front of the door we made our way up the stairs, fighting the couple of knights that were still in the keep, but making short work of them, seeing as how they were mostly archers and unexpecting of having to fight anyone in close quarters. Although, I do have to say that it would have been a lot harder, maybe impossible, without the help the other two provided.
By the time we made it to the top of the keep, Mo was standing over the unconscious commander and holding their flag, having already changed it out.
“Was it a tough fight?” I asked.
She tossed the flag on the ground and stepped over his body. “Not really, although his armor was hard to hit through… So I ended up just hitting him into things until he fell down. It would have been easier if I had knives.”
“Right…” ‘poor guy…’ “Well… The Dragons Talon now has a second castle. And these guys are eliminated.” I walked out to the edge and looked over to the castle they were defending, and as it turns out they won there as well. ‘I guess the others made it in time.’
“Ok… So what do we do about them…” The captain said, pointing down at the confused and now very angry knights who were starting to notice their flag had been switched.
“Well, they technically shouldn’t even be allowed to fight anymore… But they will be surrounded by your guild soon enough, and then I’m sure they will surrender.”
“Ruthless…” He muttered.
All I could do was sigh. ‘Couldn’t you have said like genius or something instead… This is why I like Bear…’ “At any rate… You did good. Keep it up. This war is only beginning.”
He started to tear up. “Yes, Lady Siya!”
All I could do was awkwardly turn away and stare across the battlegrounds. The Mafia had begun making its move, and my brother's forces were initiating the conflict. ‘Of the 36 guilds… Only 15 remain… 4 of which are mine… For once, I think the hard part came first… But is it normal for people to drop like flies?’