The rest of the day is spent recovering any wounded soldiers. Any surviving luutons are rounded up and tied together, soon to be sent to dungeons all around the kingdom of astra.
Gora eventually wakes up from her slumber. crawling out from under the shield and gets up.once fully awake; she panicfully looks around for her spear. sighing with relief seeing it under Utums shield, She must of held onto the whole time while being carried by utum. She picks it up and dusts it off walking over to the group of resting knights. They all smile seeing her. Sighing to herself once she sits down.”that could of gone alot better”
She groans fanning her burn. Utum stands up and grabs his shield. Waving goodbye to his friends”im gonna go find captain rex and start packing i have a feeling were done here”
They say their goodbyes, waving and nodding to utum as he walks off. Sicus soon stands up as well dusting himself off”well dammit i guess im gonna restring my pandura we’ll all feel much butt once i do. Well i guess most of anyway.”
He says referring to gora and the Alquur woman. As he walks away gora over to the referred foreign woman.”thank you for helping me by the way madam whats your name?”
She says sounding a little embarrassed.”oh its Zarqua Zahrat. Im the fifth daughter of an Alquur chieftain i come to these lands to find glory so that i may return to my lands a great warrior”
She states with much confidence. gora smiles abit hearing that. trying her best to try and stifle a chuckle.”hey whats so funny?!?”
Zarqua says sounding a little upset at gora.”sorry its thats pretty much the opposite reason why im here its just a little ironic.”
Zarqua looks a little confused at hearing this.”huh how so?”
Gora smiles and stand up looking quite confident of herself” because i am grigora kalo heiress to the mighty lands of Sokara i am here not for my own glory but against my grandfathers will i have came here to redeem the legacy of my families last noble beast! Whether we meet again or no im sure you shall be hearing my name again regardless!”
Gora says proudly displaying the spear. Cofus smiles abit seeing the spear again, while the others look impressed to hear such a bold declaration. Zarqua smiles uneasily as she looks at gora she wonders if she had come here for the wrong reason but regardless is now glad she came.
Secomi now stands up as well and dusts himself off with a smile”well im going to go pack as well we have a long trip home no matter what so id like to be prepared”
He then waves goodbye as he heads off. Arvus sighs and gets up as well”i guess we should should all go pack. Im gonna go catch up with Sicus ill see you guys later ok?”
She says as gora cofus and Zarqua nod and wave goodbye.”i really never unpacked i kinda just keep this spear on me everything is still on my horse.”
Gora says sounding very authentic as she wonders what they’ll do next.”um i guess i need to check in with my captain you want to join me gora because i imagine rex is heading to the same place”
Zarqua suggests looking between the two . Gora nods and gets up and starts stretching”ya that sounds good im ready when you guys are.”
cofus and Zarqua nod and get up as well dusting themselves off. They head off to the generals tent looking for their captains
As they pass through the village its horrible the sick they dying and dead litter the street of this once peace village, But sadly this place is no longer peaceful or a village as those days are now over.
While there is definitely more dead luutons then astrans its still not an easy sight for cofus to see. Gora now feeling uneasy about this whole conflict starts doubting her choices.
As they arrive at where the generals tent use to be they spot their commanders sitting on top of two crates next to each other. Aemulus had regained his consciousness and his arm has been properly wrapped. They all approach their captains and salute them”we survived sirs and are reporting back in”
The two of knights say respectful in tone as gora stands to the side not showing the same formality.rex and Aemulus smile seeing the young knights”good im glad to hear that well pack your shit were heading back to Oneidora!”
rex commands to his two junior commanders“Well you heard the man Zarqua go pack your shit!”
sir Aemulus shouts.“Yes sirs!”
they all three shout in unison as they run to pack their things.The battle is over the entire village is completely destroyed any hopes of rebuilding or returning is over as every house is destroyed beyond repair and corpse litter the rubble to an extensive degree.
Making their way back to their tent Cofus and gora sigh looking at the pile of ash that lays where their tent once did”well atleast we don’t have to worry about packing anything”
gora says before shrugging and walking offCofus lowers his head feeling defeated” man my book was still in their”
he sighs and follows gora to retrieve their mounts. They had tied they mounts to post outside the village out of sight upon arriving. As they find their mounts they are reunited with the rest of their squad.the friendly giant utum smiles and waves to them.“Gora, cofus there you two are we’ve been waiting for you what took you so long”
Cofus and gora smile and wave back to the other, gora approach her horse as cofus heads to his giant lizard
“Sorry utum cofus and i had to go see the captian. im gonna have to head home for a month once were done at oniedora id like some time to rest at home and talk to my grandfather about the luutons somemore. We have 3 months to prepare so after i recover I’ll come back as soon as possible”
Rex’s squad isn’t the happiest to hear this but they know it to be necessary. utum and Arvus personally saw the the burns on her back and know their full extent.``we understand do take care it has been an honor fighting with you so far and i would like to continue doing so in this war”
utum says with a gentle smile gora nods and smiles back.“Now can someone help me on my horse i cant really move my hips or lower back all that well”
They seem to all chuckle abit at that even gora herself. they all nod and help her up onto her horse.“So who got the most kills?”
secomi asks. Everyone in the party starts looking at each other intensely, their eyes shifting from one another waiting for the first person to speak. finally Sicus just sighs”fine well undoubtedly i got the lowest i killed like 2 and that’s just because i’m a musician ok!”
Arvus stands proudly putting her hands on her hips”wow little bro what a low number im sure there some levies with a higher kill count than that”
Gora shakes her head and shrugs”you couldn’t have least throne a dagger at one two?”
Utum just sighs in disappointment as secomi just points and laughs”come one bro only two? You couldn’t find any more stragglers or what?”
Sicus grits his teeth looking quite angry at his comrades”ok then tough guy how many did you kill”
he says violently pointing at secomi his voice filled with hatred for the swordman Secomi just grin and crosses his arms in confidence and proudly looks up”i the mighty secomi vanquished a total of 43 of those filthy luuton bastards with my blade”
Everyone but cofus and gora looks quite impressed. Arvus smiles abit”well i didn’t get that many but i got 22”
Utum seems quite impressed by the numbers so far”well i got 45 after i ran out of javalins i just started throwing what i could find”
Cofus grins and looks at the others quite contenly”well i guess theres a reason im the junior commander after all because i cofus cofeneva astra have personally sent 64 of the luutons to their ancestors”
They all then look at cofus quite impressed expect for one among them. Gora looks at them with biggest grin she can muster. Cofus looks at her uneasy feeling a bit nervous about such a confident grin”well i guess you astras really needed me after all”
Goras says with a smug tone as she looks down at all the astrans even the mighty utum feels small under her massive ego”what theres no you could even get half of what i got . You were out for half the entire battle!”
Cofus says out loud. with a voice that couldn’t possibly hold no dishonesty she boldly decleraes to them”the truth is i lost count after the first swing but by no means could the number have been any way lower than 200! As with each attack my geia moved through their bountiful horde setting them ablaze.”
The astrans feel shocked to hear this. from anyone else they would immediately believe it to be a lie, yet as gora stands tall as she rides her majestic steed laughing its hard to doubt her words aren’t true.
Utum thinks to himself while its true gora was out of the fight for most of the battle. her geia did make quick work of quite a few. He tries to think in his head what the real number could be”I hate to say it but I believe we’ve been outclassed in our own war. she got to the front line a little before me and had already taken out a number of them. Im afraid her guess is most likely true”
Utum says, sounding a little disappointed. Cofus sighs and refuses to say anything as they make their way back to rex with his mount being towed along. Sir aemulus would be out of sight as rex just sits there alone resting his eyes as he waits for his squad to bring him his beast.
Rex grins as he feels the earth shake a little as his fat lizard marches toward him with a blank stare. Rex hops up from his spot and runs towards his mount and quickly embraces it
“Asi oh my beloved friend how i worried for your safety im glad to see youre unharmed”
The lizard takes little notice of its loving master, simply glancing down at him for a second before blankly staring off into space, something reptiles seem to do regardless of size. Regardless rex is happy to see his beloved mount. he quickly climbs aboard it and looks down at everyone except utum who he stll has to look up to.”i’m pleased to see everyone is alive and well. We lost most of our levies in that battle but not a single knight perished. We must now report their demands back to our king and prepare for the next battle in three months i have already sent messages to the watchtowers and they will be sending the message to everyone else.”
Gora chuckles abit much to rexs confusion”and what is so funny miss grigora?”
She just shakes her head”no sorry i was just thinking how ridiculous it was to ask the astran kings to submit. They must know as little about you as you do them or else they would of continued there assault and not let up until one of us is destroyed”
Gora says in a rather cheerful tone for a rather dark observation. It was true though there was no way the kings of astrana would submit to foreign raiders. Rex thought to himself.
The entire squad looks to rex quite excitedly making the captain feel uneasy”um is there something else im forgetting?”
He asks feeling quite concerned. Cofus shakes his head”captian you never said your kill count!”
Cofus voice sounds playfully disappointed rex cant help but laugh a little as he say that”ah of course my bad i got caught up in dealing with the rest of this camp i forgot something so important” he coughs into his hand and puffs up his chest trying to make himself bigger”i sir rexan lacerana astra slaughtered well over 400 of the luutons myself ”
They all looks in shock completely bewildered by the captains statement”400!?! How is that even possible captain what could you have done that was so much more afecvtie than me i was right by you the whole time!”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Cofus complains he tries to think very hard while its true his captain most definitely killed more than him. He didn’t think the gap was that large. As they move on leaving the ruined village gora would rest on top of her horse as they traveled. It was a shame its 2 weeks travel just to get there and yet they had only stayed for 2 days and now are forced to travel for another 2 weeks to reach the capital.
So just like the luutons as fast as they came as fast they went. Both forces now retreat pulling back to their homes. while we might not know what the luutons will be for 3 months. the astrans will undoubtedly be reinforcing their border and training.
Though as they travel back home the road is not nearfully as chearfull as when they where heading towards the village. No as they leave the village and head back to oneidora the roads are definitely much less lively.as the Soldiers and knights that would be returning to oneidora would be slowly making their way through
Wounds and injuries are found everywhere on their bodies some peoples limbs are simply rotting away as frostbite and infections have already taken their toll on them. Many fall throughout the journey with rex’s squad see many corpses lining the road.
The air feels warm but that doesn’t ease anything. Rex tries his best to ease his eyes from all of this”you know cofus when our kingdoms finally united i thought i would never see my kinsmen like this again.”
Rexs voice is somber it is calm but carries much weight to it. Cofus frowns and looks down not sure how to respond to his senior they all simply ride in silence for the next few days only making small talk at night when setting up their camp.
As they get further and further from the battle field they see less and less injured though most likely simply because they cant keep up, but regardless it helps alleviate the mood gora resting on her horse still. Her burn was getting better but it still gave her abit of pain so most of the time she reside herself to laying on her horse.
By the second week of travel they run into knights who are also returning from the front. Many of them seem much worse off than rexes party. As they continue onward they run into a young man cofus knows very well. Hed be on his own his held hung low as his beast moves along. Cofus pulls right beside him and taps on his shoulder “amica what are you doing here wheres your squad?”
The young man who looked the same age as cofus slowly raises his head and looks at cofus” theyre dead all gone”
he says slowly with a melancholic voice that holds itself together with its apathy. Cofus looks quite alarmed”what? But how-”
hes cut off with his friend lowering his head back down and spreading up a little. Cofus halts his beast not sure what just happened rex moves his way over to him and places a hand on his shoulder.”im sorry cofus but it seems not everyone fared as well against the luutons as us”
Cofus simply lowers his head as well and moves on as well not saying anything to his captain rex simply sighs as they continue on their journey to return to the high king. He hopes that soon all of this traveling will end but doubts it as he has a feeling even in these three months he’ll find no peace.
Goras burns are doing much better as shes done nothing but rest for almost two weeks. As shes lays out on top of her horse she bathes in the sun enjoying the cool summer day. Utum and secomi would happen to be riding a little in front of her. Gora couldn’t help but ease drop a little on their conversations.
“I swear on the ancestors i actually rode on of those flying lizards it wasnt for very long or very well but it still counts!”
“But how? How did you even manage to get on one in the first place?”
“I told you the man was trying to use his geia and got too close i simply jumped up and cut him down”
“So then what while we were fighting valiantly you were messing around trying not to get yourself killed?”
“No i killed like 12 people while in the air im telling you utum you should of seen it”
“Uh huh sure bud”
Gora cant help but chuckle to herself at the energy of the two seemingly great friends argue.she gets up and stretches and looks around seeing Arvus by herself she slowly manuevers her horse over to her.” so um beautiful weather we’re having?”
Gora says in an almost awkward tone. Arvus shakes her head and looks over to gora seemingly have been in a trance”huh did you say something i was kinda lost in thought”
Gora chuckles defensively”oh ya i was just sayin what nice weather we’re having”
Arvus scrunches her eyebrows together and tilts her head a little”oh um ya i guess its nice. Not too hot “
Gora nods they both stay silent for a moment then separate before saying anything else. That was the only thing they said to each other the entire way back. Sicus and cofus would be chatting together “i still feel bad about it man”
“I know but if you didn’t melt the arrow then it could have pierced her side and I think that would have been alot worse. you did the best you could Sicus im sure gora feels the same way. Just ask her about it”
Sicus sighs and lowers his head he didn’t seem to happy with this idea” i don’t know that just seems too awkward for me i think I’ll just take this to my grave sir cofus”
Cofus just sighs and shakes his head” you’re being difficult Sicus”
Eventually their travels once again come to an end and they are met with the glorious sight of oneidoria. All the tension from the journey is eased as they find themselves all able to breathe easily again now back in the lively city. Even gora who doenst even consider this city a second home like all astrans do feels at ease. She cant exactly explain it ,but shes just happy to be back.
They all make their way to the palace crowds of people are cheering for the returning warriors in the streets its by no means an organized parade but their cheers are still sufficient to bolster their confidence.
As they arrive at the palace they are hailed by the guards. As they dismount from the beast and servants quickly rush to take them to the stables. Once they enter the palace they see the three kings sitting on their thrones. Rexs squads find seats among the mostly empty stands as rex moves to the front. It seems most nobles are still making their way back. “Your noble majesties i sir rexan have come back from the front lines to report to you the luutons pointless demands”
The high king raises an eyebrow and looks down at sir rexan”and what demands are that?”
he say sounding curious“They have given you three months to prepare tribute or they shall come back with double the forces they attacked with”
The high king gets up an sighs”then sir rexan we have 3 months to figure out how we are going to survive this oncoming assault”
Rexs squad jaw drops at hearing this for the high king to show doubt in his people is unthinkable. “ your majesty surely you jest how many did the send how many villages were attacked 2 weeks ago? 4? 6? 8 10?”
The high king puts his hands behind his back and turns around” all 18 villages were attacked 2 weeks ago. the luutons have an estimated force of well over a hundred thousand men on flying beast that is more than our total forces and then to say they have double is unthinkable. We astrans do no have the advantage by any means.”
The room fall silent no one says anything gora herself is shocked to hear of such a fighting force exist. Gora stands up and heads to the king and kneels”your majesty i request to be able to head home i wish to convince my grandfather on joining this war”
The high king turns around he smiles at gora’’ Lady grigora i happily accept your request i ask that you be swift you may take any of rexes squad that you need aide you in your travels. Id send rex if i could but i have other things i need to discuss with him”
She nods and gets up”than i shall like to bring along secomi and utum back doanertoffia with me i believe that i can convince my grandfather to lend his aid.”
The high king nods”i approve rest, tonight and tomorrow you may head off back to your homeland”
Gora bows”thank you your highness ill shall do just that”
gora then leaves the room taking utum and secomi with her.”hey why did you wanna bring us i can kinda understand utum but why did you pick me over cofus weve barely talked to each other”
Gora grins and gives the two astrans a sinister look causing them to feel uneasy.”lets just say my grandfather is a hard man to convince and im gonna need a good combination wit and brawn cofus isn’t nearly as strong as utum and i doubt the boy has much going on upstairs so it was either you or Sicus. and Sicus is being weird about permanently scaring my back and i quite frankly don’t think he has much to offer me in terms of wit anyway. So really secomi the fact that we havent talked yet is why your coming you have simply yet to let me down”
Gora says quite confidently and boldly in front of the astrans squad members. Secomi has a rather unamused look on his face as gora makes her declaration.”what about Arvus? Didnt want to share a tent?”
He says rather rudley trying to stir her up.it does work though not in the way secomi had imagined. Gora winces at hearing her name gora looks to the side and scratches her cheek with her index finger looking rather melancholy”id rather not spend anymore time traveling with her especially if theres to only be the three of us”
Secomi and utum now both look confused”wait what?” they both say in unison.
Gora exhales quite empathetically”ya idk we just never hit it off i tried to make small talk and she kinda just blew me off”
The astran men are quite confused to what they are hearing she had no idea she had been analyzing their conversations so thoroughly they now wonder if they had gora all wrong.”um i think shes just awkward she doesn’t really talk to anyone but Sicus and captain rex in the squad”
Gora stands there for a moment and intensely stares at them. They get a little closer looking a little concerned”gora?”
Utum waves his hand in front of gora who is still just intensely staring off into spare with a look of ponderance.” oh she’s just awkward ? Well dam now im stuck with you two”
Her words hit the astrans heavily secomi especially as he feels he would’ve been the one to be replaced. Gora sighs looking at the two astrans”well nothing i can do now so im going to lay down i’ll see you two tomorrow save me a seat at the breakfast hall”
They nod their heads to her and gora takes off. Wanting to spend the rest of the day by herself, she finds her way back to her room that she stayed in previously. As she opens the door shes greeted by the semi familiar room feel. exhausted gora makes little haste to lie down. Her burn have stopped hurting but they are still not fully healed.
Gora wonders how her grandfather is doing its already been 2 months since shes seen him she never really even said goodbye, she wonders if he would be angry, she wonders if he’ll try to stop her from coming back. As she layed in the bed she pondered these thoughts as her consciousness slowly drifts away.
The morning comes easily on gora they still a little over two months to achieve their goals. gora happily gets ready for the day. Once shes all dressed and proper for the day she leaves her temporary room with her bags in tow knowing very well it will in the very least be four weeks before shes back here.
She heads to the dining hall agreed upon. Though unlike the hundreds of warriors dining here like last time, a scattered number of nobles and knights occupy the halls. Gora is able to quickly get her food and find rex and his squad. She sits in between captain rex and the giant utum, secomi the blades man would be on Utum’s right. Across the table from gora would be the ever accurate Arvus to her right would be her brother the melodic mistro Sicus and to her left would be cofus rexs second in command.
While goras time with these knights of astra has not been long she has developed a fondness for them all she smiles happily as she sits with then and begins chatting with them.”morning everyone i hope we’re all ready for our upcoming journeys”
Gora says in a cheerful tone. Rex smiles at the cheerful gora and nods”yes i have been sent to the most eastward parts of our kingdoms to the orientalem bay where a large amount of lisads have moved to”
Gora lifts up an eyebrow and swallows any food she has in her mouth.”lisads on your east coast? What the hell are they doing there?”
Rex shrugs”not sure myself but im sure as you are aware the lisads are great men of trades their help in this oncoming war would be undeniable helpful.”
Gora sighs and gets back to eating her food simply giving rex a little shrug for a response. Sicus as usual would be strumming away on his little pandura as it seems hes already ate. Cofus would be eating food rather slowly not seeming to ambitious about the day causing gora to look confused” whats wrong with you dofus?”
Cofus looks at gora quite confused as are the other members of the table” what did you just call me?”
Gora looks around wondering if she stepped out of line.”um dofus? You know like doofus? Cofus doofus dufus sorry you were calling me gora so i figured id give you a nickname too”
The whole table besides sir rex (who would be finding this whole situation amusing) looks confused” huh i thought gora was your name?”
Cofus says quite defensively causing gora to make a sound of exclamation”what? No my name is GRIgora havent you heard sir rexan and the high king say it?”
Gora says sounding quite offended.”I thought it was just a sokaran honorific or something your grandfather was calling you gora and you responded to it”
Cofus is now getting desperate unsure about anything any more gora stands up and points furiously at him”its just his nickname for me admit it you just werent paying attention dofus!”
cofus looks shocked for a moment no one says anything and their is silence at the table. Though that is quickly ended as rex can no longer hold his laughter. Arvus and secomi follow suit with Sicus and utum soon after. Gora and cofus take a quick look around the table themselves before they start laughing as well. For a good couple of minutes nothing but laughter can be heard from their table. They forget all about the day and just enjoy their company for a moment.
As the laughter dies down cofus shakes his head”no im sorry but what was your question lady GRIgora”
He empathizes the gri in her name to get a rise out of her. Gora just empathetically sighs “just call me gora and i was just asking why you seemed so gloomy.
Cofus’s head drops and his gaze hits the ground rather pathetically.” my father has stated that i am to return home to train in these 3 months of peace. Aided by sir codia laceranas guidance.”
Cofus sounds miserable saying all of that but gora faces shows the upmost delight. she once again points to the highborn noble and lands with a chuckle”that sucks for you man but you know you need it. Maybe with sir codias strict attitude maybe he can make something out of you”
Gora’s words are harsh but her tone his cheerful. poor cofus just droops down laying his head on the table slowly scooping food into his mouth refusing to talk. Rex shakes his disapprovingly to his juniors resolve causing cofus to move even slower wanting to save himself every second possible of Codia’s training.
Gora and rex stand up at the same time and look at each other”gora as my second junior commander i in trust utum and secomi to you on your journey back to your domain. i trust i will see you all again in three months time”
Gora and Rex clasp hands their eyes meeting each others gora nods her head”of course and when i return i will bring the aide of grandfathers domain.”
Goras voice is strong but friendly”while i had my doubts about you astrans and coming her, i have to say i have come to appreciate you and your squads company i cant wait to finish fending off this luuton incursion!”
Everyone say their goodbyes as they leave. patiing a still drooping cofus on the back as they make their way out. Making their way down to the stables together. As they get on their mounts they say their goodbyes one last time. Before going their separate ways. Rex, Arvus, and Sicus head to the east to get the support of the talented artisans the lisad. Gora, Utum, and Secomi head north west to the lands of Sokara. Gora hoping to convince her grandfather to help the astrans in this war and spend some time at home to rest.
Cofus will be heading back to his fathers lands and be training for the rest of this ceasefire.while rex, sicus and arvus prepare to head east. All go their separate ways to achieve the same goal with different motives and different reasons. the luutons seem to have the upper hand numerically and strength wise and yet their departure was a cheerful one with hope for the future