Darius was walking to the outer wall of Cainyorf after kissing his wife goodbye. She and his children are now on their way to the Awakening Ritual in the town plaza. He just wants to go through the regular checkups and be on his way to the Ritual quick.
To see the confirmation that his daughter and son are truly with an arcane and druidic talent. He remembers his own Awakening. How long ago was that? 208 Years? Yes. Darius himself was 218 years old.
He remembers that his father was hopeful that he may have lesser divine talent. That would have explained why he was strong for a child! Darius's father told him. His father made investments and promises of marriages into nobility. When his talent was revealed for all to see. Their family would rise from a simple shoe maker to nobility! That is what his father proclaimed.
Oh, the bitter disappointment when we came out of that orchid field without a single speck of talent.
"All that time and money poured into you!" His father had yelled when they were at home that night. "And yet you spat into my face! You came back with nothing!" He had finished his half-hour-long rant with "You are no son of mine." while drawing a breadknife that was a gift from a noble.
Darius stops to close his eyes. He remembers vividly how he had to run for his life as his father chased him with what for him was a sword through the moonlit streets. His siblings and Mother crying and shouting for his father to stop and him to come back. He was a just scared boy. He ran that night. Ran until he could not feel his legs anymore. Ironically the training to prepare him helped him evade his father's strikes and evade his detection. He had found a wagon near the city gate and just jumped inside.
Well, it did turn out to be a mercenary wagon, their supplies wagon too. And in the middle of the night outside the city on the road, he gotten caught by one of their leaders. Reginald. Darius then asked to join the mercs on the spot. The Great Ravens were just a small outfit back then. They had fought themself up to fame in the Vesta aftermath in the end becoming a private army for some king across the mountains but when that happened he was long gone.
He opened his eyes. A smile across his face. He ran a hand over his scars across his chest. The fabric rubbing pleasantly over the skin. Remembering all the battles he had fought with the Great Ravens. He always had silk patches sawn above his scars to make sure when the itch came. He wouldn't irritate the skin when rubbing the scars.
Ah, the harsh training that was drilled into him over the years. Resurfaced to the front of his mind. The swinging, the running, the climbing, and the reading. Oh, the reading. That old cranker. He set him up to become one of the company leaders one day or that was what Darius thought the old merc wanted.
In truth, he saw Darius as his second son. That old man Reginald. He had lost his son a week before he had found him in that supply wagon and he was his replacement. Not in a bad way. Reginald was just a man in his late forties and when he found Darius. He had Darius trained because he liked and later loved the boy as if he was his own blood. In turn, Darius loved him as if he was his real father.
When Darius went off to go on his adventures. He had expected Reginald to blow up or stop him instead. He just smiled at him and told him to be careful and stay in touch. Darius reminisced.
Elves always tell you you need to focus on the positive. If you lose yourself in despair you suffer. If you suffer you die. An Elf's greatest strength next to their magical or martial training is their lifespan. We live long. Very long. That makes us strong. We can recall history older than certain races have lived.
In turn, our greatest weakness is becoming depressed. It doesn't matter if you can live 10000 years or longer. If your will to live dies out like a small ember in the cold wind. You still end up dead as the short-lived humans. That is what kills most elves. Not the wars or the purges by some overambitious human kingdoms or the unusual orc tide.
Your will to live being snuffed out by events around you and you giving up which in turn leaves the remaining elves to also become saddened. Their will to live also weakening. That leading to more elves giving up. A spiral that can lead to the collapse of elven kingdoms. This has happened in the past. Like an epidemic elves going to sleep and never waking up. This made elves focus on mental health first and foremost.
Stress was poison. Death was an arrow. Love was the cure but like any cure, it can become a poison all the same.
Shameful memories resurfaced. A woman before Elisia. A human tavern girl Thersa was her name. A Brunette with a shining smile and a fit figure. An everyman's dream wife. A love unrequited. He had saved her father and sisters from bandits. She did fall for him. He told her that they couldn't. As he was injured from the fight. He was stuck there for a few weeks.
A man can only say no to such a kind and attractive woman so many times who tended to your wounds with such caring love.
Darius sighs as he reached the wall. The guards and soldier kept everything up to standard but he continues to inspect. Better safe than sorry and for his elven brothers and sisters a welcome sight. Especially after the eventful months before.
He had slept with her enough times that it happened. He was mobile by the second week but didn't go after 2 months. There is a reason why elves frown upon romantic relationships with humans. You will as an elf most of the time outlive your child. Your child will then outlive their children. Therefore your grandchildren will outlive their child and so on and forth.
It is a terrible burden for a parent even more so for an elf. Thersa, gods bless her. She was a dutiful mother. She was crying when he told her he needed to go. Why he needed to move on. She couldn't understand. It was just messy all around. Darius made sure to check on her regularly. He even lingered in the region for 2 years to make sure everything was fine. He went on killing the local bandits. He visited her by the 3 third year. He gave her half of all the bandit's contacts earning to make sure the child was cared for. Darius remembers.
The child was his. He couldn't deny that. The tipped and long ears made that all too clear. Ferderon Inman was his name. In elven customs he would be Ferderon Dainsman. He had more elf blood in him than human that meant a long life. He had thought to take the child. To raise him an elf. He would live a very long life but he couldn't. For Thersa, it was all she had from him and so. He didn't. He didn't want to hurt such a kind and loving woman. He told her to tell Ferderon his elven surname and who his father was.
Darius chuckled to himself.
Gelvian and Levia will laugh when I tell them of their half-brother. His chuckle turned dull. Oh, how Thersa was happy when she saw him. She had thought Darius would come to marry her.
Shame. He had shamed her. He should have been stronger Darius thought. He told her that he would need to leave again. He only stayed a day. Her father was neutral before paying for the child support. Afterward, he was furious. Called him a coward. So in truth, he stayed only half a day.
Ferderon when he last checked worked left his home after his mother had died of old age. She never remarried. That is why it is a burden for him. He took her chance at finding lifelong love. He gave her a lifelong obligation to her child without a father. Sure he paid gold every few years or when he heard they had problems. Sadness was written across his face. Darius stood still on top of the wall.
He didn't stand still for no reason. Something was off. He felt a low rhythmic rumbling. A rumbling he hadn't felt for years. But this was less familiar. Instead of a full unison rhythm, its was irregular sometimes. As if...
His outriders breached the veil of the forest ride along the paved road at full gallop shouting something.
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They were too far to make out but when they got closer he could clearly make it out.
"Bandits! A bandit army! They have brought an-" That when a massive rock smashed the rider and his horse. The rest went inside behind the safety of the walls.
Darius didn't waste time looking for the approaching army. His commanding voice booms loud and far across the mountainside.
"AT THE READY! We are under assault!" He turned to the riders who just returned. "Ride to the barracks and horse stalls rally at the second wall. I want every able body to pick up arms and armor." Nearly everyone went riding off. "You" He pointed at a rider who just turned his horse. "You go to the plaza and tell them that we are under attack. Prepare the secondary wall-"
Before he could speak further another boulder was thrown. This time at the wall. The impact shook the entire section.
Thankfully the wall itself is made out of stone and was built in the old elven ways.
"Archers! Form up we need to hold them off for the-" Out of the corner of his eye he saw multiple triangle shapes coming down from the mountainside. Opposite of the approaching army. A two pincers attack? One attack from the forest and one from the mountains?
He turned his back to the town. "Fire at the enemy!" He needs to deal with the outside threat first or at least stabilize this front. The guards already noticed the shapes but made no motion to run to the city center. There are a lot of guards at the plaza already. They should be able to deal with it.
The approaching bandit army was massive. If Darius guess with the information the riders gave him is correct around 5000 men? Thankfully the walls had been manned all the time and training was kept up. And as the first bandits breached the treeline in the distance his heart sank.
They were prepared. The first wave was full of shield-bearers with ladders in hand even worse they had a brute resembling an ogre? The forest was still covering a lot of his body. Darius can only guess. A human hybrid maybe? Usual ogres just slaughter and consume their victims. The truly unlucky victims were forced to have a bit of "fun" with the ogre. Even worse when you escape the birth usually killed the mother. Ogres are worse than feral orcs they were just pure animals.
Darius took a controlled breath. The ogre was a threat but only for so long. The boulders are not large enough to break the walls fast enough. If they want to hit the same spot he needs to expose himself.
That's why the enemy sent the shield bearers first. Catch the arrows and distract from the larger threat.
400 elves are now at the walls. Made up of a hundred guardsmen and 300 active reserves. 50 no 49 are riding to the barracks and are busy rallying. The around 250 outriders are still outside the wall still on patrol if not dead. With around 2/3 battle-able elves inside the city in total. So around 2000 fighters against 5000 bandits in the best case. "Sound the horn for the Outriders! We need them to harass the invaders!" Bells already were clanging away now accompanied by a deep low bassy note from the massive horn with dragon and elf motives that was further inside the town. Carved from the tooth of a massive dragon if one were to believe the history.
The first group of 100 men-at-arms elves reached the wall to reinforce. Archers are already firing in volleys as their group officers instruct them.
The charge of the bandits did not weaver. They are halfway to the wall when a third large boulder came flying.
"TAKE COVER!" A few shouted. Darius saw the stone flying straight at his position. He dived to the side. Right where he had stood the boulder impacted and shattered.
He turned to look at the boulder remains. It shredded the first building behind the wall but for the "Onion town" this wasn't a problem. The people there already went further inside or had joined us at the wall.
Darius peaked over to spot the massive human at the treeline with a wagon full of boulders and rocks behind him. Tall as a house broad as a wagon too. He looked like an upscaled monstrous dwarf. Eight or seven feet tall at least as heavy as an ox if not heavier. His face shows a cruel smile with foul teeth so yellow they look green from the distance.
Staring straight at him. This unnerved Darius. The human ogre picked up another stone and threw it with uncanny precision at Darius.
The archers on the walls continue to pepper the charging bandits who only have a fourth of the way left. Their numbers reduced but still no sign of stopping.
As the stone flew through the air Darius was already running to one of the towers along the wall but before he reached the door. He nearly tripped.
A massive explosion rattled around the town. He turned to see smoke rising from the town plaza. That is why Elisia was not here already. Those triangles were what he feared. Gliders. Now he knows for sure. Normally one resolve would be torn to run to the plaza to save their family or stay at the wall to defend the town.
Too bad for them that Elisia is an archmage. When she reaches us we will have the tide turned. Darius steeled himself his resolve renewed. His children will be save he was sure of it. Now he needs to make sure Elisia has a frontline to help out when she reaches the wall.
Ladders clack against the wall. Darius has his poleaxe in hand he kicks the first ladders. Other ladders with spikes pop up. The soldiers couldn't kick them off as bandits were on top of them to make sure that didn't happen.
The first bandit lands on the wall a crooked smile spread across his lips.
"Now you cant use your cowardly bows any-" His words cut shorts as an arrow went through his skulls the tip sticking out at the top. Archers are right behind the wall had positioned themselves to aid in the fight by firing up at an angle.
That was not enough to turn the fight as more bandits reached the top and close combat fighting began. The first one to encounter Darius was decapitated before he had realized that his poleaxe was coming down.
He cleaved through the bandits like a hot knife through butter. His combat instincts honed over centuries turning what many would call a slaughter into a dance of death.
His fellow elves fighting with nearly as much grace as their Leader. Slashing and striking down the intruders. The archers becoming more in sync with their group their volley becoming an ebb and flow of raining death crashing upon the invaders.
It seemed as if the tide was slowly turning but then the wall shuddered hard. Throwing nearly everyone on their ass. The wall is breached. Darius sees the massive hole in the wall. The human ogre must have thrown at one point repeatedly.
Some outriders dismounted readying their spears forming a wall to pluck the hole. The rest of the outriders on their horses continued shooting. The enemy arrows now had a better shot this meant the first elves began to fall to enemy arrows. Darius rallied more defenders to the breach. That's when he showed up.
A man with a tricorne and an eyepatch with a scimitar ran through the breach cutting the first elves down with unusual skill. A commander Darius noted as the pirate-looking bandit shouted orders with a wicked grin and a laugh.
"He is enjoying this!" Darius realized with anger. Before the pirate could take another life Darius intercepted the strike. Staring straight into his single black eye.
"Ah, you are that knife-eared fella. The Mask told me to behead you!" His smile turned even wider. He spun around bringing the scimitar down from the right side. Darius blocked the strike with his metal poleaxe shaft.
"What do you want from our town!" Darius shouted slashing diagonally from below with the axe part of the poleaxe in a fluid counter-movement.
The pirate leaned back just enough for the blade of the poleaxe to miss the pirate's chin.
"What every man wants! MONEY! POWER! Take your pick!" He laughed maniacally.
This man is under influence of drugs. He has to be. Darius thought. The pirate closed in for 2 quick slashes. Darius dodging both of them. He heard a grunt from his back. He dropped low. Sweeping the ambushing attacker from behind off his feet. The axe of the bandits clattering to the ground. He turned just in time to deflect another attack from the pirate. The pirate now grasped the shaft trying to wrestle control of him.
A mistake the pirate will soon realize. This serves as leverage against him. Darius backhanded the man with his gauntlet to daze him. He followed up with the blunt end of the poleaxe shaft striking against the pirate's shoulder before twisting the shaft to entangle his arm. The pirate tried to retreat but that served to make it easier for Darius to trap him. He wanted to finish him with the poleaxe but the bandit behind him was coming out of his daze. He kicked the pirate off and used the momentum of the poleaxe to plunge the steel tip into the head of the bandit that was lying on the ground.
Turning your back to an enemy would gain them an easy kill but the pirate needed to dive out of the way of the poleaxe coming down dangerously fast trying to behead him.
"Woha there nearly got me! Ha!" That seems to sober the pirate up a bit from whatever drugs he is on.
Another attacker tried to get the better of Darius but that try was short-lived with the speartip of the poleaxe stuck inside the chest of the second ambusher.
The pirate began to retreat back into the sea of bandits. Darius wanted to give chase but the walls are being slowly overwhelmed. He stopped himself. He can not allow himself to tunnel onto a single foe. He turned his focus back to the battlefield. Casualties were low for now but with the wall broken the position was too costly to hold on.
"Retreat to the Second wall!" His voice boomed. The second wall was where buildings formed another defensive barrier. The way it was build forced choke points and optimal ambushes for the defenders. This was what gave Cainyorf the nickname the Onion. His reinforcement already had been set up. Hopefully, the Outriders outside come back fast enough because the human ogre has moved up to the wall and has taken to throwing mostly dead bandits at the defenders.
He gave a quick prayer to the gods for his family's protection and went further into a fighting retreat behind the second wall. This day would be costly.