Galus blearily opened his eyes, he just hoped it was a bad dream, there's no way he could have lost his leg, no no, in fact he could feel it now, he was even wriggling his toes, he'd swear on an affidavit that his leg wasn't severed, simply ridiculous. See? He was in seeling bag in his tent, just a dream, he smiled knowingly, he turned to get up and he sat up, his leg felt a bit numb, that was weird, shrapnel must have hit a nerve that's all... Right? He shook his head and tore the fur blanket off and saw the damage, it'd been cut off alright, but not cleanly,his wound was closed likely his ctp, but damn it, he was fucked up beyond all recognition.
Galus summoned Gideon's cane and hobbled outside, or... Tried to, he fell on his face the first try and onto his side the second, on the third try he said screw it and just crawled.
Lyrina stood in front of him and grabbed him by his collar and drug him back inside like a naughty cat. From what he saw before being dragged inside, they were camped in front of Castle Sol, he looked to Lyrina and spoke in a gravel like voice. "Report?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Already barking orders hm? Alright, Lattena lead us here, and said something about a commander then she lead Edgar and Nepheli inside, that was three hours ago."
Galus gritted his teeth. "Three... Hours?"
Lyrina nodded. "Yeah, they should be back in a few minutes."
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Edgar unslung his halberd as he followed Lattena and Nepheli inside, Nepheli looked depressed, she'd cut of all the things limbs like Galus told her to, apparently it'd be designed to explode if that were to happen, a failsafe. Edgar told her not to blame herself but apparently that just made her feel worse. Luckily that just meant she wanted to fix her mistake which meant that she was storming the castle, literally. the first problem arrised when they found the main gate closed, it took some time but they broke it open while the others set up camp, mostly Lyrina, Mirina and Irina tried to help but it was a long process just like getting the gate open, atleast until Edgar tried lifting it and found they'd forgot to lock it down. they walked through and apparently a beast had been attracted by their ruckus, because one tried to pounce on Edgar from above as soon as they walked inside, though Lobo apparently sensed the cat, a twitch of an ear and a dog tackling him out of the way of the pouncing lion.
Edgar got up brushing snow off of himself and picking up his halberd, he pressed forward his halberd raised point fist toward the massive pale lion. He watched the predatory beast as they stared at eachother, each daring the other to make a move, it reminded him of when he used to spar with lord Dylannor, what ever happened to that fat old bastard? He looked at the lion and took a quick step forward, and the lion struck with the blade that was chained to it's arm, Edgar stepped back stabbing it in the side with the spear end of his halberd, he didn't know why but he didn't like fighting this thing, it felt much like he was fighting a rare creature, something nearly extinct even, but if he had to choose between his life and the life of an oversized house cat he'd choose his own.
He lion creature lunge at him and he moved out of the way, raising the metal shaft of his halberd to block it's claws, though curved talons as they were they hooked on his halberds shaft and nearly ripped it out of his grip.
The creature growled and lunged forward again, though three arrows smacked into it's ribs, it turned and tried to go after Lattena but Lobo was a quick wolf and kept ahead of it as Nepheli charged after it, it was like watching a bunch of kids playing tag as the lion chased Lattena and Lobo, and Nepheli chased the lion.
Edgar watched Lattena fire her arrows as she retreated, eventually the lion tired out, it's body collapsing onto the snow, it breathed heavily and raspily, Nepheli raised her axe to finish it off but Edgar put a hand on her shoulder, she looked at him and then Edgar pointed over to a pillar where a pair of cubs were hiding and peaking out from behind it.
Edgar knelt down next to the beast and pulled one of the arrows, it snapped at him, but collapsed back down to the ground, he pulled another arrow handing the pair back to Lattena who looked them over and cleaned them, after they were all out Edgar patted the lion on the neck nearly getting his hand bitten off and they continued on.
They came into a room with a bunch of massive slugs most the size of a child others a bit bigger.
He brought his halberd down on one and it bloated up before it's guts exploded out of it, wasn't painful for him, not poisonous that he could tell, it was just gross. He knocked one off of the ladder and looked at Lattena who couldn't climb, he looked at Nepheli, and sighed, he climbed up, alone, Nepheli going with Lattena to find another route up.
He reached the top, seeing the storm hawks flying above them, he sighed, pressing forward, he felt like he was being watched.
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Nepheli and Lattena walked through the doors they'd opened on the own, creepy but maybe it was just the wind. They continued inside passing through an armory and the doorway slammed behind them, the torches on the wall seemed to light on their own as they passed causing Lobo to become agitated, his hackles raising and his ears pressed down as his chops curled up revealing sharp teeth.
Nepheli looked around, each shadow seeming to lunge out at her, atleast until one actually did. A spectral soldier charged her a raspy howl coming from it's far to open mouth, it raised a sword, though an arrow struck it in the chest before it could swing it. It seemed to turn to a ghostly dust and blow away on a spectral wind.
Lattena turned and ducked a sword and Lobo lunged at it but the spectral soldier disappeared. She slung her bow and took out her spear. Almost as soon as the creature disappeared she stabbed it into it's neck and it disappeared into a spectral dust.
Nepheli opened the door at the other side of the room, leading to a hallway, black shields lining the walls with with what looked to be white circles as the shields crests. Lattena hears something in the other room, screams of someone being tortured.
Nepheli knocked the door down revealing a room with meat hooks and saws hanging from the cieling, knives and scalpels decorate the table, and silver blood splashed the large metal table and stone floors. A headless priest cutting into the back of an albinauric, it turned just in time to get a spear in the chest as Nepheli walked over to the albinauric and cut it's shackles with her smaller war axes.
Lattena looks at the albinauric. "Are you alright?"
They look at her, and shakes his head. "We need to run... The castles commander... He's gone mad..."
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Edgar walked through a church on the rampart, nothing tried to stop him, nothing save a ghost of a man within noble clothing, a rather large crown on his head, they seemed to be muttering in prayer a large curved black sickle with embroidery of a sun.
He picked it up examining it, nothing special about it, though when the sun from the window shone on the black blade it instantly caught flame, not normal fire mind you, it was a sickly yellow and black color.
Edgar looked back at the ghost, it rose to his feet and rushed forward shrieking, he swung it and black roots instantly shot out from it's torso, and it disappeared. He looked at the weapon with raised eyebrows. "The hell is this thing?"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
He walked out onto the rampart and noticed an elevator, he casually flipped the lever, just In case Lattena and Nepheli didn't find a way up. He came into a large area below the tower, he brought up his halberd. He watched as a large man in massive plate armor, black horns come from his leg and arms, not an omen but more built into his armor as it is with many of the banished knights, a fashion not a disease. While looking at the man, he felt something familiar about massive commanding figure, and as he drew nearer, the man revealed himself to be lord commander Niall.
Edgar looked up at the imposing figure, and spoke a single word. "Teacher?"
The massive figure looked down at him, his large bushy beard twitched upward in a small smile. "I'll be, if it isn't my least favorite student, little Ed."
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Lattena rushed up the stairs, the albinauric clinging to her back directed her where to go. "Left!"
The door lead to a rampart, a knight in a black tabard with that white ring dripping down the black cloth tabard. It turned it's headless body, a large sword in hand burning in black and yellow flames, it raised it's sword and pointed it at her.
Nepheli rushed forward and her massive axe slammed into it's shield. it stumbled backwards from the force and she went in for a second strike but it disappeared and reappeared thirty feet back, before disappearing again right in front of her swinging it's sword, she ducked the blazing sword and brought her axe up into it's crotch, and it's blade nearly disected it, her axe was a lot sharper than she remembered it being, because it cut through their plate armor like wet clay. it shrieked and collapsed disappearing in dust that whipped in the wind.
she looked over to a church, a squad of those ghostly soldiers lining the rampart leading up to it, Lattena pulled back her bow and fired a trio of arrows that knocked down one man each, her second volley missed as they seemed to teleport out of the way, this left nine enemies, she grabbed her spear up again as they appeared in front of them, she lunged forward, not piercing the one she was aiming at but instead the one behind it as it disappeared. She turned swung her spear and glowing blue streak formed in the air, and then propelled forward and into three of them, a slash mark of ice appeared on their ghostly bodies before they disappeared. She turned assisting Nepheli as she cut her way through their bodies, she also saw a pair of storm hawks dive down at the spectral soldiers, their talons carving through their faces before being cleaved in half.
After they were done cutting apart the final three ghost soldiers, they continued Into the church and saw. Nothing save a cluster of strange black roots, insect wings stuck out of them like thorns.
They avoided the cluster instinctually as it digs into the stone, Lattena swears she saw a face growing out of it.
Eventually coming out of the doorway and toward the next archway, they heard laughter and clanging metal, as they passed they saw an elevator and Lattena groaned, "that was there the whole time?"
Nepheli shrugged. "Yeah, probably."
They walked under the archway and saw Edgar laughing as he seemed to be sparring with a larger man, he glanced at them, then brought his attention to the man. "Hey guys, how're you doing?"
Lattena looked at him worriedly. "Edgar, are you okay?"
Edgar barked a laugh. "Just sparring with an old friend."
The large old man turned to regard them, they saw Lattena and growled. "Have you been traveling with scum, Edgar my boy? I taught you better than that!"
Edgar backed up a couple steps. "I learned it's better to coexist than to constantly oppress them."
The albinaurics riding with her pointed at the livid Lord commander Niall and yelled. "Traitor! You killed the lord of the castle because he accepted us! Because he followed the great uniter!"
The commander grinned at the albinauric on Lobo. "Oh little Altrius, how did you get out? You're supposed to be tortured for that little tongue of yours, perhaps I'll rip it out of your head and feed it to you!" The commander said, taking a step forward, Lattena raised her bow and fired a volley into the man's thick armor though they did little more than dent the thick steel plate.
Edgar was struck dumb for the first few seconds but he got a hold of himself and charged the man, he swung his halberd, he couldn't believe it, was he really like this monster at one point? He remembered his own lord that he was charged with protecting, Dylannor, who loved to torture the misbegotten especially the children, looking back on it Edgar felt sick, how could he have served such an evil creature?
Edgar was thrown back we Lord Commander Niall turned and his prosthetic leg flipped with a blade, sprouting out of it's end, it cut into his armor and caused him to tumble onto the ground.
Edgar put his hand to his side, blood, possibly a broken rib, he winced. "Probably two..." He muttered.
Lattena raced around the Lord commander, firing arrows and he slammed his massive halberd down onto the ground and raised it flag unfurling revealing the golden crest of the eclipse. And a pair of spectral knights appeared, one dual wielding greatswords another with a shield and greatsword.
The shield bearers stayed near the commander while the dual wielder rushed to flank. the sword bearer rushed after Lattena as she shot it with arrows, it tried to dodge them in advance but the arrows swerved to hit him, he struck one out of the air with his sword though two of them hit him in the legs causing them to stumble down and fell, they tried to get up and managed to get to their knees, but a third arrow hit it in the head and it disappeared into a ghostly ash that blew away into the mountain wind.
Nepheli kicked the shield knight backwards she could hear bones break and she grabbed it by its helmet and slammed him into the floor.
Edgar got up to his feet and rushed at Niall, who blocked his strike, through this left him open to Nepheli, who shouted a battlecry as she leapt into the air and plummeted down and Edgar was reminded of an eagle diving for a fish in a lake, if the fish was the size of an angry sentinels horse. "Want to take me by a surprise?" Niall said, before sweeping Edgar's legs and spun back to face Nepheli, and blocked her strike. "Then don't scream like a damn bat!" He shouted throwing her back as frozen stormwind with electricity mixed in damn near exploded from him.
Nepheli rolled as she hit the ground and back to her feet, and storm wind exploded around her as well, lightning sparking as it swirled around her. A large spectral stormhawk flies around her shrieking the feathers of it's head sticking up like a cockatiel or a harpie eagle, a crown of feathers as it were.
She stomped her foot and slammed her battleaxe into the ground a shockwave erupted from her position parts of the tower they were on started to breaking off and crashing to the ground below. Edgar got back to his feet and tried another tactic to fight Niall, he dashed back over next to Lattena. "While she keeps him busy, I'll sneak behind him and hit him hard enough to either break or at the very least dent it's metal, so you think you can hit the areas I damage?"
Lattena snorted. "Do omen have horns?"
Edgar nodded. "Alright, let's do it."
He dashed in and swung his halberd, it did not break the armor but it did leave a sizable dent in his back. Before he dashed to the side and ducked a swing, only to watch a trio of arrows slam into the damaged section of his back plate in a great grouping barely an inch gap between the arrows.
He watched as Nepheli slammed her axe into the commanders side, and it managed to break a good fist sized portion of his plate mail in the side under his arm. and as if on queue another volley hit it's mark.
Niall growled. "Let's see how you do without your wolf you grace forsaken bitch!" He lunged at her swinging his halberd low, straight at her wolf, though a wolf is never easily hunted, hit jumped backwards, out of his range and another arrow hit him in the crotch where only boiled leather protected his family jewels, as visually uncomfortable as the crotch plate that Edgar and other banished knights wore were to look at, it did serve a purpose as the commander soon found out.
He groaned his brain barely processing the pain, he tore it out with a roar of pain and frustration. He looked around, seeing he was outnumbered and outmatched. So, he dropped his halberd, and knelt there.
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Galus managed to convince Lyrina to help him into the castle, he lead her over to the elevator which to his considerable delight was already down. It took a few seconds before they rose up but it was more a slowly but surely thing.
He was honestly hesitant to even come here if it wasn't for the fact that this was where the second Dectus medallion was he'd have gladly avoided it all together.
They came up onto the rampart, and they Galus directed her to the left, and they walked up the stairs into the battlements, he was honestly tired and clearly Lyrina wasn't happy to be carrying him either as she groaned like an old willow as she helped him up the stairs, it got to the point that he just told her to let him stop leaning on her and help him down, as soon as she did he climbed the stairs like a kid, quick and fun. He wished he could say the same about what he saw when he got to the top. Nepheli, Lattena, Edgar and Lobo were surrounding a kneeling commander Niall, who was kneeling his halberd beside him, which he was discretely reaching for.
He held out a hand and a ring of light appeared, it shot towards Niall's hand and cut it off.
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Edgar just noticed Niall reaching for his weapon and when he grabbed it and raised it to strike down Lattena, a streaking flash of light and it was gone, his hand and weapon clattered to the floor. He raised the heavily bleeding stump and growled, turning to address the man who dared try to stop him, imagine his surprise and rage when he saw he just been bested by a cripple. "How fucking dare you!" He roared.
Galus was all but picked up by Lyrina from where he was on the ground, he wiped his mouth. "How dare I?! How dare you attack while under a white flag you weaselly bastard."
He growled. "You're all mad! Look at that creature!" He pointed at an albinauric next to Lattena. "How can you protect grace forsaken wretches who lay on the fringes, banished by queen Marika herself!"
Galus glared, moving his discus over Niall's shoulder. "Commander Niall, I am hereby relieving you of duty on behalf of the Haligtree tree united fringe alliance, we will not be thanking you for your service to our country as you have shown nothing but callus disregard for our way of life and your duty, you are hereby dishonorably discharged from this castle, your rank has been relinquished and given to lord commander Edgar, you will be made to live on the fringes, without your hand or your prosthesis, which I humbly accept as your departing gift. Never darken the doors of a alliance building again or you will be summarily executed, resisting this decree will end in your immediate execution." He punctuated this point by moving the discus closer to Niall's throat.
Niall growled, but undid the straps to his prosthetic and threw it at Galus' foot. "Don't think it comes in your size lad." He crawled past Galus and promptly rolled down the stairs.
Lattena yelled. "If you were nicer to us we'd have told you why using the stairs is a bad idea when you can't move your legs!"
Niall growled and rode the elevator down, Galus cautiously picked up the prosthetic, he'd always wanted to try out a war prosthesis.
Edgar looked at Galus. "You're giving me the castle?"
Galus sat down next to Lyrina and shuffled around to face Edgar. "Yeah, but before that I have a quick questionnaire, first of all, what would the first change to this castle be under your command?"
Edgar answered immediately. "Making sure the gates are always locked for one."
Galus grinned. "That's a good start, but how about..." He looked around at the crumbling mess. "Repairs? It feels like somekind of lands between tradition to let everything fall into ruin, fix this shit up and the castle's yours."
Edgar barked a laugh. "Alright. I can work with that."