The army descends from the naked mountains, at their right hand they see the river flowing to the sea and on the other side the snowy flat covered terrains and in the middle of the snow a large mountain that surpasses everything for miles Klaeben goes beside Ai and says "remember what I told you" Ai look at him with a smile and they continue silent.
reaching the walls of the city, half the side being turned to rumble, soldiers with small black wings on their armor show from the walls and shout "brother, what is your purpose in the lands of the Greganation?" "We are the army of the great emperor, we are here to assist you to reclaim your land" the soldiers swiftly shout to one another and they open the gates, they enter inside watching the people making lines to get food, people preaching about their nation's greatness and many taking weapons and shouting "grega" the soldiers accompany them to the palace, a building with the gained of attrition over hundred of years.
They enter inside and the soldiers give them food and water and take their weapons and the king arrives, a tall old man with his upper head bald and a white short beard that resembles his thin hair, he walks towards them and with a smile he says "welcome soldiers of the great nation, you must be the general please follow me along with your most trusted comrades" Klaeben and the others follow the general and they go inside a room with a large table with food ranging from meat with its fat laying on the bread to simple cheese laying on the plates, they sit together and the king says "please eat as much as you want" everyone eats except Ai and Klaeben says "you should eat, we have traveled so far and the last time we ate meat was two weeks ago" Ai eyes look at him intensely, he did the same and they stop after a while.
Fenhua after some bites stops and the others eat, the king says "general I'm glad you came, you see the king has start expanding and my soldiers hang their hopes on the bright future of the nation" the general stops and cross his hands "that's why we are here, we will help you reclaim the other half of the nation" the king elizel smirk "we will forever remember that and we will repay you, of course if the circumstances are right we would benefit even more with a small loan to help expand our nation to its previous lands and people that the barbarians took from us" "and when will you repay it?" "We will repay it as our nation will grow" the general says with a slow voice "I will inform the emperor about the loan but for now let's focus on the enemy, tell me when exactly did they start to gain the upper hand?" The king eyes wide open "we were attacking one of their castles until flames start descending on my soldiers, explosions were heard all over and a man with a smile until his ears had a weird object in one of his hands and started to throw fire, we then retreated and from then we start losing land with each day bringing us closer to starvation, we cannot lose another village or else the people will starve" Ai eyes fall on the king and her eyebrows pulled together while the others look with suprise.
The general get up "we better prepare for the next attack, do you know where the enemy is now?" "They should arrive at the next village in two or three days, my soldiers will give you a detailed map" the general look at the others and says "get up, we will not lose more time" they leave the room and take their weapons along with the map, Klaeben says to Ai "you were looking at the king with half an eye" "I despise people like him, playing victims in the weight of others" "I understand but you don't have to show it so intensely" the general interrupts them "they have found the way to create powder" the general orders the soldiers to get the horse "they found about the powder but we have more tools on our arsenal" they mount their horses and go to the gate, the people holding their weapons tight watch them and the women giving them food.
King Elizel shows with his horse and his army, the people gather around him with smiles on their faces, the people start talking and one of the soldiers says to the group's language "we will follow you to battle and we will die for our nation" the general shake his head affirmative and says "they can come, but they should know that will stay behind until we reach the village" the soldier shouts to his language and the people shout back, the soldier look at the general and they continue, passing through the flat terrains as the people follow them from far behind and at night they rest at an opening between the mountains, they all rest and Fenhua play his flute, general Lixin pass the opening and watch at the distance the village.
Klaeben folllows him and says "general I can go and scout further, maybe I could find the enemy and give you their position" "no Kleaben, you are an important soldier controlling two schools of magic, if it is needed I will tell the others to go" Klaeben nod his head and goes back and the general stays, looking at the fields.
The dusk has come and general Lixin wakes everyone, they travel to the village, at their first step the small poor village, the residents swiftly come from their houses with sacks of food and some meat, giving them to king Elizel and the soldiers gather them and continue, waving at them and shouting "my king restore our nation to its past self" gener Lixin grunts and Ai sigh deeply.
They continue to the flat terrains and the yellow farms, they reach another chain of mountains that expands and circles the entire land with another village on the foothills of the green mountains with walls that cover them from both side and crops growing on the village, king Elizel says "we arrived" the general look beyond the village at the river and the two stone bridges that connect the land, king Elizel says "now lets rest here and build our fortifications" the general shout "no, it will be suicide to stay here and wait for them" "do you have a plan general?" "We can split our army, a minority of our men will hide on the other side of the bridge, as the enemy runs to the bridge they will destroy it and we will fight them at two fronts, one at close combat and the other from afar" king elizel rub his beard "then lets hurry and order our men to pass to the other side" "do not haste, they may know about our arrival and try to move their army on the other side of the mountains, flanking us and killing us" "general if you cant decide we better order some soldiers to investigate the area" general Lixin cross his hands "i will order some of my soldiers to scout the area" the general walks towards Swaiwan and Fenhua and some others "soldiers come closer" the soldoers come and the general starts whispering "Swaiwan and Fenhua i want you to scout the mountains to the east and camp there for tonight, i will give you a tool to infrom us if you see the enemy, as for the others you will split into two groups, one scouting the mountains at the west and the others will pass the bridges and scout as far as you , now get some food and leave" tne soldiers run and Swaiwan and Fenhua follow the general, they open one of the chests on the cargo and a large cannon with a round shape metal glowing inside it, the general gives it to Swaiwan, feeling it like he holds a rock, the general says to him "when you see the enemy make the cannon face to the sky and it will leave a large thunder and be careful, if you use it more than three times the metal will melt and it will be useless" Swaiwan shoulder starts to feel numb and he shake his head and goes to his horse with swift steps as Fenhua follows him.
The general makes a sign for Klaeben to come close to him "Klaeben, I have a commission for you, you will wait at the bridge for the enemy to pass, and I will give you a weapon that will help you to destroy the bridges" and he show him the weapon.
The sun sets low and Swaiwan and Fenhua reach the top of the east mountains, they lay the weapon beside a dark tree and rest, Swaiwan grabs his notebook and Fenhua grabs his flask, looking at it intensely and placing it back, he shouts beside the ear of Swaiwan "you write again?, Don't you have anything better to do?" "I would if I was with someone else" "oh come on you don't have to be so serious, have some fun" Swaiwan says nothing and focus on the notebook.
Time passed and the half moon rise and Fenhua continues talking alone from afar Fenhua see hordes of men walking with their torches at night, without a thought he takes the gun and shoots in the sky, tearing the clouds with the giant bolt of lightning and producing a loud sound that scares the horses
, the people down seem to not be affected by it and continue and Swaiwan gets up and sees the enemy "we must retreat, we will meet with the others and defend the village" Fenhua laughs and says "wait, the general said the gun can make three shots" he press the trigger and the lighting strike the soldiers and a cloud of dust are raised, some people start running forward and others continue to walk, Fenhua press the trigger again and the lighting raise another cloud of dust.
Swaiwan brings the horses "now let's go, fast" Fenhua mount his horse and he gaze at the clouds of dust vanishing, people dead but most of them still walking, Fenhua sense shivers down his spine and murmurs at Swaiwan "they have roshane with them" Swaiwan shallows his saliva and they continue And at the middle of the night they are back to the village.
The villagers have taken weapons, men run above the mountains, king Elizel has order the preaka to build some walls with their magic and astitare casting an umbra to the village, general Lixin talks to king Elizel "you have many blessed soldiers" king Elizel nod his head as he proudly look at his soldiers "we are driven by our unity of our nation,of course we will have people who can show feats of great strength" Lixin says nothing more and gets to the front lines, looking at the three meter stone wall the soldiers and the people of the village made, preaka and some astitare calling rocks from the sky and hiding them underneath the earth.
Small groups of enemies slowly approaches from the bridges, Klaeben wait for them between two rocks on the opposite side of the bridges And he destroy the bridges people fall to their death, the rest of them stop, Klaeben look at them and he sees men with their eyes red and their faces pale, sweat flowing on their foreheads and some kneel, Klaeben pull the trigger and the lighting explode under their feet, most of the survivors help one another to stand up or takes them on their backs and Kleaben press the trigger again and they all die.
Blood fills the air and Klaeben let the gun and goes to the village, meeting with Swaiwan walking and Fenhua close to the general hearing them talking and Fenhua shouting "general they have roshane with them and they are powerful they will be at the village soon" the general reply "do not fret about them, we have astitare with us, we have a good chance of counter them with their magic of stars and night" Klaeben steps beside Lixin and says "the enemy is dead general" "I know, Swaiwan Fenhua told me the enemy is moving slow and with no sense of direction" Klaeben interrupts them "general there must be a trap" shouts of the soldiers are heard and general and the others run to the walls, seeing from above
The enemy walking slowly like corpses to their walls holding small cages with birds and rabbits, the general look at them carefully, slowly approaching the walls with ladders, he snaps out and shouts "burn them" the soldiers burn them with their cannons, the enemy scream and many try to leave but the arrows pierce their skulls.
As the fires extinguish and the soldiers gather them and throw them from the hills to evade the smell of the rotten fresh a sound is heard in the wind and it hits the walls, Klaeben and the others look over seeing the dead bodies from the bridge laying outside the walls and from the other side of the river catapults and soldiers gathering the bodies and throwing them inside the village.
From the east and west side horses are heard passing the mountains and soon have circled the village, the look at them with his hands crossed and a small division of men arriving with a young man dressed in golden armor, they walk at the front of the walls and the man besides the young one shouts "we have come from far away, i believe you own us to speak first " general Lixin look at him, an older man with short white hair but his face looking much younger and his black eyes looking at the general, king Elizel talks forst with confidence and authority "Konstantin, have you come to usurper me?" Konstantin comes forward and his golden armor shine, he shouts with rage "the throne was never meant for traitors like you, it belongs to my family that always fought for their people" general Lixin look closely at the other man, the man suddenly stare at him with his eyes wide open and a wide smile "does my face look familiar to you?" The general cross his hands and the man continues "have you start losing your senses? Its too early for that" "i do not talk with men who throw their people at their death so feckless" the man laughs loud "they were sick, they would either die by the disease or by your men, which it serves us better" the general keep his mouth closed and the man lose its smile and turns at Konstantin "it doesnt have any meaning to talk to them, lets leave and wait for the disease to take over them" king Konstantin says to Elizel "our throne is rightfully mine and you know it, surrender now and i will show you mercy along with your family" King Elizel raise his sword and points it to the earth, Konstantin drugs his sword to the dirt and swiftly raises it pointing at the head of Elizel both looking one another with their heads up and their hands clutching, the king and the man walk away and General Lixin raise his hand and arrows rain at them along with lighting, soldiers die beside them and the man with the cuts throw himself infront of the king amd raise his shield, producing pink flames that evaporate the arrows and the lighting, as the arrows and the weapons stop the man takes his shield and in an instant the air is pulled to them.
The man laughs and they leave, king Elizel look at Lixin with his eyebrows pulled together "you disgrace our honor" "if you want to keep your throne then you must strip your honor, this man is dangerous" king Elizel says nothing more and walk to the village, ordering the men and the villagers.
General Lixin speaks to the grega soldiers on the wall and carrying an electric cannon and order Klaeben and the others to come with the electric cannons, Swaiwan asks "general you don't think to send us outside do you?" "Do not worry Swaiwan, we will attack them quickly" Swaiwan asks "cant we wait at least some days to form a plan?" "We cannot wait, we have to show them that we are a real threat if we stay here they can move their army deeper into Grega and take whatever is left" they climb it and jump outside.
The general goes to the edge of the hill, seeing the enemy gathered in lines along with their horses at the passage and beyond the general look at the coarse surface, he shouts "fire" lighting struck the enemy and fire starts spreading in the passage, astatine raise their rocks and throw them on the mountain with rocks falling and closing the passage, the enemy starts running and the village gate open, men rush with their horses and start thworing arrows from afar, the enemy falls back leaving many bodies on the dirt, the man comes forward and place his shield, flames come and the arrows evaporate, general Lixin shoot with the cannon and as the lighting contacts the fire the lighting vanish, Klaeben shoots with the cannon at them and hits their right side, the enemy retreas behind the mountains and the soldoers mount inside the walls, Klaeben and the others go inside the village and Fenhua shouts "now that's a blow" the General says "Do not get confident, the army is outside the village and we must stay alert" he opens the door of one of the buildings, showing inside a map on a table, he shuts the door and Fenhua follows Swaiwan "you know you better stay back at the next battle, you are always so scared you may die by seeing the enemy running to you" Swaiwan takes out his notebook and starts writing and keeping his eyes away from Fenhua. Monts pass and the army raids the camps of the enemies, the people's faces have changed to despair, many starving half the soldiers and residents laying on the ground, vomiting and drowning in sweat, Ai runs a over the village helping the people along with some women while the other half of the population remains away, the soldiers outside eat their bread and wait, Klaeben wait at the side of the road, Ai pass over him carrying towels and clothes, she grabs her arm and says "Ai you have to stop treating the sick" Ai pulls her hand and says with a smile "I understand you care about t these people need someone to take care of them" "they are so many others that can help them, please for your safety leave them" her smile brighten "I believe you know me well" Klaeben nod his head at the sick with a plaintive face and Ai,smiling leaves.
General is alone with a map of the area covered in his sweat and his eyes focused on the map, king Elizel is outside talking to the people with their eyes down to the ground"starvation and disease have hit us, the enemy expects us to kneel and give them the throne but we will stand our ground and win mot because we look after our self like them, because the people fight for this great nation and the future of it, to see it grow like the old days and leave the mark on the world like our ancestors and the great king Vassil and the others who offer their lives to create the biggest empire in history" the people cheer and they scream for their nation, they rush and go on the walls.
From the sky more bodies fall and smash one soldier, most people hold their ground , arrows fall from the sky and kill many,soldiers scream in pain, from the walls the voice of the man is heard "come out, come out I'm getting tired of this siege" Klaeben search for the general and the soldiers on the walls tell him to wait and he respond with anger "useless beings if I have to wait another two minutes I will order my men to kill you all with their bows" Klaeben rise to the walls and shouts "have you come again?"
"You are not the general, but that doesn't bother me" he laughs hysterically and continue " tell me have you considered surrendering now? We have sieging you for two months and the disease has killed many of you, if you surrender now I will spare you and the ones you love" Klaeben's eyes wide open "oh it seems I found a weak spot, are you afraid of your people dying? Help me and I will let them leave" Klaeben shouts "we will not surrender now or ever, you better kill us if you want the village"
The man's smile widen and he raise his hand "kill them except this man" arrows fall and distress has surround the village, the soldiers raise their shields, rocks like stars come from the sky and crash the soldiers, General Lixin comes out from the house with sweat all over his face, his breath stop as he watch the army entering and shouts "come quickly and defend the walls" the general leap forward and slash with his two swords two soldiers, slowly more and more come and overrun the place and throwing flames, killing many and the flames consuming many housesa nd rise high, king Elizel rushes and shouts "where are our soldiers?" The general look around for a glimpse seeing many Grega soldoers missing, he rush with the others try to keep them at bay but with no results, the general shouts "evacuaye the village" and rush with everyone along with king Elizel to the stables, as they rode the horses grega soldoers show from behind and from the front, killing few soldier and before they could raise an arrow, the praeka destroy the walls,from the gaye of the village is the man with the cuts, he raise his shield and pink flames come out along with lighting, eveporating everything on the path and as he lowers it, air pressed to the place the flames where, he laughs and starts shouting "come on kill them" more arrows fall and Klaeben runs to Ai creating a large wall and faking the temperature of onw of the soldiers, feeling his heart ready to break and he kneels, Ai grabs him and a young woman comes from one of the houses and grabs Klaeben "lets bring him inside" Ai and the woman drag him inside as he cough, they tear his armor and let him rest on a bed with only his thin clothes, Ai stan beside him with her weapon on the height of her shoulder, the woman brings two sets of black pitch clothes and says "hide your armor and dress up" Ai smile and walks to the pther room, stripong her armor and hiding it under the planks along sith Klaebens.
She wears the clothes and says "Klaeben can you wear them by yourself?" Klaeben left a deep breath as he lay on the bed and Ai takes the clothes and says to the woman "help me cover him with the clothes" the woman raise kleabens hands and Ai takes his clothes and with difficulty she wears them to Klaeben and Ai says with a light tone "thank you for your help, what is your name?" "It's anna" "thank you anna" Ai then asks "how did you learn to talk my language?" "I traveled with my mother and father as merchants and I learned some things" a woman enters inside and she take starts shouting in her language.
Anna talks calmly and after many shouts anna looks at Ai with worry "I'm sorry but my mother does not intend to let you stay here for more than a night" "cant you explain her that Klaeben is exhausted and that the soldiers will kill us if we tried to leave?" Anna's eyes started closing and opening quickly "I explain her but she does not care" Ai look the woman with glistening eyes,
Soldiers enter inside wearing the wings on their back, Ai stay in the other room with Klaeben and Annas' mother grew a smile and start happily talking with them in their language along with anna and after a while they leave, Ai says "what did he tell you?" "The village is now liberated, if you hear or see any enemy give them to us" Ai walks to Klaeben and sees him getting up.
Ai eyes open wide and she smile, Klaeben looks at her and Anna comes inside having her eyes wide open, suddenly footsteps are heard from the door, Ai look from the corner of the wooden wall and sees Anna and her mother leaving and Annas hand makong a sign to stay away, Ai look back and Klaeben whispers "Ai let take our armor and leave" Ai goes to the other room and look over the window, soldoers carrying the dead and people kneeling and screaming and others bowing to the king and the rebels having their backs open in the pick of the mountain and birds coming and eating them, Ainwatch carefully king Konstantin and the man with the cuts, the king talks first and then the man makes a short bow and place a metal glove on his right hand, along with placing a round device on his back and wires that connect to the glove, he takes from a chest a poece of the crystal and the device statts shinning, his fingers start producing lighting and surround the crystal, he place his eyes close and look at each of them, the man then look at the king and slowly lower the crystal, he starts laughing and he takes a knife, cutting himself.
The soldiers run and grab him, letting him laugh and shake until he stops.
Ai hears heavy steps and a window breaking, she runs and sees Klaeben breaking the window "Ai let's leave, this is our chance" Ai grabs him and pulls him inside "have you lost it? These people have helped us and you just want to run off?" Klaeben look at her with his hands clutching and as Ai look at him with anger he let his hands free and says "then what do you want us to do?" Ai smile "let's see if they leave them alone and we will talk with them" Klaeben follows her to the window and they look outside together.
They see the man now free again and another man beside him dead with his flesh on the throat torn, Ai feels a twist in her stomach and Klaeben continues to look, from the crowd the man look at the window, Klaeben hides and Ai tries to see from the edge of the window, he sees the man pointing and the building and the woman and her mother talking along with the man, suddenly the crowd starts hitting them and the king look at them, the man goes in front of them and they all surprised get up, the mother injured as she protect anna and anna crying and covered in dirt look at the man as he place a glove on his other hand and crush a seed, touch the women's faces and helping them stand and leave them to walk on their house.
Anna help her mother and as she goes to open the door she freeze and brown flowers start spreading on her face and hands, the mother scream before she freeze too and the plants start to melding with the plants of the daughter and bounding them together, letting a breathing statue and the people could not take their eyes from them, the man then shout with a voice that is heard to the house "this is what you deserved for betraying the king" Ai eyes wide open and the man starts walking to the house and looking at Anna and her mother with wonder, touching gently at the flowers, men run beside him coming to the house and Klaeben grabs her arm "we must leave" he drags her and they jump from the window and Klaeben create stairs to jump from the wall.
The man throws the torch at the house and runs behind it, seeing the stairs and running on them and jumping outside, he look over them running to the mountain, he raise his other arm and place a cannon in his hand and flames and lighting come at great speed, Klaeben place himself forward and the lighting strike the ground and Klaeben flies forward and fall to the rocks, Ai runs and takes him to her shoulders, feeling ready to collapse but she continues with all her strength, seeing in front of her the short pAssGe between the mluntIn that are almost closing with each other along with the giant cracks on the walls, she looks behind and see the horsemen almost beside her, she try even harder and when the men show their large axes arrows suddenly pierce them, the horsemen rip the arrows from their armor and from the other side of the mountains passage a small division showed themselves from the cracks and the horsmen ride back.
Fenhua showed himself covered in dirt and injuries on his shoulders.
Fenhua takes Klaeben into his arms with Ai's's eyes ready to flow with tears, Fenhua with a smile he says "luckily for you and my insightfulness I stayed here waiting for you" Ai laugh and more soldiers show up holding the horses, as they swiftly climb to ride them Fenhua says "general Lixin says he was a plan to beat them this time, I only hope he is right this time before we stuck on another village again" the soldiers look at him with half an eye except Ai and they ride to the pitch night.
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