Briliron

Droplets of sweat fell from Falkrin's brow as he tinkered with a small musket he'd been building. It'd just been practice, and he couldn't think of any practical use for it other than disassembly. Alas, he slid his goggles up to a resting position on his forehead and grabbed a white cloth, wiping the char-colored grime off his face and hands. Mornings were tiring, but voluntarily so. Falkrin had been criticized for his lack of motivation to do anything other than mock people he deemed to be idiots, so he began to do some extra engineer work to quell his detractors. Overall, life went on as it had for many of his adult years: lacking in any large amount of strife or back-breaking work. Sometimes religious folk would knock on his door to chew him out for his heathenish behaviors, but he didn't particularly care about such nonsense.

A sudden knock on the oaken door provoked an audible, drawn-out sigh from Falkrin. "No thank you, my good sir or madam!" He shouted bluntly, "I'm quite busy working on a project of utmost importance!"

"Open up or miss out on the news!" Replied a familiar voice; it was that of Brycius Corrodus, a young man that had befriended Falkrin the previous year. He was a pleasant, handsome fellow, very popular with the ladies. Falkrin admired him in a strange sort of way.

Damn you, the sun's only just risen, Falkrin thought as he walked hastily to the door. With a loud creak it swung open, causing Falkrin's oily hair and beard to flow in the short gust of air it caused. "Come in and take a seat, lad." Brycius nodded and walked over to an old wood table Falkrin had set in the center of the room, sitting in one of the little armless chairs. Falkrin followed suit, slouching slowly into another chair, which creaked loudly as he did so.

"So, there's been another murder nearby." Brycius was casual in his speech, seemingly unsurprised by the news.

"Really?! It's those damned religious fanatics, likely!" Falkrin growled, obviously upset by the news. Something he'd said was apparently funny, because Brycius was instantly jarred into laughter. "What's funny?!"

Brycius tried to catch his breath. "You're... You're just so biased!" He said, wiping tears from his eyes. "It's become quite funny." Falkrin didn't appreciate the comment; his face turned beat red at the sound of it.

"Well, I at least worry about important things." Falkrin replied angrily. "All you're concerned with are women."

They continued conversing for a while, over some nice tea that Falkrin eventually decided to make. When it was Brycius' time to leave, Falkrin tipped him and began to tidy up his workspace.

Theda rose early in the morning before dawn to do her morning prayers and call a blessing onto the soldiers who would be on their way to the other side of the lake. It was a pivotal point. They had decided to launch an early morning attack in hopes to catch the Marius's men off their guard in the fog.
They stood at the edge of the lake together and in the formal language, she spoke.

"May God bless these men in their mission to slay the heathen marshall and his army if it is God's will. If they does not return here safely, may they return to Heaven."
She touched the marshall before her on his forhead with her the back of her fingers, then his lips, then touched his heart, and back to his lips completing one of many holy hand symbols.

"Good luck and God speed." she said to him.

He nodded his thanks and they were off quickly. More soldiers came to the shore and watched the soldiers who were going on the mission silently slip out in several large boats through the mist that was turned golden by the dawn. There were soft mutters of prayers and holy hand symbols made before everyone scattered and began their business about the camp. Theda was on the boat with the marshall and walked along the deck, admiring, so it seemed, the lake. Really she was observing the bottom of the crystal clear lake, scoping for boulders and other elements that could help them in battle. Water was not her forte, but another mage on the boat with her, Dante, was an expert.

"Do you think he will succeed?" Dante asked, breaking the silence that had lingered thus far through their stroll and on the whole deck for that matter.
"It is not usually the will of God to harm others, but hopefully so."
"Why would God allow such a man as Marius to live?" Dante pondered aloud, kicking his feet at the ground as if to figuratively kick Marius's head itself. His foot accidentally connected with a cannonball for one of the small cannons on board and grabbed his foot in pain, making an unmanly squeak for such a swaggering young male. All of the soldiers nearby shushed him desperately
The loose cannonbal rolled in front of her and she lifted her hand willing the cannonball to continue rolling in front of her as she spoke.
"Perhaps he's a test.." she lifted the rock with the invisible hands of her magic and directed the cannonball back on top of the pile of ammo. "But it's a test we shall surely pass."

Another soldier agitated with both the mages talking shushed them again, "For God's sake, be quiet! We are here.." and sure enough as he finished his sentence they touched shore.

Theda gazed in astonishment at the looming sillhouette of fortress before them, then glanced over at Dante. His mouth was sealed shut and anything he was about to say back to the soldier who scolded them was swallowed back down his throat. Ladders were thrown over the deck and the first soldiers filed off the boat slinked silently towards the fortress. Soldiers climbed the walls by way of rope, and made it to the top in no time flat, having rehearsed numerous times back at their own training camps. The first few watchmen were killed without a sound and thrown down on the other side of the wall.

The marshall signaled the mages to start coming once the watchmen were down off the wall, since the mages climbed much slower then the rest of the soldiers. Dante and Theda squirmed side by side up the ropes, Theda making it to the top first and helping Dante up when he got to the top.

"It's because of the armor.." he mumbled, as he grabbed her helping hand and climbed on to the top of the wall. She briefly smiled, but the lighthearted moment was cut short by the first sounds of alarm in the camp.

"Intruders! Intruders!"

Soldiers stumbled out of their rooms putting on armor as they headed straight for the intruders coming over the fortress walls. Theda and Dante put on their winged helmets and were ordered to split in opposite directions. Theda saw her first weapon of choice on the walls: torches. She yanked one off the wall and led a group of her fellow soldiers down the west end of the wall. The Kaelan soldiers from the camp came up the watch tower and were immediately met by wind of fire spat in their direction by the mage, then the soldiers behind Theda came forward and threw the flaming men out of the way.

The Crimson Rose rode through the thick fog that was created by Antonia the ship's shaman. Anne had heard one of Sepharim's trade ships were going to be making their way from Jilican to Sepharim early in the morning. Anne couldn't pass up this opportunity, she most of all knew Sepharim always had some of the best imports. She had worked for their Navy for so many years that she knew exactly how the convoy formations would be and the best way to board the ship without even being noticed.

The fog was so thick it slightly blocked the sun, allowing Anne to see. She stood at the wheel and addressed her crew as they were about to make their move. Her voice was soft, yet clear "Our goal is to take the ship quietly, lets save the pistols for only emergencies. lets try not to kill those who don't see us, the more prisoners we take the better chance we have if we get caught." The crew nodded and then got into position to board the ship. Anne looked at Grace and said in her motherly tone "If anything goes wrong, you take this ship and leave." Grace nodded, but she didn't mean it if anything did go wrong Grace would fight and Anne knew it. Anne kissed her daughter on her forehead and then as the ship slid into position next to the merchant ship she grabbed a rope and swung over.

She landed quietly as to not awaken the crew, she walked around and then walked over to the wheel of the ship where the captain was standing oblivious to the fact that she was right behind him. She placed her Rapier against his neck and said softly, I can slit your throat before you can even make a sound. He put his hands into the air and said softly "alright, what do you want." Anne whistled and the rest of the boarding crew came aboard and she then said "I want your cargo." One of the crew men walked over to her and tied up the man. Anne ripped a piece of the captain's clothing and shoved it in his mouth to keep him quiet. She walked around the deck looking for the hatch that lead to the cargo hold. She eventually found it and signaled her crew. They quietly made their way down the stairs and found that the crew was asleep. They quickly tied them all up and threw them on deck. One of Anne's men quickly came up and said "Captain, you might want to see this!" Anne made her way down, that is when she saw them chained up like animals three slaves all of them humans. The men looked at her and said "what do we do with them captain?" She then said "start loading the cargo onto the deck, I will talk to these three."

Anne walked over to the one in the middle, she looked young. No older than seventeen as far as Anne could tell, she placed her hand on the girl's chin to get a good look at her and she cowered away. The girl next to her yelled to Anne "Don't touch her! She doesn't like to be touched!" Anne backed away and said "alright, well then I guess, your the one I should talk with." This other woman was in her early twenties, she was protective of the younger girl. It was clear in her eyes and in her speech. Anne smiled and said "I am Captain Anne Le-Sida, I was just here for the cargo of this ship, not slaves however the way they have you all here seems wrong." The woman nodded and said "We just don't want to be like this any longer." Anne smiled and then said "alright" She walked up the stairs and found the captain, she turned him over and grabbed his keys. She went back to the cargo hold and unlocked the three slave's chains. She went back up to the deck and said to the men "Is everything here?" They all nodded and Anne gave a whistle and watched as a wooden board was placed on the deck connecting the merchant ship and the Crimson rose. The crew began bringing over Cargo, Anne then looked at the three slaves and said "well come on" They quickly made their way across, Anne then looked at the captain and his crew who were all tied up, she smiled and said "Well gentlemen, It was a pleasure lets do this again some time." She ran across the board and then told Grace who was Captaining the ship, set a course for Ocaykor. She nodded and the Crimson Rose disappeared into the fog from which it came.

Breaching the fortress had been the easy part of the invasion, but the Kaelathians now had their wits about them and morale restored by their charismatic field marshal. It was time for the Prilacians to step up their attack. The two sides were dead locked, having two walls in each of their control and the battle was now moving to the middle of the court on the ground level. Theda moved down to there herself, walking calmly into the frey. Once the torch was spent she had been using as a flame thrower Theda took out her real weapon: her white branched staff. A staff was the most useful and efficient way to conduct magic, even though it could be done by hand. The staff drained less mana from a person. She also removed a dagger with a white wooden handle from her boot and held it in her other hand as an extra defense.

The first Kaleathian soldier to approach her charged sword drawn, ready to attack. With a wistful movement of her staff though, his stride was abruptly ended and he fell at her feet snared to the ground by glowing green roots. The phantom tendrils grew over the soldier's torso and coiled around his neck where they held until he breathed no more. Theda did not stop, stepping over the man and continuing her steady stride. She had her eye on the Kaelathian gunmen on the opposite walls.

Dante who was also on the ground level, saw Theda's concentration on the gunmen in front of her and paying little heed to those beside her. He immediately ran to her side to cover her. He put his black staff horizontally in front of him with both hands and a blue essence shield formed. The bullets shot at them were flattened against the aura-like protection and any swords lunged at them were repelled with such force they flew out of their holders' hand.

Theda stopped as soon as she felt close enough to cast her spell. She raised her staff in front of her and the small branches at the tip of her staff crackled to life with fire. She pointed it at the gunmen and yelled in the formal tongue unknown to the Kaelathians, "Ignite!"

Their guns exploded at the barrel as the gun powder inside was instantaneously ignited by her magic. The men dropped their mangled guns and screamed in pain from their bloody hands and scathed faces. Her magic had added more punch to the explosions and the useless guns continued to fizzle on the ground as if doused in acid. Theda felt invigorated by the success and tingling of mana flowing through her. She turned to her side that Dante was guarding from the other gunmen intent on doing the same. A few of the soldiers having witnessed what happened to the others, dropped their guns and scrambled out of the way in terror. Those not aware or quick enough to drop their guns were wounded the same as the other gunmen. Many nursed seered eyes and broken fingers and were vulnerable as the Prilacian marshal ordered his soldiers to take advantage of the moment to attack the wall.

Dante evaporated his blue shield and pointed back to the wall in front of them recuperating from Theda's first assault on their weapons,
"Look! Over there! Marius is there, he has a pistol in hand!"

Theda looked in the direction Dante was pointing and focused her pale green eyes on the famed heathen marshal for the first time. Her face scrunched up with a look of anger she rarely showed, if ever. The flames on her staff reignited more hot, turning them blue. She took aim, this time intending to do more than just wound this godless beast. She would mangle him - kill if she could, to stop him from ever resisting Prilacian authority and denouncing their God again. "Ignite barbarian!"

Zenu feasted on the remains of the wild animal she had slew just moments ago, teeth clenched into the muscle of the animal, and head reeled back to bring a plentiful bite of the beast. Her "soldiers" that Ira's paid bandits were, declined the bountyful feast, and they had went on ahead to terrorize the small village that the summoner himself was having a more...cooked meal in.
In this context, he could claim he had nothing to do with these warlord attacks, and if the mercenaries were planning to betray them, Zenu fancied the thought of beheading them with her stone sword.
"Zenu Kill! Zenu Rule!"

The faint sound of cheers had caught her attention and couldn't help but smile with blood stained teeth. After the sounds of a struggle they had emerged victorius and the cheers of the townspeople that they give them! Such efficency at which the bandits had worked! Zenu was proud to call herself the leader of her underlings; just giving them the first taste in victory. She stood up, from her meal, holding a slab of meat in one hand, continously eating the raw flesh of the animal and her sword in the other.
As she walked, many of the teeth that hung around her arms had clattered against each other, and bounced off the many animal hides that she had wore. Yet her eyes had caught a dark red substance that had coated the forest floor and she just had to follow the trail. Many years of experiance thought this to be a large, wounded animal, for the massive quantity of blood. She threw away her own meal on the ground and crouched low to the ground

Yet in the clearing she caught the sight of something else entirely different. Her men, impaled on stakes, pined to walls and the group that had been there. She had no attention to the two other men, though on any other day would have made a move on Tain, the fellow barbarian, Zenu's eyes were beheld on the woman, a small thing, covered in blood. The blood of her soldiers.
This person intrigued Zenu, angered her, and the sun that danced off her blade annoyed her. Death was in order. The barbarian walked from the trees, unwilling to the word of Tain for a night strike, and plunged her sword deep through the spine of Rania's guide, the large stone blade protruding out the man's stomach covered in wet blood. The squelch of the organs only fueled Zenu's excitement and rage and with two hands grasping the blade's hilt, raised it up from the ground into the air with the guide, amazingly, still on it, and swong the blade with all the strength she had toward the blood covered Rania. The blade was too far to hit her but instead the body was flung from the blade to the royal, used as a cruel, meat projectile.
"Zenu will kill you all!"

They'd all been laughing, joking, making light of the dire situation they'd been in moments before.
Rania had turned her back for a moment, a child had asked for her attention. It couldn't have even been thirty seconds, but when she turned back all she saw was the mangled corpse of her driver, and first true friend, hurdling at her.
She didn't react quick enough to even try and weather the impact, it hit her full on knocking her to the ground. In the process of that, she let go of her blade, which landed a bit away from her.
For most people this was where panic would rear it's head and cloud all judgement, but Rania was long trained to allow no such thing.

"Shit..This is bad, I'm trapped under a corpse easily twice my weight, my blade is just out of my reach..And this...Thing, that attacked me..Not good. Far stronger than I am, crude tactics can easily catch a person off guard. I don't know if she's fast yet, but I highly doubt grace, and her speech alone is an indication of her intelligence. So is a frontal assault in broad daylight.."

A plan was already forming as she began to "struggle" to get the corpse off of her.
In truth, she was only wiggling from it slightly, inching towards her sword, if she could reach it before this beast came to finish her, she had a chance.

"Damnit, I can't get up!"

Theda cursed to herself as the quick marshal disappeared out sight into the melee. She glanced behind her shoulder to communicate with Dante, but found him instead on the ground moaning in agonizing pain. He was holding his shoulder and his arm was completely limp with his black staff laying his loose grip. It looked not only as if he had taken a bullet, but that soldiers had already obliviously stepped on the poor mage in the chaos. His onyx eyes looked hazy and were beginning to roll back into his head.

"Dante! Oh Lord, no!" Theda's cold look of war turned to that of worry in an instant. She knelt beside him to begin a healing spell, but something metal, which could only mean a weapon, made contact with the wing of her helmet, flipping it off her head. She fell forward on her hands and knees over her companion, then turned over. Kaelathian soldiers were surrounding them, determined to subdue the mage together. She would have to put healing aside, she could only keep Dante from being harmed anymore.

In fluid motions, she rooted, stunned, and made fatal blows to soldiers as fast as her mana could keep up all while staying beside her companion. But there were beginning to be too many enemies too fend off. The Prilacians were becoming outnumbered in the Courtyard and were literally being pushed over the walls out of the fortress.

"Retreat!!" Theda heard a voice through the turmoil behind her. With the men around her rooted to the ground, she searched behind her where the voice came from. Her marshal and the third mage stood on the Southern wall, the mage creating a safe blue aura which no Kaelathians could get in as Prilacian soldiers escaped over the wall. Theda's heart pounded in panic. She was so far from the Southern wall, and too many enemies were in between for her to go through with Dante.

The third mage noticed Theda on the other side of the Courtyard and waved to her.

"Come! LEAVE him! He is DEAD!" he beckoned desperately.

Theda looked down at Dante. He was definitely on the border between this world and the next, but she could not possibly leave him if there was a chance. The third mage saw the resolution in her eyes as she looked up, and a great sorrow crossed his face. Theda made the holy gesture touching both her forehead and her heart to her lips. He made a holy hand gesture back, meaning "God have Mercy" before turning to leave with the marshal and those that could escape.