Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 4.3 Myre
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 4.3
Myre Fort Attood
The party steps out onto the battlefield with Bahrla, Josh, and Keeland on the front lines, Lady Marion, Anor-Roc, Liam, and Leijh in reserve, and Valda joining the back ranks.
I'd never been in a battle before then, Miri... and I hope to Tah'Aveen that I never have to again. I can't even begin to describe the chaos that erupted in the field that evening except that it was everything I hoped it wouldn't be. As the caravan guards spread out across the battlefield and our mounted troops began their ride I followed Liam to the second line... which felt all too thin a defense between the centaur herd and our scant 20 or 30 archers.
Valda kept the bowmen on task, making sure none of them got weak knees as the sound of the centaurs' thundering hooves began to make the ground shake. She kept them in a line and gave them direction as the charging horse men got closer and closer into bow range. Moments before our mounted warriors hit the sides of the herd, she had her yeomen loose their arrows, and, thank the Moon Goddess, some even managed to hit. A few of the centaur fell, but hardly enough to make a difference.
"Front line!" Bahrla shouted ahead of us, calling the main body of our troops together, "ATTACK!" and she pushed her axe forward, and charged. The centaur rallied out a battle cry in their Wild Land tongue, readying to charge in earnest, but that is when Josh called forth the ground, and massive monoliths, stone walls, and uneven gravel pits suddenly burst into being before them. The centaur were so surprised by the sudden change in the flat plains that our front line troops plowed into them when they were off balance.
Following up the earth control with a searing blast of flame, Josh waded into combat right behind Bahrla, sending four sizzling centaur bodies flying into the air... Goddess help me, I think I actually might have heard one of them still screaming as he fell back to the ground. Bahrla, at the front of the charge, collided with the front of the centaur herd, wading into them with a powerful swing of her axe; though the front-runners of the centaur were ready to fight, they were not ready for HER ferocity, and she felled two with the single blow.
Next in line, Josh was forced to face three centaur who had passed Bahrla. I felt my fingers wring the grip on my sword, unable to look away as I saw them bear down on him... but, suddenly, Josh spread his stance, and issued out a roar, raising a holy symbol in his paw skyward, as he called to Tah'Aveen. The centaur balked, raising their hands in front of themselves at the display of divine might, and promptly broke ranks and fled.
Further in the mass of centaur, several of the horse men finally recovered and launched an attack at Bahrla, but it was as if her axe was an impenetrable wall of metal surrounding her; I'd never seen anyone move an axe so quickly, and every attack targeting her was deflected... it was a sight to see. Josh, almost right behind her, didn't fare quite as well when the next group of centaur slammed into him. The lion managed to duck the first swing of a sword but when the second centaur attacked, Josh tripped up on one of the very rocks he summoned, and was unable to backpedal any farther, taking a slash on the arm... fortunately it didn't seem to slow him much. Still off balance, his own return attack, unfortunately was easy to deflect.
Sergeant Reilly sprang to the lion's aid, cutting into the one that had hit Josh, dropping him with one blow. His forward momentum brought him to the second, who launched a long-armed sword strike at Keeland's neck, but the dog dropped to his knees, sliding along the loose gravel, leaning far back until his head almost touched the ground. The Sergeant's momentum sent him skidding beneath the horse man's underside, and it was a simple matter of Keeland raising his sword. He went into a roll, avoiding the falling centaur, whose entire lower body was cut wide open.
Although the center of our front line seemed to be doing well, the reserves called our attention to my right, where some of the centaur herd had broken through our main defense; we had to quickly rush to support our weaker second line. Lady Marion, a little ways ahead of me, raised her hand much in the way that Josh had, and spoke holy words of power, calling upon Tah'Aveen to route the heathen centaur... and the results were just as fantastic; half of their number shirked the holy light, and quickly retreated toward the woods... but that was only half.
To my side, Liam came to a stop. Unwilling and unable to leave him alone, I stopped as well and glanced to him. I suppose the confusion was plain on my face, but he simply winked at me and offered a smirk, and then reached his paw into his belt pouch. He pulled out a small carving knife, and I winced when he slid the tip of it into one of his paw pads. He looked up and pointed his finger at one of the centaur charging two staff-wielding reservists... and spoke a single word.
I watched as the blood at the tip of Liam's paw glowed brightly and disappeared in a reddish mist. No sooner had the black fox's spell been unleashed that the centaur reared up, screaming out as blood began to seep from his nose, eyes, and ears. He dropped his weapon, grabbing hold of his throat as he began to choke and gag. He fell, and in only a matter of seconds, he lay still. "It's not pretty..." Liam said quietly when I looked away. He rested a paw on my shoulder, "But, then again, no death is."
"Better them than us?" I asked him.
"Better them than us." he replied with a nod, and a faint smile. I wouldn't call it a touching moment, exactly, Miri... more of a defining one. It didn't last, regardless, as Anor-Roc came to a halt near us, words on his muzzle that sounded alien to my ears. He reached for the bangles on his bracelet, and I saw him pull two free. Shouting out a final word in the strange language, the coy-wolf loosed the two charms as two centaur came bearing down on our little group. Once in the air, both of the small metal figurines rapidly grew in size, one becoming the same enormous feral bear I saw Anor-Roc use against the Wild Landers, and the second was a smooth-pelt, black-as-night feral panther.
Despite the difference in size, shape, and style, neither of the beasts had any trouble dispatching their respective centaur. Liam stood stock still, one ear up, the other ear sideways as he stared at the summoner and his two animals, but I heard commotion that pulled my attention away from them immediately: there were shouts behind us. Turning, I saw the problem immediately; as our line shifted right to help shore up the breach in our front lines, a second group of centaur plowed through our defenders, and were quickly bearing down on our bowmen. I began running as fast as I could toward them, but I had no doubt that I'd be too late.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the centaur collided with our bowmen. The first four or five of them were cut down without the horse men so much as slowing. I'm sure they would have plowed right through if not for the fact that their lead stallion was shot through the chest, almost point blank... by Valda. The rest of the centaur slowed, spreading out to engage the bowmen with their swords. The extra time bought by the squirrel allowed the bowmen to get their melee weapons at the ready, though Valda, being at the front, had no time to do the same.
The leading centaur pressed her on the attack, swiping at her with his sword. She blocked his first attack with her bow, diving to the side to avoid the second. She managed to swing her bow at the centaur as she rushed by him, but the glancing blow on his flank didn't really have that much of an effect. He spun around quickly, issuing a lazy swipe which she dodged, but I could tell he was more interested in exhausting her than killing her... from the look of things between his hind legs, he could tell she was female, and had other things on his mind; I think she saw it too.
With another quick slip past the front of the horse man, Valda spun at the last moment and brought her bow up between his hind legs. The centaur let out a screech, his throat had probably constricted from the pain, and it was all he could utter. Valda grinned in satisfaction, but only for a moment, as the centaur leaned forward, and launched both of his hooves backwards, right into the squirrel. I kept running as he trotted after her, albeit gingerly... but she didn't seem to be going anywhere very fast, a dazed look on her face as she lay on the ground several yards away.
The centaur stopped just as he reached her, and it was then that Valda seemed to recover. She reached for her bow, which had landed a foot to the side of her paw, but the centaur quickly stamped one of his hooves down onto it, securing its place on the ground. He said something in the language of his, and drew his sword back, ready to drive it forward down into her... but that's when I finally arrived.
Coming at him from behind, I started with a follow-up to Valda's attack, bringing my booted foot right up between his hind legs. My charge, coupled with my head-on attack had a much more staggering effect, and the horse man dropped his weapon immediately, legs very nearly giving out. As his entire body lowered from the attack I lifted my other leg up, slamming it down right above his tail and used it to launch myself into the air. Time seemed to stand still as I raised my sword with both hands, holding onto its hilt as I drove it downward into his upper torso's back just below the neck, stabbing downward even as I put my descending weight behind it.
I picked myself up off of the still wriggling centaur and moved to help Valda to her feet, "You alright?" I asked.
She smiled in response, "Thanks to you, yea." and, she added, "You're not too bad... for a temple lackey."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment, or an insult?" I asked with a smirk, "It's a little hard to tell."
"Yes." she answered, and picked up her fallen bow, heading back towards the fight.
Letting out a breath, I went back to the now-still centaur and pulled my sword free from his back. Looking around, I saw that the battle was in full swing, but my hopes started to rise when I realized that the vast majority of the dead on the battlefield were four legged and not two. The battle lasted another two hours, Miri, and I won't say everything that happened but, in the end, thank Tah'Aveen, we were victorious.
As we gathered up the wounded, several of our leaders went to meet with the four surviving soldiers from the keep; they lost most of their troops but, then again, so did we. Out of Valda's original two-score irregulars, only six remained; our front line was annihilated and we had maybe a dozen combat capable warriors left among them. Our reserves, which had originally included myself, Liam, and Anor-Roc among their number, had nearly half of us cut down... and not a single one of our outriders survived. We were hurting, and I think everyone realized it. I was so distracted by the loss that Sergeant Reilly had to call me twice before I heard him. At his request, I joined the meeting of Attood Keep's forces.
The four surviving soldiers from the keep were a rather motley crew; their armor, though quite suited for combat, lacked any distinguishing similarities between them, as if they had thrown together whatever they were able to in order to make full suits of scavenged plate mail. The largest of the four was the first to take off his helmet, revealing the broad, bold nose of a bison, though he appeared to be missing both his horns. The second, who was the smallest of the four, raised his visor, revealing the disconnected, bubbled eyes of a chameleon. The third soldier, the one standing at the head of the party removed his helm next, and that drew everyone's attention.
"My name is Cornelius Cymbeline." the white shepherd announced, offering a faint bow of his head. He had a faint accent... it almost sounded Doenian, but that was hardly the most amazing thing about him. While the rest of his fellows looked like battle hardened veterans, Cornelius did not even have a single scar on his gleaming white furred face. He was perfect. He was well-mannered. He was genteel. He was either albino or Moon Blessed. I don't know why, but I found it all off-putting... but I suppose not everyone did.
Lady Marion bowed to him in return, and went around the assembled warriors on our side, introducing everyone in turn. When Cornelius looked to me I saw that his eyes were steel gray. I should have realized it by the black nose, but the eyes were certainly a give-away... the dog was Moon Blessed, which I should have figured out considering the other elements of perfection to him; his armor didn't even have a drop of blood on it. Miri, I hope you don't think I'm over exaggerating when I say that he seemed unreal.
He continued talking pleasantly, thanking everyone he met in turn for their aid. He and his men helped us gather up our wounded, and he prayed, Miri... in Tah'Aveen's name he prayed... and I watched his prayers get answered! He saved three of our wounded even as the rest of our healers were working to keep everyone else alive. Lady Marion, Josh, and Anor-Roc did what healing they could, and even Liam put his field medicine to good use. I stayed beside Sergeant Reilly, escorting Mr. Cymbeline through our ranks, holding my tongue as the two of them talked... a lot.
In the end, the white shepherd provided much thanks again to us for the aid in the breaking of the siege, and offered us a chance to take shelter in the Keep for as long as we needed. Considering the condition of our fighting men and women it would have been insanity to turn him down. We met the lord of the keep, an older, gray-muzzled tiger by the name of Belarius. He seemed bored with the whole affair, only taking notice of Valda, myself, and Lady Marion... and, judging by the way his eyes lingered on us, for reasons I could assume were only.. improper.
Throughout the evening, Cornelius and Keeland spent a lot of time talking. As respective commanders for their own units, their discussions took numerous different paths, ranging all over the topics any guardsman would face. It was readily obvious that the white shepherd was a solider, and not a guard, but he had a way of speaking and staying on topics that somehow made it easy to relate to him, even for me. I still can't place why, but that frustrated me too. Still, hours later as I'm writing this, I can't figure out what has me so agitated... I'm still trying to convince myself that it wasn't the kiss he gave either side of the Sergeant's muzzle when they parted for the night... that's a normal thing for Doenians anyway, isn't it?
Oh, Miri... I think all this time on the road's really gotten to me. Even though we're safe and sound here in Attood Keep I can't help but feel exposed... in danger... worried. I don't know if part of that is due to the fact that I'm down to less than a dozen doses of Grace, or if there's something more sinister I might not be seeing. I didn't miss the fact that there weren't any other soldiers in the keep aside from the four that survived the field of battle. That can't be a good thing, can it? I pray that we continue on soon... I'm not sure why but this place doesn't really appeal to me. Goodnight, Miri.
Love always, Leijh
* * * * * *
The Myrenese Group has completed Chapter 4.
It was a mighty battle and the field is stained with blood, but they emerged victorious!
After respective healing, injuries now show thusly: Valda is the only injured member of the party with a single 1 Lethal Injury. Lady Marion healed the squirrel's second.
All characters also lose 1 Major Fatigue and all Minor Fatigue. Fatigue remains as follows: Josh, Lady Marion, and Leijh all have 1 Major Fatigue.
Josh may spend 1 Willpower to remove his Major Fatigue if he wishes-- Lady Marion will not, and as "just an ally", Leijh does not have any expendible Willpower.
This chapter marked matured due due to the violence involved and the numerous suggestive comments about centaur stallions.
Contributing Readers now have the opportunity to elect whether or not they would like a bonus Event Arc.
Yes) The party will expend 1 Luck and 5 Favor to gain the opportunity to use a still functioning Silver Gate in Attood Keep's basement. The party will then be able to choose between this as an Event Arc, or accept the one given to them by the readers.
No) No expenditure, but the party will pass up the opportunity, instead they will be subject to the mercy of the votes of the readers in the main event arc selection.
Please watch for upcoming contribution opportunities as Chapter 5 will soon begin. Congratulations to the Myrenese party for surviving Chapter 4!