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Chapter 15: Forming Alliances

The field was alight with the sound of battle as almost twelve thousand soldiers crashed against the walls of Fortress Mons.

Arrows rained down in such volume that lowering a protective shield was a sure way to get an iron tipped arrow through the neck as many quickly found out. Lances and bolts from ballista and similar weapons also sped through the air, piercing two or three at a time.

At the base of the walls, hot, burning oil slicked it's stone sides and set those beneath ablaze and turning ladders to nothing but ash and cinder.

A grave mistake had been made.

Jason watched from atop of a nearby cliff face in disgust at the wanton disregard for life. There was no chance that the fortress would fall and even if by some chance it did, there were three more along the path into Sacra.

The northern kingdom of Bel-vier, a land populated by man sized hamster like people, had always been jealous of Sacra and their prosperity. King Taro had thought that after the sacking of Sacra, he'd be able to march his army and take the coveted lands from the humans, but instead of finding a broken people, he found the famous border fortresses manned by resolute warriors.

“Why don't they retreat?" Jason asked. The attacked had started early in the morning and now it was fast approaching evening. It had been obvious that the attack would fail before lunch and yet the attack pressed on like waves on a shore, thrown back every time.

“King Taro died early in the fighting," Antes said. “Except they don't know it and none of the generals are brave enough to order a retreat without their king."

“Are they that stupid and timid?"

“Hamsters, as you call them, are not bright," Antes said and sighed. “It'll be done in the morning. Let's get some rest before we parlay with the Sacrans."

Jason took another long look at the slaughter. Those poor hamsters.

The next day, the fighting had stopped. The air was thick with the sickly sweet smell of death. Carrier birds swarmed the land under the walls of Fortress Mons, picking apart the bloating bodies of the hamsters. It took all Jason could do to not retch as he walked down the dirt roadway to the fortress. The bloodied mud stuck to his leather boots and he decided that it would be best to just toss them after this.

With him was Keith. No one else would be there since the Sacrans wouldn't talk with anyone except a human and even then, Jason got the feeling that he and Keith were one wrong move from being shot at by the four thousand archers that were arrayed on the walls of the fortress.

The fortress had gone back on high alert the moment Jason and Kevin had come into view. Bells had rung and horns were blown and by the time Jason and Keith were a thousand paces away, the Sacrans were ready to fend off another attempt at invasion.

“Can't we just send a pigeon or something over?" Keith leaned over to Jason as they walked closer and closer. “I'm not sure I like the way they have their fucking arrows pointed at us."

“Antes said that they won't talk to anyone but a human and even then, face to face," Jason explained, but he felt uneasy as well. He stepped over a mutilated body of a hamster that had been hit with an arrow through the eye of his visor. His small paws were still clutching his face, mouth agape in what must have been a horrible final few moments.

A pair of vultures with the heads of lizards flew off at Jason's approach. They landed a dozen feet away at another corpse, but eyed the two humans suspiciously. There, Jason and Keith stopped. Only a little further and the arrows in the ground became so thick that each step would have been a hazard.

“Can you yell loud enough to be heard by them?" Keith more said than asked. He could only just make out the shapes of the archers on the walls and he couldn't hear anything but his own shallow breathing and decomposition.

“Just wait a moment," Jason waved the question away with some minor annoyance. It had been nothing but questions from him whenever they were together. It was great having a familiar face from home around and all, but there was a point where too much was just simply too much.

A few minutes passed and the gates of the fortress opened up. The portcullis, made of thick iron bars that were forged individually in Vessius' personal smith and then woven into a cross section using magic, rose slowly. Then the massive and thick gate or layered oak and iron swung outward slowly.

At the entrance stood a single old man in dusty grey robes. He held onto a staff with a hand. He also wore a large pointed hat.

“Great," Keith muttered. “They're sending Gandalf to greet us."

It wasn't that far from the truth as the man began to walk forward and everything that got in his way, whether it be arrows or bodies, were shoved aside by an unseen force, clearing his way.

The old man walked at a brisk pace, quickly covering the distance between himself and Jason and Kevin. Once he stopped, he looked both of them up and down.

“I know of you," he said and nodded at Jason. “And you." He then nodded at Keith and then frowned. “You come at a most unwelcome hour." His eyes made a quick glance around at the field of dead man-hamsters.

Jason let out a breath and gave control to Antes.

If the old man was alarmed, he showed no sign when Jason began to glow and was wrapped it a shroud that covered his entire body with metallic wings seemingly sliding out of thin air. A halo of daggers materialized over Antes head.

“My peers," Antes said, his voice deeper and with a slight echo to it. “Have entrusted me to offer you the chance for an alliance against the one who took your master from you and destroyed your city."

“Master..." the old man shrugged. “You assume Vessius was our master. He was a father to us." The old man muttered something else under his breath, perhaps a prayer and then he said, “come with me. Others will want to hear you out now that my warding spell is up and I know you two aren't more demons wrapped in the skin of men."

He turned and then began to walk with a purpose back towards the fortress.

Keith, who had remained respectfully and uncharacteristically quiet, looked at Antes for a moment and then followed. Antes went a few seconds after.

There was no fanfare or pleasantries inside the fortress. Everyone who could, was manning the walls. If they couldn't fight, then they were somewhere else feeding horses or tending the few wounded. Everyone had a job at the moment.

The old man whisked the two past a stone courtyard and to the building at the center of the fortress. Black flags hung from each of its windows, a sign of mourning. In fact, all of the soldiers were wearing black instead of their usual red and violet. It gave them all an ominous feel as Antes and Andrew were led into the building.

Inside, the two were treated to bread, salted meats and honeyed tea that left a bitter after taste. Shortly after, a group of people entered the room and talks began.

The Sacrans were open to the idea of an alliance. Revenge and justice were heavy on their minds and they made it clear from the very beginning, but they wouldn't fight for free either. They wanted access to any and all of Malus' books and any research he did. The Sacrans did not say why they wanted this. They wanted ownership of all land that may end up being conquered if Sacrans were used to take the land. Then, they also wanted a formal apology from Heaven for banishing Vessius and a posthumous pardon for his crime.

Antes listened the entire time and when the Sacrans had finished putting out their demands, he nodded. “Done."

Kieth and Antes were outside of the fortress within an hour.

“What just happened?" Keith asked. He had tried to follow along and had been in the middle of putting together everything when the meeting had stopped and they were politely ushered back outside.

“We have just assembled and alliance of the largest army ever made," Antes said. Still, the angel looked troubled.

“You don't seem pleased," Kieth noted as they walked away from the fortress and back to where a small party of Templar were with their horses.

“This was a great victory for us," Antes said. “Do t mistake that, but I'm not sure that it was enough."

“How not?" Kieth asked. They left the field of arrows behind and most of the bodies and began to go up the hill they had begun on.

Malus stopped on the top of the hill and gave the carnage of last night's battle a long look. His tail twitched nervously behind him. “Malus is smart and cunning. This won't be as simple as smashing bodied against each other and seeing which side still has soldiers left. He'll have some sort of plan or something meant to stop us dead in his tracks. When he begins to make his spell, it'll attract us like moths to a campfire. He won't start until he is certain of victory."

“So? What? We're destined to fail if he's only willing to commit to his plan if victory is assured?" Kieth asked.

“Nothing is for certain," Antes said and turned away from the battlefield. “He thought that he would be victorious during this first attempt. He nearly was. We just have to be sure that we're more certain of ourselves than he is of himself."

Kieth looked at Antes for a moment longer. He had been thinking a bit in the recent months. For a while he had believed that he and everyone else would be going home at the end of this mess. But the longer he was here, the less certain he was.

“What about Janice?" He then asked. He hadn't heard anything about her at all since they had been separated and he felt a jump of hope when he could see Ante's ears perk up under his hood.

“That's where we're heading next," The angel said. “Word has reached me that there is currently a slave rebellion in Molamse led by a human female. They say that she is undefeatable and relentless."

“Sounds like Janice," Kieth grinned. If anyone could cause a slave rebellion and succeed, it was Janice.

“C'mon," Antes said and then the aura around him began to fade, the robes seemed to just dissolve away until there was just Jason.

Jason shuddered for a moment and gave Kietha grin. “We have a long ride ahead of us."