Dharn It

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Dharn It

The clatter of steel and sound of trees being splintered echoed throughout the encampment, Lucas always felt right at home at a place like this. Having just given away the reins to his horse to a fellow knight and told him to find a place for it to rest and eat, the prince took the opportunity to scour his surroundings for his old friend and mentor.

“Yes, you’re getting it now! Raise your shield a little further, remember to use your entire body when you block your opponent's attack!”

The general was in the middle of the encampment, swinging the blunt side of his greatsword towards one of the new recruits, who was desperately trying to hold his ground against the veteran. He took another step back, raising his weapon high up in the air before unleashing a loud war cry as he struck it down at the recruit’s shield - causing the man to lose his posture, falling backwards and onto the ground.

“I yield, no more!” The man was shaking to his boots, clearly a freshman.

Raising his sword yet again and putting it against his shoulder for support, the general looked down at the man as if he was about to shout and give him an endless amount of insults, but instead his frown turned to a smile and he gave out a loud chuckle as he instead reached out with his other hand to help the knight back up on his feet. “Calm yourself soldier, there’s still hope for you. I’ll be sure to make a man out of you!”

Chuckling once more as he gave the recruit permission to leave, Oberon took notice of the young man clad in a familiar golden-coloured steel armor walking towards him.

“Welcome, Prince Lucas. I trust you had a safe journey from the capital?”

“Skipping the formalities, Oberon? I’m still royalty y’know.”

“Where are my manners!?” The man spoke with an obviously satirical tone as he prompted to make a bow. His left leg extended forward as his left and free hand reached outward to his side and his head reaching downwards enough for his chin to touch his chest. All the while his sword was still resting on his shoulder.

“All hail Lucas Muinne of the House Muinne, First of His Name, the Sun, Future King of Aedania and the F-...” As he went on, the knights around them were taking notice. While the new recruits were starting to kneel, the veterans only smirked and laughed as their general made a ridicule of himself. They weren’t the only ones smiling as the prince was almost getting embarrassed by Oberon’s display.

“Alright, alright. I get it. Raise your head jester.”

Both of them chuckled as Oberon returned his posture and reached out to shake his student’s hand. “It’s good to see you.” Lucas spoke first, a smile still on his face. “You too lad. I was pleased to hear that you answered the call to help me.”

“Who knows Oberon, your patience and experience might rub off on me.”

“We’ll see about that good prince.” Oberon reached out to pat the prince on his shoulders as they moved over a nearby cliff that oversaw the village of Dharn not too far from here. “Our scouts have confirmed that there is a bandit raid on their way and that their camp is south-east from here. However, I need to take my men and make for that encampment but I can’t leave Dharn completely defenceless.”

Looking over the village from this position, you could see its citizens going on about their daily lives without knowing what’s coming to them. It was a small village with nothing but thin walls and the forest surrounding it to protect them, these people were farmers and even had a couple of houses and barns along the main road leading up to it. Lucas looked back at Oberon - “Is this why you sent asked for me then?”

“Indeed, do you think you can handle its defence on your own with a few extra men?”

“Of course, Oberon. I’ll be sure to prove that your training has given results.”

The old man nodded his head before turning around and facing his own encampment. “Good.” Seeing his second-in-command looking at him, Oberon signaled with his hands that it was time to move out. The knight began gathering the others immediately as Oberon started making his way back with Lucas. “Meet me at the bandit camp once you’re finished here, if anything goes wrong then I’ll most likely be needing a good pair of swords. Until then.”

Oberon and the others were quick to pack everything they needed and set out for their destination, leaving only Lucas and a little more than a handful of knights to defend Dharn from the incoming raid.

“Alright men, let’s get a move on then!”

Lucas took the lead while his knights followed quickly in pursuit. They were armoured head to toe, shields on their back and swords in their sheaths while being painted in black and blue with Aedania's insignia being clearly featured on top of their armour. They were walking along a dirt road that would lead them down the hill and onwards to the main road leading to the village itself. It wouldn't take long before a few buildings could be spotted among the trees and the sound of both humans and animals echoing throughout the forest.

But trouble was coming faster than expected: "HELP, SOMEONE SAVE US!" It was the voice of a man, coming from inside the forest. "A villager?" one of the knights spoke out as all of them unsheathed their weapons. "MOVE IT!" Lucas wanted to waste no time if the bandits were already closing in on the village and signaled for his men to move towards the direction of the voice.

"Help is on its way!" Lucas called out as he ventured into the forest, soon encountering an open glade where the same voice from earlier could be heard screaming out. They continued until they all stood in the middle of the glade but there were no signs of the villager or of any battle.

"Where did he go?" the same knight from before asked as he was scouting the area, removing his helmet to get a better view of their surroundings. But the view was short-lived as an arrow struck out and pinned itself at the knight’s throat, causing him to helplessly try and stop the blood that was now seeping out from his wound and mouth.

"I'm right here."

Several rugged men made their way out from the forest and into the open glade. About ten of them, each armed with some sort of close-range weapon. All except one. This one was larger than the other and a double-edged sword sheathed behind his back while carrying a crossbow with one hand and using crossbow bolt as a toothpick with the other.

“Did you like my performance?” The man in the crossbow appeared to be their leader as none of the others was making a move, giving Lucas and the others enough time to form a circle around the now deceased knight, shields raised and swords at the ready.

“Foul knave!” was all the prince had to say towards bandits such as these. This simply caused the bandits to chuckle before their leader spoke up again as he directed his newly loaded crossbow towards the prince.

“Kill them men, that up-start boy’s armour could be worth a fortune!”

He fired off his crossbolt, just as before it was aimed for the throat. It flew through the flew through the air with both speed and precision, yet it didn’t find its way inside the warmth of blood, but instead by the cold surface of steel as Lucas had deflected it using the blunt side of the blade. Taking the other bandits aback while the leader simply grinded his teeth before reaching out for his sword and making his charge- prompting Lucas to do the same.

Once they got close enough, the two of them clashed as the bandit swung his sword left and right as to take advantage of both his size, strength and length of his blade. Lucas was faster however and managed to hold his ground each time he parried, eventually leading them to get close enough to lock their swords together and push against the clinch as they were both trying to knock the other off balance. Lucas attempted to use his opponent's strength against him by sliding to the side and force him forward to create an opening, but as he began to let go, the leader responded by thrusting his sword upwards and using the cross-guard to push Lucas away. His sword now high up in the air and ready to strike down, Lucas saw his opportunity to breach this opening and thrust the tip of his sword forward before piercing itself through the bandit's throat.

Eyes wide in disbelief, losing hold of his own weapon as his hands was reaching out to remove the sword but unable to do so as it only made the pain worse. Choking his own blood and gurgling as he tried to speak, Lucas finally withdrew his blade and the leader collapsed thereafter. Now looking over at the other bandits as the prince spoke:

“Retreat now and we will spare you lives. But if you return then your lives will be sealed by my blade.”

The bandits were shrieking and they dropped their weapons and began to flee, causing the other knights to cheer as their prince had single-handedly dealt with the bandits.

“It looked like you didn’t us after all m'lord! The village is safe now!” One of the knights stated.

“Stay alert men. These were nothing more than mere thugs, the bandits we’re after is still on their way.” His words silenced their cheers as the worst had yet to come, pulling out a piece of cloth to clean the blood from his blade before he spoke again.

“See to it that these men are buried before we move on.”

“Two? You mean to say the bandit too?”

“Yes soldier. Misguided as he may have been, he was still a man of Aedania. He deserves that much.”

The knights did as they were told while Lucas finished cleaning his blade and sheathing it once again in his scabbard. He ushered a quick prayer for the two men that had fallen before all of them returned to the road and continued onwards to the houses just at the outskirts of the village.

The men, women and children, all took notice of the group of knights that had just arrived. Greeting those who called out to them as they walked by, it didn’t take long until one of them took notice of the one leading them and called out his name: “By the spirits, it’s Prince Lucas!”

The very mention of his name caused anyone who heard it to bend the knee, they were in the presence of royalty after all. To which the prince gave off a somewhat shy smile as the people in the city never made this kind of response to his presence as they were so used to him. “Citizens, please, raise your hands and stand up. There is no need for this, besides, there are more urgent matters at hand.”

“Is there something wrong m'lord?” One of the farmers asked as they rose to their feet.

“Bandits are on their way. You should seek shelter inside your homes or make haste to the next village until the situation is handled.”

This was the first the villagers had heard about the incoming attack, given that so few people even knew about it, it wasn’t a surprise. While plenty of them went on their way just as they heard the word “bandit”, three men stood fast without any signs of fear in their eyes.

“I take it that the three of you won’t be backing away from this one then?” Lucas asked as he turned his attention towards them.

“No m'lord. We’ll fight for Aedania!” As soon as the man finished speaking, all three of them began glowing in a bright light before revealing their armour clad in black and blue. These were former soldiers of the royal crown. Any knight of Aedania with magical capabilities was trained to be able to perform Requip as to be able to answer any call for aid as soon as possible.

Given the recent loss and what’s ahead of them, seeing men such as these, willing to return and fight for their country at a moment's notice, always brings a smile to a fellow knight’s face.

“Good… Yes, very good. We’re going to need any help we can get for the coming sto-...”

The prince was interrupted as a woman screamed nearby. Looking over at her direction, Lucas quickly spotted the woman as she was pointing one of her hands towards the yonder and towards the village. As the prince looked ahead, his face grew dim as black smoke was already rising from the village.

“The attack has already begun, to arms my brothers!” he called out and unsheathed his sword and beckoned his knights to follow as they ventured towards the village of Dharn.

“My lord! Save us!” A man cried out as he ran through the village gates, only to be stopped by a piercing arrow that struck him from the back.

The crying and yelling of villagers rung throughout the pillaging, only matching the loud crackling of the flames that ate up the houses along it’s path. The flames towered over Lucas and his men when they arrived, watching the streets stain with the black ash of the ruins and the red blood of the innocent. This was only a glimpse of what Zeroth could look like if the bandits successfully attacked the kingdom.

“Slaughter them all boys!” A voice cried out from within the hellscape.

Bandits were running around freely, swinging their blades left, right and centre at everything in the village. But one bandit stood out more notably from the rest, as he was using magic instead of simple blades to tear down the settlement. Grey wolfskin covered his body whilst wearing the head of a dog that covered the upper region of his face, revealing the intimidating smile of his jaw to those that could see him. His bare skin was damaged from the many battles that he had fought earlier on, and his body looked as though it was decaying from old age. His eyes looked tired with the grey bags underneath them, but they felt so alive with anger and fury inside them. Coming into view of Lucas, the bandit looked directly at the prince with the same menacing eyes before winking, laughing it off before turning his attention to one of the houses close to him.

“Give ‘em hell…” The bandit quietly said to himself before waving his hand at the direction of the house in a single sweeping motion which immediately sent the building into flames, demonstrating his magical power.

Lucas was watching the town being brought down before him, from houses that are burned down to their structural skeleton, corpses littering the area with many mutilated and disfigured from the bandits’ brutality. The black smoke lifting up into the air, making the sky look as though it was almost night. The laughs of the bandits battled the sound of the cries of the villagers. It was truly a sight comparable to hell, one of both fire and steel.

“Split into two groups! Save the villagers and evacuate them to safety- we must protect them at all costs!” Lucas announced to his soldiers.

These soldiers were made up out of both new recruits and veterans from old, something which could be clearly seen in their eyes and reactions each of them made to the horrors in front of them. The youngsters were nervous and didn’t know what to do, but the veterans made sure to create an example as they took charge over their own respective groups and went onwards with half of them towards the west side of the village, and the other towards the east. Soon disappearing from sight amongst the thick smoke and dampened by the screams of men, women and children. Leaving Lucas and two soldiers, a recruit and a veteran, behind to secure this part of the village and deal with the chieftain.

The chieftain was standing amongst the rubble, his hands blazing bright red with only fiery embers remaining from anything he touched. He had hoped that the newcomers would make the first move but seeing as that wouldn’t be the case, he started walking towards them. His piercing eyes never seemed to blink as they were dead set on the prince’s own, suddenly stopping midway and extended his arms left and right- making him appear completely open.

“W-...we should strike now!” The recruit bursted out before charging ahead.

“No wait!” Lucas shouted as he ran, but it was all in vain. The recruit continued his charge, shield in front of him and sword at the ready. The chieftain didn’t move a muscle as the boy got ahead of himself and raised his blade and swung it downwards in a diagonal movement, letting his shield move to the side- as did the chieftain. Having dodged it with little effort due to the obvious approach of the recruit, he saw an opportunity to strike out and did so by reaching out with his left hand and grabbing ahold of the recruit neck, lifting him up from the ground as the scorching pain that came from his hand made the soldier drop his blade and struggle to get away. The chieftain’s grim look turned into a menacing smile as he turned his head towards the prince and looked into his eyes as he intensified his magic and started roasting the soldier alive within his armor, turning him into nothing but a charred corpse mere seconds later.

The prince only looked on in horror as to what a soulless man he was up against, he was getting nervous and frankly, even scarred. As the chieftain noticed this, he threw away the soldier and began moving towards them yet again.

“My lord?! Your orders!” the veteran that stood behind had turned around to face Lucas and shouted to get the attention of his prince. He snapped out of it and turned to his attention towards the man, nodding his head.

“Ah-.. eh.. Yes, than-...” Lucas didn’t even manage to thank him before blood splattered across his face and armor as the veteran in front of him had a searing arm that might as well have just left the blacksmith’s furnace thrusted into and through his chest, immediately killing him, and was reaching out for the prince. Lucas panicked and leapt backwards before realising what had actually happened, the bandit chieftain had managed to close the distance between them in such a short notice and killed another soldier due to their carelessness.

Sweat coming down his face, not only from the intense heat but also because of his fears. Lucas finally understood the danger he was in, one wrong move would prove fatal against a man such as this. The chieftain was waiting for him to make a move, extending his arms just like he did before. But Lucas wouldn’t make the same mistake and instead took another step back, twitched his shoulders, adjusted the position of his sword while also taking a deep breath as to calm his nerves.

The chieftain waited. Suddenly he lit hands ablaze once again and put his powers on display- as if proud of his magical abilities- then choked them out as he clenched his fists as if breaking something in between them. And leapt forward, striking out against the prince with his fiery grip.

Lucas jumped to the side, spun around as he did.The chieftain rubbed against him, also spun around, striking the air with his hands. He didn’t lose his balance and attacked anew, mid-spin, his fist reaching mere fractions of an inch from Lucas’ chest. The prince jumped away, changing the direction of his spin while his sword spun around with him to confuse the chieftain. As Lucas leapt away he dealt a considerable slash against the bandit’s left temple with the tip of his sword, cutting deeply enough to show off a horrendous gash. The chieftain screamed out, filling the village with a booming echo, fell to the ground and reached out with his hand to sear the wound to prevent him from bleeding out. But the pain was unimaginable and even a hardened body of a warrior like himself was having a hard time keeping it together.

There was a chance: the bandit was human like any other and Lucas didn’t wanna lose such an opportune moment to strike. He charged forward, holding his sword with both hands just below the stomach on his right side, and was about to strike out with the aim of cutting the bandit’s head clean off. But the chieftain was still not giving up and within a moments notice he’d stood up, leapt forward, and grabbed ahold of Lucas’ white cloak and were now face to face with one another. "Dammit!" the prince thought to himself as his eyes turned wide open as he met the chieftain’s own, hateful gaze which had turned blood red, and knew that he’d lost. But the chieftains eyes soon turned drowsy and began moving upwards and backwards into his eye sockets as they began to flicker. His grip lost power and he soon found himself stumbling to the ground, having lost conscious from the lose of blood and intense pain.

It took a moment for the prince to process as he could hardly believe it, soon starting to breath frantically over his near and eminent death. He dropped his sword and his hands went to his knees for support as he tried to calm himself down, getting control over his breathing by slowing it down and taking in each one with a deep breath. Repeating this until he’d regain his posture and reached out for his sword and stood up again.

He hadn’t even realised until now that the screaming had stopped, there was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the town and the smouldering fire that had consumed large parts of the town.

“...The townsfolk, my men!” Lucas couldn’t hear any of them and started to make a run for it across the village, looking left and right but kept his mouth shut as to not alert his presence should the bandit’s actually have defeated them. After awhile he reached the southern entrance, there were corpses littered across the area and by the looks of things, this is where the attack began.

He kept looking around before he heard a sound just beyond the broken gate, raising his sword by instinct and turned towards it. Lucas had to be ready for whatever might come out of there, be it one or three bandits, and kept himself still and awaited for whatever it was beyond the gate.

But what emerged wasn’t a bandit, but a soldier. One of his own soldiers.

“My lord!” The soldier shouted and made his way towards the prince. Lucas was clearly relieved as he lowered his sword and took a moment to recover out of exhaustion.

“Wha-... What about the other, is the village safe?” Lucas asked.

“We’ve won the battle m'lord, but there were bandits that managed to escape and some of the villagers has gone missing, men, women and children.”

This was certainly odd, bandits usually just took what they wanted and killed off the villagers, maybe kidnapping a woman or two but not the entire families. Lucas and the soldier made their way towards the exit, upon reaching the other side it was revealed that any survivors had made it back here, most of them crying or in shock, but alive. Lucas even spotted that about half of his soldiers had made it out alive as well.

The prince made his towards the group, both he and the soldiers tried to help them as best as they could. One of the families walked up to their prince. Their clothes torn and scorched, but they were relieved that it was all over.

“Thank you good prince, we owe you our lives.” The mother said as the father only nodded. Their son, about ten years old, emerged from behind them and looked up towards Lucas as he spoke: “But-... But what about the others, the ones the bandits took? Uncle Phil…”

Lucas went down on one knee and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder as he looked him in the eyes: “Don’t worry son, we’ll find them and bring them home safely.” To which the boy nodded and they soon went on their way.

Lucas stood up again and turned towards his soldier but before he could say anything, a rider appeared carrying the flag of General Oberon. The rider made his way to Lucas and wasted no time relaying his message: “Prince Lucas. Lord Oberon demands your presence at the encampment immediately. Your soldiers are to remain here and see to the villagers.”

“Never a dull moment, let’s get moving!”