Black out the Sky

“Quickly, to the gate!” roared Kornac as he and his rangers made a break for the open gate from the edge of the forest line. Kornac did not go while his rangers fled, but rather he stayed at the edge to take out as many of the Order soldiers as he could so they couldn’t get his own. “I won’t let you take them!” yelled Kornac as he shot arrow after arrow into the eyes of the pursuing Order soldiers.

“Ranger-General, come on!” yelled Aleria as she sniped a few soldiers that got past her boss. Kornac nodded as he left with the last of his rangers. Lord Brighton and a squad of Order soldiers on horseback arrived at the forest line just as the Elves were retreating.

“After them. Bring me the heads of every last knife-ear!” ordered the callous leader.

“As you wish, Lord,” replied the leader of the Order cavalryman. “Men, leave none alive!” ordered the man before he rushed out of the treeline and into the field between the forest and the castle. The cavalrymen drew their swords and made their way to the nearest elves they could find.

“Seems like we’re entering phase 2 of the plan,” commented Uratha as she watched the first of the Elves flee the forests.

“So it seems, demon,” started Princess Sylva as she, too, witnessed her fellow Elves flee the forests. “Ready yourselves!” ordered the princess as her archers and mages prepared themselves. She watched as more and more of the rangers fled the woods. Her blue eyes scanned the forest’s edge watching all her people flee the fire, guns, and swords of the Order.

“Looking for your boyfriend? He’s over there,” Uratha nonchalantly pointed to a corner of the forest where Kornac stood, covering the retreat of his rangers with his bow and arrows.

“He’s not my boyfriend! But he is a damned old fool,” sighed Sylva as she watched another ranger stop and call to him. The ranger seemed to got Kornac to act as he left with the rest of the rangers. “Now’s our chance! Archers at the ready! Once the Ranger-General is clear, unleash the fury of the Elven people onto those zealots!” ordered the princess. Every Elf immediately notched an arrow and took aim at the forest’s edge. Princess Sylva herself grabbed her bow and notched an arrow, ready to fight for her people.

“Prepare to die, heathens!” said the cavalryman as he raised his sword to strike down Kornac. The Elf gritted his teeth as he accepted his journey ended here. Or so he though until an arrow pierced the helmet and skull of the Order soldier looming over Kornac. The Elf looked up to see a wall of arrows block out the early morning sky as they rained down on the advancing Order troops.

Kornac looked around to see Order troops fall all around him as his rangers were saved and had begun to make it to the open gate. However, some of his fellow Elves were on the ground, crawling to the gate.

“That just might work...” the older Elf said to himself as he got up and mounted the horse his opponent used to chase him down. With him on the horse, Kornac quickly rushed to the nearest fallen Elf and hoisted him up onto the horse. He then moved on to another Elf and did the same with her. With the two Elves on his horse, Kornac rushed them over to the gate and dropped them off.

“Sir, are you going to get more?” asked the soldier that took the rangers off the horse.

“Yes, I will leave none of my people behind,” he said in a stern voice before turning and heading back out to the field. Thanks to Princess Sylva’s cover, the Order’s army was holding at the forest line. Even then, that wasn’t giving them much protection as her mages bombarded the treeline with powerful arcane missiles. Aleria, following in her mentor’s footsteps, had also jumped on a horse and had begun gathering her fallen comrades.

“Knife-ears, father?” questioned Moira as she heard her father use a slur for Elves.

“What about that, Moira?” asked her father, slightly annoyed by her question.

“What about it? What about it? You used a slur for the Elves! Never have I heard you utter such nonsense! We are the Order of the Golden Rose, not...not some Nazi scum! We do what we must to keep peace, not wipe out so called inferior races!” pleaded Moira to her father, her eyes slightly watering.

“Wrong! We are exterminators of all who don’t follow the will of the Lady! Those knife-ear bastards had their chance to turn away from their pagan worship and embrace the Lady but they refused me! Me! Leader of the Shield Wardens! So I made sure the Orcs knew how to get around their precious little wards and now, with their empire failing, we see their true nature. They run to a known warlock, enemy of all Wardens and any just person! We shall crush them all, in the name of the Lady!” monologued Lord Brighton, his very demeanor seemed to become more disheveled the longer he talked. “This is the truth of being a Warden, Moira. A truth you must accept before you’ll ever unlock the powers of a Warden from me! So, until that day happens, you will do as I say! Do you understand, girl?!” roared the leader of the Shield Warden branch.

“Y-yes, father,” was all Moira could say to her father who, up until now, she always thought was a just and honest man. But now, now she’s seen a whole different part of him, one that is hellbent on destroying anything that seemed to not bow to the Order’s authority. No, not the Order’s authority, his... Moira was shocked by this revelation. Is this truly my father? But he was a man that always preached about doing what is just and true. And that as long as we followed the Lady’s will, we were doing what was true and just. But...was he wrong? Or is he just not following the Lady’s will anymore… NO! That can’t be, he wouldn’t...right?” Moira was too lost in her thoughts to overhear her father’s new plans.

“All ranged forces, focus on the battlements! Provide cover while the summoners get into position! Summoners, began bringing forth our siege machines! If they want to hide behind their stone walls, so be it. We’ll just tear them down!” commanded Lord Brighton.

The mages and gunners lined up at the forest’s edge, where the trees could still provide cover from the continued onslaught of arrows and arcane missiles that flew from the battlement’s of John Newman’s castle. The Order’s forces launched their counterattack; large fireballs lit up the early morning twilight and crashed against the stone walls, which turned red from the heat of the blast. Bullets sprayed out from the gunners, many finding their way lodged into the protective walls, but enough found their true targets. Elven archers collapsed as bullets tore through their bodies, panic spread like wildfire to the troops on the battlements.

“All hands, fall back! Fall back, dammit!” ordered Princess Sylva as she dragged nearby wounded Elves out of the kill zone. The Elves quickly made their way down the stairs to the main courtyard, which was only marginally safer than the battlements. Every so often a stray fireball would arc over the battlements and straight for the troops waiting below.

“I got this one!” assured Miho as she summoned a gust of wind to change the trajectory of the fireball and have it crash into a nearby wall. She and Idena had taken it upon themselves to stop any stray fireballs that made their way close to the ground troops waiting for their turn to battle.

“Mikuru, do you think you can stop them?” asked John as he heard from the first archers down about the summoning.

“No, I’d have to concentrate immensely to be able to do that, and I can’t exactly do that with fireballs raining down on us,” she plainly told John, who just nodded.

“I see. Then we’ll go with our original plan,” a determined John said. Mikuru nodded in understanding as she sat on the ground and waited for the signal.