Chapter 4: A New Journey Chapter 6: Turning Traitor
Chapter 5: Fort Rigwald
It was dawn over the hill country just south of Frelia. Commander Syrene and I were standing on a small cliff overlooking the back of a small and interestingly-looking castle.
“Fort Rigwald, huh?” I mused. “Who built it, do you know?”
“I am afraid not, Lord Ephraim. I can see why you asked, though. The gate on the south leads directly into a long covered passage filled with arrow-slits. Any enemy who breaches the gates is instantly in a killing ground. The back walls are impervious, and there is no back gate, so the front gate is pretty much the only way to get in and capture the place. It has stood unconquered for generations.”
“And to capture the place, we’ll need to take out its commander, who will probably be in the throne room of the keep. If we don’t, then they’ll fall on our rear as we try to assault the capital.” I looked lopsidedly at her. “Do you think we can do it?”
“It’s a daunting task,” she admitted. “The enemy not only has those formidable defences, but the advantage of numbers as well.”
“But what about morale?” I asked.
“You think they may not want to fight?”
“This is the emperor’s war. Renais and Grado have always been close allies and friends. The hearts of the people cannot be so swift to change. I know that General Duessel, my old lance teacher, is loyal as an old dog can be to the crown… but he also opposes this war. I’m sure he opposes it with every fibre of his being. I wonder if he’s in there. I could ask him what’s going on with the emperor.”
“Optimism here may be deadly,” Syrene said sternly. Then her face lightened. “Still, it’s a much better idea than attacking Grado’s main army face to face.”
I smiled at her and thought. “I think it would be a really bad idea to ask our pegasus knights to create a diversion… they’re sure to have thought of that. Let me see… here’s what we’ll do.”
I marshalled my troops. “All right, listen up! We’re going to bust down those gates and head inside, as quick as we can! Rush the throne room and kill their commander. That may force the other side to surrender. I’ll give more specific orders as we get into battle. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” responded my army.
“Well, then, move out!” I led the way, running down the hill. After a few minutes, by which time we were already in the shadow of the castle, arrows came hissing out at us.
“Watch yourselves!” I called to the pegasus knights. Syrene waved back.
We reached the gates to find a small group of the enemy guarding them. I charged them, cavaliers rushing around me. Syrene and Vanessa swooped and took out a few archers that might have been a problem.
The gate cleared. “All right, come on, come on!” I snapped. “Axe-fighters, up here! Get at this gate!”
Vaguely in a corner of my mind I wondered why, if this place was the jewel of Grado’s outer fortresses, it didn’t have a portcullis. That would have been handy against us.
The gate splintered and we were inside. In the same corner of my mind, I had the idea that that had been too easy. But now we faced the ‘corridor of death’.
“Right! Follow me!” I cried, darting down the corridor, plunging my lance into an enemy cavalier on the way down. Arrows and fireballs – fireballs? Mages were not good news – shot out at me from the arrowslits in the walls, but I was too fast for them. “Round the corners! Get behind them, and take out the archers!” The cavaliers followed me, except for one who had a sleep spell cast on him. His buddy, a large axeman, dragged his horse away before he could get skewered by an arrow. I held the end of the corridor against the soldiers pouring out of the depths of the fortress, several swordsmen beside me. Gilliam and some other armour knights came up more slowly behind us.
“Archers clear, sir!” a cavalier saluted.
“Then tell the pegasus knights to get in here and get to the dungeons. Free any prisoners, especially those who wish to fight with us. The rest of you, with me!”
Syrene swooped past me, taking out a shaman with her javelin. I heard gasps from the defending enemies and came to a sudden realization.
Some of the soldiers fighting us were mere children! Not only did they not want to fight, but they shouldn’t even have been drafted in the first place, much less cast out onto a battlefield.
“Hey, troops!” I bellowed. “Listen up! Try to knock out your enemies rather than kill them!” I crooked a finger at two lancemen near the back of my formation. “You two. Your job is to tie up those who are knocked out or who surrender. Understood?”
“Sir, yes sir!” They saluted and began bickering over rope. They eventually came back with several large coils they had found in the guard room beside the gate.
Vanessa came back from the dungeons. “We’ve rescued quite a few Frelian prisoners, including Julia-“
“Who’s she?”
“One of our pegasus knights. A messenger, normally. Anyway, there are tons of enemy reinforcements down there.”
“Pull back,” I said immediately. “We’re heading for the throne room. We’ll gather all our side in there and demand that they surrender after we kill the commander.” I led the army swiftly to the right, then to the left. Two axemen tried to get in my way and I clonked them over the head with Reginleif. Up the stairs, then left, then right, and then I was in a large chamber with skylights and pillars. A fat pig sat on the throne at the end of the room, his tiny eyes wide with apprehension.
“Protect me!” he demanded of the recruits standing around him. “I cannot be allowed to be killed!” He burped.
“You’re going down!” I called to him, dodging the clumsy stabs of the recruits. “Monks, myrmidons, attack him! Gilliam, help me with these recruits!”
Gilliams heavy armour would protect him from the recruits’ lances. I, on the other hand, would have to keep dancing around to avoid getting hurt. I was getting a little tired.
“Gwah… No!” cried the commander, standing up and swinging a huge axe around him, keeping the two slighter built myrmidons clear.
“I guess his fat helps him lift it, eh?” one of my swordsmen chuckled to the other, bounding up over the throne behind the commander, taking a piece out of his shoulder in an impressive display of acrobatics. The commander snarled in rage. Light magic burst around him, weakening him. One swordsman lunged forward, hunched low under the axe, and stabbed him in the belly through his leather armour, then darted back to wait.
“It’s only a matter of time before he falls over now,” the other myrmidon replied.
It seemed the commander knew it too, because he sank to his knees, groaning and cursing. Eventually he fell forward and lay still.
Everything ground to a halt.
Then I felt a sharp jab in my side from behind and stumbled forward, grimacing in pain.
I whirled around, half-raising my lance. There hadn’t looked to be any threats among those I’d been distracting… “Hey! Who did that?”
A terrified, wide-eyed little girl, clutching a bloody lance, stared up at me. “You’re Prince Ephraim, aren’t you?”
“Yes, yes I am,” I said, rather amused despite my wound. “Why?”
“Commander Gheb was horrible to us. But… but… I don’t want to be a prisoner of Renais and Frelia, either!” The other recruits around her, boys and girls barely in their teens, nodded with her.
“Why’s that?” I asked. Father Moulder stepped up behind me and healed the stab wound. I nodded my thanks to him.
The girl hesitated, gripping her lance tighter until her knuckles turn white, then looked back at me and blurted out: “Because I was told you send female prisoners to work in the castle as slaves! And they get kicked around and beaten and have to do the worst work possible! And the male prisoners have to work in the fields in chains!”
I flung my head back and laughed. “No way… where did you hear that?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?” she pressed innocently. “My captain told us that. Why are you laughing if it’s not true?”
“It’s not true,” I assured her. “I’d never do a thing like that. I promise, if you surrender, we will treat you all with all respect.” I grinned. “Besides, we have our own people to clean castles and grow food.”
“Oh,” she said, looking down with a crimson face.
I patted her pauldron’d shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. Sometimes people lie in war to get other people to fight. But I’m going to try and clear that all up. Chin up, now.” She flinched at my touch and I wondered if I’d overdone it. I looked back over my shoulder. Who could I put in charge of these kids? “Vanessa.” She snapped to attention beside her pegasus. “Would you take care of this group, please? Keep them out of the way for now, until we get confirmation that the castle is secured.”
“Yes, sir!” she answered, and went to stand over by the recruits. They looked enchanted by the pegasus, although some looked frightened.
Syrene came in, also leading her pegasus. “Lord Ephraim, the castle has surrendered. We are confining the prisoners to the barracks and confiscating their weapons.”
“Good,” I replied.
“All right, this way, please,” Vanessa said to her little group, beckoning them on. “We’ll get you comfortable in the barracks. Are any of you hungry?”
Syrene and I smiled after them. Then I schooled my expression back to business. “Get me one of the senior prisoners. I want some questions answered. Stand down the troops, too.”
“Right away, sir.”
I waited, pacing slowly through the keep alone. My lance leaned against the throne. Eventually, Syrene and Gilliam returned, bringing a Grado captain with them. His hands were unbound and he was still in armour.
“I’m going to ask you some questions,” I told him. “You may remain silent if you don’t want to answer. However, if you wish this war to end swiftly, you will tell me what you know.”
“I understand,” the solder replied readily. “…I will answer your questions.”
“Why has Grado invaded Renais?”
“I don’t know,” the soldier answered firmly. “This war began on the emperor’s orders. Soldiers on the end of those orders haven’t the foggiest idea where we’re going with them. Except that it’s not exactly welcome.”
“Well, then… do you know where General Deussel is?”
“Last I heard, he’s in the capital. He pleads with the emperor daily to stop the war, but the emperor just ignores him. They say some are questioning the general’s loyalty.”
“Is that so…” I murmured. “Well, it looks like he’s the same and as true as when I knew him. And Prince Lyon? What’s he been up to during all this?”
The soldier paused and I felt the room grow cold. “According to rumours,” the soldiers said at last, “The prince is the one who convinced the emperor to start this war.”
I turned sharply to face the soldier. “What did you say?”
The soldier shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know where he’s been or who he’s been with. All I know is what I heard, from a friend in the capital.”
“That’s ridiculous!” I hissed, turning away from the soldier. “I know Lyon well! He would never agree to all this bloodshed, let alone trigger it!”
“Prince Ephraim,” Syrene said from behind me. “Please calm down!”
I turned back to face her and the prisoner. “I’m sorry. …You’re dismissed. Thank you for your help.” The soldier bowed and left with Gilliam.
That evening I stood on the walls with Syrene, looking down the road we would take tomorrow. “We’ll leave the fort and the prisoners with part of the Frelian army. We’ll press on to the capital tomorrow. At some point we’ll find either Deussel or Lyon, and then we can try and clear up this whole mess…” I ran a hand over my face.
“Understood,” Syrene responded. “But I have misgivings, my lord… the general and the prince are men of Grado. We could be forced into conflict with them…”
“It won’t happen,” I said firmly, propping my chin on my hands. “I know them both very well. We’re friends, comrades… but don’t worry, Syrene. If it comes to battle, I won’t hesitate. I’ll fight and kill anyone who opposes me.”
She shivered. I wondered how grim that had sounded, saying I’d cut down my childhood best friend if he tried to get in my way when I was trying to end the war. “I understand, my lord. I only ask that you not throw yourself into needless danger.”
I gave her a crooked smile. “I hear you. Now that my father is gone, I have to be King of Renais… when I return to it. The decisions I make affect more than my own life.”
She nodded. I frowned for a moment, remembering something I had to do. “Do you know if Myrrh’s around?”
“I don’t know. Shall I look for her, my lord?”
“No, don’t bother. I’ll find her.” I headed down, through the fort, and out the gate to a nearby hill.
Myrrh was there, watching the sunset, like I thought she would be. “Hello, Ephraim. How are you?”
“I’m very well, thanks, Myrrh. I’ve been thinking about something. I need you to go back to Frelia with the returning portion of the army. It’s too dangerous for you to come any further.” I left unsaid the part where I thought I’d brought her too far already.
“No,” she said softly in her little voice. “I can feel my lost dragonstone from ahead. And… the dark energy, it still flows unchecked from the heart of Grado. I must continue with you, Ephraim.”
“But-“ I began. Myrrh’s crimson eyes stared up at me, pleading silently. “Oh, all right. I can never refuse you anything, can I?” I added with a laugh. “Your eyes remind me too much of Eirika…” I wondered if she knew that and if she was doing it on purpose. “But you must not stray from my side, do you hear? I will do the best I can to keep you safe, so please try to do as I say.”
“I understand… I will not stray…” she answered, looking away again.
I stopped watching the road, just for a minute, and watched the sunset with her.