The Siege of Wechia

It was not long before the war was in my close reach. My patrols were spotting large groups of black-caped soldiers marching along the lands of Marxus to the west, and Mortheca to the north. Traders and refugees had stopped flowing into Veraxus due to the blockades from the Duke, which ironically quelled the roaming brigands and bandits around my borders.

I hosted weekly town center gatherings to tell my people the state of the realm with full disclosure. My commonfolk were extremely anxious, despite our technological growth and safety from my patrolmen, but I had assured them that I would keep the promise to protect them at all costs.

One day, I received a letter from Count Axten, and another one from Juliana only a moment after during a relatively peaceful morning.

“My Good Friend Count Rytus,

I am being attacked and besieged by a usurper! I need you to honor our alliance, and drive these cretins off my property.

Will you do this for me?

Count Axten Quidox.”

I found it odd that the usurpers were at his keep and not mine. It was physically impossible for the Duke to march his troops to Wechia without my patrolmen noticing them. Also, why would the Duke break his alliance with Axten before they invaded Veraxus?

“Sire,

The keep is besieged right now. The soldiers are wearing bronze armor with these spiky helmets that I’m not too familiar with. They also are holding these sticks with holes in the end and a shoulder rest like a crossbow. I see a full armored knight on a horse with an even spikier helmet, and his flag is something that looks Imperium. There is a lizard with wings in the middle, 3 swords pointing to from above, and 2 swords pointing to it from below.

I have no idea who this army is, but they don’t seem to be our usual black-capes. I’m assuming that Axten sent for you to fight them.

Be very careful.

J”

It was the Princess’ army. The knight with the Imperium flag, the bronze armor, the three-prong helms. It seemed that other lords were not aware of the tunnels, since the Duke or any other supporting army would chase them down to my doorstep. I decided that this was my opportunity to break the alliance. If the Princess broke the siege and captured the keep by the time I had arrived, I would take advantage of the momentum and besiege the keep. If her army was still in siege, I would wait for Axten to sally forth to meet her army, and attack both armies at once. This way, the blame would be shifted to the Princess, and I would be safe from the eastern lords. The Duke would not know about this because the siege was a surprise, and the time for a messenger bird to travel to him would be the time I had taken the keep.

I gathered my main army, with General Phylx leading them, as I left the patrol corps with Sevrus to watch over the lands. We marched to the Wechia keep, which took less than a half-day with my new road improvements for the trade routes. I told traders who were traveling on the road to seek shelter at a trade stop or go home for a while.

There it was. The legions of bronze, the intimidating spikes on the helmets, and the fully plated knight. The back line turned to face me as they saw my army approach. I noticed that the sieging army was allowing citizens to enter and exit the keep, which was a very odd siege tactic. A light was annoyingly shining in my eye towards the tower of the keep. Through my looking glass, I saw Juliana waving to me with a small mirror. It seemed like she was signalling me to talk to the commander, or to look at the gate, or something. I could not tell because she did not use standard military hand signals.

I commanded General Phylx to standby for charge on my signal if I needed it, and I rode my horse to the center between both armies. The knight signalled me for parley, and rode towards me.

It was too quiet for the beginning of a possible battle. The tension was as thick as the morning autumn fog. I had my helmet on, which normally would help me feel safe, but staring into the Helm of Morox felt like the God of the Body himself weighing his power over me. It felt like months or years had gone by since we started to parley. We exchanged not a single word. The only sounds were distant clunking of trade wagons and the occasional crow’s cawing.

I dismounted my horse, and the knight dismounted as well. I took a step forward, and the knight did so as well. He was intimidating me by mirroring my body motions. It was certainly working.

“I am here to parley, as you have asked. I do not wish to draw my sword against you.”

Silence. The knight was standing like a marble statue.

“I am Count Rytus Paraxus of Lythan and Veraxus. May I know who you are, my Lord?”

More silence. The knight was frozen in time.

“Sir, I shall tell you once more. I am here to parley. I do not wish to draw my sword against you. However, if we do not parley, then I challenge you to a duel. Do you accept my duel?”

Again, not a sound or motion.

“I know that you know me. I saw you salute to me when I opened the gates for the refugees at the border of Marxus. That was you, am I wrong?”

It appeared that I was talking to a marble statue.

“If you do not wish to parley, then we shall duel. Will you accept?”

No movement, no sound.

“I accept your answer of no answer as a duel. Arma parata!”

I drew my sword, and double-timed to meet the knight, hoping that he would answer with his sword. To my relief, he did. He drew a longsword with a slight curve, and clashed with me.

“There you are, I thought you were asleep.”

No verbal answers were given. We traded blow after blow. This knight was completely on-par with my master swordsman skill level. In fact, he was faster. He was sidestepping faster than I could find my footing, and in all honesty, I should have been slain already. This knight was toying with me, like a cat playing with a mouse before the kill. No matter. I used a technique that I observed from the House Veraxus style when I first met Juliana. As soon as the knight sidestepped again, I sidestepped at the same time in the opposite direction, and swept my sword between two of the prongs, and pulled the helmet off.

To my absolute shock, it was a woman. She was beautiful. She had a golden earring on one ear, black velvet hair, light brown eyes, and darker complexion of skin. She shook her head from disorientation and spat on the ground. Her troops readied their weapons, but she signaled for them to standby. I took my helmet off and sheathed my blade to finally parley.

“Marcus, is that you?”

I dropped my helmet. It had been years since I was known by that name. My mind rapidly reminded me of the letters I wrote to my mysterious beloved. The beloved that had saved me from my despair so long ago, and still believed in me after assuming the possibility of my death.

She was here.

We drew swords at each other in combat during a war.

I could not believe it.

“Marcus, or I should say, Rytus, it was me. The one who wrote to you many years ago. I thought you had died. I spent so many nights in tears, thinking about you, hoping that you had survived. My birds were dying and I could not reach you…” She began to cry. She stumbled to me and grabbed my arms.

“Who are you? Are you-”

“Stephania. Stephania van Irata, daughter of Josephina van Irata, the true heir of the Imperium.”

The actual Princess. I remembered that letter describing herself slaughtering dire wolves with ease. The sword work made sense.

“Stephania, I have missed you so much. It has been years since your last letter…”

“I have missed you so much as well. I knew you were a lord, but I never would have thought it was the mighty Rytus Paraxus. My people revere you as a hero. They say that you are the end of the old nobility, and the start of a new era.”

“I am beyond flattered. I was trying to send you a letter to properly introduce myself, but the circumstances could not be worse. When did you know I was not Marcus?”

“I knew right away because the letter was code language for one of my generals. There was never a Marcus Tabot. I contemplated revealing myself to you too, but I could not take any risk.”

“That is fascinating. Our love sparked from sweet misunderstandings. Speaking of risks, why have you besieged this keep? I have levied my army in support of my ally behind those walls.”

“You are an ally of Count Axten?” She began to push me away. I stopped her gently.

“Wait. I-” She pushed away and walked backwards.

“That Lord. He assisted the Duke in one of our clashes, and he kidnapped my people. I found that he uses them as slaves as of late. They are forced to perform extreme labor, to lay with him, and when they refuse, he throws them in the dungeon and starves them to death. I assume you had not heard of this, since you have declared him an ally.”

“I believe you. I have a spy in that keep, and we have been watching over your people. I had allied with this Count to gather information about the war, but I think that time is over. Will you agree to an alliance?” I stepped forward and held her hands. She sighed with relief, and smiled at me.

“Of course, but let us discuss this treaty after we finish gutting this son of a bitch. What say you?”

“I look forward to fighting alongside you, Princess.”

“Call me Stephania, my love.”

I turned to my troops and used my voice amplifier.

“My friends, we have been blindsided by Count Axten Quidox. He hides behind those walls, while he has been kidnaping refugees and forcing them into slave labor and other atrocities. I also have word that this Count had allied himself with the Duke. The same Duke that destroyed The Capital. The same Duke that killed your family, and my family.”

I noticed my soldiers began to frown, and some stomped on the ground and shouted in anger.

“The Count behind the walls, is a traitor, a coward, and our true enemy today. Behind me-”

I heard a familiar blast from a hand cannon from behind me. It was followed by a woman’s scream. My woman. My army gasped and shouted at the same time.

I turned to face the walls. Stephania was on the ground, clutching one leg that seemed to be missing a shin. Blood was pooling out, and dozens of her soldiers ran to her aid. I signalled to General Phylx to rush to her aid as well.

“Stephania, I can help you. I have my General coming to your aid. He can help with the bleeding and take you back to the keep as soon as he can. I can keep you safe.”

“Argh…” Stephania struggled to talk through the pain. “Men, Count Rytus is now your commander. Treat him as you treat me.”

General Phylx arrived only small moments later. He applied a new medical technique and stopped the bleeding. Stephania was helped onto the horse and the General fled behind the lines. I looked at Stephania's soldiers. They were angry, as was I. I nodded to them, and they nodded in acknowledgement.

I looked up towards the wall, and saw with pitiful disappointment that Tazen was on top of the wall, resetting his hand cannon. He had probably entered the keep with one of the traders seeking shelter behind the walls. Suddenly, Juliana appeared behind him. She disarmed him, and kicked him off the wall. A thud sounded immediately as Tazen landed on the flower bed I had planted weeks ago.

“MEN, TAKE THIS DAMN KEEP!” I heard a roar from behind me and in front of me. Both armies aimed their ranged weapons, and fired over the wall and into the enemy ranks.

Juliana ran across the wall, slicing enemy soldiers along the way. She entered the guard house over the gate, and moments later, the gates opened. The Princess’ troops flooded into the keep courtyard, fighting with their swords and winning decisively. I signaled my troops to charge in as well. A childish buffoon of a count could not maintain a well-trained army as we had, and it seemed as though we suffered no casualties, aside from Stephania.

 The enemies routed back into the castle, and I charged at them by myself. Someone closed the keep doors behind me, and the routed enemies turned and faced me. There was no turning back for me.