The Siege of Eldingenau

The ironsmith, having finished work for the hour, emerged from his store which lay in the market just before the castle walls. He turned to look over at the hills where the road back to his village lay, and noticed a small group of people there, in an unusual formation. He looked up at the few Serian soldiers in their stone watchtower, more busy overlooking the flow of traders and refugees that populated the market - then back at the figures. The man shifted his head, trying to make out the small group of people standing on the horizon.

"Hey Dunbar! You getting lunch with us or not?"

"I'll be right there! Just give me a moment." The man continued to squint his eyes, trying to make sense of the strange figures that had emerged from the forest. Just as he was losing interest and started turning to leave, the ground began to rumble. "What the..."

"Hey Dunbar, is there an earthquake or something?"

A gargantuan cannonball barrelled into the watchtower, demolishing it. People screamed as they dropped their items from the marketplace. As fleeing civilians ran towards the opposite direction, a vast host of Empyrean heavy cavalry finally overcame the ridge and charged into the heart of the town.

"Defenders, protect the city!" Several Serian soldiers who were fortunate enough to be outside the city gathered their weapons. One of the men grabbed a horn and blew into it, alerting those further on the walls. The men below already formed into a square, arquebusiers standing behind a rank of halberdiers. "Imperial Third Company, show these fools the might of Serian steel!" The men fused their matches, and aimed their arquebuses down at the charging horseriders.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!" There was a thunderous roar as the volley of arquebuses erupted, and an equally thunderous crack as a great barrier caught the arquebus balls.

"What?" The soldiers looked up in disbelief at the barrier.

"No matter, reload, reload! Get ready for-" The officer's words were cut short by return fire from the horseriders, who fired their wheellock pistols towards the officer and the halberdiers. As the soldiers turned to run, they were cut down by the cavalry, who gored them with lances. As they caught the men in a melee, another cannon round impacted itself onto the walls, debris tumbling down onto both the Serian soldiers that poured out of the gate, as well as the Empyrean cavalry.

~~*~~

The famous curtain walls of the bastion city of Eldingenau had been formidable at the time of the deeds of the hero saints Elyon and Aerlotte, but they were no match for the slaved beasts nor nightmares of unreality that had crashed upon them during the War of Light and Dark. It had been one of the last cities to fall to the daemons, but it had fallen nonetheless. Now, as the Empyrean marched their great cannons up to the next set of the Eldingenau walls, the fall of the city started to become increasingly obvious. Admittedly, there were no great heroes defending the walls this time, but even so, the army prided on taking a day what would have taken months in the past. And with a fraction of the army too - most of the soldiers stood in formation, surrounding the city as the great bombards and culverins hammered away at the city walls.

The great ballistas of Eldingenau had perhaps been state-of-the-art back when they were initially built. Regina herself was familiar with the great machines, both the wheeled field variants and the true pride of the city, the pivoting heavy ballistas. There would be dozens of men pulling a rope that would turn the gears for the panels to open up and the ballistas to be moved into place. But it was nothing compared to the might of modern gunpowder, and soon too, they were blown away by the cannons.

An Empyrean general rode atop his horse as he surveyed the progress of the siege engines. Dozens of gargantuan cannons were mounted onto their firing mounts as bags of gunpowder and cannonballs were brought up to the guns. At the far end of the camp, a company of Empyrean scouts approached him with a larger number than before as a row of prisoners were brought before him. He looked to Regina, who sat upon a great palequin. Regina shrugged. The general gave a bow, as much as he could while mounted, and began to ride towards the scouts, who knelt before him. The prisoners they dragged with them were also yanked down, forcing everyone to kneel before him.

"My lord, we ran into a convoy of Serian soldiers during the scouting expedition." The leading scout said. "We disengaged with the main convoy, but we were able to capture the knights leading the convoy. I do believe that they are not a very large contingent of soldiers, but it can indicate a larger movement of Serian soldiers from the northern and western road fortifications." The man lowered his head.

"Well done." The man walked to the prisoners, inspecting each and every one of them. They were lightly armored, at least by the standards of today. This would have been elite armor at the time of his grandfather, but today was not that day. He lowered his blade and pointed it at the throat of one of the captured soldiers. "What is your name, trooper?"

"It...it's Jason, sir." The boy shook as he spoke. "What...what will you do with us?" The general pointed his blade away. So these were the proud soldiers of Seria today. Some things never changed. 

"Where do you come from?" The general asked. "How many men?"

"We're...a civilian convoy, we don't know anything about this." The general noticed Jason gave a side-eye to the fortress, biting his lip. "I...assume that means you haven't found the convoy then."

"A civilian convoy, yet you carry such formidable weaponry?" The general looked Jason's armor and equipment again as the sounds of battle raged on from a distance.

"The Colakian Forests are filled with dark monsters and orks, Dayan." Regina herself slowly walked towards the general. The Empyrean soldiers knelt before her - and yanked everyone down. Only Jason tried keeping his head up. "Armed convoys - however they are prepared - usually involve carts and a forward cavalry contingent. With all that said, they won't last long in those woods without their cavalry reconnaissance contingent." She knelt down at looked Jason in the eyes. "I don't like the way you're looking at me, young man. Rise, Dayan. Teach this boy a lesson."

"Yes, my lady." Dayan arose, and looked at the boy, who, despite having his hands tied behind him, looked at him with the fury of a thousand suns. He swiftly kicked Jason in the gut, sending him keeling over. "Watch your attitude, soldier. The next you disrespect the Golden Lady, it will be your head. Take him away." Dayan watched as the Empyreans dragged Jason away. He turned his vision back to the battlefield, where the great siege engines of yesterday met with the gunpowder weaponry of today. The old decrepit Serian defenses crumpled under the might of the modern Empyrean Army. What few gunpowder artillery weapons the Serians did have were rapidly overwhelmed by both Empyrean counterbattery fire, and the charge of Empyrean horsemen. Dayan stood besides the ranks of other Empyrean generals, observing the slow but inevitable victory.

"General Dayan." Regina turned her head to Dayan, looking at him right in the eyes. "Do you truly believe us to be so unstoppable?" Her gaze penetrated his soul, as the light of her sacred glimpse wormed it's way into his brain, reading him.

"My lady?" He looked around at the other generals, but they nervously averted their gaze.

"If you believe that we cannot be beaten, I suggest you remove that armor and lower your title of general immediately." Regina spat. Dayan lowered his head in shame, and knelt.

"My lady, please do accept my confession, for I have wronged you. In my arrogance, I believed the army composed by the great Golden Lady herself would never come to be defeated. May you forgive my arrogance and my incompetence." Regina's stare was cold and clinical.

"Good. It is proper that we should never consider ourselves infallable, general." Regina's face warmed. Dayan kept his head lowered in gratitude. "General, perhaps your mind is paralyzed from a lack of things to do." She gestured to a soldier, who ran into the tent. "I have recently found three young mages who I might wish to give experience to."

"You wish for me to charge them into battle?"

"No. Not here. They cannot be risked on such an insignificant yet dangerous battle as this one." Regina said. "I speak of our path to the capitol." Regina watched as the three mages emerged from the room. A young man with frizzy black hair, another young man but with blonde hair, and another young woman with silver hair and golden eyes, like the Serians of the heartlands. Regina looked over at the army, and turned to the five generals. "There should be three castles surrounding the city. I want you to take the western one at all costs. Kill all inside, if you must." Regina held out her sword, as Dayan's eyes widened.

"My lady?"

"Take my blade, it shall help you. You will not be able to make full use of it's abilities, but it should allow you to defeat any mortal that may get in your way. I require it not to slay my enemies. With all being said, I expect you to return my sacred blade to me once you take the fortress. I'm sure my three pupils will be of much help to you in your endeavor."

"My lady, I would be blessed to hunt these pests for you. The education of our mages is essential for the future of the empire after all. I will return your blade to you."

"Good." Regina said. "Be sure to crush them like the insects they are."