proofread by Daylius and Vikingstad

Day 4

Lithinian army

“Borin gather the troops, we shall return. There are preparations to make.”

“They have been gathered sire.” Amber was the one who replied. Ever since the Verunisian army had retreated amber has been with shiv, refusing to leave his side. Shiv was not against this; in fact he enjoyed her company. Unlike those noble girls who flocked around him because of his money, this girl had only admiration in her eyes. Shiv smiled at amber and nodded, acknowledging her answer. The sudden smile made Amber blush.

“Borin have the assassins return as soon as possible once they finish their mission.”

“Yes sire. I have ordered them to finish the job before they reached the dark forest. Once inside there is no telling in what would happen.”

“Great. Now then let’s move out.”

Unknown to the Verunisian army, Shiv had made his assassins infiltrate the enemy. Amber was shocked when she first heard about the assassins. ‘Just how much has he planned in that head of his?’ admiration shot up in her heart. As to when this happened, there were two opportunities, she had asked the king directly and the reply came with a smile.

“Why do you think there was a bright light in the start? Was it to make the enemy blind to the arrows? Or was it for something else?”

Amber was again shocked. She had thought that the light was to cause disorder and help the archers deal as much damage as possible. Now the man was saying there was more to that!

“And the second opportunity? Don’t tell me, the mountain pass?”

“Oh! You figured it out yourself. Borin looks like we got ourselves an intelligent one.” shiv chuckled. That’s all he said.

Borin smiled. His heart too had nothing but admiration to the great man before him.

Not only had this man cause a massive loss to the enemies, he also had assassins infiltrate the enemies like it was very small thing. Yet the man of such capabilities was not the least egoistic or self-centered. There was always a smile and a humble face.

‘I will serve you sire, even after my body rots’.

---***---

Day 4

Verunisian army

Night had come. The Verunisian army was high on morale. They had lost 20000 of their comrades, they craved for revenge. Their eyes were burning with hate. No matter the cost they would take down Linford. So they marched to

Linford, this time taking the longer path.

The mountain pass had been blocked with stones; to remove it would take days now that they lost their mages. They had only a 100 priest left and 10 or so mages. Erwin was asked by some of his subordinates to retreat. They had asked him to go back and bring a much larger army.

Erwin was furious with them. Returning would make him look weak and incapable in front of others. Moreover h believed that 80000 was enough to win the battle. ‘Even Orrinshire can’t win against this many.’ This was what he believed. He had ordered the troop that they would cross the dark forest and March towards Linford.

The troops roared. None of them were afraid of the dark forest. All they wanted was revenge. They had heard various stories about it but none believed them. They did not care too; they were prepared to cross hell to reach Linford.

“For now we shall rest. If we march any more, our pace will fall. We set out early in the morning.”

The troops were tired. Tired of the march, tired of the death they had seen. They wanted to sleep. In an hour or so they set up their camp and prepared tents to sleep. Erwin did not bother to set up any watch as he believed that he would not by attacked by anything in his own land.

He could not have been more wrong. When the entire army slept a group of fifty began their mission.

---***---

Day 4

Lithinian Assassins

Fifty hooded figures exited their tents. They were surrounded by a large number of tents.

The one in front spoke, more like whispered.

“5 poison, 5 sabotage, 10 mages, 20 priests, 9 and me soldiers”

She then swung her hand forward motioning them forward.

The assassins understood. They were divided into 5groups to increase efficiency and deal maximum damage. The leader,

Serin a much young girl in her early 20’s had been given a mission by the king personally. The order was simple, infiltrate, kill and come back. Who to kill what to kill was all her choice. For her the king’s order was heaven’s decree.

The only thing the king insisted was ‘come back, do not enter the forest that is an order’. That was the first time in the last 4 days that he had used the word order. Usually he would be smiling and asking others to fulfill his requests. She smiled when she thought about it, her king valued their lives. Somehow it made her happy.

The king had setup distractions for her men to infiltrate and now that night has fallen it was time to honor the king with the enemy’s blood.

She had been surveying the army, collecting information on the mages and priests, the food and other resources, the weapon armory and like that. She then calculated the steps to be taken. Her king had tried hard to eliminate the mages and priests in the previous one sided massacre. She gave priority to finishing of the remaining mages and priests. She understood why the king wanted them dead. Mages could cause great damages with a high end magic skill, while a priest could heal the injured and also cast buffs. These two had to remove from the equation for the king to carry out his plans. She obliged. She had sworn that they would slaughter every priest and mages even if she had to exchange her life for it.

Only Minutes passed after the assassins moved and muffled screams could be heard here and there.

---***---

Day 5

Verunisian army!

“Sir Erwin, Sire Erwin”, Erwin’s sleep was disrupted by the sudden shouting.

“What is it so early in the morning?”

“Sir Erwin, the priests...“the soldier’s voice trailed off.

Erwin jumped off from his bed, “What happened to them?” Erwin began to panic.

“Sir the priest have been massacred along with the remaining mages and some soldiers.”

Erwin’s legs failed him, he fell on his bed. His face was colorless, his body shivering. He had hardly 100priests left. He had thought that they would be enough during the siege of the fort. His hopes were all crushed when he heard the news. But the next sentence from the soldier sent Erwin into despair.

“Our food stocks have been poisoned sir and almost all the arrows stolen along with some other things.”

“How many died?”

“All remaining mages and priests sir along with a 300soldiers. The food poison has caused the death of all the cooks.

Currently the soldiers who consumed the food are more than 8000. Of them 5000 has died sir”, the soldier replied his voice beginning to crack.

“Did not the cooks test the food?”

“They did sir. The poison was a slow acting one. It took an hour to show any symptoms. By the time the first cook died 8000had consumed the food sir.”

‘20500 in the beginning and now 8200. I lost almost 30000 soldiers within 2 days and the battle has not even started.

Not to mention that we were robbed of our food and our weapons. My archers are useless. I have no units which can do long range attacks. But I will not give up. I will crush him with all I have. I will kill him myself and rise as the greatest’

Erwin’s greed blinded him.

---***---

Day 5

Linford fort

“Sire! They have returned.” Borin rushed into his kings room to find a shiv kissing a black sword. He stood there, frozen.

His king was now talking to the sword, rubbing his cheeks on it, talking to it and often kissing it.

“What are you doing with the sword sire?” asked a visibly disgusted Borin.

It was now Shiv’s turn to freeze. He did not expect anyone to interrupt his love session with black dragon.

“A sword needs love Borin, you will one day understand?”

“Is that why you were kissing it like you were on heat?”

“Nonsense, I am a noble man Borin. Leave it, what news due you bring me?”

“They returned sire. And they have brought great news. They have finished of the remaining mages and priests sire.”

On hearing that Shiv’s face brightened up. No mages meant no magic attacks and no priests mean no healing. This was indeed good news.

“In addition they have put down 300soldiers sire.”

“Good good. Anything more?”

“Yes sire. They poisoned the food they had. We do not know the exact number of death due to the poisoning but I would estimate it around 9000 to 10000.”

“Wonderful. They have done more than I expected.”

“There is more sire. They also robbed the armies of their arrows and some other weapons. Our armies could be resupplied with those.”

Shiv was now practically in heaven. He was having troubles in planning a counter measure against the archers. And now he had to deal with none.

“How many arrows?”

“Roughly 50,000”

Shiv’s looked at Borin with eyes that said ‘Did you say 50,000?’ while Borin‘s were saying ‘Yes sire’. The two men then

began laughing.

“Time to put down the wild dogs, Borin! Guhuhuhu”

“Indeed my king! Guhuhuhu”. Amber who had just entered the room thought, ‘devils, they are devils.’

---***---

Day 5

Linford fort

“My king”, Serin kneeled. She had been summoned by the king for her next mission.

Shiv smiled.” You did well, I could not hope for better results. Get up, enough with the formalities. What’s your name?”

“Serin Sire.” Serin was still kneeling. She did not want to be rude to her king. Every time she had met him she had always been kneeling, even when others had stood up.

“You still won’t stand huh, guess I have no choice. I hereby order you to stand up. If you do not obey you will be punished for treason.” Shiv said, trying to make the girl budge. Even after the threat she would not stand, she did not even look at him.

“To go this far. Am I that ugly?”

That made her shudder. She had caused pain to her king. Tears welled up in her eyes. She got up, reluctantly. She then looked at the king and spoke.

“No sire! Someone as handsome as you can never be ugly.”

“Finally you look at me. Now we can talk. Tell me Serin have you gathered the sap of the ignutus tree?”

“Yes sire. What do you want me to do with it?”

“Take 100 mages with you. I want you to go to the dark forest. I want you to apply the sap to those trees. Each of you assassins is to be protected by 2 mages. Ask them to cast a barrier around. Continue doing this until the army arrives, but come back during night! I do not want anyone to die. Send 100 soldiers to gather ignutus sap and ask them to resupply you often. Let them be accompanied by the remaining mages. If you find a dark beast do not engage it, come back to the fort. Do you understand Serin?”

“Yes sire, I do.”

“You are not allowed to die. I know asking you to not die during a war is selfishness but I don’t mind being so. I will not lose any of you; I will protect you all till my body gives away.”

Serin smiled. ‘The king truly is kind and benevolent; I must protect him at all cost.’

“Sire, then please excuse this one.”

“Do not die Serin” that was all he said. Serin once again bowed and vanished.

Shiv sighed, ‘being king is hard.’

“Borin call Amber.”

“Yes sire”, right away.

Borin left and instead Amber appeared.

“Sire!”

“Walk with me Amber.”

“Yes sire.”

The two exited the room. Amber was wondering where the king was going but she did not ask. Shiv kept walking, leaving the fort. He kept walking and suddenly stopped.

“Let me amber. What do you see around you?”

Amber was even more confused. She looked around. “Um there is the Fort to my left; the fort is built on the mountain range giving it an advantage in defense. Then to my right is the dark forest, the trees have no leaves and appears to be withered.” Amber stopped.

“That is all?” shiv asked.

“Yes sire.”

“Him, amber tell me the distance between the fort and the forest.”

“Distance? May be 2500metres?”

“Good. Now what happens to the enemy who stands in such a vast area while our archers are defending the fort?”

“The enemy will be shot down?”

“Will they now? What about their shields?”

“Ah.” Exclaimed amber admitting her foolishness.

“Here is another question for you Amber. Do you know what the ignutus tree is?”

“Yes sire, I do. The tree is found only in our country in fact only in the Elden Mountains. For ages the people of Lithinia had used the ignutus tree sap as fuel. The sap of the tree is highly inflammable.”

“Is that so, then tell me what will happen if the sap was applied to those trees and somebody unknowingly sets fire to it?” shiv said pointing to the dark forest.

“Of course the forest would burn”, amber could not understand the point of all these conversation.

“And suppose the fire happens to be on the day some ignorant Verunisian soldiers trying to siege the Fort. What would happen then?”

“They would burn too, why are you asking…” it suddenly dawned upon her. The reason they were sent to gather the sap, the reason the enemy was made to take the forest path, the reason some of them had went to the forest now.

Everything came to a single thing, death to the enemy.

Here she had been thinking it was impossible to defend and the man next to her was making plans not to defend but

annihilate the enemy.

“Sire, what is inside your head? “Asked astonished amber.

Shiv looked at amber and laughed heartily.

“That was good one Amber, now let us continue” and Shiv began walking again.

Amber kept following. Later they stopped again, this time near to the dark forest.

“What do you see again?”

“The forest sire”

“Look below amber”

“A stream. This has always been here. This has been the major water source for our fort sire.” saying so she looked at the stream. There was something different than usual.

‘The water level has risen, how? The water level has never risen above a couple of inches but now it is almost up to my knees’.

She looked at Shiv, her eyes asking, ‘what did you do now?’

“Nothing much, I asked our mages to block the exit” said Shiv as a manner of fact.

“Why?”

“You will know when the time is ripe. Let us return. We have a war to fight” saying so Shiv left and Amber followed silently, her mind trying to come up with reasons for what she saw.

---***---

Day 5

Verunisian army

Erwin was on his horse. He was frustrated with the sudden turn in events. He had lost 5000 men, 3000were immobilized because of the poison. Erwin had to ask another 1000 of his soldiers to stay behind and take care of them. He had ordered them to move back to the capital and request for reinforcement even if took another 6 days to reach.

The army was low on morale, tired and scared. Erwin knew that still he did not want to go back. He was adamant on marching forward. His army had just entered the dark forest. There was a stoned path to the army’s surprise. It made things much easier for them was what they thought.

It had been 2 hours since they had entered. They were deep in the forest. If things went smoothly they would reach the border by night.

3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, like that hours passed.

‘Nothing so far. 3 hours more and we will reach our destination. Just you wait Orrinshire, I will have your head’ Erwin had already begun dreaming about his victory and rise to fame when he heard a scream.

“What happened?” questioned Erwin.

“Sir, our men have gone missing. “

“How the hell can they go missing now?”

The soldiers were not sure. They kept silent. The silence was broken by another scream. After the scream a roar could be heard.

It was then Erwin noticed his surroundings. In the dark forest around him he could see many red dots. It only took him seconds to realize what those red dots were. ‘Eyes!’

“All men prepare for combat. Diamond formation”

The soldiers followed his command and formed groups of 4. They stood with their backs to each other; their focus was entirely on the enemy.

“Men do not be afraid, they are nothing but wolves. We are way stronger than those puny beasts. Let’s finish them off and use them for food” Erwin was confident that the beasts won’t be a threat. He was too arrogant; the thought of surveillance did not even cross his mind. He had considered him a great general when the truth was he was not even worthy of leading even a small group. Mistakes after mistakes and yet he did not learn. Just like before he made a mistake even now.

The moment he had ordered his men to attack the supposed wolves came out. And what came out were not even remotely wolves. The beast had two heads, each head having 3pairs of eyes, making it a total of 12 eyes in total. The beast’s skin was dark and had a strange luster to it, making it look like an armor. Instead of four legs the beast had six and two tails. The fangs were sharp and long, claws protruding out from each legs, ferocious. There was miasma all around it. Erwin would not have flinched just for this. What made him flinch was the fact that, there was more than one of these beasts.

He could not count as the number was great. He estimated them to be at least 1500 in number. Erwin knew that the leader of the beasts was not on this group. So he had to finish them off before the beast leader appeared.

He shouted, “Men change to Verunisian 7 formation and finish them off as fast as you can”

The soldiers complied, the changed into a new formation. This time it was a square like before. But each square had 28 soldiers. There was now two squares. 16 soldiers making the outer square equipped themselves with shield and spear; the inner square had a sword and a shield. The idea was to defend and attack. When one square attacked the other would defend.

‘Roarrr’ with a thundering roar the beasts began their attack. The soldiers defended with their shield while their partners attacked from within. A bloody battle was going on.

The battle lasted for hours; no one knew how long it lasted. There were corpse of both beast and men alike. Almost 5 hours later the battle finished. Erwin was too tired. He wanted to rest but knew that it was not the time to. He ordered his men to move. They had to cross the forest as soon as possible.

That day the Verunisian army lost 5000, another 1000 injured the rest devastated.

The beast were called Dralves, wolves which mutated due to consuming decayed dragon flesh. They normally moved in packs of 10 or 20 not more. Even though they had a common Dralve king they disliked mass gathering. None from the army knew this fact. They did not know that the Lithinian assassins had placed a magical items which originated from a dragon on some of the men of Verunisia.

And soon they were attacked by another group. The attacks continued till all those who had the magical item perished.

At the end of the day the army was cut short to half of what it had at the start. Even after all this Erwin marched forward.

---***---

Day 6

Linford fort

“Borin is it time?” Shiv was yawning.

“Not yet sire, they seem to be late.”

“How long? Is already afternoon.”

“Sire why are you so eager for the enemy’s arrival rather than out own?” joked Borin.

“Cause it is boring to sit here and do nothing.”

“True. Shall we go to them then?”

“You two, shut up.” Amber was now mad. “What is wrong with you two? Shouldn’t you two be happy if the enemy retreated? Why are you going to them?” Amber was angry; she had forgotten that she had called the king a fool.

“Why you ask? Is it not obvious? To kill them? Is not Borin? Is there something wrong with that?”

“None sire, we are just killing some useless wild dogs, nothing more.”

The duo’s eyes sparkled. They were too eager.

‘Why have I to be with these idiots?’ an exhausted Amber thought.

The door then was flung open and Serin came in running, her face was pale.

“Sire, we got trouble coming our way”

“What is it? Have the enemies come?”

She nodded to say no, “our reinforcements have been delayed by bad weather. They will need at least another day to arrive. ”

“Look Borin, even the Gods are with us”

“Indeed sire, even the Gods want us to put them down”

Saying so they again began their evil laughter.

Serin looked at Amber. Amber shrugged her shoulder and nodded her head.

‘Sigh’ both the girls sighed together and looked at their king, “Our king is an idiot” is all they said.

Thus the four spent time talking about strategies and other stuffs. Shiv explained to others all the traps he had set for the enemy. He also said that the enemy strength would be only half of what was the original strength. The discussion only lasted minutes when a horn which indicated the enemy’s arrival was sounded.

Shiv rushed out of his room. He then called Borin.

“Borin, gather the salt near the stream, make sure it is not too close to the stream”

“At once sire” saying so bolt ran.

“Amber call back all of the troops. Let them gather in front of the fort.”

“Yes sire”

“Serin have you called back all your subordinates?”

“I have my king.”

“Once I give my order, gather your assassins and scale the mountains. You will be acting as archers until further orders are given. You will be using fire arrows and when I give the signal bring down hell onto the forest.”

“What will be signal?”

“Judgment”

Serin smiled. Her king liked drama too much, this she understood.

Shiv the walked towards his 10000 strong men, he looked at them. He then spoke

“Today we stand here not for glory, not for honor, not for fame. Each and every one of you have something you have to protect, parents, wives, husbands, children. Whatever it may be, the enemy has marched up on us to seize those precious things away. But we will not let that happen, will we men?”

“Noooo” there was a huge roar, a thunderous one.

“They have dared to bare their fangs on us, they have threatened our family’s existence, and they desire to obstruct our peace. This is a crime, crime not against a kingdom or empire, but against the people, against you. Will you bow down to those who which to enslave your freedom?”

“Noooo”

“We are warriors, we are the hope of those back at home, we are the symbol of their freedom and we will prevail!”

Rooooooar!

“Today they fall, today we rise and today we show the world the punishment for those who threaten our peace. Today we become the gods of war.”

Rooooooar!

The morale was so high that the soldiers had a red aura around them, fighting spirit and senses heightened. What stood before Shiv was no longer 10000 men. What stood there were 10000 gods, ready to destroy anything that threatened their peace.

“All hands! To position! We go for battle”

And in seconds it was just Shiv that stood there. He then walked towards the forest.

---***---

Day 6

Verunisian army

“Sir we are almost out of the forest, but there seems to be a problem?”

“What is it?”

“The man we saw at the pass is standing before us.”

Erwin’s blood boiled. He did what a commander should have never done. He let his emotions take control of him.

“Men, charge”, roared Erwin. “Orrinshire you are mine.”

---***---

Linford fort

”Guess they don’t even want to negotiate huh. Just what I wanted”.

“Brothers, let judgment be done” he roared.

And the a volley of glowing arrows descended from the sky on to the dark forest.

The forest was set on fire in an instant due to the sap of ignutus. The fire spread at a tremendous rate burning everything and anything that it came in contact with.

Shiv stood there, watching the fire spread. He could hear the screams and agony of many, yet he did not falter. ‘Any who dares to harm my kingdom will burn’, was what he was thinking. He walked back to the fort. He knew that the fire will keep the enemy occupied for a while.

He had to prepare the next trap. “Bring the salt. Dump it into the stream” and hundreds of soldier came running and dumped the salt into the fresh water stream.

Once it was done all of them returned. Shiv was now sitting on a chair place right in front of the gates of Linford. He waited, like a predator waiting for its prey, his golden brown eyes watching the forest. Any moment the army would rush out. And due to the fire they will be coming from all directions. He knew that and had planned for the next trap.

He could then see movement in the forest. ‘As I thought they are in chaos and just trying to get out of the water and escape into the water. Perfect, too perfect’ Shiv smiled.

“Prepare the spell. Aim at the stream. Fire when I say.”

Shiv waited. He waited for the right time.

“Now” was all he had to say.

“Cumulonimbus” all the mages said at the same time.

Right over the heads of the enemy army, who were now bathing the river to put down the fire, the sky began to darken.

Black clouds gathered and the area began to darken. The Verunisian soldiers looked at the sky wondering why it had suddenly gotten so dark.

The soldiers then saw only a slash. With a tremendous roar thunder began to strike on them, not on them but on the stream. And in an instant all who were in the stream were burned to ashes.

‘Salt water is a good conductor of electricity, so are your armor and weapon. Sis you not know that Erwin?’

Shiv then stood up. “Archers shoot everything that comes out of the forest.” Shiv said once the thunder clouds cleared up. ‘With the thunder almost 5000 should be dead, another 5000 so severely burnt by it. The fire would not have caused any deaths but those burnt won’t be able to fight, let’s say another 10000 may be? Now the remaining is 30000 and that stupid general. Now come to me fools, I will show you true despair!’

---***---

Day 6

Verunisian army

‘What happened? What just happened?’ Erwin was too shocked to even think. The only think he remembered was ordering his army to march. The next moment everything around him began to burn. He helplessly looked around himself only to see his men burning. When the fire began to subside he had directed the men towards the stream to put out the fire.

“Why is this stream salty? Is it not supposed to be fresh water? That was what the spies had said.”

Erwin could hear his soldier speaking. Then suddenly the sky began to darken. He saw thunder clouds. ‘Why are there such dark clouds here? Thunder cloud? Salt? Noooo’, he realized what was going to happen.

“Get out of the water, now”, but it was already too late. A single flash descended from the sky. The shockwave itself sent most of the men on the land flying. When Erwin regained his balance, his legs gave up immediately. What lay ahead of him were corpses, all around him.

‘How many have died? 10000? 20000? We were fools. No I was the fool. I should have retread long ago ’, Erwin finally understood. He remembered Orrinshire’s warning. He felt guilt and hatred. He felt burdened. All this death was his responsibility. He stood up.

“Men those who are alive, return to your home, this battle is over”

“What about you sir?”

“I have sinned too much, my end has been ascertained. I will die by his hands.” Erwin said and began walking. Of the remaining some returned, while some stayed. Of the 50000 Erwin had brought only a little more than 30000 was with him. The moment they stepped out, arrows rained down on them.

Erwin and the men ran, they would at least slay one of the Lithinian soldier that was all they thought. They wanted their honor to remain with them.

“Charge brothers” Erwin could hear Orrinshire’s voice. He looked at the red armor king. From behind came 10000 men including archers, warriors, cavalry, mages, and assassins exerting a fierce aura.

Erwin smiled, ‘What should I do to look so cool like that?’ with such thoughts he ran, his men ran, like mad men.

---***---

Day 6

Lithinian army

“Charge brother” and Shiv started his run towards the enemy. The Lithinian army followed, the clash began. The Verunisian army was too tired to keep up with Lithinian army. Blood was drawn everywhere. The two commanders of both sides were taking down enemies at an incredible rate. The casualty kept rising on both sides.

Borin, Vivian, Amber, Serin all of them were fighting, the mages and priests helped them form far. Soon the Verunisian army began to fall; their numbers dwindled at lightning rate.

It took the Lithinian army 5 hours to finish off the broken enemy. All that was left was the general. He was fighting Shiv with all his might. Even though he had more experience than Shiv, the mental and body exhaustion had made him too weak. There was no longer a desire to win or live.

Shiv pitied the man, “I am sorry. I cannot let a man who tried to harm my kingdom live.” With such words Shiv ran his

Black sword into Erwin’s heart. Erwin gasped and then went lump. The battle was over. Linford was now safe.

The king walked back to his chair, exhausted. There was no shouts of joy. They knew that this was not the place for it.

They gathered in front of the king who had lea them to victory.

The army kneeled and presented their weapon to the king. Borin who was in the front said, “To the king, we pledge our eternal loyalty “and every one repeated.

“Borin, I am going to sleep.” Saying so Shiv dozed off.

---***---

(Hi... i do not know if you would like this. I know that this war has little action. If you feel disapointed them i am sorry. This was setup for his strategy class so i emphazised on strategy than action. But i promis the next fights will contain more action with strategy. It took me 3days to come up with the fort location and these strategies. Pls.give me ur comments.)

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