Chapter 7

Rampages of a King

Day 4

Lithinian army

“Stryn, gather the troop. We will return to the fort. There are preparations to make.” Shiv gave an order to his trusted commander.

“They have already been gathered, sire.”, came the reply, not from the blond haired commander, but from a petite woman who held a cane in her hand, Amber. 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 and then once again turned towards Stryn.

“Stryn, what about the assassins? I want them back as soon as possible”

“Yes, sire. I have ordered them to finish their mission before they reached the dark forest. Once inside, there is no telling in what will 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?’ the little girl wondered. As to when this happened, Amber failed to reach for an answer and so she asked her king who once again smiled at the girl as he replied,

“Ah! There was not one but two opportunities for infiltration.”

“Two? But no matter how I look at it, it seems impossible” Amber retorted, confused.

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?”, Shiv liked the reaction the mage was giving, ‘Cute’ he thought.

Amber was slightly surprised. The sudden light magic in itself was a great strategy. Not even once had she thought that the light magic and arrows were a decoy for the infiltration.

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

“Oh! You figured it out yourself. Stryn looks like we got ourselves an intelligent one here.” Shiv chuckled.

Stryn smiled. His heart too had nothing but admiration to the great man before him. Not only had this man bring a massive loss to the enemies, he also had his assassins infiltrate the enemies all just in a matter of a few minutes. Yet the man of such capabilities was not the least egoistic or self-centred. The face of his King always had a smile.

‘I will serve you sire, even after my body rots’. Stryn pledged in his heart.

---***---

Day 4

Verunisian army

Night had come. The Verunisian army was high on morale. They had lost 20000 of their comrades, a considerable loss and so they craved for revenge. Their eyes burned with hate, their hearts thirsting for blood. No matter the cost they would take down Linford. And so they marched to Linford, this time taking the longer path.

The mountain pass had been blocked with huge rocks; to remove it would take days and now that they lost most of their mages, anymore delay would result in a failure.

The remaining priests numbered only a fifty or so left and while the mages were only ten in number. 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. Returning handed meant disgrace, something he would never accept. Moreover, he believed that 80000 was enough to win the battle. ‘Even Orrinshire can’t win against this many. The 20000 that dies was due to Ghir Khan’s foolishness. But I am different, and I will bring that wretched king down to his knees’. With such thought, Erwin had ordered his troops to cross the dark forest and March towards Linford.

The men roared at top of their lungs. None of them were afraid of the dark forest. They had heard various stories about it but none believed them. But 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

Verunisian Army - 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.

“Five poison, five sabotage, ten to the mages, twenty to the priests, remaining nine with me to the soldiers’ tents”

She then swung her hand forward motioning them forward.

The assassins understood. They were divided into five groups to increase efficiency and to deal maximum damage. The leader, Serin was a much younger girl in her early 20’s as compared to the rest of the assassin and had been given a mission personally by the king. The order was simple, infiltrate, kill, return. Whom to kill and what to kill was left to her discretion. 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 her king had used the word ‘order’. Usually the gentle king would be smiling and asking others to fulfil his requests. There were never orders from the king’s mouth but only requests. But of course, even if the called request, to those who followed him they were orders of the highest priority. She smiled when she thought about the fact that her king valued their lives. Oddly, 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 wish with the enemy’s blood.

Serin had been surveying the army, collecting information on the location of the mages, the priests, food and other resources, the weapon armoury and items if military importance. 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 understood that in the coming battle, these mages and priests were a thorn to her king’s feet and so she prioritized on finishing of the remaining mages and priests.

Mages, even though low in number, could cause great damages with their high end magic skill, while a priest could heal the injured and also cast special buffs. These two had to be removed from the equation for the king to carry out his plans. She obliged. She had sworn that she and her men would slaughter every priest and mages even if she had to exchange their life for it.

Only minutes passed after the assassins began their move and yet muffled screams emerged from the Verunisian army tents.

---***---

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 mages. They, they.....” the soldier’s voice trailed off.

Erwin jumped off from his bed, “What happened to them?” Erwin began to panic. He had a bad feeling about it. Cold sweet made its way down the new general’s face.

“Sir the priests have been massacred along with the remaining mages. Some of our soldiers are dead too.”

Erwin’s legs failed him as he fell to his bed. His face was colourless and his body shivered. He had hardly fifty or so priests left. All his expectation rested on the remaining priests and mages, but now even that mild hope had been snatched away from him, that too from right under his nose.

“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, along with 300 or so soldiers, Sir General. The food poison has caused the death of all the cooks. Of the 8000 or so that consumed the food, 5675 has died sir”, the soldier replied his voice beginning to crack.

“Did not the cooks test the food?”

“They did sir. As the poison was a considerably slow acting, the symptoms took an hour so to surface. By the time the first cook died 8000 of our soldiers had consumed the food, sir.”

’21,573 in the beginning and now 8300. 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 don’t think this is going to make me retreat, Orrinshire. I will not give up, with such a small set back. I will crush you with all I have, where ever you hid, I will find and kill you. I will kill you myself and rise as the greatest’

Erwin’s greed blinded him.

---***---

Day 5

Linford fort

“Sire! They have returned.” Stryn rushed into his king’s room only to find his king embracing a black sword as he rubbed his cheeks to it. Stryn stood there, frozen.

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

“Ahem!!!A sword needs love Stryn, that aside, what brings you here?” Shiv tried to change the topic.

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

“Nonsense, I am a noble man, Stryn. How could you think of such vulgarities? Now hurry up tell me what you came to tell?” Shiv acted as if nothing was wrong with his actions.

“They have returned sire. And they have brought great news. Our assassin’s that had infiltrated the enemy was able to finish of the remaining mages and , sire.”

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

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

“Wonderful! They have done well” Shiv was ecstatic at his plan bringing such good results.

“In addition to that they poisoned the enemy’s food. We do not know the exact number of death due to the poisoning but I would estimate it to be something around 9000 to 10000.”

“This indeed great news. They have done more than I expected.”

“There is more, sire. They also robbed the armies of their arrows and some other weapons. With this the enemy no longer have any sorts of long range attacks. Besides, the stolen weapons can reinforce our own armies.” Stryn continued as his eyes glittered in hope.

Shiv was now practically in heaven. He was having troubles in planning a counter measure against the archers. And suddenly the enemy’s entire archer unit was out of the scene

“How many arrows?”

“Roughly 50,000”

Shiv’s looked at Stryn with eyes that said ‘Did you say 50,000?’ while Stryn’s Said ‘Yes, sire. You heard it right’. The two men then began laughing.

“Time to put down the wild dogs, Stryn! 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. No accomplished a great deed, I could not hope for better results. Get up, enough with the formalities. What’s your name?”

“Serin, Sire.”, even though the king had asked her to stand, Serin remained on her kneels. For her to stand on the same stage as her king was an atrocious crime, one she could only pay with her life. In all her previous meeting, she had been on her kneels. The beautiful assassin girl felt anger to those who had casually stood up, even though it was what the king wished for.

“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. But contrary to his expectation, the girl did not even move an inch.

“To go this far. Am I that ugly?”

That made her shudder. And in the next moment the girl was on her feet, her eyes clouded with sorrow and pain. To have caused grief to her king by her actions, the little girl felt despair.

“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?”

“Good, you sure are efficient.” Shiv complemented the girl making her blush and smile. “Take 100 mages with you and go to the dark forest. I want you to apply the sap you have collected on anything that you judge as flammable. Each of you assassins will be protected by 2 mages. Ask them to cast a barrier around. You are only allowed to enter the forest during day time. Appoint someone as a scout, preferably an assassin, but that does not mean he or she should separate from you. I just want somebody to act as a look out from monsters or the enemy army.” Shiv stopped and gazed at Serin who nodded her head as an approval.

“I have already asked some of the soldiers to gather more of the sap. So you will be resupplied every now and then. And Serin, if you find a dark beast, do not engage it. Come back to the fort immediately. Do you understand?”

“I hear and obey, Sire”

“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. “Sire, then please excuse this one.”

“Do not die Serin” that was all he said. Serin once again bowed before vanishing from the king’s sight.

Shiv sighed, ‘being king sure is hard.’

“Stryn, call Amber.”

“Yes sire”, right away.

Stryn’s voice came from the outside and a few minutes later, Amber kneeled before him.

“Sire!”

“Walk with me Amber.”

“As you wish, sire.”

The two exited the room. Amber was wondering where the king was taking her, but she did not ask. Shiv kept walking, he walked down the various stairs and pathways till he was out of the fort. And then he asked,

“Let me Amber, what do you see around you?”

A confused Amber looked around before speaking, “Um there is the Fort to my left; the fort is built on the mountain range making it hard to ambush. Then to my right is the dark forest, the trees have no leaves and appears to be withered.” Amber stopped.

“Is that all you see?” Shiv asked.

“Yes, sire.”

“Hmm! Amber, how far is the fort from the forest.”

“Distance? May be 2500metres or the like, I believe”

“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.

“At this point, here is the second question. 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 to act as fuel for cooking and other similar household purposes, as 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 conversations.

“And suppose the fire happens to be on the day that some ignorant Verunisian soldiers tried 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 were sent to the forest, everything unfolded before her eyes. The answer had always been before her, but she was too preoccupied to see it.

Everything thing served just one purpose, death to the enemy.

Here she was thinking it was impossible to defend and the man next to her had already made plans, not to defend the fort but to annihilate the enemy.

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

The sudden question shook Shiv a little. He looked at Amber with gentle eyes and laughed heartily.

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

Amber kept following. The duo once again stopped, this time much nearer to the dark forest.

“What do you see again?”

“The forest, sire”

“Look below, Amber”

“Ah, you mean the stream. If I remember correctly, this stream here is named as the stream of Linford. Named after the fort itself by the seventh king of Lithinia. The stream has since been used as the water source for the fort.” saying so she looked at the stream. The stream that had always flown through with no care. The lady gazed at it, admiring it’s clear and pure after when she felt something different from usual.

‘The water level has risen, but how? The water level has never risen above a couple of inches before, even during a thunder storm. Then why has it risen 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 for now. We have a war to fight soon, let’s not tire ourselves unnecessarily” saying so Shiv left with Amber following him 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, 3000 were immobilized because of the effects of the poison. And so the General had to ask another 1000 of his soldiers to stay behind and take care of them. He then had ordered them to move back to the capital and request for reinforcement even though he knew that it would take another 6 or so days for the reinforcement to join his army.

The army was low on morale, tired and scared. Erwin knew of the situation and still refused to back down, his arrogant pride did not allow him to. His army had just entered the dark forest and to everyone’s surprise, an abandoned stoned path welcomed them. This abandoned path brought joy and relief to the army as they knew that the path might take them to the enemy’s fort.

A little more than two hours passed since they started following the stoned path. The Vernusian army were deep in the forest and they knew that if things went smoothly, they would reach the border by night.

3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, and so the long hours passed.

‘Nothing so far eh! A few more and we Are bound to reach our destination. Just you wait Orrinshire, I will have your head’ Erwin had already begun dreaming about his victory and his delusion about rise to fame were rampaging in his head when he heard a loud scream.

“What happened?” questioned Erwin.

“Sir, our men have gone missing. “

“Missing? Have you lost your mind, soldier?” sneered the General at the soldier who reported the situation.

The soldiers were not sure and so they had no choice but to keep silent. But the silence did not last long as it was broken by a second scream. Once again silence fell and the atmosphere became heavy.

It was then Erwin noticed his surroundings. In the dark forest around him he counted numerous red dots. Erwin faltered, as it only took him a few seconds to realize what those red dots meant. ‘Eyes!’

“All men prepare for combat. Diamond formation”, he roared as he prepared to intercept the monsters.

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 just a pack of puny wolves. We are way stronger than those weak beasts. Let’s finish them off quickly and use them for food. See, the gods have blessed us with 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.

The foolish man carried himself as 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. But this mistake cost him dearer than all the previous errors.

The moment he had ordered his men to attack, the supposed wolf came out, lunging at the soldiers. And what came out from the dark was not even remotely close to wolves. If one were to describe this strange beast, ‘repulsive monster’, were words that would probably come to their mind.

The beast had two heads, each head having 3 pairs of eyes, making it a total of 12 eyes in total. The beast’s skin was dark with a strange luster to it, making it look like the armour of a shiny knight. Instead of four legs, this strange beast had six and two tails. Its fangs were sharp and long, its claws protruding out from each legs, ferocious. Dark miasma surrounded each and every beast. Even these did not make Erwin flinch. What made him flinch was the fact that, there was more than one of these beasts.

He could not event count the number of monsters that had lunged at them out of nowhere. Their number though considerably less than his army, gave off vibe of being undefeatable.

Some thing told Erwin that the leader of the beasts was not among the group. His intuition told him 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. Do not let them escape.”

The soldiers complied, and changed into a new formation. This time too, it was a square like the previous formation, but each square had 28 soldiers. The current formation was such that 16 soldiers made an outer square, equipping themselves with shield and spear, while the remaining 12 soldiers that made inner square had a sword and a shield. The idea was to defend and attack simultaneously, 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 the inner squares. A bloody battle unfolded in the eerie forest.

The battle lasted for hours; no one knew exactly how long it lasted. There were corpses of both beasts and men alike on the dry forest ground. Almost 5 hours later the battle came to an end.

A tired Erwin wanted to rest but he knew that it was not the time to do so. He ordered his men to move. They had to cross the forest as soon as possible.

That day the Verunisian army lost another 5000 of its men, thousands were gravely injure while the rest of them had minor scars.

The beasts were known Dralves, wolves which mutated due to consuming decayed flesh of a dead dragon. These vile beasts normally moved in packs of 50 or 60 not more. Even though they had a common Dralve king, they disliked a mass gathering. None from the army knew this fact. They did not know that the Lithinian assassins had placed magical items which had scent of dragons on them among various soldiers.

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, the foolish General marched forward.

---***---

Day 6

Linford fort

“Stryn, 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?” joked Stryn.

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

“Indeed. May be we should march toward them?” Stryn suggested to his king.

“You two, shut up.” Amber was now mad. “What is wrong with you two? Shouldn’t you two be wishing for the enemy to retreat? Why do you want to go to them instead?” Amber was angry, so angry that she failed to realize that the two before her were superiors in rank.

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

“Not at all, sire. We are just putting down some useless wild dogs after all.”

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 Vivian came in running, her face 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 Stryn, 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.

Vivian looked at Amber with a dubious face. The little mage could only shrug her shoulder and smile wryly at the female commander.

‘Sigh’, The two women in the room sighed as they looked at their king, “Our king is an idiot” the two remarked together.

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 speculated that the enemy’s strength would be only half of the original, but warned them from being conceited. Even half the original strength was too large a force for the 10000 strong men of Linford. The discussion only lasted minutes when a horn which indicated the enemy’s arrival sounded in the heavily equipped fort.

Shiv rushed out of his room along with the three.

“Stryn and Vivian, gather the salt near the stream. Make sure that the gathered salt is not too close to the stream.”

“At once sire” the two dashed to fulfil their lord’s command.

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

“Yes, sire”

“And I want Serin here now”

“As you command, my king” Amber then invoked some kind of magic. A magic circle formed on the ground from which a beast that looked like bird came out. The young mage then whispered something to the word and once she finished talking, the bird flew out at an unbelievable speed. Before Shiv could question her about the bird, Amber bowed and dashed out to complete her first order.

“Sire, you called” the female assassin was suddenly in front of him, kneeling as usual.

‘Interesting! A bird that could be used to pass messages. But still, this girl sure is fast. It’s been hardly a couple of minutes since the bird was sent and she is already here. As I, thought, things are interesting in this world’, a smile broke out of his face, but soon disappeared as he was once again called by the young assassin.

“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. I have prepared normal arrows as well as fire arrows. I want your unit to use fire arrows only when I give the signal.”

“What will signal be, sire?”

“Judgment” Shiv smirked as he said.

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

Shiv then walked towards his 10000 strong men, he looked at them intently and spoke.

“Today we stand here not for glory, not for honor, not for fame, but to protect what is ours from the hands of those who desires to rob us. Each and every one of you have something you have to protect, people you love, things you care for, places you call home. We have lived in peace for years, not because we are weak, but because we are strong. The strong does not bully the weak, the strong does not bring pain to others, the strong does not fight for selfishness. But that does not mean that we will let others bring harm to us. We are not kind enough to let others snatch away from us. The enemies are large in number, and as I speak that army I marches towards us. Today we will make our stand here, not to defend this fort or our country, but to show the world that whoever dares to harm us shall perish by our hands

“Yeeeeeaahhhhh” a huge roar erupted at Shiv’s words, the soldiers stomped their right foot to the ground while their weapons were held high in the air.

“Men! Do you wish for blood?”

“Roaaarrrr”

“Do you wish to seem our enemies burn?”

“Roaaaarrrr”

“Today we will rise above them”

“Roaaaarrrr”

“Today they will fall”

“Roaaaaaarrrrrrrr”

“They have dared to bare their fangs on us. Threatening our family’s existence, our peace. This is a crime, a crime not against a kingdom or an empire, but against the people, against you. You who shoulders the hopes of a family, hopes of this great kingdom, will you bow down to those who which to enslave your freedom?”

“Nooooooo”

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

Rooooooaaaaarrrrrr!

When the roars of the soldiers intensified, a red aura oozed out of each and every soldier forming a layer around them.

What stood before Shiv was no longer men but gods. Ten thousand gods ready pulverize anything that stood in their way.

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

And in seconds it was just Shiv that stood there. Picking up his black sword, the dragon king paced himself to the forest, with eyes that craved for blood.

---***---

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. Anger and hatred surged through his veins. Letting ones emotion have the better of him is something a person who commands others should never do. But once again Erwin showed the world how poor a General he was.

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

---***---

Linford fort

‘Guess they don’t even want to negotiate huh. Just what I wanted’ Shiv smiled internally.

“Brothers, let judgment be done” Shiv roared.

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

In the next moment, the dark forest was set on fire 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 calmly, watching the forest 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’. Knowing that the fire would keep the enemies at bay, Shiv returned to his fort.

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

Shiv sat on a chair placed a little away from the forest, an arrogant action people would say. He waited, like a predator waiting for its prey, his golden brown eyes watching the burning forest intensely. And moment the army rushed out, he would execute the next trap. He knew that, due to the fire they will be coming from all directions. With all those thought in mind Shiv had placed the next trap, a trap that would decide the fate of the battle.

‘As I thought! They are in chaos and are just trying to get out of the forest. Some might have already noticed the stream and would try to escape into the water. Perfect, too perfect’ Shiv smiled.

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

Shiv waited patiently. He waited for the right time.

“Now” he shouted.

“Cumulonimbus” Amber and her mages shouted in unison as they heard Shiv’s signal.

Right over the heads of the enemy army, who were now bathing in the stream 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 flash. 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 armours and weapons. Did you not know that Erwin?’

Shiv then stood up. “Archers shoot everything that comes out of the forest. Mages prepare for battle. The rest follow me” 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. And to escape from the fire he had directed the men towards the stream.

“Why is this stream salty? Is it not supposed to be a fresh water? The spies definitely reported so, didn’t they?” the tired and burned soldiers spoke among themselves.

Erwin could hear his soldier speaking, he too was confused as to why the stream was salty. And then suddenly the sky began to darken. He saw thunder clouds. ‘Why are there such dark clouds here?’

Erwin then saw a single flash descending from the sky. The shockwave itself sent most of the men on the land, flying including Erwin himself. By the Erwin regained his balance, his legs gave up immediately. A pile or corpses laid all around him, burnt by the fire or electrocuted by the thunder.

‘How many have died? 10000? 20000? We were all fools. No, I was the fool. I should have retreated long ago’, Erwin finally understood. He remembered Orrinshire’s warning. Guilt filled his weakened heart, burdened by his reckless acts. He very well knew, all the deaths around him was his responsibility. He stood up, his face had a strange calm to it.

“Men, those who can move, carry those who are wounded, 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 that was left, some returned, some stayed. Erwin’s army of 50000 had reduced to around 30000 and when soldiers began to desert the army, the numbers dwindled by another four or five thousand.

The rest marched forward as they followed their general. The moment they stepped out, arrows rained down on them.

Erwin and the men ran; ‘slay at least one of the Lithinian soldier’ with such thoughts they ran. Even in the face of death, a soldier would never let go of his honour.

“Charge brothers” Erwin could hear Orrinshire’s voice. He looked at the red armoured king of Lithinia. He saw the young King dash with a smile, behind him followed ten thousand Lithinian 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.

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Day 6

Lithinian army

“Charge brothers” and Shiv started his run towards the enemy. The Lithinian army followed, and soon the clash began, no it was a one sided massacre. The Verunisian army was too tired to keep up with Lithinian army. Blood was drawn everywhere. The two commanders of each side sliced down enemies at an incredible rate. Casualty kept rising on both the sides.

Stryn, Vivian, Amber, Serin all of them were fought, their eyes smiled as they drew the enemy’s blood. The mages ran down various offensive magic on the enemy while the priests healed and buffed as many as they could. 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 and the king had already engaged the man. Even though he had more experience than Shiv, the mental and body exhaustion had made Erwin too weak. There was no longer a desire to win or live.

Shiv pitied the man, “For letting you go through all those experience, I deeply apologize. But you must understand that as the King, I had to use all available means to bring down any who dares to harm us. For now, rest in peace.” With such words Shiv ran his black sword into Erwin’s heart. The tired general gasped, his body trembled and then went lump. The battle was over. Linford was now safe.

The king walked back to his chair, exhausted. There were no shouts of joy. They knew that this was not the place for it. The men who were alive gathered in front of the king who had miraculously lead them to victory.

The army kneeled before their tired king. A Stryn covered in blood walked towards the front and said as he kneeled, “To the king, we pledge our eternal loyalty” and every one repeated.

Shiv smiled at the gesture, “Stryn, I am going to sleep”, saying so Shiv dozed off.

The red army smiled back, as they watched the man who worked the hardest sleep with a peaceful face.

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