"Dark Flames?" Sir Masked Twin Blades asked as he inspected the longsword he had been given.
"That is the name of the archer's adventurer team," Commander Dana replied. She had quite an extensive network of spies and she had done a lot of research on Barda given his nightly visitations in her dreams. In many cases, she felt she had little to fear from him, but she could not shake the feeling that their fate was intertwined somehow, and not in any good way for her.
"The one you want me to kill?" Sir Masked asked as he looked at the sword. "He made this?"
"Yes. It would seem his talents go beyond just archery. He also invented the new metal they used to create a hole through our defenses." The commander's statement was coated with fear and what felt suspiciously like admiration.
"What an interesting person," Sir Masked remarked. Standing at 6 feet tall, Sir Masked Twin Blades wore black from head to toe, with only a small slit here his eyes were. He also had a hood on and gloves so no other part of his body was exposed.
Many a soldier whispered that he had a nasty scar, or had been caught in a fire. Others said that he had demon marking all over his body and did not want others to see, while others said he was too handsome he didn't want to crush hearts by showing off his face and body. Let's just say their trolling needed a bit more innovativeness.
He had 2 rapiers hanging on either side of his waist which had earned him his moniker. Despite being exceedingly powerful, his body leaned on the thinner side, more lean than muscular. After he had finished examining the blade, he put it on his back but didn't replace his trusted rapiers.
"If only he was on our side," Sir Masked remarked to himself.
"Yeah," Commander Dana replied too, also speaking to herself. She then looked up and saw the quizzical looks coming her way, causing a deep blush to flash across her face.
Dong!
The loud bang indicating the arrival of the enemy sounded. Immediately, all activity ceased and everyone rushed outside. They were finally here.
Petes Town was not built for defense but to handle the maritime activities that overflowed from the main city. They were just another port, one far removed from the main city. They, therefore, did not handle very high-value cargo since they were just transit.
The town had guards but they mostly did police work, maintaining law and order and keeping the crooks in line. Due to the limited profile of the commodity being moved here, crime was also low, hence the police work was not that heavy.
The entire town only had 10 guards, but since this was a local community where everyone knew everyone else, there was hardly a need for any more. The city would hire adventurers to handle any major threat in any of its vassal towns. In this regard, Tristan maintained the peace within its borders, becoming the closest thing to a kingdom in the western continent.
For this reason, the town did not even have a wall. No one would dare encroach the kingdom of Tristan since they would have to face the might of Tristan. This was peacetime thinking, and the war brought a harsh reality.
Since capturing it, Commander Dana had had her men built a moat and a wooden wall around the town. The natural harbor would prove very useful to the main army as a place for docking and regrouping. It was also one of her biggest wins in the invasion and the first real proof of her ability. She couldn't lose it now.
"Lord Jamieson, get your men ready. Let's give the Tristanites a bloody welcome!" Commander Dana had been whacking her brain for the last couple of days wondering how she was going to deal with the new steel. She had held the upper hand over Tristan since the invasion, but in one afternoon, she had lost it all. That a**h*le of a man had robbed her of all her well-deserved lead by making some fancy new toys, but he wasn't going to get the best of her yet. She wasn't going to let him.
The only thing that had proven effective over the steel was the war machines, and by the gods, she was going to unleash hate on them. Lord Jamieson was the leader of the war machine column, and he had 10 catapults and 30 ballisters under him.
"Right here is good, give the signal to halt," Lady Maara said to one of the elders. She had to admit, while she had wanted it for herself, she was afraid of the weight of responsibility that had fallen on her. She wasn't afraid of falling in battle, that would be the easy part, it was the commanding that was giving her a headache. Also, the elders, powerful warriors and adventurers that surrounded her reassured her.
"Have the archers and our war machines move forward, let's show them we can also play that game too." The princess sneered as she saw the enemy's war machines.
Having obtained intelligence on how many war machines the enemy had, they had especially constructed the same amount of ballisters and catapults. They had many more but those were built-in on the walls, so the mobile war machines had to be rebuilt. The good thing was that the ammo was also rebuilt, the new steel reinforcing the ballista bolts.
Watching the enemy formation rearrange, commander Dana's confidence waned a bit. She still had complete confidence in her team, but the memories of the arrows were still fresh. She hoped the archer had not come, probably too busy creating something. In her heart, she knew that such an important figure would not miss out on such an important ranged war, and if he was present, she wondered just how important he would be in the coming shoot out.
With both sides assembled, everyone held their breath in anticipation of the war to come. Both sides were armed and ready. With a nod, Lady Maara gave the command for the catapults to shoot.
Suddenly, 10 massive smoldering boulders took to the skies. Tristanites didn't have mages to enchant their weapons, so they just lit their boulders on fire.
Seeing the Tristanites let off their weapons, the Guminaites also unleashed their weapons at the enemy. The Gumina boulders had a mixture of both fiery and thunderous magic in them. Arching through the skies, they were better their Tristan counterparts.
The massive boulders struck each other in the morning sky, while others passed each other heading to the enemies at neck-break speed.
"D*mn it! Pull back!" The princess realized her mistake too late. She had used their earlier attacks to estimate the power - and the range - of the enemy's war weapons, unfortunately, the bast*rds had been flattering to deceive. She thought that her army was right at the edge of their attack range, how wrong she was.
The commander smiled. Their ruse had worked like a charm. She had walked into the trap like a fool. As she watched, all the Tristan boulders failed short of their targets, hitting well below the mark.
In contrast, 2 Gumina boulders struck down 2 Tristans mid-flight. 6 landed on target, demolishing some of the enemy's catapults and ballistae that had yet to be shot. 2 overshot the war machines, heading right to the line or archers backing up the war machines.
Watching the boulders descend, the commander had a satisfied look on her face. After their victory in the base, they had had a little taste of victory. They thought this would be a walk-over, how wrong they were, she thought with a sneer. She had been worried there for a moment, but seeing her enemies stopped, she could relax.
In just one volley, Tristan had lost 4 ballistae and 2 catapults, and an unknown number of archers. To both her and the princess, however, there was a greater concern. She hoped that he had gone down with the blast, but she couldn't be sure. She also knew not to dwell in wishful thinking.
Barda had been quick to react, charging forward and catching Batoo in time. Had he been a split second slower, Batoo would have been squashed, roasted or electrocuted by the boulder.
Unfortunately, the others weren't so lucky, and Barda couldn't catch them all. He could still remember the eager faces of Eamon and the others, who now had become roasted stumps in the wake of the disaster. Looking across the field, Barda had an ugly expression on his face.
Grabbing his bow, he took a breath and calmed down. Anyone who knew him even in the past life knew that when he was the calmest, he was the most pissed. With a tight grip on his bow, he took a vow in his heart. Don't worry boys, your death was not in vain.