Atreus led 10,000 men across the Raging Vine, the valley that bordered Dunedin and the city he planned to raze down. Dodorak was like his homeland in many ways. They shared the same agricultural belts, same occupations and the people were of the same hardy Grink tribe. The sun was hot in the afternoons and the breeze cool at night. The men that rode with him were confident and ready, he was an able commander and wise even at his age. The Dunedin army had a strict chain of command but the commander could choose whom to draw closer and whom to use as messenger. The two closest people to Atreus in his army was his old friend Junchoen and a burly lad named Rock. Junchoen was young but smart, lazy but effective to a fault. He taught fast, applied even faster and always had a way to reduce casualties. Despite been a commoner and not especially skilled in the sword, he had risen to the role of captain based on strategy and his plans alone. Rock on the other hand was a weird teenager, for starters he was seven foot tall at eighteen with bulging muscles and a thick neck. He was tattooed from head to toe and never wore a shirt or armor. His origins no one knew and he was incredibly calm and thoughtful, caring for only meat and mead and sleep. Rock listened more and said little but when his blood was afire and the heat of battle upon him, he was worth more than two dozen men. These two men rode by Atreus' side and talked with him through the nerve-touching ride through the Raging Vine while the generals rode in their large canopies tents.
When they could see the first Dodorak stronghold from some miles away, Atreus halted his host.
"Send twenty scouts down the road and find out whatever they hold as defenses. The rest of you rest and get ready." He said.
That night, he and twenty soldiers accompanied by Junchoen and Rock approached the walls of the stronghold. The spies had told him it was called Norain and the lords were subordinates of Dodorak. Dukedoms had many strongholds and gave them to favored families as favours and protections incase of warfare. The lord of Norain had set archers on the walls and fires burned from large stakes on each point, but Atreus knew he had little strike force and less than a thousand men rested in those walls.
"Good evening, noble lord." Atreus greeted from a safe distance.
The air was calm and everyone silent, the fate of many was about to be decided by the exchange between these two men.
"Who speaks to me, Kui Mangfun, Fifth Lord of Norain." The lord shouted down.
"Boastful for a man about to face fire and death." Junchoen said softly.
"Atreus Cho, heir to the dukedom of Dunedin." Atreus replied, calmly.
"The Bastard Warrior." Lord Kui spat out.
"Call me what you will, I have a host outside your walls and I'm coming into your city whether you like it or not." He said.
"Duke Fulku will spill your blood over Dodorak soil and cast away the Cho dynasty once and for all." He said.
Atreus smiled again, this time grimly.
"Are you so sure your walls will hold me out? I make no boast about myself, my deeds speak louder. Think and open your eyes to all you see around you, can you bottle my rage? Stop my host?" He asked.
The breeze was cold and the words of a man as storied as Atreus was enough to make any man change his mind.
"My lord ordered me to keep my gates shut, that I will do." He said.
Atreus smiled thinly.
"I will not haggle anymore. Before morning, we will know your fate, Lord Kui." He said, turning away.
Rock smiled.
"Smells like a battle to me." He said.