Capítulo 9: Chapter IX
After the crazy level up, I spent two more days in the woods. I cut down a few trees and fought a few monsters. I now stand on the training field, surrounded by six wooden humanoid golems with axes, swords, and maces.
In nothing but trousers and calf-high boots, I take an empty hand fighting stance. Silat, Krav maga, ninjutsu, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, systema, kali, Malla-Yudda, pankration, Kallaripayattu, and the list goes own. Fighting styles through the ages and across cultures meddled together to create the world's deadliest technique, Art of blood and bone.
It was time I lived up to my full potential. In war, I need the ultimate killing technique. A fighting style refined with time and blood. The golem began to move with the intent to kill. I fought with all my might against my wooden enemies like a man possessed. Every blow was meant to kill, or severely cripple to make the kill timely and efficient.
From that day own, I trained like a mad man. one hundred times hard than I ever trained. As the days went by I moved from the training ground to the grass plains to expand the number of golems I fought. Pushing my limits to incorporate signs, time and space magic, and a few elemental spells that I learned from some of the tomes I got from Vizimia, into my fighting style.
Soon, even some of the Scoia'Tael joined me, so I taught a small group of them a few killing techniques. I figured I'd need in the coming weeks. Even though we had attacked Lord Ansel, he couldn't be drawn out. At this point, Adda had to start concealing her swelling belly and that meant time was of the essence.
At the end of the one month waiting period. I received word from Scoia'tael Colonel Isengrim, that Redania was also present in Ellander. I chose at that moment to recall them. I now stood with commander Iroveth outside the walls of Lord Ansel's Estate.
"What do we do now, little lord?" Iroveth asked.
"Infiltrate and assassinate."
"That place is a fortress..." he replied sternly.
"Not there." I pointed at a small servants door protected by three guards.
"You jest."
"I do not. If I can't draw out the Lord, then I will go in and kill him and his entire family. You and your men will plant bombs on the east wall. The bombs will act as a distraction and signal. The Redanians will move to the site of the attack. A small force will then hit the east wall, but the real force will hit the main gate on the west." I explained.
"But how will we open the gate. Fighting our way from east to west through waves of soldiers is suicide." Said Iroveth.
I smile at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "The servant's door will be open for the scoia'tael. The man force is one hundred percent Temerian. You're not alone anymore, Iroveth. We will take this fort, execute the governor, then march to Ellander with Isengrim."
Iroveth smiled. "First light?" he asked.
"First light" I reply before the two of us disappear in the woods.
When we returned I gathered the Scoia'tael and Temerian commanders, and gave them a more detailed plan of what I had told to Iroveth.
"Lord Artes, you can not go. You lead the royal guard and I've heard the Princess had been ill" said a Temerian commander.
"Who says she's been ill?" I asked with a deadly stare.
Iroveth grasped the hilt of his dagger and the Temerian captain gulped.
"I want all rumors squashed before first light tomorrow. The Princess is in perfect health. Everyone ready your fighters." I commanded before leaving the hall.
I walked straight to Adda's room and was greeted with more energy than I could handle at the moment. "Adda why do people think you are sick?" I ask.
She smiled at me and pulled me into a chair. "I can't eat peaches," she said.
It was odd. she was extremely happy and couldn't sit still because she couldn't eat...peaches.
"Okay..." I said.
Adda just laughed straddle my lap. "Stories say that my grandmother, Sancia of Sodden, couldn't eat the peaches of White Orchard when she was pregnant."
"And?" I was still confused. My love was speaking but I couldn't understand a word. She made no sense.
"And?! She had twins, Artes! My mother and my father! I think we're having twins!"
I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. Adda had just told me the most ridiculous shit I've heard since I arrived in this world. But I couldn't hurt her feelings. I put on a big smile and conjured up happiness.
"Really? Twins! We're having twins!" I spoke joyously and Adda became giddy as we celebrated.
Peaches? She couldn't eat peaches. Huh? Who would have thought? Maybe she'll throw up apples next week and say we're having boys. Just my luck.
_____________________________________________________________________
Vizima, Temeria.
"Haaa!" Vesemir shouted as he hacked the head off of a Bruxa.
"Nessa!" He shouted. "You have to leave! Take your sister to White Orchard! You have to get to Artes!"
Nessa was shaking as her hands were covered with blood that belonged to her former best friend, Lily, a Bruxa. Vesemir pulled her up and pushed her over to a sickly looking Lydia. Though Lydia was only a week over four months pregnant, she was holding stomach and having labor pains amongst other things.
"Go Now!" Vesemir shouted as Lily's uncle, Valdi, stepped into the house. Valdi hissed and showed his fangs before attacking and biting down on Vesemir's neck. An instant later, Valdi recoiled and clawed at the burning sensation in his throat.
"Black blood, you son of a whore. Toxic to vampires, makes it easier to rip your guts of from your fucking throat! " Vesemir spat at the high vampire.
At the backdoor of the Lessa manor, Nessa and Lydia were being led into a carriage by a young handmaiden named, Brida, She was hired from the lower parts of Vizima to ensure loyalty. Lydia believed if she pulled the girl from the slums, she would live for the House of Lessa and she was pretty enough for her husband to play with.
Brida cracked a whip and the horse took off for gates of Vizima, then on to White Orchard. But nothing was ever that easy...
_____________________________________________________________
White Orchard, Temeria.
It was first light and Artes was now taking a small group of fighter to the treeline near Lord Ansel's fort.
Artes whistled to a fighter. The fighter held up a palm as she looked at the ramparts of the fortress through a pair of binoculars crafted by Artes, after a few moments she bawled her hand into a fist. Artes and his team took saw the signal, then off running to the fortress walls.
Artes and his team waited against the wall until he heard the door unlatch. It was one his favorite parts about this medieval world, doors either had a latch or a key, so after one click was heard, Artes didn't hesitate to snatch the door open, and stick his blade threw the throat of the first person in line. Unfortunately, it was a maid. Artes' next blow cleaved through the helmet of a soldier and killed him instantly. Artes went on to slaughter the two more soldiers.
"Lord, he's running!" Iroveth shouted.
Artes look up to see an unexpected fourth guard. Artes threw five shurikens that destroyed the soldier's spine. The soldier hit the floor with a thud and the scoia'tael laughed.
"You have to teach me how to use those, little lord." Said Iroveth.
Artes smirked and replied, "Family secret. Let's go. Three of you plant the bombs," Said Artes as a bag of bombs appeared from thin air. "The rest of you guard this door with your life and wait for the signal."
Artes then ran off with Iroveth and two other fighters. They soon went their separate ways as Artes went for the keep. Using his blink ability, he avoided soldiers and snuck into the palace. Instead of slitting throats, he used the Axi sign to stun guards long enough for him to sneak by. He figured that if he dropped bodies, it would alert Ansel's men before Iroveth could plant the bombs.
As Artes went through the keep in silence, Iroveth was cutting men down as he and his fighters made it to the east wall. When they pulled the bombs from the bag that Artes had given them, they were bewildered and frustrated to see three wooden boxes.
"Commander, there's a note."
Iroveth read the note:
Metal knob on the side of the boxes. one full turn to the left at the same time. Place them against the wall and then run like hell.
-Little Lord.
Iroveth threw the note with a smile before him and his men followed Artes' directions, then ran like hell. At the same time, Artes was standing over the bed of the sleeping Lord Ansel and a girl looked to be thirteen.
Artes was confused. There was no way he had a mistress that young sleeping in his bed. Lord Ansel was known for the love he had for his wife.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The crank had stopped spinning in the wooden box and the east wall was blown to rubble.
[Skill advancement. Chemist 1/5]
Artes laughed as his skill tree advanced. 'I knew an oxidized explosive was the right way to go.' he thought.
Lord Ansel lept from his bed, but he suddenly froze when a blade was put to his throat.
"Where did you get the girl Ansel?" Artes asked.
Ansel was shaking in his gown. "They'll kill me..."
"I'll Kill you, Where's your wife, Ansel?!" Artes asked.
"Dead! they're all dead! The Redanians killed them. I protect the border take me and there is no border security." said Ansel.
"That's why there's Redanians in Ellander? Did they give you a young wife to make more heirs? who is she?"
"I don't know, she was brought by the snake, Sigismund. They want Temeria!" Ansel admitted.
"Who, Ansel?"
"Phil-- argh!" A bolt blew through the back of Ansel's neck.
Artes turned to look at the young girl with a crossbow. Artes could hear her fiddling with the contraption when he was speaking with Ansel. Though, Artes didn't act as he wished to see who she would shoot.
Artes now knew that someone important was behind the Redanian incursion in Temeria, Artes then noticed her swollen belly. When she followed Artes' eyes to her belly, the young girl smiled.
"Will you kill a woman with--" the girl was interrupted by a heavy telekinetic push that shattered her young bones, killing her instantly.
Artes smirks and says, "I'm the only blood lord to slaughter infants just to make a point." he spits on her corpse. "You would have made a fine daughter, if you weren't my enemy, and already soiled but that worm."
Outside of the keep, the Redanian soldiers moved to secure the gaping hole in the east wall that was being assaulted by a small force. The began to fire volleys of arrows at Artes' fighters.
A foreign command echoed on the battlefield that led to a formation that the Redanians had never seen before.
"Shield! Wall!" Toruviel shouted.
Her fighters created a three-row wall of shields. protecting the legs, midsection, and head.
"Advance!" Toruviel shouted and the wall moved as one unit step by step.
"Hold! Archers! Loose!" she commanded.
The shield wall opened briefly to expose elfen bowmen sending arrows of their own. The Redanian soldiers dropped and the shield wall advanced again.
"Send the Flare!" Toruviel shouted and a blue flaming arrow was fired into the air and exploded with dazzling lights.
The main force on the west side began to move and then a Scoia'tael team stormed the servant door. When the scoia'tael entered the walls, It was a massacre. The Redanians were caught off guard. Soon after the main gate was open and the Temerian forces rushed.
On the east field. Toruviel ran her unit with precision. The Redanians bombarded the shield wall but could not break it.
"Leveler!" Toruviel shouted and bowmen were lifted into the air on shields as the fired arrows before dropping behind the protection of the shield wall.
"Ready Kill line! Open!" Toruviel shouted and the shield wall opened and the Redanians blindly rushed in. the leading men were dropped with arrows then everyone killed by sword and ax.
"Close!" Toruviel shouted and a dwarf step forward and used the Ard sign that Artes has taught him to cleared the whole.
The shield wall was once again locked tight.
"Advance!" Toruviel shouted and her unit began to push the Redanians back.
Pah! boom boom boom! A green flare went off in the sky and Toruviel focused on push in the Redanians back to the fort. It didn't take long for the main force to arrive end the battle.
By that time, Artes had finished slaughtering the men in the keep. He was now walking out of the keep with a long line of bond aristocrats. As his force cheered for him, Artes heard a few screams. He threw his hand up and the Scoia'tael fell to silence. The Temerian soon followed their lead. Handing the captives to Vernossiel. Artes unsheathed his sword and walked to the source. Kicking the door. Artes saw two Temerian soldiers on top of two women and a third was holding a man by the head forcing him to watch.
Artes swung his sword and head began to roll. Pulling the bodies of the women. Artes notice that one of the girls was around Nessa's age and the other looked to be in her late twenties.
"Thank you! Thank you, Lord, for saving my wife and little girl" The man wept with gratitude. Artes just grabbed the head of the men and threw them outside.
Standing before all of his fighters, Artes addressed them all. "The families of these men will get nothing for their services. Instead! I want them to put to work! Their wives and sister will be whores and their daughters will be handmaidens for my commanders' houses! I said before and will not say it again! You will not rape! Murder! or Pillage! The spoils of war are mine! And if I catch you stealing from me! I will kill you!"
Artes pick up a severed head and incinerated in his hand.
Vernossiel smiled as she loved the cruel word of the little lord. Many Temerian men began to sweat. They had been told Artes' orders before the battle but assumed he was like every other lord that spoke without meaning when it came to commoners. But now as they watched Artes personally execute men without thought or trail, a new seed of fear was planted in their hearts. Not to mention he cleared the entire keep on his own.
Toruviel walked up with a disgusted look as she stared at the heads of the rapist. Many of the scoia'tael women had been raped, sister mothers, brothers, daughters, and sons had been raped. Toruviel stabbed her sword into a severed head on the ground and looked at Artes. "And what of their mothers?!" she asked
"Executed for having the audacity to give birth scum. Commander Ludwig!"
"Yes, Lord!" the commander stepped forth.
"Did you or did you not disseminate my orders?" he asked
"I did, Lord!" he replied
Artes scuffed. "Even worse. Commander with soldiers who can't follow his commander. Commander Finnan!" Artes shouted.
"Yes, Lord!" The young Commander replied.
"You're now in charge, have Ludwig and the parents of these men executed. Ludwig's family will suffer the same fate." Artes ordered.
Ludwig went pale with fright, he was about to open his mouth to protest when Finnan broke his jaw with a single punch.
"He has potential," said Vernossiel.
"I hope you're right," Artes replied as he left the steps of the keep.
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