章 2: Night # 1
A large castle wall stood before the invading army, it was one of five walls that protected its respected area and in the center of was the castles which the army could see, at least the towers of it. The thick breeze pervades the air as flags flap against the cool wind. General Daciana Dracul stands in the front of her army.
A gust of wind rushes by, causing her cloak to billow in the wind and sway her two thin braids that fell underneath her braided bun. Held under an arm was her horned helm, she was cladded in the black and gold armor of her people.
A man's voice said from behind her, "The trebuchets and battering rams are ready, General Dracul."
Daciana looked over her shoulder to see a Kou soldier standing behind her.
"Good...let's end this before any more innocent lives are lost." Daciana said. The King that ruled here was mad and cruel, he used his people as living shields while he and his cowardly nobles hid safely in the castle.
Daciana walked back over to the crowd of his men she stopped when she stood before all of them. "All of you have traveled several leagues to fight for an kingdom not our own. I am proud to have each of you here with me on this day. This King's legacy has been one of negligence and cruelty. We fight tonight not just for the Kou Empire, but for the people who are mistreated by the person who had sworn to protect them! Who's with me?"
Her men howl and cheer her name, bringing a proud smile to her lips. Hearing her name chanted by her men makes her swell with confidence. While they weren't Draconis, they were loyal to her because of how many battles they fought together. Daciana pivoted on her right foot and walked towards her horse, putting on the metal veil with dangling thing chains at the bottom and helm on as she walked. Then she mounted the black horse that was also cladded in black and gold armor with horns on the face plate.
She grabbed the reins of her horse and looked when her Second-in-Command, Keiji, joined her.
"Take your men and hit separate gates, they can't stop two armies attacking in different parts of the wall." Daciana ordered.
"Your will is our own, General." Then he left to carry out her orders, separating the large army into a much more manageable size.
She was always called 'Lady Daciana' or even 'General Dracul' by the Kou people well expect for them, they called her 'Daci'. Daciana was rarely called 'Your Grace'.
Daciana pulled on the reins of her horse as she draws her sword, turning the horse to face her men, "Bring down this gate!" She swung her sword arm down, signaling the attack as she turned her horse back around to face the gate.
Her men let out a cheer as they pushed the trebuchets and the large battering ram forward, the battering ram had a head that looked like a dragon as was the trebuchets. Daciana and the main force of her army stayed back, out of reach of the arrows from the battlements above. Her black eyeliner covered gold eyes with their silted pupils watched as the trebuchets crushed the men above them, killing the archers and soldiers.
CRACK
With a large cracking sound the gate broke, allowing them to enter inside the wall.
"Charge!" Daciana shouted as she kicked her stead's side and charged into the first village walls, she hacked and slashed her way into the village. From above she could see balls and columns of flames come down from Ioana and her Magicians.
Her men are raising ladders against the city walls while she and most of her men entered through the gate. She moved through a crowd of soldiers, both hers and the King's. Daciana drives it through the soldier below her, killing him instantly since the blade had gone through his head.
Daciana leapt onto the ground, cutting through a wave of enemy soldiers. She dodged their blades while she blocked attacks one by one. The scent of blood and sweat pervades the air, and only one thought crosses her mind: survive.
Suddenly Kyou appeared and moved to Daciana's side effectively blocking a blade with one of his swords and delivering a fatal blow on her assailant with another sword. Kyou cuts through several men in a deadly but elegance dance, and Daciana watched as Kyou's swords cuts across the man's face. The man stepped back with his hand across his gushing wound before collapsing.
"I see you had finally gotten through your gate..." The Draconis General looked around. "Excellent looks like everything is going as planned." Daciana said as Kyou flicked the blood off his swords. "Follow me."
Kyou nodded to Daciana with a small smile. Daciana broke into a run as Kyou followed close behind her. A soldier charged at her. Daciana stepped to the side and plunged the sword through his side. She kicked the man as she withdrew her blade of Draconis Steel. Blood of many men have stained the once silver blade, and perhaps tonight it may even cut through the flesh of a cruel king.
She was looking forward to that.
Kyou's sword connected with an oncoming blade, the strong metal not breaking or cracking under the attack. Kyou pushed the man back, clashing his sword against the heavyset soldier. Kyou grunted as the man withdrew his blade to kick his square in the gut. Kyou stumbled backwards a few steps before he regained his footing. The Kou soldier was grateful for armor because if he wasn't wearing it, that would have hurt. The soldier raised his sword in an upward motion, leaving his torso open. Kyou exploited the soldier's mistake and thrusted his swords between the man's armor.
Daciana joined Kyou's side as three armored men surround them. Her heart is racing as she managed to dodge an attack. Daciana saw Kyou's swords connect with another soldier's sword, and he pushed the man forward and through a wall of a rotted looking barn. Daciana stepped backward, dodging another attack. She kicked her attacker's knee, and swung her sword against the man's neck, beheading him in one swift motion. She turned to another soldier charging her. His sword almost managed to connect with her arm, but Kyou managed slice at the man's knees, forcing him backward as he screamed in pain.
"Watch yourself, my dear General." Kyou said. "Otherwise we'd have to ease the sorrows of Princess Kougyoku and Prince Kouha."
Daciana and Kyou move side by side as two more soldiers charge towards them. Daciana blocked the soldier's sword in an upward motions. The man's sword slipped through his hand and Daciana used the opportunity to plunge her sword in the soldier. Kyou cuts through his final attacker, and they both continued to walk side by side on the ground.
In the distance, Daciana can see a crown of blond hair rushing away from her. The King. So he was fighting after all, she wasn't sure at first. Good that meant that she didn't need to hunt him down, that would have been a waste of her natural abilities. He's well guarded by several soldiers. Daciana grinned over to Kyou who returned her smile, though the former was showing her sharp, long canines. Draconis loved a fight, the bloodier the better. The bloodlust was easy to control when they are older but it was still there, just under the surface waiting to be unleashed.
"I'm ready when you are, dear General." Kyou grinned.
"Let's end this, here and now." Daciana said. "You take the men on the left, I'll take the ones on the right...Live free, die well." That was a Draconis saying that was spoken before a fight, no matter how terrible or one sided the fight is.
They both break into a sprint as they charge the King's men. Daciana raised her sword to meet the King's guard. Their swords connected together again and again as they tried to gain the upper hand over the other, though it was easy to see who would gain the upper hand thanks to her monstrous strength and superior sword skill. Daciana moved back to evade the guard's slicing blade. She cuts downward, slicing the man's arm from his body. The soldier howled in pain as he fell into a pool of his own blood.
"Come on, you coward!" She can hear Kyou's taunting as both warriors fought. "Stop hiding like a baby and fight like a man!"
Daciana curled her lip in disgust at his behavior, Draconis hated cowards, in both men and women since both genders fought in their army, bleeding and dying side by side.
Then Daciana smiled as Kyou continued to throw enthusiastic insults towards the King, amused even in a fight to the death. She stepped forward, her eyes honing in on the King as her silted pupils become needle thin. "Your Highness, your men are falling left and right. No one else needs to die this day. End this now and yield."
The King glowered at her and snapped, "I will not yield even if every single one of my men die for it."
Daciana narrowed her eyes at the King and growled at, "So be it."
The King drew his sword from his scabbard. Daciana felt adrenaline and the blood lust rattling inside her as she approached the King. Her keen eyes observed the King's stance, the predator-like stare missing nothing. His feet are too close together, weakening his center of gravity. It didn't look like he knew how sword play, at least not all of it. She charged him and stuck her sword hard against the King's, knocking him backwards. A whimpering cry escaped the King's mouth as he fell, his sword sliding a sizable distance from him. The King scampered backwards as a high pitched whimper escapes his lips. He froze when the tip of her sword was pointing towards his throat, poised to go through it severing the spine.
Kyou rolled his brown eyes and said, "That was pathetic."
"Your Kingdom has fallen to us, Your Highness." Daciana said. "But I won't kill you, at least not yet..."
She then looked all around her and up at the battlements to see men laying their swords down in surrender.
"We did it, Daci." Kyou said. "We've won."
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