Rise of the Horde

267 Chapter 26“Captain! Look! The beacon on the bridge has been lit!” a soldier cried out as he pointed a finger towards the thick smoke in the direction of the bridge. Their nerves were tensed as they knew that their foes were well on their way but they just didn’t know when exactly would they arrive but the lighting of the beacon gave them a rough estimation on when would their enemies arrive.

The news of the beacon being lighted soon reached the ears of the baron and he proceeded towards the walls to take a look and confirm it with his own eyes. When he reached the walls, what caught his attention wasn’t the thick smoke from the beacon but the cloud of dust in the distance which is not far away from the golden fields of his territory.

‘Something must have gone wrong with the sentries’ he thought as he turned his gaze towards his soldiers who all had surprised look on their faces as their enemies had come faster than they have anticipated.

“Secure the gates!”

“Man the walls!”

“Archers! Standby!”

A series of orders was then given by Captain Kertakk as he stood beside the baron who remained motionless and silent as he stared at the hounds of the king who were heading towards them. If he had a choice, he wouldn’t want to participate in the upcoming battle but since the ones that they were up against were the group of Commander Lastam who doesn’t know mercy, he was obliged to as his own family’s safety is at risk.

The group of Commander Lastam halted a safe distance away from the walls and they were shocked by what greeted them. Numerous soldiers manning the walls, the gates firmly shut and no one in the fields. They felt that something was wrong after seeing that the fields lack the presence of the farmers that were supposed to be harvesting the grains that were yet to be harvested but they just brushed it off.

“Surrender now! And mercy shall be shown! Or suffer the consequences!” a rider among the group of Commander Lastam shouted towards with pride as he knew that their enemies were scared with just their mere presence.

.....

“Not a chance!” a shout from the walls came in as a reply.

“You bloody hounds of the king doesn’t know the word mercy!” another yell came which turned the grin of the soldier who shouted for their foes to surrender into a frown.

“I guess our reputation is really well known…” Commander Lastam chuckled as he signaled for his men to line themselves up properly. He was hoping to take the town by storm and charged right through their open gate and begin the slaughter but his expectation was dashed after being presented with a firmly shut gate.

“Someone must have informed them beforehand of our attack and the town is prepared for our arrival.” Lishtal uttered as he stared at the soldiers manning the walls.

“That just makes things easier as we don’t have to go around the town and to pick our treasures as they would all be gathered inside the castle.” A man with a thick beard chuckled after talking and the other soldiers who heard him also joined in.

“Even if they were expecting us, it wouldn’t change a thing.” Commander Lastam snorted as he signaled for Lishtal to blow open the gate.

“Go on, make this fools realized that there is nothing that can stop us.” He continued while waiting to see the shocked faces of their foes as soon as the gate that they have firmly shut would be blown to pieces.

Lishtal nodded his head as he took out some crystal pieces from the saddle of his bag and received the scroll that was handed to him by the commander. They had gathered plenty of treasures from those that had fallen into their hands and the magic scroll that was in his hands was one of them which they have confiscated from a wealthy young mage who was foolish enough to flaunt his wealth without the capability to protect them. The memory of that young mage pissing his robe after they killed his guards was still vivid in his memory and he would still laugh about it whenever he remembers it. The powerful guards that he was proudly boasting about were only in the Third Realm of Power and he himself was stronger than them and so was some of his companions and that too also without the help of their commander who was in the Fifth Realm of Power.

The crystals in his hands were also confiscated from that same mage and they are called mana crystals or more known as mana gems and came in different sizes and colors. The smaller the mana gems are, the smaller the amount of mana it contains but that also depends on what color it is since a smaller white mana gem would contain more mana than that of the biggest blue mana gem. Blue colored mana gems were the most common and also the most easily obtained. Mana gems comes in five different colors blue as the most common followed by white then yellow, orange and lastly red but it is said that there are more powerful mana gems than the red colored ones.

A mana gem is a powerful item that could turn a weak mage into a powerful mage since it allows him or her to use more powerful spells that aren’t available to him or her. Like a mage in the Second Circle of Magic being able to cast spells that are supposedly to be only done by a mage in the Third Circle of Magic or higher depending on the amount and power of the mana gems in his or her possession. It also enables a person who has no mana to be able to use spell scrolls as the mana that was required in activating the spell scroll would be filled in by the mana gems but the amount of mana in the gems should be sufficient or else the spell fails and the spell scroll would be wasted.

The soldiers of Commander Lastam were eagerly waiting for the gate to be blown apart. Anything that isn’t made up of null stones, reinforced with runes or protected with some magic barrier would be destroyed easily by magic spells.

Captain Kertakk was waiting for their foes to get within the range of their archers before giving the command to fire but they weren’t prepared for what was going to happen. The sudden silence of Commander Lastam and his men confused the soldiers on the walls but they were more than happy to have a staring contest with them rather than a bloody real fight since a staring battle wouldn’t cause them their lives unlike in a real one.