Runeblade

Backlit by the setting sun, Kaius stared out at the Frontier from Deadacre’s wall. It was soaked in soft amber, shadows lengthening by the minute as night fast approached.

He cared little for the tapestry of colours, and only slightly more for the constant nervous shuffling of the guards and militiamen that joined him in standing sentinel. He had eyes only for the horde that lurked only a few leagues away.

Beasts, in their many thousands, corralled by an intelligence that was cruel, capricious, yet devious all the same. Their exact numbers were difficult to make out, hidden by brush, long grass, and the occasional tree. Even with Truesight, individuals blurred together, the creatures so closely packed that they were like a single, living carpet.

The beasts’ advance had come slowly — and now they waited with the patience of an ambush predator. He’d bet his sword that they would strike the second the sun dipped fully below the horizon. With their sharper senses, the darkness would prove far less of an impediment for them than it would for his fellow defenders.

Outside of rangers, rogues and the like, ocular skills were not common. Stats did much to bridge the gap, but his fellow defenders didn’t have anywhere near the levels or class rarities to ignore darkness completely.

Kaius huffed to himself as he rested his hand on his pommel, careful to stay quiet. He was by far the strongest on his section of the wall, and he wouldn’t want to give the impression he was nervous. Not when he felt their eyes every few seconds.

At least he wasn’t pressed in tight ranks with the rest of them. As an elite fighter, he needed room to move if he was to be an effective asset..

That, and it made him awfully good bait — one that would choke any beast who took it.

Some of them better take the blasted bait. His blood was running hot — all this sitting around and waiting for a fight was doing his damned head in. Thankfully, Hanrick and Rieker had chucked him and Porkchop right by the eastern gate — each holding one edge of it, right where the fighting was expected to be thickest.

He couldn’t see his brother, not with parapets and gate houses in the way, but he could feel him only a hundred or so longstrides away. More than close enough they could come to one another's aid, if need be.

Mana tingled on his ear — one of the artefacts that Ro had given him, a set of communication earstuds. It was the one that linked him in with his team, rather than the wider command network. Kenva’s voice came through a moment later, slightly washed out and thin.

“How’s it looking down there on the front?” the ranger asked.

She wasn’t far from him, thank the gods — she and Ianmus had been placed in one of the closest stone siege towers that had been raised in the last few days. Close enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about them being cut off without support if there was a breach.

Kaius flicked his eyes across the men around him. They were nervous, that much was clear — but as far as he could tell it was just pre-battle jitters.

“The guards are nervous, but that's to be expected. Sunset’s nice, I suppose — just glad it's not shining in our faces.” he replied, making sure to keep his voice low enough to not be overheard.

Kenva snorted, “Just be careful — it’s damn clear from up here that the army is massing to assault the gate. Those mages might have raised some extra stone defences, but its mundane rock — it wont last forever, and we still haven’t managed to locate any of the Tyrant’s stronger forces.”

Not one of them, him included, thought that the army was actually limited to Steel beasts. There would be worse; he was sure of it, and he was ready.

“I know, I’ll keep the risks to a minimum.”

Kaius couldn’t stop himself from eying the men around him. It wasn’t him she should be worried about. Looking at the ordered ranks of men with spears and bows, he only saw the labourers, cooks, and craftsmen that they were. Even the guards, with their better training and higher levels, felt fragile to him.

They weren’t soldiers, and even if they were, what kind of soldier trained to fight an army of Iron and Steel beasts, let alone worse?

No matter, if there were Silver or — gods forbid — Gold forces, that would be his and the rest of the elites responsibility to deal with.

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At least they had been forewarned. Rotten roots, if Dross hadn’t made it back, there was the very real possibility that they would have only spotted the army when it was too late to properly prepare.

They’d had time to reinforce the city, arm the defenders, and pull in support from Mystral. They had plans — they could do this.

The last briefing they’d had was clear — if the Tyrant was smart, it would send in its flying forces first, to tie up their archers while the bulk of the army advanced. Unfortunately, there was little he could do to help that.

Which he hated.

Logically, he knew that everyone had their role to play — his was to break the initial charge with multiple casts of Starfall as the beast's advance was broken upon the dragon's teeth that coated the land outside the walls. With that one spell dominating the vast majority of his pool, he’d split the rest between Nails, Shunts, and Bound Maelstrom — things likely to help in a pinch.

Yet he wasn’t supposed to use any of them until the ground forces got close enough — not unless he was targeted directly.

Thinking about just sitting around and waiting while others fought the aerial threat until then still made his skin crawl. It was all so…reactive. Battle required seizing the initiative — moving first and controlling the tempo of movement so that your opponent was forced onto the back foot.

So far, war was not that.

Kaius had set up ambushes before, and waited for the right moment to strike. It was clear to him, as he stood atop Deadacre’s wall and waited for the tide of hunger to rush in, that his current circumstances weren’t even close to similar. They were all just waiting to be attacked.

It felt as natural as baring his neck to a slashing blade.

Suppressing a sigh, he shifted his grip from his pommel to his hilt. At least he had Hellblade Investiture. While he hadn’t had much time to experiment with the skill, what little he had gotten made him sure he’d made a good choice. The drain on his stamina was manageable, and the roiling red energy that surrounded the weapon seemed…potent. More than potent enough for any threats that he should face, at least.

The sun dipped further down the horizon — slipping beneath the western wall. The frontier grew dark enough that Truesight kicked in, colours gradually washing away into shades of grey. The fires that dotted the wall and city below weren’t quite bright enough to light up more than the immediate area around the city.

Far to his left, one of the officers walked the line.

“Ready yourselves! Today we put down little more than rabid animals. Will you let them pass to slaughter your sons and your daughters? Your sisters and your brothers? Your spouses?”

“No!” the guards shouted out.

Kaius saw more than one straighten.

“Good!” The officer clapped one of the militiamen on the back. “Because the only thing standing between some mangy beast with an empty belly and everything you love, including our dear city itself, is you!”

They prodded another guard directly in the back.

“This is not the petty squabbling of thin-dicked nobles! This is not some group of brutish bandits that can be placated with enough barrels of dog-piss and mouldy grain! This is a battle for survival!”

Gods, the man didn’t hold back — Kaius could see the vein throbbing in the man's neck as he yelled himself hoarse. Yet, as plain and as dark as his words were, they worked. Spines stiffened, eyes went hard, and once loosely milling groups straightened into the lines they had been drilled on.

Hells, Kaius could even admit that his blood was roaring just a little hotter.

The officer walked past him, looking up to meet his eyes for a moment. The man gave him a respectful nod — but didn’t stop yelling.

“Tonight will be hard! There will be blood, and there will be losses. But if you would falter, think of those closest to you! Then, think of a wolf eating their entrails while they scream for a mercy that does not exist! That is what we fight. Not thinking peoples — beasts. They are hungry, and they need to be put down! Will you fight?!”

The reply was instant, a hundred voices screaming in unison as hilts were smacked against shields, and spears were thumped against the cold stone of the city's walls.

“YES!”

It was a cry joined in a loose chorus by many thousands more — men and women alike rousing their fighting spirits as they stared out onto a field of monstrous fury and screamed their defiance.

Kaius simply grinned, loosening his blade in his scabbard with a soft click.

Before the last rousing calls had finished, the sun fully set. Darkness swept over the city, banished only by fires tended to by the hands of men.

With night, came war.