After Blanc and Celine took another five minutes to convince the rest of the family that Celine should join him, they all went outside the estate, meeting with the Wardens chosen for the first part of this plan of theirs.
Two thousand Wardens stood at the ready in front of them, ready to depart at any moment. Among them stood a face familiar to all but Celine.
"Lords, Ladies," bowed Ponca, "We are ready."
Elion nodded at him, "Ponca, excellent job. As we discussed earlier, Blanc and his fiancée will be joining you. You know of Blanc's talents with the bow, but I guarantee his fiancée's talents as well."
"We will be glad to have both of them with us. They will be our best soldiers," Ponca replied with a confident smile.
"Oh, no doubt about that," Valar muttered.
"Wardens!" Elion shouted. Instantly, every soldier, Celine, and Blanc among them, snapped to attention. "May the Vita protect you all. We'll see you on the battlefield come morning. Stay alive, and kill as many bastards as you can!"
"Yes, Patriarch!" they all replied in unison.
The Daughter, who had stood silent until now, came in front of the two thousand.
Her eyes, paradoxically cold beneath her flaming red hair, studied the soldiers.
Before she spoke, she took a glance towards Blanc and Celine before biting hard into her thumb and pressing the blood that formed into her opposite palm.
The words that left her mouth could not be heard, yet it was clear from watching her that she was speaking.
But the words did not matter as a wave of crimson rose from her, engulfing all two thousand soldiers.
"May you kill others to survive, not to grow stronger," were the only audible words the Daughter spoke before she turned around and, after sharing a few words with Elion, departed in silence.
"Begin march!" yelled Valar to the soldiers, who, after a salute, spun on their heels towards the forest and started moving..
Two thousand soldiers marched toward the Golden Forest, all united by two things.
First was the bows in their hands. Every one of them was a ranged fighter, chosen personally for this opening phase.
Second was their status. Every Warden among them, man or woman, carried a gift the common soldiers did not. Raw Vita. Harvested from a slain beast upon earning their title. More than gold or glory, it was a Mark of honor for them. Each Warden had chosen a beast that matched their fighting style and weapon, gaining abilities that made them far deadlier than ordinary men. This was what set them apart. An elite force, empowered by Vita.
And unlike the Iron Line, whose soldiers fought without such strength, they were not common. They were Wardens.
And in front of these elites stood Celine and Blanc. Multiple Marks and a life where all they had to do was train and sleep made each of them stronger than at least ten Wardens combined. And the soldiers knew they had to respect them.
As they entered the Golden Forest, for many of the Wardens, for the first time in their lives, they walked in lines of ten and a few feet in between each other.
The setting sun made their entrance feel as if they walked into a different world, with many gasps being heard from behind Blanc and Celine as they kept on walking undisturbed.
"It's lovely," she whispered to Blanc, amazed by the surroundings.
"I would have loved to show you this under better circumstances." Blanc sighed.
"After all this is over, I will have you take me back here, and I'll pretend it is the first time I've seen it," she replied with a playful grin, pressing herself onto his side.
"I feel my heart slowly melting," he chuckled.
As they kept advancing north-east, towards where Tarn Villa stood, Ponca began speaking, interrupting whatever small talk the engaged couple was having.
"Apologies, Young Lord, you mentioned during the meeting a good location for the plan. How long do you think it will take us to get there?"
"If we keep moving at this pace," Blanc thought, "About an hour from here. Just in time, as the sun will still be up for another hour and a half."
"And won't we be meeting the enemy soldiers on the way?" another Warden near them asked.
"Tarn Village is about six to seven hours away from here if you walk straight through the forest. If it took them until noon to pillage and start walking again, they should be passing our spot in three hours. So, plenty of time. But we can speed it up. Just in case," replied Blanc.
"That would be for the best," Celine agreed with a nod, "The sooner we get there, the better our spot will be."
"I wish to get there as soon as humanly possible. We have two thousand people who need to climb trees and find a good spot. And for that, we need as much light as possible," Ponca added.
"Very well," Blanc said. "Ponca, have the others follow behind. We'll run the rest of the way. Two lines, steady pace. That should keep everyone from falling behind."
"As you command," Ponca nodded, before turning to relay the orders.
Within a minute, the soldiers had formed into two long lines, ready to move.
And with a confirmation from Ponca, Blanc, together with Celine, began running at the front.
They held back, maintaining a slow pace, fearing that the Wardens could not keep up.
Nevertheless, within forty minutes, the first soldiers arrived at the site Blanc and Valar had chosen. A natural corridor of forestland, roughly two miles wide, flanked by two rivers that ran parallel toward the west.
"Young Lord," began Ponca, sweat dripping down his forehead, "How did you and Lord Valar guess this place would be the spot the enemy would cross?"
"They wear armor, Ponca. And only Vita knows how many there are," began Blanc, "They need to walk next to something that makes more sound than they do not to draw attention to themselves. This also keeps them inside the forest. This path can be accessed from two spots. One, a few miles from Tarn Village, where a natural bridge stands that would allow them to walk safely and deeper into the forest. And another one a mile behind us. It was the only clear path the enemy could use without being forced to cross deep waters or dense thickets, making it the most likely route for their advance."
"Amazing deductions," said Ponca, amazed.
"No praises are needed, Ponca. I've walked in these parts of the forest so many times that I know them just as well as the streets of Duldera," Blanc replied, looking through the forest.
"I still find it quite impressive," Celine added.
"I appreciate it, my dear, but no time to waste on much more talking," Blanc turned, before he started giving orders, "Ponca, tell everybody to look for trees where they can sit and stand comfortably as high as possible, at least thirty to forty feet high, and start climbing. When darkness falls, have them stay completely silent the moment they spot any fire and not shoot a single arrow, no matter what they see or hear. We need patience to win this fight."
"They have been instructed on this before, but I will let them know," Ponca nodded sharply.
"May the Vita be with you all," Blanc offered his hand..
"And to you, too, Young Lord and Lady," Ponca smiled, accepting it and shaking it lightly.
The sun soon hid behind the horizon, and darkness overtook the Golden Forest, with not even the light of the moon capable of piercing the forest, since the dense leaves above blocked almost all the light that tried to sneak past them.
The night grew colder with every passing minute, but they were ready for it, donning warmer clothes for this same reason.
"Are you frightened?" Celine asked, whispering in his ear.
"If I said no, would you believe me?" Blanc questioned, sitting upright on a thick branch with his back leaning against the tree. The branch held both of them comfortably, with Celine standing in his arms as they watched the darkness in front of them for any signs or sounds of life.
"I can feel your heartbeat against my back. So, no," she said.
"Then, yes. I am frightened," he sighed, "You?"
She nodded lightly, a tremor leaving her voice as she did, "Yes. Now that I am here, I am afraid."
"Lucky we have each other, then." Blanc kissed her cheek.
"I agree," she replied before kissing one of the hands that held her close in a hug.
An hour later, Blanc's fears and predictions proved true.
Flickering lights began to appear in the distance, faint at first, like scattered fireflies. But as they grew clearer, the tension in both Blanc and Celine rose with every heartbeat.
A few steadying breaths helped calm their nerves, just as the glow of countless torches crept ever closer.
What they saw next surpassed anything they had imagined, making their earlier exercise to calm down become useless, seeing as the stream of firelight didn't end. It kept coming, wave after wave after wave after wave, until the entire forest corridor between the two rivers was lit.
Even ten minutes later, torches still emerged from the darkness, spreading across the full two-mile corridor like a wall of creeping flame.
"Fuck…" Blanc whispered, finally seeing the soldiers as they drew close enough to be seen as anything else than flickering flames.
The masks they wore were even scarier in person than how Elion had described them earlier in the day. Masks of pure iron with only two openings for the soldiers to see from.
What made them even creepier to him now, and surely to anyone else who witnessed it, was the dried blood on them. Which, as per the looks of it, was used by the disgusting soldiers to draw faces on the masks.
Combining that with their black leather armor, iron shoulder pads, and curved swords made Blanc realize that not even his worst nightmares would have conjured what now stood before him.
A sea of blood, iron, and fire. One bent on seeing them extinguished.