Saden moved her troops into position just beyond the Vestan border village. The other villages on this route had packed up and moved the Aeries closer to the Capitol. This one hadn't, the reason for that being very simple.
They were herdsmen, and would not leave these grazing lands until high summer., when the grasses were gone and market day was set up in the Capitol. It was foolish and stubborn, but what made Vestan Vestan was that they were stubborn and foolish.
Looking over the tiny ridge that separated the village from her position, Saden closed her eyes and motioned for her troops to prepare to attack.
She waited behind for several seconds as her people swarmed the small village bridge, half of her force circled around the village, preventing escape. She walked forward and took charge of those on the bridge, leading them forward into the village.
The small center square was where the mothers, trying to escape with their children, had been herded by the blockade that had surrounded the whole village. Everywhere she looked she saw bodies of the men, who had tried to protect their wives and children.
A child in a bright orange dress was being held by two of her guards, her family, who were also in orange, was a young mother and three younger siblings, were crying and begging for them not to harm their child. Saden looked at the surviving villagers, there were only around seventy left.
"Charle," she said, motioning for her second in command, a boy of about fourteen. "Collect three of the children and one of the mothers, hold them away from the others."
"What do you plan to do?" Charle asked, sounding doubtful.
"They want mercy. When I give the signal, kill the others, except for the orange girl, I want to use her for my own... designs." Charle gulped and nodded, then passed the plan to the others.
The four to be spared, an only child, a twin and a triplet, and an elder lady past breeding age, were the only ones who didn't fight being torn from their families and were the eldest of the group, the eldest child being the twin, a teen boy of sixteen years, the triplet was fourteen and the only child was fifteen, both being girls, the elder lady was seventy years old and was the triplet's grandmother. Saden was proud at the fact that her soldiers had picked the ones who were independent and willing to leave their former neighbors.
"You four," she said motioning at them, "I will give you five minutes to leave the village and head towards the Capitol." she said, handing them tokens so that the blockade would let them through.
"If you're not gone, we'll kill you." they nodded and left, the boy helping the old woman hobble away.
"When they have been gone for three minutes, kill the others, after they have been gone for four minutes, send troops to kill them all but the boy." she told Charle, walking over to the orange clothed girl and tying ropes around her wrists. Charle nodded and started to pick the youngest from the crowd.
"Charle, leave the youngest for last, I'll kill it myself." Charle glanced at her in surprise, but carried on with his assignment.
The youngest was a five year old girl, from the orange clothed girl's family. She let the sisters hold each other as her troops set to work slaughtering the others. They pulled feathers from each before stabbing them through the heart. Vestan feathers were prized in her nation, her mother loved them.
She looked away as the two girls started screaming. She grabbed the five year old, and spun her so that she faced her sister. Drawing the knife her father had made for her, she placed it on the young girl's neck and dragged her to the bridge. The older girl started to cry, and squealed when Saden glared at her. She looked at the girl in her arms and drew the knife across her bared throat, ending the child's life.
The child crumpled to the ground gently, making no sound as her body hit the hard stone of the bridge. Saden looked down at the corpse and felt tears come to her eyes. The girl had been beautiful, blond and blue eyed, with delicate white wings. She quickly pulled a feather from the wings and watched as they darkened and turned into ash. She looked away and found the older girl staring with shocked eyes at her younger sister.
"Come here girl." Saden said, walking towards the girl and looking at her. "What is your name?"
"Melayne miss." the girl said as Saden smoothed her golden hair. She had brown eyes, Melayne did. Her wings were deep yellow, with streaks of silver on the tips. Her dress was tattered and ragged.
"Melayne, would you like to get a bath?" Saden asked.
"Yes miss!" Melayne smiled, her teeth pure white. Tears marked her pale skin, and Saden could sense the hatred that burned for her in the child's heart.
"Please my name is Saden. Come, you are mine." this startled the child and the sense flashed in her eyes, Saden saw many things there, but not the child's feelings. Melayne stopped smiling and knelt besides her sister's corpse. She laid her hands over the girl's head and breathed deeply.
Saden watched from a distance away and shook her head at her troops' shuffling glances, they were very uncomfortable around Vestan magic, it being so like their own.
Melayne took her hands from her sister's head and stood, backing away slowly as her sister's body disappeared, leaving not a trace behind on the bridge.
Saden felt saddened by the blank, emotionless mask that fell across Melayne's beautiful features, it reminded her of her eldest brother's face when father had given him those two girls from Chairo. Those girls, he had said, were father's efforts to make him a 'man'.
Brother was twenty five, he would never be again the boy who blushed when cute girls talked to him that he had been at twelve. He knew who and what he was, he knew that most of the girls had pitied him, his blond hair and dark blue eyes, which had lost all sight when he had been six, broke hearts. He was beauty wasted and ruined by the scars from beatings which touched his face and the vines which wove their own ways on his hands.
She broke out of her thoughts, Charle was back, he would have, hopefully, good news. She turned, not looking at Melayne, who still stood above the spot her sister had last lain, and headed towards the small tent past the bridge in a nicely covered field beyond the village.
Her second in command stood at attention when she entered the tent and saluted her before sitting. They had much to talk over.
Kechera moved slowly towards the carriage as it stopped behind his father's stables. That carriage was heavily guarded, he could tell by how many horses he heard and the sensation of 'selves' which surrounded the sensation of hard wood. Inside it he knew was Lady Empress Asazin of the Aka Empire.
Aka was strong, his father said, and so they had taken the chance of the Empires having a gathering to celebrate the first crowning of a new queen in Murasaki in the last two thousand year and the joining of Vestan as the tenth Empire to take the most powerful opponent.
He stood right outside the last ring of guards and waited to escort Lady Asazin inside. Hopefully no one would care that he did it while his sister was gone. Hopefully.
Nolan stood in the battlements on the Castle of Vestan. He was alone, everyone else was asleep. Slowly he brought his hands up. He drew on power hidden deep inside of him and gazed in the direction of Gallan, the direction of Asazin. Slowly but surely the border came into view, and with it, thousands of Gallan soldiers in black leather. They marched steadily towards the main Capitol, they were going to make a siege.
Nolan dropped his arms and ran down the stairs and looked up at King Phillip, who waited at the bottom of the stairs.
"Prepare for war! They shall reach the castle's outside farms in three days." Nolan said breathing heavily. Phillip looked at him and nodded, gesturing to servants and calling together his generals, and his High Mage.
The high Mage walked into the room and an aura of power and purpose flowed from him, nearly glinting off his silver robe and brown wings. He bowed to Nolan, who ranked him in status and power.
"Nolan, you shall be working with my Mage, Deze. You two are our only Mages here with enough power to safely work together in Battle Magics. I am sorry." king Phillip said, leaving the room.
The next three days threatened to break the minds of the most reserved person. Nolan was surprised when the triplets showed up, with Tree Child and Snow-hare in tow. They came dressed in battle armor, and were decked with swords. He tried to make them return, but they went instantly to the tents near the city wall.
Nolan stood on top of the tower with Deze as the pre-dawn light started to filter through the sky, painting the clouds above with vibrant oranges and golds.
The first sighting of the enemy was accompanied by the spelled arrival of the Mage Smeyit and his Queen's personal maid, Suesan. Both Chairoins were aglow with magic, it streamed through their very hair. With them came two men, Smeyit's Tfaneld and Tfaneld's twin Kastracsh, who came from Vestan from birth and wore their wings unfurled.
Nolan felt it when the two armies clashed, and then everything went black as he fell into his other self.
Tree Child ran through the first soldier to come within distance of his sword arm. He gasped as the blood spattered across his face and ducked as an enemy sword sliced at his arm.
He saw Toph hacking like mad, his connection to Soph drawing them together. He directed himself towards them, the time was coming when he would no longer be needed anymore.
Mage lights glittered across the plain in front of him and he jumped backwards as a giant hole exploded in the ground where he had been standing. The explosion sent soldiers flying everywhere.
To his disgust, he found that most of the enemy's soldiers were children, some as young as seven years old. A blond haired girl slashed at his throat and he thrust his sword forward into the girl's stomach and dodged to the side as she fell still swinging her sword at him.
He tumbled over a fallen Vestan, their wings shattered and torn. He righted himself and spun to find a enemy dashing at him. He cut the enemy down and nearly sobbed for the waste of life.
Castias took five on at a time, ending their lives with little effort as Vestan sky troops flew over and dropped Murasakians onto the enemy Mages. He charged forward and fought with a boy of sixteen as he spotted blue hair through the thrashing bodies.
Asazin stood besides him then, with a blond boy at her side, they nodded to him before starting to carve him a way through the enemy to their king. He knew that this was what he was to do. King Matthew must be killed by the Tree Child, no matter what. Thanat and Mag-bell stood besides Asazin suddenly and Toph and Soph joined them on their left, followed quickly by Castias, all were bleeding from deep wounds.
Thanat and Mag-bell had cut their hair to their chin, and so had Soph and Toph, they were ready to die, but knew that only three of them would die that day.
Thanat shed tears for Tree Child, she led him to his death.
Toph fell as a blow from Mage lightning struck him in the chest, stilling his heart. Snow-hare took his place and they tightened the circle around Tree Child. Asazin stumbled as a sword cut through her defense but quickly righted herself and killed the attacker.
They were nearly there when Soph stopped to defend their backs. The enemy converged on her and they felt her stumbled and fall to an enemy sword.
Thanat, Mag-bell and Snow-hare left the circle to stand their ground and make sure Soph's death was not in vain.
"Thanat!" Snow-hare gasped between breaths. "If I die today, tell our mother my real name. Tell her I'm sorry." she stared at him as her previous opponent's corpse slid from her blades. Then she looked down, her mother laid injured about one hundred yards behind them. In front of them, an entire army waited to charge.
She glanced at Mag-bell and her younger brother and nodded when they did. They dropped their weapons and raised their hands, the startled gasps from the enemy told them that the magic which flowed between them glowed.
Then, without warning, they charged into the enemy troops, expecting death.
They were out numbered eighty to one.
Tree Child had met Matthew before, and now stood defiantly in front of his former apprentice.
"So, my former teacher, do you like my war?" Matthew said, closing the gap between them to ten feet.
"I did it all for you."
"No, you did it for you. For your entertainment. I said I would end you, my son, and I will." Tree Child said as he stripped off the spell which made everyone think he was nine.
Matthew drew back as Tree Child grew and his hair thickened. Standing before him was a twenty nine year old man, with glowing hair of unnamable color and matching eyes.
"Father, do I disgust you so?" Matthew said as he struck at his father's, Tree Child's, face with Mage lightning.
Tree Child brought up a shield, but that didn't stop the lightning from skimming his right arm.
"No, Matthew, you disappoint me." Tree Child said as he counter attacked with a fire storm.
The Mage battle raged on as they threw different attacks at each other until their magic was worn out. They drew their swords and barely managed to block each other.
Matthew gasped with pain as his father stabbed him through the chest and stabbed him back as he slid forward.
Tree Child felt tears come down his face as his only son hit the ground. He fell to his knees. He felt the presence of the Empires' Army around him.
As he fell, the air glistened around him. A portal opened in the air, to his surprise, his mother stood there. She offered out a hand to him and smiled. Reaching out, he took her hand.
Darkness fell as his hand landed in hers and she drew him through the portal and into the realm of death. The last thing he heard was his mother speaking a single, long forgotten name.
"Terisi."