Chapter I

Year 67 R. All four kingdoms and empires are fighting each other. The Jade and Phoenix are on one side. Thorn and Vaaltar, putting aside past squabbles, on the other. The war has been raging for ten bloody years, all sides sustaining tens of thousands of losses. The Battle of Caeus Forest was a battle in which all sides wept in the aftermath, but one faction was victorious, the Thorn Empire. All they know is that lots of good men died in those days. The body count was so unbelievably large that they stopped counting.

The path was littered with bodies as the ravens feasted on their flash, the trees full of bloodied and decimated men. Yet the battle raged on, and men continued to die. Both sides were fully engaged, each trying to gain the upper hand. Arrows rained death, swords slashed and stabbed at their enemies, cavalry smashed into ranks of men, mowing them down like wheat before a scythe. Caeus was a vital route into the territory of all kingdoms, and has been contested ever since the start of the war. Only now has the fighting come to a climax here, and each side wanted victory, bringing with them an estimated eight-thousand men, each, to the final battle for Caeus.

Only the Phoenix and Thorn kingdoms had arrived at the battlefield and without delay, they fought. On the main front of the Thorn Empire the men were pushing their enemies back. Every time they pushed, they gained ground, yet not without loss. “Camwell those archers are starting to get annoying get rid of them for me would ya?” yelled Hakens, their commanding officer. “You got it sir, let's go men!” Hakens rounded up ten swordsmen then disengaged from the cluster of fighting and advanced towards a group of Phoenix bowmen, who were firing from the trees on their right flank. His men kept close and locked shields as they marched towards the bowmen. He was close enough to the archers now that he saw five swordsmen guarding over the archers, ready for anyone to come and attack them. Camwell kept his shield raised to protect himself from the archers’ fire. “Forward men, Forward!” Camwell yelled, and his men broke formation to charge the archers. Arrows continued to fly at Camwell’s group, and one stuck itself firmly in his shield. Two of Camwell’s men fell motionless on the ground, arrow shafts protruding from their sides. ‘Your deaths will not be in vain’ Camwell thought to himself. “You will pay for this you savages!” he yelled, enraged by his comrades deaths. He finally reached the swordsmen along with what was left of his squad. He cut down two of them easily and went straight through the gap to the archers while his companions took care of the rest of the defenders. The archers, fearing death, fired their arrows without thinking. Camwell raised his shield and a second after that two thuds slammed into shield. He grunted with the impact, but kept moving forward. He reached the first archer and stabbed him in the gut, the man fell to the ground. Camwell’s sword gleamed with the blood of his enemies, he yearned for more to fall before him. He went after the two to his left. He slashed at the neck of one archer and the man fell grabbing his neck and gurgling blood, then with blinding speed, cut his sword into the back of thick studded leather armor of the other. Shortly after he felt two sharp stabs of pain in his right side and back, but he ignored them and turned on the last two archers with rage and fury in his eyes.

While Camwell was fighting the archers off, Hakens men pushed back the Phoenix army. “They’re retreating, keep pushing men and the battle will be ours!” He said after cutting down three soldiers with his sword and shield. The battlefield was covered in blood and littered with dismembered bodies from both sides. With shock he noticed that to the east of them a giant dust cloud was approaching. ‘That could only mean one thing’ he thought. The Jade Empire has arrived. I knew they would come but with that many Soldiers as to make a huge dust cloud is outrageous. Where are our reinforcements?’ he thought to himself. “Men fall back to the keep, with any luck our trick will work and the Jade will be too tired from their journey to fight against us.” He sounded the retreating horn and his men fell back. All they could do was hope. Camwell heard the horn just as the last archer was slain. “Come on men, Hakens sounded the retreat, let's head back and see if we can help with anything.” Camwell was hoping for another fight, he still felt like he needed to avenge the men he lost.

“Sir the enemies on the right flank are fleeing before the might of our advance like we planned. On the left flank we’re almost to the tree line where their archers are hidden” said one of the Phoenix soldiers “That’s perfect” said ‘Butcher’ the general for the Phoenix army. He was well built, wore heavy armor inscribed with runes and enchantments, and he was bald, but that didn’t matter to him, people usually fled from him since he was nearly two times their size. ‘When the Jade Empire brings their army to the left flank, the enemy will be confused and slaughtered by both armies. Then we will break attack and conqueror the castle of Caeus Forest and all of our names will bring glory to our families and empires, and I will be handsomely rewarded.’ He thought to himself, then he heard the the Jade Empire’s War horn, mixed in with another, that one is new, he thought, but he shrugged it off. It didn’t matter, the Jade war horn was sounded, and that's exactly what he wanted to hear. “They’re here, get in your positions! This will be the day where every enemy of the Phoenix will know that our kingdom is not something they wish to fight!” “YAAAA!” His men roared in response and they charged in. He then looked at one of the Thorn soldiers, he stood as still as a rock. ‘Something isn’t right here. Didn’t I just hear the Jade war horn? Weren’t we supposed to see them by now?’ He thought to himself. Then he looked at the enemy again and saw that they had already retreated behind Caeus’s walls and there were only twenty soldiers in view. Then he looked closer and noticed that it was just some wooden sticks that looked like soldiers in armor. ‘I can’t believe I was fooled by this trickery!’ he thought angrily. “Come on men!” he shouted to his men, and they rushed forward from their position, straight towards the castle.  

Hakens smiled to himself knowing he tricked the Phoenix army. The horn had worked, and better than he thought it would. All the Phoenix were coming this way. He saw Camwell running towards him along the walls of the castle. He also noticed that he wasn’t wearing armor and had bandages on his back. Hakens shot an inquiring look, but Camwell only said, “The enemy archers are dead, although we lost a few men” he said, looking a little downcast. “A necessary loss Camwell, besides I need you to do another task” he replied. “I need you to distract the Phoenix army. Put some boulders on the east side of the valley there. Take some thirty archers and one hundred swordsmen with you. Once the boulders are in place blow this war horn, and attack the enemy.” he said in a commanding tone. Camwell smiled and said “ You got it sir.” He ran off and followed the orders he was given by Hakens. ‘Finally, time to get revenge’ he thought

The castle of Caeus forest. An impregnable fortress surrounded by a moat and five meter high walls. Inside the castle five thousand two hundred-fifty Thorn soldiers prepared for the upcoming onslaught. “Captain, setup trebuchets along this wall, the archers will take the left and right flanks.” “Sir yes Sir!” replied the captain, who was just previously promoted. This had been his first major battle, aside from skirmishes and practice, and Hakens thought he deserved an easy task. ‘If all goes well the enemy will be crushed before day’s end, all we need now is the backup King Wulf promised us.’

Camwell had put all boulders in place and his men were ready to ambush the enemies as soon as all hell broke loose. “Alright men, listen up…” he paused and carefully chose his next words. “Soon this battle will come to an end but that doesn’t mean this is the end this is only the beginning of what’s to come. I can’t guarantee all of us will make it back home, but what I can promise is that you will be remembered as the soldiers who changed the course of this war. It’s been an honor fighting with all of you today. For the glory of the thorn Empire.”  Camwell wasn’t the best speech giver, but he needed them to have hope if they wanted any chance to win. “Now when the first Phoenix soldier reaches the end of the valley, roll all the boulders and charge in. Hopefully the forward ranks will continue to rush towards the castle and will be shoot by the rain of arrows, and the boulders will take out the rear. We are the distraction force for the middle and rear of their advance. Commander Hakens and his men will rush out and assist us with the time we give them. Get into your positions, here comes the enemy.”

If anything, castle Caeus and the surrounding land would have been beautiful, had it not been for the blood spilled at the time. “Archers, fire!” Hakens first order rang across the battlefield, and the deadly arrows flew from the castle walls hitting their mark. “NOW!” shouted Camwell and he blew the horn, sounding the charge, and thirteen boulders the size of three men each rolled down into the valley and smashed into the rear of the enemy's lines, with catastrophic results for the Phoenix soldiers. Camwell didn’t need to give further orders and his men rushed towards the battlefield. Completely caught off guard the Phoenix forces began to melt away, but only for so long and soon they realized they outnumbered Camwell and his men. They began to push back. Hakens and his men rallied and rushed out of the castle walls to help Camwell. Three hundred on horseback, leading the charge. Five hundred swordsmen behind and bringing up the rear flank two hundred-fifty archers. They reached Camwell and his men just in time. Camwell was down to seventy men and they were surrounded on all sides. Hakens horsemen broke through one side, battering aside all that stood in their way and reached Camwell’s group. The swordsmen rushed in behind the horsemen's charge, slicing and stabbing anyone who hadn’t been trampled by the charge. Hakens was riding towards his next enemy, sword arm ready to swing. As he closed the gap between his opponent the soldier threw a spear and hit his horse in its side. Hakens felt his horse crumple beneath him and then he was thrown from the saddle.

Camwell saw Hakens go down and was worried for his old friend, but he had to focus on surviving himself, he’d have to worry about Hakens later. Camwell was surrounded by five Phoenix soldiers. He rushed the one currently rushing him and stabbed the man in the chest, pivoted left and sliced the throat of another. The man fell instantly blood gushing from the wound. He then rolled out of the way just barely missing getting impaled from behind, but instead a surprised Phoenix soldier found his sword in one of his allies. Camwell quickly finished off the other two sending the last one fleeing for his life. He began looking for Hakens immediately

Pain ached all over his sides and he knew something must’ve been sprained or broken, but that was the least of his troubles. Hakens adrenaline was kicking in as he was surrounded by enemies. While Hakens was down, a Phoenix soldier tried to stab at him, but Hakens rolled aside just as the sword came down and managed to throw dirt in the man’s eyes, temporarily blinding him. He pushed himself up and lunged with his sword. Hakens stabbed the soldier just below the ribcage and the soldier went down in agonizing pain and shortly after that, stopped moving. Haken continued his onslaught by slicing a man's leg, forcing him onto his knees, and finishing him with a stab to the neck, the poor lad never stood a chance. He raised his shield just as another blow came from his left and the soldier overextended his attack. Hakens ran his sword through the man’s back and quickly turned around slashing with fury and bloodlust in his eyes. The man’s arm was cut off, the wound pumping blood and the man screaming in pain, ‘some horrors will never be erased from memory.’ Hakens was about to kill another when Camwell stabbed the Phoenix knight in the back, his sword protruding from the knights chest, the point gleaming with red. Hakens and Camwell were given a break as the enemy started to rout. “Good to see you sir.”
“And I am glad to see you.” replied Hakens, overwhelmed with relief. “The enemy is routing should we recall the men?” asked Camwell. Hakens thought for a minute and decided. “There should be no more bloodshed today, call them back.” Camwell pulled out a war horn and blew it two times, the sound to fall back and all of the Thorn soldiers yelled in triumph, knowing the day was won, a tremendous victory.

Night fell and with the Phoenix running away in utter rout the castle was full of joy and celebration. Smiles could be seen all throughout the castle and the men drank ale, dancing and singing heroes tales. Inside the main hall, Hakens and his captains were talking over plans for the next day. “Camwell give me a soldier count.”
“We have roughly around four thousand eight hundred-sixty men left, five hundred horses, and enough arrows to rain down hell on our enemies for days. We have one hundred with wounds, three-fourths of which have major wounds, and will most likely be unable to fight any further. That is all.” The report was grim and the men that died would not be forgotten. “Thank you Camwell.” replied Hakens. Hakens finally got through all reports and dismissed them to their sleep. Their plan was to try and follow the retreating Phoenix to their main camp and assault them while they rested. They would try and crush the enemy before they had a chance to regroup, if they failed, the war would be over quickly and decisively. They were outnumbered and if the Vaaltar didn’t get here soon, the battle would be lost. If this plan didn’t work they wouldn’t need to worry about tomorrow.

Meanwhile the Phoenix army had a long restless night as they walked back to their camp. They had been unsuccessful in taking Caeus. ‘I need to talk to King Fargoe when he arrives’ he thought to himself. As he was riding he heard a tree branch snap from his left and he swung his head in the direction the sound came from. “Who goes there?” he said cautiously and a scout came out of the trees walking to him up to him. He saluted Butcher with his arm raised across his chest. “My Lord, I come bearing news about the Vaaltar. They are bringing reinforcements from the East. I don’t know if they’re to help us or the Thorn Empire. But they’ll be here by midday tomorrow.”
“What's your name?”
“Jacks.” replied the scout. “Ok Jacks, get back to the campsite and have another scout take over for you.” As the scout rode away Butcher pondered over the scout’s report, wondering what the Vaaltar would do, and why they have come. The forest seemed more ominous at night then in broad daylight. The men were talking about dangerous creatures that would come out at night and slaughter them. A soldier shouted “You’re all bloody idiots!” Everyone that heard him approached him and formed a circle around him. They all looked like they were going to beat the man to death. ‘I need to end this’ Butcher thought. He walked through the lines of men and broke into the circle. “What is going on?” he asked. “This man thinks we’re all idiots and we don’t like it.” Butcher looked at the man who answered him with a cold deadly glare. “Well in a sense, this man is right, there are no creatures lurking in the dark. However he is wrong to have spoken up about it...” he continued, “You are soldiers without food, warmth, or rest. All of that is still half a mile away, and I, for one, do not want to be killed first thing tomorrow by a Thorn soldier because I wasn’t fully rested. I look forward to victory, not death, and if anyone gets in my way I will eliminate them and say he deserved it.” He said this as he stabbed his greatsword into the ground. With that everyone went silent. “NOW KEEP MOVING!” he shouted. The men lined back up in column formation and kept marching.

They reached the campsite, half an hour later, only to find that the Jade soldiers were there as well. Rage boiled inside Butcher. ‘They were here all this time and they didn’t fight with us’. Butcher, as soon as he dismounted, marched to King Fargoe's command tent, easily noticeable with the king’s emblem and its size. He opened the tents flaps and walked up to the king, as he was looking over his map. The king was half the size of Butcher, had black hair and a goatee. His weapons were two short swords. The King looked up to see Butcher walking to him “WHERE IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU AND YOUR MEN BEEN. WE GOT MASSACRED OUT THERE!” said Butcher, his face wrought with anger. The king kept a calm face as he replied, “Well, my men had a restless journey on boats across the sea, and half the time we were in a storm, I lost two ships to that cursed thing.” Butcher realized that journeying did take a lot of energy and he calmed himself down. “You could’ve at least sent word you were here.”
“I did, I came across a scout and told him to report to you that we had arrived, his name was Jacks.” replied the king. Butcher frowned as he thought he’d heard that name before, then he remembered. “I’ll be back.”  He said as he ran out the tent as fast as possible.

He threw Jacks out of his tent and heard the thud from where Jacks fell. “You didn’t tell me they were here.” Butcher said his temper rising. “Who was here? I told you what I was ordered to scout, and that was to scout out all possible enemy forces, I haven't even been to camp for three days.” He said as he was getting up, brushing the dirt off of his clothes. ‘Then why did the king lie to me’ he thought. ‘Or is the scout the one lying to me?’ He couldn’t make up his mind so he stormed off to his own tent. Just ten tents down the king of the Jade Empire was smiling.

CHAPTER II

“Halt!” yelled Tirian, King Wulf’s second in command, and general of the Vaaltar legions. The entire army stopped marching, the men still in formation, but they needed rest. “Darus.” he said to a small, slim man next to him, “Get two of your best scouts and tell them to scout ahead of us for half a mile, then have them report back.”
“Sir yes Sir” Darus replied. He rode off to the back of the column and told his scouts their orders. Darus then rode back to Tirian, “I’ve sent the scouts sir, do you require anything else?” he asked. “No.” he paused, then addressed the men, “Alright begin marching, we’ll break for camp in half a mile.”

Half a mile felt like forever to Tirian, and he’s sure the men felt it worse than he did. They kept walking down the dirt path, then with little surprise to the men Tirian called a halt. Tirian moved forward and dismounted from his horse. The scouts had returned, they were moving slowly and as they got closer Tirian noticed one of them was carrying the other.  Tirian called medics for the injured scout and as soon as he was taken care of the uninjured scout gave him his report. “We were attacked by bandits, they’re camped about a mile from here.” he began, “At least thirty of them, and they had a flag, we didn’t see what crest.”
“You did well, go get some rest. I’ll have some men go clear out their camp… Sergeant Gorin and Sergeant Falto, front and center!” Two soldiers who were standing guard approached and saluted their general. Sergeant Gorin was slightly overweight and had brown stubble for a beard. Sergeant Falto was the exact opposite, thin, lean, tall and muscular. They both had the same armor, due to their ranks, they both carried sword and shield as their weapons. “What do you need of us sir?” they both said in unison. “Gather your men, your going hunting.” The sergeants both smiled at each other “It will be our pleasure” They said in unison again, it was as if they read each other's minds. The uninjured scout told them the area in which to look for the bandits and marked an area on their maps. “The rest of you men,” Tirian said, addressing his captains, “Set up camp, we’ll have rotating guards every two hours.”

“Sir, I have urgent news about the Vaaltar” said a major from the Jade Empire. He was one of the majors Fargoe liked the least. The man thought he was one of the best, overconfident in himself. “Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to tell me.” said Fargoe, his patience growing thin. “Yes sir, um...they were last seen twenty miles away from where the battle took place, and are very close to the bandit camp that we hired.” The major knew he was disliked by the king, and he was very sure almost every other commander hated him, though he wasn’t sure why. “Ok major, what’s your name again?”
“Bosco sir.”
“Thank you Bosco, job well done. You may leave.”
“ Yes sir.” said Bosco, he bowed, turned around and walked away awkwardly out the tent, still pondering why they disliked him so much. “This isn’t good, if the Vaaltar reinforce the Thorn empire we won’t be able to win this battle. We’ve had way too many casualties on the Phoenix army.” Said Commander Jolf, from the Phoenix side of the tent. “We must finish them off in within the next day or the Vaaltar will be here.” said General Kuma from the Jade. Conversations arose all around the war table, “Everyone stop talking!” yelled Fargoe, as loud as he could, everyone went quiet. “We all know what's going to happen if we don’t act, so let's come up with a plan and stop the Vaaltar and afterwards crush the Thorn.” Everyone looked around the room hoping someone would have a plan to do just that. After a minute no one spoke, they were all thinking of a plan. Then as soon as Fargoe was about to say he had a plan, Bosco came running in the room like a madman. “The Thorn soldiers are coming this way!” He said breathlessly as if he had run ten miles. “What! Get the defences up and get the men ready for battle.” Said Butcher, who had sat quietly until now.  “Yes, Sir” said Bosco as he ran out the tent again this time with a little more motivation.

Sergeant Gorin and sergeant Falto got their men together and went out to destroy the bandit camp. sergeant Gorin sent two of his men to scout ahead just so when they got there the two men could tell him where their defences are weakest at. “Lets finish this up men, the sooner we get rid of these savages the quicker we are at getting to the Thorn Empire and ending this bloody war.” Falto said this with a sense of finality to the men as he saw the scouts coming back. “This is going to be good” said Gorin standing proudly next to Falto as the scouts came to them and went to knelt before delivering the information. “Sir, their defences to the east are the weakest of the whole entire camp, but it would be better if we attack from the south side, send two archers to get rid of the guard that stands watch and then send two more inside taking any other guards out. Then the rest will follow and we take them out before they even know what hit em. It’s the best way how to do this without losing a single person in this battle.”
“Hmmm, if what you are saying is true then it would be the best if we did take the south side, what say you, Falto?”
“Yes, I agree with the plan, let's get the men and get rid of these bothersome bandits that are getting in the way of our glory in the battle of Caeus Forest.” The two squads marched to their first engagement of the Battle of Caeus Forest.

“Archers move now and take those sentries out.” said sergeant Falto, remembering the scouts information. Addressing Gorin he said, “Send the men in now and I will distract them to the East, it’s up to you to hit them from behind and take them by surprise.” Gorin moved in position so when Falto’s distraction happens they will be ready to ambush the bandits. Fifteen tense  minutes had passed before they heard shouting in the distance and parts of the Eastern side of the camp were ablaze with fire. That was the sign that to charge. “Archers, covering fire!” said Falto and as he said the orders the archers fired and killed the two guards who were still unaware of the attack from behind. As everything was going according to plan they sent two people ahead to kill any other guards who weren't engaged in the East. “Alright men, we need to get to Gorin.”

  “Keep it going men!” said Gorin, “Don’t give them a chance to recover!” The archers continued to fire down anyone who was alert and might have sounded the alarms. Some fights broke out between individuals, but everything happened so quickly it seemed a blur. As this was happening the bandit’s leaders were organizing and started to yell at each other inside the command tent. Amongst the confusion, screams were heard as men were being killed inside their own tents. After a minute the sounds stopped and everyone inside the bandits command tent, a ragged building made of cloth and a few pieces of wood, started to wonder what happened. One of the leaders decided to poke his head out and at that moment he collapsed, an arrow protruding from his head. The other leaders began to panic and started brandishing what weapons remained, two spears, one steel sword, and a mace. The Vaaltar men rushed the tent, Gorin and Falto leading the charge. Gorin blocked an overhead attack with his shield and stabbed outwards, his sword finding its mark in the gut of a bandit. Falto had already cut down two, but was bleeding from a wound on his arm. The men took care of the remaining bandits. Afterwards Gorin ordered his men to burn the camp and take any supplies they might need.

Gorin and Falto came together after the battle and gave each other a hug, one that seasoned warriors share. “You did good Falto, without you sneaking up behind them they would have put an arrow in me!” said Gorin “You did good yourself with that distraction, without you guys this plan would have fallen apart and the camp would’ve come awake. Also those archers firing from behind, it really did a number on them.” said Falto “Well it’s about the time we get back to the main force.” said Gorin with a big smile knowing his plan worked “Let’s get going men!” he yelled. Bodies lay strewn throughout the camp, some murdered violently as they slept, others lay deformed and disfigured without limbs or smashed in skulls. Though war was gruesome these two tried not to let it get to them, so they decided to try and be as cheerful as can be.

The Thorn general’s plan was successful and now all they had to do was unleash chaos. Hakens, with thirty bowmen and twenty spearmen on the north side of the camp started to rain hell with fire arrows, some arrows struck the tents, immediately catching fire, the others hit the ground and went out with nothing to fuel the source. The enemy camp was full of confusion as the men and their leaders scrambled to get their weapons and be ready to face the enemy, the plan to make the enemy think they weren’t followed had worked. Camwell was on the south side of the camp doing the same thing as Hakens, but he only had twenty bowmen and ten spear men with him. The plan was to attack from all sides, with Hakens and Camwell causing a distraction while the other commanders got their men into position. Their tactics started to decimate the enemy forces. Already twenty of the Phoenix soldiers died from the first volleys in the first few minutes of the attack. The Jade and Phoenix soldiers were still in a daze when it seemed to them that Thorn soldiers flooded them from all sides. The remaining Thorn soldiers were inside the enemy camp, and no one could stop them in their onslaught. So far all the plans were working to their advantage and the Thorn Empire army suffered very little casualties, since the enemy was still unprepared. “Remember, after the archers have no more arrows we retreat to join the main attack forces.” said Camwell to his spearmen as he saw the smoke start to rise from the tents. Some Jade and Phoenix were trying to douse the fires as they arose, others were still scrambling, and some were on fire. They were the unlucky ones. The battle lasted but fifteen minutes with minimal casualties for the Thorn.

“Get the men out of here!” said Butcher “We will meet up to the east of the camp in the forest I have a scout camp there we can use.” he said to Fargoe as he ran out the tent to get the rest of the men in burning tents to freedom. He also managed to grab a steel dagger, with an engraved Phoenix symbol on it. “I will see you there. Be safe my friend!” Fargoe yelled back. Butcher was already too far to hear Fargoe’s response and kept going until the smoke in the air caused him to cough a little. “Hey, is anyone in there!” Butcher yelled to anyone that might have heard him. He stood outside a burning tent this was the only one that hadn’t been fully consumed by flame on the inside. He saw a glimpse of movement like a flinch. “Hold on, I’m going to save you just give me a second!” he yelled. He ran inside the burning tent, sweating now in this unbearable heat and with his armor on him it felt like he was in a oven, being cooked alive. ‘Should I take off some of my armor before saving him? No I have to save him, his safety before mine’ he thought. Then he saw a person that seemed like a Phoenix soldier, but he couldn’t tell. As he got farther in the tent he saw that the soldier was neither Jade nor Phoenix, but a Thorn soldier. The Thorn soldier reached out with his hand, a plea of help. He grabbed the soldier and lifted him over his soldier. Butcher turned around, but the way he came was blocked by fire, there was no escape.  A thought came into Butcher’s mind. He rushed towards the back of the tent, where the flames hadn’t reached yet, and broke through the back, out of the tent and into safety, or so he thought. He ran straight into a group of Thorn soldiers. He looked around and saw the death and destruction, hoping that some of his men had escaped. The Thorn soldiers surrounded him, weapons drawn. “Look, I saved your friend here, the least you could do is let me go.” Butcher tried pleading, but the men knew who Butcher was, and they weren’t gonna let him go. Butcher, still holding the Thorn soldier who was unconscious, was thinking of  a way to escape. “Ok I’m going to slowly set him down, and all of you are gonna let me walk away.”
“How about this YOU put him down and we won’t kill you” said the soldier to the right of him.  He looked to be about six feet tall, had black hair and a shield on his back. Butcher also took note that he was brandishing a spear aimed directly at his chest. “I’m guessing you’re the captain?” Butcher inquired although he already knew the answer. He already had most of his idea to escape formed, but his problem was gonna be running into other patrols. He unslung the man off of his shoulder and got a clear look at him. He had the start of a mustache, gaunt cheeks and a scar over his left eye. He was still sweating from the heat he endured inside the tent. Butcher, though big as he was, had lightning fast movements and grabbed the spear from the Captain and snapped it in half. The broken end was sharp and he threw it directly at one of five guards. It struck the man in his forehead and he fell down immediately, blood streaming from the killing wound. He then took the spear head and stabbed it at the Captain who had just taken out his shield and deflected the blow, but Butcher kept the movement going and stabbed the spear into another guard's chest and left it there, impaled in the soldier. The impact knocked the guard down and he lay still. Amidst the confusion Butcher saw his way out and started sprinting away from the guards. Only to run into three horsemen who were, like the guards, patrolling for survivors. Butchers survival instincts kicked in and he grabbed the mounted man nearest him and pulled him from the saddle. The man hit the dirty ground with a bone shattering thud. Butcher hoisted himself up onto the saddled horse and began riding away. The other two horsemen followed suit, Butcher looked behind him and as he did he saw the horsemen on the right nod to the other. The one on the left broke pursuit, probably to get reinforcements. Butcher knowing he had to fight drew his sword from its scabbard. As the distance between him and his pursuer closed Butcher flicked his sword to his right hand. When the rider caught up to Butcher, sword already drawn, the rider swung at buchter, but he lost control of his reins before he swung. Having to put too much power into the swing the rider unbalanced himself, but still stayed in his saddle. Butcher’s horse, having panicked, veered to the right and directly into the other horse. If anyone was watching they would’ve laughed at the sight of the falling horses and their riders. Butcher’s horse and the other rider’s horse tumbled down a steep hill taking Butcher and the other horseman down with him. His armor had softened the the damage a bit, but when he stopped rolling his head hit a log. He immediately tried to get up, but his lower left leg burned in agony and pain. He then realized that he either twisted his left ankle when he hit the ground, or worse. “DANG IT!” He screamed as he grabbed his left leg which was now swelling and purpling. He then looked to his left where he saw the other horsemen which laid there, still and unmoving. ‘He must be dead’ he thought. He limped to the horse that had fallen with him, he then saw that the horse’s legs were broken and was in a lot of pain. He couldn’t let the horse stay that way. “Thank you for everything you did for me” he said to the horse as he pulled out the Phoenix dagger he had carried with him and stabbed the horse in the heart, with it’s last wine the horse was dead and Butcher got up and started to limp towards where he thought his new camp was set up.

“What happened? Did you find him?” said Hakens, out of breath because of running to where the other two guards were standing near the dead body. After the news that his team had lost the Phoenix general Butcher. “No sir” said the tall solder to the right of Hakens, “one of the horsemen was thrown off their horse and two guards went after him. One caught Butcher off guard and after that we lost sight, the horses were too fast for us to keep up. After a minute or two we caught up and saw him limping away, towards the forest. As far as we know his leg is injured and he is heading East.” Hakens nodded and replied “Well then send two groups of men to go look for him, this time, kill him.”