Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

Chapter 35

All of Sersalvon was picking a side.

Whom to support? The prince they had always known to be the rightful heir until the second son provided some evidence claiming the opposite and instigated the slaughter of the Sersalvonian nobility in the Coronation of Blood.

Some believed the rumors that this same second son was the Aetherwielders come again. While others believed he was a demon. A prince crowned in blood. The villages they came across as they marched their host were deserted. Sometimes, on their walls, there was a painting painted in his likeness and his forehead was crowned in blood.

Even his own followers feared him. They didn't understand him. They did not know what to make of him. Their heads remained bowed whenever he walked past them. He was of another world to them.

Sometimes, whenever it was dark at night, he would stare up at the stars and think of the heavens. Of the war he saw. Where angels battled against gods. Juliana refused to answer any of his questions about what he saw except for one: it was why he gained his powers.

Count Jovan's men joined up with him. 300 knights and nearly three thousand foot. Meanwhile, Inejgo, who led the vanguard, commanded nigh on ten thousand men. With one and a half thousand knights, mounted sellswords, and light cavalry. Mounted scouts went out and ahead to scout out the road ahead of the marching vanguard. The main force led by Martyn Aguino-Florjes numbered fifteen thousand men. Ten thousand in the main body with five thousand in the rear. Nearly two thousand knights and mounted sellswords included.

As they marched their host down the road to Navitium, the commanders of the great host were planning, and Benedict was included. As they stopped to make camp for the day, lumbering along the road to Navitium, Benedict entered the commanders' tent, where the Duchess of Mercenaries, Inejgo, and Count Jovan were. Also there were some of Duchess Lilliana's trusted advisors who had been assisting Inejgo. Lord Emmanuel Aguino was present, father of Samee Aguino, an aspiring squire; Sir Rodrigo Solaz, an old knight who was cousin to the Lord of Solaz, a minor house in Veroña, but he had made a great name for himself; and Dame Joan delle Llañas, the Lady of the Fields. These were near legendary names. All in the service of the Duchess of Mercenaries and Flowers. Even Angelica was there, although she seemed to be more watching and listening rather than giving input.

Sir Rodrigo was speaking, "... scouts have reported the Lord of the Fang Gate has mustered nigh on five hundred men in this short time. It seems to them that the Lord Constable may have also left behind a part of the force he brought to Lux Aestius at the Fang Gate. Evident by the serpent banners that flew over and around the Fang Gate."

"What should we do?" asked Inejgo.

"It is vital that we capture the castle quickly. We cannot allow Francisco, Jacquez, and the Lord Constable enough time to muster a substantial force to defend Navitium," said the Dame delle Llañas. When she looked up and noticed Benedict, her eyes went back down in a flash. Rodrigo Solaz refused to meet his eyes. Even the Duchess of Mercenaries was uncomfortable, but she remained her composure. Inejgo was not flustered, but only stared at Benedict oddly. He had not seen the Coronation of Blood, but he had heard the stories of what happened. But it seemed he did not quite believe them.

"Perhaps digging under the walls will be the best idea?" Rodrigo proposed.

"And how long would that take?" Inejgo shot. "No... too long."

"We can wait for Martyn to catch up with us and our siege equipment," the Duchess suggested.

"Too long, Your Grace," Joan rejected.

"There is no need for this," Benedict said abruptly. "We simply need a ram and some ladders. We can scale the walls and break down the gate."

Count Jovan coughed. "My prince. And what of their own siege equipment? The Fang Gate has catapults and trebuchets upon its turrets that can crush our men and women into bloody pulps. They can rain down arrows and boulders on us as we ram the gate. And pour tar on our ladders as we scale the walls."

"No need." Benedict insisted. "Your scouts did not truly see the Fang Gate. I have been inside it. All three gates on the three roads to Navitium; Fang, Scale, and Venom have been criminally underfunded since even before my father began his reign. The gates are rotting along with their catapults and trebuchets. The soldiers within the Gates are no longer the professional men-at-arms they once were, but instead a handful of knight sprinkled in a force composed primarily of the volunteers from both Navitium and some surrounding towns and villages."

"And what of the men left by the Lord Constable?" Jovan inquired.

"I doubt it is more than two hundred foot the Lord Constable left behind. The man is more likely to save his force for Navitium. He only wishes to bloody our nose here. We can easily overwhelm them with our ten thousand."

"We will take casualties," Lilliana warned.

"In every battle there are casualties," Benedict retreated.

"Yes, yes." Lilliana waved a hand. "But the question is how many casualties will we take? And how much will it hamper us in the eventual siege of Navitium?"

"It will hamper us none," Benedict assured. "Even the walls of the castle are shaky in places."

The Duchess of Mercenaries tightened her lips. "So ladders, grappling hooks, a ram..."

"And a torutoga formation to protect the men carrying the ram―"

"So a headlong charge onto a keep that rests in a pass between two mountains that has held back armies nearly twice our size before? I don't like it..." Count Jovan interrupted.

"It is the quickest option we possess," Benedict assured.

"What about turning Lord Zaña to our side?" Inejgo suggested.

Benedict shook his head. "House Zaña is as proud as they are old. They champion themselves as men and women of honor and duty. They would not believe me, who they would view as an upstart..." He took a shaky breath. "And his son died in the coronation."

Jovan grimaced, Dame Joan turned away, Rodrigo bowed his head, and Lilliana held a look on her face... it was... empathy. Inejgo just shook his head. "Many enemies we have made from that coronation."

Where only blood was crowned king, Benedict finished mentally. "Lord Zaña will want justice for that. Knowing the man, he will want to kill me himself."

Angelica perked up at that. "We could use that to our advantage."

"Hm?"

The Thorn of Florjes stood up. "Use his honor to your advantage. Challenge him to single combat over the death of his son."

The Duchess pounced on that. "Yes! A splendid idea, my daughter. We use the honor of House Zaña to our own advantage. And Benedict."

"Yes?" he replied.

"Make it a show."

Benedict felt himself getting sick. He knew the Lord Zaña of the Fang Gate. He had been a kind man, and he loved his son more than anything in the world. His only son from his first wife. He had two more and a daughter on his second wife but he had never been so close to her.

The meeting convened and Benedict walked out, with his head down. But when he looked up and saw the soldiers breaking camp and making for the Fang Gate, he saw no men or women loyal to him. No people cheering for his cause. All he saw were men and women of Florjes. Sellswords of Florjes. Lords and ladies of Florjes. It was not for him they were fighting this war. It was for Florjes.

If only for Angelica, he would be completely and utterly alone.

Even Jovan was a man of Florjes. He wondered what the Duchess of Mercenaries had promised him. Had it been Angelica before Myeria died he wondered? Had it been influence in the new kingdom Benedict wanted to set up (a kingdom that would be built on the back of Florjes). For a moment, he completely understood what the people of Navitium would feel when his thirty-five thousand strong army strolled up to the gates of the city. This was an army of Flojes. The Duchy of Veroña had come to conquer the heart of Sersalvon. If a shattered kingdom could have a heart...


When they reached the Fang Gate, Benedict took in the sight of the great castle stationed between two mountains. The city of Navitium was ringed by a range of mountains known as the Coiled Snake Mountains. There were three gaps in the mountains that an army could pass through. In those three gaps, the Fang Gate, Scale Gate, and the Venom Gate, stood to command them. The Fang Gate was dark and brooding, unlike most Carabaí castles but reminiscent of her sister Gates. It was short and wide, with thick walls and rows of stone fangs lining its walls, a symbol of power and fortitude. It was made of sombreal, shadowstone, a dark type of stone commonly found in the stone mines of the mountainous southern Sersalvon. On top of the walls of the Fang Gate, the bright Sersalvonian banners danced and waved in the air, depicting the sigils of dozens of minor lords and ladies, knights and dames. Most left behind by Francisco as he retreated to Navitium.

Their host set camp in a semicircle around the mountains, out of range of the catapults and trebuchets on the walls, although they were old and their wood was rotting. Angelica walked to him right before Benedict was about to set out and challenge the Lord of the Fang Gate. "Don't be stupid," she said. "Give them a show, yes but finish it quickly as well. Let them know that Mikkael is with you."

Benedict only nodded.

When all was ready, he strode forward with his guard of some of the best knights and dames in the service of Duchess Lilliana. Sir Don Quíllas, Dame Lilia Vaserúz, Dame Chiara Accettola, the Bastard of Servando, and others. They held the white flag of truce high in the air and trotted forward on their steeds to the Fang Gate. When they were just outside of the archer and crossbow range, they stopped.

Are you ready? A voice whispered inside of his head.

Juliana? He thought. It's been so long...

I've been... busy, was her reply.

He knew with what. For that moment, he raised his eyes up to the sky, to the war that raged above him. Almost as if he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Aether that flowed so freely above.

But down here, it was through him the Aether flowed through.

"Lord Javier Zaña!" Benedict bellowed. "I have come to request that you lay down your arms and surrender the castle to me, Prince Benedict Navíste, the rightful heir to the Serpent Throne and the Serpent Crown. The rightful heir to Sersalvon!"

There was silence for a bit. And then: "Lies! We saw the rightful king ride by but two days past! All I see down there is a usurper, a murderer, and a daemon!"

"Those are hefty accusations to one who shall soon be your king."

Javier Zaña appeared above on the ramparts, his visor lifted up on his helm and his surcoat draped over his plate armor depicting a row of three white fangs on the top part of the green fess with a deep blue field. The Fang Lord scoffed. "You will never be king, Benedict. You are a murderer. Who killed my own son!" The men on the ramparts bellowed in agreement and anger.

"I did not kill your son, Javier!"

"So perhaps you did not hold the sword that pierced his throat! But it was you who began that Coronation of Blood. They tell me that it was you who took the sword and cut down Sir Terrance of the Serpent Guard to get to soon-to-be King Francisco, beginning that accursed coronation. You will never be king over anything but blood and death, Benedict!"

That hit hard. And deep. "It was not I who started the coronation! It was Francisco who took up violence and cut down the first Cleric Knight he could get to! But if you are so adamant that it truly was I―" He dismounted from his steed and drew a knife from his side before throwing it into the soft, dark earth where it stuck with the blade within the ground. "―Then let us have a trial by combat! Iusphiel shall grant strength to whomever speaks the truth. The strength to cut his foe down." He reached out and summoned his poleaxe. It had grown easier with practice, but it still took strength from his. The Aether flowed through his veins to his hands, where the poleaxe coalesced in a could of gold mist and Aether particles. Benedict channeled the Aether within him to flow to the poleaxe, filling the runes and etches with a glowing soft blue that illuminated his face with a teal tint. Men on the ramparts made the sign of the Angel King and even Javier's face paled as he bore witness.

But the Lord of the Fang Gate was a proud man from a proud house, and he would not turn down a challenge to single combat. He disappeared from the ramparts only to later appear as the iron portcullis of the Fang Gate slowly lifted open to make way for the Fang Lord to walk through, guarded by his household guard. When he was about twenty feet from Benedict, he stopped and took hold of a two handed mace with one long spike protruding from it's head with the ball of the mace lined with jagged flanges that looked terrifying from afar. Greatfang, the mace was called. It was crafted from Aes Sídhe steel just before the Daemon Wars and had been with the House of the Fang Gate ever since. It could crush even Sídhe armor and crumpled through regular steel as if it was no more than paper. It could shatter weapons, shields, and others and has always been the pride of House Zaña.

The guards of both of the two men left them by themselves. All that remained between Benedict and Javier was twenty feet of open land.

Benedict closed that space quickly. He closed in and turned to the side as Javier swung with the bottom spike of his poleaxe facing Javier. The flanged head of the mace missed the poleaxe, instead it was the long handle hitting the poleaxe just above the bottom spike. Benedict swung his axe head around, using the momentum he had gained from Greatfang, to swing it into the back of Javier's neck. But the man surprised him by doing a pirouette to spin out of the way and away from Benedict's reach. Their dance paused as they circled around each other before they charged once again. This time it was Javier who tried to close in the distance to deny Benedict his reach advantage. The prince jabbed his poleaxe forward, top spike first, but Javier caught it on the handle of his mace and pushed it away. Benedict countered by using the momentum to bring the bottom spike back around. It speared through the Fang Lord's armor, the angelsteel triumphant. The steel of Javier's pauldron gave way to the fine tip of the spike, cutting through the mail as well and the leather, but enough momentum was lost that the tip only slightly pierced Javier's shoulder. The Lord of the Fang Gate retreated once more and stared at the wound in disbelief.

"Not even Sídhe steel can strike that far," was all he said. His mouth gaping as bloody slowly leaked out of his wound and soaked into his glorious surcoat.

Benedict pressed the attack this time. He swung his poleaxe around so quickly and violently that he gave Javier no time to dodge, forcing the Fang Lord to block with his mace. Greatfang flung back but remained in Javier's hands. Benedict seized the opportunity and swung his poleaxe back around the other way, hammer side first. The Fang Lord tried to jump up over the swing, but the hammer still caught him on the foot and sent him down to the ground flat on his back. The Lord of the Fang Gate screamed in agony as he lay flat on his back. But that was nothing like the scream when Benedict brought the axehead down on his elbow, shearing through armor and bone as red mist flung into the and meaty bits fell to the ground.

Benedict held his top spike at the throat of the Lord of the Fang Gate as he screamed his pain away for all to hear. "Yield," the prince demanded.

It was then the proud lord of House Zaña pissed himself.

"I... yield," the lord said through teeth gritted with agony. And sobbing.

And with him, fell the Fang Gate.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro