Royal Criminal: Chapter 3 – Struggling Just to Survive

Chapter 3 – Struggling Just to Survive

With Ahaziah behind me, I stand ready to face the stampede of beasts and the elves on top of them. At first, we aren’t sure what to make of them and stand to the side until we clearly see that they mean to run us down as they send their elephants to crush both beastmen, guards, and civilians, their lions, tigers, and jaguars to finish those that remain, and their human-sized hawks carry away and drop the archers and watchers. Ducking into the alleys, we run for shelter and take down whatever animals come after us.

“Running again while the faithful are slaughtered,” Ahaziah says to himself.

“Well get back at them sooner rather than later,” I say.

“I hope you’re right because I can’t stand the sight and routine of this day anymore, Escribar.”

“Neither can I, but we have to prioritize your safety.”

We head into a nearby church that we made to be a regroup location for the guards and knights we rescued and get them to fend off the incoming beasts as we get Ahaziah to safety. Inside, they close the shutters of the windows so whatever tries to get in will have to try to break the nearly impenetrable plates of the shutters made for sieges and were also a gift from Equus. I join the guards and soldiers outside, cutting at the beasts that I remember hunting in my beginning years as a mercenary. Fighting them feels like reawakening an old instinct and memories. Of wanting to live more than the simple poor life of a gardener and be a man of wealth and importance.

First, I tried to start off legitimately. Since Serpentis is known for its hired help, I tried to get into contact with the St. Dismas group, a thieves guild that is hired by the Church to take from the guilty and give back to those who stole from them. Because my methods were forceful and they don’t exactly allow killing in the guild, I tried to be an independent merc, which was more profitable and liberating, but ended me in the place I am in today. I don’t hold it against God for taking advantage of my blindness and pride to get me here, but the memories of them make me feel like it would’ve been better if I had never gone through them and just stayed legit as a good thief in the St. Dismas group. Shaking the memories off, I refocus my entire mind on the fight especially since we’re losing men.

Suddenly, the animals stop fighting us even as the guards keep killing them. Once they see that the fighting has stopped, they stop as well and we all ready ourselves for the next surprise. The elves on beasts approach us and reveal their faces to us, many of which are wood elves with only a few dark elves among them. I’m sure this surprises and disappoints Ahaziah to some extent who probably thought the high elves had something to do with this. Taking a quick look back, I see Ahaziah peaking out from the church’s doors with his greatsword drawn.

“It’s surprising to me that you’re letting all these men die for you, Ahaziah. I thought you changed from your old ways, but I guess we were mistaken,” one of the wood elves says.

Storming out of the church, Ahaziah yells, “How dare you! You murder the innocent and those who give their lives for God and His Church and think you have the right to look down on me?! I declare you anathema!”

“We have employed the same methods you did when you turned against your own in the Holy Land! We are justified, even more so because we are bringing to you justice that is long overdue!”

The wood elves hold out their arms and cause a severe windstorm that stops us from advancing toward them while also turning this city into a forest by making large trees sprout from the ground in an instant. Most of the city seems to be destroyed and has been replaced with a luscious forest similar to the ones found in the Holy Lands of Matias.

“We have tortured you as you have tortured our countrymen. Your friends and servants have been slain while you were powerless to save them and now you will die a slow death, the same kind of death that you gave to those you wished to make an example of during your betrayal of the people of the Holy Land,” a wood elf says as their voice echoes throughout the new forest.

The destruction wrought by the wood elves has killed several of our allies, the civilians we saved, and the beastmen we interrogated. I order the remaining to fall back into the forest so we can regroup and plan our next move.

“Ahaziah! We need to go!” I say to the Pope who looks up at the trees with a rage in his eyes that I’ve never seen.

“Face me now, cowards! Butchers! Betrayers! If I am your true enemy, then kill me and spare the rest who have guarded me up until this moment,” Ahaziah says.

“If they wanted you instantly dead, they would’ve already. They’re dragging this out to torture you. I’m sure you want justice for the people who have died so far so dying wouldn’t accomplish that,” I say.

“You’re…you’re right, my friend. Let us retreat for now…yet again.”

Going through the forest, we manage to find our way into some ruins that are a combination of a house and the church we once were in. We only have about ten capirote knights left and three Equus guards. I take a look around us to see the beasts and elves taking up positions as they surround us.

“There has to be a way out of this. Can you give us any suggestions? I’m open to any idea at this point,” I say.

“There’s nothing to do but fight. We could go to a special armory in this city’s main cathedral where could get better weapons and armor meant for sieges on the city,” a capirote knight says.

“That’s fine and all but do you have a plan to get us out of this pincer attack?”

“The same plan as always. We throw ourselves at the enemy, and if we succeed and live to tell about it, then glory be to God. If we fail and die trying, then glory be to God and let our sacrifice be an offering of penance for ourselves and our enemies.”

“I’m not sure if-”

“Men! Are you ready to suffer and die for God?!”

“Yes!” the capirote knights say.

“Are you ready to bleed for truth and love itself?”

 “Yes!”

“Are you ready to get your life for His Holy Church and unworthy sinners?”

“Yes!”

There’s no convincing these people. Their suicidal tendencies to throw themselves into battle like this are why I never considered being one of them. Still, I can’t say their ways are not without honor, bravery, or virtue. Also, there’s some sense in their methods as they plan a way to our destination and compose our forces in a way so that each person has a specific role rather than just plainly throwing ourselves at the enemy. Archers will support the knights from the back while the few Equus guards and fastest capirote guards will lead from the front.

As soon as the plan is formulated and agreed upon, Ahaziah gives his blessing to the knights so that they may succeed before they put their simple plan into action. The first two waves of knights charge ahead of the enemy getting their attention while the archers take potshots at them from the new abundant amounts of cover. Using this cover is a smaller group that sneaks behind the enemy to slit their throats while their off guard and takes care of their archers. Meanwhile, Ahaziah and I slip away during the chaos as a few of the capirote knights lead us to their siege armory. An ambush comes at us from the dense trees above us as wood elves and their beasts descend upon us taking out our guards and leaving us outnumbered.

Their numbers advantage quickly disappears as other capirote knights that weren’t part of our original group come out of nowhere as well to aid us and our defeated guards don’t stay down for long as well as they join the fight. Once it’s over, I look at our injured knights who stand upright despite the gashes and cuts in their bodies, legs, arms, and heads. It’s as if they simply fell down the stairs or off a sprinting horse rather than being cut up by blades and claws. The tenacity of the people of Serpentis makes some people outside of the country think there’s something magical about its people similar to that of Canis, Polypus, Noctua, or Corvus since we’re able to fight on and make a full recovery despite the mortal injuries we may receive, however, since we aren’t able to use any magical spells, this tenacity could be chalked up to just that.

“I’m surprised there were more knights that survived,” I say.

“Oh, come now. You should know that the men of Serpentis are hard to keep down. We knew you were in trouble, regrouped, and have launched a counterattack against our enemies. Take a look,” a capirote knight says.

Moving past the rubble of buildings and trees, I see an all-out attack against the wood elves, their beasts, rogues, and beastmen by the capirote knights in the ruins of the marketplace of the city. I watch as the knights are beaten down and cut down over and over again and watch as they continue to get up. They only die after losing their heads or multiple limbs.

“It’s a wonderful show of devotion and love for God, isn’t it?” a capirote knight says.

“Yes, but we should really get to the siege armory so that we can minimize casualties,” I say.

“Yes, of course. We’ve already unlocked its supplies and are putting it to good use. We’ll take you to it so that you can be properly armed.”