Knight of Endrell Book One: The Red Empire

Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12

Sidonin's mind overflowed with wrathful cravings at the sight of his great palace now a beautiful and terrible gravesite. He dropped to his knees before the corpse of his first wife skewered upon his throne and wailed at the thought of this being the last of his days as lord of Gis. In his outrage he summoned all his remaining generals to rally the Gisic armada and prepare battle formations.

Half of the army had already been sent over to Endrell in secret, along with four of the emperor's sons, through an underground trail. The people of the king were well girded to fight, being armed with various weaponry and glistening bright ocher colored garbs. Besmo with Knightegel appeared before them saying simultaneously, "Time to go," and at their words, Sayle Hyseria cut her sword through the air and all the people disappeared from the temple undercroft except families that were caring for infants and children too young to fight. They stayed behind while some of the Izzo kept them safe.

In front of the palace ruins the armies of Gis filled the entire palace district, stretching all the way to the middle of the market circle. Before them stood the emperor arrayed in battle gear consisting of a long suit of plated robes over a coat of brass chainmail, with a more fearsome Egyptian-Pharaoh style headdress without horns. The face resembled that of the depiction of the red dragon on the Gisic bronze coin. He held in his left hand a golden red sword with a slightly curved blade with his golden claw on his left hand attached to his fingers.

The Monte Farasus were lined up in front of the army with the emperor, twenty and twenty on either side of him. After a few minutes of waiting, the people fighting in the name of the King of Kyros assembled by the masses from every visible street alley coming together on the path to the market. They marched with the children in front and the eight warriors before them. Some large numbers of Gisic soldiers tried to block them in the streets and just as they did, Eunteneus bolted out of an alley way knocking them left and right with his shield, striking them with his sword, clearing the way for the people as they advanced forward. Kinai also came out of an alley on the other side of the street and assisted Eunteneus.

Every wall, every rooftop, and every bridge was flooded by the legions of Gis, numbering well over eleven million, ready with bows, arrows, long ranged nets, and other weapons of war. Many more filled the ground behind the emperor, the whole of the army stretching beyond thirty million. They shouted, praising their emperor and damning their enemies with roars that filled the skies. There came not a sound from the people of the king other than their steady march. Their faces said enough; wrought with an unwavering will to end the reign of Sidonin and all who stood with him. As the soldiers diminished and the people could be seen again by the Gisic army, the young boy Kaitherion locked eyes with Sidonin and held his gaze for some time until the people stopped their march before him thirty feet away.

Sidonin walked towards Eunteneus just as he ripped a soldiers head off of his body and cried, "Please, enough! You have already shamed my whole house; must you now make all my empire as abased as my palace?"

"Yes we must," replied Eunteneus tersely.

Sidonin held back his rage with all strength and said calmly, "Yes, of course you must. Now please, Kinai, I ask you once more; my final offer...Submit to me, and all your transgression will be forgiv-eh..."

While he babbled on with that same offer of pardon, Kinai casually rolled his eyes and kicked up dust into the emperor's face, followed sharply by a driving upper swing with his sword that threw the emperor back to the front line of his soldiers. In an instance of brief silence Eunteneus remarked, "That says enough." Then with a great roar at a frequency that struck fear into the Gisic army he plunged his shield into the ground causing an earthquake that brought down every house, tower, bridge, and every wall within a two mile radius on his left. The armies of Gis fell back on themselves and some dropped from the wall on the other side.