The Fall of Dewan

Chapter 6 When the Bad Got Worse

Artemis had been relatively absentee in the war up until this point. His presence was felt but never seen, leading from afar. While Gerold and Cecila marched in the front lines, Artemis gave commands from the safety of his throne. It wasn't as if his soldiers needed inspiration, most were drafted unwillingly and motivated by fear.

So when Artemis was at the helm of the Almorian army as they charged at the Dewanians, all including Gerold and Cecila, were astonished. Once they recovered from the shock they realized the sheer number of soldiers that he was leading. Artemis sat atop of a beautiful black horse, wearing bronze armor, sword in the air as the horse charged forward and he yelled at the men around him. Behind him were what one would estimate to be approximately two thousand soldiers, and it seemed nearly a quarter were on horseback. Gerold and Cecila recovered quicker than most around them from the surprise and sprang to action. Yelling commands to all those around, telling solider to gather their swords and prepare themselves for a fight. The Dewanians were able to get somewhat into marching formation when arrows began to rain down on them. The Almorian archers were shooting from higher ground from what felt to be every direction. Dewanian soldiers attempted to raise their shield to protect themselves, but some were not fast enough. Gerold himself came close to be pierced by an arrow, had it not been for Greggory sacrificing himself as he pushed Gerold out of the way. Gerold stared at a fallen Greggory, an ally who had become a close friend over the past ten years. He was ignited with a rage, he let out a battle cry and ran forward with Bloodbarer in the air, the whole Dewanian army following him. Historians may report that this is where the battle took a bad turn for the Dewanians, before swords ever even clashed. As Gerold ran forward and his solider followed, all formation was lost. Any plan and strategy that had been formulated was thrown to the wind.

' The Dewanians put up a good fight considering they were fighting many on horseback who had a height advantage. Each and every Dewanian solider killed as many as they could before they themselves were killed. Almoria slightly outnumbered the Dewanains and the presence of Artemis had thrown them off. Despite them fully expecting the Almorian forces, Almoria still found a way to catch them by surprise.

The battle raged for about a day before any remaining Dewanian forces began to retreat, a number that was concerningly low. Almoria had planned for this retreat though. Early in the battle, the Almorian archers had turned their bows to any Dewaian horses. This meant that as the Dewanains retreated they were left at a significant speed disadvantage. The Almorians had horses and Dewanian soliders were left to run on their already tired feet.

Gerold and Cecila had both managed to survive the battle thus far, both injured but not fatally. Both were covered in so much blood and mud that they were hardly recognizable- they looked similar to all the other retreating injured and fallen Dewanian soliders around. Cecila had a large, oozing gash on her left leg and Gerold had a head wound over his left eye that was bleeding profusely. As they yelled for their soldiers to retreat they prepared themselves to be picked off by the chasing Almorians. There was likely only a few hundred Dewanian soldiers left at this point so they would be easily finished off by their opponent's larger numbers. They were left shocked once again as Almorian soldiers rode past them heading south, killing any that were directly in their way but not necessarily targeting all survivors. Cecila even spotted Artemis, still atop of his black horse, riding quickly south away from the battlefield. It seemed the Almorians had a different objective now.

It took Cecila and Gerold some time to figure out what Artemis's plan was. They eventually realized there was truly no way for him to know if they had been killed in the battle or not. Once the battle began, Cecila and Gerold were in the thick of it. Any Almorian solider that got close enough to recognized them was cut down in moments. There had been no sense of command as the battle raged, it had all turned to choas, so it is not as if Dewanian soliders had been directly looking at Gerold and Cecila for instructions. They were so filthy that any armor or clothing that would have at one time identified them as royal was now concealed. The battle had ended in so much carnage that Artemis had likely just assumed that Cecila and Gerold were among the dead.

And if Artemis thought Gerold and Cecila to be dead, there was only one place he would be rushing off to in such a hurry. To finish off the bloodline.