A Kaskian Story: Leaon, the Kings General

Chapter Ten

"Your majesty." Kerd greeted as he knelt before the King who was sitting on his throne. "I have come to give you my report."

"Proceed." Cladon replied while resting a staff on his lap, the purple gem on its tip dimly glowing.

"We lost the children south of Toogal. They were accompanied by two Bermion and two Kaiine." Kerd reported, taking a deep breath after uttering that he had lost his prey. "There were no signs of them entering the city itself. From the reports, it is the younger child, a female, that is using magic. The older, a boy, has been trained by his father in the use of weapons."

"That is no surprise." The King said as he fiddled with the staff. "They have reached the old Bermion and are currently under his protection."

"So it was Teddy?" Kerd replied, amazed that the old Bermion was alive after all these years. "No one has seen him in over a hundred years..."

"Yes, and now they are protected from me. I can no longer see into their minds." Cladon replied as the purple gem began to glow brighter as irritation showed on his face. "They are no longer within our grasp. We must move on to the next phase. Have you assembled the soldiers?"

"Yes, your majesty." Kerd replied, flinching as the gem brightened before fading to its soft hue. "They're currently outside the Capital, waiting for the command to head to Dealay."

"Good. Before you head back to them, get all of your kind within the Capital and take them with you to Dealay." Cladon said as he stood up, gauging the Felein who now looked up at the King, showing the wounds on his face.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Interesting." Cladon stated as he casually walked his way towards the kneeling General. The King reached a gloved hand around his chin, pulling the Felein to his feet. Cladon ran a finger across the scar over Kerd's face, as a deep red glow radiated from his hand to the General's face. Closing his eyes, the King watched the events causing such a wound unfold in his mind, seeing it through the mind of his loyal subject. "Very interesting. Such skilled fighters. I may have to make a trip to see her."

"Sali, take Shizrin to the medical tent and get her looked at." Leaon ordered.

"Yes sir!" Sali replied as she rode off on the horse, Shizrin resting limply in front of her as they traversed the camp north of Dealay.

"You're getting back to work." Leaon told his captive, pushing the chained man forward as they headed towards the Bridge.

Jarrant and Leaon stand over Erik as he helps to continue building the bridge, making more tools and equipment for the creation of the bridge. The General listened carefully as Jarrant reported the progress made over the past week he had been gone chasing the Anvil Warrior. Leaon stayed close to his captive over the final few days of construction as the bridge neared completion. Each night, Leaon had Erik chained with three guards within the tent watching him while the man slept, not leaving any chance for him to escape again.

"Sir! General Kerd has arrived!" A scout told Leaon.

"Wonderful." Leaon sighed. "Garneth, Reshmi, stay close to Erik, do not let him out of your sight. Sali, Jarrant, come with me."

"Yes sir!" Jarrant replied.

"Show Kerd to my tent." Leaon told the messenger as he headed back through the camp towards the location of his temporary headquarters, knowing that the other Felein would have battle plans and strategies to go over.

Leaon sat in his chair, facing the opening to the tent with Sali and Jarrant standing on either side of him. The General raised an eyebrow as his counterpart joined them, staring at the scar across his face and the worn out expression. Kerd sat down in the chair facing Leaon as he looked over the map sprawled across the table between them.

"Where are we on the bridge?" Kerd asked as he caressed the map with a finger, trailing the distance between the city of Loson and the capital of Premus.

"A day, two at most." Leaon replied. "I assume the army is pouring in?"

"Indeed."

"What's the plan then? What are we doing when the bridge is finished?" Leaon questioned as he continued to gauge his counterpart.

"Loson." Kerd replied while sticking a claw into the city's location on the map. "It's roughly a day's journey once we're across. We need to arrive early morning, while it's still dark out, and destroy it and everyone within their walls."

Leaon sighed and nodded his head, already expecting that was the plan. "And then the Capital, I assume?"

"Yes."

"Do we have any details on the defenses of Loson and the Capital?" Jarrant asked.

"Loson has, from what our intel has gathered, a strong guard." Kerd answered while scratching at the scar on his chest. "Nothing we cannot handle. Their numbers are nowhere near ours. It's the Capital that we need to be concerned about. Its location is easily defended, they have a large enough army to put up a fight, and if they pull the soldiers from the port, they could potentially out number us."

"That's why we're hitting Loson first." Leaon realized. "The King wants to get rid of as much of their military strength as possible before we hit the capital. The port city is too far, too hard to get to without notice, but Loson, he found a way to sneak up on them."

"That he did." Kerd agreed.

"Sir! We have a problem!" A soldier said, standing in the entrance of the tent.

"What is it?" Kerd asked, receiving a glare from Leaon as this was the latter's soldier.

"There's confrontation within the city, the guard and... Well... The Felein's are fighting."

"You can't just come here and kick us out of our homes!" A guard yelled at the Felein's littering the courtyard of the barracks.

"We have been sent by the King! Move along little humans." A Felein replied while pushing the guard out of his way.

"Stop!" Another guard yelled, pulling their sword out to threaten the Felein's. "You are not welcome here!"

"Get back!" A second guard echoed, drawing their weapon and signaling for the rest to do as she did. "We will defend ourselves against you!"

"Then defend yourselves!" A female Felein hissed as she grabbed a guard by his neck and tossed him into a group of his comrades.

"Attack!" The leader of the guard yelled after a Felein assaulted one of his men.

The city guards charged the Felein's who outnumbered them two to one. The humans attacked the best they could, only to fail miserably as the Felein's toyed with them, dodging their attacks, countering them with simple hits that would send the guards tumbling to the ground. The Felein's slowly pushed the guards into a circle, surrounding them on all sides, taunting them as they neared them, taking their weapons out of their hands, leaving them defenseless as they used their claws to scratch and torment them.

"Enough!" Leaon roared from the entrance of the courtyard. "Leave them be!"

"Let them have their fun." Kerd whispered to his counterpart.

"We're not here to harass anyone! We have a mission to accomplish!" Leaon yelled to the group of Felein's just as much as Kerd. "There are tents set up outside the city, you are to stay there until we leave for Premus, do I make myself clear?"

"Yea yea..." The Female Felein mocked as she led the group out of the barracks. "I guess it's your lucky day."

"We have to keep the peace between the humans and us!" Leaon chided Kerd. "If we don't fight together, then we might as well fight each other while trying to fight Premus!"

"Fine. I will keep them in line." Kerd agreed.

"What happened to you?" Leaon questioned, pointing to the scar on Kerd's face and chest. "You've been acting different than normal."

"It was nothing." Kerd answered, waving off Leaon's questions as he followed the rest of the Felein's out of the city. "Let me know when the bridge is finished."