All Adventure Begins with Tragedy

Chapter XVI: And so we meet again.

Exerts from various journals

The first being that of Danukubie, original soldier of the HDC

"Commander down! Commander down!" Luke was yelling. Jonathan heard him and began giving orders.

"Luke! Get him to medics! Keep up the good work men!"

I looked back over the wall. The carnage was incredible. The Hammerite army was broken. Many were attempting to run away, but the angry farmers would have none of it. In almost cold blood, the rebel country folk cut down their tyrant rulers like the wheat they had been forced to grow.

I looked out over this and realized what to do.

"Route the tyrants!" I screamed, jumping over the wall onto the soft turf.

I rolled and then jumped up, a snarl on my face. Ready to kill. I looked up and others were following my example. I swelled my chest out and yelled once more.

"Charge!"

I lead the rush of soldiers and guards across that field, slamming into the confused Hammerites. We cut down man after man, each having as little chance as the other. A small group of them decided to rally and fight their way through us. We, the soldiers and enraged country folk, surrounded them and killed them.

They fought hard and many of ours fell to the enemy blades.
However, soon they were all dead. I am actually almost positive not a single Hammerite soldier escaped that day.

I happened to look down at one of the Hammerites who lay dead in the dirt. He was dressed in nothing but rags, had a broken sword, and was starved. At first I thought that was just how the Hammerites kept their army. Then I found a dead Hammerite who had a uniform on. His was neatly kept, had a shining blade, and looked well fed. I had a terrible thought.

Turning to a nearby soldier, I voiced what I was thinking, "What if that first wild rush was not lead by Hammerites? What if they were using prisoners?"

"Why would you think that?" The young soldier asked back.

I showed him the first man.

"Maybe... let's try to find someone similar," he suggested.

We walked closer to the wall, thinking that that would be where the majority of the cost dead would be. We were correct and were aghast when we realized that my original idea was correct.

"We need to look for survivors! There may be some who hid under the fallen or something," I told the young boy.

"Agreed," he said.

"Oh, and before you go to spread the word, what's your name?" I asked.

"Jonathan Elliot, you?"

"Danukubie, nice meeting you Jonathan, good luck!" I flashed him a quick smile. Then he ran off to warn the leaders. Silver and Jonathan and Luke and Adalayde and the rest. I have written about them earlier.

I ran about the battle field, spreading the news. A few unofficial search and scavenge parties were formed, but when Silver announced that all available men should look for prisoners, we really started finding survivors. Many villagers from the nearby village joined in.
Picking through the dead was no light task, and little talk went on. But when ever a prisoner was found alive, we cheered and kept searching with new vigor. It was good to see them alive.

Soon we came across the places where catapult rocks had fallen. One of the men noticed that a particular bolder was in the ground in an odd way. As if it was concealing a hole. We decided to move it.