The Bizarre Adventures of a Half-Elf

Battle Begin

**Combat incoming

"Fighters of Cornello, at the ready!" The Bloody Field attendant called.

A cacophony of yells spilled forth from the champions of Cornello, Charlotte's voice among them as she opened her throat and let loose as mighty a roar as she could muster. She stared down the Maritassi fighters, who looked a bit shaken by the display.

"Fighters of Maritassi, at the ready!"

The other side tried to give an equally impressive display, but fell just shy, and the Half-Elf could feel her own side bolstered by the thought of unnerving the opponent.

"On this day, the House War for the docks of the late-Lord Carstein will commence! Battle begin!" The attendant ran off the field as the battle horn was blown, its long note resonating across the battlefield.

A lion's roar rang out as Leo Alexander charged towards the Maritassi side, followed by the rest of the Cornello warriors. On the other side, half the group of warriors tried to make a shield wall while the other half went to charge head on.

Charlotte watched as Grom and Guillotine swung their hefty swords, slamming into those that were advancing and stopping them in their charge. Tobias, Leo, and Vayreni continued to rush forward toward the shield wall, hoping to get to them before they could fully assemble themselves. Leo went high, leaping upwards and arcing his sword in a downwards slash. As the warriors lifted their shields up to block, Vayreni dropped down to slide in on her side and kick them in the knees, making them drop their guard. The result was cataclysmic as warriors fell to the ground yelling, kicking up dust so that Charlotte could no longer see what was happening in the scuffle. However she did notice several healers run toward the scene, Cka'a included, a look of worry on the Spriggan's face.

From the backlines of both sides, the archers and mages were picking off people one by one with arrows and bolts of energy. Charlotte stood deeper back than a midline fighter like herself should, but she had decided to wait out of range to watch for any funny business. Looking around, though, she didn't really see anything.

"Is that it?" She asked to Gretta, who had chosen to hang back with Charlotte since the two had similar fighting styles.

The Damphyr shrugged, bouncing on her toes as her reddish eyes scanned the field. "It looks that way. I thought Maritassi was supposed to be tough."

"I thought so, too. But I guess not," Charlotte replied, advancing forward as the backline moved up together to get better shots.

"Maybe they are saving the big hitters for later," Timoré chimed in from where he was summoning spheres of electricity.

The rogues looked back over their shoulders at him. "Can they do that?" Gretta asked.

"Yes," Charlotte answered slowly, "They let me in during the second battle last time. I hope that if Lord Maritassi has reinforcements, then Lord Cornello was smart enough to do the same."

"Doubt it. He looks like an old fart," the darker-skinned girl snorted.

The Half-Elf spared a glance to the noble awnings, where the older lord was looking very pleased with himself. Lord Maritassi masked his thoughts with a stern expression.

Much sooner than anticipated, the horn was sounded again. "Battle One goes to Lord Cornello!"

A round of cheers went up from Charlotte's side of the field as their warriors came hustling back, leaving the Maritassi fighters to pick themselves up and hobble to the healing tents. Leo Alexander shook himself off as he approached, sparring Charlotte a nod as he looked at her with his deep amber eyes. She simply nodded in return.