The War of the Roil: The Knight and the Warlock

Chapter 20: Hubris

Lara woke up to the sound of war horns. It seemed they replaced the birds in the morning nowadays.

"Lady Shawe!" a servant girl burst into her room, "The Kings of Etria and Hadal are laying siege to the city!"

Lara groaned, groggy and disoriented, "The Kings of what?"

"The armies of two Territorylords are on our doorstep!"

Lara's mind finally became lucid as she sat up, "Where?" she asked.

"They've made camp at the North gate, my lady." the girl said.

Lara got out of bed and hastily pulled on a shirt and trousers.

"Send an attendant for my Roilplate." Lara said.

"Yes, Madam." the servant girl bowed before running out of the room.

Lara rushed to the ground floor of the palace. Five men and women were ready with her armor. She allowed them to start strapping it on, each piece making the collective suit heavier.

The plate was rather tight-fitting and wouldn't fit at all had her body metabolized the same way as most Atrellians. Every part was formed to her exact measurements save the shoulderplates, for flair. Most armor would leave space between the plate and the wearer to assist in deflection, but considering the way this armor worked, there was little need.

She stretched her arms out. It was surprisingly mobile.

Lara wasted no more time and ran off towards the North Gate.

The Consuls were atop the wall, accompanied by an escort force of a thousand men or so. Lara climbed up to join them.

"Fill me in." She said to Gammond, who was wearing his dark red Consul's cape.

"Etria and Hadal have formally declared war on us." Gammond said, "And they brought their armies to help that message sink in. The troops from Maladeth are still a few days away, but I doubt they know that."

"Have they made any aggressive action?" Lara asked.

Gammond shook his head, "No. The Kings are currently in a meeting with our Consul of Foreign Relations. If anything goes wrong, we'll need your help."

"Wait, she's returned!" one of the Consuls shouted.

The Consul of Foreign Relations, orange cape flapping behind her, was returning on horseback. She'd just broken through the edge of the thick pine forest that bordered the north of the territory.

"Where's her escort?" Consul Hross asked.

Something whizzed by the Consul and stuck in the bricks of the wall. A crossbow bolt. The first drop of a storm, a volley bolts soon followed it, aimed at the Consul.

"I'd say that counts as aggressive action." Gammond sighed, "Lara, can you-"

"Already on it." Lara said, leaping off the edge of the wall. She landed fifty feet below, the fields of energy on her armor softening the blow and causing her to bounce a bit. She landed in a run towards the Consul.

Lara faced the direction in which the bolts were coming from, crossing her arms. Bolts hit the Megyno fields on her armor instead of a Consul's body part.

She could see the wooden barricades of a war camp just up ahead. Hastily built towers held the crossbowers.

With battlements like those...she could easily knock them over. But could she defeat them all? Roilplate had finite energy, so it was probably best to wait for a siege.

"Damn statists!" the soldiers from the opposing armies shouted as she retreated, "We'll die before we give in to your regime!"

Did they really think the new Consulate was a regime? Didn't the people have more freedom in choosing their leader now?