The tides of war

The return

Onyx's POV
      I motioned Juliet over "Take stone and his men to the east wing, get them settled in. I'm going to talk to Apollyon" she nodded and called out to Stone as I walked away, my wounds ached growing more painful with each step before I shivered and accepted  the pain. I moved along the now very familiar path until I reached the doors that always brought me to Apollyon, I walked in and saw she wasn't there, I sighed and sat in my chair to wait. A little while later the doors opened, I glanced over lazily and saw Apollyon pressing her back against the door with a sigh, she hadn't noticed me as she walked past me and further into the room until I called in a sing song voice "Oh Mary~" she spun with her sword in hand "oh, it's just you" I chuckled.
        I looked at her as she removed her helmet, I did as well carefully placing it on the table so it was facing me, I spoke in a tired tone "I got you a present" she sat at her chair and rested her chin on her talon clad hand "Oh? What could that be?" I glanced over "The Iron Legion in Ashfeld now bow their knee to you" she smiled as she nodded "Good" I shifted my weight to my right only to hiss as my wounds touched the table, Apollyon stood and walked to my right before speaking "Let me see" I gave her an odd look "Don't worry about it, it's nothing past the usual" she spoke with finality "it isn't up for debate let me see" I gripped the small ropes on the bottom of my bracer and pulled them lose feeling my braver slide off my arm before it impacted the ground.
     She pulled off her gloves as she pulled out some thread and a needle I glanced over as she looked at the wounds before looking at me "It might hurt" I chuckled before speaking "So when am I getting your name?" She glanced at me "I'll think about it" I smiled to myself as I felt the needle enter my skin. I hissed slightly as she pulled the wound shut, a while later when she finished I stood and looked at her smiling "Thank you" she looked at me "I can't have my lieutenant be wounded as we proceed with our plan" I jokingly put my arm around her "Aww I knew you loved me" I felt a sword tip at my crotch, I leaned in to her ear and whispered "I like 'em feisty" she sighed as the sword tip was removed and she turned away from me. I leaned to my right and saw her cheeks were a bit brighter than normal, I sat on the table as I asked "So what's our next move?" She took a couple deep breaths before turning "There's a small outpost the Iron Legion deserted, some Vikings have holed up in it. I'm going to send Holden and the New blood to handle it" I nodded as I looked at her before asking "So why do you have me as your second? There's plenty of people that have been here longer than me"
      She nodded before speaking "because they're all terrified of me, when someone's terrified of facing you head on... they stab you in the back. But not you, no, you not only openly try to annoy me, you flirt with me, you act like you're not concerned that I could kill you at any moment" I shrugged "Because I'm not" she asked interested as she came to a stand still infront of me "Why? Why don't you care you could die?" I leaned forward "Because in spartan culture, you only die a glorious death in battle. I spend my life searching for the one who will grant me my glorious death, if it's you then I will die knowing it was glorious... and dying to a beautiful woman is always a bonus" she sighed as her cheeks turned redder I chuckled as I stood "I assume you want me here tomorrow morning?" She shook her head no "Meet me at the gate, we're beginning our campaign" I smiled as I did a sarcastic bow "your will my lady" she chuckled quietly as I turned and headed to my dorm.
     I walked in and headed to my chest before I opened it and saw the clean polished birch wood case that held the directions for creating Damascus steel, I carefully picked it up before turning and making my way to the forge carrying the case. When I arrived I called "My friend, I come baring gifts" he almost teleported infront of me with a wide eyed smile "You remembered?" I nodded as I placed it on the counter "This box contains everything you need to know about making Damascus steel" he smiled maniacally "Thank you, I have so many projects I want to try" I laughed as I waved him off "Chaire my friend" I asked "Do you think you can do something for me?" The smith looked up from the box "Of course, what do you need?" I motioned to my Amor "Think you can cast my shoulder pads, Bracers and Greaves in black iron?" He looked at my armor before he nodded "Definitely, I might be able to inlay some Damascus too" i smiled.
"What do you need from me to do it?" He spoke with a smile "Follow me, I'll take measurements and begin the planning" I nodded and followed him into the back. He quickly scribbled down the measurements as he made me strike different poses to see how the shoulders react to the movements, he finished rather quickly for the amount he wrote and had me do before he spoke "I'll be able to have it done in 2 days, is that enough time?" I nodded with a chuckle "If Apollyon has us moving out tomorrow I'll swing back and grab the stuff in 2 days time" he gave a nod before replying "that's all I need" I waved as I walked off "Chaire" I headed back for my room. When I arrived, I carefully removed my battle damaged armor and placed it on the stand before I looked in the mirror as saw the scars over most of my body I sighed as I looked at the scars given to me by the wolf I had to slay to progress through my training as a Spartan "I'm sorry Sister, you should be here in this fortress with me... you'd hate it anyway, never one to stay in place were you? I'm lost my family, I need guidance, what am I supposed to do?" I looked down as I threw on a new tunic and walked to the window looking out at the small city of lights that shined "Fates guide me well to my glorious death" I subconsciously looked up at the spire Apollyon spends most of her time in before I shook my head and climbed into my bed.
I woke up early, the sun had yet to crest the horizon, I sat up with a small shiver as I stood and lit the candles and wall mounted torch, I walked over to my armor and carefully traced each dent, each scratch, each puncture, I remembered each battle vividly as I took a step back and admired the way the torch light dance along every crevice of my armor. I shook my head as I opted to stop staring at my armor and instead to actually wear it, I walked through the castle until I found a part that protruded out and above a lower level I smiled slightly as I sat on the edge and watched the guards below doing their rounds as well as the wildlife going about their business. I heard a small pebble move behind me as I spoke softly "Hello Mercy" she plopped down next to me "How'd you know it was me?" I looked over for a second before returning my eyes to the vista before us "Holden wouldn't made too much noise, Mary wouldn't have made any, the New Blood is too nervous around me to approach like that and that only leaves our resident assassin" she chuckled "Proving your intelligence again, impressive" I glanced over "So what's your name?" She looked down at the guards below "Elizabeth, pretty boring when compared to Onyx."
I asked "So why do you talk to me? Everyone else is terrified of my rage but you, you're always there trying to learn about me" she sighed before tossing a rock over the edge "I want to feel what other's feel but I just can't, I don't care much for any of our men, I don't feel sad when we lose someone, I don't feel any differently about anything" I chuckled as I leaned back "I'm definitely not the person you want to study then, I don't care about death, I don't care about killing, I just care about revenge. I'll slaughter every single Viking infront of me" she looked over "why do you always try to annoy Apollyon?" I shrugged "I do more than just annoy her, give me some credit. I'm not a one trick pony here" she chuckled before looking at me again "So why do you do everything you do to her? Do you just have a death wish?" I shook my head "I'm not dead so no, as to why I do it? Because she likes it for one, and for two I enjoy her reactions" Elizabeth looked down before looking over at me "So what's your goal with your teasing? You've gotta want something?" I looked up at the sky as the deep purple faded to a light blue and the stars still stood at attention "Either a kiss or a death by duel, I haven't decided yet" Elizabeth stood before looking down at me "you're crazy, you know that?" I looked up "the best of us are" she rolled her eyes before walking off.
Several hours later I stood next to Apollyon on a hill overlooking the outpost the Legion deserted, we watched as Stone and Juliet made their way through the forest towards the ruins. I looked over at Apollyon as he rested her helmet on her hip "So. how much you wanna bet we have to save them?" She looked over "I'll bet 5 coins they can handle it" I extended my hand "Shake on it" she shook my hand just as the rogue conqueror dropped the ball of his mace and muttered something. We watched as Stone and Juliet tore the deserters apart with precise heavy hits, the weaker officers and soldiers dropped like flies until our two soldiers stood in the center of a circle of corpses. Apollyon spoke "Lets to congratulate them, then you can give me my 5 coins" I grumbled but followed her down the hill as our soldiers followed us. When we arrived another groups iron legion rogues had rushed Juliet and Stone after implanting an arrow into stone's shoulder, the duo stood at the mercy of the Rogues only for Apollyon to descend upon them like the reaper. I watched as she slew 4 soldiers only for me to notice a 5th going to try to slash her across the back I threw my spear and watched as the man was ripped the ground, my spear standing like a flagpole claiming the kill as mine, Apollyon nodded to me as I joined her and picked my spear up out of the now dead man.
One last warden decided to take his chances and went to skewer Apollyon, I reacted before her and placed myself and my shield infront of her, I flicked my shield up knocking the sword from the Warden's hand before I jabbed my spear tip into each of his knees causing them to buckle as I used them as a lunch pad and jumped in before I plunged my spear through his body, I took a step back and watched the rear of my spear stand proudly in the air as our troops blocked off the entrance to the ruins. A peacekeeper and conqueror charged forward, the peacekeeper went for Apollyon while the conqueror came towards me, I backed up using my shield to block any of his swings while trying to land a hit until I backed up to far and stepped on juliet's leg causing me to fall back. I glanced at Apollyon and noticed a dagger sticking out of her chest piece, it clearly went through as I remembered the conqueror, I stood and shield bashed the conqueror to the ground watching as he splayed out only to have Apollyon's sword streak across his neck I looked at her "That's 5 coins and a kill you owe me" she chuckled before turning to Juliet and pulling out the dagger with a slight grunt as Juliet breathed out "Apollyon" and she extended her hand to Juliet "got you, Blackstone" as Juliet gripped apollyon's hand and got ripped to her feet.
I stood next to her as Holden and his group joined us, I gave a wave as I spoke cheerfully "you missed the fun part, they thought they could beat us" he shook his head amused as our soldiers forced the rogues to their knees. Apollyon nodded to the officers and they sheathed their weapons and backed off, a golden opportunity to strike, which two tried. An officer and a soldier rushed forward with a dagger going for Apollyon and I, I caught the soldier's wrist before I fired off my knee into his stomach before I shoved him to the ground and pointed my spear at his throat. One of the soldiers stepped forward and placed his foot on the man's chest while resting his sword point center mass over his heart, I nodded before I rested my spear on my shoulder as Apollyon spoke "Do you know what kind of creature waits for its own slaughter?" I wanted to call out a joke answer but opted to let Apollyon do her bit "Sheep" she spoke as she came to a halt before she swung her sword at waist height and decapitated the 4 men in the front row. I whistled my impression as I noticed Juliet start forward while pulling her sword, I leveled my spear to her throat as Holden grabbed her "no" as I threatened "It would not be wise of you to threaten the Guild Master" she nodded stiffly as Holden shoved my spear away "I'll handle it" I nodded before turning to Apollyon as she spoke to the two who attacked us "Welcome to the Blackstone Legion" before she looked over to Juliet as stared at her unmoving, I sighed I knew Apollyon was glaring at the poor girl she's probably scared shitless. Apollyon yelled "Blackstone! To home!" The army yelled their agreement as we started walking towards where we left the horses, Mary gave me my 5 coins and I made her promise she'd let she stitch the wounds the dagger created.