Bloodline

Final Push - part 34.

As the moon rises high in the sky, the two armies clash with all their might. Archers rain arrows from inside the fort, knights push through each other to fight the enemy, and cannons begin firing again as the reinforcements begin to move towards them, the cannons knocking down walls and troops as the fight continues. Zircon's giants keep attacking with their smoke weaponry, the enemy still flooding out of the fort in large numbers. Tesath keeps shining her light on the army, Damian and anyone in the front making full use of the effects it grants them. While all this is happening, Zircon is laying outside near a tree, panting as he is trying to control the giants as well as stand up to fight. His body is barely more than a puff of smoke at this point, and as he finally decides to recall a few giants, he finally stands and tries to move towards the battle while the smoke from the giants becomes a part of him again.

He gets to the skirmish just as another volley of cannonballs is sent into the enemy troops, and as he pushes through to the front, he spots his friends fighting as best they can and thinks. "This will be the final fight before we lay siege to their castle, the king will pay for everything they've done..." he thinks, and then jumps over some of the allied troops directly into the middle of the enemies. Some back up around him while others keep fighting the allied soldiers, Zircon looking around to see each enemy that faces him. "This'll be the last fight...Guess I dont have to hold myself back then!" He shouts, just as he begins to slaughter any soldier that approaches him. Damian and the soldiers begin to push the enemies back, Maralyne and Lutol joining right next to him, while Rose keeps fighting enemies on her own. Tesath eventually starts to get tired, and she stops shining her light, moving towards the cannon line and resting as they keep shooting. Even without her light, the friendly soldiers keep fighting with all their strength, Zircon killing more and more where he is, a mound of dead soldiers being seen. Rose eventually sees him, and pushes towards Zircon.

"Quite a fight you're giving them, mind if I help?" She shouts, Zircon parrying a soldier's attack before killing them. "Not at all, in fact, I appreciate the help!" He shouts back, Rose killing two enemies that try to attack her. After two hours, the enemy begins to retreat through the tunnel leading to the castle, Damian raising his sword to the sky and pointing to through the tunnel. "We will strike them down today! Dont let them escape!" The knights begin flooding through the tunnel, the old mineshafts being seen as enemies flood out of them into the main cavern to the castle. Zircon and Rose begin moving through the tunnel when one enemy soldier stops just at the end, and lights something with a torch, running away once they do it. "Their gonna try to bury us all in this mountain! Get to the fuze!" Rose shouts, Zircon dashing as fast as he can to the lit fuze. He sees the explosives once he reaches a certain point, and sees the fuze just about to reach the first explosive. He pulls out a knife and throws it, time seeming to slow down for him as he knows he wont make it in time. The knife flies through the air as he keeps running, Rose shouting from behind about the explosives, soldiers trying to run out of the tunnel as they trample each other. Zircon watches as the knife sails through the air, the fuze getting shorter and shorter.

The knife just barely cuts the fuze as it nearly reaches the explosive, Zircon stopping, trying to catch his breath once he sees the lit part of the fuze fall and burn out. Soldiers run up to him, Zircon coughing a bit as he looks up, seeing the castle walls through the field in front of them. "We're almost there! Zircon, you saved us all with that throw, how you managed to do that is beyond me but I won't complain knowing I dont have to be covered in tons of rocks." Lutol says, going up to him and looking at the sight. Zircon falls on the floor, changing back to his normal form as he starts to vomit, breathing heavily. Damian, Maralyne and everyone else comes to him as he tries to stand. "I was so close...so close to missing that throw...I nearly failed and it could've cost this entire war..." He manages to say as Maralyne and Damian help him up, holding him by his shoulders. "But you saved us all, you made sure we didnt get covered by an entire mountain, that's something isnt it?"

He looks at them, a hint of emptiness in his eyes. "I know I would've gotten out of there due to being smoke, but knowing that I could've failed to save you guys along with the soldiers...I felt like the entire world was on my shoulders, if I did fail, the end of the world would've likely happened..." He tries to stand on his own, looking at the castle. He takes a deep breathe, seeing the nature around them along with beautiful castle walls and a flourishing village nearby. "This definitely doesnt look evil, but I'm sure the people are more than likely suffering from the events that happened when he came into power." Maralyne says, Rose nodding. "You have no idea, especially since the walls you see there aren't the ones the previous king had guarding the castle." Damian looks around and begins to give orders to the soldiers. "We'll make a fort here, this will be our checkpoint going from our territory to theirs, and soon they will face the might of our army." He tells some officers, them running to their soldiers and barking orders at them. Zircon sits down, looking at the moon in the sky as he thinks to himself. "Its unavoidable now...that dream...my gem..." He falls back after thinking this, passing out.