Chapter three, the battle begins
Connor sat down at the long rectangular table in the mayor’s house. He had been called for a meeting regarding the fortifications of Culumnus town. He was a bit uncomfortable with the familiarity of the decoration, bland wallpaper, the stench of cigars that his dad always liked to smoke. It was almost identical to his childhood home.
“I’m glad you found the time to meet with us, Jet” a familiar voice said from the top of the stairs, “My name is Alexander Nimbus. The people sitting at the table with you are: my wife, Isabel” Alexander gestured to the refined looking woman sitting at the table sipping a cup of tea, “and my fine son, Jeremy. Who you have already met.”
Connor nodded to each. Connor was glad that he was wearing his scarf and cloak which, combined, more or less concealed his face. If anyone in this room recognized him, then this would go poorly.
Alexander himself was a dapper looking man in his mid-fifties. He was wearing an excellent three piece suit with a top hat. He also had a magnificent mustache that was groomed to perfection every morning.
“Thank you for inviting me sir, what did you wish to speak to me about? I’m afraid I can’t stay for long, as the builders and I need to start setting up traps on the field today.” Connor said, he remembered his etiquette lessons well, since they were drilled into him at a young age.
“Of course, I just wanted to thank you personally for your service to this town. Without you, we would certainly be in quite a pickle! The town’s metalworker has told me that she has some beartraps for you. I believe you wanted to use those for the defense of the town. I say, a truly genius tactic! Hiding the beartraps under the snow.” Alexander exclaimed.
“Yeah, if the environment was drier then I’d sprinkle the field in woodchips and sawdust. Then, once the bandits stepped within the zone, we’d set the entire field ablaze. Unfortunately, the terrain is too wet and snowy for that…” Connor said, half to himself. “Anyways. If that is all then I really need to get to work.”
Connor stood on the wall, facing the snowy field in front of him. Archers and wizards on either side of him. They had dug pitfall traps and placed beartraps in the snow yesterday. Last night they saw smoke on the horizon, the first sign of the invasion. Now, Connor saw a small army of leather-clad bandits.
As Connor looked through his spyglass, he could see that the bandits wore the symbol of sun rage. Sun rage was a notorious bandit group that often pillaged smaller villages and towns. But Connor had never heard of them attacking a town as big as this one.
“You ready?”, Jeremy said next to him
“Y-yeah” Connor said, he had never been in this large of an engagement before. Nor had the stakes ever been so high.
“Y’know, Jet… You remind me of someone I once knew.” Jeremy said, a sullen look on his face.
“Oh?” Connor said, curious
“I once had a younger brother. We used to be pretty close… But I lost track of him after he left town 3 years ago.”
“…Say, did you ever find out why he left town?”
“Nope, dad said that he was probably ashamed of his inablility to use magic and left to avoid causing the family further humiliation. My dad… Isn’t a very kind man. He exploits those who are weaker than him, and treats those who disappoint him as a complete and utter failure. My mother isn’t much different I’m sad to say.”, Jeremy answered.
“Interesting… I may have a few answers for you, but they’re going to have to wait until this is all over. Getting distracted on the battlefield is a good way to get killed.”, Connor said
Jeremy was about to say something when a horn blew in the distance.
“It seems that the time for chatter is over, friend. You should start giving out orders… This is gonna be one hell of a ride.” Connor said, summoning a magic circle. “LIGHTNING MAGIC, TRUE SMITE”
A bolt of lightning shot out of Connor’s outstreched hand, vapourizing one of the bandits in front of the force and shocking the bandits next to them. Jeremy started shouting orders as arrows flew from both sides. Connor drew his bow and began firing just as the bandits started stepping on the hidden beartraps. The beartraps didn’t kill the bandits, but the arrows did.
Connor ducked as arrows started flying overhead. He saw Jeremy and some of the other wizards firing beams and blasts of magic at the bandits. The archers began firing as well. Connor surveyed the battlefield; there were still quite a few bandits left. Too many to engage in melee combat right now. Connor also saw a dark wizard near the back. The dark wizard seemed to be content just watching for now.
The bandits started to reach the pitfalls. A big chunk of the bandit forces fell into the pit traps. The gates opened to let the mercenaries engage the bandit forces. Connor and Jeremy hopped off the wall to help. Connor drew his old, rusted sword and charged the nearest bandit. The bandit parried his first blow, but didn’t see Connor summon a magic circle. They DID see the lighting blast an instant before they died.
An explosion occurred off to Connor’s left, he turned around to see what it was. Jeremy stood there, charred bandit corpses surrounding him. Jeremy was facing a woman in dark robes.
The dark wizard had joined the battle
end of chapter three
If you like this series, then please like or comment down below. Seriously, its the only way I can tell if people are enjoying this or not. I’ll write chapter four next weekend.
Thanks for reading :3