The Downfall of the Kingdom

Chapter 12

Hersage looked at the map of the kingdom and cursed under his breath, "Where's Cigam when you need someone to take your anger out on because of this."

Veldon gazed at him sadly.

Two days had passed since the warning of the Fire Clan: the first being the day of the warning; the second day coming to an end and tomorrow being the final day before the war. In that time, Veldon had assembled an army of one hundred thousand soldiers exactly who were skilled with swords and shields. Only ten magicians were available at the current time. A plan had already been devised. The strategy was that magicians would put up defences along the boundaries of the kingdom to prevent the majority of witches entering. Since the time that the Fire Clan had turned to serve the dark creature, Veldon had set a small river running through the boundaries of the kingdom which would stop the weaker witches from entering. Each of the magicians would then patrol the kingdom from any invasions. The warriors would be stationed around the kingdom, mainly set up at the forest boundary. They would attack on first sight of the witches. Veldon and Hersage would stay inside the castle as a last defence or rush to any areas where their force was weakened.

The Fire Clan, strongest of all, had over half a million witches as apposed to all of the other clans. Veldon did not think that this would be easy.

The following day, final preparations were made. Swords as well as armour was prepared.

Veldon went into the glass room and looked at his kingdom. Hersage joined him.

"Kill the leader and they all die," Veldon said softly.

"She will not come into the fight until all of our forces are dead," Hersage replied.

"Tomorrow is the day. Good luck Hersage."

"You too."

Looking across the kingdom, you would be able to see a vast amount of witches approaching. The sun slowly rose in the east, giving the land a small, red glow. Men dressed in shining armour stood in rows awaiting the attack. Then, the first wave of witches swarmed into the area surrounding the kingdom at the edge of the forest. These particular witches were not able to perform magic and so the fight began. Swords clashed against each other.

The Fire Clan possessed witches which all appeared to be sunburnt on their grey skin giving them a horrific colour. The eyes were evil and malevolent. Large, black fangs protruded from their mouths and each had smoke rising from their mouths. They were dressed in red armour with ancient inscriptions on them. Swords with the word ignis shining on it hung by their sides.

The king's men fought bravely but each time one witch fell, many more came out of the forest.

Meanwhile, a similar fight continued at the other stations around the kingdom each with similar circumstances. Many witches tried to invade the kingdom but with no success.

Feira watched the entire scene from above. As the witch of fire, she was able to transform into smoke and in a way, glide in the air. She was pleased. She saw that even though her lesser witches fell, they were easily overcoming Veldon's army. From where she was, she saw that she had lost possibly a hundred or so witches but so had Veldon in terms of men.

Men on horses rode forward and sliced at any witch they saw, quickly destroying them. The witches used their fangs to suck the life out of the knights in war. The battle between the lesser witches and knights continued for many hours. By the time the sun rose to its highest point, all of the lesser witches had been defeated. Hundreds of men cheered at the victory whilst Veldon watched everything from the glass room. He gave a sigh. He knew that the war had just begun and he had been right. Suddenly, several men gasped as fire that burst from nowhere began to engulf them slowly and painfully. They fell screaming. All around the kingdom the remaining Fire Clan witches emerged, those which were powerful and skilled in magic. Only a few were brought down but very soon every single one of the knights had been killed, blood flowing from their armour which was scorched from the fire attacks. At this point about a thousand members of the witch's army remained standing, all of whom were able to pass the king's defences and entered the kingdom. The magicians rushed over to attack but to no avail. Morte and cum ignis cremo could be heard coming from both sides of the war. All hope seemed lost as the last magician fell. The Fire Clan had managed to kill an entire army of men and magicians whilst still managing to keep hundreds of theirs alive.

Veldon spoke to Hersage who was dressed in black armour. Only his bright green eyes were visible through the visor of his helmet.

"Hersage, go and seek Feira. Kill her else we will all perish. I look out of this window now and only see dead men with witches walking over their bodies. Many more people will die today if you do not kill the witch. Go and fight with honour!"

Hersage replied, "I will conquer all.'' He left the room, two swords hanging limply at his side.

Hersage appeared at the forest boundary, his companions lying lifeless around him. He had managed to avoid every witch in the kingdoms which were now making their way towards Veldon's castle. He stood in the silence and called into the sky, "Feira, come and face me now. Your cowardly behaviour disgraces your kind!"

A voice spoke from behind him. He swirled around just to meet Feira with a wicked smile creeping across her face. "Very well. You will die."

With a scream she ran forward and an epic battle raged amongst them. Hersage used all of his techniques which were quickly countered by the witch. Sweat poured down the man's face and Feira's pointed red hat flew off of her head. She yelled and knocked Hersage off of his feet, his helmet flying off, black hair rolling down his face. He breathing was harsh. They had been engaged in a battle filled with lunges, swipes, blocks and counter strikes with the sword.

Feira stood over Hersage. "You fight well human. Pity that you were fighting for the wrong side." She placed her sword above her head as she prepared to kill him. As the sword was flying through the air towards his heart, he managed to slide away in the last second. The witch was surprised and in her moment of surprise Hersage jumped at her with all of his remaining strength and ran his sword through her heart. The witch fell to the ground, dead. The word morte looked like it was the last word that she had tried to say. Hersage looked at her body which was slowly being consumed by flames. Pride seemed to evade him because he thought of all of the men who had died to fight the witch.

Veldon stood at his castle fighting off the witches that attacked him. He was badly injured at this point and suddenly all of the Fire Clan disappeared. He weakly said to himself, "Well done Hersage, Conqueror of Fire."