Thy Kingdom Come - Colt Kuhlman (small books to read .TXT) 📗

                                         
        For over a century the lands of Netha has been at peace,with the three kingdoms living in what seemed to be a endless dream, but all that changes when the high king from the reigning kingdom of Liona suddenly vanishes without a trace and his wife and heir are slain in there sleep, all while  the kings brother Hayden takes the throne and sends the full might of the Lionian military into the surrounding territories of the two neighboring kingdoms, slaughtering every one and burning the villages in the outer reaches to ash, slowly but surely planting his might all across Netha...will anyone be able to bring peace back to the land? or will this be the end to an era of prosperity....

                                                       

 24,MARCH, 1436

A bright amber glow fills the night sky with the scorched earth set a blaze by the constant bombardment of flaming oiled arrows flying from one end of the battlefield to the other, all that can be heard for miles is the battle cries of either side as the troops swords, shields, and axes collide with one another. soaked in the blood and soil of the Heldum troops, liona's forces cut them down. slowly gaining ground, they climb over the fallen as if they were nothing but weeds in a field, as they head to the Heldonian's main battalion's camp. Perched up high on the hill stands a tall rigid man clad in worn leather Armour, covered in dull bronze plates that have seen there fair share of conflict through out there time. A scarred face aged with the wisdom of war look's over the fields of mayhem and slaughter as a glazed look of disbelief over comes his brow, clinching the hilt of his sheathed sword."how is this possible? how have they driven through our lines without as much as a loss of a platoon?"he barks with a bitter tongue. looking over his shoulder to his second in command, watching him stand there in disbelief at the horror that lay before him."lieutenant!"he barks sending his fresh commander strait to attention"y-yes general Stone", " I need a status report on our reinforcements, and a second battalion of archers, we need as much cover we can give our men to get out of there and re-group."the young lieutenant pulls a pigeon from the coop with a letter attached to the leg, removes it and quickly brings it back to Stone. taking the small piece of cloth from the commander he over looks it quickly,"blast! 3rd infantry division and our archers are still dealing toe to toe with Hayden's assault on Winser castle, damn!"General sighs a long sigh before turning to his commander looking him dead in the eyes,"alright Elijah, this is the plan,"as he speaks, general Stone clears a near by table and rolls out a map of the surrounding area."We will call a retreat of the men, pulling Hayden's men over this ridge line here."pointing his finger to a high ridge over looking a ravine,"we will lure his troops up to this ridge top while having our remaining archers over looking here and have them hit from this tree line just across the ravine, once they start to peak over we will have our archers lay fire upon them, thinning out there numbers the best we can, then while they are distracted with this attack we will send a small group of ground troops and a few archers and lancers  behind them, lining the trees to there rear with the remaining oil reserves and setting it a blaze, with this new arc of confusion we will have the rear group of archers begin laying fire giving there troops absolutely no where to go besides right over the cliff, this should give us the time we need to get the larger portion of out forces over to Leander's men at Winser Castle."Elijah looks up from the table to Stone with a slight smirk on his face,"i think this will work nicely General, i shall rally the retreat at once." Elijah hurries from the tent grabbing a war horn at the flap to sound the troops of the retreat. Stone turns to him quickly and yells, " Lieutenant, before you go, tell Artimus i wish to speak with her."yes sir!" Elijah responds before disappearing into the dark."this is going to be one hell of a fight if we can pull this off..."Stone remarks before gulping back a stein of ale and slamming it to the table."one hell of a fight indeed."
 
    All the battle cries cease as the arms of Hayden's men come to a stand still while they watch there enemies clammier and trip over one another trying to escape over the ridge."HAHA victory is ours!!!", "quickly lets go and finish them." the men yell across the field at one another, but quickly quite down and step to either side and two soldiers covered head to toe in dark onyx Armour, scarred, dented, and covered in slash marks. pieces of Armour missing from the greaves and shoulder plates along with a knight with a puncture mark right in the center of his chest, showing his readiness to fight to the bitter end. walking slowly between there ranks. the first of the two, wearing a long royal purple cloak draped over his left shoulder signifying the rank of High General comes to a halt at the front of the line, the sight of warm breath leaves the slits of his helm as it makes contact with the cold bitter air outside, slowly removing his helm revealing long silver hair and ice blue eyes. soft but menacingly he over looks the battlefield, then to the hills where the remaining Heldian troops fled. the second knight moves beside him,draped in a full cloak over his helm, he points to the hill top with his left arm dressed in a gauntlet barring the arcane mark signifying his status as a magi."sire what do you believe this to be?i feel the need to point out that this is a clear attempt to try and ambush us." without moving his trance like gaze from the hill top, the general responds softly to his counter part,"no..no you are certainly correct in your judgment, but let us see what they have in store. send the men on forward but leave one rank behind just in case we need to surprise there surprise." bowing then turning around to face the impatient men, the cloaked knight raises his left arm, a red spark shoots from his finger tip into the sky and erupts into a small fire ball signaling the troops to advance. without a second of delay the men begin stampeding to the hill, swords and shields raised high, there cries echo through the night leaving nothing but a hand full of men standing idly by with the two knights as the rest disappear into the darkness."this should be interesting Wirthstrom don't you think?"asks the silver haired knight looking over to his partner,"most interesting General Mathis...most interesting indeed."
     "I am in trusting this mission to you Artimus, do not fail me, or not only will Heldum fall but so will the rest of albatross to Hayden's reign. take what gear and necessities you need for your journey, spare no room in your sack, you will need every last bit."Stones words echoed in her head as she gathered the remaining loose ends of food and gear, tying off her sack and grabbing her bow and quiver. she stands to look into mirror stained with years of grim. wiping a small spot clear for her to look into, staring back at her is a young women with pale skin,  green eyes that match the crisp foliage of the forest around her. two strands of auburn hair flowed behind her pointed ears with the rest pulled back into a braided pony-tail. tall but petite in size, she was slightly larger compared to most wood elves with her 5'6", 120 pound frame due to the origins of her father. throwing her sack onto her back and grabbing the reigns of her horse. saddling it, Artimus looked back at General Stone over her shoulder one last time, watching him bark orders to his men, getting them ready for the up and coming fight bound to happen at any moment. turning her head to face the woods she knickers and kicks her horse into a gallop racing through the trees to the closest village, Yarkun."i wont let the kingdom down...i wont let you down."she whispers to herself just before the camp falls out of sight...

  A few dozen men lie in wait, all muttering to one another awaiting there orders.  "stay low and quite until the Commander gives the order, i think i hear them approaching."a soldier remarks while he and the rest of his men lie in wait for the Lionian forces to reach the ridge top.low and behold the yells of the Lionian's forces shreak over the ridge top as figures begin to appear."archers aim and release!!!"the Commander bellow's, pointing his sword across the ravine, another soldier blows into the war horn sounding the attack, the Heldonian men rise yelling there war cries as arrows begin to fly across the ravine landing soundly into the dark figures, one after another they fall. screams of confusion ring out from across the ravine as hayden's men struggle to get footing in the rocky ground all while trying to take cover, after dozens of arrows and spears have flown into unsuspecting targets Hayden's men begin to retreat back down the ridge coming to a tumbling halt as the tree line behind them is set a blaze and more arrows now flaming fly at them from the rear."it was a ambush rally together men don't lose your bearing now, raise your shields and form together!!!" a Lionian commander barks to his men as they all start to clammier together to avoid the barrage of arrows falling upon them. the chaotic sounds of men screaming can be heard bellowing down through the woods back over the hill to the two knights standing, listening intently to the cries of there men and the over enthusiastic yell's of success from Stone's men."Wirthstrom, send out the remaining detachment, i think they have been held from the fun long enough"Mathis speaks with a stern voice."yes sire."holding his gauntlet up releasing a second bolt into the sky.the remaining troops begin to march forward posturing a defensive stance one after the other in perfect sync. Mattis had left his elite forces behind, the best of the best. the troops hand selected from the best of each division. equipped with the most advanced Armour and arms the Lionian empire had to offer. they were assigned as his personal guard detachment, UN-dyingly faithful to Mathis and Mathis alone, these elite's were more than a force to be