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Ch.2 Attack

Elric's cry rang out in the hall mixed with the cheers form the crowd of nobles below. Artro sat down in his throne that had been carried into the Main Hall by a few servants for the event with Ciara's placed to the left of it an a golden bassinet for Elric to the right. After being seated Artro raised his hand and said "Let the feast begin."

Soon as the words left his mouth an army of serving girls armed with trays filled with the meats of rare and powerful beast came flooding into the hall. They where followed by a hundred butlers carrying several bottles of precious wine each. The meat was carved from Demon Horned Bulls and Flying Boars. Both of which take the might of a full fledged Knight or a team of around 10-15 squires and Knights in Training to take down. It would be suicide for sword and lance barres to join the ranks of the hunt for such powerful beast. The wine was even more difficult to come by being that is was made with the juice of Neverwinter Berries. The berries can only be found atop Mt. Vella on the continent of Vash to the east of Tera across the Pran ocean. With only the top most wine makers in all of Zania capable or willing to use such lavish an ingredient; the value of each bottle of Midnight Dew Wine is near 100 gold. While that may not sound like a lot it is the total yearly income of a knight in most kingdoms. The entire wealth of a small kingdom might be a few million gold coins at best. While the daily income of a major port city state such as Dawnstar can be as high as 1000 gold.

With the clanging of cups many toast were given to the health of the newborn prince, king, and queen. Dancing girls dressed in provocative and some what reviling silk dresses whirled and twirled about on a raised stage entertaining the guest. as for the king an queen they were to enthralled by every little cue Elric made to even notice the dancers.

By the time the sun was starting to set most of the meat and wine was long gone and the attending nobles started to leave after presenting gifts for the new born crown prince Elric. Only one or two were of any note being that most of the attendees though are titled nobles are only City Lords and Barons of small farming estates. The most notable of the gifts was a small emerald dagger with the head of a sea dragon adorning the pommel given by Duke Rainfall the elven city lord of Port Dawnstar ,and a silk blanket and infant's sleeping gown given by the General of Vellen Defense Force.

As the last guest was leaving a loud bang was heard coming from the direction of the city gates. Immediately after the sound of bells rang out across the city in alarm. The capital city of Vellen Kingdom, Starsfall was under attack from an unknown enemy without warning. Quickly the city's guards that where on patrol throughout the city rushed forth to to bolster the few men that where stationed at the gates of the city at that time. The ones at the gate at the time of the attack where only footmen fresh out of training camp as the guards and standing army had been given permission to attend the feast. With the continent of Tera being mostly peaceful as the last conflict any of the 3 kingdoms had with one another was over 400 years ago little thought was given about the minimal security left at the gates. The guards mostly dealt with drunkards and minor bandits most days. The patrolmen where only at the level of the three bearer classes with a single Squire acting as vice-captain and a Knight in Training as captain. This is still a noticeable level of power and skill above the low skilled footman however.

As the two sides clashed the city guards took note of the strange garb and attacks of the ones beaching the iron and wooden gates of the city. They were in Black hooded cloaks adorned with a crescent moon and four stars. and it appeared as if they where using runes made of ice, fire and earth to attack with. The low skill level of the guards and there minimal equipment afforded to there rank and status made dealing with this unusual form of combat difficult to hold off at best. several had already given there lives in service to their king and kingdom. However one of the Shield Bearers manage to break off from the fight to run off towards the villas that housed the Knights along with there squires and knights in training under them. The knight captains and generals lived in the castle proper as most served as the king's private guard or as advisors when not at war.

The knight serving as the Man at Arms of the knights villa square was startled and shaken to his very core by the report given to him by the shield bearer but none the less preformed his duty an called forth all the knights currently in the villa to head out to take on the incoming foe while he and the reporting shield bearer ran as fast as possible towards the main hall of the castle to give the horrifying report to the King and Defense force general.

Five minuets later the Man at arms of Knights villas square and the shaken shield bearer stood before King Artro and His general giveing the report: "Sire, Commander we are under attack by what I,;. Err we believe to be a rouge faction of hedge witches as the cloak that was gathered off of a dead one only had 3 stars around the moon and not 5 like the main branch families such as Martocs of Gagaree or the Pendragons of Vash. It appears most of there forces consist of adepts and apprentices with three true mage level witches in command. Our forces are putting up a valent effort but are lacking in experience when it comes to fighting magic users. I fear that the gates of the castle will be over ran within the next two to three hours as the last know report put there forces somewhere around a third of the way into the city. What are your orders at this time your Majesty?"