Chapter 38: The War of Blood!
'Thinking'
"Talking"
[System]
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- King's Study/Council Room: Arkadia -
- Arthur Pendragon -
After we picked up Leon the werewolf and his two guards, we quickly made our way back to the inner walls of Arkadia and disembarked towards my study. As we were walking through the hallways to my study, I sent Bellamy off to gather Miller and begin preparing the soldiers for combat. I then sent Lincoln and Finn off to do the same with the rangers and a truck was ordered to take Jet back to Mount Weather so he could prepare the Mountaineers there. Kane then went off to notify the leaders of the other branches of industry such as agriculture, engineering, Construction, etc. That war was coming and that it was best to be prepared. Lastly, I sent Clarke off to tell Raven and Sinclair to prepare the mech and to start putting together the Artillery pieces that we had made a few weeks earlier. By the time I had finally sent Clarke off we had arrived at my council room door.
"Welcome to the round table." I said, opening the door and pointing towards the obviously large round table in the center of the room.
"We are welcome to be here." Leon replied as he moved to take a seat. Once he did his two guards stood behind him with their hands folded behind their backs.
Octavia silently shut the door behind us and stood guard blocking anyone from entering or exiting.
"It's a nice view." Leon comments pointing at the window.
"It is. Now, if you'll excuse me for a second but to be blunt who do you serve? We've had a few problems with werewolves in the past." I say firmly.
"Really? I don't remember any of the clans reporting in any disturbances... If I may ask what their color of coats were, were they all the same coat of fur or were they mismatched?" Leon asked.
"They all had black fur with silver eyes, and they had red markings on their shoulders. That's what some of the survivors told me when they recounted the story."
"Ah! Those wolves are known as the Anthropophagi or in English the Cannibals. They're a group of werewolves who resorted to feasting on each other for food and slowly over time came to crave it over other animal's flesh. That was until they encountered humans." Leon informed me.
"Are they rogue or...?"
"Oh, most certainly! They were all from the same clan as the Black Wolf King but after seeing what they resorted to the Black Wolf King moved to kill them and over half of them were killed, but some of them escaped. They haven't been heard from since, well until you that is. Where are they? I'm sure my king would love to take care of them for you." Leon told me.
"They're all dead already. Now, back to my question about who you serve." I said getting us back on topic.
"Do you know of the three wolf kings?" Leon asked.
"I know of the three werewolf kings. The Grey Wolf Queen, the Black Wolf King, and the White Wolf King."
"Good then this will be easy for me, I serve the Grey Wolf Queen. She is commonly referred to as the Grey Wolf King, so I appreciate you referring to her title properly. Also, what do you know about the war of blood?" he said with a small smile.
"The war of blood? I've never heard of it."
"I wouldn't imagine you did. The war of blood occurred a few years after the bombs fell. Back before the bombs fell most of the werewolf and vampire populations were in a deep sleep; hibernation. When the bombs did fall it caused all of us to wake up and wonder what was going on, when we did, we couldn't believe it. It was the end of the world and the vampires wanted to capitalize on it. So, Dracula launched an all-out assault on the eastern united states where most of the werewolf population was located including our king at the time; The Red Wolf King."
"The Red Wolf King?" I asked.
"The Red Wolf King was the first wolf to bring the wolf clans together and with the clans united he moved us to the everglades and built a sanctuary for us there where humans wouldn't be able to reach us."
"When was this?" I asked.
"Umm... what did they call it? Hmm... AH! The Salem witch trials! That was when it happened." he said with reminiscence. "Anyway, back to the story, Dracula launched his attack with Four-thousand vampires against our werewolf force of eight-hundred. We were heavily outmatched in numbers but in strength we were near equal." he said, barring his sharp fangs in a wide grin.
"How so? I always thought that you were of equal strength?"
"Oh no! Hahaha! Even a young adult werewolf could kill a one-hundred-year-old vampire easily. The only real threat that the vampires held were their nobles. Vampire nobles were all taught high class blood magic by Dracula himself, they were the toughest of opponents and could kill tens of werewolves with ease. The war was in its fourth year and casualties were high for both sides, we had lost near three-hundred wolves and the vampires had lost a little over two thousand but that's when she came." he said with a faraway look in his eyes.
"She? Wait. Becca, right?"
"Yes, the first commander, Becca Fanko or later on known as Bekka Pramheda. She had landed and begun strengthening the forgotten humans. And as the war continued to rage and the vampires and werewolves' numbers continued to dwindle, she kept leading the humans with achievement after achievement. Eventually humans began using magic, we don't know how but they were suddenly using magic to create things. Dracula saw this and was envious, so he sent a force of two-hundred vampires to kill Becca and the remaining human population. We the werewolves seeing that knew we had to step in, so a group of thirty wolves went to stop them and succeeded in not only doing that but also getting the humans' help in the war."
"How did Becca and the surviving humans help?" I asked.
"They began creating holy objects such as weapons and armor. They would go into battle wielding these holy objects and absolutely destroy the vampires ranks. But when it really mattered, they didn't show." he said with a frown.
"What do you mean?"
"We had Dracula on the back foot, all that remained of his army was a small group of fifty low class noble vampires, two dukes and Dracula himself. While we had an army of two hundred and fifty werewolves and one-hundred and fifty humans equipped with holy objects. We were sure to win, but when we charged the vampiric line, the humans were nowhere to be found. We suffered a terrible defeat we lost two-hundred and thirty-nine wolves while the vampires lost twenty-seven."
"Did you ever figure out why they abandoned the battle?" I asked.
"No, but they apologized and said that they would support us in the next battle with more soldiers. So, the next battle of a similar scenario, was two-hundred wolves and now two-hundred and sixty humans versus a total of thirty-three vampires and we finally put the vampires on their backfoot in battle with only a handful of low-class nobles left and one duke and then finally Dracula. The Red Wolf King surged forward past the frontlines of battle and engaged in single combat with Dracula..."
"What is it?" I asked.
"The humans retreated again, but this time our King was stuck behind enemy lines and so the remaining werewolves all rushed forward despite the odds to rescue our King and hope was flowing through our veins as we watched our King land blow after blow on Dracula until all of a sudden Dracula's fist was sticking through our Kings heart. Every single Wolf on the battlefield stood in place and simply watched as our King, despite the wound picked up his sword and stabbed directly through Dracula's chest forcing him to drop to his knees in agony before falling over and turning into ash. Our King fell directly after him, and that caused all of us to drop to the ground in pain and sorrow. The vampire's in pain and us in sorrow."
"What happened after that?"
"It was all a blur after that but with both of our species' numbers dwindling, we both escaped back to our sanctuaries to recuperate and after a decade only then did conflict erupt again and once again the commander's promised to help us until eventually, they would abandon us or not show up at all."
"That's an amazing story but where do I come in?" I asked.
"We hope that you're different. That you will not abandon us and that finally they plague that is the vampire species will finally be exterminated. We're willing to offer you Holy items and weapons that are hidden in our lands from the war of blood, as well as other things. We hope for an alliance between the Grey Wolf King and the clans under command and the Kingdom of Arkadia." Leon said while standing up and extending his hand.
"While I would love to become allies with you, I would love to meet your Queen first and evaluate what kind of alliance I am getting myself into." I said to him.
"Of course, I have no doubt that once you see who she is you will agree to an alliance immediately. Now, shall we go?"
"Go where?"
"Well, to the Queen of course." he said simply.
After that we had made our way out of the study, I had told him that we would leave first thing tomorrow morning and that for the rest of today I had plans to make. So, Leon and his guards stayed in their rooms for the rest of the evening while Kane, Bellamy, and a few others all gathered in my study for our first official war council.
After hours of debating late into the night we finally surmised a decent attack plan. First, we would ambush their main army pushing into Trikru territory and hopefully force them to retreat to a nearby mountain pass. There on the mountain pass would be a mixed unit of standard Arkadian soldiers and mountaineers lying in wait for the retreating Azgeda army. Not only that but Artillery fire would begin once they entered the mountain pass causing further mayhem. Now, the only problem was how the hell do you ambush a two-thousand-man army with only a small force of one-hundred and eighty-nine.
- Azgeda Encampment 16 Miles away from Polis -
- 3rd Person -
"How is our army faring?"
"The majority are faring well and have already packed up their tents and supplies for today's march. We should be ready within the next few minutes, sir." A man with plate mail and with Azgeda markings on his face said respectively towards the tall broad shoulder individual who was overlooking their army from a hill edge.
"Good. We'll want to surprise the commander and her forces with our numbers. The other generals were too slow with the Rock line clan and are now stuck in a stale mate with them. We will not suffer the same fate." The man said with a slight frown.
"But General weren't you able to take down the White Wolf King? I'm sure that the commander and her allies will be no matc-AH!" the man yelled as the broad-shouldered man turned on him and grabbed his mouth forcing it shut causing the man to stare up into his blood red eyes.
"You will not underestimate our enemies. The Arkadian Kingdom knows of our weakness to Silver and have no doubt spread that information among their allies. With the werewolves we did not have to worry about that fact, now we do. Also, do not lump me in with your army human. We may be on the same side, and I may be commanding your forces, but we are by no means friends. We have mutual goals that would be easier to accomplish if we did them together and that is it. Now go tell the men to hurry up, we march in five." the man ordered before turning back around and looking over at the army.
The man quickly backed away and escaped down the hill and towards the army encampment to tell his troops to hurry up and follow the man's demands. As he looked back, he saw the man standing on the hill in all his vampire glory. The man is six foot three and has red bangs and thick eyebrows, while the rest of his hair is deep brown. At the top, and back of his hair it is the same length, however a long section is kept in a braid that can come over his shoulder on the left side of his neck. A hair tie is at the end of the braid. A single piercing is in each of his vampire pointed ears, his eyes are scarlet red, and his mouth is full of fangs.
The man on the hill looked down and caught the gaze of them he just sent away and with a quick glare did so once again. 'Don't worry your highness, I Marquis Crowley of house Eusford will make quick work of these humans and return to your side! For the Vampires!' The Vampire thought as he gazed out and observed the army he was given.
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