Fallon's eyes glimmered down from upon the south wall and out amongst the vast expanse of green grasses that he had loved for all of his days. He had loved this land more than his parents. In fact, as he thought about it, he hated his parents. But they were dead. You can't hate someone that doesn't exist. He had seen the swords from the Ki'vatsu slit their throat from afar upon his perch inside the south tower from up high. He still cringed and winced at the death of his mother, but he had not shuttered when his father died. He was never a father to me, thought Fallon.

So now he strode along the wall, knights stood at attention with the heads lower and spears planted firmly in front of them. More knights had been trickling in behind him, but Fallon made little effort to scoot to the edge of the path along the south wall. He was the King now; he was the rightful heir. If there was one thing he knew, it was that his father would have never wanted him to become king, and he knew that his hand would be his choice left in his will.

Fallon's eyes left the gaze of the lime green grass far below the castle. His sword hung over his back like a true warrior, the amateurs wore it at the hip, which takes longer to unsheathe. His heels clicked lightly along the gray stone underfoot. He saw lord Rayudus waiting for him with a grim look upon his face. His hands were behind his back and his neck-length gray hair had been bound back. He stood beside the castle's Castilian, Ser Aergraad. Fallon stopped a few feet from lord Rayudus and they stared eye to eye. Ser Aergraad read the situation and took a stroll beyond them and pretended to give instruction to a younger archer who was holding his bow just fine as he tried to help him fix his alignment.

Lord Rayudus face did not change as the two stared at each other. Does he know? I mustn't give him any suspicion, thought lord Rayudus.

"Ser Fallon, do you know what all of the shouting and clashing of swords is about beyond these tall walls and inside the courtyard?"

"Yes, lord Rayudus. There is an execution taking place. It is normal for tensions to run a little high, don't you think?" asked Ser Fallon. He faced the expanse of empty land before them now. Rayudus did the same.

"Indeed, but there was not supposed to be more bloodshed than the peaceful deaths of two guilty men, is there not?"

"No, Rayudus, many men have died today."

"Pardon me, Ser Fallon, but who is it that has lost their life? I must ask in oath to your lord father."

"The Slayer is dead. My mercenary, Charion, is dead."

"Is that all?"

Fallon did not answer but instead lifted his bottom lip suggestively, "I don't know, I am here now, aren't I?"

"Well I suppose you are," said Rayudus.

More hurried men scuffled up from the stairs from the castle's interior and began to fill the lining of the south wall. Archers ascended up above to the higher wall of the castle and strung their bows.

"Rumor is, Fallon, an army's coming. Your father put me in charge, you've no need to get involved unless it please you."

"I'll do as I like whether my father gave you permission or not. I don't answer to his dog."

Rayudus snarled his nose and Fallon could smell his contempt growing deep inside of him.

"Do not pin your frustrations on me, boy. I have watched you grow since you were a little lad. I've always taken care of you, haven't I?"

"I can't say that you know anything about me, Rayudus. I do know that your daughter is quite beautiful, and I have bed her many times."

Rayudus snapped out of his daze outlooking the fields leaned his face inches from Fallon so that Fallon could feel the air snarling out from Rayudus' nostrils. He could smell the fish in his breath from lunch earlier. Fallon jerked him away with his hand. He had the height over Rayudus, by a good few inches.

"If there is indeed an army coming, as the Magi has said, I wish you the best of luck Rayudus. May I have one more day to see the sun. One more day to bed your daughter, she gives the best company my bed has ever had."

Rayudus removed his sword from its scabbard so hard it hissed and drew the attention of the crowded wall of knights that stood at attention. A couple behind him flinched at the withdrawal and gasped loudly.

"You perverted bast—"

"Perverted, Rayudus? She is almost twice my age, and it was her that begged me upon her. I told her it no at first because I could only see your face when I look her in the eye. I figured it out though, Rayudus. I just didn't look at her while we did it."

Rayudus made a dash for Fallon who shoved a knight into him as he slashed, and the blade caught metal and chainmail. The knight went sprawling and Rayudus leaped over him. Fallon had his blade and hand now and he stepped into Rayudus second swipe. A series of volleys from Rayudus had Fallon backtracking but they soon paused and skirted awkwardly around each other, catching their breath.

"You wouldn't touch my daughter. I know you wouldn't Fallon."

"Well, it makes no difference. Isn't this what it would have to come to anyways, Rayudus? My father is dead, you fool. Does no one send news to you? It happened only a couple hundred feet away, I guess word just travels slow around here."

Rayudus slammed down hard with both hands on the hilt. It was a heavy blade but not a long one. Fallon just deflected and parried. Let the old man grow tired. His arms can't wield that thing forever.

"You're just the King's dog, Rayudus. And now he's dead. Let me guess, he told you to kill me? I think he knew who was coming out alive from that one," Fallon spit the words out like bait and Rayudus bit hard. He lost his form and sloppily tried a side on jab, but Fallon saw it all the way. He kicked Rayudus' wrist and the sword slipped out of his hand. Fallon saw Rayudus head go down as he attempted to grab it quickly, but he landed another harsh kick into the side of his head, and soon he had Rayudus on the ground.

Fallon advanced with the tip of his sword at Rayudus' head.

"I watched my father die, but that was out of my hands. Now it's your turn, and this time it's all in my hands, Rayudus."

Fallon prepared to gut Rayudus' neck with the tip of his blade but the voice of Ser Aergaard the castle's castillian cut like a whip from a few feet away. He stood along the pathway of the south wall with recurve bow and his fingers shaking as the arrow was pinched back by the corner of his mouth.

"Put the sword down. By the will of the King, it is Rayudus that shall live, and it was you that he wanted dead. Put. The sword. Down." Sweat rolled down his forehead like a mini waterfall. Fallon did not move. His eyes locked with Aergaard and Aergaard pulled the string tighter. Fallon spit upon Rayudus bowed head and slowly laid his sword down. Rayudus returned to his feet with his heavy, short sword in hand again.

"Careful what you wish for, Prince." Rayudus grinned devilishly as he drew back his sword but he his eyes went wide, and his head turned beyond the castle walls. Fallon and Aergaard looked too, and a bright flash of red light lit up the sky like the sun. It felt like slow motion as Fallon watched it emerge from the wood line all that distance away and soar across the orange sky and into the castle's perimeters.

The explosion shook the whole castle and men gripped the castle's stone walls as the sound of screams and crumbling rock rumbled through the air like thunder. Fallon watched the inevitable horror of Mestrane's army come marching from the trees. Like ants they just poured and poured from behind the thick green treetops until the only sight to see where green grass met the tree line was a swarm of black chainmail and wooden siege towers. They were too small from their distance to make out, but Fallon could see enough to know they could be well damned from sheer numbers.

All was forgotten in the moment and Fallon, Rayudus, and Ser Aergaard scattered into different directions, bumping shoulders and forcing their way through crowds of confused knights and armed peasants who began to line with walls.

Ser Fallon took a spot upon a lookout that sat between both south tower and west tower of the square perimeter of the castle's walls.

"Archers line the walls! Knights and infantry move downstairs and line at the front gate. Lord Gorren and the Magi knight will meet you there! Move quickly, off you go. Unarmed men—make way for the arsenal and gather your weaponry." Fallon repeated the instructions multiple times from his perch before yanking Ser Aergaard's arm and telling him to take over and organize the men along the south wall before he tossed him over the castle walls and fed his body to the crows as an appetizer before the battle even started.

Ser Fallon weaved and dodged screaming women and frantic men who decided heatedly whether to find their wife or to join in the fight. Fallon shoved as many men as he could toward the weaponry and those who already bore weapons towards the front gate. The King's royal guard sat in the King's Hall with a score of lords and ladies who had arrived from afar to see the execution. The hall grew silent as Fallon entered despite the busy sounds of men preparing for battle outside the hall.

Fallon ignored them as he passed by them, he didn't have time to scold the spoiled lords and ladies that were unlikely to sacrifice themselves for these walls. He did not know where the royal guard's loyalties lie, but he did not care to find out. He was sure his father had filled their heads with lies about him. He could not find Fintan or Vince anywhere, so he doubled back around to the busy street inside the castle where the sound of metal and chain rang out across through the air.

Fallon descended down to where men were being organized behind the front gate in long rows of a hundred men or so. There were at least five rows that had formed now. The sound of fear had made the air still and quiet. The chaos of the first projectile that had consumed the north end of the castle had finally dissipated for now. Fallon could hear Rayudus and Ser Aergaard organizing men from atop their position along the south wall up above.

Fallon heard a voice from up above him, "looking for someone, King Fallon?"

He glanced up and met the face of Fintan the Magi Knight. Fallon's face inevitably twisted into a grin and he hoisted himself up the walls and onto the lookout over top of the front gate where down below the moat swooshed lightly in the breeze.

"Fintan, forgive me—"

"—There is no apology now, Fallon. Today we fight for Weptswur. The rest of the realm will surely fall if this castle is not defended properly. Let us be courageous then and forget our aggrievances against one another—for now man stands a mighty test against an enemy that cares not whether man lives to rule over this realm any longer."

Fallon nodded in mutual agreement and up ahead the sound of thousands of marching enemies echoed throughout the empty air between the castle and forest beyond.

"Wait, Fintan, where is the squire, Terran? He is supp—"

"—easy, Fallon. Look, just there." Fintan pointed up along the south wall where Terran stood in full armor with his chest puffed proud. Vince sat to his side with his eyes closed and his hands around the dragon horn.

"There is an easy solution to this battle. Terran just has to proclaim his rule over the Maldurians, and they shall recognize him as their true Maldur King. Their memories have faded since King Steed has fooled them into believing he is their king, which is why he tasked Nightclaw with ensuring he was executed."

"So, you're telling me he doesn't know Terran is still alive?"

"If all goes to plan. Any wise man knows, however, that things never go to plan, Ser Fallon. Always prepare to die fighting for your cause."

Fallon nodded his head and turned to stare out at the enemy which still inched forward quite a way off. He counted around five siege engines spread across a single line with thousands of men pouring out of the woods still behind them. Valligian mammoths edged from the woods with a rider upon the reins on top of its back. Hundreds of Valligian mammoths littered the scene beyond. Fallon felt his stomach do a flip; their numbers were sheer dominance from the looks of it.

His mind began to feel something he had not felt since he was a child. Fear. He could feel his throat getting dry and tight. His mind raced. His mother and father's head rolling onto the ground from the swipe of the Ki'vatsu's blade. His nostrils flared and his breath came heavier. He wasn't afraid anymore. He was angry. He gritted his teeth as he watched the enemy saunter closer and closer. They chanted words of Mestrane's forbidden language that was spoken before the fall. Fallon's contempt for Nightclaw grew as he thought of Nightclaw's grip he had on his parents. He had never gotten along with them, but they were still his kin. Nightclaw had ripped them away from him and they had died under men who were cursed to his will. And now Nightclaw's master rode to battle behind the thousands of Maldurians and Deranged Men with his feet kicked up and face in a twisted smile that was not even his. He knew Steed would appear as a Maldur King—his skin changing abilties only made him more of a coward in Fallon's eyes.

He is not a true King. He does not rule a people. He oppresses them out of fear and has them do his bidding. Fallon realized Fintan had sensed his growing contempt inside him because Fintan's hand rested on Fallon's shoulder reassuringly and the two exchanged affirming glances. This could well be the last thing he ever did.

Above them, along the archers' south wall where knights had filed in behind them to attack enemies who arrived at the wall from siege engines, Vince began to speak out from his position sat beside Terran.

Vince's words came stammering out in a language Fintan nor Fallon understood. Vince's face had gone very pale again and then he screamed in agony before his head dropped and his mouth shut, and all was quiet from his end.

"He has seen something," said Fintan.

"Well it won't help us now. We know what is before us," said Fallon.

Ser Gorren stepped in beside Fallon to his left.

"If it please you lord King, the men are trembling and afraid below us. I cannot lead an army of scared men, not against this enemy. We are not facing an enemy who is afraid. The Deranged men cannot feel fear. I think you could really boost to our men by showing them your face."

"King? Did you just call me King?"

Ser Gorren simply nodded and returned down below to sit atop his horse along the front lines below. Fallon thought a second and Fintan nodded him on.

I am the King now, the rightful heir.

Fallon went down below to the open plaza of brick and cobblestone that now sat underneath around a thousand men. The King's new squire stood waiting for him with his own armor that was far too large for him. He held the King's magnificent golden helm with a crown emblazoned onto the of the helm. Fallon lowered his head and the squire placed it upon his head. The squire fixed a golden breast plate onto Fallons' body and soon Fallon was fully plated in the royal gold of his father's armor. The setting sun had set now but the torches that lit the inside of the castle gleamed off of his helm and Fallon cast a long stare over the men who stood before him. He mounted his horse now and the squire handed him a long spear and Fallon clutched it and held it upright. His sword sat in its scabbard upon his back and he glanced up at Fintan above who nodded approvingly.

What does a King say before battle? I am their King now...

No one spoke. Another ball of fiery thatch and shrapnel lit up the sky and smashed home into the side of a structure deep within the castle and the crumbling of the stone that had been punctured rippled the air. Men shifted uncomfortably in their armor. Fallon paid the projectile no mind and stared among his men. He saw faces lose fear as his eyes met theirs, not wanting their king to see the despair in their eyes. They respect me.

The sound of chanting and marching men had grown significantly closer now. The sound of the wheels rolling under the siege engines became audible now too.

"Today, my lord father and my own mother, Queen of Weptswur, died a brutal death. I did not have the best relationship with them, but nonetheless, they died at the hands of a traitor. A traitor, who was never our friend. Men of Weptswur, Edmund Nightclaw dined and drank fine ale inside these very walls! If that does not make you uneasy then you are not prepared to fight! The enemy who approaches does not care whether you are afraid, for they themselves live off of the corruptive energy of dark magic. The Deranged Men will fight for their lord, but they do not have a loyalty and a love for any land like we do for our realm!" Fallon's voice had grown courageous and his shouted with his spear lifted as he spoke. Men had begun to grunt and voice their passion amidst his shouts.

"Men of Weptswur, men of the realm, hear me now. I am the rightful heir of the throne, and I stand before you today as the King of Weptswur, begging, do not let this be the first and last day I see this castle as my own. Do not let this be the last day you have seen your wife, your kids! After today, you will bed your wife again! You will see the look of jubilation upon the face of your child! Do not doubt it for a second, or you have already lost the battle within yourself."

Men lifted swords and spears to the air in allegiance to King Fallon, and a small roar of support stemmed from Gorren and the men around him began to roar as well. The cheers spread like wildfire among the men and soon spears were slamming the ground in unison and the voices of Weptswur drowned out the sound of the siege engines and the foreign chants of the enemy.

"I only go to battle with one mindset, knights of Weptswur, peasants of the hills, archers of south wall, I envision myself victorious, with all of you around me! But it only happens with one mindset, and that is to come out victorious!"

The cheers were deafening, and Fintan could no longer hear the enemies chanting although they were closer than ever now.

"Raise your shields and spears for this nation and do it for the kingdoms who have fallen. For some of you, you are here on behalf of your lord, and your kingdom has fallen already. Fight for your home! For Dansington, for Herrodor, for Meundswur, for Aparthor! And now for the last stronghold in the south, Weptswur!"

Men screamed at the top of their lungs and banged their spears noisily against the cobblestone of the plaza floor.

Ser Aerygaard yelled from atop the south wall, "Release!"

Catapults flung chunks of rock and ruin from the castle walls where the enemy's projectile had broken the walls. The rocks flailed through the air and smashed hard into enemy lines, and the first casualties had been taken in the name of Weptswur.

Fallon rode his magnificent white stallion along the front line of Knights, shouting encouragement in his beautiful golden plating with the red dragon of Weptswurs emblazoned upon the center of his chest plate.

He shouted, "Open the front gate! We shall meet them before they reach our walls." The gatekeepers heaved on the levers and the gate slowly heaved open.

Fintan shouted down to Fallon, "Fallon, let them meet us, we have the moat. Their siege engines will have to stop before the moat to try and reach our walls, let them meet us," Fintan had to shout at the top of his lungs to be heard above all the noise.

"I want to meet them, if we they get to our walls then they will simply outflank us and outnumber us on the walls. We'll thin them out before they get to our walls, even if it means our lives," Fallon shouted back up to Fintan who heaved a sigh and glanced to Terran who was still stood confidently front and center at the base of south wall. Terran had two archers on either side of him now, but Fintan could not spot Vince anywhere.

The front gate opened, and King Fallon sat atop his horse at its opening, his army sat patiently behind him. A quiet had taken them now. The last seconds before battle were odd times. The night sky was quiet and still. All wind had died and now the chanting of the enemy had died away as well. There they sat, the enemy lines in all their glory, thousands of men stood about a thousand feet away. Weptswur's walls were littered with archers and catapults.

Fallon eyes glazed the battlefield ahead of him. Trebuchets and Siege engines rose in the dark like giant beasts. Valligian mammoths double the size of elephants were spread throughout the enemy lines with huge crates upon their back that contained half a dozen Maldurians. The Deranged Men would be the enemy they'd see face to face on the ground, Fallon knew. A Maldur did not prefer sword to sword combat, but they were lethally intelligent and incredibly accurate with a bow.

Fallon's mouth gaped open and his helm came up at the sight of the mighty King himself. King Steed emerged last from the wood line behind his men, but Fallon had no doubts it was him. He rode upon the backs of around eight Valligian mammoths, whose backs carried the weight of a giant platform where King Steed stood, a multitude of Deranged Men surrounding him with pikes in their grip.

Fallon sat upon his horse at the end of the gate, staring at the enemy that was to be fought. A horse cantered up alongside him.

"You didn't plan on leading the front line all by yourself, did you?" asked Fintan.

A soft smile spread over Fallon's face, "A Magi would choose to fight without his pretty little stone?"

"Who needs a stone when you have courage?"