The Price of Peace (Completed)

[Macca]

((Sorry about that, but I didn't actually mean to say Bowen I ment to type Severon. Anyway, it's modified now.))

[Frost]

"Lord Siberius," A guard spoke quietly, yet also abruptly.
Siberius opened his deep blue eyes, he was always a light sleeper.
He sat up ad frowned, "what's wrong?" he asked, putting on a navy blue and green robe as he did.
"The eastern wall has been breached, there's a meeting down the hallway...there's thousands of them, my lord, for your protection, you must stay in the pa-"
Siberius barged past him and ran down the hallway, his thoughts racing through his mind.
He quickly turned down another corner and continued his rushing stride until he arrived at a thick, wooden door that led to the (command room?).

He burst into the room,
"Get me Siberius."
((Jokes))
"What's the situation!?" He yelled.

---

"It's time! The day of reckoning is now!" Vivian announced to the cheering crowd of about 150, "For too long, have we been hiding under the shadow's shadow, for too long, have we had to watch and not act, but now, we have a chance, to rise up, and take what is rightfully ours!"

Everyone in the room yelled in agreement, to them, Vivian was one of the greatest leaders and speakers they have ever heard.
Vivian waited for the crowd to calm before continuing.

"Now, my friends, even though we all have different operations to run today, different intentions of what will come out of it, and different auras, everything about us unites us as one, solid foundation that will spread it's spirit across millions of miles, our children's children will grow up as rich and powerful members, and the World will be ours!"

The room erupted in screams, cheers and laughter, every voice in that candlelit, large chamber instantly was cast under Vivian's spell. (no, Vivian isn't a wizard, it was a metaphor LOL)

Suddenly, a woman silently crept up behind Vivian, and whispered something in his ear.
Vivian frowned as she did so, then smiled as she finished.

"Trale! Bring your best operatives! We have something to discuss!" He called to him.
img100.imageshack.us

[Farrelei]

Safroth crossed the room over to where Siberius was, "Apparantly the East Wall's under siege. They've already managed to break in, according to sources. We don't know what they're aim is-"
"But they're arriving in Imperial units," Vendarn, wanting some kind of recognition, spoke over Safroth, "Our units. I don't know who they are, but they're either here to terrorise, or they have something against Ranra. Their was supposed to be some kind of festivities appreciating the representatives today, yeah?"
"Well that'll probably have to be postponed for now. But Siberius - I know this is sudden - but we need your word on what we should do with the representatives. If we send off a unit now, they can meet with the representatives and alert them of the attack before they arrive in Gardaine. The representatives won't reach Southgate until lunchtime at the earliest, so if we go now we'll have some time..."

[Frost]

Siberius took a deep breath and sat himself on the closest chair, his head in his hands.
It was a tough call. Siberius wanted to do what was best for the Country, but he also wanted what was best for the representatives from the others.
All of our units should be helping to repel those invaders, but, the lives of those representatives have to be protected...

"Go," Siberius said simply after a long, silent pause, "Do what you can for the representatives."

---

"It seems Gardaine is under attack by legions of unknown invaders," Vivian told Trale, smirking.
Trale's eyes lit up, "Really? We should make good use of this unexpected turn of events..." Trale replied, humoring him.
Vivian smiled, he had always admired Trale, ever since they were both children.
"Exactly. Take these 5 with you, dress as members of the International Guard and tell the leaders in the Palace that the representatives have entered Gardaine and will be arriving in the Palace Grounds soon, understood?"

Trale nodded, "Of course."

[Farrelei]

Safroth nodded, "Alright. I'm sorry we had to bother you so early into the morning.. You can rest if you like, we'll take care of the rest."
He stood up and pat Siberius on the shoulder before hastily exiting the room with Vendarn.

The unit was small. It headed out the gate, to meet with the representatives on the road.
((Can you do the post with them meeting, Frost? ^^))

The first rays of daylight were shining across the town.
Eleanore was woken early. Luckily, she got a good night's sleep the night before.
Everything was quiet in the town. She could hear the water rippling streets away, and birds chatting in the trees about the residence.
She was quickly dressed in an annoyingly bright uniform and lead out into the town.
It was a quiet stroll. The scenery was slightly ruined, though, by the presence of guards everywhere.
Standing beside her was Karen, the head maidservant for the tour, and Bowen, who seemed to like the atmosphere, something Eleanore found mildly surprising (if, of course, he wasn't simply trying to impress her, which she always knew was a very appropriate motive for him to be carrying).
After breakfast, the group was escorted back to the docks, where Eleanore was presented with a ring and bouqet on behalf of the little town, and all in a hurry it seems she'd be leaving the town as quickly and quietly as she came.

[Macca]

".. To date, there are over 5000 soldiers in the Imperial Army." Recko paced in front of a company of soldiers who were completing their 163rd push-up. He lectured the sweating people, speaking clearly and loudly, yet so measured, as if he were explaining a business proposition. "This is not including Armored Divisions, Private Soldiers or Imperial Guardsmen; they are all equipped with the most advanced tactics, weaponry and technology known to man. There are 2200 of you in this camp. We are outnumbered and outgunned, therefore, to be an army that will be any blight to the Empire, every man and woman under my command must be able to kill at least 10 Imperial soldiers before he or she dies."
Recko stopped pacing. He turned to the company, now beginning their 177th push-up. "DROP!" He shouted. There was a grunt as the soldiers let their bodies hit the dirt ground. Recko looked at the sweating company in front of him. He peered at a young private in front of him, who, in Recko's opinion, was too tired for the workout that he had just given them. He bent down and grabbed the young man's upper arm, wrenching him up onto his feet. The man spluttered, coughed, composed himself, then stood to attention and barked in the appropriate manner.
"Sir! Yes Sir!" The Private shouted. Recko addressed him, but looked at the soldiers and not him.
"Name and division!" Recko shouted.
"Private Thadius Quarter! Heavy Weapons Division! OORAH!" He shouted in reply. Recko turned to him, the young man was thin, tall, pale, with grey, scared eyes.
"Private Quarter! How many Imperials could you kill before you died?" There was a chilling pause. Recko had publicly killed men in his service before to make a point. The wrong answer here could land Thadius dead, and the company watching knew it.
"3 Sir!"
"Is that enough?"
"Sir! No Sir!" Recko addressed the company before him.
"To serve in my command you owe me two things. The first is your attempt to complete my training regime, or to die trying. The second... Is you owe me the scalps of 10 Imperial soldiers that you have captured in the heat of battle. This is your debt to me and I WILL get my scalps. The Emperor has been brutal to us, and now we WILL be brutal to him."
He turned to Thadius, who Recko noticed was trembling, "Quarter! Do you know what the Imperials would do to you if they knew you were here?"
"...They..."
"ANSWER ME!"
"They would kill me and my family! Sir!"
"What family?" Recko kept his barking tone.
"My wife and two daughters Sir!" Recko paused, and looked Thadius square in the eyes. Recko pulled out his gun and cocked it.
"What would you do, Quarter, if I said I was going to kill your family?" Thadius' eyes widened as Recko pointed the gun at him. "What would you do?!" Recko continued.
"I... I would.."
"You would what Quarter?"
"I would stop you Sir!"
"How?"
"I.." Recko stepped forward, pressing the gun to Thadius' head. 'I would kill you Sir!" Recko advanced on him, Thadius put up a weak arm in defence as Recko ripped Thadius' gun from its holster. He took a few steps back, looked at Thadius' weapon, and threw it on the ground a few metres away from him. Recko then walked back to Thadius, grabbed his arm and thrust Recko's own gun into his hand.
"Then do it Private." Thadius squinted. "There are other people here to take my place Quarter. I know where your family are right now. If I don't think you are loyal to my cause I will kill them to gain leverage on you. Now fire Private." Thadius was stunned, he peered down at the gun in his hand, it was already cocked. "Kill me Quarter! Or I will kill you!" As he spoke, Recko took a step away, towards Thadius' gun on the ground. "Kill me Quarter! Or I will kill your wife!" Recko took another step, but still Thadius was sacredly shaking his head. "Kill me Quarter! Or I will kill your daughters!" Recko was now directly above Thadius' gun. He bent over to pick it up. As he did, Thadius lifted the gun with one shaky hand, steadied it with the other, he pulled the trigger to hear a click. The gun was not loaded. Thadius clicked again a few times. But the clip was empty. He looked up at Recko.
Recko marched towards him, he planted Thadius' gun in his hand, and took back his own. He turned to address the shocked soldiers. "Every soldier in the Imperial Army, is saying that to you. That if you do not kill him, he will kill you and your family. Private Quarter did the right thing, and went to kill, so as to protect the ones he loved. All of you must learn this lesson." Recko nodded at Thadius. "All right, hit the showers. Dismissed!"

The distant sound of thundering hooves made the Thurgual attack all too obvious for Recko, he instantly began sprinting to the Dawn Team HQ. Upon arrival, he found the divisions in a surprising state of readiness, with Severon yelling commands to the Captains. Recko marched up to Severon,
“Attention!” Recko barked. Severon and the Captains around him spun around and saluted. “Lieutenant, sit rep in 5, meet me in the armoury.”
“Yes Sir!” Severon replied.

Whilst in the armory, Recko went to his cabinet and drew his old friend. a sword named Narva’tol, which meant ‘Death Strikes’. It was not adorned at all, and was indeed not what you would expect an army General to be wielding. It was a medium length, thick, heavy sword that was purpose was to break armour and sever heads. The sword was perfect for killing Thurguals because the blade was both strong and sharp, needed for cutting through a Thurgual’s thick skin, and then strong enough to hold firm when trying to sever tough Thurgual muscle.
Severon walked into the armoury. “They’re here. Maybe, a fifth of the army, enough to rout the guards situated by the East Gate.”
“How did they topple the walls?”
“Still unsure Sir.” Recko growled. “It’s been a basic Thurgual attack so far.” Severon continued. “I’ve tasked for Heavy Weapons Teams for some suppressive fire at the gate. I’ve sent 5th Company north and 3rd Company south. If we can contain the hoard there will be minimal civilian casualties.” Upon uttering the words ‘civilian casualties’, Severon mumbled something about not having to worry about civilians in the Rebellion.
“Very good Severon. Bring your company with me East and we’ll make a push back to force them into trenches.”
“They’ve already begun digging, Sir.” Recko made a double-take.
“What? Are you sure?”
“Positive. They began digging as soon as they breeched.”
“… Burtauk is here.” Severon said nothing. Recko thought for a moment.
“Get a sniper on the roof. Tell him to take any chance he gets to kill Burtauk.”
“Right away.”
“How long will it take for the word to reach the army?”
“I sent a messenger about 10 minutes ago. It’ll be Armored Divisions first I should think, with the Empress gone, the High Officers have been jumping at shadows. Now that there is actually a threat, it’ll be anarchy in the streets.”
“You’re right.” Recko replied. “From now on, all matters of Thurgual attacks, we only alert the army unless absolutely necessary.”.
“Understood.”
“Now come on, we have a battle to win”.

[Frost]

Jezebel sat beside Herald in the first carriage, sitting next to her was the woman that was alongside her during the battle the night before.
She was too small for a proper ladies' dress, so she wore a young girls instead.
Just a little demoralising, Jezebel noted.

"Lord Greene, Gardaine soldiers are up ahead, what should we do?" the man atop the carriages, guiding the horses asked.
"Just stop when we get up to them, they're probably here to greet us," Herald told the driver.

The Driver did so, and as the carriage stopped beside the soldiers, as did the several carriages behind them.
"Good morning, how do you do?" Herald asked politely(and as royal as he could) to the people.

[Farrelei]

The unit halted and one of the soldiers spoke up, "Good morning! We've been sent by the King of Gardaine to deliver a message. You be the representatives sent from Ranra, correct?"

Kyou's pain only increased.
He was sick. He got bad perhaps once every ten months, when he was usually looked after by the Elders of Serenfas - particularly Elder Yamm, who would always cure his pains.
When they arose, they did so quickly, and with little warning. He wouldn't have been as worried about them had he been within Serenfas, and if it had been close to ten months since the last attack. But since the last attack was only recent, and his spirit beast was attempting to tear apart his chest, he was veritably concerned.

He squirmed on the floor. He hadn't slept all night, and the sweat beading from his forehead burned as it rolled down his face.
He forced his body to sit up, and forced his puke back down his throat as he did.
Whatever was happening now was definately not good.
It took him what felt like hours but really was only minutes to clamber down the staircase and collapse outside the abandoned building and give up the contents of his stomach, but his face prickled with heat and his eyes couldn't bear to remain open anymore.

The first few defending units were dispatched. Three Heavy Weapons units and five waves of armsmen were readied.
A messenger reported back to him, "The dawn team's initiated defence."
"What the hell? My god, I've always hated that team! They always get the fucking action, ex-rebel or no. Hurry up and make sure our men get there quickly to make sure none of those dumbasses get themselves killed."
"Yes, sir." The messenger, a dawn team member himself, smiled as he turned his back on the jealous officer and made sure his orders were heard.

[Frost]

"Correct, officer," Herald replied frankly.
Jezebel frowned.
No we aren't...why is Herald not telling the truth? She thought to herself.
She opened her mouth to speak, but reframed from speaking.

---

Siberius shrugged.
"I'm wide awake now, and it'd be hard to rest at this given time. I'll be in the office. Tell me if anything comes up," Siberius said to Safroth.

[Farrelei]

"Ah, I'm sorry but I bring unfortunate news! It seems some terrorists have attack the East Gate of Gardaine. It's a fair way away from your path and the Palace, but we believe this attack may be related to your arrival. In your best interests, the King asks that you warmly accept his sincere apologies and turn back for the time being!"

Safroth nodded, sighed, and nibbled on a piece of banana bread he was quickly given by a very flustered Violet.

[Frost]

Herald frowned.
Terrorists? Along the East Gate?
Herald wondered if this information had reached Vivian, if so, then Vivian would be speeding up his plans.
"There could be more of these terrorists lurking around the entire city, I think it would be wiser if we went into the city, we have women and children in these delicate carriages," Herald told him.

[Farrelei]

The soldier frowned, "We, well, thought you might say that. We can't turn you away so we'll have to escort you. Personally, I think it'd be better if you were there, especially if the terrorists are aiming for you. Don't worry, Gardaine is powerful. We'll let them know who they're dealing with. They'll probably be dead by the time you arrive."
Saying this, the troops turned around and began leading the representatives forward, toward the state.

[Frost]

Herald smiled and took a breath of relief.
So did everyone else in the carriage, except for Jezebel.
"Herald?" Jezebel said,
"Mm?" He replied.

"...What happened to the bodies last night? The deceased ones?" She asked curiously.
"There's thick marshes West of here, a few miles out."
Jezebel waited for Herald to answer her question, but he didn't.
"And?" She began again.

Herald rolled his eyes and sighed.
"We buried them there."
"Buried?"
Herald took a much louder sigh of annoyance.
Jezebel figured it would be best to stop asking questions, but the topic continued to linger in her mind for many years to come.

[Macca]

((IIIIT'S BATTLE TIME!!))

5 minutes earlier, Corpral Thadius Quarter untied the thick black strings around a long thick green tarp. When the 4th Heavy Weapons Team was called for front-line suppression fire, Thadius and the other members of his team went straight for the 'big guns', or more, 'big gun'. The PORTER92 shot 50 caliber bullets at 20 rounds a second. It weighed just over 150 kilos, and even the bulky men had to move the massive weapon in peices. The downside to this is it required set-up time in open positions. This left the crew open to Thurgual guns, which, although crude, were deadly effective and Thurgual rush attacks. It was upto other teams to hold-off the attackers until the set-up was complete.


Recko held his gun tightly with his left hand, and Narva'tol in the other. He was in a waist-high bunker, crouched down next to Severon, and the rest of a rush team. The teams purpose was to charge over the trench, and sprint over the fireing field to the enemy trench, killing all those inside. The main idea was that when the enemy rose from their trench to fire upon the madmen screaming toward them, the support troops at the flanks would fire on them. It wasn't an air-tight plan, but against Thurguals the tactic had worked before.

Recko mixed among the ten other men crouching with him, all wearing metal plate vests to deflect most of the enemy fire, and weilding long pikes to stab the enemy in the lower trenches. They were waiting for Recko's call.

The fire raged above, and it was Recko's job to jump up into it. He held his breath..

"CHARGE!!" Recko roared and the team sprung into action, racing onto the open ground, pikes lowered, and Recko and Severon's swords held high.


"TO THE TRENCHES!!" Burktauk roared from his position in the back. The north and south teams were pushing them back, but Burtauk was foucused on the middle-ground. He drove his Thurguals into digging, hacking at the dirt and clay to make deep trenches. Even Thurgual technology had changed since Recko and Burtauk had once fought, tactics were sharper, and weaponry was even more destructive. Mortar teams carried in the bomb-lobbing tubes that Burtauk planned to use to rout out the Dawn Team's trenches. From there, Burtauk could make his way forward to find and kill Recko, and then pull out before the rest of the Imperial Army had time to move armed and ready.


"Go! Go! Go!" Thadius shouted, his team running over the ground and planting down heavy pieces of metal. As Recko's team provided a distraction, the PORTER could be set-up. The men worked to build the gun from the ground up, with sandbags piled around them providing cover, a few wayward shots flew past the team, one struck Thadius in the side of the calf muscle.
"I'm fine" Thadius grunted, "keep going." The team continued to slave over the gun, seemingly holding their breath. The last pair to arrive was carrying the long barrel of the gun. a young Private tripped on a sandbag that he didn't see, the barrel slipped out of his hands and he dropped it onto his leg. Thadius heard an almighty snap, followed by a howl of pain from the Private. Thadius ran over,
"Oh god!! GET IT OFF!!" The Private screamed.
"Medic!! I need a medic!!" Thadius called to the trenches, and a man wearing a red helmet climbed out of the trench to begin tending to the wounded man. Thadius still needed the barrel, it had snapped his leg in a akward way, the shattered bone splitting the skin open and the protruding bone wrapping over the barrel. To lift it off his leg would mean Thadius would need to break the man's leg again. Thadius shot a glance over to the charging team, his distraction would not last much longer.


Recko sprinted forward past the rest of the team, the Thrugual defence was more prepared than they were expecting, and the shower of bullets killed one man in their team and incapacitated another, Recko got away with a clipped left shoulder and a bullet that entered and exited his right forearm, it could be stitched and the wound was not bleeding profusly, so Recko sprinted on.
His team neared the enemy trench, and right when they were about to jump in, the Thurguals suprised them with a fast rise above the trench, hailing machine gun fire at them. Three more men died, leaving only Recko, Severon and 3 other men charging toward the enemy.
Recko leaped into the trench over the attacking Thurguals, Recko spun around and brought Narva'tol through the bellies of three Thurguals, and the men in his team stabbed through the skull with thier pikes. Severon was the last to leap into the trench, although he had distanced himself from the group and landed badly on the uneven ground. He fell over and landed on his back. Severon was disoriented for a few moments, but regained equalibrium and rose to his knees to see a charging Thugual running through the trench, the Thurgual lifted a huge axe above his head, as he did so, Severon lunged forward and drove his sword through the Thrugual's unprotected heart. Two more ran from around the corner, wildly swinging blunt weapons, Severon narrowly dodged one, and ran back to the rest of the team, he rounded a bend to find Recko.
"Two on me!" Severon called to Recko. Recko raised his gun.
"Now!" He shouted, and Severon dropped quickly to the ground, the first Thurgual was confused for a moment, before three shots from Recko's gun ripped through his neck. The second, seeing his companion fall tried to run before a shot broke through his half-helmet and hit him in the back of the head.
Severon scrambbled to his feet. He jogged over to Recko, panting.
".. I know you didn't see it.. But I killed one earlier.. Just over there.." Recko nodded. "No, really I did."


The sound of the Private's leg breaking a second time by his hand would stay with Thadius forever. The indescribable crunch and grating of bone-to-metal made his skin crawl, but he had a job to do. He lifted the barrel over the the built platform, plunking it down and then kneeling to screw in the bolts. The PORTER was nearly ready to fire. But Thadius' heart sank, when he heard the distinctive whistling of mortar bombs closing in.

"INCOMMING!!"

After the explosion, Thadius couldn't see straight, he wasn't sure whether he was hurt, there was a deafening whine in his ear that he couldn't shake no matter what he did. He blacked out for a few seconds.
When he came back to he realized that his face was in the dirt, and he had a strange taste of metal in his mouth. He tried to lift himself up, but his arms wouldn't move for a few seconds, and then they sluggishly began to move. He tried rolling over, it worked. And he saw the blue sky above, interupted by the sight of more mortar bombs in the air. Thadius knew he was in danger, and needed to move. He looked down at his body, to see his right leg was missing, all that was lft was a ripped up stump on his middle-thigh. His first thought was to find his leg. More bombs were comming to finish him off, so he didn't have much time. He managed to move to his foot, and hoped over to his leg, lying on the groud a few metres away from him. He hoped over to the nearest trench, and fell down into it. Now he was on his back again, he sat up to inspect his leg. He concluded he was in shock, for he still couldn't hear anything and he couldn't feel any pain although he was starring right at his missing leg. He tore off the remaining clothes on his leg that he was holding in his hands, and held it up next to his thigh. Something didn't look right at first, and it soon struck him that the leg he was holding went all the way up to the side of the hip, but Thadius still had half a thigh. The truth suddenly dawned on him.

This... Is not my leg.

Thadius got his hearing back just in time to hear more mortars screaming at him.

The next two explosions killed him.

[Frost]

Violet sat in her room, finally, she was able to rest for a while.
She gripped the cup of tea in her hands and breathed in it's warmth, despite her hands shaking so nervously. She knew unknown forces were attempting to get into Gardaine, but she wondered if they were being unsuccessful.


The carriages entered the slightly chaos-stricken city, no trumpets of exclamation, no salutes of encouragement, in fact, not a single person was waiting along the sides of the road they were on.
Jezebel looked outside of her window curiously, she had never seen this part of the city, not in broad daylight anyway.
Herald looked out the window with his usual gaze.

A raven flew over the carriages, and sat itself on the roof of a house nearby.
Vivian was on the move.