Falnic. Belinswae. Winter...
The wind across the north of the city is picking up. And behind them, a lot of the smoke over that part of the city is finally clearing away, after hanging around during the early morning.
Justifier Kaellin looks back in that direction, and can finally make out the north wall of the city in the distance. Through the clearing smoke he can just make out a couple of guards on that wall.
Whose, he's not exactly sure. But whoever they are, as they run across the top of the north wall, he's just glad that they are there.
Considering so many of the guards who were in the city yesterday, are now either dead or wounded. After an army of elves from Maladimbáh forced their way into Falnic.
The fairly powerful mage looks ahead again, and spots the senior guard Barsol just up ahead, at the corner of a building. The Justifier and some of the other guards with him, hurry forward to where the senior guard stands.
"What is it?" quietly asks Justifier Kaellin when he gets to the corner of the building "Yarmeed has spotted something sir" replies Barsol. The mage nods, then looks around the corner too, and looks to the right side of the empty street, when Barsol quietly tells him "Fourth building on the right, on the roof".
The Justifier, who annoyingly for him, is holding his power within himself, spots Yarmeed on said roof. The other senior guard is lying flat on his stomach, and pushing himself backwards, until his legs are hanging over the side of the building.
Yarmeed shuffles back on his stomach, until he has to grab the edge of the roof, he hangs there for a couple of moments. Then drops the rest of the way to the ground, about five or so feet.
The senior guard hurries back up the street, and around the corner and joins the rest of the squad with the mage Kaellin.
"What is it?" quietly asks the Justifier whose idea it was in the first place to invade the Stone Hills "Guards" replies Yarmeed who continues with "Justifier Kolvene's personal guards by the looks of it, about a dozen of them" the senior guard adds "A few streets away to the west, they're heading north in a hurry".
"North?" says a frowning Barsol as most guards in the center of the city, where Justifier Kolvene was last in. Are supposed to go south, to confront a large force of elven soldiers who are in southern quarter of the city. After being pushed that way during the night by Justifier Sammacin's cousin Galbin, who commands the young wizard's army.
"Yeah north" says Yarmeed, the two senior guards share a look with their Justifier, who asks the younger of the two senior guards "And the cleric himself?".
"I didn't see him sir" replies Yarmeed, Justifier Kaellin frowns even deeper, then mutters "Bloody hell" as he knows the Justifier from further south in central Belinswae, doesn't go anywhere without his personal guards. All members of the church that the cleric Kolvene belongs to.
Is he dead? wonders the mage Kaellin, who wishes to hell that the rest of the Justifiers of Belinswae had a metal wrist band like he and his fellow Falnic Justifiers have.
But unfortunately for him they don't. And locating one of them when they're injured or unconscious is almost impossible when he's unable to sense due to holding his power within himself.
The Justifier who invaded the Stone Hills because he wants the treasures that the dwarven clans dig up from deep beneath those mountains.
Slightly shakes his head, then quietly says "We keep going" the mage Kaellin who is pretty certain that an elven noble from Maladimbáh is in the area. Is tempted to stop holding his power within himself, to flush out the elven spellcaster. Who has been after him since last night. And the mage likewise. As he's tried to locate the elven magic user and destroy him.
They continue on their way, making their way through the empty streets here towards the center of the city. They go by homes and businesses where the doors and windows are are locked and shuttered.
The people of Falnic, for the most part. Are keeping indoors and out of harm's way. Justifier Kaellin who knows the elves from Maladimbáh won't go out of their way to harm the regular townsmen of the city.
Knows that will be completely different when the army of tribal nomads turn up.
The fairly powerful mage knows if they get into Falnic. There could very well be a wholesale slaughter of the residents of the largest city in the region of Belinswae.
They stop at the edge of a square when they see a number of dead, both guards and elven soldiers scattered across the square. They hurry into a building where the front doors have been smashed in.
They make their way up to the third storey of the building. The first two of which looks like it's a brothel. While the top floor is accommodation for those who were work in the bawdy house.
The place is empty apart from a cat that follows them upstairs, as they check out the rooms to see if anyone is here. A couple of the guards climb up onto the roof, to see what's happening.
As they quietly call down what they can see, the mage Kaellin goes to a north facing room when one of the guards on the roof says he's spotted a couple of wyverns over the north wall of the city.
The Justifier can just make out through the dissipating smoke that way, a wyvern landing upon the north wall of the city. He wonders if it's one of the one's that was already in the city. Or one that's just arrived from the north. As more guards are expected to return from the Stone Hills. And those flying by wyvern will be the first to return.
"One of the one's from the mountains sir?" asks Barsol who has joined the Justifier in the north facing room on the third storey of the whorehouse.
"Could be" says the mage Kaellin, who continues with "If it is, i hope they turn back, and tell the others what's happening, so that they hurry the hell up and get down here".
"Hopefully" says the senior guard, who then says "Look" and follows that up with "They could very well be doing that". As they can just see the wyvern in the distance, take off from the top of the north wall of the city, and head north.
They're too far away to see who it is upon the back of the wyvern. If they could, they'd be pretty despondent as they would realise that the city is in way more trouble than it already is in.
They hurry to one of the rooms on the opposite side of the hallway when they hear the other senior guard Yarmeed call out to them.
In one of the south facing rooms on the top floor of the building, Yarmeed says to the Justifier whose army he serves in "The boys up top have spotted some of them".
Yarmeed points southwards across the square, where they get a pretty good view of a street that heads downhill, westwards to the harbour from the center of the city.
"They must of came from the eastern quarter of the city" quietly says Barsol as they spot a number of elven soldiers, moving from building to building down that particular street, going from east to west, downhill in the direction of the harbour.
Wonder if Kolvene and his personal guards ran into that lot? Justifier Kaellin thinks to himself with a slight frown upon his face, the mage then quickly tells the two senior guards and the others in the room "Look for one who doesn't exactly look like a normal soldier".
"One of their noble's?" says Yarmeed, the Justifier nods his head, then says "Exactly" he continues with "Could be amongst that lot there".
The guards spread out into the south facing rooms, trying to look for an elven noble amongst the enemy soldiers nearby who are making their way down towards the harbour.
The two senior guards Barsol and Yarmeed take particular interest in the soldiers from Maladimbáh that they can see. For they along with Justifier Kaellin, have visited the elven principality that's to the north of the Nomads Plains.
And they've actually met a number of the elven nobility of southern Maladimbáh. Some of whom are now here in the city of Falnic. Leading the attack on the largest city in the region of Belinswae.
"It's that one there?" says one of the other guards in the room with them "In the maroon coloured armour, it looks a lot different than the others, and his sword is across his back, and not at his side like their other swordsmen" adds the guard.
The senior guard Barsol who is standing closest to that guard, is the first out of the trio who has been to Maladimbáh, to spot the elf in question, and he quietly says "Could be" he continues with "That armour and his robe like cloak is certainly fancy enough to be one of their nobles".
As Barsol points the particular elf out, so that Justifier Kaellin and his fellow senior guard can spot the elf in question.
Barsol slightly frowns as he catches a glimpse of that elf's face as he quickly crosses the downhill street in the distance. It's vaguely familiar to the senior guard who visited the principality of Maladimbáh in the early autumn.
"Hey" says Barsol, who continues with "That's one of them" he then adds "It's that cousin of that lord Walashàele".
Both the mage Kaellin and the other senior guard Yarmeed frown as the elf in question briefly disappears from view as a tall building gets in the way.
When they're able to see him again, Yarmeed slowly nods, then quietly says "I think you're right Bars" the two senior guards then look at the Justifier, in whose army they serve.
The mage nods, then says "I'm pretty sure that's him". The Justifier who originally decided to invade the Stone Hills to help fund his ongoing raids into the Nomads Plains, quickly makes up his mind about something, and he tells the two senior guards "Get ready to run" he follows that up with "He could very well retaliate if I'm not successful straight away" the mage Kaellin then adds "Tell the rest of the men".
The Justifier, who is a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to his spellcraft. Doesn't bother about that now. And though he would ordinarily do what he's about to do, only if he was in a duel or battle against another mage. He decides to do it here, as he knows the elven noble from Maladimbáh. One Galacithàné Walashàele is pretty powerful himself, and the mage isn't afraid to admit it, more skillful in magic than he is. Centuries of spellcasting will do that for you.
So Justifier Kaellin who stops holding his power within himself, creates a mageglobe. And once the living piece of magic forms in his gloved right hand. It shoots out the open window. The red coloured mageglobe that's as big as a fair sized apple heads across the square as it goes for it's target, the elven noble from Maladimbáh.
But that's not it's direct instructions from the mage Kaellin when he created it. For the Justifier created it, telling it to locate the close by elven magic user, and destroy it. So that's what the mageglobe does.
Justifier Kaellin frowns as his mageglobe suddenly turns as it's over the other end of the square. And instead of going south, then west to where the elven noble Galacithàné Walashàele is amongst some soldiers from Maladimbáh who are heading down in the direction of the harbour. The living piece of magic shoots back in this direction, towards the building that houses the brothel.
"What the hell?" mutters Justifier Kaellin as the mageglobe shoots towards them, then passes overheard, going over the building.
The mage suddenly realises what's happening, and he yells "Run!" followed by a muttered "Fuck" as they scramble for the door.
"Fuck" says Helbe the elven thief as he senses the mageglobe that was just created, is coming directly towards him as he stands blurred and shielded upon a rooftop a few buildings behind the empty brothel that Justifier Kaellin is in.
Narladene the ground pixie as she sits upon the right shoulder of the elven masterthief, lifts a questioning eyebrow as she looks at the elven princeling who is now grinning when they spot the mageglobe shooting towards them.
The tiny winged creature grins too, and holds on as she senses what the young elven noble from the principality of Laerel in the Southlands is about to do, as the living piece of magic created by the mage Kaellin flies towards them at speed.
Prince Helbenthril Raendril shifts, he shifts to the building that houses the brothel where the Justifier and his guards are. Infact the elven magic user shifts into that building, on the third floor, through an open window.
Helbe the elven thief and Narladene the ground pixie are still grinning as the blurred and shielded elven spellcaster runs, as the mageglobe turns, and follows them into the building . . . . . .
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