Elana who had liberated Sumar was in Fortus reequipping herself, she had opinions for the new monarchy. She sat in Fortus, enjoying some tea and enjoying the peace that came with not having to work.
“The old Sumere monarchy was deeply unpopular, I have yet to find anyone who actually liked them,” Jafar said softly, “with no monarchy our kingdom is vulnerable, a kingdom without a king is vulnerable…”
The swinging tavern doors of the bar flung open, a man immediately bellowed.
“Lin has invaded, general Utran has swept southwards!”
Izotz summoned an ice elemental, and looked down on everyone with a grim grin, gripping his hand, and cracking his knuckles in nervousness; he breathed out and then deeply in, Izotz’s eyes glanced around the saloon, wondering if there were infiltrators in the room already.
They could be here already. Lin wouldn’t invade without having spies in Sumar. They must have sniffed our weakness. Treacherous bastards. And possibly assassins. I was careless. Too careless.
“Ma’am it seems Sumar is being invaded again,” another regular soldier repeated, receiving a death glare from Elana, who knew full well what the words she just heard meant.
Elana opened up a map of the world, eyeing her close companions.
“Jafar, Izotz, we should be careful to not become isolated in a sea of Lin soldiers. Cahov encountered resistance, there are no forts outside of Suno and Fortus that can offer any resistance to the Lin kingdom. They were all destroyed,” she said ominously, “our kingdom is ashes…” she muttered with a wince.
Her allies had grim faces, Jafar tapped the table, Izotz tapped his foot on the floor.
Meanwhile Lin’s troops marched in loose formations through the Sumar countryside. Villages and towns fell rather simply. Flags were hoisted and Lin troops thundered across the roads and ash, meandering through the territory of Sumar before fortifying their camps and starting the next day. What little grass there was treaded, shit from horses and oxen littered the ground, destroyed villages were passed by and the soldiers looked with curiosity at the site.
“The Demons did a number on them huh?” One soldier said quietly.
“That’s why we’re here,” another soldier said.
The Lin army had advanced 80 kilometres in a day, their cavalry squadrons taking villages ahead of the infantry. Elana desperately contacted Roderic through a communication crystal.
“Roderic, we are being invaded by Lin.”
“Lin?” He said, “what are you talking about?”
“Our northern neighbour has burst through the border,” Elana said matter of factly.
“We still don’t even have a king,” Roderic said breathlessly, “what are you going to do? What are we going to do?”
“I will do my utmost,” Elana said, “honour compels me.”
“We are Sumar now,” Roderic whispered, “stay safe out there.”
“Huh what was…” she said, seeing the transmission had ended, “damn man.”
“Shall we march?” Jafar said, “you are the hope of Sumar.”
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“I am a mere commander,” Elana said humbly.
Not to me, not to any of us.
Her humility made the lot of them grit their teeth with determination. Their hands tightened, their blades rasped from their scabbards, the whole saloon was filled with faces of silent grimness. Alcohol was swigged down by the common man, the summoners awaited orders.
Nearly a week later, Elana and her small retinue met a Lin army detachment outside of Suno.
“We are to join up with Roderic in order to bolster our forces,” Izotz said, “I can understand the strategy, but if they catch us unawares, we’ll all be destroyed and Sumar will perish.”
Nina a gryphon summoner, and Talida an air elemental summoner joined Roderic. Roderic was short and stocky, despite his height he had clearly worked on his musculature, a specimen of a man, who had worked on himself to become an anchor for Sumar when needed. 10,000 holy warriors put their shields together before Izotz’s ice elementals showered them with ice. Light rays attacked them blinding the entire field. Talida, the wiry air elemental summoner used her elementals to cause a storm, the light encapsulating the field disappeared, and soldiers found it hard to hold onto their positions. Izotz kept his barrage, the ice impaling people’s feet and puncturing shields, and then mere moments later gryphons swooped down and started picking up soldiers, crunching them and breaking up their lines.
“Charge them!”
Elana summoned metal Golems that immediately smashed into the Lin army. The Lin commander was disorientated, not knowing from where the next attack would come. Jafar and Roderic summoned water elementals that lassoed and ended life in piercing thrusts or tossed people into sharp objects like a shrike would. The summoners did their best to keep the Lin army at bay.
“For Sumar!” Elana said raising a sword.
A mostly decorative instrument where spells would emanate from, the whooshing sound of the blade nonetheless captivated the hearts of men. Screams from Lin soldiers followed, as they were bludgeoned by 1.5 metre Golems interspersed with 2 metre Golems. The larger Golems dived into the lines, blades not cutting through their armour like skin as much as they smashed skulls. White cloaks soiled with blood and shit, the putrid smell, the horrifying screams of men was not something anyone took lightly. The summoners noticed cavalry, Jafar and Roderic created a muddy bog, and then lassoed soldiers off their horses. Talida’s air elementals made a strong gust of wind that unhorsed even more riders and made Lin projectiles fall far short of their intended targets. General Utran was a distance away with the vast majority of his army, here his army were cut down, the ‘hills of blood’ a name that would soon go down in infamy. The sub commander had long since been killed his army fighting out of pure spite. Roderic and Elana took turns to wreck their army. 10,000 infantry, joined by 5000 cavalry, which soon became 12,000 corpses.
“Mom! Save me!” A soldier could be heard screaming.
“By the gods…” Elana whispered, “put the guy out of his misery.”
A stab in the chest and the screaming stopped, blood oozed out of the man’s mouth, a pit of despair. General Utran’s full army was soon spotted by Nina’s gryphons.
“They’re very close, there’s no way we can possibly…” Nina stopped speaking, her face going deathly pale.
“What is it?” Roderic demanded, “what did you see?”
“Angels… Archangels.” Nina gulped, “and a fuck tonne of them.”
“What?” Izotz said.
Izotz’s stare was palpable, he had no idea what they were talking about. Elana gave a brief glance. The figures were illuminated, large beings, carrying glittering blades of light.
“We can’t beat Angels in a pitched battle!” Elana said frantically, “we have made them suffer. But if we fight them now, there may never be a Sumar.”
“Nina! Talida!” Roderic began, “your gryphons and air elementals are to delay them while we make a run for it.”
Six of them made delaying actions, sending their summoned creatures to confront the Angels. The Angels flashed before them, their sabres cutting through the summoned creatures, shrugging off damage as they healed each other.
“Since when?” Roderic whispered.
“Since now!” The Angel said.
Wind elementals blew them away, one singular Angel was felled in their retreat but not more. Angels revived their lost Angel before, they all descended on the summoners. Ice elementals and gryphons kept them at bay as the thundering of Lin’s troops could be heard following them.
“We can’t beat Angels!” Nina said, “we must run.”
In the end, an other Angel was destroyed only to be revived mere moments later. General Utran hissed, as the Sumar remnants sailed off rapidly, 6 of Roderic’s ships had been requisitioned, so he left the harbour of Suno with a mere 4 ships, hurtling through the waters and away from the Lin invaders. The Angels made the Sumar garrison shit themselves, soldiers quickly subdued the guards, making traitors out of the new population before marching down to Fortus. At least 3 metres tall, with freakishly long blades, they stared ominously out to sea at Roderic’s ships. Sumar the state was finished, but Sumar lived.
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