...

The next three days of the journey were uneventful. Both Rosemarblians and Kotarians generally kept to themselves and the carousing ceased as the feeling of death hung in the air. On the following night, Jimmus, Reginald, and James had a very different conversation as they ate their potato stew around the fire.

"This could be the end." Jimmus said, "I hate to be so morbid but we may never see our loved ones again, and yet we will be in Our Lady's presence."

"Don't try to tell me you really believe that." James chided, "I know where your true faith lies."

"Our Father." Jimmus whispered, loud enough for the others to hear him.

"I knew it." James continued, "I knew you never left your parents' faith. You believe in a male God not a female one."

"James, please..." Reginald asked, "Don't torment the man."

"People like you and Marcella, always condemning me." James said, "You're the true heretic."

"James, I..." Jimmus stammered, "I want you to find redemption, relationship with God. These could be the last few nights..."

"I don't plan to die, Jimmus." James asserted, "I plan to live until I'm an old man."

"Is that what you tell yourself?" Jimmus asked.

"Both of you, stop..." Reginald said, "Let us all get some sleep."

"I will pray for you, James." Jimmus concluded.

A few camps over, Marcella and Reine were seated around their own fire across from two other female knights, twin sisters with blonde hair and blue eyes, Aurelia and Cordelia. Aurelia kept her hair long, in ringlets at the front of her head, and Cordelia had a large ponytail, similar to Marcella. They had just finished a meal of rat stew, cooked at Aurelia's insistence, as she had brought a bag of spices that could make rat taste better than the finest cut of steak.

"I cannot believe I ate rat." Marcella said softly, "And that I actually liked it."

"Aurelia drowned it in spices." Cordelia noted, "Maggots would taste good in that broth."

"No, the key is the rat meat." Aurelia argued, "It provides the proper texture to compliment the broth."

"Hey, Aurelia." Reine asked, "What's the difference between a man and a serpentine?"

"I know not." Aurelia answered.

"The difference is if a serpent's tail goes inside you, you might actually feel something." Reine joked.

Marcella tried to stifle a laugh while Aurelia chuckled. Cordelia gave a blank stare.

"I do not understand." she said.

Aurelia whispered the explanation in her sister's ear and Cordelia blushed at first before bursting into laughter.

"It wasn't that funny." Reine said.

Soon enough, the combined armies of Rosemarble and Kotaria reached the Bloodmarble border. A thick fog, common enough for Bloodmarble, enveloped the soldiers so that they could barely even see in front of them. Without warning, a volley of flaming arrows shot out, piercing more than a few soldiers, Rosemarblian and Kotarian alike.

"FALL IN PLACE!!" Carden shouted, atop his white horse, "STAND YOUR GROUND!!"

"Bring up the elephants!!" Kasseri yelled, "Form a barrier!!"

A stampede of dozens upon dozens of elephants were positioned in front by their human riders, many of the creatures taking the brunt of the arrows.

"Bring out the cannons!!" Carden screamed, "RETURN FIRE!!"

The Rosemarble soldiers brought out what few cannons they had, large iron tubes that fired rocks using blackpowder. The soldiers quickly poured large sacks of explosive blackpowder into the the cannon, stuffed it with rocks, and lit the flint. Loud shots rang out as the rocks scattered, clearing some of the fog. Kasseri and Carden both looked on in horror as the fog revealed a massive stone wall, perhaps ten meters high, at the top of which, several orc archers wielding crossbows had been firing at them. Flint embedded in the crossbows produced an armor-piercing flame.

"I was not expecting such a large barrier." Kasseri said to herself.

"How are we supposed to breach that?" Carden wondered.

Some of the war elephants started charging the wall, toppling the orc archers and making small dents. Carden thought for a moment and realized this was the distraction he needed.

"QUICKLY!!" he barked, "Pile bags of blackpowder in front of the wall!!"

"It'll all be wasted!!" a soldier argued.

"DO IT!!" Carden repeated.

While the orcs concentrated on bringing down the colossal war beasts, the Rosemarblians swiftly carried sacks full of explosive powder and packed them against the wall.

"LIGHT IT!!" Carden shouted.

The soldiers ran away from the wall, while one lit a pitch torch with a piece of flint. With the torch aflame, the man flung it into the pile of bags. A massive burst of smoke and flame erupted from the wall, collapsing a large chunk of it to rubble. The elephants trumpeted and roared in fright and many of them scattered. Orc and human alike were trampled in the confusion but the damage had been done. The Bloodmarble wall had been breached.

"Route the elephants back!!" Kasseri ordered, "March onward!!"

The Kotarian soldiers managed to round up their elephants and many of them stampeded through the breach. The Rosemarblians followed closely behind, including Carden and his calvary knights, all galloping forward into battle.

Reginald and Jimmus were included in this number and Jimmus gasped when he noticed his friend, who was riding beside him, fall from his mount.

"REGGIE!!" Jimmus screamed as he brought his own horse to a dead halt.

Jimmus jumped down from his horse and removed his helmet. He grabbed Reginald's collapsed body and dragged him off to the side. He removed Reggie's helmet and saw that the man's face was sweaty and pale. Reginald's armor had been pierced several times in the chest and blood leaked from the holes.

"No...Reggie...stay with me..." Jimmus pleaded.

"Tell Constave...tell....help...cold..." Reginald sputtered.

"Don't die on me!" Jimmus ordered, starting to cry.

Reginald coughed up some blood and closed his eyes. Jimmus could not hold back tears as he clutched his friend's corpse.

Marcella was already a good distance away, still galloping forward on her horse, but shaking and sweating in fear. She could not even hear Carden's orders or pay attention to the formation of her fellow riders. Before she realized it, she had broken rank and was riding through Bloodmarble territory alone. Marcella screamed as her horse was impaled by several arrows and she was knocked off.

Marcella's armor protected her and she flung off her helmet in frustration. Standing in front of her was a unit of five vampelle soldiers, all aiming pikes at her chest. Vampelles were white-skinned, red-eyed humanoids that usually had black or purple hair and two prominent fangs on both their upper and lower teeth. The vampelle soldiers wore black armor with large spikes sticking out of the shoulder pauldrons.

<What should we do with her?> one soldier asked another in the Bloodmarble language.

<Kill her, cook her, and eat her.> the soldier replied, <What else?>

<Stand down, both of you.> a third man ordered, <She is to be taken in for questioning.>

The third vampelle had long black hair and was slightly taller than the others. His pauldrons were painted gold and he wore a cape. This was Captain Gosk of the Ashwoodite army.

<Captain Gosk.> the soldier apologized, <I meant no disrespect.>

<I shall take her to Blackstone.> Gosk decided, <I am certain that General Valka has plans for her.>

Gosk brushed the soldiers aside and held out his gloved hand to Marcella. Marcella started to back away but Gosk gave a leering smile that she misinterpreted as kindness. She let Gosk help her up only for the man to grab her, pull back the chain mail from her neck, and plunge in his fangs. Marcella tried to resist him but he sunk his fangs deeper, letting her know he would rip her throat out if she tried to fight back.

When Gosk had drunk his fill of the woman's blood, he let Marcella fall to the ground while a soldier clasped fetters on her hands and feet. The soldiers dragged Marcella along, while Gosk mounted his large black steed and led his unit in the direction of Fortress Blackstone.