The North (Closed)

[heartofcourage]

Shani’s muscles strained against his as they locked against one another for control of her dagger, their eyes connecting as he finally got a good look at her eyes. She barely felt the hand squeezing at her throat as rage coursed through her and she lifted herself up and free, driving her knee down hard between his legs so that she could roll free.

They were both up at the same time, both soaked in blood. Shani held her dagger at the ready, a feral creature of her own making. She waited and watched the general closely, nothing else mattering as she readied to strike again.

 

[KieranSoares]

The General managed to snag his sword from the floor as he rose, ignoring the many small wounds Shani had inflicted. Off to the side, Kell was half-crouched with his own blades ready. Glancing slowly between the two, the General knew he wouldn't be able to handle them both. Carefully, he leaned down to place his blade back on the floor and raised his hands. "I submit," he spoke slowly. "I will go quietly."

"You have nothing to offer," Kell murmured. "You would be more of a risk than you're worth. Why should you live?" As he said this, Shani could see him reaching to his bandolier to withdraw a small vial.

"I am General of England's armies. I know all of Hess's military secrets," the General insisted incredulously.

"So does Hess himself. I only need one of you." Kell poured the vial onto a small kerchief.

A panic set into the General's face and he took a small step back. "He may be King, but he is not a strategist. He doesn't know war as I do."

"I'm well aware, sir. You were the man who seized Darkwood and Windsor twenty years ago. You were promoted to Major as a reward, and have been deeply involved with hunting my children and wife ever since." Kell glanced at Shani. "He would see our Queen imprisoned as a trophy, and our Prince sold to Spain. He could be useful... but he is immensely dangerous to the true High Throne of Scotland. I leave his life in your hands, agent." It was a sign of respect and trust to give Shani the decision, but it was also a test to see what she would do, why, and what thoughts and emotions would guide her choices. He offered out the kerchief soaked in a sweet-smelling chemical that would knock the man out, if she chose to let him live.

 

[heartofcourage]

“A danger?” Shani asked, looking at Kell as the General looked between the both of them. “He’s a coward. Nothing more.”

Shani met the General’s gaze again, the burning hatred that both held clear. She knew what her choice had to be. She gave a nod of her head and watched as Kell was on him in an instant, the sweet smelling liquid knocking him unconscious instantly.

“His death isn’t mine to decide.” Shani said as she placed her dagger back in place, turning to glance at Myr who had passed during the fight. “It belongs to them.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell took a moment to bind the General's arms and legs and move him to a corner. When he returned to Myr's side, he found keys on a soldier to unlock all of his binds, and took off his collar. Kneeling beside him, Kell sighed quietly. "We'll come back for you, cousin," he murmured, treating the Wolf like family as he arranged Myr in a more respectful position on his back, his hands resting on his stomach. Kell draped a soldier's cloak over him and stood. "If anyone had heard all of that, they'd be here by now. As long as we keep Hess's men away from this room, we haven't been revealed yet."

Looking to Shani, he asked, "Have you found anything about where Hess is?"

 

[heartofcourage]

“No, sir.” Shani said with a shake of her head. “They’ve rigged the western wall to blow with a signal though. Chinese explosives. They’re targeting Fiona. She’s the thorn in their side.”

Shani glanced at Kell and knew that they might well have to part now that he knew that bit of information.

“I can take him on my own.” She murmured, a confidence in her voice that hadn’t always been there.

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell's pointed ears perked in alarm when she told him of the western wall. "If they're blowing the wall, they're hoping to get Fiona and Sam at the same time..." he muttered to himself, followed by a quiet curse. He glanced outside, but then heard Shani state she could manage alone, and turned back to her in surprise.

"Little cub, this is only your second full-scale mission," Kell murmured. "I can't put that on your shoulders with so little experience."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Do you have a choice?” Shani asked. “They know who you are and that you’re here. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know what I look like. I won’t hesitate to make a decision.”

“Your loyalties lie to Kate and the North and if he means to kill Fiona and Sam, he means to cripple us. You can stop this, sir.” Shani murmured as she moved to gather up the General’s sword, adding it to her arsenal. “And you can trust that I am my father’s daughter, trained as well as I can be.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell stared at her for a long moment, but his mind was elsewhere weighing all his options. Ever the decisive Lord Protector, and knowing he didn't have time to argue or hesitate, he nodded after only a few seconds. "Bring him alive if you can. If not... Well, make sure he's dead. We can't risk him surviving and continuing to aid Royer. You know where the checkpoint is if you capture him. The other agents will get him secured and guide you out."

Stepping up to her side, Kell took another couple vials from his bandolier for her. "Chloroform," he muttered. "You know what you're doing... Remind me to get you a bandolier like mine and your father's for when we take Edinburgh. I'll teach you the kind of chemical warfare our enemies wage with these tools."

Glancing back out the window, Kell walked over and unlatched one so he could get outside silently. "If you can't get him right away, find a hiding spot and wait for nightfall. This battle is going to last." With a final look back at her and a nod, he slipped away into the morning shadows.

 

[heartofcourage]

Shani watched Kell slip out the window, leaving her truly alone. She took in a steadying breath and put the vials in a secured inner pocket. "Forgive me, Bo." She murmured to herself as she went to slip free from the room and start on her mission.

Outdoors, Riley was being the general pest that Fiona knew she could be. As Ezra took on drowning out the cannons with rocks and debris, Riley and Andre worked together to blow up what she could with the bombs that had been provided. They were quick enough that the enemy forces were left on the backfoot, scrambling to try and bring them down.

 

[KieranSoares]

Andre had taken to riding in Gia's hands, directing her carefully so he could get a good aim at his targets without causing too much collateral damage. It was unavoidable given the task, but he could at least minimize it.

With Ezra, Jani, and Schaller causing mayhem, the focus of the anti-dragon weapons was split and causing longer load and aim times. In the midst of the chaos, one of the greenhorn messengers came streaking in to catch up with the Riders. The first he was able to reach was Riley. "Lord Aleister has come back from the palace!" The greenhorn shouted to Riley. "The west wall is rigged to explode when General Ghis reached the gate and calls Queen Fiona in! The entire fucking west side!" There was clear panic, but also devotion to his duty as he sped off to warn the other Riders. Word was being spread below too, but Sam was already at the gates in a mass of soldiers. It'd be difficult for him to move away quickly. And as a signal arrow went up calling Fiona to him, it was clear Hess had gotten hold of some of their plans and reacted accordingly.

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley glanced in the direction of the gates as she heard the news, jerking hard on Marth's reigns to direct him. She blew on her whistle, signaling that there was danger as the arrow went up for her Ma. She never stopped her own counter signal as Marth sped and met the mass of soldier's head on. She let him spread the word, corralling who he could as she grabbed onto the lattice work of the portcullis and climbed for the top of the wall.

"Retreat!" She called above the fray, blowing again on her whistle to signal to any incoming dragons to stay clear. "Get out of the fucking way!"

She darted past retreating Austrian soldiers, like rats evacuating a sinking ship. There was no resistance as she pushed and shoved her way through and into the wall, finding the one that was there to light the fatal spark in moments as soon as Schaller made his appearance.

"Don't fucking move." She growled to the soldier, pulling free the modified crossbow that Sam had only just given her.

 

[KieranSoares]

The soldier froze in place, a lit torch in hand only feet from the gathered fuses. Panting with adrenaline and fear, his eyes darted from Riley to Marth and then to the fuses. With just a flick of his wrist, the torch went sailing through the air.

Marth's scaled arm pushed through, claws raking at the trail of fuses to try to cut them or put them out. But they were stubborn things, holding their spark and reinforced with wire and protective casings to make them harder to cut. "We have to go!" Marth snarled, pulling back from the wall with Riley without her okay. He darted out along the wall, signalling danger with flame and headed directly for Sam's position at the gate. Roaring the warning out, the Northern forces began to flee in either direction. With Sam at the gate, that meant the entire army was centered around the west wall. It would be a devastating blow if too many couldn't get away.

Sam was still atop his horse, trying to manage the panic around him and push through the din. "Retreat!" He roared. "Westward! Away from the walls!"

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley felt sheer panic as Marth grabbed her away from the fuses and gave his warning to the army that was pressing through the gates. She wasn't about to let her father or her family die before the battle was even begun. Riley pulled herself back into Marth's saddle as he ran, giving him the order to continue his task. She would stay on the wall as long as she could, warning everyone up and down that there was immediate danger and they needed to retreat.

She saw Riders coming to help clear paths away, making faster routes of egress as the first explosion rocked the far end of the wall. There would be more coming, she thought as her Ma and Schaller came in low, Schaller's great claws digging into the stone of the wall and ripping away sections of the wall in an attempt to pull apart fuses. He was the only dragon strong enough to attempt it.

"Ma! You have to leave!" Riley called out as Fiona ignored her warnings. "MA!"

 

[KieranSoares]

Set to his task by his partner with the long understanding that if they went into the face of death, they went together, Schaller ignored Riley and Marth's pleas for them to flee as he bashed and pulled at the outer wall in an attempt to disrupt the line of explosives before they got to the gate where Sam and his officers were still stuck in a crowd.

Avfairn and Sadah dove down as well, digging their claws in to help pull away rubble while Schaller wrenched the stones apart. As the line of explosions grew nearer, Schaller managed to make a hole large enough to shove his head into the space between the walls. His massive jaws clamped down on the line of wires and fuses and he yanked with all his might to pull them out of as many bombs as possible. But that wouldn't stop the explosions themselves from setting off the powder. Digging in further, he began throwing clay pots of gunpowder away, trying to make a gap big enough to stop the chain reaction and save the soldiers still around the walls.

"Schaller!" Jani roared out, directing his attention to see that at the other end of the wall, another series of explosions had been set off.

"SAMUEL!" Schaller bellowed, scrambling over rubble to try to get over the wall and get to Sam, but he couldn't do so from the ground without crushing dozens of their own fleeing men. Those still in the air could see Sam react to the explosions and his name being shouted, and he instantly shot up a flare bolt with a trail of red smoke, calling for pickup by a Rider. Knowing his horse was done for anyway, Sam stood up on top of the saddle to make himself as easy as possible to grab.

Schaller was forced to flee in the other direction to save Fiona, and Ezra and Jani and their partners were being harried by anti-dragon weapons too much to go Sam's way. Gia and Marth didn't need to be told. They immediately changed course toward Sam. Such a fast pickup would hurt him, but it was better hurt than blown to bits.

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley and Andre raced against one another to reach Sam in time with Gia always being the faster dragon. As soon as her claws wrapped around Sam, the duo pulled steeply up and away. Riley was cursing a blue streak under her breath, angry tears in her eyes as she heard the explosions coming fast and furious beneath them and knowing that there would be the loss of life. Looking into the distance, she saw Schaller and her mother, drifting at a safe distance, the plot foiled for the time being.

Shani fell in line behind a group of soldiers hurrying towards the sounds of explosions. The inside of the palace was a madhouse of action, especially with the disappearance of the General and the discovery that four guards had been murdered. She needed to find Hess. The sooner she found him, the sooner she could put a stop to all of this madness. The line of soldiers broke off one direction, but the sound of angry shouts and sharp retorts caught her attention.

Shani noticed the change in finery around her as she carefully snuck down the hall. The tapestries were the finest Austrian silk, the paintings in gilded frames. She knew that she was in the right place as she came to a large door that was closed. The sound of an explosion of glass inside startled her, a decanter thrown against the portal exploding as more angry shouting came from within. Shani quietly ducked to the side to listen, hidden within the shadows that the tapestries cast the hallway in.

 

[KieranSoares]

A mix of German and English was being spoken inside as someone lost their temper and stormed about. Any attempts to placate him were met with a other explosion of rage.

"I want those fucking Scots DEAD!" The man roared. "If I don't see Samuel Ghis's head on the battlements by nightfall, I will have you all hanged for incompetence! And if you don't find that dog that took my general-"

Another explosion of glass, a cup hurled across the room.

"Sire, Aleister's men have broken every lock and bar we have to the palace's outer walls. This position isn't defensible with the western wall trap failed. We have to-"

"Barricade the fucking palace with bodies if you have to! This is my country, my throne, and my goddamned castle! No Norman whelp is going to steal it from me!"

The door across from Shani opened and an officer stormed out looking worried and frustrated. Others followed, but Shani could see a few remained behind with the false king as his bodyguards. She overheard the retreating officer say to his men under his breath, "Keep preparing the charges. His fucking Majesty is very much of the mind that if he can't have London, no one can. Once that's done..."

The officer paused, looking back to make sure Hess wasn't listening. "I'll be honest with you boys. Nothing will be left for us here whether we win or not. Get your families and go to France."

With that, the officer and his men dispersed in different directions.

 

[heartofcourage]

She slipped into the room through the opened door, officers scattering like roaches. She quietly took up a position as she listened to the madman rantings of Hess. He was a man possessed, she thought to herself, watching as she bodyguards shifted with nerves. She forced herself to be at ease, relaxed and waiting for her moment. It most likely wouldn't present itself easily.

 

[KieranSoares]

Hess continued to pace and mutter to himself about the indignity of fighting the Northern Alliance and how if Barbarossa were still alive, he'd have crushed the North in its weakest state. Shani got a long moment to look him over properly. He was older, likely in his late fifties with long curly grey hair and a full beard, dressed in kingly, perfectly-fitted robes with armor that was more vanity than protection. His slim frame was on the shorter side, and his thin fingers and neck were overloaded with finery. He occasionally paused before a large map table to experiment with the markers and flags on it, only to return everything back to their original places in frustration. When a servant entered, she was stopped at the door and roughly pushed against the wall and searched by two bodyguards while another took what she had come to deliver. A tray was laid on the table laden with fruit and candied nuts and tea, but Hess stared at it all suspiciously and didn't go anywhere near.

"Bolek," he barked at the slimmest of the guards, who immediately straightened up and stepped forward to inspect the food and drink before tasting each. Hess watched nervously, giving any potential poisons a long while to set in on his guard before he dared eat anything. After ten minutes of waiting, the guard's shoulders began to slump and he lifted a hand to his mouth, his entire body starting to heave. He rushed out, and Hess instantly knocked the entire tray to the floor. "Arrest the kitchen staff!" He shrieked, another of his guards hurrying out to give the orders. This all only put Hess further on edge and he kept on his ramblings about how things should've been and how there was no one left he could trust.

"Where the fuck is Royer!" He nearly screamed suddenly, slamming his hands on the table and panting heavily. "He promised... That highland mongrel PROMISED!"

"Sire," a calm Scottish-accented voice came from another door, where Shani could see a young woman in Rider armor looking in. She almost looked like a very young Fiona, though her hair was a more golden blonde and her eyes were green. She had the same bearing about her, and her custom armor was clearly made by a similarly-skilled smith to Sam. in the chest plate of her armor, a beautiful design depicting a map of Scotland was embossed against the dark leather.

"You." Hess turned and his eyes went wide with shock and relief. "He's answered? Where have you been?!"

"The King has answered, sire." The young woman pulled a folded letter from her belt, sealed with wax and a blue and black ribbon. Hess instantly tore it open, only finding a small folded note and a single silver coin inside.

"May this aid your futile efforts in defending London. It's all I care to spare..." Hess read aloud, staring incredulously at the single Scottish coin with Royer's house symbol minted on the front. "He's abandoned me..." Hess whispered, his eyes turning toward the Rider who seemed so calm and unmoved. "I helped him put the highlanders down. I helped him rein in Inverness and her neighbors. I helped him subdue Wick! I HANDED HIM SCOTLAND ON A SILVER PLATTER!" His voice rose in volume and frantic rage as if the Rider before him was personally responsible. But she barely blinked.

"His Majesty has decided, being that London is a lost cause, he will not waste resources any further south than Hadrian's Wall," she explained almost gently. "So he instead wishes you the best of luck, and may God have mercy on you when Edward walks these halls tomorrow." With that, she turned in a cascade of golden hair and walked away. Hess was left slack-jawed in horror, the letter drifting from his fingers. The bodyguards had all begun to look at each other as if asking one another what to do. Shani knew the look of soldiers about to rout, if not outright defect or surrender.

"Set the charges," Hess whispered. "Burn it down."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Or kneel." Shani murmured from the shadows. "It's already lost. The North can be merciful, but only if you go quietly."

She saw the guards tense at the voice from the shadows, eyes turning towards her position as she slowly walked from the darkness with her hand on the pommel of the general's sword.

"Those men that left here a short while ago have already deserted you. If you care to keep your freedom, the rest of you will do the same." Shani explained in a calm and nearly whispered voice, measured against Hess's rage.

 

[KieranSoares]

Hess immediately backed away, putting the table between himself and Shani. Seeing the general's blade, he grew even paler than before. When the bodyguards didn't immediately attack, he looked around wildly. "Kill her! She's one of Aleister's!"

One man put a hand on his blade, but another beckoned for him to stop. "Can you promise safety for us if we cooperate?" One asked in a heavy Welsh accent while Hess tried and failed to take a blade from another guard and began screaming in panicked German when another blocked the door.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm not one of Aleister's, Herr Hess. I am Aleister's." She murmured as he panicked and sought to flee the room, blocked by the guards who seemed interested in negotiating. "I can promise you a fair trial and a good word if you cooperate. I am not in a position to do more than that, I'm afraid."

"I do, however, have to take this mongrel in alive." She said as she turned her gaze back towards Hess.

 

[KieranSoares]

At Shani's assurance of fair treatment, the only guard who didn't drop his weapon was the one holding Hess at bay. He drew his blade and forced Hess back. He wasn't ready, however, for just how desperate his abandoned king was. Hess grabbed the blade despite the sharp edge, threw an armored elbow into the man's helmet to stun him, and managed to wrench the sword away. With one quick motion, he sank the blade up under the man's arm and dropped him before whirling around to face Shani.

"Come, half-blood," Hess snarled. "I've killed dozens of your fallen Queen's barbarians and your dog Protector's agents. You will be no different."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Go." Shani murmured as she drew the General's sword, glancing at the guards to give them an out as she squared up with the mad man. "Take your chance and spread the word."

She challenged Hess, knowing that a crazed target was a danger. She had the upper hand of clarity, but he had the look of a man who had nothing to lose.

 

[KieranSoares]

The guards each fled in different directions, one going as far as to smash out a window to head westward with his hands raised to find the nearest Northerners. Hess paced like a caged beast before Shani, considering their battleground and everything at his disposal. "So, then... Are you some secret child of the failed Queen, or are you another born and bred killer from the Aleister line? Or perhaps you're that mysterious Panther's girl..."

With next to no broadcast of his movement, he flashed forward to strike.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I suppose a failed spy network would never give you that information..." Shani murmured as he struck, her own reflexes fending off his first attack easily.

She pulled her dagger and slashed at his injured hand, pushing him back and away, injuring him further. With his size, she was outmatched, but if she could keep him on the backfoot, she had the upper hand.

"That information is probably killing you, isn't it? Is there more to the royal line of Scotland?" Shani pushed in, shoving him further back from the center of the room and pinning him closer to the wall.