Chapter 29
The Woodsman walked out of the alliance camp with a single focus. It was a short walk to the Alliance front line, and although everyone that saw him were at first shocked and then wanted to confront him, he was being escorted by men from both Carriland and Hathorn as well as followed by a large group that included the rulers of the Alliance. They let the soldier on the front lines know that he is to be let go. The procession stopped at the front line, but the Woodsman crossed the trench and kept walking into no man's land. It was about 200 yards to the Emos front line, but he walked out without fear. When he reached halfway, he stopped. He could see that troops from the Emos front line were poking their head up trying to figure out what an Emos General was doing walking out from the Alliance camp.
After a minute, the Woodsman yelled out, "I am General Raymond Ayojiak of the Emos Army, and I demand Article 12!" He waited a few minutes and then in a louder voice repeated, "I am General Raymond Ayojaik of the Emos Army, and I DEMAND Article 12!"
He waited a few more minutes and was about to repeat the demand when a single soldier climbed up from their trench and walked out to him. This soldier stopped 10 yards way and said, "I am the First General of the Emos army. You demand punishment for incompetence? For whom do you demand this and why?"
Had his anger not been so intense the Woodsman might have broken down. He said, "Queen Hellicus." The general's eyes went big. "Because she failed to complete an Article 12 on me."
"She failed to punish you for incompetence?"
"She left me for dead, but I am still alive."
The first general could see the hate and anger in the man's eyes. After a moment, he said, "Please give me a moment." With that, he turned and walked back to the Emos front line. The field was covered with a light covering of snow that had been there for a couple of days. Even so there were no footprints except for the ones made by the two men. It had become completely silent in both camps, and the Woodsman was able to make out few words coming from the Emos camp. The person speaking was speaking louder than normal which allowed her voice to carry. He heard the voice say, "I don't care about article 12, go out there and kill that man." He could not hear the other party but then heard, "I am the queen, and rules do not apply to me." After that, there was a few minutes of silence, and then a long figure emerged from the Emos front lines. This figure was a woman and the Woodsman recognized her immediately. It was Queen Hellicus, and he would have his vengeance for what she did to his wife and unborn child.
She walked up to him, wearing full armor as well as a sword. She was obviously not happy, and when she got within 10 yards, she stopped and said, "Threaten me will they. After I take care of you, I am going to kill him and then get a general that will understand that those rules do not govern me, that I am above them." She said with a sneer on her face. Then she looked at the Woodsman and said in a fake caring tone, "Well you are looking very well for a dead man." When he gave no response, she added, "I cannot believe you are still alive. I was sure you were dead the last time we met. I will not make that mistake this time. This time, I will make sure you are dead before I walk back to my camp."
When the Woodsman did not say anything but just glared at her, she became a little uncomfortable. She then said, "So how do you want to do this?"
Through clenched teeth, he said, "The same way we started this, with daggers."
"Very well, it is your death, after all; it is only fitting that you get to choose how you want to die." She then started to remove her sword and vest that had four spells attached to it.
She was just about done when the Woodsman said in a voice that made her jump, "Why, why did you kill her?"
Quickly regaining composure she turned to him and said, "Her who? I have so many people killed these days." She was playing coy as she knew who he was talking about.
"My wife and unborn child, why did you kill them?"
"Oh, her, well it was an article 12."
Before she could continue, he said, "Elf Shit!!!! You put her in that machine and turned it on. You caused her soul to be trapped in that awful citadel."
"Oh, I see you have been talking to her. Well yes it is true I did that, but it was all in the name of magic. I needed to know what the machine did."
"You are even a worse liar than you are a commander of troops, and I did not think that was possible."
Anger rose in her as she said, "That stupid piece of common trash. What did you ever see in her? I did you a favor. She was not good enough for you. I just never thought you would completely lose it when she died."
"Good enough for me? She was my everything. There is no one better than her."
"Oh please, yes there is."
"Who?"
In the heat of the moment, she said, "Me. You should have been with me; that's who. Together we were going to rule Anon. With you at my side, there was no one that could stop us. But instead, you decided to go all baby on me and cried because she was dead. It was quite pathetic."
This was too much for him and with a dagger in hand, he charged her. She was able to dodge easily his attack and was about to counter when his foot came up and clipped her in the side, sending her sideways, away from him. The two then engaged in a frenzy of attacks that put to shame the practice fights of the dwarves. It ended when Queen Hellicus made a lunging attack, and he was able to fall backward and catch her with his feet, sending her hurtling 10 yards away.
The two got up and began circling each other. They were both breathing hard and had minor cuts on their arms as well on their armor. As they circled, she said with a chuckle, "You want to know what is totally pathetic?"
He gave no response but kept circling with her.
She continued, "Your little feeble attempt to destroy the citadel was a total waste of time. You see the elves foresaw this. As we speak, I have people restoring the magic back to the Citadel. That little alliance mission you helped was a total waste of time." She then decided to see if she could get to him and added, "The best part is that your wife will once again be the guardian of that place. She won't even remember that you were there. She will once again be my personal servant doing my will."
Her taunting had worked, and the response from the Woodsman was to let out a growl as he charged. His attack was so fierce that it took her a few seconds to be able to counter it fully. As such she took a nasty cut to her arm and one to the leg. The fighting between the two was even more intense than the first round. What stopped them was not a natural break in the fight but rather the sound of a loud explosion.
The two separated, both exhausted. She looked to the west and saw a large plume cloud coming from far up the valley. With fear in her eye, she turned to her opponent and said, "What have you done?"
He wore a very wry smile and said, "I just proved a point that is all. I told you keeping all your magic in one place was a bad idea, that it could be attacked, and you would lose it all. I guess I was right."
Anger crossed her face. Why was she surround by such incompetence all the time? She had people that were supposed to guard it and once again she was let down. How was she supposed to rule the world and protect the people if they were all going to let her down?
After watching the anger grow on her face, he taunted, "What, did not the elves foresee your incompetence? I bet you can always restore the magic weapons by asking the citadel. Oh wait, that is right, you kept all the weapons next to the heart of the citadel. Did the elves tell you how to rebuild the heart of the citadel?" He laid on the mocking tone. "I guess you know what it feels like to lose something important to you now."
Her response was to attack him, only her quickness surprised him, and he took a bad cut to the arm as he tried to get out of the way. Two great warriors will always put on a great fight, but when rage fuels both, the fighting will be even more intense. Each moved with a fluidity that most dancers would have admired. Faint, thrust, parry, the fighting went on and on. As exhaustion began to take them, finesse was replaced by brute force. Neither willing give in or pause for a rest. This was going to be the last melee. Finally, he made a lunging attack at her head only she was able to drop to her back as he had done, only she brought up her dagger, and as he passed over her, she ran the point down the midsection, cutting open his uniform. She also connected with her feet, and when the dagger had completed its task, she kicked hard with her feet, sending him flying 15 feet away.
She then got up and saw that he was laying there, not moving by her sword. Convinced he was done for she turned and faced the Alliance front lines. She cried out at the Alliance forces, "Why am I surrounded by such incompetence? But that does not matter, it is only a minor setback as I am the rightful ruler of Anon. Even without the Citadel and its magic, I will still defeat you all. You will all bow before me. But know this, I am a merciful ruler. If you do what I say, then you will live a good life. But if you disobey me, then you will know my wrath and my wrath is fierce. Anyone that defies me will be killed and sent to the underworld. There you will..."
She was interrupted by someone grabbing her from behind. The person put his arms around her and said in her ear, "Let us we prepare the way for them."
She recognized the voice as her former general. He was proving harder to kill than she imagined. Then she saw him toss a small metal ring into the air in front of her face. The moment she recognized it she felt the lump of the spell that was being pressed into her back the by chest of her opponent. She started to twist to get away, but it was too late. The spell went off.
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