Prologue:
When Fvelt awoke, there was only the faintest fire of strength left kindled in his body and everything ached, from the top of his pounding head, to the bottom of his sore feet. The world was a blurry, fragmented mess.
He set his eyes about the room, struggling to find something, anything that could reconnect the fractured pieces of memory: papers were strewn across the stone floor, tables and chairs were upended, and by the balcony - next to the battlement wall - was his sword-belt. The fading light of dusk caught the captain's attention as he watched it wash across his chamber walls, the hour was growing late, he'd been unconscious for at least a day.
His throat was dry and every muscle in his body trembled as he tried to move, he had the faint feeling that he was lucky to be alive.
Then, all at once, the memories of last night stitched themselves together; he remembered a beautiful woman on the road, he remembered trying to dress her wound, he remembered running and then...Oh Gods, what had he done?
Fvelt struggled to his feet and took a tentative step towards his sword-belt, if he could get to that he'd still have a fighting chance against the succubus.
He stopped when he noticed a wooden tray on his desk, sitting at the table's edge: it held a pitcher of water, a loaf of brown bread, ointment & bandages. A single piece of white parchment was tucked underneath. Fvelt smoothed the page over the surface of his desk and squinted, trying to make out the small, elegant script:
Captain,
If you're the man I think you are, you've survived the night. You're the first that's ever done so with me. The men under your command, however, have not been as fortunate and I wanted you to know, their deaths are YOUR fault.
You had the chance to stop me. The men of your command have paid the price, the people of this kingdom, too, will pay the price for your failure. Stop me if you can, lover. I can't wait to see you again and watch the light fade from your eyes.
- Alyssa
Fvelt growled, crumpled the letter in his palm and threw it across the room. She was right. He'd failed the entire kingdom by not putting a sword through her belly. It was not a mistake he would make again. The good captain gritted his teeth and forced himself to walk, forced strength back into his legs.
"I'm going to find you, demon, and I'm going to end you..."
Chapter 2: Earth's Hold Keep - Moore
Lieutenant Moore arrived at Earth's Hold Keep on the evening of the second day and set up camp in a small clearing half a mile from the fortress. That night, and late into the third day, the scouts had roamed the woods, searching for evidence of the bandit menace.
The fortress had been watched around the clock, but thus far there were no traces of a hostile force, the only thing they found were the remains of an empty camp with broken military-issue tents laying on the ground.
If the bandits were hiding in the keep, Moore thought, he would let the men dress him in a blonde wig and call him Susan till the end of his days.
A single person could camp out in a fortification like that and go unnoticed, but a group of people? Not a chance in hell; people required food, they required water, they required a place to shit and unless these bandits were being led by the dumbest fucking cunt in Azania, they would get to work on those vital elements as soon as possible. Yet there had been nothing of the sort happening here.
The lieutenant turned his eyes to the dwindling sun and cursed, night would be upon them soon. If they wanted to take the fortress while they could still bloody well see, they would need to strike now. Moore crawled down the hill and walked a few dozen feet into the hollow clearing where his soldiers were sitting idle.
Sergeant Donovan spotted the lieutenant walking through the tree-line and moved to stand. "Company, on your feet," he shouted!
The group rose and fell into a loose formation.
"Alright lads, we're going to hit these pig-fuckers tonight. If those bandits really are bedding down in there I want them taken alive and by surprise. We go in low, we go in slow, and we go in quiet. If I hear so much as a mouse fart walking up, there will be hell to pay."
The lieutenant turned on his heel so he was facing the road, drew his sword, held up his hand and signaled the attack.
The men began their quiet march into the forest and onto the road that led to the massive ruins of the abandoned fortress.
Earth's Hold was built into the great stretch of mountains that ran along the southern border. It had been built by the Mad Baron, Alexi, to capitalize on the lucrative trade that would pass into the country from the peaceful lands of Naru that lay beyond. Over time, it was clear that Alexi had grown too greedy: he had ordered the traders to be taxed, strained the relationship between Naru & Azania and had ultimately been executed by order of King Leer IV after attempting to secede from the rest of the country.
As a defensive outpost, it was second to none in the kingdom; the mountains provided exceptional fortification in a siege and two gates, massive things made of wood & reinforced iron, barred the passages north and south. When King Leer IV had ordered the Mad Baron's execution, the royal army had shattered the northern gate and starved out the inhabitants in a month-long siege. When the royal soldiers finally breached the gates and entered the keep, they found Alexi's body in a stately room, covered in blood with symbols etched into his dead flesh.
That had been twenty years ago and Earth's Hold had been left in a state of disrepair ever since. Now it was a tomb, or it had been, until the kingdom to the north, Eilot, had declared war against Azania. As a result, King Leer V ordered that all fortifications across the country, even Earth's Hold, were to be repaired and manned for defensive purposes.
As the soldiers descended the winding stretch of dirt road into the valley, the ruined walls of Earth's Hold came into view. In the fading light, the fortress looked like the body of a sleeping giant nestled into the bosom of the mountain.
The northern gate crested over the hill, a towering behemoth. Twenty years ago it had been nigh impenetrable, a testament of strength that would keep the country safe from southern invasion, but now the thick stone walls that held the gate's hinges had long toppled, leaving rotted wood and rusted iron across the forest bed. As soon as the small group passed the northern gate, the fortress began to open up into an overgrown courtyard that led onto the ground floor. Not a soul stirred, no voice carried warning of their arrival, no wisp of lantern light came down from atop the battlements, only eerie quiet came to greet them.
The lieutenant raised a fist and clenched it over his shoulder. The soldiers stopped in place and two men stepped forward to come to the lieutenant's side: Sergeant Donovan, a young man with handsome features and Corporal Wils, a waif of a man with keen green eyes.
