Chapter Twenty Seven - The Battle Begins

Mara snorted as they watched Edmund, Yoran, and Eldor leave with a company of men. She was upset that the king had not allowed her to go. Kathryn turned to Mara with a smile.

“Patience, Mara. Your time will come. We all have a part to play in this world around us. We all have a piece to act in the play that is made up of the world. We can not rush things that are not meant to be rushed. Each act must be played out in its own timing.”
“Yet I am not content to stay here,” said Mara with another breath of fire. “I want to go with Edmund and Yoran and fight. If I had to give you the Stone of the King, I should be able to help you defend the right to keep it.”
“We can’t always do what we want when we want to, Mara,” said Kathryn.
“But sometimes we need to do things without the foreknowledge or permission of the ruler above us,” said Cynthia simply. “Orlando DiCaprio has a Varnhyme with him. Our army can not stand for long against such power.”
“What then can we do?” asked Jessica nervously. “We have no way of warning them, do we? And surely, would not Sir Uncle, that is, Sir Paulo, would not he know of such presence with the Duke’s army?”
“Not if the Duke has not yet attacked, my lady,” said Cynthia. “I do not believe that the Duke, if he has attacked yet, would reveal the presence of the Varnhyme with him, until he was sure that the Varnhyme would need to be used.”
“You have that power though,” Kathryn spoke quietly. “If there is anyone who can save the army of the king, it is you. Take Mara, she will bear you hence. Then you can both help.”
“I know not if your Ligon friend would bear me,” Cynthia said cautiously.
“I will bear you. We shall go when you are ready.”
“I am ready any time.”
“Then mount my back! We shall go now! Farewell, Lady Kathryn, and Lady Jessica! And farewell, Klicati – may we riddle again some day soon.”

With that Mara climbed the sky, her red form shining in the sunlight. Cynthia held on, and together they flew south from Aiulindale to the plain where the two armies would meet in battle.

“The scouts have spied the enemy sir!” cried a runner breathlessly as he dashed into the camp. “They are coming! They will be upon us shortly, for they are riding hard, and their horses have energy. They could not have come all the way from Merisna then, for the horses appear to be well rested.”
“Thank you, Bob,” said Sir Rupert. He motioned for another soldier to come. “Go, at once, Bob, my boy, bring this news to Sir Paulo. He must know of this immediately!”

But the words need not have been spoken. For all could see the banner of the House of DiCaprio, crossed with the royal banner of Elenaesia flying in the wind. Trumpets sounded the war cry of the Seventeens, and horsemen appeared charging over the hill.

“To arms, Elenaesia!” cried Sir Thanet cried. “To arms!”
“Let us beat back the fiendish foe,” shouted Sir Evyn. “To arms, Elenaesia, to arms!”

With a mighty cry, and a deafening blast on the trumpets, they drew their swords and prepared to meet their enemy in open battle. Those near horses quickly mounted them, the others remained on foot. Blow after blow was dealt from the soldiers of the Seventeens, and blow after blow was parried by the soldiers of the King. Some of the men who served in the army of the Seventeens under Duke DiCaprio began shouting insults at those in the army of the king.

“Stupid fools,” muttered Sir Taran. “Anyone would know that it is not proper manners to insult those who you fight against.”
“It is the mark of dishonour, and of a coward,” agreed Sir Caspian, coming up next to Sir Taran. “I wish that we had more honourable foe to face.”
“What must be done, must be done, Sir Caspian,” answered Sir Taran, while ducking the blow of a soldier riding past. “And in this case it means fighting against our kindred. If I had a choice I would not be here, but my duty lies with my king.”
“Then why do you not fight alongside us?” cried a soldier from nearby. “Why bother with pretenders such as your Eldor? Why not join his majesty King Orlando?”
“What reason have we to join you there? Eldor is our king! Why should we join with forces who challenge the right of the king to his throne?”
“You will regret those words, some day, foolish knight,” warned the soldier. But before he could say anything else, an arrow found its way into his heart.

Sir Paulo urged his men on as he swung his mighty sword. Indeed, he truly was a force to be reckoned with. He did not fear the enemy, his only fear was for the safety of Elenaesia. And he was willing to do what was needed to defend the freedom of his country. They had been caught off their guard however, and it would take hard work for them to be able to win this battle. They could do it though, they would have to. The future of Elenaesia hung in balance here.

Orlando DiCaprio urged his men onward. Today would be a red day, the night would be a red night. The blood of those who had dared to oppose him would be spilt. Revenge for the dishonour shown to his family would be taken. All that once was lost would be regained. And proof he would have when General Binks came with the boy and the Stone. He was happy. He uttered a cry in a language not spoken by those present, and raised aloft his mighty sword. Eldor would fall today. His family would be avenged, and he would hold the throne of Elenaesia. All around him his men fought. He only cared that they fought hard enough and well enough to win this battle. They were but pawns to him, only useful in achieving his goals.

The soldiers of the army of King Eldor were not expecting an attack so soon. They were somewhat disarrayed and not organized. Some were not even in full armour yet. It would not take them long to crush the army of the usurper to the throne, and then, then Elenaesia would once again know a true king.

Sir Taliesin was rallying troops about him. A plan suddenly came to him, and he worked furiously to get some breathing room so as to put his plan into action. As soon as he was able, he motioned for several soldiers to accompany him with a nod of his head. Sneaking away from the battle, they moved close to the ground towards one part of the unguarded side of the army of Orlando DiCaprio. Then, the Knight gave the signal, and yelling at the top of their lungs they rushed right into the middle of the army, through that weak spot. They swung their swords with all their might, the blood fury of old upon them.

The fury came upon them, they looked neither to the right nor to the left. Intent on but one goal - cutting the numbers of the enemy down by as much as they possibly could, and then cutting down some more. Taliesin swung his sword vehemently, and did not care how he killed them, what only mattered was that they died.

Soldiers of the Seventeens cried out that more reinforcements had come from Aiulindale. Many other soldiers under DiCaprio broke off from the frontal attack on the main body of those under Sir Paulo, and came to beat off the large numbers that had been exaggerated to them by those who had but seen a bit of the blood fury that was upon Sir Taliesin and the soldiers with him. Taliesin barely took the time to steal a glance towards the main body of Elenaesians. They had seized the opportunity he had given to them, and were making good use of it. After that fleeting glance he turned his full attention back on the matters at hand. He dearly hoped that the blood fury did not leave him, for if it did he would be one man surrounded by countless soldiers of the opposing army.

Then trumpets sounded the war cry of the Seventeens, and everyone paused briefly enough to get a look at who was arriving. There, from the north, came more men, dressed in the armour and uniforms of the Seventeens. The slight glimmer of hope that had lit itself in the hearts of Sir Taliesin, Sir Paulo and the others diminished at the sight of these men, so newly arrived.

There followed after this much fighting and slashing and cutting and biting and shedding of blood and whatever other red velvety substances that could be found in a persons body. The author could of course have included this, but decided against it. The reason for it is very simple. The author has been threatened by worried parents that this would be too bloody and gory and in all other ways inappropriate for a child under the age of twelve (at least) to read. So, in order to remain in the good graces of such wonderfully (and in some ways, overly) protective parents, and ensure that this book will still be read, the author decided to cut some of the fight out, and instead skip to the part where the Duke, or rather King Orlando, as he is now styling himself as, meets up with the much loved General Binks, and the General’s faithful sidekick, the giant Vladisk.

The author is quite well aware of the fact that you wish to move on with the story, but felt that it would do all the readers some good if the author put in a bit about Vladisk. Often times, when we think about giants, we think about the one in Jack and the Beanstalk, or we would think about Fezzick from the classic tale the Princess Bride (which, by the way, as you may or may not have noticed, is hand written and calligraphed by one of the students at the academy. He is not a giant in that regard, but he is taller than most, and, some would argue, larger than most. But not fat of course. It does not do for one to have someone be fat if they are to be fighting in the army of the King.

Before we jump back into the story, the author would like to do a response to some of the things about not yet mentioned, but is very interested in pieces that show up in Liturgy, or other such services. The first thing that came across the author’s mind was whether or not the army of King Eldor really had made some progress after all, or whether it was all a ready to collapse in a wreck for they had no point in living, seeing as all their trees and or churches were to crowded. So, we will take a look at Eldor’s army.

Apparently they had been making some more progress, despite what they lost when General Binks showed up. Sir Taliesin’s outlandish plan had been going along quite fine as well. The problem was that reinforcements for the wrong people showed up. So, in reality, the author notes, the army of Sir Paulo, or Eldor, King of Elenaesia, was not in good shape. We will now return to the scene of the crime, oops, er, we mean scene of the battle, where we will find General Binks and King Orlando discussing possibilities for quite a lot of things.