Every Hero must report in person to the Hero’s Guild once each year

-Hero’s Guild Book of Rules

Rule #17

   General Jernagin hated feeling weak. As each season passed he felt more of his strength leave him and he knew it was only a matter of time until he was no better a fighter than a common soldier. Being injured only made it worse. The man, Feral, was like no one he’d ever faced before and he hoped his scouts would be successful at preventing him from sneaking into their camp again. This time they had the added advantage of having a castle. Feral would be hard pressed indeed to find a way over the walls and into the keep.

   Of course, Feral wasn’t his only concern. Because of the…delays, caused by Feral and his companions, the King had been able to muster his forces. The castle would prove a formidable defense against the King’s assault but General Jernagin had been wanting to be on the offensive. His main hope now was to hold out long enough for his soldiers to convey the Princess back to the Western Realm and then return with additional forces. He doubted the King would attack while his daughter was held captive and so he would most likely lay siege to the castle. If they could hold out, ration their supplies until reinforcements arrived, they’d have a chance of still winning the war.

   “Sir!” a soldier came running out from the castle gate as they drew close.

   General Jernagin propped himself up as best he could without grimacing and showing weakness. His broken ribs were painful enough just breathing without him moving around too much. Fortunately, he’d made a habit of being carried on a palanquin while traveling and he hoped it would minimize how injured he appeared to his soldiers.

   “Report,” General Jernagin commanded the soldier as soon as he had come up even with the litter.

   “General,” the soldier began, “inspection of the defenses has been completed and everything is in good repair and ready to repel any attack. Many of Lord Fesser’s men are accomplished archers and are well equipped. They’ve been stationed along the outer and inner walls along with the regular patrols.”

   “And what of the food and water?”

   “As suspected, much of our own stores of grain were found to be tainted,” the soldier replied, “and the effected soldiers are still recovering. We also found a number of our water barrels to be tainted as well. Combining our untainted supplies with those Lord Fesser already had stored here, we estimate three weeks on half rations before our supplies are depleted.”

   “And what of the cattle?”

   “In the haste to reach Lord Fesser’s castle,” the soldier responded nervously, “the cattle were left behind. Scouts report that the Kings army have gathered the herd and guard it now, and so efforts to reclaim them have been called off.”

   General Jernagin kept his expression neutral. It wouldn’t do to worry the soldier, who would in turn tell others and reduce moral in the soldiers even further. Still, this was not what he had hoped to hear and it wouldn’t take a tactical genius to recognize the struggle ahead of half rations for upwards of three weeks.

   “There’s one more item,” the soldier stated and his posture indicated that it was good news.

   “Go on,” General Jernagin said.

   “We’ve captured the man, Feral.”

   General Jernagin’s mouth opened just slightly and he took in a sharp breathe. Immediately he regretted his lapse in self control as the broken edges of his ribs ground against each other and pain shot through his chest. He screwed up his face against the pain and knew he was paling as small beads of sweat formed on his brow.

   “General?” The soldier sounded uncertain now.

   General Jernagin wiped his brow and placed a hand over the broken ribs to steady them while he repositioned himself to take pressure off that side. Once he’d regained his composure he looked the soldier straight in the eye.

   “What has been done with the prisoner?” He asked and his voice was deadly.

   The soldier was well trained and didn’t look away but he was clearly disconcerted by the General’s reaction to this news.

   “He was locked in the dungeon,” the soldier replied. “He’s scheduled for execution this morning along with the other prisoner.”

   “Who was responsible for that order?”

   “Captain Erias, Sir.”

   “Send for Captain Erias,” General Jernagin instructed the soldier, “and make sure the prisoner’s are left in the dungeon.”

   The soldier bowed and left at a swift jog and General Jernagin waved for the men carrying his palanquin to resume their march into the castle. This complicated things and he’d have to reassess his plans now that Feral was inside the castle walls.

   The palanquin made its way through the outer and inner courtyards. Both were clogged with soldiers since the castle was not designed to garrison so many. As it was their makeshift camps would do for now. Sanitation could become an issue and he made a brief mental note to make sure sufficient latrines were dug and maintained. Eventually the palanquin stopped at the entrance into the castle. Lord Fesser’s castle was study, albeit unfinished. The tops of the main towers only had temporary coverings against the weather. There were ropes and pullies set high above that were used to lift the heavy stones and beams that were used to construct each new level, though currently all construction work was halted. Several loads of stone and wood were still suspended in the air high above. Once their fortifications were completed he’d give the order to store those materials. It wouldn’t do to have the ropes fail and drop their heavy loads onto his men below.

   General Jernagin lowered himself carefully from the palanquin and made his way into the castle. An honor guard met him in the entrance hall and escorted him to his quarters. The rooms were spacious and the large fire place promised to keep the space warm in colder months. Hopefully they’d be done and gone from this place before then, but it was a comfort to see nonetheless. In the center of the main room was a large table where maps of the castle and the surrounding areas had been laid out. A bowl of small fruits and vegetables from Lord Fesser’s nearby farms sat on the edge of the table. Chairs of various sorts were placed around the edges of the room though they were light enough that they could easily be drawn in around the table should the need arise. Off from the main room was his bed chamber which was similarly well furnished. Once they were certain that General Jernagin was satisfied with the rooms, the honor guard bowed and left.

   The door had hardly shut when there was a knock at the door.

   “Enter,” General Jernagin called out and Captain Erias strode in.

   “General, you sent for me?”

   General Jernagin pulled an apple from the bowl and began turning it over in his hand, considering what he was to do with the Captain.

   “You captured Feral,” He said at last.

   “Yes,” Captain Erias answered with pride. “He was taken yesterday.”

   “And you didn’t feel the need to tell me until I’d arrived?” General Jernagin took a bite from the apple and kept his manner calm.

   “By the time a messenger could have reached you,” Captain Erias began, still unaware of General Jernagin’s displeasure, “and returned with any response, you would have been here yourself.”

   General Jernagin threw the apple at Captain Erias, wiping the smug look of success off his face at once as he tried to duck out of the way of the apple.

   “At least then I would have been warned!” General Jernagin cried, the pain in his chest only adding to his frustration with Captain Erias. “Instead I’ve walked blindly into his trap!”

   “Trap, sir?” Captain Erias was recovering from his initial shock and confusion now mingled with his trepidation.

   “He and his companion slaughtered an entire army last month,” General Jernagin explained with as much patience as he could muster. “And then, a few days ago, he and his companion returned with a Hero and they nearly wiped out another. So tell me, Captain Erias, how was it that you and your men captured him?”

   Captain Erias tensed. General Jernagin had worked hard to keep quiet the facts surrounding how he’d lost his first army but rumors surrounding that night were surprisingly accurate. Given Captain Erias’s reaction to his confirmation to those rumors, he suspected that Captain Erias hadn’t believed them. Good man, though perhaps a bit foolish.

   “My men said that they’d caught him by surprise while he was out foraging for food,” Captain Erias said meekly. “He was unarmed and did not resist.”

   “Seems a bit convenient,” General Jernagin mused. “He’d have to be pretty foolish to go anywhere unarmed right now, don’t you think? And then to allow himself to be taken captive without a fight?”

   “I assume he recognized the training my men have and—

   “Are you suggesting my men weren’t well trained?”

   Captain Erias hesitated as he seemed to finally begin to sense how thin the ice was that he was treading on.

   “Who could best me in single combat?” General Jernagin asked suddenly.

   “No one,” Captain Erias replied at once. “It’s well known you’re the best sword master in the Western Realm.”

   “Well,” General Jernagin said while he began removing his coat, vest, and shirt to reveal his bandaged wounds, “look what that man did to me.”

   Captain Erias’ eyes widened at the blood stained bandages and dark bruises.

   “You’ve seen the man, I assume?” General Jernagin continued. “How did he look? Any injuries to speak of?”

   Captain Erias looked away and General Jernagin redressed.

   “Now add in all of the soldiers he’d already fought and killed and tell me if you still think your soldiers could have taken him if he didn’t want them to.”

   Captain Erias nodded in agreement with General Jernagin’s assessment.

   “I suppose he hasn’t made any attempts to escape?” General Jernagin asked.

   “No, sir,” Captain Erias replied.

   “The boy you captured before must be another of his companions,” General Jernagin mused.

   “We’ve already canceled his execution,” Captain Erias said eagerly, clearly trying to make up for his previous blunders.

   “Good,” General Jernagin said. “No doubt, Feral came here to rescue the boy. I expect he’ll still try to escape and kill everyone here if he can manage it.” He thought for a moment and then added, “Has there been any sign of his other companions?”

   “No, sir.”

   “They’re out there,” General Jernagin muttered, more to himself than to Captain Erias. “Probably planning on showing up at the same time as the execution. Perfect time for a diversion.”

   “It may be that they’re not coming,” Captain Erias cut into General Jernagin’s musings.

   “What makes you say that?” General Jernagin asked coolly. He didn’t like being interrupted while working through a problem but he wasn’t so prideful to assume Captain Erias couldn’t have any useful information.

   “I’m not sure which reports reached you on your way here,” Captain Erias began, “But the Hero was felled by an archer and her body was carried away from the battle by Feral.”

   “That would explain why he left so abruptly,” General Jernagin said. He’d wondered about that for some time and to have that question answered was a relief.

   “The reports on Feral’s other companion are less clear,” Captain Erias went on, “but it seems as though she may have also been injured in the fight.”

   “Give the soldiers who brought down the Hero a medal,” General Jernagin said with almost a laugh.

   “He’s dead sir, Feral—

   “Yes, yes,” General Jernagin waved him to silence. He didn’t need hear that between escaping his army and running off into the night with the hopefully dead, though possibly only wounded, Hero, that Feral had also managed to still kill the archer responsible for bringing the Hero down.

   General Jernagin thought on what this would mean for him and his army. Could he use this information to gain an advantage over Feral somehow? Surely Feral had some plan on how he would escape and assuming that Feral would wait patiently for them to come and get either him or the boy for execution would be foolish. Although how Feral planned on getting out of the dungeons was beyond him. From the reports he had received the dungeons were quite secure. Still…

   “Have an alarm bell placed with the soldiers guarding the dungeons,” he told Captain Erias. “No one goes up or down there anymore, not even to bring the prisoner’s meals.”

   “Yes sir,” Captain Erias nodded and he turned to leave.

   “Wait a moment, Captain,” General Jernagin called out. “I’m not through.”

   Captain Erias returned to his place and awaited General Jernagin’s further instructions.

   “It’s too much to hope that Feral doesn’t have some sort of aid coming,” General Jernagin thought aloud. “There may be other Heroes, or some small group of the King’s soldiers.”

   “Our scouts have yet to locate any camp Feral or his companions have used.”

   “No, I’m not thinking of trying to go to them,” General Jernagin grumbled. “They’ll be coming to us, and soon. The King’s army won’t be here until tomorrow at the earliest. My guess is Feral intends to disrupt us here enough to prevent us from being prepared for the King’s army.”

   Captain Erias wavered, obviously not following where General Jernagin was leading them.

   “We have to assume Feral will escape his cell in the dungeon,” General Jernagin explained. “When that happens, the alarm will be raised but he’ll already be inside the castle and our forces are primarily outside in the inner and outer courtyards.”

   “So we bring our soldiers into the castle?” Captain Erias asked.

   “Some of them, yes,” General Jernagin agreed. “Perhaps a hundred or so. Station them inside the ground level of the castle so they will be near at hand as soon as the fighting begins. The tight quarters will be to Feral’s advantage but that won’t matter.”

   “Are we just going to throw our soldiers at him until—

   “Interrupt me again, Captain,” General Jernagin snapped, “and you’ll be the first one to go face him when he escapes!”

   Captain Erias blanched and shut his mouth tight. General Jernagin nodded and resumed.

   “We’ll have the soldiers lead him to the grand hall,” General Jernagin said, “where we will have Lord Fesser’s archers waiting along the sides of the room. As soon as Feral is within the hall, the archers will fire however many volleys it takes to bring him down, never mind our own men who get in the way of their arrows. They would have died regardless. With any luck we won’t lose more than a few dozen soldiers and will be able to get everyone back into position in time for the King’s army.”

   General Jernagin pondered for a moment more. Feral’s companions would be coming, he was sure of it, and his current plan didn’t account for them.

   “On second thought, only place half of Lord Fesser’s archers in the main hall. Send the other half out into the woods and secret them up in the trees a good distance from the castle. Whoever Feral has coming to help him should be easy to pick off that way long before they reach the castle. They can return once they’ve finished off whoever’s coming, or once night has fallen.”

   He waved for Captain Erias to leave and he immediately swept out of the room. General Jernagin gently massaged his chest and breathed in and out as best he could without causing too much more discomfort. Just talking with Captain Erias had drained him significantly and he worried what would happen should he be called on to fight. Walking and talking was almost more than he could manage. He hadn’t even tried to draw his sword yet.

   He was hopeful, though, that his precautions would be sufficient to deal with Feral. Then he would be able to focus on his real objective of defeating the King’s armies and overthrowing King Yarin. If the reports were accurate, the King himself was with his armies now. What a wonderful prisoner he would make. Perhaps he and his daughter would enjoy sharing a dungeon together.

   He resisted the urge to laugh and settled on smiling to himself while he sat down to eat and rest himself in preparation for what was certainly going to be a trying day, not mention the coming weeks.