The Three Kingdoms - Chapter Two
#2 of The Three Kingdoms
"General, I have returned with the information." The cloaked figure walked into a small outpost and bowed down in front of a tall soldier, clad in midnight black armor, a few dents and cuts on the suit, but it shined like new. The figure was too tall for any fox or of the small type, so the only species this person could be was maybe a dragon or an equine, maybe certain types of gryphons. The figure then stood up to its full four foot height and looked at the tall soldier in front of him. "Good, good. Maybe now we can get something on that damned king. Tell me, how did the thieves fair in their part of the recon?" The towering figure looked down at the smaller one, eyes glowing with a soft yellow from the eye sockets of the helmet. The figure then walked over to a weapon rack and pulled down a sword, beginning to twirl it around and grin a bit. "You," He pointed to a soldier standing against the right wall, "Prepare the troops, we're going to over run the castle, and take it for ourselves. Without their king, they aren't so invincible." "Well...sir," The figure began to think for a bit and gave an evil grin under the hood, but no one else could see that he actually was grinning, "Yes, they were able to kill him in his sleep, they're defenses have been weakened greatly sir." The figure was shooed away by the general and he ran out of the outpost. After getting far enough away, he muttered to himself. "Stupid fool, maybe now you-" The figure's sentence was stopped short as he fell forward into the dirt, blood running out greatly from the back of his head as a sword had been embedded into it. The general stood at the entrance to the outpost, bow raised. "I never liked that one." The general laughed out and roared some, "No one can escape the might of General Mitsozuka. Now, prepare the troops like I ordered. Supply the ships; store them with food, weapons, armor, anything that will aid us in battle." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "What?! Mitsozuka is assembling his troops without my order?! Who the hell does he think he is?" The lion roared out as he looked around, standing up from his throne. "I want him captured, this is the second time he has disobeyed my orders. No one disobeys the king of Dreadlock and gets away with it." The lion roared out again and pulled on a brown cloak, beginning to walk out of his throne room and down through the Great Hall, a small mage at his side. "But sire, I received word that the lord of Ryoku has been assassinated." The little mage began to hop up and down trying to get the lion, Lord Scorpion's attention. "If we let Mitsozuka go now, we could take over the castle; the army doesn't stand a chance without its great lord." The little mage stopped trying to get his lord's attention since he finally succeeded. "If I know Draconis as well as I do, he doesn't get assassinated that easily. Fine, let them get their asses killed, its punishment enough for disobeying me." Scorpion stopped walking and stood their, looking down and muttering to himself, "Damnit Draconis, if you had just joined our side, we wouldn't have been put through so many battles. You're a hard one to break, but you'll fall eventually." He grinned and laughed as it echoed through the hall. "Kren, bring me some wine and a few other dumbasses willing to do something loyal for their king." He laughed again and walked back to his throne, giving a small yawn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Alright men, everything is loaded." Mitsozuka looked around; he had 4 big ships ready, full of soldiers, mages, weapons, supplies and survival gear such as tents and firewood. He had collected about a thousand soldiers, two hundred and fifty soldiers on each ship. Thrusting his sword into the air, he called out. "Set sail for the holy continent! We will over throw the Ryoku kingdom!" Everyone on the four ships began to cheer out loud and chant out loud, "Forward! Forward! Forward!" The sails of the ship opened up as a mighty gust, a little help from wind mages added to the gust, blew into the sails, making them bloat outwards as the ships began to move from port and travel over the vast sea that was in front of them. Mitsozuka then headed down from the deck and went into the captain's quarters, taking a seat in his chair and picking up his wine glass. Taking a small sip and grinning, propping his feet up onto the table in front of him. "It won't be long. Once one of the three kingdoms fall, the rest will be powerless without Draconis." The door to Mitsozuka's quarters burst open as a mage walked in, slamming it shut and standing in front of his desk. "Do you actually think that Draconis is dead? I mean, assassinated? Come on, that's just to easy. And while he was sleeping? Do you really believe that old man?" The girl looked at him as Mitsozuka took another sip of his wine. Pulling out a dagger and beginning to twirl it around, humming as he did so. "You're an asshole thinking Draconis can die that easily. I mean the thieves have no way of getting past those guards, with how well trained they are." She turned her back to him and sat on the desk. "I mean, you've seen the elders little magic recording of the way he fights. Monsters, enemies... you name it, he's killed it." Mitsozuka took another sip of wine and set the cup down. "Ries, calling me an asshole? Of course I don't believe he's dead, but there is a possibility that he could be, or seriously wounded. In either of those conditions we have a chance of taking the castle over and keeping it for ourselves. Then we won't have to listen to that jackass of a king, Scorpion calls himself." He pulled his feet down and propped his elbows up on the desk, and rested his head on his hands. "That old man tells a lot of things, and most of it has been real. I'm not sure he would just lie to us, but it seemed like he did hide something. I still say we try our luck." He chuckled a bit and sipped the rest of his wine. The door to the quarters burst open again as the ship trembled greatly, knocking the wine glass to the floor and it shattered. A soldier rushed in. "Sir, there's a....a creature attacking the third ship. It looks like a kraken; we need to hurry before it brings the ship down. The mages' magic isn't that strong enough." The soldier hesitated as the second great tremble sent him stumbling into the right wall of the room. Mitsozuka stood and walked out with both the soldier and Ries. "T...there sir." The soldier raised a shaky hand and point out the kraken that was attacking the other ship. It had two tentacles wrapped around the ship; one around the middle of the ship and the other wrapped around the mast. Two of its tentacles were fighting off the soldiers as its blood began to drip from the four tentacles, meaning the soldiers were at least inflicting wounds on the kraken. Its other four tentacles began to attack two other ships; two on each. The only ship remaining was the one Mitsozuka and them stood on. Mitsozuka roared out and climbed up to the crow's nest on top of the mast. "I will not let anything come in my way of overthrowing the rule of Draconis." He roared out again and pulled out his sword, jumping from the crow's nest as his wings shot out and he flew to the third ship it attack. Landing on one of the tentacles, he raised his sword and swiped down on it, slicing it through the tough meat and all the way to the other side, cutting it all the way off as the kraken roared out in pain, what was left of the tentacle raised in the air, spurting the red blood of the kraken. The other half was taken down to the storeroom of that ship by the soldier, to use to eat later. He then jumped to the second tentacle, but the kraken saw this and began to withdraw it. Mitsozuka began to run along the tentacle as he sliced one part of it, cutting off a good chunk as he then jumped up and landed on the kraken's head as it began to remove its tentacles from the other two ships to now combat the soldier that was trying to kill him. Mages themselves continued to use their thunder and lightning magic, most of them were basic magic but the rest of the mages were using advanced versions of it. Just then a storm began to roll in, the dark grey clouds slowly began to swallow up the blue sky and the yellow sun, heavy droplets of rain began to fall from the clouds, as lighting struck off into the distance and shoot across the sky; as thunder began to rumble and sound loud in the all of the clouds. "Ries..... A little help here." Mitsozuka managed to say between each dodge he did from the giant tentacles, slicing at them and making large gaps in the slimy, wet skin. "Fine, I'll help you." Ries climbed up the mast and stood at the very tip of it, holding out her hands as she called out. "God of lightning hear our pleas. Grant us the power to vanquish this foe." She raised one hand up to the sky as her other dropped to her side, closing her hand into a fist but keeping her index finger extended. Lighting began to strike from the sky and collect into a small energy sphere at the tip of her finger. Her whole body began to glow as she shot up into the air and held her hands ready. "Judgment of Storm!" She yelled out as she shot her hands out at the monster, lighting charging up into a sphere as it fired out at in the form of a gigantic lighting bolt, colliding with the kraken's lower body and pretty much disintegrating the whole thing, tentacles and the rest of what was down there. The water began to become red with the blood constantly oozing from the kraken, though the magic of Ries was not yet finished. The sky began to glow blue as thunder began to sound louder and louder, Mitsozuka jumping off of the kraken as water like tentacles began to wrap around it, constricting the kraken as the tentacles then sliced through the tough meat of the kraken and sliced it into pieces, blood and its organs afloat in the sea as Ries dropped down onto the deck of the ship next to Mitsozuka, "Not bad huh? I don't think he'll be bothering us again." Mitsozuka gave a small chuckle and gulped, "You, soldiers, dive into the water and salvage most of the parts you can fine. I heard kraken tasted good if you cooked it the right way." He laughed as the soldiers did as ordered, jumping down into the water and using nets to catch the chunks and bits of the kraken that had not already sank into the sea. "Come Ries, we have.... a few things to plan." He smiled at her as the two walked into the captain's quarters, the door slamming shut and the noise of a lock sounding. The soldiers began to clamber back aboard the ships, each one bringing an equal supply of the kraken to store in each ship's storage hold. The rest of the voyage there would be just a normal one, though the storm still raged on and the water lashed against the sides of the ships a little violently. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "DAMNIT!!!!" Naburus roared out as blue jays and robins flew out from the trees scared, the same went for the deer and wild horses that had taken residence in the forest as the ran out of the lush green forest Naburus was carrying a large bag, full of cow hide that had not been attended to and was also letting of a bad stench. Naburus was holding his nose as he continued to carry it. "Damn hib. Couldn't heb hab gotten somebon better to bo this job?" Naburus also had a nice bruise on the left side of his muzzle, from a fight with a few dogs he had gotten into. He also had two nice bites on his right arm that were bandaged up, but still leaked a little blood. "My gob, I should hab said somebing. But he trusbs me." He then looked around as he used his staff, nicely carven out of dark oak wood, that was about three fourths his height, to help him walk along the path, slowly nearing the city of Pac. "I boughta gib him a piece of my minb when I geb back." He continued to trudge along the path as he soon reached the city and met a stranger in a brown cloak, handing over the sack as the stranger pointed him into the direction of a healer and he quickly went that way. "Howb I get myselb into this." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naburus walked to the room of Draconis and knocked on it. "It's me." He heard the conformation and opened the door, as he did he caught a glimpse of Draconis wearing only trousers as he blushed and covered his eyes. "Y... you needed to see me sire?" Draconis turned around and laughed a bit seeing Naburus covering his eyes. "Yes, I have an important errand for you to run." Draconis pulled on his tunic and chuckles, "You can look now." Naburus nodded and uncovered his eyes as he then looked around the room. "Alright, I have a bag of some very important stuff I need you to take to the smith in Pac. Don't look in the sack at all, or you'll be punished." He chuckled and walked over to the wall, activating a small hidden panel to reveal the family possessions. "Just don't screw up Naburus. I appointed you as first personal mage because I trust you. That is all, you're dismissed." Naburus nodded and walked out of the room.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Naburus opened the door to the healer's hut as he looked around inside. "Hellob? Miss healeb are you ib here?" He walked inside and closed the door. Beginning to look around the shop as he yawned a bit. "Hello, mib healer, you ib here?" He continued to look around and then sat down on a small chair as he heard light footsteps coming from the back. Raising his head he put his staff to the side and stood up as he saw a hand motioning him to sit back down. "Yes, yes, I'm here. You're the first person I've had come here in a long while." The sound of a female's voice came from out of the next room came as a beautiful anthro dragoness, dressed in white robes that had red linen on them and a bit of yellow sewed into the red. "Oh you poof thing, your hurt." She pulled out a small sack from the inside of her robes and kneeled down next to him. "Oh, your emblem. Your from Ryoku aren't you?" She saw Naburus nod his head as she got to work on his arm bandages. "Could you tell me what happened?" Naburus nodded again as he winced a few times. "My bing sent me ob a job. I was bold to bring cow bide here to the bith in the town. Heb needed about benty leather armor; body, barm and legs. But that's alb I know." He nodded and winced, crying out a bit in pain as soon the girl was finished and he felt like new, except the bruise would take time to heal. "Thankb miss. By theb way, what's bour name?" The girl smiled and nodded, "My name is Aliani. I'm just your average old cleric." She smiled and walked into the back as she began to search around the storage room Naburus had guessed. "I'll give you something to help that bruise heal. Oh and what is your name traveler?" She then walked out with a small container and handed it to him. "My name is Baburus... I meab Naburus." Naburus gulped a bit and took the container as he stuck it in a small pouch and smiled. "Thanb you miss Aliani." He headed for the door and opened it slightly. "By theb way, would youb be interested ib becoming Lord Draconis' cleric? Heb would surely libe it if youb would. We donb have many bealers and heb like a perbonal one. Jub think on bit and tell meb when youb decided." He nodded and walked out of the hut smiling, heading out to the Inn to get some rest and to use the medicine in the container to heal the bruise. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Draconis sighed as he walked the halls of his great castle. There was nothing else to do; nothing happening which was the boring part of being a great ruler. Though he was happy to be one, because everyone was loyal and loved him for being a great ruler. "Well Naburus is out on the job, so he should be back by tomorrow." He nodded and headed back to his throne right when the doors burst open. He then turned around to see what it was and saw a lone soldier standing there. "What is it?" "L... lord Draconis. T... the enemy, they're he-" The soldier was stopped dead as he fell forward, his armor clanging on the stone floor as he had two arrows pierced through the back, blood staining the armor and still oozing a bit. He also held a piece of paper in his hands as Draconis walked over and picked it up, unfolding it, but he couldn't read it because the red blood smeared the ink. He took it and tossed it away as he ordered two of his servants to go bury the body. "Damnit, Capt. Nyth, Capt. Valerian, organize the troops and mages. We're going to battle." Draconis growled as the two captains who had just walked in, nodded and walked back out to get everyone together. As he walked to his room he began to think 'Damnit, already. Wait... Scorpion wouldn't mobilize like this; he's more mage like than army. Shit, those thieves failed, but if they had succeeded then they were thinking they could take this place over because I would be dead. It's time to go get ready.' He entered his room and pulled on a heavy suit of armor that was gold and silver in color, walking over to the wall next to his bed, he tapped a brick and the whole wall slid open to reveal a hidden room. Taking down a nice ten foot broadsword, with a width of 5 feet, he put it against his shoulder armor as he pulled down a large red oak crossbow and attached it to his back. Walking out of his room, he heads downstairs and outside looking at the mass of a thousand troops gathered there. "This is enough for now, five hundred magi and five hundred soldiers. Alright men, head east and set up camp, take weapons, armor and any other supplies we need." The all saluted and ran out as Draconis looked over to the west, 'Father, mother, protect me in battle. I do not need to die yet.' He then headed out himself, taking flight and flying above the moving mass of his army. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ They had set up camp for a while and had sent out a small recon team to go searching, comprised of two mages and four soldiers, who were just now returning, carrying someone who was struggling and yelling, "Damnit it! Filthy ones let me go. Get your bloody hands off me!" The soldier pushed the female rabbit to her knees in front of Draconis; her hands were tied tight behind her back as she stood up. "Sir, we found this spy walking about." "Spying on my troops? You people never learn." Draconis growled a bit and turned his back. "Knock her out and put her in my tent. I have ways of making her talk later." Laughing some, the soldier hit the rabbit in the back of her head, knocking her out, in which he then tossed her into a big tent that was his. "Damnit, it must be Mitsozuka." He then sighed and walked into his tent to wait for the female rabbit to recover from the hit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What will happen to the spy? Will Aliani agree to Naburus and join the ranks? When will General Mitsozuka attack? How long will this battle last? Find out in the next chapter. See ya around