Part Two: The Emerald Kingdom
Sunlight glinted off the steel head of the war hammer as it raised high, a gauntleted hand holding tight to the metal and wood handle.
"Be blessed and walk in the light!"
The head connected with a bare metal helmet, caving it in and pushing the rim to the tip of the soldier's broken nose, blood streaming from under the helm. The soldier crumbled and Tuskar roared another prayer to the Gods.
"Righteous are those, that walk the path for I am the right hand of the Almighty!! Ye have been deemed unclean!"
Tuskar was the embodiment of his military position in the Emerald Army, a tried and true Battle Priest. He was a robust man with long black hair that hung just passed his shoulders and a beard that matched. He wore full heavy armor that was enameled emerald green and strips of parchment, held by white wax seals, were strewn across his armor. They each had prayers for deliverance scrolled on them, and they blew about in the cold winter winds.
The battlefield lay before Tuskar, a blend of men's dying screams and wordless bellows matched by the clanging of metal on metal. The battle had reached it's crescendo, poetry in bloody motion. The Emerald army had met the challenge of the Thanish charge with a resounding punch to the proverbial mouth. Though the battle was still not yet won. Thanish swordsmen lay scattered on the grassy knoll that was the stage for this skirmish. The Emerald army had only sent Battle Priests and their accompanying Servant Guardians, men who didn't fight but protected the Priests with shielding magics, to quash the Thanenor rebellion.
Consisting of the provinces of Thanenor, Time's End, Orellion, and Amdesse, the Emerald Kingdom was considered stretched thin by their own governing body. Opposing kingdoms often had tried to test the might of the religious kingdom but always came up well short. While not lacking in enemies, the Emerald Kingdom was butted up to the Feral Wilds where the Flame Sect had begun to grow. They also met with the great northern mountains of the Frozen Cliffs, which is where Tuskar was originally born and raised before finding his path through the redeeming of men's souls by relieving them of their bodies in sin.
The Thanish had regrouped and were attempting another charge. Their brown and purple enameled armor standing out like bruises compared to the sleepy white and gray skies. Tuskar turned back to his Servant, Uno. He was a short and thickly built man, with a shaven head and short trimmed gray beard. A wide set nose was the predominant feature on his face. The Servant Guardians all wore gray heavy linen robes, adorned with the same strips of parchment and scrolling prayers that were held by white wax seals.
"Blessed be, Uno. Have your order ready, the Thanish look to level another charge."
Uno nodded his head to Tuskar, the man he had followed from the Frozen Cliffs. The friend he had trusted from birth. There was no tighter grouping of Priest and Servant in all of the army.
"Aye, Tusk. Best end this quick. Stop toying around like a boy wit a spidah."
Tuskar smiled at Uno, "You can't just take all the fight away from a rebellion. We're not trying to break their hopes and dreams. Just showing them that we won't be disrespected."
Uno looked out at the Thanish men that were left. Curved swords jostling from side to side as they tried to set an order to their next charge.
"Defiance in the face of the King hardly smacks of a firm pat on the butt."
Tuskar shook his head as the other Battle Priests formed a line to both sides of him. They all had tower shields with the face of a roaring lion etched in gold and war hammers. They were a force to behold but Tuskar stood out even among those fearsome men. He was head and shoulders taller and every bit of that as wide. The men of the army had always joked that he was the last off spring of giants. In complete unison the Priests set their shields with an metallic thump. Tuskar stole one more look back at Uno and said,
"Too harsh a spanking and they go looking towards the enemies of the Kingdom for help. Too light and they come back for more. It's a delicate matter when playing at war, it's like raising a bae of your own."
Uno snorted, "Aye, a bae. Liken you'd never see that day."
Tuskar laughed, then set his jaw. The Thanish had finally figured out their lineup and were beginning to charge. There were around twenty of them left, compared to the ten Battle Priests that were sent to end the up rising. Tuskar roared and the Priests all joined in at once as they raced forward to meet the charge head on again. Their heavy metal sabatons thudding like a drum as they ran. The clash of shield on plate armor rang like a thousand bells in the valley. Uno watched as he wove his magics around Tuskar. Only visible to the eyes of the Servants, soft green auras showed them that their men were protected.
The final charge had been over in less than five minutes. All told, around thirty Thanish soldiers had been killed. It wasn't an ideal ending to the rebellion but the Battle Priests had done their best to deliver those soldiers from their sins. There had been over seventy purple armored Thanish swordsmen, so only having killed thirty was a win...in a way. Tuskar was pleased with his days work. He supposed the Almighty would be too. After all, that's who he truly worked for. Though his vessel was in service to the Emerald King, Herrod.
After the skirmish Uno had helped Tuskar out of his bulky armor and into his customary black robes. The Priests and Servant Guardians had their own housing inside of the Emerald Castle, away from the kitchens and maid quarters. There's was a separate building that stood along the inside curtain walls and the Bailey, a patch of once green grass that was beginning to brown with the colder weather. It was shielded by the castle walls and castle itself. Uno and Tuskar had made benches that sat in the shade and often had long conversations about life and loyalty out there. Today was no different as both men sat relaxing in the shade of the tall walls. Tuskar was working his shoulder.
"Blasted thing just won't loosen up for me today." Tuskar said with a slight grimace.
"Aye, was a lot of swingin ye did there today."
Tuskar chuckled, "Then you'd think it would've let go at some point, but no. Stays tight even now. Perhaps a good soak in the salt tubs tonight can help?"
Uno smiled and shook his head in agreement, "Imagine the lot of ya will be wantin that tonight. Tis a far cry from a dip in the pools of the Frozen Cliffs."
Tuskar leaned back and closed his eyes, seeing the clear water pools in his mind. Surrounded by the deep snow and quiet of the surrounding cliffs of rock and ice. The deep winter winds were beginning to set their icy talons into the weather pattern and he wasn't even mad at all. At times he missed the snow and ice, as these lands seemed perpetually stuck in a summer haze. He stood up, feet crunching in the hardened brown grass, then mimicked a swing of his hammer.
"Was a trifle thing to do, that charge of defiance. Those Thanish governing bodies don't take too well to having taxes raised."
Uno pulled an apple from his robe's front pocket and shined it on his sleeve before taking a bite.
"What's the saying? Ye can lead a cow to water but ye have to learn to fish first."
Tuskar blinked and stared at Uno, watching him take another bite of his apple and admire it in front of him.
"I don't think there's a saying in all the land that's even close to that."
Uno smiled, "Aye made that'n up. Regular philosopher, 'ats me."
"You're something, that's for sure. I'm just saying, they knew they weren't going to win. So why not just pay the taxes and be done with the deal? What was the point of sending all those men to be whooped and carted back to lick their wounds?"
Uno shrugged and bit another chunk, juice running down his chin, "Mayhap they don't knows the Flame Sect is building an army an' we need funds 'fer the fighting'. Mayhap they do, but don' care none and just wanted to show how's 'ey felt bout it?"
Tuskar folded his arms across his chest and began aimlessly stroking his beard, "Seems everyone knows the Flame Sect is up to something. Even if it's the Feral Wilds they're running waste through. The magics have begun to pop up down there, and the scouts say they've found a way to transfer it. If that's true, then it's bad news for everyone here and around us."
"Ya tried to talking to 'em?"
"Who?"
"Those everyone's you's talkin' bout."
Tuskar laughed from his belly, a booming laugh that reverberated in the Bailey, "I'm just saying, people talk. Lucan's mad with jealousy that he doesn't have the crown his Uncle does. Jealousy is a terrible sin and one that corrupts. Eats you from the inside and causes a man to stop thinking rationally. We left him unchecked for too long, and these provinces and their Liege's need to stop squabbling and start paying attention."
Uno took the last bite of his apple and tossed it in the grass, wiping his mouth with the back on his hand, "Oh ya, we know it. Liege Lordlings though...'ey gotta have it force fed right to the mouth like a wee baby bird. Ya gotta draw 'em pictures an' stuffs."
Tuskar walked over and picked the apple core up and put it into one of the front pockets of his robe. "Cleanliness is Godliness, my philosophical friend. I think, at the meeting of the council tonight it would be wise to point out that fighting two wars at once is the quickest to see a kingdom fall. We can't grow fat and happy and try to ignore what's happening below us."
"Tell 'em good, Tusk. You're mouth words are always paintin' pretty pictures."