[IRP] The Mage General's Last Stand

[Andy]

"Ah, Wart, Kay! What news?" Damian saw his squires riding back from their scouting mission.

"Well sir, there's no one," came Kay's answer. He shrugged, his off-hand fingering his sword.

Damian raised an eyebrow, frowning. "No one?"

"At least, not nearly what we expected to find, sir," Wart added. "There's one horse in the bailey. Riderless, but the rider might be inside. It's a mare, so I assume the rider is a woman, but you never know, these days." He shrugged, but he kept his back straight and his head high. Wart was an excellent scout, Damian had found. His reliance on his squire of the table had given the boy some confidence he'd been lacking before, and at one point, he found them fighting; Wart had never fought Kay before, so seeing the two of them go at it was surprising. It'd turned out that Kay had said something that Wart did not like, insulting him, and had stood up for himself. He'd been proud of the lad for his growth. And humbling Kay would surely lead to a similar bit of growth for him, too. But he shook those thoughts off; Wart wasn't done. "It was weird, though. The windows were all dark, there were no other animals around, the gate was standing open... It was..."

"Haunting," Kay grunted, looking away.

"We were told a veritable army of heretics was here," Damian mused. "So either they know our force is coming, and they lie in ambush further in... or... some new devilry." The knight turned to the men he'd been assigned. "They think they can defeat us! We'll show them, won't we? Come along, for his majesty the Emperor, and the Saint Elimine!" He raised his lance.

"For the Emperor! For Elimine! Huzzah! Huzzah!" They cried back at him, raising their own.

Damian turned and started riding up the road, followed quickly by his squires and then his men. One hundred spears; household knights, men-at-arms, and a few hedge knights, too. There was more infantry coming, too, and wagons to transport any heretics they found. The whole raid had been planned out. Damian looked at his target as he rode closer down the road. The structure was huge, and well-situated for defense. He recognized the Etrurian architectural style, but it was just as Arthur and Kay had reported. The walls looked deserted. The gates stood open.

All of the men gathered in the bailey, just inside the gate. Just as Arthur reported, there was but a single horse, riderless, and female. He narrowed his eyes, then stood in his stirrups, addressing his men. "Half of you, hold the gate. I want the other half of you to dismount and pair up. Search the grounds! Leave no stone un-turned, no structure un-molested, no hidey-hole unchecked. They're hiding here somewhere." He looked at the sky, frowning; overcast.


Damian dismounted, himself, and called his squires. "Boys, you two are to search the grounds with the rest of them, dismounted. You are to watch each other's backs like you are brothers. This campaign we are on is too important for personal squabbles to foul up. Can I trust you?"

They nodded, and Damian walked towards the keep, assigning this task to himself. His lance was far too long to be useful indoors, so he'd left it in a special sling for it on his horse's saddle, but he had his mace on his belt, and his longsword in his hand. He stepped in, quickly disappearing into the depths of the Academy's keep.

This place is... abandoned..., Damian quickly concluded, mystified. It appeared not just abandoned, but actively decaying. A layer of thick dust had settled over everything. "Come out, rider! I know you're in here! You heretic!" he shouted, hearing his voice echo, as if in mockery.