Captain Grive al’Tera clutched the hilt of his sword tightly as he glanced to the men and women that stood with him at the base of a large dais in the center of a cavernous room decorated with tapestries depicted the symbol of the Temple of Frincen, a single apple atop crossed arrows. Grive and his men were not there to worship, they were there to die. Every man and women with him wore the same armor he did, black with silver trim, the image of a silver raven taking flight emblazed on their chest, the Symbol of the Lungrid Empire.

The city of Halentil where the Temple of Frincen was had been a peaceful city, one that while technically part of the Empire, had been allowed to govern itself with only a few laws and interference from the Empires militaristic government. The city had been founded on the ideals of Peace and Understanding of the world around you. As such they hadn’t seen completely eye to eye with the Empire’s views but they had been respected for standing by their beliefs. As such no soldiers of the Empire had ben garrisoned within the city and they had a small town watch for keeping the peace. However the governing body of the city had agreed and seen reason in having an outpost built nearby under the condition the soldiers within only enter the city in the event of an emergency to provide support. And so the Teromel Outpost had been built and garrisoned.

The handful of soldiers with Grive was all that was left of the Teromel outpost who had rushed to defend the city of Halentil when word of a large army of the Empire’s former ally and now enemy, The Domanik Republic was approaching the city. Eight hundred men and women had rushed from the outpost with the simple objective of defending the city or, failing that, holding long enough for the civilians to flee the city. The plan had worked, every single civilian has managed to make it out of the city when Grive had given the order for them to evacuate, but it had come at a cost. While making sure every civilian had made it safely from the city it had allowed the Republic’s soldiers to completely surround the city, cutting off any hope of the soldiers still within the city walls of retreating.

And so with no other option left, they fought. Even as the wall was breeched, even as the city was set ablaze, they fought, not for their lives, every one of them knew there was no chance of them surviving this fight, not when the enemy outnumbered them ten to one, Lungrid had the best army of the entire continent of Contara, some even said on the entire planet, which was saying something considering the Empire was the smallest country in Contara, it was why the Republic sent such a large force to take the city even though its only real defense was a small outpost of eight hundred soldiers, they could win with numbers.

No, the soldiers fought so hard simply to by time for the civilians to but as much distance between them and the doomed city as possible, as long as the Republic’s army was focused on taking the city, it wasn’t focused on the fleeing civilians. And that is how an outpost of eight hundred soldier was reduce to merely fifteen injured and tired men and women now making a last stand in the main worship hall of the Temple of Frincen.

Grive looked back at the large double doors at the far end of the hall as a loud thump resounded against it and the doors bowed inwards. Every bit of furniture they soldiers could find with in the temple now lay against the door in a hastily constructed barricade.

Grirve’s men were tired and injured, all of them sported injuries of some sort, whether it be the shallow cuts and bruises of the one infantrymen holding a pike, to more serious injuries such as one of the three horseback swordsmen whose left half of his face and entire chest was wrapped in bandages under his armor and he could barely keep a grip on his sword. All of them, including Captain al’Tera were exhausted. While it was true that the men had been outnumbered it hadn’t meant they didn’t make the Republic pay for every inch of ground they took in blood. It had been before dawn when the battle had been joined and now it was well past the middle of the night.

Grive looked at his men again, two crossbowmen on the flanks, a single exhausted mage, two scouts holding their daggers at the ready, seven infantry meant armed with various weapons from swords, to maces, to spears and pikes and three horseback horsemen on foot beside their horses. While Horseback swordsmen were far more effective actually riding upon their horsed, the marble floor was not conducive for such fighting, so instead the stood beside the animals who they had raised and trained since the horsed were first born, the horses would stay by their rides site and attack with hoof and teeth at any threat to their rides that came near. Having the riders raise their horses since they were born been in practice for generations as it foster an unbreakable trust between the horse and rider, though it did have its draw backs. Grive has personally seen many horseback swordsman go into a blind frenzied when their companions were slain before them attacking anything and everything that was responsible without any regard for personally safety, even their own allies if they were dumb enough to try and stop them, no, it was better to let them go, better to let them fall to the enemies blade avenging their companions then letting them be consumed by the guilt and remorse till they eventually fell upon their own blade…

Looking over his tired and wounded men and women he could see them shaking from exhaustion, the Gods and Goddesses knew he was exhausted as well. His soldiers needed him. Grives stepped in front of his men and turned his back to the door to face them, the artifact that that was housed upon it, the only object not used to barricade the door as it was a sacred item, behind his men. Grive liked his lips and began to speak. “I know what you are all feeling. “He was acutely aware of the bloody bandage wrapped around his head. “We are all feeling it, tired, exhausted, feeling the pain of loss. We lost many good men and women today, friends and family alike, and soon we shall be joining them. But we go knowing that we have kept our Oaths to the Empire and completed our mission. By now the refugees have reached Graphon and are safe within its wall, protected by our brothers and sisters there, but now the enemy is at the door, ready to face a beaten and broken force of trapped and scared soldiers. But we are not just any soldiers; we are soldiers of the Lungrid Empire! We do not flee in the face of a superior force, no, we bare our swords and scream our defiance! We do not go quietly, we do not go easy, no we make them pay for every single one of our brothers and sister who they took from us with a dozen of their own soldier! We stand here now knowing we have fulfilled our Oath’s to the Empire. And though they shall kill us on this night, we shall make them pay for every inch of ground we stand upon!” Grive raised his sword above his head and his soldiers grip their weapons tightly, the look of cold defiance in every eye, the steel determination on all their faces and he smiled to the men and women who were his soldiers.

There was a loud crash of splintering wood behind Grives as the door fell from their hinges and crashed to the floor and he turned to see the blues and greens of the Republic’s soldiers storming into the temple. “FOR THE EMPIRE!!!” He cried, a cry that was echoed by every one of his soldiers as the advancing river of blue and green slammed into the wall of black and silver and the last battle of the Teromel Outpost's forces began. The great hall of the temple echoed with the sounds of metal on metal and screams as slowly the Empire’s soldiers were pushed back onto the raised dais. During the fight no one noticed as the object upon the dais, a small white sphere about the side of two fists and with the carving of a strange winged animal with a horn upon it started to glow and rose off of its stand as the empires soldier’s boots and hooves touched the dais. The light grew brighter and brighter till the sound of fighting stopped as everyone within the room had to shield their eyes as the sound of rushing wind started to fill their ears growing louder and louder. Then suddenly there was an even brighter flash, and when the Republic’s soldier’s vision returned, the Empire’s soldiers, horses, and the object were gone.

Author's Note

This is as idea I've had for about a week now and decided to give it a shot and see how it goes.