Warlord

(Chapter 8 A Few Changes)

An hour has passed since the battle. 300 snow clan warriors are dead on the battlefield. 200 either surrendered or were taken as a prisoner, two of which are Warlords. The last 200 escaped, mainly the archers they had which they didn’t get to use. Only five of us were injured enough to be considered a casualty but not fatal, one of which was Silverwing.

When she hadn’t returned from her post I sent two of my spartans to get her. I will admit… I assume the worst. I couldn’t help but worry, I was at a point that Sage had to snap me out of it.

When the two Spartans returned I couldn’t have been more relieved that she was still alive. And if reports were true she single-handedly took on 10 warriors and a warlord on by herself. This victory will boost her confidence in battle immensely, especially since she did it on her own, But at a very high risk. I risked her safety so that she will be more useful to me on the battlefield. I owe her an apology. That goes for Shatter to. I owe them a lot and I think I know just how to repay them.

“Sir, you wish to speak with me.” Said Shatter, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Oh yes, Shatter, now that we have claimed victory here we must move immediately. We currently have 200 prisoners that need to be dealt with immediately. But we most likely have a very pissed off warlord. After all I did secure everyone but the city's loyalty. First I’m going to make a stop at your village, then proceed to head there with half the army. By the way you wouldn’t happen to know the best place to get medicine and healing equipment would you?” I asked.

“Yes, warlord Radiant has a healing warlord ability!” She answered without hesitation. This is the Shatter I know.

“Good, then I want you to take the other half of the army and the 200 prisoners down south to her location. Get them fixed up and make sure that they’re secure. If any of the prisoners won’t make it there… and you must be sure!.. give them a mercy kill. Finally take about 50 of your best warriors and meet me at the city. You’ll either find a city that has submitted to me or is still against me. So prepared for anything.” I ordered her.

“Yes sir!” she said with a salute. “Permission to speak freely, sir.” I nodded my head. “Why me?”

I simply chuckled at the question. She tried to hide it but I could see a pout form on her face. “Sorry, I tend to laugh at silly questions. Why wouldn’t I pick you is a better question. You manage to take down a warlord without any powers. you use your mind like I said which means I can count on you to rely on your mind. One day you might see yourself controlling one of my armies on the battlefield. You and I have come a long way... and now… I can consider you a friend.”

By the time I was finished she was blushing furiously. “Sir, you’re too kind.” She shook her head and turned her Focus back onto me. “You can count on me Sir.”

I shook my head and gave a pat on hers which she looked at me confused. “Oscar is fine.” Is all I said.

She blushed again before saying. “Right! I won’t let you down sir-I mean Oscar!”

And like that we parted ways. I took my forces back to our town and explained the situation of what will happen tomorrow. We went through all plans that we could think of and all problems that might come up. The main plan was to get in right away. The biggest problem was who was the warlord, because I certainly didn’t get any abilities when I killed her which means she had a successor to the throne.

Silver wing would take the more badly hurt warriors and prisoners down south to see radiant and rest there. Hopefully with the 200 prisoners as proof of our success she will hold up to her side of the deal.

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After a nice sleep and a few days of marching we could finally see the gates. It was nice and early in the morning and as the sun rose above the horizon early enough to the point that the guards will still be tired as hell. guards notice us, and start closing the gates... Apparently we are welcomed here… “OK man, you all know your roles.” I said as I began to run towards the gates with my men following behind me.

As we rushed I noticed a few arrows taking to the skies. “Shields up!” I shouted to my man. Arrows Struck harmlessly against the shields and against me as we drew closer and closer to the gates.

As we were about 20 feet in front of them I brought out my chip.. summoning the power of my finisher, I aimed towards the gates, and fired. Just like I hoped it’s still shoot’s off firing right towards the gate smashing right through them, obliterating them.

As we began to enter the city I barked out my orders. “Half of you secure the city and free the slaves! Only prisoners I will not be satisfied if there is a single death on either side! The other half with me.”

We went straight for the palace. Any slaves that we found we freed but told them not to intervene. After all, I don’t need to start an uprising, I need to secure the city. The last thing I need is a bunch of deaths on my hands. If not a single person dies I will have two flawless victories in just a couple of days.

Finally we made it to the front entrance with little resistance. A few guards here and there but we quickly seduce them. As we reached the entrance I gave out my last order. “Find the barracks, armoury and exits and secure them. Hopefully we were quick enough that no one was alerted.”

Instantly we split off. As we rounded each corner more and more of my men spread off to secure another part of the palace. Finally I reached two large wooden doors. Only three of my men were with me.

I looked behind me to see who came with me. Two of them were twin sisters, that were regular bat ponies known as Red Stain and Crimson Stain. Funnily enough they look like complete opposites with Red having the coat that matched her name with a crimson mane and wings, while Crimson heads the opposite. Red was the only other one besides Glorious who knew how to read, but she did have a bad temper. Once one of the Spartans played a prank on her and she tried to bury her alone in the middle of a snowstorm. Afterwards she tends to apologize 1000 times knowing that she shouldn’t let her temper get the better of her. While Crimson was one of my best warriors, besides Shatter, but could be a bit brash along with the habit of saying things without thinking along with the ability to find a reason to swear in every sentence. During the middle of training she proceeded to call me a monkey in front of everyone. We had a good laugh as she cleaned the outhouse.

The other one was a stallion who I knew on a more personal basis. Checkmate was his name and I consider him my first friend in this new world. He was a slave from the soaring village and after I freed him and started training him, I realized he shares a lot of similar ideas with me. During one of my many speeches where I tried to scare my crowds then drive them back in. I saw him looking at me with nothing but respect the entire time. He is probably one of my most loyal soldiers. After that day we hung out occasionally. I learned that, when he was young, both of his parents were sold off and he hasn’t seen them since. He had been to 7 different masters in his life since then. Some were decent… well as decent as one can be when they were slave owners. Others were bad and like to beat him. But his first master was the worst. She would do horrible things to him… things that no one should ever have to go through. I promised him that one day we would find her and she would pay.

“You guys ready?” I asked them.

“I was fucking ready and hour ago. Let’s get a fucking move on you hairless ape.” I stuck the finger at Crimson before looking at everyone else.

“I’m already, sir.” stated Red.

“I got your back,” said Checkmate.

I nodded my head and turned my attention to Crimson. “Well since you’re so eager, why don’t you do the honours of breach.” Breaching was one of the tactics I thought during training it takes 2 to 3 Spartans to pull it off, depending if it’s a single door or double door.

“If it will get us a move on, I don’t fucking mind.” She walked up to the door with red on her right side and checkmate on her left. Before she acknowledged it they were ready, she kicked open the set of doors. They dropped their shields in front of her As they blocked three arrows from hitting her.

“Next time warn us!” said Checkmate.

“Yeah, it’s not like you had good communication skills in training.” Red scolded.

“Well in training I wasn’t in a fucking hurry!” She argued back.

“Guys, not right now! If you couldn’t tell there’s about eight people in here who are willing to kill us! Clear me a path,” I ordered all of them.

In the room I noticed about five warriors with swords and three with bows getting ready to launch another valley. They were blocking the person who was sitting on the throne so I couldn’t see who I was looking at.

“Why didn’t you just say so!” Crimson shouted as she charged... without her shield and spear!!! She instead tackled two of them and started wailing a beating upon them.

Checkmate ran into the room and threw his shield like Captain America at one of the unfortunate souls. The shield smacked right against her face as Checkmate caught it.

Red was next as she ran right at The last two warriors that wielded swords. She first slid right underneath the first one attack. As she slid by her, she caused her to trap making her fall right on her face. She got up to face the other one. First she blocked the Warriors attack then proceeded to give her a quick jab to the face, before proceeding to leg sweep her too.

Meanwhile I noticed that the group of archer’s we are ready to give another valley and they aimed for Crimson. Without her shield she was dead so I proceeded to pick it up and ran to her. I jumped over her and slammed the shield down protecting her.

“Thanks for the assist... you fucking ape…” she whispered.

I responded by throwing her shield at her face. “Keep it next time.” I shouted as I ran for the archers. They tried to get another volley but I was too fast as I brought out my halberd and slash their bows in half.

They all looked at me in shock. I simply gave him a smile underneath my helmet before taking the butt end of my halberd and hitting each of them on the temple knocking them out cold.

I let out a sigh of relief realizing that there was a good chance that no one has died yet. I turned around and noticed my groups are subduing the last of them.

Smiling, I turn to see……… A child…. A fucking filly, to be exact, was on the throne! No! Why did it have to be a child!? I would’ve preferred anyone but a child! She was wearing decent clothing that was fit for nobility or royalty. But it was kind of throwing off when she had a little bat plushie beside her. Maybe there’s a mistake…. Wait… no… dark blue coat, Black hair, and is an ancient one. This is definitely her child. Fuck!

I look down again to see... oh god she is about to cry! OK! OK! I can fix this! I got myself ready and I confronted the child. “Hi thereee….”

…

…

Oh God! I made it worse!!!! I can’t stand seeing a child sad!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!

“Hey dumbass, take off the helmet! You’re scaring the poor child!” Right! The helmet! I Took off the helmet and threw it across the room. A small scream came from the helmet as it was thrown. I will have to apologize to Sage later and give Crimson a huge raise.

“Please don’t cry, I'm not here to hurt you!” I panicked-yelled, trying to calm her down.

Eventually she gained the courage to say “Are you gonna kill me too!? Just like mommy?”

Everything went quiet to the point that I couldn’t even hear her whimpering. I killed her mother... and even though she was a bitch… I just orphaned this child with a simple action that was supposed to have a great meaning.

I turned to my comrades and they had mixed reactions. Checkmate looked at me and her with pity. Red had a few tears herself. Finally Crimson for once had a look of defeat. “Leave me alone with her.” I said to them. “This is my responsibility, take these warriors as well. I don’t care what we do with them, just don’t kill or hurt them” I said pointing to the unconscious people.

For once no one said a thing and just did what I asked them to do and after a minute we were alone in the throne room. I took a knee and I stared at the little girl. She was curled up in a little ball in the corner on the throne that was obviously too big for me! Let alone this little girl. She had a bat plushy right against her chest and was currently closing her eyes waiting for me to do something.

I removed my gauntlet and raised my hand to the top of her head… and gave it a little rub. She flinched at first but as I continued she slowly opened her eyes and met my tearful face. “I… I am so sorry.” Was all that I could say.

Instantly she exploded into tears. “Mommy! (Sob) I want my mommy!”

I wrapped her in an embrace, doing my best to try to comfort her. She tried struggling at first but eventually just cried in my arms. “I know you want your mother but there’s nothing we can do now.”

She continued to cry for a whole 5 minutes. Eventually she slowly began to calm down, until she fell asleep in my arms. I was slowly beginning to feel uncomfortable on one knee so I gently picked her up and sat my ass down on the throne which was going to need to get fixed up because it was way too big, but it was perfect for the moment. And allowed her to rest on my lap as I slowly stroke her hair with my unarmoured hand.

Minutes passed by and it wasn’t until half an hour later when she finally began to flutter her eyes open again. When she saw me she flinched and then began to look down again holding the plushy closer. “Can… Can I ask why?”

The question caught me off guard as I wasn’t expecting her to talk to me after she woke up. Slowly I took a few breaths before speaking. “Your mother was greedy, selfish and an awful quee-” “You lie!” She interrupted. “Mommy would never be an awful queen, she loves me and everypony!”

“Oh really! Why don’t you say that to the starving people of your kingdom!” I shouted angrily. Then I realized that I would get nowhere with shouting and I only made the situation worse.

“You lie! You lie! You lie!” Every time she said ‘you lie’ she would bang her fist against my armoured chest. Eventually she just gave up speaking and tried to attack me with her fists of fury. Unfortunately for her, I don’t even feel a thing. I was trying to figure out a way I could convince her that her mother was an awful person.

“Maybe I could help with this situation?” Said the timid voice of sage. I was about to apply in my head when I realized that the voice came from my ears. Turning to where I threw my helmet I saw Sage. The little girl also noticed and stopped beating my chest. Again she got frightened and clun to me.

“Sir, I have been recording ever since you woke up in the frozen forest. I have more than enough evidence that could help your case.” I let out a sad smile before addressing sage. “If you could I would be most thankful, Sage.”

What followed was a very sad presentation of all the crimes the mother committed. As I explained everything to her she started to give me a few more tears. I quickly wipe them away. “I know it’s sad.” I said to her. “And I am sorry for doing what I did, but I’m not sorry for doing it, but there is one last thing we need to discuss before you can take a rest.”

“What is it?” she said sadly.

“I need you to give me your Warlord power.” Instantly she looked at me with scared eyes.

“Please, it’s the last thing I have of my mom!” She said before tears begin to weld up in her eyes again.

My heart sank again. “It won’t be forever… just until I get a stable footing then I’ll give it right back… I promise…”

Slowly she calms down. “You promise?” She asked me eventually.

“Yes.” Was all I could reply to her.

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Eventually I took her to her room where she could rest. Before she went to sleep she said the chant and gave me her power.

New ability learned: Conjuration.

Instantly she passed out. After waiting a minute and feeling nothing had happened I slowly tucked her in and begin to walk back to the throne room.

As I was about to make it there I suddenly felt the urge of pain going on in my brain.

New title earned: Ancient One.

“wha-AHH!” I screamed to the heavens. Soon I begin to feel something poking out of my forehead like a knife was passing through it. Slowly it begin to curve causing me even more pain until it finally stopped.

I felt the top of my head. It burned as if I touched hot liquid metal. I quickly retracted my hand and to my relief the pain quickly dulled for my finger and head.

I let myself take a breather. After the pain and it went away I tried again. This time I didn’t get burned by... MY HORN!!!

Know matter how many times I touched it, it didn’t go away. A smile went to my lips as I felt the horn and kind of pictured it like Sombra’s

“Yo Sage, can I get a mirror.” I had asked in the open not caring who heard. Suddenly I noticed a small mirror, that fit my head perfectly, appeared in front of me. And honestly it did look like Sombra’s. It was black at the base and had a red tip and looked like it could stab into Someone. “Thank you!” I replied.

No problem, if you excuse me I must make adjustments to your armour, please place the helmet on so I may adjust it. I heard Sage say in my head. I continue to walk down the hall as I did as she said. Slowly I felt my armour shift for my new horn. The smile on my face, felt like glue for a few minutes as I felt like I couldn’t move it. It was almost impossible to contain my excitement.

I continued my way to the throne room and when I finally arrived I noticed a few other Spartans had taken into the room.

“Ah, greetings my friends!” I greeted them. “Has the capital been secure?” I asked.

“Yes sir!” said a mare “we successfully taken the Garrison in their sleep. Casualties are very few for both sides.”

“As we speak about 10 of us are guarding the exits.” Stated a stallion.

“Finally my group has secured the armoury. All of their armour and weapons are ours. sir!” Finished another mare.

I nodded in my head in approval. “Good, have the last 40 spartans sweep the area three times. I want to make sure we have every civilian, servant and soldier in this building. Also one of you check up on the 50 in the city. I want the wall secure along with the population.” I gave my orders and they saluted marching to obey them.

I proceeded to move to the throne. My throne. I swear my smile can’t get any bigger. I take a seat, relaxing into the huge throne. today has been a good day. Actually a lot of days have been good… but if I know life…. it isn’t always going to be like this. Whether I have the power to stop it or not. Whether it’s my fault or not. I have no way of telling the future.

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A few hours have passed when finally the door swung open revealing Shatter and the extra 50 Spartans. “Glad you could make it Shatter!” I said in a cheerful tone.

She slowly walked up and bowed as did the rest of the Spartans. “I see you have taken the city my Lord, excellent work!” She praised me.

“Our will work isn’t over yet Shatter. We have three main problems in our loyalty ranks. The warriors we captured, the other warlords and let’s not forget the new nobility in our ranks. Not to mention we haven’t even moved in yet.” I stated.

“Siri, if I may” she said, getting up. “why don’t we just deal with the problem’s now and get it over with.”

“Because you’re thinking short game, Not, the long Game. Life is always changing to a point where no plan is perfect without flaws. The slightest course of action from the universe can make a great plan into a spiralling whirlwind of chaos. You must always be able to flex when such chaos arises. And to do that I need more pieces in my game. Never allow yourself to have one plan. Always have a plan.” I looked out one of the windows and smiled at my new city.

“I don’t really understand, but sure.” she said confused.

“Maybe you will one day, send it a few messengers to let the warlords know that I want them to meet me here in a weeks time. I want you to head back to your village and grab miss Striking, her sister and Glorious. I’ll deal with the nobility.”