"Rise, my friend." Said the Lord, his practiced voice spoken from the diaphragm, echoed off the walls as he rose to his feet. Geryn did likewise, then took the Lord's hand in a firm, and friendly shake. It was the handshake of two equal men, not of a Lord and a servant.
Geryn liked it that way.
"You summoned me, my lord?" Geryn asked, eager to get on to the pressing matters at hand. The note left for him at the altar seemed very important indeed.
"Yes, Geryn. I have summoned you here because I have a very important, and long overdue task for you and your Officers." He explained, leaning casually on the table near his dais. "For too long the forces of Imperial have occupied the once illustrious and prosperous town of Moonglow, making the once great city nothing more than a respite from the dogged pursuits of Law for murderers, and vagabonds." He paused for a moment and looked Geryn square in the eyes.
"Moonglow is nothing more than a shadow of what it once was. And that, my friend, is where you come in."
Geryn nodded slowly. "Whatever you ask, it shall be done, my lord. The forces of Law have never been stronger, whatever you ask of us, my Officers are at your disposal." The smile that began to quirk up in the corner of the Lord's mouth gave the Head Priest an indication that he had said exactly what British had wanted to hear.
His guess was not far off the mark.
"My dear Geryn, I shall not order you unto this task, I give you the freedom of choice to how you will proceed after my task is laid out for you." When he finished, Geryn nodded slowly as if to say he understood and to continue. "I want for you and your Officers to take back Moonglow, whatever the cost. As I said, too long have the forces of Imperial held the once beautiful city in their vile clutches. That time is at its end!"
"The Order of Imperial is weak, scattered, and they do not work as a team. You must exploit this weakness of theirs, and take back our city whatever the cost. Can you do this for me, Geryn?" The head priest thought about it for a long moment. The task was enormous. Conquering an entire city! But another thought entered into his mind, the thoughts of the men and women serving under his command. How valorous and fierce fighters all they were.
"Consider it done." Geryn replied proudly. "The men and women of the Order of Law have never failed me, and they have never failed the Lord of the lands. Nor shall we. We will deliver the city to you, my lord, and we will crush whatever resistance is in the way!"
"So be it." Lord British said, hiding his smile no more as he pat Geryn on the shoulder.
Nearly a minute later, the Head Priest had mounted Destiny, and the powerful steeds' hoof falls clapped loudly off the stone ground. Messengers were sent out in moments, to every Law member within bird range, and he smiled as his call was answered by Zabren, Elya Neyli, and Jonathan Icewind.
As quickly as possible, Geryn briefed them all on the battle plan, and asked for volunteers from the local city guards to enlist their help to take the city.
"We will attack fast, and we will attack hard from here... and here." Geryn explained as he indicated two areas on the roughly drawn map of the city of Moonglow. We will scatter the guards at the South gate, and work our way inside, fanning out to cover both directions simultaneously as we make our way north." He said as he slid the tip of his finger over the surface of the map to show the routes.
Geryn looked to his left to see his guard captain nearby. "We need your men to secure the houses and buildings here...here...here here, and here." He said, pointing to several key houses on the map that could serve as strongholds for the wounded. "If we take these buildings, we may funnel the surviving guards to these following choke points, cut off their escape, then capture, or kill them. Understood?" Geryn asked, and after a long moment of staring at the map, he nodded and saluted.
"It will be done, captain!" Geryn nodded, then dismissed him.
Satisfied there were no pending important questions, and feeling fortunate that he had such capable and intelligent fighters with him, a Gate was opened to the city. It took nearly an hour for all of the soldiers to emerge through the gate, and form up into ranks behind the forces of the Order of Law. Two soldiers wearing the colours of Lord British's castle, and carrying his battle standard flanked either side of the members of Law. Without another moment of delay, Geryn signaled a slow march toward the south entrance of the city.
As soon as the perimeter fence came into view, Geryn signaled for two of his archers to come up front. Knowing their roles to perfection, the archers let fly at the same time, releasing a pair of arrows high into the sky.
A chaos guard folded his cape neatly behind him as he took a seat on his uncomfortable stool. Day in and day out he sat here, there was never anything to do, and as far as he was concerned, the grim gray overcast signified yet another drab day. He sipped at his tea, then nodded to the fellow doing likewise at the other side of the gate. He raised his tea cup in a form of salute, but before he could say "cheers!" his words were caught in his throat as he spotted a glint of metal off into the distance.
He stood up with a start, opening his mouth as if to shout the alarm, but then quickly sat down hard on his stool. His companion from the other side of the gate stared stupidly at the other guard with a still quivering arrow shaft sticking out from his open mouth, and out the back of his head. He too tried to raise the alarm, and he too was laid low as the other arrow sliced in, and struck him square in the chest.
Certain that his archers had hit their mark, Geryn signaled for them to form up right behind him.
"Charge!" He shouted, as powerful and as loud as any of them had heard, then took off at full bent toward the southern gate. The resounding battle cries were near to deafening, but he charged on, ten feet closer to the gate with every stride.
Elya began to cast, an impressive feat of concentration while charging on a horse, and not-so-subtly blew the iron doors straight off their hinges. The mangled hunks of metal cart-wheeled end over end over a dozen feet to crash hard into the nearby house.
Geryn thundered in close behind, crushing the skull of a particularly stupid guard who was watching the mangled doors instead of the enemies who broke them. Alarm bells sounded to a crescendo, and the cries of metal on metal soon joined them as the British guards charged with skillful abandon. Like clockwork, the guards quickly made their way to their designated buildings where the fighting took a fierce turn.
A group of guards, apparently more alert and less stupid than the rest, realized what was going on, and formed up into a wedge formation just outside of one of the buildings. Geryn turned to spot one of his guards go down as the chaos captain joined the fray.
Shouting for justice, Geryn charged over and clobbered him. He wheeled around a moment later, as a blood-chilling scream rent the air to see a guard immolated by Elya's powerful casting. He spotted Zabren, charging with all speed to help a group of soldiers who were struggling mere moments before his white sparkling halberd struck a foot guard hard in the chest. So hard, in fact, it sent the poor fellow tumbling back over a dozen feet and into oblivion.
Jonathan was fighting a pair of guards at one time, accepting hits that would have felled a lesser man, and giving out twice as much. Using his sceptor to parry a sword strike from the left, Jonathan brought his scepter back around to cuff one of the guards hard at the side of the head, killing him instantly. The other guard, thinking he could get a quick stab in, was suddenly airborn as the priest followed through with an uppercut strike that lifted his feet from the ground.
Reinforcements soon arrived, and quickly bolstered the ranks of the guards fighting to take the city. No mercy was doted out, and within the matter of a few hours, the entire city was quiet again. The occasional moan of agony wavered through the air, only to be summarily silenced by a guard's sword.
Though the battle was fierce, and the enemy persistent, the Order of Law, and the army of Britain had secured the city with only a few losses of life among the guards.
With more than a few congratulations going out to those who had attended the attack, Geryn dismissed the Order of Law members, and ensured the city was secured with their guards.
"Hail Winchester!" Shouted Zabren moments before striking his chest plate with his gloved fist.
The call was repeated again and again all over the city, and Geryn smiled wide, proud in the men and women who joined him this day in such a monumental and undoubtedly long overdue mission.
"Mission accomplished."
