Helios Chronicles/Leaving Oligarch

Helios walks among his men.
His new recruits seem to be get use to taking orders. Good. This is a small unit and its best if they all get a long. Unfortunately, it seems 1/3 of my men never make it home and thats best case. They all know it too...

Only 1 man still here has been with me a full year, Sergeant Alexander. He is currently drinking with the new guys telling stories of battles long ago. His family was around when Ashforth belonged to Eleador. I knew his father some. He was a good man. He helped me escape once while I was in Ashforth's prison but thats another long story...

When Alex heard I was recruiting men from Ashforth he instantly requested to be placed in my unit. That was hundreds of men and dozens of battles ago. He is now my second in command. As we all know I have a tendency to um well ... get stabbed... or shot... or have my horse killed from underneath me at full charge and roll for about 50 ft. Oh and yeah occasionally I just fall off... He takes charge and continues the attack. If we are forced to retreat, he takes half the men under his lead and waits until we can rally and move out. He is the one man I trust not to die on this field.

I have granted him a manor in Morshes next to my keep. Our families are quite close. Eversio, my son is even quite taken with his daughter. She'd make a good concubine but nothing more for she is not nobility.

"These new boys sure are something," softly from behind me. "Yes that they are. They are raiders. My raiders have always been something," I replied. "Do you think they will come soon?" I could hear him walking closer. "The scouts say no but you can never tell," I turned and smiled. "You know that Alex. Always be prepared." He chuckled the looked back to the men and roared,"The Raiva's Raiders are always ready aren't we?!" This was one of our drills to make sure we could be ready at a moments notice. Within a minute the men and their horses were in full armor and ready for battle. On these plains we could spot the enemy and be at full charge to meet them before they made it half way here. I stood before them and went through a normal inspection. Afterwards came time for the inspirational talk... yay.. "My raiders have always been some of the fiercest fighters I have ever seen. I have never been so proud to lead a unit. I know you will only enhance the name even more. Our enemies will fear even the slightest whisper of our names."

I left them in Alexanders care and retired to my tent. My brother Dante had just sent me a case of Ithilian Whiskey from home that was just waiting to be opened...

As the sun slowly rises the alarms sound. The Raiva's Raider are ready in an instant. We charge towards the enemies. By the time we meet them the infantry has already been fighting for an hour. We slam into the fiends destroying a quarter of their lines (1059 damage!! 15 men!) Unfortunately 2 of our men are stabbed in the leg. We continue to hack away at whats left of their men. I was hit in the arm but its just a small cut only a couple inches long and maybe 1 deep. Our fellow country are many and we move to take on the new arrivals swarm the left overs. After nothing is left of their infantry we charge upon the archers! I can tell by the banners a squad of them belong to my old enemy Sceptre. Very few enemies gain my respect but Sceptre has.

I remember a long time ago back when I was an infiltrator I tried to assault him in his tent. I was surprised when he put up an excellent fight! I would have loved to stay and continue our duel but I heard masses of troops coming to his aid so I had to flee.

My Raiders and I slammed into the archers and decimated them. I saw Sceptre and charged for him but he went down before I could reach him. In my desire for Sceptre I failed to guard my men as well as I should have. I remotely saw one go down but in all of the violence I could not tell who. After this line of archers was crippled we started to charge on the next when I noticed the unspeakable had happened.. Alexander was not at charging with us.

I turned back to help my fallen comrade. My troops charging into a line with out either of their commanders retreated after one of them perished and 2 of them were wounded.

When I reached Alex he was surrounded by 5 dead archers and had 3 arrows sticking out of his chest. He raised his hand when he saw me approaching. I rushed to his side surveying his wounds. He said "I killed as many as I could Sir. They took my horse out from underneath me and shot me three times before I could regain my feet. These bastards have no honour. Shooting a man with a bow while he's on the ground!" He roared before coughing up blood. "I'll be ready to travel with you again in a moment Helios. Just give me a minute to rest." With that he closed his eyes for the last time...

Hours later Helios arrived back with his unit. They were all worried about Alexander. "Count Helios are you alright were is the Sergeant? Where's Alexander?! Is he ok?" I looked at them. Paused for a second and then smiled. Which evidently scared a few of them."Alex is fine. Aren't you Alex?" Helios pulled up Alex's head and stared at it. The troops were completely shocked. What had happened to their Lord??

Smiling again, I said," Alex says he's fine, but you boys look like you've seen a ghost. Whats wrong?" "Your holding Sergeant Alexander's head!" one of the new recruits yelled out! Helios seemed to ignore him "You men need some rest. Alex and I shall retire to my tent to plan for tonight's route of the enemy" With that Helios casually walked into his tent. Carrying the head

The troops stood there for a moment wondering what to do. Their Lord had gone insane. Count Helios the great Oligarchian warrior had gone completely insane. A noble with his standings couldn't just go mad. It would destroy the morale of the entire country! They couldn't just kill him though. They thought about it but then realized 3 things. 1)He was their leader, their Lord. They could never hurt him. 2)He was a Count and they were merely soldiers! They would be executed. 3) Before he went mad he was a seasoned veteran with more knowledge of fighting then they could dream of. They probably couldn't kill him and would die traitors. They decided to take him to Ashforth and send him to a distant land. They were all from that area they new people who could smuggle him off the continent without anyone knowing the truth about what really happened. The set out to drug him and escort him personally to Ashforth then to disburse.