Covenant of Fire [Elden Ring]

AN:

Hello everyone! Long AN incoming and apologies for the delay, especially on a cliffhanger like that. I forgot Ch.13 was a cliffhanger (don't actually like doing those, but sometimes it fits as a scene's ending) or I would have prioritized this a little more to not leave you guys hanging like that.

I've been addicted to a video game (PoE2) for the past two weeks. I'm back in the saddle now though. This is last week's chapter, and I'll have this week's chapter out by Sunday, but probably before that.

This chapter actually has one of my favorite scenes I've written so far in it. It probably won't particularly stand out to you guys as readers as super amazing or anything, but as an author, I really liked it because it is the culmination of a lot of the stuff that happens off-screen that you guys never learn about because that stuff really isn't relevant to the story, the main characters never learn the details of what was going on, nor are they involved in it directly.

Also, I'm trying to improve my process. I keep having too many mistakes in my final drafts despite doing two "eyeball" passes and a Google Docs pass. I'm looking into other tools such as Grammarly and such to further reduce spelling errors, wrong words (homophones), and grammar errors, but do any of you fellow writers have any suggestions for good tools that will help that sort of thing that you have personally used and found helpful? I could use a large number of different tools, but each extra pass means more time spent editing and not writing new stuff.

I find I'm also itching to write a second story with my muse going crazy. I have a lot of different good ideas for all sorts of stories that are much faster paced than this one.

Especially one particular ASoIaF story idea that is pulling me as it isn't just another slightly different canon remix but has significant differences to most ASoIaF fics such as the Others and Westeros's civil war aren't the final climaxes of the story. When I do eventually write other stuff I probably won't do that one despite the really good premise because it requires a total re-read of the books to straighten the original books out in my head and would need constant timeline references and character and plot references to keep everything straight and dynamic.

But I'm not going to make the mistake of starting a hundred stories and never finishing any, so I'm holding off on anything new for now.

Maybe if I can make this writing thing into a job rather than a hobby I'll do more than one story at once, but this story will always be my main focus until it's finished or I quit, whether or not I'm eventually able to turn this into a job instead of just a hobby.

And apologies about the long AN, but I like 'talking' to (at) you guys, so I'll probably be doing something like this every few chapters. I'm really passionate about writing but don't know anyone IRL who is interested in the art of storytelling/writing enough to actually hold conversations about it. So I just sperg out here in the ANs and hope you guys enjoy my rambling.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter. This is a big one.

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As John marched down the hallway towards Edgar's study with Cronell in tow, his mind spun at what Cronell had revealed and the implications of it.

That there never had been an informant. John had never even considered that possibility. He had suspected that the informant had read his letter. Did that mean Crann read his letter? But then why lie about it to Edgar?

Back then, in the moments when Crann had been arguing with Edgar in front of John, John had thought it may have been a coincidence that the rebellion began hours after he delivered his letter. But after the past two weeks of the idea marinating in his head, he realized that the coincidence was far too unlikely.

So Crann had read his letter, and then the rebellion happened less than twelve hours later, and then Crann gave information about the rebellion to Edgar but lied about the source.

John could already smell the shit. Whatever was going on with Crann and his letter and the rebellion, it didn't spell anything good.

Edgar, the high officer of the entirety of Castle Morne and the rest of the soldiers in the Weeping Peninsula, had to be informed of this. Of how there was no informant but instead there had been a letter, and that Crann had read that letter. John was already thinking of all the different routes he could take with the conversation as they marched down the corridors.

It brought to John's mind the differences in the rebellion. In the game, the 'canon' timeline, the rebellion was successful with the misbegotten coming out on top, seemingly having executed an overwhelming coup with limited casualties and finishing Edgar's men after they took the castle. Yet now in this timeline of the Lands Between that John was in, the men of Castle Morne were going to win. Bitterly and with incredible sacrifice, but there would not be a mountain of corpses and a pyre in the courtyard with misbegotten celebrating over them.

Something had changed between the canon timeline and now, and Kalé, John, and his letter were the only new variables as far as John knew.

Cronell must have realized that what he had told John was more serious than even he had thought by John's reaction, as he kept silent as stone as they walked down the corridors, not even voicing a complaint as they took a shortcut across the courtyard which caused them to be rained on.

Despite the falling light of the sunset in the distance, John could see thick storm clouds in the distance. The past few days the rain had been a light sprinkling, but others had been telling him that they saw signs that there would be a large storm soon. It looked like they were right.

They made it to Edgar's study which was guarded by the usual two soldiers, and John knocked. The door opened to show Edgar. After a glance at John, the lord immediately became annoyed. Probably at having been disturbed by John so soon after they had finished their evening officer meeting just a short time ago.

"Sergeant White, what is it?"

"Lord Edgar," John saluted. "Armsman Cronell here has something that I think you should hear immediately. It is very important and-" John eyed the two guards "-sensitive."

At that, Edgar took a closer look at how John and Cronell were holding themselves. Whatever he saw there immediately had his annoyance disappear and be replaced with a deadly seriousness.

"Very well. Come in. Guards, make some distance. I don't want anything to be overheard."

As the guards complied and John and his hanger-on came in, Edgar closed the door behind them and walked over to the table covered in paperwork and information tracking everything happening in Castle Morne. The supplies, troop scheduling and planning, and other logistics.

"John, you say the Armsman has something important to say?"

John nodded seriously.

"Yes, my lord. It is important, about the rebellion. I'll let Cronell tell you."

Edgar looked over to Cronell. The man hesitated, but after a glance at John standing there expectantly, he firmed up and told his story about the dying confession to Edgar.

"-he told me that no one had entered the Castletown entrance that night and that no one had come to meet with Knight Major Crann to give him information. The only person that came in or out was the Knight Major's second for his usual rounds. He said that Knight Major Crann has been lying to the High Marshal about it, lying to you, my lord."

Even as Cronell finished, Edgar looked perturbed.

"Was that everything, Armsman? You are sure of this?"

"Yes, my lord. That is what he told me, my lord."

"If what that man said was true, it would be troubling that Knight Major Crann lied to me about having an informant. But I am quite sure that the Knight Major is being truthful. The information he has given me about the rebellion has all been accurate.

"From what you have said, Armsman, the man blamed the Knight Major for his death. It is unfortunate, but it seems that he only wished to bring harm upon the Knight Major's reputation as revenge. I have seen such things many times. We have nothing to worry about.

"Still," Edgar continued, "it does you and Sergeant White well that you two would bring this matter to me as soon as you felt you could. If something untoward like that were to be happening, it would be of immense importance that I know it."

Edgar smiled at them.

Cronell's heavy face broke into relief at those words from Edgar. The heavy burden the soldier must have felt carrying this ominous information alone lifting now that his lord had heard it and determined it to be nothing.

That immense relief was likely why Cronell didn't notice when Edgar saw that John still looked deadly serious and his smile slipped from his face.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Armsman. While he is here, I wish to speak with Sergeant White about another matter. Wait outside with the guards. I may wish to speak with you further after I am finished with him."

"Yes, my lord."

Cronell saluted Edgar and left the study, his heart much lighter than it had been when he had entered.

As soon as the sound shut, Edgar's face became grave, and he turned a heavy expectant gaze onto John.

"Lord Edgar, there is more to the story than just Armsman Cronell's testimony. I have some information as well.

"I have a confession to make. On the evening that the rebellion broke out I had wrote a letter addressed to you, and put it in a palm-sized wooden box, and delivered it to the guards at the castle entrance from Castletown."

At this somewhat tangential beginning to John's story, Edgar looked slightly puzzled and frustrated at how this was relevant to Crann's potential deception.

"That letter had been addressed to you, Lord Edgar, as High Marshal, and on it was a warning that the misbegotten were planning a rebellion."

Edgar was caught off guard by that, but John didn't let up.

"When I first heard Knight Major Crann speak of his informant, I wondered if it was a coincidence that much of the information his informant gave him matched my letter. I suspected that his informant may have been one of his men who had read my letter and was giving him the information but had died in the attack upon the castle entrance, and somehow my letter had been lost in the initial chaos. Or some other unfortunate series of events.

"But when I heard Cronell tell me of that man's dying story, I realized that it must not have been the Knight Major's informant who had read my letter, but rather the Knight Major himself. And that he had been lying to you about an informant."

Hearing this, Edgar began shifting into skepticism.

"This is the first mention I have heard of any letter, Sergeant."

John smiled apologetically.

"I know, my lord. It is hard to believe. A low-ranking man tells you a story that slanders your second that supposedly came from a dead man's lips who can no longer swear for himself, and then another junior officer who brought this man with his second-hand to you already has nother story that is somewhat convoluted and helps slander your longstanding second's good name even further.

"But that absurd level of coincidence is part of why this is so damning. It is hard for me to believe that the evening I gave Knight Major Crann's men the letter about the misbegotten rebellion, the rebellion erupted only a few scant hours later.

"Yet that is what happened. Less than half a day later after I gave my letter, the misbegotten were burning Morne to the ground and had killed a third of the garrison, trapping everyone left in Castle Morne. It is too much to reasonably think that all that was just chance."

"Are you accusing the Knight Major of treason!?"

John shook his head quickly!

"No! At least, not yet! What I mean to say is that Knight Major Crann is lying to you, and he is doing it for some reason. We cannot afford to have one of our few hundriers, a man that is leading the troops who is also your second in command, lying and keeping secrets from you. Especially now of all times and about such important things. I don't why the Knight Major is lying, but I knew you had to be told about it."

Edgar frowned in deep thought.

John waited silently for him to think.

"This is an incredible story, Sergeant. I have seen many unlikely things over my life, yet your sudden story seems too fanciful to be believed on just the words of just a pair of men that I have shortly known. Especially with Knight Major Crann having served me dutifully for many decades."

John had been expecting that, and he still had one last trump card to play.

"That is the most important element of my own contribution to Armsman Cronell's story. Evidence. I think I can prove my own story to you, Lord Edgar. Prove that I am not just making up things to slander a superior officer."

Edgar raised his eyebrow.

"Oh? Truly?"

"First of all, you can ask his men who were at the castle entrance that evening if someone wearing a brown cloak gave a fellow guard an unmarked box meant for his superiors and then ran off. That should be sufficient to prove to you that not everything I am saying is a lie.

"I think from just that you could dig more to clear everything up and reveal the truth. But I think I can do you even better than just that and prove it right now."

John saw Edgar's eyes sharpen at John's claim of immediate proof and continued.

"Knight Major Crann has shared many things his 'informant' has told him in officer meetings with us, but I am sure he has speculation and certain things that he has only told you and none of the rest of us. Am I correct, my lord?"

"This is true." Edgar nodded.

"Well, I wrote that letter that gave him all that information. I can make an exact copy right now, and you can see with your own eyes if it has things he has only told you on it.

"And since there was a letter which still may exist, there is a chance you could find it and even compare the handwriting of that letter to a copy I will make.

"The original may be sitting somewhere down in the Castletown castle entrance where we can't get to it, or it may have been destroyed by rain or misbegotten these past couple weeks. But it might also be in his quarters or his office. Somewhere he might hide that sort of letter.

"With the dead man's story, my story, the potential confirmation of the guardsmen, the letter's private information I will show you, and, if you find the original, a copy of that letter, that would give you up to five incontestable pieces of proof. And about that original letter, you might be able to find it on his person even if he is particularly paranoid."

After John made his last assertion, Edgar put his hands up still looking extremely skeptical.

"Stop there Sergeant. I am not going to have my second accosted in such a way without good reason. Certainly not on convenient and empty words. Write your letter first, and we shall see what I decide to do from there."

So John did as Edgar said. Thankfully, they were already in a study, so they had quill, ink, and parchment on hand already.

John thought back to the letter he spent days quibbling on the specific words over. How he had written and rewritten that letter a few times over the course of days. it hadn't been too long yet, so he still had it thoroughly memorized.

John wrote down a copy of the original letter.

How the misbegotten were planning the rebellion. How it would be led by a red-haired misbegotten. The cleavers, and potential weapon stockpiles. And other bits of speculation and theory that he had thought at the time may be true.

And finally, how he had gotten this information from a misbegotten he had befriended, an informant. The idea of this lie about what his source for this information was came from his short friendship with the misbegotten teen he had been speaking to at the time.

Ironic, considering Crann's lies about his source. Maybe these lines about his misbegotten informant had even been where the man had gotten the idea for that particular lie from.

Edgar waited impatiently nearby, and as soon as John was done, he grabbed the parchment and read the letter before the ink even had time to dry.

John could see the look on Edgar's face that said the man thought that the letter would be nothing. But as the High Marshal read line after line, his face went from skeptical to full of disbelief. He paused in the middle and began reading it from the top but more carefully this time.

And as Edgar did, his expression changed from disbelief to being grave. But by the time he reached the end of the letter, even that faded, his face had paled and slackened, the energy drained out of him as he realized his second, a man who he had trusted for decades and in many battles, had betrayed him and had most likely been the source of their misfortunes against the misbegotten.

"It is true," Edgar said as if he still couldn't believe it. "It is true..."

Edgar fell silent, standing like a reed being blown in a storm, before the energy that had drained from his form came rushing back violently! He crushed crushed the parchment in his hand!

"That lying cur!" Edgar hissed, his face red. "Castletown has been burned! Clifftown is littered with rotting corpses that the menials are consuming like the beasts they are. There are less than a thousand of the townsfolk still alive, a near total loss, and we have lost more than three-quarters of the garrison.

"Yet he lies to me!? Continues to lie and betray us all!? And to think I was even considering-"

Edgar cut himself off and stood seething for a few moments, venting, before he took a deep breath and let it out. When he took another breath, he was completely back under control, though John was familiar enough with Edgar to see the anger being hidden under the forced composure.

He stood, back like an iron rod, his stormy grey eyes holding the only remaining visible traces of his immense fury. Edgar dropped the crumpled letter from his hand, leaving ink staining his hand which began delicately wiping off with a handkerchief he produced. John could see that his superior's mind was racing behind those grey eyes.

Once he was done, Edgar looked at John.

"It seems you were correct earlier. All we know, all we can prove, at the moment, is that Crann has been lying to me. Taking the merit for your own deeds in trying to warn us of the coming rebellion.

"But we do not know anything else to any degree of certainty. We should not act rashly no matter our suspicions. We do not know if Crann is a traitor or has stayed true and the lies are for some other purpose. Crann is the most powerful knight in the garrison, able to call upon the sky to smite foes with lightning. We cannot act rashly, for we need his arm desperately to survive this siege if he turns out to indeed have kept to his oaths.

"But neither can we do nothing in case the worst is indeed true. Tomorrow Crann will be the hundrier in charge of defending the corridors. I will have my retinue search for the letter to confirm all this and also to gather potential evidence if I am to keep the trust of the men in my leadership if I do have to have Crann brought to the dungeons.

"I will also have his men quietly questioned to see if others will confirm that someone gave something a wooden box to a guard that evening as well as to see if they may directly tell me if Crann has broken his oaths.

"Once I have that all done, I will accuse Crann in front of the officers at the next officer meeting, so they can be made aware of the situation. I will demand Crann explain himself, and there is a chance he may further incriminate himself with lies in the effort to defend himself of anything else I may when my men question his.

"I will have an accounting from Crann, and he will be punished for transgressions, large or small as they are.

"For now, speak of this to no one, and continue as you were. Make sure to send Cronell back in here as well. I have more to ask him and will write down his testimony. And at the officer meeting tomorrow evening, we will see the end of this."

John saluted.

"Yes, my lord."

John turned around and walked to the door. He grabbed the handle-

"Oh, and Sergeant?"

John turned around and saw Edgar smiling.

"I forgot to thank you. For your letter. Crann may have initially received the honor for it, but I now know you are the one who warned us about many aspects of the rebellion even if Crann, through betrayal or negligence, prevented me from being able to stop it from happening entirely.

"You may have saved Castle Morne, and the lives of everyone who yet lives. Me, my daughter, the remaining men and townsfolk. You have my gratitude.

"And if we both live to the end of the next two weeks, I will have you greatly rewarded. If you perish, I will make sure you are buried with honors. Tell me, if it comes to that, do you wish for Erdtree burial or sky pyre?"

John opened the door and took a step out.

"Sky pyre. Dragons are cooler than a big tree."

Edgar just laughed.

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The next day John and his men were guarding their assigned section of the corridors, an important four-way intersection. One direction led up into the castle proper with the other three leading would eventually lead down towards Clifftown.

The fighting retreat over the past week had been successful and all the goods had been removed from the bowels of the castle, denying the misbegotten those resources. The nonstop never-ending attacks had stopped, and instead, the misbegotten had been using waves of assaults for the last few days.

That change in enemy tactics was a relief. They were losing far fewer men now even if the men also killed far fewer misbegotten, as their enemies had begun using armor, weapons, and equipment they had looted from John's fallen comrades.

The garrison had retreated to just two major chokepoints at the two key intersections that led up from the bowels of the castle. These were their best and final points to use as their final lines of defense. One was located in the north of half of the structure and the other was mirrored in the south. Some distance forward from these two major chokepoints, down each of the intersection's three Clifftown facing corridors, were their front lines which were also controlling intersections farther forward meant to impede enemy movement.

They had a twenty stationed at each of these intersection checkpoints, the two major that led into the castle proper and the six minor that led to the two major intersection chokepoints, for a total of eight intersection chokepoints being defended in all by the garrison. Each of the intersections were manned by a twenty, for a total of somewhere near to one hundred sixty of the under four hundred men that remained of the garrison. This meant nearly half of the men were deployed at any point in time.

While they tried to keep the balance between the numbers of regulars and irregulars deployed at once maintained, nonetheless some days they had more of one category of soldier or the other. And some days the numbers were more balanced than others.

Many things decided this. The state of supplies and the twenties themselves, the schedules, which units were tired or had heavily used crimson tears recently and so needed time to let their system clear to not unnecessarily risk them.

Just from the fact that John's twenty of irregulars was assigned as the rearguard at a final defensive point on this side of the castle showed that the only twenty of regulars on duty at that time, if there were any, were guarding the other major chokepoint on the other side of the castle.

Otherwise his twenty, being part of the irregulars, who were less important and less able than a twenty of regulars all of which typically had at least one fringefolk knight in their unit, would have been assigned such a critical role.

Part of being in a fallback position meant that they didn't have to do any fighting unless the other twenties needed it, which was good because they had just suffered a significant loss of men and their twentier just two days ago. On the other hand, they had to keep lookouts posted at the forward positions so they could be kept abreast of what was happening and give reports of their own to the higher command periodically.

Because of the corridors' long underground construction, sounds echoed a long way, but the forward lines were far enough forward that even John could only barely hear the indistinct noises of any battles happening in the forward intersections. Hence why the forward scouts were necessary.

The hours passed by as expected, with John's lookouts giving him reports periodically. Misbegotten made their periodic attacks on the three front lines John was the fallback for.

Everything was looking to be just another day of duty, and John waited impatiently for his shift to be over so he could attend the evening officer meeting and see what exactly was going on with Crann. Then a noise sounded in his ear. The sound of metal on stone, running down the western corridor corridor. Slowly getting closer and closer.

One of John's lookouts was returning, but it was too early to be the regular periodic report.

John was instantly alert, but as the faint din of battle that he had just barely been able to hear down that corridor faded once again, he relaxed. The enemy had just retreated again, and the lookout was coming to inform him of it.

The lookout rounded the corner and kept running to John. When he reached John, he began immediately, not bothering with formalities.

"Sir! The Misbegotten Savior! The red-maned misbegotten! He attacked! With him were a group of large armored misbegotten! Three men had already fallen by the time I had left, and I fear the rest have as well!"

John's heartbeat instantly skyrocketed and his eyes went wide.

The leonine misbegotten hadn't been spotted anywhere close to the battlelines since John had seen him impale Knight Andren and the garrison had retreated to the corridors, and now it was here attacking!

The misbegotten were making a move and any irregulars would be hard-pressed to respond! This was the worst possible day for the leonine misbegotten to make a move. The men in the western corridor were in a dire situation if they hadn't already died. He'd seen how powerful the leonine misbegotten was. Even heavily restricted by the corridors, the irregulars stationed there were no match for that without a fringefolk knight!

The western corridor going quiet now filled him with dread rather than relief.

John couldn't abandon his position to go help them either, not that he woul be able to do anything against the leonine misbegotten, but he and the rest of the officers had expected the leonine misbegotten to show herself at some point. They had a plan for this. It would just take longer for the knights to arrive with so few regulars on duty today.

"Go up the corridor to command's position and report this to the hundrier immediately! Tell Knight Major Crann that the red-maned misbegotten, their leader, has attacked us!"

The soldier saluted and ran off again as fast as the man could run!

John looked at his twenty and, despite his own outward composure, he saw his own inner feelings reflected in their nervous faces. They all knew this news was bad, and it had all of them tense, a heavy foreboding settling on them all.

John kept his unease hidden, displaying only a stony unshaken facade for the men. His composure and reaction would heavily impact the men. He would not allow a careless emotional display to hurt morale.

They waited in that corridor, silent, and not long later John heard the crashing metal of running once again. This time down the central corridor. Sure enough, before the lookout had rounded the corner, the telltale sound of battle faded from that corridor as well.

John felt a stone form in his gut.

"Sergeant! The rebellion leader just attacked the twenty I was watching!" the lookout told him.

John's fears were confirmed. However John had never been indecisive under pressure.

"Now! Go and warn the eastern corridor! Tell them to retreat back to this position immediately!"

The lookout immediately took off and John and the men waited warily once again to see what would be happening. But they didn't have to for long.

Less than a minute later a wave of misbegotten made their way around the corner of the west corridor and began approaching their positions. It seemed that John's fears were correct. The men of the west corridor had been annihilated. Probably the central as well.

Well. If these misbegotten thought his men would be falling as easily, they were sorely mistaken.

"Men! Face the west corridor! Swords front! Polearms behind them. Greatswords, and warpicks in the rear! Warpicks, be ready to react if more come down the central corridor."

John took his proper position as his well-drilled men arranged themselves in a show of discipline that the green men of a short time ago would never have been able to achieve.

John, as twentier, was no longer in a specific five, so the polearm five he had been in had accepted another man to replace him. Instead he now his typical position was in the center of the formation. Still close enough to lend his spear, but safe enough to where he could focus on keeping an eye on the battlefield and commanding the men without the misbegotten easily pushing through the lines for him specifically in any attempts to cut down the leadership of the unit.

John looked at the misbegotten approaching their formation and saw they were the regular misbegotten with their motley equipment. No sign of the large well-equipped misbegotten, or the leonine, or any special or organized ones either.

The enemy line crashed into the shields of the five of swordsmen in the front. The misbegottens' martial prowess was still as poor as it had been when the rebellion started, it was just that now their patch-work of armor made it so that any casual and sloppy strike by a proper weapon from a soldier didn't kill them in a hit or two. This also gave the misbegotten more confidence, so they attacked more often and with less hesitation.

The better equipment and increased confidence combined made the misbegotten much more potent offensively and defensively.

His own men however had significantly improved as was obvious as the swordsmen and polearms inflicted punishment on their enemies for daring to engage them.

Both the lines struggled against each other trying to break through the enemy and uphold their own lines. The press of bodies from both sides smashing together like two vices trying to crush one another.

As they fought, John helped his men by striking any misbegotten that got right up to the front line's shields, just barely close enough for him to reach with his position in the formation.

Every few minutes John ordered the front lines to switch. To keep the men fresh and allow recovery.

John kept an eye out, and any time a man was injured enough to need to heal, John ordered a man from the next five on rotation to replace him. When the front was switched, the fives would be properly joined back up, keeping the integrity of the formation.

They all did well, successfully keeping back the misbegotten and cutting a number down with minimal damage to themselves, when another wave of misbegotten rounded the turn of the central corridor.

John held back the urge to curse! He had been expecting this after the western misbegotten had come, but he hoped the knight reinforcements from command would have arrived before this!

"Greatswords and warpicks, rotate to hold the center! Hammers in front! Greatswords, use your reach to thrust like we have drilled! We need to give time for the eastern twenty to retreat to us before we can fall back! They should be here any minute now! We cannot let them be cut off!"

The men moved and a few scant moments later John's twenty were blocking two of the directions of the intersection.

Because of the tightness of the slim corridors, removing his back lines didn't reduce the direct strength of the two front lines, but it did mean they could no longer retreat to recover. Their staying power was significantly reduced.

The new center corridor battleline was also weaker than the western line. Warpicks were just as effective at holding the front strong, but the thrusting power and reach of the greatswords to assist the men in front of them was much less than polearms. Greatswords were most useful for countering opposing polearms, not being used in place of them.

Seeing the central line as weaker, John moved over to the back of the center line to help reinforce them and to be able to keep a better eye on all three corridors.

They battled fiercely, cleaver to brass shield and partisan to toughened lizard flesh or stolen breastplates! The minutes passed as he and his twenty and the misbegotten all bloodied each other and dedicated their focus to the fight rather than any irrelevant concerns!

Without having time to heal, John could see the slowly accumulating wounds on his men begin to chip away at them. They were slowing down, weakening, and the press of bodies started to push them back.

And then one of the men on the west line went down.

"Damn it! Central lines hold! I'm helping the western lines! And where's the fucking eastern twenty!?" John yelled as he rushed over to the western line to prevent it from collapsing!

'And where the fuck are the knight reinforcements!? They should have been here by now!' John thought but did not voice.

Flask already in hand as he reached through the gaps to pull the downed men away from the front, John immediately pulled the man back, a cleaver striking where his man's head had been a moment ago!

John what had happened. His chest armor had been pierced by the point of a misbegotten warpick.

It didn't look like the punctured armor would block most of the healing though, so John stuffed his flask to the man's mouth who gulped down weakly. A few moments later the man was up and made his way back to the front.

As John stood up, he glanced back at the east corridor just in time to see a third wave of misbegotten round the corner! No men from that corridor in sight. Not even either of the two lookouts that had been sent eastward. And another glance at the corridor behind them all showed no men coming down from command above either.

Seeing the third wave of enemies, John didn't tally.

"Bastards! Men, quickly! Fall back to the rear corridor!"

The men quickly moved to obey, and backed up in steady steps. Thankfully, they had been doing such maneuvers for a while, so his lines held as both the western and central lines converged back into one.

Not having to worry about the eastern men, now they once again only had to defend one cramped corridor, and if they fell, the misbegotten would be free to overrun the rest of Castle Morne and no one would live to survive the day.

However, with only one corridor to defend now, this heavily improved their position, but things were still looking grim. John could only hope the leonine misbegotten didn't come for them as he would be all but powerless against her!

As well, defending two corridors at once had taken a toll. His men were much more tired and already they had dipped significantly into their crimson tears to keep themselves fighting.

Then John heard the clanking of armor on stone from behind.

Finally!

He turned to see his remaining lookout and three fringefolk knights coming to reinforce them, storm already cloaking their armaments.

"The cavalry has arrived, men! Prepare to let the knights to the front!"

It took but moments for the three huge knights to make it to the back of the formation and his men made way for their reinforcements to reach the front. Their larger bodies made it so only three of them could fit abreast each other in these tight corridors instead of the total of five that regularly sized men could fit.

Their massive shields, what would have been large tower shields to a regular man, covered almost their entire bodies, and their thick heavy armor, thicker than what a regular man could wear, made them almost untouchable to regular misbegotten, especially in the corridor where their overwhelming numbers mattered little.

And their storm-covered weapons tore apart the misbegotten. Even if the knights struck a misbegotten on a stolen breastplate or chainmail, the twisting wind rushed around the bits of hard armor to any softer fleshy area nearby and the tearing wind sheared away flesh like a thousand tiny knives.

The pressure eased for the moment, John's men quickly recovered themselves, drinking tears and reorganizing the line, and then rejoined the fight doing their best to offer what assistance they could to the knights, but they needed little.

His men and the reinforcements crushed misbegotten after misbegotten, but after minutes of battle where he waited for the leonine to appear any moment, the misbegotten leader did not show herself. The waves of misbegotten just continued throwing themselves into battle.

After nearly thirty minutes of fighting, even the fringefolk knights could no longer summon storm, their magical stamina temporarily exhausted, and were reduced to mundane if brutally effective strikes of their weapons. But the leonine misbegotten still hadn't shown herself.

They battled, but no misbegotten beyond the typical came to attack them. Instead, more groups of misbegotten just arrived to reinforce and replace the old ones. The battle was unrelenting.

It seemed the misbegotten were done with their wave tactics and were going back to their earlier strategy of grinding them down and never letting them rest by using their huge numbers to support an unceasing attack. Eventually one of the fringefolk knights disengaged from the front and approached John.

"The other two will stay with you. I need to go to Sir Crann at the other chokepoint and tell him of the situation here."

John nodded and saluted, and the knight left the way he came.

John turned and kept battling with the rest of his twenty and the two remaining knights. As he did, he expected that the leonine misbegotten may stage another attack any minute. But despite his vigilance, she never came. So they fought until the evening approached and his twenty was relieved by another who took to fighting the seemingly endless misbegotten horde.

__________________________________________________

John opened the study door and entered the evening officer meeting.

It was composed of everyone who was a twentier or above besides the twentiers who were deployed in the evening shift. Most of them were fringefolk knights with their elaborate armors and large size, but a few of the men attending were regular soldiers like John.

John took his helmet off like all the other officers in the room had done and joined them at the table.

The faces on everyone there were hard, and the air was grim. Looking most severe of all was Edgar, who looked as if he was gonna murder someone.

Looking around, John could see people missing. Just yesterday there had been 24 officers in this meeting. Now there were only 18. Three more days like today, and there would be none left.

This would only be his third meeting like this. He'd kept silent at the last two and just listened to those with more experience and authority speak. John knew the absolute most basic of tips about how battles should be fought, like to keep the sun to your back or that having the high ground was better, but before the last two weeks, he'd had absolutely no real experience. He knew some general things, but only a little about defending in sieges.

He'd let these vastly more experienced people make the decisions and just do his best to listen and learn from them.

As soon as John closed the door and walked over to stand by the hundrier his twenty was technically part of, Knight Captain Dromin.

Looking around and seeing everyone who was gonna come were already at the table, Edgar began the meeting. Even before he spoke, John and the rest of the officers could feel Edgar was not in a good mood and the air was tense.

"Now that everyone has arrived, I will go over what happened today again to be absolutely sure we all know exactly what occurred.

"This afternoon, the red-maned misbegotten that we know of as the menials' leader showed itself in the corridors with a group of elite misbegotten following it and executed a series of attacks against the six forward chokepoints. It struck against one after the other. This wiped them all out to the last man. Killing 118 men, a third of our remaining forces.

"Does anyone not understand or have anything else to add to this?"

Edgar waited for a response, but no one spoke.

"Very well. I have questions about how this was allowed to occur. Sir Crann, you were the hundrier in command today, correct?"

Edgar's gaze pierced his second.

"Yes, my lord."

"How did this happen?"

Crann shook his head.

"There was nothing we could have done. As soon as word reached us from the southern corridor, I sent three knights there to assist the irregulars there. And the other two knights we had on standby and I went to the northern corridor to assist them.

"Despite our haste, by the time any of us arrived, all the irregulars had been wiped out and the leader and its elite troops had fled. All we could do was drive off the remaining assaults at the main choke points."

Edgar's eyes narrowed and spoke up, his tone sharp and demanding.

"The misbegotten's leader first attacked the south-western corridor's men, then moved east to destroy the men at the other two southern corridors near the primary southern chokepoint. Then he went north to the northeastern corridor and made his way westward until all three northern chokepoints were destroyed as well. Is that not right Sir Crann?"

"It is, my lord." Nodded his head.

"You were stationed in the center of the castle, were you not? Then can you explain to me how that misbegotten was able to make its way through what was effectively six times the distance that it took you and your knights to traverse, and do so through the twisting corridors, yet despite you having left immediately, it still managed to destroy all six positions before either you or your knights had arrive at either chokepoint despite you having straight paths there?"

Edgar said as though already delivering a verdict, and Crann's face visibly wavered.

"I-I sent reinforcements immediately, my lord, as soon I heard that those curs damned leader had shown himself. It was just too fast for any of us to catch," Crann said, trying to defend himself.

"Truly?" Edgar said, sounding as unconvinced as he looked.

"Yes, my lord. The irregulars must have just sent word too late."

Everyone else in the room could instantly tell that was the wrong thing to say.

Edgar was instantly pissed off. His face turned stony, and he slammed a guaranteed hand onto the table in anger! Everyone in the room flinched at the noise.

Edgar pointed at Crann and as he spoke he didn't shout despite his visible anger.

"Do not slander others Crann," Edgar hissed. "I am certain that Sergeant John is an able commander and acted with all haste to send you the message. Why do you lie to me? Can you not explain to me why it took so long for reinforcements to arrive?"

Crann's face reddened in anger, and he visibly struggled to come up with a reply, but despite opening his mouth a few times over the next minute, ultimately he said nothing.

Edgar looked at Crann and the five other knights around him who made up his faction among the officers like a hawk looked at a mouse.

The silence grew long as no one spoke for a minute, and Edgar kept waiting for an answer. Every second that passed where no answer came the tension in the room grew and grew.

Inevitably someone broke. It wasn't Crann, but one of the knights standing behind him. Marvion Tearwolfe, who John recognized from his armor as one of the men who had come to reinforce his twenty earlier that day, and who John knew was the vice leader of Crann's clique.

Marvion stepped forward and spoke up despite looking just as scared as the rest of Crann's men.

"Knight Major Crann had been... otherwise occupied when the messenger first arrived. Sir Crann did send us out as soon as he heard what had happened, but there was a short delay."

Crann shot the man a betrayed look that promised future punishment.

Edgar simply turned his head to Crann who was forced to answer Marvion's confession.

"Yes, my lord. I have to admit, I had been addressing something important at the time and had ordered the men not to let anyone disturb me until I was done. It was just... unfortunately timed that the short delay arrived at the worst time and gave a short delay to my receiving the report that the dregs' leader had show itself."

"Important? More important than defending the castle from the siege? What was so important?" Edgar's voice was far too casual.

Crann clearly felt wronged as he shot Edgar a look of barely restrained anger.

"It was important, my lord. A man was reporting to me that someone had been having my men questioned covertly. I suspected that something nefarious was happening and had been consumed with getting to the bottom of that in case it endangered the defense. If someone hadn't been questioning my men then the reinforcements would have been immediate."

John could tell by how Crann looked at Edgar that he wanted to say that this was Edgar's fault, but he couldn't say something like that to his commander's face in front of everyone else. John suspected Edgar could tell as well because the lord's already stony facade turned into granite.

Edgar turned his head, sweeping his gaze across all of Crann's knights landing on Marvion.

"I know the man Sergeant John sent to report what had happened to you was delayed by more than a handful of minutes. That is more than a short delay.

"The entire time he was telling all of you that he needed to report to Sir Crann immediately, that the menials' leader, whom we have been trying to hunt down and kill for weeks now, had been spotted. Yet you men still refused to let him enter and speak to Sir Crann, why?"

John saw some of them swallow. The same knight as earlier spoke again after a few seconds where none of the rest of them spoke up.

"Because Knight Major Crann ordered that he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. And he was very clear that he meant under no circumstances."

Crann's eyes bulged.

"That is-"

"I see," Edgar cut him off coldly and kept looking at Crann's men, particularly Marvion. "I would ask you why you didn't disregard that order, but I already know.

"All five of you are Crann's cousins and your families swear to his family. I remember that Sir Crann was the one who recommended you five to me as potential knights, and he took you under his wing directly as squires when I accepted. At the time I saw no reason why not to allow Crann to do so.

"You are his subjects and his blood. You own your positions to him. Your martial skill to him. He is one of the best warriors in Lord Godrick's army. And I would assume that any trace of disobedience towards him is punished harshly?

"That is why when Sir Crann tells you to bark, you all become dogs. Well, you have forgotten that Knight Major Crann is a Knight Major, not High Marshal. I am. And as long as you are in my service you are my hounds and not his."

John saw that the other knights watching on with him looked as if they were watching an execution as Edgar slowly walked around the talk.

"I could also ask you Crann, why you decided to not place a knight in every twenty like the other hundriers have been doing and decided to centralize your knights away from the front lines instead. Leaving the weaker irregular twenties vulnerable when every other hundrier had made sure each forward twenty had a knight of significant strength in case of just such a scenario as today.

"I could ask you that, or for why you have been lying to me about your informant that your men I have questioned claim has never existed."

Edgar lifted up a familiar box off the table.

"Or why you hid from me this letter," Edgar dropped it back down again.

"I could ask you about those or any number of other decisions you have made. But I am not interested in anything else that comes out of your mouth."

Edgar's gauntleted fist suddenly smashed into Crann's mouth with all the force their commander could muster. Teeth and blood flew through the air, and the blow knocked Crann onto his back.

The rest of the men watching all flinched at the sudden violence and many put their hands on their sheathed weapons and looked at each other as the air in the room turned explosive.

Crann's following screams of pain were muffled, and John saw that Edgar had shoved his large handkerchief into the knight's mouth as a gag. John hadn't seen when but Edgar must have put it in his fist at some point.

Edgar stormy eyes watched Crann wriggling in pain on the ground, and Crann's posse of knights stared at their leader in worry.

"If this was caused by just gross negligence, this behavior would have warranted a severe punishment. Stripping you of your rank and command. Maybe even death. But what you have done is not mere negligencein your duty."

Edgar looked around the room at the other 11 knights not part of Crann's clique.

"Do you men not find the timing of this to be suspect? Just two days ago we learned that the menials' time is becoming short as our reinforcements are nearly within view. And then the first day the Knight Major is in charge after we learn this, the same day that all the forward corridors are all defended by irregulars and are at their most precarious, he left them vulnerable. His decisions caused us to lose over half the irregulars remaining, a third of our total men.

"Just when we were about to triumph over the menials, this happened. I have been going over our numbers all day. Where before we could have scrapped by, now we are I fear we are certain to fail. The scheduling, the plans, we just don't have enough men now to continue defending until our reinforcements arrive before our defense begins falling apart.

"Very convenient, is it not? Almost like they had received the message from our smokesignals as well that told them they had to act quickly, and then not two days later, were presented with the perfect opportunity. All arranged under Crann's command."

The men and John all looked at each other and began whispering about Crann's advocated tactics and strategy, his incompetence. His actions during this defense and some even brought up things from previous battles and campaigns. Some wondered where exactly this was heading, and some had obvious suspicions.

Upon hearing their disparaging whispers, Crann could no longer contain himself and pulled the gag from his mouth with a wince of pain.

"How dare you!? All of you-th! Jealous lethers! I have conducthed myself faif-fully!" Crann slurred in outrage from his destroyed mouth.

Edgar was undeterred.

"You do not speak! Men restrain Crann. And put that gag back in."

Hearing Edgar's order, the men not of Crann's posse carefully sized up Crann and his men and approached watching in case any of Crann's men made any moves.

For a moment it seemed like Crann and his knights would fight back, but they ultimately complied without any more trouble than glares.

Crann's eyes had gone bloodshot even as he was restrained by two other knights and had the cloth stuck back into his mouth so he couldn't speak. They even went as far as to tie more cloth around his head to keep in it.

Despite looking like he was so angry he might explode with veins bulging all over his forehead, Crann kept his mouth shut.

Once Crann was properly secured, Edgar grabbed the small wooden box again and looked at the rest of the men.

"Monumental negligence. Unfortunately, that is not the only thing that Crann is guilty of. As you all may have surmised from what Crann said, I had his men questioned.

"A soldier came forward recently and told me that he believed Crann has been lying to me. That he had never had an informant.

"At first, I did not believe him, but the soldier gave me some particular information that made me question my judgement of Crann's loyalty. He mentioned the existence of a particular letter that Crann had been hiding from me. So this morning I had some of my most trusted men search Crann's quarters for the letter, and it was found."

Edgar opened the box, and inside was John's original letter. Edgar began reading the letter out to all the men.

Information about the rebellion, what would happen, and its aims. Various details, and some healthy speculation.

Much of that they all had heard Crann himself claim was from an informant who had been unfortunately killed in the initial attack.

Once Edgar was done, he set the letter down. The men waited for Edgar to explain why and what this letter proved Crann's guilt of.

"Men, you all may say that the letter may just be Crann's notes on what his informant had said, so Crann may have been be telling the truth after a fashion. Or you may say that Crann's claims of his dead informant telling him those things are close enough to the information in this letter that his lies about the information's source is a minor quibble.

"I tell all of you this. When I questioned his men, a number of them independently told me that this letter, which was addressed to me and should not have been read by Crann in the first place, had been given to them many hours before the rebellion. And they confessed that Crann never met with anyone besides Marvion and another knight under his command that evening before the rebellion.

"Yet Crann not only read this letter that had been addressed to me, but he kept the letter for himself, and told no one of the rebellion that could come at any moment.

"And then that very night, it the rebellion started, seemingly premature in preparation. As if they had realized they were out of time. Immediately, a third of our men were culled, including over half of our most powerful knights and commanders.

"And Crann then lied to me about this letter, and instead he claimed merit for the vital information that could have ended this rebellion before it began had it not been for his actions.

"Taking us from a position of overwhelming power to one much weaker than it could have been. I suspect that somehow the misbegotten had known their rebellion had been found out. And we do not yet know how the menials managed to smuggle in weapons and outsiders under our noses. Something that would take traitors among us of at least some rank to execute.

"Shortly later after the rebellion started, we then sent half of our forces at the time and a larger proportion of our remaining knights on a foolish, unnecessary, and ill-advised-I admit-series of sallies, pressed for by Crann above all others and to the disapproval of most of you who remain. All of which accomplished nothing of strategic import and were complete failures in which all our men, save Sergeant John and one other, died.

"This mistake placed us in dire straits. And somehow the misbegotten had learned of our plans to sally and perfectly positioned themselves to take advantage of our strategy on that occasion back then the same as they have earlier today.

"Then most recently we learned through smokesignals that we will be successful in holding out for reinforcements if the misbegotten continued with their new conservative attack wave strategy.

"Yet just two days later, earlier today, on the very day Crann took control of the defense when we fielded the most irregulars at once yet in the siege, he pulled back on the only thing defending the irregulars from the menial leader, causing their destruction and almost single-handedly reducing our forces by nearly half.

"And once again earlier today, somehow the misbegotten knew the perfect time and way to strike at an opportunity created by Crann's decision. They abandoned their more recent strategy and returned to their old strategy.

"The strategy that gives them their only chance at defeating us in time before our reinforcements from the Ramparts of Regret arrive and snuff this rebellion out. It is almost like they knew what we had just learned from our smokesignals a few days ago about our coming reinforcements that we all were supposed to have kept in total secrecy, "Edgar finished.

The High Marshal didn't mention exactly what he was charging Crann to be guilty of, but nobody in the room was in any doubt that it was anything except treason.

Hearing all this, many of the knights' expressions grew thunderous, but they didn't speak out of turn. They all turned to look at Crann as they awaited orders.

The man hung limply, no longer struggling at all against the two men holding him still. The blood had drained from his face turning it from red to pale, and the faces of his clique of knights, who began stepping away from their leader, did not look much better.

Crann's armor began to groan, the men who were holding onto him gripping him harder.

"Now, men, take that gag out. We should let the man speak for himself."

One of the two men holding Crann roughly shoved his gauntleted hand into Crann's mouth to grab the cloth, basically punching him in the face a second time, and pulled it out. With it came another of his remaining teeth and more blood from Crann's busted lips and bleeding gums.

As soon as the gag came out Crann groaned in pain for a few seconds, before he took a few breaths, and spit out a mouthful of blood as he recovered and thought about what he was to say.

As soon as Crann's decided what gonna say, a spark returned to his eyes, some color to his cheeks, and a bit of confidence to his face as he began to speak.

"I can not deny many of those accusations, my lord. I did shortsightedly make many of those mistakes. But I swear I am not a traitor. I have never given them any information nor leeway. I have never spoken a word to any of those dregs besides to curse them for their treachery.

"My family have faithfully served the Golden Lineage and Castle Morne for many generations. I have bested many of their enemies on the field of battle. Let me prove my loyalty. Let me show I am not a traitor. That I am no oathbreaker."

Edgar's stony countenance didn't crack.

"You swear? That's not enough. Not nearly enough. You ask me to trust you again? I have already trusted you far too many times. If you are allowed free after this, I am sure you will arrange for our destruction at the hands of the menials to save your rotten hide.

"Not that I believe they would have given mercy to you for foolishly siding with them in any event. I am sure you would be eaten just like they wish to do to the rest of us. The only thing I cannot fathom is what they must have promised you to do all this. But I will not ask you this as your words cannot be trusted, and I will not let you poison me or my men's thoughts any more than you already have these past weeks.

Edgar looked right into Crann's widening eyes as the man realized Edgar was not going to give him a chance.

"Crann of the Stormfeathers, as High Marshal and your liege lord, I judge you guilty of high treason against myself and against Lord Godrick of the Golden Lineage as well as the having broken your oaths. I hereby strip you of your rank as Knight Major and the position as a hundrier.

"In any event, we do not need a fourth hundrier now that we are down to two full-strength and one half-strength hundred."

Edgar turned away from him to the rest of the men pointing at a few of them, including John, some regular soldiers, and a pair of knights.

"You men, remove his armor. Then toss him over the ramparts at the Castletown entrance down to where his true loyalty lies."

The men Edgar had pointed to stepped forward and with the help of the men restraining Crann, they pushed Crann down to the ground, as he began struggling as hard as he could against them and started screaming incomprehensibly against his gag.

As they began forcefully prying the armor off the traitor, Edgar pointed at Crann's knights.

"And you five, Crann's cabal. You have shown you are not to be trusted either. If you do not wish to be given the same fate as Crann, remove your weapons and armor, and allow yourself to be escorted to the dungeon."

The men froze for a moment but began to slowly remove their armor piece by piece in fear as they watched Crann and the men struggle on the ground.

As John and some of the other men finally removed the last of Crann's armor from his struggling and screaming body, they started dragging him out of the room. Crann tried to grab onto anything within reach as they drug him out but when he grabbed another man's greaves, the knights smashed his boot into Crann's hand, audibly breaking Crann's fingers and leaving his hand a mess of gore as he screeched into his gag some more.

When they reached the doorway, Crann grabbed hold of the doorframe as they started dragging him out into the hallway.

As the rest of the men in the room watched, they struggled to pull him off the doorframe, heaving on his body, but he clung on with the desperate strength of a man whose life depended on it despite his destroyed hand.

As they pulled at him, John saw Edgar and Crann's eyes.

"PPHHLLSS SSTTTHHPPP!" Crann screamed through his gag at Edgar at the top of his lungs to be heard through the gag.

The strength he used in his scream to Edgar weakened his grip and let them finally pry the sentenced man off the doorframe and out into the corridor. The guards stood a distance away watching on but not interfering.

As they began dragging him down the hall to his fate, John heard Edgar say one thing.

"Good riddance."

__________________________________________________

AN:

Damn. This chapter was a bitch to get cleaned up. It was so big it kept crashing web pages. And editing is a massive pain to start with for me.

I definitely like making progress advancing the story by writing new chapters over cleaning already written chapters up.

This week's chapter should be out before the 30th. Won't be on the 28th because I'll be visiting family that day.