Traipse stood next to Blade as he spoke, “Well Bolt, this is good bye. When you get back to Equestria, be sure to tell Celestia that her soldiers will return soon.”
Major Bolt replied “And what about Mist?”
Traipse only smiled as he and Blade turned around, “ALL SOLDIERS MOVE OUT!!!”
As the solders turned to leave Kestrel, Blade smiled as she called back to Major Bolt, “Take care Bolt… This was interesting, maybe next time we can hook up and have even more fun.”
As the two mercenaries left Major Bolt standing there, Blade spoke to Traipse, “Your right about one thing… he’s defiantly going to meet us in Gryphus. Just the look in his eyes says it all.”
Traipse replied, “I told you, he is my son after all. And Scy was the same way.”
Blade could only smile, “Well I'm intrigued, he has the boss’s eyes, and her looks, and her skill, and he is a pegasus… exactly how do you know he is yours?”
Traipse smiled, “He’s stubborn, self-centered, and reckless…”
“Oh… I see it now.”
As the large army left Kestrel, Major Bolt stood by waiting for his chance to escape, but the convoy guards watched him closely so his chance never came. It was about an hour later when the convoy that Major Bolt was in started to leave Kestrel. Not far outside of the city, the convoy Officer tried to start a conversation, “So, Major? Where in Equestria are you from?”
Major Bolt didn’t reply, he just held his silence, so the griffin sighed, “you know it wasn’t my choice to do this you know… I have better thing to do then worry about some prisoner that The Cutters want transferred to Equestria.”
Major Bolt replied, “Then let me go… I have better things to do too ya know.”
“Sorry Major, but orders are orders, besides I'm a lot more afraid of Traipse then I am o… what the?”
As the two officers looked to the front of the convoy, they noticed that the convoy had stopped and a crowd gathered around something at the front of the formation.
Finally a griffin soldier ran up to the officers and spoke, “Colonel a body has been discovered on the road… it one of ours.”
The griffin officer looked at Major Bolt, “Stay here.”
As the griffin made his way to the front of the convoy, Major Bolt thought to himself, “Something isn’t right here… this seems too well planned, I got a bad fe…”
All of a sudden, something dark dropped from the sky and landed at the front of the formation. Major Bolt tried to see what it was but he couldn’t see over the crowd of griffin soldiers in the front of the formation. Curious as to what was going on at the front, Major Bolt jumped into the air and flew high enough to see over the crowd. However, he didn’t see much of the dark figure, because as soon as he got a glimpse of it, It reached out with what looked like one long claw and sliced Through a griffins body as if it was nothing. Major Bolt tried all he could to get a better look, but now the figure was hacking away at the griffin like some kind of monster, spraying a thick mist of blood into the air. With the huge commotion in the front of the convoy, Major Bolt saw this opportunity, so he immediately landed then fled off the trail and into the forest on hoof. As he galloped, he couldn’t help but wonder, what dropped in from the sky. It was too small to be a dragon, though the damage it did to the soldiers was just as fierce. Whatever it was, it was a perfect distraction to get away from the traveling convoy. Now he had a chance to catch up with The Cutters and their army.
Just outside of Gryphus, Traipse spoke to the Griffin Rebel’s General as they approached the city, “There you are… will you call a meeting of commanders now?”
The Griffin General smiled, “No… ALL SOLDIERS ATTACK!!!”
With that order given, the front formation of griffin took to the skies and started assaulting the first gate while some of the others started forming up on the ground and began moving forward in large groups. Traipse asked, “Isn’t it griffin tradition to call a meeting of the commanders to discuss terms of surrender before battle?”
The Griffin General replied, “There are no terms. I plan to kill the king with no concern about his soldiers’ lives. I just want to end this war so I can rebuild the Griffin Republic as a nation free of monarch rule.”
Traipse continued, so is that why you left your archers and trebuchets behind?”
The Griffin General smiled in a gloating manner, “If my solders move fast enough then I won’t need ranged weaponry. All I have to do is force my solders forward into creating a big enough distraction, then while they create a diversion, I'll sneak around behind the city and strike the king down in the back
Traipse smiled and looked at Blade, “You know the plan, remember the third wall.”
Bladed nodded her head as she took to the skies, “Got it partner.”
The Griffin General asked, “Third wall? What happens at the Third Gate?”
Traipse smiled, “Gryphus is separated into four sections, the factories, the slums, the noble district then the castle. A wall separates each section, so once your troops cross the third wall, The Cutters are no longer under your command. From that point, until the war ends’ is the time you have to retrieve our money. But if you don’t get it… then you better hope you die in combat.”
Inside the city as the king’s Commanders stood in the throne room, the King was giving his orders, “Commander Kane, take your solders and meet them at the battlefront. Colonel Gill Take your soldiers and evacuate all the foundries. Destroy anything that can’t be moved further into the city. Commander Kiel Guard the skies, keep them as far from the castle as possible. Colonel Orem, I want you to stay here with me. You will be protecting me here. ALL SOLDIERS MOVE OUT!!! DESTROY THE REBEL TRASH! SHOW THEM WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DEFY YOUR KING!!!”
As the griffin leaders left the throne room cheering, Commander Mist trotted in with his hoof full of soldiers, “Orders your majesty?”
The king looked at him and his solders and replied, “Your sergeant major… the Blacksmith, has been working with my weapon designers to perfect a new weapon of mine, he set them up in the slums just outside the third gate. I want you to meet him there and assist him as he tests it on the enemy soldiers. As for the rest of you guard my castle, I'm sure even you can manage that much commander.”
Ignoring the insult, Commander Mist replied, “Whatever you say your majesty.”
As he and his solders turned to leave the throne room, Colonel Orem called, “Good luck Commander, you’ve surprised me thus far. Hopefully you can pull off yet another miracle.”
Commander Mist turned and gave Orem a friendly nod as he left the room closing the massive doors behind him. Shortly after the doors closed, the king looked over at his bodyguard and spoke, “Um… Orem? Exactly how long has it been since you became my personal guard?”
Orem replied, “About a year your majesty.”
“And how often do you see ponies fighting beside griffin soldiers?”
Orem nervously replied, “Um… this is the first your majesty.”
“And you know why that is?”
Colonel Orem didn’t reply, instead he waited for the king to continue, “It’s because, ponies aren’t meant for battle. The idea that a pony can even wear armor is nothing more then a laughable joke… You would be wise to remember that.”
Orem nodded his head and replied, “Yes your majesty… I will.”
Outside the city, the battle began almost too quickly. As the first formation of Griffin Royal Solders tried to leave the city to meet their enemy, the Griffin Rebels hit the gate with everything they had making it impossible for the kings solders to close it in time. Almost immediately, Traipse ran through the gate and up a stairwell to the gatehouse above the massive doors. As he entered the room, the gatekeeper charged at him with a sword and swung horizontally. The swift mercenary dodged the attack and jumped forward, pushing the griffin against one of the windows. The griffin opened his wings to prevent himself from falling out, but as he closed them, Blade flew through the window and dug her weapon deep into the side of the griffin’s head, killing him on contact. As the griffin fell to the floor, Blade smiled, “Will you quit fooling around Traipse?”
Traipse shook his head, “Not all of us can come through the window like that. Some of us have to use the stairs ya know.”
Blade smiled, “Excuses, excuses… just don’t screw the next one up.”
Traipse nodded his head, “Any sign of Mist?”
“No… in fact I haven’t seen any ponies on the battlefield yet.”
Traipse nodded his head, “Just keep an eye out. I'm sure he’ll turn up eventually.”
Further into the city, just outside the third gate Commander Mist stood in front of a Massive weapon shaped like a large metal pipe, “… are you serious?”
Storm smiled, “Yep…”
“And what did you say it was called?”
Storm picked up a small cork with a fuse strung through as he replied, “I call it… A Cannon! See, we place the stone ball in the front after filling it with Black powder, then we use this fuse to ignite it… kinda how a grenade works, only we will fire one large projectile.”
Commander Mist looked to the side as two griffins were struggling to lift the five hundred pound stone ball into the large tube, “And… does it work?”
Storm trotted down the long tube and placed the fused cork into a small hole at the end as he hesitated before replying, “Well… we don’t know. In theory it should, but we don’t know if it will work or not.”
Commander Mist was surprised, “And… how many did you say you made?”
Sergeant Major Storm cranked a jack that was sitting under the front of the tube to adjust its sights, as he replied “We wanted to make eight, but seeing that something this big required a lot of metal, we could only make four but three are placed.”
“And where is the fourth?”
“It blew up…”
“WHAT!?!”
Storm shrugged his shoulders, “All weapons are a form of trial and error commander, how do you think they tested the very first shield?”
“The very first shield didn’t blow up!”
“Yea and that test was a success…”
Commander Mist put his hoof on his face and sighed, “Where did you even get the griffins to operate these things?”
Storm replied, “They are the refugees from these slums, since our numbers are down, I offered to share our remaining food with them for help during this battle. It isn’t much but many of them agreed to fight with or without payment. They just want to see this war end just as badly as we do.”
One of the griffins who loaded the shot nodded his head, “We are with you Commander Mist, one hundred percent!”
The other griffin added, “This war will end today, I'm sure of it!”
Commander Mist nodded his head, “Thank you, maybe this battle will go better than expected, but I'll warn you now, The Cutters aren’t ponies to take lightly.”
The first griffin spoke again, “Don’t worry sir, not all griffins see ponies as a weaker species. We know that all have strengths but all also have weaknesses.”
“Yea but…”
Before Commander Mist could continue, Colonel Gill landed next to him and spoke, “Commander, the Griffin Rebellion has broken through the city gates! They are progressing much faster than anticipated. Do you think you and your… uh… weapons can hold this ground?”
Commander Mist looked back at the griffin refugees as they readied the cannons for combat. One refugee looked back at him as he put his armor on and saluted the pony commander. Commander Mist smiled and replied, “Like that question requires an answer? We will hold this ground as long as possible.”
Gill nodded his head, “Good, my soldiers and I will do what we can to evacuate the factories ahead, but I don’t think we are equipped to hold them back.”
Commander Mist nodded his head, “Do your best Colonel, if they make it past your defenses, then protect the Second gate. I can’t lend any support… but I can guarantee that they won’t know what hit them if they get the gate open.”
About a mile outside Gryphus, Major Bolt reached a tree that sat on top of a nearby mountain. As he leaned against the tree, panting from how far and fast he had been running, he looked down into the city, “Darn… I'm too late. The battle has already begun. I need to get to the ca…”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE!!!”
Major Bolt knew that voice, and felt nervous as he turned around to see the Griffin General landing behind him, “I… um… well..”
“You’re supposed to be escorting the Convoy that is headed for Trottingham… don’t tell me you abandon them to fight in this battle. You’re more of a hot head than I expected. Well when Traipse selects a new recruit he knows how to select them.”
Realizing that the Griffin General still didn’t know that he never joined The Cutters in the first place, Major Bolt played along, “Oh erm… yea I didn’t want you to have all the fun so the first chance I got I ditched the convoy. I think they will be fine on their own anyway… that is if you trained them properly.”
The griffin sneered at the nervous pony as he replied, “Trained them properly? They weren’t my best but I guarantee they will make it on their own without your help… anyway, stop sitting here flapping your jaw and get in there! Your teammates should be halfway through the first segment of the city by now.”
Taking this opportunity, Major Bolt smiled, “Then I better get moving before they hog all the fun.”
With that said, Major Bolt started flying towards the city leaving the clueless general where he stood with no knowledge of what actually happened on the road to Trottinghame.
Meanwhile in the outer portion of Gryphus, Traipse was overlooking a raid on a few weaponry foundries when Blade landed next to him, “Anything good?”
Traipse smiled, “We got a number of swords, shields, and arrows… sadly we sent our only archers with Bolt.
Blade continued, “How about catapults?”
“No… none of those… but we did find a few battering rams.”
Traipse pointed at the housed battering rams as a number of griffin solders started pushing them out the foundry doors and into the main street that led straight to the castle. Blade smiled, then we might get further in the next few hours then we tho…”
At that moment, a whistling sound was heard as three large boulders came flying in from a deeper part of the city. One crashed down on the street, crushing one of the battering rams and the griffins pushing it. The second hit just outside the city, injuring a large number of soldiers fighting out there, while the last came crashing through the ceiling of the factory that Traipse and Blade were in. The two mercenaries both galloped out the factory doors as the building collapsed killing all who were still inside.
As the dust cleared, Traipse looked over at Blade and asked, “What was that?”
Blade immediately remembered, “The trebuchet!... I forgot they have four trebuchets in the noble district, that are at proper range to fire on this area.”
Traipse put his hoof on his face, “Well… DEAL WITH THEM!!!”
Blade sighed as she started to take off, “Alright, alright… Mr. grumpy hooves, I'll be back shortly.”
As Blade flew off, Traipse mumbled to himself, “How could she forget something as important as that… usually she’s a lot more thorough… unless, something has been occupying her mind lately.”
Commander Mist stood observing the griffin refugees as they finished preparing the cannons, “Are they good to go Storm?”
Storm looked down from atop the massive weapon as he replied, “Yes sir! We are good to fire when eve… UP HIGH!!!”
As Commander Mist looked up above the city, he could see Blade flying over them with no support by her side. Storm started to yell, “PREPARE TO F…”
“WAIT!!!”
Sergeant Major Storm looked down at his commander as Commander Mist continued, “She isn’t coming after us… she looks like she is flying over.”
As Storm looked back at Blade, he realized that Commander Mist was right. Blade was flying steadily over them with no decrease or increase in her speed, so it was easy to see that she wasn’t going to land or dive.
As the beautiful mare looked down and saw Commander Mist, she smiled as she blew a kiss at him then continued over and away from their location. One of the griffin refugees asked, “Commander? Should we pursue?”
Commander Mist continued watching her as he mumbled to himself, “Serenade… it really is you… but what are you…”
“Commander?”
Mist shook his head, “No… Stay at your post. From this point until I get back you will take all orders from Sergeant Major Storm, is that clear?”
The griffin nodded his head, “Yes Sir!”
Commander Mist looked back up at Storm, and yelled, “STORM! I'm moving back to see where she is going! Keep your eye on that gate and if they break through… then give them every pound of stone that your cannon can give!”
Storm Smiled, “Don’t worry sir! I'll make them taste it!... that is, if this works!”
Back at the castle, the king nervously sat in his throne as his teacher continued showing him flash cards, “Your majesty… what does this symbol mean?”
The king flung his talon and knocked the card from the teacher’s talons as he yelled, “THIS ISN’T THE TIME INGRAM!!! Where is my guard? WHERE IS OREM!?!”
The griffin colonel ran into the room and replied, “Right here your majesty I…”
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?! Can’t you see that Tartarus is slowly rising in the outskirts of my city, and while I'm sitting here undefended some lowlife rebels are after my crown!?!”
Colonel Orem replied, “My apologies your majesty… I only went to retrieve a few items from my room.”
Colonel Orem then slung a small pouch with the griffin kingdoms’ emblem on his side and placed a metal gauntlet on his right talon that had razor sharp claws on the end of each finger. The king had to ask, “Is that what you use for powder throwing?”
Orem smiled, as he scraped the claws across the ground sending up sparks with every inch the talon covered, “Yes your majesty… this is plan B should any of the rebels get into the castle… then they will deal with me.”
The king smiled, “Good, then I’ve nothing to fea…”
Before the king could finish gloating, Sergeant Snow trotted into the room, “Your majesty? You will be happy to hear that the west, north, and southern trebuchets have begun their assault, and they are doing a substantial amount of damage to the enemy.”
The king sarcastically replied, “I believe I heard you wrong… did you say the West, North and Southern trebuchets?”
“Yes your majesty.”
“So… correct me if I'm wrong… but don’t I have an eastern trebuchet as well?”
Snow replied, “I believe you do your majesty… but the enemy is attacking from the west. The eastern trebuchet is on the other side of the castle, it would be reckless to fire that one at the enemy as well… what if it fell short? You could crash a boulder right through the castle ceiling.”
The king put his talon on his chin and sarcastically continued, “Interesting… and am I, King Harpy the fourth, the king of the Griffin Kingdoms, high ruler of all in this kingdom, taking orders from a lowly Equestrian Royal Guard pony who isn’t even a proper officer among his squad? Hmm?”
Snow nervously replied, “Well… no… I was merely suggesting…”
The king stood up from his throne and spoke in an enraged intimidating voice, “Then I would suggest… you sprint out there, and tell them to turn that trebuchet around immediately. Otherwise you may find that the enemy isn’t your only threat to face… am I clear?”
“Y-yes your maje…”
“THEN GO!!!”
Feeling nervous, Sergeant Snow immediate turned around and sprinted out of the throne room, as the king sat back down, “Take this advice Colonel… Ponies are nothing but a waste of time.”
Colonel Orem replied, “Advice taken your majesty.”
The king smiled at his personal guard and continued, “If all goes well Orem… you may be looking at a very nice and generous promotion come the end of this war.”
Commander Orem picked up his pouch and opened the end as he replied, “Thank you your majesty… I won’t let you down.”
The king nodded his head, “No… you won’t.”
At the front trebuchet, a number of the griffin solders were loading another shot as Blade quickly flew by cutting the support wires with her wings. The griffin officer yelled, “GET HER!”
The catapult crew took to the skies chasing Blade as she dove into the noble district dodging buildings as she flew by. The griffins tried all they could to keep up, but Blade took every alley, crevice and small opening she could to get to the next trebuchet as fast as possible. When she got to the next siege weapon, they had just finished loading the shot as she cut the support wires, flew through the beams holding the massive machine up and pulled the release as she flew by. The large trebuchet creaked loudly as the unsupported tension from the massive arm caused the entire weapon to collapse under its own power, crushing the griffin below and a few that were flying through the beams in pursuit of the cleaver mercenary. Blade quickly curved her flight path around and went towards the third catapult, thinking it was the last threat to the griffin rebellion. As she reached the trebuchet she quickly cut the support wires and landed next to it making sure the griffin saw her. Most of the solders knew who they were dealing with and fled for their lives while the remaining griffins charged at Blade with intent to kill. As the first reached her she used her weapon as a shield and blocked the griffin’s attack then she swung the other around and cut him across is throat killing him, almost instantaneously. Then she took a few steps back going under the beams that were still holding the massive weapon together.
The remaining griffins charged her from the front as she smiled, and waited until they were in position. Then reacting fast, she reached up and pulled the trebuchets release lever. As the massive arm dragged it’s shot along the ground, the charging griffins were hit from the side as the projectile went between the support beams and was flung overhead, causing the large catapult to collapse under its tension just like the last. As Blade flew out from below the large machine, she smiled at her cleverness, when she saw the bodies of the now dead griffins being tossed like ragdolls from under the large weapon. When she turned around she saw an angry but nervous mob of nobles standing in her path as one yelled holding up a fencing sword, “S-stop right there, you… you… ruffian. Or I'll be forced to… um… to subdue you!”
As Blade looked at the mob of pampered citizens, she tried her hardest not to burst out in laughter as she trotted closer to her terrified foes.”
“You?... Subdue, Me?... Hardly, you might want to put that toy down before you get yourself hurt .”
The nervous griffin replied as he charged “I beg to differ!”
When the griffin got close enough, Blade took one swing of her weapon and cut the thin blade of the fencing sword in half, causing the griffin to stop in his tracks and stare at his now useless weapon. As he stared at the weapon in shock, Blade could only smile as she swung her other wing forward and nicked the griffin in his throat, too lightly to remove his head, but deep enough to be fatal. As the griffin fell to the ground without making a sound, the terrified group of nobles turned around and ran away screaming in fear, as the disappointed mare shook her head, “Pathetic, and to think I used to be one of them… I'm glad I left that life behind.”
On the eastern side of the city, the Griffin General and a hand full of soldiers were sneaking through the kings defenses undetected. As the general made it to the third wall, he smiled and whispered to his soldiers, “You see, this cub is way too predictable. With all the fighting in one side of the city, he decreases security on the other side. Now I'm going to show him why he isn’t fit to wear that crown… even if I have to pry it from his severed head.”
As they reached the edge of the wall, the Griffin Rebels hugged the wall closely and checked the area enemy soldiers, then one by one, they flew to the top of the wall and took cover behind the stone railing on the walls edges. Just as the Griffin General planted his paws on the wall, he heard voice echo, “HEY GRIFFIN!!”
Thinking he had been spotted, he quickly dropped to the floor and griped his sword looking around in worry as the voice continued from below on the other side of the wall, “The griffin king had ordered you to turn your trebuchet around and fire on the enemy soldiers.”
The Griffin General slowly looked down from atop the wall to see a trebuchet, a number of royal soldiers, and the approaching Sergeant Snow. The griffin officer on the trebuchet replied, “Fire on the enemy? What are you crazy? The enemy is on the other side of the castle. The only way to avoid hitting it would be to fire high, but that will center the impact area on our own troops, in the slums.”
Sergeant Snow shrugged his shoulders as he replied, “His majesty is the one who made this order, I'm merely the messenger pony in all this. If you have a complaint, then take it up with him.”
The griffin officer replied, “Fine then. TURN HER AROUND AND PREPARE TO FIRE!!!”
As one griffin started cranking on a wheel that caused the trebuchet to rotate in place, two others started placing a large boulder inside the chain net so that when the trebuchet was in position it could fire. The griffin officer then asked Snow, “Is there any word from the front?”
Sergeant Snow lowered his head, “So far the only information I was able to attain was that the rebels have breached the first gate and are coming closer to the second.”
The griffon cranking the wheel stopped, “READY SIR!”
The griffin officer sighed, “Alright… here goes nothing, READY! FI…”
Before the griffin could finish his order, the enemy general dove in from the top of the wall and landed with a spear right on top of the officer before he could realize he was in danger. Anticipating the command, The griffin with his talon on the release lever pulled the lever and fired the trebuchet, however, before he could realize what happened to his officer, one of the griffin rebellion solders dropped down and killed him with a battle axe in the same manner as the Griffin General.
Seeing this happen, Sergeant Snow drew his families fencing sword and charged at the general. The large griffin blocked one swing from the fast moving blade and then came at a deadlock with the second swing. The griffin sneered at his foe, “You ponies are starting to get on my last nerve… when this battle ends and the Griffin Kingdoms are under my rule, I'll be sure to hit Equestria next… it’s not like a bunch of four hooved mules can stop an army of griffins, right?”
Snow smiled, “You underestimate me good sir… let me show you what this mule is capable of.”
Using a fencing technique he learned as a foal, Sergeant Snow parried the spear to the side, then came back with a horizontal swing that was almost too fast for the skilled griffin to dodge. The griffin reared back just in time to dodge a fatal blow, but not before sustaining a cut on his cheek from the thin blade. Then as Sergeant Snow reared back to strike a second time, one of the griffin enemies grabbed him by the back of his neck then spun around tossing the small earth pony into the air and through the second story window of a nearby house. Right after crashing through the window of the deserted nobles home, Snow rolled across the floor until he crashed into a bookcase causing all the books to fall on top of him, knocking him unconscious. As the griffin soldier readied himself to follow Snow into the building, the general stopped him, “Forget the pony… we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Let’s continue to the castle… the king is now vulnerable.”
The General then took the kerosene lantern that was hanging from a porch hook and smashed it on the trebuchet. Then running his spear blade across a metal bracing, he set it on fire so it couldn’t be used against him anymore.
As Commander Mist continued up the road, towards the castle he saw Blade flying back from the noble district of the city. He could only think to himself, “That was too fast… she didn’t take out the king yet… did she?”
As he watched her fly by, he noticed something else in the sky that was heading straight for her. By an unusual impulse, he yelled to her, “SERENADE!!! LOOK OUT!!!”
Amazed to hear her name being called, Blade looked at the ground where Commander Mist was standing but what was coming at her was still out of her field of view, “Mist? Did he just ca…”
without finishing her sentence, the large boulder fired from the last trebuchet fell from above and clipped her right wing, breaking the buckle that held her weapon together and causing her to spin out of control, as shards of her now shattered weapon, spin freely off her wing. Blade tried all she could to regain control but the only thing she could do was stop her spinning and slow her fall. With one of her wing’s weapon gone, her body was now completely unbalanced so she couldn’t even control herself as she fell to the ground landing on the roof of one of the factories in the first tier of the city. With her body in shock from the impact, Blade couldn’t stop herself from rolling off the inclined roof and falling two stories before landing in a large pile of sawdust. Tired, weak, and helpless, Blade slowly opened her eyes to see a dark figure approach her, “Is… is that?”
With her body in shock, and her senses blurred, Blade could only close her eyes and pass out.
Back at the second gate, Traipse was griping the large ram’s post as he helped the griffins pull it back and push it forward into the massive doors. Traipse called the order, “AGAIN!”
The griffins helped him pull the ram’s post back but right before the metal cap could make contact, the massive doors jerked the opposite way pushing the ram a few feet from the doors knocking Traipse and the griffin rebels to the ground and cracking the massive doors open from the other side. As Traipse picked himself up from the ground, He looked at the doors to see what happened only to find that the same boulder that knocked Blade from the sky had hit the doors from the back causing the locking post to shatter on impact. Not knowing anything about Blade’s encounter with the same boulder Traipse called to his solders, “BLADE HAS ASSISTED US WITH THIS ACTION!!! DON’T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY SLIP BY!!! ALL SOLDERS CHARGE!!!”
As Traipse and his solders poured through the opening in the doors, Traipse looked down the main road only to see the three massive cannons pointing directly at him. Sergeant Major Storm stood on top of the center cannon as he called to the griffin refugees, “ALL CANNONS, FIRE!!!”