//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Ambush // Story: Luna The Gallant // by R_O_Y_G_B_I_V //------------------------------// Story inspired by the cover art borrowed from Johnjoseco Chapter 1: The Ambush The night was bitterly cold. The frost nipped at any bare skin Luna’s soldiers dared expose. All was silent, with the exception of the shaky breathing and slight shuffling of the men and women waiting patiently for their orders. No one dared speak a word, for they knew that even a sniffle would alarm one of the sentries stationed at the ends of the enemy camp. All eyes were pinned on their leader, standing ahead of them all just behind the edge of the hill they remained atop off, scanning over their soon to be battlefield. The moon shone brightly that night, allowing Luna’s soldiers –who were already used to thriving in low light- more than enough light to see clearly through the night. The porcelain light casted Luna’s silhouette profoundly in front of her soldiers, the sight awe inspiring, a scene that would surely lift her soldiers’ spirits. Luna had been thinking long and hard about what to do, this had to be executed carefully and efficiently. Should word of this ambush reach the enemy capitol too soon, it would spell disaster for Luna and her republic. But she couldn’t put off the attack for too long. The enemy, the solar empire, was gaining ground every second she remained dormant, and she couldn’t allow them to breach her borders any farther. Fair warnings had been given not to try Luna’s patience. But after Celestia and her army had trespassed on her land, laid waste to her outer villages and threatened forceful take-over should she not comply, Luna and her people could no longer look the other way. She needed to defend her people from the tyranny that came with Celestia’s reign. She needed to remind her that the world was not hers for the taking, and that her people would not bow to one that they themselves have sworn no allegiance to of their own free will. No. Celestia had to be stopped, and Luna had to be the one to stop her. She needed to stop Celestia’s spread of tyranny and terrorism she justifies as ‘harmony’; for too long has she crushed those beneath her rule, bending them to her will. For too long has she reaped the bounties her subjects worked so hard to produce, leaving them starving and poor. And for too long has she been expanding her borders, forcing others to kneel before her, stripping them of their rights and silencing all who defied her. Luna had to end it all, and this was the beginning of the end of the Iron fisted rule that was, ‘The Solar Empire’. Luna raised her arm, gaining the full attention of everyone behind her. Slowly, she gestured for everyone to advance forward. Using the snow as cover, she and her group of ambushers had covered themselves in white covers, allowing them to completely blend in with the snow in the low light. As they crawled along the cold snow, Luna had a group of four soldiers known as Valkyries –a special type of magic user whose main capabilities were manipulating the forces of nature, and flying using crystal clear wings that generate from the back of the user at will- to kill off the sentries patrolling the perimeter of the camp so that the rest of the soldiers could sneak in with the enemy completely oblivious of their presence. The group of Valkyries flew as stealthily as they could, snuck up behind their targets, and making quick work of the enemy soldiers. Once they had done their jobs, she had her ambush team gather in small groups and sneak in as best they could into the tents of the sleeping enemy soldiers. She had planned on silently executing the entire camp, but a the blood curdling scream a soldier who had been assassinated by one of Luna’s men had set that whole plan ablaze, and within seconds, the camp was frenzied with enemies arming themselves, attempting to fight back the onslaught of Luna’s own forces. The sound of alarm bells had woken any still sleeping soldiers if the sounds of clashing metal and the cries of the combatants hadn’t already. At first the confusion had forced the enemy to react purely on instinct, but after a few minutes, it seemed that the enemy had come up with a plan of defense. They had used the sturdier of the tents to guard their flanks and had arranged a simple, yet effective, roman phalanx. Or it was effective, until Luna’s Valkyries took to the skies and shot at them from above, forcing them to spread out and thin their numbers. Luckily, the opposing side hadn’t had many Valkyries to begin with, and the bulk of them had been killed off before the real fight began; so they could only rely on their archers to defend from the onslaught. But unfortunately, they did have a few mages around. Mages were one thing that Luna was short on, and were probably most valuable in combat, seeing as their magical expertise was invaluable when it came to defense, offense, and any other ‘fense’ you can think of. A magical ward could stop the most head strong charge dead in its tracks with a little effort, and attacks could consist on anything under the sun, ranging from fire walls, to tidal waves. And their healing capabilities were nothing to scoff at either. The mages did however, have a weakness, and that was that they needed multiple mages to perform any spells higher than a simple one man ward or small fire ball attack. That was why sending out her Valkyries to scatter the enemy forces was a clever thing to do on Luna’s behalf. But after another short while, the mages of the enemy forces were somehow able to assemble in one of the more guarded tents in the area to charge up a counter attack. Said counter attack consisted of a massive fire wave; follow by a very advanced ward, one that removed to ability to take flight within the vicinity of the ward’s affected area. This tactic was very effective and left Luna without her air support and a badly burnt group of men. But Valkyries were known for their valor on foot as well as in the air, and her foot soldiers were resilient, and took little damage from the attack, so Luna was confident that she would win the night with minimal casualties on her side. By this time, the fighting had been going on for a good hour or so, and both sides had taken casualties. Luna still had the majority of her forces, but the enemy was starting to gain ground, even with their limited numbers and disadvantages. This wasn’t a good sign for Luna, for if Celestia’s warriors fought this well with the odds against them, they would be even more of a threat then they already were in broad daylight and even fighting grounds. But strong as they were, Luna had the home court advantage, added with the increased determination one puts into when defending their homeland. Luna had been flanked by three foot soldiers now and was being forced into a corner. One of the soldiers took a swing at Luna, who easily deflected the thicker and heavier broadsword with a flick of her wrist using her long and nimble rapier. She then maneuvered her weapon in-between her opponent’s hand that was gripping his sword, and with another flick, sent the weapon out of the man’s hand disarming him. She the promptly stuck the sword through his chest, piercing his heart and turned around quickly to redirect a blow from a battle axe away from her. Spinning on her heels, she pivoted behind the soldier who was swinging his axe around madly and managed to influence his movements enough for him to miss-swing and take out his comrade. In his surprise and shock at taking down one of his own, he left his guard down just long enough for Luna to take advantage of his mental lapse and slice his torso deeply enough to rip open both of his lungs and end him. Luna gave a quick acknowledgement to the men’s valor by placing her first two right fingers over her heart, making a cross motion with her fingers, and then moved on to help a Valkyrie that had been engaged in combat with another Valkyrie. While the enemy Valkyrie was distracted with her current opponent, Luna levitated a small pebble with her magic, and sent it flying through the combatant’s skull. Her soldier was shocked at first, but looked over her left shoulder to see Luna, and gave her an appreciative nod, Luna returning the gesture. The soldier then moved on to engage a new enemy. Afterwards, Luna was approached by one of her captains, a well-built footie by the name of Frontline, whose blue uniform was tattered and ripped; his face covered with sweat and grime and bearing a fresh wound above his left eye that smeared the left side of his face in a layer of blood. “You look like hell” Luna said to her captain. He chuckled and said “nothing but a scratch” grinning slightly. “Well, what’s the report” Luna asked, deflecting an arrow with her magic. “Five more dead, but they’re running out of man power as well” the man replied, quickly turning around to engage a new enemy. The news was unsettling, but at least the fight would soon be over. Shortly he returned to Luna’s side, and then she asked “can you give me an estimate on how many they have left?” They then had to break apart briefly again as a large, muscular man swung down on them with what appeared to be a big log. Luna glanced at her captain again and made a gesture for him to go round back behind him and distract him somehow. Taking the hint, he quickly maneuvered around the man and sliced his legs from the back, causing him to collapse. Just as Luna was about to deliver the finishing blow, an arrow through the man’s head beat her to it. She looked behind her to see a smirking Valkyrie fly up to her and land softly on the ground beside her, making the same cross gesture over her heart like Luna had earlier. “After that, there’s about seventeen of them left, your majesty” the flyer reported. “Well, that answers that question” Luna replied. Frontline caught his way back up with Luna and now the Valkyrie, and added to her report, “three mages, four Valkyries and ten footies”. A look of concern crossed Luna’s face, “Dammit, three is enough for a strong retaliation spell, or even a large ward” She said between clenched teeth. She looked off into the chaos for a second, and then continued, “Are the mages together?” The Valkyrie beside her said, “Yes, and by the looks of it, they’re cooking up something special for us”. Hearing this made Luna’s eyes widen with shock briefly. She knew of the power her sister’s mages were capable of, and no doubt these would be no newbies. Luna had to break them apart and stop the spell from happening. “Captain, command the remaining men, Skyward, you’re with me; we’re taking out those mages ASAP” Luna commanded, receiving a stern “Aye ma’am!” from both of her soldiers. Frontline went off to the right and assembled the mass of the remaining soldiers, and lead them off to flank the enemy footies. Luna and Skyward Breeze had made a straight-away dash for where the mages were preparing their counter-attack. On the way there, they had been stopped by a pair of brutes, who slammed their axes in front of them, blocking their path. But Luna would have none of that, and using her magic, created a sort of icy blade. She took aim with the dagger of petrified water and let it fly with her magic guiding it straight through the man’s chest. She looked to her left just in time to watch Skyward Breeze send an arrow through the eye of the other imposing footie. The two of them had managed this while maintaining a fairly quick pace, but were once again running through the surprisingly complicated maze of tents, frantically searching each tent for the mages. Luna, and most definitely Skyward Breeze, would have much preferred they’d flown to search the camp. And no doubt they would have found them by now had Luna been able to cast a surveillance spell. But the ward remained, refusing either of them flight, and a spell had been cast to keep the location of the mages hidden. Luna would have sent out a tracking spell before the ambush, but that would have given her position away to any mage that had even the vaguest comprehension of the mystical arts. No, they would have to do this the hard way. And fast. Luckily though, fate seemed to smile upon them for a few moments, but not without a touch of irony, when they discovered that the mages had been in the center of the camp the entire time. Obviously not the first place anyone would have looked first. But there they were, huddled in a tight circle, chanting in Latin a spell that would surely turn the tides of battle in their favor if Luna was hearing them correctly. All she and Sky had to do was kill at least one of them. But that would soon turn out to be much harder than it had seemed. The mages instantly caught on to the hostile presence of Luna and Skyward breeze, and sent a small wave of fire, followed by a series of stone projectiles in their direction. Luna and Sky took cover behind a large stone, and when the bombardment was over, both of them snapped up from the cover of the rock and sent their own projectiles towards the enemy mages. Sky an arrow, and Luna, a small, yet potent jet of white flames. Both of which simply bounced off of their opponents’ wards. They both went back under the rocks for further cover. “Dammit, those wards are just radiating power, and I don’t have the time to counter them. We’ll have to get in close if we want to do any damage” Luna spoke, mainly to herself. Skyward Breeze nodded in agreement and said “but therein lies the problem, how can we get close to them?” Luna knew that all too well, but had yet to come up with a strategy. That was, until Luna’s eyebrows furrowed and her face contorted into a determined, and focused expression. “We have but one option if we’re to win the night. There’re three of them and two of us, and they have more magical capabilities than I can conjure up at the moment; so what we lack in numbers and raw power, we will have to make up in valor and prowess”. It took Skyward Breeze a few moments to process what Luna was suggesting, but when it did, a cocky grin split her lips, that was as much communication the two needed to know what to do next. Luna held up three fingers, and slowly, she started to count each one off. Once her fist was closed, they shared a glance between each other, nodded, and jumped out from under the cover of the stone - that had more likely than not, saved their lives-, and charged towards the enemies’ last hope of winning the night. When they got closer to their targets, the two of them split off in the opposite direction of the other, running around and in between the distraught mages, their weapons smashing against the enemies’ weakening wards as they danced fluidly through the group of confused magic users. Their plan had seemed to be working, but spells started flying around in all directions. And unfortunately, all of the magic being shot at them made it hard to fight properly, what with the constant defense and lack of proper offense. But Luna managed to actually scrape one of the enemy mage’s arms, earning her a death glare as the wounded woman seethed through her teeth, putting that much more effort into trying to kill Luna. That definitely made the situation harder, but ideal ironically enough, seeing as the woman was now only focused on Luna and completely unaware of – or simply uncaring- her comrades getting in her line of fire; once or twice grazing her fellow warriors. Skyward Breeze was fairing worse than Luna was. Even though she was a Valkyrie, –and one of the few highly skilled individuals Luna saw fit to place on her spec ops regiment- she was starting to ware down. All of the constant fight and dependence on her legs instead of her wings was starting to seep into her stamina reserves. On top of the wounds received from the main attack, twice had she taken damage from the enemy mages; one second degree burn on her shoulder, and one laceration across her calf. Aside from that though, her strength held true and she pushed onwards, refusing to die at the hands of the soldiers trying to take her land away from her. The mages were running out of power, and were growing more and more fatigued as the fight drew on. At that point they were no longer on the offense, and simply trying to keep the ever advancing assailants at bay. With each second that passed by, the wards of protection the enemies had placed upon themselves would weaken bit by bit, and the girls would get that much closer. Luna had also started to use her own magic, often countering or blocking any spell the now exhausted magic users threw at her. She could tell that the mages were nearing their breaking point, and she considered pushing them until the broke that threshold. But that would take a bit longer than she cared for, and she could see that Sky was reaching the end of her rope as well. No, she needed to end this now, but her fellow combatants weren’t done yet, and were somehow able to hold their own against Luna, effectively trying her patience. The fighting had dragged out for a few more minutes, and Luna had started to lose hope that Skyward Breeze would hold her own any longer. Her fears were validated when she glanced over her shoulder to check on her partner just in time to see a jolt of lightning carve straight through her heart, directed by one of the robed men sent by her sister to conquer her land. It was one of the most horrifying things Luna had ever had the displeasure of witnessing in her entire existence. A sight she’s seen far too many times before. She watched with wide eyes, as seemingly in slow motion, the electrical current tore through one of the only people in the world Luna considered family. Luna’s blood began to boil. Her eyes briefly examined her beloved friend’s lifeless body, and then shifted to glare at the murderer who claimed Skyward’s life. At first the man was grinning ear to ear, glad he was finally able to bring down one of the opposing adversaries; but this look of bliss passed quickly by as he looked over to see Luna lunge towards him with a look of vengeance in her eyes. The man tried to defend himself from the tip of Luna’s rapier as it came charging towards him by conjuring up a temporary protection ward, but Luna had briefly enchanted the tip of her sword to bypass such a spell. The sword sliced right through the invisible barrier like butter, and straight into the man’s chest. The man was gasping for air as the rapier left his body, but none would come to his burning lungs. Luna just stared menacingly down at him for a moment, before turning her head away from him and moving on to engage one of the other opponents she had left unattended. And the man she left behind was to lay there and painfully wait for death. Luna would not be granting him the mercy of swift swing to the head. But she did grant him the honor of a cross salute, and slid her fingers along her chest in a cross formation. The last remaining soldiers prepared for Luna’s onslaught, and were conjuring up a couple of spells they’d hoped would stop her charge. And they might have, had they had more strength to power them. But instead of the fiery gale they had planned on hitting her with, they were forced to rely on smaller, less potent forms of attack, opting to send small fire streams or pressure waves her way. Luna was easily able to deflect these blows, and retaliate with her sword. Apparently though, the magic users weren’t only capable in the mystical arts, and drew out their own swords; two surprisingly polished, metallic black short swords with golden engravings written in the phoenix language; reading “Πάλεψε για το φως”. The swords had flat, slanted tips and wide edges. They looked as if a full sized broad sword had had the top half sliced off. But even with the limited reach the short swords had to offer, Luna’s opponents were surprisingly adept at wielding them to their fullest potential. There was no way that these mages had been regular run-of-the-mill military magic users. No, these were some of Celestia’s finer, lower ranked shades; a type of elite soldier capable in the field of magic and the ways of the blade. The skilled shades bearing swords had Luna on her toes, never giving her a moments rest. Luna had wondered why they hadn't brought their swords out earlier on, but realised that it must take quite a bit of energy and concentration for them to use them, because Luna could see it in their faces that fatigue was heavily infiltrating their strength reserves. But alas, they refused to give up just yet. Luna parried an oncoming strike aimed at her head, and pivoted on her heel to deflect a blow to her back from the opponent behind her. The two mages swung together, attempting to decapitate Luna, but she ducked under the swords and sprung right back up, swinging her rapier at the woman to her left, only to have it blocked and countered. She sent out a small, concentrated shock wave in the direction of the man opposite his partner, and managed to knock him back several feet and onto his back. But he managed to roll out of the way and back to his feet as Luna lunged towards him and stabbed at where he would have been. Luna seethed. She needed to end this quickly. Where were the others she had taken with her? Were they all dead? Did they retreat? Or did they simply surrender? Her questions were answered as she heard the sounds of clattering armor and the shouts of men and women racing towards her. Looking over her shoulder, she was able to make out the sight of a large group of soldiers charging its way towards her through the dusty air. She grinned widely when she saw the sight of Frontline leading the remainder of the ambush squad to her aide. She was glad to see quite a few faces, meaning that their losses had been minimal. And she was definitely happy about Frontline making it back fairly unscathed. They quickly dawned upon her and immediately engaged the enemy mages. Luna was pulled out of the chaos by Frontline –whom she glared at for forgetting himself- as he said “The rest of the enemy footies and Valkyries are history. We came as soon as we could”. Luna looked relieved at the information, but regained her serious composer as she asked “Did we lose any?” to which her captain responded “Only two”. Two was a small number for a casualty list, but that was still two men or women that would never see their families again. Never feel the warmth of the sunlight again and never live to watch the starry nights that blessed the barren black night sky. Luna hated all death, but she knew that some was inevitable if she was to protect her people. Still though, she wished there was another way… She was broken out of her thoughts by the loud cry of victory from the men and women behind her. It had seemed that they had managed to defeat the last remaining enemy soldiers. Her ambushers were jumping and shouting lividly as the rush of adrenaline from the victory coursed through their veins. But in all the excitement, Luna had but one priority; to see if there was any hope at all left for her friend. She ran over to where Skyward’s lifeless body lay frozen on the ground with Frontline ensued behind her. She knelt down next her friend, and squeezed the cold, clammy body against her own. It took all of her will power not to break down in tears. She couldn’t cry for her fallen friend if she couldn’t cry for her fallen soldiers. But something felt strange. She felt slight movement from under her chest. It almost felt like… breathing! Skyward Breeze was breathing! Luna immediately released her friend from the solid grip she had on her, and propped Sky’s head onto her lap. Brushing the hair from her ears, Luna leaned down to Skyward’s chest and placed her ear where her heart should have been. It wasn’t there but… The weak rhythm of her heartbeat could still be heard. Then it hit her; Skyward’s heart wasn’t on the left side of her chest, it was on the right! Skyward Breeze had dextrocardia! Moving her ear across her downed companion’s chest, the sound of the faint heartbeat grew louder. There was still hope that Luna could save Sky. Frontline looked confused by the princess’s actions, but Luna had addressed him, so he gave her his full attention. “Captain, over here! I need you to do something for me.” Frontline was still confused, but answered his princess’s call, “What is it ma’am?” Luna didn’t spare him a second glance as she told him what was needed of him. “I need you to find me a magic user if we have any left; preferably one with medical experience. Go, and come back as fast as you can!” Frontline nodded, and ran off into the crowd of celebrating soldiers to fetch Luna her much needed mage. It wasn’t long before Frontline returned with a strapping young mage. He was dressed in the standard issue midnight blue uniform and mage cloak that proudly displayed the symbol of the Lunar Republic- a horizontal crescent moon with wings on the sides and a star in the middle- and a red cross armband signifying that he was a medical magic user. He bore an enchanted emerald dagger by his side and multiple pouches along his belt that must have held his medical equipment. He had blonde hair and piercing green eyes, his face was narrow and refined. Luna waved him over to her patient who was still shakily breathing and barely clinging on to life. The medical mage did a quick, yet in-depth examination of Skyward’s condition. “She’s alive, but barely. I need to stop the bleeding immediately and then treat the extensive muscle and tissue damage” the young man reported. “If there is anything you need to help, I can try to get it for you” Luna offered, hoping to help save her friend’s life. “If you can bring me a miracle, that’d help” The medic pulled some sort of red powder out from one of his pouches, and rubbed it on the wound. He explained to Luna that it was a healing salve derived from ground up manticor bones to treat major burns. He then proceeded to focus his magic into his hands, giving them a blue glow as he concentrated on repairing the blood vessel damage to stop the bleeding. Sweat poured down his forehead as he focused and focused on sealing the wound. Slowly but surely, -and miraculously at that- Skyward Breeze’s wound was starting to close. The muscle was reforming and the broken skin over the maimed flesh was closing together. Skyward’s breathing and heart rate had started to stabilize and it was becoming clearer and clearer that she was going to make it. By this time, the victory celebrating had come to a quick close as the soldiers spread out to look for other survivors to either heal or euthanize, bringing along with them other medical magic users. Luna was eagerly watching her friend stir as the medic mage was wrapping her chest and other minor wounds she received from battle in tensor bandages. Slowly her eyes started to flutter open. When they did and she was more or less fully awake, Luna gripped her in a death hug, Skyward’s droopy eyes widening as she felt the pressure on her wounds. Luna gasped and apologized with excitement filling her cracking voice. “Oh, sorry! I’m just so happy you’re alive!” She squealed with glee. “I was dead?” Sky asked, awkwardly scratching her head in confusion. “Almost but not quite. Glad to have you back soldier” Luna answered, now back in her formal leader façade. “Good to be back, your majesty” Skyward replied, doing her best at a salute, earning a grin from Luna. Just then Frontline and the rest of Luna’s soldiers returned to where she, Skyward Breeze, and the medical magic user who saved Skyward’s life were. A few of the men were carrying stretchers while others helped more wounded soldiers by supporting them with their shoulders. Luna was sad to see the injured men and women, but happier that they had come back at all. Luna turned to face the crowd, supporting Skyward breeze on her right, and frontline standing beside her on her left. She raised her hand to cease any chattering that may have been going on so that she may make her announcement. And using her royal speaking voice, she proclaimed “The night is ours my comrades! Let us return home to celebrate our lives, and mourn the deaths of those who so bravely made the ultimate sacrifice for their country!” There was a roar of excitement that rippled off of the cluster of soldiers, and a chanting could be made out of the jumbled mess of voices. It rang out “Vivet Nocte!”