The Call to War

Chapter 17

Alacryan soldiers poured out of the openings made by Olfred, giving Arthur his answer, that at least Olfred is a traitor. Arthur drew an elven sword from his dimensional ring, something Virion gave so he could at least have an intact weapon. There was nothing special about the sword, it was standard issue for elvian augmentors, so it was recommended for him to eventually get a better sword when he could.

"I don't suppose you all would just make things easy for me and just surrender," Arthur joked as he took a fighting stance.

"Funny," Olfred replied dryly.

"I was really hoping you two weren't traitors," Arthur said in an effort to buy some time.

"I prefer revolutionary. For too long dwarves have been looked down on, but with the help of Agrona, we will rise as the dominant power on this continent," Olfred replied with a sense of pride.

"I'm sorry to hear that. As young as I am, I never really got a chance to witness the dynamics between Darv and the other two kingdoms. But do you honestly think you will be the power of this continent?"

"Agrona made this agreement with lord Rahdeas," Olfred replied defensively. "And if you surrender, you'll have a chance to witness this with your own two eyes."

"Oh really," Arthur replied sceptically.

"Yes." Olfred smoothed out his clothes and smiled. "I don't want to fight you, as a matter of fact I truly respect you." Arthur was surprised by this, but chose to let him continue. "We are not all that different. We were both born commoners, spat on by the nobles above us. Then we were both given a chance by one of the few good nobles, and were able to climb up, and earn respect we would never have earned on our own."

"Then you should also know why I can't surrender," Arthur replied as he prepared to strike.

"Your loyalty to the commander," Olfred replied, thinking he understood. "But I can give you something he never could. I can guarantee your family's safety." Arthur flinched slightly, but kept his stance. Olfred saw this, and knew he had his attention. "Just surrender, and your family will be taken and kept safe along with you for the duration of the war. Hell, I'll personally make sure Princess Tessia is there too." He said, trying to sweeten the deal.

"And if I refuse what? You kill them all and Mica comes out of hiding to bash my skull in?"

"Mica isn't part of this, yet. I have no desire to fight any of my own people so I drugged her. I'll collect her after I'm done with you, and she'll be convinced to help her people," Olfred replied, a hint of disgust in his voice for what he had to do.

"I see," Arthur then thickly coated his body with mana. "I'll be sure to tell the commander that after I bring her back to the castle."

It wasn't that Olfred's deal was a bad one, in fact Arthur had felt selfish several times already, and wanted to take Tess and his family to an isolated area in the beast glades to wait out the war. The only thing that stopped him was the way he knew Tess and his parents would look at him after he did it.

"So you chose to fight," Olfred replied, sounding disappointed. "You do realize you're in a village full of civilians, going up against myself and a division worth of Alacryan soldiers alone?"

"Who said I was alone?" Arthur taunted with a confident smirk.

Sylvie jumped out from his cloak, and began transforming into her full sized obsidian dragon form. The Alacryan soldiers gawked and trembled a bit at the sight, but regained their composure as several tanks took up positions in front, and nearly a dozen mana barriers formed in front of them. Then before Olfred could say anything Arthur pulled out a small blue bead, broke it, and tossed it at Olfred's feet.