White Ravens: Advent of War

Sigil Thorn

The long ride back to Loveria had exhausted the rest of the squad, but they were now within shouting distance of the capital. Outside the city was a vast forest; a perfect natural fortress against large forces of cavalry, but the perfect hiding place for scouts and assassins alike.

Yelena was still weakened from the overuse of mana in the last battle, so she was riding along with Tatiana. Meanwhile, Rune was impatiently darting his eyes from left to right, wary of any Mirean soldiers that might've tailed them until now.

As they traversed the forest of Loveria, they suddenly saw some familiar faces; Mormont was among them. Sigil was quite familiar with the Black Hawks' vice captain, for Mormont was one of his seniors in spear fighting.

But the moment they got closer, the members of the Black Hawks suddenly drew their swords and charged towards them.

"Tatiana! Take Yelena away from here!" Sigil commanded.

Tatiana nodded and rode as fast as the wind could take her.

Rune and Sigil exchanged glances and got off their horses at the same time. They held their weapons at the ready, and gathered that the Mireans had already sent the message to the capital.

"Damn it! They don't look like they'll hear us out, Siege! What's the plan?" Rune remarked.

"Survive," Sigil said flatly as he slammed the heel of his spear to the ground, forming a rock wall that jarred the path of the Black Hawks.

Mormont and his subordinates halted their steeds, but soon dispelled Sigil's magic. However, when the rock wall dissipated, Rune and Sigil where nowhere to be found.

"Split up and find them! I want both of them alive!" Mormont commanded.

"Sir!" His subordinates saluted in unison before splitting into two groups and heading into opposite directions. One group went eastwards, and Mormont and his retinue took the west route.

Meanwhile, Tatiana kept heading to the west, and despite her reluctance, she did not slow down. After having known Rune and Sigil for five years at the academy, she believed that if anyone could survive an attack from the Black Hawks, it was those two.

During this time, Yelena regained consciousness. "Where's Rune?" she asked.

Hesitation was written on Tatiana's face as she answered, "Fighting."

Yelena tried to get off the horse, but Tatiana held her tightly. "You can't! Your mana is depleted, Yelena. If you try to help him, you're just going to weigh him down! Now more than ever, you need to believe he'll get out of this alive. I don't like this any more than you do, but we don't have a choice, Yelena."

Tatiana couldn't see her friend's face at the moment, for Yelena was sitting in front of her on their horse, but she could tell that Yelena was in pain. "Rune and Sigil will be fine. Those idiots will come back to us."

Yelena nodded silently as she prayed in her heart for Rune's safety.

By this time, Rune had already run a kilometer away from their initial position, but he could still hear the sound of horses thundering from behind him. Judging by the sound, there were four pursuers at his back, ready to kill him at a moment's notice.

"Tsk! I can't outrun them forever. Sorry, Siege, but I'm doing this!"

Rune closed his eyes, breathing in and out. He could feel the energy flowing through his surroundings. There were sylphs and dryads abound in the forest, and Rune could feel their benevolence. "Spirits of the air and forest, heed my call! As an heir of the mark of the stars, I implore you, lend me your strength!"

A gust of wind condensed around him, and suddenly, the tree branches and roots nearby moved as if they were alive. It took less than a minute for them form a large makeshift wall of roots and branches spanning far and wide.

Rune's pursuers were startled by the formation of trees that halted their advance. Mormont tried to dispel the wall, but unfortunately, they were not made of magic. They tried to cut away at the wall, but it was much too thick for their weapons to destroy.

"Rune, you coward! You won't get away this easily!" Mormont growled.

"Sorry, Mormont, but I already have! Ta-ta, you pretentious prick!" Rune goaded him before running away. He knew that the wall he had made wouldn't be able to hold Mormont for long.

"I have to find Siege and the rest. But I need to deal with these oafs first. We can't just run forever," Rune said to himself.

On the other side of the forest, Sigil had hidden himself above the trees. It seemed that he had taken a different approach from Rune. He was planning to fight back against his pursuers instead of running away.

As three knights approached a large tree, they heard a rustling from the canopy. One of them immediately shot an arrow, and something fell to the ground. Much to their chagrin, it was just a bird.

Just as they were about to ride away, Sigil emerged from another tree and pounced down.

"Lightning Raven!" he shouted. A large condensation of electric energy formed at the tip of his spear in the shape of a raven's head. This spell doubled his speed and carried him across the tree and onto the ground within half a second.

Sigil made sure that his attack only knocked out the first two knights instead of killing them.

The last knight dismounted his horse and readied his rapier.

"Sigil, house Thorn's adoptive son, you are under arrest for harboring a fugitive! Surrender now and you will be granted a lesser sentence!" This particular knight was a classmate of Rune and Sigil. His noble air and arrogant demeanor had always gotten on their nerves.

"Elvin, you're sorely mistaken! We're not enemies of the crown. We were simply—"

"Save it, criminal! I don't care what you have to say. Orders are orders, and it is my duty as a rune knight to carry them out. En garde!" Elvin shouted.

Sigil readied his spear, carefully parrying every swing and every thrust of Elvin's blade. They exchanged blows for an entire minute, but neither of them were budging. It appeared as though they were evenly matched, but Sigil had exhausted himself from his battle with the twin hollows yesterday.

Elvin noticed his exhaustion and took the opportunity to strike as much as he could. And after unsuccessfully attacking Sigil for another minute, he finally landed a clean hit. Elvin managed to chip away at Sigil's armguard and cut him across the left wrist.

Sigil endured the pain and firmly held his spear. "I don't want to do this, Elvin! Just take your men and walk away!"

"You're damn right, you don't want to do this! This duel won't be the same as our fight during the graduation matches! I'll be the winner this time, and you'll be made fool of. Just wait and see, you wretched fool! I've always known you and that smug adopted brother of yours were insane, but I never realized you'll be so inept as to point your swords at Wisteria! Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" Elvin remarked with joy.

He laughed maniacally for a brief moment before launching a series of attacks at Sigil using his rapier. His swift lunges were parried by his adversary, but he managed to land another hit on Sigil's left chest.

Sigil staggered back and readied his spear again. This time, looking at Elvin with a stern gaze. "Elvin, this is your last chance. Walk away. Or else!"

Elvin cackled as he spread his arms wide. "Walk away?" he asked, making it sound like a joke. "You're at my mercy, Captain Sigil. This will surely uplift my rank. Oh, how I've longed to strike you down! Commoners like you never belonged to the order of rune knights in the first place! Such a prestigious title should be given only to nobles, for it is our right as the ruling class!"

Then, Elvin took out a second weapon from his side; this time, it was a sabre. "I've been meaning to try this against you, but it is not permitted to duel with more than one weapon at the academy. Now, you'll learn my true power!"

A sinister aura shrouded Elvin as a gust of wind formed around him. His feet were gradually hovering from the ground, and he soon bolted towards Sigil. His swift attack seemed to have caught Sigil off-guard. Within the blink of an eye, Elvin had closed the gap between them, and then he launched swift attacks at Sigil. 

With every strike he landed, blood gushed out of Sigil's body. Elvin was only more delighted to see him being battered down by his assault.

But suddenly, the Sigil he was attacking disappeared. It turned out that it was just an afterimage created from condensed mana Sigil had left in the air earlier.

Out of nowhere, Sigil emerged. The tip of his spear had pierced through Elvin's side. Elvin was about to reciprocate the attack, but Sigil held his spear firmly and a strong current of electricity surged through his spear and into Elvin's body.

The powerful current of mana coursed through Elvin's body, and it paralyzed him.

"Lightning rod," Sigil murmured under his breath as he lowered his head and drew his weapon back.

Elvin fell to his knees, and then flat on the ground right after Sigil removed his spear from his opponent's side.

"W-why? How..." Elvin stammered.

Sigil just walked away without looking back. On his face, you could see that he, too, was in pain of pointing his weapon against a former classmate. No matter how much he disliked Elvin, he still viewed the man as a comrade.

"I'm sorry, Elvin. I have to help Rune," he said as he kept walking away.