Φ After Setanta finishes screaming, he passes out and falls off the bull, so I lunge forward and catch him in my arms. He is body is quite battered to the point where I don't think he should be able to move.
Ibar, coming towards me, asks, "Is Setanta ok?"
"I don't know, I have never seen him this injured before. We need to get him bandaged up right now."
Ibar looks confused for a moment, so I ask, "What's wrong?"
"Setanta was far more beaten up when I saw him after falling off the chariot; did his wounds heal?"
"Nonsense, beastkin need food to heal, and no beastkin could even heal that fast if they had all the food in the world."
Laeg, coming closer to us, says, "I brought some druids to help Setanta."
"Thank you, Laeg. Now it is time to go and make sure this battlefield ends in our victory."
"No, you're not!" Laeg says with an angered voice. "Your wounds aren't light, either. You need to sit down and get treated as well."
With blood dripping down my forehead, I say, "It isn't that big of a deal; you worry too much."
She jumps off her horse and tries to physically restrain me, saying, "I am not going to explain to your mom and sister where you aren't coming home, so you better sit down!"
"Quit your bickering, you children," I hear the voice of Ruán say.
Turning our faces towards him, I hear Ruán say, "All of you children should go rest and take your time to recover. You have done excellent work today, and without this, the battlefield would have had triple the casualties. So lay your bodies down to rest, and encourage the other around you."
"Encourage?" Laeg says, confused.
Soon, her question is answered as groups of injured men come towards us and start to lift us up and celebrate our victory against our enemy.
"You children are excellent."
"Definitely the ideal for warriors to reach."
"The house of Faoláin has chosen brave warriors to stand at the helm of their family."
"Especially you boy, riding on your own as that wonderbeast followed you, truly amazing."
"I am sworn to house Fuinseog, but if you ever need something from me, just ask, and you will receive it."
Ibar, with power in his voice, simply says, "I ask you to remember the name of Ibar mac Fergal with all your heart. Pass it on to your friends, pass it on to your lords, and pass it on to your children."
The men cheer in response to this, and I look towards Laeg, who has a saddened expression on her face. But unbeknownst to me, Ibar also looked directly at her and was visibly upset, staring at her.
-Break-
As we all sit down in our base, Laeg looks over Setanta and asks the Druids, "Will he be alright?"
"Yes, he should be fine, you just need to leave him alone for a little while so he can recover. No quick movements under any circumstance, he is the next king of Gorias and should be treated as such."
"Right."
As they leave, Laeg continues to look at his body, visibly agitated, and as she does, she says, "Please get up."
Ibar, in a hostile tone, says, "The only reason he is injured is your fault."
Laeg, looking at Ibar, says, "What?"
"You heard me, it was because you made Setanta send us all of the chariots instead of our original plan that we had so many casualties."
Laeg, annoyed, says, "I knew we wouldn't make it if we went ahead, so of course I asked Setanta to do that to us."
Anger, Ibar says, "Thanks to that, both Liath and Kooacht died, not to mention all of the beastkin who were killed in the process."
Pointing his finger, Ibar says, "Look." Walking past the blood, we see others carrying the damaged or dead bodies of some of the beastkin who couldn't withstand the attacks of the Slab bull.
Feeling the tension rising between the two of them, I say, "Ibar don't you think you are being slightly unfair, she did save our lives."
"So what, it is not like what happened afterwards was a safer situation. We still took a gamble that put our lives at risk; the only difference between that time and this time was that you weren't at the front lines since you're a coward."
Stepping towards him in anger, Laeg says, "What kind of coward would be on this battlefield unless they were the biggest fool in existence?"
"The kind of coward in front of me. Despite being here, all you have done is frown and look like you're five seconds away from running away. So just run away, I am sure Father will need more hands in the kitchen anyway."
Laeg is about to attack Ibar, but I restrain her and say, "Ibar, you're going too far, don't insult someone who faced death."
"Everyone on this battlefield is facing death, I won't threaten her better because she also chooses to be here."
"You little big-headed bastard!"
Suddenly, there are screams throughout the base camp, which takes all three of our attention. We run out to check what has happened, and to our confusion, we see one of the beastkin who can pick up high frequencies visibly shocked.
A general walks up to him and says, "What was just reported to you?"
The beastkin says, "Outside of the soldiers, the enemy's castle is completely empty. No civilians, very few supplies, and almost no equipment necessary for living are there."
Suddenly, in the distance, we start to see a fire appear emanating from the castle. It seems almost everything within the castle is wrapped in flames, and in response to this sight, Ferdiad says, "This was a trap."
"Ibar responded, "A trap?"
"The humans had escaped before we even got here, and lit the castle on fire as a way to kill us after we entered."
Another of the voices nearby says, "Ruán should be inside the castle!"
Upon realising this, many here start to panic, and then the generals say, "Send rescuers immediately!"
Φ In 1620, the beastkin who had defeated the human army fell for a trap, and many were caught up in a burning castle. Few died, but many were critically injured, including Ruán Ó Lúcogadh.
Location: Beastkin tent
Φ As the rest of the generals and commanders stand together awaiting news, a beastkin walks in and says, "Ruán will survive."
The tension in the air disappears, but then we hear, "Though he won't be able to command this army, so his second in command, Dáithí, will take control of this army."
Standing up, Dáithí says, "I know this is an unfortunate event, but I hope that each and every one of you will happily welcome me as the leader of the army."
We all nod our heads, and then Dáithí says, "Now the first order of business that we have is to figure out where the humans have gone."
I put up my hand and asked, "Let me go do reconnaissance."
"You're Ferdiad, right, the right-hand man to Setanta."
"Ye,s sir, and I humbly ask that you send me to scout ahead. Currently, we don't know if there were never humans here or if there were and they left. So if we head to the pit, we might be able to spot them."
"But that would be far too dangerous. You are young and have shown great talent, during our invasions into the east in the upcoming years I am sure one like you would be critical."
"I understand that, but I also think Ronald Fuinseog will be important as well, and if things are going as we expect, he might die."
The general looks down at the map and says, "I didn't notice, but you're right."
Someone says, "What are you talking about?"
Dáithí says, "If the humans who were here left, they are sure to have headed east towards the oceans, and around that area is where Ronald's men should be holding off the beastkin they have lured away.
But if humans actually did leave the castle, they are sure to run into the Fuinseogs and crush them due to the fact that Ronald wouldn't be prepared."
Many of the beastkin have shocked expressions on their face, and one says, "Losing someone who bears special powers like Ronald would be a critical blow to our military strength."
Speaking up, I say, "We are forgetting that almost all of the castle supplies were missing. If the humans' main armies were to link up with the escapees, then all the effort we put into weakening them would disappear, and they might even be able to cross the river to the east and escape."
Dáithí says, "These humans were used to fighting the beastkin, and if they somehow manage to escape, they will only become a bigger threat in the future. Scouting ahead is imperative, but are you sure you would be able to get to them in time?"
"Yes, I doubt this castle was only filled with combatants. I am all but certain they have civilians, and that will slow them down. If I were to leave with the fastest rider I know, Ibar. I am sure we will catch up in no time."
"Right, then I will send you out."
"Thank you!"
-Break-
Φ As Ferdiad and I prepare to leave, he turns to Laeg and says, "Please make sure Setanta is ok."
"I will, but you guys must also be safe."
"Spoken like a coward."
"Hey," Ferdiad says, while turning to face me.
I ignore him and continue to prep While I do that, we hear, "Ferdiad, we will be coming with both of you."
All three of us look over, and there we see Téad Ó Lúcogadh and his men. We then make faces of disgust, and Ferdiad asks, "That would be unnecessary."
Dáithí, walking up, says, "I will need them to come with you."
"Why?" I ask with a slightly annoyed tone.
Dáithí says, "We need to send an owl with you all, and we have trained these owls to only respond to the Lúcogadh to stop interceptions, so we need to send at least one, and the young master here offered."
"That's understandable, but I don't see why we need this many men, especially one with whom we have had a turbulent past."
Téad says, "I deeply apologise for my slights against you all, and I hope that this help will allow you to trust me more in the future."
Ferdiad makes a face of distrust towards them all, but then, from behind us, we hear some Faoláin men say, "Please let us come along as well."
Ferdiad smiles and turns around, then says, "Are you guys sure?"
"Yes, protecting one of the greatest assets of our empire is an honour that we gladly accept."
One of the Lúcogadh men says, "You all make it sound as if our master would try to attack these two."
"The brash youngest child of Lúcogadh doesn't have a nice reputation; you can't blame us for being fearful."
Ferdiad claps his hands and says, "That's enough, we are wasting time. So, everyone who wants to come can. But if you are slow, we will leave you behind. Now let's go."
Φ At 1640 hours, a group of cavalry left to investigate the human's location.
At 1820 hours, the beastkin who were outside the forest started to move in as they had received word from the Lúcogadh army.
At 1910 hours, the Fuinseog army finished fighting the humans whom they were stalling. Through a series of surprise attacks on the army that had panicked and scattered so they could return to the castle, they were able to decimate half of the army.
Φ Standing over the body of the last living human, Ronald says, "What are you smiling about?"
"Just happy that my family will live another day."
Ronald kills him and then says, "What is going on?"
Φ On that day, Ronald to the east, the beastkin to the south, or the Fuinseogs to the west, not a single one of them ran into any more humans.