Ace - Ace of (No) Hearts [part 1]

"Fire!" Ace commanded.

The archers loosened their strings, and the fiery arrows flew swiftly into the night. Into the enemies down the hill, beyond the breached wall of Crypthin castle. Ace saw as they took the lives of the men fighting for the false King, burning them to death for their ignorance and misplaced loyalty.

The once magnificent royal main gate of the Crypthin castle was destroyed. What was left of it was only a smoking ruin, as the Witch's meteor gave no mercy to anything, be them men or man-made structures. Ace pulled his reins, riding his warhorse to the red-green grass, to the fighting below.

"Ace!" he heard a call. "Sir Ace, over here!"

Ace looked to the left and saw Sir Mo and his squire, Rajunga. They were fighting the false king's men, who were dressed in their usual blue painted leather and steel armors. Even when outnumbered, the knight and his able squire didn't weaver. They grinned as they fought the enemy, robbing those weaker men of their own morale and courage. As Ace moved to help them, a man tried to give a swing over Rajunga's head, before the young squire ducked and bashed his giant shield over his foe's helmet, putting him unconscious.

Ace smiled. He took his spear to his hands and went into a gallop.

The sounds of the clapping horseshoes must have startled the usurper's men, as they all turned and saw Ace's black warhorse charging on to them.

"For Her Grace!" Ace shouted.

He gave his spear a violent thrust, and took the man before him on his face, impaling his head and breaking his jaw. He died instantly. Someone had tried to tackle the horse's legs with his sword, but Sir Mo stopped him by swinging his axe brutally, chopping the man's head off. That immediately put an end to the fight.

"Cowards!" yelled Sir Mo, waving his axe over to the men backing away as fast as they can from these three.

They were winning. The surprise attack they did was more than successful. The usurpers didn't even realize that in the foregoing nights, they had planted carts and carts of explosives on their barracks, inside their weapon storages, their armories. These men weren't even prepared for a fight, much less a total invasion. Their scouts couldn't even detect the Witch's army as they ranged through the mountains surrounding the whole castle. Although of course, it was their Queen's meteor that ultimately be the one which gave them this rather pleasant tide of the battle.

Perhaps it was true of what his Queen said about King Guinn. That the man didn't even know how to properly wage war. He lived his life in a delusional imagery of peace. That the threats looming from over the darker lands around his bright castle were nothing more than mere rumors. The man should have known well that since Sir Burns' betrayal, the Witch would gather an army to step up for herself and regain her throne. The throne of which Guinn had taken from her father Lancelot. Now though, how could he had not predicted this attack after all that?

The answer was probably the same for the question of how could Guinn had defeated Lancelot himself in the past, in their War of the Brothers? If this 'wisest one' couldn't even retaliate from their attack here tonight. In what way had he defeated Lancelot, a true warrior, and tactician, back then in the years before?

Sir Mo saw Ace had been thinking again. The young man seemed to never be tired of it. He broke it for him, "A spear, huh?"

The young man turned to him, smiling politely. "Aye, sir."

"Good lad, wouldn't want the blood of these fools dirtying that sword of yours." Sir Mo laughed away loudly while getting back on his horse. "My axe, Raj" he called his squire. Rajunga came to take the huge piece of weapon away and attached it to his own bridle.

"The two of you make a mighty duo," Ace said, looking around the walls and saw the number of enemies dwindled down quickly. "I am honored to even help you two with the littlest I can,"

"The honor is mine, Master Ace," said Rajunga. The man was younger than Ace, but he himself had shown valor matching that of the knight he served, Sir Mo. The two were impossible to miss when the whole army gathered around. "I would have said that I wanted to see you wield that sword," the squire grinned. "But sir is right, they do not deserve it."

"Hah!" Sir Mo cackled. "You wouldn't be able to stomach it if you watch Ace here start fighting with it, boy." the oldest man led their horses to trot forward to the walls. "Did you not vomit when you see that man burned and decided to slit his own belly?"

Rajunga paled. "I was not prepared," he admitted. "You saw me kill several men after that."

"Aye, that you did." the knight agreed. "But to correct you, boy. We weren't merely killing."

"Pardon?" Rajunga turned to him. "We took their lives, did we not?"

"We took their souls, aye. But we also sent them to the straight path in the Hereafter. Sent them to an eternal peace, in hope that they can realize their mistakes in life, for aiding the false king, Guinn."

Ace raised his eyebrows. "I did not know you are a religious man of a sort, sir."

"My father had taught me that," Sir Mo replied, smiling in reminiscent. "If you have the smallest will to fight, then you need to have as well, the smallest understanding, at least, that you do it for good. That you are on a path more righteous than the man you go against."

Ace looked forward and nodded. "Such is a commendable way of living, sir."

Rajunga however, cantered his horse up front and looked back to them. "But are we?" the three horses slowed and stopped.

"Are we, sir?" the squire asked again. "It is true that we're fighting in the name of good. But still, are they not as well? These usurpers… these men... were also fighting for their homeland. Some may be ignorant of Guinn's lying tongue, and that in itself is a fault. Yet is it the right thing to justify our paths as the more righteous simply because of it?"

Both Sir Mo and Ace fell into silence. During it, they heard a noise. Low creaks of wood in the distance, behind them. Ace realized now, they were from the catapults. The things retracted and snapped, propelling hundreds of stones coated with fire flying up high, to the dark sky above them, to the castle of their foes.

They all fell quick and merciless. Like a rain of meteors.

"By the God..." Sir Mo exclaimed in disbelief. "Catapults…?"