[This is the story I submitted for the Holiday Contest. It is a little big story (with 1400+ words). I hope you guys like it.]
Battle of Enid an Gleanna:
Ida Emean aep Sivney entered the Queen’s chambers and was a little taken aback when she saw Francesca Findabair, the Queen of Dol Blathanna crying silently. Ida is one of the most trusted advisors of the Queen, not because she was a very powerful sorceress, a Sage, but because of her wisdom and unquestionable loyalty towards the Queen.
Ida immediately realised what was going on. She conjured up a chair and sat near Francesca and thoughtfully asked, “Is this about the Battle of Valley of Flowers?”. Francesca slowly nodded. Ida knew that the matter she wanted to talk about should wait and went on to say “It was not your fault Francesca. Don’t beat yourself”. “How was that not my fault, Ida? How? I lead the army and only because of my mistake we lost the battle”, Francesca replied. “But, Francesca, no other mage in the universe has the might to…”. “Might alone doesn’t win battles, Ida. I learned that lesson in a hard way”, Francesca interrupted her.
There was a moment of silence. Ida realising the importance of her message, broke the silence and continued on the same topic, so that, the Queen didn’t have to hear the news she has in that bad mood. Ida went on, “Francesca, we were unstoppable on the first day of the battle. Within the first six hours into battle, we managed to push the Nilfgaardians back. Thanks to the mutants from the School of Wolf partly”. “Even I am glad that they wandered here as a group, which I hear is very rare. It was a pure stroke of luck. I guess, if the strongest of them.. what was he called? The White Wolf? If he had joined them, we could have finished the Nilfgaardians on the second day itself”. Ida found the perfect opportunity to bring upon the question which she always wanted to ask for a long time. Hesitantly, Ida asked, “Why did you order our troops not to attack on the second day of the battle Francesca? If we had attacked on the second day and pushed the Nilfgaardians back, they would have conceded their defeat”
Francesca breathed heavily. No one ever dared to ask her that question and it was heavy on her heart that she couldn’t tell anyone. Though she was surprised that Ida asked that question, she was happy in her heart. Francesca didn’t need to defend her decision, but answered Ida for her own sake “I had to use the powerful Muzzle spell twice to really break their courage and hope on the first day of the battle. It took a heavy toll on me, but I didn’t want to show that to our commandos and warriors. Also, we were on the battle field an hour more than them, preparing our Swordmasters on the front line. But the real reason is..”. Ida didn’t say anything and waited for Francesca to continue. “The real reason is, I wanted to bring forth the Ragh Nar Roog and I wanted time. It takes a huge amount of energy and had I gone to the battle on the second day, I might not have been able to do it. I wanted a long day of a battle and I wanted the Nilfgaardians to be burnt to the ground so that their ashes become fertilisers for our land”
Ida was thoughtful and said after some moments, “The Nilfgaardians simply sent their Spotters and declared that they have won the battle on the second day. Which helped their morale on the battle on the third day”. Francesca continued, “It was not their morale which won the battle for them… it was.. it was my mistake”. Ida broke the silence with “But you did mange to bring forth Ragh Nar Roog on their front line. All their melee troops were brunt to ashes”. Francesca was contemplating, looking at the floor. This time Ida didn’t want to interrupt. She simply waited for Francesca to say something.
Francesca started speaking in a low voice, “I had all the energy I needed. I planned really well and had all the spells on my command. I had at my disposal The Scorch, Lacerate, and Artifact Compression. That is after I managed to summon Ragh Nar Roog. We had our untouchable Milva on the back of our melee troops, we had the aid from Gabor Zigrin who was also untouchable being close to Milva, and we had.. we had the untouchable The Golden Dragon..”. Francesca’s voice broke and traces of tears started to flow down her cheeks. Ida, genuinely curious, asked, “Why did you hurt our own Dragon? I forgot”. Francesca continued in a low voice, “The Nilfgaardians Imperial Golem spotted you and got hurt. But their Nauzicaa Sergeant was getting more and more powerful by the hour with each incoming troops. I thought it was the perfect time to get the most out of The Scorch spell and damaged our own Dragon so that The Scorch can kill both the Golem and the Nauzicaa Sergeant.”
Ida recollected and said, “Ooh.. now I remember. I managed to beat the Golem, but couldn’t quite kill it as it was just too powerful. But your tactic worked perfectly Francesca. You managed to burn both the Golem and the Nauzicaa Sergeant. That put us on a huge advantage. Especially when we were into the battle for nine straight hours. ”. Francesca continued the recollection, “That was when I did the biggest mistake of my life, which cost us the Vally of Flower. Once we lost the battle, the cruel humans managed to just loot and destroy a huge part of Valley of Flowers. Since it was from an unexpected and illegal aggression from a random Nilfgaardian group, the human historians conveniently skipped the battle but just recorded that some brigands looted and destroyed The Valley of Flowers”.
Ida placed her hands on Francesca and said with a voice filled with admiration, “Francesca, let me tell you. No mage in any universe had ever managed to cast Artifact Compression spell on a Golden Dragon. No one has the might or courage to even try to do that. So, obviously you didn’t know the side effect of doing that. Even though we lost the battle, I was very proud of your tactic and might Francesca”. Francesca continued with a sad voice, “Saesenthessis promised that no one can even touch her. She believed that even if we want to put some spell on her, she will become untouchable immediately after. Sadly, she also didn’t know much about Artifact Compression spell. I wanted to restore her full strength from the Lacerate and used Artifact Compression on her thinking that she would immediately regain all her might and will be untouchable again. But.. but..”. Ida, with a voice full of anger told, “Damn that bounty hunter. We later found out that he is one of the most feared and the most powerful human Swordmaster in all the world. His name is Leo Bonhart. On the last hour of the battle, when we were sure to win, suddenly he jumped from no where and killed Saesenthessis in a second. We had no other choice but to fall back and give up that battle”.
The sadness in her eyes became pure rage and Francesca said, “Loe Bonhart… The next time when we face him, I will personally kill him!”. Ida, proudly said, “Francesca, The Valley of Flower is just a symbol. You are Enid an Gleanna. You are our Enid an Gleanna. As long as we have you, we have not lost anything. Even though we lost the battle of the Valley of Flowers, our learnings from that will always help us. We are stronger than ever. Just for your information Francesca, Saesenthessis has fully recovered and is ready for your next command”. Francesca clearly felt better after the conversation. “Thank you Ida. I needed that talk”. Ida, now content with the mood set, continued, “Francesca, the reason I came to talk to you is that our scouts have spotted some Skellige pirates camping outside our borders and our intel says that they are planning to start the battle tomorrow morning”. Upon hearing the news, Francesca murmured some spells and with that a green aura of magic started to circle around her and sparks of lightning appeared on her finger tips and she stood up full of confidence and rage!
Well, what happened in that battle is another story for another time!
[This is actually based on one my games. I used AC on my Seasenthessis on the last round of R3 thinking that it will gain Immunity at round end, but AC locked her ability and it was killed and I lost the battle. (So, never do that guys). So, I transformed that match as a story visualizing that every battle goes for three days and each turn is an hour. I hope you guys like the story!]