The battle of Cardoch
It was winter, and the snow was falling. Me and the other warriors from our tribe were on our way to the great city of Astrom. The Emperor had called for a meeting and all warriors in the kingdom had to be there. I was in charge for our group of 25 warriors, and was one of the VIP’s on the meeting. When we arrived, my men were taken to some barracks that was raised on the plazas. Me myself was taken to the palace and would take part in the meetings as soon as all leaders were there. 2 days later the meeting begun and then the shock came. We were preparing for war with Tlaxcala. The Emperor told us that he had formed an alliance with 3 other kingdoms that would fight together with us during the war to destroy the Tlaxcala army. Then we would share the land between us. I protested, of course, and wondered why we should attack a kingdom that makes us no harm. The answer was that we needed to expand our borders to grow powerful enough to rule the world, which was every Emperors dream. Then I agreed on it, not because I was for an invasion, it was more like I was afraid of our leader and that he would downgrade me to soldier. Everyone knew that the soldiers would suffer heavy losses, but the leaders survived most of time…. I saw no fear in the other leaders faces, probably because they were all for a war. The war would be declared at Dec. 24th, because Tlaxcala celebrated Christmas by that time. We did so too, but war was more important. Then the meeting were finished and we should inform our soldiers.
I saw fear in my friend’s eyes, maybe as they did in mines. 5 days later we began to march towards the border.
Exactly at Dec. 24th, at 8.00 o’clock, we marched over the border and begun terrorise the enemy territory.
2 days later we got a message from one of their allies that the entire Tlaxcala army was defeated. All our army had to do was to take the capital. We arrived there next day. But when we only had around 5 miles to their city walls, a big lightning stroked down just 5 meters beside our emperor. Then, a strong light dazzled us. When we could open our eyes again, we saw something that could put fear into everyone’s mind.
Right in front of our eyes, a HUGE army of angels appeared. There were surely 5000 fallen angels, 3500 Angels of Death, 1500 Angel lords and 500 Archangels flying above our heads. And we saw a horde of Cherubins standing on the city walls, ready for battle. Additional, several spirits were flying around, observing….
If I had been alone, I would just have run to the other side world faster than any angel could fly, no one mess with the United Angles Alliance, which I now understood this was, and survive… However, we still had our Emperor and he commanded attack. What a fool!
So we attacked. The first brigade reached the walls, but suddenly one of the Spirits swiped through them and they all fell down dead, burned to ashes. The second brigade was totally slaughtered by the Fallen Angels, no one survived... in that moment, I understood that my group could do nothing else than getting killed. We were just about to retreat when a giant firewall appeared around the battlefield. No one could get threw it alive. I was just about to give the order "surrender" when the Angels of Death attacked. My men and me were in the lifeguard squad and could only watch when the soldiers got killed.
When all solders except us was killed, one of the spirits flew down to us, whispering:
-"Your soldiers have died, so called Emperor. You risked their lives in this war and lost, you though you would defeat the Tlaxcala with the help of the other kingdoms even when Tlaxcala did never harm any of you. No one worthy to be emperor act that dishonourably and all of you here who supports him deserves to die."
Then he flew up in circles and begun form a giant globe of blue fire. All of us were now so frightened that we couldn’t move. The globe grew into the size of a small castle before he threw it. It came towards us as a meteor. Our horses ran away in panic, and of course, I was stuck in the saddle. Even today, I have that horse to thank for my life. The globe collided with earth only a few seconds later. A was thrown out of the saddle by the wave of pressure and landed behind some rocks. The heat came shortly after, but the stones protected me from the flamed and I survived. I laid there maybe one hour before I saw the proof of that I still was alive. One Angel Lord came past me, maybe looking for survivors like me. I think this one was the one called Virrend. He saw me, and his eyes turned all shining blue. I felt a wave of coldness swept by me, just as if he looked into my mind. Then it all ended and he went away. I don’t know why this angel spared my life, maybe because I never liked the idea with this war, and maybe he wanted someone to tell the world about this battle. The peasants of Cardoch found me some days later, and believe it or not, they threat me as a friend even when I was their enemy.
So I learned much about true friendship during the time in Tlaxcala. When I leaved the country three years ago, my purpose was to inform everybody what happens when act dishonourable in times of war…. Especially against a friendly kingdom who hasn’t even given you a reason for defeating them. I hope you’ve learned a lot from this story and that it never will happen again. Tlaxcala are once again a peaceful, large kingdom. The angels destroyed the other kingdom armies as well…. So now all 5 kingdoms are peaceful democracy now, with elected leaders.
Signed,
Korax, Walker and Storyteller in The Free Kingdoms