<u>Chapter 51 - Crown Princess Emeria Lakris</u>


    The siege was no longer being maintained by a rotating shifts of soldiers. Every man in the fortress was awake and armed. All of them physically prepared, but mentally lacking from what Emeria could make of them. They slowly inched forward as more and more men were being called up to the walls. The foreboding crash of the battering ram lorded over the screams of the battlefield. Tremors were birthed therefrom, vibrations running up Emeria''s legs. Cheers of Empire soldiers grew in volume from the other side. Not long remained before the entrance was reduced to wooden splinters.


    There was a mechanical iron portcullis behind the thick wooden gates, so the fortress entrance was expected to hold for a little while longer. If the archers on the ramparts could focus their efforts on enemies below again, then the ram might yet be driven back. As of right now, hardly any archers on the front walls were firing. With the Empire owning a section of those walls, ladders were put elsewhere and every soldier on the wall was forced into melee combat to avoid surrendering precious more ground to their enemies.


    Emeria wondered how allies fared on the right hand side. It was supposed to be commanded by Rask. She prayed it held strong. Expected it even. Though with the Empire foothold expanding, it was bound to feel pressure. The left side walls had Greyscale Lake to act as a natural barrier, and the back walls were too steep for any meaningful attack to be made.


    "Are you ready?" Irus asked, fully armored from neck down in black and standing at the head of two dozen others wearing much the same. They all had their helmets on but faceplates up.


    Emeria couldn''t deny that her chest felt constrained. She took in a deep breath and nodded, praying her fear would not conquer her. Many of the fortress'' soldiers gained a bit of heart when seeing the dauntless Queen''s Guard march past. The ends of their mouths curled a fraction. Their facial expressions changed when they saw Emeria walking between the knights, dressed in a clinking shirt of mail and tight leather vest atop it. The leather was stiff. It didn’t allow for bending forward or back. Good things for posture, she thought. More lenient on the ribs too than corsets.


    "Your highness?" some muttered in confusion as she passed them by.


    Emeria held her head high and returned their questions with a wide smile, hoping that her nervousness wouldn''t show. Winter air caressed her skin. It chilled a sheen of sweat at the sides of her nose. The sky was mostly clear and she was grateful for it. Her hair shone bright and she hoped the damp on her face made it glow too. Appearances is what mattered most now. Irus explained that she needed to be a radiant figure to inspire the soldiers, since she couldn''t do that with brute strength like Lord Serene or General Rask.


    Shouts and screams grew louder. The Queen''s Guard reached the walls and Emeria could feel her heart pounding. She was breathing as if she''d just sprinted a hundred yards. You can''t panic now, Emma. Remember why you''re here. This is your home, and you will protect it!


    Irus began climbing the stairs, each step of his iron boots like a thunderclap. He held twin shields in both hands, both of them three quarters of an inch thick and made entirely of dull grey iron. How he carried those things with such ease, Emeria couldn''t guess. In fact, several more guards were carrying the same. Queen''s Guard already had diamond shaped black shields attached to their left vambraces. They narrowed down, extending beyond the hand to double as a deadly weapon. Yet Irus and a few others had forgone that shield for the iron blocks instead.


    He wants to hold the fight in a deadlock while I give a speech.


    Emeria''s breath froze. She hadn''t thought about what she was going to say. As she climbed the steps and reached the top, the terror of battle really set in. She hadn''t given much thought to anything in fact. All she''d done was insist on something like the spoiled brat she was. She looked back down the stairs. The screams of dying men filled her ears while a cowardly voice in her head screamed at her to turn back and hide in her room. But she couldn''t go back. More Lotus Knights were climbing up the narrow stairs and she was holding up the line.


    Emeria began sweating profusely despite the weather. Her feet carried her forward. She followed the shield bearing guards as they pushed past House Serene''s defenders. Irus is heading straight for the vanguard!


    "Princess…"


    "Your highness?"


    "Princess Emeria?"


    She glanced at the men muttering her name, forcing that wide smile back on her face despite struggling to breathe. She had a gripping desire to tear her leather vest off. But her arms stayed glued to her sides. Focus, Emma! She made her smile wider, hoping it didn''t seem awkward.


    "Will her highness fight too?"


    "She can''t…"


    The Queen''s Guard stopped walking. They were nearly at the front. Xenarian soldiers were trying to attack a line of heavily armed Tarmians wearing red cloth bands on their arms with the image of a turtle on it. The very front line had twin shields and were only inching forward rather than fighting. There wasn''t any killing happening here, Emeria realized. The screams were from the other side of the enemy foothold. Her breathing relaxed by itself and she found herself feeling a bit light hearted.


    The enemy vanguard before her were fighting in the exact silly method that Irus had told her about. And it was working. They were slowly gaining ground, fighting like this without bloodshed. Was it a silly method if it worked? But then, to Emeria who could see the glaring weakness in such a formation, it really did feel silly. Her eyes lingered on the armbands with turtles depicted on them. Was this a special unit of heavy infantry in the Empire''s army?


    Irus glanced her way and nodded, snapping down his faceplate and setting down the shields before him. The others with him did the same. What ensued was a pushing contest. Only, the Queen''s Guard had one line while this special enemy unit had several lines of men just as thickly armored as Irus.


    "Settle this quickly, your highness," Irus said. "Then ask for spears to come to the front."


    "Your highness?" a heavily accented voice asked. A head from the Turtles perked up above a shield, shadowed eyes staring through a narrow slit in the face helm. "That actually the Xenarian princess here on the walls? Seems the blind man was right." More heads perked up and Emeria heard muffled whistles.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Don''t sully our princess with your filthy eyes, Tarmian scum," Irus said, leaning forward and pushing with his legs. His feet slid back. His strength was little match for many men his size. The entire line of Queen''s Guard were slowly being pushed back, and at a faster rate than when the duke''s soldiers had been trying to attack the Turtle group. Not needing to fend off blades trying to poke into their formation, they were focusing their entire might on pushing now.


    "Don''t worry, little knight man," the same Turtle was saying. "We will sully her elsewise." He turned his head as far back as his helm allowed, which was barely an inch from what Emeria could tell. "She''s a looker, gents. We''ll have real fun tonight!" A vulgar howl followed from the group. They didn’t seem disciplined soldiers at all. Nor did their cohesion suggest them to be new recruits. Mercenaries then?


    Emeria had decided. She would kill that man first. She heard hisses behind her and turned to the duke''s soldiers and other Queen''s Guard. They were enraged and this was without any speeches. Indeed her presence here had been near enough to light a fire in their hearts. They were eager to defend her honor. But Emeria knew that fire wouldn''t last long. She needed to display something more. She turned her back on them and focused on the Turtles again. The one at the front was still staring at her.


    Emeria smiled at him, channeling a skill for acting that she didn''t know she had. She dragged her own fingers along the side of her face, reaching back to her hair —which had been bound for practical reasons— and released it, shaking her head this way and that to let her locks fly free. She then blew the Turtle a kiss, finishing it with her middle finger pointing towards the sky and the rest curled down. She thought she saw his brows furrow, but it was hard to tell with the slit in his helm being so thin. He was, however, pushing a lot harder against the Queen''s Guard.


    Emeria then took a deep breath. "No, I am not here for appearances," she said, addressing the soldiers behind her without looking at them. "I am here for exactly what I appear dressed for. I am here to fight. For what is a monarch if they do not bleed for their subjects?" She turned to face them then, eyes glazing over soldiers in mail and the knights alike. "Whether that woman you see on the spear out there is my dear friend Elizia or not does not matter. What I want from all of you is to ignore that. To forget it. I want you to focus on now rather than a future we aren''t certain of." Emeria''s heart drummed. She was actually giving a speech and the men were actually listening. Sunlight bore down on her, making her hair shine all the more. "Focus on what you still can do. You still have families and a home worth protecting. Or do you think Elizia and Lady Sar''tara would be proud to see you give up? This, assuming that they''re as good as dead, which I firmly do not believe!"


    Emeria filled her lungs and continued. "If you can''t even manage that, then stare at my back and push forward. I may not have a wide and inspiring back like Lord Serene. I may not have the brutish strength that Commander Rask, the Wolf of Metsiphon, has. But I will fight regardless. Until you find it within your hearts to stand tall as well, I will fight! I know, my words seem folly. After all, I''m hardly two thirds the size of most of you. I haven''t proven myself to you like Elizia or Lady Sar''tara. So if you don''t believe me, just watch. I''ll begin by tearing down this wall of fat men that you cannot surpass!"


    Emeria turned to face the Turtles again. She drew her thin sword and took a deep breath. Her first time fighting. First time killing. Perhaps even first and last time dying.


    Irrelevant.


    All that mattered was the task that needed doing. A task that only she could accomplish now. Flames protect me! She couldn''t get past her own guards holding down the Turtles. So she leapt onto the stone parapets, landing on her toes. Mere inches next to her was a four storey fall. She then launched off her toes and soared over her guards, feeling cold winter air press against her. It flowed through her locks and made it rise like a golden flag. Then, Emeria plopped down amidst all the enemies. They stared at her in surprise.


    "Your highness!" Irus bellowed.


    Emeria stabbed through the slit in her first target''s helm, making sure she''d gone deep enough for the wound to be fatal. Before he could scream, she pulled out and stabbed down at the knee of the next closest man, knowing that armor would be weak at the joints. Two screams erupted, echoing against iron armor and shields. Emeria found another eye, and then then another knee. Two more screams.


    Just like that, four of these Turtles were felled, two dying and another two down on one knee. Their first line collapsed and the Queen''s Guard pushed on. Emeria lunged, wanting to continue, but someone from among the enemies ordered them to step back, and surprisingly, they all stepped back in unison. Emeria growled and stepped forward, not feeling threatened by shields only. They couldn''t kill her when she had allies of her own. One of the Turtles broke out of his line and slammed a shield into her. She manage to put her arms up in time, and stumbled back into Irus'' shields. Pain radiated along her arms and elbow joints.


    "That''s quite enough, your highness," he said.


    "It''ll be enough when they''ve all fallen!" Emeria growled, leaping onto the parapets again. "Draw your blade Sir L''Faleur! Come and protect me!" She fell into enemy lines again. For all their synchronized movements, they were dumbfounded on how to stop her. She stabbed again, thrusting her blade through pinprick holes as if threading needles, and another Turtle collapsed.


    Some dropped their shields and tried grabbing her, but she was far nimbler than men in heavy armor. She slipped through their ranks, poking at eyes and armpits and knees when she could. Angered and cursing, several of their number dropped their shields in futile attempts to grasp at any part of her.


    Before Emeria knew it, she''d weaved past the entire Turtle battalion and was now staring down a group of Tarmian soldiers with weapons. They wore confused frowns. She flashed a smile before leaping back on to the parapets and making her way back to allied lines, all while her knights decimated the Turtles.


    Idiots! Shouldn''t have dropped your shields.


    Emeria skipped along, prideful, not watching for the long fall next to her. Her toes slipped and she stumbled. Her heart leapt into her mouth and she saw her life flash before her eyes. The blade in her hand slipped out. It shrunk in size as it fell. A desperate squeal escaped her lips. She leaned the wrong way and reached for the blade. It was a gift from Azurus. She couldn''t lose it like this. The world began tilting as her face became parallel with the ground below. She was going to fall. All that bravado and she was going to die a stupid death.


    Something grabbed hold of her hand and yanked back. Emeria yelped as sharp pain shot through her shoulder. She fell backwards and into the arms of Sir L''Faleur. "That''s enough out of you, princess. He pointed to the soldiers. "I think you''ve lit a fine fire."


    All of them stood tall and glowered. Waves stepped over the corpses of the Turtles and crashed into Tarmian lines that had been waiting behind them. Irus held Emeria close so that she wouldn''t get trampled in the Xenarian charge. Within moments, half the foothold of the enemy had been reclaimed.


    "That formation was really silly. Just shields I mean," Emeria said.


    "It isn''t. But you sure made it seem that way. That was the Iron Turtle mercenary band, if I''m not mistaken. An infamous bunch known for wearing down or baiting opponents with extreme defense. And they were just wiped out by a girl a third their size. This story will be told for years. You''ve done more than restore morale."


    "But I lost my sword for it."


    "A sword is just a weapon, your highness. And a weapon is a tool. Tools can be replaced."


    "It was a gift from Azurus."


    "Oh… I see. Then let us pray that it is still there when the siege ends."


    Emeria''s skin was damp with sweat, and with her heart slowing, the cold of winter began seeping in. She realized just how tired she felt. It wasn''t even afternoon yet. The men here would be fighting for many more hours.


    When the siege ends. It was about to end this very day and with the wrong conclusion. But she had somehow prevented that.