First Blood

Hooves sounded on dirt fill echoes throughout the wide lowland plains as a squad of horseman , each dressed in the Dark shining fern green jackets and black shakos of Mystrian soldiers thundered down the dirt path. The rolling golden hills of grass quieter than the grave  as the trainees approached the mouth of a forest. Alessio raised an arm calmly to halt the other trainees , each trotting to a halt as green eyes searched their surroundings , the dashing nobleman had been made leader of their training squad for the exercise. Their battalion had been cut up into quarters , each sent out on a patrol to scout out the countryside surrounding the fort as a practical training exercise. With narrowed eyes Alessio trotted over to his wizard friend and with a concerned frown questioned "I've heard wizards can sometimes sense when enemies are near ,have I heard correctly?" He questioned , hand sat loosely on the pommel of his cavalry saber.

"Huh what? oh" Rook who had been deep in though while riding gave a sheepish grin as he processed the question "...no you haven't in fact, but I'm not that type of wizard. I was actually just thinking about this type of moss I've seen on trees that looks a lot like a breed from back home, that possesses healing properties and is also used in health potions... why do you ask about enemies?"

"Simple...there are definitely some in the area , think about it , this is a well used road but we haven't seen one wagon , or even any passers by, it's much too quiet for a road that leads to Sonora." He explained sharply as he trotted back up to the front of the formation and turned to look at the men "Keep on alert." He ordered and with that did a nodding gesture with his fist , commanding the men to get back on the move "We will find the reason for this , even if it ends up out of our jurisdiction."

Rook would nod and let the others pass him before urging his horse forward, as an artillery mage, he was of course in the back of the combat formation; it wasn't cowardice, but simply orders, and good sense, regardless he too was now on alert and no longer day dreaming.

As the formation headed deeper and deeper into the woods Alessio's fears were confirmed more and more , still they would run across no passersby or wandering woodsman , the only living creatures the animals that scampered about the forest.As they reaching a low bend in the road a sound caught Rook's ear , what sounded like the burble of men talking .

Rook casually rode up to the front, and tapped Allessio's shoulder tilting his head in the direction the noise was coming from

Alessio's head snapped over as he began to hear it himself , quickly he called the men to a halt again and hopped of his horse , calling a few other men to come with him "Rook until I return you've command of these men , I want you all ready for a fight when we return , and if not ready to go back to base and report this."

"Understood" Rook said with his nod, and ordered a the sharpshooters to take up positions just in case

With that the trio of soldiers slinked into the brush , and Rook was left with nothing but the men , anxiety , and the silence of the forest road.

"Now sadly we brought Fletcher along with us so stealth is out of the question." Rook tried to break the awkward and nervous silence with a friendly jab at one of their notoriously foul smelling comrades from a family of tanners who did such work while in camp to help out the army, that he thought might loosen everyone up

Surprisingly the men actually laughed , and indeed for a while there was a bit of friendly playful banter between each of them , though the tension was still very much there. Eventually though everyone quieted down and the mood turned dour again as time passed. It was clear that while the other soldiers did like Rook , his charm alone wasn't enough to keep them from anxiety.

Rook was not great at hiding his nerves, and certainly looked more nervous than he felt. Internally he was a bit anxious, but he projected a nervous feeling externally, he really wasn't great at the whole commanding thing

Noticing this the men themselves got even more on edge , and he began to see the cold sweat beading the skin of each horseman. Luckily before it got too bad a sound broke the silence like a glass pane , a gunshot roaring out of the woods. It seemed it was time to head in!

"A... Alright l... let's go" Rook said stammering a bit under pressure as he knew he wasn't a great commander, but pushed his horse forward first, hoping that a bit of leading by example would help keep them together a bit at least

The men ,though anxious and doubtful didn't dare break rank yet and swiftly followed after him.

Rook rides towards the sound keeping his eyes open for trouble

Trouble found him indeed , though considering the skirmish taking place in front of them trouble was almost an understatement. The trio of soldiers were in the midst of a fire fight with a party of a dozen or more scouts scouts , each wearing the trademark brown jackets of Estalian scouting forces. Alessio and his two men were pinned down behind a rock and some trees in a clearing, returning fire when possible . And the scouts were advancing more and more , some even beginning to fix their bayonets for a push to overwhelm them.

Normally rook would not spend so much mana so quickly, but he was hoping where his words and demeanor had failed to inspire the men, a grand display of power would lend them courage. From his outstretched hand a glyph formed from which shot a volley of explosive fireballs toward the main body of the advancing force, really massive overkill, but it would hopefully make a point

In a burst of magefire and smoke the advance broke apart , each of the scouts breaking off and routing towards the woods as Alessio let out a yell of 'Charge' and quickly ran in pursuit , rallying the men to do the same.

From here rook wood would drop back into formation at the the back; though his stamina was impressive a blast like that often required a full squad of artillery mages, and he only had a few such volleys in him before he would be drained for a time.

Alessio breathed heavy as he ripped off his shako and tossed it to the ground , freeing his sweat damped hair as he charged after the scouts "We need to capture one!" He declared as he unsheathed his saber , the tempered blade ringing in the wet forest air. He had never killed before , never fought to the death like this. Every instinct in his body was in panic and  he felt like he was about to throw up but he forced it down as his hear pounded. 

  Suddenly with a sound like thunder , the head of the man next to him exploded, and he fell to the ground in a shower of blood and skull fragments , what remained of his face a bloodied mess.

Rook knew this potentially meant another mage and spun his horse in the direction the attack that blew off poor fletcher's head, if it was a mage, he knew he was the best person to deal with it

Alessio on the other hand was not near so calm , as soon as Fletcher's skull came apart everything had stopped but his mind , like the whole world was caught in molasses. All except the lightning rush of emotions than flooded through him like a river , first there was fear , primal shock and panic , Fletcher was dead...dead! And he could be too! He had to run , had to turn and run and get the others too as well! But quickly it was replaced  all too soon it was replaced with a burning flame of anger , Fletcher was dead , killed by these imperialists fucks! He couldn't just , wouldn't just let it go unanswered !

As his heart turned to rage the world began to catch up to him , and with eyes swelling with furious tears his head jerked to whoever fired the shot . A slender man in a dark brown overcoat  surrounded by the other scouts, preparing to fire another spell from his enchanted black gloves. Through the deafening roar of his heart pounding he heard a voice scream out with an almost psychotic rage "Kill all of the sons of bitches , all of them! All of them but that one!"And as he felt his feet begin to move forward he realized the roar had come from him.

Rook was going to miss that fletcher guy, but he remained composed, he gave the impression he had seen people die up close a good few times, and right now his mind was more strategically focused; he was going to have to cast a spell that was not only fast but fast to cast to take down the enemy mage before they finished casting. Though it required a good amount of energy to make lethal he flung the fastest spell he knew at the enemy mage with his much faster (if i recall) non catalyst magic, a wind blast of bone shattering force from the raw amount of power behind it.

the mage quickly dodged to the side , hitting a combat roll to protect his head , with a growl he conjured up a ball of green flame in his hand and tossed it for Rook with all his might.

Meanwhile Alessio was moving like some sort of monster , cutting down soldier after soldier with a frightening efficiency , it wasn't even strength and fury that was carrying him through , no each soldier was cut to ribbons with a masterful venomous technique.