Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

General Pana gazed down on a rat-faced beastman. His face was bloodied and one eye had swollen completely shut. According to her guards, he was caught suspiciously trying to climb the walls of the city. His behavior was clearly that of a spy, so they needed to figure out why he was here.

Seeing that the beating did not work to get any information out of him, Pana decided to come down herself and speak to the man. If he could not be swayed by violence, then maybe he could be tempted by mercy.

"I am Pana. General overseeing the city of Alvora. And you?"

The man spat on the ground, with it came a tooth and a glob of blood. "Your new dad. Your mom says hey."

His guard stepped forward to strike him for his insolent behavior, but Pana waved them off.

"Charming, young man, but I am old enough to be your mother. And thanks to my wizened years, I am above that taunting. So, shall we try again? Who are you."

"King Zethis of Alorek. I came to piss away my honor in a backwater hovel."

Pana stepped back and sighed. This was going nowhere. He was currently wearing nothing but commoner clothes… but he must have come in with something else right?

"What did he have in his possession? Did he have a storage ring with him?"

One of the guards deposited a ring into her hand. Using it's interface which told the user what it contained within the user's mind, she scanned through the items. Most of them were simple things such as armor, weapons and rations. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, something was sticking in the back of her mind.

To satiate this strange curiosity, she took out the set of armor to visually inspect it and maybe see where it came from. When the armor fell onto the floor, the prisoner seemed to make a tiny amount of noise. This made Pana very curious as to what it was that she had stumbled onto.

The pattern of the armor as well as its color made her realize that this prisoner they were dealing with was not a normal scout, spy, or soldier. She was, however, aware of the reports that detailed sightings of people wearing armor like this. It belonged to one of the King's Shadow warriors.

"I see. So you are a Shadow then. Now why would such a valuable resource be sent into my humble home? You clearly had no intent to assassinate me or else you would not have been scampering around the city before leaving without at least tailing me once."

Being identified as a member of the King's Shadow organization made the man tense up. At least one of the things she said here today was accurate, though he would likely not do anything else to potentially expose whatever plan they had going.

Based on the contents of his ring they likely completed whatever mission it was that made them come here.

"Alright, mister King's Shadow. Why were you here?"

"To inform you of something."

"Oh? And what is that, little rat messenger?"

"Death comes for you, will you answer the call? When it comes knocking at your door, will you face it with a brave look on your face or will you die pitiful and forgotten."

The moment the man stopped speaking and explosion rocked the city, making dust fall to the ground as the buildings were shaken in their place.

"General! General! Enemy mages are bombarding the walls. They are ignoring our primary infantry and other men to try and break through!"

"Fine, I'll go and take command and keep our forces from dispersing. I swear, I have to do everything around here."

She did not wait long enough for the messenger to respond to her words. Pana simply pushed past him and headed for the walls. They were already filled to the brim with soldiers slinging spells and arrows down to the earth below. However, since the enemy was targeting their walls, those very same walls they were standing on, the concentration on casting spells had gotten difficult for their mages.

"What's the status?" she asked of the man in charge.

"Our forces on the field have dropped by nearly twenty percent. Our losses along the walls are much smaller, but those are sure to rise."

"And of the enemy? What moves are they making aside from attacking our walls?"

"Nothing specific. They are simply trying to push the vanguard forces back. They could be fighting harder but I don't know why…"

"It might have something to do with that spy we captured. I bet you he might know what the plan why they are pulling their punches."

Even though she said it, she knew it was an impossible ask to get the Shadow to speak. There was absolutely no reason for the man to betray his leader. After all, Alorek was just going to kill him too, so it was actually in the prisoner's self interest to not say anything at all and just let nature take its course.

"Pana!"

A voice echoed across the battlefield. She saw a man in a sand-colored cloak with leather armor underneath. Every time she tried to focus on a piece of his body to see if she recognized him, she was met with a strange dizziness and was forced to move her eyes from the man.

"What is it!"

The cloaked man raised his hand and fighting around them seemed to stop, as if waiting for their orders to come down and resume the war. However, Pana felt something off… why was he talking and why like this.

The man slowly approached the gates as if he were not walking across a battlefield.

"I've been excited to talk with you a while." The man said.

Pana tensed. "About what?"

"Mostly about your surrender."

Pana laughed hysterically. One glance at their available forces told her that even if they did wipe out her men on the outside of the walls, they would not be able to breach the city defenses before their reinforcements arrived.

They had already received word that the Sand Wyrms had been dealt with by Lady Tierga and the additional forces were on their way now that the march could proceed unimpeded. When those forces arrived, not only would they have the advantage of fighting from a defensive position in the city, but they would also out number Eroa's forces nearly two to one.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all you lot will be doing is throwing your lives at my walls. In a few days' time we will not only route you, but also crush the remnants of your army. Alorek will be victorious."

The man fell silent. Though she could not see his face behind his mask, or even really look directly at him without feeling uncomfortable she felt like her words gave her a little bit of a victory.

"Let the record show that I tried to do this amicably, General Pana." The man said in a deeply sinister tone.

Though it seemed like she held all the cards, something in her heart told her that was not actually the case.