With the sun rising, Demmie and Berk were already up together with a bunch of infantry on the ground of the valley. Right now they were in full view of the skeletons but they didn’t have a lot of choice, not able to try this testudo formation in the woods, not even in the already cut down part. The Forest Gruge had taken the shields of the Human Gruge and were making a shield wall with others holding the shields above their heads.

  The front line were satyrs as the average satyr was smaller than the average elf, making the elves be the one holding the shields above their heads in the air. As they practiced this, Berk would add some satyrs to the testudo, not wielding any shields as their goal was to either replace someone who did get hit or when they reached the skeletons to start playing on their flutes to cast their magic.

  Once the first group got the testudo figured out, more groups got made, learning from the first one. Sadly enough the Skeleton Gruge knew exactly what was going to happen. This form of fighting was never done before so they didn’t really know what to do about this, generals running all over the place to try and figure something out.

  With the skeletons still pouring out of the pass, they weren’t fully prepared causing the groups to be a mess and not where they were supposed to be. The generals didn’t realize that they were under threat yet, underestimating their enemy seeing the size of their army.

  Seeing the disorganized enemy, Berk decided to change up the plans last second, turning to Barta. “Barta, take our elite with you and attack the left flanks. Remember that you’re not there to win a war but to inflict casualties, make them panic but try to lose minimal amount of people. This isn’t the main fight yet.”

  He then turned to one of his commanders. “Commander Patra, take half of our archer centaurs and half of the centaur cavalry. Attack the right side using the wasp sting. Same as Barta, try to lost minimal people.”

  Both groups gathered quickly, coming together out of the forest and quickly leaving, going down the valley to the enemy at a decent but not all out speed. It would be foolish to exhaust themselves already before even reaching the enemy. As they ran towards the enemy, they would suddenly merge in the middle, ignoring the instructions of Berk.

  Berk saw this but couldn’t really do anything about it, sighing and turning to Zoala and Wout. Wout, take 20.000 archers with you but go slow. Make sure that you arrive in time to help the cavalry after they made them flee to the middle. If we scared them enough then perhaps they can slow down the speed at which they leave the pass. Zoala, go with him and take the same amount of infantry with you. If the skeletons send their cavalry you need to protect the archers.

  A couple of war horns sounded, some long tones and others being short. Out of the forest started to stream the ordered troops, following their respective generals.

  Berk started the divided the rest of his army among the commanders, sending them down to change spots with either Zoala or Wout when they got tired or if they lost too many men. He kept behind a rather big group of people, continuing to let them train in the testudo formation.

  Jackson and Medi stayed behind, looking as people went down to attack the enemy. They weren’t too happy about this as they wanted to help in this war. Not only them but also Emma and Lilly seemed a bit upset about the way it was happening right now. But Berk wasn’t stupid and had to be stern. “No! You four are royalty. I can’t lose you on the battlefield.” He then turned to Lilly, holding out his hands to her. “Think about it, if you die, then I might lose the support of the humans. I need you to stay alive for the future.”

  As the fighting started, Lucas was sitting alone in an uncut part of the forest. He shivered and closed his eyes, starting to see images of moments where he almost died in the past. He had lived most of his life stuck alone but had faced death more times than he liked. Enough times that he started to regret staying around here and not leaving with Demmie and Gurgen like they suggested a couple of nights before.

  Gurgen was busy as well. He had gone to his house a while ago with some other people and gathered every barrel with healing juices that he could find and had set them up in the camp for when people would come back. It didn’t take long for Berk to give him a private team of a couple hundred men, leaving to go down into the valley and retrieve wounded people while the fight was happening.

  That left Ninke and Wout to not do anything yet, being forbidden by Berk to go out in the first skirmish. He had claimed that: “People volunteering to fight shouldn’t be put in the front lines as there will be enough time to die in later battles.”

  Therefor after the battle had begun, they found their way to Lucas, sitting down with him as they watched how the first fighting started. Ninke having put her head on Keanu’s shoulder, both hands holding onto his arm. “Thank you Lucas. I’m glad you told us about this war. I rather die here trying to fight for my freedom then find myself cornered in my cave where we’ll be executed to add to their army.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, thank m when you survive the war.” He sounded sad and upset which wasn’t too uncommon seeing the circumstances. “Any news on Lehtern? I haven’t seen him in a while now.”

  “Lehtern was that spy guy right? He left this morning wanting to try and find the leader of the Artifact Gruge if here is any. If there’s a small chance to make a deal, he would try. Or at least that’s what I heard.” She would put her hand on one of the wolves, softly patting them.

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  “If he manages to contact them and make them turn then it probably wouldn’t do a lot.” Said Lucas as he watched the attack down below. Barta and the commander both had reached the enemy but had split up.

  The merging going down had been an attempt to deceive the enemy so their flanks would be weaker. Due them being disorganized to begin with, them choosing to use the little time they had to reinforce the center made the sides the most unorganized. From where they were sitting, they couldn’t exactly see who was winning and who wasn’t. Not that there was any hopes in winning this war at this point anyway.

  Lucas got up and took his sword, looking at it before looking at Ninke. “You want to train with me? I never wielded a sword before now.”

  Ninke got up as well, getting her clothes back in shape to look nice as she then shook her head. “No, I’m going to try and find more wolves to help us I the fight. Keanu could help you though, I’m sure that he’d love to do so.”

  Both Keanu and Lucas looked surprised at her as she would wave at them with a big smile before leaving them. Before either one could say something, a group of humans came with their axes, forcing them to move away. As the humans had almost been working throughout the entire night, already a rather big area had been cleared.

  Keanu walked to the open area, looking at the smoke rising up from the burned bushes, smelling the sap and smoke. “Let’s train here.” As he took out his own sword, it was shown to be shorter than the sword Lucas had but therefore not worse. “Come on, we don’t have much time to make you good at fighting with a sword.

  He looked at the stance that Lucas took as he let his sword point to the ground in between them, giving an opening. “Let’s get started, show me what you can do so I can get an idea of your reaction time.” He just finished talking but already jumped forwards, slashing down with the sword.

  The weapon was aimed at his throat, stopping right before hitting him. Lucas didn’t even realize that they had started yet, jumping out of the way after Keanu had already touched his neck with the blade.

  Lucas took a deep breath, shaking as he didn’t like this, feeling the steel touch him. “Well, thank you for not killing me.” He tried to make a joke out of it to try and hide his fear. “Come again, I’m ready now.” He said holding his sword with two hands in front of him.

  Keanu gave him a smirk, immediately trying to do the same move. It was obvious that Lucas had been focusing on that move, managing to parry it but barely able to hold onto the sword. Keanu quickly followed it up with a thrust to the stomach, stopping right before hitting him. Lucas tried to parry it but obviously came too late.

  He didn’t like that he was failing and tried his own hand at an attack, swinging the sword to his neck. Unfortunately Keanu managed to parry the attack, letting his sword go towards the Lucas’s hand guard where he grabbed his wrist and stopped the fight.

  “Okay let’s stop here. I got an idea on where you’re right now and it’s not really looking good. I doubt that you’ll be able to fight for your life when it gets to it.”

  “Yeah well, I might not be able to fight with a sword but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight for my life. I managed to keep Lilly and Emma alive when it came to it.” He sounded upset and defensive saying this, trying to pull his wrist loose.

  Keanu let go, taking a step back as he didn’t like that Lucas was getting angry, preparing to defend himself from angry attacks. “You ran and took them with you on your run. They can fight with bow and arrow, with what can you fight?”

  He let out a growl, gripping his sword harder in his hand as his eyes pierced themselves into Keanu’s skull, finally managing to pull himself loose. “I haven’t gotten the life experience you had. I had to teach myself everything in terms of survival and the rest I got from Lehtern. Unlike you I didn’t have the privilege of freedom.”

  Up until now, Keanu had been quiet about his own past and he had to chuckle. “I heard about your enslavement by a god. Living in a huge room filled with candles. Not needing to eat and having a bed to sleep in. Waking up and removing some candles. Not the most exciting stuff I have to admit, but it beats getting hit by a whip.”

  That was the first thing that made Lucas cool down a bit. His breathing slowed down as his eyes broke loose and went down to look at his chest as if he could see through his body to his back. “Whip?”

  Keanu lifted his shirt up a bit and turned around, showing his back. It showed marks and scars of where he had been hit. He quickly lowered it again as he didn’t like to show it off too often. “So don’t talk to me about who had it harder. You can’t fight for your life, not like I had.”

  Lucas still wanted to defend himself but he knew that no matter what he said, he’d lose the argument. “I had the choice to leave this place. I didn’t to warn you and Ninke to either let you flee or join the fight.”

  “I don’t thank you for it. Now I have to worry for her life as well. Either today or tomorrow or the day after that. You managed to get her in danger as well.” Keanu seemed mad and he had reason to be but he was also calm, much calmer than Lucas.

  “I think that its better that we stop this, it was a mistake to try and train me.” He put away the sword, wanting to leave the area before he could be stopped. Sadly for him that didn’t happen with Keanu grabbing his wrist once more.

  “I heard about your past life. I talked to that Emma girl last night, I know your entire life. From what I noticed, you seemed rather inventive but you lack life experience.” Wanting to make him feel a bit better, he would let go of the wrist, trying to give him purpose. “Why don’t you try and figure out a way to deal with the bunnies? You can come to me with any ideas you come up with, how does that sound?”

  Lucas didn’t answer at first, looking down at his sword and then back up at Keanu. “I’ll… I’ll give it a try.” He took off the belt on which the sword was attached and handed it over to Keanu. “For when you go into battle.”

  Keanu took the belt but didn’t put it on, keeping it in his hand. “Don’t tell Ninke about me having made you mad. Knowing her, I would have to sleep outside the tent for a couple of days.”

  He wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not but he chuckled, knowing the way that she could be if her friends or her pack was hurt. “I’ll stay quiet, just don’t teach me to fight anymore or I’ll cut your eye out.”

  “Yeah right, as soon as you know which end of the sword is the sharp end right?”

  “Oh shut it before I shut it for you.”

  Keanu gave him a grin, throwing away both swords as he seemed to get ready for another fight. “You want to try?”

  He seemed to think about it for a second before shaking his head slowly. “No thank you, I got my ass kicked enough for one day.”