Years before Emperor was born, in Bêtéclair, something happened that changed the future of the whole Steelwood empire. A simple battle turned into a disastrous victory.

Chinui had received a scouting report saying that the migration path of the five thousand strong keradon herd had somehow changed and instead of going north of the hills towards the thorn woods, it had turned southward. That course would lead them right at the heart of the Artefine kingdom.

He had to deal with this swiftly but there was a small problem. The emperor happened to be visiting Bêtéclair, city from where Chinui was commanding the troops. The emperor was in a good mood that day and asked to go with him to see the battle. After all, it had been a long time since the two friends had taken part in an event together.

Chinui had accepted since it was a wish of his emperor and friend but, he knew this would only bring him more trouble. He had only planned to send two legion of spearmen and bowmen that would have been lead by a local duke but, since the emperor was coming as well, he had to send the whole army stationed in Bêtéclair. Instead of sending six thousand soldiers, he had to send almost fifteen thousand and of course, he would have to lead them himself. All of this for the emperor's protection but also, because he was right. He did not have as much time to spend with him as he did in the past and missed the good times he shared with him in the past.

Since they were only dealing with a herd of wild beast, Chinui did not bring neither mages nor cavalry with the troops. The cost of bringing the mages was too great compared to the small enemy they had to push back and the cavalry wasn't useful in the rocky hills of northern Artefine.

The keradon wasn't that smart of a creature. They were large, strong and almost unstoppable while they ran but, they had a poor vision, were fearful beasts and were no smarter than a cow. The one charging in front chose the path and the rest followed. There was no tactic involved into fighting them, you only had to force them to turn around or kill them all.

Usually, the keradons lived most of the year in the plains of the tribes-land. Then, when approaching the peak of summer, they moved west until they reached the fresh air coming from the sea. They enjoyed the breeze for a while, gave birth north of the Thornwoods and went back to the tribes-land afterwards.

Looking at the map, the path they would take should have been obvious. If they did not take their usual route, they would cut between the hills near Burnston village and follow the path down towards the howling Hill. He would intercept the herd there since such a large amount of troops couldn't go any faster.

Chinui moved the troops as swiftly as he could but once he reached Dark-glint, he received some more strange news. The herd did not go through the planned route and instead ran straight towards Burnston.

This disturbed the great general. Their path did not make sense. Going that way would lead them back eastward through the Thundering pass. They were supposed to go west. Why were they turning around? He changed his plans and moved the troops toward the Thundering pass. He also gave the order to abandon Burnston village and send more scouts to find out what caused such a strange behavior.

The troops were forced to move twice as fast to reach the pass before the herd, if they let them through here, there would not be anywhere else to corner them. Every fields in the plains of Artefine would be ravaged by the trampling of the herd.

Those were all the reasons that led Chinui and his troops here at the end of the Thundering pass. On their left, hills with sharp and brittle slopes made it impossible to climb, on their right burnt trees and a labyrinth of splintered rocks and displaced boulders made sure the herd would not go that way. If they really wanted to move forward, they would have to go through the four legions he brought.

There wasn't much time left before the beasts arrived but Chinui was still undecided on how to proceed. The scouts had not come back, he felt blind. What took them so long?

As he awaited the scouts return, he walked around the frontline to see how the soldiers were keeping up. He met up with the captains of each company one by one to see for himself if something was wrong. Aside from how tired they were from the march, everything seemed in order.

Chinui's brother, Chijou, was one of the captains present.

"Great general, sir!" Chijou said with a salute when Chinui approached his company.

"Don't sir me Chijou. How are your men?" Asked Chinui casually.

"Tired but they'll be all right." He said with a grin. "There was a lot of complains about burnt smell."

"That's to be expected here, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I know but that won't stop them from complaining."

"How about you give each of them a good kick? That ought to help." Joked Chinui.

"You're the only one here who feels like a kick is motivating, brother."

"Well, at least it's refreshing for the one kicking."

"Of course you would feel that way, you aren't the one receiving them so often."

"That's because you sleep too much! How many times do I have to tell you to wake up with the sun!"

"But that's useless, there's no point in getting up with the sun if you are to feel tired for the whole day. I still think you should sleep more and let me be for a little longer."

"Nonsense, you're such a bad example for your men, if you don't get up, how are they expected to do it?"

"I may be a bad example but at least I have a girl waiting for me." Said Chijou, retaliating with the fact that his brother was still single.

"Yes, and she will wait for a very long time if you just keep sleeping so much."

Chijou let out something between a laugh and a sigh and changed the subject.

"Speaking of my almost fiance, what do you think of the swords she made us?"

"A good pair, she is talented. The enchantments on them are practical, the balance is good, the length perfect for us and the blade deadly."

"Right? That is an incredible Holia's offering! I can't wait to see what she is going to do next. I can't go anywhere without Night anymore."

"Day is one of the best blades I ever used, it's just a little... savage."

"Savage? Sure it's not designed quite traditionally but don't describe something my girlfriend made as savage!"

"Why not? It perfectly describes them."

It wasn't an insult, Chinui genuinely felt that there was no point in a sword looking good if it could not cut properly. Those two swords, Night and Day (1), looked a little raw but their edge was sharper and more reliable than what he usually saw in the capital.

"You are terrible today. What is it you ate this morning? I'll ask the cooks to never do that again."

"That has nothing to do with what I ate. I just don't get what is happening and the scouts didn't come back."

"You think there's something more?"

"I'm sure there is, they would never turn around like that on their own, there is something else."

"Should we make barricades in case we need them? Trenches?"

"No, it will only tire your soldiers more. Start Putting down spikes at an angle to lead them toward the center. Send some men to get the others to do the same and be ready to move in case we have to."

"Got it. I'll see you after the battle and we'll have a talk about finding you a wife." Chijou made a salute and turned around to lead his troops.

"You sure about that? You'll probably be asleep by then."

"Again? Leave me be, I'm not twelve anymore, I can sleep for as long as I want."

"It should be the opposite, you are not twelve anymore, I shouldn't have to tell you to wake up."

Chijou just made a dismissive gesture with his hand and Chinui went back to the commanding pavilion. That was the last time he saw his brother alive.

The flags of Steelwood empire, Muracier house, Grandbois house and the Artefine kingdom flew together around its entrance. On them were a crenelated tree, a crenelated wall, a large three over a mountain and a feather over a parchment respectively.

Bellow the flags stood an old man in military uniform. He saluted Chinui when he saw him approaching.

"Great general, sir!"

"Sir duke Jasay, you can stand down."

Duke Jasay was the one who was supposed to be in charge before the emperor decided to join. He was an half bald old man who did not have much energy left but knew his way around a battlefield. He had been in the army for a long time, and followed three generation of Muracier in combat.

"Since no one came to find me, I will guess that the scouts didn't find anything?"

"This right sir, a third of them who went for the herd came back but didn't see a thing. Those who went for the Burnston village said that it was burnt to the ground. They be looking for survivors in the hills behind." Said the old man with a strange accent and a smile.

"Burnt? This whole thing is getting weirder and weirder. Are you sure that is what the scout said?"

"Aye, burnt he said, not destroyed or abandoned, burnt."

"Why are you looking so happy about this?"

"This be my last battle sir. "You be too old for this" said my family. Now, it seems I'm so old they gonna make me an ancient. They found me a place in the school. I'm to be the new principal."

"You will be the one to teach all those young and foolish nobles?"

"I'm not the one whose gonna do the teachin, and you be one of those foolish nobles too once. The worst of them even."

Chinui grinned at the old man and wished him good luck before he went in to meet with the rest of the commanding officers.

Inside, a group of men were waiting for him in the company of the emperor. There were two generals here, the general Averton, in charge of the right wing, and Chinui's cousin, in charge of the reserves. The left wing would be lead by the Duke and Chinui was in control of the center.

The rest of the present people were of lower ranks but Chinui valued most of their opinions, when they had some to offer. Against the keradons, they didn't have much to say, the fight should be quite straightforward.

After a quick salute, everyone stood waiting for the words of the great general. Everyone aside from the Emperor who sat on the only chair present and immediately spoke his mind.

"Chinui my friend, what are we doing? Is it not strange to wait for something to happen?"

"My lord, there is nothing I can do if I don't know what is coming at us. For now, I asked the troops to place downs walls of spikes to funnel the keradons in a line easy to take out. For the rest, we will have to wait."

"Sir, if I may, I disagree." Spoke a man standing close to the emperor. "What could possibly pose a threat to our whole army? We should just press on and clash with them as soon as possible in case they change their path again."

Chinui answered his cousin, Graube Muracier with a frown. He was always doing this, arguing against everything he did. Sometimes he was right, but most of the times, Chinui felt that his tendency to charge in blindly was, at best, dangerous.

"The goal isn't to defeat them as fast as possible. The goal is just to push them back as safely as possible. There is no reason for us to move up general."

"But we could at least move some archer companies up in the rocks to our east to thin out their number before they reach us." Proposed the emperor.

"We could." Answered Chinui politely. "But the scouts haven't found why the herd turned around yet. Our best course of action is still to reinforce the line and wait for them to return."

"Why are you so sure they aren't just acting on stupidity? You have no idea what caused them to turn. Maybe their usual path was just blocked and they got lost in the hills."

"Forgive me but you don't know either, a bunch of keradons cannot burn down a village. There is something wrong with them."

"But Burnston is a mining village, a coal mining village. They probably burned it down themselves by accident as they ran away from the herd." Argued Graube. "We should do as the king said and split off our archers on the side. The beasts will never run in that labyrinth."

"And I tell you that if there is indeed something else with them, our archers will be left defenseless. It is not worth the risk. We will put down the spikes and line up spearmen behind them in a large V shape. The herd will just run into the tip of that V and get stuck there with spearmen and archers on either side."

"You're always doing that, camping in your fortifications like a turtle instead of pressing on when you have the advantage."

"Yes because it's foolish to run forward when you don't know what's up there. That's why you are not the one with the title of great general."

Graube inhaled deeply and quite audibly with a flare of his nostrils, visibly angry at his cousin. The emperor, undoubtedly feeling a little uncomfortable in this atmosphere, excused himself.

"Well, come tell me if something happens or the battle starts."

The emperor rose from his seat and everyone in the pavilion bowed to him as he left. Those left in the pavilion were forced to assist to the usual bout between the cousins. The argument continued for a short while before Chinui finally dismissed everyone, telling them one final time to wait for more information before moving.

After that, the only thing Chinui himself could do was wait as well. Outside, long wooden spikes were unloaded from the supply carts and planted along the pass. Any keradon that would run into them would end up impaled, or at least, slowed. The soldiers were taking turns working and resting hoping to get some energy back before the fight. The air in the pass was dry and dust flew down the hills to choke the soldiers but the mood was good. Moral was high and soldiers sang whatever came to their minds as they worked.

(1) I almost called the swords sun and moon but it had a strong Pokemon feel to it for some reason.