Heading Back
As the cover of night faded and the rays of sun pierced through the sky, as if it announced its presence to world, a group of soldiers marched through the plains of green.
Andreas and his troops marched towards Lughana, the city the warriors of the sun called home. Lughana was the symbol of the highest level of respect a mortal could offer God, their own city in the mortal plane. Only the strongest of gods could have their own city and keep it as their own.
The existence of Lughana was a testament to the might of the Sun God, Lugus, and living there was the dream of many a zealous devotee of the god. The Church reigned supreme in Lughana, making it a part of the empire only in name, yet it was the magnanimity of Lugus, and the nature of his worshippers that the forces of the Church took up the responsibility of peacekeeping within the empire, leaving the emperor and those in power to focus on external threats.
Andreas preferred to travel with his men and not behind them, which worked wonders for the morale of his men. How many leaders actually talked to their fellow man? How many powerful people actually broke bread with lowly soldiers? The leader's job was to lead, and a soldier's to merely die. Andreas was truly different, a zealous paladin, a mighty warrior and most importantly a man who tried to understand others.
"So Andreas, what do you think it means? The presence of a demon in the influence of our God? Are demons planning on invading Feimos again?" Natasha asked, riding alongside Andreas. Natasha, the lightbringer, was tall for a woman about 5'9 in height, with a slim build, typical of most spellcasters, she wielded a staff made of obisi wood, a dark kind of wood found in the depths of the Herepids forest, a vast network of forest that lay as the border between the Ankara Empire, where they resided, and their greatest foe, the Estudal Kingdom, a meritocracy of sorcerers and spellcasters.
"Ah Natasha, how could I know of these things?" Andreas sighed and shook his head "I am the sword that enacts the will of our God, it's not up to me to ponder about such things."
Natasha chortled, "As if! Andreas if you ever used that pig headed brain of yours, you'd realise that the Archbishops and the Cardinals are just waiting for you to join their ranks, it's you who likes to wander about being left in the dark!"
Hearing his subordinates retort, Andreas blushed in embarrassment, "Well, what do you know anyway? Did you check on the wounded? Our God doesn't take kindly to devotees who shirk their duty you know!" Andreas waved his finger at her in a serious manner.
The gesture made Natasha remember the duality of the Mighty Andreas, a veritable force of nature when it came to his duty, and a fish out of water for anything that required mental acuity. She recalled the story her mentor had told her about Andreas when she was first enlisted in his battalion, about how Andreas, just a knight at the time, pummelled his tactics teacher, when he said, "Has our God made you stupid today, or were you born an imbecile?" Not because Andreas felt insulted, but because he thought the teacher took his God's name in vain!
His behaviour and the story she recalled made Natasha break in to laughter, "Yes my paladin." was the only thing she could muster up to say between bouts of laughter before she left for the back of the battalion to check up on the wounded soldiers.
Shortly after, much to Andreas' delight, arrived Patreus. Patreus, the Violet Light, was a paladin under the command of Andreas, he boasted a short and stocky build for his size, standing in at about 5'6, he wore light armor and wielded a shield bearing Lugus' insignia on his back with a shortsword (Arming Sword*) at his hip. Andreas considered him to be his closest friend and confidante.
After Andreas inquired about Patreus' condition after the fight last night, and making some small talk, Patreus gave him the scouting report, traces of bandits, animal tracks, nothing out of the ordinary. "That's nice, no incessant pissing about for a change." Andreas sighed. He hated bandits, but he hated fighting them even more. It took up too much manpower to dispose of the corpses, the knights of Lugus surely couldn't leave the corpses be, they had to be buried to judged for their sins, and as easy as it was to cut down a group of bandits it took more than double the time to bury their wretched corpses.
After giving the report Patreus noticed a troubled look on Andreas' face, puzzled by his expression he asked him, "Hey Andy, what happened? What's gotten you so twisted up?"
Andreas sighed and replied, "Pat something about the night we cleansed Piltrum confuses me. How did you manage to get caught? If I remember correctly, you were captured and kept in the barracks. How? Your results during stealth drills are outstanding! You've infiltrated enemy ranks successfully so many times before, that if stealth were water you'd be a fish. By Lugus, even the demon wasn't strong enough to detect you. What happened?" Upon hearing these words Patreus could only look down, slightly embarrassed.
"It was nothing, I was a little careless, that's it. I thought I'd have enough time until our battalion would arrive and wanted to blow off some steam."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Andreas asked, genuinely confused.
"You'll make me say it huh? Alright asshole, I got drunk, got in to a bar fight, punched one shitstain of a commander in Piltrum's army and got rushed by his men. All by accident of course." Patreus replied while rubbing his nose.
Andreas, his jaw dropped, "Unbelievable! You-You did what? Was your brain switched out with dung? Do you have dung in your head? What the fuck? A paladin shouldn't indulge in worldly pleasures! Especially if we are on duty! We are the instruments of our God's will!" He droned on and on about the duties of a paladin, the importance of keeping their oath to God, before losing track completely and just kept praising their God.
Patreus ended up making an excuse to head back in front to rejoin the scouts,Andreas, being the the kind of person he is, failed to notice the glint that flashed through Patreus' eyes as he left for the front.
As the morning sun approached high noon, a structure crept upon the horizon, each and every soldier in the battalion was well aware of the far off silhouette, the battalion cheered for home was finally in sight! The gates of Lughana, the city of Lugus, the Raidant. The manifestation of his glory, a testament to his might through the ages and the abode of their God's Church.