Hear me roar.

[Rhalius]

At the gates the romans have managed to keep the lion soldiers at bay, but now they come with crossbows before sending in a second wave of infantry!


They also just keep comeing at the walls, hoping to push through but the romans are not letting them through under the command of General Secundus.

General Secundus: "Is that the best you can do? Hah! these soldiers are no match for roman legionaires!"

The siege tower however, is being pushed closer to the walls and is dropping down it's bridge.

Centurion: "More of their soldiers? we can fight them all day if we have to! Ready your weapons, men!"

But much to their surprise, templar knights and not lion soldiers come charging out of the siege tower!

Sir Charles: "Forwards, my brothers! Rid this land of these cruel romans!"
Their attack is covered by crossbowmen on top of the tower.

Who will be victorious? The roman legions, or the Lion troops with the aid of the templar knights? And what are the three friends to do in this war?
These answers will come soon!

((tomorrow comes the conclusion of the story!   ))

[Tiermann]

Great developments, but wow, that photo of the ballista bolt coming at the top of the tower!!! 
That is a fantastic photo, beautifully done!

[Rhalius]

((sorry for the delay, had a lot of work the last two days.))

The experienced templars completely overwhelm the surprised romans, who expected to fight mere foot soldiers.


But when properly motivated, the mere foot soldiers should not be underestimated either!

Inspired by the powerfull warrior prince leading the charge, the lion soldiers keep pouring through the gates and push the romans back!

The soldiers in prison can sure appreciate the view of the ongoing battle.

Soldier: "Yes, thats it! keep pushing forward! Free us from this cesspit of despair!"
Crossbowman: "They treat us like animals! Last night they served us warm wine with our roasted pork and ceasar salad!"

General Tertius sees quite well from above his tower that things are starting to look bad as the templars are securing the gatehouse.

General Tertius: "How is this possible Marcus? How can this rabble be defeating our mighty legion?."
Felix: "My name is Felix!"
General Tertius: "Oh, shush you, and follow me! back into the fort!"

With the gate secure, the templars are starting to push forward on the walls with the help of the lion soldiers, the walls are lost.


In the courtyard the romans are quickly getting outnumbered now that the gates are wide open and the lion army is free to march right in.

[Rhalius]

Realising he cannot win the fight here, General Primus must make a decision that is not easy for him.

General Primus: "Fall back! Fall back to the keep!"

The soldiers and the praetorian guards do their best to cover the retreat of the generals, trying to move as many of their men as possible back into the keep before pulling up the stairs.

In the meanwhile,  Prince Edward's personal guards are moving in to free the prisoners.


Freed soldier: "Captain Sirius! Great to see you again!"
Captain Sirius: "Considering it was a full legion I will excuse you lot for your faillure to keep the prince from being captured, but don't let this ever happen again!"

With the courtyard secured, the lion knights ride through the gate.


The holed up romans as well as the lion troops hold their fire for now, they watch as Prince Edward and the three friends follow the lion knights through the gate.

General Tertius: "There he comes, the source of all our troubles."
General Secundus: "We should have executed him straight away."
General Primus: "And those three knights along with him."

Cecil the lion roars as he walks into the castle at Prince Edward's side.

Soldier: "Prince Edward has returned! And he has brought a lion with him! We are blessed!"
Roderick, Henry and Frederick are not so sure yet about that, but they are happy to at least see the romans defeated.

[Rhalius]

Two lion princes standing face to face can only mean trouble however.

Prince James: "So there you are, my cousin Edward. The man who tarnished our family name and who now dragged us into war."
Prince Edward: "I started no war with these romans, and whoever you might be, you are wearing a crown that is mine by birthright!"
Prince James: "You don't remember me? My father died protecting his older brother, your father, the king! Back when our kingdom fell all those years ago. I was only a child back then, my mother took me to the court of Chivalia where I was trained to be a knight. Since you betrayed your father and the kingdom, he made me his heir."
Prince Edward: "I will speak with my father about this."

And there comes King Richard, greeted with cheers by his men as he enters the castle.

Soldiers: "Hail King Richard!"

He walks towards Prince James, who bows before him.

Prince James: "The romans are defeated, great king Richard the Lion. I thought you may wish to have a word with them before we attack the keep."
King Richard: "Exellent work, I can always count on you. Now, I wish to speak to General Primus."
General Primus: "We will fight you to the bitter end, false king!"

King Richard shakes his head and looks up while Prince James moves to stand at his side.

King Richard: "Don't be foolish. I know you have civilians up there. You are also outnumbered and trapped. And I wish to offer you a way out."
General Primus: "Why should I trust the word of the man who ordered the assasination of our emperor?!"
King Richard: "I had no part in that,  but I realise that may be difficult to believe. I will allow you and your people safe passage back to your ships. Return to your island and bury your Emperor with honour. If your new Emperor wants to resume the war, so be it. But I hope he will think twice about trying to invade this continent again."

The three generals seem to consider this.

General Tertius: "We should accept this, the emperor must be buried with honour."
General Secundus: "No, we should fight them to the death! They are not to be trusted!"
General Primus: "Silence! It is futile to continue fighting, we are outnumbered. We will strike back from a position of strenght. King Richard, we agree to your terms."

With the romans surrendering and preparing to leave the fort, King Richard moves to speak with his son.

King Richard: "Edward, I am happy to see you are unharmed, no doubt that lion of yours brought you good fortune! I trust that you did learn your lesson during your captivity?"
Prince Edward: "Of course father, it was wrong of me to try and take the throne before it is my time to rule. I have much to learn from you still. I offer you this lion, Cecil, as a token of my goodwill. These three brave knights saved me from death, even while they where my enemies in the past."
King Richard: "You three have my gratitude, please stay a moment. I wish to speak with the three of you after matters are settled here."

[Rhalius]

Quite soon, the romans march out of the castle, the soldiers have been quick to decorate it with lion banners once more.

General Tertius: "Let's step on it Marcus, I wish to return to new Rome as quickly as possible."
Crixus: "My name is Crixus."
General Tertius: "Just shut up and drive my chariot."
General Secundus seems to prefer to steer his own chariot, keeping his trusted gladiator close.

Broken and defeated, the roman people and the soldiers follow behind the chariots, carrying their emperor.

But will this be the last we see of the Roman Empire?

Not if General Primus would have anything to say about it.

General Primus: "Mark my words, King Richard! We will elect a strong new emperor, and we will return! With the full strenght of our legions!"
King Richard: "We will be prepared for them, and you might need to elect new generals as well if you hope to stand a chance. Now begone from my kingdon, before I change my mind."

On his way out General Primus sees his ally, Sir Sigurd the copper knight of the South.

General Primus: "We may have need of you and the other Craftkeep knights soon."
Sir Sigurd: "Considering how carelessly our gifts are treated and your blundering here, we will have to reconsider this alliance. I am taking my rhino back to Craftkeep."
General Primus: "We will speak more of this later, but not here."

The copper knight is called before King Richard.

King Richard: "What am I to do with you, Sir Sigurd? You raised your sword against my son in the arena, but I have no quarrel with the other craftkeep knights who I respect. Out of that respect I will let you return to craftkeep, but you will be forbidden to enter my lands again untill further notice."

Sigurd just nods silently in agreement and turns away after a slight bow, to look at the three knights he fought earlier.

Sir Sigurd: "You three fought well, I can respect that. Time will tell if saving that prince his life was worth it. I don't trust him, and neither should you."
Roderick: "Just like you we will have to wait and see."
Henry: "I hope this does not make us enemies of craftkeep?"
Sigurd: "No, my rhino is unharmed. Come visit Craftkeep sometimes, and we might try a rematch under friendlier terms."
Frederick: "Well good to hear thats all cleared up then!"

[Rhalius]

As Sir Sigurd departs, Lord Gregorius, the original owner of the castle, steps forward.

King Richard: "I suppose you wish to have your castle back, Lord Gregorius?"
Gregorius: "Oh no, too much fighting here, I have had it with this place! You can have it! I will be leaving to find a more peacefull place to live! Good luck to you, good king Richard, and farewell!"
King Richard: "That is settled then, this castle shall be the capital of the returned kingdom of Alion!"

And lastly, the templars step forward.

King Richard: "The three of you have played a vital part in the victory here today, and you saved me from my prison months ago. I am forever in the dept of your order."
Templar knight: "You owe us nothing, honoured King. Where ever these barbaric romans try to set foot on the continent, we will be there to push them back! It is our sworn duty."

As the templars turn away to leave, Charles turns to his old friends.

Sir Charles: "It is good to see you three again, and from what I hear the right decision was made. If it was not for that assasin, you three might have prevented the war."
Roderick: "I just hope that war is over now, and that the romans won't return."
Henry: "I think this defeat only made them more eager for war."
Charles: "I fear the same, Henry. Perhaps we will fight them together next time. Take care!"

Now it is their turn to stand before the king.

King Richard: "I can't thank you enough for saving the life of my son. Even while he was your enemy, if it is possible for the three of you to forgive him after all he did, then so can I."
Roderick: "Thank you sire, but we had hoped to prevent the war."
King Richard: "Let's hope they learned their lesson and stay on their own island from now on. This continent is no place for them."
Prince Edward: "My thanks again for your assistance, brave knights. Perhaps we will be able to have a friendly tournament again soon."
Henry: ".. I still remember the last tournament."
Prince Edward: "Such deception will not happen again, I promise."
Frederick: "Well maybe if you organise it with a nice banquet or such it might be fun.."
King Richard: "That's the spirit! Forgive and forget! Let's leave the troubled past behind us!"

And so the three friends return back to their castle, but they are still not sure if they did the right thing.

Henry: "I dont know about this, can Prince Edward ever be trusted? He did so many terrible things. I'm not letting my guard down for certain!"
Roderick: "That's probably wise, we best keep an eye on him. But if we did nothing we might have been enemies of King Richard now."
Frederick: "And King Richard seems gratefull! Besides, that Prince James is his heir now anyways so we shouldnt worry so much!"

As they walk out of the gate, they are greeted by the freed gladiators.

Gladiator: "Thank you for helping us win our freedom."
Henry: "You fought for your own freedom, no need to thank us. What will you do now?"
Gladiator: "We are still thinking about it. Some of us wish to return home, but some of us might put our skills to use for a cause of our own choosing."
Frederick: "Well I wish you all good luck with it, perhaps we will meet again some day!"
Gladiator: "Indeed! Take care!"

[Rhalius]

After their departure, King Richard has matters to consider. He looks at Edward as he strokes the lion he was given.

King Richard: "You know Edward.. even though you put me in prison for so many years, you have shown cunning and strategic talent in those years. Perhaps now that you have learned your lesson, we can put that to better use. I am not sure yet which one of you should be my heir, when the time comes, I will choose the one who is most worthy."
Prince Edward: "Of course father, that is your choice to make. I have wronged you after all."

Prince Edward seems to have changed his ways.. but has he really changed?

Captain Sirius: "It seems everything worked out well, the blue shadow performed his task well and you are regaining the trust of your father. Seems you had three unexpected allies as well."
Prince Edward: "Yes, those fools helped me perfectly. I could not have planned it better myself. Their sense of honour was quite convenient."
Captain Sirius: "So what now my liege?"
Prince Edward: "Best we lay low for now while we plan our next move. I won't make the same mistake again."

They both go quiet when they hear footsteps approach, it appears to be Prince James.

Prince James: "You may have fooled your father, but I am keeping a close eye on you. You won't bring harm to King Richard or the kingdom of Alion ever again under my watch."

It appears Prince Edward continues his schemes, but it seems he will not be able to plot freely this time. And what of the romans? Will the new emperor persue peace, or war?

Only time will tell, but for now, this story draws to a close.

[Macruran]

Well the Romans should have won, but apart from that, a ripping yarn!

[Tiermann]

Very interesting ending to the story.  Good to hear the rhino was unharmed and will be returning home.