Fiery flames had already engulfed two of buildings. Thankfully, some Hetheilian soldiers had already responded, conducting short firefighting operations. Capurnicus had retrieved his bow and was shooting them down, not caring about the future consequences that this would bring about which he believed religiously believed in prior to this. Allan ran around the settlement looking for the rest of them. He walked towards one of the men who had been shot down by Capurnicus, still alive the man was struggling to breath. He knelt and looked at him dead in the eye, he had seen this soldier fire an arrow at a Troll juvenile. “I am sorry soldier of Unodos, your foolish pain will end” said Allan as he reluctantly plunged the sword into the soldier’s chest, killing him. This was too much for Allan, he had just been responsible for the deaths of fellow Humans, he’s many regrets and speculations emerged once again. And even a tear was slowly rolling down his cheek. He could not cope with death let alone the death of another Human by his own hands and doing.
He left the scene and as he emerged from the mass of confused Hetheilian and Trolls trying to fight the fires, he saw eleven dead Humans. Eyes from all stared at Allan, Capurnicus then came up to him and angrily said “Allan, what would you like to happen to their leader, Valek?” as he and two others threw the battered Unodite to the ground. Valek then got on his knees and shouted “what the others and I did today was for all of us Humans to prosper! This was for our future!” He then turned to Allan with the look of death and said “go ahead and have me killed, you were an idiot to do such a thing. Look Human lives already been lost and now you will dishonourably add me to the list of dead, protecting the Trolls our long-time enemies. We had the opportunity to kill you at the Marsh, now that was a mistake”. “No I will not have you killed. I will kill you myself” said Allan in attempt to show that he was worthy of leadership as well as the fact that he views Valek as a personal enemy. Capurnicus then firmly but his palm on Allan’s shoulder. He then said in a serious tone “No you are not going to do this Allan. I can slit his throat while he is pinned down now. If I were you I’d do this the easy way. I am not going to allow you to risk your life”. “I am going to do it Capurnicus. This man deserves the honour his men were bestowed upon death in battle. He loves Humanity as much as I do. I know it. It is only fair he is given a more deserving punishment. And this is an order. Hand him your sword, Capurnicus” said Allan with mild composure. Without saying a word, Capurnicus threw his sword to the ground in front of Valek.
He then proceeded with the two other men. Men and Trolls alike knew this procedure and they kept at safe distances forming an almost perfect circle around the scene, all had their eyes fixed on what was to happen next. Valek look around, took a deep breath and after gripping the sword handle stood up. He had already been hit in the face and stomach and slightly injured from his previous encounter with Allan. “Valek, here is your chance” said Allan boldly. “A chance?” questioned Valek. “If I am guilty I will pay the price and you have the chance to punish and end me” said Allan as his grip on his sword tightened. Valek nodded in response and Allan said “I cannot kill a Human but for the lives of any other, I will” said Allan as he stared down his opponent. Without hesitation Valek lunged for Allan’s stomach with his sword, Allan blocked it with his shield and pressed his body up against it. Now in perfect position he charged Valek, throwing him back. Valek did not waste any time and immediately attacked Allan again. This time he went for Allan’s lower body but, once again repulsed as Allan rose his shield in the path of the sword. Allan then bent down so that he was still able to protect his upper body. However, Valek then threw a kick at Allan’s shield and then narrowly sliced the arm he was holding it with. Definitely not fatal but it forced Allan to drop his shield. Both were now armed at the same level.
Valek then circled around Allan to strike him from the back, side, or neck. Allan then lunged forward with his sword but the swipe missed Valek as he moved backwards. Nearly slicing his face. Valek countered with an intended hack to the neck. Allan grabbed the incoming arm, preventing the strike. Angered Valek did the same for Allan’s arm and used his knee to club Allan’s wristed hard, making Allan drop his sword. But in that very moment, Allan punched Valek’s face from the side. It was such an impact, Valek fell sideways. He dropped his sword. Now somewhat on his knees, Allan kicked him in the chest, making him fall on his back. Allan then scoured the area around him for his sword but before he knew it, Valek had his arm wrapped around Allan’s neck. Suddenly all that training from his mentor Wilmot, kicked in. Allan then instinctively put his leg behind Valek’s, after applying force the two slumped to the ground. With his arm, still around Allan’s neck and Valek’s other arm restricting Allan’s master arm. Allan began desperately elbowing Valek’s face. After three blows to the Valek’s head, Valek lost his arm’s grip on Allan’s neck and upper body. Freed and angered, Allan crawled towards his sword to retrieve it. In pain and injured Valek started to crawl towards where his sword had fallen. Valek finally got it and just as he was attempting to stand up a blade went straight through his back. With the last ounce of strength, he had he turned his head and spat blood on his killer. It was Allan. Valek’s life left his eyes and he fell back onto the ground, dead. Allan was panting heavily and he felt his right arm, he then noticed it was covered in blood and bleeding profusely.
Capurnicus then ran over and wrapped a clean piece of linen around the wound to stop it from bleeding further. He then aided Allan back under the cliff face of mount Ranicus. Serai visited Allan later that evening at the Human camp close to the opening of the Mount Ranicus path. “Allan, you and the Humans must leave tomorrow morning, we will rebuild and finish the rest. The sacrifices you have made for us, we can never equal” said Serai. “There is no need to equal, your people have suffered enough. We shall finish the constitution before we part ways tomorrow” said Allan. Capurnicus sat in front of them both with a scroll and a pencil to record the entries into the constitution this Troll settlement was supposed to have. They spent hours and long into the night writing the governing terms of the Troll settlement. The term included a term that detailed that should the Human kingdoms face war, if called upon the Trolls must contribute warriors to fray. Allan had to implement terms that would benefit the Humans, if he was to have any hope of approval from Hetheil let alone the other Human kingdoms. Serai did not question or go against any of the terms because he was indebted to Allan and knew it would not be good to go against someone who has gone literally gone through blood, sweat and tears to help him and his people. Serai left to administrate the Trolls of the new state.
Allan then said to Capurnicus “that was hard to do. To kill men, fellow Humans. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for that”. “Allan, no matter what I will stand by you and support you in this entire thing, you have my word. Killing a man is hard, it certainly is. But it was what you had to do. To protect our newly found friends the Trolls and the rest of us under your command” said Capurnicus. “But if I hadn’t made the decision to make peace with the Trolls, none of this would have happened” said Allan. “No sire. Do you know how many lives you have saved? We would never have been able to battle the Trolls over a long period in the Darian marsh. You have saved far more men then you have killed, I’ll tell you, stop having second thoughts about. Even I will follow this, to me this is the new way to go now” said Capurnicus staunchly. Allan then tilted his head backwards and wiped the tears of his face. “You’re right. And we and all the others who will stand by me in this bid for peace must change Paradon as best as we can. Peace with the beasts is the only for all of us to progress” said Allan with a reinvigorated spirit. “We should leave as soon as dawn breaks. The Unodites are to head back to the kingdom tomorrow as well, they were not permitted to be stationed at the wall unlike most of the Hetheilian soldiers who will be stationed at the wall once we reach there. Afterwards you and I can expect to be back in Ohith” said Capurnicus.
Dawn broke, every Human was getting ready to part ways with the Tr
olls. Allan and Serai spoke to each other. “I will oblige with all the terms Allan. You can count on my people and I at any time” said Serai. “Thank you Serai” said Allan. “If any point in time under any circumstance that you are exiled. You may come here whenever you wish” said Serai. “It’ll probably happen. And I will definitely come here” said Allan as he parted with Serai. At the opening of the path the Unodites were out in front of the Hetheilians and Allan joined the Hetheilian ranks at the head of them to lead them towards the wall, which would formerly signify the end of the campaign. Allan mounted his horse, copper and led the Human the Human forces through the path once more. Allan could not have been more proud of himself, he had managed to successfully cement a bond between beasts and Humans. As well as the fact that was pointed out by Capurnicus that Allan had minimised casualties and both sides. He has also in a sense created a new nation for these Trolls. Their own state that they have self-determination over while allowing the