Battle of Thorngate

The Battle of Thorngate was a battle in the Rys-Nevrakis Conflict, in which Queen Kenna Rys attacked the castle of Thorngate, in order to liberate it from Vassilios Nevrakis's control, and restore Rowan Thorn as the rightful ruler of the Kingdom of Bellmere.

Prelude
A few months after retaking Stormholt, Kenna and her allies decided to liberate the rest of the Five Kingdoms from the Nevrakis Family, her army is now positioned outside of Thorngate Castle, the seat of the Thorn Family, who is now ruled by Vassilios Nevrakis, the brother of King Luther.

Kenna is waiting for Vassilios to show up from the castle's walls, in order to negotiate with him, but he's late, Kenna laments that she can't afford to lose anymore time, since Luther's army could be returning from the Iron Empire any day now.

Val thinks that maybe they shouldn't help the other Kingdoms, and that they should wait for them to rise up on their own, Raydan tells her that they could do that, but if they actually don't fight for themselves, then Luther would crush them all.

Suddently, Vassilios appears from a balcony and greets Kenna and her companions.

Kenna angrily asks Vassilios why is he yelling from the castle walls instead of speaking to her face to face, he answers by asking her why should he leave his castle just to hear her terms, since she has to win for those to matter, after saying this, he goes back inside his castle.

Inside her command tent, Kenna plans for the coming battle, Whitlock tells her that the should be careful, since the people of Thorngate will be involved in the fighting, but Kenna believes that when they see her fighting against the Nevrakis Soldiers, they will join her.

Whitlock is still not convinced enough, so he tells her that he builded a shock emitter, a weapon that can stun enemies without killing them.

Shortly after, Kenna stands in front of her army, she tells them that together they will liberate Thorngate, and soon, the rest of the Five Kingdoms.

She asks her soldiers if they are with her, and her army roars...

The Battle
Kenna and her army rush forward to meet with a contingent of Nevrakis Soldiers, during their charge, their path is blocked by the thorny vines that surround the castle, Kenna's soldiers easily cut through the vines.

The two armies clash together, a Nevrakis Soldier attacks Kenna, but she quickly slays him, across the battlefield, Kenna spots enemy archers coming near her position, but they are not Nevrakis Soldiers, they are the soldiers of Thorngate, they are also lead by a mysterious woman covered in vine tattoos.

The archers fire their arrows upon Kenna and her soldiers, she manages to take cover under a patch of thick brambles, Kenna is surprised, she thought that the people of Thorngate would support her, not attack her, Val condemns their cowardice, while Raydan speculates that perhaps they don't know the real reason why Kenna is laying siege to Thorngate.

Kenna decides that the best course of action is talking with their leader, but before she can act, she notices a massive catapult being wheeled into place, the catapult fires, killing numerous Stormholt Soldiers in the process, the catapult operator immediately starts to load the catapult with other shots.

In order to stop that catapult, they are going to need a longbow, since none of their bows can fire from that far.

Kenna, Val and a squad of Stormholt Soldiers, fight their way towards the Thorngate Archers, the archers immediately scatter as soon as they see Kenna and her soldier approaching, however, their leader doesn't escape in time, and Kenna tackles her to the ground, Val yanks her up, pinning her arms from behind her back.

The leader demands to be released, but Kenna asks her the motive behind her attack on the Stormholt Soldiers, the leader angrily tells her that Kenna is attacking her home with an army, and that she has no reason to trust her.

Kenna attempts to introduce herself, but the leader interrups her by stating that she knows the Rys Family far too well, her entire family went to Stormholt under a supposed alliance, but no one came back.

Hearing her statement, Kenna understands who the leader is, she's Rowan Thorn, daughter of Daphne and Ewan Thorn.

Kenna tries to explain that it wasn't the Rys Family who betrayed the Five Kingdoms that day, It was the Nevrakis, she also tells her that she can't bring her loved ones back to life, but she can help her free her people if she joins her side, Rowan is still skeptical, and refuses to join Kenna.

On the ground, Kenna notices Rowan's Thorngate Longbow, Rowan tells her that her Longbow is impossible to use, Nevertheless, Kenna simply picks it up, aims her arrow and shoots the catapult operator in the head, Rowan is incredibly surprised.

All of a sudden, a hail of arrows rains down from above, Kenna and her companions get to cover, while Rowan runs away to her soldiers.

A Thorngate army flanks Kenna and her men, but before they are killed, the Thorngate Soldiers are stunned by bolts of lightning produced by Whitlock's shock emitter.

Moments later, the routing Nevrakis army falls back inside the castle, but suddently smoke begins to rise from the castle, Dominic realizes that Vassilios must have put the castle to the torch out of spite rather than let Kenna take it.

Suddently, A squad of Thorngate Archers led by Rowan Thorn appears behind Kenna and her team, she blames Kenna for setting fire to Thorngate and invading her land, but Kenna explains that she did nothing, and that it's all Vassilios's fault, she only came to Thorngate to get rid of Vassilios's occupation.

Rowan believes Kenna, but she still thinks that she's nothing but a spoiled queen and nothing more, she also asks Kenna to name one impressing thing that she did during her life, Kenna replies by telling her of her journey to The Technocrats's Labyrinth and her duel with the Mechataur.

Rowan is amazed and starts to think that perhaps she has underestimated Kenna, but she then states that none of this matters anyway, no rebellion has ever succeded against Vassilios, so Rowan and her people have no reason to risk their lives for Kenna and her cause.

Kenna tells her that she actually has a reason to stand up to Vassilios, if she joins Kenna against him, she can have her kingdom back.

Rowan remains quiet, and then she orders her archers to fire on the Nevrakis Soldiers.

Rowan explains that in order to let Kenna's army inside the castle, she's going to have to let her people inside the castle know about Kenna's true intention, she later leads Kenna to a shadowy alcove where two sections of wall meet, where, hidden within the decorative carving, there is a thick vine that stretches to the top of the wall.

After a difficult climb, Kenna, Val and Rowan manage to get inside the castle's courtyard.

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Meanwhile, Dom, Sei and Whitlock wait for the gate to open, Whitlock is afraid that the people of Thorngate might die, but Dominic consoles him, shortly after, the gate opens, and they find the castle courtyard ablaze, Leon comes forward and orders the Stormholt soldiers to protect the civilians and kill the Nevrakis soldiers.

They all realize that they can't hope to extinguish all the fire in time, but Sei has an idea, and she needs Dom's help in order for it to work, together, they come close to each other and draw all the fire to their position, in order to absorb it.

Their plan works, and Thorngate is saved.

Later Kenna and Leon get back to their tent, where they discuss about Thorngate and Rowan.

Aftermath
After defeating Vassilios's army, Kenna decides to move any surviving Nevrakis Soldiers to the castle's dungeon, Vassilios included. Just then he lets out that Luther Nevrakis and his army will be back soon. Kenna wants to know more specific when he is going to return but Vassilios doesn't say more. Rowan suggests using a truth potion on him called Blueblood. For a diamonds, Dominic can agree to use the potion and Vassilios reveals the exact date when Luther is coming back. After saying that information the potion ends and he pushes one guard, takes a hidden dagger and when he is about to attack Kenna, Dominic blasts him and he dies but the flames are spreading to Kenna too and she falls on the ground. Anyways is revealed in the next chapter that she is alive.