The fire burned through the day and the following night. When the people of the Western Quarter learned that their homes and belongings had been destroyed by none other than their own Lord Protector, they broke into helpless tears and screams. Their lament shook Lorian's heart, but he steeled his nerves and his resolve. He told himself he had done it to save the city, and he hoped the people would understand his reasoning once the initial shock and despair wore off.
By the next night, the fire finally died down. There was now nothing but ruins between the pirates and the Gold Wall.
"Tomorrow is going to be a big day, my Lord," Lucien said as they looked out at the burnt city, which looked like a massive funeral pyre, "The enemies will surround us from all sides and start scaling the walls."
"No, they won't," a smirk played on Lorian's lips, "The pirates have realized that we will go to any length to win. They have already lost around three thousand men, if not more. They won't risk surrounding the Gold Wall just to be picked off by archers hiding in the ruins."
"But my Lord," Kaelen said, looking surprised, "we don't have any archers posted there,"
"We know that, but the pirates don't, do they?" Lorian smirked, "I suspect the tactics we have used so far have shaken them quite well. After losing so many men, they won't take any more chances."
Lorian eventually found a moment to rest, but it was short-lived. The next morning, a sharp blast from a horn woke everyone- including Lorian- from their exhausted sleep. They rushed to the wall to see what was happening.
A sea of enemies had gathered outside the Gold Wall. It was the first time the people of Veridia had seen the pirates at their full strength, and the sight shook them all. From the docks to the burnt cityscape, the ground was covered in a vast sea of soldiers. There were around seventeen to eighteen thousand warriors standing there, battle-ready.
Lorian scanned the enemy formation again and again. His heart sank, but he had to stay brave- for himself, and for his people. He reached for the Necklace of Voice, a relic used to amplify the wearer's voice so it could be heard far and wide. He tapped the Necklace of Voice, and his voice boomed across the wasteland of the Western Quarter, amplified to a terrifying, supernatural volume. It sounded not like a human speaking, but like the city itself was condemning them.
"Pirates of the outer seas! Look at what remains of your conquest!"
He gestured with a sharp, sweeping motion toward the smoldering ruins.
"You came here seeking gold and glory, thinking you could break the Thorne legacy, you could ravage and pillage Veridia, my Veridia. You thought I was a fool, a 'boy' playing at war. You thought the streets of Veridia were yours to take. And now? You stand in a graveyard of your own making. Thousands of your brothers have become fish food in the water of Veridia. Thousands more lie in these ashes and, burned because I chose to end your occupation before it could even begin."
Lorian straightened his posture, held his chin high with a regal authority. With his cold, merciless and analytical gaze he scanned the massive sea of enemies.
"You look at these walls and count your numbers. I know you are already planning how many men you are going to throw against the stone, how many ladders you'll need, and how many of your friends you're willing to see die just to climb a bit higher. That's how wars were fought in the old books. That's my friend, are the math of a dead era.
But look down at what's left of your men in the ruins. That isn't history- that's the future, your future. You aren't fighting a Lord who is worried about his life or treasury or reputation; you are fighting someone who has already decided that this city is worth burning to the ground if it means you don't take it.
You think this is a siege? You think I'm just waiting for you to attack so we can have a proper battle? You're wrong. I'm not playing by your rules of 'knightly combat'. I don't care about your honor, and I don't care about how you pirates think a war should be fought.
If you cross that wall, I won't meet you with swords. I'll turn every street in this city into an oven. Ask your friends who survived the night what happened when they tried to move in on us. I didn't hesitate then, and I won't hesitate now. I am not trying to win a fight; I am trying to make sure none of you walk away from this.
So, choose. Do you want to try your luck against a man who has already stopped caring about the cost? Or do you want to turn around and find a different shore to die on?"
Lorian's voice dropped, becoming quieter but somehow more piercing, "Look up at my guards. They are not trembling. They are not waiting to die. They have seen what I am willing to do to keep this city whole, and they know that I am willing to burn the very earth beneath us to ensure the Thorne name stands when the smoke clears. Can your Empress hiding behind in corner say the same? Or is she merely waiting to see how many of you she can pile against this wall before she loses interest?"
He stood tall, a single, solitary figure against the morning sky, "Surrender your weapons, leave your ships, and walk back to the sea, and I will let you live to remember this day. Try to scale these walls, and I will turn this siege into a slaughter that will be whispered about in every port on this continent for the next hundred years. Choose your next move wisely. I have already calculated your end."
The silence that followed Lorian's speech was heavy, suffocating. Then, from the vast, dark sea of the pirate army, a single figure stepped forward. He walked slowly, unbothered by the archers on the wall, until he stood in the center of the killing field.
He stopped, looked up at the parapet, and pulled back his hood.
A gasp rippled through the Veridian guard. Lorian's eyes widened. It was Lyssian Thorne. His own cousin, who had vanished day after he left for Valoria.
Lyssian looked up at the wall. A twisted, mocking smile played on his lips, "Well done, my dear brother, well done. Truly, a masterpiece. I look at this city- our city- and I see your signature in every scorched brick and blackened corpse."
Lorian clenched his fist, "Lyssian? You… you coward. You crawl out from under a rock only to stand with these butchers?"
Lyssian laughed in a sharp, jagged sound, "Butchers? No, my cousin dear. I am the one cleaning up your mess. You have spent your life being called an idiot prince, but today? Today you have finally graduated. Now you are no more the Idiot Prince. Now you are the mad king. From senseless, you have become heartless. Heartless enough to burn your own home! Do you realise brother dear? You destroyed in one night what our ancestors spent centuries building. You aren't protecting Veridia! No! You are murdering it."
"I AM SAVING IT!" Lorian roared, his voice trembled with fury, "And you? You didn't just leave, Lyssian. You abandoned your duty. You ran away when the city needed you, and now you have the gall to return with these filth at our doorstep? You are a traitor. You're just like your father- a snake waiting for the right moment to strike!"
Lyssian's face contorted, his composure broke into raw, jagged rage, "I trusted you, Lorian! I actually believed that you would rebuild this place, that you'd be the one to help me take back what was stolen from me! My father! You would avenge him! But you? You threw it all away! You abandoned the throne, you ran off to Valoria to play hero for your little lover, and you risked everything- the city, our legacy, our future- for a woman! You had just forgotten that you are not only Lorian Thorne, but you are the Lord of Veridia. If you died, it was not just your loss, but loss of the entire City and its people that depend on you!"
Lyssian stepped closer, shouting up at the walls, "That was the moment I knew! The moment you turned your back on the crown, I knew Veridia would never be safe in your hands!"
Lorian let out a cold, sharp laugh that cut through the tension, "And so, your solution was to bring pirates to our home? To burn the very people you claim to care about? It just proves it, Lyssian- you never thought of Veridia or its people as your own. You never saw them as people. You saw them as property."
"Enough!" Lyssian screamed, pointing a finger directly at Lorian, "I'm done with your moral lectures! Step down! Take your pathetic personal wealth, take your guards, and get out! Leave Veridia for me. This city belonged to my father, and by blood, it belongs to me!"
Lyssian gestured behind him, to the towering pirate armada and the thousands of soldiers waiting in the mud, "You think you're fighting for your kingdom, Lorian; and I am not? You think I have just hired them as mercenary to give me what rightfully belongs to me? No, not at all! These 'pirates'- they are my people, my. They are my army. And the Empress who leads them? She isn't just a captain to me, Lorian. She is my mother."