Hanzal Grightling

Second Battle of Tree Hill

Main Article : Second Battle of Tree Hill

As the human/elven alliance destroyed the Orcs that had held the Gondor siege of Minus Ithil for many years, Jurden Hardaxe paid this little heed despite the fact that he was sent word of it from some of his scouts who had been watching that siege for any signs of Mordor weakness. Jurden over the decade of the siege had become obsessed with maintaining his own power, and had basically become uninterested in actually ending the siege through conventional means. Alongside this he also had a growing belief that the humans were completely useless and for all of these reasons Jurden Hardaxe made no effort to double his scouts or anything that might have assisted him in stopping the coming ambush. And if all of this added up wasn't enough he was also still being whispered to by Morrigan who was telling him that it was all a trick and Sauron was only days away. As the Sindar Elven/Human forces moved to the high ground of the area near the bridge of Weidenhouse and from this position they begin planning the method they would use to end the conflict. As the planning begin it became clear that the fight would be started during the night as town they were in described the fact that they noticed very little activity in the Orc camp during the night most likely due to the fact that they had become completely confident in their lack of any kind of threat.

The Night Comes

Waiting for the night to come William would be able to watch for the first and last time the Orcs setting off their massive drums and horns in order to force the defenders to be unable to sleep during the night and thus exhausted during the day. Hearing this many among the attacking army grew even more angry at the fact that the defenders had been forced to endure this for all this time without anyone helping them. William would spend the night with Leven, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward as the Shadow Council as they were not openly to each other calling themselves spent a few last hours with each other before they all knew everything was going to change. Finding themselves greeted throughout the night by every lord who not wanted to speak to William they couldn't help but see how different things had become for the naive group. The Orcs by this point had no contact with their scouts, and yet they still remained completely unaware. Morrigan would at this point make her final step towards sealing the fate of Jurden Hardaxe when she would convince Jurden to host a large party for his Orcs which made them all drunk and even less prepared.

The Massacre

As the night neared the Orcs would begin their party and the loud noise would alert the alliance that this was underway, and also awake most of the defenders of Tree Hill of whom were prepared for what many believed was the final attack. The party continued, and the alliance moved itself completely into position against the now scout less Orcish force, and pushed in many places all the way against the wall with the entire Orcish force within the city itself or dead outside. The night came and the army would move on their predetermined signal of which moved everything forward. The infiltration of House Scarlet into the under tunnels of the city begin as Saiden Scarlet led a large force of hundreds into the tunnels in the goal of reaching the estate of House James and once the attack was underway they would spring upon the already ambushed Orcs. From the west the forces of House Greymane, and House Ordos would move themselves through the broken shattered western gate and encountered hundreds of Orcs in differing stages of drunkenness and the fighting wouldn't spark any concerns from the Orcs as it was all believed still to be a part of the party. Seeing the ambush was underway it was at this moment that Morrigan finally ended the charade and came upon Jurden while he was standing in his residence.

Aftermath

The battle would end with the complete destruction of the Orc army and the liberation of Tree Hill. When the armies of Lucerne and Gondor entered the remains of Tree Hill, they found the sad remnants of a once truly mighty city. Food, aid and supplies were rushed to the city, but before the true rebuild could begin Andrew Lovie would take the reigns of the King of Lucerne following a duel with his father.

Funeral of Earl Scott

Look at the world father. You were born into this land, and you have told me hundreds upon hundreds of times how much you used to love it. Look at everything you have done to it. You destroyed a city for no reason, killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. I have all the evidence laid out in front of me as to why you are the villain of this world, but I don't fully believe it. Don't end it all here, and be remembered as a monster..

Brooke Scott: Please father I never ask you for a thing...why can't you just do this one thing for me...please father. Dan Scott : Just sit on the ground and remember your place in all this little girl. Brooke Scott : And what is my place father? Dan Scott : The bottom of the food chain.

After saying that he would walk out of the room leaving a broken Brooke lying on the ground for sometime before her brother Nathan returned into the room looking severely disappointed in himself, and perhaps worried about Brooke more then she thought he ever would. Brooke didn't know what to say to her brother so she ran out of their and ran away past the cries of Haley who noticed her running away, and finally made her way to the glades west of Tree Hill where she and her grandfather had spent a lot of time. While she spent the time alone she knew that her grandfather needed to be remembered and if her father wouldn't help her then the only person left to go to was her mother.

When Brooke left the glade she went to the home of Margeary Tonsvale of whome was the matriarch of House Tonsvale, and the women that her mother spent most of her days with filling out the boredom. She barged into the estate being alowed past the gaurds because they knew who she was, and when she reached her mother she grabbed her by the arm and pulled her outside. Outside she tried to make her mother help her, but she quickly discovered that her mother was exactly as far gone as she appeared when her mother not only refused to do this, but also moved to side with her husband against her daughter. This was too much for Brooke and knowing the debate between House Scott was over she knew the only person that could help her was William Lovie III.

Begging a King

With her attempts to get her family to do what she wanted she risked a lot by deciding that she needed to see William. She was able to talk Haley into pretending that Brooke was staying with friends for a while and the sad fact was that no one in her family except for Lucas even noticed her absence. She made her way by carriage to Lucerne and arrived there to the sight of a parade. The carriage driver explained that William Lovie had taken control of the Kingdom and was now the King after he had thrown Bill, and Sean Lovie out of Lucerne. She covered herself in garbs as if she was an Ostrogoth, and made her way to the Keep where she hoped to find Jasper, Edward or Emmett because William had told her that of anyone alive those were the people he trusted next to his sister. She would have gone to Alice but she worried that Alice would be on Bella's side and wouldn't help her. If she had thought that she was given ample proof of that when she arrived at the Keep and wasn't greeted by one of his best friends but instead by Alice Lovie of whom stood in the Gateway staring at her through the garb as if she had somehow known all along that she was coming.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land, and you have told me hundreds upon hundreds of times how much you used to love it. Look at everything you have done to it. You destroyed a city for no reason, killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. I have all the evidence laid out in front of me as to why you are the villain of this world, but I don't fully believe it. Don't end it all here, and be remembered as a monster..

I could hear her voice from within the tent. I had spent only a few days with Brooke and her voice was like a siren to me and with the siren now within range I left my conversation with Alice without a word and left the tent going towards her. I saw her immeidatly as I left the tent, and she looked to be in an argument with Leven, and Jasper of which Jasper was holding her by the arm in what looked to me as an attempt to stop her from falling over. "Lady Scott." I had reached her and she saw me letting out a smile when our eyes met. She curtsied and I took her by the hand. "My King if it is possible I need a word." There was a desperation in her voice and despite the looks from everyone around me I ignored them. "Of course milady." I turned towards the tent to see an enraged Alice who was glaring at me. "Sister we shall finish our conversation later." "As you say." Alice walked right by me hitting me in the shoulder as she left, and while usually Emmett would have laughed at such a childish display there was no laughter to be found. Without another thought of the stupidity of being so brazen in my behavior I led Brooke into the tent closing the flap behind us. "You couldn't stay away." Turning around from closing the tent I regretted the words as Brooke had tears flowing down her face and rushed into my arms. "Tell me whats happened?" "What is it Will?" "I was talking with Hanna Arryn." "I fear I have been out of the loop for too long. I don't know the name." "She was a friend of mine during school. She came here as a sort of measure of what I would lose if I don't stop moving against Berne. She was a threat of sorts." "Your brother has not realized the end is at hand?" "He still clings to the idea that he can somehow win this." "This threat doesn't change what you have to do." "Its more then just Hanna. She came and told me of Amber Heard." I didn't wait for any recegnition from Brooke as how could she possibky know of Amber. "Your former betrothed?" "How did you?" "I've been doing my research on you my king." "She is in Berne too." "Do you still care for her." "We were children when we were betrothed. We played the married couple, but we were children." "You fear for her?" "Hanna told me that our childish playing has resulted in a child. Amber Heard is locked within the walls of Berne with my firstborne." "She had your child?" "Apparently. And now this poor child lives under constant threat of being discovered. It is not enough that my childish behavior with his mother has led to him now living a life as a base born child. No now I have put his life in danger by not stopping my brother a long time ago."

The Funeral

Meeting Brooke Scott

It wasn't more then two months after William had left the city, and the beggining of their affair that Brooke begin having trouble keeping food down early in the day, and soon after she realized that she hadn't had her bleedings during that time either. Thinking she knew what it was but wanting to be sure before she sprung this potentially horrible news on William she went to see Haley, and when the two met she created the first lie between the two when she told Haley she had become involved romantically with a Gondorian soilder. After going through the list of things that had happened to her and seeing that the situations were the same Haley indeed validated her pregnancy, and with the knowledge that William was coming to Tree Hill in less then a month she became increasingly worried about what his reaction would be. William and her were still writing eachother nearly every other week and althought these letters were heavily vague in their wording the two seemed to understand eachother already and there growing love for eachother only grew stronger through this communication. During this time waiting for Maergary Tyrell to return from Highgarden she spent her days and nights with Haley of whom by this point no longer had any real relationship with her brother Nathan and was increasingly obvious about her affections to Lucas Scott. With her best friend Margeary Tyrell the only person who truly knew about William she became hysterical when she saw Margeary a week later upon her return from Highgarden.

Brooke told Margeary of her pregnancy, and her friend attempted to talk her down as in her heart she knew that William could very likely simply end the relationship and turn Brooke into a single mother with very little prospects for the rest of her life. Despite these constant and powerful pleading by Margeary it was Brooke that was completely unwilling to accept a world where she didn't have his baby and thus she begged Margeary to assist her in finding a proper excuse as to how she could be pregnant. Despite the extreme misgivings that Margeary had about the decision she was still her best friend so together they came up with reinforcing the earlier lie about a Gondorian soilder and her had become romantically involved following the liberation and she had become pregnant during these intimate moments. She and Margaery decided she needed to tell her family and she did this a few days later when she asked them all to meet for a dinner. When she told her family she was accompanied by Maergary Tyrell of whom held her hand the entire time and while Dan Scott was furious and Nathan disgusted they all appeared to believe her except for Lucas who had come to understand what had happened between Brooke and William, and in that moment when he figured it out he went to his sister.

Lucas Discovers the Truth

As Brooke finished telling her parents she retreated to her room as she was basically pulled along by Margeary. When they arrived back in her room she was shocked when noone followed her, but she could hear yelling from the living room so she knew that they were still argueing over what was happening. It would be hours before the yelling finally stopped and she heard the shouts of her father before watching Dan, and Nathan storm out of the Keep and into the city proper. When after everything had seemingly calmed down Margeary left and when she did she was followed behind by her brother Lucas who had known about the tryst that she had with William Lovie after he had admitted it to him because of their bond. He didn`t say anything but she had always suspected that he knew, and the look he gave her just made it all the more real for her. After she cried for what felt like hours she and Lucas discussed what she was going to do, and she made it very clear that she was not going to give up the baby under any circumstances. Niether of them knew but there entire conversation would be overheard by Dan Scott of whome had come back inside the Keep after getting into a fight with Nathan and planned on getting his anger out by coming in and making sure that Brooke knew how much of a disapointment she was. This all changed when he heard her whispering to Lucas in the room about the true father of the child growing inside her. Knowing the importance of this later on, and realizing neither of his two children would ever tell him the truth or help him willingly he hid himself in an adjacent room and listened to everything they said about the situation. As Dan realized that Brooke was involved with not just a secret man but actually the King of Lucerne he became unstoppable in his desire to make this union the most important moment in House Scott since the fall of House Targaryan.

Plotting Against the King

"When I realized that most forgotten child was secretly carrying around such a secret I was beyond shocked. She had always been the runt of the family but I guess this would be her shot at proving herself."

-Dan Scott

The moment that Dan heard that Brooke and William Lovie were together he had finally come to terms with her usefullness. In Dan's mind he would be able to use Brooke to gain the power base that he required. He stayed silent with his knowledge for a time as he continued to built up the plans he knew he would need in order to blackmail the king of Lucerne. When finally he had gained the foothold into the whole thing he came to believe that he could force Brooke into making William leave Bella Swan and thus make Brooke the new Queen of Lucerne. If this failed then Dan would unleash the fact that Riley Scott was actually the first born son of William Lovie thus creating a serious competitor to the throne of House Lovie. All of this would come to a head when William arrived in Tree Hill for what was described as a mission to oversee the recronstruction that was underway in Tree Hill, but was actually William just needing to see Brooke. As William arrived in the city he was silently watched by Dan Scott's men who Dan wanted to find proof that William and Brooke were actually together. As William entered the city he found himself unable to even contimplate being official and instead of first visiting Dan Scott he made his way to the carefully prepared Order of the Red Dragon compound within northern Tree Hill where Brooke was awaiting him. The two would basically lock themselves in the compound for many hours as he could barley imagine his life without her in that moment.

"For a time despite the fact that I knew my place was tenious I felt fine. I was okay because I had him to myself in my heart. I didn't matter to me that she got to be the one who claimed him in the eyes of the people, because I knew in my heart that she could never have him the way that I

 did. He loved me in a way that she just couldn't compete with."

-Brooke Scott

As William hid himself within the Order of the Red Dragon members of Dan Scott's forces attempted to infiltrate the compound but were captured by Ezio Ederiz of whom had travelled alongside his king. With the men captured Dan realized that he might be found out before he had even had a chance to tell Brooke about what he was doing, and thus he moed to assasinate the men he had sent to the compound. As the prisoners were taken north their convoy was ambushed by forces of House Scott of whom targeted the prisoners and then fled the scene. Back at Tree Hill it was William that finally moved on from Brooke for a moment and went to visit with the Order of the Grey Dragon that were constructing the cities most important elements, and while he did this Brooke returned to the House Scott estate so that she could get Riley Scott so that William could see his son.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land, and you have told me hundreds upon hundreds of times how much you used to love it. Look at everything you have done to it. You destroyed a city for no reason, killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. I have all the evidence laid out in front of me as to why you are the villain of this world, but I don't fully believe it. Don't end it all here, and be remembered as a monster..

The world always had seem so simple when I was young. I would grow up and marry, and that perfect knight that I found would gather me up in his arms and protect me from the world. It was a childish dream to believe that life would be as simple as all that, but thats the fun of being a child. When your young you get the chance to believe in things, and hope for dreams that when your older you can't even contimplate. I walked into the estate and old lady Helga gave me a strange look that I wanted to find out more about, but I didn't dare take a second longer then neccesary before I saw my prince again. As I entered Riley's room I found Dan sitting in the chair beside the crib holding Riley in his arms. He was holding him close to himself singing some song I had never heard and rocking him back and forth. This was the first time that I had seen Dan even go near Riley, and for a reason that wouldn't have been normal for a daughter to feel about her father holding their baby I felt deep within myself that I needed to protect Riley from whatever cruetly my father had in mind for him. As I approached him he begin to laugh before standing up still holding onto Riley. "Father what are you doing here?" I tried to move closer to him, but he held out a hand to keep me at a distance. It was as I moved closer and he put out his hand that I noticed the two men standing in the corner of the room. One one was hooded and what little I could see past the tatoo of a scorpian on his arm I didn't know, but the other man was very clearly Dustin Crain the lord of his family. "Dear daughter do you not trust me to hold onto your child?" Dan gave me a mocking look before continueing. "For what reason could I have to want to harm this child? Hmmm...is there something that you want to tell me Brooke?" He moved closer to me still holding onto Riley and then shut the door behind me. I stood motionless infront of him, and as if sencing my fear he moved forward and slapped me in the face knocking me to the ground. The pain was all over my face, and I raised my hand to try and offer some comfort to the wound, but found he grabbed my hand and ripped me from the ground to make me lean against the wall. "I asked you a simple thing you moron. Is your brain so small that not even the tiniest of things can slip out." Walking into the corner I could hear rustling in the corner of the room and looked up to see Dan putting Riley into his baby bed before sitting back on the chair he had been sitting in. I let go of the wall and as I went to move closer to him, I felt hands push me from behind and saw Lord Dustin laughing down at me. "I don't know what you want me to tell you Dan." I crawled a bit towards him before using a table to get back to my feet." Just tell me what you want to know and I'll tell you...this doesn't have to escalate any further Dan." "You think I'm worried about this escalating? What could you possibly do to hurt me you slut. You have been an embaressment to this family since the first day I saw you parading around in your dresses. Tell me you pathetic girl what could you possibly do to hurt me." There was an almost unhuman look in his eyes, and whatever piece of him he lost during the siege was clearly the part of him that knew right from wrong. "I'll tell Lucas about this. I'll tell him..."He moved with more speed towards me then I expected and it scared me to the point I jumped backwards slamming into Dustin who pushed me to the ground again. Trying to get up Dan grabbed me and pulled me towards him. "You really are quite pathetic you know that. I know everything Brooke, I overheard you talking to your brother about your little affair with the king. The child is of House Lovie." I went to respond but before I could he threw me to the ground which crumpled me once again. I shielded myself from the incoming blows I thought were coming but instead he just kept talking. "You will not lie to me here...not in this place you will not dare to lie to me." The other man came behind me and grabbed me pulling me upwards to look at Dan. "The question of whos the father of that child has already been anwsered, but the question I need you to anwser is how far are you willing to go to protect him." That was the kind of question only a man who didn't know what love was could ask. A parent would do anything to protect their child. I would do anything for Riley, and here I stood in front of my own father who was clearly losing his mind. "I would do anything." I reached my hand to my face and felt the cascading tear drops dotting my face, and looked around for someone to help me. The hooded man held me tight to him making sure I couldn't move, and looking at Lord Dustin told me that he had thrown his lot in with Dan and couldn't back down. When I looked at Dan if he noticed he didn't seem to care or show any response. Walking in circles I did see the happiness in his eyes as clearly he had recieved the anwser he wanted from me "Good. Then if your are being truthful your going to do exactly what I say. Because if you don't your lover boy is going to be hurt in ways even he can't repair." That was the moment I knew. I still meant nothing. This had nothing to do with what he wanted me to do, and had everything to do with what he clearly wanted me to make William do. So there I was stuck being held by one man, while my father blackmailed me into betraying one thing in this world that I could not betray. "What would you have me do." Whatever he said didn't matter. I wouldn't hurt William. I couldn't hurt William. Whatever he said I would find a way to tell Lucas and he would protect me from Dan's wrath. Maybe I would simply flee eastward to Patria and stay with my uncle there. He always loved us. It didn't matter to Keith that we weren't his. It didn't matter that we must have been constant reminders of the brother he loathed so much. None of that matter to him as much as loving us. It was times like this that I missed him more then ever. "I don't want you to betray your beloved. I don't want you to blackmail him. I just want you to make sure that when the day comes that Bella Swan is no longer alive you will be ready." To say that I hadn't thought of what life would be like without Bella alive would be a complete lie. Everytime he returned to the city he shared with her, the bed that she warmed for him. I grew sick. What right did she have to what was mine. We both had sons for him. I'm sure that Bella loved him as any servent loves their master I mean how could she not, but she was nothing. An insect scrambling around the world trying to destroy my relationship with William. "Ready for what?" Dan gave a wave to the man behind me and he released me. Turning back to him I looked in his face and saw more of a monster then a man. He had a crooked nose that made the rest of his face look even uglier then it would have otherwise. A massive burn covered the left side of his face and puss oozed from it as if it was an open wound still. As if it had happened yesterday. His left eye under the burns was gone, but his right eye had a peircing glare to them that made clearly understand how bad a man this was. Who was this man.  My staring at the ugly man was interupted by Dan's voice behind me anwsering my question."For you to be Queen of Lucerne you moron." -Exerpt from the End of Darkness

House Nighting Rebellion

With William Lovie III. now the king of Lucerne the leadership of House Nighting begin to fear for the fate of their businesses which relied heavily on the use of workers in near slave like conditions, but even more dangerous for them was the fact that they sold Lucernians at the slave markets of Paris. House Nighting watched as the regime took control of businesses all around Lucerne and turned them into Kingdom businesses, and when William came to Tree Hill no one in House Nighting had any doubts what was going to happen, and they were not proven wrong. When William arrived one of the first businesses that was told to him was the racket that was run by House Nighting, and thus he met with the leaders of House Nighting and asked them to explain themselves, but House Nighting didn't believe they did anything wrong and as such William became very aggravated with them, and was harsher on their business then most he had dealt with. The members of House Nighting were beyond shocked at what had happened to them, and in this moment they attempted to meet with all the members of their customer base, but they discovered that House Scott had been working behind the scenes and had infiltrated this network, and was now dismantling the criminal enterprise from within. House Nighting would offer William Lovie III. huge segments of their profit base, and they hoped this would assuage him, but instead he sent in the Order of the Red Dragon led by Sawyer Shephard, of whom started a large investigation that finished basically the entire criminal organization.

With their businesses in shambles and the slave trade over, House Nighting became poor very quickly, and all the friends that they once had disappeared overnight it seemed. This caused a lot of resentment and as such there resentment became public knowledge and as such they were met by members of House Jestife who were members of the True Sons of Lucerne. After this communication House Nighting turned to service in the True Sons in order to hopefully regain their authority over the slave trade. During this time of shifting alliegences it would be Rachel Nighting that begin to stray from her family somewhat as she begin to have an emotional affair with Raginald Frightling of whom was the young heir to House Frightling and while married he showed her something that she had never found with Cooper. At first they were silent in their support of the True Sons of Lucerne, as they didn't want further attention, but it would be a single piece of mail sent by a raven that would send the members of House Nighting into a fierce debate of which would decide the future of House NIghting.

Discovery of Betrayal

It was at this point that Edric Nighting would arrive in Forks where he had made the decision to turn against his family and reveal the plans of his family. Edric Nighting had several weeks before this begin hearing talk from his father and older brother that they planned to rise against House Scott and murder the Scotts in the city before taking control of Tree Hill itself. He would watch his brother in secret as his brother James Nighting II. followed Brooke Scott watching her movements, and watching her himself he discovered that she was the mistress of William Lovie III. through listening in on a conversation between Brooke and Haley James. Learning of this relationship between William and Brooke the loyal Edric Nighting would depart Tree Hill by horse with his friend Hanzal Grightling heading towards Forks where they had heard William Lovie III. was meeting with his wife and the leadership of Forks. Arriving at Forks the two would quickly gain an audience with the king of whom was surrounded at the time by Charlie Swan, Leven Martell, and Bella Swan, and seeing how influential the group was Edric would immediately tell the king what he knew which horrified the group of whom had already rallied their forces and was planning to move out the next day to Berne. Realizing the main forces still needed to go to Berne he would command Jasper Hale to lead a secondary force to Tree Hill in order to defend the Scott's once the Nighting's moved against them, and after discussing it was decided that Jasper would move south through the province of Rosten where he would summon a force from that province's lord in House Elric alongside Northern Tree Hill's lordn in House Guntbold and then lead them southward to Tree Hill.

Following the breaking up of the meeting Jasper, Leven, and Bella would follow William back to his tent where Jasper would convinse William to take him with him to Berne and instead send Leven to Tree Hill. Making up excuses about why she needed to go instead of him Leven was left shocked by what Jasper did and thus limply accepted this change of plans, and with a kiss to her forward she and William would say goodnight and following this Jasper and Leven left the tent. Leaving the tent Leven would follow Jasper trying to get him to explain himself, but he refused until she became quite agitated leading to an argument between the long time friends. Fighting loudly forced Jasper to take the argument into his tent where he would reveal that he did not trust her abilities to protect William considering how in love with him she was, and following this she would punch him in the face before returning to her own tent. The next day William, Jasper and the larger force from Forks would leave the city leaving Leven and a few hundred men at arms and knights to move south towards Castle Elric where she would go to defend the mistress of her beloved.

The Battle

Executions