Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

As the hours ticked by, the Dukedom's Army was approaching their first checkpoint on their long journey northward. The snow was steadily falling down and the trail that was pathed out by the reconnaissance cavalry was barely visible to the massive columns of soldiers marching in a steady pace. Behind these columns, the wagon train was also slowly trudging along, the drivers of each wagon keeping their eyes on the trail before them that was covered by the sight of Signatari soldiers marching in rhythmic cadence, the sea of fur coats and pikes that had banners of the dukedom which swayed in the wind were a sight to see for these humble slave owners. The soldiers manning the massive crossbow launchers kept their eyes on the cloudy skies in case there were wyverns or any other flying monsters keen to make themselves known and attack the convoy.

Meanwhile, the cavalry which was providing a defensive screen around the mass of soldiers and supplies were finding it a bit easier in navigating the rough terrain around the trail, the horses moving through the snow-filled paths on the side that were covered up and nearly unseen. The breaths of the riders and the horses were visible in the cold air as they moved, the riders had their heads on a swivel just in case there were clan scouts nearby. 

At the head of the massive column was Sir Matthews, his unreadable expression coupled with his intimidating stature made him look as if he was head and shoulders above everyone else, which he was most of the time. His eyes scanned the road ahead as they trudged forward, the sight of the reconnaissance squad up ahead was the only other thing he saw in the sea of white snow that covered everything else before him. 

'Damn snow, freezing my balls off here' He thought to himself as they continued on

The sounds of birds flying around and the small rustling within the snow-laden made by smaller creatures were what filled the air from time to time as the army marched northward. The mood of the entire army was still high as they had yet to meet any of their foes, there were a few goblin parties here and there which spilled out of some nearby dungeons that the cavalry took care of and while it was good for them to keep on their toes, a lot of these soldiers really wanted a proper fight or at least something to do, to finally test out their skills as soldiers of this new army. 

{!} 

Suddenly, as the column was marching through a bend that the cavalry had already passed, the snow on the small rise to the right began to shift and suddenly exploded outward, revealing a massive cave. 

"Fucking hell!" Sir Matthews exclaimed as he was thrown from his horse and hit the ground, a bit dazed as he got back up 

{!} 

Then, there were large roars coming from the cave that soon made it to the surface, massive blue-ish and green ogres dressed in dented plate armor and wielding large metal clubs came out of the cave and once they saw the column of soldiers before them, they let out some guttural roars as they charged ahead. 

"Signatari! Charge!" Sullivan ordered as he sat atop his horse, raising his sword and aiming it at the ogres charging them down 

The first column right behind the two commanders charged with a fierce cry, 300 soldiers armed with swords, shields, and pikes moved as one unit, right behind the charging mass were around 50 mages of the army assigned to the column that began letting loose fireball barrages on the ogres. Those soldiers who charged fanned out into formation, they formed a crescent moon formation with the pike wielders charging through the small corridors the other soldiers provided as they swarmed the 30 or so ogres that moved out of the cave. 

Each Signatari soldier was around a C to D-Rank at best and these ogres, with their armor and metal clubs, were around the upper echelons of B-Class monsters. But with numbers on their sides, they stood a chance in bringing down at least a few of these things before the rest of the army arrived as the sounds of fighting would surely draw in reinforcements marching further up the trail to their aid. 

The first group of ten Signatari soldiers moved on the closest ogre with a fierce cry, a pair of soldiers each charged the legs of the massive hulking beast, stabbing them that made the ogre roar in pain, leaving it open to a trio of pikes that punched through its dented plate armor and plunged into its thick green hide. The ogre let out a more painful roar as it then replied with a swing from its metal club that smashed into the trio of pike-wielding soldiers, killing them on the spot before the massive thing was brought down as three more soldiers with pikes charged and thrust their pikes forward through the chest of the thing before a barrage of fireballs blew its head away. Another group of soldiers was able to bring a nearby ogre to its knees after the pikemen jabbed their weapons into the legs of the thing, once it was down, the remaining Signatari stabbed its thick neck repeatedly until it groaned and fell down to the snow-covered earth.

The other ogres were proving to be a problem despite the overwhelming numerical superiority, one ogre was able to kill all 10 Signatari that were charging it by simply tanking through their attacks before replying with swings and swipes of the metal club that crumpled up the soldiers into broken masses of flesh and bones or turning them into small puddles of red that tainted the pure white snow. One such ogre was attacked by Sir Matthews alone after the 10 Signatari soldiers charging with him were smacked away by the ogre's spiked metal club. 

He was able to roll-dodge another swing that came down at him, the club leaving a large dent in the ground where he once stood. Undeterred, he charged forward, thrusting his bastard sword through the left knee of the beast. He smiled as he heard it let loose a painful cry before it tried to swing down at him, he quickly pulled out his sword and rolled out of the way once more and the ogre struck its own knee in the process, shattering it and bringing it down in one fell swoop. But before Sir Matthews could finish off the downed ogre, a barrage of fireballs and lightning bolts repeatedly struck the head and torso of the thing, its screams filled the air before it stopped and went limp after a a lightning bolt cracked open its battered chest and plate armor.

By the time the rest of the column and even the reconnaissance cavalry arrived to assist, all 30 ogres were dead, while more than half of the 1st unit of 300 soldiers were injured or dead, the rest however were pretty understandable tired from fighting for their lives. 

"Get the wounded onto the wagons, the dead...bury them, let's keep it moving. Now" Sir Matthews ordered as he saw the reinforcements arrived 

One of the reconnaissance riders rode up next to Sir Matthews and got off the horse, bowing down to Sir Matthews after seeing the glare in his eyes for the mistake of missing such an obvious cave entrance. 

"I am so sorry Your Grace! I didn't know that cave was there" The rider said as he bowed his head 

{!} 

Sir Matthews grabbed the man by his collar and looked at him deep in the eyes, his gaze unwavering, and seeing the fear in the rider's eyes as he let out a low growl. 

"Make sure it does not happen again" Sir Matthews replied as he shoved the rider down onto the snow before walking away and mounting his personal horse once more. 

Around an hour later, the column was back on the move, and the reconnaissance cavalry groups were doubling their efforts to try and sniff out any hidden cave entrances and exits. Riders would dismount and look around, poking and prodding at anything that seemed to be a cave entrance and when they did not find anything, they would remount their horses and move out. 

The sun finally slipped through the gray clouds in the sky around 12 noon and once it showed itself, the entire army had finally reached their supposed staging point. What they were expecting was a bustling clan village run by wolf beastkin but what they found was a desolate place that had been reduced to ashes. Sir Matthews found himself walking around the snow-covered ruins of what was supposed to be their first conquest as the army. He looked at the blackened buildings that would have undoubtedly held families to enslave and stores of food that could have been plundered and distributed which would have added more to their own stockpiles. 

"Where the hell did they go?" Matthews cursed as he picked up a charred piece of wood that was covered by the snow 

"Perhaps they were taken out by another clan Your Grace" Commander Sullivan answered him as he walked up to him 

"Shit....what piss poor timing on our part then, fucking hell" The overall commander cursed as he threw the piece of wood back on the ground, seeing it crumble to even more fragile pieces 

"Should we move on then sir?" Sullivan asked as he looked around the burned-out place 

"No, I want the FOB up and running. Send our runners back to the Dukedom and tell them we have made it to the first checkpoint. I want these ruins swept aside and built over. Once the FOB is finished, we will rest for a few days while the reconnaissance groups scout for targets to strike. The Northward expansion begins here-" 

{!}

Just as Sir Matthews was about to finish his statement, there was a pair of deep and intimidating roars in the air that spooked everyone in the vicinity. The horses who threw of their riders and failed to be controlled and those that were unattended while they were standing around suddenly bolted away into the woods upon hearing the roars. Signatari soldiers began running for over, hiding behind rocks and running into the treeline to hide themselves as they heard the flapping of large wings getting closer. 

Sir Matthews himself was hiding behind a burnt-out section of what used to be the Great Hall of the village and his eyes went wide behind his mask as he saw it. Gliding just above the treetops was the same, massive, twin-headed dragon that had reduced portions of the dukedom to ash a few months ago. The black scales with gold accents shimmered in the sunlight and as the massive beast passed overhead, there was a large gust of wind that followed which kicked up a lot of snow that scattered across the area, covering people, wagons, and animals in thick sheets of white that they shook off. 

Before they could do anything though, they saw the double-headed dragon climb up in the air towards the clouds but then turned around mid-flight and was now heading down to them. 

{!}

"Scatter!" Sir Matthews ordered as he tried to not be where the massive beast landed 

He barely got out of the clan village and behind a medium-sized rock before the double-headed beast landed, its legs crushing the ruins below it and the gust of wind that followed it throwing up snow all around the place. The dragon let out another ear-piercing roar as it looked around and when it saw the long line of wagons that were clogged up the single strip of road, it went on the attack. 

Sir Matthews watched in horror as the twin-headed bastard fired away lightning streams from its mouth that struck the wagon train. The first few wagons that were hit combusted into flames while others were thrown off the road and a few just blew up where they rested. The wagons armed with large crossbow launchers fired back, their bolts streaking through the air and towards the mighty target before them. The bolts however, bounced off the tough scales of the beast before it fired back with more lightning blasts that destroyed even more wagons along the road, the screams of soldiers and drivers filling the air once the blasts subsided and did their damage. 

"FUCK! EVERYONE! SAVE THE WAGONS!" Sir Matthews ordered as he popped out of his cover and fired off a fireball that struck the leg of the beast 

"Everyone! Light that bastard the fuck up!" Commander Sullivan added as he threw out an ice lance he conjured up into his hand 

Seeing their commanders launch their own attacks, the Signatari mages quickly followed suit, firing off their own streams of lightning and fireballs that struck the legs and torso of the dragon. Signatari archers armed with longbows fired away, aiming at the necks and heads of the beasts, while those elite archers armed with small crossbows fired away at the torso hoping to do damage of any kind. 

The double-headed dragon was attacked from all sides and small explosions erupted across its body as fireballs and lightning blasts struck its scales, the bolts of arrows followed suit and it seemed like the barrage from all sides actually did something. But alas, that was not the case. The magical attacks that struck barely cracked or even dented the thick scales around the body of the beast and the arrows and crossbow bolts didn't even scratch the thick hide in-between the scales. Although valiant and brave, it did nothing more than annoy the beast as it began flapping its wings, once again kicking up snow and creating swirling tornados of white that swirled around the place. With one more roar, the double-headed dragon then began flying northward. 

"Get the reconnaissance groups now! I want them to follow and track that damn thing! We have it on the run!" Sir Matthews ordered as he looked at Sullivan 

"Your grace, what of the wagons and the FOB?" Sullivan asked with a strained breath from firing off too many ice spears 

"Stay here and ensure that it is set-up, take a tally of how many wagons we lost and soldiers who died as well. I am taking the bulk of the army to hunt down that thing, understood?" 

"Understood Your Grace" 

"Good. I will return with that bastards head, I swear it" Matthews replied as he moved towards his horse and mounted it 

"This is going to be fun" He said with a wide smile as he began moving to rally the army

A/N: I hope you are all ready for a ride!"