The Defense of Leyfall

A Brief Background

The city of Leyfall was established by the great Saint Hesseb. He travelled all the way from Fellsbreach to here, tracking the lines of magic in the world. Calling this land a gateway to the greater magic within the world, he settled the city.

The city was in a near ideal spot. It lay in the crook of a river, bringing in river trade and food. The land itself was fertile enough to grow crops for acres, however it was very separated from the rest of Fellsbreach by many miles. A trip to and from the capital would take far more than a month and it was very close to the Eternal Plains and Dragon's Peak.

However, Saint Hesseb declared this problems irrelevant in the pursuit of magical knowledge. Thus, he began creating the last of his great miracles on this world: Hesseb's Library.

Hesseb's Library

An unconfirmed magical artifact that was supposedly built underneath the city of Leybourne. It could retrieve all lost knowledge from around the world and only opened itself to a select few. For this reason, proving it's existence is nigh impossible except to those who can enter it.

In the first couple of years of Leyfall, it had little to no income. In fact, the city seemed to almost go bankrupt as fast as it was settled. However, a council appointed by Hesseb came to the conclusion that the best way to save Leyfall was to tax the boats coming and going through the river.

Due to this decision, Hesseb was not very popular with Cenjuria. His interference on the river lead to a direct rise in the prices of goods transported out of Cenjuria down the river. For this reason, Cenjuria made several public pleas to Hesseb to move or stop taxation of the ports. Regardless, Hesseb continued taxing the boats coming and going.

Little to Hesseb's knowledge, the people down the river did not take his actions so lightly. Within a month of the taxation on the river the first attack came. <img src=https://wallup.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Fantasy-library-art.jpg style='position:absolute;top:630px;left:0px;width:816px' />

The Defense

Leyfall was hit hard. It nearly didn't survive the first attack. The invaders struck as day broke and killed many innocent people in the attack. As quickly as they arrived, they vanished. At this time, Hesseb was still building the library. Unable to reach Hesseb, the council in charge of the city grew scared.

They established the building of a wall around the city to help stop the invaders. The first wall was a great stone wall the took most of the stone and materials the town had available to it. The first wall took over a month to build. The first wall took less than one night to fall.

The invaders were fierce, huge monsters that struck as the sun rose, but few who saw them survived to tell the tale. Those that did reported vast gaping maws and wings that tore the world asunder. It was only natural that the villagers blamed who they did.

Counter Attack

In a fierce attack of retribution, the city of Leyfall gathered an army and marched eastward. They marched through forst and across a river into a low valley. The people here had traded many times with the city of Leyfall, and they had no apparent reason to attack Leyfall, but the council had to believe it was them. For they were the only dragon tamers around.

The city of Verduskal was wiped out. All of its people died in a raging swift attack. According to all reports, there were only two survivors, both seen fleeing from the village as it burned. The soldiers that chased after them never returned.

The city of Leyfall rejoiced. They had destroyed their enemies. They would not be attacked again.

The city of Leyfall was attacked again. This attack left more than half the city dead. Desperate, the council tried again to contact Hesseb, but he would not leave his library. He would not leave it for another year. The council despaired and ordered the construction of one last wall. A great wooden one that ringed the city.

The Last Defense

If it were not for the Saint Zachariah the city would have been lost. However, Zachariah, elven-born, promised to save the city. In exchange, Zachariah needed the lives of 14 innocent children.

Several days later, Zachariah had the children and thus created the 12 guardians of Leyfall. One died before becoming a guardian and one went mad and ran away. The other twelve giant guardians went out of the city and fought the beasts that attacked the walls.

The nature of the beasts remained unknown, but in the end, only 7 of the original 12 guardians survived. Their duty done, they rested outside the walls and there they remained.

Recovery

The city of Leyfall had been reborn, and to reflect that, the council renamed it Leybourne. A name meaning "made of magic." The loss of the children and their sacrifice grew to be forgotten by the people as no one willing to tell of their shame. Eventually Saint Hesseb left the library and was killed for his abandonment of the town.