by J. McSpadden
Silent as a shadow, Theo grabbed an unlit wooden torch from the wall, his steps a visual path through the layers of dust and debris spread across the cobbled ground. Sparking his dagger against the flint stone in his hand, he caught flame to the torch end and moved into the looming darkness of the hall. "You coming?"
Her insides suddenly squirmed with discomfort as she became aware of a stark apprehension of the unknown extending down the long, open hallway. It was ludicrous, of course, to feel a lurking sense of fear in the narrow space, but, nonetheless, she felt it snake around the cavity of her organs and squeeze with unrelenting pressure.
"Um, I...I don't..." she mumbled unintelligibly uncertain of her reaction. Once again, her Praetorian response paralyzed her, evading her desperate plea for power as it had in the forest when the Equestrians attacked her.
Theo's lips turned downward in worry, his eyes squinting as though trying to read her thoughts. "You alright, Cam?"
Stark images flashed in front of Camille's eyes; she could see the ghost-like image of a man dressed in grey slacks and a billowing grey cloak. He seemed not just calm but eager as he stared down at her, his face alight with anticipation. The sharp kiss of cold steel against her shackled wrists and neck jolted her into a startling vision, while the voices ricocheted around her head in a wave of memories.
"She should be manageable now. The dosage coursing through her body is more than I've ever seen a Praetorian have," a familiar, oaky voice spoke out. The words drifted to Camille's ears slowly, jumbling and getting stuck in the hazy blur of her mind.
"Why isn't it working then? What makes her different? You said this would be routine," another voice barked.
"It should've been, but her biological structure is extremely different than any other I've come across."
Camille felt a sharp pinch on the inside of her left wrist, followed by an intense warming sensation that traveled up her arm and into her chest. The voices continued to talk over her immobile body, but they faded into nothingness as the moderate heat turned into a roaring fire, one that consumed everything.
"Camille?"
Camille jerked, her body convulsing once as it sprang back into the present. The bitter chill of the stone floor seeped into her clothing as she lay flat against the ground, her head pillowed in Theo's arms. "Cam, come back." His voice slipped through the haze of her memory as she struggled to regain composure.
She blinked rapidly, trudging her way out as though pulling her feet through knee deep mud. "What happened?" she murmured when she could talk again, her tongue feeling strangely heavy in her mouth. Lifting herself into a sitting position, she shook her head, the heaviness of her Praecollection making her vision swim.
"You stopped walking, then you collapsed." He paused, assessing her. "Praecollection?"
She nodded, rubbing at her face. It had been one with Metus, she was sure of it. "I'm fine. Let's keep moving."
Regaining her feet, she took several wobbly steps, though Theo didn't seem convinced of her strength. He kept time with her as she plowed down the hallway, the warming Praetorian response trickling back into place beneath her skin.
Neeko waited for them at a wide wooden door painted a deep blue, his yellowed stare assessing her as she approached.
"I'm fine," she whispered to the cat in a tone she wasn't certain sounded confident. Theo approached just behind her, the torchlight dancing across the weathered door, sprinkling the aged wood with bits of golden light. Dead center of the door was a brass knob larger than Camille's fist. Theo grasped the knob and turned, pressing the door open with a groan of age and neglect. A blast of fetid air assaulted Camille's nose, and she coughed in response.
"What's that smell?" She held a bent arm in front of her nose trying to block out the dank intensity. It reminded her of the heavy scent of mold and decomposition: sour yet extremely rich.
"Time," Theo replied, moving into the dark space and lighting several candle sconces along an arched wall as he walked. As he stepped further into the space, Camille saw high, arched beams expanding across the ceiling in a crisscross of support. Several stone benches in front of them created a sitting area facing a raised platform at the end of the room.
"Where are we?" Camille said in a hushed whisper as they moved through the narrow pathway of benches. She couldn't be sure why, but she felt surrounded by a sea of lingering souls. Her breath came out in short puffs of steam, the cold stone seeping the warmth straight from her core.
"The Worship sanctuary, but we don't often use this entry," Theo said as he moved toward the head of the room, apparently not feeling the same sense of thrumming power. "We came through a back entry of the vault. Vesyon requested we use a pathway Acher wouldn't. The worship sanctuary gives some people the creeps," Theo said with a grin, but she noticed the casual flick of wariness spark from the corner of his eye as he watched her.
"I can imagine why." Camille kept in line with Theo, not wanting to stray too far from the gentle warming glow of his torch. "I thought the compound was new, the underground an addition to the village up top."
"Oh no," Theo replied as he moved up the platform and past a flat stone table laden with dusty stone plates, cups, and several simplistic candle lamps. Ducking under a thick blanket of cobwebs surrounding the table, Theo led Camille toward the back of the room through a high arched doorway. "The compound has been here for quite some time. From what I know, Langhorn's great-grandfather helped build the original underground when he was a boy."
"Langhorn, the physician?"
"Yep, he grew up here in the reign of High King Lucas, High King LeMarc's father."
Glancing around the darkened hall, Camille shuddered with the creepy sense of unease as they exited the sanctuary room. They slipped into another vaulted ceiling room just off the main hall, with tiny alcoves lining either side of the room resembling small stone sleeping quarters. "So, Langhorn grew up in a dungeon?"
Theo chuckled lightly as they moved through another archway into a low ceiling space lined with wooden shelves. Neeko continued before them, his light-footed steps padding in silence across the stone floor.
"No, they didn't live in dungeons. Romeo Village was a place of worship for the Daeites. This was their temple for daily worship."
"Worship?" Camille asked, not understanding his meaning as she shuffled to keep up with his quick steps through the confined space. "Worship to what, the crown?"
"No!" Theo said sharply, stopping mid-step to glance back at Camille in shocked bewilderment. "You are so literal sometimes." The corner of his lips tilted downward with a glint of shock lurking in his deep-set sapphire gaze. She couldn't be sure if he was disappointed that she didn't remember basic history or that he was beginning to see the immense depth of her memory loss.
"Worship of the Mother Ma'Nada," Theo clarified. "The room we entered was a sacred Daeism burial ground."
"Oh," Camille replied as a shudder ran down her spine.
Theo turned away from her with a slight shake of his head before moving down a curved flight of stairs. Reaching a small square landing leading to another long extending hallway, Camille noticed a cobweb-covered statue nudged in the corner of the space. It was weathered with age yet so perfectly molded that its pristine artistry wasn't lost beneath the layers of dust. "Do you believe in the Mother?" Camille asked as she ran a single finger over the curved form of Ma'Nada's upturned cheek.
"Cam, we need to keep moving." Even as he pressed her to move, he stood next to her, his hand brushing gently against hers. She couldn't explain the reasoning behind it, but she felt a strong urge to link her fingers through his. Instead of giving in to the desire, she tucked her fingers against her body and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I don't believe a woman sprouted daughters from nowhere," he replied at last in the close press of dim light surrounding them, "but I do believe in the spiritual connection to the Mother. The stories are just stories, but their origin stems from something—a beginning."
&
nbsp; Theo continued, "I don't know the first chapter, but I do know many tales at the center of the story to be true."
"Like what?" Camille asked, her voice soft yet insistent. Theo pulled her gently away from the ivory stone statue and led her down another dizzying number of hallways.
"The two cursed daughters Buvona stole for revenge against Fotrix," Theo spoke up after several minutes of silent walking. "They're real."
Neeko stood at the end of a hall, silently perched and waiting for them to catch up yet again.
"How do you know that?" Camille whispered.
"Because their remains lie in the sanctuary tomb we walked through when we entered the vault."
Camille's mouth gaped in shock, but before she could process Theo's revelation, a putrid stench hit her nose and Theo dropped into a crouch at the end of the hall. A slight scraping of metal on wood rang out from the depths of the empty corridor. He pulled her down beside him before tossing the torch back down the hall from the direction they had come, submerging their surroundings into pitch black.
"You think it's him?" Camille asked in a barely audible whisper, blindly grasping for Theo's hand in desperation to know that she wasn't alone.
"No idea. But if it is, Acher isn't alone. You smell that?"
She did: the putrid stench of Chimera wafted through the air with the promise of at least four beasts awaiting their arrival.
***
Vesyon shook his hands out as the wind pulled against the sleeves beneath his leather armor. His entire body felt tight with anticipation, making it hard to wiggle his fingers freely. Even the leather chest protector felt like too much. He hated being weighed down during a fight and usually found it unnecessary as a Praetorian, but the Chimera's presence required additional protection.
In their head-to-toe garb of green and white, iron and leather armor, the Romeo Village Rogues resembled little green bugs marching toward an inescapable slaughter. The massive black beast that was the High Court would flick them aside, killing each one of them upon impact. Vesyon knew by now that their plan was going to fail but was hesitant to show it for fear the soldiers scurrying around him would see. His confidence was flimsy at best, and he was struck with the desire to laugh sardonically as he watched three huge warships cut through the clouds in the distance. They needed more time, months of it, to prepare for what was already knocking at their door.
The entirety of their Rogue army crouched along the far south side of the compound, hunkering in the tall grass like lion cubs waiting to pounce. It was slightly laughable with their small numbers, but there was nothing else they could do. It was too late; the Chimera alone outnumbered Vesyon's troops, not to mention the hundreds of Equestrians bringing up the rear. The Rogues had a mere handful of men posted in the trees to gun down whomever they could. He hated to be the cynic, but this wasn't a promising outcome even with the plan to vacate the premises as soon as the alarm rang.
"Get that scowl off your face," Vesyon barked at Phillip as they passed through the town square. "You're scaring them."
"This was a bad idea," Phillip shot back in a hushed tone.
Together they moved toward the area where most of the troops were waiting. They'd left the gates to Romeo Village open, and the compound's entryway was impossible to miss. Now all they needed to do was wait for the invasion to begin.
"And it was mostly your idea," Phillip went on, eyes wide with worry. Neither Vesyon nor Phillip had seen Charlie in over an hour, and Vesyon hadn't missed the General's fingers drumming against his thigh as her absence stretched on.
Vesyon glared despite the justification of Phillip's fears. "The only option we have is to stand our ground. We know how much LeMarc is willing to sacrifice to get what he wants—but we still don't know why."
The pair of them moved through the waist high grass along the edges of the outer wall. Their boots crunched loudly in the frozen underbrush, the noise ricocheting through the silence.
"You think sacrificing our people—sending them to their deaths—will tell you why he wants this stupid plant so badly?"
Vesyon stopped suddenly and faced Phillip. "I'm sorry if you feel this is an unwarranted and unnecessary attack. I believe the opposite. This isn't only about his search for Ephidra Lily; it is to confirm that he's making a move. We’ve had eight years, Phillip. There was no other way to prepare for this."
Phillip glowered back at Vesyon, his head tilted downward. "You are sending my men to slaughter. They will die today, you know this."
"Then I will die as one of them!" Vesyon burst out.
"And Camille? You're willing to sacrifice her?" Phillip knew all too well that he'd hit a nerve, yet he continued. "She was never part of the plan, Captain. We shouldn't be standing to fight, we should be running from it. If you believe there's a purpose in this plan though, I will stand beside you and fight."
Vesyon nodded and extended his hand. "I believe this is the only way. The rebellion must breathe life again, and if this is the spark to set loose the flame, then we must make it."
Phillip took it without hesitation, grasping Vesyon's wrist in firm solidarity.
A thunderous boom rang out overhead as the mortar fire rained in from the proceeding ships. Cannon fire exploded into the main square of the village, pulverizing the weathered skeleton of the remaining structures.
"Charlie knows to fight only until the warning horn sounds for retreat, right?" Vesyon asked.
Theo was supposed to have been with him to keep a second set of Praetorian eyes on Charlie and Phillip, as he'd always been Vesyon's right hand in times of battle. He needed him, but Camille needed him more. There was no way he was going to allow Camille to stand on the front line, and Theo had been the only one he trusted to get her out of harm's way.
"Theo showed her several weeks ago where to retreat to; she knows to cut and run at the horn. She's very aware of how much time she has to get away from the village before the detonation of the underground. Once she's made it to safe ground, she will lead her troops to White Wall!" Phillip screamed as another cannonball hurtled over their heads into the crumbling foundation of Romeo Village.
A sharp, stabbing pain seared Vesyon's chest at the thought of Camille being forever trapped beneath the compound, a cavernous crypt without an exit. In his desperation to keep her alive and far removed from battle, he very well could have doomed her to death.
As the wind picked up speed and threw the western wind into their faces, Vesyon smelled the wretched stench of muddied fur, the heavy saltiness of filthy men, and something floral? "Do you smell that?"
"Amazingly, I do. The beast’s foul stench is unlike anything. Dear Ma'Nada, it's horrible," Phillip said, covering his nostrils with a gloved hand.
"No, not the Chimera. I smell something else," Vesyon said, the first pricks of panic jabbing into his Praetorian awareness. "They aren't alone, Phillip. The Equestrians brought something else I've never confronted before."
Phillip didn't respond as they saw the horror unfurl before their eyes. The warships of LeMarc's Royal Air Fleet dotted the moonlit sky like hovering vultures: dark and formidable.
The main decks of each ship were topped with a towering mast, giving the general resemblance of a typical seaworthy vessel—but these flying battle weapons were anything but ordinary. From bow to keel, the seven ships were lined with shimmering copper and hardened iron plating. Five rows of gun port windows boasted a display of massive cannons, and on either side of the rudder and vertical stabilizers were twin turbine engines propelling the massive ships forward. They cut through the air like a knife; absolutely nothing would be able to stop their forward propulsion.
The previous rainfall and melting snow left the ground mushy and slick with squelching mud piles and icy slush. It wasn't ideal fighting ground, but it didn't bother Vesyon nearly as much as the fact that they had such small numbers up against LeMarc's army.
"I see intruders on foot to the west, men!" Phillip called out, pointing his sword and read
ying his battalion.
"Do you think Camille will make it out in time?" Phillip said to Vesyon before they began their stealthy march forward, hunkering in the weed thickets for cover.
"She will," Vesyon said, gritting his teeth together.
Phillip tossed him a stern expression. "She better."
The closest ship's gun deck opened for battle then, and any remaining conversation was gobbled up by devastating blasts of cannon fire.
***
Pressing her shoulder blades against the stone wall at her back, Camille felt the chill seep through to the core of her body. Theo pulled away from the corner of the wall as Neeko slipped into the shadows, scouting ahead before they pursued the distant sounds of intrusion. His fingers tentatively brushed against hers in the dark surrounding. She could smell the fresh, woodsy scent of him, and see a hint of panic sift through the carefully constructed veneer of his expression.
"I need you to promise you'll follow my every move, Cam. No matter what. Do you understand?"
She bobbed her chin, keeping her eyes locked with his. It was almost impossible to see the sharp outline of his features, but she saw the glimmer of silvery light in his eyes and clung to it.
"Listen to me. Vesyon is a smart man, and my every cell is loyal to him, but this wasn't part of the plan, having you be involved. If I tell you to run, you run." His thumb traced an invisible line up along her cheekbone, each stroke sending a rolling wave of desire throughout her entire body. "I've said it before, and I'll repeat it: I'm not losing you this time."
For the first time since Camille had met Theo, she felt the immense vulnerability he harbored, the open heart and fierce loyalty of a man willing to do whatever it took to protect those he cared for.
"What does Ad Astra per Aspera mean?" Camille blurted out, not quite understanding why the words popped into her head. Theo seemed slightly taken aback as well, but his smile grew wide as he looked at her, his teeth a mere slip of white in the shadows.
