by Lee LaCroix
Dawn had passed and its red shine on the dark stone of Andalvia had left in passing. It was near noon, and almost the entirety of the city was bathed in white light, leaving only slim shadows for Dusk and their new allies to operate in. Garreth led Ilsa, Zoreyn, and three Dusk to a low wall on a rooftop in the city’s northern end that looked over the gate and the walls of the fortress. The thin lining of sand on the rarely visited roof flipped up around them as Garreth looked over the wall, scouting the Vandarian base before him.
“So, this is where they were keeping me? And my son?” Garreth mused.
“Yes and hopefully. The seawall entrance was a clever plan, but it is not one we can use again. We were lucky enough to find the structural weakness on a previous expedition,” Zoreyn explained.
“Right. Well, it looks like we’d need a siege ram to get through those gates. It would be doom if they closed when we were discovered,” Garreth told them and looked down below to the solid wooden doors with metal bracing and frame.
“Their patrols have become increasingly watchful as our infiltrations continued to subdue their leaders. In our last two attempts, it has been difficult to even pass through the main courtyard to reach the towers without being spotted,” Zoreyn said.
“I can see that. Archers everywhere,” Garreth replied as he looked at the circular wall that closed off the fortress to the northern most section of the city and spotted nearly twenty archers on the fortress wall and another twenty on the city’s bordering wall.
“I doubt the success of this mission. Outside of launching it at night, it would be assured suicide,” Garreth lamented as he put his back to the wall, slouching onto the stony rooftop.
“We still can’t turn our backs on the people who rescued you. And now that Ayden’s people are free, they want the same thing as Dusk,” Ilsa explained, kneeling down beside him.
“Why kill Rakash anyways? Won’t Vandar just send another overlord?” Garreth asked.
“Ayden has shown the Kal’reth that they do not have to fear the Vandari any longer. If we can dispose Rakash and his troops here, then Ayden can convince the people of Andalvia that they do not have to live this way,” Ilsa told him.
“Anyways, you are the only one who could stand against Rakash. You are the only one experienced with the mursame blades, and only you could know how to defeat him,” Ilsa concluded.
Zoreyn and his allies stood apart as the two argued and watched as the archers on the nearby wall looked around for the source of the raised voices.
“With Darkbreaker no longer at my side, that may be a difficult encounter. If I am required as much as you have said, then there is no way I can refuse. Let’s just head back and complete this plan,” Garreth told them, and Zoreyn led them across the rooftops back towards the sanctum.
Sweat poured off the Vandarian guards as they waited at the front of the gate to the fortress, standing between the two massive torches that lit the nearby street and alleyways like daylight. Kayten watched them from several houses over, tucked into a sidestreet where the searching light did not reach, and then looked over Ayden and his crew, who were dressed in plainclothes, equipped with any spare weapons from Dusk’s warehouse, and crouched in the darkness. Kayten looked across the street to the building nearest to the wall and was just able to make out the movement of a silhouette on the rooftop. There, Garreth watched as the archers on the wall walked to and fro, marching between lit torches that were placed close enough so no shadow lay between them. As soon as two archers had turned their backs, Garreth folded out over the low wall of the rooftop, dropping two of archers to the floor without a sound.
“Go, go, now!” Garreth whispered as he waved Zoreyn and his men forth.
The shadowy infiltrators moved forward, swinging their ropes with speed. They unleashed their line and sent the coil with the steel claw on its end flying across the side street and sailing over the floor of the wall. They prayed that the clattering of the steel arms would not be heard. Zoreyn and a masked one pulled at their lines, and the claws stuck between the battlements. Zoreyn and Ilsa leapt over edge first, grabbing onto the rope and shimmying across the gap of the alleyway, and then pulled themselves up onto the wall. By the time Garreth and the rest were making their way across, Ilsa and Zoreyn had sprinted in opposite directions, taking out the next pair of archers. The two assassins continued until the bend in the wall exposed them to more guards and turned back to their allies.
“Now, the gate,” Garreth motioned as he pulled another arrow into his bow.
The shadowy infiltrators left Garreth on that wall top and hopped down onto a low roofwo before rolling to the courtyard floor. Garreth watched as more archers on the wall turned about. He did not leave a split second for them to shout before dropping them as well. He watched from above as Ilsa and Zoreyn dispatched the two guards at the gate crank and held his breath as Zoreyn began to raise the gate. The grinding chain and the clatter of wood and metal drew the attention of every archer on those walls downwards. None of them, however, noticed each other falling off the wall one-by-one as they were slain by Garreth’s arrows. Garreth was trying to finish off the last of the archers who played a dangerous game of hide-and-seek when the Vandarian soldiers began to march out of the tower and towards Ilsa and the other four assailants.
“For Kal’resh! For freedom!” Ayden called out as he led his men under the gate, which was now raised high enough for them to crouch under.
Garreth could wait no longer after the Vandari began to march towards Ilsa and their outnumbered allies. Spinning spheres began to hiss and smoke as the members of Dusk charged in to meet their enemies. Kayten’s sword exploded with fire like lightning through a cloudy sky when she battled there, standing beside Ayden and his lightly-armoured crew as their protector. Ilsa stood with the “coming-of-darkness”, and the assassins rushed in and out of the smoke in pairs like a murder of crows in frenzied sport. Regardless of their adversaries’ effectiveness in small groups, the Vandarian force at the garrison was a sizable one. Soon, Garreth found himself at the frontline, holding their massing ranks at bay with a second-hand longsword.
In his history of battle and swordsmanship, Garreth had only wielded Darkbreaker for a short time and still knew his way around a steel blade. With his rejuvenating bath at sunrise, his lounging rest as he waited for night fall, and the adrenaline brought forth by the battle, Garreth did not feel pain or rigours of his imprisonment as he struck down the Vandari one-by-one, keeping his allies from being subdued in the courtyard. He stood on the very edge of the smoky cloud, waiting for his enemies to join him within. An arrow whistled past his face as he stepped back into the cloud, leading three Vandari into a fight.
Garreth sidestepped to the right, watched the sword and shield guards run past him, and then unwound a wide slash into the back of the rightmost one. The fallen Vandarian screamed and then was silenced as Garreth ran the sword through him. Soon, his two allies approached with their shields high, just visible through the mist. Garreth leapt with a kick, knocking the soldier on his right over the corpse of his fallen comrade. As the left one lunged in, Garreth brought down his sword hard and put both swords into the dirt. Garreth sprang up again, kicked off the shield of the left Vandarian, and landed on top of the fallen right one where he plunged his sword through the body into the ground. As Garreth rose to his knees, the last soldier crouched and paced around him with shield held high, ready for anything. Garreth held his sword in front of him and watched from the corner of his eye as Ilsa traveled by and placed two daggers into the Vandarian’s back before continuing along.
Bodies were beginning to cover the dusty floor, and the Vandari retreated into the depth of the courtyard, for they no longer trusted their footing. Kayten’s sword, now white hot and fully aflame, pushed away the smoke before it had a chance to settle. With Kayten, Ayden, and the Kal’reth on one side, and Ilsa and the Dusk on the other, the battle was split on two fronts. Garreth looked from side to side, weighing the optio
ns and wondering which side to support, but then he saw it. Neither left nor right but straight ahead, the doorway to the tower stood open and unguarded. He knew that his allies would not last forever, so he sprinted towards it with abandon. As Garreth entered the tower, he found the landing completely abandoned. Stools had been tossed aside, and draughts were going flat as they rested upon tables. Garreth was beginning to perspire as he sprinted up the winding steps of the corridor that wound its way around and up the inside of the tower. Towards the top of the tower, he came to another landing where two guards put their wide-eyed attention upon him.
The guards folded out their spears and formed up beside each other, blocking the rounded hallway. Garreth hung his sword before him and let them take the first strike. Like watching the movements of the timid animals in hunt, Garreth watched the tips of the spears as they wavered in front of him with their wielders ready to pounce. The right spear came first, and Garreth sidestepped towards it, putting his blade between himself and the spear. With another step, he pushed the right spear against the wall with his sword and sidestepped past the tip of the left one. With one fluid motion, Garreth brought his sword down from on high and sliced the collar of the right Vandarian before he twisted the blade towards himself and plunged the blade behind him, impaling the guard on the left. Garreth sprayed the blood on the sword onto the floor as the two fell around him, and he readied himself for another sprint as another stairway appeared before him.
“Hey there! Anybody! Hello!” a voice called out from the only doorway on the landing.
“Who’s there!” the voice called out again.
Only this time, Garreth recognized the voice clearly and began to scramble through the corpses for a key. Soon, Garreth had opened the door, and the man and his son both exchanged a surprised glare as they stared at who had appeared on the other side of the door. They met in a quick hug, and Garreth looked around the room.
“Far better than my lodgings, I’ll have you know. But we have to hurry. Take this,” Garreth asked as his face turned from a smirk to serious and passed his bow and remaining quiver to Novas.
“Where are we going?” Novas called out.
“The Vandarian commander is believed to be ahead. Topple him and the Order here goes with him,” Garreth explained between breaths.
Novas nodded and flexed his hands around the bow as they continued up the stairs. Before long, they came to the final landing, which led to a hallway with a metal-framed door at its end. They paced on the red and gold-tasselled rug as they approached the door, opened it, and peered inside.
Three torches blazed on the far wall and filled the room with light while leaving the hallway in shadow. Reddened in the firelight, the bronzed warrior stood watching the battle unfold below and was seemingly uninterested with the visitors that had opened the creaking door. Garreth withdrew his sword, and Novas nocked an arrow in the bow. As if knowing, he turned to the two and crossed his arms across his chest, and the shadow of the torchlight carved tiny canyons where his muscles flexed and bulged. He paced behind his desk, and put his fists against the table.
“Ah. The Malquians. The warriors of light. How fine of us to meet like this, all of us three. Malic brought home quite a prize when I looked over you two, and we both savoured the delight in the punishments that await you in the north,” Rakash spoke with a voice as deep and rumbling as a stampede of hooves.
“I see you have come with those cowardly assassins, dogs of shadow. Then you are quite aware that your efforts to stop me here are futile. These blades and their divine protection have ensured me victory since they were first bound to me. My destiny has led me here to this exact moment, so I could use them to conquer you and the entire world,” Rakash explained as he placed his hands upon his twin blades.
Novas and Garreth looked to the blades and then spied different weapons, familiar weapons, hung from the wall alongside other tools of war that they assumed were Rakash’s trophies.
“I see you recognize your treacherous swords, the bearers of that accursed light. How it angers me that you use it for such selfish and unworthy purposes. They will return with you to Vandar where they will be melted down and cast into the darkest sea. I can promise your fate will be little better,” Rakash boasted as he looked over the two, pacing a step towards the hanging blades.
“Your fate isn’t looking too good from where I am standing either,” Novas chided as he drew back the arrow and aimed it directly at the man.
“Go ahead, try and take them,” dared Rakash, chuckling as Garreth approached the swords.
Novas kept his eyes fixed on the Vandarian as Garreth paced in. For the brief moment that Garreth took his eyes off the man to reach for the swords, there was a flash of light. Garreth saw Rakash reach for his blades, so the Malquian closed his eyes and reached for Darkbreaker and Dawnbringer. His palms locked upon their scabbards, and Garreth dove away from the desk towards Novas. Rakash lurched forward to land the killing blow on Garreth but stopped himself mid-stride as an arrow whistled past his chest. The light died down just in time for Novas to see Dawnbringer skittering towards him, but he did not reach for the sword, but instead nocked another arrow.
“Stop!” Novas called out as he pointed the bow at Rakash, who had just finished slicing away at the air where Garreth had stood only a second before.
“Do you really think you can pierce me, boy?” Rakash taunted, pointing a sword at Novas.
“Not with this,” Novas explained as he dropped the bow and reached down for Dawnbringer while his father rolled to his feet and withdrew Darkbreaker.
Rakash let out a laugh and walked around the front of the desk. He did not turn before unwinding a powerful kick, knocking the desk against the back wall and opening up the floor. He held a sword out to each of the Malquians before him.
“Well, let us begin,” he demanded as he flourished around his swords.
Novas looked at Rakash and his father and then began to pace to the Rakash’s side. Garreth began to do the same, looking at the Vandarian, then his son, and then to the doorway’s darkness.
“Novas!” his father shouted as a phantom appeared from the black with daggers and eyes glinting red in the reflection of the torch light.
Novas had only a split second to turn, lift his sword, and attempt to dodge out of the way before Malic fell upon him. The assassin and the Malquian fell to the ground, and Rakash moved in to strike, so Garreth sprinted to save his son.
A tiny star formed on the edge of Darkbreaker as Garreth dragged the blade along Rakash’s, who put up his blade to block the Malquian’s advance. Garreth leapt away as the second blade careened by, narrowly missing his chest. Garreth put up his guard as the twin blades came spinning around again, but the strength of Rakash’s strike broke Garreth’s defense.
Garreth wound Darkbreaker from behind and slashed from on high. Rakash was not only strong but quick, and he met the sword in the guard of his crossed edges. Garreth pulled his blade out of the guard before Rakash could rip it away and then stepped back in for another quick lunge. The floor flashed white as Darkbreaker was pressed to the floor, and Rakash stepped to the side of Garreth’s lunge and then brought both his blades down upon the sword. Garreth could hear the whistling of Rakash’s blades as they breezed past his chin and neck, and the Malquian bent backwards to the extreme, dodging the twin slashes that had traveled along his fallen sword. Garreth fell onto his back but rolled to his knees and feet and moved in for another exchange of swords and light.
The sharp tip of Malic’s shining blade hung a sliver’s distance from Novas’ eye as Malic pinned Novas to the ground, pressing his weight and daggers towards him. Novas slammed the pommel of Dawnbringer into Malic’s side, knocking the assassin’s blade away, and then followed up with a head butt to Malic’s face. The assassin winced and fell off Novas, and they both got to their feet and made their paces a short distance away from the flashy swordsmen.
“How you imagine this will turn out any other way t
han what occurred previously, I have no idea,” Malic yelled before he snorted out his bloody nose.
“I’m not sure either, but you’re bleeding this time!” Novas replied with a smirk.
A roaring growl ran through that room as Malic charged ahead with dagger-wielding fists held over his face like a sparring boxer. Novas could hear the cutting wind as the assassin punched in a criss-cross fashion, and his daggers sliced for the neck or the arm while pushing Dawnbringer aside. Malic took care not to expose his front or back and always held a wrist in front of his face.
Malic lunged out with his left fist, putting his dagger between himself and Dawnbringer, and forced his way towards Novas. Dawnbringer, trapped in the hilt of Malic’s dagger, would not steady in front of Novas and could only be willed to the side, dropping Novas’ guard. Malic cleared the distance and delivered a solid knee to Novas’ waist, which doubled Novas over. As the sharp glint of Malic’s dagger fell from above, Novas pitched himself to the side. With a roll, the Malquian scrambled back to his feet. Novas watched Malic bob on his toes and knew he had to find a way through Malic’s precise defense and swift counterattacks if he wanted to prevail. Novas took a long stride forward, raised his sword, and planned to end his kidnapper.
There was a glowing aura around each sword as each mursame blade collided. Trails of light hung in the darkness as Garreth and Rakash’s blades struck each other. Their moonstone core of their swords, reveling in the light from their mursame edges, turned the blades into two streams of blue energy. Their lengths were impossible to miss as they careened towards each other’s bodies. As Darkbreaker was a much more agile blade, Garreth was relieved to have his old sword in his grasp once again. Garreth wielded it with ease and moved the blade at every angle, deflecting and parrying Rakash’s every strike. But, it was still difficult for the hunter to pierce the defense of the flurried blades without exposing his own.
