“Does Luna talk about me that much?” Miranda retorted.
“Only good things,” Raven confirmed.
“Anyway, I have a war to win. Until next time,” Miranda concluded and turned to leave. Raven said nothing and turned. He saw Miranda get on a horse at the head of the unit and motioned the men to start heading out.
Raven went on back to the arena complex. Around it were soldiers, among them prince Stallington. The prince’s eyes turned wide when he saw Raven.
“Jonathan,” Raven said in greeting as went close to him.
“How… what… what are you doing here?” the prince squeezed out.
“I am going to sleep. Please have Samantha’s body cleaned and put into a coffin. I will bury her myself.”
Stallington stared in confusion.
“Are you..?” Stallington started a question.
“I will be leaving, Jonathan. I will finish the tournament as I promised, but then I am leaving,” Raven cut his question short. Jonathan Stallington refocused and replied.
“What if I don’t want to let you just leave?” he asked softly.
“Then I will kill everyone who stands in my path,” Raven stated and Stallington turned pale.
Raven passed him and headed back to the arena. He went all the way down to his cell. There he sat by the grave of old friend Nibbles.
Nibbles is dead. Samantha is dead. Luna might be dead by the morning. There is no way I am ever dragging someone like Yvonne to my presence… the further she is from me, the better for her. They say it is not business of men to pursue their own happiness… now I understand why.
He had never felt so alone.
114
Lucas
Lucas got up and stretched.
What a busy night.
He looked around and saw the townspeople swarming around the Palai barracks.
Heh, looks like I recruited the whole village. This is going to be really awkward if it doesn’t work… time to put on something more appropriate.
Lucas reached into his dream pocket and pulled out his armor. Heavy steel greaves, gauntlets, thick boiled leather pants and tunic. He changed swiftly, put on the general cloak and leaped down the roof among to the soldiers. They were distributing whatever they had spare, exactly as he had instructed them.
A few hours later, they were ready and headed out. Lucas, the thirty local soldiers, ten fresh recruits and about four hundreds of suspiciously motivated villagers. The soldiers all had horses and Lucas had to admit they took good care of them. He had the people arranged on a hill next to the old tree crossroads. After about an hour of rehearsal, he managed to make it look like an army is stationed on the hill. From one angle that is, but hopefully nobody would come from any other.
“Shall I send my men to look for enemy scouts?” the captain proposed.
“Nah, there won’t be any,” Lucas refused. Lucas went on to stand before the men.
“The cloud you see on the horizon is not a cloud. It’s smoke. Smoke from the forests around Illysaeas that I put on fire yesterday. Through that fire are running the remnants of the slaver army. They are running between my main host that’s on the other side of that fire and now close behind them. The enemy will come from the western road. There are only two commands for this battle. First one is HOLD! When I shout that, you keep standing in the positions you are in now. The second one is CHARGE! When you hear that from me, turn around and run! Everyone other than the thirty professional soldiers here will run home to hide from that point. You get paid either way. Payment is collectible at the barracks, whoever is there will handle it. If you feel like pissing yourself, just focus on my back and nothing else,” Lucas made his speech and went on to stand atop one of the anti-cavalry fortification they had laid out before their positions. It was like a large hedgehog made of tied sharpened logs of wood. “One more thing, everything you have heard about me is true.” He put on the featureless white mask and his helmet over it, heavy helmet made out of gold with a Palai symbol at the front.
115
Collward
The slaver army emerged from the forest like a semi-organized swarm. Soldiers, cavalry, monsters, all ran out of the forest. The wind carried stench of burned flesh and Edward had no doubt Lucas enjoys it. A chill went down his spine when he saw him standing on a hill by the Old Tree crossroads with an army deployed behind him.
“How the hell did they get there?” Edward breathed.
“Must have been prepared for it,” his second in command confirmed.
This is bad. It might be a bluff, but even if it is few hundreds of soldiers are more than enough to stall us until the main host behind us catches up. Southern path is sealed off, that means we head north. I have one fortress there, Tor Nukului. It is too small for my army, even for what is left of it. The fortress doesn’t have much food stored and one of my main treasuries is hidden within it. On the other hand, I do not have any other options and I might be able to slip away into the sea from there.
“ALL MEN HEAD NORTH! We are heading to Tor Nukului,” Edward commanded.
“Captain. Have your cavalry charge their position. You shall serve as a distraction during our turning. Do not engage fully, just graze them and then rejoin with us,” Edward turned to his second in command.
“Yes, sir,” the man confirmed.
Shame, he is one of my top men. But I need to throw some bone to Lucas so he can chew on it why I make my escape and I don’t have anyone else.
Where the hell are James and Gly’Yen’Thn?
116
Lucas
“Are they charging at us?” a farmer asked as he watched the cavalry form a spearhead formation and start charging uphill. There was about fifty of them.
“HOLD! They will not reach,” Lucas ordered.
“I want to go home,” another man contested.
Lucas leaped down the fortification and put his spear over his shoulder. He headed toward the cavalry at a leisurely pace.
“Is he going to fight them himself?” a soldier breathed.
“He said hold, so we hold,” captain confirmed.
Lucas walked softly toward the charging riders. Without any warning, the anti-cavalry fortifications disappeared and reappeared straight before the charging riders. Screams of men and horses filled the air as the unit crashed into the fortifications. The front line was stopped on the spot and the ones behind crashed into them. Lucas leaped into the crowd, his spear a blur. Blur of death. The fortifications kept teleporting around stop any running horses. Over the next twenty minutes, the stunned soldiers and farmers alike watched the cavalry get demolished by teleporting fortification and a single man. Hundred riders charged their position. Hundred riders died at the end of his spear.
“Is this for real? I keep pinching myself but I ain’t waking up,” a soldier breathed.
“Apparently… I guess the legends actually understate him by a lot,” captain confirmed.
When finished, Lucas put the spear back over his shoulder and headed to the men.
“I need the oldest warhorse we have,” he announced.
“Here Patches is over thirty,” one of the soldiers answered. Lucas reached into his tunic and tossed the man a heavy pouch of gold.
“That’s for the new one,” Lucas went to the horse. The man stepped aside.
“I am sorry for asking sir, but why the oldest one?” captain didn’t resist asking.
“Horses ridden by me don’t have long lifespans. I will be surprised if he survives today,” Lucas leaped into the saddle.
“There won’t be any more attacks. Hold position and go home once I leave. You have all done well, gold is in the barracks,” Lucas announced as he moved the horse to stand in front of the formation once more.
Minutes later, the slaver army disappeared entirely in the northern path. Soon after, the Palai army emerged from the forest and Lucas headed toward it.
“Did you seriously whip up villagers to pose as our soldiers?” Miranda jabbe
d at Lucas as soon as he arrived at the head of the army. Merewen and Nashimaeal were also there. Lucas just grinned back.
“Why the sour faces?” Lucas asked Miranda and Nashimaeal.
“No reason,” Miranda cut off.
“Unless it is an order, I would like to keep the privacy of lady Miranda,” Nashimaeal concurred.
“You guys sure know how to suck the fun out of a good battle,” Lucas made a sour face as well.
“What battle? We burned their army to nothing and now we are going to finish it off. I don’t see the battle part in it,” Miranda retorted.
“That’s what makes it a good one… talking about fire, slavers look like they are down to barely a thousand men. That’s about thirteen thousand dead. Do we have an estimate on civilian losses? I don’t care about the siege, just fire,” Lucas pivoted.
“Two smaller villages that refused to evacuate, one lumbermill, few woodcutter and hunter cottages, one shrine… at least five hundred, but not more than a thousand,” Miranda evaluated.
“Losses on the main force?” he turned to Merewen.
“Zero.”
“Losses in city garrison?”
“Sixty dead, two and half thousand wounded. We should manage with less than two hundred men dying,” Nashimaeal replied.
“Hmm… hehehehe…. eeehhhmmm … hahahahahahaha…. hhhmmmhhh… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Never laugh like this again” Merewen turned to Lucas with eyes wide.
“Getting cold feet… general?”
Miranda felt like her blood froze in her veins. She looked at Merewen and it was the first time she saw her pale. Merewen had spent her entire life on the battlefield. Miranda stared death in the face more than a few times. But this was different. Different scale, different style… everything was different. Lucas felt like a completely different man.
“Oh, come on girls… you look like you just lost your virginity. Sorry if I was a bit rough,” Lucas chuckled. His voice was cold and harsh.
“Do you have to be such a dick about it?” Miranda shot.
“No. But I enjoy it… this is the first time you are in my campaign... isn’t it? Yes, I do things differently. I don’t fight battles; I win wars. It’s not pretty, it’s not honorable and you will not be proud of it,” Lucas countered.
“Nash… why aren’t you saying anything?” Miranda turned to archbishop Nashimaeal.
“Because I cannot change it. That’s how the world is. I will pray for the souls of the men who died today and have the church help all that will be alive by the end of tomorrow. I wish things weren’t this way… but I don’t have any alternative.”
“Now that we have had a sentimental minute, can we get back to the question of how do we kill the remaining thousand slaver soldiers?”
After a day of slow pursuit, they arrived at Tor Nukului where the slavers were hastily setting up fortifications. Tor Nukului was an old fortress built into a lone cliff by the sea.
“Do they seriously have fortresses everywhere?” Miranda breathed.
“Yep. This one has their main treasury,” Lucas countered.
“What a coincidence.”
“Coincidence indeed,” Lucas smirked.
“Always thinking like a thief,” Nashimaeal sighed.
“It’s one of my best qualities. Surround the area, send a bird to Elias to move over his navy. We start once they appear. The general plan is that I head in solo and kill Edward. Merewen takes her best men, goes in through some side entrance and aims to capture the docks as soon as possible. Miranda, you go through a second side entrance and head to find the treasury. Secure it. Rules of engagement are unrestricted except Miranda's fire. We need the contents of that treasury, not burn it down as collateral.”
“Meeeeeeeh,” Miranda sighed.
“The treasury search will go much faster if I go with Miranda and use my magic to search for it,” Nashimaeal proposed.
“I don’t like that, this mission is exceptionally dangerous,” Lucas contested.
“Then it would be better to reach our destination as soon as we can, not wander around aimlessly,” Nashimaeal contested.
“Makes sense,” Merewen concurred.
“Fine. You go with Miranda. Miranda, you will stay with Nash and make sure he survives. Don’t let him as much as go pee by himself, especially when he tells you it’s fine,” Lucas agreed reluctantly.
“Seriously? No fire and babysitting duty?” Miranda protested.
“Yeah… suck it up.”
Elias’ fleet emerged on the sea soon after dusk.
“Showtime,” Lucas announced and headed off. He tossed the general cloak and helmet back into his dream pocket and put a black hood over the featureless white mask.
Time for the last move.
Lucas climbed a wall on the side and snuck into the fortress through a window. The whole place was in a state of panic and chaos as Collward’s men tried to organize themselves and rein in the panic. Lucas slid through the fortress with ease. Soon he arrived at a hall where multiple roads met. About thirty men were stationed in front of a metal door.
Oh, look at that… Collward’s last champion. It’s weakened to the point I can barely tell it apart from the others... anyway; I should take it easy and stealthily dispose of his men, then kill him without alarming Edward.
Fuck it! I haven’t kept my position for all this time for being sly and sneaky. I’ve kept it because I am the strongest. Time to remind them of it.
‘Forsaken spirits… lost souls… forgotten wanderers!
HEED MY CALL!
I call upon you once more.
COME TO ME!
From all corners of the void. From all shadows of the past. From all ends of dreams.
COME TO ME!
I know that which you seek. I know the end you all deserve. I know the oblivion.
COME TO ME!
I shall grant you freedom. I shall grant you the end. I shall grant you peace.
COME JOIN ME IN DAMNATION!’
His power erupted and filled the room like heavy water. Lucas flicked his hand. Like a broken glass, the men and the door shattered into thousands of splinters. Splinters that remained floating in air for it was too dense for them to fall. Lucas stepped into a large hall and faced Edward Collward. Collward sat on a throne at the other side.
“I have come for your soul!”
117
Gly’Yen’Thn
“Stop slacking and put it on the goddamn ship!” Yen shouted at her men. The Mirror of Lost Souls had one detail about it that everyone forgot to mention. It was absurdly massive. The mirror was put into a stone frame that was three feet thick, ten feet tall and five feet wide. It was beyond heavy. Suddenly the hardest part of retrieving it wasn’t getting into Collward’s secret treasury but getting it from it. The escape tunnel she had prepared was too small for it, so now she had her men putting in on a boat in the secret docks.
“For fuck’s sake!” Yen cursed and went to help push the mirror. It finally gave in and got the deck.
“Get on, we sail immediately,” she ordered her men. They did and raised the anchor.
“Is that… the Palai fleet?” one of her men asked.
As they got into the bay, they saw the slaver fleet lined up in a defensive formation. Opposite of them was a much more massive fleet. One that had a symbol of Palai on every sail.
“Sail right, we slip by the coast. I will make a distraction,” Yen ordered her men. They knew better than to talk back.
Yen stood at the front of the ship.
Alright, Flary, time to fight!
In an instant, her skin turned deathly grey and eyes shone with dark red inner light. She formed two blood red balls of fire in her hands and fired them at the nearest slaver ships. Then two more. Then another. Then again. Soon the entire slaver fleet was ablaze with her flames and heavy smoke was rolling out by the water. Their ship was clenching on the coast, hiding behind the smoke.
Through the smoke, a hail of arrows made of ice appeared. Yen waved her hand and melted the arrows with her flames.
Elias!
“Stay on course; I will take care of this!” Yen commanded.
This is why the devil gave me wings.
Massive leathery wings sprout from her back and she shot up into the air. Elias was flying beyond the wall of smoke. He was held up by a torrent of wind. Yen ignored him and flew for the nearest Palai ship. She set the ship ablaze with a ball of fire, the one next to it with the second one.
That should gain me his attention.
“Quite the troublemaker, aren’t you?” Elias asked as he descended nearby.
“Always,” Yen smiled softly. She shot two of the exploding balls of flame at him. Elias deflected them with a gust of sharp wind and threw a spear of ice at her. Yen dodged and went on to fire at him again. They kept dancing through the air for a while, avoiding the attacks of each other.
By now, my ship has already sneaked away, time to get rid of him.
“Running out of steam, Admiral?" Yen asked mockingly.
“How rude,” Elias remarked and switched his attack. He made a whirlwind of air around Yen, stopping her in place. Then he pushed the air out of her space. Yen choked and started falling as her wings lost support. Elias summoned an ice sword and spun into the whirlwind. Yen soon lost the sight of him. Elias got behind her as she was falling and cut up with his blade. He cut through her side and severed her left arm. The cut-off arm burst into pure blood. Yen spun mid-air and shot the readied ball of fire into Elias’s face. He blocked it with a hastily made shield of ice but took the force of the explosion. It threw him backward. The blood flew back to Yen and reformed her arm anew.
Surpriiiise!
Yen flew straight at Elias who was trying to stabilize. She caught his shield and stabbed him with a blade she formed of the blood-red flame. Elias screamed as it hit him in the freshly recovered shoulder. Yen spun to avoid the counterattack and got above him.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 53
