by S L Gassick
He hated waiting and being at the will of others. His battle skills meant that his mind was in a constant state of present, having to think things out over long periods of time frustrated him more than other men. He lived in the now and on his gut instinct, and that is what had kept him alive so far. Being sat here in the War Chamber for so long had dampened his spirits and he was feeling at a loss.
Then the doors were thrown open with a huge amount of force and a man came through. Finally, the news came from a herald.
“Theus! The towers have spotted a lone survivor walking back among the plains. There is no sign of anyone else – he is limping, so must be badly injured.”
Milius rushed to the balcony overlooking the plains and saw in the distance a lone silhouette walking slowly towards the Valhalla.
“It can only be Colum,” Milius whispered to himself. He then rushed back in to meet Theus staring at himself in the mirror. “Theus. It is sure to be Colum. He has returned.”
The gates opened to reveal not Colum, but the messenger – bloodied and injured. He collapsed on the floor and a small crowd gathered to help him. Food, hot water and healers of Delaniford were called for.
Rose’s mother came from the crowd that had now surrounded the poor young man and she drew her hands up to the man’s wounds, the slow warmth calmed the man down and slowly the marks, bruises and breaks started to disappear. Exhausted yet awake, the messenger spat out blood and recounted his tale.
“I got there just as the battle was ending…”
“Ending?” someone cried from the crowd.
“But you left not long after!” another shouted.
“Let him speak!”
The messenger continued, “it was a massacre. I tried to battle myself, but it was of no use, there were too many of them. I saw the Clans ride off with Master Colum taken hostage as proof, I think, of their victory over us.”
Theus and Milius looked at each other.
“They’re all dead,” the messenger, finally realising what he had been through, began to burst into tears, “all of them. Dead.”
“There, there,” a chubby lady nearby came up and comforted him. He muffled something into her large bosoms. It did not matter for already Milius was planning on his next move.
Just then a warm, gentle hand touched his arm, for a moment Milius thought it might have been Cyrene for they had not seen each other since the incident in the forest. But it was Rose’s mother. She looked him in the eye and Milius thought how beautiful she was for an older lady, but it was clear she had something else on her mind.
“You are Phin’s brother, correct?”
“Yes,” Milius suddenly became frightened that she might have known about their mission, or at worst she had seen Phin die.
“Please, tell me, where is my Rose? Has she finished her field experience? No-one has told me anything, but you seem to be of some importance here. Where are they?”
Milius took her hand and held it tight. “They are safe. Their group were found and evacuated behind the Norheath border to stay safe. Do not worry about her.”
Her eyes lit up and she began crying. “Thank you dear knight, thank you. I won’t trouble you further, I just needed to know.” She then walked off and dissolved into the crowd. Milius hated lying, and just hoped that they had not got into trouble. The knights would be looking after them anyway, he decided, and realised he had to focus on his next move.
He ran off back into the large war room in the Valhalla and decided that enough was enough. They had to ride out and meet this army head on. He had been forced to play his hand.
Theus walked in smoking his pipe and began to speak. “I know what you’re thinking. We will be unable to meet them with our numbers so few.”
“We have no choice,” Milius replied, “we cannot wait and let Norheath be laid to ruin before they even reach the Valhalla’s gates. We must meet them as close to the border as possible. It is the only way now.”
“Then we will need help. I will send word to our neighbours to send forces.”
“What allies do we have, Theus? You said yourself that the relationship between the different Valhalla’s is nothing but a farce. That they would not care seeing this Valhalla fall. I don’t understand, don’t you remember? We talked about this.”
“Don’t speak ill of them. We have a bond of Gaea, Milius, you forget who you speak to.”
“Do I, Theus? I think you forget who you are talking to. I am merely repeating the very words you were speaking not too long ago. Something tells me you know more than you are letting on. I have seen you, talking to yourself late at night, looking confused and letting mistakes like this massacre slip by without you knowing. What has happened?”
Theus was taken aback by such talk. Never before had someone been so direct with him. For a moment, the wise man became angry, then suddenly realising this was not the way to act, decided to confess all to the young man.
“I have a problem, Milius. I’m not the man you think I am.”
Then with a slow thoughtful turn of Theus’s head, he faced a nearby mirror. Milius looked at the reflection and realised it looked slightly different from the Theus stood in front of him. The reflection looked more aggressive and more sinister than the poor old Theus in front of it.
“What’s going on here?” Milius asked.
“I am two people, Milius. My other half cannot hear us right now, but he can see us. It is a secret I have long tried to keep hidden. Turn away, Milius.” Theus faced the wall, “I can no longer trust him. I fear he is working for the Dark Clans.”
“This is absurd. Then how can I know I trust you?”
“You don’t. You will have to look inside yourself.”
Milius stared at Theus. “It is truly you here now. I can see that, same as I have seen a change in your ‘friend’. How long has this been a secret?”
“It is a curse put on me many years ago for reasons too long to be spoken about now, but I will tell you when I wish it to be told. We have both learnt to live in harmony, but he has been tainted and cannot be trusted. I believe it is his work that has led to this entire affair. That it is I who am the true mole.”
“Then we must warn the Valhalla about this.”
“No Milius. Don’t you see? This is just what they want. My downfall will only lead to more chaos, I have to stay to protect the Valhalla until someone can rightly take my place. We must find a way of manipulating my other half. His form would usually take mine half the day and vice versa, but now it can change from minute to minute and I feel like I’m going insane. I always thought he was trustworthy until recently, after all he is, in base terms, myself. Though a side of me I’d rather forget.”
“There is more to this than you’re telling me, Theus.”
“Yet this is all you must know for now. We have a battle to prepare for and I will need to muster all my power to keep him at bay.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“We must go head-on. We know these fields better than anyone and must make sure we have this advantage, for it could be our only one. We must defeat our foes all at once, with strength and speed so they do not know our true numbers. For as long as we appear many, we may yet have a chance.”
“I can feel them coming Theus, they are getting closer every hour.”
“So can I, Milius. But there are some who do not follow our religion that may still help us. Let’s make preparations.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Frederick stood poised in the doorway looking into the two scared faces staring back at him. His leathery skin started forming beads of sweat in the hot, dank dark of the cave.
“Come on now Rose, come to Freddy! Be a good girl and this will all be over very quickly and you can soon go back to your parents.”
Rose was scared. Too scared to move. She looked at Clem and gave a little shriek. She had not expected Clem to be a Titan. Though a somewhat strangely pretty one, her skin had a different texture, as if she was made
of glass and her right eye was pure black like that of a shark. Rose also noticed there were cuts and bruises covering her body. She could not have been more than fourteen.
“You’d better go,” Clem said, “otherwise it will only get worse, and don’t look back. Promise me.”
Rose nodded uncertain of what she meant, and wandered towards the door. She was within a few feet of Frederick when she decided to turn around to see where she had been staying. As she did so, Frederick grabbed her but in not enough time to see something green and slimy crawling towards Clem from the corner of her eye as Rose was pulled out of the cave and into the light.
Rose saw in front of her a large valley. They were between two huge mountains and hundreds and hundreds of feet down she could see a river running off into the distance and the view went for miles into the clear sky and surrounding forest. She thought she could see, on the horizon, the tip of her Valhalla though she decided it was more than likely her wishful mind playing tricks on her. She thought of her parents and wished she was at home.
She looked around to see many small creatures like Frederick sat down in complete silence staring at her. These were clearly the Slithers. She was led to a wooden, blood-stained table beneath which the floor was also stained with blood. Rose gave out a whimper and began to cry. This seemed to make Frederick even angrier and he pulled her arm towards the table, forcing Rose to pull back, not wishing to go any further.
“Listen you little sod! You’re not going to die just yet, don’t worry. This isn’t how this works…”
“Please Gaea, help me!” she prayed. But nothing happened. Instead she found herself being tied to the table. The Slithers around her salivated and started to scream inhuman noises like animals; they were working themselves up into a frenzy and started dancing around the table; they were getting closer and closer and it was as if they were feeding off her fear. Some were banging into each other. Many were smiling but she could not handle looking into their fish-like demented eyes that were darting everywhere. Rose tried to remain calm. In the chaos that surrounded her she suddenly found a moment of tranquillity. “I love you, mum,” she thought and closed her eyes.
When she opened them there was even more chaos, but this was different; it was panic. She couldn’t quite see what was going on as she was facing the sky. All of a sudden three Slithers flew above her and down into the valley, a large blue flame following them. It was kyu.
She looked round to see Lirilius with a sword slicing through his opponents, picking them up and skewering them one by one. He seemed a man possessed, his killing was not orderly how knights were trained. It was brutal, raw and messy. His sheer anger shined out of him and took him over, Rose thought she could even see a black haze emitting from around his body, as if his kyu had turned so dark it appeared like a shadow over his every move. His face and body began to be covered in green blood and behind him she could see Hemero fighting alongside.
“That technique – Hemero must have used it” she thought. “He must have developed so fast. I cannot believe he might have even reached Naya’s standard. Where are Naya and Phin?”
Lirilius suddenly let out an animal scream as he stamped on the head of the last Slither which gave him the same pleasant sensation as if squashing a plump bug. Out of breath and perspiring, he rushed over and untied Rose from the table whereupon she began to cry on his shoulder. Hard, sobbing tears.
“It’s okay Rose,” Lirilius hugged her tight.
After a moment of calm, Nayakax and Phin appeared with Clem on their shoulders. Rose thought she looked even worse than when she had seen her before. She looked thin and weak as if she was already dead. Lirilius stood up and noticed that Rose recognised the poor soul.
“Who is this?” he asked.
“I am Clem,” the girl spoke timidly, clearly exhausted. Rose decided to speak for her.
“She is my friend. We need to look after her.”
Lirilius could see that there was an unspoken bond between this Titan and Rose and decided to leave it at that. Rose looked distraught but Lirilius could see no real harm had been done to her, unlike the other girl. He dared not think what had happened to her and looked around at the dead bodies lying around him. He had no remorse, but instead felt great relief that he had rid the world of such a disgusting evil. It was as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he felt ready to continue.
“Then we move,” he said. “Time has become short and there is a dark wind blowing through the air. And look…” Lirilius pointed to a huge shadow on the horizon that lay in the distance, “it seems clear the Dark Clans are preparing an attack on our Valhalla.” Nayakax was confused until he saw Hemero’s eyes staring at the shadow in fright. Then Naya realised it wasn’t a shadow, it was an army.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Milius had been up for what seemed like days making sure everything was right. He had planned out many different methods of attack, none of which he could find a guaranteed winning result from. Theus had been pacing the floor in what seemed to be a meagre attempt at trying to stay awake. Milius had to make a decision and fast. The recent bad weather had not helped either, morale was at an all-time low and Cyrene was not speaking to him, something he was trying to ignore.
“Theus. I keep coming back to this one plan, but it is something we’ll have to do soon for it to work, for we can only do it successfully in one location. This is the only foreseeable way we can win this. It’s similar to the pincer attack, but with our numbers I can only trust in the skill of our remaining men to stay alive.”
“That is something I can indeed trust in, young man.”
Theus was noble to a fault. Milius admired it, but also didn’t want blind faith to lead the way. They had to be pragmatic. Trusting in Gaea would only get you so far. “We have strength and honour and this battle will be remembered throughout the ages. For bravery or foolishness.”
“What is it? I sense something,” Theus asked.
Milius could not hide it for much longer. It had been eating him up inside and he was finding himself torn to pieces. “It’s just that… I believe I am perhaps leading these men to their slaughter.”
Milius hung his head. There was no coming back from that now. Theus placed a calm soothing hand on his shoulder. His eyes had grown grey, his face pale and sunken. “Milius, these men respect you. This is the only way they can protect their families. They would rather fight a pointless battle and die than lay down and watch everything they’ve ever stood for perish into oblivion. Come now, have strength young man, for this will be your finest hour.”
“You make it sound a lot better than it feels.”
“What’s wrong with you? You think I’m not aware of the risks? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s pathetic. You can moan and wail about it once this is over. You can cry, you can spout drivel to whomever passes by that you’re going through a tough time, but right now this is the best option we have. I’ve chosen you because you’re capable – because I’m not going to be here forever and I’ve watched you grow into a man. A good man.”
Milius shrugged and decided that this was it. He was going to lead his men into one huge final attack. One of such proportions that it could be the end of the ages, and the beginning of a new dark world. One that Norheath, nor maybe the world could ever recover from. He could only hope Gaea was truly on their side. If he did exist at all.[DG39]
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“Their faith in Gaea will be their downfall!” Scrathios laughed and took another swig of wine. Shui swirled his cup and watched this self-appointed King get more and more drunk. It was becoming rather tiresome.
“Well Scrathios, if there is one thing history has taught us, it’s not to underestimate Norheath.”
“Bah! They cannot compare to us in the Clans. We are stronger now than we have even been.”
Shui sighed, “it’s that arrogant faith in yourself that will be our downfall.”
“We have control over the Undead, we have mad
e sure the other Valhallas have isolated the country, we have perhaps even turned its leader and already their numbers have dwindled, that’s even before we have met in battle! This is going to be easy.” Scrathios laughed in jubilation, but it sounded discomforting in the dining room in Shui’s mansion.
“The Undead might give us the edge, but they will certainly not win us the war. We must make sure we have every member of the Dark Clan ready to strike after the Undead have perished for good.”
“That’s if they even do perish. You forget how many there are! I had to come past the moving army to get here. Shouldn’t you be riding with them?”
“Oh, I will,” Shui replied, “at the last minute. Why waste my time camping when I can sleep in my own bed here? They will only need me when we fight.”
“What do you think their plan is, Shui?”
“Well, my main contact Colum was forced to come back here, they were starting to realise he belonged to me. But I imagine they’ll try and trap us, and the only way they can do that is through a certain mountain path. So they will probably attack there, which doesn’t leave us very long until the big day.”
“Can’t we go around it?”
“Why should we? What better than a surprise attack that isn’t a surprise? We’ll then know exactly where and when they’ll strike and we can prepare accordingly. And if they do not? Well then I was wrong and we’ll just continue marching until we do meet them.”
“You still look troubled, Shui. What is it?”
Shui sighed, swirled his finger around his wine glass and thought about his promise to the Lord of the Underworld; putting everything at risk for this tiny victory in the grand scheme of things seemed wrong. He had yet to still think up a plan on what to do. He just hoped the Queen would know.
