Armor of God
By David J. VanBergen Jr.
Copyright © 2014 David J. VanBergen Jr.
Edited by DH Bryan
Cover illustration by David Ogilvie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Salvation of Solandeus Series
Book 1 – Sword of Spirit
Book 2 – Armor of God
Book 3 – Righteous Warrior (early 2015)
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
The invading hoard will swarm over Solandeus like a plague of locusts, bringing an era of unprecedented darkness. Only the light of the Armor of God worn by the Chosen One can illuminate the path to Salvation.
- Unknown Prophet
Chapter 1
Gavin stood on the wall, squinting in the bright sunlight as he looked out at the frozen wasteland of the Northern Kingdom. Spring was approaching, but it was still cold - especially for a young knight who grew up in central Solandeus where it never snowed. This was his first assignment as a knight in the King’s army, and he was doing his best to be alert even though there hadn’t been an assault on the Wall of Salvation in over 200 years.
The Great Divide mountain range separated Solandeus from the Northern Kingdom; the Wall of Salvation was built across the only pass in this long natural barrier. It had been built 300 years before to prevent raids by bands of barbarians from the north. During its first century, several warlords had mounted attacks on the wall but were easily repelled. Since that point, there had been peace between the South and the North. Trade had even opened up between the nations, but all of that was done by sea.
After centuries of peace, the manning at the wall had declined. The 200 men in Gavin’s unit rotated 12 hour shifts on the wall. There were barely enough men to put one man every 10 feet, but with a wall that was 100 feet tall and 50 feet thick, how many men did it really take to defend it?
Gavin’s unit had arrived the previous day for their one-month tour of duty at the wall, and the previous unit was already on its way back to the capital city of Westport. This was his first shift standing watch, and even though there was virtually no chance he would see anything, he was focused on watching the horizon.
If he hadn’t been looking so closely, Gavin probably would have missed the dark silhouette that had appeared on the horizon. He assumed he was just seeing things but went to the closest telescope to be sure. As he studied the horizon through the telescope, his heart dropped. He stepped back and rubbed his eyes before looking again. After his second look, he ran to the west end of the wall.
“Captain,” Gavin called out. “I think you need to see this.”
After getting the captain’s attention, he turned and hurried back to the telescope where he looked one more time to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. A minute later, his commanding officer, a veteran named Jeremiah, arrived.
“What’s all this commotion about, Rookie?” Jeremiah demanded.
“I think you better look for yourself,” Gavin replied.
Jeremiah stepped to the telescope and looked at the horizon. Just like Gavin had done, he stepped back then looked again to make sure he wasn’t mistaken.
“This means trouble, Boy,” Jeremiah said as he stepped away from the telescope the second time. “We must warn the King.”
Captain Jeremiah turned toward the west and took several quick steps before coming to a complete stop. He turned back to Gavin with a frantic look in his eyes and tried to say something. His mouth moved, but the only sound that emerged was a gurgle as blood started streaming from the corner of his mouth. His knees buckled, and he slumped to the ground.
Gavin looked down and saw a crossbow bolt protruding from his Captain’s chest. He looked up and saw men streaming out of the mountains onto the wall from the west. He turned and looked behind him and saw more men streaming onto the east end of the wall.
Each of the invaders carried a crossbow in one hand and a sword or battle ax in the other. They strode forward confidently, unleashing a deadly volley of crossbow bolts before discarding them and charging into battle. Almost half of the original 100 knights were down, but the remaining knights on the wall quickly recovered from the surprise and started fighting back.
The fighting was still 30 yards away as he turned to check on Captain Jeremiah. He knelt by his leader and could see that the wound would be fatal. The captain was still trying to talk, and Gavin leaned down to hear what he was saying. All he could make out was Captain Jeremiah repeating, “Warn the King.”
Gavin stood up and drew his long sword. He didn’t want to leave his dying captain, but there was nothing he could do for him. His mission, now, was to clear the wall of invaders and warn the King.
While he was new to the unit, he was the best swordsman. In fact, he was one of the best in all Solandeus; only his younger brother, who seemed to have a supernatural ability with a sword in his hand, was able to best him. With the singular mission of clearing the wall of attackers, Gavin rushed into battle with his sword high above his head.
Most of the invaders were engaged with knights already and had no defense against a skilled swordsman on a mission. The first man Gavin encountered had his ax raised over his head ready to bring it down on a knight on the ground on his right. Before the man could strike, Gavin severed his head with a vicious two-handed swing of his sword. He allowed the momentum of that swing to carry him around to the next enemy who had his back to him. He lunged forward and stabbed through the man’s back piercing his chest. Gavin kicked him in the back pushing him off his sword and the man slumped to the ground dead. In mere seconds, Gavin had taken down two invaders, and he was just getting started.
Gavin worked his way towards the west end of the wall, cutting down the enemy every step of the way. Each time he took down an enemy soldier, it freed up another knight to carry on the fight. The evenly matched fight quickly turned into a rout, and the west end of the Wall of Salvation was cleared of invaders. The knights then surged to the east to drive the remaining invaders from the wall. While his comrades reinforced the knights defending the east end of the wall, Gavin raced to the ground to send warning to the King.
As he ran down the steps, Gavin wondered why none of the knights below had heard the commotion above and come out to help. He could see the barracks but no one outside. As he neared ground level, signs of a struggle near the barracks became evident. There was blood splattered on the ground and smeared on doorframes.
Once on the ground, Gavin
cautiously worked his way towards the barracks. Approaching the first barrack, he sneaked around to the back side to look in a window. As he peered through the first window, his heart dropped. There were signs of a struggle and some bodies piled up near the door, but most of the soldiers were still lying in their beds with blood pooling under them.
He checked the remaining barracks and found the same in each of them. The attack must have come quickly and caught most of the soldiers while they were still sleeping. What he couldn’t figure out was where the enemy went after this massacre.
While deciding what to do next, he heard a distant war cry. He looked towards the wall and saw another wave of attackers flooding onto the west end. He realized that the invaders must have gone back up the mountain after the barracks massacre and were now serving as a second wave of attackers. He knew it would be over quickly because the remaining knights were worn out and now vastly outnumbered.
Gavin ran for the stairs to help his friends on the wall, but the dying words of Captain Jeremiah came back to him, “Warn the King.”
He stopped in his tracks. After a final look at his doomed comrades, Gavin ran to the messenger pigeon coup. He rushed inside, quickly prepared the messages to be sent, and attached each one to a pigeon’s leg. To insure that the warning got through, he prepared three sets of birds and messages. After releasing the third pigeon, he stepped out of the coup and watched the birds fly away.
As he watched, the lead pigeon suddenly dropped from the sky. Confused as to what happened, Gavin shaded his eyes from sun and watched the remaining two birds. He saw the bird closest to him tumble from the sky and realized they were being shot down. Just as he made that realization, he was slammed backwards into the pigeon coup.
He stood there sprawled against the pigeon coup, not comprehending what just happened. As the pain radiated from his chest, he realized he had a crossbow bolt protruding from his body. In fact, it went all the way through him, pinning him to the wall of the pigeon coup. Even with the excruciating pain, he thought of his duty to Solandeus and searched the sky for the third pigeon.
As he peered skyward, Gavin could make out the third messenger pigeon flying south towards the capital to deliver the warning to the king. Despite the pain, he managed a small smile, but that smile was short-lived as he saw a dark shape speeding towards the last pigeon. He squinted, trying to make out that dark shape and realized it was a bird of prey. Gavin’s heart sank as the falcon crashed into the pigeon with a puff of feathers.
With his last hope for warning the King gone, Gavin slumped back, overcome by pain and despair. He thought of his family. He realized he would never see his little sisters again. He thought of his brother, the future Duke of Rolling Rock, their home city. He wondered where his little brother was. He hadn’t seen him since he left home after his 17th birthday several months before. He wondered if his parents would be proud of him when they learned what had happened, and it pained him to know that no one would ever know that he had done everything he could to warn the King.
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of someone approaching. Gavin looked up at the largest man he had ever seen. He stood close to seven feet tall, had a shaved head, and wore a sleeveless vest that revealed huge, muscled arms. His chin sported a goatee twisted into four braids, and he had several small hoops in each ear. He was smiling, but there was no sign of friendliness in his expression.
“You almost got me,” the man chuckled. “You almost ruined the whole surprise, but, fortunately for me, my little pet here saved the day.”
A large falcon swooped down and dropped a bloody pigeon on the ground in front of Gavin. The man reached down and picked it up. He removed the note and unrolled it.
“The Northern Kingdom invades. Too many men to count - send help,” the large man read then crumpled the note and ground it into the mud. “Too bad no one else will ever read this.”
With hopes of warning the King dashed and his blood spilling out onto the ground, Gavin was losing consciousness. He could hear the large man talking but was having a hard time comprehending what he was saying. As everything started to go black around him, his last thought, for some reason, was of his little brother, Mat.
Chapter 2
Mat rode at the head of the group of seven with Persephonie and Banji by his side. It was spring, and the mid-morning sun warmed the group and made the ride pleasant. Most of the snow had melted which made traveling out of the mountains possible. They were approaching the little town of Last Hope after a successful mission into the mountains. It had taken them longer than they anticipated, but, three months after they rode out of Last Hope, they were returning with the Helmet of Salvation in their possession. As they rode, Mat reflected on the journey.
Their time in the mountains had been filled with adversity. Before finding the helmet, an ambush by Northern Kingdom forces nearly cost Banji his life. While he lay unconscious, the rest of the group searched the Valley of Caves for the legendary Helmet of Salvation. During that search, Mat, Michael, and Arajin were caught in an avalanche and barely made it to the shelter of a cave before being buried alive. Not only did the cave save them from the avalanche, it turned out to be the hiding place of the helmet.
After finding the helmet, the entire group remained holed up in the Valley of Caves for a month while they waited for the spring thaw and safe travel. The avalanche had convinced them that it was prudent to wait until the snow melted, and Banji needed the time to recover his strength after being unconscious for weeks. During that time, Mat trained extensively with Michael, Arajin, and Persephonie.
From Michael, a Basilican Knight and senior leader of the group, Mat learned the art of warfare. After the ambush, it was apparent that war was coming to Solandeus, and the prophecies said Mat was the only hope to defeat them. Michael taught him military strategy and battlefield tactics that Mat knew he would need if he was going to effectively defend his homeland. Mat also learned fighting skills that would be essential for keeping himself and his friends alive when they were forced into combat.
From Arajin, Mat learned what it meant to lead a group of people. Arajin had been the de facto leader of a group of 50 Gitanos for the last five years. He taught Mat the importance of the small parts of leadership. It was important to be a good leader in crisis, but, if you weren’t a great leader every day, you wouldn’t be prepared when a crisis arose. It wasn’t glamorous to make sure everyone had food and was well prepared, but without that you would be defeated before the battle even started.
From Persephonie, Mat learned the Druid arts. He learned how to do basic healing, how to use Druid magic to influence people to do what he wanted, and how to better sense what people were thinking or planning to do. The duo also learned to communicate mentally. At least, Persephonie could communicate words and short phrases to Mat.
When Banji’s health improved, he joined Mat’s and Persephonie’s training sessions and started forming a strong bond with Persephonie as well. He wasn’t able to interpret thoughts as well as Mat could, but he was very adept at grasping general meanings and knowing what to do with the information Persephonie shared.
As they rode, Mat reflected on how much his life had changed since he left home four months ago. He had learned so much about himself and his capabilities. He grew up as a noble, but he was the middle child, and his parents had spent all their time with his older brothers and younger sisters. The last few months had been the only time in his life that he was the center of activity.
During many of those moments of reflection, Mat thought about his family. His oldest brother, Gregory, was being educated to be the next Duke of Rolling Rock. His next older brother, Gavin, was training as a Knight in the King’s Army. Both of his younger sisters were learning etiquette and charm back home and would now be enjoying the beautiful spring weather in Rolling Rock. Mat missed his little sisters most of all but knew he wouldn’t see them for a long time. He hoped to at least see his brothers when they passed through Wes
tport.
As soon as they rode into Last Hope, Mat could sense that something was wrong. There was a tension in the town that hadn’t been there before. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t think it was going to be a good thing.
Mat immediately sought out Michael to discuss the palpable tension he was sensing. They decided the best thing to do was to check into the inn and let Michael search out his agents for information, because that information would be more reliable than the gossip on the street. Mat still had a hard time believing that Michael, who appeared to be nothing more than a simple Basilican Knight, was their Knight Commander and controlled a huge intelligence network, a secret only he and Persephonie shared with him.
After checking into the inn and taking care of their horses, the group congregated in the common room of the inn while they waited for Michael to contact his agents and find out what was going on. They settled into a large booth, and Mat sat with his back to the wall watching the other patrons. Without even trying, they heard bits and pieces of the stories being told. Each story varied, but the one common thread was invasion. It appeared that the Northern Kingdom had recently invaded Solandeus. There were no reports of cities being attacked, but the invaders were rumored to be somewhere in the mountains.
When a young serving girl brought mugs of cider to the table, Mat asked her about the rumors, but she couldn’t tell them anything useful. Everything she knew came from the patrons who were spreading rumors. She didn’t know of anyone with first-hand, or even credible, information. Mat thanked her for her help and asked her to bring lunch for his group of friends.
A few minutes later, the girl returned with a tray full of wooden bowls. She told them it was caribou stew and promised it was the best food in town. Based on the smell, Mat thought she was probably right, but his mind was preoccupied and he barely tasted it.
Armor of God (Salvation of Solandeus Book 2) Page 1
