Legacy of Death_Revenge

by Thomas J. L. Green

  “Two years. We were assigned here after the death of archbishop Nashimaeal to prepare this town as an outpost and a base for future operations,” Li Mu replied.

  “You seem awfully talkative for a Palai officer, what are you hiding?” Zoey exclaimed.

  “Nothing relevant to the current situation,” Li Mu smiled warmly.

  “Anyway, how can we help with the defense of the city?” Raven pivoted the topic.

  “With your permission, I shall assign you to sergeant Akku. He shall incorporate you into his unit, the 11th company and help you navigate the battlefield,” Li Mu proposed.

  “I agree. One thing, don’t legions have ten companies?” Zoey tossed up.

  “They do. 11th is an abbreviation, it means 1st company of the 1st legion,” Li Mu revealed.

  “I saw the Palai amulets have four numbers, what do the other two mean?” Zoey didn’t let up.

  “Army and individual number. Legions are organized into armies, while companies have a number for each man.”

  “I see, thanks!” Zoey smiled and they soon left.

  “What do you think?” Raven asked when they were alone.

  “I don’t know. What they say makes perfect sense, but I feel there is something off. It makes sense that Lucas would make us run here when we were being pursued. It makes sense that they would prepare a fortress as a base of their operations around this part of the continent and it makes sense that they would do it here because it’s next to the mountains and far from larger cities, meaning any sieging army would have a hard time securing a supply route. The picture they paint makes sense, but I feel like there is something off, something missing, something that’s hidden underneath,” Zoey breathed.

  “I don’t think talking to Lucas will bring any results,” Raven evaluated.

  “I will try. You go see Akku and find out what are we supposed to be doing during the siege. The Palai soldiers are greatly organized, we will just get in the way if they don’t count with us,” Zoey ordered him.

  Raven nodded and headed to see Akku. Zoey went to check on Lucas.

  “Hnnnh… hi, Zoey,” Lucas greeted awkwardly. He expected many things when waking up after the two days sleep, but Zoey lying on top of him wasn’t among them.

  “Morning, sunshine,” Zoey smiled sweetly.

  “Okay… what happened?” Lucas asked straight.

  “Why should have anything happened?” Zoey asked back.

  “You seemed to have been rather angry with me since we left Sirissi Skalla, so it’s rather suspicious that you are being so nice,” Lucas remarked.

  “Luna explained to me the whole Xanthe thing, you will pay for it, don’t worry, but that doesn’t mean I will be pissed at you forever,” Zoey revealed.

  Lucas measured her with an inquisitive stare.

  “And I really fucked up by following you with Raven and Luna to the ball. I know it, in retrospect, I realized what your plan and purpose there was and how much we fucked it up by being around,” she added.

  “Why do I have the feeling that this is the closest thing to an apology I will ever get from you?” Lucas tried.

  “Because you will, so don’t get used to it,” Zoey smirked.

  “How’s the siege going?” Lucas pivoted the topic.

  “I don’t know, the attack came by the dawn, but it’s not my turn yet,” Zoey replied.

  “Your turn?”

  “Sergeant Akku will have us fight twelve hours per day each, two times six with breaks in between, but we almost never fight at the same time. Now, it’s Raven’s turn, then it will be mine, you get it later and we more or less don’t meet during the day. Outside isn’t pretty though, but the city brewery is good, so it evens out,” Zoey described.

  “Li Mu and his rotations… did he tell you for how long does he think the demons have rations?” Lucas inquired.

  “Two weeks.”

  “Bleh, we might have to end up running into the mountains after all… how did we evaluate our chances of victory?” Lucas pressed.

  “That we have a chance to survive.”

  “Okay… that’s really fucking bad. Li Mu usually gives a number for this, when he doesn’t, it means the number is so low it would demoralize the men… and the lowest I heard him say is ten percent,” Lucas announced.

  “You seem to trust this Li Mu guy awfully much,” Zoey realized.

  “We have many roles in the Order. I am an agent; I go out and do stuff. Li Mu is a strategist; he doesn’t go out. He sits in his office, gathers reports and forms strategies. He is the best strategist of the Order, his plans work, always… so when his best plan has the chance of success lower than one on in ten, it’s really not good,” Lucas evaluated.

  “Well, I guess we need to make use of the little time we have before we get back to running for our lives,” Zoey tossed up.

  “That sounded like a proposition,” Lucas narrowed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her.

  “It is, but not the one you just thought about. That thing between your legs looks like a suffocated wyvern and I don’t want to give you what you want just like that,” Zoey stated.

  “What do you propose?” Lucas asked carefully.

  “We’re going to play a little game. I will tell you what to do and how to do it. You do that, to the letter and nothing else. If you last a week without failing my instructions, you get what you want. If you fail, we keep playing until you succeed for seven straight days. And don’t worry, I will play fair and it won’t contain anything dangerous, permanently damaging or involve anyone else unless you drag someone into it,” Zoey offered.

  “This is the most obvious trap that I have seen in a long time,” Lucas smirked, “accepting this would let you toy with me however you desire while you eventually give me something impossible to do in the process, so I keep failing.”

  “Do you accept?”

  “Why would I accept? This is an impossible task which will likely involve a massive amount of suffering on my end without any reward… what type of instructions would it involve, anyway?” Lucas contested.

  “I don’t give spoilers, do you accept?”

  Lucas sighed. “Yes, I do.”

  Zoey smiled warmly. Then, she slammed her knee into Lucas’ crotch.

  “OUCH! What was that for?” he exclaimed.

  “That’s to make you last for a bit… I have about two hours before my shift so it would be pointless if I end you in ten minutes,” she grinned as she rose from the bed. She sat down in an armchair by the side of the room, crossing her legs. “Now, get down from the bed and kneel before me.”

  “Say what?”

  “It’s the first instruction, now move or I will count it as the first fail,” Zoey remarked innocently.

  “Why did I agree to this, again?” Lucas sighed as he got up from the bed.

  “I have three theories. First, you like me and this is a welcomed way for you to get more information about how I am. Second, since you have stopped drinking and taking drugs, you are dead bored, so this is a way to kill the boredom. Third, you love impossible challenges because that’s what you do. You don’t get up in the morning to do difficult things; you are only interested if the task at hand is borderline impossible. I think all three are true,” Zoey summarized.

  “Perhaps.”

  “Before we start, one question. You had been seriously tortured in your life, for a very long time, haven’t you?” Zoey asked.

  “Where does that come from?” Lucas returned a question.

  “Your attitude during the ride here was different from the usual. We were all borderline dying and yet you had this look like everything was fine. Like it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t place it for a long time… until I remembered one girl. She was a Faye; she murdered a few of her sisters in cold blood, so the matrons decided to make her an example. They tortured her for days. Now, when I say torture, I mean getting skinned, having bones sawed out of the body, getting entire body parts eaten off by ants ... this
type of stuff. After some time, it felt as if something just broke inside her… that she made peace with the pain, with the suffering and just stopped caring, as if she weren’t really there… as if it didn’t matter. She had the same look as you did,” Zoey described.

  “Yes, I was tortured for more than a bit in my past,” Lucas admitted, “but, needless to say, I am not sharing the details.”

  “I figured. Well, I know that you can handle pain, now I shall see how you handle frustration and humiliation. Kneel!”

  57

  Raven

  “How’s it going?” Lucas asked Raven as they met. Raven was coming in to rest, Lucas was heading out for his shift.

  “Dunno, it’s kind of a mess. The beer is great though, so that’s a big plus,” Raven evaluated. He was covered in dried blood.

  “Well, see you later,” Lucas smiled and headed out. Outside, it was literally raining blood. The street was a river of flowing blood. Up above the streets, there countless corpses of bird demons impaled on the fortifications. There were more corpses on the streets and on the houses. The cover of dead bodies was so thick that there were only a few rays of sun coming between the impaled corpses. Lucas put on the featureless white mask, tossed the spear over his shoulder and headed to see what Akku has in mind.

  He was drenched in blood before he even reached the battlements. Lucas climbed up and took a look. The army of demons was completely surrounding the city; they were everywhere.

  “The usual?” he shouted at Akku.

  “Yeah.”

  Lucas teleported to the lower level and stabbed to death the snake demon who was trying to climb the walls. First of the many to come, for the demonic army seemed endless and his shift had only just begun.

  “This sure is nostalgic,” Raven remarked. Dried blood literally covered all three of them.

  “Are all sieges this bad?” Zoey tossed up.

  “Nah, most are much worse. I mean, we have food, they don’t have catapults and we have beer,” Lucas revealed, “which is much better than eating rats, getting bombarded by corpses and drinking blood.”

  “I am sorry I asked,” Zoey shook her head.

  “You three are still alive,” Li Mu observed as he entered the square. He held a large umbrella over his head and was almost clean off the blood.

  “How’s it looking?” Lucas asked.

  “Alright. We are down about eighty men, got at least couple of thousands of the demons. Nothing interesting though, they are sending in small fry to test us. They are saving the real thing for when we get tired. From now on, the town militia shall fight as well,” Li Mu evaluated.

  “Hmph,” Lucas sighed, “any sign of the Faye?”

  “There was a Faye army maneuvering around the mountains, they were helping Nallach, but them appearing is one of the risks we are facing. I mean, now it would be no issue, but a week from now, an attack of a Faye army could be devastating,” Li Mu explained, “anyway, dawn is upon us. Time for the next shift.”

  “Ah well,” Raven sighed and finished the beer. It was his turn. He wrestled his sword from the blood-filled sheath and headed out. Zoey and Lucas went to get some rest, for they had the night shift.

  “Something’s wrong,” Raven murmured. He had spent past five hours killing demons on the walls. It was a bloody business, but the walls held and the demons were far from the strongest ones. Now he definitely felt a slight tremor.

  “Hmmm?” sergeant who was fighting nearby asked. Akku was asleep; Raven had no idea what the name of this man was.

  “Call reserves to the squares,” Raven told him.

  The sergeant nodded.

  Raven moved from the wall and went to the main square. He climbed on one of the tallest houses and waited.

  Minutes after a massive tremor shook his world. The center of the square split open and ginormous snake’s head shot out of it. Raven leaped off the roof. He gripped his sword by both hands and stabbed it under the snake’s jaw. His weight pulled him down, making him cut the snake all the way to the ground. Thick blood washed over him like a wave as the snake caught its last spasm. Raven took out his shield. Snake demons started flooding out of the corpse. Raven greeted the first one with his shield. Its skull splattered like a smashed tomato. He ducked under the strike of the second snake and severed off its head. Raven spun and cut the next one in half. Few minutes, there was a trail of over fifty dead snake demons behind Raven. He noticed a shadow under him. There was a huge boulder falling straight on him. Raven stretched out his hand. The boulder flew apart as if it was made of feathers. Seconds later, it fell again normally, now only rubble. He looked up again and saw a hint of blue.

  Kayleanne.

  Raven sheathed his blade, grabbed a spear, made a few steps and launched it upwards. It left his hand with a boom as it pierced through the air. He couldn’t see what happened up there, but soon the spear fell back down, split into two cleanly cut pieces.

  Not knowing what to think of the exchange, Raven went back to the battlements. On the other squares, he saw more corpses of snake demons.

  “How’d we do?” They asked Li Mu as another day dawned.

  “Worse. We are down hundred and twenty in total, but the town militia is pretty much wiped out. Those who aren’t dead or fatally wounded are in no condition to fight. Not enough morale. Then again, they pretty much bought us a day,” Li Mu evaluated.

  “Think they got more of the tunneling snakes?” Raven pried.

  “Yes, they do. We won’t be seeing them today or tomorrow, but sometime in the future, they shall definitely show up again,” Li Mu revealed.

  Meh, why do I feel so powerless? Because I am, that’s why. I could probably kill a thousand of them, three thousand if Lucas comes with me, but then we would die and well, that wouldn’t make even one-seventh of their army. Plus, these numbers count only with the small fry, if Kayleanne shows up, we would get isolated and picked off at her leisure.

  “Do you think Kayleanne or Ebilezerhar shall attack in person?” Raven inquired.

  “No. It’s risky, while they shall revive through one of their champions should they be killed, it still takes time and costs them a lot of strength. Their armies would scatter in the meantime. They shall do so once they get desperate, which is why I’m making sure you or Lucas are always on the battlements since you are the only ones who have a shot against a demon prince,” Li Mu explained.

  Do we? Lucas does, he did defeat one, so… do I? I guess I will be forced to answer this question before this war ends.

  “Palai bless the brewery; this would be hundred times worse without the beer,” Akku smiled as he downed a mug. It was the dawn of day four.

  “Indeed,” Li Mu concurred as he arrived at the daily meeting.

  The siege turned out to be the most routine thing Raven had ever done. Every day was the same, literally. He slept at the same hours, ate at the same moments, fought at the same hours against pretty much the same opponents and now, by the edge of dawn, they had their daily meeting.

  “Since you haven’t told us our status, I suppose it isn’t good,” Lucas observed, turning to Li Mu.

  “No, it is not. In total, we are down two fifty. That would be as expected, except the people who got wounded on the first day aren’t recovering, despite our expectations. Pretty much every wound festers, which makes recovery excessively long,” Li Mu revealed.

  “That’s actually bad,” Lucas smirked painfully.

  “I thought that when you said someone is down that he is dead,” Raven remarked.

  “No, we have no dead so far. It meant that someone is wounded seriously enough to be unable to fight. Normally during the siege, we would have about two hundred wounded people all the time, hundred people in reserve and the rest fighting in three shifts of two hundred. There were sieges where we fought like this for months,” Li Mu explained.

  Raven closed his eyes and focused. It took him a bit, but he could feel it. A thin layer of something in the air, something that
shouldn’t be there. “There is poison in the air,” he stated, “it’s not magical and it’s so thinly spread that it’s pretty much unnoticeable.”

  “Ebilezerhar’s doing, I suppose,” Li Mu remarked toward Lucas.

  “Probably. I mean, he’s got a thing for snakes, so poison makes sense,” Lucas sighed.

  “Weren’t you supposed to know what abilities they have?” Akku asked straight the question that hung in the air.

  “I know what abilities they have in the Void; they don’t translate well into what they can actually do in this world,” Lucas replied.

  “Hmph, excuses,” Akku grunted.

  They all laughed.

  The next day was as bad as the last one.

  “BREACH IN SOUTH-EAST!” thundered across the ramparts.

  Raven split the snake demon in front of him in half and rushed there. There was a hole in the wall and demons were spilling in. Raven leaped off the ramparts straight into it.

  This is nostalgic.

  He crushed a demon by his fall and spun to behead two more. The demons were all around him. His world turned into a red blur. Time, space, pain, they all lost their meaning. There were only enemies around him. Enemies to who he shall grant death.

  “FALL BACK!” a shout woke him up from the haze of carnage.

  On instinct, Raven picked a direction and started cutting his way through it. He cut down demon after demon until there was none in front of him. He finally looked around. The wall was breached in several places; the Palai soldiers were all retreating to the inner city. He didn’t have time to admire the scenery, for there was an army of demons behind him. He ran forward. A group of demons crossed his path. A group of demons died by his blade.

  “You will make a lovely pet indeed,” a female voice taunted him from above. He looked up. Kayleanne sat up on her griffon on one of the houses near him. She raised her eyebrows into a provocative look.

  “Chop chop, you won’t make it to the gate if you don’t hurry,” she remarked poisonously. Raven dashed forward. A group of flying demons descended upon him. Raven cut whirled and slashed, but there was a lot of them and were careful about attacking him directly.