“This is the land of my people,” Marie said, projecting her voice enough for all of them to hear. “So I know about the secrets this land holds. There should be a storehouse in a tunnel under the rubble to my left. It will take a lot of digging though. And even then, it may have already been raided. The Quietus had been here for a while. Also, it would only be temporary relief. The produce would have rotted by now, but some of the meat might be okay as long as it was frozen enough. After we eat, we should have a hunting party get started right away so that we aren’t in a position in which we have nothing. The hunting party can also scout the areas and keep an eye out for the natural habitats of the local wildlife and see how close they are to us. If we find enough sustainable resources, then we can stay. Otherwise, I strongly advise that we leave.”
She said the last sentence to Catherine.
Catherine nodded and looked at each of them one by one for further suggestions. She received none.
“Sounds good to me,” she said finally. “Talia, you and Sway go on the scouting party, after we all eat of course. The rest of us will stay here and see what other things we can salvage.”
Catherine glanced out of the corner of her eye at Marie and the Prattlian nodded.
“Alright then,” Catherine said with a grin. “Let’s try to make this place home.”
* * *
“I’m still hungry,” Lily whispered in Bastion’s ear and he couldn’t help but laugh. She drove him so crazy. He stretched his arms over his head as Lily laid on her back and yawned. When had they fallen asleep? Bastion sucked his teeth in disbelief. “Oh, calm down. All we did was make out.”
“Make out?”
“Yeah. Um, it’s like…excessive kissing…I guess?”
“Why are you telling me to calm down? I’m tired,” she stopped to yawn. “You calm down. We didn’t do anything.”
“What do you mean?” Bastion asked, sitting up to attention.
“I’m hungry,” Lily said, rubbing her stomach as she changed the subject.
“Hey, you should tell me. I’m curious what else we could have done that’s—oh, that.” Lily laughed and shook her head.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said. “I like you. But I’m not ready to start a life with you or anything.”
“And why’s that?” he asked. He then decided to alter his line of questioning once he saw her eyebrow raise in the morning sunlight. “I mean, I’m just curious as to why. I’m not asking for that or anything.”
“Because we don’t know each other.”
“Right,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt like he had made the situation awkward.
“So…food?” she said.
“Do you even eat?” he asked, then he covered his mouth with both hands. Lily scowled at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind.”
“No, I want to hear what you said again.”
“I’m not going to say it.”
“How dare you say something like that to me?” she said. Bastion sighed. Why was she so beautiful, even when she was upset? Her face is all scrunched up and she’s obviously mad, but all I can think about is how cute her nose is, or her lips, those—
“Are you listening to me?” she shouted, and this time, he nearly fell off the branches.
“Alright, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out and grabbing both of her forearms. He stared into her watery eyes. “I’m sorry. I am. I shouldn’t have said that. I wouldn’t like it if you had said certain things about me.”
“Like what?” she asked, in a genuinely innocent tone.
“Like if I feel,” he said, releasing her arms. “Or if you treated me as nothing more than a weapon to further your goals. I would be pissed.”
“Then let’s stay away from those topics,” she said with a gleam in her eye. “And on to more pressing ones. LIKE FOOD!” She shouted so loudly that they heard a quick rustling down below. A twig cracked beneath them, and before Bastion could say anything, Lily had already leapt off the branches and to the ground below.
Hitting the surface hard, she nearly fell over at the bend of her knees, but she stuck a hand out behind her to catch her fall, and then she propelled herself forward, sprinting toward the source of the noise. Bastion stayed in the treetops, leaping from one clump of branches to the other as he kept an aerial view of the forest. He kept to the more open areas of the forest canopy.
A toss of leaves caught his attention from the left.
“OVER TO YOUR LEFT!” Bastion shouted, and Lily grunted in irritation. She had already been running fast, and now she needed to change direction. She leapt to the right, kicked off the middle of a tree, and then used the momentum to push herself onto the proper path. Bastion leapt down to the ground and began running with Lily, trying to trap the animal between them. From the quick sightings they got whenever they got close, it was definitely furry, but it was never beyond a second. The animal, as if sensing their proximity, would kick it into overdrive, going even faster than before.
Bastion and Lily smiled respectively as they kept up the chase, pumping more energy into their legs, but not too much, just in case they had to change course again.
They were coming upon the forest edge, and soon they would hit the Quietus walls. The animal was sure to change direction then. Bastion turned to Lily and she was already nodding toward him. She had the same idea.
They split up, Lily to the right and Bastion to the left, deciding to slow down and not make as much noise in their approach. Out of the corner of his eye, the animal slowed down a little bit, as if thinking that it had lost them. It was a fatal mistake. As it came upon the Kingdom walls, it decided to go left toward Bastion. Bastion ditched stealth and sprinted forward with hands outstretched. The fat ball of fur turned and began speeding off to its right, but Lily was already on it. She scooped it up in her hands and kept it tight in her grip.
“Whew!” Bastion sighed, stooping over and putting his hands on his knees. “Well that was intense. No wonder the Quietus like hunting here.”
“Aw, it’s cute,” Lily said, examining it. “It has the tiniest little face. I almost want to keep it as a pet. But I know we can’t.”
“We could find something else.”
“No, it might take too long. Besides, this thing is so fast, I don’t think we would be able to catch it if it ran away again.”
“We caught it once.”
“You mean I caught it,” she winked at him. “You got out of breath.”
“Oh, don’t even start,” Bastion laughed, standing upright. “I’m not tired.”
“Mm-hmm. And that little break you just took was because you had too much energy.”
“It was because I was surprised over how fast that creature was.”
“Sure it was.”
“You were fast too. I was shocked by how much.”
“Two peas in a pod,” she said with a smile. Bastion gave her a puzzled look. “Nevermind,” Lily said. “It’s just an expression.”
“I’m curious,” Bastion said. “How strong are you? Really.”
“Why do you want to know?” she asked low, wondering what he was trying to figure out.
“It’s…well, I came here to Quietus to be separate from everyone else. I want to get stronger. I need to prepare for whatever’s coming, and I don’t know what side I’m on or who I’m fighting for, but I need to be ready.”
“So you’re wondering if I’m a suitable sparring partner.”
“That’s right,” Bastion said, taking a step toward her. “The thing is, I’ve never had one that I could consider an equal. I was always too afraid of hurting others, and the few times that I did go through with it, regardless of how I felt, someone would get injured. Even Lakrymos…we had quite a few sparring matches, but I surpassed him quickly. Orchid—I know I could have defeated her at any time, but back then, I wasn’t sure if I should have killed her or not. I had already killed so many…”
Lily waited for h
im to continue.
“But I don’t want to hurt you,” Bastion said. “Sometimes I lose myself…and I like you. I don’t want to ruin anything between us…whatever this is.”
“I see,” Lily chuckled, her hands still on the furry animal in her hands. “Well, let’s eat first, and then we can see what happens between us.”
“You’re not afraid?”
“Oh I am,” she said with a wink. “I’m afraid of what will happen to you.”
Bastion had never been more excited for a fight in his entire life.
Chapter 3 – A Thorough Cleansing
They awoke to the sound of footsteps, which normally, was not unusual. But the boots that covered these particular feet were not student-issued. Not a single student wore such a boot, and from what their eidolons told them, there were dozens of these familiar yet foreign feet. Rising from their beds, the students quickly dressed and murmured among each other as they headed from their dorms, down the halls, and out the door into the courtyard. As soon as the first in line stepped out onto the gravel, they started stopping in their tracks. They only moved forward when the students behind them pushed. Though they were frozen in fear, their bodies instinctively summoned eidolons into the palms of their hands.
Three dozen Yama stood before them, side by side, and in rows, as if waiting for an order. Disgusting to behold, yet easily identifiable, the students couldn’t take their eyes off their supposed enemy. They had heard of their coming, but why had the day arrived so soon? And why hadn’t they been able to sense them coming from further away? Even now, it was not their energy signatures that gave them away but the sound of their steps. What if they had not slept with their eidolons out? What then? Would they have been slain in their sleep?
No one moved. No one dared to move, for neither side was ready to begin the war. But then, to their utter shock, the King of Allay stepped out in front of the Yama from the small militia’s right hand side.
He was out of his royal robes and now into a plain grey cloak, the kind Arimus used to wear. For what reason, the students couldn’t figure out.
“Excuse me, young ones,” Seeker said, “but who might be in charge here?”
The students looked to one another. Who indeed? The students had formed their own small groups in their teachers’ absence and as a result, they viewed a few of their peers as leaders, but no one was really in charge among them. They hadn’t seen Orchid in a couple days and she had never taken a prominent role. James, Talia, Zhou and the rest...they had been gone for so long that they barely remembered the Master Sages’ faces.
“I guess I am,” Likan said from the second row, taking a step between the crowd and moving to the front. He was a stocky, black-haired boy of nineteen, known not for his sage abilities but his impressive mind in the heat of battle. He wasn’t that great himself, but he could delegate to his teams in a way few had seen. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of half the school simply based on observation.
“Ah, and what is your name?”
“Likan,” he said, making it painfully obvious that he was nervous.
“And why are you the leader, Likan?”
“It’s because I understand how others operate. I can…um, I guess you could say that I see through people, sir.”
“And what do you see when you look at me?”
Likan looked back at his classmates but no one was ready to provide him an answer. Though he was their unofficial leader inside the Academy, right now, he was very much alone.
“I see…I see…”
“Don’t hold back,” Seeker said, bending down closer to the student’s face. “We must be honest with one another. After all, we are all part of Allay.”
“I see greed,” Likan said, his lips trembling. “Yeah…greed.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t think it’s my place to say anything else. I just follow orders,” he said quickly, trying to put on the illusion that he was just an ordinary soldier, waiting for the will of his King to be thrust upon him.
“You are smart, Likan,” he said, raising his eyes from the boy to the group behind him. “Now, listen carefully. I am going to need all of you to back away from the wall and come to the middle of the courtyard. Those that are still inside must come out as well. The visitors behind me will make room for you.”
The students hesitated, but slowly they walked to the middle, watching as the Yama took one step back at a time in unison. Likan didn’t move from where he stood.
“What is going on here?” he finally found the words to say. Seeker diverted his attention back to the boy.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t those Yama?” Likan winced, feeling horrible for questioning the King. “Aren’t they the enemy?”
“We have reached an understanding!” Seeker shouted, waving his arms in the air and turning to address the student body, now in the middle of the courtyard, but still facing the Yama. None of them turned around to face Seeker as he spoke. “It would seem that Lakrymos and Orchid were too hasty in their assessment. Let me tell you all a quick story. Last night, when the castle was long closed, a Yama leader came to me, and not out of hostility. He pleaded for his people, saying that Lakrymos and his partner were mistaken. They told me that Lakrymos wanted the Yama’s resources, and that he wanted to use us, the people of Allay, as his own personal army to take it.
“And if you think about it, it makes sense. Think of how distant Lakyrmos was to you all. How he treated you all as tools and not Allayans. Needless to say, I heard the plight of the Yama, and we came to an agreement. We would not attack each other. Instead, we would form an alliance, for the good of both Kingdoms. They are not our enemies, but our allies.”
The student body noticeably relaxed but they still weren’t completely convinced.
“But now you must consider strongly what I have to say next. During our conversations, the Yama and I have determined that the real war is not between each other, but between Langour and Prattle. They are our real enemies, for they have done nothing but use our resources for their own purposes. And the moment they were able to sustain themselves, they began amassing their army and weapons, waiting for the day to strike us.”
“The Langorans and Prattlians are our friends,” Likan said. “We’ve been at peace for years.”
“And that,” Seeker said, turning to face Likan, “is why you must decide who you will side with. Your King and our new allies, or the Langorans. I am sure you understand what that will mean. If you join the Langorans or Prattlians, you will be banished, and when you seek refuge in their lands, they will shun you. At best, they will use you against your family and friends. As warriors, I am sure you will make the wise decision. So now, as your King, I must ask you to make your choice, for time is very short. If you are fine with banishment, and you cannot bring yourself to wage war against the Langorans and Prattlians, then please go to the left of the courtyard. If you are with Allay, go to the right. Do this now.”
The student body looked at one another, and primarily at their friends. But it only took a few seconds for most of them to make their decisions. Slowly, and in packs, they made their choices. A little less than a fourth went to the Allayan side. Nearly a fourth went to the banishment side, and the rest, the bulk of the group, stayed in the middle, wavering between choices. Seeker walked away from Likan and over to the Yama. Standing in front of them, he sighed and then pointed at the group that was ready for banishment.
“Purge,” he said, and the Yama made their move. Sprinting forward, they unsheathed daggers from their sides and weaved through the students at the left hand side, aiming to kill with each blow.
The courtyard exploded into chaos.
As Seeker slunk back toward the exit, the Yama engaged. At that moment, most of the students in the middle made up their minds, rushing to aid their friends and even clashing against some of their own classmates. Old grudges and rivalries were renewed as the students struck eidolon against eidolon, t
rying to keep each other at bay while the Yama performed their orders expertly. A few Sages were able to fight against the rushing Yama, but it always ended in death for the Allayan, and then the Yama would continue on.
The entire time, Seeker watched, taking mental notes.
For what felt like hours, only minutes passed, and soon, all of the young Sages that desired banishment were dead—decapitated so that they would have no chance of healing. Those that came to the assistance of the banished were wounded, and most of them were on one knee, holding a wound or trying to keep consciousness. Seeker stepped forward.
“Kill the ones that came to the aid of the banished,” he ordered.
Suddenly, more clashes of blades and cries of pain rang through the air.
It took less than a minute.
“Now,” Seeker said, his eyes filled with bloodlust. “Kill those that were neutral. Even those that came to our aid.”
Widened eyes were quickly closed as those Sages were executed. With no one to fight on their behalf, the Yama were able to finish their command in seconds. Only the Sages that chose Allay from the start were now still standing, and though they were afraid, they were doing their best not to show it. Only a steel resolve would save them.
Seeker glanced over at them.
“LINE UP!” he demanded, and the boys obeyed. He walked over to them, and one by one, he lifted their chins with his hand, staring straight into their eyes and searching them for fear. They all passed the test, and even he was surprised by the results of his assessment.
But then he remembered something.
He turned back to Likan.
“And him,” he said. A sole Yama ran toward the boy as he turned to face Iliad, having just appeared on the “battlefield.”
“It is done,” Seeker said. “I hope that you will keep your end of the bargain.”
“Certainly,” the Yama replied. “We are at your disposal.”
“Good,” he said, then he turned to the young Sages that were still left. “Spread the news throughout the Kingdom that we have been attacked by the Yama. That news will eventually fall upon the other Kingdoms’ borders. Tell the villagers to message every Langoran or Prattlian that they know, saying that we need assistance as soon as possible. We have managed to divert the Yama forces to the north, but they will return.”
The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) Page 3
