by Winfred Wong
After he was certain that no enemies were awaiting his presence, he grinned through his jungle of facial hair, stretched his limbs, yawned and tiptoed out of the forest leisurely. The bright light on the staff went out as he stopped visioning, and he responsively caught the dagger that had been flowing around him just before it plummeted.
Then, prompted by curiosity, he examined the staff, tried to find that eye-like thing, but he couldn’t. The staff didn’t really look much different from an ordinary one when it didn’t give off light, but he still couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation that could tell where the light came from; however, he discovered something else.
“Lie down, let the purple guides you through.” He read out the words etched deeply on the staff aloud.
Sucked in his lips and scratched his nose habitually, he remained put for minutes, trying to puzzle out its meaning, but nothing dawned on him. So he decided to get going before the enemy returned. With the staff, he headed west with a gloomy face as being unable to comprehend the meaning behind the simple words was hurtful to his pride, though he was confident that Barnett, the man he was loyal to, would be able to shed some light on this.
CHAPTER TWO
* * *
Riding alongside Haddon on the way back to Lome, the capital city of Austhun, for days was not something enjoyable, especially to someone who just witnessed the death of a close friend.
“I don’t mean to brag,” Haddon said. “But I am actually one of the best travellers in the world. I have been to so many places that sometimes I couldn’t tell if I have been there or not, Wigston, Gomay, Ishim River, you know, just any places you can think of.”
“Oh, really?” Rogen replied causally, not even taking a look at him as he fixed at the back of Levi, who was leading the way, with an unfriendly stare, when a comfy breeze brushed gently against his dejected face on the horseback, as if it was delivering a heartfelt condolence.
“Rogen, look at that,” Haddon said, looking up ahead at three huge, white flags that stood side by side closely flying over the north city gate of Lome, flags with a symbol of black inverted diamond. “See the three flags? They are the country flags. When you see them, it means you’re already stepping on the land of the capital. And, you know what, among all the places I have been to, this is always the greatest. As the hugest city in the world and my birthplace, it has a flawless defensive system to resist invasions against Lathium and Oskal. The stone-made city walls are about one hundred feet high, and the footing has a width of seventy feet. With this length, no enemies can climb over it, not to mention the man-made, unpassable stream that forms a moat on all sides of the city, acting as a barrier that separate the reckless attackers and us, and a reservoir that flows into the city through a water gate under the east wall to quench the thirst of the people.”
“I’ve never doubted your knowledge,” Rogen replied even more causally, staring at the moat, as the guards on the city wall were lowering a drawbridge over the moat down.
“Open the gate!” a guard on the walkway of the wall commanded under the red-hot afternoon sun.
“Trust me, you’ll love this place.” Haddon whispered to Rogen when the screeching, bulky gate that sat under a tall, conical gatehouse was being hauled open.
With Levi leading the way, the eight of them crossed the bridge promptly and passed through the main gate.
“Dismount!” Levi commanded, getting off the saddle.
As Rogen left the saddle and landed on a paved path, he immediately realized that there was another gate, which resembled the one they just passed, in front of them. He took a quick look around, discovering that the area was seamlessly enclosed by four walls and that they were in the middle of a field of empty grassland that should only be found in some rural areas.
“This second gatehouse is shorter, only about sixty feet high, though it looks like exactly the one we just went through, but it’s not as high as it. It is intentionally designed to be shorter than the first one so as to remain unseen from outside,” Haddon said. “Look at the walls around you, even if the enemies make it through the first gate, they’ll never make it to the second one alive in such an open field surrounded by solid stone walls. This is literally a kill zone.”
“Is that so?” Rogen replied moodily, moving along the paved road, with the horse’s lead rope in his hand, and on approaching he found some unreadable words on the second gatehouse. “What about that? What is it?”
“Gate of Vision,” Haddon answered, disentangling his beard with fingers.
“Open the gate,” a guard on the walkway of the tower of the second gate thundered.
The voice of him lingered about the place while the gate was being hauled open from inside.
“No, there are something more under the words Gate of Vision.” Rogen peered as he found what he was witnessing incomprehensible. “Can’t you see that?”
“Yeah, there were four lines of texts originally, but the other three were destroyed during the war, you know, the civil war,” Haddon explained, as they marched under the tower and finally made it into the city.
“Were you in the army during the war?” Rogen asked.
“Yeah, Nuada, Levi, Lee and I were all in the army,” he drawled in a way that one would do only when recalling the good old memories.
As the gate behind them was being sealed up, their attention were drawn to a red stone-made, three-floor structure that looked like a military stronghold, exuding an air of indomitableness, situated on a tree-lined, bustling avenue embellished with stylish flat stones, before them. There was a well-kept stable right next to that building, and an oak staircase that was built to connect the stable and the second floor of the structure.
Numerous shops and stores, covered in elaborate patterns of azulejos, were set up on two sides of the paved street, garishly decorated, demonstrating the gracefulness of the prosperous street, not to mention the high-grade silk of the polished clothes worn by the residents. It was a delightful city where elegance and rowdiness blended in harmony.
“This is the last defence of the city, if it is taken, we die. But don’t worry, with the Royal Garrison Troops,” Haddon said, pointing his finger to a dozen of armed men walking out of the station. “The elite of the elite specifically trained to defend this city, nobody can make it through the gates.”
“How good are the garrison compared to us?” Rogen asked, ignorantly, while the armed men were marching toward them in an orderly fashion, elbowing their way through the crowd.
“That’s one stupid question. You better keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to lose your tongue.” Haddon changed his tone and handed the lead rope of his horse to the solider that came to him.
“Your horse, sir,” a young and zestful solider, wearing a full set of silver armor plus a reinforced chain mail, said to Rogen bluntly.
“Here, take it.” Rogen untied the saddlebag quickly, gave his horse a carrot that was placed in the saddlebag, tied it round his waist and handed the rope to him.
With a disgruntled face, the solider grabbed the rope from him rudely, without saying a word, and, while walking the horse to the stable on the paved street, he leaded the horse to slightly smash into Rogen’s shoulder, bruising his arm.
“Ouch, what’s wrong with you?” Rogen said to that solider in a frustrated provoking tone.
“Rookie,” Nuada said with a smirk on his face, as he approached Rogen.
“What’s so funny?” Rogen said, showing slight discontent.
“Have you – “ Nuada replied.
“Quiet!” Levi suddenly shouted out, staring left at the corner of the end of the street, with an emotionless look as a specially composed fanfare of trumpets and bugles that announced the arrival of the monarch rolled across the city.
“Knees down, king is coming,” he commanded, knelt down on both knees on one side of the street and waited quietly, head down, as all the others, including the sauntering residents, knelt down on only one knee.
/> The clanging melody of the passionate song played by a group of professional musicians walking alongside a curtained sedan chair, which had some delicately carved dragon patterns on it, replaced the din of the crowded street as the golden sedan, which almost took up the entire width of the street and was escorted by a few dozens of garrison soldiers, carried by eight porters and drew by four horses, loomed out from the corner. Even with the combined strength of eight men and four mighty beasts decorated with black and yellow horizontal striped blankets, it was still moving at a very slow pace, as slow as a toddling child.
“Takes forever.” Rogen muttered and snatched a sidelong glance at the sedan when it finally stopped in front of them.
With extreme caution, all the porters began to put down the sedan at the same time, however, one of the poles of the sedan accidentally slipped from a porter’s grasp, tilting the sedan, as he stumbled exhaustedly.
“You fool!” an escort, who had been leading the entire group, wearing the same griffin-shaped helmet as Levi, snarled at the tired porter, who was palpitating with terror, drew out a knife from a colorfully jewelled sheath on his waist and pressed it against the porter’s neck. “Didn’t I tell you to hold it firmly, huh?”
“Ascort, we don’t need a porter who can’t carry a pole,” a round-faced, beardless man with a uniquely blonde mullet haircut, wearing a double-layered cloth made of purple silk that kept glimmering under sunlight, a wide, dark surcoat that concealed most part of his body and a pair of pointed metal shoes, came out from behind the curtain of the sedan chair and said to the furious escort in a low tone.
“Yes, your Majesty,” Ascort replied and stabbed the porter in his neck without a semi-second of hesitation; The cruelty of it dumbfounded Rogen and some of the residents, who squealed frantically.
Ambled pass by the station, king Iain, who had a pair of black, twinkling eyes, then went straight to Levi with an exaggerated swagger, took off his surcoat midway and dropped it on the paved street. “Rise, my Knights.”
“Please allow me to stay knelt, sire.” Levi bowed down with butterflies flying hitcher and thither in his stomach, his forehead glued to the ground, while kneeling, as the others stood up.
“We have failed you, my king, the staff…was gone. We were ambushed by a group of resistance, and we fought hard and managed to repulse them. However, when everything seemed to be going right, a mind-wielder showed up, killed Lee and took the staff away. We chased him, but he ran into the Flipside, with the staff.”
“Oh, yes-yes, I already knew that,” replied Iain, with an abnormally graceful smile below his red cheeks. “And about that, you don’t have to blame yourself, my warrior. The ambush is only part of our plan, and the staff is only a bait. Pancho already knew it was coming when I entrusted you with the staff.”
Breathing a better breath as he felt relived. “Then what’s the next move in the plan, your Majesty?” Levi asked, as he rose.
“The war in Valais is coming to an end. I need you and your men – “ Iain came to a sudden pause when he set eyes on Rogen. “So, he is the newly recruited man that you’ve told me.”
“He has already passed through the final test,” Levi said, as Rogen took a stealth look at him with a surprised look.
“Really? In a week? That’s impressive.” Iain approached Rogen. “What’s your name?”
“Rogen, my name is Rogen.”
“So, Rogen, what do you think our next move is?”
“Track down that mind-wielder that ambushed us, find out where he is heading to, prepare for a surprise attack and wipe them out once and for all,” Rogen replied in a slightly arrogant tone.
“Good, good, good. So how are we going to track that man down?” Iain asked with his face creased into shallow wrinkles as he smiled and nodded in approbation.
“We don’t have to,” Rogen answered. “I know he is going to Valais.”
“How—,” said Iain, giggling, realizing he had raised a foolish question. “Oh, now I see, we have a brainy man on the team!”
“Brainy man.” Nuada sneered and punched at the bruise on Rogen’s arm, and Rogen glowered at him.
“Levi, take your men with you. Get to the Valais Castle on the day after tomorrow, defend it and stamp out the rebellion at all cost. We can’t afford to lose the castle now.” “Find Pancho, he is the person in charge there. He will let you know what to do,” Iain commanded.
“Yes, your Majesty.” Levi bowed his head. “May I have your permission to ask a question?”
“You just did, ask what you want,” said Iain.
“I need to talk to Consul Morph,” Levi asked, “and I am wondering where I can find him.”
“Oh, Morph,” replied Iain. “He is not in the palace at this moment, that’s all I know, but you might find him in Valais, I guess.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” Levi kept his back bent until Iain went out of his sight.
“To Pancho’s house,” Iain ordered, as he sat on a silky, man-made cushion in the sedan, but, as the porters crouched, a man, a poor resident, judging by his second-rate clothing, dashed out from one side of the street to the front of the sedan chair, obstructing the path.
“How dare you!” Ascort howled and pulled out the dagger again. “Get lost! Now!”
That man knelt down, banging his head on the pavement, and said, voice first quavering then weeping, “Sire, I need help, sire. Please help me find my son. My son was abducted! Please, my king, help me!”
“Ascort! What are we waiting for!?” Iain shouted angrily from inside, displeased by the standstill.
“Porters! Forward!” Ascort commanded, as the porters lifted up the poles, laid them upon their shoulders and moved forward, with a soldier taking the place of the dead porter.
“Hey Ascort!” Nuada pointed to the stable when the musicians began to play, “My dirty horse is in there, don’t forget to give him a bath!” and the others all chuckled except Rogen and the dozens of garrison soldiers, who were scowling at Nuada.
“What’s that all about?” Rogen whispered to Haddon.
“They raced each other on a street course before you passed the final test last week, whoever loses will wash the winner’s horse for a month,” Haddon replied, pursing his lips, with a half-suppressed laughter. “But that’s not the point. The point is the race literally ended before it even started because Ascort mistakenly brought his workhorse to the race.”
“What about the soldiers? They didn’t look too happy.”
“Don’t you know that Ascort is the commander-in-chief of the garrison? I assume Levi already told you that.”
“Listen!” Levi commanded when the sedan chair was gradually going out of his sight, and the hurly-burly returned. “You all heard what the king said. We’ll set off in the morning tomorrow. Assemble here with everything you need to survive a war at daybreak. Understood?”
“Yes!”
“Rogen, come with me, you don’t have a place to stay for the night, right?” Levi asked, as the others dispersed.
“Yeah, I thought there would be a place like a camp for all of us to stay for the night,” Rogen drawled, staring empathetically at the poor man, who was still banging his bleeding head on the rock-hard ground, staining the street, and the others all avoided getting too close to him like he was a plague carrier.
Prompted by compassion, he wanted to help him up, however Levi grabbed his shoulder to stop him and whispered in his ear, his voice so low and compelling that Rogen automatically obeyed without even asking why, “Don’t.”
“We do have such a place, and I can take you there if you wish,” Levi then smirked like he was hiding something, his tone flat.
“Sure, why not? Which way?” Rogen said.
“This way.” Levi then proceeded to walk through a narrow lane beside the station with Rogen behind him.
They moved in between rows of two-story, stone-built terraced houses, which each of them had a white-colored paper lantern hanging on a rod that stretch
ed out from a glass window, and a chimney that was spewing out grey clouds up into the sky.
“Hey centurion, I’m sorry,” Rogen said.
“Why are you sorry?” Levi replied.
“Back there, I know I shouldn’t talk like that, but I just couldn’t hold back my anger. I’m really sorry for what I have said.”
“It’s okay. I know Lee was a good friend of you and your father, and I know how it feels to lose someone important.”
“He used to live next door to me, and, whenever he was free before he was enlisted, he would come by my house, knock on the door, with a heart-warming smile on his face, and take me for a ride on a horse. He literally taught me everything I know about sword fighting and riding.”
“I’ve fought alongside with him for years,” Levi said emotionlessly, but the ambience around him was awkwardly becoming melancholic, and Rogen stared at him in dumb amazement.
Following the winding lane to the right, then to the left, and finally straightening out, passing a local wine bar on the left, they came to a paved main street that was even wider than the avenue, but not as bustling, they then turned right, walked a little bit further and passed a gallery, a well-adorned café and a steakhouse.
“Here we are,” Levi said, with his slowly swelling eyes, as they arrived at a three-story, well-maintained building, which looked just like one of the ordinary terraced houses, except that it had a wooden, square-patterned front door.
Rogen moved toward it, “What is this place? It doesn’t look much different than a local house.” and realized that Levi was just standing still. “Are you coming?”
“No, I’m not,” Levi answered. “You go. Hera will take care of you.”
