The Golden Dawn

by Billy Wong

  Julianna kicked a dead man off her spear and nudged him with an elbow. "What are you doing? That first sentence is downplaying us a bit."

  "Everybody knows how skilled you are, so a little tease about what's between your legs shouldn't hurt. What of it, Caius? Do you have the balls to face a man instead?"

  The giant sneered. "You are but an irrelevant fraud of a High Knight with your title gained through favoritism. Still, I will humor you and end your existence before asserting myself on your women."

  "Have you become acclimated enough with your sword?" Julianna asked Keith while Caius' forces parted for his steed, the behemoth's hooves pounding up puffs of dust from the earth as it neared.

  "I've been killing things with it for months now, I'll be fine." The other adversaries he'd faced might not measure up to a warrior like Caius though, but still... "I get better with it every time I use it."

  "Go ahead then. Show him how a real man of Aerilea fights."

  Closing in, Caius swung his titanic hammer down. Keith sprang aside, tried to cleave through the horse's legs but missed as it reared. He rolled away from its stomping hooves and up. "That's like going two on one," he muttered. He aimed a cut at Caius' leg which he blocked, spun the other way and slashed at the horse's neck. The steed turned slightly so his blade glanced off its barding when it might otherwise have gone through. "Well trained."

  "As I am a king of men," Caius bellowed, "he is a king of horses!" He swung his maul down, almost driving Keith to his knees when he caught the haft on his sword.

  "I didn't know you were a king," he said, straining to push the hammer away.

  "I am of royal blood. But the title of small monarchs will fade into obscurity under the One Nation."

  Keith ducked another hammer swipe, was knocked backward by a blocked kick from the horse. "So you give up your kingship to play second fiddle to a pompous peacock like Nero? We're not impressed."

  "He is heir to Galen, rightful unifier of the land!"

  "And you claim our way of thinking is backwards." Keith darted this way and that, trying to strike at both Caius and his mount with different approaches, but still couldn't get through. He grunted as a clash of weapons pushed him back and the horse bit at him, forcing him to block while he was too off balance to evade. It seized the sword between its teeth holding it in place, then Caius whipped his maul at Keith's head. He leapt away, but not quickly enough as the hammer struck his shoulder and sent him tumbling away with a yelp of pain. At least it freed his blade from the equine's grasp, though it quite hurt to raise it with his damaged arm again...

  Taking a moment to glance his way amid her own battles, Julianna asked, "You're struggling with a horse?"

  "A horse with a man on it." Regardless, this was getting to be a hassle. He ran at Caius, drew his sword far back and swung at the mount's ankles. It reared again to avoid the slash as before, but instead of dodging away from the retaliatory stomp this time Keith continued his swift rotation to face the steed again and thrust the point up. It came down chest-first on his blade, impaling itself through the heavy barding. Holding the horse upright transfixed on his sword, he jerked it to the left with a shout. Caius jumped clear as its carcass thudded upon the earth.

  "You killed my favorite horse," the commander growled.

  "Now it'll be a battle between men."

  They barreled at one another, exchanged thunderous strokes that jarred Keith's shoulder with each collision. He stumbled back as he weakened, the power too much. Though the hunk of steel that passed for his sword was a fair match for Caius' hammer, he himself still suffered from a large size disadvantage on top of his injury. "Even on equal footing you prove an inferior man," Caius taunted.

  "Might have something to do with the advantage you gained earlier," he said, rolling his stiff shoulder in an attempt to loosen it. His enemy pursued, interrupting him as he had to jump back. He tripped over something, maybe a piece of dropped gear, and Caius loomed over him. The maul swept down.

  Keith rolled one way to avoid the blow, rolled back to hammer his blade into the side of an armored knee. Caius dropped to a crouch and he kicked up, snapping the big man's head around and breaking teeth. They both staggered to their feet, but sensing the momentum shift Keith threw himself at Caius while the latter backed up. Huge twisting slashes knocked the haft around in Caius' hands, and with the hammer not being a fast weapon itself he found little room to counterattack. He started to suck wind, Keith's pace overwhelming him.

  "You're not that bad," he gasped. "Guess the title isn't just for show."

  They locked weapons and Keith kicked him, but had to lean under a quick swipe as Caius slid back. Close one, even tired as his foe was. The maul reversed direction to whoosh at his side. Cauis proved impressive himself, one of the marks of an elite fighter being the ability to turn things around at the slightest opportunity. Keith denied him though, spinning closer so that the haft struck him instead of the head. He went sprawling, but not seriously hurt. As Caius lunged after him, he leapt forward over the low swinging hammer.

  His sword passed through the giant's side, ripped him open. Caius stood trembling on his feet, a huge gap in his flank. "D-dammit, why do you have to win?" he sputtered. "I still want to challenge... the girls..."

  "You aren't worthy." Keith lifted his sword high and brought it down, splitting him in twain. His halves toppled away from one another, soaking the ground with blood.

  "Man power!" Julianna said exuberantly. "Feel better now?" she asked when he rejoined her in bashing away at the lesser members of the One Army.

  "I do." He felt glad she could let him fight on her behalf for once, instead of shouldering all the risk herself. Without using magic, Caius might've been tough even for her. "It was a good fight."

  Though the enemy army didn't fall apart right away, other officers trying to rally them, with their commander dead and Becca's cavalry butchering their rear it was only a matter of time. They eventually broke and fled in the direction of their homeland, though some would likely hang around as bandits in the five nations and become a problem that needed to be dealt with in the future. "Looks like the alliance that wears white has no bite," Becca said as she rode up to Keith and Julianna, looking tired but proud.

  He rolled his eyes. "Terrible rhyme."

  "That was a nice performance. I wasn't sure you had it in you, we should fight sometime."

  Keith frowned, but Julianna clapped him on the back with a grin. "It's a compliment. Becca asking you for a fight means she believes you're legit, not a paper High Knight or something."

  "So I was considered paper before? Great."

  They assigned capable soldiers to the after battle duties, such as treatment of the wounded, gathering of their dead, and salvaging of equipment. They barely got started, however, before an exhausted messenger from Myrrhise ran up with a frantic look on his face. "Your Highness," he wheezed between pants for breath, "a horde of monsters has attacked the city! The soldiers there are trying to beat them back, but things already look grim..."

  Julianna and Keith exchanged alarmed looks. "Julian!" they said fearfully at once, their momentary victory forgotten as another clash, and perhaps their final one, lay just ahead.

  Chapter 10

  They left a small number of troops to watch over the wounded and led the rest of Becca and Duncan's forces towards Myrrhise, Julianna hoping to trap the monster army against the city wall and wipe most of it out this time. "That Father already has the nerve to face me again?" Becca mused on the way. "I guess I need to teach him a harsher lesson he won't forget, or better yet put him in the ground."

  "You shouldn't take beating him for granted," Julianna said, a tad surprised at her attitude after their previous conversation about Father and his kindred. "He almost killed you last time, there's no guarantee you'll win especially if you underestimate him."

  The younger woman averted her gaze. "Yeah, I know. But keeping up this bravado helps me fight at my best without second guessing
myself, so let me be will you?" Julianna supposed everyone had their own way to cope, and dropped the issue.

  Keith muttered, "I hope that force we routed won't have a change of heart, turn around and surround us from the back."

  "If you're implying their defeat might've been a ruse," Julianna replied, "I doubt it considering you did kill their leader and we left a whole bunch of them lying dead on the ground before they fled. My guess is that they didn't even know about Nero's backup plan, and were told to fight as hard as they could with the goal of seizing Myrrhise and control of Aerilea themselves. If they do come at us from behind, let's hope we can clean up the monster army first before having to turn around and deal with them."

  "If Nero's plan is to take Myrrhise using only the monsters though, how does he mean to hold it when surrounded by enemies?"

  Her voice grew low with worry. "I don't know. But I'd think he's thought about that and has a trick up his sleeve, so we better be careful."

  When they came into view of the capital, the sky darkening with nightfall, they saw the gate had already been broken down and monsters flooded the streets, tearing apart buildings and people while some put up desperate pockets of resistance. Julianna's fright for Julian increased, to the point she had to close her eyes and take deep breaths to keep from feeling paralyzed. "Are you all right, Your Highness?" Duncan asked, noticing her distress.

  "I-I'm fine." She spurred her horse a bit ahead and wheeled to face the combined army. "Everyone, you've fought bravely and I thank you for your valor thus far. Now I ask that you lend me your strength one more time, to stamp out this threat and secure our homes for good!" Well, if the idea of the One Nation didn't rise again in a few years or decades. But she hoped defeating Galen's so-called heir would quash that ambition at least for the foreseeable future.

  They rushed in through the destroyed gate, slaying their way deeper into the city as they sought the palace where Julianna assumed Nero would be headed. The beasts they battled weren't very organized, yet put up fierce resistance being creatures slower to feel fear than humans. Still they plowed forward, until they reached the plaza in front of the palace where it seemed most of the monsters gathered. "Where's Nero?" Julianna asked while the forces smashed against each other, men falling around her while she stabbed the life from foe after foe. "Anybody see him?"

  Becca sliced a dog-boar's throat then kicked the gremlin that rode it off into its allies, actually using her sword as her whole army was probably running low on arrows by now. "Forget Nero, I don't even see Father. I wonder if they already made it into the palace."

  It didn't seem too unlikely, and she dreaded to think what might've happened to her son in that case. No, she couldn't distract herself with such horrible thoughts... she fought on, telling herself the sooner they overwhelmed this crowd, the sooner she would get to see Julian. A spider whose head alone towered over her scuttled before her. She batted aside a snap of its jaws with her shaft, then reversed her swing to slash an eye with her spearhead. The spider hissed, shot a white glob from its mouth. It hit her pole and threw her back, expanding in the meantime to form a flexible cocoon around her. But she had stuck her spear through the membrane, and as the creature scurried after her to take advantage she slit it open and burst out at it. She jumped over its bite, balanced on one foot on its mandible for an instant before leaping up again and driving her spear down through its head.

  After the arachnid crumpled dead to its belly, she took the chance to run onto the highest point of its back and yell, "Nero, where are you? I await your challenge, if you have the guts!" She drew the attention of a cyclops wielding an axe and a lumpy floating orb with a mouth, both big as houses. Allowing them to get close, she ducked a swipe from the cyclops, putting up her spear to slice its knuckles as they passed. She then flipped backwards just over the mouth-orb's reaching tentacles and landed atop it. The angered cyclops roared and charged, hacking down. Julianna dove off the mouth as the massive axe split it nearly in two. She turned to attack the cyclops, only to find there was no need as Keith ran in from the side and chopped through its knee, then its neck.

  "Wonder if they're waiting for us to get worn down," he breathed, bent as he tried to catch his second wind. "Guess they're not as sporting as Becca is."

  "Becca's not as sporting as Becca," the queen in question said while she cleaved away the front half of a salamander's snout. "I tire of this, I'll gladly snipe Father in the back of the head now if I get the chance. I'm not that impractical."

  A voice reached their ears from above, causing them to look up. "Saint Princess!" Nero said from the palace balcony, a smirk on his face. "What's taking so long? Your poor son is waiting for you." He walked back inside.

  Her heart leapt to think he had Julian prisoner, and imagine what he'd already suffered. "I'm coming you bastard!" In her rage she decided she could spare using a bit of magic, and ran over to loop an arm around Keith's waist.

  "What are you doing?" Becca asked, recognizing her intent. "If you're going up there, why not take me along too?"

  "This is a family affair, and besides I don't want to leave leading the battle down here to Duncan alone. Do me a favor and help him with reclaiming the city, and take care of Father for us again if you see him."

  After a moment, she nodded. "Alright. Have fun kicking his ass."

  Julianna gave a weak smile. "Don't know if I'd call it fun, but I'll be overjoyed when he's finally dead." Summoning magical energy to her, she flew up with Keith to land lightly on the balcony. She gnashed her teeth to see that Nero sat upon the throne, as if already proclaiming himself king. "Where is our son?" she snarled.

  "I have him tucked away somewhere," he replied with a dismissive wave. "You should thank me for not keeping him in sight, where he would be a likely distraction for you from our climatic battle."

  "Climatic battle? Why don't you just shut the hell up and fight, you yellow-haired peacock."

  He stood up, still keeping the cloak over his left arm. "But wouldn't you like to hear my life story?"

  "Not particularly."

  "Very well, I shall be brief. King Galen wanted to face you in fair combat, blade against blade, counting on you not to resort to magic against a person who had none. From all accounts, you fought as he trusted you to and defeated him honorably. Yet he knew he might lose to you even if you didn't use your magic, and had a contingency in place for that."

  "Yeah, we know," Keith said impatiently. "He had the Father of All Monsters released to wipe humanity off this continent in case he couldn't have it. What of it?"

  "Perhaps I misspoke." Nero flashed a sly grin. "I said a contingency, when I should have said two. You see, destruction by the Father was the first alternative he envisioned. But that was the romantic aspect of him"—romantic? Not that word she would've used—"imagining if he couldn't reign over a unified land, no one would. He also had a practical side, however, which took into account that even with the Father free, civilization might still survive on the continent. In that case it, particularly your kingdom which was closest to his awakening, would likely be severely weakened. So Uncle Galen had a successor prepared, who would raise the One Nation in his place should this second eventuality come about. That successor was... you guessed it. Me."

  Julianna scowled. "That's nice and all, but I don't really care. You've been plotting this for years? Great, let's see it to its conclusion."

  "I am sorry for boring you if that's the case. Nevertheless, I should mention you singlehandedly defeating the Father of Monsters was an unforeseen twist. Though you died achieving the deed, albeit temporarily, your feat allowed your country and those aligned with it to escape with no harm beyond that incurred in the war. Thus it took more time for us to set our plans in motion than expected. And when you returned, that was another concern to address. But now the time has come for all to fall into place and the true One Nation to be born!"

  Nero drew his curved sword, a large but not exceptionally so one with nothing remarka
ble about it at first glance. It was no doubt well made though, given his position. "You don't care much for words, do you?" Not when the safety of her son was in question, at least. "Then let's talk with steel. Will you fight me as you did my uncle, Saint Princess?"

  "If you don't want to, I'll do it," Keith said.

  She shook her head. "Why wouldn't I? You keep an eye out for if any of his cronies tries to interfere while I put the ambition of the White Nation to rest."

  Julianna and Nero circled each other, the latter holding his blade out calmly before him. "Still as dated as when you faced King Galen, though perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise when you were dead for three years. But why are you so, when you are a woman whose strength and authority surpasses that of men and willing to install your bastard son as ruler besides? You do not seem one to cling to old-fashioned traditions, yet you deny the peace unity would bring?"

  "To put trust in you, after the methods you've used in pursuit of your goal... I would have to be more crazy than Galen."

  "I knew you would be stubborn. I actually admire that a little about you. If my enemies were to yield so easily, would they truly be worthwhile foes?" He lunged at her with a slash she parried followed by a thrust at her face she swayed aside from. She smacked his ribs with her pole, making him take a step sideways. He cut backhanded at her. She blocked, kicked at his knee only for him to take it on a raised shin to mitigate the blow. She whipped her spear down at his head and he jumped back out of the way. Julianna darted after him, testing his guard with rapid jabs. He dodged and deflected a bunch, then one got through, piercing his right shoulder. Nero's other arm twitched as to grasp the pole with his free hand, but suddenly stopped. Instead he kicked her belly, pushing her back.

  She asked in confusion while he winced, "You're fighting me with one arm?" Not to be conceited, but she thought she was probably one of the last people anybody would want to handicap themselves against, and it didn't seem plausible for Nero to think himself that much better than her when he already struggled.