Aldrin sat in his own cell. His chains remained around his wrists and ankles. They were connected to the center of the room. He still had the freedom to roam from wall to wall, but escape was not an option. He peered out the window. He could see the tower holding Abigail. She had not come to the window for some time, but he watched over her cell anyway. His only flesh and blood was in that room. He knew she would not die, but he wondered at what cost that would happen.
Underneath the palace, Nikali was hard at work. He had reconstructed the doors from the Cylo Forest town. The frames stood side by side in the middle of the room attached to nothing. Nikali circled them several times. He examined every inch of the door frames. His memories kept going back to the night of the raid. He had been in one building, and ended up in another.
Cassandra sat quietly in the corner reading through the notes that Nikali had translated from the Prial arcan books. There was no mention of apparating in any of the pages. The fury arck was cuddled next to her. After the notes were exhausted she began flipping through the pages of the books that had not yet been translated. She used the fury arck as a stand and propped the book on top of it. Its curvature helped keep the book open. It did not mind.
Nikali repeatedly opened a door then closed it. Nothing changed. Every time the door slammed shut the arck would let out a whimper.
“Shut up,” Nikali told his beast. He continued his process of opening and closing the doors several more times. Then he started walking through them. He started walking in a circle through the doors. He would go through one then walk through the other and return back to the beginning.
“This is ridiculous,” said Nikali. “Why is nothing happening?” He took another swig of Tamor Blood. He could no longer feel it go down his body. He was numb to its effects.
“Are you sure that is what happened?” Cassandra asked, never taking her eyes off of the pages. “Perhaps you blacked out. That wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I did not black out,” said Nikali. “I know what happened. I was at one door. Then I was at another.”
“Maybe you are wrong,” said Cassandra. “It was a battle. Memories get jumbled during times like that. Many soldiers I know say the battles all come together as the same. They couldn’t tell the difference of events from one to the other because it was all the same thing to them. You could be chasing nothing, Nikali.”
“I have been in two battles. I remember them distinctly. And I remember emerging from this door on the other side of the battle from where I started. Lions eat their cubs. The wind chills the fire.”
Nikali’s anger got the best of him. He slammed the door shut again. Then he started pounding on it. His hands cut open, but he did not stop. Bloody fist prints sprinkled across the wood. The doorframe creaked against the force of Nikali’s punishment. Then it began to crack. The wood split open. Splinters scattered to the floor. Nikali only struck out harder. The door fell to the ground in pieces. Then Nikali started stomping on the remains. He screamed at the pile of wood. His breathing grew heavy. He still did not stop. Nikali started throwing pieces of wood across the room. They shattered against the wall.
“This stupid door!” He yelled.
When there was no more door to destroy Nikali finally stopped. He was out of breath. He felt drained. Another chug of the Tamor Blood brought back his energy. It tingled at the bottom of his spine.
“Are you through?” Cassandra asked. She got up from the floor and the comfort of the fury arck. Her arms wrapped around Nikali. She rested her chin on his shoulder. Together they looked at the one remaining door.
“Think back to the night,” said Cassandra.
“I have been,” argued Nikali.
“Not about the events that happened. Think about what you were thinking about at the time. What was your state of mind?”
Nikali replayed the battle in his head. He was chasing after Aldrin. He and his guard had entered the building and shut the door behind him. He was bracing for a trap as he reached the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cassandra on the other side of the battle. As he opened the door his memory had a blank spot. Then he was on the other side.
Nikali stared at the doorframe in his training room. He remembered wanting to be somewhere else. The doorframe was beckoning him. He felt the tingling in his spine rise. His hairs jumped up on the back of his neck.
He brushed Cassandra off of him. Each step forward surged with energy through his body. He reached the door handle. He thought back. He remembered wanting to be on the other side of the battle. His hand grabbed hold of the door handle. It burned to the touch. Quickly, he opened the door. There was a smell of timber. Without thinking he walked through the doorframe as he had every other time in the past hour. He slammed the door behind him. Suddenly, Cassandra was alone.
Nikali was stuck. His arms could not move. He was surrounded by darkness. His feet had little traction. Nikali was trapped.
He wiggled as violently as he could. He felt give to whatever was holding him in place. His feet pounded against the surface around him. Dirt and debris fell into his face. He did not stop. His arms started to move more. He could adjust his hands to push against the enclosure. It chipped away at every bit of movement. Then his hand burst through. He could feel the cool night air.
He grabbed hold of the edge of his hole and he started ripping at it. The hole grew larger. He got his other hand free. The hole grew wider at every passing second. Finally the entire structure gave out. Nikali fell to the ground. Grass and dirt cushioned his landing.
He rolled over to his back. The stars were out. He looked up to see a tree nearby. He had fought his way out of the trunk of the tree. Pieces of wood and leaves surrounded him.
Nikali began to laugh. He was back in the Cylo Forest. He adjusted his head to see the remains of Hilldad. His smile was bigger than ever. His laughter carried out to the stars in the sky. He had just apparated across half of the Eluan Empire.
Aldrin could not sleep. He stared quietly out the window. He watched as torches flickered back and forth from the ground. People were coming and going as they pleased. He envied their freedom.
Then there was rustling outside his cell door. He heard the guards talking. Then it grew silent. Aldrin adjusted to face the door. The lock chimed loudly in the silent room as it unhinged.
The door opened. Aldrin recognized the familiar Eluan uniforms of the men walking in. He smiled.
“You have done me proud,” he said to his two Tcher soldiers. The men unlocked Aldrin’s chains from keys they had stolen. Aldrin was thrilled to no longer be confined. He massaged his wrists and stretched out his limbs.
“How many do you have inside?” Aldrin asked.
“A dozen right now,” said one of his men. “There will be more shortly.”
“Good,” said Aldrin. “Kill the Emperor. Then burn this city to the ground with everyone in it. We need to hurry. Get Genom and Falon from the dungeons, and free my granddaughter.”
Chapter 54
The last Tcher attacks were far more successful than Eluan had realized. It was never the original plan to destroy the Capitol. Aldrin wanted it for himself. When the initial attacks did not work, Tcher started a new tactic. Every time Tcher attacked they sent out a couple of their men to infiltrate the Eluan ranks. Working in pairs each time they were able to get into the defense unnoticed. From there it was easy enough for the Tcher warriors to take out a couple of Eluan soldiers and take their uniforms. Whenever the Eluan army retreated back to the walls, the Tcher infiltrators went with them. Their plan was to sabotage the Capitol from the inside. Then word spread that Aldrin had been captured. Their plans changed once again. The soldiers on the inside waited. They were going to rescue their master right under the nose of the Emperor himself.
Aldrin’s vengeance created the new plan. He no longer dreamed of having the Capitol as his prize. He wanted to see it in ruins. More Tcher soldiers waited outside the Capitol walls. Two Tcher soldiers went down to open
the gates. They left a bloody trail of unsuspecting Eluan guards as they made their way to the doors.
The two Tcher soldiers struggled to open the massive gates by themselves. Slowly the doors opened. The Tcher army waited quietly on the other side. First the door was wide enough to let one man through at a time. Tcher started to leak in. One man would get through and rush to the pulley system operating the gates. They helped their fellow soldiers. Then another would get through the doors and he would rush to help. Eventually it was an ease to fully open the Capitol gates. Then Tcher soldiers started flooding in. Being within the Capitol walls was no longer a safe haven to the Eluan citizens.
The Tcher army spread out. They would all take separate paths to the palace. No Eluan soldier could warn another. They were killed before any sound could be made.
Down in the palace dungeons, Aldrin accompanied three of his Tcher soldiers. Quickly they descended down the dark steps. They made sure to dispose of any Eluan guard in their way. The sound of their attacks whispered through the hallways. Their footsteps vanished from room to room.
The soft sounds disturbed one of the inmates. Forman awoke to the sound of struggling. He approached his door with a barred window. Immediately he recognized Aldrin. He was walking freely with what looked like two Eluan guards.
“Halt,” Forman ordered. The guards looked over at him without stopping.
“I said stop,” said Forman. “What are you doing with Aldrin?”
Aldrin signaled for his men to continue. He stopped and turned to Forman at the door of his cell.
“Hello, Forman,” said Aldrin. “What did you do to put yourself in here?”
“What is going on?” Forman asked.
“We’re taking the city,” said Aldrin.
“No,” said Forman. “You can’t do this.”
“I doubt there is little you can do about it,” said Aldrin.
“Aldrin is free!” Forman shouted. “Aldrin is free!” He repeated over and over again. His voiced carried throughout the dungeon levels. “Aldrin is free!’
Aldrin reached through the bars and clawed at Forman’s mouth. “Do you think that will help?”
Cries came out from down the hall. Forman’s message had gotten through. There was more shouting. The two closest Eluan guards managed to spread the word further before they were slain by the Tcher soldiers.
“Heric will stop you,” said Forman, smiling through the fresh scratch marks across his mouth.
“The Emperor will be dead soon. You are lucky this door protects you from me. I may not be able to kill you now, but you will surely die when this city burns on top of you.”
Aldrin retreated back to his men. They stood over the two dead Eluan guards.
“We have to move faster,” said Aldrin. “Kill whoever you can. I will catch up to you. The Emperor will soon be dead. Eluan will not stand a chance after that.”
Heric was asleep in his quarters. The sound of his door being forced open woke him up. A torch hung in the corner of the room offering a little light. Instinctively, he ran to the flame. The door crashed to the ground. Heric quickly grabbed the torch and put it out. The room was enveloped in darkness.
Several men came barging into Heric’s room. Their silhouettes appeared at the doorway then vanished into the shadows.
Heric did not wait for a reason. He struck out at the nearest invader. The torch broke the man’s jaw. Ash sprayed the room.
He moved on to the next one. The Tcher soldiers had trouble finding Heric in the dark room. Four of them were huddled by the bed where they originally assumed he would have been.
Heric kept low. He dived at a man’s legs. He kept his attack quick and strong. The torch cracked against the man’s skull. That was two down. Heric could count five more.
The five remaining Tcher soldiers got their barring in the darkness. They spread out. There was no escape from the room for Heric.
The Tcher soldiers all attacked at once. Heric swung wide to try and keep his distance. They still got through. He kept swinging. The torch struck a couple of the soldiers, but they continued their fight. Heric tried to plow through his enemies. He knocked down the one directly in front of him, but Heric was brought down with him. The other Tcher soldiers tackled him to the ground. He could feel a knife cut into his shoulder blade.
Then Eluan guards rushed to the rescue. Six men came rushing into the Emperor’s quarters. Their swords cut into the pile of Tcher soldiers.
Heric covered his neck. He started repeating, “Rashon. Rashon. Rashon.” It was a code word to protect him from friendly fire. When the guards heard the word they knew it was the Emperor and to not strike him.
The Tcher soldiers were all killed. Heric pulled the knife out of his back himself. He stood back up with the help of his Eluan men.
“We are under attack,” said one of his guards. “Tcher has gotten past the walls.”
“I’ve noticed,” fumed Heric. “Sound the alarm. Get everybody up. We need to defend our city.”
Two of the guards rushed out of the room to follow their Emperor’s orders.
“Where is Aldrin?” Heric asked.
“He has escaped,” said the soldier.
Heric threw the knife across the room in disgust. “Get to his granddaughter. Kill her. Now!” Heric ordered. The guards hurried out of the room. They had their orders.
Falon and Genom had remained in their room by the entryway of the dungeon. It was their territory now and they refused to let it go. They heard the faint sound of the alarm minutes ago. It gave them their second wind. They knew there was only one reason for the alarm. Tcher had breached the walls.
Shortly, the door to the forgotten dungeons opened. The Tcher soldiers dressed as Eluan guards smiled back at their comrades. Aldrin came out from behind his men. He had a wide smile and open arms.
“I am glad you two are okay,” he said.
Genom and Falon rushed out of the dungeon. They bowed for their master. “Thank you for thinking of us,” said Genom.
“We are honored,” said Falon.
“You are the last of my Elite Guard,” said Aldrin. “I will need you now more than ever. Quickly, we must rescue my granddaughter.”
War broke out through the streets of the Capitol. The news of the invasion spread faster and faster. Every Eluan guard and soldier came out to defend their city. As the battle grew larger it was beginning to tip back into the favor of the Eluan Empire. Tcher caught them by surprise, but the numbers were still on their side.
Down below in the training room, Cassandra could hear the battles erupting around the area. More Tcher soldiers had broken into the palace. Many of them found their way down to the bowels of the building. She could hear them outside the room. They knocked against the door, but it did not budge. The room she was in was designed to take an attack of this magnitude. That did not stop her from huddling by the doorframe that Nikali had disappeared through. She could not make it work. Her only option was to stay and fight if the door did not hold.
Abigail cowered in the corner of her cell. She could watch the battle raging outside on the streets. To her uncomfortable relief the gallows had been burned down. She tried to remain as hidden as possible.
The door to her cell opened. Four Eluan soldiers came in. Abigail did not move. She did not even breathe. It only took a second longer for the guards to find her.
“There she is,” said one of them. He pulled out his sword. “Your grandfather has caused us enough problems. It’s time for him to pay the price.”
“No, please,” she begged. The guard continued his march toward her.
“Sorry,” said the guard. “Orders from the Emperor.”
The guard raised his sword. Abigail closed her eyes. She wanted her last thoughts to be about Heric despite his orders to execute her.
Then the guard dropped his sword. Blood came gurgling out of his mouth. Abigail opened her eyes. The noise and commotion hit her like a brick. There was a scuffle going on at the entranc
e to her cell.
The guard fell to his knees. Behind him was Falon sticking a sword farther and farther through the guard’s chest. Behind him were Genom, Aldrin, and three other Tcher soldiers. They were making quick work of the other Eluan soldiers.
“Falon,” Abigail exclaimed. She reached out and grabbed hold of her rescuer. She hugged him and would not let go.
“You are safe now,” he assured her.
“Thank you,” said Abigail. She looked over at her grandfather, Aldrin. With tears in her eyes she thanked him as well.
“It is time to go,” said Aldrin. “There will be boats waiting for us. The rest of the men will win or die.”
Together, the band of Tcher fugitives made their escape from the palace.
Heric looked out at his burning city. The battle was still going on. He could already tell Eluan was going to survive, but barely. Tcher could have had the victory if Heric’s own men were just a little bit later on their reaction time.
One of his soldiers approached him. He was there to give a report of the battle so far.
“Where is Aldrin?” Heric asked.
“We do not know,” said the soldier. “We are still looking for him.”
“His granddaughter?”
“She also escaped.”
Heric held back his anger. He told himself there was nothing the messenger could do about the situation.
“What about Nikali? We could use his help. Tell him it is for me. He is in the Emperor’s safe room.”
“Council member Caning is gone, sir,” quivered the soldier.
“Is he already in the battle?” Heric asked.
“Not that we are aware of,” said the soldier. “We went down there because of some Tcher men making there way through the palace. When we got there the enemy was already dead. It was as if they had been dead for weeks. The woman, Cassandra, was the only one there. She said Nikali was gone.”
Eluan Falls: The Tides of Utter Undoing Page 23
