“Hey… sorry, I know we should shake hands now, but really, you stink as bad as Raven and I meant it when I said I don’t want the stench on me,” Luna shrugged. Zoey just sat down, utterly embarrassed. She wanted to fall through the ground.
“Happy to see you too,” Raven finally found his words.
“How far is your unit?” Lucas asked.
“Couple of miles east. I was bored, so I went out to scout and well… I smelled you from a mile away,” Luna smirked, “literally.”
“Please fetch them and bring them here. Raven needs healing, Zoey’s hungry and I need the black orb you are bringing me,” Lucas smiled.
“Got it, boss,” Luna smirked and turned around.
“Boss?” Raven and Zoey both stared at Luna.
“I’ve been in Palai navy for the past few years. I will be back soon,” Luna dashed off.
“I really, really need some context on this,” Zoey breathed.
“Same,” Raven agreed.
“Do I look like I give internal information to dirty civils?” Lucas chuckled.
“Seriously?” Raven and Zoey shouted at the same time.
“What? I’m still a senior agent of the Palai Order. That means I get to boss around junior agents, like Luna,” Lucas replied.
“That doesn’t explain shit,” Zoey complained.
“Let’s just say this is all a part of a larger strategy,” Lucas tossed up.
“Larger strategy? To what?” Zoey pried.
“Oh, come on, you didn’t think I plan to kill two demon princes by partisan sabotages alone? They were a part of it; sure, now we continue into the next phase. The third phase is the demon prince killing, so sit tight and enjoy the ride,” Lucas stated.
“Am I weird when I find this comforting?” Raven breathed.
“No, it’s the same for me. I mean, it didn’t take a genius to figure out we weren’t getting anywhere. The idea that it’s not all on us feels really good. You will still pay for not telling me anything earlier, but that’s beyond the point,” Zoey evaluated and took a long swig from the bottle.
“Care to share?” Raven asked. Lucas tossed him a bottle and took out the third one for himself.
“I see you have decided to celebrate my arrival, how sweet of you,” Luna smiled as she returned.
Lucas tossed her a bottle.
“Ewww, get me something sweeter,” Luna tossed the bottle back after tasting the contents.
“Do I look like a liquor shop?” Lucas complained.
“No, you have way more stuff than an average liquor shop,” Raven retorted.
Lucas shook his head, took out a bottle of chocolate liquor out of his dream pocket and tossed it to Luna.
“Much better,” she smirked.
“So, what have you been up to?” Raven asked Luna shyly.
“Classified, all of it,” Lucas denied the motion before Luna could answer.
“You heard the boss,” Luna chuckled.
“Seriously, Lucas?” Raven looked at him.
“What are you hiding from me?” Zoey added and narrowed her eyes.
“I wouldn’t be hiding it if I told you, would I?”
“So, I can tell him in private, can’t I?” Luna observed.
“Sure, but make sure to get some sleep, you’re coming with me at dawn,” Lucas remarked.
“Where are we going?” Raven pried.
“You are going to get your shoulder fixed. I’m taking Luna for a mission,” Lucas replied.
“You don’t expect me to not tag along, do you?” Zoey whispered poisonously.
“You will need a lighter armor and a shorter weapon for this, but if you insist, I allow you to come,” Lucas agreed.
“How gracious of you.”
“Well if it isn’t agent Lucas,” a Palai soldier greeted as he entered the clearing.
“Red,” Lucas smirked, “get me Steak, Grey, Rik and Hotshot. You get Zoey a spare light armor and a close quarters weapon.”
“Got it, boss,” Sgt. Red confirmed and went to call his men. The whole company set themselves up nearby.
The men Lucas had called walked up to him.
“Steak, cook this,” Lucas waved his hand and a corpse of a large cow appeared next to him, “Grey, the prince needs his shoulder fixed, get on it. Hotshot, I need glycerin, lots of nitric acid and paraffin. Rik, got the package?”
“Yes, sir,” they all confirmed. Steak took the pig and started dragging it to the fireplace the soldiers were making. Hotshot took down his backpack and handed Lucas a few sealed jars, Grey shouted at his two apprentices and headed to Raven, while Rik took out a black metallic ball. Lucas picked it up and threw it to his dream pocket.
“So where exactly are we going?” Luna asked as she met with Zoey and Lucas by the dawn.
“To the town.”
They ran through the forest until they reached city walls. They were built on a cliff with a small river flowing out under them.
“Welcome to Spalding.”
“Tell me we aren’t going in through the sewers,” Luna estimated.
“Sure we are, don’t make the uniforms dirty,” Lucas smirked and led the way.
The path through the sewers was disgusting and boring. Nobody felt like talking when swimming through feces, but it was also why nobody was defending it.
“Alright, we should be on the spot,” Lucas revealed as they got under a grate, “I will open it, the plan is the following. I go set up the package; Luna goes to cause a distraction, Zoey guards the escape path. Once you feel a tremor, gather here and run back to the camp. Don’t wait for me. I have an errand to take care of afterward.”
“On it, boss,” Luna confirmed and left.
“Still not going to tell me anything?” Zoey pried.
“I can’t. Look, Zoey, I like you, but I just can’t talk about Order business. There are just too many people depending on me keeping my mouth shut,” Lucas admitted sadly.
“It’s actually alright. Were I to be honest, I am amazed how unquestioned your leadership is when you give orders,” Zoey breathed.
“Soldiers don’t usually talk back,” Lucas contested.
“It’s not just talking back; it’s the look, the readiness with which they do everything you ask. They know you, all of them… it’s incredible. I have seen a lot of commanders, plenty leaders, but nobody was followed like this… you are so much more than an agent, aren’t you?” she evaluated.
“Perhaps.”
Zoey grabbed Lucas by the head neck and kissed him passionately.
“Good luck,” she wished him. He smiled softly and left on to do his mission.
Zoey took a defensive stance by the sewer entrance and waited.
31
Luna
Distraction... that’s easy. It’s also boring, but less boring than guarding the escape path.
Luna dashed through the sewers and leaped up through a loose grate. She found herself in a courtyard of an apparent military complex. Soldiers in blue uniforms all stared at her with disbelief.
Better barracks than a town square. Luna took a deep breath and roared. She loved to watch the man panic and animals run. Her fingers extended into long claws and she leaped to the nearest man and gutted him with a swift cut.
“SOUND THE ALARM! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” a man on an outpost shouted and the alarm soon rang.
Luna paid it no heed and ripped apart one man after another. Senior soldiers organized the panicked youngsters into small units and tried to encircle her. She ducked under their blade and weaved between their shields, leaving only carnage behind.
“Step aside,” a strong female voice ordered and the men took their distance from her.
Luna turned to see the woman. She was as tall as she was, had a luxuriously arranged golden hair bound by a tiara and was dressed in classy blue robes.
“Where’s Lucas?” she asked in a cold commanding tone.
“Who? There are many Lucases,” Luna smiled innocently.
“You know who I’m talking about, girl,” the woman smirked “and you are the most obvious distraction I’ve ever seen, so where is the old bastard?”
“Sorry, I’m too shy about these things, why don’t you come closer so I can whisper it into your ear?” Luna returned a question.
“Ah well, guess I shall dispatch you first before I go search for him,” the woman in blue concluded and drew her weapon. It was a long elegant sword; its blade looked like made of sapphires and nothing else.
“What a pretty sword, be careful to not hurt yourself with it,” Luna chuckled.
The woman took her stance. “I’m Kayleanne the Sapphire Crane, leave or perish by my blade.”
Luna looked at her confused. She didn’t manage to answer. Kayleanne closed the distance between them in a blink of an eye and swung her blade. All Luna saw was a blue blur. Pain exploded through her chest. Kayleanne spun and hit Luna in the neck with the edge of her hand. It rattled her spine and sent Luna flying. She crashed into a wall with a loud thud.
“Clean up the mess,” Kayleanne ordered her men and turned to leave.
Luna crumbled from the wall. She shook her head and cleared it and stood back up. Her wounds had almost healed, but they still hurt.
“Still kicking? That’s quite some regeneration,” Kayleanne remarked and slowly walked toward her.
“Can I choose the leave option? I think I’v seen enough of your town, I can go be awesome somewhere else,” Luna tossed up.
“It was a rhetoric question, you’ve killed some of my men, so I shall cut you down anyway,” Kayleanne refused.
Luna focused on recovery, she extended her fingers into vicious claws, turned her mouth into the nightmare of teeth and took a defensive stance.
Kayleanne charged into a swift stab. Luna ducked under the blade and lashed at her legs. Kayleanne turned the blade and cut Luna’s arm mid-strike. She whirled and slashed at Luna’s face. Luna leaped back, but the sword still grazed her in a shallow cut.
It wasn’t just me being caught off guard; she is seriously fast. I need to close the distance. Luna dashed forward. She ducked under Kayleanne’s swing and caught her by the waist. She tried to sweep her to the ground. Kayleanne withstood it, gripped her sword with both hands and hit Luna with the pommel into her back. Air flew out of her lungs as the hit almost sent her to the ground. Her hands gave up with the second hit and she crashed to the ground. Luna rolled to the side, Kayleanne’s blade sunk into the ground where her head was a split of a second ago. She stepped in and hit Luna with a punt. It flung her up from the ground. Kayleanne whirled into a massive upwards swing. The blade cut Luna like she was made of soft jelly. It ran through her side, cut cleanly through her shoulder and flung her backward.
Luna leaped back as soon as she hit the ground. Time for a plan B, I hope she’s not too good at running with the high heels… because I can’t take another hit like this! She whirled and sprinted away. Kayleanne swung the blood off her blade and sheathed it. She did not follow her.
“We need to run, now!” Luna shouted as she was running back to the sewer. She was covered by blood and her left hand was still hanging at her side lifelessly.
“Lucas ain’t here yet,” Zoey refused.
“Doesn’t matter, there is a woman in blue robes who almost fucking killed me, we don’t have time to wait for him,” Luna insisted.
Zoey just made space so she can run to the sewer, then closed the crate and followed her behind.
“What the hell is Kayleanne doing here?” Zoey shouted.
“You know her?”
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
It felt like the entire world shook. All started trembling. The ceiling of the sewers started collapsing. They ran into them quickly. They didn’t mind the feces nearly as much as before.
“Blerghg… the fuck was that?” Zoey got out of the water and shrugged.
Luna was at a loss of words. Her arm finally recovered, she stretched it to regain feeling into it.
“And that?” Zoey marveled.
“I heal, fast, about the rest, well, from what I talked about with Hotshot, the stuff Lucas wanted was to make a bomb. It wasn’t enough stuff to make something this big, but the black ball we brought was some type of magical device. Maybe he used it to make it explode, I don’t understand the details, but strong magical devices explode if they are destabilized, or so I’ve heard. Back on topic, who the fuck was the blue-robed woman? Her name was Kayleanne,” Luna blurted.
“Later,” Zoey stated and led the way. They swam through the sewers into the river, then washed and went on to hide in the forest. From the city, there was an entire side of the wall collapsed into a landslide that completely covered the moat around the town.
“About Kayleanne, she’s a demon prince, the one who messed up Raven and who’s been chasing us for the past month or so,” Zoey revealed.
“Raven lost to a woman? Really? That’s gonna be more than a bit of fun,” Luna giggled.
“Woman in high-heels, no less,” Zoey added.
“He will never hear the end of that,” Luna grinned. Although it would be more fun if I also didn’t get completely demolished by her.
“You seem to have quite some past with him,” Zoey observed.
“We went through the slaver tournament together. I would call him a good friend were I to put a word to it,” Luna revealed.
“He’s a good man,” Zoey smiled, “I wonder if Lucas is alright.”
“Lucas? He’s fine,” Luna dismissed the motion with a wave of her hand.
“You seem to be awfully confident in him,” Zoey observed, “how come?”
“Are you trying to get some intel on Lucas?” Luna smiled poisonously.
“Yes and I’m willing to trade for it. Is there anything you would like to know?” Zoey offered straight.
“I might, what do you have to offer?” Luna inquired.
“I’m Faye, way over a century old and I have been around Lucas and Raven for quite a while, so I can get stuff out of them as well,” Zoey laid out.
“I can get from those two whatever I want… it’s the Faye thing I’m interested in. Tell me about the Faye queen,” Luna commanded.
“Now that’s quite a story… in summary, the Faye had been splintering between clans since our inception. The queen was the one who stopped it and unified all Faye under a single rule. But that didn’t last long because there were too many different interests under her. The unified Faye split up into the three clans we are today. The queen died a few years after the clans splitted apart,” Zoey explained.
“You seem sad when you talk about her,” Luna observed.
“I miss her. She was a total bitch, especially in public, but our lives were better when she was around. Fewer rules, more freedom. I mean, the laws and rules set by the council of matrons are all made with good intent, but in the end, they often end up just cutting away freedom for no real benefit,” Zoey revealed.
“Alright. Agent Lucas of the 1st Legion of the Holy Order of Palai, the Dreamwalker or the boss for short. He’s what Palai legends are made of. Whenever the Order does some larger operation, agent Lucas is there and wins it. Whenever the Order is in trouble, Lucas is there and solves it. About who he is, there are multiple theories, or rumors if you would like. The most popular one is that the name and position is a placeholder for multiple people and the Order just accredits it to whoever does the most insane thing at the given campaign, the second one is that he’s a manifestation of Palai himself. I don’t know what is true or not, but I do know that there are just too many stories about him for there to be nothing,” Luna explained.
“Like what type of stories?” Zoey pried.
“Burned cities, destroyed armies, demon prince killed in single combat, assassinated lords, foiled rebellions… there is too much of it to as much as list it,” Luna replied.
“Thank you,” Zoey breathed.
“Do you think it’s true? I mean, you’ve spent a lot of time
with him recently, how does what you’ve seen work with this?” Luna inquired. She was more than just curious.
“I don’t know; I will need to think about it. I mean, by instinct I would say that everything you had heard about him is true and on top of it, there is a second set of stories, which isn’t told,” Zoey evaluated.
“Do you think he’s so strong?”
“Yes, he is. I don’t have a good grasp of who or what he is, but what I know for sure is that, when it comes to fighting, Lucas is an absolute monster.”
They had reached the camp. Zoey went to rest while Luna went to practice with Raven.
32
Zerae
“Tell me, priest, why are you not afraid?” Zerae asked Zakuma. He was locked up in a cage.
“I am a man of faith; I have nothing to fear,” Zakuma smiled.
“Bullshit,” Zerae evaluated.
“Yeah, it actually is. The truth is, nothing that is precious to me is being threatened and I don’t mind the discomfort, so I really have no problem,” he laughed.
“Your own life isn’t something precious to you?” Zerae pried.
“No. I am long past caring about that.”
“How? How do you detach yourself from… yourself?” she inquired.
“I am old. I’ve lived my life to the end, I just somehow haven’t gotten to the part where I die. Somewhere on the way, I’ve found my peace,” Zakuma revealed.
“Just don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone,” Zerae stated coldly, “I have instructed my sisters to keep you out of sight, I have no good way to let you go but, at the same time, I have no current use for you. You will wait here until I do.”
“I’m afraid I shall be unable to do so for a while I do not mind my accommodation, I do miss my ship crew and shall return to it soon. Do not worry though; I shall not harm any of your sisters,” Zakuma laid out.
Zerae sighed, “I suppose it is fair. I shall not help your escape, but if you manage, be my guest.” She spun on her heel and left.
Zakuma left the camp in the night without being seen by a single guard or patrol.
Legacy of Death: Revenge (Legacy of Dreams Book 2) Page 29
