The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  Vai counted at least forty sizable tents they passed once Archard had finished leading them to the end of the camp, where hundreds of archers were lined up behind a makeshift wall constructed from derelict wagons. Most of them were approximately Vai’s height or a little taller. Several of them had frighteningly young faces, she noticed. They must not even be sixteen years old yet. She was relieved to see that the younger boys were in the archer regiment and not with the vanguard, but unhappy about how young they were, nonetheless. She briefly remembered how a few of her younger brothers said goodbye to her with tears in their eyes the day her father had sold her like breeding stock to Peter. These boys can’t be any older than most of my brothers.

  “Nock!” Auckland raised his arm, shouting fiercely at the line of men. The archers all placed the tail of their arrows into the string of their bows. “Draw!” Auckland managed to make his thunderous voice even louder than before as the archers pulled the arrows through their bow strings to their necks. “Loose!”

  Hundreds of arrows soared into the air in a flurry of steel and wood. An intimidating whish erupted from them and quickly faded as they flew farther away. When they landed on their target, a satisfying thud echoed from the straw and wooden practice dummies as the arrowheads impaled them.

  “That was an improvement, to be sure!” Auckland shouted at his men, spraying flicks of spit from his teeth as he bellowed. “Surely you can shorten the spread of your arrows! They need to be tighter together if you’re firing at infantry!”

  “Colonel Auckland!” Archard called out.

  The Colonel immediately turned around and stood at attention. The archers who were lined up joined him. Archard turned to Vai, politely gesturing her towards Auckland.

  “Colonel. Do you have a specialized arrow that’s ready for demonstration?” Vai briefly glanced at the archers, all of whom looked away as Vai aimed her gaze at them.

  “I wanted to ensure my archers’ still had their wits about them before they practiced firing the modified arrows, but I do have a few dozen ready to test.”

  “Would you be so kind as to show me how they work, precisely?” Vai asked.

  “Of course.” Auckland turned and looked behind him.

  A boy, presumably the Colonel’s attendant, ran back down the line towards a wooden crate and searched inside. He quickly retrieved a few items from the crate and brought them back to Auckland, then waited right beside the Colonel. From nock to shaft, the arrow was like any other. The arrowhead, however, was encased in a dark glass contraption.

  “The glass is filled with firedust.” Auckland held out one of the arrows to Vai, allowing her to grab and hold it. “When the arrow is loosed, it flies through the air at a high-enough speed for the glass to shatter on impact. Firedust is volatile enough to cause an impressive detonation when the arrow hits its target. As you can probably tell by the feel of it, the arrow is heavier at the end, so the balance is tricky, and accuracy is a problem for archers not accustomed to it,” Auckland explained.

  Still studying the arrow in her hand, she walked over towards the line of archers and looked up to them. “May I borrow a bow from one of you fine men?”

  A dozen archers passed each other hesitant glances until one of them decided to comply. The archer appeared to be sixteen years old at most, with freckles lightly dotting his tanned face.

  “What is your name, soldier?” Vai asked.

  “M—Mikey, my L—Lady,” the boy said with a nervous stutter.

  “Thank you for kindly lending your bow, Mikey,” Vai told him. “I’ll see it returned to you shortly.”

  Vai walked to the training barrier. All the archers in her path quickly got out of her way as she gripped the bow with her left hand and began to place the arrow’s nock onto the bow string. She looked at the practice dummies out in the dirt field and judged the distance to be about two hundred feet from where she stood. She drew the arrow and aimed it in the air, adjusting the angle and direction to the feel of the wind and the weight of the modified arrow accordingly. Once she was satisfied with the aim, she turned her head back while keeping the bow in place.

  The archers looked on Vai with child-like wonder, while the senior officers looked at her with mild uncertainty and powerful curiosity. Bergdahl crossed his arms, eager to see Vai display her archery skills. Elizabeth bit her lip nervously and looked on sheepishly. Auckland stood nearby, appearing eager to see his modified arrow in action.

  There was absolute silence. Vai continued to look backwards towards the senior officers as she let the arrow loose. A soft whish echoed then quickly faded as the arrow flew. She turned back around to observe it descend upon her target. The entire crowd looked on with tense anticipation as the arrow fell closer towards the ground. The arrow’s descent seemed to take forever in the eyes of the onlookers, but their curiosity was ultimately satisfied as a large cloud of dust and dirt shot up and shrouded the area near the dummy. A glorious boom thundered off from the distance, and when the dust cleared, several dummies had been destroyed. Limbs of straw and wood were strewn about the target zone, and laughter and cheers erupted from the onlooking archers.

  Vai turned around, a satisfied smile painted on her face as she walked back to Mikey and handed the bow back to him. The boy grabbed it while completely speechless, the cheers and laughter from his comrades continuing to thunder around him.

  “You’ll have thousands of these by sunrise, you said?” Vai stopped at Auckland to address him.

  “It’ll be done,” said Auckland.

  Vai nodded and rejoined with the other officers. All of them were visibly impressed by her marksmanship.

  “I’m sorry I doubted your abilities, your Majesty,” said Bergdahl.

  “No need to apologize, General,” Vai replied. “I understand your doubts, believe me. Noble ladies don’t often know anything about archery, or any kind of weapon. But the Rocklands are my country, so I don’t intend to sit out the defense.”

  “I appreciate your tenacity, my Empress. The Rocklands are fortunate to have you as their protector,” Bergdahl complimented.

  “Thank you. Now, you’re all dismissed. Get the most rest you can,” said Vai.

  The officers complied, leaving and going off to various points throughout the camp. Vai stood with Adrian and Elizabeth.

  “Are you absolutely certain you want to do this?” Adrian asked her politely.

  “I am,” Vai lied. Internally, she was protesting her own decision while her stomach wrenched into a knot. She wanted to throw up from the overwhelming anxiety, but she would not allow herself to do so. I must do things I don’t want to do, to be a worthy ruler.

  “That’s admirable but be careful. I know that’s not particularly helpful advice, but I feel I should say it all the same,” said Adrian with a hint of melancholy.

  “Your counsel is appreciated, Adrian,” Vai replied warmly. “You’ll need to be in Elizabeth’s personal guardsmen from this point on until the deception is no longer necessary.” Vai turned to Elizabeth. “You’re truly going above and beyond in your duty, I want you to know that I acknowledge that.”

  “I won’t let you down,” the girl said, sounding reassured.

  Vai was about to reply before she was interrupted by shouts from deeper in the camp. “Where is the Empress!? I have news for her!”

  Vai looked in the direction of the sound, confused. Adrian instinctively grabbed the handle of his sword on his belt and stood in a defensive manner. Elizabeth perked up curiously.

  “Empress!” The shouts were now closer, and a panicked man in cotton trader’s garb came into sight.

  Several Rockmen emerged from their tents in response to the commotion. The panicked man spotted and recognized Vai, then came running towards her with a parchment in his hand.

  “Empress Vaishalla! News from the East!” The man tried to run directly up to Vai, but Adrian quickly got in front of her and brought the man to an abrupt stop, seizing him by the shoulder with his free hand.


  “No closer!” Adrian barked.

  “Sorry sir.” The man handed Adrian the parchment from his own shaky hand. “I was commanded to bring this to the Empress!”

  More Rockmen joined the onlookers to see the commotion along with the senior officers. Everyone looked at the commotion curiously and patiently.

  Adrian snatched the parchment out of the panicked man’s hand, pushed him away and held it out to Vai. She grabbed it and began to read: Your husband is dead, Lady Kashin. If you dare engage my forces, you will join him, and the rest of your precious Kashin line. Signed, King Hiroshi Yamamoto, Governor of the Furakuhold and Ruler of the Headlands. The letter was unmistakably signed and sealed by the man himself. She dropped the letter and stood still and silent as tears formed in her eyes. The Kashin line…

  CH 23 – Alexey V

  Alexey had grown up believing that the Rite was one of the most exciting things a young Winterlander could experience, but most of the days were quite dull. March for a few hours, find a safe zone, eat tough Abomination meat, sleep, then wake up and repeat the process. The days had become so routine that Alexey lost track of how many there were. Keeping track of time was less important than keeping track of food or water.

  The group’s morale had deteriorated quickly. As the days progressed, the amount of dissent voiced by the other recruits increased greatly. Alexey did not understand why, as they were properly fed and sheltered each night, and keeping a cautious pace was necessary to stay alive.

  Twelve recruits grew both restless and impatient, then decided to take it upon themselves to leave Alexey’s group with hopes of expediting the march. A few days afterwards, the group happened upon their twelve corpses. Poznan declared that everyone should butcher the carcasses for meat and ignored Alexey’s protests.

  “Why waste good meat?” Poznan interrogated.

  “Why are you so eager to eat dead people?” Alexey responded furiously.

  “Because I am not a pussy, and I understand what it takes to survive this fucking place!” Poznan began to carve the dead bodies while many of his new followers joined him.

  The divide between Poznan and Alexey was increasingly apparent to the other recruits, and many felt forced to choose one over the other. Poznan was not loved, but many flocked to his side due to his tenacity and whatever-it-takes attitude. Alexey was able to garner support from Viktor, Anton, Dimitri, Yuri, Boris, Yelchin, Igor, Chernov, and Casmir, but Petrand abandoned the squad and moved to Poznan’s side. He’s probably just afraid of Viktor, Alexey thought. Despite the differences in opinion between Poznan and Alexey, their two groups remained as one. Many of the men outright refused to follow Alexey’s orders, but they recognized the need for the group not to split up.

  The terrain of the Forest had remained the same, with ice-encased trees occupying the landscape and thick layers of snow coating the thick layer of ice that covered the ground. Large black rocks lay out on the ground sporadically as well. One recruit was foolish enough to touch the ice layer of a tree with his bare hand: when the man was pulled off the tree, the flesh ripped off his hand and stuck to the ice branch.

  Alexey’s front, middle, and rear-guard formation plan had been abandoned by Poznan in favor of a single group. Poznan stated his reasoning was that the group was twelve men fewer, but Alexey suspected that Poznan rejected his methods solely because they were his. The newly formed single group had been marching for hours until they happened upon a cave entrance. It was not as large as the Abomination holdout they encountered weeks prior, but the cave seemed amiable, and suitable as the night’s shelter.

  “Shall we stop here?” Alexey called out.

  Poznan took a moment to study the cave entrance. “I don’t see why not.” He began to walk forward into the cave’s entrance. They could see the immediate entrance was made of jagged stones and rubble, but deeper inside, the cave was completely drowned in shadows.

  “Am I the only one that finds the black darkness of the cave quite comforting?” Anton asked. “I mean, the bright whiteness of the Forest just strains the eyes and is quite uninteresting.”

  “You mean to tell me the color of the Forest gets to you more than how it is constantly working to kill us?” said Viktor.

  “It has not killed me yet, but it has offended my eyes,” said Anton.

  Casmir spoke for the first time in days. “If the Forest killed my brothers, then it won’t have any trouble killing you.”

  Anton turned around to address the seemingly ominous warning, but when he saw it was Casmir who had spoken, he held his tongue.

  At the head of the group, Poznan ventured into the absolute darkness first, lighting his torch. The cave walls surrounding him were shrouded in the orange glow, revealing moisture at the ceiling.

  “Look up there!” an unnamed recruit announced.

  As if the men were one entity, they peered upwards at the moist rocks that comprised the cave ceiling. For a moment, they looked as if the finding was insignificant, and they stood in silence. Alexey turned towards Poznan as he spoke up.

  “Do you all hear that?” Poznan leaned in towards a sound Alexey could not yet hear.

  “Hear what? What are you—”

  “Shut the fuck up and listen,” Poznan said with hostility. No one moved an inch or dared to speak.

  Alexey strained to listen for anything. Once his ears adjusted, he heard a sound off deeper in the cave, ever so faint. He looked around him to see if anyone else had heard it, but they all seemed puzzled, except for Anton.

  “Is someone taking a piss?” Anton asked.

  Absolutely unamused, Poznan turned around to scold Anton. “Are you actually fucking retarded? That is the sound of flowing water! Dumb cunt.”

  “Piss is flowing water,” said Anton.

  Poznan ignored him and began to walk briskly towards the source of the water sounds. Alexey quickly followed, rushing to stay within the torchlight. All men kept their strides careful over the jagged and steep downhill ground beneath them. As they all progressed deeper into the cave, the water sounds turned monstrous.

  The small cave corridor ended, and so began an extensive cavern that was painted by natural light that seeped through from a large crack in the ceiling over one hundred feet in the air, and warmth instantly enveloped everyone. None of the men were fully able to grasp the magnitude of it.

  Farther down, there was a massive flow of water in a healthy riverbed, fully decorated by green shrubbery, flowers, and plants that stretched dozens of feet wide. The sounds of water soothed the ears, and the men looked down at the river full of life with dropped jaws and gleeful eyes.

  “How the hell is that even there?” Anton said while shaking with excitement.

  “Who cares?” Poznan replied curtly.

  The men nearly trampled one another while desperately rushing towards the flowing water. Countless shouts filled the air as the mob descended upon the water.

  Once free of the mob, Alexey dove onto his stomach and dunked his head in the rushing water. The current was strong and pushed his head uncomfortably, but he nevertheless submerged his head and gulped up every drop of water he could.

  The recruits were pushing one another so violently that a dozen or so of them were shoved into the river itself. The current carried a handful of them far down the riverbed as they struggled to their feet. Luckily for them, the deepest parts of the river were knee-high, so they were able to stand themselves up.

  For at least an hour, the recruits drank inordinate amounts of water from the river, enjoying the clean taste so much that most of the group threw up from the excess. Many others took off their clothes and splashed around in the water, smiling powerfully while enjoying the first bath they’d had in months.

  During this hour, all of Alexey’s past vanished, and he was wholly in the present with a permanent smile. In this cavern, there was no Winterguard, no thievery, no cannibalism, and no division with Poznan. There was only the flowing water and the gift of life.

&nb
sp; The recruits all snapped out of their bliss as the natural lighting began to die down and night was upon them.

  “Listen up!” Alexey announced. “We need to set up our camp in the corridor we entered through. It is too small for Abominations to get through, and it’s defensible should anything else attack us!”

  Poznan looked at Alexey with irritation in his face, seeming as if he wanted to think of a proper retort, but he could not, so he begrudgingly followed along. All the men quickly put their clothes back on, then rushed back up the hill and to the corridor they had entered the cave through. They all pushed past Alexey, not allowing him a chance to get into the corridor until he was the last one in line. Viktor, Anton, and Casmir all remained with him and, when they finally had an opportunity, they filed into the corridor after the rest of the group had already entered. The four men were crammed close to the end, only a thirty-foot walk from the cavern.

  Surely enough, the warmth of the cavern began to dissipate along with the natural lighting of the sun. The jagged ground was uncomfortable to lie on, but Alexey tried his hardest to sleep.

  Multiple hours had passed, and Alexey was still fully awake in the middle of the night. He was huddled tightly in between Viktor and Anton, both of whom were fast asleep. He stared up into the darkness, trying not to think about negative things, but he could not help himself: the discomfort of the ground, most of the recruits flocking to Poznan, the cannibalism, and the lies of the Winterguard were the only thoughts that occupied his mind. He never remembered being filled with such agony as he was in this precise moment. The jagged rocks fiercely poked and stabbed at his back, while the stark reality of his life poked and stabbed at his mind. I cannot remain here another second. His body screamed at him, begging him to stand up and walk anywhere. I need to leave this fucking spot.