The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  “CAVALRY! CHARGE THEIR CENTER!”

  Horses galloped in the distance, war shouts echoed, and horses whinnied.

  “THEY’RE EXPOSED!”

  Vai turned her head to the war cart and the Royal Line. Archard stood up and scanned the battlefield from his position, screaming with all his might into the air, his voice heard by all the soldiers who surrounded him.

  “EVERYONE FORWARD MARCH!”

  Footsteps, breaths, and drums lined up their rhythm as the remaining line began to march forward. HOO! HOO! HOO! HOO! The army repeated each grunt and roar in perfect time with each other.

  “AR-CHERS! STAN-DARD AR-ROWS!” Auckland’s words were in sync with the pace of the army.

  To maintain the marching rhythm, the archers stiffly moved their arms to grab a standard arrow from their main quivers.

  “HOLD! AT. NOCK!”

  The archers complied, nestling the nocks of their arrows into their bowstrings while maintaining their march.

  “HALT!” Archard roared from the war cart.

  The army immediately stopped and fell silent. The pained cries were much louder now, and the enemy was in mid-recovery, failing to create a proper formation.

  “DRAW!” Auckland ordered.

  The archers drew their arrows, aiming their bows upwards.

  “HIGHER!” Auckland shouted, his horse galloping around all the archers as he examined their bow placements.

  The archers settled into their proper aim.

  “LOOSE!”

  The arrows shot up, peaked, then descended upon the field. It was apparent once they hit the ground due to the sound of thousands of arrows hitting dirt and flesh, then the screams that followed.

  “INFANTRY! FINISH THEM OFF!”

  HOO! HOO! HOO! HOO! The infantry line marched forward, maintaining their phalanx. Vai remained in place with the rest of the archers, watching them press forward, stopping to kill wounded Headlanders that lay on the ground.

  Sword met flesh, and steel met steel as the Rockmen cleansed the field of all Headland infantrymen. Any pleas for mercy were met with swift executions. Minutes more passed until horses began to trample away from the field, and the sound of retreating Headlanders filled the noon air until cheering Rockmen drowned them out.

  A man on horseback came trotting away from the chaos and toward the archers, meeting with Auckland in front of the formation.

  “What’s the situation, soldier?” Auckland asked him.

  “We captured King Hiroshi!”

  We won? We captured Hiroshi? Vai was overwhelmed with simultaneous excitement and disbelief. She stood silently and still as the rest of the archers roared in celebration.

  Once the archers settled down, Auckland turned to address them. “Out-fucking-standing, men! You performed extraordinarily well! Go with the rest of the men!”

  The archers began to run into the field towards the rest of the army, but Nick and Vai waited a moment.

  “They captured King Hiroshi? C’mon, we gotta see that!” Nick said enthusiastically.

  “I would like nothing more.” Vai tore off her helm and mask, fully revealing her face. She moved forward, trudging through the sea of bodies and body parts that littered the field. For every seven dead Headlanders, there was only one dead Rockman, and that was just the corpses that could be recognized: most of the field was littered with unrecognizable clumps of gore and body parts, and sparsely located amid small fires that met with flesh to produce a disturbing smell. Wounded Headlanders had their screams of agony cut short by Rockmen blades, and many able-bodied Rockmen tended to the hundreds of their own wounded. The screams of the men on either side made Vai’s stomach turn.

  Throughout the field, various Rockland infantrymen, cavalrymen, and archers were collecting spoils from the dead Headlanders, taking their helms, armor, weapons, and money for themselves. A few infantrymen stood before the dead Rockmen in a supposed prayer. They all, however, looked at Vai wide-eyed the moment they laid eyes on and recognized her. “Is that the Empress?” on soldier asked. “I thought she was with the Royal Line!” said another. She passed more soldiers than she could count, but all of them recognized her the moment they laid eyes on her.

  “Why should we take the fucker alive!?” a soldier shouted from deeper in the field.

  “Quiet! It’s not your decision!” said a nearby Captain.

  “Where’s the King?” Vai asked.

  The Captain and two men turned to her and looked at her with the same shock as the previous men. Once they fully comprehended it was the Empress who stood before them, they immediately stood at attention.

  “Your Majesty!” they addressed at once, turning the heads of hundreds of nearby soldiers.

  “Where’s the King?” Vai repeated.

  The Captain pointed towards the densest collection of men on the field, all of whom were gathered around the war cart. Cheers clashed with jeers, drowning the air with unintelligible clamor. Vai rushed to them, gently pushing aside anyone who stood in her way. Many men were ready to protest her nudges, but immediately backed down once they recognized her. “Empress!?” “I thought she was up here!” “What’s she doing with the archers?” The men began to grow silent as they looked at her in confusion.

  “Lord Archard!” Vai called.

  The soldiers in Vai’s way continued to clear a path for her. She walked forward to the front to find Lord Archard and the supposed Empress standing before the war cart, surrounded by dozens of Royal Guardsmen., including Adrian, who smirked when he saw her. In front of them was an elderly Headlander dressed in war-torn and highly lavish armor. Gilded and sapphire-lined. King Hiroshi, she realized. The King was on his knees, coughing up blood, and locked in place by the ends of multiple Rockland spears. The soldiers who surrounded the scene murmured to one another, looking between the false Vai and the true Vai.

  “Lord Archard, I see the battle has gone in our favor?” Vai inquired.

  “It went exactly as planned, your Majesty. We stretched our army right, which made Yamamoto send his cavalry against our own, leaving a supposed vulnerability to our line. He impulsively sent all his infantrymen to charge the Royal Line, and I’m sure you saw what happened to them. Our cavalry charged his own line and sent the rest of them scurrying. Most of the cowards will be in chains or dead by nightfall, since I sent our cavalry after them,” Archard explained.

  “That’s wonderful news.” Vai’s smile turned into malevolent contempt as she looked at King Hiroshi. She motioned the spearmen away, giving her a direct line of sight over him.

  “Vaishalla Kashin. Or is it Robinson? It’s strange that you’re suddenly the ruler of the Rocklands because you were Peter’s fuck-toy!” Hiroshi spat blood towards Vai, landing it just before her feet.

  Vai maintained her contemptuous glare. She drew a standard arrow from her quiver and set its nock into the string of her bow.

  “What’d you do to my family?” Vai said with teary anger.

  “Which one? The family you failed to have with your dead husband or those dead Kashins?” Hiroshi cackled and sneered through bared teeth.

  “What… did you do… with my family?” Vai pulled the arrow back past her chin.

  For a few tense moments, everything was completely silent. The soldiers looked at the scene with morbid excitement. Hiroshi’s face turned blank as he stared at Vai.

  “I did what gets done to all traitors.”

  Vai quickly shifted her aim and loosed the arrow through Hiroshi’s left thigh. The steel pierced armor and flesh with a disturbing sound, shortly followed by his screams. Vai coldly drew another arrow from her quiver, setting it into nock position.

  “Crazy bitch!” Yamamoto roared painfully, taking quick exasperated breaths.

  “You killed all of them?” Vai pulled the arrow back, pointing it at the other leg.

  Hiroshi looked at the arrow nervously then resigned his confrontational tone. “Ordered part of my army to besiege Arrowstone.”

 
“How many men?”

  “Ten thousand. More than enough to burn it to the ground.”

  Vai loosed an arrow into Yamamoto’s right thigh, eliciting more pained screams. She tossed her bow to the ground and looked at Archard and Elizabeth, who had taken off her helm, making no more efforts to disguise her face.

  “Archard, we need to head straight to Arrowstone, immediately.”

  “Of course, but we won’t get there quickly unless we sail. We don’t have a fleet since the Headlanders destroyed the ships we had anchored here.” Archard crossed his arms and looked down, deep in contemplation.

  “What about the Headland fleet? Are they anchored still?”

  Archard looked at Vai with great realization. “They are. With your leave, I’ll order our men to seize them.”

  “Do it.”

  “I need ten thousand men to take the ships! The rest of you will tend to our wounded or help in pursuing those that fled!” Archard commanded.

  The men assimilated into the appropriate formations. Thousands of men were dashing around Vai one moment and were in symmetrical formations the next.

  After little over a minute had passed, the two armies had successfully split apart and left the immediate area, leaving only Adrian, the other Royal Guardsmen, Hiroshi, Elizabeth, and Vai. The men awaited her orders, Hiroshi whimpered into the dirt like a beaten dog, and Elizabeth avoided eye contact with everyone, darting her eyes around nervously.

  “Elizabeth. How are you doing?” Vai asked.

  “I—I’m okay, I think.” Elizabeth spoke choppily with quick breaths, fearfully observing Hiroshi’s agony.

  “We succeeded,” said Vai.

  “Yes, but—” Elizabeth looked away nervously and gulped. “The screams…” Her voice trailed off.

  Vai recalled the harrowing sounds of the men screaming during the peak of the battle, and she felt sick to her stomach. She turned around and looked at the sea of bodies, body parts, and wounded. They were just soldiers… Forced to fight for King Hiroshi… Forced to fight for me…

  “Your Majesty… Are you okay?” Adrian asked.

  Vai peered outwards at the corpses that littered the field. “I’m better than they are.”

  Adrian joined her in looking at the dead bodies, unable to speak.

  “How did Elizabeth do?” asked Vai.

  “She was braver then I expected, to be sure. But you, you truly fought in the battle. That’s unheard of…”

  “I’m quite the anomaly,” said Vai, chuckling softly.

  “That you are.” Adrian briefly turned around, then faced forward again. “The men will take note of that, you know.”

  “Ya think?”

  “I know it. Many were surprised just to see you in the Royal Line, but having the men see that you fought with them… There’s no limit to how much they’ll respect you,” Adrian affirmed.

  “Because they’re not used to having their ruler fight with them,” Vai remarked solemnly. If they hated Peter, would they thank me for murdering him?

  “I wouldn’t want to speak ill of the dead, but you’re definitely a step up from Peter,” said Adrian.

  Vai looked up at him and smiled. “I’m glad you think so, Adrian.”

  Adrian smiled and looked down slightly, blushing. He turned his gaze back out into the field. “Archard sent out a dozen or so men to do an accounting of our losses.”

  Vai did not muster up a response, but instead looked downward sorrowfully, thinking of the dead on both sides. Even if we won and had minimal losses, this field is still a mass grave.

  “Hiroshi lied about your family. The siege of Arrowstone will be lifted, even if I have to do it myself,” said Adrian.

  “We shall see.”

  Vai turned away from the field and walked back to the rest. Elizabeth still looked shaken, Hiroshi knelt quietly, and the Guardsmen chatted amongst each other.

  “Half of us are going to the city. The other half will take the prisoner back to the Robinsfort.” Vai looked down at Hiroshi, who glared at her silently. “If you talk at any point, you’ll be forced to walk,” she said, tapping Yamamoto’s thigh wound with her foot.

  Hiroshi grunted, then the Guardsmen nodded. A couple of them grabbed Hiroshi, carrying him away while the others formed around Vai, Adrian, and Elizabeth. They quickly began walking towards the Robinsport walls. The blood-stained grass returned to bright green several steps in.

  “I need a couple of you to check that our forces have taken the city once we get to the wall,” said Vai.

  A couple men at the front responded affirmatively. Once the group hugged the wall, they ran ahead, running through the nearest gate. As the remaining group waited outside, the sounds of combat faintly echoed from within the city, and possibly beyond it in the harbor.

  “If the Headland sailors are wise, they would’ve fled by now,” one man claimed.

  “Wise enough to have invaded the Rocklands?” another quipped.

  The group began to laugh, making Hiroshi scowl. Elizabeth giggled, as did Vai.

  The sounds of fighting continuously echoed from farther away with each passing second, until it began to wane. The group waited silently for several minutes. Each minute we waste is more time for my family to die, Vai reflected impatiently.

  After what felt like an hour for Vai, the two men sent to scout the city ran out of the gate and returned to the group. “Our forces are still taking the ships, but the city is ours!” one of them proclaimed.

  “Good. Time to move in and regroup with our army!” Vai ordered.

  They began forward at a modest pace, going on along the length of the wall until they reached and passed through the gate.

  Columns of smoke emanated from various spots around the many lavish buildings of Robinsport. Craters created by naval siege projectiles were littered throughout, and several buildings were partially collapsed. The light-gray city streets were painted by blood and several dead or dying bodies from both armies.

  Vai’s nose was filled by the smell of bodies and smoke. A thin taste of ash occupied her tongue and the sounds of fighting were now much louder than from outside the walls, but still emanated from past the city and in the harbor, where she could make out the distant sight of combat occurring by the docks or on the decks of the many ships anchored in the harbor.

  “Our boys are winning the fight!” one man exclaimed.

  Vai’s enthusiasm for victory was cut short when she passed the bodies of several archers, three of whom she recognized: Nick, Garrod, and Tuttle. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared into their cold and lifeless eyes. Her heart sank deep into her chest, and she felt the urge to sob. Her breaths turned short and rapid, and she began to fall to her knees before she was pulled away.

  “We have to keep moving!” Adrian shouted, grabbing her arm with nearly enough strength to hurt her.

  “They—” The words were stuck in Vai’s throat as it tightened, robbing her of speech and breath.

  “We have to go! Now!”

  Adrian tugged on Vai’s arm, but she refused to move. “They were—” The tightness of her throat prevented her from talking.

  Adrian cursed and picked up Vai, carrying her away from the dead archers. “Just keep moving!” he shouted at the rest.

  Adrian lifted Vai away, but she kept her eyes locked onto Nick’s corpse. You fought for me, and you died for me… Vai sobbed as she recalled Nick’s endearing smile and positive outlook. She then remembered her brother, Daniel Junior, and how similar the two boys were. They’re both dead, she thought solemnly.

  “Just a little further!” one of the men shouted.

  “Set me down, Captain,” Vai said sternly.

  Adrian nodded then obliged. He carefully knelt, letting go of Vai once her feet touched the ground. She pushed her way past Elizabeth and the other Royal Guardsmen to stand directly in front of them.

  The harbor was down a narrow hill and in full view. Several ships from deeper in the ocean had begun sailing away in re
treat while many others had intense combat occurring on their decks. The Rockland forces had control of at least a dozen anchored ships but were still fighting over others. The shapes of the men fighting were smaller than ants from her position, but she could see clearly that both sides had been taking casualties. She acknowledged the necessity of seizing the Headland ships, but she could barely stomach the sight of her soldiers dying for her.

  “Vai!” Adrian shoved his way through the Royal Guardsmen to reach Vai. “We need to get somewhere safe!”

  “Pick a building then,” Vai replied.

  Adrian took a moment to scan the area, darting his eyes forward, backwards, and to either side “That one!” He pointed at a large building that stood over four stories high and was shockingly undamaged.

  Taking Vai’s hand, Adrian quickly bolted down the hill, the others following shortly behind. They carefully stepped over the dead bodies that continued to litter the street. Vai passed through a cloud of smoke that originated from a burning woodworking shop, overwhelming her lungs with smoke and her tongue with the taste of ash.

  Adrian drew his sword as he kicked open the building’s entrance door, gesturing the Guardsmen through. “Clear the building! Go!” In a flash, the men stormed into the building with determination. “We wait for them to give us the all clear, then we enter,” he told Vai.

  The sounds of doors being thrust open, furniture being rifled, and the men calling out various things to one another faintly echoed through the building’s stone walls. After a few moments passed, one of them came running back out the door, short of breath.

  “It’s… It’s clear, sir!”

  “Good. Tell the others to post up outside right here. The next time you see any of our men come back this way, get a status update from them.”

  The man nodded, then ran back into the building and called out for the men to join him outside. Once all the Royal Guardsmen were posted outside, Adrian gestured Vai and Elizabeth into the doorway, then he followed them inside.

  The main room was well-organized, with many luxury furniture pieces laid out symmetrically across the marble ground, and a lavish staircase tucked into the corner. Vai’s breath began to slow down as she settled into one of the chairs. Elizabeth sat down nearby, still appearing highly anxious.