Forums / Roleplaying / Descent
Descent | ||||
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Just wondering if anyone here remembers my Descent story, and if you do, is it worth me dredging up and beginning to write again? I don't have access to it currently as I'm at college, but I'm going home over Thanksgiving and I can get the story and then update with a chapter a week until I catch up to where we left off, at which point I'd hopefully have written a few extra chapters and so on. Yes? No? What do you think? | ||||
((Due to the fact that I am up far too late, I am going to begin my
third attempt at this story. The first try ended because I went
inactive from all of VU. The second try ended along the same lines,
but it was more because I moved away from the place where I had the
first many chapters saved. As of now, I don't plan on going inactive
again and I have all the current chapters with me. So....here you go,
Chapter 1 of Descent. I'm not sure how often I'll post the
chapters...but...yeah. Chapter 1: Uprising King Arzun sat in his throne room, scowling at the corpse of his former advisor. He made a shooing motion at it with his hand, then addressed his guards, "Get this body out of my sight." For years Arzun had tried to rule his realms fairly, but the longer he ruled the more separated he became from the common man. Eventually he began to see their plight as simple whining. If only they would work harder, they could obviously fix whatever was wrong with them. As the divide grew, Arzun himself grew more ruthless, eventually becoming a tyrant. As he saw it, everything he did was for the good of the kingdom. Dissenting mayors and governors naturally had to be assassinated, for disunity could destroy a kingdom from within. Adding to his paranoia, more and more scouts from the desert kingdoms in the south had been spotted along the border, and the western portion of his kingdom that still practiced the old religion was becoming more unruly as the fish within their sea became more scarce. All of these factors has culminated in Arzun having the noble prince, Rhade, of the northern tundra assassinated. In response a few of the northern governors and mayors banded together and declared independence, in a full-out revolt. These days Arzun had trouble keeping advisors, for whenever news had to be delivered of a failure or new uprising, the bearer was often executed by Arzun himself, as was the case with the body currently being dragged out of the room. The king stood and looked out a window, taking in the size and glory of his armies. Arzun had had his generals begin to prepare the armies as soon as the revolt was discovered, and it had taken weeks. To show any other parts of the kingdom who might consider joining the revolt that any resistance was futile, the entire strength of the army was now amassed and ready to march against the north. Against many of his advisors' warnings, only a small detachment had been left to guard the southern borders against Alyra, should the foolish Queen Scian strike. Arzun's thoughts were interrupted as Senturu and Scientist burst into the room, arguing about something. Scientist was shouting, "We can't take on an experiment of this scale! We've barely had success with the smaller experiments, this is simply too fast!" With his hand on his sword, Senturu replied, "We need all the magic we can muster, and you've had good results in the past, yes? Then figure out a way to do it with hundreds, thousands of participants! Our jails are full to the brim, surely in death they would serve us better." Arzun stopped their quarrel with a wave of his hand. "What is this about? I will not have two of my generals fighting in front of my soldiers." Scientist and Senturu kneeled, then Scientist spoke. "My liege, as you know I have been conducting experiments with our prisoners, finding ways to tap into vast magic reservoirs. I enhance some of the inmates using magic, creating such creatures as werewolves and vampires, and then give those that remain weapons and other abilities. We then instruct them that the only way to survive is to be the last group standing, and take advantage of the malice, hate and death that ensues. Powerful magic is created, but up until now we have only experimented with a few people at a time, maybe twenty at the most! Senturu is trying to order an experiment with thousands!" Senturu glared at him, then raised his head and spoke. "Perhaps Scientist does not understand the kind of magic we will need for these battles. If we are to provide an example for all other would-be rebels, our power must be extreme. Understand that these people would be well contained, and pose absolutely no risk to our empire! What could be the harm in tapping into larger reserves of magic!?" Scientist attempted to speak out again, but Arzun cut him off. "I see no reason not to try it. Scientist, you will oversee the experiment with the aid of our mages. Senturu, I want you to lead our armies north. We will ravage the lands on a warpath to Paladin's castle, for he is the governor that leads this revolt. These peasants follow him blindly, believing their plight to be so horrible. They will know true anguish when we descend. Off with both of you!" Scientist lingered as Senturu left, and was about to say something before deciding better. With one last baleful glare back, Arzun was again alone. | ||||
Very sad ending :-( | ||||
(Yes indeed. It gets worse. And feel free to comment, criticize, point out typoes and errors and anywhere a character becomes incoherent to the character they've been set up to be. This is very much still a work in progress.) Chapter 2: Unity
Seated at the head of a great table, Paladin rose and looked over those seated before him. At the other end of the table sat the only woman in the room, an ambassador from Alyra. While she and her kingdom unofficially supported their bid for independence, they could not officially pledge any support--yet. Seated next to her was a cleric from the western regions of the kingdom. Those still worshipping the ancient gods and goddesses had been left out of the new government, which left the region unruly as well. The western region and Alyra had longed shared good relations, and it was well expected that if one pledged support the other would follow. On each side of the table were seated various mayors and governors that were either supporting the rebellion, or were wavering in their support for the king. “You all know why we are here. For years Arzun ruled this country well, all people were treated fairly and injustice was rare. However, as the years passed corruption within the government grew. Arzun now only listens to those with the money to influence him. The lower classes, produced from the Enlightening, have been neglected and are disgruntled. Scian's kingdom, Alyra, has been persecuted and bullied into submission time and time again. The western parts of the kingdom that cling to the old religions are effectively excommunicated from the government, and we in the north were given very little say. It is obvious that the East controls this kingdom, from the shorelines that the original missionaries landed. Arzun feared disunity, and in his paranoia closed his mind to the rest of the kingdom. “We decided long ago that something had to be done, but it was only recently that our beloved Prince was murdered. Rhade will be sorely missed, but in his absence we must remain strong. We now know that Arzun has begun raising soldiers against us, though we do not yet know the size or strength of these troops. We had originally hoped that there would be no real need for violence, but it appears that if we want to return our kingdom to its former glory, or at least to a time when it was ruled fairly, we must fight.” Paladin glanced around the room, then settled on the ambassador from Alyra. “What does the queen have to say?” The ambassador stood, the eyes of most of the men in the room following her. She was lean and beautiful, muscular like most of the women from the southern kingdom. She was also scantily clad, in the dress of her homeland, regardless of the much cooler temperatures of the north. “Queen Scian would like for me to inform you that she supports your bid for independence--unofficially, of course. We cannot, however, risk an attack from Arzun's armies, and until the north can prove that you can handle yourself in battle against Arzun we can't give you any kind of support.” As the ambassador seated herself, Paladin nodded and turned to the cleric. “That is what we expected, and I thank you for coming. What does the west have to say?” The elderly cleric gripped his cane and pulled himself to his feet. “We agree with Queen Scian. We have been granted a good deal of autonomy by the King, and we cannot risk that to follow you yet, no matter how noble your cause. Until you can show us that you have some chance, we cannot even consider aiding you.” There were some murmurs of agreement from around the table, and a governor stood. “They've got good points. If we join this rebellion with no chance, it will simply be suicide. What makes you think you've got any chance of winning? There's a good chance Arzun would annihilate us simply for coming to this meeting!” Paladin slumped back into his chair. “So this is how it's going to be, then? You all pledged your loyalty to Rhade over and over. He's been gone for nearly two weeks, yet already you waiver against his plans. Simply because Arzun executed him, does not mean we cannot fulfill his vision.” Once again there were murmurs of agreement, this time from different leaders. These leaders nodded, and one named Vertencio spoke, “We pledged our troops to Rhade, and with his death we have even more reason to fight. Arzun knew nothing of his plans, and even though his paranoia was founded he had no idea it was. He killed Rhade simply because the people loved him. And not just here in the North. We still support the rights of the old religions to practice, and the people supported him for that. The people of the East agreed that the class system needs to be abolished, and supported him in that. The people of Alyra agreed with his cause, which is now ours.” Paladin nodded, “It is my hope that those of you who still waiver will change your minds, but until then we must prepare. Those of you that have pledged troops, we have recently received intelligence that they are going to march directly to my castle. We will stage our resistance from there, so prepare your armies and begin the march. We will be outnumbered, but Arzun's armies have never fought in the north, and it will be hard to find food for the numbers he intends to bring.” Paladin looked about the room, focusing on those who had refused to help. “Even if we fail, we have at least died trying, with honor.” | ||||
Very good...keep it up. I shall continue reading silently in the future. | ||||
Chapter 3: Games
It had been a few days since Arzun had set Senturu and his army out for the northern reaches of his kingdom, and for all that time Scientist had wrestled with how to undertake the massive task at hand. There were no moral objections, only ponderings on how to achieve the goal of delivering a huge magic reservoir to Senturu and his army very quickly without killing the entire city. He had finally just decided to go ahead with the experiment and let the events fall as they might. Some of the mages, however, had a problem with that. “Sir! This isn't safe at all, and you know it! Why do you insist we use so many subjects!?” Scientist backhanded the mage, Alexander, then turned away. “These orders are from above me, and I can't change them. Now we're just going to have to do everything we can to keep anything from going wrong, aren't we? If we screw this up, it will mean both of our deaths.” He looked out over the large courtyard, once used for royal ceremonies and holy rituals. Now it was to be the site of Scientist's next experiment, one exponentially larger than any he had attempted before. Prisoners were led across the courtyard in front of him, then separated into four different lines. One line would be infected with a lycanthrope virus, only recently discovered. This would create werewolves, from which Scientist could harvest the power of hunger and lust for flesh into magic. Another line was led into a dark dungeon where, one by one, each inmate was bitten by an imprisoned vampire. From these undead could be harvested the powerful emotion of hate, the hate of all living creatures. The last two lines would stay unaltered, however. The first would receive weapons and the offer of piles upon piles of gold to be one of the last standing at the end of the contest. Magic manifested itself in these people in the form of greed and malice. The last line would simply be led into a dark hallway, and then released again once all the other prisoners had received their “treatment”. From these ignorant people, magic could be harvested in the form of fear. It had taken years for Scientist to develop a system such as this, where so many different emotions could be converted into magic at the same time. All it required was a few mages in constant meditation to collect the powerful forces that would grow to surround the combatants. More mages would have to be brought in eventually, of course, to harvest the kinds of magic the amount of death that was about to occur would leave behind. He had considered dragging out this experiment, as he sometimes did, to collect the less powerful forces little by little, but had instead decided on a battle royale, to move straight on to harvesting the death energy. The field of energy that was created would then slowly and carefully be siphoned off into precious gemstones, mined and cut specifically for this purpose. This was the only way to effectively transfer magic of this magnitude, and the only way to control it. Alexander, still rubbing his stinging cheek, finally found the nerve to talk again. “There is a reason, Scientist, that we mages do not attempt to hold in these kinds of energies during real battle. Once erected, the fields that we use to contain the magic are self-sufficient, and we cannot tear them down, only direct the power from within them into something else. The forces created by a war-like situation would be nearly impossible to contain, and if they were, they would most likely destroy everything inside of them. What you are doing here, now, is creating your own battle. We are putting this entire city at risk! If even one mage slips up and the fields fluctuate, the kind of power that would escape could decimate these lands if uncontrolled. I hav--” Scientist had been growing more and more impatient with every word his assistant spoke, and had finally had enough. He punched his stomach, then shoved him against a wall. Scientist grabbed his arms and pinned him, then brought his face inches from Alexander's. “Is that all, Alex?” Afraid, but still worried, he started to address Scientist. Instead of allowing him to talk, Scientist harshly twisted his arm. “I asked you, is...that...all!?” Alexander dropped his gaze and muttered a “yes, sir”, and Scientist responded by releasing him. “Now, set your mages up around the courtyard, we need everything to go perfectly.” As his assistant left, another mage came in. “Scientist, sir, the subjects are ready to be released.” “Good, I will signal you on when to release them. Now leave me.” Alone again Scientist slumped into his chair. Burying his face in his hands he contemplated exactly what his life had turned into. When he had first joined Arzun's monarchy, he had sworn never to use science or magic to harm others. As Arzun's focus turned, however, from equality to preservation of his power, he had requested more and more that Scientist do things which fell into a moral grey area. At some point he had just given up his ethical beliefs and gone along with anything his King asked him to do. And now, here he was, leading thousands of people to their own deaths, just so he could use their sacrifice to give Senturu greater ability to kill others. Scientist sat wrapped in his thoughts for nearly an hour, before Alexander returned and informed him that the mages were fully prepared. He nodded and told his assistant to go inform the guards to release the prisoners into the courtyard, then walked out onto the balcony overlooking the scene. As the first prisoners exited to dark hallways where they had been confined, Scientist began to speak. “All of you are here for a reason. You are the scum of our kingdom, and only in this way can any of you really serve a true purpose. To whoever is the last group standing, we offer freedom and riches that you could not comprehend. To those of you that fall, all we can offer is hell. You have no choice in this matter. Fight, or die.” The prisoners were still filtering out, werewolves, vampires and humans all. When they reached the middle of the courtyard and came into each other's sight, each stopped to take in their opponents. That was, at least, until a scream broke out. A vampire had come across an undefended human trying to sneak around the edge of the wall, and had simply done what instinct told him. He drank his blood. At that point all hell broke loose. Man and beast charged, met, and attacked. The vampires struck and retreated, the wolves were in an all out bloodlust, and the humans were simply caught in the middle. Eventually the humans that remained pulled into a tight circle, guarding themselves in all directions with weapons they had either been given, or pulled off of their fallen. This lead the beasts to attack each other, who offered less organized defense. While vampires were the more agile and could act more covertly, that alone did not allow them to overcome the werewolves' speed and strength. As the wolves picked off the vampires, an odd human or two would reach out and strike the unwary wolf, who would then retaliate. The numbers were dwindling, but the rapid death and emotion was having an unforeseen effect. The energy within the field could now be felt by the combatants, and the mages were starting to strain a little to contain the power. As the battle dragged on, more energy manifested, empowering the fighters to new levels. With new strength, the hatred and number of dying increased, which again increased energy. Soon the energy became too much for the humans within the field to bear, and many began simply dropping dead. The wolves and vampires would have lasted, had the extra energy from the dying humans not also taken its place. Within seconds every brawler was destroyed, which, while efficient, put an incredible strain on the mages. Bolts of energy, manifesting in different forms of fire, lightning and plasma, cracked out from weaker spots in the field. Mages began fainting from their effort, and while reinforcements were there to take their place, noone was ready for the sudden burst from the massive ball of energy. For a split second, Scientist could see the mages being tossed about, right before he himself was thrown back into a wall, blacking out. Hours passed before any of those struck by the wave began to awaken. By this time it was already dawn, and the sphere of energy shone with its own light. Scientist turned to Alexander, who was also just waking up. “Go get the gems, we need to get this power into them soon. I don't want to find out what else could happen.” | ||||
I haven't given up on this yet, I promise. I'll get to work on it again soon. | ||||
[[Good]] | ||||
I hope that I'm not going to die in the big explosion like last time, I'm a better mage than that :P | ||||
Better mage my ass...you haven't done anything productive these past few eras around the area of magic :) | ||||
Am I going to be in this? =D | ||||
Are you going to mention me as a hobo or drunk? :-) Or at least have me killed sometime along the plot line? | ||||
Tell you what, after I get my paper done today I'll do the next chapter. I don't see any extra characters than what I have entering until after I've arrived back to the point at which I stopped writing. Then I have free reign to introduce anyone again! | ||||
((Okay, so I've officially failed so far. I am, however, home for the summer now and will have a lot of time between shifts of work to get back to work on this and other parts of roleplaying here. All that said, here is chapter 4)) Chapter 4: Prisoner
Caesar awoke suddenly to something sniffing at his chin, and immediately leapt out of bed. The rat that had been so rudely displaced squeaked, then ran out between the bars. Caesar shook his head and kicked the bars. “Lucky bastard. You get out and I don't even know what I'm in here for.” It had been nearly a week now, since Caesar woke up in this dark, cursed place. No idea where he was, where he had come from, or even who he was. Slowly things had come into the light. He was a prisoner in the kingdom of some King Arzun, apparently somewhat of a paranoid ruler. There was also some sort of rebellion going on in the northern parts of the kingdom. He had only managed to figure that much out by talking to the captain of the jail. They had ended up having on Caesar's first day in the jail, when he randomly showed up occupying a cell. At first the captain had been rather hostile, thinking the man was simply a bum. After realizing that he had lost his memory, however, the captain sat with the man and talked. At one point in the conversation the captain had mentioned that he reminded him of an old friend, Caesar. Hell of a fighter, the captain said, but never much cared about what else was going on. Since then the name had just stuck. A nearby cell door slamming broke Caesar from his thoughts, and soon the captain was opening his cell door. “Ello old boy. What are you doing up at this time of night?” Caesar laughed. “What are you doing in my cell at this time of night?” The captain grinned in response. “Fair enough, I guess. That general of Arzun's is making us run exams on our inmates, make sure you're all healthy and whatnot. So, let's get this over with. Strip yourself down.” Caesar hesitated, then started to comply. “I don't remember anything that I used to do, but I'm sure that getting naked for other men isn't usually the norm.” As he finished, the captain scribbled down a few notes and nodded. “Alright get your clothes back on. I'll see you in the morning.” “Captain, mind if I ask what this was all about?” Caesar asked as he began to dress himself again. “Now you know I like you, boy, but I couldn't tell you even if I knew.” As the captain left Caesar shrugged, and slumped back into his bed. He drifted back and forth on the threshold of sleep for awhile, until a strange breeze started blowing through his cell, followed by a barely audible clink on his cell floor. He got out of bed, annoyed, and wrapped his sheets around him. At that point he heard what sounded like muffled voices talking somewhere out in the hallway, and slowly crept over to his cell door to see what he could hear. “Hello.” Caesar, scared half to death, uttered a curse and twisted around, ready to fight. Before him was some sort of an apparition, transparent and tinted blue. It wore a cloak and was wrapped up to his or her nose, and spoke with a raspy, deep voice. “You're probably wondering why you're here, who you are, and most importantly, what's going to happen. All I can tell you right now is that it's been necessary, everything that I've done has been necessary. You know that a few thousand prisoners disappeared a few days ago. They were all taken to be used in an experiment by Scientist, one of Arzun's generals. Through their deaths he obtained a lot of powerful magic, but what he is doing goes against everything we believe in. Now, there is a group forming against both he and Arzun, and we have helped to facilitate the rebellion. You may know me as Axel, and in time I hope that I may allow you to know both me, and yourself, better. “Before this can happen, however, I will need your help. We chose you because you were a born leader, naturally charismatic. Only someone like you could convince the horde of combatants that will be gathered to work together, and save their lives. The experiment consists of using fighting, emotion, and death to create magic, which will then be used in battles against the rebels. Understand, of course, that you may refuse what I ask of you. In that case, though, nothing will change, and everyone entering that courtyard will die, just as they would have before. “You may be the only chance for this kingdom, and if you fail we will be lost. We need you to succeed, to convince the thousands of bloodthirsty fighters to lay down their aggression and fight together to survive. It's your choice, but if you don't try you will die anyway.” With that the apparition began to dissipate into a simple mist, and Caesar reacted. “Where are you going!?” He leapt into the mist, swinging wildly. “You can't leave like that, without telling me anything of my past, or who you are!” Caesar slammed his fist into the wall, bloodying it, then slowly shuffled back towards his bed, knowing he wouldn't sleep tonight. As he did, however, something clinked against his feet. He reached down and felt on the floor, then closed his fingers around something cold and hard. He held it up towards the light from the hallway, and found it was a small, blue sapphire. He had heard some of the other prisoners talking about magic before, and how it was stored and released using gemstones. Knowing it might be helpful for the future, Caesar slipped it into his pocket, then rolled into bed, deep in thought. | ||||
Well, well.......... | ||||
Chapter 5: Collision Paladin looked over the four men on their knees in front of him, bound. They were messengers from Senturu, asking for his unconditional surrender. This, of course, would have entailed the execution, most likely public, of Paladin and nearly every other rebel soldier. Paladin had decided that, if they were to die either way, they would go out in a blaze of glory.
“We are messengers, not spies! You must release us, there are rules!” As the man finished speaking one of Paladin's generals kicked his back, forcing him to the floor. Paladin waved the man off, “That's quite enough Garl, they are messengers, as they say. However, they also have knowledge of our internal defenses. Do with them as you see fit, I wash my hands of this.” With those last words Paladin stepped out of the building and returned to his plans. Garl nodded at his captain and motioned to the messengers. “All right, you heard him Carth, let's execute our prisoners.” Instead of complying instantly, as Garl was used to from his inferiors, Carth hesitated. “Sir, they are only messengers. Would it not be wiser to simply let them live until the battle is over? Then their knowledge cannot harm anyone.” Garl's face tightened, and he leapt towards Carth, pushing him against a wall. “I did not become a general to have my captains give me their opinion.” Garl pulled Carth's sword from its sheath. “It's easy to do, watch.” The general approached one of the prisoners and pulled him upright by his hair. He then stepped back and swung the sword in a wide arc, beheading the messenger. Garl smiled, inspected his work, then returned to Carth and handed him his sword, motioning for him to repeat the procedure. Carth, however, still hesitated. “Sir, I--” “Choose your next words carefully, captain, or else I'll kill you, and then behead them. Either way, they die.” At that Carth hung his head, and, knowing he had no other choice, took back his sword. “I'll do it, sir.” Garl grinned widely, “I knew you'd come around. I'll be back in a few minutes, I have to check on our defenses. I expect four heads and four bodies, separated, when I return.” As Garl left, Carth leaned out the window and watched him go. As soon as he rounded the corner a few buildings down, the captain returned to the three remaining prisoners. He lined himself up behind on of the messengers, and brought the sword above his head. The messenger braced himself for the final blow, but as the sword struck, it simply whirred by his head and struck the ground. It took a few seconds, but eventually the prisoner realized that his bonds had been cut loose. He looked to his right just in time to see the captain cutting loose one of his comrades, then move to the final prisoner and release him as well. “Alright, let's go. We don't have much time.” The soldiers had no real idea what was going on, but if it meant getting out alive, they weren't going to complain. Luckily for the four sneaking through the castle, mostly every soldier was too consumed by some other task relating to the upcoming battle to notice. They passed the gate, Carth telling the watchmen that they were simply returning a message from Paladin. After passing out of the view of the gate guardsmen, the men started to relax. A few moments later, however, they heard a whistle. Carth looked back and scanned the castle, then noticed that archers were arranged along the rim of the castle. For a moment Carth's eyes met with Garl's, and then all four men broke into a dead run. Arrows embedded themselves in the ground all around them as they sought whatever shelter they could find.
Senturu watched as the grunts unloaded the bags of gemstones, surprised. It was the most he had ever seen in one place, meaning that he had an incredible amount of magic at his disposal. “All of these from one of Scientist's new experiments? At least that man is useful for something.” Senturu looked out over the field towards Paladin's castle. The full might of King Arzun's army was with him, and that was something that no rebel could stand against. So far, their scouts had estimated rebel numbers at around nine thousand. In opposition stood Arzun's Royal Army of fifty-five thousand warriors. Senturu and his army had been sieging Paladin's castle for a couple of days already, and now with Scientist's magic at their disposal it was time to strike. Before him were the mages that Scientist had sent with the gemstones. One stepped forward, “General Senturu, my name is Alexander, I am Scientist's first sage. We have devised a plan that should allow you to take the castle with minimal casualties for either side.” Senturu nodded, “Alright, let's hear it.” Alexander grinned and brought forward a couple of bags of emerald gemstones. “Very good, sir. First, we will need to know how many archers are at your disposal....”
In the middle of preparing his archers and the other soldiers for the upcoming assault, one of Senturu's assistants called him over. “Senturu, our messengers have returned, and they would like to see you.” Nodding, the general followed his assistant to the tent where his messengers were waiting. Upon entering, however, the sight was not what he had expected. One of his men was lying facedown on a table, an arrow sticking halfway halfway out of his calf. Two of the other messengers were seated, bloody and looking beaten, while another man was tied to a pole in the center of the tent, one whom Senturu did not recognize. “Would anyone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?” When the two seated messengers saw Senturu, they leapt to their feet, then kneeled. One spoke. “Sir, after we delivered your offer of submission to Paladin, he had us detained and bound. Eventually he came to see us again, but left us to his general who decided to execute us. This man here,” motioning to Carth, “was ordered to kill us but refused. He released us instead. Once we were free, however, the general alerted the archers to our escape and they began to fire on us. That was when he was struck,” said the messenger, motioning to the man lying on the table. “Carth then carried him the rest of the way to our camp.” Senturu looked Carth up and down, then stepped back. “This all seems a little too convenient for my taste...perhaps this is all a scheme by Paladin? If not then we may still release you after the battle, but for now you must remain our prisoner, do you understand?” Carth nodded, never taking his eyes off the ground. He had just betrayed his fellow soldiers and comrades, and even though he had saved three lives, and in the long run, probably his as well, he couldn't have felt more guilty. At this point another of Senturu's servants arrived at the tent. “Sir, Alexander wishes to inform you that the archers are ready, and have been equipped with the gems. The infantry and calvary have also moved into place. We only await your word.” Nodding, Senturu turned back to the men in the tent. “I will return after we have defeated the rebels, and I will wish to speak with each of you at length.” Not wishing to delay the end of the rebellion any longer, Senturu marched straight to the divisions of his archers. Looking around, Senturu verified that all of his archers were ready, and that his soldiers were ready to storm the castle. “Alright men, the time has come to crush the rebels. There is no room for failure, nor is there any chance of it. ARCHERS, FIRE!!!” Immediately, thousands of arrows took flight, ripping through the sky. Naturally, the soldiers within the castle walls shielded themselves, leaving the arrows to cause only minimal damage.
Garl, from atop the castle walls, laughed. “What do they hope to accomplish with these arrows, they've hit maybe fifty men. I don't see-” Garl's confidence faded quickly as he turned around, listening to the shouts of his men. From all over the castle the emerald gemstones were sprouting vines, crawling all over the ground, the buildings, and the soldiers. Every man that was not immediately entangled began to search for higher ground, though most of the higher ground was compromised as well. Senturu grinned as he listened to the sounds of confusion coming from within the castle. He raised his arm, signaling for the second round of arrows to be strung and lit. Keeping his eyes on the vine at his feet, he watched as it slowly stopped growing and began to fade to a light brown, drying out. “NOW!” Another volley of arrows took flight, the flames searing the air. As they began to land around his castle Paladin understood, and realized that all was lost. Flames began to spring up all around, igniting the vines which had just begun to dry. His men were burning and his castle was becoming a living inferno. Paladin waved to the men standing around him, and they moved to a rope leading into the ceiling. As they began to pull it a bell began ringing across the castle. That was the signal to open the gates and run like hell. As the men crowded the gates and waited for them to open, however, they were greeted by another surprise. Arzun's armies charged through the opening gates, trapping Paladin's men between the fires and very skilled warriors. The battle itself only took a few minutes and, by the end, less than three hundred of the original 9,000 rebels were left. It was assumed that Paladin and his generals had died along with the rest of his men. | ||||
Chapter 6: Endgame Prisoners once again were filtering through the courtyard and, once again, Scientist was perched on his balcony, watching. Alexander had returned early this morning, arriving with news of Senturu's victory over the rebels. Both had naturally assumed that this meant the end of the experiments, but Arzun's orders had come down to continue to stockpile magic as long as prisoners remained. “Sir, are we really going to continue this? Even now that our enemies are defeated?” Scientist never took his eyes off the courtyard, “Alexander, you were standing beside me when Arzun's orders were delivered. As for myself, I don't feel too motivated to question them, as that usually precedes death. So yes, we will continue. Take it up with the King if you object.” Alexander turned and swept out of the room quickly, a furious look on his face. A relatively new recruit into the folds of Arzun's magic troops, he had risen quickly through the ranks. Scientist had taken special notice of him a few times when overseeing the training of the new mages, and had commented on his natural talent. Eventually he had approached Alexander with an offer to serve as his personal mage. Despite Scientist's expertise in magic, he had never taken the time to learn how to practice it himself. That was where Alexander came in. Scientist's last assistant had mysteriously disappeared a few months ago, sometime around the beginning of the experiments. For a while Scientist had only allowed Alexander to perform small tasks for him, some even as menial as setting food for him. As time passed, however, eventually Scientist grew to trust him and allow him to take part in the experiments. At first, only the most violent, dangerous and sickly prisoners were used, and Alexander had been able to reconcile himself to that. When the experiments grew to their new, larger scale, however, even the least offensive prisoners were taken at random. Men who had stolen bread to feed their families, drunken brawlers, and the odd person that the king simply hadn't liked were all involved, and all died. That level of killing without thought or remorse; the random slaughters bothered Alexander, but until recently he hadn't known what to do. Now, however, he had a plan.
Caesar stood, sweating, packed tightly into a dark hallway. Somewhere closer to the front a few armed guards were shouting directions. Looking around, Caesar noticed that there were only five guards at the rear of the room. That Axel character had told him to stop this battle, and this looked like the best chance. Quickly he turned to the man beside him and grabbed his arm. “Hey, HEY. Listen to me. If we go through that door when the open it, we're going to die. You've got to help me, spread the word to fight the guards and we can all get out of here!” The man shook him off, and Caesar's words fell on deaf ears. With every new attempt Caesar was met with the same resistance, until one man simply got tired of the talking and punched him. As Caesar rubbed his jaw, he got a new idea. Instead of talking, he simply hauled off and slugged the man next to him as hard as he could. He then quickly ducked to the floor and out of the man's sight. The prisoner's reaction was as expected, and he immediately hit the man nearest him in retaliation. A riot began to break out in that area, and the guards moved in to stop it. As they were passing through the crowd, however, Caesar reached out and tripped one of them, then punched another prisoner and retreated. The first fight was still growing as the second prisoner began to retaliate, blindly lashing out around him. The guards took action as well, indiscriminately striking anyone whom they felt was not behaving. Caesar grinned as the violence continued, then looked up front to see that they had barely taken any notice of what was going on. Standing on a ledge in the wall, Caesar scanned the crowd. He then removed one of his shoes and threw it at a freakishly large man up towards the men guarding the door. The shoe had the intended effect as it bounced off the man's head. He immediately turned and struck the man behind him in the face with his elbow, knocking him out cold. The guards quickly took notice as the giant man began attacking other prisoners, and attempted to restrain him. The man would have no such restraint, however, and laid the guards out, unconscious, before they could do any damage. Nearly the entire room had erupted into chaos now, and Caesar was still skulking along the floor. He had already checked two of the guard's bodies, and was just finishing searching the third. So far he had only been able to lift a dagger, but no keys as he had been hoping. Through thrashing legs he caught a glimpse of a blue suit and quickly moved that direction. This man was still conscious, though it appeared that one or more of his limbs were broken. That said, he didn't object much as Caes*beep*arched his body, and then curled his fingers around the key ring. He took off running towards the door leading away from the courtyard, shrugging off people attempting to grab or attack him. Only once while he was filtering through the keys on the ring, in an attempt to find one that fit, was he attacked. Someone jumped on him from behind, wrapping their arms around his throat. Caesar bent over and lifted them onto his back, then turned around and slammed the man into the wall as hard as he could. The grip loosened and Caesar took advantage, slipping free and delivering a knee to the prisoner's stomach. As the man doubled over he took another knee to the jaw and fell unconscious, becoming just another body on the floor. Finally Caesar found the right key and slowly managed to push the door open. As he stepped into a more well lit hallway leading to both sides. Hesitating a second, Caesar yelled back into the room loudly, made sure at least a couple of people looked, then took off running. As Caesar was running, he noticed another door like the one he had just exited, with some noises coming from inside. He slowed, and began to turn around, but was met with a running mob of people. A few stopped, however, to open the door and then ran inside, but were forced back out due to the new exodus of prisoners. To escape the waves Caesar hustled up a nearby set of stairs, then slowed as he reached the top. In front of him was a great courtyard, encased in stone walls. Perched around the walls, evenly spaced, were men wearing long robes of all different colors. Directly across the courtyard stood the man that Caesar assumed was the leader of whatever was going on, Axel had called him Scientist. He started forward, determined to end whatever was going on by killing this Scientist, but it was then that he felt cold steel against his neck. “Come with me, we need to talk.”
Scientist had given the order to release the prisoners a few minutes ago, yet only one door had actually opened. Even with that door open, no prisoners had come out. It was obvious that something had gone horribly wrong, even before the flood of men came running up the stairways. At this point everything seemed to slow down for Scientist, and he could take everything that was happening in. These bloodthirsty savages were ripping his mages apart, and the few soldiers that he actually had to guard himself and the mages stood no chance. He had sealed the door on his balcony as soon as he realized something was different this time, and now someone was banging on it. As claws began ripping through the wooden doors, however, Scientist realized it was something trying to get through, not someone. It was mere seconds before the creatures began streaming out onto the balcony with Scientist. His screams lasted for only a few seconds.
Caesar was led into a small room nearer to the interior of the castle, and heard whoever was holding the knife to his throat lock the door behind him. As soon as they were inside the man lowered his dagger and backed away. As Caesar turned, the man looked him over. “I thought you looked familiar, I've seen you around this castle before. My name is Alexander, and up until now I've served as a mage for Arzun and Scientist. What are you doing here, though, and alive? Everyone in the kingdom thinks you're dead.” Caesar just stood there and stared, not blinking. “What?” “Well, you are Rhade, aren't you?” | ||||
:o | ||||
Chapter 7: Scapegoat After a lengthy interrogation from Senturu, Carth had been set free for the most part. The only condition was that he had to return with their army, and for the whole ride his hands had been bound. Other than that they treated him well. He was afforded the same rations as the soldiers, and, by this time, was on friendly terms with the two soldiers that he had helped to set free. The messenger who had taken the arrow remained fairly silent most of the way, simply grimacing in pain and trying to stay on his horse. The other two, however, were very talkative. The three men chatted at great length about all sorts of topics, but inevitably the conversation would sometimes shift to the rebellion. Carth would ask them how they felt about it, and they would ask him why he joined. At certain times during these conversations one of the men, named Damien, would stop talking and appear deep in thought. The other man, Jacob would simply babble on about whatever came to his mind. Carth enjoyed the company of both and, either way, they helped to pass the time. After a few days of travel they had finally come into sight of Arzun's great city, and Carth was awed. It was an immense fortress, and even from outside the giant castle could be seen towering above the city. Now he understood what Rhade meant when he had said that there was no way to defeat Arzun from the outside, only by winning the hearts and minds of the people within. Jacob and Damien had been begun to chat excitedly now, ranting about life inside the city to Carth. They hushed, however, when they saw a envoy moving towards them from the city. As they approached, it was clear that Arzun was riding within the envoy, and that thought sent a chill up Carth's spine.
Senturu dismounted his horse and bowed in front of Arzun's mount, and his soldiers soon followed suit. Arzun nodded, “Stand, and report.” Senturu straightened himself upright again, “The battle was a complete success. We did not lose a single man and burned Paladin's castle to the ground. Paladin and his generals were killed, and less than three hundred of their men survived.” Arzun grunted, and began to survey his army. “What is the highest ranking official in that army that you captured, then?” Senturu looked back at Carth. “Probably that one on the horse, there. He has told us that he was a captain, but he never actually took part in the battle. He helped our messengers escape execution.” Arzun nodded, “I don't see any other prisoners, where are they?” “Back at Paladin's castle, I left behind a small regiment to oversee them as they buried the bodies, then they'll be brought down here.” “Damnit Senturu,” said Arzun as he angrily dismounted his horse, “when did I tell you that I wanted their bodies to be buried? They are rebel scum, and if I wanted them buried I would've just knocked their castle down on top of them. Carth must be the one to die, then.” Senturu balked, “Sir, I apologize for the prisoners, but why will you execute Carth?” “The people must be shown that this rebellion is over, and if we do not have one of the real leaders here, he will have to suffice.” Senturu refused to back down, “He saved our men's lives! He doesn't deserve to die for that!” Arzun mounted his horse again, “I'd gladly put you in his place, if my people wouldn't recognize you. I need someone they don't know, however, so if you want to keep arguing your death will be more private. Guards! Restrain that man and bring him with us!” The soldiers looked on in confusion as Carth was pulled from his horse and tightly bound, then carried back to Arzun. As Arzun turned to go, he looked back to Senturu. “Remember where your loyalties lie, what we do here is for the kingdom.”
“There's no way! You're insane!” Jacob pushed Damien off him and moved back to the window. Damien followed him. “Carth saved our lives, if we don't do at least try to help him then what good are we?” “Look around, Damien. There's two of us; what could we possibly do?” “We could tell the people the truth, maybe they would by sympathetic enough to keep Senturu from executing him.” Jacob scoffed, “Since when have the people's opinions mattered? Look outside, look at the crowd that has already gathered to see the leader of the rebel army executed.” Damien nodded, “Look at them, Jacob. Don't you remember all the other executions? People were bloodthirsty, they were shouting for the lynching. Look at them now. They're all quiet. Noone is shouting for the prisoner to be brought out faster, noone is fighting to be in the front row. They're all somber, do you know why? Because whether or not they would admit it, each and every person out there saw some sort of hope in that rebellion. Everyone knows things have been getting worse lately, especially with those new rumours of whatever happened in the castle courtyard.” Jacob sat, reflective now. “I heard about that. The people they brought in to clean up the mess said it looked like a war. I heard that people have even spotted weird creatures around the town at night, too. And the jails are nearly empty! Whatever happened, it wasn't good.” “Don't you see, Jacob! This is what the rebellion was about! This is why we can't let Carth die!” After one last glance out the window, Jacob nodded. “Alright, we'll try it your way. I will help you spread the truth through that crowd, but I won't involve myself anymore than that.”
Carth was dragged, blindfolded, out onto a makeshift platform. As the blindfold was ripped off he found himself staring into a crowd of thousands. They had all come to watch him die. There were three people on the platform with him. One was the guard that had drug him out, and the other was Senturu, who slouched against a wall rubbing his temples. The third was a giant of a man, wearing a long black hood and carrying with him a huge half-moon shaped axe. He was the executioner. Senturu stepped up to the center of the platform, and began to speak. “For crimes against our great kingdom, our lord Arzun has sentenced this man to death by decapitation. He is charged with the crimes of treason and rebellion, and has been...” Carth was no longer listening, for he had caught sight of a familiar face in the crowd. Damien was weaving his way around, talking to people in the crowd. Every few minutes he would move onto a new group, and the entire time he was talking, the people he was addressing would look back and forth between Senturu, Damien, and Carth. “And for inciting and leading a rebellion against King Arzun, this man will die.” Senturu turned and nodded to the executioner, who nodded back and began to approach Carth. “Hey, wait a minute! How do you know he's the leader?” Someone in the crowd had shouted out, but it was impossible to tell from where. Senturu was caught off-guard, but quickly responded. “He has confessed to leading the rebellion, we have no choice but to execute him!” This time it was Carth's turn to shout out. “Liar! I never--” The guard holding Carth deftly kneed him in the stomach. Another man in the crowd, “So where are the other rebels?” Again, Senturu responded quickly. “This man, their leader, is the only one we captured alive. The others either escaped or were killed.” This time a woman, “That's not true! It's not! My son is a soldier and he told us hundreds of rebels were captured.” This time Senturu hesitated longer, “Well, I guess we have them in the jail, then.” “He's lying!! The jail is practically empty now!” By this time Senturu was floundering, and the crowd's temper was rising. In desperation he turned and signaled the executioner, who stepped next to Carth. The guard pushed him down and forced his head onto the block of wood awaiting him. The great man positioned himself and raised the axe as Carth closed his eyes and braced himself. Instead of the death he expected, however, he heard three faint thumps followed by a larger one. When he opened his eyes again he found himself staring at the body of the executioner, now laying on the ground with two arrows embedded in his chest and one in his neck. Another faint whiz and he felt the guard release him. Senturu, however, reacted quickly and pulled Carth back into a building. He pushed him onto the ground and drew his own sword. “You've caused far more trouble than you were worth, boy.” Carth spat at him, “Why do you do this, you know it's wrong!” Senturu examined his blade then rested his gaze on Carth. “If I don't kill you, then Arzun will kill me and have someone else do it. Sorry boy, this is how it has to be.” Senturu began to approach Carth to finish the job, “And what if you die anyway, Senturu?” He laughed, “What makes you think I'm going to die?” Carth simply stared at him. “I said, what makes you thin--” Senturu stopped short, and looked down. There, sticking a couple of inches out of the front of his chest was the tip of a sword. Senturu crumpled to the ground. Now, standing in front of Carth, were three amazons. The women were dressed in normal clothing to keep from drawing attention, but their figures gave away their identities. “Come, we must move quickly. The crowd is keeping the guards back for now, but I know that many more are on the way.” | ||||
[Back! Muahahaha. Uhm. Anyway. Here's more. If you haven't read the rest of the story yet, I suggest you do so before reading this. I realise it's been forever, and I don't care. Enjoy!] Chapter 8: Secrets Axel yanked Rhade into the shadows as soon as he heard the small group of people running toward them. Apparently some sort of riot had broken out at the execution of the alleged rebel leader. The man had escaped, somehow, and now another of Arzun's generals, Senturu, had fallen and joined Scientist in death. While the whole ordeal was unfortunate, it provided Rhade and Axel a perfect opportunity to escape the city. As they crouched and listened to the approaching footsteps, Rhade reflected on the past few days. In the castle, just after meeting Alexander. “So you're telling me that I'm Rhade?” Alexander nodded, “Yes, and apparently someone saved you from being executed by Arzun.” “Alright, then tell me about who I am, all I know is that this Rhade fellow you think I am was some sort of Prince from the north, and he—I, may or may not have been involved in a plot to overthrow Arzun....” “Yeah, something like that,” said Alexander as he seated himself. “When the people thought you had died, your most loyal followers took up arms and declared open rebellion, hoping others would follow suit. However, neither your northern allies, the Western territories or the kingdom of Alyra assisted them, and thousands were massacred at Paladin's castle.” “Paladin...that name...I--” The door was blasted open from the outside, splinters flying. Alexander sprawled onto the floor while Rhade, who had been standing near the door, was flung against one of the walls and crumpled to the ground. His vision was hazy now, and he could barely move, so he was helpless to stop whoever the intruder was. A cloaked man walked out of the smoke and into the room, clinking something together in his right hand. Alexander slowly rose to his feet and clutched his dagger, holding it outstretched towards the figure. “Who are you! Did Arzun send you here!?” The man smirked briefly, a purplish hood covering everything except his mouth. “Arzun has no authority over me, but nevertheless you will not stand in my way...” The man threw his right arm out, and flung a small yellow gemstone at Alexander. The gemstone exploded with a blast of energy when it hit his chest, and Alexander was flung backwards into one of the room's walls. At this point the figure approached Rhade and drew a small diamond out of a pouch at his side. As he bent down he pressed it into Rhade's forehead, a searing pain appeared his mind, and it was only seconds before he blacked out. “Rhade....Rhade wake up.” Rhade rolled over and threw the sheets off of his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The harsh sunlight was painful, but then he remembered what today was. He was finally turning twelve, and today he would begin the journey that would end in his initiation into the Royal Tundra Clan. The maid was still calling to him. “Are you up yet?” Rhade threw on his shoes and coat, and began to trod along the cold castle floor. “Yes, yes, I'm on my way.” He followed the servant out into the courtyard, where his mother stood waiting for him. The queen was in full glory today, bearing her crown, scepter, and silver crested garments of the royal family. As Rhade ran out to her she knelt and hugged him tightly. She looked him over with tears in her eyes, “I guess my little boy is growing up.... Whatever happens, I want you to know that both your father and I are so proud of you and the man you're becoming.” At this point one of the four guards standing near the entrance to the courtyard stepped forward. “Highness, it is time for the journey to begin.” She nodded, and dropped a small yellow gemstone in his hand, “Alright, Rhade, I want you to take this. These are getting more rare recently, but I want you to have it. I'm sure you'll find some use for it.” Rhade was then led outside by the soldiers, where his father stood at the top of a giant staircase leading into the castle. As he stood looking out over the ice, he motioned for Rhade to come to him. “I know you've traveled outside of the castle before, but this trip will be different. You'll be traveling to an ancient city deep in the tundra, but this desert is not a forgiving place--a lesson your brother learned the hard way. You won't be given enough food to get all the way there, so at some point you'll have to stop and hunt. In your pack are some rubies, which you can use to start a fire and melt the ice to drink. You will take both your sword and your bow, but nothing more. This is the final test you must pass. You are already my son, of course, but finish this test and you will become my heir.” The King stood with his hands on his son's shoulders. “Rhade, it's time for you to go. Good luck, my son.” The jolt as Rhade hit the ground broke him out of the slumber, and he sat upright immediately. “Ah, now you wake up that we're done carrying you? You're one heavy bastard, I can tell you that much. Who are you, anyway? Axel wouldn't tell us anything.” “I'm still in the middle of figuring that one out myself...but as close as I can figure I'm-- “Ceasar. He's the one that wrecked Scientist's plans back in the castle. On that note, how many werewolves and vampires have we located, and how many are willing to work with us?” Rhade narrowed his eyes, “Wait, you're working with those creatures?” Axel nodded, “You've got to remember that they used to be just as human as you are, and that really hasn't changed. They can be powerful allies. Well, Marcus? What do we have?” A man stepped forward, apparently Marcus. He was gruff and rather hairy, but his voice was soft. “We've located nearly half of them, and so far every one but a couple of those we've spoken with have agreed to work with us.” Suddenly someone was banging at the door, and shouting for Axel. One of the men near the door opened it and pulled the man inside, quieting him down. “Axel, they're having the execution now!” “What!?” “Yeah, they're gathering at the platform now, and I don't think we've got much time.” Axel turned and began to gear up, “Alright everyone, grab you weapons, if we're going to save this man it's got to be now.” The first group of men walked casually out onto the street, and a few minutes later Axel, Rhade and Marcus followed. This left a few behind to prepare the house for their new guest. They had barely gotten out on the road before a few armed soldiers called out to them. They looked Rhade over and nodded to each other, “This is definitely him. Sir, you're going to have to come with us.” Marcus stepped forward, and even though the soldiers were fully armed and wearing armor, he was still intimidating. “What does Arzun want with this man?” One soldier scoffed, “We're acting on General Alexander's orders, not Lord Arzun's.” This time Axel spoke up, “Wait, General Alexander?” “That's right, with the death of Scientist, Arzun appointed Alexander the new general, and we serve him. Now sir, please come with us.” Axel whistled loudly as Marcus moved between Rhade and the soldiers. Axel then whispered, “Rhade, do you know how to fight?” Rhade nodded, and fingered the sword on his belt. “Good, because we're outnumbered and it will take a while for our reinforcements to get here. Go!” Axel drew his swords and jumped around Marcus's side, kicking at the nearest soldier's legs. Rhade and Marcus drew their own weapons and followed him. Marcus advanced slowly, and motioned to Rhade, “Try not to kill them, just take them prisoner for now.” At this point Axel was drawing most of the soldier's attention, and Marcus took advantage of that. He charged the closest soldier, who wasn't paying attention, clearly not having expected a fight when they took this man in. First, Marcus hit him with the hilt of his sword in the back of his head and, even with a helmet, the soldier was nearly knocked unconscious right then. He then pried the sword from the soldiers hands and flipped him with one swift kick from the right and one harsh punch from the left. Rhade had also engaged one of the soldiers, though his battle wasn't quite as easy. After losing the element of surprise, Rhade had been forced on the defensive as the soldier attacked. The soldier pressed forward continually, so eventually Rhade took advantage of this and leapt to the side, extending a foot and pushing the soldier from behind, causing him to fall. He then stepped on the soldier's sword and hit his bare head with the broad side of the sword, as the helmet had fallen off when he tripped. Axel took a less forward approach to fighting the two soldiers focused on him. He practiced the lost dervish fighting style wielding two long daggers, which most enemies did not know how to deal with. Every time one of the soldiers would try to attack, Axel set upon them with a flurry of jabs and kicks, forcing them back and wearing them down. As one of the soldiers advanced again, Axel knocked his sword to the side with one sword, kicked him in the chest, knocked his sword back again then swiped at the top of the sword from the right and the bottom from the left, knocking the sword out of the soldier's hands. He whirled and brought one dagger to the disarmed soldier's throat, leaving the other extended towards the last remaining soldier. It was at about this time that the first four men who had left the house met back up, and Axel sent them, along with Marcus, to take their new prisoners back to see what other information they could get out of them. After that they had crept around in the shadows, avoiding various patrols and listening in on all the information they could pick up. Apparently the fight had cost them too much time, and the execution was over, though it was Senturu who was dead, with Paladin, the rebel leader, having escaped. And that had brought them to where the were now, crouched and waiting for the newest patrol to pass. However, as the four people rounded the corner it became very apparent that they weren't soldiers. It was three women and a man running somewhere very quickly. “Those are Amazon...what are they doing here?” Rhade glanced at Axel, “How can you tell?” “Their hair, the way they move...what's going on?” Rhade looked back at the women, then at the man. “Wait...I know him. I can remember him now...I think...” Axel examined Rhade's face closely, “What is it?” Rhade looked back at Axel, “He looks like my brother....” | ||||
Chapter 9: Reunion Rhade had been trekking across the tundra for only a few hours when a harsh wind began to blow. Immediately, snow began to whip around his body, and his movement was slowed a great deal. The blizzard slowly worsened, numbing Rhade's small body, and forced him to begin to look for shelter. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near any settlement and caves were few and far between. As he trudged along, it got harder and harder to see. Soon he stopped moving and tried to simply stand still in the onslaught, but found even that hard to do. Once he could stand it no longer Rhade slowly sank to the ground, too numb to feel, too numb to think. When he woke up he could still hear the sound of the blizzard, but it was greatly muffled. As his vision started to clear he could make out a small fire, and sluggishly came to realize that he was in a cave. Even slower to come was the fact that his hands were bound, and somewhere near him a man, much in a position like his, was snoring. Rhade began to call out, afraid, “Hey, Hey! What's going on!” The man next to him jerked awake and immediately began trying to get him to be quiet, but it was too late. From around the fire a couple of shapes rose up, gesturing back towards Rhade and mumbling something. One man stepped forward and addressed the boy. “Well well well, looks like the boy's awake! Now maybe you could tell us why you were out in the middle of the tundra during a blizzard?” Rhade struggled with the ropes, “Yeah, maybe; if you let me out!” The second man, who had been standing back, now approached and slapped Rhade across the face, knocking him over. He then bent close to the boy. “Son, you're lucky to be alive. If our horses hadn't tripped over you, you'd be lying out there in the snow right now, dead. So, howbout you start cooperating, or maybe we throw you back out there?” Rhade thought about the men, and his stinging cheek, and backed down. “I'm Rhade, son of King Larem, and I'm on my initiation into the Clan. Now let me go!” One man chuckled, “I can't believe our luck, not only do we have the King's son in our possession, but you're headed to the Temple....and that means you can get us in.” Rhade started to ask what he was talking about, but this time the man punched him, knocking him out cold. When Rhade came to the next time, the situation was much like the first time. The men were still gathered around the fire, but this time his fellow prisoner was waiting for him. He whispered, “If you'll keep your mouth shut this time, we need to talk.” The man was much older than Rhade had originally guessed, and as his eyes adjusted he could tell that much of his hair was grey. “Boy, these men are dangerous, and you'd do best to just do what they say without any questions asked, at least until the right time. They're not from our country.” “You mean they come from Arzun's nation?” Rhade cocked his head to the side, “But my father said that Arzun was a good ally, why would he send men here?” The man shook his head, “Not from Arzun's kingdom, or from Alyra in the south. They've come from the east, across the Great Ocean. Apparently there is a large kingdom out there, somewhere, which is far more advanced than ours.” Rhade scoffed, “That's impossible, no ship could travel the Ocean. Any that have ever been sent out never returned.” The man nodded, “Aye, any that we ever sent out. But I was there when this ship arrived, and it is far greater than any we have ever produced.” “Just where are you from, exactly?” The man leaned his head back against the cavern wall, “I am one of Arzun's advisors, and in exchange for some substance from these people, he has been cooperating with them. He wouldn't tell us anything further about them or the liquid, and his only other requirement was that I accompany them wherever we go. Now, however, they've made me into a prisoner.” Rhade's jaw twitched, “So Arzun has betrayed my father.” The man shook his head, “I don't think so. These men don't seek to harm any of our kingdoms, they're only searching for something. A regiment of them went into the west, as well.” “A regiment? There's only two men here.” “Ah, yes, that.” The man motioned towards the fire, “These men were out in the lead with me when the blizzard came up, I saw the rest of the group turn and head for shelter, but I failed to mention it, until it was too late. I figured if there were only two watching me, then I've got a lot better chance of escaping.” “Escaping, huh?” Rhade and the old man had been talking so intently that they hadn't noticed one of the men coming to check on them. “Well, alright, we'll give you a sporting chance. We'll untie you, and then if you can get out of the cave before we kill you, you're free to go.” He cut the old man's bonds with one quick swipe of his knife, then stepped back. The man at the fire was watching the scene, and laughing the whole time. “Alright, here's your chance, escape.” Cautiously, the man got to his feet, but immediately as he did, he was shoved to the ground. Quickly the man kicked him in the chest, then backed off again. “Come on, go for it.” The old man, his breathing shallow, began to crawl towards the entrance. This time the first man let him get by, and as soon as he had passed him, the man struggled to his feet again. As soon as he was up, the old man took off running, and just after he had passed the fire, where the other man was sitting, he fell again. Even from where he was sitting, Rhade could see the glint of silver sticking out of his back, and realized that the man by the fire had hit him with a knife. Chuckling, the man near Rhade turned to him again. “So, you still want to escape, boy? What do you think, Joris, should we give this one a chance, too?” Only silence met his question. “Joris?” The man returned to the fire to find his friend lying face down, bleeding at the back of his head. Immediately he drew his sword and began to approach the entrance of the cave. At that point a man crept out of the shadow near Rhade, and began to cut the ropes holding him. He handed him his sword and bow, which his captors had taken from him, then stood and approached the fire. “Hey.” Immediately the man at the entrance of the cave twirled, sword outstretched, and charged. The man who had set Rhade free waited until he was nearly upon him, then dove to the ground and stretched himself out. His assailant tripped and flew through the air, landing hard. He recovered quickly, however and attacked again. Again, the stranger was waiting and parried his attack, knocking the sword aside and kicking his legs out from under him. Unfortunately for the attacker, this time his momentum carried him straight into the fire. As the man rolled out of the fire and writhed in pain on the ground, the stranger sheathed his sword and picked up a piece of firewood. He stood over the man and hit him with the log, knocking him out. “So, how's life been treating you, little brother?” Rhade, up until this point, had simply stood quietly at the back of the cave. “Carth? Is that you?” Carth turned with a crooked grin on his face. “Yes it is.” “Where have you been? It's been forever!” Carth nodded and wrapped his brother in a hug, “Yeah, it's been five years or so. Last time I saw you I was your age, when I left for this same initiation you're on. Since then I've started working with Paladin, I couldn't come back after I failed the tests, and I didn't want to have to depend on my name to live, so I've just been serving Paladin as a common soldier. I asked around back at the castle and figured out that they'd sent you out here, so I decided to come check on you because of the blizzard. Luckily I'd been tracking these men for a while before they found you. “I'm sorry we don't have more time to catch up, but if I heard these men talking right and they really are headed for the temple, you have to warn the priests there. The blizzard's been letting up for a while, so take one of these horses and ride there as quickly as you can. I'll stay here and take care of these two.” Rhade nodded, gave his brother one last hug, then gathered his things and mounted a horse, then rode out into the snow. Rhade nodded at Axel, “Yeah, that was definitely Carth.” Axel nodded, “Alright, if that's the case we should follow them.” Rhade and Axel prepared to leave their hiding spot and follow, but before they could they heard another group of soldiers come running down the alley. Their shouts had drawn the attention of the amazons, as well, and they took up positions down the road, bows drawn. “I've worked with the amazon before, and they are fierce fighters. They probably won't need our help but it wouldn't hurt.” Axel drew his sword and pressed himself against the wall, waiting. Rhade followed suit, but was more than a little shaken when over twenty soldiers rounded the corner, about half with bows. “There's too many of them! There's no way we can win, even with the Amazon.” Axel chuckled quietly, and whispered, “You've obviously never fought alongside them.” Shortly after the group had passed Rhade and Axel, the amazon began firing. Three soldiers fell in the first barrage, and two were hit in the second, before they could begin to find cover. One archer was hit, and the group split and took cover on both sides of the road. Axel motioned that he would take the five archers on the left side, and Rhade could take the four on the right. Seeing as they could sneak up from behind, Rhade figured it would be easy enough. Slowly, the soldiers advanced, darting across the street using makeshift shields. Another soldier had already fallen, but they were drawing dangerously close to the women and Carth, who was still unarmed. When Rhade and Axel had crept within a few feet of their respective targets, Axel let out a shout and leapt into the air. As he came down he threw his two daggers at two of the archers, and impaled both through the back. Upon landing he drew the daggers back out of their bodies and rolled towards the other three, slashing up through one of their stomachs. He kicked swiftly at another one's knees, knocking him to the ground, then twirled and slit the throat of the one remaining standing. Quickly he took the other's bow and hit him with the hilt of a dagger. Rhade also attacked when Axel's yell pierced the air. He swung in a wide arc at the first archer, burying the sword deep in his side, then kicked him forward and jumped into the middle of the others. Rhade brought his left elbow up into one's face, then stabbed forward through the chest of another. Just as he was about to turn, the last archer stabbed an arrow through the fleshy part of his arm. Rhade punched him, then twirled his sword and slid it into the man's stomach. He quickly turned and hit the last archer on the side of his head with the broad side of the sword. Only one more soldier had been hit before they reached the amazon, and now Carth was tussling with one on the ground while the other two fought the three women. The soldier rolled Carth onto his back and struck his jaw, then drew a knife and brought it down. Carth rolled quickly and narrowly missed being stabbed. With Carth back on top he pinned the hand holding the knife to the ground, and ripped the soldier's helmet off. Carth punched his nose forcefully, and a dazzling array of blood sprayed forth. Carth rolled off, stood up and kicked the man across the jaw, knocking him unconscious. By this time the amazon had defeated their soldiers, as well, one laying bloody on the ground, and the other with a knife sticking out of his neck. Rhade and Axel slowly approached the amazon, whose bows were raised, until one laughed and lowered her weapon. “Axel! It's been a while hasn't it.” Axel chuckled and shook his head. “This is one of the last places I'd expected to see you, Desiree.” “One of our prophets had a little vision about this man, so we got orders to come and save him. Who's your cute friend? I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting him before.” Axel gestured towards Rhade, “Yeah, pulled this one out of a little situation in the castle, his name's Caesar.” Carth shook his head, “No, it's not.” Axel looked at Carth, “What?” “You're Rhade, aren't you?” Carth glanced at Desiree, “My apparently no-so-dead brother.” Rhade grinned at Carth, “Apparently.” | ||||
Chapter 10: Earth Damien nodded off at Jacob and walked out of the house, still running on adrenaline from the earlier would-be execution. From the looks of what happened on the platform what they had done wouldn't have really mattered either way, but they had at least done something. Now he was on his way to the house of some Axel fellow, who apparently was heavy into anything anti-Arzun. As he turned onto the street of the address he was given, he noticed a small group of heavily armed soldiers leaving one of the houses. They passed him and moved off quickly down the street. As Damien was about to pass the house they'd exited, however, he realized it was the same one he had been sent to. Tentatively, he pushed the door open, as it had been left ajar. Immediately upon seeing the carnage within, Damien threw up. Without another glance he took off running back towards his house. He arrived just in time to see the same group of soldiers knocking on his door. Jacob pulled the door open apprehensively, and stood speechless in front of the group. The one in front pulled off his helmet, revealing a scarred face and short, red hair. “Hello,” the soldier said with a dark smirk, “Are you Damien, by chance?” Jacob hesitated, then spoke, “Uh, no, he left a few minutes ago, I'm Jacob.” The soldier shouldered past him and into the house, looking around, “So, any idea when he'll be back?” The rest of the soldiers pushed their way in as well, forcing Jacob back into the room, then closed the door. Jacob looked back and forth between all the soldiers, then shook his head. The red haired soldier shrugged, “That's fine, that's fine. Any idea where he was going?” Jacob hesitated again, then shook his head and spoke, “No...” The soldier chuckled and shook his head, then nodded at one of the others. The second soldier immediately grabbed Jacob's arm, twisted it around behind his back and slammed him onto a table. He cried out in pain as his face was ground into the wood. “I don't know! I swear!” The red-haired soldier shrugged and nodded again at the soldier holding Jacob, who deftly twisted his arm up, resulting in multiple loud cracks. Jacob was screaming now, and the soldier holding him put a hand over his mouth to muffle it. The first soldier kneeled, and brought his face inches from Jacob's, “Know where he went now?” Jacob nodded through his sobs, then explained that some large man had given them directions to this Axel's house. Immediately two of the soldiers took off running, passing the small alley Damien had squeezed into. After they were gone he moved back to the window of his house. He arrived just in time to see the red-haired soldier pulling a dagger out of his belt, and Damien's eyes grew wide. Jacob was too out of it to know what was going on. “Thank you, sir, you've been much help.” As he finished the soldier drove the dagger down through Jacob's back, causing Damien to cry out. The four soldiers left in his house turned, and all but the one with his helmet off started out the door. He only stood and yelled after them, “Remember, alive!” When they took the blindfold off of him, it took a little while for Damien to get his bearings. Once he did, however, he quickly realized that he was in the throne room, bound to a chair. There were no guards in the room, so he tried over and over again to rip free of the ropes holding him. He could not, however, break them, so was about to try and break the chair by tipping it into the wall or some such when the door swung open. King Arzun walked in first, followed by two of his personal guards, the other two having been stationed just outside the door. Arzun had almost seated himself on his throne before he noticed that Damien had woken up. “Ah, so you're finally conscious again. I hear I have you to thank, at least in part, for our little execution going awry, yes?” When Damien refused to answer, Arzun approached him, drew his sword, then struck him with the flat side across his face. Blood trickled from where the tip of the blade had dug into his cheek nonetheless. “Still nothing to say? Alright, I guess we're done here.” As Arzun raised his sword to decapitate Damien, Alexander burst through the doors. In his hand he was clutching several gemstones, and his face showed his rage. “Stop this, Arzun! If you want the trust of your people, let him go!” Arzun shook his head, “I grant you the position of general, and this is how you repay me? He has spread his propaganda, now he must pay the consequences.” “This man spread nothing but the truth, your whole execution was a charade, do not execute him for protesting that!” Arzun approached Alexander, and sheathed his sword. “This man will die. Whether or not you keep your position is the only point in question here. With that he nodded to one of his guards, who walked up to Damien and drew his sword. As he raised it Alexander threw a small yellow gemstone at him, and on impact it crumbled, freezing the soldier in place. The other guard in the room ran at Alexander, who flung a ruby at him, igniting his armor. The man dropped his weapon and ran from the room screaming, bringing the two guards from the door inside. A blue emerald in Alex's hand shone momentarily before mages began appearing in the room at random. They quickly subdued the two guards, released Damien, and at Alexander's bidding went to stand outside the throne room. Arzun stood calmly, watching Alexander, “Boy, I want you to consider your next moves carefully.” Alexander simply shook his head, then motioned for Damien to get away from the king as he held three large rubies between his fingers. “I don't believe that you're in a position to be giving orders anymore. For too long your tyranny has plagued this kingdom. The rebellion may have failed, but if you're dead the kingdom can move on.” Arzun's eyes grew slightly wider and then narrowed fiercely, “Careful now...” “Goodbye Arzun.” Damien jumped behind a table as Alexander reared back with the three gemstones, and as he released them Arzun stood with a smirk on his face. As they hit the king they caused large explosions, blowing out the stained glass windows of the throne room and knocking Alexander onto his back. He got slowly to his feet, then approached Damien to make sure he was alright. The smoke had begun to settle, and Alex could just make out the figure of a man, still standing, with his head down. “That's impossible...” It looked as if Arzun were covered in ash; his skin had become completely grey. As the rest of the smoke settled, however, it became apparent that it was not, in fact, ash. Arzun had turned to stone. Alexander started to approach him to investigate, but as he did the stone disappeared with a faint groaning sound and Arzun was back in the flesh. Alex's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he quickly began to back away from the king, unable to speak. “When I told you to consider your next moves, I wasn't asking for my life.” Arzun looked up at Alex, “I was offering you yours. You're not the first who's attempted to assassinate me, and you won't be the last, but none will succeed. I can do things you've only dreamed of, thanks to a man from a kingdom across the east sea. I've been to his kingdom, once, a grand place, far more advanced than we, and his people are but slaves to the ruling class. Too bad you won't ever make it there.” Alexander started to turn and try to run, but found that it was rather hard. As Arzun had been talking, his boots had begun to turn to stone, and it was about halfway complete. Immediately Alex bent over and started trying to pull them off, but it was no use. His feet had begun to change as well. “That man granted me this ability on the condition that I keep this continent in check. If I fail in my duties he will either replace me or destroy this entire land. So, you see, everything I've done up to now has been for the preservation of everyone, everything we have here. I did all of this for the greater good.” By now the stone had worked it's way up Alexander's legs, and he could no longer even drag his feet. Damien watched the whole thing in horror, unable to really do anything. “We'd all be dead if it weren't for me, do you understand that? I am the only man keeping this kingdom alive! With these powers you can't stop me, I can't die. I can rule this kingdom for eternity...” Now the stone was creeping over Alex's chest, and he found it hard to breathe, beginning to feel dizzy as the edges of his vision started to blur. “You will join my other trophies in the royal courtyard. It will be simple enough to explain that I had one of our masons craft you before you turned against us. I had high hopes for you, Alexander, but you crushed them. Goodbye.” Just before Arzun finished speaking, the tips of Alexander's hair had turned to stone, leaving Damien and Arzun alone in the room. When the king turned his attention on the lone man, Damien knew he had to act quickly. Immediately, he charged at Arzun head on, then darted to the right and leapt out of the window, landing hard on a balcony below. He quickly got to his feet, ignoring the pain, and jumped onto a tree, sliding down it to the ground, where he took off running as fast as he could. There were no soldiers blocking his path as they had all gone into the castle to investigate the sounds and explosion coming from the throne room, where they had found and subdued the mages. Damien left the castle and began running for the gates of the city without looking back. | ||||
Chapter 11: Escape It was beginning to get dark as the group made their way down the street back towards Axel's house. Carth and Rhade had been catching up, about as much catching up as Rhade could do anyway, with his memories still returning. The three amazons hung back and kept to themselves, not really talking at all. Axel walked by himself. Why did it have to be her? Axel thought to himself as he walked. The last time they'd worked together she'd nearly killed him. True, he had deserved it at that time, but he still didn't like the idea of dying. As they approached his home he was drawn out of his thoughts. All he knew was that something was wrong or out of place, but it took him a while to realize that it was because the door was ajar. Voices were coming from within, so Axel hushed Carth and Rhade and approached the door slowly. Upon peeking in, Axel saw Marcus seated in the middle of the room, amidst the blood and bodies of their friends. Standing around him were two soldiers, apparently interrogating him. “So, let's just make this easy for everyone. Where's Axel?” Marcus shook his head, “I have no idea who you're talking about. I already told you!” The two guards looked at each other and laughed, then one knelt by him and whispered something into Marcus's ear. Axel couldn't make out what it was, but it made Marcus's face go white. Axel turned and nodded to Desiree, who pulled back an arrow she already had notched in the bow she was holding and let it fly into the first soldier's back. He dropped to the floor, and another arrow quickly followed, though the second soldier dodged it with ease, drawing his sword. Axel slammed the door open and ran in, rolling on the ground and jabbing up at the soldier. His opponent easily dodged, however, and brought the sword down with a speed Axel hadn't seen before, nearly knocking his dagger out of his hand. Axel stood and leapt back only to be attacked by the soldier again. When he brought his daggers up to defend, one was swiftly knocked aside and followed by a jab at his heart. Only instinct saved his life. He brought the other dagger over and pushed the sword to the side, though his shoulder still took a deep gash. Still recovering his balance, Axel wasn't ready when the soldier punched him in the nose and knocked one of his daggers to the ground with the sword. The soldier then kicked Axel in the chest and knocked him back into a wall. He started to move forward, but was caught by a rather large hand around his neck. Marcus had wrapped his left hand around the soldier's throat, and brought his right elbow down on the man's head to end the fight. The soldier slumped to the floor and Marcus went to Axel, whose shoulder and nose were bleeding. “Those bastards killed all these guys, and they're faster than anybody I've fought before. They overwhelmed me and tried to get some information.” Axel nodded, rubbing his nose, “I know what you're talking about with the speed, but if they know where we are they'll send more. We've got to get out of the city.” A few minutes later, after an amazon had bandaged Axel's shoulder, they were on their way. It was dusk by this time, which made moving through the streets easier, but they were still careful. Eventually they arrived at the gate, keeping to the shadows to look it over. There were five men guarding it, one over the usual four, but after the events of today it made sense that they'd step up security. Axel turned back to the amazon. “Alright, the four of us will go in, and you three hang back and shoot for us. We'll let you get a couple of volleys in before we charge them, and hopefully you'll have taken down a few. Now as soon as we--” Footsteps, fast ones. The group looked down the street and saw a panicked looking man running for the gate. Carth spoke, “That's the Damien guy, the one from my execution. Rough guess, he's probably trying to get out of the city too.” Axel looked between Carth and the man running down the street, then nodded to the Amazon, “Alright, shoot! Let's go!” The three women armed their bows and began firing on the guards while they were distracted with Damien. Two of them were hit fatally while a third took an arrow to the thigh and one in the shoulder, which pretty much put him out of commission. The four men charged in and attacked, taking the two men before they had time to react. The first soldier was taken down easily, but the second proved to be more of a worthy opponent. He was able to parry and counter every attack any of the four men set upon him, and soon they realized that he moved like the two they had just fought. He dodged a barrage of arrows sent by the amazon and still managed to leave multiple cuts over the men attacking him. Without thinking much, Damien picked up the sword of a fallen soldier and joined the circle of men attacking the soldier. He was soon followed by the three amazon with their daggers. The soldier began to chuckle as he saw the eight people in front of him, swords extended and ready to fight, and took off his helmet. Damien immediately recognized him as the redheaded soldier who had killed Jacob, and his anger flared, but before he could move the soldier spoke. “I can realize when I'm beaten, so go ahead and escape the city, I won't stand in your way.” All Damien could think of, however, was Jacob and what the soldier had done, so he moved forward to attack again anyway. The soldier moved first, though, and with his strange speed moved off through the city, away from the group. Axel shook his head, “Alright, if he's gone to get more soldiers like himself and they come back, we're dead. Let's go.” | ||||
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