The next day has arrived. I am afraid to leave the safety of the castle, but my duty compels me to leave my comfort zone. Casthus gathered four extra hands and headed northeast toward the wooden house for the supplies. I stand in the bailey, fastening a spear to my backpack and a short sword while Cassiun and his goons also fasten their spears. Andreus, the shortest shivers. He’s nervous, a depressing contrast between Cassiun and Dharron’s calm demeanor.
From our experiences, I would say they could kill me when we leave the fortress, but I’m not fearful. I surpass them in both Magicae Tactus and Gladius Elementum. The only real threat in this group is Cassiun, but let’s not get ahead of myself, that’s how you get caught by surprise.
I stare at all three of them. The only one who averts their gaze is Andreus. I let my expression remain stoic, “Are we ready?”
They look at each other before replying, “Yes, dux.” How formal.
We exit. I left Inrissa in charge, she’s the only daemon in that fortress I trust.
I head Northwest without a word to my group and they follow. The land is a sea of endless grass with clumps of trees sparsely dotting the landscape. It is the peak of morning but the sky is stuck in the color of a dawn. We trek for at least an hour finding double towers overlooking woodlands. I look at my group. We hadn’t spoken for the entire hour we walked. “Sabers at the ready,” I tell them as I head toward a stone jutting from the ground. They rest their hands on the hilt of their machaeras.
My sights are now on the towers. I’ve found it, but where do I go from here? I crouch behind the stone and stare at the fortress towers that resemble ours. I sigh, trying to find the last fortress of the third academy could take hours, maybe even days, it's not a worthy endeavor. Maybe their fortress has been isolated? I rub my chin.
We should deal with this group and move on to the last fortress, It seems logical. I should observe this tower. Look at their routin– I hear someone's foot crunch the grass and am snapped out of my thoughts. My right hand grips the wooden weapon at my waist tightly. “Is everything alright?” Cassiun asks, concern evident in his tone. I turn a little to look at him, and I loosen the grip on my weapon. “Just thinking,” I say reassuring him.
The fortress is my main focus once again. “Stick with me,” I command, rising, and making my way to the woodlands.
This sea of trees is dense. We make our way through thick and thorny bushes. Through the tree's leaves, I can intermittently see the peak of the fortress's towers in all its majesty. As I fix my gaze ahead, in the distance, I see the furry tail of a Kobold, a creature with brown skin that resembles a dog-sized cat, and wields horns on its head. It drinks water. I unstrap my spear and aim as if I were throwing a javelin. I feel I can make this shot. I hold my breath before flinging my arm so hard it feels like it will fall out of the socket. The spear grazes the Kobold’s back slicing it open but not killing it. The creature let out a bloodcurdling screech before biting at its back and searching for who threw the spear. It locks eyes with us—with me, and lets out a screech once more, and it is terrifying; the screech resembles that of a bobcat or a mountain lion. I want to run, but I would look bad in front of my acquaintances. I reluctantly take the short sword from my pack and my team takes out their spears. My heart thunders in my chest.
It moves fast; like lightning with legs. The kobold charges through the forest while growling and screeching as it dodges trees to close the distance. I can see its size properly now. It is bigger than a dog, with a sharp face and teeth that look too big to fit in its mouth. Every instinct in me says to run. Fuck! Why the fuck did I strike at it for?!
“Zageth, that thing is gonna kill us!” Dharron shouts.
Before I can even respond, Cassiun and Andreus take off at a sprint. Our odds have just lowered, so I take off as well. The creature’s claws rake the ground before running almost parallel beside us, thank goodness for the trees. Its growls are stopped abruptly as it hits a thorny bush. I look back expecting to see the thing limp away but the bastard hops the bush and barrels toward us with renewed vigor.
We push as hard as our trained legs can carry us. I’ve never felt terror like this, it is humbling. We hop tree branches and doge trunks and make birds fly away at our noise.
“Oh hell!” Cassiun screams as he almost lays flat after tripping on a tree branch.
I want to scream at them to stand and fight, but the growls and screeches of the Kobold make my feet move instead, and in the chaos and fear, we do not see it coming until too late. We drop off a somewhat short ledge of forest floor into a murky swamp. My entire body is submerged, and fear takes over as I think I am drowning, but luckily my foot touches the swap floor. Sweet relief floods me even though I barely stand, but it quickly leaves as my head is showered with swamp water from Andreuses flailing. He is drowning.
Dharron quickly wades through the water toward Andreus as he struggles to stay afloat. He reaches him and holds him up, before being showered in thanks.
I don’t realize I am still holding my short sword. I pant intensely, and my thundering heart does not help. I sigh, seeing as Andreus is safe now, I focus on our biggest problem. The Kobold stands on the edge of the forest ledge growling at us. It is an ugly creature. It laps its tongue as its eyes search for a way to get its meal. Every move we make is met with a snap and a deep growl. What a predicament we’ve got ourselves in.
“Psst,” I call to Cassiun as he eyes the creature with his spear in hand. He looks at me with intense fear, his dark hair is filled with weeds and stuck to his head, and some vine is hung on his horn. “We’ve got to kill this thing,” I say, voice no higher than a whisper.
“No shit,” he retorts. I would roll my eyes but I need him now. I am silent as I begin to think.
I have no idea how strong this thing is so our best bet is to get the bastard into the water and kill it where it is less mobile. How do I get it in the water? I look around and see a flat edge on the opposite side of the swamp and make my way there. The creature growls, snaps, and moves slowly toward the swamp's edge where I head.
Take the bate you son of a bitch.
As I get closer to the edge I can walk upright so I splash and make as much noise with the water as I can, and sure enough he bites.
“What are you doing?!” Dharron screams in protest. The creature roars at his screaming
I shut off my mind now, it's just me and the beast charging toward me. I let it get a little close before jumping backward into the deep swamp. The Kobold leaps after me, farther than I thought it could jump and its claw scratches my chest. I hit the water and the weight of the Kobold carries me deeper, I shank the beast with all the might I can muster while being underneath the water, and soon the light that breaks through the water's surface is clouded by blood. The beast swims away from me and I scramble beneath the water with nothing on my mind but getting air. I break the water surface and am met with my team taking the initiative. They harry the kobold with their spears as it struggles to exit the swamp, Dharron stabs it in the neck, Cassiun in the stomach, and Andreus in its shoulder.
I hold my chest where the creature's claws mark my skin, and am overwhelmed with a wave of intense anger. I jump through the water like a madman before descending upon the kobold with all my wrath. I dig my short sword into its back, and its head, and I gut the beast spilling its insides into the swap. Only when it stops moving do I feel satisfied.
The feeling is wonderful, I wish it could stay forever and numb the pain but it soon quickly leaves me, and I clutch my chest as if that could help with the fire that I feel from the scar. I breathe in and out, I want to scream, but I would rather die than look weak in front of these mongrels. I take one last deep breath and stand straight.
“Let’s set up camp,” I command making my way out of the swamp clutching my chest.
<<
We sit underneath a small cave beneath a massive tree covered in moss and tiny glowing circles that dot the cave roof. It is midday, so the outside is brighter now. I haven’t moved from this camp, the wound I received from that creature has been cleaned and bandaged, but it sends pangs of fire through my body, but I do not howl in pain. I rest on my backpack and stare at the cave roof.
Cassiun, Dharron, and Andreus sit around food supplies. I search their faces as they sit around the supplies from their backpacks eating in silence, but I know what they all must be thinking. Let’s wait till he falls asleep and then kill him. They probably think about it, so I dare not close my eyes to sleep. I eat my rations and bear the pain. Still, I can’t sit here forever.
My eyes feel heavy, and the thought of drinking a hazelnut cappuccino crosses my mind for some reason. Even the smell of pepperoni pizza reaches my nose somehow too. I sigh, relishing the feeling. I sit on the sand with the Santa Monica pier towering next to me. What is this? I can feel the heat of the sun on my skin, and I can smell the sea. I missed this…oh no!
I wake. Sweat drenches my entire body, and my heart beats frantically. The pain of the claw mark returns and I look around to see that Andreus, Dharron, and Cassiun are nowhere to be found. Their supplies and backpacks are gone too. I look behind me to see that my backpack, short sword, and machaera remain, thankfully. “FUCK!!” I scream so loud that my voice reverberates intensely in the cave. I didn’t even realize I fell asleep.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Stumbling, I sling my backpack over my shoulder and leave the cave, but a surprising view stops me from going further. All three mongrels are walking toward me, they stop as they realize I am upright. Andreus looks nervously at Dharron and Cassiun. Then Cassiun speaks, “Seems too early for an injured demon like you to be walking around,” he says with a smirk.
I am silent. My breathing begins to slow, and I exhale in relief but do not show it, and somehow Cassiun sees through it.
“You thought we left, didn’t you?” He smiles slowly. “I might be a lot of things to you, and the others back at the castle, but I'm not a traitor, Zageth,” he says reassuring me.
A smile curves on the edge of Dharron’s mouth as he nods at Cassiun.
I flash a smile. I am thankful for his reassurance, but he will be kept at a fair distance until I'm back at the fortress with my army.
<<
It is night, and we hide close to the forest edge in the branches of the trees where flat land separates the forest from the Fortress. A dirt road leads through the forest to the doors of the castle. Like our fortress, they keep guards on the walls, a total of five sentries. Too bad we can’t kill, I would’ve sniped them. Andreus munches on dry beef while we scan the surrounding area. I don’t know how we’re supposed to get in this place. Scaling the walls seems out of the question, not only because they will see us, but because we don’t have anything to scale it with.
I rub my temple and clutch my chest where the shallow wound of the Claw mark still pains me. Suddenly, the forest is silent. I’m not the only one who realizes this. We hear it now, the cause of the silence. Many voices begin to break it, and we sink further into the shadow of the tree’s leaves watching and waiting. They emerge onto the flatland that separates the fortress from the forest and walk along the dirt road that leads to their home. I can see the academy patches on their tunics now, it has the symbol of the Sersia Academy, a circle with thorns erupting from parts of the radius and scythes that erupt from parts of the circle and connect in the center. The bastards also carry a prize; Casthus is bound in rope.
“Is that Casthus?” Dharron asks in surprise. “How did he let those bastards capture him?” Cassiun asks staring at the group intensely. Great question. Casthus is a good fighter, so he must’ve let himself be captured.
Cassiun crawls close to me, “ Let’s get out of here, Zageth. We know where their fortress is we can come back with a bigger force and take it,” he advises. He speaks the truth, but Casthus is a valuable asset.”
“No,” I retort.
Cassiun looked at his friends, and then at me as if I was mad. “Zageth, we can't get into this fortress, and you're bloody injured.”
I ignore him now and stare at the fortress wall. In the distance at the fortress gates, I hear one of them shout, “Open up, we’ve got a present for you all!” The female voice shouts. I recognize the girl who shouts. She is the tall one who caught my attention.
The guards on the wall peek over to look at this prize as the gates open. When the troop of Sersia demons enters the guards leave their post to get a better look. My gaze is back on the walls, and my mind is racing with ideas. The stones that make up the fortress walls jut out and have spaces between them—perfect for climbing.
I half-rise, excited now, and I point at the fortress walls. “We can climb the walls, and get inside,” I tell them.
Cassiun shakes his head, “We’ll never make it.”
“Time is being wasted and that is the only way we get inside,” I say, jumping down from the tree. “You can hide from the danger like a seekora or charge toward it like a kobold.”
“The Kobold is dead Zageth,” Cassiun warns.
True, but I still run toward the Fortress walls. Maybe I put too much trust in my skills, but it's too late now, I’m on a roll. I reach the fortress walls without any resistance, and before I can properly turn around, Cassiun, Dharron, and Andreus slam into the wall beside me.
“Glad you three could make it. Start climbing, and move as fast as you can,” I say, holding onto the stone, and climbing. I take a deep breath as the pain from the wound on my chest feels tight and painful. I stick my foot in spaces between the bricks and pull myself farther up the castle walls. I hear Dharron stifle a scream. I look down to see that he hangs on by one hand. We have to be at least twenty feet up the wall. If he falls, he dies or breaks something. He finds his grip again and takes a deep breath before continuing. I continue as well, but the backpacks make this harder than it should be.
Smaller Andreus now passes me up the wall, climbing it like a monkey, before I see him disappear behind one of the battlements. He peeks his head out and extends his hand to me. I take it and use his support to hop over a battlement. Next is Cassiun, and then Dharron. Dharron takes a seat, resting against the battlement relieved.
We are exposed on this wall so I signal them to follow me down to the bailey. It seems these Sersia idiots are not disciplined. As we reach the bailey, that familiar female voice screams at the guards to return to their posts. We scurry behind boxes close to a bicorn pen where a stable made for five only holds four. Where is the last one? It is a mount with a body that resembles a horse but with a head like one of those herbivorous dinosaurs. It has two horns that stretch out like a Harley motorcycle.
How the hell, did they get bicorns and not us? The guards make their way up the walls to the battlements. We need speed, so I whisper to Dharron and Cassiun, “Take off your backpacks, we need to move quickly.”
“Andreus, I need you to stay here, we’re gonna need these bicorns,” I tell him. He nods and slumps into a dark corner. As I prepare to infiltrate deeper into the fortress, an idea worms its way into my head. Why stop at Casthus? I can take their prism, and that’ll be one academy down. I sigh, but the stakes are too high. I‘ll settle for getting Casthus.
The hall's lights are snuffed out, and I can hear the guards on the battlements talking about wanting their shift to be over. The bailey of the fortress is pitch dark now, so Dharron, Cassiun, and I move quickly into the keep. I entered with the premise that their keep would resemble ours, but some stuff has been shifted. In place of their rooms is a massive armory, with freaking cannons. I enter the room to see dummy cannon balls pilled into a corner. They are the same type used in training, filled with colored smoke. The game was rigged; we were given the short end of the stick. We were dropped in here to lose the game, which probably started after that display by Cassiun at the institute building.
The loyalty of my classmates has come at a great cost to our ability to defend and offend, but what am I saying? I always play the cards given to me and those bicorns are mine.
We can’t split up, we’re undermanned so Dharron and Cassiun stick tight to me. We make our way through the Fortress lightly. Storerooms and one sleeping room are what we find, but still no cell. Dharron walks ahead, and in the dark hallway we traverse, we see the outlines of a doorway. Dharron puts his ear close to the door before pushing it open. A dim light emerges from the room. He opens the door slowly while peeking around the door with his right hand gripping his machaera.
The door is fully opened now, and a stairwell where the light comes from leads down to somewhere. We now begin to use praecantor hand signals. I take point and signal to draw weapons and move silently. The stairwell is big enough for me and Cassiun to stand side-by-side. Dharron watches our backs as we make our way down the stairs.
You can hear voices. We creep down the stairs until the voices become clear. Hell, this stairwell is deep. “Where is your fortress Nutarth?” A male voice asks Casthus.
“Maybe you should ask your mother, I took her there last night,” Casthus says chuckling. His response was met with a loud twack then a scream from Casthus.
“You repeat anything stupid, and I’m hitting you in the head,” his torturer warns.
If we exit the stairwell how many will be waiting? I signal for Cassiun and Dharron to move fast. We stand in the offensive machaera saber stance. Cassiun and I hold wooden sabers over our heads, and Dharron holds his saber at the waist. It doesn’t matter how many are in the room, we have to hit hard and move. I click my tongue and we dash, taking three steps at a time and quickly closing the distance from the stairwell to the prisoner cell.
Two guards stand on the outside watching Casthus get questioned by two others. They are too slow to notice us. Our boots slam into the floor and they turn a bit too late—Cassiun heads for the one on the left, and I the one on the right. My opponent is quick with the draw to my surprise. She pulls her saber from the waist strap blocking my strike. She meets my offensive attacks twice, but she aims to block my machaera instead of trying to attack me, and using my superior strength, I swat away her attempt at protecting her head before striking her in the jaw with my saber from left to right. A clack resounded as it connected with her face, and she slumped to the floor knocked out. Cassiun finishes his opponent with an overhead strike and a hard slap with the machaera against the guy’s jaw.
Dharron is on the offensive against two opponents, but we quickly rush to support him. The two torturers stop their assault stepping back in the defensive stance. Their faces drop in fear as they recognize who I am. “Please don’t kill us,” one of them begs. He is a handsome demon with pale blue skin, golden eyes, and black horns emerging from both sides of his head.
I look at Casthus, then the handsome demon, and click my tongue. We descend on them with manic fury, but they do not go down without a fight. They parry two of our lunges before getting a hit on Dharron’s wrist. He drops his saber wincing in pain. The torturers leave defense for offense—a big mistake. Cassiun and I block and counter their strikes before slamming our machaeras into their temples and knocking them out.
Casthus looks at us in awe, “You three are mad, they’ll be coming soon, move fast,” he warns. I don’t let his warning fall on deaf ears. I approach his chair and begin to cut away the rope that fastens him to his tortured seat. “What, no thank you?” I say lightning the mood.
“Forgive me,” he says, “and thank you.”
We unstrap him and Cassiun halls him to his feet and says, “Get a saber princess, we’re not safe yet.”
Dharron rubs his wrist and picks back up his machaera. “I’ll take point,” he announces.
We dash up the stairwell and exit the door that leads to the prison. We look to our right to see the light of a glow lamp illuminating a corner. We waste no time. Our group dashes toward the opposite end of the hallway and hides behind a wall listening. A window illuminates us. We stay at our positions in silence before we hear. “TO ARMS! TO ARMS! THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED!” Multiple footsteps clatter about.
“Fuck this,” I hear Cassiun say before he shatters the window while jumping through it. We follow suit. The guards on the wall see us and shout, “Intruders!” before hurling their deadly spears at us. Some land harmlessly beside us, but I turn just in time to swat one away heading for my back.
We dash to the stables where Andreus waits. Our backpacks are already rested on the bicorns. Thank you Andreus. “Open the gate I tell him.” The guards on this part of the wall are already inside the keep so we can move fast enough before those homicidal spear throwers reach us. Andreus lifts the wood that locks the gate before being assisted by Dharron to open the gate doors. Casthus, Cassiun, and I mount the bicorns while Cassiun holds the last bicorn by its reigns leading it to Dharron and Andreus.
Our escape is flawless. In the distance, we hear the same female command, “Shoot them!” Followed by arrows landing harmlessly behind us. The glowing trees pass us in a blur as these creatures move like lightning.
“The Infernal Emperor’s blessings are upon us!” Cassiun shouts.