Worldbuilding: History of Duremar
The Rontak Empire conquered the Kingdom of Duremar roughly 140 years ago. Prior to the Rontak Empire’s raids on Mintauria, Minotaurs and humans lived together peacefully in the region. The King of Duremar had allied himself with a few tribes of minotaurs and put up fierce resistance.
After a few years of skirmishes and minor victories, the Rontak Empire eventually captured enough territory to reach the capital city of Duria. They laid siege to the city for nine months before finally capturing it.
When they captured Duria, they razed most of it to the ground. Later, after they conquered the rest of the Kingdom of Duremar, they made Duria the capital of the Duremar province and renamed it Rontak’s Reach. They rebuilt and expanded the city in their own style, however, some of Duremar’s traditional circular buildings still remain.
One notable building that was left untouched was the temple to Levon, the deity inhabiting the Duremar plains. The Rontak Empire did not dare destroy a deity’s temple for fear of bringing about curses, droughts or famines.
Rontak’s Reach was a major statement of the Empire’s power. It said to all of Kraffnia that their power was so great that it ‘reached’ from east to west across the entire continent. At the time, it was considered the Rontak Empire’s crowning achievement. However, more recent Emperors have had their eyes set on conquering Kraffnia in its entirety, an even more ambitious goal.
Map of Rontak's Reach
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_770ea2bd75d24a2091214e442318e898~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_900,h_623,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Rontak's%20Reach%20(1).jpg]
Model of HV-43 Rhino heavy Infantry Combat Transport
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_305d567cb786486487d2bc9489799559~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_900,h_642,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/51f621_305d567cb786486487d2bc9489799559~mv2.png]
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_d1e4e0af44bb4515ba47cc1b1984ef51~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_900,h_384,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/51f621_d1e4e0af44bb4515ba47cc1b1984ef51~mv2.png]
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_530a6386c1ef4d76b2b93d197647d854~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_900,h_765,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/51f621_530a6386c1ef4d76b2b93d197647d854~mv2.png]
Chapter 13: The Battle of Rontak’s Reach
July 3rd 2053
Duremar Plains, Fort Roanoke, 11:00 PM
Lieutenant General Reed opened the door to the briefing room in the command building. Inside were the high ranking Marine, Army and Air Force officers who would be in charge of carrying out the assault on Rontak’s Reach. They all stood and saluted the Lieutenant General as he walked to the head of the table and began the briefing.
“Alright people, listen up. The President has finally given us the green light to assault Rontak’s Reach. Our primary objective is to recover the hostages abducted by the Rontak Empire. Thanks to our friends in the CIA,” he gestured to Director Delano standing in the corner of the room, “we have detailed knowledge of the city, in addition to our own aerial surveillance. Our first objective will be for our F-41s to destroy the city’s wyvern base, thus neutralizing enemy air power.”
“What about civilian casualties?” Asked an Air Force major.
Director Delano stepped forward and said, “According to my agents, civilians keep a wide berth around the wyvern base, and they don’t allow slaves inside. Apparently, those animals can be pretty unruly and have quite a smell. There shouldn’t be many people in the vicinity.”
“However, to limit civilian casualties and collateral damage, further air support will be limited to drones only; no airstrikes,” Lieutenant General Reed said before continuing to explain the next phase of the operation.
“We will divert the enemy to the outer wall by setting up our vehicles in a perimeter around the city. Once we neutralize the enemy at the wall, drones will drop droids directly onto the city’s main keep and secure it. Without their centralized command structure, the defenders will be disorganized and offer less resistance.”
“Meanwhile, we’ll also deploy droids to secure the main slave barracks, where hundreds of the hostages are being held,” Lieutenant General Reed said. “It's their job to keep the hostages safe until our main forces can get there and extract them. However, the rest of the hostages are scattered throughout the city. It will be up to our main assault forces to locate and secure them.”
Lieutenant General Reed pulled up an aerial map of the city on the main screen and highlighted the city’s main gates. “We will begin our assault with a simultaneous breach through each of the city’s six gates. Most of the main roads are wide enough for our vehicles, but the smaller roads and alleyways will only be accessible to infantry. Rhinos will disperse throughout the city and deploy squads of marines and droids to search for the hostages.”
“How are the marines supposed to find the hostages in all this chaos?” Asked an Army colonel.
“Our recon drones have been fitted with the facial recognition profiles of all the abducted civilians,” replied Lieutenant General Reed. “They’ll be flying through the city marking the location of anyone they find. Still, it's not going to be easy. We may have to resort to door-to-door searching to find them all.”
“The city is filled with innocent Rontak civilians. I hope I don’t need to tell you all to check your aim and limit collateral damage as much as possible. That being said, anyone who threatens a hostage or violently impedes our rescue efforts is to be designated a terrorist combatant. You may neutralize or apprehend them at your discretion.”
“We don’t know how, or to what extent, the enemy will use magic. If and when you encounter magic, proceed with extreme caution and don’t take any chances. Any questions?”
The room remained silent.
“Dismissed!”
The officers got up and left. They got to work preparing for an all out assault on Rontak’s Reach.
“There is one other thing,” Director Delano said to Lieutenant General Reed. “I want Lord Kushmon to observe the assault. I’ve spoken with him and he doesn't understand the discrepancy between the United States and the Rontak Empire, so I want him to see our capabilities first hand. Can your people handle keeping him secure during the operation?”
“I’ve got just the team in mind,” replied Lieutenant General Reed with a grin.
July 4th 2053
Duremar Plains, Fort Roanoke, 6:00 AM
“Babysitting duty?” Benny complained. “Isn’t there anything more important we can do?”
Daniel was briefing his team on their assignment for the assault. “Sorry Benny, those are our orders,” he replied.
The 4th Deep Recon Team’s orders were to escort Lord Kushmon to and from Rontak’s Reach and provide him with a front row seat.
“Apparently this guy was a real arrogant asshole during his interrogation. He was going on about how they’re going to ‘crush us under their boot’ and ‘force us back through the portal’,” Daniel explained, mocking Lord Kushmon’s remarks. “They want to show him what he’s really up against. They think it’ll make him more cooperative, or something like that.”
“Well, I guess that's not so unimportant,” Benny decided. “At least with us on escort duty it’ll be someone else getting tangled up in vines, attacked by wraiths, or whatever other magic bullshit the locals have in store.”
“That's the spirit, Benny,” Emily mocked. “All we have to do is sit back, relax, and watch our fellow marines put their lives on the line. I, for one, would rather be out there in the city searching for our people.”
“Same here,” said Mikey. “I’d rather be up there in the action kicking some Rontak ass!”
“We’ll when you put it like that–” Benny began to retort, but was cut off by Daniel.
“Alright, that's enough,” Daniel said, slightly raising his voice. “We have our orders. We’re on escort duty. That's the job, and that's what we’re going to do. Our secondary objective is to keep an eye out for any fleeing HVTs. When the attack begins, they might try to escape the city by horse or by foot. If they do, it’s our job to round them up while the main force is busy in the city. Understood?”
“Yes sir!” Every marine replied.
“Mikey, Liv, you two go meet Agent Vanderhoff in the detention area to collect our POW,” Daniel ordered. “The rest of you, to Vehicle Depot One. We’re moving out in one hour.”
The marines did their jobs and prepared to move out to Rontak’s Reach. Mikey and Liv brought Lord Kushmon to Vehicle Depot One, along with Agent Vanderhoff. Lord Kushmon was in a bright orange jumpsuit, making him easy to spot if he somehow escaped. Not that it would make much difference though, since he had an RFID chip implanted under his skin.
As he was escorting Lord Kushmon on board their Rhino, Agent Vanderhoff turned to Daniel and said, “This one’s my prisoner, and I say he stays cuffed, Ramirez.”
“You’ll get no argument from me this time,” Daniel replied as he boarded the Rhino.
Lord Kushmon wasn’t a forcibly conscripted villager. He was the one who did the conscripting. He was the one responsible for the attack on New York City and selling American citizens into slavery. Not to mention that he got Comic Con canceled. Daniel had no intention of showing him any kindness or courtesy.
They revved up the diesel-electric hybrid engine and pulled out of the vehicle depot towards the south gate along with a few other recon teams. Daniel, Benny, Liv and Marcus sat in the command cabin while Agent Vanderhoff sat in the back with Lord Kushmon and the other marines.
Thanks to the intel their recon drones gathered on their trip to Miretan, they had better maps of the local roads. They knew which ones were in good condition, which ones to avoid, and where the terrain was more suitable for off road travel. The drive to Rontak’s Reach would only take about four hours, and it would only take the assault force six.
Lord Kushmon was quiet for the entire trip. Agent Vanderhoff kept him handcuffed in the Rhino’s crew compartment. When they got close to Rontak’s Reach, they found a secluded spot a few kilometers east of the city and parked the Rhinos under a small cluster of trees. When Benny powered down the Rhino’s engines, Daniel called back to the crew compartment to let them know that they were in position.
“You mean we’re there already? It's only been a few hours!” Lord Kushmon exclaimed.
“That's right,” Daniel confirmed. “Nothing left for us to do now except wait for the show to begin.”
July 4th 2053,
Duremar Plains, Rontak’s Reach 2:00 PM
Princess Maribelle did not get much sleep last night. What the American slave said was difficult to believe but highly concerning if it were true. The Americans didn’t have nobility? Every single commoner ‘voted’ for their ‘President’ every four years? The slave again claimed that they had no magic but also described feats that were difficult to believe, even with magic.
After continuing her interrogation of the slave this morning, Maribelle was convinced of one thing: the Americans were coming for their people. She was on her way to the keep’s mana comm station to send a message to her father, informing him of what she’s found out. After that, she and her knights would evacuate the city.
As much as she didn’t want to abandon the people of Rontak’s Reach, she had a promise to keep. With an impending American attack, she couldn’t jeopardize her own safety by remaining in the city. As she walked down the corridor she heard the sound of the American gray arrow coming from outside. Was it back to taunt their wyverns again?
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Suddenly, she heard a massive explosion. She ran to the nearest balcony and looked out at the city below her. Her eyes settled on a huge plume of smoke rising above the raging inferno that used to be the wyvern base.
“RAGO!” She called out in desperation. Not even a fire dragon could survive that. She fell to her knees and sobbed. She counted Rago among her closest friends. Without him, the Order of the Dragon had no name; no symbol to rally behind.
Palok came running down the corridor and out onto the balcony with Maribelle. They both stared at the flame engulfed wyvern base in despair. All of their wyverns were there. Without them, the Order of the Dragon would be trapped inside Rontak’s Reach if the Americans began a siege.
“Maribelle,” Palok said, fighting back her own tears, “We have to get you out of the city. The Americans could attack again at any moment.”
Maribelle stood up and pointed out to the distance. “No. It is too late for that. They are already here.”
Palok looked to where Maribelle was pointing and saw a horde of American metal carriages approaching the city from the northwest. Accompanying them was a swarm of flying objects above. They looked small in the distance but were rapidly getting closer.
“With this kind of destructive power, they could lay waste to the entire city in a single day!” Palok exclaimed, gesturing to the former wyvern base. “You can’t stay here, Princess!”
“If they wanted to obliterate the city, they would have already done so. They are here to rescue the slaves we took from their side of the portal, I am certain of it,” Maribelle replied. “They wouldn’t dare use their weapons of destruction on the rest of the city.”
Maribelle thought to herself for a moment. The American magi cannons would be able to effortlessly demolish the city walls, but inside the city they would be near useless. Of course they could raze the entire city with ease, but they were here to rescue the slaves. According to Martha Bennett, the Americans wouldn't do that. They would have to fight through the entire city on the streets. It gave the city guard a realistic fighting chance.
Maribelle clenched her fist as grief for Rago quickly turned to rage. She turned to Palok and said with fire in her voice, “Have our knights gather as many American slaves as possible in the keep.”
“What? Why?” Palok asked.
Maribelle replied, “If they want their people back, we’ll make them fight through the entire city to get to them. We’ll fight them on every street, every alleyway and inside every building. We’ll make them pay in blood for every slave they take back.”
Palok nodded to the Princess and went off to rally her knights. Meanwhile, Princess Maribelle ran as quickly as she could to the keep’s mana comm station. From there, she sent an urgent message to her father in the capital, informing him of everything she’s learned about the Americans.
July 4th, 2053
Rontak Valley, Capital City of Ronta, Imperial Palace, 2:15 PM
Emperor Rontus sat on his throne while he received another update on the invasion of the Sandorian desert. The mundanity of logistics had thankfully been replaced with decisive strategic action.
“Our army has pushed the serpentfolk back and managed to capture the city of Khesu’Bhet, Your Majesty. However, our infantry took heavy losses. The serpentfolk’s battle mages are stronger than we anticipated. We’ll need to send them reinforcements if we wish to continue our cam–”
“YOUR MAJESTY!” A frantic messenger burst through the grand doors to the throne room, sprinting at full speed towards the Emperor. The guards immediately seized the impetuous messenger and began dragging him away.
As they struggled back towards the door, he yelled, “Your Majesty! I have an urgent message from the Princess!”
The Emperor immediately stood and turned to face the messenger. He held up his hand and with a commanding voice said, “Wait!”
He motioned for the guards to let the messenger go. The messenger approached the Emperor and handed him the hastily transcribed message. Emperor Rontus read the message, his concern and fear growing with every line.
American forces are attacking Rontak’s Reach without warning.
Rago is dead and the wyvern base destroyed. Escape is impossible, they already have the city surrounded.
Doing what I can to aid the defense of the city.
Discovered a great deal about the Americans.
Metal carriages that move on their own faster than light cavalry.
There is a great deal of confusion about whether or not they use magic.
They have sophisticated golems and flying gray arrows faster than any wyvern or dragon.
They are more powerful than we thought. Use extreme caution when–
The message abruptly cut off. Presumably, the mana comm operators were still transcribing it when they sent the messenger.
“Bring me the rest of my daughter’s message immediately,” the Emperor demanded.
“That's all of it, Your Highness,” the messenger explained. “Princess Maribelle left the mana comm after that.”
Realization dawned on Emperor Rontus as reality sank in. His daughter was trapped in a city under siege by a powerful magical foe. Even if the city held long enough for an army to reach her, there was no telling if they could break the siege and defeat the Americans in battle. Based on their previous engagement, it was unlikely.
Emperor Rontus silently walked out of the throne room with his personal guards behind him. He made his way out of the Imperial Palace and into the city of Ronta. He weaved his way through the busy streets and past his subjects, who respectfully parted for him to pass by. Then, he walked up the stairs to the temple of Gwuardon.
The temple to their local deity had rows of magnificent columns supporting its heavy stone roof. Inside the temple were mages going about their daily routines and commoners offering thanks to Gwuardon for his recent blessings. Emperor Rontus made his way to the main statue which was carved from a single colossal light blue mana crystal.
Deities have no physical form to sculpt, so the mages designed an artistic representation for people to revere, with guidance from Gwuardon, of course. The statue was made up of the frames of dozens of differently sized cubes, all connected to each other at varying angles. It towered several meters over the Emperor.
Emperor Rontus uncharacteristically lowered himself to his knees before the statue of the deity of the Rontak Valley. “Great Gwuardon, I beg of you; bless me with the strength and wisdom to ensure my daughter’s safe return.”
The statue began to glow with magical energy and Emperor Rontus was given a blessing by Gwuardon in the form of a vision.
July 4th 2053,
Duremar Plains, Rontak’s Reach 2:20 PM
Maribelle was on a balcony near the mana comm station. She looked towards the sky above at the things that interrupted her message. They weren’t like the flying arrowheads the Americans used before or anything else she had ever seen.
They had four large disks at their corners producing huge gusts of wind below them, but no wings. How did they fly without wings? It had to be some sort of air magic. If the Americans had no magic, how was this possible? She believed the elderly slave was sincere when she said that the Americans had no magic, but this seemed to, once again, fly in the face of that claim.
One of the flying objects was much longer and larger than the others. They were hovering directly above the keep. Below her, her knights were gathering American slaves in the keep’s courtyard. They were being shoved together in clumps as they too watched the things hovering above.
The American flying objects steadily lowered themselves so that they were hovering above the keep’s battlements and towers by just a few meters. Then, something began to swing out from their underbellies.
It looked like… people? No, that couldn’t be. How could these things be carrying soldiers inside of them? To Maribelle’s surprise, the people, now hanging vertically from the flying objects, let go and fell onto the keep. She couldn’t see what was happening up on the battlements, but the sounds she heard were enough to gauge the situation.
The heavily fortified heart of the city was under attack! They hadn’t even breached the walls, they just dropped their soldiers right on top of the keep!
Wyverns couldn’t do anything of the sort, not effectively at least. They were always too few in number to maneuver any tactically significant amount of troops into position. Wyvern knights flown past city walls would instantly be overwhelmed and their wyverns seized by the defenders. But these Americans had done it. They were directly attacking the keep itself.
The sounds coming from the battlements above were not the clashing of metal she would have expected from the enemy infantry. Instead, she heard loud bangs over and over. Thinking quickly, she retreated from the balcony and moved deeper into the keep. She had to find General Rallek and Palok to help coordinate the keep’s defense.
She heard the terribly loud sound of the enemy’s magic echoing through the hallways. They had made their way inside.
“Princess! There you are!” Shouted General Rallek from behind her.
Maribelle turned to see General Rallek and a dozen city guardsmen coming from a corridor she had just passed.
“I’m assigning these two mages to protect you,” he said quickly, pointing to two men holding magic staffs, their mana crystals slightly glowing. “They’ll get you out of the keep and into the city. Hopefully from there you can find a way out of the city.”
“And go where, exactly, General?” Maribelle responded. “The city is surrounded. The keep, the safest place in the city, is under attack by the enemy. If it is not safe here, then nowhere else would–”
Maribelle was cut off by the rapid booming sound of the enemy nearby. Down at the end of the corridor, at an intersection, she saw a member of the city guard running away from the sound of the enemy. She heard more loud bangs and the guardsman was kicked to the ground by an unseen force. Whatever these weapons were, they were unlike any infantry she had ever seen before.
Seconds later, two Americans briskly rounded the corner. They held strange and short black magic staffs pointed down the hallway. As soon as they came into view, Maribelle heard the deafening BANG BANG BANG of their magic.
The two mages quickly put up magic barriers to protect the Princess, but not before several of General Rallek’s men fell to the ground. There were no magic projectiles, no arrows, they simply fell to the floor bleeding. Their armor did nothing to protect them.
A shocked Princess Maribelle watched the Americans through the translucent light blue barriers. She noticed that they were not actually Americans, but rather the American golems she heard about in Miretan. They had generic metallic faces and wore strange black fabric rather than plate metal or chain mail. As if golems wearing any sort of armor wouldn’t be strange enough, these American golems were stranger still.
Princess Maribelle watched the magic shields ripple in front of her as they blocked whatever invisible weapons the golems were using.
“We need to get the Princess out of here!” General Rallek shouted.
He gently, but forcefully, dragged Maribelle away from the enemy. One of the mages stayed to maintain the shield while the other went with the General and Princess. They were followed by some of the surviving guards while the remainder stayed behind to fight the golems.
Maribelle and General Rallek continued fleeing away from the golems through the keep. Suddenly, two more golems came down a flight of spiral stairs leading to one of the towers.
Before their mage could put up a magic shield, a loud bang went off and he fell to the ground. The guards quickly pulled the General and Princess behind them and tried to form a shield wall. They were too slow though. Before they could even raise their shields, several more bangs went off and each of them dropped to the floor.
Maribelle expected to join them at any moment, killed by the same unknown magic. But death never came. Instead, the two golems, still holding their magic staffs, advanced towards her and General Rallek.
To her continued surprise, one of the golems then spoke in a strangely deep and unnatural, but very clear voice, “Put your hands in the air and do not move. If you do not comply we will use lethal force.”
July 4th 2053,
Duremar Plains, A Few Kilometers East Of Rontak’s Reach 2:00 PM
“Hell yeah!” Benny exclaimed. “Now that's what I call some Fourth of July fireworks!”
The 4th Deep Recon team watched from their display screens as the enemy wyvern base was destroyed by a squadron of F-41s. Lord Kushmon however was much more somber. He was finally seeing the Americans’ capabilities with his own eyes, and they were even worse than Lieutenant General Ulmok described. The defeat at the portal was nothing compared to this.
The gray arrows flew so fast and so high that nothing, not even wyverns, would even have a chance at stopping them. With these weapons the Americans could destroy any city they wanted throughout the entire Empire.
“You may be able to raze my city to the ground, but how many of your own people would you kill with such weapons in the process?” Lord Kushmon asked Agent Vanderhoff. “Didn’t you say you were doing this to rescue them?”
Agent Vanderhoff remained silent, but Daniel, listening from the front of the Rhino replied, “That was just to destroy the wyvern base and ensure air superiority. Now that that's out of the way, the real assault can begin.”
“You seem awfully confident, American. Without your weapons of fire and destruction how do you plan on forcing the city to surrender your people?”
“Just watch the video and you’ll see for yourself,” Daniel replied, turning his attention back to the display screens.
Lord Kushmon did likewise. He, along with the rest of the marines, watched as the city was surrounded by Rhinos, Abrams X2s, and other vehicles.
Daniel watched trios of LCD-34s strafe the walls of Rontak’s Reach. The walls had cloth covers overtop the battlements, presumably to prevent enemy wyverns from identifying the location of defenders and anti-siege weapons. But they did little to conceal the soldiers under them from the drones’ infrared sensors.
They fired their 7.62mm machine guns and Spike-B missiles with a high degree of accuracy, cutting through the defenders on the wall. Once the wall was clear, a dozen LCD-34s and a single HDCD-45 (Heavy Droid Carrier Drone) flew over the wall towards the keep.
Once in position, they deployed droids directly onto the keep, bypassing the entire city. Daniel switched the footage in the crew compartment to the droids inside the keep, just to make sure that Lord Kushmon didn’t have any misconceptions about their effectiveness in close quarters combat. Watching the droids take control of his former home ought to humble him a little bit.
The droids moved through the hallways with efficiency and precision. Whenever any guards came around the corner, they were shot by a hail of bullets before they could even react.
A pair of droids rounded a corner to find a group of enemy soldiers. They opened fire, dropping several of them. Suddenly, a translucent light blue barrier formed between the remaining people and the droids. Daniel watched the bullets impact the shield with several repeating ripples.
The people on the other side of the shield were mostly soldiers, but two of them were dressed more ornamentally than the others. Before they turned and ran down another corridor, the droids’ facial recognition software identified them as Princess Maribelle and General Rallek from images provided by the CIA. They were two of the HVTs the 4th Deep Recon Team was supposed to intercept if they made an attempt to flee the city.
“I guess we won’t have to keep an eye out for them,” Benny said.
“The droids don’t have them in custody yet, Benny,” Liv commented.
Under continuous fire from the droids’ ARX-35 assault rifles, the magic barrier eventually fell. The mage and remaining guards were killed making a futile rush at the droids. The video feed switched over to another pair of droids descending a staircase.
As they reached the bottom of the staircase, they came directly into the path of the HVTs. The droid recognized the man holding a staff with a glowing crystal as a possible magic user and thus he was the first to be targeted. He fell to the ground with a bullet hole through his chest, along with the other guards around the HVTs.
The droids pointed their rifles at the two HVTs and said, “Put your hands in the air and do not move. If you do not comply, we will use lethal force.”
With his point about close quarters combat made, Daniel switched the footage in the crew compartment back to the recon drones over the city. Rhinos and Abrams X2s were advancing on the city gates. At the northern gate, an Abrams X2 fired its 130mm cannon with a thunderous boom and blew apart the wooden doors to the city.
Several Abrams X2 tanks casually rolled into the city over the rubble, followed by a dozen Rhinos. The remaining defenders were too disorganized and few in number to offer any sort of resistance, not that their swords and spears could have damaged the heavily armored vehicles though.
Most of the Rontak soldiers who were still alive retreated deeper into the city while the American vehicles followed suit. They dispersed throughout the city, Abrams X2s clearing the way while marines and droids dismounted the Rhinos and began searching for the hostages.
Daniel watched a video being captured by a droid moving into one of the buildings. A Rontak civilian dragged one of the hostages by the neck into a room before the droid could intercept them.
The droid’s facial recognition software identified the woman as Jenny Kimble and pulled up her biographical information. She was abducted from Central Park during the attack while her husband and eight year old son were killed.
The droid kicked down the flimsy wooden door, sending it flying back a few meters before hitting the ground with a thump. The droid and several marines moved into the room to find the Rontak civilian holding Jenny with one arm and a knife in his other hand.
“Come any closer and I’ll slit her throat!” He yelled while Jenny cried and begged to be let go.
As per Lieutenant General Reed’s order, the droid redesignated the civilian as a terrorist and promptly shot him in the head. He made the mistake of waving the knife around, rather than pressing it to his hostage’s neck, clearly not expecting to be killed from across the room.
Jenny, the corpse, and the knife all fell to the floor while the droid turned and left the room, pursuing its next objective. The marines brought Jenny to her feet and got her to a medevac Rhino.
Similar situations were playing out across the city as marines and droids rescued the abducted civilians from their Rontak slave masters. Not all of the hostages were as lucky as Jenny, though; some were killed or found dead already. A large group of the hostages were found in the keep’s courtyard. Despite the losses, soon the first medevac Rhinos were full and began the trip back to Fort Roanoke, finally taking the abducted civilians home.
When the marines met up with the droids at the main slave barracks, they found far more than just American slaves. They also found enslaved elves, minotaurs. They were all evacuated as well.
Eventually, Daniel received orders to bring Lord Kushmon back to Fort Roanoke.
“Maybe now he understands just who the Rontak Empire messed with,” Benny said.
The hybrid diesel-electric engine came to life and the 4th Deep Recon Team began the trip back to Fort Roanoke.
Lord Kushmon remained silent for the entire trip. What he saw of the Americans was like nothing he could have imagined. By opening a portal to their world, it was he who had stepped on a pit vine. And now it was about to drag the entire Rontak Empire to its doom.
Author’s note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I really wanted to get it ‘right’. I also wanted to draw a map of the city and finish the model of the Rhino. I’ll also go back and replace the rough sketch in chapter 3 with the new model.
Here’s a teaser for the next chapter. Chapter 14 will be called “The Serpentfolk”.