Chapter XXI

It was already well past noon when they took Lily for a walk. Joyful laughter was heard all over the crowded streets of Mondelay. Lucius and Michael tried their best to entertain the little girl. Livia accompanied them too, she also took her little sister for a walk. On the way, she has asked several times about the reasons for their departure, but as the four of them avoided answering, she gave up at last.

They stopped at a park-like location that was more of its remnant after the first attack. Here, they tried to start a game that would entertain children. It took a lot of effort to get Livia's sister in the mood as she was too stressed, because of the unbearable regime and dreadful dreams. About an hour had passed when the city bell rang and immediately the entire city felt that something had happened again. They ran towards the wall to see what was happening. There were already many people walking up the stairs, and it made no sense to get into that mess, especially now that Lily and Lizzie were with them.

"What's happening?" - Michael shouted at the soldier standing there.

"Let's climb to the roof of the tower!" - offered Uriel. Michael did not wait for the soldier to answer and chased Uriel.

The bell tower was the tallest building in the Noble district and overlooked a twice smaller wall. The huge bell hanging under his roof was still ringing so that it almost completely obscured the voices of the people gathered there.

"They won't let us through the stairs, the only way there is climbing on the wall." - noted Blondy. Lucius and Uriel were the first to climb, and by the time Michael reach the roof, they were already digging something into space. Exhausted, he rested his elbows on the edge of the roof.

"So what's there?" - Michael held on and stared at Lucius with his outstretched finger, though he didn't need an answer. Lucius pointed his finger towards the harbor, and there stood a gigantic ship - a ship that no one had ever seen before. They came with dusk. The soaring sails seemed golden in the rays of the setting sun. A huge ship was serenely swaying in the waves. It amazed Michael at how the vessel of that size entered the port of Mondelay.

"They are disembarking!" - shouted the officer below.

After some time, Michael himself saw miniature figures moving towards the wall. As they approached, the excitement increased. Fear and hope, joy and despair were growing at the same time among the townsfolk. They did not know what intentions newcomers had. The closer they got, the better they could be seen. They calmly moved in order. There was something special about those strangers as if the wind was obeying them, as it grew stronger and stronger as they approached.

Soon they would reach the wall and no one knew what would happen next. Whether the commander would let them in and how things will develop after that. The entire city was eagerly waiting.

"Look at the fire!" said Lucius, pointing to the torches on the wall. The abnormally strong flame rose even higher and brightened the city.

"Open the gate!" - Demanded a voice. These words were not commanded aloud, even so, everyone heard them as if someone had whispered in the ear. Nothing happened. Everyone was standing petrified and waiting for the commander's order.

"Open the gate!" - echoed the voice and the flame of the torches rose to the sky with such a noise, as if threatening to insiders. Immediately, the soldiers moved. Michael did not know who gave the order, the commander or anyone else, but soon an enormous iron gate was opened with a crack.

A sizeable crowd gathered near the gate, split in half, and gave way to the entrants. Boys could see well from the roof, the newcomers would be up to thirty men, moved peacefully in red and gold robes. Swordsmen dressed in white and red uniforms followed them. At the end of the entrance stood a commander with the accompaniment of an entire army.

"Come on, we can catch up!" - Exclaimed Uriel, and climbed down on the bell tower. Michael followed behind with Lucius. They could easily reach the commander before the strangers through that corridor. Part of the soldiers spread around the commander in the street, others mixed with the people patrolling.

They rushed among the people, broke through the ranks of the military, but no one interfered, as if they did not even notice them. Everyone was looking for something that captivated them. When youngsters finally escaped from the ranks of the military, they understood what it was.

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People were walking towards them, but not ordinary ones - wizards. It was not just the glorious robes or the graceful movement that distinguished them from the others. But something else, as if some unearthly aura was surrounding them, something that manifested in their gaze.

Marcus had something similar, but he single-handedly couldn't affect intensely. But this time there were so many of them, that even stone walls could feel their existence, not to mention the townsfolk. It was enough to see them up close and you would even lose the ability to move for a few seconds.

Newcomers stopped, one wizard walked towards the commander. He was tall, black, with a strangely powerful aura, and something else that gave him such grace that Lord Felix looked like a peasant compared to him.

"Who are you?" - asked the stranger with a deep voice.

"I am Lord Felix, the current commander of this city. Lord Marcus told us you will come for help, though we were waiting for you tomorrow." - The commander's voice seemed to be relieved of tension, and courage was added to each word.

"What did Lord Marcus tell you?" Asked the black man.

"He told us that he had sent a signal and help would come from the fire temple on the tenth day," the commander replied.

"We definitely got a sign from this city, but it did not ask for help. The sign belonged to the necromancer. Marcus de la Crowley is a dangerous man. He has been wanted for years and we too have come to this sinful city to capture him dead or alive!"

Michael could not describe in words what the commander looked like when he heard this answer. Faded, he could not make a sound. He was not the only one in such a condition. Soldiers and residents looked like frozen figures.

The moonlight shone silverly on the quarter, that was slowly fading from hope. Desperate townsfolk stood silently in the streets, trembling with fear. Suddenly, the cry of one man aggravated the already unbearable silence.

"Red-eyes!!!"

People seemed to be awakened by this dreadful word; the crowd started moving. The commander cried desperately, "Lock the gate!" But it was too late.

Unnaturally fast-moving figures ran from the gate and added reddish to the silvery night.

There was blood - lots of blood. There was a fire - roaring fire. Glistening swords clashing with eyes, shining reddish in that dreadful night, and there was magic - old as the world itself and marvelous as existence...

Had it not been for the newcomers, this night would have been one-sided slaughter, for the marked ones who came in through the gates were adults, not children, and the warriors were powerless against them even with enchanted weapons Marcus gave to them.

Red-eyes were slaughtering ordinary people, but newcomers hunted them down. It was astonishing to see them. Michael also saw sorcery and unnatural mastery of the sword during the battle of Marcus. Although he was only one, he fought alone, and these wizards performed miracles side by side...

Michael and his comrades, like others, ran to find a safe place. On the way, they picked up fallen weapons and thus reach the bell tower with two spears and one sword. They thought there would be more chances of survival on the roof of the bell tower and, with great effort, somehow lifted everyone there.

From the roof of the tallest building, they could clearly see battle developments in the town. Wizards mostly used fire, and the marked ones were turned into living torches. However, the fire burned not only the red-eyes but also townspeople, and the local soldiers often fell victim to the magic that was intended for the enemy.

The commander, along with several hundred officers, fortified one of the houses. Soldiers were armed with both torches and swords so that, with the help of the light, they could still resist the casualties. They were, in fact, the only group except for the witches who were still fighting.

Among the wizards, the black man stood out. Assessing his abilities, he must have been the commander of newcomers. While his teammates attacked the red-eyes in groups or pairs, he fought them alone and even defeated them. Innocent people did not die during his attacks because his every move was performed with great precision. The surrounding fire was destroying the marked ones with lightning speed.

"Look how he fights!" - Michael heard Angela's admiration. It was easy to guess who she was referring to. Seven or eight red-eyes surrounded the black wizard, but he seemed to move calmly between them, as if close friends, not bloodthirsty creatures, surrounded him. Marked ones were armed with swords and spears, while the wizard only confronted them with magic, although despite the numerical advantage, the fate of the battle was still uncertain...

Two of the adversaries ran towards the wizard, but at that very moment, they jumped back when the blazing fireball was about to fall from above, while in midair they still managed to shoot their spears. The spears were swallowed up by the light sculpted out of nowhere, and swarmed into the air, transformed into snakes. At that moment, the third red-eye approached the wizard, but the fire snake surrounded him and set him on fire. The other marked ones did not stand idle either and few spears might end the wizard's life hadn't he performed an acrobatic backflip. Raging fire encircled the spinning wizard, spinning on his heels, that engulfed several enemies in seconds. But others escaped and resumed the attack in a matter of seconds. The black man had to use weapons to deal with them. He was confronting two spearmen with dual swords when the third one was incinerated by the fire snake. At the same time wizard jumped and with choreographic dual slash left his enemies headless. Though one of the red-eyes managed to wound him in the leg...