Every night, I watch from my balcony as my pets leave the safety of Shanzon to hunt all those who would oppose me. The fools who got in my way, the idealistic sisters who dared to challenge me and the warlocks who dared to defy me. I send them out and ,every night they return, with bloodied clothes and wicked smiles of joy on their faces. They are no longer human. They hunger for pleasure, not pain, and this has turned them into something else. They are mine. Once this war is over, it will be time to show the world what my pets can do.
Journal Entry 6: Project Salvation, written by Lady Kora of House Firm Arm
Thick grey smoke burned Raid's eyes as he passed through the fractured, charcoal black gates of Fontrel. Sword ready, he cautiously stepped into the deserted cobblestone streets of fontrel. Then coughed as his nostrils and mouth were forcefully clogged with the stench of rotting corpses.
Through watery eyes, he saw the streets littered with the half eaten corpses of humans, their stark white bones shining in the pale sunlight. Raid instinctively turned and attempted to block Mira's and Kara's view of the street. But it was too late, Mira came close fainting at the gruesome sight. Her golden skin going ashen grey, while Kara simply keeled over vomiting noisily into the street.
Raid opened his mouth to order them to leave, when he saw Mira's steely gaze of determination directed at him. She was a hard woman thought Raid, with a touch of admiration. He watched her kneel down in front of Kara, to wipe the mustard coloured vomit from around her mouth and cheeks. She then patted Kara on the back, and continued into the dead town. Raid gestured for the men to follow, making sure to keep the women in a tight circle of steel. Deeper in now, he passed through the grey veil of smoke that coated the town ,to see the blackened skeletal remains of homes still burning, black smoke seeping into the air like streams of clouds from open wounds.
The sound of his feet cracking the dried blood that encrusted parts of the streets, was loud and clear causing him to flinch. Cursing himself he gingerly continued forward careful to avoid the dried puddles of blood splashed on the ground, before making his way around an overturned cart that had been torn into two large chunks of wood, it's spoked wheels slowly turning in the air. Clear of the smoky gatehouse, his flame coloured eye's were now able to properly analyse his surroundings. The familiar white hot rage returned, to burn twice as hot inside his chest at the memory of those children hanging upon the walls like animals for slaughter. His fingers clenched around the pommel of his ogre hilt, as he eagerly pressed onward.
Gastron seeing Raid's grim expression spoke softly "Don't do anything witless, we can get revenge later, for now we have a task and we need to move together; keep quiet and stick to the shadows, okay?" Raid's grip tightened on the hilt of his sword till the ogre horns on the pommell dug into his palm and drops of blood began dripping onto the street. It took a moment, but Raid was finally able to control the rage inside and grudgingly Raid nodded his head in assent to Gastron's request. He quietly made his way to the left hand side of the street; where the shadows were starting to gather. Careful to avoid the debri, blood and cracked cobblestones that would grate to make noise in the deathly silent town.
He drew closer to the town's barracks, a circular building with a square shaped base made of iron grey stone, that rose into the sky with sections of the outer wall completely caved in, to leave heaping piles of rubble out front. Raid again wondered what could do this? First the outer gate looked like a fist had smashed into it and now this guard-tower had a gaping hole in its side.
Curious, he nimbly clambered up the piles of rubble and through the gaping hole in its side to check for survivors. His noise twitching at the harsh scent of rotting fish intermingled with blood. His sharp eyes scanned the hard stone floor for clues, noticing white scars cut deep into the surface of the tower. At the other end of the room in the corner was a large round stone tables with chairs of mantorian wood splayed out to either side. Directly across from it were several more stone tables knocked over onto their sides to form a sort of shield wall. Each of the stone carved tables were bristling with black knives on their flat hard surface. All the signs pointing towards a recent fight.
He moved in closer to inspect the black knives hanging from the table, and couldn't believe his eyes. These were obsidian daggers. There was no doubt about it, the finely honed stone weapon had it's characteristic ragged edge, and marble black surface. He reached out hesitantly plucked out one of daggers from the table with a great deal of wiggling and hefted it in his hand. It was well balanced and felt heavy in his hand. He slid the weapon into a sheath in his cloak, and turned to leave. When he noticed blood smeared on the wall behind him that resembles the letters G I A puzzled Raid inspected the wall and waved for Gastron to come over.
Gastron gestured for his men to stay hidden in a sidestreet and clambered up to join Raid. "What is it?" Raid simply pointed at the wall with the smeared blood. Gastron grunted and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Giants?" Raid nodded his head. "What else could it be? This town should have been able to hold out at least a few days, but if they had a giant..." Gastron grunted "Best if we keep this to ourselves, no need to spook the men, hopefully the giant is gone by now" Raid reluctantly agreed and both swiftly moved to rejoin the men tucked up tight against the shadowed alleyway. Raid took the lead once more with the Mantorian warriors quickly following behind him, spreading out to either side of him with their swords drawn and their shields held up.
Trogon his huge frame shadowing the party, hung back to guard the rear of the party. His newly sharpened axehead gleaming in the sun as it he swung from side to side with each of his steps. His head constantly twitched from side to side in the hopes of catching sight of the cowardly creatures who had slaughtered the small humans. And wondered again how he ended up here, helping humans?
Kara her face still drained of blood from the corpses she had seen hanging outside the town wall and on the streets, stayed in the centre of the group with Mira and Gastron. Her eyes watering from the smoke as she tried to force herself to forget the bodies she had seen. But the image of a young girl with her skin flayed open to reveal her bloodstained ribs, kept replaying in her mind. She hid her face in her sleeve, as tears started to drip down her cheeks again.
Mira seeing her distress, drew her in close to her body to give her comfort. And gently began brushing Kara's hair, while keeping her gaze fixed on Raid, who moved through the streets like a prowling tiger hunting new prey. She could almost feel his anger exuding from within him, with a strange red aura. His every movement, his every stance and his every glance into the side streets they passed; spoke of his hunger to kill.
She wanted to go to him, and speak to him about what they had seen. She ached to calm his fiery soul, so he wouldn't throw his life away in a futile rage. But the silent gulf that had opened up between them, after he had kissed her still lingered in the air, dividing them. She pressed her slender fingers to her lips and so whispered softly under her breath "Mother, keep him safe" invoking a small charm spell, that would hopefully keep him safe.
***
The battle raged around Daok, with mobs of humanoids continuing to pulverise companies of men who had been broken apart by the giants bloodthirsty charge. The sound of steel on stone continued to batter the senses as brothers with the aid of elders tried to reform their surviving troops into square formations. The smell of steel and blood filled the senses. Humanoids continued to swarm all around him, as they leapt to get past the dying giant he had cut down.
With an effort he tried to get up, but the ground was too sodden and his armour too heavy. He groaned in anger and frustration at his inability to move. Attracting the attention of huge hulking humanoid with a heavily muscled body that had been about to leap across the still moaning giant. The beast grinned showing him its pointed,black teeth and rushed at him swinging a large obsidian sword. Daok hissed with anger at his bodies sluggishness, but managed to raise his battered shield in time to block the blow that thundered down his arm. Then rolled to the side as he slashed at the humanoids feet, cutting deep into the humaniod's leg muscles. The humanoid gasped in surprise it's yellow bulbed eyes widening in surprise as it tumbled to the earth beside him. Blood pumping with adrenaline he roared the warcry of his people and hauled himself back up onto his feet, and stomped down hard with his armoured foot into the shocked face of the large humanoid; crushing it's skull.
***
Raid his every sense attuned to his surroundings, lead his companions carefully past a two storey building that faintly resembled a tower. At the bottom of the tower was an Apothecary, it's drabby brown coloured sign dangling from one hinge;showing a bottle painted in black ink. It's windows smashed in and shards of glass lay scattered on the street. Not far from the Apothecary, was what Raid assumed had to be a weaponsmith. The front of the store, looked like it had been smashed in inwards with a huge warhammer like the gate and garrison. Revealing weapon racks bare of all weapons. Raid hoped that this meant that the townspeople were armed and still fighting.
Close to the centre of town, they began to pass dozens of carts stacked high with life long possessions, tied down with hemp rope to keep them safe from falling. Wagons filled with barrels of food, water and weapons. But oddly enough there were no more bodies to be seen. Only signs of panicked flight. These people must of been warned of what was coming thought Raid, but they hadn't been quick enough to react. He hadn't been quick enough; he amended.
He ground his teeth with frustration and let out a harsh breath to release some of his pent up rage and guilt. Only to have his lungs fill up with acrid smoke that had become thicker in the air, so that he could barely breathe. Coughing on the smoke, he hurriedly cut off a piece of his tattered black cloak and tied it on around his mouth. Then gestured for everyone else to do the same. Gastron's face a mask of well concealed hatred, nodded his head in agreement and set about gathering cloth from one of abandoned wagons. He then used his sword to slash the cloth into pieces and handed them out; before pushing on ahead. Raid snorted in annoyance, he should have thought of doing that, instead of ruining his cloak.
***
Dazed and surrounded on all sides, Daok trudged forward hacking and slashing in an effort to reach the nearest group of men who had managed to reform into a shieldwall. Arrows flew in the air above him, targeting the giants, who were at last falling back after losing a few of their kin. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, it's fiery white light giving the sky a deeper shade of crimson. The din of battle, pounded in his ears as his men fought to re-secure the top of the hill.Obsidian blades banged against his unprotected back, cracking the plate armour. Wincing in pain, he slashed widely in an arc to drive the beasts back, even managing to slice open a few arms and legs before he slowly trudged forward again.
Using his shield to batter a path clear for himself, he finally burst out of the throng of humanoids surrounding him and turned to watch in silence as like an ocean the humanoids ebbed back a few paces, giving Daok time to stumble over to rejoin his exhausted men who were on their knees gasping for breath. A few of the men vomited noisily into the blood soaked ground. All around them, and as far as the eye could see the ground was covered with thousands of bodies, limbs missing and guts hanging out.
At least half of the men he had brought with him were dead or wounded. Only the archers had not been hit, but that would not last long. This battle was lost. Best to get the young men and women of Mantoria out of field, while there was time. He grabbed the nearest Elder brother, a stocky soldier with broad shoulders and led him to the rear of the army "Here are my final orders, take command of the archers, lead them out of the field and link up with the Mythic Warriors company to the west and escort them to safety" the soldiers green eyes flared in anger "No, I won't leave my men" Daok too tired to argue hissed angrily "I gave you an order soldier, follow it" for a moment the man looked ready hit Daok, his fists clenched, but finally the soldier stomped away to do as commanded.
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Daok returned to the front ranks of his warhost, waited for archers to pull out of the field. Then bellowed loudly for all who remained standing to hear "FOR MANTORIA" raised his sword into the air as he barrelled forward alone down the hill. The men stood shocked for a second , before shock turned into rage and the Mantorian army broke loose to thunder down the hill with their shields raised while crying out "FOR MANTORIA, FOR MANTORIA, FOR MANTORIA". The enemy saw them coming and surged forward once-more, the giants again in the lead to meet them. Daok grinned ferociously, ran between the giants feet and threw himself at the onrushing enemy. His armoured body smashing into the front ranks of the enemy. The satisfying crunch of bones being cracked was sweet music to his ears, as he fell into the berserker rage.
***
The smoke grew thicker, and thicker till he could barely see two meters in front of him. Any element of surprise was gone, with the entire group coughing and gasping for fresh air. Raid his lung's burning and his mouth dry was about to turn back and suggest to Gastron take a different route, when his eyes caught sight of a flagpole off in the distance. Gastron must have seen it too for he held a fist up to halt the group where it was least smokey, then silently gestured for Raid to scout ahead.
Crouched down, he moved along the edges of the main street using the smoke to his advantage, staying hidden behind the wagons that lined the path, then stopped abruptly. Through the fading smoke he could see a circle of wagons and carriages knocked over onto their sides with men and women inside the makeshift defences carrying all manner of weapons pointed outwards into the smokey gloom. Raid grinned in delight. At last survivors.
He moved out from behind a cart, where he had been hidden. When a ghostly figure of an archer appeared above the barricade drew quickly and fired off an arrow towards him. Raid cursed loudly and ducked down behind the cart as arrow after arrow thunked into the cart. "STOP SHOOTING, I'M HUMAN" bellowed Raid. A brief moment of silence ensued as the arrows stopped coming finally a deep male voice called back "Come out from behind the cart, and show us your face". Raid cautiously got up and walked towards the barricades. More figures appeared out of the smoke, with at least a dozen crossbows trained on him with two or three archers amongst them. From their appearance they looked to be villagers and the survivors of the town guard.
Two broad shouldered men in rusted plate armour carrying shields engraven with the image of the Mantoria tree, carrying longswords came towards him. And by the look on their grim, scarred faces, with grizzled grey beards, these were hard men, probably Arcane War veterans by the look of them. The two men glanced at Raid's drawn sword, and stared at him threateningly. Raid grimaced at the unspoken threat, and sheathed his sword. "The names Raid, I am with a group of men, hunting down a witch" They looked at each other for a moment, before one of them nodded. "Best bring your men in, they won't last long out here" stated the taller of the two, then both turned to rejoin the men and women lined up behind the carts.
Raid wasted no time, half running, half walking to reach Gastron and the rest hiding inside what used to be a fletcher's workshop. Gastron seeing Raid making his way hastily towards them, gazed anxiously behind Raid to see if he was being chased. With no threat in sight, he waited for the Raid to make his way back. "Well?" grated Gastron with his usual tone of annoyance. Raid his eyes unable to hide his jubilation replied "Survivors not too far ahead, must be at least a hundred of them holed up near the market" Gastron's black eyes hardened. "We continue on with our mission , find us a way around them" Raid stared at the man dumbfounded "Wait a sec, do what now?" Gastron his expressionless face tightened with anger at Raid's disobedience opened his mouth to reply, when Mira glided over to stand beside him "What are we waiting for?" she whispered to him. Despite the heat,sweat and the smoke he couldn't help but notice she smelt quite nice. Distracted by her scent and reminiscing on the kiss he didn't hear Gastron's reply and Mira leaving. Feeling Gastron's black eyes staring at him, he shook himself out of his stupor " we can't trust anyone besides ourselves. Ask yourself, how does a group of survivors manage to stay alive with a warhost passing through?" "We came here for a reason, let's complete our mission, then we can see about helping them, okay?" sighing Raid had to agree it made sense. Gastron gestured for his men to join them. Raid with another sigh, took the lead and lead them towards a side street on his left that would hopefully circle around the centre of town. Using his instinct and sense of direction he lead them through narrow streets filled with garbage, before returning them to the main street. Hearing a clicking sound ahead, Raid dropped to the cold ,wet cobblestones. Raid furiously waved his hands in the air for the rest to do the same. Gastron crawled over to him "Heard a noise, wait here i'll check it out" Gastron nodded.
Raid crawled forward, then crouched behind a wagon, his hands brushing against the wagons rough timber. Ahead of him were a dozen more wagons blocking the staying crouched he wove his way through a maze of wagons that blocked the entire street ahead. Stepping over piles of bones till he reached a gatehouse, a small squat building, with a small window guarding a pair of large iron gates carved into the stone. This is probably where the rich lived, they always seem to enjoy their seclusion. He crept over to one of the gates and attempted to push it open with his shoulder. Nothing happened, damm gates are locked. There must be a way to open. Noticing metal glinting inside the gatehouse. He peered inside the soot stained windows and saw it was empty; except for a stool and a lever. Wrapping his right arm in his cloak, he used his elbow to smash the window and leaned in to press the lever. The gates swinging open noisily, grating against the cobblestones.
He waited, quietly for a few drops of sand to passby, in case any humanoids came to investigate the noise. He held his sword ready to strike,hearing nothing he turned and waved the group over. Together they entered the marketplace.
The flag badly burnt, with gaping holes in the fabric, stood in the centre of the empty market weakly flying in the breeze. The stalls around the flag were torn down, and the food mashed into the stone. Adding to the smell of death, and decay.
"Where are all the people Raid? That can't all have been out there" whispered Mira furtively as she glanced around the abandoned marketplace. Her fingers still stroking Kara's hair, absentmindedly.
Raid opened his mouth to reply, but snapped it shut. Ignoring her query. The pain he had felt at her rejection, still too strong.
The flutterings in his stomach grown larger still from the unknown dangers. What if they were being rounded up to be eaten, or worse turned into those abominations. He slapped his head, no he couldn't think that way, there were people alive and well. As his mind tried to understand, why they had taken the townspeople? He moved quicker and quicker. The sooner they killed the witch the better. The whole group sensing Raid's anxiety, picked up their pace. All of them eager to get on with it, and be gone from here.
Raid his hand itching to take action, caught sight of a street full of blood encrusted swords. Not sure, what this meant? He moved closer to investigate, when he felt a hand grip his shoulder, he twisted away instinctively and lashed out with his blade. Wood met steel with a dull thunk. Gaston's stone dark eyes stared at him, as if in reproof. Raid's sword held back barely inches away from his throat. Pushing Raid's sword aside he pointed off towards the far side of the street. Raid turned his head.
Fifteen feet away, to the right was a hastily assembled barricade of overturned carriages and wagons. The contents of the wagon spilled out to either side of the street. Hope blossomed inside him, maybe there were survivors still hiding. Gastron as if guessing Raid's thoughts, silently motioned everyone to move towards the erected barricade.
Raid moved quickly to take point, and so was the first to notice the small gap in the barrier where the defence had been breached. And his mind reeled away from the implications. No, no, not again. I will not be late again, not this time and started to run.
Gastron caught off guard, tried to grab Raid's arm, as he ran by. But Raid slipped through his slim grasp. Swearing furiously under his breath Gastron started to run after the fool. But with the added weight of full battle armour, Gastron couldn't keep up with the much swifter Raid. He slowed down and eventually halted. Exhaling heavily, as he watched Raid disappear through the gap.
Mira was stunned. Raid had run away. He had abandoned them. Her chest ached and her eyes grew teary. Trogon shook his head, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be back" said Trogon placidly "He probably just saw someone, and went to see if they were okay" but as soon as Trogon spoke, Mira knew it was a lie. She wanted to believe his words, but she knew they weren't true.
Mira finally shook off her shock and led Trogon and Kara over to the rest of the men, who stood out in the centre of wide street breathing raggedly from the short sprint. Gastron opened his mouth to order them out of the street, where they were clearly visible, when they came.
They came in robes of blood red, carrying large great swords with ease. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop like mountain goats. Appearing from all directions to encircle them.
"Form circle" roared Gastron and thrust Mira and Kara behind him. The five men closed ranks with Gastron around the women. Shields facing outwards, with their swords poking out. "Trogon get your arse, over here" snapped Gastron impatiently. His focus and attention still on the humanoids who stood unmoving atop the rooftops, waiting.
Trogon ignored the command, and continued standing outside the circle. He knew if he joined the line, he would be a weakness. Without a shield he would only leave a gap and he wouldn't have room to swing his axe. He wasn't going to let his companions die because of him. He would rather die out here,alone, at least then he would be able to take some of them down with him. He knelt down on one knee to honour his race and stood up rubbing his hands together with grim determination. And unlung his great war axe, maybe for the last time.
***
Raid all his thoughts on what was ahead? did not hear the shouts of Gastron, as he charged forward. Reaching the ill made barricade he slipped through the gap and found himself in a courtyard filled with garden beds. At the centre of the courtyard was a dragon shaped fountain, spewing water from it mouth to cascade down the sides of the fountain. Half encircling the fountain were the sacred Malket trees;trees well-known for having healing properties. Their long withered limbs, still a deep rich green. Their oddly shaped leaves sprinkled all over the cobble stoned streets of the courtyard. It was as if this place hadn't been touched by the war at all. It was beautiful. Raid as if in a trance, walked to the fountain. Passing the rows of flower beds, filled with retlings; plants used for healing. He knelt down in front of the fountain, and gazed with awe at the beautiful clear water, slightly tinged with green, with leaves floating on the surface. And cupped his hands in the water, brought it to his lips and drank deeply.
All his aches and pains vanished in an instant. His mind grew foggy, and he began to feel tired. He tried to stand, when he felt something cold close around his neck. His hand touched his throat, feeling the cool piece of metal. "Stand my pet and face me" whispered a voice behind him. His body without hesitation leapt to obey. He then turned to face the owner of the voice. "Well, well, Raid, I said we would meet again and that you would prove a most useful tool" the familiar face of Lady Shila stood smiling smugly not far from him, her arms crossed on her chest. Wearing a silk black dress, embroidered with red flames on the waist and neckline of the dress. Standing right behind her was a huge bare chested humanoid, with large rippling muscles, on blood red skin.
Raid's mind went into shock this was the humanoid that had tried to assassinate him and Mira. And here it was calmly staring at him with it's wolf coloured yellow eyes, and a slight smile on its lips; revealing it's crooked black teeth. "SHILA BEHIND YOU!!" called out Raid urgently and drew his sword as he leapt forward. Shila laughed, causing the wrinkles on her face to crinkle up in amusement. "You, really are quite slow Raid" she said lightly.
"Stop, and drop the sword Raid" His fingers went numb as without thought his fingers opened to release his grip on the blade. Startled, Raid instinctively fought back at whatever was controlling him. When a dose of pain flooded his system in response, flaying his skin and slicing into every nerve ending. He moaned in agony, falling to his knees. He waited till the pain subsided, then asked in a voice as cold as the tip of a snow capped mountain "Where are my parents?"
Shila, smiled knowingly and swept her fingers through her hair playfully and shrugged her shoulders "You don't need to know that" and turned to humanoid beside her "Knock him out, and bring him along. We have a long journey ahead of us." The humanoid grinned and casually glided towards Raid as he tried to get up and fight. Only to have another wave of agony wash over him, his knees buckled and he collapsed. The humanoid drew closer, brought its weathered red face close to his "Welcome to your new family, brother" crooned the beast and with a blow so swift that Raid did not see. It struck him hard on the side of the head, with a meaty fist, forcing the darkness to engulf him.
Men say that the only true way to test yourself and be worthy of the title of “MAN” is to fight in a grand battle and survive. Women, however, know that fighting for any cause other than battling for the sake of humanity is a childish endeavor.
Written by a married Mantorian Soldier 1231 DP (Dark Period)
Thank you for reading Warcy. If you'd like to read more novels by R.Malak you can purchase a copy of The Beginning: Breath of War from Amazon. You can also show your support by donating through the Patron link below, leaving a review or following me on my facebook page: The Beginning - Breath of War. You can also read History of the Orcs or Decide your fate Games - Survive on Coroleya, which can also be found on here. Thank you for reading!