Chapter 5
Improvise
Waves crashed against the boat rocking the men aboard back and forth as they traversed the river. Up above them the black cloth used for a sail blended in perfectly with the pitch-black night sky. Tonight was the night chosen for the raid for one specific reason, the moon. The fateful night lay on a new moon, meaning little to no light reflected off its surface. This allowed for the darkest night possible to prevent being spotted during the advance into enemy territory.
Maxith was aboard the largest ship near the front of the fleet, a minimum of 100 men accompanied him aboard. The only ships in front of theirs was another boat being used for the transport of soldiers like Maxith’s and the assassin group's boat leading the way. Nearing the bottleneck before the open waters of The Great Kadince Lake the tension grew. Getting spotted and the plan failing was completely out of the hands of the soldiers aboard the boats. Complete trust had to be placed in the ground troops clearing the outpost's guards.
Maxith, along with the rest of his crew, peered at the sleeping town waiting to see if the mission unfolded properly. “There!” One of the soldiers stated suddenly, pointing at the field before the town. Groups of men could be spotted crouch walking through the grass wearing all black ready to pounce like panthers. Upon reaching the exterior buildings they pressed against the walls and peaked around the corners for guards. Satisfied with none being spotted they disappeared into the maze of buildings. “Let's hope it goes well,” Maxith said.
The guard tower placed adjacent to the river connection to the lake was their priority. As the highest viewpoint in the area, it would be the first place to spot the incoming ships. Several minutes passed as they stared down the guard tower like it had done some kind of evil to the men. Getting closer and closer to the town made the anticipation to be in the clear build up more and more. “What’s taking so long? Maybe we should drop anchor before we get too close,” Soldiers began to worry out loud. “We can’t,” Maxith stated plainly, “We have no way of letting our other ships know to drop anchor as well without giving ourselves away. We’ll have to put our faith in them.”
A figure could now be seen standing up from a seated position in the tower. It leaned over the railing as if trying to get a better look. “It's over! We’ve been spotted!” Another soldier gasped. Giving up hope Maxith turned to walk to the back of the ship to drop anchor and shout to the other boats to do so as well. Halfway back Maxith came to a grinding halt from a hand slamming into his chest. Emerson stopped him and said, “Have some fucking faith,” While shooting him a disappointed look. “Even if they do fail what do you plan on accomplishing by dropping anchor?”
“At least we wouldn’t be drifting right into the middle of an enemy town like a bunch of geese! Get out of my wa-”
“Look!” A soldier interrupted. Turning around Maxith could see another shadow figure climbing the stairs of the tower while crouching. The first figure could be seen turning to go warn his townsfolk. Luckily the second figure tackled him, slamming him back into the railing. Reaching down the Opik soldier grabbed the guard's legs and hoisted him over the railing, sending him plummeting to his death. “Oooo,” The ship said in unison after witnessing the brutal act. Emerson stood next to Maxith and continued, “Just because you can give a good speech doesn’t mean you’re the big man you think you are.” Without waiting for a response Emerson turned and walked to the back of the boat.
With step one accomplished everyone began to relax, if they could gain access that far into the city for the tower then they were in complete control of the mission. Suddenly lights from lanterns within homes could be seen turning on accompanied by screaming. With the tension of stealth lifted Emerson shouted from the back, “MAN THE OARS!” Simultaneously all the boats began to pick up speed heading towards the enemy camp. Within moments they were sailing through the center of the city watching slaughter surround them.
Men were getting cut down in the streets adjacent to the river, women and children weren’t spared either. A mother carrying her young child ran out of her house hoping to escape the madness of the city before it caught them. “Hey!!! Get her!!!” The men in the boats shouted to one of the ground soldiers who just finished disemboweling an enemy guard. Turning around to see the pair he chased her down and grabbed her by the hair thrusting the pointed end of his sword through the back of her neck. Doing this detached her head from her body while she still held the hand of her child no older than four. “YEAHHH!!” The crowd of soldiers on the boat cheered while the ground soldier raised her head in the air with one hand while basking in the glory of the applause.
The mother's body fell to the ground with a thud and the child sat at her side crying still grasping her hand. Dropping her head the man crouched next to the child and asked, “Want to go for a swim?” Accompanied with a disturbingly wide smile. “B.. bu… but I can’t swim,” the child responded between tears. “Even better!” The man responded. Picking the child up he walked over to the river and held him above the deep water. “DO IITTTT!!!” The men roared from the boats enjoying the show of chaos. Letting him go the child dropped ten feet off the ledge of stone walkway and plummeted into the cold water, instantly sinking to the bottom like a hammer. Bubbles from attempted breathing rose to the surface until they halted proving the child's death.
On the other side, a fire could be seen rising from the buildings, glass shattering here and there from the heat. A young woman was fending off two soldiers as they tried to grope her and feel her up. Breaking free from their grasp for a moment she, without looking, jumped off the walkway planning to land in the river and swim away from her rapists. Not noticing the presence of the boats she slammed into the deck of Maxith’s boat, instantly snapping her left legs shin bone clean in half. This caused her leg to form a disturbing L shape as she screamed in pain rocking back and forth. The men around clearly not interested in continuing her sexual assault after seeing her disgusting leg decided to kill her. Before they could Maxith stopped them “We don't need to kill her.” Emerson spotted what was going on and confronted Maxith who was standing between the soldiers and the woman, "What do you mean we have no reason to kill her? That's the whole point of this plan is to eradicate them to ensure the others at the capital know nothing of our approach."
"Exactly my point, look where she is and what condition she's in. In our boat she has no way of warning anyone else in the country, and on top of that, her fucking leg is broken. She’s not going anywhere any time soon."
"So what are you saying we do? Babysit her? We're going to fucking war! We don't have the room to watch over this damned woman out of pity!"
"There's a cell below deck, we can tie her hands and gag her so she has no chance of escaping it. Even if she does manage to escape while we’re raiding Bhrunum what do you expect her to do? Flank us and kill us? Her fucking leg is bent sideways!"
"Fine, let your emotions hinder you just this once, but know if something goes wrong with this operation because of this it will not reflect well on your reputation. Putting a Kadince woman's life before hundreds of your men's shows where your priorities lie."
"The people running around up there is one thing Emerson, I can understand they're a tribulation of war, but killing a harmless woman shows where your morals lie." Steaming from anger Emerson pointed to those around on the ship, "None of you help him! Let him deal with his irresponsible whims on his own!" Maxith watched as Emerson stormed off to the back of the boat pushing those in the way to the side. Lifting her the woman cried in pain from her leg. Bringing her downstairs he placed her in the cell and grabbed some rope to bind her. "Hurry and tie my hands behind my back!" The dark-haired woman said aggressively gasping with pain. Making a funny face Maxith said, "Don't think I've ever heard someone so excited to have their hands tied up before."
"It'll make it easier to tie up my legs."
"How am I supposed to tie up your legs in this condition?"
"God, you don't listen to anyone, do you? Just do it." Tying her hands tight behind her by the wrists Maxith stepped back. The woman proceeded to arch her back to lower her hands down to her legs from behind, almost touching the snapping point of her shin bone her hands hovered above and began to emit a bright green glow. "What the?" Maxith exclaimed perplexed by what he was seeing. "AHHHH!" The woman let out a scream of pain as her leg snapped back straight making a gross bone-grinding sound. Now using both her legs she repositioned herself onto her back raising them into the air and bending them at a ninety-degree angle, "Now hog tie me."
"What the fuck just happened?" Maxith said while tying her legs and connecting the knot to the one holding her wrists behind her back leaving her lying sideways on the floor unable to move. "Well if you weren't a moron you could piece together it's a healing renown. I wanted you to tie me securely so those assholes upstairs don't get flustered and decide to execute me because I'm SUCH a big threat."
"Then why wouldn't you try to escape rather than let us keep you prisoner?" Trying to get comfortable she positioned herself in a seated position against the bars of the cell. Blowing a few stands of straight black hair sticking to her caramel-colored skin she responded, "Well, you seem to be someone with some pretty strong influence considering you basically told the big dickhead general to fuck off. So I'd rather take my chances on you keeping me alive than those fuckers catching me to rape me and kill me." The pandemonium from the city above could still be heard as they continued to talk, "Y'know you're the second person I've met with a renown, that's pretty damn rare,” Maxith informed while taking a seat atop a barrel. "No shit, who's the other?" she inquired. "My best friend, his is Time Echo," Maxith replied, "Not quite as useful as your's though I suppose."
"Yeah, I guess so. Hey, thanks for sticking your neck out for me up there, hopefully it doesn't go to waste and I wind up getting executed anyways." Her narrow dark brown eyes looked up to Maxith’s attempting to show appreciation. "Well, you shouldn't be executed as long as things go to plan," Maxith said, awkwardly averting eye contact. "What do you mean?" she asked with a look of curiosity. "Well, normally a prisoner from an enemy country would be killed," looking back to meet her eyes Maxith continued, "But since your country won't exist after we kill your king tonight, it won't matter anymore."
"Wait… you aren't from Sintia, are you?"
"No, we're the Opik army. We were tasked with finishing the war tonight as Sintia's last hope for victory."
"Well if you guys are headed to the capital we might be down here for a couple of hours. If you have to babysit me then I guess we should at least get to know each other, my name is Reina."
"Names Maxith, I assume you have no family up there since you're so calm about what's happening."
"I have two brothers and my father but all of them got drafted into the war with Sintia. They got sent away to the border on the front lines. To be honest, if you do end this war tonight you'll be helping us out by finishing it before they get killed over there."
"Well that's the plan, let's just hope it works out," Maxith replied becoming more relaxed with their conversation. The boat rocked back and forth while leaving the town and entering the open waters of The Great Kadince Lake. They continued to talk while the voyage went on discussing random topics about each other's lives and the situation they were in.
At the same time on another boat sat a man in silence. His thoughts were enough to keep him company as he stared out into the open water resembling a black abyss of darkness. Novius' boat lead the advance and contained fifteen soldiers, all of who were to be a part of the castle raid. A few spoke but the conversations were kept short, the importance of their goal overshadowed every other man in the mission. The weight of this fact stacked heavily on the shoulders of everyone aboard. Of course, they were all hand selected for this mission of utmost importance, every man aboard has had their fair share of battle experience and sights of war horrors.
Novius was the only one amongst the group who had never been to war, but without being said had battle experience that far surpassed everyone else aboard. His renown allowed him to simulate real battles with real injuries and real pain. Doing this for years of his life as a job led to an extensive amount of battle time that would be near impossible to match as a normal human. Being capable of quickly analyzing the situation of opponents in front of them and if they can win or not would be a necessity when inside the castle. Navigating a maze of walls within enemy territory is a death sentence in itself, not knowing what fights to take and which not to would lead to the failure of the assassination.
Nearing the center of the lake it was time to start the approach to Bhrunum, their diagonal path towards the capital city would supply the lowest chance of being spotted. Going full sail down they left the larger boats behind with the crashing waves. Now separated from the main group, their mission began. Approaching the city they would beach their boat by the forest near the south section of the cove. As they landed the fear of being spotted was extreme, the tension in the air was like a rubber band stretched thin ready to snap. Every moment that passed made you sure the band would break now, but it never did, and the longer it took the more sure you were it would snap in the next moment.
They neared the section of town close to the shore where they landed. Now within the city, their goal was to kill any guards watching over the waters by the entrance to the cove. Sneaking throughout they split into groups of three to speed up the process, Novius traveled with a man named K'len and another named Lydo. Lurking down the streets, not a word was spoken unless through hand signals. Novius motioned for their group to run across the street to get a better point of view on their area to clear. Crouch sprinting across they stuck to the shadows ensuring not to be spotted and ducked into an alley. Looking past the building to try and spot some enemies Novius exclaimed, "Damn!" he was clearly upset about something. "What's wrong?" K'len asked. "There's a whole guard building in clear view of the cove. We can't leave them alone, they’ll see the ships."
"Well, how many you think are in there?" Lydo asked looking for someone else to decide on what to do. "No clue," Novius replied while brushing his hand through his hair and sweeping it back to get it out of his face. "I've got an idea," K'len said and speedily crouch ran back out into the street darting towards the guard building. "Wait!" Novius whispered harshly to try and stop his hasty half-baked plan. Ignoring him K'len confidently approached the lit-up window in front of the building and peered inside. After looking for a few moments he suddenly shot his head back down and turned to face Novius and Lydo holding up six fingers as to show that's the number of guards. Out of nowhere the front door shot open and a guard burst out and turned to K'len, "Who the hell are you and why are you snooping around out here?!"
"Oh shit," Novius whispered to Lydo visibly worried for K'len.
Shocked K'len had to try and improvise, "Uhh... I live just down the street and was curious what you guys get up to so late at night... hahaha." A few more guards came out the door now as the first one approached K'len, "What the hell are you wearing and why are you carrying a weapon? You know what, we have some questions to ask you." Three guards grabbed K'len by his all-black garb and dragged him inside for interrogation. Slamming the door shut the street was once again empty other than Novius and Lydo. "What do we do? They're gonna find out and kill him and ruin the raid!" Lydo said nervously, obviously not ready to handle this kind of situation. "Fuck fuck fuck," Novius whispered, "We gotta save K'len we can't leave him in there."
"What?! Are you nuts there are six of them! We should finish the mission and get rid of any other guards. Maybe he can distract them long enough so they don't notice our ships,” Lydo said panicked and clearly not interested in saving K'len. "I'm not leaving him in there! Once the raid starts they'll kill him and rush out to flank our men from behind. Besides the longer we sit here talking about it the more likely they are to hurt him, c'mon let's go!" Without waiting for Lydo's approval of the idea Novius ran out into the street and began unsheathing his Falchion. Lydo followed and walked beside him, "What's your plan?" Novius looked over to him and said, "Hide on the left side of the door behind where it'll open so they won't see you. Once I give the signal to start fighting, take them by surprise."
Before reaching the guard house Novius planted a knee on the ground and outstretched his right hand. "What's the signal?" Lydo asked. Placing his forearm on the cobblestone he looked up at Lydo and said, "Trust me you'll know." Grabbing his shirt from around his neck he bite into it preparing for the pain. Lifting his Falchion into the air he brought it crashing down into his wrist cutting off his right hand. "Graaaghh!" Novius moaned through his shirt and gritted his teeth. Lydo stared amazed at Novius' commitment to saving K'len as he crouched behind the door ready for the strange plan.
Picking up his now detached hand gushing blood he rushed to the door and slammed into it, "Help! Please help!" Novius said loudly to get the guards' attention. As he backed off the door as the guards opened it, "What now- Holy shit! Hey, one of you get some rags!" He rushed over to Novius who was clearly in a lot of pain and was bleeding profusely. "Please you gotta help me, I'm gonna bleed out!" Novius said trying to lure out the remaining guards within. The man tried to grab Novius and lead him inside but Novius quickly fell to the ground and continued, "I can't move anymore! You gotta fix me up out here!"
"Ok just give us a second," turning back to the inside he urged the others to hurry and help him outside, "C'mon just take that guy's weapon and leave him inside for a second, grab some wrappings and help me this guy’s fucking hand got cut off!" Three more guards came running outside to assist completely oblivious to Lydo behind the door lying in wait. "What the hell happened?" One of the guards inquired while helping Novius stand back up. "My wife! She went psycho and cut my damn hand off! She thinks I cheated on her or some bullshit! I got away before she could finish me,” Novius began as he turned to look back down the street in the opposite direction of Lydo, "Oh lord here she comes!" Novius yelled while looking horrified at the empty street and backing up in false fear.
All the guards tried to see where she was in the dark street but could spot nothing. Now behind the four guards, Novius chucked the severed hand at one's face, stunning him. Unsheathing his Falchion Novius beheaded another. Lydo rushed out, sword in hand, and stabbed one of the two non-stunned guards through the abdomen. Novius spun around and crouched slicing at stomach level disemboweling the remaining two guards standing next to each other. "That's four," Novius said quickly standing back up and using his renown to repair his severed hand. Rushing inside to help a captured K'len they found two dead guards on the floor with a bloody-fisted K'len on top of one of the bodies. "Jesus K'len did you beat them to death?" Lydo said fearfully. "Well actually yes I did," K'len began while standing up, "Had to kill ‘em somehow."
"Good to see you didn't get hurt," Novius said while placing a hand on K'len's shoulder.
"Hah, don't worry about an old man like me kid, I've been around the block, I can handle some pain! Thanks for rushing in to help though, clearly my stealth skills aren't up to par anymore."
"Of course," Novius gave a warm smile, "Leave no man behind." Back together now the three continued their advance through enemy territory towards the castle.
After waiting around half an hour the rest of the fleet began sailing towards the south entrance to the cove. A soldier fetched Maxith from downstairs warning him of their approach. "Welp gotta go," Maxith said as he stood up to go above deck. "Good luck! Don't die out there," Reina gleamed. Her smile filled out her face along with her supple cheeks. Looking into her eyes Maxith said, "Don't worry, I'll be back." Above deck, Maxith could see the outskirts of enemy territory by the south entrance. A fog began to approach from the lake towards the city, it strangely moved with the ships as if to follow them, "The gods protect us! They wish to shield us from the enemy!" a soldier said excitedly. Approaching the cove all the ships huddled close together to enter at the same time. This was to guarantee several ships at the minimum would make it to the docks if they did get fired upon by cannons.
Entering the cove the fog lead the way, if looked at from the shore they would appear as ghost ships bringing death to the city. Ghosts the men aboard the ships may not be, but death they did bring. Gaining access to the harbor three of the large boats docked while two smaller ones circled in the cove. Not paying mind to the other ships not docking Maxith stepped foot on the dock along with many other soldiers, it was time for him to perform his part of the mission. Running through the now misty town, chaos ensued. Soldiers barged into houses and began killing any Kadince people that could be spotted. A majority of the forces followed Maxith and Emerson toward the castle, where the real battle lay. Here and there a few opposing guards were met along the way but were quickly disposed of by the sheer mass of bodies ready to fight.
Upon reaching the footing of the cliff where the castle lay Maxith turned to the large sum of men behind him, "Hold off any enemy forces from entering this castle no matter what!" All turning to now face the northwest Maxith’s division readied themselves to hold out as long as it would take. Maxith took a position in an alleyway with a few other men and waited, all the streets heading towards the castle were now flooding with Opik soldiers securing areas and killing guards. Maxith peered across the streets but could see very little due to the fog. Suddenly a bright orange streak of light showed through the fog in the sky, "What the hell is that?" Maxith gasped looking up to the light flying through the air. The light source caused by fire flew through the air towards its designated landing spot to the northeast. Just moments later Maxith spotted a second volley of fire emerge from the cove. Soaring high into the air the flame rained down hellfire across the city.
Realizing what was happening Maxith grabbed one of the soldiers next to him by his chest plate. Slightly lifting him into the air Maxith yelled, "What was loaded onto those smaller boats? Why didn't they dock!"
“Fire arrows!" He quickly responded in fear, "You didn't know? It's part of the plan. Those two boats were to stay sailing the cove and set fire to the northwest part of town." Maxith dropped him to the ground sending the panicked soldier onto his ass. "Who ordered this!" Maxith screamed demanding an answer while looming over him. "It was Decimus! He said it would distract the enemies and induce chaos raising our chances of success, captain!" Turning red with rage Maxith looked toward the northwest side of town seeing the glow of fire get bigger and bigger through the mist. Sounds of buildings collapsing and screams could be heard. "Incoming!" A soldier from further up the street Maxith was defending yelled. Waiting for enemy soldiers to come charging down the street they stared down the fog ready for a fight.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Dashing through the fog ran a man impaled by an arrow through his back and set ablaze. Screaming at the top of his lungs he barreled down the street searching for water but none was to be found. His vocal cords began bleeding from the ungodly sound his throat emitted. "Burn you son of a bitch!" One of the Opik soldiers yelled. Disgusted by the brutality of the sight Maxith walked out into the street showing himself to the man enveloped in flames. He ran to Maxith shouting for help but as he neared Maxith spartan kicked him sending him flying backward and to the ground. Maxith unsheathed his blade and stuck it into the burning mans melting eye socket, ending his suffering. Looking up from the gruesome act he was forced to commit an enemy squadron approached through the fog trying to make their way to the castle.
Novius ran down the street planned for rendezvous, rounding the corner it appeared Novius, Lydo, and K'len were the last to arrive due to their mishap earlier. Running up to the others Novius immediately took charge consciously knowing there was no time to waste, "Let's go we gotta do this quick!" Rushing past allies defending the cliff the assassination group heard words of encouragement shouted their way, "Go get 'em, boys!" Novius raised his fist in the air in reply to their motivational words. Reaching the entrance to the castle they burst into the large front door expecting soldiers to be stationed there ready, to their surprise there were none.
"Why are all the lights out?" One questioned. "They probably know we're coming," Novius replied, "They'll be hiding him somewhere in here, we gotta split up to find him quickly. Everyone grab a buddy and search in pairs of two, Lydo, you're with me." Running through a few long hallways to the left Novius and Lydo burst door to door frantically. "Anything?" Novius hurriedly asked from the doorway of a room he just finished searching. "Nothing," Lydo replied from another down the hall. Five or so rooms later Novius opened one that looked like a bedroom, "Lydo! C'mere!" Novius whisper yelled, "I found a bedroom."
"So? He could be in any bedroom."
"Doesn't this one look a tad fancy for a house slave or guard though?" Novius said while inspecting the room. "Yeah, I guess so," Lydo said quietly, "Look even the bed looks like it was used tonight. If this was the king's room then he's gotta be somewhere around this wing of the castle." Novius ran back to the door of the room with Lydo and continued down the hall. Reaching two doors adjacent to each other Novius put his ear to the one closest to them. Putting his finger to his lip in a shushing manner he then motioned for Lydo to come to listen. Inside two voices could be heard, "Shouldn't they be back by now?" One said. "I don't know just be quiet what if they hear us, the last thing we need is them finding us before they bring back our armor."
Novius motioned for Lydo to step back and cracked the door open slightly making a loud audible creaky sound. "Hey!" One of the voices said waiting for a response. Novius looked down at the floor of the cracked open door noticing behind it was a downward stairway. Novius pointed to it showing Lydo who then had a bright idea. He backed up to the wall and motioned for Novius to move to the side. "Orson is that you?" The other voice behind the door asked hoping for an answer. Lydo ran at the door from the far wall and slammed into it with his shoulder flinging it open and using the momentum to tackle the two soldiers standing on the narrow stairwell.
Novius quickly followed through the door running after the three tumbling down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom Novius tackled one of the enemy soldiers who was getting up while Lydo strangled the other. On top of the man Novius planted one knee on the soldier's chest holding him down and the other knee on his right arm. Struggling to gain control the enemy soldier used his left arm to try and push Novius off. Ignoring this Novius swiftly grabbed the man by the throat forcing his head back and slammed his other hand's palm into the soldier's nose. Instantly going limp the soldier died from his nose bone shooting up into his skull piercing his brain. Looking over Novius saw Lydo's opponent's arms go limp insinuating his death too. Standing up Novius said, "Alright good job, let's search this basement and hope the king is here."
"Sounds good," Lydo replied as he began standing up only to collapse back to one knee. Looking down both of them noticed Lydo had been impaled by the enemy soldier's sword through his lower stomach. Going faint Lydo began to fall over but Novius rushed over to help him. "It's ok man, I've got you,” Novius said trying to keep Lydo calm. Suddenly voices could be heard up the rounded stairwell from what sounded like a large group of enemy soldiers. "Time to go buddy!" Novius said to Lydo trying to hold him up to help him walk. "I... can't... my legs... they won't work... leave me," Lydo said as he kept collapsing to the ground.
"No I'm not leaving you here, I'll get you fixed up, I won't let you die." Novius flipped Lydo on his back and grabbed him under the armpits and began to drag him through the rounding corridor. His renown still had ten minutes until it refreshed. Even if Lydo manage to stay alive long enough for it to refresh the echo of a healthy Lydo would be long gone. "What the hell?!" one of the voices exclaimed from the steps by the dead bodies, "Follow the blood!" another added. Only just around the corner now in a straight hallway, the situation looked grim, Novius picked up the pace with a door in sight.
Dragging Lydo as fast as he could he slipped on the blood pouring out the back side of Lydo's wound. "I got you asshole!" Novius heard an enemy say as their group reached the straight portion of the hallway. With Novius opening the door ready to slip through one of the enemies threw their spear. Before Novius could get Lydo through the door the spear pierced right through Lydo's neck making a wet smack sound and forcing blood out of his mouth. Looking down with a wince Novius made a saddened face to see Lydo pass in his arms. Hearing running down the hall towards him Novius snapped back to the dire situation at hand. Looking up he saw five men rushing towards him, weapons drawn. Dropping Lydo, Novius turned to escape through the door. Just before he could finish his step away a hand made its way through the door and grabbed whatever it could get ahold of. Still in motion to run away Novius' body continued to move while the hand gripped his sheathed falchion ripping it away from his hip.
Feeling the tug as he narrowly escaped down the hallway Novius went to grab for his Falchion praying it was still there, to his dismay it wasn't. "You gotta be fucking kidding me," Novius said to himself while the five soldiers were hot on his tail. Making his way through the labyrinth of dark twists and turns Novius took a door to his left and shut it behind him. "Now that's what I wanted to see!" Novius said grinning while holding the door shut behind him, muffling the sounds of men trying to break it down on the other side. Before him stood the Kadince king pissing his pants in fear of Novius, who looked like a demon sent from hell ready to kill. The blood from Lydo covering his lower half made him look like a monster unleashed in the man's normally comfy home. The king turned to run through the door on the other side of the room, "Wait for me, love!" Novius said tauntingly while pulling a dresser in front of the door to barricade it. With the door halfway covered Novius figured it'll have to do, he had to keep up with the target. Dashing after him through the door he entered another hallway to see the king fumbling with a key to unlock a barred door. "Oh no you don't!" Novius yelled sprinting towards the king who was shaking with fear. Turning the key and pulling the door open the king tried to hurry in but was tackled at top speed by Novius.
Back in the room, the dresser was knocked over as the door was thrust open and three men came flying through shoulder first crashing into the ground. All fumbling over each other they raced to catch up rounding the door into the hallway to spot Novius mid-tackle. Looking back while holding the king down with his right knee Novius saw the men who had spotted him. He slammed the iron-barred door closed while smiling at them through the gaps, "Too slow boys!"
"You fuck! We're gonna kill you!" The soldiers shouted at him. Looking around the room Novius was now trapped in with the king he noticed it was a small, rounded, concrete room with no other doors. The only thing in the tiny room was a pedestal in the middle with a pair of short blades atop. The king who was trying to reach for them was incapable of doing so. "Yeah I don't think so buddy," Novius pressed more weight on the center of the king's back to make sure he couldn't slip away and grab them. "You may have me trapped in here," Novius began, "But at least I get to kill your king!" Reaching for one of the blades Novius heard whispers begin to surround him tickling his ears. Ignoring them due to the yelling and shouting from behind and the king pleading for his life below him, Novius grabbed the short blade with murderous intent.
Immediately upon grabbing the weapon Novius' mind flooded with voices and images of bloodshed and slaughter. Screaming at the top of his lungs the soldiers stepped back from the barred door having never heard such an ungodly sound emit from a human in their entire lives. Novius grabbed the side of his head with his free hand while the other gripped the cursed blade. He squeezed his head as hard as he could trying to make it explode to end the suffering. His nails dug into his skin gathering flesh underneath them causing him to bleed from his scalp. The king lay under him in fear as Novius rolled off of him to the ground on his back.
Now free from his capture the king backed up against the opposite wall from the screaming Novius who was hitting his head with all his force, rolling back and forth. The soldiers ran back to the barred door urging the king to give them the keys so they can unlock the door and save him. Snapping out of his paralyzing fear the king reached for the keys on the ground in front of the pedestal, and suddenly the screaming stopped. A chill was sent down the king's spine as he once again froze in place, "No! Don't!" a soldier shouted as the king looked up to see Novius now standing before him. Backing up to the wall and pressing into it to get as far from Novius as possible his eyes widened sensing the sheer pressure emitting from Novius now. Looking at his hands covered in Lydo's blood he ran them through his golden hair staining it a crimson red. His eyes were no longer a bright blue as they used to be, a dull grey now inhabited his iris giving the impression of no emotion. Raising his foot he slammed it into the king's face as he and the guards screamed for his life.
About ten minutes later K'len and his search partner finished scouring their wing of the castle, they ran into a couple of lonely guards but found nothing of interest. They decided to head back to the entrance to see if anyone else had any luck. On their way back they reached an intersecting hallway. While traversing through the center point of the four connecting hallways screaming could be heard from the right. Crouching and looking in the direction of the screams they spotted an enemy soldier bursting from a door and running in their direction. Knowing their positions were compromised K'len drew his weapon ready to dispatch another opponent. While ready for battle K'len noticed something off, a fully trained soldier charged with the responsibility of protecting the king would be no newbie warrior. Yet this one ran straight at them screaming like a little girl, no weapon in hand, no defensive stance, nothing. Realizing he wasn't running "at" them K'len lowered his guard and held his hand up to stop his partner from shooting the enemy with an arrow. Both watched as the soldier ran right past them like they weren't even there. They turned watching him run through the hallway as if he had seen a ghost. K'len then gave the signal to fire at him and instantly an arrow slammed into the soldier's back as he ran. Making a loud thud sound it pierced his heart sending him crashing into the floor and sliding with the long red rug lining the hall.
Confused as to what just happened K'len decided they should inspect, hoping to find more friendlies who already completed the mission. Approaching the door they found a set of stairs spiraling down to a basement. Weapons drawn they descended into the dark basement. At the bottom of the stairs were two dead foes and a trail of blood dragging further into the hallway. "Looks like someone already cleaned house down here,” K'len murmured. Following the blood trail they found a dead Lydo bled out lying in a doorway, "Fuckin' hell, poor bastard was with me earlier tonight… he helped save me. Who was he partnered with here?" K'len inquired. "He was with Novius," The fellow soldier responded, "Think he's ok?"
"He's a capable one, I'm sure the kid can look after himself. Lydo was always a bit clumsy," K'len said while wiping his hand over Lydo's eyes closing them, "Let's take a look around and see if we can find Novius." They continued down the winding hall finding another already opened door to the left. Climbing over the toppled dresser and looking around nothing useful could be found. "God, what's that fucking smell?" The fellow soldier asked. Walking out the door on the other side of the room K'len turned to the right and stopped dead in his tracks, "What the fuck..." he whispered. Interested in what had an old timer like K'len so spooked the soldier walked through the door to join him.
Upon seeing the state of the hallway he immediately vomited and turned away not capable of stomaching what he was seeing. The stone hallway was filled with a metallic smell from the blood that painted the walls from top to bottom. Hanging from the light fixtures overhead were long intestine organs draped carelessly as if thrown across the hall. Lying in the middle of the walkway were three dead bodies, the closest had its torso completely ripped open and was disemboweled. Some of the insides were still hanging out, stretched across the floor. The inside of the corpse looked almost hollow now with how much was dug out of him. Another body lay, what would normally be considered face down, but no longer had a face or even a head for that matter. Whilst trying to crawl away from something its spine had been sliced out with the victim still alive and used to pull the head off the body. Lastly, the third body was left relatively untouched apart from one area. An uncountable amount of stab wounds filled the face making it look similar to a wasp nest in structure. Dozens of soft, mushy, oozing holes disturbingly stared back at K’len as if asking to be identified, sadly for this man he never would.
Walking through the mess K'len went to inspect the scene, "You're actually going to go look closer at that shit?" the disgusted soldier spat. "One of them could be Novius, I have to," K'len said as he walked through the massive pool of blood filling the floor. Stepping over the bodies he made his way to the small rounded room at the end of the hallway, inside the scene was no better. To the left, a fourth body slumped against the wall in a sitting position. Its head had been crushed so forcefully into the wall that the stone smashed and caved inwards, giving the appearance of a dent. The head itself was the worst part, on impact everything above the lower jaw exploded splattering pink mushy brain matter mixed with bone shards everywhere. One of the eyeballs was still intact and laid in the hanging lower jaw as if watching K'len observe its corpse. The esophagus bubbled with blood and overflowed on the pale skin of the neck. "I don't think any human could do something like this. This... this is something else," K'len began as he turned walking back through the mess of bodies, "None of them are Novius at least."
"Jesus, how can you even tell?"
"Well the three in the hallway are wearing Kadince battle armor and the body in the small room is the king."
Looking back up from his stomach bile at K'len he asked, "The king? How do you know?"
"Well, the Kadince king has a golden tooth for his bottom right canine. That body in there has one. Whatever killed them may have done us a favor in killing him but wasn't kind enough to leave the head intact as planned."
"The mission's complete then, so what should we do?"
"Somethings going on down here, let's try to find Novius, extract him, and meet everyone else outside."
Continuing down the hall to the left now they came across another open door. Peaking inside the pitch-black room K’len spotted an enemy soldier hiding under a table balled up holding his knees to his chest. Planning to interrogate him K’len walked into the dark room while the other soldier kept his arrow aimed steadily at the enemy. Seeing K’len approach, tears dripped down the frightened man's cheeks while shaking his head as if to tell K’len no. “What the hell are you so afraid of boy? Get on your feet like a man and tell me just what the hell is going on. Where’s our buddy?” The frightened man didn’t respond but instead shushed K’len quietly then whispered, “He’s listening…”
“What? Who?” K’len responded still not talking quietly like the man suggested he should. The frightened individual looked past K’len now and his face twisted with fear. Raising his hand he pointed behind K’len while shaking violently. Turning around back toward the door K’len saw nothing at first thinking the man was just insane, but upon a more careful look, he spotted something. Just behind the door K’len entered through a face could be seen ever so slightly in the dark. The face stared at K’len with a blank expression and wide eyes. Blood covered the face darkening the usually white skin underneath. “Novius is that you?” K’len said confused as to what was going on. Without pause, the door slammed shut cutting off the bowman from the room. Reacting to the situation he attempted to open the door with no luck, screaming could be heard from the crack under the door. He began slamming his shoulder into it to try and break it open. In between attempts thuds, screaming, and shaking of the door disturbed him from continuing to try. A large thud shook the door and K’len could be heard shouting from the other side. “K’len! I’m trying to open the door! You gotta help me, it’s stuck!” the bowman pleaded.
“It’s too late Yanric… run,” K’len urged him with words bubbling out through a blood-filled throat. Suddenly Yanric heard a loud slicing sound from behind the door and K’len drop to the floor with a thud. Shocked by what was the sound of his buddy's death Yanric stood there for a second. The sound of the body now being dragged away scraping the floor could be heard, then it stopped and was quiet again. Yanric’s eyes were glued to the door not understanding what was happening. The doorknob then turned as if someone was trying to open the door from the other side but it was still stuck. Frustrated by this the doorknob shook faster at an attempt to force it open. There was a quick pause and some silence then a hand burst through the wooden door covered in blood. This shocked Yanric back awake and the fear inside of him rose exponentially. It reached for the doorknob and shook the handle viciously, shaking the entire door. With neither side proving to be any help the hand suddenly stopped and slowly retracted into the dark room.
No longer frozen in place Yanric decided it wasn’t worth waiting to see what would come out. He turned to run and darted through the hall. A loud slam came from behind him by the door and it burst into pieces flying open. Feeling the blood in his veins turn cold he knew he had to get as far away as possible. He rushed up the stairs hoping maybe it didn’t know where he went, but as he neared the top of the steps he stopped briefly to listen. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. The thuds of steps running up the stairs behind him sent chills down his spine and he sprinted through the hallways with the sounds of the footsteps getting closer and closer. The gap between them closed but Yanric was nearing the exit. Throwing his bow to the floor and dropping his quiver, spilling arrows across the floor, he lightened his load assisting in his movement speed. He rocketed into the entrance area by the front of the castle and spotted his team members all gathered waiting for K’len, Novius, Lydo, and himself. Without stopping Yanric ran past screaming, “We have to go! NOW!” Three of his allies at the back of the group grabbed him to stop him from running out the front door. “What the hell’s gotten into you? Where’s K’len and the others? Did you find the king?”
“LET ME GO!” Yanric screamed in fear. Almost immediately a short sword came flying from the dark doorway where Yanric was running from. Finding its place in the side of a man's head the body dropped to the floor instantly killed by the attack. “Holy shit!” One of them said witnessing the brutal act. Their grip on Yanric loosened after seeing the man die so suddenly, allowing him to bolt away. He made his way to the front door hearing disturbing sounds of screaming, bones cracking, splats from blood hitting cold stone, and flesh ripping and tearing behind him. Now outside he ran down the hill of the cliff seeking the safety of numbers in the army below.
About halfway down the slope the sound of the footsteps once again could be heard from behind him. Crying now from the stress and realization his whole team was now dead he continued to run but was exhausted. His relentless enemy did not tire and caught up tackling Yanric from behind sending him crashing face-first into the paved slope. He ignored the pain from the fall and tried crawling out from underneath the bloodthirsty body now sitting on his back. He dragged his hands across the cobblestone road peeling his nails off his fingertips as he tried to pull himself away, “No no no help!”
Maxith near the bottom of the cliff heard the screams of desperation. He turned expecting to see the king getting beheaded by the assassination crew, finally bringing an end to the madness of the raid. Instead, he saw Novius, holding down Yanric with both knees on his back, hands clasped together overhead. Yanric continued his shouts of desperation, “Pleeease noooo-” Novius brought down his hands smashing Yanric’s head like a watermelon onto the pavement. Maxith blinked a couple of times in disbelief at what he just witnessed. ‘It couldn’t have been real, I must be seeing things,’ Maxith thought to himself, ‘Why would Novius kill an ally? He would never do that, he’s too loyal.’ Instead of his blinking of his eyes fixing the “deception” it only made it settle into his mind what he had just witnessed was real.
Novius now looking for his next victim looked up to see the city on fire and the slaughter of Kadince people. Ignoring the chaos ensuing he spotted Maxith staring at him baffled. Novius rose back to his feet and removed the shirt that was torn to shreds from his previous battle. The white compression wrap covering his lower stomach and waistband was soaked with blood, painting it red on top of his all-black low-crotch sweatpants. He wore black martial art slippers to keep quiet when walking while giving him the flexibility he needed for fighting. Without his shirt the dragon tooth necklace hanging from his neck showed, giving him an overall dangerous appearance with his outfit. He began sprinting towards Maxith wanting another fight.
Maxith watched him approaching and yelled to him, “Novius what the fuck happened? Why did you kill him? Did he betray us?” Ignoring the questions from Maxith, Novius leaped at him bringing down a heavy slash from above. Maxith who was used to sparring in a real battle with Novius was able to see this attack coming. Holding his sword above his head he rested his second hand behind the flat part of the blade and blocked the blow. The stress from the heavy blow cracked Maxith’s black and gold blade but withheld strong enough to prevent completely breaking.
Landing now on his feet Novius began a barrage of slashing and stabbing attacks directed toward Maxith who blocked them all as they had always practiced. “Novius! Why won’t you answer me?!” Maxith questioned him between blocks. Getting pushed through the streets from the heavy blows Maxith realized the blades he was wielding weren’t the weapon he brought with him. Where was his Falchion he’d carried with him all this way? Now paying attention to this detail Maxith noticed something familiar about the blades flying at him over and over again. Before he could recall where he’d seen them before Novius had grown tired of the fight and decided to switch it up. Shifting his weight into his front leg he spun around, facing away from Maxith, while bringing up his rear foot, executing a perfect taekwondo back kick. Maxith’s weakened sword shattered from this and Novius’ foot slammed right into his chest sending him flying. Before he could even hit the ground he crashed through the wall of a wooden building landing on his back among a collection of weapons.
Maxith reclaimed the breath back into his lungs and recalled where the blades Novius was wielding were from. Ruinations edge, this wasn’t Novius, it was a demon infesting him. Rising back to his feet Maxith looked around to find himself in the storage room of an armory. Seeing Novius walking towards him to continue the fight he tossed his shattered blade to the side and grabbed the closest weapon he could find. To his left laid a massive sword specially made for orcs who hunt cyclops. No human had ever wielded one before in history because of its massive size and weight.
Barely able to lift the humongous sword off the ground he rested the blade on his shoulder to compensate for his inability to properly carry it. It cut into his traps just from the weight causing blood to trickle down his chest. Maxith walked back outside to meet Novius once again in battle. Building up speed Novius ran towards him, Maxith widened his stance and used his body weight and all his strength to swing the sword in a large sideways slash at the approaching Novius. In response, he slid under the massive slow slash narrowly avoiding a grave injury. Before Novius could perform his next attack Maxith had used the enormous momentum of the blade to swing it behind his back and above his head, letting gravity pull it down right toward Novius. His body reacted instinctively in the bloodthirsty rage and went for a parry not realizing the immense weight behind the blade. Raising one of the short blades with his right hand at an angle he attempted to redirect it to the side. It smashed straight through and cut off Novius’ entire left arm from the shoulder down. With a sharp gasp of pain, Novius instantly retreated from the encounter jumping back several times. When his amputated arm hit the ground the short sword it was wielding unluckily clattered across the ground in Novius’ direction.
With both of them now twenty feet apart Maxith readied his sword back onto his shoulder while Novius used his renown to regain his lost arm. As he picked up the dropped blade a building came crashing down between the two blocking the street. Novius stared at Maxith as the flames licked the cold night air across their vision. His emotionless gaze and disturbing smile showed he was satisfied with the conclusion of their encounter. He turned and walked into the mixture of fog and smoke that was now filling the streets making it hard to breathe.
Maxith turned and ran through the streets until he found a large group of his men. Maxith was of course concerned for Novius but knew he had not only his friend's life to look after. Determined to get the raid back on track Maxith took control, “It's time for us to leave the city, we’ve been here long enough,” he spoke while beginning to separate the men into groups, “You seven go into the castle and confirm the king's death. Half of you go through the streets and inform any other friendlies we're beginning to head south in twenty minutes. The rest of you come with me, we're going to keep the streets clear in front of the castle for the rendezvous point.”
“What about me?” Asked the lone soldier Maxith singled out from the rest. “You are to head back to port and communicate with the archers to take enough men to sail the boats back to Indona. The rest are to meet with us and head south.” Maxith then pulled him aside just out of earshot of everyone else and spoke in a more harsh tone, “I need you to be on the flagship and ensure nobody touches the woman imprisoned in the cell below deck. If I find out something happened to her I will see to it personally you are court-martialed and receive capital punishment. Do you understand?” Eyes widened in fear of Maxith’s threat the soldier responded, “Y..yy..yes Prince Maxith!” As soon as Maxith turned away the frightened soldier ran toward the port to accomplish his given mission.
Now facing the divvied-up groups Maxith spoke to them, “Alright boys, hard parts over, were in the home stretch now! Don’t ease up, let’s finish this shit strong!” The groups all stood up straight and saluted Maxith and answered simultaneously, “Yes sir Captain Maxith sir!” This response is normally how the soldiers responded to Emerson's demands. All the groups split into their designated directions and headed into the thickening smoke to complete their new objectives.