Chapter 492: Thunderous Roar
…Hollow Shade…The City Outskirts…
The Dusk Queen, Ophelia Thorn, watched from afar as her armies marched towards the city that rightfully belonged to her family. The shade wall had fallen, all that was left was to claim her prize.
Battalions had already been sent to the Northern, Western, and Southern Gates. But the gates served as a bottleneck, forcing them to battle in small numbers.
Messengers had told her that the Western Gate was still holding strong without any signs of breaking.
Word was that the Western Gate had been decimated by the dragonbanes and would soon be overrun by her men and yet even from here, Ophelia could see constant flashes of lightning above the gate. Try as her soldiers might, they weren’t breaking through.
Something felt off, especially after having witnessed the azure flames blooming into flowers in the night sky. Powerful archmages were near that gate. Had the dragonbanes just left the area in search of other prey?
“General Loch,” Ophelia called out to the masked drow standing next to her palanquin.
For many years Alwin Loch had served as her right-hand and most loyal servant. The azure fires that had seared his flesh a few weeks ago had not weakened that resolve, in fact, it had done quite the opposite.
Loch stepped forward and bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“It seems some of the dragonbanes have been sloppy. Take a battalion of our finest and go crush whatever resistance is left at the Western Gate.”
“As you command, Your Majesty. Shall I send more battalions to the Northern and Southern Gates as well?”
“There is no need. We’ll leave the North to the dragonbanes; after they finish destroying the wall’s defenses I’m certain they’ll come back and destroy the Northern Gate. As for the Southern Gate, my messengers tell me the Veres and Glaz soldiers are dwindling, they’ll break soon enough.”
“Very well, Your Majesty,” he bowed and turned to leave.
“Oh, and General Loch.”
He stopped and glanced back, “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Do not fail me this time. I will not tolerate a repeat of the Tourney.”
Loch ran his hand across his mask unconsciously, then bowed once more, “I assure you, Your Majesty, I will not fail you.”
Ophelia looked at the molten breach standing brazenly between the Southern and Western Gates. Her husband would have arrived there by now with his army, along with that deadly vampiress her Master kept around. Soon the entire city would be overrun with Valley warriors and Undergrowth soldiers.
The only potential problem is…
She looked at the wall standing between the breach and the Southern Gate. While the west had already been dealt with, there still seemed to be a battalion of soldiers atop that wall.
For now, at least.
Two thousand torchlights hurried down the grasslands towards the southern wall. Two entire battalions worth of soldiers.
She smirked.
Her husband’s barbarians would deal with the breach’s final resistance soon enough and then they’d move on the Southern Gate.
~~~
…Hollow Shade…Southern Wall…
Melfyn notched an arrow and pulled his bow back, “FIRE!”
The Cinder Brood teenagers loosed their arrows into the oncoming horde of warriors. Several soldiers, including the vampiress Captain Talia, stood beside them on the merlons, firing their arrows at his command.
Another volley of thirty-odd arrows flew down into the grasslands. A few torchlights fell to the ground and disappeared into the darkness of the trampling horde.
Melfyn reached for his quiver but found it empty. “I’m out of arrows!”
Many of his tribemates glanced at each other with troubled looks. “So are we!”
Captain Talia turned to her soldiers, “Give them some of your arrows!”
“Yes, Captain! But, we only have four or five left each,” a soldier admitted panickedly.
Bulwark Commander Stonehand strode up behind them and placed a large hand on Melfyn’s shoulder. “You’ve done well, lad. But we've run out of time.” He hefted his hammer and shield. “Prepare for close engagement!”
“Yes, Commander!” the soldiers shouted in unison.
Melfyn glanced at his tribemates worriedly, his gaze lingering on his closest friends; Sandra, Jack, and Rowan.
“Dear sweet gods, save me,” Captain Rorik whispered pitifully.
“There are thousands of enemies out there. We aren’t making it out of this, Rorik,” Captain Talia said grimly.
Rorik ignored her words and kneeled behind the merlons in prayer.
Talia shook her head in disgust.
“Mel?” Jack said anxiously. “What are we going to do?”
Melfyn breathed in deeply and nodded to himself. “You heard the Commander, prepare for melee combat. Anyone who has arrows left, give them to Sandra, she is our best shot.”
“Yes, chieftain!” The orphans pooled together their remaining arrows and handed them to the short goblin girl.
Jack stretched his lanky limbs and picked up his spear. Rowan quietly drew his daggers and hid behind the merlons, waiting for the enemy. Captain Talia stared at the human and drow respectively, they seemed so comfortable with the goblins, there was no distrust, only complete confidence in their leader and tribemates.
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Talia bit her lip and looked down in shame. “Chieftain Melfyn!”
“Huh?” Melfyn glanced at her.
She bowed deeply, “As a captain of the wall I must apologize to you. I underestimated you for being a goblin and being so young. …I was wrong about you and your— tribe. You have more courage than I’ve seen in men twice your size,” she glanced pointedly at Rorik. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, I am honored to die by your side, Melfyn, First of the Cinder Brood.”
He felt a lump grow in his throat. “The honor is mine. I am honored to be here, next to all of you,” he glanced at his friends and Talia. “If I may, Captain?”
Taila cocked her head to the side, “What is it?”
“Our banner…” Melfyn began.
“Kid, I told you, your tribe isn’t a noble House,” Rorik interrupted. “You can’t hang your banner on the wall.”
“I’m sorry, Melfyn, but he’s right,” Talia said reluctantly. “Not that it matters anymore.”
The valley warriors crashed into the wall. Their angered voices echoing upwards to the battlements. Sandra pulled her bow back and shot at the ones trying to raise ladders to scale the wall.
Commander Stonehand channeled Blue and began firing bolts of lightning down at the barbarians, even as they fired back magical bolts of their own.
Melfyn stared at their banner lying on the ground; a black fabric served as the background, and at the center was a shining sapphire with a silver crescent moon surrounding it, the Sapphire of the East, Lunis.
I’m sorry, Witt. You worked so hard to make it for us…
Melfyn wondered if Stryg would have been proud of him. Stryg had trusted him with the safety of the tribe until his return.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep my promise,” Melyfn whispered, teary-eyed.
“Mel!” Jack yelled as a pair of ladders lodged onto the wall on both sides of them.
Melfyn wiped his eyes and hefted his spear and shield. “For Cinder Brood.”
~~~
The Commoner District was the outermost section of Hollow Shade, shaped like a ring around the rest of the city; and separated from the other districts by a man-made stream that stretched across all the districts and directly fed by the Dire River outside the city.
Trebuchet fire hurled boulders of a jade-like material through the night sky, crashing into the Commoner District in periodic barrages. The south and west sides were riddled with wreckage and rubble. Fires had broken out on several streets, quickly overtaking the old wooden houses.
Stone golems emerged from the jade boulders like insects from a cocoon. They chased after the survivors of the trebuchet fire, smashing them into bloody smears on the ground. Patrolling sentinels marched to the fleeing people’s defense, but as the trebuchet fire continued, the undead sentinels’ numbers began to dwindle.
The entire region had fallen into chaos and the surviving commoners rushed towards the bridges that connected to the Trade District. Thousands of panic-stricken survivors crowded the bridges, pushing and even trampling over one another, trying to get across. Many fell into the stream below and the rushing current pulled them under.
Numerous merchants, worried about their wares being raided amidst the chaos, ordered their guards to barricade their stores. Some merchants even had their guards block some of the bridges in hopes that the commoners wouldn’t get through.
But as the guards struggled against the terrified commoners fleeing for their lives, a small figure crashed into one of the markets, burrowing right through two stores. The nearby guards jumped back and shouted in surprise before rushing to the smoking crater.
A woman, her olive skin covered in dust, coughed and staggered out from the crater. She brushed her long dark curls and glanced at the suspicious soldiers slowly surrounding her. Holo stumbled to her knees and held her side, blood seeped from her cracked armor and drenched her hand red.
A guard raised his spear and pointed it at her, “Wh-Who are you!?”
Holo ignored him and looked up. “Get *cough* back!”
A second figure leaped into the sky from a distance and landed at the center of the marketplace, a few dozen paces away. He was a young man, a teen really. Pristine white hair and warm brown skin, eyes glowing different colors that changed every few seconds.
Caligo brushed a bit of dust from his black-feathered cloak and walked towards Holo. “I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d last this long. Your regenerative capabilities are quite something.”
The guards turned to him and shouted in alarm.
“Run!” Holo screamed at them.
Caligo raised his arms. Eight grey tails as thick as an arm and with sharp steel-like points, emerged from his back and stabbed out in a flash, piercing right through the guards’ armor and chests. The guards spurted blood and fell limp as the tails raised their corpses into the air. With a simple twist of the tails, Caligo flicked their bodies away.
“Dammit,” Holo cursed under her breath.
Caligo glanced at the blood dripping down her armor and running down her leg. “Oh, you’re at your limit,” he said disappointedly. His tails withered away and he casually walked up to her. He leaned down and narrowed his eyes, “But you and I both know you’re not done yet.”
Holo glared at him and Flickered. He spun around and kicked her in the abdomen as soon as she reappeared. Holo gasped an empty breath and crashed into a building.
Caligo clicked his tongue. “Why are you so stubbornly staying in that form? Why hold yourself back?”
Holo coughed up blood and with trembling arms, pushed herself up.
“Is it for these people?” Caligo gestured to the city around them. “Do you not want to show them all what you really look like? You don’t wish for them to be scared of you? Hm?” he laughed. “Oh, Holo, you’ve gotten soft.”
“…Heed my call… Lyrae.” The black scythe flew through the air and landed in front of her, the curved blade jabbed into the ground.
Caligo raised his arm and Honorem flew straight into his hand, the black sword pulsating with power. “Or is it maybe that you already know even if you shapeshifted back into your true form it wouldn’t make a difference? That deep down you know, you are going to die tonight.”
Holo spat a glob of blood at his feet, “For someone who wants to kill me, you certainly talk a lot.”
He smiled. “Are you afraid to die, traveler?”
Holo scoffed, “I’ve already made peace with that. You on the other hand,” she smirked, “I think we both know that deep down, you are the one afraid of death.”
His expression turned cold. “I fear no one and nothing.”
Caligo swung Honorem down. Jade lightning crackled out from his blade and burst in a torrent of bright green thunder, ripping through the cobblestone street and the brick buildings. Holo held Lyrae tight, bowed her head, and braced herself.
Her world exploded in flashes of white and green. Lightning tendrils melted through her armor and burned her flesh. She tumbled through the air, waves of energy battering her. She hit the ground and skidded across the marketplace, stopping when she crashed into a merchant’s home in the distance.
There was nothing left of the marketplace, save for scorched rock and a red-hot epicenter where Caligo stood. He leaped into the air and landed heavily next to Holo. She opened her eyes blearily and looked around in a daze. He slammed his foot on her chest and she cried out in pain as her sternum caved in with a loud crack.
Caligo leaned his arm on his knee, pushing his full weight over her. She groaned and sputtered blood. He looked down at her dispassionately, “After all your lies, tricks, and antics, here you lie, broken. Your precious wall has fallen, your champions have been slaughtered, your armies are being butchered as we speak, and soon your city shall fall.”
Holo glared at him defiantly and grabbed his leg with trembling fingers.
“Had you just given me Selyndra’s Key I would have spared your city,” he shook his head. “Goodbye, Holo.”
Caligo raised Honorem. Holo panted and stared up at him, her brown eyes tired. Her gaze shifted, looking up past him, and her lips curled in a faint bloody smile. He furrowed his brow.
A thunderous roar boomed across the city. Caligo snapped his head up. The dark grey clouds trembled in the night sky. An emerald dragon burst from the clouds, wings outstretched, maw aglow with flame. A silver dragon shot out from the clouds behind him. Then a scarlet dragon, a bronze, and an amethyst. Dragon after dragon flew down.
The clouds parted, streams of mist pulling apart as a dragon twice as large as any other emerged. His sapphire scales glowed with power. Wings spread, stretching out thrice his size, eclipsing several dragons whole. His chest swelled and he roared once more, the thunderous noise booming across the city, sending vibrations through the ground itself.
Caligo stared up in quiet surprise. “The Azure Sky… Kaleidrog,” he whispered. “After all these years you finally decided to fight… You bastard.”
Holo clenched her teeth and Flickered away from underneath him. Caligo looked back down, but it was too late, she was gone, for now.
Scarlet feathered wings sprang from Caligo’s back. They spread open wide and with a single beat, he shot up into the sky.