The next day, Vac was called out of his room by Bellerophon, who gave him a tired smile as he said, “Well, I'm leaving this city. I have other things to do. Lady Vesta told me that the next task for you is at the border guard, so we might as well see each other off there.”
“Wait, you're leaving? Why? Is it something important? I could come with you if there's something you need help with. I do owe you.”
“Nah man, you have your own stuff to deal with. Besides, this is more of a personal matter, or as Lady Vesta would put it, a matter of my ‘home’. Don't worry about it. Now, if you're ready, let's go.”
Vac observed the man as they ran along the rooftops to the city gate. Unlike usual, the easygoing man was not chattering away and making bad jokes, and the expression on his face was unusually serious.
‘I’m pretty sure the matter isn't nearly as simple as he made it seem, but well it's not my place to pry. Plus, while I haven't seen him in action, from what little Asclepius told me and from the casual confidence about his person, he should be fine. Plus, he rides the freaking Pegasus. Yeah, he'll be fine.’
When they reached the gate, a buff bearded man with a serious expression on his face greeted them.
“Hello, Bellerophon, it's been quite a while hasn't it? And you must be Vacuus Venti. The Balancer sent a messenger to inform me of your arrival. I’m Talos, the head of the border guards. I understand you'll be working with us. We're glad to have you.”
“Uh yeah, sure, me too. After seeing this guy off first, of course.”
They walked out together for a bit, until Bellerophon turned around and said, “Well, this is me. Anything you'd like to say or ask before I leave?”
Vac thought for a moment and asked, “So, uh, where is your home, exactly? I've been told followers of Neptune generally live along coastal areas. Are you from one of those places?”
Bellerophon smiled, leaned in and whispered, “No, I'm from Atlantis.”
Bellerophon quickly called down Pegasus and Back waved them goodbye as they flew away, though his thoughts were more on what Bellerophon had said.
‘Atlantis, as in the Atlantis? I thought that place was just a legend? Was he messing with me? Certainly fits his kinda humor, but it didn't sound like a joke. If that fable is true, does it mean… Never mind that, I'll think about it later. For now, I'll focus on what's ahead of me.’
After walking back to Talos, Vac asked, “So what exactly do you guys do? To be honest I thought you guys allowed people in fairly freely.”
Talos smiled and said, “Oh, we do, it's just that there is a certain condition. We are all of us here people without homes, the lost, the shunned, without any other place to go or any allegiances other than the community we created here. And we will of course freely allow in people like us, for as long as they wish. The ones we do not allow in are those who serve their own homes, aside from the few traveling merchants we trust. Those with allegiances to their king, or Republic, or whatever else they serve. We are a free people, and will not have them throwing their weight around and trying to make us one of them. Do you understand?”
Vac nodded, but there was another obvious question raised by that answer.
“I guess so, but how exactly would you determine that?”
The man thumped his chest proudly and answered, “You see, our gang is largely composed of followers of Vesta, the goddess of the flame and the home. Not many think about the latter, but it allows us to use some esoteric skills. The one applicable here is one that allows us to view the ‘home’ of anyone, and not even illusions can make us unable to see it. So anyone who doesn't fit the conditions can easily be identified. And if they attempt to force their way through, our archers will take care of them. They're crack shots, I assure you, and each one is within sight of at least two others. Even Bellerophon on his Pegasus wouldn't escape them unscathed. And even the merchants whom we do trust have their goods checked. We also have guards patrolling along the city walls. Now then, we'll have you work down here with another guard at the gate. If he signals for you, it means there's a problem.”
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Vac went about the rest of the day in his role, though he didn't really have much to do. Most of the newcomers were refugees, seeking a new home, each for their own reasons. And Talos was true to his word, guiding them in and providing a rundown of everything they'd need to know for their new lives.
Late in the day, as the sky darkened making it even harder to see in the already shadowed city, a merchant cart arrived. The other guard moved to check the goods, but while he was doing that they suddenly heard a cry from high up. It was one of the archers.
Talos barked out an order for the cart to be stopped and for the other archers to fire at the intruder. Vac and his fellow guard moved to stop the cart. Vac took a glance above. He could see that arrows were being fired in the direction of the intruder, though there seemed to be some hesitation in the shots.
Talos called for more men to attack the intruder, and Vac signaled to the other guard that he wanted to go. The man nodded, and so Vac shot off in the direction. Once there, he could understand why the guards were having trouble. The man seemed to have some sort of hostage, a kid by the looks of it, and used the child as a human shield. Moreover, the man seemed to disappear each time he stopped.
While Vac couldn't see the man clearly, the figure seemed strangely familiar. By then, the archers began to arc their shots, and managed to land a hit or two. Moreover, they were sending men to scale the building that acted as the city wall the man stood on. Just as Vac was about to join the latter group however, the man seemed to fall through the roof of that building and straight into it, which also took him out of sight. Talos cursed and ordered for men to go into the place, but there were no entrances directly to the height the man had gone in at, and they couldn't search the whole building.
The man had gotten away. Talos went up to investigate himself, and after some deliberation Vac decided to follow.
‘I want to see just what that guy did. He was moving pretty quickly. The reflexes and speed needed to dodge the arrows while holding a hostage as a human shield are out of this world. And we still don't know what he came here for in the first place.’
When he reached the top, he saw Talos and a few others looking down at the hole the intruder had made in the roof. When Vac took a look, something caught his attention.
‘It’s less like he manipulated it to break apart or that he collapsed it with sheer force and more like he cut a hole open at his feet. And an incredibly clean cut at that. It's almost like…’
Talos noticed the thoughtful expression on his face and asked, “Vac, do you notice something?”
He hesitated for a moment, and then answered, “Well it's just a hunch, but the way it's been cut reminds me of a Roman swordsman I've gone up against. He wields these incredibly sharp swords imbued with mana, and in general is an incredible fighter. I can't be sure, but at least I think that man would've been capable of this.”
----------------------------------------
Alexander sighed as he tended to his arrow wounds while keeping an eye on the brat he'd tied up, both as a hostage and for the purpose of making the illusions. Only a few followers of Ceres could properly use the power of illusions, and it was especially rare in one so young, which was why he'd kidnapped him as soon as he came across the brat.
His original plan had been to simply send him back to Rome to be ‘assimilated’. The Romans had a way of bringing people in that way.
‘Like they did with me.’
But after Alexander had to go to the City of Dragons, he decided the kid would be useful enough. And the plan has worked, even though it'd been a pain to climb up the ‘walls’ of the city unseen while carrying a kid. He'd had to take his time to find the gaps in the border patrols.
‘There’d also been the issue of the kid getting any big ideas and screwing the plan up, but I had backups in case of that. Besides, the brat doesn't have any clear allegiance to these people, so it wasn't likely for him to risk anything with a blade to his throat.’
Before him, the teary eyed kid begged, “Please let me go! I have a family! You've gotten into this place, so just let me leave!”
“Relax, kid. Your name was Scamandrius, wasn't it? I'll let you go once I've done what I've been told to do.”
“A- and what's that?”
“Retrieving an artifact from a brat, and shattering the balance of this city.”