Volume 2, Chapter 1:
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Skies above the Alpine Mountains
Cassius never considered himself much of a spy.
Truly, in what world did the ability to swoop in and rip the foes of the empire to shreds with his wyvern become subordinate to the ability to fly over the enemy, out of reach, watch them for a brief time, then head back to their outposts and report to his commanders what he saw so they could plan accordingly.
Internally, he shook his head away from such useless thoughts. He was too busy, focusing on his breathing and maintaining his beast under control, the air around him already thin to the point even his training made it difficult to keep up with his rapid ascension up above. After the battle a mere two weeks prior, even he understood how important scouting was now.
He could observe the rocky mountain peaks below, and he could still see the taller still snowy range that ran across the continent further away. The Alpine Mountains that legends spoken long ago said had protected the people of the empire in the dark days after the Age of Heroes had abruptly come to an end as they became the home to a new threat. He then glanced down the dangerous trails, his eyes squinted and his brow furrowed.
There were a lot of men moving through the mountain’s main highway, he could tell as the strange carts they had used were clearly on the move, leaving dust and some smoke in their wake, but they appeared to be struggling in places. As if the rocky roads only allowed so much.
The mountains were working in the favor of the Iberians it seemed. Small blessings from the gods. But a part of him wondered just how long that would last. As he gazed further, he saw the peaks that surrounded two large valleys now appeared to have odd structures. They almost seemed to be guard towers, only so thin and small he could not imagine them supporting any man. Some were harder to spot, hidden amongst the rocks, but he had memorized the area long ago and could tell the differences from two weeks prior.
He glanced at his fellow fliers and waved his free hand in a circular motion. Typically, he would have had a javelin on said hand, but soldiers were rarely blessed with the selection of their battles and he knew now how useless one would be against the cowards in their metal carriages.
There were four others, at a distance of about twenty-five cubits, all in a wide formation as they observed the enemies that marched through the now desolate mountain paths. They saw his signal and promptly began their turns back north.
He felt a shudder at the biting cold of the higher altitude and longed for the warmth of the ground once he returned to General Octavius. The report would neither be grim nor hopeful. He would speak of what he saw, and allow those who knew better to decide on a course of action based on what he and his wing delivered. The enemy was struggling to get through the mountains, but they were pushing outward regardless. Information was always vital, but he felt an added weight carried in this new war they found themselves waging.
Cassius felt his beast suddenly shift unnaturally, but he felt the cause for such a startled movement an instant after he gripped its reins tightly.
He had not heard the monstrous ball of fire and smoke as it approached him, but the second it flew past him and hit the furthest man in his wing and his wyvern that roared as it consumed them, the sound caused his ears to scream at him in agony. It took him less than a second to realize where the attack had come from. He forced himself to remain composed and shouted orders he doubt anyone heard as he coupled them with rapid hand waving. He waited only for a half-second to allow his fellow fliers to see him, then dove for the ground as another terrible monster of smoke and fire screamed after them. It moved straight towards them and he swore it almost seemed to try and follow him as he dove further towards the peaks below and hopefully cover from the strange weapon of the enemy.
Then, likely a small blessing from the gods, the strange thing stopped following after him, rushed past him and his fliers, and finally slammed into the distant mountain peak in another ball of smoke and flames. After a second, he heard the horrible report of the destructive weapon. With that horrible encounter over with, and knowing they were not far from the barking projectiles of the invaders, he glanced around himself. No other losses as his two fliers quickly followed after him in a tight formation, though one of them appeared burnt. Still, satisfied with escaping that ambush alive, and knowing where the attacks had come from, he led his men in a low flight through the mountains as they headed back.
Nothing else chased them.
***
Dennis Orville frowned before lowering his binoculars.
The first MIM-23 had exploded next to the furthest wyvern out of the formation, perhaps wounding the one closest to it, but if it had been a mortal wound he could not tell as the flying lizards disappeared behind the towering peaks in the distance. The second missile had performed even worse, annoyingly. Flying right in between the wyvern squadron and smashing into the peaks behind them.
The supposed “Homing All the Way Killer” did not seem to live up to the appropriate acronym Raytheon had come up for it.
Guess they carried it and the radar all the way up there for nothing…
Then he shook the thought away.
The M42 Dusters were great anti-air in these circumstances, but the HAWK’s MIM-23 missiles could provide them with air cover for much greater distances than the now decade-old AA guns. He noted that the Wyvern squadron had intelligently retreated even if they hadn’t all been killed. This gave them and everyone else the needed cover for continued long-range patrols.
Still…
With the lone hand signal from Captain Thomas Rhodes, he picked up his gear like everyone else and continued pushing further into the now eerily silent mountains that slowed their advance.
Not that it mattered to him.
He knew what kind of people they were fighting by now.
6 leagues south of the Trading City of Vicenzo.
"Come on, quickly!" the farmer said as he tied the crops to the wagon in a knot that appeared far too loose, the sun barely rising over the distant mountain range.
His wife moved cautiously, the small girl in her arms blissfully unaware as her mother sat on the wagon and wrapped her in a blanket even tighter.
She spoke in hushed tones as he mirrored her and grabbed the reins "I left some food ready on the table!"
"Good! Maybe that will buy us some favor." the man said, equally quietly, then whipped the horse to make it advance.
"If we hurry, we should make it to Vicenzo before midday…" he murmured, seemingly to his wife but his eyes were distant.
They moved about as fast as could be expected. Past now abandoned and decrepit old farmhouses, some broken and already falling apart, some already burnt to the ground.
The woman kept an eye on the tall fields of corn and grass that plagued the countryside, their farmhouse shrinking behind them. She looked at her daughter, the small child still asleep in her arms, still blissfully unaware of everything. Both parents had a look of cautious madness in their eyes as they proceeded in the lonely fields of what had once been a much more vibrant community.
But it was useless.
They made it to the main road and the look of cautious madness turned into one of immediate despair.
"Good day! Where are you lot headed?" the man in clean armor with a neatly groomed mustache asked. He was grinning from ear to ear, a sharp short sword rested on his knees as he polished it where he sat.
"W-we're heading t- towards Vicenzo, sir. We... left food and water free for your men to enjoy if you'd like!" the farmer quickly said.
"Ah, that is certainly appreciated. Ever since those monsters from some unknowable beyond arrived, we really haven't had much of a chance to rest!"
"O-oh?"
"Yes, sir! No rest for us wicked soldiers of the Iberia it seems. Really now, there are a lot... a lot of men roaming the countryside looking for food, water... women."
The farmer didn't have to look at his wife to know she was trembling.
"I... I can give you all our food, all our water, but please-"
"No, no... I don't think you understand. We're not looters. This is being done on the orders of Emperor Adrian Sol Traianus himself.” he concluded with an air of total finality. A man explaining to a child why they can’t play.
Then, still smiling, “Us getting your food, your water, and your wife…” a shake of the head “It will happen no matter what you do. All that may change is how quickly we-"
"Run!" the man shouted.
The woman was out of the cart in a second. Her arms tightly clutched the now awake child as close as she could while her husband picked up a clearly dull sword from under his seat.
The man blocking the road sighed, not caring at all.
"You really don't understand, do you?"
The woman made it to the tall crops only to get shoved back onto the main road by a large man wearing a similar Imperial armor, clutching a lance aimed at her neck. The tall crops moved as if a breeze was blowing through them, but such mercies were not to be found here. Around the family of three, thirteen other men appeared from the crops and tall grass. All in armor, all with a confident grin.
"Oh, and she has a child, too!" the tall man with the lance said. He walked closer to the now-shaking girl the woman was clutching tightly.
"Don't-" the farmer tried, but was silenced by the man in charge.
"Orders are orders, my good man. It's a shame, of course. But honestly, you heading to Vicenzo would have only delayed this given how things are going. You should have followed the orders sent all around the area and left."
"W-what? Those-"
"Any civilian still in the area will be presumed a collaborator and shall be treated as such regardless of citizenship, wealth, or status, thus decreed Emperor Adrian Sol Traianus!” the man shouted, angrily adding, “You think your carefree lives could continue?! We warned you, people! We are at war!”
“But we have nowhere to go! The crops haven’t-”
“Oh spare us the tears. Take them away. I bet the woman fetches a decent price.”
The man with the lance eyed the woman and with a crooked grin asked “May I?”
“No. Traitors like that only have a few uses, but leave them alive. We need someone to set more of an example."
The man in charge had to commend his soldiers for their professionalism. They did as told despite the screaming of the parents and now awake child and all without a complaint. The chains were locked around their wrists, and they were all pushed ahead. What was going through his mind was unknown. Perhaps shame, yet glancing at the rising sun, he smirked slightly. Unreadable. Perhaps the men there really hated the province. Perhaps it was something else.
She didn’t know and she couldn’t know.
She wasn’t a mind reader. She watched in silence as the men took the family away, marching slowly, the youngest of the soldiers leering at the woman, but not touching her. Not yet at least. As the men disappeared behind a hill, she finally allowed herself to talk.
“Damn... I thought they’d at least make it to the city...”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, just... Seems awful. Didn’t want to see them get captured, either.”
“More pragmatically, it means we can’t make it to the city either… these Imperial troops are everywhere if they’re arresting stragglers this far out.”
She didn’t reply.
Luna stared at the hills where the men had vanished, her reddish eyes darting to the rising smoke of burning crops in the distance. What was she to say? Had she met those people before? No. Were her people on good terms with the farmers in the area? Not exactly. Did it bother her they were being taken away from their homes by force?
“Alan, that could be us next, don’t you think?” she spoke in hushed tones, her mouth forming into a thin line as more puffs of smoke rose in the distance.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. The Iberians they’ll… if they find our camp…” he let the words hang in the air as a chilly breeze blew through the sycamores and bushes that hid them. Branches snapped, twigs fell on their dark hair, and they both simply lay there, deathly silent.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
If they find our camp…
Suddenly her tail shifted. Only slightly at first, but then quickly went stiff. Her wolf-like ears lowered then and her reddish eyes narrowed. She shifted slightly, hoping her leather armor would work if the person she heard was too close to stop immediately.
She only glanced at Alan, hoping her eyes could convey the urgency.
“I hear it...” Alan muttered, the older man’s hand already on his blade, his ears also low and his eyes also narrowed down in suspicion.
Quickly, she drew her blade, careful it didn’t make a sound as she turned to the brush behind her while Alan began to sit up, his hands already unsheathing his own blade. They were cheap swords. They’d do their job, but only that.
Luna sucked in a breath.
“It’s me.” came the near-silent whisper.
She relaxed. Not sheathing away her blade, but lowering it as the young man’s ears poked through the brush first.
Alan spoke first, asking exactly what she already had in mind.
“Is it bad where you checked, Blaan? Cael?”
The blonde-haired young man crawled closer before speaking softly.
“Worse... they’re burning all the crops and homes. If the people don’t want to leave they kill them or put them in chains.”
Cael, his brown hair left to grow long so it almost hid his wolf-like ears added nervously “Yeah, anyone not in the city by now is probably gone… no way to make it for us now, either. Too many patrols. Too much open field.”
Luna winced at the information as if the words had slapped her in the face.
Alan sheathed his blade angrily, growling a frustrated “What are these damned imperials thinking?! Even if the city isn’t as important as it once was, if it’s suddenly destroyed like this… don’t they worry about defeat?!”
“They hate us demis, why are you surprised?” Cael questioned in hushed tones, looking behind him as if unsure if he’d been followed or not.
Luna raised her hand as she sheathed her blade, the others turning to her as she did.
“It really doesn’t matter. We’ve seen enough, so our best bet is to head back, tell the elders, and... evade them and their scouts, I suppose.”
Alan nodded and stood up.
Blaan quickly said, “I heard something strange, however.”
“What?”
“They keep talking about the enemy coming from the mountains... it routed the Imperial Army in the Alpines and they’re the reason for all this carnage.”
Alan said, “That explains some of it then.”
Luna only sighed, then quietly whispered her lone thought.
“I wonder what kind of monsters the Iberians are at war with if this is their response...”
United States Marine Corps Forward Operating Base, Camp Basilone, Alpine Mountains
April 6th, 1964
7:32 AM
Isaac Hilaire proceeded to turn away from the tank treads and vomit onto the gravelly ground below with as much grace as could be expected of any “greenie” in the United States Marine Corps.
The far older Marine tankers seemed to laugh at the reaction as they continued to wash away some of the human remains stuck between the treads of the M48 Patton tanks with hoses. A torn arm, now pale and skeletal, lay on the grass along with a few other scattered body parts torn from the heavy treads of the American armor.
Milo snapped a photo, muttering “Christ, guys...”
“Hey, the bastards coulda run. Not our fault they tried to hide in a ditch.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know tankers... did that, I guess.”
The Marine tankers sneered at the combat cameraman snapped a picture, then went back to washing away the gore from their treads with a hose as though they were cleaning dirt from a car’s windshield.
Isaac Hilaire considered the inhumanity behind it for a second. Washing away human remains as though one were cleaning the grime off an older Ford. But he instead straightened up and did his best to pretend nothing else was happening, managing to calmly ask questions of his own.
“I heard we lost a tank?”
The Marine sergeant whirled around and stabbed a finger at the air in front of him.
“Listen here, sooty, that was not a lost tank. Crew was unharmed, and the tank will be fixed up just fine soon. They were just unlucky is all.”
The other tanker, still washing away the human remains, added “Yup. Got hit by a big rock from one of them catapult early on." he nodded to a burning pile of wood nearby, "Maybe they got lucky, maybe something was loose... Point is, he then drove into a ditch too fast. Tread snapped. Had to stop. Nothing more. It happens, but keep in mind, these babies can take enemy fire. Rocks and magic aren’t getting through it.”
Isaac nodded, taking a note as he said “Makes sense... Especially since the terrain ahead is...”
He glanced at the “highway”.
How they’d built it he didn’t know. The “Romans” they were fighting seemed to have almost carved massive paths through the mountains, connecting various valleys together despite the towering mountain ranges surrounding them all. Great for tanks, at first.
Now the road ahead only seemed to grow narrower, steeper, and more jagged. He saw the massive peaks that rose to the sky, and suddenly the cold breeze on his neck felt colder and almost ominous. There was no longer a stable route for the tanks or armored personnel carriers. Even now, where the tanks were parked, the narrow mountain paths were so uneven the near-fifty-ton tank appeared to be about to roll over.
But perhaps the most worrisome was the distant explosions of artillery.
There was an enemy in those mountains, and it was waiting for them.
He shakily gripped the strap of his M14 Battle Rifle, while his left hand lifted the Kodak up just enough to photograph the jagged peaks yet again.
Peak 070, Alpine Mountains
The shaking of his shoulder woke him, but he opened his eyes to a disturbing sight.
In the dim, early morning sunlight, Dennis Orville watched the strange insect scamper away from beside him as he sat up. It looked almost like a scorpion, with pincers on its front legs, but it was stretched out like a large caterpillar. It crawled steadily away from him, vanishing behind a rock for a second before vanishing completely underneath a larger one.
Sean said nothing, motioning for him once.
Dennis, equally silent, nodded, grabbed his rucksack and XM16E1, then stood and followed after the other soldier.
He heard the overhead whistle for a second, maybe two. It was soon followed by the roar of impact as the artillery rounds landed a fair distance away.
Captain Rhodes was still there, kneeling too close to the edge of a cliff, his binoculars almost glued to his eyes while he held the radio in hand.
“Outstanding.” he sighed.
Dennis didn’t need to look at the scene below. He was already beginning to faintly hear the echoing cries of men left alive from the artillery barrage, now a recognizable sound to him. Screaming wails that traveled through the jagged peaks to reach his ears with little effort despite the long distance.
Instead, he took his binoculars up to his eyes and eyed the peaks opposite the one they were on now. He scanned the rocky mountain tops, seeing distant creeks littered with enemy gear as the men had scrambled once they heard the haunting whistling of incoming artillery.
They’re learning...
Rhodes shook his head, then pointed further to their left. Dennis looked on, then stopped on the scene not far from the river.
It was already a fair distance away from where they’d just pummeled a large contingency of Imperial troops, but not far away enough the impact of the rounds could have gone unnoticed. The village was being rapidly lit on fire, and people, albeit only a few of them, ran from their homes carrying bags over their shoulders. Men, women, and children all hopped on flimsy-looking carriages drawn by horses, many piling into the largest one as the soldiers continued setting the village ablaze. He saw some of the men not in uniform quickly dumping bags of what he assumed was salt onto the few patches of earth that could be used for farming. What crops had once been there were stomped into the ground already.
Dennis suppressed the urge to curse as he set his binoculars down, smoke climbing high into the air as he recalled the type of people they were fighting. Rhodes only stood up and motioned for the men to follow. Failure to make first contact with civilians or not, their mission was still their mission.
Dennis Orville didn’t complain.
Road into the Alpine Mountain Range
She didn’t feel any worse upon waking up. The road had gotten rockier, but the ground she’d been allowed to rest in was as soft as she could have hoped for. She managed to sit straight just as the soldier began screaming for everyone to wake up.
The man was tall, bald, and would not be out of place if he had to act as part of a city wall. His armor and sword, however, made it clear he was a lot more than simply a factor in keeping them all within a certain area.
He could kill us if we tried to escape...
Not that she considered it at this point or... really, when had she last considered “escaping”? Glancing at the metal chains around her ankles, she wondered if the stake on the ground they connected to was all that necessary. Even if she could run, how long would she survive alone this high up in the mountains?
“Move it!” the man ordered gruffly as two of his men forced the other three individuals they traveled with to stand up, a third removing the stake keeping them tied to the ground as they were escorted towards a carriage.
She quickly turned to the small figure next to her, shaking her awake once she saw her softly breathing and unconscious form.
“Megumi... wake up...” she whispered as silently as she could.
The little girl’s ear’s twitched, and her tail swept away at the humid grass before her eyes slowly fluttered open.
Wordlessly, the child stood up, and she quickly followed after.
“Is Sasio back yet?” she asked, rubbing at her eyes, carefully moving in step with her so she didn’t trip over her chains.
“Talia! Aurelia! Breakfast!”
They both turned to the tents, ears perked upwards wholly on instinct as the figure ran towards them, smiling as she expertly carried the three bowls. To her delight, Talia saw the bowls were steaming still.
Lowering her voice to a whisper, Sasio quietly said “He told me to prepare hot food for today since the mountains are going to get colder.”
“Ah! T-thank you, sister!” Megumi... well, no not anymore. Aurelia did her best to stick to the Imperial Tongue.
Talia wasn’t her birth name, either. She recalled “Himeko”, but little else at that point. As they’d been forced west, forced to absorb knowledge, forced to do so much...
Talia shook away the negative thoughts, focusing on the warmth of the bowl of soup Sasio had brought them. It distracted her from the chilling cold of the metal chains. Simple comforts that made survival easier to appreciate.
Her happy thoughts were immediately dashed by the Imperial soldier.
“Alright, foxes, eat up! Quickly! We have much ground to cover today!”
They nodded, not daring to make eye contact as they quickly lapped up the warm food.
They could sense it.
The stranger was walking next to the officer, whispering words they couldn’t quite understand, the man responding as though the words were easy for him to understand. The man would pause, the whispers would start up again, and then he would reply.
“As, so cutting further north, we circumvent the valleys entirely.”
The incomprehensible whispers again.
“Well, they are vital to the war effort, are they not? We’ll do our duty.”
Talia was trying not to think about who the man was talking to when she felt a pair of hands rest on her shoulders, claw-like nails slowly jabbed into her skin as a ghostly voice hummed a curious melody into her ear. It was almost ethereal, as though it wasn’t even there, and yet she could feel the nails and cold hands.
Her fox-like ears instinctively lowered as the voice spoke in a raspy breath that sounded almost guttural.
“Well, aren’t you a fine specimen from the far east?”
She didn’t reply, doing her best not to shake as the seemingly disembodied hands began pinching the skin on her arms, squeezing slightly as if to verify a specimen’s quality.
“Good skin, an amazing shape, seemingly in good health... you would go very far as someone’s toy... and that’s ignoring you and your sisters’ abilities...”
She swallowed as the hand released her, the voice chuckling slightly, still whispering into her ears.
“Welcome to Iberia, Talia... we expect much of you and your family.”
She noticed there and then that her sisters were staring behind her, frozen in place, eyes wide as they remained frozen in a state of indecision, neither running nor standing up to fight.
Talia couldn’t help turning to look next to her at the small woman who walked past her and stood almost in the middle of their little circle. She was covered entirely by a massive cloak, but her messy dark hair and vertical irises told them the person speaking with them wasn’t entirely human.
“All three of you have a very unique gift and the Iberian Empire will employ it to its full capabilities in this new war. Rejoice, children of the far east!”
Talia’s fear morphed into terror.
The woman standing in front of them, the cat-like eyes and barely hidden tail that flicked with the breeze, and the ceaseless smile that was reflected on them all, wasn’t moving her mouth to speak. She heard the words, clear as the morning sun. She heard them coming from the mysterious woman. She knew it had to be her.
Yet her mouth did not move.
“Behave yourselves, and I may not have to kill you. You’re in the very capable hands of the Seljuk Tribe.”
And just like that the presence was gone, and the woman vanished.
Aurelia shakily scooted closer to Sasio, not saying a word as her chains rattled slightly.
Iberian Camp
“How many dead?” Octavius snarled.
“After that last attack, it could be anywhere between six to eight hundred. Their... witchcraft strikes at us from far beyond our capable ranges, general!” the legate replied angrily.
The young Imperial healer placed the soaked bandages with glowing water on the man’s wound, the legate’s face ashen as though he’d stood right next to a firepit. Aside from the burns, the man appeared unharmed.
Octavius was unimpressed.
“I suppose that’s another legion gone... we can likely make some cohorts out of the survivors... but I just don’t understand.”
Agustine raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Why such attacks? They’re causing thunderous strikes that explode the roads our men travel on, but in doing so they hurt themselves, do they not?”
“The metal birds-”
“Are not here yet! Surely they’re aware we’d set fire to the lands, yes?”
“Perhaps they are undeterred by that.”
“Or they’re foolish. No, no underestimating them... how’s this idea of yours going? Destroying the main highway out of the mountains with earth and fire mages...”
“Doable, I believe but our spies have noted that the enemy isn’t pushing their machines through it after that first day.”
Octavius winced, the information catching him off guard.
“That makes no sense. Our men have been pulling back all week, why wouldn’t they press the charge?”
“No way to confirm the true reason, but it makes the ambush I had desired difficult. I initially wanted to bury as many of their machines as possible once they came into view, but I suppose we’ll have to settle on burying their men.”
Octavius nodded.
“See if you can get a prisoner... I understand our special slaves will be arriving soon. And what does that Cassius fellow have to report about these new weapons that killed another dragon?”
Imperial Capital of Iberia
She stared at the ceiling, feeling a little colder than usual. She shuddered and tried wrapping the dirty covers around her pale body as the presence entered her cell once more.
“You’re positively miserable today...”
“Seljuk... what is it? I’m in no mood for your games today.” she tried to sound firm but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
“I suppose you’d wanted to know more about the enemy’s progress.”
“It’s only been a week...” she muttered.
“And they’ve already moved out of the main valley the doorway to another world opened and into the next. Their scouts have also been harassing the Iberian foot soldiers that try to scorch the earth. They move like lightning and kill like vipers.”
Thule's mind quietly went back to the screams and death that had surrounded her before. The flames consumed the land, the homes, and the people. The stench of now deserted battlefields. It all whirled around chaotically in her mind. Only one thing remained constant as she finally formulated a response.
“Good.” She muttered.
“I’m to give my report to Emperor Traianus soon.”
“And?”
The creature did not reply.
She smirked slightly, her mind still on the destruction she’d witnessed not so long ago. As realization took her, she spoke quietly, noting the presence had not left.
“You want to cover your bases, is it?”
At the silence, she slowly chuckled as she spoke “Worry not, I’ll keep my side of our deal, Seljuk.”
The only response she got was a slimy “Good.”