Robert had seen what fervor can do. What happened at the Fleet Council meeting?
Robert didn’t know anything other than there was no need for a small group to move.
None complain. Most of them were soldiers. Some have fought long enough to follow without question.
“Doc, are you really up for this?”
“I need to come. It’s risky, but I have to do it.”
Doctor Gabrio readied his kit. Among them, he was one of the few who carried tools to save lives.
“Doc, do you know where we are going?”
“One of the settlements.” He went quiet. “Truth be told, we were warned that the Shadow walks among us.”
“Shadows?”
Gabrio nodded. He slung the bag around his shoulder and adjusted the belt he used to carry his pistols. He carried four pistols, though that was not unusual considering how some of them carried spares. A soldier here can load his weapon in a second, aim, and fire it at someone.
Most of the group was going to be handled by a Captain that was assigned by Officer Claudel. Varo was his name, and Robert had seen good things about him, and he trusted the Commander’s judgment.
The group was going to march in a column. It was supposed to be a group that would send some gifts to the new ally that they have. And they thought the Fleet could help since there were people who were diseased on the next settlement. A Doctor was needed, but the council didn’t want two of the physicians of the fleet to risk their life on this ‘visit’, so they had sent only Gabrio, accompanied by Robert, and Mana, who, despite her objection to this arrangement. Decided to follow Gabrio at Ristina’s request.
Gabrio didn’t refuse either. The only one who could move freely without any objection was Mana. It’s true that the Lord called Seke wanted peace to happen between the factions. Nonetheless, do you walk into a wolf’s den just because he said so?
Mana’s vitae was one of the most prized weapons of the fleet. She wore her vitae and carried her own set of weapons that could turn the tide if this was really a trap.
“At least the Blinder is with us,” Robert said. He looked at Caldor Ando, Mardon, and Terin Gaspar who now wore his half-plate armor padded with fur.
“Don’t know about that,” Gabrio said. There was concern in the Doctor’s face. Robert didn’t pry as they got into a marching formation. Among Lord Seke’s retinue was land vipers that carried the baggage of the fleet. Lady Frigus and Lady Rosalve sat on the back of the one of the beasts.
Most of the soldiers gripped their rifles. Captain Varo kept the soldiers wary as he surveyed the rolling hills. The land was filled with plain grass and blacks rocks that jagged. It was a place that none of the soldiers have seen or visited in their lifetime. Even Robert was amazed at the sight of the flora and fauna around him. Strange birds, animals, and landscapes with earthen formations that were strange in shape.
The soldiers marched quietly and solemnly among the group of strangers who were eyeing them with curiosity and distrust. What happened in the fleet council? What did the Fleet Council decide? Everyone around the camp wanted to know what the details were, but they only got this strange order.
Wide and towering. That was the first thing that came to them as they saw the highest point. It was miles away and yet the height of that form was telling enough. Black stone gates that seemed to have been made by the giants to prevent the passage of monsters that came from the Great Seas.
“We can’t break that open,” Doctor Gabrio sighed. “No wonder Lady Frigus wanted us to wage a campaign against the natives. We have no way of opening that unless we find the mechanism that opens it.”
“It’s a goddamn cliff. How do you open a cliff?”
“I don’t know,” Doctor Gabrio said.
Robert turned to Mana. She was looking at the gigantic gate as well with awe. Even the soldiers couldn’t help but watch that damn gate looming over. It was the goal of the fleet in the Icean Spine.
Other than the sight of the gate. There were long-necked creatures that were eating on the side of the road they were marching. These creatures were simply giants, and though they stood taller than a tree. The soldiers found out that there was no threat coming from the giants who seemed to be grass-eaters.
“Herbivores,” Doctor Gabrio said. “It looks like the climate, the air, and the flora around this part of the continent made them bigger. Though this should have affected the people as well. Ah, it could be that.”
“What?”
“They said there were giants. They must have existed before they became rulers.”
Robert nodded. Most of the soldiers were as tall as the soldiers. They were not as amazed as the first soldiers and yet they seemed to enjoy walking their lands.
The lands were wide. Open plains covered by raised earth and rock formations and on the path they were heading was this split passage on the middle of this earthen rock wall. There were statues standing on both sides of this passage.
Robert didn’t like it. He wasn’t the only one who felt like there was something wrong as they entered the passage and the eyes staring at them in the shadows got closer and closer. The soldiers kept on marching and at the end of the passage, as the line of soldiers were separated from the cliff. They found a gray-clad man standing in front of the marching column with his decrepit and grotesque fingers pointed at us.
“Traitors. Scums. Invaders of our land. Betrayers who would trample on the land’s pride. Domos judges you! Domos judges all of you as cretin!
Captain Varo who was in the front gestured. “Open fire!”
The rifles thundered as one. But the gray-clad man raised the earth and hid behind it. He then lifted his grotesque hands and runic lines spread like a net around the marching column.
Above the cliff, Robert saw a horde of fiends with leathery and flayed skin rushing to the column. Seeing this, Captain Varo ordered his men with a bellow.
“Fix bayonets!”
Every one of the soldiers fixed theirs. They pointed their rifles calmly, lit the bombs they have and started pushing back the horde of fiends coming to the column like waves.
Captain Varo’s orders flowed out of his mouth. The soldiers retreated to a defensive position and the earth was raised and it became a defensive battle where the fiends rushed like maddened bulls seeing red.
Robert fired his rifle with all the focus that he had. As Robert fought, he saw one of the soldiers go down as they retreated to the raised earth. Before he could even think, the Doctor’s figure rushed to the soldier, he pulled the soldier out of the fiends while making sure that he held the wounds on his chest.
“Bastards!” one of the soldiers roared as they came up and broke formation to help the Doctor. He wasn’t the only soldier that was bleeding and was down on the ground.
Robert knew what the Doctor was going to do so he switched to his bow where he was more proficient and made sure that no one gets close to the Doctor.
With the soldiers all retreating in the raised platform surrounded with barriers. The natives were using their mounts to crush the fiends while swinging their weapons. The way they fought was one way to tell that they knew what they were fighting.
“Damn it,” Robert blew air. “It looks like this won’t stop until that bastard is down.”
The creature that was on the top of this cliff laughed like a devil. It was then that Robert saw a glowing figure rushing towards the figure. Following Terin and Mardon was Caldor Ando and Felecia whose arms were marked with crests which then turned into their bullets against the creature.
Robert didn’t have time to worry about them as a creature lunged at him.
“Watch out,” a voice called. Mana, who wore her vitae shot her oversized rifle and pointed at the beasts who were eyeing at them. She was a giant among men with her living-tree armor and with her hulking figure, she was targeted by the larger fiends who took her appearance as an opponent for them to fight.
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The fiends were certainly waiting for them. Questions were in their heads and yet seeing the native soldiers fight fiercely against the fiends made those questions cease.
Robert knew that they have to believe that they are fighting with them for now. They wanted to believe it, after all, it was better to fight the monsters rather than the humans.
“Don’t let them get inside the barrier!” Captain Varo roared. He shot his rifle and butted a fiend down the barrier. “Don’t let up! Tear them to threads! For the Fleet!”
The soldiers of the fleet bellowed. Robert could not help but smile fiercely. As long as he was with his comrade-in-arms. He was sure that they wouldn’t lose so easily to these infernal fiends.
Gunpowder and steel hammered down. The muzzle and the thunder of the rifles shaking the land itself.
“Damn it,” Robert spat on the ground. He reloaded his rifle and fired simultaneously with his brothers. The battle was fierce. It was deafening but with his brothers they could not relent. They would defend their position and push back the horde.
Then the silence came. Like the thunder of their gunpowder was drowned by this drowning silence. Over the cliff was a figure that stood before the Blinder. He was drowned by silence and yet the figure shadowed Blinder of Light.
He was one that blocked the light. The shine that drowns the sunlight as it shines.
The figure appeared. Two hulking giants armed with what seemed to be that of granite and the rocks found around mountains of fire. With their appearance, the thunder of the soldiers of Aon stuttered. The natives who fought fiercely were stunned as well.
Great Horned Giants that wielded what seemed to be a club.
Their eyes turned to the raised earth and they dashed with a crazed eye.
Robert fished his pockets for explosives and among the soldiers, the shoulder-cannons carried by them were fired on the hulking beast. Lady Frigus, and Lady Rosalve faced one of the beasts. But the other Great Horned Giant rushed towards the position like a bull.
“I will try to hold it,” Mana’s voice echoed. Robert was about to say anything when she saw the vitae worn by Mana conjure a lance made from the roots. The Great Horned Giant however deftly avoided the lance made of root and took a swing.
She charged with the great bayonet attached to her rifle and thrust it deep into the belly of the giant. The Giant bled, kneeled, and with a loaded rifle. Mana finished off the beast with a gunshot wound to the head.
The beast fell on its knees. At the same time great songs of the two ladies fell on the Great Horned Giant.
But other than the giants who fell.
There was another one who was beaten to his knees. His light flickering and dying. Caldor Ando shielded Terin Gaspar while Felecia’s face was burning with rage as she shields her group from the power unleashed by this ‘Silence’.
Then an impudent shot came from Mana that staggered the ‘Silence’ and using that chance, Caldor Ando, with his sword flickering against the deafening silence, distracted the creature. But the gray-clad one shielded his master and was bisected. Terin Gaspar unleashed his light but couldn’t pierce the light further down his shoulder, causing Terin to back down from fighting. His halo of light faded and the ethereal wings that sprouted behind his back faltered.
It was no place for mortals, Robert thought.
“Foolish,” a voice crept on everyone’s ears.
Mana, who was aiming again, was hit by an invisible force that started to burn the left side of her face. Her vitae was also withered and she was on the ground, unable to stand, calling for her spirits to heal her.
No one moved. All of them were so focused on firing that even Robert found it hard to move away from his position with the fiends charging in. Then his eyes moved to the moving figure. Robert hesitated, but he abandoned reason and shouldered his way through the firing line.
“Back in line Soldier, damn it!” Captain Varo pulled on Robert and then saw Doctor Gabrio’s figure rushing down to the wounded.
Just as he always did.
Not a hesitation. Only that maddening desire that made his being move. He had seen the Doctor rush like this. Even when he was in the Galleon or at the back of ARkshelled island.
The Doctor was the first one to rush to the wounded.
“Cover the Doctor’s back!” Captain Varo bellowed.
Doctor Gabrio sprinted to Mana. He took out the canteen on his belt and poured it on the flames. Mana, who saw the Doctor, seemed to realize that he had come for her, made sure that the water he poured stopped the burning.
The Doctor was quick to wrap a bandage around her face and within a few seconds, he pulled Mana and carried her across his shoulder.
Then Robert saw the confusing action of the Ladies who were spirit-blooded. Whether it was a desperate attempt to save the Blinder’s life or not. They threw a bolt that seemed to split the air.
Robert didn’t know who this Silence was. They were not given the information or told on what they should expect. They were soldiers who followed and yet Robert knew that this reckless desire to save the Blinder of Light was the death sentence for the Doctor and Mana. This was supposed to be a trip in order to meet Lord Seke’s people.
That bolt was shielded by what seemed to be a power this ‘Silence’ conjured. Every soldier on the raised platform fired everything they had on the fiends and the rest covered the Doctor who was unloading his pistol while carrying Mana back.
But though the bolt saved Terin, Caldor, Mardon, and Felecia from the silence. It turned the attention of the Silence to the location where the Great Horned Giants were summoned to the fight.
“Pest,” the silence’s voice echoed.
It was the same ‘song’ that summoned the giant. Then a ball of what seemed to be black fire was thrown on the slain giants. Their bodies expand and finally burst into an explosion. The Ladies shielded themselves from harm, their knees on the ground.
But Robert knew they would endure. But what about the mortal who had come to help the wounded?
Robert saw.
Everyone saw.
How the good doctor of Milostiv, even at the threat of his life. Had tried to throw Mana out of the way from harm of this explosion.
Then the ‘silence’ was broken and as the dust cleared over the scarred grass and rocks that were burned. ‘Silence’ retreated and yet the fiends were still charging to their position.
Robert saw the spirit-bloodied ladies wounded and bleeding. Terin and Caldor barely standing and the Silence gone from the cliff where they fought.
Robert roared as he fired on the fiends until there was none to fire.
Captain Varo was the first one to leapt down and rallied his men. Robert followed Captain Varo and then came to the place where they last saw the good doctor. The only thing left of him was the pistol that he had dropped.
“Most of the Milostiv are furious, but they held the line.”
“They always do.”
“He pulled some of my guys like nothing too. They would have been crushed under the monster’s soles.”
“Because he was a doctor, Captain.”
“I see,” Captain Varo shouldered his rifle and turned to where the spirit-bloodied Ladies were.
His men followed after and all the rifles were pointed on the Caldor Ando’s group.
“What is the meaning of this, Varo?”
“Some of my men just died. And right now the Milostiv Regiment just lost some of theirs. I was curious. But I don’t ask. Because I am a soldier. But when you risked the life of my men for your cryptic silence. Then I won’t stand for this.”
He gathered breathe.
“What are we fighting!?” Captain Varo demanded. With the click of the rifle, and fury of the Milostiv Regiment at their throat.
“Varo, what is this nonsense?”
“Tell that to dead men. If you have known this was going to happen, then tell me honestly now.”
Lady Rosalve stood. “There are creatures of the Interstice in the Icean Spine,” her voice was weak. “We had made sure to move together, but it seems that Cult of Domos won’t stand for it.”
“The Cult? This far from Aon?”
“It seemed that they have been part of this region for a while now,” Caldor answered.
“Fine, we’ll talk about this in detail. I need to see if my men can patch themselves up.”
Captain Varo gestured for his men to stand down. Then he looked at Robert whose face was that of cold fury and nodded
“Did you kill the guy?” he asked.
“We wounded him, but he’ll be back.”
Robert took a step and then lifted Terin’s collar. Caldor tried to step in as well as the others. But Captain Varo was not in the mood to break up the fight.
“What do you want, Caldor?” Captain Varo asked. “Look around you. Even the limping bastards are coming to us with their rifles in arms. I don’t live in the Milostiv, but even the Regiments saw how reckless that bolt was.”
Caldor looked around. Then noted that the familiar figure that would come rushing in, scolding, and telling them to sit down and wait as he treats them was not around. Not his voice. Not even that dull face of his that only cared for treating those who were roughed up.
Robert stared down. “I don’t care what happened. Soldiers die. We all die and we know that coming here. But when your allies cause the death of your own. That’s where things get messy. I know that you would have done it regardless. But! You better make sure that it was worth the life of our Doctor and those who died here!”
*****
Terin froze. Lady Rosalve lowered his head. Caldor, who heard the fury in Robert’s voice understood. Captain Varo had saved them by hearing their reason, snuffing the larger flames before it could burn further..
“Lad,” Caldor muttered.
The Doctor of Milostiv was a nosy man. But he was someone who had been taking care of the Galleon’s crew. Everyone knew how he cared for his patients to the point of no rest. He was devoted to them because it was his duty.
And now the recklessness of the situation had caused the life of the Doctor and an Elven-kin.
Gabrio was replaceable, but the Elven-kin was not. Caldor believed that if the choice was made again. Rosalve would choose Terin again. The Silence was someone that could not be ignored. If ‘Silence’ was around, then the Zahaka would be around as well.
They have underestimated the reach of the Cult. The Hunters of the Interstice were throwing their best at them. If anything, this was a win that they didn’t expect. They have wounded ‘Silence’ and made it out with only a few injuries and deaths.
But in exchange for this win.
They’ve lost the hearts of the Milostiv Regiment.