CHAPTER SEVEN

Kogan Keep, Koga

12th Month, 23rd Day, 24th Year, The Quiet Age

“Aelan, where in the Watcher’s name are you taking us?” Ribvan impatiently asked from behind me. I didn’t answer right away which only annoyed Ribvan more, but the roof we had been standing on was poorly made and I had to watch my step or risk a deadly fall.

Without turning around I eventually replied, “A shortcut. It’s just around the next corner, about another three buildings down or so. Any ideas on how we can avoid that?” I said while pointing at the giant monster who was following us from the ground below.

“Well, Chimera’s don’t have greatest vision, so they can really only see us by detecting our movements. It’s also been theorized that they rely heavily on smell and sound to hunt prey. We’re going to need a distraction.” Ribvan stated as we both looked down at the beast. I thought about what Ribvan said and tried to come up with a strategy. A few loose bricks caught my attention and a plan started to form in my head. I grabbed four of the bricks from around me and walked to the edge of the roof. Using all of my strength, I lobbed the brick as far as I could. The brick banged into the wall of a neighboring house with a resounding thud. All three heads of the Chimera snapped in the direction of the sound, and the monster took off running towards its new potential prey.

I let out a sigh of relief before exchanging a look with Ribvan. He nodded at me and the two of us slowly began to climb down a wooden awning to get back to the street. I hit the ground first and quickly made sure the coast was clear before signalling for Ribvan to continue. He slowly tried to lower himself down from the awning but his plate armor weighed a ton. I could see him struggling to hold himself up and he began to shake from the effort. He only had a few feet left to go when his strength went out completely. I could only watch, horrified as he fell the remaining part of the way with a loud crash.

The noise caused the Chimera to howl in the distance and it immediately sounded like it was coming back. Ribvan looked at me with a face that screamed pure panic and I knew what he was thinking without him saying anything. I helped him up as fast as I could and the two of us quickly concealed ourselves behind a broken fence just when the monster came back into view. Aelan watched through a crack in the fence as the Chimera carefully crept forward, checking out different hiding places on the street before stopping directly in front of where Aelan had wanted to go.

“Damn it! I was sure that was going to work. If we’re going to get away, we need to get past him.” I said to Ribvan rather defeated. We sat there in silence for a while and slowly the look of fear on Ribvan’s face started to return to normal.

Ribvan bravely took his helmet off and placed the three remaining bricks inside of it before creeping along the fence in the opposite direction of the Chimera. He waited until the monster was distracted and accurately chucked a brick through the window across the road. The Chimera howled and smashed its body through the front door, trying to discover whatever had caused the sound.

Ribvan wound up to throw another brick and paused momentarily. The noise of smashing glass and wood started to slowly fade and once it was almost quiet Ribvan whipped another brick into the next store over. Again the monster clawed its way into the store, pounding on walls and shaking the foundations of the building as it flailed about. “When I throw the next brick, move to the corner of the fence and get ready to go.” Ribvan hissed at me with a loud whisper. I tightened the straps on my pack and waited.

The sound of destruction began to fade once more and Ribvan quickly threw the next brick into the house beside him before returning back to where I was. The monster pounced on the house and Ribvan grabbed me before hustling down the next street. As we turned the corner, Ribvan came to an immediate stop and briskly pushed me into the shadows before I took another step. A horde of ghouls sat on the road ahead eating the remains of some poor villager that they had caught.

I couldn’t believe how terrible our luck was. We had basically ran the entire perimeter of the keep only to be trapped in the end between a group of Ghouls and an angry Chimera. Tears began to drop from my face out of disappointment and pure frustration. Eventually, Ribvan put his hand on my shoulder to get my attention and I looked up at him.

He smiled at me before confidently saying “It’s not over yet. I have a job to do. We’re getting you out of here.” I didn’t know what to say back to him and found myself at a loss for words. It was the most positive he had ever sounded in the few years I had known him and it was completely out of character for the wise steward. Ribvan abruptly turned away from me and whipped his helmet up onto the roof above us all with one fluid motion. Upon hearing this, the ghouls stopped what they we’re doing and proceeded to climb up the wall at a ferocious pace. “Go!” Ribvan said and the two of us took off for the hay stack leaning against the wall.

I heard the Chimera roar from the road behind me and I knew it was coming back quickly. I hustled past the dead villager and started rifling through the haystack behind it as fast as I could while Ribvan did the same. Ribvan realized I couldn’t find what I was looking for in my haste so he shoved the entire haystack out of the way, revealing the handle of the hatch I was looking for. Ribvan seemed surprised at first to see an entrance appear from behind the haystack, but he didn’t question it and instinctively pulled the round cover out of the way of the opening.

Ribvan then lifted me from behind and helped push me across the opening. Once I was on the other side, I turned to help Ribvan through the hatch but he hadn’t moved and was staring off into the distance at something. He said a quick prayer before looking back at me and smiling peacefully. “Live,” he calmly stated as the Chimera chomped down on top him. That was the last time I saw Sir Ribvan.

∞

Ilan let out a thundering overhead strike that split the ghoul that had approached him almost perfectly down the middle. The light behind the monster’s eyes slowly dimmed and the now two parts of the ghoul fell away from each other. Every swing Ilan made connected with flesh and bone as he and the cavalry pushed further into the sea of beasts assembled before them. He stopped for a moment to admire his handiwork. His forces had successfully breached the enemy’s interior, and Ilan was now approximately twenty men deep into the enemy formation. He examined the enemy commander and the remaining monster’s and figured that they were now roughly half way to their camp. The cavalry still had over two-thirds of its fighting force left, which gave Ilan a little bit of confidence. “Alright, leave the stragglers men! Time is of the essence. The enemy camp is just ahead of us. We must push on!” Ilan briefly yelled to his soldiers before resuming his onslaught.

Getting to the headquarters was an extremely precarious task. With every step the cavalry took towards their goal, the enemy’s resistance grew stronger and more vicious. The soldiers fought the entire way; hacking, slashing and cutting their way deeper into the center. Monster’s howled, horses crushed friend or foe under foot, and many of the men breathed their last. It was extremely exhausting work, but they had eventually succeeded. Ilan and his remaining two hundred men had finally broken through the last line of defense. Ilan stopped to catch his breath while he took his first look at the enemy commander but he realized something was not entirely right almost immediately. The crowned Grogg stood from his chair slowly while removing a war club from a harness that was hanging behind him. The Grogg lumbered to the front of his guards before shouting, “You! Puny humans who ride on beasts. I guess I should thank you for coming. Have you all lost your minds or do you have a death wish? Do humans really wish to die so early? Are any of you brave or stupid enough to fight me in one on one combat?” The monster’s hissed and cheered at the Grogg’s words but none of them took another step.

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Ilan didn’t move a muscle for what felt like a few seconds before solemnly turning back towards Sir Montague. “If anything happens to me, I need you to take what’s left of the cavalry and get them out of here. Don’t go back to the castle, I need you to ride all the way to Blackwing Beach. Do you understand?”

“I don’t sir, what’s happening? We have arrived at our destination no? Is there something I am not seeing? I’ve watched you fight monsters easily twice his size by yourself. The men won’t abandon you. Let us end this together just like we have done in the past.”

“No!” Ilan snapped back at him, and Sir Montague seemed startled for a brief moment by the sudden outburst before regaining his composure. Ilan sighed before continuing, “I thought Kogan Keep was their target so that’s how Pellan and I devised our strategy. Unfortunately, it is clear now that they weren’t targeting the city. The enemy is after me.” Ilan glumly stated.

“Que? Pardon my lord but how can you be so sure?”

“You can’t tell by looking at that Grogg King? Maybe we should have spent less time enjoying fine wines and trained you harder.”

“Please don’t say that my lord. That wine was a gift from the gods. You know I’d very much rather be enjoying a glass of Frenken Merlot right now if I could.” Henry said sarcastically.

You could tell by Henry’s face souring though that he was trying to understand what Ilan was pointing out. Several wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he labored mentally to figure out the answer. After a moment of deep reflection Henry finally spoke, “So what about him? The monster doesn’t seem very special to me.”

“Exactly. It seems I have played the hero and the fool in this contest of wits. Without a doubt, the Grogg King was perfect bait and we’ve been aptly hooked. This is a trap.”

Sir Montague’s eyes widened as he realized what Ilan had been going on about and he grit his teeth in anger. He let out a string of curses in Frenken before reluctantly turning back to his commander. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice. I will do as you command, sir. We will flee if something happens.”

“Good. Now watch what happens carefully. The Empire will need an accurate report to respond properly. Even if I’m defeated, the survivors must escape this battle.”

Ilan wiped the blood from his blade with his cape carefully then started his walk towards the large Grogg who stood in the middle of the camp by itself. As he walked he thought about how something like this could happen. ‘The enemy deployed themselves in a perfect counter to our strategy. The amount of people who knew the entire plan could be counted on one hand. Was I betrayed?’ The idea that someone he trusted could do the unthinkable made him extremely angry. He snarled and said a quick prayer to the heavens.

“Oh? So one of you is dumb enough to challenge me? Prayers will not help you, Human. I, Oggrin the Vile will break you and grind your bones into powder with my teeth.”

Ilan didn’t say anything back as he approached and continued to get closer while the Grogg glared angrily at him. He finally stopped about twenty feet from the monster and took up a fighting stance. The two of them stood unflinching for a few seconds before the Grogg finally made its move. In an instant, the Grogg closed the gap between them and tried to drop Ilan with a shoulder charge. Just before impact, Ilan rolled to his left and sliced across the monster’s back. The cut drew blood but was much too shallow to do any significant damage to the over-sized creature.

The Grogg looked up to the sky and let out a horrible laugh before turning back to Aelan. “That tickles.” The monster snarled with an evil grin.

“The next one wont.” Aelan confidently shot back, and the two went back to exchanging blows. The armies of both sides watched the two commanders fight and cheered for their respective leaders. The fight wore on for a while, with both man and monster winning at different points. Aelan got in another good strike that cut through the Grogg’s shoulder but took a hammering swing from the monster when he tried to disengage. The shock reverberated through his entire body, but he managed to get away with just a slight sprain in his leg. There was a brief break in the action as the two of them took the opportunity to catch their breath for a moment.

“See human? You are no match for me, I could easily do this all night. Is this seriously the best you insects have to offer? No wonder you build these stone hiding places and live your lives in fear. Your weak, and you will always be weak.”

“Your confidence is misplaced. I’ll admit you’re plenty strong for a monster, but you clearly lack intelligence.”

“What did you say? I’ll kill you weakling!”

Weakling? I guess in the end you were really the one with the death wish. I was going to teach you some manners monster, but now this charade will end. It’s about time I take this seriously.”

“Seriously? You’ve been fighting me for almost ten minutes! If you could have won you would have done so by now.” The Grogg angrily shouted.

“Your right that we’ve been fighting for a while and yes, you are correct. This fight has been rather even so far. Unfortunately for you though, I’ve been using my wrong hand.”

Ilan confidently switched hands from his left to his right before taking up a different pose from the one he had fought with earlier. As he did, Ilan carefully slid the sword back into its scabbard. “Wind Magic: Wind Walk,” Ilan stated calmly. A look of pure fear ran across the Grogg’s face as it realized what was happening. Within seconds, Ilan seemed to disappear from where he was standing. The Grogg, in an absolute panic tried to check find Ilan but it was already over. He reappeared right in front of the monster and brought his empty hand down like he was swinging an invisible sword. “Wind Magic: Razor Wind,” Ilan shouted as loud as he could. A burst of wind blasted out of his hand and smashed into the monster’s breastplate.

The monster’s jaw dropped and it somehow managed to spit out “But how?” as it stumbled backwards.

A large cut had magically had taken shape on its chest and the Grogg dropped to the ground. Ilan would not let the monster fall so easily, though. He poked the Grogg with his sword and in response it howled in pain. “Enough of this!” Ilan shouted at the fallen monster. “This farce has gone on for far too long. Where is the real commander?”

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught Ilan’s attention out of his peripherals and he tried to react as fast as he could. A blur of steel went through what was left of the Grogg and passed by Ilan’s head. He managed to avoid the strike but unfortunately couldn’t dodge the entire attack. The blow hit him right above the right elbow, amputating Ilan cleanly. He could only watch as what used to be his right arm fell harmlessly to the ground, still holding his sword in its grasp. Ilan looked up to find a four-horned demon standing between him and the Grogg with a long obsidian Naginata. “Where you looking for me?” The demon casually asked with a smile.

∞

There weren’t any lights on the other side of the wall and I couldn’t make heads or tails of where I was but I kept going anyway. The snow fell softly around me as I desperately tried to increase my pace. I could hear Shadow ruffling around in the bag on my back and I was glad he was okay. I looked ahead to try and discern my path in the dark and slipped on some frosted over grass. I fell pretty hard and skinned my knees and elbow.

“Shit, I need to be more careful.” I thought as I tried to quickly clean up my cut. I ripped a tiny piece of my sleeve off and wrapped it around my elbow to stop the bleeding. I glanced back at the keep and thought I could make out different types of monsters trying to make it up over the wall. A cold gust of wind blew and I watched as a tiny leaf got swept up in the current and lifted into the air. The leaf seemed to dance through the wind, darting from side to side unpredictably. The leaf slowly dropped back to the ground and I saw something behind it that nearly made me do a double take. Hovering in the light of the moon about a half mile away and staring right at me was some kind of leathery winged monster that I had never seen before. The monster let out a horrible shrieking noise that could be heard for miles and was so high pitched I had to cover my ears even at this distance.

Off in the distance, a pack of monster’s detached themselves from the siege and started to move towards me quickly. Adrenaline shot through my veins like a cannon and I jumped to my feet as fast as possible. I did my best not to panic as I pulled my backpack off and released Shadow from it. There was no way I would be fast enough to get away if I had to carry him.

I carefully placed Shadow down next to me and started off into a sprint. I tried to quickly identify anywhere I could go but there was only one place that really stuck out to me as an option. I mustered the bravest face I could put on and hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. The monster’s that were now chasing after me would catch up to my position in a few minutes. I glanced at the monster in the sky before quickly making sure Shadow was following close behind me. Without hesitation, the two made a beeline for The Great Forest with a small pack of monsters in tow.

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