by C. R Corbin
The mountains themselves.
The structure was nestled against the foothills of one of the larger peaks in the entire range. That meant that there was an abundance of snow and ice and, as a result of that, there was potential for an avalanche. She would be largely protected by the large metal walls but the majority of the forces that were gathered outside would be susceptible to the effects of such an explosion. That would whittle their numbers down enough for the two of them to infiltrate the base and hopefully get her out in time.
Now they only needed a method to cause the avalanche and they soon found it.
A small turret that was nestled on the outskirts. They could sneak up close and take control of it.
Koigo shares a look with Yaki and informs of his plan briefly, his guard approves. They hide the steeds back in the mountain path and continue forward down into the forested land.
The turret was close, it was this metal dome structure that had only one possible entry point, at the base of the small tower that it was placed on. The two of them took care of the guards easily enough and used the tree line to their advantage. The wooden skeletons that shivered in the cold breeze of Limura was enough to hide them and they soon entered the tower with their blades drawn. However, there was also another issue.
"Grah!" grunted Yaki as he dipped his head, an arrow had struck the wall near where they had entered.
They had been spotted.
"Come on! We need to hurry!" Koigo stated as he charged forth.
He wasn't thinking about it anymore. The thought of him as king, his rule, he only thought of her.
He knew that it was selfish and that he should've been more careful, that he should've stayed behind and let his troops come to save her but he had acted due to his heart and there was no backing out now, not when Gulvan could kill her at any moment.
He takes the man on the turret down with ease, a sword jabbed through his throat and hands that twitch in an attempt to seize the handles of the cannon.
It doesn't work.
In the background he could hear Yaki fighting off the troops that had rushed to the turret in an attempt to defend it. His friend calls out for him to do it. He turns the cannon after some moments of adapting to its interface and fires it at the mountain and the forest.
The small explosion that resulted caused a cacophony of snow and ice to begin tumbling down the slope, and it was only growing faster.
He knew why the base had been established here, the high elevation around them would enable the snipers to have good vantage points and it was a good place to put the turrets so that they could pick off any aircrafts that would come over the way. It made sense to him but this was the best way that it could be used to their advantage.
Unfortunately for both him and Yaki, they had underestimated the power of ice and snow.
It began to tumble faster and faster and he could feel the quaking under his feat. The soldiers screamed and he watched as the white mist began to flood his line of sight. He was afraid that the tower itself would give out but it holds strong in defiance of all the odds. Time seemed to stop for a moment, the soldiers stopped fighting and began attempting to push their way into the tower itself, all to be denied by Yaki who was pushed back in the ensuing chaos, but he held the door shut long enough for the avalanche to arrive and defeat the 5 or so men that were attempting to enter.
Koigo walks down the steps cautiously, keeping his blade in front of him at all times as he watches the massive pile of snow that was now covering nearly half of the steps.
"My king." Yaki shivered as he reached out with his arm, he appeared to be heavily wounded.
"Yaki!" Koigo whispered as he grabs his friends hand and drags him out of the snow. Yaki held onto his side which didn't have any visible wounds, Koigo assumed that a rib must have been broken. In addition to that there was an arrow that was jammed into his thigh.
"Yaki." Muttered Koigo as he set him down on the floor of the room that contained the turret.
"It's fine." Yaki muttered, "I can't help you fight them, unfortunately. Here, take the communicator, I'll wait here."
Koigo looked worriedly at his friend.
"You're the king! Don't you worry about me! They can't reach me here, now take the transmitter and go save your queen...hurry." He struggled out and Koigo nodded, the wounds weren't that severe but Yaki looked to be battered and his legs were badly mangled due to the avalanche, it wasn't a good idea to keep him from medical attention.
Now Koigo just had to figure out a way out of this tower.
#
CHAPTER TWENTY
She spat on Gulvan and received another smack, she swore that she could feel one of her teeth growing looser but she didn't care. She just wanted to spite the bastard at this point.
"What's wrong you piece of shit? Can't stand me can you?" she asked Gulvan.
He merely looks back at her with contempt, "Don't be ridiculous. If it means killing my brother, I can put up with as much as you can give." He states with a grin.
Gulvan watched the exterior of the base and the soldiers that were garrisoned inside. This place had been constructed so that the girl could be placed into a heavily fortified location soon after her capture, else he would have to drag her all the way to the palace which was a bit further down the range. Sure it was cold here but that only made the journey of his brother and his potential companions harder.
He thought that the number of troops might have been excessive but it would at least be a sight to see his brother fight back against the wave of forces in a futile matter, all while growing more injured slowly and slowly before Gulvan himself dealt the killing blow. He had instructed his soldiers to not kill his brother, only to wound him to the point where he would be unable to move or attack in any substantial manner.
After all, a drawn-out sword battle with his brother was far too risky. For as much faith that Gulvan had in his weapons he understood that he would not be able to guarantee a victory over his brother in such a situation.
And so they waited.
And there didn't seem to be any signal of that fool charging in.
Saradi held onto hope, she knew that he would come for her but she didn't want him to be lured into an ambush that would kill him. Most days were spent alone in this large dark and empty room, her only company was her guard. The same man that she had injured, the man that had kidnapped her and was finally revelling in his victory, that bastard Malbog.
She couldn't wait to see the bastard's head chopped off.
"Maybe he died on the way here." He suggested to her and she shook her head.
"That can't be true."
"You know those mountains are cold as can be and that there are a multitude of our forces outside. Lord Gulvan probably already killed him already and is going to bring his head as proof!" laughed Malbog as he tossed his head back and cradled his long sword against his shoulder.
"Shut up!" Saradi shouts.
But as time passed, she grew more and more despondent.
That is, until it happened.
She had heard the rumbling, the quaking beneath her feet that indicated something big was happening, something that could potentially wreck the entire base. It was a cacophony of noises coming from the outside, screaming, the marching of soldiers in quick succession. It wasn't revealed to her until the doors opened and Gulvan marched in, a deranged look plastered on his face.
"Get ready, he's here."
He looked annoyed and yet a little satisfied at the same time.
And she wasn't frowning any longer after she had heard those words from him.
She knew that it would be alright.
....
Gulvan readied his armor and his weapons, he ascends the spire that he had built and looks out amongst the battlefield, squinting his eyes in an attempt to find his brother. He scours the snow battered fields but fails to find anything. In addition to killing many of his troops, the avalanche had also provided his brother with the perfect
amount of cover.
"Send out the scouts." He stated into his communicator to the interior guardsmen who let the four legged bots loose into the fields. Their faces were marked by a rather large drill and their arms possessed four large claws. Their arms were made up of metal joints and wire and they moved much like a wild animal would, but without the costs.
Without the potential for getting cold, without the potential for being killed as easily. They gave up their endurance for a higher amount of short term effectiveness.
And they would find his brother soon enough.
Gulvan did this not out of spite for his brother but moreso out of an obligation. After all, he was the proper ruler of Limura and his brother was merely an insurgent, a rebel that didn't belong here. His brother's kingdom was an affront to the peace that he had worked so hard to create, a society made by Rialans and for Rialans, without the chance for any human interference as his brother had allowed and that was exactly what he was going to do.
This world would be his empire, a land for the strong, a land where the weak would be buried.
And a land where his brother would die knowing the foolishness of his ideals.
#
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
He could hear them.
Koigo had dug himself out of the snow by carving a small hole in the roof of the turret room. After shoving the snow out of the way he was able to emerge out on the surface without much issue. He had found something to give him some degree of cover, a white colored tarp that had been located in the closet of the turret room. It wasn't much but to anyone that was far enough it would appear as if he was camouflaged and that was his only requirement at the moment.
He had to get close enough.
There was no obvious method of entry considering the fact that the base itself was still heavily fortified. They had simply solved the issue of getting close enough, not actually getting in. He looks around for a solution and non-reveal themselves until he hears the chatter over the communicator.
"Look for the generators."
"What?" Koigo asked Domon.
"The generators, you can disable some of the turrets and allow our troops to provide air support. They should be located at the lower levels potentially and the guards that were stationed around the area are hopefully taken out by now." Domon ordered him.
To Koigo, there wasn't much to see, it was basically a field of snow with the base to his left. No entry exposed itself to him.
"You need to hurry or their archers and scouts will spot you. I'll send you what I think is a good location. Now go!" Domon states.
Due to the speed in which the base had been built there were some glaring flaws. The primary one was the fact that the generator rooms had entrances that were accessible from the outside. Ordinarily, the entrance would have been near the large collection of troops that would have been garrisoned around the fortress but since the avalanche took a large amount of them out, that meant that it was practically unguarded now.
Koigo sprints with the tarp held over his head, he trips and tumbles into the snow and has to stay in place for a few moments to avoid them detecting him and it seems that he gets through relatively scot-free for a while. That is until he begins to hear the mechanical whirring that he dreaded so. His brother had sent his machines out to look for him and there was no way they were going to stop before they had found him.
"You need to hurry!" shouted Domon into his ear.
"I know! Where is it damnit?!"
"The entrance to it is buried near the base of the left side, now go!"
He was near the main entrance now and they were right behind him, he could hear them approaching and he hoped that he had found the right spot as he kicks the door in with all of his might. The snow that was covering about two thirds of it made it relatively difficult but suddenly he found himself resting on the door with a pile of snow beneath him. He sighs and gets to his feet, watching the snow as the whirring grew louder and louder.
Koigo turns and runs down the hall, slashing one of the pipes to unleash steam in order to confuse the machines and perhaps damage them a bit. He continues down the hallway, weaving through the maze of pipes and wires until Domon tells him to stop.
"Right there! The console! Take it out!"
Koigo smashes his fist through the machine, causing a mess of sparks to fly out form the metal and strike his fingers as he surveyed the mess, watching as the lights begin to shut down gradually.
He was unable to celebrate, however, as he was soon tackled to the floor by one of the scouts.
"Damnit! He bellows as he shoves the machine off of him before it had the chance to drill a hole into his neck.
He draws his blade and easily cuts one of them in half as it lunges at him, the other one moves from the side to side in an attempt to throw him off but he was able to roll under the second scouting bot and slash its underside, causing it to cease function.
They had found him and he needed to act quick, or the reinforcements that were being sent needed to come and give him the distraction that he needed.
He didn't know if Gulvan was watching him at this very moment or if his brother was on his way but he wasn't going to stay in place to find out. His brother might even cave the base in on top of him if it meant that he would die but he had a feeling that Gulvan was a bit more sadistic than that. At the very least he had a bit of time to escape the generator rooms.
"Domon! Where now?" he calls out.
"Our reinforcements should be there soon. They have their troops gathered against the entrances and are planning to enter the tunnels to find you. So hide or fight them off, reinforcements should be the-"
It cut off soon after.
"Ah brother, how long it's been since we had a fight like this."
Koigo snarled in anger and punched the wall, denting the steel and creating a fist shaped imprint as he ran forth into the maze, turning at every sound of an approaching squadron. Gulvan continued to taunt him through the radio.
"You certainly picked quite the girl for a mate. I will have plenty of fun with her once I'm done with you. Don't worry brother, she will live, but as my slave, as mine to touch." Gulvan laughed.
Koigo snarled, "You bastard!"
His thin curved blade cuts open a door and he sprints into the opened path, down the hall he goes, not knowing his true direction but knowing that he had to live long enough to see his brother die by his blade. As soon as he turns the corner, however, he was faced with a deluge of soldiers that stared back at him blankly. In their hands were spears, axes, cruel weapons that were hungering for his blood.
He stands at the end of the hallway, blade at his side and eyes shining with the light of defiance as he gets into his stance. The troops begin roaring and sprinting down the hall as he sprints to meet them. He cuts the pipe and more steam fires out to scald the troops that were closest to him, the remainder battle through it and soon a mass of spearheads come his way.
"Argh!" he growls as he barely hops back in time, but he counters perfectly by swinging his blade and cutting the heads of the spears off, leaving many of the troops relatively defenseless as he begins to swing his sword wildly in front of them, cutting a few arms off and slitting a few wrists while managing to frighten the remaining amount.
"He's just one man! Come on! What are you doing?!" called out one man as Koigo lunges forth yet again.
There was a mess of blood and metal now. He swings his blade as spear heads dash near his arms and graze his shoulders, causing blood to trickle down to his green forearms that tightened and tensed with every single swing that he gave. He grabs a spear head that missed and pulls the man from the crowd, stabbing him before lifting his body for use as a shield.
"Grahhh!" roared Koigo as he pushed forward, all while spearheads entered the body in front of him.
This was impossible. There must have been a hundred men in front of him and many more that were coming from behind. He would not be able to fight them all off.
But then he feels the ground rumble and the ceiling gives out above him, there was a cacophonous roar and suddenly all went black.
#
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
She watched the massacre from below, praying that he would be able to emerge from this battle victorious but even she feared that this might be too much for him. The numbers of the enemy were far too great and she knew that the odds were against him, all while plotting her plan should he fail.
If her mate failed then she would rather die than surrender herself to this tyrant. She would rather bite her tongue and bleed out before she even spoke a kind word of this man and that was exactly what she was planning.
She was tied to the top of the spire, she was held there so that, in case of a bombing, the crafts from Koigo' troops would not fire on the central building of the base, nor its sigil which hosted a significant population of archers that were lying in wait, waiting for Koigo himself to show.
There was one small hope however, she could see it on the horizon. There were crafts coming this way, and as they began to fire she held out hope that he still might be alive down there.
But as the ground begins to cave in she shouts in disbelief and cries out for him, all while Gulvan looks on in slight annoyance.
Back in the wreckage, Koigo was having trouble standing.
His head felt as if it had been struck by a hammer, he was exhausted and he could feel the sting of the cuts on his arm. He had somehow managed to remain relatively unscathed during the wreckage through sheer luck but the amount of cuts and bruises on him made even moving a chore.