by Chloe Cullen
Slowly, Cori turned to face Maveron. “Are you saying that all of the Five are gone? That we have none of our best fighters here?”
He rubbed a hand over his face and swore again, then turned to Thoren. “Open the tunnels… get the initiates out and to a safer location.”
Thoren’s jaw was tensed with worry, he glanced once at Cori before he nodded, and jogged over to Willow and began speaking with him.
Maveron then spoke to Cori, “I’ll gather the Legionnaires, get them geared up and ready. You see if you can catch Trey before he leaves the Compound.”
Cori didn’t respond, she was off and back out the door at full pace.
Cori took the front steps two at a time and ran past the Gods’ statues towards the stables. She called a silent prayer out to each of them as she passed, that if they were still out there somewhere, that they might help the Legion one last time.
“Trey!” Cori called out, her feet pounding across the grass.
She could see Trey speaking to the driver of a carriage ahead of them, preparing to climb inside. Cori forced herself to run a little faster.
“Trey, stop!” she called again, and he finally heard her and turned his head to see her running towards him. He frowned but stepped back down from the carriage and strode out to meet her.
“Cori,” Trey said, “what are you doing?”
Cori paused to take in a deep breath. “You can’t leave – the Compound is in danger.”
Trey frowned. “What?”
Cori hesitated, looking around. There were stable hands, carriage riders and a few Legionnaires near them. Some of them had even paused to watch them because of the spectacle Cori had made.
“Come back inside and we will discuss it,” Cori said firmly.
Trey just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “I have orders, Soraya just left for the West Markets and I’m due to follow in behind her – there’s been an attack out there.”
“I know that, but—”
“Excuse me, but I have to go.”
“No!” Cori said, taking his arm to stop him, “please Trey, you have to trust me.”
Trey looked at her incredulously. Shaking Cori’s hand off his arm, he leaned in to snarl at her. “You are not my superior. I am a Legion Five and you do not give me orders, and needless to say I have no trust in you whatsoever.”
Cori stepped away from him as Trey sent her one final, scalding look and stepped into the carriage, ordering for the driver to ride on. She stood there and watched as the carriage rocked its way down the grassy slopes and out of the Compound gates.
A Legionnaire she didn’t know very well stopped next to her. “What was that all about?”
Cori turned to face the woman next to her. “Spread the word – the Shadow Legion are coming at sundown. Get prepared for a fight, and any initiates you see, instruct them to find Thoren who will be opening the stable tunnels for them.”
The Legionnaire stared at her, shell-shocked.
“Go!” Cori told her, and the girl immediately ran to a small group of Legionnaires standing by the statue of Nixos and began talking to them hurriedly, gesticulating wildly.
Satisfied that the word would spread like wildfire, especially about the tunnels being opened, Cori ran back towards the Compound and stopped anyone on her way to tell them the same news. She was also satisfied that Trey would be seen leaving the Compound, just as she intended. Cori was doing as Mr Teller had instructed, she was preparing the Legion for the coming fight in the best way she knew how.
***
The sun was dipping behind the mountains in the distance, a blood red spreading across the horizon and the lands.
Cori sat beneath the statue of Andromeda, the Goddesses’ presence looming high above her, a small source of comfort that maybe she was somewhere, watching over the Legion that the Gods had once cherished. She watched the gates at the bottom of the lawns, sharpening her favourite blade, Irandyal.
She wasn’t alone. There were Legionnaires surrounding the statues, and Maveron stood to her right, his face drawn with concentration. She wished Thoren were by her side, but he was needed elsewhere for the time being.
So, Cori just sharpened Irandyal, and she waited.
The scrape of the blade rang around them again, and again.
She’d sharpened this particular blade many times over the past two years. It was the one she had used as the Assassin, and it had ended many lives, but only those that deserved it.
Sharpening the blade still, her heart thundered with the familiar anticipation of killing, of waiting to sink her blade into flesh.
She didn’t want to kill, but she knew that she was going to be forced into it today. Because the Shadow Legion would know that the Five were all gone, and they would take advantage of that. Cori certainly hoped they would. Today, she was going to end them all for what they had done to her and so many others.
“Cori,” Maveron said quietly near her, catching her attention and she looked up to him. He pointed down the lawns, and she glanced towards the gates.
She stared in confusion as a small group of people stood in front of the gates, all wearing black robes. From here, she couldn’t see if they had the red insignia on them, but by the way the Legionnaires on this side of the gate were behaving, Cori could guess that they did. The grey-clad Legionnaires formed a tight line behind the gates, their weapons drawn.
The Shadow Legion just stood there, still as anything and seemed to be watching them. Cori tried to count the black figures, but there was no more than twenty of them.
This was the start of it.
But she wasn’t stupid enough to think the attack was coming from the front.
Cori looked back to Maveron. “Let’s go.”
Maveron drew his weapon and ran, many of the Legionnaires trailing behind him as he went. Cori watched them go for a moment, and they all moved with precision, swords and daggers glinting with the last rays of the sun. They did not run towards the gates, but towards the stable tunnels.
Cori sheathed Irandyal and was about to head off towards them when a voice reached her ears, and her heart tumbled over.
“No, wait – I need to… Cori!” Adeline said from the top of the Compound stairs.
Cori looked up at her and cursed at herself for having forgotten that Adeline was in the Compound with everything going on. A female Legionnaire had her by the arm and was attempting to pull her back into the building. A book was tucked under Adeline’s arm.
Cori ran over to her and up the steps. “Ade, the Shadow Legion are attacking us, you need to get back inside.”
Adeline visibly swallowed, but she stood her ground, jerking her arm out of the Legionnaire’s grasp. “I don’t want to leave you.”
Cori turned her head to watch the Legionnaires move towards the tunnels with Maveron, and knew she needed to join them. The setting sun tinged the stones beneath their feet in bloody red light, a foreboding message from the heavens. “Ade, please…”
“I’ll get her inside,” the Legionnaire said quickly.
Cori hesitated, but needed to move.
“Do as she says. Find a room and lock yourself in and stay there.” Cori told Adeline, “I’m sorry, but I need to go.”
She turned around to sprint after Maveron and the others, trying to block out the image of panic on Adeline’s face.
***
Thoren stood alone in the dark tunnels, waiting for any sound.
He had spent the past hour gathering the initiates who wouldn’t be ready to fight and taking them in groups to the Mausoleum, barricading them inside before he took up his spot in the stable tunnels.
On Maveron’s orders, Thoren had opened the tunnel entrance by the stables, walked the length that led outside of the Compound grounds, and opened the outer doors; an invitation for anyone who wanted to enter.
Thoren now stood alone in the darkness, eyes trained on the tunnel ahead of him, a blade in his hand.
And so, he wait
ed. For those dark-cloaked so-called soldiers to come. Soon they would know what a real warrior was, Thoren thought to himself as his grip tightened and loosened repeatedly on the handle of his blade.
He stood, quiet as a shadow, near the outer tunnel doors.
Thoughts, tumultuous in nature, swirled viciously around his head. About the safety of the Legion. The safety of his Father. The safety of Cori… who was an assassin. She was the Assassin, meaning he didn’t need to be concerned for her safety. He worried nonetheless.
Thoren gave his head a small shake. He had to work hard on focussing on the current crisis, pushing thoughts of Cori as deep as they could go.
Thoren heard the scraping of metal as the outer door screeched open, and he saw a small speck of light. He could hear them shuffling inside the tunnel, the scuffle of stone against stone ahead of him. He tensed, anticipation rising like a building wave.
Thoren pulled in a steady breath and pressed himself into the shadowed tunnel wall, wedging his body into the crevice between two rocks.
This was it.
38
They stood, shoulder to shoulder, in a semi-circle around the entrance to the tunnels. There had been no sign of Thoren yet, but it was only a matter of time. Cori could feel the rising panic for his safety, alone in those tunnels with the enemy, but also knew he was capable of near-anything.
They waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until, finally, the metal door swung wide open with a screech, banging into the concrete wall with a thud.
There was a breathless moment, as one of them stepped forward alone.
He was smaller than Cori would have imagined, a younger man from what she could see. His mask was removed from his face, and he walked forwards without fear, his dark cloak flapping behind him in the breeze, the red Legion insignia flaring brightly in the orange light of the dying sun.
Cori felt her body turn rigid and cold, recognising the boy as he stepped closer, and then finally stopped only a short distance from the Legionnaires who blocked any escape.
He glared right at Cori, and she was shocked that his bright blue eyes were narrowed with such a cold fury, when the last time she had seen him, Adeline had been handing him food and gold. His eyes had been grateful and vulnerable then. They weren’t anymore.
Cori was pulled from her state of shock as Maveron stepped forward from the group to address the boy.
“My name is Maveron—”
“I know who you are, old man,” the boy said, finally taking his eyes away from Cori to sneer at Maveron, “you are the President of the Legion, which is corrupt, overrated, and frankly inconsequential without the Gods to bless you.”
“Now listen here son—”
“Don’t call me son,” he said with a quiet fury, his eyes again finding Cori, “I was someone’s son once.”
Cori stiffened, and Maveron paused, following the boys gaze to Cori, and she couldn’t help the shame that crossed over her features at the memory of killing his mother.
She heard Maveron take a deep breath before turning back to the boy. “The way I see it, you have a choice here. No one has been hurt yet, if you and… what I assume are your companions still inside the tunnels… come with us quietly, we can sit and talk without any need for a fight.”
The boy seemed to consider this, but then gave a small shake of his head. “Why would we do such a thing? Without the Legion Five here, we have you. I know we have you.”
Again, Maveron looked back to Cori. She met his gaze, and even though she felt sick to her stomach at seeing this boy in front of her, she nodded once to him.
Maveron addressed him again. “I’m afraid you are mistaken about the Five.”
The crowd behind Cori parted, and she too moved aside so that two figures could walk past them and into the semi-circle. Trey and Soraya strode to stand on either side of Maveron.
The boy’s face fell, distraught with confusion. He shook his head, eyes on Trey. “I saw you leave.”
Cori heard the grin in Trey’s voice as he replied. “Think again.”
The victory of the deception played out perfectly in front of Cori, yet she felt unable to celebrate that fact in the face of this boy. Earlier, after discovering the note and speaking with Thoren, they had gone directly to Maveron. As luck would have it, Soraya and Trey had been in the President’s office when they had burst in with the news of an impending invasion. The plan came together with ease and Soraya had left immediately, spreading the word of an “attack” in the West Markets to account for her absence. Trey had then followed behind not long after, giving Cori enough time to make a scene and spread the word, knowing it would inevitably get back to the Shadow Legion. If they were going to attack, Cori had wanted it to be on the Legion’s terms. Soraya and Trey had each taken their respective carriages out of the gates, but instead of heading for the Markets, they had circled the Compound and waited at the outer tunnel entrance for Thoren to let them back in, unknown to anyone else.
She watched the boy’s face flick between Maveron, Soraya, Trey and then finally, Cori. Slowly, he seemed to deliberate his options, before saying with mirth, “we still have you.”
Maveron tutted at him now, making the boy stiffen with rage. “I ask you to reconsider.”
“I will not.” The boy then pointed at Cori, and focused his words directly at her. “My name is Nero. Did you know that? Did you know that the woman you killed two years ago was my mother? That she had a son, and a daughter. Did you think about that when you murdered her?”
Cori swallowed her shame. She didn’t know how Nero would be so sure she had been the one to kill his mother, but Cori was sure of the fact. She had driven her blade into the woman’s chest and let her fall to the ground to bleed out and die. She had recognised her face the next day.
Before she could shrink herself into the crowd, Willow stepped forward to speak angrily at Nero. “Your mother attacked us – did you think about that?”
Nero spat on the ground between them. “Shut your filthy mouth, Legion scum. You people have always been corrupt, that’s what my mother was trying to fix.”
“So, you won’t let us resolve this peacefully?” Maveron asked in a calm voice.
Nero sneered at him. “Not even if my mother rose from the dead in front of us.”
Maveron shook his head. “I will give you one last chance to reconsider.” And then he gestured behind him, to the crowd that was still parted from Trey and Soraya’s entrance.
Cori didn’t need to turn to know who was now walking up the parting of the crowd to stand with them. Ione, Ryker and Valentina had walked to stand as a united front before Nero.
***
Only moments after the outer tunnel doors opened, Thoren pressed himself into the darkened wall, his blade held close at his side.
It wasn’t long until the Shadow Legion, quiet and moving with purpose, walked past Thoren one by one, not seeing the man standing silently near them. He made no move to engage or attack them. Instead Thoren waited patiently until each of them had walked past and was out of sight and earshot before he moved.
He didn’t go after them, instead he jogged as quietly as he could back to the outer tunnel door, and pushed it open with a grunt.
Thoren stepped out into the forest that edged the western Compound walls and shielded his eyes that were blinded momentarily by even the dim light of the waning sun after the complete darkness of the tunnel.
Without wasting any time, he moved to shut the door behind him. He stepped forward and locked it quickly. He reached and tried the door, which didn’t budge.
Thoren then turned, aware that time was ticking by, and that the Shadow Legion were sure to be fast approaching the entrance by the stables inside the Compound grounds.
He jogged at a steady, quick pace down the slight slope until he finally found the large stone wall edging the Compound, which he followed, his feet hitting the ground with a building fervour.
Thoren turned the corner, reaching the streets of the Quarter, and he slowed his pace, his breath rising in and out of his chest in his haste. He kept one hand on his weapon and stuck to the shadows of the quiet homes, dusk nearly upon them.
He saw the gates to Compound up ahead, and with a lurch he saw the small mass of the Shadow Legion standing by the bars, their backs to Thoren. He ducked into an alleyway and ran as fast as he was able, ignoring the urgency he felt in every facet of his body, threatening to overwhelm him. There was still time.
Thoren ran towards the Inn Cori had told him about earlier, the empty streets making the Quarter feel like a strange, abandoned ghost town.
He almost barrelled through the front door of the Inn, his rush to get back to the Compound taking over his common sense.
A girl screamed as he entered with a crash. Thoren saw her duck behind a small counter, but not before he saw the fear on her features.
“I’m sorry, miss,” Thoren said in between huffs of breath, “I – I need to…”
The girl did not resurface from behind the counter. Throwing courtesy out the window, Thoren moved straight past the hiding girl and up a flight of stairs nestled into the side of the building. He breathed as steadily as he could, striding quickly past the rooms on the buildings second level.
Room six.
He knocked but didn’t wait for an answer before he turned the handle and entered the room beyond. He came face to face with Ione, the leader of the Legion Five.
Thoren and Ione had never gotten along due to her caustic nature, but he could swear that she was happy to see him by the relieved look on her face.
“Thoren,” Ryker said from behind Ione, “it’s about time, we were ready to storm out there if you didn’t arrive in the next minute.”
He looked around at the three warriors, who were indeed fully geared up and looked ready to engage. Thoren met Valentina’s eyes, and she nodded with an intense look in her eye, a hand resting on the hilt of her weapon at her side.
“They will be exiting the tunnels by now, the fight may have already begun. We need to move – there are about twenty of them outside the gates we will need to dispatch first.”