by A. D. Wills
Grog fell down, limp and lifeless, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, and collapsed face down shaking the ground all around him. Finally, the hulking Chieftain was dead.
Everyone on both sides of the battlefield took a moment to stare in amazement, but Lyndenwell were the ones cheering now. And for the first time, the Ogres took a step back, stunned in disbelief. They weren't sure what to do. None of them ever thought Grog would fall, especially not here. It was as if they lost their entire purpose to fight seeing Grog lay there lifeless, and Clovis' company cutting down the others with ease. Without him they were lost, and resorted to fleeing.
“Go on get 'em, chase those cowards out of here! Run them down!” Ackar shouted, holding his wildhammer, and joined in the chase to clear Lyndenwell out.
“What're you all doing? Stand and fight, we're so close! Don't back up an inch!” Eszu looked around to see his supposed new allies fleeing, rebels and ogres alike, all while his Dracus fought on as was ingrained in them.
Eszu did his best to continue, but without Ralak at his side, and no longer with an advantage, they stalled. He was right here, on the doorstep of the keep, and they were being stymied, as if an insurmountable wall was suddenly erected before them all.
“Fine then, I'll take that bastard's head myself, and be done with all this." In a demented stupor, Eszu turned his sights toward the Keep, and whistled for his roc that swooped in on cue to pick him up.
Down below, Shyn's eyes widened upon seeing Eszu dart off toward Calaera in the Keep, and gave chase without hesitation. He raced as fast as his tired legs carried him, but even if he was fully replenished of his energy, he knew Eszu would enter well before him. He knew Calaera would be on her own.
“Please be safe, please...just hold on until I get there,” Shyn kept repeating those same words to himself over and over.
Approaching the keep's window, Eszu leaped off his roc, crashing through to see Calaera standing before him. Cuts all over his body, his eyes incensed and possessed. Still, somehow Eszu appeared to be fine, as if he were being willed on by something despite the near fatal damage to himself.
Calaera didn't back down an inch, instead, she took a step toward Eszu, shoulders back and fists clenched.
“Where is the King?” Eszu demanded for Dreymond.
“How dare you...” Calaera's eyes didn't so much as avert or twitch in the face of an incensed Eszu.
“I said, where is Dreymond!” Eszu shouted in an impatient furious rage, stalking Calaera down, puffing out his chest in an effort to intimidate her.
“You're the reason why he's gone. You're the reason why any of this is happening at all. You and your alliance killed him!” Calaera thought Eszu had to be insulting her with her father's death. At the same time, she didn't sense that sort of tone from him.
“No, he's supposed to be here dammit! Stop hiding him...Come out Dreymond! Enough cowering behind your daughter like a coward! I won't leave here until I take back my people's freedom.”
Calaera stepped forward, inches from Eszu's face. “Your freedom? My father did nothing but accept you and your people. You're the one who insists on keeping them in such conditions, when you know as well as anyone they will follow you anywhere. Seeing them follow you into a war as wasteful as this one is proof enough. As I see it, you've had all the chances in the world to provide your people with freedom, chances that my father and others have offered, yet you twist their help into some kind of insult to your pride? No, your people will never have freedom so long as you lead them.”
Eszu lunged his talon like hands down, grabbing around Calaera's throat—lifting her up in the air as her feet dangled helplessly reaching for solid ground.
“I could snap your neck right here and now, but I'd rather you feel a shred of what my people and I have felt. Suffocating and struggling—unable to find our footing, just like you.” Eszu watched on with a twisted look of satisfaction.
Eszu squeezed harder and harder, threatening to collapse Calaera's neck as she tried with all her strength to break free, but it was no use. Her eyes watered and bloodshot—her furious kicks and scratches turning into pitiful twitching.
As Eszu's eyes fixated on watching Calaera's life slowly escape her, Shyn busted through the window and tackled him off of Calaera.
“At the sniff of defeat, you fly here to kill the Princess? You're a coward,” Shyn said as his eyes widened with rage at the sight of Eszu Calaera being harmed.
“I didn't come here to kill that brat, I was here for that bastard Dreymond—to end this struggle between us once and for all,” Eszu brushed himself off as he got to his feet.
“Dreymond? Why would you think he's alive...”
“It seems like we've both been told lies.” Eszu glanced over a suspicious look at Xokun's encased stone. “Since he's gone, the next best thing is his daughter to end this greedy line of Brynmor, and free us all. She's got the same annoying eyes as him too, so I'll be fine taking her instead as a consolation."
“I won't let you do that, and I won't tell you it's not too late to retreat. I can't forgive you for doing everything you've done to this city, betraying us at the drop of a hat...it's disgraceful. Lord Dreymond would be ashamed and heartbroken if he could see you now—someone who I know he saw as a true ally.”
“Ashamed? You know nothing of the shame of servitude, or the shame in trying to earn enough goodwill to be accepted by the other powers—like a needy dog—only to be cast aside. No, you all betrayed us a long time ago, we only finally decided to act against it.” Eszu extended his talons as far as they went, and clashed with Shyn.
Neither Shyn or Eszu were fighting even close to peak condition, taking labored shots at one another, in what they both knew would be a fight of attrition.
Calaera saw just how tired and worn Shyn was, and feared the worst with every clean hit Eszu landed. The two of them looked to be possessed, barely able to stand on anything other than sheer survival instincts.
“Even if you kill me, Eszu, it's over for you—for all of you,” Shyn tiredly preached as they continued their heated exchange. “We've won, you know that much. It's why you ran here...”
Tired, but still somehow fighting, and willing his body past its limits, Eszu swiftly clutched Shyn's head to hold him in place, and bashed Shyn against the wall over and over again. “You think that we'll give up after this? You're just another obstacle for us to overcome!"
Shyn tried prying Eszu's hand off, but he couldn't budge it. He couldn't believe it. He knew Eszu had to be just as tired and worn as he was, but he wasn't showing it other than on the surface.
Sliding in and out of consciousness, Shyn instinctively reached for his dagger, and extended it to pierce through Eszu's side.
Eszu was force to released Shyn. “You little shit...” Eszu winced watching his gushing deep wound. Eszu wasn't done yet.
Shyn gasped for air, while his arms and legs were shaky at best. With what little bit of strength and energy he had, Shyn thrust his dagger at Eszu, but Eszu grabbed Shyn's wrist, and turned the blade in on Shyn's stomach.
“Send your forces to storm this keep, I don't give a damn,” Eszu said as he pulled Shyn in on his own dagger. “I'm not leaving until I kill her and end all of this my way.”
Calaera scrambled for a sword on display above the mantle that hadn't been used in years, and stabbed Eszu in the back—piercing him all the way through.
“You stupid spoiled brat...” Eszu turned, stunned to see Calaera somehow managed to pierce him when most couldn't.
“I'm not losing him too...I'm not!” Calaera didn't relent, pushing the sword deeper, twisting it around until Shyn was finally freed from Eszu's weakened grasp.
“I think you're already too late for him."
Calaera held the sword of high with, her eyes piercing through Eszu's spirit, and slashed down but without any proper technique.
Eszu didn't even bother to dodge, holding the hilt of Calaera's sword in place, but he couldn't mo
ve her back either. No matter how hard he pushed back, Calaera persisted, and her eyes seemed to flash a bright green, if only for a moment—so quickly Eszu thought he was seeing things.
When Eszu felt Calaera suddenly weaken, he threw her down to roll away on the unforgiving floor. “Here, take this with you.” Eszu grabbed Shyn up by his clothes, and tossed his lifeless body over.
Calaera crawled over to Shyn with tears streaming down, seeing his eyes rolled into the back of his head. “Please, not you too...”
“So how do you want to go, Princess, on your hands and knees? Or crying—begging for forgiveness just like your father probably did,” Eszu stalked back and forth, savoring his moment.
Calaera didn't hear a word Eszu said. Her hearing was muffled with stressing rings, staring at Shyn's dead body. This is exactly what she feared. Any victory Shyn was speaking of, without him being a part of it, it was the one possibility she never dared allow in her mind.
“What, you think this is suffering? I've seen friends and loved ones die more times than I can count. Who did you lose, a father and a friend? Spare me the tears.”
Calaera turned her head up at Eszu with a fury in her face, the likes of which she had never expressed before. “I swear it...I swear you will never know the true meaning of freedom. I'll have everything you love and desire taken from you.”
“It already has been, why do you think I'm here?” Eszu said with cold dead eyes.
Just as Eszu went to thrust his talons into Calaera to end it, a thick wooden spire shot out of nowhere to throw Eszu aside, pinning him against the wall.
“I've had enough of this, Eszu!” Xokun bellowed out, as he emerged with bits of earth floating around him. “I refuse to sit by any longer—watching while everyone fights for what they believe to be right. I have let you wreak enough havoc asI wait like a useless fool, allowing for far too much destruction and death when I could have prevented some of it. No matter the consequences I am now sure to face with the Etai, I would much prefer them than facing myself if I let you do anything more to this city, and this family.”
“...So now you come to help,” Eszu sneered, pinned down against the wall. “But you conveniently denied being able to help us or anyone else before all these years, so what's changed now? Were we not worth the fool to emerge in our aid? Was all it took a pretty Princess shedding some tears?”
“After much contemplation, and with everything that has transpired, I believe things need to change. You and everyone else who callously raided this city, you're a creation of us doing nothing. It would be irresponsible to not take any blame, but I refuse to continue bearing this shame of standing idly by.”
“Bullshit,” Eszu spat at Xokun, hearing none of his excuses. “You just want to get rid of us. Anything to get that done isn't too far reaching for you Etai, just like killing Dreymond to set us up. Your words are empty."
“What has happened to you, Eszu? Have you gone completely mad? How could you accuse us of these conspiracies?” Xokun asked in saddened shock. “I beg you to see reason—to see what truly led you to this dark place you now reside and dwell in. We have never been your enemy. You have become blind to everything but your hate and obsessions.”
“Quit playing innocent with your roundabout preachings. We didn't do it. We came here to kill him, only to find out he's apparently already dead. If you Etai killed him, it'd easily look like we did it. You could banish us without resistance, and use her as a puppet to do your bidding with her undying trust in you after coming here acting like some sort of pity party.”
“That's enough!” Xokun interrupted with his bellowing voice. “In seeking to confirm your twisted beliefs predicated on pure hatred, you refuse to see reason. Even now when all is lost, you refuse to see that you have been used and tricked by this alliance you have so foolishly and easily placed your trust in. You refuse to acknowledge your own failure plainly before your very eyes. You only see what you want.”
Xokun wished he could somehow reach down, and find redemption in their former ally, to free him from what plagues and corrupts him, but it was no use. Xokun could sense Eszu's hatred and obsessions running rampant, and it spread to his very core. Eszu was nothing more than a mad dog let loose—refusing to listen, and still struggled all he could to get free and attack. There wasn't a shred of reason left.
“Perhaps one day this hatred that's corrupted you might be washed away." Xokun morphed thick vines around Eszu's body—ensuring no possible escape, and flung him out of the window with ease.
Eszu's body was sent flying over the battlefield, and ruined walls, well out of sight in mere moments.
Xokun turned to Calaera and knelt down without hesitation. “I know that I do not deserve it, but I ask for forgiveness, my Lady. I nearly entirely neglected my word when I said before that I would aid you, when all I did was sit and wait.”
Calaera nodded, and wiped her tears away, but stood on shaky legs. She heard the cheers beginning to build outside with all of the remaining enemy forces clearing out, but this didn't feel like a victory to her. All she saw before her instead, was Shyn laying lifeless before her. No amount of cheering was going to bring him back.
“Please, Xokun...is there anything you can do to save him?” Calaera pleaded, placing her hand on Shyn's cold forehead.
Xokun went over to Shyn, and placed his hand over his body. His hand glowed a comforting green, but his face scrunched up in regret. He healed Shyn's wound, but it didn't look like it had done anything, at least not for a moment.
"I'm afraid I can't do much other than close the wound, my Lady."
Calaera lowered her head with a blank hollow look staring through the floor.
“...Clo...vis...” Shyn uttered in a weak whisper, barely loud enough for Calaera to make out what he was saying.
Calaera couldn't believe it, and she hugged him as tight as she could, refusing to let go.
“Please, my lady, I'm sure he's very fragile right now,” Xokun reminded Calaera, as he kept his hands hovering above Shyn to concentrate on healing him as much as he could, though the damage was extensive, even for a masterful healer like Xokun.
In the midst of his healing, the doors flung open.
Calaera turned around to see who it was, and saw Clovis standing there in the doorway surrounded by someone from his company.
Clovis stood there in shock to see how bloodied and beaten Shyn was before him, but still somehow clung onto life.
“Jinta, tend to him right away,” Clovis sharply ordered, turning to Jinta who looked to be a healer.
“Of course,” Jinta rushed with some equipment at his side, and knelt down to examine Shyn right away.
“Can you heal him?” Calaera asked, almost in disbelief that this young looking boy was a skilled enough healer.
“Rest assured, my Lady, I will have him fully healed, and into recovery before you know it,” Jinta assured Calaera with an easing calm look.
“Jinta is one of the Omori Shaman, there's no one else better suited to help him. I promise you can put your friend's life in his hands,” Clovis confirmed.
“Thank you.” Calaera watched Shyn's choppy, uneasy breathing, and stood up to face Clovis. “I was wondering why he mentioned your name before he lost consciousness again. I assume then, I have you to thank for why Lyndenwell is still standing?”
“I only did what I could to help,” Clovis replied. “From what I saw, everyone fought with their lives for their homes, and it proved to be greater than the resolve of those invaders. Without them, my company and I would have been a pretty sad welcoming party,” Clovis flashed his famous charming smirk to break the tension, and it seemed to work for now at least.
Calaera bowed her head low. “I can't begin to thank you enough for what you have done for this City, when we had no one else to help us. Thank you so much.”
“Your thanks is plenty of reward for me, my Lady,” Clovis bowed in return.
Chapter 29: Caden
Chasing after W
orkal, Caden ran toward the descending open maw leading underneath the quarry's surface. Upon entering, Caden found himself completely entranced by the massive cavernous dungeon. “I can't believe a place like this is under Qwayke...”
Caden stared with his mouth agape at the gargantuan vines that clung all over the massive cavernous aquamarine walls, with dewy foliage stuffed in every corner. Floating chunks of rock with mini waterfalls cascading down, colorful flowers glowing in a soothing radiating wave within and expansive field Caden stood in. It looked like a surreal vibrant paradise, but one Caden knew he needed to be careful about traversing as he walked deeper into the unknown. He had heard plenty of stories of the traps and trials of adventurers in dungeons from the stories his parents told him. Still, his excitement drowned everything else out.
Cutting through the field, different entrances spawned into existence all over the place, each of them appearing even more enticing than the last. Tempting tunnels, curious crevices to explore—they kept popping up with every step until Caden came across a small arching entrance made of ancient looking white stone with strange etchings he's never seen before.
“For some reason, this place feels kind of familiar...” Caden looked around with an odd sensation. It felt like he was supposed to be there, like this was nothing new.
Caden crossed through the archway, and a thick mass of roots and vines closed the way up behind him. Caden turned and pulled at the roots, but they were immediately replaced with another, over and over again.
In the next area, Caden saw a stone bridge covered all over in slippery moss beside a thundering waterfall crashing down into an endless swirling void below.
“Guess this is the way then,” Caden thoughtlessly reasoned with a shrug, seeing that crossing the bridge was the only way forward. “Looks like I'm done for if I slip though,” Caden awkwardly laughed off, looking down into the void below.
Caden inched along as carefully as he could, even when he wanted to burst ahead to catch up to Workal. Even at a snail's pace, his feet barely stayed stable under him, as he stumbled and slid all over the place.