by K Hanson
When it was open, she yelled to her crew and the rebels, “Get in here! The gate’s open.” They ran from behind the carts to the open gate, and the others who had been waiting in the nearby alleys poured into the streets to attack the fort. Another group should be taking up positions near the other gate on the other side of the compound to prevent anyone from getting out that way, but Nereyda could only hope that they were doing their job.
Imperial soldiers emerged from their barracks. Her army of rebels should be able to handle the soldiers, so she wanted to find the garrison commander and deal with him. If she could take him out, and anyone else on his staff, that would cut off the head of the entire Antalian garrison.
She found the largest building, which sat in the middle of the fort against the tall outer wall of Antalia. Nereyda dashed across the courtyard toward the structure, skirting squads of soldiers. Unnecessary fights would only slow her down.
She reached the main central building. Nereyda ran up the staircase that wrapped around the outside, taking the steps two at a time. Her heart was pounding by the time she burst into the room at the top. A tall man in a general’s uniform yelled orders to other officers who rushed around the room. Tables and desks with maps and other papers lined the walls.
He stopped when he saw Nereyda standing in the doorway, then glanced at a man in the back of the room.
“Temel,” said the general, “get the word to the other garrisons and the fleet. Use the other roads.”
“Yes, sir,” responded Temel, before he disappeared through a door in the back wall of the room. The wall that was pressed against the dark, solid walls surrounding Antalia.
“Who are you?” asked the general, as he examined Nereyda. “You’re a strange sight. I don’t see a lot of people wearing dresses and fighting with swords.”
“Get used to it. It’s very comfortable, and I’m sure I look great. I expect it’ll catch on soon.”
“Maybe. But that still doesn’t answer my question.”
“It doesn’t matter who I am,” said Nereyda. “We’re taking back the city. Surrender your garrison to us, and we’ll spare your men.”
The man laughed. “You’re going to take back the city? You caught us by surprise, yes, but that won’t help you with the rest of the city.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. Draw your sword and face me, or surrender.”
The man sighed, then pulled his shield from his broad back and drew a sword from his belt. “Very well.” He almost sounded bored.
With her cutlass in her right hand and the guard’s sword in her left, she circled the general, watching how he moved and carried himself.
His eyes maintained an intense focus on her. He kept the face of his shield pointed directly at her, in front of his torso, and his sword was ready to engage.
She danced toward him and swung her cutlass toward his exposed left shoulder.
He shifted his shield, and her blade kissed off of the face.
As he moved his shield, she thrust her other sword toward his belly, but he swept it out of the way with his sword.
She took a step back to regroup, but he advanced on her.
Nereyda feinted from her left, but he didn’t fall for it.
She tried striking at the same time with both blades, attacking both of his shoulders.
As her blades swung toward him, he shoved his shield directly into her, slamming into her chest.
The staggering blow sent her to her knees, and she dropped the sword in her left hand.
As the general raised his sword above her, she swiped her blade toward his ankles, below his shield. Her sword carved into a gap in his armor and he lost his balance, his sword striking the floor next to her.
The large man fell to his knees as Nereyda sprang back onto her feet. The general tried to stand, but his ankles wouldn’t bear the weight.
He tried to bash Nereyda with his shield, but Nereyda dodged out of the way. She circled around him and placed the tip of her blade at the back of his neck.
“Stop fighting. It’s not worth your life.”
“I swore to defend the Empire. I’ll never surrender.”
Nereyda kicked him in the back, and he fell forward, his shield falling from his grip as he caught himself. She stood on his back to keep him from rising and used her other foot to kick his weapons away.
“Don’t try to run anywhere. I’ll be back.”
She dashed to the door in the wall and pulled it open. On the other side, she found a stairway carved into solid dark stone, descending to the right. It was a stairway hidden inside the wall of Antalia itself. Torches provided dim light. Iron reinforcements were built into the wall, making the walls of Antalia the strongest in the Empire. Supposedly, they could endure days of barrage from cannons and stay standing. Nobody had yet put the walls to the test.
Nereyda hurried down the steps. They descended considerably lower than the height of the building. When she reached the bottom, a corridor with more torches went to the right, underneath the fort.
She sprinted down the hallway until she reached a four-way intersection. None of the connecting hallways provided any clue about where the officer had gone. Nereyda held her breath and listened for footsteps, but didn’t hear any. The only sound came from a rat scurrying down the hallway to her left. Without any clue to where he had gone, it would be pointless to pursue him. Her best bet was to go back and try to get ready for a tougher fight.
She dashed back to the stairs and up to the command center. Inside, the general remained on the floor but had grabbed his sword and shield. He was still making a futile effort to haul himself up, along with pulling himself toward the exit. Nereyda ran up behind him and kicked him down again and wrenched his equipment from his hands. “I told you to stay here. You’re just going to make it worse by trying to put weight on it.”
As her legs recovered from her run, Nereyda staggered to one of the windows and looked over the compound as she caught her breath. The rebels had almost finished securing it while she had been inside. The bodies of Imperial soldiers were strewn around the compound, and survivors were sitting on the ground in the corner of the fort, guarded by a woman in a purple leotard and a man in a billowing orange shirt. She caught Jax’s eye and waved at him. He nodded back, then he ran out of the walls with a group of rebels.
Turning back to the general, Nereyda grabbed him under the shoulders and helped him into a chair at a table on the side of the room. She dragged another chair over and faced him as she sat backward on her chair.
“I have some questions. Then I’ll decide whether or not to put you out of your misery.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Gunfire erupted from within the city walls, and Limbani could do nothing about it. From her position standing on a hill outside the high black walls of Antalia, she could only listen to the sounds of violence and watch as wisps of smoke rose from the site of the battle that had started. She hoped that the pirate captain knew what she was doing and could get the city gates open to let Devrim’s forces in to join the fight.
She looked back over her shoulder to scan the small army that they had assembled. It numbered perhaps five hundred soldiers gathered from the household guards of nobles friendly to Devrim’s cause, along with a detachment of army reserves under a captain who had decided to join their side. While a good start, it was not nearly enough to take Antalia, at least not from the outside. Trying to do so would be suicide. She hoped Devrim had judged well in placing his trust in Nereyda. From Limbani’s interactions with the pirate captain, she seemed to mean well and certainly appeared to be capable, but it was a big gamble to take on such an ambitious target as their first choice. If it didn’t go right, their rebellion would die against the black walls ahead of them and be swiftly forgotten.
A rattle of chains and a groan sounded from the direction of the wall. Limbani turned her focus forward as the giant main gate of Antalia rumbled open. Nereyda had done it. Now they had to do their part before the pirates ins
ide were crushed.
“After me!” she cried as she charged down the hill.
The rest of the soldiers followed after her, pouring around and over the hill, then down toward the gate. As they dashed over the open field to the opening, very little fire came toward them from the walls. The battle within had drawn the attention of the guards on the wall, distracting them from the additional threat outside.
When she reached the gate, she spotted a group of Islanders, including Jax, fending off some Imperial soldiers attempting to retake the mechanism that opened and closed the city gates. Jax growled as he whirled his battle-ax over his head, blood dripping from the blade. A soldier blocked it with his shield but was staggered from the blow. Without slowing down, Limbani drew her saber and stabbed it into the side of the soldier fighting Jax. The rebel troops behind her engaged the other Imperials, driving them away from the Islanders and securing the gate for the time being.
Limbani paused to catch her breath next to Jax. “Good work with the gate,” she said between breaths. “How are things going everywhere else?”
Jax shrugged. “Fine, as far as I know. We took the main Imperial fort. Nereyda and the others are there finishing securing it now.”
“Others? Is it more than just the pirates?”
“Way more than just us. Plenty of folks in the city seem to want to fight. Nereyda managed to raise quite the uprising.”
“Sounds like it. If you took the main fort already, what’s a good target for us?” she asked in a clipped tone.
“The other two gates have fortifications too, but not as well defended as this one,” he said quickly. “If we want to finish taking out the city garrison, we need to take those bases.”
“Okay, we’ll start working on that. Are you going to join us?”
Jax shook his head. “We need to get back to the fort. I told Nereyda we’d return once we opened the gate.”
“All right. We’ve both got work to do.”
“We do, but I think we’re almost there. The Imperials didn’t plan on the city rising up beneath them. See you when we’re done.”
Limbani watched as Jax ran off, leading the Islanders back to the main fortification, then called her company leaders over. “We need to secure the other two enemy forts and the walls. Lieutenant Adnan, you and I will take First Company toward the southern fort and take that. Captain Kadri, you will take Second Company to the northern fort. And Captain Erol, Third Company will climb the wall and clear any enemies up there. Any questions?”
Nobody said anything.
“Good. Let’s move out.”
Limbani led her company as they double-timed their way south through the city. She ordered each platoon to scatter to different alleys and side streets so they couldn’t all be ambushed at once.
The disorganized Imperial soldiers that they encountered panicked as they saw enemies inside the city walls. They waited for orders that weren’t coming and scurried about in attempts to take cover. Limbani’s company easily cut through any resistance they encountered.
As they twisted around a bend in a side street, Limbani’s platoon faced an overturned cart.
“You,” Limbani said as she gestured to half of the troops in the platoon around her, “take cover. The rest of you, approach that cart with caution.” The rebels slowed their approach to navigate their way around it. When they had almost reached it, Imperial troops popped up from behind it.
Limbani’s men dove behind cover and opened fire on the enemy position. Each side held the other pinned down. All of her troops had found good cover in doorways and alleys, so they weren’t taking hits, but neither was the enemy.
Yells sounded from an alley that connected to the street behind the cart. A horde of civilians with axes, hammers, and other improvised weapons dashed out. The confused Imperials turned toward the new threat, but not in time before the mad rush of people reached them.
When the last of the Imperials fell, Limbani emerged from cover. “Who are you?” she asked.
“We’re the people of Antalia. We’re taking back our city. And who are you?”
“We’re rebels like you and we’re here to help. I’m General Limbani. We’re going to take the south camp.”
“We’ll come with you. It’s time to kick these bastards out of our city.”
Limbani pursed her lips as she looked over the group of Antalians. The lack of discipline in their attack worried her. Would they listen and follow orders? However, several of them had cuts and scrapes that they ignored or even laughed at. The fire in their eyes and their disregard for danger would be valuable.
“Excellent,” she said. “Stick with us, though. We’ll have better luck if we work together as a group.”
“Hope you soldiers can keep up, then.” Their leader turned and dashed up the street toward the fort. Limbani sighed and signaled to her troops to follow the civilian rebels.
A few blocks later, they reached an intersection and took heavy fire, with bullets chipping the buildings and street around them. Limbani kicked open a door and ordered her men and the civilians into the building to take cover. Once everyone was safe inside, she crouched near a window next to Adnan. “Have the men send some covering fire across the street while I take a look at what we’re facing.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After a moment, their platoon began their barrage, taking turns firing and reloading. Limbani peeked up over the windowsill. Some Imperial soldiers had set up a firing position to ambush rebels at the intersection. They had set up cover on the ground using barrels, crates, and wagons. Some others had taken position at windows and balconies and watched for anyone who stepped into their view. Limbani started forming a plan.
She slid along the wall toward the person who had led the charge of the Antalian rebels. “If we can cover you, how do you feel about charging the Imperials?”
“As long as you take the pressure off, we can do that. We’re eager to fight, but we don’t want to run into a hail of bullets.”
Limbani nodded. “First Squad,” she said in a loud voice, “I want you to head upstairs and take up positions to provide cover. Second Squad, once they’re settled up there, follow them up. Third, you do the same when Second is ready. I want everyone with a gun on the second and third floors.” She turned back to the rebel leader. “Once they’re all in position, they’ll give you the cover you need, and you can go.”
The three squads in the platoon took turns hurrying upstairs.
“Lieutenant, go upstairs and give the order to begin a cover volley when everyone is ready.”
A few moments after Adnan had gone upstairs, a rolling series of shots erupted from above Limbani. “Now’s our chance,” she said to the rebels. “Follow me.”
Limbani dashed out the door and drew her saber as she sprinted across the street. Their Imperial enemies kept their heads down and blind fired at them. Two civilian rebels fell during the charge.
The first to reach the line of cover, Limbani vaulted over a waist-high crate and thrust her sword into the belly of the Imperial using it as cover. Around her, the Antalians savaged the Imperials with their scrounged makeshift weapons.
As they finished clearing the enemies on the ground, they dashed into the buildings to force out the Imperials on the upper floors. Limbani ran toward one of the ground-level doors. When she was halfway across the street, the second story exploded in a shower of wooden splinters. She dove out of the way of the debris as more buildings nearby had holes blown in their walls and roofs. Imperials, Antalians, and rebel soldiers all spilled out on the street in the chaos. A man screamed as a wall collapsed on top of him.
She returned her focus to the current battle with the Imperials. She caught two fleeing soldiers and dispatched them with slices of her saber.
When the last of the Imperials had fallen, Limbani paused to watch where the artillery fire was coming from. The sounds came from the harbor. Were the Imperials bombarding their own town? What were they trying to accomplish?
Limbani and her group couldn’t stop it at the moment. Their only option was to continue on to the enemy fort and take it. They would deal with the Imperial Navy later.
As they ran through the streets, they encountered a few more groups of Imperials, but defeated them quickly. The Antalians would rush the soldiers while Limbani’s men provided covering fire. The Empire’s forces froze as they stared at the Antalian charge in disbelief. A couple of times Limbani and her lieutenant had to pull civilians away as they continued to strike an enemy who had already fallen and died.
Meanwhile, cannonballs from the frigates continued to rain debris and death.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nereyda stared at the general across the table from her, his face contorted with pain and defiance.
“What can you tell me about the rest of the garrison? What are they going to do now that we’ve taken your main camp?”
The general laughed at her.
“What’s funny?”
“You’re never going to take Antalia.”
“Why not? We already defeated you here, and more of the city is going to join us.”
“It doesn’t matter, because there won’t be a city to take.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t need to tell you anything.”
Nereyda rose, marched around the table, and swept the chair from under the general. As he sprawled onto the ground, she pointed her sword at his throat.
He groaned in pain. “Fine, I’ll tell you. I’m sure you noticed the fleet in the harbor.”
“Of course. What about them?”
“Did you notice the oversized guns?”
“I did. What’s special about them?”
“They’re shore bombardment guns. Sure, they’ll tear through another ship easily enough. But they’re made for attacking a city or fixed fortifications. And, as far as I can tell, there is only one city here.”