Retaliation (William of Archonia Book 2)

by Jarod Meyer

  They sped along the fauna covered ground of the mighty forest for a while longer, until to Katrina’s surprise, her purple companion slowed, until she was right by its side. She looked over, it’s piercing white eyes locking with hers for a moment, and there was an acknowledgement between them, without any words having to be spoken.

  Their pace slowed more, the direction changing slightly, until finally the two came to a complete stop. She looked at the creature for direction and amazingly enough was answered. It twitched its ears up and down as if to say listen, and crouched low, as if to say move quietly. Katrina mimicked the sleek animal and tiptoed forward. She kept her ears and eyes keen on her surroundings, and as she could now feel the aura of energy from the beast she no longer needed to keep an eye on it.

  They traveled for close to a mile before finally hearing the rush of flowing water. After another mile, the sound rose in intensity until she could hear nothing else. All of the sudden she caught a glint of light in her peripheral vision, and snapped her head to track it. A soft glow moved through the trees. It was white, not unlike a projection. She moved towards it quickly, losing sight of her purple friend. She swiftly crept up behind the glow moving from cover to cover

  She wasn’t surprised to find a group of soldiers. An adjudicator led the small band, his hand alight with his inner energy. Four other soldiers held a chain connected to a collar wrapped around the neck of a fifth soldier. Katrina recognized his white cape, emblazoned with golden numeral, ranking him as a guardian lieutenant. She couldn’t believe such a high ranking officer in the Guardian Corps would be detained in such a way.

  She followed eagerly, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, but the sound of the rushing water continued to get louder. She guessed where they were heading. It was the place where all the waters of Archonia flowed. A place called the Valley of Jharana the very same place where her mysterious crystal tower stood. She could now just barely make it out in the darkness. Her heart skipped a beat.

  The crystal tower, marked as the Tower of Reningad in her ancient Archonian history tome, was a prison used to house the enemies of Archonia during the wars of old, before the time of the obelisks, and peace. The tower hadn’t been used for such a purpose since that time.

  Clearly things have changed, Kat mumbled.

  The Adjudicators were declaring people rebels and detaining them…even soldiers. It had only been hours since William fled Archonia, and their world was already changing.

  She followed for a bit longer until she came to the edge of the Grand Falls. The small company of adjudicators floated out into the night sky, moving towards the crystal tower, which shimmered in the light of the planets above.

  The water raged as it spilled over the cliffs, the falls sweeping in a wide arc and encompassing nearly the whole valley.

  Kat thought desperately of what her next move would be. She was outnumbered five to one. Even if she managed to free her guardian brother it would still be two against five. It felt like cowardice, letting them float away into the night, but she knew that if she attacked she may well be captured herself. She didn’t want to risk having the others waiting for her, and risk their capture as well. Without any further hesitation, Kat whisked away into the forest.

  As promised, she arrived at the northern border of the forest, where the trees meet the vast expanse of mountains surrounding Archonia. She had enough time sit down on a large rock and ponder the events of the day before she heard the rustling of tree branches.

  “Here she is,” Samuel said to Parsa as he hopped out of the trees in front of Katrina.

  “Where in the name of the creators did you go?” Parsa asked, his face creased with worry.

  Katrina didn’t respond immediately, but the look on her face must have hinted at her concern.

  “Katrina, what did you find in the forest?” Samuel asked slowly.

  “They are taking us to the tower of Reningad as prisoners.”

  She let this sink in for a moment. When they didn’t respond she continued.

  “I saw an adjudicator and four other soldiers taking a lieutenant in the Guardian Corps there. I didn’t follow them all the way. I do not know what they are doing to them there,” she finished, before the questions began.

  “Why are people dividing?” Samuel asked.

  “Should we go back for the lieutenant? There could be more guardians being held there,” Parsa asked, boldly.

  “I’m sure it’s guarded too well for the three of us to pose a legitimate threat,” Katrina retorted.

  “Why would the lieutenant go willingly? Why would he not flee, as we did?” Sam asked, shaking his head.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter, we are on our own. We need to maintain a low profile. At the very least, until we find more supporters,” Katrina cut in.

  “Supporters of what?” Parsa asked, immediately.

  “I do not know. More of us, people who support William and the Archon Gabriel.”

  “Some rebellion we have going on here,” Parsa said.

  Katrina went into a little more detail about what she saw, leaving out the part about how she’d followed the strange purple creature. She really didn’t know how her friends would take it if she told them she ran off after some creature, because she had a feeling that it was leading her somewhere important. It sounded crazy in her head, and knew without a doubt they would think she’d lost it.

  In the end, they all agreed that they needed to keep moving. If they held their current pace they could reach the mountain city of Shambala by day break.

  Katrina thought of herself as tough, and at times even fearless, but the prospect of traversing Oblivion was unnerving at best. The others seemed stoic to her as well in preparation for the journey.

  The first obstacle was the towering mountains that surround Archonia. They didn’t have a gradual ascent into the foothills like the mountains from Earth that Katrina had hiked in her youth. In fact no mountain could dare to come close to these rock formations. In fact many of the first Greek settlers in Archonia had taken to calling them titans.

  They would be free climbing. And each of them began looking for hand holds. Samuel dug a hand into the stone making his own, and the sound rippled like thunder across the cliffs echoing through the night.

  “Samuel, lets avoid any unnecessary sound,” Parsa said shaking his head.

  The cover of darkness masked their progress and soon they were into the clouds and there vision was almost non-existent.

  “We should fly through the cloud line, straight up. I doubt there are any scouts this high,” Parsa stated.

  Katrina couldn’t see him through the clouds. She could only hear his voice. “I agree. We will need to make up some time. We’ll definitely lose a lot in the mists of oblivion.”

  “We shouldn’t stray into the mists,” Parsa replied.

  “We do not have a choice. Despite what you believe, soldiers are scouring these mountains. Commander Achilles made the cleanup after the battle his highest priority. The only place he has not authorized entry into is the mists,” Katrina hissed in response.

  “This would have been good to know sooner. We may as well turn back now,” Parsa stated bluntly.

  “Why? Are you afraid of the mists?” Samuel asked.

  “As you should be. We will be lost in them. There is no sense of time in the mist, or direction. If you walk straight out into oblivion, you may find yourself back in the place you started after a few minutes or you may never return,” Parsa said solemnly.

  “We will stick to the mountains, you coward,” Katrina replied and shot into the sky.

  Being called a coward must have been challenge enough, as Parsa followed her as she bored a hole through the clouds and into the sky. They didn’t see anyone for miles and the land below began to shrink into the distance. The sky above was clear now, the vast planets looming above looked so close she felt that she could almost touch them.

  Katrina soon realized that she was being careless, fly
ing so high, so she decided to hug the mountaintops, until they began to descend rapidly. The mists of oblivion appeared black in the darkness of the night, but she didn’t let it sway her.

  “Okay, we do not have to travel far into the mist. Just hug the rocks and stay along the edge. Just like we did in the forest,” she said, confidently.

  “We should have taken our chances with the adjudicators on the road,” Parsa said, but was cut short by the sonic boom of someone approaching.

  “Scout!” Katrina hissed in a whisper, “everyone into the mist.”

  The group didn’t need to be told twice and they dropped into the white clouds below. Katrina’s sight instantly filled with fog, her depth of vision dropping to barely ten feet in front of her. She grasped rock and clung to the side of the mountains and remained perfectly silent. Archonian scouts weren’t always selected for just their speed. Some had incredible senses of hearing, sight, and smell, and a rare few even possessing extrasensory perceptions. She knew of a few scouts that could sense other people’s energy output in extreme detail.

  The other guardians were either aware of this as well, or were simply following Katrina’s example, as they huddled silently to the rock around her.

  They waited another couple of moments just to be sure that the scout had passed Katrina let out a deep sigh, and was astonished that she could see her breath. It was cold. She hadn’t felt cold in ages. She remembered the sensations of cool, warm, and hot.

  “All clear, I think. We need to make our way west,” she said, in a whisper.

  The next mile or so was difficult. They tried to traverse the side of the mountain without flying. First, so they wouldn’t get lost in the mist, but secondly to mask their energy signatures if someone were to pass by. But it was proving to be difficult to travel in the murk quietly.

  “I vote we try to float through the mist,” Samuel said after some time. His voice sounded muffled. The haze didn’t just dampen their sight, she realized, but also interfered with the way their voice traveled as well.

  “Perhaps that would be best. Just keep the cliff face on your left,” Katrina said.

  She wanted to keep a hand on the rock just to be sure. She heard crazy stories about the mists. What scared her most was that she guessed that the reason she was feeling cold was because she was no longer inside the protective barrier of the twin obelisks. She was now in Oblivion.

  Idiots she thought to herself as she frantically flew ahead into the cloudiness her hand scraped the rock on her left.

  But just then her heart jumped because the rock was now on her right. She shook her head, surely she was imagining things, but her hand was still against the stone as if it hadn’t moved. But the rock was on her right. Was it her eyes that were betraying her? She closed them and felt the rock to be sure. The rock was still on the left.

  Her first gut reaction was telling her to cry out to her companions.

  Damn it Katrina you’re a guardian. Get a grip on yourself.

  Then her vision began to fade as the fog thickened She waived an arm around trying to clear some of the pale mist. Her attempt didn’t work and she quickly gave up reaching back out for the cliff face. Her hand grasped only air.

  Oh god no.

  She frantically began searching, but there was nothing solid in any direction. She now floated completely blind. The air got closer, and despite there being nothing around her she began to feel claustrophobic. The air was so thick that she could barely find breath. She sucked it in harshly, her lungs protesting.

  Up felt like down, left like right. Her head began spinning and her stomach churned.

  I have to get out of here now!

  She flew straight upwards and out but felt like she was getting nowhere. The mists never ended. She had only gone in a few feet. She screamed but no sound issued forth from her mouth.

  I’m done for.

  She wiped sweat from her face with both hands her only sensation left was to feel, but even that was fading quickly. Numbness was taking over her fingers and toes. White had now faded to black.

  But then miraculously a spike of light erupted in her mind below her to her right. Without hesitation she flew with every ounce of feeling left inside of her she flew.

  A light blinded her, and she was hit with a wave of feeling. Warmth, wind, and something solid.

  After several moments she was able to orient herself. The solid object had been the mountainside. She had escaped the mist.

  “Who are you? Declare yourself!” shouted a voice.

  She looked up to find the grim face of a scout. She didn’t recognize him. She did however recognize the blue color of his cape. His rich brown eyes got wide as his mind put together the scene. And she heard the scream of his sword as it left its sheath.

  “Wait I’m just a…” but she cut herself off as she realized she was fully armored. She must have summoned it in her desperate attempt to escape oblivion.

  “You’re under arrest, Guardian.”

  Total hell.

  A flash of light ripped across the plateau stemming from her fingertips, but was too slow for the sentinel who blurred to the side out of harm’s way. She let three more bolts of energy fly before she repositioned and re-established her enemy’s location. Two of the bolts were expertly dodged again, but the third was going to find its mark. A smirk came over Katrina’s face as she waited for the explosion of her energy to knock her enemy to the ground, but the sentinel deflected the energy blast with the flat of his sword.

  He was quite possibly faster than she was because he was upon her before she could move. His sword came down hard, and she wrenched her bow free from her back just in time to shield herself. The curved gold was much harder than it looked and took the blow only bending slightly in defiance of the soldier’s strength. Katrina herself was taken to her knee under the force, but with determination she rolled the deadlocked weapons to the side and as they went to the ground her leg connected with the sentinel’s head. He grunted and staggered backwards letting blasts of energy fly from his fingertips. One hit her square in the chest ripping open her breastplate. She could hear it sizzle and crack from the blast, and a jarring sensation as her head connected with something hard.

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHANGES

  William didn’t meditate. Still he found it peaceful to lay with his eyes closed the previous night. When he opened them it was because he was shivering. He looked around the room moving his neck slowly cringing with pain. The uneven floor had caused something to pop out of place. The shutters in Tamara’s home were still shut, but cool air poured in through cracks, chilling William to the bone. He looked to the fireplace and the coals were covered in frost.

  “Get up,” Tamara announced icily as she banged through the front door.

  “I’m up, god.”

  “There are no gods here in Dichonia. Now get moving. Achilles has informed me of your training deficiencies.”

  “What?” he muttered under his breath, then grabbed his head with both hands and gave his neck a twist until he felt his vertebrae pop back into place.

  “Are you ready to begin?” Tamara asked, impatiently.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he grumbled.

  Tamara wore thick leather clothing and various furs – she was prepared for the cold. William quickly summoned his armor, wrapping himself in the thick cloak to shelter him from the biting frost.

  William followed Tamara out of the hut, trudging through a fresh layer of sulfuric, frozen ash. After a few minutes of speedy travel they came to a cavern entrance. It was shrouded by decrepit trees, and the mouth was barely perceptible. Tamara crouched down, and slid feet first into the blackness. William looked around, and followed suit.

  He slid in the darkness, his boots crunching loudly as he landed. Light poured from his hand, illuminating the cavern. At his feet were piles of ground bones.

  “Nice,” William said, sarcastically.

  “Be glad they are not yours. And extinguish that light,�
� Tamara retorted.

  “We won’t be able to see,” William replied as if it was obvious.

  “That is the exercise, you fool. You must not trust your eyes they can deceive you in Dichonia,” she stated.

  William sighed, and lowered his hand. He got a glimpse of the direction in which she was headed, and began to follow, stumbling with every step.

  “How many people does Vanity have under his control,” William asked, running into a rock.

  “There is close to ten thousand villages similar to mine in Sepulcher, his region, each home to hordes of demons.

  That is a lot.

  “The planar size of Dichonia is ten times that of the Earth,” Tamara continued.

  “I read that Archonia is four times the size of Earth. How is it that Dichonia is bigger?” William asked.

  “This world is constantly growing and transforming. The mother Gaia created it to house the souls from the mortal plain. The more souls there are, the larger these two lands become,” she responded.

  “So there is more than twice the amount of souls here in Dichonia?” he asked again.

  “Achilles told me the last census taken in Archonia yielded a number of around thirty billion souls. I would estimate the numbers here to be roughly over one hundred and ten billion,” she said, casually.

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “I’m a spy for Achilles, William. He demands that I know as much as possible about his enemy.”

  William had gained a whole new appreciation for Tamara, in just a short amount of time. He didn’t let this slip, however, so as to seem soft to her, but he would not be underestimating her.

  At this point, William couldn’t see at all, and was moving by feel alone. Her facts and figures continued to circle in his thoughts. Not only were there four times as many beings here, but each one was twisted into a monster bent on destruction. The Archonian military was only a small fraction of that population. They were hilariously outnumbered. If it came to a straight up fight, there would be no doubt that Archonia would perish.