by S. K. Ng
When the Royal Elementhar Pond finally arrived at Palace Liberty, they got the bad news. A minvian-ranked Royal Guard told them of it when they reached the stables. All four of their Shadow Deathmerchant Clan prisoners were dead, murdered through the means of poisoned darts. Ray was furious. Clover, Serene, Rod and Lance were disappointed. Ray punched a wooden pillar out of frustration, but kept silent. Then he walked off without saying a word. Spirit and Lance followed closely behind. Clover took over and gave instructions to the rest of the pond to secure their horses, unpack and clean their equipment and then she dismissed them once all the chores were done. They all knew how Ray felt. The only difference was, they had not felt it at the level that he did. They did not lose their ‘family’ to the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan and they had not hunted these assassins as long as he had.
The 22nd Morning of Third Month of Dry Season saw Ray and the Sollenthars setting up a security perimeter around a large triple storey building and its compound just at the outskirts of Fallsgreen Town, North-western Falls Province. A large crowd of people had already gathered in the main hall on the ground floor and more were coming. Rod and 1st River ensured that the crowd were seated appropriately. Meanwhile, at the main gates of the perimeter fence, Serene and 3rd River were checking the oncoming crowd individually for weapons. Clover took charge of 4th and 5th Rivers who were guarding the perimeter itself.
Ray tried to coordinate the entire process as efficiently as he knew how. Soldiering was not truly his area of expertise and setting up the security perimeter made him feel like a fish out of water. On many matters of soldiering, he relied heavily on Serene’s and Rod’s advice and the occasion on this day was no different. Ray paced the perimeter with Clover, both of them looking for weaknesses in it. Thoroughly satisfied, he left Clover and went into the main hall and examined the situation there. Rod had everything under control. Ray went up to the first and second floors, where 2nd River was assigned, and found everything there to be satisfactory as well. Then he went down to the main gate where Serene was waiting and stood nervously.
There was a distant rumbling noise from far down the road. The people whom Ray was waiting for had finally arrived.
“Royal Guards _ one river of them approaching!” shouted one of Ray’s sentries.
“Alert _ be of this, Sollenthars!” commanded Ray to his pond.
On the long road leading in to where Ray was, first came two cavalry streams, which were then followed by a cavalry archer stream. Behind them came the ‘prized package’, the Royal Carriage and the royalties who were in it. Behind the Royal Carriage came another cavalry archer stream. Then last, but not least, came the final cavalry stream. The last two streams functioned as rear guards.
Ray was concerned as to whether the number of personnel he had was sufficient for the task. But the river who escorted the Royal Carriage would add on to the ranks of his pond and that made him feel a little better.
“Convian Sky Proest, Commander, 2nd River, Three, Three, 1st Ocean,” said the lead cavalryman.
“Designation _ of this; mine is Minvian Ray Iddell, Commander, Royal Elementhar Pond, 1st Ocean,” replied Ray.
Ray’s reply stunned Sky a little. Obviously he had never spoken to an Elementhar before and was unfamiliar with their method of speech.
Ray noticed that Sky’s river formation was not standard. 2nd River, 3rd Pond, 3rd Lake, 1st Ocean was supposed to be a cavalry archer river and was supposed to be made up of four cavalry archer streams and one Light Catapult stream. Apparently, their formation was changed to suit the mission at hand, which was to serve as an escort and protection team.
“Report please, Minvian Iddell,” asked Sky in a respectful manner.
Although he was clearly in-charge of the royalty’s personal security and this position overrides Ray’s position as the officer-in-charge of site security, however, Ray still outranked him and Sky had no intentions of being disrespectful.
“Site _ of this is secured, Convian Proest, with swordsmen forming the perimeter and archers in support position on the second and third floors,” replied Ray.
“Report understood, Minvian Iddell, proceeding with escort,” replied Sky.
The Royal Guards river proceeded into the site with the Royal Carriage. The Royal Carriage doors opened and Prince Eagle Patrum and his mother, Queen Rose Soll Patrum, stepped out. Rod guided the royalties, who were closely encircled by Sky and his subordinates, into the hall.
The crowd stood up and broke into a thunderous applause. Rod looked around cautiously. So did Sky, but he did so more discreetly. Ray entered the main hall and stood guard next to Rod. Prince Patrum approached the podium.
“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, the fair people of Fallsgreen Town; I bid you good morning! It is a great honour for us to be here with you today,” said the prince through a conical voice amplifier.
The crowd broke into a thunderous applause again.
“This project was started 2 years ago based on the recommendations of your district governor, Governor Moss Chartyn. The case that he argued so moved my father that a larger than normal budget was approved. So here we are today, two years and ten thousand gold coins later, all together to witness this historic event! I believe there is no need for me to remind you of the amount of labour involved. Thousands of man hours, a multitude of excellent problem solving skills and a little imagination have brought this concept to life and made it whole. This fine facility consists of a triple storey building surrounded by a lush, green compound inclusive of a garden and a small pond. The ground floor of this triple storey building, where we are now, shall be the reception area and the emergency ward. The first floor will house the normal wards and a number of small clinics. The second floor is where the administration of this fine facility will be done and where the medicines and equipments will be stored. When it begins operation shortly after this little ceremony, you will have at your disposal fifty of Free Falls finest healers!” said the prince.
Another round of thunderous applause broke out. Ray had never realised that there was such a strong support for the royalties in Free Falls. But then again, what did he know about politics. He reminded himself that he was an Elementhar, not truly a soldier and definitely not a politician!
“Long have the people of Fallsgreen and its surrounding outskirts suffered from the unavailability of healers. Long have the good men, women and children of this place been deprived of medicines and treatment. But no more, I say! No more! For I present to you, the fine people of Fallsgreen, the Fallsgreen Citizen Healing Centre!” announced Prince Patrum.
Thunderous applause filled the main hall again, this time far louder than before. Prince Patrum smiled and waved at the crowd.
Meanwhile, just outside the building and on its green grassy compound, square patches of grass and the earth underneath them start to move. These patches form square holes in the ground and expose a network of tunnels under them. Black-clad figures jump out of these holes and start throwing Airblades at the Sollenthars guarding the perimeter. The screams of shock and pain fill the air as the Sollenthars are caught unaware and fall victim to the barrage of Airblades. An Airblade flies right by Clover’s neck, nearly killing her. She spins around on reflex and executes a series of Frozen Dart Spells at her assailants. Several conical pieces of solid ice fly through the air and drive into the flesh of a few of the assassins like nails driven into wood. They give stifled groans and fall lifeless onto the ground.
More assassins appear out of the ground and jump into the main hall through its windows while a few storm-in through the main entrance.
“Shadow Deathmerchant Clan! Engage _ 1st, 2nd and 3rd Stream, do of this to them and do not let them enter the main hall!” commands Serene from the main gates as she leads some of her subordinates into battle.
4th and 5th Streams, 3rd River stay behind to keep the gate secured.
Meanwhile, Clover and her subordinates jump over the short wooden picket fence and charge at the a
ssassins. The Sollenthars send Heat Burst after Heat Burst at the assassins while trying their best to close the distance. The assassins duck and roll to evade the spells while trying their best to reach and enter the main hall. One Heat Burst slams into the back of an assassin’s head and knocks him lifeless onto the ground. Another manages to slam into an assassin’s back and sends him to the underworld. But a fair few miss their mark. The Sollenthars send another barrage of Heat Bursts, but it is too late. All of the surviving assassins, numbering approximately 150 from the original figure of 210, are now in the main hall and the main doors and windows are now being shut, barred and barricaded.
Inside the main hall, Sky and some his subordinates rush to surround the prince and the queen, forming a human wall around them. They draw out their swords in unison and wait for the imminent engagement. Prince Patrum draws out his sword as well and gently pushes his mother behind him. Pressing his palm against the ground, Ray causes a thick wall of rocks and stones, the height a man, to rise up from the ground and encircle the podium, thereby adding another layer of protection for the royalties just in the knick of time as a few Airblades slice through the air at them.
Meanwhile, Rod yells for the innocent crowd to dive down and take cover. He and a few Sollenthars then send a barrage of Heat Bursts at the assassins. Nearly half a dozen assassins have flames exploding out of their torsos as the Heat Bursts made contact. While raising his finger to execute another barrage, Rod stops as he suddenly realises it is too late. The assassins are mixed with the Sollenthars now, fighting in extremely close proximity, with many innocent civilians getting killed in the process. Rod also observes many Sollenthars falling in the hands of the assassins. Through years of battle experience, Rod knows the reason why. The assassins are using short blades to enhance their manoeuvrability in this close proximity battle while the Sollenthars are using their long swords, which makes their movements slow and clumsy when compared to the assassins.
“Daggers _ employ of them now,” commands Rod as he pulls out his own dagger and rushes into the thick of the fight.
Ray pulls out his hunter’s knife with his right hand and while clutching his silver staff with his left, follows Rod into the chaos of battle. Clearly, in this type of fighting, Rod is more experienced than Ray. An assassin tries to stab Ray in the gut, but Ray parries with his staff and slashes the assassin in the neck and torso and ends it with a stab into the rib cage with his knife. Barely has the body of this assassin touched the ground before another assassin lunges forward with an attack and engages Ray in the dance of death.
Rod, meanwhile, manages to grab the neck of one of the assassins from behind with his arm and stabs the black clad figure repetitively in the torso. This action gives the opportunity for the Sollenthar who was engaged with this assassin to drop his sword and pull out his dagger. This Sollenthar now turns around and does the same favour for his comrades. The chaos is unimaginable, with as many as 150 assassins engaging 40 surviving Sollenthars and eight of Sky’s soldiers in a hall packed with innocent civilians.
The female assassin slices and cuts her way through the flesh of numerous Fallsian soldiers as she advances towards the wall of rocks and stones. Ray stands in her way. Her eyebrows frown in a show of fierce determination. Ray gives her a stern look in return. Then blades cut and slice in all directions accompanied by punches, kicks, throws and all other manner of physical combat. Some of the male civilians decide to pick up a few of the fallen daggers and join their Fallsian comrades in this chaotic battle.
The Sollenthars who were assigned as archers on the first and second floors rush down to the main hall to assist their comrades. They approach the stairway to the ground floor.
Boom!!! A huge ball of flames engulfs the Sollenthars who are near the stairway. Debris flies off everywhere, turning into shrapnel and projectiles that embed into human flesh. Clearly, one of the assassins must have placed and activated a bag of explosives under the stairway. The stairway collapses in the explosion and the surrounding areas catch fire. A significant number of the Sollenthars on the upper floors lie injured, burning or dying. The rest of them are knocked unconscious from the blast.
The Sollenthars from the perimeter try to kick down the doors to the main hall.
“Aside _ do of this now!” commands Serene, and the Sollenthars hurry to get out of her way.
A short moment passes, just enough for the Sollenthars to get clear, and then Serene sends a Heat Burst into the doors. The doors burst asunder and the door frame catches fire. But a huge and tall barricade of chairs and benches block their way. Serene prepares to send another Heat Burst but Clover grabs her hand.
“Fire _ the doorframe is on of this now and another Heat Burst will make things worse,” says Clover to her cousin.
“Barricade _ how do we get through of it?” asks Serene in return.
“Heat Bursts _ we execute many of these at this point now, and make our own door!” answers Clover as she points to a point on the wall five paces to the side of the doorframe.
The Sollenthars back away to a reasonable distance and send a huge barrage of Heat Bursts at the point on the wall. A loud explosion ensues and debris flies in all direction. Then the smoke and dust clear, revealing a large, gaping hole in the wall.
“Attack!” commands Serene.
The Sollenthars rush in to rescue their comrades while Clover stays back momentarily to put out the fire on the doorframe using her skills in the water element. Inside the main hall, an even fiercer and more chaotic battle ensues. The blades of daggers and swords clash. Metal meets flesh and blood soils the ground. Fire and smoke choke combatants and non combatants alike. Shouts of commands echo through the air in the midst of screams of pain and agony. Elemental Sorcery clashes with physical might. Bodies of men and women fall like autumn leaves.
There were many puffs of smoke and mild explosions. Then just as suddenly as it had started, the fight was now over. Dead bodies were strewn all over the bloodied floor. Ray looked out through one of the opened windows. He saw vague shadows disappearing into the green thickets of the forest. Rod, Serene and most of the surviving Sollenthars spread throughout the hall checking each of the assassins’ corpses to see if they were really dead. They hoped to find a few survivors for interrogation. Clover and some of her subordinates tended to the wounded Fallsians, both soldiers and civilians alike. The surviving healers, who were meant to serve at the healing centre to begin with, joined in.
Scanning around and seeing that it was safe to do so, Ray touched his palm to the ground and retracted the wall of rock and stones back into the ground.
“Pursue _ request permission to do of this to the assassins,” he requested.
“Granted, Minvian Iddell. Meanwhile, I shall evacuate the royalties immediately,” decided Sky, sheathing his sword.
As Sky turned around and requested the prince and queen to follow him out of the hall, Ray gave out commands for Serene and her subordinates to follow him in pursuit of the few remaining assassins while Clover, Rod and the others were to stay back and tend to the wounded. Ray punched the wall in anger, stepped out of the main hall and mounted one of the prepared horses and galloped away in full pursuit, not even waiting for his subordinates to join him.
All manner of emotions were running through Ray’s mind. Embarrassment was one of them. The fact that his defences were not sturdy enough, and that his preparations and setup were not detailed enough, was a great blow to his pride. Stupidity was another emotion that he was feeling. He should have ordered his soldiers to be in full battle gear instead of normal operational gear. The addition of the battle helm would have hardly made a difference but the shield and chain mail would have saved many of his Sollenthars’ lives. He considered himself silly to have thought that a full scale battle was not possible deep inside Fallsian territory. His only consolation was that Sky and his subordinates were also in normal operational gear, and this fact lessened Ray’s sense of his own stupidity somewhat.
&nb
sp; Ray galloped blindly into the green forest, not really sure where he was going. At the moment the horse that he was riding on seemed to be guiding itself. A sense of failure engulfed him also, for he had allowed the female assassin to escape from him yet again. She had already escaped from him twice before. Always keeping the advice of his mentor, Grand Elementhar Ridge Santlyn, in mind, Ray was furious with himself; for his mentor had always advised him thus, ‘Mistake – never make the same of this twice!’ And he had just realised another mistake that he had made, for in his haste to start the pursuit, he had forgotten to command roadblocks to be set up to capture the escaping assassins.
The darkness of night had set in once again. Out on the Serpentian grasslands, the sound of neighing horses had ended Thorn’s lucky streak. He crouched low and crouch-ran as fast as he could, keeping a lookout for ground features which could hide his malnourished body. He knew that it was pointless to try to outrun his pursuers, so hiding from them would be a better choice instead. But there was a silver lining in this dark cloud for Thorn, for he only heard neighing and not galloping! His pursuers had caught up to him but did not know exactly where he was.
Then a trumpeting sound caught Thorn’s attention. It was the trumpeting sound of elephants. There was a herd nearby. A wild and desperate idea occurred in his mind, but being caught in this wild land and desperate situation, the idea seemed logical, somehow.