The Tales of Neroman: The Silver Savior

by Tom Burton

  “It’s not unfair to say you are not yourself tonight,” Jaylen observes.

  Sam chuckles sarcastically.

  “Well tonight is special, to say the least. The night before our potential death,” Sam says with bitterness.

  Jaylen does not respond. He continues to look at Sam empathetically.

  Sam turns to look at Jaylen. “Where is Kamara?” he asks.

  “I enrolled her in the Dellmoor army, this morning. She is currently talking to her commander.”

  Sam looks at Jaylen a moment longer then slowly turns away and looks back to the library steps.

  After a few moments of silence, Jaylen smiles.

  “When the king sent you on the mission to Redlock and back,” he begins, “I saw you had grown from a scared boy into a man who always puts those around him ahead of himself. We faced so much when we left the capital—something far more interesting than half the stories in this library.” He looks back at the public library, then looks back at Sam. “There is a lot more to you than meets the eye, Sam.” He sees Sam let a tear fall down his face, despite Sam’s desperate attempt to restrain it.

  “When you came back from Rylom, with the thousands behind you,” Sam tells Jaylen, “I searched through every single person who walked through those gates, hoping some of them would be the family I once knew.”

  Jaylen looks back at Sam in silence.

  “I spent so many years fighting with them,” Sam bitterly mutters. “To have a precious few of them back….”

  “What were our words of old…?” Jaylen asks

  Sam replies bittersweetly: “Born free. Live free. Die free.”

  “Remember what I said about hope,” Jaylen comforts Sam. “There is always hope….”

  “If you truly believe that, then you know that there is help out there. You know we need them,” Sam argues.

  “The king has forbidden it. Therefore, we do not go there.”

  “What if I tell Aaron and Daniel?”

  Jaylen looks to his sheathed sword.

  “Then we will have a big problem indeed!”

  Before Sam can say anything in response, the two see Kamara walking toward them. She now wears a full set of Dellmoor armor.

  Jaylen stands on the staircase.

  “Once the orcs are defeated, we will find your family,” Jaylen reassures Sam.

  Sam nods.

  Jaylen then walks down the stairs and goes over to Kamara.

  “Make it short,” Jaylen tells her.

  He continues walking past Kamara. Kamara does not respond to Jaylen but continues walking on toward Sam.

  Once Kamara reaches the library steps, she slowly sits next to Sam, in the same spot where Jaylen had sat. “How are you feeling?” Sam asks.

  “I’ve only ever been in one fight before,” she tells him. “It was a massacre. And now the same army is coming for us.”

  She looks far in the distance ahead of her.

  “I know,” Sam replies, “but we can win this. We have high walls, and the best archers.”

  Kamara does not respond. Sam shuffles closer to her.

  “Kamara,” he whispers.

  “I know,” Kamara replies. She slowly looks toward Sam. “I feel the same.”

  She reaches for Sam’s hand, and the two hold hands for a few moments.

  Kamara then let’s go and gets up.

  “We’ll talk more, if we survive the night.”

  She bends down and kisses Sam gently on the forehead. As she stands back up, she sees Sam smile gently back at her.

  Then, Kamara walks back toward the royal castle, leaving Sam sitting on the staircase and watching her walk away.

  Back in the training court, Daniel and Laura look to the west to see the sun has now set. A full moon now shines over the capital.

  Daniel and Laura slowly walk toward the target boards of the archery range.

  “What will we do if we win the war?” Daniel asks.

  “You mean when we win the war?”

  Daniel simply looks back at her unconvinced.

  Laura sighs. She looks at one of the archery targets. She runs her hands down the punctures made by the arrows during training.

  “We could continue training…we do need practice!” Laura jokes.

  Daniel giggles appreciatively. He then sees a flat arrow on the ground. He picks it up and begins to pick at the top of the arrow.

  “I want to start a family,” Daniel admits. He continues to look at the arrow, continuing to pick at the top…. “I want to give my kids the childhood I only dreamed of.”

  Laura softly smiles.

  “Me too,” she admits.

  Daniel calmly looks at Laura. He drops the arrow and reaches his hand out to her. She steps toward him and takes his hand. The two then walk slowly out of the training court. They hear two eagles above them; they look up to see them hovering above the city.

  Far away from the training court, Kamara Vance looks up to see the same eagles hovering over the city. In her full Dellmoor armor, she carries a spear in one hand and a Dellmoor-designed shield in the other; the emblem of the crown is embedded in the center of the shield. She then takes off her helmet, and continues to look up to the night sky; her gaze quickly turns to the moon.

  Soon after, another on-duty soldier approaches her.

  “I’ve been living in this city for fifteen years…. I’ve never felt the atmosphere so tense. The streets are as dead as the night, all the shops and taverns are locked…even the dogs refuse to howl for their masters.”

  Kamara’s gaze moves downward to the city.

  “We should keep moving,” Kamara says.

  The small battalion then continues down the street.

  Within the royal castle, Aaron Silver cautiously wanders through the corridors, making his way to the royal chamber and growing more reluctant as he takes each small step. Eventually, he gets to the chamber doors; however, instead of knocking on the closed double doors, he gradually opens the door and walks in.

  He sees the table still on the floor, lying where he had thrown it after his outburst hours prior. He ponders the broken glass by the side of the upside down table for a few seconds then looks around the room. Eventually he finds the king sitting quietly on the balcony, looking toward the city. He quietly walks toward him.

  “Your grace…?” he asks.

  King Edmund ignores Aaron’s greeting. He takes a sip from his glass of wine, and continues looking out toward his city.

  Aaron moves closer.

  “I’m sorry for my outburst earlier; you’re doing what is best for your country. I see that now.”

  King Edmund gently turns his head to Aaron. He offers a delicate smile.

  “Take a seat, young Aaron.”

  Aaron lets out a sigh of relief then casually sits in the chair next to King Edmund. The king offers to pour Aaron a glass of wine—a gesture to which Aaron nods in acceptance.

  “I must also apologize, Aaron.” King Edmund finishes pouring Aaron a glass of wine. “In hindsight, I should have sent scouts out to the West—we could have had reinforcements by now. However, now we are trapped, waiting for our doom to arrive like the trees waiting for winter.”

  Aaron quietly shakes his head.

  “It was a difficult decision either way, my lord. We have enough men and women here to mount a strong defense.”

  King Edmund responds by lifting his glass to Aaron. Aaron returns his gesture. The two take a sip of their wines then place their glasses back on the table.

  “What will you do when the war is over?” King Edmund asks.

  “Back home.”

  Aaron answers quickly and firmly. The king looks at him curiously.

  “Why?”

  “Because all my life I loved my family more than anything el
se in this country. And ever since I left them, all I wanted to do was get back to them. And I will.

  “How about you?” Aaron asks back.

  King Edmund gradually returns his gaze to the view beyond the balcony, watching as the city sleeps.

  “In the days of the wizards, there was never a ‘West’ or the ‘Crown Lands’. It was just Neroman. They were the best days the country has ever seen. Because we were together…. Once we win this war, my sole objective will be to return my country to those days of peace and prosperity—between everyone.”

  “I like that,” Aaron replies.

  The two continue looking over the capital, leisurely drinking their wine.

  After a few moments, the momentary peace and quiet of the capital is shattered by the sound of a deep, loud horn, blown long and hard across the city. Up on the balcony, Aaron shoots from his chair and approaches the balcony’s railing. He presses his hands against the stone wall in front of him, and leans forward to focus on the view in front of him.

  Aaron sees only the orc army, slowly approaching from a distance, and visible by the torches the orcs are carrying.

  The same horn blows over the city once again. A scream of panic then begins to ascend over Dellmoor.

  Aaron turns hastily to King Edmund.

  “Get inside!” Aaron orders.

  King Edmund rises from his seat. The two then rush into the chamber. Aaron marches over to the double doors.

  “Stay here, lock the doors, and don’t let anyone in.”

  “My wife?...My son?” King Edmund inquires.

  Aaron waits for a moment before responding.

  “I will find them, and bring them here; answer only to them. When they are here, lock the door again.”

  King Edmund grabs the hilt of his sheathed sword, ensuring he has it by his side. Aaron then opens the door and closes it quickly behind him.

  On the Dellmoor walls, the archers respond to the ongoing blowing of the horns. They stand formally in two rows stretching the entire length of the front of the wall. Soon after, Daniel and Laura join the archers on the wall. No one at the wall can see the orc army before them; they hear the horn, blowing for the final time, and the low orc chanting droning in the distance.

  Behind the city’s front gates, the soldiers of the Dellmoor infantry stand in formal rows with their spears aimed at the front gates, in case of any unexpected attacks. Kamara stands at the front of the line, holding her spear firmly. Sam stands behind the infantry, wearing only very light armor, and nervously gripping onto the sheathe of his sword.

  In the royal castle, Aaron fights to get past the stewards, servants and maids panicking in the corridors.

  “To the keep! To the keep!” some of the guards shout, attempting to redirect some of the civilians to a place of safety.

  Aaron rushes up to one of the guards.

  “Have you seen the queen?” he asks.

  The guard points down the corridor.

  “In the throne room.”

  Aaron hurries over to the throne room, the opposite direction most people are rushing.

  As Aaron enters the throne room through the side entrance, he sees Queen Kendra sitting on the throne, clutching the prince in her arms and crying as she holds him. Relieved, Aaron runs toward her.

  “My queen!” Aaron shouts. He squats before Queen Kendra, trying to see her face.

  “My queen—” he says again “—we need to get you to safety.”

  “I don’t want to die,” Queen Kendra mumbles softly. She grips the prince more tightly.

  Aaron moves closer to the queen.

  “You’re not going to die tonight,” Aaron reassures her.

  The queen looks to Aaron. The panic of the city continues to be heard outside of the throne room.

  “Promise me, promise me that nothing will happen to us!” Queen Kendra asks.

  Aaron stares back at her in horror. He takes a few seconds before he answers.

  “I promise.”

  Queen Kendra slowly nods her head. She stands from the throne while still clutching onto her baby.

  “Get to the royal chamber, King Edmund is waiting for you,” Aaron instructs her.

  Queen Kendra walks quickly to the door at the side entrance. Aaron watches as she leaves the throne room. Then he turns and runs out of the room, heading for the front gates of Dellmoor.

  Back at the wall above the front gates, the archers looking out beyond the city watch the torches in the distance: the orc chants are steadily getting louder. Jaylen suddenly appears, with two sheathed swords and a small horn on his belt, storming straight past Laura and Daniel.

  “You’re soldiers of Neroman!” Jaylen shouts to all of the archers. He points toward the looming orc army. “Do not hesitate, show no mercy!”

  He stands with the archers and waits for the army to appear. Soon the orc army can be made out—they are marching toward Dellmoor in a slow, unorganized swarm, without any sort of formation. Some of soldiers begin to grow nervous, but Laura remains defiant.

  “Archers…nock your arrows!”

  Up and down the front wall, the Dellmoor archers grab an arrow from the baskets that have been waiting and nock them to their bows, ready to draw back the strings.

  Up in the royal castle, King Edmund stands at his balcony and waits anxiously for his wife and son. As he looks over his city, he sees the orc army slowly marching toward the walls, chanting continuously. He begins to get emotional at the prospect of his city falling. He looks toward his army protecting the walls and the front gate; then he turns to look at his sword, ready to storm out and join them. Just then, Queen Kendra barges into the royal chambers.

  “Edmund!” she screams.

  The king runs back inside. He finds Queen Kendra grasping the prince. King Edmund embraces and kisses her.

  “There are too many of them,” the queen says in a panic, “the city will fall.”

  “Dellmoor has stood through it all, my love,” King Edmund whispers. “We will not lose this fight.”

  Queen Kendra cries aloud, resting her head on his chest.

  Outside the walls of Dellmoor, the orc army stops in a loose line. Their chanting dies down as well. All the archers atop the walls of Neroman see that the orcs wear blackened armor, with streaks of white running diagonally down their breast plate. As the army stands and stares up at the walls of Dellmoor, the center of the horde slowly parts ways. Looking down from his position atop the wall, Jaylen watches as Luke Snow, wearing light black armor, stands in front of the teeming orcs. He looms proudly over the entire orc army and laughs arrogantly to himself.

  Jaylen keeps his eyes fixed on Luke, angry at seeing him return to the capital.

  Aaron climbs up the stairs to the front walls. He stops and sees four armed trebuchets, being pushed toward the wall by the orcs, just ahead of the incoming army. Then, he walks behind the lines of archers. He sees Daniel and Laura ahead of him. He comes to Daniel and places his hand on Daniel’s shoulder.

  “You ready?” he asks Daniel.

  Daniel nods.

  “Remember what we’re fighting for,” Aaron advises.

  The two pat each other on the shoulders, then Aaron continues walking down the wall.

  Behind Jaylen, Aaron looks down at the orc army fearfully.

  “There are thousands of them…,” he mutters.

  Jaylen turns back to Aaron. “There are thousands of us!” he replies.

  Jaylen then walks behind the lines of soldiers, watching them closely. Aaron fills the gap Jaylen left and continues observing the orc army.

  “I see the fear in your eyes!” Jaylen passionately shouts to all the archers on the wall, and to the infantry guarding the gate. “But it is not the fear of death, it is something far greater—the fear of defeat! This city may have been divided, and the odds may b
e against us, but tonight we proclaim in one voice: ‘we will not fade quietly into the abyss!’ Hold this city, and show them what it means to be human!”

  The soldiers roar and lift their weapons up to Jaylen.

  “Draw!” Laura shouts to the archers.

  The archers draw their bow strings back, ready to fire.

  As the orcs remain silent, Luke walks farther in front of them. Amused by the soldiers of Dellmoor cheering, he stops to look up at the archers on the wall.

  “Aaron!” he roars. “I have come to deliver a message…from your father.”

  The archers around Aaron look at him in confusion. Baffled, Aaron looks down on Luke. His face turns to fury almost immediately. He storms out of the line of archers, heading back to descend the stairs. Daniel sees him walking past. “He is only trying to manipulate you,” he tries to persuade his friend. Then Jaylen catches Aaron from behind.

  “He is right,” Jaylen tells Aaron. “He knows about your visions. He and Mutaro will want to be rid of you first—which is very easy for him when you are out there on your own.”

  Aaron’s fury doesn’t diminish.

  “He killed my family…and I am going to kill him.”

  He shoves Daniel out of the way and descends the stairs. Daniel starts to follow him.

  “What are you doing?” Laura asks.

  Daniel turns to her even as he walks down the stairs.

  “He’s my brother, he needs my help.”

  He descends the stairs and follows Aaron toward the front gate.

  As the two approach the gates, the infantry part ways for the two to pass. Daniel then sees Kamara and Sam. He smiles bitterly to them but keeps his eyes fixed on the gates of Dellmoor. When he and Daniel reach the gate, they are met by two soldiers.

  “Open the gates,” Aaron orders.

  One of the soldiers shakes his head.

  “Sorry, Aaron, the gates have been barricaded. We’re here to stop tens of thousands of orcs from coming into this city.”

  Aaron scowls at the soldier. “Open the gates!” he snarls.

  The other soldier scowls back at Aaron.