by Sam Hval
“Some of the fort guards have caught and captured a spy," He told her.
“Are they questioning him?” Devil asked, still looking out at the sandy hills ahead.
“Currently they are,” he responded. “but they have yet to acquire any information from him.”
“Make sure they keep him there.”
“May I ask why?”
“Because I wish to kill him myself.” She said sternly. “That’s all.”
“Oh… yes, of course.”
“We must continue our parade of striking fear into Corridia. Leaving them a present of death at their doorsteps is better than just letting him go.”
“Indeed," Pillinger said.
“Remember what I said about chess?”
“Yes.”
“Well, sending a spy means they’ve had their turn,” She said.
“Now it’s mine.”
***
Cross managed to make it through the much larger hole they carved out in the wall. One by one, he pulled the squad through.
First Goldan, then Aliah, then Angel, and finally Stelly were all pulled through the hole effectively. He had been a little worried about Stelly, because the last time he had to pull him through something, it didn’t go too well.
Cross motioned his hand downwards to signal them all to crouch down. They did. Cross then placed one finger on his lips, and motioned towards the first metal shed.
Goldan and Aliah went first. Cross signaled the rest of the team to stay put. He then went to go catch up with Goldan and Aliah.
Aliah slowly pulled on the handle of the metal shed while Goldan looked around to make sure no one could see them. She could hear the screams of whoever the wannabe spy was as she pulled back ever so slightly.
She caught a glimpse of the man. He was strapped down on a bed of some sort, stomach-first. One of the guards she had seen take him earlier was whipping his back, tearing his jacket to shreds. Blood spilled out on the floor. He was screaming in agony.
Aliah looked back at Goldan and Cross and pointed at herself, and then at the man. Next, she pointed at Goldan, and then at the other guard.
Cross gave a thumbs up. Aliah nodded, and snuck up behind the whipping guard. She jumped up, locked her right arm around his neck and pulled him down. While Goldan lunged at the other guard and shoved him against the wall.
Now, Aliah and Goldan were simultaneously choking both guards out, silently and effectively. Just like Cross wanted.
***
Angel and Stelly hid next to one of the tents and watched them in awe.
“Stelly, right?” she asked in a whisper.
“Uh huh," He replied, whispering too.
“Did you remember seeing three guards?”
“Yeah.”
“I only see two inside the shed.”
“Maybe the other one…” Stelly was cut off by an unfamiliar voice.
“More of you?” it said.
Stelly and Angel both looked behind them and saw the other guard standing right there. He reached down and grabbed Stelly by his blue overalls. Angel silently gasped and crawled backwards.
Thinking too quickly for her own body to catch up to what was happening; Angel looked over at the pile of bricks next to her.
The man dropped, then kicked Stelly to the ground. Angel picked up one of the bricks and threw it straight at the guard’s head.
***
Cross, Goldan, and Aliah carried the bruised and battered William out of the metal shed. They stepped out in surprise to find the young girl, Angel, standing over the body of one of the guards.
Angel turned around and ran over to William.
“Nice job kiddo,” He chuckled.
“Will!" she said excitedly as she embraced him. “You didn’t tell them anything did you?”
“Of course not,” he replied.
The reunion soon came to a sudden stop, as the sounds of hundreds of thousands of Oldies warriors marching out of the front gate interrupted them.
“Terren wanted to know what they were up to," Goldan said, watching the army march out.
“You know what they say,” Cross added. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Chapter 14
Corridan looked out on the balcony outside his quarters and watched the Oldie army march in the distance. So far, they had only been attacking after his army made a move. And now, out of nowhere, they were attacking first.
A fake out perhaps? No, the Oldies weren’t that tactical. The only reason they would attack first was if someone in his army…
Of course, Q-Squad were the only ones to go anywhere near Ullicar. They must have been caught. Oh well, they served their purpose quite well. Without them The Great Beyond, Qullion Pass, and many other uncharted locations would not have been discovered and claimed by Morridia.
Corridan was proud of his tactical decision to deploy his army first, because now they were prepared.
The city had been evacuated to the undergrounds successfully enough, despite the casualties the catapults caused. He didn’t need to worry about the catapults anymore, they served their purpose.
Corridan trusted in General Terren not only to protect him, but all of Corridia.
***
Pillinger returned to the watchtower to once again, to bring Devil up to speed. This time, however, he feared she would not be happy.
“You come again so soon?” Devil said.
“Yes ma’am,” Pillinger said.
“What news do you bring this time.”
“As you can see,” Pillinger referred to the army forming below them. “The soldiers are marching out to prepare to attack.”
“That’s it?”
Pillinger swallowed. “And, the spies escaped.’
“Spies? You mean there was more than one? And they escaped?”
“It appears that way, yes,” he said. “But it also looks as though the other spies were the ones that rescued them. We tried to discover their location, but they were already gone. They disappeared completely.”
“Any casualties?” Devil asked.
“Two guards unconscious, one dead.”
“Well if they disappeared as you say, there would be no point in hunting them down. Execute the two remaining guards. They have failed their mission.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said.
Before Pillinger could leave, Devil stopped him, “Were the guards able to squeeze out any information before they escaped?” she asked.
“Oh! Yes. Please forgive me, I had forgotten to tell you.”
“No worries.”
“Apparently he only gave his name. William, I believe it was.”
William. Now that was a name Devil hadn’t heard in 21 years.
“Last name?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“That’s all right. William is all I need. Thank you Pillinger.”
“Of course ma’am," Pillinger said as he left.
Devil changed her mind. She wanted to find William, and she wanted to find him now.
***
The Oldie soldiers stood at attention. The front lines pulled out their shields in perfect unison and planted them on the ground, shouting Pre-Breakout war commands as they did so.
The red, Corridian squads of forty at the front of their army, stood up from behind their mounds.
There was solemn silence, and then one of the Corridian squad leaders made the first move.
“Purple!” He said. “Roll out!”
His command echoed throughout the land. The spherical ball-like vehicles drove ahead at full speed, with the slower tankers tailing behind.
General Terren stood in front of the squads and yelled, “Reds!” They locked and loaded their blasters.
Terren issued the final command.
“Attack!”
One by one the squads began to leap up over the mounds, firing at the enemy ahead of them. The vehicles began their assault as well, blasting their thick, purple laser cannons.
Meanwhile, the snipers at the top of the Corridia boundary wall began to pick off as many Oldies as they could.
What resulted was a mess of red, purple, and blue lasers firing all around the battlefield.
The Oldie archers pulled back their bows, and shot out a fiery surprise. Now added to the mix, were fire arrows flying straight through all of the blasterfire and landing on soldiers and vehicles. Some of the more skilled archers were able to strike weak points in the purple vehicles, instantly blowing them up into a fiery explosion.
The Oldies also had another surprise in store for the Corridian army: A cavalcade of knights on horseback, armed with deadly spears. Thousands of horses rode straight into the invading troops and picked them off one by one.
The soldiers that had originally had their shields planted into the ground now pulled them up and ran in unison towards the attackers, pulling their swords out of their sheaths and pointing them forward.
They lunged forward into the soldiers, bashing their shields and stabbing their swords into their enemies’ bodies.
Explosion after explosion, fire after fire, the battle was an exotic mess of bright colors and death. One that would go on seemingly forever, and one that would be remembered.
***
Stelly tried his best to maneuver the invisible vehicle through the hordes of enemies rushing towards the Corridian soldiers and tankers.
“If we make it out of this one alive, Stelly,” Goldan yelled over the sounds of explosions and blasterfire. “I’m buying you a beer!”
“I’ll remember that Goldan!” Stelly hollered back.
Angel held on to the back of the speeding vehicle as tightly as she could, with one arm wrapped around William, who was also holding on for dear life.
One of the rolling vehicles caught theirs in an explosion. The hover vehicle lifted up sideways. Cross slid down and grabbed the edge before he fell to his doom. Stelly managed to maneuver it back into the correct alignment.
“For God’s sake Stelly! Watch out!” Cross yelled.
Unexpectedly, Stelly stopped the vehicle, almost jolting the passengers off of it.
“What in the hell are you doing now!” Goldan screamed.
Stelly remained silent and began to push a combination of buttons. Angel glared at him in the passenger seat.
“Stelly! Answer your leader!”
“Four…two…six…eight…” he began mumbling. “Got it!”
“Got what?” Before Angel could even finish, the vehicle leaned back and shot straight up into the air. Everyone was now holding on to each other and the vehicle.
The once invisible vehicle became visible again and was…flying?
“What the hell did you do?!” Angel asked.
“The engineers behind this baby packed in other new technologies as well!” he yelled over the loud engines and exhausts burning behind them.
“It’s aerodynamic?” William asked, as it got quieter.
“You’re damn right it is!” Stelly said.
And as the war below them raged on, the Q-Squad flew back to Corridia, with the help of a couple new friends.
PART TWO
Chapter 15
Varik looked out at the firework show of colors and explosions. He had never felt such a feeling of satisfaction before. Not only was it pure entertainment, but it was all his doing.
The metal Oldie Knights clashed into the red Corridian soldiers. The distinct, purple rolling spheres clobbered their way through the crowds of Oldies.
And the noise, the noise was like music to Varik’s ears. The screams of death mixed with the whiny blasts of blasterfire overlapped with the clanking of metal swords and shields, creating a melodic orchestra of destruction.
While others saw this war as an act of evil, Varik viewed it as a piece of art. Corridia was the blank canvas, and Varik was the paintbrush. And like all art, there was a deeper meaning to it all. Even if people couldn’t decipher and see it, Varik could.
He got up from his makeshift wooden chair and turned around. He had had enough observing for one day. He draped his black and yellow cloak around his shoulders, walked further into the darkness of his cave.
He had other surprises in store.
***
Fire, blood, and death.
Corridan now knew that these were not the thing of dreams. It was actually happening before his very eyes. Fire was everywhere. Men and women were being scorched, buildings were burning, and the red, blue, and purple laserfire blinded his eyes.
Blood was spilled from all of these things.
And the result of it was death.
As the sounds of the battle drowned out his thoughts, a small, unusual figure soared above. As it got closer to the city, Corridan began to make out what it was. It appeared to be a…
A hover vehicle? Flying in the midst of the raging battle?
Whoever was piloting it clearly had no idea what they were doing. The vehicle swooped from side to side, continually speeding up as it went. Corridan could make it out better now. What shocked him even more than the fact that it was flying, was that there were at least four people riding on the back of it, holding on to each other.
It was starting to get close now. Closer and closer, it was now almost too close to him. The flying hover vehicle was right at the window of the King’s quarters.
And as it crashed through, Corridan saw the frightened faces of the Q-Squad.
***
“Now,” Aliah yelled as they continually swooped from side to side, inching ever so closely towards the Corridia Castle. “I’m convinced you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Don’t worry!” Stelly shouted back. “If I can just…”
Before he could finish his rebuttal, the vehicle slammed straight through the tall windows towards the front of the castle in an explosion of glass and stone. The hover vehicle slid across the floor, tearing of the carpet underneath.
Stelly wiggled the control stick back and forth, attempting to stop the vehicle. William, Angel, Cross, and Goldan jumped off of the back together, as it gradually slid closer to the window on the other side of the room they were wrecking.
They all watched as Aliah and Stelly reached their apparent doom. The vehicle was now pressing up against the glass, creating cracks within it as it put more and more pressure on it.
Aliah frantically began to climb out of the passenger seat, and crawled along the back of the vehicle. She looked behind her shoulder to see Stelly struggling to crawl out of his seat.
“Come on Stelly!” she yelled.
“I… I can’t…” he was trying to say, practically out of breath.
The hover vehicle was now sticking through the window. The tip of it started to lean downwards. Stelly leaned back, gripped the armrests on his seat, and closed his eyes shut.
And just as he fell to certain death, a hand grabbed the back of his blue overalls and dragged him out of his seat, as it fell down below.
Stelly was dropped to the ground, he looked up at the rest of the team. Their faces were in shock, and their eyes appeared to be glancing behind him.
He turned his head back around to find King Corridan himself standing there, breathing heavily.
***
“What in Reydon’s name is going on here?” Corridan demanded.
Cross decided to explain for the group, “We had to make a last minute impromptu escape from the Oldie compound, your highness.”
“Did you manage to find anything of worth?”
“Unfortunately, the Oldies began to roll out before we could even have a chance to," Cross continued to say. “Hence the last minute escape.”
“Would you like us to go back?” Goldan asked. Cross turned around and gave him a look of both confusion and anger.
“No,” Corridan said, allowing the squad to give a sigh of relief. “We’ll need to clean up the mess here. Don’t worry, I’ll make the arrangements. You four need to head down to the medbay and get yourselves cleaned up. From there, you’l
l head back out to the front lines.”
“Yes sir,” Cross said, bowing.
“What about Will and Angel?” Stelly asked.
Corridan took a good look at the two unknowns to his left. “Who?”
“We managed to rescue them along the way," Cross said. “They were incorrectly identified as spies.”
“Are they one of ours?” he continued to ask.
“No,” William broke in. “We crash landed here.”
“Were you the ones piloting that cargo ship that went down?”
“Yes, your highness. We got blasted by the debris from Sector 3, and somehow managed to survive it. I’m not even sure how we were able to survive that,” He said, referring to the hover vehicle incident.
“Who’s the girl?”
“My name is Angel,” she said. “I’m his partner.”
“Temporary,” William cut her off. “Only temporary.”
“Are you a capable enough pilot?” Corridan asked.
“I might be,” He replied.
“Oh he is,” Angel added. “Trust me.”
Corridan stood there, silent and thinking. “I suppose I could use you two for a pretty important mission. I’ll have you go down to the medbay with Q-Squad and patch up. I’ll come down to meet with you about the matter personally.”
“I see no issue with that, your highness.”
“Appreciated,” Corridan said. “I’ll see you two soon. As for Q-Squad, I’m sure Terren will find something for you to do on the front lines.”
“If he’s even still alive," Aliah pointed out.
Chapter 16
Q-Squad, William, and Angel laid back on the reclining medical stations and allowed the doctors to perform their work. Stitches were sewn, abrasions were wrapped up, and bodies were hydrated.
After all was said and done, the doctors left the room in silence. The white room was now completely quiet.