“Do you bear news of Lucius and the others on Gothica? I can’t imagine how much they must resent Valkyrie for leaving them behind the way she did…they must know we can’t get to them, either” he whispered. He didn’t want anyone else to hear his distress over what had happened.
Volanquis understood his feelings. He would be the first to admit to sharing them. “No my Lord, there’s been no further message since we were told about their isolation”. He saw the concerned look on his Apostle’s face grow stronger and added, “But they all knew this could happen. They accepted their mission knowing they could be on Gothica for years, not just to meet a single objective. I know Lucius personally, I’ve served with him closely many times…he will lead the team with the same stoicism and duty as from the start, no matter what circumstance befalls them”.
With this reassurance, Oz felt a little better about the things that had been privately eating at him. Now he stepped away from the Commander and gestured for him to resume the original conversation.
Volanquis, ever respectful, bowed despite his Apostle’s tone. “Communications are down, my Lord. I thought it best to reach the Command post in person, lest you enter the battle unawares.”
It was Phoenix who replied. “Unawares? What of?”
Akurei was embarrassed to realise that whilst her legion had no answers or explanations for the enemy’s movements, the 906th apparently did. “Needless to say, the 77th will be in debt for your knowledge Volanquis”.
The 906th Commander didn’t let the comment go to his head. He was neither a man of vanity nor humility. He simply reacted to things and words with cold calculation. “The Phantoms have real leaders now. Not just superior forms, who assume power and strength over their subordinates like a devii would to a paradigm, but actual figureheads”.
Oz let the surprise wash over him and drove to the core of the matter, already dreading the answer. “What are they capable of, Commander?”
Volanquis, with his clean-shaven face and silver hair, looked gravely at the group. “Forward scouts report they are nothing like what we have encountered before. Though they do appear to be another level to the Phantom hierarchy, each leader being identical creatures, they have a level of authority and capability unparalleled. Even the Gore Kings do not exude the same tactical brilliance as these creatures. They are forcing our lines back because they have the military mind to employ their numbers not just as brute pressure, but to apply it in exactly the right way.”
“They can specialise their assaults?” Phoenix asked. Volanquis nodded, like it was a trivial thing. She shared a knowing look with Oz that told him he was right about his ominous comments earlier. He wished he had never said anything, as though his words really had caused all this to happen.
Phoenix approached the holo-table and watched as the Guardian forces fell back in a staggered retreat. Their discipline was holding despite suffering a steady rate of casualties. “We cannot give them the city,” she declared. “We need to pull back to this location…and here” she said, pointing to key areas of the city that could be fortified and prepared anew for the enemy’s inspired fervour and ability.
Oz and Akurei gave their assent, but Volanquis remained quiet. “What is it, Commander? Do you disagree?” Oz asked.
“Forgive my saying, my Lord and Grace” Volanquis began, “but these new creatures…they are the closest thing we have seen to your power that the enemy is capable of. It is even possible that these…whatever their label…are the dark god’s lieutenants.”
Phoenix, as always when facing a challenge, smirked and played it down. “Then it will be a good fight, won’t it?”
“Just so. I was getting tired of the same old Phantom. Weren’t you, Commanders?” Oz said. Both nodded, an eager mood in Akurei’s and a serious one with Volanquis.
“There is a battalion of Warhounds from both the 77th and 906th awaiting you downstairs,” Akurei told them. “They are itching to advance and cover the retreating forces at your command.”
“We’ll all be going with them, Commander. This is a battle where we all fight, no matter the chaos and danger of it” Phoenix answered.
With that, the legionnaires packed up their gear and withdrew from the room, leaving only a small detachment to watch over the holo-table and report the movement of the battle to the Apostles. As they descended the stairs, vengeance filled the hearts of the legionnaires and Apostles, all of them hungry to deny the Phantoms once more.
In the back of her mind, Phoenix urged Solitaire to speed her arrival with all haste. Oz had been right; the war was different now and it would take all three of them to prevent this world from falling into enemy hands.
THE WARHOUND THAT Phoenix rode in pulled to a stop in front of the western bunker complex. There had defensive structures had been built by human hands, but at the start of the campaign for Kraxus the Guardians had chosen to stage their defence further out into the city limits. Now with the legion forces in retreat, Phoenix privately wondered if they had been mistaken to disregard the human safeguards so adamantly from the beginning.
“We exit here” she told Akurei, who passed on the message to the tank’s Captain.
The hatch at the rear of the Warhound ground open and the street beyond them was revealed. They departed swiftly, a thousand legionnaires doing the same from their Warhounds and Thundertrack troop carriers to join the network of bunkers, pillboxes, trenches and sandbag forts. Where the humans still relied on concrete for defence, the Guardians at the forefront of the battle would have been using energy fields to create impassable walls between the buildings they occupied. However, with the rise of the new Phantom leaders, it seemed technology and firepower didn’t work so well against the hordes. Somehow, the enemy had found a way around the barriers the Guardians had put it.
“Have every section of the line manned, but don’t spread the platoons too thinly” Phoenix ordered. “We need to cover the vanguard’s retreat. Once we have regrouped, we shall be the anvil against the hammer blow of the enemy and they shall be shattered.”
“Yes, my Grace. More brigades are moving up to reinforce us. The reserve legions are being put in place as well” Akurei answered and saluted her with her right arm across her chest, covering her heart with a clenched fist.
Phoenix watched as the Commander passed on the message across to the platoon officers. As thousands of legionnaires began to move and carry out their orders, she went back to the Warhound that brought her here. Waiting inside for her instruction was High Captain Aelius, the officer in charge of the entire 77th Warhound division.
“What are your orders, my Grace?” he asked. His skin was pockmarked and bore a burn mark where a lucky escape from a tank’s exploding engine had almost obliterated him. It had been years ago, before the Blessing had even happened and though she had served with him in battle for some time now, Phoenix could still not stomach herself to ask what else he had endured.
“There are ditches dug large enough for static deployment of our Warhounds. Whether the humans had vehicles like ours is beyond my knowledge, but let us be thankful of what they have provided for us” she answered.
There was a frown on the High Captain’s face. She knew his next comment wasn’t about questioning her command, but rather an expression of concern. “My Grace, if we are stationary we will have a limited field of fire”.
“A fact I am aware of, but one I cannot help. There are precious few other positions for effective use. We need to present a solid wall of resistance to slow the enemy. This line will provide that. Each section complements the next. You will not be vulnerable, High Captain. Once the rest of our legion has crossed the line, we will make certain the enemy cannot follow them”.
Aelius bowed his head in obeisance. “Of course, my Grace. We will do as you command”.
With that, Phoenix took her leave of his vehicle again and made her way to the centre of the line. She could hear the grinding tracks of fifty Warhounds already shifting position and seeking
out the dugouts where they would add their devastating firepower to the punishment of the enemy.
The bunker network stretched out for kilometres to the western limit of the city before curling down to the south. It also reached out to the north where it would link up with those fortifications now being taken over by Oz and his legion. Hopefully, the arrogance and hunger of the enemy would blind them to the knowledge that the Guardians would have a second line of defence.
By now, even with these new powerful figureheads directing them, the Phantoms’ thirst for killing would have taken over. Once the legions had reunited at the human defences, the discipline of the Guardians would take over and the enemy assault would be blunted and turned away.
Phoenix found Akurei again in a structure that appeared to be the area’s command bunker. With the conflict always in favour of the Guardians, there had never been a need for the Apostle to come here. It was strange for her to be here and a sense of guilt came over her for not coming sooner.
The Commander was setting up a chamber to be their communications room and consigning duties to various legionnaires. Phoenix saw Helena, a comms officer, keep her composure as she was selected to take over Florian’s role as Recon Master. Though it was temporary, since he was back in the centre of the city to provide the safest, most detailed overview of the battle, it was a duty that would elevate her far above her fellow officers.
She approached Helena as she was setting up her station and comms gear. “I’m glad I have you here, Helena” she told the legionnaire, who seemed overwhelmed by the praise. “Can you provide me a link to the 906th? I must speak to Waterfox”.
Helena nodded hurriedly, keeping herself together in the presence of the demi-god who stood at the head of her legion. Though she had seen the Apostle in battle many times before, she had rarely been this close to her. Now they were talking like Helena had always been a member of the Command squad and the fact almost got the better of her.
She fumbled at first, but quickly recovered and gave Phoenix a small bead that she could place in her ear. Holding a pair of headphones to her own ear and scrutinising her gear for the right channel to the 906th, Helena held a thumb up to Phoenix once the connection was made.
“This is Phoenix of the 77th. To whom do I speak?” she said without pause.
“My Grace, this is Tacitus; Recon Master of the 906th. How can I assist you?” came a reply.
“I know of you, Tacitus. Waterfox praises you highly”, she told him genuinely. Though she wouldn’t usually be throwing around compliments like this, she knew the power of her words to a legionnaire and keeping morale high was of paramount importance. “Can you put him on the line?”
Tacitus said nothing else and after a moment she was speaking to Waterfox. “Are you ready, Oz?” she whispered, her voice barely audible to the legionnaires nearest her.
“Always,” he answered. “My forces are in position. Tacitus reports my legion’s vanguard are incoming, their arrival imminent. We can do this, Novus. We can repel the enemy like we have done before a hundredfold.”
Phoenix knew he was right, but she couldn’t help but wonder at what cost victory would come to them now. “I believe you, Oz. Let us be the rocks their waves will crash and fail against.”
Without further word, she closed the channel and heard Akurei approach. “My Grace, the retreating remnants of our legion are close. Tens of thousands of Phantoms pursue them. Command us, and we shall follow you”.
Phoenix nodded solemnly, mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen. “We lead from the front, Akurei, like our duty demands us. We fight with honour and nobility” she replied and left the bunker to join those legionnaires in the trenches outside. She was an Apostle and she belonged in the thickest of the fighting, no matter how much peril that presented. She had spent too long hiding away in that room of darkness, too long letting her legion fight without her.
As she watched for the approach of the enemy waves, she saw thick plumes of smoke as phantom weapons-fire struck buildings that had previously been out of their reach. Here and there from the streets in front of the trench line Guardians were starting to come into sight. It was clear the legionnaires were battle-hardened, yet they showed little sign of fear. Phoenix was proud to lead them.
As Akurei joined her at the lip of the trench, the rumble of the retreating Warhounds and infantry now an ominous cacophony of noise, she stood close to the Apostle and admitted, “It will be good to fight again, my Grace. I have missed leading the legion directly.”
Phoenix nodded in agreement and watched as the vanguard came closer. It didn’t go unnoticed by her that every legionnaire in sight was looking at her, waiting for her to do or say something that would steel them against the enemy. When the battle cries of the Phantoms filled the air, carried by thousands of monsters and beasts, the men and women that would have to face them were visibly affected.
Phoenix could feel the shockwave of doubt ripple amongst them. They had all heard the news about the enemy leaders. They had all heard the rumours, each tale exaggerating or distorting the truth. With the heavy retreat of the vanguard, seeing those same stoic men and women they had so much respect for turned into prey, they were starting to lose hope. Phoenix didn’t think that was even possible for a Black Guardian, but perhaps she was wrong.
Suddenly she burst into flame, both in an act of defiance against the enemy’s strength and as a distraction for her legion in the trenches. With their attention back on her, she looked up and down the line and spoke, her voice carrying over the sound of the approaching forces. “Legionnaires of the 77th, hear me!”
All eyes were on her. “We find ourselves in a war against complete evil; unadulterated, uninhibited…and powerful. Many would ask why we do not flee, why it is we do not run in the face of such odds. ‘How can you survive against such endless foes?’ they would ask if they saw us now.
The answer is simple. We are equipped not only with the technology of the gods, but with their hearts and their courage also! The odds are not stacked against us, but against them. They think us weak, that they can overwhelm us…but we are the Fireblades…we are Black Guardians…and against these monstrosities we will prevail! Retyr Auranair!”
Her bellow briefly drowned out the other sounds of the battlefield and her cry was picked up by her legion, now refurnished with conviction and determination. The flames of her body burned brighter than they had done for months and she felt certain of their victory.
The Phantoms were now rushing through the streets towards the trench lines, a host of mismatched monsters and beasts that would paralyse a human army with fear. The Guardians met the sight of them with grim determination as their fellow legionnaires began to filter into the safety of the trenches.
As the vanguard all finally crossed the line, the Phantoms hot on their heels, the Fireblades opened fire and decimated the front waves of the enemy. Battle was joined.
Chapter 3
LUPUS SLEPT FOR two full days after he fell unconscious in the woods of Fernus. During all that time, Calla never left his side. She still wore the same white armour that had protected her in the battle, its gleaming plates splattered with her enemies’ blood.
She in a medical tent sat on a stool by the bed that she, Gaia and Sabre had carried him to. It had taken all three of them to bear his weight up onto the spartan frame and it groaned under his mass. Since then, the Commander and her sister had come and gone; only checking on him at first then urging her to take rest when it became obvious she wasn’t going to look after herself until he woke up.
“Even we Apostles need sleep, sister. I would have thought he would have shown you that by know” Gaia said, nodding her head towards Lupus’ unconscious form as she came into the expansive tent. Calla allowed herself to look at her, though she had rarely ever taken her eyes off of her sleeping beloved’s form unless fatigue got the better of her and forced her to nap intermittently.
“It is only right and natural that I l
ook after him, Gaia. You of all people should understand the way things are supposed to be” Calla replied. She was getting irritated at the way her sister tried to tell her what to do. Even her own legion Commander had tried persuading her to leave Lupus and rest properly. How could any of them think she would do anything of that sort?
Gaia hummed, accepting what Calla said. She brushed a green hand through her dark hair, the small flowers and buds rippling like waves. She sighed and sat on the other side of Lupus. “There has still been no change?” she asked softly.
Calla shook her head. “None…” She looked at Gaia, her eyes pleading for knowledge. “How can this be? What can fell the strongest of us?”
“Only the Corruption” was the answer she received, but not from whom she was expecting. There was a new voice in the tent, one that she hadn’t heard for over a year. It was the only thing, bar the awakening of Lupus, that could have made her leave her seat and his side.
Calla threw her arms around her true sister and embraced her like never before. “Raina…” she murmured. “I’m so glad you’ve returned”.
When she pulled away, Raina smiled warmly at her. The royal blue of her armour was emblazoned by the brazier in the centre of the tent, the gold trimmings flashing brilliantly. She looked for all the world like the demi-god she was and Calla realised how proud she was of her.
“I have news, though it appears the person I am to deliver it to has at last fallen ill” Raina said, breaking the atmosphere.
Calla realised that what her sister had said before implied she knew something about what could have harmed Lupus. “Sister, later I will hear about why you have come back, but you said something when you arrived…something I know my ears did not deceive me of. You really think the Corruption is to blame?”
Gaia winced at the word, knowing the full extent of its meaning. In many ways it was the antithesis of her powers; where she was nature, the Corruption was death. Where she knew joy and life and love, it was the embodiment of hate, evil and despair.
The Deian War: Conquest Page 5