Armor of God (Salvation of Solandeus Book 2)

by David J. VanBergen Jr.

  As he talked, Michael watched Mat’s anger subside. He eventually sat down in the chair across from Michael and listened to the rest of what Michael had to say. “All over Solandeus, teams of Basilican Knights are ushering people to safety. Your mother and sisters are probably already on their way to one of the fortresses. Unfortunately, we can’t save everyone. In fact, we have to be careful not to save too many people. Anton has to believe that he has thoroughly defeated us. If he knows people are escaping, he may kill everyone. As bad as it sounds, we need him to make people his slaves so we can save them later. There is nothing we can do if he massacres the general population.”

  As Michael spoke, Mat came to terms with what was happening. He asked many questions and offered some ideas on how the evacuation could be improved. Michael’s intelligence network was staying active, and he promised to have them communicate Mat’s ideas for improving the evacuation.

  After talking through all the details of the evacuation, Michael moved on to the topic of the quest and, ultimately, the rebellion Mat would lead. “This evacuation is only useful if we can reassemble the Armor of God and lead the revolt against Anton and the armies of the north. The mountain fortresses can be a safe haven for a year or two, but they were never intended to be permanent homes. You must complete the quest and return to defeat Anton.”

  “So what do we do next?” Mat asked.

  “Tomorrow, we talk to your uncle, the King,” Michael answered. “We tell him our plan and encourage him to hold out as long as he can, but we will also implore him to save as many people as he can. If he hasn’t done so already, we make sure he sends his wife and daughter into hiding. Do you think he’ll listen?”

  “I don’t know,” Mat replied. “He may be my uncle, but I have only seen him a few times in my life and have never had any real conversations with him. My brother, Gregory, told everyone how great and wise he was after spending a summer at court, but that doesn’t really tell us anything.”

  “I guess we’ll just see how things go tomorrow,” Michael said. “There’s one more thing I need to tell you. I think we had a spy with us in the mountains. Arajin told me they found one of Anton’s signet rings in Dimitri’s pack after we buried him. That is the second time someone has gotten close to us. From here on out, we need to be careful with the information we share, even within our own group. I haven’t told anyone else about the secret mountain fortresses. Only you know about those. We can probably trust Persephonie too, but I don’t think we should tell anyone else about them.”

  “I trust Persephonie for sure,” Mat agreed. “I think Arajin and Banji are ok too, but there is no need to risk telling them. At this point, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “I’m glad you’re thinking things through now,” Michael said. “You really will make a good leader when the rebellion comes. I know this is hard for you, but you’re doing a good job. I have faith in you. Why don’t you get some sleep? Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

  As Michael turned to leave, Mat grabbed him by the elbow. “I know you think we are doing the right thing, but I don’t have your faith,” Mat said. “I also don’t know if I am the right person. I appreciate your confidence, but I don’t know if I can do it.”

  Michael started to reply but thought better of it. He put his hand on Mat’s shoulder and gave him an encouraging squeeze, then turned and left Mat alone in his room to think.

  After Michael left, Mat sat on his bed staring at the door. There were too many thoughts swirling around in his head, and he couldn’t separate them. As he focused on all the things that needed to be done, he had a hard time breathing. Just when he felt the most overwhelmed, there was a knock on the door. Before he could answer, the door opened a little bit, and Persephonie stuck her head in.

  “Can I come in?” she asked. “I thought you might need someone to talk to.”

  As Mat looked at her, he realized he very much wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her everything Michael had told him. He wanted her to tell him everything was going to be ok. “Please, come in,” Mat said, “I could definitely use someone to talk to.”

  Persephonie came in and closed the door behind her. She walked over and sat next to him on the bed. She sat with her legs folded looking him in the eyes. “What did you and Michael talk about?” she asked.

  Mat told her everything he and Michael had talked about. He told her about his doubts and his feelings of anger. He told her how he didn’t like being manipulated. While he talked, he could feel his anger dissipate and his doubts fade away. For the most part, Persephonie just listened to him talk and unburden himself.

  At some point during the conversation, she moved closer to him and put her hand on his knee. As Mat finished talking, he looked her in the eyes and realized she reminded him of a girl he used to flirt with back home. He thought it was funny that he had been traveling with her for months and never noticed that before. He wasn’t sure what that meant.

  Mat suddenly realized he had stopped talking and was staring at her. He coughed nervously and looked away. “Thanks for listening to me,” he said awkwardly. “Sometimes, I just need someone to listen to me talk things through. I feel better now.”

  Persephonie got up from the bed and stood in front of him. As he looked up at her, she ran a hand through his hair and looked him in the eyes with compassion. “Mathias Vanderwall,” she said, “you are going to do everything the prophecies foretold. You’re going to save Solandeus, and I’m going to be there every step of the way. I have complete faith in you.”

  With that, Persephonie turned away and walked towards the door. Mat sat there and quietly watched her leave. “Thank you for listening,” he said as she reached the door. She turned back and looked at him briefly before exiting and closing the door behind her.

  Mat thought he saw a tear in the corner of her eye as she turned and walked out. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he knew he didn’t want to disappoint her. Despite his self-doubt, he swore to himself that he would finish the quest, drive Anton out of his home, and save Solandeus. Most of all, he declared that he would make Persephonie proud of him.

  Mat stared at the door thinking about his conversation with her for a long time before lying down and falling asleep. That night, he dreamt of many battles. Some were from ages ago and seen through the eyes of others. Others were battles yet to come that he would lead. In every battle, the enemy was swept away by a righteous warrior wearing the Armor of God. By the time morning came, Mat was certain they would be victorious.

  - - - - - - - - - -

  Outside Mat’s room, Persephonie leaned against the wall. Her knees were shaking and tears streamed down her face as she silently sobbed. She hated herself for what she had done.

  The entire time Michael was talking to Mat, she was outside his door using her Druid abilities. During their time in the mountains, she had established a strong bond with Mat and could easily read his emotions. She sensed what he was feeling and soothed his anger or encouraged compassion. After Michael left, she spoke with him briefly before knocking on Mat’s door and going in to talk to him.

  While she listened to him talk, she continued to sooth his feelings, build his confidence, and ultimately instill a desire in him to make her happy. Mat had strong, innate Druid abilities, but he was untrained and because of the emotional stress he was under, he wasn’t able to detect or avoid her manipulations.

  She knew what she did was necessary. It was essential that Mat complete the quest and have the confidence to lead a rebellion. She knew she would do the same thing again, but that didn’t make her feel any better.

  The hardest part was that as she was encouraging him to try to make her happy, she realized she had the same desire herself. She wanted nothing more than to see Mat happy, and all she had done was manipulate his feelings to achieve some greater good. As she walked back to her room, she was utterly miserable and spent the rest of the night beating herself up. When the sun rose in the morning, she had slept
very little, but she forced herself to pull it together and face what was going to be a very difficult day.

  Chapter 6

  Mat woke to the sound of someone pounding on his door and shouting. When he opened the door, he found a young boy frantically trying to tell him something. “Slow down,” Mat said. “What are you saying?”

  The boy stopped shouting, took a deep breath, then started talking just as fast as before. “The king is coming,” he said frantically. “He’s coming to see you. The king has never come here. I don’t know what to do. I hope I don’t offend him. You need to get ready. He will be here any minute.”

  “Calm down, I’ll get ready,” Mat said. The boy was still rambling on when Mat went back into his room and closed the door.

  He didn’t know how his uncle knew they were there and wondered why he would come out to see them instead of waiting at the castle. He hadn’t seen him in years and had never really talked to him. He didn’t know how he was supposed to act, but he decided the time for indecision was past. He was going to be strong and confident in the course of action that he needed to take. Today, there was no doubt in his mind as to what he needed to do. He must find the rest of the Armor of God.

  Mat put on his lightweight chainmail armor. He pulled on the bracers and strapped the Sword of Spirit onto his waist. He grabbed the Helmet of Salvation and put it under his arm as he had seen soldiers do when addressing their commanding officer. Before leaving his room, he looked at himself in the mirror and was proud of what he saw. He was no longer a middle child who was often forgotten. He was Mathias Vanderwal, righteous warrior chosen to wear the Armor of God and save Solandeus. He had never felt so confident or important.

  As Mat left his room, he saw Persephonie walking down the hall towards him. As he turned down the hall to walk with her, he gently grabbed her elbow. “I know what you did last night,” he said quietly.

  For a brief moment, her heart stopped. She was so stunned she tripped over her own feet and fell into Mat. “What . . . what do you mean?” she stammered.

  “You came to me last night to help,” he said. “You were there for me, and I can’t thank you enough. I know you were just saying things to give me confidence, and I appreciate that. Thank you.”

  “Oh, that,” she replied. “You’re welcome. I’m just doing my part to help you on your quest. I feel kind of responsible since I’m the one who got you started.”

  As they walked down the hall, Persephonie gained control of her breathing and calmed her racing heart. She was infinitely thankful that he didn’t know she was using her Druid abilities to influence him, but she was almost disappointed that he thought she was just doing her duty. She knew it was silly, but it bothered her that he didn’t think she truly cared about him.

  By the time Mat and Persephonie made it to the common room, Michael had joined them. Members of the King’s private guard were entering the room and chasing out everyone except Mat, Persephonie, and Michael. As soon as the room was secured, a man dressed in court finery marched into the room with an air of importance that Mat found comical.

  “All hail King Lawrence the Third and Crown Prince Lucius!” the man proclaimed.

  Before his servant finished speaking, King Lawrence pushed past him followed closely by Crown Prince Lucius. “Forget the formality, this is family,” he said as he strode over to Mat and grasped him by the shoulders. “Family who appears to have grown up a lot since the last time I saw him.”

  “Much has changed since the last time you saw me, Uncle, I mean Your Highness,” Mat said, somewhat uncertain as to how he should address the King.

  “Uncle is fine, Mat,” King Lawrence replied. “Whom are you travelling with? I recognize the armor, so I assume this gentleman is a Basilican Knight. I also recognize a Druid cape so I assume this pretty young lady is a Druid from Greystone Island.”

  “This is Michael,” Mat said. “He is head of the Basilican order. And this is Persephonie; she is, as you surmised, a Druid from Greystone Island. We have some important things to tell you. Can we speak freely?”

  “Make it fast,” the King replied. “Apparently the enemy army marched under the cover of darkness and is at our gates. We are expecting an attack within the hour.”

  Michael quickly filled them in on what was going on. The King asked a few questions, but didn’t seem surprised by anything he heard. Lucius, on the other hand was very skeptical of Mat being the one chosen to wear the Armor of God, but Michael chalked that up to petty rivalry.

  After Michael finished talking, the room went silent. The King seemed to be deep in thought but eventually came out of his contemplation. “I’m glad I had a chance to speak with you today,” he said. “I’m not as worried as you are about the invasion, but there can’t be any harm in finding the Armor of God. I wish you the best of luck on your quest. I don’t think it’s necessary, but I will send word back to the castle to get my wife and daughter out of here too. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, the situation is much more dire than you think,” Michael said. “Anton conquered the entire Northern Kingdom in less than two years. He is a brutal warlord, and he is personally leading this invasion. This army will not be stopped. You need to prepare for that and save as many people as you can.”

  “You worry about your quest,” the King said, “and let me worry about defending my Kingdom.”

  “Yeah,” Lucius said, “we’ll take care of these barbarians.”

  King Lawrence glared at his son to silence him then turned back to Michael, Mat, and Persephonie. “We have taken precautions. We will fall back to the inner city if it looks like we will be overrun. There will be plenty of time to retreat if the situation gets dire, but I don’t think we’ll need to.”

  “Sire, with your permission, we will go straight to the inner city and find a ship that will take us north,” Michael said. “There aren’t enough of us to make a difference on the outer wall either way.”

  “Granted,” King Lawrence said. “I will see you tonight back at the castle after we repel these infidels. It’s going to be a glorious day!”

  In the distance, a horn sounded. It was soon followed by a second, then a third. Within seconds, tower bells could be heard ringing. The assault had begun.

  When he heard the bells ringing, the King actually smiled. “So it begins,” he said. “I have waited my whole life for this. I’ll see you tonight after we show the world who’s in charge around here.”

  At that, the King and his son left without another word. On his way out, Lucius turned back and sneered at Mat. Even though he acted like a pompous fool, Mat hoped his cousin would survive the coming battle.

  “Time to get out of here,” Michael announced as soon as the King had left the room. “We need to hire a ship and buy supplies quickly. I want to leave tomorrow before we get trapped in the city. Despite the King’s confidence, the outer wall will not hold for long.”

  Chapter 7

  The King’s words turned out to be truer than he ever could have realized. Unfortunately, it was the Northern Kingdom army that the world saw was in charge. It took less than six hours for Northern Kingdom forces to breach the outer wall. Thousands of Solandeus soldiers were killed. The King and his son barely made it to the inner city walls where a heated battle was fought to get them into the inner city safely.

  As the sun set, King Lawrence stood on the inner wall surveying the conquered outer city. Michael, Mat, and Persephonie stood with him. Lucius was in the castle being treated by the royal physician. He didn’t have any physical injuries, but he had experienced the true horrors of war for the first time and appeared to have gone into mental shock.

  Anton was a brutal war commander, but, once the battle was done, he quickly took control of his troops and kept the looting and pillaging to a minimum. Small fires burned in several areas, but those were being put out before they could spread.

  Once the outer city was secured, the Northern Kingdom f
orces started rounding up the general population. Large detention areas were built and became the new homes of the unfortunate citizens. The Northern Kingdom army took control of their vacated dwellings. Businesses and temples appeared to be left alone and many of the pubs and inns could be seen serving Northern Kingdom soldiers.

  The King and Michael talked quietly while Mat and Persephonie stood off to the side looking at the conquered outer city. “Do you think it’s weird that he let the businesses and temples stay open?” Mat asked Persephonie. “I expected him to burn the whole city to the ground.”

  “Apparently, he plans to occupy the city, not just conquer it,” she replied. “The businesses will serve him more by staying open, so he will allow them to do business. He will probably place large taxes on them, but the merchant class will survive this invasion pretty much intact. It’s the general population that will suffer. Many of those people will become slaves . . . or worse.”

  As Mat looked out over the city, he noticed that the temple district was largely untouched, and no soldiers appeared to be in that area. “Why do they ignore the temple district?” Mat asked.

  “I don’t know,” Persephonie responded. “Maybe they’re afraid of God and don’t want to anger him.”