Armor of God (Salvation of Solandeus Book 2)

by David J. VanBergen Jr.

  “You’re right,” Michael said from behind them. The King had apparently left the wall, and the three of them were alone. “Soldiers are a superstitious lot. Whether they believe in the god of war, the death god, or the One True God, they will not openly defile any religious temple. There’s no guarantee that they won’t get torn down, but for now all of the temples are probably safe. As long as they don’t tear down the Basilican temple, my intelligence network should remain intact.”

  “So what’s my uncle going to do now?” Mat asked.

  “He was humbled today,” Michael said. “He’s a good man and a wise king, though, and I think he will make better decisions now. I don’t know how long they can hold out, but he is going to start sending people out of the city by boat. We won’t be the only ones leaving the harbor tomorrow.”

  “What about Lucius?” Mat asked. “Is he going to be ok? He’s always been arrogant, but he’s really not a bad person.”

  Persephonie looked at Mat, clearly questioning the statement about his cousin. “Some people can’t take the trauma of war,” she said. “He could go completely insane. Or, he could be back to normal tomorrow. There’s no way to know right now.”

  “He’s never seen death and destruction like this,” Michael added. “His perfect little world has been shattered. It will probably take him time to pick up all the pieces. Unfortunately, he may not get the time he needs.”

  Mat looked Michael in the eye and asked him the question Michael had hoped he wouldn’t have to answer. “Are they going to make it?” Mat asked.

  “I don’t know,” Michael answered.

  “Don’t lie to me!” Mat said. “No more lies, ever. If I am going to save my home, I have to know the truth. What’s going to happen to them?”

  Michael looked down at his feet. He didn’t want to answer, but he knew he had no choice. Mat was right, if he was going to lead his people back, he had to know the truth. “They will probably be killed,” Michael replied. “Even if they surrender, Anton won’t leave them alive. He will execute all the nobility.”

  “What about my father and brother?” Mat asked, already knowing the answer.

  Persephonie knew the answer too and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “If they are captured, they will be killed too,” Michael quietly replied.

  Mat stood silently, staring out at the conquered outer city. He looked to the southeast in the direction of Rolling Rock, far in the distance. He pictured his home being destroyed, imagined his family and friends being killed. “Then we better find the rest of the armor before that happens,” he said as he turned away and left the wall.

  Chapter 8

  Mat awoke with a start. He looked around the barracks trying to figure out where he was. He quickly shook off the sleep and looked around to see if anyone else was awake. Persephonie and Banji appeared to be sound asleep. Michael and Arajin were gone, but they were probably still consulting with the King. Lucas would be outside guarding the barracks.

  As he sat there, Mat remembered his dream. He knew where the next piece of armor was. The Boots of Peace were in the outer city, hidden in a crypt in the basement of the Basilican temple. He knew he had to get them tonight or they might be lost forever.

  Mat remembered looking at the temples from the wall earlier that night. The Basilican temple was close to the wall, and that area was being left alone by the invaders. He knew of a secret passage that would bring him within a block of the temple. Showing him that passage was probably the only useful thing his cousin, Lucius, had ever done.

  He thought about waking up his friends, but decided that going alone was the best thing to do. The secret passage would get him almost all the way to the temple, and a single person sneaking through the shadows had the best chance of going undetected. Besides, the enemy army was avoiding the temple district so there might not even be anyone to evade.

  With his plan set, Mat quietly rolled out of bed. He grabbed a long hunting knife, but he left his sword; it was cumbersome and might get in the way as he tried to sneak into and out of the temple. He silently made his way to the door and peered out looking for Lucas. He didn’t see him, so he hurried out the door and into the alley across from the barracks.

  Several minutes later, Mat was hiding in the shadows near the wall. He could see the storage shed that Lucius had shown him growing up. It concealed a trap door that led to a secret basement, and in that basement was the entrance to a tunnel that led under the wall into the temple district of the outer city. If he remembered right, that tunnel came out in the basement of a temple that was only a block away from the Basilican temple where he needed to go.

  Mat looked around one last time to see if anyone was around. He didn’t see anyone, but just as he started to step out of the shadows and make his way to the storage shed, he sensed someone running towards him. He could hear running footsteps getting closer and prepared to defend himself. Just as the person reached him, he turned and dove at his feet, tackling him. The person he tackled was smaller than him, and he easily subdued him. As he looked down to see who he was fighting, he was shocked to see Banji pinned underneath him.

  Banji lay on the ground breathing hard and struggling to get free. “What are you doing chasing me?” Mat asked him.

  “What are you doing sneaking away in the middle of the night?” Banji retorted. “Are you running away?”

  Mat got off Banji and helped him to his feet. “No, I’m not running away,” Mat said. “I had a dream and I know where the Boots of Peace are.”

  “So you’re going to just sneak off and get them by yourself? That seems like a brilliant idea,” Banji said sarcastically.

  “Look, I know where I’m going,” Mat said. “I can get there and back before anyone even knows I was gone. I have to do this now or we may lose the boots forever.”

  “Well, I’m going with you then,” Banji said. “Don’t try to stop me.”

  Mat didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, but he knew he didn’t have any choice now. “You can be my lookout. Let’s go get those boots.”

  - - - - - - - - - -

  Persephonie bolted upright. Something was wrong. Just as she realized she was the only one still in the room, Banji burst through the door.

  “They’ve got Mat,” Banji yelled. “We have to save him.”

  “What are you talking about?” Persephonie asked frantically. “Who has Mat? Where is he? Tell me what happened.”

  Banji took a deep breath and told her what happened, starting with Mat sneaking out of the barracks. Everything went as planned until they got to the temple. They didn’t see anyone in the streets or outside the temple. Banji stayed hidden in the shadows across the street when Mat snuck into the temple.

  Mat was inside for a long time, and Banji was already starting to get worried when six soldiers came running down the street towards the temple. They hid in the shadows outside the door, and when Mat emerged carrying the boots they wrestled him to the ground and drug him inside.

  “Somehow, they knew he was inside,” Banji said.

  “He should have known someone was there,” Persephonie said. “He should have sensed them waiting to ambush him.”

  “He walked right out without even looking,” Banji said. “He peered across the street to where I was hiding, and it seemed like he was going to come towards me when they jumped him. There was nothing I could do. There were too many of them.”

  “We need to rescue him before they move him somewhere else,” Persephonie said. “Do you know how to get back?”

  “I can get us there,” Banji said, “but I don’t know what we can do once we get there.”

  Persephonie grabbed her bow and staff and headed towards the door. “We’ll figure out something on the way,” Persephonie said. “We have to!”

  On the way to the temple, they devised a basic plan. They assumed there would be some guards outside, and Persephonie was going to engage them with her bow and arrows. During the commotion, Banji would sneak into
the temple and try to rescue Mat. They hoped Mat would be able to help fight once he was free. If he was too injured to fight or run, they would have to deal with that somehow, but there was no sense worrying about that yet.

  When they made it to the temple, they found that there were two guards out front, but no one else seemed to be around. “I can sense Mat inside, but I can’t sense anyone else,” Persephonie said. “I can’t even sense the guards at the front door. Something is wrong.”

  “So what do we do?” Banji asked.

  She studied the two men guarding the temple entrance. Her Druid senses normally would tell her how many other people were close, but they weren’t working at all. She knew that wasn’t a good sign, and it made her even more anxious to rescue Mat. “We have to get him out of there,” Persephonie finally answered. “If they move him from here, we’ll never get him back.”

  “Ok, let’s do it then,” Banji said. “Give me three minutes to get into position, then start shooting. If we’re lucky, everyone inside will rush outside, and I can free Mat and sneak out the back.”

  Those few minutes waiting for Banji to get into position were the longest minutes of Persephonie’s life. All she could think about was Mat. If something happened to him, she would never forgive herself. It was her fault he was even on this quest. It was her fault for giving him the bracers, and it was her fault for continually encouraging him to continue on the quest. The only way she could make it right was to rescue him now.

  At the end of three minutes, she said a quick prayer begging for God’s help in this rescue then nocked an arrow in her bow. She took aim at the man on the right side of the door and fired an arrow with deadly precision. She had a second arrow on the way before the first one even hit. Each arrow hit its mark, and both men crumpled to the ground.

  Persephonie took aim on the door with a third arrow and waited to see if anyone else would come out. Banji said six men had rushed towards the temple so there were probably at least four more somewhere. Within seconds, two more men burst through the front door. Persephonie shot the first one with her bow then charged across the street with her staff raised above her head.

  The second man out the door dove to the ground and rolled behind a statue for cover. As he came to his feet scanning for the source of the attack, he saw a young girl racing across the street swinging a staff wildly. A smile came over his face as he stepped out to meet the charge. “This is going to be fun,” he muttered to himself as he drew his sword.

  As Persephonie charged across the street, she knew she looked like an untrained amateur. That was what she wanted the man to think. As she approached she took a clumsy two-handed swing at the man’s head. The man easily sidestepped the blow. This is exactly what she hoped he would do.

  Despite the appearance of being out of control, Persephonie was in complete control of the staff. As the man stepped out of the way, she slid her grip to the middle of the staff and spun around rapidly spinning the staff in a circular motion. She caught the man completely by surprise, and as she dipped down, the end of the staff crushed his knee and swept him off his feet. As he landed on his back with a thud, she jabbed the end of the staff down at his unprotected face breaking bones and knocking him unconscious.

  Breathing hard, Persephonie looked around for more guards. None were left. After reaching out with her senses again to see if she could detect more people, she strode towards the door to complete the rescue attempt.

  - - - - - - - - - -

  After leaving Persephonie, Banji quickly worked his way around to the back side of the temple. He climbed up to a second story window that was big enough for him to scramble through once Persephonie started shooting. As he peered inside, he could see Mat tied up, lying on his side by the altar. A pair of boots were sitting nearby, and Banji assumed they were the Boots of Peace.

  He could see four men guarding Mat. Counting the two men outside, all six men he saw capturing Mat were accounted for. He could only hope there weren’t any more. He tested the window to make sure he could open it, then waited for Persephonie to start shooting.

  As soon as he heard the commotion from the front, Banji slid the window open and jumped through. It was a long ways to the floor, but he was used to this type of jump. He rolled as he hit the floor and came to his feet behind the altar. As he looked around he saw two of the men running towards the front door of the temple. The other two were looking towards the door as well and had not noticed his entrance.

  Banji withdrew two throwing knives from has hidden sheaths and took aim at the closest man. It was a perfect throw, and the knife embedded in the back of the man’s head at the base of his skull. The man crumpled to the ground without saying a word.

  As the second man turned to see what happened to his partner, he looked down in shock as a knife appeared in his chest. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. As he collapsed, Banji raced to Mat to cut him loose.

  Mat was barely conscious when Banji reached him. He cut the ropes binding his ankles and wrists and removed the gag in his mouth. Mat looked around, clearly confused as to what was going on. Slowly, Banji saw a look of recognition come over Mat, but just as quickly, he saw a look of shock as Mat looked over his shoulder.

  Banji turned around slowly, dreading what he would see, but was pleasantly surprised to see Lucas standing there. “Where did you come from?” he asked. “We couldn’t find you when we left, so we had to come alone. I’m glad you found us. Come on, help me get Mat out of here.”

  As he was talking, Banji noticed something that turned his blood cold. Around Lucas’s neck was a medallion with an unfamiliar symbol on it. He recognized it as the same pendant that the other men had worn. For the first time in the five years Banji had known him, Lucas smiled at him. There was no warmth in that smile, though, as Lucas raised loaded crossbow and aimed it right at Banji.

  “Wow, I didn’t see that coming,” Banji muttered as he prepared to die.

  - - - - - - - - - -

  When Persephonie reached the temple door, she paused to assess the situation. She could sense Banji and Mat inside, but no one else. She already knew that didn’t mean they were alone, though, and she didn’t want to give up the element of surprise if there were more soldiers inside.

  She quietly pushed the door open and peered inside. It was dark, but she could see a man standing with his back to her in the middle of the temple. On the far side of the room, she could see someone lying on the ground and someone kneeling next to him.

  She reached out with her Druid senses and identified Mat and Banji by the altar, but the man in the middle of the temple was invisible to her Druid perception. She watched silently as Banji turned and started talking to the man calmly. Just as she started to think the man might be friendly, she sensed Banji’s emotion quickly shift to fear, and she fervently wished she still had her bow with her. She saw the unknown man raise a crossbow and knew she had to act.

  Without her bow, the only thing she could do is charge the man. With Mat and Banji’s lives on the line, she ran faster than she had ever run. She barreled into him just as he fired. The impact caused the crossbow bolt to fly wide of its mark, but the man quickly recovered and turned on Persephonie who had been knocked to the ground in the collision.

  “It’s Lucas,” Banji yelled. “He’s one of them!”

  Lucas drew two short swords and stepped back so he could see both Banji and Persephonie. “Why’d you do it, Lucas?” Banji asked.

  Lucas was deaf, but he could read lips. In reply, he sneered at Banji then suddenly lunged towards Persephonie. She jumped to her feet spinning her staff in front of her to deflect the blow, but Lucas had already stepped backwards into a defensive crouch without actually striking at her.

  The three remained in silence for several tense seconds, and Lucas seemed content to stand there defensively. Banji and Persephonie appeared unsure of how to attack him.

  “We have to get out of here before more soldiers show up,” Persephon
ie said.

  “No offense, but he’s way better than us with his swords,” Banji replied.

  Lucas smiled slightly and glanced menacingly at Persephonie. That was the opening Banji was looking for, and he flung the small knife he had been hiding in his palm. As Lucas twisted to avoid the knife, Persephonie stepped forward spinning her staff at his knees.

  Lucas was off balance from dodging the knife, but he was still in control. As Persephonie’s staff spun towards his knees, he swiped down with both swords as he jumped straight up pulling his knees towards his chest. His swords deflected the staff downward as he jumped, and he easily cleared it. He landed perfectly balanced with both swords ready to attack or defend again.

  Lucas was a trained killer who was far better with his swords than Persephonie was with her staff or Banji was with his knives. Mat was barely conscious, and they wouldn’t leave without him. He knew he had the advantage, and all he had to do was hold out long enough for reinforcements to show up. What he didn’t know was that months of training together combined with Persephonie’s Druid powers allowed Persephonie and Banji to fight together more effectively than should be humanly possible.

  Banji launched another knife at Lucas just as Persephonie stepped forward to attack. Lucas easily dodged the knife but had his hands full defending himself from Persephonie’s staff. Her staff was a spinning blur that took all of his skill to avoid. She spun it high forcing him to duck. She swung it low forcing him to jump. She jabbed right and left forcing him to dodge and deflect blows. Her spinning staff kept him on the defensive as she worked her way towards Banji and Mat. None of her blows landed, but within a minute she was between Lucas and Banji which was exactly where she wanted to be.

  After swinging her staff to the left side of Lucas, she quickly spun away in the opposite direction. As she spun away, a knife flew right through the space she had occupied a split second before. The timing of her spin and Banji’s throw was impossibly perfect because of Persephonie’s Druidic perception and bond with Banji. Lucas had no defense, and the knife embedded in his right shoulder knocking him backwards.