Opening Moves (The Lion Knight Book 1)

by Aurelius L. Zero

  Before he could ponder the issue for very long, the alien feeling returned.

  This time not seeking to paralyse him but to move him against his will.

  Strangely enough, there was no panic in him this time round, if nothing else, he felt a sense of Deja vu.

  Hands moving of their own accord, they began pressing the floating buttons at random. Every stroke increasing the sense of familiarity much to his confusion.

  I’ve done this before… I think. But… when?

  In the beginning, Leon felt numb as his arms danced to a tune not his own.

  Now frustration burned in his veins, no longer did he feel like something was forcing him to move, he felt as though a force was slowing him down.

  Eventually, the sequence reached its end and instinctively Leon knew it was time to push the red circle from earlier.

  Exhaling a breath he didn’t know he was holding, Leon gave the button a small push and it sunk in with little resistance.

  Stepping back he waited for reinforcements to appear.

  For a brief moment nothing happened, he was acutely aware that the professor and Noire were staring at him questioningly.

  Then, it happened.

  A tremor stronger than all the others struck the tower. All present were forced to their knees lest they fall over.

  Dust and flaking paint fell from the ceiling and the sound of gears turning resounded through the entire tower.

  “SQUIRE LEON! WHAT DID YOU DO!”

  “HIIIIIIIIII! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!”

  SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE

  “I CALLED FOR REINFORCEMENTS! I THINK!”

  “YOU WHAT!”

  Any further conversation was cut off as the shaking intensified. Unable to even kneel anymore, they were forced to lie prone on the ground as they waited for the trembling to stop.

  After an eternity of shaking, the building came to a sudden halt.

  Every tremor just stopped, leaving the room in complete silence.

  Nerves frazzled from their harrowing experience, the group cautiously rose to their feet, cautiously scanning the place, searching for any new unexpected threats that might have shown up.

  Their caution as it turned out was unwarranted, aside from the paint being more damaged and a fresh coating of dust over everything, nothing had outwardly changed.

  Leon did notice however that the blank dais was now decorated again and the dashboard of lights had vanished.

  “W-what was that? A-are we sa-safe now?”

  SCREEEEEEEE

  “Is everyone alright? Lady Noire, can you stand?”

  “I-I fine Sir Geahart. What was that shaking about?”

  “I don’t know milady. Only my squire can answer that question.”

  Forcing the bile back down his throat, Leon took a few shaky steps trying to regain his bearings.

  “That was unexpected. Well it was supposed to call in reinforcements… I think.”

  “You. Think.”

  “I… I can’t explain it. Didn’t everything go dark earlier and… there was that voice?”

  “Dark? Voice? Squire, there was nothing there. You just stood on the platform and stretched out your arm for an instant. It looked like you were pressing something, then the tower started shaking.”

  “That makes no sense, I know what I experi-”

  A hissing noise coming from the ceiling interrupted his words.

  Five panels in the ceiling opened up and thick white mist poured out.

  All turned to stare at what new terror the tower was about to cough up.

  The thick fog obscuring their vision, they barely made out four waves of indistinguishable shadows dropping from the ceiling all around them.

  As one they retreated onto the centre of the platform and stood back to back.

  Noire held her rapier close to her heart while Valor perched on her shoulder, wings out spread and ready to attack anything that dared come to close.

  Professor Arno was violently trembling where he stood, hands clasped together in a futile attempt to calm himself down.

  Geahart positioned himself next to Noire in a low stance, sword hanging loosely from his arms, ready to leap to the defence of the noble if necessary but not presenting an obvious threat to those who had encircled them.

  His eyes glowed dimly in the semi darkness, night vision activated.

  A sure sign pointing to his not quite human nature but fortunately no one was watching at that moment.

  Of all parties involved save the puppet, Leon was the only one still perfectly calm.

  Twirling his knives in his hands, he waited for the unknown entities to show themselves. He wasn’t nervous at all, no, if nothing else, he was expectant.

  His guts told him that everything was going according to plan and he trusted his instincts if nothing else, having never been let down by them before.

  Once the mist dispersed, the hidden shadows were exposed to the light. Soft gasps ran through the group as they beheld the new arrivals.

  Eyes bulging at what he was seeing, Arno stuttered out their identities in shock “R-r-raynaxes!”

  “W-what are they, a-are they dangerous?”

  Nineteen mechanical beings hovered in the air around them.

  They looked like three metal cylinders attached to each other with small metal wings sticking out of them at angles. A singular glowing green eye served as their ‘face’.

  Glowing lines thrumming with flux ran along their sides, pulsing at intermittent intervals.

  A shimmer in the air around them indicated the presence of a barrier of sorts.

  “Th-they’re automatons left behind by the Zeonite people that a-attack anything that enters. B-but there shouldn’t be any of them here!”

  Arno answered in a harsh whisper.

  Soft beeps and pings could be heard as they rearranged themselves into three rows of six with one at their head in front of Leon.

  Continuing to hover, their eyes burned gold briefly before the lead machine began to speak.

  Raix imoyd trqptyomh

  Ptfrtd Hrmrtsa Arpmjstfy

  “Squire Leon… w-what do we do now?”

  “Relax milady, I have the situation under control.”

  Despite a complete lack of understanding of what language the Raynaxes were speaking, Leon knew they were looking to him for orders. A feral grin spread across his face as he issued them.

  Heh. We might just win the day yet.

  “This tower is under attack, defend it at all costs!”

  Chapter 6: Second Assault

  “Eh? What do you mean you failed? Useless incompetent fools! It’s just one girl, I don’t care if they’re holed up in the tower or hell itself! Bah! Get out of my sight, I’ll deal with you all later.”

  Allant’s resplendent image was marred by the vicious scowl on his face as he railed against his men.

  His blood boiled at the latest setback inflicted to his plans.

  What should have been an overwhelming victory via superior numbers and his glorious leadership had turned into a mess.

  He had to fight hard to resist drawing his blade and running them through on the spot as he watched them slink away with their tails between their legs.

  Bitterly cursing his men for retreating against just two opponents, he would have personally executed those cowards if they weren’t still necessary for the operation.

  A hundred men forced into retreat by a measly two opponents, a wannabe knight and a trickster. What a disgrace.

  Teeth gnashing in fury at the reminder that the Iron Wolves had been made mockeries of, he calmed himself down by imagining all the money that would be going into his pockets once he had disposed of the incompetents.

  To him that was the first bright spot he had since the farce had begun.

  What seemed like a godsend at first, an anonymous tip off to the girl’s location had quickly gone to hell in a hand basket.

  Having marshalled every scrap of ordinance he had for this venture, hi
s canons were proving to be less than useless.

  Initially hoping the constant bombardment from the siege tanks would whittle away what will to resist the girl and her guards may have had, things had started to go wrong immediately.

  The rumour that the towers were sturdier than they looked was rapidly appearing to be more fact than myth.

  From what little of the tower could be seen through the thick black smoke and explosions, the tower was completely stationary, not ever swaying a little under the assault.

  Once the smoke had cleared, it was painfully obvious that the tower had completely nullified his attack.

  Aside from blowing away the vines and moss on the wall, there was absolutely no damage at all, not even a scratch.

  The men who had gone in to investigate reported nothing more than a light shaking from a bombardment capable of taking down entire fortresses.

  His strongest weapons rendered completely useless.

  Resuming the bombardment to crush their resolves and swarming them with a hundred men had the exact same effectiveness as his first salvo.

  That is to say absolutely nothing.

  “Captain, maybe we should send in scouts this time, to assess their skills and any traps they may have set. Our men were defeated partially as a result of exhaustion and partly due to underestimating the enemies’ strength.”

  “Eh? No need to make excuses for the weak Denzel, they weren’t fit to be wolves and it was a mistake sending them in. I’ll have the leader of that group executed after this. Sending in scouts is just a waste of time, I want this over and done with so I can enjoy my dinner.”

  Execute the leader?

  Idiot, he’s the one who gave that order haaah, how the hell do I convince him sending in scouts will increase the ‘glory’ for him.

  Mentally railing against his captain, Denzel tried once more to convince the bigoted man to see reason.

  “Be that as it may captain, not sending in scouts will just result in a longer delay. From the reports of the first group, they are holed up on the tenth floor of the tower and have set up obstacles to slow down any attackers.”

  “So?”

  “So, by the time the troops make their way up there, they are liable to be tired from climbing ten floors and going over the obstacles while the targets are still fresh and able to pick them off. They might have changed up their fortifications by now and if the next wave goes in blind, chances are good that they’ll fail as well.”

  Thinking for a moment, Denzel decided to add in a few more points to sway Allant to his viewpoint.

  “And this tower is a Zeonite ruin. I have heard about how other Zeonite ruins are filled with traps, if they manage to activate them, we’ll just lose more men and the girl might be able to get away in the confusion-”

  “All the more reason not to send in scouts then.”

  Allant interrupted his second with a self-satisfied grin stretched across his face.

  Needless to say, this gave Denzel pause as he tried to comprehend what he’d just heard.

  “Sir? I’m sorry but I don’t understand how that means we should not be sending in scouts.”

  “Why wouldn’t you Denzel? You said it yourself, if we give them time they might be able to activate the traps or escape. That is a very, very bad thing would you not agree?”

  “Ye-yes sir.”

  “Sending in scouts would do just that. Give them time to mock us further, and I will not suffer such insolence any more. These… these… infernal insects, they will know what it means to cross the great Allant. But… you do have a point. Heavy casualties are to be expected. Well, that's perfectly okay.”

  “SIR?”

  “We have reserves.”

  Allant uttered that damning phrase with a self-satisfied smile as though they were discussing the weather.

  “Now’s a good time as any to weed out the weak.”

  Allant was done tolerating failures from his men.

  Even back when he was still chaffing under Fareux’s command, the Iron Wolves had been filled with weaklings. Weaklings, responsible for tarnishing his great name.

  He would not accept that, his name would not be sullied by the actions of a few insects worth less than the dirt beneath his feet.

  Their performance was sloppy and had cost Allant quite enough as it was. His precious rest and relaxation was being eaten into because his men were either too weak or too cowardly to do their jobs.

  Good help was hard to find these days.

  But no more.

  Today, one way or another, this stain on his name would be expunged and no one would be able to deny his greatness any further.

  In that aspect, he did hope the two fools upstairs wouldn’t fall too easily. If they did, who would be left to thin the herd?

  “SIR!”

  Denzel was no longer able to hide his shock and disgust at the callousness of his captain, he could see it written all over Allant’s face, clear as day what the man was thinking.

  What he was suggesting now flew in the face of decency and ethics.

  Unfortunately for him, Allant missed his true feelings entirely and saw his exclamation as a sign of enthusiasm.

  “I knew it was a good idea keeping you as my second. To be honest I thought it would be best to replace you after Fareux’s untimely demise but I see he picked wisely. For you to understand and support my tactics so… truly you are a man amongst men.”

  “I… I… I….”

  “No need to be so modest Denzel, like I said before, keep up the good work and a promotion may just be in your future. Once all this is over, I’ll put in a word for you with the boss, maybe he’ll let you have your own unit. Is it not great? Hahahhaha.”

  “I… I… as you say captain.” Unable to do anything but act accordingly to Allant’s wishes.

  Denzel bowed his head in shame at yet another failure to protect the men.

  Inside he prayed to every deity he had heard of in the past, both major and minor that his fears were unfounded.

  I have failed you all… I’m sorry.

  “Denzel, gather the men and have them all enter the tower at the same time. Those incompetent sheep will lead the way, if anything comes they’ll deal with it first. Such is the price of failure. Oh and before I forget, pass around all the rifles we have to the men, put the gunners at the back. They have freedom to shoot through anyone in their way if it means bringing down those two infernal fools.”

  “We will lose a lot of men this way sir.”

  “Of course! It is to be expected after all. No battles are won without necessary sacrifices, and besides, we, have, reserves. New recruits are so easy to come by too, trust me Denzel, their losses won’t be felt at all.”

  “… As you say Captain. I will pass the word around now. I presume that your personal guard will remain here with you?”

  “Indeed, there is no need to send them in after all. If by some freak chance they get defeated again I will move in personally.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Head still bowed, Denzel left the side of his hateful captain to relay his orders… and likely send many a good men to their final destination.

  Exhaling another deep sigh, resignation filled his being.

  This, this is it then, the end of the Iron Wolves.

  With this move Allant will have pretty much erased anyone still in opposition to his rule.

  Anyone who disagrees is already at the front of the formation.

  Undoubtedly Allant’s sycophants will already have orders to shoot those dissenters in the back.

  And… there’s nothing I can do to stop things anymore.

  I… I’m sorry Wilhelm, it seems this foolish man can’t live up to his promise anymore.

  Wherever you are, I hope you can forgive me since where I’m going you won’t be able to follow.

  Shaking away his remaining doubts, Denzel cleared his mind of any emotion, leaving a stony mask on his face as he watched the men line up in formation.
<
br />   So it begins.

  -*-

  The tenth floor of the Vitae Tower was a hive of activity with Leon directing most of the action.

  Noire and Professor Arno stood on the side-lines watching in stupefied awe as Geahart and the Raynaxes were remodelling the entire floor into a veritable fortress.

  Once the initial shock of their appearance had faded, the accompanying fear vanished with it in short order, replaced with curiosity and awe.

  Despite history showing that active Raynaxes would attack anyone trespassing, not only were they not assaulted, they were actively following Leon’s orders.

  “This is amazing. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this in the past. Raynaxes obeying a human? Inconceivable!”

  “Professor, do you understand what’s going on here?”

  “No, no I do not. But I will find out, my pride as a researcher demands it!”

  “We-well in any case, will these… things… help us with our current mercenary issue?”

  “If the squire’s control over them holds, yes they will. If I remember my studies well enough, these are Raix units, they serve the role of scouts and are equipped accordingly. Still nineteen against four hundred, those aren’t good odds.”

  Falling silent, the two resumed watching the miracle that no one had been fortunate enough to witness in over a millennia.

  With the disappearances of the Zeonite people, no one had ever been able to control the Raynaxes, for a boy no older than sixteen to be capable of such a feat was truly astounding.

  “ALRIGHT, SET THE ROCKS OVER HERE! SIR GEAHART, I’LL LEAVE SETTING UP THE TRIP WIRE TO YOU! B SQUAD, SEAL OFF THOSE GAPS AND MOVE INTO POSITION! A SQUAD, HAS THE NINTH FLOOR BEEN PREPARED YET? C SQUAD, READY THE AMBUSH POINT!”

  A chorus of beeps and blips answered his orders as the two squads of Raynaxes moved to carry out his will. Seeing that things were proceeding smoothly, a grim sense of satisfaction spread through his being.

  “Raix class maintenance drone. Equipped with an energy projector capable to cutting through rock and steel with ease. All armed with a force field generator that can function a shield device or as a manipulator. Each unit powered by a self-sustaining G-type flux reactor that gives it the ability to fly. Energy projectors capable of being repurposed into short range laser weapons.”