We all paid our remaining dues to Jeevyaved, and left for the blacksmith. We timed it such that we could leave when there was only one spy. He started to follow us, while no doubt trying to get a message to his comrades. As we reached the blacksmith, Karn and Dev went ahead as Elbir and I waited to take the delivery of the hammer. We split up to ensure that the spies get split up as well, and both our groups had one who could track the spies easily, which was Karn and me.
The blacksmith was surprised that we came a little early. He seemed a little flustered. He droned on and on about wanting to do a good job and how customers like us, prevented him from doing that.
“Customers like you are the worst… you throw money around and put all these restraints on artists like us. How do you expect us to be happy? Do you think I care about your money? I want to do a good….”
He paused as Elbir cut in. He seemed more than just a little annoyed. “You can keep the hammer. Work on it till your artistic side is satisfied. We will keep our money as you don’t seem to care about it.”
The blacksmith panicked and stopped his whining. He asked us to keep the payment ready, as he got the hammer. He murmured something about cooling the hammer, which might take some time.
“I’ll be back.”
Saying that, he hurried out. I sensed this blacksmith was more worried than necessary. But then, I had seen many people who were ultra-finicky about their “art.” I wasn’t completely surprised.
As soon as he left from the back door of the shop, Elbir said in a whisper, “We need to leave right away.”
I wasn’t sure why, but then I wondered if he had the same suspicion as me. I was about to tell him to relax, as I had seen this behavior in other “artists” earlier. But before I could, he said, “Don’t try to dissuade me, if that is what you are going to do. We don’t have time. I wouldn’t be giving up my beloved hammer, the memory of my brother, on a hunch. I am sure that this blacksmith is the one who put the authorities onto us. He went pale as soon as he saw me. It must be the Morgenian authorities who are after Eric of the Five Hammers.”
Elbir seemed really sure. And he was right, he would never leave his brother’s hammer unless there was no doubt in his mind. I nodded and we slipped out immediately and rushed to our horses. Standard guidelines issued to commoners by Valantian Imperium stated that as soon as someone recognized fugitives of the law, they should first untether and scare away the fugitive’s horses, after which they can send someone to notify the authorities. We had to hurry before our horses were released.
As we reached the tethering point, I realized that Elbir was right. Our horses had been released. But fortunately for us, we weren’t too late, as we could still see the horses at the end of the road, trotting away uncertainly. I immediately jumped to them and held them as Elbir got there. We then raced away, just as I saw out of the corner of my eye, Morgenian troops move cautiously towards the blacksmith.
We had to leave the city immediately. The troops had seen us at a distance and started to follow us. The crowd prevented us and the troops from gathering too much speed. But as we moved towards the west, we were starting to leave the city behind as the crowds thinned and so did the number of buildings, allowing us to increase pace. Hopefully we could escape the troops and not have to engage with them at all. We saw Dev and Karn at the western marker we had agreed on, when we heard the words we were dreading.
“This is the Morgenian Peace Authority! Halt or face death.”
The rules were always so simple. If any fugitive fled after they saw the authorities and heard those words, that person was punishable by death. We were still just leaving the city so there were at least a hundred witnesses to attest to the fact that the troops had uttered those words. We had to really rush now and try to outrun them. If we got caught, the authorities had the right to execute us on the spot.
Karn and Dev also started to trot. As soon as we reached them, we thundered away. The troops were still about a few hundred meters away. But as soon as we hit the open road, we were creating more distance between us. The road out west was smaller. There wasn’t any major city to the west, just some small villages and towns. So the road wasn’t well developed, but there was something.
There were 20 soldiers chasing us. We could have taken them on easily. But none of us wanted to kill any of them. So we rode on. As we progressed, Karn got an idea. “Follow my lead!”
We all nodded.
Soon a village came and he moved right towards it. He then told us about the plan. As soon as we reached the village center, we split up into two groups, the same ones as before, Karn with Dev and Elbir with me. The soldiers split up as well. Then, Elbir and I split up as well. There were now two people behind me and consequently eight behind Elbir. Clearly, I wasn’t too much of a threat. Then I stopped over, and dismounted. The soldiers stopped too, and trotted over.
“I give up! Please don’t kill me. I was held a prisoner by those crazy men,” I shouted in the most innocent voice I could muster.
They seemed quite sleazy. “Don’t worry, lady, we will take care of you. So glad you stopped, otherwise we would never have caught up with you.” Both of them got down. I didn’t feel bad about what I was about to do. They didn’t even see me coming. Mostly because I was invisible. I jumped behind them, and knocked them out. I then proceeded to quickly slash their clothes to shreds so that they were stuck in the village. I was comfortable taking 2 to 3 people at a time. I had never fought more people than that at once.
I quickly got back on the horse, and rode back to the village center, and hid behind the bar, the largest building in the vicinity, where I could see the others. I waited for the others, as they rode by again. They were taking the soldiers around and around the village so that I could knock them out, one by one. I saw Karn and Dev turn up with 10 soldiers chasing them.
But the soldiers were rapidly closing in on them. I joined Karn and Dev to try and get some of them to chase me. It worked. I managed to take out another soldier, who wasn’t as sleazy as the first two. So I didn’t shred his clothes… too much. As I joined Karn and Dev again, I tried the same tactic a third time. But this time, it didn’t work. Karn, Dev and I split again but no one chased me. The soldiers had figured out that something would happen to the soldier who would chase me. I quickly went back to the village center, and signaled to Karn and Dev, as soon as they came, to get out. They nodded, but only Dev came towards me. Karn continued to lead the other nine on a merry chase around the village, till he found Elbir. Dev and I had a head start, while Karn and Elbir had the 17 remaining soldiers close by.
I wasn’t sure how long we could keep this up. Eventually all our horses would tire out. Then we would have to fight. I had no doubt of the outcome, but we weren’t strong enough to overpower 17 men without any fatalities. We would have to kill, at least some of them. There was no other way. We had been running for at least half an hour. That was about 20 kilometers straight. The soldiers were really determined. They were chasing unknown enemies so far away from Khratosh, from any support. That wasn’t normal. Either these soldiers were really determined, or…
I stopped my horse and yelled, “It’s a trap,” as I took out my swords. The other three unsheathed their weapons as well while stopping their horses and rallying around me. The soldiers stopped too and unsheathed their swords. They looked nervous.
“Why do you say that?” asked Dev, genuinely curious.
“No troops would chase unknown suspects for this long, without having an overwhelming support. These guys were really determined to chase us. Then I remembered what the two I took down in the village said. ‘We would have never caught you.’ Why chase if you don’t believe you will catch the person? Only to chase the people into a trap. There must be a barracks somewhere here. They must have signaled to the barracks from Khratosh. The line of sight is perfect, the barracks was sure to catch the message immediately. Am I right fellows?”
The soldiers gave a nervous smile. “You are a
smart one. But you are too late. There is nothing you can do now. There is a Valantian barracks less than five kilometers from here. The Valantian troops should be here any minute. You guys are trapped. Give up now and we will take you prisoner. Otherwise, let’s see if you fancy your chances against at least a score of Valantian troops.”
We actually did. We could defeat those additional troops as well. But our objective was to reduce the number of deaths, not to increase them. I looked at Karn and the others. Karn suddenly smiled. He said in a mocking tone, that I had come to enjoy so much in Khratosh.
“Hmm…. You have caught us in a bit of a pickle here. What do we do… what do we do? How far did you say the barracks was?”
The soldiers seemed uncertain. “About five kilometers. Why?”
Karn continued. “Well, that means if they start at this moment, they should be here in less than five minutes. Correct?”
“Of… of course they will be… now… now, if you don’t give up….”
Karn raised his hand. “No, no… we wouldn’t be giving ourselves up. Why don’t you guys come and try to arrest us?”
“Why should we risk it? There will be many troops here shortly.”
“If you are sure they got the signal. If not, you could be out here, many kilometers from home, facing some of the country’s strongest and most wanted criminals, on your own. Let’s wait for… well let’s say a few minutes for the troops to come… if they don’t, then you have a choice. Either you face us and die or let us be and return to Khratosh. You can always say we had Ahremic horses and you guys tried your best, but you couldn’t keep up.”
Then, changing his tone to a more serious one, Karn continued as he moved forward, closer to the seventeen.
“Look. The only reason we let you chase us was that we were hoping that you guys would give up and go, so that we wouldn’t have any more blood on our hands. But if you persist, you will force our hand. And you all will die. So we will wait right here, while you guys think.”
I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I trusted him and said nothing. The minutes passed by and all eleven of us were waiting. All four of us gave off a confident vibe, while I could see them getting increasingly nervous. I was extremely nervous myself, but I didn’t show it at all. Karn then asked the soldiers, with another tone shift, from serious, to extremely cocky “So guys… you need to ask yourselves real hard: Did the Valantian barracks see the signal? Are these criminals really as strong as they say?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “There is no way for you to tell… so why don’t you ask yourselves this: Do we feel lucky?”
He paused for effect. The soldiers were really sweating. I could see it. “Well… do you?”
The soldiers then looked at each other and moved forward, slowly. The uncertainty on their faces was as plain as the sky. Karn didn’t give up. He scoffed again. “Really?”
Then he turned really slowly to Dev. “Please use your sword skills to cut down these four.” He pointed to the right most four, “Then we can offer the others a choice again.”
Dev nodded, trying to fake nonchalance. He looked like a kid trying to act in a school play. But what he did next was intimidating to the soldiers. He let go of his sword, and controlled it with his powers just before it hit the ground. Then, he slowly levitated the sword back up and asked in an earnest voice. “So, who is first?”
That was too much for them. One of them screamed, “Retreat!” They turned their horses, and ran like they had never in their lives.
“If they had chased us that fast, they would have caught us right out of Khratosh,” I thought to myself as I chuckled. We all breathed a sigh of relief. The bluff had worked. Or was it a bluff?
“Did you really know that there were no troops coming?” I asked. Karn was already hurrying off the road.
“Not a chance. It was a complete bluff. The communication systems never fail, especially on a clear day like this. Now let’s get off the road. I want to make sure that the Valantian troops go past us. Only then will we be completely safe.”
The bluff was impressive. We hurried off the road. We stationed ourselves behind a bunch of trees nearby. And waited. I commended Karn on his hunch.
“That was truly inspired, Karn. How did you know there wasn’t a large risk of the troops coming and reinforcing our pursuers?”
“I didn’t. But I had to do something. The barracks was really close. A few more minutes and the barracks would be in sight. The barracks would then have attacked us straight away.”
It was genius.
We waited for the troops to come. And waited. And then, waited some more. It was really taking the Valantian troops a long time to turn up. Something seemed wrong. Maybe the communication system was down. When I suggested it, Karn shook his head.
“The communication towers are really foolproof. If the tower heads aren’t careful and the lenses or the fire failed at any point, or if the heads did not read an incoming message, they would just be executed. There is no way a message wouldn’t be received.”
He started to head towards the barracks. “We need to check this out. There is something fishy going on here.” I wasn’t convinced.
“Don’t you think it is a little crazy to march up to a barracks to check why they haven’t attacked you?”
Karn looked at me. “I know it seems crazy, but I am telling you, there is something wrong.”
I stopped him. “You know what, why don’t the three of you, stay here? I will go check and come. It’ll be easier and faster.”
They knew I was right. Karn expressed some concern, but I waved him off. “I will be right back.”
I swung my swords around and was off. I took about 10 swings to see the barracks. It seemed quite normal. There were no troops anywhere near it. There was no activity visible from outside what so ever. Even the main door of the barracks was closed. I was right. They hadn’t got the signal. I smiled as I returned.
“I was right, my friend. There is no troop movement along the entire road. The barracks is as lifeless as a corpse. Even the front door is closed.”
Karn seemed even more alert. “The door was closed?”
“Yes… So?”
“Well, a Valantian barracks is never shut during the day. An open door makes troop movement easier. The main door is closed only during night time, or when the barracks is empty or the barracks is under siege. Did it look like the barracks was under attack?”
“No…” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. But the others were suddenly extremely alert as well.
“That means the barracks is empty. The troops might be out for a battle.” Elbir spoke. “There is only one target we know of right now. We should really check if they are out to attack the same target.”
“What is that?” I wasn’t sure what they were talking about.
“Villasboro, my village,” Dev added silently.
Then it all fell into place. I couldn’t believe that none of us saw this before. We all assumed that with the destruction of the Round Lotus barracks, there would be no further movement on the Azmoq reserve. But, the Valantian Imperium wouldn’t have given up on an Azmoq reserve so easily. They must have gathered all the troops near the forest to try to locate and capture it.
Dev spoke earnestly. “We have to go to the barracks and find out what they are up to!”
Elbir nodded. “True. But we need a plan. Empty or not, we can’t be barging into a Valantian barracks and ask where all the troops are.”
True. We had to come up with a plan. “Who usually stay back in a barracks when troops have been mobilized for battle? Any troops or just some support staff?” I asked Karn, who knew the most about Valantian protocols.
Karn was deep in thought. “It’s usually just some 10 to 15 troops, in case of a sudden attack. Even the support staff is usually dismissed until the main army returns.”
That was great news. “I have a simple idea.” We discussed it, and everyone liked it.
W
e set out to the village located closest the barracks. It was called Greshana. We went straight to the bar and ordered a lot of drinks. The bar man was curious. “What is the happy occasion?”
I held Karn close to me. “He proposed! We are getting married!”
The bar man’s eyes lit up. It was his lucky night. “That is fantastic. Order all you want. The first round is on the house!”
I pretended to be really happy. “You are such a good man! You know what? We want to share our happiness with the village. Call everyone!”
It was a small village, probably with about 200 people. We figured quite a few of them would be working in the barracks, given its proximity. This was a simple way of getting to know these people, quickly.
The bar man looked at us like he found a treasure. He took a small advance and then used the village bell to call everyone, to tell them the good news. Soon, the porch outside was full of drunk people. It wasn’t too difficult to find the right people.
There was a man who was in charge of the armory maintenance. He was probably the best informed, as soldiers did talk a lot when they were picking up and dropping their weapons. And he was definitely willing to talk.
“I definitely am one of the most important members of the barracks… they all left a few weeks ago… they didn’t really tell me where… of course they know where they are going… well, I heard… I heard that there were two members of the Final 100 who knew… and wait… an assassin as well… they were survivors… of the Round… Lotus attack… I guess the revolutionary dumbasses didn’t know that the Round Lotus had… an underground stem where soldiers could hide… well, I don’t know… One was Major Morgan and the other was Azrial….”
That’s when the three of them stopped asking questions. They looked at each other. Elbir asked, “Are you sure you heard Major Morgan and Azrial?”
The man was indignant. “Of course. There is nothing that happens here that I don’t… know….”
Age of Azmoq_The Valantian Imperium Page 39