By this time, Darius had the whole thing figured out.
He sent another bolt of lightning right at the High Priest’s face, knowing that his adversary would dodge. Just like he wanted, the High Priest turned opaque, reappearing with a condescending expression.
“How many times will you try the same thing?” mocked the holy man.
Darius smirked. “I see the truth now. Yer just a fake. You’ve no power over me, and from now on, ya ain’t going to on anybody else.” He shot several more bolts, the High Priest turning into a ghost as a defensive measure.
The High Priest realized too late that Darius had not been shooting at him. Rather, Darius had been shooting at the space around him. He kept firing bolt after bolt until he created an electrical field around the High Priest like a prison. Inside the field ran electric currents, and if the arrogant priest wanted to move ever again, he was going to get a nasty shocking.
“Why the shocked face?” Darius mocked. “I’ve just given ya the chance to be right next to God. Isn’t that what ya’ve always wanted?”
_ _ _
Samantha rolled to the right, evading a downward slash from General Von Doley that would have been sure to cleave her in two. Now, she had to time her movement right to evade the mirror attack that was going to happen a few moments later.
It was hard to, both because it was an unseen force and because the general did not relent in his attacks. It was like fighting two of him at the same time, just at different intervals.
Having only one eye didn’t make things any easier.
Samantha blew on her horn again, ensuring that all her movements were hastened. Only through her power could she keep up with that of the general’s.
Still, General Von Doley timed his attacks perfectly, and his sword came down just a moment prior to his mirror attack. Samantha was forced to dodge his attack, then parry the second—
She had miscalculated the swing, and she felt a ghostly blade cut deep into her leg. She winced from the pain, but for only a moment.
“No more running,” he said as he walked toward Samantha while she tried to hobble away, each step a painful reminder that she was losing blood.
“Samantha…” Kavem said in concern.
“I know, damn it,” she replied back to her elemental, her mind racing to come up with a way to deal with the general’s strange ability.
He charged at her, and without any way for her to keep her distance, she stood her ground. General Von Doley lunged at her from the side of her blind spot. She turned to put him in her field of vision just before he barraged her with a series of swipes.
None of them landed, but Samantha was going to be hard-pressed to parry both a dozen invisible strikes and General Von Doley’s onslaught with only one good leg.
She steeled herself. With only a few moments to come up with a way to defeat the general, she couldn’t leave any time to waste. Her life depended on it. As the seconds ticked down, the general readied for his attack. Like before, he came in from the right, the predictability that Samantha was counting on.
With her remaining energy, Samantha gathered all the wind that she could. She then threw her blade to the right, putting behind the sword wind that could match a hurricane. The blade zipped through the air so fast that the general could do nothing but try and block her blade with his.
The tip of her blade struck the general’s flat edge with such impact that his blade cracked and shattered at the midpoint, sending shards of steel flying in all directions. Samantha’s blade flew off to the side, digging itself into the earth a dozen feet away.
Just a moment later, and Samantha would have been cut to bits. But because she had destroyed the general’s sword and severed his link with his elemental, his power vanished.
General Von Doley, unable to accept what just happened, fell to his knees. He looked down at half a sword, remaining in that position while Samantha fetched her blade.
She walked up to him, her eyes bearing down on the back of his head. When she sheathed her sword, he looked up at her in puzzlement.
“Why haven’t you finished me off?” he said in shame.
“The Order of the Faith is a lie, General,” she said. A series of explosions from beyond caught her attention, and she looked up to see plumes of smoke rising from the other parts of Lenas. “Liberty has twisted the Faith and used it for his own gain. Can’t you see that?”
“How can you say such a thing?” he said, weary eyes searching hers. “Liberty is the channel through which God speaks.”
Samantha sighed. “Do you still believe that? After all that he’s led you to? The Faith was never meant to subjugate or bring ruin upon others.” Samantha placed a hand on her heart. “God speaks through the heart, General. Understand that, and go.” She flicked her wrist at him like she was shooing off a dog.
“Just kill me,” he said as he sat up and closed his eyes. “I no longer care what awaits me beyond. The weight on my shoulders is too great.”
“That’s not my judgement to make, General,” Samantha argued. “Go, before Raxxil finds you and does what he deems fit. Run away to someplace else. Start a new life, one of goodness.”
General Von Doley took a deep breath, stood up, and turned away from Samantha without saying anything more. Leaving his shattered blade on the floor, he walked until his form vanished around a corner.
Without losing any more time, or blood for that matter, Samantha headed into the nearest barracks and rummaged through the cabinets at one corner until she found the medical supplies that she needed.
She cleaned up the blood, sterilized the area, and then stitched together the sizable gash on her leg. When she was finished, she walked out of the barracks and toward the palace. With every step she took on her injured leg she withheld her full weight. Any forthwith battle was going to be a hard one for her.
It was to both her surprise and relief that she found the others waiting for her by the pond. Arwynn looked as though she had sustained some trauma to the head, but looked mostly fine. Darius, on the other hand, looked like he just stepped out for a stroll.
“Everyone all right?” Samantha asked, getting two nods in return.
“Any luck finding Liberty or a sign of him?” Darius asked.
Samantha shook her head. “The barracks is empty, and there isn’t a way out of Lenas from there. From what little I know of him, I doubt that he would escape while leaving his army here.”
“The only place left to check is the inner sanctums of the palace,” Arwynn said.
Samantha nodded. Her gaze lingered on her reflection in the pond. It was just like at the Delanar Promenade where she had looked upon her reflection in the days preceding Liberty’s crusade against Arcadia. Last time, the waters had been turbulent, as had been her reflection.
Now it was calmer, but still her reflection was distorted by the small waves.
“We should go lend our aid to…” started Samantha, but her voice trailed off when her eyes beheld Raxxil’s form.
The hammer-wielder walked up the path from the palace gates, his face firm and his armor worn. If Samantha had a bird’s eye view of Lenas, she imagined that she would see mostly fire and ash. The blue sky of dawn had darkened with all the black smoke rising up.
Arwynn ran up to Raxxil, embracing the man like he had been gone from her life for ten years. He returned the gesture, the two locking together not like lovers, but close friends or siblings. Maybe Arwynn thought differently. Samantha could not know. But what she did know was that something odd had revealed itself between the three of them during the journey.
When all of this was over, Samantha would begin a far different adventure, one that she hoped Raxxil wanted as well.
“Let’s storm the palace,” Arwynn said, her head still buried in Raxxil’s chest.
“No,” he said, his eyes fixed on Samantha with a look that she could not ascertain the meaning of. Not a moment after did he strike Arwynn on the head, light enough so that he didn’t k
ill her or cause serious damage but hard enough to make her unconscious. She slumped in his arms, but even her dead weight didn’t give him much of an issue.
“What’s gotten into ya?” blurted Darius.
“You three have done well, but this is as far as you go,” Raxxil said. He gestured at Samantha to come closer, and when she did, he handed Arwynn over to her.
Darius smiled and looked down. “Ya really wanna take him on alone?”
“It’s the only way,” Raxxil said, hoisting up his hammer and looking beyond at the palace. “The Order of the Faith has been dealt it. From here on out, it’s my fight.”
Darius approached Raxxil and held out his hand. The hammer-wielder took Darius’s and shook. Darius then came over to Samantha and did the same, although he also kissed her hand after the shake.
“I’d shake the little missy’s, but it looks like she’s a heavy sleeper,” he said, tipping his hat at Arwynn. “I’d best be off, then. I’ll miss y’all, but who knows, maybe we’ll need to take down another nation someday.”
“Thanks, Darius,” said Samantha as the bounty hunter walked past Raxxil toward the gates. “Remember, you’ve proven yourself to be a good man. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”
“That sure means a lot,” he said over his shoulder. “Next time someone calls me Thumbcutter, I’ll think of ya.”
Raxxil and Samantha watched as Darius vanished from view. As soon as he was gone, Samantha gritted her teeth as she looked upon the face of the man who she loved. Behind him, Lenas burned.
“Our strategy wasn’t a strategy at all, was it?” Samantha asked as she searched his eyes, the fire in his green eyes blazing so hot that it compelled her to look away. “Liberty holed himself in there. There was no reason for you to challenge an entire army. Much less burn it all to ashes.”
“Every one of them needed to be wiped out,” Raxxil said with increasing intensity.
“Why?” Samantha demanded. “What have you become, Raxxil?”
“This isn’t about me,” he said.
“It’s all about you!” Samantha roared. “All of this is because of your zeal. Isn’t it the same as that of the Order of the Faith?”
“The difference between me and them is that I’m finishing the job,” he said.
“You don’t have to do this,” Samantha said. “It’s not worth the risk. Not even Arcadia itself could touch Liberty.”
“I’m not done here until he’s dead,” he replied.
Samantha looked upon her reflection, her features becoming vague as the water rippled. “I know why you knocked her out. Don’t think that I won’t come back for you once she’s in a safe spot, Raxxil. I don’t give a damn about your honor.”
“Yes, you do,” he scoffed.
“We can save you, just like we did for Darius,” she pleaded. “Just you and me, together. We can leave this all behind, Raxxil. No longer do you have to be a slave to your past.”
“I can’t be saved,” he said as he strode up to her. “I’ll catch up with you two once this is over. Arwynn knows the way to our base. She’ll lead you there.”
Should I tell him, or would it just make him lose his focus?
“Kavem, what should I do?” she asked.
“Tell him or not, it makes no difference,” said the elemental. “We all know that he has made up his mind. He won’t stop until Liberty is dead.”
“What’s the matter?” Raxxil asked. “The longer you stay here, the closer you two are to harm. I need you both to get as far away from here as possible.”
Samantha, with Arwynn slumped over her shoulder, leaned toward Raxxil and placed a hand on his chest. “Raxxil… I…”
“Tell me,” he said.
“Nothing,” Samantha replied. It wasn’t the right time. “Farewell. We’ll see you after this is over.”
Raxxil leaned forward and kissed Samantha on the lips. Oh how sweet his lips were. She had gone too long without tasting them. But the moment passed too quick, and he drew back from her.
“Put your mind at ease, Samantha,” he assuaged. “All of Lenas feared the Volcano, as does Liberty. His power will be no match for my flames. Now go, and take care of Arwynn.”
Samantha nodded, turning away from Raxxil and heading down the same path that Darius had taken. After a few steps she turned back and watched as Raxxil charged up the steps leading to the palace. At the top he stopped and looked back at her, giving her a nod before continuing inside.
“I’m going to see him again, right Kavem?” she asked.
The elemental took too long to answer for her mind to be put at ease, and while it irked her, she furrowed her brows at something else. She turned back toward the palace, recalling the words that Raxxil had just said and if she heard him wrong.
Did he just say to take care of Arwynn, not Tanaria?
Chapter 30
323rd Dawn of the 5010th Age of Lion
Raxxil charged into the palace with purposeful rage. While the building had once been an elaborate labyrinth to him, with all its long corridors and secret rooms, he knew just where to find Liberty.
The palace itself was completely empty, not a servant nor official walking down its halls like they would have on any other day. But this day the Volcano had returned to finish what began almost a century ago, and by the time he was done all of Lenas would be wiped off the map.
It took Raxxil no time to reach the familiar doors leading into Liberty’s sanctum, a throne room without a throne. Such was the Order of the Faith’s guile, dangling the illusion in front of fools that everyone was on equal footing and all were blessed by God.
In the end, the Order of the Faith turned out to be abused by its leader, twisted into an abomination that was the antithesis to its design. While Samantha thought the Faith to be pure once, Raxxil understood the truth.
It had always been corrupt, and intended to be.
But on this day all of that would be purified by his flame. While Sora had sent Raxxil on this mission to retrieve the orb that Liberty possessed, that task was just secondary to him. It just so happened that the two lined up, and Raxxil hoped that the news of today would reach Serraemas, whether Raxxil told him personally or not.
He hoped that Serraemas would be proud of him.
Raxxil pushed open both doors, revealing the most inner sanctum of the palace where each person who bore the mantle of Liberty sat. But this room had been different the last time Raxxil had seen it some eighty years ago. Before, it had been more bare than it was today, just a few portraits, adornments, and the Order of the Faith’s crest on a banner displayed just above where Liberty sat.
The current Liberty had decided to turn the room into a personal library. Bookcases lined the walls that reached the ceiling, filled to the brim with texts of all kinds. Many of the texts had either been left on the floor or mashed together messily, lending to the notion that Liberty had been desperate for answers.
Even Liberty’s desk was littered with them. Some were open, others were teetering on the edge. It all looked as though someone had rummaged through them furiously without much regard to order.
And when Raxxil’s eyes laid upon the man himself, he saw not a collected leader with neat, bound hair but a rugged, unshaven face and unkempt hair flowing down.
Liberty held up the orb and stared into it, lost in its brightness. Next to him rested his blade. He peered up at Raxxil and brightened at the sight as if Raxxil was heaven-sent.
“So the momentous day has arrived,” Liberty said as he slipped the orb into his robes, then reached for his blade. As he unsheathed it, he set his eyes on Raxxil.
“I agree,” Raxxil said, stepping into the room with hammer at the ready.
“This whole time I’ve spent scouring the deep caverns of knowledge,” Liberty said as he gestured to the library. “I am the channel through which God speaks, and yet he remains silent. The Child of Light was supposed to be with the Faith. And yet, the book of the Faith has no answers, nor does a
ny text anyone has ever written. Until now. Your arrival is testament to that.”
Raxxil scowled at Liberty. “You may have fooled those who stake their souls in the Order of the Faith. You may have even fooled yourself, but the Faith was never real.”
“Heresy from a heretic, nothing more,” Liberty stated.
“And yet this heretic will be the nail in the Order of the Faith’s coffin,” Raxxil boasted. “Lenas burns. Its leader is just the seal on the missive.”
“I’ve heard of your fire, but after meeting you in person, I must say that the stories do you no justice,” Liberty said as he came out from behind his desk, sword in front in a poised stance. “Not even our records of that day managed to capture the Volcano.”
“You have no idea,” Raxxil said as he reared his hammer back in anticipation.
And even though the impulse to swing it at the very source of his cursed life was almost too great to resist, his thoughts turned to all the warnings given to him by those who had dared to challenge Liberty head on.
The power in his sword was unlike any other, and to this day not even the leaders of Arcadia could touch the agile swordsman. But there was one thing that remained constant in all those battles: Liberty was never the first to swing.
“What’s the matter?” Liberty said, his tired eyes flaring up to challenge Raxxil’s gaze.
Raxxil clenched his teeth, then lunged. He brought his hammer down on top of Liberty’s head, and just as he had visualized inside his mind, Liberty’s blade moved to parry his attack with blazing speed.
A blast radiated out of Raxxil’s released hammer as the two weapons met, and in the same instant Raxxil leapt backward just in time to dodge what would have been a fatal counterattack from Liberty.
Raxxil still hadn’t been fast enough. A sizable chunk had been taken out of his breastplate, exposing his chest in a diagonal slash. On the other side, Liberty remained unscathed, though his library was not. The flames expelled from Raxxil’s blow caught fire to some of the nearby texts, including the ones on Liberty’s desk. In a few minutes, the entire room would become an inferno.
Silent Requiem (Tales of Ashkar Book 3) Page 38