The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  “Yes, my Empress.” All the men, including Adrian, affirmed.

  Vai stepped away from the camp and walked out onto the forest-encircled stone road. The strong smell of pine needles filled her nose, instantly bringing her back to her childhood. This exact area was one of her favorite spots outside of the castle as a little girl. She had spent many of her days running around the area with her brothers, where they brought her to practice archery. It had only taken a few weeks for her to be as good with a bow as them, and another week to surpass them. Everything had changed when her father found out.

  “You are a lady! Not a warrior!” Lord Kashin had screamed.

  “But I’m having fun, father! Please!” Vai’s fourteen-year-old voice cried out to him.

  Lord Kashin had swung the back of his hand across Vai’s face, causing her to cry out in pain and fall onto the floor of her bedroom. Blood had started leaking from the corner of her lips, and Lord Kashin stood over her. “If you want to live like a true lady, then you better stop acting like a common archer! You’ll remain locked in here until you learn your lesson.”

  Lord Kashin had stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving Vai alone. While quietly sobbing, she had crawled across the floor towards her bed and climbed into it, her body shaking all the while.

  Sobbing and shivering from the cold darkness she found herself in, Vai had wrapped herself tightly under her bed cover, but she never warmed up. Her breath had shuddered as she buried her face into the pillow to muffle her cries.

  Hours later, there had been a light knocking at the door. Vai had lifted her reddened face up from the pillow to look. The door had opened very slowly, creaking quite loudly. Then, Daniel Jr. had peeked in, his face childish and sympathetic.

  “Vai?” the seven-year old boy had asked.

  “Junior? Y—you can c—come in.” Vai had immediately stopped sobbing.

  The boy had walked into the room and closed the door behind him carefully and quietly. He’d walked up and stood by the bed, looking down at Vai with great concern as he noticed the cut on the corner of her lip.

  “Father?” Daniel Jr. had asked.

  “Y—yes…” Vai had continued to shiver and cry simultaneously.

  “You’re cold?”

  Vai had sniffed and nodded stiffly. Without saying a word, Daniel Jr. had lifted the cover and climbed into the bed, hugging her tightly, remaining by her side the entire night.

  That was the kind of person Vai always knew Daniel Jr. to be: incredibly kind-hearted. Despite the danger of their father catching him in her room, he’d taken the risk for the sake of comforting her. Junior was always there for me, and now I’m gonna be there for him.

  Vai continued walking along the road with a solemn expression. Adrian and the Royal Guardsmen followed shortly behind. They exited the adjacent tree lines and continued along the road as it shortly met the slope of the hill.

  “The battle should be upon us soon,” said Adrian.

  At the top of the hill, Arrowstone was in full view. Formidable stone walls rose over forty feet high with lookout towers every fifty feet on the ramparts, and a two-pronged river running just along the walls. It looked just as she had remembered, except for the Headland Army organized just beyond the walls.

  Surely enough, there were three separate camps set up between or next to the two river forks. Arrows rained down from the ramparts onto each camp, but in ineffective and small numbers. In return, the Headland armies launched projectiles from their trebuchets, making dents in the gate and walls. The sounds of men yelling, and the thrashes on the gate and walls echoed faintly. Projectile after projectile thrashed the gate, damaging it further with each hit. As the gate continued to break down, Vai’s heart jumped and she looked horrified.

  “It won’t stand much longer! Why isn’t Archard attacking!?” Vai panicked.

  Everyone stared with abject terror as one final projectile collided with the gate and brought it down, the sound of screams and shattering wood roaring into the sky.

  OOOOOUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH! The war horns blasted furiously from a distant hill, and the Rockland Army emerged from the hillsides surrounding the fortress, and they immediately began descending upon the Headland besiegers. Several thousands of warriors screamed furiously as the Rockmen encroached on the Headlanders’ defensive line. The air was filled by the sounds of chaotic battle: screams of triumph and screams of agony, steel meeting steel and steel meeting flesh. While many Headlanders had formed a line to delay the Rockmen, many others had begun storming through the now-vacant gateway.

  “NO!” Vai screamed as she began sprinting down the hill towards the battle.

  “VAI! STOP!” Adrian called out desperately.

  Vai adopted absolute tunnel vision as she bolted towards the fighting. She continued running, remaining focused on the open gateway and the enemy soldiers who continued to pour through.

  “It’s not safe!”

  Without warning, a dozen Rockland cavalrymen galloped in front of her, their horses whinnying with fervor, forming a wall in front of her. She tried to run around but one of the horsemen quickly dismounted and grabbed hold of her.

  “LET ME GO!” Vai screamed.

  “We can’t let you go down there! The Captain ordered us to stop you!” the cavalryman shouted.

  “Vai! My Empress!” Adrian caught up to Vai, out of breath. “Don’t go down there! You’ll get yourself killed!”

  “They’ll get my family killed! They’re inside!” she cried.

  “And getting yourself killed won’t help them!” Adrian pleaded.

  Vai collapsed to her knees and failed to contain her sobs. Underneath the horses and between their legs, she could look upon the battle. More Headland soldiers poured through the open gateway, but the Rockmen kept making progress, pushing the enemy line farther and farther towards the wall.

  “My Empress, I understand your pain, but we’re all charged with ensuring your safety. We can’t let you go down there until we know the battle is over!” Adrian pleaded.

  Vai continued to stare at the battle with only her family on her mind. I’m too late. I was a moment too late, and now they’re all dead. Will I even recognize Junior’s corpse when I see it?

  “Vai! We need to move you somewhere safe!” Adrian shouted.

  Vai offered no response.

  Adrian pulled her to her feet as he looked around at all the nearby men. “We need to get her back to the hill! Now!”

  “I don’t think we’ll need to, sir! Our forces are winning! They’re starting to enter the castle!”

  Vai’s desperation vanished immediately as she perked up gleefully. She gently grabbed Adrian’s hands and pulled them off her arms. She walked around the wall of cavalrymen and looked upon the battlefield. Surely enough, the Headlanders’ defensive line had vanished, and the Rockmen began pouring in through the gateway. The battle sounds continued to roar within the castle walls for several minutes, and Vai’s face was livened by hope the entire time.

  After a long stretch of time, the battle sounds began to diminish. Slowly but surely, they were replaced by sounds of triumphant celebration. Vai’s men expressed extreme relief as the Rockmen began filing out of the castle while holding their weapons upwards in celebration, but she still felt incredibly uncertain.

  “I think we won!” one of the Royal Guardsman claimed.

  “I need to get down there now!” said Vai. She ran past the cavalry wall and down towards the fortress. After running on the river bed for a few minutes, she reached the Headlanders’ trenches and carefully navigated the fraises. She was promptly greeted by several celebrating infantrymen.

  “Your Majesty! We defeated them! All of them!”

  “What about the garrison?” Vai asked pointedly.

  “Garrison?” the soldier questioned, intoxicated by his post-victory haze.

  “The Kashins! The ones that defended the castle!” she fired back.

  The soldier immediately snapped out of
his haze. “Oh! Uh, sorry. I didn’t check, but Lord Archard is inside!”

  Vai immediately ran past the soldier, navigating through the countless dead bodies and triumphant Rockmen who had occupied the field. Once the men took notice of her, they called on each other to clear a path, and the army immediately allowed her a straight shot inside. When she entered the main courtyard, she hardly recognized her home: the architecturally beautiful courtyard that had once been decorated by white marble walkways, fountains, statues, and a colorful vineyard was now barren of all plant life and covered with blood and corpses.

  Vai spotted Lord Archard farther into the crowd, covered with dirt and blood. He stood in front of someone, blocking the person from view. She sprinted over and called out to him. “Archard!”

  Archard turned around and spotted Vai, recognizing her immediately. All the nearby Rockmen continued to scurry out of her way as she made her way over.

  “Your Majesty,” he said calmly.

  “Is my family okay?”

  Vai ran up beside Archard and took a brief look at him, then looked past at who he was speaking with: a young man with the look of a Headlander wearing Rockland colors. When she looked into his eyes, there was no doubt who he was.

  “Vai?” the young man asked.

  “Junior?” Vai asked, her voice shaking.

  Tears began to stream out of Daniel Jr.’s eyes as a wide smile emerged on his face. Vai immediately ran up to him and hugged him fiercely. They grasped each other tightly, as she began weeping tears of joy and Daniel Jr. cried much less blatantly.

  “You’re alive!” Vai exclaimed.

  “I very nearly wouldn’t have been,” Daniel Jr. said humbly.

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  When Daniel Jr.’s grasp loosened, and he offered no response, Vai took a couple steps back, fear returning to her.

  “Junior…” she said dreadfully.

  “I’m all that’s left, Vai,” Daniel Jr. said, beginning to cry softly.

  “Mother….” Vai almost returned to full sobbing, but she held back her tears.

  “I would be dead too if your men hadn’t stopped them,” said Daniel Jr.

  Tears continued to stream from her eyes, but she mustered a smile. “I was so scared when they brought the gate down.”

  “They didn’t start actually attacking the gate until yesterday,” said Daniel Jr.

  “They what?” Vai asked.

  Archard stepped forward. “Your brother was just explaining to me what the sieging party had been doing over the past few weeks.”

  “Tell me.” Vai said pragmatically, ditching her sorrowful state.

  Daniel Jr. cleared his throat. “The army arrived several weeks ago. Up until just recently, all they did was remain camped outside the walls. They only blockaded the fort and taunted us.”

  “Taunted?” Vai asked.

  “They told us about how King Hiroshi attacked Robinsport, how he murdered the Emberland Emperor. When Hiroshi triumphed, they would come back here and root us out. But not long after, a messenger came to their camp, and the taunts stopped. At first, we didn’t know what to think, then they started building trebuchets. I assumed something had gone wrong for Hiroshi…”

  “You assumed right,” said Archard.

  “Junior… Can you—can you take me to see mother? And father…”

  “Yeah. This way…”

  Daniel Jr. led her through the courtyard. By the center, dozens of Headlanders in Rockland colors were gathered in a circle. When one of them saw Daniel Jr., he immediately muttered at the others to clear a path. When they stepped away, they revealed the bodies of a middle-aged man and woman, and several dead Headlander men in Rockland colors.

  “No…” Vai began tearing up again as she recognized her family. One by one she scanned the faces of her father, mother, and brothers. Thomas… Arnold… Jinwoo… She shambled to her mother’s body and cried over her. Mother… I’m sorry. She glanced at her father, feeling dozens of conflicting emotions. Each of the dead brothers had valiantly fought to defend the castle, as evidenced by their wounds and bloodstained armor. I should’ve gotten here faster, she thought, as though she were speaking directly to them.

  “Did they just die? Moments ago?” Vai asked, still sobbing.

  “Y—yes…” Daniel Jr. muttered.

  “I was too late…”

  “No. This isn’t your fault…” Daniel Jr. assured her.

  “We need to bury them,” Vai muttered.

  Before Vai or Archard could reply, a voice called out to them. “Lord Archard! Empress! There’s a messenger here for you!”

  Everyone snapped out of the sorrowful moment and turned their heads towards the voice. A Rockman came running, holding a note in the air.

  “A messenger?” Vai asked.

  The note-bearer ran straight up to Vai. “He was an Emberlander! He said it was urgent!” He held out the note to her, and she grabbed it.

  “An Emberlander?” Archard asked.

  Vai unfurled the note and began reading. To the Empress, Vaishalla Robinson, I write you…. She continued reading as Danny and Archard both took a few steps towards her.

  “Vai? What does it say?” Danny asked.

  Vai did not offer an immediate response but continued to read. I write you on behalf of Emperor Asher Miller. We both face a common enemy, a formidable one... Once she was finished, she held the note at her side and turned around to face Archard and Danny, who looked at her with great curiosity.

  “Your Majesty?” Archard asked.

  “It’s an offer, made on behalf of Emperor Asher Miller,” said Vai.

  “What was it?” Archard inquired.

  “An offer to end the war…” Vai looked back at her family. I’m sorry… I should’ve been here to protect you.

  CH 41 – Alexey X

  Alexey woke up before Ivan and Alana. He promptly prepared his supplies and walked out of the building, deciding to let them sleep. He chose to visit Anton Jr. in the stables for a quick goodbye.

  “I hope they’ll be good to you,” said Alexey while scratching the horse behind his ears. “I know you might wanna come with me, but it won’t be safe for you. You’ll be happy here.” A tear ran down Alexey’s cheek as he looked Anton Jr. in the eye.

  The horse softly snorted and looked back up at Alexey with a sad sparkle in its eyes. He stooped his head with a soft whimper. Crying himself, Alexey kissed the horse on the head, gave a quick hug, then promptly exited the stables.

  Each day on the road to Volkograd was uneventful and routine, like most days that Alexey had spent marching. The schedule consisted of waking up, walking for several hours, retrieving food, making a fire, sleeping, then repeating. Occasionally he would be met by traders who had departed Volkograd, or Winterguardsmen who paid him little to no mind: since abandoning his Winterguard recruit uniform, he was simply another commoner, one with no real supplies to steal.

  After marching an unidentifiable number of days, Alexey laid eyes on a vast and expansive alpine range, and a direction sign planted along the road. Around the range lies Volkograd, the Glory of the Winterland Republic.

  No Winterguard deserter in its history had sought safe refuge in the empire’s capital, since most understood such a move as suicide. Volkograd was also where he was born: his father was one of the city’s noblemen, residing in a beautiful and large private home, and Alexey knew how to sneak onto the premises.

  Alexey arrived by one of the main entrances to the city of Volkograd. The city was encased in between two mountain ranges, with the walls running from one range to the other, thousands of feet long. On top of the ramparts there were several massive torches evenly spaced, and many guards patrolling the wall: some wore the Winterguard colors while others wore generic armor, distinguishing their status. Several civilians were gathered in a line that started by the gate and extended dozens of feet outwards. Alexey stood back and carefully considered his options.

  At the front of the line
, a small cadre of Winterguardsmen were seemingly interrogating all those who approached. Most were let inside, but a few others were turned away. Why do they let some in and turn away others? Alexey pondered. He got into the back of the line. The wait was long, but that gave him plenty of time to conjure a plan.

  From as far away from the front as he was, he could not hear the conversations. As the line progressed, he began to hear the words from the front, followed by shouting. Soon afterwards, a poorly dressed man with a desperate look on his face walked out into the distance while crying.

  “Looks like another beggar tried to get in and failed,” the well-dressed middle-aged woman in front of Alexey mocked.

  “Why’d he get turned away?” Alexey asked innocently.

  The woman turned around and scanned Alexey with a scornful look on her face. “Because he dressed like a peasant?”

  “Volkograd only admits entry based on one’s clothing? It sure has changed since the last time I was here,” Alexey chuckled.

  The woman’s scornful look turned into one of confusion and disbelief. “You have been here before?”

  “Have you?” Alexey asked.

  “N—no…” the woman said hesitantly.

  “Then they probably won’t let you in, unless you have goods to trade. Do you have anything to trade?” Alexey’s voice had the subtlest hint of condescension. He interpreted the woman’s lack of response as a no. “That shouldn’t worry you. They admit plenty of women-of-the-night, but most are on the younger side…”

  The woman furrowed her brow and looked at Alexey with hatred in her eyes. “Fucking little shit you are,” she seethed. She stormed off, leaving the line altogether.

  Alexey chuckled, taking up the abandoned spot in line. Anton would be proud, he reflected.

  Now much farther along in the line, Alexey could overhear the conversations at the front with total clarity. Each person started off receiving a fiercely toned question from the Winterguardsman at the gate.

  “What’s your business here?”