Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn (21 page)

“Dillon, there is nothing we can do for them,” his mother shouted. “We have to leave.”

The superior groaned as he rolled to his back. He batted his eyelids and shook his head. Dillon’s mother ignored the superior, grabbed her son’s hand again and tugged. “Let’s go,” she shouted, pulling him toward the window.

The superior struggled to his hands and knees. Dillon yanked his hand from his mother’s. “Wait,” he said and then ran back to the superior. He drew his foot back. With a merciless heave, he sent the superior into unconsciousness again.

He could no longer see his mother through the smoke so he called out to her. When she choked her answer, he followed her voice. His windpipe clogged, his lungs smothered in the smoke. He reached blindly until he felt her outstretched hand.

“I don’t want to go out there,” she said, choking on the smoke along with her words. “I’d rather die here with you than there with them.”

Dillon collapsed to his knees. She hugged him with all of her strength.

“We can’t give up,” he said, his voice barely strong enough to get out. “We have to fight and make them kill us.”

She nodded.

He pulled away. She held onto his shirt as he led her to the window. The room filled with coughing and gagging from his classmates, yet they did not follow. He shoved the warped window outward, ripping its locked hinge from the decayed wooden frame.

Dillon climbed out first and then helped her through. He turned to a group of armed Lowland soldiers.

“Do not fight us, kid. It would not be wise for you and your pretty mother.”

Dillon bowed his head and extended his hands with their palms up. A soldier came forward. The soldier held his wrists while another tied them together. Then they did the same to his mother before marching them to a line of prisoners that stretched as far as he could see.

He glimpsed over his shoulder at the schoolhouse as the flames tickled the sky. No one else was escaping from the inferno and he shook with silent rage at the callousness of his captors.

The Tek army amassed along Lithia’s western border south of the Danduke River. King Logan overlooked the future battlefield from atop his castle perch. The threat was more massive than he ever imagined and though he knew his army would fight with honor, he feared he had made a grave mistake.

In the face of such odds, he made a decision long overdue and ordered Lithia’s evacuation. All women and children who were able were commanded to travel to Epertase at once. His stomach turned with the knowledge that he may have waited too long.

The evacuations began. It could take weeks for so many Liths to arrive in Epertase, and their only hope of not being run down from behind was a long, spirited battle by his men.

Logan spent most of three days isolated in his room, watching the enemy prepare for its imminent offensive.
When? When will you attack?
he wondered.
Just give my people a few more days.

His wife, Queen Lona, entered and stood by his side. She appeared weary, with puffy eyes and gaunt skin. Her long white hair rested on her shoulders, appearing rattier than he had ever seen it before.

“Please, go,” he said. “Join our children and flee with our people.”

“I saw our children off this morning, but I am staying.”

“There is nothing more you can do here.”

“I can support my husband.” She cradled his hand in hers. He looked into her blue eyes. “Do you think our children will actually leave?” she asked. “I worry about Galvin’s bullheadedness.”

“I don’t know,” he answered, unable to hide his solemn tone. “I spoke to him yesterday and stressed the importance of leaving.”

Her eyes brightened. “Do you think he listened?”

He looked away and lowered his head. He couldn’t bear telling her what he really believed and instead whispered, “Yes.” He paused and turned back to her. “I’m sure he did.”

Perhaps for the last time before the coming war began, he saw the faint start of her dimples and then quickly they faded away.

On the fifth day of the standoff, Logan made contact with the enemy by way of a squad of soldiers sent to the center of the battlefield. They carried with them a trunk of gold coins along with words of peace.

He and Lona watched from his elevated window, her body nestled in his arms. The small band of negotiators was met by a group of black-armored Teks.

The lead Lithian negotiator rode to the fore and outstretched his hand in peace. The lead Tek accepted with a bow.

“Thank the gods,” Logan whispered. Lona hugged his arm.

The Lith negotiator turned to the other negotiators with a wide grin. He raised his arms above his head.

“What does that mean?” Lona asked.

“It means they want to negotiate.”

Logan’s negotiator waved toward the castle. The Tek’s horse awkwardly pranced closer. Logan lowered his brow. Another Tek crowded the negotiator from the opposite side. Logan wanted to scream “turn around,” but knowing that he wouldn’t be heard, mumbled instead.

Unable to see the subtle aggression displayed by the enemy, Lona asked, “What is wrong?”

Logan didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to do.

The Tek reached out. The suns glistened from something in his hand. Logan knew in his heart what that something was. He froze, helpless. “No,” he whispered.

The other Lith negotiators sat up straight, realizing they’d been led to slaughter. The Tek swiped his hand past the lead negotiator’s throat, drenching his own armor with spurting blood.

The other Lith horses excitedly rose onto their rear legs. The Teks swarmed them, dragging the men to the ground. The horses were unable to escape as well and they thrashed and kicked as they too were slaughtered by the ruthless men.

Lona gasped and covered her eyes. Logan squeezed his wife to him and she buried her face in his chest.

The Lithian army stared in horror.

The Tek murderers ransacked the negotiators’ clothing and saddlebags like savages. They opened the chest of gold coins and dumped them into the grass.

Once they finished searching for whatever they sought, they turned toward the castle, glowered at Logan, and then returned to their own front lines, leaving the blood-stained gold in the grass.

What do they want?
Logan wondered.

Lona made her way to her bed where she continued sobbing until she had no more tears to give. Logan followed to give her comfort but he had no words. After much time, she finally drifted to sleep.

He watched her, overwhelmed with memories of the first time they had met. He remembered back when he was a young prince and she was a privileged daughter of the wealthiest man in Lithia. He loved her at first sight. Thirty-four years later, none of that love had diminished.
Why couldn’t she have left with the others?

Logan covered her with a thin sheet and a heavier quilt. He went to his desk, buried his face into his sweaty palms, and cried.
I’ve killed them all.

Late afternoon arrived.

A knock at Logan’s door startled him awake. His eyes immediately darted to Lona’s still-sleeping body. He rubbed away the kink of his old stiff neck. His hips were sore as he stood up from his desk chair. He rushed to the door in an attempt to prevent further knocking.

His personal bodyguard, a fierce warrior with a bright red mohawk named Carver, stood outside his door with a familiar visitor at his side.

Logan’s eyes lit up. “Aidric, old friend. Welcome. Come in.”

“Good to see you, King.”

“Why are you here? You shouldn’t have come.”

“My battalion has been sent to help you. We are at your service.”

“Elijah has always been good to us.” He paused. “Do you know if our children have reached Thasula yet?”

Aidric wrinkled his forehead. “I haven’t heard, though I have been traveling much lately. I’m sure they are fine.”

Logan knew his son, Galvin’s, loyalty to Lithia was unmatched and that knowledge hurt his heart.

Lona’s sleepy voice interrupted their conversation. “Aidric?” she asked as she sat at the edge of her bed. “Is that you?”

“Your highness, I did not see you there.” Aidric rushed to her, knelt, and kissed her hand. “I did not mean to disturb you.”

Lona rubbed the top of his head. “You didn’t disturb me. It was time I awakened.”

Logan asked Aidric if he’d had a chance to see the enemy for himself; he hadn’t. Logan led him to the window.

Aidric’s jaw dropped at his first sight of the army. “My gods, they’ve advanced faster than we ever imagined.”

“As you can see,” Logan said, “you have arrived too late.”

“What if we retreat, go back to Epertase’s front lines and fight them there?”

King Logan bowed his head. “We would be run down from behind and annihilated. I believe our best course will be an all-out attack which is what I …” He paused, wanting to hide his next words from Lona. Maybe, he thought, if he didn’t finish his sentence, the inevitable would be postponed. But he knew better and took a deep breath. “I have ordered an all-out assault to commence at dawn. We will not wait any longer. You need to take your men and return to Epertase.”

“Sir, we were sent to help you.”

“You are better served helping Epertase.”

“But sir, we are here to support you. We can still do a lot of good. Let us stay and fight.”

“No. I could not live with your death and the death of your men on my heart. It is bad enough that I may have doomed my own people. You may stay as long as you remain out of the fray. At the first signs of our front lines falling, I order you to retreat.”

Aidric obviously wasn’t happy with the decision but he was a good soldier and answered that he understood. “But know this,” he added. “We will give you our all until such time.”

“I know you will, Aidric.”

Aidric turned to leave but hesitated and turned back. “Logan? Have your spies heard anything of our scout, Paisel?”

Logan looked to the ground, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, he did not survive.”

“Thank you, sir.”

D
awn approached. Menacing clouds filled the dark, early sky, threatening to turn the ground to mud. Lithia’s western border was thick with twenty-five thousand Lith soldiers ready to defend their land at all costs. They stared across the field at a massive army of black-clad killers. The ground rumbled from the invaders’ machines.

Aidric sat in a daze upon his horse.
They are vile creatures, these Teks. They seem to want nothing but death. The sky even dies above them by their choking smoke.

Excited flashes of lighted brilliance popped in the distance, leaping from cloud to cloud and followed by a low rumble announcing the coming storm.

The nervous energy was palpable among Aidric’s soldiers as he rode through his battalion. He reached the front; his men waited for their orders.

He shouted, “We have been ordered to stay back from the fray while our brothers, the Liths, are led to slaughter.” Sporadic boos met his words. “My friends, I cannot do that.”

The mood turned and thousands of fists pumped into the air with a roar from his war-thirsty men.

“Any moment now, the wrath of Lithia is going to reign onto our enemies with fury and destruction and we will be there to join the fight.”

His men erupted into deafening cheers that must have been heard as far as the enemy lines. Chants of “Ai-dric” resonated throughout making him proud of his decision.

A single drop of water splashed onto his hand.

“Men, you must fight for your fellow soldiers. You must fight for Lithia. And you must fight for Epertase.”

Another roar that could bring down mountains rang out. Aidric pulled his reins and his horse reared up in anticipation.

Another drop of water landed in his hair. And then another. He looked to the clouds as a drop splashed his cheek.
This’ll be sloppy.
With that thought, the clouds opened, unleashing a downpour with such fury that it stung his flesh. He slid his metal helmet over his head and the drops peppered it with the sound of gravel onto a tin roof.

“We will flank the enemy and let the thunder be the music of our attack,” he shouted.