CHAPTER 57 – THE HARBOR
Axion knew it was time to go save Mercinestor, but the retreat could not stop in his absence. He tasked Anilithyìstad with holding the line. Cipher would go with him back into the harbor district.
“Mortikahn,” the rain continued to pour, “You have done well with one district, now take all the troops you have and go meet up with Jericho at the stables. Finish there as best you can and then meet us downtown.”
“You’ve got it, Axion.”
“Good luck, little cousin.”
Mortikahn turned around after taking a few steps away, “You too,” and gave Axion a look of pure worry. Axion was proud of what a capable warrior Mortikahn had become. There was a time when he was the baby of the family. Now he was saving children by the armfuls. Before the princesses, Axion and Mortikahn represented the first and last of King Avalahn’s descendants. As the first born grandson, Axion had a special bond with all of his cousins. The Borigini dynasty was strong even in the northern branches of the Arkenoir House. Axion had surrounded himself with the people he counted on most for this battle. He thanked the gods and his father for this fortune.
Alas, the two separated and headed for different parts of the compromised city. Axion shed his travelers gear and crimson riding cape for a cloak and hood. Together with Cipher they disappeared into the city’s shadow. Anilithyìstad stayed back to fight the good fight while they still could. The harbor was lost and adjacent to the beaches. All the battle could do was distract some of the enemy forces from moving into the city. There was nothing standing between the innocent city folk and the invading dragon soldiers. So Anilithyìstad sent as many as he could spare to their aid. The idea being that all of this would end in the city streets, culminating in the complete evacuation.
This battle was no battle at all. Anilithyìstad had done the math, and once you do the math there’s nothing left but to see events unfold as predicted. The harbor was lost. North Caliber was saved by Axion’s swift decision to sacrifice the bridge. The beaches were fully evacuated, and the stables were soon to be. Port Caliber’s extremities will survive, three out of four districts saved, not a bad score. All that mattered now was the preservation of the inner-city district, the lion kingdom’s most populous area.
For now, Anilithyìstad’s best strategy was to burn as bright as possible at the beaches and buy enough time for the people to get to safety before the entire city collapsed. That was all he could wrap his mind around right now. He could not even consider what to do after they lost the city. Get Mitakahn back? Thank the gods he had the forethought to send for help from Metuchen when he did. Really all he had to do was get inside the gates of Zepathorum, one of the world’s most fortified cities and wait for help to arrive. That freed him up to focus on the here and now. That meant smashing skulls on the beach for as long as he could manage. And these skulls were dirty. So Anilithyìstad processed through the dirty work unceremoniously. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers and beat back the enemy forces.
The streets of the harbor were surprisingly quiet. At this point, the initial impact zone was fight or flight. The ones that chose flight were long gone. The ones who chose to fight, well… the streets were too quiet for their stories to have ended well. Most of the city blocks were filled with smoke and debris, sparse fires and building collapses took them by surprise. They became more frequent the closer they got back to the water. It was no longer so quiet. From afar, the sound of wooden ships crashing into the docks sounded more like the ocean. Axion never thought he would be able to define the nuances of hearing an enemy naval attack up close and from afar.
These were indeed dark times. When they could, the two lords of the kingdom helped the fleeing townsfolk get to safety, or at the very least, the path to safety. Cipher barely broke his gate. His focus was on his father’s rescue. He rushed across the street corner and before them was a municipal water pump. Beyond it a well to the city’s water irrigation system.
“The entrance to the tunnel is down there.”
“I’ve heard of this but never seen it for myself. It will take us into the dungeons of Sea Port Village.”
“Seaport Village is the most northern tip of the port and completely fortified on all sides. If they are not held up there, then we will be able to take them by surprise attacking from there.”
“It is a good plan, Cipher.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you are here with me.”
“I don’t know about you…but I am getting the overwhelming sensation that by the time we get back to the surface, the city will be lost.”
“We can’t afford to think like that. We must hurry.”
The two descended into the tunnel system. For a moment, a very brief moment, the break from the rain felt nice. The darkness quickly surrounded them as they delved deeper and deeper below the city. Axion followed Cipher, just like when they were inside the Cor realm. Cipher always seemed to walk with purpose. Where Axion felt more comfortable in the soldier role, Cipher felt more comfortable in the explorer role. They trekked through the dark dingy tunnels under Port Caliber. The darkness was the least of their worries. The rancid smell of human feces was almost too much to bear, and they weren’t even in the sewer tunnel, merely sewer adjacent. As they passed the exits to the surface, Axion noticed Cipher was counting.
After the thirty-seventh exit pathway Cipher turned left and continued down a new hallway. They made haste down the tunnel until it reached its end. Axion stopped when Cipher stopped. They both looked up at the winding stairwell. It was narrow and steep but made for a quick escape. When they reached the outside,it was still raining.
Most of the other exit pathways led to buildings, houses, and sheds, but not this one. Cipher and Axion walked out onto the cliffside of Seaport Village. The docks were covered in dark sails. Cipher got down behind one of the boulderocks and surveyed the immediate area. He saw a large body of dragon kingdom troops massing at Seaport Village Boulevard. That could only mean one thing. Cipher tracked the troops, their servants, and the sailors dissembling ships and assembling camp all back to the ships they came in on.
“That’s the one.”
“Are you sure that’s the flagship?”
“Oh, yes I am. What happened on the deck of that ship I will likely never forget.”
“I didn’t mean to doubt you. We are just putting a lot on the line here.”
“I’m sure of it. I wouldn’t ask you to do this otherwise.”
“Do you think he is still on the ship?”
“My gut tells me they likely took him somewhere, but how could we even begin to guess where. We have to search the flagship for clues.”
“I was hoping to avoid the whole…search the flagship…part.”
“We will be quick and quiet. We will go unseen.”
Axion followed Cipher down the ledge and over to a gazebo crossing the stretch of the courtyard right before the first pier. They snuck out onto the wooden boarding planks. The flagship was mostly empty at this point. Cipher got to where the dark lord had been torturing Mercinestor. He even saw some blood. They looked around but nothing really popped out at them.
“So, we know he is still alive, and they couldn’t have taken him far. He has to be at the village. They could have hidden him in any of the number of houses surrounding us.”
“Any kind of military training from any kingdom would advise keeping your jail in the most fortified local area.”
“We aren’t leaving here until we find him. Should we split up to cover more ground and search twice as fast?” asked Axion.
“No, we should stick together and be patient. The gods will light the way sooner or later.”
“Praise be eternal.”
“Follow me.”
They snuck up on an approaching unsuspecting sailor and Cipher disarmed him and threw him over to Axion who put him in a headlock. The sailor passed out and Axion stashed him away. They slid over the boarding planks back to the pier. Instead of heading northwest back to the cliffs, they went east to the castle embedded in the cliffs. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Long ago, the castle of a fallen house of the Pride was decommissioned and renovated into Seaport Village. Most of the inside of the castle was gutted and the main southern wall was completely blown out. This kind of setup provided a perfect foundation for a new city center. In modern times it was being used as the kingdom’s main thoroughfare. Now it was being used as a base of operations by the enemy. This simply cannot stand.
“Odds are he is inside Seaport Village, we start there.”
“There is a crate outside the windchime shack that leads directly to the office window inside the marketplace.”
Cipher hesitated and gave a brief smirk.
“What?”
“I don’t want to know how you know that.”
“Hey, listen, I didn’t ask any questions when we were down in the bowels of the city with the scum.”
“Fair enough.”
They crawled by the guards and got up onto the side of the castle. Axion brought Cipher to the window and propped him up to access it. He got it open and crawled through, turning around, and giving Axion a hand up. They both got inside and drew their swords. Luckily for them, the office they were occupying had a window that overlooked the lion’s share of the marketplace.
“There!” Cipher exclaimed.
He ran into the hallway, down to the stairs. Axion rushed after him. He panicked as they rushed past some of the same people they were just trying to avoid only moments ago. Cipher completely shed all of the strategy and stealth he accrued getting to this point. Axion had no doubt that Cipher saw his father through the office window and the reason why he was acting so erratically. Nothing else mattered anymore. Guards met them in the hallway that led to the main room. Axion took a defensive stance as Cipher sprinted by him. He quickly repositioned into an attack stance and charged along with Cipher. This was it. They would have to fight their way out.
Axion knocked the first sailor down with his shoulder, while he followed through, swinging his sword into the approaching sailor’s skull. Cipher made quick work of his opponents as well. By the time they got to the main courtyard Mercinestor was being presented out in the open as bait.
Cipher ran out to him and Axion covered them. This was not good. He looked all around. There were people on the balconies. They would be easily spotted. There was not much around them for cover, just abandoned hay squares and barrels, overturned scaffolding from a former marketplace. Like clockwork, as soon as they got to Mercinestor in the center of the arena, they were surrounded and the way they came was closed off.
Cipher tossed his sword to Axion as he helped his father out of his bounds. His face was bruised and beaten, not to mention where the dark lord used the phantom sword on him. Dark veins ran down that side of his face from his temple to his eye. His pupil lost its color and almost all of the hair on his head was peppered with gray. Still, after all of that and who knows what more, the old warrior was still able to get to his feet. Now he just needed a weapon.
“Congratulations, gentlemen.” A voice came from an upper echelon balcony.
His wiry hair was greased over and parted to the side almost ineffectively. Besides that, his coat was of fine quality, and he bore the accolades of a senior officer within the ranks of the dragon kingdom navy. He did not look like a soldier. He seemed more like an advisor or a scientist. He laughed at them as he cleaned the silver bifocals and placed them back on over his eyes.
“It appears as though you walked right into my trap. Which works perfectly for me. You see, we have been stalling while we wait for the dark lord to return. I knew you would come for him. Now I will throw everything I’ve got at you and whatever works; I’ll use in the field. It’s a genius plan. The dark lord will be so pleased with my efforts. Oh, I do apologize for the wait, without further delay, please welcome to the dueling pit the Spangalore contenders!”
The doors swung open and out walked fierce warriors of the dragon kingdom. “Here’s the fun part, my champions are known in the SouthLands as the night guard, you northerners have another name for them…”
“By gods,” Mercinestor mumbled under his mustache, “the Necrogallion.”
“I know…what a harsh deal for you.” Spangalore let out a baby’s cry. “Well, here’s what I can’t do…let you go. Haha! Here is what I can do though…” He pulled his right sleeve up, pointing his elbow out.
“Arm you.”
Spangalore reached down and tossed Mercinestor’s sword to the ground from the balcony. “Makes no sense, right? Alternatively, it cannot be a true test without a capable threat. So making sense will have to wait. Let the fun begin!”
“The krakenwreck.” Cipher and Mercinestor both declared at the same time as they stared at the sword, now within reach.
Axion looked at the Casterosi men, confused in the moment. Did they not just hear the utter insanity coming from the balcony? Mercinestor made his way for the sword in between Cipher and Axion defending him from the encroaching enemy.
He limped and dragged himself the rest of the way, sliding his open palm on the ground until it covered the hilt of the sword. When Mercinestor grasped the krakenwreck he was able to stand up straight, “It’s time I show you, boys,” and looked them right in the eyes, both eyes, “what I took with me from the Ignaleos Cor.”
Cipher smiled.
The faded pupil was now completely rejuvenated, and the stained veins pulled back clean from under his eye, all the way up to his temple, where the reaper blade made contact. Even his swollen lip and the other bruises on his face lessened, nearly vanishing, but not the white hair in his mustache that remained. He walked in front of them, ready stance, exuding the energy of a man renewed. He led Axion and Cipher into the fight against the Necrogallion.
The dark soldiers moved unnaturally fast. They were the enemy elite. The dragon vanguard. In no time they surrounded the three of them. Mercinestor cut any that were unfortunate enough to cross his path into pieces . These ancient myths, legendary invincible undefeatable champions of the Southlands, immediately felled by the mighty steel of Castle Rosi Island.
Axion could not believe the old liege lord had this much vigor left in his step after all of that torture. Then he saw the crystal blue glow reminiscent of the Corscape emanating from Mercinestor’s sword-wielding hand. It was an inspirational sight, giving all three of them a rush of energy. Together they cut down their enemy for Spangalore to see. He was no longer so happy. In fact, he was rather mad.
“Impossible!”
He pounded his fist like a gavel on the stone balcony and ordered his guards to summon the next wave of fighters.
“You only wish it would be that easy!” the mad scientist taunted.
He continued to his subordinates, “Release a champion this time.”
The largest man Axion had ever seen squeezed through the arena doors. His entire left arm was missing from the elbow down, but it was not replaced with emptiness. Starting from the grotesque’s face, patchy burnt steel ran down the shoulder to the elbow joint, twisting into a spearhead at the end of it.
“They gave that thing a weapon for an arm.”
Axion and Cipher charged at the new opponent before it could get its bearings, while Mercinestor took a step back. The monster was slow and dumb. Except it had no trouble swatting both Axion and Cipher away with one swing. Cipher bounced right back up and made a quick advance, sliding on his knees between the creature’s stumpy legs. He sliced at them with his sword and barely seemed to make a scratch. The hide was tough. Was this thing even human? The champion kicked Cipher away. This time he didn’t spring back up so quick.
Axion on the other hand was in a defensive stance, parrying arrows from the archers. He angled one deflection in just the right way so the arrow ricocheted into the grotesque’s face. Axion pulled off a remarkable feat. The arrow hit centers-eye. The champion pulled the arrow out and its eyeball came with it. It didn’t scream. It just pulled the arrow from the eyeball using both hands and put the gelatinous orb right back in its socket. Axion sighed, beside himself. Cipher was back up again. They joined together for another charge, like back at the beaches. The champion met them with yet another swing.
Mercinestor took one step back to gather his energy. This was a trick he learned long ago. Mercinestor closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, his hand holding the krakenwreck glowed with the cerulean blue of the cor. He concentrated the energy in his hand, charging it up, and sent it back into the sword.
Mercinestor opened his eyes and sprinted past the boys as they got knocked down again. He ran up on the abandoned scaffolding, leaping off and driving his glowing blue sword into the champion’s chest. His jump was so high upon impact Mercinestor had no choice but to hang onto the hilt of the krakenwreck, dragging the sword down the middle of the monster’s abdomen. Mercinestor landed softly on his feet followed by the splattering guts of the hollow champion. Axion and Cipher regrouped with Mercinestor. Axion had never seen anything like it. Finally, all the stories and tall tales his father used to tell him about his quests with Uncle Nestor seemed plausible.
Spangalore pounded his fist against the stone balcony.
“This is simply unacceptable!”
Below Mercinestor and the boys didn’t waste any time. They searched for a way out. Archers protected all the visible exits, but this was not their land.
“Release one of the infected.”
Mercinestor took a step back and performed the same move, this time, with his charged blade, he pointed the tip to the ground and spun around in one full cycle, the blast kicked up the dirt enough to disguise them momentarily.
“Stop them! They’re getting away!”
When the dust settled, they were gone, with a clear outline in the dirt from the door they used to escape. Mercinestor led them in the dark with the glowing blade. They were already back in the tunnel system and making their way through the harbor district.
Axion examined his uncle closely. He had clearly mastered the ability given to him by the Ignaleos Cor. These higher applications of his power were starting to have counter-effects. He was losing energy at an accelerated rate. It was good they got out when they did. Anymore fighting that maniac’s science experiments would’ve exhausted Mercinestor’s reserve. All they had to do now was regroup with Anilithyìstad.