CHAPTER 66 – TAKING INITIATIVE
Up the towers of Zepathorum, prince Axion could only see far out across the fields between cities, the Caliber fires were almost out and smoldering, feeding the dark cloud above the city with more black smoke. Terrified at both the sight ahead, and the looming night, Axion sat on his balcony in suspense. His nerves were too abused and left to a frozen static. Axion could feel his nerves like a shell around him.
Anilithyìstad came out onto the balcony and rested his arm on the back of Axion’s chair. “It is just a matter of time…now…” he said with a sigh.
It was a humid day, reminiscent of the ones before a storm. Axion squirmed in his seat, unwillingly choking down the dissatisfying feeling of doing nothing. The cloud would grow over Zepathorum, and the black rain would come again to destroy as it did with Caliber. Axion knew this was their fate.
He looked out onto the horizon and saw death. He would not stand for it. The prince would do everything it would take to keep himself and his loved ones from dying. What happened to his father, he had no control over; this made him overcompensate in the bonds that he still kept. Axion was ready to do whatever it took to save his kingdom. The only question was… how far would he have to go?
Axion looked up at his uncle. “What do we do, Uncle?”
Anilithyìstad abandoned his post over the chair’s shoulder and walked around to face his sitting nephew on one knee.
“Take the throne, Axion.”
“I can’t.”
“Your kingdom needs a leader.”
“I told you, it is my father th-”
“It is your father’s will for you to be king!” interrupted Anilithyìstad, caught in a rage. “You can no longer afford to hide in his shadow,” he continued in a softer tone while standing up and heading for the door, “not when there will soon be shadow all around us.”
Axion did not respond. He just sat there on the balcony left to think about his uncle’s fleeting words. Anilithyìstad walked through Axion’s room where Jericho and Mortikahn were waiting, Mortikahn working on his dagger tricks.
“Your cousin has lost his nerve,” informed Anilithyìstad, “go help him find it.”
Without looking at his father, Mortikahn got off of Axion’s bed and headed for the balcony. Jericho stood up and adjusted the armor covering his wounded arm.
“I will be in the Throne room,” concluded Anilithyìstad as Jericho nodded his head and they both headed for the different doors.
Jericho entered the balcony and found his two cousins, Axion and Mortikahn, silently watching the quenching lights of Caliber.
“You can tell it really is night time,” stated Jericho, trying to make his older cousin feel better.
“I know,” he replied, being quickly cut short by young Mortikahn’s inquiring mind.
“How can you tell?” he asked.
Axion further explained as they stumbled into a candid conversation. Jericho stifled a smile. His plan was working, and Axion was beginning to come out of his disheartened state. Jericho now had him distracted; his next step would be to get him inside. This plan would not work unless it was without Axion’s awareness. If tipped off, he would undoubtedly turn back to reluctance.
Jericho racked his brain for a solution. And then, without any kind of gentle gesture by Jericho or hint to his plan, Mortikahn unknowingly led Axion inside the castle with a simple question.
“How ‘bout we get something to eat?”
Perhaps it was the naivety or youth in Mortikahn’s eyes, because after his suggestion, all Axion could think about was the basic prospect of satisfying his hunger. In the past day it fell into the background of Axion’s mind and became a luxury, but now it had once again resurfaced as necessity. Jericho followed them inside, silently mesmerized, and down the spiraling staircase towards the mess hall.
Zepathorum City was virtually untouched. The tailing dragon warriors had been put down by arrow-fire. Its walls were immensely high. Its sleek outer walls of tangled crystal and stone, curved in as they reached the top and then pointed out at an immediate even level, making it almost impossible to drop ladders on. When seen from afar, the gates’ optical effect made it look like the entire city was wrapped in a wide crimson crystal ribbon.
Its only weak point was the border which the city shared with Lake Niobi. The beach was completely walled off from the city by the citadel courtyard, and there were many small doors and doorway openings mingled throughout it. Zepathorum City was a true work of art, the entire city was made to be perfectly symmetrical, culminating at Crimson Boulevard, which starts at the front gate of the city and ends at the Citadel and home of the royal family.
The road led throughout the entire city, filled with marketplaces and neighborhoods, and surrounded by the gates and skyscrapers, like the Capital Courthouse where Mitakahn’s hearing was held, and the National Temple. The Citadel had a circumventing courtyard intricately dividing the Royal Citadel with the rest of the city and the beach. At the end of the road the courtyard opened up to a wide circle in front of the two main doors of the Citadel. The circle was the heart of the courtyard. It was here that the statue of four lions, honoring King Theomitus, the Young, a gift from the miners of the Bear Kingdom, stood tall. Just inside those two main doors to the capital was the mess hall in which Axion, Jericho, and Mortikahn were now eating.
Jericho had gotten up from the table when Axion asked him, “Where are you going?”
“Throne Room,” said Jericho.
Axion thought about the implications for a moment, and replied, “I can’t do what Anilithyìstad wants me to do, Jericho… not now.”
“I know…But right now all he wants is council,” said Jericho.
“And who else knows these lands better than you, Axion?” asked Mortikahn.
He rose from the table with a now-convinced Axion and followed Jericho out of the mess hall and back up the spiral staircase. The three cousins got to the Throne Room and came upon an unexpected sight. Inside the room was not only Anilithyìstad, Galastad, Mercinestor, Cipher, and Commander Cel’a, but Queen Adyána as well.
Anilithyìstad hadn’t gone straight down to the Throne Room when he left Axion’s quarters. He made a quick stop at the Queen’s chambers. Adyána saw the spirit of her family failing and wanted to help in any way she could. Just as Jericho and Mortikahn rallied Axion, Anilithyìstad rallied Adyána, and Galastad. With his family together as well as House Casterosi and Commander Adora, Axion was prepared to use the full reach of his power across the kingdom. It was time to think of a strategy for salvation. All different attempts were immediately brought to the table…
“We must fortify the city now,” said Cel’a.
“We have at most a day before they’re here,” said Adyána.
“The Dark Lord knew exactly what to do, and where to hit.”
“It’s just a matter of time before the City is attacked.”
“What we need to do is save as many as we can before it’s too late.”
“How?”
“A miracle.”
“The Seraphin Ravine.”
“The what?”
“My mother speaks of a place of refuge for our kingdom. The only other stronghold,” explained Axion.
“Is it a day’s ride away?” asked Mortikahn.
“It’s barely half a day’s ride,” said Axion.
“Well then…” conjured Jericho, half sitting on a desk, “what are we waiting for?”Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Reinforcements,” put Axion bluntly.
“Pardon me?”
“Uncle, can you get a message to the Metuchen relief? Something…that can penetrate these conditions?”
“I’ll see what I can do…”
“We alert the people of the Serengeti to make for the Seraphin Ravine, and for the reinforcement ranks to meet us there in the early hours of the morning. Then we extract everyone we can out of the Serengeti and hold the city…for as long as we can.”
“That’s ludicrous, Axion!”, “They’ll be safer there,”, “It’s suicide!” yelled Galastad, Jericho, and Mortikahn simultaneously.
“It’s necessary,” defended Anilithyìstad.
Axion nodded his head at his uncle and continued, “Commander Cel’a, please assist my mother in moving the women and children into the Citadel, as many as you can fit. Uncle Nestor and Cipher, I charge you with calling the banners of the great houses. Hit every province and major vassal, start with House Silonas, and work your way back in. You will have to be very judicious with your timing. Recruit too few and it won’t tip the scales in our favor but wait too long and there won’t be anything to save.”
“Jericho and Mortikahn notify the troops and tell them to draft a wider range of age. Galastad, alert the council of our plans. We need to be over the lake before dawn. This is it. This is how we survive.”
Anilithyìstad followed the orders of his nephew proudly, for he knew… this recent horror and bloodshed had pushed Axion’s will to lead. Without knowing it, Axion was now standing in front of the throne, watching all of his future subjects filing out of the doors. He had issued explicit directions and they were now all on their way.
Before Axion could give himself time to think about it, he thought of a place he could go to quiet his mind and gather his thoughts. They would need as many defenders and fighters as they can muster, for city guards, caravan cavalry, and most of all, lest we forget, infantrymen. This meant stretching the limit of a good soldier and allowing both young and old men to join; farmers and merchants getting suited up with armor and armed with sword and spear to protect the preservation of their race.
Jericho and Mortikahn got the word out. They rode through the city spreading the prince’s plans and recruiting as many as they could. Meanwhile, Galastad walked into the National Temple and found all of the elders and councilors praying their magnitudes to Jacob and the Lion. Galastad approached the altar. He caught Demeter, the fallen governor, deep in redemption and penance, on his knees in one of the back rows.
He got to the head of the temple and addressed the Council of Wartime Elders. They were the selected few, chosen from every separate part of the nation. They were the wisest and the righteous of the kingdom. Galastad said unto them simply, “Prince Axion has a plan…” and formally informed the collected conscious of the Kingdom’s spirit. Their reactions were all simple, they conceded, and were at the point where any plan was a good plan.
Lord Mercinestor and Cipher said their farewells and took a small contingent of their provincial troops with them, leaving behind what they had been able to muster after the storming of Caliber. It was all they had right now besides the royal guard. There was an entire army out there to be summoned by their liege lord. Mercinestor and Theomitus used to do it together, after an ancestral bond between royal bloodlines, a split of power between the Pride King and the Pride Liege Lord. Those were the proudest days of the old lord’s life, riding from town to town with his best friend the king, getting to know the people and marching off to fight for them.
These were dark times, an ill fate for the aftermath of Theomitus. Lord Mercinestor would do everything in his power to save the kingdom. He would give his life to protect that which his best friend held so dear, his best friend who couldn’t be here to fight side by side with him. Instead, he had Axion, a true hero in his own right, all he needed to do is take the steps. Until then, it mattered not. They would fight until there was no fight left in them. Mercinestor and Cipher Casterosi rode out into the Serengeti to unite the banners of the Pride, a desperate attempt at the kingdom’s salvation and yet the best chance they had at surviving.
Anilithyìstad walked up the spiraling staircase of the Citadel to the highest room in Zepathorum City. Above the throne room and the royal quarters was one last attic room before the tower came to a point at the top. Half of the roof in the room was missing and curved inwards, making a majority of the room a balcony. Anilithyìstad entered the nearly abandoned patio. He crouched over on one knee in the center of the floor and pulled a pouch out of his pocket. He took two pieces of charcoal out of the pouch and held the two stones in his hand. Anilithyìstad brought his hands together and both smothered and cracked the pieces of charcoal. He put the two pieces on the floor. In a matter of seconds, the charcoal began to emit black smoke.
Anilithyìstad picked the pouch back up, turned it upside-down, and poured out a small bit of shavings. These shavings were of resin rocks, particularly a smooth green stone with a glowing core. He poured the bit of it in his hand onto the charcoal rocks and blew the remaining shavings on his hand into the black smoke. The shavings whistled and cracked when they ignited into the atmosphere. A green jet of light surrounded the room and then shot up into the sky, with a charcoal shadow, straight through the massive cloud that had covered the entire Serengeti.
It breached the protected night sky, refracted once caught by the moon’s rays and redirected back down to the earth. The light shot south towards the shores of Metuchen. Anilithyìstad had done the only thing he could for the relief of Zepathorum, but for now he could only sit and wait for an answer. By now he knew the riders that he had first sent out upon hearing Mitakahn’s dreams would have reached King Avalahn and Anilithyìstad’s brother, Paxikahn. By now, Paxikahn would be leading a full regiment of cavalry into the North.
When he returned to the Throne Room and found no one there, Anilithyìstad continued down and out of the tower to the courtyard circle. Queen Adyána was opening the doors of the Citadel, and Jericho and Mortikahn were returning from their recruitment run.
“At least a hundred are on their way, two hundred tops,” reported Jericho.
“It’s a start,” compromised Anilithyìstad, “where is Axion?”
“He is not in the tower?” doubted Jericho.
“He’s where he always goes when he needs time to think,” informed Queen Adyána, “One goes to the stables, and the other goes to the garden.”
“What do you mean Aunt Ady?” furthered Jericho.
“My sons, so alike and yet so different... Axion would always find refuge at the stables with the warhorses. And Mitakahn, whenever he needed to think, I would find him in the garden, with the lions. I wonder where he is now… And if he knows how much I miss him…”
“He knows, brave Queen,” comforted Anilithyìstad, “he knows.”
Anilithyìstad hopped onto his horse and the three knights of the Steed Kingdom made haste to the stables. There the royal guard or lack thereof, was getting ready for the rescue mission. Axion was sitting with Huntross and petting his mane.
“We are ready,” reported Anilithyìstad.
“Twenty-four soldiers are armed and waiting at the front gates of the city,” added Mortikahn.
“The rest we told to report to the city guard,” concluded Jericho.
“Good. How many total?” asked Axion reluctantly.
“At best…two hundred...”
Axion did not respond. He just shook his head and bit his lips, as he harnessed Huntross for the ride.
“Hold on…” paused Anilithyìstad, “you don’t think you’re coming with us do you?”
“Of course I am,” exclaimed Axion.
“Your place is here… with your people. If we fail…they need you, Axion…to the very end.”
“Uncle, how many times must we have this conversation-”
“Not this time! There is no argument this time. I am your elder! You must do what I say! Respect your uncle’s wishes, boy. It might be his last request.”
Axion stood still as the wind kicked up and was funneled through the stables. The torches were blown fiercely and Anilithyìstad’s presence was at its greatest.
His horse jumped back on its hind legs, and he yelled out, “Heeyahh!” galloping down the path to the exit. Mortikahn followed his father out along with the rest of the royal guard on their horses.
Jericho held back and gave his cousin a final look. “Good luck, Axion” he said.
“Make sure you all get back alive,” ordered Axion.
“I will,” reassured Jericho as he turned his horse around and kicked it into a trot.
Axion watched the dirt settle, the wind die down, and the flames return to a simmer. He remained in the stables, alone with only Huntross and the rest of the horses. Axion thought intensely on what else he could do...
Every second wasted is a life spent.
As Anilithyìstad rode out of the city, leading his son, nephew, and the rest of his squad of twenty cavalry, he saw a green streak fly into the air from the southwest. The streak popped into a yellow flash and fizzled away.
Jericho rode up from the back. “Did you see that!?” he pointed out, “Metuchen answered! They’re mobilizing!”
Both Anilithyìstad and Mortikahn were surprised. It was incredibly hard to learn resin code. Mortikahn could not even fathom attempting to learn it yet. Let alone, Anilithyìstad, who had struggled with it for years, but just recently mastered it.
“All that from a green wisp of clouds?” testified Mortikahn.
“It is a very intricate trade, son. Each turn in direction and change of shade has its own individual meaning. After that you have to be able to account for weather conditions and other anomalies,” Anilithyìstad tried to explain, “All that matters is they are going to meet us at the ravine.”
“Where is the Seraphin Ravine?”
“I went there once, a very long time ago, halfway between here and the Equitor River, slightly further west towards the mountains. It’s an underground off-shoot of the Atlas range, completely hidden from plain sight. It’s a small network of caves with running water. Not a bad refuge. We can make it there with ease. What we need to worry about is getting flanked from our right side. They could have sent out riders already. We have to be ready for anything. Tell the men to stay sharp!”
Jericho and Mortikahn fell back and gave the rest of the knights the orders. The rescue team rumbled down the Serengeti. In the distance, to the west, wild fires lit the horizon; evidence of the first towns besides Caliber getting attacked. The darkness was now spreading on the ground to match the black sky. The trip back for them will most certainly be more difficult.
“Will you be able to find it in the dark?” asked Mortikahn.
“We are almost there,” answered Anilithyìstad indirectly.
The rescue team had made tremendous headway. Since their departure, they had come across many small communities and villages. In each one, they told the people to make for Zepathorum City as fast they as could and to avoid the west. These were uncertain times that the knights were in. And yet they rode on, with fierce conviction and no regrets.