Legon Restoration (32 page)

Barnin had been on Umbra many times and she was a class seven. He'd even trained on a few sixes so he knew the difference in size between class six and seven dragons. But the difference with Legon shocked him; Legon felt more like a small mountain to him rather than a living, breathing creature. Once atop his shoulders Barnin stared at the cords of muscle running up Legon's neck. When all ten men were on, Legon took off, rushing up in the air. Barnin could feel that Legon wasn't as fast as a class six or seven, but his command of the air was impressive. As they banked towards the city Barnin could feel how smooth the flight was and he was reminded of when Umbra told him the larger the dragon, the smoother the flight.
 

Legon's mind came back into his. "Barnin I have a request to make of you," Legon said.

"What's that?"
 

"Do you remember Stacy?" he asked. "She has a team here in Salez, she said they were betrayed, she doesn't feel secure right now. I need you and a team to find her and get her to an extraction point. Use Heath to get in contact with her and then again to tell me so I can come get her and her people."
 

Stacy was in trouble? Barnin hadn't thought about her much in the last few months, but he remembered her. She was the young, cute, bubbly girl that Arkin had fallen for; she'd nearly been killed at Noris.
Don't worry old friend I'll keep her safe
Barnin thought thinking of Arkin.

"We'll get her and her people out, where are we dropping in?" Barnin asked.

"Just past the main wall, you'll be dropping with the rest of the teams; Stacy has her people near that area. You will be getting her and two others, one named Brian and another named Seth."

"Arkin had told me about a third person when we had been in Salez, Tom was his name I think," Barnin said.

Legon was silent for a moment, "Tom was a double and the one who betrayed Stacy and Arkin before, Stacy took him out right before I picked you lot up. That's when she asked for extraction."
 

Barnin's attention was taken by the sound of anti dragon flack ahead of them. The Iumenta Ascended were pulling back and in their wake were waves of flack in the air. Barnin could make out flashes of wards around the city as the Elves attacked.
 

Barnin turned back to his men. "New mission! We have critical personal that need extraction in the city, we are to secure them until the Pawdin Empire can pull them out!" he shouted the descriptions of Stacy and her people. "Hang on tight, things are going to get bumpy until we are on the ground!" he finished.

Barnin turned his attention back to Salez. Its main exterior wall was teaming with activity. Elves were growing vines that wound up the stone wall, making ladders while two dragons were in front of the main gate. From right under the dragons trees as thick as horses shot from the ground, pushing against the gate making it groan and creek. From inside Salez all manner of artillery were firing over the wall. Elf dragons strafed the battlements trying to weave through the flack as they laid waste to ground units.
 

Barnin coughed as they flew through thick smoke and then he sucked himself into Legon as close as he could. Legon had reached the anti dragon flack and was weaving. Barnin felt the breath get pulled from his lungs at the concussion of flack exploding around them.
 

Legon roared and Barnin felt heat from fire as Legon swooped down at the wall sending a jet of flames at some archers. Barnin's vision flashed lavender with Legon's wards
I hate this part
he thought
at least he's not fighting any other dragons
.
 

"We are almost there!" Legon said.
 

All of Barnin's discomfort left and he turned, "It's go time! Remember, civilians have been evacuated from the area so kill anything that is not on our side!" he reminded his men.

"Dare I ask?" Legon said.

"Cona units will dress as civies," Barnin said speaking from experience.

"Right," Legon said and then went into a dive.

Barnin felt his stomach drop to his feet. Legon came to almost a complete stop in the air. They were right above what looked to be a residential district, slate roofs were right below. Arrows shoot from a nearby window but were deflected by Legon's wards. Barnin watched a set of vines wind around the building were the arrows came from. The vines became thick and squeezed the building. Its stone walls gave way and the structure collapsed, killing anyone inside. Before Barnin could thank Legon, he glowed purple, along with his men, and was lowered to the ground.

Once his feet touched earth Barnin led his men to where Stacy was supposed to be.
 

"It's like a ghost town," Heath said commenting about the lack of people in the area they were in.

"This is far away from main streets and from the gate; I don't think we will see too many other people."
 

A plume of fire filled the street behind them and Barnin looked skyward to see more balls of fire from Cona artillery.
 

"Right, let’s get this done fast!" he yelled to his men.
 

They didn't see another person until they made it to a small costume shop, in the window Barnin thought he saw a knot of red hair disappear. He entered the shop and shouted "Stacy! Come on we don't have time for games!" and then turning his head back a bit he spoke to a figure behind him, "and we're on the same side so you don't need to point that knife at my back."

"How did you know that I was here?" a male voice said.

Barnin looked at who he knew to be Seth, his red shaggy hair disheveled.

"You aren't real good at sneaking up on people are you?" Barnin commented.

Before Seth said anything Stacy came from the back room with Brian and said, "No he isn't, this is all of us."
 

Barnin looked at her, noticing a cut along her forehead and said, "Are you injured?"
 

"That bastard Tom got her," Brian growled. "I swear if I had known..."

"I'm fine," Stacy said and added to Brian, "It's not your fault and he's gone now." Stacy turned back to Barnin, "The traitor that had Arkin killed was named Tom-"

"And you killed him just a little while ago, yeah I know. This isn't the time, this whole area is going to be leveled soon we need to get your people to an extraction point," Barnin said cutting her off.

"We will be meeting a dragon from Evindass at a park near here," Heath said. "We have two minutes to get there," he added.

Barnin all but pushed Stacy and her team into the streets, which were becoming more and more clogged with smoke and fire. They moved quickly trying to avoid debris until they found what at one time, was probably a nice park. Presently it was no more than a small clearing where a burnt and mangled catapult could be found.
 

Barnin and his men stayed close to the walls around the clearing and Heath called the dragon that was to get Stacy. There was a thud as a bright yellow dragon came into view, hovering over the area.
 

"Wait! We are flying?" Seth said. "You didn't say that!"
 

"Honestly, you are in high places all the time," Stacy said.

"Yeah but…AHHHHHHH," Seth screamed as he and the others glowed yellow and rose up to meet the dragon.

Barnin turned to one of his rookies that hated flying and said, "See, at least you didn't scream like a little girl when you flew out here."
 

"Don't trip on anything today Sir," the rookie said sarcastic.

Barnin laughed and then they ran as the area around them started to get bombarded with artillery.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Memories

"Guilt is the worst of poisons; it creeps into the veins of our mind and heart, stopping us from healing. Often times it can even prevent us from action. But on the other hand, guilt can motivate us to greater heights as we strive to do better. Indeed, guilt is a double edged sword. The key seems to be feeling guilt only when it is deserved and only in the right amount."

-Diary of the Perfectos Compatioa

Ashes floated to the ground like snowflakes around Sara as she walked the streets of her old home. Up the hill she could hear the sounds of the Salez's north fortress in its death throes. Around her were ruins, piles of rubble that were once a booming city. She stopped in front of what was once a tavern, the same tavern that Legon and Sasha found her in.
What was its name again?
She strained to remember but couldn't.
 

Blackened remains of Iumenta and humans were in heaps on street corners. Some were that of women and children, but Sara was happy to see that most of the dead were soldiers.
 

She walked up the street, weaving her way through Elves and humans as they worked to clear the area of corpses and debris. Supplies moved in a steady stream up the hill toward the fortress. Sara decided to see if her old home was still in one piece. She very much doubted that it would be; there wasn't a building in the area that wasn't damaged, with most being all but destroyed.
 

I need to stop calling it home
she thought
it was a prison, nothing more.
She came to the brothel that once was her prison, where she was forced to do things that still crept into her dreams. She wondered if any of the girls she'd known were still alive. Part of her hoped that they weren't, hoped that death had spared them from suffering years ago. People in her old line of work normally only lasted a few years at best, and it had been what,
four
or
five
years? The roof was caved in and the street facing windows shattered.

The door still stood and she pushed it open, feeling herself go cold. Could she handle being in this place? Sara shook herself and walked in the front lobby. Only part of it was burned, the floor wet from recent rain and the lack of a roof. She made her way to the cellar door, feeling more nervous. Down there was where her old cage was, and so many other things. She walked down the narrow steps to a cold, stone floor. Sunlight came in from the missing floor above. Ahead of her was a row of cages, at the end of the row was an open space with chains hanging from the ceiling. A burnt whip draped over a hook in the stone. She looked away from it; she could almost feel it on her. It had an enchantment, making wounds heal within moments of being inflected. The owner would hit Sara with it, all over her body; she remembered hanging from the chains screaming. She wasn't the only one who spent time there, everyone did.
 

Sara dabbed at her eyes and walked down the row, looking into the first cage. She was met with a sight that she didn't expect to see. On the floor were the charred remains of a woman.
He didn't even let them out
! she thought in disgust. As she looked around every cage was occupied. The owner had left these women to die. Sara wanted to vomit, but didn't. She walked up to the last cage and gasped.

"Penny."
 

How had she lived all these years? Sara opened the cage door with magic and knelt next to her friend’s body. Only part of her was burnt, but she lay lifeless on the cold stone. Sara leaned over her touching Penny's face. She sobbed.

There was a foot step behind her and Sara whirled, ready to defend herself; convinced that the owner had come back to punish her. But it wasn't the owner of the brothel.

"You knew her," Sasha said, it wasn't a question just an observation.

Sara was at a loss of words. Part of her was scared of Sasha after seeing her fight, after seeing anger etching her face, but that wasn't the face that looked at her now. It was soft and caring, just like it always had been.

"I failed them," Sara said weakly.

Sasha knelt next to Sara and for the first time she could see that Sasha was alone.
 

"I'm alone, my guard is outside, it's just us," Sasha said and then more warmly, "Who did you fail Sara?"

Sara pointed at the bodies, "Penny...all of them, I could have come back to save them I could have..."

"Shhhh, stop Sara, this is not your fault," Sasha said.

"But it is! Don't you see? She's been here for years...she comforted me when I was..." Sara broke. "I won’t let them pile her with the rest of the bodies," she said determined.

Sara collapsed into Sasha, who wrapped her arms around her, "Of course not. Do you know where she was from?"
 

Sara looked up, "A small town around here, I don't know."

Sasha stroked Sara's hair "It's OK, we will figure it out and take her home to her family, alright?"

Sara nodded and Sasha went on, "But we can't take her like this and Legon is almost here."

Sara was confused at why Legon was coming. She wasn't upset that he was coming, if anything Legon was the only one who truly understood her.
 

She jumped a bit when the wood around her groaned and there was a snap.

"The building isn't stable," Sasha said aloud.

Legon's voice rung in Sara and Sasha's mind, "Yeah, I figured that out. Sara what's wrong?" Legon asked craning his head over the hole in the floor above them. Then almost at once he said, "Penny." Of course he knew who Penny was, Legon knew so many of Sara's memories of her time here.

"We are taking her to her home but her body is in bad shape," Sasha said.

"I need room," Legon said and with a flick of magic the cage flew apart allowing him to hang his head next to Penny.
 

Penny's body glowed lavender, tentacles of energy ran over the damaged flesh and Sara watched her burns disappear and her skin pink up. When he lifted his head she looked as though she was asleep. She lifted in the air as flowers grew under her. Legon set her on the bed of flowers.
 

"She looks so lovely," Sara whispered. "She looks peaceful, but that's how it's supposed to be though, isn't it? She doesn't have to worry about this world any more, she's free."