They Were Born Upon Ashes (12 page)

“One day soon, my blade will pierce your heart,” said Jeffrey.

“That will be the day, Jeffrey. It truly will. I know you are smart enough to understand that one dragon could defeat an entire army. We have three. You’re driving your innocent followers into an imminent death. Turn around from my city or bow down to declare me as your king. These are the only options you have.”

Jeffrey turned around to rejoin the group. As he walked back the gate opened up. The city was accessible for anyone to come in or out for the time being.

The dragon took flight as Vicon held on. It ascended to the night sky in a matter of seconds.

“What shall we do?” asked Nick.

“Head to the north bend like we planned. Let’s make a sign for those who want to join us from Ralton.”

In the distance they could see the thousands of their group as they walked towards the north bend. They hugged the edge of the Cendon Forest in order to stay as far away as possible from the fight. The king’s men and the soldiers that stood by them sheathed their weapons and began to walk towards the rest of their group.

“All they want is for us to suffer,” said Dani.

“I feel like they want us to die a painful and slow death more so than to take Hentrio,” said Tyler.

“Shouldn’t we head to another city like Vincot?” asked Nick.

“They have dragons,” said Dani. “Its too far of a trek for all of these people with no guarantee of a home. For all we know, they have already taken every city.”

“They’ve been one step ahead of us,” said Jeffrey. “They knew our plan would be to gather reinforcements in Ralton. They must have even meticulously timed all of this as a cold winter approaches in just a few weeks. It’s a game to them. We are all losing in that game. I’m sorry.”

“We will figure something out, sir,” said Ron. “We have to keep our heads up high.”

They heard the growls and roars of the dragons as they walked away. The night was getting colder and a heavy wind swept through the open field.

Dani found a piece of flat wood as they walked. She kneeled down and placed the black bag she always carried onto the ground. She searched through the bag and pulled out a container. It was full of a common concoction of dark plants and certain juices from fruit trees that enabled people to write on paper. She dipped her finger in it and wrote the words, Refugees stationed at the north bend. Join us to live freely.

She huddled rocks around the base of the board so that it could stand upright. She then took out a red ribbon from the edge of her bow and wedged it in a small crack at the top of the wood to make the sign more visible. The ribbon stood in place despite the effects of the strong winds.

They all finally caught up with the rest of the refugees.

“What happened?” asked a voice from the crowd.

“The people that took Genold City and refer to themselves as the six have taken Ralton as well,” said Jeffrey.

The crowd began to franticly talk to one another and shout questions at the king’s men.

“What are we to do?”

“Where are we going to go?”

“Why didn’t you fight them?”

“So we came here for nothing?”

“Calm your voices, please,” said Jeffrey. “We plan to make camp at the north bend. From there we will devise a plan.”

“So you have no plan?”

“Not yet,” said Jeffrey. “But if you believe in us and our cause I promise we will keep you safe, fed, and warm.”

The crowd began to get louder as everyone talked to one another.

“The leader of the six opened the gates,” said Jeffrey. “It’s open for those who want to leave Ralton and open for those of us who wish to live in the city under the new rule of the six. So I grant that option to all of you. If you would like to live in Ralton or anywhere else for that matter, you are free to do so. We did not expect this and I am sorry for that. But we can all still fight for a better life.”

The crowd once again began to get louder as families and loved ones talked to one another.

Jeffrey stepped back towards the rest of the king’s men.

“What are you doing?” asked Ron in his raspy voice. “Everyone here has had time to watch us and get to know us. Who’s to say the moment they step foot in that city that they wouldn’t be offered loads of gold coin to tell the six everything they know?”

“There is no doubt in my mind they will do that,” said Jeffrey. “But I cannot force anyone here to stand by us as we scramble helplessly while we try to find our place and path in this world. The principle of what we do is to be free men; I shall never take that away from any of you or any one of the thousands that followed us.”

The six king’s men, the Tarrax brothers, and Nick stood to the side while the people decided what they wanted to do. First a small group of ten left. They thanked the king’s men and headed to Ralton. Next, a larger group of twenty-five left for Ralton. The last and final group that left for Ralton was the largest; it consisted of one hundred forty-seven men, women, and children.

At the same time groups of people began to walk out of the city’s gate. The king’s men walked closer to the gate to wave on the new set of refugees as the night sky made visibility across the massive field very poor.

Some refugees who followed the king’s men made their way to Ralton, but about a thousand more had joined the group in their place by the end of the hour.

The thousands of refugees sat down and conversed with one another.

In the distance Nick saw the fires being put out throughout the city. In their places were dark clouds of smoke. The dragons that flew over the city were no longer there.

Nick walked over to one of the new refugees who was sitting on the cold ground by himself. He was a young teenage Paplon with short blonde hair, a big nose, blue eyes, and bushy eyebrows. He was shorter than Nick and heavier in size.

“What’s your name?” asked Nick.

“Steven, and yours?”

“My name is Nick. Rough night?”

Steven chuckled at the question.

“I was there when they killed the king and took Genold City,” said Nick. “It was absolutely terrible. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened here?”

“Dragons came down from the heavens,” said Steven. “That obviously ensued terror and chaos throughout the city. Every one was banging on their neighbors’ doors and gathering their loved ones as we all attempted to escape the city or find some place safe. Then all of the sudden the man on the dragon talked to us. He told us the new rules of the new world. They released all of the inmates onto our streets. They let Rezas live without their gloves and promised them the ability to find a higher and stronger form of magic.”

“It is truly terrible,” said Nick. “Are you here alone?”

“I’ve always been alone. I didn’t know my parents. So I am quite alright. I have friends, though. I hope they made the decision to come out with the king’s men. There are thousands upon thousands of people who decided to stay in Ralton. It blows my mind. I’d rather risk my life outside in the wilderness during winter scraping away at food than to die one night because a sick monster liked seeing the life drain from someone’s eyes. On that night that someone would be me. I know that would be my fate if I stayed. Unfortunately it will be the fate of so many others.”

“Stay with us and you will be safe,” said Nick.

Nick walked back over towards the king’s men. At the same time Jeffrey stepped forward and began to speak to the crowd.

“To everyone new here, please listen up,” said Jeffrey. “My name is Jeffrey and I am the leader of the king’s men, so I will consider myself the leader of this group. Every decision I make and my fellow king’s men make will be in the best interest of every single person. If you’d like to talk to us please don’t hesitate to come, talk, and give us your input on matters. We have one goal in mind now and that is survival. We have a few short weeks to set up a camp that will keep us reasonably warm before the harsh winter comes. We believe the best place for that camp is tucked in the north bend. The high walls between the mountain will shield us from the cold wind and protect us from enemies, including beasts.”

No one muttered a word. The crowd simply stood up on their feet and were ready to make way to camp.

“We have a sign in place describing our whereabouts for anyone else seeking to join the group,” said Jeffrey. “Let’s get going.”

Chapter Nine

The life of a sworn sword was not at all as exciting as one might think. Thomas Bell lived the life day to day. He had only been a sworn Refect just shy of six months. He was stationed at the east tower of Vincot. It connected to the wall that surrounded the city and rose twenty feet above it. The tower was made of a tan stone just as the wall was. It was narrow and circular with a spiral staircase that connected the ground floor to the top. It was nothing extraordinary, but it was what Thomas and his comrades called home.

On the eighth floor was the living barracks. Two floors above them was the balcony that stretched and connected to the top of the city’s walls.

Thomas woke up as the sun rose. The four men with him in the room were already getting ready. He rolled out of bed with his old white shirt, stained yellow through months of sweat, and walked over to his wooden closet. The dark red colors of the Vincot Refect armor glistened slightly as the rising sun crept through the window.

He normally worked with two younger Refect from his barracks. The other three worked the streets surrounding the bottom of the tower. It was a much riskier, harder, and respected job given to higher commanding Refect. Thomas, Victor, and Amanda worked the top of the wall, a less sought after job that was given to the new recruits. The three of them did not even earn the right to learn the names of those who ranked higher than them and got to actually serve the citizens face to face instead of being birds clinging to a wall that no one ever noticed. Nonetheless, the job was important. Getting an overhead view of the interior as well as the outside of the city had helped save many lives and stopped numerous crimes.

Thomas and Victor made their way up the spiral staircase to relieve Amanda of her night shift. Her blue face looked as though the stone wall had molded itself into it. She stood there too sleep deprived to even smile at the sight of her comrades coming out from the balcony. She simply continued to stare forward and walked past the two young men.

“I got left today,” said Thomas.

“You had left yesterday; it’s the better view,” said Victor.

“You can have the left for the next three days if I get today,” said Thomas.

“Fine, three days is a deal,” said Victor.

Thomas walked along the small path on top of the wall. The path was only three feet wide. In some spots it got even narrower. Small blocks just two feet tall rose above the path and did not serve much protection.

His sector was the north east. He would walk along the path turning his head towards the city, then outwards towards the barren grasslands that surrounded the city. He would do this all day, walking from one end then back to the other. It was not exactly what he had in mind when he first became a Refect. The good thing about being a Refect was the opportunity to rise in rank and take on more responsibility. He would always keep that goal in mind as he walked along the path doing the most boring job a Refect could have.

It wasn’t until a few hours into his shift that he saw something peculiar. It was, in fact, the first time in his career that he had seen such of a thing. He was just about to reach the northeast corner of the wall where he would turn around and walk back towards the tower. He was looking down at a set of houses near the wall. The one closest to the wall was made of wood and the one next to it was made of stone blocks. In between the two houses he saw just a glimpse of arms flailing and trying to grab ahold of the side of the wooden house. After he caught the glimpse, the arms were hidden in the dark corridor between the houses.

There were no screams and no sounds from the dark corridor. Thomas stood stationary on the wall and continued to look.

Finally, a tall slender Paplon came out from the house closest to the wall on the left. He walked onto the porch and lit up a smoke. He stretched his arms out and hung onto the balcony’s wood that was right above him. He stood there and casually smoked while he looked around in every direction. He looked up at the wall more times than Thomas could count. Thomas continued to walk along the wall to insinuate that he hadn’t seen anything suspicious. He knew it was best to play the situation calmly and to not give the man a reason to worry.

The man walked over to his wooden bench on his porch as Thomas walked further along the wall. It was getting harder for him to keep an eye on the man. Next he lifted up the seat and picked up a hidden steel curved sword and headed straight to the dark alley next to the home.

Thomas barley saw the man with the weapon in time. He reached behind him to pull out a giant red flag that all Refect on the wall were required to wear along their back. The wooden stick itself that had the flag attached to it was about five feet in length. The red flag stretched three feet high by four feet in length.

Thomas waved it back and forth above his head. Within seconds the Refect stationed on the wall pulled out a green flag that was the same size as Thomas’ red flag. The green flag was held stationary by each Refect and pointed it at Thomas. The giant and bright flags were a simple way to alert the ground Refect across the city of a dangerous situation.

As Thomas waved the red flag back and forth he saw an arrow flying directly at him. He couldn’t react quickly enough. The arrow pierced through his armor and landed in his left thigh.

The blow from the arrow made him stagger backwards. From the corner of his eye he saw a woman with a bow and arrow aimed directly at him from the house’s window.

Thomas dropped to the floor and hid behind the little amount of cover that was available to him. He was in pain but his adrenaline kept it at bay. He pulled his head ever so slightly above the stone block that he was hiding behind.

An arrow whizzed past his ear. He sunk his head back behind cover at an incredibly fast pace.