They Were Born Upon Ashes (13 page)

He began to crawl on his stomach down the path of the wall while keeping his head down to get out of the line of sight the markswoman had on him. Dragging his left thigh on the hard stone ground with an arrow still pierced though it was the most pain he had ever experienced in his life.

He made it about ten feet down the path before he heard the glorious sound of steel clashing in unison. It was a beautiful sound that Thomas knew all too well. No matter how many there were in a group they ran synchronized. The Refect had arrived.

Thomas stood up. About twenty Refect with their dark red armor and shiny blades ran along the dirt road in front of Thomas. They were running to where they believed Thomas was when he had the red flag. They needed to know the location of the incident. A few Refect noticed Thomas as he stood up.

“The wooden house and the alley next to it!” shouted Thomas.

The Refect looked at Nick, then back at the road in front of them. They picked up the pace and began to sprint towards the house. Thomas saw the Paplon woman in the window aiming her bow at him, then changing her angle to aim it at the onslaught of Refect approaching the porch.

The man came from the alley and tried to fight the Refect to no avail. The woman was able to get one shot off before a Refect kicked the door down. The man and woman fought to their death. A spot in the arena seemed to be an unsavory idea.

The Refect handled the situation without a scratch on them. The bird’s eye view of his comrades working flawlessly together made Thomas even more hungry to be promoted to work the city.

The Refect gathered around and picked up the dead bodies of the man and woman Paplon and, to Thomas’ dismay, a middle aged male Paplon from the alley. They cleaned the area and did another search through the house to uncover any evidence of the criminals’ past or present.

Within minutes Victor made his way over to Thomas. Victor helped him walk back towards the east tower where he could seek the proper medical attention regarding his leg.

“You did good, Thomas,” said Victor.

“Only wish I could’ve done better. A death could’ve been prevented.”

“You saw what you saw when you saw it; nothing more could’ve been done,” said Victor.

Thomas’ leg was drenched in blood and was now throbbing in pain. Every step down the spiral staircase hurt almost as much as when the arrow first pierced through him. The two finally made it into the barracks. Thomas lay down in his bed and waited for the nurse to arrive. It was the first time that he had been a part of a Refect operation. He felt miserable. He felt as though he wasn’t good enough. Knowing he could have possibly prevented a death if he had reacted sooner consumed his mind. The only positive he could think of that there were two less despicable criminals residing in Vincot. However, the negatives outweighed the positives in his mind. He simply could not get over feeling like a failure to himself, the Refect, and to the citizens of Vincot.

***

A cold and dark night had come as the nurse finished stitching Thomas up. She had given him a mixture of the tanca and gert plant in order to ease the level of pain he was in. His leg was swollen but the medicine made it bearable for him to walk with a limp. The nurse ordered him to stay in bed and rest, for his body needed it to recover. However, his mind made it ever so hard to rest.

Thomas walked over to the window in the barracks. It was not much of a window; it was simply an oval hole in the wall. He placed his arms upon the base of the window and looked out at the city. It was quiet and peaceful. The hour was becoming fairly late. Many had already taken to their beds for sleep. A cold breeze swept through the window.

Thomas saw something peculiar in the distance. On top of the wall on the opposite side of the city there was a signal fire lit. During the night the Refect on the wall would light a torch as a signal instead of using the colored flags as a means to communicate with the ground Refect. All of the other Refect on the wall would turn the torch to the opposite side to produce high levels of smoke. Thomas could see his comrades below him on the street react to the signal and move towards the fire on the opposite side of the city.

All of the sudden Thomas realized the darkest of nights had come to Vincot. A dragon flew into the city from the west where the signal fire was. The dragon let out a massive screech that pierced the ears of every living soul in Vincot. The dragon hovered around the center of the city.

Thomas’ heart began to race at an incredible rate as he witnessed two more dragons fly into the city. The dragons circled the city until one of them swooped down and unleashed its breath of fire. The fire reached around the front gate of the Vincot Arena. Thomas could see it all unfold from the window of his barracks.

He knew what the protocol was if a dragon made its way into the city. Try to evacuate as many people as possible while staying out of sight of the dragon. Weapons could truly do nothing to pierce through the thick natural armor a dragon had along its scaly skin, but the Refect were ordered to use their bows and arrows to do anything they could to fend off the dragon. However, there was no protocol for dealing with three dragons. There was no time for Thomas to think. He grabbed his weapon and his helmet and limped downstairs to unite with his comrades.

It was a sight to behold: screams, terror, panic, and absolute chaos. Thousands of civilians running in every which direction trying to find a way to safety. Some carried a handful of belongings only to drop them as they ran, their hands trembling with each step they took.

Thomas looked up. The dragons swooped down towards the city while letting out a massive roar then glided right above the buildings before ascending again. They did this one by one as if they were toying with the citizens of Vincot.

“Thomas, let’s go!”

Thomas turned around to find Jason, his immediate superior officer from his east tower, in the near distance along the wall of the city. Thomas made his way over, running with a limp.

“We are getting everybody out of here!” said Jason. “Make sure everyone is heading to the south gate. Be loud and be quick about it.”

Thomas made his way through the sandy streets of Vincot. All the while he screamed the same thing at every person who was near him. “Go to the south gate and leave now if you want to live!”

That was all that he could do. It was a desperate act to try to save innocent lives, for at the moment the dragons were not attacking the city. Besides the flames that were still ablaze near the arena the city was in good shape.

Refect that were masters in archery were stationed at every available location with a good vantage point. Archery from the streets was not as effective because of the tall buildings in Vincot. Instead the archers would make their way onto rooftops and the wall to get a clear view of the dragons. Nonetheless, shooting a dragon that moved at an incredible speed was hard enough as it was. If and when a Refect might land a shot the arrow would simply deflect off the dragon. It was a battle that could not be won, but they had to try something.

Thomas watched as two dragons made their way to the Vincot arena while the third headed towards the south gate. The dragon landed right on top of the gate.

Thomas felt foolish to lead all of those people to that gate. The dragons seemed to be intelligent beings. Nobody had interacted or even witnessed dragons in centuries. It was if they had been dormant or possibly even extinct.

Thomas quickly made his way to the south gate. Thousands upon thousands of people stood in front of the gate. A dragon was perched upon the wall above the gate while a person in a black hooded cloak stood next to the dragon.

Some people ran back towards the city in a frantic panic. Most people stayed. Thomas soon realized that the gate was closed shut. This was the plan the whole time.

“Good people of Vincot, my name is Vicon.”

The crowd was quiet. The thousands of bodies simply stood and looked up at the man.

“You have no reason to fear me. You have no reason to fear my dragon. He only does as I command. Do not run and do not hide. I am your new king. Most of you may have heard your king is dead. Some of you may have no idea what has happened. However, all you need to know is that you are in good hands and I am here to take good care of each and every single one of you. As I speak, the inmates in your beloved arena are being freed. Their sentences are up and they are free men and women. The arena will be used differently in the near future.”

The crowd began to yell at Vicon. They were appalled at the thought that the blood hungry savages from the arena were to walk among them as free people.

“All of you Rezas, you have been lied to. There is an ancient power within all of us. Strength and intelligence beyond belief that I’ll give to you all. All you must do is take off those gloves you have been forced to wear and choose to be something greater. One of my thousands of soldiers will teach you the ways in a matter of days. If you choose to leave the city for any reason you will be an enemy of Hentrio. Every city is under my command. Winter will be arriving in a few short weeks and the survival rate to those who are unaccustomed to the harsh wilderness will be high. Every land will be a part of this glorious new future I have dreamed of since a child. The gates are to be closed and will remain closed after tonight. Trade and shipment of goods will be done through my ranks so there will be no reason to walk outside the gates. Leave if you want to now; I give you that option. After tonight that option will be null. Make your decision, but I trust the good people of Vincot will make the intelligent decision.”

People everywhere quickly made their decisions. The crowd dispersed.

Some civilians began to attack the dragons and the men that rode them. It was not a wise choice. The dragons ripped them apart and set them on fire right afterwards. It was not much of a battle. It was more like a dinner for the dragons. Thomas was wiser than to attack a dragon.

Thomas walked back towards his tower. He was infuriated. Everything that the Refect stood for would be destroyed under Vicon’s rule. If all the inmates were free then the crime rate would raise at an exponentially disastrous rate. If he left the city he would leave the people he cared for and wanted to protect. If he stayed then there would be only a life full of death.

From the way Vicon made it seem, there would be no imprisonment for crimes. If that is the case then me being a Refect stands for nothing. There would be nothing the Refect could do.

Thomas limped his way up the spiral staircase and into his barracks. There was a meeting that was already going on when he opened the door to his room. His immediate supervisor Jason was in the middle of giving a speech to all the members of the east tower. Thomas was the last to arrive.

“So there will be no harsh penalties if you choose to leave or hang up your armor and stay,” said Jason.

“If we leave there is nowhere to go. There would be no point,” said one Refect.

“There is, in fact, a group of thousands that have been branded as enemies of Hentrio that reside near Ralton that is lead by King Dedan Hudson’s king’s men. This information was given to the commanding officers only a few days ago, along with the news of King Dedan Hudson’s death. The dragons, the claiming of the cities, and the freedom of prisoners was left out of the letter we received. I am just as appalled as the rest of you are. Make your decisions now. Stay here with me and do whatever we can to keep the city safe, or go up north to join their cause, whatever that may be.”

It was the hardest decision he had to make. Thomas knew that the beautiful world which he loved and had grown up in was burned and destroyed like a rose in a fire. He sat down for a minute to weigh his options once more. In that moment he knew of only one thing. He wanted Hentrio to be the way it was. There was no chance that he could do that within the confides of the city. He was betting on the idea that the group in the north had a plan to take back what was taken from them. Even if it meant that he would have to go to war, Thomas was willing to do anything at that point.

He gathered his belongings and threw them into a bag. Only one other comrade joined him in packing: the man who had shared the wall with him. Victor.

The two young men made their way out of the east tower while exchanging good byes to the men and woman who shared their armor. It was incredibly hard to leave a life that they had wanted since they were children. It was heavy on the heart but they did not let their emotions get the best of them. They made their way to the south gate, which was now open, to find hundreds of people gathered around waiting for their next move. After they waited and gathered supplies from within the city they began to march north just as Nick and the king’s men had from Genold City.

Chapter Ten

It was in the middle of the night. The group was still in disbelief of what had happened to Ralton. Nick and company walked to the mouth of the north bend. It was in the mountain that stretched across the entire border from east to west of Hentrio. The north bend was a small canyon in the mountain that was the most realistic and safe passage from Hentrio into the land of Terrel in the north. It curved and wound between two of the smallest peaks of the mountain. From the north bend they could look up and see the sky.

They walked a good half mile before they stopped to make camp. They found a giant boulder that was wedged between the two sides of the mountain that could provide cover from rain and snow. There was also hundreds of good sized rocks on the ground that they would use to build a wall on both sides of camp to help shelter the thousands from the harsh cold wind that would eventually be rushing through in a few short weeks.

Everyone was completely exhausted. They had a decent amount of fire wood that they had gathered and put in the carriage that would last the group a few days. Fires began to light up the towering walls of the mountain as the thousands settled into camp. The achy bodies lay on the cold rocky ground huddled around the fire. Nick held Penny close as their minds drifted off into a slumber.