Chapter 31

The echo of drums encroached ever closer as the faint sound reverberated feebly through the ether, a whisper at first, but then it grew overtime as it signaled ever increasing quietus. From afar, they could make out the stomp of an Army marching beyond the drum strokes, advancing to meet them. It got nearer and nearer until the ground stirred, and the Crystal waters of the river Ylla shivered. The sky herself threw down its veil as cirrus clouds stretched yonder across the horizon. There were no birds in the heavens, the ambient wildlife had forsaken them Probably in hindsight of the woe that awaited.

Answers the living seek answers, Questions the dead ask nothing.

Was it a fool’s folly, to believe there was still a chance? An enemy with such feckless hate, its only design was their absolute annihilation from history.

The volunteers at Mārin village stood stoic as they put their plans into motion even though it seemed hopeless. The few soldiers of the village fell into rank as Li Kay looked among them; they numbered 50 at a stretch. Some had faces that were too young and appeared unravaged by any hardships; some were on the cusp of seeing too many seasons, yet still-here they were … petrified and with good reason.
The darkness was growing duskier now and there was nothing so dark as war, or as ugly.

Kay glanced at Vir Okota “mark the targets Vir,” he announced in a brusque voice, Okota nodded, as he broke rank, then in a cloud of theatrics and smoke he disappeared like a nameless ghost into the whistling wind. Vee looked on astonished at what just happened until ūna leaned forward and clarified, “Vir is a spiritwalker, an assassin; he must be unknown. No one can know where he is, until it’s too late,”

“that’s why they call him the high-handed misery,” interrupted Tum Jai, who had been uncharacteristically silent all this time.

Nervous apprehension or squeamishness, thoughts of dread -the young man could not help but squirm?
Vee was not used to wearing armour even the light armour that the fine Mercian craftsmen had fashioned to be as weightless as possible was alien to him.
He was ignorant of the ways and wises of the warrior classes…..was he truly going to engage in a war and kill, how did it come to this? He asked himself as he scrutinized the dark depths of his conscience?

“Remember the plan,” said Kay bringing his attention back to the fore “remember your call signs, changelings are treacherous, don’t you go underestimating them. Oh, and one final point. Only use your shield belts if absolutely necessary.”
“Why” Asked vee hot on his heels almost before He had wound up his statement, as his curiosity got the better of him “they can track you by them,” said Sako.
Li Kay took one final look at them. As he drilled them and sought to invoke the courage of their fathers-fathers who had stood before them as the best example of valour.
At worst, they would join them in their hallowed halls.
He drew a sharp breath as he could see the eye of the sun through the leaves of the tall trees, Casting their leafy shadows over the counsel like a parasol. It felt good to bathe in the shade. As if a higher authority was peering down upon them, the stage was set, and all the performers had their parts to play before the game was over.

He began “Today, let it be known that we refused to succumb to nightmares, that we chose to die free rather than live as slaves. We fight for victory, or we fight for ruin, to strike a blow for our brothers and our sisters, in Mercia and elsewhere who currently have no voice. …. I do not know if we will survive the coming hours, I do not know if we shall grow old, we can only but hope.” He stared around them; he strived hard to find some earnest words of meaning, but alas; he worried his comments would not come out right “Hope …. sometimes is all we have. However, just as my voice is talking to you now, believe me when I say, hate it’s just a passing thing, and those that abide with liberty will survive the long night. You have love in your hearts, love for your fellow man, love for your progeny, love for mother Mercia. We fight for us. We fight for them. We stand together, or we stand alone…. many think hate wins wars. I stand here, and I tell you… it’s love!

Love to go on when hope is gone and love to stop when it’s over and done…..So, tell me ARE YOU WITH ME!! for victory YEA HO!!!” As calls rang out “Yea ho!!!” In unison as they felt their enthusiasm grow and raised their weapons toward the empty sky.

The next sounds they heard were trumpets carrying downwind as they looked north and saw a swarm of 1000 black soldiers entering the Glen, the noir shapes covered in inky black flowing garments and silver armour. Even their faces were shrouded in gruesome masks, designed to cast fear into the hearts of their enemies.

An army of the damned with their standard a black star on a crimson background fluttering in the wind.

The tranquil village looked distinctly different now, as the streets were barricaded and desolate, the shops closed and the market barren. The river was cut off with chains and strands of razor-sharp spidersilk. Obstructed were the entrances and the exits, the only comforting thing they could see was the provincial flag of Kalithia as it flapped in the high breeze. It was time to leave as they divided and dispersed.

The red witch and the attaché….
Una stood with Vee as she murmured incantations. Whilst gently rocking, she seemed somehow anxious or distracted as her jawline appeared somehow elongated and her mouth was longer than it appeared normally. Vee heard the words “cawthor mista beleaguer,” as she stood gaping as a white mist bellowed from inside her. The mist settled over the village, soft shoeing over the river And Creeping along the promenade. It was in the alleyways, by quayside, above the roofs of the village, like a scene from an old ghost story subtle and insidious in ways unimaginable, and the source was coming from the Pa ’mina herself. What new devilry could it be wondered vee. A string of white mist, however improbable was coming from ūnas mouth, it was as if it were being vomited out from within her. Vee did his best to comfort her as she wretched. it was now as hazy as the peak of Lifrin, or the volcanoes of Mor’aweena. At first, it was transparent, and then it was thick until it was hard to see further than a few meters in front of you, ūna wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, she uttered “Kay … I’ve drawn the curtains, “as if she were insisting to herself before continuing, “To the underpass let keep these common folk safe,” she led the way as if everything was routine.

The Queens Honor Guard.
Meanwhile,
Ash vani whistled, not the everyday type of whistle that carries a melody and sometimes appeals to the spirit to move your feet in a particular rhythm, a rare type, the kind of tootle that required Vani to manipulate her tongue, with her thumb and index finger. Its pitch was higher than that of an ordinary whistle. But it was just the correct harmony and resonance to call a friend.

A friend, Not like you or I … with two arms and two legs, a faithful friend the type and variety that had six legs and could move like the wind. Even though it was practically inaudible, it was heard. Something that was readied earlier for this juncture … a Mantilla galloped on their position. A magnificent animal with an Emerald-green shell and compound magenta eyes appeared bridled and saddled. She petted it as she treated him to Casper and apple treats. It looked at her as if showing some rudimentary intelligence. As she mounted, she said, “I’m going to call you sage” She gently tugged on the reigns as she felt its heave and swagger beneath her. Now they were ready for anything. The black Tilla belonging to ūna known as Iblis, also appeared as Min saddled up hastily. “Ok y’bliss- yaar!!” She said as her accent showed through the cracks of her normal speaking voice …. as they were pulled along by their excitement …

Without delay, the duo rode briskly down the riverfront and toward the fields at break neck speed. As they rushed along until they found themselves studying the geometry of the wheat fields at the agricultural district, “is this the place?” Asked Ash Vani “aye,” answered Min as they dismounted and Sent the Tillas’ on their way once again. They unsheathed their swords and drove them into the flaxen earth. oddly they stood for seemingly no reason whatsoever, appearing like grave markers. Four handsome sabers stuck out of the orange sand, with their hilt sashes flapping in the breeze. The mystery continued as Martians didn’t need graves.
Next, they cautiously crept into the Wheatfield taking great precautions as to not be discovered. Now it was a matter of playing the waiting game. Min grinned to herself as she felt a familiar feeling of Deja Vu wash over her. It was odd she could pick a fruit in the most austere of places, but it was the fruit that tasted the best in opposition to the plight; they were all in together.

The warriors 3.
The first scouting party marched into town by the sole entrance.
From a distance, they appeared like grim shadows. Black silhouettes against the tiled canvas of the promenade, as eyes were watching, from every corner, in the mist, and through the cloud … did they know he wondered? Still, they continued blindly straying into a tender trap, with their shadow flag trailing in their wake. It was different to the other one. It was emblazed with white glyphs on a black background. The meaning of the words had a religious connotation but meant less than nothing to the natives of Mārin. There was a faint ringing from far-away. Tinnitus or A jangle of nerves he presumed, anxiety clanging a subjugation bell that peeled and sowed foreboding in everything seeable. With an insatiable hankering that was never satiated. He looked towards his comrades and then to the entrance as the guerrillas got into position and made themselves camouflaged, they tucked away in teams amongst the quayside, Lurking in the mist and in the alley ways in the galleries and on the roof terraces, li Kay, Wi Sako and Tum Jai hid in the shadows of the great columns of the temple, as the Shae interlopers slowly marched in the mist down towards the temple plaza. This would be their last night on Mars, thought Li Kay as they kept their nerve, gritted their teeth, found their steel… they waited in deafening silence. Ear splitting Deathly silence. It seemed fitting just to say a little prayer to Leer -The night incarnate, after all that’s what men did when they were glaring into the threshold of death, a last resort to escape the abyss. What would a pariah like him say to his creator? He tried to provoke some thought as he stood beneath the tenement columns of the temple, he did not know if she even listened, he had fallen from grace and even the scholarly prose of Esme would be incapable of doing justice to his descent or cover the entire body of committed debaucheries. Was he irredeemable, deplorable… a man of straw? Beneath his breath, he started “Leer …. I have never prayed to you before … to be honest things I’ve witnessed really have made me ponder, if there was a god at all. NO … no one, not, not even you ……. will remember, if we were good men, why we fought, how we lived, or why we died… but if our sacrifice pleases you, then I only request for one thing …. revenge …. for my little daughter, and if not, then …. go to hell!”

Beyond the columns, the scouting party was hovering. They were so close they could smell their scent, so strong. It was almost a sour taste in their mouths. Tum Jai looked over to Li Kay as He nodded and then slowly quietly, without making a single sound, he unsheathed his primary weapon, the enemy jinked a stride closer as he flew around the pink and yellow columns and raised his sword above his head and then down swiftly in a diagonal stroke, he cut his man down like a shaft of wood as a plume black blood sprayed his Armour, splattering his face as he tasted warm blood upon his lips … the first kill. The first of many as the rest of the soldiers engaged the enemy as a roar from the allied troops rang out, and a violent skirmish ensued.

They fought them in the streets, in the galleries on the quayside, ferocious, without pause or thought as their steel cut through flesh as easy as a hot cleaver through butter, they ran the line close, so they couldn’t use their speed. The Mārin men shouted, “no surrender!” As they pounced. Whilst the Shae at the rear shouted “onward,” and their compatriots at the front shouted “fallback,”

Their shield belts were of no value as the cadence of the kalithian steel was below the velocity of their shield’s capacity to block.

A copious volume of bodies lay twitching like fishes that laid gasping on the dry ground. The fighters expertly cut their enemy down mercilessly, succinctly where they stood like a pack of Mere wolves unleashed. The nauseous odor of the dead rose infused with perspiration, entrails and the fragrance carried from the neighboring vegetation.

Then the enemy lay vanquished. And silence like the mist was the only tangible thing.

More shadows were approaching in the mist as li Kay and the men griped their armaments tight. Were they expecting the second wave?
Thankfully, it was their brothers in arms.
However! The big Georgian Sako was still on a heightened state of alert as he spoke “Petregges of rotten eggs, Liger Berry Brandy,” it was almost ridiculous hearing the nonsense rhyme recited by the deep tones of the white maned giant of a man. However, it was the call sign an old Kalithian nursery rhyme.

“Vigo the dirty ol’ hole, Mārin the dandy,” As the head of team two saluted them. Relief permeated the square as the response was given, and for the moment, they could be at ease before the 2nd wave came.

The dead bodies began to rise in pixilated embers, like minute pieces of glowing coal taking flight into the empty sky as their cohesion came apart, the soldiers reveled in the spectacle, jeering with delight cheering like a baying mob.

As collectively they sang passionately old rebel songs. The meaning of them, to remind them of much angst and much suffering of days ago in the distant past when liberty was not their own.

Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro. You’re welcome home,
now that summers coming!

Welcome lady who is afflicted,
It was our ruin you are in bondage,
Our land was taken from us,
now that summers coming!

Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
now that summers coming!

Leer forgive us our sins,
Armies came to take our sons,
But we stood behind the men,
An’ never was there glory

Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
Oh-ro You’re welcome home,
now that summers coming!

The three, stood quietly as they knew this was a fluke and much expected it would be harder and racked with much sorrow further in.
But the dead shed no tears …

The dying of the light.

In the field’s Vani and Min reconnoitered the enemy encampment. They lay in wait with a panorama of the crowns of the wheat, it was much like the surface of the ocean as the influence of the wind often excited it and made it turbulent, occasionally they went above to take notes of the terrain, discerning points of interest and other things of merit. As they gathered intelligence about their enemy with great conscientiousness. It was a necessary evil as one small mistake could make the difference between life and death. The wind was blowing east to west as starlings that flew in small sorties made their way toward the shelter of coppices that lay just beneath the slopes of mount Lifrin.
They counted the number of guards, noticed their moving’s and Behaviors.
Min turned to Ash Vani as she watched on through her oculars “have you got the flares, Vani,” “yes my captain,” she responded. Ash Vani carefully took out the flair and presented it to her senior officer, showing that she had kept it immaculately, and that it was ready to go. “Good, good!” she replied. Min looked at her one final time she really was a fine woman and a good example of courage “well, I hope we’ve got our running legs on Leftenant,” Li Min stood up in the Lavender Wheatfield, as if she were standing center stage. The stalks were almost up to her bosom as she presented and pulled the cord on the flare,raising it above her head and shooting it like a starter gun, whilst shouting “HEY, HEY!!!” The flare. spewed out silver powder like a mini volcano illuminating the darkening sky. They could hear a commotion coming from the encampment as the saw black guards heading towards their position as smoke was now oozing out of the flare stick into the twilight of the evening and was meandering downfield toward the camp. Min grabbed Ash Vani’s arm; they cast a cursory gaze at one another “are you ready?” Vani nodded “then lets GO!!!” As they sprinted through the fields, crashing through the wheat and the chaff, it almost seemed as if they lost the world in a beautiful haze, and a cocktail of adrenaline and endorphins that rushed through their veins. As they advanced through the long wheat in the lengthy field as their hair was swept and covered with the sticky ears of wheat that oozed the pungent odor of lavender upon them. They ran and ran, Cross country. It was impossible to say which one was more fleet of foot, but Vani reached the edge of the field first. Only briefly before Min joined her at the perimeter.
The edge of the field broke out into a separate area that was barren and filled with man-made constructions, row after row of what looked like nesting boxes. They breathed heavy as they fumbled around for their daggers, they quickly readied them, all the while panting but continuing frantically as if they were up against a clock that was counting down, and only precious seconds remained. The area was closed off; they ignored the warning signs and speedily removed wooden planks from a section of fencing that cordoned off the area, cutting wires with their own army issue daggers. Twang they went as the taunt wires hummed as if a musical instrument broke its own strings. They would have used their teeth if it were necessary such was their diligence to see their plans fulfilled.

They moved methodically through the next area as they could hear the murmur of bees and a buzzing rising from hives. hundreds of hives of angry bees not wanting to be disturbed.

Luckily for them,
The smoke given off by the flare was well known to interfere with the bee’s natural reaction of attack, as the smoke pushed their pheromone senses off kilter. This gave Ash vani and Li Min vital seconds to clear the zone as they got out the other-side. They quickly found their swords sticking out of the sandy earth where they had left them. Min threw the spent flare into the dry lavender field adjacent. As They armed themselves with two swords each, they moved back into the next field, it afforded them a little extra time to double back, as the adjacent field smoldered and caught fire. Now they would learn the quality of the Queens guard.

Great plumes of black smoke rose and blotted out the sky.

The two of them waded through the smoky field. They could see the alarm of enemy soldiers that were burning brightly like human torches, as they could hear the agonizing screams of being burnt alive, and the ones reaching the sanctuary only living long enough to be stung to death by killer bees, as they cried out in distress, I wonder if they thought anyone would double back, how perverse, why would they? it would-be suicide. Or a product of their worst dreams. They ran through the field as the fire spread it was perhaps a little too close as they saw the edge of the field and the enemy encampment drawing closer. Now they would learn to rue the day they attacked Mercia, now they would know and fear the Queens guard in the evening’s twilight.

The two inconspicuously strolled into the camp as they hacked and slashed their enemy down, whilst they were running around clueless like headless poultry.

Some tried to arm themselves, some even engaged in sword combat, but easily the desperate and the mighty were humiliated and skewered as they met one of the best swords in Arcadia. Dying changelings lay on the ground as they stepped over them as if they were less than nothing. The two denizens of death continued their slaughter before they noticed an unusually large black tent at the heart of the camp which seemed to entice their curiosity.

Above they saw dark omens in the sky.
The skies were filled with smoke and ash and ravens.

Gone were the starlings.

Her attention was called back as Vani called out “captain. What is it?!”
“I don’t know something … has just!” Min stuttered as she
found herself walking toward the tent, almost in a trance as ash vani covered her.
At the entrance.

Min pushed the tip of her sabre through the flap of the large tent as she looked within. She stood there a moment standing at arm’s length as she cautiously viewed the typography of what was inside, her silence and her expression broadcasting her disbelief “no no it can’t be!” Vani looked at her as she went straight in “what are you doing captain,” asked Vani.

Right behind her, she followed her into the tent; it was empty except for a solitary figure of a woman who sat shackled. The Woman herself was very intense looking, but there was something quite odd about her; her eyes were covered by some type of blindfold. It was as if she didn’t need them at all, for some reason, she had lost her sight.

She was tethered to the main column on which the tent structure was supported… she looked familiar. In a regal manner, in a way of befitting royalty.

From the shade of where she sat, they heard her speak in Familiar and specific vocabulary of the Queens Meese As she sat cradling a small bird in her hands whom she caressed “you have to be careful Mr. starling; they’ll cage you and break your heart and your wings so you won’t be able to fly away… I should miss you awfully, but despair as I might, I think you need to be free …. escape fly as far as you can from here, to the pure white shores of Lynes – the land of the young,”

They had an epiphany.

It was the Queen. She was still alive; Vani started to lurch toward where the Queen was in an impassioned outbreak, but Min grabbed her and pulled her back to the shadows as she put a hand over her mouth to prevent her from making any noise “ssshhh!” She said,

“Stay here just in case.”
“Just in case!” She questioned naively before she continued
“what if it’s a trap?”
Li Min responded with a dour look as she leaned over to whisper “It’s undoubtedly a trap,”
she turned to face the prospect of being re-united with her country woman and childhood friend. Gaudete sovereign monarch of Mercia.