Charles Hedgehog checked his map again, confirming that his unit would take until after nightfall to arrive at the rebel fortress. He turned to Sergeant Wilkinson, who returned his glance with a questioning look.
"Sorry, Sergeant. Looks like we're not going to get
there until after dark." The lord said sadly. Although similar in
build to his slightly older brother Jules, Sir Charles hedgehog was a
pale, almost grey, blue colour, with a heavy moustache (which was
almost pure white) and darker green eyes. His quills were worn in the
same fashion, being swept back to keep them from getting in the way
of the eyes. Aside from the gold stars on his collar, his armour was
identical to the ablative vests of his regiment. Humans had
demonstrated that wearing full armour against a laser gun didn't
work, as even the armour worn by his unit would wear away quickly. At
best it would protect against a glancing hit, a fact Charles was
keenly aware of.
"I could try to hurry the guys up, after all-."
The old cat offered.
"No, they're already going as fast as they should, and we don't want to be exhausted by the time we get there." Charles knew old Wilkinson was coming to the point where he would be obliged to retire, but had decided to bring him along for this last mission, a kind of swansong for the cat who had taught him everything about fighting.
"Got it, milord." The cat looked approvingly at Charles. Wilkinson had never concealed his preference Charles compassionate leadership to Jules politicking and manipulations.
When the king had ordered Charles to take his regiment on the mission to capture and retrieve the technology, he had explicitly ordered the information kept away from Jules, who was being regarded with increasing coolness amongst the nobility for his closeness to the humans. In spite of the benefits that trade had brought, the human's naked contempt for the majority of the Mobian aristocracy had led to friction between the two factions. Charles disapproved of his brother's closeness to the human leader Gerald in particular and often wondered why he visited their base so often. In spite of them only being half an hour apart in birth his older brother had been totally secretive about his involvement with the humans, leading Charles to half suspect he was acting as a spy for these humans.
"If only the crown could have spared us one of those sky craft." Mused Wilkinson wistfully as they marched on, with Charles silently nodding his agreement.
Shadow had reached the inside gate, and was crouched behind a set of barrels, listening or any sign of alert. He knew that the dead sentries would inevitably be found, and that he would then have to ensure that none would escape.
That thought brought back the image in his mind of the fear in the sentry's eyes when Shadow interrogated him. He then thought about the other ones face, the surprise that was etched on his face before his face sagged with death. The only things he felt when thinking about them were a certain degree of regret and a shame that 'he' had been the one who ended them.
"This is nothing like the simulations." murmured Shadow.
"What was that?" One of the guards at the gate said, causing Shadow to hold his breath in case he was discovered.
"What?" Asked another one
"I thought you said something."
"You're bored out of your mind if you think that." Was the irritable reply.
"Well at least I actually hear things." The guard retorted hotly. At this point Shadow relaxed and started breathing again, although not loudly.
"Sometimes I think you hear things when there isn't anything to hear."
"Why you-!" The first guard was about to deliver he response when the alarm called, "Someone's inside, close the gates. Make sure they can't get out!"
Shadow looked up at the gate mechanism, noting that chains held it open, waited for a few seconds until the last of the outer guards were beneath the gate, then used his stolen laser rifle to cut the chains. The guards issued horrified screams as they were crushed by the weight of the wood and metal, causing the rest of their unit to turn and look at their stricken companions.
This
was the perfect opportunity for Shadow, who attacked on instinct.
Running above normal sprinting speeds Shadow fired his laser from the
hip, its continuous beam scything through all but the fastest
reacting guards. The remaining two guards were surprised and stunned
by the sudden attack and this allowed Shadow to adjust his aim to
kill the survivors. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded by the
beep of a spent charge.
Shadow stopped running and looked at his
weapon in frustration, giving the guards enough time to get their
bearings and return fire. Shadow barely dodged the hostile fire by
leaping towards the wall, rebounding when he reached there and
heading towards the nearest guard. The guard was quick enough dodge
aside himself, but Shadow simply landed and lashed out with a kick
that shattered the guard's neck as it pushed his head back. The
force of Shadow's kick carried him on, past the other guard's
attempts to fire at the position he had inhabited a fraction of a
second before. The hedgehog landed at and simply ran down the
surviving guard with sufficient force to cause his entire skeletal
structure to shatter.
As Shadow was about to strip the now silent guards of their equipment he heard the cries of several approaching guards and decided to hide until he could recover from the fight. As he leapt onto the roof of one of the sheds he noted a stabbing pain in his right arm. As he climbed into it he noted that the pain intensified whenever he used that arm, so he took the time to check it again. The arm didn't feel broken, but his fur concealed any bruising (at least until any swelling would emerge). Shadow was now frustrated by this arm, irritated that it wouldn't stop aching when he needed to be one hundred percent. His thoughts then returned to the dead sentries on the wall again, and his frustration at himself again transformed into regret. He looked around the shed, noticing several sacks filled with grain and other long term food products and, much to his disappointment, no windows.
He waited until the guards stopped shouting out in alarm and then walked softly up to the door, which he was about to open when he heard the jingle of chainmail. He leapt behind the door and waited for the sound to go past slightly, quietly opened it and grabbed the guard from behind.
Shadow was confident he had surprised the guard so he started talk; "Not a good time to ignore your back, what happens if someone sneaks up be-hey!" The guard grabbed Shadows right arm, sending a lance of pain through him as it broke again, and slammed him into the floor and began to strangle him.
"Oh,
no! You're not getting Ando like your friends got Sergeant Huols
men!" The Guard screamed, his pink scaly tail waving violently.
Shadow kicked the guard, Ando, off him and into the inner fortress
walls.
Bluntly, Shadow was surprised. He hadn't expected a guard
to react as quickly as Ando, nor did he enjoy his arm breaking again.
What he did expect was the guard to draw his laser pistol and was
immediately gratified.
"Ando knows you can't beat him alone, your friends aren't here! Ando will kill you!!"
'Friends?'
thought Shadow, genuinely confused for a second, then he realised
that this guard must be referring to that missing gate team, which,
of course, would be impossible for any other being to defeat alone.
He then felt a surge of pride in his combat abilities because of
this, allowing Ando time to bring his pistol to bear.
"You'll
die!" Shrieked the panicked guard, squeezing the trigger and
receiving the zero charge beep.
One second later, Shadow walked away from the corpse of Aldo the guard, whose neck was twisted at a very unnatural angle. Shadow was glad to put that very strange encounter behind him, but he now knew better then to underestimate the guards here. Looking around Shadow saw a door which he then kicked to pieces. He then began his search for what he wanted.
*************
"Sir,
the fortress is sealed!" Shouted one of the regiments scouts as the
sky began to shift to orange.
Damn, thought Charles, how did the
rebels know we were coming? We still have ten miles until
we reach the fortress, and now we need to waste valuable laser charge
cutting down that gate! He turned to the sergeant and said "Well,
time just became unimportant; we can afford to slow down." As the
sergeant relayed his orders to the rest of the regiment, Charles
turned to look at the still distant fortress frustration visible on
his face.
Shadow instinctively steadied a toppling vase with his right arm and winced from the pain of his broken limb. The improvised wooden splint (which had spent a past life as a shed door) allowed him to use it, but he wasn't going to be able to fight with it any time soon.
If Shadow had been the type, he would have marvelled at the opulence of the keeps interior. Red carpet, expensive china-works and marble pillars (which were completely redundant in Shadows opinion) were all examples of considerable wealth.
And considerable egotism, He thought darkly, whoever this lord Danzen is he must believe that he has the right to assume dominion of his own kingdom. The hall had several doors leading out of it so Shadow chose one at random and found a relatively bland corridor.
Despite
the increase in guard patrols and activity, Shadow had little trouble
sneaking into the inner fort and ultimately the keep itself, his
speed and agility providing an excellent means of avoiding
detection.
Shadow was troubled, because the keep had been devoid
of guards so far, which meant either the missiles were kept elsewhere
in the fortress or the personal guards of this Danzen character were
all right on top of the weapons. Shadow went into a small closet and
checked his chaos energy gauge. There was a surprising amount of
charge there, a somewhat alarming detail.
Evidently fighting helps me charge my energy up even quicker. Shadow mused, both disconcerted and gratified by this revelation. Seeking for something to distract himself from this confusing issue, Shadow opened the closet and just in time to walk in on two guard in more contemporary equipment.
"It's one of the spies!" Cried the larger of the two guards, an orange striped tiger with yellow eyes and a muscular build.
Both of the guards responded quicker than Shadow expected, but he was still fast enough to dodge both their shots, pushing himself into the opposite wall, bracing himself with his right arm.
Or trying to, as the pain of the impact on his arm caused him to momentarily lose track of the strategy he had intuited when he first entered the corridor. Collapsing in pain against the wall, he could only look at the guards as the smaller of the two, a rat will brown fur took out a primitive communication device, while the tiger kept his gun trained on the black furred intruder.
"Milord,
the spies have reached the castle, we have one in the-"The rat
never finished his sentence, as just then Shadow sprang with blinding
speed straight for the hapless rodents neck, using his left hand to
slap away the communicator, while his right foot struck with enough
strength to destroy the unfortunate guards head.
Although the
Tiger was initially surprised by the suddenness of Shadow's attack
he managed to slam his fist into Shadow before the hedgehog could
recover his bearings, winding Shadow and leaving him gasping for air.
Time seemed to slow down for Shadow as the tiger brought his laser
pistol to bear again, the fraction of an instant stretching out. The
guard stopped moving altogether and Shadow sprang out of the lasers
line of fire.
Everything returned to normal and the tiger fired
straight where Shadow had been a less than a second before. Shadow
then kicked the tiger in the side of the chest, causing the guard to
keel over allowing the black hedgehog to strike the back of his neck
with enough force t break it.
Shadow paused for a few second, wondering how he had managed to dodge the laser, then glanced at his chaos gauge; the charge had depleted to 20%, more than a quarter of his previous charge had been used up in a few seconds. How? He wondered
*************
The
report of intruders within the keep was, of course, inevitable, but
Danzen hadn't expected the message to be cut off so quickly or so
violently. So he waited in the control room beneath the keep, getting
his personal guards into positions to defend it against the
intruders. His grey fur was glossy, well groomed and his bushy tail a
source of great pride. Not that this meant much in a fight, but his
vanity was a significant part of his psyche.
The Guards were
almost ready when a black blur blasted into the room so fast that the
guards stationed around the door were unable to fire fast enough. The
thing moved so fast that no one could indentify it. Some of the
guards panicked and began firing wildly hitting vital computer
equipment and starting fires within the control room.
"Cease fire, you'll kill us all!" Roared Danzen, frantic that one misplaced shot would begin the detonation of his missile before launch. Half the guards were down from the black things attack, so none of the guards were exactly willing to cease fire. A few seconds later and the rest were down. Danzen had been hit with the tremendous force of that things impact, his form crumpling against the master control console for the warhead launchers.
Coughing blood, he looked up to see a solitary black furred hedgehog of no more than ten years of age. He (it was most definitely a he) had red highlights on his spines and limbs. The beginnings of what appeared to be white chest fur were starting to show. The most alarming trait, though, was the eyes, those blood red eyes which didn't have the battle rage of a soldier but pity of something far less.
It
was the eyes of this demon that drove Danzen over the edge. How dare
this brat look on the greatest warlord of this time with pity?! How
dare he destroy his one chance at dominion?!
He then gripped the
master control console and reached for the detonation switch.
*************
Shadow didn't know what the Squirrel that was doing with the controls and didn't stop him when he pressed the switch on the console.
He then clutched his ears as the klaxons sounded deafening. Dimly, he heard the sound of a countdown and the squirrel shouting something as it tried to stagger to its feet. The squirrel that could only be lord Danzen had a look of madness in his brown eyes and was starting to advance on Shadow.
There's no way I can fight this lunatic and escape the blast. Shadow thought grimly as he leapt away from the crazed rodent.
Shadow then realised what he had to do, because if he couldn't then he wouldn't be able to escape the blast. Glancing briefly at his chaos gauge, he confirmed that it was at only twenty one percent, less than when he tried to use a chaos manipulation technique last time. This time he had to try as hard as he could; focusing as hard as he could on the far off human base, he directed all o his chaos energy into putting himself in that location.
Shadow felt the distortion of time and space and felt intense pain as his body was pulled slowly from one location to the next. Shadow hadn't expected this as the last time had simply been exhausting rather than agonising.
Unable to stand, Shadow collapsed to the ground, completely unsure of his present location as he slid into unconsciousness.
*************
"How the hell do we get those gates open?" Yelled one of the soldiers, a dark brown mouse, in disgust
"Why do you think these lasers are considered better weapons, boy?!" Retorted Sergeant Wilkinson "You could cut down the walls with these toys!"
"You're just kidding me now, sarge!" Replied the Mouse as e readied his rifle on the gates
"Make sure you set it to maximum power, kid!" Roared the older soldier
The mouse was about to adjust the settings on the laser when he heard a rumble beneath the ground. To his surprise Wilkinson grabbed him and pulled him behind the wall, yelling to the troops to do the same. A deafening explosion resounded behind the walls, smashing the gate outwards and crushing half the regiment. Sergeant Wilkinson and Sir Charles both got up and tried to drag the soldiers caught but still alive from the wreckage.
The mouse and the rest of the soldiers also pitched in and it was then that he saw what had happened inside the fortress.
Nothing
remained except the outer walls, the inner walls were rubble and the
buildings that had once been storage sheds, stables and houses were
obliterated, leaving only burn marks behind. The mouse closed his
blue eyes, shuddering to think what would have happened if the outer
walls hadn't held.
"Private Jenkins! Get back to work helping
with the wounded!" Roared the sergeant
"Yes sir! Just- the
gates open now!" Jenkins replied
