THEMAKEROFLIGHT: hey guys, well, this is the last chapter, but don't worry, I'll be doing two sequels. Thanks for the few reviews I got in the short time the story was up, I just got another.
theagent: thanks agent, you'll get to see the warriors in action in this chapter, but not much I'm afraid, you may see them more in the next book, but that's all I'm giving away for now.
Now then. on with the show.
CHAPTER 14: HORA DAECAS
The huge hulking shadow of the free ship descended down on the huge landing platforms set up on the main island, it had been used to transport most of the forces and all of the light army from Haven. Jak had made a treaty with all Haven's old enemies, Duntus, Durancas city, and even Manaras had been drafted in to help with the invasion of the Hora Dailan. He planned to do the same sort of thing as with the islands, spread out and travel across the land killing all in the path of the alliance. Their main target was the Hora Daecas (A/N Horror City), the main station in the land, where the new leader, Kallas, would be residing.
Kallas was the leader of the metal heads now that both Errol and Kor had been killed, he was a monstrous metal-pede of great intelligence and strength, who had seized power from the old leader not a week ago, apparently that battle was what the metal-heads had been so preoccupied with the last few days.
Keira and Jak strode out of the doors with Illumi gliding along behind them, then most of the main characters jostled out too, except for Sig, Seem, and most of the sages, who had decided to take the Spargus ship to their part of the islands, but Samos and Shorine had wanted to come with their daughter and son-in-law.
Jak yelled at Daxter, who was falling behind in the group, and was in danger of being trampled. "Hurry up Dax, you don't wanna end up ottsel pie do you?"
"HEY! That precursor pie to you buster!" He yelled indignantly, being very sensitive about his being called a precursor, not an ottsel, Jak chuckled and bent down to let his friend up on his shoulder.
Jak, Keira, Samos, Shorine, Karena and Maealan went through a pair of doors to the main planning room, leaving Torn and Ashelin to deal with the democrats.
"Uuhh my aching bones." Grumbled Samos. "I'll be glad to get past this business and get on with what matters, and then we can hurry along with that wedding of yours Jak." Jak and Keira shared a guilty look, it was finally time to tell him.
"Uuuhhh, Daddy...we have, some...news about that."
"What news." The sage said, a tone building in his voice.
"Well...news, about the wedding...we...kinda...had it...already" Jak finished akwardly, holding his breath for the explosion from his father-in-law.
"Well then, that's...unexpected, but I think I can live with it, possibly. " Jak didn't buy the calm act, Samos was holding something back, he wasn't as happy with the news as he said.
"Samos. You are OK with this, right?"
"Of course I am Jak, why wouldn't I be?" He was getting a bit riled up now, trying to hold back his anger.
"Daddy, I've know you for all my life, you are sooooo not OK with this." Samos finally broke.
"FINE FINE, SO I'M NOT OK, I HATE MISSING MY OWN DAUGHTER'S WEDDING, WHY WOULDN'T I, IT'S MY WORST NIGHTMARE, I MISS..." He was cut off by Shorine and keira.
"Daddy it's alright."
"Yes Samos, it'll be fine, Keira doesn't mind obviously, and the only thing wrong with mising a wedding is if the person minds."
"And if you're still anxious we could even re-do the wedding in a while, Maealan wasn't there either so he might want to be there too." Put in Jak, and Keira heartily agreed, she had enjoyed the wedding immensely, and would definately like to do it again, unfortunately Jak was bluffing, and it paid off.
"Aahhh, very well, but I'm not completely satisfied mind!" Keira hugged him suffocatingly, squeezing the life out of his short frame.
"Thank you Daddy, thank you so much, we don't blame you for missing it."
"I get it, now let's get on with the planning, we've got a lot to do."
Flying over the beautiful but deadly landscape of Illian in a was the royal transport, carrying jak and Keira to the capital of the country, also called Illian. Jak was going there to talk with it's king, Warlen, who had recently declined to become part of the alliance, because of it's age-old rivalry with it's northern neighbor, Morien, who had agreed.
The giant ship came down on the articulate twists and turns of the large fishing city. It had no defence walls, relying on it's more heavily defended cities further in shore to protect it, the lack of weapons and walls made the city more majestic, Keira thought.
Jak stepped off the ramp into the huge holding station of the capital, Warlen himself had come to meet the king. The whole of Illian owed Jak their lives, the metal-heads were just about to break through their closest city's defences when Jak killed Kor, making the creatures back off, saving the people of the large country, because of this they held him in high regard, despite his fraternising with Morien.
"King Jak." Said Warlen, his large crown that drew everyone's attention to him wobbling slightly. "It is an honor to meet you in person, and I was surprised that you would want to come here to see this small, unimportant country."
"Save your bootlicking for someone who cares, you know full well what I'm here for, so let's stop with the formalities and get on with it." Jak didn't like Warlen, he was always an pathetic king who only made it up to that level by killing his two older brothers, and sending his father on a suicide mission to a nearby metal-head nest.
"Of course my leige, right this way." The royal guard led the three down long passageways deep underground to the king's complex. It was placed underground because Warlen was always afraid that Morien would bomb the city, and he wanted to be as far away from them as possible.
"I don't want to intrude, but why bring your wife here? I always find that women are useless when it comes to political matters."
"I find her advice very good, and your opinion is probably why you still haven't been able to find a wife yourself."
"Plus the fact that you're a complete sexist twat!" Yelled Keira, who had never appreciated being patronised.
"I apologise my lady, although I wasn't talking to you was I?" Said the stupid king, not knowing what anger he had just awoken.
"DON'T PRESUME TO TALK TO HER LIKE THAT! I told you what I feel about her inputs and you would do well to take that onboard!" Jak grabbed the man and shook him to make sure he wouldn't make the mistake again.
"Y-yes sir. Sorry sir." He stuttered, being very stupid and saying it to Jak, still ignoring the young woman sitting next to him.
"Well, you would also do well to apologise to the person you were rude to, not to her husband you shit!" Keira doing the same as Jak and holding the man by the collar.
"That's enough pleasantries for now, to business, we want you to become part of the alliance, we need as many countries as possible, and Illian's friendship has always been important to us as a city." Said Jak, making strong eye contact with the man sitting opposite, who immediately broke it.
"We will not enter into a treaty that has Morien's signature on it, those bastards have always hated and attacked us, we refuse."
"I would strongly advise you to agree with me. Morien's government has already signed and agreed to let bygones be bygones with you."
"It's a trick, Morien are sneaky people, you can't trust them."
"In my opinion," said Keira, "You're the one that can't be trusted, records that we aquired show that Morien hasn't led an assault or raid on your borders for fifty years, yet you continue to attack their cities and kill their people, and yet they value you joining so much that they still agree to help you."
"That's a lie!" He shouted, standing up and suddenly looking not threatening, but a strong attempt at it. "Morien was never a worthy friend. I do not appreciate being spoken to in my city, get out of my halls, NOW!"
Jak stood up himself, and talked quietly to the failing king.
"Look around you Warlen, I'm held as a hero by the people, whereas you're held as a murderer and usurper of the throne, not too good a position to be in when planning a war that the astablishment doesn't particularly want to get into, don't you think?"
The colour drained from Warlen's face, he sat down and looked rather sick at the thought of losing his prised throne.
"Very well, I'll sign the damn treaty, but I'm not fighting in any wars!"
The short man stood up and summoned his guard, he gestured to the royal couple to go first. But as they walked past he made a flick of the hand to his men and they grabbed them from behind, handcuffing the two in seconds.
"And the ruse coes out." Cackled Warlen. "You see now what I planned, I know you want the crown of Illian, but you will not have it, I am the only ruler."
"You idiot. Jak doesn't want the bloody crown, he barely wants Haven's crown, all we want is peace throughout the world, no more war, and I'm sure your people want that too." Keira struggled in her captors grip, who smiled like he was enjoying her movements.
"Ahh, but what about I want, I want that lovely power that comes with ruling more land, and I can only get that through war. Take them away." But the traitorous king and his cohorts never got further than the door, a huge mass of free people surged through the doors and charged at the group of soldiers, who in turn swivelled to face the king, who was now looking decidedly scared.
Jak and Keira were quickly freed and stepped to the front of the mob, strangely they seemed reluctant to attack their oppressor, instead sheering back from him in what looked like fear.
"Why be scared of him?" Jak said the the crowd. "I mean, he's just a man, and barely that."
"My lord Jak Mar, it is written, that he who slays a king will be struck down in fire, we dare not touch him." Squeaked a man, who then retreated to the back of the pack.
"So you lot are too scared to kill him eh? I guess I'll have to do it myself." Jak stepped down the steps that the king was rapidly stumbling down. "You know Warlen, it was always gonna happen in the end, you can't be a bad king and expect to get away with it, look and Praxis, and Veger, both usurpers of power in the wrong place, and the wrong time, and, my not so friend, are no diferent."
With that sentence Jak brought the Sword of Freedom down on the man's head, rending it from his neck and sending the ball spinning away down the steps. He then turned back to the townsfolk, and said. "So I'm cursed, like I care." And walked back to the transport, taking Keira with him. Before leaving Jak sorted out with the new king-to-be the matter of the treaty, who was happy to oblige, and then he was away over the treetops and mountains of Illian, back to his home.
Maealan and Karena sat doefully in the preperation room, they had received news from the islands not minutes ago. Alledgedly a prisoner had been taken in the islands shouting something about the dark mosters rising, obviously he meant the metal-heads, and was speedily being flown back to Haven for interrogation. Jak and Keira would be back any minute with news of the treaty, and both predicted that he wouldn't be happy to see the prisoner.
"At least he might be able to tell us something about the metal-heads plan, he may help us, even if not willingly." Said Maealan encouragingly, but Karena shook her head.
"No, if he had seen something he'd be dead, I imagine he simply saw metal-heads feeding on some poor soul and made assumatoions, he's that sort of person from what I heard."
Maealan sighed in agreement and kissed the woman next to him on the cheek, then they both looked up as the foghorn announced the arrival of a ship to the north, that would be Jak. And at the same time another went off to the south signalling the arrival of the prison transport.
"Uh oh, Jak is gonna be mmmaaa-ad when he sees this." And upon Maealan's words the man himself bounced into the room.
"Hey guys." He said cheerfully, then lost his smile as he saw the look on their faces. "Which evil villain has returned, what war's been started, and who died." He said quickly, trying to cover all the possible things that could have happened in one sentence.
"The first one." Said Karena.
"You're not gonna like this Jak." Warned Maealan.
Jak pushed through the doors into the landing facility, and there, in all his trouserless glory, was Veger.
"Vager you cunt, why don't you just die and do the world a favour."
"I will not be spoken to like that by you you animal, not in my state especially, somebody get me some ice here!" Yelled the pushy ottsel, struggling in the cuffs clearly too big for him.
"Look Veger, you're tied up, in a prison ship, standing in front of the man who's father you killed, who happens now to be the king of the city you're in, and still you're arrogance makes you think that you'll be served at you're every whim." Said Vin who had appeared on a screen inside the ship.
£Hey Vin, know where this little devil sprang from?"
"Affirmitive, he was found on one of the smaller and less eco-rich islands by Mamoron forces, who immediately recognised him from mugshots, and brought him to our troops, he's been making trouble all the way across, knawing at wires, biting technicians, he even temporarily shut down my audio receptors so the driver had to input the directions manually, gave us quite a scare."
"Sounds like he's due to be taught a lesson, he saw something out there, I wanna know what." Jak turned back to the preachy rat and picked him up by the fur.
"Now Veger, I'm gonna talk and you're gonna listen, the men who found you said you were talking some gibberish about the dark animals rising, what did you mean?"
"I don't know what I meant." Said the now serious former count. "I remember I saw something, but what, I don't know. I know it wasn't on the islands, I was dropped back there by a ship, but the trauma won't let me recall anything more, it was too horrible."
Jak had never seen the ottsel so distressed before, he had always remembered him as the overbearing character from his past that always thought he was better than everyone else, not a shivering wreck reminiscing about fearful times.
"Anyway, what business is it of yours? " Said Veger, returning to his usual self.
"That does it, I have a suitible punishment for you, since it seems we have to keep an eye on you constantly,I'm assigning you to the war, you'll fight in the battle when we reach the Hora Dailan, and you won't get upitty with your superiors, or there'll be punishments. Hope to see you on the frontlines, private Veger.
The great cloud of the eco storm finaly quieted, it's thundering power dissapating through it's exposure to light eco in the air away from Hora Dailan. Jak looked out over the shining surface of the Cataenas ocean, it's majestic beauty dawning on him for the first time, he had always thought of the sea as an obstacle, simply there to be surpassed, but now he was growing into his maturity, he saw it more as a fellow soul, the waters had seen so much war over it's shores, so much death from the storms that travelled over it's waves, it was like an old friend now, a comrade in war.
He was now on the great ship of Haven, it had been started over a year ago for the very purpose he was using it for now, to invade Hora Dailan once and for all. On board was the entire compliment of Haven's army, ready for battle.
Keira sidled up to him, and draped her arm over his shoulder, he was again standing at the helm and staring, he always did that when something was troubling him.
"What's wrong Jak?" She spoke quietly into his ear.
"You know what's wrong, you've been feeling it too for the last week, something building, more than Gol and Maia revealed at first." He replied, his young wife didn't say anything, but she understood what he meant, she could feel a wave building in her heart, something that hadn't surfaced since Sandover, something powerful.
Jak snapped his head up as the first peaks of the dark land were seen over the horizon, he lunged back into the cabins and walkways of the ship to tell Torn, soon the first effects of dark eco in the air would begin to seep into the soldiers, he ran through the quarters, shouting to the men to put their masks on before they suffocated, everyone obliged, dieing of dark eco poisoning was not pleasant.
Jak burst through the doors into the control room, he did't even have to tell the commander, who took his sudden appearance as a sign that it was time to turn on weapon, he walked over to the large green button on the main console, whispering something of a prayer before pressing it down.
Jak then jumped up into a shaft above, climbing up into the higher reaches of the ship, and through the roof to the high deck, and there before him, was Mar's gun, and huge light eco crystal stuck where the precursor stone would have gone, it was pointed towards the main wall of the land already, all that was left to do was for Jak to man it. The blonde hero climbed into the firing seat, and began scanning the great mountains for a weak spot, he found a low part of the rock wall that looked particularly weak, in fact it was already substantially damaged.
He switched the aiming mechanism on, firing up the gun for the first time since destroying the metal-head nest, swivling the nozzle to point to the weak spot, he edged his thumb over the button that would break through the wall, and calmly said, "Eat this!", before firing.
The rock exploded into the air, boulders the size of metal-pedes flying into the water, but strangely no sound of metal-heads came from the point of origin, nothing but the sound of the explosion, Jak thought this odd, but dismissed it as coincidence.
He jumped back down onto the poop deck, and met upp with those who had volunteered for his new guard, naturally Daxter and Keira had stepped up, but along with them was Maealan, who had Karena in tow, Eiun, Jasen, and Illumi had insisted on fighting alongside him also.
He leapt down into the landing dingy that had bee set up for him, and after the rest had come down too, he paddled for shore, the boats around him puuled away from the main ship too, running aground on the shore and leaping out into offensive stances
But there was nothing there, no metal-heads swarming over the mountains, no leapers flying down to impare them, not a solitary roar, nothing. Jak stepped forward to the edge of the gap, expecting to be pounced upon by monsters any second, but nothing came, again, there was silence, all but the whisperings of the soldiers behind him.
Ahead Jak could see the gates of Hora Daecas, the dark city that had killed any who were foolish or ignorant enough to set foot inside it's border, the great gates were broken, hanging on their enormous hinges that had been built by Kor himself. He cautiously stepped through the remains of the gate, and finaly saw what he had missed. Piles of metal-head bodies mounded all over the huge grounds of the city, eco fires burned in the piles just as they had in Rock Village. And in the centre, desecrated beyond words, was Kallas, the great leader of the metal-head army, his body scorched by what had obviously ben a demon, dead.
The army came through the doors after him, staring at the destruction and death, it took them a second, but then they broke into celebration, yelling and dancing at the passing of their greatest enemy. But Jak didn'y celebrate, he knew the truth, that the metal-heads, those who people said were indestructible, had been brought down by something worse, something far worse, the terror of Gol and Maia.
THEMAKEROFLIGHT: well, that's it, I have finally finished my first fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you will enjoy the sequel too, come with me, if you will, on a journey, with Jak, and all he holds dear, we will see him in situations that we all love to see him in, with the odds against him, fighting for his life.