Author's Note
Hi to everyone!
It's been a bit more difficult than expected, but finally I'm here with a new chapter.
We have officially passed the first half of the story, and with this new chapter the series of events that will lead to the ending will start officially.
I hope you enjoy it!
Stay tuned, next chapter will come as soon as possible!^^
Cj Spencer
7
Donzark's rage for having seen the Singing People's moving chariots destroyed, probably to prevent them from learning its secret, had been partially restored just thinking that without it those insects were no more able to move faster than them.
Pushing horses at their limit, the General and his unit had covered in a few days the same amount of miles that a common army would've taken weeks to make, reaching lands that no one before him had ever seen in his tribe's millennial history.
Lunardi and his men had did their best to reduce their traces at the minimum, but even if footsteps were not so deep and recognizable like tire tracks, that was nothing for some expert scouts like Donzark and some of his fellows.
One night, the traces ultimately leaded them to the top of a hill, from which they were able to see a small settlement in the valley below.
«What do you think?» Donzark asked
«Imperials.» Johan said. «A fort of colonists.»
«So stories were true. They came quite far in the Plains.»
«Horses footprints heading south, General!» said another scout. «They're quite deep. Two men per horse, probably.»
«If they bought horses, it should be easier to follow their traces.» Johan said again. «Unfortunately, there are plenty of ways from here to the border. If we should follow the wrong traces…»
«That's why we're going there to make some… questions.» Donzark said, his glance more than eloquent about what he meant with "making questions"
«But, General.» Johan tried to object after a moment of disbelief. «They're imperials. We're not on war with them…»
«Reich…» Donzark fiercely replied turning to him.
Johan stopped immediately, trembling like a child in front of those powerful and scary eyes.
«Reich rules on every land.» he said while trembling, reciting the motto of the Imperial army.
«Exactly! We're always on war! And it's time for the Imperials to start fearing us.» then Donzark turned to the rest of the unit. «What do you think, soldiers?»
«Sieg Fuhrer!» everyone shouted in return
«Just what I wanted! Come on, soldiers! Let's show those imperials what's a real war!»
Almost all of the two hundred soldiers of the garrison were veterans of the war against the Warrior Bunnies, but there was nothing they could do against a Reichian unit and their superior technology.
Donzark and his unit stormed against the village like a swarm; the light cavalry started running all around the walls, shooting down the archers with arrows and gewehres and using some sort of slings to launch grenades directly inside. Then, while the soldiers inside were desperately trying to not be blown away, the few heavy cavalry reached the door, and using ropes and hooks they literally took it out, opening the way to the riders still waiting.
The few Imperials survived did their best to resist, forming a desperate final stand into the fort's courtyard, but they were all massacred with the same system used to clean out the walls; archers and gewehre wielders formed a running circle, and their arrows and bullets pierced the enemy shields like butter, leaving no survivors.
At the end, the battle lasted less than half an hour, during which the Reichans killed every single soldier of the colony, barely losing five of their men. While the village burned, Donzark left some of his men free to plunder the houses in search for food, water and easily transportable goods, the remaining ones dragged all civilians still alive in the courtyard of the fort to question them about what they were searching.
«Now listen carefully!» Johan shouted to the people. «We're Reich! The whole Plains already fell against us, and from now on, you too belong to us! And as our new servants, we order you to answer my question!» and then he raised a portrait representing a young man with a short beard and very strange clothes. «We're searching for this man! We think he has passed through here short time ago! If you have seen him, this is your occasion to show your loyalty toward your new ruler! Help Reich, and your support will not remain unrewarded!»
The scared citizens looked each other, and almost immediately a trembling arm raised from the crowd. Minutes later, Johan reached his lord in the fort's main barrack.
«Good news sir. The groom says he sold four horses and some water to a stranger five days ago.»
Donzark's eyes immediately began shining as a lion's, and he immediately stopped inspecting the golden plate that one of the men had brought him, turning to his attendant.
«Did you show him the paint?»
«I did it. He has recognized the man, but not the vests. Probably he was disguised.»
«What else?»
«He wanted to know the routes for the Imperial border, so he suggested him the shortest one.»
That was all Donzark wanted to know; once left the barrack, he immediately ordered to bring him his horse.
«Traces suggest that they're about ten.» he said climbing on horseback. «They can't go too fast with just four horses. If we run, we can reach them before they pass the border.»
«Your orders, General?»
«I'll take the ones that haven't fought with me. We'll find their traces. Let the other ones rest for two hours, then reach me. We'll wait for you at the end of the valley.»
«And what about the civilians?»
Donzark looked at them for a moment, and then the turned again to Johan, smiling.
«They fought against us. You know what to do.»
«But, Sir… I promised to not touch them if they spoke.»
«No one can defy Reich without paying consequences. This is the rule. That the Empire learn to know what happens to fight us.»
Johan knew it was useless to try further, so he sadly came back toward the fort, leaving his General free to leave.
«Come on, soldiers!» Donzark said to the few ones at his side. «We have some sheep to tear apart!» and then they departed, moments before a shout resounded behind their back.
«Feuer!» followed by a deafening burst of bullets.
Even with horses, moving across an almost unknown region was quite difficult.
Even excluding that with just four horses for eight people the march was still quite slow, even if undoubtedly less painful, the Italians hadn't created good maps of that region yet, while the lack of signals and a path almost invisible due to the longtime inactivity were making difficult for Lunardi to keep following the road suggested him in that small village.
At least, the same fact of seeing the landscape transforming around them the most they kept on proceeding south was the clearest proof that their goal was not too far away. After the rocky hills of the north and the endless grasslands of the heart of the Plains, little by little Lunardi and his men were starting to find sparse woods, pastures and streams, all of them typical things of the Empire's northern border.
The more these woods turned into a proper and true forest, the most the soldiers felt their hearts freeing themselves of pain and fear; all of a sudden, their insecurity and skepticism for the Captain's decision started turning again into respect, at least because with all those trees it was far easier to hide if necessary.
Obviously, there were still some exceptions, and Torrisi in particular seemed still too much scared and unsecure by Lunardi's behavior, but apart for Wang, his other fellows were no more so well disposed to follow him into his daily small, but still irritating demonstrations of intolerance toward their Captain.
Three days after having left the colony, a small wooden building appeared all of a sudden in front of the soldiers, right at the end of a small forest they were crossing. And when Rocco and the others noted the forest's suddenly stop due to the presence of a massive and large rift right behind the same building, everyone exploded into a victory cry.
«Look!» Lunardi said. «That'it! The Vanadis Cliff!»
«I can't believe it! We did it!» Valenti exclaimed. «Thank God!»
«Come on, guys, let's go! The salvation is close!»
«Don't run!» the Captain stopped them. «You see it? That's the fort of which the groom told me about. He said it's abandoned, but who knows if someone else has occupied it. So pay attention.»
Barely containing their joy for the almost reached safety, Rocco and the others approached the fort using their usual attention, remaining hidden among trees and observing meanwhile the situation with binoculars. Carefully, they reached the still standing walls of logs, crossing the opened doors and finally entering the courtyard.
Lunardi waited a little bit more, inspecting even the two barracks and reaching the opened door on the other side, beyond which there was the small and over fifty meters long wooden bridge passing over the rift: it was a bit marked by time flowing, but undoubtedly bell-built and still more than capable of doing its job.
On the other side of the bridge, there was even a second fort, but that one on the contrary was in a very bad state, half-collapsed and in ruin.
«Clear.»
Everyone at that point literally threw their backpacks to the ground and sat to rest a bit after so much days of endless escape, feeling to be a bit safer for the first time after months.
«It's in quite good state.» Rocco said looking around. «Why did they abandon it?»
«Probably they thought it was a waste to maintain a garrison in this isolated place, especially now that the Empire controls the southern Plains. After all, Tarvisium is less than forty miles far.»
Then, they both inspected the fort a bit more, finding a considerably high amount of stuff, especially in the armory close to the canteen.
«Bows, swords, dried meat.» Rocco commented. «They've left behind a lot of things.»
All answers lied in a parchment Lunardi found in the Commander's room, still placed on the wooden desk.
«From Padavium, the North's capital.» he read «It's a six months old order. This presidium has been called back to Sadera. They command to obey as fast as possible, taking with them only what they're able to bring. Probably they were trying to reform their ranks after the battles with the Japanese both on Earth and here in this world.»
«The Empire must be desperate. I mean, who in the world would leave its borders undefended?»
«With the Warrior Bunnies' defeat and the Cities endlessly divided, there was no reason for them to fear an invasion from north.»
«Not until now. You think they have idea of what happened in Calibria?»
«In that colony they knew nothing. Probably the news hasn't reached the capital yet.»
Then, Lunardi turned again to Rocco.
«Come on, there's no time to waste. Tell the others to cross the bridge. We'll rest among the ruins on the other side.»
Rocco however hesitated, and Lunardi looked at him as if he was expecting this kind of behavior.
«Did you hear me? I said go.»
«Captain, if I can speak freely…»
«I know what you want to say. The answer is no. We'll proceed as planned. The border is right in front of us, we just have to cross it.»
«Sir, we marched through hostile territory for days. The men are exhausted. This is the first time we're are in a situation where we have less reasons to fear for our lives.»
«As long as there's not something to physically divide us from Reich's territories, we'll be in serious danger.»
«And what will happen once crossed that bridge? Come on, you know better than me that over there it will be dangerous as much as it's here. At least, here we have something to protect us. We have walls, doors, towers.»
«Calibria's walls were made of rocks, not wood. And they collapsed. You think that this pile of trunks will protect us from Reich's army?»
«Come on, you said it. Even if they've sent someone to follow us, probably we're speaking of a few dozens of horsemen. With the good protections and our firepower, we can defend ourselves more than enough until we'll be able to call the HQ.»
Flavio at that point lowered his eyes, nervously clenching his teeth and fists. Part of him agreed that Rocco's conclusion was not completely wrong, but the other one, the one he had kept on following since the beginning, was telling him once again that it was better for them to proceed further.
«Flavio, I'm speaking to you not only as your Senior, but as a friend. Do not defy those guys' nerves more than this. They're at their limit. If you should push them any further, I don't know if I'll be able to put them back in line again.»
«They're soldiers.» Lunardi tried to protest. «They're perfectly trained to face such situations.»
«I know soldiers with tens of years of service that would've already gone mad at this point. You did an outstanding job by keeping their hopes up until now, but you should remember that apart for you and me, they're almost everyone young boys.»
It was an unprecedented situation. Lunardi still had faith in his own judgment, but for the first time he found himself forced to consider that he was not facing that situation all alone: he was the Captain and leader of a group of soldiers, and that group was starting to escape his control.
In that moment, Flavio felt like Alexander the Great at the Indus' banks: he knew that proceed further was the best thing to do, exactly as he knew that his men were too much exhausted and scared to follow his orders, no matter what punishment he could threaten or the kind of words he could use.
The truth was that he too was exhausted: for all that time, he had done his best to appear as a trustworthy leader, hiding his weaknesses and insecurities behind that mask according to his military training. However, he too had a limit, and after so much time he felt he was about to reach it.
All of a sudden, the idea of taking some rest, and maybe stop running after so much time, didn't seem him so bad after all. They had a hideout, a way to defend themselves, and all resources to resist a bit even in case of a not powerful enough attack. And in case of necessity, there was still the opportunity to leave that place and block the way to the enemy, gaining even more time.
Yes.
That was the better solution. Maybe God had sent him that blessing for a good reason after all.
«All right. Enough running.» he said, and then both him and Rocco returned to the courtyard, were the other soldiers were waiting for them.
«Ready to leave, sir.» Cassetti said.
«Change of plans, men. We stay here.»
«What?» the soldier replied in disbelief like the others
«What are those faces? I said we needed a safe place to hide and we found it. Saying here we'll remain unnoticed, and we'll have enough time to try call for help. With a bit of work, we can turn this place into a powerful enough defensive line to counter an eventual attack. That's why you have to work a bit more before being able to rest, do you understand.»
«Yes Sir!» everyone said with very different tone and expressions
«Good. Amato and Wang. There are some weak spots in the walls. Find a couple of axes in the fort's storage and provide other trunks. Tymlin, help them.»
«Yes, sir!» the three said together
«Cassetti, take the radio to the main barrack and attach you to the earphone. You'll have to listen day and night.»
«Done it, sir.»
«Stefanini and Valenti, take our horses on the other side. If things go bad, we must be sure that they'll be safe.»
«At your orders.»
«Torrisi, you're quite good with the bow, right?»
«Of course, sir.» he replied in a completely different way from before, almost smiling. «Golden medal at the European championship.»
«Fine.» Lunardi said launching him bow and arrows found in the armory. «There are plenty of deer in the forest. Go find something good to eat. But be careful to remain unnoticed and leave no traces.»
«You can count on me, Captain. Finally we'll be able to eat for true.»
«Rocco, inspect the fort and make inventory of the weapons. We're going out of ammo, so we'll need to upgrade our equipment.»
«Yes, sir.»
«We're not still safe guys, you have to understand it. The enemy is probably following us, and we cannot exclude that they'll be able to find us sooner or later. But if they want our lives, God almighty we'll make them regret having defied us!»
«Yes, sir!» everyone shouted
«Always ready!»
«In this and other worlds!»
The mountains were behind.
For the first time after months, the Falcon-9 were moving across the low hills and grassy fields of the foothills of the Rho valley.
Of course, without forests and rocks to hide behind, and so many villages and isolated groups of houses all around, it was quite difficult for the LVM do proceed unnoticed, even considering that right now the unit was moving completely into Imperial territory, but thanks to Zori they had been able to proceed quite fast and remain relatively close to the river at the same moment.
However, there was some sort of melancholy accompanying the unit along the road in an unusual silence, and Herera was surely the saddest one among them.
When she joined the group, both her and her "jailers" were anything but happy of this forced coexistence, and for days the thoughts of Dante's men in particular had been often for their comrade Mazzega, left alone with those half-humans and their supposed promises. That's why everyone's behavior with Herera had been initially cold and quite rude, much to the centauress' sadness and solitude.
But things had changed dramatically meanwhile. In those six months, the Falcon-9 had faced all sorts of adventures, and Herera's help had been really precious in many occasions to face the most unexpected and sometime even dangerous situations. Munaron and the others still remembered having seen her throwing pieces of trunks against the giant spiders pursuing her, while Dante's hands started trembling every time he thought back to that night at the ruined castle, seeing himself once again with Herera dying in front of him.
How many times, during the tremendous cold winter nights of the Mountain Range spent out of the water, Herera had offered them her furry, equine belly to find some warm, how many times she had lowered herself to pull the vehicles out of the snow like a vulgar horse, doing something out of any logic for a proud centaur.
But all things had to end, and when the unit ultimately reached the city of Moise, located right on the small peninsula where the Rho and the Izpin finally met, it became clear to everyone that their journey together was about to end.
Milza was famous in all the Empire for its mud, extracted from the muddy banks and mainly used in the creation of bricks and crockery. The swamps north of the city yearly formed by autumn's rain were the main extraction site, but during winter their mines were closed, since the mud was too thick due to the winter for extraction. That's why Dante had chosen just that place for the hostages exchange; after all, the centaurs hadn't named a location in particular, and that was the best place for miles for remain unnoticed.
At the end, despite all their problems, they had went like clockwork, reaching the goal line right on the agreed day; however, after hours spent waiting there was still no trace of the centaurs, and even considering the tremendous stink and unhealthy climate of the swamps, the soldiers quickly started going out of patience.
«Was it too hard to choose a better place, Major?» Zori asked from the roof of the vehicle, uselessly trying to protect her canine nose from that disgusting smell. «With my nose, this place is like hell.»
«Where the hell they are?» Santalba protested. «It's almost sunset. Who said the centaurs never miss their word?»
«We left clear traces to the ground.» Dante answered. «They will recognize them for sure. Let's wait a bit more.»
«I hope for their sake that Mazzega is all right.» Santalba said
«Don't worry, Mister Santalba.» Herera tried to calm him. «For my people, the hostage is untouchable. We would prefer death rather than leaving someone entrusted to our cares to die.»
«I hope for you and your people it's true. I know that girl's father, and I promised him to bring her back.»
«Enough, Santalba.» the Major scolded him. «She said we can trust, so it's true. When ever in these six months has Herera given us reason to doubt her?»
As the sunset approached, the whole place became more and more silent; maybe even a bit to much silent for such place.
«You hear that?» Herera said
«What?» Sarpi asked
«Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No birds, no wildcats. There's not a single animal in these swamps.»
Then, all of a sudden, Dante had the worst feeling.
«We better get out of here. Hurry up.»
«But sir.» Munaron tried to say from the turret. «What about the meeting?»
«We'll find another place. On board, quickly!»
But it was already too late.
Suddenly, the mud under their feet almost seemed to move lower like quicksand, trapping the LVM's wheels that sunk for almost five inches; then, the surface literally erupted, and a massive monster appeared from the swamps in front of the soldiers.
It was like a crab: a giant, grey crab with massive pincers and an apparently stone-made shell covering its whole body, apart for a small frontal hole from which a couple of small yellow eyes and an insect-like mouth showed up.
Despite its being almost three meters high and undoubtedly heavier than the same vehicle, it didn't seem having problems in floating on such a muddy ground; probably it was thanks to the eight wide-spread legs, thanks to which it was able to spread the weigh in various places.
«What the fuck is this, Major?» Betton shouted
«I don't know, it's not in our database!»
«It's a hredek!» Herera exclaimed. «We must go, they're extremely aggressive if you invade their territory!»
Sarpi desperately tried to make the vehicle move, but the wheels were sinking so much that all they did was to produce waves of mud in all directions.
«Shit!» Dante shouted, and without thinking twice he opened fire against that monster, immediately supported by the rest of the squad.
Trying as possible to move on that field, the soldiers of the Falcon-9 opened all around the creature to attack from all directions, only to find out almost immediately that its skin had not only the appearance of a stone, but it was also just as resistant.
«Shit, this is like a fucking rhino!» Sarpi shouted seeing that all his bullets were simply bouncing over the crab's body.
Even the 50 caliber over the turret wasn't enough to pierce it, and unfortunately, after a bit of time spent trying to protect itself by the bullets, the monster ultimately decided to attack. His first target was the same vehicle and its turret, but despite charging, it was no able to destroy the van, even if Munaron chose to jump off board fearing that the crab could succeed in overturning it.
Once silenced the 50 caliber, the monster pointed its attention to the soldiers, waving the pincers in all directions; Santalba and Herera were almost hit, managing to dodge its attack by miracle, while the tree behind which Betton and Lily had taken refugee was literally eradicated without efforts and subsequently used like a giant club.
Worse going worse, suddenly two more giant crabs emerged from water; they were a bit smaller, but no less dangerous, at the point that one of them hit Herera finding her completely unprepared; that poor girl was launched against a stone like a doll, finding herself harmless and unable to defend from the incoming coup-de-grace.
«Look out!» Dante shouted running to her without thinking twice.
His furious fighting successfully diverted the enemy's attention to him, but he too at the end was hit so powerfully that he felt a couple of ribs at least breaking under the jacket.
«Major!» Betton shouted seeing him collapse in the mud.
Everyone however were so occupied with the other enemies that none of them was able to assist him, so all they could do was helplessly watch the crab moving above Dante to finish him.
But at that point, right when the Major was about to recommend his soul to the Heavens, some sort of miracle occurred.
Like a divine spark, an arrow appeared from nowhere, piercing the crab in that tiny and almost invisible piece of naked skin between scissors, making it scream in pain and diverting its attention long enough to allow Zori to take his Commander away.
«Who did it?» Sarpi asked
The answer came moments later, when a very fast shadow appeared from the bushes, stopping right in front of the enemy and taking form of a young woman wielding a short bow. She was some sort of mixture between a horsewoman and a native American, with long brown hair, a bit dark skin and a thin but athletic shape; she was dressed with colorful woolen outfit, sandals and a headband, and adorned with leather bracelets, a necklace and even a pair of anklets.
«Leave them to me!» she shouted, and with no hesitation she run against her enemy
The wounded crab tried to use again its pincers like a maul, but the young woman dodged the attack jumping far higher than even than a common human being; then, while still on air, she shot two arrows at the same time, piercing both eyes despite the enemy's attempt to protect itself.
At that point, the monster started rotating furiously in total blindness, ultimately falling due to the muddy soil and exposing its less armored belly made of scales; the woman jumped above it, then once forcibly lifted one of the scales with her bare hands she took out a curved dagger, violently stabbing the crab's smooth skin and finally killing him.
The other two crabs seemed remain shocked by their companion's death against such tiny and apparently harmless creature, and the moment the woman turned to them they immediately chose to leave the battle, coming back to water and disappearing under the surface.
«T… thanks.» Dante said trying to get up. «You… saved us.»
«Are you all right, guys?» she said, shocking everyone
«What… why do you know our language?»
«Why shouldn't I?» she asked with the most innocent and confused face.
In a couple of seconds, a powerful noise of clogs echoed in the swamps, and in the blink of an eye Dante and his men found themselves surrounded by a quite familiar group of centaurs.
«Likishka Herei, kis la konokra hurer nashi? (Reckless Herei, hadn't I told you to wait for us?)»
«Piris, Mar Sauner. Kikur beig vis de volar. Purna sora seika friter. (I'm sorry, Lord Sauner. I acted without thinking. My companions were in danger.)» she replied with a smile, but also with deep respect.
Then, when everyone recognized the mighty centaur talking to the woman, everyone's stun turned into the most complete disbelief.
«It cannot be…» Santalba said. «Mazzega!?»
«Been a long time, Captain.» she joyfully said.