Here we go again! Second part is up, I hope you enjoy the story so far! (thanks to SeaSpectre160, glad you like it!)
Don't ask me what exactly the Sepulcur of Infinis is. I have no idea, but the back-story mentioned it. I imagine it to be some kind of sacred place or artefact of the Yintosians. Well, it's obviously important to them. Anyone knows something more specific, let me know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the characters. Really not.
Dawn of Yan-Sumos Part II
Urgent footsteps were echoing through the hallways and the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. But there was no sign of panic and Torash was content about that. War was nothing new to them, no matter how unusual their opponents were. Everyone was simply rushing to their duty and to gather in the conference chamber. There they would await warlord Cyla's orders.
Torash herself barely took in the people around her. She knew which way to go and followed this invisible path with quick, determined steps. Nobody dared stand in her way, as she most likely wore the serene look on her face which made even the toughest commanders back away from her. The glare that some said was as deadly as a weapon.
While everyone else hurried to the chamber, she turned three hallways earlier and headed towards the armoury. In a swift, customary movement she brushed her right hand over the sigil scanner and with a beep the door slid aside. Only the high warlords, consisting solely of her parents and herself, had access to this room, and for good reasons. The amount of lethal weapons in here would have been too much of a temptation for opportunists in their ranks, and the last thing they needed were traitors and possible usurpers. There was no necessity to encourage such a development.
Rapidly she took one of the guns and slung it over her shoulder before reaching for her most prized possession: Her double swords. Each of them went into a sling on either side of her belt and, as fast as she had come, she left the armoury again. Now she was ready for anything that awaited her outside. The familiar weight on her hips made her feel a lot more comfortable than the gun and the stones in her pocket ever could. She had not been trained to be an assassin without consequences. Her profession would always mark her habits.
#
The conference chamber was crowded and warlord Cyla was already busy giving orders.
"We need to prevent the Ethos from reaching the residence. The technology down in the vault is too valuable to give it up to the enemy, and above that it is our duty to secure the Sepulcur of Infinis. We will spread out in a circle through the streets and drive them back. Whatever happens, make sure no enemy slips through the ring. Before they break through, fall back and regroup. And do not underestimate them."
She spotted Torash and waved her over. "Torash, you will take your team towards the South-West quarters. I will cover the South-East, Darren the East. Doku, I want you and your men to take care of the Northern part of town, Brackus will cover the West." Routinely she decided on the teams and immediately they left the residence.
The South-Western region of the city was marked by high houses and narrow streets. Most of the day it was dark down here, no matter how sunny the weather, but this part of town did not offer a lot of hiding places, either. At that it could easily be surveilled from above. Torash guessed this had also been the criteria she and her team had been chosen for this region. Fast and silently they climbed up on the flat rooftops of the stone houses.
"Check the side streets; give a sign upon any finding. I take the main road." She watched her men fan out and quickly turned to her own spot. The paved street was about eight metres below her and deadly quiet. She spied into the shadow, but nothing moved. Nevertheless she took the gun from its string as she slowly ventured further, so that she would not miss the smallest trace.
Her eyes wandered over the flat walls and the jarred windows. At least the Ethos had no possibility to hide inside without anyone noticing it. But this barely made the hunt easier. It was not the first time she fought them. Two weeks ago she had accompanied her mother when they had beaten them back on the frontier, where they tried to take control of the remaining fortresses of the barrier. The victory had not been easy, but sweet nonetheless. To her dismay the Ethos had crossed over further south just a few days later, and when they had arrived there it had been too late. She did not intend to let them get away once more.
Another explosion echoed over the town and she could see the flames in the corner of her eye. The fight had begun, but not in her part of the city. So she simply ignored it. Cyla was well capable to handle the situation.
She pressed a button on the communicator she was carrying and ordered: "Keep your eyes open. The attack might be a diversion to slip through on our side. Don't let yourselves be distracted!"
Suddenly she saw something move in the shade and within a second she aimed. The zooming lens of the gun allowed her to have a clearer look, and she got a glimpse of tentacles sliding around the corner. As fast as possible she jumped onto the next building and from the roof down onto the balcony, her sight darting in all directions. The wraith had to be around here somewhere.
With her back to the wall to avoid any unpleasant surprises, she landed on the street and looked around. It was darker down here than she had expected, and she knew the Ethos would try to use the circumstances to its advantage. A slight breeze as it moved gave its position away.
She brought the gun up and shot at the wraith that was hiding in the darkness. It tried to evade the shot, but was too slow. The blue energy ball hit it full front and with a high-pitched scream it turned to dust. Torash lowered the gun and stared at the remnants of the wraith, blackened ash on the wall. They were not bodily as they were, but she could not tell if they were just spirits and the traces were those of the shot itself, or if they were a mixture and this was what was left of it. One needed to know what one was fighting against to do it successfully, however she doubted she would like the answer to the question.
The second Ethos had probably deemed her unfocussed on anything but his dead brethren, and the attack came quickly. Yet she had not spent so much time training to let herself be tricked by such a simple scheme. She whirled around and threw the gun at the Ethos, thereby breaking its concentration on the spell. The orb of purple light died down and in the matter of a heartbeat she had crossed the distance, blades drawn. One hacked of several tentacles with a singles stroke while the other was thrust right through its chest. Then it turned to dust.
"Lady Torash!" Her communicator blared out of the blue. Without losing her focus she asked: "What is it?"
"There are too many of them in the streets. We're losing track of things here. Under the current circumstances we won't be able to prevent all of them from passing!"
She scanned her surroundings and cursed under her breath. The soldier was right. Now that they had lured them down into the streets their view was greatly limited, and the Ethos a lot harder to make out. However, near the residence in the centre of town the numerous streets united into two big ones which crossed in one point. One, that was much easier to defend.
"Order to everyone: Pull back to the cross of Asca-Yin. There we will hold them off." Equally swiftly than before, she climbed back up on the balcony and from there onto the roof. Then she rushed to the meeting point. At the same time she altered her communicator's frequency to reach the other party: "Warlord Cyla, we're retracting to the cross of Asca-Yin. The fight in the streets is only to the Ethos' advantage."
"Information received", Cyla's voice came a second later. "Darren's and my party will join you there shortly." Then she obviously switched to the main frequency: "All parties draw back to the inner circle and group around the cross of Asca-Yin and the cross of Anma-Yin respectively."
About one minute had passed when Torash reached the cross and a quarter of her team was already assembled, stationed near the walls and their weapons ready – aiming at the shadows of the narrow streets around them. She came down well in sight as not to startle anybody, before she joined them and took out her stones.
"Where are the others?", she inquired curiously and the soldier next to her swallowed hard: "Gone."
Angrily she bit her lip. The order had been to report any encounter with the Ethos, and she had not received a single message apart from the final call. Sometimes the army's courage was a pain, especially after Cyla had reminded them not to underestimate the Ethos. Obviously they had done so nonetheless. This was turning out to be a disaster.
Just then did she make out the floating shapes that were coming closer. "Everyone on alert! Shoot at everything that moves over there!"
Rays of blue sigil energy raced over the place and into the narrow streets, most of which were met with purple light. Torash could see two or three of the Ethos vanishing after being hit, but the rest avoided or countered their attacks with worrying ease. They might be able to hold them back for a while, yet they could not do any real damage to their opponents, and if they did not get out of their defensive situation soon, they had no chance of winning this fight in the long run.
At least Cyla's troupes did not take long to arrive at the cross as well, however not the way she would have liked it. If Torash had not worn her emotional mask she set up in battle, her face would have most likely dropped. The warlord's party was even more decimated than her own. Consequently her announcement did not surprise her much: "We're retreating inside the walls of the residence. According to Darren they broke through in the East. The cross of Anma-Yin won't hold much longer, either. So, everyone inside the building, lock the gates and windows except for the embrasures!"
One last wave of energy balls was shot at the approaching Ethos before they turned on their heels and hurried inside. Torash did not like the way things were developing, and she despised running from their foes even more, but if they had truly broken through on her father's side of town, there was no other way to handle the situation.
Together with Cyla and a few soldiers she closed the heavy gates behind them and locked it tightly. The walls were sigil-hardened, it would take them quite an effort to break through here.
It was a weird feeling after the noisy battle to find oneself in the calm of the residence again. For the first time since the battle had begun the soldiers allowed themselves to breathe deeply before taking their posts at the embrasures. She, Cyla and her father who had finally caught up with them did not join them, but observed the situation outside.
The Ethos had not hesitated to come after them, and the pounding on the door and walls were a clear sign that they were trying to breach their defences. Usually these walls would stop every possible attacker, but the Ethos were not ordinary, and the gates would not hold forever. For some reason they drained the surroundings' energy while attacking, and this would soon weaken the walls and gates significantly. To their misfortune they were not stupid enough to come too close so that the soldiers would get a good shot. Under these conditions they would certainly lose, and she had no idea what to do about it.
Expectantly she looked at her mother, who seemed similarly lost concerning what to do. Eventually she began, her words directed only at her and her father: "If Doku and Brackus tell the truth - and why should we doubt it? – were encircled in here. They've got us where they wanted us. There is no way we can prevent them from laying waste to the whole city!"
"But what about the Sepulcur? We cannot simply give it up!", her father mentioned and got a glare from Cyla. Of course the warlord had thought of that, but she was out of ideas, and the only thing she wanted right now were new ones, she did not need to be reminded of her responsibilities.
Heatedly she responded: "I know that! If everything goes down we can force the vault to collapse so the Ethos won't be able to reach it, but if we do that we will block our only path to escape. The emergency tunnels begin down there. If we're lucky we can bring the ceiling down from inside, but it might smash those who do, and afterwards the tunnels will be sealed. Doing it from here will secure that it works, but sacrifice ourselves."
"We cannot simply sacrifice ourselves", Torash cut in and they turned to her. "This war may be lost, but the wizards are still hoping for assistance at the temple of Yan-Sumos. Judging by the wizard's words there's hope there – you know that they are working on some kind of ultimate weapon. They are counting on us, and whatever we do, we have to ensure that we get out of here and join them. United we will have a chance."
"And our oath to protect Yintos?", Darren continued.
"It would be best if what's left of the army would set out to Yantos to help the wizards, while a few stay back to ensure the Sepulcur will be secured", Doku's voice sounded from the back of the hall. He, Brackus and the small number of soldiers that was left had arrived together. Cyla considered his words and nodded. She obviously was far from happy or even content, but this was not a game, and if the overall victory demanded this loss she would accept it.
As the pounding on the gate grew louder she ordered the remaining soldiers to the escape tunnels and they followed close behind. It was a short, quiet way, everyone was dealing with their own thoughts and failure. The Yintos army was not used to lose, and giving up was not part of their nature, either. But this time consciousness was more important than their pride and hurt feelings.
The vault was dark and dusty as always, and the pounding above sounded hollow in the eerie silence that hung over the place. When the door to the tunnels opened without complications, the tension eased a little bit. After all their bad luck at least this plan would work.
Torash knew that there was no way her parents would leave the residence without knowing for sure that everything went well. They would take the duty to seal the vault from the inside while they would escape. But she knew what to do. The underground tunnels led to the frontier, and from there it would not be difficult to avoid the Ethos and join the wizards and defenders at Yan-Sumos. Anyone who was not completely dumb could have pulled this strategy off.
When the soldiers had disappeared in the tunnel, Cyla looked at them and said: "Darren and I will stay here and protect the place as long as we can." Another loud pounding could be heard from upstairs. "Which might not be long. Torash, you will lead them to Yantos and…"
"Really, we don't want to break this lovely family apart. The captain always goes down with his ship, and shouldn't the leaders of Yintos stay behind as well?", Doku suddenly asked and they turned to him bewildered. He and Brackus were already standing inside the tunnel, and Doku had his stones drawn. The only ones not inside were Torash and her parents. "We will take care of the army in your place, Lady Torash. I believe there is no royal blood necessary to be a Yintos warlord."
There was no time to stop him and she knew it, which was the only reason why she did not jump at him right away. She only had the time to lock eyes with Brackus, who guiltily looked away, however she could see that there was no true regret in his eyes. Then Doku's cast crashed against the ceiling, sealing off the escape tunnels, but it was not strong enough to make the whole vault collapse. The reason why they had stayed back – or why her parents had intended to stay back.
Had someone asked her what she felt in this moment she could not have answered. She was not sad or desperate. Her own destruction was something she had come to terms with. Working in the army was dangerous, and one could always meet one's end unpredictedly. Only one word whirled over and over through her mind: Traitors. Evidently no matter how much one tried to prevent their rise, opportunists always found a way to the top. And the worst ones were those closest to you.
'I would never betray you.' How empty had this promise been? How cold was this man's heart to desert her like this? Brackus and Doku had never agreed on anything but her sacrifice apparently. Little by little fury grew inside of her, and her hands tightened around the hilts of her swords so strongly her knuckles turned white. Staring at the former tunnel entrance with a death glare she hissed through clenched teeth: "You will regret this one day, Brackus, I swear!"
Her parents had not said a single word, but regarded her as though she was no less perilous than the Ethos which were still banging against the gate. She had never before given orders to them, but now she declared in an ice-cold voice: "Seal the vault shut. I will take care of our guests. They should have better chosen another day to face my anger!"
Although hardly possible her grip around her swords hardened as she climbed the stairs, not looking back at what her parents did or did not do. If she could not reach the ones she would have desired to destroy, the Ethos would pay dearly for revealing a truth she had never wanted to see. And a lost battle did not mean she could not take down with her as many of them as possible.