Chapter 35 - Z
What was that? Yurick left. He just got up and left. He looked irritated. What was he thinking? Was it Calista that set him off?
"What's there to interrupt?" His words replayed in my head.
There was a knock at the door and Calista stood and walked toward it.
"I should get going. I'm glad you're well," she smiled back at me before opening the door and walking passed Sir Therius. I finished putting on my jacket and met him at the door.
"I heard that you successfully passed the trials," he said stiffly.
"Yeah, sorry if that bothers you," I replied not as stiffly.
"Quite the contrary!" his voice brightened up, which threw me off guard a bit. "I'm a little impressed. It seems you're after more than just a fancy title, after all. However, the knight's path is not so easy." He paused shortly. "There are times when you must be prepared to give your life in order to do your duty. Having been raised as a mercenary, are you prepared to do such a thing?" the way he said it wasn't like Jiral or any of the other snotty nobles. The word almost had a hint of respect. That was one of the reasons Sir Therius had my trust.
I shrugged. "Honestly speaking, I don't know. But I've got a lot of battlefield experience. I've seen some terrible things, and I've been in some pretty bad situations," I looked down for a second while I gathered my thoughts. "If I become a knight, a true knight, I'll do anything to save people from suffering. There's things I want to protect."
He nodded curtly, "Very well. I look forward to seeing whether your words are genuinely meant or not."
"By the way," I shifted my weight to my other leg, "I'm guessing you didn't come all the way here to talk about this. What's up?"
He nodded again, "Correct. You and I have been summoned by General Asthar to receive new orders."
"The General? I wonder why," I crossed my arms to think, but couldn't come up with anything on the spot. This would be my first mission as his pupil. I had no idea what he'd have in store.
"There's still time," he snapped me out of my thoughts, "So if you have any business to attend to, I suggest you do it now. I shall wait. Once you're done, return here." He walked under the window right outside of my room.
"Thank you, Sir Therius," I wanted to check on Yurick, but I didn't think it was the best time. I could see him after I talked to the general. "But I can't think of anything I'd need to do."
"Very well. Shall we go then?" I nodded and followed him towards the door to the bridge. Just then the ground shook violently. Like an earthquake or cannon fire. "What is this shaking?!"
Then I heard screaming coming from outside. It echoed through the hallway. "Enemies? Is it the Gurak?!" I ran after Sir Therius onto the bridge and was shocked to see the castle on fire. The sky was nearly black with smoke and the people's shrieks pierced our ears. Dagran and the Count came out of the other door looking as confused and shocked as we did. We met in the middle of the bridge and watched as the Gurak flew above our heads and destroyed the city. Yurick. "Where are the others?" I yelled at my brother.
"Back at the tavern, I suspect," he sounded calm but his face was a mix of furious and worried and just overall pissed.
"Cursed, infernal Gurak!" the Count shouted at the sky.
"It's dangerous here. We have to take the Count somewhere safe," Dagran stated quickly, trying to shoo him off of the bridge.
The Count shoved him off. "They cannot be allowed to damage the cannon! Follow me!" he walked as fast as he could since he couldn't run. He relied on his cane too much. We ran into the main hall. Fire was everywhere. I didn't even know stone could catch fire. "My castle! They dare come here a second time?!" he limped angrily. "I'll murder every last one of them! Damned Gurak dogs!"
"Protect the Count," Sir Therius shouted at the knights panicking near the stairs.
"Yes, Sir!" they ran to his side and followed the Count ahead of us.
He started down the stairs and almost fell when the middle wall broke and shook the ground, almost burying us in debris. "What in the name of…?" he shouted. "Bloody savages, I tell you!"
"Count," Dagran ran to his side, "please stay back." I didn't know what he was talking about until I saw the Gurak soldiers jump through the new hole in the wall. Sir Therius, Dagran, and I ran over to defeat them while the other knights guarded Count Arganan.
Where is Yurick?! I started imagining all the ways he could be hurt or in trouble. Maybe he'd gotten blocked in somewhere or maybe he hadn't made it back to the tavern yet and was alone in town somewhere amid the chaos. I wasn't thinking about the fight at all.
"Zael!" my brother called to me and grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him. "Now is not the time to be stuck in your own head." I looked around to see that the Gurak were dead and we were moving on. I nodded and followed him down the stairs and out towards the courtyard. "Damn, they caught us totally off guard," Dagran was mumbling to himself.
"There's so many of them! They mean business," Sir Therius added to his thoughts. Everywhere else was blocked already. Fire and fallen stones had stopped us from going anywhere but outside.
I need to stay focused. I can find him later. He's going to be fine. I kept thinking, but then another shake brought me back to reality. More Gurak ran up the stairs from the main hall.
"Please leave this to us!" two knights ran over and stood their ground in front of me and Sir Therius. "Hurry and get the Count outside!" His sword met with the Gurak's dagger and a battle of wills began. I nodded and hurried with the others out to the courtyard.
The courtyard was just as bad. The pavilion in the centre had been majorly damaged and the columns looked like they'd fall at any moment. A few panicked knights ran towards us as we approached the military wing.
"Is the cannon alright?" the Count questioned immediately.
"My lord, we don't know! Some of them managed to get inside!" the knight looked around like something had been chasing him.
"You incompetent cur!" the Count shouted, pushing passed him to throw the doors open.
"But, my lord, there're too many of 'em! We were outnumbered!" he tried to justify as he regained his balance.
The Count was about to lose his mind, but Dagran stepped up. "Count, let us deal with it," he looked back at me. "C'mon, let's go." I nodded and the three of us ran passed the Count into the lower hallway of the military wing. Everyone was panicking. The damage was unreal. In just a few minutes, the Gurak had managed to bring ruin to the entire castle. We reached the end of the hallway and found a group of mages trying to fight off some soldiers, but not being able to cast as quickly as they could strike.
"Everyone alright?" Sir Therius inquired, "We've come to assist."
Just before the closest mage could respond, the Count shoved passed me. "Protect the cannon at all costs! Even if you're the last man left!" He cared nothing for his people. It was all about him and his pride. Then a Muruk rolled in front of him and nearly crushed him. I should have let him die, but for some reason I pushed him out of the way faster than I could think.
"They've even brought a beast like that inside the castle?!" Dagran couldn't believe it. Neither could I, but either way, we had to kill it. To make it worse, sorcerers shot at us from the rafters.
I hid behind some of the rubble and tried to knock a few of them out with my crossbow. One of the mages joined me in the distance fighting before our attention was forced to the Muruk once more. We collaborated and eventually took it down. One of the mages' fire circles caused a stone pillar to crumble in front of the broken wall, stopping the Gurak from getting to us.
"Okay! We've cut them off. Let's keep moving!" I started towards the stairs. Sir Therius caught up to me and questioned a knight we met about half way up to the second floor.
"You! Have you seen General Asthar?" he still sounded proud, but I could hear his worry.
The knight nodded. "Sir, he went to defend the turret control room, all by himself."
Sir Therius looked down, confused. "Why take such a risk?" I had a feeling there was something he wasn't telling me, but it wasn't a good time to ask. He nodded at the knight and he took off down the stairs. Just then Dagran sprinted passed us.
"Dagran!" I called after him, taking a few steps closer.
He stopped briefly and turned around. "I'm gonna go ahead and block their reinforcements. Zael, see to it that the Count is safe!" and with that he kept running.
"Damn it, Dagran!" I yelled after him. I would have followed him, but the Count came up behind us.
"We should leave," Sir Therius stated. "I'll assist you, Count." He nodded dutifully.
"Very well," he responded with his 'I could care less' attitude.
I started running after my brother, but stopped when I heard more stones fall. I looked back quickly. "Therius!"
There was silence for a second, but then I just barely heard him through the gap in the rocks, "It can't be helped. Press onwards. The Count and I will find a different route." I shouted an 'okay' back at him. "Protect the General!" was the last thing I heard from him.
"Of course! Take care, Therius!" I yelled back before sprinting up to the next level. The first thing I saw on the second floor was sparks of light coming from the orb in the middle of the room. It was almost blinding when the rest of the room was so dark. I let my eyes adjust. "General Asthar!" I ran over to his struggling body on the floor in front of the raised orb. He had a purple sword sticking out of his back, like some kind of energy sword or something. "Just hold on! I'll get help right away!" I knelt down next to him then looked around quickly to see if there was anyone around to help.
"Don't… waste your time, lad," he was in way too much pain. "There's… something important," he tried to sit up so I helped him, but he sounded like it hurt to speak. "The medal I gave you… It's the key," he coughed up a bit of blood that ran down his chin, "to the castle's secrets…"
"Don't talk, General. You can tell me all of this when you're well," I looked around again, hoping one of the healing mages had followed me up, but then I remembered the collapse...
He put his hand up to silence me. It fell on my shoulder since he didn't have enough strength to hold it up. "Don't let the Count see it."
"General, please," we both knew what was going to happen. He was dying and there wasn't anything I could do in that moment.
"Zael, listen," he coughed again, "No matter what happens, follow the path you believe in."
I shook my head. "No, just hold on. You need to rest," I could feel the knot in my throat.
"I think you can save this island from its cursed fate," he smiled weakly. "But, don't… That man…" his face twisted in pain and he lost the power to sit up. "He is dangerous."
"Who? Who do you mean?" I laid him down to try to make him comfortable.
Another cough. "As a knight… With Therius… Together… The path you… believe in…" he was struggling. I had no idea what to do.
"General?" his body started shaking. "General Asthar! No… General!" but then all movement stopped. His eyes lost all light. They kept looking at me. He was smiling… that fun smile he always had, but his eyes cried in sorrow. "No…" I whispered. The entire room fell still. It was that same feeling I'd had when I'd watched my mother burn to death in our own village.
"Zael! What are you doing?!" the voice I'd hated more than any since being on this island rang through my ears. My head jerked up to see Jiral and his goonies walking towards me. "General Asthar!" he gasped with the most fake concern in his voice. "Is this your doing?"
"What did you say?" I stared at him like he was crazy. How the hell could I have done this?! Why would I?
"He wasn't expecting you to stab him in the back, was he?" he smirked the most horrid smirk. "It's clearly the only logical explanation!"
"Are you serious?! Why would I even do that?!" I snapped up at him, still holding the General's body in my arms.
He flipped his hair, "I daren't even hazard a guess. I could never comprehend the thoughts of a mercen'ry."
"Son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" I lunged at him, but his guards caught my arms as my fist came within inches of his face. Now that I think about it, it was probably the wrong thing to say, but it was worth it.
He wiped away the fear and cowardice on his face and laughed. "At last, he shows his true colours! Take him away!" The guards threw me towards the stairs and led me by sword point to the dungeons.
They threw me into a cell and locked the gate. I glared back up at them then stood quickly and looked down at my fist.
I'll find who did this. No matter what…