Halls of Ivory
Chapter 8 - Exodus
The people of Kryta had not always had the luxury of wide, well-tapped farmland. It was once a tropical jungle, an extension of the constantly expanding thickets of Maguuma. With only small villages far away from Lion's Arch, which was much smaller at the time. Most strongholds within Kryta had been built by the White Mantle, a religious group that worshiped a race of winged mages covered in gold, known as the Mursaat. In their quest to purge any worship of the older human gods, the White Mantle hunted the royal family, the Shining Blade and anyone that supported them like animals, forcing them to retreat out of Kryta and familiarize themselves with the workings of Maguuma jungle.
It was not unheard of Krytans living their lives hidden within the deeper jungle. And so it was of course a thought within Logan's mind, that in dire times like these, they may have had to do so once again.
Logan had decided that if the Seraph could not protect the people inside the city, the only option was to leave, to take the people to a place where they could provide safety, at least better than within the city's walls. They knew that a large part - possibly most of the citizens - wouldn't take them up on their offer. But all they could do was extend it nonetheless and hold true for those that did.
Logan brought the brunt of his forces with him to surround the Meades' house. Smaller forces were dispatched to guard the homes of the noble families whose children had been kidnapped. Said children were in safety for the time being, but Anise was sure to try to come after them in some way and there was no reason to believe she was above holding the families hostage to draw them out. Another part of the Seraph was sent to guard Judge Meldan's courthouse, because he also didn't believe she was above forcing Meldan to renege on his princehood issues or killing and replacing him with someone who would in his stead.
The Commander paid and sent out town criers throughout Divinity's Reach with a message from the Seraph for the citizenry. "It is with heavy heart, that the Seraph must confess that we can no longer profess your safety within these city walls. So to amend this in whatever capacity we can, we plan to leave the city and escort all those willing to leave with us to a remote location that we can fortify without having to fear interference from within our own walls. If you no longer feel safe under the guidance of the Shining Blade, you may follow any Seraph forces within the city. If you do take us up on this offer, we will do everything in our power to protect you, but this departure is possibly a one-way street and we will not return for a second chance. Your choice must be made now."
When Logan and the Commander arrived at the Meade residence, there was a commotion from within the house. Edobar Meade was shouting so loudly, his words were audible from outside. "Just reflect upon what you're suggesting here! All these other children disappeared! You would be next on the list."
The soldiers guarding the Meades from inside opened the front door upon seeing the Captain approach it. At the table in the living room, Rolan Meade stood with both his parents. Kasmeer had her arms wrapped around Edobar and buried her face in his shoulder.
Edobar was livid and practically screamed at his son. "Look at your poor mother! She's worried sick as it is! For Dwayna's sake, we have city guards posted in the house day-in day-out. We can't even leave the house for fear of mesmers coming in our stead. All because of how dangerous it is over the mere possibility."
Rolan was intimidated, but he still stood firm. He didn't raise his voice, but he did talk back at his father. "If I'm in danger just because I CAN do it, then what's the difference if I do? They'll come after me anyway, so why shouldn't I?"
"Because maybe - hopefully - this all might blow over if we just try to get on Anise's good side! This idea of yours will only cement her intent to take you away from us!"
"She already wants to! It makes. No. Difference!"
"YES IT DOES!"
Edobar stopped when he saw Logan raise his hand in a gesture for him to calm down. "Sir Meade, Lady Meade. I'm afraid your son might be right. We've tried to reason with Anise and she's sticking to whatever these past weeks were. We've found the other children and brought them to safety, but Anise might go after their families to force them out of hiding. As things stand, you have a target on your backs. All of you."
Rolan seized the opportunity to make his point. "See? Even he agrees! I'm not safe and I don't think I will be. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this."
The Commander reeled the young man back in. "Before you make any rash decisions, you could tell us what this is all about."
Edobar shrugged. "The boy is mad. He's thinking of visiting Judge Meldan and applying for the same 'princehood' that got us in this mess to begin with."
The Commander had an idea and pulled Logan aside and out of the house. "Logan, this might be it. If he does this, we might have a chance to fix all this today."
"How?"
"We can't just throw out the Shining Blade, but another case of the 'princehood' clause being invoked might coax an open attack out of them. If they start a war in the streets with citizens witnessing it, we'd have carte blanche to lock them all away. We just keep the courthouse guarded with the boy inside and he's safe while we take care of the Shining Blade."
"Using him as bait? I'm not sure."
"Put yourself in his shoes. Would you rather be 'bait', hiding in the courthouse with the Seraph's protection or a sitting duck, stuck here without the Seraph and waiting for Anise to strike? I don't want to allow another Shaemoor to happen. Not if there's anything we can do to prevent it."
Logan rolled his eyes. He couldn't argue with it, but he didn't like it as a matter of principle. "You're right. If we can keep up the whole city instead of abandoning everyone who trusts the Shining Blade, that's a lot of lives saved." They marched back inside and when the Meades paused their argument, the captain worded his stance plainly.
"Your son is right. He won't be any safer sitting around here than he'll be if he invokes princehood. Not just that, but if he does, he might have a chance at preventing messes like this in the future."
"You heard him, Dad. We have to give it a try."
Slowly but surely, the resignation settled within Sir Meade. He looked over to Logan. "Are you sure there is no other way?"
"Anise is dead set on making young lady Hawthorne the new queen. I don't believe she's intent on letting any competitors live. The Shining Blade aren't leaving any time soon and as far as public opinion goes, we can't change that. More than with everyone else, I'd urge you and the other families involved in this debacle to come with us. Any place outside of the city is still safer than here."
As Rolan sat on one of the couches and stared on the floor, the older Meades retreated into the kitchen to discuss the matter. Time passed, Seraph marched the streets gathering anxious commoners that had heard the town criers' message and Logan and the Commander stood in place eagerly awaiting the middle-aged couple's answer.
Eventually, they came back to the living room and Edobar nodded. "Right. If this is what you truly want to do, we can't stand in your way. You have our permission." The family dispute was settled. The Meades gathered up all their children and whatever valuables were easy to carry and then the Seraph escorted them to the courthouse.
Logan made sure to bring enough soldiers to assume tight formation all along both sides of the bridge. He and the Commander stood at the forefront of each side. The Commander on the east side, himself on the west. And they brought all the city records pertaining to the Meade line's nobility to the courthouse to not risk Meldan getting dragged away on his way through the city.
As predicted, a platoon of Shining Blade members came marching up on them. Going by the staves, about half of them were mesmers. And at the head of them was Anise. "What are you doing?"
"Protecting an endangered citizen of Divinity's Reach?"
"Step aside! There is a witness to an important investigation inside that building."
He had no intention to follow that order. "The same kind of investigation as with those other nobles in the western commons?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I couldn't help but notice that the incident isn't the talk of the town. What's wrong? Scared that if word gets out that - "
"SHUT UP! You don't know what you're talking about!"
He continued without shame. "If word gets out that your mercs died on the job, others might not sign up to follow in their footsteps. Is that your concern?"
"I don't owe you an answer! You should quit this nonsense and start doing as you're told!"
"You owe me that and so much more. I'm not backing down on this. You're not laying hands on the boy - or his family for that matter. They're coming with us."
As Anise turned more aggravated, she also made things more personal. "This is still about Jennah isn't it? You thought that just because you devoted yourself to her, that you were entitled to her affection!" It was not appropriate for her to blurt out things like this or make this accusation against him, but it appeared she thought otherwise. "Everyone knew how you felt about her. You're just angry that Jennah didn't reciprocate your-"
He interrupted her with conscious strength in his voice. "Would that make a difference?" He spoke in a commanding tone that quieted her immediately. "Even if all of that were true, would that bring her back? And what if you were right - if I argued that her and I courting each other and marrying was a better choice than the choices she made - would I be wrong? We certainly wouldn't be standing here fighting over 'princed' nobles if she had an heir, would we now?"
"You are in no position to make judgments of her like that! Jennah had a clear view of the kingdom, she knew what she was do-"
He almost roared at her, but caught himself and spoke firmly: "She had no idea what she was doing. Or she didn't care." Anise knew that this entire subject was his soft spot. She knew she could bring him to tears just by harping on hit and she exploited it without shame. Anything between Logan and Jennah was irrelevant to the safety of the citizens and she knew that it was. She just harped on it because she thought it would bring him down.
He knew she was only leveraging this as an excuse to wave away criticism, so he simply embraced the straw man and ran with it. She knew that criticising Jennah was a hard thing for Logan to do, so he overcame his hangups and called her bluff. "Many of her choices were not only bad, they were irresponsible! She did some things right, but I'm not blindly defending her mistakes and I'm certainly not taking such musings from an unhinged megalomaniac like you!"
"That's it!" As Anise realized that her trump card was a dud, the feigned outrage faded, allowing the cold, inhuman indifference that informed her past policies to surface in its stead. She lowered her voice and ordered him: "Stand down, Seraphs. We're taking the boy."
Logan drew his sword and his men behind him did the same. "You are welcome to try."
"I'm not letting some upstart male take away what rightfully should be mine and Eliah's! Seek out the boy and seize him!" Her soldiers had reservations at first. "Come on, move!" When shouted at with a more threatening tone, they charged at the Seraph. All of them vanished from sight, but Logan anticipated invisibility and blinking being used to try to get past them, which was why he had his soldiers crowd the bridge this way. Without issue, all of them were seized and brought to him, cuffed and arrested.
"Lock them up, solitary, one cell each. If there aren't enough cells left, release other prisoners until there are."
"You can't just imprison the Shining Blade! That's outrageous - wait, let go of me!" Anise was among the mesmers caught and was now being dragged to the prison along with the rest. This wasn't how Logan hoped it would go but he coached his soldiers for that possibility too. Anise only took the bait half-way. She wasn't stupid enough to try to slaughter the Seraph, but she did send her mesmers to try to rush past them to get to Rolan. The attempted kidnapping was enough to lock them away and to lock her away for ordering it.
"They shouldn't have attempted to kidnap a citizen then. Actually, self-defense isn't against the law either, so men: Release all the civilians and put Anise and her people in solitary." This was just to rub it in. He knew that with Anise's overemphasized sense of superiority, seeing the Shining Blade denied freedom while commoners were granted it, would drive her insane.
And it worked. In several frantic movements, she bickered: "You - this isn't the end of this! You'll pay for that! Jenna would never have wanted you, Logan! You're just doing this because of Jennah" She was dragged off screeching with genuine rage over Logan's unwillingness to bend to her will. She really expected that all it took for him to cave in and give her her way was to bring up Jennah. That made something clear to Logan that gave him new confidence. The Shining Blade weren't that scary, they merely thought themselves invincible and above criticism and had nothing to bring forth the moment someone refused to play along.
After a while, the deed was done. The Meade family came back outside, along with Meldan, his court servants and the Seraph that kept watch over them from within. The judge marched up to the captain and pressed his index finger against his chestplate. "This is one fine mess you put me in. Is what they're saying about what happened outside true?"
"I'm afraid so. We arrested Anise, but that won't keep her away for long, we merely bought ourselves some time."
"Then I'm as much a target here as all the nobles. We've packed all the documents relating to the princehood case. I doubt they're interested in much else. I'm coming with you and I'm taking the city records too, just in case the countess plans on falsifying them."
As soon as they were ready, they marched to the city gates, where more of Logan's forces were waiting with the noble families and many more citizens in tow. The Shining Blade antagonized them all the way through, but the Seraph kept dense formations around all the citizens and drew their weapons whenever the Shining Blade appeared intent on forcing their way past them. Luckily, it never came to an actual trade of blows, the mere threat of violence was enough to hold them off.
Seeing the Seraph of the city join together in full force was a sight to behold. A legitimate army that could swarm the streets of the entire city and still not exhaust its numbers. With the men that used to be stationed elsewhere that were now missing in action, they could rival even the joint force of the Charr's high legions. They marched away from the city, with troops moving ahead and behind the civilians. The field in front of Shaemoor garrison was completely swarmed with soldiers. No road was wide enough to not end up with a mile-long column.
They travelled west to the spaced-out farmlands with barely any housing and sought out the one that held the bunker to fetch the children. They were fine and the remaining food stores allowed them to stock up on provisions at least a little.
They traveled south, past many of the newly set-up Charr encampments, including a swiftly erected fortress of the Iron Legion. They visited the hideouts where the Commander had left behind the fleeing villagers from all over Queensdale. Most had abandoned them, others were disheveled and hungry. When they swarmed through the towns and villages on their way south, the Seraph made sure to keep a tight formation around the citizens so none of them would get lost.
On their travels through Queensdale, the season of the Colossus ended and gave way to that of the Zephyr. The harsh grasp of the elements eased up and the snow began to melt in tandem. By the time they made it to the south, the temperatures had risen so far, they could even make camp under the night sky. With improvised tents set up from strands of cloth brought along with some of the carts and animals.
It was impossible for a number of people this big to slip out of the sight of the Shining Blade, so their priority shifted to making sure they didn't lose anyone, which meant that camping on hills and open fields was on the table.
But food was less of an issue as of yet than they first feared it would be. The scouting parties of the Seraph found various kinds of food stores in the villages that hadn't been picked clean yet. From the safehouse, they went southeast, through the heart of the valley and then, towards the township of Claypool at the southern edge. Logan was asked many times where exactly they were going, but the truth of the matter was that he wasn't sure. He knew that remaining in Queensdale - or Kryta in general - was a bad idea as the Shining Blade considered Kryta 'not their jurisdiction' enough to not touch any Charr, but not enough to not go after humans.
He also knew that traveling east was a bad idea, as that was where the Charr, eager to claim new territory were coming from. The legions didn't launch any full scale attacks on the Seraph, but many overconfident Charr came up to them expecting them to just let them attack or harass the citizens as they did before. It took drawing swords to get them to back off.
So ultimately, the only choice they had was to travel west, to Maguuma. The short-tempered Asura weren't interested in intraracial conflicts between humans and the Sylvari were peace loving creatures that wouldn't take kindly to seeing Anise's lackeys go after them. And while the lush and sometimes sentient vegetation and the thriving wildlife made the jungle a dangerous place to be in, it also made it a place where food grew quite literally on trees.
The Township of Claypool was a complete ruin. Many of the houses were burned down, huts and smaller buildings were broken with Charr weapons lodged right where the cracks were. Hoes, rakes and other tools had been thrown onto a big pile and set on fire leaving only short, brittle charcoal sticks attached to the metal components. The foods and sweets on the market were almost completely gone, what little was left, was strewn about in bits and pieces. Off to a corner, behind a barn lay a dead Charr with no wounds. The dozens of empty liquor bottles around the body gave a better indication of how he met his end.
Logan stopped and stared at the narrow cleft leading upwards from Claypool to Kessex Hills. They all stood upon the threshold to an unknown path in their lives and for their people. But when the path you knew was damnation, then the one you didn't know was the better choice. Scared of what was to come, the Seraph and the commoners in their care crossed the path, leaving Queensdale without knowing for how long.