Chapter 6
It was early in the morning, and the sun was considering rising, with a reddish haze appearing behind the Apalene Mountains. They had ridden throughout the night, having finally arrived at their destination in no less than 10 hours. Exhausted, they walked to the city entrance, where there were only two guards stationed. One of them immediately approached Darko, telling him to get to the Palace as soon as possible.
Assassins had struck.
The thought filled Darko with dread as he and Wei had their weapons drawn at the palace entrance.
“King Sodo is being held hostage at the very top floor, where your bed chambers are located, he demands that the Sedonii Coalition surrender to the R and B, whom he claims are already deployed and marching to our city.” reported the soldier.
“Have any of the outposts seen R and B?” asked Xiu Wei.
“That’s unimportant now.” Darko snapped, “We have to save my father, how many are we up against?”
“We aren’t sure, only one has spoken to us, but there may be more. They said that any rescue attempts will result in the King’s death.”
This was a bitter situation, Darko knew it wouldn’t end well, and he knew they were going to kill his father.
“We could still try.” he said. “I know of crawler vines that lead up to the second floor. After that, we’ll only have to cross three more floors, and I believe I can do it undetected.”
“You’re going in alone?” Wei asked.
Darko nodded, “They’ll most likely notice more than one.”
They knew he was right.
“Let me go.” Wei suggested, “There is no need to risk the King’s son.”
“Xiu, I will not stand idly by and watch my father get killed. I will handle this, or die trying.”
“If both you and your father are killed…”
“I know, I won’t, neither of us will.”
There was a pause, as each of them thought of what else there was to say. Knowing everyone was out of arguments, Darko began to walk towards the crawlers. He sheathed his sword and began to climb, grunting from the fatigue and effort. The crawlers ascended right by a window on the first floor, and Darko could hear at least three guards talking to one another on the first floor, one of the guards was very close to the window.
This floor won’t work. He thought.
The second floor wasn’t any better, with a guard standing by the window. Or was it? Darko could hear the sound of wood scraping on wood as he saw the tip of a bow extending from the window. There was a group of cavalry moving up towards the house, and the archer was going to try and kill one of them.
Bad move.
Darko held onto the crawler with one hand and unsheathed his sword, jabbing it through the window above him. The archer didn’t even have time to yell, and had become the foundation for another handhold which Darko used to hoist himself up through the window. He was concealed by the archer’s body, with the guard behind the archer not having noticed what had happened yet.
Darko let the archer go and immediately grabbed the bow and an arrow, stringing the bow and firing the moment the archer stumbled over and hit the ground. The arrow struck the other guard just below the neck, paralyzing him and knocking him to the ground. This corridor was clear of other guards, but it wouldn’t be long before they found these bodies. He quickly sheathed the bloody sword and grabbed another arrow, jabbing it into the archer’s chest, hoping they would assume that they had been attacked by archers, not an intruder. He would have to run through 2 rooms to get to the stairwell.
Time for a leap of faith, he thought, sprinting through one room. After this room I’m going to hit another corridor.
Sprint or go…
Go!
He ran across the hallway, right behind a guard, who immediately turned around to see what had just blitzed by him. But it was too late for that guard, for Darko was already on the third floor and running to the fourth.
“Intruder.” someone above him yelled.
Perhaps that call had doomed his father, but as he stopped, stepped to the side, and looked up to investigate, an arrow flew right through where he had been. Another archer was readying his bow, and another arrow flew at him, this one embedding itself in the wall an inch from his shoulder. The spall from the wood made him cough, and he began to run up the stairs, taking a sidestep every time he heard the sound of an arrow being released. Dozens of arrows must have been being fired at him when he finally reached the fifth and final floor, lunging towards a locked door. He had no time to struggle with it, as he had to duck and roll away from another volley of arrows that hit the door. He was getting pushed farther and farther into a corridor, and if the door didn’t work in front of him, he would have to find a different way to dodge the next wave of arrows.
An archer fired.
The door opened, and Darko lunged behind the door the guard had opened, using it as a shield from the barrage of arrows. The guard was another problem he’d have to eliminate as well, but luckily the arrows hitting the door stunned him long enough for Darko to run into the room he had emerged from.
“Father!” Darko exclaimed.
To his surprise there was no other guard here, and his father was sitting at the foot of the bed, tired but seemingly uninjured. He turned around, drawing his sword and using it to block the upper strike that came from the guard, who was now back in the room with him. The guard took the backseat to his most pertinent situation right now, which was getting his father out safely. His father didn’t respond though, staying hunched over like a rock, unmoving even to this situation.
As Darko fought the guard, he glanced over, trying to see if his father was alright, seeing no hint as to any injuries, and then the King fell to his side and collapsed, falling off the bed as a lifeless clump. The image burnt through Darko, almost surreal at that very moment, he didn’t even notice his victory over the guard as he cut him down, leaving him to bleed out on the blood red ground. Darko heard the sound of more fighting, and before even checking to see if the enemy forces on his floor were occupied, he immediately ran to his father’s side, turning him over and trying to get his attention.
“Father! Are you alright, wake up! Speak to me!” Darko cried.
His pleas were answered, and King Sodo’s eyes opened to a slit, and he took a deep breath.
“Darko… R and B”
“I know father, they tried to attack me too, they – “
But King Sodo interrupted him, “They… want… you.” he said, and then pointed behind him, to the mountains, “and… them…”
“Who?” Darko asked.
“The… dragons… your… dragon,” his words were strained, “and… Xiu’s…”
“Why?”
Sodo exhaled, taking another deep breath.
“You… know… why.” the King replied.
Darko could see by the look of his eyes that he was beginning to daze off.
“Stay with me father!” Darko demanded, shaking him lightly, “Don’t go now!”
His efforts were of no use, however, and King Sodo looked Darko right in the eyes, “You, were a good son to me… Darko. Do well… Sedonii… will be in… safe…” Darko’s father exhaled one final time, “hands.”