NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: The Price for Love and War
Soril POV
The sun is rising on the horizon when the smoke finally clears. Shakingly, he stands up to overlook the now desolate city. He quickly descends to it. Taking the only handful of Wascald's former troops that remained alive in the castle to scout the blackened streets. His comrades, unable to die a painless death. Flaking away like soot. Their beady eyes staring back at him. Death is not something unfamiliar to him, he’s ordered it himself countless times, and seen defeat of his men, countless times.
Yet now, something trembles his heart when he knows who death takes. Kyle, the one he arm-wrestled with. Alvin, the one he sparred against. Randy, Jon and Kristoph, his teammates on the plate-tag. Then he spots Ovid, slouched against a building, unable to even struggle, he runs towards him,
“Lumeria. Where’s Lumeria?” He can’t speak. Neither can his friend Theo next to him. But they’re gesturing with their eyes. He crushes their throats to grant them a quick demise. They don’t deserve to suffer for his slip up. None of them do. There’s something sinking to the pit of his stomach. He stands up again. Looking towards the gate, there amongst a pile of jet-black ash, the glimpse of rose red. Curled up. He’s almost frightful to approach her,
“Lumeria...?” Her skin is black, glowing crimson. A flickering akin dim ember midst darkened charcoal. He starts running when he sees her breathe. A gasping inhale shakes her frame alive. She slowly picks herself up from the debris. An unregistering blankness to her eyes as she examines her hands, smudged like they had been burnt. Then she looks around, her expression warps into her face of disbelief, then denial then grief,
“No... no, no no, no!” she tries to crawl to the nearest corpse she sees. He bends down to hug her tight,
“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry! This is all my fault. I should’ve taken the precaution and killed her.” and she burst into tears,
“No. It was mine... She tried to ask me to help her. If I did. Then-” he shushes her. The weight snaps in his heart. At least she survived. Good... At least she survived. He pets her head to calm her down. Feels her back, hitching with each sob. She finally asks,
“How many more bottles of this thing are there left?”
“That probably was the last one Wascald had. They’re gone now. They won’t hurt you anymore.”
“Promise me, you won’t seek this weapon out further. No one deserves to die like this.”
“I cannot let this fall into the enemy’s hands.” but she’s not backing down this time, scrunching into the collar of his shirt, and tells him very, very firmly,
“Then promise me it will never, ever be used.” He pans towards the ashen landscape. At his subordinates that he’s finally starting to get to know, dusting away in the wind. He can’t deny her this request any longer. He can’t just pretend he does not care. Crying Nightshade is something that they should have never tampered with. He agrees with her,
“I promise.” but they aren’t even given the time to grief. The few surviving troops are abruptly alerted, drawing steel. Someone’s rapidly charging in. Rakgar, all blazing red and gold, he’s picked two discarded swords from the ground, cleaning up his men and rushing forward. He quickly pushes Lumeria away,
“I guess your karma is finally catching up to you!” engaging the fight,
“How did you get out of your cell. Shitty undying cockroach!”
“You have your woman to thank for that, left me a nice little gift when she came to confess her sins.” Lumeria instantly launches an arrow straight into Rakgar's side. Soril kicks him back in his stagger, ordering the five remaining griffin guards to pile dive Rakgar to onto the ground,
“You’re a fucking moron for coming back then.” But Rakgar’s smirking at him,
“Or am I? Did you notice something was missing when you dusted Feror with your witchcraft?” Rakgar turns towards the darkened alleyways, and beckons with a thundering voice,
“Now!” and it freezes his veins. Estelian troops, emerging from the nooks and crannies. More charging in the front gates. They immediately seized Lumeria. Cuts down the guards keeping Rakgar stifled. Then their swords are drawn towards him. They must’ve slipped in too after the smoke cleared. Rapidly shifting favors.
“How long have you schemed this? How did you get your orders out to them?”
“Schemed? Nah. My men and my sister’s simply don’t get along. They’re loyal to me. Waiting for an opportunity in Kanra’s outskirts this entire time. I was anticipating an uphill battle after Feror. But looks like the Gods has decided to be kind. Of course the Astian snakes will be backstabbing each other left and right into self-destruction. It’s spectacular.” one of the troops is lugging a claymore towards Rakgar. Handing the weapon to him. The other fires a flare into the sky. A signal. Rakgar lunges forward.
He dodges aside, cleaning up the men seizing Lumeria with wires to pick her up.
“Don’t let them get out of here!”
He dashes towards the gates that are now being clanking close upon Rakgar’s commands. Cutting through the swarming enemies before his path one after another. A ceaseless hoard he can’t finish cleaning up. He knows Rakgar has about two thousand forces left at this point. Rakgar, hot on his trail, Lumeria’s sniping at him. Slowing Rakgar down with her arrows fired straight towards his heart that he is forced to dodge and block. Apologizing as she does,
“I shouldn’t have felt sorry for him. I made a stupid mistake.”
“As did I.” the Wascald traitors are intending to drag them to their graves even after their deaths,
“We got outplayed. Let’s focus on getting out alive first.”
Just one street more. But the Estelians are filing in, armed with Godorian shields. Attempting to completely block the route. They should finally put those dynamites into use.
He takes her last arrow from the quiver to sweep the flint on the ground, igniting it before passing it to Lumeria,
“Blow this place to shit. Start from the one at the furthest.” She abides. A deafening explosion furls out into the sky like a fire cloud. The city, like firecrackers, going off behind them. Burning debris falling like rain along with the charred smell of body parts. Fire, wildly spreading to their surroundings. It’s catching up in two more buildings. Troops set aflame and blasted to pieces at their backs. It frightens the shielders to scamper for their lives. He picks them off the moment they turn to run. Slicing them into pieces.
The gates are in sight. He clears out the two men at the crane with dagger throws. Stopping them from shutting their exit. He eyes the sliver of white light that’s left. Diving towards it. They’re out! There are more Estelian troops charging from their forest hiding, but they haven’t been able get into formation lines yet. Now, all he has got to do is smoke them and they can use the chaos to escape into the thickets themselves.
“Soril! Watch ou-” Lumeria couldn’t finish the sentence before he’s tackled. Rakgar, this stupid hindering motherfucker. He caught up once Lumeria doesn’t have arrows to slow him down anymore. Three of them, smashing to the ground and tumbling like rolling pins.
The last building nearest to the entrance detonates. A sharp pain pierces through his kidney. The force of the blast throwing them far into the muddy landscape outside. His vision is fogging. Something hurts like death. He lands in the soil. The ringing in his ears dims to hear Lumeria’s repeated cries of his name,
“Soril! Soril!” She’s using his dagger to slit her wrist. But she’s abruptly dragged away by the rapidly encroaching Estelian forces, promptly disarmed and seized to the ground.
“Let me go!” her arms locked behind her back, she struggles against them,
“Bathory you shitty prick! Give me my powers back!” He tries to get up. Attempting to retrieve his smoke bomb. Huh... what is this? He can’t. Something hurts. His sight isn’t focusing. Got to. Get them out. Don’t give out yet. Come on. He feebly rolls the grenade onto the ground. The force isn’t enough to make it detonate. Instead, he’s been picked up by Rakgar and put on his knees,
“What goes around comes around. I won’t let you cheese death this time.” There’s a gaping wound in his stomach. His intestines trailing down his legs. This opportunistic fucker stabbed him in the explosion... Ha...
“Please! Please, please, please! I’ll do anything. Please, don’t kill him!” they lost. They lost this completely. And thoroughly.
“You didn’t hold back when you decided to repeatedly blow up my men and my sister.” Rakgar’s voice rages with venom. His shadow looms over him. The edge of the claymore, glisters sharp silver under the light. Lumeria’s desperately pleading for him,
“But I saved your life! No. Please! Please! Don’t do it! No-!” Ah... there’s such a sad look on her face again. Don’t cry. Don’t cry for him. Don’t cry Lumeria. He really doesn’t deserve it after he's failed her. But this feels nice, somehow. A lukewarm tender blossoming in his chest. The sun sure is bright today. The sky flashes white. Is his time in this world finally up? He doesn’t want to leave yet. If only he could’ve seen his sister one more time. Regretf-