Chapter 10 - Invasion

Shadow awoke the morning of the castle attack slightly perplexed. More nervous than on any previous was Shadow, probably because of lack of experience on something this grand a scale. `On the verge of writing history` thought Shadow while preparing. Shadow looked at the masked figure in the mirror staring back. A formidable image of a battle hardened warrior, the image of this masked slayer scared even Shadow looking too intensely at the reflection. Shadow took the shoulder pads and fastened them on, followed by attaching the cape and then looked in the mirror again, this time fully clothed for battle. `Looks like that of a supreme general` thought Shadow `or maybe even a king`. Shadow went back to the bed and picked up the sword of Drakahor and sheathed it into the sword belt attached to Shadow’s waist. Shadow was anxious to get moving out at this point, not used to waiting had made Shadow begin to jump around the room slightly, getting the muscles there warmed up. Shadow then began to practice punches in the air, this began to ease the tension of holding out for the signal to ride out. It was barely light outside, the ride from Bheliez to Legia castle would take some hours and leaving just before the sun rose would have them arrive mid morning. There was a firm knock at the door, Shadow slid it across and Zvire was standing there, in full gear. “Time come for riding out” and with that Shadow nodded and walked with Zvire to the front of the temple. Outside were a multitude of beasts in all directions, some had to move out of the way to make a path for Shadow and Zvire to get to their horses. In the early morning sky, which was still dark to an extent but nowhere near as black as the midnight sky some hours earlier Shadow noticed while walking to mount the stallion given by Zvire that the beast army had no horses themselves, apart from Zvire himself. “Why does your army not travel upon horseback, it would make the journey much quicker” Shadow said as he mounted his horse to Zvire.
“My army travel at pace with no need for animal assistance, you will see” Zvire replied moments after mounting his ride. Shadow looked around briefly “Where is Orscyar” Shadow asked.
“Here” Orscyar called from behind Shadow, who turned to see Orscyar atop a deceptively weak looking horse, `that mare will have to be careful not to eat the dust of my ride` thought Shadow, patting the neck of the dark black stallion that had been given to him for this ride out by Zvire. Shadow thought the horse was perfectly suited, the refined blackness of the horses coat and the fearsomeness of its rider looked, Shadow thought, formidable to say the least. Shadow heard Zvire grunt some orders at the troops all around them and they scattered, almost in the blink of an eye. “We will ride now, army will meet up later” Zvire said turning to Shadow and Orscyar and with that they began the ride out of the forest. There were trees all around them, for what seemed like miles in every direction and Shadow could easily have become lost were he not being shown the way by Zvire, who was in front leading Shadow and Orscyar. From what Shadow knew, Orscyar was bringing his family deep into the forest to keep away from harm while he and Zvire went to meet up with the other rebel leaders. There were five in all, this invasion had been apparently planned on a huge scale for a long time now, once rumour got out about the kings disappearance, this would be their biggest opportunity to take the castle, remove all opponents that stand in their way and with it take the crown of Legia. The three horses plodded along the forest at a steady pace, each rider entranced by their own thoughts. Shadow wondered what would have happened had the demons not attacked Orscyar’s family and whether this invasion would still be taking part. `How’d I get this deep into what is in essence...treachery` Shadow thought, the sudden unveiling of evil disturbed Shadow. `I am a good person, I’m not evil` Shadow kept thinking, who was almost frightened of being evil, turning into all Shadow hated, a cold hearted killer. Shadow’s mind then began to run to that which drove most of Shadow’s emotions, `what if it was an accident, would I still have my vengeance?` a question Shadow asked on a regular basis, one which would never get an answer, unless it came to be a realization. Shadow sighed softly and tried to stop thinking and observe the splendour of the nature around, which was looking fairly majestic in this transitional period between the blackness of the night and the radiance of the early morning. The three horses made gradual progress through the incalculable forest, reaching its limit just as the sun was beginning to take over the sky, turning it bright orange in this breathtaking sunrise. Silence among the three riders began to unsettle Shadow, but had grown used to being uncomfortable during the years and silently accepted it. Shadow shifted around on the saddle slightly, trying to brace for the long journey ahead. Zvire slowed down slightly so that he was on Shadow‘s left side. “The dark spirits will try bringing much doom to this land” Zvire said casually.
“Dark spirits? oh you mean the demons” Shadow said catching on. “You know of them ?” Shadow then asked.
“There are stories, Legia is society built on legends, we two are such examples” Zvire answered.
“If I never see those unearthly creatures again it will be too soon” Shadow said sternly.
“These creatures worry you?” Zvire asked.
“I have seen too much death, I only need to see one die, my father‘s killer” Shadow replied.
“You shall have him one day my friend” Orscyar put in, Shadow then nodded agreement and they began to pick up pace slightly. “Do you know exactly where we are going Zvire” Orscyar then asked Zvire after a while of silence.
“Yes yes, Zvire know where to meet rest of rebel army, it is hours ride away”
“And we attack as soon as we‘ve met up?” Shadow asked.
“No, no, it will have been a tiring journey for five armies to meet at this time so early in the morning, we shall rest, and attack later” Zvire replied. The rest of the ride was in silence, neither Orscyar, Shadow or Zvire said anything, they all continued in their own thoughts, each trying to prepare themselves for the day ahead. The day was unfolding before their eyes as they rode, the early morning air was chilly and cut through the extensive armour Shadow was wearing and caused Orscyar to shiver when it began to pick up pace. The breeze began to calm as the three passed over hills and down into valleys. There were no people along the dust track which they were travelling so early in the morning, this gave things a more eerie sense than they allready were. Eventually after more than an hour they passed over a huge hill that Shadow recognised as the town of Eletion, the primary town in Legia and short ride from the castle. They rode along the outskirts of Eletion, up the huge hill on the edge of the town and inside a huge cavern, implanted in the side of this hill. Shadow dismounted before entering and tied the horse up to a tree, going inside Shadow could see lanterns all around, a numerous amount of them to conquer the vast darkness that would otherwise engulf the cave. There were countless amounts of men in there, all nameless faces, who parted as Zvire and Shadow appeared. Shadow could hear some of the rebel soldiers whispers as he passed them, the beasts he had been with for the past two days did not know about The Shadow of Death, but they did. “That's him” Shadow heard walking past some men “Its the Shadow of Death” and the comments continued until Shadow reached the far depths of the passage. “Zvire is here” Zvire said upon greeting the person whom he had been looking for, there were four men Shadow could see. They could not see Shadow yet while he stood back and observed. The one that Zvire had spoken too Shadow knew as Blainhe, once of the Legia army, known for his hatred of Gyraicus. There were three more behind Blainhe; Numancia, Di Sangro and Warjian. Shadow had heard of one of them and even knew personally Di Sangro, how much of a coward he really was. Di Sangro was a lucky man, who managed to stay alive by letting his idiotic troops die for him, he would never last in a real battle. Warjian was a fierce looking individual, whose eyes did not give away much, maybe because he did not want anyone to see any fear in them. Numancia was a name that echoed through the land of Legia. Numancia was an old man now and had once been a high ranking general and commanded many armies, the thing that stood out about Numancia was that he commanded in the battle of Gorhenge, on the side of Darkenhathe. “Its about time” grunted Warjian upon Zvire’s arrival. “Ignore him” said Blainhe. “He is just anxious to get this over with” Blainhe paused “Do you have what we discussed ?” Blainhe asked.
“He here, have you told the others?” Zvire answered. Blainhe then turned and began to address the other three. “As you know when we take over the castle and take over this godforsaken land we do not have a king, and since none of us are willing to take over, let me introduce you to the next king of Legia...” with that Shadow began to move into view “...The Shadow of Death”. Shadow looked at the three men intensely, Warjian looked clearly unhappy, Numancia looked nonchalant and Shadow could see the fear in the eyes of Di Sangro, `typical of him` Shadow thought. “Fine with me” Numancia said half-heartedly “as long as I get the last kill, I want that fool Gyraicus‘ head on my sword” Numancia’s voice filled with hatred as he spoke. Shadow wasn’t interested in how they took the news, in return for Shadow’s expert killing ability it had been promised that after the battle the crown would be Shadow’s. “Who we waiting for?” Zvire asked.
“The wizard, what's his name...” Di Sangro’s struggled to remember.
“Call me Presto” came a voice followed by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared Shadow could see a young man, he could not have been older than twenty two. He wore a green silk robe, his eyes were green and slightly innocent looking, his hair brown and slick. `How could such a boy get mixed up with people like this` Shadow thought as he saw Presto in his fullest. “So are we going in now or what?” an anxious Presto asked. Di Sangro laughed with a hint of nervousness in it and walked over to Presto “Unlike you my boy, real soldiers have to rest before a big battle, we will get going soon don't you worry” Shadow could see in Di Sangro’s eyes that he did not like Presto. “I‘ll be outside” Shadow grumbled and began to head out of the cave that had become their hideout. Shadow observed the plains and fields ahead of him and came close to removing the mask to take in some fresh morning air, but decided against it. Shadow walked a few paces outward and began to get lost in his thoughts. It was not before long however that this process was interrupted by the young wizard Presto. “Not warm enough for this time of day” Presto started and with a quick flick of his wrist Shadow felt the temperature begin to rise slowly, then suddenly the air returned to its original temperature. Presto sighed and sat down resting his back against a tree “I have yet to master the art of controlling my surroundings” Shadow heard Presto grumble to himself.
“Matters not” Shadow said “however you must be able to handle yourself in combat, which will be very soon” Shadow looked down toward Presto.
“I am learning, maybe one day I will be a grand wizard” Presto replied
“Yes, one day, if you live to see another” Shadow said icily. “How did you get involved with this rebellion young wizard ?” Shadow asked.
“Naivety mostly, got ideas ahead of my station, I figure the soldiers will do all the work and I shall stroll in the new grand wizard, with the help of the many books I would learn quickly” Presto said directly “That is, if you would let me be your grand wizard, when you are king” Presto asked politely.
“If you plan for tomorrow you cannot see the knives in your back today” a metaphoric Shadow said “but should fate swing our way today, I consider your proposal” Presto nodded acknowledgement and took a small vial filled with a blue liquid out of his pocket.
“This will protect you when you are most vulnerable” Presto said as he put the small container into Shadow’s hand. Shadow looking at the blue substance inside, it crackled and fizzled with almost electric like intensity. Shadow thanked Presto and put the small container into his pocket and began to walk out into the distance once more. Shadow could see some of the troops were resting up before the invasion, they had begun to come out of the cave and rest their backs against trees and drift off, to what most likely will be the last rest they shall ever have. Shadow tried to hold back a yawn, but couldn't help it and yawned anyway. The early morning ride out and the long journey had taken its toll on Shadow, who then sat down right next to a tree. Shadow eyes closed momentarily and the last thing that Shadow felt before drifting off was the container Presto had handed over and was now stored in Shadow’s pocket begin to get warm.
Shadow could sense the darkness everywhere, a whirlwind emanated from all around. Shadow knew these feelings all too well, for Shadow had been transported by his mind through dreams to the place on that fateful day, when Shadow’s father died. Shadow would look deep into the eyes of the dying man, who felt Shadow’s presence. The cries of pain haunted Shadow, again and again, Shadow’s cruel mind would repeat them over and over, drawing Shadow ever closer to the edges of sanity. There would be no other images in the dream, just the dying man which Shadow called “father”. The dream had been the same for years, it had gotten to a point where Shadow was almost morbidly comfortable with these visions, it was at least something Shadow had grown used too in an ever changing world. The image of the old man in front of Shadow’s eyes was tearing at Shadow’s heart to the point where Shadow was feeling almost physically sick. Then in an unprecedented move, the noises began to change, to that of those being killed by the demons. Shadow began to feel scared while listening to these blood curdling sounds of dying men, this fear slowly turned to anger, Shadow felt hot, it was like Shadow was in the centre of a huge ball of fire. Shadow struggled to think, `the dream has never changed in almost a decade now, so what is the reason for this harrowing vision` Shadow managed to eventually string a sentence together mentally. The heat was getting almost unbearable now and Shadow let out a cry of pain, which woke Shadow from the restless thoughts. Shadow’s eyes opened and the vision was blurry, `how long have I been asleep ?` Shadow thought. There was a blue light all around and Shadow felt something excruciatingly hot coming from the pocket that Shadow had earlier put the small container in. Shadow took out the vial, which was glowing blindingly bright. It felt incredibly hot and Shadow could hear it crackle and fizz with extraordinary intensity. From what Shadow could make out, there was a blue sphere of energy all around, Shadow had been trapped. Shadow then looked outside the sphere, and the sight that Shadow’s eyes saw shattered Shadow to the core. There were demons, hundreds of them all around, Shadow had not been trapped but in fact saved by the energy of the container Presto had earlier handed over. Shadow could hear dying screams of sleeping men who had been abruptly awoken to find demons inside their body. Shadow looked to the entrance of the cove and saw Presto doing his best to erect a shield of the same type around the entrance, but the constant harrying by the demons was making it a struggle. Shadow drew the sword of Drakahor and wondered momentarily if using it would burst the energy bubble that Shadow had been encased inside, but this thought was soon discarded, Shadow could not listen to another dying scream. Shadow ran toward where Presto was attempting to protect the remaining men inside the cove and began to broadly swing the sword at the demons heading for them. This began working almost immediately as Presto finished creating an energy shield around the cave entrance and began firing balls of fire at the demons. The balls of fire were more than effective as they would keep going through rows and rows of demons. Shadow continued to swing his sword, killing demon after demon. Shadow’s felt the ordinary muscles bulge with power and at the same time begin to ache with the energy that Shadow was using up. The combination of fireballs and Shadow began to quickly eradicate the demons until no-more headed for them. Shadow panted heavily, and dug the sword into the ground, then rested on it. The blue energy shield around Shadow slowly began to disappear as did the one by the entrance to the cave. Shadow breathlessly approached Presto “What happened ? ” Shadow asked a slightly trembling Presto.
“They came, after you and I talked briefly, hundreds of them, many died” Presto closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Shadow sighed and pulled the sword of Drakahor out of the ground and sheathed it. Shadow then without a word began to examine inside the cave. There were corpses everywhere, the same nameless faces Shadow had seen before now lay dead. There had been a few thousand troops in and around this cave and in a heartbeat most were taken away. Shadow could see that there was still a big enough army to continue with the invasion, but the losses had been almost insurmountable. Every so often a dozen or so soldiers would bustle past Shadow, sometimes twenty at a time, all heading for the exit. Shadow saw one man sitting on the floor crying and sighed, trying to hold back any emotions. Shadow then smiled broadly, two familiar faces were now in sight, Zvire and Orscyar. “It is good to see you are still here” Zvire said to Shadow upon greeting him.
“I am very lucky” Shadow said.
“No, you are a skilled warrior” Orscyar said, and he then turned to Zvire. “As soon as all the troops are re-grouped outside we head out” Orscyar said and both Shadow and Zvire nodded acknowledgement. Orscyar then headed for the entrance of the cave while Zvire stayed with Shadow to look for survivors. “The leaders, what happened?” Shadow asked Zvire.
“They were first to be slaughtered, the demons came from through the walls, there was no escape” Zvire said sombrely.
“They are all dead?” Shadow asked slightly disbelievingly.
“Di Sangro and Warjian are dead. Numancia, Presto and I survived the initial attack, after that the wizard disappeared into a cloud of smoke, when the smoke cleared...” Zvire then found himself being interrupted.
“Fine day for a battle” came the voice and Shadow turned to see a scruffy version of the warrior Numancia, his clothes all torn, his face dusty and slightly bloody, however this was the happiest Shadow had seen him. Zvire put his arm around Numancia’s left arm for support and Shadow supported the other, they then began to carry him out. The exit of the cove was greeted by an gracious sigh from Numancia, and Zvire and Shadow propped him up against a tree. The losses of the army had been great, but there was still enough of a force to take the castle. Hundreds of men, some confident that they had survived the unholy attack and some traumatised by the horror which they had witnessed. `These men will either be feeling like the greatest warriors of all time or be dead by tonight` Shadow thought while observing them. Orscyar approached Shadow holding the reigns of Shadow’s horse, Shadow nodded gratification and mounted the black stallion. Shadow then slowly rode over to Zvire who had mounted his horse now, at the same time Numancia was being helped onto his. “You still want to do this?” Zvire asked Shadow genuinely.
“Yes” and with that Shadow nodded firmly. “As ruler of this land I will be able to correct the mistakes I‘ve made in my life”. Shadow then spotted Presto and Orscyar on their horses and Numancia rode off to organise the troops into some sort of battle formation. Shadow turned to Presto “I have yet had a chance to thank you”.
“I gave you that vial of protective energy to thank you, nothing more is necessary” Presto replied. “Have you been into battle before ?” Shadow asked while gathering the reigns on the horse. “Until today no. Now I know I am man enough, magic or no magic, to do what I have to do” Presto replied trying his best to sound even slightly modest. Shadow nodded and then heard Numancia call them over. Shadow began to ride out toward Numancia and then looked around for a second, Zvire was nowhere in sight, “Where has Zvire got to?” Shadow said to Orscyar. Orscyar looked around for a second “I don‘t know” Orscyar said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. A rustling in the trees then alerted Shadow and Orscyar and prompted them to turn around. Zvire came hurtling out of the trees atop his horse at incredible speed, followed by the beast army. Numancia and the hundreds of swordsmen were quick to get off the mark and followed just behind the beast army, who were travelling at a speed which Shadow had trouble keeping up. “I guess this is it” Shadow called while speeding off, trying to keep up with Zvire and gaining on him slowly. `I guess its best to rush into this sort of battle rashly, the more thought given to it the more doubt will enter the mind` Shadow thought while speeding along, trying to catch up with the beast lord Zvire. Zvire slowed slightly allowing Shadow to ride alongside him. The rebel army then began to come over the hill and into the valley beyond, Legia castle was now in sight. Shadow looked at the castle momentarily entranced by its magnificence. Then Shadow’s eyes were firmly shut and Shadow did something not done since that night almost a decade ago, Shadow prayed to Paix. `Forgive me for what I wrongs I have done, for I may be about to commit the most ultimate of crimes. I take these lives now so that I need not take any tomorrow. I ask you for forgiveness because I will never truly forgive myself. I shall try and stop the unholiness which engulfs this land until my arms and legs cease to function and I am drawing my dying breaths. I ask thee to guide me during this time of evil and uncertainty`. Shadow’s eyes then opened and Legia castle was directly in front. `look out Legia castle....` Shadow thought while looking at the castle gate `... and prepare yourselves for the Shadow of Death`.