The sun could be seen rising just behind the dark sky that had engulfed Legia and made it look deceptively darker than it clearly was. The port town of Wajem greeted Zvire with a glorious sight to behold, bustling streets filled with people. Zvire, who spent most of his childhood alone in the woods found it strange that he would miss the company of people but that was the case and he was all the better to now be in the company of a mass of people. The highest ranking officer of the Legia army at the time of their arrival, a general Kopka greeted Enzaghe with immediate warmth and just as enthusiastically gave up command to him. “The biggest operation in the history of evacuations” Kopka had told Enzaghe after, partly relieved to be free of this duty but still willing to aid in any way possible. “There are around a couple of million people and we have the paperwork to verify it. All of them crammed into this one town. Those that couldn't get accommodation have camped on the outskirts of the city or gone on to Seaena, which itself is allready grossly overpopulated”
“How long did the paperwork take to organise?” Enzaghe asked, his greying eyebrows raised.
“Long enough, at one point we had a thousand soldiers working around the clock to check everything. They‘ve been working very hard, all of them. Once the people were all documented down and their location checked we have several patrols checking the city and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious around four times a day. All we are waiting for now is the fleet of Ajazean fleet to take them all away” Kopka said, explaining how the port town of Wajem had been converted into a refugee camp.
“How many soldiers do we have here”
“All that are not dead have been ordered to travel here, we have seventeen regiments accounted for so far with each having on average a couple of hundred thousand soldiers, there are five more regiments to arrive”
“And what are the arrangements for the army?”
“We have received no word from the king which under normal circumstances would mean them travelling along with the people. However having spoken with the generals it is clear that the overall feeling in the camp is to stay and at least attempt to defeat the evil that dawns upon us. Those that want no part will be free to leave. However there is one problem” Kopka paused, to which Enzaghe prompted him to elaborate.
“With no king, you must travel to Ajazeus and stay safe there. If the king does not return, being the highest ranking of the Legia army makes you next in line for the throne, I know how much you would have liked to stayed Enzaghe, King Jarian of Ajazeus himself has asked for you and besides, the people are going to need a leader, if only someone to help them to settle into life on Ajazeus, the people need you Enzaghe, you are the most respected of all of us”. Enzaghe ran his hand across his brow and down his right cheek and paused as he thought of a suitable response.
“Very well” he said sighing and accepting his role “as an ambassador of Legia and a protector of the peoples of Legia I go to Ajazeus, it will not take much to drag me back to these shores however” Kopka responded to this by nodding acknowledgement.
“There is another matter” Kopka began.
“Yes?” Enzaghe said, inciting Kopka.
“Several hundreds of civilians have tried to sign up for the army in the past few days. Under such circumstances we do not have the time to train such a number of men, I thought it best to wait until it was clear who was going to be in charge, with Raiguarde slain only the king can overrule your word, what say you, do we allow them all entry ?”
“What is the meaning of this sudden influx ?” asked Enzaghe, cleverly avoiding the question to give him more time to think.
“Most are hard working men who simply want to protect their families, if we can keep Goreoth at bay here, at least the women and children of Legia will be safe” Kopka attempted to explain “There is one man however, Skhyzard. He is the one whom they all look too for guidance”
“I shall see him then, before I depart and I shall make my decision then” Enzaghe finalized and began to walk off toward the camp where he was temporarily staying. Enzaghe reached the camp and noticed the concentration of the men instantly rise to faultless, he greeted the soldiers with a false smile as he passed them which made them pick up their work rate even more. Enzaghe ducked into a tent and sat on the makeshift bed that had hurriedly been made for him because of the abruptness of his arrival. Enzaghe sunk his head in his hands and took a deep calming breath, he ran his hands across his unshaven cheeks and felt the growing bristles of his beard, in desperate need of shaving. Enzaghe ran his fingers through his hair and lay back on the bed, he then rubbed his fingers across his brow and closed his eyes.
Enzaghe had not had a good sleep for a long while and there would be no better a time to do so. He could only have drifted off for a couple of minutes, when a noise from outside awoke him from his disturbed slumber. Enzaghe yawned and sat up, “What?” he said with his mouth still in a full yawn, “What is it?” he said, his voice being a lot clearer the second time he spoke.
“I have been told you wanted to see me” said the person standing outside Enzaghe’s tent.
“Name?” he said, the demanding tone of his voice staying true to the general that he was.
“Skhyzard” replied the voice from outside. “I can return another time general if you wish it so” to this Enzaghe slowly sat up on the bed and called out for Skhyzard to enter.
“No, no. Now will be fine. You may enter” and with that the curtain like entrance to Enzaghe’s tent flapped open and through it came Skhyzard, attended to by two soldiers. “Thank you gentlemen, you may depart now” Enzaghe said to the soldiers, “he will not harm me, we have more important matters at hand” finished Enzaghe waving them away. “Now” said Enzaghe as the two guards exited the tent “you are the man who is leading the masses to sign up for the war” Enzaghe said, attempting mild flattery
“I am no leader. The people do as they want, more importantly I do what I want, within reason” Skhyzard began, sitting opposite Enzaghe, too overawed to make eye contact with him.
“Yes, yes. Very modest of you.” said Enzaghe, dropping his mask of sycophancy and getting to the point “I am not in the mood for timewasters, this is serious business”
“I agree” said Skhyzard, ignoring Enzaghe’s bluntness. “Lord Enzaghe, please listen to me” Skhyzard began to lift his head and lock his eyes with Enzaghe’s. “I have a family, a son allready gone. I cannot stand to run from the face of evil, if men follow me into battle then they be noble, if not then I stand alone with my honour. The horror stories of Goreoth which I prayed for so long were simply that of fairy-tale are becoming real, and I want to be a part of the final chapter. I made a promise to my family to protect them and that I shall, til my dying breath. The men who follow me are a collection of good men, men of courage and honour, they are learning how to fight with the soldiers of this town.”
Skhyzard noticed the vague look of disapproval on Enzaghe’s face “If you do not allow us to join with you, we shall still fight with you” Skhyzard concluded.
“Then I have no choice, I wish for no needless blood on my hands” Enzaghe said grimly “consider yourselves apart of the Legia army. You shall take full responsibility for them all”
“Yes sir” Skhyzard nodded “I do have one request, if you would be so kind” he said as Enzaghe stood up.
“Let it out, I shall consider it, whatever it is”
“My family sir, when the Ajazean fleet arrives to take them away, is there any chance you could make sure they are on the grandest of the fleet. It would ease my concerns about their safety”
“Why of course” Enzaghe said with a smile “I shall make sure they are on the very same ship as I”
“You are leaving with the people milord?”
“Alas, I have no choice in the matter. I wish it were not so, I would rather die a conqueror on the battlefield than dying a senile old fool. However unfortunately I am allready the latter” Enzaghe said with a smile, to which Skhyzard chuckled to himself softly.
“Who will be in charge when you go to Ajazeus sir ?” Skhyzard asked, a thought which hadn’t even crossed Enzaghe’s mind yet. Luckily Enzaghe did not have to think hard, the perfect person came through the flap of his tent as the question was asked. “Here is the man that will take charge in my absence” Enzaghe began, and Skhyzard jumped back once he saw who it was.
“The beast lord!” he exclaimed.
“Zvire, the beast lord actually” Zvire corrected.
“Yes, experience in battle, known for leading men, what more could you want?” said Enzaghe, proud of his choice “did you want to see me about something ?” Enzaghe turned to Zvire and asked.
“Yes” Zvire began. “The fleet of Ajazean transport ships, they’re here”.
It had taken a good three hours for the Ajazean and Legian troops to combine their efforts and organise everybody aboard the fleet of eighteen ships, each capable of carrying well in advance of hundred thousand people but it was now done. Enzaghe had personally overseen the loading of Skhyzard’s wife and two daughters onto the Celestial, the Ajazean flagship and placed them in quarters only down the corridor from his own. Enzaghe took leave of the Celestial and went from ship to ship checking that each of the people scheduled to leave were all aboard and accounted for, a task which took as much toll on his aging legs as it was long. As he left the final ship, the fleet was ready to depart and it was just a matter of saying his goodbyes. Enzaghe grudgingly walked along the harbour walkway, he did not want to leave, he thought it cowardly for a general to leave his men especially in times of crisis such as these. As he strode, two familiar faces came toward him, that of Imunzo and Zvire. Zvire, having been bestowed with the task of leading the army once Enzaghe had left spent his time wondering what he would do with the huge number of troops, all willing to die for him. It was a massive task that Zvire had been given and with no news of either the king or Shadow’s whereabouts, the pressure was on him to perform, something which Zvire quite relished. In Imunzo, Zvire could not have a more perfect partner to aid him in the grand scale attack on Goreoth and his forces, not only was he a glorious fighter but also a sharp intellectual, heavy planning was not part of Zvire’s tactical handbook but Imunzo could very simply come up with the most cunning of war strategies. The wind that day was a pleasantly calm and blew against Imunzo’s face, refreshing the features on his hardened face and cooling him, both outside and within himself. The strands of Imunzo’s fine hair were being tossed backward by the wind, even though he had a band tying the more free flowing aspects of it into a ponytail, with still enough hair falling over his eyes and down his face to cover small parts of it. Imunzo nodded to greet Enzaghe and the three stopped in their tracks to pause and say their goodbyes. “I cannot thank you enough for letting me free” Zvire said, unable to think of another icebreaker to his farewell “who knows what would have happened had Kaiazal attacked while I was imprisoned”.
“You have allready repaid my deeds for that, you take on the army to battle with forces to which the extent of their evil hath not previously been conceived. Whether you win the fight or not, I thank you for fighting it” Enzaghe replied.
“We shall win the day, and banish Goreoth to the empty abyss that is death” Imunzo said confidently.
“You are right my friend, good shall always conquer. You have your honour and so do the men that follow you. If they die in the fight they do not die heroes” Enzaghe stopped for a moment “because they are allready heroes” he finished. “I wish I could fight alongside you, I would have considered it an honour to be on the same battlefield as yourselves once more” Enzaghe then added after a small silence. Imunzo courteously bowed at Enzaghe‘s words “I thank you for your words” he said “I know the armies of darkness well” Imunzo began, psyching himself and the other two up. “They fight with all the skills of a truly fearsome force indeed, however they lack the strength and honour which comes from fighting the good fight” Imunzo took a deep breath, trying to contemplate his next words. “The battle which we go on to fight will be one of unspeakable horrors. Even what I have seen will pale in comparison to the fear which Goreoth will evoke.” Imunzo’s mood lightened as he finished “The force of evil, no matter how strong cannot win against a whole army of righteousness” Imunzo finished, the words seeming to hang in the air a long while after they had been spoken. A call from the distance made Imunzo and Zvire turn around, a soldier was beckoning Enzaghe to come forth for the ships were ready to set sail. “I take my leave now gentlemen, if all goes well I shall be back on these lands one day and on that day I shall share a drink with you both” said Enzaghe sincerely as he moved on the conversation to speed up his goodbye.
“I look forward too it” Zvire replied, smiling. Enzaghe took a deep breath and looked Imunzo in the eyes. “Farewell my friend” he said, griping Imunzo’s hand tightly. Enzaghe then turned to Zvire “Goodbye, and good luck. I know you wont need it” he said with a false smile, then heading off in the direction of the Celestial. Enzaghe’s mind was blank as he approached the ship, it came closer and he knew there was nothing to do to stop his departure so he began to accept his responsibility to the people aboard the ships, forced into new lives and out of their homeland. Enzaghe greeted the lone shipman who smiled and said “indeed an honour sir” as he led Enzaghe up the steps aboard the ship. Enzaghe strolled across to the main deck and there he found the ships captain, waiting for Enzaghe to give the order to depart. “On your mark milord” said the Ajazean captain, to which Enzaghe nodded. A call was given out and a cannon fired across the sea, giving the signal for the ships to depart. The Celestial pulled out of the harbour first and began to sail across the waters at twice the speed of the other, inferior ships. Enzaghe walked to the side of the deck and looked over it to the waters below. He had travelled out of Legia once in his whole career as a general not counting the numerous visits to Palestar. Sea travel did not bother Enzaghe like it did some other men, he had not been travelling across it frequently enough to experience rough waters and the calmness of the waters helped sooth the tension he was feeling. Enzaghe looked around at the crew, all busy at work doing one thing or another, the team effort it took to power such a majestic vehicle was inspiring to Enzaghe, who regarded teamwork very highly. The Celestial was now paces ahead of the other ships and at this rate would lose them and arrive a long while before the others could, Enzaghe was pleased with this, it meant he would not have to deal with a huge number of people at once. Enzaghe felt a slight itch in his cheek and took care of it, looking to the sky above as he did. It was then that Enzaghe noticed the strange red sphere, its bright red light piercing the black clouds that was the skyline. The strange red cloud was growing at a rapid rate, then stopped and began to pulsate in the sky, like a heart. The ship stopped moving forward now and its crew all stopped and gazed in awe at the strange red cloud above them all and Enzaghe had an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach. From out of nowhere the silhouette of a huge figure appeared in the clouds. “The peoples of Legia shall not escape me” came the voice, booming and enough to reduce the bravest of men to a quivering wreck. The figure in the sky then disappeared, just as quickly as it had appeared and from out of the pulsating red cloud came two unidentifiable objects, which dived below the clouds and toward the sea below. Enzaghe managed to get a look at the objects which came from within the cloud but could not believe his eyes when he did, they were skeletons with wings. The bones of the skeletons were bigger than any man could have been and they had a look in their dark eye sockets which made Enzaghe swallow hard, fearing the worst. The two flying skeletons flew toward the other ships, approaching them from the centre of the fleet. They both then stopped and floated mid air as Enzaghe watched on powerless, suddenly the skeletons seemed to glow orange for a second and they then blew out a huge breath of fire upon the two ships at the centre of the fleet. The blaze spread quickly and Enzaghe felt his jaw drop as the two skeletons began to separate, with one flying off toward the left and one to the right. As they went past a ship they blew fire all over it, setting it alight within seconds until all of the fleet was now a blazing inferno. Enzaghe could see crew members and people engulfed in flames jumping overboard to the sea below and floating back up again, lifeless. Enzaghe tried to turn away but could not as the two skeletons gave out a screeching sound which made Enzaghe cover his ears. As the skeletons emitted the noise, what was left of the ships one by one blew apart into hundreds of pieces and dropping any passengers which survived the fire straight into the waters below. The skeletons disappeared as soldiers from the harbour dived in and tried to rescue anyone they could and drag them ashore, while other survivors swam ashore. The Celestial began to move again now and Enzaghe stood looking blankly ahead, unable to do anything. Then he closed his eyes and tears rolled down his cheek.