Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 4
Chapter 47: Their Rebellion
(PART 1)
Noah and Rain sit in a horse drawn carriage travelling eastward on a road in what seems to be an area completely void of human activity. After a twelve hour train ride to the border, the two had proceeded onto a scheduled carriage to take them across the border to Eiyalazo.
All around them are nothing but rolling hills of green grass and the paved road they are on makes its way through them in delicate ups and downs. The red oak carriage is enclosed and rather large, it takes six horses to pull it and the chauffeur holding the reins is secluded outside in order to give the passengers their privacy. On the inside is a red suave seat that wraps around the entirety of the cabin, and the walls even hold fine art. The bar in the corner for drinks really gives it the extra tinge of first class needed for royalty.
To put it simply, this carriage is the horse drawn version of a limo.
However, the face Rain is making shows that all these amenities mean nothing to her at all, she has her arms folded in a combative manner and wears a light frown.
“Don’t give me that look.” Noah says when he feels her demeanor weighing on him.
“What did you think I’d say when all the sudden you told me that we’re going to Eiyalazo? You didn’t even give me a reason why.” Rain replied.
“Aren’t you excited that you get to go back home?”
“Not really, there’s nothing for me here.”
“I’m sure there is someone at home that means something to you. Stop being so pessimistic and look forward to it.” Noah said, he didn't even turn his head to address her when he said that.
Rain clicks her tongue and is left thinking about what he just said to her, and that’s when Prince Dice just so happens to unintentionally pop in her head. She had almost completely forgotten about him due to the events of recent weeks. The last time she saw him he had succumbed to the poison of anger and hate he was overcome with.
Understanding that just recently she was in the same position, and was miraculously saved by the right hand of Noah, she figures that he is still consumed by it.
She begins to worry about him, and she feels a strange pressure in the pit of her chest as she looks at the back of her hand and zones out on the area where the pentagram once was.
“Putting my feelings on the matter aside, you can at least tell me what we’re supposed to be doing once we get there.” she said, her gaze still fixed on her hand.
“We’re going to try to stop this war. We now know where our abducted loved ones are, there’s no reason why the war should continue if none of our countries are responsible for their disappearance.”
“You certainly know there’s no way they’d buy an explanation like that. It would be a ridiculous thing to explain to them, they’d think you’re crazy.” “I’ve already planned for such an occasion...” Noah holds out his right hand and finishes, “God and his Son had to use miracles to convince people of their existence, so I’m going to have to do the same.”
“Then what about Troy?” she asks, “Wouldn’t they need to be involved in stopping this war too?”
Noah holds his index finger up as he quickly answers, “They will be informed as soon as the rebellion reinstates Queen Lelaine as ruler of the country. With that bastard Sturgess at the helm and under the control of Satan, he’d certainly continue the war even if everyone were to suddenly return tomorrow.”
Rain sighs, she understands why he would wait out the results of the rebellion, but is worried about the success of the whole situation in Troy.
“You have a lot of faith in Troy’s citizens if you have based your plans off of their victory.”
“You’re right, I do, with four of my Knights and people like Ash leading the charge to take the country back, I’m very confident in their success”
Finding herself perplexed by the confidence of his declaration, she still can’t help but feel a sense of security in it; she has seen the Knights work firsthand and knows just what kind of person Ash is.
“I’ll believe in them as well then… let’s do our job here in Eiyalazo and get this war over with.”
Rain hasn’t seen Gile and Diana in quite some time and wonders how they will receive her considering she failed miserably in Tronoble and fell captive to La’Juune. Showing up with La’Juune’s King isn’t going to help her cause either, so she is a little hesitant to show her face.
“When is our scheduled meeting time?”
“Meeting time?”
“You know, like what day are we supposed to meet with the King and Queen?”
Noah looks at her in a bewildered fashion as if he has no clue what she is talking about.
“There’s nothing like that going on.”
“...Hah? Are you stupid!? We’re already past the border and you’re telling me the King and Queen don’t even know you’re coming!?”
“Well yeah, if they knew I was coming there’s a good chance that they’d try to kill me before I even got there.”
“What the hell do you think a regular Eiyalazonian soldier would do if he caught you trying to sneak in!?”
“Calm down, I already have two Knights stationed at the castle in the Capital posing as members of the Royal family. We’re going to be smuggled in by them.” he replied coolly and without any worry at all in his tone.
Rain throws her hand over her face in disappointment, she can’t believe that they are going about this in such a hap-hazard way.
“I have a feeling that this isn’t going to go as smoothly as you think it is, Noah. You shouldn’t have rushed this kind of thing.”
“...I had no choice.” Noah replies.
The way he said that blanketed the cabin in tenseness. It's obvious those words meant something, and the weight of the air in the cabin felt like weights placed on Rain's shoulders.
Rain wants to ask what he meant but is interrupted by Noah’s sudden violent coughing.
He doesn’t slow down or stop after a few moments and Rain pulls a handkerchief out of her pocket and hands it to him.
“Here use this... You’ve been pretty damn sick the last week or so, you really should’ve waited until you got better so you could have planned this out properly.”
Noah takes the white handkerchief and coughs into it, it is a deep and painful sounding cough that one makes as if there is something clogged in their chest.
Rain looks away out the window so she can give him his space while he clears his throat.
Noah finally stops and it takes a few moments for him to catch his breath, he glances down at the handkerchief he was just coughing into and sees that the white cloth has been stained with a black ink like liquid.
He folds it up and puts it into his pocket as he wipes the remaining black liquid from his lips with his sleeve.
Talking into his arm, he mutters, “I had no other choice... I don’t have much time left.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s nothing.”
A knock is heard on the window connected to the chauffeur's seat used by the driver to communicate to the passengers if needed. Judging by the intensity of the knock it seems pretty urgent, so Noah reluctantly gets up and opens it.
“We have a big problem, your majesty!” The chauffeur shouts anxiously, “Eiyalazonian soldiers straight ahead!”
Noah sighs and sits back down in his seat, leaning back nonchalantly.
Rain on the other hand, turned blue with fright upon hearing the news.
This is extremely bad, a carriage holding the most hated man in the world is rolling defenselessly into enemy territory. There’s no telling what the average soldiers would do to him if they were able to put their hands on him.
Rain hurriedly searches throughout the cabin for something, her frantic movement speeds up when the sight of numerous soldiers can be seen surrounding the carriage through the window. Naturally, the carriage stops abruptly and awaits the soldier’s search.
They hear another knock, but this time on the door of the cabin, but luckily for Rain, she found what she needed behind the bar at the last second. She takes a silk towel used for the decoration of the glass cups and quickly runs to Noah.
“Put this on quick!” Noah doesn’t move, so instead Rain wraps the cloth around his eyes and orders, “Pretend that you’re blind, I’m going to have to talk our way out of this. If they find out where we came from we could maybe get away with being arrested, but if they find out who you are we’re as good as dead.”
Noah remains silent as Rain puts her finishing touches on the knot.
At this very moment, the door to the cabin slowly opens and an Eiyalazonian Captain enters saying,
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Rain is frozen in fear as she thinks about what she needs to say to get them out of this.
All things considered however, they need a miracle.
A rather large, red headed man is walking with a couple men through the hallways of a facility in the most southern part of La’Juune. The walls have thick pipes running from one end to the other and blue lights line the roof.
The man is wearing a La’Juutian winter coat that has a fur hood; thick black pants are tucked into shin high steel-toe boots that clang loudly on the ground with each step. He is obviously a man of rank just by the air he gives off.
A deep frown resides on his face and the two men behind him look nervous as they follow his fast paced walk.
The three cut to the right and enter a large storage room filled to the brim in a maze-like fashion with metal cargo boxes. These boxes likely carry weapons and other metals like tools and utensils. The lights in this room are red and it really gives off an eerie feeling as the freezing temperature causes the breath of the three men to plume out of their mouths like a heavy smoke.
After making their way through a pathway between a couple cargo boxes, they come upon a grizzly sight. Four men lay dead on the ground, blood splattered all over the place and separated limbs are scattered across the room.
“They were found like that not too long ago sir.” One of the men shoddily reports.
The other one adds, “We have no way of knowing how long they’ve been here because of the cold, if these bodies were here for more than a day they’d be frozen just like this. So it’s safe to assume this wasn’t too recent.”
The red headed man sighs and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, putting one up to his mouth he takes his lighter and lights it. Taking a big drag, he blows it out and remains silent.
One of the men behind him turns his head as the smoke hits his nose before saying, “These four put the death total to 28 in the past few days. This is certainly the work of intruders. It’s gone past the point of one of our men going rogue and committing serial murders.”
“But who could it be? No one has ever gotten past our defense lines before; we’re way too far from Troy for it to be one of them. It must be Eiyalazo.” The other man added.
The red haired man blows a big puff of smoke out and calmly asks, “Do you guys believe in ghosts?”
“Ghosts?” They both answer quizzically.
The red haired man shakes the hand holding his cigarette and continues in an almost annoyed manner. “Yes ghosts, ghouls, goblins, phantoms, whatever the fuck you wanna call it. Do you believe in them?”
“U-Uh... Sure?”
“Not really?”
They both answer differently at the same exact time.
“Hmmm...” The red haired man scratches his chin in wonder. “That’s interesting... I remember when I was a kid I was always afraid of those kinds of things. Wanna know why?”
The two men don’t answer but the red haired man continues anyway.
“Because I couldn’t kill them. Seriously, it took me a while to get over something like that. I mean, most people are afraid of things like bears, sharks, wolves, shit like that; but how can you be afraid of living things if you could kill them? Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Yes sir.” The men reply, going along with it as if to avoid trouble.
“Good.”
He takes his big boot and steps on one of the severed heads on the ground, he leans his upper body on his leg as he continues to speak.
“Cause I really don’t like things I can’t kill. Especially if that thing has a conscience of its own and I can’t kill it; that takes all the fun out of life right? Not being able to die is a waste of existence. So in turn, that was the reason why I was afraid of ghosts.”
By now, the man is putting so much weight on the almost frozen head that the skull is beginning to crack and make a horrible squishing sound.
But he pays no mind to the disturbing noise as he continues, “What if the person or persons that are killing off my men in such a fashion are actually phantoms? What do we do then?”
“I’m sorry sir, but I don’t think that a ghost is behind this.”
“Shut up, didn’t you just say that you believe in them?”
“No sir, that wasn’t me.” he replies as he points to the other man standing next to him.
“Oh yeah, all of you background characters look the same nowadays.” he said, picking at his ear and turning to the other man. “Since you believe in ghosts. I gotta ask, are you afraid of them?”
Fearing that this is some kind of trick question, the man decides to answer honestly, “No I’m not, they can’t actually touch me or anything so there’s nothing to be scared of.”
The red haired man stomps all of his weight down on the severed head and flattens it, sending frozen bits of brain sliding across the smooth metal floor. He then flicks his cigarette at the man and the cherry explodes off his face, causing him to back up in reflex. That’s when the red haired man sends his fist into the nose of the so-called ‘background character’, causing his body to slam into one of the metal cargo boxes and fall to the ground.
The red haired man doesn’t stop there, with the same boot that crushed the skull of the severed head, he stomps on the man with all his might as he shouts.
“Are you implying that I’m some kind of pussy who’s afraid of something that you aren’t!? Huhhhh!?!?”
His eyes twitch as a twisted smile surfaces on his face.
The other man retreats back in shock as the blood coming from his downed comrade’s head squirts up and splashes onto his face. The sound of meat being pounded reaches his ears as he watches the red haired man stomp the other to death in horror.
“Do I seem weak to you!? Do I seem afraid!? Hahahahahaha, you stupid fuck!”
The red haired man gives him one last square kick to the face and stops his assault, he takes a deep breath as his smile becomes calm and a gentle laugh leaves his throat. He pulls out another cigarette and lights it up, while blowing out a puff of smoke he says rather calmly considering he had just beat a man to death,
“All kidding aside, who the fuck actually believes in ghosts?”
He walks off and exits the blood stained cargo room, but not before addressing the other man who’s frozen stiff with shock.
“Let’s go, it’s about time we find the real culprit behind these killings.” The red haired man starts to laugh, “I’m looking forward to getting my hands on those real life phantoms.”
The only man left standing in the room of dead people slowly follows him, more afraid now than ever before he answers,
“Y-Yes sir... Captain Red Spektor.”
In a dark room sits Allia and Celestia, two of the Ten Knights of La’Juune.
They are huddled in a thick blanket together drinking alcohol out of a little flask in order to stay warm. The room’s temperature is below freezing and if one’s not careful their strength could be sapped in a few seconds.
“We’ve been here way too long for my liking. We should’ve made a more direct assassination plot, killing off these soldiers is becoming more of a drag each day.” Allia said as she stands to her feet and takes a gander at her wristwatch.
“I guess we could have tried that, but realistically; there are over 150 soldiers stationed here at this weapons plant. It’s best to kill off as many of them as possible without being seen before we jump right into another battle with one of those monsters.” Celestia smoothly replied.
Allia sighs, she then looks up at the roof in the corner of the dark room they are in and sees a vent that’s making a loud blowing noise.
“It’s just that if things continue on the pace we’re going, it’ll be another couple weeks before we can finally get out of here. Travelling through those vents periodically in order to get from one place to the next is time consuming.”
“Well what did you expect? If we got careless and happened to be in those vents at the wrong time we’d be baked to death. All the hot air comes from the volcano below the plant, the vents periodically bring in that air. This place was built here specifically for the hot magma below the plant to be used to mold the weapons being made and to heat the entire place. Without using the volcano’s heat, this place would be below zero and impossible to occupy.”
“It’s a good thing we know when the ducts open up and release the hot air. It didn’t take all too long to figure out.”
“That’s right!” Celestia smiles and taps her head with her knuckle, “I’m a genius after all! These kinds of calculations are nothing.”
“I don’t think it’d be that hard even for a regular person.” Allia says under her breath.
She sighs and walks over to a rather small cargo box in the middle of the room, she uses a pocket knife to pick it open and takes a gander inside.
“What are you doing?” Celestia asks.
“I’m looking for arrows so I don’t run out. This place makes all the weapons for the La’Juutian military, there’s bound to be plenty of arrows stored in one of these boxes.”
“Hmm, I’d think you'll most likely find the arrowheads only. We’re at the bottom of the world; I don’t recall seeing any trees around here that could’ve been used to make the shaft.”
“Huh? What are these?” Allia asks in wonder.
“Ooh was I right!? Nyahaha I knew it, I’m so smart!”
“No you’re wrong.”
“Haah?”
“Come here, take a look.”
In Allia’s hands are little metal cigar shaped balls. At least that’s what they see them as; anyone from a certain time frame in the past would instantly recognize them as bullets. Bullets that have an aerodynamic tip and a shell carrying gunpowder behind it.
“What do you think it is?” Celestia asks.
“You are the genius aren’t you!? You tell me!”
“I’ve never seen one of those in my entire life. Here, let’s try this.”
She gets up and walks to another one of those cargo boxes, this one is much bigger than the other. The two of them both pry it open and what comes tumbling out are dozens, if not hundreds of rifles.
“Whoah!”
“Don’t tell me that all these boxes are filled to the brim with these weird things?”
“I don’t get it, I’ve never seen one of these in La’Juune before. And I don’t even know what these would be used for...” Allia says, folding her arms across her chest in deep thought. “This confirms our suspicions, the weapons plant has betrayed us and is selling weapons to outside countries that are looking to take advantage of the aftermaths of this war.”
This has always been a worry for the three world powers of Troy, Eiyalazo, and La’Juune. Once the war is over, the losers and even the winners will be vulnerable to smaller country’s attacks. All they need is for some of them to unify and they could create a force strong enough to rival the three great nations.
It would seem that Noah has predicted this would happen all along, this is the main weapons plant for all of La’Juune, and the biggest plant in all of the world for that matter.
When everything was going smoothly it was business as usual, but when the weapons started to reach the soldiers at the Capital at a much slower pace, it became obvious that something was wrong. That’s when he acquired the information that there was a ‘Devil's Pawn’ residing in these walls and it is likely that the pawn is trying to sabotage La’Juune in order to fulfill Satan’s desires.
“That makes our job a lot easier, it completely eliminates doubt. Killing off our own soldiers was a bit discouraging before.”
“I agree, but now that I know that they are creating mysterious weapons in order to weaken us, they are enemies of La’Juune.”
The sound coming from the vents stops and the temperature in the room drops even further, Celestia hops up a cargo box and pokes her head in.
Her voice echoes when she says, “We’re good. It’s time to get a move on.”
“Right.”
Allia grabs their things and quickly jumps up into the vent to join her comrade on this dangerous assassination mission.
Little do they know how important it is that they stop the distribution of bullets and guns; if they don’t, it is more than likely that the face of the world will once again be shifted in the direction of disaster due to mankind's ability to find more convenient ways to kill each other.
Just like it was in the past.
“Shut up, there’s no way you’re the King of Troy.” said Ebihara Seiri while sitting on a booster seat in order to stay eye to eye with Zurvick, who is on the other side of the table.
Joining them on the table is Lennox, Haas, and London Stott.
The four have met in order to lead a rebellion against the hostile takeover of Sturgess.
In this large wine cellar room along with them are dozens of others socializing as well.
“Why’s that?” Zurvick asks.
London uses his middle finger to push up his glasses when he answers, “Because the King is supposed to be dead.”
“Did you guys hear that from Sturgess? I’m sure he twisted it around to make it seem like I died in order to fool all the citizens into hopelessness. Well let me tell you, I’m alive and well, and once the people know that, they’ll join us in our rebellion.”
“You’re missing the point here.” London completely ignored Zurvick’s high and mighty speech.
“Huh?”
“You’re supposed to be dead because our leader is the one that killed you.”
“...What?”
Seiri elbows him and says, “Are you stupid? The people of this city can’t know our identities! It’ll blow this whole thing up!”
Lennox sighs and agrees, “She’s right, wasn’t the whole point of keeping our identities hidden so the people of Troy can savor their victory knowing that no one helped them?”
“What are you people talking about..?” Zurvick asks, his hands that were once laid flat on the table have molded into clenched fists without him realizing it.
London puts his hand up to keep the others from speaking, all the while continuing to address Zurvick. “Our leader Jeffrey Durbin had stabbed you, and then if I recall correctly, you went into the burning Ballroom to save whoever you could when it exploded, killing everyone inside.”
Zurvick’s eyes grow wide as he hears this explanation.
London slightly smiles as he notices this and continues, “That explosion was caused by this little one here.”
He pats Seiri on the head and she hisses at him.
Paying no mind to her, he continues.
“She’s the youngest in our military and the only one under the required age limit. Want to know why? She’s our greatest chemical physicist, the liquid that she carries in her flasks is highly combustible, blowing something like a 700 year old castle was nothing.”
“S-So you’re saying that...”
“That’s right.” Seiri interrupts, “The flask full of alcohol I gave you was a bomb, it’s not harmful if you drink it though. It probably got you super drunk right?”
London glares at Zurvick with his empty black eyes and asks, “So tell me, if you’re the King, what would you think about having us lend you a hand?”
This sets off a trigger in Zurvick, he lunges across the wooden table and grabs on to London’s collar, violently lifting him in his direction.
“You bastard! All of those people! Do you have any idea how many people died that night!?”
London hasn’t even flinched, Zurvick is much bigger than he is, a normal man would have at least batted an eye.
But not London, he coldly continues his stare as he says, “1,873 people to be exact. Plus the amount of destruction caused to the city of Tronoble. The entire place was just about demolished.”
“YOU!!!”
The rage in Zurvick turned to fire upon hearing him so casually say that.
“Since you probably don’t know what exactly happened that night, allow me to inform you that it was only ten of us who caused such devastation.”
“...What?”
“The Ten Knights of La’Juune were the only soldiers who attacked the city.”
“I-Impossible.”
“With that in mind, let me ask you. Divide the number of dead Trojans by the number of the La’Juutian soldiers responsible for their deaths, and what do you get?”
“.....”
“That’s right, a lot. So what if I told you that four of those ten Knights are all present here at this table, at this very moment?”
That’s when Zurvick notices it, Haas has two small swords pointed directly at two of his vital points. Lennox has a weapon directly under his throat, and even Seiri has a steak knife pointed at the soft spot under his chest cavity.
London stays straight faced as he asks one more question, “What do you think your odds of survival are?”
Zurvick backs off and sits back in his seat, even though he’s reluctant, he’s not dumb enough to take on four of the most elite soldiers in the world.
“So what are you people doing here?”
“We’re trying to stop the war.”
“Don’t tell me, once you're done aiding the Trojan rebellion you plan to take over in the shadows?”
“Not at all, no need for conspiracy theories. Once the mission here is done, it’s on to the next. That’s just the way it is for us.”
Zurvick can’t believe something as far-fetched as this. Having the La’Juutian Knights, who had just sacked Tronoble and killed off almost two thousand people, helping the Trojan citizenry retake the country sounds ridiculous.
“You saw a man with tremendous power back in Tronoble, correct?” London asks.
Still a little wary of this whole thing, Zurvick slowly answers, “Y-Yeah, he was covered in black smoke.”
Just by remembering that, it sent a cold chill down his spine.
“Very good. That’s all I needed to hear from you.”
London faintly smiles and relaxes his posture, leaning back into his chair.
This was all just a way for him to find out if Zurvick was telling the truth about his identity.
Considering the way he reacted when London told him of the night of the ball, and how much he knew about it, London has deduced that Zurvick actually survived that whole ordeal somehow.
Though he wonders how Jeffrey was careless enough to let him survive in the first place, he is glad he did, because this will certainly help their mission in the long run.
“You passed my test, King Zurvick, so sit back and stay calm, I'm going to tell you everything you need to know. Consider it an apology from King Noah.”
“Wow I’m actually home.” Ash said in awe as she took her first step into the Capital city of Troy.
It’s been over a year since she’s been here due to her time in the army. There’s so much she misses about this place, the fresh air, the perfect snow-capped mountain scenery, the beautiful white castle. All of this overruns her with nostalgia, she takes a deep breath and the feeling is accompanied by the relentless pounding of determination brewing in her chest.
Of course she wants to stop and see the sites, along with her parents, and do other things now that she’s home, but this is not the time. She needs to find Noah’s Knights so she can join them in taking the country back from Sturgess’ control.
Even though she can’t forgive the Knights for what they’ve done in Tronoble, she won’t shy away from what she has to do. She has promised to aid in ending this war, and in order to do that she must put her personal feelings aside.
In her hand is a piece of paper with an address on it, the address is to the headquarters of the rebellion. She rushes quickly, checking streets and making turns accordingly to the directions until she reaches it. However, she is immediately overrun with skepticism when she sees that the building is just a regular old style barber shop.
It’s one of those kinds of two story buildings where the business is downstairs, whilst the owner of the place lives and sleeps upstairs. These kinds of businesses are very popular, especially in Troy, because due to high property taxes, it costs much more to own a business in a separate location. Most shops in the Capital city are just like this one, and this is the reason why she is so dejected upon her arrival here. She was expecting something much more out of the ordinary.
Ash takes a deep breath and walks in, and just like what the sign outside says, it’s a regular old barber shop. Four barbers are cutting their customer’s hair as if this was a normal business, she double checks her address to see if she walked in the wrong place but it only confirmed her position.
“U-Um...” she mutters, trying to find something to say to get one of the busy barber’s attention.
One of the barbers stops the clean shave he’s giving a man with a razor and addresses her, “You know, women don’t normally come in here for haircuts.”
The barber glances at one of his colleagues and gives him a head nod, he then turns back to Ash and asks, “Are you looking for a shave?”
“Whaaa!? Do I look like I need a shave!?” Ash replies, bewildered as to why he asked something like that.
She then puts her hand on her face, the area right under her nose to be exact and gasps.
“Could it be that I have a mustache!?”
She nervously checks and to her relief finds that her face is hair free and as smooth as it should be.
The barbers all collectively sigh and one tries to shoo her off by saying, “Alright nevermind, this is a barbershop for men. So go on and get out of here.”
Offended by the way this whole interaction went, she puffs her chest out and declares, “I’ll have you know that I’m a Captain in the Trojan army! I don’t want to be talked to like I’m some kind of stray dog.”
Things grew eerily silent after she stated that; the barbers all glared at her with the look of death on their faces.
And that’s when she feels it, something cold pressing up against her neck.
One of the barbers is standing behind her, holding a razor blade to her throat.
She knows that one flick of his wrist will paint the walls with her blood so she doesn’t make any sudden moves.
“Tell us Captain... whose side are you on?” The man with a razor asks threateningly.
“I’m on Troy’s side.” she replies smoothly.
“I don’t know if you realize this or not, but there are two sides of Troy now. The side allied with the Queen, and the side allied with the General. Which is it?”
Ash slightly frowns and repeats herself in a manner as if she's stating the obvious,
“Troy’s side.”
The man sighs and drops his razor, with those two words he knows exactly who she is loyal to.
“You should have said that earlier.”
“I’m sorry, but I was under the impression that this was a normal barbershop.”
“Since you’ve found your way here you should know that this isn’t a normal barbershop. When we asked you if you needed a shave you were supposed to say ‘A Trojan cut’. It’s our password.”
“I kind of joined the game late so I didn’t get the memo. I thought you were just trying to insult me.” Ash replies, scratching her head a little embarrassed.
“Nonetheless, you’re here to meet with our leaders right? Then come with me.”
The barber walks to the corner of the room just past the large mirror used for the customer's view of their haircut and leans down. On the black and white tile floor is a little rope, he pulls it up and a set of stairs leading down to a hallway can be seen.
“Go down.” he instructs, “Walk through the hallway and knock three times on the door, someone will open it and you’ll find what you need in the basement.”
“Okay.”
Ash heads down and the man’s voice is once again heard, “Don’t come back up this way, there’s a back door that leads to a back alleyway, someone will show you out.”
“Thanks.”
The latch shuts behind her and she is left alone in the dark hallway, the door is about twenty feet away and she lightly slaps herself on the cheeks to boost her determination.
“Alright, here I go.”
“That’s a lot to take in...” Zurvick said in disbelief.
London has just told him everything about Noah’s plans, and all that goes along with it. Starting with the mysterious disappearance of his daughter and the others, all the way to the ‘Devil’s Pawns’ that are being controlled by Satan. Such a story was so far from his mind that he is having trouble comprehending just what all this means.
“We had problems coping with the facts as well, but you and I have both seen these strange powers firsthand so believing it shouldn’t come too hard for you.”
“That’s not necessarily the problem here, sure it’s a shock that Sturgess has those powers, it explains why he was able to accomplish a hostile takeover so easily. But what’s really hard to believe is that La’Juune really doesn’t have my daughter... I was certain it was you guys.”
“It’s reasonable to think that we’ve staged this whole thing, but we’re just as confused as you are. Now that we know it isn’t Eiyalazo, a far deeper mystery lies behind their disappearances. It’s Noah’s firm belief that the man who bestowed the powers unto all of those people is the key to unraveling it and getting them back. That being said, our reason for fighting each other is no longer there.”
“But Purgatory? And the Devil? I mean, this is insane.”
“I agree, I was never too keen on religion. To be perfectly honest I had always thought it was just some story made up to make the lives of desperate people easier. But this is our reality now, this is who we are actually fighting. Are you able to put aside your grudge against us and help?”
Zurvick takes a deep breath and looks away, he is still trying to wrap his mind on all this, it isn’t an easy feat to fully believe in what they are saying.
He stands up off his chair and asks, “Can I take a moment to get my head straight?”
“Of course, if you want some fresh air then go on outside through the backdoor. Haas will lead you out.”
Haas gestures to Zurvick to follow him and the two head to the door behind the bar to get outside. They exit the basement and leave the others sitting there.
“That went well.” said London as he tilted his glasses up.
Seiri sighs in exasperation, to her, that totally didn’t go well at all.
“Can we really trust that guy? He can’t possibly be the King can he?”
“He’s the King alright, that I’m sure of.”
Lennox nods his head and agrees, “Yeah I don’t think he was lying. Besides, there’s no reason to lie now, if he wants his country back he’ll have to join us and do whatever it takes.”
“Geez this is becoming a hassle, we weren’t supposed to tell anyone except for the Queen about any of this. The plan is already veering off track.” Seiri moans.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, if Noah knew the King was alive all along he’d make us inform him of the truth anyways. Let’s just improvise on this one.”
“Then what do we do next?” Lennox asks as he pulls out a mirror and looks at himself.
London reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a rolled up piece of paper, he unravels it on the table and replies, “This is our battle plan for the rebellion; we’ve already gathered enough people to pull this off. But...” He takes a feathered pen and circles a spot in front of a line that signifies the allied forces, in that circle he writes ‘KING’ in bold letters. “This time, the King will be leading in our place.”
“I take it we should inform the others? Once we go public with this news, the battle officially starts. Sturgess' men will do anything it takes to find him, I bet they'll even start arresting people en masse for even spreading this info. We won't have a choice but to start our offensive before they get a chance to declare martial law on the citizens.” said Lennox.
“We do have the guy who makes all the newspapers for the Capital on our side. We can use him to do it.”
“Yeah, this is a perfect way to unite the city and waver the resolve of those loyal to General Sturgess. An uprising of sorts is needed in order for our rebellion to be victorious; this is the perfect trigger for that.”
“Well first thing’s first, we should at least let all the guys in this room know.” Lennox puts away his mirror and runs his fingers through his hair in order to make sure he looks good for his address.
But before he can make his speech, he is interrupted by a sound coming from the door.
Knock-Knock-Knock
London lets out a sigh and gestures to someone to go answer the door.
He turns to the others and says, “I guess one more person can join us for the big announcement.”
Elise Whittier and Jeffrey Durbin are attending a welcoming party for the King and Queen at the Eiyalazonian Castle.
They are in a large dining hall that’s twice the size of anything that borders on necessity. That’s the way this country works, they pride themselves on overdoing things just to one up their rivals.
What’s amazing about this hall is that the pillars any other normal castle would use as a frame base is not made out of stone, but rather they are planted sequoia trees that have been smoothed out and glazed over with wax, giving it a distinct shine.
All around them are expensive items, whether it’s the dresses or suits the patrons wear, or the table clothes made of the finest linen. Everything in this hall could be stolen and hawked for a good price at the local pawn shop.
The atmosphere is stuck up and snooty and the two Knight's discomfort is written all over their faces. If one looked closely it’d be obvious that they don’t belong.
“Damn, I hate this shit.” Jeffrey says under his breath as he politely waves to a woman walking by.
“Tell me about it, I haven’t even seen any cute girls here.” Elise replies in a disappointed tone.
“Yeah, not one girl under eighteen around he---- Wait a second... How did I just get pulled into your pace!?”
“Oooh so you have the same eagle eyes as me I see!” An antagonizing smile forms on her face, “Though I gotta say, you should keep those thoughts to yourself since you’re a man. You could get in some serious trouble for that.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m some kind of lolicon! I’ve just been around you way too much, you’re rubbing off on me, you pervert!” He then puts his two index fingers together to form a cross and points it at her. “Evil person be gone! Go away!”
Elise grabs one of his fingers and twists it violently. “Hey now don’t overreact on me just because you’re insecure about your sexual preferences.”
“That’s not true! I’m a normal straight guy who likes women his age and older!”
“Never trust a man so overly defensive.”
In the process of her assault on Jeffrey’s finger, something catches her eye out in the distance of the room.
“Huh?”
Prince Dice is standing alone, leaning up against the wall with a horrid frown tainting his brow. He is glaring at something, and following his eyes she sees that his gaze is directed at the King and Queen who are sitting at a large table happily socializing with party goers.
“That Prince, he hasn’t stopped glaring at his parents since they got back.”
“So you noticed too huh? I guess it’s true, he really is going to kill his own parents in order to make that girl love him... kind of pathetic don’t you think?”
Elise releases him and shrugs her shoulders. “I happen to think it could be seen as romantic.”
“There’s nothing romantic about it at all. If that kid succeeds then the world is totally fucked, we need to take him out at all costs.” Jeffrey responds, a strong tinge of seriousness in his tone.
“I know, but it really is a shame. He most likely isn’t the same as he was before the pentagram was put on his hand. He’s being manipulated from the shadows by somebody and we’re going to kill him for it.”
“Don’t tell me you actually feel sorry for him? It’s his own damn fault in the first place for being a loser who couldn’t even get the girl he likes to notice him. Fuck that guy.”
Elise turns to him and puffs her cheeks, “That was super mean.”
“Well it’s not like I’m a nice guy.”
Elise sighs, she takes a look at herself in the ridiculous white dress she’s wearing and says, “I’d normally fight you more on your lack of empathy, but I’m beyond the point of my patience breaking. I just want to get the hell out of here so I can get out of these clothes and as far away from this stuffy environment as possible.”
Jeffrey folds his arms and nods his head in agreement, and continues that even when Elise finishes her statement.
“And also, I wanna get my hands on Seiri and rub her silky white smooth body all over until I’ve had my fill. Ahhhnn~ and then I’ll take off her little teddy bear underwear and throw on some hot lingerie and start licking her!!”
Jeffrey smiles and while still nodding his head says, “Yeah that’d be nice------ Hahh!? Where did that come from!? I will not allow you to do that!!”
By now Elise is wiggling around creepily as drool drips from her mouth. “Huuahahah you not only have the same eagle eyes as me, but the same sense of fantasy!”
“No I don’t! You had changed the subject way too fast and it caught me off guard!”
“Ohohoh liar!”
“You do realize that it’s just as creepy for a woman to have these fantasies as a man right!? Just what kind of demon are you!?”
He again holds his two index fingers out in a cross and begins to chant something under his breath. His incantations carry no effect on Elise as her perverted thoughts continue in her mind and it shows on her face.
Shifting his attention away from her to keep himself from falling for her antics, he notices that Dice, who was being a wall-rat just a few moments ago has now left his position.
He didn’t want to lose sight of him because an occasion such as a party where a lot of people are present is a good time to carry out an assassination. He frowns as he scours through the hundreds of people in the room.
Elise catches this and stops her perverted dance and joins him.
With two sets of eyes they quickly spot Dice walking intently towards the King and Queen.
“Shit! Is he actually going to do it now!?” Jeffrey asks as he reaches into his coat pocket and grabs onto a small dagger he is carrying just in case of an event like this happening.
Elise has one in her stocking but can’t reach for the weapon without causing a scene, she’ll hold off until absolutely necessary.
“This is bad, I’d rather have my own weapon fighting against a monster like that Prince.”
The two keep walking, weaving through people in an attempt to cut Dice off from reaching his parents.
Jeffrey keeps his eyes forward when he says, “We’re going to have to do something. At the first sign of him doing anything that threatens the safety of the King and Queen we’ll stab him in the back if we need to.”
“Understood.”
The two walk on a collision course with Dice; intensity rises with each step as the thought of what’s to come lays itself out in front of them. This will very likely be the decisive moment in both Satan’s and Noah’s plans; if things don’t go well, there’s no telling what might happen to the landscape of the world.
All of this danger looms over the heads of King Gile and Queen Diana without them even knowing it.
Dice reaches for something in his pocket and it becomes obvious that the threatening motion in which Jeffrey talked about is occurring. The fast paced walk of he and Elise turn into a sprint; and the world turning moment they are so worried about will unfold as a result of the actions they take at this very second.
| Back to Movement on the Chessboard (Part 3) | Return to Main Page | Forward to (Part 2) |
