Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness
Chapter 19: Report from the Citadel of Acheron

Back in Acheron, Joshua and his team had secured a half-mile radius around the main gates and the cleanup was well under way when Harry returned with his recon team to the base camp where Joshua coordinated the efforts to secure and recon the city. He had set up his command post on the ground floor of a building that was still intact. Arabella and Jonathan were with him when Harry and his team entered.

When Arabella saw them with Morrison, tears of joy filled her eyes and she rushed to him and Harry, embracing Morrison first, crying, “You came back!”

Morrison returned the embrace and said softly, “Didn’t I say that we’d come back? You should’ve believed me and not worried so.”

Arabella wiped her eyes as her outburst had briefly become the center of attention. Harry looked at her with a weary smile. The exploration of the citadel had been very taxing on them. His battered, bruised face revealed his deep fatigue. The rest of the recon team was in a similar state of fatigue and exhaustion. Harry briefly touched her on the shoulder and nodded before turning to Joshua.

Joshua took one look at Harry and handed him a cup of cold water. He drained it in a single draught as Joshua offered a chair to him. Slumping in the chair and sighing deeply, Harry said with great relief, “Oh, man...it feels good to get off my feet.”

Joshua leaned on the table and asked, “What did you replace in the citadel?”

Harry’s face became very serious as he spoke. “The citadel is a city within a city. It covers over a square mile in area and the keep itself is the tallest structure in the city. I’d estimate that it’s almost twelve hundred feet in height,” he reported. “It has to be the vilest place I’ve ever been in. The evil there is so thick you can cut it with a knife. It’s not a nice place at all.” He then proceeded to tell of how they got lost in the bowels of the citadel for almost four hours and the condition of the dead they encountered. Then he reported on the numerous active booby traps they encountered inside the citadel and how it claimed two of his team and seriously wounded three others.

Looking Joshua in the face, he said bluntly, “The whole time we were lost in the maze of passages in there, we constantly heard echoing cries, wails, and roars, some of which didn’t even sound human. I’ve never believed in curses or haunted places, but I’m beginning to believe what Carver and Xavier has been saying about this place. It’s cursed; if not the city, definitely the citadel. It’s my opinion we need to keep the people away from the citadel. It’s just too dangerous a place right now. The place is so big that it would take weeks if not months to explore it fully. When and if we do explore it properly, you can be certain that we’ll lose some in the process. That’s just how dangerous it is.”

Joshua looked at the floor as Harry spoke of the citadel. After finishing hearing the report, Joshua sighed heavily, saying, “I was afraid of that. Argus said that the citadel is where the Cadre did all of their dastardly deeds. It’s also where the plague was initially released. They may have set traps and barricades to try and stem the spread of the plague when it was released, as you no doubt have found.”

Harry nodded. “It looks like it,” he stated. “We encountered several traps which were apparently set to keep something from getting out, which it obviously failed to do at the time. Hannibal is the one we really need to deal with the citadel. He has vast experience in dealing with places like that. I just hope and pray that somehow he manages to come back to us.”

“So do I Harry,” Joshua replied. “So do I; so what you’re suggesting is that we keep everyone away from the citadel for now.”

“Yes,” Harry replied, nodding. “That would be a very wise course of action for now. Besides, there’s more than enough of the city to deal with right now. When are we going to be ready to bring the people?”

“A day at the least,” Joshua replied. “The cleanup is taking longer than expected. I had no idea there were so many dead here. We have already removed remains of five thousand and we still have over half of the perimeter to do.”

The number staggered Harry’s mind and he mouthed the number, “Five thousand? What are you doing with the remains?”

“We’re temporarily housing then in some of the buildings just outside our perimeter.” Joshua reported. “There are just so many of them that we can’t possibly bury them all in the short amount of time we have.”

Harry nodded understandingly and asked, “When is Nathanael going to open up the portal again?”

Joshua thought for a moment and said, “About an hour from now. You see, he’s already opened it twice since you came into the city. Each time, he has asked where you were and the last time, he was getting concerned about you. I think you need to be there when he opens it again and tell him and Nicodemus what you told me. Besides, it looks like you could use a break.”

“That’s the truth,” Harry said bluntly. “Being lost in the citadel for four hours has kicked my butt. The whole time I was there, I was wishing Hannibal was there with me.”

Joshua smiled and said, “I bet you did. Now, just take it easy. You’ve earned it. That goes for the rest of your team.” His last comment was targeted at the rest of Harry’s recon team. “When Nathanael opens the gate again, you all can go back and relax a bit, maybe get something to eat and lay your head on a soft bed for a little while.”

“That sounds very good right about now,” Harry said eagerly. “A bath, a nap, and something to eat are exactly what I need.”

Joshua smiled and replied, “Go on. We have things under control here.”

Harry heaved himself out of the chair, saying, “You’re a good man, Joshua. Thank you.”

Joshua nodded and waved them away. “Go on. Get some rest,” he ordered in a friendly tone.

Harry cracked a weary smile again and said to what was left of his team, “Come on, guys. Let’s go home.” That order delighted all of them and they eagerly followed him out of the city to the mountaintop where the portal was to open. There they waited patiently, sitting around enjoying the view with twenty other people for the first time since they arrived there.