Spirit Blood: Genesis of War
Chapter 22

At one time Talkain’s lands were lush and beautiful covered in white orchids swaying in the open fields by the gentle summer breezes. Purple lilacs, and the never perishing blue rose bush, surrounded the city walls giving Talkain their inspiration for their banners and flags which bore the image of a blue rose wrapping around a fiery sword. The city houses and buildings were made of fine gray and white stone and the entire kingdom was graced with green grass and trees. Life in Talkain resembled as close to perfection as possible.

The striking White Castle was admired by all; inlaid with white marble and golden ceilings and decorated with the finest artistry ever created. Long ago battles of legend were revered on tapestries and paintings throughout the design of the castle. One such painting exposed a less known fact about the Xythanian war. It was not well known that ordinary men fought in the battle as well as those that were exalted. These men fought for their land against the evil creatures that dared to defy Shiloh during those tumultuous times.

Statues of past kings and heroes of Talkain stood along the staircase and adorned the grounds surrounding the castle. Busts lined the grand library named the Room of Champions where books of history and folklore lined the walls reaching up to the ceiling.

Everything about Talkain was grand and magnificent; it could only be described as majestic, however even that which is beautiful cannot withstand the devastating results of being exposed continuously to that which is evil. The great land of Talkain was now barren and filled with jagged rock and gnarled trees. Deadly vines and poisonous black roses had replaced the lilacs and blue rose bushes. The sky was endlessly dark, even in the light of day, and the picturesque lakes were murky with the waste of the dead.

Citizens of Talkain had now been reduced to slaves in their own wrecked and charred homes lending to hearts of sadness, despair and despondency.

The White Castle was only a name now, for the white marble was a striking smoky gray and all the plush velvet carpeting throughout had been haphazardly removed to reveal only the black granite below. Every statue had been desecrated and replaced with those of foul creatures and workers of Great Chaos.

The appearance of the castle was not all that had changed, for the role of king had now been handed to Canoes, Warlord of the Dark Underworld. Kalagin served as nothing more than a figure head. Canoes had filled his kingdom with the darkest of his followers and now sat in a regal throne of death for all to see.

Canoes waited on his throne for news of the knight. Within moments, the head of his Demon Mage Order, Giselle, walked swiftly into the large throne room and towards her master. It was impossible to tell if she brought good news or bad, for her milky white skin, black lips and eyes never wore any expression of fear or delight. Before she could come within twenty feet of Canoes he stopped her with a gesture of his hand.

“Master, I have grave news to report,” she said bowing her head in reverence.

Canoes lowered his hand slowly and rested it upon the head of an odd looking pet sitting beside his throne, “Continue.”

“The knight and his companions have managed to destroy Karza and the entirety of the army we had gathered there,” Giselle announced. “Also, Danick has informed me that Makaylen is with them as well.”

Canoes said nothing, but sat back in his throne as if he hadn’t heard her news.

“Did you hear me, my lord?” Giselle asked hoping she had not angered him with her words or sounded emotional, for this would not go over well with Canoes.

“I heard you Giselle, but I hear nothing worth worrying about,” he coldly stated.

Confused, Giselle asked, “My lord?”

Canoes beckoned her to come and sit in a smaller throne next to him. She wasted no time in striding up to the seat holding in her excitement that her master would invite her to sit beside him.

“Your news only informs me that they will be headed here, including the children,” he stated coldly. “Besides, my army is strong enough to insure they do not reach the castle. And, if a few heroic fools may indeed breach the lines, I’ll be waiting with my own surprises.”

Giselle smiled, holding back a chuckle, until a thought renewed itself in her mind, “But what of Makaylen?”

Canoes leaned in closer to her and spoke softly, making him seem even more sinister, “I’ve got that under control. He is being hunted as we speak.” He sat straight up again and stared blankly forward, “And if he does manage to make it this far, well, I guess I’ll just handle him personally.”

Giselle nodded in fear, as well as respect, of her master’s plan. Canoes bid her leave with only another hand gesture. She immediately left his presence as he dispassionately returned to petting the animal beside him.

The oversized battle arena of Talkain was once used to train and entertain soldiers, but within the last few months, its primary use had been as a breeding ground for the undead soldiers of Canoes. Léon waited impatiently at the edge of the arena keeping an appointment he’d grudgingly made. From the shadows Malik silently emerged wearing a most sinister look upon his tattooed and pierced face.

“You finally made it,” Malik stated quietly.

“What do you want Priest? I’m not here for entertainment, so get on with it,” Léon annoyingly replied.

The empty arena sent back a soft echo from Léon’s booming bass voice. The High Priest casually walked closer to his reluctant companion with his hands clasped behind his back. He kept his distance, however when he met the cold un-amused glare of Léon.

“Why have you kept me waiting?” Léon asked annoyed. “I was about to leave and replace you, however, it wouldn’t have been to keep our appointment.”

“I needed to see if you would honor your word and come alone,” Malik informed him unmoved by Léon’s threat. “It’s good to see you are a man of honor.” He looked down as if to ponder a thought, “However, one must wonder, what would you do if this were a trap?”

Léon narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. Abruptly he moved in closer to Malik causing the priest to step back a few steps. It amused Léon to see Malik attempting to not look frightened of him.

With a mischievous grin upon his face, Léon replied, “A trap? Why should I be afraid of you setting me in a trap? You know of my wrath and fury; let alone the knowledge that my power immensely exceeds your own.” Turning to walk away, Léon added, “No Malik, I have no fear of your traps. As ridiculous as your life seems to me, I believe you are no fool.”

Malik nodded at this somewhat of a compliment. Léon’s hard glare directly into Malik’s eyes forced him to turn his head.

“Besides, Malik,” Léon continued, “I am quite aware of your ruthlessness and lack of mercy. If you indeed wished me dead then you would have already tried by now, or at least, would have let others die trying.”

“Very well then, Commander, I shall detain you with tests no longer,” Malik stated. “I’ve come to request your allegiance in a small matter that is currently at hand.”

Léon nodded, rolling his eyes, as if he already knew what Malik was referring to.

“What do you know, Léon ?” Malik asked confused, and a bit worried that perhaps Canoes might know something as well.

“I know of the ‘small matter at hand’ you refer to. It has come to my attention that you, and a small group of others, are conspiring against Lord Canoes to seize the throne and fill it with someone of your own choosing. Someone less powerful too, I would assume,” Léon announced revealing he knew everything Malik tried to keep secret.

“Hmm, you’re mostly right, Commander,” Malik replied, “but my question to you is, does Canoes suspect anything?”

Léon shrugged his shoulders calmly, “Yes…and no. He suspects everyone of betrayal. Even his own pets, but no he isn’t aware that his paranoia is absolutely justified or that his most respected priest is behind it.”

“Good,” Malik said feeling a bit more at ease. “I may not trust you with many things, but I do believe you are not a liar. I suppose it has something to do with some useless code of honor you knights hold. So, can we count you into our circle of allies?”

Léon did not answer, but instead turned away from Malik and started for the arena exit. Suddenly a fear came over Malik. What if Léon were to approach Canoes with the news of this uprising? Would Canoes believe him and destroy all which he named as a traitor without question? Thoughts of running the opposite direction occurred to him. Instead, he decided to stand his ground.

“Commander!” Malik called out.

Léon stopped and turned on his heel coolly tilting his head. He was quite amused to have Malik on edge.

“Yes?” Léon asked mockingly.

“Your answer please,” Malik replied, trying not to sound anxious.

“No. I will not join your ragtag of miscreants to rise up against a creature so dark he’s ruled the Suterran Elves for over five decades and has managed to bring his hatred to all in Krysala in only a little over a decade of planning and warring,” Léon stated matter-of-factly. “Besides, I’ve got my own concerns with defeating the human knight before he realizes his full potential.” To the shock of Malik, who suspected Canoes’ most loyal warrior would indeed inform him of the conspiracy, Léon turned to walk away while stating, “But by all means, continue with your plans. It would be nice to see some new management around here.”

Malik breathed more easily having finally gotten this conversation with Léon over with. Malik stood at the edge of the arena watching Léon saunter away. To no one around him, he began to speak.

“Good. He is with us, in his own way. But, I suspect it is the only way we would in fact gain his support.”

A dark and sinister voice hissed from the shadows of the arena, “There is little more that could be expected from Léon.”

Malik did not move, for he knew from whom the voice was coming. He’d learned long ago that he could be anywhere at anytime.

“Yes, Lord, but he may be against the one who is to rise in Canoes’ place,” Malik offered.

“That matters not,” the unseen voice said. “Not until the uprising will his true loyalty matter. Only then will we see where he stands…if he’s still alive that is. This knight with Makaylen Stryphe is to be our true problem. Even more so than Canoes believes.”

“Yes, my lord,” Malik stated heading towards the shadows.

“Go and inform our followers the stage is set. Now we simply wait for the attack on the castle, then we

move,” the dark voice commanded letting out a low and cold laugh that faded away as Malik disappeared into the shadows.

A month of recuperating and planning passed as Jason, and all those preparing with him for the attack on Talkain, worked on a strategy to raid his former home. No one expected to have the same success battling the Dread Army at Talkain with as little effort as Karza had required. War was nothing new to Jason, but he was quickly being forced to realize that to many other people it was. His faithful friends were doing their part to help train the inexperienced townsfolk for the upcoming battle. Terrell and Makaylen helped train in close combat techniques, Lockefren and Ben in ranged combat with crossbows and bows, while Davien and Nephida finished up by training proper rifle and pistol handling. Christopher did his part keeping spirits lifted and preaching encouragement and faith by way of following Shiloh. Chris’ appearance was now one of a holy man again with a clean shaven face, short hair and white robes bearing the crest of his lost order. His guidance was extremely important, for the people realized they were not going to be battling just men, but rather dark and evil creatures of God Chaos. It was obviously going to take more than skill to win this battle; it was going to take faith as well.

Amon argued that he should be taking a larger part in training for war, but Jason insisted he worry more about his studies. If their battle with Talkain turned out as planned, Amon would be the ruling king and would need to worry more about his leadership abilities than how well he could handle a sword. Moira did her part by taking Amon and TaeAnne under her wing and teaching them scholastically in the way of the land, better training them in the skills needed to rule their kingdom.

Morale had its ups and downs in Malvra. Soon the toll of waiting for the best time to fight for a land that was not theirs became harder and harder for the citizens of Malvra and Karza to endure. Thoughts of

husbands, fathers, brothers and sons leaving to defeat a darkness they had not seen evidence of in a month worked to damage the hope and spirit of ‘righting the wrong’ they’d once had. Chris’ job became more and more difficult as time passed. The hearts of the people slowly began to change and no longer was war and justice on their minds, but rather survival and existence in their new homes. The numbers of those willing to fight dwindled down with every passing day.

The day had begun as usual in the last month for Malvra; training, learning, updating and waiting just as they had done for so many days now. The grim memories of the fires and destruction of Karza were disappearing in the minds of her citizens. The routine days of preparing for battle had become normal to the point where many no longer believed a war was coming or was at all necessary. Jason counted daily his numbers and each day it looked more grim than before.

As night fell, Davien took charge of leading the outer patrol before the dome was closed and secured for the night. He had no reason to believe this night would be any different than the many nights before when he had led his men to check the perimeter, but something in his heart made him feel that tonight had something different in store for them. Being on guard and ready for whatever may jump out at you was always Davien’s motto, but as of late, it was most difficult to convince his men of the same. The small group of twelve soldiers, consisting more of enlisted townsfolk than experienced soldiers, were lined up on their horses awaiting their briefing before checking their perimeters. Davien, the Lieutenant of the Inner Security Forces, or I.S.F., rode out to meet them on his cyber-horse hoping to be able to boost their morale and point out the importance of preparedness .

“Gentlemen!” Davien announced facing his men outside the domed city. “Soldiers! Get to attention!” He yelled when he noticed his men were giving him a lazy ear. “Don’t forget you are all soldiers of Malvra whether in combat or not! I warn you now, gentlemen, if you forget to take your job seriously

then you are a hindrance to the force! Your best course of action would be to stay here! If I must, I would rather ride out alone, facing whatever may be lurking in the dark, than to allow my men to fall because their hearts were not into what they deemed an insignificant duty!”

One soldier piped up irritated, “But it is too insignificant of a job for any of us to take seriously! It’s been over a month now and nothing has happened! I have no reason to believe that anyone is readying themselves to fight us! Why should we be so on guard?”

Others joined in grumbling amongst themselves and feeding their rebellious spirits.

“ATTENTION!” Davien roared.

The men quickly snapped to attention. Davien rode up to the outspoken soldier and placed himself as close to the man as possible with both of them seated upon their horses.

“Listen to me soldier,” Davien commanded behind clinched teeth, “I don’t really care about your opinion right now. I am your commanding officer and if I say stay alert then you are to do what you are told. If you cannot handle the small tasks then you will never be able to accomplish the large ones.” The soldier began to speak, but Davien raised his hand to silence him, “No, you’ve had your chance to speak, now is time for you to listen. In fact,” he now spoke loud enough for all to hear and moved to face all twelve men again, “you all need to listen. If you do not wish to do what is needed of you to the very best of your abilities then you are to dismount, go to our king and have yourself decommissioned as so many others have done as of late. I’d rather have a handful of willing men with bravery and integrity in their hearts than cowards who want nothing more than glory. Am I understood?”

The one soldier simply nodded and dismounted, leading his horse back toward the city entrance. Davien eyed his remaining men as some of them struggled with their own decisions.

“If any of you wish to join him, please do! You must be able to make it in this army if you mean to do

your fellow men any good in a war!”

Davien waited as one by one men dismounted their horses and followed the first towards the city. Only four of the twelve men remained on their horses staring at their commanding officer before them. He did not allow the small number to phase him as he commanded a sound off.

“Sound off when I get to you stating your name and rank,” he said.

The first man was of an athletic build, stood at least six feet tall, bald and wore a large tribal tattoo on his neck. His intense glare almost made him appear to be angry, which gave off an intimidating spirit.

“Rannon Savik! Private First Class, Sir!”

The second man was not as athletically built, but was much larger of a being. His hair was long and worn pulled back falling down his back. His gruff voice was muffled by his bushy beard.

“Dulph Blitz! Private First Class, Sir!”

The third man looked the epitome of militant with his clean shaven face, crew cut and starched clothes which made Davien smile for the man’s obvious respect for his job.

“Van Mareck! Corporal First Class, Sir!

The fourth, and final man, ready to do what was needed of him was neither tall, nor short, had stubble, but no beard, and his hair was neither short, nor long. Nothing about this fourth man was overly noticeable except his piercing blue eyes and the look of compassion he wore in them. When he spoke you could distinctly tell he was of an island descent.

“Private Second Class Gideon Roe, Sir!”

Davien was shocked to hear the rank of this man who was neither young, nor old.

“Are you telling me that you just got out of basic training and are ready to stand and fight with me?” Davien asked Gideon.

“Sir, no Sir!” Gideon bellowed out.

“Then what is your story soldier? You’d better not be here so you can make a name for yourself!” Davien warned.

Without blinking, Gideon answered, “No Sir! I’m just here to fight Sir! I’ve turned down many promotions to this day Sir!”

“Well, obviously you’re worth something, but I’ll have to see for myself just ‘what’ that something may be before I put in any recommendations for a promotion myself,” Davien said as he took his position standing before his men again.

After handing out their orders, Davien and the rest began as normal spreading out to all flanks checking all points. Their initial objective was to assure there was no one, either citizen or foe, in the wilderness and trapped outside the city dome once it was securely sealed for the night. Davien never felt so ready and prepared for something to happen as he did tonight. With his new armor, weapons and TM50-Techrifle, with multi-optic scope, Davien was anxious for a need to use it.

A veil of unrest seemed to shroud the area they were patrolling. Davien could feel in his heart a lingering darkness that almost suffocated you. It was not long into the patrol before Private Blitz could be heard on their wrist communicators warning of trouble.

“Sir, we have something moving through the forest at a high rate of speed heading towards us on the east point,” Private Blitz said.

“It may just be an animal. Watch to see if it takes off the other way soon,” Davien commanded, not wanting to be too hasty.

“No Sir, I thought that as well, but it is moving too slow for a jungle animal. When I checked through my thermal-optic scope on my crossbow I saw that there are actually three objects. There is one larger

and two smaller humanoid shaped figures headed our way,” Blitz explained.

Davien checked his position one last time before announcing, “I’m on my way. The rest of you stand your ground and await further orders.”

He took off for the east point in hopes to reach it before anything could happen. A fight was highly unwanted, but something about this night told him a fight may not be avoidable. As Davien reached the east point, he saw Dulph standing on the ground staring into the dark forest using the scope on his crossbow.

“What do you see, Private?” Davien whispered.

Dulph motioned for Davien to use his scope, “Take a look for yourself, Sir.”

There in the forest were three figures moving rapidly, but seemingly without any direction. They appeared to not have any idea where they were going.

“Did you notice they seem to be running scared rather than to attack?” Davien asked the soldier.

“Yes, Sir. But the question is, what’s making them run through the dark scared?”

Davien nodded, “Good point. Take a higher position out of sight and wait for my signal. Only fire on my signal.”

With only a nod, Dulph followed orders and hid himself aiming at the three moving figures. Davien jumped down from his horse and took position on one knee readying himself for the appearance of the three strange figures.

“I’m switching to starlight scope,” Davien whispered into his communicator so Dulph would know to keep him posted as to the whereabouts of the figures.

“Twelve meters and closing…” Dulph announced. “Eight meters and closing…”

Davien gripped his rifle tight ready to squeeze the trigger.

“They’ll be busting out of the forest in ten, nine, eight…”

Davien continued to stare out of his scope as beads of sweat began to build on his forehead.

“Three, two, one…”

“Don’t fire! Don’t fire! They’re innocents!” Davien exclaimed into his communicator.

Dulph loosened his grip on his pistol and breathed a hearty sigh of relief.