Drake's Story: The Cost of Victory
NOTE: There is some dark and bloody scenes in this, so if you are not one for blood or corpses, then go read something else. If you are going to read, then enjoy.)
It has been ten years since the fall of Verel and the King Archeron. Draga has fallen under the control of Magia and his "holy order of Sanctum." The people of Verel who didn't make it out of the city in time, were forced to either obey his rule or be sent to the gallows. Many refused at first, but no one's soul is made of steel. The thousands who spent nights in the gallows, soon dwindled to the hundreds, then the tens, until there was none except for three of the most loyal of the people, the Knights of Archeron. The knights had vowed loyalty to the true king, Archeron. Magia decided to leave the knights there to rot, knowing that eventually their spirits will break.
The outlying villages and towns had it no better. They were given the same rule, obey or be imprisoned. All said to Obey, but very few meant it. For as the king had asked of them, Esran and Sira were still keeping up the fight. After leaving the castle, they hid out in a trading town. It was all bustle and hustle, an easy place to lose someone in the crowded streets and chaotic marketplaces. The back alleys and sewer system, the perfect place to do black market dealings and hide from the law...and Sanctum patrols. It was here, in the trading town of Olses, that Esran and Sira worked to form a rebellion, using a slow but effective way to tell one's loyalty. They first had to gather info on who to recruit, the victims of Sanctum were without a doubt hateful towards it. So most of the rebellion was made out of families who had their members killed or sent to the gallows thanks to Magia.
Since Olses is a trading hub for merchants, the two found some suppliers for the rebellion. Most merchant's were happy to help since Magia had raised the Taxes, high taxes meant low pay for them. So, every time they needed supplies, the rebellion sent their members through the sewers that they had modified to have secret passages that led to shipment points, the merchant would meet them there with a shipment, and the rebels would pay for it, no gold, no shipment. How they got the gold was through stealing from the stuck-up nobles and barons who Magia favored because they were, to be blunt, kiss-ups supporting and funding him. Not all did this, and some actually Sponsored the rebels, giving them some income.
After a few months of recruiting, they had a sizeable squadron of loyal allies and a couple of sponsors and shipments. They had to give less battle honed recruits some training before heading out on field missions. But what happened to their baby you may ask? Well, on the day they had arrived in Olses, the young dragon was born. It was a boy, of whom they named Drake Doragio. Sira took charge of taking care of Drake, Esran dealt with the rebellion with help from her now and then.
Magia began taxing the population outrageously, building factories to construct unknown things. The smog from the factories began to block the sun's rays, causing crops to be thin, and for people to become sick, as well as it getting colder. If it wasn't for the rebellion's interference, all of Draga would have become a desolate frozen wasteland. At first, Magia saw them as just an annoyance, at least, until the first of winter.
Five years had passed since the rebellion started, a small army of members lived in the sanctuary of the Rebel Headquarters. All were varied, half beast, dragons, gryphons, and humans alike. The headquarters was an underground building, the entrance to it hidden behind a secret door in the sewers, that could only be opend by a password that only loyal members knew, recruits had to follow their superior back before learning the code. It was huge, about six levels deep into the ground. Level six and five were all the sleeping quarters for the rebels, level four was the training room and hospital, three was a storeroom for food and water with a small kitchen, two was an armory, and the first floor was a meeting room for mission briefing and debriefing, this was where Esran, Sira, and Drake's rooms were as well.
The sleeping quarters were small sealed off rooms, they had first started out as a place to place your bedroll, but after a little income, they built rooms for twenty or so men or women to sleep. It was nothing special, just a single plain stuffed bed with a cotton blanket and pillow. A ceiling light was put in each room. Each dorm was sealed with a reinforced oak door, with locks.
Level four was designed as a training room and clinic. There was a spacious area with training dummies and an arena for sparring as well as combat instructions. The training area took off the entire left of the giant fifty foot room, that was twenty-five feet of swords clanging and arrows hitting the bulls eye on the archery targets. The right side was a sealed off area with two metal double doors, it had clean beds and cabinets, manned with healers. This was the clinic, since the rebels were low on magi and healers, they had to mainly rely on medicine and medical science. Most people made it back with injuries on bigger mission like destroying a factory or taking out an outpost, some didn't come back at all... At least the clinic ensured that most of the injured and sick were back in healthy condition.
The storeroom and kitchens were pretty much like a giant pantry with a oven and fireplace stove. Barrels and crates stacked up to the ceiling were filled with cured meat and pickled vegetables as well as other preserved food. A fresh meal was rare but just in case of that celebration, they have a oven and stove ready to start cooking. But for now, pickles, eggs, and jerky is on the menu.
As for the armory, it was the room with the highest security. Getting through three locked doors and also having the key to open the weapon chests were what you needed. Only the most trusted had them, but you could pick up some of the simple weapons in the training room such as a fail or short sword, you had to come to the armory to find something better or more exotic.
The briefing room was basically a giant spacious place with a stage that Esran or Sira would step onto to make an announcement for a mission. They had a smaller room where their right hand men met, and rooms. Esran and Sira stayed in the same room right next to Drake's. Today it was filled with all the rebels, chatting and talking asking each other if any of them knew what the mission was going to be. Then, Esran and Sira took the stage. Esran in the same armor he had always wore, and Sira wearing light studded armor apposed to her husband's heavy steel. All went silent as the chattering stopped and every soldier gave their attention, only the sound of the brazier fires being heard. Esran cleared his throat. "As you all know, it has been five years since we started this rebellion, some of you have been with us since the very beginning, others have just joined this year or even this week. But tonight, we execute are most difficult mission yet. Tonight, we break the Archeron Knights out of the gallows." A storm of muttering broke loose. "That's insane..." Said a whisper. "How are we going to enter without being spotted..." whispered another.
"Enough!" Esran shouted and the murmuring ceased at once. "I know it seems impossible, some of you are scared or even thinking I am insane, I assure you I'm not. We have a good number of troops and I'll need all of you in order to pull this off. It is true that the gallows is always put under tight guard. But, if there is chaos in other districts of Verel, guards from there will have to be sent to deal with it. That is why the plan is..."
After the plan was finished being explained. All the troops left to get ready, the operation would proceed at nightfall, but they had to leave now if they were going to reach the capital city in time. Esran sighed, "Are you certain that you should come with me Sira?" Esran asked his wife.
"A hundred percent, you need all the help you can get after all."
"But what about Drake, he's too young to stay here alone, maybe we should add more people to hold the fort here..." Esran said with worry.
"Esran, you are being Paranoid, fifty recruits are going to be here to protect Drake and you know that your son wouldn't give in without a fight."
"I know, he will make a fine soldier one day...but I hope that this operation's success will help us reclaim our land before that happens. I would not even let him see a drop of blood if I could help it..."
"I know Darling, but this is another reason we fight, we fight so that one day. Drake and al of the other young children who live can see the world they were meant to be raised in. A land with no war, peace, and no great bloodshed. It may not have been completely perfect. Sure we had a thief here and a murder there. But it was definitely better than what Magia's rule is." She pointed out.
Esran nodded. "You're right, Fifty guards is enough and besides, no one can find this place, otherwise Sanctum guards would have attacked us by now."
"Exactly, now come on. We have a mission to go finish!" Sira said and started shoving her husband to go get prepared.
"ok, ok! I get it, you don't have to push!" Esran said as he continued to be shoved by his wife.
It was night in Verel a fog had covered the city's street. Causing the guards and people to carry torches to see. But either way it was an advantage for the operation. Esran and Sira were in a alley just across from the prison, two armed men in front of the metal door. "Just as we suspected, it's under heavy guard. No doubt there are more inside." Esran whispered.
"Phase one of the plan should be executed soon..."
On the other side of the city, in the market district, were a squad of agents. They were in hiding as a patrol of guards walked by. When they did, they came out from behind and out of the barrels or Crates they hid in. Then busted the windows of every store window as fast as they could, tipping over stands and merchandise. Heavy footsteps approached as a torch light could be seen. The guards arrived on the scene seeing no one but the destruction. One of the guards went to request help in searching the scene and cleaning up. They spared two men inside the prison.
Then there was an explosion as flames were seen from the north part of the city, it covering the sky in smoke. "go get more men and figure out what's going on!" One of the guards commanded another. The other guard nodded and proceeded to charge down the streets to the prison. Being stopped by the guards explaining that he needed reinforcements. One of the guards walked in as ten men marched out of the prison to join the one requesting reinforcements. The ten men and the guard marched to the North of town.
In the south, near the aqueducts. A squad of the men were at the controls, the guards knocked out as they raised the release gates. Causing water to flood into the not enough water to cause damage, but enough to get thirteen of the guards in the prison to storm out to the west of town. The rebels left the zones before they could be discovered.
"Those are the signals." Esran said.
"Correct, now if are informants are right, there are now only ten guards left in there, plus the two out front. Twelve guards in all for us to fight. Think we can take them?" Sira asked.
Esran snorted, "Child's play, let's go!" He drew his sword and Sira her rapier. The guards fumbling for their blades but were too slow as they were met with a quick death by a stab through their hearts. Sira grabbed one of the keys of the guards and opened the door. Three more men located on the inside, two human and one dragon. The humans were burned by Esran's fire into ash as Sira parried and stabbed at the dragon that was trying to tear her apart with his claws. When Sira did a quick side step, the dragon thought she was going to the left but she went to the right, leaving him exposed as she quickly dispatched him with a slice of his throat. The dragon bleeding out to death from the cut. They proceeded down the hall, meeting two more guards who posed no challenge, Esran tackled a gryphon one onto the floor unconscious and Sira knocked the human one out with a round house kick. The last five were armed with spears in front of the cell that held the Knights. Esran quickly swung his hand as he stabbed his sword into the ground, Five crystal spike sprouting out of the ground and stabbing the men through their stomachs.
Sira unlocked the cell door. A Dragon was chained to the floor, his wings bound and chained without any armor or clothes, only in his scales. His arms bound behind his back and legs to the floor, another chain nailed to the floor as it covered him, keeping him pinned. A Gryphoness was in a cage with her wings bound and chains tying her beak together so she couldn't bite through the lock. A Man was chained to the wall, with steel cuffs around his wrists, ankles, and neck wearing ragged brown trousers. A long and filthy bear and hair covering everything except his eyes and a bit of his mouth. They all looked weak and skinny with the Dragon's scales dull and some of the gryphoness's feathers missing and you being able to see the human's Ribs.
They quickly freed them, Esran slicing apart the dragon's chains. Sira melting the lock off, and them both un cuffing the man. They all thanked them. "There will be a time for that later, right now we must leave before they sound the..." A bell was heard as it echoed through the city. "...warning bell." Esran sighed and quickly led the Former Knights out of the Prison. As they fled into the streets, it took almost no time at all for a mob of twenty guards to start chasing after them. Esran stopped and placed his claws on the ground, a twelve foot crystal wall rising in between the guards and them as they resumed their run to the City gates. The Archer's on the wall began to fire at them, the gates quickly closing. The gang quickly increased their run to a mad sprint. Esran blocking the Arrows with small crystal disks that he made as they ran, them quickly shattering on impact. They made it through the Gate, not stopping as they continued to flee into the woods, meeting with the reinforcements as they then retreated back to base. Their mission accomplished.
Meanwhile, as the rebel's were going back to HQ, Magia was sitting in the remodeled throne room of Kessho Tower. It now had a white stone floor and walls with sliver banners that held the crest of Sanctum on them. A White cross with three golden rings surrounding it on the silver banner. The throne was now bigger and made out of marble and gold with a giant Black carpet leading from the entrance to the throne. Torch scones near the door and on the walls as three chandaliers hung from the ceiling, and braziers were lined down the hall, all of them glowing pure white flames. A sanctum officer, a man with his hair brown hair put into a short ponytail with glasses and wearing a black suit and white tie, walked into the room, bowing to Magia on one knee, going from six feet to four. "Ah, Menro, what is the news among the masses, who was it that was responsible for this ruckus?"
Menro looked at the floor. "The Damages are minimal and no civilians were hurt, only are men posted at the jail. My lord, the Knights of Archeron have been freed. We have belief to suspect the Rebels are responsible." Menro reported.
Magia put his knuckle under his chin as he smirked. "I grow rather tired of those fools, their interference is quite annoying. I believe that it is time to squash these insects."
"Very well my lord, shall I assemble the troops?"
"That will be unnecessary, I already have all the pieces in place, now to just claim check." Magia stood as he walked out of the throne room while thinking. "Enjoy your victory today flies, for now it is time for me to claim both the king and queen, by simply capturing a pawn." He laughed and vanished in a flash of silver.
The rebels returned to their headquarters as Esran whispered the password towards the wall. It disappearing, revealing a door as they stepped through. Spirits were high thanks to the victory, but Esran and Sira gasped when they entered the base, a foul smell filling everyone's nostrils, the smell of blood and the dead. The entire first floor was covered in the corpses of the fifty recruits. All of them bleeding and dead on the floor. They heared moaning and one of the men were still alive, covered in wounds and struggling to crawl twords them as he coughed up a splat of blood. Esran and sira ran to the man as others began to see the extent of the damage in disbelief. "What happened!?" Esran asked the injured man In shock, there was no doubt that he would either pass out or die in a few minutes. He had to find out what...or who had done this.
"I-it...was Magia...h-he appeared in the middle...of the base. We attacked...but he defeated us like we were nothing...he...took...D-d-dr-dra-dr..." The man was gasping not being able to say the name.
"Spit it out man! Who was taken!?" Esran demanded.
"D-drake..." The man said as his eyes fell, never to be opened again. Both of the parent's eyes went wide as Sira ran towards Drake's room. Esran in pursuit. She stopped at the open door staring inside of it, the dresser was fallen onto the floor, his toy wooden sword snapped in half, with scorch marks on the door. Hanging from the ceiling lamp, was a skinned dragon's corpse, hanging above by it's tail, the eyes scoped out and beyond recognition. Blood dripping from it and it's mouth sliced open. Esran arrived at the scene only a minute before Sira, seeing it.
"Sira..." She quickly turned and hugged Esran tightly, weeping into his chest. "W-why...why didn't I stay!? Our boy...he's gone, I never wanted him to be caught up in all this! How could this had happened!? What did our son ever do to deserve this!? Why...WHY DID DRAKE HAVE TO DIE!?" She cried even more bawling, Esran slowly placed his arms around her. Trying to comfort her as his blood boiled. "I sware Magia...you will pay for this!" he mentally vowed.