CHAPTER 3, FUGITIVES OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER 3, FUGITIVES OF THE EMPIRE
It’s a dark looming forest. There are only some old trails left. This is an abandoned path to the capital.
I can see the city from afar. Our capital was built in a tropical area, so we built it as high as possible to cool down the city, making the city look like a mountain. The palace and the mansions of the nobles are at the “mountain top” of the city. The beacon of power.
After meeting up with Colonel Gao, Baz swiftly hops in to organize the load-up of the supply so we can move on fast. They didn’t have enough time to actually plan the escape thoroughly; all the supplies had only just arrived, waiting to be loaded up.
Sharon is handling the clerks from her merchant’s guild.
What makes things worse is that Mop was right before–it starts raining. She likes it. It cleans the blood off her.
Sharon approaches Baz with the list, “Are you sure these are all we need? If this failed, I couldn’t explain the loss to my father.”
“This should work,” Baz replies.
Gao and Grant hug each other like it’s the end of the world, spreading men’s tears while we do the actual work. Even Banica is at least trying to move, but she also joins them now and then.
I don’t think they understand the urgency of the situation. Based on the clouds’ formation, a larger storm is coming. The trail might be too damp to move.
Inspectors are probably already dispatched for us when the next shift of prison guards arrives. With Gao’s Shin skills, we should have already been done packing an hour ago, but they chose to be above the “errands.”
Fortunately, we have another maniac, Mop, on our team to help with this. For a tiny girl like her, handling those wooden crates with one on each hand, like feathers. There’s no doubt she knows how to use Shin. With me working as well, we should be able to leave in another ten minutes.
But seriously, who is she? With all that power, but always accompanied by a childlike expression and behavior, she is a living contradiction. However, she follows my order well, even without a sound.
“I will avenge you, Prince Grant! The Lion throne should be yours!” Gao yells barbarically all of a sudden.
Here we go again. Wait, he is not even dead yet. Why are you avenging him already?
“I know you shall, Gao, AVENGE ME!” Grant counters back with an even more fierce war cry.
And he agrees he’s dead…
Which part of a “low-profile” escape do they not understand? I guess Gao just thinks he can hold against whoever’s coming for us, and he probably can, but that will just mean we end up losing another man from the inside, branded as a traitor.
Not very ideal! It will be a huge problem if we ever plan to have our comeback to Omenmia.
Gao is always one of the most single-minded people in the imperial court. He has a ridiculous background. Gao’s father was a merchant from Han before the Civil War. His old man named him Colonel, hoping that he would actually become a colonel one day. This has been a joke within the imperial court since his ascendancy into the inner court. A “colonel” would never be included in the court, and of course, he is not a “colonel.” He is the Army Commander of Omenmia! He surpassed his father’s dream way too much. Therefore, he became the first “Colonel” to be in the inner court.
However, that’s not the only reason he is considered a joke sometimes. He is not the brightest man in the inner court.
Gao climbed up the military ladder through battle achievements during the Civil War. He has a good warzone instinct and constantly turns the tides of battles, but that’s all he has.
In a way, you can call him a fortunate brute, born in the right era to be successful as just a dumb strong man.
I should never have let Grant hang out with Gao in the first place. I was usually quite fond of him for his straightforward demeanor. I always hoped he could bring up Grant’s ability to use Shin while hanging out with him, but all he was, in the end, was just a drinking buddy and gambling buddy, making Grant an even more single-minded person, like birds always coming over to their own flock.
In his defense, though, he is indeed one hell of a warrior an empire could ever ask for.
“Omenmia will be ours again!” Grant yells again.
I cannot hold my anger anymore. Since I cannot fight them or talk to them, I need to find a way to tell them to shut it. I look around and find the overwhelmed Baz. Maybe it’s time to make him even more overwhelmed. I grab the supply list from him, and that freaks him out.
“What are you doing? I need to finish…”
I signal him a “No” and point to the crying men in front of the wagon with my rapier. Grant and Gao are just happily celebrating their imaginative victories.
Seeing the scene just dumbfounds him. He slaps his hand on his forehead and moves closer to the “wonder boys.”
I take over the organizing job temporarily, ordering the rest of our team with my rapier.
“Your Highness, we don’t want to catch more attention.”
“But I don’t know when it will be the next time I see Gao again.” Grant continues like he is in an epic, “This is a dangerous world we live in.”
“Don’t worry about him, ‘Your Highness’. Do you really think anyone can defeat our greatest general, Colonel Gao?” Sharon chimes in to handle the situation.
Grant and Gao all seem satisfied with this flattery and stop messing around.
“Something is in the forest,” Mop randomly drops.
What?
A sudden thunder cracks. It starts pouring.
We need to hurry up. There are still four more crates. It strikes me suddenly, “Why do we need so many crates? We just need money. So what are we packing all this time?”
I rush to open the crates on the wagon. Weapons. Fruit. Clothes. Books. NO GOLD? And why do we need so many of the others?
How are we going to pay after we leave Omenmia?
An energy surge.
Gao, Mop, and I all feel it. Someone dreadful comes.
“So they didn’t send the Inspectors, huh?” Gao says with some dreadful excitement.
“Go! I’ll handle this,” Gao yells.
Baz quickly grabs Grant and Sharon to the wagon. Mop hops onto the wagon easily as Baz holds the rein. I put down the crates in my hand and help Sharon get in the wagon.
“Have fun!” Mop says to Gao.
“I will not forget you!” Grant screams.
Gao turns to show off a confident smile while the wagon moves away.
He starts rubbing his fist fervently. Electric sparks emerge from his hand, just like he was called on the battlefield, the Thunder Fist. He is on standby for the incoming fight.
As we move away, I look at the four last crates, wondering if one of them has gold.
Maybe I still have time to check them. Any gold will help our journey.
I hop off the wagon.
“What are you doing? Felicia!” Grant freaks out.
He does care about the people around him.
“Come back! Gao can handle the fight!” Grant continues.
Baz turns confusedly to me. I signal him to go and dash back to the last four crates.
Grant tries to jump off as well, buffoon! Fortunately, Mop knocks him out with one hit and smiles at me with a cute nod as if she understands what I’m doing. There’s a sorrow in her eyes which she tries to hide. Sharon and Benica look at me nervously.
No time to waste. I move back to check on the crates. I quickly check on the list.
There are golds! And… Magems!
I can only carry one, but which one? Why do all these packages have to be identified by magic?
During the Civil War, the South often raided our supply chain. In order to avoid letting them know what supplies were on the way. Estin invented a coded hex system so that spies could not decipher our supply plans and raid what they needed.
I don’t understand magic, so I’ll just have to open them one by one.
I arrive at the crates.
“What are you doing here? They are coming.” Gao screams.
I ignore him and open the nearest crate. Clothes again.
Next, Magems! I don’t understand magems. Which one is more useful? Let’s just finish checking.
I open the next one, more books. Next, ammunition. Finally, gold bars!
Which one?
My spine goes cold. A sudden kill instinct shows up. All the energy around is sucked into one direction. It is a sign of Shin mastery. A spear shoots straight for my skull from that angle. I barely twist it in time but end up falling on the ground.
Gao notices. “Are you alright?”
He turns to engage with me, but a shadow moves, and a long sword swings down. Gao blocks it with his metal gloves, concentrating the Shin energy around his fists, forming an invisible layer over his fists, reinforcing his guard. He gets knocked back about twenty steps but is still on his feet. The clash of steel meeting his metal gloves echoed like a war drum.
A spear and a long sword. This is not just assassins. Not just warriors. I recognize this combination. This is the Royal Guards.
We’re surrounded by two of the most deadly people in Omenmia, Captain Rox Bennett and…
Vice Captain Benna Aukaid. My first daughter. The daughter I failed. Now, a mindless battle machine pointed at my throat.
Her eyes are cold, like a crimson vortex sucking your soul into it. The spear is in front of my face. There’s no room for me to move.
She used to have a pair of beautiful blue eyes.
“General Gao. What an honor. Would you mind telling me where Prince Grant ran off to?” Rox smiles insincerely at Gao.
“I always want a chance to fight you. Omenmia’s rising star from the traitor House Bennett?” Gao replies excitedly.
“Oh? I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I have no intention to fight you, but thank you for your admiration. Peasant General,” Rox, still smiling, lies just after hitting Gao with a lethal strike. If it was anyone else, they would have been dead already.
Gao is irritated by the statement. His fist clenches harder as the surrounding Shin energy contracts toward him.
Gao may be a brute, but he is also one of the few Shin masters who naturally develops elemental attacks through Shin affinities. Not even Rox has the ability to do so. Most people get stuck with purely strength and agility enhancement.
“Is that Grant’s maid? So he must be somewhere close.” Rox points out.
I scan through the situation. The best I can do is at least grab some gold bars. All I can hope is that Baz is not planning to use any of those magems.
Benna is still staring at me. Empty. Hollow. Like a doll. She hasn’t moved one bit since the first strike. I don’t think I can defeat her in this body, but to grab some gold and run is still an option. However, that will also lead her to Grant. What should I do?
“Your opponent is me. Stop getting distracted.” Gao flies his electric fist toward Rox, yelling.
Rox smiles and deflects with his blade. Gao’s fist hits the ground. The electricity spreads through the ground, lighting up some magems.
Gao knows he failed the strike and immediately directs the electricity toward Benna.
Benna notices the counter-attack and hops back. This gives me an open window to grab the gold.
I dash to the gold and put some gold in my pockets. The opening window is short. I sense the energy approach and pull out my rapier to block Benna’s devastating attack. She lashes on with a terrifying kill attempt.
I barely blocked the attack. I can feel her spearhead finding ribs. At least I redirected the attack to be the blunt side of the blade. I immediately feel a strong push, and then I’m airborne. I see myself flying away from her while the world spins.
My back hits something hard, and I hear a wood crack. I slam against a tree trunk.
Blood is spilling out of my mouth and everywhere on my body. She is way more dangerous than I imagined. I will die here! Again! How foolish of me to think I ever had a chance.
Rox uses this failed attack as an opportunity to strike Gao. He swings his sword toward Gao and hits him into the sky.
“Argh!” Gao groans, but he is not done yet.
He lights up himself with Shin and creates a giant electric shield around. He takes advantage of the fall and creates a giant explosion as soon as he reaches the ground, interrupting Benna’s final strikes on me. It’s his signature move, the Thunder Blast.
He stares me in the eyes and yells, “Go!”
I try to move, but Shin healing is not fast enough. I cannot gather sufficient energy. Most energy around this area has been absorbed by Rox, Benna, and Gao, and… another energy peak in the forest.
No time to think. I move with the gold bars I have and try to run.
Gao notices his attacks have energized the magems.
Rox and Benna both focus on him now. He decides to strike the crate of magems. His energy burst from his fist, creating a giant electric sphere around his hand.
The two royal guards dash toward him to stop him, but it’s already too late. His fist riches those magems.
A giant electrical explosion created by the chain effects of the magems hit all three of them, paralyzing them. It wipes all the rain in this area for a moment.
I’m fortunate to avoid the explosion, but—
I can’t stand it anymore. Everything feels so light and floating. I fall to the ground. Everything is so blurry.
I failed again in my second chance.
The strike knocks Gao himself and Benna out. Rox is still standing, barely. He is using his large sword as a crutch.
I try to crawl away while he pursues me at an old man’s speed. He’s still faster than me. Everything aches. I cannot feel a lot of parts on me. Am I dying in the hands of a dying man?
“Stop moving…” he says.
Suddenly, a cloaked person shows up and knocks Rox on the back of his head with a handle or something. Rox fails to react and falls to the ground. The person grabs more gold bars and puts them into his pocket. Is he a robber?
He approaches me. Too close, I cannot see his face. Is he here for the gold on me? I cannot…
I close my eyes, accepting the fate.