Chapter 16 - The Army of Dead Coryn

Issin yawned as the troops cleaned up camp. He motioned one of the trackers to come to him. "Make sure the dogs are ready to go in ten minutes. I'd like to capture them today." The tracker saluted and ran off towards the makeshift kennels. Issin poured himself a cup of tea and entered Damien's tent. Damien sat crosslegged on the floor with the Sword of Drakmord laid out in front of him. "Good morning. Ready to head out, Damien?" Damien simply continued to stare at the sword in front of him. "Hello? Are you awake?"

"I've discovered it," Damien said quietly.

Issin looked at Damien with a confused expression. "What was that, Damien?"

"I've discovered it. The reason why my power was so limited. It was because no matter how well forged the weapon was, I could always break or melt it if I used too much power." Damien picked up the sword and stood up. "But with this sword, it doesn't matter. In my battle with the Childe Fangora, I used more power than I thought possible for me to have. And although I lost to him, I know that any other man I were to fight would fall easily."

Issin simply stood looking at Damien, concerned. He had never seen his friend like this before. Damien lit the Sword of Drakmord aflame and held it out, admiring it. Ten minutes later, he extinguished the flame and turned to Issin. "Well, are we ready to go?"

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Allendrie, Zara, and Toriban stood in front of a plain wooden door. Allendrie looked around cautiously. "You're sure that those numbers on the wall at House Coryn say here, Zara?"

"I am a history scholar. Of course I know something as simple as ancient units of measure. Those numbers and letters represented direction and an old measure called miles, and the message was in Srutan and Yamato. A mile is approximately five thousand steps. It is strange that they would use such ancient figures. Only an educated person would know them. They must be hoping for remaining members of noble houses to find them."

Toriban shoved past the both of them and knocked on the door. "Why don't we stop figuring and just find out if we're in the right place?" A few seconds later, they heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the door.

An aged man opened the door. "Yes?"

Zara spoke the words that had been scribed on the walls of House Coryn, the password of the resistance. "Aku wa horobu."

The man appeared startled for a second, then beckoned them inside. "Come with me." They were led through a small house, then down a small staircase beneath a trapdoor into a basement. In the basement were shelves of canned foods. The old man reached behind one of the shelves and pulled a rope. A muffled bell sounded from behind the wall. Minutes later, the shelf slid aside and two men in patchwork armor walked through. The old man motioned for them to stay put, then went over to talk to the soldiers.

Toriban leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed. Allendrie asked both of his companions, "So, what is the meaning of the password? In Ersatz, I mean."

Toriban looked at Zara and she lifted her hand in a motion suggesting him to go ahead. Toriban sighed. "It's a little annoying that you're the only one of us who doesn't know Yamato. It can be translated as 'Evil shall always fall,' or 'Evil will always perish.' It's the kind of thing that someone would only say in a story or fairy tale."

Allendrie thought about that for a minute. "Aku wa horobu. Sounds nice. Almost lyrical."

The old man returned to them and asked them to follw. "The Lord and Lady would wish to speak to you." The man led them through the opening in the walls and through a series of corridors. Eventually, they were led to a large hall that was desicned similar to an audience hall in a noble house.

At the end of the hall were two chairs. Seated in these chairs were Tabitha and Calan Coryn, whose eyes seemed to brighten as they entered the room. As the three companions approached the Lord and Lady, they rose and bowed to Allendrie. Calan rose first and spoke to them. "Greetings, Your Majesty. And greetings to your retainers as well." Toriban rolled his eyes and snorted at this. "We welcome you to resistance. If you would follow me, I'll show you around, while we find a position for your underlings." Toriban's eyes darkened and his hand drifted toward his weapon.

Allendrie noticed this, and responded, "I would prefer to keep them with me, Lord Coryn. They have become the only followers I trust." As Calan turned his head to look at his wife, Allendrie looked over at Toriban and mouthed the word 'no.' Toriban shrugged and removed his hand from his weapon.

Calan turned back to Allendrie. "Very well, Your Majesty. If you would follow me?" Calan and Tabitha led them down another hallway towards another large room. Here, there were about fifty men, training with wooden weapons. In the corner was a large pile of various armor pieces and weapons, ranging from flails to swords to quarterstaves. Overseeing the entire group was a slender, dark haired man in light leather armor. At his hip was a longsword and dagger, obviously well kept. Calan walked the group towards this man. "Here are our training facilities. It may not be much, but it's all that we have. You are now looking at the bulk of the resistance. Besides these men, we have ten men acting as spies in the palace and the castle in Omerta, the two guards you saw earlier, and the old man who owns the house that we are under."

Toriban's eyes widened. "Around sixty men?! What can you hope to do with so few?"

"As much as we can, good retainer. Now, if you will excuse me, I must attend to pressing business in the war room. Tabitha will finish showing you around." With that, he headed back down the hallway that he had led them down.

Tabitha went over and spoke to the man overseeing the troops. Moments later, she returned with him. "I would like to introduce you to the general of House Coryn. My liege, this is Vykk Dalta. Vykk, this is our rightful Lord Emperor Allendrie Merdoon."

Vykk nodded to the three of them and extended his hand to Allendrie. "I have heard great things about your prowess with a blade, my liege. Perhaps you would honor us by teaching a session later?" Allendrie began to decline, but suddenly noticed that the entire group had stopped their training and were now focused on the conversation. Some of the younger soldiers even looked eager.

Allendrie slowly nodded his head, then answered, "I think that we should be able to arrange that, General. But it shall have to be tomorrow. My retainers and I would like to rest for the remainder of the evening. Will that be acceptable, Lady Coryn?"

"Of course. Please, follow me."

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Toriban waited for the door to shut before speaking. "If I get called the brat-Prince's 'retainer' one more time, I'm going to slit a certain someone's throat. Here's a hint: his name starts with an 'A.'" He went over to one of the beds and sat down. "Anyway, we seem to have gained their trust easily enough. They're probably all young fools who think that now that they have their leader, they can't possibly lose. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I have found an aspect of this room that I like." Toriban got up and headed for the small bar on the other side of the room and poured himself a drink from a bottle of bourbon.

Allendrie lay down on one of the beds and was soon fast asleep. Zara sat crosslegged on the other bed, eyes closed in meditation. Toriban sipped his drink as he scanned the room, his eyes finally settling on Zara. He smiled and thought of his own days at the temple, when he had thought that meditation had been such a pain. Thinking of the temple, though, always set off a chain of thoughts that eventually led to Issin's attack on House Fangora. Toriban drained the last of his drink, then threw the glass angrily, causing it to smash loudly against the wall. Zara, deep in meditation, didn't even move. Allendrie rolled over and mumbled something in his sleep, then was quiet once again. "Well, if we had been attacked during the night on our way here, we'd probably be dead."

"Observing the world around you and acting in the world around you are two different things." Zara opened one eye. "If that had been directed toward me, I definitely would have reacted."

"Are you so sure? I got plenty of bruises to the head during training by thinking the way you do. Goodnight."

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Issin spoke excitedly to the tracker, who cowered in his presence. "You're absolutely sure? Perfect." Issin walked over to the food line, where Damien was waiting patiently. "We've found them. They're in a house in the city. They've been tracked right to the door."

Damien closely examined the strange item that looked like food that had just been placed on his plate. "Very well, we should attack at dawn."

"Yes, as soon as light touches the sky, they'll die." Issin marched off to speak with a group of soldiers.

Damien stared absently after his friend. "But will I be able to defeat the Childe Fangora this time?"