Dark Morning

Drindle's wagon clattered down the central road of Astia. The duo were headed East. Screams and loud growls could be heard from the opposite direction, all the while an alarm bell was ringing. Lionel sat in the back of the wagon peering through the opening in the back. He watched as men grabbed whatever tools or sharp instruments they could. The men kissed their families and headed toward the raucous noises. The women and children headed to the only destination that seemed safe, East. A bright light could be seen in the direction the men travelled, it was the orange glow of a massive fire.

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The hellhounds and gardgans had already breached the western wall. From the reports that the captain of the guard received, there were five, meter and half tall hellhounds and one massive three meter tall beast. The gardgans easily numbered in the hundreds and continued to pour through the now burning walls. Lloyd, the captain of the guard yelled orders.

"GET THAT BARRICADE UP!!!" He yelled while watching the front line try to hold back the gardgans.

He was trying to slow down the beasts with a front line of a hundred men. He had an additional thirty untrained men moving crates and furniture into the main road. His front line was twenty meters or so in front of the barricade being assembled. The road was ten meters across. His men were trying to block off the advance of the crazed creatures with anything they could salvage from the now empty nearby homes. His guards were only decked out in leather armor, save for a few who wore chainmail and plate mail. Each of the soldiers had a short sword that was lucky enough to be sharp. there were only a handful of archers whose arrows were running out quickly. The humanoid gardgans were assaulting his front line soldiers relentlessly. 'Dammit.. if only we would have caught them at the gate.' Lloyd shook his head, there was nothing to do but regroup any able bodied man. They had to defend what they could. They would be lucky to make it out of this alive. "MAGES, ELEMENTAL MAGIC NOW!" as he yelled three Apprentice mages released their magic over the vanguard troops. There was a burst of fire, electricity, and ice. More than 15 gardgans died but there was a constant stream of the beasts to refill their ranks.

Lloyd only had a total of twelve mages that he commanded. He had three Apprentice mages and nine Neophytes. The Neophytes would wear themselves out too quickly and could barely control their aptitude element. He wanted to save their magic in case the Hellhounds showed up.

Lloyd had been a soldier all his life and even served in the capitol for sometime before becoming the captain of Astia's guard in his later years. This was supposed to be an easy post until he retired. So much for that wishful thinking now.

He saw three more of his front line men scream and fall victim to the bone bladed arms of the gardgans. Those creatures would run on all fours using their blades as front legs, similar to a dog running. Just before they reached their target, they would scrunch up their recurved hind legs and jump forward at an incredible pace. They would fling themselves forward while holding their blades out in front of themselves. The points of their blades would touch like a spear. The beasts moved at an incredible speed through the air, piercing anything that got in their way. More than fifty soldiers had already lost their lives to that tactic. Only now that the gardgans were up close and personal, were his men gaining ground. His 97 or so guards that remained on the front line slashed and attacked around their beaten and almost destroyed wooden shields. The situation was growing more tenuous as time progressed.

"Sir! The barricade is ready!"

"FALL BACK TO THE BARRICADE!" Lloyd yelled while turning to run behind the barricade "MAGES ANOTHER VOLLEY OF ELEMENTAL MAGIC!"

Three more missiles of magic slammed into the demented creatures. More than thirty beasts fell as the front line soldiers made it safely behind the barricade. A low growl resonated through the vicinity as a large three meter tall hellhound strut through the ranks of gardgans. The humanoid beasts moved to either side to let the massive wolfish figure through. The creature of death walked uncaringly toward the makeshift barrier.

"MAGES, RELEASE EVERY SPELL YOU CAN!" At that command twelve elemental blasts were released and traveled towards the beast. Three of the twelve blasts went wide and slammed into the gardgans on either side. 'damn, well at least they hit the enemy.' Lloyd thought while trying to remain calm. A cloud of dust was thrown up and obscured Lloyd's view of the battlefield.

Silence descended on the battlefield as one of the young mages spoke. "Did we get him?"

"URRRROOOOR" a roar was released and a shockwave was generated from the sudden noise. The dust was cleared by the shockwave to reveal the three meter tall beast with only a few non-fatal wounds. The soldier's hearts dropped.

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Drindle pushed Harthling forward at a quick pace. They had just made it out of the eastern gate of Astia. Lionel stared at the orange glow in the distance. The light began to grow dim as they pulled further and further away from the town full of death. Lionel watched until the glow could be seen no more. He moved up to the driver's bench to sit beside Drindle.

"Why didn't we help them? You are powerful enough to stop anything." Lionel spoke while looking at Drindle imploringly.

"I'm not a god. Pshht" Drindle spoke while snorting his disdain. "What would you do if you could save them?" He looked at Lionel with an overgrown eyebrow raised.

Lionel searched his thoughts for an answer and found none. "I don't know. I just feel like running is wrong..." a moment of silence dragged on before he spoke again. "Will they be okay?" He looked to Drindle for an answer.

"Hruaaaahh.." a long sigh escaped the old man's mouth. "Ank, they will all most likely die. If it would have been only gardgans I think some of them could have made it. Since there were hellhounds I doubt there were enough men to stand up to them." The old man's raspy voice did nothing to stop the frustration Lionel felt.

'It's my fault this happened to them' Lionel thought while looking at his lap. He felt guilty, if only he hadn't touched his vervane this wouldn't have happened. Before the boy fell into despair he had a thought that he hoped the geezer could answer. "Why were there so many of these beasts in the center of Wastrial Nation?" He looked at the old man to see a slight change in his expression.

"Good question. Honestly I'm not sure. I hope to get an answer to that when we reach the capitol." the old man spoke never letting his expression change from a pensive one.

"Is there nothing we can do for those people?" Lionel spoke while looking back through the opening of the wagon. He could see nothing but the darkness of the early morning.

"Boy, Life is not fair. You should know that already. Just think of your parents." As the old man said those words Lionel became quiet.

The old man was exactly right. 'If I don't like how this world is, I need to get stronger to be able to change it.' Lionel made up his mind before looking at Drindle again. "Are those beasts going to continue to follow us."

"I am working on it now" Drindle spoke while pulling a small silver medallion from his robe. "I have a Velthum imbuing this with magic to cloak the dark amulet's call." At those words more questions popped into Lionel's head.

"How does a Velthum imbue something with magic?" Lionel stared at the medallion before Drindle put it back into the folds of his robe.

"Let's get past the Wastrial protections coming up before I answer all of your questions." The old man spoke while grabbing the reins and slowing Harthling down to a slow gait.

"What are the protections?" Lionel couldn't help but ask another question.

"Goodnight boy! Can you not even give me a moment before asking another question?" The codger flashed an exasperated expression towards Lionel before continuing. "The protections are set up by Master Mages in the Artificer rank. They are made to ensure that nothing can fly freely into the domain. The protections also ensure that any who enter are of good intent to the royals. It's not that simple, but you get the point." Drindle answered before becoming quite again. He closed his eyes and began breathing in deeply.

Lionel sat beside the geezer while thinking of the unfairness in the world. He thought of the girl, Gracie. She had been beautiful and just starting life. He felt a sense of loss even though he didn't know her well. They traveled like that for sometime before Lionel could see the light of the sun peaking over the distant hills.

A shudder suddenly ran through Drindle, a pale blue light emanated from behind his closed eyes. He snapped them open and spoke. "We're here."