Chapter XXII

“Open the gate! Quick! Open the gate!”

Over the battlements of the Bastion the sentinels saw Tamas running towards them. Far behind him was the Berknot Militia, common men and women with weapons made from whatever tools they could find.

Caleb shouted to the gate keepers, “Open it! His Majesty is in trouble!”

The gate keepers raised the wooden beam holding the gate shut and removed the chains just in time for Tamas to burst through. No sooner was he inside the Bastion than he pushed the gate closed again and helped them place the chains and wooden beam back in place.

Caleb, Shamira, and Khol all approached the emperor as he doubled over and gasped for air. “Your Majesty,” said Caleb. “What's going on? Why are they after you?”

“Because...I'm...” Tamas tried to speak between breaths. “...a Nihilite...”

“That's ridiculous!” said Caleb. “We've been united with the Nihilites for over ten years now! Besides, everyone knows you converted to the Agalmite faith a long time ago! You even met our God in person, and came back from the dead!”

“That's the story,” said Khol. “My guess is they don't believe that story.”

“Sentinels!” called out the Berknot Militiamen from outside the walls. “We have no quarrel with you, only with the demon in your halls. You are good Arxians. Turn over the Aeon and his spawn and your lives will be spared.”

Caleb rolled his eyes and signaled with his hand to the other sentinels. All of them traded their practice weapons for real weapons as Caleb grabbed his spear and climbed the staircase up to the battlements.

Once up there, he called out to the militiamen, “Our lives will be spared? You don't have enough soldiers for a siege, and no siege equipment. Here's my counter offer; turn around. Go back to your homes and we won't humiliate you. If you attack this fortress we'll reveal you as the bunch of amateurs playing soldier that you truly are. Understood?”

The bald man who led the Berknot Militia pointed his “spear” at Caleb. “You're making a big mistake! Our orders come from Adon, the High Archangel himself!”

Caleb laughed, and soon all of the now-armed sentinels within joined in the laughter. “The High Archangel? The one from the end-times prophecies?”

“The same.”

“The very one who is supposed to be sent by God to rule over the surface world and create paradise over all of Erets? That's who ordered you to attack our emperor?”

“Aye.”

Caleb slapped himself in the forehead. “Here I was thinking you were all just a band of hateful bigots. Turns out you're actually a gaggle of lunatics.”

“Gaggle?” Shamira whispered to him.

“I think that's what a group of lunatics is called,” Caleb whispered back. “What else would it be? Pack? Herd? Flock?”

The bald man called out again. “Do you need proof in order to believe?”

“To believe that Adon exists?” Caleb asked. “No, I need no proof. I'd need proof to believe that he's the one telling you to attack our emperor and the heir apparent. The Arch-Bishop married our emperor and empress together herself.”

“The Church has become corrupt. Adon is here to set it right.”

“He's not.”

“He's not what?”

“Here,” said Caleb, gesturing his arms wide and glancing back and forth as if searching for him. “Bring him here, then maybe we can talk. Until then leave.” Archers rose up to the battlements and knocked arrows to their bows. Caleb raised his hand. “If you don't leave peacefully...well, you know the alternative.”

The militiamen held up their door-shields and hid behind them like a wall. The bald man, however, gestured for them to turn back. There was a groan of disappointment from the militia, but they obeyed his order and turned back from the Bastion.

Once they were gone from view, Caleb descended the stairs to meet with Tamas. “You may wish to stay here for a while, your Majesty. They could be just waiting for you to step one foot out of this fortress so they can kill you.”

“Good idea,” said Tamas, his hand resting firmly on Khol's shoulder. “You have guest quarters here?”

“Not really,” said Caleb. “But you two can take my room. I'll sleep in the barracks tonight.”

“Thank you,” said Khol.

“Where should I sleep?” asked Shamira.

“The barracks, I guess,” said Caleb. “We don't have the kinds of luxuries paladins protecting the royal family are probably used to. Sorry about that.”

“It's alright,” said Shamira. “I've been sleeping on the road the past few days. I prefer the barracks.”

Caleb produced from his pocket a small pipe and began to stuff it with tiny shreds of green leaves. “Even after all this time, some people just can't let things go. It's been what...almost thirty years since the Nihilites invaded? So much has happened since then you'd think people could let it go.”

“The March of Muri was hit the hardest,” said Khol. “I read all about it. General Meriel was a monster! She'd use catapults to launch the heads of her enemies into villages she was about to attack. She'd skin people and use their flesh as a banner. It's hard for people to forget horrors like that.”

“My Pa told me all about that,” said Caleb as he lit the pipe and breathed in the smoke. “I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. He hated the Nihilites until his dying day.”

“Why don't you?” asked Tamas.

Caleb shrugged. “People are people, no matter where they're from. And some people are evil, some people are good. Some are full of hate, others are full of love. It's only idiots what look at an entire group of people, bonded together by land or by creed, and says, 'They're all wicked, every last one.' I meet so many traveling Nihilite merchants here I could never bring myself to believe they all had black hearts. In fact, I don't think I've met a wicked Nihilite yet.”

Khol smiled up at Caleb. “So, any chance we can join in on the next training exercise?”

“I think you may be a bit too young, little prince,” said Caleb, taking another puff from his pipe.

“Then how am I to occupy my time?” asked Khol. “I'm going to be bored!”

“Read one of your books,” said Tamas.

“I've read through all the books we took with us,” said Khol.

Tamas scratched his head for a moment. “I don't know...well...you enjoy watching the jousts and tournaments, right?”

“I do.”

“Well, how about this. I'll join in on the next training exercise and you can watch that?” said Tamas.

“Your Majesty, the sentinels won't want to risk harming you...”

Tamas laughed. “You all use blunted weapons, padding, and arrows covered in sacks full of red powder. I've handled worse than that. Besides, I'm the emperor and I want to play.”

Caleb exhaled the smoke from his pipe. “Oh, very well. We'll allow it.”