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Chapter 8 The Old District Massacre

❄ Snow ❄

After running through the web of alleyways, and taking a short rest to regain their breath, Randal and Snow were walking alone through a darker part of the old district. They had a moment of respite, having completely lost the mob through the previous twists and turns.

They paused as some rats ran across them into a sewer grate.

“That was close. I hope everyone is okay.” Snow whispered, worry on her face.

“Don’t worry Snow, they will be fine.” Randal reassured.

Soon enough, they were finally approaching their goal, the south gate tower, where there were actual guards, the knights were all grouped up and talking to each other. These guards should be able to assist them in looking for Gravis if she wasn’t already here. Snow raised her hand and started to call out to them before Randal pulled her down behind an abandoned merchant stand and shushed her.

“What’s the deal Randal!?” Snow harshly whispered.

“Those aren’t Regalian guards.” He replied, a pale nervous expression written on his face.

“They are wearing the same armor. How could you be so sure?” She asked, confused about his suspicion.

“I make deliveries here all the time and the tower guards are never just standing around talking like tha’.” Another reason is, there is no watcher on top of tha’ tower.” He pointed to the location. He was right, there was no watcher, and the guards didn’t look like sentries at all. He shook his head. “Ok, screw the tower, we can still get through the south gate and go to my house. We just got to sneak up and make a break for it.”

“Why are they just standing around though?” Snow kept watching and it was strange, they were just waiting, they were in regalian armor. What could their plan be? Snow's eyes widened in realization. “It's an ambush. If Gravis comes here, her group would be walking right into a trap!”

“So what are we going to do now? We can’t fight them.” Randal asked, starting to panic.

“I need to warn Gravis before she gets here.”

“We should just sneak through the south gate Snow, even if they see us my father has his beasts he can use.”

“No, I need to warn my sister that there is an ambush here. “

“You want to go back out there to that crowd!? No, that’s too dangerous! You don’t even know if your sister will come through here!”

They heard the sounds of a large crowd approaching a few streets down.

“That has to be them!” Snow had to find a way to relay the message without being stopped. She found two cloaks under the merchant stand and then slowly looked at Randal, then began to grin. Randal saw the look on her face, recognized it, and felt all his panic drain away, only to be replaced with resignation.

“Would that really work here?

“Yes, here is the plan.”

Snow appeared around the corner one street in front from Gravis’s group. As they were marching down towards her, a parade of violence was following them as well as in front of them. There weren’t many attackers in front but enough that it was too dangerous to approach. She prayed that this would work, taking a breath and squeezing her fist she pulled off her hood and yelled out. “Hey idiots I’m right here!”

The crowd looked her way. “It’s one of the royalty, alone!” She had the attention of almost all the crowd in the front. She turned heel and started sprinting away around the corner. The crowd began chasing her.

“Is that Snow?!” Gravis was trying to see who they were chasing after.

Once Snow got around the corner, she vaulted over some garbage disappearing behind it and continued down the road. Some of the men in the crowd were quick and catching up fast. If she hadn't spent the last ten minutes in a full sprint, she would have gotten a lot farther. She tried ducking and weaving through stands, trash and alleyways which bought some time which was all she needed to do. These pursuers were persistent though. Once she made it back into the cistern, losing them would be easy. One more street, then a right turn and she would have been golden. A man caught up to her and tried to grab at her hood, but she ducked down avoiding his swipe before rolling into the alleyway. Tumbling back forward she darted down the alley only to see a shadow appear at the end of it. Some men

appeared at the exit, cutting her off, she spun around and there were about three more guys behind her. She was boxed in.

Snow stood silent as the men approached.

“Aren’t you a slippery one?” One of the men said as he grabbed the back of her head, ripping the hood off revealing Randal’s grinning face.

“What's up?” He smirked nervously. “Looking for someone?”

Gravis and the knights were only two streets away from the south gate tower, they could see it in view. The sight of safety increased their pace before another hooded individual stepped in front of them. The person shifted, giving Gravis a better view. It was Snow. “That’s my sister, Let her in!” Gravis pointed at her. The knights opened their formation and Snow came running in.

“Thank the goddess you’re okay!” Gravis exclaimed in relief, hugging her little sister tightly. But Snow, as happy as she was to see her sister okay, had bad news.

“Gravis the south gate tower is a trap. They are corralling us this way. We need to turn around now!”

“Are you sure? How many?”

“They are all over the rooftops and at the tower, over a dozen men, impersonating Regalian guards. It will be just like the candy shop again but worse. We need to go another direction!”

“Okay.” Gravis straightened up and turned to Sir Omeric.

“Knight captain Omeric." She called.

“Yes Princess?” he said as they were approaching the street the south gate tower was connected too, his head turning this way and that as he kept a vigilant eye on the situation.

“We need to turn about face, this road is a trap and the south tower is compromised.”

“We can't about your highness. It's practically clear ahead of us and the south tower is a strong fortification, that’s not possible!”

“My sister has seen it herself.”

Sir Omeric looked at Snow and then back at Gravis. “We can’t risk turning around. Continue forward march!” He commanded the knights.

Gravis got angry.

“Stop running and about face right now!” Gravis yelled out. The knights looked unsure on whose order to follow until a rock hit the back of Gravis’ head causing her to get angrier “TURN ABOUT FACE AND CUT THEM DOWN!”

“About face! Make way!” The knights obeyed in the face of the Gravis’ fury, but the crowd that was blocking the way out of the old district was too large to push through.

“Cut down anyone in the way, the safety of the royalty is our only priority!” Sir Omeric shouted as the knights started to force their way through the rear crowd, cutting everyone down indiscriminately and forcing a path through.

Once the blood started spilling the crowd charged forward into them. Snow couldn’t see anything besides the golden backplates of the knights surrounding her. She tried looking through the one of the very small gaps in their formation but recoiled when a splash of blood hit her face

“Hold your formation and keep pushing!” The lead knight yelled again, as it was obvious at this point that the crowd was trying to corral them in the other direction. Gravis and Snow were getting pushed forward by the knights causing her to almost lose her footing several times, stepping on what she assumed were bodies. She was too scared to look down and see

“Keep your head down!” Gravis yelled over the screaming, trying to shield Snow from the rocks that were now being thrown at them. The street was turning into a bloody massacre. Even some of their guardsmen fell and had to be left behind. All Snow could hear was yelling, screams of pain, and fire roaring in the background. This was a nightmare. The street was filled with blood. The fighting went on for what felt like an eternity.

“Good. Continue onward!” Sir Omeric shouted in his heavy breathing. The crowd finally thinned out and they were given way to go down the street.

Gravis spit out blood, her cheek cut and mouth bloody from being hit by the barrage of rocks and glass. She was surprisingly fearless and helped kept the knights in order through this hell.

They went back into the heart of the old district and were marching through a narrow street. “Our new destination is the city square.” Sir Omeric commanded.

As they were marching, they began to walk through puddles of water on this particular street. The puddles were small but still caught Snow’s attention. “Something doesn’t feel right.” causing the group to stop. The street was completely empty of people.

“What, another trap?” Gravis quickly asked.

“I can’t tell for sure, but this is suspicious.”

“There is nowhere else to go! We move forward, because I am not turning about face again!” Sir Omeric shouted in frustration. But Snow was undeterred.

“Why would that crowd of people just stop following us? This street doesn’t feel right. We should turn around and-”

“No! No more! We go forward! It was your idea to come down to this district against my advisement. Now look at the mess we are in! It is my job to keep you safe and I will not have my command assumed over again. Forward!”

“You better watch your mouth captain, neither I nor my sister are your subordinates. Stop!” Gravis stopped the group.

The knight captain turned to her and they locked eyes in a battle of wills. A few moments of tense silence passed before he responded.

“It is my job to keep you two safe. While we are out here you do not have the right to assume my command.” He growled at Gravis.

“I am not assuming your command, I am commanding you.”

“I know what's best. Leaving as fast as possible does not give them the chance to regroup on us!”

“Is that why you left my sister to burn to death?”

“I made the right call. You are both here alive.”

Snow tried stepping in and mediating, but the knight captain was having none of it.

“Let’s just send someone ahead and-”

“No, we march forward right now. We just cut down dozens of people. I will not waste more time and be forced to take more civilian lives on a whim.”

“You are not qualified to be a knight, let alone a captain. Lost your nerve?” Gravis sneered.

“The safety of the royal family is my number one priority. No matter how much you dislike me, turning about again puts you at more risk,” He turned back and gave the command “March forward!” The knights listened to him, and they continued onward, Gravis and Snow forced to go with them. “You will regret disobeying me captain!” Gravis shouted. But the knight captain was undeterred.

“You can run off and tell your mother how much you dislike me when I bring you back safely. Until then, my unit listens to me and so do you.” They started walking through the flooded street. “Just keep an eye out on the alleyways and rooftops,” Sir Omeric ordered, as if to compromise with Snow’s concern, while they were continuing down the street. Most of the knights were looking up or to the sides. It was then that Snow noticed they had been marching through ankle high water for a while now. The small puddles became a miniature flood. From there she noticed that the sewer grates had been sealed with blankets and cloth, preventing the water from being drained.

“Gravis, I really think this a trap!”

“We will not stop!” Sir Omeric yelled as they continued onward. They got a few more feet down the street and a charging noise was heard, a yellow rune became visible from underneath the water. The group froze in surprise, before the water’s surface exploded in an array of crackling electricity. As the arcs of electricity reached them Snow braced herself for pain, only to feel a familiar tickling sensation across her whole body instead.

For the rest of her group, however, the effects were much more severe: all the knights and Gravis had fallen to a knee or on their backs. Snow could see the electricity running over them as they were being shocked in front of her eyes.

Snow wondered why she was unaffected. She could tell it was coming from the water which she was standing in as well. Looking at her arms, she realized that the clothing Lazerous made must have been stopping it from shocking her. She turned to Gravis who was gritting her teeth while her body was violently twitching.

“Gravis!” Snow grabbed Gravis’ arm and the twitching stopped. Snow pulled her halfway up the street, just out of the water. Her older sister laid on the ground for a few moments, panting heavily. “Thanks...Snow.” Gravis said between breaths. Snow smiled in relief before refocusing on the problem still at hand: the other knights.

They were still being electrocuted and there were too many to pull. She looked closely at the water and could see a faint rune that was pulsing underneath it. She quickly tried to think of some way to counteract it, but she had no aptitude for the magical arts... She looked at Gravis as an idea popped into her head.

“Gravis, can you freeze the water?” Snow said in a hurry.

Gravis stood back up in a daze, “Yeah...I can.”

“Do it!”

Gravis closed her eyes momentarily to focus and an icy chill pervaded the air. When she opened them, her eyes were shining bright blue. She raised her hand, then slammed it on the ground.

“Emerge!”

A very tiny trail of ice shot forward, freezing all the water that it touched: including the water the knights were standing in. As the water froze, the rune lost power and faded away. Her task completed, Gravis’ eyes reverted to silver, and she stood up.

The knights quickly rose to their feet as well, shattering the relatively thin layer of ice that covered them.

Snow saw shadows moving on the ground and looked up to see the men who cast them moving into position above.

“The roof again!” Snow alerted her group. They looked up and the men with leather armor on the rooftops all began to unsheathe their weapons. The bald man with the eye patch was also up there.

“I don’t know what’s more impressive. The fact that one of you is immune to lightning, or the other being able to nullify my trap. Great teamwork. Now let me show you mine.” The man with the eyepatch threw his hands widely open, starting a new chant.

“Rune…”

“He’s chanting again!” Snow called out.

“Air…”

A large rune started forming in the sky.

The knights stood up from the water.

“Get to princesses now!” the knight captain ordered, and they started a mad dash up the street towards them.

“Gravis, get behind me! I can block the lightning!” Snow tried stepping in front of Gravis to block any more lightning magic.

“Levitate…”

The knights were almost linked back up with them; they were only a few yards away.

“Pulse!”

The rune echoed, vibrating strongly in the air. Snow prepared herself to block whatever magic was about to fly at them. No magic came flying at them, Instead all the men on the rooftops began jumping off. That is when she realized that the rune wasn’t meant to fire any destruction magic. It was meant to slow down their attackers’ falls. The mercenaries descended upon all of them.

“Snow watch out!” Gravis lunged, grabbing her, and spinning them around. Gravis flinched as a sword struck her down the back.

“Gravis!” Snow cried out.

Gravis let out a pained shout before she turned on the man and tackled him to the ground. Gravis held his sword arm down while she punched him in the face with her free hand, punctuating each blow with another shout. “You dare... to attack... us!” After about three punches he caught her arm in a strong grip and started raising his sword back up to stab her with it. Gravis was struggling to hold the sword down as he slowly started bringing it up.

Snow moved to help her, but another man grabbed her from behind, putting her in a chokehold.

“Get...off...me!” Snow struggled, but the man was squeezing the life out of her, she could do nothing but watch as Gravis was in her own struggle in front of her.

“How about you relax and watch your sister die?” Her captor said, “We only need one of ya. Kill her Black! I got the younger one under control!”

The man wrestling with Gravis on the ground slowly and forcefully raised the tip of his sword up to her sisters’ neck.

“No, Stop!” Snow cried out.

The sword was going to pierce into Gravis’ throat, she wasn’t strong enough to push the blade away. Gravis responded by pressing both her and the man’s hand against his chest as her eyes flashed bright blue.

“Emerge!”

All could hear the sound of crackling ice as the man spasmed and froze over as “thorns” of ice erupted from his body, skewering him from the inside out: killing him instantly, but leaving Gravis unharmed. Gravis took the sword from the frozen corpse’s hand, its fingers shattering in the process, and turned towards Snow and the man holding her.

“Let. Her. Go.” Gravis’ eyes glowed a bright blue that contrasted terrifyingly with the blood on her face. Streaks of frost started to grow on her temples. The man responded by pulling out a dagger and holding it against Snow’s neck, but Snow could feel him trembling as he held her.

“Get over here and control that one will ya!” he yelled to the others of his group. As he called for help, Snow reached into her pocket and took out the half-eaten crystalline candy from the shop. It was sharp with a ragged edge from where she had bit off a piece of it and swung it up. She took a guess as she couldn’t really aim, but there was almost no resistance as she burrowed it into his face, more specifically, his eye socket. The man immediately released her and started screaming in horrific pain, thrashing on the ground as he held his face. Snow picked up his dagger and ran to Gravis.

“We just need one of them! For gods’ sake, what do I pay you for? Secure one of the targets!” Everyone heard the man with the eye patch yell out from the roof. It seems he was the true leader.

Snow and Gravis were isolated from the knights who were trying their hardest to get back to them, but were being held back, as the armored assailants fighting them were skilled, proving they weren’t ordinary thugs of the street. They fought like trained soldiers, much different than the simple mob that attacked them earlier. They had the numbers advantage; the knights were struggling to get through.

“Gravis, come on!” Snow tried to take her hand and run but they quickly realized the street behind them was barred with boxes and a collapsed wagon. They were surrounded.

“Well, time to put that training to use, right Gravis?” Snow laughed nervously.

“Snow, I don’t think we both make it out of this.” Gravis grimly replied.

“Just make an opening with your Emerge ability, so we can get back to the knights.”

“I used it too much; surprised that the last one worked.”

“So, what's the plan?”

“I don’t think we have a choice here.” Gravis raised her sword and flipped it around, so that she ended up holding the blade tip to her heart.

Snow felt the movement and glanced at her, eyes going wide in shocked horror. She grabbed her.

“What? No Gravis! What are you doing?!”

“They are only going to keep one of us alive; I’m making sure it's you. I’m also pretty sure these guys are from a mercenary guild. Make sure you tell mom that when she comes and saves you.”

“Don’t be stupid, GRAVIS NO!” Snow screamed.

Gravis started to push the sword into her chest, but came to a pause as a high-pitched whistle pierced the air, causing everyone to freeze, including her. A large rumbling noise followed, as the street started to shake.

The rumbling noise grew into what felt like a miniature earthquake as a stampede of vicious beasts in all shapes and sizes came charging up the street, lunging over or shoving past the knights to attack the mercenaries. Everything from wolves, owl griffins, beetle arachnids, and other types of animals Snow was not familiar with were attacking viciously, but in an oddly coordinated way.

The shocking sounds of crumpling metal armor and ripping leather were followed by the visceral ones of flesh tearing, bones breaking and the dying screams and falling of men, as the beasts tore the attackers to shreds even on the rooftops. Morale failing, the mercenaries started fleeing but didn’t get far. Despite the obvious savagery of the animals, none of them approached Snow, Gravis, or any of the knights; only their attackers faced the fury of tooth and claw. It wasn’t long before most of the mercenaries laid dead, but Snow couldn’t see the body of the man with the eye-patch: the mercenaries’ leader. Although considering how the animals were eating what they killed…he could just be missing his face. She had to hold a hand to her mouth as the sight that inspired that thought almost caused her to vomit.

“There she is!” They were all distracted from the macabre sight by the sound of Randal’s voice from down the street and saw him standing next to a man who shared enough facial features with him that it could only be his father, Windram.

Windram blew his whistle twice in quick succession and the horde of beasts all started to return down the street towards him. Once they were all behind him, he yelled “Down!” and all the beasts sat down in response. Some of the knights raised their weapons at this new perceived threat, only for Windram to shake his head before addressing them.

“Is this how you treat the man who just saved your hides?” He asked, his tone as dry as the desert.

Sir Omeric sized him up, then sighed.

“At ease; he’s friendly. Thank you, sir.”

“The name is Jarles Windram. You must be new, considering you don’t know me and allowed a member of the royal family to be so heavily injured on your watch.”

Snow didn’t understand who Windram was talking about, she was fine. She then looked at Gravis and realized her sister didn’t look okay. Gravis, who was trying to hide her pain behind the illusion of silence, was grimacing and looking much paler than usual.

“Gravis, are you okay?” Snow asked worriedly.

Gravis didn’t respond. She only smirked before collapsing to the ground, revealing the large gash that ran down her back.

“Gravis?!”

Everyone quickly surrounded her, unsure of what to do, until Windram took charge.

“Quickly, carry her to my home, it’s right outside the south wall. I can treat her there.”

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