Читать книгу The New Order - Sean Wolfe Fay - Страница 7

Leonidas gritted his teeth and shook off his discomfort. Having been raised in the desert, he was foreign to the frigid wind and snow that now racked his body with shivers. He resented that, of the three generals of the Noctem Army, Lord Tenebris had assigned him to oversee the construction of the tundra base. Leonidas turned and looked at the marvellous stone complex rising from the snow-hardened earth. He couldn’t help but take a little pride in the fact that the Noctem Alliance’s first true base was now in its last phases of construction.

It dawned on Leonidas that it was probably time for another patrol. He pulled out his watch to confirm this. He had to squint to see the golden clockface through the heavy snowfall, but he could still make out the time as midday. It was time to send two of his ten men out to circumnavigate the construction zone, searching for trespassers. Leonidas found these patrols to be pointless. They were in the middle of the most expansive and desolate biome on the server, so the chances that anybody would run into them out here were slim to none. However, on Caesar’s last inspection of the base, he had made it very plain to Leonidas that Lord Tenebris felt the perimeter patrols were vital.

Ever since it had been founded on Spawnpoint Hill, the New Order had gathered almost a hundred and fifty followers, and had since been renamed the Noctem Alliance. Lord Tenebris, however, remained in a foul mood. He refused to let go of his anger that Element City had been so successful since King Kev had fallen. He had expected the city to struggle to support itself under the rule of Stan2012. However, Element City was now thriving to a level not experienced since the Golden Age of King Kev’s rule, and Stan had only been president for a few months. Tomorrow was the day of the second election of the Republic of Elementia, and Stan was expected to win in a landslide.

Given Lord Tenebris’s foul mood, Leonidas reasoned that his own head would be on the chopping block if Lord Tenebris somehow found out he had missed a patrol. Therefore, Leonidas called out to the two nearest workers, “Corporal! Private! Get over here!”

Immediately, Corporal Emerick and Private Spyro pocketed the stone bricks they were building with and hastily hustled over to Leonidas.

“Yes, sir, General Leonidas,” the two soldiers responded in full salute.

“It’s twelve hundred hours now, and it’s time for the midday perimeter check. Ya know what to do,” said Leonidas.

“Sir, yes, sir!” said the players. They spun on their heels, drew their bows and arrows, and marched off until they disappeared into the heavy snowfall.

Leonidas sighed. With two players gone, work would be slower for the next hour. He turned back towards the construction, about to continue his work, when something caught his eye. There, approaching from the general direction that Emerick and Spyro had just disappeared, a light flickered through the snowfall, getting brighter and brighter. Leonidas briefly wondered if one of his men was coming back, but he quickly realized that this was neither the corporal nor the private. A figure adorned in flowing white robes came into view, a jack-o’-lantern clutched in his hands.

“I need food, Leonidas,” came Caesar’s battered voice, breathing heavily from his long trek through the barren plains. Leonidas was taken aback, seeing his comrade and equal-in-command here when Caesar was supposed to be catering to the personal needs of Lord Tenebris. He pulled two pieces of bread from his inventory and quickly handed them to Caesar.

“What brings ya here, Caesar?” asked Leonidas, showing Caesar into the modest dirt-block shack, lit by torchlight. The structure served as Leonidas’s personal quarters during the construction of the new capital. “I thought Lord Tenebris told ya to stay with him, and help with whatever he needed.”

“He did, and I am,” replied Caesar. Even through his mouthful of bread, his upper-class Element City accent was prominent. “Lord Tenebris is displeased that he has not received word of the completion of Nocturia. He wishes to know why you have not completed our new capital yet, and how long it will be before it is completed. He has sent me to ask you this.”

Leonidas sighed. “Don’t actually say this to Lord Tenebris, Caesar, but if it weren’t for these stupid perimeter patrols, we would have completed the capital a week ago. With only ten guys workin’ on construction, the patrols really slow down the work.”

Caesar gave a slow, emotionless nod.

Leonidas finished his report. “Nevertheless, we’ve entered the final phases of the construction of Nocturia. We should be done by the end of tomorrow.”

“Now, that is what Lord Tenebris will want to hear,” replied Caesar, standing up. “I shall give him the report.”

“Do ya really have to leave so soon?” asked Leonidas. Since all the players out here were subordinate to him, Leonidas found himself with nobody to talk to, and he was truthfully becoming a little lonely. “Can’t ya stay for at least a little while?”

“No, I’m sorry, Leonidas. Lord Tenebris made it very clear that I am supposed to survey the premises hastily and report back to him, no delays. Otherwise, I would be quite content to stay, but you know how Lord Tenebris is when he gets angry.”

In fact, Leonidas had never seen Lord Tenebris angry. The one and only time he had seen Lord Tenebris was on Spawnpoint Hill, the night they had lost to the Grand Adorian Militia in battle. On that day, desperate and with nothing to lose, Leonidas, Caesar and Minotaurus had pledged themselves to a new leader. Since that day, Lord Tenebris had ordered Leonidas to build the Noctem Alliance’s capital city of Nocturia out here in the Southern Tundra Biome. His only contact with the founder of the Noctem Alliance since then had been through messengers.

Leonidas rarely saw his fellow generals. Lord Tenebris had ordered Caesar to act as his own personal adviser and servant, and what he had ordered Minotaurus to do, Leonidas could only guess. Regardless, Leonidas was well aware of what Lord Tenebris was capable of, and he did not imagine he would be very agreeable when angry.

“Then have a good return trip, Caesar,” Leonidas responded, handing his friend three cooked pork chops for the hike back to Lord Tenebris’s base. Caesar nodded his thanks, and was about to exit through the wooden door when three players burst into the dirt shack.

The three players were covered in snow, so it took Leonidas a moment to distinguish two of them as Corporal Emerick and Private Spyro. They had their bows raised and were nudging a third figure forwards. This player, Leonidas did not recognize. It appeared to be a girl, dressed in a full snowsuit with a red ponytail running down her back. The moment she entered the building, she fell to her knees, overwhelmed with fatigue. Leonidas stood up.

“Who is this?” he asked his corporal harshly.

“We found this player wandering around, not far from our border, General,” replied the corporal. He seemed quite proud that he had led the effort of capturing a trespasser.

“What’s your name?” Leonidas asked.

The girl seemed unable to respond. She whimpered. It was then that Leonidas noticed the arrow protruding from her left shoulder. One of his men had shot her.

“Answer him, you pathetic worm. He asked you a question!” bellowed Caesar, and all in the vicinity jumped from his sudden outburst. “What are you doing here?”

The girl gave an almost inaudible whisper, and Leonidas thought he heard the words “lost” and “community” in her answer.

“So there’s a community out here? Where? I thought the colony of the King’s banished criminals died out a long time ago,” inquired Leonidas.

Another dubious whimper escaped the girl’s mouth, and Leonidas heard the word “survived” in her response.

“So the community still exists? And you are a member of this community?” Caesar asked gruffly.

The girl, still kneeling and unable to stand, gave an almost imperceptible nod before her head sank to the floor and she dissolved into desperate sobs.

“That’s all I needed to know,” responded Caesar with a sly grin. An instant later, there was a flash of diamond. The girl fell backwards, a slash across her chest and her items lying in a ring around her. Caesar slid his sword back into its sheath.

Leonidas opened his mouth in horror, but quickly closed it again. It was necessary, he reminded himself, trying to keep his breathing steady. She knew too much, and she was a danger. Still, Leonidas couldn’t bring himself to look at her body, and he felt unable to look back towards Caesar until he heard the faint noise indicating that the girl had vanished.

“I’ll tell Lord Tenebris not to expect the capital completed for a few more days,” said Caesar, a smile appearing on his face. “But when I receive the next report, I expect that not only will the building be finished, but every member of the old community will be dead.”

Caesar threw back his head and laughed, and before Leonidas could open his mouth to object, he had swept out the door.

Leonidas stood looking at the floor for a moment, then realized that Corporal Emerick and Private Spyro were still looking at him, waiting for a command. He cleared his throat and, trying to keep his voice steady, gave the order.

“Private, you’re stayin’ with me and finishin’ this capital. Corporal” – Leonidas took a deep breath – “take half the men and find the village. Leave no survivors.”

“Yes, sir,” came Corporal Emerick’s response, and he left the room without another word.

There was silence as Leonidas stood in the room lost in thought, Private Spyro standing beside him. After a minute, the private spoke. “Is it really the right thing to do, General? Those players, they’re not hurting anybody, so how can it be right?”

Leonidas, ignoring his own strongly conflicted feelings, gave Spyro the response he was supposed to give. “It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not, Private, it’s what has to be done.” Leonidas let out a raspy sigh and fought the urge to vomit. “Come on,” he said, “we have a base to finish.”

And with that, General Leonidas and Private Spyro of the Noctem Alliance left the dirt shack.