Dawn of a Thousand Suns, Book I: Arch De Angels

Chapter V

Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom...

"The church bells," Michael exclaimed, - "why are they chiming?"

Going to the gate of the city was still a senseless idea. They were hiding under the staircase and when they were about to lose hope of survival, finally they came...

"The cavalry!" Michael gasped as soon as he saw the riders seated upright on galloping horses.

The knights rushed through the gate. Mounted on horses and clad in shining chain mails, they seemed like a stroke of wrath, sent to help the city defenders in the fight against the yellow-eyed army.

"One horseman equals three or four infantry soldiers," Lucius recalled the words of the old warrior in the village. There were so many of them they filled the entire city. The rattle of the armor and the clatter of the hooves was like a river, a sea of unstoppable movement.

Deep in heart, Lucius hoped that the appearance of the cavalry meant winning the war. They could enter the noble district. That's what he had been waiting for...

Herbs worked, mom was in a deep sleep, and the boy knew she would not wake up for a while. He knew that the key to the cellar was kept in the room. He had turned everything upside down before he found the key hidden in the farthest corner of the lower drawer in the cupboard.

"Stay here, Laili!" He ordered the girl and closed the door behind.,

The stairs went deeply into the cellar and with each step, the cold got stronger. There were books downstairs... dangerous books. One could also find rare herbs and dangerous plants too.

Lucius knew where to look for that book...

"How to find the house here?" Lucius could barely hear his own words amongst the neighing of the horses and screams of the people.

"The nobles' houses are located deeper in the neighborhood. If we reach the place, we can find the house we need by the family symbols", Michael answered, almost screaming.

He was leaning against the bloody wall and could hardly breathe. He could not believe that they were surviving through this horrible slaughter.

"We have to move, we should not stop!" Michael screamed at Lucius, who instantly came back to reality and forced his feeble body to stand up. Once again they crawled towards their goals and safety through corpses.

There was a raven with open wings engraved on the man's ring. Lucius hoped to find the place where his little sister could have been. Michael also remembered seeing some similar signs on one house during one of his Sunday trips, but he could not recall exactly where it had been.

The boys were waiting for the right time to continue their way, still hiding behind the corpses. Suddenly a drop fell on Lucius' forehead. It was about to rain.

"Come on!" Screamed Michael once again, running ahead. Lucius followed him. Having lost their way, they accidentally ran in the middle of the battlefield, so they had to get away by crawling on the ground, with the spears and swords sparkling in the fire above their heads.

"To the right! Careful!" Michael's screams helped Lucius to jump quicker, avoiding the hatchet hitting his head, but couldn't survive the horse.

A wavelike hit threw him away. He felt a terrible pain in his entire body. Still, he glimpsed a horseman in armor, riding away.

Every street, every corner was full of the neighing of sweaty horses, screams of the exhausted citizens, moans of the dying, wounded people, and mixed blood and human flesh. As if all this was not enough, it poured down together with a strong wind. The lives of nobles, still hiding behind the thick shutters, had not yet been maimed with the swords of the enemy, which filled Lucius with hope. He believed that if his sister was still there; she was safe yet, and he had to find her. These beasts would not back off, they were planning to attack the noble quarter.