Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Forty Seven : Between a Rock and a Hard Place

2nd March, AD 1657

Veillrichtstadt, Ansteig Empire

Everent shook his head in disbelief, his heart pumped faster than it could. He took a long glance at the woman; a sweet-looking, young lady whom he’d knew that he’d met her on the frontlines. This time, Everent could not lie to himself. It was definitely her! But one question still remained in his mind. As far as Everent knew, she is a soldier of the Empire and that means she is obviously the enemy of the Resistance. But why is she here? Does she know that she is in the heart of the lion’s den?

Everent tried to mutter a word or two, but she took off in the other direction, leaving Everent standing there, alone and could not come into his senses. By the time he’d realised anything, she was gone, deep into the depths of the catacombs, presumably into the other parts of the labyrinth of complex tunnels and quarters which Everent would not dare to venture into.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” A man held Everent’s shoulder, looking at the direction of the faintly lighted oil-lamps that lit the way into the catacombs. “The main quarters are in there. What? You don’t know how to navigate in it? I’ll take you in. It shouldn’t be a problem. The folks knew who you are already.”

Everent declined to the man’s offer and went back into his room. He took off his jacket and dived into the rugged bunk bed and lay there, with his head buried in the blanket. The flickering image of the woman repeatedly struck Everent’s mind. He could not answer questions that are multiplying as he goes into deep thought: why is she here? What could be the reason that she left the Army, if that would to happen? It was hot and humid in the room, and it was worse under the covers. There used to be a fan on ceiling, but someone might have taken it away, leaving a dark patch of hole on it.

Sleep was a long time coming and, when he finally went out; his dreams were unsettling and muddled, as though he was seeing them through a clouded, broken glass. Visions of his father, his fellow friends and companions of the war shrouded his dreams, often in a distorted manner. At the very centre of the combined faces, a woman stood there, mumbling words that were imperceptible to him...

But everything came to halt when a man came into his room and woke him up, shaking him by the shoulder and told him in a whisper: “Listen, my friend. There is a major briefing in the hall by Gunther. He says to rally ‘everyone who can handle a gun’, and that includes you.”

Everent yawned and rubbed his eyes. He had just dreamed something frightening, but it had faded instantly the moment the man had shook his shoulders, and strangely enough, he could not recall the face of the woman. He looked around the room for a clock before noticing one at the very end of the room, just above the door. Both of the hands struck six, and all the lights had started to flicker and being lit in the station.

“Is it morning already?” Everent said quietly, pulling on his boots and pulled out his jacket from the rusty coat rack, giving it a few pat to remove the brown residue before wearing it. Being too caught up in his dreams made Everent to lose track of time, and his cloudy mind still thinks that it is six on the same day.

“Yeah,” The man nodded. “And get your things and be quick. This meeting is important to all of us.”

Everent shuffled out of the room to wash up, having tossed over his shoulder a lightly dirtied towel his hosts had given him. There were public toilets, located at the west far end of the station, towards the entrance for easier pickup of clean water. The line of people waiting to get in was not very short, and Everent got into the line, having continuously yawning and piecing back his fractured memories.

The water was surprisingly cooling and it washed away the sticky sweat on his body. Everent felt overwhelmingly refreshed, mainly because he haven had a single proper bath ever since he’d left for the ‘other world’. But his enjoyments were cut short as an officer reminded him that everyone was given a maximum of ten minutes in the toilets. Wiping himself drying and walking out of the toilets in contentment, Everent walked over to the platform to see a group of armed men gathering around an elevated stage in the middle of the platform.