Knightegel: Born of Conflict

Chapter 7: Kasumi Massacre

The voices of soldiers shouting, "Hail, High Master! Hail, High Master! Hail, High Master! Hail, High Master! Hail, High Master!" The sounds grow louder each time they shout. Violent Manistrad stomp their feet and pump their fists in the air. Their eyes look up to someone standing above them on a balcony. A stern, strong voice shouts, "Now is the time! The Simertans are prepared for war! Let us give them the reason they need; let us give them the fight they so desire! The city of Kasumi lies to the southeast! Charge in! Spare no one and nothing! Go! For Hilithany!" More than five thousand Manistrad turn around and march off, equipped with pikes, long swords harnessed at their sides, bows and arrows, a multitude of cannons, and a new weapon – a mechanism having the appearance of a rifle, but armed with a short, metal spear, intended to be propelled like a harpoon. An entire legion carried them.

Sorez shot up in bed with a beastly growl, huffing as he calmed down. His pupils abnormally enlarged, receded to their normal state. With urgency he got out of bed, releasing steam from his pores that refreshed him. He summoned his clothes onto his body, ran down the hallway, and burst into the iron room without ever touching the door. As the door shut behind him, he stopped to calm down for a few seconds and approached the water basin with respect. Respect there was here, always respect. He laid his hand flat upon the water's surface, gently pressing it deeper in and then pulled it out.

When the Moncarri appeared, Sorez wasted no time in asking, "Are the people in the city of Kasumi in danger? Is what I dreamed real?"

Sorez waited for the Moncarri to answer. He searched in anticipation of something, anything, but there was no reply. With tense eyes echoing his distress, Sorez burst out of the iron room and down the hall. Half way through, as the door shut behind him, Sorez heard a faint whisper say, "What will you do?" and then that strange deep voice say, "Yes, what willlll you doooo? Why do you attempt to distance yourself from the noise and the bloodshed? Why do you attempt to hide from what surrounds you every day, and grows more wild by the year? People will die either way, on both sides...at least let those who cause the pain reap the ruin they have sewn, in their own camp, rather than the innocent who suffer because of it."

Sorez went to his shop, thrusting on his cloak and hood and stepped outside. He took a moment to watch the locals going on about their business, and amidst small crowds walking here and there, something sharpened Sorez's focus, urging him to search. With heat-seeking precision, his sight zipped from person to person until he spotted a rather insignificant gentlemen, no different from anyone else one might find in Molotok, who was just standing around smoking a pipe. "There you are," said Sorez. He simply squinted at the man a little bit and then moved on. As he walked off, the man coughed twice and shrugged it off before looking around and then moving on.

Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Sorez went to a nearby alley, walking crisply atop the icy street, and disappeared. He emerged on the roof of a building just a quarter-mile away from the grounds of the High Master's fortress. People below passed right by the house without any awareness of Sorez's presence. Sorez stared into the westward distance and zoomed in on the fortress grounds. There was no one there, but Sorez heard the marching. He turned south and saw the Manistrad army headed toward Simerta in waves of three. They brought with them carts of extra munitions and weapons.

Sorez withdrew from there and showed up on the road to Simerta, many miles from where he would usually walk. He dropped on one knee when he appeared, catching his breath. He looked right, toward the city of Kasumi in the far distance. Bulls and buffalo ran free across the rigid horizon. Then he looked left, seeing the Peace Order's cathedral miles away on the border. Its tall spire reached up to the sky. It was quite large. Sorez's vision zoomed in to see Danail riding toward it.