Tales of the Vangen: The Black Ministry's Betrayal (Book 1)

Chapter 36: A New Day to Die

PART 3: HOLD THE LINE

Gate Primaris came down with a crash. The studded wooden frame splintered against the battering ram's impact, the iron boar's head ringing like a church bell to the sound of demise. Dirt, dust, and stone billowed up as the gate collapsed, drowned out by the cheering rebels.

Custodia and Aeturnus stood on a platform overlooking it all, watching as the black and gold tide of rebels forced themselves into the Palace's outer courtyard.

"We've done it!" Custodia exclaimed. After all that had happened during the night, dawn was soon breaking, bringing forth a long-awaited victory. She turned to Aeturnus, practically craning her neck to look up at the behemoth. Clad entirely in his star steel armor, the man looked like he had been carved out of space itself. The nebulous metal drank the light from nearby torches, glinting from white pockmarks that shifted like quicksilver on the surface.

Aeturnus turned to look at her, his squat, strong face the only thing not covered by armor. "Let us not get ahead of ourselves, Custodia. There are still two more gates to pass through." He turned to watch the rebels charging through. "Each stronger than the last."

"I know," Custodia snapped. She swiped at the hair sticking to her brow. Even in the cold air of the night, she was still sweating profusely in her lamellar armor. With the Vangen continually nipping at her heels, she'd expected them bursting out of the Palace at any moment. Their absence had left her more nervous then relieved.

"Something bothering you?" Aeturnus asked, his deep, thundering voice making him seem more like a mountain than a man.

"Nothing gets past you, eh?" Custodia asked. Aeturnus looked at her dumbly. God's the man was as thick as a castle wall sometimes. "Can't you see? We're the only ones here."

"Tyrannus is over there." Aeturnus pointed towards Blackstone Tower, the gigantic pillar of stone slicing through the slow dawn's sky.

"I meant the others you imbecile." Custodia snapped. If the gigantic oaf took offense, he didn't show it. He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to watch the rebels as they charged through the gates, the sounds of battle echoing just beyond. It seemed the loyalists had regrouped already, but their numbers were paltry compared to the rebels. What the rebellion lacked in experience they made up for in numbers. Ten rebel deaths to one loyalist were more than enough.

Custodia left Aeturnus to his own devices so she could think. She paced up and down the platform, a dreadful habit she'd learned from an equally dreadful man, and yet it was the only thing that helped settle her mind these days. To think about what needed to be done. The question she asked still lingered.

Where were the others? She'd told them to gather at the Palace, but only Aeturnus had shown up so far. Of course, the oaf would obey. His kind, the Jotans, were inclined towards taking orders, but the others were a different story.

Cannis had been a wild card from the start. His youthful fire left him brash, rebellious and challenging to control. Their talk back at Gray Hogs had left a fiery pit in her stomach. He'd gone rabid like the hound he'd portrayed, not to mention the crossbow bolt sticking out of his eye. Even with his injury, he'd sworn up and down about getting vengeance for Tranquillis as he charged towards the Acropolis. But then, why had the Vangen gone that way? There was nothing there but the old temple and—,

Realization struck Custodia like a punch to the gut. The Deadways. Of course Dux would utilize the Deadways. With how congested the roads were with rebel patrols, it only made sense to use them. The dangers of getting lost though were great, but Custodia knew Dux. The man didn't take chances. If he had indeed taken the Deadways, then there was a certainty in his actions that she couldn't overlook. If she knew Cannis, the fool would have gone after Dux without hesitation.