Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Thirteen : An Unknown Acquaintance

15th July, AD 1656

City Of Jyona, Aurelia

As the airship descends from the stratosphere, Everent felt sick. Puttering all the way back from Esmerelda to the valley city, being cooped up in the shuttle proved too much for the sergeant to handle.

“Descending on Jyona. Hang on, we’ve got some turbulence.” The pilot’s voice knocked Everent out from his attention on the pain writhing in his head and stomach. He couldn’t stand the enormous headache and wanted to throw up, but in front of these men in the ship? That would’ve made him a laughing stock. No, he would not want to ruin his own honour.

Tolerating the pain, he peered out of the side window. The outlines of the castle in the middle of the fortified city, blocks out most of the morning sunlight. Everent felt relieved – the fact that they had crossed the dangerous airspace and into the Aurelian-dominated skies– and had been able to relax a little and get some sleep. But airsickness and constant headaches prevented him from doing so.

The City of Jyona, a valley city to the north of the capital, medium-sized, and a thriving trading centre in the nation. It could have been designated as the second front line if Esmerelda had fallen into the Empire’s hands. And the sergeant will have to face the same thing that happened back then. That’s if, and now, with the entire invasion force pushed back into the Cordia Line, he and the rest of the unit that fought that day, were given a one-week leave.

Everent glanced at the cockpit. The pilot flipped a switch on the ceiling. “I’m stabilizing the shuttle and setting back altimeters.”

“Go for it,” Krom, who was sitting beside the sergeant, answers half-heartedly.

Moments later, Guthren unfastens his belt and moves across the shuttle, sitting backward on the seat nearest to me, face against the window. “Jyona,” He smiled. “It’s great to be back at home.”

“You lived in here?” Everent asked.

“Yeah, and if you guys want, I can take you all around the city.”

“Oh, come on, Guthren. We know the highlights of the city.” One soldier said. “Especially the women, right? There are those hotels where you can have it all night.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Krom interrupted. “We have a minor over here.” He nudged Everent on his shoulders.

Everent’s eyes followed the glowing city shrouded in the beam of the morning light. The towers stretching up from the highest levels of the enormous redoubt in the middle of the city stood still, overlooking the entire city and the vast are of the valley. Like Esmerelda, neon lights from the city streets create an unnatural glow in the skyline. The elites and the royal families probably lived in the highest of the terraced city. Everent could see that there’s an appearance gap between the rich and the poor in the city. The rich ones, they lived in posh medieval houses and small castles, the poor lived in the slums deep down on the city’s outskirts.

“Hey remember the brawl back in here a few years ago?” A soldier opposite of the lieutenant winked at him. “That kind of face you have back then was priceless!”

“Yup,” Krom grinned. “Best. Moment. Ever. You could’ve seen when I knocked the hell out of that bastard.”

A loud laugh resonated from the compartment, easily audible from the cockpit itself. The pilot shifts in his seat and peered through the rearview mirror. “We’re on top of Jyona now, pack your stuff and get ready to disembark.”

Everent glared out of the window as the rest behind him began their routine checks on their belongings. From the landing pad of the skyport underneath the airship, three flares climbed onto the sky. Those flares, all of them green in colour, indicate that the landing pad is clear and the airship is permitted to land. Everent sometimes wondered to himself why radio communication was limited to public use only.