Whispers of a Dead Empire

Chapter 57

I pulled myself up through the window and reached and helped up Gunther and then the other two. Once we made it through, we found ourselves in a small barracks-type room. A row of ten cots filled the room, with lockboxes at the foot of the bed. I found it quite hilarious, especially considering that the undead didn't need to sleep. At this point, these were just the memories of a by-gone era. We all fanned out to explore it and rummage through the lockboxes.

Luckily for me, I found a few coins that I quickly pocketed, and some strange white dust that I quickly saw was from human bones. Once I slid it into my pocket, I tried to not think about how it became a powder. At the end of the day, all that mattered was that I would make some coin off of it.

Once everyone had gathered back together, there were no words spoken between us. We all knew the risks if we were caught. But we didn't need to talk to know what we had to do. Carter walked over to the door and pulled out a small mirror and quickly shifted to the prone position, and slid the mirror under the decaying wooden door.

Gunther and I quietly slithered over to the sides of the door, with Alinore taking the middle, her wand at the ready. My heart was calm, and my mind was sharp, ready to react in a split second. Gunther's hand was on his staff, ready to take out anything that came our way. I watched Carter as he scanned the next room over before he pulled his hand back, and made the all-clear motion, and quickly stood up, bringing his bow up to bear and nocking an arrow.

I nodded my head and reached out to the door, and dragged it open. I was careful and took my time, but the quiet squeal of metal filled my ears as I moved. Fucking hell, why can't this ever be easy. I grit my teeth as I opened the door wide enough for us to slide through. Carter was the first through since he had a ranged weapon, and Gunther before I followed suit.

We stood in a long hallway with a spiral staircase that stood near the end. All the rooms were closed, and not a single sound dirtied the air. If we were fighting other creatures, that would be a good sign, but here, that only made us more cautious. I took the front with Carter and had a hand at the ready, my spell barrier ready to activate the second I needed it to.

I really wanted to explore more to see what we could find, but it was risky. We were deep within enemy territory and only had the barest hint of how to fight our foes. For now, we would see if we could find this Empress, and then we would go from there. We pressed down the hall and passed a large wooden double door. I had a feeling it would lead to the main lobby, but that wasn't our target. We would scope out the second floor first and see if we could find anything of use. We made it to the staircase and quietly made our way up.

As we turned the corner, we came into a large hallway. On the far wall was a glass window, and at every door was a torch that cast an ominous orange light across the stone flooring. The only thing that bothered me was that a zombie was shuffling down the hall away from us. If we want to move any further, we have to take care of it. I glanced at Carter and gave him a slight nod. He pulled back his arrow and steadied his shot while I crouched down, ready to cross the distance. My hand passed over a small piece of debris, and I threw it softly down the hall, trying to pull its attention toward us.

The small chunk of stone landed with a slight clatter, causing the zombie to whip its head towards us. In an instant, an arrow flew past my head and went straight towards the zombie soldier that stood before us. Before it could even utter a noise, a sickening noise filled the hall as the arrow pierced its eye and sank into its brain. I activated my movement skill and darted across the hall and caught the body before it could hit the floor.

I had to hold my breath from the sheer smell that emanated from its corpse as I gently set it down. We shouldn't be here long enough to get caught.

I pulled the arrow from the eye of the undead and quickly used its uniform to clean the tip before I motioned for the others to join me.

Your party has slain a zombie legionary. Experience points have been distributed to everyone in the party.

I inspected the hall, trying to figure out which room would be our best bet, and I didn't want to open a door and find more undead waiting for us. So I had to choose carefully.

I glanced at all the doors, took a leap of faith, and chose the door next to the window. At least that way, if we fucked up, we could still make a break for it. We assumed our usual breaching position, and I reached out towards the handle of the door. I pushed it inwards with a soft click, revealing a small room with a desk in the center. A torch hung from the ceiling, illuminating a desk with a quill and a small container of ink. Next to that was a small book filled with writing.

Once everyone was in, I closed the door behind us and walked over to the desk. The chair was decaying and looked barely sturdy enough to hold a body, so I just pushed it to the side and reached out towards the book. The date was smudged out, but the writing was still there. Gunther and Carter took up positions by the door while Alinore activated a magical skill and looked around.

From what I could read, this was the journal of the Legions Captain, who went by the name of Rikard Levein. I flipped to the first page and read through to see if I could glean anything of use. The first few entries mainly were him lamenting this position yet understanding the importance of defending this area. Apparently, this was a strategic point that needed to be held at all costs. He said if it fell, then the entire southern border would be open to attack.

As I read further, the entries became more organized and less hateful as the captain remained here. There really wasn't much there for a few years. At least until I got to an entry that wasn't smudged and was written just a few years ago. It detailed a minor skirmish between the Asterians and a faction known as the Rasna. The skirmish was due to some nearby resources, but as the fighting went on, they found that a large army had amassed nearby, leading to an all-out war.

As I read on, the captain became increasingly frantic as he detailed many hit-and-run maneuvers by his forces to stall the approaching army. But because of other wars occurring, he lacked any reinforcements. The next-to-last entry states how he received a small detachment from the royal guard and sent much of his forces to help evacuate the towns beyond the stronghold since he knew he couldn't hold back the approaching army.

The very last entry states that he had accepted that this was his end and hoped that the Empress would forgive him for his failure. 'The enemy is at the gates, and most of my forces have pulled out to help the outer cities evacuate into the inner realm. A good deal may call me failure, but this is the only way. I can't let all my troops get slaughtered trying to hold back this tide. I alone, along with what's left of my men and the royal guards stationed here, will hold back the army for as long as we can, but I know it's for naught. The enemy is plentiful, and we are all exhausted. The only thing that keeps us going is the knowledge that the longer we fight, the more we can save. May the lady forgive us for our failure.'

I closed the notebook, and I felt sadness overwhelm me. Every soldier we saw here stayed behind long enough to protect the civilians beyond these walls. Even at the cost of their lives, they stayed behind to act as a rear action.

"What is it?" Gunther whispered as he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.

"This place. Every soldier here sacrificed themselves to buy time." I whispered back as I tucked the journal into my bag. Gunther's eyes widened before he nodded his head. He, of all people, knew what that meant. A glimmer of respect shone in his eyes as the words sunk in, and I tore my attention back to the desk. I had hoped to find something else that would help us, but no use. We would need to leave soon and get back to the safe house. That way, we could plan out our next move.

I walked over to the door and opened it. I glanced out and looked around and saw that there was still nothing there, which was strange, considering that we were in the base's heart. We all stepped out into the hall when I noticed something was wrong. The flames at the end had gone out, and my instincts were telling me to run the opposite way. The other torches flickered as a gust of wind blew through the hall. The sound of metal striking stone filled the hall's air with a rhythmic interval that slowly got closer. But the most chilling part of it all was that on the bottom of my HUD for the very first time, a long health bar appeared framed in by an ornate frame. On top of that was a name that made my blood run cold.