168 The Fog Clears (1/2)
Before the morning hours, the bright of day had not yet shown, yet the dark of night had begun its retreat. Waters from among the Mayura River rose to blanket the city and add to the gray of the sky. Within this murky, gray fog, everything blurred together. With their presence hidden by nature itself, Mason's mercenaries marched their way across the city. Of course, even in this sort of weather, they should be found. Someone had to see them. However, it was as Mason had said: Many of the city's guards had already been taken over by the traitors, at least for tonight. Now, as the shift changed, most people on patrol were those loyal to the traitors. All they had to do was look the other way as an entire army walked past them.
With a settling dread he watched as the troops of foreign mercenaries were joined by more and more local warriors as well. By the time the troops crossed the bridge to Rapra Island, they had swelled to about five hundred or so. This was outrageous! Most of these troops were Medalan after all, men born and raised in Saniya. For now they had no idea about their goals and were only led along by their commanders.Even so, once they were faced with resistance from King Corco's loyal troops, they would have to fight to save their lives. Still the commanders remained silent as they led their men to their doom. There was an uneasy mood in the air. Though of course, none of these soldiers would dare speak up. For months, they had been trained to follow orders without question. After the king's effective training methods, they would never speak out based on some small doubts.
An annoyed frown covered Quato's face as he looked to the center of the formation, where the fat Mason walked, all proud of his cheap deception. At first, Quato had assumed that the quartermaster would stay behind in the training facility within the empty estate, while the soldiers launched their attack. In that case, he could have kidnapped the ringleader, uneartherd the plot in front of the king's loyal troops and put down the rebellion before even a single shot was fired. However, for some reason, Mason had decided to lead the troops himself.
All this time, Quato had expected Nahlen to show up, but he hadn't. In fact, the entire operation seemed a bit hasty in the warrior's eyes. Up until they had begun their march, the dead warrior Quato had taken the uniform from still hadn't been reported missing, a clear sign that the traitors were flustered.
While their disarray had made Quato's work easier, it also filled him with great unease. Their rash actions could only mean that they had spotted a rare weakness in the castle's impregnable defenses. And indeed: Even as they reached the front gate of Rapra Island, they were let through without a word. Already, the enemy stood at the foot of Rapra Castle, ready to storm. Once they made it beyond the gates and up the walls, the sparse guards would never be able to deal with this many enemies. The greatest fortress of the south, the one which hadn't even fallen during the civil war, would be taken just like that.
Once in charge of the castle, Mason would control the city's food supplies and the armory. At that point, the remainders of the city's inhabitants, as well as the king's local troops, could only join him, or face death.
*What a perfidious creature.*
Through the murky darkness, he saw Mason's grin shine as the traitor stared up to the object of his desire. It wouldn't be long now. There was only one last hurdle for them to cross before they would become unstoppable. And as if on cue, the doors to the castle's main gate labored open, as a steady creak escaped from its hinges. After decades of peace, the castle's gates hadn't been fully opened for far too long and the building screamed at the unusual treatment. While the core of his king's power was violated, it was time to make a decision. All this time, Quato had followed along without a proper plan, ever since his original plot had been foiled by Mason's presence and Nahlen's absence.
His fists clenched as the sound of the gate echoed in his ears. He rose from the shadows he had hidden within, ready to rush the enemy. Yes, he couldn't stop a charge all by himself. Yes, he couldn't fight an entire army. Yes, being caught would most likely cost him his life, and capture was inevitable once he stepped outside the shadows. However, that was a small price to pay in defense of his home, his House and his lord.
Even more, over weeks under the incompetence of his temporary master, a deep rage had built up within Quato's body. When all hope was lost, at least he could fight and kill to his heart's content. Better yet, he didn't have to win at all to achieve his goals. All he had to do was start a fight, and make enough noise to get the attention of the castle's defenders. Although there was no way to know who had already been won over by Mason, Quato could only hope that whoever manned the castle was still loyal to the king, and that not everyone had been infested by the greed of the foreigners yet. Maybe his cry of death would wake them up and return them to the fold.
By the time he had reached the edge of the bridge, the enemy troops had taken up formation at the mouth of the castle gate. It was now or never, no more time for hesitation. After a deep breath, maybe his last, Quato took a heavy step onto Rapra Island... and stopped. Before he could prove his honor, others had already begun to act, and it wasn't the traitors who were as confused as him. All of a sudden, noise swamped the mercenaries from all over the castle. Atop the walls, torches were reignited and illuminated hectic activity. Right before their eyes, the ancient gate of Rapra began to close again. A few troops shook off their confusion and rushed the gate, but after they had entered, the doors slammed shut with a deep scream of metal.
As the action began, Quato retreated back into the shadows. Before he acted and did more harm than good, he needed to understand the situation.
Still among his troops outside the gate, Mason seemed just as confused as Quato. ”What's going on here!?” he shouted.
”Open the gates!”
Whoever had entered Rapra's doors replied only with screams of agony to echo the gates which had become their prison. At the same time, the first projectiles began to drop from atop the castle walls. Although they were as sparse as they were improvised, one stone dropped on a mercenary's shoulder and caused another scream, followed by harsh curses in a foreign tongue.
*Strange,* Quato thought, *how easy it is to understand raw emotion, even without words.*
While the ghost mused in safety, the soldiers at the gates raised their shields to protect themselves from the ambush, but their options were quite grim. In formation, they could hold out for a while, but for how long? Even if only five warriors manned the castle, the attackers would never capture the walls without siege equipment. Even worse, every second they wasted here was a second more for the king's troops to react. If they wasted too much time on Rapra Island, more forces would join and they would never leave again.