Chapter 8: The rescue
Kante watches in confusion as everyone suddenly starts heading hastily in the same direction as though they were drawn by some invisible force. "What's going on?" He wonders. He had spent the several hours with the hospitable mages of Arcania, exploring their city, eating their exotic meals and engaging in different activities with them. Now he follows the throng heading in the direction of what he didn't know.
"Where is everyone going?" Kante asked one of the mages.
"To the sanctuary" replied the man, "To listen to the archmage. It's why they blew the trumpet". Kante couldn't remember hearing any trumpet sound, perhaps he was too preoccupied to notice it, he thought. He wondered what the sanctuary might be but didn't bother asking the mage again because he was going to see it anyway. He followed until he heard a sound coming from a place which at first glance, Kante thought was a Colosseum or arena of some sort because of the nature of the high walls that went round it in a circle. As he got closer he could tell that the sound he heard was the sound of voices singing and accompanying themselves on their harps. Contrary to what Kante and many others expected the music they made was dull and sad rather than uplifting or invigorating, causing many to wonder why it was so because they were all excited for the archmage's address.
Kante was impressed by what he saw as he walked through the large gate of the sanctuary. He saw what looked like a Temple, placed in the middle of the fighting pits of an arena. It was a large building, about 3 storeys tall, covering a large area that could contain 3 regular buildings. It's surrounding was filled with sand and Kante wondered if it went all around the building. He couldn't tell because the way leading behind the building was barricaded on both sides, so one could only know what's behind by passing through the sanctuary and coming out the other way.
The musicians who sang and played stood on the left and right corners of the wide stairs leading up to the entrance of the sanctuary. The place was filled with people, standing only on the sands that surrounded the sanctuary; no one was allowed to approach the stairs as it was guarded by some of the warriors whom Kante had seen marching earlier.
"Here you are" Kante heard as a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned to see Andromeda smiling and pushing him further through the crowd. "I was beginning to think you've jumped to the next town" said Andromeda, as they walked to the front of the crowd.
"I thought you'd deserted me. I was worried I'll be here till nightfall and probably sleep on the street" Kante said, expressing his happiness at seeing Andromeda again after going hours without any sign of a familiar face. They got to the front of the crowd and stood, like everyone else, waiting for the archmage to appear.
"So we're just going to stand here and wait for your dad?" Kante asked.
"Yeah, he should have been out by now to give his speech. something feels wrong" Andromeda replied looking around as if, to search for something.
"Looking for me? little brother" came a voice, "I see you've met Kante". "Andromache?" Kante uttered, almost in a whisper, just enough for Andromeda to hear, as they watched Andromache approach from the corner where she had been with some of her fellow warriors.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Andromeda asked, in surprise.
"Red eyes, Andromache, is your older sister?" Kante asked, "l should have guessed that from your names anyway" he added.
"She's my twin sister" Andromeda retorted, just as Andromache reached where they stood.
"I'm technically your older sister, because I came out first. I'm your older twin" Andromache replied.
"Older just by minutes" Andromeda said.
"Wow, I could never have guessed you were twins, you're very far from being Identical" said Kante.
"Yeah, we get that. How do you two know each other anyway?" Andromeda asked.
"We met a few hours ago, when we arrived. He was eating grilled Kelpie, so I had to notice him" Andromache answered, "How did you two meet?" She asked.
"Father" Andromeda said, "He sent me to find him. I found him lying at the seashore".
"Typical of father, right?" Andromache said, "The sea huh, that should explain the state of your clothes, you'll need to change them, you know". Kante looked at himself to see how rough he looked, he was just realizing he'd been wearing the same clothes for almost 3 days.
"Speaking of father, what's taking him so long?" Andromeda asked Andromache, just when a glowing ball of light came floating out of the sanctuary. The people gave an exclamation of surprise at the sight of the floating light and they began to murmur. The ball of light came right up to Kante, who looked utterly confused and astonished, and touched him. Kante felt his arm burn as though it were touched by hot coals from the fiery furnace and he let out a loud scream as he fell to the floor, causing everyone to back away from him a little. The whole place went silent as Kante struggled with the pain on the floor, ripping his clothes to reveal a mark that looked like some form of tattoo on the spot where he felt the burn. Andromache froze and Andromeda dropped to the ground, sitting sadly on the sandy soil, at the sight of the mark on Kante's arm.
"It's the sigil of the archmage!" Someone shouted after seeing the mark and all in the crowd exclaimed: "huh!" in amazement as they murmured among themselves. Andromache rushed up the stairs leading to the entrance of the sanctuary, just when the man who sat with her in the palanquin appeared with some very old looking mages dressed in yellow flowing robes and 2 other mages in adorned clothing. They came out of the sanctuary looking sad, everyone could tell they had terrible news to bear, a news the people were already guessing. She stopped to look at the man, tears welling up in her eyes. He looked back at her with sadness filled eyes and walked up to her and gave her a hug as she let the tears flow down her cheeks in streaks.
"The Archmage is no more" announced one of the old mages, dressed in yellow, whom Kante later learned were the elder mages, the oldest and wisest mages in all of Omega. "He was found dead outside..." The old mage was saying but was interrupted by the mage who hugged Andromache. Letting her go he said, anger in his voice: "Murdered! My father was murdered and left to lie in cold blood outside the arcane tower" for he was Jimoh's firstborn. The statement struck Kante like lightning, he sat motionless on the floor, thoughts running like a stampede through his mind. He wondered if he could have taken Jimoh's words more seriously and tried to prevent this from happening.
"Seize him!" Kante turned to see Andromeda pointing a finger at him, his anger blazing like the core of the sun, Kante could feel it consuming him. "It's him that's done it. Seize him!" Andromeda screamed again as he leapt to attack Kante. Kante dodged quickly, rolling on the sand to avoid Andromeda's feet. Andromeda was going to launch another attack but was held back by one of the soldiers as some others moved to apprehend Kante. Kante sighed regretfully, "Not again" he muttered as the feeling he had when he was apprehended by Mr.Trebor came back to him. He had lost all hopes and feared he might be killed this time, just when an object dropped right in front of him. It exploded with a loud bang and bright flash, just when the soldiers got to where Kante was, blinding them for a while and causing a ringing in their ears. The whole place was in turmoil and the people fled the scene. Smoke canisters were thrown into the crowd by unknown persons, filling the place with smoke. By the time Andromeda and the soldiers would recover from the bang and realize what was going on, Kante had disappeared amidst the crowd.
"You're here?" Kante said, as his vision cleared and he shaked off the dizziness he got from the bang. "And you? You're here too?" He added, as he looked at Bonclyde and Lightning who carried him off through the ruckus.
"You guys actually came to rescue me? Wait… how did you guys find me?" Kante asked.
"You can ask your questions later, for now we have to get out of here" Bonclyde said as they reached a considerable distance from the sanctuary. "Take him and go as fast as you can, wait for me at the ship" she said to Lightning who carried Kante and ran as swift as lightning.
"Alert all the city guards, imperial troops and every soldier in the city. Kante should not be allowed to leave, he should be found and brought here. Him and anyone assisting him to escape" Andromache ordered the soldiers in the sanctuary and they ran off quickly in pursuit of Kante. Andromeda, fuming with anger ran-off along with the guards, saying: "I'll do it myself". Andromache tried calling him but he paid no heed. "Go! stop him from doing something he'll regret" her older brother, Jiromah shouted. At that she ran off in search of Andromeda.
"Go! don't wait up, leave now" Lightning and Kante heard Bonclyde's voice saying in their heads. They were already at the ship, which was parked at a good distance from the entrance to Arcania, waiting for her but couldn't find her anywhere around. "Lightning, remember the mission comes first, leave now" Bonclyde said to Lightning telepathically, as she tried to evade the host of mage warriors chasing her closely at her tail.
"She's not going to make it," Lightning said. She could see, due to her enhanced vision, that the exit has been sealed and a host of mages lie in wait for Bonclyde who was running towards them without the slightest idea of the kind of challenge that awaits her.
"They've blocked the way out and there's too many of them," Lightning added.
"We have to help her," said Kante, looking really worried, "we can't leave her behind".
"She'll be fine, she can take care of herself" replied Lightning.
"You don't know that. These are mages and they are more powerful than wizards, isn't that what you told me? How do you think she'll fight them?" Kante said, "She's here because of me, I won't let her die for me" he added and started running towards the city. Lightning sighed and followed reluctantly.
Bonclyde ran doing whatever wizardry thing she could to slow her chasers down and to dodge or deflect their attacks. She ran until she got close to the gate that leads out of the city only to discover that it was locked and guards were lying in wait for her there already. She was soon surrounded by warrior mages from all tribes and couldn't run anymore so she took her stance to fight.
"Stand down wizardess, you know your magic has little effect on our kind and we don't want to hurt you" one of the guards said.
"I appreciate that and I'm counting on it" Bonclyde said as she began moving as though she was practicing dance steps, muttering incantations. Her eyes glowed with the white of snow and her feet left the cold earth as she levitated, floating in the air to the dismay of the guards. "This is sorcery" screamed one of the guards causing the others to panic and attack her. Their attacks had no effect on her because she seemed to be generating an aura of protection somehow.
"Dissipo aufere" chanted Bonclyde, releasing a burst of energy that flung all the mages into the surrounding bushes, knocking them out.
"Percival?" Lightning was shocked to see Bonclyde afloat, when she arrived to help, expending so much energy and power. She looked around to see all the guards on the floor, knocked out. "How did you.." she was saying but was interrupted by Bonclyde who said: "I thought I asked you to go? Why are you here?"
"I came to help you, but it seems you've handled it pretty well on your own" replied Lightning.
"I told you I'll be fine, didn't I?" Bonclyde said as her feet touched the ground once more.
"Yeah, turned out to be too fine for a wizardess facing a host of warrior mages, all by herself, don't you think?" Lightning replied.
"You wanna stay and chat all day? Or can we get going? Bonclyde said leading the way to the ship with Lightning following.
"Did I miss the show?" Kante said, panting as he met them returning, while running to assist in the fight.
"Seems like there wasn't a show after all, Bonnie here knocked them all out in one blow" Lightning said.
"Really?" Said Kante, looking surprised.
"Wait! What's that sound?" Lightning paused to listen for the source of a sound they were hearing.
"Oh shit" exclaimed Bonclyde, as she pointed to the source of the noise, their ship was being raised up by what appeared to be a growing mountain of ice. The ship was raised up a very tall height and fell back down to the ground with a loud crash when the wall of ice suddenly disappeared. The trio watched with their jaws dropped as a large mass of ice that looked like a large shard of an iceberg formed in the sky and fell down right on the ship, piercing through it's metal build causing it to explode. They turned around to see Andromeda standing at the entrance to the city, staring furiously at them.
"Run, run" Kante shouted, "It's Andromeda. He's destroyed our ship. That dude wants me dead more than anyone else" he added as they began running.
"Run, Kante, run. Run as fast as you can because you still will not be able to escape me" Andromeda said, continuing his pursuit of Kante, "I am vengeance".