Chapter 479: The Lion's mouth
The next day the Dark guild soldiers continued to move through the snow. Harry was no longer tied up like he was before. He assumed because he had no weapons on him at the moment they saw him as no threat and the Dark guild master Mukdad seemed to be pretty confident he could at least take Harry on, either that or the crossbow users would shoot him down before he could do anything.
The reason for him being kept alive, at least he had an idea of that now. Apparently, Gary still saw him as a friend, someone that they could convince over to his side, but he struggled to truly believe that answer. There was Jack, and others that they could have tried to convince and Harry and Gary's relationship was a strange one in the first place.
In all honesty, Harry felt a little disheartened. 'Did they chose me because they think I'm the most likely to switch sides?'
Thinking back to everything, they did at one point have someone working for the other side, his father. Maybe because his father was influenced by the Shadow and Dark guild, he could be as well.
"I hope you will have made up your mind by the time you make it to Lion's mouth," Mukdad said.
The lion's mouth was the apparent name of the fortress they were heading to, the one that Avrioon was planning to attack.
"I need more time to think," Harry replied.
Mukdad started to laugh. "I hope you don't say that when you meet him. It's quite simple you refuse, and you die."
While journeying with Mukdad, he found that these people were perfectly sane that worked for the Dark guild. There were some that were partially infected by the Shadow, or completely but it was clear they were doing this out of choice, which was the same for Harry's father which is why no one had any idea at the time he was working against them.
Because of this, Harry was actually deeply interested in their reason for taking part in the war. Maybe he could understand his father's decisions more as well.
"Tell me why does the Dark guild work with the Shadow, or why do you work with the Shadow. I don't see you as a senseless murderer. You seem like a good man."
"And I am," Mukdad replied. "It seems Avrion has filled you with lies. Does that joined the Dark guild may have started because of a grudge against Avrion, but that is only because of their foolish ways. We already know full well the extent of the Shadow's power. We want to resolve this whole thing more peacefully than anyone.
"By helping the shadow achieve its goal, we have struck a deal, and we hope we can live side by side along with the shadow."
"That's crazy!" Gary replied. "How can you trust such an evil thing, what if the shadow was to go against its own word."
"It hasn't so far, and we haven't been hurt by it. In our eyes, you fools are truly the foolish ones. Resisting and sending people into war who don't even want to fight, only prolonging the torture. Did the other side even begin to think there was another way to resolve this peacefully? Or were they just afraid that something different had appeared, something they didn't understand?
"You're a smart kid I can tell, the fact that you have even bothered to ask these questions rather than shout and brand us as the enemy tells me that. But your people have blindly followed the Divine being, to us we are just following another. Which side is evil, right or wrong that is all a matter of opinion. To me, none of that really matters.
"It's just choosing the winning side, and I'm pretty sure I'm on the winning side."
The rest fo the walk was silent for Harry as he took in everything that was said to him. He never had any loyalty to the Divine being like the old fools who used to run the council. In the end, that led to the death of them.
A lot of what Mukdad was referring to was actually the old Avrion. He didn't take orders from the Divine being, right now, he followed a man called Ray. That was the side Harry had chosen.
Eventually, they had reached the fortress. It stood forty foot tall, and its walls had been crafted with a strange black material. Once one would go past the black walls they would eventually reach the castle.
However, what was impressive itself was where the fortress laid. It seemed to be built within the mountain, as if a large cave had been carved out. On the path, they walked it was sloped leading upward, and by either side two large mountains. There was only one way to reach the fortress, and that was the slope itself.
Stood on top of the wall. Archers, beasts and buckets of strange liquid. Images of the Redwing army walking up this slope appeared in Harry's head once again. The terrain was unfavourable and it looked like they were fully prepared.
To even reach the fortresses walls would be a huge task. He could imagine all the blood that would be split on this slope.
"Do you still think you have chosen the correct side in this fight?" Mukdad said, smiling looking back at Harry.
Once they had passed the walls ,the other soldiers that were with them left to take their positions and send an update on what they had seen. Inside the walls, Harry was surprised that he could see men and Beasts working together. Clearly, the beasts had been infected by the Shadow, but they seemed to have some type of intelligence, or the Shadow was controlling them all.
The two of them had a different path to take. When they had gone past the walls they could see the castle but it seemed empty and hardly used, men were stationed on it, but only as a way for them to attack.
Heading through the large door, he noticed that it was a staircase leading downward underneath and not above.
"This is the shadow continent. Strong beasts lurk beneath the ground not above. What you see up here is only a fraction of the forces." Mukdad said.
Harry gulped as he composed himself and went downward. When they arrived, they could see several large tunnels that led to all sorts of different places. Down below, there were more beasts than men, and they seemed to be moving all sorts of things as they prepared for war.
Each one of them was heavily equipped in armour and such, and for the first time, he even saw a couple of beasts wearing armour as well. It was as if there was an entire city below the castle itself.
"Come on, follow me," Mukdad said.
Harry was in far too deep now, there was no turning back and it would be impossible to escape. If he wanted to try, he should have tried his luck a lot earlier.
"It's impressive right, rumours say that the tunnels here weren't made by man or beast, but the kingdom used to work closely with the dwarves," Mukdad explained.
Now, Harry understood why some of the architecture he had seen around the place looked like what the Redwings had. If it was true, then did the Shadow take over whatever equipment had been left behind by the old kingdom?
Perhaps they had things that, even the other kingdoms hadn't been seen in war yet. This thought was haunting Harry's mind as it seemed things were looking more grim for his friends in the Redwings.
"Remember, you don't have to work against us," Mukdad said.
It seemed Mukadad was truly trying his hardest to convince Harry over to their side, and he was starting to wonder if something similar happened to Monk.
At that moment, a beast infected by the Shadow, with its crazed eyes walked past. It had dribble coming from its mouth and had snapped towards Harry. Luckily one of the soldiers had pulled it back with a few chains.
"I know you have doubts but remember we work with them, not for them," Mukdad said. "Anyway we have spoken enough, the person awaits you inside."
The two of them were led to the underground forgery where weapons were to be made. The heat coming from outside the room was immense. Harry seemed to remember that the demon possessing Gary seemed to feel stronger when near heat so it would make sense.
Mukdad, just stood behind, and nodded motioning Harry to move forward. Pushing open the door and heading in, he could see many workers hammering away, creating weapons. Stood at the very back, Both Gary and Monk could be seen talking with a soldier.
When Harry entered the room, they both turned and looked at Harry.
"We have been waiting for you," Gary said with a smile.
******
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