Chapter 646: A Chance
The remains of his legion followed him, even when they had to be supported by others. They didn’t know where he was going, but they felt they had a better chance to survive by following him.
"Where are you going?" Came the shout from the top of the wall as the one of the commander’s aides yelled at the legion. Laz didn’t turn around, nor did he respond and just kept walking.
"YOU ARE ORDERED TO HALT!" Came the cry again, but once again, Laz didn’t acknowledge it. He wasn’t aiming for anything by this, nor was he trying to prove a point, he was honestly done. He had fought and kept fighting, even when everyone around him had fallen. Laz and fewer than two hundred had survived from the over five hundred who had marched out of that gate earlier. They were not offered assistance nor support. Not even one arrow had been fired from the wall in support of their position, despite them being so close to the gate itself. Laz knew then that they were meant to die on the field and no other conclusion would be accepted. As far as the fortress was concerned, they were considered nothing more than dead men walking and therefore wouldn’t waste any resources on either their survival or their rescue.
The problem was that they hadn’t died. In fact, they had survived longer than anyone would have guessed they could have and a lot longer at that. Now, the fortress was left with a problem; what do they do with the legion they had left for dead? It would be dangerous for them to return inside, but if they let them walk away, what would that mean for the people still inside the fortress? Would it mean that they were allowed to walk away and abandon their posts?
Something like that couldn’t be allowed.
"DESERTION DEMANDS DEATH!" Yelled the aide as hundreds of archers reluctantly raised their bows, their arrows now pointed at the only survivors of this massive slaughter. None of them felt good about this, but orders were orders.
Laz then stopped for the first time and raised his head, his blood soaked and matted hair sticking to his head like a helmet while the dark and crusted blood covered his face. Despite this, his eyes were clear as he stared back at the ones threatening him and in that moment, everyone upon the wall shuddered and couldn’t help but step back.
They all felt, in that moment, if they let those arrows fly, they would be killed themselves.
"We are already dead. Our service to you has ended," Laz said, before turning away again and continuing on.
"FIRE!"
As soon as they called it, the legion raised their shields while Laz just stood there, a few feet ahead of the legion and looked up.
The arrows peppered the legion, the impact hard to bear at close range. But for those still living, they held the shields and protected themselves and each other. Laz, on the other hand, didn’t even bother moving as tons of arrows landed all around him, yet none of them hit him.
To everyone’s surprise, not a single person dropped from the attack and Laz wasn’t touched at all. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed.
Laz grabbed an arrow next to his right foot, pulled it out of the ground and faster than the eye could follow, shot it straight at the aide who had been yelling the orders. Before anyone could make a move, the arrow hit the man between the eyes and his limp body, which had been hanging over the ramparts fell to the ground with a loud thud.
It wasn’t until this moment that everyone on the rampart felt the immense fear of being way to exposed.
"If you want us, you’re going to have to come get us yourselves. I’m sure those beasts will be more than happy for such an easy meal," Laz said, spreading his hands over the battlefield, as if pointing out something that it seemed like everyone else missed.
Besides the trash legion’s funeral pyre, there were no bodies left on the battlefield. No one had noticed when, but every single solder sent out here had already been dragged away, something that beasts would only do to eat them.
"WAIT!" Came a commanding voice, booming out.
Laz didn’t stop and neither did the men and women behind him.
"Do you think you will live long if you walk away?" Came the booming voice, but in a somewhat restrained manner.
"Longer than trying to re-enter those doors," Laz yelled back, still walking.
"I’ll make you a promise. You will have everything you need and no one will dare trouble you. Once the war is over, you will all be free men!" The commander offered, looking down towards Laz.
"You’re not in a position to free me," Laz responded, knowing that as a gladiator, he was technically the Emperor’s slave.
"No. Perhaps not. But the ones who follow you can be freed and all their crimes pardoned," the man offered with a slight smile. He wanted these trained individuals to explain everything about their formations to the rest of the fortress. While they had the visuals and seen the results, an actual instructor would be far more helpful in implementing it in a short period of time. The others didn’t know what he did, that the main force of the shadow dragon’s army was still marching upon them, this advanced group seemed to have the same purpose that their throw away legions had... to gain information.
And the most frightening part... the number of beasts that were following the dragon were hundreds of times more numerous than the ones who had appeared this time.
So therefore the commander was willing to do anything he could to get as many of these people to come back to the fortress so that he could use them to train others to do what they did today. As for offering them freedom and pardons? Once they were back inside, what could they do if he revoked it. And if they refused to help? Torture would always be an option.
Laz didn’t say anything and just stared back the those following him. Only Number Two, Seven And Sixteen had made it through the battle. Every other gladiator had been a part of the still fiercely burning pyre.
Over on another tower, Nesha and her crew watched, their hands gripping their weapons tight as flames almost erupted from their eyes. They had seen everything that had happened on the battlefield and couldn’t help but feel the adrenaline rushing as they watched these brave men and women survive wave after wave. What’s more, when Laz took down those goatmen and got hit by that monstrous rat, they felt their hearts fall, only to see him rise again perfectly fine. And when everything was done and the fire was lit, Nesha and the company had saluted on, wishing the fallen well on their journey to the afterlife while wondering if they could escape over after dinner tonight to ’welcome’ and party with them as a celebration on their epic battle.
But so soon after that, they heard the words thrown back and forth and saw the arrows fired and they felt themselves grow very cold before going very hot.
"This... this is the true face of humanity. They will welcome you with open arms and sweet words, but the moment you have outlived your usefulness... all you will find is unsheathed blades and cold stares," said one of the older women who was a guide for the company. Their hatred almost came unchecked as they heard the commander make the offer, a clear indication that he was trying to get the normal prisoners to abandon Laz.
"We’re leaving... tonight..." Nesha said as she heard this and came to the conclusion that the only future they had in the battle was to be the next solders offered up for slaughter.
"If you do this, the Empire will never let the Isle’s go for abandoning the pact," the older women advised her.
"The pact said that we would fight for the Empire as partners, not sacrifices. If they are willing to treat their own kind this way in this war... what hope does that give us? Besides... the intelligence we received is that the Empress and many of the daughters loyal to her have fled the capital for some reason while many of the children of the Emperor have gone missing, at least the ones who weren’t assigned to march here. Somehow... I can’t help but think that things are going to get much worse from here on out...." Nesha responded, having read the reports just this morning.
The older woman sighed and nodded. They had made arrangements for this to happen just in case, but she didn’t think they would need them so soon.
Back on the battlefield, Laz was still watching the remaining members of the trash legion as they digested the offer.
Not a single one of them hesitated or even looked back at the gate and as one, they nodded towards Laz.
Laz then turned again and continued his march, parallel to the wall and towards the raging river that bordered the massive fort.
It was their only chance to escape.
