Forums-->Official announcements-->
| Author | The Exodus |
|---|
"Report, quickly!" - Her Majesty the Empress dismissed the Knight's curtsey in a swift gesture.
"Your Majesty, neither Bilir's Academics nor Kh'Everst's technicians could help with anything significant. The volcano keeps growing more and more menacing, won't cease even for a second. I am afraid, everything indicates that very soon, we will witness a massive eruption, and there is no way to stop it."
"What is the current situation?"
Councilor Kalirosh paused for a short time before speaking in a bitter trembling voice: "The Tears, they... drone, Your Majesty. Not just the sound, the earth shakes beneath our feet. Quetlisse says the Nature is infuriated as it has never been on her memory. And the lava! Hundreds of gallons are already flooding the natural beauties of the Tears. The cloud is spreading and getting thick. In a matter of hours, Seraph's Tears will be lost to us...
The Empress interrupted him in a clear but deafened voice: "Evacuate as many as you can. Facilities, estates, Seraph Stronghold - everything is to be abandoned. Command heralds to sound calamity horns in all locations to the North and East of the Capital. Lord and peasant alike, everyone is to draw back to the Capital."
The Knight bowed quickly and raised his eyebrows in a mute inquiry for more orders.
"Bilir and Kh'Everst, I need them. Send them here. Have Thutkra announce airfree situation: no military creature flies into the air. Go."
She watched the Knight rush down the stairs. So it was true, the premonition She had seen so many times in Her nightmares ever since the Infernals used Her weakness to possess Her. The Malady, the Demonic possession, the lethargy after that - She always believed the combination of all those to be the reason for those disastrous visions at night. And now, were they to incorporate into the will of the Twin Gods?..
She started to walk around the bedchamber, going over the possible salvation scenarios in Her mind. The Capital was critically close to the location of the volcano. Could they build a barrier to save the Capital? Then all Empire lands around it would be lost for sure, and even in that case who could be sure the barrier would not breach... Abandon the land and venture to the West? A monarchy of hundreds of thousands of subjects could not just get into a trailer and travel forth like a band of mercenaries...
She suddenly caught herself on the fact that Her eyes kept constantly returning to the chest of drawers beside Her bed, more specifically, the second drawer from top. It was there that she had put the locket containing the fiber of the overseas wizard's soul, after she had contacted him last time. Clatter of armoured boots caught Her ear - someone was coming up the stairs. She rushed to the drawer chest, fished the locket out and put it on Her neck, quickly slamming the drawer back. A few moments to look in a mirror to catch Her reflection, perfectly calm, organized, ready to show Her people the road to salvation, and... the knock informed Her that Her visitors have reached the doors of Her bedchamber.
"Councilors Bilir, Kh'Everst and Arabat Flamesoul the Fourth have arrived, Your Majesty".
"Arabat. What the devil brings him here? He should be at the Pier..." - the Empress did not even have time to fetch the irony behind Her councilor's demonic origin as She announced in a high measured voice: "Do let them in." | "Your Majesty, councilor Arabat has some..." - the wizard started.
"Councilor Arabat Flamesoul the Fourth, Your Majesty," - Kh'Everst significantly raised his eyebrows at his colleague, - "brings you urgent news about the situation in East Bay."
The Empress' looks turned to the demon councilor.
"Your mission is not possible, Your Majesty", - he panted, - "The lava is spreading rapidly; it is already in East Bay's North".
The Empress turned pale. She could not expect such swift developments. "The ships! So many months of labour cannot be wasted, those ships must be saved! Immediately..."
Arabat coughed. "Your Majesty, I took the audacity to give the order on my behalf. The ships are being transported to Misty Coast as we speak. But it is not all. As Your Majesty's financial advisor, I must notify that trade relations on Empire lands are paralyzed. No goods enter the Empire market, and I believe..."
"Forget the market!" - Kh'Everst hissed. "It is now a matter of hours before lava reaches Grand Capital. Your Majesty needs to follow us to Misty Coast, currently safest Empire location." He exchanged looks with the wizard before certifying: "Do you understand, Magistrix?"
In stupor, the Empress gave a look around Her bedchamber. Her world was coming down. That palace, that beautiful square, the Capital, the Empire, all of it was about to end. She attempted to make a few steps towards the entrance, but Her feet grew numb. Arabat and Kh'Everst, the taller of the three councilors, stepped forward intending to take Her by the arms, but She stopped them in an imperious gesture. Overwhelming as the situation was, she was still somehow able to preserve her strengths.
"My subjects..." She whispered in an anguished voice. "The Herald. Have him speak so that the entire Empire hears him. Tell them to leave everything and run, run towards Misty Coast."
She kept giving orders as the four stepped out of the palace. A carriage was waiting. | Councilor Feurlis was waiting near the carriage.
"Please, Your Majesty, take a seat. No big comfort, but the times are harsh." - he spoke in a strange tone.
The Empress felt something in his voice. It didn't quaver or croak, but the councilor was clearly hiding something grievous behind. Something that was so grave that even a Necromancer could not conceal.
"Speak to me, Feurlis, what is it?" - She turned to him and pierced him with that interrogative look that none at the Court could resist.
Feurlis knit his brow before communicating the terrible news: "It is Quetlisse, Your Majesty. She volunteered to stay in Seraph's Tears. I've put all my talent to try to dissuade her, but you know her eloquence, it was all in vain. She is planning to use all her Nature magic skill to delay the eruption. Needless to say, there is no way out of there for her..."
The Empress took the news calmly at first. She just sat in the carriage, observing the coachman's preparation for departure, blood pulsing through Her temples, hammering monotonously in Her head, as if counting down the minutes of the elf councilor's life pouring away. An outstanding sniper when it came to conflict, a prominent diplomat when it came to settle down those conflicts, she sacrificed herself selflessly to save thousands... To save the Empress, too.
Feurlis was about to command the coachman to depart, when the Empress screamed: "Wait! I forgot something. Will take only a minute or two, wait here", and rushed out of the carriage.
She ran into the palace and up the stairs, neared the balcony and grabbed an abandoned spyglass to look into the North-East...
...The lava was slowly advancing from the side of Seraph's Tears. She noticed sorcerers cast delays and ice clods in reckless attempts to stop the lava while pacing backwards. Barricades of inanimate gargoyles and golems laid out in the streets of Capital suburb were slowly but implacably devoured by the river of fire. Her people stood up and fought, perfectly realizing their fight was already lost...
...Her Majesty threw the spyglass aside. Commons, Lordship and even Councilors alike put their lives to sacrifice for some greater purpose, and She was just moments away from fleeing like a cowardly hare. She shook her head in self-despise.
She ran back into the palace and down into the servant room. There was great hubbub there, poor pages and maids were desperate for any guidance to what they were to do.
"Caravans for Misty Coast move through Western district of the Capital. Hurry there and join them! Not you!", she ceased a maid by the hand. They were very much alike, the Empress sometimes asked her to replace Her in dull banquets and parades of low importance.
The Empress took off her cape and planted it on the maid. Visibly pleased, she nodded and clapped a headscarf on the maid's head. "Run out and take my place in the cart directly in front of the Palace main entrance. When you arrive, pass this to councilor Kalirosh", - she inserted the locket with engraved 'S' letter into her maids hand and wrung it firmly. "Do not lose it, everything depends on it. Everything!"
The maid nodded and ran out...
Half an hour later, the carriage arrived at the Lighthouse. Countless refugees formed some sort of a living river, floating down the hill towards the shore. About four dozens of ships stood anchored some thirty fathoms away into the sea. Some refugees stood waiting for the pulling boats, but many more were swimming towards the vessels.
Suddenly, a deafening peal of thunder drowned every other sound around. A beautiful sinister vermilion-coloured glow covered the northern horizon. A huge cloud of cinder immediately arose and blanketed the sky above Seraph's Tears.
The volcano had erupted. | "How could you not have checked?!" - the knight councilor was enraged. He could barely hold himself from punching Feurlis. Kh'Everst came in between them: "This is not the time. What did She say, young girl?"
The startled maid stammered as she described her last encounter with the Empress. She handed the locket to Kalirosh. The knight took it without even looking at it, afraid to mouth the question he had to ask: "But where is Her Majesty now?"
"She rode to Seraph's Tears, Councilor, sir. She said she would be fine..."
The knight fell on his knees. Bitter sobs of grief and helplessness drowned the maid's speech...
..."I believe, this is how you do it", Bilir demonstratively touched his councilor signet with the S-letter sign on the locket. A beam appeared, and the councilors stood in circle around it.
"Your Majesty, I can feel you are trying to contact me?" An intelligent voice was heard, pleasant and prepossessing.
"My name is Kalirosh, I am Her Majesty's councilor, one of the seven. Time is of the essence, I will be quick. An unprecedented calamity has hit our land and keeps spreading. We can only escape by the sea. Her Majesty told me... What is this?"
The beam of light started blinking.
"I shall send a sca.." - Sorish's words just cut. The councilors exchanged looks again, and Kalirosh shook the locket. ...course NWW, follow it!" The wizard clearly raised his voice, but it came dull, he seemed to realize that their communication was breaching. "Follow the Phoenix!.."
The locket grew silent. The light went out. It became a mere decoration item, there was no more power in it. Its energy vanished just when Her Majesty's life came to its end...
The councilors looked North East again. The cloud was swiftly approaching and veiling everything in its path. On top of it all, the lava had reached the coast of East Bay, choking on the Pier in its immeasurable appetite, and finally rushed into the water, producing an unconceivable amount of vapour.
"We won't sail far with this around us", Kh'Everst shook his head. "We'll be an easy prey for reefs in the Bay. But we cannot wait, as soon as ships are full we must weigh anchors. Bilir, can you do something about it?"
"I can", Thutkra stepped forward. "I will ride my Thunderbird and cast the clouds away. My grandfather taught me when I was little."
The other councilors gasped. The likelihood of him returning safe was extremely low.
"Is there a way I can convince you not to do it?" Kalirosh asked a question of politeness, for the Barbarian was renown for his stubborn temper.
"Do not worry. It is my call. Few in the Empire can ride Thunderbirds like I do it. I will test my luck".
Thutkra exchanged firm handshakes with his colleagues. He shed a cheering smile as he climbed his steed, and rushed West to make a detour around the caravan of refugees and towards Blooming glade, where many Barbarian castles remained abandoned...
...The flotilla of forty-nine ships sailed through the ocean following the course directed by the overseas Archmage.
The knight veteran stood on the deck, lost in deep reflections. There they were, a beheaded nation, exiled from their own land by the wrath of Nature or whatever else it had been, now able to count only on their own endurance.
Quetlisse. Sincere, selfless, devoted.
Thutkra. Openhearted, ingenuous, manly. He remembered the terror in the eyes of his fellow councilors when they saw a tiny distant silhouette of a Thunderbird falling through the dispersing clouds.
Her Majesty...
Somehow, Kalirosh recalled the conversation that occurred several months ago. "As some of you have undoubtedly recollected over the last few months, I have no heir...", she said. He remembered how decidedly, even slightly roughly, snubbed that conversation. But what was he supposed to say? "Or did She mean..."
The knight cast away a nasty thought before it could even assume some shape in his head.
Someone from the top of a mast watch screamed, pointing to the North West. Kalirosh looked into the distant horizon. A red flame spot had materialized at the horizon, and, as far as he could see, it was expanding...
The Phoenix had found them. |
Back to topics list
|
