Power Awakens
Chapter 21

The Bhagwatis advanced slowly in silence and the first set of warrior’s engaged with the western side Quad with a loud reverberating clanking of metal on metal. Four Quads and three Bruk Warriors against over one hundred Bhagwati warriors should have only had one result. However, the attackers didn’t count on the skills of the defenders and their tenacity.

The battle was joined and the Quads were all giving a good account of themselves, however, Petrek was like a whirlwind in the calm, and his sword was like a scythe cutting through the Bhagwati as though it was dry wheat. Even so within a matter of minutes over half the Quads on either side were dead or injured and over thirty Bhagwati lay dying in the dust. Eddick was fighting like a caged tiger but there were just too many.

As the Quads were pushed back towards the roadside, a group of five Bhagwati from the west side broke past Petrek and the Quads. As they rapidly advanced on the group of boys, Osakee stepped into their midst. Osakee seemed to slowly dance around the group of Bhagwati, with Harvester seeming to lightly touch each of the Warriors as if they were not in the space that he had just danced through. With incredible speed and grace, Osakee danced amongst them without even crossing blades with any of the warriors, within seconds all five Bhagwati were dead, and Osakee moved back to the centre of the road. Jaac and Tem had been watching Osakee and were awestruck by the speed and power of the little man who had entered their lives only weeks before. Osakee was only five and a half foot tall, with slightly olive skin and a slim frame, but he had a tight musculature about him that spoke of an inner strength. The boys having now seen him in action were both amazed how someone so small could be such a killing machine.

Another three Bhagwatis broke through, this time from the East side of the road. Osakee danced amongst them with the same grace and flowing movement and within seconds they were all once again on the ground. Osakee moved once again back to the centre of he road.

Mort looked at Tem and said in a quivering voice

“We’re finished, there are just too many.”

“No we’re not” answered Ainy, “if Jaac’s Da withdraws left, and Osakee moves into the gap, then they follow a rotating pattern with the east Quad led by Eddick in a reverse pincher movement, then we’ve got em”

Tem looked at Jaac and said, “Did you understand a thing he just said”

“Nope” replied Jaac

“I’m with Mort, I think we’re finished, we need some weapons, and I haven’t even got a dagger”

As the gap closed further between the boys and the Bhagwatis, something told Jaac to look up the main Mank road. Jaac had these types of feelings more and more of late. Thundering up the road from Mank was a Quotient of Bruk Northern Lancers. They hit the remaining forty Bhagwatis with a loud crash and sickening crunch. The Bhagwatis that were still standing turned and fled, leaving the very confused and exhausted group of travellers standing in the centre of the road.

A tall blonde haired Lancer dismounted and approached the group

“Captain Subodan, at you service, who is in charge here”

“I am” replied Petrek, “Captain Vardis, and your timing is exceptional, another few minutes and I think they would have overwhelmed us”

The Lancer Captain looked around him carefully, he looked to be counting the bodies poising momentarily over the two groups of dead Bhagwatis in the centre of the road.

“If I can read what happened here, and I was considered one of the best trackers in the Lancers before I took my commission, I would say you were quite lucky, but I’m not sure you would have been finished without my intervention. From what I can see in all this dust, you have some exceptional talent here Captain, it looks as if that group over near the centre was finished by one man, though I suppose that is fairly unlikely. Even so, sixty plus warriors against nineteen is fairly unreasonable odds, and would usually only go one way. You have done very well here Captain. I can only apologise for not arriving sooner. This is the first time the Bhagwati have attacked anyone openly from what I’ve heard elsewhere. They have caused a bit of social unrest, but no direct attacks. I don’t quite understand it.”

“Call me Eric, Captain”

“Petrek, from Bowltown” responded Petrek shaking the hand Eric had extended.

“Now Petrek, lets escort you to your destination, we can discuss this on the way. Where is your heading?”

“To the keep, we have a letters from the Archduke that I am to present to the Chief of Staff and then one to Majee Nuthay”

Eric whistled through his teeth, “It must be important then, lets get a move on, come on, I’ll take you straight there. ”

“Bran” Eric shouted, “leave half the Quotient here, ask Shanon to speak to the local Militia, we need to know what’s going on here and I need to make my report, Danny, get your Quad to begin the clean up and send someone to the Public Works Guild on Hen Street, they can send a full clean up squad. Prector, take Quads Kia, Hias, and Juan, under your command and see if you can replace the stragglers of these Bhagwatis. I want their heads on a pike by sundown. ” Of course it was almost Sundown already but Eric thought it would convey the right sense of Urgency.

“Petrek, after you, the quickest route to the Keep is directly along the main rode then turn right at the Temple of Baln, you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks”, replied Petrek as he gathered in the boys and the remaining members of the group.

“Can you please make sure my injured are treated as soon as you can, also the dead will need the usual Baln Ceremony and I would appreciate it if you could organize for them to be returned to Bowltown with full Ceremony, I have a feeling I will not be going back home anytime soon”

“I will do as you say Petrek” Eric bowed to the captain to show his respect at the command for the fallen soldiers “Danny, step too. Come on lets move, I want to be home before dark”.

As the strange procession set off down the main Mank rode, a dark garbed figure dressed all in black, skulked away from his hiding place near the deep shadows of an abandoned tent. He had a dejected shuffling walk, and as he moved away, he contemplated yet again whether he should run and hide rather than take the message of defeat to his Master, unfortunately he knew only too well that you couldn’t hide and if you tried he knew the consequences when you were caught, and they were always caught, no, the best course lay in reporting to his Master, hopefully, it would be a clean death.

As they approached the city down the main Mank Road, the boys saw more and more houses.

Jaac felt like he had seen more houses in the last few leagues than he could have seen from the top of the largest hill overlooking Bowltown. Tem had been amazed by how many people they had seen, with Ainy equally as amazed, but Mort just seemed to shrink into himself, becoming more and more withdrawn. Mort was not comfortable around new people, and he was often clumsy, partly due to his size. He was easily one of the largest boys of his age to be seen around the whole of Bowltown, Mort appeared to be unhappy about the whole set of events. Ainy on the other hand appeared to take everything in his stride and seemed to be getting more and more excited at the prospect of seeing Mank.

The small group made their way to the outer walls of Mank. They arrived just as the Sun appeared to be dropping below the horizon. As they looked onto Mank for the first time, it appeared that a golden glow outlined the enormous city around them. The golden glow showed the stark contour of the enormous outer wall of Mank to the remaining houses outside and those that could be seen inside the City Walls. The inner keep couldn’t be seen at this distance, as the wall was easily thirty spans high, and ten spans across, with what looked like a winding road on the top of the battlements. This wall obscured much of the city from view. The size of the city was overwhelming for the boys, as they had never seen anything bigger than Bowltown before, which they thought was enormous. Mank seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon, though in reality it was probably only ten times the size of Bowltown. Mank with a population of nearly five hundred thousand was the second biggest city in the kingdom, smaller only than Breem, which was the Capital of Bruk. The buildings of Mank seemed to be covered with a thin veneer of dirty grime, with even the outer walls showing evidence of this slightly dirty look. Which matched the dusk and battle weary travellers as they entered the city.