The Emperor Class

Thick smoke hovered above the city while a large blaze had engulfed much of the city. The smoke made it impossible for Dreu to see beyond the outer walls. The scene reminded Dreu of what happened to Berkton, only it wasn’t as spectacular during the day. He was fortunate to be watching from afar but the scene still made him want to vomit. There were large breaches throughout the walls and demons, far exceeding the numbers he saw at Berkton, were pouring into them. Any kingdom banners that were atop the walls and towers had long been burned to ashes. No one from the garrison could be seen holding off the hordes of demons.

From where they stood, it was clear the outer walls had fallen and the demons were heading towards the inner walls. Even if the inner walls still held, the young man couldn’t imagine the remaining garrison holding off against such overwhelming odds. Dreu turned to study the others and their faces matched what he felt. It was clear that he wasn’t imagining any of this and York had fallen to the demons. Their plan of finding sanctuary at York was no longer feasible. The symbol of human’s resilience against overwhelming forces fell so easily. Dreu thought York could hold out for months or at least until reinforcements arrived from the capital. On the hill, he felt the hope within him burning away like the city itself. Following the fall of York, he knew the capital would be next.

Would Xante fare any better against this demon invasion?

Dreu turned to see all the civilians falling to their knees as they cried their eyes out. He couldn’t blame them for how they felt. After all, they had no chance of reaching Xante even if they wanted to. The demon forces stood between them and the capital. They couldn’t hope to fight their way through the demons nor did they possess any spells that could keep them concealed. Isylte mentioned that all the forests around the capital had long been cleared making it impossible for them to repeat what they did to reach York. Essentially, they were out of options.

What are your thoughts, Bayard? Are we truly out of options when it comes to reaching the safety of the capital?

Traveling above ground is certainly out of the question. If we use the tunnels…

Tunnels? What tunnels?

Bayard went on to mention the dwarves who were assigned the secret assignment of digging tunnels towards the human capital. The original plan revolved around his side winning at the Battle of Chilsor Plains and using the tunnels to strike at the heart of Xemir’s territory. Due to the defeat, the assignment was abandoned and the tunnels were never completed. However, Bayard firmly believed that the tunnels still existed in some way or form. If they could find the tunnels and travel through them, it was entirely possible for the group to arrive much closer to Xante. Then, they could figure out how to cover the remainder of the distance.

“Someone is approaching!” shouted the ranger.

The fact that Gaenor paid attention to something other than the destruction of York was a miracle in Dreu's eyes. Following the warning, Baldwin and his knights stood in front of the group with their weapons drawn while the spellcasters stood ready behind them. Dreu tightly gripped his ax and shield as he waited for the approach of the unknown being. He cursed at the thought that they were trapped on the hill. Other than the path they took to get to the top of Falcon Hill, the only other option of descending was to scale down the treacherous cliffs. Except for maybe Gaenor, he doubted anyone else had the agility of a mountain goat. If surrounded, they either had to fight their way out or die trying. Neither option was particularly good in his eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, a woman walked towards them and Dreu let out his breath. To his surprise, he watched Baldwin leading the knights to the person and they all knelt before her. Isylte and Aleit followed suit leaving everyone else puzzled at the sight.

“Who is that?” asked someone behind Dreu.

“Look at her dress!” said another. “She must be a noble!”

Dreu wasn’t an expert of noble fashion but the fancy dress helped him arrive at the same conclusion. His first thought was how impractical the dress was. He couldn’t imagine fleeing from demons in a dress that was not only draped over the person’s entire body but also, based on what he heard back in Berkton from a merchant, surprisingly heavy despite its appearance.

How do they know she could be trusted? There’s no way she could have survived all alone this entire time.

The woman conversed with those before her and, even from where he stood, Dreu could tell how emotional this reunion was. The woman, after finishing her conversation, noticed the rest of the group. She approached them with a smile and shouted at them.

“Hello! I am Duchess Avilina. I’m pleased to meet you all!”

Dreu looked to the adventurers for answers because he wasn’t familiar with nobles. As a laborer in Berkton, he had no reason to care about the nobles. He was far too low in status to have any interactions with them. Even the change of nobles hardly mattered as he paid the same taxes every month. His interaction with nobles might have been a different case if he became a knight but, for the time being, he was rather insignificant. He had hoped the others could shed some light on this Duchess but they too had a blank look on them.

“Duchess Avilina comes from the noble family governing York,” Isylte clarified after noting their puzzled looks. “She escaped from York before it fell to the demons. She not only has a lot of influence in the kingdom but her powers may keep us alive long enough to reach Xante. We have been very fortunate to have met the Duchess here. Otherwise, I fear our chances of survival would be extremely low. Please keep up until we reach a safe location.”