Chapter 50- Saix Atlast

Chapter 50

 

Saix Atlas

 

           

            Saix burst into the room expecting the worst. Only two people remained alive. All the Judicians were dead but so were all the bodyguards in Esmere Septem’s room. Thankfully, Esmere and his daughter Lexia Juno were still alive. God is merciful.

            Esmere seemed to be suffering from an injury while Lexia was completely unharmed. Lexia looked nothing like her father. She was slim and fragile. Defenseless and innocent. Her hair wasn’t as vibrant as Mhia’s, but it had a fiery enough color to make any Cruorian man turn his head. Once upon a time this girl was going to be Queen. Until Caius robbed Ezra Octem of his life that is.

            Saix still remembered what the Archangel Mary had told him. As for whether or not it was true, he had yet to decide. If Caius was King though, that was only the more reason he had to die. Cruorians were as traditional as they were proud. Even a Judician had a solid claim to the throne as long as there was royal blood in their veins. But Saix was not about to serve a Judician King and would live to see the day those fears were put to rest.

Saix rushed to Esmere’s aid. Lexia screeched in distraught when she laid eyes on the injury in Saix’s shoulder. “You’re hurt!”

            “It’s nothing,” said Saix. “Your father in the other hand is not so well.”

            Esmere grabbed Saix’s wrist. “And will only get worse with time. Saix…I need you to take my daughter and run. I’ll only slow you down.”

            “No! I’m not leaving you,” cried Lexia.

            “You have no choice,” argued Esmere. “Soon this whole palace will be overrun with Judicians. I’ve seen what comes after. I was in this city the day they reclaimed it from Queen Rhyth. I will not have my daughter raped! Uggh!” Esmere started coughing up blood.

            “Then I’ll die with you! I’ll die fighting like a true Cruorian.”

            “No…” he grabbed Lexia’s hand. “You will live…Lexia.” He looked at Saix. “Saix, please…you’re the only person I can count on.”

            Saix looked at him cool and collected. “Where will we go? The city is quarantined. We cannot seek refuge within Yggdrasil. There is nowhere for us to run.”

            “Find a place…hide. The Archangels will come for the Messiah…That’s when you will escape.”

            “Wait, huh. Then it seems our fate is in God’s hands once more. Very well.” Saix turned to Lexia. “Let’s go.”

            Lexia hugged her father. “No! I’m not leaving him!”

Saix had already made his decision. He picked up a jian from one of the dead Cruorians and grabbed Lexia by her waist and threw her over his shoulder.

“No! Let me go! Let me go!” she cried.

            “Thank you…” said Esmere.

            Saix left running with the young girl kicking and screaming over his shoulder. He ran back through the path he had cleared and into an empty room where he finally put her down. As soon as Lexia’s feet hit the floor she tried to run back to her father but Saix grabbed her around the neck and held her against the wall.

            “Your father is a dead man, Lexia! Whether you run back to him or not, he will die. So listen and listen carefully. I will not allow his death to be in vain. When we leave this room you will not make a sound and you will follow me without question. Is that clear?”

            Saix loosened his grip around her neck and let her breath. She nodded, shivering, without saying a single word.

            “Good. You learn quick,” congratulated Saix. “Keep your sword at hand at all times. Chances are we will need to kill a few people before we get out.”

            One of the things to be grateful for amongst Cruorians was that their women were as able as their men in combat. Perhaps not Lexia in particular, but she at least knew her way around a sword enough to be of use. Though if Saix had his choice of woman to fight beside, he’d pick either Mhia or Gia. 

            Saix opened the door and stepped outside with Lexia behind him. Scanning the area, he started coming up with the best form of escape. Leaving through the lower floors was a lost cause. The bottom levels were swarmed with Judicians. Coming from the dungeons he hardly managed to slip passed it. If he wanted to get out of this palace it would have to be from higher up above. Unfortunately, jumping from even this floor was certain to end in failure.

            A large number of footsteps could be heard entering the floor. It was astonishing how quickly the True Believers were losing ground. Saix decided he’d come up with an escape plan along the way before they found themselves surrounded by enemies.

As they were running away from the approaching stampede, they ran into a group of True Believers, some of the few who hadn’t escaped to the upper levels. One of them asked Saix, “Did we completely lose the bottom floor?”

“I don’t know,” answered Saix. “But there’s a swarm of enemies heading this way right now. Do you know another way out of this palace?”

            The man looked at him perplexed. “His Grace the Azure Prince said no one was to leave the palace.”

            Saix pushed him against the wall with his sword to the man’s throat. “I don’t care what the Azure Prince’s orders were. This is a lost battle and I don’t intend to die here. Now I’ll ask you again. Are there any secret routes or alternate exits I may not know about?”

            The man shook his head. “I-I don’t know.”

            “Useless!”

            A commanding voice from the other end of the hall shouted. “In the name of Judicium, I lay forth my Hammer to pass just judgment! Lay down your weapons and we will spare your lives! Raise them and we will send you all to hell!”

            Saix looked at the menacing group of Black Coats across from them. From the commanding officer’s unique uniform and words, Saix could deduce that it was the famous Kramer Godsbane, Judicium’s Hammer. Behind him were three times the men standing behind Saix, their formation flawless as opposed to the mess of mob that Saix had to count on.

            Lexia unfortunately was not on the same page. “What are you doing? Don’t you remember what Father said they’d do to us? Our orders were to run away.”

            “Shut up!” ordered Saix. He looked back to the rest of the True Believers. “Drop your weapons. You’ve got nothing to prove.”

            The azure pawns looked at one another in question but heeded Saix’s advise and dropped their guns and swords. Good, they aren’t complete idiots. Kramer kept his word. “You’ve chosen wisely. I’ll see that the court gives you all a proper trial.”

            A man stepped next to Kramer and argued, “This is ill advised, Just Kramer. We don’t have time to babysit these criminals. They had their chance to put their arms down and run before the battle.”

            “I am no monster, Gottfried. These men have put down their arms. On my watch, there is still room for those who surrender in the battlefield.”

            The Black Coats apprehended the surrendering True Believers. A third of the Black Coats were then ordered to scour the rest of the floor while the other two thirds remained, Kramer and Gottfried amongst them. Kramer walked up to Saix and Lexia, who were on their knees with hands behind their head, and looked at them with questioning eyes.

            “I take it neither of you is part of the royal family,” he said.

            Saix looked him dead in the eyes and said, “I’m not…”

            Lexia glanced at Saix in shock of his implication. Kramer grabbed her face and turned it from side to side, observing her. “You’re certainly no One-Eyed Queen. Are you the cousin, Lana Novem?”

            Saix answered for her. “The royal family is more valuable to you alive than dead.”

            “Indeed they are,” agreed Kramer.

            Gottfried joined the conversation, looking at Saix sadistically. “Until the death of the other members that is. But I’ll give you credit in your attempt to keep her safe.” He thwarted his gaze to Lexia and grinned. “You look about as tender as a flower. I wonder how many secrets you’ll spill when I skin this bodyguard of yours right in front of your eyes.”

            Lexia broke instantaneously in tears. “Please no! Please don’t hurt us! We haven’t done anything. I swear!”

            “Other than start a rebellion you mean.” Gottfried grabbed a handful of her hair and smelled it while she whimpered like a dog. “God, I’m going to enjoy torturing you.”

            “Stop!” ordered Kramer. “These are my prisoners. Save your sadistic games for your own cap-“

A Black Coat standing near Kramer dropped dead from a gunshot. Seconds later a mob of True Believers came charging. Shots started being fired from both directions and everyone was taking cover. Saix didn’t hesitate to roll to where his jian was and pick it up to join the fight. The rest of the True Believers who had laid down their arms did the same, though some found their weapons too far removed and were unable to reach it in time.

Amidst the chaos, Saix saw Gottfried tackle Kramer to safety in a corner. Gottfried then got up to join the fight. Saix looked at Kramer and saw that the Hammer had received an injury, fatal from the looks of it. The anger in Kramer’s face however didn’t seem directed at the True Believers but directly at Gottfried. As Saix fixated his gaze back to Gottfried, he saw him charging towards Lexia. Saix ran to meet him and was able to parry Gottfried’s sword but not the knife that came afterwards and slashed him across the chest. For a second, everything turned red and Saix thought this would be his end. By some miracle, it wasn’t.

            Saix heard the clash of metal and knew someone had jumped in to save him the same way he saved Lexia. Rather than investigating who his savior was, Saix crawled away from the fighting towards safety. When his vision cleared, he saw the familiar face of Gia Februa locked in combat with Gottfried. Saix got up on his knees and saw Lexia near a crowd fighting with swords, her amongst them. Instinctively, Saix started searching for where he dropped his weapon so he could aid her. He quickly abandoned that plight once he realized the whole fight had progressed to an all-out close range melee.

            Somehow someway, Lexia managed to find herself out of the mob and reunited with Saix.  Saix struggled to get back on his feet. “Hurry. We have to run!”

            Lexia had no arguments this time around. Before leaving, Saix looked back to look for Gia but Gottfried was no longer fighting her, occupied with a different enemy instead. Saix scanned the floor for any familiar corpses.

            “Why are you hesitating?” asked Lexia.

            “Gia. I could’ve sworn I saw her.”

            “You did,” said Gia’s familiar voice.

            Saix turned around. Though he really wanted to hug her, he simply nodded to acknowledge her presence. “You have impeccable timing.”

            “I came here to look for you as soon as I could. I know a secret way out of here.” Gia looked at Lexia. “Esmere?”

            As Lexia put her head down in shame, Saix answered, “Nothing could be done. Now lead the way. I don’t need to spend a minute longer than I have to in this forsaken palace.”

Author's Note

Any new thoughts on Saix or Cruorians as a whole? Thoughts, predictions.

Next chapter will be another Allen Durandal POV

Reviews

[Dark Rider]

Okay, when he's not on a raping spree, he seems pretty decent. Not one of my favorite characters, but he's moved a half a notch up on the scale. Though, I wouldn't call it much of an improvement. Lexia I like however, even. As far as predictions, I really have no clue where you plan to take this. XD So I'm just got to wait and read the next chapter. I really can't wait for the next chapter. Everything's getting so exciting. :)

[Cynical_Art]

Half a notch up XD lmao And you forgot to add beheading children on top of raping spree lol glad you like Lexia, you'll be seeing more of her in the future. As to whether you'll continue to like her, who knows. The Cruorians will start to get some spotlight again though. Anyways, the next chapter is already up. I'll probably have the one after up soon as well.

[Dark Rider]

XD Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten that? Lol and I will read that next chapter soon! :)