Alcingeria Volume Two Chapter Twenty Two: The Conflict At Semera Part Four

the IG-90 is destroyed and Ignacio is hauled from the tank. Will he submit and be captured, or will he put up a fight? I think we both know the answer to that question.

Chapter Twenty Two The Conflict At Semera Part Four:

Saturday July 24^th 1690

I let out a cry in unison with the other two as I was hit hard with shrapnel and knocked to the ground, indescribable pain stung and flared all over my side. I could feel warm blood trickling down my hip and onto the street. I had trouble breathing.

A half second later, I heard another explosion. I looked forward to see the IG-90 in flames, the rear window was torn off its hinges. The turret had flown off in the explosion, crashing down somewhere and by the sounds of it, caving in a roof.

The sight had distracted me from the pain for a brief second, but it was still there. I gritted my teeth as I fell onto my back, clutching my wound. That only brought more pain, and it was overwhelming. I began to feel light headed.

            “The tank has been destroyed! Retreat! Retreat!” I heard someone scream.

            “Retreat!” Someone else cried.

There was the thundering of countless feet hitting the ground all around me. The vampires paid us no mind. They must have thought we were dead. The feet went by in a blur. I wasn’t sure if it was just my vision failing, or they had more numbers than we thought and I was passing out time and time again in short intervals. I could feel the dull, intense pain of being trampled beneath the stampede. I tried screaming for help, but I couldn’t get the words past my lungs. I gritted my teeth and kept my head down, curling into a ball to attempt to evade the pain, but to no avail. It seemed to last forever, but really only a few seconds. Finally, the footfalls receded into the distance, leaving me covered in blood, cuts and bruises. I let out a cry for help, but all that came out was a wisp of breath, barely audible. I could feel my consciousness fading as the pain became too overwhelming to consciously bare.

            “Redmond! Robert! Macalister!” I heard someone shout.

I think it was Don. Someone rushed over to me and turned me over, causing the pain to surge. I let out a sharp gasp and looked up to see Don.

            “What happened to them?” Tabatha asked with concern.

            “It looked like something exploded. Maybe they were hit by shrapnel when the tank exploded?” Don asked.

            “Healing Surge!” Tabatha cried.

A few seconds later, she moved on and performed the same spell. I couldn’t see who on. Lastly she came over to me. Her rich brown eyes sparkled in the fire given off by the flaming tank. The next light that I saw was the brilliant green emitted from her staff when she healed me. I waited for the spell to finish. When it did, I sat up, feeling lighter and good as new. The pain was completely gone. I stood up, testing my weight on my legs. They held. I looked around to see a few soldiers on the tank, looking inside. Surrounding the wreckage on all sides were more soldiers.

            “Someone’s still alive in here!” One of the soldiers on the IG-90 shouted.

Three of them reached in and the same time and hauled out the body of a man wearing a white fedora. A sword hung at his side. I instantly recognized him. Although burnt to a severe degree and only semi-conscious, there was no mistaking him; it was Ignacio.

            “That’s their leader! That’s Ignacio!” Robert shouted. Triumphantly.

The three soldiers holding him forced him to his knees and one of the men in the surrounding crowd came forward with rope. Ignacio’s hands were forced behind his back and tied. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Here was the man behind everything. Here was the man responsible for murders, kidnappings and the recent attacks. Here he was, tied up and helpless.

Someone in the crowd came forward with a stake. Ignacio’s head was down, he was on his knees and his eyes were closed. We all gathered around to watch this man- this monster’s death.

The soldier with the stake walked up behind Ignacio He raised his weapon high above his head…

Ignacio’s head snapped up, eyes open.

In the blink of an eye he hooked his foot around his would be executioner’s ankle and pulled, knocking him off his feet. I could see that the vampire’s wounds were starting to heal. Ignacio was on top of him, tearing into his neck with his fangs. He didn’t take a lot of blood. By the time he had pounced on the soldier, the others began to close in on him, weapons drawn. A few soldiers carried stakes, most carried normal weapons. Ignacio drew his sword, his wounds now almost vanished.

            “Ignacio, this is a fight you can’t win! You’re outnumbered!” Allan said, rushing to the front of the crowd with his weapon drawn.

Ignacio turned to face him, taking up a defensive position.

            “You look familiar.” He said with a cocked head.

Allan stood there, waiting for Ignacio to recognize him. His men were waiting for the vampire to make a move. Recognition flashed in Ignacio’s red eyes.

            “Now I remember. You were the foolish man who tried to save that woman. June 12^th, around Yutsa’s Northern border, correct?” He asked.

Allan nodded, his grip tightening on his sword.

            “That’s right. You nearly killed me that day.” Came Allan’s answer.

            “It seems I didn’t do a very good job. I thought you were dead when I went after the deer.” Ignacio explained patiently.

            “Well, here I am. Why don’t you finish what you didn’t last month?” Allan asked.

Ignacio nearly laughed, although it came out as more of a chuckle.

            “Do you honestly think I’m that stupid?” Ignacio shot back.

Allan just watched Ignacio.

            “You are right about one thing, I’m clearly outnumbered.” Ignacio admitted.

            “’One thing’?” Allan said, confused.

            “However, you all are very much out skilled!” Ignacio exclaimed.

With that, he lunged forward, losing his defensive stance and using his vampire speed to his advantage. In almost the blink of an eye, he had broken through the crowd and was now outside of it. The entire crowd looked baffled.

            “Kill him, men! Do not let him escape!” Allan ordered.

With that, the crowd of soldiers ran at Ignacio, letting out war cries along the way. It didn’t take them long to close the distance to their quarry. The first man to reach Ignacio was swiftly cut down with a swipe at the chest. The next was hit in the side with a mighty backhand. Ignacio retreated a few steps, and killed three more men. My friends and I watched as the soldiers died in front of us. We didn’t jump in at first. We would have only been cut down by the time we reached Ignacio. I used this time to reload my flintlock. We waited for an opportune moment.

None came.

Any time we attempted to join the fray, we were caught in an unorganized mass and forced out. We could only join the battle when our numbers amounted only a dozen or so. Allan was at the back with us, the other soldiers kept their distance from Ignacio.

            “Let’s get this over with.” Ignacio told us.

He dashed forward, going on the offensive and swiftly killing three more men before jumping back to his previous position. Two soldiers let out war cries and rushed him. They were swiftly killed in one strike. The remaining six or seven soldiers turned tail and fled. Ignacio looked on them with amusement.

            “Such a fleeting thing, courage, when it has no foundation.” He muttered.

He turned to the nine of us.

            “Stella, my dear. I apologize for what you are about to see.” He purred.

Stella rolled her eyes and looked away.

            “Creep…” She muttered under her breath.

We all drew our weapons. I had my flintlock out, along with Robert, Don and Macalister. Stella and Erin must have picked up swords from fallen guards during the battle. Walden and Tabatha prepared to use magic.

Ignacio chuckled.

            “I don’t mean to gloat, but my forces and I have already killed most of Semera’s guard. Do you really think you will be enough to take me on?” He asked.

His tone wasn’t arrogant. It had more of a ‘matter of fact’ air to it. He wasn’t boasting, he wasn’t even challenging us. He was asking a question.

            “Most definitely.” Allan replied.

Ignacio didn’t chuckle or smile. Instead he readied his blade. He ran at Allan, going on a calculated offensive. Allan was forced to take up a defensive stance. The rest of us began to move in to attack him, but he jumped back to his previous position.

            “Coward!” Allan roared.

I took aim with my flintlock and fired, but he darted out of the way at vampire speed. Robert fired, then Macalister, then Don. Our target darted out of the way every time.

            “Fireball!” Walden shouted.

He conjured a ball of fire and shot it at Ignacio. He agilely dodged it. Allan shot Walden a surprised look, but didn’t ask any questions. It just donned on me that Allan hadn’t seen Walden yet.

Tabatha aimed her staff at some rubble on the street behind us.

            “Levitate!” She called out.

The rubble responded to her spell and began to move with her staff. She spun around, swinging her staff in Ignacio’s direction. The rubble flew at him, but he ducked and it hit a wall behind him. Springing up from his crouched position he lunged at Tabatha.

            “No!” Don cried.

He reached for his dagger just as the vampire got his hands on her. She screamed in terror, trying to bring up her staff to fend him off, but he was too close. He leaned down to bite into her neck, but was stabbed in the side by Don!

Rather than cry out in pain, he grinned.

He grabbed hold of Don’s wrist, ripped it free of the dagger and threw him into the wall of a nearby house. He fell to the ground, limp.

            “Don!” Macalister cried in worry.

The large man barreled towards Ignacio, letting out a scream of rage. Ignacio hadn’t expected it and had little time to react. He just barely got his sword up in time to hit Macalister with the flat end. It didn’t even phase him. He reeled back and punched Ignacio in the stomach, using his momentum to carry him forward and add more impact to the blow. Ignacio crumpled under the blow and fell backwards with the wind knocked out of him. Macalister carried on forward and landed a solid punch on Ignacio’s jaw. His head snapped towards the ground. Before Macalister could land another blow, Ignacio swung his legs around and swept Macalister off his feet, getting back on his own. He delivered a kick to Macalister’s gut.

The larger man was sent skidding across the ground for a short distance. Erin ran over to Ignacio with Stella in tow. Ignacio raised an eyebrow at the two girls coming at him. Erin swung first, then Stella. Ignacio blocked Erin’s blade effortlessly and spun out of the way from Stella’s, releasing Erin’s blade of its contact with his own. He was now beside Stella.

Rather than run her through, he spun around her next attack attempt and went for Erin. She blocked him with some difficulty.

            “You are not as lovely as Stella, but still so. What might your name be?” He purred.

Erin forced him off of her and went in for a stab, which was parried.

            “You show some talent with the blade. Impressive, for a girl.” Ignacio said, almost taunting her.

            “Don’t underestimate me!” Erin warned, thrusting twice more.

Each of her strikes were parried. Ignacio delivered a swipe of his own, which Erin dodged.

While the two were fighting, Tabatha was getting another pile of rubble ready. When the angle was right and she wouldn’t hit Erin, she unleashed it, broadsiding Ignacio and sending him crashing into the wall of a nearby house. The wall cracked and nearly caved, but it held.

            “I almost forgot… The witch.” He admitted, wincing as he got up.

            “Stay down, unless you want another one!” Tabatha warned.

Ignacio looked hurt, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

            “Surrender, Ignacio!” Allan called.

The vampire tried getting up, but winced and fell back down. Tabatha sent another clump of rubble flying towards him, flattening him against the wall once more. He groaned in pain, gritting his teeth as he attempted to get up again. Tabatha unleashed another pile of rubble, hitting him square in the chest and caving in the wall of the house. Ignacio vanished from view, buried beneath the rubble. Stella and Erin ran back to us, but kept their weapons ready. Robert, Macalister Don and I took this time to reload our flintlocks. A few seconds later, the rubble started to move. The movement increased until rocks started falling from the top of the pile, and eventually Ignacio broke free. He stood up, seeming perfectly unharmed, save for his dark cloak, which he had slipped back into sometime since our last meeting and was once again torn. He brushed the dirt and rubble off in vain.

            “Well, it’s been a great deal of fun seeing you all again. However I fear I must take my leave.” He said, calm and collected.

            “You’re a coward, Ignacio!” Allan shouted.

            “Cowardice and intelligence are two different things, mind you.” Ignacio said patiently.

Before Allan could say one more sentence, Ignacio turned to the girl he had his eye on.

            “Stella.” He said, bowing with more than a little bravado.

            “Creep.” She spat, fully addressing him.

And within two seconds, he vanished from sight, disappearing in a blur of movement almost too quick for my eye to follow.

Author's Note

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