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  The Invasion

  Worldsend Garrison Book 3

  M.D. Krix

  Grivs Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 Mike Dean Krix

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by: Thea Nicolescu

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  The Invasion

  Introduction

  Letter 1

  Letter 2

  Letter 3

  Letter 4

  Letter 5

  Letter 6

  Letter 7

  Letter 8

  Letter 9

  Letter 10

  Letter 11

  Letter 12

  Letter 13

  Letter 14

  Letter 15

  SOON...

  The Construction

  Introduction

  Worldsend Garrison Series

  The Invasion

  Worldsend Garrison Book 3

  M.D. Krix

  © 2020 Mike Dean Krix

  All rights reserved

  Artwork by

  Thea Nicolescu

  www.ikaruna.eu

  Published by

  Grivs Publishing

  Introduction

  Martin was rushing through the narrow street, and she was following his steps. When he stopped behind a crate, she kneeled close to him. He put his arm around her waist without thinking of it, but she noticed. It made her happy.

  “I don’t see anyone. I believe we can go,” he said.

  He was scanning attentively the pier, where no boat was moored. The sun had risen for more than an hour above Worldsend, and all the skiffs were at sea. Fishing had been bad in the last days, incredibly bad. As a matter of fact, for almost a week not a single form of life had been caught in the nets.

  Tuna, cod and marlin had always been plenty in those waters where the Valkyan Sea meets the Great Ocean. Until they vanished some months ago. This was no good news for the fishermen of Worldsend, but they didn’t worry about it back then. Halibut, bream, bass, mackerel and red snapper were still abundant, and there was no shortage of food.

  Then, they started to disappear as well.

  Now, the nets dragging the bay at the tip of the Karabia Peninsula were coming desperately empty. No herring, no sardine, no anchoveta … neither shrimps, crabs, lobsters or barnacles. There seemed to be nothing left in the ocean. Even the gulls, an ever-annoying presence around Worldsend, had deserted the place.

  The waters around Worldsend that had been teeming with fish for centuries were now abandoned. This was a disastrous situation.

  Villagers of Worldsend relied solely on the sea for their subsistence. They consumed what they caught, and what they couldn’t eat was sold on the market of Karabia. This was a long route through the desert until the city, there was no way they could carry fresh products.

  That’s why the fishermen in this lost settlement had long ago learned the art of food conservation.

  Dried, salted or smoked, Worldsend fish had become a delicacy sought after within the Empire. The villagers were making good money selling it, and it allowed them to buy whatever they needed. Nobody was rich in the Karabia Peninsula, but everybody was doing well. Despite the harsh environment, existence was decent for men who lived from the sea.

  But now their only source of income had disappeared.

  ***

  Martin and Daria knew that the situation was not good, but they didn’t share the gloomy despair of the other villagers. Aged only fifteen, they had more important things in their mind. There was no more fish, and so what? It would be back sooner or later.

  They had money, they had food, there was no need to worry for the moment.

  There was something else far more urgent for them, a matter that couldn’t wait anymore.

  In a way, the disappearance of the fish had come as a blessing for those teenagers. With nothing to be caught, it didn’t make any sense to keep on losing their time on a boat, hearing others swearing when the nets were empty again. They had better things to do.

  So, they had decided to skip this day of work, and had been hiding when the ships started to head for the open sea. Now, all the villagers in age were on the water, wasting their energy. Only children and some of the women were left in the hamlet, and most of them were busy with house choirs.

  Nobody would pay attention to them. They were free for the rest of the day.

  Nevertheless, there was still a risk to be caught. Martin had learned from his father that “better safe than sorry” is what makes the difference between the fishermen who live, and those whose bodies are taken by the Great Ocean never to be recovered. He was careful, and spent long minutes making sure nobody was lingering close to the pier.

  When he was convinced that they were alone, Daria and he went running on the beach, heading for the rocks at the bottom of the western cliffs. There was a small cove hidden between the slabs of stone. A private and discreet nest where they would be able to finally do what they longed for such a long time without risking being caught.

  Everybody in Worldsend knew that they loved each other, and their parents had no objections to their relation. They were of age, and nobody would have been shocked by their intentions. They were not married, but those things were not so important for the people there. They were far from the heart of the Empire, and religion was not among the priorities around here. They didn’t have a preacher in the village, even less a church.

  In a way, it was expected that Martin and Daria would make the step towards physical intimacy, but they didn’t want to do it openly. No one wishes to be seen while making love for the first time. This is already stressful enough without having to worry about others watching.

  So, they had been planning it for some weeks.

  They had discovered this cove, where nobody would disturb them. They had finally managed to find a moment to escape from the work and routine of Worldsend’s life. Today was the day.

  They were happy and excited, but also a bit tensed. Who wouldn’t be, on such an occasion?

  ***

  Daria and Martin were lying naked on the sand of the cove, holding hands, a smile on their face. They were listening to the waves of the Great Ocean crushing on the Cliffs of Tecumo, their sound a background to their thoughts.

  They felt good. They had just sampled happiness. They were together. Life was beautiful.

  The worries brought to the village by the disappearance of the fish had never been that far from their mind. Only the memories of what had just occurred between them mattered. And the prospect of what would happen again. They had all day for them, and they were planning to enjoy this simple fact as much as they could.

  Then they heard it.

  It might have been going on for some time, and they hadn’t noticed above the roar of the waves. But, now that they were not daydreaming anymore, they just couldn’t ignore it. They sat, and looked at each other, fear showing on their face.

  They were young and careless, but such screams of pain couldn’t be overlooked.

  It was coming from the village; they were sure of it. They wanted to peer above the rocks protecting the small strand of sand where they had been hiding, but anxiety and shock paralyzed them.

  Why would someone squeal like that? What was happening in the hamlet?

  The more they listened, the more it became obvious that th
ey heard different voices. Many of them, as a matter of fact. It seemed like all those who were still in Worldsend were screaming. Children and women.

  Did a fire start? This was the biggest worries in any village built with wood rather than stones. This could explain an alarm, but not howls of terror like those coming from the beach. Inhabitants of Worldsend were brave and clear-headed. They know that screaming wouldn’t extinguish the blaze.

  There would be some yelling, for sure, but a structured one. It would be women calling for help, throwing commands, organizing everything in order to smother the flames.

  What they heard was completely different, however. People were not shouting, they were simply wailing and bawling wildly. Did the Valkyans attack? This seemed unlikely, but this would explain the panic.

  Suddenly, they perceived a violent rumble, and this shook them off from their paralysis. They both jumped on their feet in the same instant. Now, standing naked on their corner of the beach, they saw. Their eyes grasped the entire situation, but their mind needed some time to process all the information.

  Children and women in the village were running in all directions, towards the shore or even the desert.

  The fish smoker by the pier, where Martin and Daria had been hiding behind a crate not so long ago, was destroyed. This had been the crushing noise they heard when the wooden roof fell and the beams splattered everywhere.

  In the bay, there was no ship to be seen on the sea. The few wrecks and pieces of timber floating among the waves were the only reminders of the more than thirty proud boats that were sailing those waters less than an hour ago.

  It was true then.

  War had started.

  The Valkyans had attacked, where nobody thought this would be possible. They had skipped the port of Igereiger further north, aware that soldiers of the Imperial Army were stationed there permanently, and came straight to Worldsend. A peaceful village, where the only weapons were fish hooks and gutting blades, handled by men and women who had never fought.

  Anger began to boil within Martin, enraged by the cowardice of the Valkyan warriors who didn’t hesitate to murder innocent children.

  Then, Daria started to scream, and it dawned on him. He had seen as well.

  The lady running on the beach in their direction had suddenly been cut in half, her upper part disappearing magically in a gush of blood. Shocked by the horror of her legs making another two steps towards them, Daria was only able to howl at the top of her lungs. But Martin’s mind had been noticing what his lover seemed to have missed.

  The poor woman hadn’t been killed by a Valkyan warrior. There was no invading soldier on the beach, no warship moored in the bay.

  As a matter of fact, there was nothing to be seen in Worldsend, apart from destroyed buildings, fleeing villagers, and a mutilated body less than a furlong from them. A corpse that was now moving gradually towards the sea, sliding slowly on the sand, leaving a bloody trail.

  This was too much, even for a brave young man like Martin.

  He took Dara’s hand and started to run. With the Ocean to the Southwest and the assaulted settlement to the East, he chose the only available direction.

  They went north, towards the Karabia desert.

  Still naked, the white skin of their buttocks soon began to redden under the blazing sun, and then to blister. The searing heat emanating from the sand was burning their soles. They had no water, and before noon thirst was so strong that their throat was aching.

  They had already been to the city of Karabia, and they knew the trip took eight days with a cart pulled by horses. They were on foot. They would need at least two weeks.

  They made it through the first day, but Martin never saw the sunrise. He died during the night and Daria woke up close to his cold body. She accepted the situation peacefully. Even if she was only fifteen, a girl raised in Worldsend learns to acknowledge things the way they are.

  She decided that there was no point in leaving Martin. She loved him. She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

  Letter 1

  To our Mighty Emperor Niklas

  Fulfilling my obligation as Bailiff of the Karabia Province, I must report unusual events that took place in the fisherman village of Worldsend, at the southern tip of the peninsula, some one hundred miles from the mighty city of Karabia.

  While there is no reason yet to worry, the strangeness surrounding the information I got led me to write you this letter, as I am aware of your interest in knowing what is happening at the borders of your Great Empire.

  We had not been receiving the annual levy from this settlement, and I had decided to send a law enforcer I trust to investigate the situation and remind the people living there that their duty to the Empire mustn’t be forgotten.

  Two days ago, our tax collector Yuri arrived from Worldsend, where he usually goes only once per year due to the extreme remoteness of the village. This supplementary two-week trip to such a small hamlet might seem like a waste of resources, and this would be if this village was not where the famous smoked, dried and salted fish of Karabia come from.

  The inhabitants of Worldsend are among the wealthiest in this province, and bring yearly more than two hundred dinars straight to our treasury. If you add the taxes on the profit made by the Karabian merchants selling their goods through the whole Empire, this lost community generates more than a thousand dinars of direct income for us.

  For this single reason, Worldsend receives a greater attention from us than its sheer size deserves.

  If those events had taken place in any other settlement of this dimension, they wouldn’t have reached my ears. But it happened in the village of Worldsend, and I learned about it. This place being on the Southern tip of the Empire, and fairly close to the shores of Valkya, I consider relevant to send a report to the Imperial Palace.

  ***

  Yuri came back empty-handed from his trip but with a tale that, if true, deserves all my attention and a thorough investigation.

  According to him, the village was entirely deserted. There was not a living soul. No men, no women and no children… Neither did he see any horse, dog or cat. Some buildings had fallen, but most of the community was perfectly intact. Clothes were still dangling in the wind; plates were waiting on tables; beds were done with fresh linen…

  “Just like life would have been normal not a minute ago” was the way Yuri put it.

  He inspected further and was surprised to notice that there was no fish hanging in the dryers. The only food he could observe was within households, which made him think that fishermen had actually left for some weeks, and not only some hours as he had initially believed.

  Suspecting some trick by the people of Worldsend—crafted with the purpose of escaping from their tax duties—, Yuri decided to stay for two nights and two days in the village, waiting for its inhabitants to return to their houses.

  Nobody came into view.

  Additionally, during this time spent close to the ocean, he noticed that seagulls—which had always been an annoyance in this part of the peninsula—, were missing.

  Yuri also comments that no fishing boats were to be seen, neither at the pier nor moored on the beach or in the bay. I reviewed our last census: there should be thirty-two skiffs of various sizes in the village of Worldsend. How could they have disappeared?

  Convinced that there was nothing to gain by staying more, Yuri made his way back to the capital of Karabia and reported immediately to me. The reason for this two-day delay between his account and my letter is that, as trustworthy as his word could be, I had to check some facts before relaying such shocking information to the Imperial Palace.

  I sent messengers to the different markets spread in the city, and then to all traders dealing with the celebrated Karabia dried, smoked and salted fish. Without any exception, the same unsettling answer arrived from everywhere.

  Nobody had come from Worldsend for almost two months.

  Merchants are particularly adamant abou
t it, as their business is now threatened. According to them, the last deliveries made before they vanished were already of both lower quality and quantity. They warned the sellers that something should be done with regard to that issue.

  Obviously, none of them imagined that their hint of financial loss would trigger such a response from the villagers, and they are presently considering sending a representative to Worldsend in order to negotiate with the fishermen. They are totally unaware of their disappearance.

  As you can see, the situation is unexplainably peculiar, and dozens of hypotheses have come to my mind.

  A raid by the Valkyans is the first possibility. However, this seems strange that they would sail those treacherous sea to reach Worldsend, which is isolated at the tip of the Karabia Peninsula, rather than to Igereiger. From the latest, they could easily spread in any direction within the Empire. But from Worldsend, they can only head North, through an inhospitable desert before having to cross The Marsh. This would be a suicidal mission for them.

  Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that they would have kidnapped every living creature. Women can be valuable; we all know that. Children can be raised in their ways; they could prove helpful for them. Men can be enslaved and provide cheap labor while horses can be put to good use… But why would they abduct cats, dogs, or chickens? All of them?

  I suspect there is some kind of treachery orchestrated by the inhabitants of Worldsend.

  The threat of the merchants may have been empty, but who knows how those isolated villagers may have reacted to it? Afraid of losing money and the good life they enjoy they could have indeed chosen to flee. Where did they go remains a question I can’t answer, however.

  The disappearance of all the boats suggests they left by sea, but their destination is yet unidentified.