The Invasion Page 6
Those rules will keep on preserving the integrity and wealth of the Empire and its citizen. Breaking them will lead to a punishment proportional to the severity of the acts perpetrated.
By the will of the Gods,
Emperor Niklas
Letter 15
To Emperor Niklas
As always, your decisions are wise.
Worldsend Garrison will be our first and last line of defense against this new invader. Having it manned with our best archers and crossbowmen, who could sleep and rest behind strong walls guaranteeing their safety is the most effective method to keep the enemy at bay.
We have no way to predict the future or the outcome of the next battles—for I am convinced there will be more—, but I trust our losses will drop substantially now that we are prepared and learned how to fight back.
Presently, we used the wood gathered from the village of Worldsend to erect a palisade and protect our camp. I believe this will already help us noticeably, but for sure a real fort, built with stronger materials and superior knowledge, would be appreciated.
I arranged things with Kahid. We will send him monthly a list with the supplies we need, and he will deliver them at a given point in the desert, where our men will pick them up. He seemed reassured, and is definitely happy not to have to worry anymore with the situation south of The Marsh. Those last months took a heavy toll on him, and he lost most of his hair.
Clearly, the events—past, present and future—, happening in Worldsend must be kept secret. No civilian and no official can learn the truth with regard to the creatures threatening the Empire. Even within the army, I believe caution should be used when talking of the enemy we face here. There is very little to gain in letting rumors spread, and we would be risking a lot. Our world is not prepared to hear about an invisible invader, and even less to imagine what they look like.
***
As Your Majesty is perfectly aware, I grew up in the suburbs of Pastezu, at the foothills of the Karpi mountains. I spent my youth there. I am familiar with the local tales, and I myself witnessed the reality of plenty of those so-called mythical creatures. I know all too well the mischievous dwarves, their magic and their tricks. There are many dangers above and under the mighty Karpi range, and most of them are still undiscovered.
For this very reason, we can’t discard the possibility that the invasion attempt in the Karabia Peninsula is orchestrated by our eternal foe.
But I never heard of beings remaining invisible to the men they are murdering. And none of the atrocities I observed under the mountains, none of the horrors described in the regional folk stories, even the darkest ones, could have prepared me for what I saw during the last raid.
I do not know if they are sent by someone else, but the invaders at Worldsend are not to be underestimated. They are not a mere distraction. They are a real threat for our Empire by themselves, a more terrible one than an army of dwarves. My men and I will do our best to keep at bay their attacks, and eliminate them without showing any mercy.
***
For the moment, things are quiet around here. No nightmare has been signaled, and our men are busy training and reinforcing the fence protecting the camp.
I ordered to dismantle entirely the remains of Worldsend village. There should be no trace of it when the Imperial Engineer arrives with his crew. The materials will be stored, in order to be used in the building of the fort.
I am now waiting for the construction of Worldsend Garrison to begin.
With all due respect,
Colonel Laval
SOON...
Discover the next book in Worldsend Garrison series
Available December, the 10th
The Construction
Worldsend Garrison Book 4
M.D. Krix
© 2020 Mike Dean Krix
All rights reserved
Artwork by
Thea Nicolescu
www.ikaruna.eu
Published by
Grivs Publishing
Introduction
The Marsh is not a pleasant place to be. Even if it gives birth to the Oblost—one of the most important rivers in the Empire, crossing the city of Karabia before heading northwest until Massalia—, and the Kamzi—a smaller stream which is the only source of fresh water in the port of Igereiger—, the area is usually avoided by humans.
It had been a lush forest a long time ago, but now the trees are all rotten, with their roots slowly decaying in ponds where frogs and snakes struggle constantly. Centuries of fallen leaves have mixed with dead grass and soil to form a heavy layer of mud. In some places, it is thick enough to swallow entirely a man and his horse.
Children looking for adventures, poachers trying to steal a rabbit or a deer from the hungry wolves, healers gathering strange plants to brew their potions… Frequently, there is someone with a good motive to explore the area. Most of the time, those wanderers make it back to civilization, but not always.
Many have disappeared in The Marsh.
Nobody knows exactly what happened to them. Some might have been eaten by the ravenous predators or bitten by a venomous snake. Others most likely ended stuck in a mudhole and sank slowly in that deathly trap. And the rest may have simply gotten lost and erred days and night before succumbing to starvation and thirst.
Ancient folk stories tell about the ghosts and malefic spirits haunting this area, but they are mainly meant to prevent children to wander there. Inhabitants of Karabia are mostly educated and know better than believing in such things. Still, they prefer to avoid the place. They realize that no ghouls or bunyip crawl in the swamp. Yet, they have no reason to go to check if the tales are true.
Even now that the path through The Marsh has been paved, it is rarely used by the people living in the city. Most of them don’t understand why the bailiff decided to improve this road, when the money could have been employed to build a new bridge over the Oblost. But they don’t ask questions, or complain about it.
Lately, it is better not to inquire about the things happening south of the capital of Karabia. Military operations are being run down there, and people learned not to meddle with such things if they want to go back home peacefully in the evening. If the Imperial Army is training its warriors in the harshness of the Karabia desert, good for them. As long as they pay for the food, water and other supplies they request from the city, everybody’s happy.
For all those reasons, not a single resident commented when they saw a new troop of more than one thousand soldiers enter The Marsh with hundreds of loaded wagons.
***
Sigurdur Gustavson is not a soldier of the Imperial Army, despite the fact that he’s heading with them to the Karabia Peninsula. He didn’t really like the idea, but it had been an order issued directly by the Emperor. He didn’t think of arguing against it, that would have been useless and counterproductive. Even more so because this mission was a great recognition of the work he had done consolidating the gold mines surrounding Keeroonah, in the northernmost province of the Empire.
He never doubted his quality as a civil engineer. He had graduated from the best Imperial University, and contributed to many successful buildings. But he was far from the capital of the Empire. He couldn’t imagine that his skills had reached Otezalp and the ears of some very influential counselors at the court. When the construction of a fort at the Southern tip of the Empire had been decided, his name was suggested to handle the project. The Emperor ordered, he couldn’t refuse.
After traveling thousands of miles, he’s now struggling on a poorly made track through a humid swamp where he’s suffocating. He doesn’t want to appear weak, so he keeps his mouth shut and wonders for the hundredth time when this will end. His pale skin seems to be the favorite target of the mosquitoes, and their bites are driving him crazy.
Suddenly, he sees a snake dropping from an overhanging branch and land straight on the shoulder of the person in front of him. Shocked and surprised, he squeals and jumps back, bu
mping into the soldier behind him who loses his equilibrium and falls into the muddy swamp. The smell emanating from the disturbed decaying bog is awful, and the armored infantry man struggling to stand up only makes things worse.
It takes another three combatants to help him back to the road. They all look sternly at Sigurdur, but do not dare to say anything. He’s the Imperial Engineer, and he’s needed in Worldsend. Their mission is to bring him there safely, and this is exactly what they will do.
Feeling stupid, Sigurdur resumes his pace. The soldier in front of him, the one with a snake on his shoulder, is nowhere to be seen. He must have kept walking, indifferent, or unaware, of the possibly deadly reptile. Combatants of the Imperial Army are not bothered by such small things.
Realizing that he will have to toughen up if he doesn’t want to be an unnecessary burden to be left on the side of the road, Sigurdur accelerates. He can glimpse some light in front of him. Rumors spread among the troop that they finally made it through The Marsh. This rejoices him. He can’t stand the humidity anymore, he needs some fresh air.
Then, he discovers what is awaiting in front of them.
He had known beforehand that the Karabia Peninsula is a desert; yet he couldn’t imagine such a dry, hot and empty expanse of sand and rock. The heat is suffocating. There is no trace of life to be seen. Already, he feels his skin burning under the blazing sun.
“What did I put myself in?” is the last thought crossing his mind before entering the scorching furnace where Worldsend lies, far from the cold city of Keeroonah where his beautiful wife is cooking a soup made of wild mushrooms and boar. His favorite dish.
To be continued...
Worldsend Garrison Series
Lost in the southern lands of the Empire, Worldsend Garrison lies in the desert. Soldiers sent to this stronghold have been reported dead and are long forgotten, as there is no way back from this doomed place.
Burning heat, lack of water and venomous scorpions are a constant reminder that life there is hard. But the real danger comes from the sea… For centuries, an unknown enemy keeps on attacking, and only the fort stands between their savage lust for blood and the peaceful citizens of the Empire.
In this series we discover the evolution of Worldsend Garrison through the ages, from its construction in a bloodbath in a medieval setting to its unexpected end in a futuristic world.
The Fort
Punished for loving the wrong woman, Giorgio Sigalvo ends up in a place from where nobody ever returned. Isolated from civilization by miles of burning deserts and the raging waters of the ocean, Worldsend Garrison is a prison where soldiers meet a fate that could be worse than death.
Soon, Giorgio, now Lieutenant of the fort, discovers that strange things are going on there. Did everybody get mad, or is there really an unbelievable threat?
In his nightmares, monsters are attacking the garrison… But those are only dreams, correct?
Or could it be that the horrors awaiting in the mist are real?
The Rise
Gruesome events placed a totally unprepared soldier as Commander of Worldsend Garrison. Decided to prevent further massacres, he turns to science and technology to get a critical advantage on the alien monsters.
However, his discoveries bring more questions than answers and the enemy doesn’t seem to accept defeat that easily…
The victories are there to show that they are going in the rightt direction, but can they keep on overlooking the price they have to pay for it?
Is Worldsend Garrison really winning the war, or does the dark shadow looming above the rocks try to trick them?
Could it be that they underestimate the enemy?
The Invasion
The village of Worldsend has always been a peaceful place, where only some fishermen dwelt by the sea. When they fail to pay their taxes, Kahid, Bailiff of Karabia, discovers that the small settlement became a bit too quiet. Not a single living soul is to be seen.
His investigations will soon reveal great dangers and many will lose their life in the process…
All the signs point to an attack from the Valkyan warriors from the southern continent, but why are they nowhere to be spotted?
How can so many people vanish in the middle of the desert without any apparent reason?
Could it be that the enemy is something else?
The Construction
The Emperor couldn’t keep on turning a blind eye on the massacre happening in the Karabia Peninsula. Under the commandment of Colonel Laval, an entire regiment of the Imperial Army is ready to defend this lost stretch of beach, where there is nothing but sand and rocks.
They soon realize that the invader is not the one they expected, and proves to be a bigger threat than they thought…
If there is no obvious attacking force to fight, how can they win the battle?
Will a fort be strong enough to protect the soldiers against this invisible threat?
Could it be that the wild rumors are true?
The Truce
Sergeant Greta always considered that there is no greater honor than protecting her country, and this is the reason why she joined the Army. But she also loathes violence and is a strong believer in negotiations and compromises. Then, she is sent to Worldsend Garrison, where the Government is killing thousands of intelligent extraterrestrial life forms for centuries…
Her boyfriend already knows, and she starts to understand as well, but how could a single woman change the course of History?
Will she find a way through the bureaucracy of this testosterone-fueled organization to uncover the truth?
Could it be that the aliens are not our enemy?
The Fall
Life is good in the beautiful scenery of the Karpi mountains, and Simon is enjoying a well-deserved retirement there. He spends his time foraging in the woods with his loyal dog, or savoring the peace of his garden. But he also writes…
He writes, because he has to.
He writes, even if he doesn’t think anyone will ever read what he had to say.
But you never know what could happen… So, he writes, because he has to tell the story.
He must narrate the last days of Worldsend Garrison.