Devils Own ( A Steam Punk and Mystic Tale ) 2.9

2.9

Kassius flight of freedom from the stronghold of Lord Tannen was cut short by the pursuers. The guards had discovered the death of their Lord, and gave chase. The scouts picked his trail and the faster Frigate dirigibles were sent to pursue him. The triple propeller blades driven ship soon caught up with Kassius on his bike. He saw the twin dirigibles in his rear at a distance of under one mile, and attempted a dive to increase the distance. He soon leveled at a gap of one mile and then swerved to the treetops. He knew the dirigibles were fast in the skies but it would not risk coming too close to the treetops. The shots came down from the machine guns; they needed no aiming but just leveled before shooting.

“Damn!” Kassius cursed at those gunners but he was doing fine with their hazardous shooting. He had anticipated that, and pedaled slower but he kept skimming the treetops. He saw the dirigibles catching up, up in a column. He pedaled up hard and the bike soared up to the sky but that time, it was headed for the bottom of the frigate hull. He was heading for the rear one and below the machine guns. The front frigate rear machine gunners tried to pick him up but he had slipped below their sight. He knew he could not keep paced but was intent to keep up. He looked up for the secured place to grab on. He saw the extended plank jutted out and grabbed it. He held on and let loose of his pedaling. He was surfing below the dirigible.

The dirigibles started descending but Kassius was ready to let go before they land. He was eyeing the landscape for a fast and well covered trail, but they were none. Then the shot came.

A sniper had climbed down, and while hanging on upside down with the legs. The sniper had his rifle leveled and shot at Kassius. The bullet hit the winged bike front. Kassius did not hesitate and let go of the holding to fly off. The bike descended and then leveled below. He pedaled hard while swerving the bike to the right. The sniper kept on shooting at him and that next second shot hit the pedal handle. The handle was blown out of its holding and rendered the bike useless. He jumped and rolled away before he spread his limbs out to level out the falling descent. He found himself descending fast and with the tree tops coming up fast. He curled up his body and rolled with the descent. He impacted on the leaves and past the branches before he hit the larger ones. By then he had lost control of his descent, and his body limbered for the follow up impacts. He finally stopped falling, but his body was stuck between two large branches.

He fell into unconsciousness.

Next he knew he was falling and then landing on the hard ground. He tried to get up but the kick hit him hard on the left ribs. It aggravated the injury there inflicted by the fall. He rolled over from the kick but was given a few more. He squint his eyes to look and saw the troopers. There were three of them, and had decided that he needed more punishment.

“Step on him, Stefan.” The left one told the others. Stefan who was the one on the right stepped forth, and raised his right feet to stomp down. The feet came down, but Kassius have rolled over. In his roll he had swung out his left leg to kick at the one who prompted Stefan to kick. Kassius leg came in contact with the right shin of the trooper and caused him to fall forward. Kassius had then rolled onto his side and used his hands to grab the one who was to stomp him. He pulled hard at both the legs and caused Stefan to fall back. He then curled in his legs and sprang up. He lashed out with a hard jab at the middle trooper in the throat with the right fingers. Once his finger contacted the throat, he pulled back his hand to punch again with the closed fist. The punch cracked the bones and caused the air pipes to collapse. He then turned to Stefan who was half crouched, and slammed the right knee into the face. He half turned his body and did a low kick into the other trooper who was seated on the ground. They may be trained soldiers, but they were not tough ones. The one he kicked when down with a whimpering cry.

Kassius did not hesitate to remove the pistol from the dead middle trooper and shot the other two in the head. With them dead, he felt the bruises from the fall, had then opened up the level of pain into his brain. He keeled over and fell to his knees. He remained that way for a while before he pulled himself up. He looked around and saw no one had come forth to the place. He was not to know that the three were sent down to retrieve his body and kill him if he was alive. The dirigibles had gone on ahead to docked at the nearest port.

Kassius picked up the spare ammo clips and another rifle before he proceeded to walk out of the forest. He had to find a place to rest before contacting the Guild. He had not walked far before he collapsed down on the ground.

Kassius woke up to find himself under some shelter. He looked to his body was covered with herbs and bandages made from scraps of cloths. He then saw the figure approaching him with the basin of water. The figure was dressed in the tunic that was from the Guild.

“Senior Kassius, I am glad you had woken.” The figure set down the basin. He soon picked up the cloth and wet it. “I am Lucas. Master Galeb sent me to look for you.”

“How long was I asleep?” Kassius asked while Lucas assisted in cleaning him of his wounds.

“Over three nights and days. I had dressed the wounds and bruises. You have no broken bones, but some of your ribs are fractured.” Lucas told him.  He then looked at Kassius. “I am a Healer.”

Kassius did not question the other, but rested for another two days before he asked of more on the Guild. Lucas told him nothing that he did not know. He then asked where he was resting then.

“We are near the bay. It’s an old house, and no one occupied it.” Lucas explained. “I had found you in the forest, after having lost you when you escaped. I soon trailed the dirigibles, but the horse I had was no match for speed. When I did catch up, you were fighting them. I rushed to help but soon I saw you falling. I rushed forth but the dirigibles were hovering overhead. When I saw the troopers descended down, I took to my foot to follow. I found you too late but I had you taken away. I managed to get you to the bay and here into this house.”

“Senior Kassius, I have a message from Master Galeb. He said to go to the warehouse at the docks. There he will meet you or in the event of any bad news, you are to find a ship to the Islands Kingdom.” Lucas told him. “He also asked me to pass this to you.”

It was a long narrow rectangle case of about three feet in length. Kassius remembered seeing the case in the possession of Master Galeb. He was told that the sword was once wielded by Attila the Hun. The sword was made from the simple hilt which was crafted from the wood from the Cedar tree, and bound with the cloth fabric from Attila’s tunic before it was secured with the throngs from the Goddess Athena. The blade was crafted from metals extracted from a fallen meteorite and smelted with over thirty six layers before it was sharpened to become the blade. Its length was over two feet with a thickness of less than a quarter of an inch. The sword was also known as the Sword of God or the Sword of Mars.

“Master Galeb said only this could slay the Dark Princes and its servant that guards the Ark.”