The Apogian War

Chapter 16

Dumb stroke by all the slowly turning heads, moving towards him,

Clover froze on the spot, the young girl by his side tugged Clover by the helm of his garment, signalling him to run, unfortunately for Clover, the crowd had already start screening about for weapons, aiming for Clover.

'Ahhhhh' one of the locals at the scene shouted did something strike him Clover thought

untill another shouted "BLASPHEMY" another shouted "c

urse u'He who mentions the name of the "CHOSENS" of Hardias must be punished,

"Yes yes yes, another deranged man from the crowd shouted, soon after the whole crowd were jeering yes with their weapons raised high,

Clover still standing 'as a statue just made' was unable to speak of any word,

"CH O SEN" O NE,.,, NAMES he thought, the little local girl dragged him with a force that almost unmounted the unaware Clover,

'What the' Clover tried to exclaim but was cut short of words and unable to say no more as the youngest of the three damsels,

Said with unshaken authority, "let him be" he is a friend' no

One dared lay another word on the foreigner, but the damsels sisters were looking at the younger with such suprise and enthusiasm, the little damsel was tingled with a bit of fun and exciting look,

'Hmmph' Clover glimmered with extreme suprise and curiosity,

" Why has she called me, does she know me, how , where, why' the thoughts ran true his mind, But little did he know when a note was slipped into his back pockets by crazy Carl,

' My lord'. Poseidon said to lord Darkovan, Ur meal is ready,

'Thank you' came Darkovans grumpy reply, still thinking about the incident with gabiru and ifrit.

' I shall go find Clover, now and see to it that I bring him back'

O,Kay clove,,r" came the yet again grumpy reply of Darkovan

Poseidon walked down the stairs of the pub, when suddenly,,,,

'Crryyyyyhhasssss!!' The loud crash of a drunken general,,,,,

Si,,,re ,,, si,,,,re,, what has happened,, Poseidon asked desperately

Are u alright,,z. " Ye,,z yesz " came the drunken man still yet again crashing on the brazen plates the waiter had been busy picking up,

Poseidon seeing the pathetic situation the man was in quickly rushed to the general, and lifted him up in one pull,

"Let me help u up" posiedon said,

As the general looked at him with a set inscribing, suspicious eyes

The other lot of drinkers at the other side of the inn pub couldn't hold in their laughter anymore, as they bursted out extremely, that the old town folks passerby's stopped and stared at the two struggling men ,

" Surely Clover could take care of himself and find the inn' he thought,

The paths were snooty but smooth, the floor were as brown as the roosters morning routine at the kingdom of Darkovan. Clover thought

" All my night mares have been forgotten" Clover said whispering to himself,. As he walked alongside the three sisters, with the youngest of them Esther, holding his hands with such tenderness, he thought he would melt into her, "pls pretend we know each, and we are admirers who met not long ago,,,,'. Clover couldn't hold his excitement any more,and Esther could see it in him,

"I think his quite intriguing" she thought,. Hope his smart enough to outsmart my sister's, she said whispering to herself,

Clover had over heard it and said ' don't worry am not as dumb as I look' she giggled at this, and said 'truly quite intriguing,

The sisters Dellila and jezebel, looked back alarmingly, but discovered the two holding hands and laughing casually, they nodded at each other and proceeded towards the generals palace.

THE RABELS

The grounds were cold and moist, coulour was not to be seen within the cold grounds of the rebels, they who seek the Apogian and the domains destruction,

The chief of the rebels first walked past the crowd of followers into the massive cathedral, located d deep underground under the peak, holding the cryspel (thier symbol of destruction, originated by the first Chief rebel, more than 10 thousand Vandartha years ago, whom Darkovans fathere killed at the Great war,

The Rebels believed not In the works, and powers the domains and thier leaders held, but they knew they couldn't fight them,

There fore they resorted into going towards research and use of artifacts of the dark ages, buried deep within the peaks underground layers, "A power, no a Being,. Parharps a god" the followers wondered as the chief was about to open the great doors of the cathedral,

"Hold ur wonders or parharps thoughts, for today there shall be no more deliberations nor thoughts, nor fantasies, for what lay within these great gates"

For the rebels had found the key to which holds the cathedral gates,

How they had found it, remained a mystery,

The reble leader spoke in parables to fish out spies or unworthy believes as he had called it.

To comfort his day-and-night shadow , ______ gave him the three penny-sized coins from the wall, And as he stowed the fragments with their one -sided coloi in his omelet, like pieces of evidence, ______ continued,

At any rate, after (date) It was time for a change again. My old comrade came calling Didn't need to ask him twice cos he foreshore his downfall

Their ritual had nothing more to offer, they continued along the wall in silence. Their breath floated away, carrying, carrying only puffs of steam.

One step after the other, and then the (strange creature) were standing in the crush by the () gate, or rather by the wide curve of the concrete barricade where the world had been waiting for ages, the rebles poised to capture it's evolution.

Massive as if built for ages, long before the existence of the domains,

Only the scriying of (strange creature), hanging around rather than showing their presence on the bulge atop the bastion, wide enough here to walk on, proclaimed by the bulwarks imminent downfall.

This much we are sure of; the rebels viewed the scene with mixed emotions. But the chief was enjoying the view of the massive giant shattered in chains,

The chief shouted

"open the gates! More rum- happily than aggressively, in that time of rapidly rising expectations and round tables, of big words and petty reservations, in that hour "THE APOGIAN GROWLED"

This was not the first of such celebration, for the rebels also had victory over several conflicts and opposition's.

Despite the vigor with which he declaimed these verses, here out in the open the voice of the chief, did not carry very far. Only a few laughed as the chief had said something,

and none wept for joy, and the applause remained sparce when in the final stanza, he brought the victory parade to a close before the statue of the first Chief, monument of the dark ages.

The echo of the verses had hardly died away when the two extracted themselves from the crowd. Peas seemed in a hurry, and the chief sent two aftere him for he knew, their secret of the Apogian couldn't get out, two of the most bulky reble hastened after him.

"I assume this is ur contribution to the coming unification?"

The chief said as the payman came forward

'( Nise spit and polish)' he thought

" No need to remind me ! Done for the gold, and precious little of that" the payman replied

There's more In the same rhythm (qhote) he thought.

"Ouff" Darkovan awoke with a growl, " posiedon, Clover' no reply came amidst his call, he looked around couldn't find them sleeping for the night hour had already come,

'Where could Clover had gone '

Had posiedon yet to found him? He thought, but he knew Posiedon was not as carefree as Clover, and even if they didn't return for tonight,

He would probably find them tomorrow patting him for the wake of the day, so his mind had went of with him as he drifted slowly into sleep and the incident with gabiru,

the chiefs palace

'Plap, Plap, Plap, Plap,Plap, Clover walked with trembling fear and excitement as he saw the huge massive castle of Hardias,,, 'I,. , Thought u said we were going to the Ge,ne, rals,,, place'

'yes' Esther replied almost immediately without even listening to the question Clover walked shakingly beside Esther,

Whom was smiling at him and whispering 'not to worry, that he was her guest, 'oka, , , ,y' came Clovers shaking reply, the four figures walked magestically towards the mansion, soon enough they had made thier way inside, stopping at a huge hall, majestically designed with all manner of precious stones,

"Wait here" an odd looking man said as he directed them towards the middle of the hall, right below the blazing chandelier,

As Clover sat he thought ' surely Lord Darkovans castle needs some restructuring, this was the first time since their departure, he had thought of Darkovan, 'wow' be gasped, as he remembered his lord,

'What has happened, are u alright' Esther bent to look at him with care and curiosity"

"Am Al, ,right Clover said without much thought, 'Are u sure'she asked

Clove nodded twice,

' The king will be here soon, Esther narrated to him,

'Ki ,, kk,,king??!! Clover shouted with suprise,

The two sisters who had been speaking to the weird looking man ,

Turned with Alarm at the direction of their sister and her so called aqcintance,

Clover mouth was still wide with suprise, with what has befallen his ears

"Sheesh quite down' she said 'do u want my sister's to suspect us

' Of what Clover thought, we are already aqcintance by now,

Even still it seems Lord Darkovan will be pleased with this news,

The reason why they had come to the domain of Hardias could be achieved if he could play this out perfectly and beat Poseidon to it.

'Huum, mhn mhn mhn' the weird looking man growled

'Plap Plap plap' the weird looking man clapped and immediately tons of maids and butler's moved into the room in unison,

Their garments all of the same colour white and black, tho the men's were a little different for the women,

They lined up with tables and chairs as another rumbling and moving of feets started approaching towards the table, with all sort of foods and drinks which Clover had never seen nor tasted in his whole life