*** 

--- Dumas Mountains ---

Date: April 23rd, 2028

 

Gazing toward the surrounding area, Sharpe could only see the usual terrain that made up the mountain side. The pine trees of the Dumas Mountains littered the area. Rocks and bushes are scattered everywhere. Everything that made up a natural environment and not a secret military camp.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sharpe asked.

"The memories showed this area," Frayen said. "There must be a dwarven door somewhere."

"I do not feel anything," Lelei said as she held her hand up, trying to detect mana. "If they are using a magical door, it is well hidden."

Hearing Rory incoming, Sharpe looked up and saw her land onto the ground. The once Apostle of War, now a Proto-Angel for her deeds in defeating the demons and uniting both worlds, had been flying around.

"Sorry," Rory said. "I couldn't see anything."

Sharpe felt nothing but frustration throughout his body. Scouting around and watching as many soldiers searched for anything was only making the situation worse. It started to seem like there were two realizations.

Either they are in the right location but couldn't find a way in or they are in the long location.

Knowing that he couldn't accept the latter, he continued to explore the area as he tried to figure out what they missed.

Pina approached as she brushed dirt off her armor. "I do not think they are here."

"They have to be," Sharpe said.

"Then we will keep looking," Pina replied. "No matter how long it will take."

Sharpe shook his head and looked toward the Empress. "Thank you but you should head back to Sadera."

Pina stared at him with a baffled look. "I know your stressed but are you insane?"

He held out his hand. "Trying to think practical here. Let's just say we find them. Things will get messy quick, and this could be a trap by Moon to lure us out. Either hoping that you would come aid in the search and rescue, making it a perfect opportunity to assassinate you. Or..., now that you are away from the capital, they could be launching some kind of coup or something."

"That is why both of my brothers are there, Jackson." Pina then smiled. After Frayen gathered the information from the shapeshifter, she ordered Krysist to head back to Sadera, just in case. "I get what you mean, and I see you’re still looking out for others. Luckily, I do not have to take orders from you anymore, as you pointed out back in Elies all those years ago. And you put yourself in danger to save my family multiple times so this time, it is my turn."

Feeling a sense of inspiration from his friend, happy that Pina was by his side during his time of need. The two continued to search.

As Sharpe looked around, he felt a short gust of wind moving east up the hill. Going uphill.

At first, he ignored it. However, he stopped and looked up at the path of the wind. Taking a deep breath, he decided to follow it. 

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"A feeling," Sharpe replied.

Noticing that the air was stale, Sharpe carefully analyzed the surrounding area. From what he could tell everything looked normal.

"Wait a minute," Sharpe said. "We are looking at this from a military perspective. Moon isn't military but a spook."

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked.

"I mean, we have gotten used to looking for magical doors, markings, and defense structures, not spies. One of the best disguises is blending into the surrounding area and no one noticing."

“You think it might be simpler?” Rory asked.

“Why not?” Sharpe replied.

The group scattered and started investigating the local area. Going from overturning rocks and trees as everyone looked for any clue or signs that there was an entrance or sign of life.

It was Lelei who found something. Rory was standing next to the blue-haired girl as she was lifting a small boulder. There, a small man-size hole was discovered.

“How did you find it?” Andrew asked. “I thought we checked this spot already.”

"We did," Rory said as she set down the boulder. "Lelei made a good point so we double checked what we already searched and had Lelei magically remove the first layer of dirt."

"That is sneaky," Pina commented.

“I was thinking,” Lelei said. “Remember when we snuck into Legrath, using a tunnel entrance that was hidden within the environment? Why wouldn't they do something similar here?”

Andrew looked in and commented, “I hate to disagree, but those roots are blocking this hole. Only a small animal would be able to fit through.”

Frayen held his hand toward the roots and ignited them in flames. Once the roots burnt away, Lelei put out the fire.

“There,” Lelei said.

“Still small,” Andrew replied. “But a small man could fit through it.

"Question is, will it go anywhere?” Lelei said.

“Frayen,” Pina said. “Go investigate and see if this goes anywhere.”

Frayen nodded and placed his hand on the ground. His body turned into a ghostly form and slowly sank into the ground.

“I have to say,” Andrew said. “After all these years, that still freaks me out.”

Realizing that they were going to have to wait, the group also noticed that they were sitting ducks. Being on a slope, it was a perfect location for the enemy to ambush. If the war was still going on they knew the old Imperial Army would quickly ambush from a different hidden entrance. The only difference now was that the Oprichnina might not have the manpower to properly defend these entrances or capitalize on their position.

“You realize,” Pina said. “Even if this works the main force will not be able to fit through here. They still need to find a proper entrance.”

“Agreed,” Sharpe said. “We still need to find the main entrance, but we can figure that out once we get down there.”

Hearing a small feminine scream, everyone pulled their weapons out and turned to Marly. She was sitting on the ground, holding her weapon, her entire body shaking.

Below her was a dark elf’s head. It turned to face everyone. It was Frayen.

“Empress,” Frayen said. “I have found a tunnel network below. I believe we have found our objective.”

“You were not kidding,” Lelei said. “That is freaky.”

Ignoring the strange sight, Sharpe faced Lelei and ordered her to unearth the tunnel to allow them to quickly move through. They found an entrance and now it was time to find his son and kill the Oprichnina and Haryo Trive once and for all.

 

--- tunnel network --- 

 

“Shut that brat up,” Moon demanded as he placed his hand on his forehead, feeling a massive thumbing.

Since Sharpe's son awakened, he never stopped crying. Because they were in a chamber underground, the weeping amplified making it far louder than it should be.

“Just kill it,” Skotadi proposed. “We got what we wanted so why make us suffer?”

“You will not,” Bouro stated.

Taking a frustrated breath, Moon yelled for his daughter. “Politia! Take the little brat and put him in a pot or something.”

Politia walked in and approached John and picked him up. “He is not smelly so he must be clean. I bet he is just hungry.”

“Then why don’t you give him milk,” Skotadi asked while holding his ears.

“Stop being a prick,” Politia responded.

“Enough you two,” Moon said. “Just put him away.”

Watching his daughter take the baby away, for the first time he was able to hear himself think.

“Father,” Skotadi said. “Why are you wasting your time with the boy?”

“Because I agreed to,” Moon replied.

“I must have the boy for my research,” Bouro said. “He is the blood of the man who slaughtered a Demon King and toppled the Empire. I must know that power.”

The research. Something that Svenhard Lupus Moon had gotten annoyed with. To the Haryo Tribe credit, they have unlocked a new way of alchemy and what the Terrans call gene-splicing with their experiments. However, all they have done with that power was create monsters with other races' abilities. They state they are trying to unlock the secret of the Terrens technology - believing that their technology is related to their biology.

Early in the war Moon could have understood that logic however it has been three years. He even realized by now that their biology had nothing to do with their technology. If it was not for the fact that he needed allies he personally would have purged these pigmen for their insulting stupidity, wasting groundbreaking research for a fool’s goal.

“That is why son,” Moon said.

“Even if it is stupid?”

“Especially. This is part of our alliance, and we share in the reward.”

“Alright, then why not cut a finger off and send it to him?”

Moon smirked, enjoying the mindset of his son. “I would normally agree, my son. But it is wise not to poke the beast more than we already have. Sending anyone back to Alnus now would only increase the chances of us getting caught. While they are demons, they are resourceful. Trust me, Sharpe is a father. His mind is punishing him greatly for his failures right now. We will make our next move when the time is right.”

“If we are patient,” Skotadi said. “Maybe one day we could make Sharpe fight his own son to the death.”

Feeling a great amount of pride, Moon placed his hand on his son's shoulder, rubbing it. Before he could speak though, he noticed a shadow within his prevailing vision.

Realizing that they had been made, he reached for a cup that had oil in it as if it was a cup of water.

Moon faked drinking the cup before he tossed it into the shadow, spilling oil everywhere. Seeing a shadowy figure, Politia grabbed a torch and tossed it on the shadow. A Dark Elf emerged as he was engulfed in flames.

“They are here.” Moon turned toward the thick steel entrance door. “Prepare for battle!”

The lock and hinges of the door exploded open. Once it fell, armed soldiers stormed into the chamber. Haryo and Oprichnina either charged the enemy soldiers with whatever they had or took cover, firing arrows, magic, hand-cannons, or whatever tools they could find in a desperate attempt to repel the enemy.

Coming behind the enemy soldiers, Svenhard Moon saw Sharpe, Rory, and Pinat. Not understanding how they were found; he knew their only hope was to use Sharpe's child as a hostage.

Moon turned to his daughter. “Politia, bring over the-.” He saw his daughter and her dark elf friend lying on the ground, holding her chest as blood flowed out. The jar was lying on the ground, broken.

“Father!”

Hearing his son, Moon saw Bouro rushing down the hallway with Sharpe’s child. The pigman killed his daughter and escaped with his prize. “You bastard.” Wanting to chase afterwards, he was forced to take cover against the emerging firefight.”

“Father,” Skotadi said. “Did Bouri kill my sister?”

“Yes, my son,” Moon replied. “Use that rage and kill these people. Then we will seek vengeance. I want you to reload.”

Grabbing a hand-cannon and aimed it toward the Terrans. At first, he wanted to take out the two Apostles but noticing that they rushed past them, heading down the same hallway as Bouro he aimed his weapon at the riflemen and fired. “Reload.”

Skotadi handed him a freshly loaded hand-cannon while taking the empty one. Moon aimed again, aiming for the Terrans.

 

--- 

 

“Rory!” Marly yelled.

Hearing her name from her apprentice, she saw a pigman rushing down a path, moving past many other defenders. In his arms looked like a child. Looking over at Jackson she noticed he and everyone else were busy fighting against the Oprichnina. “Marly, with me.”

The two Apostles regrouped and charged through the defending group of pigmen, quickly pushing through them.

“Rory,” Marly said. “Why did they take his son? Are they really going to mutate a baby?”

“That is correct,” Rory said. “Exactly what they want to do with John I do not know but that does not matter. We cannot let him suffer the fate of so many others. Whatever happens, we must get him back.”

Seeing an end to the stone hallway, Rory adjusted her wings and glided, picking up momentum and rammed through the metal door that was blocking them.

The two Apostles formed up, weapons at the ready. That was when a shadow from the nearby fire hovered over them. Their eyes widened as a half-man; half-wolf bulky giant stood in front of them.

Noticing that Bouro was about to escape, Rory turned to Marly and said, “I will deal with him. You get John. Hurry!”

Nodding, Marly dashed past the giant mutated beast. It turned and its third arm that was attached to its back swung its mace toward the young Apostle.

Rory tried to maneuver to cover Marly, however, she was forced to block the large hammer. She watched Marly dodge the main attack but was knocked into the wall from a secondary attack.

Turning back toward Bouro, realizing that he was going to escape with John. Deciding to forget her fight with the mutated monster, she took her Helbert and sponge it like a boomerang. It flew around the monster and hit the exit, just blocking it before the pigman leader could escape. The blade embedded into the wall with the handle was blocking the exit.

Feeling a sense of relief, she then was impacted by the hammer, being smashed into the wall with such sheer force it caused a major crater into it. She fell onto her knees as her mind was in a daze, recovering from the impact. Noticing a shadow on the ground, she looked up and saw the mace from the third arm incoming.

She braced herself and grabbed the mace, using all her strength to hold the weapon back as she was pushed back into the wall.

Glancing toward Marly, Rory saw the young Apostle recovering. Noticing that Marly was preparing to help her, she yelled, “Get John!”

Marly, looking distressed, turned around and leaped toward the pigman.

With the realization that he couldn’t escape, Bouro laughed. Parts of his body started to grow bigger. Blisters formed over his face and arms.

Marly landed next to Bouro and rammed her weapon into the pigman arm, cutting John free. She quickly grabbed the boy; however, Bouro exploded.

Witnessing the explosion consume Marly, Rory felt a boiling rage ripple throughout her body as she realized that her baby godson was just murdered. Slowly pushing the mace back, surprising the mutant. It raised his sword to ram the tip into the angel.

The powerful monster believed that he had her trapped in a tug of war of strength and in her old body, they would be the case.

Pushing the mace back far enough to get free from the wall, Rory flapped her wings and swung over the mace, allowing the momentum of the weapon to slam into the damaged wall.

Quickly ducking, the sword moved past her, just grazing the tip of her head.

Rory heard the sword impact the wall. Before the monster would retract his weapons, she stood up and punched as hard as she could into the vein of the monster’s hand, forcing him to scream and let go from the shock of the pain.

Seeing her chance, she grabbed the sword handle and lifted it up. She then looked toward the monster, reflected her wings, and charged forward.

"Die you bastard!" Rory yelled.

Rory lifted herself from the beast’s arm and leaped toward the mutant. Using her wings to gain speed and adjust her course. With all her might she sliced the sword through the giant monster’s neck, separating the head from the rest of the body.

She stopped and hovered within the chamber as she caught her breath, looking down as the monster fell to the ground.

Seeing that she had won the battle, she flew over to where Marly was, seeing that she was coughing up guts, sitting on the ground.

As an Apostle, Rory knew that she was going to be okay from that kind of blast. However, that was not her current concern.

"Is he?"

"Okay?" Marly said as she unfolded her arms.

John emerged from the arms crying and shaking.

Feeling a sense of relief, Rory cried and hugged Marly. "You did it! Great job."

"You are hurting me!" Marly struggled to say.

Leaning back, Rory saw how badly burnt Marly was, taking most of the blast. "You did good."

Feeling a tremor from the battle, both looked up as they saw debris starting to fall.

"We should go," Marly said.

"Agreed," Rory replied as she got on her radio. "Jackson, we have your son. We are heading back to you."

"Negative!" Sharpe said. "Get him out of here!”

“Roger,” Rory replied.

 

 

--- 

 

Feeling nothing but anger, Sharpe noticed that they were so close in saving his son but just missed it. The pigman already escaped. Forced to engage in a firefight, letting the enemy escape with his son.

The only silver lining was that Rory and Marly were able to break through the Oprichnina.

Seeing an incoming pigman, Sharpe unloaded a third of a clip from his M17 before the bullets finally killed the beast. Andrew, Alicia, Scott advanced forward, firing their M4's, taking down a few Oprichnina.

Two other Vanguard flipped over a table to provide cover as the rest fan out.

“At this rate, we should clear them out quickly,” Pina said.

“Not soon enough,” Sharpe replied. “Let’s engulf them and-.”

Something impacted the nearby wall and exploded.

“What the hell was that?” Alicia asked.

“A hand-cannon,” Scott replied. “Everyone, take cover.”

A second shot was heard firing, blowing apart a pillar. A second Oprichnina fired another hand cannon, blowing a pot, spilling boiling ore on the ground.

“Shit,” Sharpe said, seeing that Moon wanted to bury everyone alive. “He is going after the pillars.”

“Not if I cannot help it,” Lelei said.

Lelei held her hands toward the ceiling as they glowed blue. Parts of the ceiling that were beginning to crack stabilized.

Having the immediate threat taken care of, everyone knew they had to protect Lelei as she was an open target. Pina already ordered three Rose Knights with their shields to huddle around the blue hair girl, proving a strong protection. Arrows and bolts left dents but were easily deflected. That was until a hand-cannon from one of the soldiers impacted right next to one of the soldiers, forcing him back and nearly breaking his shield into pieces.

"One hit from that and they are dead," Andrew commented.

Pina approached and said, "You can leave Lelei safety to me."

Sharpe turned to face his best friend with the ‘they stole my son’ face which gave the General the reaction he wanted.

Pina nodded. “I understand, Jackson. But we still need a plan."

“Already ahead of yeah,” Sharpe said. “We will stay right here and provide cover. You take the right half and flank around.”

“I get it,” Pina said. “Then we will put pressure on both ends.”

Understanding their jobs, Sharpe stood up and ordered the Vanguards and his formal team to provide cover fire. Pina ground was able to flank around, slowly engulfing the enemy forces.

As the two teams got into positions, one of the hand-cannon men fired at one of the nearby pillars, having it collapse toward Lelei and her three guards. The pillar was stopped by Frayen, being all burnt from the oil from before.

"I got it." Beefeater rushed over and ordered one of the Rose Knights to continue with his shield protection while she assists with the pillar. Once they were able to push aside it and get back into formation, protecting Lelei. Frayen assisted in maintaining the ceiling.

One by one, the enemy hand cannon men fell and Pigmen fell dead. Sharpe looked out and saw Svenhard Lupus Moon hiding behind a group of stone forging equipment, looking for his next target with his hand-cannon.

Seeing that Pina was in position, Sharpe gave the order to advance. Andrew, Scott, Alicia, and the rest covered each other as the advanced forward, taking out anyone who moved. He could tell that everyone wanted to make these people pay for crossing the line.

Noticing Moon from his cover, aiming his hand-cannon at Scott and Alicia position, he stood up and fired. The bullet impacted Moon in his unarmed chest. The cannon fired and the ball broke through the center if the table, just missing Alicia.

“Secure the area,” Andrew ordered as the Vanguard checked the wounded.

Sharpe rushed cover and saw Moon struggling on the ground as one hand covered his chest. The man looked over and glared at him.

“You bastard,” Moon said. “But I won in the-.”

"You won nothing," Sharpe said. "Rory radioed a moment ago and she has my kid."

Moon glanced back toward Sharpe and with much anger, he said, “You killed my family.”

Sharpe looked to the right and saw a young boy lying on the ground, dead. He then saw another girl roughly the same age as the boy. While he had never seen her before, he recognized that she was the one who kidnapped his son based on the security cameras.

“You have no one but yourself to blame,” Sharpe said. “You used the innocent as a human shield and then kidnapped my son. On top of everything else. There will be no peace for you.”

Pina approached and placed her hand on his sidearm. "Don't do it Jackson. It is over, do not below yourself."

Sharpe could only stare at Moon as the man laughed, almost begging to be shot.

He glanced over at Pina and saw in her eyes not to forget everything that he taught her over the years. That he already won and do not be consumed by hate so he lowered his weapon.

"Good," Pina said with a smile. "Now we can achieve justice."

"Justice," Moon defiantly said as he coughed up blood. "For once my dear, we agree."

"What?" Pina asked with confusion.

"When I kidnapped your son, Sharpe," Moon said. "I never imagined that the Empress would come down here."

Sharpe realized that Moon was delaying the battle as long as they could and weaking the structures around.

"Hey guys," Alicia said, staring at the boiling liquids inside the forge equipment. "I am not expert at this stuff but isn't this supposed to be yellow?"

Frayen took over control maintain the ceiling so Lelei would walk over. "Jackson, you want to come over here."

Rushing to the two girls, Sharpe saw what Alicia meant. The boiling liquids were not orangish-yellow, like in most forging stations. This was white with traces of black and blue specks. "What is this Lelei?"

Lelei leaned in and smelled it, carefully looking. She then inspected the buckets before her eyes widened. "He is creating a bomb. We have to leave now."

"Can you stop it?" Alicia asked.

"No," Lelei said.

"Everyone, roll out, now!" Sharpe ordered.

Without a warning, everyone quickly regrouped and started to leave.

"Jackson," Pina said. "What about him?"

"Leave him," Sharpe replied. "I won't kill him, but we don't have to save him. It is over."

As everyone tried to escape, they could hear Moon laughing echoing as they ran down the hallway, Sharpe was angry that he fell for the trap. His son might be safe but everyone else might have marched to their deaths.

"I don't think we are going to escape," Pina said. "We should stop and Lelei and Frayen create a force field with my shield wall providing extra protection."

"Can you do it Lelei?" Sharpe asked.

"I might be retired but I have not forgotten what I have learned," Lelei responded. "However, that isn't the problem."

"What is the problem?" Sharpe asked.

"The problem is that all the air will evaporate," Lelei said. "We can survive until we lower our force shield."

"Just one more thing," Pina replied. "Like old times."

 "We should not be far from where we first entered." Frayen said. "We should not have to go far to escape."

"I guess the air within our force shield could trap enough air long enough for Frayen to find a way out," Lelei said. "Just don't breathe too much."

"Do it," Sharpe said.

The group stopped. Beefeater quickly formed up the Shield wall to help deflect the blast while Lelei and Frayen formed a double layer energy shield. A moment later a large blast shook the hallway, causing parts of the stone ceiling to collapse.

A bright light emerged from the hallway and impacted the energy should with such force. Everyone gathered behind the shield wall to get away from the intense heat.

"Why is it so powerful?" Pina asked.

"Because we are in a confined space," Sharpe replied. "All the energy is being directed toward us."

The first layer of the force shields broke and the second one cracked. However, a few moments later the blast disappeared.

Everyone emerged from the shield wall, looking down the hallway that they came from. They only saw scorch marks. The walls were smoldering, and blackness replaced the stone-gray look.

"I will say," Frayen said. "That was close."

"What the hell was that?" Andrew asked.

"Something they were developing for Sadera I bet," Pina replied. "Good thing we stopped it here."

Feeling a sense of relief that everyone was safe and that the last enemies from the war were dead, Sharpe turned to Pina. He saw her look at him, noticing the same sense of relief in her reaction. They two smiled and then laughed until they were forced to be quiet by Lelei, reminding them of their limited air.

Acknowledging the issue, Sharpe gave a thumbs up and everyone headed to the exit.

 

*** 

--- Alnus Army Hospital ---

Date: April 23rd, 2028

 

With only just getting back to Alnus, Jackson Sharpe marched through the hospital halls. With him are many of the people who assaulted the Haryo and Oprichnina headquarters.

Once it was clear that John was extracted, and the enemy leadership was neutralized they quickly left the enemy base. Brigadier General Yang moved his forces onto the headquarters to secure the area. The campaign should still be ongoing however the outcome is assured. This will be the death of the Oprichnina and Haryo Tribe as an organization and a threat to Falmart forever.

The issue was once Sharpe reached the hospital the nurse at the front desk had mentioned that they never received anyone with a baby with that name. Yang confirmed that they got onto the Blackhawk so if something happened it had to be between the airfield and here.

"I do not understand," Lelei said. "Rory and Marly should be here."

"Maybe they were captured?" Pina said. "But that makes no sense."

"We know they landed at the airfield," Sharpe said. "They have to be here."

After turning the hallway corner, Sharpe saw his wife standing in the hall. Among her were Selina, Marly, and Rory. Marly was sitting on a bench, wrapped in bandages while Rory was talking with Selina.

Rory turned as she saw everyone approaching. "Hey Jackson!"

Selina rushed over and gave her father a hug. She then turned to Lelei and gave her a hug a, also. "Did you kill them?"

"Yes, we did," Lelei replied.

"That is good," Selina said. "I wish I could have gone. No one will ever mess with our family again."

"Agreed," Sharpe said.

"Still," Rory said as she approached. "Did you kill him?"

While Sharpe was thrilled to see that everyone was okay, he was confused about how they were here but had no record of it. "We got him. Moon is dead. But how are you here? The front desk said…."

Sarah partly raised her hand to stop any further questions. "I convinced the hospital to put John under a false name and to come through the back door. While you were gone, I took steps to ensure no one else could sneaked in and tried this again."

"Smart." Sharpe then gave his family a hug. He looked toward Marly and saw all the burnt wounds. Rory informed him that it was she who saved John.  With a smile, he gave her a 'good job' nod - which made her body start to bounce with much excitement.

"Is Karlin on the way?" Lelei asked.

"She is already in there," Selina said. "See."

Looking through the operation room window, Sharpe saw the nurses and the kitsune inside, treating his son.

"Apparently Sarah made the call right after we left," Rory said.

"That's my wife," Sharpe said. "Always prepared. Now, how is he?"

"Don't know yet," Sarah said.

As the group waited for the operation to be complete, Karlin came out with a big smile.

"I am happy to say that he will make a full recovery," Karlin stated. "Maybe a scare here and there from the explosion but he will be fine. You got him here quickly."

"Oh, thank god," Sarah said. She then fell into her husband’s arms with joy.

"For the next few weeks, have Selina give him a few treatments with her healing," Karlin said. "He will struggle to breathe for a while but that too should go away."

"I can do that," Selina said.

"Thank you, Karlin," Sharpe said.

He turned to face everyone. In front of him was his old Vanguard team, Pina and Beefeater, and his Girls. "Thank you…."

"You do not have to keep saying thank you," Pina said. "We are just glad everything worked out."

Staring at the group, Sharpe felt a large burden fall off his shoulders. Maybe because his son was safe or because Moon and Bouro were dead, the final legacy of the war was finally over. Then, they all could finally rest and move on with their lives. He turned back to the window and held his wife tight.

 

 

Reference:

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