The King's Guard

Chapter 87

The first explosion shattered the dawn.

The barracks doors blew open, smoke rushing in. Kael jolted awake, rolling off his bunk as shards of glass rained from the ceiling.

“Everyone up!” Reyna shouted, already pulling her boots on. “This isn’t a drill!”

Another blast rippled through the south wing, then a scream.

Kyna burst through the doorway, blade drawn, eyes wide. “They’re inside! Corpsmen…our own! They’re wearing the Shadow Corps insignia!”

Kael grabbed his gear. “What do you mean, our own?”

“Traitors!” Kyna hissed. “They’re cutting down cadets!”

The air outside burned orange. Flames climbed the walls, shadows twisting across the courtyard as figures clashed: familiar uniforms, familiar faces, now painted with blood.

Reyna pushed past Kael. “Squad formation! Move!”

They hit the courtyard as Drax dragged a wounded cadet behind a wall.

He looked up, face streaked with soot. “Rebels? No. These are trained, precise. They know our codes.”

Ember vaulted over the barricade, dual daggers flashing. “We’re surrounded! South flank’s gone!”

“Then we hold the east!” Reyna barked.

Kael crouched beside Drax. “Where’s Darius?”

“Command wing,” Drax panted. “He went to seal the archives alone.”

Kael swore under his breath. “He’ll get himself killed.”

Reyna gripped his shoulder. “Then we move.”

They sprinted through the burning halls, smoke thick enough to choke on. The sound of clashing steel and collapsing beams filled the air.

Jared stumbled out from a side corridor, blood streaked across his cheek. “Kael! Reyna!”

Kael stopped. “You’re alive.”

“Barely.” Jared wiped his blade on his sleeve. “They’re using shock grenades, shatters vision, sound…”

Another boom cut him off. The walls shook. Dust rained down.

Reyna covered her ears. “Where’s Archon?”

Jared spat. “Gone. He vanished the moment this started.”

Kyna’s tone was cold. “How convenient.”

They reached the command wing or what was left of it. The entrance had caved in halfway. Smoke poured from a crack near the ceiling.

“Darius!” Kael shouted.

From within came the clang of metal.

Kael didn’t wait. He drew his sword, channeling the Rift. The air shimmered as time around the debris slowed just enough for him to pull the beam aside.

Inside, Darius fought three traitor Corpsmen. His blade moved like lightning, each strike decisive. Blood streaked his armor, but his stance held.

Kael’s throat tightened. “Sir!”

Darius didn’t turn. “Get out, Kael!”

“No!”

Reyna charged forward. “We’re not leaving you!”

A traitor lunged toward Kael. Darius spun, cutting the man down with a single, vicious arc.

The old commander’s voice was ragged. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Neither should you,” Kael shot back. “They’re targeting the leadership.”

Darius parried another strike. “Then they’ll have to finish the job.”

Smoke thickened. The walls creaked.

Ember and Drax burst in behind them, dragging a crate of weapons. “We found the supply room!”

Kyna fired a crossbow bolt through the smoke. “There’s too many!”

Reyna shouted, “Fall back to the hall!”

“No,” Darius snapped. “They’ll flank us from there. We hold this line.”

Kael took his place beside him. “Then we hold it.”

Jared hesitated in the doorway, watching the flames crawl closer. His voice trembled, just once. “We can’t win this.”

Kael turned. “Then fight anyway.”

The next wave hit like a storm.

Traitors surged through the corridor: ten, maybe eleven or twelve. Swords clashed. Sparks flew. Kael’s Rift flickered with every swing, slowing movements, reversing impacts for seconds at a time.

Reyna cut down two in quick succession, her breathing sharp. “We’re thinning them!”

Drax grinned through blood. “Not fast enough!”

Ember spun, throwing a dagger. It struck home straight through a visor. “Better?”

The floor shook underfoot. The upper balcony collapsed, scattering stone and fire.

Kael stumbled, catching himself on a beam. “We need to move!”

Darius turned to him, blood on his temple. “You go. Now.”

“No!” Kael’s voice cracked. “We’re not leaving you!”

Darius’s expression softened, even as the world burned around them. “You’re not ready to die for symbols, Kael. Not yet.”

He pushed Kael back, hard, into Reyna’s arms.

Reyna’s eyes widened. “Darius…”

He looked at her, and them at all of them. “You were my best. Remember that.”

Then he turned, stepping into the collapsing hall, sword drawn, facing the incoming wave.

“Darius!” Kael broke free, but the blast came first as a roar of light and smoke. The shockwave threw them all back.

When Kael rose, his ears rang. The corridor was gone, a wall of flame and twisted iron where Darius had stood.

Kael screamed with a thunderous cry which seemed to cut through the wind. “No!!!”

Reyna’s voice was faint. “Kael… we have to go.”

He stared into the fire. Through the smoke, he could still see flashes, Darius’s blade cutting, his silhouette holding the line until the end.

His knees hit the ground. The Rift pulsed violently, responding to his grief. Time buckled, sound muted, flames froze midair.

“Kael!” Reyna shouted. “Stop… you’ll burn yourself out!”

He forced himself upright, trembling. “I can’t let him…”

But the Rift flickered out, his strength gone. The moment shattered, reality rushing back.

Kyna grabbed his arm. “He’s gone.”

Kael’s throat locked. “No. Not like this.”

Jared’s voice came quiet, shaking. “We can’t stay here.”

Ember coughed, dragging Drax toward the exit. “He bought us time. Don’t waste it.”

Reyna’s hand tightened on Kael’s wrist. “He’d kill you himself if you died here.”

They fled through what was left of the Academy. Hallways burned, banners turned to ash, portraits melted into ghosts. Bodies of comrades, instructors, and what have you lay still.

Kyna looked away. “Gods… they executed the wounded.”

Reyna’s face hardened. “Someone close planned this.”

Jared stopped. “What?”

“You heard me,” Reyna said. “No external breach. No enemy formations. Only insiders could have coordinated this.”

Kael didn’t speak. His eyes stayed on the flames. “We’ll find out.”

They reached the northern cliffs by dawn. The Academy burned behind them.

Drax slumped to the ground. “That’s it, then. Everything gone.”

Ember sank beside him. “Not everything. We’re still breathing.”

Reyna sat a few feet away, silent. Her eyes glistened in the fading light.

Kyna rummaged through her satchel and pulled out a small leather-bound book with singed edges.

“Kael,” she said softly, “he dropped this before… before the blast.”

Kael took it slowly. The cover bore Darius’s seal, a hawk engraved in silver.

“What is it?” Reyna asked.

Kyna shook her head. “His notebook. But it’s locked encoded.”

Kael turned it over in his hands. “He meant for me to have it.”

Jared stared at the book, voice rough. “You think it matters? He’s dead. The Corps is gone.”

Kael looked up sharply. “Shut the fuck up! He died fighting for what it was supposed to be. That matters.”

Reyna’s voice steadied. “And we’ll make sure his death means something.”

Ember muttered, “Whosoever is behind this.”

“...will follow suit,” Kael finished quietly.