Blade(Part 1): Dawn

Chapter 41: Zoya

When the sun rose over Noglidas, the city's keep, once belonging to Lord Nouzari, was occupied by the rioting people that caused all of the chaos that lasted the entire night. The three-hundred-year-old fortress was old and crumbling from time, and the cracks in its walls also not being repaired from when Noglidas fell ten years ago. Zoya knew how many Legionnaires died defending the city, and she could only imagine how Decimus felt. For ten years, Noglidas was under Skaolan control, its history being destroyed, its monuments being torn down, and its people being oppressed. Now, it was back in colonial hands. It would stay in the hands of the colonies while its people defended it, including Zoya. She must have slept for hours, knowing that what she fought for was won. When the Huntress woke and dressed in her cuirass, wrapping the Fold of Artemisa around her head, and armed herself with her hatchet, she explored the keep of Noglidas, finding Alexius in the great hall. He was sitting beside the corner of the long table, below a large screen on the wall behind the table's head. He probably didn't sleep through the night. Not that he could, since he had epsilon blood.

"You're up early," said Zoya.

"I've been up," Alexius corrected. "I don't sleep."

"You weren't just wandering around this building, were you?" Zoya hoped.

"No, I went for a walk," said Alexius. "Now that I don't have to worry about getting killed in the streets."

"Here's to that," Zoya agreed, sitting across from him. "How are you settling in?"

"Good," Alexius answered. "You?"

"Last night was the first time I slept in an actual bed in a long time," Zoya admitted. There was a sense of comfort for her, Alexius, Dameon, and Shala that none of them have had for ten years. When they looked out the window, there were no Skaolan banners hanging from any buildings. It couldn't have been a more joyous sight. No soldiers marched through the streets, and no riflemen were on the roofs. There were only people. Free people.

"I just thought I'd always see soldiers everywhere I went," Alexius sighed. "That's not freedom, or even safety."

"I know," Zoya agreed.

"Alexius," Shala suddenly called. She came into the hall with Dameon, holding a tray with four small cups on it. Whatever was in them was steaming with heat.

"Who wants coffee?" Shala offered, putting the tray on the table.

"That sounds delightful," said Alexius. Shala and Dameon both sat across from Alexius and Zoya, taking sips from the mugs. When Zoya drank some of it from hers, it tasted very sweet for coffee, and she noticed Shala laughing. It was tea.

"This isn't coffee, you liar," Dameon chuckled. Shala burst out laughing as loudly as she could. Dameon and Zoya followed her, and then Alexius.

"Well, tea is just as good," Alexius admitted.

"Let's see," said Shala. "I remember whenever I made tea for us all, Zabaia would always want, what, five cubes of sugar?"

"I do remember that," Alexius recalled. "But he was the youngest one out of our whole team, so you didn't argue with him. I wonder where he is, now."

"Safe, I hope," Shala sighed. "Do you think he'll fight once everyone else starts to? I'm sure he knows of what happened at the Celestial Sword."

"All of the colonies probably know about that by now," said Dameon. "And chances are, they won't appreciate the fact that Skaolan forces have nearly wiped out their protectors from monsters. They'll rise against Aziz, too, just like Astros has."

"Well, when they do, I'm sure we'll see Zabaia somewhere," Alexius promised. "On some battlefield or warzone."

"It would also all be over quicker if Nouzari had actually stayed here instead of a robotic copy of him," Dameon sighed. "I still can't believe that happened. I mean as terrible a person he is, still..." Zoya could understand his anger. Lord Nouzari was about as cowardly as they came, to kill thousands over the course of ten years, and hide from it. It angered the Huntress as much as the Blade.