Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 172: A War to Remember

The skies over Aznur were just as gloomy and dull as they had been for the past few days, it constantly seemed as if there were a storm looming over the city, and the citizens often looked nervously to the sky, nervous about the clouds that were so uncertain as to whether they would rain or not.

A young boy, barely twelve years, played on the docks of Aznur, which could be found slightly west of the Imperial Palace, a cleft within the peninsula that naturally afforded the ships that came into harbor protection from the elements.

A pair of boom towers stood at each side of the opening of the bay, standing strong like sentinels. These towers would be able to raise a heavy boom chain, which would sit just under the surface of the water and prevent ships from sailing in or out of the harbor. 

The boom chain of Aznur's harbor would be considered a precious treasure by many, made of an extremely dense alloy, which had Magemetal inlaid, so the chain could be enchanted with runes, further increasing its strength. 

The boy tossed a ball made of a sheep's bladder up and down, bouncing it off of walls around him and launching it into the barrels that heavily muscles dockworkers carried as they walked by.

As usual, the docks were crowded, but today they were even more so, for Captain Jeremiah and his guards had been patrolling the docks for a few days now, on some errand from Officiant Tomas, who feared some sort of invasion by sea.

"You hear about why Captain Jeremiah's got us stationed here?" As the boy playing with the ball ran past, a tall and well built guard standing with his spine straight as a ruler commented to his companion, the pair of them scanning their surroundings for any threat. They might not feel the posting was the most glamorous, but they were well trained enough that they took every job seriously.

"Who hasn't heard the story by now? Officiant Tomas scared himself by listening to too many fishermen's tales, and he managed to persuade the Emperor that we need to be here, to defend an invasion from the sea. Hah! The fool, who would dare invade Aznur, no one can match the Empire for our might!" The other guard, this one a woman with an almost shaved head, scoffed at the thought of an invasion.

"Truly! I say this is all nothing more than rumors and hysteria. But if this will soothe the hearts of the good people of Aznur, then I'm happy to enjoy the ocean breeze." The other guard responded, then inhaling deeply, taking in the scent of the ocean, and the many pungent smells of the dock. It wasn't a pleasant spell, but neither was it truly unpleasant, rather it was a blend of all the things that made the docks what they were.

"Aiiiieeeeeeeeeee!" Just then, a piercing scream rang out through the docks, and all heads turned toward an elderly fisher woman, her eyes fixed on the horizon, the net she had been repairing with her gnarled fingers had fallen to the ground.

Slowly, she raised a scrawny arm up, with one finger extended, and pointed to the horizon.

"It was true, and now they're here!" The elderly woman screeched, before falling into a slump and almost falling head first into a pile of crates, had many of the dockworkers not rushed to her rescue as soon as they saw her pass out.

"So much for rumors and hysteria." The taller, male guard murmured to his partner, and they jogged off to the eastern boom tower, to hello with the raising of the boom chain. They might spend many of their days guarding the outer wall of the city or the walls of the Imperial Palace, but every single guard was intimately aware of the procedures that needed to be carried out in the possibility of a likely invasion.

Meanwhile, on the flagship of Anteris' fleet, Anteris stood at the stern, a long bronze eyeglass raised to his eye, as he stared at the absolute pandemonium erupted on the docks of Aznur.

He tracked a boy, screaming as he ran, his ball forgotten where he had last thrown into into a battle, and shook his head.

Anteris had been watching since the docks were in sight, and it had been a good hour before anyone on the coast had spotted them, it was truly embarrassing. He had watched as all the guards stationed there, had kept their eyes roaming the people of the city, not even imagining that there could be an external threat.

"Looks like your plan paid off Tam, there were about fifty guards stationed at the docks, but that's nowhere near enough of a serious effort. They definitely didn't expect us." Anteirs laughed, and passed Tam the eyeglass.

"I'll agree with you there, based purely on the fact that they're raising their boom chain only now." Tam smiled as he set the eyeglass back down. Both Tam and Anteris were geared for war, Tam, was in his dark blue armor, a stylized hawk symbol inlaid on the metal of the breastplate in silver, and with his greaves and bracers to match. His long name of dark hair was held back with a silver ring, and he had a short beard, barely more than stubble, on his face.

Anteris' armor was far heavier than Tam's he wore a full set of plate armor, and like Tam's armor, it swam with runes, except Anteris' armor almost glowed where Tam's only shimmered, the quantity of the enchantment between their two armors was clear.

At his side, Anteirs held a halberd, with a heavy, wedge shaped blade, that curved wickedly, with a sharp edge on one side and a hook on the other, perfect for trapping the swords of inattentive opponents.

"Shall we wait? The way I see it, sailing into the harbor so soon will only open us up to the full force of their siege defenses." Anteris said  Tam, who was still looking through the eyeglass.

"Of course, we'll wait. Don't worry, Anteris, we'll give them a war to remember." Tam's voice was cold, but there was unmistakably a hint of joy hiding within.