The Legends of Capia: The Three Kingdoms

By John M. Deckelmann

Book II of The Legends of Capia series tells of twelve newly discovered ancient scrolls that may be found to be a missing segment of The Chronicles of the Capian Empire. This story is the first from among these scrolls which tell of life on the world of Monsro after the great plague.

The adventure is only the beginning as Cassia-Ren finds herself obsessed with a legendary object that gives one visions of the future. She finds that this object is in the hands of an evil nightwalker queen who seeks to use its power to rule the world, threatening the peace in Nether World in the process.

Five years after the devastation of the plague, the now Emperor Claudius Drudia shocks the public by naming a relatively unknown man to assume the throne of Capia after his death. This creates a storm of controversy as an assassination plot unfolds to rid the nation of this stranger.

A Centurion General investigates a murder which eventually leads him to the discovery of the truth behind the Night Brigade and the existence of Nightwalkers.

Join us in reading of a tale of intrigue and conspiracy among those that lead nations. They will find that their greatest enemy may not be across a border, but may actually be standing right next to themA tale that surely will have a little fact, a little fictionmixed with whatever you choose to believe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483696256

John M. Deckelmann

John M. Deckelmann is an author that lives in Southern Maryland. He has authored two books to date, The Legends of Capia and its sequel, The Legends of Capia: The Three Kingdoms. He is currently working on a new book to be a prequel to The Legends of Capia. To be titled, The Legends of Capia: The Lost Garrison. Early next year, he will begin working on the third book of the Capia saga, The Legends of Capia: Vendetta.  

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Copyright © 2013 by John M. Deckelmann.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 09/17/2013

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Contents

ACT I

The Guardians of Tomorrow

Prologue

Chapter I:   Onyx Calimar

Chapter II:   A Death in Nether World

Chapter III:   The Witch in the Light Green Dress

Chapter IV:   A Stone Across the Water

Chapter V:   Esmeralda Dyer

Chapter VI:   A Second Guess

Chapter VII:   Morning in Stolemborg

Chapter VIII:   To the Far Shore

Chapter IX:   The Prefect of Skarsgard

Chapter X:   Queen Nada

Chapter XI:   A Side Trip to Darth

Chapter XII:   Meetings in the Night

Chapter XIII:   Dr. Morgan’s Office

Chapter XIV:   Lord Canadus and the 500

Chapter XV:   The Tortured Souls of the Night

Chapter XVI:   The Tortured Souls of the Day

Chapter XVII:   The Return of the Night Brigade

Chapter XVIII:   The Battle of Kabur Pass

Chapter XIX:   The Queen of the North

Chapter XX:   The Board

ACT II

The Enemy Within

Chapter I:   The Trappings of Royalty

Chapter II:   The Killing Returns

Chapter III:   The Night of the Feast

Chapter IV:   The Plight of King Bachus

Chapter V:   A Meeting with Stannis the Elder

Chapter VI:   An Office in the Round

Chapter VII:   Restless Nights

Chapter VIII:   The Soldier in the Forum

Chapter IX:   Conspiracy

Chapter X:   The Tracean Mercenary

Chapter XI:   Claudius the Wedding Planner

Chapter XII:   The Tailor of Salina

Chapter XIII:   The Contract

Chapter XIV:   Lieutenant Nikolai Toma

Chapter XV:   The Queen of the Night

Chapter XVI:   The Turning Point

Chapter XVII:   The Final Night

Chapter XVIII:   Blood Wedding

Chapter XIX:   The Long Cold Night

Chapter XX:   Lord Canadus Returns

Epilogue

Dedication

To Robert, Mom, and Debbie for their unwavering support. Also to Leo, Tom, Dedra, Tamica, and Joey with a special shout out to Danny and Nichole and others at RDS for their support and assistance. I would also like to thank the guys at Third Eye Comics in California, Md and Big Larry’s of Leonardtown, Md for passing out literature about the books.

John M. Deckelmann is an author that lives in Southern Maryland. He has authored two books to date, The Legends of Capia and its sequel, The Legends of Capia: The Three Kingdoms. He is currently working on a new book to be a prequel to The Legends of Capia. To be titled, The Legends of Capia: The Lost Garrison. Early next year, he will begin working on the third book of the Capia saga, The Legends of Capia: Vendetta.

ACT I

The Guardians of Tomorrow

Direction; that is what the human race needed in these first years after the plague, granted that the survivors of the pestilence were glad to be rid of the oppressiveness of the Empire, but now they found themselves without guidance since the Empire was present in every aspect of their lives.

Very little is known about these first years of the post-plague world with some of the writers of the Historical Text succumbing to the pestilence. Even the writers of The Chronicles of the Capian Empire wrote of nothing after the plague leaving us to ponder whatever became of Cassia-Ren after she turned.

For two thousand years scholars debated, speculated, and argued about those times with nothing but wild theories and conjecture to show for the results. That is, until just recently, when two such scholars made an astonishing discovery. Twelve newly found ancient scrolls which may just be a missing segment of The Chronicles.

It is from these newly discovered scrolls that we find this story, the first featuring Cassia-Ren in the years after her turning. It is the story of three kingdoms, two of which are in Nether World, and this story illustrates, that no matter what world you were a part of, it was still a struggle to survive. If these two learned men can prove that these scrolls are, indeed, a part of The Chronicles, you can be sure that they will have a little fact, a little fiction… mixed with whatever you choose to believe.

PROLOGUE

Modern day:

A S A GRADUATE student working for The Archaeological and Antiquity’s Department of Capia University, Douglas Wilder would still feel kind of giddy when holding a rare artifact in his hands. His mentor and department head, Professor of Archaeology Hayden Maxwell will attest to the fact that young Douglas was more childlike than any of his other students.

Being very tall and lean with wavy brown hair with thick framed glasses, Douglas didn’t at all look the part of a child, but there was no denying his love for ancient antiquities. A love that sometimes made him lock horns with the Professor.

Professor Hayden Maxwell is the best known archaeologist of the times. Thirty years ago, it was he, and his team, that discovered the seventeen ancient scrolls that make up one of the most controversial of all books; The Chronicles of the Capian Empire.

The scrolls were found sealed in four clay jars under the remnants of the ancient temple of Horris in the ruins of the old city. Since then, Professor Maxwell’s life has never been the same. He spent many months, to no avail, trying to get The Academic Review Board to certify his find as authentic Capian history.

Late ancient Capian history was already well known, thanks to the historical text, then Professor Maxwell discovers this other book that tells of the same events, but written as if they were some fairytale out of a children’s book. Needless to say, the board did certify Maxwell’s discovery as an important find, but would not endorse the professor’s claim that it was The Chronicles that told the true history of the past.

Hayden Maxwell took offense at those who scoffed him and did the only logical thing he could do; he translated the scrolls and released copies of their contents to the general public in a book authored by him. The public ate it up, and soon Professor Maxwell was also known as a bestselling author.

Fellow scientist nearly blacklisted him as a fraud, and accused him of poisoning the minds of the young with stories of Nightwalkers and Witches and the like, and calling them authentic. But, a young, impressionable Douglas Wilder was a true believer, and that is why he did what he did yesterday at Sudbury’s Auction House in Calina, Capia.

He was sent to Sudbury’s on request by the Professor just to observe the ancient artifacts up for auction and report those items back to the professor. He was not supposed to actually bid on anything, but when item number one zero one came to the block, Douglas couldn’t resist.

Now here he was a day later, pulling into the university parking lot with a large, leather bound, chest in the back seat. Douglas struggled holding the chest with his hands and the remnants of a jelly doughnut in his mouth. A passing student saw him struggle and held the door open to the archaeological building. Douglas grunted a thank you as he made his way towards the lab.

He pushed open the swinging doors of the lab to find the Professor sitting at his desk grading exams. Douglas saw Professor Maxwell as sort of a father-like figure. Maxwell is sixty years old with very short cut gray hair framing a round face. Large brown eyes and soft baritone voice made the man a pleasure just to listen too when speaking, even if he were being sarcastic. You got the feeling that no matter whom you were this man really cared about you, even if you were a screw-up.

With his long sleeved gray shirt stained with sweat at the pits, Douglas set the chest down on the table across the aisle to the right of the professor, who was seated wearing a red sweater over his shirt and tie. The impact of Douglas setting the chest on the table was a bit too much for the jelly doughnut, and it fell out of Douglas’ mouth and landed with a splat on the cover of the chest. The bang of the chest coupled with the splat of the doughnut, definitely caught the attention of the professor.

Douglass… what’s this? Asked the professor. Don’t tell me you’ve bought something? How much of the university’s money did you spend this time?

None, replied Douglas. I bought this out of my trust fund.

For how much? asked the professor.

Two million, replied Douglas.

The professor sighed and sat back in his chair.

So, began the professor, I send you to Sudbury’s and you come back broke with only a box and the remnants of a jelly doughnut to your name… It’s times like this I’m glad to have been your teacher.

Don’t worry, Professor, said Douglas, my trust funds pretty large.

All right, Douglas, said the professor, what’s in the box?

Oh, not much, answered Douglas, "Just a lost segment of The Chronicles of the Capian Empire."

Are you joking… ? Oh, come on, Douglas, said the professor somewhat disappointed in the young man’s gullibility. "We’ve had this discussion before. There is no lost section of The Chronicles. I should know… I discovered them. My team and I spent months reading and examining the text… we’ve found nothing to indicate that The Chronicles were an incomplete work."

I told you about the lost segments, said Douglas. These twelve scrolls appeared on the black market five years ago. As soon as they appeared, they were gone…

That’s because the seller had an obvious fake on his hands, interrupted the professor and took them off the market to keep from being arrested.

No, said Douglas. I think someone bought them. I don’t know who or for how much. I thought they were lost for good, but there they were at Sudbury’s yesterday… I just had to get my hands on them.

Did you run the test? asked the professor.

Yes… twice. Both the dating and the patina test were spot on… You may be right, Professor, maybe these aren’t part of the original chronicles, but according to the test, they were written in the same place, at the same time… My notes on the data are inside the chest with the scrolls.

So let me guess, said the professor. You would like me to go before The Academic Review Board next week, a man of my reputation, and tell them that we may have found another part of the most controversial book in history… a book that nearly destroyed my standing with the academic community. A book that made me the laughing stock of my colleagues and gave a black eye to the integrity of this institution, and you want me to say that it’s real, is that right? Is this what you are asking me to do?

Douglas gulped, Yes, I guess so.

OK, the professor shrugged. Did you at least examine the scrolls?

Yes, Professor, I actually read one of them… they’re all in there… Claudius Drudia, Lucius and Nickademus Crumb, even Cassia-Ren.

Understand, Douglas, that I must run my own battery of test before I’ll go along with your assumption. Keep in mind that we are going before the board with no knowledge of where these scrolls came from or who owned them. All we have is your data. I’m going to read one of these scrolls and they will have to pass my own personal test. They must meet three criteria before they meet with my approval.

What three criteria is that? asked Douglas.

They have to have a little fact, a little fiction, mixed with whatever I choose to believe.

Then I suggest you read the same one I did, said Douglas. "It’s the scroll on the very top… It’s titled The Guardians of Tomorrow.

Hell of a title, said the professor.

CHAPTER I

Onyx Calimar

I T’S BEEN FIVE years since the devastation of the plague, and fewer than two hundred thousand people remained alive to try to live a life without the guidance or control of an empire. Maximus was dead and Claudius Drudia was made the tenth emperor of the Drudian dynasty. Now at sixty three years of age, and not married, it seemed certain that Claudius will be the last of the Drudias.

It really didn’t matter much anymore. There was no Empire to speak of any longer. Claudius still held the title of Emperor, but he now only ruled the country of Capia and its fifty thousand inhabitants. There simply was not the manpower available to maintain an empire, and over the course of the last five years, self-rule returned to the seventeen nations of Monsro. Prefects now ruled their own people their own way without the presence of an all-powerful empire watching over them. Claudius was actually a Prefect of the nation of Capia, but for the sake of Capian survivors who longed for the glory days, Claudius called himself Emperor.

There was now an aura of vulnerability among the Prefects. Without an Empire for protection, some Prefects were weak rulers and most either found themselves embroiled in a state of war, either a civil one or a war with a neighboring country over territory. A miserable existence this was for the common man. There was no longer any class system, no longer any ambition among the population to form a better cohesive government. Just a struggle of two hundred thousand people to survive the best they can. Famine was rampant, so were unemployment, and an economy on the verge of collapse no matter what country you were in.

This was a time that will be remembered as the dark times with civilization bordering on a state of anarchy, and it was this time which saw the emergence of Onyx Calimar.

Onyx Calimar was an imposing figure when one looked at him. Thirty years old, tall and muscular, who wore his shoulder length, brown hair combed straight back to reveal a widow’s peak, his lightly bearded face, with cold gray eyes that showed that this was a man that has seen a lot in his thirty years. Many people these days had also seen a lot in the past five years, but what Onyx had seen may just top them all.

Onyx Calimar now listed his profession as a blacksmith, but he only practiced the trade when his finances were low. For the last five years since the plague, he has been a drifter of sorts, traveling from country to country in search of books, stories, and anything related to Nether World and the nightwalkers said to live there.

Why he became so fascinated with Nether World was quite simple. He was once a member of the Night Brigade. An organization formed by Claudius from the ranks of Centurions that were with him while he served as Governor of Tracea.

Onyx was one of fifty Night Brigade that accompanied Claudius to Nether World and while there managed to capture Nickademus. All of this taking place when the plague was at its zenith, devastating the world back home. After the mission, the Night Brigade disbanded permanently with each member stricken by the plague, going off to find a quiet place to die. Except Onyx never did become sick and ever since he had wandered the world seeing first-hand how destructive the plague had been. Most days he did so still wearing the bear-skin cape and worn black uniform of the Night Brigade.

Seeing the world in such bad shape, Onyx decided that he will do all he could to return the Empire to its former glory, and with each passing year studying about nightwalkers, Onyx Calimar became convinced that, somehow, nightwalkers had the answers. Not nightwalkers, necessarily, but what it was they may have there with them in Nether World, but to acquire this possession, Onyx needed to find a way to find, retrieve, and return this object to Capia without being killed in the process. He needed the approval of his former boss, who is now the Emperor of a shattered Empire.

Onyx entered Capia through the southern gates and was immediately struck by the appearance of the once mighty city. Before the plague this city was home to over one million people, a thriving, bustling metropolis was now little more than a ghost town of about ten thousand inhabitants. Most of these people were those that worked in the government buildings which, for the most part, were still functioning on some level. Most of the other buildings, the homes, public buildings, even streets, were all in some state of disrepair, and/or vacant.

Onyx marveled at the pink marbled façade of the Imperial Palace, completely restored to its pre-plague splendor. It now stood as a shining, beautiful structure in a dung heap of a city. He stopped to hitch his horse to the post across the street from the main gates. Onyx approached the guards and asked to see his brother, Desmond Calimar, the secretary to the Emperor Claudius.

When Desmond came out to see his brother at the front gates, Onyx thought his brother looked kind of odd wearing a dull brown fabric robe. Desmond was only ten years older than Onyx, but Desmond had a very thin face with hollowed cheeks and a beak type nose. He too, combed his brown hair straight back but the length only went to the neck, and unlike his brother, was cleaned shaven.

Onyx yelled Desmond excitedly from the opposite side of the gate. It’s been two years, brother, how have you been?

I’ve been well, replied Onyx as he embraced his brother after he had passed through the gate. How are you doing?

Well, replied Desmond. Everyone’s well… How about you? Are you married yet?

You know me, said Onyx, a woman in every city.

The two men walked a little away from the main gate before continuing their conversation.

Desmond, began Onyx. I wish that I could say that this was only a social calling, but the truth is, I wish to speak with the Emperor.

Desmond stopped short, turned and looked at his younger brother, and started to laugh.

You wish to see Claudius? You… the blacksmith, what makes you think that the Emperor would sit down and have an audience with a common blacksmith?

Because he knows me replied Onyx who was smiling, but not laughing with his brother.

Look, began Desmond still trying to keep from laughing. I know you served on his centurion regiment while he was Governor of Tracea, but you weren’t even an officer… Just because you may have seen the man doesn’t mean you know the man.

Just mention to him that I was Night Brigade, said Onyx.

Night Brigade? asked Desmond. What’s that?

He knows, replied Onyx. Desmond just stood there, and he was no longer laughing. The look on his face now showed Onyx that he had better share a little more information with his brother if he were to have any chance at meeting the Emperor.

I served on a special detail while I was in Tracea, began Onyx. A secret detail… one that I cannot share with you, and I must speak to Claudius in regards to that special detail.

You’re serious, aren’t you? asked Desmond.

Yes replied Onyx with little expression.

I’d be sticking my neck out, said Desmond. Are you sure this is important enough?

I promise you, Brother, said Onyx. He will want to hear what I have to say.

All right, said Desmond, I’ll see what I can do, just don’t do anything that may embarrass me.

Thank you, Brother. It is very important.

You’re in luck, said Desmond. "Its mid-day and the Emperor has no further appointments for today… Perhaps I can get him to see you now, but Onyx, what you have to say to him