I sat with my mother in their borrowed study as she served me tea. It was a richly decorated chamber with handsome leather books in a bookshelf made of teak wood and covered with glass doors. We sat around a table in the middle of the room in plush chairs with the warm glow of a mage light overhead. Along one wall was a masterful depiction of Pervalia and it's ducal holdings with major cities and roads marked out carefully in red and black ink. A large window covered another wall and let in the afternoon sunlight, with the window thrown open to tempt a breeze. The entire castle was cooled and warmed magically depending on the season, but it still got stifling or chilly depending.

I found it surreal that mere hours earlier I was fighting for - well not for my life - but I was fighting to kill. Those men had been given the pretext of a chance, and despite my size they genuinely believed they could strike me down, even if they might have figured they would be stopped or executed before hand. I learned afterwards that my father had no less than ten crossbow men who had been waiting in the wings for the first sign of trouble. I was never really in danger except for maybe a freak accident or mishap. But in the moment when I was fighting to take their lives it felt real... and it felt empty. There was no nobility in chopping into those paper knights. Gerald had told me that kingdoms all over Pervalia were riddled with knights who acquired their spurs by virtue of parentage and not ability, that Hexenguard was not unique but still very rare in the idea of meritorious elevation and rugged doctrine.

Other duchies were catching on and worked to level the military disparity between the Hexenguard duchy and themselves. The Seaward Duchy was likely the closest, as they had military academies for their naval recruits and their marine guardsmen who served aboard their vessels. The Iron Duchy, ever a rival to Hexenguard, had been making strides by founding the School of the Iron Knight. It was clear they had much to improve before they were on par with Hexenguard. The King has always had a small - but brilliant - military force in the Royal Guard, which took knights and soldiery in from all the duchies to form the core of the Pervalian Defensive Army. And then there was the Institute of War Mages nestled in the confines of the Royal Academy of War which trained mages like Master Dorman, who could fight four men at once and prevail six out of ten times due to arcane augmentation of his body and reflexes.

But what I did was essentially state sanctioned murder. They truly did not have any chance. The first man underestimated me, and the second feared me too much to be effective. I am sure they could have fought better in different circumstances, or maybe they were demons on horse back. But that's just the point. Roderick can fight with a kitchen knife and a wooden plate. He rides like he was born on a horse. He matches our best archers with the longbow, shot for shot at one hundred yards. Perhaps the most important thing was that the Order indoctrinated their members to train their bodies constantly, striving to maintain and push beyond peak physical condition.

"Tell me what is on your mind dear," Minerva said to me as she pushed my tea towards me with two dainty hands.

"It was so damned easy," I grunted angrily. "I imagined that my first time in combat would be a struggle that validated all of my hard work. A moment that marked my future forever as a struggle that I was strong enough to overcome," I continued in a low voice. "It wasn't like that all," I shook my head, mad at myself for getting emotional. "It was simple. They were men, probably with wives and daughters. And I cut them down with clinical precision. I took them apart like they were cattle, and I their slaughterer."

"Taking life, especially for ones such as you, your father, and Jarrod," I looked up at her in surprise and she just gave me a sad smile. "It's easy for you. You have not had what most would call a normal childhood. From nine years old to now you have been training day in, day out. They took you when you were at your most malleable and turned you into a tool of destruction and chaos." She reached over and put her hand on mind, squeezing it slightly. "That it was easy for you physically but makes you suffer so is a good sign, I think. There are those who enjoy besting other men in that most dangerous game. They seek domination and dominion and they seek to make everyone around them fearful of their prowess. Yours is a kinder, gentler method while still maintaining the sheer brutality of taking life, for you do not seek to slaughter for slaughter's sake. Instead you are like the Mages, excising tumors and cancers from the world. I think if you stick to your moral compass, you will come to accept that taking life is necessary in a life such as ours, but you will never enjoy it."

I considered her words thoughtfully as she sipped on her tea, watching me over the rim of her cup. I chuckled slightly.

"What?" She asked.

"My sister's must be great people, to have spent their lives raised by one such as you," I said idly, sitting back in my chair and dropping my chin to my fist.

Minerva smiled brilliantly. "Nah, those little brats are spoiled rotten," she said, catching me completely off guard. "The life of luxury suits them well, too well. It's all about balls, and parties, and handsome young men. They care nothing for the craft of a woman or the lessons of state we try to teach them. Little girls with air where their brain should be!" she cried out dramatically, both of us starting to laugh.

"I can't wait to meet them," is all I said.

"Drink your tea, it's going cold!" she scolded me, noticing I had not touched my cup.

I bowed to her over my tea in thanks and picked it up, sipping it cautiously. It was still steaming slightly, and she had prepared it like any other well born lady. I took a sip and stopped, wondering what I had been doing all my life... This tea... It was impossible. It tasted divine... Is this the power of a mothers love?! I looked at her questioningly and she frowned.

"What? You don't like honey?"

"The hell is honey?" I asked in confusion.

"Oh Gerald is so going to get an earful for this! Honey is the most magical creation in all the world!" she said with mock anger.

"Oh? The mages make it?"

"No you silly boy. Bees, bees make the honey!"

"The insect?"

"Watch your mouth! Those are the most delightful bugs in the world, to give us such a luxury as honey! Oh, and wait until you try cane!"

"Wait what, you're going to beat me?"

"No! Well... Maybe. But I am talking about sugar cane!" she jumped up and rushed over to a trunk, digging through it until she came up with a small bag clutched triumphantly in her hand. "Aha! Sugar!"

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Later That Evening, The Great Hall

We sat in the great hall once more, waiting for important guests to present themselves to the Duke and Duchess. We were not waiting for long before two gentlemen were announced.

"NOW PRESENTING, COUNT MURDET OF COUNTY MURDET AND HIS SON LORD DANIEL MURDET, HEIR TO THE COUNTY SEAT," ah, bellows was back. I didn't know his actual name and I had no inclination to learn. I found out that his natural voice was only a touch quieter than his bellow-y voice.

Count Murdet and his son Daniel were spitting images of each other. I could see that Murder in his younger years must have been just as dashing as his son. Both sported chiseled jaws that made the ladies sigh, and piercing blue eyes. Murdet sported a white beard trimmed neatly to his jawline while his son favored a long mustache curled into tips with oil and wax. They both came in at roughly five feet eleven inches tall, and I judged them to both be similar in weigh, roughly 170 to 180 pounds. Daniel had brown hair and I imagine Murdet's hair would be brown were it not whitened from age. Daniel was probably in his thirties and Murdet in his sixties I guessed.

The two approached our dais and bowed low.

"I bid a hearty greeting's to their graces. I know it has only been a few short weeks since last you graced me with your presence, but I am heartened to be in it once more," Murdet said after lifting from his respectful bow. Daniel stayed quiet, but his eyes were locked on the duke and duchess.

"We greet you, Count Murdet. Your county, as it always seems to be, is most impressive. We have toured many of the cities and holdings along the Royal Highway, and we have sent agents out to all the fief's we did not get the chance to visit. As they come in, it seems we are collecting more and more reports of this county's excellence." Jarrod addressed the count from his throne and then stood up, walking down the few short steps to embrace the man, and then his son.

"As ever, we are at your service your grace," Murdet said humbly, stepping back only to be stopped by Jarrod.

"Come, join us at our table Count," Jarrod invited them up the steps and gestured for them to sit at a table off to the side, the one meant for royalty and guests of the royalty. "Let us eat!" The duke called, and servants swept in with practiced efficiency.

Jarrod, Minerva, Gerald, Jordan, Murdet, Daniel and I took our seats around the table and waited for the servants to clear away, and for Jarrod and Minerva to take their first bite before we began to dig in ourselves. I pulled a whole pheasant and several different vegetable dishes onto my plate before attacking it with a vengeance. All around the table it was quiet except for the sounds of eating, as all of them had not been able to eat for one reason or another until now. Only Minerva seemed to retain her pace and her patience, but she was still quick to fill the plate before all the food disappeared into our stomachs.

Once everyone had sated themselves, Jarrod patted his stomach with a sigh of contentment and called for more wine to be poured. They had managed to demolish several courses in the span of an hour, with the servants replacing food as fast as it was consumed. "Well gentlemen, don't get too used to the fantastic food Gerald keeps stocked in his larder," Jarrod said with good humor, "You'll be stuck with hard ration's on the march! No fancy feast's except for what you can hunt in Aurelia or pilfer from their rich farmlands."

"Aye, I had heard that the Kingdom decided to skimp on all the important things in life this year," Murdet commented with a laugh.

"Marshaling so many soldiers, knights, and mages is a very expensive undertaking. Apparently the Minister of the Treasury nearly cried when he received the accounting from Gerard for the preparations on this front alone," Minerva added, swirling her wine glass around before taking a dainty sip.

"It's all fine when we're spending hard earned coin on state affairs that serve no purpose, but when we actually gamble on our future suddenly it's a problem," Gerald, who had received a scathing letter from said minister, grumbled.

"Those state affairs aren't only expensive, they're also boring and exhausting! Show them some respect," Jarrod said with mock anger, shaking his finger at Gerald, who chucked.

"How many forces are we going into Aurelia with?" Daniel asked.

"Just shy of 120,000 combat forces supported by about 35,000 support personnel" I answered before anyone else could.

"That is quite a bit more than we sent into Dather," Murdet said.

"Aurelia has more open terrain and a better military overall than Dather," said Jarrod as he tried to sneak leftover desserts from his wife's plate.

"Not that anyone expected less, Aurelia is a richer country by far and has their own access to iron mines in the center of their country." Minerva added while she swatted at her husbands greedy hands. Zerial smiled at their obvious love for each other.

"What about the Iron Duchy? I heard that they weren't sending very many forces to the front," Murdet asked Gerald.

"That idiot Carlos is insisting that he needs to retain manpower in order to defend the Pervalia-Dather border. The King agreed with him and allowed it, but we all know that the Iron Duke is eyeballing the Green-ward border counties, and is saving manpower for that eventual conflict," Gerald said with disdain, "It is an absolutely doomed affair. Their army is going to get slaughtered in those woods without ever seeing an enemy. I wouldn't fancy fighting the Green Warden's on their home territory, and a three foot laminated arrows tipped with bodkins launched by their longbows and crossbow bolts will make short work of their heavy infantry," Gerald informed everyone.

"What are the Green Wardens?" I asked.

"They are the Green-ward Duchies elite military force. Since almost the entire country is in very dense forested terrain, and covered in hills and valley's, they don't have a regular military structure. They rely largely on their rangers to deter offensive actions from the United Free Cities and other duchies. They're the only duchy in Pervalia that still has clans and sects. Even with your training, never try to fight anyone from that duchy in hand-to-hand combat. The entire population, women and children included, practices martial arts as a quasi-religious ideal," Murdet told me. I immediately resolved to visit and fight someone, and by the gleam in my eye I think everyone noticed that his warning had the opposite effect.

"When are we launching the campaign?" I asked.

"Once Seaward sends us a mage message over the relay informing us that they have their forces and navies in place. Our initial plan is to strike across our land border. We, obviously, will be going through the Pervalian Pass and besieging their fortress at the mouth. Seaward will launch their attack a few weeks after we hit Aurelia's castle. With some luck our offensive will have pulled Aurelian defensive armies in the north and on the coast slightly out of position as they move to block our advance. Once Aurelia gets news of the attack - we have eyes in the capital - they should hasten to reinforce their northern positions. We will be leaving around 20,000 men at the castle under Count Murdet to starve them out while Gerald takes the bulk of our forces into the Aurelian rolling green plains. Things will get difficult in the plains as Aurelia boasts a massive army of cavalry, so we will have to keep our supply lines short and well guarded while we whittle them down. If we beat the Aurelian's on the plains we will have effectively split their country in half and broken their spine. If Seaward manages to beat their northern defense armies, they will sweep down the plains, herding any resistance towards us. From there it will be over, as combined we will have around 300,000 men north of their border fortresses and in the wide open plains. Our biggest danger, as always, is our logistical support and their heavy chargers," Jarrod told everyone at the table, taking care to keep his voice low.

"Of course, that all depends on everything going as well as possible," Gerald added and the combat veterans around the table nodded. "No matter the planning, everything goes to hell on the battlefield and all plans are thrown out the window. It's why we teach small unit leadership and empower our sergeants the way we do, something that few other countries do, preferring to centralize their decision making at the rank of captain and above."

I sat there as the conversation continued on to things I had little interest in, ruminating on the events of today. Today I had killed two men, and on the horizon I felt I could almost smell a sea of blood and hear the drums of war approaching.