A stable hand was the first to be attacked. A kobold warrior appeared next to him through a small portal, and he had just enough time to shout a warning before a dark blade took him in the shoulder. The horse he’d been curry combing lashed out with its hooves in a panic and slammed the creature in a wall knocking it cold, and the stable boy calmed the beast as a soldier finished off the creature.
He was the first, but he was far from the last as portals appeared all over the fortress, each depositing an armed and battle ready kobold into the normally ordered confines of Castle Var.
In one of the kitchens a cook suddenly found herself confronted by a kobold armed with a short sword and shield. One of her helpers screamed and, as the kobold turned to look at her, the cook picked up a massive cleaver and buried it in the kobold’s neck.
“Stop screaming girl and arm yourself!” she shouted, kicking the mortally wounded creature off her blade with her good leg. She grabbed a wooden rolling pin for good measure and span around to face the door to the kitchen, ushering her staff behind her. An officer of the guard clattered into the kitchen, sword in hand, dark blood staining his uniform, his eyes wide and stubbled face pale.
“Selna,” he panted. “Are you okay?”
“You know me Locryn, no-one spoils lunch but me. Now get the hell out of my kitchen.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied, relief and colour flooding back into his face. “I’ll come back later.”
The cook flashed him a quick smile, then turned back to her kitchen, calling orders to her staff.
The Lieutenant ran on into halls beyond where sporadic fighting was taking place in almost every part of the castle. A group of three kobold barrelled out of a corridor, pursuing a boy carrying a water bucket. The lad turned, threw the heavy wooden bucket at the leading kobold then dodged behind the Lieutenant who caught an incoming blow on his shield, slashed his sword through the kobold on the right, then kicked the water-soaked middle kobold solidly in the midriff making the creature stagger back into the other.
“Run lad, go,” he hissed without looking around, and charged the remaining two kobolds, smashing one against the wall with his shield and lashing the other with his sword. To his surprise a flaming torch flew past his shoulder hitting one of the kobolds in the face, and while the creature screeched in agony Locryn skewered him, then turned his attention to the remaining kobold who ran swiftly in the opposite direction on spidery legs. Locryn glanced over his left shoulder at the boy who had now armed himself with another torch from a nearby bracket on the wall.
“Thank you lad, that was swift thinking, now find a cupboard and lock yourself in it”
The boy nodded and ran.
Locryn heard running footsteps coming his way, and prepared himself, hefting his sword. The magician, Malek, sprinted around the corner, flashed him a relieved look, and stood behind him, panting heavily.
“I should probably warn you that I’m being pursued by two kobold Lieutenant,” he noted. “Would you like any help dealing with them?”
Locryn cast him a flabbergasted look and then found his voice. “If you’d like to assist Malek, I’m sure I’d be appreciative of any help you could render.”
“Smashing. Just didn’t want to tread on your toes as it were Lieutenant, I know that swords and things are more your territory than mine. Ah, here we go.”
Two kobold ran around the corner, a small fireball caught one full in the face, Locryn skewered the other, and then watched as the flames spread to leave the other kobold in a small heap of white hot dust on the cobbles.
“That was… very effective Malek. Thank you.”
“My pleasure Lieutenant, happy to help. I’m fairly good at setting fire to things as you know.
Before Locryn could reply, a sergeant appeared at the end of the corridor, his sword spattered with gore. “Lieutenant!” he shouted, looking relieved. “The General requests your presence in the War Room. We’re currently escorting all the staff to the Great Hall so we can protect them.”
“Thank you, Sergeant, we’ll make our way there now.”
~
As Locryn entered the War Room there was a hush and the General spoke into the silence.
“The portal split,” she said without preamble. “We’ve had multiple reports from the guards on the wall that it shimmered as it would normally when an attack was coming, but this time instead of opening and spitting out a horde of kobold, it seemed to shatter, and all the fragments blinked into existence elsewhere, some in the castle, some in the valley. We’re still awaiting reports from our patrols in the valley but we think we’ve managed to round up all the kobold that got through and the portal shards don’t appear to have projected much more than a few hundred feet from the castle walls. So, ladies and gentlemen, we were lucky. This time.”
The General turned her attention to the last man to walk into the room. “Lieutenant Locryn, you appear to have met a few of them.” The General gestured to Locryn’s sword which was still dripping dark blood onto the floor.
Locryn bowed his head in greeting. “My apologies General, I didn’t have time to clean up prior to joining you. Malek and I were just mopping up a couple of stragglers.”
“Looks like you’ve been cleaning the halls rather well Lieutenant.” The General twitched a small smile at him and turned to the window to stare into the portal valley beyond. “Dismissed everyone. We’ll reconvene when we have all the information at our fingertips.”
Locryn turned to leave the room but halted as a whisper from one of the other men in the room carried to him “... still fighting like he’s some sort of soldier rather than a washed up relic. Still living on the glory days of the Mavericks, and riding at the general’s side. Demotion was the best thing that ever happened to him.”
Still walking, Locryn glanced back to confirm the source of the whisper, then made his way into the corridor, waiting just outside the war room. As the whisperer left the war room, Locryn walked over to him. “Something to say Lieutenant Vatz?” he asked casually, wiping the gore of his blade on the man’s ornate cavalry jacket.
The man spluttered as dark blood stained the pristine red uniform and the corridor went silent.
“That’s probably the first time you’ve seen any kobold blood isn’t it Vatz? Do you know which end of your sword you need to hold on to in case a kobold comes at you or do you intend to hide in the war room and play with the nice wooden soldiers on the map?”
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Locryn leaned in close. “If you fancy challenging this washed up relic, then you’re more than welcome to do so.” He leaned back with a bright smile on his face, sheathed his now clean sword and walked calmly from the other Lieutenant.
~~
A few hours later once he’d made sure there were no more kobold hiding in the castle and issued orders to his squad, he walked into the kitchens. Night had fallen and Selna was dozing in front of the ovens in her chair. He stopped in front of her and tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear. “You are quite a woman.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she replied drowsily, opening one eye and fixing him with a glare. “There’s dinner in the oven.”
“Thank you.”
“I wouldn’t thank me yet, it’s been in there for hours and I’m damned if I knew how to cook kobold.”
Locryn paused with his hand on the oven door, then chuckled, reaching for a cloth to lift out the plate of food. “I believe you add mushrooms, and some salt,” he noted as he sat himself at the sturdy oak table in the centre of the room and began to eat.
“I hear you had a run in with Vatz.”
Locryn raised an eyebrow at her over his plate of food. “News travels fast,” he said, spooning in another mouthful of stew.
“The kitchen is always the centre of the universe in a place like this Locryn.” A look of concern crossed her features and she leant forward. “Be careful Locky. He has friends in power, and you…”
“... are a washed up former Colonel with a tarnished reputation and blood on my hands. Aye, I know.”
Selna rose and put her arm around his shoulders. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
Locryn sighed, and put his fork down on his plate. “It’s true though isn’t it, and I know what people say about me.”
“I also heard that you saved a boy’s life today.”
Locryn chuckled again, picking up his fork. “He was a plucky one, and I reckon he saved my life too or at the very least stopped me getting injured. Do you know the boy?”
“He’s one of the bucket brigade, but tends to spend his time in the barracks as far as I know. I don’t know much about him. If you see him again, tell him Selna says to stop in for a cake.”
“A bucket boy’s most favoured honour,” said Locryn. “Even I don’t get cake.”
“You’re too old for cake.”
“I’m glad you’re ok Selna, good to see that your skills with a blade haven’t lessened over the years.”
“I may not be a member of the Spears any more Locryn, but I still know a trick or two.”
“I suspect we’ll need all the tricks we can get in the coming weeks.” Locryn quietly finished his meal and stood up. “You want me to wash up?”
“I’ll get one of the kitchen hands to do it. Get your grumpy face to bed.”
“Thanks for a nice dinner Selna, who knew kobold could taste so good.”
“One day I’ll actually cook you kobold and then you’ll be sorry.”
“And one day I shall dine with a dragon and bring you back his recipe for venison!”
Locryn sketched an approximation of a courtly bow, smirked and left the kitchen.
“Fool,” she muttered under her breath. “Dragon indeed.”
~
Locryn walked away from the kitchens towards the officer’s barracks intent on finding a glass of ale before he retired to his quarters but was drawn to the sound of raised voices from one of the corridors near the general soldier’s quarters.
As he rounded a corner into a small open courtyard he witnessed the same bucket boy who had thrown the torch earlier in the day get punched to the floor by a sergeant, who stood over him and reached down to seize the boy by the scruff of the neck and haul him back to his feet, his right fist drawn back for another punch.
“Hold!” roared Locryn and the sergeant looked over at him, lowering his first.
“This ain’t your patch Lieutenant,” he said sullenly, putting the boy back on the ground.
“This whole castle is my patch Sergeant, now what the hell’s going on here?”
“This boy was mocking me.”
Locryn looked over at the boy who looked defiantly at him and shook his head.
“The lad doesn’t seem to agree with you Sergeant.”
Locryn became aware of others moving into the courtyard, and realised that a group of ten or so others were watching quietly from the shadows.
The Sergeant looked around and seemed to take some reassurance from the presence of some of his squad. He straightened himself up and looked Locryn straight in the eye.
“This ain’t your business sir, and I’d suggest you leave me to discipline the boy.”
“I don’t think so Sergeant, you see this boy saved my life today and I’m not sure I like the idea of a Sergeant in the Guard beating up children, particularly when the child in question doesn’t appear to have done anything wrong.”
The boy whistled softly to get Locryn’s attention then gestured angrily at the Sergeant, quickly miming spilling a bucket and the Sergeant punching him.
“You’re mute?” said Locryn softly, and the boy nodded. “So you accidentally spilled a bucket of water, and the sergeant belted you one?” The boy nodded again.
Locryn turned back to face the Sergeant. “So a bucket boy spills something, and you decide to punch him? And you were going to punch him again? That doesn’t sound much like discipline Sergeant, that sounds like bullying to me. Consider yourself on a charge.”
“I’m not answerable to you, Maverick.” The last word was punctuated by a gobbet of spit that landed on the ground between Locryn’s feet.
Locryn looked into the man’s eyes and started laughing softly. “There was a time Sergeant that I would’ve thrown you over the walls to the kobolds for that, but now I’m tired and I need a glass of ale. Let’s get something straight here though: you are answerable to me as I hold the rank of Lieutenant whether you like it or not. And quite frankly if I find you beating any of the castle staff again I may well yet throw you to the kobold.”
Locryn turned his back on the Sergeant to talk to the bucket boy, his voice low. “Go to the kitchen by the west tower and see Selna, she has something for you.”
The boy’s eyes widened suddenly and Locryn ducked into a crouch as a roundhouse punch swept through the space where his head had been a moment before. Locryn grinned fiercely at the boy and kicked back with his right leg catching the sergeant in the knee cap and sending him staggering backwards.
“Go, I’ll catch up with you later.”
The boy fled, and Locryn turned around to face the sergeant. “Beating up a child, and attacking an officer when his back was turned. Not an impressive start to the evening. Whatever you do next Sergeant, I’d suggest you think very carefully about it before you do it.”
“We’re with you Sarge,” muttered a man from the shadows.
“Ah, you have friends, how lovely. Do you think your friends can make it here before I take you down Sergeant?”
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take,” said the Sergeant and swung in another punch. Locryn stepped inside the blow, blocked it with his left forearm, blocked another punch coming in from the left with his right hand, grabbed both the man’s forearms and pulled him into a headbutt. The Sergeant’s nose broke with a sickening crunch, and Locryn kicked him between the legs, dropping him to the ground. As he stepped back, the muttering man from the shadows ran to meet him, but before he could even swing a punch, Locryn kicked him solidly in the stomach and, as he doubled over with a ‘whoosh’ of expelled breath, punched him in the side of his head, his descending body weight adding to the blow and knocking the man out cold. Locryn spun around, set his back to a wall and steadied himself, feet planted, fists balled.
Nobody moved.
“Are we done ladies and gentlemen? Does anyone else want to play?” Locryn spotted a Corporal and caught the man’s eye. “Corporal, please put these two in the brig.”
“Yes sir,” said the man quietly, and moved across the courtyard to stand over the Sergeant who was still lying on the ground whimpering with his hands clutching his crotch. “And that was bloody well done sir.”
“Thank you Corporal.” Locryn strode away into the shadows and on towards a glass of ale.