Madoc

“So, that’s an orc,” Madoc whispered as one of the legendary species strode off of the shuttle with a bombastic smile. Seven and half feet tall with vibrant red skin, ivory tusks that gleamed in the sunlight. Heavy armor covered him from throat to toes, also gleaming in the sunlight. A huge sword was carried sheathed in one hand, while his other waved at them as the orc nearly skipped out of the shuttle.

“No, it’s a paladin. Shit.” Gom cursed as more and more of the shuttle’s occupants streamed out after the orc. Four bipedal sentients, armored in a sleek matte gray armor that completely covered them, and another paladin in gleaming armor. Madoc had to do a double take at the other paladin, a short dwarf woman. Her thin beard was neatly braided with silver ornaments, her broad nose had been reset multiple times and was more of a lumpy mess of cartilage. She had a two headed ax on her shoulder and seemed to be bored.

“I, Thurun, have come in the glory of great Golthon!” Thurun trumpeted across the clearing that everyone had gathered at. It was only a little ways away from the main crash site and everyone held their breath as the rest of their rescue party continued toward them. Madoc knew who Golthon was, but to meet one of the great paladins was an honor he never thought he’d receive. He bounced on the balls of his feet, eager to meet any of the living legends.

“Welcome Thurun, ambassador to Golthon,” Captain Fisher bowed stiffly to the orc. Madoc wanted to slap his face at the faux pas. Thurun was a representative of Golthon’s might, not his ambassador. That would be a high priest, not a paladin. Thurun seemed to not care, he returned the bow.

“We have been chasing after the cowardly pirates that attacked you. They entered the system and I was on my way to send them on to the next plane of existence, but we received your beacon and re-routed here,” Thurun spoke in a still booming voice, and Madoc had a sinking suspicion it was his normal volume. Madoc made a vow to never be in confined quarters with the orc, for the sake of his own hearing.

“We thank you for coming to our rescue, we have encountered many trials already. Would you be able to send a message to bring forth a full expedition?” Captain Fisher hardly came up to the orc paladin’s chest, but he spoke calmly and clearly, not intimidated at all.

“Of course! We will need to find the villains that have attacked you though! My pilot will return to the closest habited planet to gather the resources needed. In the meantime, I humbly request sanctuary to work out of, while we hunt down these pirates!”

“It would be our honor,” Fisher bowed again and the meeting broke up. Thurun and the Captain walked side by side while the other five members of Thurun’s party walked slightly behind them. Everyone else started to fade back into the jungle, heading toward the Jolly Walker. Madoc turned to his small knot of comrades, Gom, Ilyria, and Sam. Nobbs and Tieurl had stayed at the ship as had Sir Huntley and his charge.

“This is terrible. A paladin. Of Golthan,” Gom complained bitterly as they all marched through the thin underbrush. Over the last week, they had worked to clear the area around the ship to help prevent any type of attacks. While the zombie’s had been dealt with, the planet was far from being safe.

“What’s the matter with the honorable paladin?” Madoc asked. Everyone stopped and looked at him with a mix of incredulity and exasperation.

“I forget you’re from the Empire. Your paladins do what their god tells them to. Golthon’s domain includes justice. His paladins will do everything they can to ensure justice is dealt here. Regardless of how dangerous it is,” Sam explained.

“Or unprofitable,” Gom snarked darkly.

“The casket,” Madoc guessed. It was a cursed relic that had been used by an unknown party to reanimate the dead. If they paladins found out, and they would, they would be honor bound to find the cause of it. Which would drag everyone else into it.

“Yup, we’re going to find out who set that ritual up one way or another,” Sam groused.

“That’s completely ignoring the politics of it too. While the Empire isn’t currently expanding, it wasn’t long ago that it was. Lloyd and his family were at the forefront of the fighting. Paladins killed for their gods, and were killed by the noble houses out here in the Frontier. It’s going to be awkward to say the least,” Gom kept up.

“What’s going to be awkward?” the gray armored figure asked. Madoc jumped straight up, his blade half unsheathed as his heart tripled its rate instantly. Sam leapt forward, cursing under his breath as he stumbled over vegetation, while Gom simply blinked sleepily at the paladin.

“You’re presence,” Gom said drily while everyone else tried to recover from their shock. Madoc hadn’t had the faintest inkling that someone had snuck up on them. The level of stealth was beyond what he thought was possible for someone close to his own cultivation. If she even had started to cultivate. She had almost no presence at all, the aether around her hardly moving outside of the norms.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Ohhh, yeah, that’s happened a few times. Frontier people are strange.” The armored woman nodded along as she spoke.

“You’ve been on the frontier long?” Madoc asked. As he reigned in his own panicked reaction he responded as politely as he could to the young paladin.

“No, I was assigned to Paladin Thurun for a year or so. We’ve just started our patrol of the borders maybe three months ago. Your distress signal is the first sign of action we’ve actually had. I think Paladin Thurun was growing bored with the monotony. He latched on to this mission quite quickly.”

“You’re chatty,” Gom said, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“It’s part of the training. It’s supposed to disarm people and make them more willing to talk to me. Relatable history and a funny anecdote can do more to lower barriers than most suspect,” the girl chattered on.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell us that,” Sam muttered as he continued to walk ahead, not bothering to turn back and look at them.

“She’s not. Unfortunately, part of my patrons' gifts make people speak the truth in my presence,” the female dwarf said as materialized out of the jungle. This time, Madoc didn’t jump away. These paladins were sneaky, aside from the very loud orc. Which, Madoc was beginning to think, was a camouflage itself. Everyone’s eyes had been rooted on the big orc. Which let the rest of the team slip up on them.

“My Lady,” Gom bent at the waist, his smile demure and polite. Where before he had a mild disdain for the young armored paladin, he was much more respectful of the dwarf. For a decent reason Madoc thought, for the world was rippling around her. The ambient aether responded to her presence as she walked. The moment he had noticed her, he wondered how he hadn’t seen her when she was sneaking up on them. The younger one made sense, her presence was muted and insignificant, almost as if she was a normal mortal. The dwarf on the other hand, was on the same level as Brask, if not beyond.

“None of that shit. I work for a living,” she spat off to the side at the mention of nobility.

“That’s why I think it’s going to be awkward,” Gom deadpanned to the rest of his party while the two paladins just shrugged.

“We have members of Frontier nobility with us. Gom,” Madoc nodded to the small gnome, “thinks that your presence will make things awkward.”

“Likely. We killed quite a few of their number over the years.” The dwarf said and refused to elaborate further. They walked a few moments in silence before Madoc turned his attention to the fully covered member of their party.

“I’m Madoc. I’m from the Empire. A ward of Andartina,” Madoc found being under the compulsion to tell the truth odd. He was normally a truthful person, preferring to not lie when he could. He did at times, as most did, but with the compulsion on it drug extra words out that he normally wouldn’t have said.

“Andartina is an honorable god, one whose purpose is noble,” the dwarf said. The armored woman just nodded along.

“It’s my first time meeting honorable paladins, may I have your names?”

“You may not have them, but I will tell you what I am called,” the armored figure said with a hint of a chuckle. Madoc wanted to roll his eyes at the purposeful misinterpretation of his words. A smile was tugging at the edge of his lips though.

“I am Merille. A cadet, striving to become a squire,” she removed her helm, allowing her pale face to meet the sun. There was a layer of sweat on her face, glistening in the light, and her blonde hair was matted and dark on her scalp. A few stray hairs stuck to her forehead. She smiled at him while tucking her helmet under an arm and continued walking. Sam turned around and proceeded to trip and stumble at catching sight of her.

“First time seeing a girl, boy?” the dwarf said with a deep chuckle. Gom had a faint smile on his face when he saw the boy stumble. Madoc thought it was a little cruel, but his own small grin had blossomed into a full smile.

“I am Alleina. Paladin, Second Rank,” Alleina, the dwarf told them. She seemed to be without a care in the world as they walked. Madoc could see Sam’s neck was red and made the educated guess that he was blushing furiously.

“It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Alleina and Merille.” Madoc could keep his manners, even if the rest of them were being rude and ignoring their rescuers.

Alleina looked over at him and must have guessed at his sour disposition, for Madoc was shooting malicious daggers at his friends with his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. Once people know that they are forced to be truthful around me, they tend to shut up. Effective, but informative. It tells me you have something to hide,”

“Yes, we do.” Madoc clapped a hand over his mouth as he responded without hesitation. Their payday was about to fly off the planet because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. How else was he going to pay for more tickets to find his homeworld? Or at least, where he had been living when he was orphaned.

“There it is. Probably some type of natural treasure. No, we wouldn’t care about a natural treasure. Something god related, a piece of memorabilia or a shrine,” Alleina guessed. Madoc ground his teeth together to prevent himself from speaking.

“And paladins wonder why nobody gives them invitations to parties,” Brask growled as he walked out of the foliage in front of them. Madoc had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. It was becoming a very tired trope of people just appearing out of thin air to continue a conversation.

“Hello, handsome. What’s a good looking dwarf like you doing on a planet like this?” Alleina growled. Uncomfortable looks passed between everyone. Madoc didn’t think dwarves normally flirted like this. Brask was looking like someone had poleaxed him. Everyone started to move away, leaving the two elder dwarves to their own devices. Merille stuck close to Madoc and Sam, while Gom drifted away. Ilyria had quietly disappeared within moments of Merille appearing, having walked into a tree. Madoc was still curious how she did that.

“Mind if I come with you? You can tell me all about that treasure you’re not supposed to be telling me about,” Merille said with a wry smile. Sam looked at her and blushed again, before turning and keeping his eyes anywhere besides the cadet.

“It would be an honor to host a cadet to Golthon. Can’t tell you about the secret though,” Madoc informed her.

“Well, anything is better than nothing. Lead the way. In the meantime, can you tell me why a Scion and a Demigod are on this little planet and neither are acting according to their nature?”