By the time we walked outside, it was already dark, the two moons of Heaven and Hell were both floating in the sky. Hell, where the dishonest and unfaithful and cowardly went. It was a small chip-sized bone-white shattered circle that had a tail of shards.
“What do you think caused that?” Sam asked and pointed at the moon. We all looked up at it.
“If you're willing to believe in the church, then it was the weight of the unworthy that cracked the planet.” Alex said and shrugged, “but more realistically it was probably caused by a meteor hitting the surface at high speeds that fractured it.”
Noah raised his eyebrows at that, “Alex my friend, some might call you a heretic for saying something like that.”
He shrugged, “I’m just saying it’s a possibility.”
“Too much talking, we need to find food.” Sam declared and sniffed the air. I laughed at him, “What are you a beowolf? Gonna sniff out the smell of steak and potatoes?”
He looked at me dead in the eyes, “Yes.” and walked down the street. I sighed and followed him, Noah shrugged and we all watched in fascination as Sam sniffed the air and then confidently walked in a direction. Now that the first-year students had passed through, the city had come back to life. Hundreds of people walked the streets, parks and taverns were packed and carnivals were in full swing. Very few people paid attention to a couple of young men wearing weapons and walking around. It was a very common sight in the city. Sam stopped at the front of a rather ramshackle looking building that had a rusted metal sign that read, “Stek Sop”
Alex looked at Sam, “ahh the prince finally had his big August stroke eh?”
I sighed, “look we might as well go inside and give the place a chance, hell if we get food poisoning, maybe we’ll get a bit of leniency from the headmaster.”
We walked inside and were immediately hit with the smell of deliciously cooked meat. My mouth started watering and Noah had stars in his eyes, Alex just shook his head as Sam gave us a smug look.
“I told you I would find something good,” he said and a waiter walked up to us, she gave us a once-over before leading us to a table.
“You must be new around here.” she said in a thick country accent, “never seen the likes of you around these parts.” She looked at the clothes we were wearing and raised an eyebrow.
She passed out some menus and walked off, “What does that mean?” I asked and looked around. The place was filled with let’s put it as less than savory individuals.
“Pssh, I think she means we look like goody-two-shoes,” Alex said and opened his menus. “I mean apart from Noah, we’re all wearing rather fashionable clothes.”
“Hey!” Noah interjected, “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
I shook my head, “there’s nothing wrong with your clothes Noah, Alex is just being an idiot.”
I picked up one of the menus and scanned the list of foods. They were all reasonably priced and seemed to be pretty good. The list of drinks was interesting, to say the least. Dwarven ‘wine’ was listed with crossbones under it. Sam looked at it with interest and I shook my head, “Initiations tomorrow.” he looked downcast.
“Hey if we do well, I’ll buy you guys dinner tomorrow, how 'bout it?” I asked and he brightened considerably.
The waiter walked back a short time later, “Have you guys decided on what you want?” she asked and we ordered. She took our menus, went to the kitchen, and returned a short time later with four bottles of beer. She passed them out and left us alone for the time being.
We drank in silence for a few moments before Alex slammed down his bottle and said, “Lads, I have a proposition!”
“This is going to be good,” Sam said and we looked at him.
“I believe that the four of us would make an excellent team, we got Noah with the ranged, me and Sam for the melee, and Ryze with the scouting and dueling. What do ya say?” he asked and we all looked at each other for a moment. Then in unison, we all raised our bottles, “I’ll drink to that.” Noah said and we downed our drinks.
Noah raised his bottle to flag down one of the waitresses but it was slapped out of his hand by a mean-looking man. The man had scars all along his arms and face, a broken nose, and long stringy hair. He looked like he’d never seen a shower in his life.
“Aww, look how quaint.” the man sneered, “Bunch of rich assholes coming down to have some fun with the lower classes.”
“You got a problem man?” Noah asked and stood up. Behind the man, several others stood up, some looked concerned and were backing away while others looked like they wanted to lay down a beating.
“It’s rich scumbags like you that are the problem, you’re all daddy’s precious little sweethearts that don’t deserve a penny that you own,” he said and spat on Noah’s boots.
“If you’re looking for a fight, we’re not interested,” Alex said casually and kept drinking.
“Look man, how ‘bout we get this all sorted out after we get food?” Sam asked and looked at the clock.
“I don’t think you get how this works,” the man said with a grin, “you four are going to give us every last fucking mark you own or we’ll gut you like fish.”
I sized the man up, he had a dagger at his side and a mace in a loop on his belt, behind him were what I assumed to be his goons. Six of them looked at us menacingly.
“Looks like there’s no talking ourselves out of this one.” I sighed and cracked my knuckles. “Before we start, is there anyone who wants to leave?”
About a dozen people quickly walked to the other side of the restaurant. Sam muttered something about steak and stood up. He towered over the entire room and his head almost touched the ceiling. Our would-be mugger gave him a nervous glance before pulling out his mace. The moment his hand touched his weapon Sam punched him so hard in the face he did a backflip and landed on the ground out cold. Without missing a beat the rest of the muggers ran at us with knives and clubs.
Noah danced around three of them and tripped the fourth, it seemed like they thought he was the easiest target. They all gave Sam a wide berth and swung weapons at Noah. He dodged, ducked, and weaved like a dancer as three men swung at him at the same time. Blows that looked like they were going to land seemed to magically go off target and he moved with a grace that was impossible for normal people to match. Alex on the other hand was having a good old fashion tavern brawl with one of them. He ducked under a punch and pushed up with his legs, hitting the man in the chin with a haymaker. The light in the man’s eyes went out like a candle in a hurricane and he collapsed.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a flash of steel, and I activated my trait. Everyone stopped and I plucked the knife that was coming at me out of the air. I slammed it down on the table before ducking under the swing of one of the thieves, punching him in the face. Noah shouted something and I turned slightly before my left arm erupted in pain.
“Ryze move!” Noah shouted and he turned slightly, the knife spun in the air and despite his best efforts to blast it away, it sunk into his arm. Ryze looked down in surprise, noting the three inches of handle sticking out of his arm.
“That was a mistake,” he said flatly and Noah watched in horrid fascination as the whites of his eyes filled with what he assumed was blood turning them the same crimson red as his pupils.
With a sickening squelch, Ryze pulled the knife out and began giggling. “You know, I was going to let you live, but I think I’ve changed my mind.”
The man in front of him started to back up, pulling out another knife. Ryze’s giggles slowly turned into chucking and he lunged at him with inhuman speed. In the blink of an eye, Ryze’s knife was embedded in the man’s eye socket and he hit the ground dead.
The other fighters recoiled from the body, “Fuck me!”
Ryze’s chuckling morphed into maniacal laughter as he kicked the dead man in the head, pulling the knife out. The other would-be robbers looked at the corpse, then up at him before scrambling out of the building.
The red slowly receded from my vision and the fog clouding my mind cleared. I glanced down, noting the blood-soaked floor and the dead body. The other three guys looked at me with horror and confusion.
“Ryze?” Sam asked cautiously, subtly standing in front of the others, “You still there?”
I shook my head, “Yeah, sorry about that. I got a little carried away at the end.”
“Carried away?” Alex asked incredulously, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me, what the hell was that?”
Noah shot him a glare, “I think what this idiot is trying to ask is what just happened because I am pretty sure most people don’t do that.”
“Varus, you have some explaining to do before I let you anywhere near my sister again,” Sam said, putting a hand to his side.
Sighing I motioned for us to sit back down and they did so grudgingly, “that was what you could consider bloodlust. Whenever I fight other humans and I get really pissed and injured, there is a chance that what you just saw will happen.”
“You won’t attack just anyone right?”
I hesitated, “I don’t think so, truthfully I don’t know. This happens so rarely that I have no baseline of when or why it happens. Just that when it does, you really should stay away.”
“That is concerning,” Sam said slowly, “but I think we can work with this, hell it could even be an advantage.”
The others nodded and I raised my bottle, “let’s just forget this happened and carry on with the night.
“Jeez and they made us do that on an empty stomach as well,” Alex said and sat back down. Noah brushed his shoulder and whipped his boot on one of their shirts.
“You’d think that would know better than to try that with Leviathan students,” he said and sat back down. The waitress walked out with our food and looked at the men on the floor with surprise. She looked at us and I shrugged, “Don’t ask us, it was like that when we got here.”
She gave me a disbelieving stare at how bad my lie was but didn’t say anything. She put down our food and refilled our drinks. We clinked mugs again and tucked in. I had to say, it was some of the best steak I had ever had. It seemed like everyone else was equally impressed and finished with gusto.
“Well guys, it’s getting late and Arya probably misses Alex so we should head back.” Sam said and we snickered, Alex looked smug, “Ha you’re all just jealous I got her first.”
We got out of our seats and paid about three chips each and Sam left a silver as a tip and an apology for the trouble we caused.
The four of us walked back to the ballroom with high spirits and slight alcohol buzzes. I was optimistic about our chances after giving our would-be muggers a thorough beat down. My biggest concern was what we would do after we got in. As much as I hated to admit it, schoolwork wasn’t my strong suit. I remembered many days spent in terror at Hood’s cabin as he tried to teach me to read and write.
“So what do you think initiations are going to be?” I asked.
“Well the mean lady said we would be dropped in our sleep right,” Sam said, “That means we’re probably going to get dropped somewhere.”
“What if they launch us off a cliff?” Alex laughed and we joined in.
“You mean like Lancaster put us on grey slabs and shot us into a forest to grab artifacts?” Noah said we all turned to him. “Yeah, that would be pretty stupid.”
We entered the ballroom and found most people had already set up sleeping areas and were talking to each other. The girls had set themselves up in one of the corners. Cassie and Arya were trying their best to get rid of a couple of boys in a polite fashion and Vivian was reading a book. Alex growled and Sam gave him a slap on the rear, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Alex made three copies and they all marched in step up to them. Arya noticed and waved, she stood up, towering over most of the boys, and walked over to Alex.
“Hey babe, how was dinner?” she asked him, he looked shocked for a moment then quickly caught on.
“It was great,” then he nodded at the boys, “they’re not giving you any trouble are they?”
“Well not yet at least,” she said and glared at them. They dispersed and walked off grumbling about how lucky he was.
“So….” Alex said, “Babe, huh?”
“Don’t push your luck.” she smiled and hugged him. Sam looked on in jealousy. “Lucky bastard,” he grumbled.
“What do you mean?” I asked, “what about you and that elf chick?”
“Who Illia?” he asked, I nodded and he shuddered for a moment.
“No way, I’m not even sure that would work you know.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” I grinned and slapped him on the back.
I rolled out a sleeping mat next to all my gear and pulled out the sword. It didn’t really need to be sharped or oiled but at this point, it was tradition so I did it anyway. The blade gleamed and cast a red shadow across my lap and face. Cassie looked over, “what are you doing?”
“Weapons maintenance.”
“Is that your sword?”
“Yep, a gift from my uncle for my ninth birthday.”
“Does it have a name?” she asked and I looked at her,
“Who names their weapons?” I asked with derision.
“Lots of people name their weapons,” she said somewhat offended.
“Lots of people are idiots.” I scoffed.
“Well I named my weapon,” she said and lifted her rapier.
“Well, then you're an idiot,” I said jokingly, she glared and pointed her sword at me. “Relax it was a joke, so what did you name it?”
“Ringil,” she said proudly.
“Bless you.”
“You’re real funny Ryze.”
“Sorry, so what does that mean?”
“It means cold star in the old language.”
“So what not just call it cold star?” I asked, confused, “Cold Star is a lot easier to say than Ringil.”
She sniffed, “My meanings are lost upon a dunce like you.”
“Hey, I’m not that dumb.”
“You’d be surprised, so what’s that sword made of, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I shrugged, “You know, I have no clue. All I know is that it holds an edge like nothing else and can cut through most materials with relative ease.”
“Can I touch it?” she asked.
“You want to touch my sword?” I asked slowly. I heard Sam shoot up, “WHAT!”
Cassie looked at him, “what?”
He glared at me, then looked down at the sword in my hands and shook his head, “whatever, just don’t do anything dumb with my sister.”
I handed her the sword and she took it in one hand, her eyes widened as she felt the weight and she quickly grasped it with both hands.
“Wow, it’s a lot heavier than a normal sword,” she said with surprise and handed it back. I shrugged, “You get used to it.”
“No as in it is possibly two or three times the weight a sword that size should be.”
“So what’s the big deal, it's a sword that’s heavy. As long as I can still swing it, it’s fine.”
“There are few materials that are that heavy Ryze,” she explained like she was talking to a rather stupid child. A lot of people talked to me like that. “And fewer still are materials that would make good swords. There are only three materials I can think of, one is star steel, one is cargonite, and the last is dragon forged steel.”
“Dragon forged steel?” I asked incredulously. “Why would they ever make metal?”
“Some dragons prefer to fight in humanoid shapes, so they need protection and weapons so they make steel,” she said.
“How do you even know all of this?”
“It would do you some good to read a book once in a while.” she said and I felt a gust of freezing cold wind hit me, “Hey, some of us are trying to sleep here.” I turned around and saw Noah laying down.
“Sorry,” I said and sheathed my sword, “we should probably sleep too.”
“Agreed, we’re going to have a long day ahead of us.”
“Goodnight,” I said and immediately fell asleep not hearing her response.
“This is where we set up camp,” Kaedin said once they reached the supply depo. “Mark it down and have,” he read the ledger, “Baron Burr refill it once we are done.”
“Aye sir.” the messenger boy snapped a crisp salute and sprinted off. Kaedin looked around the campsite and once he was sure no one was watching him, groaned and sat down. He hated to admit it, but Cahl was right, there was no way in hell he was going to be leading the march all the way to the border. Already his knees and thighs were seizing up, his shoulders were rubbed raw by the straps of the rucksack, his feet were sure to be covered in blisters, and to make it all worse. It hadn’t even been a week since that orc raid.
Kaedin surveyed the area, it seemed that the good Baron of the southeast had maintained the area well. The food stores were clean and full of relatively fresh foodstuffs and rations. The walls were for the most part undamaged and the roads leading to it were up to standards. Burr was going to be getting a promotion sometime soon.
He walked up the wall and looked down as tens of thousands of men marched into the base. They would only be staying a night, for the supplies would not last them any longer than that. This campaign was going to be costly for the fief. Especially since it did not have the backing of the Royal Banks.
“My lord,” a nervous messenger boy said, Kaedin looked down at him and the boy shrunk back. Varus motioned for him to speak, “Generals Cahl and Iroh would like to speak with you in the war room.”
“Did they say the reason for this meeting?” he asked.
The boy shook his head, “No my lord.”
“Very well, take me to them.” the boy looked at him with terror.
“Me?” he squeaked, Kaedin raised a brow at him, “I am not fond of repeating myself boy.”
“O-of c-course, My Lord,” he said, nodding his head several times and walking down the steps and into the inner camp.
“Do you have a name boy?”
“Yes my lord.”
“And that is?”
“Oh, my name is Jimmy.” the boy said with abstract terror, he wondered what he had done wrong to warrant the Red Dragon wanting his name.
“I see,” Kaedin said softly, “now Jimmy, why are you so terrified of me? Have I done something to scare you?”
Jimmy looked up at the lord, had he done something to offend the man, “No my lord,” Kaedin stared at the boy, “It’s just that the old men tell stories.”
Kaedin chuckled, “the old men you say?”
“Yes my lord, the ones who fought in the Reclamation wars,” the boy said, “They tell stories of how you dealt with the enemy.”
“Oh? And do tell, how did I deal with my enemies.”
“You punished them,” Jimmy whispered, “not just the soldiers, but the civilians, men and women alike. You took hands and feet without mercy and burned cities to the ground.”
Kaedin nodded grimly, “That I did young Jimmy, that I did. Do you want to know why I did such horrible things?”
The boy nodded, “I did it so that you and I could have a better life. One not filled with revolutions and insurgencies. Do not think for a second that I enjoyed it.”
He didn’t respond and they reached the entrance to the war room, it was really just a large red and black tent. Kaedin strode in and took in his surroundings, in the middle was a large map with pieces placed all around it. The generals and their personal guards stood around the map as the three generals argued with each other.
“Iroh do tell,” Cahl spat, “why would the orcs attack this deep within human lands without motive?”
“I never said anything about not having a motive,” Iroh explained calmly, he was a short older man in his mid-sixties with a potbelly and a long beard in the eastern style. “I merely told you your reasoning was wrong.”
Cahl looked at the third general for support, “Stone, is that what I said?”
General Stone looked at both of them, “Don’t rope me into this, I’ve never met an orc.” she said.
“Hah, not even your own wife will agree with you.” Iroh laughed, “I am telling you Cahl, the orcs would not listen to any other races. There is no other explanation as to why they would go on a suicide run other than the appearance of another Urucai.”
“Nonsense, it has been more than three hundred years since the last orc lord was named. Why would they start now, when humanity is at its strongest?”
“What do you know about orc psychology?” asked Iroh, Cahl scoffed, “Why would that be important?”
Stone sighed, “Marius my love, perhaps you should pay attention to what Iroh has to say.” Iroh gave Cahl a smug smile that quickly faded away, “maybe you’ll learn something before the old man goes senile.”
“Bah I am not that old.” he sniffed and looked down at his gut, “or maybe I am.” he sighed defeatedly.
Kaedin placed a hand on his shoulder, “nonsense Iroh, your mind is as sharp as ever.” he turned to Cahl, “and you should listen to General Stone.”
“Of course My lord.”
“Orc’s will always follow one stronger than themselves and bully those weaker than themselves. Their entire social structure is based on the idea that might make right.” Iroh lectured, “Orc’s also thrive on battle, we have all seen first hand the resilience of the greenskins. Furthermore, when they believe the world is at its highest or lowest point, one thousand given men will sacrifice themselves to infuse an orcling with their power. Thus creating a Urucai and it seems that with the reunification of humanity, the greenskins have made their decision.”
Cahl sighed, “Say what you have said is true, what does that mean for us?”
They turned their attention to the map, three large red and black pieces that resembled Steel Legionnaires stood together in the southwestern part of the map. They were an inch away from the border, which translated into a hundred miles. Several other small pieces were scattered around the board, representing garrisons and outposts.
“It means that we are going to need more men.” Kaedin said grimly, “Stone, how many men are there around the southern border?”
Stone thought about it for a moment, “there should be a further twenty thousand legionnaires, but if we count militias and men-at-arms. We could theoretically boost that number up to two hundred thousand.”
Cahl shook his head, “Militiamen would only get in the way and strain the supplies even further. We’re already using up supply depots at an unsustainable rate as it is.”
“Lord Varus,” Iroh said, “I believe that if my speculations are correct, then it may be time to warn the king. If not the crown then the other southern lords. We wouldn’t want to have them caught by surprise.”
“No,” He shook his head, “if the orc’s goal is to take the Capital and send humanity back into a dark age, then they would take the most direct route. Straight through Varus.”
“What if you're wrong,” Iroh asked, “If you are wrong about this, hundreds of thousands, no millions would die. Is that something you can live with?”
Kaedin's eyes flashed, “I already live with the death of millions damn it!”
“But we could prevent the loss of any more,” Iroh said gently.
“Fine, if we get concrete proof that a Urucai walks the earth, then we shall alert the crown.”
“Of course my lord.”
I woke to something squirming on my arm, I kept my eyes closed hoping it was Cassie snuggled up to me. But the wiggling continued and started to get annoying, I sighed and opened my eyes.
“God fucking damn it!” I muttered under my breath. It wasn’t a beautiful princess in my arms, rather it was the princess’ brothers fat, sweaty, ass riding on my arm. I tried to pull to no avail and since Sam was still snoring like a demogorge I knew he was still asleep. I didn’t want to use my trait to pull my arm out because I was saving it for initiations, so I decided to do the only logical thing.
I leaned into him and yelled into his ear, “Banana!” his eyes shot open blinding me with their brilliance and he slammed his head into mine.
“Ah fuck!” we both grunted and rubbed our heads, thankfully my other arm was freed.
“What the hell Varus,” he grumbled, “what was that for?”
“You were sitting on my arm.”
“So you screamed in my ear?” he asked angrily.
“Yeah, not my brightest move.”
“Shut up you dunce!” Cassie snapped and glared at us angrily, “Some of us are trying to get some sleep.”
I pulled out my Pad, it was 5:45. “Sure get your fifteen minutes of beauty sleep my lady,” I said sarcastically and stood up, looking around I noticed that most people were still asleep. The few that were awake looked like zombies, and that was a fact that made me feel a little bit better. Living with Hood made me a morning person, not by choice, but by the sheer amount of work he made me do. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I walked out as Sam and Noah went in, Sam was wide awake after the two of us knocked heads and Noah seemed perfectly fine as well. Alex was nowhere to be found and when I looked around, I realized that Arya wasn’t around either. I had a bad feeling about it but didn’t really put too much thought into it.
I slowly got dressed, and was struggling with the straps to my armor, “Need help with that Ryze?” Sam asked.
“I could use some help,” I said and together we got all the straps and buckles tightened, it made the process go far quicker. I put on my sword belt and holstered my pistol and strapped my sword and knife to it. I glanced at my pad, it was 6:10 and supposedly breakfast was going to be served at 6:30, so I had some time to kill.
“Hey Sam,” he turned to look at me, “You need help with your armor?”
He smirked at me, “Nah watch this.” he lifted the giant bag he had been carrying and pulled the zipper down. The massive suit of armor I had seen him wearing earlier unfolded out. It dropped onto the ground with a clang that shook the room. Sam stepped into the boots and the suit seemed to attract itself to him. Parts flew onto his body like bees to honey and quickly he was in full battle rattle. Except for one piece, “Ohhh, I always hate this part.” He said and I could see his body tense up. I wondered what was going to happen when he collapsed with an “oof!” and rolled on the ground.
I raised a brow at him and looked around, Noah who had been facing his frontside paled, I ran around Sam and looked at what had happened, “Oh,” I said, “Why would they design it like that?” I asked with morbid fascination. He rolled over and wheezed, “my balls….”
Slowly, like a bear coming out of hibernation he stood up and put his hands on his thighs, “Hey Noah, can you grab me my helmet?”
Noah nodded and bent down and lifted his helm, except it wouldn’t budge. He frowned and tried again to the same result.
“Quit messing around,” I said
“I’m not!” he snapped, I gave him a disbelieving look, “Look, you try it.”
I walked up and tried to lift it, the bottom moved a millimeter to the left. “The hell?”
“See!”
“Whatever, I just didn’t get a good grip on it,” I said and tried again, it refused to lift. I looked up at Sam and he gave me an encouraging thumbs-up. “You knew we wouldn’t be able to lift this huh?”
“Yep!” he said happily and palmed his helmet with one hand. We boggled at how casually he did it.
“What?” Noah asked and looked at it. Sam laughed and stomped over, “don’t worry about it, this suit’s enchanted so it gives me extra power.”
“Really?” Val asked and looked at it with a critical eye, “what happens when it wears off? What happens if the armor is broken or if a magician uses a counterspell or a null-spell?”
“In that case,” Sam admitted, “I’m completely and utterly screwed, this thing weighs like eight hundred pounds, if it goes into armor lock while I’m in it. Well, let’s just say it isn’t going to be pretty.”
“Seems like a pretty big drawback,” I said and tapped the armor, the surface rippled.
“Oh it’s fine, the spell doesn’t wear off because it’s woven into the armor, and I’ve usually stuck with a magician anyways.” he waved it off and his stomach growled, “So where's food?”