Jimmy
Another boring day. One more boring patrol. But what needs to be done has to be done. His Grace said it was good to keep an eye on your troops and listen to the trite conversations around the fires. Although from afar, a mass of steel and leather, an army is a group of living beings with aspirations and goals, emotions, and desires. Learning such will help in mastering this mob of humans.
Though controlling an army of this size has become a hassle without his grace here. Like a captain on turbulent seas, he could steward thousands of souls. With him sacking up with his missus, I felt like I was handling several bulls at once. Walking between the hastily built tents, hundreds of freshly trained young soldiers stare into nothing as they just came from their first-ever venture war. Reminds me of my old self as a sprite teen in the later years of the Northern War. I still shuddered from the memories of those days. Compared, this campaign was a cakewalk.
I clicked my fingers at a boy whose eyes were glazed over. Flustered, the boy straightened. “Hey, hey. Rest when your duty is done.”
“Yes, Lieutenant!”
I lifted my eyebrow.
“Liutenent General, Sir!”
For now, I hope. This responsibility doesn't suit me well.
I nodded, leaving the frigid boy alone to guard the food stores. Too young, I kept on thinking while walking past more sleeping men. But I was too young as well and I handled worst.
Men shouted within the forest of tents. No jolly to be heard.
“Shit.”
I crushed the grass and aura lifted me high to give me a look at the trouble.
That flashy unicorn banner. Count Shopen’s retinue. Again? Fuck sake.
Mana exploded from my feet, flying me toward the squabble. Falling like a bolder, I crashed the party. Flinging dirt and grass from my entrance, the fighters pull back from each other. Hand on my aching waist, I turned to the posh bastards.
“Again?”
“Those bastards threw the first strike!” The shopen soldier showed his bruised cheek.
I squinted. “That little thing? Okay!” I gestured to everyone. “Back to your tents!”
I heard the shing of metal. A brand new sword flinted off orange from a burning fire.
“Tit for tat. I leave can’t leave him unmarked.”
I swung my head to a furious Lord Masse and sighed. “What did he say this time?”
“I said he is a tyrant!” the Shopen man yelled. “And I will say a hundred times more! He is bringing unneeded war to our kingdom. FOR WHAT!? Revenge?! For some little town on the outskirts!?”
Grumbles from all around, fellow Shopen men shout in agreement.
“One town is too much!” Lord Masse interjected. “Pirn shouldn't have happened and we are fighting to make sure it never happens again. Maybe if you were there you would understand...But I was. So many bodies. Innocents. Mangled beyond belief by evil powers.” Lord Masse bowed his head, almost in prayer for the lost souls.
“Pfft.” A laugh escaped from the retinue leader’s mouth. “Look at you. Mourning them after the fact won't do any good, would it? If His Grace truly wants to end this, meet them like the nobles we are and bargain! But like the barbarian, our great commander is—just like with Count Trak, he is dealing with this in the only way he knows how. Violence!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I watched Lord Masse's fist tighten as he readied himself for another strike to the punchable face.
“But he can’t even stay and do that! Marching us to our certain deaths while he lays miles away with his prostitute wife!!”
“HOW DARE-”
My blade caressed the foolish man’s neck. A drop of blood trickled down the flat of my sword and I heard no more chatter.
“Tell me, moustachio’ed prick. What use do you have?”
“I’m…” My sword moved as the soldier gulped. “I am Captain of Shopen’s 3rd-”
“No use.” I pull back my sword for a large swing. Aura flared in the dark night, shining on a frightened Captain, covering his face with his arm, years of training and discipline leaving him at his final moment.
“Pathetic. Shopen pays you too much.” A kick to the stomach brought him down, coughing. “Can’t even defend your words.” I kicked his face and the unconscious lord fell back unconscious. “Take him back to his tent. When he wakes tell him what I declare.” I turned to a crowd that had grown. “Insult me, insult his grace I don’t care. But his missus? HER GRACE!?” My mana weighed heavy on all he witnessed. I let the moment breathe. They understand. I am not one to hold back. This rumour is proving to be a tick, hard to remove, and quick to grow. I must snuff out the source of this tale.
“Remember what we trek miles for! Justice! For our Grace. For he sacrifices everything, he steps onto the battlefield for our future." I beat my chest with a fist. “Have faith in our ‘Tyrant’. As he brings justice down on evil as he has always done.”
Mmm... A lot had their anxieties quelled; they had seen the duke’s power fist hand. However, some were still apprehensive. But it will do til you’re back, Your Grace.
I tapped my sword back into its sheath. “Alright, enough preaching. It's bedtime, fuck off!!”
Joshua.
To be honest, I couldn't see shit. All my training and I could see only glimpses and flashes of the disappearing masters. But I do hear them. Their every exchange shook the earth around us. Rocks fell with every block and the air thundered with every missed strike. Davis was as starstruck as me, mesmerised by their skill. The sight of my coughing mother caused my eyes to zip away. I pushed down my shame and, by habit, looked to my uncle as I would as a lonesome boy visiting Maise
A fist of swirling qi darted before me. Uncle's head was saved from being corkscrewed by Jing’s vibrating arm hitting Zhi’s strike upward and the drill shot into the ceiling.
“Scared stiff?!” Jing asked Kellen countered with a right elbow to blow Zhi's chest. Drifting back, Zhi’s hand smoked from Jing's attack.
“Just waiting for them.” Kellen turned back and several men with bloody weapons ran down the jail corridor. The leader in front threw a piece of paper like a dagger at Kellen. With the rune drawn on both sides, it was turned in my uncle's hands, and I saw the first smile from him today.
“He still fights the mage.” An intruder said in a thick accent.
“Uncle.”
Kellen glared back at me.
“Kellen. What are you planning?”
“Our first scenario. A distraction.” Empty hand, raised shadow of mist drug the butler along the floor. “Now we move.”
A limp body bounced on the ground like a ragdoll, crashing into a jail cell door and forcing it off its hinges.
“Fuck yes! Quick, Master!”
A flash step forward, the untouched doctor covered meters in a split of a moment. Her fist was tight and her immense qi twisted around a punch to Kellen's head.
She paused. Her eye looked to her left and her teeth gritted in frustration.
“As time passes,” Kellen spoke with Zhi’s fist a hair's width from his head. His new power emanated from him to his tentacle, holding Charles by the neck. “I learn. How they move.” The mist coiled tight around Charles's neck. “How strong they are.”
Zhi pulled her fist back. Her qi dispersed.
“Thank you. Now, show us the way.”
The old woman sighed. “My first student is giving me too much grief.” Turning on her heel, she walked through the rubble she made and into the mysterious ebony door. Kellen motioned to the group of intruders wearing our Guard uniform and after a moment and exchanging glances, they followed his command like they were his all along.
“Take her things and proceed with the plan. Groups of two, search the hideout. Kill anyone you see. Any valuable information, steal. Anything else, burn it to the ground. But leave the monument to me and our new liuen.”
Short bows and they move like silverfish.
“Uncle… “
“She was a bothersome travel companion. I did not suffer her mouth again on the journey back home.” A kick to my back from my uncle pushed me to follow and I peeked through the cell where the Liuen fell into. Blood splattered on the wall and a shivering cellmate. The fit female's still body lay with her back on the cold stone, her head burrowed into nothingness.
I spit in her direction. “Fucking smelly bitch.”