Snow crunched beneath Arturo’s feet. It was falling heavily today. He swung his sword and powder flew all around him. It was a nuisance to train in the snow. Shortly after leaving the Crystal Syndicate, he had taken Lily to a nearby village and gave her a gold coin. That would last her a long time or at least until she got her feet back under her.
Lily had wanted to go with him. Arturo didn’t understand why and told her no. The last thing he wanted to do was bring an innocent woman into a battle she had no reason to be part of.
That was two months ago. The Crystal Syndicate never pursued him, at least not to his knowledge. Still, to be safe he made it to Moontani, a small nation between Eshil Domain and Malvarian. He was going to stay in a small village tonight and then he would resume his journey.
Life was empty now. Without news of the invaders and no army to follow, Arturo found himself bored and wandering around aimlessly. He didn’t know what to do. Rumors floated about Azzellia preparing for war but nobody had a clue who they were going to war with.
He had learned how lawless a lot of the smaller villages were. Bandits were a problem because of the rebellions. The thing was, bandits weren’t good training for him. They were usually ill-equipped and could barely swing a sword. He feared his skills would deteriorate if he didn’t find better practice.
Swinging his weapon one more time caused another flurry of snow to spray around him. Any sweat that tried to come out froze, causing Arturo to shiver when he took a breather. It was time to move on. He hooked the sword on his back, then put his cloak on. Hiding his sword was essential in case someone was looking for him. He couldn’t risk being recognized.
Arturo grabbed his bag, climbed on his horse, and started riding. A traveler told him a small village by the name of Urantis was close by. He wanted a hot meal and a bed to sleep in tonight.
Arturo had asked many people about a banner with a sword dug into the ground and a hand gripping the handle. Nobody knew what he was talking about. When was the last time the invaders were seen? Well over a year, almost two. He wished the invaders would begin their attack. The sooner they did, the sooner he could hunt down the man who had killed his brothers.
There was nothing else in his life. His entire family was gone. How could a man live without anyone? Stop thinking about that. All it does is make you angry, Arturo chided himself and urged his horse on.
The snow fell faster, making it difficult to see. Hopefully, Urantis was close; night wasn’t too far off and the last thing he wanted was to sleep in the snow. He did that last night and hadn’t slept very well. The other issue was food, especially for his horse.
He rode for another hour before seeing torches burning in the distance. Arturo urged his horse forward again and saw a wooden gate, with a few archers on top of the walls and two guards standing outside the gates. Each guard carried a spear and wore a red uniform and a helmet with a white fist as the insignia.
Once he got close to the gates, both guards held out their hands for him to stop. One of the guards, an old man with a beard and a wrinkled face, walked up to him. “What’s your business?”
This was becoming more common. Due to all the troubles caused by rebels and bandits, guards were much more interested in who was visiting and why. “Food and shelter,” Arturo said, more roughly than he intended. The sooner he found an inn the better. He needed a warm meal and a fire.
“Doesn’t look like he has much,” the younger guard said.
“Let him through,” the old guard replied.
The gates creaked open slowly and the guards motioned for Arturo to pass. He headed to a nearby stable and was greeted by a young stable boy.
“Ahoy!” the young lad said. “Name’s Thomas. Need to keep your horse here for the night?”
“Yes,” Arturo said and put his fingers inside his bag of money. “How much?”
“Five copper a night.”
Arturo passed over the coins.
“Thanks,” Thomas said and grabbed the reins. “What’s the name?”
“Arturo.”
“I mean the horse,” Thomas said.
“Ah.” Arturo had to think. He hadn’t named the horse. “Sheila,” he decided.
“Perfect. I’ll look after her,” he said, and led the horse into the barn.
Arturo headed toward the nearest inn, The Hot Camp. Heat washed over him and he closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth spreading across him. His fingers had gone numb from the cold and ached as they thawed from a nearby fire.
The inn was busy with people drinking, gambling, and dancing.
He was welcomed by a young barmaid. “Welcome to The Hot Camp. My name is Aurora. Do you need a room and food or just a room?” she asked.
Arturo was struck by her appearance. She had dark red eyes, long silver hair tied with a with red and silver striped ribbon, a silver shirt, red pants, and a red belt around her left arm. He had never seen someone with red eyes before and recalled it being described as a gift. What that gift was, though, he couldn’t remember.
“Sir?” Aurora asked.
“Room and food,” Arturo said quickly and handed over the money. Aurora counted the silver and motioned for him to follow.
“Your meal will be here shortly,” she said and ran off when another customer yelled for a drink.
Arturo took his seat and ignored the uncomfortable pressure on his back where his sword was. He didn’t want to take his weapon off and get questioned. Word of a man with a giant sword had spread far and some recognized him or asked if he was the man who had killed eighty men, one asked if he had killed two hundred men and some asked if he had killed a legend.
Ever since those questions, Arturo made sure to keep his sword hidden behind the cloak. He never took the cloak off, at least not all the way. Only the hood came down. He wiggled his stiff fingers. Laughter erupted from a table and two men downed their ale in one go.
“Oi, you’re a big lad!” A middle-aged man came out of nowhere and leaned on his table. His face was flushed and he reeked of alcohol. “What are you doing here?”
Arturo ignored the man and was thankful when Aurora arrived, placing food and beer down on the table, then rushed off. The food was a decent-sized fish with potatoes. The smell made his mouth water. He couldn’t recall the last time he had eaten a warm meal like this.
“Not much of a talker, eh?”
Arturo ignored the question and ate and drank. It was delicious; one of the best meals he’d ever had. The fish overwhelmed his taste buds as each juicy bite made him want more.
Not getting the hint, the stranger kept talking. “You’ll want to be careful around the guards. You look like someone who can take care of themselves and the guards here hate that.”
Finishing the last of his fish, Arturo decided to respond. “What do you mean?” The guards had seemed fine from his brief interaction.
“Aye, now you’ll talk, eh?” The stranger laughed, then grew serious. “They’re greedy sods, you hear me? You got money, they’ll find a way to take it. They’ve been ruining this town since leaving their own nations and Lady Talisa is too preoccupied to care.”
He had to jog his memory to recall Talisa. The name sounded familiar. Then he remembered hearing that she ruled this little nation. She was supposed to be quite beautiful. For reasons unknown, she had been secluded over the past year. “I’m not worried,” Arturo said.
The stranger said something that Arturo didn’t hear as two mages walked in. They were wearing some light armor. Their insignia, a hand holding an orb, was drawn on the chest plate.
“How often do mages come here?” Arturo asked.
The man turned to where Arturo was looking and his face darkened. “All the time. Dirty mages, coming in here and causing problems.”
Arturo raised his brow and the man continued. “They always find trouble here. Rogue mages or power users come here thinking the mages won’t find them. One time this inn was destroyed and the mage didn’t give enough money to the innkeeper to repair the damages!”
That didn’t surprise Arturo. He had heard enough about mages to know to stay away from them. He pitied anyone who had a run-in with them. He touched his Verian armor, hoping he would never have to fight a mage. The armor would work, but then all the mages in Aidris would hunt him down.
A large man came over then. “Need anything?” he asked
“No,” Arturo went to turn toward the stranger and was surprised to see he was gone. “Did you know who that man was?” he asked the waiter.
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“Boderick. He’s a wanderer who used to live here until he got in trouble with the mages. Boderick discovered he could use the power and saved someone by killing the attacker with fire; might have been lightning.” The large man looked thoughtful before shaking his head. “Either way, haven’t seen him use the power since then and Boderick avoids the mages now.”
Makes sense. Arturo had heard the mages could strip someone of the power. He would bet his entire life savings that Boderick had had his powers taken away. The waiter walked off and Arturo sat in peace, watching the mages out of the corner of his eye. They were talking to Aurora, and seemed to be upsetting her. Five minutes later, one of the mages put up his hands in defeat and stormed out of the inn. The other said something to Aurora and left too. Aurora shook her head and muttered under her breath before returning to work.
The mages must have wanted something to do with Aurora. Maybe it was her red eyes? Arturo wished he could recall what it meant to be born with that eye color.
The inn started quieting down, so he left a silver piece on the table, walked up to his room, and was asleep almost before he collapsed on the bed.
The sounds of people walking about woke him. Arturo found his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword but released his grip once he realized what he was doing. He had been dreaming about fighting the invaders and waking to all the noise had startled him.
Where to now? Arturo thought. He would get some breakfast and decide. He would like to stay another day, though he wasn’t going to. There were too many things going on and he hated staying more than a day in a spot like this. Besides, it wouldn’t be long until spring arrived. If the invaders decided to attack, he wanted to be close to the action, and that meant staying close to the oceans. But which one? Part of him wanted to go back to Azzellia and hang around the coast, while another wanted to go into Eshil Domain. If he went back home, the Crystal Syndicate might get word of him, and that was a problem he didn’t want to deal with.
Arturo got out of bed and put on his clothes and his armor. He hooked the sword to his back and put on his cloak last. After breakfast, he would get his horse and leave. Checking himself one last time and satisfied he wasn’t missing anything, Arturo grabbed his bag and headed out the door and downstairs.
There weren’t many people around, which he found odd. There had been at least fifty people in here last night and now there were only six. Surely the others weren’t still sleeping? Arturo shrugged and took a seat. The only waiter, an older man with a clean-shaven face, walked right up to his table.
“Good morning! My name’s Esteban and I own this inn. You want some breakfast or just something to drink?”
“Food and water please,” Arturo said and handed him some money.
“That’ll do,” Esteban said with a cheery smile and stalked off.
Within minutes, Arturo had bread, cheese, and a much smaller portion of fish. He thanked Esteban and began to eat. Then he noticed something odd. Out of the five others sitting down, three were guards and two were an older couple huddled in the corner.
A few people came down the stairs, saw the guards, and hurried out of the inn. Perhaps Boderick wasn’t exaggerating. Arturo put the last piece of fish into his mouth and eyed the guards warily. They looked like trouble. Three young men, each with their sword sheathed to their hips. No shields and their helmets were on the table. One of them was eyeing the innkeeper angrily.
“Did you hear that Azzellia has pulled back the rest of their forces? No more foreign armies anywhere!” one of the guards said. The other laughed, while the angry one kept glaring at Esteban.
“Good. One of their mercenary groups was causing some trouble. Some fistfights and a couple of people died.”
“I heard that too. Maybe Azzellia can get their own affairs together before helping again.”
Which mercenary group? The Crystal Syndicate or another one? Arturo ate the last of his bread while he thought about it. Azzellia had hired seven mercenary bands to help the other nations. At least, that was the case a couple of months ago; perhaps that number had increased since he had left.
“Aldric, what’s wrong with you?”
Arturo didn’t hear the angry guard’s response. Whatever he said got the other two riled up as their faces darkened. They huddled and whispered to one another and Esteban shifted nervously.
What could the innkeeper have done to anger these guards? Arturo found himself reaching for his sword and he stopped. This wasn’t his problem; why should he interfere?
Just as he finished his food and water, the guards got up and walked over to Esteban. Arturo listened to the conversation. “You were light on payment. Did you think we wouldn’t notice?” the one called Aldric asked.
“I apologize. Business has been slow, especially with the snows these past few weeks,” Esteban said.
“You think that’s an excuse? I heard sixty people were in here enjoying themselves last night!”
“Please, I can barely pay my staff. I’m giving you everything extra that I don’t need to survive,” Esteban pleaded.
Aldric laughed. “You can go a few days without food. Give me the gold piece you owe or there’ll be trouble!”
“I don’t have a gold piece…” Esteban pulled out a bag and ten silver came out. “I had to buy food and drink for the customers and feed myself and staff. I’ll give you eight and—”
“No!” One of the guards banged his hand on the counter. “You’ll give us all ten and then you’ll give us one of your girls. Perhaps she’ll satisfy us where you cannot.”
Arturo had heard enough. He walked up and slammed down a gold piece. “Here’s your piece. Take it and go.”
The guards looked at him and got angrier. “You think you can pay this man’s fee and we’ll walk away?” Despite that, the guard put his hand around the gold piece, then cried out when Arturo gripped his arm.
“If this doesn’t cover what he owes, what do you want?” Arturo said quietly, not loosening his grip.
“For you to get your hand off me!”
Arturo released his grip and made sure the guard didn’t grab the gold coin again.
“You’ll give me that gold coin and another for assaulting me! If you don’t, we’ll ransack this inn and take all you have!” the guard spat. Aldric and the other guard had their hands on their swords.
“Gentlemen, no reason for this!” Esteban said frantically. “Here’s my silver—and let me get you some food? I’ll get you the gold in a week, promise!”
The guards ignored him. “Give us the two gold or we’ll arrest you,” Aldric said.
How do I get myself into these situations? Arturo’s right hand curled into a fist. He knew how this was going to end. Without saying a word, he punched Aldric in the mouth so hard that teeth mixed with blood flew out and scattered across the floor.
Before the second guard could get his sword out, Arturo kicked him in the chest, sending him and the other guard into a table. The table split in two as the two guards groaned. Aldric stood up and leaned against the counter, blood dripping down his chin. He stared at Arturo furiously. “You dar—”
Aldric didn’t finish the statement as Arturo shouldered him and sent him reeling into the other two. “I recommend you leave or I’ll kill you,” Arturo said calmly.
Miraculously, the first guard to stand was Aldric. He looked ready to kill anyone who got in his way. “You’ll regreth thath,” he spat and limped out of the inn with the other two guards.
“You need to leave,” Esteban said. His face was pale and he looked at the damage to his property with disgust.
“I know.” Arturo placed a gold piece and five silver on the table. “For the trouble.”
He headed to the door.
“Wait,” Esteban said. “I can sneak you out the back. Those guards will get help and they’ll likely kill you for what you did.”
“I don’t want to get you in any more trouble,” Arturo said. Could he get his horse and leave Urantis before the guards returned? “I’ll be fine.”
He walked out of the inn into a heavy snow flurry. It was difficult to see more than five feet in front of him. Arturo was glad; it would be easier for him to leave unseen. He scurried toward the stable. He saw a few children playing in the snow but no guards. That was good—the last thing he wanted to do was kill more guards, even if they were scum.
The snow came down harder and the heavy winds made it difficult to move quickly. Once he made it to the stables, Arturo yelled for the stablehand. A few seconds later, one came by—a different one, a woman this time.
“I need Sheila, now!” Arturo commanded, causing the women to eye him oddly. Not wanting to answer questions or delay, he took out a silver piece and handed it to her.
“One moment,” she said and went into the barn to return with his horse. “You’re crazy to leave in this blizzard,” she commented.
“I know,” Arturo replied, grabbing Sheila’s reins and mounting. The gates weren’t far from here and he urged the horse forward.
To his surprise, the gates were open. There were four guards on top of the wall, with just two standing in front. Nobody was trying to get in or leave, because what kind of fool would leave during a blizzard? Despite the situation, Arturo chuckled at the thought. The snow was the perfect cover; he would be long gone before the guards could pursue him.
However, as he rode through the open gates, Arturo realized he had fallen into a trap. Standing a few feet in front of him were ten guards. Two had crossbows, a few were carrying spears and swords and one had an axe.
Behind him came ten more guards, while the four on top of the wall remained there, with their bows drawn. Leading the group in front of Arturo was Aldric, grinning wickedly.
“I knewth you’d come outh here,” Aldric slurred through his missing teeth.
Another guard pushed Aldric behind him and placed the butt of his spear into the snow. “You are under arrest for assaulting three guards. Come quietly or we’ll be forced to kill you.”
Two crossbows in front and four archers on top of the wall. This might be difficult. Arturo scanned all around him. If he moved closer to the guards in front, the four archers on the wall would not have a clear view of him. It was snowing too hard for anyone to see much further than a few feet in front of them. The guards behind him would attack if he did that. Twenty guards. He could kill them, but could he do it without sustaining heavy injuries? Tarmon wasn’t here to heal him if things went bad.
It was impossible to run away. His horse couldn’t gallop in this snow, nor would he abandon her. There was only one option. Arturo got off Sheila and landed in the deep snow. He took off his cloak, revealing the giant sword hooked to his back. The guards behind talked among each other, while the ones in front shifted their stances.
Arturo unhooked the sword and held the weapon out. Perhaps he could talk his way out of this. “My name is Arturo Pentori, son of Archard Pentori, also known as the Fifty-Man Slayer and Killer of the Legend Ribalt,” he announced. He hated talking about those events, but this might be a way to scare the guards.
Some of the guards snickered, including the one who told him to surrender. “You think we believe those fairy tales? You’re not the first to claim that title. I bet your sword is just for show.”
“You can’t fight us all,” another guard said.
I have no choice. Arturo tightened his grip on the handle of his sword and rushed forward. He saw no point in delaying the inevitable. The crossbows fired, but each bolt bounced harmlessly off his sword. None of the guards were able to react by the time his sword plunged into the leader’s chest. A death rattle escaped through his lips as blood splashed over the snow, causing steam to rise where the snow melted.
Aldric was the next one to die: his sword shattered where Arturo’s sword struck, splitting him open from the shoulder down to the left rib cage. Two guards swung their spears, which Arturo dodged with ease before cutting both in half. The crossbowmen reloaded their arrows only to die before firing the next volley.
Within seconds, the guards were down to twelve men. A few were bleeding out on the blood-stained snow, crying out in pain, for their mothers, or asking for help. Arturo didn’t slow down. The guards behind him began their assault and he slew three of them with one strike. Two arms flew into the snow, causing the armless guards to panic and run away. Before long, the remaining seven guards were running away as fast as they could, yelling for help.
He let them run and planted his sword into the ground. Mist came out of his mouth in the icy air and Arturo waited a few seconds to regain his breath. The writhing guards on the ground were still mumbling, begging for help. Not wanting to see them suffer anymore, Arturo finished them off then mounted his horse.
He had no regrets about killing those guards, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think his problems were over. Word would spread of this incident and he would need to conceal his identity. He should have let the innkeeper deal with the guards himself.
He escaped into the blizzard and turned toward Eshil Domain.