Austin had asked around among the elemental warriors after what happened to the older man who’d been bitten in the arm by a beast a couple of days ago. They’d told him the man had been carried to the hospital on Austin’s orders, but he wasn’t there any longer. He’d been sent home after they’d patched him up. His name was Oliver Reneti, and he lived with his family in one of the mansions snaking up the mountainside toward Falden.
Austin had taken it upon himself to pay the man a visit. He wished he would have done this sooner. He knew he should have apologized. After all, Oliver had been wounded because of Austin’s command. He felt responsible, but apparently not enough to do something until now.
Guilt swirled inside Austin’s belly like shards of glass, threatening to puncture his stomach if he wasn’t careful. Austin thought that despite what had happened to Oliver, he might have some intel into what the other warriors thought of Derek and himself. Maybe Oliver knew if anyone was disloyal to his brother or if they’d at least keep a secret for Austin.
So far, the mission and the crude dagger Austin had sunk into the beast had not been spoken of. Austin was fairly sure that if his brother knew about the stunt he’d pulled, he would have reprimanded him by now. He was starting to trust Oliver and the other warriors that had been out there with them that night.
Austin turned off the road into a pathway leading up to a small gate with a low stone wall sectioning off the grounds. He walked up to the gate and, soon enough, a guard noticed him from across the lawn filled with bushes. Most plants here were gnarled old things that crept up from the ground surrounded by occasional patches of grass.
It wasn’t luxurious, and when Austin looked up at the stone house inside the gate, he saw that the stone was stained with dirty marks. The rock was ground down from the wind and when the guard pushed the gate open. It gave off a tired squeak.
A flicker of recognition danced over the guard’s face, and then his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “What are you doing here, Sir?”
“I’m here to see Oliver Reneti.”
The guard stood staring at him for a second before he collected himself and stepped out of Austin’s way. “Right this way, Sir. Follow me.”
Austin followed the short and stout guard up the stone pathway to the house, seeing the guard's shoulders rise in distress. He slipped inside the front door, whisper-yelling to someone inside. “There’s a Taveck here to see Mr. Reneti. Hurry.”
Austin immediately regretted coming unannounced to the older elemental warrior’s home and wished he’d sent a note requesting an audience first. But he really didn’t have time to waste on propriety and hoped Oliver wouldn’t be too concerned by his sudden appearance.
The guard gestured for Austin to walk inside and there a maid waited to take him to Oliver. She showed him into a sitting room at the far western side of the building. In a plush leather armchair, Oliver sat with a newspaper draped over his lap. He wore a bandage around his wounded arm and it was fixed to his side with a sling made of green cloth.
Oliver’s eyes were clear, and he looked well enough, all things considered. Oliver gave Austin a hesitant smile and gestured for him to take a seat in the opposite chair close to the fireplace. Austin sank down into the chair and noticed the red, worn curtains hanging around the two windows in the room. A table stood between himself and Oliver with a booklet squeezed in underneath one of the legs to keep it from wobbling. The maid sat a silver tray down on the table and poured Austin a cup of tea before leaving them alone again.
It felt strange sitting here in someone else's house. Austin hadn’t been anywhere in years except his own homes and the school. The closest thing to someone's house guest he’d been was when he visited Melissa in the dorms. But there weren’t any social protocols there or servants he had to tiptoe around. This was the first time in ages that he needed to remember how to act in a situation like this.
Oliver cleared his throat. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Sir?”
Austin’s eyes darted up to Oliver’s and immediately a lightning bolt of guilt hit him. “I’m sorry.” His gaze drifted down to his arm and then up again to Oliver’s eyes. “I should have come sooner. I know that. I’m sorry for that too. You got hurt under my command and I’m happy to see you feeling better.”
Oliver’s brows furrowed, but then his forehead seemed to relax again. He dragged a hand over a rugged brown beard streaked with silver. “There’s no need for you to pay me a visit to my home just to say you’re sorry for something that isn’t your fault. I knew the risks, and it wasn’t even you who dragged me out of retirement to fight once more.”
Austin’s gaze flickered between the fireplace and his own hands. They were clasped tight in his lap and he felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. He wasn’t any good at this.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Now what have you really come here for, Sir?”
Austin swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and willed his gaze to meet Oliver’s again. “I have something I would like to discuss with you. I have another special mission coming up. More dangerous than the last one, but also more important.”
“And you want to ask me to join you?”
Oliver’s wounded arm centered in Austin’s field of vision. “Perhaps not. You’re still wounded. But I trust you to some extent. I know that you haven’t told anyone about the last mission and neither have the other warriors. Perhaps you had something to do with that.”
“Perhaps,” Oliver concluded. “Or maybe they just liked being called on a secret mission by one of their superiors. People like to feel special, Taveck.”
Austin nodded, considering this. “The next mission, I’ll need several elemental warriors. I’ll need to train them in using a new weapon. A dangerous one that must be kept secret. I need these warriors to be trustworthy.”
“And have some elite skills, I guess?”
Austin shook his head. “Not really. What they need to know, I’m confident that I can teach them. As long as they have a general grasp around elemental magic and perhaps some practice with the bow.”
Oliver raised one eyebrow.
“I trust that this conversation will stay between us,” Austin added.
“Sure. But why are you telling me this? What do I have to do with this special mission of yours?”
“Well, I want to know who I should recruit for this endeavor. I want to know who I can trust.”
“And you think I would know that?”
Austin nodded. “I was hoping you might.”
Oliver dragged a hand over his face, sighing slightly and staring out his window. The silence stretched between them and when Oliver finally spoke, Austin had almost lost hope entirely. “I think that if I approach the elemental warriors from the last mission. Ask them if they’d like to join another important task. Perhaps they’d say yes. I’m almost sure they’d say yes, in fact. And I think they’ll keep the secret and prove to be trustworthy. This time that we’re living in is not leaving us very fulfilled. There is war and hurt all around Aldrion and people are looking for a purpose. If you can provide them with a sense of accomplishment and the idea of doing something worthwhile, I think they’ll follow you to the end of the world.”
Austin watched Oliver as he spoke, feeling hope surging in his heart but pressure pushing his shoulders toward the ground. It was never easy, never just one thing. It was always like this. Hope, purpose, mixed with that dreaded feeling of leading people to their deaths.
“I’d like to join in this mission as well,” Oliver said. “I won’t shoot a bow anytime soon, but perhaps I can help you as your second in command, Sir?”
Austin nodded. “I’d very much like that, Oliver. And please, call me Austin.”
A smile played on Oliver’s lips as he shook his head. “No, that won’t do, Sir. You’re our leader now and you need to step into those shoes fully. Otherwise, people won’t follow you.”
#
In the backyard of a burnt down house close to the eastern wall, Austin stood before eleven elemental warriors and his second in command, Oliver Reneti. They’d gathered here at the crack of dawn to have a first training session, but more importantly, to feel out the recruits and see if they were trustworthy.
Austin had brought bows and arrows, but no double imbues as of now. He didn’t want too much of their plans to be given away at the first meeting. Just in case one of them would regret joining the mission and send a report to Derek.
He recognized most of the faces from the night Oliver had gotten wounded and Austin had tested the crude blade. But some were new to him, and it made Austin’s nerves tingle at the ends. He was taking a huge risk by even having this meeting, and he knew that after he opened his mouth, there was no going back. It made him hesitate for a moment, and the group of warriors grew restless.
A woman at the edge of the group coughed into her hand, and a man in the front shuffled his feet back and forth over the patchy grass.
Austin knew he needed to act now or lose them. He cleared his throat, and the words poured out. The ones he’d prepared with Oliver. “This war cannot win itself and if we stand back, we will have nothing left in the wake of the dragon. I have called all of you here today because you are special. You are all like me, underestimated.”
He took a brief pause and made sure to seek eye contact with as many of the warriors as possible. “I have called your forth for a special mission. A task I need absolute trust and secrecy for. If you decide you want to join this highly dangerous mission, I’ll personally train you and make sure we are ready. But from you I’ll request that you don’t speak about what we do here during training to anyone. You cannot speak about the mission or anything related to it. Not even that you have met me. I know this is a big ask. To risk your lives and be absolutely silent about your involvement.”
Austin took in a deep breath, trusting that the mother would help him, before he spoke the final words. “But I wouldn’t ask this of you if this mission wasn’t the most important thing you’ll ever do in your lives. The most important thing that I, Austin Taveck, will ever do in mine. The task I’m asking you to perform with me is to kill the dragon once and for all.”
Silence, then a couple of low murmurs and another cough from the woman in the back sounded after Austin’s speech. Then silence stretched again, and the audience watched Austin with anticipation. Waiting for what he would do next.
“Will you help me with this mission? Will you kill the dragon for me?”
Austin stopped breathing, waiting for their answer. At first, no one said a thing. Then Oliver Reneti reached his fist into the air and cheered. The group of elemental warriors joined him, and after a moment, they were all cheering for Austin. A stone sank in his stomach and it felt like something was crawling up his neck. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought to keep his expression calm and cheerful.
There was a dread in him and a sense of doing the wrong thing. But he couldn’t comprehend why.