I woke up in the grass, I couldn't remember anything, all I could remember was my name, Ryder Roarke.

“Oi!” A voice called out “Ooi! You alright?”

I stood up, took stock of myself. “I seem to be just fine.”

“Who are you?” The blond haired boy asked.

“Do you not know that it is impolite. When asking one to give their name, you should always name yourself first.”

“I am Bringham Knighthorn, but people call me Ghost”. The boy said as he started walking.

“Ryder Roarke, and I'll be the first.”

“How did you know people don't call me that?”

“Because you are too young to earn a nickname like that. I have decided to call you Ghost because your step is very quiet.”

“Well if I'm a ghost then you must be a wraith, because I can't hear your feet, seriously how do you do that!?” Ghost paused in thought for a moment. “Where are you from Ryder?”

I gave him a chiding look.

“Oi, I found you ‘bout to be vulture food I did. I think that puts us on friendly terms.”

“I suppose you are right. I, I do not know where I am from.”

“You must've gotten a nasty thump for your memory to be all squibbed as it is. And you can't be from around here, your accent is funny, but you talk like a noble.”

“Where are you leading me?”

“Well first out of the park, I was going to leave you at an inn, but you probably don't have any coin.”

I reached into my pocket and found five coins, I looked at the markings and saw the face on the coin was that of King Malthor V, the king of the country Teleria. Teleria was a huge hinge on that spanned the entire continent and was currently in a state of civil war. How do I know these things?

“Tosh that's five platinum marks!”

“Yes it appears I am not lacking in the fiscal department.” One platinum was worth 10 gold, which was worth 100 silver, which was worth 1000 copper. The average wage for an employee in Teleria was one silver a month. How do I know these things?

“I am going to take you to my father.”

After twenty minutes plodding through the bustling streets of. Bismarck, a rebel city on the western half of Teleria, we arrived entered the military outpost.

“If my Dad is anywhere it's in his office in the training hall.” The boy talked as he walked. Leading me to the proper building. As we entered I saw two men sparring, one with a sword and shield, the other with two long daggers. The shield man won and I knew why.

After the fight I spoke up. “Dagger man, you should widen your stance.”

The whole room went silent. Dagger man held, “you think you can do better stranger, why don't you come up here and I'll give you a real bollocking.”

Fear flashed through my body, but it was quickly alleviated by a commanding voice. “Dagger!” Apparently that was his real name. “Is that how we treat constructive criticism? Go on son, continue.”

I took a sigh and said, “I do not think I have had experience with this sort of thing but, Dagger, you need to choose between real daggers or short swords. I suggest swords because you are a little in the stronger end. Umm…”

“Frederick.” The shieldsman said.

“Frederick, you are a huge dude, and you swam to like a huge escutcheon. But you chose to wield a longsword, with such a big shield it's harder to see your opponent’s attacks. Why telegraph your moves? Get a shorter sword and hide it behind your shield.”

“One thing stranger.”

“Yes.”

“What is a telegraph?”

“It is,” I do not know. “I mean your big sword shoes your enemy your attack before you make it.”

“I am Samuel Knighthorn, who might you be stranger.”

“I am Ryder Roarke, your son Ghost as he likes to be called, found me.”

Samuel laughed, “he finally got someone to call him that huh?”

“Though I knew no one called him such, he is deserving of the name. If you have heard him walk, or not heard rather, you would agree, and something tells me he could do loops around Dagger with daggers.”

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Samuel was a little shocked by my statement, but he handled it well, “right you are Mr. Roarke. Follow me, I would like to speak with you.”

“Excellent, Ghost will join us.” It seemed everyone was surprised by my statement, either from treating Bringham lake a man, or so casually commanding their commander.

Samuel led us to a side room with a solid wooden door. He opened it allowed us to enter then closed it behind us. The room was lit with balls of light. Wyrd light. Magic. The thoughts came to me.

Samuel walked over to the weapon rack, it had two of many different kinds of weapons. “You said you don't have any experience with this kind of thing, I don't quite believe you. Choose a weapon.”

I did so but I made sure to clarify, “I do not remember ever doing this kind of thing.” I chose a stave, for some reason it called out to me the most. I returned to one side of the room floor marked with a white line. I stood on my left foot, with my right leg bent so only my toes touched the ground.

“Maybe, you're right, that stance is… strange.” Samuel commented, but he made no effort to adjust it. Besides, I would have refused, this just felt right to me.

Samuel did not waste time on pleasantries or rules, he just began attacking. His choice of weapon was a longsword with an extended pommel allowing for a two handed grip.

It became clear rather quickly that I must have done this before, Samuel increased the skill he was using till it became difficult, but not impossible, to block and parry every strike. After about twenty minutes of technical combat, my adversary purposely retreated ending the match. “I knew you were lying.” He said, there was a tone of anger in his voice.

“I was not lying, my memory extends to when Ghost found me. A wise man does not boast, but a fool tells of experience he does not have. I did not know if I had any skill, so I simply said I had none, and let my words and actions speak for themselves.”

Samuel seemed to accept that, as if he was looking for it. “Well, you probably want to find out what happened to you.” Without waiting for a response he continued. “This means you are going to need to travel around a lot, ask people questions, investigate.” Still without waiting. “You are going to need coin, and you will need identification. Even then some cities will only let residents in. You have skills, you actually use the space between your ears, and you got an eye for people. I think we could both benefit from an arrangement.”

“As for coin, I have it, plenty actually.”

“But we are in a civil war, it will be much more difficult to bribe your way into cities, and even if you had a platinum mark, money doesn’t last forever.”

I looked over at Ghost, the boy was probably fifteen, but he was not naive. Most his age would just yell out the true amount of money I had, he did not even acknowledge my gaze. I did not want to be tied down, but from my mysterious knowledge, Malthor was a tyrant, it had been two years since he ascended, and he was a cruel king. I wanted to help, but I could not seem to eager. “Fine, I will join your army on one condition, Ghost is in my unit. We train together, and we get assigned to the same detail.” Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bringham finally show some emotion, excitement.

Unfortunately, his father was less excited, “He, he is too young.”

“I would be inclined, for some reason, to agree, but I also know, again for some reason, that this is a feudal society. If a girl is able to marry at his age, then a boy should be able to join the army.”

Samuel was still reluctant, so i chose to make the first move, I turned to leave. “Wait, if it is what Bringham... “

“Yes! Wahoo!” Now the boy came out of Bringham, he started to do very youthful dance moves. It seemed he had appraised his situation, when he abruptly stopped and stood at attention.

I pulled one of the coins out of my pocket and placed it on the table. “This is a rebel army no? People who can give should.” I left the room with the General speechless. “Why don’t you show me to the barracks Ghost.”

“My pleasure, hey you left your silly accent, you sound just like us.”

“I felt it would be easier to blend in, if I adopted you accent, and your manner of speaking.”

“You should keep the accent, it makes you more mysterious, and what do you mean our “manner of speaking?” You make us out to be scoundrels, or brutes!”

“You think the chicks will dig it?”

“I don't know what baby chickens playing in the dirt have to do with how you talk.”

“I meant, do you think the ladies will fancy it?”

“Oh, yes I think so, after all to them you are a mysterious stranger, a fierce warrior fighting to remember his past. Yes they’ll be falling all over you they will.” Bringam was clenching his sides by the time he finished his comment. It was then we arrived at the barracks office.

There was a man at a desk upon entering. “We just joined, we will need uniforms and bunk.”

“Well, this is good news, all that's needed is the lodging tax and we’ll get you squared away.” He gave us a toothy grin, “it's ten coppers for the uniforms, and twenty for the bunks.”

I knew this was extortion, I looked at Bringham and rolled my eyes, he got the message. “Well, that sucks, you see, my pa is a rich man and he gave me one of these.” I pulled out another coin. “Sadly, this is the only coin I have, do you think you have change? I would only want nine gold back.”

The man nodded and frivolously looked through a coin box he had on the desk. “That won't be necessary, I just assign us our bunks uniforms and linens, it’s this way.” Bringam said, he had snuck around while I kept the man distracted. “Maybe next time this guy won't be such a wanker.”

The ‘wanker’, looked ready to explode but was stopped by the general's voice, “I see you have already been situated, Corporal Blake has treated you right?”

“Ah yes sir, as you can see, we have been assigned our things.”

The general walked over to the coin box on the desk and picked it up, “what's this? A donation to the army?”

“Sir my weeks pay is in there!” Blake pleaded.

“And you are donating all of it? How generous. I know of a few new recruits who did not get their full sign on bonus, this could easily compensate. Thank you so much.” Yeah the general was not fooled.

He exited the barracks and we made our way to our bunks. “Why have you…” Bringham started, but he stopped, as if he was trying to figure out what he really wanted to ask.

“Because I have been impressed with everything I have seen you do so far, you know my secrets, and I have a feeling the answers I am looking for, to some of the questions I have will be sensitive in nature. Everyone needs a friend, one you can tell anything to, and will always have your back. I have seen what you can do, and I trust you, that makes you a friend in my book.”

“You are the first person to ever put faith in me, I have your back.”

When we got to our bunks I called out, “top or bottom?”

“Top!”

“We should get to sleep, if this is like any other army, morning comes early.”

“What other armies do you know?”

“I do not know, but I have the knowledge nonetheless.”

We quickly got situated, I must have been exhausted, because I fell asleep seconds after I laid down.