Somehow I had gotten away with it. I’d saved my sister but not been actually drawn into any sort of contact with her. A complete miracle! For the last ten days I’ve been living in dread my sister would want to meet her saviour but luckily for me the city’s internal politics had saved me. Sir Erik had taken me aside one morning to explain what was going on.
“So you see, the whole fact an assassination attempt happened and it happened from one of a noble councilman's apartments is deeply embarrassing to the ruling party on the council. They’re trying to minimise the whole thing - no big fuss and hoping it will blow over and not leave them having to answer any uncomfortable questions. I’m sure they’ll bend over backwards to the princess in private to mollify her but they won’t do anything publicly. As for you, well I think the official line is you did your duty as you were being trained and are an upstanding member of the militia - the right people know what you did but don’t expect a fuss.”
“That’s absolutely fine by me sir,” I said honestly, “I just want to keep my head down and get on with training.”
“I knew you had a good head on you,” Sir Erik said, “best thing to do in times like these, getting involved in politics never goes well for a soldier.”
-------------------------------------------
Surprisingly this was not a view shared by Alex at lunch the next day.
“It’s such a rip Neesh, I mean you actually stopped an assassination of a foreign royal and they’re saying nothing.”
“It’s alright Alex, I’d rather not make a fuss, I get enough attention around here as it is,” I said.
Although they weren’t offering physical violence these days Rodhri and his cronies still hadn’t dropped their grudge and didn’t waste an opportunity to slag me off to the other apprentices if I gave them any excuse. I was just happy to sink back into anonymity and enjoy my lessons and lunch with my friends.
“I can see where Neesh is coming from,” said Fig, “it’s not always good to stand out Alex, I mean you’ve never had any choice about standing out but the rest of us, well if you aren’t used to it it can be a lot.”
“I guess so,” Alex conceded, “I still think it’s unfair though.”
“Yeah, life seldom is,” Fig added quietly.
“Ah enough, this is getting depressing,” Dene suddenly explained, “look I don’t mean to put you on the spot Neesh but I want to hear about your new skills.”
“Yeah I wouldn’t mind hearing more about them too,” Alex said, “they sound rare.”
“Ok,” I agreed, it couldn’t hurt and was kind of a change of direction in the conversation. “So my first new skill is called Dangersense. It activates automatically when someone or something important to me is in danger and I’m in the vicinity, up to once per skill level per day.”
“That sounds useful, advance warning of an attack - so long as you like your squad mates,” Dene said, “what did it feel like?”
“Just an indescribable sense of dread, like I knew something awful was about to happen but I had no idea what it was or where the threat was coming from.”
“I can see the downside of that,” Fig said, “easy to fly into a panic without much indication of where the danger is coming from.”
“Yeah that’s what it felt like, I was definitely starting to panic before I spotted the assassin.”
“Yeah, it sounds like it would work much better if you had some sort of enhanced perception skill,” Alex said, “still if you had a whole squad looking for danger it’s still very useful.”
“And what about your other skill?” Dene asked.
“Well that was called Killing Shot. It’s awesome but has a whole week cooldown right now - but basically it takes your base damage from attack and multiplies it by a value based on your luck attribute - for me it could be up to seventeen more times powerful than a regular attack - but also there’s a small chance it could be be up to fifteen percent weaker than the regular attack.”
“Wow you really do have an incredible amount of luck,” Fig said, “I’ve never heard of anyone with an attribute score above fourteen before. I’m guessing your base is seventeen?”
“Yeah I seem to have a lot of luck,” I said sheepishly.
“You do and that is a cool skill, perfect for a scout like you,” Alex said, “even with the long cool down period that should improve as you level it up and an instant kill skill could save your life, particularly as an isolated scout.”
“Yeah it seems pretty useful,” I said, “I just don’t know why I suddenly got them.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty unusual to get any sort of system event, let alone one with such good rewards, normally you need to accept an official quest to get anywhere near that level of stuff,” Fig said.
“Well don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Alex said, “the rest just need to work out how we can get some cool new skills of our own.”
“Here’s to that,” Dene said.
--------------------------
“What have you done Neesh,” wailed Sir Pelli as I sat down to dinner that night.
“I don’t know, what have I done?” I asked confused.
“Don’t mind the old fusspot,” Sir Steven said, “he’s just rankled he’s going to have to get his uniform mended.”
“It’s an unbudgeted expense,” Sir Pelli grumbled.
“Yeah just like all the money you owe me from cards,” Sir Yale laughed.
“What’s going on?” I finally asked.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Oh well it’s all down to your heroics the other day,” Sir Micah said, “we’ve all been invited to a congratulatory dinner at militia HQ, us and the Captain.”
“Oh gods,” I said putting my hands in my head, “I didn’t want any fuss.”
“Don’t worry,” Sir Flynn said, putting a comforting hand on my back, “it will just be us, Captain Shi and the Captain-General and maybe some of the senior staff.”
“The Captain-General!” I said completely panicked!
“He’s just a man at the end of the day Neesh,” Sir Flynn said, “it’s nothing to worry about. I think he just wants to say thanks for sparing him a major crisis.”
“That’s easy for you to say Sir Flynn! I’m just a knight apprentice.”
“It’s him being a noble, they all know each other,” Sir Pelli muttered, “no appreciation for the stress it causes the rest of us.”
“It wouldn’t cause you any stress if you just practised what you preach to me everyday that ultimately we’re all the same,” Sir Flynn said testily.
“Aye, but you know as well as I do that it’s not true,” Sir Pelli said.
“Oh quiet down the lot of you,” Sir Steven said, “it’s a dinner, they’ll be some nicer food that we normally get, some nicer booze, we’ll have to suffer through some boring speech by the Captain-General, they’ll give Neesh a nice pat on the back and we’ll all go home, no problems. Just stop worrying about it, the lot of you, you’ll just end up embarrassing Captain Shi if you carry on like this.”
“Besides,” Sir Yale said, “it’s Neesh’s night, he earned this, we’re just tagging along. Look lad it will be ok, we’ve all got your back, we won’t let anything happen to you other than you get to enjoy a bit of a reward.”
“Thanks,” I said, Sir Yale had a way of cutting through that the rest of the squad didn’t have; although I appreciated them. It may not have sounded like it but all of them in their own way were trying to put me at my ease.
--------
So the next evening, I found myself with the rest of my squad, walking behind Captain Shi, who was trying to make small talk with Sir Steven (it wasn’t going well) on our way to Militia HQ.
It was my first time seeing the official headquarters of the militia. It was a square brick built building, it was covered in militia banners but apart from that it looked more like a noble’s mansion more than a militia building, and I guess that was what it was as it was more than just the Militia HQ, it was the private residence of the Captain-General, one of the most powerful men in the city.
As if that needed any hammering home, the door was opened by a liveried servant rather than a more normally dressed Malinese working as a servant like we had back at the fourteenth. We were led into a grand hallway, lined with paintings of previous Captain-Generals and of scenes of Malin, usually featuring the walls or the militia prominently.
We followed Sir Shi, slowly down the hallway, even Sir Steven looked sort of nervous, but Sir Shi strode confidently ahead of us. Stopping only as the man I’d seen in front of City Hall waiting to meet my sister strode out of a room and wrapped his arms around Sir Shi in an affable embrace.
“Shi you old devil,” the Captain-General said, in a booming voice, “it’s been far to long. Don’t tell me I have to wait for one of your apprentices to commit heroics before you come visit me again? Given you only seem to recruit one every blue moon that’s far too long. And where the hell is Erik?”
If Sir Shi was overawed by the man he didn’t show it, he merely extracted himself politely from the hug, smoothed his uniform and answered in good humour.
“Langan, you know me, I’m an anti-social old grump and I fear I’m rubbing off on Sir Erik, he sends apologies though, family business to attend to tonight I’m afraid.”
“Well you’re right about that,” the Captain-General said, “anyway, where’s the man of the hour?”
Sir Shi looked back and beckoned me forward, I stepped forward nervously, the Captain-General was an even bigger man that I had thought, heavy set and powerful, it was clear despite his bulk and advancing years he was still a fit man, cropped grey hair framed a broad nosed face and he eyed me up appraisingly as I approached.
“May I introduce Knight Apprentice Neesh, sir,” said Sir Shi as I got within handshake distance.
“Captain-General, sir,” I managed to splutter out, extending my hand as the obvious thing to do. He gripped it hard and shook it vigorously, a little too vigorously!
“Well met young Neesh,” he said, “you’ve certainly got the look of a scout about you; I often forget we need the sly and subtle as well as the brutes like me.”
“Thank you,” I said not really knowing what to say.
“And Sir Steven,” he said talking over my head, “a pleasure to see you and your squad here. We do seem to often miss the presence of the fourteenth at these shindigs so it’s good to see you here now.”
“Ah well Captain-General sir, you know us, don’t want to show up Captain Shi by lowering the tone,” Sir Steven said.
“Ha, sometimes the tone could use a good lowering,” the Captain-General laughed, “come on you fellows must be starving, let’s sit and eat.”
We followed him into a smaller dining room, the table was already bedecked with a feast, the likes of which I hadn’t seen since my mother and father’s twentieth wedding anniversary. There were roasted meats and birds of all kinds, breads and vegetables, dishes I’d never seen before, and all emitting the warming spices the Malinese were so fond of. I suddenly felt reassured that this would be worth the awkwardness!
Between all the food, the boring small talk and the wine, I was growing quite sleepy by the time dinner was being cleared. Overall it had been quite an uneventful evening, the squad had been subdued, naturally everyone was out of their comfort zone, even Sir Flynn was a bit awkward. Sir Shi carried most of the conversation and made sure that all of us spent some time engaging with the Captain-General politely, although I did notice he chose not to involve Sir Pelli quite as regularly as everyone else. The Captain-General, to me, was entirely his blustering persona - I couldn’t get a sense of whether that was the man’s personality or whether it was all an act. I guess for now I didn’t really need to know and had the luxury of believing the militia was commanded by a well-intentioned, friendly middle aged man. The boy’s at least would enjoy my stories of him and the food over lunch tomorrow.
I was caught off guard when he suddenly stood up and addressed me.
“Well Neesh,” he said, “I think it’s time to get on with the main event. I know you’re probably wondering why I invited you and your squad here tonight when we’ve been generally trying not to stir up this whole hornets nest.”
I really couldn’t think of anything to say to this so just nodded and held my tongue.
“You certainly averted a disaster though and I for one think that should be recognised even if members of the Council would prefer it all just went away. So this is a very small gesture young Neesh but in recognition of the great service you performed to the City as Captain-General of the Militia, I present you with the copper laurel.”
He passed me a small box, inside it were two copper laurel leaf collar pins. The rest of the party fell silent for a second before Sir Yale slapped me on the back in congratulations.
“Well that’s something I never expected to see on an apprentice,” he laughed, “well done Neesh.”
“What is it?” I asked thoroughly confused at everyone’s reaction. Some kind of medal? I guess that was a thing that happened.
“It’s a great honour,” Sir Shi said, seriously, “the laurels - we have three orders of them the copper, made up of two hundred living knights, the silver, made up of fifty knights and the gold, made up of five knights - are knightly orders within the militia awarded for bravery and exceptional service. To hold a laurel is to be eligible one day for promotion to an officer of a company and laurel holders have the right to elect the next Captain-General. Neesh, to hold this now comes with a great responsibility and great expectations.”
I still didn’t know what to say, I was stunned, and only just noticing the small silver laurel leaf on Sir Shi’s collar and the gold one on the Captain-General’s.
“Don’t scare the lad Shi,” the Captain-General said, “but Neesh he’s right, we’ve seen something in you now and we’re going to be watching your career with interest here at headquarters.”
I smiled sheepishly but inside my guts were turning - coming to unnecessary attention, especially by the higher ups was the absolute last thing I needed.