Archard ran both hands through his hair as he sat back in his chair. His desk was covered from end to end with notes and letters coming in from all over the province, as well as some of the adjacent province’s arcane families. Little of the news was good, some of new mages quickening on their birthdays, some small victories of bandits or slavers or creatures being hunted down. But the scales were tipped overwhelmingly in the opposite direction.
“I don’t understand Erol. It seems like everything is going wrong all at once.” he said, rubbing his eyes after all the reading.
“Lay it out then.” Erol grunted back.
Erol was a man of few words, but he had a way of helping Archard pick through his thoughts and find a path to take. No matter how grim it all looked.
“Well firstly, Trelboro is pushing much harder on the southern border than normal. They’re turning trade caravans back, travellers are going missing, they’ve even moved through lands owned by Gardelia more than once. Never staying long, but it looks to me like they’re testing the waters. Summit Line has even seen scouts wandering dangerously close.” The large fortress spanned several mountain tops and passes along the border with Trelboro and was one of the main deterrents keeping the southern country from invading. Along with aging treaties signed and sealed by the King and governors of Gardelia and the Royal Parliament of Trelboro.
“The hynell are raiding more actively. Not just attacking little groups travelling the roads but attacking villages and taking people in the night. Hynell either steal and rob, or kill to eat, then steal and rob. They never take people. Gods know why they are now, or why they’ve become so much more aggressive.” Archard set his elbows on his desk, making a small triangle with his hands in front of his face, his eyes unfocused as he worked through the information in his mind.
“As if that isn’t enough, there’s more.” Erol said as he took a seat across from his old friend.
“The barbarians, not all, but many of your people’s tribes have been raiding and enslaving more actively too. We’ve had an increase in slaver and bandit activity of our own countrymen as well. I tell you it’s like the bounds of morality have flipped. Seems as if everyone’s a villain nowadays.” Archard responded. “Even more troubling is the GMC. While the Grey Mage Coalition and the Magestry have worked together on numerous occasions, they tell us of troubling splinter factions within their own organization. Grey mages banding together to work for themselves. To demand power or take what they want regardless of either the local or judicial standard laws.” he sat silently for several seconds just staring, unfocused, at his desk. “And, there have been more anti-magic protests in towns and cities across the kingdom. People tired of being ‘beneath the heel’ of the magical parts of the nobility. Even as we do more for them than half their non-magical governing body.”
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Erol stood and walked to the door, he opened it and stepped out of the way. Archard’s youngest son, Therol, walked in. He was a large boy for his young age of seventeen, his equally massive guardian walked in behind him, almost as tall as Erol.
“Hello my son, what news do you bring of the bandits raiding to the east?” Archard managed a weary smile.
“Well father, we dispatched them easily. After we killed their leader and three more the rest surrendered and we turned them over to the soldiers we went with. It was over and done with after just two days.” Therol replied, staring down at his feet and shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“Then what took you so long to get back? What troubles you, son? No matter how old you get, I can always tell when something eats at you.” Archard said feigning humor even as his heart began beating faster, he could sense some entirely unique sort of bad news was coming.
“Well father… On our way back we passed near the town of Breckinroth. They told us that they hadn’t received their usual shipments of trade goods nor seen any visitors from Malbeck, a smaller neighboring village.” the boy trailed off.
“And, what of the village?” Archard calmly bid his son to continue.
“Well we went there, it wasn’t but a few hours out of our way and…” the boy's eyes were locked on the floor but they were wide. Archard could see horror in them. “It’s gone.” his son said without meeting his eyes.
“Define gone.” Archard said as he came slowly to his feet.
“Father, everyone’s dead. Men, women, children, even the livestock. We brought some soldiers out on patrol that knew the area as well as the village. They said many of the men were missing, the fit ones that worked the fields. Aside from that, everyone is dead. Everything either taken or burned.” The boy had tears in his eyes. His young guardian, Thayne, rested a hand on his shoulder as he nodded to Archard confirming what his mage said.
Archard fell back down into his chair. Malbeck wasn’t a large village, roughly 300 people, but to imagine all of them wiped out was a hard blow. He slammed his hand on the desk, causing the two boys to jump as they stood there silently. Archard sat for a long brooding moment.
“So tell me what you found.” he said in a monotone voice. He stroked the goatee around his mouth, growing bushier by the day as he was too busy even to shave.
His son gulped and sniffled “We found tracks, dozens of carts from where the attack started, through the town, then back out heading north. The tracks disappeared a ways outside of town and couldn’t be followed. We found footprints, men and hynell, coming into town and exiting on separate sides. The men heading away with the carts. Arrows of men and hynell riddled throughout the town. Most of the buildings burned or ransacked, or both. People burned, hung, stabbed and beaten. Many eaten by the hynell. Women and girls…” the boy trailed off.
Archard closed his eyes, glad his son hadn’t finished the sentence, yet sorry for what his boy had seen. “Did you find any signs of magic use? Either in machines or by men.”
Thayne spoke up “They did seem to use some crystal powered artillery to light several of the buildings aflame and, we think, to keep people from fleeing into the woods after the attack started. Sir, this seems well coordinated and planned out. They didn’t spare anyone, no survivors were found, nor any word from other villages they might have fled to.” finding his voice as he went on. “We found gorvoleth tracks as well, the slaver factions are the only ones I know of that domesticate those. And they’ve been known to capture hynell and fight against them often, I can’t imagine why they would be working together. But I don’t think this was just some raid for food and trinkets.”
“I’d agree.” Erol crossed his arms and ran his fingers through his bushy beard.
Archard stared at the letters in front of him again, taking in the new information. Men and hynell working together was about as rare and dangerous as chaos could get, his stomach sank like a weight was tied to it. The province was spinning out of control before his eyes and he couldn’t locate a reason, or even a clue as to why.
“Thank you for your report, son. I know this must have been hard on you and Thayne, take some time. Relax as you see fit and try to take your mind off it. Go see your friends in town and try to forget what you’ve seen. Don’t speak of it to anyone save your brothers and I. I will call on you when I have a next step in mind for us.” Archard said before meeting his boy’s eyes. “I’m glad you’ve come back safely.”
Therol and Thayne bowed their heads slightly to Archard, then to Erol before turning to leave. Archard watched them go, holding his breath. Erol walked them out and shut the door behind them, he let out a heavy sigh and walked back to his mage.
“So what now?” Erol asked bluntly.
“I don’t know yet. But, I don’t think we can afford to keep Avarith and Leon at home anymore. We need everyone out in the field.” Archard sounded tired, but a position like his rarely afforded breaks.
“What of Silvia and Darren?” Erol sat down across from him again.
“They’re coming along well, better than I expected in such a short time. But they are not ready to be on their own. We’ll have to send them with Avarith. They can learn in the field, as we did.” Archard let a tired smile find its way to his face as he and Erol remembered the adventures of their youth. “We’ll have to trust that they will handle themselves well. We have no choice with the way things are going, and it’s our duty to bear the risk when times like these come.”
He and Erol sat back in their chairs staring at the papers.
“I wasn’t built for this my friend.” Archard said wearily. “My brother should have been in charge, all this leadership business suited him well.”
“The family chose you for a reason.” Erol said, leveling his gaze at Archard. “They knew you would have the best in mind for everyone, and were the only one level headed enough to make decisions that had to be made. Easy or hard.”
“Alsted was the best of us. Better than me, our siblings, even our father, gods let him rest.” Archard looked at an old picture he kept on his desk, of him and his brothers and sisters when they were young. From a time when his eldest sibling Alsted was alive, before he got married, before he had a wife and had Silvia as his daughter. “He reigned over the family for too short a time, and never even officially, just covering things for father. I’m a doer, as are you Erol.” He picked up a small stack of letters “We’re meant to be out there fighting the causes of these letters, not deciding responses and running damage control.” He threw them across the desk with a flick of his wrist.
“We are what they need us to be, and now they need you to be who Alsted saw you as. Capable, smart, tougher than most. Able to deal with the trials life hands out, even when they’re unfair. He was your brother and no one is more like him, no one more fitting for this job. Even if we don’t like it.” Erol held his gaze.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Archard could feel the belief in his guardian’s words. “I appreciate it. Let’s go over it all one more time, starting with the locations of the attacks.”
They both leaned forward and started combing through the letters and notes again.
****
The night had grown late, and after another day spent training and sharpening their skills Darren and Silvia sat up late in the training space that separated their rooms. They were completely drained from it all, but had a work ethic that couldn’t be stopped. They sat in their night clothes on the wrestling mat in the center of the room, Darren lazily showing her bits of jiu jitsu between frequent breaks. Music from his speaker played quietly in the background.
“In my world this is literally one of the best ways for a small person to fight. You learn this well and you could absolutely kill guys bigger than me, even as a little pipsqueak like you. But, it locks you down on the ground, so it’s not too good if there’s more than one person.” he said.
“I’m small but I’m strong!” She flexed as she shot back loudly “But I could really break a man’s arm doing this?” she asked after he’d shown her an armbar.
“One hundred percent. It’s your whole body against his one arm. As long as it isn’t Erol’s arm you should be able to manage it.” he laughed “It’s what I did to that hynell back in town right before it booted your little ass across the sand.”
Silvia rubbed her chest as she sat on the mat, reliving the memory of having the wind knocked out of her and sailing through the air. “Show me more.” she said.
He let out an exaggerated groan, “But I’m tiiiiiiired.” he whined, falling back on the padded floor.
“Laziness will get you nowhere.” She reached out and kicked his leg.
“Fine, fine. Your breaks are never long enough, and laziness can get you somewhere, somewhere comfortable.” He scooted towards her, grabbed her ankles and pulled her to him. He showed her how to get into a position for a kneebar.
Darren watched as she picked up the new skills quickly, reading the moves from his mind as she tried them. He could feel her strength as well, she was right about being small but strong, their regimented routine was paying off.
They were so enthralled by the wrestling they didn’t hear the knock at their door over the music. Darren rolled and used his legs to flip her hips, causing her to fall in front of him as he took her back and wrapped an arm around her throat.
“Both hands on the wrist, get the arm straight and clear around your head.” he said as he lightly tightened the choke.
Silvia used her hands to wrench his free and twisted her head to the outside, she rolled to face him and he pulled her into his full guard and swept her onto her back, sitting on top of her just as the door opened.
Leon walked in and stared at them, “What are you two doing so late?” he laughed.
Their brows shined with sweat as they stared at him from the floor.
“Learning party boy, you might not know what that means. It’s the thing we do while you chase ladies around all the taverns in town.” Darren called out while pinning Silvia to the floor. “Do that knee elbow thing I taught you,” he told her.
She pushed his thigh down and dragged her knee under his shin, she brought it towards her chest and freed one leg.
“Scoot your butt that way and you’re pretty much out.”
She scooted back and brought her other leg out and wrapped them both around his midsection pulling his head down to control his posture.
“Niiiiice.” Darren said “You learn quick, girl.”
“An impressive art.” Leon said as he watched. “But I have news even more impressive.” he said slyly.
Darren sat back, her legs still around him “What’cha got?”
Silvia looked at Leon suspiciously before trying to get after one of Darren’s arms and twist it behind his back. He popped out of her legs and slid across them to her side, smothering her against the mat.
“We have an assignment.” Leon said cooly, walking to one of the chairs at Darren’s workbench.
They both stopped instantly and looked each other in the eye before spinning back to face Leon.
“For real?” Darren asked, expecting some joke or prank. “‘We’ as in you and Av, or ‘we’ including us?”
“Don’t fuck with me.” Silvia sat up, serious. Spending time around Darren had done wonders for her vocabulary.
Leon laughed at such harsh language coming from the girl he’d known since she was in diapers. “I’m not playing games here. The four of us. We leave tomorrow, midday.”
Silvia leapt to her feet “Where, what are we doing, what should I bring!?”
“Calm down, calm down.” Leon told her “We’re handling most of that now, but you’ll be able to pack extras tomorrow. Archard bought every mage in the house a new item from the capital. Efframo Monsen’s latest fashionable creation. It has a magically supported concealed space inside and can fit much more than you’d think. If it fits through the opening it can be stored in the bag. You’ll have multiple weapons, changes of clothes and armor, your essentials as well as food and drink. All within a satchel. It has its own pull out index like your magic, a complete list of all items within. He would’ve bought them for the guardian’s too, but apparently they are unreasonably expensive.” He waved a hand at the price. “Av is obsessed with them and is packing both yours and his as we speak. He’ll drop it off tomorrow for you to add anything else you want.”
“Those sound great and all but I’m back on the ‘where and what are we doing?’” Darren asked from the mat.
“We’ll be taking the airship.” Leon smiled, knowing Darren had been obsessed with it since he’d seen it arrive and dock at the top of the castle. “They will drop us off at a town a ways north of here. We’ll take the train back to the city after we complete our task.”
“Fucking yes.” Darren shook his fist with excitement.
“And what are we doing Leon?” Silvia asked again, impatiently hopping on the mat.
“We…” he purposely slowed down, just to drive them crazy. “...are going to explore... an Ovrenell ruin. It’s newly discovered, many of the ruins have a kind of vault that can hold any number of amazing things. Archard wants us to find out what’s in it. This ruin is centered between a few attacks that have been happening in the region so he wants us to be careful and take a few soldiers from the local garrison at the town we will be dropped in.”
“Isn’t it bad for non-magic people to be in those ruins? Don’t they get some kinda cancer or something?” Darren asked.
“Detritis.” Leon corrected, “But from what you’ve told me it is a lot like your world’s ‘cancer’. Organs not healing themselves and degenerating faster than normal, with the addition of mutating. They only get that bad if they’re there for extended periods, weeks and months. But I doubt they’ll be happy to go either way. We can’t keep them in for more than a few days, four at most. Longer than that and the detritis may strike their psyche and their minds begin to go. People can be driven fully mad after a week or more in such a place. Then getting them out is… difficult.” Leon’s eyes had a far off look as he remembered losing men in such places before.
“So we just have to search the ruin, open the vault and ride the train back home?” Silvia asked, “Sounds simple enough. I’ve only been to an Ovrenell ruin once, it was beautiful but completely empty.”
“Well they can have traps, or ancient beasts to guard them. Sometimes when bandits or travellers take cover in them they stay too long and lose themselves, attacking any who come into the ruin. Hynell aren’t affected by the detritis and will sometimes stay in them. Though they hold their own beliefs about such places, so they often avoid them. But, it isn’t completely devoid of danger if that’s what worries you.” Leon smirked at her, she was so transparent.
“I just want to be doing something with purpose, not sightseeing.” she crossed her arms.
“Well it’s our first real job, I’m sure Archard’ll take the training wheels off soon.” Darren added, still sitting on the mat.
“Patience little mage, all in good time.” Leon stood and walked to the door. “Get some sleep you two. I don’t need you cranky and tired the whole day's flight.”
They said their goodnights and watched him leave, shutting the door behind him.
Darren felt excitement burning up her whole body, Silvia turned to him with wide eyes. Her feelings came on strong and his head went fuzzy, his vision gained an edge of black fog. His dizziness hit her back and she swooned slightly and dropped to her knees on the mat. They both walled each other off and scooted back a bit.
“Goddamn, I know you’re excited but pump the brakes a little, spaz.” he put a hand to his forehead as a headache came on.
“I know, I know. But it’s our first real assignment!” she blinked her eyes to clear her head and hopped to her feet again. She cartwheeled across the mat and dove into a roll, landing next to Darren. She pushed him hard with both hands and fell back on the mat. They looked at eachother and let their walls drop slightly. He could feel pure bright energy emanating off of her.
Darren was excited himself, the airship had seemed amazing and he’d get a closer look at its engines and the large blimp-like structures at the top.
“Of course you’re thinking about the ship and its engines. We’re going to go on an assignment and you’re still obsessed with your machines.” she reached with a bare foot and lightly pushed his side.
“Hey I’m excited to see the ruins too. An ancient extinct race that was more advanced than y’all are now? That sounds like a good time.”
“You... are so boring.” Silvia laughed as she rolled onto her side, tucking an arm under her head. “Do you.. think we’re ready?” she asked hesitantly.
“I think we’re ready to ride on a ship and look through a ruin. If we’re ready for the rest depends on what’s there.” he shrugged. “But we’re tough, you’re gaining better control of more spells every day, and we’ll be with Av, Leon, and a handful of soldiers. How bad could it go?”
“We are tough.” her eyes narrowed as she stared into his.
He nodded, “But, we still need sleep like Leon said.” Darren stood and extended a hand to her.
She took it and he hoisted her small weight up quickly, she landed on her feet with a bounce.
“You think I’m going to sleep now?” she asked, staring at him from under furrowed eyebrows. “I might never sleep again.”
“Then lay in the dark, close your eyes and pretend.” he spun her around and put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her towards her door.
“Fine fine, I suppose that’s best. But only because I chose it, not because you told me.” her shoulders slumped as she opened the door to her rooms.
She turned to look at him again. “See you tomorrow, guardian.”
“See you tomorrow, princess.”
Mage. she shot back with a wry look.
They went their separate ways and collapsed onto their beds walling off their thoughts so they wouldn’t keep each other awake.