With a sharp gasp, Kaz awakens violently from a pool of his own blood. He had no idea what time it was, only that night had fallen while he was unconscious. Very slowly, Kaz managed to stand and support himself with the wall of the cottage. The weird foggy presence that Kaz thought he saw was gone, but he barely took notice of that since he lost enough blood to die. Although at this point the fact that he should have been dead wasn’t exactly in his top priority at the moment.

“Gaaa…..damn….it hurts…” Kaz grit his teeth at the pain he was feeling from the wound deep in his chest. He looked around the cottage, hoping to find medical supplies of some sort. Kaz found some long bandages and a couple poultices, wrapping them haphazardly around his torso in his hurry to alleviate some of the pain.

[Why did Master Ahriman’s cottage just have to be so messy? I thought apothecaries were supposed to be organized…or something like that. Maybe the intruder was the one who threw everything around looking for something. THE INTRUDER!! ]

Lost in thought and delirious with pain, Kaz only just remembered that there had been an assassin who killed Ahriman, and nearly killed Kaz too. [I have to get back to the Citadel to report this to Lord Zhakar. Zhakar won’t be pleased since he lost the best apothecary he ever had, but…this could be part of a bigger plan]. Kaz quickly stumbled out of the cottage and back onto the forest path in the direction of the fortress.

Unfortunately, the trip that would have taken him just under an hour uninjured took Kaz a little over two and a half hours. Kaz’s chest wound still throbbed with intense pain for each step he took on the lonely road. As he rounded a corner and limped out of the woods, the burning Citadel stopped Kaz stone cold in his tracks. His jaw dropped down to the dirt floor, as the view ahead of Kaz was incomprehensible to his mind.

The Blood Citadel was the second most fortified stronghold in the Empire of Klavan, the most protected being the Granite Keep in Klavan’s capital of Samara. The Blood Citadel was a heavily garrisoned castle town about a mile in diameter. A huge stone fortress took up half of that space, projecting the military might of Klavan into the area just outside of the Pass for miles around. The rest of the castle town was made primarily for the purpose of supplementing the huge military force always on alert there. Several large smithies provided a constant supply of new weapons and armor while allowing for the repairs of any equipment sent to them. Being the military outpost that it is, there was a small temple dedicated to Klarsus the God of War. Barracks and stables were in a well-organized section of the town, with most of the soldiers except the Lord’s Guard residing there. The Lord’s Guard was a company consisting of the 150 most elite soldiers available at the Citadel. Anybody could join the Guard, provided that they challenge and defeat one of the existing guards in single combat. Already existing members of the Guard held great prestige, so they trained every day to hone their skills so that they would not lose their position. In this way Zhakar’s Guard was constantly being tested by the enemy and their own comrades in the Citadel’s military division. With the constant attempts by the Janaro military to breach the Pass, the Citadel’s soldiers saw the most combat out of any military force in Klavan. Therefore, these troops were among the most battle hardened and well trained troops in the Klavan military.

[But that’s clearly the Janaroian flag on the top tower of the Citadel…the Purple Ship on a golden background is unmistakable]. Kaz was in awe, as he was just in time to catch the end of the rout of the Klavan elite. Looking down onto the plains, Kaz noticed that the majority of the Klavan force was not dead, they chose to make a tactical retreat instead of fighting a losing battle. This only meant that the fortress itself was the first thing to be captured, and this thought chilled Kaz to the bone. [Father, Alexei, and Master Kahaz…are they still alive? I know Lord Zhakar wouldn’t abandon the Citadel if he was still able to swing a sword…but…I need to get closer…]

Realizing the need to find out what happened, Kaz raced down the slope of the hill as fast as he could, ignoring the burning pain as best he could. Halfway down, there was a clearing where a single surviving Klavan soldier was trying to fend off four Janaro mercenaries. He was bleeding from a several deep gashes in his chest, arms, and face. The injured swordsman was breathing heavily, gasping for air really, as he sought to fend off the three enemy swordsman while the last stood back. In a cruel twist, Kaz arrived just in time to see the three Janaro warriors run the Klavan man through with their broadswords.

[Shit. Shit. Shit. This was a Klavan squad that was wiped out] Kaz’s gaze lingered on the bodies of the five dead Klavan soldiers.

“Ah, so there’s a straggler here eh?” The Janaro sergeant sneered as he noticed Kaz standing in shock. Three impassive faces grinned as the Janaro grunts looked toward Kaz. Prospects of making sport out of a helpless, hated enemy considerably brightened up their dispositions. Kaz tried to turn and run, but the moment he tried a forceful impact knocked him off of his feet and into a nearby tree.

“AAHHGHK,” Kaz screamed as his shoulder shattered. Within several seconds the sergeant had fired an arrow into Kaz’ left shoulder, piercing the bone and pinning him to a tree. “AAAHHH,” Kaz’ mind nearly went blank with pain as his body weight caused him to snap the arrow and fall down, stretching the now profusely bleeding hole in his shoulder some more.

“Filthy Klavan pig. How are you going to pay me for the arrow that you just broke? Take a break boys, I’ll personally teach this craven barbarian some real manners.” Kaz managed to look up just as the sergeant kicked at Kaz’ face.

*Thunk,* the sergeant’s boot made a dull noise as it collided with the side of Kaz’ face. Blood sprayed in an arc from Kaz’s mouth as he desperately tried to raise his arms to protect his head, but only his right arm would respond. His left arm had been rendered unresponsive due to the massive trauma inflicted upon it via the sergeant’s composite longbow. Blow after blow rained down on Kaz’ body as the sergeant made sport out of beating an innocent. Meanwhile, the three swordsman laughed and jeered at this brutal scene.

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“Haha yeah! Git him good Sarge!”

“They’re all traitors anyways! I think they’re beneath the slaves back at home.”

“Maybe we should keep this one as a slave?”

“You’re a blind idiot, Mago. Don’t you see what remains of his left arm? That ruin isn’t going to heal without a priestess casting some serious healing magic on it, not even going to mention healing it with a sling and rest.”

“Eh, I guess you’re right. I think he might also have a chest would. See how he howls in pain when the sergeant kicks him in the chest or back?”

“Maybe one of his own backstabbed him. Gods know that’s what their traitor founder did back when nothing but praise and honor was given to him.”

After several minutes of nonstop blows, the sergeant pulled Kaz up to his knees. “Hey brat, you look like one of those bastards in that crappy castle over there. I think he might have been the steward or something.”

“Fa-father…..” Kaz barely managed to gasp out in surprise and horror.

“Ah-ha! So you must be the leftovers that we were looking for. You know, your father tried to protect the dog-lord at first. This was before we botched your brother’s execution. We were supposed to cut his head off, it was supposed to be a clean cut from a righteous Janaro blade. He resisted, so we cut off his hands and pushed him off the battlements.” The sergeant relished telling the gruesome details of his brother’s death to the stricken Kaz. “Your father, well, he lost all signs of resistance after your brother was pushed off and died. Well he’s probably dead after falling a hundred feet onto hard stone. The Blood Citadel sure is made of some sturdy rocks. It was no fun after that, so I personally ran the sorry man through with my sword. I hope you understand.” Chuckling to himself, the sergeant spared no details.

An intense hatred ran through Kaz’s mind at these revelations. His father was dead. His brother Alexei was dead. The Lord was either captured or dead. Presumably everybody he had ever known was to be killed or enslaved and sent back to the distant lands of Janaro as spoils of war.

[Why…am I so helpless…I…never asked for this.] Kaz’s thoughts turned to despair. He saw no way out of his current situation. [Nobody’s going to come to my aid, my family is dead or missing, and my life is about to come to an end. At the very least I will attempt to anger this….dirtbag….] A defiant light lit up in Kaz’s eyes. He hawked up a globule of blood in an instant, and spat it all over the sergeant’s face.

“What? Bloooghh….YOU LITTLE BRAT.” Furious, disgusted, and surprised, the sergeant dropped Kaz as he reeled from the abnormally thick blood now present all over his face and armor.

“Ha! He got you there Sarge!”

“Who’s cleaning that off? I’m sure not doing it. Hey Mapen are you game to scrub the Sarge’s armor? He might finally give you that raise you’re looking for.”

“Mintho, you’re so stupid. Why would I get a raise from washing Sarge’s armor? That’s his slaves’ job. Are you implying that—“

“SHUT UP!!!” roared the sergeant. “Magos, Mintho, Mapen, you three fools are going to be on double shifts once we get back to camp.” The three swordsman promptly shut their mouths and stood at attention, glee filling their eyes. It was not every day that you watched your rude boss get covered with something disgusting.

“I guess you’ve lived long enough kid. I was about to give you a quick death by slitting your throat, but now that you’ve embarrassed me, it’s about to get….messy. I think I’ll break your neck, and leave you to the wolves. I hear from the scouts that there’s direwolves in the area. They’re known to play with their food, so you’ll still be suffering for a while yet. I don’t know how you’re still alive or conscious, but this will put an end to that.” The sergeant reached out to snap Kaz’s neck, but stopped just before his hands reached the goal.

*AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE* A piercing shriek stopped the sergeant completely, and when he turned to look at the sound his face went pale. Tendrils of white fog materialized between the three swordsman and the sergeant and gathered into an incorporeal being. He…or it…had hollow sunken eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be a tattered silver robe. The apparition reached a hand out to the corpses lying on the field and sent a wave of sickly energy into them. Nothing happened for a second, then the corpses all bloated up and exploded in a shower of gore and putrid bile.

The rotten flesh that resulted from this explosion shot out in all directions, hitting every living person there except for Kaz. In an instant, the three swordsman and the sergeant’s flesh began to rot in front of their eyes. A smug smile appeared on the apparition’s face, turning into a wide grin as the Janaro squad died screaming silently since their vocal cords had disintegrated into a pool of blood.

[What…is…that…it looks a bit like…Ahriman!?!?] Kaz’s last thoughts before he fell unconscious were that of surprise, and satisfaction that the cruel Janaro soldiers died before him.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not dying on me you dumb apprentice.” Ahriman’s wraith gathered the lingering death energy of the four soldiers, and pumped it into Kaz’s broken body. Muscles reattached, bruises vanished, and bones restructured themselves as the death energy of the soldiers was used to force Kaz’s body to stay alive. For over an hour, the apparition used the energy generated by the soldier’s deaths to repair every physical problem with Kaz.

[Whether or not his mind is still there I don’t know. But I’ve done all I can for his flesh. All that remains is to see if this gamble paid off.] Ahriman mused to himself. Satisfied with his work, Ahriman let go of his wraith form, becoming a chilly mist once more.

He then dived into Kaz’s body, waiting patiently for the time when Kaz would wake up.