-3-
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By noon we had reached the checkpoint station.
Julius dismounted near a tree. He was mid way through kneeling down behind the tree when he stopped, walked back to his horse, and unlatched a buckle. His shield came loose from the saddle.
Good call, Julius.
I chuckled lightly at the dramatic way that he secured it to a fitting on his back.
Digging out a pair of binoculars from a belt pouch, he resumed kneeling behind the tree. After two minutes he gave me his verdict.
"It’s abandoned."
"You’re sure?"
"No patrols. No guards at all, actually. I’m sure."
We tied up our horses and made our way forward to scout the fort. In the center was a stone-brick barracks atop a hill, surrounded by eight bunkers. Each of those were sunken into the ground, with large earthwork fortifications winding around in front of them.
Two more permanent structures rose along the outpost’s southern border. A tall wooden tower was built above a stone workshop and a large wooden stable. The entire encampment was encircled by eight foot palisade walls.
The place was definitely abandoned, the outpost commander must have received news of the coup. Without new orders from Axio, they probably set up camp somewhere out of sight.
I noticed dried and faded rectangular patches of grass along the western edge that seemed to indicate a large number of temporary structures, like tents. There were over thirty patches in total.
If they were tents, then there was a larger force than normal stationed here. The barracks would have been ample housing for anyone stationed here, with room for more than two-hundred Divisionals. With all those tents added in, the force here would have exceeded over five-hundred.
Julius called out to me from atop the tower. I jogged over to the workshop and waited for him to come down.
A loud crash echoed from inside the stone building and I heard Julius yell out something incoherent. He stumbled through the doorway, kicking an odd shaped metal object. When he looked up and saw me, a look of embarrassment spread across his face.
In an effort to prevent me from poking fun, he quickly pointed out past the camp’s border.
"There's, uh… A break in the tree line over that way. It looked like it was cleared out to make room for wagons. My hunch is that the divisionals are holed up a few miles in."
I eyed the direction his finger was pointing in and we headed off to the edge of the outpost. Just like he thought, there were cart-wheel spaced depressions worn in the grass leading into the forest.
As we were walking back to our horses, I pulled my coin from my pocket. I turned back to look at Julius and continued to step backwards, raising an eyebrow at him.
He sighed.
"Heads..."
I sent the coin spinning through the air.
It landed neatly on the back of my hand and I covered it with the other.
"If it’s your call, what would your plan be?" I asked my irritated looking partner.
"I’d set up camp and light a fire near that break in the trees. I’m confident that they’re running patrols through the woods, one of those patrols checks in the outpost to look for disturbances.”
He paused to stretch his arms high above his head, letting out a long, dramatic, pained groan. “They find us, we play nice, and they take us to their new base. I’d also like to take advantage of the downtime to rest for a bit. I did get shot in the chest, remember?"
He smirked at me.
I pulled my hand back to reveal the face resting on the back of my hand. Tails. I smirked back at him.
"I’m sure you’re right, that a patrol will come by sooner or later—but I don’t want to risk the later part being too long, and have someone else notice a signal fire."
I tilted my hand back to show him the red-stained wings on the face of the coin. His eyes rolled.
"I think we’ll head into the forest and find them ourselves." I slowed my back-stepping pace to allow Julius to catch up and I placed my hand over his chestplate, "How's it feeling?"
"I’m fine." He batted my hand away instinctively—his face softened instantly, "I really am fine. I’m sorry for that."
We mounted up and rode past the borderline of the outpost and dense forest. Julius stared longingly at the treeline as we passed by. I knew he was tired, but we could rest once we were in the safety of the new camp.
The terrain was not particularly kind to the divisional wagons, as we passed four of them off the trailway, their wheels splintered and broken.
We rode for over an hour through the forest. Julius spotted the massive earthworks barricade a second before I did, his arm shot up in a tight fist at his shoulder’s level. We both pulled on our reins and came to a stop.
A small break in the treeline was ahead of us. The sun was still high enough in the sky that we could plainly see a field of green grass interrupted by the dusky tones of dirt piled up high. Tall cut timbers formed a wall behind the earthen trenches. We dismounted, moving closer on foot to get our bearings and do a little recon.
We were still about a thousand feet away from the structure.
"What are the chances they let us in the front do—" Julius cut himself off when a loud snap popped behind us.
I tried to spin around quickly. But as I turned, someone pushed me backwards and I fell down into a bushy growth.
Can today just be over already!?
I cried out in surprise when I hit the ground, a tough branch had left a cut across my leg during the fall.
A sword flashed in front of my face and the feeling of cold steel pressed against my neck.
"Don’t even think about moving," a voice said dryly. A loud whistle came from the forest. It echoed sharply through the woods, and was followed by the sounds of heavy steps running our direction.
I looked up at the person whose sword was threatening my life, and was relieved to see they were wearing the standard red and white uniform of the Vanixian Republic. She was in a mix of heavy and medium armor, a steel breastplate with leather pauldrons. I couldn’t make out her rank, as her body was turned away from me to keep an eye on Julius.
"Who in the Aether are you?" she demanded.
"Get that sword off her neck or you’ll regret it!" Julius snarled.
Celestials above, he’s going to get us killed. ‘Play nice and they’ll take us to their base’, he had said just an hour ago.
In response, a man appeared behind him. A plated fist contacted the back of Julius’ head, dropping him to the ground. Julius let out a groan of pain.
The man stepped into view and knelt down in front of me. He was wearing a full-plate uniform with Knight-Lieutenant's insignia painted around the collar plate. "You want to be more cooperative? Or maybe you want to eat some dirt, like your friend here." he sneered.
I needed to come up with something quick to defuse this situation.
"Maybe, you’d like to explain why you’ve assaulted a superior officer." I tilted my head slowly in a nod towards Julius, who was now struggling against two others, "and why you’re threatening a Commander?"
The Lieutenant glanced over at Julius and motioned for his men to pull him up. Julius’ insignia were easy to see in the sunlight through the canopy above.
The Lieutenant looked back at me, his expression now more stressed. The woman holding me at sword point shifted uneasily and looked to the man for direction.
"That is High-Protector Julius Adaemus." I said plainly, "And I am Commander Airis Vanixi."
The Lieutenant stiffened, his face went from stressed to outright distraught.
I hope that did the trick.
He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated for a moment. He cleared his throat and choked out, "That’s impossible. Commander Airis was killed in action."
"I was not."
"..."
He stared blankly at me. What kind of response do you give to that kind of logic? The woman at his side responded instead.
"You could be spies!" She cried out, and then pushed her sword closer to my neck, "You don’t even have a uniform on."
Julius interjected, "Yep, that’s us. Two spies, who’ve come all this way through the forest and then decided to just walk up to your gates."
"Makes us some pretty poor spies," I jumped in, "We’re here to see Commander Hailey Brooks."
The Lieutenant continued to stare at us, his eyes darted around between my face and Julius’. His shoulders finally relaxed and he sighed deeply, "Pearson, at ease. Lower your weapon and let her up." He then turned to Julius, "Tori, Garrett, let him go."
Julius was released and he jumped away from his two captors. He shook his arms and narrowed his eyes at them.
The Lieutenant looked back to me, "Your faces look familiar. I’ve seen both of your portraits at Command. So you’re both either really good imitations or you’re the real deal. Considering posing as two of the highest ranked members of our Republic to sneak into a base would be an idiotic idea, I’ll take you to see the Commander. She’ll recognize you if you really are who you claim to be."
"Great," I said as I struggled up from my leafy seat, "You know us, now how about we know you?"
The Lieutenant’s arm snapped to a salute, his right arm resting against his chest, "I am Knight-Lieutenant Luke Mitchell. Vice Commander of the Third Divisionals."
He pointed down the row of his party, who had fallen in behind him, "These are the rest of my patrol party, You’ve met Knight Murphy Pearson." his finger pointing at the woman whose sword had moments ago been digging into my skin.
"Adept Abigail Garrett and Initiate Alexander Tori" he pointed at the two who were wrestling with Julius.
"Crusader Mei Devins, Knight Aeko Monroe, and finally Adept Tatsuko Hirota" He took in a deep breath. "You can pester them for their life stories back in camp if you’d like, but we should get a move on. We’re past our check-in time and the guards at the gate get... worried, if we’re late."
I gave everyone a smile and an awkward wave. They looked exhausted, any pleasantries could wait until we got back to their camp. I wasn’t sure how to greet a party of soldiers that a moment ago were bearing arms down at us anyway.
"Lead the way Knight-Lieutenant."
We walked across the field with the scouting party. Julius held the reins to both our horses while I walked in the lead with Mitchell. I asked him questions about the state of things as we walked. He was reluctant to answer anything that pushed the boundary of Divisional operations, but I was persistent and got a few answers.
Julius made small talk with a few members in the scouting party. They seemed like good people. He even got a few of them to laugh.
We passed the earthwork checkpoint without any issues, the few men stationed there gave Julius and I odd looks but with Mitchell leading us on they went about their duties. Another hundred yards past the checkpoint and we came across another barricade, this one was much bigger and had large guard towers erected behind the walls.
As we neared the gates, a siren call rang out. The bustle of people running inside and the ‘thump’ of something heaving bracing against the wooden gate echoed through the open field.
A woman’s voice yelled out from atop one of the towers, "Halt! Identify yourselves!"
Mitchell let out a sigh and looked up towards the guard tower, "Hanna, it’s Luke. We’re back, and we need to see the Commander. We’ve got a situation."
"It’s patrol group seven, open the gate." she called down to somebody below. "I said open the gate! Now!"
Mitchell wasn’t kidding about them getting worried if they were late, this woman was absolutely flustered.
The gate swung open and we were met by twelve fully armed guardsmen. Hanna had come down from her post atop the tower, and was running towards Mitchell.
"Luke! I was worried when you didn’t come back on time—you’re an hour late! Are you hurt? What kind of situation? Who are these two? What happened out there?" she rattled off questions in rapid fire.
Mitchell’s hands were up in defense, "Whoa, Hanna, slow down," he pointed at me, "This is Commander Airis Vanixi." He then pointed at Julius, "And this is her second-in-command, High Protector Julius Adaemus.
Hanna snapped to attention her arm raised to her chest in salute, the guardsmen behind her mimicking the actions.
"At ease everyone," I gave a salute back with an awkward smile, "No need for all the formalities right now. We really need to see your commander."
Mitchell continued, "We spotted them on our way back from patrol and followed them through the forest. We confronted them just before the clearing. I’m sorry for the delay."
Hanna looked at Mitchell, "Did you need one of us to escort them or are you and your party taking them?"
"Don’t worry about it, I’ll take them. I want to see the look on Hailey’s face when she finds out Commander Vanixi has risen from the dead." He flashed a smirk back to me, "She was the one who told us that you fell in battle after all."
The gate closed behind us and the guards went back to their posts. Hanna walked with us for a while, and once we were out of guard’s line of sight, she wrapped herself around Mitchell in a hug.
"You’re not allowed to be late again, I was worried something had happened to you, Luke." Her voice was muffled, her face buried in his chest.
"I said I was sorry," Mitchell patted Hanna’s head and hugged her back, "Now you gotta let me go Hanna, I really don’t think Commander Vanixi would like to wait any longer to see Hailey."
"Of course, I’m sorry for keeping you Commander. Please keep an eye on Luke for me. Don’t let him cause you any trouble with Hailey."
Hanna started back to the gate post. I looked at Mitchell with a raised eyebrow. The scouting party members all looked away and pretended they didn’t see anything.
His hands fidgeted and his eyes darted around.
"We… Uh, we’re all childhood friends. Hanna, the Commander, and I."
"Hey, I didn’t say anything." I laughed.
Divisional regulations didn’t lay out specific guidelines on professional conduct. Some officers made it a big deal if you called a superior officer by their first name, but it was mostly because they were nobles. The noble classes in Axio often got uppity and offended when ‘commoners’ addressed them by their first names.
"It's refreshing to be around people who aren’t so wrapped up in silly city etiquette."
Mitchell gave me a knowing smile and we followed the rest of the group that had walked up a small hill.
Reaching the top I saw the rest of the camp. A sea of canvas tents filled the large clearing. There were hundreds of people moving about their business.
This is insane, there are way more people here than I thought.
A few large tents were scattered about, Mitchell pointed them out as we walked towards the center; a medical bay, a mess hall, and a blacksmith.
"There is an artificer at the blacksmith, a dwarven lass, goes by Dörien. She’s a very skilled craftsman. She was with some refugees that joined us when we fled Axio."
We passed by a makeshift stable on our way in and turned over our horses. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder. Julius grabbed his as well, but then must have decided against lugging around the heavy thing because he left it with the stable attendant.
Our group finally arrived at a large tent that was smack dab in the center of the camp. Noticeably, there were a few guards stationed around this tent. Mitchell stopped and talked with one of the guards near the entrance. He pointed at us and the guard’s eyes locked on to me. The guard gave a salute and Mitchell motioned for us to follow him in.
"They’re in a meeting right now. Apparently it has been going on for about three hours."
Mitchell flashed a hand signal and his party members dispersed as we entered the tent.
Inside there was a large crude timber table and a number of chairs and stools, all with occupants. A cherry-red haired woman sat at one end. She was silently glaring at the others seated at the table, who were arguing loudly over each other.
Should we try and get her attention somehow?
Julius ribbed his elbow into my side and whispered, "Want me to call her over for you?"
I let out a quiet squeak and moved to put myself behind him.
“N-no… We can wait for them to finish up.”
He glanced down at me and raised an eyebrow.
“What’s up with you?”
“Nothing is up with me!” I hissed back at him.
The meeting members were too engrossed in their yelling match to notice us. I tuned Julius out, before he could start to tease me, focusing on the meeting going on instead.
"There are barely enough rations to last another three weeks! We need to organize new hunting and foraging parties."
"Bah, rations are the least of our problems if we don’t get our hearths stocked with something heartier than these pines. We’ll freeze before starving to death."
"The medical bay is at capacity looking after the sick and wounded, we need to be mindful of work shifts to not over tax our population. People are stressed beyond their limits!"
"We don’t have enough raw iron to equip the initiates who have enlisted from the refugee pool. We have men and women whose duty armaments are made of wood."
"We don’t have the manpower or resources to form a survey team to look for ore deposits. We’ll just have to re-purpose some non-essentials, like cutlery, and make hardened spearheads."
And so continued the needs and gripes of a makeshift camp...
Hailey’s gaze drifted over our direction during a lull, her eyes moved right past me, hiding behind Julius in my rugged leather outfit and messy appearance, locking onto him. Her face twisted in puzzlement.
Julius’ gaudy officer's uniform screamed ‘look at me’ with its golden trim. Paired with the crimson red armor he was wearing now—he stuck out in a crowd.
Her eyes grew wide when she recognized him. Julius slowly and calmly pointed at me, her gaze followed.
Hailey let out a high-pitched squeal, nearly falling out of her seat.
The others gathered at the table all fell silent and stared at her, as she was now trying to squirm out of her seat.
She freed herself and yelled, "Meetings over!"
A few of the attendees tried to voice their disapproval of the abrupt end, but the dissenters were met with a death glare, “I said, the meeting is over.”
Nobody wasted any time shuffling out of the tent.
Hailey ran full speed into me, sending us both tumbling to the ground.
“Gaaah!”
I reached out to Julius in an attempt to stop my descent, but as I fell backwards a wicked grin spilled across his face.
We hit the earthen floor with a thud and I let out a pitiful groan.
Hailey’s exuberant smile and rosy-pink eyes filled my view. She grabbed my hands and exclaimed, "You’re not dead! You survived! And you’re here!"
I stared up at her as she continued rambling. After the excitement for my miraculous return faded enough for her to regain some composure; she turned her attention to Julius. She began a rapid fire beratement session, blaming him for letting me be captured.
Her arms flailed as she cursed up a storm. I was still pinned to the ground and was starting to get my senses back.
Hailey was straddling me at my waist, jostling around wildly while arguing with Julius. Overtaken with embarrassment I closed my eyes and tried not to make any noise.
Nnnnnngh!
“Hey, Airis. Why’s your face look like that?”
My eyes popped open and Julius was peering down at me.
Hailey had stopped squirming around and was looming over me as well. “Are you okay? You look really red—You’re not getting sick are you!?”
“N-no! It's not that, it’s—nevermind! Just let me up!”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She hurried off of me and Julius reached out a hand. I glared at him with narrowed eyes. I swatted it out of the way and scrambled up on my feet by myself.
“Is your face stuck in that weird look now or something?” He turned to Hailey, “I think you might have broken her with that tackle.”
“My face isn’t broken, Julius!”
I huffed and stomped away from him.
Hailey followed after me and jumped ahead of me. A great big smile was spread across her face.
“I really am happy to see you.”
She took a step back and looked me over. "But, Commander, you’re out of uniform." She teased. She placed her arms on her hips and her smile turned to a smirk, "That is so unlike you."
"Well, you see," I raised my arms in playful defense, "the guards down at the prison didn’t give me a chance to change before we left Axio. Also, the service there was terrible. I wanted to leave a review but Julius was adamant that we left in a hurry."
She paused to take in my excuse and started giggling, "I guess I’ll accept that as an answer."
She let herself laugh for a moment, but then let her arms fall, "I am so glad you’re safe. I thought you were dead!"
"Yeah, I heard that. From your man over there actually." I pointed to Mitchell, who was now slowly backing out of the tent, "It made for a rather tense first impression."
Hailey peaked around me, "Oh, Luke! I didn’t even see you were here. You found Airis on your patrol? That certainly is lucky."
Mitchell stopped moving, but wouldn’t make eye contact with Hailey, "It’s more like she found us really. We, uh… stopped them just before one of the checkpoints."
Hailey stepped around me and glared up at Mitchell.
"Luuuuke. What did you do? Why won’t you look at me?"
With an exasperated look, he twisted towards me, then to Julius, then back to me. He finally settled with his down facing Hailey. One arm came up over his shoulder and he let out a deep exhale.
"You said she was dead. So when some lady comes trampling through the woods claiming to be Commander Airis Vanixi, Pearson may have inferred that she could have been a spy… And she may have also pointed a sword at her neck."
Hailey continued to glare at Mitchell.
A single bead of sweat raced down his face.
"..."
Hailey finally broke the tension, "Well, she isn’t wearing a uniform. And I thought she was dead… So I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t believe her. But what kind of idiotic spies would try to impersonate two of the highest ranking members of our Divisionals? That’s just silly."
"Uh, yeah. I had that thought as well. It was a long day, and following them through the forest put us off schedule by an hour."
"Ooooooh you were late to check back in? Did Hanna rally the troops and race into the forest to save you?" Hailey chuckled.
"She did not."
Julius let out a cough.
"But it looked like she was pretty close to it, though." I chimed in, "They were geared up and ready when we came through that gate."
"That’s our Hanna for you." Hailey replied.
Hailey looked at Mitchell with a big grin, "Luke, why don’t you take Julius and square away a tent for these two. Set it up near mine—make sure it's a nice one."
"Will do. I’ll come find you once we get it setup."
Mitchell and Julius left the command tent. Hailey fell back into her chair at the table and let out a long drawn out sigh.
"That bad here, huh?"
"We have more problems than solutions, it seems. We’re a divisional army, not a logistics committee. I just don’t have answers for problems, unless I can cast a spell at it to fix it."
"It sounds like most of the issues are mundane in the grand scheme of things. I’m just guessing, but that group was probably all nobles? They like to squawk about problems and make them seem much larger than they truly are."
Hailey pondered for a minute, her finger tapping her chin. "They were all nobles." She stopped tapping and pointed her finger at me, "But hey, we’re nobles too ya’ know. I don’t squawk."
"I don’t squawk either, but that's because we’re a different breed than the political noble houses."
"Yeah, you have a point there," she got up and grabbed my hand, "Come on, I’ll show you around! We can get you something more fitting than those street clothes and leather wrappings."
Hailey led me around the camp, introducing me to everyone we passed by.
This woman is crazy, how are you on a first name basis with hundreds of people?
Everyone seemed like they were in good spirits. The camp had a large training area laid out with an endurance and agility course. There were some guardsmen practicing attacks against dummies with wooden swords.
Recalling one of the issues from the meeting, I thought those could likely be their duty weapons, and not just training weapons.
We finally stopped at one of the large tents. This tent was different from the others, it encircled a stone structure and smoke could be seen rising from the center. It was surrounded by a few wagons that were packed with crates. The clang of metal rang out from the tent.
"This is our supply depot and blacksmith. If we’re gonna get you outfitted, this is the place."
Hailey stepped inside.
I hesitated for a moment, but followed in after her.
In front of me was a large makeshift smeltery and forge. Two figures were working around the forge. A dark haired woman wearing a thick leather apron and a face mask. And a short, stout woman with long copper colored hair and goggles on her face.
I’m guessing that's the dwarf Mitchell was talking about earlier.
She looked up and waved at us. "Heya, Hailey. Who ye’ got there wit’ ya’?"
"Heya, Dori, this is Commander Airis Vanixi, the lady that made it possible for all of us to escape Axio during the insurrection." Hailey turned to me, "Airis, this is Dörien the artificer."
Dörien put down her hammer and pulled her goggles up on her head. "Aye? This ‘ers the lassie then. Nice ta’ meet ya’."
The clang of hammer swings continued behind her as the other woman was still working. Dörien turned around and shouted at her, "Oi! Ye’ just gonnae sit back there an’ ignore Hailey?"
The woman gave two final swings of her hammer and lifted the steel she was working on up to inspect it. She then quenched it in a water barrel and walked over to us. She pulled down her facemask, "Afternoon Commander, and… guest? Haven’t seen you around before."
"Hi Rhia, this is Commander Airis. She was the one who stayed behind during the retreat from Axio."
"Oh is that so? I heard you were dead—actually come to think of it… Hailey, you were the one who told me she was dead." Rhia gave Hailey a scowling look.
"Aye, ye’ did tell us the lassie was dead."
Hailey let out an awkward chuckle, "Heh, well turns out I was wrong."
"It’s nice to meet you both." I gave a quick wave and nudged Hailey, "She told me you might be able to get me equipped in something a bit more suiting. I pieced together what was available, and you can see what I’ve currently got isn’t anything great."
"Actually, you may be in luck."
Rhia got close to me. Personal levels of close. She started looking me over. She grabbed my upper arm and forearm, and started squeezing.
"Oh yeah, you’re gonna be just perfect. I just finished the steel for a longsword. Nice quality blade, going to be a twenty strength requirement once I’m finished. Which is too high for most of the folks needing to be geared up."
Hailey clapped excitedly, "Wonderful! A sword works for you right, Airis?"
"I, uh…" I stammered.
I could use something a bit more close and personal. Especially if I found myself in another situation like this morning. Julius would probably appreciate it if I could back him up with a blade when things get dicey.
"Yeah, a sword would be perfect."
I’ll just have Julius run me through some pointers and maybe I can learn a skill or two from him with enough training.
"Great! Oh, and Dori," Hailey poked at Dörien, "would you be able to spice it up with some of your E and E talents?"
E and E, what in the Aether is that?
"Aye, ye’ just let me know what kindae enchants yer’ lookin’ fer’. An’ if ye’ got any materials for ‘em."
I was puzzled. But Dörien was looking to me for a reply.
"Oh, uhm… I don’t think I have anything like that on me. I don’t even know the first thing on what kind of enchants you’d even be able to put on a sword."
Rhia was heading back to the forge but turned back, She must have noticed the look of bewilderment on my face because she explained it for me, "Well, Dori specializes in fire and earth enchants and enhancements. So if you had any materials that are aligned with those elements she could imbue the blade with it."
I pulled my pack around and set it down on a table. A little bit of digging and I produced the fangs and scales from the demon-wolves.
"Would these work, or are there too few of them to do anything?"
Dörien put her goggles back over her eyes and inspected a fang closely. She put it back on the table and tapped it a few times with her finger.
"Hmmm."
She grabbed her hammer and slammed it down on one of the fangs. I flinched, expecting shards of fang to fly out everywhere. But there was not even a scratch on the fang.
"Aye, these‘ll work."
Rhia was back at her station and was working on the blade steel. Dörien took the fangs and scales and went over to her station and started scrawling something on a piece of parchment.
Hailey led me out of the tent.
"Let’s give them some time to work on that for you. We can plunder some of the crates outside for armor and get you fitted into something nice."
We scrounged through the top crate, and after about forty minutes we found a single bracer that looked like it would be a good fit.
Searching all of these crates on our own was going to be excruciating.
Hailey answered my unspoken call for help by calling over some soldiers who were passing by. She suckered them into our endeavor. A few crates later, one giant mess of equipment, and another hour's time; I had a full set of new armor.
Hailey helped get me fitted in a small tent nearby and we put my old gear in a drop-off crate for the blacksmith staff to take a look and see if it was worth salvaging.
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
EMBOSSED LEATHER TUNIC
+28 Armor
+3 Toughness
+2 Finesse
A high-quality supple leather tunic with decorative wings on the chest, and golden trim.
STEEL CHESTPLATE
+45 Armor
+5 Toughness
A high-quality steel chestguard with matching pauldrons.
EMBOSSED LEATHER BOOTS
+12 Armor
+1 Swiftness
A high-quality pair of boots with great gripping tread.
STEEL-BRACED WRISTGUARDS
+15 Armor
+1 Reflex
Fine leather wristguards with plated bracers.
DAMASK GLOVES
+5 Armor
Fine silk weave gloves.
DAMASK BLOUSE
+5 Armor
A fine silk weave blouse.
STEEL-BRACED LEGGUARDS
+15 Armor
+1 Reflex
Fine leather leggings with plated legguards.
EMBOSSED LEATHER BELT
+1 Finesse
+2 Reflex
A high-quality leather belt with a golden buckle and attachment for a scabbard.
"So, what do you think Hailey? Do I look like a respectable Commander now?" I strutted around a little bit, and flashed her a wicked grin.
"You certainly look closer to the part. Oh, I should have a spare uniform and set of insignias back in my tent, I can give them to you tonight. Then it’ll be official." she gave me a wink, "Let's go check in with Dori and Rhia."
Hailey grabbed my arm and led me back into the blacksmith’s tent.
Dörien was leaning over her workstation fidgeting with a strange tool. Laying across the table was a long angled blade. Its hilt consisted of an extraordinarily long handle that was wrapped tightly in a grooved black-leather, a slender angled pommel, and was missing a guard. The hilt was a dark ebony black, that looked like it absorbed the light around it.
The blade of the sword had the same ebony color through the first half on the back of the blade, and then was elegantly given way to a dark gray steel edge along the flat at the midway point. The tip came to a point with a sharp angled curve. The entire blade arced very subtly from the pommel to the tip in an almost unnoticeable ‘S’ curve.
Rhia hovered over Dörien like a gargoyle, her eyes were glued to the blade. Hailey and I crept closer, trying not distract them from their sword crafting ritual.
Dörien shouted something I couldn’t understand, then brought a long metal stamping tool out. With one of the fangs in her hand she channeled some magick until it glowed a bright red, she then placed it onto the blade, lining up the stamping tool. She brought a hammer out and struck the metal stamp down onto the fang.
A brilliant flash of light spilled through the tent followed by a loud high-pitched ringing. Hailey and I both brought our arms up to cover our ears but the ringing didn’t lessen in its intensity.
Dörien laughed with wild abandon.
"No use in ye’ tryin’ to stop tha’ ringin’ there Commanders."
The light faded down and the ringing stopped.
Rhia was now practically drooling over the sword, which had taken on a dark crimson glow. Blood-red runes were etched along the flat of the blade. Their glow pulsated down the edge in a breathing rhythm.
Rhia’s hands trembled over the blade.
"It’s… perfect!" she looked up and saw Hailey and I, "Oh good you’re back—with great timing." She motioned for us to come forward, "Come on, take a look! I already sharpened the blade before Dori did her thing, so it’s ready to go. Give it a swing."
I looked down at the blade, measuring the handle size with my eyes. I grasped the blade with both hands.
It was incredibly light, but the balance felt off. I switched stance and held it in just my left hand.
That’s much better.
The handle was long but the sword had been balanced to definitely be a one-handed blade.
I raised the blade up and swung out in front of me. My arm felt a strange pressure build up, and without any warning—the back of the blade erupted in a dark-crimson flame.
"Eeep!"
I let out a yelp in surprise and the three others jumped behind the workstation for cover as I stood there holding a burning sword.
Oh wow! What do I do? Is this going to burn down the tent?
I looked over at the three women for help. But wasn’t met with any. Hailey cowered behind Dörien, who was behind Rhia.
Rhia’s eyes were wide in amazement. She stared at the sword and whispered.
"It’s… incredible."
"Aye, It’s a masterpiece ‘alright. But doncha’ be burnin’ down ma’ forge!" Dörien exclaimed.
Hailey remained silent, in awe of the glowing flames.
I inspected the blade with a tap of my wrist. Maybe there was something about the weapon’s attributes or details that will help me handle it.
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
CRIMSON BLADE
85-157 Damage
+10 Sanity
An exquisite tempered steel blade imbued with demonic fire.
When wielded, it ignites in SOULFIRE.
Bound.
Whoa!
The stats on this weapon were incredible. The master smiths in Axio could make items like this, but they would cost a fortune. This sword could be worth more than most noble’s manors.
It looked like the flames were activated when the blade was wielded. So maybe if I just set the sword down… I gently set the sword on the workstation and the flames subdued.
"Phew!"
I wanted to find out what the SOULFIRE effect did. It sounded interesting. And I wasn’t sure what it meant by ‘Bound’. I tapped my rune and a new visual came into view.
SPELL
SCHOOL
CLASS
DESCRIPTION
SOULFIRE
Fire
Combat
Items affected by this spell are engulfed in a powerful flame.
Attacks will deal splashing damage to nearby foes.
Critical strikes have a chance to apply a curse that ignites the target's nerves; causing extreme damage.
"Ooooo…"
I was practically drooling while reading the dancing words on the interface. Hailey placed a hand on my shoulder and waved a hand in front of my face.
"Airis, is everything alright?"
She snapped me out of my trance.
"What? Yeah, it’s just… this weapon is beyond incredible." I turned around to look at the two responsible. "Really, it's incredible. I can’t thank you enough for this. It’s leagues above what I was imagining."
Rhia bowed sincerely, "No, thank you! If it wasn’t for you, Dori and I would be trapped in that city… or worse."
"That’ll do a ‘ell of a lot more damage than tha’ splinter on ‘yer back."
I chuckled, "It sure will. I truly appreciate your work."
The doorway to the blacksmith’s tent came open and Mitchell and Julius stepped inside.
"Ahh, we finally found you." Mitchell called out. He walked over to Hailey and after saying something quietly, they stepped outside.
Julius came over to me and let out a whistle.
"Looking like a proper Commander there, Airis. Nice to see you in something that isn’t so ragged. The Knight-Lieutenant and I got a tent and…"
His voice trailed off when he got close enough to see the blade laying on the table
"...and—what is that!?"
"Oh, this? Just my new favorite thing in this world. Sorry Julius, you’ve been replaced."
I picked the Crimson Blade back up and gave it a quick slash through the air, sending the dark flames into a rage. Julius stared for a while and finally mouthed a single word.
"Fantastic."
"Commander, would you come here a moment?" Rhia called out from her workstation. She brought up a dark-scaled scabbard, strapping it onto the attachment fittings on my belt.
"I used the scales you brought with you. They should be resistant enough to the flame that it will be safe to sheathe your blade."
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
DEMON SCALE SCABBARD
Fire Resistance
A high-quality sword scabbard made from demonic scales.
In awe of the blacksmith’s work once more, I bowed to her in appreciation.
"Again, Rhia. I am incredibly thankful for your work."
I sheathed the blade and the flames rescinded once again. I looked at Julius, who still looked a little awestruck, and motioned for us to leave.
Hailey and Mitchell were still talking, but upon seeing us emerge from the tent cut their conversation short.
"Airis, I have to go take care of a situation with the Consulate members. I guess they didn’t appreciate me sending them all away earlier, and a few of them have been causing a scene at the command tent. Give me a few hours to get things calmed down, meet me there?"
"Sure thing, Hails, no worries. I’ll show Julius around some of the places you led me through, so he can get his bearing on the camp."
We departed and I walked Julius back through the camp. There were a lot more people around this time, the sun was starting to go down and the camp residents were settling down for the night. I elected to forgo any introductions with the camp residents to Julius. The both of us weren’t social creatures after all.
As we approached the training area Julius stopped me.
"Hey, If you’re really eager to get a chance to use that new sword of yours. We can give your sword skills a little practice."
It wasn't that I didn’t focus on combat skill training. It had more to do with my administration duties, that always outweighed any need to train in martial weapons.
I had some basic courses while in the Academy at least.
I nodded my head at Julius in agreement.
"They could use it. It's a good thing I know a really great swordsman."
A smirk grew on Julius’ face and he let out a light laugh, "Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you already had planned to ask me to show you some ‘cool sword skills’, huh."
"So what if I did," I stuck my tongue out at him, "You are my best friend. You’d never say no to me."
The training site was cleared out, save for a few guards. We found a small area near a free wooden dummy and he began to show me some basic stance poses and a slash attack.
After an hour, I felt as if I was about to collapse. My breathing was heavy, my arms ached, and I was drenched in sweat. I slumped against a tree stump nearby and sent a mental call.
I’m ready for death. Take me now, Gemini. I’m ready—Julius threw a water canteen at me.
As I hydrated and waited for my breathing to catch up, I reviewed my new notifications.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» STRENGTH HAS INCREASED TO 25
» TOUGHNESS HAS INCREASED TO 8
» VITALITY HAS INCREASED TO 23
» ENDURANCE HAS INCREASED TO 9
» STAMINA HAS INCREASED TO 26
» AGILITY HAS INCREASED TO 9
» SWIFTNESS HAS INCREASED TO 12
» PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED TO 6
» REFLEX HAS INCREASED TO 11
» DEXTERITY HAS INCREASED TO 27
» FINESSE HAS INCREASED TO 8
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOU HAVE LEARNED NEW SKILLS:
» NEW ACTION CLASS COMBAT SKILL, BATTLE STANCE
» NEW ACTION CLASS COMBAT SKILL, BLADE SLASH
"Great work. You’ll be a master swordswoman in no time."
Julius hadn’t broken a sweat at all, even though he was doing the same work I was doing. I had a ways to go before I could call myself a master anything. In between breaths I managed to get out a mangled word.
"T—thanks…"
----------------------------------------
When we arrived at the command tent we were assaulted by the pleasant fragrance of fresh bread and an unplaceable spicy aroma.
We greeted the guards and were told that Hailey had finished her meeting so we were welcome to head inside.
The meeting table had been converted into a dining table, complete with a large covering cloth and silverware. A meal had already been prepared. From the meaty smell, it was likely wild game brought in from the hunting parties.
It smells good, whatever it is.
Hailey was fussing over the placement of a candelabra with one of the attendants when she noticed us come in.
"Airis! Good you’re back! Take a seat and dig in! I’m sure you’re hungry and—oh, you’re filthy."
Her face went from cheerful to worried in a split second.
With a quick gesture another attendant brought over a wash basin and a towel.
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment and I gave my face a quick scrub.
"Less of a mess?"
"Much better!" she clapped her hands, "Now dig in, we have a lot to discuss after dinner."