CHAPTER THREE

Kogan Keep, Koga

9th Month, 1st Day, 24th Year, The Quiet Age

After Iskul finished giving his report the meeting hall had broken out into an absolute pandemonium. People of varying importance shouted back and forth at the top of their lungs as their attendants ran around trying to put their master’s orders into action. It was clear that they were facing a threat that was unknown to them, and that scared all the officials present beyond known reason.

Believing the news to be too important to leave in the hands of a spatial mage or be sent by message spell, Father ordered a messenger to ride to the capital immediately to deliver the news we had just received and request an army of reinforcements. That wasn’t much of a surprise when you considered how easy it was to tamper with the aforementioned methods but I had assumed that due to the gravity of the threat that speed would be more important. Many of my father’s vassals voiced similar opinions on the matter, but Ilan could not be swayed. Baron Terkiege, one of the various minor vassals in the back row, chose that moment to mutter something disrespectful under his breath. Ilan noticed the man’s hushed whispers and dared the baron to speak. At first, I thought the man would do the right thing and apologize, but his feelings on the matter had clearly gotten to him.

“Your grudge with the Mage’s Guild will be the death of us all! I urge you my lord to reconsider-”

“Thank you for voicing your opinion. Please leave this hall immediately.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You aren’t welcome here anymore. Take your family and leave my lands as soon as possible.” The man looked like he wanted to argue but before he could Ilan dropped one final threat on the man. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

The man grit his teeth in anger, but did eventually leave. After he had finally left the hall and the doors shut behind him, Sir Ferris let out a sigh before turning back to Ilan.

“Are you sure that was wise? We’re going to need his troops.”

“I currently don’t have the time or energy to take care of any overly-ambitious idiots. For a man of his age to not realize the consequences of an alliance with the mage’s guild at this point is absolutely ridiculous. Besides, he’s always been pretty well useless in a fight and I can’t afford to waste valuable resources on political patsy.”

“But still; Terkiege isn’t just a regular noble, he’s a baron for crying out loud. As someone with royal blood, there’s no telling what kind of trouble that man could cause for us.”

“Sir Ferris, think about it for a moment. Why would our lord want to avoid instantaneous communications?” Sir Pellan cut in to ask the dwarf. Sir Ferris put his hand to his chin and stroked his beard thoughtfully before he realized the point that Pellan was referring too.

“So you don’t trust the Empire?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust them as much as I don’t trust certain individuals within the upper echelons of power. Pellan, who can we afford to send to the capital?”

“I think it be best to send one of the house’s knights to deliver the message with the boy. As a witness, his words may hasten the Empire’s actions. Considering the destination, I would recommend my right hand man, Sir Veskarn for this.”

A knight I wasn’t too familiar with named Talan Veskarn voluntarily stepped forward when Pellan mentioned his name. Sir Veskarn had apparently been to the capital many times before. He was the third son of a minor house within the nobility, so he would be comfortable with the scheming politics of the inner courts. Basically, he was the perfect candidate for the job. He bowed to my father and promptly left the meeting hall with Iskul, who would be going along with him. Before they left, Ilan stopped Iskul and personally thanked him for bringing him this news. He called Iskul a hero in front of everyone, which only seemed to make the boy more sullen than he already was. Iskul didn’t seem like he agreed, but accepted my father’s words and thanked him properly before leaving. Ilan than stood up calmly and ordered the rest of his vassals to be prepared for battle at a moment’s notice. With that, the meeting was finally brought to an end.

The vassals slowly left the room with dark expressions clouding their faces. Only a few people remained in the room. Amongst them were arguably the most important people in the county; There was army commander Ferris Brogorn, civil minister Pellan Asteri, cavalry commander Henry Montague, head mage Brian Feldspur and Steward Ribvan. Ilan waited patiently until the vassals were out of earshot before turning to Pellan.

“Do we know if these monsters are still within our borders?”

“We do not, my lord.” He replied dourly.

“Damn. It’s at times like these that I wish I didn’t neglect the funding of an air force and improving our defenses.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, my lord. As a fledgling county we obviously had to sink a proportionate amount of money into social and urban development. That decision was part of the reason that your transition of power went so smoothly in the first place.”

“Even so, those improvements we made won’t help us with the problems we face now.” Ilan rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow in frustration. “Sir Ferris, what do you think?”

“Well my lord, I can’t help but wonder if this is some small group of monsters acting on its own or if it’s the beginning of something much grander. Right now it is most likely too early to ascertain all of the monsters’ true intentions or the general scope of their invasion. As for our defences; the few trebuchets and bolt throwers we have won’t amount to much, I’m afraid. I would suggest that we spend some time implementing rudimentary defences that are easy to install like pit falls, spike walls, and boiling oil. They don’t cost a lot and they’re relatively easy to install. Even the citizens should be able to help build them.”

“Does that mean you believe we’ll be attacked as well?”

“Aye, I do.”

Ferris wasn’t the most intelligent man in Ilan’s service, but his abilities with sword and shield made him second only to the lord in battle. Even for a dwarf; Ferris was extremely argumentative and stubborn but his intuitiveness more than made up for his poorer characteristics. He was lousy when it came to fighting on horse-back but was exceptional at finding alternative uses for different formations and methods. He had a rather large heart that somehow matched his even larger physique. Ferris had served with Ilan during The Second Offensive, and managed to survive many horrible fights at my father’s side. The two of them grew rather close during the war, and Ilan had made Ferris into the head commander of his infantry promptly after being awarded Koga.

One time I had asked Father about why he trusted Ferris, and I’ll never forget what he said. “Ferris doesn’t think, he feels. His intuition for battle and his perception for anticipating the enemy’s movements is beyond outstanding. He’s quick to make decisions and always leads by example. He would never ask one of his soldiers to do something that he himself wouldn’t do. The dwarf has been able to quickly gain the respect of the men under his charge on whatever battlefield he was sent to. I’m sure a decent chunk of his apparent talents are due to his innate skill, Resourceful, but his unique individual qualities are surely partly responsible. In truth; if I claimed to be better than the dwarf at any of these things, it would be the biggest lie I ever told. Now I know it may be unbelievable, but what’s actually crazy about this is he seems to do all these things naturally without any planning or scheming on his part. There’s an old saying that fit’s Ferris perfectly; a person’s value is calculated by his strength and intelligence, but their worth is determined by the size of their heart.”

Those very words echoed around through my head as I looked down on the dwarf from my hidden perch. If even Ferris couldn’t get a feel for the monster’s intentions, something must be very wrong with this situation.

“I would have to agree with Ferris,” Henry Montague stated with his thick Frenken accent. Frenken’s were pretty well hated across the realm for being rather pompous, but they were also known for being the best rider’s in the entire empire. When you considered the man’s unmatched skills with sword on horseback, a bad attitude and the lack of respect he had for his superiors was undoubtedly worth putting up with.

“If the monsters attacked another location, we could compare that with the information we have currently. I think it would be, how you say, very stupid of us to make any sort of assumption on the matter. From what we know of the forsaken realm, the area is filled with different creatures and monsters who get along to various degrees, correct? These monsters could have been driven out of The Forsaken Realm for any number of reasons, so normally we couldn’t just assume that this was a coordinated attack. In the past, the cause of previous invasions varied greatly. Without any indicators to say otherwise, we could be looking at a natural migration due to lack of food and supplies, a massive military undertaking, or a forced exodus. Determining what their true target is will flush out the details we are missing. The way that the monsters seem to continue targeting small villages without making mistakes is troublesome, so I believe we can assume that they are rather coordinated no? This wave could be a preliminary force designed to as feint, or they could just be trying to test our mettle. It’s hard to say.”

“One thing is for certain,” Minister Pellan added, “These monsters do not seem to act like the previous ones that humanity has encountered. We’ve heard minor reports about monster sightings increasing steadily over the last year across the North-East, but there’s very little word of any action taken on their part or any other incidents arising from their sudden appearance, until now that is. The experts from the Monster and Creature Research Society all seem to agree that this strange behavior that we are currently witnessing is extremely foreboding. I wouldn’t be shocked if something unthinkably sinister is in the works somewhere behind the scenes. I also believe that the incident with your son in The Great Forest and the situation with Kerrigan have to be related, although we lack the facts needed to prove that hypothesis. That being said, the timing of the sequence of events is way too close to be considered mere coincidence anymore.”

This bothered Father and he seemed to be lost in thought for a minute, contemplating everything he had heard over the past hour. “As someone who has based every action around serving your family for the last twenty years, can I ask you something my lord?” Steward Ribvan quietly said, interrupting the silence. His words we’re dripping with sarcastic venom, especially the lord part. Despite the pleasant wording of the question, it was obvious from his tone that everything he just said was sarcastic. For some reason, Ribvan had a rather dark air about him that didn’t just seem like his normal overly-dramatic behavior. He was visibly shaking on the spot, his teeth and hands clenched so hard I thought they would break. The others observed him carefully and Ferris almost spoke up but chose not to interrupt. I had only ever seen Ribvan get angry twice in my life, but I could tell that the normally peaceful scholar was clearly about to snap. “Are you not worried that the empire will figure out that poor boy’s true identity?”

“Worry not. I suspect that he doesn’t even know who he exactly is either.”

“So that’s how you’ve justified sending off a child to his death, then?!”

“I have done no such thing. Any danger the boy comes under for the past has nothing to do with me. There’s also no reason to believe they will harm him.”

“You know that’s bull-shit, Ilan! How could you do something like this to the child of a dear friend? Do your relationships really mean that little to you? Protecting that family from any potential harm was one of Princess Mura’s final requests. How could you do this to her?!”

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“Calm yourself and quit being so overly emotional, Ribvan. Clearly your feelings about my departed wife are clouding your judgement. I promise you, nothing will happen to Iskul and I’m not doing anything to her. There are things happening in Mecron that we are not fully aware of, and any man would be a fool to toss away such a useful asset during such times of uncertainty. Even if the Calpriocian Ministers do eventually notice the boy's heritage, I don’t expect them to try anything too hastily."

"You dare say that to me after all I've given to this family?"

"Unfortunately, I have to. We all know you loved her as much as I did, but Mura’s gone Ribvan. Hanging on to her memory won’t bring her back from the grave. You, no, we both need to realize that. Now, can I count on you to still do your required tasks or should I be finding someone less emotional to fill your shoes?”

Ribvan stared down at his feet and was silent for a while. When he finally lifted his head I could see that he was sobbing uncontrollably. “To say that to me after all I’ve given this family is completely unfair and abnormally cruel, don’t you think? I know you and I have never seen eye to eye about anything, have we? It was evident from the minute I got the position in the first place. When I found out from the servants that Mura suggested me and you wanted someone else, I wasn’t surprised. If it wasn’t for Mura, many of us here wouldn’t be alive today. There’s no denying that. She was the first individual to see me as an actual person and not just a dancing monkey for personal entertainment. She was kind to all and treated everyone equally. It’s no secret that she’s the reason that many of us are here. Her absolute and total kindness to all drew people in like moths to a flame. For once in my life, I was given preferential treatment by someone who wasn’t related to me or had an ulterior motive because she believed in me. Without her help, how else would a useless street performer like myself be made into a steward? She made us all want to be better people.”

“Please Ribvan, do you think it was any different for me? Think about it. Now; if Mura meant so much to you, what was the most important thing she used to always say to everyone?”

“There’s no shame in failure, but there is shame in giving up. Which is exactly why I won’t quit on you, but if anything happens to that boy or you do anything to ruin Mura’s legacy, I promise you that I’ll kill you myself.”

“I’m glad you’ve gotten your convictions back.”

“Who says that they ever left?” The two men continued to stare daggers at each other until Pellan interrupted the moment with an uncharacteristic sigh. “That was awkward.”

“Agreed. I hate watching them fight.”

“You know what they say; cats and dogs just don’t get along, no matter how much you force them.”

“Is it finally over? Are we back on the topic of the boy then?” Judging by the other’s reactions, Ribvan and my Father must have clearly had this argument in front of them all previously, maybe even several times. I was surprised to find out that Ribvan was initially my mother’s retainer and not my father’s, but I couldn’t help but think I was very lucky that she did find someone as caring as him to be our steward.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of worrying about Aelan right now. We ourselves have so much we need to have done and planned for. I expect all of you to make these matters your top priority going forward. I would also like as many non-combatants as possible evacuated out of state as soon as we can. Who do we have that can oversee this?”

“I would recommend Sir Crossier, my lord. He’s well-liked by the majority of citizens and they should listen to his orders if an emergency does happen."

"He’s also the third best fighter we have.” Sir Ferris added.

“I know you two are close and you hold a high opinion of the man, but can he be trusted? We’ll need him to gather information on what the other neighboring states are doing about this crisis as well, not just protect a bunch of children and the elderly.”

“I trust him more than I trust most, sire. He’s a capable fellow with a heart of gold. He wouldn’t sully his reputation for a bribe, he’s just not the sort. In fact, I'm actually more upset about the idea of us not having the man around when we might need him.”

“Hmm. I understand that, but sending someone weaker could spell disaster for the fleeing civilians, particularly if their attacked by whatever mysterious force is dogging us currently. For now there isn’t much more we can do. I will hold another meeting again in a week, but that may be pushed up depending on how our circumstances change. Stay vigilant. If you need to get anyone important to you out of the state, I suggest you make the necessary arrangements immediately. You’re all dismissed.” And with that, the meeting had come to a close.

As I slipped away from the window, I tried to think about what could possibly make Iskul so important to the Empire, but my intuition told me that I was missing a key piece of useful information. I considered asking my father about it, but chose not to. After all, then he would obviously know that I had been eavesdropping on his strategy meeting the entire time.

I carefully climbed down from my spying spot back to the exterior landing on the second floor. A burst of movement above me startled me for a second and I almost lost my grip on the roof tiles. As I slipped down the roof I somehow managed to grasp at the gutter and stopped myself from plummeting to my death. Above me, a dove had taken flight from the rafters. I watched it soar upwards, climbing steadily on the wind until it had flown out of my sight. I caught my breath after my close call and carefully looked down while I made my descent. I could see Iskul and Talan preparing their horses for their journey. Iskul and I briefly made eye contact, and we stared at each other for a brief moment. A sad smile came to his lips slowly, and he eventually turned away from me. Talan and Iskul mounted their horses and rode out of the keep. As they left, I wondered if I would ever get another chance to meet Iskul and thank him for everything that he had done.

¤ ¤ ¤

Sir Crossier sat next to the coachmen who was driving the head cart as the procession of people continued to make their way across the state in the middle of the night. They we're currently on a road lined by trees that led deeper into the empire. The group had left Kogan Keep roughly four days prior and the journey had been incredibly slow so far. The caravan of citizens leaving Koga mostly consisted of the elderly, the young, and the vulnerable, so speed wasn't exactly an option. Sir Crossier spent most of the day trying to help people were possible, ushering the citizens to move as fast as they could, but he couldn't help but feel like his talents were being wasted with this assignment. He might not have been able to beat Sir Ilan or Sir Ferris in a fight, but he was sure that he was already a better fighter than the commander of the cavalry. It was because of this that Sir Crossier ordered the caravan to keep moving throughout the night, despite the clear need for a rest. I should have my own command by now, but instead I'm stuck out here doing a job that will bring my no glory! Damn my terrible luck! If I hurry back in time, I might still be able to make it back before any fighting begins... I can't let someone else surpass me. Feeling his impatience grow, Sir Crossier turned to the man sitting next to him. "When will we arrive in High guard?"

"The trip to High guard will take approximately fifteen days my lord, give or take a day depending on the weather and our route."

"That's far too long! We need to increase the pace."

"But sir, if we go any faster the horses will surely-"

"I don't care about your damn horses! Do as I say, or so help me!"

"Y-yes sir, I will pass your orders along to the others."

A soft musical whistle came from the trees to the men's right and the coachman slowed the cart as he stared out into the darkness of the trees around them. "What was that?"

"Who cares?! Keep this cart moving, soldier." The cart started up again, and a few moments later, so did the whistling. At first, the whispering sound was quiet but it gradually started getting louder. Sir Crossier tried to ignore it, but even he had to admit that he was unnerved by what was happening. The soldiers around him began to tense up, and they scanned their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary but nobody called anything out to the knight. The civilians started showing signs of panic, so Sir Crossier had some of his men settle them down enough to keep going. The tune of the whistling was quite upbeat and playful, but somehow felt like it was coming from everywhere around them all at once at the same time. The whistling picked up it's pace as the tune approached what felt like it's crescendo, and suddenly it was quiet on the road once more. Having finally been freed from the ominous whistling, the coachman slowed the cart down with a sigh of relief.

"What did I just say about slowing the cart down? Hurry up and get-"

Sir Crossier was interrupted by something large hitting his arm before rolling down into his lap. When he saw what it was, he screamed and had to stop himself from throwing up. It was the coachman's severed head. "What the-"

"Sorry about that, honey." An evil voice came from behind Sir Crossier. He slowly turned around and found a peculiar looking figure in a pristine white suit that was covered in blood. The figure smiled at him, and Sir Crossier couldn't help but freeze up as he reached for the pommel of his sword."My, aren't you a strong one? I'm really supposed to be getting on my way... but do you maybe want to play with little ol' me for a bit? I'm so dreadfully bored right now and you look like you know how to have fun. <3"

After getting a good look at the figure's face, he realized that whatever this thing was, it didn't have any pupils, or a nose for that matter either. The only distinguishable features he could make out in the dark was a pair of black, slit-less eyes. Suddenly, Every combat instinct the knight had cultivated over the years screamed at Sir Crossier, telling him to get out of there as fast as he could. "What are you?!"

"Don't worry about that, Darling. I'd much prefer it if you call me by my name. Zhangul Lobruk, at you're service."

"Like I care what you call yourself, monster!" Sir Crossier drew his blade, but the monster called Zhangul barely even reacted and just ignored the knight's bravado.

"Jeez, what a mess I made," the monster said to itself as it lightly tapped the coachman's corpse with it's foot. "There's blood absolutely everywhere! So filthy! And here I was hoping to be able to ride this cart to my destination, but I can't arrive in a vehicle as dirty as this! What will people- no, what would my lord think? Maybe I should clean up a little?" Sir Crossier was about to rush the monster when a cold look caused him to hesitate out of fear for a moment, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"I guess there's no point... After all, I'm just going to get your blood on everything again anyway <3." The monster said with a playful wink.

¤ ¤ ¤

The next few weeks were utter calamity at the keep. Scouts flooded in from all directions, with reports on the movements of the enemy. The monsters had hit a few villages roughly the same size as Kerrigan, and the scouts had reported that in each incident the circumstances were the same. The people of the community had completely vanished. All of the goods still remained, but the livestock had also been taken.

These reports, coupled with the fact that the enemy still had yet to be seen puzzled father to no end. Unlike what Ribvan had suggested, multiple locations had now been attacked but they still held no answers. It had now been three weeks since we had received the report from Iskul, and the populations of another six villages had disappeared completely without a trace.

It was decided that the rest of the villages and towns in the region would be evacuated. The people could either choose to leave the province temporarily or retreat within Kogan Keep’s walls until the matter had settled but they would not be allowed to stay where they were. Most people had decided to flee to safety deeper within the Empire, but a few hundred had settled into a temporary living area that had been prepared against the eastern wall. Father then sent out a small group of scouts to investigate different areas in the region you could hide a force in, but all searches had come up empty so far.

My brother Olan who had gone into the city that day dropped by in the afternoon to deliver me a treat from my favorite shop owner and to tell me about all the things that he had seen. A lack of supplies and space led to small skirmishes erupting around the city for various small reasons. The city was filled with tension and the people were all on edge everywhere that Olan had gone. It wasn’t like him to be so observant, and I wondered secretly if he was frightened as well. It wouldn’t take long for that tension that Olan saw to boil over, either.

A few days later, a group of temporary residents who were lacking in food decided to go out to the forest to hunt for food despite the warnings. Slowly, one day turned into the next but the group never came back out of the woods. After a week had passed, a rescue party of concerned citizens was formed to go out and look for them. The party managed to find the hunter’s last camping spot and their equipment but there was no clues to the whereabouts of the group or the mounts that they had set out on. As a result, the city of Kogan Keep was put on high alert.

The people who had heard about the missing villagers began to cause a mass panic, and at one point the city guards had to stop a group of rioters who were trying to forcibly overtake one of the city gate’s to escape. This led to my Father reinforcing the army with the formation of the Kogan Militia. Over 1,000 citizens from different local villages joined up, boosting the military strength of Koga to roughly 15,000 soldiers. The extra guards on the streets helped keep the commotion to a minimum and the tension that had gripped the city fell finally to a controllable level. Then, just before the end of the year on the 23rd day of the 12th Month is when it happened.

A week had passed since Ilan had sent out the preliminary scouting unit. It was a calm night, and the winter wind wasn’t too unbearable. Many citizens found themselves outside, and were happily interacting with each other. I was in my bedroom, playing with shadow when I heard the bells. The sound had caused a deep depression to well up from within me and I felt my heart stop temporarily. It wasn’t a sound I had ever heard before, but it was a sound I never wanted to hear. Every citizen in the Empire knew what it meant when the sound of three gongs banging were constantly repeated over and over again without stopping. The city was under attack.

¤ ¤ ¤