I sucked the remains of the man underground so the kids wouldn’t have to keep looking at it. I reinforced the walls of the warehouse and sat down at bench and table I created. I pulled out some rations from my storage pouch. The sight of food overcame the fear holding the other children back and they fell on the food. The sight of them moved me, I hadn’t had the easiest childhood but compared to their lives nothing I had experienced growing up in the foster system was as bad as what they had to endure.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twelve,” Kalin said uncertainly.
I considered the ethical implications of turning a twelve-year-old boy into a killer but pushed it aside. This world would have done far worse to this boy without me ever having met him; in a world divided into prey and predators seek to be the predator. A howl from outside reminded me of my charge.
“Wait here,” I told Kalin. “I will return soon but I have to deal with someone else.”
I walked out of the warehouse and found Aisha standing nervously in the pack of thirteen hounds which all faced outwards circling around her and growling.
Guard this building, I ordered them telepathically. Anyone older than a child isn’t allowed inside.
“Lets go,” I said to Aisha.
“What was it?” Aisha asked.
“Just a cat,” I lied. I could tell Aisha didn’t believe me but she didn’t press any farther. I escorted her to row of narrow houses all connected one to another in what was a serious fire hazard. The houses weren’t wealthy, but they at least looked maintained unlike most of the other buildings in this district.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said to Aisha.
“Do you want to come in for some tea?” she asked. “I’m sure my family would love to…”
“You don’t want to get to close to me,” I cut her off. “I can’t tell you anything except that I’m more than what I seem. The closer you are to me, the more you know the more danger you will put yourself in.”
“I can take care of myself,” Aisha said with a bit of fire and defiance that surprised me.
“I’m glad to see you do have a spine, but you are incorrect,” I said. “Against the things I face you are just an ant they won’t even notice when they squash you.”
I turned my back on her and disappeared into the darkness of the street. Now that I was alone I could move much faster, I wasn’t wearing my boots but I still had a superhuman speed Attribute and took off running. In less than a minute I was back in front of the warehouse, my hounds only had a few minutes left on their duration.
I stepped into the warehouse looking at the scrawny children. Reaching into my storage pouch I pulled out my stack of dried rations. The children still looked terrified of me but hunger overcame their fear as they began stuffing their mouths like starving wolves.
“Is this where you live?” I asked.
“Yes,” Kalin said in between mouthfuls of food.
“Where are your parents?” I asked.
“Mum died last year,” he said.
“And your father?” I questioned him, pulling out more food for them to eat.
Kalin looked a bit ashamed. “Ran off when my mum was pregnant,” he said.
I was silent for awhile letting them finish eating as I sat in thought. What was I going to do with these kids? Should I do anything at all? The moral answer to that last question was obviously yes but I hadn’t made a habit of just doing things based on morality, but I also hadn’t gone out of my way to go against it either. What could I do? My position in this world was tenuous, I was the Warlord and war was pretty much the only thing I had to offer anyone.
Would doing anything more for these children actually help them or would I just drag them into even more suffering? I didn’t have an answer to these questions. My actions had almost always been reactionary and in the moment with little thought of consequences or the future; thinking of the lives of these children and holding responsibility for them was…overwhelming.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“What do you want?” I asked Kalin as he finished eating.
“I don’t know,” Kalin said. “I want…to be safe.”
“Well, I can’t give you that,” I said with a wry smile. “No one can, you are one of the Gifted now, your life will be defined by either how well you can kill or whoever kills you to try and take your power for themselves.”
Kalin looked suddenly worried. “What do I do?” he asked.
“Kill them first,” I said. I looked at the other children, I could give them food and maybe shelter, but they weren’t fighters, I could see it in their eyes. Kalin was different than them, he had defiance, rage, and hunger for survival. With that cut of the knife, I had set him on a new course in life; I should at the very least give him the training he would need to complete it.
“If you want,” I said. “I will take you as my apprentice.”
“What is your trade?” Kalin asked.
I gave him a grim smile. “Destruction.”
---
I made a separate cot for my new apprentice and sat down across from him a stone table in the center of my room. A sheet of parchment sat between us.
“Can you read?” I asked him.
“No,” Kalin said.
“I didn’t expect you to be able to,” I said. “This is a contract, a blood pact, if you sign it you will be magically compelled to obey the terms you agree to. You agree never to reveal my true name to anyone without my permission, to never betray me and to never side against me. The terms for me is that I must protect you to the best of my ability, to provide you with food, shelter, and training and to never betray your or use you as sacrifice. Do you agree to the terms?”
“Yes,” Kalin said with no hesitation.
I held out a knife to him. “Cut your finger and press it here,” I said pointing to a section on the parchment.
He did so and I cut my own finger signing my part of the blood pact. I felt the magical bindings constrict around me. Rolling up the parchment I put it into my storage pouch and stood up.
“Get some sleep apprentice,” I said. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes and drifted off, but my rest was not without its disturbance.
--
A blade slashed down at me from my right. I fought against three dozen dark armored figures in a forest. Black mist rose from my skin as I had to pull out the stops to defend myself.
Bodies went flying as my blades and claws cut my opponents to pieces. The red light of Clarent toppled trees burning to the ground. The leader of the assassins gasped in pain as I rammed Clarent through his chest, he turned to a blood mist and disappeared into the ground.
All of the sudden a cage of lightning surrounded me as a portal opened in front of me.
“Mordred,” the man said his features vary familiar to me even though I had never met him before. “You reveal yourself here in the heart of my kingdom, a very foolish decision on your part.”
“You must be Merlin,” I said.
“Indeed,” Merlin said. “Your time with my daughter has taught you well, but that time is at an end.”
The cage of lightning closed in I resisted the electrical damage, but a blinding sword of silver light slashed down. I tried teleporting, absorbing all the lightning, ripping myself free, turning incorporeal but none of it worked and the blade cut me in two.
--
My eyes snapped open as I sucked in a deep breath. I hadn’t had a vision in a while, but it was back to foreseeing my own death. The outcome could be changed but I wasn’t sure what had caused that scenario in the first place. Why was I walking around in a forest? Who were those dark armored figures? Why had Merlin shown up at the end? None of it made sense.
I slowed the beating of my heart as I closed my eyes again. I wasn’t trying to sleep this time but to think and try to come up with answers and solutions to my problems and questions.
---
Arthur blocked the sword strike and side stepped spinning his opponent around. His leg tripped him up and Lord Harris fell to the ground with Arthur’s sword at his neck.
“I yield,” Lord Harris said.
Arthur held out a hand and helped him to his feet.
“Well fought,” Arthur said. “I look forward to fighting by your side on the battlefield.”
“It will be my honor my prince,” Lord Harris said bowing.
He was a skilled fighter, and his family was very powerful which was why he had been pitted against Arthur to allow his family the honor of competing before the King. Arthur looked up to the royal booth where his father sat, and Lady Lionor stood watching. An empty chair sat beside the King reserved for Guinevere, but he didn’t’ expect to see her in attendance. She never liked any sort of tourneys and with their recent fights she definitely wasn’t going to show up to this one.
Arthur stepped into the tunnel and removed his helmet attendants helping him out of his armor and removing his sweat and dirt with a spell. Arthur walked up to the royal booth receiving a nod of approval from his father.
“I have matters of state I must attend to,” King Arthur said. “Well done my son.”
The king left and Arthur and Lionor were alone together.
Lionor bounced Galahad in her arms. She smiled at him, and Arthur grinned, taking his son from her arms, and holding him up cradling him gently in his arms. Even born with abilities he still felt so fragile in his arms. At that moment he felt all powerful, like he could take on the world and win.
A messenger ran into the room looking around. “Is the king here?” he asked.
“He just left,” Arthur said. “What message do you have for him?”
The messenger looked uncertain. “I’m not sure if…”
“I am the heir to the throne,” Arthur said his voice commanding. “Anything you would say to my father I have the authority to here as well.”
“There was an attack on the western province of Camelot,” the messenger said regaining his breath. “They overwhelmed the defenders and took the defenses. They only got one message out before being completely overrun but they saw the description of their leader.”
“And?” Arthur asked although he felt he already knew the answer.
“The Warlord, he is alive,” the messenger said.