I held my shield in front of my body, and my sword at its side. If death was coming at me, I would give her the fight of her life. The first orcs were about to reach the wall, when an array of red glyphs flashed on the ground between us, shooting forward to form a barrier. The orcs who were taken by surprise hit the barrier hard.

I breathed in, relieved, but had to wonder why Justin never said anything about that since it could buy us time while we attacked them, or if the barrier was weak and would break with a few hits.

In both cases, I had to get out of there.

The door had been barricaded, so it would be impossible to enter by there, and I lacked the mana to teleport above the wall. I couldn't make a run outside the barrier and wouldn't be able to climb the wall without a stair or at least a rope.

"Hey! I need a rope" I shouted, but no one heard me because of the sounds made by the spells and the orcs' shouts, both of pain and rage. "Come on!!"

A rope fell over my head. Michael was at the parapet, smiling at me. "You are a lucky man Aron! Come on, get up here."

He and a few other slaves helped me get up. They clapped my shoulder, before the sound of the battle and the knights forced them back into the war. Justin opened a path between them and pushed me by the arm toward a stair and out of the trill of the war.

"How are you?" He asked me, and by his tone, he was deadly angry.

"Alive."

"Someone screwed us! Their boss was killed by purpose." He punched the wall, breaking it. "Fucking traitor."

"I kinda already guessed that, but what about that?" I said pointing at the barrier. "That alone looks enough to buy time."

He seamed… Startled. "We didn't know about that…"

"What? How?"

"This land was part of a [Memoir] we claimed and are rebuilding. There is much we still don't know."

The earth shook, driving our attention back to the battle. A giant made of stone and moss was punching the barrier, which was now showing signs of cracking.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked him.

"A tier 4 or 5 [Stone Golem]. Slow, but very strong. He will break it in seconds."

That was as bad as it could get. The Golem would destroy the barrier and make children play off the wall, allowing the orcs to storm the place. After fighting one of them, underpowered by the lack of gear, I knew they would massacre us. The truth was that the plan has failed, and our only hope was for the reinforcements to arrive on time if they ever came.

The attacks were concentrated on the Golen, but most of the slaves were already out of mana and unable to fight. The knight's spell on the other hand looked to be doing little to no damage at all.

Justin summoned his shadow warriors. They jumped over the stone golem, attacking it with all their might, which was not enough to deal with it. The golem destroyed one and tossed a second against the wall, then one managed to break the golem's left leg.

It fell back and above a bunch of orcs. The shadow warriors who were still above it were swarmed by orcs, turning the golem into a bloody arena. He still tried to fight back, which only resulted in more dead orcs.

The caster cancelled the summon, preventing more deaths. Justin had just managed to buy us a few more seconds while decreasing their numbers. Unfortunately, they still far outnumbered us.

A second golem appeared, sealing our destiny.

Yet, some of the knights started to cheer. Startled, I tried to find what made them hopeful. I didn't notice it at first, because I didn't know what to look for. Then I saw a slave pointing toward the horizon and finally saw a golden line appearing in the air.

The line opened like it was some sort of mouth made out of energy. Thousands and thousands of knights came marching from inside it. With tens of banners displaying all kinds of sigils. An eagle above a skull; a tower against the sun; a dragon eating a snake; and many more.

The orcs who noticed the new arrivals turned one by one. Their drums started to be played again, being now suffocated by the warhorn of the knight army. They marched toward the orcs, being joined by a multitude of summons that appeared one after the other.

Which included a fucking black dragon who sprayed fire on the battlefield before the two armies clashed.

"Father is here!" Arlam screamed in excitement! "He will kill those filthy creatures."

I watched the confrontation in awe. The battle was something out of any common sense, and not even the most advanced MMOs or the best movies had ever gotten closer to it. Magic made anything more dangerous than anyone on earth could have imagined.

The field became a mess of explosions. Thunders and fireballs raining all over the place. The stone golem was sending knights flying like toys until the dragon took it by the arms and flew into the sky. The golem punched the dragon's belly, freeing itself, only to fall and break above both knights and orcs.

Three glowing red circles with intricate signs and forms appeared above the knight's circle. Energy formed inside them, charging until it was shot like a volley of machine guns rounds against the orcs.

"How are you guys losing the war with such power?" I asked Justin, who was staring at the fight with a worried expression.

"Those are not the main fighters of the orcs. They are probably just young warriors trying to prove themselves. And there are at least a hundred [Gold Core] knights on our side down there."

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That made sense. The orcs were now facing the same situation we were before the reinforcements arrived. It was now a matter of time before they were slaughtered.

But Justin didn't seem happy, so I knew something was wrong and we were about to find it out.

"Slaves, start to open the gate. The battle will soon come to an end." Justin ordered, which made us move as fast as possible to clear the gate.

I really hated that.

As he has said, the battle came to an end, when the remaining orcs surrendered. I kinda expected them to fight to the last man, especially after the death of their leader, only to realise I was basing my opinion on them on geek troops. They were crazy bullies, which didn't mean they were suicidal.

Justin, Arlam and a few other knights from the fort came to the gate. Justin ordered the slaves to return to their duties but asked me to stay behind him. We waited while a group of knights was making their way toward us.

A man in shining armour and a colourful cape rushed to arrive at the gate before the others. He stood in front of it and cleared his throat. "Make way for the great Lance, Sir Bairon, first of his name!"

Everyone kneeled when the group entered the fort. The man leading them was a colossus, clad in thick dark blue armour, ornamented by gold details and heavy chains. He had a [Gold Core] in the middle of his chest, which was impressive and different from the others.

There were more details like it had been crafted by a master to make it a jewel. The most impressive was that the stone in the middle of the ring displayed the image of a dragon head.

On the right side of the core was around gold sigil with the shape of a lance, which displayed his position as one of the kingdom's Lances. I knew this was an impressive position because of Justin's desire for it, but now that I saw one in front of me.

Let's say he made me feel like a child.

"Raise, and let me see my son!" Everyone got up. Arlam and his dad shared a warm and long hug. "You guys were lucky I was near, these orcs should have never come here."

He looked at Justin, with a reprehensive gaze. "What were you doing to allow this? You have been neglecting your duties as a Warden. You shame our family nephew."

I cough. There was no way I had seen that! Justin and Arlam were part of the same family? Unfortunately, that got Bairon's attention.

"Why is that slave carrying your father's shield?"

"He fought the orc's chief in a duel to buy us time." Justin told him, "I felt it was only right to lend it to him."

"He fought? Why?"

"The orc challenged us."

Bairon's fists clenched. "You are telling me a slave had more balls than you two? No better yet, you are telling he had more balls than all the knights here?" There was venom in his voice, enough that I didn't want to be under their skin.

"Father, it's just -"

"Spare me your excuses. This is a disgrace to our kingdom! Where is Rodrigues?"

"Inside the [Memoir] on a mission," Justin answered him, avoiding the man's fierce gaze.

"He would have known better! He would have gone there and brought the orc's head." He held his son by the shoulders. "I'm very disappointed."

"We will compensate for our failure father."

"I hope so." He turned to Justin, "Now, tell me, Warden, how an orc army found its way inside our territory?"

"My man will investigate it, Sir."

"You have already done much by doing nothing. I will have my scouts searching the area, and I may provide additional personnel as needed to guard the fort." He smiled, "I need some good wine, you get this when you can claim achievements like me."

"As you wish Sir," Justin told him, bowing in respect.

"And bring the slave, I want to talk to your 'champion'."

Barion and his followers left without waiting for Justin and Arlam to show them the way. The two exchanged glances, and Justin was the first to leave to follow his uncle. Arlam got closer to me as whispered.

"My father is hard to deal with and he knows about you attacking me. You should be careful with your words."

"Do I have to wait for my son and a slave?" Barion shouted.

We rushed to join them. I cursed my luck for always putting me under the worst chain of events as possible. Barion was probably after my head, and I doubt this time someone could face him. Justin was the most powerful man I knew, and he looked like a trainee in the presence of his uncle.

This could prove to be the biggest challenge I had faced after being summoned.

I followed them to an area I haven't been to before. It had a bedroom, but way more extravagant than the one they gave me before the fight with Anderson. Bairon choose the biggest of all rooms and ordered a servant to bring him the best wine available.

"Take off your clothes," he ordered me, which made me undress while hoping he would like what he saw, only to feel ashamed of it when the effect of the spell faded. "Your body is covered in scars, most are too old to have been done here. Are you a warrior?"

"A bodyguard, I protected others."

"I know what a bodyguard is, but this is not the body of a guard. Tell me the truth now!"

I tried to resist, but it became impossible. "I was a mercenary and an assassin."

Justin and Arlam looked at me like I had slapped their faces.

"Is he a good fighter?" Barion asked no one in particular.

"Better than a lot of soldiers," Justin answered. "He may be the best slave we have and I have high hopes for him."

"He also has death coins," Arlam added.

Barion played with his blond curly beard, not showing any sign of surprise. "Your talents are lost in this dump. I could use an asset like yourself."

"I'm honoured by the offer and know it's not my place to refuse, but I'm sworn to Justin's household." Only after refusing him, that it occurred to me, that they were members of the same family.

Barion laugh. "His household? Did he tell you it's just a manor with a few servants and knights hired by me?" He laughs again. "You swore yourself to nothing, so I will revoke it."

I kneeled and bowed to him. He looked the kind of man I didn't want to serve, and there was no going back to me now. "M'lord, a man who does not keep his word has no honour."

"Well said. You two could learn from him."

The servant returned with the wine. Barion drank it in silence, making the mood of the room heavy. He finished the whole bottle and then got up, walked toward me and shoved my head against the ground.

"You are only alive because your coins are too valuable for me to lose. But learn your place as a slave. You will never refuse me again, understand?"

"Yes."

"Then leave. I have an important matter to discuss with those two and a slave has no place here."

He spat at my head and freed me. I got up and smiled. "This humble slave asks for your forgiveness M'lord."

"Just get out."

I left, holding a grim. One day he would pay for that humiliation.

One day…