The Sworn Defender

by The Ranger

  "You're craven," Danis growled. "You little insect."

  "Perhaps," he snarled, turning to face him. "But, I'll live."

  Danis clenched his fists as Minatir sauntered away. He took a deep breath and set his eyes on the man at his side.

  "Leonard," he whispered.

  The man at his side, a stout and intimidating warrior, handed him his crossbow. Danis brought the weapon up to his right eye and leveled it with Minatir's shoulders. He pulled the weapon's trigger, and its bolt flew towards his former ally, impaling the man's back. He cried out as he fell, gasping and bleeding on the ground— slinging obscenities while Danis loaded a second bolt into the crossbow.

  "Y-you scum!" Minatir squealed. "Y-you've killed m-"

  He fired the second bolt into Minatir's chest. The little man recoiled on the ground but, after a few moments of sputtering, fell silent.

  Danis handed the crossbow back to Leonard and set his hands on his longswords.

  "Is there anyone who would like to challenge that decision?" he asked, gripping the hilts of his blades tightly.

  One of Minatir's enforcers stepped forward, but the other two held him back. None of the others voiced their dissent.

  "Good," Danis sighed, releasing his hold on his weapons. "We have a sorcerer to kill."

  All those gathered there stared at him for a few seconds, looks of confusion and apprehension on their faces, before Danis groaned.

  "In other words: get to the frontline!" he yelled. "Arm yourselves as best you can, and storm that would-be conqueror's defense. He will not raze our home a second time!"

  Some of the warriors cheered, while others meekly did as they were told; however, most of them simply moved without thinking— their thoughts not on their actions but on their futures.

  Danis watched as they prepared themselves and rushed off towards the peripheral edge of the city, and finally, his eyes landed on Eren and Aven. They had been silently watching the encounter and remained as far as could be allowed while maintaining a view of the gathered warriors.

  "You two," Danis murmured, his hand on his sides. "Why aren't you moving?"

  "We, uh, we've just arrived," Eren mumbled, sweat creasing his brow.

  "Arrived?" Danis repeated. "From where?"

  Eren's mind bounced from one answer to the next as he searched for words that might not incur the man's wrath. He remembered the icy reception Richard and the others had received when they revealed their homeland.

  "B-Bogar," he finally stammered. "Chief Bogar sent us to— to kill the mage, actually."

  Danis nodded coldly as he scanned them.

  "Bogar always was a respectable scoundrel," he admitted. "Although, I wasn't expecting anyone to return. I am grateful, but the question remains…"

  Danis drew out his last few words as he approached Eren and Aven, his arms hanging stiffly at his sides.

  "How did the two of you plan on killing the sorcerer?" he asked, lowering his head to meet Eren's eyes.

  Eren froze, his attention on Danis' scars instead of his words.

  "W-we thought we'd try to… stab him in the back while he engaged your forces," Aven explained, a slight shame in his voice.

  Danis raised his head and pursed his lips.

  "That would be quite a slaying," he remarked, seemingly deep in thought. "There isn't much honor in attacking with a hidden hand, yet… these are special circumstances. And…"

  Danis turned away from them without warning and marched back towards Leonard and the other crossbowmen, none of whom had moved without his direct command. They gathered around their commander as he neared them, and within moments three of them, led by Leonard, split off to join the rest of the warriors rushing to confront Lucan.

  "What's happening?" Aven quietly questioned.

  "I'm not going to pretend I know the answer to that," Eren replied, his voice finally falling to a whisper.

  Once the crossbowmen Danis had sent away were out of sight, he turned to face them.

  "Come," he ordered.

  They complied without hesitation, slowly making their way towards Danis while he spoke to his enforcers.

  "We've very recently learned two things," Danis began. "Firstly, this mage is no longer as he was before. He is now channeling dark magic, which makes him much more susceptible to his base instincts. Secondly, when Minatir's men loosed an arrow at him, the wizard became enraged. He leveled two towers with a single fireball and killed dozens of men— but he also left his well-defended post to pursue his attacker."

  The shortest of the crossbowmen, and likely the youngest of them, tilted his head slightly as Danis spoke. His long black hair swept across his face as he listened to his master, but his head straightened, and his brown eyes widened as a smile appeared on his face.

  "That means we might be able to lead him away from his own forces and into a trap!" the crossbowman realized.

  "My thoughts exactly, Fredrick," Danis finished, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've instructed Leonard to steer him towards the Northwestern square. I'll have each of you posted along the main road. The bastard may be crafty, but a well-aimed bolt will kill a wizard just the same as you and I."

  Danis' enforcers nodded as he shared his idea, and the commander turned to look at Eren and Aven.

  "I hope you two were listening because you'll be coming with me," he established. "I may trust your intentions, but I do not trust you to carry out such an act on your own."

  Danis looked over them both and sighed as he brought his helm up towards his face. He let it fall over his head, sliding neatly into place, and began to stomp away from them. His minions kept on his heels and stopped when he brought his attention back to Eren and Aven.

  "Follow," he instructed.

  "Av?" Eren whispered.

  "I don't see any other choice," he replied.

  The pair followed behind Danis and his crossbowmen, keeping a healthy distance between them as they walked. Their hands slowly moved to their weapons as the sounds of battle drew closer.

  The nervousness that accompanied anyone who treads through a warzone was something Eren had expected. What he had not anticipated was how quickly time seemed to pass when the fear of imminent death was present in one's mind.

  It was both a comfort and a reminder of how short life could be.

  "There," Danis pointed, his finger leveled with a building at the side of the road.

  "Of course," one of his crossbowmen answered, breaking off from their formation and dashing to the structure.

  Eren felt a lump in his throat had begun to form as they neared their destination. Besides Aven and Danis, only Fredrick remained. He knew once the last of Danis' men were sent away, they would take up their own post and lie in wait to ambush Lucan.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, and the sight of black flames returned to him. He hadn't been there when Captain Robert and Lucan faced off, but even as he fled with the other guardsmen, he could feel the fire's heat on his back. He had been compelled to look back and witnessed the Dawn Tower's fall when he did so. Seeing such a thing had petrified him; if not for Gerald, he might've stayed there— his eyes affixed on smoldering stone and fiery winds. He wished that he could have saved his comrades, just as one had saved him.

  Eren bumped into Aven and returned to the present. Danis had led them to what might have once been a large home. The building had three stories, with the remnants of a fourth cracked and crumbling onto the street.

  They watched nervously as Danis stomped up the stairs and ventured deeper into the derelict property. Eren took a step forward but found it challenging to put so much trust into such an uncared-for building. Aven passed him, breathing heavily but showing no sign of hesitation. He simply followed the commander, one hand on the wall as he went up and the other on his head.

  His own pounding heart was all Eren could focus on as he climbed the stairs and followed Danis into a ruined room. A few darkened scraps of cloth and broken furnishings were swept across the floor
. Besides its new visitors, the space seemed like it had not seen life for a long time.

  Danis trudged towards a window made almost four times larger by the gash in the wall next to it. He looked beyond it and towards the ground. They were on the second floor of the structure, and it made for a good overlook of the road just outside.

  "We'll wait here," Danis announced, moving closer to the ground. "Fredrick will alert us when the enemy arrives."

  He sat on the dusty floor and leaned against the wall closest to the tear in the building. His helm clinked against the old stones as he rested his head and closed his eyes.

  The pair of Azrians stared at him, but he made no move. The starlight seeping into the room revealed the occasional fidgeting of his fingers— the only sign he hadn't fallen asleep.

  Eren turned to whisper a comment to Aven, but he saw his friend retching in the corner of the room.

  "It's getting worse, isn't it?" he asked, approaching him.

  "It's manageable," Aven coughed, a clear, viscous liquid falling from his throat.

  Eren moved his hands to his back, but he was pushed away.

  "I'll be fine," the young man groaned, plopping onto the ground.

  Eren did the same, sparing a look towards the warrior sitting across from them as he did. The man had not shifted since sitting down, nor had he opened his eyes.

  "Do you think it will be long?" Aven questioned.

  "I don't know," Eren mumbled, his eyes searching for the faraway fires.

  There had not been a third blast for lack of strength, Danis believed. However, that didn't stop Eren from flinching whenever another bout of flames swelled across the night sky. He noticed the fires always carried a dark tone when they first appeared but returned to a more red-orange tint as time passed.

  "Have you got any ideas on how to pass the time?" Aven poked.

  Eren scratched his head for a moment, hoping he might loosen a suggestion.

  "Do you know any fairy tales?" he finally asked.

  Aven tilted his head to the side as he narrowed his eyes.

  "I… I don't know what those are?" he muttered, an inquisitive tone following each word.

  "You know… fairy tales!" Eren repeated. "They say that if a fairy appears before you, there's a chance it might grant you a wish if you can tell it a pleasant story. Now, most of these fairies apparently have the same temperament as children, so it's usually simple, happy tales. You know— the great hero slays the dragon, climbs to the highest room of the tallest tower-"

  "He rescues the princess and they wed and they have a happy life?" Aven surmised.

  "Exactly!" he confirmed.

  They both heard Danis emit a low groan, but he said nothing else.

  "Then yes, I know those kinds of stories," Aven admitted. "But I didn't know they were called fairy tales."

  "Do you know any by heart?" Eren inquired.

  "A few… have you heard the one about the magi and the milkmaid?" Aven asked.

  "Does it rhyme?" Eren grinned.

  He shook his head slightly.

  "Oh," he sighed. "My friend Gerald knew dozens of fairy tales, and a handful of them rhymed. Those are my favorite."

  "Oh, well, then why don't you tell me one of-" Aven began.

  His eyes widened as his voice fell silent. He glanced around them wildly as if he were looking for a hidden foe.

  "Did you hear… growling?" he asked.

  "No," Eren replied. "Wait, did you?"

  "Yes," his friend muttered, still scanning around them.

  "Are you sure you're not hearing things that aren't there?" he inquired.

  "I heard it too," Danis replied, his eyes opening slightly.

  Eren tried to focus on the sounds around them but heard nothing other than the clash of steel and billowing winds.

  "Why didn't I hear-" he tried to ask.

  "Ignore it," Danis chastised. "There are wolves that tend to linger near the outlying woods. With the city beginning to empty, they've likely grown brazen."

  Eren had thought he might pursue the topic, but before he could open his mouth, a crossbow bolt cut through the air. It embedded itself in the aged stone wall that stood to his right. It was unlike the other bolts he had seen Danis and his men use. It was stained red along the shaft with a bright oil.

  Danis rose to his feet and turned to peer out onto the street.

  "He's here," the commander whispered. "It's time to cure this world of that diseased soul."

  Eren tiptoed towards the man, with Aven slowly doing the same. He stood beside Danis and stole a glance beyond him. He felt cold steel drag along his chest when his eyes fell on Lucan and the dreadful mask he bore.

  The sorcerer was surrounded by at least four dozen of his Soul Seekers and was in pursuit of a large group of fleeing Marinians. Leonard was at their front, directing the occasional bolt and arrow to their rear. The Seekers were being held back by a sturdy shield wall, but Lucan's flames had begun to tear their defense apart. With each burnt shield, two or three Seekers would break through and sow havoc until they were cut down.

  It was a slow and inefficient process, but it was by design. Eren had seen Lucan's power, and he had heard it when they arrived. This was nothing more than amusement for him— a breath before he swung the axe.

  "What's the plan?" Aven inquired, his face pale and sweaty.

  "The plan is…" Danis hesitated, his eyes darting around the battlegrounds.

  "It doesn't look like Lu— like the mage has seen the crossbowmen," Eren pointed out. "When he approaches this building, it might be best to signal them to fire on him. With that distraction, we can jump down and surprise him. The three of us should be enough to at least maim him."

  "That would give the archers and the crossbowmen the chance to fire again," Aven added. "It could work. Danis?"

  Eren turned back to look at him, and he felt fear crawl into his heart.

  "Danis?" he repeated.

  The commander had not taken his eyes off Lucan, his face twisted in rage and resentment as shadows cast themselves along his scars.

  "He… he's mine!" Danis yelled, leaping through the hole in the wall and onto the ground. He landed near the shield wall and dashed through his own men. Danis drew his longswords and cleaved through every Seeker that stood before him as he forced his way to Lucan.

  "Damn it!" Eren cursed, watching the commander advance through the horde.

  "How is he getting so far?" Aven questioned.

  "Hate," Eren muttered. "Bitter, stupid, furious hate."

  Danis' crossbowmen, including Leonard, realized what their leader had done and sprung into action. The fleeing Marinians turned back towards Lucan and charged against the sorcerer's forces. Anyone wielding a ranged weapon turned their focus onto Lucan, who had begun to form a flame veil to destroy any incoming projectiles.

  It was then, watching the sorcerer scramble for a moment, that Eren knew they could have defeated him had Danis remained calm. He felt this notion was proven when the archers and the crossbowmen kept Lucan occupied enough that he lost sight of Danis. At least until the commander materialized in front of the wizard and brought his blades down on him.

  "Now, you'll die!" he screamed when his attacks landed.

  While one of his swords seemed to cut into Lucan's shoulder, the other simply bounced off the sorcerer's mask. The recoil seemed to surprise Danis, but the greater shock came when the sorcerer placed his hand on the man's breastplate and released a pillar of black flames. Danis cried out as he was launched into the air, his scorched armor seemingly melded with his own flesh. He crashed somewhere within his clustered forces, but that did not deter their attack.

  Lucan wailed and set his hand on his injury. A bright light began to shine between his fingers— it seemed like it was gold in color yet fractured by crimson streaks. Slowly, his wound began to close.

  "We have to get down there, Av," Eren pushed. "We've got to finish this now!"

  He neared the edge and reached t
owards Aven to motion him forward, but the latter simply shook his head.

  "I think we lost, Eren," he murmured. "I-if we go down there… we'll die."

  Eren clenched his fists as he felt frustration bloom in his chest.

  "We can't give in now!" he cried out. "Too many good people have died to bring us here— our allies… my friends. I have to try, Av. I'm sorry."

  He turned to jump onto the street below, but a familiar sight caught his attention. His eyes widened, and his face grew warm as a dark fireball neared him.

  "Get down!" Aven yelled, pulling Eren to the floor.

  Lucan's attack tore through the building, bringing the crumbling stones to the ground. The pair tumbled through the debris, mostly unscathed by the assault.

  Eren looked up and saw the Marinians had not stopped their offensive. He could even hear Danis shouting orders through the disarray, and he wondered how the commander could still be alive. However, none of it mattered then. He brought his hand down on the hilt of his blade and pulled it from its sheath. He could feel blood trickle down his temple but ignored the pain as he twisted around in search of his friend.

  "Come on, Av," he called out, reaching for him. "We have to help Danis."

  Aven was doubled over, his body heaving and twitching erratically.

  "You need your medicine," Eren muttered.

  He kicked the rubble around, intent on finding their buried belongings, but Aven's hand darted out to grab him.

  "Y-you have to l-le-leave," he groaned, his eyes on the ground.

  Eren flinched as dozens of shields began to crack behind him. The Seekers' attack had suddenly become much more coordinated— Lucan was no longer toying with them.

  "I'm not leaving you behind," Eren pushed. "Here, lean on me. I'll carry you if I have-"

  Eren touched his friend's shoulder, and Aven's head snapped around to face him. His expression was unlike any he had seen on him before. It was wrathful and filled with contempt, yet empty all the same.

  "What's happening to you? What are yo-" Eren paused, and took a step away from his friend.

  Thick tufts of black fur began to sprout along Aven's face, and his green eyes grew much brighter than they had been before. Even his teeth seemed to grow longer and sharper in every passing second.