by Jason Cheek
“Milord Ironwolf,” General Dell respectfully said, giving me a fist salute, “the troops are forming up and heading towards the eastern gate as we speak.” Before he could say anything more, my friend was nearly assaulted as Gregory, Hartley, and Legar shot past me to excitedly hug and clap the old Swordsman on the back in greeting.
“It’s good to see you hail and healthy General,” Gregory said with tears in his eyes.
“General,” Hartley snapped out, holding Dell at arm’s length by his shoulders to critically look him over, “we’d heard you’d been demoted to Sub-Leader when they exiled you to Darom!”
“The entire unit was going to join you in exile,” Legar emotionally stated, as he stepped back to give a respectful half-bow, “but General DeKhayed forbade any of us from leaving Palnisdale even after disbanding our unit. He did his best to make all of us empty shells of the men and women we once were.”
“Rumors started going around about something hunting us down after dark,” Hartley said in a haunted voice.
“We did our best to protect each other,” Gregory said, his face pinched, as he laid a heavy hand on his brother-in-arms shoulder, “but the starvation and elements took their toll as we were forced to sell everything we had simply to survive.”
“Forgive me, brothers, that I couldn’t do more to protect you from his wrath but none of us knew of the true evil that had taken hold of our kingdom,” General Dell said in a voice filled with grief. Taking a deep breath, he nodded to Durneth and Jannoth before continuing, “How many of our brothers and sisters survived the Dil-Hilth’s culling?”
“Just the five of us,” Gregory replied as tears streamed down his coarse cheeks, “and if not for Lord Ironwolf’s intervention, I doubt we would’ve survived the week.”
I silently watched as the six men pressed their heads together to commiserate in their shared grief. While there was no time for such compassion, I didn’t have the heart to interrupt the moment while they mourned those that were lost. Watching the intense emotions of guilt and anguish that flashed over Dell’s face pulled at my heart in ways I didn’t want to think about as I uncomfortably looked away only to see the reflected sorrow in my vassals and companions’ eyes. Everyone here had lost friends and family that were close to them due to the casual brutality that was a part of this fantasy world. Was human history any less terrible? Before I could contemplate the point any deeper, General Dell cleared his throat and stood tall once again with the Skirmishers at his back. I could clearly see the iron will in his eyes that had driven him to become a General before I’d ever met him as he proudly faced me.
“These five men are all that’s left of my Royal Skirmishers,” General Dell said, as he stepped back and clapped the black-haired leader on the shoulder. “Gregory here was my second in command of the entire force.” He nodded towards the rest of the group. “Hartley, Legar, Durneth, and Jannoth were my main Sub-Leaders. None of them are of noble blood, but you couldn’t ask for a better group of men to have your back.” Turning back to face me, Dell looked me in the eyes. “Now that we’ve been reunited, I would ask that you allow them to swear fealty to the House of Kayden, Milord.”
As if General Dell’s words came as no surprise, all five men drew their blades and dropped to a knee before me. Bowing their heads in unison, they spoke as one, “I swear my life to Lord Ironwolf and to faithfully serve the House of Kayden until my death.” I must have been getting used to the people of The World and their ways because I didn’t bat an eye as I solemnly answered back.
“In return, I promise to guard and protect each of you to the best of my ability as I expect you to guard and protect me and mine.” Stepping forward, I pulled Gregory and Hartley to their feet while urging Legar, Durneth, and Jannoth to do the same. As my new vassals took their place beside their old leader, I couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that came to my lips as I met Dell’s green eyes. “Do you think your men would be able to adequately run the defense of Palnisdale if they were placed in command?”
“M-my lord?” Gregory stuttered in shock, as his men looked back and forth between us.
“There’s no doubt they could do the job,” General Dell thoughtfully said, “but only if they had the necessary rank to give out orders.”
“Excellent, I’ll get Queen Isolde to agree before we leave,” I said, as the outline of the plan began clicking into place. Ignoring the five men’s gaping mouths, I hurriedly continued. “Lastly, I need help with purchasing enough mounts to form our own Skirmisher unit before leaving Palnisdale.”
Just then, I felt Neysa and Helgath’s presence brush my mind at the very edge of our range. Well, it was mostly the Silver Dire Wolf’s since my soulmate felt off. It was almost like there was a psychic fog partly blocking our connection.
‘We come,’ Neysa’s forceful words rang in my mind. I didn’t take any offense, because I felt the underlining exhaustion that carried across our link as her tone immediately shifted to one of concern. ‘Helgath verified that there are no additional Dil-Hilths within the city before passing out.’
‘Will she be okay,’ I asked in consternation as I held up my hand to pause my conversation with those physically around me. ‘Do you need me to come to you?’
‘No,’ Neysa stated while she quickly neared the keep, ‘she tied herself to my back so she wouldn’t fall off.’
‘Do you need to rest too,’ I asked, suddenly concerned and somewhat annoyed that I might need to dismiss the Silver Dire Wolf to her virtual space because of her and the Half-Orc’s extracurricular activities while I was logged out. Although I was glad that they’d taken the initiative to make sure Palnisdale was secure from the wicked creatures, I’d figured that was a given with the completion of the quest. What really worried me was having the two of them out of commission for scouting and mobile harassment of the enemy. Well, that and not having a Combat Mount of my own to ride once we met up with my friends.
‘I will be well enough to strut around for your friends as soon as I feed,’ Neysa replied in an amused tone. Though, I had to roll my eyes at her next savage thought. ‘Just send that Lady Trinder out and we can call it quits.’
‘Yeah, let’s not and say we did,’ I sent back, ignoring her violent thoughts towards the woman that nearly killed Fylreh’s combat pet, ‘otherwise it’ll be harder for me to get the Queen to agree to having General Dell’s boys take care of the defense of the city.’
‘You are Alpha,’ Neysa said in no uncertain terms, ‘she is not.’
‘True, but Human relations work somewhat differently than a pack’s,’ I began to say, when I stopped myself to consider the Silver Dire Wolf’s words. She really did have a point. Maybe telling Queen Isolde what I wanted from her was the best decision this time around.
‘Of course it is,’ Neysa chimed in, shamelessly reading my every thought as I let out a mental sigh, ‘now if you’d just let me chomp that witch-’
‘Not helping,’ I mentally singsonged, cutting her off. ‘How about I ask Zoey to bring you out something special from the kitchen instead?’
Feeling her wordless assent, I switched back to the conversation about mounts with my vassals and companions. Surprisingly enough, the discussion went relatively quickly, especially after I pulled out a large bag of coins and shoved it into a shocked Neristhana’s arms. Luckily, like most video games, The World didn’t make coins realistic in weight and volume or it would’ve been impossible for a single person to carry all of the silver and copper coins of various denominations that were worth a total of fifty-five thousand gold, let alone the eight thousand and change that I still had left on my person for purchasing essential items such as food and clothing for all of my people.
While that was still a lot of money for a single player to have, it wasn’t nearly enough to purchase all of the basic food and gear that my forces were going to need to function properly in the near future, let alone enough to actually pay my troops what they were worth. It was terrifying to think of the a
mount of money I’d need for all of that. Just another thing to figure out once all of this was over. Maybe I could include basic food, shelter, and basic gear as part of everyone’s base pay and just give them enough for some extra spending money. Wasn’t that how nobles handled servants and soldiers in the Middle Ages?
Ugh, I thought, shaking my head. While that wasn’t something I particularly wanted to emulate, it was a way to balance out the reality of what the people of The World might consider appropriate in comparison to my twenty-first century sensibilities. Making a mental note to talk that over with Ulia and Neristhana when I had a moment, I listened to General Dell and Gregory’s feedback. While both men made good points, neither one of them were familiar with the Dragoon concept, aka: using mounts to get ranged infantry units into position for ambushes and quick attacks only to pull back before the enemy could engage.
Though General Dell nodded his head as I gave a brief rundown of the general stratagem, I don’t think any of them could truly picture how effective a cavalry unit like that could be. Mostly, that was due to none of them knowing about the BAMF that had recently been developed back at BrokenFang Hold or the effective use of hit and run tactics that didn’t include charging directly into the enemy’s lines. Their confusion was understandable once you took into consideration how much damage it took to take down a single target at range. At the same time, they did both agree that it was a tactically wise decision to add more flexibility to our forces which we currently didn’t have.
It also helped that I told Neristhana to go ahead and purchase a set of plate and leather barding along with the mounts, explaining that we’d be able to use those pieces to help create our own set of barding designs in the future. While my vassals didn’t fully understand what I meant, after getting Jury-Rigging for a Crafting skill earlier in The World, I had no doubts that we’d be able to make our own barding in the future. Besides that, it solved the biggest issue, now we wouldn't need to find a place in the Kingdom of Larethien, aka the Light Elf realm, that would actually sell us mounts when we got back.
There was no doubt in my mind that some of my Twitch Channel viewers would consider the expenditure of mounts on a bunch of NPCs to be an absolute waste of funds. I’m sure their complaints would be why didn’t I just purchase additional NPCs to pad my ranks. Whatever, that was only because they didn’t see how effective a group of highly mobile infantry could be, especially if I combined them with my combat pet owning troopers. Not only that, but I’m sure most of them forgot to take into consideration the upcoming bidding wars in the general NPC recruiter for any available people of The World. Besides, with the mass of Orcs that would be chasing after us, I figured there wouldn’t be too much of a problem building up our funds.
The only question now was if there were going to be enough mounts available for purchase in the city. Gregory offered to have Durneth and Jannoth lead my companions to pick up the mounts if any were for sale, saying that a small group would be able to quickly pass through the crowded city and make it to the Eastern gate in time to meet up with the rest of the force. Before I could even ask, he assured me that transporting so many mounts wouldn’t be an issue if they were kept packed in their magic markers. The soulbound property of the devices would only be triggered upon first use.
“Sounds like a plan,” I loudly said, clapping Neristhana and Ulia on the shoulders as I lowered my voice. “Don’t push it. If you can’t get all of the mounts we need, just head for the Eastern gate. Otherwise, you very well could be stuck in Palnisdale for the duration of the siege.” As I nodded to Durneth and Jannoth to get moving, Ulia pulled the lower front of my breastplate out and knuckled me in the gut.
“Don’t worry about us,” the Swordswoman snarkily said, as I doubled over from the playful blow. She continued, stepping back before I could push her away, “you’re the only one that likes to dilly-dally around when there’s work to be done.”
“Yea … yea … yea,” I humorously complained, seeing the amused twinkle in Neristhana’s eyes as I looked her way, “I thought you were supposed to be my bodyguard here?”
“Ha!” the Gnomeling cockily exclaimed, “that’s only for life and death situations, not attitude adjustments, lord Stinky.”
“Good to know,” I drolly muttered under my breath, as the group began heading for the keep’s double doors. A second later, I heard the Gnomeling bust out laughing as she suddenly flipped around while jogging backwards to catch me questioningly sniffing my underarms.
“If you’re not sure if you're clean or not, it probably means you stink!” Neristhana chortled, as I flipped her off.
“Get out of here,” I said, not giving her the pleasure of a further response as I turned back around. Nodding for my vassals to follow, I headed towards the back of the foyer where a familiar face patiently waited.
Chapter Three
(Star and vassals meeting up with the Queen in Palnisdale.)
“Good morning, Zoey,” I said, coming to a stop in front of the smiling maid.
“Overlord Ironwolf,” Zoey replied, giving me a polite curtsy. “How may I be of service?”
Sweet as ever, I thought, glancing around for any other maids or the older Chamberlain. From my limited experience there was usually a group of them waiting to greet newcomers. My guess was that Lady Trinder had decided it best to keep her subordinates away from our odd and dangerous group. Honestly, it was probably for the best since Zoey alone seemed to be the only one savvy enough to handle our eccentric group. It made me wonder why she was so easy going about Neysa and Fylreh while the rest were so stuck in their cultural mindset. Dismissing the random thought, I focused on the Human maid.
“I was hoping that you could direct me to Queen Isolde,” I explained as she bobbed her head once in acknowledgement.
“Queen Isolde and the Prince are waiting for you in the Green Room,” Zoey cheerfully said, sweeping an arm towards a nearby corridor at the back of the foyer. “Please follow me.”
The cute maid’s straight brown hair bobbed with her movements as she happily spun around to lead us in the indicated direction. The short corridor came to a set of large double doors that opened into a great room with lots of tables and a central fireplace at its center. The low roar of many voices filled the air as tables full of well-dressed armed civilians and high-ranking royal officers came into view having breakfast. Though, upon seeing us, everything seemed to stop as everyone’s eyes focused on my face as I entered the cavernous room.
Zoey didn’t bat an eye at the sea of curious and distasteful looks as she strode down the main aisle between the long tables. The utter looks of shock at having a halfling present in such an illustrious place was clearly written on the crowd’s faces. Though, that didn’t last as soon as General Dell and his subordinates came into view behind me. Immediately, a loud roar of hushed voices rose around us as those present began speculating as to why the disgraced man was back in their midst once again with the rank of General. As I stonily surveyed the room, I saw many of the faces blanche as they realized that could only mean that he’d once again regained his power and place in the royal court. Dell and I would need to have a serious talk as to how to handle these jackals as we moved forward but, for now, I was enjoying the anonymity. Soon enough they’d know who I was.
Ignoring the crass comments coming from some of the long tables, I took in the pure barbaric beauty of the immense room as servants ran around delivering wooden platters of food and drinks. It was mostly simple meats, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and bread being served while people used their hands to eat, reminding me of a dinner show at Medieval Times with everyone’s archaic forms of dress. Similar to the dinner theater, the walls of the great room were decorated with Broken standards, heavy shields, wicked-looking weapons, and the heads of various savage beasts. I figured the place doubled as a throne room too since the room was meant to impress visitors of the battles and monsters that had been defeated over the centuries by the line of Isolde.
&nbs
p; Following Zoey around the empty high-table that I assumed would’ve normally held the royal family and any other high-ranking nobles, the maid led us to an archway at the back of the room. Twenty feet later the corridor ended at an iron-bound door. As Zoey bowed politely with her task complete, I thanked the pleasant woman and asked her to bring Neysa something to eat, before turning to the exhausted looking Guardian Knights standing before the iron-bound door.
“You look somewhat better this morning, Sir Beroldus,” I politely said, as the other man visibly flinched at my words.
“Thank you, Overlord Ironwolf,” Sir Beroldus explained, looking me straight in the eyes, “but, in truth, we both feel ridden hard and put up wet.” A smile crept to my lips at hearing the old saying as the Guardian Knight traded a solemn look with Sir Curteis, who was standing next to him, before continuing. “Even now, my mind is fuzzy about the events from last night. Though, from what Sir Anon said about the Dil-Hilth, we have you to thank for our lives and that of Queen Isolde’s.”
“And our gratitude for doing what was necessary to protect the Queen,” Sir Curteis fervently said, as both Guardian Knights snapped to attention and gave me a fist salute.
“No thanks necessary,” I said, clapping both men on the shoulders, “all of us upheld our honor and oaths.” With a final nod, I stepped up to the doorway only to have Sir Beroldus jump ahead of me. “With a quick bob of respect, he threw the portal open and announced us to the room.
“Your Majesty and Prince Isolde,” I politely said, while we stepped into the room as the door was closed behind us. My casual greeting brought a frown to both Sir Hemmet and Anon’s lips from where they stood behind the royal pair but neither voiced a word of complaint. Though, what did surprise me was that Queen Isolde didn’t seem to take any offense to my informal address.