Death Or Fortune

by James Chesney

  "And you will vouch for this man here? You are sure he can be trusted?" I was almost insulted but he was King after all.

  "Yes Sire, Darmot is a good man, as are his companions. For the work they have done in the name of Arcadia, I trust them."

  He looked at the four of us. At some point Pare had joined me there on the floor on one knee. I could feel the king’s eyes on me as if he were looking through my soul. "Very well Captain Turk, first thing tomorrow put Kromwell to work under your service. For now take them outside so we may begin to plan for what is to come." While I knew it was time for us to go, I had to grab Pare to get him on his feet and headed out. Last thing I heard Roderick say was telling Arturo to remain behind. Before I knew it we were back outside of the king’s castle. We gathered up our horses and mounted up. When the first explosion came, I was knocked from my horse.

  The riots had started and a large portion of the city guards were nowhere to be found. Soon a second explosion came, not close but in the merchant’s district. When I saw the third pillar of smoke my heart stopped. Jasmin was the only word I could form with my lips. I felt Hans grab me as I started to move, asking me where I was going. I just pointed at the pillar of smoke reaching up towards the sky. I knew there was trouble at the inn. I knew I had to get there and I had no time to waste. Hetaron rode past me before I was mounted again, he said something about a carpet. Then it dawned on me. Everything I owned was at that inn. Everything I desired was there as well.

  The ride to the inn was like riding though a battle field. Every time I slowed down someone tried to pull me from my horse. Above the roar of the mob I heard a woman's scream. Between two buildings I saw her, held against the wall by hooded men. These hooded men could be seen everywhere. I tried making my way to help her but Hans was faster. I watched in awe as he jumped from his horse. He landed, rolled forward and was on his feet again charging forward, his weapon in hand. The first one never stood a chance, the blow he took to the head would have shattered an oak plank. The second hooded man turned and ran before Hans had a chance to catch him. I saw him turn to the woman with great compassion, placed a hand on her face and then she ran off. Once he was back on his horse, we were off again.

  We arrived at the inn in time to see Hetaron and Pare rushing in. It wasn't long after that I was on his trail. There was smoke filling the inn but it wasn't all in flames. Folks were running down the stairs as I was trying to make my way up. I found Hetaron in the room, stuffing things in a bag. A bag that shouldn't have been able to hold the things he was putting in there. I grabbed the chest of coins we secured from the ruins and anything else I felt was needed. I started to turn from the door when Hetaron held the bag open for me, 'drop it all in here, I will keep it safe.' I didn't want to take the time to argue and did as he said. I had never seen anything quite like it. The smoke was getting worse, I could hear wood breaking inside the building, and I knew it wouldn't be long.

  There was a fire line leading back to the kitchen area. I saw Jasmin and her mother, along with other inn patrons passing back buckets of water. I knew with all the smoke coming from upstairs they were fighting a lost cause. I was pushing people out the door when the oil vats in the kitchen exploded. It was as if a dragon stuck his head in the window and let out his breath. When I picked myself up off the floor most of the main room was in flames. I could see Jasmin’s mother screaming, I rushed to her side. Jasmin was alive but out cold, I picked her up and dragged her mother with me out the door. The entire time she was screaming for her husband, I knew then that he was at the head of the line in the kitchen. I found Hans outside and set Jasmin down with him. I looked to Hetaron and asked if he could do anything. He looked at me and only said, 'perhaps'. I wanted to throttle him.

  I rushed back in the door. I found Stephan, badly burned, missing a leg and crawling on the floor near the bar. It was all I could do to pick up the larger man and get him out the door. That was when Hetaron went inside with that blue orb in his hand. I still don't know what he did but he managed to put out most of the fire with it. Even still the inn was near a total loss. As I rushed towards Hans with Stephan I saw guardsmen sweeping the streets along with Arcadian military troops. Jasmin was awake when I got to them and the sight of her father sent her into near hysteria. Her mother on the other hand was near catatonic. Still dead eyes only watched as Hans did his best. His prayers to Solarth healed some of the burns and stopped most of the bleeding but his leg was lost from the knee down.

  Stephan died six months later, in his sleep. Had Hans not been there he would not have had that long. His wife lasted only a week after her husband. I am just glad to say that before he died, he saw his child marry an Arcadian lord.

  14. Epiphany

  For most of the day and night the riots swept through the city. Nikle and his men were nowhere to be found. The four of us helped where we could. Hans was incredible during this time. I had never seen him work so hard before. I knew at one time Hans was just a warrior like I am. At one point he was inspired by something or someone. He had now come into his own. Spreading the faith out to those who would accept it. He made me question myself, made me question if I had been doing enough. When the riots were finished and things began to settle, we were given a place to stay by the king himself. The four of us with Jasmin’s family.

  When Stephan was awake I spoke to him about the inn. It was as if someone had crushed his soul right in front of me. After some convincing I was able to talk the others into helping them. We offered Stephan the money to start the repairs, to start to rebuild. At first he refused but after some talk, he agreed. We would become part owners yet his family would still run the place. Hetaron only asked for a room of his own in the cellar. A place he could work on his magic without being disturbed. That room is still there today at the bottom of the Red Dragon Inn. It is empty and unused but still there. To my knowledge no one ever set foot in there other than Hetaron.

  For more than a week I worked side by side with Turk and his men. Helping to get things right in the city. It was two weeks before things started to return to normal. Well as normal as things could be. The scouts had been reporting in for days, all reporting the same thing. A large army, a hundred and fifty thousand strong was marching on Arcadia. They would be within the kingdom in three weeks. Roderick had a plan; troops from the farthest corners of the kingdom were being recalled to the city. A call also went out to the people of Arcadia looking for men who would fight. Men who loved their home and who would die to defend it. They were all put together in one unit. Farmers, lumberjacks, anyone strong enough to hold a weapon. Thirty thousand men in all. War was coming and it would find Arcadia strong and ready.

  Sometime during the repairs to the city and recalling the army Turk, with King Roderick's blessing, gave me the rank of Captain. Not that I had time to think about it. I still followed the orders given to me by Turk. I did the bidding of the men above me, without question. I often found myself looking to Arturo for advice, who I also believe had a hand in me being given the rank. My nights were spent in study and I would steal moments for myself to spend with Jasmin. It was during this time that our love became real, solid. The passion I had for her fueled my desire to fight for this country. I gave her every moment I had to spare and each night I would walk her to the room her parents were in. I would give her a lasting kiss and tell her goodbye.

  It was one of those nights, somewhere between her closing the door and me returning to my room that it hit me. As clear as a lightning bolt in the middle of the night, it all became clear. Arcadia was my home. This is where I should have been all along. These were my people and I was here to serve them, help them and protect them. It was on this night that I first said it out loud. I wanted to serve more than myself but the kingdom of Arcadia. I felt the world tremble about me, as if the gods were sending me a message. Once my head cleared I was calm, for the first time everything became clear. I now had a goal, one that I could attain if fortune favored me and if death did not take me
. Hetaron was the only thing that distracted me that night. When I returned to the room he had half the furniture in the room in the air on his flying carpet.

  He wouldn't shut up about it. He could lift several hundred pounds with it. Turn it hard as steel to protect himself. It really was quite the sight and when it was time, he and his carpet would cut himself a path along side of mine, to glory. As I laid my head down that night he also told me of finding scrolls in the ruins, scrolls that would polymorph people into creatures. He said something about using them on Pare but sleep took me before I could make sense of it. As I look back on that time I remember him well. I really believe Hetaron and I were friends. We trusted each other, fought for each other. I remember sharing laughs and sharing in each other’s pain. We would go far together. Right up to the bitter end, I believed in him.

  15. Command

  To this day I still have trouble remembering the days prior to the battle. Every time we turned around some new fact was being presented to us. Plans were made and thrown away. After a while I was resigned to only deal with what I could control. If not for my nights with Jasmin I believe I would have lost my mind. She was my shelter from the storm, my reason to keep fighting against the madness.

  When the order came down that I was to be given command of a unit I needed her. I was given command of fifteen thousand men, all farmers, lumber jacks and anyone else old enough to pick up a weapon. Turk expressed his thoughts to me which I shall never commit to paper other than to say, he wished me luck. After meeting my second in command, I figured I would need all the luck I could get. We would be fighting at the Kings northern flank. Roderick himself would be in command of the main army. A field commander who I never got the chance to meet would be to the south. We were given a standard to carry into battle, told our orders and given time to prepare the unit. There wasn't enough time but we did the best with what we had.

  All of my friends would be with me. We were together the first time we met Michaels. At the time he was a junior officer in the Arcadian royal guard. My mother once told me that first impressions are something that are hard to overcome. Michaels has done this a hundred times over since that first meeting. His life has changed for the better but not because of anything I did, no all credit for this change falls at the feet of Hans. I do not believe I have ever given anyone a desire to serve a higher power.

  "Oh so you are the poor bastard they sent to mind the zoo." I could smell the ale on his breath even before he spoke. Yet he wasn't drunk, I believe his fear was keeping the drink from taking hold. "Welcome to our staging area captain. Tomorrow all of our troops will be here. I saw fit to make sure they were given time to go visit their families before we march them into the meat grinder." My first thought was to dismiss him on the spot, yet I could not bring myself to do it. I would need him. I would need every trained man I could get. We were told that we would be out numbered when we took to the field. Almost two to one if the scouting reports were correct. I just told him to make sure they were ready for inspection by noon of the next day. I had to see what we were working with. I had a few ideas on how we were going to even the odds a bit in our favor. I had less than a week to get these men ready to fight.

  That night I sent Pare and Hans on a mission to find some things we would need. I discussed everything with Hetaron as he was very much a key in my plans. I could see it all happening as we talked. It was something I doubt anyone would have expected from a bunch of farmers. I just prayed it worked. I seemed to do that a lot during that time. Praying for a sign or some form of help from above. When Pare and Hans drove off in the wagon I was sure I had been answered. If only they could find what we needed.

  16. Dream

  In the days before the battle, I had the same dream over and over again. At some point in the battle I met and was killed by Nikle. It became so clear that I could see it when I was awake. Yet there was something wrong with it. It was me, this much I know yet at the same time it wasn't. The armor was not mine. I could not see my own face but the armor was clear, I didn't know who it belonged to. Not until later. Were the gods trying to tell me something, I don't know. I sometimes wonder if things would have been different had I told him about my dreams. Had I told him to stay away and to let me fight. I doubt it would have changed his mind about anything to come. I doubt he would have done anything different.

  At noon the next day, Michaels had the men in ranks and in some semblance of order. Most of the men had armor that would last them as long as they lived and weapons that would hold together as long as they needed. I thought of breaking the men down into units but in the end, I figured they would do the most damage as one massive force. We were going to be outnumbered but I had plans for that. Hans and Pare had returned with every barrel of oil they could find. If nothing else we were going to put on a hell of a light show. Yet I knew we needed more. So I went to the one man who I thought might be able to help with weapons and armor.

  Boris the dwarven black smith. Finest black smith in all of Arcadia was in front of his shop when the three of us stopped the wagon in front of his shop. He was clad in his own armor with an axe as tall as his body slung over his shoulder. "I fought off the foul rioters, I will fight off anyone that comes near my shop" he told me as I looked at him from above. As I jumped down I told him that I needed a favor. I told him about the army and how we had more than a few men who needed good weapons and armor. Any he could spare. He looked at me with one eye open and rubbed his fingers together, I promised him that he would be paid for everything he could give us. Before the day was done we had emptied out most of his shop and had him going back to our staging area to help fit the farmers into armor and pass out weapons. He spent most of the night there as well helping our own smiths get things rolling. After the war, he could have retired on what he was paid yet his shop is still there today. He gets more business today though as some of those men remember him being there that day. While he could not outfit every man who needed, there were several men who lived that day because of his armor.

  When Arturo came to me that night he was pleased with all that we had been doing. "Ride with me for a while boy." We rode side by side, in silence back to his home. I did not question him or what he wanted from me. I could hear him speaking yet the words did not take hold until he led me into his den. In that moment the world came into sharp focus. There on a stand near the wall was the armor from my dream. "Now I am only going to offer you this because I believe in you and you have yet to let me down. I see great things coming for you Darmot. It would do me a great honor if you would wear my armor into battle." I could feel every blow Nikle gave me in that dream. I could feel my life blood running down my leg. I could feel my guts spilling out of my body and falling to the ground below.

  I approached the armor and laid a single hand on the breast plate. It was beautiful and I felt like I had known it my whole life. When I told him I could not accept it, it was as if I had struck him in the face with all of my strength. I hated seeing that look of disapproval on his face. In some ways I wish I could have taken it and avoided the fate that my dream showed me. I knew in my heart the moment I put that armor on, death was coming for me. Arturo did not look at me the same after that. Of all the pain I suffered in the war, that look is the one thing that has never healed. I will carry that pain with me until the end of my days. All my life I had wondered what it was like to have a father that loved and cared for you. A father that would tell you that he was proud of all you have done. I had met a man who started to feel like a father to me and now I let him down. I might as well have spit in his face.

  I should have told him about my dream. I should have told him my fear. He would have told me that it was just that, a dream and that fear should be faced head on. That I was being foolish and to take the field with honor. If I knew what was to come could have been avoided, I would have taken his words to heart, worn his armor and died with honor. None of what I have today would have been possible without Arturo and when he asked th
is one thing of me, I refused. It pains me that I damaged the bond we had before the war. Yet, on that day, at that moment I would not have put on that armor for all the gold in Arcadia.

  I did not sleep that night, there was too much to do. The army had to be ready. Our fate was marching towards us, in less than a day they would be on our door step. People were counting on me to lead these men. Men I did not know, men who were about to die at my command. Yet we all had the same desire, to be free.

  17. Hellfire

  The day of the battle started out with a flurry of activity. S.O.M.A. was marching and they were splitting off as we expected, three columns would be met by three. We were ordered to hold the ground we stood on and were to only fall back in death. Not that we had anywhere to fall back to. We were the only thing between a mad man’s army and the city. My friend Turk was with the King as was his duty, Arturo stood with him as well. While I had all my friends and Michaels with me, I felt alone. I stood and watched the dark clouds roll in, rain was coming but Hetaron told me it would hold off long enough. The dark clouds would work to our advantage he said. I still could not believe he was going along with my plan. To be honest, he was looking forward to it. Once his part was complete he would rejoin me on the field. I looked to each of my friends, Hans, Pare and then Hetaron. Each of them gave me the strength to do what I had to do next.

  I shouted out the order to form ranks. Michaels went to work making sure all were ready. I mounted my horse and stood watching the men make ready. I looked down and saw a boy; a boy who could have been me a hundred years ago. No more than half my age, he was there sword in hand. His eyes held no fear. His gaze was strong as was his hand. Sword and shield held high as was proper. I pointed to him and called him to me. "You will carry our standard, run and fetch it no; you will be by my side this day." I could see the pride on his face, he almost took on a glow. I watched as he carried the standard from my tent to the front of the ranks. As other saw it, silence over took the ranks. I could hear no sound but the wind. I was about to speak when I felt Hetarons hand on my leg. I looked down and he was holding up a gem to me. "Hold this in your hand Kromwell, all will hear your words." I did not question him, I just took the gem into my hand and began.